Cake In A Cup

This is my first recipe I have made following a request from a friend. She wanted me to make a cake in a cup....you know the ones, they are all over Pinterest and other cooking websites where you make and bake a cake in a cup in the microwave! Here is my BIG problem....I hate cooking in a microwave, and to me baking is not real baking if it does not involve an oven! Call me a snob, or a weirdo who reads and believes too many negative articles about cooking in microwaves, but I just don't like it!

Don't get me wrong, microwaves have their place, and I'm still not sure how I spent so many of my childhood years without a microwave (my parents first one was my microwave that they inherited when I moved to California....I was 27!).  They are great for reheating....just don't reheat in plastic or I freak out...for defrosting etc.....but baking a cake....a whole cake in a minute just seems wrong, very wrong!

However, this friend had asked, maybe even challenged me, so I couldn't refuse.

I actually set out convinced that it would not work and would be an utter failure....however I was proved wrong, the very first time!
The recipe I used I adapted from the most traditional white cake recipe which follows the golden rules for baking in England.  You use equal amounts of egg, sugar, flour and butter, then add a little baking powder, mix and bake......very simple!  That is until you try and apply that same measurement using US cups which results in some very crispy, buttery, concave, disks which should resemble cupcakes (yes that actually happened the first time I baked in the US...disaster! Insert-all Americans laughing at me for being so stupid, and hopefully all British people reading this thinking "why would that be a problem!"

Anyway, after a few cupcake disasters, and many cake triumphs both in England and in the USA, here is my Cake In A Cup recipe:

In a small bowl, add all the ingredients

mix with an electric hand mixer

Spoon into a cup/mug/small bowl, ensuring the cup is no more than half full of cake batter.

Microwave on full power for 1 minute.  Timings will vary depending on the microwave power, we have a powerful one so you may need to cook it for a little longer.  I suggest you cook it for 1 minute, then in 10 second intervals as required. 

Obviously the cake will cook fully but will not turn brown at all, to ensure the cake is fully cooked insert a toothpick into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is cooked.

Allow cake to cool for about 5 mins, enjoy!

White Chocolate Cake

Yield: 2 Cakes, which you can share with a friend, loved one or eat them both yourself...we won't judge!

Ingredients:

1/4 C butter, softened
1/3 C sugar
1/2 C flour
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 drops vanilla extract

For Lemon Cake add the following ingredients:

juice 1/2 small lemon (add to the ingredients and mix well)


1 tbsp lemon curd (when the cake batter is in the cup, make a small hole in the batter and spoon in the lemon curd)

For white chocolate cake:

add white chocolate pieces or chips before cooking

For double chocolate cake:

add 1/2 tsp cocoa powder to batter and stir well,

then add chocolate chips, chocolate pieces or a spoonful of nutella to the center of the mixture before cooking

Directions:

In a small bowl, add all the ingredients, mix with an electric hand mixer.  Spoon into a cup/mug/small bowl, ensuring the cup is no more than half full of cake batter.

Microwave on full power for 1 minute.  Timings will vary depending on the microwave power, we have a powerful one so you may need to cook it for a little longer.  I suggest you cook it for 1 minute, then in 10 second intervals as required.

Obviously the cake will cook fully but will not turn brown at all, to ensure the cake is fully cooked insert a toothpick into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is cooked.

Allow cake to cool for about 5 mins, enjoy!

The cakes are best eaten within 30 mins of cooking, while they are still warm!

Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breasts

This a is recipe inspired by one my Mum makes.  It is very simple and quick to make!

The combination of flavors is delicious and the filling keeps the chicken moist and the prosciutto adds a crispness! We were delighted with the results.

Here is the step by step guide:

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 C pesto

10 slices prosciutto

skewers

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Sonoma Chicken

My great friend Deborah made a dish she named Sonoma Chicken a few weeks ago and it looked delicious! I decided to steal it, add my own twist and post it here!!  I give her full credit for the initial idea, she is a creative cooking genius and she doesn't even know it!

In exchange for my unashamedly stealing her recipe let me tell you a little about Deborah!  She is one of my best friends, she was my bridesmaid, she is married to a British guy, we bonded over confusing intercontinental 'lost in translation' life experiences and without her I would have been even more confused!  She helps me understand my American husband and I help her understand her British husband.  She is the absolute opposite personality to me which is why we get on so well.  She is an incredible wife, mother, friend and event planner......just to name a few of her qualities!

Check out some of her work here A Lady & Her Englishman



This dish is fast, easy and healthy and relatively inexpensive!


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Tri-Tip Marinade

I love tri-tip! I LOVE meat and don't think I could ever be a vegetarian! I sometimes wonder how I lived for 27 years in the UK without it!  For those of you not living in the western United States here is a link to find out more about tri-tip.
Tri-tip information

It is delicious, moist, easy and when cooked right, melts in the mouth!

I decided to make a marinade for the tri-tip, but couldn't find anything that seemed to take my fancy, so I do what I usually do in these situations and made up the recipe.  This was a huge risk, as Captain America makes great marinades for steak and tri-tip, and he was the one with the craving which I was potentially going to ruin!

I think it turned out really well, Captain America disagrees....he liked it but personally prefers his marinades more salty and less sweet.  I decided to post it anyway and let you decide!  Be warned this is a savory marinade but it airs more on the sweeter side than the smoky BBQ traditional marinades...but try it and see what you think!  I would love your feedback!

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Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispy Treats

What happens when a dear friend who is recovering from surgery has a major craving for rice krispy treats......I get inspired to make her some.



Homemade rice krispy treats are so much nicer than store bought ones, in my opinion.  They are also so quick and easy to make that it's almost as easy to make them as to buy them......and it's lots of fun!

These can be made in any shape....I did flowers and hearts, but the original recipe I saw was for Valentines Day so they were chocolate dipped hearts!  Any shape tastes great so be creative based on which cookie cutters you have available.


I used a few of my favorite baking gadgets during this which are well worth checking out

Crate & Barrel-Silicone baking mat

Crate & Barrel - A Year of Cookie Cutters

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Valentine's Day

Valentine's day has always been a hard day for me.  Having been single for most of 32 years I always struggled with this day.  With wanting to be a part of it, to be able to participate with everyone else, to lavish love on my 'someone special', but for nearly all of those 32 years I was single and waiting, hoping and trying to have a positive attitude about it all.

To make the day worse, it is followed very closely by my birthday, yet another reminder that I was a year older and still waiting, hoping!

Some years were easier, and I found other ways to celebrate; girls nights, Singles Awareness Day (LOL!), making fun crafts and baking with kids, to name a few.  

Other years were more challenging and I just wanted to hide from the world on this day as it was like rubbing salt in a very raw, open wound. I remember one profoundly painful day when I lived in London, everywhere I went that day I saw more red roses, boxes of chocolates, smiling couples, kissing, happiness.....the more I saw the more I wept, it was all too much. It was the pain of longing.

This year is different! 

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Captain America's Stuffed Bell Peppers

Todd has been telling me about this recipe for months, and finally he got the time to make it and it was well worth the wait! This is healthy, tasty and simple!

Todd is amazing in the kitchen and this is another masterpiece. He created it from scratch too....not a recipe in sight!

This version is made with red and yellow bell peppers, but he insists that red and green work the best.  You can also switch up the meat and use ground beef instead, but we prefer the leaner turkey option!

Enjoy!

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Valentines Shortbread

Captain America is allergic to chocolate, except white, which can make any Valentines Day delights a little tricky. Instead of just buying him a gift I wanted to make him something special that was more personal and something that he could actually eat!

He adores shortbread, but rarely allows himself such a treat as he works hard to keep his Captain America physique intact.  However, this is Valentines Day and he deserves to be spoilt!

Seeing as this is our first Valentines day as a married couple I wanted it to be special, I'm sure the novelty will wear off over time but right now I have the time to put in a little more effort so I'm making the most of it and spoiling him rotten!

I found the original recipe on Bakergirl, she has a great blog with all sorts of fabulous recipes - so check her out!

Again, not to sound predictable here, but this recipe is the easiest cookie recipe ever, and the results are delicious!



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The Redemption of the Brussels Sprout

I always like to champion the underdog and this is the moment I will redeem the Brussels sprout! I know, I know "they're horrible" I hear you cry! Wait, until AFTER you have tried this recipe and I guarantee your mind will be changed!

Most of you will have eaten boiled to death sprouts as there is a common misconception that in order to make them edible you have to boil them for hours, but the opposite is actually true, you hardly cook them at all so they retain their crunchiness and then the bitter taste and soggy texture is nowhere to be found.

This, as with nearly all my recipes, is one of the easiest things ever, it literally takes longer to prepare the sprouts than it does to cook them.

Here's what you need to do:

Chop off the base of the stem of the sprout and remove the outer leaves, chop each sprout in half and rinse with cold water.  This takes forever, but is well worth the effort!

Fill a large pot with cold water and add the sprouts and a little salt, bring the water to boil and cook for 2 mins.  

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Biscotti

I love biscotti! Even before I met Todd, I loved it.  It is one of the easiest biscuit recipes I have ever made, and although it is a little time consuming you can make a huge batch and they last for a long time.....if they don't all get eaten first!

After Todd and I started dating, I wanted to learn the top tips from my new Sicilian family about how to improve these cookies, whole aniseed was the key I was told.  Since then I have continued to use it and found the following recipe which makes a delicious cookie.

One of the most terrifying things, as a new member to a Sicilian family is to find out that your Mother in Law makes AMAZING biscotti....apparently these are just as good, according to my husband, and we all know he doesn't give his seal of approval easily.

I made these again this Christmas and they were a huge success, demands were made for more and some of the family were requesting the recipe! I think they passed the test!

The original recipe adds cranberries and pistachios.  They are delicious.  I have also added almonds and chocolate chips, but our personal favorite is 'original' recipe biscotti with almonds.

For the link to the original recipe click here, Biscotti with cranberries & pistachios

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Chicken & Quinoa Florentine Bake

This is an adaptation of a recipe I found on Better Homes & Gardens website.  I find this site has some of the best recipes primed for adaptation!

We have made it with pasta, as the original recipe states, and it is delicious, but I wanted something with less carbs and more protein and quinoa is just that!

Quinoa is one of those 'in' ingredients right now, there are recipes available on all the coolest sites, but "why quinoa?" I hear you cry! So here is a link to tell you all you need to know, well at least some of the basics! Quinoa

We recently made this for a weekend away, well actually I made about double the amount any normal human can eat, as usual, so we decided to save the second batch and have it a few days later.  It kept really well, refrigerated obviously, and reheated really well too, so bear that in mind as you will want it again and again!

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Spicy Snapper

I like to make up recipes!  I hate following them.  Here is one I created last night, and we really enjoyed it so I decided to share it with you.

I had some snapper, and when it comes to fish, I'm not an expert by any means.  I know how to cook salmon well, but all other fish elude me.  I googled some recipes for inspiration, as usual, but nothing took my fancy.

The thing about fish is that it's very easy to overwhelm the lightness of the fish with too much flavor, something I have 'successfully' manage to do many times. Seeing that Todd has seen straight through my "if in doubt smother it in pesto" way of handling fish, I needed to find something better and different.....and I think I have found it.

If you are not a fan of hot and spicy foods, don't let the title put you off - it is flavorful without being hot!

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Crab Dip

Growing up in a land-locked part of the UK I never ate much crab.....but then I married a Sicilian and apparently crab is a staple ingredient of every Sicilians diet!  Every Christmas Eve is celebrated with a seafood smorgasbord, with fresh crab being one of the main dishes.

Trying to find my way in this new culture, I turned to the only place I know to find good recipes.....the Internet!  Be it Google, Pinterest or a fellow blogger, I trawl the Internet searching for inspiration and good recipes.

This one I found from the infamous Pioneer Woman, she appears to be this amazing lady who cooks like a genius!  I am inspired by her, all her recipes I have tried so far are wonderful, and she writes them in a similar style to me, easy going, to the point with an ounce of sarcasm and wit!  I aspire to be even half the blogger she is!

Here is my adaptation of her recipe for Crab Dip....I have tried it twice now, as it was brought back the second time by popular demand!  As with all my recipes, simple and quick and delicious is the key with me, and this is all of those!

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Easiest Banana Bread in the whole world!

We LOVE Banana Bread and we often get the chance to make it as we regularly buy bananas and let them get beyond their best so they either get thrown out or salvage and made into delicious bread!

We recently purchased a Vitamix.....and I am in love with it! I have wanted one for a while after I saw a couple of friends using them and realized the full extent of their capabilities. I could go on but I will not bore you with the details here.....but I will regularly use them in recipes as they speed up the preparation time enormously.

In the cookbook that accompanied our Vitamix, I found this wonderful recipe for banana bread.  It is the quickest and easiest recipe I have ever used, and it actually takes longer to get out all the ingredients and wash up than it does to make the bread!

Also, this recipe has hardly any fat or sugar in it, and uses whole wheat flour so it is a very healthy alternative to other cakes and breads....and did I mention that it's delicious!!!
I wanted to share it with you as it really is too delicious and needs to be shared with the world!
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Todd's Grilled Lamb Chops with Italian Style Herb Potatoes

I mentioned that Captain America can cook.....well as it's a Saturday night and he hasn't worked all day HE is cooking.....so I am taking the pictures, writing it up and sipping on a glass of Zinfandel waiting for my dinner! It smells delicious, and of course will taste much better because food ALWAYS tastes better when you don't cook it!

Todd is a perfectionist when it comes to cooking, his attention to detail is second to none and with exceptional taste buds and sense of smell it brings out his inner melancholy and results in two things; 1) delicious food like the kind you find in the best restaurants and 2) I have to leave the kitchen because are cooking styles are POLAR opposite, we drive each other crazy and usually end up arguing!

One day I hope we are able to get over this and cook harmoniously together but for now we just have to keep out of the kitchen while the other is cooking and enjoy the results!
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Chicken Picatta

Not many things in the kitchen scare me but cooking Italian food is one of them.  

There are 2 reasons why I am terrified when cooking Italian food, 1) Captain America (my husband, Todd!) is Sicilian AND 2) he is an amazing cook.  There are some great benefits to this...I don't always have to cook and I won't die from the results, and I get to be part of numerous family holidays which are centered around some of the best food I have ever tasted! On the downside, cooking for Sicilians is terrifying, and my husband especially as he has the nose of a bloodhound and his taste buds are second to none.

So just know that any recipe that makes it onto here has had the 'Captain America' seal of approval, which DOES NOT come easily!!

Last night I decided to take a risk and cook Chicken Picatta....we had just been given a HUGE bag of lemons from my Mother in Law and I wanted to do more with them than make a pretty display (very chic, darling!)

I found the following recipe on Better Homes & Gardens one of my favorite sites for inspiring recipes

Obviously, I then didn't really follow the recipe and adapted it to suit!

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Mushroom Soup

I LOVE soup! Especially in Winter, when the days are dull and dreary, the light is fading and all I want to do is snuggle under a cozy blanket with my hot man in front of a fireplace!

Unfortunately, my hot man is out at work all day and our apartment doesn't have a fireplace, so I have to make do with the soup and the blanket...at least until he gets home!

This week I was inspired to make mushroom soup as the grocery store had a large selection of mushrooms on special offer (or as American's say "on sale"), and I love a good bargain so the rest was easy.

I then Googled some recipes, MANY of which had cream in, so I couldn't use those as my hubby is allergic to most dairy products, I kept searching and found some inspiration, but those of you who know me well know I hate to follow recipes, unless I am baking.  I like to glean information and then adapt it to suit my needs, ingredient availability, and generally how bothered/hungry I am!
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