Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Adapted from Lemon Yogurt Cupcakes in 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson
Makes 12 cupcakes



Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used vanilla flavored)
2 tsp grated lemon zest
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon oil or lemon extract1/4 cup raspberry puree

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, and egg until smooth. Add yogurt, lemon zest and juice, and lemon extract, beating until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating just until smooth.

4. Scoop 1 tablespoon or so of batter into each prepared cupcake liner. Drop about a teaspoon of raspberry puree onto batter in each liner. Add another tablespoon or so of batter on top of raspberry puree, filling cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Top with additional teaspoon of raspberry puree, and swirl batter with a toothpick to make a decorative pattern in batter. Bake in preheated oven for 22 to 25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting.

Raspberry Lemonade Buttercream
Makes about 2 cups (16-20 cupcakes)

2 cups confectioners’ sugar
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp raspberry puree
1 tbsp lemonade concentrate, thawed
½ tsp raspberry extract
Pinch of salt

1. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together confectioners’ sugar, butter, raspberry puree, lemonade concentrate, raspberry extract, and salt until smooth.

2. Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes and set aside at room temperature until ready to serve or for up to 8 hours.

Thanks to the Busty Baker for the recipe! Find the original recipe from her, HERE!

Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup Copycat

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Serves: 6

Fluffy clouds of potato gnocchi, tender bites of chicken and fresh spinach swimming in a sea of thick, rich broth.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 cup onion, diced

1/2 cup carrots, diced

1/2 cup celery, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

coarse salt and fresh black pepper

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups chicken broth

1 + 1/2 cups half & half

2 cups cooked white meat chicken, shredded or cut into small bites

1 pound potato gnocchi

3 cups fresh baby spinach, stems removed

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

fresh grated Parmesan and/or Romano, for serving

Instructions

1. In a large soup pot or Dutch oven heat the butter and oil together over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until tender over medium-low heat about 10 minutes, stirring often.

2. Sprinkle the flour into the pot and stir into the vegetables, cook 3 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the chicken broth 1 cup at a time, followed by the half & half.

3. Add the cooked chicken. Bring up to a simmer and maintain for 20 minutes stirring often. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Cook the gnocchi separately according to package directions. Add them to the soup along with the spinach. Simmer until spinach is wilted. Stir in basil. Serve with grated cheese.

Thanks to Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice for the RECIPE!

Swig sugar cookies

If you don't know what Swig is, don't worry. I had never heard of Swig until just recently. I had my first encounter with Swig while we were in St. George with Elliott's family in September. Swig is a small little drink shack that started in St. George. They apparently created the 'Dirty Dr. Pepper' and 'Dirty Diet Coke.' From what I gather, dirty means they add coconut flavored syrup to the drink. I had a Dirty Dr. Pepper. It was actually pretty good. Elliott always adds random flavored syrups to Dr. Pepper, but I have never had one that tastes really good. Coconut actually tastes good. Who knew?

Along with their drinks they have these delicious soft sugar cookies. Those are definitely something to talk about. I could have eaten 10 of them. A few weeks ago we had a Relief Society activity where we were supposed to bring our favorite cookie or treat to share. I found this recipe for the Swig sugar cookie and thought I would try it out. I was kind of disappointed with my first batch that came out of the oven. They were nothing like the swig cookies. They were hard and crispy. My second batch I took out a little early and they were perfect! So the key to these cookies is to under bake them. That is what makes them soft on the inside and kind of crispy on the edges. So make sure you watch these cookies and take them out right as the middle looks like they are just barely set and the edges are lightly cooked. Let them sit on the pan for just a few minutes to cool and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Swig Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter (at room temperature)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons water
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 cups flour

Cream together butter, vegetable oil, sugars, water and eggs. Combine the dry ingredients and slowly add to the butter mixture. Mix until everything is combined. Your dough should be a little crumbly and not sticky at all.

Roll into golf ball sized balls of dough and place on a cookie sheet. Put 1/4 cup sugar and a pinch of salt in a dish (this is in addition to the sugar and salt listed above.) Stick the bottom of a glass in the sugar and press lightly into the center of the dough ball.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Watch the cookies. They should be just barely brown on the bottom and the middle barely set. Move cookies to a cooling rack. Once they are cool, put them in the fridge.

Sour Cream Frosting

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup sour cream
1 2 pound package of powdered sugar (you wont use the whole thing, but just make sure you have enough)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
food coloring (optional)

Cream together butter, sour cream and salt. Slowly add powdered sugar. When it gets so thick that it is not frosting like add a splash of milk. Alternate this process until your frosting is the desired consistency. Add 1 drop of food coloring and whip on high for 1 minute.

Keep cookies in a sealed container until they are ready to serve. Frost right before serving.

A Swig cookie, the cookie is cold and the frosting is room temperature. I stored my frosting in the fridge and the cookies on the counter and I thought they tasted great that way too.

Enjoy!

Slow cooker cream cheese chicken chili

I had this brilliant idea to make a new soup or chile every week during the fall and winter. So far, I haven't been doing so well. But I have tried a few new recipes lately. One was a chili that was so ridiculously easy and really good!

If found this recipe at Plain Chicken. I made it as it. But next time I will cut back on the chicken. I felt like it had a ton of chicken compared to the rest of the ingredients. I give you the original recipe and you can adjust it if you want.

Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

2 chicken breasts (I put mine in frozen solid, straight from the freezer)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, undrained
1 can Rotel tomatoes, undrained
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon onion powder (I used onion salt bec I don't have onion powder for some reason)
1 8 oz package cream cheese

Place chicken on bottom of crock pot. Pour the whole can of corn (undrained), Rotel, and black beans in. Top with seasonings and ranch mix. Stir together. Cut cream cheese into large cubes and place on top. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours. Stir in cream cheese. Use 2 forks to shred chicken and stir together. Serve with tortilla chips or bread.

Enjoy!

Hawaiian Haystacks

I don't know about you, but I had Hawaiian Haystacks growing up. I think it might be a Utah Mormon thing. Because I encountered several people while in St. Louis who had never heard of such a thing. They are missing out. I found a recipe for the chicken sauce recipe that I think is really good. I will be using it from now on rather than my simple chicken gravy sauce.

Hawaiian Haystacks

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
Cooked rice
Topping choices: sliced olives, tomatoes, shredded cheese, pineapple chunks, green onions, mandarin oranges and chow mein noodles. Or anything else your little heart desires.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and add the onion and raw chicken. Saute the onion and chicken until the onions are soft and translucent and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for about one minute, stirring, until fragrant.

Sprinkle the flour over the onions and chicken and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat for one minute-this helps get rid of the starchy, flour taste. Slowly whisk in the milk and chicken broth. Cook, stirring constantly with a whisk, and bring the sauce to a simmer over medium to medium-high heat. Add the salt and pepper. Continue simmering, stirring the sauce frequently, until the sauce has thickened, about 5-8 minutes.

Serve the chicken sauce over rice with your choice of toppings.

Enjoy!

Smothered Sweet Pork Burritos

This recipe is amazing! I have tried several Cafe Rio sweet pork recipes and they are all overly sweet and taste mostly like coke and brown sugar to me. This recipe is the closest recipe I have found to the true Cafe Rio pork. I ate a ton of pork before it even made it to the burritos. The burritos are just as delicious.

The recipe can be found at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Chipotle chicken and corn chowder

I pinned this recipe a while ago and one of my friends commented on it about how it is really good and a "go to" dish in their house. I figured in would give it a try. And she was right, it is really good. And it has become one of our favorite soups in our house. It is really simple to make. The only change I made was I do not add the tortilla chips to the soup, but rather serve the soup with chips on the side. I am not a fan if soggy chips.

The recipe can be found on Brown Eyed Baker's website.