tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76835574717356334102024-03-12T23:10:55.867-07:00Breaking Bad with Good BreadLife is far too short to eat bad food and not drink wine.melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-21833349624713179912013-02-08T14:19:00.004-08:002013-02-08T14:19:42.470-08:00For Sale 2006 Honda CRF250R - $2800<b><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">For Sale 2006 Honda CRF250R - $2800</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b>The bike is clean with low hours. The bike has never been raced, only ridden in the desert. The bike has a 3.7 gallon desert fuel tank installed, and a top end sprocket set for higher speed. The bike is well maintained and very fast.<br />
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Additional upgrades to the bike:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Full Yoshimura Exhaust – Twin Cams with Carbon Fiber Tips</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Boyseen Quick Shot Accelerator Pump</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Twin Airflow Airfilter</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Jet Kit</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>ASV Breakaway Levers</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Trail Tech Endurance Computer</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Works Skid Plate</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>One Industries Snow Camo Plastics</div>
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Also Included:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Stock OEM 2-gallon Fuel Tank</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Brand New Stock OEM Plastics</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Stock OEM Sprockets for low end/racing</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Tri-Moto Stand</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Moto-Tek 3 in 1 Stand (center stand, front wheel stand, and wheel chock)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Extra sealing washers, airfilter oil, and <span> </span>some chain oil</div>
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Included riding gear (if the gear fits):</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Gaerne size 11 riding boots</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>EVS Ballistic Jersey w/ kidney belt size Large</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Suomy Helmet w/ Goggles</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>X-Lite Jersey</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>OGIO Gear Bag w/ separate Boot Compartment</div>
melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-90076941265565215852012-10-16T14:44:00.004-07:002012-10-16T14:51:38.181-07:00BAGELS! ~ BWJWow, two revelations. The first, bagels are not all that hard to make. The second. They are WAY better when you make them yourself, and they are fresh from the oven! The host and recipe keeper for today's bagel recipe can be found on <a href="http://www.heathersbytes.com/twd-bagels/">Heather's Bytes</a>, or of course in the Baking With Julia Cookbook.<br />
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The forming of the bagels was almost theraputic. As usual I cut the amount of time necessary down, only chilling the dough for 2 hours instead of 4, but I can't see how it affected the outcome. These were some of the best bagels I've eaten. As one commenter said on my last post- there really is nothing like fresh bread from the oven!<br />
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Then came the boiling of the dough for a few minutes in water with....sugar? and baking soda. I cut the amount of boiling time in half also, as suggested by some others.<br />
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They came out all cute and fluffy.<br />
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Now for the toppings. I love my everything bagels. But I didn't have the necessary ingredients handy. And it was the hubby's lunch today too, so I made what he would like- green chile and cheddar. I sprinkled the dough with some garlic and onion powders, and sea salt first, then piled on the green chiles and cheddar.<br />
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We each got one smothered with butter, and the second was made into a ham sandwich. The bagels were moist, warm, and didn't have the outer hard crust I tend not to like. I know, bagels were meant to be tough and chewy. But mine weren't, and they were just right! Glad I was forced to make these today to stay in the hosting game (not that I've felt confident enough to throw my hat in the ring just yet), otherwise I might have missed out on the bagel goodness that was our lunch.<br />
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-88000707452010466602012-09-18T20:37:00.001-07:002012-09-18T20:37:22.894-07:00Whole Wheat Loaves~ BWJMmmm, good stuff, and I don't even like wheat bread. I could really taste the honey. I smothered a couple pieces with butter, and then I made grilled ham and cheddar sandwiches <span id="goog_1948630458"></span><span id="goog_1948630459"></span>for lunch. I cut into it far too early, but it didn't seem to matter. The bread held up to the cutting, while still being fairly light to eat. Hostess Michelle's post and recipe can be found <a href="http://www.veggienumnums.com/2012/09/twd-baking-with-julia-whole-wheat-loaves.html?m=1">here</a>, and Hostess Teresa's post can be found <a href="http://thefamilythatbakestogether.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/whole-wheat-loaves/">here</a><br />
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Much more of a process than baking the wheat loaves is that I'm trying to learn to post my blog completely from my phone. The picture aspect has been the hardest to work out. I think I'm almost there, but I'm going to go ahead and post without pictures to make the deadline, and add them once I get google+ all figured out.<span id="goog_1700139432"></span><br />
<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-28211628081469883732012-08-21T17:40:00.000-07:002012-08-21T17:42:23.184-07:00Popovers~ BWJ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Today's recipe was a welcome distraction to my heartache as of late. My youngest has gone off to full time school and left me all alone for 7 hours a day. I know, everybody says I should be happy to have some time to myself. Apparently no one told my heart that. Yesterday I unconstructively spent my Monday morning watching a movie called <em>My Life Without Me </em>about a mother who learns she is dying of cancer in 2 months and decides not to tell anyone but enjoy every last minute she has. Too bad there wasn't any Ben and Jerry's in the house. So having the recipe and a craft project to focus on today was a good thing. </div>
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The host of these cute little popover treats as well as the recipes can be found on <a href="http://www.vintagekitchennotes.blogspot.com/2012/08/popovers-twd.html">Paula's blog</a> and <a href="http://bakewithamy.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/tuesdays-with-dorie-popovers/">Amy's blog.</a> They can also be found in the cookbook Baking With Julia.<br />
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Hmm, little bread muffins. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around eating bread muffins, although the dripping with butter and honey description in the book sounded good. But that would mean they would be a side for lunch. So instead I decided to alter the recipe a bit and make a lunch out of them. </div>
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I happened to have a popover muffin tin and baking cups I picked up from my last IKEA trip. I made 6 with half a slice of prosciutto and gruyere cheese in the middle, and the other 6 with 3 slices of turkey pepperoni and mozzerella cheese. For those I put some pizza sauce in a dipping cup. <br />
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I only baked them for 25 minutes at 425, not any additional time at 350 as suggested, and they came out perfectly cooked. I'm sure that's because the middles were stuffed full of goodness instead of dough. For me the pizza stuffed popovers edged out the prosciutto stuffed ones, since I found them a bit salty. Perhaps if I tried that combo in the future, I'd cut down on the salt the recipe called for.<br />
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And they were filling too. My husband and I each had 6 to begin with, and I pawned off my last two to him because I couldn't eat anymore. He complained he was full at 6, but ate the last two anyway. I'll probably try these plain with jam for breakfast sometime, but I would like to experiment more with different fillings. Brie and mushrooms is next I think.melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-88335411606492404972012-07-31T19:43:00.001-07:002012-08-01T08:34:18.872-07:00Blueberry Nectarine (but really plum) Pie ~ BWJMy pie is in the oven as I write this, and I can't wait to try it. I've got a feeling that my "must have as your go to crust" did not turn out, but the fruit filling and cherry vanilla ice cream will cover that up anyway. <br />
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I'll admit I almost didn't make the crust. I happened to have bought a pie crust for a chicken pot pie dinner one night this week, and thought to myself how easy it would be to just use that. Then I read that this crust, above all others, should be in our baking repertoire. Something about the perfect balance between butter and shortneing. I think maybe I added too much shortening, because even after a 9 hour chill, it never really hardened up and stayed moist. And when I tried some of the raw dough, I found it a little bitter. Butter never has that effect on me. Shortening does. Above is my first attempt at rolling out the dough. Not too terrible, but getting it off the countertop and into a pan, not good.<br />
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No way was my dough hearty enough to hang over a bowl as suggested! I had to fix the cracks, easy enough when you have dough as flexible as this. I just patted it into my pie pan. Then I gave it a 10 minute bake because I didn't trust it holding up to the fruit and juices.<br />
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Instead of rolling out my top crust, I patted it out with my hands. I'm thinking that it's not a good sign I could even do that. But it did stay together a little better when I put it on top.<br />
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Not having prepared for this bake session, I lucked out in having bought blueberries on my last shopping trip. I did not, however, purchase nectarines. But I did have a truckload of plums since my oldest child has been eating several in a sitting lately. Sounded like a good combo to me.<br />
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So my only changes were somehow screwing up the crust, using plums instead of nectarines, and prebaking the bottom crust for 10 minutes. Otherwise it's the same Baking With Julia recipe you can find either in the book itself, or at these host sites: <a href="http://thatskinnychickcanbake.blogspot.com/2012/07/blueberry-nectarine-piebaking-with-julia.html">Liz</a> of that Skinny Chick Can Bake! and <a href="http://manchegoskitchen.typepad.com/manchegos-kitchen/2012/07/twd-baking-with-julia-summer-fruit-pie.html">Hilary</a> of Manchego's Kitchen.<br />
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Oh @#*! The timer just went off and I forgot the important step of putting a cookie sheet underneath. Grrr. Guess the oven has been past due for a cleaning anyway. I'll be back to post pictures of the finished product and my verdict after it cools off.<br />
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Verdict- blueberries and plums, great together in a pie. The crust, good on impact with all the flavors mingling, but after each bite there was an oily coating from the shortening in my mouth. So far my least favorite crust we've made. Maybe I overworked it? Maybe I put too much shortening in? After that last bit of water that made it seem too moist, should I have added flour? It certainly wasn't a complete failure. My husband went in for a second piece right away (after he made me cut into it 15 minutes too early because he couldn't wait). But knowing how great our other crusts have been, I doubt I'll be revisiting this one. melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-70401559467757813302012-07-17T19:05:00.001-07:002012-07-17T19:09:05.645-07:00Semolina Bread~ BWJNo recipe changes this time! Well, as long as you don't count going crazy with the razor. Again with unclear directions, I just took it to my level of enjoyment. You can find the recipes from the Baking With Julia book <a href="http://www.keepitluce.com/2012/07/semolina-bread-for-tuesdays-with-dorie.html">here</a> ~ Anna takes some beautiful pictures, and <a href="http://www.thewaytomyfamilysheart.blogspot.com/2012/07/rosemary-semolina-bread-tuesdays-with.html">here</a> from Renee, whose added Rosemary looks devine.<br />
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I'm proud of myself for squeezing in fresh baked bread on top of the insane running around that come with being a stay at home mom of two kids involved in several summer activities. I had to skip the last post because I was out of town with a friend, and feeling very removed from the group, I was making this bread today no matter what. I just enjoyed a warm piece slathered with butter, accompanied by a glass of red wine for dessert. It was good. Not great like our first White Loaves post, but good will do. Especially since my bread maker is on the fritz and I haven't made bread in a long time. This blows the Wonder Bread I've been buying out of the water.<br />
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I was expecting something a little more.....wheat-y? I'm glad I didn't run out and buy semolina. It's too "white" for my husband's taste, and not white enough for mine, to call it amazing anyway. But, I do think it will grow on me. My friend-baker-blogger gave up 3/4 cup of semolina flour so I could complete the recipe today. (Thank you Bridget!) She turned me on to the world of baking together and blogging about it, and for that I am grateful. But I'm more grateful that I get to call her a friend. Who else would make sushi with me and party plan for weeks on end? Or have semolina flour and an owl cookie cutter on hand and get them to me in less than a days time? All unique qualities that I admire. Yes B- I did just finish that glass of wine, so this is your nice drinking text.<br />
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-52802461896330240992012-06-19T17:30:00.001-07:002012-06-19T17:39:20.699-07:00French Strawberry Cake ~ BWJ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Woo Hoo, I got to decorate a cake this time around! I knew I bought that 55 piece cake decorating kit for something. And we found it delicious as well. My Mother-In-Law, who doesn't care for strawberries, even went in for a second piece. The original recipes from the Baking With Julia cookbook can be found by Sophia, a 15 year old baker in our group <a href="http://sophiasbaking.blogspot.com/2012/06/twd-french-strawberry-cake.html">here</a>, and by Allison <a href="http://thinklovesleepdine.blogspot.com/2012/06/twd-french-strawberry-cake.html">here</a>.<br />
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There were changes of course. First, I didn't read the directions clearly. I'd like to blame the directions themselves for not being clearly written, but had I read them over a few times I would have known the butter was to be saved for last instead of heading into the mixing bowl right away with the eggs and sugar. Jumping head first into these complicated recipes tends to get me in trouble. Luckily it usually works out in the end. While they were quite thin, they were still tasty.<br />
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Then there were my planned changes. I decided to make 2 separate cakes instead of one cut into three layers. That is the cut corners and make life easier girl in me coming out. And I changed the frosting to my favorite <a href="http://www.breakingbadwithgoodbread.blogspot.com/2012/05/banana-cake-with-whipped-cream-frosting.html">Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting</a>. I didn't feel 2 tablespoons of sugar was much sweetness in a frosting.<br />
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Finally, I decorated it the way I wanted to. I had extra strawberry compote since I only had one layer to fill instead of two, so I used it on the top of the cake as well. Hopefully we'll have more cake decorating projects in the near future. It was my favorite part of this endevor. Well, maybe a close second, only to eating it!<br />
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-71791276305524428802012-05-15T20:23:00.000-07:002012-05-16T07:10:37.125-07:00Pecan Sticky Buns~ BWJWhile I have made an attempt to bake with you this week, I am unable to eat these yummy smelling, still in the oven as I write this, Sticky Buns until Saturday. So, my children and their teachers will get to try these out tomorrow and tell me what they think.
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I made a lot of changes to this one. My sticky buns are more like cinnamon rolls. I eliminated the "sticky topping" and plan to put a powdered sugar drizzle for tomorrow, and a cream cheese frosting on my Saturday delight. I changed the filling to incorporate the 1 cup of brown sugar, I upped the cinnamon to 1/2 a tablespoon, and used 1 stick of butter instead of two. I'm just not a nuts in my dessert girl. For me, it ruins my carrot cake, turtle cheesecake would be great without those darned pecans, fruit breads are so much better without nuts, and probably anything else baked. Candy bars, however, rock the nuts! I am not at all a nut hater. Quite the opposite.
I can snack on almonds and cashews all day. Just keep them out of my desserts.<br />
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Hopefully tomorrow my children will consider them edible. I'm fairly certain they will. Who doesn't like a cinnamon roll, er...um, I mean Sticky Bun minus the pecans!
Check out the original recipes~ <a href="http://eatdrinkmanwomandogscat.com/2012/05/15/sticky-buns-brioche-butter-and-another-tuesday-with-dorie/">here</a> is Lynn's post and <a href="http://cookiesonfriday.blogspot.com/2012/05/pecan-sticky-buns.html">here</a> is Nicole's post.<br />
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Finally done and out of the oven long enough to not completely melt the topping. Boy, would I like to shove it in my mouth right now!melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-57550309909381632022012-05-11T06:59:00.000-07:002012-06-19T17:40:48.705-07:00Banana Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese FrostingI have found "the one". The recipe that edges out all others and will become my go to Banana Cake recipe. As three bananas sat and ripened for a week~ a week in which I could not eat them~ and I knew flour, which is also restricted 6 days a week would need to be used, a desire for banana cake was born. It was so good it became breakfast, lunch, snack, and company dinner dessert on my "cheat day" the weekend before last. Then it became breakfast again for last weekends cheat day since I was smart enough to make and freeze an 8 inch round cake on top of the 16 cupcakes. I used that to make the banana cake dessert below since my 7 year old son is very into all the food network competitions and he often grades me on my plating. Most days I fall short of the perfect 5, but this day he easily gave it to me.<br />
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As if finding the grand master of banana cake recipes wasn't enough, I stumbled across the perfect cream cheese frosting. Most are heavy. When I ran into one called whipped cream cheese frosting, it had no chance of escaping me. Now it is my prisoner. Truth be told it's the other way around. This frosting has got quite a hold on me. I love how light it is without giving up any flavor. It unfortunately doesn't give up any calories either. How unfair that something so light and fluffy still has a huge caloric downfall. I think it would also double nicely as a fruit dip.<br />
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The boys loved it. So did our dinner guests. Cruz wanted to make fondant decorations for the company cupcakes, darn that food network!, but I didn't have the fondant, or the time, so we made everyones initials in melting candy. It was just the right touch of cute.<br />
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<h2>
Banana Cake recipe- adapted from Allrecipes <span class="itemreviewed"><a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/a-number-1-banana-cake/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=banana%20cake&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page">A-Number-1 Banana Cake</a></span></h2>
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<span class="itemreviewed">Ingredients</span><br />
<ul>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient">3 cups cake flour</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 1 tablespoon baking soda</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 1 pinch salt</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 1/2 cup unsalted butter</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient">3/4 cup white sugar</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 3/4 cup light brown sugar</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 2 eggs</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient">3 ripe bananas, mashed</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 2/3 cup buttermilk</li>
</ul>
<div class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient">
Directions</div>
<ol>
<li><span class="plaincharacterwrap break"> Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 - 9 inch round pans. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. </span></li>
<li><span class="plaincharacterwrap break"> In a large bowl, cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in the bananas. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the creamed mixture. Pour batter into the prepared pans. </span></li>
<li><span class="plaincharacterwrap break"> Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cake rack to cool.</span></li>
</ol>
<h2>
<span class="plaincharacterwrap break">Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting- adapted from <a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/whipped-cream-cream-cheese-frosting/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=whipped%20cream%20cheese%20frosting&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe">Allrecipes</a></span></h2>
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<span class="plaincharacterwrap break">Ingredients</span><br />
<ul>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese- at room temperature</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 1 cup white sugar</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 1/8 teaspoon salt</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 1 teaspoon vanilla extract</li>
<li class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient"> 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream</li>
</ul>
<div class="plaincharacterwrap ingredient">
Directions</div>
<ol>
<li><span class="plaincharacterwrap break"> In a mixer beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside. </span></li>
<li><span class="plaincharacterwrap break"> In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Mix until smooth. </span></li>
<li><span class="plaincharacterwrap break">Add cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and beat on low just until incorporated. </span></li>
</ol>
<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-46029248399647380382012-05-08T08:51:00.001-07:002012-05-08T12:21:05.221-07:00Hungarian Shortbread~ BWJI am dieting. That short little statement has no business in this insanely rich and calorically dense dessert post. The good news, this diet runs for 6 days a week, and the 7th day I am allowed to go crazy and eat anything I want. That day is Saturday. It was always high on the list of favorite days, but now it has moved up to 'best day ever' status. It also means I plan ahead to what I am going to make on Saturdays. Wow, I feel like I'm breaking tradition here when I say I made this dessert in advance of posting Tuesday. Luckily it didn't have a superstitious negative effect on this.... this cookie-like, cake-like, blondie-like dessert. Perhaps I should try not procrastinating in other areas of my life. (I'm snickering in my head.)<br />
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I made them late Friday night and the smell was so yummy. Shortbread for sure. Not the Lorna Doone kind, or the Girl Scout kind, but somewhere near the buttery goodness of the Chessman kind. Uh, could that be because we used 4 sticks of butter in one dessert?! Ah well, another rich dessert for special occasions that the whole family really liked. That's not such a bad thing.<br />
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That question and answer section we have before baking the dessert is such a help to me. New to all these made from scratch techniques, I was more a Sandra Lee type gal in the dessert arena before starting this BWJ project. So the bakers who make theirs well in advance and post on their experience help me to avoid pitfalls I may have succumbed to due to lack of experience. When the lady from Hungary posted the bottom was always baked first in their country after so many posts about uncooked dough, I took the advice of others and baked the bottom layer of shortbread for 20 minutes. What I did not do was follow the recipe's instructions on freezing and grating the dough. Sounding like a monumental task, I skipped it and just spread the dough in my 9x13 ungreased pan. Because why would you need to grease a pan that has contents with 4 sticks of butter? I'm always looking for the faster, easier way, without sacrificing flavor. Perhaps it's why I got a cakier, blondie like version and not a crumbly shortbread like crumb. But it sounded like many who did follow those instructions got the same thing.<br />
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Since this dessert was made to be eaten on Cinco de Mayo, half of the shortbread base was spread with guava preserves, and on the other half I used raspberry preserves. The raspberry edges out the guava by a hair, but both were good. Then I decided maybe I wasn't playing by the rules enough and became my own shredder for the top layer. I took bits of dough and chucked them onto the top. I suppose <em>maybe</em> the top layer was more airy than the bottom layer, but if so, not by much. They both tasted the same to me. <br />
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I baked the shortbread for another 40 minutes. Although everything was cooked through, the jelly gave it a bit of a gooey texture in the middle. I wonder if that was why some people likened it to uncooked cookie dough? Other than baking the bottom, cutting out the dough shredding, and leaving off the powdered sugar since I had used sweet fillings instead of tart, my recipe is the same as the recipes found <a href="http://crazyworldofcher.blogspot.com/2012/04/on-shoulders-of-those-before-us-twd.html">here</a> , Cher is a wonderful blogger whom I enjoy reading and takes the time to comment on many of our posts, and Lynette's can be found <a href="http://1smallkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/05/tuesdays-with-dorie-hungarian.html">here</a>.<br />
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Big Side Note: And now I am seriously laughing at myself after posting my link. I thought I was getting this done EARLY, and it turns out I'm a week <em>late</em>. The 8th felt like more of a date we would have used than the 1st, obviously I didn't even check. Lovely. The procrastinator is still in the house!<br />
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-3978397500848688142012-04-25T09:15:00.001-07:002012-05-08T12:17:50.917-07:00April 21, 2012My oldest, Cruz, turned 7 on Saturday. I have only had 3 birthday parties between both boys outside the home. A Cosmic Bowling Party, a Chinese New Year/Ninja party we held at a dojo, and a hotel pool party. So out of 12 parties, 9 have been at our home. While I loved the "uncraziness" of having the parties at other locations, I also love to host parties. Eventually, the day before clean up, all the food prep and decorating, and the day after clean up all fade away from memory, and you are left with a warm feeling of sharing your home with people you like. I enjoy creating a happy experience not only for my children, but their friends and parents as well.<br />
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We had our Family Birthday Celebration Friday night because his party actually fell on his birthday this year. I had made a chocolate chocolate chip bundt cake with chocolate ganache to be auctioned off on Thursday at a Cub Scout charity auction with the proceeds going to 2 of our Cub Scouts whose mother had just been killed. I was proud that Cruz decided he wanted my cake above all others. He ended up paying $26 for a plain old bundt cake, but he was happy, and the money went to a great cause. And it worked out perfectly as our family birthday cake.<br />
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He said he didn't want anything this year. While it makes it a little harder to buy for him, I hit the nail on the head. He got his favorite book series, and is now all set up to learn to play baseball, down to the batting gloves and bases. He has expressed an interest in trying baseball instead of soccer next year, so we'll need to get him up to speed with the kids his age that have been playing for years. It's really a present to all of us since it is something the whole family can do together on a Sunday afternoon.<br />
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I gently guided him in the direction of a Scooby Doo party. He was obsessed with the show when he was little. When I promised him a mystery would need to be solved, he jumped right on board. I got lucky once again with a sale on the 4x8 photocards at Walgreens and photoshopped a 4x6 picture of my son with the gang and added the party information in the additional 2 inches of text space.<br />
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We bought a waterslide to keep the kids occupied until the dinner and mystery, so it became a beach Scooby theme. He wanted a red velvet cake, which I had never made before. I didn't realize how much red food coloring goes into one! Already at the food coloring step, and only having an eighth of the food coloring I needed, it surprisingly turned out a shade of red, even if it wasn't the bright red normally associated with the cake. The frosting I altered to include as much butter as cream cheese, and much less sugar than most recipes called for. Butter is good!<br />
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While the kids had some waterslide fun, the parents got to mull around the appetizers and drink cherry moonshine. After about an hour, hamburgers and hot dogs were put on the grill and it was time for our beach BBQ to begin. I made a lemon cashew rice, hawaiian coleslaw, cowboy beans, and a fruit salad for the sides. I of course forgot to take pictures of the food this time. I'm blaming the cherry moonshine on that one. But here is a picture of the food station before the guests arrived. The chip bowls went on the tables outside for kids to munch on while they played.<br />
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After dinner the kids had a mystery to solve. Cruz got wind of what the mystery was because a little girl had asked me if there would be a mystery and I showed her the note that the Birthday Phantom had left in the place where the cake used to be saying that he stole the cake and if the kids wanted it back, they would have to solve the clues. He was up in arms that his cake was gone. Since the adults had fed the kids before themselves, we were still eating, so the kids took it upon themselves to search for the cake until we finished. Luckily I did a pretty good job hiding the clues and cake, so nothing was found. <br />
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The first clue was the letter from the Phantom explaining he took the cake and told the kids to look where you lay down at night for the next clue. They found that one in Cruz's bed, and had to hold the clue up in a mirror to read it. It told them to pop the balloon that was Cruz's favorite color. After popping the green balloon, the next clue was a number code they had to decifer that told them they had to catch the Phantom in order to get the last clue to the cake. My husband dressed in a Halloween costume and I gave him a letter addressed to Cruz. But when the Phantom appeared, Shawn decided to ad lib some scary roars. Men. Luckily only one child was scared out of his mind by the Phantom. <br />
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After opening the last letter, the clue said the cake was in a place where groceries, luggage, and a spare tire go, and was the color of snow. Cruz screamed, "My mom's car is white!" and all the kids went running outside. They opened the trunk and found the cake. I told them they were all excellent mystery solvers. I think the kids had just as much fun with the mystery as they did with the waterslide! And it continued throughout the party as the kids tried to solve the mystery of who the Phantom really was.<br />
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After the case was solved it was time for cake and presents. I accidentally bought trick candles- I swear the word trick was unbelievably small and I had no idea they were. So of course the candles kept lighting back up. The joke ended up being on me.<br />
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After cake and presents the kids started a game of hide and go seek, which gave the adults a little more time to get their party on. It was a great mix of adults as well as children. As the guests left they were given a Scooby backpack filled with Scooby snacks and treats. <br />
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Another birthday down, man they come fast! Most importantly Cruz was happy all night. No small feat for my perfectionist son. <br />
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Happy 7th Birthday Cruz!</div>
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-13672317343645349932012-04-18T08:27:00.001-07:002012-04-18T08:27:44.096-07:00Lemon Loaf Cake~ BWJWell, I made the loaf cake on posting Tuesday at 6:30am. I planned to post after my crazy day in the evening, but even with mental reminders as I sat at the computer working on some photoshop pictures for my son's upcoming birthday, it managed to slip my mind. Hopefully it's still Tuesday somewhere.<br />
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The link for this easy recipe can be found <a href="http://www.treats-sf.com/2012/04/twd-lemon-loaf-cake.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.ladystiles.blogspot.com/2012/04/lemon-loaf-cake-for-tuesdays-with-dorie.html">here.</a> While I'd argue the 5 minute assembly the book Baking With Julia claims it takes to prepare, 20 minutes isn't too much for a fresh, springy feeling dessert such as this. I liked the texture of the Lemon Loaf, not quite as thick and buttery as pound cake, but sometimes less dense is a good thing. <br />
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The only changes I made were to make my loaf into mini loaves, which baked for 25 minutes. It makes it easier to give the calories away! And like many others I felt it needed a little something on the top to finish it off and make it more dessert like. A friend had just posted her lemon pound cake recipe, which had a topping of fresh squeezed lemon juice and powdered sugar. I dipped the tops of the mini loaves into the juice/sugar mixture, and it gave it just the right sweet yet tart flavor, while helping them retain moisture. <br />
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I had a loaf for breakfast and planned to get a shot of the cake cut in nice slices and reveal the texture of the loaf. Apparently it was too good to stop eating and remember to do that. In the future I can see a berry compote and fresh whipped cream on top of a slice for company dessert. A keeper recipe for this family.melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-21948673150447639932012-04-03T18:42:00.000-07:002012-04-03T18:42:10.067-07:00Pizza Rustica ~ BWJ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What I had envisioned in my head when I read "pizza rustica" was far from the actual product. I saw a classic pizza dough with olive oil, slices of tomatoes in place of sauce, grated cheese, and fresh herbs. Wow, how different this was! More like a pie, and kind of quiche like. My verdict is that it was good, and I'd make it again in the future, likely playing with the ingredients. My husband and I enjoyed the spinach. My boys however will not. You can find the recipe for it <a href="http://capitalregiondiningblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/twd-baking-with-julia-pizza-rustica.html">here</a> and <a href="http://tptch.com/2012/04/03/twd-pizza-rustica/">here.</a><br />
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I had a really hard time getting the crust to come together. I suppose it was finally time for me to experience difficulty in the rolling out department since my last two tries were almost too easy. It looked like it came together. But when I tried to roll it, it stuck and cracked. I added flour to no avail. <br />
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Because I had a serious time crunch since this was my husband's lunch, and I had already pushed it back a half hour. There could be no more wiggle room for the man with the huge appetite. So I put in what I had rolled out, broken and sad, and played with it in the pan until I got the coverage I needed, minus the beauty. I reminded myself this was supposed to be rustic, and pushed forward.
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The recipe wanted procuitto, I did not. I also wanted more than just cheeses and a meat. I decided to go with bacon to add some crunch. When the bacon was cooked halfway, I added chopped onion, and once the bacon was nicely crisped I added 3 cloves of chopped garlic. All that went into a bowl and was set aside. Then I removed the water from about a cup of frozen chopped spinach, and mixed it together with the three cheeses. Finally the eggs were mixed in, and my filling was ready to go.
The sweet and yet savory aspect was certainly there. My husband even commented on it, he usually has no opinion and just eats everything on his plate. Makes it hard to know what he really likes at times, but he says he liked this. It took about an hour from start to finish to prepare, 35 minutes at 375 degrees to cook, and it took the full 35 minute cooking time to clean up, my least favorite part. This wasn't an easy throw together lunch, but it'll be a nice treat every once in a while.<br />
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As ugly as the crust was, it was a great crust. My husband won't know the troubles I had or how hideous it really was until he reads this since it was tucked away at the bottom and didn't lack any flavor. I'll make it again in the future with more time to play with it and figure out what went wrong when rolling it out. </div>
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<br /></div>melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-77302805843800233542012-03-14T13:25:00.001-07:002012-03-14T13:44:53.405-07:00Lobster BisqueI recently did something I never do. I sent a bowl of Lobster Bisque back at a restaurant. Sending something back seems pretentious, as well as dangerous when you still have food to come out of the kitchen. Normally I would keep my mouth shut, eat as much as I could, or just leave it and hope the server notices the lack of enjoyment and inquires about it. But it was my birthday, the soup was the reason I had chosen to eat there, and they were charging $9 for a bowl of Lobster Bisque that didn't have a speck of lobster in it. Feeling courageous from a few birthday drinks, I asked the server about the lack of the much craved crustacean. He spoke to the chef and came back with the answer that it was made in the traditional way. I believe I'd call that soup "lobster stock with way too much tomato paste" then! I could not even taste any seafood through the overpowering tomato paste.<br />
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Fast forward one month later. That lobster bisque craving never went away. In fact, like a litter of rabbits, it continued to grow and consumed me to the point of researching which restaurants had the best lobster bisque around. So when I was at the seafood counter in the grocery store staring down a frozen lobster tail and the lady asked, "Would you like anything else?" I replied, "A lobster tail, please!"<br />
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What was I thinking? I had never made lobster before. It's fairly easy to overcook it and mess it up. I didn't even have a recipe or know if I had the ingredients to make lobster bisque. The culinary courage that has been growing in me recently kicked in and I thought, no matter, I had the most important part, and I'd wing the rest.<br />
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After looking up several recipes, and conforming them to the ingredients I had on hand, I finally decided on a cooking method. I boiled 2 cups of water in a stock pot and placed the thawed tail on a strainer out of reach of the water. Most recipes said steam for 7-8 minutes, so I steamed my 4 oz. tail for 5 minutes knowing it would cook a little in the soup as well. After deveining the lobster and chopping it up, I added the shells and 1 cup chicken stock to the water left in the stock pot and let it come to a slow boil.<br />
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Having no tomato paste, I found a can of whole cooked tomatoes. I squeezed out the juice of 2, added 2 cloves of raw garlic and pureed. <br />
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Then sea salt, parsley and basil joined the party. I added chicken stock to the bowl, and once it was as smooth as it was going to get, I took the lobster shells out of the stock pot and poured the tomato mixture in. I also added 1/2 tsp of worcestershire sauce and 1 tbs butter. After a couple minutes of simmering, I turned the heat to low.<br />
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Finally 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 tbs flour, and the lobster meat I had so desperately been craving went into the pot. I gave it a minute or two to heat through, and into the bowls it went.<br />
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While it wasn't the best lobster bisque I've ever had, I can honestly say it satiated my craving. The lobster was thankfully not overdone and chewy. The tomato was not overpowering the soup. And I got a good seafood taste from each bite.<br />
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My son gave it a 10 out of 10. It was his first time trying lobster bisque, so he apparently likes it now too. His partaking is the reason I didn't add any cayenne pepper. And in the future when I make this, I'll be sure to have some sherry, green onion or chives, and bay leaves on hand. Maybe some fish stock instead of chicken stock too, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.<br />
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-15753388464435134212012-03-06T20:22:00.001-08:002012-03-07T18:54:18.078-08:00Rugelach ~ BWJAhhhh! That sums up todays baking efforts. First, I of course waited until posting day to make my contribution. Procrastination should come as no surprise at this point. I did choose to read other blogs before starting this morning, and imagine my surprise when I realized I was wrong about the Irish Soda Bread being our endevor this Tuesday. Ahhhhh, mistake #1. That started the day off on the wrong foot. Then I read the recipe and after taking in the very detailed and overwhelming directions with 6 hours of chilling, rolling out dough, and making fillings, I knew I was in for a lot more work than I had bargained for, on a day when I had a lot to do already. Plus, now I had to get a loaf of bread going for the soup I had made for lunch the night before, thinking there would be fresh Irish Soda bread to go with it. Thank you bread machine for doing most of the work! Too bad I didn't have a rugelach machine. You can find the recipe<a href="http://mybakingheart.com/2012/03/06/twd-baking-with-julia-rugelach/"> here</a>. HERS turned out beautifully I might add!<br />
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Still, I was excited about the rugelach project when I saw the dough had cream cheese. My favorite cookies my grandma used to make were cream cheese kolacky. These had a similar feel with the cream cheese dough and jam filling. I gave the butter and cream cheese an hour to warm because it was all I could give. The dough came together yummily. Isn't it great when there is no raw egg and you can pick at the bowl leftovers? And I searched for possible fillings. I came up with an apple, some raisins, and a peach apricot spread. Those were going to have to do today.<br />
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I patted the dough into rectangles and into the fridge for the 2 hour chill they went. After picking up my youngest son, I went to work on the one filling I didn't cop out on. I peeled and diced the apple, put it into a skillet, and added brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. I sauteed the mixture until the apples were tender and the cinnamon/sugar was gooey and thick. Then I let it cool on the stove.<br />
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After 2 hours I took the dough out to roll it. I'm not a great judge of a 1/4 thickness, it might have been a little less, but I wouldn't have wanted them any doughier than they turned out. I put the apple mixture onto the first rectangle. I sprinkled some sugar, brown sugar, and imaginary raisins, since I forgot to put them in until after I had done the work of rolling it up. Ahhhhh, mistake #2.<br />
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The next rolled out rectangle of dough got the peach apricot treatment. I took a fork and sifted out all of the fruit chunks that were in there. Then I filled in the rest with what I now know to be a far too thin jam. Ahhhhh, mistake #3. There probably won't be a next time, but if there were, I would certainly use chunks of apricot and a thick apricot butter, which I still would not have faith that it would hold up. I sprinkled the peach apricot spread with brown sugar and omitted the white sugar since the spread was already sweet. I also omitted chunks of nuts because my boys can go either way with them, and I knew I needed them to eat the majority of these for my own sake.<br />
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With the second one rolled up, it was time to chill for at least 4 hours, preferrably overnight. Since they were due today, that wasn't happening. Between school, homework, Taekwondo and soccer, they got to chill for 6 hours. They were easy to handle, and I chose to use cream for the egg wash. After brushing on the wash, I rolled the 1 inch pieces into a cinnamon sugar bowl for the apple rugelach. Then I added chopped pecans to the cinnamon sugar and rolled the peach apricot rugelach in that. <br />
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At this point they look so pretty! All my effort looks like it was going to pay off. I already had a 375 degree preheated oven from dinner, so in they went. I even moved them around like the directions stated. But everytime I opened the oven door I saw a horror before me. All my filling was leaking out! I wanted to pull them right there to prevent further loss, but I knew the dough wasn't done. I waited out the 25 minutes and sadly took them out of the oven. <br />
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The apple fared much better than the peach apricot, which lost most of their filling. I transferred them to a cooling rack begrudgingly. I gave each boy, big and small, one of each kind. They gobbled them up. I tried one of each too, and they weren't too bad, although I knew how much better they could have been. <br />
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The hubby came into the kitchen inquiring if he could have another one. I told him to enjoy them now, because I wouldn't be making these (probably) ever again. Too much heartbreak for this girl. I know, Julia, I did not follow the recipe to a tee. I went rouge with the fillings and didn't prepare, and I can blame myself for this literal mess I've made. I'm seriously thinking about throwing one of the pans away instead of trying to scrape off the mess on there.<br />
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Alas, I have half of the rugelach dough in the freezer. Perhaps there will be a second try. Or perhaps I will again go rogue, and design a dough container to keep the filling from spilling out. No, it won't have the pretty swirl shape. But it will have all the fruity goodness that should be there!<br />
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-52052995605294054692012-02-27T15:01:00.000-08:002012-02-27T15:12:32.183-08:00Bûche de Noël ~ AKA: Yule LogCub Scouts had their annual cake auction recently to raise money for the Blue and Gold ceremony. There were prizes given out in many categories, and it was a project we were to do as a mother/son team effort. Woo hoo, competition and bake time with my child, win/win! I decided to go for the Scouting theme prize and remembered a picture of a campfire log cake I saw in the <a href="http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/campfire-cake-687698/">Family Fun</a> magazine that I had ripped out a few years ago, hoping to one day make it for a camping themed party. Then my log cake internet search opened up a whole new world of cakes! I had not known about the Yule Log tradition in several European countries, and it was interesting to learn as well as gain knowledge of different techniques in the making of yule logs. One day I'd love to try to make those adorable marzipan mushrooms that adorn many traditional yule logs.<br />
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My son joined Cub Scouts a few months ago and mostly likes it, except for the large gatherings of the whole pack which has helped me come to understand he has some form of large group anxiety. I saw it this summer at a very large family reunion of mostly boisterous Italians, and blamed it on lack of sleep from our long and tiring three week road trip. Looking back now, I know better. Granted, being tired didn't help, but there is something about a large chaotic group of people that sends him into an anxious state, which causes him to act socially inept. I've taken him to many plays and shows starting at age 4 that were large and loud, and it does not set him off. Granted Blue Man Group left him exhausted after watching it, but even I was from the amount of activity going on. But we are often the ones that the little old lady we sit next to scowls at thinking, "oh great, a little kid next to me", only to have them compliment him at the end of the production on how wonderful he was. Anyway, all this to say that Cub Scouts has given us something (the knowlege that I need to research group anxiety) in return for a crazy amount of time and energy I had no idea it would take when we signed up! Many activities are for the good of the community, which is a wonderful thing, but I'm not sure at what point there are too many structured activities in a child's life vs. the ability to choose what they want to do with their own time.<br />
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One such time consuming activity was this cake. Granted, I could have used a box cake mix and put some trees and a campfire in frosting. But they went and made it a competition, and to be honest, even if it wasn't, I still like mine to stand out. So we put a little more effort into our cake and baked it from scratch. For the cake I used <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/old-south-jelly-roll-cake-recipe/index.html">Paula Deen's Old South Jelly Roll recipe</a>, because let's be honest, anything that woman makes is going to taste good, because butter is just good.<br />
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I separated the eggs and worked with the whites since they needed a gentle hand, but Cruz helped measure out and stir the yolk mixture. Once done, he helped scrape out the batter onto the baking sheet while I held the bowl for him.<br />
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While the cake cooled, Cruz was happy to get to make a mess to get ready for the next step by putting powdered sugar all over a towel so we could roll it up without sticking. It cracked a little, but nothing the chocolate buttercream frosting wouldn't be able to hide. After 15 minutes I unrolled it and Cruz spread apricot jam on it, then I rolled it back up. Then I cut it about 1/3 of the way in at an angle and gave it the branched off look.<br />
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Cruz helped measure the chocolate buttercream frosting ingredients and we let the mixer do the work. We used this <a href="http://savorysweetlife.com/2011/04/chocolate-buttercream-frosting/">recipe</a>, but I halved it, only I forgot to half the cocoa. This made for a very rich, chocolately frosting that luckily turned out to be more than just edible. I wished I had made the full batch at that point. As you can see in the picture below, my little one had no problem licking the mixer attachment.<br />
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After Cruz frosted most of it and I filled in the missing pieces, we got to work on the <a href="http://www.chex.com/recipes/RecipeView.aspx?RecipeId=45860&CategoryId=340">Chex Muddy Buddies recipe</a>, because while I like the ideas of the coals in Family Fun magazine, I didn't like the idea of buying donut holes. So far the cake was all from scratch, and I had high hopes of keeping it that way. When I thought of what else I could pull off as coals, puppy chow came to mind. It turned out to be a good decision we all enjoyed since this time I did make enough for us to have some. In fact, I'm pretty sure during the auction the cake sold more so for the puppy chow than the actual cake! Cruz helped measure out all the ingredients, I melted them together and stirred in the chex mix, he covered them with powdered sugar, and we laid them on a cookie sheet to dry. This ended our Wednesday night baking adventure together, and after over 2 hours, Cruz was more than ready to be done helping in the kitchen. Into the fridge it went.<br />
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The following day I decided to spruce up the cake a bit. In my internet search I had run across a cake that had chocolate "bark" covering it. It made for a very authentic looking log. I melted some semisweet chocolate chips and brushed them out onto a wax paper covered cookie sheet. That went into the fridge and once hardened, I broke off pieces and added it on top of the buttercream frosting. It definitely added a nice touch. <br />
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The Family Fun campfire version also included flames by way of fruit roll ups. Not wanting to work with such a soft medium, I decided to try to make hard candy instead. I've made suckers before and figured if I could make a mold, I'd be set. I found 2 star shaped pancake molds and distorted them to look like flames. <br />
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But when it came time to find my candy themometer and cherry flavoring, they were no where to be found. I had come this far, so I wasn't going to quit. I had to go to the dollar store to get a pan for the cake anyway, so I picked up a couple bags of jolly ranchers and decided I was going to try to melt those in the oven.<br />
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After many attempts and failures, I finally got 3 flames I felt were cake worthy and while still slightly warm and pliable, I molded them onto the cake. <br />
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After picking Cruz up from school, I took the boys to a park where we found a nice looking stick for roasting marshmallows. Being one to kill a theme, I hot glued the stick to the pan, added marshmallows to the top and toasted them, and hot glued the cake description to the stick. Then it was time to fill the dead space in with coals, and I placed an edible smore on top of the coals.<br />
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Our cake went up for auction first, not the best place to be, as I noticed the cake prices increased throughout the night when there were less cakes and still many little scouts without a dessert to take home. But we still raised $12 for our cake. In the end, we placed first in a category and took home a big certifcate, Cruz learned the trappings of auctions, as he got caught up in a bidding war and ended up paying far too much for something he didn't really want, and we took home two box made desserts, a pineapple cake and red velvet cupcakes that the boys ate with delight. And most importantly I got some quality baking time in with my boy.melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-77344445716373455012012-02-21T14:23:00.000-08:002012-02-21T14:44:48.820-08:00Chocolate Truffle Tartlets- BWJAgain I waited until the day of the post to make my tarts. I had planned to make them and pawn them off as Valentine's Day treats but time did not allow for that. That's alright, today is Fat Tuesday, so I get to indulge a little. And it wasn't too hard to pawn my still warm tarts off to a few people. <br />
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Surprisingly, I decided not to read posts about BWJ bloggers' undertakings and just went straight from the recipe. As "easy" as these were to make, it turned out to be a decision that wouldn't haunt me. I'm looking forward to reading how everyone else did later tonight. And when I say easy, I mean it's pretty hard to mess these up, as forgiving as the dough is. Not to be confused with the amount of time that goes into making these little darlings! Definitely a special occasion treat. And just as well, because they are chocolately goodness that is hard to stop eating!<br />
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I decided to go with the 4.5 inch tart pans. I also decided to skip the biscotti in the recipe. Otherwise everything was exact to the recipe that you can find <a href="http://awhiskandaspoon.com/">here</a>. Oh... well, except for a little reading mistake I made, in which I only reduced the oven to 325 degrees instead of 300 for the filling bake, but since my tarts were not done until the 12 minute mark, I'm thinking it wasn't too big a mistake. They tasted good. And in my head, the more cooked raw egg gets, the better.<br />
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This dough was so moist and amazingly forgiving. I did not use any additional flour to roll them out. And, woo hoo, my first homemade dough completed! I know, sadly I have used Pillsbury refrigerated dough all these years thinking it was just as good. Silly me. Plus, Pillsbury does not come in chocolate!<br />
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Then came time for the filling. Could you go wrong with 3 different kinds of chocolate? This was the slightly painful and time consuming part- breaking the chocolate up. I will try out the food processor next time for that task.<br />
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Also needed in my kitchen is a scale. I'm sure I will run into more recipes that require 'so many ounces' of things. This time I eyeballed my milk chocolate shavings, which were in a big block of German chocolate I picked up from Cost Plus, based on the 2 ounces of pre measured blocks of white chocolate shavings. In a filling this full of chocolate, I'm sure being off by a little wasn't going to hurt me. Still, I have a suspicion I will be needing that scale in the future!<br />
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Now to figure out what to make with 8 egg whites. <br />
<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-60956308645328495202012-02-21T13:15:00.000-08:002012-02-22T07:41:59.577-08:00February 14, 2012St. Valentine's Day. There seem to be two camps on this day. Those who appreciate the opportunity to show their love to others, and those who despise the holiday all together. If you are great at showing your love to someone 364 days a year, you can probably take the so called Hallmark holiday off. If not, you'd better suck it up and make a kind gesture. Really, how hard is it to be friendly on a day that celebrates love. And it truly does. St. Valentine died protecting the rights of men and women to join in holy matrimony should they chose to do so. I'll honor that. Now Sweetest Day, that's another story. <br />
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But alas, there is no more Valentine's Day for me. I had my youngest on February 14th, 2007, so the day is all about him. He's my literal labor of love. There is something as magical to a mother about her child's birthday as there is to the child themselves. To them it's all about the presents and cake. To us, it's about being transported back to that day we brought a helpless, dependant life into the world that we carried as part of ourselves for 9 months. Just the date brings back all the memories of labor for me. Valentine's Day is no longer a Hallmark holiday for this girl. But I do get to celebrate one of the best things to ever happen to me, so I'm good with that.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gavin Broderick @ 6 months old<br />
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One thing that's great for my little guy right now is that he gets a party at school on his birthday. The whole day is about treats and celebrating for him. At school he celebrates friendships and gets treats, and at home he celebrates with the love of his family, gets his favorite dinner, cake, and presents. It's an all day long fiesta. Poor boy doesn't realize yet during his adolescence it will no longer be all about him though. Wooing a girl will mean flowers and candy and larger than life stuffed animals on his special day. Luckily that is many years off in the future. Since we have moved to a small town, I am more at liberty to bake and make treats. I used to be required to bring store bought goodies to celebrations when we lived in Las Vegas. I have ripped out many a magazine page for future holiday party use, and lord knows pinterest isn't helping matters any these days. I'm glad I finally get to put some of those ideas to work.<br />
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For Gavin's treats we took 2 blueberry candy canes, cut off the bottom half, put them on wax paper in the shape of a heart, stuck sucker sticks in the middle and baked them at 250 degrees for 10 minutes. I cooled those in the fridge, then poured blue Wilton melting candy in the middle and made a white chocolate chip V in the middle. Once those cooled, I put them into candy bags and tied a personal message from Gavin to close them up. They just happen to be his favorite color too. You can see a Christmas version I love <a href="http://glorioustreats.blogspot.com/2010/12/candy-cane-hearts.html">here</a>.<br />
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We made these the night before, and off to school he went with these packed neatly in a box on the bus. Then off to work I went for the first time in 6 and a half years! Not that being a stay at home mom is play time, I only mean an outside the home job. And oh what fun I had at "work"! I got to deliver flowers on Valentine's Day. It was almost criminal to pay me considering how much enjoyment I got out of it. The different reactions from surprise, to embarrassment, to pure joy were so much fun to take in. But my fun was short lived since little man is only in school for a few hours. Soon it was time to pick him up and take him to his favorite of all places, Walmart, to grab a few things for his older brother's class they needed and a toy he got to pick out on his own for his birthday. Then my husband Shawn took us out for lunch, to celebrate Valentine's day for me, and little man's birthday. It was a place I had been wanting to try, so I thought that was a nice effort on his part to include me in the day.<br />
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The boys got to stray from their usual Tuesday night activity of Taekwondo so we could spend Gavin's special day together. They got to facetime on the iphone with a couple of their friends from Las Vegas. They were goofy about it, but you could tell they were really excited to see the girls. Gavin wanted pizza as his birthday meal. Easily done. I decided to stop by the meat market and get a couple of nice looking ribeyes for the hubby and I. Nothing says I love you to a man like steak and potatoes.<br />
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I used to marinate the heck out of my steaks. I remember they were good, but the marinade would overpower the true steak flavor. If you have a good steak, you don't need much else. A few years ago I ran across some steak grilling information on the internet. The key is to let them come to room temperature before you throw them on the grill, for even cooking. Now I take them out of the fridge about 45 minutes before I plan to put them on, rub them down with olive oil, sea salt and steak seasoning. The hubby ate it without A1 steak sauce this time. Always the tell-tale sign it was a great steak, because he loves his A1.<br />
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Grilled potatoes are easy and yummy. I peel and dice the potatoes. Dice some onion. Sprinkle some sea salt and garlic power, crack some pepper, drizzle some local honey, and place some pats of butter on top of the potatoes, wrap them up in foil and throw them on the grill 30 minutes before the steaks go on.<br />
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During the dinner making process I was cooling 2 round yellow cakes and making a buttercream frosting. The frosting recipe called for 2 sticks of butter, 3.5 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp salt, and 2 tbs heavy cream. I threw in one stick of salted and one stick unsalted butter because it was all I had, and skipped the salt. I put in the vanilla. Then I grabbed the powdered sugar only to find there was no where near 3.5 cups! I didn't measure, but I'd have to guess 2 cups, maybe a little less. Already into this process, I had to continue forward. It did not need any cream to soften it, the high amount of butter to sugar was enough for that. I whipped it for 10 minutes and tried it. HOLY COW! It tasted like my favorite bakery- Freed's buttercream back in Las Vegas. I beat it for 5 minutes more and now I have my new favorite buttercream recipe.<br />
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Little man required a blueberry cake for his birthday. I put a layer of blackberry jam between the 2 round cakes, and made a fresh blueberry compote to go on top of the cake. The boys gobbled it up so fast I knew it was a winner. The cake only lasted 2 days in a 4 person house, and my husband only got one piece, so it'll definitely go into the archives for another time.<br />
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After The Happy Birthday song and cake, it was time for family presents. Is it cruel I make them wait all day? On my birthday it's the first thing they want to do is have me open my present. To me, logical order dictates: dinner, cake, presents. I think building up to the excitement is good for them. Even if I get asked about the cake and presents all day long.<br />
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He was one happy little guy. It was an exhausting day for me, but I wouldn't trade it for a lazy day on the couch because there was so much happiness hidden in so many places. <br />
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-65714758075241231832012-02-20T15:30:00.000-08:002012-02-20T18:38:41.778-08:00February 18th, 2012I've always been lucky enough to have my birthday fall on President's Day weekend, which means an extra day off for the hubby, and now my school aged children as well. Before children, we would take a weekend trip. Usually California when we lived in Las Vegas. San Diego, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco were top destinations. When we lived in Michigan, it was almost always Chicago, a town my husband hates, and I love, so I knew to ask at a time when he couldn't refuse. Having kids has put a damper on my birthday weekend trip for now, both financially and feasibly. But I enjoyed my birthday "weekend" just as much as some of our mini vacations. And it truly has been a weekend long celebration. My oldest has wished me happy birthday for three days straight, and given me multiple hugs and verbal messages to the effect of, "I love you very much mom". The little one has made me a few cards throughout the weekend, and reused a gift bag to find presents around the house to give me, like glow stick bracelets.<br />
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My birthday weekend actually began on Thursday night. I had a great dinner with a friend. The company, the food, the wine, 2 desserts, and the present of a Trader Joe's goody bag made for a great girls' night out. And we shut the place down, twice!<br />
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Friday was parent teacher conferences where I got to hear how awesome my children were doing, and spent the day lounging on the couch watching my favorite food network competitions and recovering from all the wine drank the previous night.<br />
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Saturday was my actual birthday. The boys stayed quiet and let me sleep in. I got french press coffee and barely drank half a cup before the boys wanted me to open my present. The hubby got me purple wrapping paper in honor of my favorite color. The boys excitedly helped me open it. Much more fun than opening it myself.<br />
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The card is the first card I have received with all three of my guys signing their names themselves! You can see my husband's handwriting is only slightly better than my 6 and 5 year olds. It gets him out of filling out paperwork, so I guess it really is to his advantage.<br />
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The hubby ended up getting me a bread machine. After my first recipe with the BWJ group making my first loaves of homemade bread, I knew I didn't want to go back to preservative filled store bought bread. But I also knew I didn't have hours to spend in the kitchen every weekend since weekends are really our only family time. And my Kitchen Aid mixer didn't like the work it had to do kneading the dough. The machine is great in that it kneads, waits for the rises, and bakes it, and all you have to do is throw the ingredients in, set it and forget about it. I'm all about cutting corners where time is concerned, and this machine is my answer to weekly fresh baked bread! Happily, he did his homework and got me one that's highly rated and has more functions than bread making too. So far we've only made a Dutch Apple Cake in there because I have to replenish my yeast supply, but there will be some more bread baking tonight after our grocery store trip.<br />
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After opening my presents I decided to make a Big Apple Pancake- the one from The Original Pancake House. It's a bit time consuming, so I don't make it often. But it takes me back to my childhood. Going to The Original Pancake House was a special treat when I was a child. It was also a recipe we learned to make in Home Ec in high school since we were lucky enough to have an Original Pancake House in Grosse Pointe, where I spent most of my adolescent years. You don't have to have a skillet to make it, but it helps. You can find the copycat recipe <a href="http://meemoskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/04/original-pancake-house-apple-pancake.html#axzz1mxoT1SiT">here</a>.<br />
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Birthdays are "our choice" days. We get to pick the activities of the day. Usually I'd choose to get out of town and shop and eat, but we had a bit of a time constraint since we had friends offer to watch the boys for us so we could go out alone, a rarity for us. Normally I wouldn't impose my 2 wild children on anyone else unless I had to or was paying them. But these particular friends have a little girl that my boys are in love with, and I knew it would be as much of a treat for them to spend time with her as it would for us to have a few hours alone. Since a time consuming trip out of town wasn't a possibility, I decided I wanted to go geocaching as my activity. My husband found a cache near Lake Avalon he thought we'd like, and off we went, dog and all. Unfortunately we couldn't find the first cache, but the area by the lake was nice and I've bookmarked it in my head as a future picnic spot. <br />
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On the way back into town we passed by a micro cache and decided to try for it. It was not where it was supposed to be based on the description or location, but my caching abilities kicked in and I spotted it. We had taken a two year long hiatus from geocaching until then, and now I'm happy we've reconnected with an activity the whole family enjoys.<br />
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After grabbing some lunch, then putting the boys down for a nap, the hubby and I vegged on the couch and watched 28 Days. Jury is still out on if I liked the movie or not. Then it was time to get ready for our night out.<br />
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It was a beer night. I started at home with the Chicken Killer, not for the faint of heart. Then we went to the Stock Exchange for dinner where I got Left Handed Milk Stout on tap to go with my filet mignon and colossal shrimp dinner and creme brulee dessert. Finally, we finished off our date night at the Elks Lodge with an Amber Bock on tap and a 5 cent chinese food themed slot machine. It played with me, but took my money in the end. Then it was time to go pick the boys up and get them home to bed. I'm so grateful for my family, and all the special things we have, both intangible and tangible. Days like this where you smile all day long from the fun you are having with your family to the sweet texts and phone calls from the people who want you to know they care, are the more obvious, in your face, days of gratitude. But everyday is a day to be grateful for. I hope I make the people around me as happy as they make me. In the end, love and the relationships we form, and celebrating those people, are most important in my mind.<br />
<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-466090380980649902012-02-13T09:18:00.000-08:002012-02-13T13:03:49.543-08:00Star Wars Lego Birthday PartyMy birthdays don't matter much anymore. They all blend together and most of the time I have to pause before I answer the question of my age. My little one is turning five tomorrow. It's a milestone that's freaking me out. When they are 4, you can still call them your baby. At 5, it seems harder to do that, like I'm grasping at straws to keep them little, when time has its own plan for them. I know, they will always be my babies in my heart. But your children have a way of shoving how quickly time passes in your face. And something about this particular birthday has my sensibilities up in arms.<br />
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Last weekend we had a little party with his friends. Being into both Legos and Star Wars, it wasn't surprising he decided on a Star Wars Lego party. I love planning my boys' birthday parties. I am a theme queen. I take a theme and run away with it. The first step in the party planning process was to make the personalized invitations. I used to buy these off ebay, until I realized I could do what these people were doing with a photoshop program. I usually print the invitations as 4x6 or 5x7 photos, but this time around Walgreen's had a set of 20 4x8 photocards with envelopes on sale for $8, so I splurged on those. I used the 4x6 picture below, and added the party information in the extra 2 inches on the bottom.<br />
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Then I sit down and do my menu planning. If I can match the food to the theme, so much the better. This time I decided on small bites for the adults instead of a meal to compliment the mini figure aspect of the party. Yes, I knew no one else would get this part but me, but completing a theme makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I labeled all the food to match a Star Wars character and attached the mini figure to the card on the appetizer table. I also had heartier fare in crock pots in the kitchen and a couple pitchers of cocktails, also labeled.<br />
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For the kids I decided on pizza, but not just any pizza. Legos are all about building. So I let the kids build their own pizzas. I was lucky enough to find sandwich cutters at Pottery Barn in the shape of the Millenium Falcon and Vader's TIE Fighter. I made my pizza dough several days in advance and used the Millenium Falcon sandwich cutter to make the shape I wanted. I baked them on pizza stones for 5-7 minutes at 450 degrees, used a spatula to flatten them back down after puffing up, and luckily they retained their shape! <br />
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I cooled them on racks and froze them until the morning of the party when I put them in the fridge. They came out soft and pliable. I was worried about this since I had never attempted homemade lunchables, but luckily they turned out great. Each child got a plate of 2 kinds of cheese, a cup of pizza sauce, and a bag of mini pepperonis. Build your own pizzas was a big hit with the kids.<br />
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I did utilize Party City for a few decorations like the table cover, plates and napkins. But I always make my own centerpiece. The boys make it easy because they pick themes they are already into, so we have those types of toys around the house. I use the table chandelier to tie the toys on with curling ribbon and you get a one of a kind centerpiece, free of charge. For the opening activity we put legos in buckets and each child got a base to build whatever they wanted.<br />
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I used to have amazing bakeries at my fingertips when I lived in Las Vegas. Now I live in a small town in New Mexico where the only cakes you can buy are grocery store cakes that are overly sweet, which leaves me little choice but to make my own. For the childrens' cakes, I did mini chocolate chocolate chip bundt cakes in the image of Vader's TIE fighter. I used the other Pottery Barn sandwich cutter to make the wings out of <a href="http://www.crumblycookie.net/2012/02/07/chocolate-sugar-cookies/">chocolate sugar cookies</a>, the mini bundts were the body of the ship, and added a chocolate cookie iced with window panes in the center. I poured chocolate ganache over the mini bundts and added a little cream cheese frosting around the base. I found light saber picks on ebay and put two on my son's cake to make his special.<br />
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The adult cake was the same flavor in a big bundt cake, but with less ganache and more cream cheese frosting. I created the Sarlacc Pit eating Boba Fett scene. I made the sarlacc beak from the same chocolate sugar cookie recipe. I wanted to make the little teeth around the inside edge, but time didn't permit that. <br />
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The take home gifts were a bag of gummie bears, which I renamed Ewok bears and put a personalized thank you on top, and a light saber bubble wand. I was surprised how hard it was to find gummie bears. I lucked out at Cost Plus World Market and found a three pound bag.<br />
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It was a fun birthday to plan. They couldn't care less about all the work I do to make the theme perfect, and that's ok. It's really for me. I think I look forward to their parties as much as they do. One day that may change, I may lose that spark for all things themed. But for now I'm already planning the next birthday party in my head. My oldest has chosen Scooby Doo- mystery themed. Oh the possibilities!<br />
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Happy 5th Birthday Gavin! </div>
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-220789057235234132012-02-07T17:30:00.000-08:002012-02-08T15:25:43.923-08:00White Loaves- BWJHello fellow Baking With Julia Bakers! So that mini melt down I thought I might have when the Baking With Julia book arrived, it happened, but wasn't too significant. The steps involved in many of the recipes are reasons I've shied away from certain recipes in the past. This blog opportunity is helping me move past that. I love having a schedule and deadlines, it keeps me motivated. And I also love that this is going to push me out of my comfort zone of 'recipes with simple steps' by making me wait for rises and chilling and rolling out dough. And the knowlege we can provide each other! I'm somewhat glad I waited until today to make the bread after reading several posters endevors with it. I feel for the lady who lost her Kitchenaid mixer to this task. I would be devastated without mine. I hope it has a speedy recovery. Because of her loss, I kept a close eye on my mixer, set it on low speed instead of medium as the recipe required, and kneaded it at the end after I felt it heat up for the first time in all its uses. In the end, I have two very tasty loaves of bread, more baking confidence having accomplished something I have never made before, and a carb coma to awaken from since I haven't been able to stop picking at it since lunch. <br />
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You can find the recipe for the White Loaves <a href="http://someonekitchen.blogspot.com/">here</a>. A couple changes I made were to use 6 1/4 cups flour instead of the full 7, as my dough had come together quite nicely at that point. It even made its own dough ball that I just patted a couple times to smooth out before putting it in an oiled bowl for it's first rise.<br />
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I also only baked them for 30 minutes, a guess on my part that they were looking golden brown deliciously done, and they were.<br />
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I think I may have overdone the "finger poke" instructions on the recipe as you can see by the dimpled loaf tops. I assumed they would bake out. Now I know for next time.<br />
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I also discovered that the aluminium loaf pan was a much better choice than the glass pan. Both were equally buttered, but the bread in the aluminium pan slid right out, while I had to scrape around the sides of the glass pan with a knife, and whittle away at the ends of the loaf until it gave and came out. As you can see from the picture, not all of it did come out. But I'm not crying over that. I made my first from-scratch bread! And, I slathered the pan remnants with butter that quickly melted onto the warm bread, and again melted in my mouth, forming a love affair for freshly baked bread that can never be broken.<br />
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Also in aluminium's favor was that the bread browned evenly without the extra step of removing it the last 10 minutes to achieve that look. However, I had recently been told by a health guru that I should remove all things aluminium from my baking collection. While I'm trying to find a balance in my life for healthier living, for now, the aluminium bakeware will stay put until I can find a better alternative.<br />
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Needless to say, lunch today was fabulous, and better than anything I could have bought in a restaurant in this small town I live in. Turkey, bacon, avocado, and red onion sandwiches on white bread. MY white bread.<br />
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-81995915254278956832012-01-30T13:14:00.000-08:002012-01-30T13:40:32.408-08:00Red Wine Stuffed VenisonI consider myself lucky to have a husband who loves to hunt. Not only is it sexy to have a man that provides for his family on several different levels, I enjoy the taste of venison. I became a venison lover the first time my father in law prepared it for me in Upper Michigan many years ago. Only over the past few years have I had my own stock to work with since my husband has reconnected with his passion for hunting. This year he got 2 during bow season, so I've been able to experiment a bit more with preparation. If you don't have any venison on hand, this recipe would work well with pork also.<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
3 lb. venison roast<br />
1 cup dried cherries<br />
1/2 cup water<br />
1/2 cup chopped onion<br />
1/2 cup chopped celery<br />
3 Tbs butter<br />
2 cloves minced garlic<br />
2 1/2 cups croutons (you can either get the herbed croutons, or add your own sage/rosemary/thyme)<br />
1 cup chicken broth<br />
1/2 tsp pepper<br />
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg<br />
4 slices of bacon, halved<br />
1 cup red wine<br />
2 Tbs jam<br />
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Directions:<br />
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Bring the cherries and water to a boil and set aside.<br />
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2. Saute the onions and celery (and if doing your herbs separately, put them in now too) in the butter until tender. Add the garlic for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth until heated through.<br />
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3. To your broth mixture add the croutons, pepper, nutmeg, and cherries with the water. Fold until moistened and set aside.<br />
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4. With venison you want to make sure you remove any translucent skin around the outside of the roast. Slice the roast from right to left a half inch thick from the top, to approximately a half an inch from the end without slicing it off. Now do the same from left to right on the bottom of the roast, starting from where you left off, and possibly a third time depending on the thickness of your roast, so that your once thick roast now lays flat. Take a meat tenderizer and with the flat side, pound the meat out to an even thickness.<br />
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5. Spread the stuffing onto the meat. Roll the meat up and tie it with kitchen string. Place the slices of bacon across the top. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.<br />
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6. Place 1 cup of wine into a saucepan and add 2 Tbs of jam on medium heat, stirring until the jam dissolves. I chose blackberry jam and a sweet tempranillo to compliment the cherries. But you could use a white and apricot just as easily. With a half hour left, baste the roast with the sauce.<br />
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7. Let the meat rest for 15 minutes after removing from the oven before slicing.<br />
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The stuffing and venison were good. But the bacon was awesome! Because it covered so much of the roast, it ended up getting most of the wine sauce. Venison can easily dry out due to its leanness, and I like to use bacon to give it some fat to cook with. Because the bacon got the lion's share of the wine sauce, I will try to find a different method next time so the venison gets a chance to absorb some of the wine too. I'm going to find another use for wine basted bacon in the near future though!<br />
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<br />melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-4980269284726315202012-01-26T09:14:00.000-08:002012-01-26T09:50:11.463-08:00Brown Sugar Custard with Orange Zest<script src="http://aexp.demdex.net/event?d_ld=containerid%3D764%26_ts%3D1327597713899&c_site=foodwine&d_rtbd=json&d_dst=1&d_cts=1&d_cb=demdexDestCallback1327597713899" type="text/javascript">
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</script>The boys decided they wanted an orange for breakfast yesterday. I thought, right on, I get to try out my microplane! Yeah, I know, I was supposed to be more excited they wanted to eat healthy for breakfast. So I zest the orange peel with no clue yet what to do with it, and give them each half of the orange. As usual, the oldest ate the fruit, the youngest bit into one slice and decided the texture was not for him. So now I had almost half an orange to work with as well. Some sleuthing on the iphone brought me to a custard that included orange zest on <a href="http://foodandwine.com/">Food and Wine's</a> website. Sounded delicious. Almost any dessert sounds like ambrosia to me though. I have tried fried oreos once in Las Vegas, and I thought they were actually pretty good, so maybe I'm not a great culinary judge. After dropping the kiddos off at school, I began making this simple custard, with a slight orange flavor to give it a grown up kick. The only changes I made to the recipe were to use whole evaporated milk as it was on hand, skip the straining step, and add candied orange slices for garnish instead of orange peels.<br />
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<a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/brown-sugar-custards-with-orange-zest">Brown Sugar Custard with Orange Zest</a><br />
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Ingredients:<br />
<span itemprop="ingredients"></span> <br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">1 3/4 cups 2 percent evaporated milk (basically one large can, and half of a 5 oz. can)</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">3/4 cup dark brown sugar</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">2 large eggs</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">1 large egg yolk</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">Candied orange zest, for garnish (optional)</span><br />
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<span itemprop="ingredients">Directions:</span><br />
<ol>
<li>Preheat the oven to 325°. Place four 4-ounce ramekins in a small baking dish or roasting pan.</li>
<li>In a saucepan, bring the evaporated milk to a simmer with the brown sugar. Cook over moderate heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, vanilla and orange zest. Slowly whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture. Strain the custard into a glass measuring cup.</li>
<li>Pour the custard into the ramekins. Add enough hot water to the baking dish to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the custards are just set. Transfer the ramekins to a rack and let cool. Cover the custards with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours. Garnish with the candied orange zest.</li>
</ol>
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<a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/candied-orange-slices">Candied Orange Slices</a><br />
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Ingredients:<br />
<br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">1 1/2 cups water</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">1/2 cup granulated sugar</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">1 navel orange, sectioned</span><br />
<br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">Directions:</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">In a medium skillet, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil. Add the orange slices and cook over moderate heat, turning them occasionally, until the liquid is reduced to a thin syrup and the orange slices are translucent, about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderately low and simmer until the syrup is thick and the slices are tender but still intact, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Transfer the orange slices to a rack to cool. Reserve the syrup for another use.</span><br />
<div id="endnotes">
*The candied orange slices can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.</div>
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Of course I reserved that orange flavored simple syrup! It sits in the fridge, awaiting the weekend and a fresh margarita. And the custards were excellent. Much like Mexican Flan I've had in restaurants. A great dessert to impress guests with little effort, and the ability to make ahead so as not to be a headless chicken when your guests are afoot. Interestingly, I had purchased the first suggested wine to be paired with the custard this past weekend, never having heard of it before then. But wine doesn't last long in my home, so I can't say for sure how well I thought they went together, although I suspect quite well.<br />
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<iframe height="0" id="dpiframe" src="http://fast.aexp.demdex.net/dest2.html#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D7683557471735633410" style="display: none; height: 0px; width: 0px;" width="0"></iframe>melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-2317435518166212532012-01-25T13:05:00.000-08:002012-01-25T15:52:06.873-08:00Southwestern Quinoa SaladI used to think, "Whole grains = yuck!" Give me white bread over wheat anytime. Then I grew up and realized not all whole grains are created equal. While I still don't like whole wheat in most of its incarnations, I have found other healthy whole grains I do like. Quinoa is one of those, although technically a seed and not a grain, it is generally classified in the whole grain category. It is pronounced 'Keen-Wa'. The pronunciation may be tricky, as well as the clean up if the pot boils over- use a larger than you think you need pot if you have cooking ADD like I do! But the preparation of it does not require any more skill than cooking rice. A step some people will take is to rinse their quinoa before cooking it to remove a bitter taste. I personally skip that step, but I skip many steps that save me time and don't seem to add serious value. And while on the slightly expensive side, it can be found in most grocery stores and all health food stores.<br />
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I find quinoa to be very mild, almost flavorless. Why then should you use it? Its considered a superfood. It is highest in protein of all the whole grains, it contains magnesium, iron and fiber, and it is gluten free and easily digestible. Would the recipe below taste just as good without quinoa? Yes, it would. Would it be as healthy or filling? Absolutely not. I will shush now about the benefits of quinoa and provide you with one of perhaps thousands of ways to use this healthy grain.<br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
<div class="ingredient">
<br /></div>
<div class="ingredient">
1 cup uncooked quinoa</div>
<div class="ingredient">
2 cups water</div>
<div class="ingredient">
1 15 ounce can black beans</div>
<div class="ingredient">
1/4 cup chopped green pepper</div>
<div class="ingredient">
1/4 cup chopped red pepper</div>
<div class="ingredient">
1 lime</div>
<div class="ingredient">
1 cup thawed frozen corn</div>
<div class="ingredient">
2 tbsp olive oil</div>
<div class="ingredient">
1 tsp ground red chile powder</div>
<div class="ingredient">
1/2 tsp cumin</div>
<div class="ingredient">
2 tsp sea salt</div>
<div class="ingredient">
<br /></div>
<div class="ingredient">
Directions:</div>
<div class="ingredient">
Bring 2 cups of water and one cup quinoa to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes. When the water is gone and the quinoa is "fluffy", it's done. Remove from the heat. Drain the black beans and put them into the quinoa, along with your corn, and peppers. Squeeze the lime juice in. Add your olive oil. Finally, add your spices and seasonings and give it a good mix. This is one I like to eat hot for lunch, and can easily revisit cold for breakfast.</div>
<div class="ingredient">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFD8JE83oFlcFJIIpybTOj5gbP-jDKVYaA-UJSkj0GsUSVeu_OgHshCG-nDELdFZCjX1i1YEX7UShply5fVh5T0wvrl3KZntxqXMiLRxvfWuo-r6gTGLXzfL3a17RFx4tZVwy91jo3QM/s1600/100_9407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFD8JE83oFlcFJIIpybTOj5gbP-jDKVYaA-UJSkj0GsUSVeu_OgHshCG-nDELdFZCjX1i1YEX7UShply5fVh5T0wvrl3KZntxqXMiLRxvfWuo-r6gTGLXzfL3a17RFx4tZVwy91jo3QM/s320/100_9407.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Side note: I usually make a double batch of quinoa and keep half in a container in the refrigerator. For breakfast today I took a scoop of Quinoa, sliced in some fresh strawberries, drizzled some olive oil and peach balsamic vinegar on top, and shook in some feta cheese. There are so many variations you can have fun testing!<br />
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<br /></div>melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7683557471735633410.post-57939082389393624022012-01-23T09:11:00.000-08:002012-01-23T14:36:38.091-08:00My first blogAh, my first blog! Testing...one, two, three. How original. Much like my cooking so far, very inside the box. In fact, much of my cooking came from inside a box until the last five or so years when I have finally started to venture out. A combination of many influences and a love of good food have pushed my creative side to throw my towel into the cooking arena. And now, a chance to blog alongside other food bloggers, learn from them, be part of a community, become more adventurous in my cooking endevors, and learn new techniques, has presented itself through following a friend's blog that was involved with TWD. It helps that I have the cookbook on order and haven't seen a single recipe and the amount of time they will take to achieve. Until that book comes, and my mini meltdown most likely with it, I will focus my inner ninja on the task at hand- getting excited about good food and BAKING WITH JULIA!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieZLAArHL529T-DJGq5UOi8esHmQOkuTA7QSsqYH3MBqLyNLlZxbbPGIwwy2vxCaRHQnqESMKgQkAh6HEC_lpUogzlv_JcmGIaq26eq2H4StMwAnK5gHhu7X1PMD6JV_KdbfdUtdTNrSk/s1600/P1060321.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieZLAArHL529T-DJGq5UOi8esHmQOkuTA7QSsqYH3MBqLyNLlZxbbPGIwwy2vxCaRHQnqESMKgQkAh6HEC_lpUogzlv_JcmGIaq26eq2H4StMwAnK5gHhu7X1PMD6JV_KdbfdUtdTNrSk/s320/P1060321.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>melottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222800158339169726noreply@blogger.com0