Thin mint cupcakes

So the other day I was walking into the bank and a little girl and her dad had a million boxes of cookies to sell, now if you know me, I'm a sucker for sweets and I couldn't lie and say I don't have any money...I'm coming out of the bank for goodness sakes, long story short I bought 5 boxes :/ ate about 5 or six by the time I got into my car then went to work out to makeup for what I did! Well I can't keep eating these delicious cookies so I decided to make something sweet for my family and friends... Enjoy!

Here is what you will need...

20-25 thin mints
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

WET INGREDIENTS
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil or vegetable
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup hot water

FROSTING
8 oz cream cheese
16 oz powdered sugar
4 crushed thin mints
1 table spoon vanilla


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, then in a large mixing bowl add in your dry ingredients and mix with a fork until combined. HOLD OFF ON THE THIN MINTS THOUGH

Now that we blended our dry ingredients all together, go ahead and add in your eggs and your vanilla

Now add in your hot water and milk

Now add in your oil ( i used canola because that's what i had on hand)

Mix the ingredients really well with a fork, you don't need a mixer for his cake recipe... also take notice that the batter is more fluid than your traditional cake mix from a box

Now the fun part =] Smashing the thin mints into crumbs.. place your thin mints in a zip lock bag and crush

and add them into the bowl and mix =]

pour the batter into your cupcake pan with cupcake liners

Bake these delicious little guys for 20-25 minutes... if your unsure if they are done poke a tooth pick down the center and if the tooth pick comes out clean without any cake sticking to it then they are done!

Now for the frosting.... I always make my frosting once the cupcakes are done so it gives them a chance to cool down...if i make my frosting ahead of time I get really impatient waiting for them to cool and decorate them while they are hot and the frosting runs off of them... =(

OKAY..back to the frosting.. in a small bowl add in your cream cheese and vanilla, mix the two together until your cream cheese is smooth with no lumps. I mix with a fork or whisk.

Now add in the whole box of powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. The reason you add in a 1/2 cup at a time is because you will end up with lumps that take forever to get out. So if you get your frosting smooth then gradually add in more sugar and repeat its easier on you. TRUST me... through trial and error I finally got it down =]

Once your frosting is smooth add in a few crushed thin mints and mix

Now you can decorate your cupcakes and add a little garnish of cookie on top like so! I hope you like them =]

*** If you like your cake more minty, you can add in 2-3 drops of mint flavoring

Spicy chicken burritos

So from my previous post I had a lot of left over chicken, and I just couldn't let that go to waste so here is what you will need for about 6 burritos...

1 Chicken breast
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup salsa Verde
1/2 medium onion diced
1 Serrano Chile diced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

For the salsa:
you can use store bought or you can make it like I did.
Get a small can or tomatillos from the grocery store & throw them in the blender ( or you can buy about 4 fresh tomatillos peel and wash them. Boil them until soft then add them to the blender, add 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon, 3-4 Serrano Chile's. (add the Chile's 1 at a time to your liking. we like it kind of spicy so we use about 3-4) and blend.

In a large pan add about 1 tablespoon of oil and fry the onions and Serrano Chile together until the onions are soft

Now add in your left over chicken breast and season with salt and pepper

Cook together on high heat for 2 minutes then add in your tomato sauce and salsa verde

mix well and cook together for 1 minute then your done! Now heat up a flour tortilla on the stove or in the microwave ( I used the microwave because its just that much faster)

if you use the microwave, I find it best to wrap the tortilla in a paper towel before microwaving

Now add the chicken closer to one side of the tortilla, add some of the Mexican cheese blend we used for the Buffalo Chicken Dip, and some avocado slices and fold the bottom portion of the tortilla in like so

Then fold the tortilla up and over tightly and continue rolling until you cant anymore =)

Then your ready to eat!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

In spirit of the super bowl coming up, I decided that I would share a dip that you and all your guest will love! Or if your attending a super bowl party and need to bring something but cant decide on bringing wings or a dip; Do both! Buffalo chicken dip !

Here is what you will need...


Whole Rotisserie chicken
12 oz Franks red hot wing sauce
16 oz cream cheese
8 oz Shredded Mexican cheese blend
12 oz ranch dressing
1 bag of Tostitos scoops

In a medium sized baking pan, spread the cream cheese covering the entire pan.

Then shred one breast from the rotisserie chicken and layer over the cream cheese

You can always add more or less, but as you can see I love to use a lot of chicken!


Now in a 2 cup measuring cup, fill with Franks red hot wing sauce to the 1 cup mark

Then fill the remainder of the way (to the 2 cup mark) with ranch dressing

Then mix well so that the ranch and wing sauce is well blended

Now that the sauce mixture is done, pour it over the chicken

If its not completely covered like the picture above this, add the the remainder of the wing sauce (because the whole bottle is about 1 1/4 cups and we only used 1 cup) which is 1/4 cup with 1/4 cup of ranch and mix just like we did earlier. Then pour over the sauceless spots until the chicken is completely covered.

Cover pan with foil and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes

Then once that is all baked up, sprinkle the Mexican cheese blend to coat the entire pan, then bake an additional 5 minutes uncovered.

5 minutes later....

Then serve and scoop!

Chicken tortilla soup

So this recipe is one that I had to play around with to get the right flavor I was looking for. Now that I have perfected it I'm ready to share! I let a friend try this when I brought some for lunch and she said that I basically ruined El toritos tortilla soup for here because my version is her new favorite.

Here is what you will need...

-2-3 chicken breasts
-3 zucchini's 1/2 inch pieces
-1/2 cup frozen corn
-1 jalapeño minced
-1 diced onion
-28 oz diced tomatoes
-5 cloves minced garlic
-1/2 cup cilantro roughly chopped
-8 teaspoons chicken bouillon
-8 cups water
-Monterrey jack cheese
-avocado
-3 limes
-1 tablespoon California chili powder (you can fine this for less than a dollar in your local grocery store in the Hispanic isle)
-1/8 teaspoon pepper

OOPS! I almost forgot....

THE CORN!

In your pan add about 3 tablespoons of canola oil, season your chicken with the pepper and brown your chicken until done.

I cut my chicken into 2 inch pieces. Once finished set them on a plate lined with a paper towel. We will get back to the chicken later.

Now in a large pot add the oil that you used from the chicken into it, add the onion, garlic, minced jalapenos and cook until the onions get soft. At is time add in you chili powder, chicken bouillon. Cook for about another minute.

I know it shows that you add the Jalapeno after the tomatoes, but the reason why I did that is because I almost forgot to add them in there! Good thing i remembered.

Now add in your can of tomatoes. Cook together for another 2-3 minutes and add in your water.



this is me adding in the water =]

Bring to a boil and once it's boiling add in your diced zucchini, corn and cilantro

We are getting ready to add in our lime juice, so here is a tip. I like to roll my lime around on the counter to break the capsules inside the lime that hold the juice. I think it makes for a juicier lime, and it makes it that much easier to get the juice out.

Re introduce your chicken and add the juice of one whole lime into your soup. Let boil for ten minutes so all the flavors can combine.

Serve with avocado pieces, the CHEESE, tortilla chips (I crush them in my hand) and a garnish of lime.

Ole!

By the way I wanted to share my new and adorable measuring cups and measuring spoons. You will be seeing a lot of them =] I bought them from the world trade market in Temecula, CA when I went to visit my fiances cousins this past weekend. Cute right??