Yumo!

I made a pumpkin cake and apple shaped cupcakes for my daughter’s 1st birthday.

For the pumpkin cake, I made two separate Bundt cakes using yellow cake mix and put a few drops of red food coloring into the mix to make it orange.  Once cooled, I cut the bottoms of each so they would sit flat together and iced them.  For the leaves, I went outside and plucked FRESH leaves from the trees.  I melted green chocolate (Michaels) and literally painted the veiny side of the leaf. I stuck them in the freezer for about a minute and then took them out and peeled the leaves off of the hardened chocolate.  The veins were imprinted into the chocolate! Too cool.  I took green tube icing and free styled the “vines”.  The stem is an upside down ice cream cone!  The finished Product:

 

The “apple” cupcakes I made out of red velvet cake…iced them with red icing; topped them with red sprinkles; added a tootsie roll and some painted leaves :) and voila!

 

 

My twist on baked Ziti

Ingredients for pasta:

• 1  pound  uncooked penne
• 1/4  cup  all-purpose flour 
• 3  cups  fat-free milk
• 2  cups  shredded fontina cheese
• 1/4  cup  mascarpone cheese
• 3/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• Sundried tomatoes …I eyeballed the amount, just make sure you’re cutting them into bite sized pieces and that there’s a good amount throughout.
• 1 large garlic clove
• Cooking spray

Ingredients for topping:

• Breadcrumbs ….just enough to sprinkle on top!
• 1  tablespoon  butter
• 1  small garlic clove, minced
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Cook pasta according to package directions, Drain; keep warm.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sauté garlic and sundried tomatoes until soft. Remove from heat.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and milk in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. Cook 10 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat; add cheeses, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Stir in salt and black pepper and sundried tomato mixture. Add cooked pasta, stirring to coat. Spoon pasta mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Stir in breadcrumbs until well combined. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture evenly over pasta mixture.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with parsley.

 

Enjoy!!

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

My cousin, JP, came to stay with me for a week and during that time I cooked up a storm. It’s hard to experiment with cooking when you’re married to a vegan…needless to say, I had fun!  I made this recipe for him and it was a hit!  The original recipe called for smoked mozzarella…personally, I’m not a fan.  So I just used regular. 

P.S. buy the fresh stuff…it makes ALL the difference!  Enjoy :)

Ingredients:

Olive oil
2 cups of your favorite tomato sauce
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 pound purchased cheese tortellini
2 ounces thinly sliced mozzarella
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish.

Whisk the sauce, mascarpone cheese, parsley and thyme in a large bowl to blend. Cook the tortellini in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 2 minutes. (Don’t over cook as they will cook in the oven) Drain. Add the tortellini to the sauce and toss to coat. Transfer the tortellini mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top the mixture with the  mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheeses on top melt, about 30 minutes.