When God Gives You Lemons....Make TRIFLE!!

So...the long awaited recipe for the marvelous trifle that I made is finally here!!!
My mom was asked to help cater a bridal shower so of course I volunteered my culinary services. My assignment was dessert, and VOILA! the Vanilla-Lemon Trifle with Fresh Berries was born!! I know this looks super complicated but its actually pretty easy!

You will need a few things though....
-A trifle bowl
-Round tin pans to bake the cakes in
-Strawberries and blueberries
-Yellow cake mix
-Cool whip
-Lemon instant pudding

First off, you will probably want to make the cakes first (since this probably takes the longest to do). Pour the batter into 2 circle tin pans and let the cakes cool (or bake them the night before so they are ready to go the next day). The same thing goes for the lemon pudding- just follow the directions on the box and have it ready to go!
You might also want to put the frozen Cool Whip in the fridge the night before to defrost and be all nice and whippy for when you need to use it!
So now you are ready to assemble! I like to have multiple layers so I cut my 2 cakes in half by taking them out of the pans and using a long knife to circle around the cakes and divide them into 2. You might also need to trim the cakes a bit depending on the size of your trifle bowl.
1. Put 1 of the cake halves into the bowl
2. Spread a layer of the lemon pudding around the cake-make sure you have enough (but not tooooo much) so that you can see the layer from the outside of the bowl.
3. Cut your strawberries length-wise into slices and place them along the border. Then you can just throw the rest of the slices in the middle to fill it out
4. Put a layer of Cool Whip (same as you did for the pudding)
5. Now you are going to repeat all of this except put blueberries for the next layer.
6. For the last layer, you will do strawberries and then put enough Cool Whip to cover the top of the bowl.
I like to decorate the top with a little flower made of strawberries and blueberries.

DIG IN!!

'Tis the Season for Pumpkin Muffins!!!

Yummy Study Food

Studying for finals proves to be such a bore that all you end up thinking about is your stomach and what you're going to eat next. Well, during my latest study break, I ventured to the kitchen to whip up a delicious snack to help with the cravings and get me focused again.

Bananas Foster a la Study Break
Cut up one ripe banana into slices (but make sure its not too ripe)
Spray a frying pan with some cooking spray and pre-heat
Place the bananas on the pan and sprinkle with 1 and 1/2 Splenda packets, a little salt and drizzle some honey
Allow each side to cook until they reach a golden brown, or you can leave them on a little bit longer if you like them a little burned.

To make this even better, put it on a slice of bread with peanut butter or chocolate spread :)
So easy and soooooo good!!
Enjoy!!

Twitter!! and Fame!!

We are officially tweeting so get on the bandwagon everyone!!
FOLLOW US!! @foodiecuties
anddddd we are officially in the Mitzpeh!! Make sure you pick up a copy!

Salmon with Peach Sauce

So, I bought peaches thinking that I have been lacking my intake of fruits, and of course I was in no mood for peaches.  The peach was about to go bad, so I placed it in my freezer.  The entire day I was thinking to myself what can I make with peaches, and then it came to me, salmon with peach sauce.  Here is what I did.

Directions:
1 frozen peach
1 personal salmon
salt and pepper
teriyaki sauce

Dice up the frozen peach and cook the fruit in a pan until the peach is completely melted.  Add the salt, pepper, and a dash of teriyaki sauce for flavor.  Add the salmon to the pan and allow it to slowly cook.

It's Thanksgiving Y'all!!

Firstly, I just want to wish everyone a Happy Turkey Day!!!
Every Thanksgiving we have our annual dinner with our very special family friends! This year, the Fishers were assigned to make the vegetable and starch dishes.
After my workout, because we will be eating ALL day (and please don't mind my lovely appearance in these videos), I decided to help my mom out with the cooking. We decided to make a green bean dish and stuffing, my personal favorite!!!!!
Here are the recipes and hope you enjoy!!

Sauteed String Beans with Garlic and Slivered Almonds

Heat up olive oil and margarine to coat the pan
Add 6-10 cloves of fresh chopped garlic and sauté until they become soft
In the mean time, boil string beans in a pot of water for about 5 minutes until they become tender
Have a bowl of ice water ready, transfer the string beans into the ice water and then strain them
Add the strained string beans to the garlic mixture and toss
Add toasted slivered almonds and reheat before serving!

Thanksgiving Challah Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 loaf (1 pound) of challah bread, torn into 2-inch shreds
6 tablespoons of unsalted margarine
1 1/4 cups of diced onions
1 cup of chopped celery
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 tablespoons chopped thyme leaves/oregano/sage/any herbs of your choice
2 tablespoons of kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
Chopped flat parsley
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of non-dairy creamer
1 1/2 cups of reduced sodium chicken broth (or No-chicken broth for all you vegetarians out there!)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toast challah on both sides until golden, allow to cool.
Melt margarine in a large skillet and saute onions, celery, garlic until slightly softened. Then added apples, herbs, salt and pepper. Saute til soft and then toss with fresh chopped parsley. Allow to cool
Mix beaten eggs, non-dairy creamer and broth in a 4-cup measuring cup. Pour of toasted challah pieces and mix through (try not to break up all the chunks. That will make it really mushy)
Add sauteed vegetables and mix through
Pour into a baking dish that was sprayed with cooking spray so that it does not stick
Cover the pan and bake it in a350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake it for another 25 minutes until it is nice a golden!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We Got A Makeover!!

Portabello Pizza with My Daddy!!!!

I am in Houston, Tx for the weekend and I decided to make a cooking video with my Dad.  Hope ya'll enjoy the video!!!

Peanut Butter Jelly Timeee

Hey Ya'll,

So Jen and I were craving something sweet and we came up with Peanut Butter & Jelly Wantons!

Enjoy!

Beans Beans the Magical Fruit!

Jen's Homemade Bean Soup

Enjoy!!!

Yum Yum Yum, Corn on the Cob

Last Saturday, Jen and I went to the farmer's market in College Park.  It took longer than we hoped because we got lost.  Well if you know me, then you know that I always get lost no matter where I go.  The farmer's market was small.  I ended up buying to corn on the cobs.
It looked sooooo good and I could not wait to cook it.

I brought the corn on the cobs to the boys' apartment.  Since my roommates left for the holidays, I wanted to share my food with the boys.

Directions:

• boil the water
• place the corn in the water, cook for 10 minutes
• take out the corn 
• put a slice of butter or margarine on the plate and place the corn on top of the butter/margarine
• make sure the entire corn is covered with butter
• add salt, pepper, and garlic powder
• add sriracha for spice

And voilá!

Thai Inspired Salad

The Gentle Giants invited us to Shabbat dinner and proposed/forced that we make a salad.  We headed to the grocery store for inspiration and a few ingredients. This is what we came up with!
Enjoy!!!!

Shabbat Lunch Quinoa :)

Hey food enthusiasts!
So Haya and I were invited to our friends, Moshe and Shlomo, for Shabbat lunch this weekend and it was only polite that we offer to make something. We haven't been to the supermarket in a while so we decided to work with what we got. We looked in the pantry and saw the quinoa on the shelf and Haya had some mushrooms in the fridge. We decided to just go with it! We think it came out amazing so here's the recipe. TRY IT!!!!

Ingredients: Because Moshe and Shlomo are sooooooooo popular, we had to make enough for around 20 people (so just adjust the amounts for smaller servings)

3 cups of quinoa
6 cups of water
1 package of sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, chopped
3 cubes of chicken consume
Garlic powder, Salt and Pepper per taste

We started off by prepping the mushrooms and chopping the onion. Mushrooms are super annoying to clean; try to make sure to wipe them with a wet paper towel rather than soaking them in water because they lose their taste.
Once everything is ready, pour a little bit of olive oil into a big pot and let it heat. Then put the chopped onions in and let them sautee for a little until they turn a little golden. After that, add the mushrooms and let them sautee together until the mushrooms get soft.
When the mushrooms seem soft, add the dry quinoa and mix it all together so that the quinoa is able to toast a little and absorb all the yummy flavors from the onions and mushrooms. We toasted it for about 5 minutes on a lower heat.

Once you see that the quinoa has turned a little brown, you can then add the water. Let it come to a boil and then add the chicken consume cubes. We had some Osem Chicken Consume soup mix left over so we finished that and then used the cubes to finish it off. Give it a big stir and make sure that it is still boiling. You can then cover the put and lower the flame so that it is simmering.

Baked Apples with the Gentle Giants

I was hanging with my friends and we were playing a game.  My task was to make something delicious, so here we go!  Enjoy!

Yummy Rice Pudding

I have the biggest sweet tooth ever, so Jen recommended me to make rice pudding.  Then we thought, we should totally make a video!  Enjoy!

Here are the ingredients:

2 cups water

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup long grain rice

3 cups of milk (or whatever amount you have in the refrigerator)

1/2 cup of sugar (I used brown sugar because thats what I had)

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup raisins

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cooking:

• boil water, once it is boiled add the salt and rice
• once the water is dissolved, add milk, sugar, cinnamon, raisin, and vanilla extract
• let the milk absorb (15 min)
• remove from heat and enjoy!!!

How to Poach an Egg...in the Microwave

Alright, alright I know what ya'll are thinking.  Poaching an egg in the microwave, thats crazy and weird.  Well when I was in Chile for the semester I was living in a home-stay.  For breakfast I wanted to make an egg, but I couldn't find the pan to cook it in.  Being creative I was thinking why can I not cook in the microwave.  So I took a bowl and added water half way up.  Cracked an egg and put it in the microwave for 1 min 45 sec.

That is the standard time for poaching an egg, but if you like it harder or runnier than you can adjust the time.  Once the egg was to my liking I sprinkled salt and pepper.  The result was delicioso!!!

Grocery Must Haves

Amigos!

We are about to share our must items from the grocery store.  This should be good to get you started.

• peanut butter
• jelly
• eggs
• tofu
• milk
• hummus (we like the garlic one)
• bread (any type you like)
• oatmeal quick oats
• cereal
• quinoa
• black beans
• tuna or salmon
• frozen fish fillets
• sweet potatos
• onion
• garlic
• sliced cheese
• vegetables

You can be creative when cooking with the different items you purchased.  Cannot wait to hear what ya'll have made!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

So one night I was hanging out with my boys when all of the sudden I had an urge to make cookies. My friend Seth's mom bought him a cookbook.  He and I began to make our amazing cookies.  Now I have to let you know that I did not measure any of the ingredients.  So basically we just eyeballed everything.

Start off with white flour, baking soda, 1 tsp. of salt, sugar, butter or margarine or oil, and 2 eggs.  Beat the eggs with the dry ingredients.
Add milk, oats, a dash of apple sauce, and peanut butter.  After that add the ingredients to your liking (if you really like peanut butter, then add more. If you like texture, then add more oats).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake the cookies for 10-20 minutes, depending on the size.  Once the cookies are done, take them out and let them cool for a bit. For those chocolate lovers, take a knife and smear nutella on the top of the cookies.
Enjoy!!!!

Let me know how ya'lls turned out!

We're Students AND We Cook!

Hi! Jen and Haya here!  We are two college students living on a budget, just like most of the college kids in the United States.  After scrambling through our refrigerator and cabinets for whatever ingredients we could find to make a meal, we came up with a fantastic idea! With almost every student on a tight budget, our style of cooking uses a few basic but versatile ingredients to make delicious easy meals specifically designed for college kids like us!  We will be posting videos and simple recipes that you can copy and easily make on your own.  We hope that we are able to help you out and if you have comments or questions about any recipes or dishes that you would like to learn more about, please let us know!!!