Chocolate Oreo Cream Cake

 I admit, I cheated a little when it came to this blog post because this wasn't the first time I have made this cake. I made it over a year ago for a friend of mine's birthday. This was my very first Pinterest recipe and it was so good that I just had to make it again this year. Chocolate, Oreo's, Cream Cheese and Whipped Cream...what more can you ask for in a cake?

 Be prepared, this cake will take some time to prepare! It is not a simple "bake cake, put on icing and serve" type cake. But please do not be discouraged as this cake is worth it with every delicious bite you make!!

There are a lot of ingredients you will need to buy as you have a cake to bake, icing to make and a filling that needs to be whipped up. You have two choices when it comes to the cake and icing...store bought or home made. Either choice is acceptable because, really, the most delicious and important part of this cake is the filling. The recipe calls for boxed cake and home made icing. If you want to make your own icing, then here is a great recipe!

• 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 6 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 4 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 5 to 6 Tbsp milk or more if needed

And now for the main event...the Oreo Cream filling!! Here are the steps plus iPhone photos. Filling recipe:

• 8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups Cool whip (I used the extra creamy kind)
• 12 oreo cookies, coarsely crushed

Step 1:

Add cream cheese and sugar to a bowl and beat them together with a hand mixer until well blended.

Step 2:

Fold in your whipping cream to the cream cheese and sugar mixture. 

Step 3:

On a cutting board, use a rolling pin to crush up your Oreo's while using every ounce of willpower to not just chow down :p 

Step 4:

Blend in your crushed Oreo's to the cream cheese, sugar and whipped cream mixture. 

 Step 5:
Spread the Oreo Cream filling onto the cooled bottom layer of your cake.

 Step 6:
Place cooled top layer on top. Now you are ready to put the icing on

*Please note that for whatever reason, my icing turned out a lot thicker than usual so my completed cake ended up being one of the ugliest cakes I have ever made!!! The good news; it still tasted delicious so just ignore how bad this cake looks.

 Slice and serve!!!

Rating

Preparation: 9/10...I took the more complicated route as I made my cake batter from scratch and made my own icing. This is not reflected in the preparation score. I am rating the filling itself. This filling recipe is really easy to prepare, but breaking up the Oreo's does take a little time (and a lot of willpower haha). You can make it a head of time and just place it in the fridge until you are ready to place it on the cake.

Taste: 10/10...Like I said above...Chocolate, Oreo's, Cream Cheese and Whipped Cream how could this not taste amazing??!! It is not overly sweet and the whole cake leaves your sweet tooth feeling very very very satisfied.

Servings: 10/10...You can use as much or as little of the filling as you like. It will spread nicely onto any size cake you decide to make so you do not have to worry about running out.

This recipe is a cool 29/30!! There is nothing that I wouldn't really change and believe me...I will be making this filling again and again and again :)

Enjoy Responsibly :)

http://realmomkitchen.com/6917/chocolate-oreo-cream-cake/

Salmon Florentine

You had me at Goat Cheese

 From past blog posts, you all know that I am a huge fish fan! Salmon is one of my favourites to cook up and I make sure I buy a big enough piece that there will be delicious leftovers for lunch the next day. I was looking to make a fancier salmon for a birthday celebration and came across this Salmon Florentine recipe (http://www.self.com/fooddiet/recipes/2009/11/salmon-florentine?mbid=enws_row0326). Honestly, the ingredients list sparked my attention and I thought that it looked and sounded delicious. The recipe was easy to follow so I knew that this was worth a shot!

The recipe called for ricotta, however, I decided to be a bit of a rebel and go with a delicious goat cheese...how can anyone say no to goat cheese?! Here are the ingredients you will need:

• 2 packages (10 oz each) frozen spinach, thawed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 5 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta
• 4 skinless salmon fillets (6 oz each), rinsed and patted dry

Preparation was very simple!! I had my game face on while cooking this meal so here are step-by-step instructions with photos (iPhone photos...I really need to start pulling out my camera). Please note that if you decide to use frozen spinach, you need to defrost and drain it first.

Step 1:
Heat oil in a large pan and add your sliced green onion (shallots). Make sure you keep stirring the shallots for about 3 minutes or until soft.

Step 2:
Add garlic and spinach to the soften shallots and oil. Stir them until they all mix in together.

Step 3:

Add sun dried tomato pieces along with salt and black pepper. Stir everything together and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Step 4:

Take spinach mixture off of heat and add some goat (or ricotta) cheese to mixture. It will melt into the spinach mixture as you stir.

Step 5:

Place your salmon on top of a drizzle of olive oil in a baking dish. I squeezed some fresh lime juice on top of the salmon plus added a little lemon dill seasoning. I did not add much seasoning to the salmon, just enough to put a very fine layer on. Pile on the spinach mixture on top if your salmon and spread it so that the spinach covers the salmon. I took the rest of the goat cheese (I had purchased a small package) and sprinkled it on top of the spinach mix. I found that it makes this recipe looked finished and nothing wrong with a little extra goat cheese :p

 Step 6:
Place salmon in oven. Here is a trick to cooking fish...are you ready??!! DO NOT PREHEAT YOUR OVEN. I put my salmon into a cold oven and turned on the heat to 425 for 30-35 minutes. I have found that not preheating the oven makes the salmon taste super fresh and keeps it from drying out. I cooked a very large and thick piece of salmon, so please note that heat and cooking times will vary depending on your oven as well as the size and thickness of the salmon you are cooking. Heat and cooking times also depends on whether or not your fish is boneless or bone-in. I always buy boneless fish because I have this massive (possibly irrational) fear of choking on fish bones.

Once your salmon is ready, cut into desired piece size and then plate and enjoy!! I served my salmon with a side of honey lime shrimp (see blog post from March 15 for recipe) on rice and Caprese Salad (blog to come!!)

Rating:

Preparation: 8/10...There were very few steps in preparing this salmon recipe, however, you really need to make sure your spinach is completely defrosted and drained (if you choose to use frozen spinach). I could see the extra moisture causing some consistency issues with this dish. If you use frozen spinach, you will have to plan to make it as you will need to take out the spinach before you head off to work or school. There is a lot of chopping (shallots, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic) but they do not take long. Cooking the spinach topping is quick and easy with very little clean-up.

Taste: 9.5/10...This was almost perfection! I think next time I will add a little fresh squeezed lemon juice to the spinach topping just for a little extra taste.

Servings: 10/10...Even though this was for a dinner party, there was still left-overs for my lunch at work the next day. I actually placed a piece on top of salad with a raspberry dressing.

Out of a possible 30, this recipe was a solid 27.5!! Where it loses points is in the preparation and only because it is not a quick and delicious throw together meal due to your spinach needing to defrost and drain completely first.

Enjoy!!

Honey Lime Shrimp

At the end of February, my Mamma celebrated her 57th birthday and we celebrated by having family over for dinner and cake. She asked me to cook so of course I had to make this a pinterest recipe affair!! 

This is the first of 4 blogs from this night. Look out for a cake, some salmon and a blended alcohol free drink that will wake up your taste-buds.

Since we were having salmon, I decide that a side of shrimp and rice was needed! I had come across a pin for a very simple Honey Lime Shrimp recipe and thought it was a great time to try it out.

This is a very simple recipe with very delicious results. Here is the recipe:
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup olive oil
2 T honey
juice of one small lime, or half a large lime (2-3 T)
zest of one small lime, or half a large lime
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Here are the directions:

1.) In a large ziploc bag, combine all the marinade ingredients. When everything is well-combined, add the shrimp, squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag, and close it up. Place it in the fridge.

2.) Let the shrimp marinate for 30-60 minutes, flipping the bag around once or twice during that time, so that all the shrimp stay evenly covered in the marinade.

3.) When you’re ready to cook, take the shrimp out of the fridge and let them sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat; there is no need to add any oil or butter to the pan, as the marinade has enough oil in it to keep the shrimp from sticking to the pan. (If you would prefer to use the grill for these, you can thread them onto skewers and toss them on the grill at this point.)

4.) Add your shrimp to the pan in a single layer, making sure they are not too crowded; you can always cook them in more than one batch. Let them cook on one side for about a minute, until they curl up and start to turn pink. Flip them over, and cook for another 30 seconds or so, until the shrimp are opaque. Remove from the pan, and serve immediately!

This is what I did. I de-shelled the shrimp before preparing them to be marinated. My 3.5 year old daughter is a huge shrimp monster so I like them to be shell free before she digs in. I ran them under cold water for about 5 minutes. I then drained the water and placed the shrimp into a bowl. I added olive oil, honey, garlic and lemon zest. I then cut up 3 small limes and squeezed the juices in. Once everything was added I stirred them around a bit, covered them and threw them in the fridge until I was ready to cook them.

They took less than 10 minutes to cook up. I served them over brown rice and added a little sauce to them once they were platted. I can tell you that by the end of dinner, there was not one piece of shrimp to be found. My daughter even started stealing them from our plates!

This recipe is very versatile! You can serve them as an appetizer all on their own, add to a summer salad or serve as a side with a meal. They were so good that I have a bowl of them sitting in my fridge marinating for a little get together I am having tomorrow.

Rating:

Preparation: 10/10...Simple ingredients, very little preparation needed for the shrimp and everything just goes into one bowl! Stir it up a little, refrigerate until you are ready to cook them and you are good to go.

Taste: 10/10...When your first fork full hits your mouth, all you can say is "YUM." No, I am serious!! Everyone at the table said "yum." They are a nice mixture of sweet and sour, and if you are not a huge shrimp fan, they do not have that "shrimpy" taste.

Servings: 10/10...We were left wanting more, but not because there wasn't enough. I had doubled the recipe because I was feeding more than two (the recipe is for 2 servings). This recipe is very versatile so you can make enough to serve however many people you are hosting.

This recipe was a perfect 10/10! I do not feel like it needs something else added to it and I love that it could be served as an appetizer or as a meal. This recipe is worth making again and again and again!!

bone appetite!!