Wilton Buttercream Icing

adapted from: Wilton

4 cups (1 pound) powdered sugar
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 - 4 tablespoons water

Cream shortening and vanilla until smooth.
Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water until desired consistency is reached.
Beat well.

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting

Source: Hershey's

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter.
Stir in cocoa.
Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
Add small amount of additional milk, if needed.
Stir in vanilla.

Coconut Buttercream Icing

4 cups (1 pound) powdered sugar
1 stick of butter (room temperature)
2 - 4 tablespoons milk (or any other liquid of choice)
2 teaspoons coconut extract

Beat butter and coconut extract until smooth.
Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and milk until desired consistency is reached.
Beat well.
Frost cupcakes.
Dip frosted tops in flaked coconut.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

2–4 cups powdered sugar
2 sticks of butter (room temperature)
4 - 6 tablespoons water (or any other liquid of choice)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

Cream butter and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for about 3 to 5 minutes until smooth and whipped. With the mixer on low, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water (or any other liquid) one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Beat well until combined.

Marshmallow Icing

1 stick butter (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
7 oz. container of marshmallow fluff

Cream together butter and vanilla until fluffy.
Add powdered sugar and beat well.
Add marshmallow fluff and beat until combined.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 8oz. block cream cheese (room temperature)
1 stick butter (room temperature)
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla.
Add powdered sugar one cup at a time.
Beat well.
Store in refrigerator.

Whoopie Pies

I was recruited to make something for the church bake sale by my mother-in-law. She told me to make something easy, but as everyone knows, I don't do easy. I wanted to do a trial run before the actual bake sale since I have never made whoopie pies. I had been eying a bunch of whoopie pie recipes and I came across this one when I was flipping through the Good Housekeeping: The Great Bake Sale Cookbook while I was at Barnes & Noble one night last week. This recipe looked pretty easy and it was. I followed the recipe exactly. These were delicious and will hopefully "WOW" my mother-in-law and sell out at the bake sale next weekend.

Recipe from: Good Housekeeping

Spicy Chipotle Beef and Bean Chili

My husband has been asking me to make chili for the past month, but it wasn't chili time yet. Now that it's almost fall and the temperatures have dropped, it's chili time. This recipe is spicy and hearty and packed with beef and beans. If you like your chili with a kick, then this recipe is for you. It's perfect for a cool fall day while watching a Penn State football game.

Spicy Chipotle Beef and Bean Chili

adapted from: Hanover

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 large can (40 oz.) kidney beans

1 large can (29 oz.) tomato sauce

2 small cans (15 oz.) chopped tomatoes with chipotle peppers

1 small can (15 oz.) black beans

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ancho chili powder

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon onion salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla strips for garnish (optional)

Directions

Brown ground beef with peppers, red pepper flakes, and half the garlic.

Drain ground beef mixture.

Add to crock pot with rest of ingredients.

Cook on high 1 hour.

Cook on low an additional 2 hours.

Serve topped with shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla strips.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

I love to cook, but during the week I like to make quick and easy dinners. So again this is another easy recipe. Some may call it cheating, but others know how hectic life can get and relish an easy recipe. We've been on a chicken kick lately. We were craving stir fry, but I honestly didn't feel like chopping all those vegetables, so I opted for sweet and sour.

Ingredients:

1 pound of chicken breast, cleaned and chopped into pieces

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup pineapple, chopped

sweet and sour sauce (I used House of Tsang brand)

salt and pepper

Directions

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Saute chicken in wok over medium heat until no longer pink.

Add peppers and saute until slightly browned.

Add pineapple and sauce and heat about 3 minutes.

Serve over white rice.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken + Ham + Cheese = Delicious

Oh Chicken Cordon Bleu, how I love you. This is another easy and delicious meal. You can adapt this recipe and roll up the chicken with whatever ingredients your little heart desires. Pancetta, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, Laughing Cow cheese, bacon, peppers, ricotta, to name a few.

Ingredients:

4 - 6 chicken breasts

4 - 6 slices Swiss cheese

4 - 6 slices cooked ham

1/4 cup honey mustard

1/2 cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat baking pan with cooking spray.

Clean and pound out chicken breasts to 1/4 thick.

Salt and pepper chicken.

Brush both sides of chicken with honey mustard.

Place one slice of cheese and one slice of ham on bottom side of chicken.

Roll up and secure with toothpick.

Dip in bread crumbs and place in pan.

Cook for 30 minutes.

Steak and Loaded "Faked" Potatoes

My wonderful husband grilled up some London broil for dinner. He marinated it for about 24 hours and boy was it delicious and tender. And he cooked it perfectly—medium rare to medium. I was in charge of sides. I opened a can of green beans and sprinkled them with some Parmesan cheese just to fancy them up a bit. I had some leftover bacon and sour cream to use up and I was planning on making some type of potatoes so I just threw it all together. I boiled the potatoes, fried up the bacon, added some butter, and sour cream, and there you have it—Loaded "Faked" Potatoes! Bacon does make everything better.

Loaded "Faked" Potatoes
Ingredients:

4 - 6 small russet potatoes (cut into quarters)

6 slices bacon (fried)

1/4 cup shredded cheese

2 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil potatoes until soft, but not mushy.

Drain potatoes.

Salt and pepper potatoes to taste.

Top with cheese, butter, sour cream, and bacon.

Chorizo and Green Pepper Pizza

I know I said this before, but I love Mexican food. I cook it as much as I can without my husband getting sick of it. I am newer to chorizo. It is very hard to find in NEPA. I've only made it twice before. I think I prefer the Mexican variety, but I guess it depends on what you're making. I used the Spanish variety in a clam bake and the Mexican in breakfast burritos. This time we wanted to do something different with Mexican chorizo, so we chose pizza. The sweetness of the green peppers complemented the saltiness of the chorizo. We topped it with some salsa for heat and sour cream to cool it down. It was a nice balance. I will be making this again soon. Next time I will try some different types of peppers, maybe some poblanos or red and yellow bells, and maybe a Mexican cheese such as cotija or queso fresco. If you haven't tried queso fresco, you don't know what you're missing. And I might throw an egg or two on top.

Ingredients:

2 pizza crusts (I used Pillsbury—don't judge me!)

Olive oil

Pepper (I used a green bell pepper)

2 links of Mexican chorizo

2 cups shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)

Salsa and sour cream on the side

Directions:

Preheat oven. (Temperature determined by pizza crust directions.)

Remove chorizo from casing and squeeze into frying pan.

Cook on medium heat.

Chop pepper and add to chorizo.

Cook until chorizo is browned and peppers are done.

Drain mixture.

Roll out pizza crust onto pizza pans.

Drizzle with olive oil.

Place chorizo and pepper mixture on top.

Top with cheese.

Bake according to pizza crust directions.

Top with salsa and sour cream.

Sunflower Cake

September is a busy month in my family. There are a lot of birthdays and that means a lot of cakes for me to make. My mom was very specific with what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday: a carrot cake with cream cheese icing decorated with sunflowers. I cheated and used a boxed cake mix because I had to make three cakes this week and I didn't feel like grating carrots. I did, however, make my own cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing
1 8oz. block of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
5 - 6 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and beat well. Store in refrigerator.

Pirate Ship cake

I was commissioned to make a birthday cake for my cousin, Joey, who recently tuned 15. I was only given two words: vanilla and pirates. I spent a few hours last week making skulls and crossbones for the cake and all of them broke. So I came up with plan B: a pirate ship cake. The cake was two-layers of vanilla cake with marshmallow filling and vanilla buttercream icing. The birthday boy loved it, and so did everyone else. Not even a crumb remained. I used my go-to vanilla cake and icing recipes, which I've posted before, and I tried out a new recipe for marshmallow icing. It was delicious and very sticky, so it worked well between the layers. I don't know how well it would work to ice an entire cake, though.

Marshmallow Icing

1 stick butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

7 oz. container of marshmallow fluff

Cream together butter and vanilla until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat well. Fold in marshmallow fluff.

Tandy Kake & C.M.P. Cupcakes

My little cousin's birthday was this week. She's 28—only two years from the dark side. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, I was guessing she would say something ladybug-related, since she loves ladybugs. She completely surprised me when she said vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing. BORING. But then she added "If you can make them taste like Kandy Kakes that would be great." For those of you who don't live in the Northeast, Tastykake Kandy Kakes are little vanilla cakes, topped with peanut butter, and enrobed in chocolate. If you like peanut butter and chocolate, then these are for you! I also topped a few with marshmallow fluff turning them into C.M.P. (Chocolate, Marshmallow, Peanut Butter) Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Vanilla cupcakes

I used this recipe from fellow nestie Loves to Eat

Peanut Butter (I used Peter Pan.)

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount of additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

Directions:

Bake vanilla cupcakes.

Cool completely.

Frost with a thin layer of peanut butter.

Put in fridge for 30 minutes.

Top the peanut butter with chocolate frosting.

C.M.P. Cupcakes

Follow directions above. Top the peanut butter with marshmallow fluff before icing with chocolate frosting.