Tri Colore Orzo

I love pasta salads, and when I need a new one, I almost always turn to my friend Colleen's blog; I consider her a pasta salad guru!

I made this for a party, and I was astounded by how many compliments it received. It almost seems unfair since the most work this salad requires is boiling the orzo... but the flavor combination is just unreal and is perfect for a casual barbecue or a formal dinner party.


Ingredients

• 1 pound orzo pasta
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
• 2 cups fresh arugula (about 3 ounces)
• 3/4 cup crumbled ricotta salata cheese (or feta cheese)
• 1/2 cup dried cherries (like Colleen, I used dried cranberries)
• 12 fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (I omitted)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and put the pasta on a large cookie sheet. Drizzle the pasta with 3 tablespoons olive oil, toss, spread out, and set aside to cool.

Once the orzo is cool, transfer to a large serving bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and toss gently to combine. Serve.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I made a variety of cupcakes for Danny's first birthday party last month; I seem to be doing that more and more. I can never seem to decide on a cake flavor, and with cupcakes, I don't have to choose!


I have recently become enamored with the Cake Mix Doctor and found this recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes over at her site. I must confess, however, to using canned cream cheese frosting rather than the peppermint, though I think that would be beyond delicious!

These were simple and fantastic, and I received many compliments on them. But really - who can resist a cute little cupcake?!


Ingredients

• 1 package (18.25 ounces) plain German chocolate cake mix
• 1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream (see Note)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 bottle (1 ounce) red food coloring
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• White Chocolate Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)

Note: Use reduced-fat sour cream, and you’ll sacrifice only fat and calories, not flavor. If you can’t find plain German chocolate cake mix, buy the pudding in the mix version and forgo the added pudding. For more chocolate flavor, use chocolate pudding mix instead of vanilla, but the cake won’t be as red in color.

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350° F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, water, oil, food coloring, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look thick and well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.

3. Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the White Chocolate Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting.

5. Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread with a short metal spatula or a spoon, taking care to cover the tops completely. Place these cupcakes, uncovered or in a cake server, in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes. The cupcakes are ready to serve.

Store the cupcakes, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or freeze them, wrapped in aluminum foil or in a cake saver, for up to 6 months. Thaw the cupcakes overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

White Chocolate Peppermint Frosting

• 6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces (half an 8-ounce package) reduced-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

1. Place the white chocolate in a small glass bowl in the microwave oven on high power for 1 minute. Remove the bowl from the oven and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until it is smooth. Set the chocolate aside to cool.

2. Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Add the melted white chocolate and blend on low speed until just combined, 30 seconds. Add the peppermint extract and 2 cups of the confectioners’ sugar and blend on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 30 seconds more. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy, 1 minute more, adding up to 1/2 cup more sugar if needed to make a spreadable consistency.

3. Use to frost any chocolate cupcakes of your choice.

Taco Rice Bowls

I've been in kind of a food rut lately. I don't feel like making old stuff, but nothing new is really striking my fancy either.

I sat down with a few cookbooks that I hadn't touched in months, hoping that something would jump out at me. Rachael Ray came to my rescue and I decided to adapt her Mexican Rice Bowls (click the link for the original).

I really love making a whole chicken in the crockpot and I'm always looking for different things to do with the shredded leftovers. These were really simple to throw together and rather delicious as well. This would make a great lunch when I go back to work.


Ingredients

• 2-3 cups shredded chicken
• 2 cups white rice
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1/2 packet taco seasoning (more if desired)
  
• 1/2 cup tomato salsa
• 2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• Blue or red corn tortilla chips and salsa for serving (optional)
• Optional garnish: shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro, avocado...
  

Heat a medium size pot over medium-heat; add EVOO and butter. When butter has melted into EVOO, add shredded chicken and the rice and cook a minute or two. Then add the chicken stock to the pot and the taco seasoning. Put a lid on the pot and raise to high heat to bring the stock to a quicker boil, 2-3 minutes. When the liquid boils, reduce heat to simmer and put the lid back on. Cook until the rice is tender but still a little chewy in the center, 13-15 minutes.

Take off the lid and stir in salsa and parsley. Turn off the heat and let stand five minutes.

Serve hot taco rice in bowls placed on dinner plates and garnish plates with chips and leftover salsa or taco sauce for dipping.

Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie

My friend Christina made this almost a year ago, and I've had it bookmarked forever. I'm such a fan of my crockpot and I know it will be my BFF when I head back to work in a couple of weeks.

This chicken-pot-pie-esque meal (courtesy of Betty Crocker) was so easy - just throw everything in the pot and -poof- dinner's on its way! I listened to her advice about not enough gravy; rather than use an 18oz jar, I just used 2 12-oz jars. Yum!


Ingredients

• 1 1/4 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1/4tsp pepper
• 18-24 oz gravy
  
• 2 medium celery stalks, cut into thin slices
• 1 bag (1lb) frozen mixed veggies
• instant biscuits (I use the ones in the tube)

Place chicken in slow cooker. Top with onion, bayleaf, pepper, and gravy. Place celery on gravy.

Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours

About 30 min before serving, bake biscuits.

Meanwhile, gently stir frozen veggies into chickenmixture. Cover and cook 15 min. Remove bay leaf.

For each serving, split biscuit and place one half on the bottom of a bowl. Spoon chicken into bowl then top with other half of biscuit.

Mocha Cupcakes

I think I love cupcakes more than actual cake. They are just so adorable and you can have so much fun with them!

For Danny's first birthday party, I made a variety of cupcakes. As I've mentioned before, I've pretty much given up on "from scratch" cakes and cupcakes, and I'm amazed at how many recipes are out there with a cake mix base.

I found these mocha cupcakes on Big Red Kitchen, and they were absolutely incredible. There was just the right balance of coffee and chocolate, and they received rave reviews.


Ingredients

• One pkg Devil’s food cake mix
• 1 3.9 ox. pkg instant chocolate pudding
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 cup melted butter
• 6 eggs
• One double shot espresso (or 2 T. instant coffee or espresso powder)
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° and fill your cupcake pan with liners.

In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the center and pour in sour cream, melted butter, eggs and espresso. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4minutes on medium speed. Blend in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Lauren's NEW Kitchen

We moved about 2 weeks ago (hence the absence - packing, unpacking, no internet for over a week...) and we are enjoying settling into our new home.


The kitchen is relatively unpacked and organized, but I don't feel like it's "ours" yet. I have some ideas for personalizing, and I look forward to really feeling truly at home. Right now, though, when I cook, I run around the kitchen like a chicken with its head cut off because I can't seem to remember where I decided to keep stuff.

Soon, though, we'll be set... and maybe I'll post a "tour" of my kitchen. I always enjoy seeing those!

Mystery Mocha

My parents came over on the 4th of July for some golf and a belated Father's Day and Birthday dinner. I was excited to try out this recipe I saw on Tasty Kitchen - "Mystery Mocha." Interestingly, this was submitted to Tasty Kitchen by a dude named Larry, and that's my dad's name. Hmmm...


Anyway, make this. Soon. It was so easy to throw together and so delicious. I didn't have enough brown sugar and it definitely made a difference - but almost non-noticeable when you throw some ice cream on top.


Ingredients

• ¾ cups Granulated Sugar
• 1 cup Sifted All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• ⅛ teaspoons Salt
• 1 piece Unsweetend Chocolate (1 Square)
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• ½ cups Whole Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ½ cups Brown Sugar
• ½ cups Granulated Sugar (additional)
• 4 Tablespoons Powdered Cocoa (Not Drink Mix)
• 1 cup Cold Strong Coffee

Sift together 3/4 cup sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Melt square of unsweetened chocolate and butter in the microwave. Add to dry ingredients alternately with the milk and vanilla. Blend. Pour into a greased 8×8 pan.

Combine brown sugar, the 1/2 cup additional granulated sugar and cocoa powder. Sprinkle over the cake batter. Pour the one cup COLD coffee on top. This will look TERRIBLE. Bake 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Serve warm with ice cream or sweetened whip cream or whipped topping. This will serve 8. In a 9×9 square pan, you can cut 9 pieces. Best served warm.

Cookies 'n Cream Cupcakes

My husband's parents' birthdays are just a few days apart, and we usually celebrate them together. Since they are both avid horse racing fans, we joined them at Monmouth Park for some racing and fun.

I volunteered to bring a dessert and knew I'd make these yummy Cookies n Cream cupcakes. I've long ago stopped pretending that I can bake, but I love using recipes that make a box mix just a little more exciting.

These were fast and easy to whip up, and they were downright delicious. The sour cream and the Oreo bits made them taste (and look!) almost gourmet, and you can't tell at all that the base is courtesy of Betty Crocker.

Everyone also got a kick out of the "surprise" Oreo on the bottom. :)

Ingredients

• 30 Oreo cookies
• 1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 Large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

2. Count out 12 Oreos and separate the top and bottom wafers. Make sure each has some of the icing on it. Place one wafer, icing side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Set them aside. Place the remaining 18 Oreos between sheets of waxed paper or in a large, closed zipper-lock bag and crush them by rolling over them with a rolling pin. Set these crumbs aside.

3. Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 1 1/2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the crushed Oreos and fold these into the batter until well incorporated. Set aside the remaining crushed Oreos for the frosting. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.

4. Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Store these cupcakes, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. If you plan to freeze them, don't add the cookie-crumb topping. Wrap them I in aluminum foil or in a cake saver and freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw the cupcakes overnight in the refrigerator and top with cookie crumbs before serving.

COOKIES AND CREAM FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, sifted

a pinch of salt

1/3 cup whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

remaining crushed Oreos

Mix together butter, confectioners sugar, and a pinch of salt until creamy. Increase your mixer speed to high and beat until its light and fluffy. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat until its smooth. Fold in crushed Oreos. Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

Tortellini Spinach Salad with Tomato Balsamic Dressing

My friend Kelly from Running Mama Cooks (which came from our other friend Juliann who got from somewhere else...) made this salad a few weeks ago for a playdate. It was absolutely delicious, and I couldn't wait to make it myself.

This meal is hearty enough for dinner, and the leftovers make a fantastic lunch. This is absolutely perfect for those summer nights when it's too hot to eat much else. Plus... the ice cream I ate later was almost guilt-free. ;)


Ingredients:

Salad

• 20 oz package three cheese tortellini
• 6 oz turkey bacon, cut into chunks
• 6 oz bag baby spinach
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 small jar roasted red peppers, thinly sliced

Dressing

• 9 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 ½ tablespoon tomato paste
• Salt and pepper to taste (about 1/8 teaspoon each)
• 3/4 cup olive oil

Cook tortellini in boiling water until al dente. Drain and toss with a teaspoon of olive oil to keep from sticking. Let cool in colander.

Cook turkey bacon until crisp. Remove with slotted spoon onto paper towel. Allow to cool.

In a large bowl, toss all the salad ingredients together after the pasta and bacon has cooled.

In a blender add all of the dressing ingredients except for the olive oil and process until smooth. Then, while the blender is running, slowly add the olive oil and blend until completely combined. If serving the salad right away, immediately pour the dressing over the salad and toss well (you may not need all the dressing). Serve.

Mushroom Ravioli with Marsala Sauce

My husband loves mushroom ravioli and frequently orders it when we go out to eat. On a recent dining adventure, he was excited to find it on their specials menu... and then subsequently bummed out when the waiter returned to say that they were sold out.

Since then, he's been wanting them more than ever. Our Father's Day plans were unexpectedly canceled so I told him I'd make him whatever he wanted for dinner. I was not surprised when he said he wanted Mushroom Ravioli.

In the interest of time, I was not able to make him ravioli by hand. Instead, I purchased Buitoni's Wild Mushroom Agnolotti.

As the agnolotti cooked, I made a marsala sauce that I found on the Food Network's website.

Everything about this meal was delicious. I would highly recommend Buitoni's fresh pasta variations (though one day I will make this myself!), and the sauce was the perfect compliment. As you can see from the photo, the sauce didn't thicken up as much as I'd like, though it was just right when I had some leftovers the next day.


Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup Marsala wine
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Add olive oil to heavy hot saucepan. Add onions, garlic, mushrooms, saute until mushrooms are tender. Add flour and cook about 1 minute then deglaze pan with Marsala wine. Add beef stock and cook until thick and flavors are blended.