S'more what?

S'more Cupcakes : recipe adapted from bakerella.com

I talked to my mom today. She was busy making carrot cake for an activity this evening. I was planning a casual dinner with some neighbors. Her cake making inspired me to get busy with dessert. I have had this recipe in my files for a while now and I am so glad to have finally made them. They are so good. I am hoping for some rave reviews tonight :)

Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup melted butter
6 jumbo marshmallows cut in half

Graham Cracker Crumb topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted

Ganache
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together with a wire whisk.
Separate the mixture in half into two bowls.

Stir cocoa into one bowl and the graham cracker crumbs into the other.
Add 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 cup melted butter into the cocoa mixture and beat on medium until combined.
Repeat adding the same ingredients to the graham cracker crumb flour mixture.

Prepare the graham cracker crumb topping.
Add the brown sugar and crumbs in a small bowl and pour on the melted butter. Stir until combined.

Pour a little graham cracker cake batter into the bottom of your baking cups and then sprinkle the topping mixture lightly on the surface. Cover the topping with the chocolate cake batter until it is about 3/4 full.
Sprinkle with more topping mixture.

Bake cupcakes for about 15 minutes. When the cupcakes have about 3 minutes of bake time left pull them out of the oven and push 1/2 of a marshmallow into the center of each cupcake. Return to the oven to finish baking and to brown the marshmallows. Place a cookie sheet underneath when you bake just in case.

This recipe will make at least 12 cupcakes.

Let cool and top with ganache. Gotta love ganache!

These cupcakes turned out super full of flavor and moist. The marshmallow center is awesome!

Care Bears

Mia got this little care bear house from my mom when she came to visit. She adores it. She spends a lot of time setting up the little furniture and letting her care bears watch "bear show" on their tiny television! This morning, after Max left for school, I got Mia all set up with her care bears next to a space heater. She was pretty happy! Now she just needs some hot chocolate for some perfect girl time!

Lomo Saltado

Ty served his mission in Peru. When we lived in Utah we loved eating at a little peruvian restaurant in Provo. Our favorite dish is called Lomo Saltado. It is steak strips cooked with onions, tomatoes, and french fries. It is traditionally served with a large helping of white rice and aji. Aji is a spicy sauce served and eaten like we eat ketchup in America.
Ty and I spent the late afternoon and early evening in the kitchen together cooking up some authentic lomo saltado! Ty made the fries and they came out perfect! I made the aji and it was pretty delicious as well. It was so much fun to be in the kitchen together and we had a great dinner too!

Baking Day

White Bread
(I am usually all about the whole wheat with added flax and grain and fiber, but today the family won me over and I made plain old white bread...It was delicious)

1 package yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup nonfat dry milk
5 cups bread flour

1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Add the sugar and allow to activate.....10 minutes or so until bubbly.
2. Add about 1 cup of the flour and then incorporate the eggs and salt. Continue adding flour until you have a nice dough. Knead and set in a buttered bowl in a warm place to rise.

3. After about an hour of rising you should have a great big overflowing blob of bread dough. Punch down dough and divide into 2. Shape loaves and set in pans. Allow to rise once more until doubled.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

All ready for butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar!

A Morning Well Spent

And we spent nothing at all! It was another free breakfast Tuesday at Chik-Fil-A and another snow day for Max. Hurray for indoor playgrounds :)

The freebie breakfast today was cinnamon rolls. We are all about the frosting!

We brought our own drinks from home to enhance the free-ness.

After some cinnamon goodness the kids were ready to play. I love this little playground!

When we first arrived Max and Mia had the place to themselves, but it was soon a hustlin' and a bustlin'.

Zac was asleep for the first hour and I enjoyed some foodie mags! Party planning is so much fun!

Zac woke up and wowed me with his baby blues. Love this little guy!

Orange Chicken

Happy Chinese New Year!
I had a difficult time deciding what to make for Valentine's Day dinner this year. I was thrilled to learn that in addition to being Valentine's Day, February 14th was also Chinese New Year 2010! Ty loves chinese food so I decided our romantic/new year's meal would be orange chicken.

Orange Chicken

2 lbs. chicken cut into small cubes
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups flour
1 egg
oil for frying

Orange Sauce

1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons diced green onion

3 tablespoons cornstarch
2-3 tablespoons water

1. Combine the flour with the salt and pepper. Beat the egg.
2. Toss the chicken pieces with the egg and coat with the seasoned flour. Fry at 375 degrees until golden brown.
3. To make the sauce in a large saucepan combine the 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, rice vinegar, and the soy sauce. Heat over medium to high heat.
4. Add the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and green onion.
Bring to a boil.
5. In a small bowl mix together the cornstarch with the water. Add to the sauce to thicken.
6. Pour sauce over chicken and stir to coat. Serve the chicken over white rice.

Have a great year of the Tiger!

Eclairs and Bananas Foster

It is actually quite difficult to photograph an eclair...
I made a batch of chocolate eclairs for Ty for Valentine's day. It was my first time making them and it was a huge mess, but yummy. Happy Valentine's Day Ty!

Last night we had our Valentine's date night. Ty and I went to my very fav restaurant, Chef's. We had a great time and I tried bananas foster for the first time. It was so good we had seconds!

One Day Early

Ty decided Valentine's Day was starting early at our house (something I never mind ) Check out the card he gave me.

So glad I am appreciated :)

He also gave me one long stemmed rose, which I thought was perfect.

He said he had to dig to find a bag that was dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. What a good husband.

I Love...

hosting parties
pink daisies
being a wife
Max, Mia, and Zackary
chocolate (extra dark)
space heaters
cooking
blogging
watching "Lost" every weekend with friends
jogging
new jogging shoes
hearing exciting news
teaching relief society
laughing
crab rangoon
food network
the Duggars
"The Holiday" and Jude Law
making cookies with my kids
the Gospel
jeans
chunky monkey ice cream
holidays
warm socks
music
my X-terra
hugs
good conversation
the beach
the temple
Christmas lights at temple square
Lion House rolls
weekends
Jim and Pam on "The Office"
tivo
Gingerbread men
Ty's shoulders
bargains
date night
.....

Romance!

It's Friday and Valentine's Day weekend!

I love Valentine's Day!
I love spending it with Ty and being incredibly cheesy.
Today I am making a little playlist with all of my favorite love songs. Here are a few:

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith
Bubbly - Colby Caillet
Hero (spanish version) - Enrique
Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
Take My Breath Away - Jessica Simpson
Hanging By a Moment - Lifehouse
Ever the Same - Rob Thomas
Ice Cream - Sara McLachlan

Happy Romancin'!