Ciabatta Garlic Bread

As many people know, Fresh and Easy is my new favorite store. Last week, I made lasagna and needed some garlic bread to go with it. I ran to F&E and bought a loaf of their ciabatta bread. Now it's our new favorite bread to make garlic bread with!

1 loaf ciabatta bread
butter, softened
garlic salt
parmesan cheese

Cut loaf, horizontally, in half. Spread each half with butter, garlic salt and parmesan cheese. Cut into slices. Put in oven at Broil Hi for about 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

The Best Red Velvet Cupcakes

My cute visiting teacher, Erin, brought these delicious cupcakes to me in February. I politely waited until she left before indulging in one. My-oh-my! Hands down, the best red velvet cupcake I've ever had! I called her immediately for the recipe and couldn't wait to make these beauties myself. She got the recipe from Recipe Girl. Thank you, Erin, for changing my life and sharing your goods with me!!

Batter:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs, at room temp.
3/4 cup butter, at room temp.
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 oz. bottle red food coloring (2 Tbs.)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. vinegar

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in food coloring. Add cocoa powder and salt. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk. Then, pour in baking soda and vinegar. Mix until just combined. Pour into cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 15 - 17 minutes. Cool then frost with cream cheese frosting.

Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter, softened

Beat until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Die because they are SO good!

Rocky Road Brownies

Its time for me to contribute to BB so here are the yummy brownies Jen was talking about. The recipe is from Dave's aunt. We originally discovered these at our open house in Salt Lake after we were married. They are delish to the max!!

Base:
½ Cup marg or butter
1 oz dark choc.
(melt these 2 together)
1 Cup flour
1 Cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
¾ cup chopped nuts- optional

Layer 2:
6 oz softened cream cheese
¼ Cup marg softened
½ Cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
2 Tb flour
¼ cup nuts- optional

Spread base layer in 9x13 pan, spread 2nd layer over base, sprinkle ½ cup choc chips on top. Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes.

When done sprinkle with 2 cups mini marshmallows, put back in hot oven for 2 min or until puffy. Frost while still warm. Swirl with marshmallows then chill 1 hour.

Frosting:
1 cup marg
1 oz dark choc
(melt these 2 together)
2 oz softened cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup milk

Holly is suppose to put this recipe on the blog, but she didn't have a pic. So hopefully this will be incentive to put the recipe on. These are the most amazing rocky road brownies.

Breadsticks

Bread Sticks
Rachel has been wanting me to put this recipe on for a long time. It is taken me a long time hopefully it was worth the wait. Just one tip make sure you put on the topping before it rises in the pan, because if you wait until it is done rising and then put it on it will go flat again. Sorry it is not a very good pic. I promise then taste way better than they look!

Dough:
1 Tbsp Yeast
1 1/2 C water
3-4 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp Sugar

Mix dough and let rise. When double, punch down and spread into cookie sheet pan (sprayed with pam) and top with topping.

Topping:
1/4 C melted butter
1/4 C parmesan cheese
1/4 C Mayonnaise
1 1/2 tsp Garlic salt
1/4 tsp Parsley

Let rise again until nice and fluffy. Bake 350 for 15-20 minutes or top is browned.

Asparagus is one of my top five favorite vegetables. Maybe even top three. So when my mom told me about the delicious asparagus she had at book club (prepared by my cousin Debbie) I knew I had to have the recipe pronto. I was not disappointed.

fresh asparagus
olive oil
Good Seasons Italian dressing mix

*Cut off bottoms of asparagus. Spread out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Drizzle or brush with a little olive oil. Sprinkle some seasoning. Broil in oven for about 5 minutes. Perfection at it's finest.

Country Style Spare Ribs

I got this recipe from my friend, Sheri, a few years ago and just got around to try it out. I loved it! The meat was so tender and the sauce was sweet and tangy. We put made sandwiches out of our meat but you don't have to. (I forgot to take a picture so I found this one on the web. Deal with it).

3 - 4 lbs. boneless pork spare ribs
1 onion, sliced
3 Tbs. vinegar
3 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs. salt
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 cup ketchup
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar

Place ribs in crockpot. Slice onion and place on top of ribs. Mix rest of ingredients together and pour over ribs and onion. Cook on low 8 - 10 hours or high 6 hours. Then, eat the yummy goodness!!