Happy Halloween!

My boyfriend, Ben, asked me to make something for his Halloween party, and I decided to make a creepy-crawly dirt cake. I put gummy worms and gummy spiders in it for the spirit of the season. It looks really cute, and although I haven't tried the actual cake, I did try the filling and it was delicious! I found the recipe at cooks.com, but just tweaked it a bit.

Ingredients:

1 package Oreo cookies

1 8oz package of creme cheese (leave out for a couple hours for easier mixing)

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1 cup powdered sugar

3 cups milk

1 tub cool whip

6 cups milk

3 packages instant pudding (I used 2 chocolate and 1 vanilla so it would have the "dirt look" without being too chocolaty)

1 tsp vanilla flavoring

gummy worms

Put oreo cookies into a plastic bag and crush. Spread about 1/3 across the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Beat butter, creme cheese, vanilla flavoring and powdered sugar together until well blended. In a separate bowl blend milk, and pudding mix. When blended well, fold in the cool whip. Add this mix to the creme and butter bowl and stir well. Add a layer onto top of cookies until well covered. Place a few gummy worms in as desired. Now layer cookies again, followed by the chocolate mix. Top with a few oreo crumbles and worms. I stuck some worms half-way in to make it look like they were crawling out! Have a Happy Halloween!

You know a day is going to be good when it starts with a home-cooked breakfast.

I love breakfast food, but it is always such a pain to get up early and make it first thing. Growing up, my Mom would make breakfast at dinner time every once in awhile and we all enjoyed it. I found a recipe for a breakfast casserole at myrecipes.com that I could make the night before and just wake up and pop it in the oven for an hour. I tried this for the first time and I have been snacking on it all day! I think it would be a great idea to make this when you know you have guests coming into town and won't have time to prepare a meal in the morning.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork sausage

1/4 chopped onion

2 1/2 cups frozen hash browns (you can also use cubed potatoes if you want to take the time to boil them!)

5 large eggs

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 3/4 cups whole milk

1 cup all-purpose baking mix

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

Cook sausage and onion in a skillet over medium heat. Add in hash browns, stirring occasionally. Cook until sausage is no longer pink and hash browns are starting to brown. Drain onto papertowels and spread over a greased 13x9 baking dish. Set aside. Stir together eggs, chees, milk, baking mix, salt and pepper until well blended. Pour mixture over sausage and hash browns. Cover and place in refrigerator over night. Bake, still covered for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and cook for an additional 20 minutes until the top is slightly browned and you can insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have!

Hibachi chefs make it LOOK hard ;)

Ever since my freshman year in college I have been obsessed with Japanese food, and have always wanted to learn how to make it myself. Every time I go to a Japanese steakhouse I get excited to see the chefs prepare the food on the open grill right in front of me. Because of the elaborate show they put on, I always thought it would be hard to make, but surprisingly it is not! I am equally obsessed with the "white sauce" that usually comes with Japanese cuisine so I will share that recipe with you first. It is recommended that the sauce be made the day before to allow the ingredients to mesh together. I found the recipe for both at a random sight I found on Google, but I think it comes out tasting delicious!

Ingredients for "white sauce":

1 & 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used miracle whip on my second batch and it worked great for a lot less calories)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tbs melted butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp paprika
dash cayenne pepper Whisk all ingredients until blended smoothly. Ingredients for Hibachi meal: rice zucchini onion soy sauce salt/pepper egg butter sesame seeds chicken or steak To cook the rice measure the amount of rice you would like to use and bring to a boil with twice as much water. Add a teaspoon of butter and a dash of salt. Bring down to a low-medium setting, stir once more and cover for 15 minutes without touching it. Take off heat and stir. Let rice cool while you prepare your vegetables. Slice zucchini, onions and chicken or steak in desired sizes. Put them all into a greased pan on medium heat. Add soy sauce to taste over the mix. When chicken is done, add a touch of salt/pepper, a couple tablespoons of butter and sesame seeds. Saute until vegetables are soft but still a bit crunchy. Fry rice with 2 tablespoons of oil. Add butter and mix well. Make an empty spot to fry an egg, then chop and blend with rice. Add salt, pepper, sesame seeds and soy sauce to rice. Mix rice with vegetables in pan or leave separate to place vegetables on top. Serve with prepared white sauce at room temperature. Enjoy!

Eating restaurant style...at home.

I love to cook, and i love to eat. It's just a great coincidence that the two go hand-in-hand. I also enjoy going out to eat for a good meal. It was brought to my attention by a friend of mine that I could look up any recipe from my favorite restaurants online and cook them for myself in the comfort of my own home (not to mention being able to make more food for cheaper, yielding leftovers galore!) This is a great idea also because you can see exactly what you are putting into these meals, giving you the option to substitute easier or healthier ways of cooking to match what you want. I remember having an amazing loaded baked potato soup at Logan's Roadhouse a while back, so found a recipe at recipelink.com that sounded fairly simple. Again with this one, I changed a few things around, but it still turned out great! Awesome even.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour
6 cups milk
4 large potatoes
water (to thin soup if necessary)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
green onions (chopped thinly)
6 oz bacon bits or chopped bacon

Cut potatoes into 1-inch cubes and bring to a boil for 15 minutes. Melt butter in soup kettle and add flour, stirring until smooth. Gradually add your milk, stirring constantly until thick. Add in potatoes, 5 oz cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream and approximately 3 green onions chopped (I purchased pre-cut onions in a package). Bring soup to a boil, then simmer until you are happy with the consistency. You may want to add water at this point. Serve hot, topped with cheese, bacon, green onions and sour cream as desired. This is great served with french bread!

I enjoy feeding people.

My first attempt was a success! I made a delicious buffalo chicken wrap from a recipe I found at food.com, only I tweaked it a bit to fit my preferences. It was just the right balance of chicken and buffalo flavor. I let my roommate Rebecca and boyfriend Ben try one and it got raving reviews. I'm realizing that I really enjoy sharing my food creations with other people, even more so than myself. I am so excited about starting this new venture with cooking!

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs boneless chicken breast
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs onion powder
5 10'' tortillas
1 cup buffalo sauce
lettuce
salt and pepper to taste
shredded cheese of choice
ranch or bleu cheese dressing

Cut chicken into 1/2 inch slices. Place chicken, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and buffalo sauce into a plastic bag. Toss until chicken is fully coated. Leave chicken to marinade for at least half an hour in the fridge. Grill chicken until done. Heat tortilla in microwave for 30 seconds with a damp paper towel on top (this will moisten the tortilla so that it won't break when folding). Lay out tortilla and place chicken, lettuce and cheese in the center. Fold just like you would a burrito. I had to look up how to do so and found this youtube video helpful. Slice in half and serve with dressing of your choice. Enjoy!