One Cheeky Chica

January 16, 2013

Mini-Donuts!

I purchased a Bella cake pop/donut hole maker months ago and for some reason put it away. Out of sight, out of mind! Well, I came across the box the other day and had to make some donuts!

All I needed was a box of yellow cake mix and followed the directions for the mix. I lightly greased the wells of the non-stick surface of my goodie maker and plugged it in.

I filled each well with 1/2 tablespoon of the cake mix and closed the lid. I let it sit for 5 minutes and opened up to golden goodness! I let them sit for about 30 seconds before removing them. I used a toothpick inserted in the side of each donut hole and placed them in a deep, round Tupperware bowl.

I added powdered sugar to the bowl and swirled the donuts around so they were completely covered. I transferred them to a plastic holiday-themed bucket with a lid.

I think I will try making rum balls since this was so easy to do!! =)

September 06, 2012

French Toast Casserole

Pampered Chef makes it easy :-)

I was geeked on trying this recipe out. Why? Because it was so darn easy!! I had to prep it the night before BUT it was so worth the wait!! It supposedly yields 12 servings but if you eat anything like me you may get 4 or 5 servings outta of it. SMILE

Ok, your ingrediant list:

1 loaf french bread (10oz or more), cut into 1" pieces

8 eggs

3 cups milk

4 tsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1. Place bread pieces in a greased 13 x 9 baking dish. In a mixing bowl beat eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla. Pour over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Dot with butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over top.

3. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve with syrup!

Sunday morning goodness

September 04, 2012

Cuban Picadillo

So my daughter had a craving for some picadillo last week and printed out the recipe. I figured why not, it would be a fabulous meal! I had most of the ingrediants needed other than the ground beef so a quick run was made to the store and before you know it the kids were in business. Yep, thats right! I let the kids handle the kitchen this go-round! Check it out!

FYI: if you don't want a lot of leftovers, halve the recipe.

Ingrediants:

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 green paper, seeded and diced
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 pounds ground beef
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3-4 dried bay leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 8oz can diced tomatos
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 cup Spanish olives
4 oz pimentos, chopped
2 tablespoon capers
1 packet GOYA Sazon seasoning (Culantro and Annato)

Add olive oil to a large cast iron skillet and heat over medium heat. Add peppers and onion; saute 2-3 minutes until softened. Add garlic and stir for another 30 seconds; add ground beef, cooking until fully done, about 6-10 minutes. Add salt, cumin, black pepper, and bay leaves. Stir until combined well.

Add dry white wine and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. Add diced tomatos, and tomato sauce. Stir well. Add olives, capers, and Sazon seasoning; combine well. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20-30 minutes (stirring occasionally.)

Serve over rice.

March 16, 2012

Mocha Rum Brownies

Now I"m not a big brownie eater but I do love chocolate! And rum!! I ran across this recipe and and thought maybe the rum couls sell me on eating more brownies.... what do you think?? Check it out!

Mocha Rum Brownies

1 box brownie mix
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup half and half
1/4 cup brewed expresso or strong coffee
1/2 cup dark rum
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 pan.

Combine all brownie ingredients and mix well. Pour into greased pan and bake 40-45 minutes. Let brownies cool completely. Cut into squares.

Mocha Rum Frosting
1 stick butter, melted
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp dark rum

Stir together butter and coca. In seperate bowl, beat confectioners sugar and milk in three alternating segments. Add milk mixture to the butter and cocoa mixture. Add vanilla and rum, stirring until smooth and creamy.

Top brownies with frosting. You can use raspberries or cherries on top of frosting! ENJOY!

December 12, 2011

Gorilla Bread

Super Sweet!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 package cream cheese
2 cans refridgereated biscuits

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

I sprayed my bundt pan with a baking cooking spray (PAM.)

1. Mix the white sugar and cinnamon.

2. In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together over low heat, stir well.

3. Cut the cream cheese into 16-20small squares. You will need one square per biscuit.

4. Once the biscuits are out of the tube, press them out a bit and sprinkle 1/2 tsp of cinnamon sugar mixture.

5. Place a cream cheese square inthe middle of the biscuit.

6. Wrap the dough around the cream cheese into a ball. Place half of the prepared biscuits into the pan.

7. Sprinkle more of the cinnamon sugar on top; then add 1/2 of the melted butter and brown sugar topping.

8. Layer remaining half of prepared biscuits on top; add remainder of cinnamon sugar then top with remainder of melted butter and brown sugar mixture.

9. Bake for 30 minutes.

10. Let cool for several minutes, then pop out of bundt pan.

December 06, 2011

Bella and the Mini-Pie's

Warm strawberry mini-pie with vanilla ice cream

I purchased my BELLA mini-pie maker online through Macy's. I can't pass up a sale so I bought the Cake Pop maker as well. I'll demo that at another time. My sweet tooth can only take so much sugary goodness at one time!!

The pie maker was very easy to use! Just plug in and wait for the appliance to heat up, when the light turns green (approx 10 minutes) you are good to go.

The products I used were pretty basic: (no product pics at this time)

pie crusts from the refridgerated section of your grocery store

any filling you would like - I used a strawberry pie filling.

flour, to keep the pastry shell from sticking to my hands, rolling pin and flat surface.

When I uncurled the pastry shell, i used my floured rolling pin to stretch it out a bit. The BELLA pie maker came with a round cut-out which made it very easy for me. The larger side was for the bottom, the smaller side was for the top. EASY!

Once I had my bottom rounds, I placed them in the heated pie maker. Don't burn yourself! BELLA also enclosed this handy-dandy pie mold that helps push the shell into the appliance. Again, EASY!