Pinterest All Star - Strawberry Margarita Jello Shots

Yes, that is a jello shot in a strawberry. No you are not imagining things, nor have you just died and gone to heaven -although I'm pretty sure they serve these in heaven. I'm gonna be honest with you guys these are pretty freakin' fantastic. They are very tasty. Like a margarita they are sweet and salty, and a little bit sour from the lime. There is no pesky paper cup to go through to get to the good stuff. And because there is no cup it also eliminates the unattractive process of sucking the very last bit out of the cup -that alone deserves an A++. And above all, they are cute. Which makes them appear harmless, so you can tell your friend that hardly drinks, "Dude, it's just a little strawberry you can have one." And then sit back and enjoy the show.

So that's the positive, now for the negative. They are a labor of love. And by labor of love I mean if you've given birth to a child, that is the kind of labor these require. The kind of labor that makes you curse your husband, cry for no reason, swear you'll never do it again, and then as your creation is completed and you reap your rewards, you forget all about how you said you'd never do it again. You forget that you nearly stabbed yourself in the process. You forget that you ate 10 failed attempts because you got overzealous with the coring. You forget that your shirt is still sticky from jello, and that your hair looks like you've been hit with a shovel. You forget all that and you say, "Hell yeah! I'm making these again!" They are that awesome people. That's why they serve them in heaven.

The only thing I did differently was I did not use Cointreau. And yes, it was because I didn't want to go out and buy it. I did however have peach schnapps so I used that. Yet another example of a calculated budgeting decision I had to make. Anyway, it's what I had on hand so I used it. And it was DELICIOUS!

Strawberry Margarita Jello Shots

via Bakers Royale

Strawberry Prep

1. Cut the bottoms of the strawberry flat to get them to stand upright. When you do so, make sure that you do not cut off so much that there is a hole in the bottom.

2. Use a huller, apple corer, or melon baller to empty out the strawberry (I used the latter).

3. Check each strawberry and make sure there is not a hole in the bottom before you start filling. You can do this by holding it up to the light.

Ingredients

Margarita Mix

1 - 3oz Box Strawberry Jell-O

8 oz. Tequila

6 oz Cointreau or Peach Schnapps

1 cup hot water

1/4 cup cold water

Salt for Garnish

Lime for garnish

Instructions

1. Boil one cup of hot water in a saucepan, then add in Jell-O powder and whisk until powder is completely dissolved, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

2. Combine tequila and Cointreau, in cocktail shaker filled with ice. Add liquor mixture to cold water and stir to combine. Then add cold liquor mixture to hot Jell-O mixture and stir to combine.

3. Pour final Jell-O mix into strawberries and chill overnight. Take a wedge of lime and use it to moisten the edge of the strawberries, then dip and rotate strawberries in salt to rim. Garnish with cut lime triangles to finish.

Helpful Notes and Tips

• Use the Jell-O brand mix and not a store brand. The store brands tend to not set up as firmly.
• Choose the freshest strawberries you can find.
• Poor mixture into a measuring cup with a spout, it made filling the little strawberries much easier!
• Fill your strawberries as high as possible, as the Jell-O will sink a bit in the middle.
• This recipe makes a ton, so I would recommend you have some of those little cups on hand just in case you give up. I am not ashamed to say I did. So I ended up putting the rest of the jello in ramekins. The cups would have been better.
• The lime is optional, but in my opinion a must. The way we took the shooter was like a tequila shot. We popped the strawberry into our mouth and then sucked on the little lime wedge. You need that little sourness from the lime after the saltiness from salt and the sweetness from the jell-o and the strawberry, so take a moment to include it. You won't be sorry.
• How to stand up those little devils. I lined them up like soldiers against the walls of my jelly roll pan. Jelly roll pan is the proper name for a baking sheet with sides, for those of you who didn't know. This worked well for me, but be careful when putting them into the fridge they are wobbly.

UPDATE: Thanks to my friend Lisette for thinking outside the box and suggesting standing up the strawberries in ice cube trays. Not only will it make it easier to fill and place in the refrigerator, it will also eliminate having to cut the bottom off. Brilliant!

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Pinterest All Stars

If you read my previous post you are now acquainted with Pinterest. If you haven't read my previous post, shame on you. Go read it now, I'll wait. Done? Good, welcome back. I am happy to introduce a new section on my blog called Pinterest All Stars. Where I will feature recipes that have gone viral on Pinterest. Don't let the title fool you. The "All Stars" refers to it's viral status not to its delicious status, and I warn you they are not all worthy of their Pinterest All Star status. These recipes are home tested by your very own humble amateur cook, me :)

The first Pinterest All Star recipe is all ready posted (Bloomin' Onion Bread). Tomorrow I will feature another Pinterest All Star, stay tuned...

Pinterest All Star - Blooming Onion Bread

I found this recipe on Pinterest. If you haven't heard about Pinterest, boy are you missing out. It's basically Google Image search without all the viruses and penis shots. It's not a search engine though, it's a social networking site. Members on Pinterest post and save images, including the links that tell you where to find those images. Sometimes they're links to recipes, clothes, decor, or DIY tutorials, it really varies. But you can always find something that agrees with you. Go and explore for yourself you'll absolutely love it! But enough about Pinterest and more about this cheese marvel.

I found the Blooming Onion Bread on Pinterest one day, sitting among pictures of cute pugs and trendy wardrobe options. It was one of those images that kept getting "pinned" so I did a quick glance at the ingredients and, at the risk of sounding like Ina Garten, thought bread, cheese, and butter, how bad can that be? So I decided to try it. And it was bad. Really bad. But not the bad you're thinking. It was bad like that bad boy your mother warned you about. That kind of bad. The good kind of bad. And like that bad boy no one can resist, no one can resist her Cheesemagesty. That's what I've dubbed this creation, by the way. Why her Cheesemagesty you ask? Well, when you pull her out of the oven and gaze upon her melted cheese glory you will know why all mortals bow before her Cheesemagesty. Seriously! I have made this several times and no one can resist her, nor stop singing her praises. She is that awesome!

The best part of this recipe is its versatile. You can use any type of bread and cheese that strikes your fancy. The more creative you get the better the results. Our favorite combination is La Brea Bakery Rosemary Bread with Pepper jack Cheese, yum! The only thing I do different from the original recipe is to add a clove of mince garlic and omit the poppy seeds. I have nothing against poppy seeds, but I wasn't about to purchase them if they weren't an integral part of the recipe. You can call me cheap if you'd like, but I prefer to view it as calculated budgeting decision. The recipe below is written as I make it, follow the link below to see the original recipe. And without further ado I give you her Cheesemagesty!

Bloomin' Onion Bread aka Her Cheesemagesty

Courtesy of: The Girl Who Ate Everything

1 small La Brea Bakery Rosemary round or sourdough round

12-16 ounces Pepper Jack cheese, thinly sliced

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup finely diced green onion

1 large garlic clove minced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the bread lengthwise and widthwise without cutting through the bottom crust. This can be a little tricky going the second way but the bread is very forgiving (this is very true).

Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Insert cheese slices between cuts. Combine butter, onion, and garlic. Drizzle over bread. Wrap in foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Unwrap the bread and bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

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Veal / Chicken Piccata

El Veal

The Pollo

Why two versions? Short story; Ryan doesn't eat anything other than chicken -let me rephrase that- Ryan eats boneless skinless chicken breasts and meats that have been processed, formed into patties or stuffed into meat socks to become sausages -that's all Ryan eats. I know what you're thinking, "surely, he must eat [insert tasty type of meat here]" and the answer to that is no. Here's a quick break down of what you're thinking and what the answer is:

Steak? No.

Pork chops? Don't insult him.

Ground beef? You betcha!

Every hoof, snout, and anus scrapped off the slaughter house floor, ground up and stuffed into sausages? All. Day. Long!

And that is Ryan in a nutshell and why I cooked two meals. But enough about Ryan and more about this recipe.

This was a very good Piccata. I had tried Ina Garten's recipe for Chicken Piccata and I have to admit I didn't care for it. I tried it because the reviews indicated it was very lemony, and it was, but that's all it was. Needless to say I never made it again and had lost my hopes of making it at home when Dad happen to bring home some veal. Well what were we to do but cook up this politically incorrect, albeit tasty, politically incorrect meat. I tried both the veal and the chicken versions and I have to say I liked the chicken version better. I'm sure coating the chicken breast in bread crumbs didn't hurt, but overall the chicken won out. I pounded the chicken very very thinly. I cannot stress the "very very thinly'' part enough. I don't know about you but I can never pound a chicken breast with a meat mallet so I use a rolling pin and it works wonders with less effort. Make sure you place chicken between two pieces of parchment paper first -seriously, don't forget.

Anyway this recipe is going to be choppy because it's half Emeril half Claud, and when anything is half Claud it can get a little confusing. But give it a go you won't be sorry, below I wrote in both options chicken or veal. You can do both like I did, I used 3/4 pound of veal and 2 boneless skinless chicken breast. If you do this I recommend you cook the chicken first and then the veal. You will need to add oil as needed in order to have enough oil to brown the meat.

One last thing, don't worry about the crushed red pepper flakes overpowering the dish or making it spicy because it does neither. It's simply in the background acting as a cheerleader to the lemon -and it's one tasty cheerleader ;)

Veal / Chicken Piccata

Original recipe by Emeril Legasse

Veal

4 veal scallops, about 3/4 pound, pounded to a thickness of 1/8-inch

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a shallow bowl or plate combine the flour, salt and pepper and stir to combine thoroughly. Quickly dredge the veal scallops in the seasoned flour mixture, shaking to remove any excess flour.

Chicken

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast pounded thinly a little over 1/8th of an inch

Italian breadcrumbs

2 eggs

Whisk eggs in a bowl. Dip chicken in egg mixture, and then coat in breadcrumbs.

Sauce:

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons butter
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 garlic clove, chopped
1 lemon, juiced, or more to taste, (about 2 tablespoons)
3 tablespoon capers, drained
1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves, optional, plus sprigs for garnish

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter and, working quickly and in batches if necessary, cook the veal until golden brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. For the chicken cook the chicken 3-4 minutes each side. Transfer to a plate, loosely tent with aluminum foil and set aside.

Deglaze the pan with wine and bring to a boil, scraping to remove any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. When the wine has reduced by half, add the chicken stock, chopped garlic, lemon juice and capers and cook for 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly.

Whisk in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, remaining 3 1/2 tablespoons of butter, chopped parsley, and pepper flakes. When the butter has melted and the sauce has thickened, about 1 more minute, remove from heat. Plate the chicken, top with suace, and garnish with parsley sprigs, serve immediately.

Suggested serving companions: We had this with garlic mashed potatoes, which were very good. I usually have it with a side of plain spaghetti. I would highly recommend both.

Fudgy Cookies Two Ways

These cookies are super cool because A) they look cool and B) they are easy & very muy tasty! The cookie itself taste like a really fudgy brownie, which, helloooo, who doesn't love a fudgy brownie? Anywho, the recipe says it makes 60 cookies I leaned a little less than that. I think because I tend to make my cookies a little on the bigger side ;)

I took the batter and split it into two to make two different types of cookies. The first is the Chocolate Candy Cane Cookie made with candy cane flavored Hershey's Kisses & the second is the Chocolate Caramel Cookie made with Hershey's Caramel filled Kisses and the batter is spiked with a little cinnamon wich tastes fantastic with the caramel. If you are worried the cinnamon will be over powering it really isn't, it's just in the background to where you taste it but you're not sure if that's what you're tasting, but it's definately there and definately a great compliment to the caramel.

I got nothing else to say except, enjoy!



Fudgy Cookies Two Ways
Original Recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker

Ingredients:
Mother Batter
1/3 cup butter or margarine
6 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix

Candy Cane Cookies:
24-30 unwrapped candy cane kisses

Chocolate Caramel Cookies:
1/2 tspn cinnamon
24-30 unwrapped caramel kisses


Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large microwavable bowl, microwave butter and chocolate on High 1 minute. Stir; microwave on High 1 minute longer or until butter is melted and chocolate can be stirred smooth.

2. Stir condensed milk into chocolate mixture. This will make roughly 2 cups. At this point (if you are making both cookies you want to start splitting your ingredients). Seperate into 1 cup portions and pour each cup into a seperate bowl.

3. Split the Sugar Cookie cookie mix too, it's roughly 3 cups so (1 1/2 cups each).


For the Chocolate Candy Cane Kiss Cookies:
1. Stir cookie mix into chocolate mixture until well blended (this will take some elbow grease).

2. Using 1 level tablespoonful of dough for each cookie, shape into 30 balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 6 to 7 minutes or until edges lose their shiny look (do not overbake). Immediately press 1 candy into center of each cookie. Cool cookies on cookie sheet 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. To get candy to spread slightly on top of cookie, tap edge of each cookie lightly. Cool completely. Store covered at room temperature.


For the Chocolate Caramel Kiss Cookies
1. Stir cookie mix and cinnamon into chocolate mixture until well blended (this will take some elbow grease).

2. Using 1 level tablespoonful of dough for each cookie, shape into 30 balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 6 to 7 minutes or until edges lose their shiny look (do not overbake). Immediately press 1 candy into center of each cookie. Cool cookies on cookie sheet 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely. Store covered at room temperature.

Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies w/Pumpkin Buttercream Filling

If you love pumpkin, you'll be in pumpkin heaven with these cookies. The cookie itself taste cake-like and the filling is to die! The recipe for the cookies I got from the Land O Lakes website. And as previously mentioned they are cake-like meaning they are spongy and delicious! The cookies are incredibly tasty on their own and could stand on their own without the filling, if you're looking to cut down on the calories but why would you want to do that? It's the HOLIDAYS for crying outloud! So indulge.

The filling the Land O Lakes recipe calls for sounds absolutely amazing, well anything with cream cheese is absolutely amazing, but that's neither here nor there. I didn't use the filling in the recipe because I was shipping the cookies to another state and some people would frown on the mere suggestion of shipping unrefrigerated cream cheese across state lines. So instead I used a Pumpkin Buttercream filling I found at Ashlees Cooking Blog. And believe me when I say it's Thanksgiving decadence at it's best! These are a must try and disregard my crappy picture. I was going to take another picture today but there was only one cookie left -yep, they're that good!

The cooking time for the cookies is kinda tricky -I blame my oven- but incase it's not my oven I'm warning you they may have to be in the oven for almost twice as long as the recipe states. That is about the only draw back. The filling is enough to do all the cookies plus you'll have some leftover. I rolled the leftover filling in plastic wrap & popped it back in the fridge to solidify. I thought it would make a great compound butter to be served at Thanksgiving with rolls. Anyway, on with the recipe.

Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies with Pumpkin Buttercream Filling
Recipes Courtesy of Land O' Lakes & Ashlee's Cooking Blog

Cookie Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
*If you don't have pumpkin spice substitute 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Filling Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar




Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter in large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add pumpkin, milk, egg and vanilla; beat until well mixed. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture. Beat until well mixed.

Drop batter by level measuring tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes (I would eyeball it because again they are "cake-like" mine I timed at 32 min.) or until set and lightly browned around edges. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheets; remove to cooling rack. Cool completely.

For the Pumpkin Buttercream: Cream butter and pumpkin with a mixer or in a stand mixer. Turn to low, add in cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla. Slowly add sugar 1/2 c. at a time until the buttercream is creamy.
**Note: The pumpkin will make it look grainy if there isn't enough sugar mixed in. (this didn't happen to me but if it does this is why another thing she mentions is seperating due to the pumpkin puree this also didn't happen to me.)

Spread 1 teaspoon or less of filling onto bottom-side of 1 cookie. Top with another cookie, bottom-side down. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Sprinkle filled cookies with powdered sugar.

Lake O' Lakes Recipe Tip:
For perfectly round cookies, pipe batter in 1-inch circle on parchment-lined cookie sheets, using piping bag without a tip

Treats for Abbey

I first made these treats for my little brother in law's dog Simba. And Simba was absolutely bananas over them, so I decided there was another special doggy that would want some of these as well. That doggy is Abbey Jones from Seattle. Abbey is just about the sweetest dog you can imagine and best behaved too -mostly inpart to her owner, or should I say, her Mom Marisa.

These treats are biscuit like but they do not fluff up like a biscuit when you bake them, nor do they spread out like cookies. So when you are scooping the dough keep in mind that, that is the size & shape in which the "biscuit" will end up in. I used a rounded teaspoon the second batch around. I learned my lesson with the first batch that ended up looking like, what can only be described as, dog poo pile biscuits. Not very appealing but Simba didn't mind.

Peanut Butter & Cheese Biscuits

Source: Jill's Mom

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbs peanut butter

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg white

1 Tbs chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400FMix flour and milk until lumpy. Add peanut butter and broth. Mix in parmesan cheese. Add egg white, mix well. Add baking powder. Pour onto greased cookie sheet, making 2" drops (recommend smaller). Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool. Keep in airtight container.

*I keep Simba's in the refrigerator but I think they could probably be stored at room temperature but I don't think they would last as long. Oh and one last picture of Abbey being oh so cute!