Buffalo Ranch Tuna Cups

 Buffalo Ranch Tuna Cups

So, I am not a huge tuna eater. I'm more of a steak, chicken, and seafood chick (well, aside from Tuna!). However, since I had gastric sleeve surgery on 8/1, I am required to get at least 60-80 grams of protein in a day. And let me tell you, man, that is hard!!

However, it does get easier, but I have to get creative with my meals, and obviously they have to be bite sized and under 6 oz. Since most tuna packs 15g of protein or more per 3 oz, I have had to choke it down and come up with some really fun and tasty ways to eat it.

Now, if you go back a few blog posts, you will find my blog to the Buffalo Chicken Dip HERE. It tastes amazing with bread, but I can't really eat bread now and its just not the same without it!

I found starkist makes these new tuna pouches that come in all sorts of flavors. I pick them up when they go on sale (They usually run about $1.25 or so) and I have plenty of flavors on hand.

I also have been using wonton wrappers to aid in my new cooking style, and they really come in handy!

Anyway, Starkist has a flavored tuna called Hot Buffalo Style. I figured, if I can make Buffalo chicken dip, I can make a Buffalo tuna dip, right? And to make it more fun, I'll throw it in my wonton wrappers and bake it!

I do have to say, these were soooo good! I plan on making them again for sure, but also maybe for apps at my next house party!

Ingredients:

Pre-heat oven to 350
1 pack of Hot Buffalo Style Tuna
3 small square wonton wrappers
4 oz shredded cheese
2 tablespoons ranch dressing
bowl
muffin tin

Start by mixing all the ingredients into a bowl and mix.

spray a LIGHT coating of pan spray at the bottom of your cupcake pan and gently press the wonton squares in. Fill with about 1 full tablespoon of filling. I added a little more shredded cheese on top.

Bake in the oven for about 15-25 minutes depending on how crispy you want your wonton wrappers to be. I baked mine for about 17 minutes, but I think next time I will leave them a little longer.

And, they are done! I was able to eat 2 and a half of these bite size poppers, and they were delicious! I am sure they can be done with chicken, beef, steak etc.

Honestly, anything can be put into a wonton wrapper and prob taste good! I can't really eat bread, so this gives me just the little bit of crunch and carbs I'm looking for!

What have you baked into a wonton cup? How would you change it up?

Zucchini Ricotta Bake

ZUCCHINI RICOTTA BAKE

I have had many requests to share this recipe so, I wanted to break it down for y'all :-) This recipe has been adapted to feed roughly 4 people, but you can double or triple to make what you need.

This is a great recipe for those on a soft food diet for whatever reason, as well as a high protein meal and virtually no carbs - essentially this is a vegetarian meal, but next time I think I will add some spicy ground sausage or ground beef. I really think this will elevate the dish to the next level!!



Ingredient List:

1 large zucchini
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c parmigiana cheese
2 eggs
8 oz ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon oregano, Basil, garlic salt (and any other spices you like)
Optional: Ground meat of choice, cooked and drained

1. I swore I had a mandolin type cutter, but for the life of me I couldn't find it anywhere, so I had to do my zucchini slices by hand. Boo.

2. Boil the slices in a little salt water for about 3-5 minutes, just until zucchini is soft and semi transparent. drain and rest on paper towel. 

3. Mix in a bowl all the wet ingredients and the cheeses - Just dump and mix....:-) make sure all the egg is incorporated well.

4. Layer a few strips of zucchini at the bottom of your dish, and begin building up. Zucchini, ricotta mix, sauce, cheese, repeat.

5. top the remaining cheese on top, and pop into an oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. pull out and let cool. pair with a meat or veggie side dish or use this as a side. Enjoy!!

Football cake pop Centerpieces

Football season is upon us! I can not WAIT!! (Go DUCKS, BTW!!)

We had a client this week who wanted a cake and coordinating centerpieces football themed in FSU colors. We were trying to be cost effective and creative, but also wanted a great presentation. First, make your cake pops in the colors designs you'd like to have - Here is the link just in case to the Cake pop directions .

First, we had to find a base that would be heavy enough to hold down when people pulled out the cake pops. We found these tea lite candle holders at the dollar store, and we used them turned over, so when we hot glued the footballs down, there would be more surface to cling to it. They were a great weight and perfect for what we needed them for.

Next we found the squishy type footballs (also at the dollar store) because we were going to put the cake pops into the football. We had a hard time finding all the footballs at one store, so we ended up going to 5 different stores to get 8 footballs - Go figure. We hot glued the footballs to the candle bases and let set

While these were setting, I began to make some bows that were going in the front of the football. We used ribbon color to match the FSU school colors. We had some football cupcake picks that we used as the center of the bow, and added a really nice touch. 

For some reason, I didn't get a picture of the completed bow with the tails on it - Sorry! (But I am sure you guys can imagine it :-)

After all the cake pops were wrapped, we tied gold and black ribbon around each one to create some filler in the footballs.  We used a drill bit to make our holes in the football so that the cakepops wouldn't get damaged when we inserted them. Added the bow with the football on it, and they came out looking so great! Our client loved them! 

What do you guys think of these? Who are you rooting for this year? Anyone play fantasy football? I hope I can whoop my husbands butt this year!! 

Giant Panda Cookie Cake

Hi guys!

I wanted to share some new stuff with you all, and I know it has been FOREVER, but I am trying really hard to post some new content and some DIY stuff, cake stuff and cooking stuff. So bare with me if my posts are far and few between!

I wanted to share a quick tutorial on a Panda Cookie Cake that we just did for a client last weekend. It was really easy to do, so, here are the basics and step by step.

1. Make whatever cookie dough you want to use - In this case, the client wanted chocolate chip. I used a spring form pan (the kind you would use for a cheesecake) and sprayed with pan spray, and put my dough in.

2. I used some of my Italian Buttercream to smooth over the top to make my surface a little smoother, but if it cakes flat, all the better. I also carved out a half circle section where the Panda Ears are going to go. I used a cookie with a little frosting to set it.

3. I started with my black frosting using a star tip - you can use any size you wish, but for the panda I used a smaller tip for the black and a bigger one for the white. In my crumb coat, I drew slightly the outline where I wanted the eyes to sit and filled in with my black frosting. I also filled in the ears.

4. After the black, I started with the white and filled in everywhere else. I did two or three layers on the nose/snout to give a little more of a 3D look. I also did a row around the head slightly on the side to cover the edge of the cookie cake as well as the ears. 

5. Lastly, I added small whites of the eyes and small black for the nose. I added 2 chocolate sprinkles for the eye pupil's. I boxed it up and had it out the door.

Pretty cute, huh? I was very happy with how this turned out and the client was in love with it! What other animal faces would look good on a cookie?