A Delicious Flop

I can’t believe it has been 2 weeks since I’ve last updated Fallon’s Cucina. My bad! It literally does not feel like it has been that long. I set some time to get this post together because 1) today is February 29th, 2012 and 2) it was time to get a more updated post. I couldn’t miss out on today because we won’t have another leap year for 4 more years. Happy Birthday to whoever is actually born on a leap year. I always wondered how that works? How old can you really be if your birthday only comes every 4 years? Hmmm ;)

Today I have a recipe for you which is easy to put together but ended up turning out to be something completely different. Remember those rolo cake mix bars I made? They were so good, I wanted to change them up and do something different. Like using a chocolate cake mix and adding marshmallows, caramel sauce and pecans. Sounds delicious right? Well the bars ended up turning into this gooey, lava like cake. These definitely required a spoon for consumption, unless you like sticky fingers! As much as I wanted to call this mess a flop, it actually turned out to be a delicious lava like cake.

I baked them for over 30 minutes because I thought the cake was still not cooked through but it just continued to stay gooey. I realized I might of gone a bit overboard when it came to the caramel sauce and it is what kept the cake so moist and lava like. Which isn’t a bad thing!

It was enjoyed throughout the night at my best friend’s house. I couldn’t stop picking at them either. The toasted marshmallows are the best part. I’d recommend this cake to someone with an urgent sweet tooth because this cake will solve all those problems.

Gooey Chocolate Cake mix with Marshmallows, Caramel and Pecans
By Fallon

Ingredients
1 box (18.25oz) chocolate cake mix
1 (5oz) can evaporated milk (I used reduced fat)
1/4  cup unsalted butter, melted
2 cups mini marshmallows
1/4 cup caramel sauce, warmed
1/4 cup pecans, chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13in pan with cookie spray. With a mixer, beat cake mix, evaporated milk and butter until combined. Mixture will be thick and sticky.

Divide batter in half and press 1 half onto the bottom of the pan. Bake until just set, approximately 8-9 minutes.

Remove base from oven and place marshmallows, caramel sauce and pecans on top. Drop remaining batter on top of marshmallow mixture in teaspoon sized amounts. Bake for 30 minutes longer until marshmallows are toasted and cake mix is cooked through but still fudgy.

Cool and serve by scooping into a bowl and if your feeling extra frisky, serve with vanilla ice cream!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope everyone has a great day today! I’m glad it is already the middle of the week. I’m so ready for my days off. ;)

Enjoy,
Fallon

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The only good thing about today is being able to eat chocolate. I think that is a good excuse, no? Now these brownies I’m about to share with you are definitely a good excuse to enjoy on Valentine’s Day. They are really, really, really decadent. Just a little square and you will be in heaven! I made these for my friends’ but they’re also be great to share with someone special in your life or just a valentine you may have on your mind.

I’m going solo this year with the exception of drinking a bottle of wine and enjoying some decadent dark chocolates. Actually.. I may go out and have a pizookie instead! If someone can’t take care of me, I need to know how to take care of myself. Right? Right!

These brownies are super easy to make. I used a fudgy boxed brownie as the base, melted some chocolate with butter and topped with chopped snickers. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly except swapping out vegetable oil for coconut oil. The coconut oil sealed the deal. The brownie base was super fudgy and very moist. The recipe is from the cookbook The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book and many sites post previews of some of the recipes featured in the cookbook.

The only weary thing I have about the cookbook is using boxed cake and brownie mixes. Which I believe I’ve mentioned before. The ingredients listed are so scary but you know what… they make good desserts. I could easily make the brownies by scratch but why? These took minutes to put together and they were enjoyed by everyone. At least with a box mix you really can’t screw it up!

Snickery Supreme Brownies
Adapted from The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book

Ingredients:
1 (19.5oz) package fudgy brownie mix
1/2 cup melted extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup water
2 large eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3 regular sized snicker bars, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, Position rack in the lower third of the oven. Spray the bottom only of an 8x8in square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray for foil-line pan.

Combine the brownie mix, oil, water and eggs in a medium mixing bowl with a wooden spoon until just blended and all dry ingredients are moistened. Spread batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 40-44 minutes or until toothpick inserted in 2 inches from side of pan comes out clean or almost clean (do not over bake). Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Combine chocolate chips and butter in a medium saucepan; stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour and spread over brownies and immediately sprinkle with chopped snickers. Gently press chopped snickers into chocolate layer. Cool. Cut into squares. Makes 9 large or 16 small brownies.

I recommend cooling the brownie base completely before adding the melted chocolate and snickers on top. This definitely takes a few hours and lots of patience to not dig in right away. ;) 16 small brownies are the perfect serving, trust me!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Fallon’s Cucina! 

The Secret Recipe Club: Dried Cranberry, Grape and Pine Nut Salad

So do you remember when I started to participate in my first food club called The Secret Recipe Club? Well it is finally back this month! There have been a lot of changes to the club but all for good reasons. I’m part of Group B and today is our reveal day. I had such an awesome blog called Cafe Lynnylu. Lynne has beautiful photography skills and lives in Augusta, GA. Sometime last year I was living in Georgia and I wished I would of been able to meet up with her, if I had found her blog earlier! I could use a few photography skill tips from her. ;)

I had a really hard time deciding what to make because everything looked good. I was going to make one of her Thirsty Thursday drinks because it reminded me of the south with their fun lingo. Instead I settled for a salad. A very delicious salad with an orange honey Dijon dressing and crumbles of goat cheese! I added a very small twist to the salad and used a honey goat cheese versus plain. I took her recommendation to add red onion and it brighten up the salad and paired well with the sweet and tart flavors. I don’t usually care to put fruit in my salad but the green grapes actually worked. I like to think of this salad as a nice “winter is almost over but not quite yet” salad! Oh and restaurant quality for sure!



Dried Cranberry, Grape and Pine Nut Salad (for 1 serving) 
Adapted from Cafe Lynnylu

Salad Ingredients:
2 cups mixed baby greens
1 tablespoon dried cranberries
8-10 grapes, sliced
1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts
1-2 tablespoons crumbled honey goat cheese

Direction:
Combine greens, dried cranberries and seedless grapes. Toss with a small amount of dressing just to coat leaves and top salad with toasted pine nuts and the goat cheese. Drizzle a little extra dressing on top.



Orange Honey Dijon Salad Dressing (6 servings, 1 tablespoon size):
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup 100% orange juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I used less oil, Lynne calls for 2/3 cup)

Direction:
On cutting board, mash garlic and salt together. Place in bowl, whisk in orange juice, Dijon mustard, honey and orange zest. When combined, whisk in olive oil until dressing is emulsified. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

 

I was getting very bored with salads but I’m glad I experimented with something different! It was definitely worth my while.
Fallon

Rolo Cake Mix Bars

As soon as I saw this recipe I knew they would be good. Yellow cake mix and a milk chocolate covered caramel candy baked together, yeah it just sounds good! With this simple recipe there are so many other dangerous varieties like a chocolate cake mix and peanut butter cups, funfetti cake mix and marshmallows, yellow cake mix and heath bar etc. I could just go on but instead I’ll just share you this recipe. I found the recipe over at Cookies and Cups. I knew it would be good coming from her blog. She makes everything look delicious.They were well liked by my friends over the weekend and I think they will start to make a regular appearance. Just make sure you have a lot of time to unwrap each piece of Rolo candy. Yeah that wasn’t fun at all!

Rolo Cake Mix Bars
Adapted from Cookies and Cups

Ingredients:
1 box (18.25oz) yellow cake mix (Definitely use Duncan Hines)
1 (5oz) can evaporated milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
40 Rolo candies, unwrapped and cut in half

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13in pan with cookie spray. With a mixer, beat cake mix, evaporated milk and butter until combined. Mixture will be thick and sticky.

 

   

Divide batter in half and press 1 half onto the bottom of the pan. Bake until just set, approximately 8-9 minutes.

Remove base from oven and place Rolo candies, caramel-side down on top. Drop remaining batter on top of Rolos in teaspoon sized amounts. Bake for 20-24 minutes longer until top begins to golden.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Oh yeah!

Enjoy,
Fallon

Cheddar Beer Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

What to do with leftovers of cheddar beer chicken? I think I ate that every single day for lunch and dinner last week. It was so flavorful and satisfying. It tasted amazing as a taco salad or in a burrito with the simple flavors of avocado, lettuce and Greek yogurt.

I was really craving a baked sweet potato for lunch the other day and thought that be the perfect vessel for this chicken. I cooked several sweet potatoes until their sugar started to burst from their skin. I topped them with spinach, cheddar beer chicken and honey goat cheese. The sweet and savory worked really well for this chicken. The extra kick of hot sauce was a nice surprise.

Cheddar Beer Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
By Fallon

Ingredients:
4 Sweet potatoes
1 cup of cheddar beer chicken
1 large handful baby spinach, chopped
Honey goat cheese
Hot sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and clean sweet potatoes. Bake sweet potatoes on a baking sheet for 60 minutes or until soften and sugar starts to burst from skins.

Combine chicken and spinach and heat on stove top till hot. Once potatoes are done, remove and cut horizontal. Place chicken mixture in middle and top with crumbles of goat cheese and a couple dashes of hot sauce.

Today is the Superbowl and I’m going for the GIANTS all the way! 

Who are you rooting for?

ENJOY!
Fallon

Crockpot Cheddar Beer Chicken Tacos

Lately trying to find a balance has been quite a challenge. I want to do everything but at the end of the day, I’m lucky if I get to the gym and eat dinner. I like being busy but it comes to a point where being too busy isn’t too good either. Balance between work and having a life is very important. How do you balance long work days to have a life? I really need a vacation and I don’t see that in my future right now :(

What I do find time to make is delicious meals like this meal, Crockpot Cheddar Beer Chicken Tacos. The lovely Jessica from How Sweet It Is has the most creative mind when it comes to cooking, like lots of flavors that just work together. She has inspired me to be more creative in the kitchen and to try new things. I bookmarked this recipe because beer and chicken in a Crockpot sounded quite interesting. Trust me, it is delicious and you’ll want to eat it for lunch and dinner! I use the chicken as a salad topping, corn tortilla tacos and burritos. 

  
My favorite lunch as of late: Beer chicken, lettuce, avocado, onion, Greek yogurt and salsa verde wrapped in a brown rice tortilla.

My job can be quite entertaining most days. There is a station where you check in rental cars that are being returned after their rental is over. When people come to Las Vegas they are here for a good time, they drink, eat and party all night! These people purchase alcohol to have in their hotel rooms but when flying back home, they have to leave it  behind. We get a lot of alcohol left over and they like to leave it with us. Last night I lucked out and came home with a 12 pack of beer. The first thing I thought of was making the cheddar beer chicken! ;)

To get the recipe for Crockpot Cheddar Beer Chicken Tacos you must check out Jessica’s awesome website, How Sweet It Is.

Now time to go make a burrito for work! I think I’m on day 3 of burrito eating ;)

Fallon