A Couple of Things I Have Been Up To....

Welcome, gentle readers, to another chapter of "What I Have Been Up To".  I reinvented my "Growed Up Mac and Cheese" which was great fun and very tasty!  Not only did I boil my farfalle pasta in chicken stock and Tecate beer, but I added Tecate to my roux.  Delicious!  In addition, I used both andouille sausage (one of my all-time favorites) and also Chipotle Chicken Sausage.  The combination of Cajun and Chipotle spice was quite complimentary.  Loved it.  I also added roasted Anaheim green chiles. My son devoured it, which was a great sign of success.  Here is a wedge of it:  

On a more comical note, I made Chocolate Decadent Cupcakes. That in itself, while messy, was not the comical part.  I decorated my cupcakes - with absolutely  no confidence - using one of those frosting bags (the technical term escapes me) and my frosting, which I wanted to look like a rose, turned out more like worm poop.  Yes, I am deeply shamed, but it is too funny to not share it with you.  Here, have a laugh.  It is ok.  I laughed, too.  Yes, indeed, this is the reason why I am not writing a baking blog.  Clearly. 

 

The best part was being able to use my last year's Christmas present, my KitchenAid hand mixer.  Made life a lot easier.  The last batch of cupcakes that I'd made (at a friend's house) I mixed by hand with a whisk, which took forever.  This time, it was quite fun. 

Thank you for enjoying this episode! Stay tuned for two more posts!  I have been quite busy in the kitchen!