April 7: National Coffee Cake and Beer Day

Today was a delicious day. I found a really easy recipe that resulted in light and fluffy coffee cake! Of course I tweaked it and added more cinnamon.

JazzyJ's Light And Fluffy Cinnamon-y Coffee Cake:

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla

For the crumb top:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon

 Directions:
1. Mix all the ingredients together for the crumb topping and set aside.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in one bowl.
3. In another bowl, beat the egg, sugar and butter together until soft and fluffy. Mix in the milk and vanilla.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
5. Sprinkle the crumb topping on top. 
6. Pour into a 9" by 9" inch pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

That was it! It was easy. I wasn't expecting it to be so light and fluffy, which was a nice surprise.

And since it's also National Beer Day...

Just kidding though. I actually hate beer. I didn't drink this one.

But Christopher Henry on the other hand...

April 6: National Caramel Popcorn Day

So while this isn't totally related to today, it's a funny story. You all know how I like funny stories.

So I went to the grocery store today to buy necessities (like 50% off Easter candy!). I also bought some healthy food. Anyways, I go to checkout in an "Express" lane that says "Approximately 12 items or less." Perfect. I have exactly 10 items. This shouldn't take long at all. WRONG. I failed to notice that the guy in front of me was buying about 12 individual chickens, and about 20 other items. UGH. But it was too late to retreat and go to a different check out. I was stuck.

This man continues to be very particular about how his items are bagged. You can put two individual chickens in a bag but no more. All the bags have to be paper. You can only put food items together. He does not want his beer in a bag, but he wants an extra bag to put the beer in later. I felt bad for the cashier helping him. She finally gets him all rung up and low and behold, he spends forever counting out the correct change.

Finally it was my turn. Why am I telling you this? Because I was so frustrated by the time it was actually my turn to be helped that I failed to notice, that somehow one of his items ended up in my bag. (Okay, maybe I was a little too preoccupied making sure my Easter candy was 50% off). I get home and see a carton of milk. I AM ALLERGIC TO MILK! I don't drink milk. I only drink almond milk. I don't even know the last time I had regular milk. At first I laughed about it until I realized that I actually paid for this milk. Great. I paid for some milk I am not going to drink. And it was low-fat! Who even drinks low-fat? But at least it was organic. I mean, if I were to drink regular milk, I would buy organic milk. But I don't drink milk. So now I'm stuck with a carton of low-fat organic milk which I'm not going to use. If you happen to live near me, and want some low-fat milk, it's all yours! Please stop by and get it. Why couldn't I have accidentally bought someone's cookies or candy or something yummy like that?

Anyways, check out this caramel popcorn recipe!

Here it is! In all it's delicious-ness!

JazzyJ's Snazzy Caramel Popcorn Recipe:

Ingredients:
- 2 bags popped pop corn
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

The sauce cooking.

 Instructions:
 1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Pop the popcorn and place it in one or more large and shallow baking dishes.
2. Melt the butter and add the brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Mix until well blended. Let boil for 4 minutes without stirring.
3. Add the baking soda and vanilla and stir. Remove from heat.
4. Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn, stirring so it is well mixed.
5. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
6. Let cool, break into pieces, and enjoy!

Before cooking.

This. Was. Delicious. Seriously. It was really good. I couldn't stop eating it. I will be making this again. It beats popcorn any day.  It was easy even if it did take a little while to cook. It was worth the wait.

April 5: National Deep Dish Pizza Day, Happy Easter, and Allison's Birthday

First of all, a big shout out to my friend Allison! Today is her birthday and she is 23! She was one of the people who witnessed my epic pants ripping story. And she stayed friends with me. She will be up visiting me in a few weeks so hopefully I can get her to guest blog for me! She has a degree in English and a minor in Creative Writing so she is really good at writing. I had to write a poem for my math class once. Poem for math? It was weird. She helped me, and we ended up winning 3rd prize and $25! It was one of the funniest things to happen in my life. Maybe one day I will post our poem up here for the world to admire.

Here is a picture of the birthday cake I made her last year on her birthday. It went down in the history of best birthday cakes ever. It's rainbow on the inside and it's rainbow on the outside and it only took like 12 different bowls and 3 hours, but dang was it good.

Anyways, today I made deep dish pizza but then I realized I needed to bake something to celebrate Easter. I've been seeing a lot of pictures and posts online lately about making Rice Krispy Easter eggs and hiding m&ms or other candies inside. I realized this would either be worthy of a pinterest fail, or it might actually work. It worked! But I do love looking at pictures of pinterest fails!

JazzyJ's Deep Dish Pesto Cheese Chicken Pizza Recipe (trying saying that 3 times fast!):

Ingredients:

For Dough:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 2 cups flour
- various "green" herbs

Note: When I saw various "green" herbs, I am not taking about putting pot in your pizza dough. It's not that kind of blog and I'm not that kind of chef/baker. I wasn't really sure what type of herbs to put in my pizza dough so I added in approximately 1/4 teaspoon each of the following: rosemary, sage, cilantro, and oregano. It tasted good to me and it looked and sounded fancy.

I made my dough in the bread machine (remember I have a love of bread machines). Put the ingredients in the bread machine in the order recommended by your bread machine manufacturer and select dough cycle. When done, place on a lightly floured surface and allow to rise for about 30 minutes.

Note: Mom - I noticed you have two bread machines and I would like one when I move out. That is all. Thank you.

For Pizza:
- 1 lb. chicken - need 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons garlic powder, 2 tablespoons olive oil to cook it in)

- Various "green" herbs (for a total of about 1 tablespoon)
- 3/4 cup pesto
- 1/4 olive oil
- 1/2 cup cheese (whatever type you want, I only had Parmesan, so that's what I used)

I went to defrost the chicken and the only frozen chicken I had left, weighed about 5 pounds. It was huge. I couldn't even get the wrapper off of it for the longest time. It was a struggle. The wrapper was frozen between a fold of the chicken and no matter how much I tugged and wiggled, it wouldn't budge. I did eventually get the wrapping off the chicken and after defrosting in my microwave for about 30 minutes, I was ready to cook it!

I cooked the chicken in the olive oil, cinnamon, and garlic powder until well cooked. Yes, I know, I included cinnamon in it. Do you expect anything less from me? You could only taste a slight hint of the cinnamon, but I liked it.

Mix the pesto, olive oil, and various "green" herbs together.

Roll out the pizza dough so it is a little bigger than the pan you are going to cook it in. I didn't have deep dish pizza pans so I improvised. I baked mine in a 9" by 13" casserole dish and it worked perfectly. Place the pizza dough in the dish and bunch it up the sides so it creates a type of crust. Spread the pesto-olive oil mixture on top. Cover in cheese. Place chicken on top.

Cook at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes!

Enjoy the smells while waiting.

JazzyJ's Rice Krispy Egg Treats:

Ingredients:
- 6 cups Rice Krispies
- 4 cups miniature marshmallows
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup m&ms or other various candies to be used for "stuffing" the eggs.
- 6 (or more) large Easter eggs, 2" x 3"

 Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a pot. Add the marshmallows until they are well melted, stirring constantly.
2. Add the butter-marshmallow mixture to the krispies and mix well.
3. Prepare the Easter eggs by washing them well (you have no idea where they have been and what they have touched). I sprayed each Easter egg with a little bit of cooking spray so they wouldn't stick.
4. Grease your hands. I wasn't sure what this meant, so I sprayed some cooking spray on my hands and it worked well. 
5. Squish the krispy treat mixture into one half of the eggs. Pack it down, and using a thumb or finger, create a little hole (which is where the candy will later go).
6. Do the same to the other half of the egg and the rest of the eggs.
7. Add about 2 or 3 m&ms in the hole you made on each half of one egg. While the krispy treats are still in the plastic eggs, fit the plastic egg together which forces both sides of the  krispy to adhere to each other. As you gently pull apart the plastic halves of the eggs, you will have a  krispy egg with the candy hidden inside.
8. Be excited!

This made about 12 krispy treat eggs. You might be able to make a few more but I ate some of the krispies.

I should probably tell you about my extreme fascination with Easter egg hunts. I participated in Easter egg hunts probably up until the age of 10. And then I stopped participating in them until my junior year of high school when I suddenly was WAY into them. I went on Easter egg hunts even when it wasn't Easter. My friend and I once had my dad hide them and we went on a hunt for them at night, using flashlights. It was great fun. Something about looking for treasure is just appealing to me.

Allison (the birthday girl!) had the privilege of going on an Easter egg hunt with me our freshman year of college. She didn't know what she was in for and she was NOT prepared. First of all, it's important you wear running shoes and (if you are a girl) a sports bra. I am super competitive (especially when Easter egg hunting) and I often gather over my fair share of eggs and then am required to re-hide some. 

Note: Funny story. First, it is important to know that my friend Allison is TERRIFIED of all bugs, but especially lady bugs. When we shared an apartment at college, we had a lady bug infestation. The people at the office didn't believe us. The weird thing was, these ladybugs only swarmed inside on nice weather days. Allison told the office lady, "They only come on nice days" and the office lady couldn't stop laughing. That was a mistake. Anyways, my mom hid special Easter eggs for Allison last year that were bug themed. As you can imagine, that went over oh so well.

Happy Easter, Happy National Deep Dish Pizza Day, and Happy Birthday Allison!

April 4: National Chicken Cordon Bleu Day

Cooked and ready to eat!

I have never had chicken cordon bleu. It sounds much too fancy of a dish to cook at home, except I just did. For some reason I thought chicken cordon bleu involved bacon, but then I found out it involves ham. But I guess ham and bacon are pretty close as they are both from a pig. Anyways, this is a pretty simple recipe.

These are some words I brainstormed as to how I would describe my first time trying chicken cordon bleu:
- fancy
- exquisite
- expensive tasting
- savory
- rich
- smells amazing
- fit for royalty

Ready to cook!

JazzyJ's Homemade Simple Chicken Cordon Bleu Recipe:

(Makes 6 serving)

Ingredients:
- 6 skinless and boneless chicken breasts
- 6 pieces of cheese (I used Swiss cheese but you can use any type, cheese sticks also work well apparently)
- 6 slices ham
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- various seasonings (I used garlic powder, oregano, and rosemary)

I read that it is tasty to put in a can of cream of chicken soup in the dish you cook the chicken in, but I didn't have any cream of chicken soup.

 

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Note: You can pound the chicken out flat and then add the cheese and ham and roll it up. However, this is what I did:
2. Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise so you have two thin pieces of meat. Roll both sides in a mixture of melted butter and chosen seasonings. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of one side and lay that side face down. Add one slice cheese and one slice ham on top.
3. Roll the other thin slice of chicken breast in butter and lay on top of the ham and cheese so you have a meat sandwich. Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs. Add several toothpicks to keep the meat sandwich from falling apart.
4. Repeat until every piece of chicken is made into a meat sandwich. Put in a baking dish with any extra butter sauce you may have. 
5. Cook approximately 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked thoroughly.
6. Smell and smell and smell! (Seriously, it smells soooo good!)

Note: Since you are handling raw meat, make sure you wash your hands and work area well. I managed to keep one hand "raw meaty" and the other hand clean. The clean hand was chosen to be my left hand, and lefty had the whole responsibility of taking pictures and of handling everything else. I am not left handed. That was a mistake. But I managed to avoid dropping the phone on the raw chicken so that was a success.

I would make this again. In a heart beat. It was pretty simple and the results were fantastic. Men - take note: This would seriously impress your girlfriend if you cooked this up for her! ;)

April 3: National Chocolate Mousse Day

Christopher Henry was very excited to celebrate this day!

Until he realized, it wasn't about a moose eating chocolate. Poor guy. He was disappointed. I let him eat some anyways.

Christopher Henry argued that today should be about celebrating him, because he is a chocolate colored moose. Ohhhhh Christopher Henry...



JazzyJ's Light and Fluffy Chocolate Mousse Recipe:

Ingredients:
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 8 ounces heaving whipping cream
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Any toppings you might want (shaved chocolate, crushed Oreos, whipped cream...)

Melting the chocolate.

Instructions:
1. Put a metal mixing bowl in the freezer.
2. Using a double boiler, melt the bittersweet chocolate, stirring often until completely melted. Take off heat and set aside.
3. Get the metal mixing bowl out of the freezer, and beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
5. Using a whisk, blend the chocolate into the egg white mixture.
6. Add the chocolate egg white mixture into the whipped cream and gently stir until well blended.
7. Cover and refrigerate for an hour before adding any toppings and serving.
8. Serve some to Christopher Henry (He made me put that in here!)

Melted chocolate

The cream all whipped up.

Stiff egg whites.

Adding in the chocolate.

The finished chocolate mousse, ready to be refrigerated!

Let me tell you, this was sinful! There were some arguments on this recipe because some people believe mousse should be light and fluffy and others believe it should be creamy and smooth. Just so this doesn't disappoint anyone, this is very light and fluffy. And chocolately. And high in calories. And very very delicious. It's a light dessert that would be a great addition to finish off any heavy meal, because it is just so light and fluffy! Christopher Henry gives it two antlers up!

April 2: National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day

I strongly dislike peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I only like peanut butter in chocolate candies. And I don't like grape jelly at all. So this wasn't really a fun day for me to celebrate. But I sucked it up and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I took one bite. And that was it.

I did however remember a funny story involving me and peanut butter. I was probably 9 or 10 and I decided to make a home made bird feeder. How does one do that? They put peanut butter on a pine cone, roll it in birdseed, and hang it in a tree. Well I didn't ask anyone for help nor did I tell anyone what I was doing.

The next day I hear my mom ask, "Does anyone know what this stuff in the peanut butter is?"

I innocently answered, "It's pine cone."

Because obviously it was pine cone. Little JazzyJ had no idea that you were supposed to put a scoop of peanut butter in a bowl, and then use that peanut butter to put on the pine cone. I simple put some peanut butter on a pine cone using a knife, dipped the knife back in the peanut butter, and repeated. After explaining to my mom, she threw out the peanut butter and told me never to do that again. My dad had no part in this conversation.

So the next day my dad asks, "Does anyone know why a pine cone is tied to a tree outside with a piece of string?"

Clearly, he had no idea that it was a bird feeder! I was insulted. The peanut butter must have fallen off/been rained on/been eaten, so to him, it simply looked like a pine cone dangling from a string on a tree. Oh my the mind of a child!

April 1: National Sourdough Bread Day

April 1. A new month. It also happens to be April Fool's Day, but sadly, this year, I didn't actually pull any jokes on any one. When I was in elementary school, I hid marbles in random pairs of my dad's rolled up socks. He found some of them immediately. I guess he doesn't routinely rotate through his socks, because he was still finding marbles occasionally a year later!

I thought I would make sourdough bread today because I love using our bread machine. However, I then realized I either had to make sourdough bread starter a week ago, or use a sourdough bread starter from a store. I had neither. Good thing I had some frozen sourdough bread in the freezer though. That was a life saver.

I simply defrosted it, popped it in the toaster for a bit, lightly buttered the bread, sprinkled a bit of cinnamon and sugar on top, and there you go, tasty sourdough bread!