Turkey "Pozole" (Rojo)

Pozole is usually made with pork. I have never made a pozole recipe so I'm not sure how authentic this is, but I am not complaining about how this turned out. This is a Martha recipe and commenters posted this is not a true pozole. So yes, this is probably a quick/cheater recipe. Don't judge me. Martha even gets the spelling wrong they said! (Posole)

We are serious believers in good soup garnishes. When I make my white chicken chili (with hominy), I break out even MORE garnish ingredients.

Not pictured- baked corn tortilla chips.

 

The turkey was leftover from that huge ass turkey I roasted during the Vortex. 7 cups of chopped turkey in this stew. Yay for leftovers!

It was also my pleasure to tear into two HUGE cans of hominy. I love hominy. So much!

It came together quickly but it needed to simmer for 30 minutes. I needed that time to bake the tortilla chips. My boys can't get enough of chips.

Funny little boy quote: "Mom, when I have kids will you show me the recipe for these chips. These are really good."

Tortillas, oil, salt. Oven. There you go, kid.

 

Don't make fun of my Chococat bowl! It gets me through rough times.

 

We like! I think it will taste even better tomorrow. And plenty to freeze for future lunches.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Martha's Chicken (or turkey) Posole.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Cupcake Surprise

I couldn't resist this Cupcake book at Target. And then I thought of the neat recipe I had bookmarked for One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes for Two. While James was occupied with his TV show I whipped up these easy cupcakes, and then half a recipe of (easy) vanilla frosting. I hid my work and then surprised him with the book first.

It's a cute story of a vanilla cupcake who is sad that he is so plain and ordinary. An ordinary birthday candle tries to help him with different toppings to make him special, but in the end they join forces to become a special birthday cupcake.

I brought out my box of sprinkles and things and told James we could decorate some plain cupcakes to make them special for us.

Excuse the dirty, wrinkled up face but he was clearly excited about something!

A loose sprinkle.

James' Special Cupcake, a little heavy on the sprinkles.

The cupcakes were good! These ordinary cupcakes could be customized in so many ways- by adding chocolate chips, cocoa powder, fruit, etc. It's nice to just make TWO cupcakes whenever you need them! (Haha. NEED cupcakes. I mean, WANT.)

Now I just have to tell James that he doesn't get cupcakes EVERY TIME we read this book!

Please click here for the stolen recipe for One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes for Two.

Please click here for the stolen recipe for Martha's Fluffy Vanilla Frosting. I found this frosting recipe in my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. THREE ingredients. So very easy.

Giant Ginger Cookies

My big sis needs a little cheering up so I baked some cookies for her. Okay, for all of us. I ended up only having a half cookie (3.5 points) but Jim enjoyed a whole one. He is a sucka for ginger anything :)

I hope Ana likes these! They are HUGE and gingerlicious. Martha just doesn't fail me!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Giant Ginger Cookies.

Cookie Monster cupcakes

I made these Cookie Monsters for my son's birthday. He didn't really have a favorite character so I just chose a theme that was easy and I had these cupcakes on my list of treats to make so it was a perfect opportunity to experiment.

I was not and am still not an expert with pastry tips and frostings but these were surprisingly easy with this tip:


The bottom tip has tiny little holes to make the "fur". It was simply squeeze and lift, over and over again.

And guess what Adia, you have a surprise coming to you in your mailbox soon so that you can make the same cupcakes and more!

I can't find the original link to the technique that I used but I did find TONS of pictures of other Cookie Monster cupcakes. You can make the fur frosting but you could also use blue sanding sugar to just color the cupcake tops. Well, check out the link.

I made the cupcakes as usual and after they were cooled I cut a slit in the side of each cupcake, to insert the mini cookie (in the mouth). I piped the fur frosting all around the cookie. I used white candy melts (flat discs, found at Michael's or any crafting store I think) for the eyes and used black icing (tube I bought at the grocery store) for the eye pupils.

I think they turned out very cute!
Click here for the stolen recipe for Martha's One-Bowl Chocolate cupcakes.
Click here for the stolen recipe for Martha's Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting.

Good luck Adia! I hope the package will arrive soon and you can bake away!

Comfort foods

For dinner we had Mozzarella stuffed turkey meatloaf, homemade macaroni and cheese, and salad. James refused it all :(

Click here for the stolen meatloaf recipe.
Click here for the stolen macaroni and cheese recipe.



This is an easy meatloaf if you have an hour to wait for it to bake. I love that it includes spinach!

Also, the macaroni and cheese recipe makes TONS. I can usually freeze portions of it and bake them later.