My Favorites of 2010

In my previous post I listed the most viewed recipes on The Girly Girl Cooks.

 These are my favorites!

Chicken Marsala

Zucchini Cakes

Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons

Death by Cheese Dip

Apple Pork Loin

Gooey Apple Pie

Creamy Mustard Roasted Salmon

Tuna Casserole

Beef & Snow Peas

BBQ Venison Wontons

And of course....

In-N-Out Animal Fries

I've noticed a pattern in my favorites...they are mostly comfort foods!

(Which are the best kinds of food, if you ask my opinion)

My goal for next year is to find fun and exciting healthier dishes that are just as delicious as the naughty comfort foods.

Don't get me wrong...I'm going to make a couple of comfort foods and sweets, but I want to provide more healthier recipes!

Wish me luck!

Happy New Years Everybody!!!

Top Recipes of 2010

Here are your favorite recipes from The Girly Girl Cooks for the Year 2010!

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Domino Christmas Cookies

Venison Meatballs in Red Wine Sauce

Heavenly Pancakes

BBQ Venison Wontons

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Gooey Apple Pie

I can't wait for the year 2011 to bring you even better recipes!

Creamy Garlic Sauce

My first job I ever had was at Figaro's Pizza and it was the summer I gained 5 pounds.

Besides a classic marinara sauce, they made pizza's with this creamy sauce that changed how I made pizza forever. It's only 3 ingredients and I guarantee you will love it on your next pizza!

Here is what you need for 1 pizza:
-1 cup of Ranch Dressing
-1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
-2 to 3 cloves minced Garlic

Mix all the ingredients together and use it as the sauce for your pizza or even a veggie dip!
It's delicious!!!!

The Joy of Christmas

My family really out did themselves this year.

We had such a wonderful time, I'm sad that the day has to come to an end.

On Christmas Eve, my mom and I woke up super early to start preparing for our Christmas Eve Feast!

First we set the table to make it festive.

For Christmas Eve Dinner we enjoyed...

-Turkey

-Dressing

-Salad

-Fancy Mac N' Cheese

-Rolls

 And let's not forget the Turkey Gravy!

My dad is preparing the sacred Gravy!

I'm Drooling

Then for dessert we had:

The Holiday Traditional "Pink Thing"

Recipe to Come Soon!

My Mom's Perfect Pumpkin Pie

And Gingerbread Cake decorated by Annie and I!

Recipe also coming soon!

Keep in mind, this entire dinner was for 6 people. We could have fed an army, but instead we have tons of leftovers for the next couple of days!

After dinner we went to 10:00 pm Mass and almost didn't make it because of being so sleepy from Turkey! Thankfully we didn't slip into coma's and were all able to stay awake and enjoy the beautiful music from the church choir and the wonderful Christmas service!

As soon as we got home we opened our one Christmas Eve present of Magic Jammies!

Translation: Christmas Pajama's

When we were super little my mom would give them to us and tell us that they had special magic powers to help us sleep through the night of Christmas Eve. We always told her that they must be broken because we have NEVER been able to sleep through the night! My sister and I love getting them every year anyways!

Fact: Christmas Eve night is the worst night sleep out of the entire year....EVERY YEAR!

I don't care how old I get, I still wake up at 3:00 am and have troubles falling back asleep.

This morning at exactly 5:35 am, I got a text from my sister saying:

Haley are you awake?

OF COURSE I WAS AWAKE!

And at 5:55 am, she jumped into bed with me and we barely slept until 7:00 am.

Then it was time to wake our parents and begin the fun!

Warning!

These pictures were taken at 7:00 am. Don't be too harsh on how terrible and tired we look! I don't care who you are, you always look terrible on Christmas morning!

Oh my goodness....What did Santa leave????

You can't fake those expressions my friends!

Note the matching Magic Jammies!

They have cupcakes all over them of course!

Pottery Barn Teen Comforter and Pillow Shams for Annie!

And Le Creuset for Me!

 My family went so slow with opening presents one at a time that we made it last until noon!

We wanted to savor Christmas morning to the fullest.

IT WAS AWESOME!

We were truly blessed this Christmas with family, food, beautiful gifts and fun!

I hope you all were too!

Because I have been up since the crack of dawn, it's time for me to go to bed!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Santa Paws

Oliver Loves Christmas!

Especially when we make him dress up ;)

Hehehehe!

Nice Mickey Mouse ears Oliver!

tee hee

Somebody is going to go hide under the bed and pout now.

We love you baby boy!

Decorating Christmas Cookies

Today my mom taught me the art of cookie decorating.

Let me tell you what, it is life changing!

I'm never going to look the same way at a sugar cookie.

This one is my absolute favorite.

It's of our pup Oliver Winston.

Even though it's simple, I absolutely love this cookie!

To decorate the cookies we started by outlining the cookies with royal icing.

Then you let it sit for 30 minutes to harden up....torture!

After 30 minutes of waiting and being full of anticipation, you get to use flood icing and fill in the cookie!

Then you can use other flood icing colors and add dots!

And then jazz it up with some sprinkles while the flood icing is still wet!

Too cute!

Here is Annie concentrating hard on her cookie.

She is so talented!

Here is a Bell I decorated.

Don't be too harsh...it was my first time!

We made so many cookies, I don't know what we are going to do with them!

This is about 1/4 of the cookies we decorated!

If you want to change your world with these awesome sugar cookies you should check out:

Bake at 350

http://www.bakeat350.blogspot.com/

University of Cookie

http://www.universityofcookie.com/

They give great tutorials and ideas for decorating the most adorable cookies!

Christmas Tree Cake Pops

After 5 hours of baking, decorating, licking my fingers and having one heck of sugar rush...

Look what I made today!

How adorable did these turn out????

Not going to lie, I'm really proud of myself.

It's the first time I have made these without one of them crumbling and falling apart on the stick!

When that happens it usually leads to me swearing and loosing my temper.

It isn't pretty.

But these are so cute!

And there wasn't any swearing or temper loosing!

I can't stop admiring these little guys!

If you want to make these too, pick up the book Cake Pops, by Bakerella!

So many fun projects and cute ideas! 

Wild Mushroom & Goat Cheese Pizza

Holy Cow!

I can not tell you enough about how much I love my new cookbook, "Clinton St. Baking Company"!
I think I have just made the best pizza crust and pizza of all time from this book and I want to share it with you!

For the Pizza Dough:
-2 tbsp Olive Oil-divided
-1/2 tbsp Light Brown Sugar
-1 tsp Active Dry Yeast
-1/4 tsp Salt
-1/2 tsp fresh Rosemary-chopped
-1 clove Garlic-minced
-3/4 cup Water
-2 cups Flour

I believe that the dough having rosemary and garlic in it is what makes it so special and delicious!
I'm in love!

Combine all the ingredients (only 1 tbsp of Olive Oil) in a large bowl or food processor and mix until it becomes smooth and elastic.
Place the other tbsp of Olive Oil in a bowl and add the ball of pizza dough. Toss the dough until it is evenly coated with olive oil.
Turn you oven onto the "warm" setting for a minute or two and then turn it off. Place the bowl into the warm oven and let the dough rise for 1 hour.

Now it is time to make all the other parts for this delicious pizza!
You are going to need:
-Caramelized Onions
-Roasted Mushrooms
-Olive Oil
-4 oz of Goat Cheese
-Salt & Pepper

To make the Caramelized Onions:
-2 large Yellow Onions
-1 tbsp Olive Oil
-1 tbsp Butter

Over medium heat, melt the butter with the oil. Add the onions all at once and stir the onions around for 15-20 minutes until they become dark golden brown.

To make the Roasted Mushrooms:
-2 cups sliced Button Mushrooms
-1 cup Shiitake Mushrooms
-2 tbsp Olive Oil
-1 clove Garlic-minced
-1 tsp fresh Rosemary-chopped
-1/2 tsp Salt
-1/8 tsp Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir until the mushrooms are coated with seasonings and oil.
Spread the mushrooms out in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minute until they become brown and caramelized.

To assemble the pizza!
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out the dough and spread the caramelized onions as if they were the pizza sauce.

Top the onions with the Roasted Mushrooms.

Dot with chunks of Goat Cheese.

Drizzle with Olive Oil and sprinkle Salt & Pepper (to taste).

Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cheese has melted and the crust is crispy and beginning to become golden brown.

I'm in love with this pizza, and you will be too!

Enjoy!