I {HEART} Cooking - Easter Bake!

Easter is almost here, so we need a recipe to go with that, dont we??

I just baked this today, a request from Bayo to do a Carrot Cake with Almonds!!

This recipe is from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, all of her recipes (that I've tried so far) are delicious!!! so I just followed it and added the almonds.

Want to try some? Get this then ;)

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup of Almonds (they are better cut in big chunks instead of the thin slices).

And do these :p
Mix sugar, oil, and eggs. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add to first mixture and combine. Add carrots and almonds and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured pan (Bundt, sheet cake, 9 x 13 Pyrex) and bake until done, 25 to 50 minutes, depending on the pan you use, for example I used a loaf pan and had to bake it for 50 minutes, I also ended up with extra batter and did some muffins but those only took 25 minutes, like Pioneer Woman said: "Just give the pan a very gentle shake if you’re unsure. If it jiggles, it ain’t ready". This tip really works!!!

You could add a Cream Cheese Frosting, Pioneer Woman also has a great recipe on the same page with the Carrot Cake one, we like ours plain to eat it for breakfast or snack, and it is good like that too!!

I just had to play with the picture ;p it has become an addiction and I cant stop!!! Do you like the bunnies on my carrot?

I've got a Dominican Easter Dessert coming up soon (actually after easter) this is a really popular dish here, if you go to a house on easter you are going to get this serve, Bayo LOVES it and this is my first time making it :) I will try to do a step by step photo instuctions on the recipe, so if you are feeling adventurous come back, is really different and kind off exotic, but trust me this is TO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Come back to find out what I am doing :)

PS- If you are my sister, you are not aloud to say what it is ;p

FFF or FFS?

Better late than never, right?

I was busy on friday and saturday and didnt had the chance to post ;p

This week's theme on Favorite Foto Friday is UNIQUE!!!

This weekend we (Fonsy, her husband, Gabby and us) went to Ocean World, this was a really cool and unique experience I wanted to share :)

Shark encounter, swiming with dolphins, training seals and more!!!

Bento

I love cooking and basically anything cooking related, so I also love Bentos, is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal, some people do really cute ones called Kyaraben, this are like decorated packed meals, like this:

These pictures are from a blog I follow, I really like her ideas because she packs this lunches for her little girl, so they are all really child oriented, plus she always writes if her daughter liked or finished her lunch, so we get a veredict from the girl :) I am really looking forward to packing lunches like this in the future for my kids!

She is having a cool giveaway to celebrate her 100th Bento!!! Tons of cool Bento items to get anyone started! I hope I win!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I love you tons sis' :)

Pray...

This sweet little boy need all the prayers he can get, click on the button to go to his Mom's site.

I {HEART} Cooking - or is it Baking?

Yes I am on baking roll :) and I LOVE IT, I never in a thousand years would have though I was going to like baking as much as cooking, I used to be a box cake kind of girl but NOT ANYMORE (not that there is anything wrong with that, I love my cakes from a box and frosting from a can too ;)

Bayo doesnt like sweets to much, but yesterday he told me he wanted something sweet, I asked him what and he said just something super chocolaty!!! PERFECT, because I wanted to try a recipe for some time. It is called HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake, and you can find the original at Hershey's Kitchens. They also have one for the frosting at the bottom of the page, but I wanted to try a different one I had.

I also wanted to do some Cheesy Muffins I found at The Pionner Woman, and added that to my baking list.

So I will describe each one in separate ;p

First lets start with the Cheesy Muffins and after we'll move to dessert

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups shredded colby-jack cheese (I used Cheddar instead, because I am that cheap :p)

1 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter (I used salted)

Whisk together dry ingredients, then stir in cheese.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, and butter together. Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a spoon to combine.
Bake in greased muffin tins at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

This little babies are to die for, great warm just out of the oven, and EVERYONE loved them and kept asking for more!!!Now just look at that Cheesy piece of heaven :)

They are also great out of the fridge, just put them on the microwave for 15 sec and enjoy them for breakfast :)

And for dessert we have:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups AP flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa (I used another brand and they came out perfect, again cheap!)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin cups with bake cups.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter onto prepared pans.
Bake 22-25 minutes for cupcakes until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from cups and cool completely.

YUMMY!!!!!! Even my picky mother ate four!!!

For the frosting I took the recipe from Cupcake Blog, and this thing was also to die for :)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1 stick butter

1/2 cup cocoa

4 cups confectioner’s sugar

1/4 cup milk

Beat butter for about 30 seconds until soft. Add cocoa and 1 cup of sugar and beat until incorporated. Add half of the milk and the remainder of sugar and beat until incorporated. Continue to add milk until you get to the consistency you want.

And put to work your piping skills (mine where zero) so I think they came out real pretty!!!

Enjoy!!!

FFF- Green :)

Green is the new black ;)

So for this week's Favorite Foto Friday, we all decided to go all green on you :)

That is a little collage of some green shirt wearing moments on our life caught on camera :p

I {HEART} Cooking - Mini Cheesecakes

I dont want to turn this into a food/recipe blog, but I just realized that I've found my passion, allow me to explain, everytime someone would ask me: what's your hobby or what do you like doing?, I would end up with a bunch of answers that are things I like but not THAT much; for some time now I've notice how much I LOVE cooking and trying out new recipes, and now that I think about I've always had, I just didnt know how much :)

This blog is a journey of our life together, but everytime I try or think of some good recipe you bet it will be here :)

Now about the actual recipe, I've always wanted to do cheesecakes, but I was afraid of them, silly I know, I found this recipe and was finally brave enough to give it a try, plus they are small and cute and nothing is better than that ;P

My mother in law is a cheesecake junkie, so I decided to make this for her, and when she saw them she was so happy, but even more after she tried them; my brother in law who is very picky also loved them; this is a keeper for me, they are beautiful and yummy!!! I will be making them a LOT!!!!

Ingredients
12 vanilla wafers
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1 (21 ounce) can of pie filling
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Line muffin tins with 12 paper baking cups. Place a vanilla wafer in each one.
3. In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs, lemon juice, and sugar. Beat until smooth and thoroughly combined.
4. Fill each baking cup with cream cheese mixture.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 17 minutes. Let them cool. Top with fruit pie filling just prior to serving.

I wanted to do it with strawberries so I bought 1 can of strawberries in syrup, and blended them with half the liquid and 1 tablespoon of sugar (next time I will leave some of the fruits for deco).

When I saw this colorful baking cups I knew I HAD to have them :) I took the picture with one without the topping so you would know how they look like.

I {HEART} Cooking - Layered Taco Dip

I made this today for a family get together at the beach and let me tell you it went out in a second, everyone LOVED it!!! (I really enjoy seeing people eating and liking what I cook, is such a pleasure for me :).

Here in Dominican Republic we call it Cielito Lindo (beautiful small heaven), this is also like saying sweetheart to someone you love, anyways the name comes from a popular mexican song, I've seen similar recipes for this and they also call it Layered Taco Dip.

Want to make this?

Then follow me...

The first layer is Cream Cheese, just spread it at the bottom of your pirex or bowl.

Then you will need the meat layer, you could use ground beef with taco seasoning, but I used shredded chicken, for this I boiled 1 pound of skinless, boneless chicken breasts with 6 cups of water, 1 onion, salt and pepper (I put this much water to get some chicken stock to use for other recipes), after it is cooked I put it in my food processor and it goes to a pan with half a cup of water and seasoning until the liquids are gone. If you dont feel like complicating yourself this much just use the chicken breast that comes in a can (like tuna) and add the taco seasoning.

Add some veggies to the next layer, I like to do a picadillo, I use the same amounts of chopped lettuce, fresh cilantro (coriander), diced tomato and onion.

Then comes the mexican salsa layer, I like Tostitos, but you can use any brand.

And top it with shredded cheddar cheese or the 4 mexican cheese mix they sell already shredded and pack (I used the first choice).

This are some layers of perfection...

I even made a smaller one with hot salsa (because the other one was mild) for those who like it spicy :)

You can add or substitute some of the layers, get creative!!! You could use Guacamole, Rotel, refried beans, take the meat out for a vegetarian delight!

But always put the cream cheese in the first layer.

Serve it with tortilla or corn chips, Tostitos or the scoop ones to get more dip in :D

ENJOY!!!

FFF- Then...

I just love today's theme for Favorite Foto Friday, because I have a thing for old pictures :)

I've also been playing around with a photo editor, I hope you'll like the finish product ;)

Then...

...Now!

FFF- February Favorite

This week on FFF is your favorite February pic in black and white!!!

I love this picture of my mom and stepdad, they are dancing on our Valentines Day date ;) you can see how much she is enjoying herself and she was really happy that day :) I think her face is priceless!

I also love it in color, so here you have it :)

I {HEART} Cooking

I was looking for a dessert for my stepdad's birthday, and found this recipe of Coconut Custard Pie, since he loves coconut it was a perfect match!!

After I finished it, I was really afraid no one would like it... EVERYONE loved it!!, my mom who doesnt eat much ate 4 pieces and Bayo doesnt like sweets and even ask for a second serving, the thing was gone in minutes... so I had to share ;)

Coconut Custard Pie

- 2 cups of Graham cookies, crushed

- 1/3 cup of butter, melted

- 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk

- 1 can of evaporated milk (315 g.)

- 1/4 cup of flour

- 3 eggs

- 2 tablespoon of butter

- 1 tablespoon of vanilla

- 1 can of Condensed milk (405 g.)

For the crust, mix the crushed cookies with the melted butter. Cover a pie pan with the mixture and press evenly. Take it to the preheated oven at 350 F for 10 minutes. Take it out and let it cool.

Mix the rest of the ingredients for the filling and cook them on a sauce pan until they have a thick consistency, allow it to cool and pour over the crust. Chill overnight. Decorate with chopped almonds or grated coconut.

Enjoy!