S'mores Cupcakes = Summer Loving!!

Nothing screams summer like s'mores.  But we can't always rush out and built ourselves a bonfire, so I decided to create s'mores cupcakes as a nice alternative that I can have anytime I want and be reminded of the times when summers meant fun, vacation, lazy days, friends, and bonfires!

I originally got this recipe from Bakerella.com but after playing around with it and tweaking it, I finally came up with something I was happy with, so below is most of that orignal recipe with some of my minor changes.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.



{makes a dozen regular sized cupcakes}

Cupcakes
11/2 cus of  flour *

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup milk, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup oil
 marshmallows* , plus more for topping.

Graham Cracker Crumb topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted

*All-purpose flour is fine, but if you use cake flour it will make a better and lighter cupcake.  I couldn't find cake flour at any grocery store in miami but I did find some at Target (midtown).

* if using Jumbo marshmallows you'll need about 6 cut in half, but mini-marshmallows will do just fine, use about 5-6 per cupcake when baking, or they now make square marshmallows for s'mores which were great for the topping.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together with a wire whisk. (if you don't have a paddle attachement in a stand mixer)

Separate the mixture in half into two bowls.
Stir cocoa into one bowl and the graham cracker crumbs into the other.

Add 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 cup oil to the cocoa mixture and beat on medium until combined.

Repeat adding the same ingredients to the graham cracker crumb flour mixture.

Prepare the graham cracker crumb topping.
Add the brown sugar and crumbs in a small bowl and pour on the melted butter. Stir until combined.

Pour a graham cracker cake batter into the bottom of your baking cups and then sprinkle the topping mixture lightly on the surface. Place marshmallow on top of that and cover that with your chocolate batter.  Sprinkle the remaining of the crumb mixture. 

Bake for abot 20-30 minutes.  Until the toothpick comes out clean (all the way thru).  Let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then move over to a cooling rack. 

After completly cooled, place marshmallows (or fluff) on top and place under the BROIL setting in your oven for 2 minutes, for that bonfire toasted marshmallow, gooey taste! 

Enjoy! 



Confession, I'm a Polygamist*: balancing my home and work husband!

(* I use the word very loosely, since I'm not actually a polygamist)

OK, so my work husband doesn't get any of the benefits that my home husband gets except the pleasure of my company.  But still when you have two husbands, it can be hard!  So I've come up with rules to help you understand my polygamist lifestyle and maybe even help you expand your own twosome into a more poly amorous home.

Before the Rules here are a few terms to help you navigate this world:

Home Husband-- the person you are bound to legally and by heart

Work Husband--the person you are bound to by your job and laughs

Rule #1:  Just like all other polygamist communities, this only works one way, so what's good for the gander is NOT good for the goose! What can I say, it just the way GOD intended it.(Hey it works for them)

Rule #2: Be upfront about it.  ALWAYS, tell your work husband that you have a home husband and viceversa.  Polygamy only works, if all parties consent and respect each other.

Rule #3:  Home husband is always #1!  While you must devote time and happy hours to work husband, so that he doesn't feel neglected, home husband always comes first!

Rule #4: Encourage family outings!  Don't be afraid to be seen in public with both of your husbands.  You have nothing to be ashamed of, it's totally OK to show the world your family dynamics.

Rule #5:  Work husband can be straight and single.  It helps if your work husband also thinks your home husband is cute or if he has a home wife!  BUT It doesn't mean you can't have a work husband that is single and into women, but make sure that your home husband is secure enough to handle it, before entering into such a polygamist marriage.

Rule #6: You can always have more than one work husband.  Sometimes it helps to have a work husband that will go to lunch with you or one to carry heavy stuff to your car, or one that will cover you while on vacation. Don't limit yourself but take it one step at a time.

These rules, if followed, can allow you to have your cake and eat it too!  Having a work husband that you can laugh, talk, and de-stress with helps in not bringing home all the stress and nagging due to work to your home husband.  It helps in creating a pleasant and happy home environment, and trust me your home husband will be thankful in the long run!

Perfect Roast Chicken & Vegetables

"Cooking is like love.  It should be entered into with abandon or not at all."  ~Harriet Von Horne.


Well, I do love cooking but I also grew up with a mother that hated to cook and often came up with edible yet questionable meals.  After a long day of work or a hard week sometimes the last thing one wants to do is prepare dinner. 


Alas, comes the roast. It takes not a lot of preparation, no major cooking skills, no expensive ingredients and since it cooks for a while you can do other things while the "cooking" actually takes place.  It's also a great way to introduce kids or finicky husbands to more vegetables.


This past weekend my husband and i took a trip to IKEA to buy our baby high chair, and while there i saw a roast pan for $5, of course i could not pass this opportunity up and thus, my adventure in roasting begun.I had always been intimidated to Roast a Chicken or vegetables for that matter but this past weekend I decided to conquer my fear and try my luck with my first Roast. Of course, I went to my ultimate cooking guru, Martha Stewart.  I figured that she couldn't let me down, so I pulled my cooking school book and went to town. 

IKEA find

I followed the recipe below and it came out wonderful.  My house and hallway smelled delicious and the food was seriously to die for.  (Martha never disappoints) 

Things I bought:

$5 --ikea roasting pan

$4--3 1/2 pound chicken (same day of the roast)

$2-3 for fresh herbs

all the other ingredients I had in my house already (lemon, twine,salt,pepper, olive oil)

Perfect Roast Chicken step by step
1 fresh whole chicken (btwn 3-4 pounds), let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour before preparing
Salt and Fresh ground pepper (sea salt works best)
1 lemon, cut into 1/4 inch rounds (leave out the ends)
4 sprigs of rosemary
3 garlic cloves, crushed (smash them with the knife until spit open and juice runs)
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, room temperature


(when i made this chicken, i placed baby russet potatoes and carrots at the bottom of the pan and cooked the chicken on top, see pictures, but you can cook the chicken separate of the vegetables)


Heat oven to 450 degrees. Remove giblets and liver (usually in bag inside of chicken) from cavity and discard. Trim excess fat found around the cavity.

1. rinse chicken under cold water, inside and out
2. Pat dry (i used LOTS of paper towels; this step is Crucial)
3. Once cavity is dry as possible, season with salt and pepper to taste (be generous)

Step #4,6,7


4. Stuff the cavity with lemon, rosemary and garlic.
5. Truss chicken (tie legs together with twine)
6. Rub skin with the butter
7.  Season all over with salt and pepper


Place chicken in small roasting pan (or you could use large ovenproof skillet) and roast. It will take about 1 1/2 to cook. After it's done, take out and cover with aluminum foil and leave covered for about 20 minutes before serving.


Optional: drizzle olive oil (about 2 tbsp) at bottom of pan and place vegetables at the bottom of the pan. sprinkle with salt and pepper, place chicken on top and roast.

Tips:

•  if you can't buy the chicken the same day make sure it's totally defrosted and thawed out the day you decide to make the roast.
• make sure the chicken is as dry as possible, before you begin stuffing and seasoning it.
• Truss or tie the legs together so that the chicken cooks evenly.

How to Truss a Chicken:

1. with tail closest to you hold one end of twine in each hand

2. center and run the twine around the neck of the chicken

3. pass it over the drumsticks and under their joints

4. cross twine over the joints

5. tighten to bring together

6. wrap on end all the way around the tail end and tie securely.

Vegetable Roast or Tian

• 1/3 to 1/2 cup of olive oil
• what ever combination you choose: do about 1 of each vegetable of choice* (except tomatoes and onions for tomatoes use 3-4 and for onions (red,white, or yellow) about 2 small)
• Springs of Herbs (Thyme, Rosemary or oregano/marjoram)
• 1 head of garlic

*vegetables of choice: asparagus, beets,broccoli, cauliflower,brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnips, tomatoes,corn,fennel,mushrooms,potatoes,shallots,sweet potatoes,turnips,winter squash,tomatoes,onions,yellow squash, or zucchini, eggplants.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat bottom with 2 tablespoons of oil.  Arrange veggies in dish by alternating them and/or overlapping them.  Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with enough oil to coat generously, and scatter herbs and garlic over the top (evenly). Bake for about 20-25 minutes, baste with oil and continue cooking for another 20 minutes.

TIP: when cooking at the same time as the chicken (which i did in this case) place the vegetable dish after the first hour of cooking the chicken.  let it cook with the chicken for the last half hour the chicken requires.  Take out the chicken, reduce the heat, and continue cooking the veggies while the chicken is covered with aluminum for the next 20 minutes.  This way all the food is ready to serve and eat at the same time.  Also, drain the excess oil from the vegetables!!!

I combined all the vegetables (from the pan and those cooked separately) and it was delicious!!  As you can see the chicken was moist with crispy skin.  The vegetables were tasty and a great way to get yourself and others to try them.

I am quite sure that you will find that you have both the skills and the confidence to improvise and experiment in the kitcthen after trying this recipe.  So to all the home cooks everywhere, don't be afraid to conquer your culinary fears!



Turning my mother's taste into my own

I got very lucky when my mother gave me her art work some years ago! I got 3 paintings in total. Two of them were paintings done by the mother of a childhood friend who is a well known artist in Puerto Rico, so they held great sentimental value, and the other was a watercolor from back home.

The only issue was that they were framed to my mother's taste. Not that she doesn't have great taste is just that it's not mine. All three were  in beautiful gold frames, but gold did not go with my decor and felt a little old.

So, I decided to revamp the frames to not only fit my decor but bring it a fresh and younger vibe.

The paintings by my friend's mother are vibrant and full of bold colors, something I wanted to highlight. I did not have $400 to  frame the paintings so I decide to work with the ones I had. I spray painted the frames silver ( my home decor is black ad white with highlights of silver and soft lavender)and then I used paint and pastel art crayons to paint the previously beige (and boring) matting. And lucky for me the result was great and for under $20 (I already own the acrylic paints and pastels ).

The watercolor now needed to be done, but I choose to do it in black.  Below is the before and after photos, which came out great.  You can really see the transformation from my mother's taste to mine.

Here it's what the watercolor looked like when my mom had framed.  It didn't pop enough for me nor did the gold go with anything I owned.



corner of the frame

I went to Michael's Craft store, bought some spray paint and went to work.  Below is what it looked while i dried it on my balcony.

The end result was exactly what i was looking for!!  Now I have great pieces of art in my house that cost me next to nothing to revamp. 

Girls, don't be scared of those great pieces those older important women in your life have given you...bring them out of the closet where they have been hiding and revamp them into great statement pieces of art.  Don't worry, your mothers will get over it!!

Baby Food Homemade

Ok, so my son, Gavin, is now about 6 months old and when he turned 5 months we had to make the decision whether to buy organic baby food (i know very posh of us) or make it ourselves.  I went to the local market and realized that for .75 or a little over a dollar per food jar that perhaps the trouble of making my own food would be beneficial. 

It was.

I didn't buy any of the fancy baby food processors out there!! Although, I did do my research on them, but from everything I read (which was A LOT) it seemed like a waste of money on something that could only have one use.  So we invested in a new rice cooker (with steamer insert) and new blender, and I got down to work.

We started with sweet potatoes (total disaster since Gavin hated it), moved quickly to carrots, squash, peas, and green beans are next with great success. Then is on to fruits!

Here are some of the rules I learned. 

Rule #1: if the baby doesn't like it the first day, he will not like it 3 days later either.  Not that he will not make a face the first time you try to feed him solids or some new flavor, but that yuck face he makes its very different than the weird face.  so, don't force it, make sure they are not allergic, give it the three days and move on...you can always try again later.

Rule #2: don't throw out the water at the bottom of the steamer (it still has all the nutrients) use it to thin out your veggies. WARNING:  DON'T try it with carrots, throw away the water b/c it's dangerous to put it back in the food.

Rule #3: don't be afraid to use frozen veggies.  Peas are a great example of how you don't loose nutrients or quality by using frozen veggies.  But I used non frozen veggies for the all the orange veggies.

In the end it has saved us money and it takes maybe 10-15 minutes out of my weekday (one day) and maybe 30 minutes (total) from cutting to storing in fridge for my big "cookouts" on the weekends.  [On the weekends I try to make at least 2 types of veggies.]

I started storing them in small Tupperware or glad ware. But now, I want to be able to freeze portions that I  make on the weekends in big batches that will last thru the week so we bought Green Sprouts containers for exactly this function.  They cost under $10 and have little trays so they can be stacked one of top of another.  Super easy and BPA free (as always). [8 per package]

(above pictures the glad ware in our fridge currently: peas, carrots, squash)

So Moms, don't be afraid to try homemade baby food, it will bring the best Martha Stewart side of you and help your pockets too.