Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting

These cupcakes are probably the tastiest caramel dessert I have made,
and were very well received at work! In fact, I need to reproduce them
for a coworkers daughters graduation party.

Chocolate Cupcakes:
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Boiling Water
1 1/3 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick Butter
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 t Vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together boiling water, chocolate and cocoa powder and refridgerate.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla mixing until
smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat only until combined. Add the
cooled cocoa/water mixture and stir until combined.

Spoon mixture into mini cupcake pans (either lined or greased). Bake
for 15-20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:
1 stick Butter
8 oz Cream Cheese
4 oz Dulce De Leche
3 cups Powdered Sugar

Mix butter, cream cheese, and dulce de leche together. Then add the
powdered sugar.

Once the cupcakes have cooled you can frost them. I also filled mine
with a little dulce de leche. To do so, put some dulce de leche into a
squeeze bottle, microwave for 20 seconds, and then fill away!

Grilled Sweet Sriracha Wings

When it is warm enough to grill (although last night was a little
questionable in the mid 30's), one of my favorite things to make is
chicken wings. I have found that my favorite method is to boil them in
a flavorful sauce, then grill, then toss in a thick spicy sauce. I
also like to take off most of the skin to make them a little bit
healthier. I wish they sold skinless wings.

Simmer the following ingredients for about 45 minutes to an hour.
2 packages Chicken Wings
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup Hot Sauce (I prefer Sriracha)
2 t Liquid Smoke
3 T Garlic
1/4 cup Water
2 T Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Soy Sauce

Grill the wings.

Then toss them in a bowl with the following sauce:
1/4 cup Sriracha Sauce
1/4 cup BBQ Sauce
2 T Balsamic Vinegar
2 T Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Sweet Chili Sauce

Drizzle with bleu cheese dressing, top with chives.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brûlée

I love Creme Brulee. When I eat at a nice restaurant, it is always my
dessert of choice if I have any room left to eat dessert. This is the
easiest recipe I have found.

1 quart Heavy Cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/2 cup Sugar
6 large egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan and
bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15
minutes. Remove the vanilla bean.

In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar and the egg yolks until well
blended and it just starts to look lighter yellow. Add about 1/2 cup
of cream to the egg mixture, stirring quickly to avoid scrambled eggs.
Then add the egg mixture to the rest of the cream, and cook on
medium/low until the mixture thickens.

Place in ramekins, and bake for 40-50 minutes in a water bath.

Cool for 3-4 hours. Then sprinkle sugar on each dish to cover the top
in a thin layer. Torch until browned. Cool 5-10 minutes and then
serve.

Could garnish with many things such as a caramel or berry sauce, or fresh fruit.

Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon Curd Filling

Lemon Cupcakes:
2 sticks Butter
2 cups Sugar
5 Eggs
1/3 cup Lemon Zest
3 cups Flour
1 t Baking Powder
1/2 t Baking Soda
1 t Salt
3/4 cup Lemon Juice
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1 t Vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, about 5
minutes. Mix in the eggs, 1 at a time, and add the lemon zest.

Add the remaining ingredients slowly.

Fill muffin pans and bake for 10-15 min, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Lemon Curd Filling:
3 Lemons
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 stick Butter
5 Eggs
3/4 cup Lemon Juice
Dash Salt

Zest 3 Lemons and cream with the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, 1 at
a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a large saucepan and cook over low heat until
thickened (about 15-20 minutes), stirring constantly. Allow the lemon
curd to cool.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 stick Butter
3-4 cups Powdered Sugar
8oz Cream Cheese
Pint Raspberries

Mix together butter and sugar. In another bowl mix together
raspberries and cream cheese. Add cream cheese mixture to butter
mixture until you get desired consistency I added too much and it made
my frosting runny. Refrigerate frosting for a bit before frosting
cupcakes.

Fill cupcakes with lemon curd (I used a condiment container to squeeze
it in). Top with frosting and refridgerate.

Healthy Banana Coconut Pecan Muffins

Continuing on my coconut kick, here is a healthy coconut banana nut
muffin recipe.

2 cups Flour
2 t Baking Powder
1 1/4 t baking soda
3 Ripe Bananas
3/4 cup Coconut
1/2 cup Pecans
1 t Canola Oil
2 t Vanilla
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Coconut Milk (could sub plain milk)
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
1/4 cup Orange Juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together all wet ingredients. Add in dry ingredients. Don't overmix.

Spoon into greased muffin tins. Top with coconut.

Bake 15 minutes.

Broil for a few minutes until coconut browns on top.



You can change up the kind of nut used, or leave out the coconut if
you aren't a fan. I really want to try them with chocolate chips mixed
in.

Coconut Caramel Fudge

I love this fudge, tastes a lot like Samoa Girl Scout cookies!

1 stick Butter
1 can Coconut Milk (full fat)
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 package Coconut Cream Jello Pudding Mix
1 bag White Chocolate chips
1 container Marshmallow Fluff
1 bag Caramels
1/3 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 bag Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Shredded Coconut (toasted in oven)

Heat the butter, coconut milk, sugar, and salt on medium. Stir
constantly, boil for 5 minutes. Place in mixing bowl with white
chocolate chips, fluff and pudding.

Pour the mixture into a 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper.

Melt caramels with sweetened condensed milk in the microwave (1
minute increments, stirring between). Pour this over the fudge mixture
and then swirl it in.

Let the fudge cool (can speed the process by placing in the freezer).
Melt the chocolate chips with a bit of shortening and drizzle it over
the fudge. Then sprinkle coconut on top.

Cool again and then you can cut into bite sized pieces. I have best
luck with a very sharp knife, and letting it cool overnight.

Truffles/Cake Pops

I looked at some recipes on Pinterest for truffles, and modified them a bit to make 4 different kinds of truffles to take as a birhtday treat to work: thin mint, oreo, oatmeal cream pie, and peanut butter pretzel. They were a hit, and gone within less than 1 hour.

Thin Mint:
2 boxes Keebler cookies (thin mint knock offs), crushed finely
6 oz cream cheese (low fat is fine)

Oreo:
1 box Oreos, crushed finely
8 oz cream cheese (low fat is fine)

Oatmeal Cream Pies:
2 boxes Oatmeal Cream Pies
2 oz cream cheese (low fat is fine)

Peanut Butter Pretzel:
2 cups pretzels, crushed coarsely
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon salt

For each truffle, make small balls (about one inch). I used a cookie scoop, and then rolled. Put these on parchment paper and let them chill until they are pretty hard on the outside. This is especially important for the peanut butter ones.

Melt whatever kind of chocolate chips you want to dip the truffles in, a bag of chocolate chips will need about 2 tablespoons of shortening. I use the microwave, stirring every 45 seconds, power 80%.

Then dip the truffles and place on wax paper to chill. You can also drizzle with another kind of melted chocolate and top with cookie bits or pretzel bits for extra decoration.

I keep them in the refridgerator until serving, because there is cream cheese in the recipe.

Steak Topped Shrimp Tempura Sushi Rolls

I love making sushi at home! It usually ends up taking a lot longer than I plan, so one day I decided to streamline it.

I bought sushi rice from a local restaurant, and found frozen tempura shrimp at WalMart (and have since also used popcorn shrimp). I usually make a few kinds of rolls, usually a mixture of crab, avocado, cucumber, green onion, and shrimp. My favorite, though, is a shrimp tempura roll topped with steak.

Ingredients:
lean thick steak
frozen fried shrimp
avocado (sliced)
cucumber (cut into matchstick size pieces)
rice
sushi paper
mayo
sriracha sauce
rice wine
sugar
soy sauce
green onions (for garnish)

Cook steak to medium rare and let rest, and cook shrimp according to box directions.

Bring 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup rice wine, and 1/3 cup sugar to a boil, and let it reduce down until thick. This will be one of your sauces.

Mix 1/3 cup mayo with a few tablespoons of sriracha sauce (adjust according to how spicy you like things) and a teaspoon of sugar.

Place rice onto sushi paper and flip down onto a rolling mat covered with cling wrap. You can get a sushi rolling mat at most grocery stores now, or an asian market, or order online.

Add the shrimp and veggies, and roll the sushi up (I'd suggest a youtube video if you're not sure of the process).

Then thinly slice the steak and place it on top. Cut the sushi into pieces.

Top with both sauces, and garnish with green onion.

In the picture it is the roll all the way to the right.

Gall Bladder Attacks, Chest Pains, Remedies, and Removal

**If you read scary things about gall bladder removal, remember that people posting on health forums most likely had terrible experiences, and people with good experiences just don't take the time to post about it. I read online and was almost too scared to have the surgery, but I was completely fine!

For the past 3 or 4 years, if I ate a particularly large amount of greasy food in one meal or for a few days, or drank carbonated alcohol, I would get some chest pain that would usually go away by the next morning. I never really noticed a pattern until it happened and refused to go away.

One night after eating a huge helping of chinese black pepper chicken followed by a big bowl of frozen yogurt, all washed down with a few Mike's Hard Lemonades I woke up in terrible pain.

The pain felt like I had huge pressure in my chest, I really thought it was a heart attack, but I am 26 so that was not likely. I was sweating and had chills, and no position was comfortable. The only thing that made me feel slightly better was walking around the neighborhood in the dark, blanket wrapped around me. As soon as I stopped walking, the pain got worse again. I felt this way for about a week, and was not able to eat much. I would feel significantly worse after eating. One afternoon, the pain just stopped. I was in the middle of moving, so it was a relief to be able to feel better! I chalked it up to being extremely stressed with house sales and purchases.

A week later, the pain came back. I was so disheartened, so decided to go to the Dr. My Dr. couldn't get me in within a reasonable amount of time so I went to 'urgent care' where I was sent on my way with some acid reflux pills, and was told to have a gall bladder scan. I didn't end up going because I felt better within a few days. This went on and off for 2 months when finally I was unable to eat anything without the terrible pains that lasted anywhere from 2 hours to 16 hours. My Dr. finally saw me, and also suggested the gall bladder scan. So off I went. It turned out I had a lot of gall stones, and had my gall bladder removed 2 days later. I was lucky they got me in quickly, since I wasn't able to eat anything.

If you suspect you're having gall bladder issues, I would suggest the following foods that are easy on your gall bladder and don't produce much gas (which causes the tightness in your chest):
white rice
plain chicken
white bread toast w/ jelly
jello (not sugar free)
fat free pudding
greek yogurt
california roll sushi
baked potatoes or mashed potatoes
chamomile tea w/ honey
baked fish (not breaded)
applesauce
berries
low fat broth based soup
shrimp
fruit smoothies

stay away from:
sugar free things
chewing gum
carbonated beverages
caffeine
dairy
fat
fiber
red meat
eggs
coffee
brocolli/cauliflower

When in the midst of an attack (mine was severe chest pain, mostly under my rib cage, radiating to my back on the right side):
Try taking a hot shower
Drink hot chamomile tea with plenty of honey
Take deep breaths
Try laying on your left side
Take either tylenol or a NSAID
Try Gas-X, sometimes it helps the chest pain
Use a heating pad

When the attack stops, try to fall asleep quickly on your left side.

Surgery:
My experience went really well. I had it done outpatient, so went in the morning, and was home in the afternoon. I had some pretty bad pain in my shoulder, but the heating pad helped that. That night, I was able to eat a normal dinner with salad, bread, shrimp, a bite of steak, rice, and mashed potatoes (Texas Roadhouse).
I was able to move around and do things within a few days (Christmas), and by a week after, I was feeling pretty close to normal. When coughing or sneezing, place your hands in the area where your gall bladder was. When this area moves with a cough/sneeze, it can be very painful.

My only hang up, after a week I did a lot of laughing, and played the Wii. If the area where your gall bladder was is hurting when you're laughing, quit laughing. After that night, I was in pain for several days and even had to go back on the pain medication.

I read online that alcohol can cause issues afterward, but I have tried a few glasses and been ok. I would just suggest trying things slowly :)

Again, most things I read online were worst case scenarios, and probably only 1% of people actually go through what those people did.

Crunchy Baked Asparagus

Yesterday I set out to make a tasty dinner that you might get at a nicer restaurant with only things in my refridgerator. I wanted to try something new with asparagus so decided I wanted to bread it, but also wanted it to be healthy. I decided to bake it, but feared it might not get crunchy. It did though, and I will be using the recipe often, and probably with other veggies like green beans.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare 3 dipping stations. I used bread loaf pans, but plates would also work.

Station 1: flour with salt and pepper.
Station 2: milk, hot sauce (optional), smoked paprika, garlic powder. You could use any seasonings you'd like.
Station 3: panko bread crumbs

Trim off the bottom part of the asparagus. To tell how far to trim, bend one piece and see where it naturally breaks. Trim that amount for all, this will keep them from being stringy.

Dip the asparagus in the milk mixture, then flour, then milk, then panko.

Place on a cookie sheet with Pam cooking spray.

Cook for about 20 minutes, until the panko is turning a bit more brown.

I made a dipping sauce with mayo and balsamic vinegar. Ketchup or ranch dressing would also be good. Or a mayo wasabi dipping sauce!