Chicken Enchiladas & More

From Closet Cooking

After weeks of being away from my kitchen and eating out, I decided to tackle my recipe "To Try" list.  Being an avid lover of Pinterest and following lots of foodies, I have a lot of recipes on list to try out.  I follow Kevin, a blogger and creator, of Closet Cooking who sends emails with all kinds of enticing recipes.  The first recipe I decided to knock of my list were his Chicken and Avocado Enchiladas in Creamy Avocado Sauce (you can find the recipe here).  I tweaked things a bit to fit my pallet, but didn't stray too far from the original.

From Pinterest via skinnytaste.com

To accompany my enchiladas I made Chipotle's Cliantro Lime Rice using a copycat recipe I found on pinterest from skinnytaste.com.  Again, I tweaked things a bit based on what I had in the pantry - I made the brown rice version.  Lastly I just added black beans (from a can) to complete my meal.

Everything was so delicious!  Sorry I wasn't able to take pictures of what I created.  Currently working with a kitchen with terrible lighting and the camera on my phone.

What's a recipe you want to make?
Shante

Delious Garlic Parmesan Knots

So I've been slowly getting back into the habit of cooking again since moving into my new place.  After getting tired of making the same thing over and over, I decided to step out and start making some of the recipes that I salivate over when checking out these blogs.  Last Thursday I made these really easy Garlic Parmesan Knots after reading a post on one of my favorite blogs, Six Sisters Stuff.

My knots are a little different then those posted on the other site.  Instead of using buttermilk biscuits I used wheat biscuits.  Make it what you want I guess!

Have you made any recipes you found blogging?  

Share the link!

Cupcakes for the 4th

Well the day after and I am tired of sugar...not really, haha!  Here's what I made - Red Velvet  and Chocolate Salted Caramel, both with Cream Cheese frosting.  All made from scratch!

Enjoy loves!

Cupcake Obession

So  this summer's cupcake obsession came with a bag of banana's that were begging to be eaten.  Although I love a good banana, there were too many for me to eat alone.  I remembered that I have this really good banana cupcake recipe.  I got lucky that this was around Father's Day.  I made the cupcakes as my gifts and to make sure that I delivered them all safely, I got these cute cupcake boxes from Michael's.

Topped them off with cream cheese frosting and chopped pecans, these were a big hit!  I got people who don't normally like banana flavored treats to fall in love with my cupcakes. 

They were enjoyed so much that I was asked to make cupcakes for a friends babyshower.

I made three flavors.  The banana of course, a lemon cupcake at the request of grandma & a chocolate cupcake with a marshmallow cream filling and butter cream frosting.  I was so proud of myself because I made them from scratch, what I think has become a lost art.  And all of the cupcakes ended up getting eaten by the time I left.  I made a total of 5.5 dozen cupcakes for the shower and whatever was left went to my Godparents and cousins. for a total of 7 dozen cupcakes!

As you can imagine it's been a busy summer in the kitchen.  This doesn't even account for the amount of cooking that I've been doing - shrimp fajitas, sausage and peppers & Dijon mustard and ranch baked chicken.  It's only July 1st.  I have plenty of damage to still conquer.  My dad volunteered my services for an office snack on Tuesday.  I'm thinking chocolate salted-caramel cupcakes!

 

Thanks for Reading!

Busy Times

Hello all!  So since getting back form Kentucky I have been very busy.  Crafting and baking has become my life!  Within the last 3 days I have made 5 dozen banana cupcakes!  I made them for Father's Day gifts for all the dads in my life...lots of friends are popping them out, l0l.  They were delicious and because they were so good, I was asked to make another couple dozen of different flavored cupcakes for a friends babyshower this Saturday.  So far I know I'm gonna make a chocolate, lemon, and vanilla cupcakes.  But they have to have a little something special going on so I have a few days to figure that out.  I'm gonna make a salted caramel cupcake tomorrow so that might end up being the chocolate cupcake.  I'll post pictures as soon as I figure out how to upload this pictures!

And for the crafts....I made a few cookbooks!  So again, when I have pictures I post them as well as step by step instructions on how you can make your very own cookbook!

Thanks for reading!

A Productive Spring Break

Well today was my last day of Spring Break and I was sure to make it a productive one.  I finished designing and ordering the invitations to the baby shower that I'm planning for one of my sorority sisters.  I designed these invitations using Adobe Illustrator CS3, graphic design software from when I was a graphic design minor.  I uploaded my images to VistaPrint.com using the design your own postcard and I used a template to design the back of the invitation.  I was able to get 100 invitations for less than $60 - in full color on both sides and on high quality gloss paper.

First I started by creating an image that went with the new them that Lauren & Derrick came up with, King of the Jungle.  Then I looked at similar invitations on other websites and came up with the animal print and the tan-ish background.  Because the mommy wants to add some things to the invitation, mostly instructions for the out of town relatives, I will be buying envelopes at Staples so we can get extra info to everyone. 

I sent her my insipration board and she loved everything, so I thought that I would share with you as well.  Please let me know what you think and what ideas you may have.

Lastly, I always create something in the kitchen before I leave for school.  Last night I was craving something sweet but didn't feel like going out.  So I got creative and made some candied pecans using a recipe that I found on-line.

Candied Pecans via my Blackberry

The recipe can be found here!