Orange Glazed Baby Carrots

The carrots that "taste like candy!" - according to my 6-year-old.

Orange Glazed Baby Carrots ~

1 pound freshly cooked baby carrots (you want to them to be slightly hard because they will continue to cook in the glaze)

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon pure orange extract

1 pinch salt

Combine water, brown sugar, butter, vinegar, orange extract and salt in a saucepan. On medium-high heat, bring to a boil. Add cooked baby carrots. Cook, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes until the sauce gets very thick and coats the carrots.

Fancy Cupcakes

I submitted this recipe to the Pillsbury Bake-Off. I doubt I'll win (the top prize is a cool million, I'm dreamin' baby, I'm dreamin'), but at least you can enjoy it, right?

Spiced Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream Frosting ~

2 2/3 cup all purpose unbleached flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
7 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line muffin tins with paper liners or use the foil muffin cups on a large cookie sheet.
3. In a large bowl sift all of the dry ingredients together.
4. In a small bowl combine the vanilla, oil and buttermilk.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
6. Fill the muffin liners 2/3 of the way full.
7. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the top of the cake comes out clean.
8. Immediately remove muffins from tin or cookie sheet and cool completely on a wire rack.
9. Fit a large pastry bag with a large star or plain tip.
10. Fill the pastry bag with frosting (recipe below) and frost the cupcakes as desired.

Orange Buttercream Frosting ~

3 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) of salted butter, room temperature
1/2 tablespoon of pure orange extract
1/2 tablespoon of whipping cream or half & half
Zest of two oranges

In a large bowl combine the sugar and butter. Using a whisk attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Increase speed to high and whip until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the orange extract, whipping cream and orange zest and whip for another 2 minutes.

Enjoy!

Lasagna My Way

I love lasagna. I'm fairly certain that I could eat it every day and not get tired of it. There is something about the layers. I just love the layers. My lasagna is not your standard tomato sauce, beef and ricotta cheese lasagna. This is different. It's very simple, but it's rich, satisfying, salty and slightly sweet with a hint of nutmeg. It's also very easy to put together, you don't even pre-cook the noodles. It does take a while to bake and cool, so give yourself some extra time to make dinner.

Butternut Squash & Sage Sausage Lasagna~

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 pounds sage sausage (Jimmy Dean)

2 quarts creamy butternut squash soup (Trader Joe’s or Pacific Natural Food Brand)

2 pounds grated mozzarella cheese, 2 cups reserved for the top

1 box of uncooked lasagna noodles

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large saucepan, cook onion in olive oil until soft.

3. Add in sausage and continue to cook, breaking up sausage until thoroughly cooked and is in small pieces.

4. Spray a large lasagna pan with cooking spray. You can use a standard 9 x 13 inch pan, but you’ll need to reduce the ingredients by ¼ or it will overflow the pan.

5. Put a layer of the soup on the bottom of the pan.

6. Make layers of lasagna starting with the noodles at the bottom (three per layer and if your pan is very long, put one at the end as well, but you might need to break it), soup, sausage and onion mixture, then cheese.

7. Repeat layers until you end with a layer of noodles covered in the soup.

8. Cover with aluminum foil.

9. Bake 60 minutes until bubbly and lasagna noodles are thoroughly cooked.

10. Take the aluminum foil off of the pan and sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese.

11. Bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and browned.

12. Cool until lasagna is set but still warm and serve, 30-45 minutes.

The BEST Rolls EVER (Seriously!!!)

I have a love-hate relationship with rolls. I love to eat them, but I hate to make them because they never turn out. I spent Thanksgiving Day last year and that weekend making three different batches of rolls and they all turned out badly. I was so disgusted with my rolls it was embarrassing. I promised my family (and guests) that next Thanksgiving I would make the perfect rolls. I started searching for the perfect roll recipe.

I thought it was me, but it was actually the recipe I was using. It just didn't work! Then, I ran across this recipe on another recipe blog that my friend Kim posts on. This recipe is super easy (you make it in the bread machine) and it turns out perfectly every time. The dough is so puffy, you can't keep it from rising. It just wants to rise.

You can make this using the old-fashioned method, but if you have a bread machine, it makes this recipe so easy.

Perfect Rolls ~
(makes 12 large rolls*)

1 1/8 cup very warm water

2 tablespoons real butter

2 3/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons powdered milk

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1. Add all ingredients to the bread machine pan in order starting at the top.
2. Set the machine on the dough setting and start (most machines take around 1 1/2 hours for dough).
3. When the dough is finished, form the dough into 12 equal rolls and place into a buttered 9 x 13 inch pan. Brush the rolls with melted butter, cover with plastic wrap, and set in a warm, draft-free place to rise.
4. Let the dough raise until double in size, 30-45 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
6. Bake rolls for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

* You can also divide the dough into 24 smaller rolls and reduce the raising/baking time.

Enjoy!

What to do with leftover mashed potatoes -

I don't like to eat leftover mashed potatoes and neither does my family. I am always trying to figure out what to do with them, and I finally came up with this easy, quick recipe.

Now the thing about this recipe is that it has no exact measurements. Do what you want with it. The first time I made this I threw in leftover gravy and couscous. That probably sounds weird, but it turned out great.

If you have a small fryer, that would be the best thing to use to fry these. I don't have one, so I put a few inches of canola oil in a large pot and cooked them that way. It worked out well.

Mashed Potato Bites ~

The basic ingredients are:

Leftover mashed potatoes
1 or 2 beaten eggs (depending on how much mashed potatoes you have)
Grated Cheese (Cheddar, Colby or Monterrey Jack work well)
Unbleached all-purpose flour
Salt & Pepper to taste (depending on what mix-ins you use, you might not need to season it)

Optional mix-ins:

gravy
cooked rice
cooked pasta
cooked vegetables

1. Put 3 inches of canola oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
2. Mix together the mashed potatoes, eggs, mix-ins and cheese. Add salt & pepper to taste.
3. Add flour until the mixture is firm enough to hold it's shape and not sticky. Start out with 1/4 cup and go from there. You don't want to add too much.
4. Roll into small 1-inch balls.
5. Roll the balls in flour
6. Fry until golden brown, drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Enjoy!