Marinara Sauce

I don't have a picture of this, it's marinara...just picture it in your head. It is so much better than jarred pasta sauce! The funny thing is it doesn't call for any spices except garlic and bay leaf, but for some reason it is awesome. And, because you can make a big batch and freeze it, it is less expensive than jarred pasta. This recipe makes two servings. I used one for manicotti and one for spaghetti. I just added 1 lb browned hamburger to the marinara for the spaghetti and Jeremiah and I fought over the leftovers.

Marinara Sauce
from Giada de Laurentiis

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (some people add more)
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 (32-oz) cans crushed tomatoes (I can only find 28-oz cans, which work fine)
2 dried bay leaves

In a large casserole pot, heat the olive oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, salt, and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens, about one hour. Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste.

Cheesecake Cookies

Brent has a broker who emails recipes. When I saw this one, I knew I had to try it. You should know that I have an infatuation with Lorna Doone shortcake cookies. And, I didn't realize the cookie part of these are shortbread (made with cream cheese). I was in heaven. They're filling and sweet. So, it doesn't leave you wanting to eat a dozen (like chocolate chip cookies do). They're a grown-up's cookie.

Cheesecake Cookies

Cream Cheese Filling:
4 oz cream cheese
2 TBSP sugar
½ tsp grated lemon rind
1 egg yolk
1 TBSP half and half or sour cream

Beat together until smooth. Refrigerate.

Cookies:
1 cup butter
4 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 TBSP lemon juice
2 ¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ cup fine graham cracker crumbs

Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until blended. Add egg, lemon rind and lemon juice. Mix well. Combine flour and baking powder. Add to first mixture and blend well. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in graham cracker crumbs. Arrange on ungreased baking sheets. With finger make an indentation in center of each cookie. Fill with ½ tsp of filling. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Remove to cool on wire racks. Store in airtight container.

Orange-Honey Syrup

We love to have breakfast for dinner A LOT in my house. You can probably guess that I am not a morning person by that fact! Here is a delicious twist I just came across for regular or maple syrup. Sooo good that I am not sure I will buy Mrs. Butterworth's anymore! Sorry I forgot to take a picture....next time.


Orange-Honey Syrup

1/3 cup honey

1/3 butter

1/3 orange juice

1/2t. grated orange peel

combine all ingredients into a sauce pan and simmer until it thickens. Enjoy!

"Homemade" Doughnuts

I saw this on a friend's blog and had to try it. It was super easy and undescribably yummy! We made it for FHE and my kids have been begging me ever since to make them. Just a note, I would not recommend the biscuits that peel in layers. Just regular old biscuits!

1 tube biscuits (I used regular buttermilk)

Oil for frying (I didn't say they were fat free, just yummy!)
Powdered sugar, milk and a little vanilla for glaze (or you could use frosting)

Dump oil into a deep pan (I used an entire bottle of vegetable oil but it depends on how big your pan is). Heat oil to 375. Using a medicine cup (or something similar) cut out a hole in the middle of the biscuits. Fry the biscuits on each side until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel lined plate and then place on a cooling rack. Dip each doughnut face down in the glaze and let it melt down the sides (you can do it all over but I didn't make enough glaze for that). Enjoy!

Also, make sure the doughnuts are golden because then they are done on the inside. I tried to fry the middles into doughnut holes but the insides weren't done so if you try making doughnut holes just let them brown up a little more than usual.

This took me abour 10 minutes from start to finish. And next time we are using more than one tube of biscuits!

April Fools Day Cupcakes (and a dinner idea)

I can't take credit for these cute and fun cupcakes. First, they are in a book called Hello Cupcake that has lots of cute ideas for April Fool's Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas, birthday, etc. Second, my friend Summer made these last year for her family and I thought they were super cute. I happened to already have the book so I took the time to make them for my family this year.

First, all I did was buy some foil cupcake pans at the store. There are three in a package and they come with the liners too.

Second, I baked up some cupcakes. I decided on vanilla. I also had some leftover cupcakes and made some mini cupcakes, which was a good idea (if I do say so myself) because I ended up using them later on. Just make sure you don't overfill these cupcakes. Two-thirds and no more!

Peas and Carrots

Tint frosting green. I used green Runts and diced orange Starburst.

Mashed Potatoes

Pile on the white frosting, making a well in the center and building up the wall a little. Put a yellow Starburst a little off center and pour on some warm caramel sauce for the "gravy", letting it spill over a little.

Chicken Legs

Frost the cupcake, then secure a mini cupcake (or small doughnut hole) off center with toothpicks. Build it up with frosting until it looks like a cone and then roll around in cornflake crumbs. For the bone, I piped some melted white chocolate into a bone shape and let it set in the freezer, then stuck it on the top.

For dinner, we had mashed potato "sundaes" where we layered mashed potatoes, popcorn chicken and corn into sundae glasses, topped with gravy and a cherry tomato. Super cute and my kids loved eating out of fancy glasses (I got them at the dollar store).

It's a terrible picture and I used instant mashed potatoes which weren't as stiff as homemade, but you get the point, right? I stuck in some Garlic Ranch Breadsticks from the Barefoot and Baking blog too. They were twisted so they kind of looked like a cookie and they were soooo yummy! You can't go wrong with garlic and ranch dressing!