Tasty Tuesday with Cory - Down and Dirty Chicken

I've been trying to use my winter stockpile of frozen, ready-made meals and finally finished the LAST round of soup just in time to spring clean the fridge! YIKES!

I enlisted the help of my darling husband for this daunting chore! My 1980s fridge has never looked or run better! I tossed just about EVERYTHING in the darn thing out. So, what’s a girl to do with a barren fridge, no time to shop and a hungry family?

Lucky for me I had a bag of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts and in the fridge I found the remainder of a bottle of Italian dressing. I let the chicken thaw in a casserole dish with the Italian dressing. Normally, I'd just seal it in a freezer bag but I’m even out of those! I'm running on empty here folks!

Once thawed and ready for action I mixed together some other pantry staples I had left - seasoned Italian bread crumbs and some Parmesan cheese.  I dredged ONE side of the chicken with the bread crumb and cheese mixture. I suppose you could do both sides but, I didn't have enough bread crumbs. I didn't even use egg! The Italian dressing was enough. EASY PEASY!

Bake this bad boy in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until the juices run clear. The house smelled delish! Even my kids were all. "mmm. Mommy what smells so good?"

The chicken came out very moist, tender and delicious! I can hardly call this a recipe really, I marinate chicken breasts all the time but have never thought to bread the one side with breading and bake it.

Do you have a favorite "what's in the pantry" recipe?

Tuesdays with Cory

Tasty Tuesdays with Corey - Heart Broken Cake

Hi! I haven't posted anything in a while. I had the BEST Valentine’s Day post but thought to skip it since it has past, and then I decided to share my experience.

We're all friends here aren't we?

I consider myself a pretty good cook. I've been cooking for about 15 years but I’ve found that many women do NOT like to cook for one reason or another. Maybe their mothers were not the best teachers or they had other things that were more of a priority than learning to cook.

Whatever the reason, it happens. I didn't just wake up one day and know how to cook it took a lot of practice! Trial and error. So, I hope that maybe someone learning to cook or interested in cooking reads this post and will maybe get back on the horse after a culinary disaster.

You see, I have this basic HEART shaped cake pan. It's a WILTON- nonstick pan it looks pretty unassuming - it's a cake pan right? WRONG! This particular cake pan HATES me! I've owned it for over 10 years and every now and again pull it out of hiding - usually around Valentine’s Day.


I should've known the very FIRST time that I used the cake pan it was a spawn from the devil!

Before I was married, I made a beautiful dinner to take to my now husband. For dessert I wanted to attempt a heart shaped cake. I made the red velvet cake batter from a cake mix poured it in the HEART SHAPED pan and popped it in the pre-heated oven to bake.

Cue OMEN music.

I was vacuuming in another area of the house and my neighbor started banging on the door! SMOKE was billowing out my kitchen!

Apparently, my old avocado green oven went into self-cleaning mode LOCKED and turned my heart shaped cake into a flaming charcoal brisket! Me and my neighbor pried open the oven, put out the fire, and I cried over the heart shaped black cake. I tossed the cake, cleaned the oven and washed the pan. It cleaned up perfectly then I promptly put it away.

FAST FORWARD ten years and I had lost track of the pan during one of our many moves. So, when it resurfaced I thought "Why not try the heart shaped cake pan?"

The pan still looks new! My mind drifted to the flaming heart shaped briquette - I sighed and thought "PLEASE, I've just baked over 1000 cookies LAST Christmas; I can make one heart shaped cake!"


I've also made quite a few cakes over the years so surely this is going to be easy peasy, right?

Everything went pretty smooth; I used a Red Velvet cake mix and planned to frost it with some cream cheese icing. I prepped and coated the pan with some non-stick spray even though it's non-stick. Popped it in the oven and baked it till a toothpick came out nice and clean.

Things seemed to be turning around for me and my heart shaped nemesis!

I took the cake out of the oven and let it cool for about 2 hours and even LEFT the house to run some errands. I went to take my cooled cake out of the pan and the heart CRACKED much like my actual heart! The ENTIRE BACK of the cake was broken.

I was able to get the cake out of the pan and piece it back together on my cake stand. It actually didn't look too bad so I quickly slathered it with frosting. But, I didn't have quite enough due to the underside breaking!

I went through my baking goodies and found some RED sanding sugar from Christmas baking and I made a heart shape out of parchment paper. You couldn't even tell the cake had some issues.

The cake came out cute and my boys loved that it was heart shaped.

I think I just may have exorcized the cake pan demons from the pan! Next year though, I'm going to butter, flour and use some parchment just to be on the safe side!!!

This isn't so much a recipe but, a cautionary tale which I learned to SAVE the cake that I wanted to throw in the garbage!

If all else failed I could have crumbled the heart shaped abomination and made cake truffles, or a cake and pudding trifle! I've learned that MOST cooking and baking mistakes can be saved within reason of course!

I've had plenty of cooking setbacks and back in the day I would've been sobbing holding the heart shaped pan thinking “I will NEVER bake again!"

Now, I'm older, wiser and I've found aside from BURNING food that it can usually be salvaged or altered!

KEEP COOKING even if you have a minor (or major) setback!

Tuesdays with Cory - Brown Sugar Dry Seasoning Rub

Hello everyone! I haven't been cooking too much but, I have been eating things I prepared and froze for all the nights I haven't felt like cooking or have been too busy to put something together. Despite that, I got some bone-in country style pork ribs on sale for under $2.00 a pound and wanted to share my latest recipe!

The last time I made ribs, I baked them and they were good but, they got a little dry so this time I decided to make a DRY SEASONING RUB and use my crock-pot! Before I put them in the crock pot though I boiled the ribs to remove any fat. I didn't want a greasy sauce.

You can find all kinds of already mixed dry rubs at the grocery store and, that's fine IF you have one that you like and use often. I have not found one I like so, I got out all my spices and started throwing it together - I did not measure, I eye balled it, tasted and went from there. This is also a good way to maybe use up spices that have been hanging around for a while. Like cumin, which I usually use ONLY in chili. Adding the cumin to the rub gave it an almost smoky flavor.

For the Dry Seasoning Rub:

1/2 cup of BROWN sugar and about a palm full of garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika than a dash or so of cumin, garlic salt, onion salt, and pepper.

Once I got it to the consistency I wanted (and tasted so good), I gave my pork ribs a nice rub down and let them sit overnight in the fridge.

For the sauce, I had a little bottled bbq sauce (KC masterpiece) that I wanted to use but, not enough to coat the ribs so I added a bottle of winter lager to the crockpot and let it cook all day on low about six hours. They were very tender and fell right off the bone!

The dry rub mixed with the beer and the little bit of bbq sauce - delish! If you didn't have any bottled bbq sauce you could probably use ketchup, tomato paste or something of that nature.

I also decided to use up some potatoes and made scalloped potatoes with the skins ON. I had some Mexican blend cheese, sour cream, milk and butter. I washed the potatoes and sliced the potatoes very, very thin and layered it with the milk, butter and sour cream mixture and sprinkled each layer with cheese. I thicken up the sauce by sprinkling each layer of potatoes with a little bit of cornstarch (or flour if you don’t have cornstarch). The final layer is cheese and then covered with foil to cooked at 400 degrees for about 45min. The potatoes should be soft and the cheese melted when done.

I rounded out the meal with corn and frozen bread dough loaves. Very simple and tasty and the bread was perfect to sop of saucy goodness! I'm sure if I had ANY leftovers I could've frozen them for a future meal but, there was NOTHING left! My family loved it!

This would be a GREAT meal to serve for Valentine’s Day! The sauce is a beautiful RED color. Make a heart shaped cake or even the "tunnel of cherries" bunt cake, it's sure to be a hit!


Tuesdays with Cory

Tasty Tuesday with Cory - Lazy Ravioli Lasagna

Hello All! Today’s recipe is so AWESOME and freakin' delicious that it's bound to be a family favorite! LAZY RAVIOLI LASAGNA! (Not to be confused with – Because You Want to Make Lazy Lasagna)

My husband LOVES when I make lasagna and I often make several to freeze or for my husband to take to work and share with his co-workers. I've streamlined it over the years and even though I use no-boil noodles (which are ANY noodles quite frankly) you just add a little more liquid to your sauce and cover with foil and bake.

Lasagna, however, gets EXPENSIVE with the ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and sauce. It is also time consuming. This recipe for ravioli lasagna fits the bill. It is pretty cheap, easy to assemble and looks so scrumptious!

My friend made this recipe a while ago and posted a picture on FB. I can't believe I've never heard of it. The other good thing is you can mix ingredients and make it to suit your own family’s tastes.

It's LAZY RAVIOLI LASAGNA!

2-3 bags frozen ravioli (frozen no need to cook or defrost) I used BOTH meat and cheese filled
1- large or extra large jar of favorite spaghetti sauce if you have only a small jar you can add diced tomatoes, tomato puree whatever you have on hand to make the sauce all your own.
16oz + mozzarella cheese or Italian cheese blend.

Basically, you LAYER the frozen ravioli like you would lasagna noodles and top with sauce and cheese. VIOLA! Easy peasy right?

Serve this with some garlic bread and a side salad and you have a good quick and healthy meal.

I jazzed mine up with goodies from the crisper. I used my mini chopper to finely mince some carrots, onions, celery, mushroom, colored peppers and had I not been in a big hurry I would've added spinach! Good recipe to sneak in all sorts of veggies, which I do anyway to most of my recipes. The nice part is, I didn't cook them with the sauce I just tossed everything together and sprinkled it over or under the sauce!

So, I basically dirtied one pan and my mini chopper! You could most certainly add more meat if you wanted or just use cheese ravioli - the possibilities is endless! ENJOY!

Tuesday with Cory

Tasty Tuseday with Cory - a Coffee Cake and @CafeEscapes

Hello everyone! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and New Year!

I recently had the opportunity to host a CAFE ESCAPES Keurig party through HouseParty.com! This was my first ever HouseParty and I really didn't know what to expect but boy was I surprised. I got my party pack a few weeks before the party and it was FULL of CAFE ESCAPES flavored coffees and lattes, chai and hot chocolate drinks!

That's me!

Along with the coffees the pack came with some cookies, a banner, a chalkboard sticker in the shape of a coffee cup, 2 glass cups and saucer (which I used as part of my decor) and vanilla coffee flavored lip balms. Café Escapes also included assorted coupons and items to giveaway plus disposable cups, plates and napkins. A party in the box and all I needed to do figure out WHAT I was going to SERVE for my coffee party!

I invited about 30 guests and about 8 showed up which was plenty. Everyone brought a little something to nosh. We had cakes, cookies, veggie pizza and chocolate Oreo balls among other things. I made a "TUNNEL of CHERRIES” coffee cake in a bunt pan! Super simple, impressive looking and YUMMY!

left: Mary, her husband right: My mother-in-law and a friend

It's basically a boxed cake mix. I happened to have yellow cake mix and you still follow the basic cake instructions but, since it's a coffee cake and a little denser, I OMITTED the oil and used sour cream 1x (1/2 c.) instead, besides, oil is flavorless and nutrient less (regular or Greek style yogurt (1/2) cup can be used as well). To that I added, 3 eggs, 2 tablespoons water, almond extract (if you have it) OR 1/2 tbsp. vanilla (which I used) and a can of cherry pie filling for the filling.

I also made a strudel layer with a 1/2 cup of quick oats, a few tablespoons of brown sugar, crushed walnuts 1/4 cup and a few tablespoons of butter and hand mixed it till it was pea sized crumbles oh, and added some cinnamon...

Cory’s Tunnel of Cherries Coffee Cake

1 box of cake mix
1 can of cherry pie filling
3 eggs
*might need water up to 3 tablespoons
Oil (1/2 c.) OR you can sub. 1/2 cup sour cream, or Greek style or regular yogurt
1/2 tablespoons almond OR vanilla extract

Strudel layer...
1/4 c. (walnut, almond or pecan) nuts crushed
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/3 cup of quick oats,
2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar
A couple pats of butter.

Mix together till it forms pea sized crumbles set aside

Make cake mix- adding oil OR sour cream OR yogurt and extract of choice... beat with a mixer till stiff dough forms...

Place 1/2 of strudel mixture on bottom of the pan

GREASE a bunt pan liberally, or use PAM cooking spray

Pour 1/2 the cake mix in pan and spread evenly

Gently spoons cherries in a layer over cake batter and top with remaining strudel

Top with remaining cake batter and spread evenly...

Preheat oven to 350 and bake 40-50 minutes... Let cool completely and serve.

You can dust with powdered sugar before serving. Serves 10-12 people.

This recipe can be tweaked for any cake flavor and pie filling.

I want to try chocolate cake with cherry pie filling or lemon cake with blueberry filling!

ENJOY!

Tasty Tuesday with Cory - Chicken Paprikash!

Hello there friends. Today's recipe is a traditional one handed down from my mom's side of the family from Hungary. It's a favorite of my husband’s family too - CHICKEN PAPRIKASH!

There's a million ways to make it and make it your own. My mother in law uses strictly mushrooms. My mother adds canned diced tomatoes to hers. I'm somewhere in-between. However, you like it's a GREAT comfort food dish to have at a large gathering!

I do have a few tips to make sure that your Chicken Paprikash is full flavored. DON'T cut corners. This is a very simple, few ingredient dish so make sure you have good FRESH ingredients on hand. It's also a full fat and calorie dish so please no weird calorie saving ingredients like no fat/low fat sour cream (blah gross).

Also, please don't skimp on the time the chicken braises on the bone - 45 min is key to extract a good flavor for your sauce.

Ok, let’s get this started. I use bone-in/skin on chicken about 8-12 pieces as it's the STAR of the dish. I like dark meat such as, thighs or drumsticks, as these pieces give the sauce the chicken flavor the sauce needs. If you have people that enjoy WHITE meat by all means add it to the sauce later. I also use chicken stock canned or I use homemade. Not everyone has time to make stock from scratch but, if you can you'll increase yumminess 1000x over. If not it's still damn good!

Finally, good quality paprika! I use the only one that I know and it is the one in the RED tin. Not the hot, just the regular Hungarian paprika, stored in the fridge so it doesn't get wormy*.

In a large high skillet or Dutch oven, sauté in a little butter and olive oil till soft mushrooms and a large sweet onion sliced into thin strips. I use at least a pound of regular button mushrooms. TRANSFER into bowl for later.

Then BROWN chicken pieces on all sides. ADD 2-3 cups of chicken stock to the pan and let simmer for about 40-45 minutes. This is KEY to extract the good chicken flavor from the meat. You can add a bouillon** but, you don't want to rush this step. Once again GRANDMA says so you just DO IT! When the meat is nice and soft you can take the meat off the bones and discard bones and skin (if you are a fataphobe you can skim the sauce too).

Once you have your sauce, thicken it with a ROUX I take some of the broth and mix in a couple tablespoons of flour or cornstarch to thicken and add to broth and add mushrooms and onions, let it simmer to thicken maybe 5-10 minutes and turn down. I like the KNORR flavor concentrate packs (chicken) so I would probably add one of those and add the FULL FAT sour cream - YUMMY.

When it's thoroughly mixed add a few tablespoons of paprika. Some people like their sauce more orangey. Mine is browner like gravy. Do what feels right for your taste. I serve over noodles or my kid’s favorite, homemade spätzle. You can buy it, too.

Once again there are 100 different variations of this recipe. Feel free to add or omit the following: celery, different mushrooms, tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, etc.

Happy Cooking.

* I've NEVER seen worms in paprika I just know my Grandmother told me to store it in the fridge. Nobody goes against Grandma so just DO IT!
** I'm not really sure what my grandmother would say about that.

Tasty Tuesday with Cory - Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Hamburger Soup

As FRANKENSTORM Sandy approaches. I've been getting things in order. While I LOVE apocalyptic movies like DEEP IMPACT and 2012, I also have a fear of widespread electric outages. My house may look like I live in the eye of the storm (when in fact I'm states away) but I want to be prepared if our power goes out.

I've purchased batteries for our flashlights, put water containers in our freezer to keep things cold and to provide water in case the power goes out. I've also been cooking. Mainly, SOUP so that I can use up produce and have healthy meals in case we are without power for a while. Last week I made a wonderful CHEESEBURGER SOUP! A creamy soup with ground beef, potatoes, cheese and canned tomatoes. It's VERY rich, hearty a thick! In fact, I put some in the fridge and if I thin it out it's enough for at least 2-3 more bowls full.

stock and potatoes

First, I used a BEEF STOCK (about 3-4 cups worth) than added 3-4 medium sized potatoes peeled and cubed into bite sized pieces and let it simmer until cooked through (about 15 mins.).

Next, cook 1 lb. of ground meat and drain if necessary. I seasoned the brown beef mixture first with McCormick hamburger seasoning and some garlic powder. Added chopped celery (approx. 1/2 c., carrots* (1/2 c,) and LOTS of onions. probably about a cup then transferred the beef into the heavy pot with the potatoes and stock mixture.

I tasted it and it needed something. It was bland. I looked in the fridge which was really quite bare but I had a couple bags of odds n ends shredded cheese Mexican blend and cheddar. So I added what was about 2 cups of shredded cheese and about a cup of milk with a couple pats of butter. To thicken *you may want to thicken the milk, butter and flour in a mug FIRST (rue) and add it to the pot or you might get clumps. Stir till everything is thick, creamy and delish.

before and after

I tasted it again and it still needed a little something. So I added worchester sauce, A1 would probably work as well and I added a can of diced tomatoes. It needed that acid to cut through the cheesiness and served it up with some garlic toast.

My toughest critics – my two boys LOVED it! You could probably serve with a nice salad, and have a pretty substantial meal.

My friend has a similar soup recipe but, it was without the cheese so it was aptly named - HAMBURGER soup. If you don't have cheese or simply can't have cheese this soup would be fine as a tomato and beef broth based soup. I had tons of cheese and LOVE cheese so this is what I did.

• 3-4 cups of beef stock. I used a KNORR stock concentrate as they take up LESS room in my pantry and I use them for adding a beef flavor to stroganoff, soups, casseroles and gravy.
• 1 lb. of ground beef browned and drained
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots, celery and onion (I used my mini chopper to make short work of this step)
• 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes you can use either the ro tel variety if you like a bit of spice or simply plain.
• 1-2 c. of shredded cheese I had cheddar and Mexican blend. I've heard you can use Velveeta to *my soup was so thick I probably could've used it as a dip.
• Add milk to thin or make a rue to thicken - milk, butter and flour combined.
• Seasonings. I had hamburger seasoning from McCormick which is salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic, paprika.
• Worchester sauce or even A1, just add a little at a time.

You could probably top with a dollop of sour cream, a few dashes of ketchup/mustard and chopped up dill pickle.

YUMMY!

* I know carrots and celery don't belong on a cheeseburger but, they don't hurt anything either PLUS I had some stuff to use up. So, whatever you have and however you like is FINE.

Tasty Tuesday with Cory! One Stock, Three Soups

Soup!  Perfect for cold weather but it takes talent to make.  If you don't think so than you have the talent!  I have written about my disdain for making it as well my attempts to make it and others who have shared with me their recipes of soup but Cory does a wonderful job describing how she produces the wonderfulness known as Soup.

Hello there friends, it's TUESDAY!  Another recipe day!  I briefly touched upon my new found love affair with making SOUP!  This is a new love for me as I've NEVER really been a soup fanatic before I've made probably 10+ kinds of soup from scratch.   Now, I can't be stopped as I fill a heavy bottomed pot or crock-pot full of broth, veggies and spices.  It's a great feeling to have my boys come home from school and say "Wow, Mom what smells so good?"   I tend to use my SMARTPHONE- which is a cheap one but, it serves my needs nicely when I'm searching for recipes on the ALLRECIPES.com website which can be used  on a regular desktop, laptop and tablet too... I just find it convenient when I'm at the grocery store I can just pop it up on my phone and buy what I need. 

 Last week I made a FANTASTIC cream of mushroom soup... Some people cringe at the thought of a mushroom soup.   Thinking of mushrooms as being only an ingredient used for casseroles and gravy but when it's made homemade it's simply wonderful.... I also made a chicken noodle that was very yummy as well.  A big hit with my kids! 

To start:  I made my own chicken stock which I believe to be the STAR of most soup recipes.  It's NOT difficult and took little time and prep... I have NOT used a can stock to make so if you choose to use canned your results may vary. 

Make your own stock:  4- skin on, bone IN chicken thighs.  They are usually very inexpensive and the meat offers a deeper flavor.  You can cool the broth and skim the fat if you are worried about calories and overall health of your dishes.  You could use chicken breast but, for full flavor I highly suggest bone-in.  A chicken or turkey carcass also works well or even scrap pieces from the butcher would work. 

I put the chicken in the crock-pot with COLD water add some various herbs and veggies and cover.  I happened to have on hand onions, carrots, celery, and garlic so I used those.  I didn't even skin the onion I just chopped it into quarters, tossed the baby carrots in WHOLE and chopped the celery with the leaves into chunks. I than added some minced garlic and WHOLE peppercorns (about 2 tablespoons).  You could also add parsley, or a bay leaf. I just didn't have them at the moment. 

Once covered let it simmer on low for a few hours.  Would be great to let it go overnight but I went right into making soup. If you wanted to you could let it cool, skim and you then FREEZE in 1-2 cup portions to add to other recipes.  Freezing into ice cube trays is another option and you can than add to gravy, or other dishes where you might use bouillon.  DO NOT add salt to the broth, you can always salt the dish at the end.  I discarded the veggies and split my broth for TWO soups. 

I had tons of regular white button mushrooms that I needed to do something with ASAP- so I chopped them up (about 16oz. worth of them) and sautéed them with some butter, olive oil and garlic till the onions were clear.   Added about 3-4 cups of homemade chicken stock and let it simmer 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes I added some whole milk with about 2 tablespoons of flour to thicken. 

Simmer... You can add more or less milk to taste or if lactose intolerant leave it out altogether.  I took some of the chicken from the stock and shredded it and left the other just with the mushrooms so really I made 3 different soups. !  *These never made it to the freezer!  

For the next soup, I had a couple of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts and I just tossed them in the broth and let them poach. I removed and cut them into bite sized pieces and added, some bite sized celery, carrots and onions and let it simmer 20-30 minutes.  I also added some peas at the end and some really tiny egg noodles (added maybe a cup). If you have big noodles I would cook them first and add after otherwise they might soak up all the wonderful broth.

If it's still not chicken flavored enough for you - by all means add a chicken bouillon.  I added a KNORR chicken concentrate... super easy and super delicious.  

Well that's it 3 different soups with 1 stock....  I probably could split the chicken soup and made a chicken and brown rice version as well... So many options.  Well I hope you try some of my recipes and have good results.  Or alter the recipes to your own family’s tastes. In either case happy cooking!  

New Post!Tasty Tuesday with Cory! One Stock, Three Soups goo.gl/fb/3o4gY #tuesdayswithcory #tastytuesday

— MryJhnsn (@mryjhnsn) October 23, 2012

Tasty Tuesdays with Cory! Scream Cheese Brownies

As much as I like to cook (I don't really) my dear friend Cory likes it even more!  She has graciously accepted my offer to share her recipes on Tuesdays!  With out further ado...  Cory!



Hello Everyone!  My name is Cory! I'm married with two FANTASTIC boys ages 8 and 6. I’m pretty much a domestic goddess although I do work a part-time gig in the evenings. My hobbies include copious amounts of laundry, cooking, and vacuuming as I have a ginormous dog that loves to shed!

I LOVE to cook, can’t say I am very good at cooking but, I'm willing to try most anything. Lately, I've been addicted to making SOUPS but, I make some classics like lasagna, chicken paprikash and stuffed cabbage. I also LOVE to read when I get a free moment between my addiction to DISCOVERY ID (which my younger son dubbed “The killing channel”) and pinning recipes, decor and fashion on PINTEREST. Sometimes I do BOTH which is utter bliss! I recently spoiled myself and bought a KINDLE FIRE- and OMG! I LOVE, LOVE it! If you don't have one- I suggest you get one it's life changer! Well, okay maybe not a life changer maybe more of a self-indulgence but, who doesn't need that every once in a while?

So, like I mentioned before I LOVE to cook and would LOVE to have my own cooking show but, as much as I like to cook, I swear, a lot. It just wouldn't work out unless it was on late-night cable. Come to think of it - that might be an option.

I've dreamed I could just waltz into the kitchen, in my Sunday best and whip up meal after fabulous meal. But, honestly, does that really happen? I cook in sweatpants or yoga pants and ratty t-shirts. My kitchen looks like a bomb went off. So, I don't think I'm going to have my own show anytime soon! I guess a blog is the next best thing but I’ve NEVER blogged! I do post via FB most of my recipes and get feedback from my friends - who think I'm the BOMB! Isn't that what friends are for really? I'm sure I've been blocked or deleted by some but, whatever they aren't as awesome as I am.

Anyway back to cooking... I've been trying some of this and that from PINTERST. It’s not a bad thing if you don’t use PINTEREST (or know what it is) but you must be crazy busy people with fantastic and exciting lives that simply have no time to sit and veg. That's cool. Me? Well, I'm the opposite! Today I'm taking my kiddos to a swim party and having a casual dinner at a friend’s house. Since it’s a potluck, I thought I'd try and whip up some SWIRLED BROWNIES... After all its game day and our team’s colors are ORANGE and BROWN!

I used a basic DUNCAN HINES triple chocolate brownie mix. I ran out of oil and really don't like dumping a 1/2 c. of oil into my brownies anyway, so I substitute a really ripe banana for the oil. You can also use applesauce or any fruit puree really; I've even heard of using black beans mashed up. But, I hate wasting food so banana it is. I also added a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter as well. Can't have too much chocolate and I've heard it's good for you anti-oxidants and all that jazz. It says on the box "Do not eat raw batter” but who follows that? I tasted it and I'm still alive to tell about it. It's delish!

So, following the directions I spread 1/2 the brownie mix in the bottom of a greased 13x9 baking pan mine happens to be metal... I think you can spread a little MORE than half the mixture on the bottom. Save the rest for the swirl top...

The next step is the delightful cream cheese layer- AS-IF brownies needed a cream cheese layer! This calls for a block of softened cream cheese and 5 tablespoons of softened butter, which I took out of the fridge the night before. 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 tbsps. of flour and ORANGE food coloring.

I mixed the cream cheese mixture in my handy KITCHEN-AID STANDMIXER! My go to cooking weapon of choice! It does pretty much everything fast and easy. LOVE IT! I don't even own a hand mixer anymore. Anyway, mix the cream cheese, butter and sugar till fluffy add eggs, vanilla, flour etc.


Now it's time to TINT! I wanted orange and not a pastel orange but, ARE YOU READY for some FOOTBALL ORANGE! This took some doing. I started with regular food coloring, a few drops of RED a few drops of YELLOW. But, it was not bright enough orange (even after I had used up almost an entire bottle of red and yellow food coloring). So, I went in my pantry and found some icing tint that I got from PARTY-CITY on CLEARANCE for $1 and used the gel tint to get the bright orange I wanted. Then I spread the cream cheese layer over the bottom brownie layer and then dolloped the remaining chocolate batter on top the cream cheese layer and swirl. Pretty simple but this is where I got overzealous and pretty much ruined the desired effect. I think it came out pretty good... It's ORANGE and BROWN! Go (Cleveland) Brownies!



I consider this a PINTEREST WIN! Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try!

SCREAM CHEESE BROWNIES

Ingredients:

• 1 brownie mix made according to package directions divided

Cream Cheese Layer:

• 8 oz. of cream cheese softened
• 5 tablespoons of butter, softened
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons flour
• food coloring (optional)

Instructions:

• Mix your favorite brownie mix and spread a little more than half in the bottom of a greased 13x9 inch baking pan.
• Reserve the other portion for the next layer...
• In a separate bowl- COMBINE cream cheese, butter, sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla, eggs, flour and mix thoroughly. Add coloring to liking...
• Spread cream cheese over the brownie layer and then DROP remaining brownie batter over cream cheese mixture and swirl with a knife. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees... COOL...!