Egg Nog Muffins

Anyone who knows me, knows that I despise eggnog. In all fairness the only type of milk that I like is soy milk. But there is something about eggnog that makes me gag. It's thick and awkward and just not my cup of tea. That being said, I wanted to bake. I needed to bake. It's New Years Eve after all, and I had no plans and was bored. I had a limited amount of butter and really didn't want to risk waking my family up by using a mixer. Thus, eggnog muffins were born.

You'll need:
-2 and 1/4 cup flour
-1 cup sugar
-1/2 cup butter
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1 teaspoon cinnamon (or nutmeg)
-2 whole eggs
-1 cup eggnog
-1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. Line cupcake pan with liners, or spray with a no-stick cooking spray. I prefer liners. Muffins deserve to wear pants too.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon.

 This would be a good time to melt the butter, and let it cool. Whisk together the dry ingredients while the butter melts.

In a separate bowl, combine the vanilla, eggs, butter and eggnog. If you're a clean as you go cook like I am leave the eggnog out. You might need it later.

Add the wet to the dry and stir it around. Don't use a defective whisk, it makes life much more difficult.

 I didn't have enough wet for my dry (this is why it is important to use the proper types of measuring cups while baking) so I added splashes of eggnog until it got to a good consistency.

This is about what you want. Somewhere between brownies and cake. Unless you like lighter muffins, because these babies are dense. If you like your muffins fluffy, add more eggnog until you get the consistency you like.

Pour batter into muffin liners and bake for 15-20 minutes. My first batch took 18, the second took 15. It all depends on your oven.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack (a spare baking sheet works well too).

Since they are such dense muffins, they would be good with a glass of eggnog or milk on the side. Enjoy them for breakfast, or as a late night snack.

Enjoy, and Happy New Year :)

Rainbow Cake

I like things that make me happy. I made this cake about a year ago and it was a major hit. I also turned it into cupcakes and brought them into work and everyone loved them. It is impossible to be in a bad mood with this around. I have to admit though, that this is a cheater recipe. Usually I try to make everything from as close to scratch as possible. But sometimes I can't say no to the buy one get one free cake mixes. Let's get started.

You'll need:
-White cake batter. Either use a mix or your favorite recipe. Just make sure it is white, or the colors won't turn out as vibrant.
-Food Coloring. I think the gel kind works best because you can use less and get brighter colors. I use red, yellow, blue, and green.
-Six (yes, 6) sets of bowls and spoons to mix the batter colors. Cereal bowls work great for this.
-White Icing. (Make your own or buy it. I bought some for this recipe.)

Instructions:

-Preheat your oven to 350. Make your cake batter according to the box or your recipe. I usually leave it a little under-mixed because when you add the color it can get over mixed.

-Evenly divide the batter into 6 bowls. I started with 3/4 of a cup of batter in each bowl and then added in even increments.

-Add food coloring to each bowl. Make red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. My purple looks black because I used too much blue. Don't be like me. Or if you are like me, add more red.

-Now you have a few options. Make tye-dye cupcakes, make two 8 inch round cakes, or make a 9x13 cake. I chose option C. If you choose to make cupcakes just randomly plop different colors into cupcake liners and bake. For the 9x13 and the 8 inch round the idea is the same. Layer the colors in order of the rainbow. With the 8inch rounds if you make one ROYGBP and the other PBGYOR they come out really cool when they are stacked and iced. Try to get the layers of batter to lay on top of each other or you risk not having much red (like I did). 

-Bake according to the recipe or box. 

If your purple comes out black like mine, don't worry it will still be pretty when you cut into it. 

-Ice with bright white icing, it will stand out against the colors beautifully. I didn't make this cake very evenly so the red is barely there but when you slice into it you see the rainbow. My roommate ate three pieces before I could even take a picture!

Enjoy :)

Grandma's Cure All Soup

Growing up whenever I had a cold, my mom would make this vegetable beef soup for me. It was always perfect and always cured my sniffles. It is super simple, cheap and delicious. 

You’ll need: 

-1 lb to 1.5 lbs Beef (I use the kind labeled “stew meat” but anything will work, just cut it into bite sized pieces if it isn’t already.)

-1 can stewed tomatoes. The “Italian Seasonings” blend are the best for this recipe. 

-16 ounces of beef stock 

-1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables. I usually get the “Stew Mix” and pick out the okra.

-Salt, pepper, garlic and any other blend of Italian seasonings you like. 

Instructions: 

-Mince a few cloves of garlic.

-Cut your meat into pieces or trim the fat from the stew meat. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Use a lot of both. Way more than you think you need. 

  -Put a few teaspoons of oil in the bottom of a stock pot big enough to hold the finished soup. Heat the oil on high. 

-Add the meat and garlic to the pot. DO NOT STIR THE MEAT let it get nice and brown. Gray meat is a disgrace. 

-After the meat is nice and brown on one side stir it and let the other side get brown. 

-While the second side of the beef is browning open up the can of tomatoes and keep it to the side. Open the beef broth too so it is ready to join the party. 

-Once the meat is browned all over add the tomatoes and stir. If you want to crush the big tomato pieces up you can, but I never do. Let this cook on high heat for 10-15 minutes. 

-Open the bag of vegetables and pick out the okra. Or don’t. That’s really up to you. Okra to me just doesn’t belong in this soup. Or anywhere for that matter. 

-Stir the vegetables into the beef and tomato mixture. I like to add some dried basil, oregano, and parsley at this point. If it gets smokey, that is okay. It’s what exhaust fans are for. 

-Add the beef broth to the pot and stir it around. If there isn’t enough liquid add water. You want the beef/vegetable mixture to be completely covered. 

-Bring to a boil and then simmer for at least an hour. The longer it simmers the better it becomes. 

Serve with cornbread or “Johnny Cake.” This soup is one of those that gets better after sitting in the fridge over night.