Starbucks Chocolate Espresso Caramel Latte Cupcakes

Some of my friends just moved into their own new apt. and I decided to come over and see the place so i also made them some cupcakes, some cupcakes that I thought they would really like.... :) this is also my first time ever making cupcakes, and I totally sucked on the piping the frosting on them! :) but after they are covered with decoration, they dont look that bad. :) They were really good.... hope you try them!

Starbuck's Chocolate Espresso Caramel Latte Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces; 240 g) plus 2 T sifted all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 t. baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 230 g) lightly salted butter (not margarine), at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz; 300 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 small can Starbuck's Double Shot Espresso and Cream (6.9 oz can)
1 t. vanilla extract

Caramel
Chocolate covered coffee beans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Measure flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda, and salt into a bowl and whisk to mix. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Alternately, add the dry ingredients and the Starbuck's Double Shot, beating after each addition, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Spoon batter into the cupcake papers, 3/4 full. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely.

Pipe buttercream on top, drizzle with your favorite gourmet caramel ice cream topping, and sprinkle with chocolate covered coffee beans.

Strawberry and Cream Ice Drink

I also made them scrumptious drink.... Yum!

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BACARDI® Mixers Strawberries and Cream

• 1/2 (10 fluid ounce) can frozen BACARDI® Mixers Strawberry Daiquiri mix
• 1 cup vanilla ice cream
• 5 cups ice
• Strawberries for garnish
• Whipped cream for garnish

Directions

1. Blend together BACARDI® Mixers Strawberry Daiquiri mix, BACARDI® Rum, ice cream and ice for 45 to 60 seconds or until uniform.
2. Garnish with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Today is my dad's birthday. My mom and I made him a big birthday dinner.... He loves cheesecake and caramel apples, and I was surprised when i founded this recipe. I was so happy. I hope you try this. Enjoy! Here's the recipe:

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Show: Paula's Home CookingEpisode: Cozy Comfort Food

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews  

• 
  
  

  Cook Time:

  36 min
• 
  
  

  Level:

  Easy
• 
  
  

  Yield:

  8 servings

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Times:

Prep

20 min

Inactive Prep

--

Cook

36 min

Total:

56 min

Ingredients

• 1 (21-ounce) can apple pie filling
• 1 (9-inch) graham cracker crust
• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup caramel topping
• 12 pecan halves, plus 2 tablespoons chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Reserve 3/4 cup of the apple filling; set aside. Spoon the remaining filling into the crust. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add the eggs and mix well. Pour this over the pie filling.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the center of the cake is set. Cool to room temperature.

Mix the reserved pie filling and caramel topping in a small saucepan and heat for about 1 minute, or until spreadable. Spoon the apple-caramel mixture over the top of the cheesecake and spread evenly. Decorate the edge of the cake with pecan halves and sprinkle with chopped pecans. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve.

 I made these tonight, along with spaghetti and meatballs. :) I really enjoyed them. And they would be an awesome appetizer at a party! Hope you like try them, they are delicious!! 

Roma Tomato Bruschetta

10 min
8 min
24 to 30 slices

INGREDIENTS:

• 10 large fresh basil leaves, sliced thin
• OR 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 cups roma (plum) tomatoes, seeded and chopped (about 1 pound)
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup Crisco® Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 loaf French baguette

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:

1. 
   
   HEAT oven to 425°F.
   
   
2. 
   
   ROLL up several basil leaves; slice into very thin strips. Repeat with remaining basil. Combine tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, basil, salt and pepper.
3. 
   
   CUT bread into angled 1/4-inch pieces. Combine olive oil and garlic; brush on bread slices and place on baking pan.
   
   
4. 
   
   BAKE about 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown. Just before serving, drain excess liquid from tomatoes. Spoon tomato mixture evenly over bread slices.

Taco Bowls and Tostones with Cilantro Cream

Tonight's dinner was homemade taco bowls with Tostones. They were pretty good. I wanted to share them with you, so you could try them as well. :)

I just got fajita size flour tortillas and put them into muffin tins. Filled with refried beans, browned ground beef or turkey, Mexican melting cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and a little bit of chives. After that put them in a 400 degrees oven for about 15 minutes, or until tortillas get crispy on the tops.Then just enjoy!

Craving fries? Well, heres a recipe for a more healthy substitute.... Tostones. I baked slices of plantains, instead of frying them, but they're just as good. :) 

Tostones

3 med. to large light-yellow plantains
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cilantro Cream

1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, washed
1/2 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.Trim ends from plantains, then cut a slit down one side. Peel plantains, begining at the slit. Slice crosswise into 12 pieces, each about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Place in large bowl. 
2. Toss plantains slices with oil and1/8 teaspoon ofthe salt. Transfer to a large nonstick baking sheet, laying slices flat. 
3. Bake plantain slices at 400 degrees for 15 minuets. Remove pan from oven. Place a few slices on a cutting bored, and press gently with bottom of a glass. Turn over and return to baking sheet.Repeat with all slices. Coat plantains lightly with nonstick cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Return baking 5 more minutes, until crispy. Serve tostones warm with cilantro cream on the side for dipping.

Cilantro Cream:

Our dinner table. :)

in a food processor or mini chopper, combine cilantro, sour cream, milk, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Pulse until cilantro is chopped and sauce is smooth.

Egg Rolls

I helped my sister make egg rolls the other day. I always love this recipe. Cause I don't care much for Chinese food  anyway. But this is my moms recipe. I don't know where she got it, but I like it.The thing is we bake them instead of frying them. They are still delious baked. You should try them.

You can buy the egg roll wraps at any grocery store. Then fill them with cabbage and carrots that have been shredded in a food processor. Mix with browned grounded sausage. Bake in oven at 400 degrees.  Until browned and crispy. Serve with sweet and sour or duck sauce. Enjoy! :)

Giada De Laurentiis's Orzo Stuffed Peppers

I just love Giada. She is Italian and she went to the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.I love to watch her cook, and her recipes are amazing and healthy. I have made two dishes of hers this week. Her Parmesan Chicken and Her Orzo-Stuffed Peppers. I made the peppers tonight. They were lovely. Here's the recipe:
Orzo-Stuffed Peppers
4-6 servings

1 (28-oz.) can whole Italian tomatoes
2 medium zucchini, grated
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano Cheese, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grounded black pepper
4 cups low- sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
6 sweet bell peppers (red, yellow, or green)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Pour the tomatoes and their jucies into a large bowl and break them into pieced using a pair of kitchen shears or your fingertips. Add the zucchini, mint, cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir to complete.

Meanwhile, bring the chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the orzo and cook for 4 minutes. The orzo will be only partially cooked. Drain the orzo, reserving the chicken broth, and add the orzo into the large bowl with the vegetables. Stir to combine. Transfer the warm chicken broth to a 3-quart baking dish.

Slice the tops off the peppers and remove all ribs and seeds. Cut a very thin slice from the base to help peppers stand up.
Spoon the orzo mixture into the peppers. Place the peppers in the baking dish with the warm chicken broth. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle each pepper with cheese, and continue baking until cheese is golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the stuffed peppers to serving plates. Garnish with basil, if desired. Enjoy!

My own fruit pastry

We had leftover filo dough from the spanakopitas. And we had fresh fruit that needed to be used before it went bad. And I wanted to make some kind of pastry. I didn't know what I was going to do. I made some mini muffins that morning and the pan was still out. So I decided to put the filo in the mini muffin pan. Then fill it with fruit soaked in sugar.  Then bake them until the dough is crispy. I did to different types. Some had just strawberries. Then there was some others with blueberries and kiwi mix. Unfortunately when blueberries get cooked, they get really juicy, so it kinda made the dough soggy, and went through. But I managed. :) Then I just drizzled some chocolate over the top of them. 

Spanakopita

I made Spanakopitas last night for dinner. I ended up not having enough spinich so it only made 7. When my dad came home, he saw that there were only 7 spanakopitas and he's like "I could eat all 7." lol :) So he ate a couple then we went out to eat. But they were fun to make. I use to make them all the time, but this is the first time in awhile that I have made them. I kinda just through some ingredients together. I didn't really measure the spices, so sorry that I don't have measurements. Hope you try them, they're pretty good!

Spanakopita
butter
fresh baby spinach
olive oil
salt
pepper
minced garlic
crumbled feta cheese
cottage cheese
basil
oregano
nutmeg
filo dough

Directions:
In a medium pan melt butter on medium heat. Put fresh spinach in pan with butter, then add some olive oil.Coat spinach slightly with olive oil. Spinach with wilt. When done, chopped spinach coarsely. Put in a bowl, mix together salt, pepper, garlic, feta, cottage cheese, basil, oregano, and nutmeg with spinach.

Take 1 phyllo sheet from stack and arrange on a work surface with a long side nearest you (keeping remaining sheets covered) and brush with some butter. Top with another phyllo sheet and brush with more butter. Cut buttered phyllo stack crosswise into 6 (roughly 12- by 2 3/4-inch) strips.

Put a heaping teaspoon of filling near 1 corner of a strip on end nearest you, then fold corner of phyllo over to enclose filling and form a triangle. Continue folding strip (like a flag), maintaining triangle shape. Put triangle, seam side down, on a large baking sheet and brush top with butter. Make more triangles in same manner, using all of phyllo.

Bake triangles in middle of oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool slightly.

Julie and Julia

Hey, I watched Julie and Julia the other day. Great movie, inspirational. Specially to people who like to cook or foodies. :)

Eat, Pray, Love

Yeah! A Julia Roberts movie about food! Well, sorta. I wanna see it! Can't Wait!

Layered Strawberry Cheesecake Bowl

I made dinner for some friends that came over yesterday. Meatloaf, mash potatoes, corn. And of course... Desert! :) So I made something called Layered Strawberry Cheesecake Bowl. It's pretty good. I made it once before, and it was a success. It's easy, so I thought I could make it for them. Heres the recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 (8 ounce) packages PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups cold milk
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
• 2 cups thawed COOL WHIP LITE Whipped Topping, divided
• 2 cups frozen pound cake cubes (1 inch)
• 1 square BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine berries and sugar; refrigerate until ready to use. Beat Neufchatel with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mix; mix well.
2. Blend in 1-1/2 cups COOL WHIP. Spoon half into 2-1/2-qt. bowl.
3. Top with layers of cake, berries and remaining Neufchatel cheese mixture.
4. Refrigerate 4 hours. Melt chocolate; drizzle over trifle. Top with remaining COOL WHIP.