Bake A Red Velvet Cake

Cathy helping me frost the cake

Red Velvet Cake is my absolute favorite!  Everytime I see it on a menu I MUST have it!   I don't know if it's the bold colors, or the moist flavors of the cake, or just EVERYTHING about it.

Yummy!

I got the recipe from Bakerella but used this frosting recipe.  This was my first time ever baking a cake and frosting from scratch.  I made my cake layers a day in advance and placed it in the fridge with saran wrap layers.  The day of my party I began constructing my cake.  I whipped up some frosting, and began layering my cake.  This part of the process was the most challenging!   The cake had to be even, so I had to trim my cake for it to look perfect.

The cake was so rich and divine.  Just the way I like my red velvet!  

Date Accomplished: July 10th, 2010

Cook Every Recipe From A Cookbook

After watching Julie & Julia I was inspired to try cooking all the recipes from a cookbook. 

I have tons of cookbooks, but since I am trying to live a healthy lifestyle, I decided to pick Pretty Delicious.  A pretty book filled with eye candy food without all the high calories.  I had gone back and forth between other books but chose this one because I had bookmarked so many recipes from the book, and the recipes were different enough to keep me inspired.

I will be checking them off as I go:

1. Berry Creamy Oatmeal
2. Ricotta, Berry and Runny Honey Parfaits
3. Lemon-Cran Scones
4. Raspberry-Oat Muffins
5. Bright-Eye Blueberry-Bran Muffins
6. Toasted-Almond Sticky Buns
7. Tofu Scramble with Fresh Basil and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
8. Skinny 3-Veg Scramble
9. Green with Envy Eggs and Ham
10. Skinny Eggs Benny
11. Dirty Marys
12. Candice's Can-Do Mimosas
13. Peaches and Cream Crepes
14. Pumpkin Pie Pancakes with Apple Butter
15. Country Girl Waffle Stacks
16. Skinny Mini BLT Bites
17. SoCali Guacamole and Home-Baked Chips
18. TDF Sliders with Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms
19. Totally Un-Croque Monsieur Fingers
20. Mom's Homemade Gyoza
21. DIY Fresh Spring Roll Bar
22. Seared Garlicky Shrimp Filling for Spring Rolls
23. Beautiful Black Bean and Banana Empanadas 
24. TDF Hummus with Veggie Sticks
25. Hot-Stuff Spinach-Artichoke Dip
26. Chinese Chicken Salad Chop Cups
27. Asian Almonds
28. Shrimp and Avocado Ceviche Dream Boats
29. The Skinny Caesar
30. Asparagus Ribbon, Sweet Corn, and Cress with Pom Vinaigrette
31. Feel Good Sesame-Cucumber Salad
32. Roasted Beet and Granny Salad
33. Grilled Nectarine Salad with Blue Cheese Crumbles
34. Spinach Salad with Walnuts and Strawberries
35. Watermelon and Feta with a Balsamic Reduction
36. Candice's Candied Walnuts
37. 3-Bean Tuna Nicoise
38. BBQ-Ranch Chicken Chop Salad
39. Miso Fabulous Soup and Salad Combo
40. Creamy Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
41. Quick and Easy Asparagus-Chickpea Soup
42. Soba Noodle Soup
43. "Creamy" Tomato Soup
44. Heartwarming Chicken Soup
45. Shrimp and Veggie Ramen
46. Albondigas (Meatball) Soup
47. Grilled BVP's
48. Cali-Fresh Wrap
49. Dill-Lite-Full Cucumber Tea 'Wiches
50. Tuna Curry Salad on Toast
51. Spicy Tuna Lettuce Wraps
52. Lox on Pumpernickel
53. Skinny Chicken Pesto Wrap
54. Chicken-Apple Salad Skinnywich
55. Turkey-Fuji Pita
56. SoCal Quinoa and Cranberry Protein Plate
57. Pear and Onion Flatbreads with Gorgonzola and Walnuts
58. Grilled White Pizza with Mushrooms, Artichokes, and Parm
59. Mushroom and Potato Pierogis
60. Potato and Herb Gnocchi
61. 3-Veg Curry over Brown Rice
62. The Sleek Greek Center Plate Salad
63. Protein-Packed Veggie Chili
64. Quinoa-Mushroom Burgers
65. Spicy Soba with Shitakes and Peas
66. Skinny Tofu Pad Thai
67. Herbed Tofu Marinara with Whole Wheat Spaghetti
68. Summer Squash and Mushroom Lasagna
69. Platinum Skinny Mac and Cheese
70. Baked Falafel Plate with Dill Yogurt Dip and Cuke Salad
71. Pan-Seared Scallops with Skinny Pesto Fettuccine
72. Lemony Shrimp and Bok Choy Lo Mein
73. Crab and Mushroom Ravs
74. Fresh Fuji Crab Cakes
75. Quinoa and Crab-Stuffed Red Peppers
76. One-Pan Paella
77. Miso Gorgeous Glazed Salmon
78. Mega Omega Salmon
79. Spicy Salmon Burgers with Creamy Chive Sauce
80. Pan-Seared Mahi with Black Bean Salsa
81. Fabulous Fish Tacos with Tequila-Lime Sauce and Pickled Slaw
82. Chicken Fajitas with Caliente Rub
83. Hearty Veggie and Chicken Pot Pie
84. Apricot Chicken with Quinoa-Almond Pilaf
85. Easy-Easy Peanut Noodles with Chicken
86. Orange-Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry over Brown Rice
87. Sesame-Ginger Chicken Strips with Tangy Marmalade Dip
88. Maple Chicken and Waffles
89. Olive Oil-Grilled Chicken over Quinoa-Spinach Salad
90. Teri-Glazed Turkey Meatball Yakitori
91. The Hollywood Burger
92. Fab Ginger-Beef Skewers
93. Steak Man-Salad
94. Smoky Paprika-Rubbed Sirloin with Zucchini-Stuffed Potatoes
95. Totally Mexi-Cali Carnitas
96. Date-Night Knockout Rack of Lamb
97. Lamb Ragu with Zucchini Pappardelle
98. Ginger-Soy Baby Boy Choy
99. Mustard Greens with Smoky Paprika
100. Sexy Swiss Chard with Golden Raisins and Pumpkin Seeds
101. No-Cook Balsamic Beans
102. Eggplant, Mushroom, and Spinach Saute
103. Portobello Fries with Creamy Horseradish Dip
104. Roasted Artichokes with No-Mayo Aioli
105. Pearled Barley with Peas and Edamame
106. Cremini Mushrooms, Asparagus, and Quinoa
107. Perfect Persian-Spiced Basmati Rice
108. One-Dish Roasted Root Veggies
109. Beverly Hills Fries with Honey-'Cue Sauce
110. Roasted Garlic and Buttermilk Mashers
111. Simply Obsessed Baked Potatoes
112. Strawberry Cupcakes
113. Baby Blue Babycakes
114. Lemon Babycakes
115. Pineapple-Carrot Cupcakes
116. Dark Chocolate-Peppermint Brownies
117. Maple-Walnut Bars
118. Bosc Pears in Mulled Vino
119. Mom's Apple Mug Pie
120. Baked Cinnamon-Sugar Apples
121. Chocolate Silk Pie
122. Homemade Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crunch Cups
123. Chocolate-Banana Bonbons
124. Creamy Peach Sorbet
125. Sexy Strawberry Cheesecake
126. Maple Heart Coffee Cake
127. Gone Bananas Chocolate Chip-Oat Cookies
128. Spiced Pumpkin Cookies

Cooked 6/128 Recipes

Bake Christmas Cookies For Friends

I love Christmas theme shaped sugar cookies.  Love, Love, Love!  I had always wanted to bake a few batches of cookies and hand them out as mini presents for my closest friends. 

My cousin was coming into town and I always try to find fun activities to do while she is in town.  Why not get her to work and bake Christmas cookies with me!!

We rolled out some store bought sugar cookie dough (cause sometimes they are just as good as ones made from scratch).  I had two cookie cutters, a snow flake and gingerbread man.  After filling the pans with pretty shaped cookies, we had some extra cookie dough to spare.  We decided to use the excess dough to decorate our gingerbread men, with hair, buttons, and facial features.  We even decided to make some that looked like us!

I love my cookies soft so I was constantly checking up on them in the oven so they didn't overcook.

The results:  Perfection.

Afterwards we let them cool and then placed them into goodie bags mixed with some of my favorite Trader Joes cookies.  My friends loved the goodie bags filled with sweet wintery goodness.

I hope to do this again one year!

Date Accomplished:  December 27th, 2009

Bake A Cheesecake

I love cheesecake.

My favorite cheesecake variety is a New York Cheesecake topped with chocolate or fruit (particulary strawberries).

When planning my Thanksgiving Dinner I decided to serve cheesecake for dessert.  Not only would I be able to eat one of my favorite desserts, but I would also be able to knock an item off my life list.

Cheesecake is not the quickest dessert to make if you are faced with a time crunch, but it definitely is one of the most delicious.

Everyone that tried my cheesecake loved it, and the beauty about cheesecake is that you can freeze the leftovers to have happy seconds a few days or weeks down the road.

My cheesecake recipe.....

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INGREDIENTS

15 graham crackers, crushed
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
oreo cookie crumbs (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter. Press onto bottom of springform pan.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours; this prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until serving.  Top with your favorite topping before serving (I used oreo crumbs).

Serves: 12

Date Accomplished: November 23rd, 2006

Bake Cookies From Scratch

I loved baking, but up until after graduating college I solely used boxed cookie, brownie and cake mixes.  That is the only type of baking my mom knows, and those are the baking skills she inherited to me.

One night while in my LA apartment my sweet tooth was raging for some chocolate chip cookies.  It was late at night and I didn't really want to have to get out of my pajamas for a midnight grocery run.  I opened up The New Best Recipe and found a chocolate chip cookie recipe and I just so happened to have all the ingredients on hand.  My roommate had some extra chocolate chips for another recipe, and she gladly gave me the remaining chocolate chips in exchange for a few cookies.  Deal!

I made sure not to over bake the cookies, and the final product was a delectable, chewy, moist chocolate chip cookie!!  My roommate claims till this day that I have been her most favorite roommate.  I'm sure she said that for other reasons too, but I'm absolutely positive that the cookies gave me a few brownie cookie points!

Date Accomplished:  November 6th, 2004