Diet Coke Cupcakes with Marshmallow Creme Frosting

Finally!!!! A chance to bake. I found an excuse.... Happy early birthday, Cat! February 5th is Catherine's (my favorite & only sister) birthday, and I wanted to bring some cupcakes up to Birmingham with me when I visit this weekend. I should be packing and doing laundry right now, but look what I'm doing instead. Even though the picture doesn't show it, I made the marshmallow frosting a light pink (I haven't mastered the photography and lighting quite yet). They turned out really cute, and they taste good as well. The cupcakes are the infamous WW diet coke cupcakes. They are so moist. If you're making a dark cake, you use a dark diet drink, and if you're making a light colored cake, you will use a clear diet drink.

Once the cupcakes are cooled and the marshmallow creme is made, put the creme in a gallon ziplock bag and pipe the creme on the top of the cupcakes. If you don't feel up to making the marshmallow creme, you can buy the jar and pipe it on top of the cupcakes.


I got the recipe for the marshmallow creme from marthastewart.com

Cupcakes

Ingredients:
12 ounces Diet Coke
1 box of chocolate cake mix (I used devil's food)

Directions:
Mix together the Diet Coke with the cake mix with an electric mixer. Pour batter into cupcake papers, and bake according to the directions on the box. Once out of the oven. let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack.

Marshmallow Creme Frosting

Ingredients:
3 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar together until light and frothy. With the mixer running, slowly pour in 2 tablespoons sugar; beat until soft peaks form. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, combine 1/3 cup water, corn syrup, and remaining 2/3 cup sugar. Place over medium heat and cook until boiling. Cook, stirring, until mixture reaches the firm-ball stage, about 242 to 248 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 6 minutes. Immediately remove from heat.
With the mixer on low, slowly add hot syrup to egg-white mixture. Increase mixer speed to high and continue beating for 5 minutes. Add vanilla and continue to beat until mixture looks like marshmallow cream, about 1 minute more.

My Notes: To make the frosting pink, I put 3 drops of red food coloring into the egg white mixture at the beginning step, and I put another 4 drops in after I poured the syrup mixture into the egg whites. I will also probably add another 1/2 or 1 tsp of vanilla to enhance the sweetness of the marshmallow creme next time I make this.

teeheehee.... even Riley (my nephew) likes them!

Open-Face Turkey Burgers

Sometimes you just gotta have a burger. I love turkey burgers, and I thought this was a good twist instead of the lettuce and tomato deal. Instead of regular french fries, I baked some sweet potato fries (the frozen ones). My tummy was so happy tonight!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey (divided into 3 patties)
salt & pepper to taste
3 TBSP olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

3 slices baby Swiss cheese
2 whole wheat hamburger buns

Directions:

Mix the salt and pepper into the ground turkey, and form the turkey into 3 patties. Put 1 TBSP of olive oil on a grill pan over medium heat. Place the patties on the grill pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side or until cooked throughout. While these are cooking, saute the mushrooms and onions in the rest of the olive oil until tender. Toast the buns face down on the grill for about 30 seconds. Place the bun on a plate with the meat, and place a slice of cheese on top. Top with onions and mushrooms.

Low Fat Chicken Marsala

Thanks to my friend Alison, I got an opportunity to make this dish. She wanted me to email her the recipe, and I thought I'd just make it and post it on my blog. Thanks Ali! I love the chicken marsala at Carrabas, and I've always wanted to make it. The good thing about this recipe is that it's a low fat version, and it tastes great. The recipe calls for dry Marsala or dry sherry. I've tried both, and the Marsala tastes the best in my opinion. The first time I made this, I served it with smashed potatoes (with the red skin). The other times, I've served it over angel hair pasta or linguine.
You can find the Marsala wine at any liquor store. It has more alcohol content than regular wine, so grocery stores can't sell the bottled wine. However, they may be able to bottle it as a "cooking wine." It would probably be next to the dry sherry cooking wine in the grocery store.


Ingredients:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced green onions
3 Tablespoon butter or margarine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry Marsala or dry sherry

Directions:
1. In a shallow bowl stir together flour, marjoram, salt, and pepper. Place chicken between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound chicken lightly to about 1/4 inch thick. Remove plastic wrap, and lightly coat chicken pieces on both sides with flour mixture; shake off excess.

2. In a 12-inch skillet cook mushrooms and green onions in 1 TBSP butter over med-high heat until tender; remove from skillet. In the same skillet cook chicken in remaining 2 TBSP butter for 5-6 min, turning to brown evenly.

3. Remove skillet from heat. Return mushrooms and green onions to skillet. Carefully add broth and Marsala to skillet. Bring mixture to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncover, for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season sauce to taste with additional salt and pepper. Transfer chicken to a serving platter or plate. Spoon mushroom mixture over chicken. If desired, serve over pasta.

Nutritional Info per serving (1 piece chicken & 1/4 mushroom mixture):
298 cal; 12 g total fat (6 g sat. fat); 90mg chol; 329mg sodium; 10g carbs; 1g fiber; 30g protein.

Guilt-Free Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake Trifle

Oops! I accidently ate dessert first (stay tuned for the chicken marsala later tonight). I couldn't help it. I had this good idea to prepare dessert first, but now mine is gone. This is one of my favorites, and it's guilt-free! You can also add different kinds of berries. Blueberries are really good with the strawberries, and it makes a good 4th of July dessert (red, white & blue). I don't have exact measurements with the ingredients, but just get a big trifle dish or bowl and start stacking.



Ingredients:

1 container of fat free cool whip
1 box of sugar free white chocolate pudding prepared with skim milk
Small bag of frozen strawberries, thawed OR a small basket of fresh strawberries, sliced
Tube cake of Angel Food

Directions:

Layer ingredients in the dish in this order: Angel Food Cake; Strawberries; Pudding; Cool Whip. Keep layering until ingredients run out or until you fill up the dish. I've found that the frozen strawberries are more tart, but they soak the cake really well. The fresh strawberries are more sweet, and if they are used, the pudding and cool whip tend to soak into the cake instead of the strawberry juice.

Vegetable Beef Soup

Believe it or not, I've never made vegetable soup before.... and to shock you even more, I've never even cut up beef. I've never liked touching raw meat, but we've been getting a little more acquainted with each other over time. Yay, me! Aubrey was out hunting, and I cut it all by myself. Okay, I'm sounding like a child now. I did change up the recipe a small bit. My changes are in red. This soup turned out really good, and I'm sure I'll have a lot stuffed in my freezer for the lazy days when I don't feel like cooking.


Recipe is from the Tables of Content cookbook from the Junior League of Birmingham, AL

Ingredients:
2 pounds beef round or top round steak, cubed (3 pounds would be better)
4 (28-oz) cans beef broth (74 ounces beef broth + 15 ounce can veggie broth + 28 ounces water)
2 (15-oz) cans corn, drained
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 (28-oz) can green beans, drained
1 (15-oz) can double beef broth (omitted)
1 (10-oz) package frozen baby lima beans
2 yellow onions, chopped (I used 1 large yellow onion)
1 and 1/4 cups sliced carrots
1 cup chopped celery
2 bay leaves
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
8-9 drops of Tabasco sauce (I had Crystal hot sauce on hand)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms (omitted)

Directions:
Brown the beef in a large skillet, stirring frequently. Drain and add the beef, beef broth, corn, undrained tomatoes, green beans, double beef broth, lima beans, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper in a stockpot and mix well. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce the heat to low.

Cook for 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours or until the beef is tender, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes and mushrooms and return to a boil. Boil for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. Discard the bay leaves and ladle into soup bowls.

Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Tarragon

Since we had some extra mushrooms from last night, I thought this would be a perfect dish. I cooked this once before and made several "helpful" notes in the cookbook that would make it better. I changed up a few of the ingredients by omitting some and adding a little here and there. I've Put my alterations in red. The reason I omitted the chicken broth is because I thought it was a little too potent (I used water instead).


Recipe from the Good Housekeeping cookbook

Ingredients:
2 TBSP olive oil (EVOO for the Rachel Ray fans)
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 large shallot finely chopped
3 TBSP all purpose flour
2 TBSP chopped fresh tarragon or 1 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup chicken broth (1/2 cup water)
1/4 cup dry white wine

Directions:
1. In a 12 inch skillet, heat 1 TBSP oil over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are golden brown and any liquid has evaporated, 12-15 min. Transfer mushroom mixture to bowl.

2. On a plate, combine flour, 1 TBSP chopped tarragon, salt, and pepper (keep 1 tsp and set aside for the sauce); use flour mixture to coat chicken, shaking off excess.

3. In the same skillet, heat remaining 1 TBSP oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Add chicken and cook until golden brown and cooked throughout (about 4 min per side). Transfer chicken to a plate.

4. Add broth (or water), wine, remaining 1 TBSP chopped tarragon, and mushroom mixture to skillet; cook 1 minute, stirring until browned bits are loosened from bottom of skillet. I also added about a teaspoon of the flour mixture to thicken the sauce a little. Pour sauce over chicken.

Nutritional info per serving: About 212 calories, 29g protein, 7g carbs, 7g total fat, 66mg cholesterol, 437mg sodium

Mushroom-Chicken Bake

This yummy recipe came from my cousin, Donna Powell. She submitted it into the SMBC (Shades Mtn Baptist Church) cookbook a few years ago, and it's one of my favorites now. Aubrey raves over it every time I make it ... and I make it a lot. Tonight he said he could eat this 3 times a week. It really is that good... and it's so easy, too! I usually double the amount of mushrooms in the recipe because they shrink down so much. The best thing about it is that it's really healthy and light. I usually serve it with steamed vegetables or roasted asparagus.



Ingredients:

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

1/2 cup Fat Free Italian salad dressing (I use the FF zesty Italian)

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp paprika, divided

1/2 cup fresh sliced mushrooms (I use an 8-oz pack)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Place chicken in a greased baking dish. Pour dressing over chicken and baste. Sprinkle with pepper and 1/4 tsp paprika. Bake uncovered for 30 min. Remove from oven. Turn chicken over and add mushrooms; sprinkle with cheese and remaining paprika. Bake an additional 30 minutes, or until tender, basting occasionally.

Source: Donna Powell (my cousin)

Hot Chocolate

It is so cold today. Immediately after church, I came home, put on some flannel PJs, and ate a bowl of hot soup. Well, either the soup didn't warm me up enough or I just wanted something sweet (or a combination of both), so I made some really sweet hot chocolate.
In a small saucepan, heat up about 1 and 1/2 cups skim milk with 1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted. Pour into a mug with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa powder. You can also put marshmallows on top. That's my preference, but I had no marshmallows. I'll blog on those on another day. They are one of my favorite things to make.




"Food" for thought:

On another note, I wanted to talk about a few verses in Revelation.

Revelation 3:15-16

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

This reminds me of something that happened while I was on a mission trip in Peru. I was at church, and the church members made everyone "hot chocolate." Well, a sweet lady gave me a cup, and I took a swallow. To my surprise, it was lukewarm (yikes). I started thinking of the impurities in the water and felt like spitting it out. I kindly put it down and pretended to be digging something out of my purse. When the sweet lady left, I gave the cup to my translator and told him that I couldn't finish it. So, my point of that story: I don't want God to "spit me out of his mouth" because I'm lukewarm. I want to be a pleasing taste to Him.

When we were children, do you remember playing hide and seek with an object? When the other person got closer to the object, you would say, "you're hot" or when they got farther away from it, you would say, "your cold" Well, the same is with us. When we get closer to God, we are "hot," but the farther we get from Him, we are "cold." I don't know about you, but I want to get closer and closer to Him day by day. If we do that, we'll be "HOT." Hot is good. I pray that each day of our lives would be a "hot" day until the day that we find and see Him face to face. Let Him burn within you!

I found a sermon by John Piper (one of my favorite preachers), and he talked about these verses in Revelation. This is what he says:

"In verses 15 and 16, Jesus brings his indictment of the Laodicean church and delivers his threat. "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth." His indictment against the church is that they are half-hearted in their relation to him. They do not have the fervor and warmth and zeal of a true lover of Christ; nor are they outright unbelievers who flatly reject Jesus and make no pretence of faith. They are halfway in between. Christ has a moderate influence on their lives. They are not uninfluenced by the Lord; but neither do they go overboard or get very excited about the Creator of all. In relation to prayer, it would be safe to say that they probably pray at meals and pause for two or three minutes at bedtime. But they do not burn with a desire for more of God. They do not go hard after him in the secret place. They do not fling the door wide and welcome him to the innermost places of their emotions. But they keep him just outside the door and do their business with him cooly, lukewarmly through the mail slot. They like the ancient (but very unbiblical) proverb: Moderation in all things."

"Jesus' threat to the lukewarm church is that he will spew them out of his mouth. If you wanted to shock a lukewarm Christian, you could hardly think of a more gross and startling image: Jesus Christ putting the cup to his lips in the hope of tasting a pleasing drink, and then spitting it out on the ground. I find it very hard to make this mean that such people will, after all, be saved and enjoy the blessings and fellowship of Christ for all eternity. Surely the image of spitting the people out of his mouth means that he has found them to be unacceptable and rejects them. The faith that saves is not a lukewarm, half-hearted faith. And so he warns Laodicea, and every other church, if you do not repent (as verse 19 says) and become zealous, or hot, then the mechanical, cool superficiality of your faith will be your destruction, and I will spew you out of my mouth. There is ample reason in these verses alone for us to be on our knees in fasting and prayer..."

"The essence of lukewarmness is the statement, "I need nothing." The lukewarm are spiritually self-satisfied. To find out whether you are among that number, don't look into your head to see if you think that you are needy; rather, look at your prayer life. It doesn't matter what we think in our head, the test of whether we are in bondage to spiritual self-satisfaction is how earnest and frequent and extended our prayers for change are. Do you seek the Lord earnestly and often in secret for deeper knowledge of Christ, for greater earnestness in prayer, for more boldness in witness, for sweeter joy in the Holy Spirit, for deeper sorrow for sin, for warmer compassion for the lost, for more divine power to love? Or is the coolness and perfunctoriness of your prayer life 'Exhibit A' that you are spiritually self-satisfied and lukewarm?"

"Jesus' Word in verse 17 to people who feel that they need nothing, who feel that a week of prayer and fasting is a bit melodramatic -- taking this business of spiritual hotness too far -- the word of Jesus is this: "You are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked." And if such churchgoers don't begin to do something to change their condition, Jesus will eventually spew them out of his mouth." (http://www.desiringgod.com/)

I don't ever want to be like this church that is lukewarm. I want to be "hot" for Jesus! I want my life to be a pleasing taste in His mouth so he doesn't spit me out. I don't ever want to be satisfied with where I am spiritually. If we're spiritually satisfied, we will never grow. I want to grow more and be closer with God each day of my life. I pray that each one of us will grow closer to our Lord and that we will be a sweet and hot taste to Him. Much sweeter and much hotter than hot chocolate!
Love,maryanna

Oatmeal Craisin Squares

I was watching the Martha Stewart show the other day, and she made these oatmeal squares. She used raisins, but all I had on hand were Craisins. You can use any dried fruit (raisins, craisins, prunes, dates... you get the hint). Ooooo - dried cherries would be really good, too!
I also cut this recipe in half because I'm only cooking for 2. There is quite a bit of butter in this recipe. I may try to substitute half of it with unsweetened applesauce next time I make them. These are the perfect breakfast and snack bars with a big glass of milk. Mmmm, Mmmm, Good.

Ingredients:
4 cups Old-Fashioned Quaker Oatmeal
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups raisins
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, add oatmeal, flour, sugar, pecans, baking soda, and salt; stir to combine. Add melted butter and vanilla and stir to incorporate; set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine raisins, 1/2 cup water, lemon zest, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and immediately reduce heat to a simmer; continue cooking for 2 minutes. Let cool slightly. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a food processor; process until almost smooth. If mixture is very liquid, strain through a fine mesh strainer, discarding liquid.

Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Transfer half the oat mixture to baking dish and press down, using your hands, to form an even layer. Using an offset spatula, spread raisin mixture over oat layer. Top with remaining oat mixture, pressing down to form an even layer.

Transfer to oven and bake until golden brown on top, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into 2-inch squares. Oatmeal-raisin squares may be stored, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 5 days.

Tortilla Soup

Recipe from the Tables of Content cookbook 2007 by the Junior League of Birmingham, Alabama

Aubrey and I LOVE Mexican food. This soup was really easy to make. You have to make the garnishing because that's what makes it good... especially the fried tortilla strips. They taste just like the chips from the Mexican restaurant. I cut them in strips and put them in a skillet with maybe 2-3 TBSP corn oil. Keep flipping until crispy and golden.

Ingredients:

1 small onion, quartered

3 TBSP corn oil

4 corn tortillas, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro

2 and 1/4 cups tomato puree (this ended up being 2 cans of 10 and 3/4 ounces)

2 quarts (8 cups) chicken broth

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 bay leaves

2-3 cups shredded chicken (just boil the chicken until it's very tender & falls apart easily)

Salt to taste

2 avocados, coarsely chopped for garnish

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese for garnish

3 corn tortillas, cut into strips and fried for garnish

Directions:

Place the onion in a food processor and pulse until pureed. Heat the corn oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add 4 chopped tortillas, the garlic, and cilantro. Saute for 2 minutes or until the tortillas are soft. Stir in the pureed onion and tomato puree and bring to a boil. Stir in the broth, cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low.

Simmer for 45 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the chicken and salt and simmer for 5 minutes longer or until heated through. Discard the bay leaves and ladle the soup into soup bowls. Garnish with the avocados, cheese and fried tortilla strips.

Makes 16 cups

Sweet Blueberry Muffins

I also got this recipe from the Christmas Gifts of Good Taste cookbook. These muffins are so good.... Not too sweet, but sweet enough. I used fresh blueberries, and they just melted in my mouth.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 pint fresh or frozen blueberries
1 and 1/2 TBSP sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. Grease and flour muffin pans or line with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, and make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, oil, and egg; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Batter will be thick. Fold in blueberries. Fill greased muffin cups about 3/4 full. Sprinkle 1 and 1/2 TBSP sugar over batter in muffin cups. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool.
Yield: 24 muffins. To reheat muffins, bake at 350 for about 5 min.

Homemade Peanut Butter

This recipe came from Christmas Gifts of Good Taste published by Oxmoor House. I've been dying to make this. I've been trying to find peanut oil in a smaller bottle so I wouldn't have to buy the whole gallon (or more), but no luck. I broke down and bought the whole bottle. Either I'm going to have enough oil for a lifetime of homemade peanut butter or maybe I can fry a turkey with the remainder. Since there are no additives or preservatives, this has to be refrigerated. I thought this would bother me (I've never had cold peanut butter before), but I couldn't even really tell a difference. It's so creamy and yummy! Put it on your favorite cracker or on bread with some jelly.

Ingredients:
2 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts (I could only find the lightly salted roasted peanuts)
1 TBSP peanut oil
1/2 tsp salt (I omitted this since my peanuts were lightly salted)

Directions:
Process all ingredients in a food processor until well blended. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks. Yields about 1 and 1/4 cups butter.

Chicken Tetrazzini

This recipe makes enough to feed 8-10 people. It also freezes great, so it would be a good dish to make for new parents or for future meals for your family.
I made 2 casserole dishes tonight. One dish is for Aubrey and me, and the other is for some friends of ours that just had a baby. It freezes really well. Once frozen, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Bake at 350 for 35 min.


Ingredients:

2.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup butter
1 medium green pepper, chopped
4 1/2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
2 ounces of jar chopped pimentos
1 clove garlic, minced
1/9 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp cooking sherry
3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup slivered almonds
8-ounces thin spaghetti noodles

Directions:

1. Place chicken in saucepan with water covering them. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is tender and cooked throughout (15-20 min). Remove chicken, and reserve broth. Dice chicken into small chunks.

2. Melt butter in large sauce pan over low heat. Add green pepper, and saute' until tender. Add flour and stir constantly until smooth and then an additional minute. Gradually stir in milk. Add soup, pimentos, garlic, garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce, sherry, chicken, and 3 cups cheese; Stir well.

3. Cook noodles in boiling broth until done. Drain and rinse.

4. Combine chicken mixture with noodles (need a very large bowl). Divide mixture into two lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dishes. Sprinkle remaining cheese evenly over casserole; top with almonds. Bake at 350 for 20 min. until heated through.

Source: Betty Ann Colburn

My first blog

Yay!!! I've finally figured this blogging thing out. I've been wanting to do this for so long, and I've finally found a little time in my crazy schedule. I'm really excited to start photographing some of my cooking / baking.... Although, I don't claim to be a professional photographer OR cook by any means. Just a hobby.