LOST Finale Party Treats

Yesterday was a sad day in these parts. LOST aired it's final episode ever. So bittersweet. It was time for it to go, but after 6 years of clearing your Tuesday night to watch this gem, you are left feeling kinda lost (no pun intended).
My wonderful boyfriend and his roomie had a big blowout to mark the occasion. Below are the dessert ideas I came up with.

COCONUT LEMON CAKE
This one is nothing to brag about really. I pretty much just baked a lemon cake from a box in a rectangle baking pan and frosted it with white frosting and sprinkled with coconut. The real fun with this one is in the decoarting. I went to Party City and Target and got a miniature polar bear, a miniature airplane, some lil flowers and number candles. See the picture below for how it turned out. Not sure if you can tell, but the plane has crashed into the cake (I'm so darn clever).


PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CUPCAKES
I've never made a regular sized pineapple upside down cake, but I thought it was a good tropical dessert for a LOST party. I just didn't want another big cake, so I turned the recipe into cupcakes. Super simple.
2 cans of pineapple chunks
1/3 cup melted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 box yellow cake mix
Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl and mix in brown sugar. Drop about a tablespoon of the concoction into the bottom of a cupcake tin, not lined but sprayed with cooking spray. On top of that drop about a tablespoon of chopped pineapple chunks (you may want to chop the pineapple smaller than it comes). Stir up the cake batter just as it says on the box and spoon the mixture on top of the pineapple and brown sugar/butter (fill almost to the top- just like you are making cupcakes)- Throw that bad boy in a 350 degree oven for about 11 minutes or until they look done. Take them out, let them sit about 2 mins, gently take a knife and go around each cupcake just to loosen them up and then very carefully flip them over onto a platter. I put the platter on top of the cupcake tin and then flip it. Then low and behold, you have perfect lil pineapple upside down cupcakes.


PEANUT BUTTER COMPASS COOKIES
This one isn't anything to brag about either because it's just cookie mix, but as with the lemon cake, the fun is in the decorating. The reason they are peanut butter cookies is because Claire had a hankering for peanut butter when she was pregnant.
Here's a good trick I taught myself. I was in Ralphs and saw a pack of 6 mini pot pie tins. They are round and the perfect size for cookies. It takes a bit longer if you are making alot, but you come out with perfectly round cookies.
All i did was make store bought peanut butter cookies. Put the batter into the sprayed pot pie tins, ran a fork over them in a cross pattern to make it look more like a compass in the end, put a chocolate chip in the center of each and let them bake til they were done. Once they were out of the oven and cooled, I took icing and put the N,E,S,W letters on there and jazzed them up a bit.

Blueberry and Pear Crisp

This is what happens when you are stuck at home, sick as a dog all week. I am so bored, I decided to whip up a lovely crisp with the fruit I had on hand. I didn't have ice cream or whip cream to make my picture look fancy, but I promise it's still yummy.

2/3 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. blueberries or 1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen blueberries, thawed
1/4 c. sugar
3-5 pears, peeled and cored
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven 375 degrees.
Put the blueberries, pears, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tbsp lemon juice in the bottom of a buttered cake pan or dish.

Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in bowl. Cut butter in dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle topping over fruit and bake for about 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream or nothing at all jerks, what do I care.

Cumin Rubbed Chicken with Avocado Salsa

Wow time flies when you forget you have a food blog...

My beautiful Auntie Shelley gave me this recipe and it is fantastic. It's healthy and delicious and super easy.

1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (depends on how hot you like it)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 fully ripened avocado
1 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 teaspoon salt, cumin and pepper. Rub on chicken. In large non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until no longer pink in the center. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, combine avocado, tomato, cucumber, onion, cilantro, lime juice and 1/2 tsp of salt. Serve over chicken and enjoy

Fancy Top Ramen

Hey jerks- Wanna make your Top Ramen a tad healthier and more filling???? Add some broccoli to the cheap treat and enjoy. I KNOW!

Cannellini Bean Stew

This is a really healthy dish that fills you up.

2 15-ounce cans cannellini or other white beans, drained
1 14-ounce can low-sodium chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
A small bag of baby carrots, cut in half
3 cups fresh spinach leaves
Salt n' pepa to taste
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

In a large pot over medium heat, bring the beans, broth, garlic, bay leaf and carrots to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 mins. Remove the bay leaf, add the spinach, salt and pepper and stir until the spinach shrinks down. Spoon the stew into bowls and drizzle with olive oil, vinegar and Parmesan cheese. Personally, I can do without the vinegar, but I encourage trying it to see if you like it.
Suck it.

Sweet Onion and Garlic Soup

I always thought making onion soup would be a big ordeal, so I never tried. I found this recipe in REAL SIMPLE (once again) and not only was it easy, but it came out great.

3 tbs butter
1 sweet onion, chopped (2 cups)
1 head garlic, chopped
1 32-ounce container beef broth
2 tsp thyme
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Parmesan cheese
Salt n' pepa

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat, add the garlic and onions and let it sweat for about 10 minutes. Add the beef broth and the thyme and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 mins. Remove from heat and add the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste (I didn't feel mine needed salt). Spoon into bowls and top with Parmesan cheese. Serve with a sliced, toasted baguette and you are welcome.

Baked Oatmeal

I want to like oatmeal so bad. I know it's healthy and it's not disgusting, yet I don't really enjoy eating it...until now! I found a recipe for baked oatmeal that let's me enjoy the healthy benefits of this breakfast treat.
Below is the basic recipe, but you can add anything you like to it- Fruit, nuts, peanut butter, honey, etc.

2 1/4 cups Old Fashioned Quaker Oats, uncooked
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/3 fat free milk
1/2 cup liquid egg substitute or 2 eggs lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In one bowl, combine oats and granulated sugar. In another bowl, combine milk, eggs, vanilla and brown sugar. Add oat mixture to wet mixture and mix well. Dump the concoction into the baking dish and throw it in the oven for about 45 minutes. Let it cool and eat up, wiseguys.