Blue Moon Cupcakes

Well, this post is about a month late. For the Super Bowl, we decided to make Blue Moon Cupcakes for dessert. Football, beer, and Marines just kind of go together. Part of me was kind of hesitant because I love cupcakes and I worried adding beer would ruin the cupcake. But these guys were delicious!

My friend, Whitney, whipped up the cupcakes while I was making everything else. She did such a great job and even added her own little twist to the recipe by adding some Blue Moon to the frosting! The cupcakes by themselves had only a tiny hint of Blue Moon but adding the Blue Moon to the frosting really gave these some more flavor.

And I just had to include a picture of our Super Bowl sunset!

Blue Moon Cupcakes

Source: Erica's Sweet Tooth

For the cupcakes:

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 3/4 cup sugar

2.5 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp orange zest

1 cup Blue Moon, plus more to brush on tops

1/4 cup milk

orange wedges for garnish

Preheat oven to 375º and line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla and zest.

Combine milk and beer and alternatively add this mixture and the flour mixture to the butter and sugar, mixing on low speed.

Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 18 minutes. When cupcakes are done, poke holes in the tops and brush with beer.

For the cream cheese frosting:

12 oz cream cheese, cold

6 tbsp butter, room temperature

1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tsp orange zest

4 cups powdered sugar

Cream together the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixture until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the citrus juice and zest; gradually add the powdered sugar until well-combined. Beat until smooth for about 2 minutes.

Once cupcakes are cooled, load frosting into a piping bag and pipe onto cupcake tops.

Super Bowl Saturdays: Italian Pinwheels

The Super Bowl is tomorrow! Is everyone excited? I hope you have all gotten some good ideas from this little series. My favorites were the Party Meatballs and the Buffalo Chicken Dip. I actually made these pinwheels because they were requested by my husband. He loves these little things and really enjoyed having them for dinner!

Italian Pinwheels

Source: slightly adapted from Pillsbury

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup sliced pepperoni, finely chopped

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/4 cup pizza sauce, plus extra for serving

1 egg yolk

1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

1 egg white, beaten

Preheat oven to 375º. In a small bowl, mix cheese, pepperoni, oregano, garlic salt, pizza sauce, and yolk. Unroll dough and separate into 4 triangles Firmly press the perforations to seal.

Spread each rectangle with 3 tbsp of the pepperoni mixture. Starting at the shortest side, roll up each rectangle and pinch edges to deal. Cut each roll into 6 slices. Place, cut side down, 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with beaten egg white.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with extra pizza sauce. Enjoy!

Super Bowl Saturdays: Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Jalopeno Bites

I recently started a new job! I'm working for a nearby resort, at the pool, developing a recreation program for their guests. I'm so excited to finally have a job but it's slightly exhausting! Yesterday was my first day off this week and I just relaxed. And cleaned. Our house has slightly suffered from me getting a job. It wasn't until last night at 6:00 that I remembered I needed to make two more appetizers for today. I had work today so there was no way they were getting made. I whipped both recipes up, quickly wrote my blog post, searched for my camera cord, gave up, and decided pictures would be posted whenever I got off work if I could find my cord. The hubs and I then enjoyed an incredibly delicious, albeit unhealthy, dinner of these guys along with the Italian Pinwheels.

I've always been scared of jalopenos because I picture myself accidentally touching my eye and burning the crap out of it. But no eye mishaps occurred this time! These were awesome. Jalopenos with cream cheese are always pretty good but when you add bacon, they become even better.

Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Jalopenos

Source: Doughmesstic

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp Old Bay

pinch of salt

12 jalopenos, halved and seeded

24 six-inch pieces of bacon, uncooked

Preheat oven to 350º. Combine cream cheese and spices in a bowl. Spoon mixture into each pepper half, until level. Wrap each in bacon and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove and enjoy!

Makes 24

Queso Blanco Dip

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before or not but Southern California has some great Mexican food. There are a ton of little hole in the wall places that may look a little scary from the outside but produce the best Mexican food. But, not a single place out here serves queso. Not one. The closest I've seen is a white cheese sauce over a burrito at a chain Mexican place that didn't come close to tasting like queso blanco dip that you get back home in Georgia.

So, every time we go home to Georgia I always want to eat at one of the Mexican restaurants. Sure it might be considered "fake" Mexican food by anyone from Southern California but it's delicious to me. It's always sooooo good but only getting it twice a year isn't enough. I finally decided I wanted to try it at home and figured what better time than now with my Super Bowl Saturdays? Queso has been sitting there on my 23 x 23 list for awhile so I finally made it.

This recipe was perfect. I upped the heat by adding a second jalopeno but you can choose how spicy you want it to be. This also heats up nicely in the microwave.

Queso Blanco Dip

Source: Annie's Eats

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1 jalopeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

12 oz. white American cheese, shredded (can be found at the deli counter)

4 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

1/4 -2/3 cup milk

1 tomato, seeded and finely diced

2 tbsp cilantro, minced

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and jalopeno to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add both of the shredded cheeses and 1/4 cup of the milk. Whisk or stir until completely melted. Mix in the tomato and cilantro, and add additional milk gradually as necessary to achieve desired consistency. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Turkey Pesto Sliders

Whenever I think of sliders, I think of White Castle and when I think of White Castle, I think of wisdom teeth. Weird connection? Maybe. My older sister and I both got our wisdom teeth out at the same time. All I remember from the few days following it is being slightly drugged out on pain medicine, laying on the couch bed together, eating Dairy Queen ice cream and watching Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. And laughing. Because everything was funny.

White Castle's little mini burgers are so delicious but I wanted to go with slightly healthier version. So I found these turkey pesto sliders. Sliders are a perfect appetizer because they are hand-sized but very filling. These would be a great pick for the Super Bowl!

Turkey Pesto Sliders

Source: Annie's Eats

6 slider buns

6 slices of turkey deli meat

6 slices of provolone cheese

3 tbsp pesto

3 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 400º. Line a baking sheet with foil. Split the slider buns and lay a folded slice of turkey on the bottom half of each bun. Layer each with a slice of provolone. In a small bow, combine the pesto and mayonnaise in a small bowl and mix until blended. Spread a thin layer of the pesto mayonnaise on the inner side of the top half of each bun. Replace the top bun over the cheese to assemble the sandwiches. Brush the tops of the buns lightly with melted butter. Bake 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sandwiches are warmed through. Enjoy!

Super Bowl Saturdays: Crack Dip (Buffalo Chicken Dip)

Crack Dip. Doesn't sound very appetizing. But it is. If you are going for the white trash vibe, feel free to refer to it as "Crack Dip." If you like to keep it on the classier side, you can refer to it as "Buffalo Chicken Dip."

This recipe made the blog rounds awhile back and was dubbed "Crack Dip" because of how addicting it was. I made this to try out for the Super Bowl and was hooked. Luckily, we had an appetizer pot luck at our Growth Group that night so I was able to bring this along with the meatballs and not eat it all by myself.

It tastes just like buffalo chicken but in a dip form. We served it with chips but you could also serve it with celery (or other vegetables), bread chunks (you could scoop out a bread bowl and place this inside and use the extra bread to dip), crackers, pretty much anything that sounds good to you.

I modified the recipe from Frank's Red Hot Website because the original called for canned chicken chunks and Blue Cheese Dressing and Crumbles. Taking the extra time to cook and shred chicken breasts will definitely make this dip taste better. If you like Blue Cheese, feel free to substitute or mix with the ranch and mozzarella.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Source: Frank's Red Hot Sauce

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup ranch salad dressing

1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

Preheat oven to 350º. In a deep baking dish, mix cream cheese, ranch dressing, buffalo sauce, and cheese. Stir until combined and then add in chicken and stir.

Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes, until heated through. Serve with whatever you like. Enjoy!

Super Bowl Saturdays: Party Meatballs

Picture from TasteofHome.com- I forgot to take one in my rush to get to GG

Meatballs are one of my favorite appetizers to have at a party. They're very filling and usually covered in some kind of delicious sauce. And when your guests will most likely be a bunch of young guys, you want appetizers that are heavy and filling. As much as I love chicken salad in phyllo cups, that won't cut it for a bunch of Marines watching the Super Bowl.

This recipe caught my attention because it's just a slight change from the usual meatball sauce that uses grape jelly and Heinz Chili Sauce. The BBQ sauce makes a nice substitute and the grape jelly only gives it a touch of sweetness-there's no overwhelming grape jelly taste.

You can make your own meatballs for this but I would go with the prepackaged ones. They hold together better and it makes it much easier on you.

Party Meatballs

Source: The Country Cook

1 (32 oz) bag frozen meatballs

1 (18 oz) jar grape jelly

1 (18 oz) bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

Pour the meatballs, grape jelly, and BBQ sauce into the crock pot and stir until combined. Cook the mixture on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 2-2.5 hours, until completely cooked through, stirring occasionally

When they are cooked through, set the crock pot on "warm" and let guests serve themselves. Just place toothpicks next to the meatballs. Enjoy!

Super Bowl- Are you ready?

I don't like football. Well, I can watch the Dawgs play any day but that's about it. It just kind of bores me if I don't know the team or anything about it. I do like the Super Bowl though. Mainly for the commercials. And the food. I love how everyone breaks out the grills and brings all the appetizers to a Super Bowl Party. Appetizers are just fun and usually always delicious. I am going to start a short little "series" on here with appetizers you could use for the Super Bowl. It will be called Super Bowl Saturdays and I'll be posting 2 different recipes each Saturday for you to try out for the Super Bowl.

This year we're taking a different approach to the Super Bowl, or should I say "Souper Bowl." :) I'll be making a variety of soups using my new three-piece crock pot to serve along with a buffet of toppers for the soup and some select appetizers. I'm really excited about this but I'm glad I'll be getting my appetizer fix with this little series!

Below are some appetizers I've already made that would be great to try out for the Super Bowl.

Dips

Texas Cavier-a cold dip made of a mixture of veggies and marinated in Zesty Italian

Rotel Dip-my favorite warm dip

Finger Foods

Baked Chicken Empanadas-You can make the filling ahead of time

Sausage Balls-these are good served warm or cold. You can make them in advance and then cook on the day of.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs-best served warm

Mozzarella and Pesto Crescent Tarts-these are great served warm or cool

Meatballs with Peppers and Pineapples-Asian inspired meatballs. Use a toothpick to make into an appetizer