Creamy Tomato Basil and Creamy Cauliflower Soup

In the past if you had told me that I should make a soup with cauliflower I would have laughed in your face and told you that you were crazy if you thought it was even going to happen, but happen it did! I've always been pretty picky about my tomato soups as well so I was a little nervous about trying this recipe all together but I LOVE Zupas Tomato Basil and the last couple of times I've had them add a ladle of their Wisconsin Cauliflower and I thought they made a good combination. So I decided to be brave and try it, besides that I burned a little cheese on the bottom of the pan because I had it simmering a little too hot it was delicious! I felt like it wasn't too much work either, I was able to work on other things at the same time. Oh I almost forgot to mention! This is on the "healthier" side as well because it uses the cauliflower and Greek Yogurt to make it creamy rather than using half and half, heavy cream, or something similar.

Creamy Tomato Basil and Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Recipe Came From Sweet Treats and More

 Creamy Tomato Basil and Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

1. 1/2 of a head of a large cauliflower, chopped (or one whole small cauliflower)
2. 2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes
3. 32 oz chicken stock
4. 1 cup greek yogurt
5. 2 tbsp butter
6. 1/2 onion, chopped
7. 1 tbsp minced garlic
8. 1/3 cup chopped basil
9. 5 oz shredded asiago cheese (or any cheese really)
10. Reduced fat sour cream

Instructions

1. In a large soup pot, melt butter. Add onions and garlic and saute 3-5 minutes or until translucent.
2. Add chopped cauliflower and saute another 2-3 minutes. Add chicken stock (should cover cauliflower). Let simmer for 15-20 minutes or until cauliflower is tender.
3. Add cans of diced tomatoes, chopped basil basil, and greek yogurt. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Using an immersion blender, blend soup until creamy and there are no lumps. (You can also pour the soup into a blender in two batches, and blend until smooth. Then pour back into the pot.)
5. Once blended add 5 ounces asiago cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for another 15-20 minutes, stir to combine melted cheese.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

A couple of weeks ago I was in the mood to make cupcakes, I think I partially wanted to try out piping some more but I also wanted to try doing something a little different with the frosting. I had some of the raspberry filling left over from making Alexia's Birthday Cake and was wondering if it would be good mixed into the frosting. It was a huge success! I had leftovers and didn't want in the house so it took to work for the Halloween party and then my boss took the rest home, she told me that her husband loved my frosting and her daughter even commented on it the next day. I had never thought about flavoring cream cheese frosting before but now I'm excited to try other variations. I used the cream cheese frosting from the Melt In Your Mouth Pumpkin Cookies.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe Came From The Girl Who Ate Everything

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter

1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 lb powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups)

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Raspberry Cake Filling (to taste)

Melt In Your Mouth Pumpkin Cookies

These cookies are soooooo good! I may or may not have made two batches in two days :) (the first one I ran out of time and made them without frosting so then of course I had to try another batch WITH frosting when the cookies were already all gone). I love that they are soft and they aren't over-kill sweet even with the frosting (and even better they are still good a several days later, if they make it that long :D). 

Melt In Your Mouth Pumpkin Cookies

Recipe Came From The Girl Who Ate Everything

Melt In Your Mouth Pumpkin Cookies

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 15-ounce can pumpkin
• 4 cups all-purpose flour 
Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 lb powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ground cinnamon sprinkled on top (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat 2 cups butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla; beat until combined. Beat in pumpkin. Add the flour slowly until combined. Dough will be very wet.
2. Drop dough by the tablespoon onto parchment lined sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until tops are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.
3. For the frosting: Beat all of the ingredients until soft and whipped. Frost cooled cookies and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Notes

Note: These have a very mild pumpkin spice flavor. If you like a lot of spice double the cinnamon and nutmeg in the dough.

WASC Cake

I got this recipe from Brea and I honestly have no clue where she got it from. This recipe is great because it uses a cake mix as it's base but then you are adding additional stuff so that A. It no longer tastes like a boxed cake mix and B. It makes it go further so you have some slightly larger cakes. 

WASC Cake 

1 Box Cake Mix

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

Generous Dash of Salt

1 Cup Sour Cream

1 Cup Water

3 Whole Eggs

1 Tablespoon Flavoring

Instructions:

1. In bowl mix together dry ingredients. 

2. In mixer bowl place next 4 ingredients and mix for 2 minutes. 

3. Pour into prepared pans and bake as usual. 

*ANY cake flavor can be used

*You can use milk, juice, thawed frozen concentrates, soda (ie Coke), cream or just about anything wet for the liquid. 

*This recipe is based on mixing in a kitchenaid mixer. I use position #1 to stir it, then #4 to mix the batter.

*Makes 10 sq.: 1-9x13, 1-8" round and 2-6" rounds, 2-8" rounds, 1-12" round, and other combinations of pans. 

*I prefer to bake at 300 degrees for about 20-30 minutes then turn oven up to 325 for equal time.

*The flavoring I most often use is this mixture: 1 part Vanilla Flavoring, 1/2 part Butter Flavoring, 1/4 part.Almond Flavoring.

Morning Glory Muffins

When I first saw this recipe they sounded amazing! They had lots of good things inside (whole wheat flour, pineapple, coconut, zucchini, carrots, etc.) and I was excited to try them. They were really good but I almost felt like they had too many things in them so that the flavors kind of weren't noticeable. A week or so after I had made these I went to the Saturday Market in Salt Lake and one of the stands was a bakery, they were selling another version of Morning Glory Muffins, these ones had Bran in them and not all of the items in them that these had had and they were soooo much better, so maybe I just need to find a good bran muffin that I like. 

Morning Glory Muffins

Recipe came from My Baking Addiction

Morning Glory Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup grated zucchini
1 medium tart apple, peeled and grated
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
1/3 pecans; coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and kosher salt. Whisk the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined.
3. In another bowl, combine the eggs, applesauce, vegetable oil and vanilla. Stir in carrots, zucchini, apple, pineapple, coconut and pecans.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined, but do not overmix.
5. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Notes:

- No whole wheat flour? No problem, simply sub in all-purpose
- I always use kosher salt when baking; however, feel free to substitute table salt.
- Feel free to substitute unsweetened applesauce and/or coconut in this recipe.
- These muffins are best served the same day; however, they will keep overnight in an airtight container.

Root Beer Float Cake

Kayla started not drinking soda (and I've since joined as well) but was really craving root beer so when I saw this recipe using root beer extract without the carbonation (which I think is really what she was trying to avoid) I wanted to make it for her to help satisfy her missing the root beer. The cake and frosting didn't really have a strong root beer flavor to me so I added more root beer extract to the frosting then was called for, it definitely made a difference! I liked how moist this cake was but it was a little over the top sweet for me. 

Root Beer Float Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe from Reluctant Entertainer

Root Beer Float Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package white cake mix (18.25 ounces)
• 1 cup root beer
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. root beer extract (McCormicks)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 tsp. root beer extract (McCormicks)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, root beer, water, oil, extract, and eggs. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes or stir by hand for 3 minutes.

Pour into a greased 13x9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, and extracts. Gradually fold in the powdered sugar.

Beat until soft peaks form. Frost the cooled cake. Store in a refrigerator before serving.

Chocolate Cake Cage

Libbey asked me to make Alexia's birthday cake this year, she requested something girly. I wanted to d something different, I had an idea in my head so I started googling to help the image in my head develop into something real. I had googled chocolate flourishes when THIS came up, I knew immediately had to try it, I think that with time and more practice it will become better but I think that it turned out pretty good!

Chocolate Cake Cage 

Recipe/Instructions came from Doughmesstic

Chocolate Cake Cake