So, I thought since I no longer have a job anymore, I thought I could start up my own donut bakery. There isn’t a lot of those in my area that I live in. I also have thought about opening up my own food truck too. I do like cooking and baking but I don’t think I’d like it to the point of opening up my own place. Lately, these days I’ve been going to the gym a lot. I’ll probably go every day this week and last week I ended up working out for two hours one day. I’ve been told to write another cook book too, might do that as well. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing artsy type projects on this blog starting soon and maybe even some fashion posts. I am obsessed with buying clothes and fashion and just anything diy these days.

A good thing I went to cycling class today after making these donuts. I only ended up eating two of them though so that wasn’t really no harm done. I find that fried donuts the next day are not very good and you have to eat the donuts up pretty fast the first day. I did not use the glaze for this recipe, instead I just took about 2 cups of powdered sugar and added in some milk until it was a glaze consistency. They were quite yummy, but I think baked donuts are the way to go, cause they’re a lot healthier.

Recipe from The Messy Baker

Sour Cream Old-Fashioned Doughnuts

2 1/4 cups cake / soft-wheat flour, plus more for rolling and cutting
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon iodized salt
3/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons shortening / vegetable lard, trans-fat-free preferred
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cups sour cream
canola oil for frying

Simplest Vanilla Glaze

3 1/2 cups confectioner’s / icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup / golden syrup
1/4 teaspoon iodized salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon hot water, (plus more if needed)

Directions
Sour Cream Old-Fashioned Doughnuts
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together in a medium bowl, and set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the sugar and shortening/vegetable lard for 1 minute on low speed, until sandy. Add the egg yolks, then mix for 1 more minute on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is light coloured and thick.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three separate additions, alternating with sour cream, mixing until just combined on low speed and scraping the sides of the bowl each time. The dough will be sticky, like cookie/biscuit dough.
Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap/cling film, for 45 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
Using a candy thermometer to measure the temperature, heat oil (at least 2 in/5 mm deep) in a deep fryer, large pot or high-sided frying pan to 325°F/165°C. Roll out the chilled dough on a generously floured counter or cutting board to 1/2 in/12 mm thick, or about 8 in/20 cm in diameter, flouring the top of the dough and the rolling pin as necessary to prevent sticking. Cut into as many doughnuts and holes as possible, dipping the cutter into flour before each cut. Fold and gently reroll the dough to make extra holes (working with floured hands makes the dough less sticky), and cut again.
Shake any excess flour off the doughnuts before carefully adding them to the hot oil a few at a time, taking care not to crowd them. Once the doughnuts float, fry for 15 seconds, then gently flip them. Fry for 75 to 90 seconds, until golden brown and cracked, then flip and fry the first side again for 60 to 75 seconds, until golden brown. Transfer to a rack set over paper towels/absorbent paper.
Simplest Vanilla Glaze
Place the confectioner’s/icing sugar, corn /golden syrup, salt, vanilla and hot water in a large mixing bowl or in the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Using a whisk, or with the machine on low, blend until the mixture is smooth and all of the sugar has been incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if necessary. If the glaze seems too thick, add more water, a teaspoon at a time.
To glaze, dip one side of each hot doughnut into the warm glaze, and let dry for 10 to 15 seconds before serving.

I love going to Dairy Queen and getting one of those dipped cones. The best part of that is the hardened chocolate on top of the ice cream. I haven’t been to Dairy Queen in such a LONG time because I’ve been going to Tutti Frutti’s. They have all sorts of Magic Shell toppings there I’m going to figure out how to make each one of them now. I first had magic shell on top of some ice cream.

I was so excited at how fast the chocolate hardened, I decided to try dipping some ice cream cones in the Magic Shell. I felt like I was a little kid again. And then I put the sprinkles on top of the ice cream cone.

How cool is this? I look forward to more chocolate dipped ice cream cones.

The secret ingredient is Coconut Oil.

Homemade Magic Shell

3 oz of Chocolate Chips
3 tablespoons of coconut oil

Directions:

In a microwave safe bowl, add chocolate and coconut oil. Melt in microwave for 1 minute. Check after 30 seconds to see if the chocolate is melted. Poor over ice cream and enjoy!

Have you ever tried grilling pineapple before? If you haven’t, you should start now. It is delicious on this burger and I like to think of it as replacing the tomato on a normal burger. This burger also has jerk seasoning, a serrano pepper, and some garlic inside of it. I thought it was plenty spicy the way it was, but Ben wanted more spice. Serve with some cheese or bacon if you like.

I have been trying to figure out how to get a flat burger for quite some time now. No matter how nicely I shape the burger it still ends up not looking like those nice patties you get at fast food restaurants. I think it’s time to invest one of those burger presses that do that for you. What method do you like to use to make your burgers flat?

This blue jay thought the burgers were pretty tasty also.

Jamaican Jerk Burgers

1 pound of 80/20 lean ground beef
1 1/2 tablespoons of jerk seasoning (store bought is fine)
2 garlic cloves
1/2 serrano pepper
1 pineapple
Romaine Lettuce
4 whole wheat buns

Directions:

In a bowl combine the ground beef, jerk seasoning, garlic, and pepper. Mix the meat and spices together with your hands. Divide the meat into 4 equal patties.

Prepare your pineapple. Cut the sides of the pineapple off and then slice the pineapple into a circle and cut out the pits.

Grill the burgers to however well done you like them. Then grill the pineapple on each side for about 2 minutes each.

Serve the burgers with whatever you like. Buns, lettuce, cheese, mayo… etc.. Enjoy!

Yay, if you haven’t noticed yet… all my categories are back on the side! I had no idea what happened to them but I’m happy they’re back.

Grilled Spicy Peach chicken is a perfect dish to add to your summer grilling menu. This glaze would be good on pork and could be a sauce for dipping anything as well. IF you don’t have peach preserves on hand maybe try orange marmalade or raspberry preserves. I always have left over preserves in the fridge and this is a great way to get rid of those by making marinades!

Recipe from Bobby Flay

Ingredients
Spicy Peach Glaze:

2 cups peach preserves or jam
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 small jalapeno, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 Frenched” chicken breasts
4 ripe peaches, cut in half and pitted

Directions

Combine Spicy Peach Glaze ingredients in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Reserve 1/2 cup.

Preheat grill. Brush the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place skin-side down and cook for 6 to 7 minutes, until golden brown. Turn over and continue cooking for 5 to 6 minutes. Brush both sides with the peach glaze and continue cooking an additional 4 to 5 minutes.

Place peach halves, cut side down on the grill and grill for 2 minutes. Turn over and brush with the reserved 1/2 cup of peach glaze, grill for 3 to 4 more minutes until peaches are soft.

Per Serving: Calories: 415 ;Total Fat: 7 grams; Saturated Fat: 1 gram; Protein: 28 grams; Total carbohydrates: 61 grams; Sugar: 55 grams; Fiber: 1 gram; Cholesterol: 68 milligrams; Sodium: 255 milligrams

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/grilled-chicken-breasts-with-spicy-peach-glaze-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

This cake is SERIOUSLY so easy, your two year old could make it. The oreo cookies act as the “cake” part and the frosting is the coolwhip. Pretty tasty with some fudge sauce on top. I’d let this cake sit out for a bit since it is kind of hard to cut at first.

The main ingredients. Milk to dunk the oreos in, 2 packages of oreo cookies. Any flavor would work with this. Heck even change up the oreo layers to make it interesting, and some cool whip.

Dunk some oreos in some milk and layer them on the bottom of the pan.

Frost the oreos with some cool whip. I used about half a container.

Repeat the layers until you run out of oreos. I tried doing this with one single package of oreos but I ended up running out towards the end and had to use 2 Golden Birthday cake oreos. So, a little portion of the cake will have regular oreos and birthday cake oreos. I’d suggest using two packages of oreos and two containers of cool whip the next time to get more layers.

Another pinterest recipe.

I used to have a long list of categories on this page that contained the weight watcher points and if it was a weight watcher recipe or not. For some strange reason that disappeared and I apologizefor that. I’m thinking about just having 3 different categories on my page now which would be Bacon, Weight Watchers, and Really Fattening recipes. I’ve been noticing a trend on my blog lately and those are the only three kind of recipes which people seem to like.

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings is watch Food Network. My favorites are the Pioneer Woman, Ina Garten, Trisha Yearwood, and sometimes Giada (only when her boobs aren’t showing). I love to try recipes from either 4 of them and this recipe was on the Pioneer Woman. I recently went to Rib Fest and had these fabulous baked beans and I don’t really have a recipe for beans at all that I like. I saw her make these and decided to give them a try and they turned out really good. Not like the ones I had at Rib Fest, but since they had bacon in them that made them twice as good. I had these with some pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon. I was going to take a picture of the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin for another post, but sadly the bacon fell off the pork tenderloin.

Recipe from the Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

4 cups dry pinto beans
1 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into pieces
2 whole green bell peppers, diced
1 whole onion, diced
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon chili powder, optional
2 teaspoons salt, more to taste
2 teaspoons black pepper, more to taste
4 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

Rinse the beans under cold water, sorting out any rocks/particles. Set aside.

In a heavy pot (cast iron), saute the bacon pieces until halfway cooked and the fat is rendered. Add the green peppers and onions to the pot and cook until starting to get brown, about 3 minutes. Add the beans and cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, and then add the brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, chili powder, salt, pepper and garlic. Reduce the heat to a simmer, place on the lid and cook until the beans are tender and the liquid is thick 3 to 4 hours.

I made homemade bacon for the first time. I’ve had quite a lot of free time to myself recently and will have a lot of it coming up pretty soon. I’m hoping I can find a job really fast or else I’ll be bored out of my mind.

Anyways… The first step to making homemade bacon is to find a good butcher. I went to the butcher where I live in Fargo, ND on University Drive. It’s a little nice meat place called Prime Cut Meats. The guy there was very nice. Ask for a pork belly loin. The total cost for 4 pounds of pork belly was $17.00. I didn’t think that was bad considering the cheapest pound of bacon I’ve seen here runs anywhere from 3.50 to $5.00 a pound.

If you ever watch Alton Brown on Food Network, he had an episode all about making bacon. I used his brine for this and let it soak in it for 3 days. That’s right, 3 days.

After the pork belly has brined in it’s juices for 3 days it’s time to smoke it. I used apple wood chips.

The temperature of the pork has to get to 150 degrees. I’m not sure if our smoker is cooking things properly but I set mine to 200 degrees and let it smoke for 2 hours. That’s how long it took to get done. I’m sure there’s other types of brines out there to try for making homemade bacon, and different wood chips to try. It’s all a matter of time before I try out a different recipe. I’d try making my own again. Too bad my nose is clogged up right now cause I have a cold. I couldn’t really smell the bacon’s wonderful goodness.

Scrap Iron Chef’s Homemade Bacon Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup salt
8 ounces molasses
1/2 gallon (2 quarts) water
1/2 gallon (2 quarts) apple cider
2 tablespoons course ground black pepper
1 (5 pound) piece raw pork belly from the loin-end

Directions

In a large non-reactive pot, bring half the water, 1 cup of sugar, salt, and 8 ounces molasses to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a large container with the remaining water, and the apple cider. Place in the refrigerator and cool to 40 degrees F.

Press the black pepper into the pork belly. Once the brine has cooled place the peppered pork belly into the mixture until completely submerged. Refrigerate for three days.

After three days have passed, remove the pork from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Lay on a rack over a sheet pan and place in front of a fan for 1 hour to form a pellicle. Lay the pork in the protein box of a cold smoker and smoke for 4 to 6 hours. Chill the meat in the freezer for 1 hour to stiffen for easy slicing into strips of bacon. Slice what you need and keep the remainder in a freezer safe bag in the refrigerator or freezer.

Place the strips of bacon onto a sheet pan fitted with a rack and place into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 400 degrees F and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your bacon. Remove from rack and drain on paper towels. Enjoy.

I am not sure if meatloaf is supposed to be smoked. Alton Brown said this was the best meat dish he had ever made on the show Best Thing I Ever Made. The recipe says to smoke the meatloaf for 40 minutes and then take the foil wrap off and cook it for another hour or so until the meat reaches 140 degrees. I did that and everything but the meat just didn’t have the smoky flavor to it. Can you guess what the secret ingredient in this meatloaf? He even said it on the show that it was the potato chips. I couldn’t really taste them at all in here. Overall the meatloaf did have a good taste to it. If I made this next time I’d cook it in the oven.

The next season of Food Network Star is going and I’m not really even interested in it at all. Food Network hasn’t even played the last guy’s show Justin Warner that won. I’m guessing his ratings didn’t do well? I really liked him, and I hope they have one of his shows on sometime soon. He’s supposed to be the next big Alton Brown.

Smoked Meatloaf Recipe from Alton Brown

Ingredients

2/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 ounces chipotle peppers in adobo, with adobo sauce that clings to them, chopped fine
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
6 ounces ruffled kettle-style barbecue potato chips
3 cloves garlic
1 medium carrot, cut into 6 pieces
1 Fresno chile, seeded
1 medium onion, cut into 8 pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound ground chuck
1 pound ground sirloin
1 pound ground pork
3 large eggs

Directions

Combine the ketchup, tomato paste, chipotle peppers and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Remove 1/3 cup of the mixture and set aside.

Pulse the potato chips in the food processor until they are a coarse breadcrumb consistency, approximately 12 pulses. Transfer the potato chips to the bowl with the ketchup mixture.

Combine the garlic, carrots, chile and onions into the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped but not pureed, approximately 10 pulses.

Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch cast-iron pan set over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion mixture, sage and salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften and begin to brown slightly, approximately 5 minutes. Add the mixture to the mixing bowl with the potato chip mixture and stir to combine and cool the vegetables slightly. Add the ground chuck, sirloin, pork and eggs and use your hands to thoroughly combine. Shape into a loaf that is approximately 12- by 4- by 2-inch. Make sure to press the meat into a compact, uniform loaf. Wrap the loaf in heavy-duty aluminum foil. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

Heat a smoker to 250 degrees F. Place 1 hardwood chunk in the smoker’s wood tray.

Flip over the meatloaf pouch and poke 12 to 15 holes in the aluminum foil package to allow the fat to drain off. Turn the pouch back over. Set the meatloaf in the smoker and place a drip pan on the rack immediately below the meatloaf. Cook for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, open the foil pack and fold down the sides of the foil to create a shallow “pan” around the meatloaf. Brush with the reserved glaze. Insert a probe thermometer into the meatloaf and cook until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F, approximately 40 minutes. Remove the meatloaf from the smoker and rest for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

I don’t know what you would call this but no matter what it is delicious! It’s kind of like a cross between a smoothie and a milk shake. So what would that be called a Smoothshake? I love banana ice cream. If you’ve never tried that before you just cut up some bananas into chunks and freeze them for an hour, and then blend them in a food processor. It’s a very healthy ice cream! This is kind of the same concept. You blend some frozen bananas together until they become a frozen smooth consistency and then add in some greek yogurt, milk, and peanut butter. So good and yummy.

I had bought some bananas at the grocery store and they turned ripe pretty fast. Going to make some banana ice cream with those later on. A good way to use up those ripe bananas.

The lilacs are in full bloom and they aren’t lasting long because of the crappy weather. I got a quick picture of them the other day ago. The sun just doesn’t want to come it seems lately. It’s been cold and windy.

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas (cut into chunks and frozen)
1/4 cup of greek vanilla flavored yogurt
1/4 cup of 1% milk
1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter

Directions:

Blend bananas in a blender until they’re a smooth consistency. Add in all the rest of the ingredients
and blend together until smooth. Enjoy.

Have you ever made a dessert in the crock pot before? I have never done that and I wonder why I’ve waited this long to try it. My cake didn’t take 3 hours like the cooking time suggested, it took only about 2. This dessert is pure heaven and reminds me of a trifle dessert that my husband used to eat all the time at Ruby Tuesday’s. You need one box of brownie mix and one packet of cookie dough mix. Melt 1 stick of butter in the microwave and take out 4 eggs. Take 1/2 of the melted butter and 2 eggs and mix them together in a bowl with the brownie mix and then repeat using the cookie dough mix. Dump everything in a crock pot and let it cook away for 2 hours. To make this even more heavenly scoop some vanilla ice cream on top and drizzle some chocolate fudge sauce on top. Add sprinkles or chocolate chips and I think this would be an awesome birthday cake.

Speaking of birthdays, my birthday is next week. I’m going to be 32 years old. Feel free to send me any gifts. I got an early birthday present tonight. I needed a new swim suit that was chlorine resistant and I work out a lot in the water.

Recipe from My Favorite Things:

Ingredients:

1 box fudge brownie mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 eggs
1 pouch chocolate chip cookie mix
vanilla ice cream, as desired

Directions:

1. Spray 4 1/2-quart slow cooker with baking spray with flour.

2. In large bowl, mix brownie mix with 1/4 cup of the melted butter and 2 of the eggs.

3. In another large bowl, mix chocolate chip cookie mix, remaining 1/4 cup melted butter and remaining 2 eggs.

4. Drop alternate spoonfuls of the brownie and chocolate chip cookie batters into slow cooker.

5. Cover; cook on High heat setting 2 to 3 hours or until cake is set in center. To serve, spoon cake from slow cooker, and top with scoops of ice cream.