Slacker? Yes, But Not in the Way You Think...

It isn't that I have been lazy about posting... It is that I have been lazy about COOKING. Partly, this is due to the fact that we purchased a Honeybaked Ham on President's Day, and ate it in some form or another for about 3 dinners.

Monday night (President's Day), we had Honeybaked ham, roasted vegetables and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. My mom started roasting the vegetables this way a year or two ago, and MAN are they good! On that particular day, I made carrots and broccoli.

Roasted Vegetables
Fresh Vegetables
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place vegetables on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle sparingly with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. (I always use freshly milled/grated/ground... whatever it is you do when you start out with chunks and turn the thingy so flakes of salt and pepper come out on your food...) Bake vegetables about 20 minutes, or until cooked to desired texture. It takes about 20 minutes for broccoli. Carrots and other dense veggies take a bit longer. I put the carrots in for 8 minutes, then pulled them out and added the broccoli, and cooked for an additional 20 minutes.

In addition to roasted vegetables, we also had roasted garlic mashed potatoes. The link to the recipe is to the left. Here is a photo of the entire meal.

For Brad's lesson this week, I made Cheesecake filled Red Velvet Cupcakes. They were AMAZING! For whatever reason, the pictures do not do them justice, but they were

DE-LICIOUS.

Cheesecake Filled Cupcakes
1 cake mix, prepared per the

package directions
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,

softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 muffin tins (24 muffins)

with cupcake liners.

Prepare cake mix per the package directions. (I used red velvet cake this time, which was amazingly good. I would definitely recommend red velvet or some form of chocolate as the best options, because they will not get overpowered by the cream cheese filling. )

In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until thoroughly mixed. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour about 1/3 cup batter into each cupcake liner. Add or subtract a bit if you run out or end up with too much. Drop 2 tablespoons cream cheese mixture into the center of the cake batter. Again, add or subtract a bit if you run out or end up with too much.

Bake cupcakes per the cake mix package directions for cupcakes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before icing.

Cream Cheese Icing (Yet another recipe that won't make any sense to you if you don't already have a clue about what I am describing... You can always depend on me for that!)

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

4-6 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, thoroughly combine cream cheese and butter. Add 4 cups powdered sugar, and stir until well combined. Add more powdered sugar if necessary, until icing is the desired consistency and sweetness.

Spread a generous amount of icing on each cup cake.