Some of the cakes I've made.......

Here are some of the cakes I have made over the last 2 years. Take a look and lmk what you think!! I'd like to do it more often and hopefully someday get paid to make a cake!! Wouldnt that be GREAT!! Right now I just do it for fun and for the people I love!!

I was not pleased with this one....I think it was the brown color of the fondant that I really didnt like. It reminded me of poop. :) Anyways I made this one for my oldest sons 17th birthday....in case you couldn't tell it was for his 17th...lol!!

 This one for for my Grandma last year (2010) her and my oldest have the same birthday!!

 This one was for my sons 16th day!!

 I made this cake for my mom.....we won't mention which bday it was, but just let you know it was a bday cake!! It's one of my fav's!!

 This was for my uncle on his bday...can you guess his name??? lol

 This one was for Annie's bday cuz I <3 her!! She moved away and now Im sad, but she lives close to where they filmed scenes from Twilight....and Im jealous!!

 This was my youngest sons xbox 360 cake....kinda plan....but that's what the xbox looked like!!

This was the cake I made for my neighbor Marcie, I was trying to make it look just like her giant drum that she uses and then I added the sign for her tribe on top!!

Can I get some fries with that........KETCHUP

Get your mind outta the gutter....I wasn't gonna say shake.....geesh....

Sooooo.....I know it doesn't look like it.....but....it's ketchup.......real homemade ketchup....and....it's tasty!! Real tasty!! I know I've been mentioning that the hubs and I are eating healthy now. For the last almost 4 weeks now, yeah us!! The hubs is down about 15lbs and me only a lousy 5lbs..... oh pooh!! 

Anyways.....we are using The Belly Fat Cure and eating almost no sugar and super low carbs. I feel so much better!! But boy does it make you realize how much sugar we eat everyday, and let's face it....sugar is bad for us!!

So I found this recipe for ketchup....cuz let's face it a fry isn't a fry without ketchup!! I just did some adjustments according to what I had on hand, plus my sugar substitute!!

*ps- sugar substitutes are bad!! I use something called xylitol....it is completely natural!! AND IT TASTES JUST LIKE SUGAR!!!!

Ketchup
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine

1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, grated
2 T olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 T tomato paste
1/2 cup xylitol or brown sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Puree tomatoes with juice in blender until smooth. Cook onions and garlic with oil and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until golden brown, approx 8 min stirring occasionally. Add spices and pepper and cook, stirring frequently for 1 minute. Add tomato puree, tomato paste, sugar (xylitol), and vinegar and simmer uncovered for 50 minutes. Puree in blender until smooth. Chill up to one month.

EASY Chicken, Steak & Veggie Stir Fry

I just love love love when you just throw stuff together and make something delicious. It makes me feel fuzzy all over! :) This was one of those.......I'm really starving moments....I need something healthy, but it has to taste good meals. That didn't fit in the title or else I would have called it that!!

Sooooo.....I was digging around in the frig and found zucchini, mushrooms and cabbage. Plus I found leftover steak, I already had 2 defrosted chicken breasts so I figured I'd throw them both in and call it good. You don't have to use both, you could use one or the other. I'm only the boss in my kitchen.....not yours!!

Chicken, Steak & Veggie Stir Fry

2 chicken breast cut in chunks
3 oz of steak cut in chunks
2 zucchini's, cut in half then sliced
1/2 a head of cabbage
6 mushrooms sliced
1/2 onion, cut into wedges
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 T Chili garlic sauce (found on Asian isle)
2 cloves of garlic, grated

Heat pan until very hot, throw in chicken and steak (you can use either or, you don't have to use both) When they are cooked through add in all veggies. In a small bowl combine soy sauce, chili sauce and garlic. When veggies are cooked remove from heat and add sauce. You can serve this over rice if you'd like, but I ate it without.

Basil Chicken Meatballs with Marinara

Well I just kinda went out on a limb with these meatballs.....AND IT WORKED!! If you recall our resolution was to eat healthier this year, so I am on a quest to find really delicious healthy recipes. I was looking at a magazine and they had a recipe for chicken meatballs, but it was an Asian chicken meatball and I really wanted to make one that went well with one of my favorite marinara recipes. So I made one up. So if you make these you will have to bare with my approximations on my ingredients. :)

I know you can buy ground chicken at the grocery store, but I didnt have any so I used my food processor to grind the chicken and it worked fine. That way I know that I stuck 6 thawed chicken breasts and there was nothing else ground up in there if you know what I mean!! ;)

*on a side note* when I was just trying to make that winky face I accidentally hit this  ;() which looks like a whinky, smiley, kissy face doesnt it??? I might be onto the next big thing.....do you think I can make royalties???

Anyways.....back to the story....what was I talking about again??? ............Oh....yeah.....meatballs!! Did I mention that I <3 meatballs?? I do I do.....but ground beef meatballs are VERY high in calories......no really....they are....I swear. Have you ever eaten extra meatballs thinking......"well they are only one bite...I mean how many calories are in one bite after all??" Or when you are making meatballs for dinner.....you sneak like 4 while your cooking and then when you sit down with the family for dinner.....your like "Im not that hungry.....I'll only have 3 meatballs!" *birds chirping in backround* Ok....maybe Im the only one????

ALRIGHT.......BACK TO THE MEATBALLS.........these were really tender and juicy and Im gonna make them again!! Heres the recipe......FINALLY!!

2 lbs of ground chicken
1 lg Tablespoon of chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic grated with micro plane (if you dont have one......GET ONE)
1 small onion, grated on micro plane (if you dont have one...see above)

Put all ingredients in a large bowl, take off all your rings and get your hands dirty!!!! I usually get my pan hot while Im shaping my meatballs, but I make one little tester piece of meatball to make sure my salt is right. Then cook all of them!! I cooked mine in a deep stainless steel pot so I could add my pre-made marinara sauce. But when I say pre-made, I just mean I made that first and got it simmering and reducing then made my meatballs. You can find the recipe for that here!!

So the hubs and I ate our meatballs and marinara over spaghetti squash......but you can use pasta if you wanna......I'll allow that. I definately recommend the Marinara sauce though......I make the recipe just like it is except I add 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes and 1/2 cup good red wine!!! It's the bestest!!!

Orange Chicken Spring Rolls

We have been addicted to spring rolls at our house lately. There is literally hundreds......no.....maybe thousands of ways to make these bad boys!! They are a great healthy food, fun to eat, and healthy too!!

We were having an episode of "Chopped" at our house one night and my oldest son found the recipe for this orange sauce, which is really delicious!! It tastes excellent with a crispy chicken, but was just as tasty with 'not' fried chicken.

You wrap these with Rice Paper wrapper and you put rice noodles inside them. I have found that most grocery stores sell the rice noodles, however not all sell the wrappers. I usually just visit my local Asian market to get both, because I found it to be the best price. But I do know that Cost Plus World market sells them too!!

Orange Chicken Spring Rolls

4 cups cooked chicken meat, I used boneless skinless chicken breasts
15 romaine lettuce leaves
1 large handful of washed cilantro
1 cup carrots cut in long thin strips
1/2 cup green onions diced
 orange sauce recipe here
1 pkg rice paper wrappers (square or round)
1 pkg rice noodles, wide or thin, I use wide

Most of your time will be spent in prep time, once everything is prepped you just roll them up and eat them!!!

Hydrate noodles according to package directions. I just boiled some water, turn it off and throw the noodles in for about 5-7 minutes. Then drain. Wash lettuce leaves and cut ends off, they should be about 5" long. Wash cilantro and carrots, then slice carrots. Wash and dice green onions. Prepare orange sauce while doing all the prep cutting. You could either cook the chicken according to the orange sauce recipe or you can just broil or boil it, depending on how healthified you wanna be.

Now its rolling time!! Have a pot or pan with really hot water at your assembly line. Dip your rice paper wrapper in the hot water and have a little water down on your clean prep surface. After dipping paper, be careful because it will stick to itself, lay flat on work surface. Start by putting one lettuce leaf in the center of the paper, top with about 5 carrots pieces, a couple springs of cilantro, about a tsp of green onions, about 1/4 cup of chicken, about a 1/2 cup of rice noodles and top with approx 1 T of orange sauce. Then roll up to look like an egg roll. You can serve immediately.

They are actually really easy to make and taste FABULOUS!!!

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Don't these look delicious??? They taste delicious!! Someday there needs to be a computer with a button that you could push and it will pop out the food that you want to taste.  Wouldn't that be nice? Or TV's with smellovision?? Or when your watching FoodNetwork you could push a button on your remote and someone would deliver the food you want??

Wouldn't that just be swell?? Well I guess I should stop day dreaming now and get on with the story......or recipe.....:)

1 T yeast
2 T honey or agave
2 cups warm water
1 T salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups ap flour
Combine first 4 ingredients. Then mix flours together in a bowl. Add four of the six cups of flour to the liquid ingredients. Put the fifth cup of flour on a flat surface and knead the dough into that flour. Knead as much of the six cup as possible into the dough until medium stiff dough is formed. Put in oiled bowl in a warm place for one hour to let rise. Punch down and divide into 12 similar sized dough balls. Place on a lightly floured surface and cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Heat oven to 450. Flatten 2 doughs to 1/4" thick and place on a greased baking sheet on the bottom rack for 5-7 minutes. Then put them under the broiler until browned on top.

Chipotle Chicken Soup

This year our New Year's resolution was to eat healthier, not necessarily to lose weight.....although that would be fabulous!! :) So I am desperately searching for more recipes to make to healthify our lives.

This a simple, quick and delicious soup that the whole family will enjoy!! You can literally put whatever you want in here as far as ingredients goes. It's filling and refreshing!!

3 cups cooked chicken meat
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 small can diced green chile's
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
2 chipotle chile's, diced fine
1 small onion, diced

Possible Toppings
Avocado, diced
Cilantro, chopped
Lime or Lemon
Sour Cream
Grated Cheese
Crushed Tortilla Chips

Through everything in a stock pot and cook until heated/cooked through. Serve with any or all toppings!!