Food Network Show: Cupcake Wars
One of my favorite shows to watch on Food Network these days is Cupcake Wars. Basically, 4 chefs from different parts of America compete to showcase their best cupcake creations. Each show has a theme. They are given ingredients that match the theme, then the chefs will come up with cupcake flavors that will please the judges. The 2 main judges are Candace Nelson (Sprinkles Cupcakes) and Florian Bellanger (MadMac), then there’s a rotating special guest judge from the event theme.
For the 1st round, the chefs will bake 1 cupcake each using 2 unique combo ingredients that’s related to the theme. They get judged, then 1 chef is eliminated. In the 2nd round, the chefs have to make 3 different cupcakes that will relate to the theme. They get judged, then another chef is eliminated. The 2 remaining chefs will complete for the ultimate battle to win $10K plus a showcase of their cupcakes at the event. The chefs will have to bake I think 1000 cupcakes using the 1st cupcake and the 3 cupcake recipes. They have extra help at this point of course. AND, they each have to create a serving platform to present their cupcakes. This is where they have to really really be as extravagant as ever. The chefs get their respective carpenters to build their tables. If my explanation was confusing, watch the video instead 
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I love this show. I love looking at all those cupcakes. I haven’t tried any of the recipes but I will someday. The last battle is really the best part coz it’s interesting to see what the chefs would come up with for their presentation table. The chefs really go all out and you’d wonder how the carpenters could build it sooooooooo fast in a few hours. Well, you’d see a glimpse of them working outside then the show will make it look like everyone is running behind and the chefs are freaking out, but thanks to the magic of reality TV, all is well in the end. Then we get to see a showcase of fabulous cupcake goodness from both chefs. It’s really fun and oh-so-sweet .
Classic Pound Cake With Nutella
One of my favorite desserts is pound cake. The recipe I usually follow uses sour cream but less eggs and butter. I’ve also baked it following Paula Deen’s recipe but I found it too sweet. Because I am constantly trying to find more dessert recipes to incorporate Nutella in, I decided to mess with the classic pound cake recipe by adding nutella into it. So was it a success or a complete mess? IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! Let’s just say, if I wasn’t so afraid of watching my thighs and hips grow an inch by the minute, I would probably bake it every week.
INGREDIENTS: (Inspired by this recipe)
2 cups butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
4 cups of flour
2/3 cup of milk
3/4 cup nutella
Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease the bundt pan and a loaf pan (this additional pan will be explained in the instructions)
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in the flour, alternating with the milk, until everything is incorporated.
Pour half of the mixture into the greased bundt pan.
Spread 1/2 cup of nutella on top.
Dot the top with the remaining nutella.
Using the butter knife, gently stir the whole thing to incorporate the nutella with the batter. Don’t be afraid to go all the way to the bottom. Now as you can see in the picture, the batter is almost overflowing which is not a good thing. This is where the extra loaf pan came in handy. I realized that the bundt pan is filled to the top so I decided to scoop some of the batter to transfer into the loaf pan. I scooped out about 3 cups I think.
Since you’ve seen this here, I suggest that you should divide the batter and nutella beforehand so you won’t have to scoop some out after everything has been poured and stirred. Learn from my mistake.
Stick both bundt and loaf pans in the oven and bake for 70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when you test the pound cake.
Once baked, run the edge of a butter knife along the edges to loosen and cool in a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the pans.
I was trying to get a marbled effect but I forgot how to do it when I was stirring the batter in with nutella so the result looks like this. However, the taste was still to-die-for. The richness that pound cake has worked so well with the nutella. A little goes a long way that’s for sure. Not too chocolate-y and not to sweet either. Just Perfect!
Spam Linguine
Call this pasta dish with SPAM one of those weird food combination. As strange as it may sounds, this pasta dish was actually good. If you like Spam then you might actually consider believing me. But if you don’t, then it wouldn’t be presumptuous of me to think that you probably rolled your eyes once you’ve read the title. AHA!
The family likes Spam. We like it fried with eggs, and a side of sliced tomatoes for breakfast, or Spam sandwiches, or Spam sushi roll. But last night I said, yah know, let me try cooking Spam some other way. How would it taste like with pasta and spaghetti sauce? Well, it was surprisingly good.
INGREDIENTS:
1 can of Spam, sliced thinly, cut in half, then in strips
1 jar of Bertolli Olive & Garlic Spaghetti Sauce (or whatever pasta sauce you’ve got)
half a jar of water (use the pasta sauce jar, cover and shake the jar to incorporate water with sauce remnants)
sprinkle of dried basil
sprinkle of dried oregano
2 tbsp of sugar
half a box (or more) Linguine pasta, cooked accordingly
Cook the linguine pasta according to the box.
Heat up a sauté pan. You don’t need oil coz the Spam has enough fat content. Once the pan is hot, sprinkle the spam strips all around. Let that cook until slightly brown. Don’t burn. Stir a few times.
Then add the pasta sauce, and water. Sprinkle dried basil, dried oregano and sugar. Stir everything, cover the pan then simmer in medium heat. The sauce should be simmering while you’re cooking the pasta.
Once the pasta is cooked, turn stove off on both burners. Then using a pasta ladle, slowly transfer the pasta onto the sauce pan. If this step is hard for you coz you don’t want the pasta water all over the pasta sauce, just drain the water off into the sink then just transfer the pasta into the sauce pan. Gently stir everything together.
Serve with garlic bread. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top. The Italian Chefs namely Mario Batali, Giada de Laurentiis and other pasta connoisseurs would probably turn their nose up on this dish but hey, it’s my kitchen so I’ll do whatever I want with the pasta and sauce. Besides, my children loved it. They devoured the leftovers for lunch today that I didn’t get a bowl of my own.
Baked Chicken Wings Adobo
I have cooked chicken wings adobo the way I would cook pork adobo. Same method, just different meat, with minor changes in cooking time. This turns the chicken wings so tender that most of the meat falls completely off of the bones. Well one time, I wanted to actually have the wings. I mean finger-licking good adobo wings where I could actually hold a chicken wing in one piece. I found a way of having the chicken wings intact by baking it first.
INGREDIENTS:
10 chicken wings
1 cup of flour
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 thumb-sized ginger, finely chopped
sprinkle black pepper
3 bay leaves
2 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
3 medium red potatoes, quartered
Preheat the oven to 355°
Drench the chicken wings with the flour. Lay the wings onto a sheet pan, bake them in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.
While the chicken wings are cooking, simmer the adobo sauce.
In a pot, combine water, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, pepper, and bay leaves. Cover and simmer to reduce. Once reduced in about half (or just a little more than half), add the potatoes. Cook until fork tender. Make sure you’re not losing the sauce. Just add more water if necessary. Stir a few times.
Once the chicken wings are baked, add them into the pot of reduced sauce and potatoes. Stir gently to coat the chicken wings with the sauce. Just let it cook for 3-5 more minutes.
I loved how the chicken wings absorbed the sauce and maintained it’s shape. So you’ll be eating the wings like regular chicken wings with all it’s adobo flavor. It’s a finger lickin’ dish that’s for sure.
Beef Hoisin Satay
The weather is perfect today. So appropriately perfect for a summer grill. It’s not as authentic as the real satay wherein turmeric powder is a must in traditional satay recipes to give it that yellow color. Let’s just call this Beef Satay ala Dexie.
INGREDIENTS:
beef tenderloin, cut in strips
10-15 skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes before using
1 thumb of ginger, peeled and grated
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup of soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup of hoisin sauce
sprinkle of black pepper
1 tsp of curry powder
sprinkle of red pepper flakes (optional)
In a bowl, combine soy sauce, lime juice, hoisin sauce, black pepper, curry powder, red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic.
Put the strips of beef in either a container or ziploc bag. Pour over the marinade onto the meat. Gently work the meat and marinade together to coat. Cover the container. Store in the fridge and marinade overnight or 3-4 hours before grilling.
Skewer the marinated beef strips. Grill the meat, about 8-10 minutes (or longer) on each sides. It depends how thick you cut the beef strips.
I cut mine slightly thicker and skewered 3 pieces of meat on 1 skewer since I made this for dinner. It’s more filling this way.
Lamb Neck Bones Stew With Red Wine
I had a little bit of red wine left, then I remembered the lamb neck bones that I grabbed from the grocery store so I decided to make a stew out of them. When I bought the lamb neck bones I initially thought of cooking it as the Filipino sour soup dish called Sinigang but I’ve used my last packet of Knorr Sinigang mix with pork last week so I figured that combination would just have to wait some other time. So that’s how this lamb neck bones stew with red wine came about.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2-3 pounds of lamb neck bones
- 14 cup of flour
- 1 1/2 cup red wine
- 3 cups of water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp powdered sage
- 2 large potatoes, cut in cubes
- 1/2 cup of canned peas
- sprinkle pf salt & pepper
Heat up olive oil in a pot. In a bowl, evenly dust the neck bones with flour on both sides. The flour serves as a thickening agent which is an essential ingredient in making any kind of meat stews.
Brown the neck bones for about 5-6 minutes, cover the pot but stir it once while browning.
Add the wine, water, soy sauce, dried basil, dried oregano, and powdered sage. Stir everything together, cover and simmer in medium heat until the meat is tender. Stir occasionally. Add more water if necessary.
Once the sauce has reduced in half, stir in the potatoes. Continue to simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Turn the stove off once the potatoes are cooked. Add the peas then stir gently. The remaining heat from the stove should suffice to heat the already cooked canned peas. Sprinkle with salt and pepper in the end.
Serve with buttered biscuits on the sides. You can add carrots on the stew if you want. Just add the potatoes and carrots at the same time to cook evenly. This lamb neck bones stew is perfect for a rainy day or the winter season.
Crepes With Nutella & Raspberry Sauce
Whenever we are craving for crepes, we go to Bob Evans. They serve the best crepes with different fillings (whatever is available of course, banana cream, blueberries or strawberries). But of course, we can’t afford eating out all the time coz once we’re there, crepes aren’t the only ones we’re ordering. Having said that, Bob Evans restaurant has a delicious and affordable menu. We just can’t be there every week, is my point. Therefore it’s always a good idea to learn how make crepes on your own. It’s really not that hard to make. Don’t let the French name and France origin scare you. However, you must be patient and attentive coz you want to make them too thick and you don’t want to cook them too long. Don’t worry, once you get the hang of tilting the pan to get the consistency of a crepe, you’d be very proud of yourself.
The crepe recipe I’ve used that I really like was from AllRecipes: (SOURCE)
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon white sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3 eggs
* 2 cups milk
* 2 tablespoons butter, melted
FILLINGS RECIPE (MINE)
1 tbsp of nutella/crepe
1 tbsp of raspberry sauce *recipe below*
cool whip or whipped cream
fresh berries, optional
1. Sift together flour, sugar and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth; stir in melted butter.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
RASPBERRY SAUCE (based on here)
* 1 pint fresh raspberries
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 2 tablespoons orange juice
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch
* 1 cup cold water
1. Combine the raspberries, sugar, and orange juice in a saucepan. Whisk the cornstarch into the cold water until smooth. Add the mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the desired consistency is reached. The sauce will thicken further as it cools.
3. Puree the sauce in a blender or with a handheld immersion blender and strain it through a fine sieve. Serve warm or cold. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
** I opted not to strain the seeds. It was fine but if you prefer it to be smoother and not bite into those seeds then strain away .
Gently and carefully spread Nutella on a crepe, pour 2 tbsp of raspberry sauce to spread on top. Roll the crepe, then repeat the process with the other crepes.
Place 2-3 rolled crepes on a plate. Add a dollop of cool whip on the middle-top, garnish with fresh berries, then drizzle a little bit more raspberry sauce on top.
You can also sprinkle powdered sugar if you like. Replace raspberry with either strawberry or blueberries. There you go. Practice makes perfect!!!
Barbeque Meatloaf
Yes, that’s really a meatloaf. I got the idea of using a bundt pan from Connie of HouseOnAHill.net. Although her meatloaf was meatier and more moist than mine but I’ll tell you more about that later. Meatloaf is just one of those dishes where you make it and then you don’t make it again until after 6 months or perhaps longer, like a year in my case. There’s nothing wrong with this particular meat dish, it’s just, it’s actually kind of a boring dish for a ground beef or any ground meat for that matter. Which is why I try to make it more flavorful when making it like adding barbecue sauce for instance.
INGREDIENTS:
2-3 pounds of ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs (1 piece of bread, crumbled in a blender)
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
sprinkle of garlic powder
salt and pepper to season
3/4 cup of barbecue sauce
another 1/4 cup barbecue sauce for glaze
Preaheat the oven to 355°
In a huge mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients together except for the lat 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce. Use your hands to mix everything together.
Put the mixture in a loaf pan or a bundt cake pan. It’s really up to you. Cook it in the oven for about 45 minutes or an hour.
Once cooked, take it out, put a serving plate on top of the pan, then carefully turn it upside down. Brush the top with the remaining barbecue sauce.
I served with mashed potatoes (used an ice cream scooper to get that ball shape), and peas. I have to admit that the meatloaf was a little bit dry. My husband said I might have over-mixed it. I said, that and probably cooked it for too long. Hey, it was good thanks to the barbecue sauce but just for a tip, don’t over mix and cook for a little less than an hour.
Busy-Day Cake
The name of the cake says it all, no? I discovered this classic, fast, and easy cake from the Better Homes & Garden BCA Pink Cookbook that I received from my mother-in-law. It’s so perfect for those days when you’re craving something sweet but you don’t necessarily want to spend hours preparing a dessert using complicated ingredients and then spending time decorating and doing all that fancy stuff. With the exception of whipped cream, any kitchen should have all the ingredients on hand. But since you’ve just read this recipe here, then I suggest you grab a tub of either cool whip or a can of whipped cream the next time you’re in a grocery store.
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
whipped cream
Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a round cake pan (8 x 1 1/2 inch). Set the pan aside.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder in a medium bowl. Add milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Beat with a mixer on low speed until combined. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Spread into the round pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes or so.
Cookbook said to cool for about 30 minutes but that’s too long in my opinion, hehe.
Cut in triangle slices, and serve warm with whipped topping on top. Add berries too if you want. If I’m being honest, it’s perfect for those PMS days,
