Ariel's Better Than Spaghetti

I hate spaghetti. Okay, maybe I just hate ground beef, angel hair pasta, and a marinara sauce. To me, it's a little boring. So a few years ago, instead of sayin I HATE SPAGHETTI, I'LL NEVER EAT IT AGAIN!... I decided to switch it up and use different ingredients. And after many tweaks and adding vegetables, Ariel's Better Than Spaghetti was born. It took me forever to get the ingredients down because I hardly ever measure. So, keep that in mind....sauce especially, if you like a lot of sauce- use a lot, if not...don't use a lot of sauce.

Ingredients

1 cup whole grain rotini

1 zucchini, chopped

2 cups of spaghetti sauce*

1 precooked beef sausage, sliced into rounds

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 small onion, chopped

*i used Puttanesca sauce from fresh and easy, it is up to preference.

Let's get cookin!

Cook the pasta according the directions on the box

Cook the sausage in the skillet for 5-7 mins until they looked cook/brown slightly

Heat garlic, zucchini and onion in the same skillet as the sausage until the veggies are tender.

After 2-3 minutes, add the sauce.

Drain spaghetti.

When you feel your sauce (and veggies) are perfection, pour it over the spaghetti.

Enjoy!

Previously, I've added chopped red bell peppers and onions, which was also delicious. I made some garlic cheese bread to go with it, because why not find a reason for it?

Peanut Butter Nutella Swirl Cookies

It's time for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! For the past three years food bloggers across the nation have signed up to participate in the swap where they send three food bloggers a dozen of their favorite cookie recipe. 

Almond Macarons With TARDIS Tea White Chocolate Ganache

Whoa! Sorry about the delay! I've been crazy busy with Foodbeast work along with my office day job and baking endeavors...I know, excuses, excuses. But I'm back with a delicious new recipe!

Broccoli & Cheese-y Cheese Wontons

Today's recipe is brought to you in part by the letter A! Just kidding. It's actually a recipe created by Justin Warner, Season 8 Winner of Food Network's The Next Food Network Star...fancy! Ironically this Asian-American fusion appetizer was created to pair with a Robert Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc...so maybe Asian-American-French fusion? This appetizer/party snack not only pairs well with this white wine, it's actually infused into the recipe via the sauce! Now THAT's fancy. 

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

Remember the days of school supply shopping, picking out the perfect first day outfit and reuniting with all your friends? Well, September is right around the corner and kids are heading back to school! Though I'm past my first days of school these Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes are perfect for the students in your life!

Cool Off With REvive! **Giveaway Post**

A few weeks ago we reviewed REvive, a vitality drink packed with 21 super fruits. Though we tried the drink on it's own, we got to thinking, "Hey, this could taste could pretty delicious in a lot of beverages!"

Seven Layer Magic Bar Cookies

Every Christmas my aunt would make Magic Squares as part of her plate o' baked goodies. Nestled among the Peanut Butter Cookie Kisses, Brownies, and Banana Bread, I would specifically pick out the Magic Squares since I would ONLY get them that time of the year. When I found out one of my favorite food bloggers re-imagined these yummy bars into the portability of a cookie I knew I HAD to make them.

Green Monster Smoothie Popsicles

It's been totally unbearably hot in SoCal lately. As a winter baby I really don't appreciate Mr. Sun shining down on me trying to see if I'll melt.

In an attempt to find a fun way to cool down I saw an amazing popsicle recipe by my favorite food blogger, the amazingly talented Joy the Baker. I was inspired by her gorgeous popsicles and thought, "Hey! If I had one of those fancy molds I could make some pretty awesome popsicles too!" And thus, we have these Green Monster Smoothie Popsicles!

A favorite smoothie of mine, this power drink packs a ton of vitamins, protein, fiber and greens into a smoothie that's ridiculously delicious. Plus, I love the look that people give you when they see you sipping on an avocado green colored smoothie. The best part is, this smoothie tastes just like a peanut butter and banana shake! You can't even taste the spinach!

These popsicles are a great healthy way to stay cool without messing up your summer diet. Chobani Greek Yogurt, Silk Almond Milk, Frozen Bananas, Spinach & Peanut Butter. That's all you need to create these frozen treats!

Making these popsicles is simple and quick! It's just waiting for them to freeze that's the hardest. Basically you just make the Green Monster Smoothie and pour it into your popsicle mold and voila! Any popsicle mold will do but I really love this one. It was about $20 on Amazon and makes popsicles in that classic shape!

After everything is poured, the lid is on and the sticks are in, pop your pops into the freezer for a minimum of 6 hours, but if you have the patience to wait overnight it'll be worth it.

Green Monster Smoothie Popsicles
Recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients:
1 large frozen banana (chopped)
2 Tbsp. peanut butter
1/2 cup 0% Plain Chobani Green Yogurt (or Vanilla if you want it more sweet)
1 cup Vanilla Silk Almond Milk
2 cups baby spinach (or more or less depending on your preference)
Popsicle Mold

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour smoothie into the popsicle mold. Cover mold with top and insert popsicle sticks a little over halfway in.

Set filled mold in freezer and let freeze overnight.

Run warm water over the top of the popsicle mold to help loosen the frozen pops. Pop them out and enjoy!

Apple Pie Cookies

Happy Fourth of July! I'm sure your day is full of friends, fun and of course, food!

Personally, I'll be at my mom's for a little Independence Day shindig but I'll be bringing along these delicious Apple Pie Cookies!

An American icon, this classic dessert is the perfect sweet treat to celebrate the 4th of July! 

Though these pie cookie hybrids look tricky their actually very easy to put together! The recipe I used was of the semi-homemade variety but various ingredients used can easily be substituted for made from scratch supplies...i.e. caramel, pie crust, apple pie filling, etc. 

I can't wait to try these again with some homemade supplies! My stepmom makes the most incredible apple pies so if I can take that giant pie and shrink it into portable form I'll consider this a success. Or this could end up being a smidge of a problem for me since I'll be able to have these whenever I want...and able to take them on the go. Decisions decisions.

What I love most about this recipe is that it calls for already made pie dough. Though I bake often I haven't yet tried to make my own pie dough, but I'm sure these cookies would be taken to the next level of amazingness if you happen to use your favorite pie dough recipe!

Putting everything is a snap! Roll out the dough a bit, add some caramel sauce, top it off with the apple pie filling and add the lattice pattern. I should have rolled my dough into more of a square/rectangle shape to make the lattice a little easier but it all worked out.

In case you couldn't tell, it was my first time doing a pie lattice. In retrospect I probably should have just used a knife to cut the pie dough into strips instead of a pizza cutter. I'll have to remember this when I make up another three batches in the morning.

Once the lattice is done it's time to cut out the cookies! To avoid having your cookie cutter or in my case, biscuit cutter, stick in the pie dip the cutter into your egg wash before each cut. I wanted to avoid my pie cookies falling apart when I moved them to a cookie sheet so as I used my biscuit cutter I turned it side-to-side to ensure all the surrounding dough had been cut. After you get all the cookies you can get from your "pie"use a spatula to transfer the cookie to the cookie sheet. The cookies hold their shape pretty well but just be careful as the dough is a bit sticky and you could end up accidentally pulling the lattice off a surrounding cookie! 

All that's left is to egg wash the cookies, sprinkle your Cinna-Nutmeg-Sugar mix on top and pop 'em in the oven. The recipe I used called for 1 Tbsp. nutmeg which I thought was a LOT, so I'm dropping this recipe down to a tsp. The mixture was very nutmeg heavy so hopefully this will help even things out a little bit. Unless you're a nutmeg nut then do your thing!

Oh, and try not to eat them straight out of the oven. My sister couldn't wait and ended up with a mouth full of piping hot apple filling. Not a great time for the roof of her mouth but she said it was worth it. 

If you want to get REAL CRAZY You could sandwich some vanilla ice cream between two of these cookies to make the ultimate Apple Pie a la Mode. Do it! It's a holiday, you deserve it!

Apple Pie Cookies

adapted from Oh Bite It!

Makes about 8-10 cookies (depending on cookie cutter size)

Ingredients:

1 box refrigerated pie crust (2 sheets/crusts per box)

1 can apple pie filling

1/2 cup caramel sauce

1 egg

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. nutmeg

3 Tbsp. flour (for rolling)

Round cookie cutter/biscuit cutter

Parchment paper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay out one of the pie crusts on parchment paper. Sprinkle some flour and roll out your pie crust slightly to make it bigger. To make things easier you might want to roll it into more of a square shape.

2. Pour your caramel sauce onto the pie crust and spread it evenly among the crust.

3. Take your pie filling and coarsely chop it to insure bite sized pieces. Add the chopped filling on top of the caramel crust and spread evenly ensuring that you do not add too much filling.

4. Roll out your second pie crust onto some parchment paper, try to make it the same size as the first pie crust. Cut this crust into stripes as it will be used for the lattice. 

5. Top your pie filling with half your cut strips, the other half will be used to weave in the lattice. If you aren't familiar with this technique this how-to guide from Simply Recipes helped me out.

6. Mix your cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg together in a small bowl.

7. Dip your round cutter into the egg wash and begin cutting out your cookies. Make sure you cut all the way through the dough so your cookies don't stick when you try to transfer them to the cookie sheet. Brush the tops of the cookies with the egg wash and sprinkle your cinna-nutmeg-sugar mixture on top of each cookie.

8. Bake the cookies for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

9. Let cool and get eating!

I'm serious about that ice cream sandwich thing though, if someone tries it please let me know in the comments!

Close Enough: Crispy Cheddar Chicken

I'm Back! and still, I tried...the food is close enough (and delicious). So the top photo is what it is supposed to be, bottom is me being awesome and cooking for you lovely people to see the pictures.

Okay, crispy cheddar chicken sounds kinda weird right? I promise you, I don't know how I never thought of this in the first place....but leave it to Pinterest. it might be a conspiracy how crafty the women of Pinterest are? Where are you women? Teach me your ways!

Patriotic Jello Poke Cupcakes!

Back by popular demand...Cupcake Couture Blog Party...part deux! We had so much fun participating in last month's Cupcake Couture Blog Party that we decided to do it again! The theme this time around was, "Sprinkles Will Fly!" All 24 participating bloggers were sent Bella Cupcake Couture wrappers that were either red, white, blue, had stars or stripes...essentially, Fourth of July-esque themed wrappers. We were again asked to develop a recipe that would match well with our wrappers so be sure to check out what my fellow bloggers came up with!

An American Cupcake in London
Bella Cupcake Couture
Chronicles of a Foodie
Creative Food
Cupcake Project
Cupcakes Take the Cake
Diary of a Mad Hausfrau
Haniela's
Hoosier Homemade
Hungry Happenings
In Katrina's Kitchen
Inside BruCrew Life
Java Cupcake
Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons
Love From the Oven
Make Bake Celebrate
Not Just a Mommy
Not Your Mommas Cookie
Pint Sized Baker
Sugar Swings! Serve Some
The Baking Cup
The Decorated Cookie

This time around we were sent this gorgeous Olivia Swirl Red and White wrapper! They were perfectly simple and I knew they would pair well with any cupcake I decided to make. For the display I recycled some folders in my office and hole punched them to make DIY confetti! The cupcake toppers were just a Fourth of July themed clip art that I printed out, glued to some cardstock, and cut up into nice little squares courtesy of a nifty paper cutter at work! I literally taped the square to a toothpick and voila! A homemade, DIY cupcake topper! It makes me wonder why people buy paper cupcake toppers from Etsy! Super easy to recreate at your own patriotic party!

So now let's talk cupcakes. I decided on Jello Poke Cupcakes because it sounded fun and it was a creative way to bring my color scheme together. I had always heard of poke cakes but I had never attempted them. Also, kids love cupcakes, and kids love jello, and I have two younger brothers who are 9 and 10 who would be devouring the majority of these cupcakes so I figured it was the perfect childhood dessert hybrid! Like I said, these cupcakes are semi-homemade, which means I literally took a box cake mix (sacrilegious I know!) and spruced it up a bit to make something you wouldn't know wasn't made from scratch! Plus, this recipe is very quick to put together so you can feel free to make it a day ahead and your Jello Poke Cupcakes will be ready to serve at your party the next day!

Because I wanted a red, white and blue cupcake, I decided to make a Vanilla cake with Berry Blue Jello. Similar to my frosting for the last Cupcake Couture Blog Party, I used a canned frosting and repurposed it into Strawberry Frosting using powdered Freeze Dried Strawberries. I can't say enough how much I LOVE using freeze dried fruits. They are an actual piece of fruit just freeze dried, so you get that fresh fruit taste without worrying about their juices ruining the consistency of your frosting or cake batter. They're absolutely packed with flavor too! 

After you bake the cupcakes according to the box let them cool for about 10-15 minutes on a cooling rack. This is the fun part...grab a fork and start poking holes into your cupcakes. Don't massacre them though, just poke enough holes in it so that when we pour the Jello on top of them that it gets absorbed into the cupcake and doesn't just roll off the sides like a few of mine did.

I know the cupcakes look a bit messy but trust me, it'll be worth it in the end. After you've spooned your Jello mixture over all the cupcakes pop them in the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes, just to get the gelatin to set a bit. Once everything is nice and cool frost your Jello Cupcakes anyway you please! I piped my frosting on using an open star 1M tip just because I wanted a pretty frosting design. After you've frosted all your cupcakes you can return them to the fridge until you need them, but make sure you sneak a taste of one. You won't be disappointed! The Berry Blue Jello is surprisingly not over sweet in the Vanilla cake, and it just added a different level of moisture to the cake. The Strawberry frosting pairs nicely with both the Vanilla and Berry Blue making the cupcake taste kind of like a fruit shortcake! Yum!

Vanilla Berry Blue Jello Poke Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

makes 24 cupcakes

Vanilla Berry Blue Cupcakes

1 box Vanilla Cake Mix

1 3oz. box Berry Blue Jello (or any blue jello)

1 cup boiling water

Follow the directions on the cake mix to make your cupcakes. 

Once cupcakes are baked and cooled, take a dinner fork and poke holes in all the cupcakes.

Empty Jello mix into bowl and mix with boiling water until the mix is dissolved. 

Spoon the Jello mixture over the top of all of your cupcakes. You don't need to use the whole bowl of Jello but you can if you want to.

Stick cupcakes in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes before frosting.

Strawberry Frosting

1 can Duncan Hines Flavor Creations Frosting Starter (or any Vanilla or Cream Cheese frosting)

1 cup freeze dried strawberries

Dump canned frosting into a stand mixer (or bowl if you're using a hand mixer).

Take your freeze fried strawberries and add them to a food processor. Pulse until fruits are powdered.

Add powder to frosting and beat on low for 1-2 minutes until everything is well blended. You may add more strawberries depending on how fruity you want your frosting.

And now onto the giveaway!

Thanks to our amazing Prize Pack sponsors for their generous donations! Please, visit their websites to see more of their fabulous products!

Bella Cupcake Couture
The Smart Baker
India Tree
Lucks Food Decorating Company
Pretty Party Details

To enter to WIN this Prize Pack, simply fill out the entry form below. Contest opens June 25, 2013 at 7:00AM PST and closes July 1, 2013 at 11:59PM PST. One winner will be chosen and announced within 48 hours of the contest ending. Winner will be contacted via email by betsy@javacupcake.com and will have 48 hours to claim their prize. If they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. This contest is open to residents worldwide.

A winner has been chosen! 

Congratulations to Becky Nelson from Hampton, VA! 

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Close Enough: Skinny Tuna Cakes

The top is what "Skinny Tuna Cakes" are supposed to look like, according to Pinterest (The people who post these recipes are so creative and clearly have A LOT of time on their hands, I can't even). The bottom is what happened when I cooked the tuna cake. I am sparing you by posting the only picture that managed to look close to the inspiration btw, but ....look; close enough.

Strawberry Banana Orange Smoothie Cupcakes

It's a Cupcake Couture Blog Party y'all! We were invited by Betsy Eves of Java Cupcake to participate in this wonderful Cupcake Couture Blog Party and giveaway along with 20 other food bloggers. How cool is that?! You can find all the participating bloggers' recipes below...that's 20 new cupcake recipes!

An American Cupcake in London
Bella Cupcake Couture
Chronicles of a Foodie
Crazy for Crust
Creative Food
Cupcakes Take the Cake
Diary of a Mad Hausfrau
Eat Your Heart Out
Haniela's
Hoosier Homemade
In Katrina's Kitchen
Inside BruCrew Life
Java Cupcake
Love From the Oven
Make Bake Celebrate
Not Just a Mommy
Sugar Daze
Sugar Swings! Serve Some
The Baked Equation
The Baking Cup
The Decorated Cookie

All the participating bloggers were sent a beautiful set of cupcake wrappers by Bella Cupcake Couture and were asked to create a recipe to match our assigned wrappers. I received the "Hannah" wrappers, which features a fabulous pink and citrus floral pattern.

I was racking my brain for a couple weeks trying to figure out what would go with such a vibrant print, all I could think about was what cupcake would be pink and orange. Eventually I started playing with the idea of strawberries and orange and somehow it turned into an experiment into recreating a smoothie as a cupcake!

I'm tempted to call these diet cupcakes. Or at least semi diet. Definitely semi-homemade though.

I used a yellow cake mix and mixed it with Orange Juice, Orange Creme Light Yoplait Yogurt, Eggs and added some powdered freeze dried Orange Slices. That's it! No butter or oil or water! So it's totally diet friendly, I mean, I used LIGHT yogurt for crying out loud. As you can tell, I'm trying to achieve an orange flavored cupcake, but the frosting definitely takes this cupcake into the smoothie side of the world.

I used Duncan Hines Frosting Creations Frosting Starter just so I could have a neutral flavor base for the frosting. You can go Vanilla or Cream Cheese but I was trying to avoid making the frosting too sweet.

Instead of using the flavor packet companion to the Frosting Creations I used freeze dried strawberries and bananas that I got at Trader Joes. I figured I could throw them in the food processor and make my own flavor powder made out of real fruit.

Using the freeze dried fruits instead of fresh fruit makes it easier to incorporate the flavors into the frosting without compromising its integrity. When you add too many "wet" components into a frosting you need to counteract it by adding more powdered sugar to thicken it back up. Then it turns into a balancing game of adding wet and dry until you get the consistency you want, but end up with a frosting that is way too sweet!

I threw the fruits into a food processor until they were a fine powder and I beat it into the can of frosting until everything was combined. Even though I used freeze dried fruits, I still had that fresh fruit feel to the frosting, like being able to see the strawberry seeds and get the crunchy little texture from them.

I think all the colors of the cupcake ended up matching the wrapper quite nicely! All the flavors went well together too, the orange cake with the strawberry banana frosting reminded me of the good ol' days sipping on an Orange Julius at the mall. I still think it's safe to call these semi-diet cupcakes. I even topped them with a trio of freeze dried fruits!

Strawberry Banana Orange Smoothie Cupcakes
adapted from Yellow Bliss Road

Orange Cupcakes
1 box Yellow Cake
1 container Orange Creme Yoplait Light Yogurt
1 cup Orange Juice
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Freeze Dried Oranges

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat cake mix, yogurt, orange juice and eggs on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium high for 1 minute. Cut up or throw the freeze dried oranges in a food processor. Add to batter and beat for another minute.

Line cupcake pan with liners. Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Strawberry Banana Frosting
1 container Duncan Hines Flavor Creations Frosting Starter (or a white frosting of your choice)
1/2 cup Freeze Dried Strawberries
1/2 cup Freeze Dried Bananas

Empty frosting container into mixing bowl.

Add strawberries and bananas to food processor and pulse until both fruits are ground into a fine powder.

Add combined powder to frosting and beat on low for 1-2 minutes until strawberries and bananas are incorporated into the frosting. Taste to make sure it tastes as fruity as you'd like, if not, continue to add more strawberries and bananas 1/4 cup at a time.

And now onto the giveaway!

Thanks to our amazing Prize Pack sponsors for their generous donations! Please, visit their websites to see more of their fabulous products!
Bella Cupcake Couture
Cupcake Stand
Java Cupcake
Lil' Punkin Creations
Sweets & Treats Boutique
To enter to WIN this Prize Pack, simply fill out the entry form below. Contest opens May 21, 2013 at 7:00 PST and closes May 27, 2013 at 11:59PM PST. One winner will be chosen and announced within 24 hours of the contest ending. Winner will be contacted via email to claim their prize. This contest is open to residents of the USA and Europe only.

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Guest Post: Ariel's Favorite Open Face Chicken Sammich

Today we have a guest post from one of my best friends who I've known since I was about eight years old, Ariel Tolefree! I asked her to write a little bio on herself so you all can get to know her!

"23 years old with an attitude. I try to change the way youth and their parents think about the value of education by day and listen to womanist podcasts and buy lipstick by night. Thanks to Ashley I've become a foodie who is learning to like cooking more and more."

I Heart Macarons

via Cajulicious

Macarons are becoming quite the trend. With reports of the cupcake bubble being popped these delightful little french cookies could be making their way to the top of the food craze chain.

If you're unfamiliar with a macaron it's important to know the difference between "macarons" and "macaroons".

Sinigang Chicken Wings

As a kid I would always spend part of my Summer at my Nana's house. My sister and I would wake up every morning to the smell of a pot of Sinigang, some Tapa, and other various dishes she'd cook up. I'm half filipino and we like to eat like there's no tomorrow! There would literally be a feast ready for the family staying with her. Definitely one of the most delicious times of my life...

Peanut Butter Jelly Potato Chip Thumbprint Cookies

Happy Belated National Peanut Butter Day!

May I introduce to you one of the craziest cookie recipes I've ever seen or made...

Peanut Butter Jelly Potato Chip Thumbprints!

Circus Animal Cookie Truffles

Did you ever eat those Mothers Circus Animal Cookies as a kid? Those addicting little pink and white cookies were a staple at my house. I whipped up these Circus Animal Cookie Truffles a couple weeks ago and they were an absolute hit with my friends!

Reptar Bars!

"Reptar Bar, Reptar Bar, the candy bar supreme. The candy bar that turns your tongue G-R-E-E-E-E-N!"

I am a child of the 90's. I was raised on the best cartoons...aka Nicktoons! One of my absolute favorite shows growing up was Rugrats, which inspired today's recipe: REPTAR BARS!

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a real life addiction to cookies. It's almost ridiculous how much I love them. I tried to give them up for lent one year but that just led to a full on cookie overdose and me reasoning that Nilla Wafers don't count as cookies because they're called wafers. It was pretty bad.

Though I'm not quite as cookie crazy as I used to be, I still absolutely love baking them up and sharing them. My sister on the other hand likes to claim half the batch for her own personal stash. These Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip cookies I made over the weekend definitely had her wanting to keep ALL the cookies for herself. Maybe the cookie addiction is genetic!