Thanksgiving is Almost Here!

Thanksgiving Time! That means lots of tasty Thanksgiving treats! In fact, I decided to give myself a preview tonight. I made Turkey Stove Top Stuffing! Yum! I am a HUGE fan of the stuffing (except for the oyster dressing that my aunt makes... lol!) So Stove Top is the greatest thing - quick and easy!

You just boil 1 1/2 cups water and 4 tbsp of butter (or spread) and add the mix. Then stir it, take it off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then fluff it with a fork and dig in! Mmmm!

I'm not sure what the family is doing for Thanksgiving. We're either going to my stepdad's parents' (his mom makes the most delicious food!) or taking it easy at home. Mom said we might even go out to eat somewhere (that's new - but could be neat!) I'll definitely let you know how it goes! I love Thanksgiving and all of the delicious food that comes with it! I don't know how I don't gain a million pounds after it! :p

Well, that's all for now, talk to you soon!

Happy Making!

Beefy Skillet Ravioli

It has been too long - I am bad at updating! I've just been so busy, I completely changed my major, but am still graduating in May - hooray! So, hopefully now I'll have more time to cook = update.

Today you're getting a bonus... 2 meals! A few weeks ago, I made dinner for Sam. We had another of those Complete Meals from Betty Crocker. This one was Creamy Turkey and Stuffing. (yum!)

After that, we decided to try a Complete Desserts, the Triple Chocolate Hot Fudge Cake, to be exact. It was delicious as well!

The only problem was that my oven was unknowingly on its 'broil' setting rather than 'bake.' Therefore, these two dishes weren't quite done all the way in the middle, but burnt on top (especially the brownies). Sam still liked them, and ate them, so when baked on the proper settings, I'm sure they're even better! :]

***

While Sam was in Shoals, IN with his friend Bobby, he saw this recipe on the side of a Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce can and thought it might be something we should try! So, we bought the ingredients and I made it for him on Friday. Here's the recipe:

Beefy Skillet Ravioli

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 can (26 oz) Hunt's Garlic and Herb Spaghetti Sauce

1 can (14.5 oz) Hunt's Diced Tomatoes with Sweet Onion or Hunt's Diced Tomatoes in Juice*

1 pkg. (9 oz) refrigerated cheese-filled ravioli

2 Tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 can mushrooms (0ptional - We decided to add this ourselves, we love mushrooms!)

*We used the latter

Brown ground beef in large skillet; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and tomatoes; blend well. (Add mushrooms, if desired.) Bring to a boil. Add ravioli to skillet; spoon meat sauce over ravioli until well coated. Reduce heat; cover and simmer on medium heat 15 minutes or until ravioli is tender. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley.

It turned out great! We loved it and the leftovers were even good the next day warmed up for lunch. I officially added it to my recipe book. :)

Hopefully now that I'm just working 9a-2p during the day, I can start updating more. Look for more soon!

Happy Making!

Wanting To Try...

I heard this recipe on TV the other day. Rachel Ray was on and I only was half paying attention. But I wrote it down when I heard what it was - and now I'm dying to try it! Check it out:

Coffee Sambuca Shakes

1/2 C. coffee, cold

splash of half & half or cream

2 shots sambuca liqueur (optional)

3 scoops of coffee (or vanilla) flavored

ice cream

Small palm full of chocolate covered espresso beans

Mix together in blender, pour into glass, garnish with whipped topping and a few chocolate covered espresso beans.

Doesn't it sound delicious? I think so - and I can't wait until it gets cold enough outside that I'll have coffee in the morning, which equals cold coffee later! (Not that I can't just make some...)

I should have another post up soon - if not tonight!

Happy Making!

Dinnertime!

The other night I decided to make dinner for my boyfriend, Sam, and I. He suggested Wet Burrito Casserole - a recipe from my mother. I love it too, so that's what we had! It's a tasty meal, and while it takes a little time to prepare, most of it (30 minutes) is while it's baking. Here is the recipe:

Wet Burrito Casserole

16 oz. sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 lb. hamburger

1 pkg. taco seasoning

16 oz. refried beans

1 pkg. soft flour tortillas

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

*optional: salsa or taco sauce

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix sour cream and soup. Put 1/2 of mixture in bottom of 9x13" pan. Brown hamburger; drain. Add seasoning and beans to hamburger. Divide mixture onto tortillas (I use all of the package). Roll up and place on sour cream mixture in pan. Top with remaining sour cream and soup mixture. Cover with cheese (I use it all - it's a lot, but good!). Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Serve with your favorite salsa or taco sauce.

See? It's super easy! And SOO good! The taco seasoning gives it a little extra flavor, and Sam and I love all the cheese. Plus, with the salsa, you can make it as spicy or mild as you prefer!

Before I go, I have another restaurant food plug. Sam and I went to Texas Roadhouse for our 2 year anniversary 2 nights ago. And while I LOVE the rolls there (you can never have too much bread in your life!) I had the Portobello Mushroom Chicken. It was SO good! Very moist, and the mushroom sauce and jack cheese went so well together. I'm so glad I tried something new. I would definitely recommend it if you're ever in the neighborhood!

It's going to be tough to update a lot this semester. I'm student teaching and that pretty much takes up all my time - including weekends. But hopefully I'll be back soon with more tasty dishes. :) If you have any good ideas or recipes to try out - let me know!

Happy Making!

Tree Bark Sundae

Have I got a yummy (and healthy!) snack for you...

I've been counting calories for a few months now, and my cousin introduced this sweet, but filling, treat. I make it for lunch everyday and take it to teaching with me. Here's the recipe:

Tree Bark Sundae

1/2 cup generic bran flakes cereal (I use Walmart's Great Value brand)

1/2 cup Special K cereal

1/2 container Weight Watchers Amaretto Cheesecake yogurt (although any should work!)

2 Tbsp. Cool-Whip Lite

fresh fruit (I usually use berries of some kind)

Mix all the ingredients together. (I mix the yogurt, Cool-Whip, and fruit first; then, mix in the cereal.) Enjoy!

How easy is that? And it's delicious! For reference, if you add:

4 raspberries and 10 blueberries, it's 221.8 calories

20 blueberries, it's 232 calories

approx. 1/4 cup of sliced strawberries, it's 230 calories

These are the only fruit combinations I've tried, and they've all been great! Be daring and try something new - peach? kiwi? cantaloupe? The possibilities are endless!

*Side Note: I count and keep track of my calories at caloriecount.about.com - it's easy and fast.

Well, I think that's all I have for today! Try this at home and let me know what you think!

Happy Making!

Okay. I need to get back on track

It has been too long. Unfortunately, now that I sit here and actually have time to post, I can't think of anything. I have been very busy with student teaching, but I hope to get going again on adding recipes and new dishes I've been trying.

I've been making dinner for Sam and I quite a bit lately. We've discovered these delicious (and SUPER easy) meals. They're called Betty Crocker Complete Meals. All you have to do is add water - everything else comes in the box! They have all different kinds, and there's enough to fill both Sam and I. I get them at Wal-Mart for $3.00. Can't beat that, right?

There are also VERY similar ones by Banquet. They're called Homestyle Bakes and are practically the same thing. I would recommend either!

Other than that, I haven't been making a lot lately. As soon as I make something from scratch again, I'll let you know! Yesterday, I went to Olive Garden and tried their Five Cheese Ziti al Forno. DELICIOUS! I also have plenty of leftovers, so that's always a plus as well! :)

Well, I will talk to you all later! Have fun making!

It's been WAY too long!

Hey all!

I would have updates and pictures, however, my hard drive crashed recently and I lost everything. So I'm going to start fresh and hopefully make something exciting soon! :) I hope everyone is doing well - it's finals week for me, but soon I will be a senior! Yay! Well, just wanted to check in. G'night all!

Valentine's Day Breakfast!

So, 5 days ago was Valentine's Day! Which I absolutely LOVE! :)

My friend Ashley M. and I made breakfast for the bf's over at my house. We made chocolate chip pancakes (which are actually super easy when using Bisquick!) and we bought some yummy doughnuts! (Sam's fave!)

I think they turned out very tasty, and the boys loved that we made it for them! I wish I had taken pictures, but I spaced and didn't even think about it! However, since Sam couldn't get me a real puppy for V-day, he got me these two adorable ones instead!:

Aren't they just precious!? The one on the left is Bernie and the one on the right is Dave. That's right, he even named them. I'm just tickled pink! :) I got him a book of the pictures that were Pulitzer Prize winners in photojournalism. He loved it!

We went to Olive Garden that night. I LOVE their breadsticks and salad. I'm a big fan of bread and couldn't live without carbs. If anyone is ever at the Garden in the near future, I definitely recommend the Ravioli di Portobella. Scrumptious! (Unless you don't like mushrooms....then I would try the Stuffed Chicken Marsala!) Haha... enough food talk for now, I need to skidaddle!

-Ash

Super Bowl Sunday!

So I know it's after Super Bowl Sunday, but I made these two little cakes for the game and I wanted to share. There were a bunch of ideas online, but none that I wanted to totally copy. So, I made my own.

Everything that could've went wrong with these puppies did. Luckily, they were able to be salvaged. They weren't coming out the way I had imagined, and they aren't as good as I wanted, in fact, I was quite disappointed. However, everyone liked them, and they still tasted quite tasty! :)

For the first one, I made a Funfetti cake (which the side fell off of when I took it out of the pan, luckily I could "glue" it back on with frosting!) Then, I covered it with green food colored icing...yum! (It took A LOT of green food coloring to dye it this green...) then I had some Decorating Cookie Icing that I made the field lines with. I then cut a football out of a chocolate cake and frosted it with chocolate frosting and used the decorating icing for the laces. I then added the names on the endzones and voila! (Then, I covered it, which accidentally tore off some of the icing, so I had to do touch-ups...Gr.)

For the second, I used the second half of the chocolate cake. I covered it in the white icing and then looked up the Super Bowl XLIII symbol and copied it on to the cake, using white frosting dyed green, blue, and (almost) red. It was hard to trace the letters, but that decorating icing came in SO handy! I'm okay with how it turned out!

All in all, these cakes were fun to make. Next year, I'm definitely considering trying to use fondant instead of icing, I think it would look smoother and be a little easier, but this was my first time, so I think it was okay!

Can't wait to share more fun ideas with you all!

- Ash

My first post!

Welcome to my page! B is for Baking! :) I won't be able to update everyday, but when I come across cute baking or cooking ideas, I will definitely let you know! I might also update on random moods and ideas that I have... about anything!

I'm very excited to get this blog on the way, but be patient; I'm a beginner and it will take a while for me to learn how to decorate and add to my page!

Hope everyone has a good Friday tomorrow!

-Ash