Just a Typical Food Blog...

Another week means another blog. This week I am fresh out of any good ideas to blog about. I even googled “blog inspiration” and still nothing. I scrolled through hundreds of ideas but found myself staring at a blank word doc. I happened to be writing this during lunchtime and a little hungry, so what better thing to blog about than food!

I love to bake and cook. Ever since I was a young girl, I always was in the kitchen doing something. At one point, I wanted to open my own bakery and make cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Baking was a passion that was temporary and sounded good at the time… but I knew it wasn’t realistic. I still enjoy it, but only like to bake here and there.

Aside from baking, I really enjoy cooking. I have no idea where my love for cooking came from, but hey… I’ll take it. My favorite sister bonding activity with Erika (my sister obviously) is going grocery shopping, meal planning and cooking together. During the summer months, we always would cook together and make our mom or dad clean it up. It was a great system that worked out for everyone.

Since I’m talking about cooking and baking… here are two of my favorite recipes!

The EASIEST Homemade Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

4 cloves garlic (finely minced)

1 ½ cups heavy cream (divided)

1 ½ cups parmesan cheese (finely grated)

Instructions

1. 
   Add butter and garlic to a saute pan and heat over low heat. Allow to cook until the butter is infused with the garlic, about 5 minutes.
2. Add 1 cup of heavy cream, stir and allow to come to a simmer. Increase heat to medium, if needed. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat and immediately add in parmesan cheese and remaining heavy cream.  (Note: the parmesan will easily melt if it was finely grated from a block. If you used pre-grated cheese that is thicker, you may have to continue heating over low heat to get it to melt.) 
4. Stir to combine. It will take several minutes for the cheese to melt. It will look goopy at first and then the sauce will be creamy and smooth. If the sauce needs to be thinned, add additional heavy cream.

The EASIEST Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

1 Spice Cake Mix

1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin

Instructions

1. 
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease or line cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the cake mix and pumpkin until well blended. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

A pumpkin cookie without frosting is against any and all baking laws. I cheated and bought cream cheese frosting from the store. To spice it up, I added a few tablespoons of pumpkin and cinnamon to taste. If you have leftover icing… dip graham crackers into it because baking law #2… never let icing go to waste. I hope you enjoyed these recipes. Let me know in the comments if you try them.

Emily, if you’re reading this … you have to make these recipes.