Culinary Delights

Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn

Posted on by Ang Anderson


I think this recipe had me at ‘Birthday Cake’.  It also had me at five ingredients. 

Tiny word signs popped up in my brain bursting mind.  Fun.  Kids.  Love.  Yummy. 

And so it was decided. 

I printed off this recipe for Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn, gathered the ingredients, and set out to make this too-easy treat.  Apparently ‘fun’, ‘kids’, ‘love’, ‘yummy’ are a call to action that cannot be denied.  These photos are actually from my Easter batch.  The Spring Chicks version were the bright-colored large sprinkles pictured above and a huge hit with the kids.

The pretty pastel Easter Nonpareil version offered more muted tones and were equally delicious.

One cake mix yields two batches.  One bag of microwave popcorn measured roughly to six cups, perfect for a single batch.  If you have a movie night, rainy day, or just need a reason to share some lovely, yummy fun with the kids in your life (or the kid in you!) – I suggest you start popping!

Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn

Ingredients

  • 1-½ cup Melted Almond Bark Or White Chocolate
  • ¼ cups Vegetable Shortening
  • 1-½ cup White Or Yellow Cake Mix
  • 6 cups Popcorn (popped)
  • ¼ cups Sprinkles

Preparation Instructions

Melt the almond bark/chocolate in a double broiler (or microwave).   

Add the vegetable shortening to the almond bark/chocolate and stir until it is melted.

Then add the cake mix to the almond bark/chocolate.

Pour the coating onto the popcorn and coat evenly. I use 2 spoons and toss it almost like a salad.

Pour the popcorn out onto cookie sheets to cool/harden. Sprinkle immediately with your choice of sprinkles.

Wait until fully hardened (if you can) and enjoy!

Foil Packages

Posted on by Ang Anderson

My latest discovery is that good things come in foil packages. Now, good things also come in small packages. As you know, tiny blue packages or velvet packages are particularly delightful. But I am talking about dinner wrapped in foil for you and your family to dive into. The only thing that resembles bling is the shiny aluminum foil.

Besides sparkly gifts, I also happen to love shrimp, pasta, and easy dinners. This dish from Pioneer Woman satisfies all three of those loves for me in one meal. I thought it best to share this recipe with you, in the event you haven’t had the pleasure of enjoying pasta and shrimp in foil. It was my first time and we found Shrimp Pasta in a Foil Package to be simple and delicious.  

My husband took one look and expressed his thoughts of concern that dinner wasn’t going to be all that great on this particular evening. (He was alarmed because there was not an ounce of red meat or a potato in sight.) However, after he was able to obtain some of the pasta and shrimp drenched with the sauce at the bottom of the foil package, I witnessed an incredible transformation. He actually liked it. How do I know? He helped himself to more than one plateful. And he told me so. I also loved this meal very much. And also may have indulged in more than one helping.

The time involved was short and sweet. Plus, cooking with a glass of wine in one hand certainly makes dinner preparation an enjoyable venture. It took about 20 minutes to put together and another 15 minutes to finish in the oven. My freezer happened to contain only one pound of shrimp so I cut everything in half (except the wine!) and used 28 ounce can of tomatoes which I know is two-thirds and not half. What can I say? I like tomatoes. And wine.

May all your packages be wrapped with generosity and received with delight.

Shrimp Pasta in a Foil Package (Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

  • ½ cup Olive Oil
  • 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
  • 3 whole 14.5 Ounce Cans Diced (or Whole) Tomatoes
  • ½ cup White Wine
  • 2 pounds Jumbo Or Large Shrimp, Peeled And Deveined
  • Salt And Pepper, to taste
  • Fresh Parsley, Minced
  • 1 pound Linguine, Uncooked
  • Red Pepper Flakes, to taste

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta for 1/2 the recommended cooking time. Pasta should still be very firm.

In a large skillet or pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for a minute. Dump in the tomatoes and wine. Stir the mixture together, season with salt and pepper, and allow to cook for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare a large parcel of heavy duty aluminum foil. It should be large enough to hold the entire pasta dish.

Throw the shrimp on the top of the pasta sauce. Throw the drained pasta over the top, then pour the whole dish onto the foil. Tightly wrap the foil into a parcel.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and keep warm until serving.

Open the foil parcel right before serving. Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil over the top. Squeeze on lemon juice, if desired.

Mmm…Doughnuts

Posted on by Ang Anderson

Once it is baked, dough of any kind results in a happy dance inside my mouth.  I can’t help it.  Breads, pastries, you know the drill.  Baked goods are just that.  Good. 

Of course, there are varying degrees of good. 

  • Amazingly good. 
  • Melt-in-your-mouth good. 
  • Are you kidding me with these?  These are damn good. 
  • I-think-I’ve-died-and-gone-to-heaven good.  (This last one results in symptoms of not knowing where you are, not knowing what you are doing, trouble remembering your name, and difficulty forming coherent sentences.)

Speaking of good…well, today I surprised even myself.  I made doughnuts.  I made this. 

Do you want to know the greatest part?  I did not fry them.  I baked them.  This is thrilling because it allows me to convince myself that these are actually healthy due to the baked, not fried, method.  Doughnuts that are actually good for you.  Who knew?  Okay, I know it’s still technically a doughnut but it is also technically healthier.

I bought this baking pan which allowed me to make these sweet little doughnuts on this St. Patty’s day morn.  I had good intentions of trying to make these doughnuts leprechaun friendly.  I thought I would decorate with white frosting and green sugar sprinkles.  However, I also found this recipe for glaze.  Chocolate of course.  Because the kids saw the doughnuts pictured on the Nordic Ware packaging and set their hearts on the version with chocolate icing.  They are my children through and through.  At least for today, when they are well-behaved and eating donuts with chocolate glaze and sprinkles. 

Lucky for them, I was in a good mood this morning.  It was “ask and you shall receive” at the Anderson household.  There is some serious perfection in this beautiful glaze.

Mmm…I have determined that the rainbow sprinkles signify our nod to the little green men.

For the last batch, I added cocoa powder to the dough for chocolate doughnuts with chocolate glaze.  Because I am a firm believer that one simply cannot get enough chocolate in their lifetime.  Here are the chocolate babes.

You can count on me to share more doughnut baking recipes as I discover them.  I also think I might need to purchase an additional pan so I can do twelve at a time instead of the dubious six.  Here is the Baked Buttermilk Donuts recipe straight from Nordic Ware.

One Year Ago

Happy Doughnut Baking & Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Love,

The Doughnut Leprechaun