A Girl In Her Kitchen

A Christmas Feast

2011-12-30T22:51:00.001-05:00

Before the year ends, I thought I would share our Christmas feast with you.

We have Christmas Eve dinner at our house with my husband’s family. The above picture shows the turkey and gravy, rolls, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, ham, Nuts ‘N’ Bolts and Holiday M&Ms.

AHH! I forgot to take a picture of the cranberry salad. It’s really pretty. It’s basically Paula Deen’s recipe with a Nana twist. Here is Paula’s recipe. Nana adds a larger can of crushed pineapple. It’s probably about 15 oz. or so. I don’t know if doing it this way will work in a mold, but it looks lovely in a crystal dish.

I couldn’t get a good picture of my turkey, but it looked almost as good as Nigella’s from her book Nigella Christmas.

My husband’s family is more of a ham family, but this turkey went over extremely well. I used Nigella Lawson’s recipe for Super Juicy and Spiced Turkey. I don’t think I will ever use another recipe. Brining the turkey really does make all the difference. The turkey was sooo moist and flavorful. It got rave reviews from my Father-In-Law, who doesn’t really like turkey. So thank you Nigella.

I also made Nigella’s All Spice Gravy. I actually boiled a turkey neck. It looked so disgusting, but smelled heavenly. The gravy was good, but I think it was barely used because the turkey was so moist, the dressing was so flavorful and the potatoes were so buttery. Oh, well, there’s always leftovers to drown in gravy.

Pioneer Woman’s Mashed Potatoes were also a hit. “These mashed potatoes are so creamy.” So good!

This recipe for dressing is made in the crock-pot. I finished mine off in the microwave just to get rid of some of the moisture that was left. Don’t worry, it was still incredibly moist. I think I could eat this all year long. I think I may just do that.

Crock-Pot Dressing

3-4 cups shredded turkey or chicken (optional)

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 quarts corn bread, crumbled

2 tablespoons dried sage

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1/2 cup melted margarine

3-4 cups turkey or chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

Mix all the ingredients in the bowl of a 6 quart crock-pot. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.

We also had a nice display of sweets. No pictures though, sorry. It’s really hard to take pictures when everyone, including the photographer/cook is starving. But here’s what we had: Nigella’s Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake, Banana Pudding, Pumpkin Pie, fruit cake, and Mocha Punch.

Mocha Punch is a Christmas necessity. It is requested every year. Bring this out for your next special occasion and you will be praised. Again, no pictures of it, but imagine a slightly melted milk shake. You’ll love it!

Thanks to Nigella’s fantastic turkey recipe, I’m taking part in this month’s Forever Nigella, Christmas Presence, hosted this month by Sarah of Maison Cupcake.

A reminder of the rules:

Forever Nigella #10 ”Christmas Presence”

Challenge: To prepare and blog any Nigella recipe during the Christmas period. Ideally it will be Christmassy but I’m not fussy.
Deadline: December 31st 2011 at midnight wherever you are.
Winner announcement: Within a week, to be added to the Forever Nigella page.

There are:
No rules about how often you must take part
No rules about stuff being secret until certain dates
No rules that everyone cook exactly the same thing
No rules about not being able to submit to any other blog events – just check it doesn’t contravene the other guys’ rules

But there are 3 rules:
1. Blog your entry by the deadline including:
a) the current Forever Nigella badge
b) a link to the current host (ME)
c) a link to the official Forever Nigella page at Maison Cupcake: http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella

2. So not to breach Nigella’s copyright you must NOT reproduce recipes verbatim as shown in her books. If using an original Nigella recipe, tell us which book it is from and/or where we find it online (see most likely sites below). If you’ve adapted the recipe in some way i.e. changed at least two ingredients or amended the method then it’s ok to publish the a recipe in your post but you MUST write the directions in your own words.

3. Tell us about your post by adding it to the Linky Tool below! I have made this into a Blog Hop so feel free to post the script at the bottom of your post to encourage your readers to visit the other entries. If you can’t see the linky below it’s because I’ve never done one before and I’ve stuffed it up. Nag me and I’ll sort it out.

Don’t forget to tweet your post with the hashtag #forevernigella – I will retweet all those I see!

Enjoy your Nigella Christmas presence!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T08:12:00.001-05:00

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

2011-12-22T21:48:00.001-05:00

These are so yummy. But if you like these…

Then you’ll really like this…

If you like this…

You’ll love this…

especially mixed into your hot chocolate. It will definitely bring you joy!

And finally, this one little candy can put me into the Christmas spirit.

You are welcome.

One Year Olds ROCK!!

2011-12-17T01:07:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday we celebrated my nephew’s first birthday.

My nephew, Logan, ROCKS!!

I made the cupcakes for the party. They were so good they made you wanna smash your guitar.

To make the really cool, almost tie-died icing, just fill your decorator’s bag with two colors of icing, keeping them separated, each color taking up half the bag. Pipe your swirls as usual.

Decorating for the party was fun. Among the decorations were microwaved CDs.

Here’s a random YouTube video that shows how:

When you party like a Rock Star, you usually end up destroying things.

Every Rocker needs some cool shades right?

The cupcakes were a smash…in the face. “What was that for, Mom?”

Logan had his first real taste of sugar. He ate almost the whole cupcake.

Has everyone made these by now? If not, what’s taking you so long? These are THE BEST CUPCAKES EVER!!!

I couldn’t leave without showing you my cute little one year old. Liam is learning to use a spoon and is so proud of himself.

Happy Bundt Day

2011-11-15T21:10:00.001-05:00

Today is National Bundt Day! Mary, The Food Librarian has been celebrating with Bundt cakes for the last 30 days! That's a lot of cake! Be sure to take a look at her post today with the round-up of this year's Bundts.

To help her celebrate, I made this Coconut Pecan Bundt; a recipe given to me by my friend Brenda. It’s super easy, moist, and has a vintage feel to it. It’s really sweet, so don’t even think about glazing this baby.

Coconut Pecan Bundt
Serves 10

1 15.25 oz. Box Butter Pecan Cake Mix

1 cup water (per box instructions)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (per box instructions)

3 eggs (per box instructions)

1 15 oz. can of Coconut Pecan frosting

Prepare the cake batter according to the box’s instructions. Add the frosting to the batter and stir well to combine. Pour into your greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake according to the Bundt cooking time on your box. It’s around 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to cool completely before attempting to turn this onto a plate.

Enjoy! Happy Bundt Day!

A Hoppin’ Party

2011-10-07T19:11:00.001-04:00

This post has been a long time coming. It is the final post for Liam’s first birthday party. I thought this day would never come! You’re probably sick of seeing little froggies by now, but there’s still a little cuteness left. But just in case you can’t get enough, I’ve added a few reminders of what I’ve already shown you. Just click on the links to view the original posts.

The Invitations

The Decorations:

Lily Pads

Decorating with Frames

Decorating with Albums

The Meal: Baked Spaghetti, Fettuccini Alfredeaux, Bread and Salad

The Dessert Table

First of all, that’s a lot of cupcakes!

I already had the two cupcake holders, but I needed something to hold the rest of them and add height and a focal point for the table. I pulled out all my glass/crystal cake stands and fiddled with them until I came up with this tower of breakables. The tiny cake stand up top came from Hobby Lobby and I love it!

The cupcakes are my favorite cupcakes topped with frogs made from candy melts.

To the left we had Tiny Crispy Rice Squares, Oreo Truffles and small frogs and L’s made with more candy melts. Hours of fun, those candy melts were!

On the right were more Crispy Rice Squares (this time dipped in vanilla bark), green mints and Gummi Frogs!

So, it was time for the Birthday Boy to dive into the cake. We sang “Happy Birthday.” And this happened…

I guess he didn’t know what was going on. Everyone was looking at him and singing. Scary!

The cake, by the way, was made by stacking 3 small cakes I baked in ramekins. I used a flat piping tip (the other side of a basket weave tip) and made vertical lines. They were a little wavy and had the look of water. Some little swirls decorated the top.

Again, I used candy melts to make a large frog on a wooden skewer. He was so adorable!

Bluebeard got mad again toward the end. I blame it on the sugar high.

Thanks for enduring all these posts. But a bigger thank you goes to everyone who helped celebrate my baby’s birthday.

A Hoppin’ Party: Oreo Truffles

2011-09-15T12:43:00.001-04:00

I didn’t mean to, but I’ve had a nice little break from blogging. I kept saying, I’ll write that post tomorrow. And then I would forget and say, I’ll write that post tomorrow. Now it’s a few tomorrows later, and here I am again. I’ve a couple more posts about Liam’s birthday party to share with you. Today’s is Oreo Truffles.

I thought everyone had heard of these little sweets. They made the rounds a few years ago and I guess they are still popular. They should be popular because they are so very, very good. If you like Oreos, then this will be a recipe you should try if you haven’t already. It is so easy.

Oreo Truffles
Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients:
1 package Oreos, cubed
1 8 oz block of cream cheese
White Chocolate Bark or Candy Melts
Toppings-optional

In a food processor, blitz the Oreos until they are fine crumbs. Add the cream cheese and pulse until it becomes a nice gooey mixture. Refrigerate until nice and cold.

Roll the mixture into about 1 inch sized balls and place on waxed paper. If the balls become mushy, return to the fridge until more stable.

Melt half of the white chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave according to the package directions. I find that using the double boiler works better because it keeps the chocolate warm. Using dipping tools or a fork, dip each ball in the chocolate and allow to dry on the waxed paper. This is the “crumb coat”.

Once all the truffles have dried, use the rest of the chocolate and dip them once more for a more even coat. Sprinkle the top with more crushed Oreos, Sparkling sugar crystals or Sprinkles. Keep refrigerated before serving.

I’m not particularly good at dipping candy. That may be because I couldn’t find my dipping tools and just used a fork. Some of my truffles were down right ugly. But they tasted sooooooo fantastic. They are incredibly rich. My favorite thing is that if you let them set out just a bit, the inside softens a little. You bite through the solid wall of chocolate to a creamy Oreo inside.

If you haven’t had these before, go out right now and buy the ingredients. You must make these A.S.A.P.!

Bakerella has a nice little tutorial for those who need a visual.

Linked to Polly Want A Crafter and Get Your Craft On.

Forever Nigella: Picnic Pleasure

2011-08-19T11:06:00.001-04:00

When I saw the theme for this month’s Forever Nigella, (host by Fuss Free Flavours), was picnic food, I was excited. Picnics are so much fun! Sophie really loves them too. One time we went to the zoo, but I think Sophie was more excited about the picnic we had afterward than seeing all the animals. Last week we were out running errands and needed a bite to eat. We went through a drive-thru and took our food to the nearby Chickamauga Battlefield Park. There was no playground, just a shady spot with a picnic table. Fortunately, we had a blanket in the car to spread over the table. We sat there and had a little impromptu picnic. It was peaceful and we were spending time together as a family.

I think a picnic calls for simplicity. It’s not something you should be fretting over. It doesn’t need to be an elaborate affair. It wouldn’t be enjoyable if you had a lot to do in order to relax. That being said, picnic food should be easy and quick to make. It should also be able to stand up to travel and warm temperatures. While looking through Nigella’s recipes, I found something that would be perfect to take on a picnic. Marshmallow Crispy Squares (or Rice Krispy Treats as they are popularly called). They are so easy, tasty and it just so happens that I was already planning on making some for Liam’s birthday.

Now I know that this recipe is not new to most people. But that’s Nigella for you. She’s just as eager to share something ordinary and comforting as she is the exotic. There isn’t much you can do to change the basic recipe for these treats. It uses just 3 ingredients after all. But Nigella offers a lovely way of displaying these squares by creating a gleaming mountain of candle studded squares.

(Source)

Her other idea, the one I used, was to cut these into tiny squares, perfect for a party too.

I sprinkled the pan with sparkling blue sugar crystals while it was still warm. I loved the look of them piled high upon a cake stand.

I dipped some of them in vanilla almond bark and sprinkled the sugar over the top. It gave a different flavor and texture to the treats.

You can find Nigella’s recipe here:

MARSHMALLOW CRISPY SQUARES

For those who need a translation, in this case:

45g would equal about 3 tbsps.

300g would equal about 10.5 oz.

180g would equal about 6 cups

Now go have a picnic!

Are you interested in participating in Forever Nigella? Here are the rules:

Forever Nigella #8
Challenge: To prepare and blog any Nigella recipe that is suitable to take on a picnic. Proper picnic food please.
Deadline: Sunday 28th August, midnight wherever you are.
Round up: By the next weekend.

There are:

No rules about how often you must take part
No rules about stuff being secret until certain dates
No rules that everyone cook exactly the same thing
No rules about not being able to submit to any other blog events – just check it doesn’t contravene the other guys’ rules

But there are 3 rules:
1. Blog your entry by the deadline including:
a) the current Forever Nigella badge
b) a link to this page
c) a link to the official Forever Nigella page at Maison Cupcake: http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella

2. So not to breach Nigella’s copyright you must NOT reproduce recipes verbatim as shown in her books. If using an original Nigella recipe, tell us which book it is from and/or where we find it online (see most likely sites below). If you’ve adapted the recipe in some way i.e. changed at least two ingredients or amended the method then it’s ok to publish the a recipe in your post but you MUST write the directions in your own words.

3. Tell us about your post by emailing me “helen AT fussfreeflavours DOT com” and c.c. to “sarah AT maisoncupcake DOT com” with:
a) your name
b) URL of your post
c) a photo no more than 300 pixels wide.

Don’t forget to tweet your post with the hashtag #forevernigella – I will retweet all those I see!

N.B. Your entry must have been published since the announcement post. You may only submit something from your archives if you republish it as a new post.

A Hoppin’ Party: Lily Pads

2011-08-18T17:37:00.001-04:00

If you remember my post about Sophie’s birthday party, you may remember these coffee filter flowers I made. These inspired me to make some lily pads with water lilies for Liam’s froggy birthday party.

Coffee Filter Water Lilies and Lily Pads

Supplies:

Five white coffee filters for each lily/lily pad

1 white mini muffin baking cup for each

Washable markers in green, pink, yellow and purple.

Twist ties or 2 inch bits of pipe cleaner

Hot glue and glue gun

Scissors

First, decide how many lily pads you want and count out that many coffee filters. Take a green washable marker and scribble all over the filter. It’s ok to have some blank spots. Next, spread the filters out over a cookie sheet. Spray with water from a spray bottle until the filters are soaked. Put them somewhere they can dry. I put mine in the oven on the lowest setting until dry. Set them aside for later. Do the same with the mini muffin cups using a yellow marker.

Next multiply the number of lilies you need by four. Decide how many you want of each color. I did some in white, yellow, pink and purple. For the ones with color, follow the same directions above using the colors you want, using four filters for each flower.

Once dry, take four of the same color and make a stack.

Next, scrunch them in the middle and tie with a twist tie or bit of pipe cleaner.

Separate the layers, below is what one side will look like.

Here’s what both sides looks like.

Take each baking cup and make little snips all around, following the folds already in the cup. It is also helpful to make a few longer cuts that go almost to the middle. These will make it easier to put them in the flower.

Now you are ready to put the lily pads together.

Glue the yellow baking cup into the middle of the flower and fluff.

Finally, position the lily onto the lily pad at a bit of an angle and close to the edge so it looks as if it is coming up from the water below and resting on the pad. Make a small triangular cut in the lily pad to finish it off.

Placing the lily pads on a blue tablecloth looks nice.

Some were placed on green tablecloths. Here we find a little froggy resting on the lily pad.

This was a super easy project and would be great to do with kids!

A Hoppin’ Party: The Meal

2011-08-17T15:37:00.001-04:00

When it comes to first birthday parties, since your little one isn’t likely to have a bunch of cronies yet, it’s likely the guest list will be made up with mostly family and close friends. By the time I added up everyone who absolutely had to be invited, it was already going to be a big guest list, so why not add a few more people who love our son? We had invited about 60 people in the end. We also decided that an evening party would be best for several reasons. This worked out great because some family wouldn’t have been able to come to an earlier party. Since we were having an evening party, we decided to serve a full meal.

We kept the menu simple: salad, two kinds of pasta and bread. My Mother-In-Law took care of the salad and bread. My Sister-In-Law, Leigh, made the spaghetti sauce which I used to make Baked Spaghetti. Basically, I just mixed the cooked spaghetti and sauce in a pan and added a few cups of shredded mozzarella to the top before covering with foil and adding to a warm oven. I used the Hefty EZ Foil Party Pans Giant Size (19 1/2 in x 11 1/2 in). They fit over the steam tables we used. I was able to fit four 1 pound boxes of thin spaghetti plus sauce and cheese into the one pan.

The other pan held 3 batches of Chicken “Fettuccini” Alfedeaux. This is alfredo for people who don’t like alfredo. Trust me, I live with one of these people. My husband WILL NOT eat fettuccini alfredo, but he loves this! I think the secret to this dish’s success is that the cream sauce is not thick and overpowering as you will usually find alfredo sauce to be.

And if you’re wondering about the spelling of Alfredeaux, that is because the chicken is seasoned with Cajun spices. I only seasoned the chicken so that it wouldn’t be too spicy, but it is really good with a little dash over the top of the pasta too.

I lost count of how many requests I had for this recipe; it really is that good! But I can’t take credit for it as I once requested this recipe from our friend Keith. Thank you so much Keith, I am so grateful!

Chicken “Fettuccini” Alfredeaux

6-8 servings

1-12 oz. package of wide egg noodles

1 package of Knorr White Sauce or Alfredo Sauce Mix

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 large boneless chicken breasts

Cajun spice mix to taste

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 stick butter

1 pint heavy cream (although half and half works too)

Prepare noodles according to the package directions, drain and set aside.

Bake or grill the chicken seasoned with the Cajun spices. Cut up or tear the chicken into small pieces.

Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the packet of sauce mix and stir. Add the cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for four minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat: add the cheese and garlic and mix well.

Mix well and pour over the pasta. Toss the pasta well until the sauce is distributed throughout. Finally, add the chicken and stir into the pasta.

Serve warm and with a dash of Cajun spices over the top.

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Linked to Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom and Today’s Creative Blog.

A Hoppin’ Party: The Invitations

2011-08-15T21:43:00.001-04:00

Our little Liam is growing up too fast! This weekend we celebrated his first birthday with a hoppin’ froggy party. It was so much fun! I’ve been very busy the last few weeks with planning and preparations, but it was so worth it; you’ll soon see what I mean. I’ve got a lot to show you, so I’m going to spread this out over several days.

I’m also using this week as a way to introduce you to a new section of my blog: A Girl In Her Kitchen Crafts. It just so happens that I do a lot of non-cooking projects in my kitchen. It has great daytime lighting and LOTS of counter space. This week’s craft posts will be duplicated in the crafting blog. In the future, they will, with few exceptions, be found only in the crafting section. You can follow the crafting blog in blogger or with Networked Blogs, (see the right hand side of the craft blog.) Or you can just pop in from time to time to see if I’ve been up to anything new.

We’ll begin with the invitations to Liam’s birthday party. I made them using Microsoft PowerPoint.

First, I scanned into my computer a few pieces of scrapbook paper in blues and greens.

In PowerPoint I arranged the paper to where the front of the card would be. I used more paper to create 3 little rectangles where I then added black and white photos of Liam at different times during his first year. At the bottom I wrote Look who’s turning one!

Here’s a peek at the inside. I found both the frog and the poem online.

The back of the card (not shown) also had his monogram for a nice little touch. After printing, I stuffed them into light blue envelopes.

These were easy to make and so cute. If the guests were like me, they displayed their invitations where they could bask in the cuteness.

I’m sharing this project, literally, by making it available in Google documents. Hopefully, you can edit it there for your own little one. Or you can write me for it at emcook17[at]comcast[dot]net.

Forever Nigella: Iced Dreams

2011-07-30T19:14:00.001-04:00

Summer is hot and that means ice cream is a freezer necessity. I love that this month’s Forever Nigella theme, host by Soul Curry, is “iced dreams”. We’re challenged to create one of Nigella’s cold desserts. It took me most of the month to decide what I wanted to do, but after seeing this picture I was hooked:

(Source)

Nigella has here given us her version of Cheesecake Ice Cream sandwiched between two digestive biscuits. Digestives are very similar to graham crackers, although not as thin. In Britain, they are used to make the crust for cheesecakes as we do with graham crackers here in the States. You can find Digestives at World Market and other stores that sell international foods. Of course, if you can’t find them, plain graham crackers crumbled into the ice cream would be delicious as Nigella suggests doing when she gives the recipe here:

Nigella Lawson’s Cheesecake Ice Cream

This has all the goodness of cheesecake with the cool, creaminess that only ice cream can deliver. It makes about a quart of ice cream. I store my ice cream in plastic take-out containers. Pioneer Woman has a little post about these containers. These babies really come in handy.

If you’re planning on making these sandwiches, it’s a good idea to make them, then return to the freezer to harden a little. Otherwise, when you take a bite the ice cream will ooze out all around.

One other note on Digestives: they are great for kids. Liam, who isn’t quite one year especially enjoys them. They are yum! You can also find them dipped in chocolate. Those are certainly worth searching for; you’ll thank me later.

(We have a nice coincidence here; today is National Cheesecake Day. I celebrated without realizing!)

Forever Nigella Rules:

The current theme is “Iced Dreams” runs until Sunday July 31st. The current host is Arthi at Soul Curry. For more details read the current announcement post.

A reminder of the rules:

Forever Nigella #7 “Iced Dreams”Challenge:

To prepare and blog any Nigella recipe for a chilled or iced dessert. Not just ice cream, any dessert served ice cold will do!
Deadline: Sunday, July 31st 2011 at midnight wherever you are.
Round up: By the next weekend.

There are:

No rules about how often you must take part

No rules about stuff being secret until certain dates

No rules that everyone cook exactly the same thing

No rules about not being able to submit to any other blog events – just check it doesn’t contravene the other guys’ rules

But there are 3 rules:
1. Blog your entry by the deadline including:
a) the current Forever Nigella badge
b) a link to the current host
c) a link to the official Forever Nigella page at Maison Cupcake: http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella

2. So not to breach Nigella’s copyright you must NOT reproduce recipes verbatim as shown in her books. If using an original Nigella recipe, tell us which book it is from and/or where we find it online (see most likely sites below). If you’ve adapted the recipe in some way i.e. changed at least two ingredients or amended the method then it’s ok to publish the a recipe in your post but you MUST write the directions in your own words.

3. Tell us about your post by emailing the current host at “debugcookingATgmailDOTcom” and c.c. to “sarah AT maisoncupcake DOT com” with:
a) your name
b) URL of your post
c) a photo no more than 300 pixels wide.

Don’t forget to tweet your post with the hashtag #forevernigella – I will retweet all those I see!

N.B. Your entry must have been published since the announcement post. You may only submit something from your archives if you republish it as a new post.

If you don’t have any Nigella books check out these resources online:

Nigella’s official site: http://www.nigella.com/
BBC Food: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chefs/nigella_lawson
Channel 4 Food: http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/popular-chefs/nigella-lawson-recipes
UKTV Good Food Channel: http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530864/
Food Network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/nigella-lawson/index.html
Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Nigella+Lawson

Linked to Made It On Monday and Polly Want A Crafter?.

A Sweet Collaboration

2011-07-27T00:42:00.002-04:00

When I first started blogging, I often saw mention of how blogging brings people together and you can become friends with bloggers from all over the world. At that time, I couldn’t really grasp the thought, but now I know it is true. Blogging these past two years has not only allowed me to share some things in my life to you, but has introduced me to some fabulous people out there in the blogosphere.

One of my new friends is Tricia who writes and illustrates the blog Trillustrations. I stumbled upon Tricia’s blog almost two years ago and instantly became addicted. She has the cutest illustrations, many of which she generously shares for free on her blog. Of course, she is happy to create a custom illustration for you.

Together, we have a special treat for you. I’m sharing a delicious recipe and Tricia has created a lovely recipe card for it. First, the recipe…

Take your ice cream to the next level with this Caramel Walnut Ice Cream Topping!!

It is sweet, crunchy and perfect with vanilla, chocolate and even coffee flavored ice cream. It’s also super easy to make, so make up two batches and share one with a friend. Tricia has made it easy to share this recipe; there are two per page!

Click on the picture to enlarge and print, or write to me at emcook17[at]comcast[dot]net for the pdf file.

Make sure to visit Trillustrations to see all of Tricia’s beautiful artwork. I know you’ll love her work as much as I do!

I’m also linking this to Made It On Monday, Polly Want A Crafter?, Today’s Creative Blog and Tasty Kitchen to share the love.

Perfect Pork Chops

2011-07-07T10:16:00.001-04:00

Sometimes the best recipes also happen to be the easiest ones. That’s the case with these fantastic pork chops. It is really simple and the outcome is perfect in my opinion. This is my go to marinade for pork chops.

Perfect Pork Chops

Ingredients:

2 lbs. pork chops

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup water

Place everything in a large Ziploc bag. Stash in the fridge until needed, at least a few hours, but overnight is even better. If the liquid doesn’t completely cover the chops, turn the bag a few times to help things out.

Now how do you want those chops? Grilled? Ok, then just grill them on high until the middle is no longer pink.

Want something even easier? Then forget marinating in the fridge and just put everything in the crock-pot and cook according to it’s manufacturer’s instructions. Turn them over about halfway through cooking. SO easy!

These chops want to be served beside mashed potatoes and these peas. Dinner is served, YUM!

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Linked to Made It On Monday.

Forever Nigella: Sea Fish and Eat It

2011-06-23T22:34:00.001-04:00

For some reason, though I’ve been to the U.K. a few times, I had never been served Kedgeree. For shame! That had to remedied, and with this month’s Forever Nigella theme being seafood, it was the perfect time to try it out.

Nigella gives traditional Kedgeree an Asian twist in this recipe. I didn’t have lime leaves for poaching the fish, so I used a little lime zest instead. The fragrance of the onions and spices is really lovely. Then you add the rice and it turns a glorious yellow from the turmeric. The eggs may seem like an odd addition to this dish, but it gives a surprising balance that I don’t think can be left out. I didn’t have Nam Pla, but using any fish sauce should be sufficient until you can find the stuff. I would like to hunt it down though. We felt the dish was missing a little something that may be remedied by using the right sauce. A little salt and pepper did just the trick for us this time. And finishing it off, there’s just something about cilantro. It brings an incredible flavor to the table, I love it!

Click here for Nigella’s recipe for
Asian Spiced Kedgeree.

This month’s Forever Nigella is hosted by Housewife Confidential.

Here are the rules:

Forever Nigella #6 “Sea Fish and Eat It”

Challenge: To prepare and blog any Nigella recipe using seafood or freshwater fish.

Deadline: Sunday, June 26 2011 at midnight wherever you are.

Round up: By the next weekend.

There are:

No rules about how often you must take part

No rules about stuff being secret until certain dates

No rules that everyone cook exactly the same thing

No rules about not being able to submit to any other blog events – just check it doesn’t contravene the other guys’ rules

But there are 3 rules:

1. Blog your entry by the deadline including:

a) the current Forever Nigella badge

b) a link to the Forever Nigella #6 Launch Post: http://housewifeconfidential.co.uk/2011/05/forever-nigella-6-sea-food-and-eat-it/

c) a link to the official Forever Nigella page at Maison Cupcake: http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella

2. So not to breach Nigella’s copyright you must NOT reproduce recipes verbatim as shown in her books. If using an original Nigella recipe, tell us which book it is from and/or where we find it online (see most likely sites below). If you’ve adapted the recipe in some way i.e. changed at least two ingredients or amended the method then it’s ok to publish the a recipe in your post but you MUST write the directions in your own words.

3. Tell us about your post by emailing me: katAThousewifeconfidentialDOTcoDOTuk and please c.c. sarahATmaisoncupcakeDOTcom with:

a) your name

b) URL of your post

c) a photo no more than 400 pixels wide.

Remember to tweet your post with the hashtag #forevernigella – Sarah at Maison Cupcake will retweet all those she sees!

N.B. Your entry must have been published since the announcement post. You may only submit something from your archives if you republish it as a new post.

If you don’t have any Nigella books check out these resources online:

Nigella’s official site: http://www.nigella.com/

BBC Food: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chefs/nigella_lawson

Channel 4 Food: http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/popular-chefs/nigella-lawson-recipes

UKTV Good Food Channel: http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530864/

Food Network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/nigella-lawson/index.html

Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Nigella+Lawson

Sea Fish and Eat It Round-Up

Ice Cream Cupcake Contest 2011

2011-06-15T15:21:00.001-04:00

Coffee. It fuels the world. There are so many ways to enjoy it. Most people I know put creamer and sugar in it. Some like it with absolutely nothing in it, (I don’t know how they do it. Gag!) I myself cannot imagine drinking coffee without sugar and loads of milk. My favorite coffee drink is the Double Shot from Starbucks, (I’m desperate to copycat that recipe), but cappuccinos and lattes are my alternate choices. Lately, I’ve discovered that coffee ice cream has replaced chocolate as my go to frozen treat. So when I decided to participate in the Ice Cream Cupcake Contest this year, I knew what I had to do.

My dream Ice Cream Cupcake is a combination of chocolate cake and cappuccino ice cream. Throw in some chocolate chips and it’s a dream come true! When I started thinking about the perfect Cappuccino Ice Cream Cupcake, here is what I envisioned:

A Chocolate Cupcake, Topped with Cappuccino Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. Crowned with a Dollop of Whipped Cream and Chocolate Covered Coffee Bean.

That’s cute and all, but I felt that if I was going with the coffee theme, it needed to be a true cupcake and be either baked or served in a coffee mug.

That’s better! To make your own, bake your favorite chocolate cupcakes, adding a teaspoon or so of instant coffee granules to the batter. May I suggest these cupcakes? If you’re baking in a mug, you’ll probably have to add extra batter and baking time to the recipe. I used about 4 cupcakes worth of batter here.

Another option would be to bake the cupcakes in silicone baking cups then unwrap them and place inside your favorite mug.

I’ve topped mine with whipped cream and a chocolate coffee bean, but dusting with cinnamon or cocoa powder would also bring the café experience to these cupcakes.

Cappuccino Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Makes 1.5 Quarts

1 cup milk

1/4 cup ground coffee

1 cup sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1/8 tsp. salt

2-3 tsp. vanilla extract, depending on strength

3 cups half and half

1-4.25 oz. dark chocolate bar

In a saucepan, heat milk on medium-high heat until you see the first signs of bubbles, then remove from heat. Stir in coffee and allow to steep for 3-4 minutes. Strain the coffee grounds out of the milk using a fine sieve. Slowly add the milk into the eggs, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan and add the sugar and salt. Stir for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat until the mixture thickens. Add vanilla and 1 cup of the half and half. Move the mixture to the refrigerator until chilled. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate bar into small chunks and/or shards and set aside. Once the mixture is chilled, add it, the chocolate, and the rest of the half and half to your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

The Contest:

The Ice Cream Cupcake Contest is host by Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious. Judging with them are Nicole Weston from Baking Bites, Jessie Oleson from CakeSpy, and Naomi Robinson from Bakers Royale. These three bloggers will also showcase their favorites on their own blogs

Prizes
The winner will be announced by July 1 and will receive an amazing collection of dessert cookbooks from some of our favorite authors!
From author Krystina Castella:

From authors Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough:

From Nicole Weston, author and contest judge:

From Jessie Oleson, author and contest judge (to be delivered upon book release):

From Bakerella:

From Emma Hand, creator of Snap Stories and designer of our amazing new Ice Cream Cupcake Contest logo:

Wow! I’d love to win all of those, but even if I don’t, I’ve still got my ice cream in the freezer!

Linked to Made It On Monday.

Check out this at Brewed Daily.

And here is the link to all the entries.

Big Fat Cookie

2011-06-09T10:34:00.001-04:00

What could be better than a chocolate chip cookie? How about a chocolate chip cookie so big you have to bake it in a skillet?

When I saw this recipe on Tasty Kitchen, I knew I had to make it. I just had to wait for the right opportunity where there would be plenty of people for sharing. That’s just too many calories for one person. So I made it for a family reunion, and there was barely a sliver left when it was done.

Serve this warm and gooey with some ice cream, and you’ll make lots of friends!

Note: On Tasty Kitchen, you can change the serving size and the ingredient quantities will adjust automatically. If you want a large cookie, change the serving size to 6 and use two eggs and bake in a 10 or 12 inch skillet. I plan to try this as a 2 serving cookie and bake in a small skillet. There is also a link to the blog post where this cookie was originally made.

Forever Nigella: Salad Days

2011-05-27T12:03:00.001-04:00

One thing I love about Nigella Lawson is how she can use simple ingredients found in the pantry to create an equally simple, but delicious meal. Some of the best recipes come about just by scrounging around in the fridge or the pantry and using up what you have lying around.

This month’s Forever Nigella is hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen and the theme is Salad Days. After looking through as many of Ms. Lawson’s salad recipes as I could find, what tempted me most wasn’t a recipe for a salad, but a recipe for a salad dressing. Using some pantry staples, you can create a quick and easy homemade Honey Mustard Dressing.

Click here for Nigella’s recipe for Golden Honey Mustard Dressing.

As you can see in the recipe, Nigella gives the measurements for each ingredient, but I think she probably wings it a little. This recipe is ridiculously easy. Just assemble your ingredients and add to a jar, then shake, shake, shake! This could be very therapeutic after a rough day. Two things to think about with this recipe: First, I’m not sure, but I think that this recipe calls for Rapeseed oil (as mentioned in the introduction) instead of Grapeseed oil as listed in the ingredients. Rapeseed oil and Canola oil are practically the same thing, so that’s what I used and it was perfect. Second, it took me a lemon and a half to get the right amount of juice. But I could probably have done well enough with just one lemon. My suggestion is to add half of the suggested lemon juice, shake and taste. You can always add more later.

So what kind of salad goes with a dressing this tasty? I started with some leftover salad greens. Then I searched through my refrigerator where I found some bacon bits, shredded cheese, a hard-boiled egg and a leftover fried chicken tender. A few croutons from the pantry and my salad was ready to receive a lovely drizzle of golden dressing. There’s something very comforting about the flavors of the egg and honey mustard dressing, it’s hard for me to resist. It would have been fantastic with some cucumbers as well, but the point I’m making here is that I used what I had. And it was delicious!

Here’s a reminder of the rules: Forever Nigella #5 “Salad Days”
Challenge: To prepare and blog any Nigella salad recipe
Deadline: Sunday, May 29 at midnight wherever you are.
Round up: By the next weekend.
There are:
No rules about how often you must take part
No rules about stuff being secret until certain dates
No rules that everyone cook exactly the same thing
No rules about not being able to submit to any other blog events – but do check it doesn’t contravene any rules the other guys may have.
But there are 3 rules:
1. We want everyone to keep buying lots and lots of Nigella books so that she keeps writing them so you must NOT reproduce recipes verbatim as shown in Nigella’s publications. If you are sticking exactly to the original recipe, just tell us which book it was from and if available, provide a link to it on Nigella.com http://www.nigella.com which publishes a lot (but not all) of her recipes. (You may also find some recipes on sites for some TV stations and newspapers). Alternatively, you may blog an adapted Nigella recipe so long as you have changed at least two ingredients and write the directions in your own words. Tell us what you changed and why.
2. Publish your Forever Nigella blog post (in English) by the closing date including the latest Forever Nigella graphic and giving a link to this post and the Forever Nigella home page http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella . Your entry must have been published since the announcement post. You may only re-blog something from your archives if you republish it with the badge and links to this post before the deadline.
3.Email the details to me at Dom@thepersuaders.co.uk and please c.c. sarahATmaisoncupcakeDOTcom – I need your name, your blog name, a link to your post and a photo no more than 300 pixels wide. No billboard sized images please.

Salad Days Round-Up

The Real Thing

2011-05-25T14:16:00.001-04:00

On one of my trips to the U.K., I made some interesting culinary discoveries. It started out with a glass of milk. “Wow, this milk is really good!” Then a sandwich. “This bread is fantastic!” Then a chocolate bar. “Wow! Chocolate is so much better over here than at home!” But then I picked up a can of Coca-Cola. After tasting, all I could think was, “WHAT IS THIS?!”

I have been drinking Coca-Cola as long as I can remember, but this can of Coke was so different! It was somehow lighter and more refreshing. How could this be? I looked at the ingredient list, and there it was: Sugar. Not High Fructose Corn Syrup, but cane sugar. Don’t ask me how much Coca-Cola I consumed during that trip. I don’t want to think about it. But I came away wondering if I would ever be able to drink a U.S Coke again. The answer is: not as much as I had before. When I drink a Coke here in the States, I feel deprived of the kind of refreshment I experienced so long ago. And it makes me avoid the beverage.

Lately, there has been a trend in using cane sugar in sodas. I often wonder, “Hey Coca-Cola, what’s taking you so long?” It’s not like they don’t have the recipe. Coca-Cola, made with cane sugar is the Coca-Cola you would have had before 1985. Then came the infamous New Coke, which couldn’t even make it 3 months before you had Peter Jennings interrupting General Hospital to announce the reintroduction to the “original formula” thus bringing us Coca-Cola Classic. But it wasn’t the same thing. This reintroduction now uses HFCS instead of cane sugar. Was New Coke just a plot to confuse your taste buds so you wouldn’t taste the difference between the two sweeteners? Many say yes.

Yesterday, we were shopping at Wal-Mart. Brian had the shopping cart and was a few steps ahead of me when he heard a strange squeeky squeal coming from my direction. He turned to see what it was. I couldn’t form words to describe my excitement, all I could do was point to a small cooler advertising the product within: Coca-Cola from Mexico made with Cane Sugar.

(Source)

According to Coca-Cola, there is no difference in the taste between Coke made with cane sugar and Coke made with HFCS. I disagree! I think you’ll disagree too. So hunt down some Coke from Mexico and see what you think. And Coca-Cola, if you’re reading this, you’d be wise to switch back to using cane sugar. Coca-Cola with cane sugar is awesome, having to import it is not!

Pudding for a Prince

2011-05-03T10:51:00.001-04:00

When I was in 4th grade I did a report on Queen Elizabeth II, which involved dressing up as her and setting up a display in the school library and speaking to people when they passed by. It was during my research on her that I first learned she had a grandson close to my age, a Prince, who would someday become King. I, like most girls, dreamed of being a Princess. But I never hoped that Prince William would meet me, fall in love with me and whisk me away to his palace in England. I knew I would never be his Princess because he wouldn’t marry a commoner, (how wrong was I on that!) and because a British Royal would never marry an American, (obviously my research on the Queen did not fully educate me of the events which led to her Father’s ascension.) Even though I never pined after the Prince, I have had a mild interest in his life, so I was eager to see the Royal Wedding this week.

Sadly, we were not invited to the wedding, although my children are decedents of English and Scottish Royalty and my husband is 24th cousins with the Queen.* We understand the snub, of course, they were trying to have an intimate wedding.

I’ve still not seen the wedding, electricity has been out because of the terrible storms that shattered the South on Wednesday. I had planned to watch the wedding with my own little Prince William and Princess Sophie. Instead we have spent a lot of time sitting on the front porch, reading the newspaper, and counting our blessings.

I want to share a recipe adapted from the book, In The Royal Manner by Paul Burrell. Burrell is an interesting character if you know anything about him. He was Princess Diana’s butler and served her until her death. His book gives “expert advice on etiquette and entertaining.” Some of the recipes he shares are favorites served at Kensington Palace among other royal residences. It’s a nice book to help with fancy party planning and cozy dinners or picnics with your family. I enjoyed getting the peek into the royal household. Below is a recipe most certainly eaten by Prince William as a child.

Banana Bread and Butter Pudding

Serves 4

3/4 stick of butter, softened

3 oz. sultanas or golden raisins

1 vanilla pod

12 oz. single cream or half and half

6 thick slices of white bread

1 banana

3 eggs

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small baking dish, (just big enough to hold three sandwiches tightly.) Dot the dish with half of the raisins. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Add the leftover pod, seeds and cream to a small sauce pan. Heat on medium to medium high heat until warm but not yet boiling. Remove from the heat and allow the vanilla to steep for at least 30 minutes or until the mixture is room temperature.

Spread one side of each slice of bread with the butter. Thinly slice the banana and make three banana sandwiches. Trim the crusts off the sandwiches and cut the sandwiches into triangles. Place the triangles in the dish, they should overlap a little.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until smooth. Remove the pod from the cream and whisk into the egg mixture. Pour over the bread. Top with the remaining raisins.

Place the dish inside a larger pan with tall sides. Pour boiling water into the outer dish until it comes about halfway up the inner dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Burrell suggests serving hot with pouring cream, (light whipping cream will do).

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

I’m sending this to Dessert Wars. This last challenge was vanilla. Believe it or not, this was the first time I’ve used a vanilla pod. A sharp knife is very important. Just letting you know.

As February’s Dessert Wars Winner, I’m not currently eligible to win any more challenges until December. But I can’t leave you without showing you what this month’s winner will receive.

The winner of April's competition will receive the following prize package:

Beanilla Sampler Pack of Vanilla Beans

Lenox Personalized Musical Cupcake

1,000 ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

Organic Valley $50 Gift Certificate

Organic Prairie $50 Gift Certificate

Theme Kitchen $50 Gift Certificate

BEKA Cookware Crepe Pan

Whisk and cupcake necklace from Moon & Star Designs

You will be rewarded for your loyalty, if you take part in every challenge and don't win, you will still be eligible to compete in the December Challenge. For more details check the rules tab.

*Really, they are. Nana and I are working to prove the family ties, but it’s gonna take a while. But we are on it!

Forever Nigella: Street Party

2011-04-19T10:44:00.001-04:00

I am a foodie. I’m constantly trying to enhance my knowledge of all things culinary. I’m working on a interesting cookbook collection. I enjoy watching cooking shows, (although I’m very selective). I love learning about food history. I’m very interested in World Cuisine. I’m up for a cooking challenge. And I absolutely adore Nigella Lawson.

I recently learned of a new blogging event, Forever Nigella. Each month a theme is announced and participants blog about any of Nigella’s recipes that fit the theme. The winner is the one that exudes the most Nigella-ness. I don’t know how much Nigella-ness I have in me, but a girl can try.

This month’s theme is “Street Party.” Street Parties are a traditional way people in the U.K. celebrate major events like the upcoming Royal Wedding. Street Party food is any food that you can serve to a crowd. It happened that I had just the occasion to make a dish for a crowd yesterday. We had a finger food fellowship after church Sunday night, so I whipped this up that afternoon while the kids had their naps.

Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake

That’s right, quadruple! This moist cake includes both cocoa powder and chocolate chips in it’s silky batter. After baking it is bathed in a glossy chocolate syrup and scattered with chocolate shavings. It. Is. Scrumptious. You may take it to serve to a crowd, but you will be secretly wishing for leftovers you can take home and greedily devour yourself, (preferably as a sneaky midnight snack).

Loaf cakes are great travelers, so this is perfect for taking to a gathering. For serving to a large crowd, it’s a good idea to cut into thick slices and also down the middle to make more servings. No one will complain about a small portion as this is so rich it should easily satisfy.

You can find this recipe in Nigella’s book Feast. She also made this cake for her show Nigella Feasts, in the episode Food To Go. You can find the recipe here too.

Are you a Nigella fan? Find your inner Nigella and make something delicious. Nigella won’t let you down.

Here’s the rules:
Forever Nigella #4 “Street Party”
Challenge: To cook any Nigella recipe that would be suitable to bring to a street party i.e. any party food suitable for big groups.
Deadline: Sunday, May 1st at midnight wherever you are.

Round up: A few days later. Maybe a week. It depends how many of you enter. The next challenge will be publicised as soon as this one ends and most likely before the Street Party round up.

There are:
No rules about how often you must take part
No rules about stuff being secret until certain dates (although you are encouraged to tease us on Twitter about what you are making)
No rules that everyone cook exactly the same thing
No rules about not being able to submit to any other blog contests – in fact Sarah actively encourages you to do this. Just make sure it doesn’t contravene any rules the other guys may have.

But there are 3 rules:
1. We want everyone to keep buying lots and lots of Nigella books so that she keeps writing them so you must NOT reproduce recipes verbatim as shown in Nigella’s publications. If you are sticking exactly to the original recipe, just tell us which book it was from and if available, provide a link to it on Nigella.com which publishes a lot (but not all) of her recipes. (You may also find some recipes on sites for some TV stations and newspapers). Alternatively, you may blog an adapted Nigella recipe so long as you have changed at least two ingredients and write the directions in your own words. Tell us what you changed and why.
2. Publish your Forever Nigella blog post (in English) by the closing date including the latest Forever Nigella graphic and giving a link to this post and the Forever Nigella home page. Your entry must have been published since the announcement post. You may only re-blog something from your archives if you republish it with the badge and links to this post before the deadline.
3. Email the details to me and please Cc Sarah – I need your name, your blog name, a link to your post and a photo no more than 300 pixels wide. No billboard sized images please.

Street Party Round-Up

Linked to Made It On Monday

Dressing Up Dinner: Sweet Peas

2011-04-11T21:35:00.001-04:00

I have recently been on a quest. A quest to find a great way to cook Sweet Peas. You know, other than drowning them in butter. Of course a little butter is ok. So, one day, I put a few things together and came up with a recipe for peas that I think I could eat all the time.

Dressed Up Sweet Peas

Serves 4

1-2 tablespoons butter

1 (15 oz.) can of Sweet Peas

1/2 cup chicken broth

Scant 1/2 teaspoon dried sage

In a small saucepan, melt butter on medium heat. Add drained peas, chicken broth and sage to pan, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes or until the liquid is mostly evaporated.

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Linked to Made It On Monday.

Tinker Bell Birthday Party

2011-04-07T13:41:00.001-04:00

This weekend we celebrated Sophie’s 3rd birthday. It became obvious to me a few months ago that Sophie’s obsession with Tinker Bell would provide the perfect theme for this party. Our colors were Lime and Lavender to match just about every Tinker Bell item Sophie owns. It was so much fun to plan!

We had the challenge of turning our church fellowship room into “Pixie Hollow”. First let me show you “the backdrop”. I had originally dreamt up something different, but it wasn’t going to work out. My sister-in-law, Leigh, whipped this backdrop up the morning of the party to give a nice scene for opening presents. Those are “fairy lights” aka white Christmas lights leftover from our wedding (they are used elsewhere too), a blue sheet and purple and green tulle tied with ribbon. Leigh used thumbtacks to hold everything up. This turned out so much nicer than what I had planned.

Hanging above is a “wreath-a-lier” that I made. It is a Styrofoam wreath form (14”) with crepe paper roses hot glued all over and hung with ivory ribbon. Don’t ask me how many roses! This was definitely a labor of love. I wish you could all see it in person as these pictures do not do it justice. Good news is that I can use it to decorate for spring, so we will get a lot of miles out of this thing.

To use as table centerpieces, I bought six of these little $1 birdhouses from Jo-Ann’s Fabric. Then I painted them brown and hot glued green Spanish Moss, also from Jo-Ann’s, to the roofs. On three of them I made “Fairies Welcome” signs made from stuff from my yard. The other three I left blank. And that’s scrapbook paper they are sitting on. Now that the party is over, I’m using the scrapbook paper to make a mini Birthday Party scrapbook using a small photo album. The kids got to take the birdhouses home along with their goodie bags. The girls got the ones with signs and the boys got the plain ones to be “bug houses.” I meant to stick some flowers in the moss, but left them at home. Oh, well.

Speaking of goodie bags, here they are. They are just brown lunch sacks that have Tinker Bell and friends printed on the front. I can’t remember where these were bought, but I’ve seen them all over. Behind them are more fairy lights with flowers attached. These were made by dying white coffee filters in water and food coloring. After drying, I stacked four filters of the same color and pinched them in the middle and tied a twist tie around the pinch. Then I fluffed the flowers and attached them to the lights with their twist ties. It’s super easy!

The kids made necklaces with “Fairy Treasure”.

The food table was a challenge. As you can see there is a plain brick wall behind the table. Leigh and I hung streamers and white paper lanterns over the table. More fairy lights grace the table behind the food. Aside from the food I’m about to mention, we also had a fruit and veggie tray, dip and chips, and Starburst Jelly beans, which just happen to be the best jelly beans to be found on this Earth, just sayin’.

We served lemonade out of this cute dispenser bought for 6 bucks at Walmart. It has a lovely pattern on it too, which worked well with the theme. Behind it are the napkins I fanned into a wing pattern, don’t know if anyone noticed but it thought I was clever. Punch cups for the adults and Tinker Bell cups and straws for the kids. Leftover lanterns rest in a wire basket.

Our choice of cookies were Oreos, to cater to a child with nut and egg allergies, and these cute flower shaped sugar cookies made using Nigella’s recipe and Wilton’s Royal Icing in Lavender to match our theme.

I wanted to serve Tinker Bell inspired cupcakes, so I sketched a few ideas and settled on these two. In the yellow baking cups (both ruffled baking cups made by Wilton) are Yellow Cake (from a box because I haven’t found my perfect yellow cake recipe yet). The purple cups hold the most amazing chocolate cake ever (from Pioneer Woman). Both are toped with That’s The Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had. The chocolate cupcakes are iced to look like grass with purple wildflowers. The yellow cupcakes just scream ‘Tink’ to me. On top of the green swirl rests a pearlescent gumball from Party City. It’s pretty and tastes good too!

I brought Sophie’s Tinker Bell costume which she had to wear for singing to her, blowing out the candles and opening presents.

We’re blessed to have a playground at the church building, so the kids got to play. I think they had a good time.

Sophie had a great birthday party, she’s still talking about it. Now we just have to sit back and wait for a fairy to take up residence in our little fairy house. “Come on Tink, we’ll even share our jelly beans!”

Linked to Made It On Monday, Bear Rabbit Bear and Muffin Monday.

Dessert Wars: Go Green

2011-03-31T17:58:00.003-04:00

March’s Dessert Wars challenge is Go Green. To celebrate St. Patty’s Day and the color green, the challenge is to create a dessert using naturally green ingredients. We must use at least one traditional dessert ingredient and at least one non-traditional ingredient.

Traditional	Non-Traditonal
Green Apples	Cucumber
Green Grapes	Green Tea
Limes	Wasabi
Pistachios	Green Chilies
Honeydew Kiwi	Basil or other green herbs
Green Pears	Soybeans/Tofu
Mint Pandan	Vegetables like Spinach or Peas
	Lemon Grass
	Green Cheese
	Avocado

My inspiration came to me in a funny way. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for this challenge. Then one day I was adding wax to my Scentsy warmer. It smelled so good, and I realized that the scent was Cucumber Lime. Perfect! Now what to make with that? I settled on a granita, something I’ve never made before, but it’s so easy I don’t know why I haven’t yet.

Granita is a Sicilian dessert with many variations. It can either be coarse and crystalline or smooth and slushy. The technique I’m giving provides the coarse texture.

Cucumber Lime Granita

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
pinch of salt
zest of two limes, divided
3 tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes)
2 cucumbers

Directions:

In a small saucepan, add the sugar and water. Swirl the pan to mix. Then bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Reduce to medium-low and simmer for 2 minutes to make a thin syrup. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Now is a good time to zest and juice your limes. Then, using a peeler, peel the cucumber, cut off the ends and slice the cucumber in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds using a melon baller or a spoon. Chop the cucumber into smallish cubes until you have 2 cups.

Add to a blender the cucumber, lime juice, half the zest, salt, and 1/3 cup of syrup. Puree until it is nice and smooth. Pour into a shallow dish, cover and stick it in the freezer for 2 1/2 hours.

Remove the dish from the freezer, uncover and rake a fork through the mixture. Recover and return to the freezer for another 1-2 hours. Repeat the raking/freezing process every 1-2 hours until you are left with nothing but tiny ice crystals.

Serve in chilled glass vessels of your choice. Garnish with the remaining lime zest.

Pioneer Woman has a great step-by-step for making granitas. Check it out!

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

As February’s Dessert Wars Winner, I’m not currently eligible to win any more challenges until December. But I can’t leave you without showing you what this month’s winner will receive.

The March prize package includes:

Whisk and cupcake necklace from Moon & Star Designs

Beanilla Sampler Pack of Vanilla Beans

Lenox Personalized Musical Cupcake

1,000 ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

Organic Valley $50 Gift Certificate

Organic Prairie $50 Gift Certificate

Theme Kitchen $50 Gift Certificate

BEKA Cookware Crepe Pan

Click here to see the Dessert Wars rules

Pizza Mia

2011-03-25T22:46:00.002-04:00

Back in February, my husband and I went to a youth conference in Gatlinburg, TN with some teens from church. We stayed in a townhouse that weekend, so we took advantage of having a full kitchen and I cooked all our meals. Well, that’s not entirely true. I wrangled everyone into helping. That’s right, I got teen guys to cook.

Here’s the details on planning the menu. First, I had to find out if there were any food allergies or special dietary needs. We had one vegetarian, but other than that all the others said they would eat anything.

Next, I decided on meals that were easy to prepare, and could be done in an assembly line. The desserts would be easy too. A lot of the ingredients could be used in multiple dishes too. Here’s our menu:

Friday Dinner: Hamburgers/Veggie burgers with all the good stuff you want on a burger, French Fries and Mocha Pudding for dessert. (Mocha Pudding deserves it’s own post, coming soon.)

Saturday Breakfast: Omelets in a Bag, muffins, and cereal.

Saturday Lunch: Quesadillas, Mexican Rice, Refried Beans, Chips and Salsa.

Saturday Dinner: Pizza Mias, Gooey Butter Cake.

Sunday Breakfast: Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls with How Sweet Eats’ Vanilla Cream Glaze, muffins, cereal.

Before going, I made sure that I had as much prepared as possible. Meats cooked, muffins made, ingredients mixed. Hey, I didn’t want to spend the whole weekend in the kitchen. It worked out really well. I’m so proud of how organized I was. Friday night after dinner, I had everyone mix up their omelets and store in the fridge overnight. That made Saturday morning go smoothly. I was so proud of our teens. Not only did they help me out in the kitchen, but by the end of the weekend were taking the initiative in getting food ready. You don’t see that everyday. Thanks guys!

Anyway, here is a recipe that is a crowd pleaser. Nothing fancy here, just something incredibly easy that can be adjusted to your tastes and easy to serve to a large group. We call them Pizza Mias, not just because they are personal pizzas, but because the recipe was given to me by my friend Mia. Here’s what you need:

Sub rolls
Marinara sauce
Your favorite pizza toppings
Shredded Mozzarella cheese, or whatever cheese you prefer for pizza
Aluminum foil to keep you sane

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Slice the rolls into two halves if not already sliced.

Add your sauce.

Then lay on the toppings.

Now the cheese.

Now stick it in the oven for 10 minutes or so until the cheese has melted. See how easy that was, I kinda feel goofy for spelling it all out for you, it’s such a no brainer.

Mia suggests that for a large crowd, use multiple pans so they are ready to go as soon as another comes out of the oven. She also sticks to just 3 options, cheese, peperoni, and sausage. Get an assembly line going and it couldn’t be easier!

Warrior

2011-03-10T19:04:00.001-05:00

I hope you will allow me bragging rights here. I have won February’s Dessert Wars with my Pain au Chocolat. This means, not only have I won a great prize package, but I have a spot in December’s Ultimate Competition. I’ll be going up against ten other Dessert Warriors, eleven runners-up and anyone who participated in all eleven challenges.

Because I’ve already won a challenge, I’m ineligible to win any other challenges until December, but I will still be participating each month to challenge myself and to use each challenge as warrior training.

If you have a blog and you want to challenge yourself in the dessert arena, go take a look at dessert-wars.com and join the fun!

Congratulations to February’s Runner Up

BriarRose of Flour Dusted

who made

Dark Chocolate and Lemon Bundt Cake

Click here to see February’s Dessert Wars Round-Up.

Just Peachy

2011-03-07T15:15:00.002-05:00

Here’s another recipe from Nana. Peach Cobbler is one of my favorites, not only because it tastes so good, but because it is simple to make. It would be great as an impromptu dessert, to take to a potluck, or give away to a lucky friend. (A cute little loaf pan such as in the photos can be found many places. Mine came from Michael’s a few years ago, but I’ve seen them all over. They are perfect for gift giving.)

Yummy with vanilla ice cream!

Nana’s Peach Cobbler

3/4 stick margarine	1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup milk	1 (29 oz.) can sliced
1 cup self-rising flour	peaches with syrup
1 cup sugar

Place margarine in a 9x13 casserole dish and melt in oven at 350 degrees, (I do this while the oven is preheating). Mix milk, flour, sugar and cinnamon together. Pour mixture into the dish with the melted butter. Evenly arrange the peach slices on top of the batter. Pour the syrup from the can over the entire pan. Do not stir! Bake for 30 minutes.

It’s divine with a little cream poured over!

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen!

Milk and Cookies and Milk

2011-02-21T13:51:00.002-05:00

Here’s a recipe I found on Tasty Kitchen that I wanted to share with you. It’s for Lactation Cookies. These cookies include ingredients said to increase the nursing mom’s milk supply.

Peaceful Parenting has a nice post telling you about the benefits of oatmeal, flax and yeast in increasing milk supply. Check it out here.

I thought these were some pretty yummy cookies. I diverged from the original recipe by using margarine instead of butter, adding more chocolate chips and because I didn’t have fresh yeast I used 1 1/2 tablespoons dried yeast. I also think that because of the effect the flax has on the finished cookie, these are best on the crispy side. I left them in the oven a little longer to do this, and probably the margarine helped them spread well too. You can store these in a plastic freezer bag. Take one out of the freezer and microwave about 10 seconds before enjoying. Eat at least 1 a day for the milk increasing benefits.

Here’s where you can find the recipe. Of course, if you’re concerned about your milk supply, finding a good Lactation Consultant and/or a breastfeeding support group will be very important. A Lactation Consultant will make sure your baby is getting a proper latch, getting enough milk, and can help with other nursing troubles too.

If you have other family members jealous of your special cookies, by all means share! You don’t have to worry about your husband or children spontaneously lactating. They can benefit from these healthful ingredients too!

Dessert Wars: Dark Chocolate and Hearts

2011-02-15T11:43:00.005-05:00

Dark Chocolate and Hearts is this month’s challenge for Dessert Wars. Dark Chocolate is quite possibly my favorite food. So it broke my heart when during my pregnancy with Sophie I had a food aversion to chocolate. I couldn’t believe it! I couldn’t get enough of pinto beans of all things, but chocolate? No thank you! Weird huh?

I can think of several really easy ways to use dark chocolate and hearts, but since the reason to compete in Dessert Wars is to “step outside your comfort zone, push yourself in the kitchen to learn new skills and get your creative juices flowing,” I decided to attempt something I have on my Foodie To Do List. That is to work with laminated dough. Even if you don’t know what laminated dough is, you’re certainly familiar with it if you’ve ever had a croissant, Danish or anything made with puff pastry.

Lamination is achieved by spreading butter over rolled out dough, folding and rolling out again. This rolling and folding process is repeated until the dough has many layers. The butter in between these layers of dough create the flakiness and lift in the baked dough. And it sure makes it yummy too! There’s only one way to make it any better, that’s right, add chocolate…and hearts! I’m making Pain au Chocolat, you can join me every step of the way or just scroll down and see the pictures.

By the way, I love the name Pain au Chocolat. French names sound so fancy, but translated it just means chocolate bread. I think I’ll start naming everything in French. How do you say peanut butter and jelly sandwich in French?

Pain au Chocolat

Makes 20-24

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen

Détrempe (Dough Mixture) Ingredients

1/2 cup warm whole milk (110-115 degrees)

1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons active dry yeast or 1 tablespoon instant yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup cold whole milk

Beurrage (Butter Mixture) Ingredients

3 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 in. pieces

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Other Ingredients

1 large egg

1 tablespoon whole milk
1-2 cups dark chocolate, chopped
or 24-48 chocolat batons for filling the rolls
Writing Chocolate, optional (click for recipe)

Step 1 Make the détrempe: Whisk together the warm milk and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Mix in the yeast and leave until the yeast is activated, around 10 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when it starts to bubble and grow. In a large bowl add the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt and butter. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using forks or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Add the yeast and cup of milk and stir together with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball. Lightly flour your counter and knead the dough until it comes together a little bit more. Don’t knead too much because there will be a lot of rolling and folding done to the dough later. Wrap the dough in plastic cling, but not too tight since there is yeast in the dough it will expand. Refrigerate for at least a half hour or up to an hour.

Making the Detrempe

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Step 2 Make the Beurrage: Toss the butter with the flour and stick back in the fridge for 20 minutes. Using a mixer, beat the butter with a medium speed until all the butter is smooth and pliable. It must stay cold too! Wrap the butter in plastic cling and refrigerate until needed.

Step 3 Incorporating the Beurrage with the Détrempe: Lightly flour the counter. Place dough on the counter and lightly dust the top. Roll the dough into a tall rectangle measuring 15x12 inches. Try to make the edges straight and the corners sharp. You can gently stretch the dough to achieve this. Brush off the extra flour. (Extra flour will make for a very dry, tough dough so remember this throughout the whole process.) With your eyes, divide the dough into thirds as if each third was a section of a folded letter. Using your fingers, spread the butter over the top two thirds of the dough, leaving a half inch border around the outside of the dough.

Step 4 Using the Letter Fold: Fold the bottom third of dough over the middle third of dough as if you were folding a letter. The empty bottom third of dough will be resting over the butter of the middle third. Finish the letter fold by folding the top third down. Very lightly pinch the seams together and carefully roll your rolling pin over the dough to seal the seams. As long as your butter is still cold, you may proceed with the next step. If not, wrap the dough in plastic cling and return to the refrigerator for an hour.

Letter Fold

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Step 5 Using the Book Fold: Lightly flour the counter. Place dough on the counter and lightly dust the top. Roll the dough into a tall rectangle measuring 20x12 inches. Dust off extra flour. Fold the two short sides of the dough into the middle leaving a space of 1/4 inch between the two. Then fold both sides together like folding a book. Roll the dough gently to seal the seams. Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Book Fold

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Step 6 Another Letter Fold: Lightly flour the counter. Place dough on the counter and lightly dust the top. Roll the dough into a tall rectangle measuring 20x12 inches. Dust off extra flour. Fold the dough using the letter fold. Gently roll to seal edges. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours but no longer than 24 hours. You could freeze for up to a month instead.

*This is a really good place to stop for the day. That’s what I did.

Step 7 Cutting and Shaping the Dough: Flour your counter then roll out the dough to a rectangle that is 1/4 inch thick, about 26x14 inches. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough in to 3 1/2 in. x 4 1/2 in. rectangles. For each rectangle, do the following: visually divide the rectangle into thirds as you did with the letter fold before. Place a half tablespoon of chocolate on the top third and fold the top third over the chocolate to the middle. Place another half tablespoon of chocolate where the top third meets the middle and fold the bottom third over the chocolate. Turn the roll over so that the seam is on the bottom.

Making the Rolls

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*The rolls can be frozen at this point. Just cover tightly with plastic cling and freeze for up to a week. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before moving on to step 8.

Step 8 Egg Wash and Proof: In a small bowl, beat the egg and then add the tablespoon of milk. Brush each roll with the egg wash. Save the egg wash in the fridge. Set the rolls in a cool spot in your kitchen to double in size for 1-2 hours. Don’t let them get warm!

Step 9 Baking: Move your oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Put the rolls in the refrigerator until the oven is preheated, at least 15 minutes. (You could leave them in the freezer for 10.) Brush again with the egg wash. Bake for 17-22 minutes turning the pan halfway through. You know their done when they are a rich golden brown. Allow the rolls to the rest on a cooling rack before devouring. Drizzle with writing chocolate or pipe decorations.

*Baked rolls will only last one day, but you must keep them unwrapped. To keep longer, wrap each pain well with plastic then put them all together in a large freezer bag. They can hibernate in your freezer for up to a month! Then just thaw them for about 30 minutes then bake them for 7-8 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Now I know there’s a lot to do here, but nothing is very difficult. I think the hardest thing for me was rolling out the cold dough. As far as it being time consuming, yeah, it takes a lot of time, but most of that is spent in the fridge. Trust me, if I can find the time to do this with a infant and a toddler, then with a little planning probably anyone can. Just make sure you read the instructions really well before you start.

I definitely recommend finding the chocolat batons to use. They should make things easier. I couldn’t find the chocolate that I really wanted to use, so I just used semisweet chocolate chips. Instead of keeping them whole and lining them up on the dough, I tried to chop them in my food processor and it chopped them too fine. It was a mess. So keep that in mind. But I will definitely order some batons for next time. Nevertheless, these were amazing! I will make these again many times.

GREAT NEWS!!! I won this round. Check this post for more info.

Congratulations to January’s Dessert Warrior

Heather of Girlichef who made

Fried Nutella Ravioli.

Congrats also to January's Runner Up

Xiaolu of 6 Bittersweets

who made

Chocolate Nutella Alfajores

Click here to see the January Round-Up.

The February prize package includes:

Whisk and cupcake necklace from Moon & Star Designs

The Smartshopper Electronic Grocery List Organizer

Beanilla Sampler Pack of Vanilla Beans

Lenox Personalized Musical Cupcake

1,000 ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

Endless Vanilla and Cinnamon Extract

Unlimited Layers: A Recipe for Turning Your Passion into Profits

Organic Valley $50 Gift Certificate

Organic Prairie $50 Gift Certificate

Theme Kitchen $50 Gift Certificate

BEKA Cookware Crepe Pan

Click here to see the Dessert Wars rules.

Good Gravy

2011-02-07T09:20:00.004-05:00

Saturday mornings at Nana's means eggs, sausage, bacon, apple butter, biscuits and gravy. I have eaten this all my life. You know you better hurry and get up when you smell the bacon cooking, because you don’t want to miss this!

In my attempt to conquer all of Nana’s recipes, I had to make her Gravy for Biscuits. I tried to learn to make this once, but that was before Nana had figured out the ingredient amounts. “Add a little flour, add a bowl full of milk,” It just wasn’t anything I could replicate without her guidance. But now she has the recipe figured out.

Nana's Gravy for Biscuits

4 tablespoons fat drippings from bacon or sausage
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt

Combine fat and flour in an iron skillet on medium-high heat and stir well until lumps are gone and mixture is nice and brown.

Add milk and salt and stir until thick. If it gets too hot it will start to foam, so turn it down a little and continue until thick. (Nana’s gravy is neither too thick nor too thin. It’s just right!)

Serve on top of your favorite biscuits!

* Nana’s Note: “I always make a double batch for our crowd.”

*My Note: Use the skillet you just cooked the meat in and be sure to scrape up all the flavorful bits still stuck to the skillet once you add the milk.

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Claude’s Chocolate

2011-02-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

If you ever visit St. Augustine, FL there is a list of things you need to see and do:

Watch a weapons demonstration at the Castillo de San Marcos.
Climb to the top of the St. Augustine Lighthouse
A Ghostly Experience Walking Tour- If not for the ghosts, then for the history!
A full circuit on the Trolley Tour.
Tour Flagler College to see the beautiful work of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Buy as much chocolate from Claude’s Chocolate as you can!! Then refuse to share.

Claude’s Chocolate is a European style chocolate shop. These chocolates are made with the finest ingredients and without artificial additives or preservatives.

Claude’s has a selection of chocolate bars in milk, white and dark chocolates, some with nuts. There is a variety of items dipped in chocolate like nuts, fruits and pretzels. They also have hot chocolate and sugar free chocolates.

But the main attractions are the bonbons and truffles; gorgeous, gorgeous truffles. My parents recently visited St. Augustine, and my request was a box of chocolates from Claude’s.

Oooooh! I’m so ready for this!

How beautiful are these?

Pardon me, I just need a moment.

Feel free to look at all the different chocolates HERE. We’ve decided that Earl Grey is our favorite. But it was soooo hard to decide.

You don’t have to wait for a trip to St. Augustine to experience Claude’s Chocolate. They ship!! Check out their website, there’s plenty of time to order something special for your Valentine.

Dessert Wars: Nutella

2011-01-28T14:16:00.004-05:00

There’s a new game in town: Dessert Wars. It’s the creation of bloggers Christine “Momma Cupcake” at The Cupcake Bandits and Reeni “Cinnamon Girl” from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.

Dessert Wars is a progressive blogger competition with monthly winners who will go head to head at the end of the year (December) to secure the position of ULTIMATE DESSERT WARRIOR and win a grand prize package. Each month you will be challenged with a theme ingredient and/or a specific dessert to bake. For example; one month it may be to use lavender in a dessert, the next month it might be to bake a pie. This will leave room for you to express your own creativity. The more creatively you embrace the theme, the more likely you are to win!

This month’s inaugural challenge is Nutella.

There’s still a few days left to enter the contest. Click here to view the complete rules.

Here’s a list of the fantastic prizes one of us will win!

-Whisk and cupcake necklace from Moon & Star Designs

-The Smartshopper Electronic Grocery List Organizer

-Beanilla Sampler Pack of Vanilla Beans

-Lenox Personalized Musical Cupcake

-Crepe Pan from BEKA Cookware

-1,000 ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

-Endless Vanilla and Cinnamon Extract

-Unlimited Layers: A Recipe for Turning Your Passion into Profits

-$50 Gift Certificate to Theme Kitchen

-$50 Coupon Redeemable for Organic Valley Products

-$50 Coupon Redeemable for Organic Prairie Products

So on to my entry...

Nutella is good for a lot of things like crepes or just slathered on toast. I’ve also noticed that it’s nice to use to give a flavor boost to chocolate pudding. But I can’t stop there. I usually make a mousse with it and fill phyllo cups. This time I thought it would be fun to try to make mini pies, so that’s what I did.

First, make a pie crust dough. Roll the dough into 1 inch sized balls. Place each ball in the cups of a mini muffin pan. Use either a mini tart shaper or the bottom of a shot glass to shape into mini pie shells. Prick the bottom of each shell with a fork.

Bake the pie shells in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Let crusts completely cool before filling.

Snow Cream

2011-01-14T11:20:00.002-05:00

Like many of you, I made Snow Cream this week. It’s a nice treat for us Southerners who don’t get much snow. You probably already have a recipe your Granny made that is near and dear to your heart. If that’s the case, you have my permission to stop reading now. It won’t break my heart. I’m not claiming to have the best recipe for Snow Cream, but this is how I make it. And since this is a blog about the foods I make, I feel it would be wrong to keep this recipe from you. Besides, much of what I put on here is for posterity, so that is excuse in itself.

Snow Cream – 6 servings

10 cups Fresh Snow
½ cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
1-2 cups Milk

Scoop the snow into a cold metal bowl. Add the sugar, vanilla and 1 cup of milk. Gently stir until well mixed, adding more milk as needed to make a creamy consistency. How much will depend on if the snow is very dry or wet. Taste and adjust ingredients if needed.

*If I know it’s gonna snow, I leave out a container to catch it. Makes things easier.

*Use a very good vanilla extract for best results. Our Mexican Vanilla gave the Snow Cream a really lovely flavor.

*Reserving some snow to add at the end will help the snow cream be a little fluffier if that’s how you like it.

Bread, Milk and Circus Peanuts

2011-01-10T17:05:00.003-05:00

Here in the south, we don’t get a lot of snow and ice. We’re not prepared for too much wintry weather. So when the weather forecast suggests icy and snowy conditions, the first thing we do is go buy bread and milk and then we wait for school closings. It’s just what we do. Sometimes it turns out the weather isn’t such a big deal and it’s a case of “better safe than sorry.” But sometimes it is a big deal and we’re trapped at home with our bread and milk.

When I was 11, we had such an occasion when we needed to go buy our bread, milk and other supplies. My Dad, Nana and Papa, (they were staying with us at that time,) divided up the shopping. When they got home and unpacked the groceries, they discovered that each of them had bought Circus Peanuts. We’re not talking just 3 bags of candy, they had each bought a few bags. Nobody knows why they each bought circus peanuts, but that weekend we had 20 inches of snow! Yes, it was the Blizzard of ‘93. Some say it was the Circus Peanuts that brought us the Storm of the Century. We’ll never know. But any time snow is in the forecast, we buy our bread, milk and never forget the Circus Peanuts.

You should probably know that my Dad bought 5 bags this week and gave us some. Right now there isn’t much left, but what we do have is this:

8 INCHES OF SNOW!!!

You can thank my Dad and the Circus Peanuts.

You can read more about Chattanooga and the Blizzard of ‘93 here.

Dough

2011-01-06T22:32:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited! My husband gave me this book for Christmas; it's something I've been wanting for a long time. (Thanks honey!) Let me share why I'm so excited.

I saw the author, Richard Bertinet in an episode of Rachel Allen: Bake! Bertinet showed Rachel how to make doughnuts using his technique for working the yeast dough as opposed to kneading it and punching it down. His technique involves slapping the dough on the counter, stretching it and folding it over itself to trap air inside the dough. He doesn't flour the counter when he does this so the dough won't accumulate more flour than needed, keeping it light and airy. Somehow, this sticky blob on the counter almost magically transforms into a supple and beautiful dough.

This blew my mind! I’ve not been all that successful when it comes to baking with yeast dough. I had to learn more about Bertinet and his technique so I went to the all-knowing internet.

Originally from France, Bertinet now runs a cookery school in Bath, England: The Bertinet Kitchen. His school won the South West Tourism Award for Best Tourism Experience in 2009. His book Dough won the 2006 IACP Cookery book of the year, James Beard Award for Best Book (Baking & Deserts) and the Julia Child Award for Best First Book. His second book Crust won the World Gourmand Award for Best UK Book (Baking). He also has a book named Cook. If all that isn’t cool enough, he has recently been named BBC Food Champion of the Year 2010!

See why I’m so excited? This is a fantastic book; I’ve already read it through twice. You can look forward to seeing some beautiful bread here in the future. In the meantime, I may be wearing out Bertinet’s facebook page where he answers questions regularly. I can’t wait for my kitchen to be mistaken for the local boulangerie. Wish me luck!

Nuts and Bolts

2010-12-30T10:34:00.010-05:00

Nana has a stack of recipes she only makes this time of year. I am gonna work my way through these recipes in order to share them with you. She's probably got a system to bang these out each year, and I've got two kids, so we'll see how long this takes.

Nuts and Bolts is basically Chex Mix, but in our family we like to take it to the next level by adding as many nuts as we can get away with. It's cause we're a nutty bunch! We're addicted to this stuff, and it's a good thing Nana only makes it at Christmas when we're planning on wearing our stretchy pants anyway. If I ate this year long, I'd be in trouble!

Now I have to admit, this isn't exactly Nana's recipe. That's because she actually gave me two different recipes for the same thing. They are both very large recipes, so the following is scaled back for ease of cooking. And edited. And probably she won't recognize it. But she better like it cause I just made a huge batch to share this weekend. It tastes the same to me, so I think she will like it. Cross your fingers for me please!

Nuts and Bolts
Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen

3 cups Plain Cheerios
3 cups Rice Chex
3 cups Corn Chex
3 cups Wheat Chex
1 cup Pretzel Sticks, (the small skinny ones)
1 cup Mixed Nuts
1/2 cup Pecans
1/2 cup Cashews
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce (Lea & Perrin's, if you please)
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt (I used Lawry's Seasoned Salt, but table salt is fine)
3/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large roasting pan, mix together cereals, nuts and pretzels. Melt butter and add to it the seasonings and mix well. Drizzle butter mixture over the cereal mix and stir well. Bake for 2 hours, stirring well every 15-20 minutes.

Store in gallon sized ziploc bags or in a large popcorn tin. And don't forget your stretchy pants!

Nigella Christmas

2010-12-16T11:18:00.002-05:00

Nigella Lawson is my favorite TV Food Personality. So I was thrilled to get this book last Christmas. Nigella Christmas combines some of my favorite things: Christmas, great writing, beautiful photography, and of course food.

Anyone who is familiar with Nigella will know that she has a knack for description. Her writing style is so comfortable; it makes you feel like you are her good friend and she is just having a chat with you. She also knows that for the home cook, things can get hectic around the holidays. She provides you with tips to streamline your holiday preparations and a Christmas Lunch Countdown to keep you on track and on time. Her no-nonsense, laid-back approach will put you at ease.

The photography by Lis Parsons will make you drool. Seriously, it's a pleasure just to flip through this book only looking at the pictures. Not only are there photos of the food, but also Christmas decorations and tablescapes. It will really get you in the mood for Christmas.

But just looking at the pictures will not do. These recipes must be made! The only problem is deciding which recipe to make first.

I've already made some of these recipes like her Spiced and Superjuicy Roast Turkey and Ginger-Glazed Ham. This year I've got my eye on her Peas with Pancetta in Cream All'Italiana, Maple-Roast Parsnips, Incredibly Easy Chocolate Fruit Cake, and Chocolate Sponge Pudding for Christmas Pudding Haters with Hot Chocolate Sauce. I'm really looking forward to trying these out.

The Best Cupcakes Ever

2010-11-22T23:30:00.001-05:00

Unless you're new here, you'll know that I feel no shame in using a box cake mix, as long as you make your own icing. But the recipe below is worth the extra effort to make the perfect chocolate cake.

We had a baby shower for my Sister-In-Law Saturday. I made cupcakes using Pioneer Woman's recipe for "The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever." I just had to let them bake a little bit longer than if it had been a sheet cake. Then I used a recipe from Tasty Kitchen called, "That's The Best Frosting I've Ever Had!" This is the frosting for people who don't like frosting. It's not overly sweet like most icings you'll find. It also has a secret ingredient: flour! It sounds crazy, but it soooo works! Since the shower was for my first nephew, I just added some blue sugar crystals to the top, easy peasy!

If you're wondering about the double wrapper, it's to prevent the cupcake from pulling away from the paper. Use two baking cups when baking cupcakes and then when they are cool, you can either serve them doubled or take the outer baking cup off and save for later use. Or you could use one of these, I really wanted some, but I couldn't find a pattern I could use.

These really are incredible. Just look at how fluffy that icing is! The cake itself is so good that I love to eat the cake, icing free, straight from the fridge, (make sure they are covered well, so they don't dry out!). And don't even get my Father-In-Law started on these, he might not stop!

Click here to check out Pioneer Woman's step by step for these cupcakes. And try these soon, you'll be glad you did!

National Bundt Day

2010-11-15T17:00:00.003-05:00

Today is National Bundt Day! Mary, The Food Librarian has been celebrating with bundt cakes for the last 30 days! That's a lot of cake! Be sure to take a look at her post today with the round-up of this year's bundts. And if that isn't crazy enough, check out her fantastic wedding dessert bar.

My Bundt Cake was inspired by a muffin recipe from my friend Lauren. First let me give you the muffin recipe, and then we'll turn it into a bundt.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins
makes 12

1 box Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can of Pumpkin
1/2 cup water
Butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients together well, then pour into greased muffin cups. Bake for 22-24 minutes. Immediately after removing from oven, cut a slit in the top of the muffin and add a dab of butter to it.

For the Bundt:
Mix ingredients as directed above, adding 3 eggs mixture. Bake according to the bundt cake direction on your cake mix box. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar or cream cheese icing would be nice. (I added eggs only to give the bundt a little more height, you can of course do without.)

Have a Happy Bundt Day!

Here's a link to see all the participating Bundt Cakes.

Bean and Bacon Soup

2010-11-09T14:27:00.009-05:00

It's getting cold outside and so it's a good time to start thinking about soup. My favorite soup is Bean and Bacon. On the thick side. With LOADS of crackers. That's just me. But this recipe can be made thin or thick to your liking. It's perfect on a cold evening like we've been having lately. Make extra and freeze in small portions; you'll have dinner ready in no time!

Bean and Bacon Soup
Serves 8

2 cups dried navy beans
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 ham hock, (the more meat the better)
4 quarts water
1-2 tablespoons dried parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse your beans and then soak overnight, or follow directions on your bag for a quick soak. After soaking, rinse again and drain.

In a large pot, heat the oil on medium-high heat. Cook the onion, celery and carrot until they start to get soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the beans, ham hock and water. Turn to high heat and bring to a boil, then turn heat down to medium-low. Cook for 3-4 hours with the lid partially covering the pot. Stir often.

Take the ham hock out of the pot and set aside. Using a blender or food processor, puree about half of the remaining soup mixture and add back to the pot. Take the ham hock and remove the skin, fat and gristle. Take the remaining meat off the bone and finely chop, then add back the pot. Add the parsley, salt and pepper, tasting along the way to get the right amount.

If the soup is too thick you can had hot water to the pot and stir well until it is the right consistency for you. If it is too thin, turn the heat to high and cook uncovered, stirring often until it is thick enough.

Enjoy!!

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen

2010-10-25T18:28:00.003-04:00

As you know, my last two posts have been about our recent camping trip to Blairsville, GA. While there, we took a little trip to Helen, GA, just over a mountain or two from Blairsville. The only other time I have ever been to Helen was the summer of '97. Let me just say that it was a slow day in Helen as we were just about the only people in town that day. This latest visit couldn't have been more different.

You see, Helen is a recreation of an Alpine village. And they have the longest running Oktoberfest in the world, this year's starting on September 9th and ending October 31st. THE Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany is only 16-18 days long and ends the first Sunday or Monday of October. Munich's Oktoberfest began in 1810 as a marriage celebration for the prince, (being Royal gets you great parties!) Today it is the largest festival in the world.

My inner anthropologist would love to go to Munich, be immersed in the culture of Bavaria and eat the traditional German foods. However, I don't see a trip to Germany in my near future, so Helen will have to do. But not during Oktoberfest. It was very crowded, still warm in October and the whole celebration of beer is not my cup of tea. Maybe Christkindlmarkt , (Christmas Market) would be more fun.

Helen, Georgia does have one thing that makes me definitely want to go back and that is Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen. This is the kind of place that you smell before you see. The aroma guides you to the door and up the ramp where you find delicious candies wherever you look.

Owners Dave and Janet Jones have been making candies here in Helen since 1973. Dave wrote the book on making candy. I'm not kidding...

With so many tempting treats, it was hard to decide what to buy. For me anyway, Brian knew exactly what he wanted...

PECAN Brittle!! It's fantastic! It's made with Georgia pecans, (pronounced peh-cahns, not pee-cans, if you ask me.)

I knew I wanted some chocolate, but couldn't commit to one particular confection. So I got this...

A Milk Chocolate Chattahoochee Snapper--The fresh pecans really make this!

A Chocolate Covered Graham Cracker (not pictured)

Dark Chocolate covered Pretzels = Bliss!

Are you salivating yet? Then here's some good news, they ship! Check them out!

Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen
8651 Main Street
Helen, GA 30545
and
8078 South Main Street
Helen, GA 30545
800-524-3008 Toll Free
www.hanselandgretelcandykitchen.com

Anyone been to Christkindlmarkt in Helen? Is it worth a day trip from Chattanooga? Let me know!

Breakfast In A Bag

2010-10-18T11:38:00.003-04:00

Remember how I told you we eat well when we're camping? Well, here is another tasty camp meal that you can make at home too! It's an omelet cooked in a Ziploc bag. Crazy right? Maybe, but it couldn't be easier!

First, crack two eggs into a bowl and scramble with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Next, add your diced veggies, about a quarter cup worth, more or less depending on how loaded you want your omelet. We used green bell pepper, tomato and onions here.

Then add your meat, either one sausage patty or 2-3 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled.

Finally, add your cheese. Here we used 1 slice of American cheese torn to pieces but you can use your favorite shredded cheese as well.

Dump your egg mixture into a quart sized freezer bag.

You'll want to mark your bags if cooking more than one at a time. If you use a sharpie, it is important to either write on the white part of the bag used for labeling or make some identifiable mark at the very top of the bag. If you write on the bag down where the eggs are, the sharpie will bleed through the bag and tint your eggs where they touch that part of the bag.

That's why my Dad made these little tags. It's safe to pin to the very top of the bag, so you can adorn your own safety pins in order to identify your omelets.

See, here it is all tagged and ready to go.

You'll need to have some water already boiling. Drop your bags down into the water. Boil for 8 minutes or until the eggs are set to your liking. I don't like a very wet omelet so mine cooked a little longer.

Grab a plate, open your baggie and let the omelet slide right out!

Hey! Did you notice that this recipe doesn't have any butter in it? That's because you don't have to worry about your eggs sticking to the bag! Of course, if you like the flavor butter adds to an omelet, by all means, add a little melted butter before cooking, but honestly it doesn't need it!

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and wow your friends with your amazing omelets. This is a fantastic way to cook breakfast for a crowd as you can put these together the night before and store in the fridge. No need to get up too early to slave over a hot stove.

*Ziploc is the brand we used, (no BPA), but I imagine any good freezer bag would work well enough.

Dutch Oven Dinner

2010-10-13T15:24:00.001-04:00

This weekend we went camping with my family in Blairsville, Georgia. It was Liam's first time camping, (he's only 8 weeks old). Sophie was just 4 months the only other time we've been camping with her, so to her this was a new adventure. Luckily there was a sandy spot in our campsite where she could play and get completely filthy--nature is fun!

Now don't think that when we go camping that we "rough it" too much. We had water and electric hook-ups and we sleep on air beds in our tent with our tiny heater. And most of all, we eat very well. That's because my Dad is the king of the Dutch Oven.

Dad used the contraption pictured above this weekend. Let me explain what it is. He bought this at an Army Surplus store. It is a cast iron cooking stove made in 1951 for the Korean War. It was originally made to put a burner inside and be used as a stove. It also came with a taller chimney so it could be used inside a tent to cook and for warmth during the cold Korean winters. Dad replaced the tall chimney with this smaller chimney and put a lid over the hole for the burner.

In the bottom of the stove he placed hot coals, then put his dutch oven inside. Saturday morning he baked biscuits, so he put hot coals on the lid of his dutch oven. To make stew, he put the stove lid on and left it for several hours. At night he would rake the coals together in the fire pit and placed the top of the stove over it to contain the smoldering embers.

Not the outdoorsy type? Don't have a dutch oven? Don't worry, you can still make this recipe for Papa's Stew. Papa's Stew, (named after my grandfather and pronounced "Pawpaw") is one of our family favorites. Papa and Nana created this recipe by trying different things until they came up with this perfect stew. Of course, if you want or need to make substitutions, Nana says pretty much any vegetable will work. So please enjoy this recipe. You can cook for a crowd, or just your family and freeze the leftovers. Just make sure you share it with people you love.

Papa's Stew
25-30 servings

Click here for the printable recipe at Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:
5 lbs. potatoes, peeled and diced
1 whole chicken cut up or 3-4 chicken breasts boiled and shredded, (boil for 20 minutes or left all day in you crock pot)
3 15.25 oz. cans English Peas
3 14.5 oz. cans sliced carrots
3 14.5 oz. cans corn kernels
3 14.75 oz. cans cream corn
1 lb black eyed peas, remove debris and rinse well
1 12 oz. bag frozen butter beans, speckled recommended
2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes
2 large onions, chopped
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup Worcester sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes or until nearly done. Do not drain. Add all other ingredients except tomatoes and simmer until thickened. Add tomatoes last and cook for 15 minutes. Serve with crackers or cornbread for some true comfort food!

Floyd Markham
1926-2003

Monster Sandwich

2010-10-11T17:55:00.000-04:00

I was going to write about something else today, but because of technical difficulties, that will have to wait. Instead, I'm going to share with you one of my favorite books. I was reading another blog today which reminded me to go get this book and read to my daughter. It's a book of poetry...about monsters...and sometimes food.

I love the subtitle to this book:
"And other stories you're sure to like, because they're all about monsters, and some of them are also about food. You like food, don't you? Well, all right then."

You'll love this book, probably more so than your kids. It is so clever! Each story is about a monster that you know and love. Here are just some of the stories you will find in this book.

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich
Poor Frankenstein! All he wants is a sandwich. But he has the rudest neighbors, not the kind of people likely to lend a cup of sugar.

The Phantom of the Opera Can't Get "It's a Small World" Out of His Head
Don't tell me you haven't been there!

The Invisible Man Gets a Haircut
That's just asking for trouble!

Count Dracula Doesn't Know He's Been Walking Around All Night With Spinach In His Teeth
"Vhat are you staring at?"

The Yeti Doesn't Appreciate Being Called Bigfoot
Do you really wanna make him mad?

The Lunchsack of Notre Dame
You'd pack a lunch too if Frankenstein was your lunch lady!

I love love love this book, so I'm excited to learn that the author, Adam Rex, has also written this book:

Can't wait to get it!!

P.S. Yeah, yeah, I know Frankenstein is the name of the man who created the monster, but what else are you gonna call the guy?

They Are To Teach What Is Good

2010-10-06T13:20:00.002-04:00

I know a special little boy named Zek who is about to turn one year old. It seems like just yesterday I was throwing a baby shower for his Mommy.

This was a unique shower in that we also had a Bible study. The passage we studied, Titus 2:3-5 says of older women:

"They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. "

With (at that point) just 4 years of marriage under my belt, I knew that I would have very little to offer in such a study. So I asked some of the guests to be prepared to speak on a topic from the passage and to share their experiences in relation to their topics. These ladies spoke about self-control, purity, being a homemaker, kindness and submission to our husbands. This was an inspirational and very moving experience, and I'm so glad these ladies were willing to share such meaningful thoughts.

Of course, we also had food, it was a shower after all. We all chipped in, so don't think that I made all of this. Here's the spread...

Ice cream cake, fruit tray, cookie cake and behind the candles is this...

This my friends, is a cheese ball! Isn't it gorgeous?

I did make the punch. It's delish!

Fruit Punch

Makes about 50 servings--can easily be halved

(Of course, you should always have extra on hand as one cup is not enough)

2 packets of Fruit Punch Kool-Aid

1 c. boiling water

2 qts. warm water

2 1/2 c. sugar

1-46 oz can of pineapple juice
2-2 liter bottle ginger ale, chilled

Dissolve the Kool-Aid in the boiling water. Then in a large pot add the Kool-Aid, water, sugar and pineapple juice. Mix well and divide into two large freezer bags and freeze.

To Serve:

Thaw the punch until it is just starting to slush. Add one bag's contents to a punch bowl and add one bottle of ginger ale. Stir well.

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Happy Birthday Zek!!

Going Bananas!

2010-09-30T15:50:00.003-04:00

We just had a couple bunches of bananas in our home this week. My favorite time to eat bananas is just after they stop being green. After a while, once they start to brown, they are just too sweet for me. I'm not likely to eat them straight from the peel when they are like that, but they are still good for smoothies and cutting up into your Rice Krispies! But there comes a point when they are good for nothing but Banana Bread.

Two bunches of bananas may be too much for my family to have at once. We've eaten them as best we could, but they still went brown and mushy pretty quickly. Brian says it is my fruit bowl. He thinks it has supernatural powers to turn fruit bad before their time. Anyway, we had three soon-to-be rotten bananas, and it was time for Banana Bread.

I guess everyone probably has a recipe for Banana Bread. I'm not going to say that this is the very best Banana Bread recipe there is, because I'm sure someone out there has a better one. But that being said, there really aren't that many variations to Banana Bread recipes. They're all gonna have pretty much the same basic ingredients. But maybe you don't have your own recipe for Banana Bread. Then I would like to share mine with you. This is a good standby, I-don't-have-to-put-much-effort-into-this, only-making-this-to-use-up-old-bananas kind of recipe. Of course, you could add some spices or chocolate chips, (would have done that if I had some on hand) to make it your own.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smushed to mush
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
1/8 cup additional sugar for pan, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine oil and sugar and whisk together. Add the bananas and eggs and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients, milk, vanilla and nuts and stir well to fully incorporate. Grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan. Add sugar to the pan and shake around till it coats the bottom and sides of pan. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool before removing from pan.

Options for serving:
1. As soon as it is cool enough to eat.
2. Well chilled from spending some time in the fridge
3. Sliced, toasted and slathered in butter.

Enjoy!!

An Egg With Many Names

2010-09-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

Ah, the Deviled Egg! What church potluck would be complete without them? I love Deviled Eggs, but did you know that they have lots of different names? For example, say you want to take them to a church potluck, but don't want to call them "deviled". Then call them "Dressed Eggs". Or if you want to sound highfalutin, then call them by their French name, "Oeufs Mimosas" (Eggs Mimosa in English). In Hungary they are called "Casino Eggs". When they are stuffed with Caviar they are called "Russian Eggs". In the Middle Ages they were called "Stuffed Eggs" and only relatively recently (the 1800s) began to be called "Deviled" due to the spices that are often used.

I grew up eating my Nana's deviled eggs. They are simple and delicious, with few ingredients, so it's economical too! Below I will give the basic instructions for making these eggs. It's not a "recipe", but more like the techniques you need to make them. You know, that's how Grandmothers cook, a dash of this, a splash of that...

Deviled Eggs

Ingredients:
Eggs (as many as you want/need)
Mayonnaise (Hellman's is recommended)
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

Directions:
Place your eggs in a pot and cover with cold water, allowing for a couple inches of water above the eggs. Place the pot on the stove burner and set to high. Once the water has started to boil, set a timer for nine minutes. After nine minutes, the eggs should be hard set. Remove the eggs from the pot by using a ladle and place eggs in a bowl of cold water.

Remove shells immediately. Carefully crack the egg, (I find that cracking the egg under water allows some water to get between the egg white and the membrane to allow for easier shell removal). Gently peel away the shell and set the hard boiled egg aside.

Once all eggs have been peeled, slice the eggs in half lengthwise. Pop out the egg yolks and place in a bowl. Place the egg whites in an egg dish hollow side up.

Mash the egg yolks with a fork or potato masher. Sprinkle with salt: the amount of salt will depend on the number of eggs used. It usually takes about 1 dash of salt per egg, but only add about half of that at this time. Add pepper at this time, no more than one grind/dash per two eggs. You can always adjust later to taste. Mix well. Add mayonnaise, one spoonful at a time mixing well after each addition until egg yolks are creamy. Taste the yolks and make necessary adjustments to seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if necessary.

Nana scoops the egg yolk mixture into the egg white using a fork. I have found that using a pastry bad makes the job quick and easy, not to mention kind of pretty. Either way, just fill up the hollow part of the egg white. Finish with a sprinkle of paprika over the top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

*Troubleshooting:
For the last few years, I have been the deviled egg maker for the our family reunion. So using about 4 dozen eggs, I'm turning out around 100 deviled eggs!! Needless to say, not only do I have a lot of egg plates, but I also know some tricks when it comes to fixing mistakes! One time I added too much salt. Adding a little milk will help tone down the saltiness. Another time, I used a new mayonnaise brand, which I didn't realize tasted too much like vinegar until after adding to the egg yolks. A little milk and sugar did the trick, no one would have ever known. I've also used my food processor to mash and mix up the egg yolk mixture when I'm making such a large number of eggs...anything to make life easier! Finally, for the family reunion, I don't fill the eggs until I get to the location. I make everything the night before, then cover my plate with the egg whites with plastic cling. The egg yolk mixture goes into my pastry bag and sealed into a Ziploc bag and I park all of it in the fridge overnight. When I get to the reunion, I just pull out the pastry bag and quickly fill the eggs then sprinkle with the paprika.

Though many people put other ingredients in their deviled eggs, our family loves these eggs "plain", as Nana says. It's a great way to please the picky eater. That being said, there are so many ways to make deviled eggs, so how do you dress your eggs?

Cake Mix Cookies

2010-09-12T21:22:00.000-04:00

In 8th grade I took Home Economics. Once a week we would make something to eat, then share with all the teachers in the school. I remember making haystacks and cookies made with a cake mix. Those became my favorite cookies and I made them all the time. I lost that recipe long ago, but Nana has a recipe for Cake Mix Cookies that I will share with you today.

The great thing about Cake Mix Cookies is that you can be creative and design your cookies to fit your own style. First, pick what flavor cookie you want by choosing your cake mix flavor. Then decide what you want to add to your cookies. Chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, and candies will do the trick. You could even ice the top with a glaze or butter cream. It's lots of fun and easy enough to do with kids. Sophie (who is 2 1/2) has been helping make these cookies.

Devil's Food Mix with Chocolate Chips

French Vanilla Mix with Chocolate Chips

Lemon Mix (would have been great with a glaze!)

Cake Mix Cookies

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix (any flavor)
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup of your add-in (chocolate chips, etc.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together, (you may have to use your hands). Drop teaspoons of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool 2 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack or plate to continue cooling until set.

This makes a whole lot of cookies, or less if you want bigger cookies. Nana makes these to take to Vacation Bible School.

Nana's Baked Beans

2010-09-06T11:59:00.006-04:00

Today is Labor Day! You're probably spending this day with family and friends. And eating, cause that's what you're supposed to do on holidays. Last night we had a meal at church. I've been wanting to make Nana's recipe for Baked Beans and last night was the perfect opportunity! It's a great dish to serve alongside your other holiday fare, or at your next church fellowship meal.

Nana's Baked Beans Deluxe

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
4 15 oz. cans pork and beans (Van Camp's recommended)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
3 tbsp. mustard
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 tbsp. oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat oil in skillet on medium high heat. Add beef, pepper and onion to skillet and cook until beef is browned and vegetables are softened. Mix all ingredients in a large casserole dish. Cover and bake for one hour.

Brunch Potatoes

2010-08-31T22:36:00.001-04:00

Here's another recipe from the Baby Shower...

Brunch Potatoes

Ingredients:
5 lbs bag tater tots
4-6 tbsp olive oil
4-5 tbsp all-purpose seasoning (see below)
Sprinkle of dried parsley flakes

Seasoning:
You can use any all-purpose seasoning that will go well with potatoes. I prefer Emeril Lagasse's "Baby Bam"

Directions:
Completely thaw tater tots. Smash them to bits, (best done inside the bag, but can be done in the pan. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add potatoes and sprinkle with seasoning. Depending on size of skillet, you may need to do this in batches. Stir well to incorporate the seasoning into the potatoes. Sprinkle with dried parsley for extra color. Serve warm.

Click here for a Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Thanks to Leigh for the photo.

It's a Boy!

2010-08-14T07:40:00.004-04:00

Baby Liam is finally here!
Born 8/13 at 12:55 p.m., weighing in at 8 lbs. 13 oz. and measuring 21 inches.

Baby Liam with Daddy and Big Sister Sophie

Last week we had a baby shower and my mom made the punch. Several people wanted the recipe, so here it is.

It'a A Boy Punch
24 Servings

1 (0.13 ounce) package blue raspberry flavored unsweetened Kool-Aid
1 (2 liter) Sprite
1 (64 fluid ounce) bottle white cranberry juice or white grape juice
1 cup sugar, or to taste
8 scoops vanilla ice cream

In your punch bowl, add the Kool-Aid, Sprite and juice and stir to combine. Add the sugar a little at a time, stirring well and tasting after each addition until it is sweetened to your taste. Drop scoops of ice cream into the punch, allowing them to float on top like clouds. Once the ice cream begins to melt a little, it will turn the punch baby blue colored.

Variation:
For the picture shown, Sugar-Free Kool-Aid was used and it made it foamy. It still looks nice, but Mom says it's better as prepared according to this recipe.

*For the shower she also used the white grape juice.

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Enjoy!

Salmon Bake for Brunch

2010-08-10T10:49:00.005-04:00

Saturday we had a Baby Shower for the soon-to-be-here Baby Liam. We had it at 11:00 a.m. so it was an appropriate time to have Brunch. Being brunch, it was treated as more of a meal than your normal baby shower fare of cake, mints and punch. We had quite a spread:

I really wanted to make something for the shower, mostly because it was something I was dreaming about eating. So I made my Salmon Bake. It is a really easy recipe, and if you've made my Salmon Patties, you already know much of what to do since it is a variation of that recipe. I doubled this recipe and it was exactly enough for this shower, because no one (well, except for me maybe) was eating a full serving. And boy, was it yummy! It was perfect and exactly what I had been craving!

Salmon Bake
Serves 6

12 oz. cooked salmon, flaked *see note below
1 6 oz box stuffing mix (cornbread flavored)
1/3 c mayonnaise
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 cups shredded mozzarella (reserve some for top)
1 egg
3/4 c water
2 tsp oil

Mix together well the mayonnaise, lemon juice, egg, water and oil. Then mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and place into a baking dish. Sprinkle top with reserved mozzarella. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.

*I bought frozen salmon fillets and after defrosting, sprinkled with kosher salt and grilled on my George Foreman style grill. It is more economical than buying in cans or other packaging.

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

* Thanks for taking pictures, Leigh!

Yummy Once--Yummy Twice--Yummy Chicken Soup with Rice

2010-07-29T12:03:00.003-04:00

Have you missed me? I'd like to say I've been really busy with no time to write. In reality, I've just been too pregnant and lazy to be motivated to do anything much. Even though I should probably save every tiny amount of motivation I might find for baby prep, I felt that at least one post before Baby Liam gets here should be in order.

This recipe came about one afternoon when I was trying to figure out what we'd have for dinner. Too hot to spend much time in the kitchen, and too weary to do much standing, I decided it was a crock-pot kind of night. I threw some chicken into the pot and then searched the kitchen for something to give it flavor. I found a can of chicken and rice soup and decided that would do.

That evening, I fished out some of the chicken from the crock-pot and served with whatever sides I had prepared. It made our taste buds sing! There was some chicken left, (not to mention that beautiful golden liquid) all of which went straight to the fridge. The next day for lunch, I took the remaining chicken and mixed it with some rice and peas and the reserved soup. DELICIOUS!!

If you just want the chicken by itself, follow the first part of the recipe, but continue on for the chicken and rice recipe.

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Yummy Chicken and Rice
serves 6

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans chicken and rice soup + 2 cans of water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsps butter
salt and pepper to taste
*******************************************
6 cups cooked rice
1 can of green peas, drained

Directions:
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add to crock-pot and drizzle with olive oil and add butter. Add soup and water. Cover crock-pot and turn to high and allow to cook until done, (according to crock-pot instructions).
********************************************
Place the chicken in a large bowl and shred. Add rice, peas and the remaining soup and mix well. Devour!!

I told you once
I told you twice
all seasons
of the year
are nice
for eating
chicken soup
with rice!

--Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak