Apple-licious

It was such a beautiful, cool day today.  I'm ready for fall weather and fall cooking... so I made some Apple Cider Cupcakes from The Cupcake Bible.  I may have also made a Nana's Apple Cake.  :-)

Using my awesome mixer...

Chopping walnuts...

Into the oven they shall go...

Homemade apple icing...

Cooling...

Cupcakes all decorated...

Apple Cider Cupcakes

Yum!  :-)  Anybody have any other yummy fall recipes? 

Smoothie Heaven

I've had some gift cards for Barnes & Noble burning holes in my pocket all summer (thank you kindergarten families from last year!).  :-)  I finally decided to spend them on some fun things for myself... I got two books:  Smoothie Heaven and The Cupcake Bible.  Okay, and maybe this cute owl stroller toy for baby:

So cute!  :-)

Anyway, I've made two smoothies thus far out of the book that were both pretty tasty... and extremely easy to make!  You may have to invest in the book (it's on sale!) to get the recipes, though.  I'm not sure if I can share them without crossing some copyright law.  Hmm...

Pineapple & Coconut Smoothie

Apple & Nutmeg Smoothie

I apologize for the sideways-ness of that picture.  I've tried about ten times to rotate it, save it, and upload it correctly to no avail.  You'll have to turn your head to see it properly.  I will tell you that I am not a fan of nutmeg.  It's too... oaty smelling for my taste.  If that makes sense.  Instead of nutmeg, I added cinnamon! 

Did you know how much froth an apple makes when you blend it?  A lot!  I'll keep you posted on my smoothie adventures as I try some more.  :-)

Mexican Casseroles

Thanks for hanging in there with me, blog readers.  :-)  I decided that I miss cooking!  My preggo body has had some weird cravings, which has led to not so much real cooking.  We've definitely been doing more semi-cooking for convenience rather than using the awesome recipes I've been gathering for the past year.  I was thoroughly exhausted last week with school back in session and with my swollen feet, I can barely stand at night, let alone cook! 

So, I've decided that I'm going to do some serious cooking on the weekends so that I don't have to cook each night during the week.  We'll see how it goes.  Today I went with a Mexican theme and made Taco Soup, plus these two new casserole-y recipes I found:

Mexican Lasagna

Texan Ranch Chicken Casserole

Oh man, can I tell you how delicious these smelled as they were cooking?  It was like a creamy, melty, smorgasbord of Mexian fantastic-ness in my kitchen today. 

We sampled the Mexican Lasagna for lunch and it might truly be the best lasagna I've ever eaten.  Well, the best non-Italian lasagna, anyway.  My Uncle Dennis makes an excellent Italian lasagna that I'm not sure I can compete with yet.  Maybe someday.  ;-) 

The Texan Ranch Chicken Casserole is currently sitting in our freezer for an evening when we run out of other scrumptious food.  It smelled so good that it was hard to put it in there to save for later! 

Here are some other pictures I took as I was cooking.  Remember, we like things that are all thrown together in messy jumbles.  :-)  If that's not your thing, you may want to skip the whole casserole idea!

Enjoy! 

Do you have a good casserole recipe?  I'd love to hear/see/taste it!  :-D

Waffle Bats

Just thought I'd post some fun pictures of waffle bats that Jimmy and I made.  Yep, waffle bats.  :-) 

Those are bats made out of waffles, in case you are shaking your head in confusion.  At this point, nothing should surprise you. 

Jimmy's Waffle Bat!

Alissa's Waffle Bat!

Both were delicious.  Hehe. 

Smooth and Creamy

I miss Jamba Juice.  :-( 

We went to NYC in July and I've decided that they have the best smoothies.  No ice cream, but good smoothies.  Did you know that this is apparently the only way to get ice cream in NYC?

I'll be perfectly honest.  For National Ice Cream Day (July 17th), I was hoping to find an awesome ice cream shop and get order something amazing.  I wasn't expecting to have to chase down an ice cream truck.  I could do that at home!  Hehe, so we noshed on some Jamba Juice smoothies.  Mmmm... like heaven in a cup.  Too bad there aren't any around my house.  Sad.

So, here are two attempts at smoothies I've made:

 


I'm not going to give you exact measurements because that's not how I made these smoothies.  I just added stuff to them until they tasted yummy.  Real precise!  Haha.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie (On the left!)
Strawberries, hulled
1 banana
1 c. of yogurt (I used a cherry-flavored one)
Dash of skim milk
...and then add ice until it's smooth and creamy enough for you!  You could also add blueberries, raspberries, or any other kind of fruit that you like.  I topped it with a spoonful of lite Cool Whip. 

Mango Pineapple Smoothie (On the right!)
1 mango
1 c. pineapple chunks
Handful of blueberries
1 c. Greek yogurt (I used a honey-flavored one)
Dash of skim milk
Several squirts of honey
...and again, add ice until it's smooth and creamy.  Not terribly difficult.  Pretty tasty!

Have you ever tried making a smoothie?  What do you like to put in it?  I'm open to suggestions!  :-)

Crumble, anyone?

To make up for a whole month of not posting anything, I thought I would post yet another delicious recipe! 

Peach and Raspberry Crumble

I stumbled upon this recipe and knew I'd have to try making it.  It reminded me a little of the Mixed Berry Crumble  I know I've raved about before.  If you like dessert, I recommend this.  :-)

Yum!  Jim ate his with vanilla ice cream... I just savored its fruity goodness by itself.  I'm sure the rest of it won't last very long! 

Maryland Crab Soup

Just shake your head at me. 

I know I said I was back the last time, but the past month has been really busy.  Excuses, excuses.  I can officially say that I'm done with my Master's degree, though!  :-)  At least all the work is done.  Now I just have to wait to get my final grade, for my graduation application to be approved, and finally to get my diploma.  How long do you think all of that will take? 

We also found out that baby "canteloupe" is a GIRL!  Canteloupe, people.  That's big.

So, in light of the fact that I've been so busy, we've been doing a lot of quick meals lately.  As in... not so much cooking.  :-(  Cottage cheese and green olives have been my lunch friends.  Parfaits have been amazing, never ceasing to be delicious and easy to put together.  Oh, and meat.  Lots of meat.  

Anyway, I did make a delicious pot of this while Jimmy was out-of-town for two weeks.  It was still way too much soup just for me, so I shared it with others who can eat shellfish (sorry Jim!):

Maryland Crab Soup

I don't think I realized how much crab meat I had leftover... OR how long it would take me to pick all of them... OR how much soup it would make.  Thanks for the recipe, Joanne!  :-) 

Maryland Crab Soup

Crab meat (Canned or fresh from the skeletons of some crabs!) 

3 lbs. mixed vegetables (I used 2 bags, which came out to be about 2.5 lbs.)

2 large onions, chopped

2-3 celery stalks, chopped

bay leaf

2 cans whole tomatoes and juice

3 heaping T. of butter

3 large potatoes, cut into small pieces

3-4 T. Old Bay

Salt

Pepper

Fill a large pot with enough water to cover the vegetables and a little more.  Add tomatoes and seasonings.  When vegetables are almost done, add the potatoes.  When the potatoes are almost done, add the crab meat.  Simmer until done.

Now that I'm looking back on that recipe, I realized that I forgot to add the butter completely!!!  Oh well, it was still delicious, and probably healthier, without it.  I also chopped up some cloves of garlic and stuck those in there... and I may have added cayenne pepper.  We like spicy.  :-) 

  

 

Giant pot of scrumptious!

Just yum. 

How do you like to eat crabs?