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We decided that we are going to start a serious blog about baking called Blondes in the Kitchen!!! Cute name, huh? It will be all about our adventures... or misadventures in the kitchen! My sister and I hope that you will love our new blog so please come and follow it. :)

Skillet Lasagna

Okay, we found this recipe recently and made it for dinner. It was so good and easy to make. Everything is in one pan so that was nice, too. The only thing we might do is make extra since our family ate it ALL!!!:-) Serve it with a salad and some warm, crusty french bread and Voila!:-)

Skillet Lasagna

• 1 pound ground beef

• 1 small onion, chopped

• 1 clove minced garlic

• 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes, undrained

• 1 1/4 cups water

• 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce

• 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 1/2 cups bow tie pasta, uncooked

• 1 cup cottage cheese

• 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheeseDash basil, pepper

In large skillet, brown beef with onions and garlic; drain. Add tomatoes, water, tomato sauce, parsley, basil, oregano, and salt. Mix well. Stir in uncooked pasta. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; cover, simmer for 20 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring once. Stir in cottage cheese and then mozzarella cheese. Cover with Parmesan cheese, and sprinkle in basil and pepper to taste if desired. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. * we used fresh but you can also use dried chopped onion and garlic. * Strain the cottage cheese before adding it. * We didn't have parsley so we left it out and it was still good Au revoir, Taylor and Jordan

On Our Wish List:-)

The other day when we were looking for some things that might relate to our blog, we came across these...looks like they were made just for us, right???

We found them at zazzle.com and really want to get some...are you listening Mom?:-) Ciao Taylor and Jordan

Tollhouse Cookie Bars...So Good!

So we were watching the Florida Gators on Saturday Night... (Go Gators...GO TEBOW!!!) and our Dad asked us to make Nestles Tollhouse Cookie Bars. We make chocolate chip cookies ALL THE TIME but we couldn't remember having them in a bar. He had them like that when he was a kid so we went to the store, bought a bag of choc. chips and made them. OMG...these were amazing!!!!! We might never make regular cookies again. So if you're looking for a quick, easy, delicious dessert or snack, make a pan of these. We just followed the directions on the back, except we used a 9 x 13 cake pan instead of a 10 x 15 jelly roll pan. This made them thicker...and we think they're better!:-) Ciao!

Cranberry Coffee Cake

This is delicious and great for the Holidays. One of our neighbors made it for us a few years ago and now it is one of our favorites. It is really moist and the funny part is...we don't even like cranberries! But we love this so try it and see what you think. Please visit Beauty and Bedlam for more Tasty Tuesday recipes and thanks for stopping by our blog!

Cranberry Coffee Cake

INGREDIENTS • 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened • 1/2 cup sugar • 2 eggs • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 2 cups all-purpose flour • 2 teaspoons baking powder • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 1/8 teaspoon allspice • 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed • 1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce (We added a small amount of mik to the batter because it seemed a little bit dry and it turned out perfect!) • TOPPING: • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar • 1/2 cup chopped pecans • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour • 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

DIRECTIONS 1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture alternately with bananas. Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Top with cranberry sauce. (Sometimes we use a large square pan for a thicker cake) 2. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, pecans (optional...we didn't) and flour; stir in butter. Sprinkle over cranberries. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Enjoy!!! Ciao...Taylor & Jordan

Red Velvet Cake Balls...

In August, we were in the Keys for our mom's birthday. It was so much fun and for her birthday, we went to dinner and bought a cake to have later. The cake was great but we usually give my mom a homemade cake, not a store bought one. So a few weeks after we got home, we made these red velvet cake balls to surprise her. You can find the recipe on Bakerella which is an AMAZING site for unbelievable baking recipes. Okay, we decided to do this at the last minute so we had to do things differently from the recipe. We made a red velvet cake from scratch and since we had no baking chocolate in the house, we melted chocolate chips. It wasnt what the recipe called for but it's all we had. They were soooooo good! Even our dad, who doesn't eat a ton of chocolate loved them. They were gone so fast...almost by breakfast the next day! Next time we make them and we are planning to for Christmas, we'll use white chocolate too. We'll drizzle a few lines of white chocolate over the dark chocolate and we'll totally cover some of the cake balls in only white chocolate. These are one of the best tasting things we've made in a long time! Ciao! Taylor & Jordie

Tie Dye-Cupcakes...

The other day, we saw a recipe for Rainbow Cake. When we looked at the instructions, we thought it would be cool to make cupcakes, so we did and called them Tie Dye cupcakes:-) They're really simple to make. All you need to do is use any white cake recipe...from scratch or a box. We used food coloring in purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Divide the batter into 6 containers and color each container with a different color. You can use cupcake liners or just grease the pans...that's what we did. We used a scooper for mini muffins or cookies and placed one scoop in the cupcake pan. We then got another color and put it over the first color. Do this until you have used all colors of batter. If you want, you can use as many or as little colors that you want. Bake the cupcakes the amount of time listed in the recipe or on the box. For frosting, we used our Grandma's special family recipe, which is our favorite. Maybe we'll post it sometime. Maybe!:-) You could use any frosting recipe you like, frosting from a can or whipped topping. These are so beautiful and they are very moist. They would be great for a party! Hope you like them. Taylor & Jordie

Cooking Throwdown

Throwdown

Our Dad is the COO of two huge hospitals!! The job didn't sound too amazing until now, because we just found out we get to be stars in a fund raiser!!!! : ) The chef of the hospital asked my Dad if he cooked. Well of course he can't but he told the chefs that his daughters were brilliant chefs in the making. To make a long story short we were asked to assist my dad in a cooking competition against the hospital chef!! Anyway the reason I'm writing this is because we have to decide what entree we are going to make and I figured our viewers might have some ideas!! If you have any great recipes you would like to share we are open to anything!!

Taylor's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Worlds Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients:

~ 1 cup all-purpose flour ~ 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder ~ 1/4 tsp. salt ~ 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature ~ 1/4 cup vegetable shortening ~ 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar ~ 1/2 cup granulated sugar ~ 1 egg ~ 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract ~ 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips ~1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In small mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir together the ingredients until well blended. In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, shortening, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat the mixture until smooth, scrape down the sides. Add the egg and vanilla and continue on medium speed until well blended. Add the flour mixture. Pour in the chocolate chips. Space the cookies about 1 1/2 in. apart. Bake the cookies until golden brown, 12 to 14 min. Let cool for about 10 min. You can store the cookies in an airtight container for up to one week. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

I got this recipe from my best friend when I moved. My sister and I love making these cookies together!! Jordie loves these cookies so much that every year she wants me to make them on her birthday!! I suggest that you double this recipe because it does make a small batch. My favorite thing about these cookies is how the semisweet and milk chocolate chips complement each other!! Our motto is "We make it, You eat it!!"

Starbucks Mint Chocolate Chip Frappucino

Okay, so we love Starbucks like every other girl. I mean...what's not to love? Caramel frappucino, java chip frappucino, white chocolate mocha latte... The other day we were in our favorite Starbucks and we ordered the Mint Chocolate Chip Frappucino, a creme based drink. The cashier told us it wasn't an "official" drink but one they had made up...but it SHOULD be on the menu. It tastes like an Andes mint candy, seriously. Anyway, they gave us the recipe so we can request it at other Starbucks so we are passing it on. It does call for an ing. called matcha powder, which is an anti-oxidant powder they put in their green tea drinks. You can hardly taste it and the cashier thought they used it just to make the drink green:-)

Recipe: 1 scoop vanilla, 1 scoop matcha, 1 scoop java chip, 1 pump peppermint, 1 pump white mocha. That's it! Take this to your Starbucks and enjoy. Make sure you get the whipped cream on top!!!!!!!!!!! Peace & Love, Taylor and Jordie

Welcome...

...to the Peace, Love & Cupcakes blog!

We will post messages as often as possible between school, dance and tennis. Hopefully, there will be a little something for everyone here so stop by often!

Taylor & Jordie