One Pot, 1/2 Hour Lasagna? Thank You, Ninja Cooking System.

I got myself the Ninja Cooking System for Mother's Day.  I have seen them at Target for a while, but thought it was just a REALLY expensive Crock-Pot.  While trying to find something for my mom, I saw it and actually looked at what it was.  After some convincing that it was okay to spend that much, I got it.  (I got it at Kohl's with a 20% off and $30 Kohl's cash, so it didn't sting quite as bad.)  It came with a little recipe book, and this was one of them.  My favorite part about it so far is the clean up.  It took me two minutes to wash it, threw the spoon in the dishwasher, and I'm calling it good.

I followed this recipe, except I used chicken Italian sausage instead of hamburger.  Next time, I'll use ground turkey.  The kids didn't really like it, and I'm guessing that's why.  A little too spicy for them, perhaps.

Seriously, though.  10 minutes of sausage cooking, 20 minutes with the pasta, sauce, and water.  3 minutes after you add the spinach and cheese mixture, and you're DONE.  The only prep was to clean the spinach and mix together the cheeses, which was easily done during the 20 minute stretch.

So far, I'm a big fan of this thing.  Just the clean up alone is worth it.

 I forgot to take a picture before we dug in, but here is what was left.

*UPDATE* I just threw this into LoseIt with 10 oz of ground turkey. If you go with 6 servings, each one is only 284 calories!

**UPDATE, UPDATE** I forgot to buy fresh spinach this time, so I used frozen. Worked like a charm. I've made this three times now, and have decided I'll never stop. Easy, tasty, and the clean up is next to nothing. I'm in the middle of a deep clean and wanted minimal impact. This baby did the trick. 

My New Favorite Frosting Recipe and Cute Cupcake Liners

There are a few things I look for in a frosting recipe.

1.  Crisco scares the crap out of me.  Absolutely NO Crisco is allowed.
2.  It can't be too hard or time consuming.

Okay.  Two rules.  I have two rules when I'm looking for a new frosting recipe.

On this particular occasion, I was also looking for a frosting I could color and use to pipe decorations onto the cake.  This recipe seemed easy enough and fit the bill.  *UPDATE* The link in this pin isn't working.  This is the recipe.

The hardest part was not eating all of it before it made it onto the cake.  The second hardest part was waiting for the cream cheese and butter to come to room temperature.

I only made half of this recipe and it was enough for the little cake, 16 cupcakes, PLUS a bunch leftover that I planed on using as a strawberry dip.

I also went ahead and tried this pin while I was at it.  I had white cupcake liners that I bought quite a while ago, and it was easy enough.  A little messy, but worth it.  You could have a lot of fun with a tie dye effect, if you wanted to.  I did notice that it's better when the color on the liner is a different color than the frosting.

No Bake Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Who wouldn't want to try this pin, right?  I've seen it 1200 times since I joined the (stupid) Pinterest world.  Now that strawberries are cheap again (someone remind me to find out if Cracker Barrel has strawberry shortcake yet), I decided it was time.  Here is what I learned, short and simple.

1.  It was impossible to make them pretty.
2.  The cheesecake was instantly thick, which made it quite difficult to control.
3.  My wrists really hurt after I was done.  (Flashbacks to decorating cakes with fudge for Christmas at TCBY.)
4.  You have to leave the stem on, or there is a hole at the bottom.
5.  Leaving the stem on makes them somewhat difficult to eat.
6.  If you use the 1/3 less fat (fake) cream cheese, light Cool Whip, and sugar free pudding, these are only about 25 calories a piece.

I actually made these in two batches, because it made so much of the cheesecake and I had two huge containers of strawberries (and I ended up eating 1/4 of them while cutting the X in them, because I cut too far).  The first batch I made like the original pin (the top two strawberries). But, after discovering that it's a pain in the rear to make, and eat, I decided to do the second batch upside down like this pin (bottom three).  It was way easier to make, but the cheesecake slid right out.  Plus, you couldn't fit as much in the strawberries.  I actually only filled enough to take this (really bad) picture, then I used the rest as a dip.

So, they tasted great, but I won't make this particular recipe again.

Screw you, Rachel Ray! Wash Your Berries!

First off, let's start with the fact that I worship Rachel Ray.  I really do.

Worship.

She does, however, tell you not to wash berries when you bring them home because they will rot faster.  This is true, if you just wash them in water.  Per this pin, however, I let them soak in a vinegar/water solution for a few minutes...and it totally worked!  I used more vinegar than the pin suggests, but...

I actually let them sit in my fridge much longer than I was going to, just because I wanted to see if it would work.  I soaked them in a 6 to 1 ratio of water to vinegar for about five minutes, rinsed them, and then put them in a glass container with a towel to cover them.  I was quite surprised last night when I went to cut them up.  There were a couple on the top that were soft, but okay.  The rest were PERFECT.  I cut them up, and put about a teaspoon of sugar on them.  This is what I got.

It's totally worth the extra five minutes.  I will do this with ALL of my berries from now on.

Deviled Egg Pasta Salad

This recipe has such potential!  Take any deviled egg recipe, and you can probably adapt it.  (I plan on adapting this recipe next.)

I kind of followed this recipe.  I used only 2 c. of (olive oil) mayo instead of 3, at least 1/3 c. of mustard (my favorite part of deviled eggs), and approximately 2 T. of pickle juice on top of the vinegar.  (I actually ended up adding the white vinegar after the fact.  It helped.)  I only had sweet pickle relish...because I don't really like it.  Once I added it in, I regretted it.  I tried to cover it up by adding sliced baby dill pickles, which actually gave it a much needed crunch.  I'm not sure how I'll incorporate that in other versions.  For now, I'll just enjoy this one.

I can't wait to try other versions.  I'd say I recommend it for sure.  It's a convenient-have leftover Easter eggs recipe, for sure.

*UPDATE* This was even better after sitting in the fridge for a couple of days.

Polka Dot Cake and Jell-O Frosting? Heck Yes, I Did!

Today was full of ups and downs, especially with this (stupid) cake.  It started off great, so colorful and pretty...

Then...well...

Note to self:  Self, next time use more (stupid) flour spray crap on the bottom of the (stupid) pan.  I went to turn it out onto the cooling rack and half of it stayed in the pan.  My heart broke right along with the cake.  The daughter obviously saw it in my face and tried to reassure me that it was okay.  (Moms can fix anything, you know.)  This led to project-how much frosting will it take to make this thing look okay from the outside.

The answer?  Two batches.

Now...back to the cake.

I followed the directions for the cake pop pan, just like the pin said to, using milk, an extra egg, and a box of instant pudding mix.  I did, however, use NSA applesauce instead of oil.  (I just don't use oil anymore.)  The part I missed was where she said she used HALF of the cake mix to make the pops, hence the massive overflow out of the tops.  Half, people.  Half.  Fill them to the rim.  That's it.  I used the excess to make a few cupcakes.

I used a Funfetti cake mix for the outside, thinking the colored sprinkles inside would look super cool...and, that's what I already had.  They probably would have, had I not demolished the cake.  (I still kind of want to cry.)  I used milk instead of water in this batch, as well as the applesauce, but I didn't add pudding or an extra egg.  In fact, I used only egg whites like the pin suggested.  There were definitely two different textures in the end.

Warning:  When I covered the colored balls with the Funfetti cake mix, I was quite afraid it wouldn't be enough.  It was.  Don't panic.

Now...back to the mess of a cake.

I bought the ingredients needed to make two different types of frosting, because I hadn't decided which kind I wanted to try.  I was trying to think of which of the two would hold cake crumbs together better.  What won?  Impatience.  

Recipe number one was a Jell-O recipe that would take exactly five minutes.  Recipe number two was a cream cheese recipe that would require me to wait until the cream cheese and TWO sticks of butter...healthy...to come to room temperature.  I pulled the ingredients for recipe number two, just in case, but decided to go with recipe number one.  The pin made it look freaking awesome, and I hoped that with the Jell-O, it would hold up well enough to rescue the cake for my baby's birthday.

I was scared at first, since it took a couple of minutes for it to start looking like it was supposed to.  I used a timer just like the pin suggested.  (Thank you, iPhone.)  It looked good enough, so I went with it.  It turned out just fine, but I'm not sure I'll use it again.  It didn't want to be smoothed like other frosting (thank you, sprinkles), and it set up pretty quickly.  It turned out super sticky, and didn't want to stick to the cupcakes, but it was okay.  I'm not sure if I'll try it again.  It sure was easy, though.  *UPDATE*-The frosting on day two was quite rubbery on the outside (which makes sense).  By day three it was rather scary looking.  By day three, it's just gross looking. Refrigerating it might help, but I think it would dry it out even more.  Not sure, though.

Okay, so here's how I managed to salvage the cake.  I think it turned out pretty good...on the outside...

Here are a couple of the better shots I could get of the polka dots.  (Notice the difference between the top and bottom layers.)  I didn't use a real knife for fear the people at the restaurant would be unhappy with someone bringing a weapon, so I used my frosting spatula to cut it.  Big mistake.  I basically just smashed it.  Sorry.

I think I might try it again for the little boy's first birthday cake.

Next time, however, I'll use three times as much spray as I think I need.

Birthday Chalkboard

I had a lot of fun with this one, and had I had more time, it would have been even cooler than it already was.  This is how it looked after using some crazy, brightening filters.

This is how it looked in real life.

Next time I need to either find better chalk or get those liquid, washable markers.  I dipped the chalk in water, just like I used to do at Starbucks, which was helpful.  But, it still wasn't bright enough.  I'll also brush up on some fonts.  I haven't had to actually WRITE anything in so long, I couldn't even remember how.

Okay, that might not have been completely true, but...

I can't wait until I have several years of these that I can put together.  Too bad I can't go back in time and get the three years I missed.  Oh, well.