Our second “meal” was an original and very basic concoction.  I just love pre-made cake mix, so I bought another box and made some delicious cupcakes.

Thin Mint Cupcakes

I made the mix per the instructions, BUT, I added nearly the whole box of crushed Thin Mint cookies and baked some over-sized cupcakes.  (My new favorite size of cupcake.)

Mallet + Box of Thin Mints =

= Lots of Thin Mint bits!

The frosting was pretty basic– I was lazy and bought a pre-made container of vanilla frosting.  To pretend like I’m not as lazy as I really am, I added some green gel frosting (I love gel frosting) and my easy frosting suddenly looked “mint” and so well-planned. (I could have added a mint extract, but again with the laziness.)

Jug of frosting + amazing gel frosting = pretend mint frosting

Once the cupcakes cooled, I frosted them with the “mint” frosting and then sprinkled the remaining Thin Mint bits on top.

My friend Krissie taught me the perfect way to "sprinkle" toppings on cupcakes.

The end result: Amazing!  Enjoy.

Thin Mint Cupcakes

Man oh man were these good!  I discovered new favorite bloggers Kevin & Amanda who had this wonderfully delicious and oh-so-bad for you Tagalong Cake Bar recipe.

Oooey, gooey deliciousness!

First, gather your ingredients: 1 box of cake mix, 1 stick of butter, 1 egg, 1 can of condensed milk, 1 bag of milk chocolate chips, peanut butter and 1 box of Tagalong Girl Scout cookies.

Mix the cake mix, egg and butter and pat into a foiled pan.  Cover the “crust” with nearly the entire bag of milk chocolate chips.  Next, mix the condensed milk and peanut butter and spread it out evenly on the crust and chocolate chips.  At this point the cake bars are deliciously gooey, but you’re not done yet! Chop up the box of Girl Scout Tagalongs and add them to top of the crust.  Throw them in the oven and VOILA! the most delicious dessert you’ve ever had in your life.

A sure-fire way to make friends during Girl Scout Cookie season

While there isn’t a calorie count on Kevin & Amanda’s recipe, this has got to be so, so bad for you, so eat sparingly and get them out of the house or you’ll eat them all.  Your co-workers will LOVE you!

Week 12: Girl Scout cookies!!

I bet I know what you’re thinking: Girl Scout cookies for an ingredient?! Aren’t they just a delicious dessert on their own? Indeed they are.  BUT they also make desserts even more delicious and it turns out they have some other uses too!  We had a great time experimenting with cookies as an ingredient and I’m looking forward to sharing our experiences and recipes!

Two thousand twelve is “the year of the girl” and here is some history about the Girl Scout cookie:

Girl Scout Cookies are a familiar part of American culture. For more than 80 years, Girl Scouts, with the enthusiastic support of their families, have helped ensure the success of local Girl Scout Cookie activities. From its earliest beginnings to its current popularity, the sale of cookies has helped Girl Scouts have fun, develop valuable life skills and make the world a better place by helping to support Girl Scouting in their communities. 

There are many different kinds of cookies and this week we’ll be “cooking” with Tagalongs, Thin mints and Do-si-dos.  Hopefully you have some leftover cookies to try these for yourself!

It’s been a really, really long time since I’ve posted and I’m very sorry!

Times have been pretty busy around Megan’s Island and we have been eating our special ingredients, although sometimes not as many featured meals as we had hoped. So, without further ado, here is our first and only tofu meal of the week.  (Not to worry, Brandon was out of town, so I ate this meal for lunch over the entire week.)

Fried tofu. Delicious, delicious fried tofu.

Brandon claims that my fried tofu is the best he’s ever had, which is quite the compliment.  The key is patience — and lots of garlic salt and olive oil.  Pan fry over medium/medium-high heat, stirring regularly until they get a slightly firm fried shell.  I’d say it takes about 20-30 minutes total.  When the tofu is to your desired crispiness, pour it out over a paper towel-covered plate and let the tofu cool and extra oil drain.

I added some sauces and veggies and ended up with this deliciousness:

Tofu stir fry