“Semi-Homemade” Hamburger Cupcakes

July 15th, 2009

I decided to make the hamburger cupcakes I posted about a while ago, but when I actually started buying the ingredients I got lazy and decided I wanted to do everything the easiest way possible.  So, below is my super easy, done in less than one hour cupcake recipe :) .

1.  Bake 12 cupcakes in extra large cupcake tins.  Use either yellow, vanilla, lemon, or butter flavored box cake mix.  Do not use cupcake liners!  Lightly grease and flour each cupcake tin.  Follow baking directions on the box.  This will be your “bun”.

2.  Bake chocolate cookies using store bought fudge cookies dough (you could also buy chocolate cookies from a bakery).  This will be your “patty”.  Make sure the cookies are rather large in size, large enough to hang over the edge of your “buns”.

3.  Buy canned frosting in either vanilla or cream cheese flavor.  Add yellow and orange food coloring (about a 2:1 ratio, yellow:orange) and mix thoroughly until you get the color you want.  This is your “cheese”.

4.  Cut your COOLED bun in half, set your cookie patty in the bun, then coat the patty with ample amounts of “cheese”.  Put the top of your bun on, and sprinkle a bit of sugar on top.

5.  Enjoy your hamburger!

Posted in How-tos & DIY, Recipes | 4 Comments »


Howto::Recipe: Slightly Smoky Macaroni and Cheese!

April 16th, 2009

About a year ago I had an urge to make homemade macaroni and cheese.  I looked up a recipe online, followed it and… well, it just didn’t taste that good.  But, I did realize that making homemade macaroni and cheese was ridiculously easy, so I made it a personal mission to come up with an amazing recipe.  About two months ago I finally created, not to brag or anything, the most amazing macaroni and cheese I’d ever tasted in my entire life.  Here is the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 oz. smoky provolone cheese
  • 6 oz. sharp cheddar cheese
  • half pint whipping cream (heavy cream)
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 box dried pasta of your choice (I use regular elbow pasta)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Put the dried pasta in a pot and start boiling it (I’m not going to explain how to cook pasta, you should know this, hehe)
  2. Chop the cheese into very small pieces.  If you’re feeling extra energetic, you can shred the cheese, but it isn’t necessary.
  3. In a medium sized sauce pan, pour whipping cream and flour.  Over medium heat, bring this mix to a nice simmer, stirring very frequently so the cream doesn’t burn or create a film.
  4. Once the cream mixture is to a simmer, turn off the heat and immediately add the cheeses into the pan.  Stir the sauce until the cheese is fully melted; it should get thick and creamy!
  5. Drain the pasta if you haven’t done so already, and add the cheese sauce onto the pasta.  Lightly stir it in, but be careful not to break up the pasta.
  6. Eat!
Posted in Recipes | 4 Comments »


HOWTO::RECIPE Chocolate Peanut Butter

March 8th, 2009

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

  • 2 pounds roasted peanuts (both salted, or one pound salted, one pound unsalted)
  • 3 tablespoons oil (peanut oil if you have it.  I use olive oil and it’s fine.)
  • 12-15 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 12-15 tablespoons cocoa powder


1. Start by pouring the two pounds of peanuts into your food processor.  Turn it on (warning: it will be really loud!) and let it go until the peanuts are in very fine pieces.  This will probably take a couple of minutes.

Posted in Recipes | 4 Comments »


Aram Rolls

October 9th, 2008

I’ve always had a place in my heart for yummy aram rolls. I’ve been making them since I was probably 12 years old.  If you’re looking for a super easy snack to put out when you have guest over or to bring to a picnic, I highly recommend these!  For mine I like to put in cream cheese, spinach, swiss cheese, turkey breast, and dried salami, but really anything will work.

Posted in Recipes | 2 Comments »


Howt::Recipe Yummus Hummus

October 4th, 2008

I love love love to eat (and make) hummus, and here’s my favorite recipe.  I’ve been playing around with a few recipes and put more of what I like and less of what I don’t.  Hummus is super easy to make, all you do is take all of the ingredients listed below and throw them in a food processor until it’s creamy with a slightly grainy looking texture.  It’s amazing how much less expensive it is to make hummus than to buy it at the store!

Ingredients:

  • 2 16 ounce cans of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drains and rinsed
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp -1 tbsp crushed red pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 – 2/3 cup lemon, to taste
  • 1/3 cup tahini
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup olive oil OR garlic flavored olive oil

Like I said above, just throw all of the ingredients in the food processor!  Serve it chilled with some pitas (or if you ate all of your pitas like I did, crackers taste fine as well).

Posted in Recipes | 4 Comments »