Cute and Easy Monsters Inc Marshmallow Pops!

Decorating is not my strong point. I can map it out in my head and imagine step-by-step on how to make my idea a reality. Then when it's time to execute, I fail. By failing, I mean I fail miserably. Once I tried to decorate my Mom's birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate cream filling and chocolate ganache frosting. (My mom is a HUGE chocolate fan clearly). All I wanted to do was just layer the cake and frost it. Somehow I messed this up and it ended up looking something like this. 

(My cake actually looked worse than this. Yikes.)

We had a good laugh and ate the cake anyway. It tasted sooooooo good despite its really sad appearance. 

Anyway when my family was in town a month before my son's birthday, we decided to have his his party a tad bit early so he could celebrate with his Nana,Papa and Uncles. This was so last notice that I couldn't order a cake. I mean I could have from Walmart but I was never a big fan of their cakes. So I aspired to make this the best party ever on a 48 hour notice. 

Enter these marshmallow pops. 

These were so easy to make! They also didn't turn out too bad looking! Not as bad as the cupcakes I made anyway.

Here is what you need:

1 bag of green candy melts (I bought them at Michael's)

1 bag of blue candy melts 

1 bag of white candy melts 

Purple food coloring

1 bag of big Marshmallows

Unused new paintbrush

Candy eyes (I found these at Walmart near the cupcake decorations)

Cake pop sticks 

Styrofoam block (to stabilize the finished pops while cooling)

How to make Mike Wazowski:

• Get a microwave safe bowl and melt your chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir chocolate around and put it back in for another 30 seconds. Repeat this process until the chocolate is smooth.
• Grab a cake pop stick and dip one end into the chocolate. Take a marshmallow and stick it on the end you dipped into the chocolate. Make sure not to poke through the other side!
• Dip marshmallow into chocolate and with the help of a spoon, cover the whole marshmallow. 
• Press one candy eye in the center of the marshmallow
• Stick into the Styrofoam block so they can cool upright without getting messed up!

How to make Sully:

• Follow the same process as above only with the blue candy except do not put a candy eye on Sully! 
• Once blue marshmallow pop is dried melt your white candy melts. When chocolate is smooth add a few drops of purple food coloring until you get the color of Sully's spots. Mix the coloring well. 
• Take your paintbrush and paint on spots all around the pop. 
• Stick the pop into your Styrofoam block to cool and harden. 

You can make these the day before, just make sure you cover them in plastic!

Hope you guys enjoy this!

Quick and Easy Baked Ziti

Pasta and sauce was a staple in my childhood. Probably because there were four of us kids and then my Mom and Step-Dad.  One of my favorite things that my mother would make was baked ziti. She would make it with home made grape sized meatballs and of course with home made sauce. Well Mom, I'm sorry but tonight I'm cutting corners.  Hopefully she never sees this. She is all about home made sauce and never using bottled, but last night I just needed to make a quick dinner and have it on the table in an hour.

This version is still VERY good. (At least that's what the Husband and child say). With this meal you can have it done in under and hour, and it tastes like you spent hours in the kitchen! This make a TON! This best part about this dish is that you can make it before hand and refrigerate until you you throw it in the oven. Or you can freeze it!

Here is what you need:

• 1 cup Ricotta cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese (More or less depending on your cheesy preference. 
• 1 (normal) bottle of pasta sauce (The husband bought the wrong size. No more grocery shopping for him!I used about half of the giant bottle)
• 1 box ziti
• 1 lb ground beef
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

 How to become a praised chef:

• Start out by getting a pot of salted water on the stove top ready to boil. When water starts to boil throw your ziti in and cook according to directions on the box. Make sure you drain the pasta well!
• Preheat your over to 350 degrees 
• Melt butter into a skillet and throw garlic to mingle with the butter for about a minute or two.
• Toss in the ground beef and cook until nice and browned. Drain the grease from the beef.
• In a large bowl toss sauce, half of the Parmesan cheese, half of the mozzarella, ricotta cheese, cooked ground beef, and cooked noodles. Mix until everything is combined.
• Place your ziti mixture into a large baking pan.
• Throw ziti into the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
• Take your pan of awesomeness out of the over and make it even more awesome by sprinkling the rest of the Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese on the top. Add more if you want things extra cheesy!
• Place in oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese is slightly browned. (I would have left mine in longer but the Husband was getting extremely hungry. Like chew on a table hungry)

Hope you enjoy!

Cheesy Shrimp Alfredo Pasta: Take Two!

Okay so I originally posted this and I was so excited. It took me FOREVER to write it all out. I don't know what happened but only half of my post actually got published. So you guys got all of the ingredients but not how to make this really yummy dish! So I apologize for that! Anyway here it is! Cheesy Shrimp Alfredo!

Here is what you need:
1 bag of medium frozen uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined. (Save the tails! They can be made into an awesome stock to use in soups or recipies like this one!)
2 tablespoons oil
1 box of penne pasta
3 tomatoes, diced
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese(divided)
3 tablespoons butter
6 cloves of minced garlic
1 tablespoon flour
1 can of evaporated milk
2 oz light cream cheese
1/2 cup chicken stock (or whatever stock you would like!)
Salt and Pepper
Fresh parsley (if you want to get fancy!)

This is how you do it:(Montell Jordan pop into your head too?)
Okay let's start with preheating the oven to 400 degrees and getting a pot of salted water ready to boil.
Now to make the alfredo sauce, melt the butter in a large deep skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and stir that stuff around for about a minute.

Grab a whisk and whisk in your flour. Make sure you are whisking CONSTANTLY. You do not want this to burn! Cook for about a minute (it should be a light brown now). Slowly whisk in your milk. Stir this around CONSTANTLY for about 2 minutes.


Now it's time to stir in the good stuff. Add the cream cheese, half of your Parmesan cheese, and your stock.  Lightly stir this goodness until it is nice and smooth. It took me about 2 minutes. Now the best part, quality check! Stick a spoon into the sauce and taste! Add your salt and pepper according to your taste. I only added a little of each.

By now your oven should be preheated and your water should be boiling. If not, no biggie just wait for these things to happen.

Put your pasta into the boiling water and cook according to the directions on the box and make sure you drain it well!

Plop your shrimp onto a baking sheet and drizzle some oil right on top. Salt and pepper, then mix until all of the shrimp are equally coated in the oil.

Throw them into the oven for 6 minutes. We are only trying to get them to be a little pink. We are trying to avoid over cooked shrimp!

When done, set the shrimp aside. Now in a large bowl combine your pasta, diced tomatoes,mozzarella cheese,red pepper flakes,alfredo sauce and of course your shrimp. Mix them all together and have an internal struggle with yourself over eating this stuff as is because it looks so good.
Put the mixture in a 8X8 pan. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese on the top and throw into the oven for about 5-8 minutes.  You want the cheese to be melted,gooey and delicious. If you want your food to be Instagram approved, add some fresh parsley on top!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Stay tuned for more!

Fish in the Sea! A perfect drink for movie night!

A couple of years ago I remember browsing the interwebs and coming across this cute little picture of some Swedish fish in colored blue water. I read the recipe and come to find out that it's really just sprite, food coloring and Swedish fish. Easy enough, but how do I make this better? Blue raspberry flavoring was the answer. 

What you need:

1 can of Sprite (or any lemon lime flavored soda) 

1 packet of blue raspberry koolaid (you won't be using the whole thing for one glass!)

Swedish fish (preferably the smaller kind. My husband brought back the big ones and they didn't stay on top of the ice so well. Oops!)

This is how you do it:

Probably the easiest recipe ever. Pour a little bit of Sprite into your glass. Sprinkle a little bit of the Koolaid packet into the glass. Get some ice. Plop it in there. Pour the rest of the Sprite in. Place delicious Swedish fish into the glass for a little swim and bam. You have a drink that will wow a three year old! 

My son really loved these for movie night yesterday. Even though I had to tell him multiple times that he could not stick his whole fist into the cup to get the fishies. 

Hope you guys enjoy!!

Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

Nothing takes me back to my childhood like Cookie Dough ice cream. Ever since I was a kid I loved it. Those yummy bits of cookie deliciousness. Mmmm. My mother used to make her own ice cream cakes. They were always super tasty and so beyond easy to make. I was thinking about making an ice cream cake with cookie dough ice cream and all of a sudden it hit me. 

Why don't I make an ice cream cake layered with real cookie dough?!

Then this cake was born. Well made. You get the idea. 

So yeah, someone might have eaten a piece before I could take a picture. Oops. 

What you will need: 

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons of milk

1 1/2 cup self rising flour (this is all I had on hand at the time!)

1/2 cup of chocolate chips 

Container of vanilla ice cream (or whatever flavor you like!) softened

How we make the magic happen:

Melt down your butter and sugar together. You can do this with the wonderful convenience of a microwave, or on top of your stove. Either way just make sure you stir them until everything is smooth. 

Stir in your milk then add flour. Mix that stuff until it's nicely mixed together. Put in your chocolate chips and throw this all into your fridge for about 30 minutes. 

Now lets get an 8X8 pan out here and start coating that pan with that cookie dough yummy-ness. Take a little bit and just coat the pan. Think of the cookie dough being the "crust" of your ice cream cake. Now take your softened ice cream and layer it on top of that cookie dough. Then throw it into your freezer for just a few minutes to get it firm again. Repeat the process layering it until you run out of ingredients. I got 4 layers. (2 cookie dough, 2 ice cream) but I also did the cookie dough really thick. 

Put it back in the freezer for a few hours to freeze and bam you have a really yummy ice cream cake just waiting to be eaten. You can drizzle some chocolate on top if you want as well. Ooooo or caramel. Yum. 

Thanks for looking everyone I hope you enjoy!

Let's be real!

Hello and thanks for joining me here are The Realistic Home Cook! I've started this blog to better organize all of my successful and not so successful cooking adventures. I was posting on Facebook but, it just got so cluttered! 

Pinterest. We have all heard of it. Most of us love it. I basically live on Pinterest.  People are just so creative!Let's be real for a second though, how many times have we seen something posted, that looks sooooooooo very amazing and the steps made it seems so simple to do?  "Why yes, this is so easy to make any Mom, newbie, ect could TOTALLY make this" You run yourself to the grocery store get all set up follow the directions and what do you have at the end? A cake that looks like it was made for a prop in a horror movie. I am by no means a chef or extremely experienced in the culinary world. I'm just a wife, mother,and a student that loves to eat. 

That being said everything here will be real. It will be doable. Pictures of food taken with an iPhone. Nothing over frilly or fussy. Just good food that can be made by anyone who wants to try!