Posts in the ‘Recipes’ Category

RECIPE: Microwave Chocolate Cake (No Joke)

Today is my birthday! So in celebration, I thought this would a fun recipe to post.

This cake was made in my microwave in 45 seconds, I kid you not.  Party trick, maybe… But also not bad for a chocolate cake you can make in less than a minute. My daughter, who is five, thinks it’s beyond delicious! :)

Here’s how you do it (adapted from a few I found on the Internet by googling “chocolate mug cake”)…

Ingredients: {makes 1 mug cake or 2 ramekin cakes}

4 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg – beaten
3 tablespoons skim milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:

Into a small bowl add: flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt, egg, milk, and vegetable oil. Mix to combine.

Pour mixture into a regular sized coffee mug or two smaller ramekins.

Microwave on high for one minute and 30 seconds in a mug, or 45 seconds in a ramekin. If needed (if cake batter is still gooey), microwave on high for additional time, checking every 15 seconds. Don’t overcook or it will get very spongy.

Now the key here is to eat it fast while it’s hot. If you let it sit, it will get rubbery. This recipe is definitely worth a try because it’s so fun and weird. And if you need a very quick chocolate fix, nothing beats it!

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Recipe: The Easiest Cold Sesame Noodles

This cold sesame appetizer is our go-to recipe for any potluck that we’re invited to. What’s great about it, is it’s simple to make, and can sit out for a while at a party and the flavors just keep getting better.  It got a great earthy flavor from the soba and sesame seeds, with a little bit of heat to make it interesting.

Ingredients:

  • 8 oz. whole-wheat capellini or soba noodles — once cooked, add a touch of sesame oil to keep noodles from sticking
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon chili oil
  • 2 teaspoons lighted toasted sesame seeds
  • 1/4 teaspoon lime juice
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1/4 of  red bell pepper, diced

Directions:

In a bowl, mix soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, chili oil, sesame seeds (leave a little left over for garnish), lime juice, and garlic.

Toss in cooked noodles, 2/3 of the cilantro, and 2/3 of the red bell pepper. Refrigerate. Right before serving, garnish with the remaining cilantro, red bell pepper, and sesame seeds.

Voila! Delicious!!

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RECIPE: Chocolate Cherry Whoopie Pies

Gretchen from Three Little Monkeys Studios took our original whoopie pie recipe and made it her own for Valentine’s Day by adding cherries to the mix. How beautiful do these look?!

To see her full recipe, head to Three Little Monkeys Studios. Thanks, Gretchen, for sharing! (Note: Gretchen’s son is allergic to dairy, so she substituted in margarine and rice milk and says they turned out great.)

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Tangy, Spicy, Crunchy Baked Buffalo Wings

What could be better for a Super Bowl party than delicious, messy, juicy Buffalo wings!

Here’s my husband’s favorite Buffalo wings recipe. We try to make them a little healthier by baking them (and this way you don’t have to worry about the hassle of frying), but I promise you do not sacrifice on flavor. You still get all that tangy, spicy, crunchy goodness!

The blue cheese dipping sauce (which is very blue cheesy, btw) is a perfect counterbalance to the heat from the wings. And we like to keep things pretty traditional by using Frank’s Louisiana Hot Sauce.

I promise these wings will get your guests talking, or at least saying, “Mmmmm…,” while they’re wiping their mouths.

CHICKEN WINGS

Ingredients

  • 18-20 wings
  • Salt
Directions
  1. Pat your wings dry (it will help them crisp up)
  2. Generously salt  wings.
  3. Place wings on a wire rack
  4. Bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes or until  golden brown.

While the wings are baking you can prepare your sauce.

SAUCE

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
  • 1/2 cup hot sauce , preferably Frank’s Louisiana Hot Sauce
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions

  1. Melt the butter, and in a large bowl combine it with hot sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar.
  2. When wings are done, add wings to mixture and coat.

DRESSING

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 bunch fresh chives, minced

Directions

  1. To prepare the dressing, place the blue cheese, buttermilk, and olive oil in a medium bowl and stir together with a fork, mashing a little to break up the cheese.
  2. Season with the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chives.
  3. Chill until serving.

My husband and I like ours medium spicy, but if you want to add some heat, just swap in Frank’s XTRA Hot Sauce and go to town! :)

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RECIPE: Awesome Pasta Caprese Salad

If you need to put together a super quick appetizer with a lot of flavor, this pasta caprese salad is it!

It’s simple to make, and all I recommend is using super fresh ingredients (and not overcooking the pasta).  I use farmer’s market cherry tomatoes, yummy virgin olive oil, fresh lemons for the lemon juice, and the best buffalo mozzarella I can find. And I have to say I get so many compliments on this. Here’s how to do it:

Ingredients

1 pound pasta (farfalle is my favorite for this, penne is a good alternative)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 garlic cloves (pressed or minced)
1 shallot (minced)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 pounds of cherry tomatoes (or cored seeded red tomatoes)
12 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese

 

Directions

Boil the pasta with a pinch of salt, then set aside in a large bowl to cool down.

In a medium size bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, minced shallot, salt, and pepper.

The dressing might seem a little salty, but once it goes on the pasta, it will balance out.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add to the dressing.

Add the dressing and tomatoes to the pasta.

Dice the mozzarella into 1/4 inch cubes and add to the pasta once the pasta is cool enough not to melt the cheese.

Chop the basil and add to the pasta, tomatoes, and mozzarella.

Enjoy! Yum!

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RECIPE: The Perfect Chewy Chocolate Cookies

I’m a self confessed chocoholic. So when my husband mentioned a few weeks ago he and my daughter were talking about baking chocolate cookies, I was not going to let them forget it.

Baking is one of our favorite family activities, so when we don’t have a busy weekend, we like to create in the kitchen.

Here are our yummy chewy chocolate cookies that are the exact right amount of sweet, perfect for adult and child palates alike. Plus, they’re crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. If you’re thinking of chocolate cookies, I promise you will love this recipe!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2-3 tablespoons sanding sugar

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl: flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder. Whisk just until the ingredients look evenly distributed. Don’t worry about clumps of cocoa powder, they’ll break apart when you mix into the wet stuff.

In a larger mixing bowl, add the butter, eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar (lightly packed), and vanilla. Mix until creamy. We used salted butter – if you use unsalted you might want to add another 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Add the dry ingredients in 3-4 batches until fully mixed. The dough will be very thick.

Scoop out ping pong ball sized scoops of dough. Roll the dough in the sanding sugar so they are about half coated. Lightly press on a cookie sheet. We used a Silpat, so we didn’t butter the sheet. These cookies will flatten out (double in diameter) so leave plenty of room between cookies.

Bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. The cookies should start to show cracks on the top about a minute before they are done.

After you take them out, let them rest for about 5 minutes. They should be a little crisp on the outside, and chewy in the middle – yum! We made just under three dozen cookies in total.

We also tried a batch with some maldon sea salt sprinkled on top. They were interesting, but we didn’t like them as much as the batch with sanding sugar.

If you make them, please send photos to jillian@catchmyparty.com. How perfect would these be for Valentine’s Day. Yum!

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Please Link up Your Holiday Crafts, Recipes, and Free Printables!

This week it really hit me that the holidays are right around the corner. I’m hoping to get crafty with my daughter this season so I need some ideas.

holiday-wreaths

I’d love to see all the inspiring holiday crafts, recipes, and free printables you’ve been creating. Please link them up and I will be showing off my favorites over the next few weeks (as well as making a few). Can’t wait to see! Please click the link below to add your project:

Powered by Linky Tools

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The Yummy Labor Day Food We’ve Made So Far…

Earlier this week, I posted the recipes I wanted to try over Labor Day and tonight my husband, David, and I got cooking. Here’s what we made…

Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad with Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette

We purchased these tomatoes at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market so it would be hard to go wrong with this dish. Clean and fresh flavors, with a little bit of sweetness from the balsamic and the tomatoes. This was the dish I kept eating.

labor-day-caprese-salad

Grilled Corn with Basil Butter-Oil

Basil on corn is actually a flavorful combination and the butter-oil with the infused basil was delicate and not too overpowering. But next time I will chop up the basil even more so it doesn’t look like seaweed. :)

labor-day-basil-grilled-corn

 

Grilled Chicken with a Homemade Rub

David wasn’t in the mood for steak, so instead I purchased these air-chilled chicken thighs and with a blend of homemade spices we grilled them. Because of the fat under the skin, the grill kept igniting, hence the burnt skin, but these were delicious!! David couldn’t stop eating these.

labor-day-grilled-chicken-rubbed

Tomorrow I’ll bring you the S’mores Bars my neighbor, Paula, volunteered to make. They’re setting in her fridge right now (my mouth is watering while I write this). I’ll post photos tomorrow.

I’d love to know what you ate this Labor Day. Hope it’s delicious!

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Labor Day BBQ Food Ideas…

I love trying out new recipes, especially during holiday weekends when my husband and I have a little more time to cook and… taste.:)

Here are some of the things I’m planning to make this Labor Day weekend. (Click on the photo or link to go to the recipe.) What are you thinking of making?

Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad with Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette

labor-day-food-caprese-salad

Grilled Corn with Basil Butter-Oil

labor-day-food-grilled-corn

Grilled Steak Salad with Grilled Vegetables

labor-day-food-grilled-steak

Watermelon Ginger Punch

labor-day-food-watermelon-ginger-punch

S’mores Bars

I’d love to hear what on your menu so please post, and if you have recipes or photos, even better (just email me at jillian(at)catchmyparty.com). :)

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DIY TUTORIAL: How to Make Hamburger Cupcakes

I have been a fan of the hamburger cupcake for some time. Once they started popping up on our main site, I was sold! So how excited was I when Jodie from Party NV said I could repost her hamburger cupcake tutorial. Thank you, Jodie!

I always thought these were hard to make, but take a look at this tutorial and you will soon discover they are actually quite easy.  And talk about giving your party that cool “wow” factor…

Before you get started here’s what you’ll need:

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 Box Chocolate Cake Mix
  • 1 Box Yellow/Vanilla/Butter Cake Mix {don’t use white as it won’t look like a real bun}
  • {water, oil & eggs per mix}
  • Frosting {not too creamy or it may soften and spread, thick or stiffer frosting works best}
  •   *You’ll need Green, Red & Yellow and can either buy a tub of frosting and color it or buy the tubes of frosting already mixed in those colors {this is easiest}
  • Fondant tinted the color of cheese, if you want cheeseburgers {I make my own marshmallow fondant}
  • Sesame Seeds
  • Orange Juice

TOOLS

  • Cupcake Pan(s) {Don’t forget the shortening for the pans}
  • Serrated Knife
  • Cupcake Liners {To hold the finished burgers}
  • Basting or Paint Brush
  • Frosting Decorator Bags & Tips, #4 and #103 {Unless you buy the pre-tinted tubes}
  • Square Cookie Cutter
  • Spatula

Okay let’s get started….

First you need to mix your cake batter together {ok, ok… I know you knew that, I was just testing you!}

Bake your cupcakes per the directions, one batch of each flavor {typically a box will yield 24 cupcakes}  I suggest baking them right in the pan, no papers.  This saves on paper waste, since you will have to remove them once they are baked anyway, and it saves on cake waste, since the cupcakes don’t seem to rise as high when baked directly in the pan!

Once the cupcakes are done, remove them from the oven and let cool for about 15 minutes or so, then remove them from the pan {if you greased your pans properly they should just pop out} and let them cool for about another 30 minutes.

Now comes the fun part!!!!  For each Burger Cake you’ll need 1 Yellow cupcake and 1 Chocolate cupcake.  Take the yellow cupcakes and use your serrated knife to cut them in half {removing the top from the bottom}.  Set both halves aside for now.

Next, you’ll need to cut the tops off of the chocolate cupcakes, this will become the “burger”.  The bottoms you can either eat, scrap, or use to make cake pops!  YUMMY!

Once you have the cupcakes cut you can begin assembling them.

First, take a cupcake liner and place the bottom half of the yellow cake in it, cut side up {this will be the bottom bun of your burger cake}.

Then, squirt some green frosting all over it, allowing it to over hang the sides some, using the #103 tip {this will be the lettuce and also holds the Burger Cake together}.

Next, place a chocolate cupcake top {burger} on top of the green frosting {lettuce}, squishing is down some.

At this point you can either add cheese or not.  If you want to add cheese then you will need to roll out your fondant to the desired thickness and cut with your square cookie cutter.

Then place the cheese on top of your burger….

Now all that’s left to do is squirt the red and yellow frosting all over the top like ketchup and mustard, using the #4 tip.  I found using a circular motion worked great and allowed for some of the frosting to drip over the edges.

Then place the top portion of the yellow cupcake on top and brush with some orange juice…

…sprinkle with sesame seeds {they really add to the realistic look and don’t affect the flavor}.  VIOLA!  Cheeseburger Cakes are served!

Leave plain or top with custom cupcake toppers to enhance your occasion.  Party NV can design the perfect toppers for you, for whatever the occasion!

Jodie, these are incredible! Thank you for the tutorial!

Please check out Jodie’s beautiful parties on our main site, and to learn even more about Jodie and what inspires her, please visit her blog, Party NV.

Also, stay tuned for my upcoming post on how to make hamburgers out of cookies!!

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