Egg Custard Recipe

Ingredients

4 large Eggs

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 can Evaporated Milk

1 cup Water

2 tsp. Vanilla extract

Ground Nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a sauce pan bring all the ingredients together until steaming, but do not boil.  

Pour into a baking dish, sprinkle with nutmeg, and place in a water bath. (I place my small baking dish in a bigger baking dish filled with water.  You want the water to come up about 1/2 inch to 1 inch on the sides of the baking dish with the custard in it.) Bake for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Let cool on a cooling rack and then place leftovers in the fridge.  If desired sprinkle more nutmeg on top when the custard comes out the oven.  Enjoy!

Cherry Chip Cupcakes with Cherry Vanilla Icing

I always make a Valentine's Day treat for Dave.  We were sitting here tonight talking about our upcoming Valentine's tradition of Crab Legs and having dinner at home, and he said, "Remember those cupcakes you made last year?  The cherry ones?  They were amazing, and I was wondering if you could make them again this year."  With a sweet request like that how in the world could I tell this cute little man no?  I love him so much I could just eat him up, but I'll save that for the cupcakes.  

Anyway back to the cupcakes, so unfortunately this is not my recipe, but I have no idea where in the world I got it.  I just know that whomever made it rocks at cupcakes and I want her or him to be my friend.  :)  So if you want to dazzle your man or woman on V-Day this year, aim for her or his stomach and make these!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Flour

1 cup Sugar

1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted, room temp. Butter

1/2 cup Sour Cream

2 Eggs, room temp.

2 tsp. PURE Cherry extract

1/2 tsp. Fresh Lemon Zest (this is the ingredient that will make these cupcakes knock your lovers socks off!)

1/2 cup Sweet Cherry Chips (I use Gurleys)

(I also add a little red food coloring to my batter because I think it makes the cupcakes look cute, as you can see)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350

Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
.
In your mixer whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Mix in butter, sour cream, eggs, cherry extract, and lemon zest.  Mix until well combined, and then fold in with a rubber spatula the cherry chips.

The you're just going to take your cookie scooper or just use a Tbs. and put 3 Tbs. in each one of your liners.

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  You want to make sure you take them out before they start to go golden brown on the top.  Then let cool completely before icing.

Cherry Vanilla Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted Butter

1/2 lb. Powdered Sugar

1-2 tsp. Pure Cherry Extract

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. Lemon Juice

1/4 tsp. Salt

2 Tbs. Heavy Cream

Directions
Mix all ingredients together in a mixer and add a little food coloring if so desired.  Frost your cuppy cakes!

Cranberry Glaze Turkey Meatballs

I tried these earlier this week and I loved them.  I took a recipe I found online somewhere and made it my own, and I was super excited on how it turned out.  This is another really good dish to take to your superbowl party coming up!

Ingredients for Glaze
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Water
12oz. Cranberries (fresh or frozen)
pinch of salt
1 tsp. Orange zest
2 tsp. Cidar Vinegar

Directions for Glaze
Bring everything to a simmer in a pot.  Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Let simmer for 20 minutes.  Then take out of the pot and push through a strainer with a bowl on the opposite side to catch the glaze that's being pushed through the strainer.  Set aside.






Ingredients for Meatballs
2 large slices of bread
2 Tbs. Milk
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
1 1/2 lb. Ground Turkey
1/4 cup Cottage Cheese
1 egg
1 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. dried Fennel seeds
2 tsp. dried Parsley flakes
flour for dusting
Vegetable oil for cooking

Directions for Meatballs
Tear your bread into crumbs and then mix with milk.  Whisk an egg in a separate bowl.  Combine the egg and the crumbs to the rest of the ingredients in a big mixing bowl.  Mix everything together with your hands and then make into 2 inch round meatballs.

Heat 1/4 cup of vegetable oil to a rippling stage.  Sprinkle flour on meatballs and then slowly brown on each side.  Once every side is browned on each meatball, pour the glaze over the meatballs.  Put a lid on and let simmer for 5-10 minutes, just until the meatballs are completely cooked and the glaze has thickened.  Serve over some Jasmine rice!  Yummy!!

Valentine's 2012

I have my girlfriends, sister, nieces, and mom that I do Valentine's day gifts for and this year I'm into mason jar gifts.  I wanted to show you what I'm doing to give you an idea and start getting those creative juices going.  the first

1. Cookies in a Mason Jar

Bake up your favorite cookie and then in the short and fat mason jars fill up with a couple and they decorate.  Get a white and re fabric and hot glue to the top, and add a bunch of red, pink, and white ribbon, and had a little tag from you.  Here's my example.

So easy and so fun!  I promise your friend will love it.  Another idea if you don't want to back.  Get a pair of V-Day socks, some chapstick, yummy lotion, and some peppermint oil maybe a puma stone and that makes a great gift!  Anything in a mason chair this year is big and you can make it look soo cute!

2.  Cake in a Mason Jar

Make your favorite cake, add a little in once it's cooked, add a little frosting, and then add more cake.  Close it up and add your cute note and ribbons.

My last Valentine's idea is
3. Smores in a Mason jar from a darling little site I cam across 

http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/04/smores-cake-in-a-jar/

S’mores Cake in a Jar

makes 4 16-ounce mason jar cakes

for crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 stick butter

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter and mix in graham crumbs and salt. Mix until moistened. Spray 4 mason jars with non-stick spray and press graham crust into jars. I began by adding a tablespoon to each, and repeating until graham crumbs were gone. They don’t need to look perfect. I pressed the crumbs down firmly with the flat bottom of a clean screwdriver.

for cake: (from peanut butter hot fudge cupcakes)

1 1/8 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon heavy cream

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons sour cream

for topping:

1 bag of large marshmallows

In a bowl, whisk egg and sugar until smooth and no lumps remain. Add milk, cream, butter and vanilla, and mix until combined. Stir in sour cream. Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Mix until batter is smooth. Using a 1/4 cup measure, add batter to mason jars one scoop at a time. You only want to fill them up about half way, and the batter should work evenly for 4 jars. Again – don’t worry if it is perfect. Place mason jars in a baking dish and add about 1 1/2 cups of water to the bottom. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cake is set.

Remove cake from the oven and press large marshmallows down on top, being careful not to burn yourself. There is no set number of marshmallows to use, I pressed down as many as I could, about 4-5 each. Heat the broiler on your oven and watching carefully, brown marshmallows for about 1-2 minutes, or until golden brown. Do not take your eyes off them! Serve immediately.

So there you do everyone!  This Valentine's you decorate that Mason Jar, and add something yummy, and all those girls in your life, and hubby/boy is going to love it too!  Here are so fun ideas.  Happy Valentine's Day!