Vanilla Cupcakes

This is the easiest and most delicious cupcake/cake recipe!

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 for cupcakes, 30 for a cake
Makes about 12 cupcakes

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk

What to do:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.


2.In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.

3.Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.
 
I made these for my niece's first birthday.  When I was mixing them up, I threw in some bright pink food coloring to make hot pink cupcakes!
 
For the frosting, I stuck with a simple buttercream frosting.
2/3 cup butter, softened
5-1/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1-1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk

In a mixing bowl, cream butter. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Add milk until frosting reaches desired consistency.

Photos to come!

Smokey BBQ & Cheddar Individual Pizza

Mmmm.  I love love love BBQ sauce.  I would put it on everything if I could.  I love making home made pizzas and using BBQ sauce instead of Pizza Sauce.   Here is my dough and sauce recipe, as well as one of my favorite pizzas; Cheesey BBQ Pizza.

Dough
I make my dough days/weeks in advance and either freeze it in little balls in freezer bags, or I divide it up into little pizzas and bake it, then freeze thoughs.  I prefer the latter option.

This recipe is delicious, but takes a lot of time (because it has to rise/proof), so make enough to freeze and have later on! 

Prep Time: Half hour
Cook Time: Six Minutes
Proof time: 10 hours

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup bread flour, or more if needed
1 tablespoon olive oil

1.Pour the warm water into the pan of a bread machine, sprinkle in the salt, and add the flour to the pan so the flour sits on top of the water. Make a hole in the top of the flour, and spoon the yeast into the hole. Let the mixture sit for 20 minutes to moisten the flour. Set the bread machine to the knead setting, and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead in 1/4 cup more flour or as needed, adding the flour about 2 tablespoons at a time, to make a wet, sticky, but elastic dough. The dough should be super soft. Form the dough into a round shape.   If you don't have a bread machine, you can also put the warm water into a deep bowl, add the salt and flour, and then add in the yeast.  You can knead the dough on your own, but it may take a little longer for it to become the right texture.  It will, just keep working it. This mixture is VERY sticky, so it'll be harder to do it with your hands.  If you're finding it to be too sticky and you're getting frustrated, add some flour to your fingers.


2.Wipe the inside of a large bowl with olive oil, and place the round ball of dough into the bowl. Turn the dough over a couple of times so the dough picks up a thin coating of oil. Cover with a cloth, and refrigerate the dough for 10 hours or overnight.  OR if you're not using a bread machine, do this step in a seperate bowl.
3.The next day, allow the dough to come to room temperature before rolling out on a floured surface and adding toppings as desired. Roll the dough out thin with a thicker edge before adding toppings.  Usually I don't add any toppings at this stage because I like to make it, seperate it, and then freeze it.

4.Place a pizza stone into oven, dust it with a little flour, and preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake the pizza on the stone in the preheated oven until the bottom of the crust is browned, 6 to 8 minutes. I broke my pizza stone, so now, I just throw it in on the racks.
 
Sauce
Trust me, it's delicious.
2 cups root beer

2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup no-pulp orange juice
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Stir together the root beer, ketchup, orange juice, Worcestershire sauce, and molasses in a saucepan. Season with ginger, paprika, chipotle powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator up to a week.

To make my Smokey BBQ & Cheddar Individual Pizzas, I use 8" pieces of cooked dough and slather on the BBQ sauce.  I use Reggiano cheese, Balderson Cheddar (aged 2 years), Mozzarella, Medium Cheddar and Goat Cheese.  I also sprinkle a little parm on the top.  Once I've got the cheeses mixed up and loaded onto the pizza, I bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes.

By freezing the doughs, you can have pizza in under 10 minutes once thawed.  It's delicious NY style dough, and freezes really well!

Pictures to come soon!

Cheesy, Garlic Savory Cupcakes

*I didn't take pictures, but envision the savory cupcakes below, but a little darker, a lot cheesier and no chives.

2 Cups Flour
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1/2 stick melted butter (1/2 stick = 1/2 cup)
1 Cup sour cream (I prefer restaurant style)
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar
1/2 Cup Shredded Reggiano
1/4 Cup Shredded Parmesean
Parsley to taste (I probably used about 2 tablespoons)
Paprika to taste (I probably used 3 tablespoons)
Garlic to taste (I probably used.... way too much lol.  Use as much as you're comfortable usuing.  I love Garlic so I over load everything with it).
Pepper to taste (Probably a tablespoon)
Sea Salt to taste (probably a tablespoon)
Oregano to taste (Probably a tablespoon).

Mix all of your dry ingredients together in one bowl.  Add the melted butter and mix, then add the sour cream, eggs and cheeses and mix together. Beat the mixture on medium speed, until everything is combined.  Sometimes, it's easier to beat for a little while, then use your hands to kind of knead the mixture.  It blends easier when you do it with your own hands, I find.  Once mixed together, (it'll be a sticky, clumpy mixture), put into a greased muffin tin.  At this point, I used my sea salt grinder, and put a little fresh sea salt on top.  I did the same with a bit of pepper.  Cook on a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

I duplicated this recipe, and cooked it in a bread pan and sliced it up into a small loaf.

DELICIOUS!  You can add flavors you like and take out the ones you want.  I love the garlic, but some of my family didn't, so make it without (or less) if you're not a garlic fan.  Want to spice it up a bit?  Add more paprika!  You can switch it up by varying the cheeses and spices.

Cheddar & Chive Cupcakes

Cupcakes
2 Cups Flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp salt
2 Eggs
1/2 Stick butter, melted
1 Cup shredded cheddar
1 Cup sour cream
1/2 Cup chopped Chives
Pepper to taste
Parsley to taste

Directions

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add eggs, melted butter, and cheddar, and beat until combined.  It'll look like a crumbly, flakey mess. Add sour cream and chives and mix until combined.   Mixture will be light and fluffy.  Drop by spoonful into greased small muffin pan.  I used a regular sized muffin tin and got 12 decent sized cupcakes.  I added some parsley and pepper to the top of each once they were in the pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Best served warm or reheated in the oven.

Once cooled, I put a little bit of whipped cream cheese and some fresh chives.  They were delicious.  For those who didn't eat them with cream cheese, they were just as delicious with butter.

Red Velvet Cake with Buttercream Icing

Cake
1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 T cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 T red food coloring
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, buttermilk, egg, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. While mixing at medium speed, gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into a spring form pan (I used a 8"). Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until an insterted toothpick comes out clean.

Icing

1 stick room temp. butter
2 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
a dash of almond extract

Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add sugar, milk, vanilla, and almond extract and beat until spreadable consistency. Add additional sugar if needed.   I also free pour vanilla, generally.  Use fresh and not extract, it'll make a difference.



One the cake cools down, ice with a small spatula.  I find that it's best to make the icing once the cake is completely cool, as the icing only takes a few minutes to make and generally hardens up a bit just as quickly, which makes it harder to spread.  If you do notice that it has thickened up, just take the beaters to it and that should do the trick.  If it's still kind of hard, add a teaspoon of milk and beat until soft.  If you find that you've added too much milk, just free pour icing/confectioner's sugar, and that'll thicken it up!

Ignore the sloppy icing job.  It was after mid-night and I just wanted it done!

Worms in Dirt Cupcakes (2 versions)

Tomorrow is my nephew's graduation from pre-school to kindergarten.  We're having a little party for him tomorrow so I thought I would make some cupcakes for the boy!

I made Worms in Dirt.  Of course 1 kind wouldn't be enough for a crazy four year old, so I made two!

Worms in Dirt (1.0)

Cupcakes
2/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
¼ cup muddy cocoa
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup milk
8-10 Gummy Worms (you're call on this one, as they will melt when you cook)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  After you have broken up the worms, you can add them to the mix by folding them into the batter.  FYI: they will melt when you make them so there really is no point to this, other than the taste of the gummy worms being in the cupcakes.  Personally, I don't like the taste, but all the kids do.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost.

Chocolate Frosting w/Oreo Bits

1 Cup Butter (room temperature)

1/3 Cup Cocoa

3 Cups Confectioner's Sugar

1/3 Cup Milk

1/2 Cup crushed Oreo's

12 Gummy Worms

Beat butter on medium speed until creamy.  Add in remaining ingredients except for Oreo's.

Once cupcakes are cooled, spread the frosting on them, and then roll the tops of them in the crusher Oreos (I put the Oreos on a piece of wax paper).  Garnish with remaining worms.

Version  2.0

Cupcakes

2/3 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

¼ cup milk

3 Drops Green Food Dye (neon)

1 Drop Blue Food Dye (neon)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

3 Cups Confections Sugar

1 Cup Butter (1 cup=1 stick)

1/4 Cup Milk

2-3 Dashes of Vanilla

3/4 Cup Crushed Oreos

12 Gummy Worms

Beat butter until creamy.  Add sugar and beat together until combined.  Add milk & vanilla and beat until combined.  Fold in Oreos.  Once cupcakes have cooled completely, ice them (I didn`t have any Wilton bags so I used a Freezer bag and cut a small hole in the tip).  Once iced, add a few pieces of the Gummy Worms

Blueberry Cupcakes with Maple Butter Frosting

Here are some of my pictures from tonight!

I used about 3/4 of a pint of blue berries in the cupcakes!

After it's beaten, gently fold in your blueberries (roll them in flour beforehand and they won't bleed or break as easily).

They made 12 small cupcakes.  If you want bigger ones, I'd suggest only making six.

When you make the frosting, make sure you wait until the cupcakes are cooled down because this gets hard fairly quick.  You don't want to put frosting or icing on a hot cupcake because it'll melt and drip everywhere (and it can make the cupcakes kind of gooey).

Mmmm.  NB maple syrup.  The recipe calls for three tablespoons.  I free poured.  I probably put about 1/4 of a cup or more.  I'm a maple syrup whore.

Here's a tip for putting your frosting/icing in a Wilton bag: Get a milk jug (the jug you put the bags of milk in), and stand your wilton bag in it (with the wilton tip in it already, not cut).  You can bend the top of the Wilton bag over the side of the jug (one side will go down, but it's not wide enough to totally fold it over).  Then use a spatula to scoop your icing/frosting in).  You can use a  tall glass or vase too!  Once you have all the frosting/icing in, push down on it all and get it as close to the tip as you can.  Folding down the top of the Wilton bag before you push will make sure nothing spills out of the bag from the pressure.  Once it's down as far as it will go, you can cut the tip of the bag and push down a bit more and the Wilton tip will slide into place.

You'll see that the tip of the bag is still on and that there is an air space between the frosting and the wilton tip.  Once you cut the tip of the bag and push down a bit, that'll go away.  By folding down the top of the bag, I limited how much frosting would spill out of the top when I was pushing the frosting down into the bag.

They weren't as big as I had hoped, but they came out a beautiful white & purple/blue.

Final Result.  Add a few blueberries for garnish on top!

Blueberry Cupcakes with Maple Brown Butter Frosting

UPCAKES

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
1 cup blueberries

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix butter and egg lightly. Add buttermilk and milk. Add milk mixture to flour and mix until just blended. Toss blueberries in a tablespoon of flour and fold into batter. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

ICING
1 stick butter
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup milk
3 T maple syrup

In a saucepan, melt butter at medium temperature until golden brown. In a bowl, add butter to sugar, then add milk and syrup. Beat until smooth.

Coffee Cupcakes with Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting

I cheated with this one and used a boxed cake & added to it because I was feeling lazy.

Cupcakes:
Betty Crocker White Cake Mix
3 Eggs
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cups oil
1/3 cup cocoa
3 tbsp coffee
1 tbsp nutella

Frosting:
1 C butter (room temperature)
2 1/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 C butterscotch
1/4 C milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
Dash Almond extract

Cupcakes
First thing I did was mix the coffee & water together until it was blended.  Add cake mix, water mix, oil & eggs to bowl & mix with beater.  Add in cocoa & nutella and mix on high until well blended.  Once mixed together, put into lined muffin tin.  Bake for 16-21 minutes st 325.  These took about 20 minutes to cook.

Frosting
Mix butter on high for a few minutes until it looks soft & whipped.  Add in butterscotch and let that soften, while beating on high. Add icing sugar, milk, vanilla, almond extract and butterscotch into bowl and mix on high.  Once it is blended and soft (it should be fluffy), load into a pastry bag. 

Once cupcakes are cooled, you can add it to the top & voila!

Leek Soup

1 Package of Knorr Cream of Leek
3 Cups of Water
250ml of Cream (we use Cereal Cream)
2 tbsp Garlic
1 Leek stock (I buy bagged leeks, so we just free poured about two hand fuls)
1/2 cup mozarella
1/4 cup romano
1/4 cup parmesean
1tbsp butter

In a large saucepan, mix eeks, butter & garlic.  Saute for a few minutes until leeks get a bit soft.  Add Knorr Cream of Leek mix and three cups of water.  Stir for a few minutes, then gradually mix in the cream and a little bit of parmesean.   Boil until it thickens.   Once thickened, place in french onion soup bowls, and cover in cheese.  Put under broiler until browned!

If you want (what we did) before you put the cheese on, place a sliced piece of sourdough bread on top of the soup, then coat with cheese.

Cheese FYI: We do not measure cheese.  We free pour and put as much as we want.  We both love cheese so we tend to end up with a super cheesey dish!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

CUPCAKES


1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 T cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 T red food coloring
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, buttermilk, egg, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. While mixing at medium speed, gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture until just combined. Fill cupcake liners. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until an insterted toothpick comes out clean.

ICING
1 stick room temp. butter
2 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
a dash of almond extract
Maple Syrup (I just dump it in)
Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add sugar, milk, vanilla, and almond extract and beat until spreadable consistency. Add additional sugar if needed.

This is what the boy is getting for his birthday cupcakes!  I get the recipe from this site.  I'll take my own pictures and let you know how it goes!!

I also picked up some cupcake liners that I think are super cute for my Navy-boyfriend.  They're little pirate cupcake liners that have little skull flags to put into the cupcake.

Birthday Boy!

This year the boy is turning the big 33!  Actually, his birthday is on Thursday.  I won't likely see him until Friday or Saturday, but I've decided to make him cupcakes.  I bought little pirate cupcake foils with little pirate flags to go in them.  I also bought two 'three' candles to put in  two of them (since you can't actually buy a '33' candle).

I'm mulling over a few ideas, but I think I'm going to make dark chocolate cakes with marshmallow frosting (think Fluff).

Here is the recipe for the frosting:

Marshmallow Frosting
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 large egg whites
1 jar (about 7 ounces) marshmallow fluff
1 to 2 teaspoons of coconut extract

Put sugar, water and eggwhites in a medium sized heavy saucepan, cooking on low heat beating continuosly with an electric mixer on high until soft peaks form (about 2 to 3 minutes). Remove the pan from heat and add the marshmallow fluff, beating with the mixer until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes more. Make sure you make this after your cupcakes are cooled, if it sits around it will dry out and you won't be able to spread it.
 
Thoughts?  Got another Fluff Frosting recipe?

Creamsicle Cupcakes

½ cup unsalted butter, softened


2/3 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract (I always put more)

1 tsp. orange extract  (again, I always put more)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

¼ cup milk

Directions:



Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and orange extract.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost.
 
MARSHMALLOW FROSTING

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 (7½ ounce) jar Fluff, or similar marshmallow cream

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat butter in a large bowl with mixer on high speed until creamy. Beat in marshmallow cream. Reduce speed to low, and beat in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Increase speed to high; beat until fluffy.

Frost cooled cupcakes
(I also used some neon food coloring to fancy it up haha)
 

I don't cook them on a cookie sheet, I just put them on it to cool

 Bright green!

Purple & Green!

Cupcakes!

I've been feeling rather domestic lately. HA!  I made cupcakes with my nephew the other day.

Vanilla Cupcakes
(so not exciting, but delicious)

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract (I kind of free pour because I love vanilla)
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost.

Aiden & I frosted.  I let him  go to town with it.  I tried to write with it, but I'm frosting-dellusional.

This is our attempt at writing names, making flowers, and clearly making a ton of squiggly lines!  We're so far from professionals!! Haha

We made one for boyfriend.   ... and Teej.

... and obviously Aiden got his own, as did T-Bone, which looks more like J-Bone, but whatever

 Jaspy & Dizzle got some too.

                                                                             Cupcakes!

Open Faced Sandwiches

I never update this damn thing.  I tend to forget to take pictures or write down my concoctions.

Tonight, for dinner, I made open faced sandwiches on fresh italian bread.

Ingredients
3 whole chicken breasts, thawed
1 small red pepper
1 small green pepper
1 small yellow pepper
2-3 stocks of green onion
1/2 small red onion
BBQ Sauce of your choice (I went with Jack Daniel's Honey Smokehouse)
Large Baguette, French Bread, Italian Loaf, Kaizers, etc. (whichever you prefer)
1 cup of grated cheese (I use an aged cheddar)

Directions:
Once chicken is thawed, chop it up into strips.  Toss into frying pan with a little bit of cooking oil.  While it's cooking, wash & chop all of your veggies.  Once the chicken is cooked, put enough BBQ sauce to coat the chicken and stir.  Toss in all the veggies and cook until they're done enough for you (I like mine a little bit crunchy, so mine just get thrown in for a few minutes).  Before you remove the chicken & veggie mix, add some more BBQ sauce to your liking.  On sliced baguette or on the roll, pile on the chicken & veggies and top with cheese.  Put them in the oven until the cheese is melted.  Makes 6 Kaizers or 3 long pieces of Italian Bread.  ENJOY!

(I wish I had finished product pictures, but all I have is mixed up/cooking).

Vegetarian...?

I've decided that I am going to cut meat out of my diet, once again.  I was 'vegetarian' for about 8 years prior to going to university, but once I realized how crappy food was in the dorms, I quickly started to eat grilled chicken breasts almost daily (it was either that or fried grey meat with sauce).

This is a new journey for me, as I have never cooked as a vegetarian.  When I stopped eating meat the first time, I was 10. I didn't eat meat again until I was about 18.  Tonight, I picked up my first grocery order, including some Tofurky sausges and some tofu, along with quinoa and loads of veggies.

I don't think it'll be all that hard to give up meat, as I never really ate it much anyway (unless I craved bacon or Wendy's). 

I'm going to utilize this blog to capture the mishaps and failures of my 'vegetarian' cooking!

Ps- if you haven't already, see Food Inc.  You may go vegetarian as well.