Tartelette: Acorn Squash & Sweet Potato Soup And "Basic To Brilliant Y'all" by Virginia Willis

Tartelette: Acorn Squash & Sweet Potato Soup And "Basic To Brilliant Y'all" by Virginia Willis

Zucchini Turkey casserole

Hey all!!

My neighbor brought me this monster zucchini! I mean monster!! Take a look.
Whew!!! I think it was on steroids. Now what the devil am I going to do with that thing? **taps finger on chin** CASSEROLE!!!

I got a recipe from allrecipes.com It was for Garden Penne. But if you havent guessed by now, I TWEAKED it. It was delish!!! So I will give you my recipe and you can go on the site and see the original.

I ended up using only HALF of that monstrous zucchini.

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package elbow pasta
• 1/2 pkg of lasagna noodles broken up
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 of my giant zucchini, chopped
• 1  onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
• 1 (28 ounce) jar pasta sauce
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tbs fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
• 2 pkgs Italian turkey sausage, chopped
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Directions

1. Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the pasta, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 11 minutes. Drain well in a colander set in the sink, place the pasta in a large bowl, and set aside.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the zucchini, onion, green peppers, and garlic until the vegetables are tender, for about 10 minutes. Add the turkey sausage and cook for additional 10 minutes. Add the seasonings. Pour in the pasta sauce and stir to mix.  Simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add half the mozzarella cheese and mix thoroughly.
4. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees . Put mixture into a casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.
5. Bake for 25 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!

Another variation of bruschetta

So I have been on this bruschetta kick lately. Why? I don't know.  Maybe because it taste so stinking good. Modesty isnt one of my strong points when it comes to my food.


So this is a shrimp bruschetta. Basically same as the other one but with a few tweaks.

Ingredients:
bacon
mushrooms
garlic
cherry or plum tomatoes
fresh basil
balsamic vinegar
shrimp
butter
pinch of salt, pepper and sugar
Good bakery white bread
TWEAKS
coconut rum!!!
Heat pan and add chopped bacon. Once bacon starts to release its oils, add garlic.

Meanwhile, slice tomatoes and mushrooms and add to pan. Saute all the ingredients until everything starts to cook down and mushrooms are soft.

Add 1/4 cup of coconut rum.

Add a pat of butter and shrimp. Add basil, spices and balsamic vinegar.

Cook until shrimp are pink.

In a separate pan, add butter and toast bread on both sides.

Once browned, remove and add mixture to top of bread.

ENJOY!!

Bruschetta

So I've been playing with variations of bruschetta.  Interesting......

I will post two different ones.

Is it bad form to say it was good? Dare I say....GREAT? My goodness! Both versions were pretty darn good.

Let's get with the ingredients:

2 strips of bacon
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 cups of red and/or yellow cherry tomatoes
3 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs olive oil
fresh basil
Pinch or salt, pepper and sugar
Few slices of good white bread from bakery section of grocery store
Butter


So first, cut bacon into pieces and cook in a hot pan. Once bacon starts giving off its oil, add garlic and cook until tender. But take care that garlic doesn't burn 

Meanwhile, chop tomatoes and add to a bowl. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and once bacon and garlic oil cools off, put in bowl with tomatoes. Stir and place aside.

Wipe pan clean and put pat of butter in pan and melt and then toast bread  on both sides until brown..add more butter if necessary.

Top toasted bread with mixture and if you like, sprinkle some blue cheese on top and broil until cheese melts...otherwise...ENJOY!!!!!!

Pumpkin Bread

Or should I call it the "Best Doggone Pumpkin Bread In the World"?

Since the kids go back to school tomorrow, I decided to make some bread great for breakfast. (If it makes it that long).

I subscribe to Allrecipes.com and get daily recipes. This was in my inbox this morning. I am sharing my find with you today. You MUST make this. Its really good with a cup of coffee or tea.

This yields 3 loaves.

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon good vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

This is already gone. But dont it look delish?

Cupcake bouquet and minis

Cupcake bouquet and mini cuppies with roses.

Book cuppies

Made some Book Themed cuppies for my sisters literature graduate class. Each "book" had the flavor of cake/frosting. There was chocolate, vanilla, egg nog and Baileys.

Banana Pudding Cupcake

I made some Banana Pudding Cupcake with Caramel Rum drizzle with a Nilla Wafer.

Mango Coconut Cupcakes

Smurfs

So I had to do a cake that the theme was Smurfs.  Blue? Oh, and the cake has to be Smurfette.

So we decided it on a Smurfette cake and Smurf cake pops. Noooo prooooblem (says in best authenic Brooklyn accent).

So the cake is Strawberry Shortcake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream with a Strawberry Balsamic filling. YUMMMMMM. Cake pops were a mixture of strawberry, Butter and Red Velvet cakes.

Papa Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Smurfette, and Grouchy Smurf.

Fondant roses

Another quick post of fondant roses I am making for a wedding cake next week. I have a few more to go but just wanted to share what I've done so far.

Hunny Bunnys Yum Yum Potato Soup

Ok, here is the story. My family LOVES, LOVES, LOVES this soup. I made it yesterday and as you can see, we dont care if its hot or cold outside. Tho this is great on a cold evening.  The first time I made this they loved it so much I had to make it again the next day!!!

I hope that you get a chance to make this soup. If you do, let me know how it turns out!!



4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 ham steak or leftover ham bone (NEVER EVER THROW OUT HAM BONE!!)
3 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 tbs parsley
1 bay leaf
1 tsp sugar
1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
1 can condensed cream of potato soup
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cups heavy cream


Combine the potatoes, celery, onion in pot with oil for 5 minutes.

Add ham and chicken bouillon and water in a pot.

Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.

In a bowl or measuring cup, add heavy cream and potato sup together.

In separate cup, take some of liquid from pot and add to cup. Add flour and stir. Add back in pot and continue stirring until completely mixed.


Slowly stir in cream and soup mixture as not to allow lumps to form until all has been added.

Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.



Serve immediately and a nice topping is some shredded cheese to melt on top.

ENJOY~~~~

Bridal shower cuppies

So over the weekend I made some cupcakes for a groomsman to take to a bridal shower. Ok,  He was told to bring some and doggonnit, you are not going to bring store bought cuppies in my house to take over there!!

So of course I had to make them for him.

Right. Breathe. Where do I start?  I'm making the cake and cupcakes for the wedding too so I cant do the same thing. *Scratches head* Ok, Triple Chocolate Cupcakes with Kahlua Italian Meringue Buttercream!! And fondant flowers and and engagement ring on top!! No problem.......

They were fabulous!! The background picture on home page is the cupcake. I made the flowers from Marshmallow Fondant with black candied pearls.

I am not one to brag (that much) but they were the talk of the party. They upstaged the Costco picture cake (naturally, but thats another story) and everyone was fighting to get one.

The bride-to-be gushed over them and is excited to see what I will do for the wedding. Can you say "Pressure"?

Take a look....

Well its about time....

"For what?" To finally start blogging about cakes and buttercream, of course!!

Its been a while in the making. I've been told to do one. I registered to do one. And now I AM doing one. 

I love food. I love cakes. I love cupcakes. And I would love to share it all.

Sometimes I ramble so please excuse me in advance.  Join in if you want. Let me know how I am doing.

Until later,

Hunny Bunny