Don't Call My Name, Alé-fredo...

Creamy, cheesy, garlicky?  Yes, please!

I had a dream about this the other night.

No, really!  It came to me in a dream, I had to make it in real-life. 

I often play around with cream sauces and pasta, but this one was a concrete recipe in my head when I woke up hungry.

It must be because I've been considering making a video for the Real Women of Philadelphia competition. (God help us all..) I also won a brand new Kraft/Philly Real Women apron from Sweetopia. 

It's like, a sign. 

A potential $20,000 sign.

Too bad I hate being in front of the camera.  I'm perfectly comfortable being behind it. 

Alas, since I probably won't have the cojones to make a moving pictorial of myself, I'll share my recipe here, with you.   

*Warning:  This isn't really a heart healthy/low-cal sauce.  At all.  That might be what makes it soooooo good though.

Chicken Alfredo Farfalle

(Printable Recipe)

1/4 C Butter

1 Tub Philadelphia Herb & Garlic Cream Cheese

1 1/2 C Heavy Cream

2 C Grated Parmesan Cheese (The not-in-a shaker kind.  Reserve a little for garnish.)

1 C Shredded Mozarella Cheese

1 Clove Minced Garlic (I grate mine with a rasp since I don't have a press and tiny fingers like to reach up on my counters to grab knives sight unseen..)

2 cooked, chopped, boneless skinless chicken breasts

Chopped Green Onion (For garnish and extra flavor.)

Box of Farfalle Pasta

Cook pasta according to directions.  While it's boiling, prepare your cream sauce.

In a heavy saucepan on medium heat, melt butter. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds. 

Add cream cheese and stir until melted and creamy.  Stir in whipping cream until all ingredients are blended and smooth.

Dump (classy term, right?) all of the cheese in and stir to coat.  Sauce will thicken as it cooks and all of the cheese melts, you can now cook over medium-low heat until it's done.   

When the sauce has thickened, toss in the chopped chicken just until heated through. 

Top cooked pasta with a generous serving of sauce, top with green onion and cheese, and slather on gut enjoy!

Hiatus and Happy Easter...

I know Easter is over but there's still time to get a batch of these suckers out of your system since I  knoooow you got some this past weekend.

We got back yesterday from a wonderful, too-short weekend with my parents, grandparents, and great-grandfather.  Obviously the Easter Bunny found us and the boys had an amazing time. 

I had Mini-Eggs for breakfast. 

Don't judge.

I made this cupcake last month as an "Easter Cupcake" trial and what better time than five days ago to post it?  Ha!

As per usual, I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe for the cupcake batter. 

About 30 minutes before baking, or overnight, freeze your unwrapped Creme Eggs.  I used the minis so I wouldn't be in a Creme Egg Coma.  (It's a real thing, swear!)  You'll also want to make sure the liner filling and baking happen rather quickly as you don't want your egg to melt. 

Fill your liners with batter, about 2/3 full, drop in a creme egg. 

Bake as per directions.

While my cupcakes were baking, I made my frosting.  I chose a cream cheese frosting since I thought I'd already be borderline flatlined from the creme egg cupcake, buttercream might be too much. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pkg. Cream Cheese  (I use Philly)

1 Cup Butter

4-6 Cups Icing Sugar (Depending on how stiff you want it to be)

Yellow Food Coloring (I used Golden Yellow Wilton)

1 T Vanilla (I used Clear Wilton Vanilla)

Beat cream cheese and butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add vanilla, beat again. 

Add icing sugar and mix until you've reached your desired consistency. 

Remove half the icing and put yellow food coloring in the mixer bowl with the rest of the icing. 

Beat it until blended.

To achieve the dual colored swirl, carefully fill your piping bag with half the yellow and half the white.  (It's easiest to spoon it in while on its side..) 

Pipe your swirl and top with another creme egg. 

With any luck, your eggs stayed intact on the inside.  A thicker batter might be more ideal for this particular concoction, but mine fared pretty well!

Don't make these again until next Easter.  Your friends will hate love you!