Sugar Cookies

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Duncan Hines cake mixes.  Because I got so many samples, I kept looking for alternative things to do with it because I don't really eat cake.  But I do eat cookies!!!  This was another super easy one and surprisingly tasty too.  I didn't think cookies made out of cake mix would be any good, but these were!  I'm definitely doing this again in the future.


From Skip to My Lou
Ingredients:
- 1 box of cake mix (I used White Cake Mix)
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup oil
- Strawberry frosting (optional)


Directions:
- Mix the cake mix, eggs and oil together.
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Scoop out 20 portions of the cookie dough on a silpat (smooshed down a bit) and bake for 10-13 minutes
- When the cookie has completely cooled, frost it if desired.

Pumpkin Devil's Food Cake

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Duncan Hines cake mixes.  I've seen this on Pinterest.  It looked easy and tasty so I decided to give it a try.  All you have to do is mix the cake mix with a can of pumpkin puree and follow the rest of the directions on the back of the box.  No eggs, oil, etc, so it's healthier too!

Ingredients:
- One box of cake mix
- One 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree


Directions:
- Mix the cake mix and pumpkin puree until fully incorporated.  The consistency will be super thick and brownie like.  You'll probably be tempted to add something to it because it just doesn't look right, but keep with it.  It'll work, I promise.   
- Follow the rest of the directions on the back of the box.  In my case, I lightly oiled and floured a pan and poured the batter in and baked for 35 minutes.

- And even though the batter is thick like a brownie, the completed product is more like a moist cake and yummy too!

I wonder if this would work with other purees like sweet potato or butternut squash?  If you've tried it, let me know!

Ji Se La Pi

This isn't the prettiest dish, but it's a tasty dish that is great for leftover turkey.  This shredded chicken and mung bean sheet cold salad is best served fresh, ie not after being refrigerated.  Refrigeration tends to make the noodles hard.  And, another thing to look out for it getting the right kind of noodles.  I'm not sure what to tell you here because that's where I screwed up.  The kind that I bought was way too thick.  It said something like TianJian style on the bag if that helps.

So keep from refrigerating this and buy the right noodles and you'll be sure to enjoy this!  :)

Ingredients:
- Mung bean sheets
- Shredded chicken (or turkey)
- Cucumber
- Peanut butter
- Water
- Soy sauce
- Vinegar (rice vinegar or regular is fine too)
- Wasabi (optional)


Directions:
- Cook the mung bean sheets according to the package directions.  Run them under cold water and then cut them into approximately 1"x1" pieces (though shape and size really don't matter).  Set aside.
- Shred the chicken/turkey and julianne the cucumber.
- In a separate bowl, mix the peanut butter and a bit of water until it's nice and creamy, about the consistency of a thick gravy.  Heating the water will help it mix.  If you put too much water, just pop the bowl with the water and peanut butter into the microwave for a bit and stir.  It's better to have it too thick than too watery.  You'll get more liquid from the other flavorings and the noodles/cucumbers will give off water too.
- Add soy, vinegar and wasabi to taste.
- Mix the sauce with the cucumber, chicken and noodles and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

So I've decided to jump on the bandwagon again and try another recipe that I've been seeing all over the internet lately.  This one was a bit disappointing though.  Not that it wasn't good, but it wasn't as amazing as I expected based on all the accounts I read.  It tasted like sweet hummus, not cookie dough.  Maybe if I didn't know it was made out of chickpeas, I wouldn't have thought that, but I did.

Even though I generally like to make healthy alternatives whenever possible, I think this is one of those times the real deal with all the unhealthiness is worth it.

Ingredients:
- Chickpeas
- Peanut butter
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Sugar
- Honey
- Chocolate chips


Directions:
- I used canned chickpeas, so I drained 2 cans of chickpeas while reserving the liquid from the can.
- Put the chickpeas in a food processor along with the peanut butter (about 2 tbs), vanilla extract (2 tsp), salt (a pinch), sugar and honey (I don't know how much I used because I just kept adding it until it tasted like I wanted it to).
- Puree the mixture until sooth and creamy.  I found it to be a bit dry, so I added a bit of the liquid from the can until I got the desired consistency.
- Stir in chocolate chips and then top it with a few more as a garnish.
- Serve with graham crackers or vanilla wafers.

Crash Hot Potatoes

This is my version of those crash hot potatoes that are all over the internet.

Even though it seems that everyone out there is in love with it, I was resistant to believe the hype.  While I do love potatoes, potatoes are potatoes, right?  And the recipe is so darn simple, can it really make that much of a difference?  Apparently so!  It's darn tasty!  So tasty in fact, that Mr. Gaga requested it again for  dinner the next night and asked "Why don't we do this more often?!?!?!"  The answer is because I didn't know that it was so easy and so tasty and we will do this more often in the future, and so should you!  :)

Ingredients:
- Potatoes (I used red potatoes, but I'm sure you can use any and it'll still be good)
- Olive oil
- Salt (I used kosher)
- Pepper
- Rosemary or your favorite herb or none at all


Directions:
- Wash and scrub the potatoes.  Put them in a large bowl and microwave until cooked through.  For me it took about 5 minutes for 10'ish potatoes.  You can also boil the potatoes, but microwaves are much faster and easier.
- Lay out the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Using a potato masher (or fork or bottom of a pan/plate/cup) and smush each potato.  If necessary, flip the potatoes over so that the potato innards are face up.  You'll get better crispiness out of it that way.
- Drizzle olive oil over the tops, sprinkle with salt, pepper and herbs.
- Pop the potatoes in the oven until the tops are crispy.  The first night I made them, I put them in for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees and the second night I tried it for 15-20 minutes are 425 degrees.  They both turned out just fine.
- Eat.

Sugar-Free Banana Bread

This is something I made a long time ago, but I haven't been great about keeping up with this blog as you can tell, so I'm posting it now, many, many months later.

I'm not a huge fan of this, but I was looking for something interesting to make for my daughter besides the usual boring purees.  She was 9 months at the time and loving finger foods.  I wanted to expose her to as many flavors and textures as possible, and thought this might be good.  Unfortunately, she wasn't a fan either and I ended up tossing most of it.  It was just bland and a bit on the dry side and not very tasty.  The sugar is very important :)

Anyway, if you decide to give this a try anyway, from what I've read, it's not a good idea to give babies too much sugar or salt, and this fits the bill.  It's also not a good idea for babies to eat egg whites, but we have no history of allergies in our families and our pediatrician cleared it.  If you're being more careful about allergies than we are, you might want to steer clear of this until your kid is a bit older.  I left out the nuts from the recipe because that's another common allergen.

Inspired by Cooks.com
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cups of bananas (mashed)
- 1/3 cup of veggie oil
- 1 large eggs
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Directions:
- Mix the banana, oil, eggs and water.
- Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well.
- Pour mixture into a well-oiled 9x5 loaf pan.
- Bakd at 325 for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire rack, then slice and serve.

Corn with Chicken

Growing up, I knew that if my mom wasn't around to make dinner, this was what we were having, because it was the only dish my dad knew how to make.  Well, this and egg fried rice (one of my favorite by the way).

So, given that, you can assume that this dish is pretty easy to make, and it is!  And even better, my daughter will actually eat it (she's been on a self-imposed mostly vegetarian diet of as late).

I also tried out a little trick that I think I will be using from now on.  I always wondered how Chinese restaurants get there meat so darn tender.  I was always told it was because they marinated it in corn starch, which is something I always do, but it's never the same.  After a bit of internet research, it looks like they're using baking soda!  So I tried just a pinch of baking soda and it seemed to have worked.  It's not as obvious with chicken, especially when the chicken pieces are so small this case, so the real test will be the next time I make beef with broccoli.  I'll let you know how that goes...

Ingredients:
- Corn
- Chicken (I used breast)
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Oil


Directions:
- Cut the corn into ~1/2" cubes and sprinkle a dash of salt and a pinch of baking soda and mix well.  Set aside and let it marinate for a bit.  10 minutes is probably enough time.
- Heat some oil in a pan or wok and add the chicken in.  Keep the chicken moving in the pan until it is mostly cooked through.
- Add corn and keep the contents of the pan moving until the chicken is cooked through and the corn is heated through.  Add a bit more salt to taste if necessary.
- Serve with rice.

Told ya' it was easy!