Peanut Butter Fudge Coffee Ice Cream Cupcakes

Whilst looking for a special recipe for company, a certain recipe popped up on my Pinterest. The title alone made my mouth water! I just HAD to try them. 
They don't look quite as pretty as the original recipe, but they don't look horrible, either! :) I felt super legit, making ganache like a Chopped chef and whatnot. ; D And they were a big hit with my family, too. So you pretty much have to try these. And let me know if you do. :) I know I'm putting a lot of smileys, but what can I say? These make me happy!! :) :)

Peanut Butter Fudge Coffee Ice Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 large egg

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/8 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 gallon coffee ice cream

10 oreo cookies, crushed/chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Set out ice cream to soften.

2. In a large bowl, whisk egg and sugar until smooth. Add milk, cream, butter, and vanilla, and mix until combined.

3. Combine dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Mix until batter is smooth, then fold in chocolate chips.

4. Line a muffin tin with liners and spoon a large tablespoon into each cup. (MAKE SURE YOU DON'T FILL THE CUPS MORE THAN HALFWAY!)

5. Bake for about 12 minutes and cool completely.

6. Using a spoon, quickly but neatly spread ice cream on top of cupcakes into a mound. Repeat with remaining cakes and freeze for at least 2 hours. 

7. Once ganache (recipe below) has been made and slightly cooled, remove cupcakes from freezer and spoon ganache over the top of each quickly. (I had about a 1/3 cup extra ganache; it's okay, I lived.) Immediately top with cookies (You can make them as pretty as you want). Freeze for another hour or two and then set out for a few minutes before serving.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache

Ingredients:

3/4 cup heavy cream

8.8 oz milk chocolate, chopped or crushed

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1. Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat just until bubbles form on the sides.

2. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and peanut butter, continuously stirring until ganache is smooth and comes together.

3. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before spooning on cupcakes.

Thanks to Jessica from How Sweet It Is for the recipe!

Strawberry Cheesecake

Happy Memorial Day! In search of something festive, I found this! (hey, it's at least white and red) This is my first cheesecake and it's SUPER simple.
Be warned: it is not your traditional dense NY cheesecake. It is really more of a fluffy, cream pie-type thing... But it is super rich and magically delicious.

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
9 inch graham cracker crust
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz Cool Whip
12ish strawberries, hulled and halved/quartered lengthwise (after tasting it, it would go well with any type of berry, really. Especially blackberries... ooh...)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whip cream cheese, vanilla extract, and sugar with a mixer until fluffy.
2. Add Cool Whip and whip until smooth.
3. Spoon mixture into pie crust and chill for a few hours in the fridge until firm. (Careful spooning it in the crust; make sure to spread it to the edges)
4. Arrange strawberries on top and serve.

Thanks to Kelly from Eat Yourself Skinny for the recipe.

Glazed Cashews

It's been way too long since my last post! So sorry. I actually made these awhile ago and lost the picture. But there's still a recipe! These are super easy and taste pretty good! I look forward to experimenting with different flavors. (Maybe add vanilla extract instead of cinnamon?) Let me know if you come up with a good combo!


Ingredients:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 cup nut of your choice (We had cashews, original recipe called for almonds. Original called for raw nuts, but mine happened to be pre-salted. I think most anything works for this)


Directions:

1. Combine water and sugar in a small skillet. Place over high heat and stir with a wooden spoon until it comes to a boil.
2. Add nuts and reduce to medium heat. Keep stirring. (It will foam and stuff) I added the cinnamon somewhere in this process. Original said to do so at the beginning with the sugar, feel free to experiment.
3. When the nuts begin to caramelize and the water is mostly evaporated, remove from heat and turn nuts onto an ungreased baking sheet. Separate using forks and cool. Store airtight.

Thanks to Melinda Lee for the recipe, halved and modified from hers.

20-Minute Skillet Lasagna

Celebrating 100 pageviews on my blog! <3 Yay thanks!! Please comment if you stop by:) I accept suggestions!

I think this was one of my favorites so far! It was AMAZINGLY easy and actually turned out somewhat like the picture, too! I will definitely make this again, but I would recommend halving it... it made a lot.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 (12 oz) package bow tie noodles
1 (26 oz) jar of spaghetti sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil (I ended up using vegetable oil)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Italian Seasoning (apparently it's good with more to taste...)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup sour cream


Directions:

1. Cook noodles according to package.
2. Meanwhile, brown ground beef in a large skillet.
3. After noodles are cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in spaghetti sauce.
4. Add noodles to browned beef. Stir in seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow to combine on low heat for a few minutes until cheese is melted.

Thanks to Six Sisters' Stuff, recipe adapted from their blog.

Spicy Basil Chicken

Phew.... Don't you hate it when, as an amateur cook, you interpret recipes wrong because you don't quite have the lingo down yet?! Yeah.... A few things I learned this time around:
-Shallots = Scallions = Green Onions = FALSE
-"Sliced basil leaves? Oh, I'll just get them pre-sliced in bulk at Winco!" = WRONG MEASUREMENT
-1 lame glass cutting board + 1 lame knife from 50 years ago + a recipe that requires "mincing" and "thinly slicing" + 1 impatient cook = FRUSTRATION


Right, so recipe. So this one's pretty healthy! For a 3/4 cup serving (might be more than that in the pic), it's less than 300 calories!

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup minced shallots

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (I accidentally minced these, too. Of course, when I say "mince," I mean cut fairly small until I give up)

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 Tbsp fish sauce (substitute=mix of soy sauce and Worcestershire)

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp lower-sodium soy sauce

1 1/4 tsp chili paste with garlic

1 tsp water

1/2 tsp cornstarch (I wasn't gonna buy a box of cornstarch for 1/2 tsp, so I used flour)

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup sliced basil leaves, if that. NOT 1/3 cup. 

Directions:

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Add oil to pan, swirling to coat.

2. Add shallots and garlic to pan and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.

3. Add chicken to pan; cook about 8 minutes or until chicken is done, with a slight charred look. (Recipe said 13 minutes, mine was done way before that; not exact.)

4. Combine fish sauce substitute, sugar, soy sauce, chili paste, water, cornstarch, and salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add to pan and cook for about 1 minute, stirring to coat chicken.

5. Remove from heat and stir in basil.

Serves 2-3; can be eaten inside a pita pocket.

Thanks to Kelly at Eat Yourself Skinny for the recipe. It's a great blog, but this one wasn't a complete success...