Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

I have not lived until tonight. Tonight is when I made Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcakes. Seriously. They were that good. I say "were" because by the time you read this, they will probably be looong gone. Here's what they used to look like:

So good, right?

Here's how I made them:

First, call your sister on the phone and ask how she would incorporate cream cheese into the cake part of a cupcake if she were to make this particular flavor. *Only do this step if you have the privilege of having a Cake Boss for a sister, which I do.

1 package French Vanilla cake mix
1/2 brick cream cheese
4 eggs
1 1/4 c milk

Combine cake mix, milk, and eggs with room temperature cream cheese. You want little bits of the cream cheese to come through as you eat but not huge chunks. Chunks are gross. Fill 24 muffin cups and bake at 350* for about 20 minutes (or when a toothpick comes out clean). Cool the cupcakes completely.

Meanwhile.....

Reserve 24 blueberries for decoration. Smush one pint of blueberries with 1/3 c sugar. Bring this blueberry mix to a boil and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Put in a bowl and cool completely in the fridge.

When blueberries are cold, mix around 1/3 of the mixture with one tub of cream cheese frosting or you could use your own cream cheese icing recipe since the store version turned a bit runny after adding the blueberries. Use the rest of the blueberry mixture for filling in the cupcakes. Use a piping bag with a larger tip to fill cupcakes. Frost with frosting and put a fresh blueberry on top. Now have a good time at the party in your mouth!

Here's what else I've been doing in the six years since I blogged last. Have you ever been to Silverwood? You should go. It's way too fun. Silverwood is down in Idaho kind of in between Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene. It's a huge amusement park on one side and a water park on the other side. We went down there and rode rides and swam till we passed out every day. And we went to IHOP for breakfast one morning....which was clearly the highlight. Just kidding. But IHOP is always a good time. The highlight was clearly the Aftershock roller coaster.

Let me explain it to you. It's one of those roller coasters that the business part is above you and your legs are dangling. This one pulls you up so you're looking down at the ground then shoots you down and around the loop-de-loops and you get pulled up the other tower backwards so you're now looking up at the sky. Then it shoots you down and you do the whole thing again backwards.

If you look real close you can see my legs dangling, 3rd seat from the top. I dragged three of my nieces with me but to be honest, I was only talking tough and was surprised they agreed. I was kind of hoping they would back down so I could too and still sound brave. While we were waiting in line, Shalyce looked at me and said, "I'm out" and left. Ten minutes later she joined us back in line.

Dang.

Next thing I looked over at Taylor and she was completely white as a ghost.
T - "Amanda, I'm gonna barf. I can't do this."
Me - "Okay Tay. We can leave if you aren't feeling well." (you know, just being the supportive auntie that I am....)
T - "Well, I think maybe I'll be okay. Let's do this."

Double dang.

Torri on the other hand was waiting for the stinking ride to start! I think she was the only one who really wanted to go on it. Did I mention she's only 11?

Moral of the story is, we did eventually get on (after being at the front of the line for about three rounds), and we LOVED it! It was seriously the funnest ride ever. I talked Katie into going on it too and after a minor (MAJOR) melt-down, she decided she loved it too! We'll definitely be back to Silverwood. You should go too!

So in other news, I'm gonna be in a play! Taber Players is doing Nunsense and I'm Sister Robert Anne. She's the sassy, tough-guy, trouble maker nun from Brooklyn. If you don't know about Nunsense, go check it out on Youtube. The Late Great Rue McClanahan is the Reverend Mother on the Youtube version. It's pretty funny and I'm super excited! I'll post more about that later as we've just started and I don't have much to comment about it yet....

To everything, (turn turn turn) There is a season (turn turn turn)

We are coming on a lot of big changes around here. The song by the Byrds referenced in the title has been running through my head on repeat for the last couple months. Sometime in February it hit me that Emily is going to be in Grade 1 next year. What? When did that happen? I have been waiting for this to happen for what seemed like EVER and while I was waiting, it happened. I thought her going to school full time would bring on some elaborate celebration or a grand freedom march of some sort. Surprisingly it brought sadness. What?!?! Who AM I?

With this grand revelation brought a sense of panic. Not the sense of panic that causes someone to go out and buy 30 pairs of new shoes (this time), but the sense of panic that causes someone to take stock of their life and regroup. A couple months ago, I went with RJ up to Edmonton for business. We went out to dinner one night with a friend of his who is "wiser" than us. That's a polite way of saying he's old enough to be my dad (no offence dad, you're young). Anywho, while we were talking with our friend, he was telling us about his wife who went back to school at the age of 40 to become a doctor. She graduated when she was 48. I thought, I'm only 30. I have all the time in to world to go to school! So the new seed was planted.

This brings me to my grand revelation. I was absolutely intrigued by his explanation of her schooling and now her job. It was hard for her, I mean, who isn't medical school hard for. Come on. But it was totally worth it. *Enter Relief Society-like quote here* -no really. I can't remember the quote about how you have to work hard for anything worth having.....

Anyway.....

I think I found my "thing". Don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna cook with Tyler and write about it....like I have been meaning to do....but I'm going to add to my life experience.

I went to the college and did a 6 hour placement test. That was hands down the hardest test I've ever taken. Partly because it meant dusting off the back caverns of my brain to find the things they were asking for. Ryan, being the supportive husband he is, told me that if I did crappy on the test, I would never hear the end of it from him. It would be mocking of the grandest fashion. I did bring this upon myself because I remind him on every occasion I can that I'm the smartest person he knows and I skipped a grade. His wonderfully supportive comments just added to my nerves. I was more scared to find the marks out than I was to take the actual test! When I went in to get the results, the student adviser told me that typically you lose a grade level for every 3 years or so that you've been out of school. That's been 13 years, ladies and gentlemen, so that would put me at about a 7th grade level (because as I found out today, I put a stop to my math career in grade 11. Yes I am ashamed. No really, I wish I would have put way more effort into school the first time. I thought for sure I did math in grade 12). Turns out I actually still have bragging rights. I am at a Math 20 level (impressive because I only took Math 23 thirteen years ago and did HORRIBLY at it) and I got 83% on my English. Who knew? ME, that's who! I knew! Thanks for the extra boost to do well, Ryan. Love you! Actually I didn't know and I was really impressed with my results. And humbled.

They also did a career placement test to see what would be the best fit for me. They thought I should be a nurse. Well maybe I will! I missed the deadline to apply for the Nursing program this year. That's okay because thanks to my extremely full social calendar I enjoyed in High School, I need a full year of upgrading anyway. Regrets, I have a few, but then again, too few to mention... *two points if you can name that song*

I think nursing will be amazing. I would have NEVER been able to take this seriously until this season of my life. It wasn't even anything I ever considered doing. That's where the song reference comes into play. I love when ideas turn into reality. It's gonna be really hard. *see Relief Society quote from before* I just look at my pal Beckie and she's my hero. She's in nursing but she makes it work and still is a great mom who carpools her kids around to their baseball games. She doesn't glamorize it by saying it's a walk in the park. It's hard. But Becks is still the wind beneath my wings. And my inspiration. Don't think I'm going into this all sparkly-eyed. I realize the work involved and I'm excited for the challenge. My brain needs stimuli. Stimulus? See, it needs a workout.

The moral of the story is, I'm gonna be a Nurse! That's gonna be my thing! YAY ME! This is going to be a big sacrifice for our family for a few years, but I think the end result will be worth it. Ryan is seriously so supportive of my wanting to go to school. He's amazing. There's no way I could even think about doing this without him. High five RJ, you're the best. Enough of that. Wish me luck everyone.....

Red Velvety Goodness

Okay. So technically this isn't a Tyler Recipe but since he's from the south, I'm almost certain he's made it before. I'm gonna email him and tell him he needs to publish his version in his next cookbook. 90% sure he'll listen to his favorite fan.

RED VELVET CAKE
1/2 c shortening
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 c sifted cake flour
1 c buttermilk
3 tbsp red food coloring
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vinegar

Preheat oven to 350*F. Lightly grease and flour two 9" round cake pans. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar together well. Beat in eggs until light and fluffy. Add salt. Beat in cake flour alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Make a paste of red food coloring and cocoa. Add to batter and beat well. Mix vanilla, baking soda, and vinegar in a small bowl. Sprinkle over batter, then stir in. Pour into pans and bake for 30-35 min until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 min, then put on racks. Frost. Eat.


I'm not giving you the frosting recipe I used because I hated it. And it didn't turn out. I think I jinxed it though because I was skeptical when I was reading the ingredients. Another reason I don't think it really worked out is because I love to cook by hand. I like to use a whisk and my own man-power over an electric mixer. When you're whipping things into fluffy goodness this isn't always the best policy to use. I still prefer hand mixing.

This is the first time I made this cake and I wasn't too disappointed with the turn out. I know what I'll do differently next time but all in all it wasn't bad. The hint o'chocolate flavor was what I loved about it. I'm not a fan of chocolate cake ( I know, surprise, surprise) but this was a happy medium. I can have my cake and eat it too. Thanks. I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress.

I'm going to keep making and tweaking this recipe until it's reached perfection. I already have some ideas about what to do to help on the dryness factor. It was one of those cakes you need a big glass of milk with. Anyway. I'll keep you posted on how this goes.

Moving on.

RJ's Amazing Birthday Dinner was neither amazing nor dinner for that matter. K's soccer coach called and said they had team pictures at 5:50 and then their game was to be at 6:30. That extra 40 minutes was the time I allotted for actually eating the dinner. RJ tried to talk (guilt) K into skipping soccer all together but she would have none of it. We had 5 minutes to pack the Bacon Wrapped Roast and Velvety Mashed Potatoes up and pop them in the fridge and get to town. We ended up getting an extra special cheeseburger meal from the one and only Raunchy Ronnie's. This is one of those times when it's the thought that really does count. Yay for leftovers tonight though!

That brings me to a couple of pictures found on the lost but now found camera. I have a good excuse for not cooking/blogging so much. Soccer. Soccer is way funner this year because the kids are actuallly playing the game of soccer. I really do enjoy going (most days). But that's where the excuse part comes in. I'm going most days....4 days a week this year. On one of the sacred days off I made this:


Mmmmmmm.

The Ultimate Spaghetti Carbonara
pg 160 of Tyler's Ultimate

When we first got married, RJ introduced me to the joy of carbonara sauce. When he lived in England for two years he learned a different method of cooking this dish that we have since grown out of. He's not a real pasta guy so it's always an extra challenge to make pasta dishes he'll eat. I think (?) he liked this. When I'm not feeling super great the comfort food I reach for is creamy pastas. Carbonara is the granddaddy of all comfy pastas in my book. Something about the onion-mushroom-bacony goodness combination gets me every time. I agree that this is the Ultimate Carbonara. Yummmmmmy! The kids liked it too. He uses an egg in his sauce that was unexpected and yummy. Ty describes it as being a silky egg sauce and I concur. I think I might even make some more tonight because now its on my mind.

You know what else is good? Ricardo's. The owner/chef makes all his pasta fresh by hand every day. He also makes all the sauces and the bread...everything. It just screams home-cooked. This is my new favorite lunch spot with RJ. The only downfall is he likes to sit down and visit with you while you're eating. Now if you know me, you know I'm not a fan of space-invaders. The chef likes to plop down real close. Come on man, I'm just trying to eat my food! I took Em there for her birthday because she's a pasta freak like me and he sat down next to her to talk about stuff. She would have none of it. Why do kids get to be honest and just ignore people when they don't feel like talking to them? I wish.

Speaking of comfort food, here's what else I made.


Fried Chicken with Buttermilk Cherry Tomatoes
pg 128 of Stirring the Pot

Nothing beats fried chicken. PS I thought Tyler's version was better than the Colonels. KFC isn't my fave anyway so that wasn't that big of a deal but still. I left out the Buttermilk Cherry Tomatoes part because I didn't have any buttermilk left after marinating the chicken in it. It was still super good without. This chicken had a bit of hot sauce in the marinade too which was a nice little kick. I love dished with surprise ingredients that you have to think real hard about. It's like your mouth says, "I think that's hot sauce but.....I'm not sure.....". That's my kind of cooking. Good food makes people happy. I was watching Tyler's cooking show and he is a genius. The key to good cooking is to know what ingredients can compliment each other. And you have to experiment. He seriously just was throwing things together that I wouldn't have thought to put together but that actually made a lot of sense that they were together. I like experimenting with my steak marinades. I don't think I've ever made the same marinade twice. There have been some real hits and some real stinkers. The moral of this story is: Play with your food people!

Tyler On The Go!

Yay! Today is RJ's birthday. Happy birthday sweetness!


Lookin' good! So I was looking on Tyler Florence dot com for inspiration on an amazing birthday menu and found out that Ty has a new app for my ipod. Yes he did make it specifically for me. I did get a little bit side-tracked in my recipe hunt for the big birthday dinner but that is serendipity if I ever saw it! Go HERE to get your own Tyler Florence app! You know you want to! Yay for exclamation marks!!! I know I haven't been on here for like ten months but I can't find my camera with all my cooking pictures on it. I'm looking real hard today because I have an amazing dinner planned for RJ and I need to put it on here so you can all be super jealous you didn't come over for dinner. That's all I'm gonna say about that...until later. I PROMISE I'll be back in the next 24 hours to post pics and deets about the feast.....

Winner winner chicken dinner

I decided to cook again. My family has been looking a bit skeletal so I thought it was probably time....

So here's what I cooked:

Perfect Roast Chicken
page 67 of Stirring The Pot

I know. I cooked it on its belly when it should have been on its back. It was amazing though. The smell....oh my gosh, the smell was AMAZING! This is easily hands down the most flavorful chicken I have ever cooked. I put a paste made of tons of garlic, butter, parsley, thyme, rosemary, etc....I left out the lemon though because I'm still a bit scarred from the Provencal Chicken. And I didn't put mushrooms in with the chicken while I roasted. It was still brilliant.

If you haven't gone out to buy Tyler's cookbooks (shame on you!) he does a write up before most of his recipes. The write up on this recipe was really funny because of my inspiration to learn cooking (Julie & Julia). Here's what he said:

"At Tyler Florence: Mill Valley, my kitchen retail shop, I have a constant loop of vintage shows of Julia Child's The French Chef playing on the wall. In my favorite episode, she roasts a chicken. Before she passed, Julia once mentioned that she was a fan of mine and I honestly couldn't have been more flattered. But she also said she didn't agree with my method of roasting a chicken, and I'll tell you, I've made it my mission to right that wrong. So I thought this would be the ideal opportunity to walk you through, step-by-step, roasting the perfect chicken. I think you will find this helpful and that it would make Julia proud."

I think she would be proud of this one Tyler. Scrap the Provencal Chicken and just stick with this one. Just my little tidbit of advice. Love you Tyler!

I wish I could go to Tyler's Mill Valley kitchen retail shop. But I probably won't because I don't think a trip to Cali is in my near future. Partly because I'm so busy....I'll get to that in a bit....but the other reason is because I'm going HERE instead:

My friend Heather opened this store and it has the CUTEST stuff ever. I can't wait to go and shop my face off. For realsies. See you there!

Here's why else I'm too busy to go to Cali:

That's right. My poor puppy broke his leg. Duke was going with Ryan to be a farm dog and he just wasn't big enough yet to understand not to jump out of the truck. The truck was barely moving but it's pretty high up for a 10 week old puppy to jump out of. Dukers got a cute cast that is now off...partly because he is better and partly because he grew out of/chewed it in the 10 days it was on. He was already a big snuggly baby and this has made him worse. He tries to climb up on your lap to get a good belly rub which is hilarious because he's just so big! I'm pretty sure he won't ever jump out of the back of a truck again.

We've also been really busy shipping potatoes from the storage bin to the Old Dutch Potato Chip plant. I had a good picture from doing that but this post is getting too long so maybe next time I'll post it. Plus I'm tired so maybe I'll take a nap....

Tip of the day

Oh my gosh you guys.

I just learned the coolest thing.

Ever.

I learned that if you have been chopping a lot of garlic (which I have been because Tyler loves his garlic!) you CAN get rid of the smell! All you have to do is rub your hands on your stainless steel sink and you don't smell anymore! It's true. I've done it and it really works.

Now go chop some garlic...

Master of the Universe

We got another puppy. I know. I'm an idiot. But this new puppy is SO cute! And Luke finally has another boy around. In my defense, this puppy was the puppy we planned for. Ruby was the spur-of-the-moment-she's-so-cute-can-I-please-please-have-her addition. This new puppy wasn't ready until just now.

The problem with Duke (Luke named him Duke because they're best buddies) is he can't handle much alone time, being one from a litter of eight puppies. We're trying to crate train him and it isn't going well. He got two baths last night because he pooped and played in it. Gross. But he's still cute! He's a silver lab and he has blue eyes. Duke's gonna get big too (he's 1/4 Great Dane) so as soon as we can get a dog run built outside, he will forever be banished to the outdoors as a true farm dog. He mostly just hangs out (poops on) the back deck and sleeps in the garage at night. I should add that Ruby is his chew toy. When they first met, he just grabbed her by the back leg and started dragging her around. Super funny.

I promise this is the last animal I'm getting. Ryan is not happy about all the pets we've acquired. While we were talking about Duke's pick up he says sarcastically, "Why don't we get more pets! Let's just stop at the pet store and get 10 fish while we're at it!"

So I said, "Did you hear that kids? Dad said you could get fish!"

Kids: "YAY!"

That's what you get Ryan. Ha ha!

Here's Duke:

I realize the main blue in his eyes is from the reflection, but he really does have light blue eyes.

Okay. Enough about our zoo.

Dinner was gross.

Veal Piccata with Lemon, Capers, and Parsley-butter Sauce
on page 93 of Stirring The Pot
I've decided I don't like meals with a huge lemon flavor. It's just overwhelming for me. It's not me, it's you, lemon. The kids didn't like it, partly because they asked what veal was and I (stupidly) told them it was a baby cow. (WHAT?!? How did it get killed?) Great. Now my kids are vegan. Not that there's anything wrong with it.

This wasn't too difficult to make but it was messy. Anytime you dredge anything in flour then egg it won't be pretty. I felt the sauce for the noodles needed more depth to it. It just tasted like lemon juice with garlic mixed in. If I make this again, I will probably make a garlic cream sauce and add a hint of lemon to the veal itself.


I've had a hard time cooking lately. I thought when my kids were school aged I would have all the time in the world to just hang around and be a mom. False advertising! I've steadily gotten busier and busier. Who knew?

I have however found time to read everyone else's blogs. Ryan's cousin Rebecca tagged me in a MASTER list that I have been thinking about ever since. I finally have it down.

Here's the deal.

(1) List 6 things you are a master in.

(2) Pass it on to 6 bloggers you think are masters at friendship & make blogging so awesome.

Here's what I came up with:

1) MASTER OF USELESS INFORMATION. I got it from my Dad. Thanks Dad! I could probably win Jeopardy. Blindfolded. This makes Ryan CRAZY. One thing we play is "Name That Celebrity" on movies. I know everyone's name, past movies, age, height, weight....okay, maybe not all that but I do know who they are and what they've been in.

2) MASTER OF SARCASM. If we've ever had a conversation you've probably been subjected to it. Sorry. I can't help it.

3) MASTER OF PLOTTING. Another fun game RJ and I play while we watch the teev (yeah I just shortened that) is we try and guess the ending as soon as possible after starting either the TV show or movie. Well he tries, I win. Not just the ending either, we have to guess how they get to that possible ending. Good times.

4) MASTER CHEF. Obviously.

5) MASTER OF PERSONAL SPACE. I have an abnormally large bubble of personal space. I don't like "Space Invaders" at all. Ewwww. While in any kind of line, be it the bank, grocery store, movie theaters: just back it up people, back it up. I like space.

6) MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE. Well, maybe not the Universe, per say. I am a master of current events. I love the news. I love knowing what's going on. I should have been a reporter because I also love being the one to break the news. And I love discussing current events. I should be on some kind of panel to discuss my thoughts on TV.

So here's my 6 tags. Don't let me down people.

1) Lachele
2) Julie
3) Mandy
4) Tiffany
5) Jackie
6) Colton (even though I can't read your blog....)

Isn't my blog supposed to be about my cooking? Ha! I'm gonna go cook something now....