Cooking – Page 6

Hi There! Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

I got to eat cookie dough this weekend, safely, and it was so delicious! Today I’m going to share with all of you…I have a recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes! I also have included a template for a cupcake wrapper that I first made for my sons first birthday party several months ago. They are very simple, and you can use any scrapbook paper you like! If you enjoy this post, please consider pinning it to Pinterest by hovering over any of the pictures & clicking the big “pin” button that appears.

I stumbled on Sweet Emelyne’s videos and blog some time ago, and quickly came to love her sweet personality and baking expertise! She is a very talented cupcake baker and decorator, yet she shows things in an approachable and unintimidating way! This is nice, it is realistic for people like me who have no real cupcake decorating experience or skills. If you like to bake or are interesting in seeing lots of creative ideas for cupcakes for every occasion, I think you would love her videos and blog! And a huge thank you to Emelyne for being such a doll, and being so kind when I asked about sharing this recipe on my blog.

Vanilla Cupcake:

Leah’s Note: You could use a boxed cake mix for this if you just want to get right to the cookie dough, but from scratch was definitely easy and tasty!

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pan with wrappers. Whisk together flour and baking powder. In a different mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture and milk alternately, starting and ending with flour. Use an ice cream scoop to place batter in liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes. To test the cupcakes place a toothpick in the center of the cupcake, if it comes out clean they are done.

COOKIE DOUGH FROSTING:

3/4 cup butter

1 cup + 1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

7 tablespoons milk

1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

*Optional chocolate for garnish

Directions:

With an electric mixer cream together the butter and brown sugar, next add in the vanilla. Stir in the flour until doughy. Beat in the milk, now fold in the chocolate chips. Pipe onto your cupcakes. ( Leah’s Note: In her video Emelyne shows this being done with a simple large zip baggie with the end cut off. The frosting is thick, so the hole needs to be pretty large. Also, I added another small step by adding a small piece of chocolate to the top for garnish…not needed but I had some and figured more chocolate couldn’t hurt!)

CUPCAKE WRAPPER:

Here is my free cupcake wrapper template that you simply can click and print!

SUPPLIES:

Scissors

Scrapbook paper

Scotch tape, glue dots, scrapbook glue, or something similar to these

STEP 1:

Print the template (please make sure that your printer is printing in actual size).

STEP 2:

Cut out the templates.

STEP 3:

Trace the template onto the scrapbook paper you would like to use.

STEP 4:

Tape or glue the two ends of the wrapper together.

STEP 5:

Set you cooled and frosted cupcake into the liner.

STEP 6:

Admire your gorgeous, homemade cupcake wrapper!

This bite was pure cookie dough frosting, and it was girlie night-in, tell-all-of-your-secrets, sleepover worthy! Sorry for the super close up of me eating, or about to eat! He-he!

Again, a BIG thank you to Emelyne for letting me share the delicious cupcake love! I really hope that you enjoy this post and if there is any other baked good you’d like to see, I would be happy to try! Let me know your questions or thoughts by commenting (click the comment link right next to the title of this post), or find me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! I would love to hear from you! Also if you have enjoyed this post, please stay awhile and subscribe by entering your email into the subscribe box on the right of this page. You will only be emailed when a new post from my page goes up!

Hi there! Happy Wednesday!

Today I want to share two simple and inexpensive weekday meal ideas. Both of these recipes use chicken, but I will be sure to include recipes with different proteins next time. If you are interested in seeing certain types of recipes, please comment (at the top of this post) or find me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! I would love to try to include things you’re interested in. If you enjoy this post, please consider making my day by subscribing!! You just enter your email in the “subscribe” box on the right hand side of the screen. You then get a confirmation email and that is it! Super easy and then you will get emails only when a new post from www.leahtackles.com goes up.

CREAMY PESTO PASTA WITH CHICKEN:

This is a recipe that I love because you only need a few ingredients and it is super simple! It’s also a great one because it’s a hit with everyone in the family and reheats very well. Serve with a salad (and maybe some wine!!)

Time: About 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

About 1 and 1/3 cup alfredo sauce (1 large jar from the store)

1/3 of a cup of pesto

1 package of pasta (I like doing this with bowtie pasta but others work just fine)

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions:

Mix together the alfredo sauce and the pesto in a small saucepan over heat until it is hot. Keep warm. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Cube the chicken and cook with butter over medium high heat. Serve the chicken with noodles and creamy pesto sauce.

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN TACOS:

This is another family favorite and I love it because it lets the slow cooker do almost all the work! It’s also very easy to modify this to fit your personal preferences as far as heat and spice.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 4-8 hours

Ingredients:

About 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs

½ cup of a salsa of your choice (my family likes hot!)

1 tablespoon of canned jalapeño chiles or canned green chiles

4 cloves of garlic smashed or 2 teaspoons of prepared garlic

1 tablespoon of chili powder

Salt and paper to taste

Soft taco shells

Optional:

Cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream, additional canned chiles

Directions:

Combine the chicken, salsa, canned chiles, garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper into a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Transfer the chicken onto a large serving bowl and shred with forks. You can moisten the chicken with the cooking juices. Serve in soft taco shells and add optional ingredients, if desired.

I hope you enjoy these recipes! I think they are both great for quick and delicious weekday meals. I also love that they don’t have any hard-to-find ingredients. If you have any questions let me know in the comments (top of this post you can click to comment!) or on any of my social media sites. If you try either of these I want to see a picture! Find me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instgram! If you liked this post you can “pin” it on Pinterest by hovering over any of the pictures until you see a pink circle that says, “pin”.