Amazing Apple Crisp

With some extra apples in the fridge that tasted more like cooking apples I decided to make some apple crisp. I had seen a few recipes using cake mixes so I decided to try my own. It was delicious! I love the texture of the topping and the flavor of the apples is amazing after adding a can of sparkling apple soda. Here is the recipe...

Ingredients for the Apples:

5-6 small gala apples (or 4 large)

2 Tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup sparkling apple soda (I used Izze brand sparkling apple)

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions for the Apples:

1. Peel and core apples, then cut them into about 1/2inch slices.

2. Mix together the apples sugar and cinnamon.

3. Pour soda over apples and toss together.

Ingredients for the Topping:

1 box yellow cake mix

3/4 cup oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Directions for the Topping:

1. Mix together cake mix, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger in a medium bowl.

2. Using a pastry blender or large fork cut solid butter into cake mix mixture until crumbly and well combine (there should not be any large chunks of butter left in the mixture).

Putting it all together:

1. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Spread apple mixture in the bottom of the pan.

4. Pour topping over apples, spreading it out to make sure it covers all of the apples.

5. Slowly drizzle about 1/4 cup of remaining sparkling apple soda over topping, do not stir!

6. Bake for 5o minutes. Topping should be golden brown.

Our favorite is to enjoy it warm, straight from the oven with a scoop of Breyers vanilla bean ice cream!

If you have leftovers, pop a bowl-full in the microwave for about 1 minute... it reheats really well and makes a great breakfast with a cup of coffee!

I think the key to this recipe is the sparkling apple soda it really amps up the flavor of the apples and the cake mix makes one of the best apple crisp toppings I have ever tasted!

Starbucks Via Mocha Cake

So new experiment tonight in the kitchen... I was looking for something fun to bake for a friend's party. I have been feeling a little bit more in the baking mood since we are on spring break so I decided to try my own little creation.

I have been on a coffee kick lately and had purchased some of the Mocha Via's from Starbucks. As I was thinking about what to make tonight I had a craving for something chocolaty with that coffee flavor.

Here is what I created, it is a basic chocolate cake recipe, I simply added one packet of the Mocha Via.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (I used cake flour, but all purpose would work too... just might be a denser cake)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter

2 cups brown sugar

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1 cup hot water

1 packet Starbucks Mocha Via

Directions:

*** Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and Mocha Via packet... set aside.

2. Beat together butter and brown sugar.

3. Add eggs to butter and brown sugar one at a time. Beat well between each egg.

4. Melt chocolate.

5. SLOWLY mix in the melted chocolate, be sure to stir well as you add it.

6. Stir in the vanilla.

7. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture and half of the sour cream, stir well.

8. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the rest of the sour cream, again stir well.

9. Add the rest of the flour, stir and then slowly add the hot water. Stir mixture together well.

10. Spray or flour a baking pan (I used a 9x13) but you could also use two round pans.

11. Bake for 30-40 minutes... or just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out cle

an.

Let the cake cool.

And now for the frosting..... This was also a little creation of mine.

Mocha Whipped Cream Frosting.

Ingredients:

1 packet Starbucks Mocha Via

2 Tablespoons sugar (I use superfine sugar so that it dissolves faster)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. The key to whipped cream is to put your bowl and beaters into the freezer for awhile before

you make this.

2. Start beating the whipped cream until it looks like it is just starting to get thick.

3. Slowly add the sugar and Via packet as the mixture is being whipped.

4. Whip until the mixture is light and fluffy. Be careful not to overmix!

*** Pictures to follow!

Boilermaker Tailgate Chili: Allrecipes.com Top 20

While searching for recipes online, there are a variety of sites that I like to use. I enjoy comparing recipes and comments from others before I test a recipe in my own kitchen. One of the sites that I have enjoyed the most is allrecipes.com where members upload their recipes for others to test and review. One of my favorite aspects of this site is the Top 20 Recipes page in which the recipes have been reviewed by 2,000 to over 6,000 people. I have tried a few of these recipes already and they have all been instant favorites.

One of the first recipes that Chris and I experimented with was the Boilermaker Tailgate Chili. While the list of ingredients is insanely long, each one is incredibly worth it. I enjoy this chili so much that no other chili recipe quite measures up. The first time that Chris and I made the chili I thought for sure that it would fit into the stock pot that had come with my pan set. As we started adding ingredients, I quickly realized that we were going to need a much bigger stock pot. Chris ran to the grocery store in the middle of cooking to buy one and it is now permanently dubbed the "Chili Pot". While we love to share this recipe with friends, selfishly making it for ourselves is the most common reason for trekking to the grocery store with the long list of ingredients. The leftovers that I put into the deep freeze barely last more than a few weeks. I find it entertaining that this a Purdue inspired recipe considering they are now one of our Big 10 rivals, not sure if we will be able to make this recipe the day our Huskers face them...

The only small alteration that we make to the recipe is the use of HOT Italian sausage instead of the traditional, we love the heat and flavor. I'm sure with today being our first snow in Nebraska another round of Boilermaker Tailgate Chili will be on Chris's request list, I hope you put it on yours too!

Getting Started...

I love cooking and trying new things. One of my favorite things is scouring websites, cookbooks, and magazines to find different recipes. When I read, then watched, Julie Powell's adventure working through Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" I was fascinated... what a great idea! While I am no writer (excuse any spelling and grammar issues please) I do love to cook. I also got a taste of blogging during a recent Educational Technology class for my masters and I loved it!

So here it is... my own little cooking blog.