Hey guys, guess what?! I made my first guest post this week! Unfortunately I did not have enough time to make a new recipe on my own, so here is a preview of the guest post that will be shared on Monday! So on Monday, hop on over to the Heritage Cook and check out the cake I made for in honor of my big sister’s birthday! 
Random Fact of the Day: The average US household will use 2 trees worth of toilet paper each year
I have to tell ya…I’m not a big fan of saucy stuff.
I don’t like pasta drowning in marinara. Fettucini with Alfredo sauce almost always makes me feel sick to my stomach. A piece of chicken smothered in BBQ sauce makes me want to cry. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that it makes me want to cry.
I can be a total drama queen when I want to. There was a particular time that I remember where I threw a pretty big fuss over a sandwich I got at a restaurant. This was a couple years ago…I’m actually kind of embarrassed to even think about this, but what the heck. I’ll tell you anyways.
So my parents and I went down to U of I to visit my sister for the day and we had a nice time as we always do. I love going down to the campus and feeling like I’m some big bad college kid. Anyways, we decided on going to the Barbecue joint that was in the area that was supposedly pretty good. The place had a very southern atmosphere and I really liked how it felt in there! It took me a bit to decide what I wanted to order and I finally picked the shredded BBQ chicken sandwich. We got to see them on the other side of the counter as they assembled our meals and I watched the girl pick out a nice fluffy bun, plop some chicken on top, and then it happened. I wanted to scream. My eyes literally started to water. I know, I’m weird. She took a big ‘ol ladle and poured barbecue sauce all over. Everywhere. I decided that I would just suck it up and take the sauce sandwich. I didn’t want to throw a fit. I’m a high schooler, I should be able to handle these things right?
Wrong.
I took a couple bites out of the sandwich when we sat down, but I just couldn’t do it. The bun was totally ruined (to me it was). It felt and tasted soggy from the monstrous amount of sauce. It felt like I was eating a sandwich of bread soaked in sauce with a teeny bit of chicken. Now, I told you I am definitely capable of being a drama queen. So my mom noticed I was having troubles getting myself to eat the sandwich. So we went up there, got another sandwich and this time I was SURE I ordered it with sauce on the side.
I don’t even know how I became like this. I mean when I was really little, I would take the bottle of Ranch dressing and just pour and pour and pour that stuff on my salads at dinner. It was usually Ranch soup with some lettuce. Thinking about it totally gives me the gags now, but back then it was just the norm for me. Funny how people’s palates change.
Anyways, I made this version of a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s kind of a hybrid of a grilled cheese and a panini. What’s going in here is some chicken that has been drizzled, yes just barely covered, with BBQ sauce. I still totally embrace BBQ sauce, but I’m more of a dipper than a smotherer. Then there’s some parmesan and mozzarella cheese, with a little bit of sautéed onion. It’s almost like my BBQ chicken pizza in sandwich form! This is probably my absolute favorite sandwich I have ever made. I can totally see myself making this on a weekly basis. It takes hardly any time to prepare and most of the ingredients are usually hanging around the house.
2 slices of bread (I used whole wheat)
about 1/4 cup chicken, cooked and cut into bite size pieces*
about 3 Tablespoons barbecue sauce
about 1/4 of an onion, sautéed*
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
about 1 1/2-2 Tablespoons butter or oil
1 Tablespoon of bacon bits, optional
Random Fact of the Day: Every cigarette smoked cuts at least five minutes of life on average, which is roughly the time it takes to smoke one cigarette.
So I’ve made oven-baked fries for you before, which I make all the time and love, but sometimes those can be slightly time consuming and in the summer, turning on the oven can really heat up the house. These are little potato wedge/fry things that are perfect for hot weather because you can just pop these guys on the grill while your cooking up some burgers, chicken, hot dogs, whatever!
The only prep work you really need for these is to boil them just to get them cooked through a bit. Seasoning is a must, too! I like my wedges packed with flavors so I really load on the spices and seasonings. You can, of course, season to your own taste, but the recipe below shows my suggestions on what I used to make mine.
These are super easy and a perfect side for any dish. A nice thing about these wedges are that you don’t have to do everything altogether at the same time. I boiled the potatoes and rinsed them ahead of time and right before I put them on the grill, I cut them into wedges and seasoned them.
Making these made me feel like I was in the middle of summer. This 80 degree weather in Chicago is totally throwing me off on times and dates!
(Serves 4)
4 red potatoes
1/2 Tablespoon onion powder
1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 1/2 Tablespoons spice mix
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne red pepper
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
2 Tablespoons olive oil (or any other type of oil)
Looky here, another week in the life of Beautiful Disasters! It warmed up a bit this week, thank goodness! Loved every second of this amazing weather, even the rain. I’m a total sucker for rain and could literally just sit in the rain and be happier than ever.
Monday I shared with you guys a delicious pasta recipe I made that tastes JUST LIKE lasagna! It’s crazy good and you must make it. It’s ones of those meals that just sticks to your ribs and fills you up like any good meal should.
Tuesday I had my LAST doubles session of the season for soccer. Praise the Lord!! Phew. Those two-a-day practices are killer! They do however get me super pumped up for the season and all the fun times we have. High school soccer is probably the most fun, exhausting, draining, hilarious 3 months out of the school year. Love it!
Wednesday the little Garlic Monkey Breads that I made for the Lasagna Linguini came out. I was so happy to get to try these. I’ve always been a little curious about making some sort of savory monkey bread and these were perfect with the pasta!
Thursday I enjoyed the wonderful weather we’ve been having around here lately. Can you believe it’s been in the 70s?! In Chicago?! I seriously think somebody needs to pinch me.
Friday I showed you guys the cupcakes I got to make! Let me tell you, these cupcakes were SUCH a treat for me. It had been so long since I got to make any treat, due to my family’s traditions during Lent. I got to make these for my parents for when they went to one of their friends’ house for dinner. I got to get a little taste just to be sure they were “safe” 
. Let’s just leave it at that they definitely passed the test.
Random Fact of the Day: In New York City, approximately 1,600 people are bitten by other humans every year.
It’d be nice if I could come up with a shorter name for these guys…but I thought I’d go the more descriptive route.
These cupcakes were for a special crowd that I was hoping to impress, and I thought that this was the perfect flavor combination to please any palate.
I was SUPER DUPER PUMPED to make these (picture me doing a cheerleading dance). It has been so, so, so long since I got to make a cupcake. I mean like pretty much a whole month! Lent has been driving me a little wack-o and I thought I was just about to jump out of my skin when I was making these babies.
I have never been so thankful to whip cream. Or to mix a cupcake batter. I know, I’m weird. But you secretly love it…!
One little note about this recipe that I would like to mention is that I used my Gram’s go-to chocolate cake recipe. That lady sure could bake one heck of a cake. My mom adores her red devil chocolate cake recipe and I know she hold this recipe quite close to her heart, but I’m happy to share this with the rest of you all so everybody can enjoy some of Gram’s love. If you’d like to learn more about Gram, I wrote a pretty big post about her here.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Dark cocoa powder)
1/2 cup milk (I used skim)
1 cup boiling water (I just microwaved mine for about 75 seconds)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 teaspoons powdered sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons white sugar
5 Tablespoons water
pinch of salt
5 Tablespoons heavy cream
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
