Cure chocolate cravings quick & homemade!

So I have seen the 'cake in a mug' recipes floating around the internet for some time, but never really thought twice about them. Until last night...

All I wanted was some chocolately baked confection and it seemed everywhere I looked there was something tempting. Cupcakes on TV, cookies on pinterest, cakes in magazines. AH! o much chocolate goodness.
Okay so I'll bake something I decided (after whining for ten minuutes in line at the grocery store that I NEEDED the hostess cupcakes...which Mr. Man reminded me hostess was not in our tight budget).

So I think oh I'll bake some molten lava cake that'll be perfect and quick (about 30 minutes) ....and then I realize the horror...

We forgot to buy eggs.

No eggs? Every baked item I have ever imagined had eggs! So what is a girl to do? Search Google for eggless recipes for the next hour and a half of course!
Which then of course means I need something quick ... uber quick cause I still must make and consume my chocolately adventure before bed.


Microwave Eggless Chocolate Cake in Mug? Oh yeah.
I found this recipe. http://www.eons.com/groups/topic/2217681-5-Minute-Eggless-Cake-in-a-Mug%20 It looked alright, so I tweaked here and there and bam! Chocolately goodness in 5 minutes or less!

1 microwave safe mug
5 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 ish  tbsp milk
1 tbsp vegatabe oil
1/4 tsp vanilla
Chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)

I then mixed them in that order (stir cocoa into flour, stir sugar into cocoa & flour, etc, etc). The mixture is very thick and clung to my spoon, so I added a splash more milk to soften it some.  I then just put a small handful of chocolate chips down towards the center and mixed lightly. Then into the microwave for 1 minute (until the top is springy) and cool down for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Now the hardest part....not making this every night! It was a little dryer then a traditional baked in the oven chocolate cake but still very rich and a cure for chocolate cravings!

Homemade Liquid Dishwasher Detergent

A little while back I got really excited at the prospect of being able to make my own laundry detergent. It's DIY + money saving! What is not to love about the idea? Well I haven't been able to try it yet because we still have commercial detergent to use up that I don't want to waste.

Sooo when I noticed at the beginning of the week we were running low on Dishwasher detergent, lightbulbs! If people can make their own laundry soap there has to be recipes for dishwashers too!

Well not so much as the laundry recipes, it took a little more digging to find ones for dishwashers (not dish washing soap but ones for use in a dishwasher). Then almost all of the recipes were powdered... and it may just be me but with our city's hard water powder just does not seem to work well in the older dishwashers. I almost always buy liquid/gel detergents for that reason.

I finally found a few that were liquid versions and compared and contrasted and came up with my own variation.

Homemade LIQUID Dishwasher Detergent

You will need:
1 cup Distilled White Vinegar
3/4 cup Water
3/4 cup Dr. Bronner Sal Suds
2 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
4-6 drops Grapefruit Oil
A sealable container (I used a mason jar cause I am currently obsessed with them)

Simply mix all ingredients together in your container. (Mixing quickly will cause it to suds up some, no big deal)

The mixture is VERY watery.

I use a half tablespoon in my pre-wash dispenser and then one full tablespoon in the regular detergent dispenser.

I also add white vinegar by itself as the rinse aid. I keep it in a condiment squirt bottle for ease of use.

So far I am loving it, my dishes look as clean as when I used Finish, Palmolive, or Cascade. Oh and cost per load? Roughly $0.07-$0.04 !

Oh My Lemons!

It has been a minute! My little life has been thrown upside down through hoops around the corner and back again! Long story short  I had to move in a hurry and then I met Mr. Man and fell up into the clouds :) now I am moving to his bacholer pad/three bedroom house. I'm  super excited but also apprehensive, this is seriously a man's house in need of a clean over haul. Its a project :> he said I could blog about it but no pictures booo. ;p

Any who, I plan to get back into the swing of things... Starting with more cupcake goodness! For my moms 50th birthday party I made lemon cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream. They were a huge hit! This was the first flavored cupcake I've made. (I've tried a filled cupcake but it was a vanilla cake with strawberry filling).  I searched the interwebs for hours trying to find the perfect lemon cupcake recipe and finally found one that sounded perfect!

Extra Moist Lemon Cupcakes

by grandma2969 on food.com

1 1/3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon ground lemon zest

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup yogurt

1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/extra-moist-lemon-cupcakes-124660#ixzz1NHPcArxT

I followed the directions pretty much the same however I did not use the lemon glaze.  Also because of how soft the cakes are I let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then moved them to a cooling rack to cool for another 20 before messing with them. 

I then added my new favorite buttercream recipe; Wedding Cupcake Buttercream from recipegirl.com, and a little lemon zest to the top! 

Now my next project... cleaning Mr. Man's kitchen whilst he is away on business.... if you don't hear from me in awhile I have fallen deathly ill from some monster I've found in there ;) 

How to fail at making burgers

It's the effort that counts right? That fact that I tried? At least they looked pretty normal... even if they tasted like crumbly rocks.

First off let me preface this with the fact I have never made a burger at home in my life.
So I was a little clueless where to start to make a home burger. I knew first I needed meat...which was a small problem.

You see I have a horrible aversion to raw meats of any kind. I hate touching raw meat, beef, chicken, turkey, anything. Its icky. I also can not stomach to eat anything off the bone. My friends tell me I am a freak. Oh well thats not the only freaky thing about me! ;)

So to avoid my raw meat conundrum I normally buy frozen boneless chicken strips to cook and eat a lot of meatless dishes. That wasn't going to work for this, I wanted a burger damnit!

I found these raw burger patties, to avoid having to touch ground beef. That was probably mistake number one. 

Having never made a burger and being without a grill, I proceeded to ask everyone I know how to cook a burger stovetop. This lead me to get a lot of conflicting advice everything from "just throw it in a pan" to "butter the pan, add X seasonings, x ingredients, then add burger"

I decided to take the simplest advice and go with just throw it in the pan. Added a little salt and pepper. I was anxious about the greasing popping and afraid of them being undercooked and burned all at the same time... so I constantly was checking them. Probably, mistake number two.

They started to look hideous and crumbly but were still all bleedy in places... where were my pretty burgers? 

photo from stock.xchng

I also don't like to eat anything with pink. I let them cook a little longer to try to avoid any pinkness in the center. Pulled them from the pan to cut them open and be sure they were not pink. 

Satisfied I was not going to die from having to eat anything still pink. I forgot I needed to melt the cheese on them. Because cheese makes everything better. So I stuck them back on the pan for a minute. Mistake number three. 

..... and well I slathered them in ketchup, put them on a nice whole wheat bun next to some very delicious cajun seasoned sweet potato fries and hoped for the best. 

Well sometimes hope just ain't enough. My poor burgers were very tough, crumbly and tasted like cheesy, ketchuped rocks. 

Oh well, you can't win them all right? I learned a lot from this experience and will be re-attempting the home burger in the near future.  

Dishes Done!

Oh blog! I have not forgotten you, I just keep getting sidetracked! Drat!  Lots of updates coming however. :D

In the meantime, a tip for a daily chore...
A helpful tip that seems so simple and yet I know of so many who do not do it.  Including myself and my roommates until recently. None of us really mind doing the dishes, all of us are somewhat lazy though and our kitchen could rival this...

Seriously, why didn't I think of this foil contraption? Would have helped at some points! 

But now no more! For the past two and a half weeks we have successfully kept no more than 4 dishes in our sink at any given time. 

Doing the dishes as you go. My mom always preached it to my siblings and I as kids, but I never listened until now.

It literally takes only a minute to rinse the dish immediately and place it in the dishwasher. Not a lot of scrubbing or elbow grease because it hasn't sat getting crusty for a week (or five).  Once the dishwasher is full switch it on. Whenever you have a few minutes, empty dishwasher, begin process again. OMG THIS IS SO SIMPLE,  I am on my way to being all tidy and neat!  

Now I enjoy the serenity of a clear sink....and it really makes me want to be in the kitchen more! 

This is not my actual sink. I am not that cool yet.... 

Alright that is all I have for now. More food adventures in the future (including a fail at burger making D: ) and lots more about cleaning coming up. Me and my one roommate have jump started spring cleaning and have cleaned everything!  Well almost...

Valentines Waffles! (not really but they are cute!)

Happy belated Valentines Day internet peoples! :)

So for the past two weeks my roommates and I have been each trying different waffle recipes since I bought this super awesome heart-shaped waffle iron from Wal-Mart.

There was a lot of trial...and a lot of error (aka not so tasty waffles) but I finally figured out my favorite for that perfect mmmmmm factor!

Basic Waffles 
by Southern Recipes

This recipe is so simple!  Basically you mix everything together except for the eggs.

You then separate the eggs, add the yolks first....and then you gotta beat the whites until "stiff peaks" forms

I wasn't so very good at that and I gave up trying after like 10 minutes of whisking... but adding my non stiff peaked (hehe) egg whites didn't effect how delicious these came out!

The heart shaped waffles are just the right size too! I made extra and froze them. The next two days I simply grabbed some from the freezer, popped into the toaster, and yum! Almost as good as the first day!

(Who needs eggos?!)

Salsafied Cheesy Chicken & Rice

Mmmm, this dish was sooo yummy. I think it will become a regular meal in my life because it was easy and SOOO yummy! hehe. This took about 15 minutes total.

Salsafied Cheesy Chicken & Rice
recipe from AllRecipes.com (with minor adjustments)

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 (15.5 ounce) jar salsa (I used Tostitos Restaurant Style Salsa Medium)
• 4 cups instant rice (I used Boil-in-The Bag Rice)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

In a large skillet over medium high heat brown the cubed chicken in oil, salt and pepper until cooked through and juices run clear. Add the broth and salsa and bring to a boil.

Once the liquids are boiling, turn off the heat and stir in the instant rice.  Let simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle all of the cheese on top. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes, then serve.