Hot fudge lava cake

It been a while since I've posted anything on here, my apologies for that. I'll admit I've just been to lazy to take pictures but I promise I'll try and post more. 

Well let's talk about the amazingness that is called a lava cake. The first time I tried one was from dominos and although it wasn't from a five star resturant it was pretty damn good. Yesterday was the second time I had one from red robins while I was out with my family, my little sister and her boyfriend. Louis asked if I could try and make one at home, plus I found out my little sister (who is also growing a tiny baby in her belly!) loves them as well, so I was up for the challenge.

I came across this recipe while I was skimming through the awesomeness that is pinterest. I have to admit I was quite intimidated by the thought of pulling off baking a chocolate lava cake but this recipe made it very easy. A very big thankyou to Letsdishrecipes.com for blogging this great recipe. 

Here is the link to the blog: http://www.letsdishrecipes.com/2015/01/hot-fudge-lava-cake.html

Enjoy all of the chocolaty-goodness! 

Cream cheese guava crepes

It's been a long time since I've made crepes, and last week Louis asked me to make some but I got lazy, so this morning I decided I would surprise him with some sweet cream cheese and guava crepes. 

I had some left over guava from the cake I made my mom earlier in the week for her birthday and decided to use it as a filling. Plus what goes better with guava than a sweet cream cheese. 

Crepe mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp melted butter

3/4 cup warm water

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flour

In a bowl whisk the eggs and milk together, next add in the melted butter, water, sugar and vanilla extract. Slowly whisk in the flour making sure there are no lumps. Heat a pan to medium low heat and spray a little non stick cooking spray on the pan, you will only need to do this once or twice while cooking the crepes. Spread 1/4 cup of the mix along the bottom of the pan, rotating the pan slowly to evenly distribute a thin layer of the crepe mix on the pan. Let it cook for a little less than two minutes or until the sides of the crepe start to come away from the pan, flip and let cool for another 1-2 minutes on the other side. 

Guava filling

1 tin of guava 21oz

1/3 cup of water

Open the tin and using a butter knife cut the guava into small squares, remove from tin and add it to a small pot. Add the water in and bring the mix to a boil making sure to stir. Once it starts to boil lower the heat and let it simmer. We are doing this to just loosen the guava and make it spreadable. Stir until there are no more lumps in the guava mix, remove from heat and let cool down a bit.

For the guava drizzle I just added some of the guava to a little squirt bottle and added about 1-2 tsps of water to the mix. Shake the bottle so the guava become a little more runny and use it to top the whip cream. 

Sweet cream cheese mix

8oz cream cheese softened

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup of milk

In a bowl mix the cream cheese with an electric mixer until it is smooth. Add in the vanilla extract and milk, next add in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

Whipped cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Add everything to a bowl and using an electric mixer whisk until it forms peaks, place in the refrigerator for it to firm up a bit while you assemble the crepes.

For the crepes add a thin layer of cream cheese, then a thin layer of the guava (the guava is pretty sweet so you don't want to add too much). Fold the crepe over and add the whipped cream and drizzle with a little bit of guava. 

Louis absolutely loved it, and it reminded me a bit of the Entenmanns guava puffs.  

Pumpkin spice Rice Krispies treats

I'm As I have said time and time again I love pumpkin anything. When me and Louis were out on Sunday for our 11 year anniversary we stopped by target to get some Halloween makeup for the boys. We happened to pass by their pumpkin section. I thought I was about to have a heart attack with all the wonderful pumpkin flavored goodies that lined the shelves. But what stood out was the pumpkin spice marshmallows, I had passed them in shoprite the day before but they were just pumpkin shaped, these bad boys were pumpkin spiced and I just couldn't pass them up. Today I was in such a baking mood making pecan pie tarts, a Dutch Apple pie and decided to pull out the Rice Krispies and the marshmallows to make these treats. The only issue now is trying to keep Jowell and Louis from finishing them all in one sitting. 

Pumpkin spice Rice Krispies treats: 

5 cups of Rice Krispies 

1 8oz bag of pumpkin spice marshmallows 

3 tbsp butter

Line a casserole pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. In a pot met the butter on medium heat. Add the marshmallows in and toss them in the melted butter. Mix with a spoon until the marshmallows are melted and smooth. Remove from heat, pour in the Rice Krispies and mix all together. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole pan. Spray some nonstick spray on your hands and press down the mixture lightly to conform to the pan. Let cook for 10 minutes. Spray a knife with nonstick spray and cut into squares. It will make about a dozen depending on how small or large you cut them. 

Apple pancakes

Apples apples everywhere! Now that I got the ball rolling on making something out of this huge bowl of apples I have sitting on my kitchen table I thought that it would be a nice treat to make Jowell some apple pancakes this morning. We unfortunately ate them all except one before I could snap a picture of the last one left on the plate. 

Apple pancakes: 

1 1/4 cup bisquick 

1 egg

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp baking powder

1 Apple peeled and shredded

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk 

Butter or oil to for pan

Heat a skillet over medium low heat and melt a tablespoon of butter. In a bowl mix all the ingredients together. Pour 1/4 cup of the mixture in the pan and allow to cook, flip when bubbles start to form and pop. Flip and cook on the other side for a minute or two. 

Apple Butter

What's the best thing about fall? Any thing and everything pumpkin spiced...

With a bag full of apples from our outing at Maskers Orchard in Warwick NY a few weeks back I decided to finally getting around to making something with them. And since both my sister and my husband loved Apple butter it was the first recipe to get done on my list of Apple goodies. I found this recipe on my search a recipe I had used a while back. That recipe involved a crockpot and some patience. While some people may love their crockpot I on the other hand do not..or maybe I just haven't figured out how to properly use it because I have a habit of making a mess and some how burning anything I cook in it. So it is hidden in the far corner of my pantry closet buried under boxes to hide my shame of not knowing how to use maybe one of the easiest appliances in the kitchen {wallows in shame}.  This recipe that I have found how ever used a big ol' pot and the stove top which is more my type of recipe. Plus they used pumpkin pie spice so that was another plus in my book. I had a ton of apples so for me I tripled the recipe so I had enough for the family and some to put away in the freezer for later on when I craved a taste of autumn. 

Apple butter:

5 large apples peeled core and sliced (be sure to save the Apple peels so you can make homemade apple cider vinegar) 

2 cups Apple bcider

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt 

Add the apples, sugar and Apple cider, into the pot and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Add in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract and salt.

Lower the heat and let it cook for another 1-2 hours until the apples start to break down and some of the water starts to evaporate, make sure to stir every once in a while. 

Let it cool for a bit and if there are still big chunks of Apple you can use an immersion blender or food processor to make it smoother. You might need to do this in batches depending on how much you have made. If the Apple butter seems to thin add it back into the pot and simmer on medium heat until 20 minutes or until some of the juice evaporates. It should also thicken a bit as it cools. Cool and store in an air tight container or in mason jars. 

Store in fridge for 10 days or freeze and keep for later. 

Original recipe from: http://apple-of-my-eye.com/2013/10/02/pumpkin-spice-apple-butter/

Pumpkin rice pudding

That's right, it's autumn and in my house that means the kitchen will always have the warm sweet smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. I still had a few ziplocks of homemade frozen pumpkin purée and a gallon of milk that was going to expire soon, with the air cold and crisp and me and my boys bundled up in cozy socks and sweaters (I refuse to turn on our heater yet) I decided the best route to take would be to make a rice pudding. As I made my original rice puddin recipe I just tweaked it a bit to give it the pumpkin taste. Louis came home and was delighted at the sight of a warm cup of rice pudding greeting him at the table. 

1 tbsp coconut oil 

2 cups rice

2 cups water

2 cups milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp pumpkin spice

2 tbsp maple syrup 

2 cups of pumpkin purée 

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tbsp orange zest

2 tsp vanilla extract

6-8 cups milk 

In a large pot heat the oil over medium heat, pour in the rice and pumpkin pie spice. Pour in the milk/water and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil cover the pot and turn the heat to low, let cook until you can see the rice and only a small amount of liquid is left over. Now add in the sugar, pumpkin purée and vanilla extract. Mix it in and break up some of the rice. Add in the extra milk and stir it around so there are no large chunks of rice. Let simmer on low heat until it thickens (about 8-10 minutes). Serve warm and you can sprinkle with a little cinnamon and crushed graham crackers. 

Coconut rice

So let me just say I am obsessed with anything coconut. I just love the taste and smell, not to mention how healthy it is for you. I make sure to always have a jar of organic coconut oil in my pantry, you can use it or so many things from oil pulling, to washing your face with it (it works wonders to get rid of acne) to conditioning hair, to cooking or eating (make sure you aren't contaminating the jar of coconut oil, I put half the jar in a seperate container for cosmetic uses and the other half I leave in the pantry for cooking uses). My absolute favorite thing is to use it while making rice, you get the nice hint of coconut while getting the nutritional benefits. What is also nice is that it is not sweet as my husband first thought it would be. You can serve it with anything and you can also make it with brown rice, just add 1/2 cup more of water to that. It is a super simple and easy recipe, trust me once you make it that will be your go to rice recipe. 

coconut rice

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 cups white rice

2 tsp salt

1 can coconut milk (13.5 fl oz) 

1 cup hot water 

In a medium sized pot add the coconut oil and rice. Cook on medium heat for 4 minutes mixing he rice with the coconut oil. Add in the coconut milk, pour the cup of water into the can of coconut milk to get any extra bits of the coconut cream at the bottom of the can, pour it into the pot and add in the salt. Mix to incorporate and wait till the water starts to boil. Once boiling cover the pot and lower the heat to 2 (that's the notch that is on my stove). Let cook for about 15 minutes or until you can't see anymore water bubbling at the top. There will still be some cream at the top from the coconut milk, use a fork and "fluff" up the rice and allow to cook for another two minutes. Serve while hot.