Barefoot Bloggers-Baked Shrimp Scampi

This weeks Barefoot Blogger's recipe was Barefoot Contessa's Baked Shrimp Scampi submitted by Insanely good food.

I halved the recipe mainly because the shrimp I had already in my freezer was a 31 to 40 count and divided by 5 eaters-3 children I figured 6 to 8 shrimp were plenty.  Well I baked it up and even put it under the broiler but my color did not look like the photo in the cookbook.  The flavor was nice with ample amounts of sauce, maybe more because my shrimp still had a little frost on them!!  This was fine with me as I made a side of angel hair pasta and served the shrimp and sauce over it.  The kids gobbled this up.

 before it was baked

baked version

Since I had the oven already on 425' I decided to make Ina's Roasted Parmesan Broccoli on the side.  It was a great well rounded meal that was easy prep and clean up!!  Definitely will make again!!

The Cupcake Cake

The kids and I wanted to make their father a birthday cake.  Knowing he was going to only be home briefly and not while the kids were awake to sing etc. I had to decide on how to make the cake without having it leftover for me to just sit and eat all week by myself.  Since I was doing the baking process with my 3 year old there was some negotiation to do.  He wanted big cake instead of cupcakes and I was thinking leftover cupcakes can freeze up for another occasion...

Here is what I decided to do and thought it was a great tip for those of you not wanting a double layered cake sitting around your kitchen over lent especially!  I was crunched for time so I made a packaged mix and I filled 6 jumbo muffin tins with batter for the "cake" and then used st. patrick's day cupcake holders in regular sized muffin tin.  If using a cookie scoop to divide your batter, I found 2 batter scoops work perfectly for the jumbo muffin tins.

Since the kids were going to want their share tonight before dad got home, I made 2 separate cakes to enjoy and decorate.  By frosting the cupcakes and putting them together it made them feel it was a big round cake!! 

 Using the frosting doodle you can decorate your plate as you would a round cake.

Since the kids chose green frosting I could not resist to make the other cake a clover, in preparation for St. Patrick's Day.

Simply put your cupcakes in a freezer bag and you can defrost them on your counter top when you need them.  Not only did I save myself the guilt of the leftover cake, I have 12 cupcakes in the freezer to pull out next month for St. Patrick's day....Have any fun decorating ideas.

I discovered a new product, canned buttermilk

I recently read a quick tip to have powdered buttermilk in your pantry.  Well I rarely use buttermilk unless I am baking a cake and you end up wasting the rest of the carton. Sometimes I have made sour milk simply by adding vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk. This is even a better solution.  Saco Cultured Buttermilk Blend. You do have to refrigerate it after opening.

I bought it at the grocery store with no recipe in mind but just curious what this product was as I never noticed it before.

One morning we were out of pancake mix and looked for a recipe in my "Better Homes and Garden" cookbook.  It was listed at a "fast" recipe.

Well the kids declared these the best pancakes that they had.  By just adding water to the powder it replaces the amount of buttermilk in your recipe.  They did not even notice I replaced half of the flour for King Arthur's white whole wheat flour.  If you worry about convenience of pancake mix, why not make an extra batch of the dry ingredients and store them in the fridge for later use!!

Also I like to make a double batch of pancakes and then freeze them for a quick weekday breakfast.  Simply cool them off on a wire rack, (this keeps them from getting soggy) and place between wax paper in a freezer bag.  You can then take out as many as you need and pop them in the microwave or even toaster.

Recipe:  Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

• 1  cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1  teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1  egg, slightly beaten
• 1  cups buttermilk or sour milk (
• 2  tablespoons cooking oil
•  1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
•   Desired syrup (optional)

directions

1. In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl use a fork to combine egg, buttermilk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be slightly lumpy). If desired, stir in desired fruit.

2. For standard-size pancakes, pour about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet, spreading batter if necessary. For dollar-size pancakes, use about 1 tablespoon batter. Cook over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until pancakes are golden brown, turning to second sides when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and edges are slightly dry. Serve warm. If desired, top with syrup. Makes 12 standard-size pancakes or 40 dollar-size pancakes.

Barefoot Bloggers-Coconut Cupcakes

24 cupcakes.  Well I am not sure if it was the coconut or just the mere thought of eating a cupcake without a birthday involved, but I was stuck after the night with 20 cupcakes.  I graciously delivered them to neighbors. Had I known they wouldnot have been eaten, I would have frozen the unfrosted cupcakes.

There are a lot of ingredients which made it a little expensive, but worth the steps.  I am a chocolate girl myself but did enjoy these.  The frosting recipe makes more than you would need to  generously frost the cupcakes.  I but some in the freezer but it did not do very well.  I could not just throw it out, but now I will:)  IF you have a crowd that likes coconut definitely give this recipe a try.

Recipe 3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature 2 cups sugar 5 extra-large eggs at room temperature 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup buttermilk 14 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut Cream Cheese Icing (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer running on low, add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In three parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each cup to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely. Frost with cream cheese icing and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.
CREAM CHEESE ICING
for 18 to 20 large cupcakes
1 pound cream cheese at room temperature
3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, blend together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until smooth.

It is very important that the cream cheese and butter are at room temperature and that the confectioners’ sugar is sifted to ensure no lumps in the icing.

Make-ahead Cranberry Scones

My first recipe I tried from my sweepstakes reward, Make-ahead Meals for the Busy Moms was Cranberry Scones. I have actually never made scones before so I was thrilled to give it a try.  The great part about these is that you can make them the night before for a yummy treat the next morning with little effort, or a far as 2 months ahead.

Since I have never made them before I strictly followed the directions.  I will definitely make these again, I still have 4 in my freezer for Valentines Day Breakfast.  Next time I will maybe add a little orange zest and try rolling them out and using a biscuit cutter or heart shape cutter!!  Also will look for larger sanding sugar to sprinkle on top.

I have seen the Barefoot Contessa make scones so I know they should have chunks of butter in the batter.

1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk ( I had half and half)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch squares
1/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries.
2 tsps flour (to dust counter tops)

Egg Wash  1 egg plus 1 tablespoon whole milk blended, 1 tbs. sugar

In a small bowl, combine 1 egg, 1/2 cup milk and vanilla: set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  with the mixer on low-medium speed, add the butter and mix until the mixture has very small crumbs.  Add the wet ingredients on low speed.  Stir in the cranberries. Lightly dust the countertop with 2 tsps of flour. Place the dough on top of the flour and knead the dough a few times.  Flatten the dough into a circle that is 1 inch thick.  cut the dough like a pie, 8 equal wedges.  Place the wedges on a sheet pan and cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 -4 hrs.  Place the frozen scones into a freezer bag and include the following baking instructions.  ( you can also just wrap the scones and place in the fridge overnight for next day baking!!)

Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place the frozen scones on top and thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes.  burst the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 20 minutes at 375'F.  the scones are done when an toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Serve warm or at room temp.  Can be frozen up to 2  months

Kids Valentine's Cards

Well we are being hit by our third snow storm this season.  Feels like I am back home in Chicago where I think they are actually getting less than us this year.  To top it off school was canceled today b/f the snow even started.  Basically means the kids and I have some time to complete their Valentine's Day Cards.

My daughter wanted to make the paw chocolate sucker mold I found at our Ben Franklin store this fall.  The school symbol is the cougar paw. I agreed but did most of the detail work.  Making chocolate molds are an intermediate task for children if you use more than one color.  If you melt the chocolate in baggies and then cut the corner the kids can squeeze and fill the molds on their own.  I used a "candy brush" to paint the paw details.

I had small baggies you find where you find the chocolate molds to cover the suckers. If you don't have any, you can use plastic wrap.  I had to use some of these as we ran out of the baggies, I think they are just as impressive.  Just cut a piece of plastic wrap twice the height and width of area you want covered.

What started as a "design your Valentine and then we will create it in bulk" turned into an even easier task.  My Daughter and I decided to scan her art work she came up with and make that into the card.

For my son, I found these sports candy necklaces in the dollar spot at Target.  Do you hear a theme of where I have been shopping this season!  I also had him design his own picture and once again an instant card to hold the treats.

I just scanned them and printed them onto card stock, allowing for blank space so I could wrap it around the packaging.

I would love to hear about your creative and inexpensive Valentine's Day class treats.

Heart Adorned Headband

I am taking a break from food treats and make something for my daughters many crafts.   I had some felt leftover from birthday party craft and have seen felt flowers on the web.  Simply cut out 3 or 4 heart shapes in descending sizes.  I used a little embroidery floss and made a little adornment around the biggest one.  Then connect them all by sewing on a button.

 But, instead of making the heart a permanent headband, I glued it on to an alligator clip so she can take it on and off the woven headbands.  I may have to come up with so more cute designs for adornments.

For more woven headband options, you can check out my other webpage with examples.  CTH Designs

Tempering chocolate in microwave and Chocolate covered Strawberries

I was in charge of a dessert/fruit tray for an event this weekend.  I thought I would kill two birds by making Chocolate Covered strawberries along with Oatmeal Carmelittos which I will share with you in a later post.  I also thought this would be a great reminder of Valentine's Day.

Tempering chocolate is a science, one that I don't follow or understand.  I simply like to microwave the chocolate, the best you can afford, for 30 second increments.  When it is almost melted, stir and add a few more chips to lower the temperature. The stirring and cooling in this process makes the chocolate shiny.

When making Chocolate Covered strawberries, wash the berries before and make sure they are completely dry or you will have a disaster on had.  It is best to do them room temperature as well so you don't get any condensation.

Simply dip and let stand on parchment paper in the fridge or in a cool room. You can either double dip them in white chocolate or drizzle over them  Be sure if you are double dipping the first layer of chocolate is cooled completely and the second layer cooled slightly or you will have a mess!

And then comes the snowball effect of my projects.  Literally this weekend as we were in 14 inches of snow.  Once I realized I had left over chocolate I could not waste it so I took out some pretzel sticks and decided to make a Valentine themed pretzel treats.

Doing so I experimented with the kids and made pink chocolate using some white chocolate and red chocolate discs....a little hard to tell but it was a pretty color pink.  I prefered the pink chocolate drizzled over the white versus the all pink pretzel.

I found these cute themed sprinkles at Target for 2.00 in the Dollar Spot section!!  For this price you don't mind if the kids are a little aggressive with the sprinkles.

Surely I did not want to eat all of these sweet treats around the house, so I came up with this packaging.  So simple, just print out a label on card stock, being sure to have it as wide as your bag and twice the length as  you want the design.  Just fold over and staple.  A sweet treat that looks both professional and thoughtful!

My pretzel bags are large enough for two pretzel rods each.  If you prefer to give just one pretzel, just fold them over carefully and staple on the label.  A great classroom treat that the kids can do almost by themselves!!  (have the adult melt all the chocolate)

And then...I had some extra pink chocolate left over, so I did some free hand hearts onto the parchment paper, these would be cute adornments to a cupcake or brownie!!   I stop there...

Here is a readers example, she priced out the pretzel project and it cost only $5.00 for all the ingredients for a bag of pretzel rods!!