Chocolate Ricotta Cupcakes

I had some ricotta cheese leftover from making my crock-pot lasagna, so I searched around for a good recipe using ricotta. I found this one, tweaked it a bit, and made delicious cupcakes using ingredients I already had in my pantry and leftover cream cheese buttercream from when I made the strawberry coconut cake!

The texture of these is just lovely... they're like halfway between cheesecake and regular cake. Very moist!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners (about 16 if you want them to be puffy and large, or 24 if you want them flatter and in smaller portions like mine).
2. Mix the ricotta cheese, then beat in the eggs. Add the milk, vanilla, and butter. Mix well.
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients (not including the chocolate chips) in a separate bowl.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the ricotta cheese mixture, and mix to combine. Don't overmix!
5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Spoon batter into cupcake liners (they won't puff up as much as regular cakey cupcakes, so don't worry too much about overfilling).
7. Bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Cool on wire racks.
9. (optional) Top with Cream Cheese Buttercream frosting.

See how they get little bubbles kinda like cheesecake?

Mmm, cream cheese buttercream!

Moist cake with gooey chocolate chips! Yummm!

Enjoy!

Fall Favorites

To celebrate the official first day of autumn (today!), I wanted to share some of my favorite fall-ish recipes that I posted about last year:

Salmon Chowder

Applesauce Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Honey Oat Quick Bread

Spiced Applesauce Quick Bread

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Brown Sugar Apple Dip

I was super-surprised when I went back in my archives to get these and found NOTHING with pumpkin! Why haven't I been blogging my pumpkin recipes? I absolutely LOVE pumpkin, especially in baked goods. Don't worry... this year I'll remember to snap some photos and write some pumpkiny posts!

What's your favorite fall recipe?

Baked Creamy Chicken Penne (with Mushrooms and Broccoli!)

This is delicious. Mmm, mmm, mmm! I mean... if you like cheese. Which I do. A lot. Really though... who doesn't like cheese? Everyone likes cheese. Therefore, everyone will like this casserole.

Recipe adapted from here.

6 tbsp butter
Salt & Pepper
1 pound penne pasta
1 tsp olive oil
1 pound chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
6 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups whole milk
2 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp oregano
10 oz mushrooms, chopped
1 cup broccoli florets, steamed
1 1/2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400. Prepare one 9x11 dish or two 8x8 (2 quart) dishes with cooking spray.
2. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water, 3 minutes short of al dente.
3. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and cook in the pan until opaque throughout (about 3 to 5 minutes on each side).
4. Remove cooked chicken from the pan and chop into cubes. While the pan is still hot, toss in mushrooms and saute until golden brown (about 3-4 minutes) (you may need to add a little additional olive oil).
5. In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and flour, and cook 1 minute while whisking. While continuously whisking, add in milk one cup at a time. Keep whisking as sauce thickens (about 1 minute).
6. Add parsley, oregano, mushrooms, and broccoli to the sauce mixture. Add pepper to taste. Cook while stirring for 1 more minute. Remove from heat.
7. Add the Italian blend cheese and 1/2 cup parmesan to the sauce mixture and stir until cheese is incorporated.
8. Add chicken and pasta to the mushroom sauce. Stir to combine.
9. Spread the mixture into your pan(s).

IF COOKING IMMEDIATELY: Sprinkle 1/2 cup parmesan cheese on top of each 8x8 pan, or 1 cup parmesan cheese on top of the 9x11 pan. Bake uncovered until the top is golden and bubbling (about 25 minutes).

IF FREEZING: Keep the parmesan cheese in a plastic bag. Let the pasta mixture cool, then cover the pan with a double layer of plastic wrap, placing the cheese bag on top. Cover the entire thing with foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. To bake, preheat the over to 400 and remove the foil and plastic from the frozen pasta dish. Cover with foil and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Then, stir the pasta mixture and sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top. Bake for an additional 15 minutes (or until the mixture is hot and bubbly throughout).

Chopping broccoli...

Boiling pasta...

Broccoli going in the steamer basket...

Pasta - 3 minutes short of al dente!

Garlic, flour and butter

Seasoned chicken!

Chopped mushrooms!

Sauce after adding milk...

Sauteed mushrooms!

Sauce after adding mushrooms...

Chopped chicken!

Adding in the broccoli and pasta and chicken...

Pan #1: Ready to go in the oven!

Pan #2: Ready to go in the freezer for later!

In the oven...

All done!

Crock-Pot Italian Chicken

Have you noticed that my recipes are getting simpler and simpler? Haha. Law school is keeping me SO busy this semester! This is a great slow cooker recipe though... we really liked it!

So creamy and delicious!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1 packet dry Zesty Italian dressing
8 oz cream cheese
2 cans cream of chicken soup (I used the low sodium kind, and it worked great!)

Directions:
1. Place the chicken in the Crock-Pot and sprinkle Italian dressing over it.
2. In a small pot over low heat, combine cream cheese and chicken soup. Stir until completely mixed.
3. Pour cream cheese mixture over chicken.
4. Cook on low for 4 hours.
5. Cut the chicken into strips or bite size pieces, and serve over pasta!

So yummy!

This is the Zesty Italian that I used!

Dressing on the chicken...

Soup and cream cheese...

Cream cheese mixture on top of the chicken...

This is when I stopped to admire my backsplash tile (I still love it SO MUCH!).

I used this pasta... my parents brought it back for me from a trip to Italy!

All done!

Served over pasta (with breadsticks)!

Enjoy!