Jack Daniel's Chocolate Cupcakes Part 2

After making the Jack Daniel's cupcakes the first time, I knew that they were going to be something that I would make many more times! I decided to make them again for a friend's birthday the other day.  I decided that I would make a simple change, so instead of making the chocolate icing, I would make a vanilla buttercream. I searched the internet to find a good buttercream frosting with pretty good reviews from people. Amazingly, that was a fairly difficult task, but I finally found one.

Anyone who makes cupcakes or knows anything about cupcakes, has heard of a place called Sprinkles Cupcakes. Well, I stumbled upon their vanilla buttercream frosting recipe and everyone seemed to be pleased with it. So I decided to try this recipe and all I have to say is that it was AMAZING!! I had leftovers, so I put the rest in the fridge and my mom and I have been eating spoonfuls of it! I have heard horror stories about buttercream frosting, but this was actually a very simple recipe that anyone could do.  I used a piping bag with a round tip and simply swirled the icing on top. Then I took a dark chocolate chip and sat it in the middle for a little decoration. I am excited to make these again this week for a Jaguars football game. I'm going to make a teal buttercream and make paw prints on top!! :D

For the Jack Daniel's Cupcake recipe, look at my very first blog post (Jack Daniel's and Chocolate? A Perfect Combination).

Enjoy!

-Kym's Kitchen



Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
(http://www.food.com/recipeprint.do?rid=222188)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a bowl/ mixer, combine butter, sugar and salt. Beat until blended.

2. Add the milk and vanilla and beat for an additional 3-5 minutes or until smooth.


** Kym's Touch:  Add fun food coloring to make different colors **

Healthy "Fried" Shrimp with Spicy Green Beans

Have you always wanted to find a way to turn something fried, into something healthy? Well look no further than Lisa Lillian or a.k.a. Hungry Girl. She has a great show on the Cooking Channel and Food Network (I would highly recommend watching it). She takes ordinary recipes, your favorite snacks or the most delicious desserts, and turns them into something a little healthier.

I recently bought her book simply titled "Hungry Girl."  There are so many delicious recipes that I can't wait to try, so I had to choose one to start with.  I decided to try the "Swapcorn Shrimp" a.k.a "healthy fried shrimp." There is a secret ingredient that makes it healthy. Wait for it... Fiber One Bran cereal. Yeah I said it Fiber One! Let me tell you, I had my dad fooled the entire dinner thinking that it was a new breadcrumb mixture that I made up.  It was that good! This was a meal that I would definitely make again and again! I would encourage you to at least try to shrimp and not the let that fact that Fiber One is used scare you! It really is very tasty!

Healthy "Fried" Shrimp

As one of the sides for the shrimp, I made the homemade coleslaw that I blogged about in my post "A Great Summer's Night Meal." Check it out! This time I cheated a little and bought the pre-shredded cabbage, which worked a lot better! To quote my dad, "This is the best coleslaw I have ever had!"

Spicy Green Beans

One of our favorite places to eat out is P.F. Changs, and my dad's favorite side is the Spicy Green Beans.  After a little "googleing",  I found a recipe for them! I thought that the spicy green beans would work nice with the coleslaw and the shrimp.  If you like hot and spicy, then this is the perfect recipe for you! I bought 1.5 pounds of green beans, so with a little math I had to figure out the correct amounts of ingredients. The one ingredient that really determines how spicy the beans are, is the hot pepper flakes. If you like real spicy, then add what the recipe calls for. If you like a more mild heat level, then I would maybe cut it in half. Either way these beans tasted just like the ones at P.F. Changs.

It was nice to have a really good meal and know that it was good for you! I can't wait to make this meal again!

Enjoy!!

-Kym's Kitchen



Swapcorn Shrimp
(from Hungry Girl cookbook, by: Lisa Lillian)

Ingredients:

1 lb of shrimp, peeled and deveined
2.5 cups Fiber One Bran cereal
1-2 eggs
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree.

2. Wisk 1-2 eggs in a bowl.

3. Use a food processor or blender to grind the cereal to a breadcrumb consistency. Pour the cereal into a big Ziplock bag.

4. Dry the shrimp with a paper towel. Place a few at a time in the eggs and then into the Ziplock bag. Shake.

5. Place the shrimp on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes flipping them about halfway through.

6. Serve with cocktail sauce and tarter sauce.  



Homemade Coleslaw


(see post "A Great Summer's Night Meal)



P.F. Chang's Spicy Green Beans
(from: http://www.food.com/recipe/pf-changs-spicy-green-beans-462084)

Ingredients:

1 lb green beans 

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated 

2 tablespoons garlic, thinly sliced 

2 tablespoons cooking oil 

1/4 cup water 

 

Sauce 

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

1 tablespoon rice vinegar 

2 teaspoons sugar 

2 tablespoons szechuan hot chili flakes 

 

 Directions: 

1. Rinse and trim green beans, set aside. 

 

2. Mix sauces in a bowl well.

 

3. Pour water in wok, heat over high heat until bubbling, boil green bean for 3-5 minutes until crispy tender. Remove and drain. 

 

4. Heat cooking oil hot in wok over high heat, stir in ginger and garlic until aromatic, combine green bean, stir constantly until beans are soft about 2-3 minutes. 

 

5. Combine sauce mixture, stir around until the sauce is thicken and glazes the bean.

 

6. Transfer and serve spicy green bean with cooked rice.

A Great Summer's Night Meal

Buffalo Chicken Skewers

Homemade Coleslaw

The summer is usually the time for friends, family and of course grilling. One of the easiest things to do on a grill is skewers. There are meat skewers, vegetable skewers and seafood skewers. I found a great recipe for buffalo chicken skewers. I wanted to add some shrimp to my meal, so I decided to do buffalo shrimp skewers too. The skewers have vegetables with them like celery and tomatoes. Our family likes onions so I added onions to the skewers. I marinated the chicken in the buffalo sauce  overnight in the fridge and the shrimp 30 minutes before i put them on the grill . These were such good skewers that my dad keeps asking me when I am going to make them again!

As I researched side items for buffalo style foods one of the sides that was mentioned in almost everything I read, was coleslaw.  So I found an easy homemade coleslaw recipe. The recipe just called for cabbage, not a specific kind. So I used Napa cabbage which worked just fine, except I decided to drain it a little before mixing everything together. It was a really good coleslaw! Even if you don't like coleslaw, I would encourage your to try this one! It was a mix between sweet and salty. Just try it!!


What is a meal without dessert!?! For dessert, I made a super easy crock pot cherry cobbler! Now you can choose whatever fruit you want, just in case you don't care for cherries. It was so simple that it is something we made last for a couple days! It was perfect with a scoop of ice cream! This was a great dessert to make late morning or mid-afternoon and enjoy that night! One of the things that I had to adjust was we did not have a 5 qt crock pot, but a double crock pot that had 2, 2.5 qt pots. So it was easy to split the recipe between the two pots.

Crock Pot Cherry Cobbler

 Now this sounds like a perfect summer evening meal! Next up on the blog post lineup, blueberry angel food cake bars!

Enjoy!

-Kym's Kitchen

Here are the recipes:


Buffalo Chicken Skewers 
(from Jamie Dean; foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken tenders, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 cup Buffalo wing sauce
Cooking spray
About 30 bite-size pieces celery (about 5 stalks)
About 30 grape tomatoes
Blue cheese dressing, for serving

Directions:

1. Combine the chicken and Buffalo wing sauce in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Spray a grill rack with cooking spray and preheat the grill to medium high.
3. Thread the chicken, celery and tomatoes onto skewers.
4. Grill, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
5. Serve with blue cheese dressing.

** To make the shrimp skewers, follow the same directions except only marinate them 30 min before grilling them **



Homemade Coleslaw

Ingredients:
6 cups cabbage, shredded
1 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup mayo
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tsp celery seed
1/4 cup sugar
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the carrots and cabbage.
2. In a smaller bowl, combine: mayo, sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, and celery seed.
3. Toss cabbage with dressing and serve. 



Crock Pot Cherry Cobbler 
(from: http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-cherry-cobbler-49912) 

Ingredients:

2 (21 ounce) cans cherry pie filling 

1 (18 1/4 ounce) package yellow cake mix, dry 

1/4 cup butter, soften 

1/2 cup chopped pecans 

Directions: 

1. Pour pie filling into 5 qt crock pot; spread evenly.

2. In a large bowl, combine dry cake mix with butter until it is crumbly. 

3. Sprinkle cake mix over pie filling. 

4. Sprinkle with nuts. 

5. Turn on crock pot to low and cover and cook 3-4 hours. 6 Serve warm.

** The nuts can be optional if you would like**

Attention Tailgaters and Sports Fans of All Sorts: Quick N Easy Salsa

Here you go avid tailgaters.... football fanatics... and sports fans of all sorts! This is a quick and easy recipe for an amazing salsa! It is a simple recipe that can be made the night before or even the day of a big game! A few ingredients and a food processor makes for one perfect tailgating snack!

I used the tortilla scoop chips, but you can use all sorts of chips for this. I also used tortillas and dipped those into the salsa. The recipe calls for a can of Rotel tomatoes. I had no idea what these were until my mom showed me. They have about 3 or 4 different "degrees of heat" that you can choose from. I chose to use the mild, which adds just a little kick to the salsa. If you like a lot of heat, then I would use the hot Rotel tomatoes. This was a fun recipe to make and one that was so simple even the least experienced tailgater could make it!
Enjoy!

-Kym's Kitchen

Quick N Easy Salsa

Ingredients:
14 oz can of diced tomatoes
10 oz can Rotel (any "degree of heat")
1/2 onion chopped
1 clove of garlic
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped (optional)
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
small handful of cilantro
juice of lime

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse for 30 seconds

*If you do not have a food processor, try using a blender*

Quick N Easy Cinnamon Rolls

I realized that I have not done a breakfast post, so while I was in North Carolina, I tried a new cinnamon roll recipe. I had seen a version of this recipe on a website, but I decided to try and make it my own! This is the perfect recipe for that time when you maybe only have 20 minutes to make a breakfast.

To make the rolls you simply take a crescent rolls, sprinkle with cinnamon and roll! Drizzle with a little icing and you are done! It really is that simple! One thing that I would try the next time I make these, is sprinkle the cinnamon while I roll them. I think they would taste better because the cinnamon would be a little more spread out. Another little idea I would like to try is stuffing the rolls with something like apple, to make a cinnamon apple roll.

This was a short and sweet post, but next up.... quick n easy salsa! We are getting ready for football season!

Enjoy!

-Kym's Kitchen


Quick N Easy Cinnamon Rolls
(Kym's Kitchen Version)

Rolls:
1 package of crescent rolls (I used the big and flaky)
Cinnamon Sugar
Ground Cinnamon
2 tbs. butter, melted

Icing:
Powder Sugar
Water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. After opening all of the rolls, brush each one with melted butter
3. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and cinnamon sugar.
4. Roll up like a normal crescent roll and bake for 12-15 minutes
5. To make the icing, take a small amount of powdered sugar (probably about 2-3 tbs.) and add a small amount of water until desired consistency.
6. Once the rolls are cooled slightly, drizzle with icing
7. Enjoy!!

Lobster Rolls and Sliced Baked Potatoes

 Every September to October  we go down to Disney for their food and wine festival at Epcot. They have all of these fun kiosks of food from different countries and places. At America, they have the best lobster roll ever! They put the juicy lobster on a warmed buttered bun and it just melts in your mouth! That is my dad's absolute favorite food there, so for his birthday I thought I would make him some lobster rolls! In my new Food Network magazine, there was a recipe for two types of lobster rolls: the Maine style and the Connecticut style.

I planned on making both since each only made 4 rolls, but when we go to the store, we had a rude awakening. I did not realize how expensive lobster had become! It was about $40 a POUND! After I calculated how much lobster was needed for both recipes it came to a total of 6 lbs! So let's do the math... 6lbs of lobster at $40 a lb equals $240!!! Obviously I was not going to pay that for these rolls, so i decided to only do one type of roll  I talked with the lady to get some ideas  She suggested I take some crab meat and mix in the crab meat with the lobster.  So I bought about 1 lb of crab meat that was already cooked and decided to add that to the lobster mix.

The lobster tails that I used were not cooked and so you have to cook the meat. So I boiled a pot of water with a little salt and threw the tails in. I let them cook until they were bright red which was about 5 minutes. In order to cut the meat out I turned the tail with the back side down on a cutting board.  Then spread the tail out and take a knife and cut down the middle. Yes there will be cracking noises but no worries! Then I simply just pulled the meat out and cut it up. It was that simple!

Like I said in my last post, make a recipe yours in whatever way you can! Our family likes onions so I also added about half of an onion chopped to the mix. I think that it added a nice touch to it.  Another thing that I had trouble finding the top sliced buns. I chose to use the baby slider buns instead and they worked perfectly!

As a side to the lobster rolls, I made a sliced oven baked potato. To do this, I thinly sliced a potato and rubbed olive oil on top. Then I brushed some melted butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper. I baked them in the oven at 425 degrees for about an hour. My suggestion is to wrap each in foil and bake them directly on the rack. When I did ours, they were still a little undercooked, so I think wrapping them in foil would help!!

This lobster crab roll was a quick and easy recipe that would be perfect for any occasion! Enjoy y'all!

-Kym's Kitchen



Lobster Roll (Maine-Style, With Mayo)
(From foodnetwork.com)
* Indicates a personal change in the recipe 


3 lobster tails* 
1/3-1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup celery, chopped*
1/2 of onion, chopped*
sea salt to taste

Directions:

1.  Fill a large steamer or pot with about 2 inches of water. Add 1 tablespoon sea salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Put the lobster tails (about 1 lb of meat) in the steamer basket or directly in the pot; cover and steam until the shells turn bright red, 5 to 10 minutes.
2.  Remove the lobsters and rinse under cold water until slightly cool. Remove the meat from the shells and roughly chop; chill the meat.
3.  Mix  mayonnaise, celery, and the zest and juice of  lemon in a bowl. Stir in the chilled lobster meat and season with salt.
4. Divide among 4 split-top hot dog buns and top with celery leaves.


Sliced Baked Potato
(from:  http://www.seasaltwithfood.com/2009/05/hasselback-potatoes.html)

Ingredients

6 Medium Size Potatoes
2 - 3 Cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
30 g Butter
Maldon Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 220˚C (425˚F). Put the potato on a chopping board, flat side down. Start from one end of the potato, cut almost all the way through, at about 3 to 4 mm intervals.

2. Arrange the potatoes in a baking tray and insert the garlic in between the slits. Scatter some butter on top of each potato. Then drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

3. Bake the potatoes for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes turn crispy and the flesh is soft.




**If you want to try the Connecticut style lobster roll, here is the recipe:

Lobster Roll (Connecticut-Style; Butter)
(From: foodnetwork.com)


Fill a large steamer or pot with about 2 inches of water. Add 1 tablespoon sea salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Put 2 lobsters (about 1 1/2 pounds each) in the steamer basket or directly in the pot; cover and steam until the shells turn bright red, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the lobsters and rinse under cold water until slightly cool. Remove the meat from the shells and roughly chop. Melt 1 stick unsalted butter in a saucepan with the juice of 1 lemon and 1/3 teaspoon paprika. Remove from the heat; stir in the lobster meat and season with salt. Divide among 4 split-top hot dog buns. Serve warm.

Cherry Lime Delight

One of my family's favorite drinks during the summer is Sonic's Cherry Limeade.  So when I saw a recipe for Cherry Limeade cupcakes, I figured that I had to make them for my Dad's birthday! These were really a lot of fun to make and super easy! This was a recipe that would be fun for kids to make and help out with!

There is a step in this recipe that calls for a lime syrup to be drizzled over the top of the cupcakes before icing them. I was a little nervous to use too much because I didn't want to make the cupcakes too tart, but I would change the way I did that. I personally would add more syrup to the cupcakes during that step! I did change the syrup just a tad and added a little of the cherry juice to the lime syrup, just to get a little more cherry in there.

Cherry Limeade Cupcake with Cherry Slice and Brulee Lime Slice

After making many of these recipes, one of the most important things that I have learned is to make it your own. Yes, follow the recipe and everything, but maybe find one or two things to either add more of, simply add or change. This is the way I have made many basic recipes, something of my own! In this Cherry Limeade Cupcake recipe, I decided to do something fun with the decorations.

The recipe does suggest that for the decoration, add a slice of cherry and lime on the top! I decided to go a step further and brulee the lime slice! I have seen this done before on Food Network's Chopped, so I decided to try it! This little touch added a nice decoration, plus one that may be a bit more edible!

 To brulee the lime slice, this is what I did:
 I made sure that the slices were fairly thin, then I sprinkled it with Turbinado sugar. Turbinado sugar is perfect for brulees because it is a coarse sugar.  It is also known as Sugar in the Raw.  After I sprinkled the lime, I took my brulee torch (found at World Market) and "toasted" the top until it was golden brown! It is that simple!

This is the perfect summer cupcake to enjoy at a cookout, family event, birthday party or wherever!!

As the wonderful Paula Deen says "From my kitchen to yours," ENJOY!!

Most importantly have fun!

-Kym's Kitchen


Cherry Limeade Cupcakes
(From: http://annies-eats.com/2009/02/13/cherry-limeade-cupcakes/)
Yield: 24 cupcake

For the cupcakes:
3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. limeade concentrate
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk (I used 1%)

For the lime syrup:
3/4 cup limeade concentrate
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the frosting:
3 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 tbsp. (or more) maraschino cherry juice
red food coloring (optional)

For decorating (optional):
fresh lime slices
maraschino cherries

Directions:
1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two muffin pans with paper liners.
 
2. In a medium bowl combine the cake flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Stir together and set aside. 

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.  Add the sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed. 

4. Add in the limeade concentrate and mix to incorporate. 

5. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between additions. 

6. Add in the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Mix ingredients just long enough to incorporate but no longer.

7. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack over wax paper to cool completely.

8. Once the cupcakes have cooled, whisk together the limeade concentrate and confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl to make the lime syrup.  Poke several holes in the top of each cupcake with a skewer and pour the syrup over the cupcakes, allowing it to soak in.

9. To make the frosting, combine the confectioners’ sugar, butter and maraschino cherry juice in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated, then increase to medium-high speed and beat until smooth. 

10. Add more maraschino cherry juice as needed to achieve desired texture.  Add red food coloring if desired.

11. Frost cooled cupcakes.  Garnish with lime slices and maraschino cherries, if desired.