Peeps and more Peeps!

For all you Peep lovers out there I have 3 fun ideas to try! One is a bright Peeps centerpiece that is perfect for entertaining, especially with Easter around the corner! The other two are Peep Race Cars & Peeps S'Mores. Both are simple and include just a handful of ingredients. Enjoy!

Peep Race Cars:
- box of Twinkies
- box of bunny peeps
- small pretzels
- marshmallows
-decorating frosting

http://www.sheknows.com/videos/t0MXl5azpKKesYPSf6ZVA0DE8xQR7woO

Peeps S'Mores!

Peeps Flower Centerpiece

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/holiday---celebration-recipes/easter-recipes/easter-peeps-centerpiece

Leek, Bacon, and Pea Risotto

Risotto, is an Italian Specialty, that is in fact the dominant staple in some northern regions, where it is often preferred over pasta. Risotto is noted for being a time consuming but a very versatile meal. It's also been reported that a person could have a different risotto recipe for every day of the year.

The benefit to this meal is that its healthy and not time consuming. This 254 color per serving meal will take you about 40 minutes to make.

1 leek
6 cups chicken broth
2 slices bacon, cut crosswise into strips
11/4 cup Arborio Rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Halve leeks lengthwise; wash thoroughly.  Pay dry and slice thinly. In a medium saucepan, bring broth to a simmer over medium heat; cover pan.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium Dutch oven or other heavy pot, cook bacon over medium heat, stirring until lightly browned buy not crisp, about 5 minutes. Add leek; cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring, until translucent around edges, about 1 minute.

3. Add wince; cook, stirring, until evaporated, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add 1 cup hot broth. Cook, stirring, until almost all broth is absorbed. Repeat process, gradually adding broth, until rise is al dente and liquid is creamy (you may not need all the broth), about 25 minutes. Stir in peas after the final addition of broth.

4. Remove skillet form heat and stir in Parmesan. Reason risotto with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan.

A Special Cupcake for a Special Lady.

For my Grandmothers birthday I wanted to make a special cupcake. For that to happen I had to recall what Grandma's favorite pie is. Thats right I said pie! You see, every Wednesday my Grandma joins her friends for pie at VillageInn and she always orders Lemon Meringue Pie.  So what a better way then to have the terditional "cake" but with a twist of pie.

To make this tasty cakes I turned to Martha's Lemon Meringue Cupcakes recipe. This cake contains fresh finely grated lemon zest and its juice. Then these tasty treats are topped off with fresh Lemon Curd and Meringue frosting. The fallowing link will connect you to the recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/336435/lemon-meringue-cupcakes

St. Patty Andes Cake & Mint Oreo's & Cream Cookies!

I love mint! It must be the warmer weather because all I want to bake is mint flavored! This Andes Cake was super popular at work & is best served right out of the freezer. The blog I found it from didn't add any mint flavoring but I put 1/2 tsp of pure peppermint extract in both the cake batter and 1/2 tsp in the cool whip. I also added green food coloring drops to both the cake batter & cool whip to make it a little more St. Patty's themed.

http://www.afarmgirlsdabbles.com/2012/03/02/judis-grasshopper-cake/

The Mint Oreo's & Cream cookie was such a great combo cookie. It's literally a cookie inside a cookie. The cookie was more of a crispy texture with the butter/sugar ratio. I'm personally more a fan of soft cake textured cookies but if crispy is more your preference I'd recommend these. Enjoy!

http://kirbiecravings.com/2013/03/mint-cookies-and-cream-cookies.html

Oh for the love of FENNEL!

Fennel is one of my lost loves! This healthy crunchy and slightly sweet vegetable is at its best from autumn to early spring. Fennel is composed of a white or pale green bulb and belongs to the Umbellifereae family and is therefore closely related to parsley, carrots, dill and coriander. This vegetable is often times used in Italian cooking.

For this post I made Baked Fennel with Parmesan & Thyme as a side to Orecchiette with Chicken Sausage and Broccoli Rabe.

How to make the Baked Fennel with Parmesan and Thyme:
3 fennel bulbs, trimmed and split lengthwise
1 Tablespoon unsalted buyer, room temperature, plus more for dish
Course salt and group pepper
1/3 bhp grated Parmesan Cheese
4 springs thyme

1. Preheat over to 450'F. Bing a medium pot of water to a boil, and cook fennel until tender, about 15 minted. Transfer fennel, cut side down, to paper tales and let drain 5 minted.

2. Place fennel, cut side up, in a buttered 8-inch square baking dish and brush with 1 tablespoon butter. season with salt and pepper and sprinkle evenly with Parmesan and thyme. Bake until cheese is gold brown, about 20 minutes. Serve Warm. Serves 6.

How to make Orecchiette with Chicken sausage ad Broccoli Rabe:
Couse slat and Pepper
2 bunch of broccoli rabe
8 ounce orecchiette or other short pasta shapes
2 precooked italian chicken or turkey sausages (6 ounces total), cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Bring a large pot of waster to a boil; at salt. Blanch broccoli rabe until bright green, about 1 minute. Using a wire skimmer or small sieve, transfer to a colander and let drain. Return water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dents according to package instructions. Drain.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add sausage; cook, without turning slices, until browned, about 4 minutes. Add broccoli rage, vinegar, and garlic. Cook until broccoli rage is tender, scraping up browned bits in skillet, 2 to 3 minutes. Add Past and oil and season with salt and pepper; toss to combine. Serve immediately.

This meal has great spice and flavor! You will want to make it more then once... I hope you enjoy.
-Jasin

Shamrock Mint Cake & Lucky Charm Krispies!

St. Patty's will be here before we know it! The Shamrock mint cake featured below is a crazy fun cake that will surprise anyone who reaches for a slice. For those that are not cake lovers, the Lucky Charms Krispy Treats are great for a quick dessert.

Shamrock Mint Cake:
* I would highly recommend purchasing Betty Crocker's Pound Cake box and Betty Crocker's Devils Food Cake box. The blog I found this from was done from scratch and gave a 5 hr time frame. I used the boxes and it was maybe 2 1/2 hrs top with baking/cooling. Enjoy!:)

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/shamrock-reveal-mint-chocolate-pound-cake/862515ad-40a2-4648-992a-da1a2b05d2d0

Lucky Charms Krispy Treats:
This recipe was not overly sugary which was a nice surprise! I would definitely make these again.

http://www.sugar-n-spicegals.com/2013/03/lucky-charms-krispy-treats.html

Thin Mint Puppy Chow & Pistachio Pudding Cookies!

For all of you that have extra Thin Mint cookies I have the perfect recipe to use those extra cookies up...Thin Mint Puppy Chow! It's also a great recipe to whip up for St. Patty's day with its green tinted chex mix. I brought this to work and it was a big hit with the chocolate & mint flavor!

http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2013/02/thin-mint-puppy-chow.html

I also tried out a new Pistachio Pudding Chocolate Chip cookie. They are a very heavy cookie; literally the dough was so thick it went to the top of my beaters. I would suggest if you make it leaving out the block of cream cheese because it didn't enhance the taste and weighed the dough down. The cookie ended up tasting like a sugar cookie with lots of chocolate chips. It wasn't a personal fav of mine, but if you like more the sugar cookie taste these would be a good one to try!

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pistachio-chip-cookies-2