Love at First Grill

We have been grilling a lot this summer. Want to see the yummy meal we had the other night? Head over to my blog to see the yumminess....

Cake Mix Bar Cookies

There is just something exciting about these cookies!  I think my favorite part is that they are easy and they have chocolate in them to boot.

Woot Woot!

Give them a try and let me know what you think.  Or if you have a variation on this, I would love to hear it.

Cake Mix Bar Cookies

 1 box yellow cake mix

1 egg

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup water

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Mix cake mix, egg, oil, and water until smooth. 
2. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Bake in greased 9 by 13 inch pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
4. Cool and cut into squares.
5. Enjoy! 
   

Strawberry Shortcake

(This strawberry shortcake would have been happier with whipping cream too! But it still tasted divine.)

My mom came to town and we took the kids to pick strawberries the other day.  Three full-buckets later we left with 24 pounds of strawberry goodness.  We froze a lot of them and then I began my dream for the perfect strawberry treat with the rest.

Thankfully, Brooke makes an AMAZING strawberry shortcake.  She will take no credit for it's goodness.  Apparently, it comes from the Martha Stewart of her home ward, Barbara Sampson.  And now I pass it on with you courtesy of Brooke...

Shortcake Ingredients:
1 White cake mix (Mix cake mix together as directed)
Add:
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla

1)  Mix white cake mix according to directions on the package.
2)  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend.
3)  Bake in 2 greased loaf pans at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes

Custard Ingredients:
1 large package instant vanilla pudding
2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup sour cream

1) Mix pudding packet with milk.
2) Add sour cream and blend.

Other Ingredients:
Sliced Strawberries
Whipped Cream

Strawberry Shortcake Assembly Instructions:
1) Top cake with custard layer, fruit and then whipped cream.
2) Enjoy the yumminess!

S'more Brownies!

 

I have been dreaming of these s'more brownies that Melissa turned me on to all week!  You should give them a try!  Here is the link to her recipe!

"Out like a Lamb" Cupcakes

"March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb."

Last year my children and I bid farewell to March with these super cute cupcakes from Martha Stewart. Aren't they just adorable?

Here's what we used:

• 1 box white cake mix + ingredients listed on box
• 1 can fluffy white or butter cream frosting
• 48 mini M&M's
• 1 piece of bubblegum cut in half lengthwise and then into triangles
• 12 large marshmallows cut into half lengthwise and then again diagonally
• 1/2 bag miniature marshmallow cut into half

Bake cupcakes according to directions on package, cool and then frost.

Martha says to "arrange the halved mini marshmallows around the perimeter of each plain-butter cream cupcake, in two concentric circles. Leave room for ears on the edges, and an empty circle in the center for the face. Place halved full-sized marshmallows in reserved spots for the ears. Place two mini chocolate candies in upper half of each empty circle to make the eyes, and a bubble gum triangle for the nose."

Personally, I just let my children decorate their own. They had so much fun and have been asking me all week if they can make them again this year. Isn't it amazing how they remember these things? =)

Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Photo at Epicurious.com

Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Photo at Epicurious.com

This is the cake I made for the Relief Society activity last Thursday. I absolutely loved it. I am making it again for Easter. My pictures of it didn't look so great, so just pull up this link. The recipe definitely requires 2 days to make if you are doing it all from scratch. I suppose you could use a yellow or white cake mix, as well as buying lemon curd and shorten the amount of time it takes. As far as the lemon curd I bought 2 different lemon curds to taste test against this recipe and they were not as good. I loved the lemon curd once it was mixed together with the marscapone and whipped cream. I am sure I ate 1 entire cup of that alone. After I had frosted the cake and let it chill overnight I took the remaining lemon curd with about 1/4 cup of the frosting mixture and piped out circles all over the top. It looked really pretty. I also thinly sliced a lemon and placed it around the outside of the cake. Although it looked nice, it left the frosting bitter in those spots so I wouldn't do that again.

Happy Baking.

Baja Fish Tacos

 

A couple months ago I ran across a recipe for Baja Fish Taco from Ortega.  They were very easy to make and turned out absolutely delicious!  

BAJA FISH TACOS

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 package (1 1/4-oz)ORTEGA Taco Seasoning Mix - divided
• 1 pound (4 total) cod or white fish fillets, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tbls. vegetable oil
• 2 tbls. lemon juice
• 1 package ORTEGA Taco Shells (12 ct), warmed (I will probably fry my own corn tortillas)

DIRECTIONS:

COMBINE sour cream, mayonnaise, cilantro and 2 tablespoons seasoning mix in small bowl.

COMBINE cod, vegetable oil, lemon juice and remaining seasoning mix in medium bowl; pour into large skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until cod flakes easily when tested with a fork.

FILL taco shells with fish mixture. Optional: Top with cabbage, tomato, sour cream mixture, lime juice and taco sauce.

ENJOY!!

Chicken Chow Mein in a Crockpot

Recently, I made the chicken chow mein recipe from the "Year of Crockpotting" blog and I was really impressed with how it turned out.

Here are the ingredients I used:

(The original recipe called for sesame seed oil but I didn't have it on hand...so I left it out.)

And, here is the finished product. Greg and I really liked it and kids seemed to enjoy it too!

Click on the link to try it for yourself.

Tannya's Blog

Ok, so although I actually tried to start a food blog quite a while ago, I have actually decided to finally post some recipes. Really, seriously, I have. Here is the link.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from a "Good Eats" episode where Alton Brown tested a few different recipes to achieve various results. This is his "Chewy" recipe.

2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour (I used all-purpose and they were fine)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 Tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda, and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, milk and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough. (About 30-45 min) Scoop onto baking sheets. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans immediately.

[The cookies will be darker than traditional recipes. They're so yummy and buttery! Don't substitute anything for the butter.]