nom (n.) The sound made when eating something (or someone). Can be referred to as "nomming" as a verb, and is often pronounced in the sentence "om nom nom".
-Urban Dictionary
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Red Velvet cake is my absolute fave, so I wanted to make a cupcake version as well.
Here’s what you need for 16 cupcakes:
The Cake
- 2 c sugar
- 2 sticks butter (room temp, unsalted)
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 oz red food coloring
- 2.5 c cake flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 c buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp vinegar (I used white distilled)
The Frosting
- 1 lb cream cheese (softened)
- 2 sticks butter (softened)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 c sifted confectioners’ sugar (you can add more or less, but I like a more cream cheesy flavor)
Preheat the oven to 350° and line that pan with cupcake papers. You then want to use your mixer to combine the sugar and butter until you reach a fluffy consistency. Add eggs, one at a time and mix thoroughly before adding the next. In a separate bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa together, and then add to sugar mixture. In another bowl, sift your flour and salt together. You then want to alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to your sugar mixture. Add vanilla. Here’s the cool part – quickly combine the baking soda and vinegar together and then add to mixture. You’ll notice that the batter becomes a bit frothy. Pour into baking cups and throw in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove when tops of cupcakes are firm.
While the cupcakes are baking, you have the perfect opportunity to make the frosting. You want to beat together all of the wet ingredients and then gradually add the sugar on a low speed.
Enjoy!
From start to finish, this dish takes about 35 minutes, including cook time.
What you need:
- 1 box pasta, cooked (I prefer macaroni)
- 2 cans of tuna
- 2 cans cream of mushroom or chicken soup (I used low sodium cream of mushroom)
- 2 c. cheddar cheese
- 1 c. frozen peas
- 1 sleeve Ritz crackers
- 3 tbsp melted butter
Set the oven to 350°. In a 13″x9″ dish, combine soup, cooked pasta, peas, and tuna. You’ll want to make sure that the tuna is even throughout the mixture. What’s nice about this recipe is that you can really add any vegetable to the casserole and it’ll taste great.
On the side, mash the Ritz crackers with your hands. Don’t get them too fine, because you want the cracker texture to still be there. Pour the butter into the crackers and stir, making sure that the crackers are nice and buttery. You may need to add more butter for this. Spread the buttery crackers over the top of the casserole and stick the entire thing in the oven for about 25 minutes. -That’s it!
I really like this recipe because it’s great if you need a quick recipe for some comfort food. You can easily personalize the recipe by adding your own ingredients.
I’ve been to Mai Thai twice for dinner, and both visits were amazing. If you like Thai food, this is the place to go. This restaurant is classy and is perfect for a fun night out or an intimate meal.
If you don’t mind sitting at the bar for dinner, then do it! It’s an awesome seat in the house, plus your glass never goes empty. For a slightly different experience, you can opt for the seating areas.
The Crispy Tofu appetizer is simply delicious and cooked perfectly with a tasty sauce. I like spicy food – it’s not hot enough unless I’m crying, and I shed a few tears here. I had the Pad Thai Tofu, and it was wonderful. You must have dessert here and I totally recommend the Sticky Rice with Mango. I ordered this dessert at the bartender’s suggestion and was glad I did. The consistency and flavor of the rice goes perfectly with the mango.
I plan on returning here often, and you should definitely check it out if you find yourself in the District.
Rating: 
My birthday was last week (April 28th) and I received a Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer. It’s awesome. I was so excited that I actually made cupcakes for my own birthday and brought them into work. The general consensus? OMNOMNOMNOMNOM.
The key to this recipe is slow baking at a lower temperature. This is enough for a 13″x9″, 2-9″ rounds, or a bunch of cupcakes. You get a better quality cake if all the ingredients are close to room temperature and the butter is very soft. Here are the ingredients:
1 c butter (I used salted)
2 c white sugar (I sifted to get out lumps)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 c flour (all-purpose, sifted)
3 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 c milk
As always, preheat before you start – 350° should do the trick. Prep the pans with grease and flour. You want to cream the butter and sugar together and then beat in eggs and vanilla until thoroughly mixed. In a separate bowl, you want to mix the flour and baking powder. This is done so that the mix is relatively even throughout. Next, alternate adding the flour mix and milk. I tried 1/2 c flour, then 1/4 c milk, and it seemed to do the trick. This is done to make sure the mix is even. Here are the different bake times:
-
13″x9″ 45 minutes
-
2-9″ 40-45 minutes
-
cupcakes 20 minutes
*All ovens heat differently, so you’ll want to watch the cake when it’s about 5 minutes to go. Another trick is to rotate the cake 180° half-way through the baking so that it heats evenly. You can also stick the middle of the cake with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
You might remember my post back in March regarding Pi Day. At the time, I focused on a banana cream pie, but I wanted to share the recipe for an awesome flaky all-purpose pie crust too. I used a recipe found on allrecipes.com. The recipe is very easy, but you want to prep an hour or so ahead of time so that you are working with cold ingredients. The actual work takes about 10-15 minutes, which isn’t too bad. Also, I recommend making the dough a day beforehand.
Here’s what you need for 1 crust (top or bottom):
- 1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 c butter (put in freezer and then dice up once hardened)
- 1/4 c ice water (after ice is removed)
The key to flaky pastry is cold. After combining the flour and salt, you cut int he butter. Because the butter is cold, you’ll want to use a mixer that can handle the stress, or use your hands. If you use your hands, try cooling in a bowl of water every so often so that you don’t soften the butter. Add the ice water gradually in small increments. Form the dough into a ball and warp in plastic wrap. Stick in the fridge for 4-12 hours. When you’re read to use the dough, roll out to desired thickness (and size).
I’ll be the first too admit – I usually opt for the frozen pie crust to save myself some time. I was actually surprised at how painless it was to make homemade crust. The final result was absolutely compliment-worthy.
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