THIS is NOT baking - but I still thought I'd share:

Fiesta Night at our house


Slow cooking some chicken with Rotel in the crockpot

Easy to pull once cooked - very tender

Had to make Velveeta Rotel dip to go with it

Flour tortillas, Shredded lettuce, shredded cheese and sour cream for the pulled chicken. Plus tortilla chips and dip!

Up close...

...and personal

Say Cheese!

My taco (shut up - i'm not a huge fan of tomatos - thats why mine looks lame)

Tyler's taco

Tyler eating his taco

Tasty

[Edited on July 4, 2011 at 8:43 PM. Reason : .]

7/4/2011 8:43:10 PM

Nothing says the 4th of July and the celebration of all things American quite like fiesta night, . Looks good though.

7/4/2011 9:22:54 PM

Hey! Americans LOVE mexican food!

No cupcake for you!

7/4/2011 9:46:55 PM

This was the patriotic dessert my wife made for us. Cheese cake icing with strawberries & blueberries FTW.



[Edited on July 4, 2011 at 10:02 PM. Reason : ]

7/4/2011 10:01:52 PM

That is not 50 stars, comie.

7/4/2011 10:11:07 PM

I could've sworn there were 13 colonies...not 8

[Edited on July 4, 2011 at 10:23 PM. Reason : number!]

7/4/2011 10:23:10 PM

It's Justin's bday this week at work and he decided that instead of a cake/cupcakes/regular cookies - he wanted something different and light.

He wanted Strawberry Cookies.


Now...I made them. And I tried them. And Tyler tried them...they are not cookies. They're basically scones, but hopefully Justin will still like them.

If anyone wants the recipe, PM me.

Strawberry Cookies:


Ingredients

Had to use frozen strawberries from Trader Joe's bc everyone had crap for fresh strawberries

Lightly pureed

The essentials for baking - butter and sugar

Everyone into the pool!

And you mix it all up

At this point I got a little worried b/c the consistency was more like banana bread than cookie batter

Into the oven, my pretties

They came out a little spongier than I was hoping

Final Product

Up close...

...and personal.


[Edited on July 6, 2011 at 10:48 PM. Reason : .]

7/6/2011 10:44:37 PM

Tyler's bday was today and he wanted a triple chocolate fudge cake with orange buttercream frosting - let the baking begin!

Disclaimer - This is a long post with many pictures - you have been warned


Ingredients

Sugar and butter

Adding the eggs

Used buttermilk for this recipe

Adding flour

And you mix it all up

Adding chocolate syrup

And bakers chocolate

And you mix it all up

Annnnd chocolate chips

Thats what I'm talking about

Double Layers

Before Baking

After Baking

Now for the buttercream

Obviously...

Used marmalade instead of orange juice - gave a subtle orange color and awesome flecks of orange from the peel

See? Flecks.

And you mix it all up

Adding sugar

Used heavy cream, vanilla and orange extracts

And you mix it all up

Flecks

Bottom Layer frosted

Looks like a big cookie sandwich

Starting the main icing part

Final frosted product

I wish I was better at piping/writing

Tyler and his birthday cake

Dan and Tyler

Me and Tyler

Blowing out the candles

Inside view

First bite...

Hey Mikey, he likes it! This is his "its sooooo good" face

Want a piece?


[Edited on July 10, 2011 at 12:56 AM. Reason : happy bday tyler!]

7/10/2011 12:35:26 AM

I LOVE all the pics! Prep pics are about my favorite in the baking and cooking process!

I want that in my mouf!

7/10/2011 12:37:53 AM

that sounds and looks delicious!

7/10/2011 12:39:02 AM

God damn that looks good.

2 Sticks of butter tastes good, and I know its the only way to get that flavor.

but damn thats alot of butter

7/10/2011 12:44:12 AM

Amners! I love posting the prep pictures - I like seeing how separate ingredients start to form deliciousness.

PackPrincess Thank you!

Gumbified Haha yea I hate having to use that much butter kind of bothers me, but the taste is so worth it And Tyler and I don't just eat it ourselves - there's a lot of sharing with people at work.

7/10/2011 1:04:48 AM

Today I made Lemon Squares to bring over for dessert tonight since we're having dinner at my parents


Ingredients

Its semi made from scratch - the recipe called for a lemon cake mix and I wasnt going to make a lemon cake mix from scratch ;-P

Oil

Egg

And you mix it all up...

Press mixture into a baking pan to form the crust

Now to make the filling

Making the cream cheese smooth and creamy

Add eggs and sugar

Lemon peel and lemon juice - freshly squeezed!

and you mix it all up...

Pour filling over crust

Into the oven my pretty!

Make sure you let it cool completely before cutting

Final Product

Up close...

...and personal.

Nom Nom Nom

7/16/2011 4:42:53 PM

This is coming back.

Making vanilla bean "funfetti" cupcakes with an orange cream cheese icing for the qntmfamily visit tonight.

Pictures to come

4/17/2014 4:07:40 PM

[Edited on April 18, 2014 at 3:15 PM. Reason : fix]

4/18/2014 3:05:12 PM