Surprise Delivery

Today I was surprised with flowers and they are beautiful so I thought I would share!

Thanks Dave!

I fixed this molten cake on Sunday so that we could enjoy it together before Davis left and I thought I would share the recipe because it was super easy and delicious! Click Here for the recipe. Enjoy :)

Food

I cook all the time for those of you who do not know. I make some amazing things but forget to take pictures, but this week I did take pictures of 2 concoctions.

This is spaghetti noodles with cheese, jalapeno sausage, and breadcrumbs baked and it was delicious!

I love homemade muffins of any kind. This week I made blueberry muffins and they were yet added to the list of favorites! I don't think there is a muffin out there that I don't like :)

Red Rice with Sausage and Peppers

This was a great meal so I wanted to share.

1 Tbsp olive oil
12 oz smoked sausage
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
1 red bell pepper
1 celery stalk (we used 2)
salt and pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups white rice

In large skillet, heat oil over med-high. Add sausage and cook until crispy approx 8 min. Add onion, garlic, pepper, and celery; season with salt and pepper. Cook approx 8 min until celery is tender. Add tomatoes until slightly thickened, 3 min. Add rice and cook until warm if rice is not warm at this point.

I didn't take a picture, but it was YUM YUM!

Recipes....

I am pretty terrible at posting recipes as I make them, but I do want to share some ideas...

I make homemade pizzas regularly and recently read an article that an easier/healthier way to make pizzas is to make them on tortilla shells and let me tell you they are WONDERFUL. We love pizzas and these are delicious! and so much easier, it saves sooo much time.

We like to load ours with everything. Tonight we had them with artichoke, banana peppers, mushrooms, onion. On Sunday we had them with onion, turkey sausage, peppers, tomatoes. YUM YUM!!!

Another recipe I tried recently was out of Real Simple. It is Red Curry Chicken, of course ours was Red Curry Tofu, but it was also amazingly delectable!

Our VDay Cake

Ingredients of Frozen Chocolate-Covered Cappuccino Crunch Cake:

• 1 (10 3/4 oz.) frozen pound cake, thawed (Sara Lee)
  
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 3/4 cups (11.5-oz. pkg.) Milk Chocolate Morsels
• 4 cups (1 quart) coffee ice cream, softened (We used Chocolate)
  
• 1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 3/4 cups coarsely crushed malted milk balls (We used Oreos)
  
• Frozen whipped topping, thawed (optional)
• Coarsely crushed malted milk balls, (optional) (We used Oreos)

• Directions of Frozen Chocolate-Covered Cappuccino Crunch Cake:

• Slice pound cake into 1/8- to 1/4-inch slices. Place half of the slices on bottom of 9-inch spring form pan; press down firmly. Set remaining slices aside.
• Bring cream just to a boil in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add milk chocolate morsels; let stand 5 minutes. Whisk until well combined and smooth. Pour half of the chocolate mixture over pound cake in pan, spreading evenly to within 1/4-inch of edge of pan.
• Cover; freeze for 1 1/2 hours or until chocolate is set.
• Combine softened ice cream and whipped topping in large bowl. Fold in 1 3/4 cup crushed malted milk balls. Spread over chocolate layer in pan. Cover;
• Freeze until ice cream is firm, about 2 hours.
• Top ice cream with remaining pound cake slices; press down firmly. Spread remaining chocolate mixture over pound cake. Cover; freeze at least 6 hours
• To serve, remove sides of pan. Garnish with additional whipped dessert topping and sprinkle with crushed malted milk balls, if desired. To cut cake easily, run a knife under hot water and dry with a paper towel before making slices.

This was our final masterpiece. I was super easy to make! We don't have a circle pan so ours is square and we only did Oreos on top instead of oreos and whipped cream. It was delicious! :)

S'mores Coffee and Fudge Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients:

• 16 whole graham crackers (about 8 ounces)
• 1 cup whole almonds, toasted
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

• 1 1/2 quarts coffee ice cream, softened until spreadable
• Fudge Sauce:
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 10 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preparation Fudge Sauce:
Bring cream and corn syrup to boil in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until cool but still pourable, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

• 1 7-ounce jar marshmallow creme
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows

Preparation Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind graham crackers, toasted almonds, and 3 tablespoons sugar in processor. Add 1/2 cup melted butter; process mixture until moist crumbs form. Press graham cracker mixture onto bottom and up sides of a 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch high sides. Bake crust until edges are golden, about 12 minutes. Cool graham cracker crust completely.

Spread 2 cups softened ice cream in crust. Spoon 3/4 cup cooled Fudge Sauce over. Freeze until sauce is just set, about 10 minutes. Refrigerate or freeze remaining ice cream as necessary to prevent ice cream from melting. Repeat layering with 2 cups ice cream, then 3/4 cup sauce. Freeze until sauce is just set. Spread remaining 2 cups ice cream over. Cover and freeze cake overnight. Refrigerate remaining Fudge Sauce.

Preheat broiler. Warm remaining Fudge Sauce in small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat. Place cake in pan on baking sheet. Spread marshmallow creme over top of cake. Sprinkle miniature marshmallows over in a single layer. Broil just until marshmallows are deep brown, watching closely to avoid burning, about 1 minute. Run knife between pan sides and cake to loosen. Remove pan sides. Cut cake into wedges. Serve cake immediately with warm Fudge Sauce.

I made this cake with chocolate ice cream instead of Coffee because Davis doesn't like coffee. I also made the cake 2 days in advance without the marshmallow cream of course!