A Couple Links for You

 

As I mentioned earlier this year, since November 2011, I’ve been eating better and exercising. My trainer, Rob Hatch at Hatch Impact Training has a heart for helping people take control of their health and lose weight the right way.  He’s taught us there is no magic pill, injection, or crazy restrictive program that will deliver the results that healthy eating and exercise together will accomplish.  Rob pushes us to do more than we thought we could in the gym, and gives us the tools to meet our goals.  And we are getting those results!

For me, my weight loss journey has included going from a client to an instructor at the gym, teaching Cardio Dance, primarily.  I’m excited that I’ll soon be certified in Group Fitness!!! 

So, from time to time, I’d like to share with you some products and recipes that are helping me along the way.  Of course, there will also be posts about indulgent foods, but those are now eaten in moderation. 

I used to buy Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage Links for my family.  They are quick to microwave, so that makes it a winner for me.  But when I started changing things I was eating, I decided to try the Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Links.  I remember the first morning I made these; I had made the pork links for Brian and the kids and then heated my turkey links.  Brian and I were in the kitchen when I took my first bite.  Wow!  I made him try some too.  We couldn’t believe how flavorful and not greasy these were compared to the original.  They turkey links are SO much better.  We have not gone back to the pork links; the turkey is delicious and I think everyone should try these.

FYI:  Jimmy Dean has no idea who I am.  This is my personal opinion, but as a lover of food, I think it’s a good one.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

 

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.

Forever Nigella: Iced Dreams

 

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?.

The Real Thing

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!

Tinker Bell Birthday Party

 

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.

Claude’s Chocolate

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

1. Watch a weapons demonstration at the Castillo de San Marcos.
2. Climb to the top of the St. Augustine Lighthouse
3. A Ghostly Experience Walking Tour- If not for the ghosts, then for the history!
4. A full circuit on the Trolley Tour.
5. Tour Flagler College to see the beautiful work of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
6. 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

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.

To make the filling, combine 1 3/4 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of Nutella. Whisk together until it is well mixed and resembles chocolate milk. Add one 1.4 oz box of Chocolate Instant Jello Pudding. Mix well and refrigerate until set.

Meanwhile, let an 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip thaw on your kitchen counter. Once it is thawed, add a few spoonfuls to the pudding and stir together well. Then gently fold in the rest to make a light fluffy mousse. Use a pastry bag to fill your pie shells. Or forget all that and just grab a spoon and dig in!!

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Bread, Milk and Circus Peanuts

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.

Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen

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!

A Minnie Mouse Birthday

My baby is two now, and to celebrate we had a Minnie Mouse birthday party. I thought I'd walk you through some things we did to make give her a great party.

Balloons from Party City

The Minnie Mouse Mylar balloon couldn't have been more perfect. The other balloons are pink, white and black pearlescent to match Minnie.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mouse Ears and Toys

"Reach!"

Hot Digety Dog! If you have ever seen Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, then you are familiar with the Hot Dog Dance. We had hot dogs with the usual condiments, plus homemade chili and coleslaw from Captain D's. The hot dogs we grilled on our indoor electric grill: the only way we cook hot dogs at home! We kept them warm in a crock pot until time to eat.

The above photo shows Sophie trying to reach the chips and dip. I don't blame her, because we had Mayfield's French Onion Dip. If you don't have access to THE BEST French onion dip there is, I am so sorry for you.

You can also see our cute pinwheels we used as "flower" decorations. Each child got to take one home. Behind the chips you can see a tiny pink pail with white polka dots: perfect for Minnie. There are more balloons attached and for extra weight they are filled with jelly beans. Get it? They're "full of beans"! The pails and a few other things came from Hobby Lobby and were on sale!

Don't get mad at me...but I used a boxed cake mix for these cuppies. Actually, I don't care what people think about using boxed cake mix, because it's a no-brainer, and they tasted great. However, you won't find me buying canned frosting. No way! Not when making a homemade butter cream is this easy. I just added lots of pink food coloring and a tiny bit of purple to make this color. I had originally planned to cut small marshmallows in half to make polka dots, but the rosy swirls were just too pretty to mess with. The pink baking cups came from The Sugar Shoppe, here in Chattanooga. They gave me a great tip to prevent the cupcake pulling away from the paper. Use two baking cups when baking and then when they are cool, you can either serve them doubled or take the outer baking cup off and save for later use. It worked great!

Sophie had a surprise for everyone at her party. She got to announce what her baby brother's name will be. We asked her what her baby's name was and she said, "Leemom", (Liam). How cute!

Sophie had a wonderful birthday party. I want to thank all our guests for coming and having fun, and the family members who helped out too.

Go check out yesterday's post by Bakerella. She had a great post, just wish it had come sooner. Too cute!

Linked to Bear Rabbit Bear.

Spring Fever!

Since so many people I know are suffering from Spring Fever, I thought I'd show off a few of Tricia Wilson's beautiful illustrations for St. Patrick's Day and Easter.

Here is a cool retro styled design for Shamrock Day!

Snazzy Shamrock Design by trennea
custom imprinted mug online at zazzle.com

And how cute are these little bunny stickers? Perfect for hiding in an Easter Egg!

Cute Lil' Bunny by candystore
Create a custom sticker on Zazzle

Have some Easter greetings to send? These adorable stamps are sure to bring a smile before the envelope is opened!

Egg Hunt No.6 by candystore
Shop for custom postage at zazzle.com

Need something snazzy to wear on Easter Sunday? Here you go Dad...

Carrots by candystore
Design neck ties at zazzle

I just love this mug!! Too cute!!

Egg Hunt by candystore
Browse more Egg Mugs

You can see more of Tricia's work at her Zazzle stores:

tricia-rennea art
The Candy Store!

Or visit her websites, Trillustrations.com and triciarennea.blogspot.com.

Sinister Santas

If you haven't been following Cake Wrecks, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Cake Wrecks is only the funniest blog on the planet, with pictures of insane cakes to laugh at each day, (well, actually Sundays are for nice cakes so we know how bad the others are.)

If you haven't seen today's post, then hop on over and check it out, and then I'm sure you'll want this card for all your friends!

Santa is Watching by cakewrecks
Shop for a greeting card at zazzle

And of course, if you've been a fan of Cake Wrecks for any length of time, this little guy is near and dear to your heart...

Marry Christmas by cakewrecks
Browse more Carrot jockey Cards

See more Wreckwear at the cakewrecks Zazzle Store!

Oh, and you HAVE to get the Cake Wrecks book! It's like the blog, but in book form, with more stories and new cakes! I was trying to look at it over Thanksgiving, and it took me about two days because everyone kept taking it from me to look at it themselves. {You can find links to the book on the Cake Wrecks blog.}