Spaghetti Squash "Lasagna"

I wish I could take credit for this brilliant idea, but unfortunately I can't. I didn't really follow a recipe, but the inspiration did come from this recipe.

First, cut open your spaghetti squash...easier said than done, I know!

Scoop out the seeds and gunk. Don't forget to roast them just like pumpkin seeds - set them aside in a bowl of room temperature water for later.

Drizzle with olive oil or spray with PAM and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake (flesh side down) at 350°F for 30-40 minutes or 400°F for 15-20 minutes if you're impatient like me. Using a fork, scrape the strands out from stem to stem. Dry the strands really well.

Put some of the strands back into the bottom of the squash "shell" - or a casserole dish - and top with a layer of sauce (a layer of cheese or other veggies like a noodle lasagna would be good too). Continue layering the squash strands and sauce until full. I used homemade meat sauce with ground chicken and chicken sausage, but any tomato sauce will work just fine.

Sprinkle with some shredded Mozzarella and bake at 400°F for another 10-15 minutes until the cheese is nice and brown.

Slice it in half and enjoy! Yummy!

How have I never tasted a Whoopie Pie before?!

Oh. My. Gosh! These are delicious. I'm sure any recipe will do...this just happened to be the first one I found, but I'm not a good recipe follower anyway. I used frosting that was leftover from a Thanksgiving carrot cake a few days ago. I almost always use this recipe for frosting.

Sorry for the crappy picture, but I was too busy eating these by the handful (kidding...sorta) to get out my real camera.

Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I omitted the ginger, but added fresh nutmeg, ground cloves, and allspice)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.For cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. (A total of 72 cookies are needed for the recipe.)

3.Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Add a dollop of frosting to the flat side of a cookie & sandwich with a similar sized cookie.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake and Icing!

Stop what you're doing! You need to go make these right now! I used this recipe for the cupcake and made my own frosting.

You can use store-bought refrigerated cookies, but you have to freeze them before you bake them into the cupcake or they will cook. You can also use homemade cupcakes, but I used a mix to test these. Next time I will use homemade.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting (there's a mouthful)

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 Tbsp brown sugar (don't skip it - this is what gives it the cookie dough flavour)

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

1-2 Tbsp milk (optional)

1/8 cup mini chocolate chips (I used 1 square of unsweetened  chocolate and chopped it up really fine)

Cream together butter and brown sugar. Mix in vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar until frosting reaches desired consistency.

Frost cooled cake/cupcakes & enjoy!

Homemade Vanilla!

I'm fairly new to the blogging world - writing and reading - boy have my eyes have been opened!

I've always been pretty creative in the kitchen, but there are some things that I just never thought of making homemade like hamburger buns, Pop-Tarts, and vanilla! It's ridiculously easy. You just pour, shake, and wait. Seriously.

Take 1 cup of a pretty good vodka (I just used Absolut because that's what I had) and pour it into a jar.
Split 2 vanilla beans and throw them in the jar. Close the lid and shake it up!
Shake it once a day for a week. Then, once a week for 2-3 months. I put my jar on its side so the beans are totally covered by the vodka.

Then bake up some yummies with your homemade, pure vanilla extract! Or, if you're really generous, you can pour it into some pretty bottles and give it away as gifts. Now is the perfect time to make your vanilla if you want to give it away at Christmas ;)

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Yep. Hamburger buns. From scratch. And they're SO good. They are so easy that I was worried I had messed something up. I will never, ever buy hamburger buns again. I used this recipe, but if you don't have a bread machine you can use this recipe. Also, I halved the recipe and it worked just fine!

First, proof the yeast in the pan of the bread machine. I find it works best if you dissolve the sugar in the water first and then add the yeast, but you can throw all 3 in at the same time. After 10 minutes it should look like this:

Next, add buttermilk, bread flour, salt, and butter. I was out of white bread flour so I used 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat bread flour and 1 cup of regular old All Purpose white flour.

Set to regular dough setting and you will end up with this beautiful ball of fluffy dough.



Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and divide into equal portions. The recipe is for 6, but I got 6 HUGE buns. Next time I would make at least 8, but probably 10.

Arrange buns on parchment paper lined cookie sheet, cover with towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size (about 20 minutes). Meanwhile, toast sesame seeds and prepare egg wash.

When doubled, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. I used 1/2 toasted and 1/2 raw.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. The recipe suggests rotating cookie sheets after 10 minutes, but I used my convection setting and it worked perfectly. My oven runs hot and these were perfect in 12 minutes. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup water (warmed to 100 degrees)
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tablespoon white sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 cups bread flour (plus flour for shaping buns)
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
*toasted sesame seeds as desired (optional)

Directions

1.Combine the warm water, yeast, and 2 tbsp sugar in breadmaker pan. Let stand about 10 minutes till very fizzy. Add buttermilk to yeast mixture. Add bread flour, salt and butter to breadpan. Set breadmaker to regular dough setting. When dough cycle is completed, remove from breadpan onto lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 12 equal portions. Make tight rounds of dough by pulling the dough tightly around and pinching it at the bottom. Place on two flat baking sheets lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. After the rolls sit for a minute and relax, flatten each ball with the palm of your hand until it is 3 to 4 inches wide. You may want to oil your hand first.

2.Lay a clean dry dishtowel over rolls and set aside until doubled in size, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 degrees.

3.Mix together the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of water in a cup or small bowl. Brush the tops of the rolls with egg mixture and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

4.Position 2 oven racks so they are not too close to the top or bottom of the oven (2nd and 4th rack in 5 rack oven). Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove the rolls from the oven and swap racks so each sheet spends a little time on the top. Continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until nicely browned on the top and bottom.