Peppermint Meringues

Tonight I had the burning urge to wash a bunch of dishes, so I decided to open my cookbook and try out a new recipe. I ended up going with a batch of peppermint meringues. They were time consuming, a little tedious, and yes... messy. Goal complete. On the up side they turned out really cute and filled with Christmasy-minty-airy goodness :)

Ingredients
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp peppermint extract  **see note**
Red and Green food coloring

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 225 degrees, and line cookie sheets with wax paper
2) In a large bowl, whisk/beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed until soft peaks form when beaters are lifted.
3) Gradually add the powdered sugar and extract, then continue to beat until meringue stands in stiff glossy peaks
4) Here comes the fun part... half the meringue and transfer into two bowls. Use the food coloring to tint one of the bowls a pale red and the other a pale green.
5) Spoon each of the colored meringues into separate ziplock bags and cut off the tip of one corner on each bag.
6) Fit a large decorating/piping bag with a large round tip. Then place the bag in a glass and fold the bag over the edge of the glass to stabalize.
7) Simultaneously squeeze the red and green filled bags into the decorating/piping bag to fill.
8) Pipe 2inch round meringues onto the prepared cookie sheets, leaving about an inch between each one.
9) Bake at 225 for 2 hours, then shut off oven and leave meringues in oven for another half hour to dry. If you have more meringue to bake, turn oven back up to 225 and repeat process.
10) Cool completely before taking off pan. They should be dry, light, airy, and crispy.

**Note- make sure you use a peppermint extract that does not contain oil, or it will flatten/deflate the meringue.

Decorating/piping bag folded over a cup with the 2 colors of meringue filling the inside.

piped meringues ready to bake

finished product :)

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

So I realize that most people probably know how to make cookies, but I love Oatmeal Raisin so much I had to post this. Nothing fancy here, I just use the recipe on the lid of the Quaker Oat can.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 lbs (2 sticks) softened butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 eggs (room temp)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups old fashioned oats (uncooked)
1 cup raisins (I used more like 2 cups b/c I love raisins)

DIRECTIONS
1) Beat butter and sugars together until creamy
2) Add eggs and vanilla, mix well
3) Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Slowly add to butter mixture and beat until well blended.
4) Stir in oats and raisins
5) Drop by rounded spoonfuls unto a greased cookie sheet
6) Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes
7) Let cookies sit on pan for about 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool
*this made about 45 cookies for me :) YUM!

Beef Stroganoff

I have always made Beef Stroganoff using ground beef, noodles, and a creamy sauce made from sour cream and cream of mushroom soup. There is nothing wrong with it, but tonight I tried making a different version of Beef Stroganoff that my friend Michaela showed me. I am sure I left out something from what she originally told me, but this is what I did :)

Ingredients:
Sirloin Beef Tips - 1 lbs (room temp)
Olive Oil
Butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
Mushrooms
Onion - 1 medium
Seasonings to taste (I used garlic salt, pepper, and a hickory flavored steak seasoning)
Cream of Mushroom Soup - 1 can
French Onion Soup - 1 can

Instructions:
Start by heating a little butter and olive oil in a saute pan and cook/sear the beef tips on all sides. You don't have to cook them all the ways through because they will cook more in the crock pot. Season the beef with whatever spices you like.

Once the beef tips are seared, place them in the crock pot along with the french onion soup and cream of mushroom soup. To get the flavor of the beef drippings out of the pan, heat the chicken broth in the same saute pan while scraping the bottom. Add this to the crock pot as well. Cook on high for about 2 hours and reduce heat to low.

About an hour before you are ready to eat, slice up the onion and mushrooms and saute in some butter and olive oil. Since mushrooms loose their moisture when salted, wait to season the mushrooms until they are fully heated through. I also added a little balsamic vinegar and white wine to give the veggies more flavor. Add the sauteed onions and mushrooms (and any liquid) to the crock pot as well. Continue to cook on low for another hour.

Be sure to stir periodically and taste the sauce; adding seasonings as you like. I like the sauce to be a little thicker, so I added some corn starch as well. If you do use corn starch or flour to thicken the sauce, be careful not to add too much, or it can alter the flavor of the sauce.

When you are ready to eat, serve the beef tips and sauce over cooked noodles (or rice) and enjoy :)

This made enough for Brandon and I to each have a good sized portion tonight, and still have about 4 servings of leftovers. Yum! Thanks Michaela!

This is not my picture, but it looked similar to mine.

???

Is it bad that as soon as I find out/plan/know that somebody is coming over to our house, the first thing I do/think is of what I can cook for them??

My family (parents, brother, and sister-in-law) are coming over for Christmas and I am already planning what I can cook and bake.
Traditional or nontraditional? How many side dishes? How many desserts? What healthy options can I make? How much of everything do I make? Should I make some things before hand and freeze? Oh how I love to cook/bake! wait a minute...IT IS ONLY OCTOBER!!!! I think I have a problem...

In other news... my dog just sneezed on my husband... I laughed :)

Black and Whites

Whenever Brandon is in a show, I tell him to put all the cast members names in a hat, and draw one out. Whoever he draws, gets to pick a treat for me to make the cast. (last time is was the Suessical cake) This time a girl requested Black and White Cookies (also called Half Moons). I had never heard of these before, and the girl said that she remembered them from being in New York and has never been able to find them since. I looked up several recipes on line, and the common theme was that they are from New York bakeries, and must be really hard to duplicate the original taste. Most of the comments I found were of people reminiscing about these cookies from when they were little, or when they lived in NYC, and that although the taste was close, it wasn't quite right. Well, I have no idea if I am remotely in the ballpark but here is the recipe I used (I tweaked and combined a few different recipes):

Cookies:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

1- Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat in between each egg. Add the milk, vanilla, and lemon. 

2- In a separate bowl stir together cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. 

3- Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture gradually, mixing well between each addition.

4- Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup (maybe a little less) to spoon batter on a greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. You want them to be about an inch thick. (These cookies are a little on the bigger side)

5- Bake at 375 for 11-14 minutes or until edges JUST start to turn brown (they are very easy to burn, so watch them)

6- Use a THIN metal spatula to remove from cookie sheet, and cool before frosting.
 

White Frosting:

•  3 Cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 Tbsp light corn syrup 
• 1 Tbsp butter 
• 1 1/2 tsp clear imitation vanilla extract
• Enough hot water to achieve desired consistency.

1- Combine ingredients and whisk until smooth
2- Frost half of the cookie with white frosting and wait until set before frosting the other half with the black frosting.

Black Frosting:

• Follow the same recipe as the white, but add  4 oz semi-sweet chocolate. 

1- In a double boiler, melt chocolate and add to the frosting.
2- If you want a richer taste, add more chocolate.
3- You will probably have to use more hot water than the white frosting to get the right consistency.
4- Frost the other half of cookie, and enjoy.

**Amy's Notes**
*These are very simple tasting cookies (remind me of a fortune cookie) with a thick/dense texture, with a hint of lemon. They are not crispy at all, and are more cake-like.
*For the frosting- if you want to spread the frosting on with a knife, leave it a little thicker.
*However, if you want a really smooth and shiny finish, add more hot water and make the frosting a little on the thin side.  Use a piping bag with a fine circular tip to make a boarder first and allow to dry. Once you have the boarder, fill in with the middle and allow to set/dry. This way there will not be any marks/streaks and the frosting will dry very smooth. (this is what I did) It took a while longer, but it looked nice.

Mud Factor 5k

The day started off early (5:30 AM) by waking up to get ready for our second 5K. It was a run with various obstacles along the route called Mud Factor.

In our information packet that was sent to us, we were told to arrive 1 to 1 1/2 hours prior to our wave time to make sure there was ample time for parking, registration, and general "getting ready". Waves were every half and hour starting at 9:00 AM, and the last wave was at 1:00 PM. Our wave was at 9:30, so technically we were supposed to show up between 8:00 and 8:30... lets just say my math skills were taking a vacation for the day and we ended up getting there at 7:00 AM.

We were the first people there (if that wasn't obvious) and even got there before the volunteers that were working the race. So, we had ample time to walk around the location, take pictures, and try to keep warm (it was around 55 degrees).

We decided to just run in the 9:00 wave instead of waiting around another half hour, and we figured nobpody would notice. Once the race started, we ran over hills, climbed over and under walls, through a muddy creek bed, jumped over hay bales, across a railroad bridge, through a tunnel, across another creek, and over a cargo net. I have no idea how many people ended up running over the course of the day, but there were a LOT! We finished the race in about 40 minutes.

After the race there were wash stations, a beer tent, music, food, and keg toss. Since one of the last parts of the run was going through a creek, most of our mud got washed off so the pictures don't really look too dirty.

Before the run

Cargo net - last obstacle

 My absolute favorite pair of tennis shoes were from my freshmen year of high school. Our whole basketball team got matching shoes, and I just always loved them. Although I have super glued them multiple times and they were really in pretty bad shape (in some spots the tread was completely worn smooth), I could never get rid of them.... until now. I decided to give my shoes one last blaze of muddy glory before giving them the toss. It was a good 11 years :)

Worn off tread... at one point the bottoms were light blue

Before the race

After the run.  Most of the mud fell off or got washed off in the water.

Cheese and Herb Pull-Apart Bread

Here is a yummy new recipe I tried for a cheese herb pull-apart bread. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbs snipped chives
3 to 4 Tbs herbs (I used oregano, dill, and basil)
Cheddar cheese - grated
Milk - to glaze

Directions:
 1) Put yeast, sugar, and 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl and stir until well mixed. Leave in a warm place  for 10 minutes or until the mixture is frothy and has increased in volume. **Note** If the mix does not froth, it means the yeast is dead and you will have to start over.
 

 2) Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle, add yeast mixture, and 1 cup warm water. Mix until it sticks together in a soft dough.

3) Take dough out of bowl onto a floured surface and knead until smooth (aprox 10 minutes).

4) Place dough into a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp dishtowel until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

5) Punch dough down and knead for a minute or two. Divide the dough into 3 inch flattened circles (about 20 circles)

6) Mix chives and herbs together in a small bowl

7) Lay one of the dough circles flat and sprinkle with a tsp or so of the herb mix and then with cheese (amount as desired)
                              
8) Press another circle of dough on top and repeat with remaining herbs/cheese and dough circles.

9) Grease a loaf pan and squish the circles together as you set them upright in the pan. Cover and set in a warm place for about 30-45 minutes or until well risen.

10) Brush the loaf with a little milk and bake for about 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven or until top is brown and crusty. Cool and enjoy :)

GLOW RUN 5K

Chase, Richelle, Amy, & Brandon... Glow Run 2012, "Team Ermahgerd" :)

 Ok, not a post about baking but.... I RAN MY FIRST 5K!!

It was the Glow Run in Omaha, NE with my hubby and a few good friends. The race started at 8:40PM and everybody was decked out in glow-sticks, neon clothing, glow paint, glitter, etc. I even got Brandon some gloves with sequins and light up finger tips! :)

My first goal was to run the whole race without walking
My second goal was to run it with an 11 minute mile pace

I met both goals and finished with a time of 29:10 (chip time) and getting the overall 1268th place out of +3500, and 204th out of 513 in my age group. YAY!! It was insane that so many people showed up. I actually didn't even cross the "starting line" until the race was about a minute and a half in... there were THAT many people in front of me!! CRAZY! Along the route there were "glow stations" which were groupings of black lights that you could run under and really see the glowing goodness!
I had glow bracelets, necklace, ear rings, face paint, neon fishnets, glow nail polish, lipstick, and of course the bright orange hair :) It looks fun in the pictures, but even better under the black lights!

Getting pumped up before the race

Post race with our medals!

 This was an awesome experience and I am so glad I got to do this with such wonderful people. This morning Brandon and I actually signed up for a couple more 5Ks in the coming months. The next one will be at the end of September and is a "Halloween Fun Run", so we will have to think of costumes. The other is in November and is called the "Beer and Bagel Run". It is actually a little over 4 miles instead of a 5K and is more of a tail run rather than pavement.

PS: Shout out to my Sister-in-law and a bunch of friends that did the Zombie Run 5K the same day in St Louis, MO! Looks like it was fun!

Canning Salsa!

I LOVE SALSA!!!

One of my goals for the summer was to have a small garden that I could grow my own veggies to make salsa. I have tomatoes, onions, and 2 kinds of peppers. Everything was growing nicely, but I was having a hard time getting enough tomatoes all at the same time. I would get 3-4 a week, but by the time I would have enough, the others would be gone (read as: eaten). I had a day off, so I decided to get a little help from my friend Emily's garden and the farmer's market. I had enough onions and jalapenos (a few tomatoes), but I got most of the tomatoes from the farmers market and some banana peppers from Emily. This was my first time canning solo, so I was a little nervous. It all worked out well and I ended up with 11 pints and 1 quart (plus a little for sampling of course).

The recipe is from my good friend Andrea and her mom, Tammie. I love this recipe and it makes a BIG batch (this time I did a half batch and still made plenty, the recipe below is a full batch)

10 quarts tomatoes- cooked and peeled
10 1/2 cups onion
3 cups jalapenos (I keep the seeds in to give a little more heat)
2 cups medium/hot peppers (Ancho peppers, banana peppers, or whatever you like)
5 cups green bell peppers
6 Tbs canning salt
11 Tbs sugar
3/4 cup garlic
3 cups vinegar

Combine all ingredients into LARGE pot or roaster (I use my 18 quart electric roaster oven) and cook down until the desired thickness. The longer you cook it, the thicker the salsa will be. Cook in hot water bath for 15 minutes, then let cool until sealed.

Now the details

It is important to have all the right tools before starting. I use a measuring cup and funnel to transfer the salsa from the roaster to the jars. The middle tool is to help measure head space and get out air bubbles. It is also handy to have the jar tongs  to hold onto the hot jars while placing them into the hot water bath. The last tool on the right has a magnet on the end and helps get the lids out of the hot water (shown later)

 Probably the most time consuming part of the process is getting the tomatoes ready. It is kind of fun though to get the skins off. The first step is picking off any stems and putting the tomatoes in hot/boiling water. You will know they are done when the skin starts to split.

When the skins start to split, transfer tomatoes into a bowl of icewater and wait until they are cool enough to handle. The skins will be super easy to peel/slide off. Core the tomatoes and then dice them to the desired size. I like my salsa a little chunky, and I leave the pieces a little bigger than I want them to end up because as the salsa cooks, the pieces will break down a little bit.

Once all the ingredients are cut up and ready, combine in a large pot or roaster oven. Cook until the salsa is the desired thickness (longer cooking=thicker salsa).

When you are ready to fill the jars, you have to use HOT AND CLEAN jars and lids. I ran my jars through a cycle in the dishwasher just to make sure they were hot and ready to go. Never try to use any other jar than canning jars (I use Mason or Kerr). Also, check the lip/rim of the jars to make sure there are no cracks or they may not seal correctly. Be careful to wipe the lip of the jars before putting on the lids and rings on in case any salsa dripped on them (like I said, they have to be CLEAN). Boil the lids in water and once the jars are filled with salsa, place a lid and tighten a ring on the tops.

Place jars in a hot water bath and make sure water covers the tops. Boil for 15 minutes and then remove jars from water. Place on counter or table and let the jars sit still for at least a couple hours (or until cool). You might hear the jars "pop"... this is just the seal setting (nothing to worry about). After jars are cool, test the tops of each jar to make sure the middle will not flex up or down. If it does, the seal is not set correctly and the salsa will not keep (you will just have to eat that jar of salsa first and store it in the fridge)

 Tada! You will then have delicious homemade salsa :) Enjoy!

Cutting Basil

The other day I was making a margarita pizza (tomato, basil, and mozzarella) and I got to thinking that cutting the basil (or other leafy herbs in general) can be a little tricky. Hence this post about cutting basil :)

Here is my basil plant that I have growing in my kitchen window. Since I finally got tomatoes out of my garden I thought a pizza would be yummy. Step 1) Pick off the plant, wash, and dry the basil leaves.

Step 2) Layer leaves on top of one another with the biggest leaf at the bottom and smallest at the top.

Step 3) Starting at one end, roll up the leaves until you have a nice little roll.

 Step 4) As thinly as you can, slice the roll of leaves to get long strips.

Step 5) Rotate your knife and slice the leaves in half lengthwise to get smaller strips of the herb. Sprinkle on whatever you like and enjoy :)

Pictures of "Christmas in July" Cake

Here are a few pictures of the cake I made for my family's Christmas in July celebration.
The pictures are by LaVonne Anderson as posted on Smugmug. She has LOTS of pictures so check them out by clicking HERE

Tada! Here is the cake. The theme was everything "Christmas in July" throughout the years. The cake itself is shaped like a big hill since the cabin we stay at is on a hill. The green frosting is the "grass".

The topper is a pond with a canoe and sand (graham crackers) and a zip line. At the cabin there is a pond that we frequently go swimming and canoeing in, and one year they had a working zip-line that we would ride down and fall into the pond. Very fun and of course super safe ;)

The rest of the cake had random decorations made of fondant and/or scrap-booking paper. Theses are cards since my family have always been fond of playing card games such as 500, Pig-it & Hog it, and Hearts.

In this shot is a "plate of food". We always have an enormous amount of delicious food at any of our family gatherings, so it was only fitting to make a "steak, peas, and banana" out of fondant.

The LOVE decoration is based on our synchronized swimming routine (see picture below). We have floating "noodles" and sing while we dance (or flop) around in the pond. This is a common formation that we use. You can also see some happy fish, a candle, and a soccer ball in this picture. I had a little help making those decorations.

I promise this spells "Love" and the letter on the right was an "e"... it was just a little hard to float while singing :)

Other decorations on the cake were a butterfly, snowman, sun, flower, golf club and golf balls. This was a fun cake to make and it was even more special because of all the family touches.
Yay for warm fuzzy feelings (and happy mouths when we ate it)! :)

Frustrations...

So I will apologize in advance, but I need to vent for a minute...

I have been working out and trying to lose a few pounds/get in shape for a while now. I started with Turbo Fire in April which is mainly cardio for about 45 min-1 hour,  about 5 days a week. No problem... In addition to the cardio workouts, I tried to run about 2-3 times a week because I have always wanted to run a 5K (I used the couch to 5K app). I did that until mid June and didn't really see any results. I didn't feel different, weight was hovering at the same level as when I started, and I only lost an inch around my chest (not exactly the results I was looking for, but whatever). So I talked to Brandon about it since he is my coach (I guess he is my husband too... minor detail though) and he said that maybe cardio isn't what I need, and that I should try weight training instead. Per his recommendation, I started P90X and I am currently on my 6th week.

Here is where the frustration comes in...
These workouts are between 1 to 1 1/2 hours 6 days a week. This leaves me no time to run because by the time I get home, work out, shower, and eat, it is time to go to bed. There is a lot of pushups/pullups which I currently struggle with, so I feel like I am not doing very good when I can only do 5 "girl" pushups while the other people are doing 30+ regular pushups (I know they are professionals and are supposed to be awesomely fit, but still... I am venting here). I have really been working hard at the workouts and I truly give my best effort every time even when I don't like it (aka: yoga). I have also been trying to eat healthy which I do pretty well at, minus the occasional splurge on pizza or a beer (not really that often, but it happens).
Well today I decided to weigh myself and see if I made any progress. Turns out I gained 6 pounds and I have a tricep... on my right arm (not the left).
I tried to run again today since it has been over a month since I last ran... and my pace was almost a 12 minute mile... I used to be able to run a 10:30 minute mile. (granted it was 102 degrees out when I ran, but I don't want to make excuses, I am simply out of "running" shape)

So in my head, by working out I have slowed my running pace, gained weight, and have become lop-sided. All this being said, I am still going to finish P90X and give it my best effort. I don't know if it is the best option for me, but I want to be able to say I finished it and that I tried my best. It just makes it hard when you don't see the results you are working towards, and I just want to feel good about myself.

All in all though, I know this is a small drop of water in the ocean of life and it really isn't that big of a deal. There are much bigger problems/obsticals out there and if this is what I am frustrated about, I think I have a pretty good life. Sorry to be a debbie-downer, but I just wanted to vent to get it out of my system.

Now I am going to blog about baking again and be happy :)

Cake Recipes

Butter Cake

10 oz butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs (room temp)
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 inch round cake pan.
2) Using electric beaters, cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla, then eggs (one at a time) beating well after each addition.
3) Sift flours together in mixing bowl. Add combined flours alternatively with milk into the butter mixture and fold until smooth.
4) Bake for aprox 50-60 minutes (I would check it around 40 minutes though) or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.
5) Leave in cake pan for at least 5 minutes before turning out onto rack to cool.




Carrot Cake

2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbs oil
1/3 cup milk
5 oz apple puree (I used homemade apple sauce with no sugar)
10 oz grated carrot
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional, I left them out)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 7x4 inch loaf pan (I used a 6inch round pan and had some batter left over for cupcakes)
2) Sift flour, baking soda, and spices into a large bowl. Stir in sugar (and raisins, optional)
3) Mix the eggs, oil, milk, and apple puree into the dry ingredients. Stir in carrot.
4) Spread into baking pan and smooth top. Bake for aprox 1 hour or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.

**NOTE** My cake was very thick and heavy, it took a while to bake, and it didn't have too much flavor. The only things I did differently was use apple sauce instead of puree and omitted the raisins. I ended up buying a box carrot cake mix and using that for the Xmas in July cake just so it would be a little fluffier and more moist. Since I am using it as the top layer of the cake I didn't want to use the really heavy one from the recipe above. I am still going to bring it for people to eat though. :)




Aunt Lois' Cake

Cake:
1 yellow box cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 can mandarin oranges (11 oz) with juice

Topping:
1 tub cool whip
1 can crushed pineapple (20 oz) with juice
1 instant vanilla pudding mix

1) Crush oranges with electric beater and add oil and the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.
2) Add the dry cake mix and beat until combined and smooth. Place batter in a greased 9x13 inch pan.
3) Bake at 350 for aprox 25-30 minutes or until golden brown
4) To make topping: Dissolve pudding mix in the pineapple and fold in whipped cream. Frost when cake is completely cooled, store cake in refrigerator. 

X-mas in July Cake

This weekend will be my family's Christmas in July celebration with the majority of my Dad's side of the family. We all gather at my Aunt and Uncle's cabin and stay for the weekend. It is always a good time, lots of food, relaxing, card games, and even some synchronized swimming. Each family that comes is "in charge" of a meal, so my contribution to the meal my family is in charge of is....a cake. Go figure right? I am using the same pans that I did for the Seussical cake, but this time I am tailoring it more to our family's get together.

The layers are:
Top layer- Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting
2nd layer-  Aunt Lois' Cake (a mandarin orange cake with a light pineapple frosting)
3rd layer- Butter cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting
Bottom layer- Fudge brownie with vanilla buttercream frosting

I originally wanted to do all light fruity flavors like lemon, raspberry, strawberry, orange, etc since it is summer and going to be HOT. However my mom said I HAD to do at least one chocolate layer. Then I asked my uncle (the host of the weekend) what his favorite kind of cake was, and he chose carrot. Aunt Lois' cake is one of my dad's favorite and has been in my family for a while, so that was a given. The butter cake with raspberry filling was one of the flavors at Brandon & I's wedding, so that is why I chose that flavor.

As for decorations... I am not quite sure how I will tie it all together yet... I was thinking of green frosting to look like grass all over the cake, then have little sculptures of summery things that remind me of Christmas in July. I guess we will see how it turns out!

I will do separate posts for the recipes of the cakes.

Suessical Cake

In June Brandon was the mayor of Who-ville in Seussical the Musical at the Rose Theater. For the last weekend of the show I made a cake (by the request of some of the cast members). Each layer is a different form of chocolate.

Topper: Chocolate coated chow mien noodles (nest), fondant egg, and pretzel/fondant/frosting Truffala Tree
Top Layer: Devils Food cake with white chocolate chunks and red fondant
Second layer: Marble cake with yellow fondant
Third layer: Chocolate cake with mint filling and mint buttercream frosting
Bottom layer: Fudge brownie with blue vanilla buttercream frosting

 

Beef Stew

Tonight for supper I made beef stew and it was pretty darn tasty. As with all my soups, I never use a recipe... I just dump and stir until it looks (but more importantly tastes) right. I can tell you most of the ingredients I used, but just not the quantities.

I had leftovers from a beef roast I made earlier in the week with rosemary and fennel, and I also reserved the broth/stock. I threw that in a dutch oven on the stovetop and let it start to simmer. I also added a little canned beef broth, tomato sauce, and a little water for more liquid volume.

The veggies I used were potatoes, celery, carrots, corn, garlic, and onion.

The spices/seasonings I used included garlic powder, onion powder, celery seed, paprika, bay leaves, a seasoning salt blend, and black pepper.

I am sure I added something else along the way, but this is what I could remember :) We do have a bunch of leftovers, so I am going to try to freeze some to use later. 

PS- if anybody knows a good way to take a picture of soup so it doesn't look gross, let me know!

Easter Yummies

For Easter dinner Brandon's parents and sister's family came over to our house. Six adults and 3 children. Here was the menu:

Baked Ham with a Spiced Honey Glaze
Au-gratin Potatoes
Pasta Salad
Coleslaw
Green Bean Casserole
Deviled Eggs
Fresh Fruit (pineapple, grapes, strawberries, oranges)
Buns
Lemon Meringue Pie and chocolate cakes in the shape of Easter eggs

 

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Argo® OR Kingsford's® Corn Starch
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 baked (9-inch) pie crust
• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine 1 cup sugar and corn starch in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Stir in egg yolks.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon peel, lemon juice and butter.
3. Spoon hot filling into pie crust.
4. Beat egg whites in small bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy. Gradually beat in remaining 1/3 cup sugar; continue beating until stiff peaks form.
5. Spread meringue evenly over hot filling, sealing to edge of crust.
6. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack at room temperature for 30 minutes; refrigerate for 3 hours before serving. 

 

The cheese sauce got added later, but I forgot to take a picture then :)