Hawiian Themed Cake with Marshmellow Fondant

This was my first try with MM fondant.....I wouldnt have been able to do it without the help of my fabulous friend Annie!! She was a lifesaver, she stayed until midnight last night to help finish this cake!! I owe her big!!

This cake was made for my work for our last day of school and graduation party!! It came out great!! The bottom layer was pina colada cake with pina colada filling. The top layer was chocolate with a creamy chocolate filling.

Crabby Cakes with White Wine Butter Sauce

I love crab!! So naturally I love crab cakes!! I made these precious little ones the other night and I have to say....they were deeeeeee-licious!! My only complaint...I got full!! So here is my take on crab cakes, I came up with this recipe from several crab cake recipes that I have seen and added all the flavors that I love!!

1 lb crab meat, make sure you run your fingers through it to make sure there is no shells!!
2 Tbls mayo
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped red
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
juice of 1 lemon
2 eggs, beaten
1 Tbls garlic, grated on microplane
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 Tbls Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp hot sauce
1 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbls yellow mustard
1 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tbls chopped parsley

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. When well mixed grab out a golf ball sized portion and shape into the crab cake. Now in a frying heat 1 Tbls butter and 1 Tbls olive oil. When that is heated add 3 crab cakes to the pan and brown on both sides.

White Wine Butter Sauce

Melt 2 sticks butter, just until melted but still creamy
1/4 cup good quality white wine
2 garlic cloves, grated

Serve with crab cakes.

Dessert Pizza

Sugar cookies + marshmallow fluff and cream cheese + strawberries and chocolate = A good thing!!

sugar cookie dough (packaged, refrigerated or homemade if you have like a zillion years to wait for a delicious dessert!!)

1/2 pkg cream cheese

equal amount marshmallow fluff

approx 15 strawberries sliced in half

1/2 cup milk chocolate, white chocolate or semi sweet chocolate chips....or all three or a combo of 2....whatever floats your boat!!

Now....spread cookie dough out on cookie sheet to form as close to a circle as possible. Or whatever shape you want....heck if you feel like shaping like your dog Spot...go for it!! Bake according to package directions....well kinda....I had to bake mine longer cause it was like a giant cookie. While that is baking, mix marshmallow fluff and cream cheese in a separate bowl. Now cut the green leafy thingy off the strawberry and cut it in half. (After you wash them of course!!) By this time your ginormous master piece of a cookie should be done. Let it cool for a couple of minutes......if you can stand the wait!!

Spread the fluff mixture over the entire surface of the cookie, strategically place strawberries forming a circle, being careful to measure with a ruler........NO WAY....JUST KIDDING....just put the strawberries on the cookie!! If your feeling adventurous form a pattern!! Lastly stick the chocolate chips in a ziploc baggie in the micro for like 30 seconds. Take bag out of micro and massage it to mix chocolate. Snip a small corner off the bag and drizzle chocolate all over cookie and strawberries.

Cut using a pizza knife and serve. Now enjoy the silence while the kids are quietly eating!!

I cant even tell you how good this was!! Big hit with the kids!! They think I'm some sort of super mom.....but it's only cause they don't know how easy it was!! ;o)

Carne Asada Arroz y Frijoles con Guacamole

Have you ever gone to a Mexican restaurant with the anticipation of having a great, authentic meal and left....hugely disappointed, unsatisfied and barely full cause the food wasn't even good enough to stuff yourself?? Yeah well that happened to me recently and I swore I was gonna come home and duplicate the meal and it was gonna knock my families socks off!!

I still think it's sad though that I had to be the one to do it!! I'm just some mixture of Italian and Portuguese among other things!! ;o) Oh well....I got the job done!!

This dinner came out just divine!!! It was by far the best guacamole and carne asada I have ever made!! I love it when that happens!! And well...beans and rice....I can do in my sleep.

Carne Asada

carne asada meat (they usually sell it sliced like that at the grocery store)

1 lg lemon, zested and juiced

2 limes, zested and juiced

1 Tbls chili powder

3 tsp salt

4 cloves garlic, mashed into paste

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili flakes

1 tsp black pepper

3 Tbls oil, I used canola

Put meat and all ingredients in a large ziploc or large bowl or plastic container and mix until all meat is coated!! Refrigerate at least several hours or preferably overnight. Cook either on the bbq or in a frying pan or on a griddle.

Guacamole

2 avocado's

1 small tomato chopped

1/2 red onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, made into paste

small handful cilantro chopped

salt to taste

1/2 lime juiced

(I also added about 2 Tbls of the green tomatillo salsa that I posted a few days ago. You can do that too, or add chopped jalapeno or leave it out. Whatever you like!)

Mix all ingredients, I don't like to completely mash my avocado's I like it kind of chunky. But you can do what you like!!

Make mexican rice.....I think the key to rice is frying it before you cook it!! Just fry it with oil and tomato for about 7-10 min, then add your liquid and salt.

Boil your pintos with an onion cut in half, 3 cloves of garlic, a jalapeno, and salt until beans are cooked. Approx. 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I usually reserve about a cup of whole beans then throw the rest in the food processor. Then mix them all together. Then in a frying pan I heat some oil and add 1/2 of a very thinly sliced onion. Brown the onion, then add the beans and fry.

I served this meal with corn tortillas....of course!!

Fabulous Fish Tacos

I love fish taco's!!! I was bored....and when I'm bored....I cook or bake!! So I whipped up some fish taco's for dinner tonight. Freshly fried corn tortilla's, homemade mango salsa, homemade spicy green salsa, cod with garlic and butter, lettuce and sour cream lime sauce! How much better does it get?

Fish
1 lb cod or any white fish (or shrimp....mmmm)
Cook or bake how ever you'd like.

Tortilla's
Fry corn tortilla's however you like them....extra crispy or soft and bendy...that's how I like them. I season them with season salt, it's my favorite! ;o)

Tomatillo Salsa
10-12 tomatillo's
1/2 med onion
1 jalepeno
3 cloves garlic
juice of 1 lime
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
handful of cilantro
Boil tomatillo's, onion and garlic for approx 15 minutes. Strain out tomatillo's, onion and garlic reserving the liquid. Put that and the rest of the ingredients into a food processor. Pour as much of the reserved liquid to make the consistency of the salsa as thick or runny as you like it. Salt to taste.

Sour Cream Lime Sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
juice of one lime
1 tsp agave or sugar
Stir well.

Mango Salsa
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 of a mango, diced
handful of cilantro, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped finely
Mix all of the ingredients, and salt to taste.

Don't forget to chopped lettuce, assemble the taco's and EAT THEM!!

My first....and VERY successful attempt at Chile Rellenos

OMG!!!! These came out sssssssssssoooooooooo good!! I have NEVER made them before, but LOVE Chile Rellenos so much. So I just thought....I can do this!! And I did!! =)

I am so happy!! I will be making these again!! It was over all pretty easy, didnt take more than an hour. The only bad thing was that by the time I was done frying them all I had eaten 3 and I was full so I didnt get to sit down and enjoy them!! ;o)

1 lg can green chiles

monterey jack cheese

1/4 to 1/2 cup flour + 1 Tbls

6-8 eggs separated

1 tsp season salt

oil or shortening to fry

Take the green chiles out of the can and place them on paper towels to dry them. Dust them with the 1/4 or 1/2 cup of flour (however much is needed to dust them completely). Cut thick slices (1/2") of monterey jack cheese, then cut the slice in 3 long strips. Cut as many as needed for your chiles (1 per chile). You can use toothpicks to hold the chile and the cheese together. It's ok if the chile rips, cause the egg is gonna act like a nice comfy blankie to hold it all together!

Put all the egg whites in your handy dandy Kitchen Aide mixer and put the whip attachment on it on med high and just walk away! But make sure you walk back when stiff peaks have formed! ;o)

Beat the yolks with the 1 Tbls of flour and the 1 tsp of season salt. Once your egg whites have formed stiff peaks FOLD did I mention you should FOLD.....not stir.......fold in the yolk mixture until well mixed. Now you just dip your chile with the cheese inside into the egg batter and drop it into your preheated oil. When they are golden brown on both sides (you'll have to flip them once) then they are done!!

I served mine with El Pato salsa de jalepeno. You can find it in a can in the Hispanic section of the grocery store. Did I mention how good they were??

My take on a Chicken Corn Soup....mmmmm!!

Ok the first thing I would like to say is.....this is a basic recipe of NOT exact measurements!! I make this stuff up as I go depending on what sounds good!! So I'm gonna give it my best shot trying to remember everything I put in there!! Good luck and may the force be with you.

On a side note....even my kids liked this soup!! That's always a bonus!! ;o)

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or chopped(depending on how many you are feeding)

1 container chicken broth

3/4 cup salsa (I used homemade that I had already)

2 cans corn

1 cup heavy cream, milk or sour cream

1/2 onion diced

1 can diced green chile's

1 cup grated cheese of your choice (cheddar, pepper jack, monterey jack)

cilantro

corn tortillas fried until crispy, then broken into pieces

Just cook the chicken and shred or chopped it. In a saucepan cook onions until translucent, I think I threw in a little butter! Add chicken broth, and corn. Now use your fabulous immulsion blender and blend it up a little. Next add in all the rest of the ingredients except the tortillas and cilantro. When cheese is melted serve. Top with broken tortillas and cilantro!! Yummy!!