Category Archives: Cooking

Frosted Cinnamon Rolls

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 21 November, 2013 None comments

I have never made cinnamon rolls before now because I truly have never liked them. My mom always made them when we were kids and I only ate hers but never wanted to bake them myself as the time consumption wasn’t worth it to me. Something about her ooey gooey rolls made them desirable. Most cinnamon rolls I’ve had are dry not worth the calorie intake but my moms were different. There was a gooeyness that would ooze out whenever you would take a bite. The perfect amount of cinnamon, sugar and butter would fill my mouth with pure joy. The glaze atop the bun would make complete this masterpiece.

I remember hovering over the countertop when I was little when she would make them. I would lick up the gooey goodness that would ooze out as she cut the long loaf and placed them into the pan. For some reason I have wanted to become that little girl again and sit at the counter while my mom made her delicious cinnamon rolls and relive those precious moments.

Since I couldn’t relive those moments I decided to make my first set of cinnamon rolls and they turned out fabulously. I just wish my mom lived closer so I could take her one to eat with her coffee.

Dough:

2 cup whole milk
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
4 ½ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tbsp salt

Filling:

1 ½ cup melted butter, plus more as needed
¼ cup ground cinnamon for sprinkling
1 ½ cup sugar, plus more as needed

Frosting:

4oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Mix milk, vegetable oil, and ½ cup of sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point.) Remove from heat and let it cool 45 minutes.

When the mixture is lukewarm but NOT hot, add yeast and stir. Let this sit for a minute and then add 4 cups of flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour. I keep it on the stovetop with a tea towel atop and let it rest in the same saucepan.

Next, add remaining ½ cup flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir mixture together. From here, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it—overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to rise out of the pan, just punch it down. Or, of course, you can just go ahead and make the rolls.

Sprinkle surface generously with flour and roll the dough into a thin rectangular shape. Brush melted butter on top, then sprinkle sugar over the butter, and finish with cinnamon.

Starting with the wide end, roll the dough tightly towards you in a neat line. Spread 1 tbsp of melted butter in 9×13 baking dish. With a sharp knife, begin cutting the dough into 1 inch slices, and laying them in the pans. Let rest for 20-30 minutes covered with tea towel. Bake at 375 degrees for 13-17 minutes, or until golden.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. I prefer frosting to a glaze. I think the frosting makes the cinnamon roll complete. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together until there are no chunks. Spread atop cinnamon rolls AFTER they have cooled to prevent melted frosting.

White Chocolate Pecan Pumpkin Muffins

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 20 November, 2013 None comments

When you have such a long name for the item you are baking, it says it all, the name being so long is a catalyst for the delicious ingredients that rest in the muffin. To me this is the perfect holiday food. Deee-licious! I keep them coming this time of year as it’s a great excuse to keep baking all the foods you want but can’t justify during the middle of summer. I believe this is why the holiday weight starts gravitating towards our hips and buttocks; lots of comfort food. :)

I actually started the morning off baking these muffins as our house was a bit chilly with the evening frost. The heat was already turned up and if I had a say, I would leave the heat at 78 for complete comfort but would create the perfect sauna for my husband. So, we steer clear of that and I resorted to baking to help add the extra heat that I absolutely love; a blazing oven.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tbsp. allspice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree 1
¼ cups vegetable oil
2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.

Line muffin tins with liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt and baking soda, stir to combine.

In a standing mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin-puree and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended.

With the mixer on low slowly add dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated

Add white chocolate chips and pecans and give it a good stir.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookie Bars

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 19 November, 2013 None comments

Yesterday I went on a baking spree and made White Chocolate Chip Pecan Pumpkin muffins, Cranberry Cookie’s, Artisan bread and homemade spaghetti. My girlfriend came over for dinner with her son while our husbands went out and watched the Blazers game. I’ve been in a huge holiday cooking mode and have wanted to use the fresh cranberries I got last week.

Both of our sons are on a food strike and we both felt confident that they would eat spaghetti because what kid doesn’t like pasta? Ours! Okay it’s not that they don’t like it, but Coopers deal is anything and everything the last two months. He will not eat unless it’s scrambled eggs or desserts. It’s not suiting my fancy whatsoever so I’ve had to set limits that if he doesn’t eat in his highchair, he is choosing to go to bed hungry. This hasn’t really worked as he is getting most his nutrients from milk right now. I’ve had to come to the realization that I am providing him with a well-balanced diet so I can’t worry about him getting “enough” to eat. He will eat and drink when he is ready. This is a hard one for me, I feel responsible as I am the mother.

All that to say, last night my agreement with Cooper still remained: “if you don’t eat dinner, you go to bed hungry!” Sadly to say this lasted for only an hour. I was sitting on the floor eating my dessert and while I walked away for some water real fast, he stumbled upon the dessert plate. Clearly my strategy to hide it behind his giant ball where we were sitting on the floor wasn’t a good enough hiding spot. Or shall I say it wasn’t hidden at all and was placed directly in his sight. There was no stopping him at that point, he absolutely loved the sugary dessert but why wouldn’t he? Maybe the small amount of vitamin C from the cranberries will help provide some nutrients. :) It was very tasty and I let him partake in this dessert as it allowed me to get “seconds” now that I was sharing. Sweet baby.

Cranberry Cookie

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries (if you use frozen, don’t thaw)
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350ºF and spray a 9×13-inch pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, cream together canola oil, butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.

Add the flours and baking soda and stir just until the batter comes together.

Spread 2/3 of the batter in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with berries, then drop the remaining dough in spoonful’s over the fruit – it will spread as it bakes, and you don’t need to cover it all.

Bake for 30 minutes, until lightly golden.

This recipe was super easy and a quick last minute dessert. I enjoyed this recipe so much that I decided I would add this to the list of Thanksgiving desserts.

Sweet Creamy Carrot Soup

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 15 November, 2013 None comments

Sweet Creamy Carrot Soup

I took a friend out to lunch the other day for her birthday. We went to Bridgeport; it is a large outside shopping center that has a lot of yummy restaurants. We were going to go to Pastini’s which I love, but as we were driving through the parking lot we saw a new restaurant Called Twig. From the outside it looked very intriguing that we decided to test it out. They had only been open for four days.

Their burgers looked delicious so I decided to get one; I am easily pleased with a big burger. This gorgonzola garlic burger came with a side of sweet carrot soup. My girlfriend got a fajita salad that actually was very tasty and had good size chunks of steak on it.

My soup came out first and was honestly the best thing I have had in a long time. This carrot soup was so sweet and had caramel drizzle on top. I gave some to Cooper and he absolutely loved it. I was raving about this soup, it was amazing, honestly amazing. Every Thursday they make this soup so I made a large mental note of that. My burger was absolutely amazing as well. It had full chunks of grilled garlic, a bbq spicy aioli and big chunks of gorgonzola. I was thoroughly impressed by this new restaurant and their prices were incredible for their taste. It was soooooo good. I will be taking my husband there and making sure it happens on a Thursday to make sure I get their carrot soup again. :)

After eating I still couldn’t forget about the soup. I decided to embark on this task since both Cooper and I loved it. I ran to Trader Joes on my way home and got some fresh carrots. I have never made carrot soup before but thought it couldn’t be that hard. Tonight was the night.

My husband got home and said it smelt so good in the house and asked what it was. I simply said “dinner” without emphasizing what kind of soup I had made. I dished him up a bowl and made him some toast to dip it in. He took one bite and was raving about it, literally! He asked what it was and finally I told him it was creamy carrot soup. He was utterly surprised but loved it and asked where I got the recipe. I explained my lunch date and how I was attempting to make it myself. He was very complimentary about my cooking (sweet man) and told me he doesn’t know how I do it; creating a recipe from scratch but loved it.

This recipe is super easy and quick. The only time restriction is chopping the carrots, celery and potatoes. You can chop them large because they will cook down. This is a great meal when you are busy and don’t have a lot of time.

Ingredients:

1lb peeled carrots, chopped
2 cups chopped celery
6 large red potatoes, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp Avocado Oil (EVOO works great too)
2-3 Garlic cloves, minced
2-3 cup water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprkia
1 tbsp Oregano
2 Sprigs fresh Rosemary
1-2 tsp Salt
Dash of black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 can evaporated milk
½ cup half and half
Chicken Bouillon, scoop 2 tbsp or 3-4 cubes (I use Costco Better than Bouillon so it’s more of a paste)
1 tbsp Honey

In a large pot drizzle a little Oil and add carrots, celery, potatoes, onion, garlic and 2 cups water. Add in cumin, paprika and oregano stir well and top with Rosemary. Cook covered on low heat for 1-2 hours

Once vegetables are softened and cooked, transfer to a food processor.

Puree until fully smooth and transfer back to your large pot. Add in salt, pepper and garlic salt.

Add evaporated milk, ½ & ½, Chicken bouillon, and honey. Heat through and taste test to see if you have reached the desired sweetness you are looking for. :)

Serve with warm bread and enjoy.

Forgotten Jambalaya

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 12 November, 2013 None comments

I must be enjoying the fall season to it’s fullest as I’ve really been using my crockpot almost everyday. Isn’t the crockpot the best invention though, I mean honestly, you can have a delicious yummy meal without a ton of work, but portrays a “slaving” meal. It’s great!

I have decided I would try a couple new things this week and actually write out my meal plans for two weeks. Yes TWO weeks. I am not sure how this will pan out but today is Wednesday and I have been on this since Sunday. I figured I would see if it helps me from impulse buys at the store and would also keep me from returning to the store multiple times throughout the week as I decide what to make and need the last minute run. This plan, I am hoping, will help save a few bucks and keep me to the task of making meals I talk about but resort to something else.

Tonight I made jambalaya as I love my mom’s Jambalaya and some of the recipes I’ve seen before require you to add rice to the pot. I do not prefer this as it can make for terrible leftovers and soggy rice. Yuck!

Ingredients:

2 cans diced tomatoe, undrained
2 cans chicken broth (I use Better than Bouillon)
2 cans tomato paste (6oz each)
1-2 medium diced green pepper
1 medium diced onion
3 celery ribs, chopped
Minced garlic
Splash of Parsley
Splash of Basil
Splash of Oregano
Dash of salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional, I enjoy a little spice)
½ tsp chili powder (optional, I enjoy a little spice)

1lb boneless chicken breast cut into chunks
1lb smoked sausage cut into chunks (I used Costco Hot sausage)
½ lb uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Hot cooked rice

In the crockpot, combine te tomatoes, broth and tomato paste. Stir in green peppers, onion, celery, garlic, and seasonings. Add chicken and sausage. (Leave shrimp out as it only takes 20-30 minutes to cook through)

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or until chicken is tender. 30 minutes before serving add shrimp, stir well and cover crockpot for remainder of cooking.

In a rice cooker while shrimp is cooking, add rice as they will be done roughly the same time.

In a large soup bowl add rice and top with Jambalaya. Serve with artisan bread and/or salad.

This is probably the best recipe I’ve had for Jambalaya. My mom has made this for years.

Twice Baked Tacos

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 5 November, 2013 None comments

Tacos, tacos and more tacos. These are absolutely my favorite dish in all my life. I am a complete foodie but absolutely love tacos above any other meal, there are a lot of close seconds, but this tops them all. All growing up my mom would ask what dinner we wanted for our birthday meal. I always picked Tacos, I don’t know if I ever chose anything but tacos. My moms homemade taco meat plus all the toppings and ranch was my dream come true. I remember when I was 8 years old and I was so excited for my birthday dinner I ate 8 soft tacos and/or double deckers. These 8 tacos were anything but small, I would add sour cream, ranch, meat, tomatoes, Spanish rice, lettuce, olives, cheese, and onions. Now that is what I am talking about, that’s a true taco. Although, if I remember correctly, I was sick as a dog afterwards. :)

I have been making this recipe for quite some time and my husband and I go nuts over it. We aren’t big crunchy taco fans, but this recipe is all crunchy and all delicious. The flavors blend perfectly that we don’t even get to add toppings as one bite leads to the next and the next that by the time we get to add toppings we have already ate the taco. Toppings would be good, but we don’t use them with this recipe. This is a one-pot-dish and that’s what is for dinner tonight.

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef or turkey
15 hard shell tacos
Minced onion
1 can Pinto Beans pureed
1 cup salsa
Garlic
2 tsp cumin
1/2-1 tsp cayenne pepper (depending how spicy you like it)
1/2-1 tsp paprika
2-3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
2 cups shredded cheese (Use whatever you have on hand. I’ve used Cojita, Mozzerlla, Cheddar or 4 cheese blend)

In a skillet cook meat thoroughly and add onion. While cooking, puree pinto beans in a food processor with juice. Do not add water. Add to meat and combine all remaining ingredients except cheese and mix well. Once seasoning is thoroughly mixed add 1 1/2 cup cheese to the skillet and let melt.

In a 9×13 pan, line with standing tortillas and spoon mixture into shells. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Optional Toppings:

Lettuce
Tomatoes
Onions
Olives
Ranch/blue cheese

Serve with brown rice and chips and salsa

Peanut Butter Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 31 October, 2013 None comments

My husband asked me the other night for something sweet. I asked what kind of cookies he would like and his response was: “Some sort of chocolaty, peanut buttery, nutty cookie goodness.” What was I supposed to take from that, he comes up with the funniest yet weirdest things and makes it sometimes difficult to produce what he is thinking. He is the type that gets a bee in his bonnet and will not be satisfied until he gets what he’s dreamt up. So I challenged his vision of a cookie and told him I would make them if he would give our son a LONG bath. (Cooper loves baths and can play forever; I also wanted some alone time in the kitchen)

Basically I took my Ultimate Chocolate Cookie recipe and tweaked it to add peanut butter and pecans.

Ingredients

¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened (I almost melt the butter entirely but leave a couple chunks)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I used Pecans)
1/2 package Semi-sweet chocolate chips

In my Kitchen Aid Mixer I combined the first 6 ingredients and cream really well until light and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients except nuts and chocolate chips and beat well. Stir in remaining two ingredients.

On a greased cookie sheet spoon cookies and bake for 8-10 minutes until light brown.

My husband LOVED these cookies and said they are thus far his favorite cookies that I make. “Perfectly soft, yet perfectly done,” he said.

(Sorry this photo is a bit blurry, I didn’t realize it until after the cookies were basically all eaten from the plate)

I actually froze quite a few cookies considering this recipe makes about 30-36 cookies and we tend to eat about 4 at a time. :)

Pumpkin Puree

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 31 October, 2013 None comments

It’s that time of year pumpkins, decorations, leaves, fall cooking and much more. We went to the pumpkin patch this past weekend and I picked a couple extra pumpkins specifically for baking with. I wanted to make pumpkin bread as my sister has the best recipe known to man and I figured fresh pumpkin would make it even better, if that’s even possible.

If you have pumpkins lying around your house, when you are done with them make sure and use them before you toss them. Make the puree and freeze if you are not ready to cook/bake with them yet. It freezes very well and they lay flat in the freezer taking up minimal space.

Directions:

Cut the pumpkin stem off and scoop out all the seeds; save the seeds and bake them for a healthy snack.

Cut in half and than quarters to make smaller pieces to fit on a baking sheet. Do not add an Olive oil if you want the purest form of puree.

Bake at 400 degrees for 60 minutes.

Let cool for 30 minutes and peel off the skin before it cools completely.

In a food processor add the chunks of pumpkin and puree; if it’s too thick add 1/4 cup of water at a time until you get a smooth base.

Spoon mixture into quart size plastic bags with 2 cups in each bag. This way you know exactly the amount per bag when thawing for cooking. Makes very good soups, muffins and breads.

Chicken Salad

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 17 October, 2013 None comments

Since we have been gone for two weeks on vacation and we are only home for four days before we head back out for another five-day-get-away for my grandma’s funeral, I am very adamant not to go grocery shopping. Monday night when we got home I ran to the store to grab the staples: milk, bananas, bread, meat, and lettuce. I only spent $40 and am making this last four days while utilizing meat from our freezer for protein.

Tonight I wanted a quick meal as we don’t need leftovers in the house; I decided on a quick, healthy big chicken salad. However, I still have to go to the store (sad face), this is how empty our fridge is; no dressings. I could resort to our rice vinegar with a dash johnny seasoning dressing, but because it is our only dish tonight, I thought we need the “comfort” dressing of blue cheese or ranch; add some fat to our meal.

I assume my husband won’t be a big fan of this dish as he loves comfort food, but decided he doesn’t need to know until it’s served before him. :) He will eat what’s provided, but guarantee he will eat more snacks tonight to feel more “satisfied.” Funny how our minds play this game on us, to me it just proves that we don’t eat healthy enough on a regular basis that our bodies ‘think’ they need more fatty, comfort food, rather than being satisfied with a salad that always fills our tummies. Roughage is a great filler and tells our bodies we are full when we actually are; leaving us to not overeat. Although, maybe I can blame it on vacation, we ate so terrible while we were gone (hince the word “vacation”) so maybe that’s why healthy food right now seems appealing. We ate ourselves into food comas. :)

Chicken Salad:

Spinach
Chicken
Beets
Avocado
Tomato
Mushrooms
Croutons
Blue Cheese

Enjoy a healthy salad now and again even if your man doesn’t prefer them. It’s always good to stick to roughage as it’s healthy, filling and helps get our servings of vegetables and/or fruit.

Oven Fried Chicken

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 13 October, 2013 None comments

13 years ago when I was in Palm Springs with a friend of mine and her family, we met up with an older couple who was a good family friend and lived at PGA West condos. We rented another one that we had the pleasure of relaxing in and enjoying our own private pool and hot tub. We also got to play tennis on their clay courts and I must say it was a very amazing experience. Wish I was a little older to have appreciated it more. Anyways, this couple had their condo directly on the golf course overlooking the beautiful green. They made us dinner one evening and it was to die for. Back then I still loved to cook but knew I needed to capture this recipe and make it my own. I asked her for it and she said she would get it for me but with time flying by on this trip, it never made it into my hands. I decided I would recreate this from memory when we arrived home. I must say it’s been a well talked about recipe and always gets compliments on and asked for.

Tenderizing the meat in this recipe is a must. I’ve tried both ways and it never tastes as well when not tenderized.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup Italian bread crumbs
1 cup parmesan cheese (may be freshly grated)
1 cup mayo
½ tsp garlic
½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
Chopped olives
½ cup chopped olives
½ cup sour cream
4 chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Tenderize the chicken breasts until they are flat as a pancake. The easiest way to do so without worrying about raw meat juice is to place one or two at a time in a zip lock bag. This keeps the juices contained and then you may just toss the baggie once done. Easy clean up. J Line a 9×13 pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl combine parmesan cheese, mayo, garlic, black pepper, Italian seasoning, olives, and sour cream. Coat each side of the chicken with the mayo mixture. Coat each side with the bread crumbs and lay in the pan; I always dump the extra on top of the chicken to make it extra creamy. Bake for 15-20 minutes until juices run clear.

Each oven is a different so depending if your oven is more warm, drop the temp 25 degrees and cook longer with less heat. This will keep the chicken moist and not dry out.