Cornbread Muffins with a little Extra Sum'n Sum'n

One Pinterest night, I stumbled upon a picture of some broccoli stuffed cornbread muffins. This image stuck in my head and then the thought of cornbread made me think of Corn Dogs and finally I had a chance to merge my ideas together to come up with [insert fancy name here] Follow below for the how-to...

Ingredients

Cornbread Mix (I used Trader Joe's brand)

^needs 1 egg, 1/2 c. oil (I used olive oil) and 3/4 c. Milk (I used soy milk)

1 head of broccoli (chopped)

small onion (diced)

1/2 pack of Beef Kielbasa (diced)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Garlic Powder

Cayenne Pepper

1/2 tbsp honey

Salt

Combine the wet ingredients (egg, oil, milk, honey) and seasonings together in a large bowl and whisk. Add dry cornbread mix, broccoli, sausage, onion and cheese...

Using a rubber spatula, fold the ingredients together until Just combined...

Spoon the batter into a greased muffin pan...

Bake in the oven per the packages instructions...I think this was in a preheated 350* oven for about 25 minutes or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean....VoiLa!

Perfect GALentine Brunch Dessert-Fruit Pizza/Tart

I was invited to the cutest little brunch this weekend...a GALentine's brunch by one of my co-worker turned friends...and while she told me I only needed to bring myself, I never like to come to people'e home empty-handed...so randomly in a meeting a light bulb clicked and I thought I'll bring a Fruit Pizza...quick, cheap, easy and almost always a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients

*Crust*

Sugar Cookie Dough

*Frosting*

1 pack of cream cheese

1/2 tub of whipped topping

1.5c.  powdered sugar

1 tbsp. orange juice (I used juice from mandarin oranges)

vanilla extract

*Fruit*

Strawberries

Kiwi

Mandarin Oranges

Whatever you like...

Follow the instructions on the packaging to bake the sugar cookie in any shape that you want..I like my crust to be thicker and chewy so I didn't roll the dough out thin. In fact I didn't expect the dough to rise as much as it did or I would have used a larger pan)

While the cookie is baking, in a mixer or large bowl whip the cream cheese with an electric mixer on high speed until smooth. Add the orange juice and vanilla extract. Slow down the speed of your mixer and add in the powdered sugar. Once all of that has incorporated, using a spatula, fold in the whipped topping and refrigerate.

Take the cookie out of the oven just as the edges turn golden brown. It can stay longer if you like a crisper crust but also remember to roll the dough thinner) LET IT COOL COMPLETELY...the frosting will melt if the cookie is still warm.

While the cookie was cooling, I took the time to prep my fruit. Since this was a Valentine themed brunch I decided to cut my fruit into hearts...The strawberries were easy but the kiwi came out a little rough....

Once the cookie has cooled COMPLETELY, spread as much or as little frosting on top I had plenty of frosting leftover...it makes a great fruit dip!! Then organize your fruit however you fancy...Refrigerate until you are ready to serve...VoiLa!!

Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake...

Earlier this week, I had a hankering to bake. I love eating (duh!) and I especially love warn fresh from the oven baked goods. Maybe it was the bitter chills from the weather this week but I imagined eating something cake-y with a nice cup of tea as the perfect wind down, but those same bitter chills that inspired that thought [made it so] I didn't want to leave the house...soooo I went to the fridge and checked out what ingredients I had on hand, then checked out Pinterest and came up with a based off a recipe from For the Love of the South...


Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake with Lavender Coconut Syrup...
2 tbsp grapefruit zest (I didn't measure just added two grapefruits worth of zest)
1 c. sugar (true recipe called for 1/2 raw [turbinado] sugar...but I went without)
1/2 c. olive oil
2 tbsp grapefruit juice
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 c. buttermilk (again I didn't have so I used some 2% milk with 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar)

In a large bowl, add the sugar and grapefruit zest, use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar (the warmth of your hands will encourage the oils to infuse with the sugar)

Add the olive oil and grapefruit juice and whisk until smooth.

In a separate bowl, add all of the dry ingredients. (I added them to a sifter and sifted them together)

Using a spatula, add a third of the flour to the olive oil/sugar mixture, mix until combined add the buttermilk stir until combined and repeat until all of the ingredients are mixed.

Place batter in buttered and floured loaf pan. Bake at 350 until an inserted tooth pick comes out kinda clean...not liquid batter but crumbs are ok. I think this was about 40 minutes for me.

WHile the cake is baking, I made the syrup...

In a saucepan, I added 2 tbsp sugar and 1/3 c. grapefruit juice. Over medium heat I heated  and consistently stirred the sugar until it boiled. I added some dried lavender and mint and a bit of white rum to the pan and took it all of the heat...

Once the cake came out of the oven I let it cool for a few minutes before poking holes in the cake (in retrospect, I wish I'd poked the holes sooner so the cake could absorb more of the syrup but ah..well next time) and pouring the warm syrup on top.

Why the Rum?? Because I drizzled some of that on top too...this can be omitted :-p

While the syrup absorbed into the cake I went to make the glaze for the cake...but I was out of powdered sugar...womP WomP WOMP!! So I wondered if I made a syrup and added coconut milk to it to give it the white appearance I was looking for would suffice...and though it didn't give me what I wanted....It made sort of a coconut caramel.that was good too.

Mix 3/4 c. sugar with 2 tbsp grapefruit juice and a pinch of salt in a pan. Heat until sugar dissolves and boils. Add about 1-2 tbsp of coconut milk and stir consistently. Pour over the cake ad let cool...VoiLa!