Vanilla Cupcakes

I’m not sure where I found this recipe originally.

• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine evaporated milk and vinegar. Set aside to thicken slightly.
3. Mix together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.
4. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add half to the wet ingredients and mix. Add the evaporated milk to the batter then the rest of the dry ingredients.
5. Pour into muffin molds and bake 15-20 minutes.

Verdict: These were a little on the dry side, but still very good.

Tomato Basil and Romano Ricotta Spaghetti Pie

I found this recipe on another food blog.

We change the recipe a little, to make one large pie instead of smaller pies.

• Homemade or store bought meat sauce
• 2 cups ricotta
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup shredded Romano cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt (we used garlic powder)
• 1 lbs spaghetti noodles
• 1 roll French bread dough (we don’t have this here, so we used crescent roll dough, which I don’t think worked out in the same way)
• 1/4 cup shredded Romano cheese
• 1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1. In a bowl, mix together the ricotta, mozzarella, Romano cheese, salt, pepper and garlic salt
   (or powder).
2. Break the noodles into smaller pieces (we forgot this part) and cook according to package instructions.
3. Unroll the French bread dough and separate into 3 pieces. Press into bottom of springform pans. (We pressed our crescent dough together and placed on the bottom of a large oven dish.) Bake 10 minutes then remove from oven.
4. In layers, place noodles, cheese mixture and meat sauce over bread. Repeat for another layer. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Romano. Bake 25-30 minutes.

Verdict: This was a very tasty dish! I wish we had remembered to cut the noodles, because the long pasta made it kind of hard to serve. I don’t think the bread base really worked, though maybe it was because we didn’t have the right kind. The meal was like a lasagna but with spaghetti as the main noodle, so I loved that!

Currié’s Chicken Pot Pie

I found this recipe on another food blog. Though we used a store bought pie crust instead of making our own.

• 1 pie crust
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup milk
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup onion
• 4-5 small red potatoes, diced
• 1 cup of carrots, diced
• 1 cup corn
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• Meat from one small roasted chicken, shredded
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter. Once melted, add the flour, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Slowly add milk, while whisking. Slowly add chicken stock, while still whisking. Add the onion, potatoes, carrots, corn, broccoli and chicken. Season to taste.
2. Pour the pot pie mixture into a pie plate. Place pie crust on top. Cut 4 to 5 slits on top (I think we forgot this part).
3. Bake 45-55 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

Verdict: This was a good but not great recipe. For some reason while it baked all of the liquid evaporated, so it didn’t really feel like a pot pie while eating it.

Chocolate Oreo Cake

I found this recipe on another food blog. We made one cake instead of cutting them up into mini cakes like the original recipe and we used store bought frosting instead of making the frosting in this recipe.

• 2 ounces bitter or semisweet chocolate, chopped (we used semi sweet)
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 6 tablespoons water
• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar, divided
• 4 eggs, separated
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (we didn’t use because we use semi-salted butter)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Frosting
• 1 1/4 cup crushed Oreos
• 2/3 cup dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 4-5 tablespoons warm water

1. In a double boiler, melt both chocolates along with the water. Stir until smooth and set aside to let cool to room temperature.
2. Mix together the butter and 1 1/4 cup of the sugar until fluffy. Add in the melted chocolate. Add the egg yolks, one at a time.
3. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt (if using).  Mix half of the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture. Add the buttermilk and vanilla, then the rest of the dry ingredients.
4. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff.
5. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the cake batter. Then fold in the remaining egg whites.
6. Divide batter into 2 prepared cake pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until done.
7. Mix together the frosting and the crushed up Ores (we also added some food colouring so that our vanilla frosting was pink).
8. Place the dark chocolate and heavy cream in a double boiler. Let melt 2-3 minutes without stirring. Slowly mix to combine. Add powdered sugar and keep mixing. Add water, one tablespoon at a time until a nice consistency is reached.
9. Frost the top of one cake with the icing, then place the other cake on top of it. Frost top and the sides of the layered cake. Drizzle with chocolate sauce

Verdict: Given all the work in making the cake, they didn’t taste as amazing as I would have hoped. There wasn’t that much of a chocolate flavor to the cake.