Easter Fun: A New Addition to the Family and Two More Baking Disasters

As my Mom pointed out to me today, I have been procrastinating on my blog for quite a while, so I thought I would share a little about our Easter celebration this year.

First, an announcement: We have a new member of our household! As of this morning our son has adopted a pretty blue Betta fish. I asked him what he would like to name the fish, and he said, "Black." Thinking he had confused the name question with a color question, I asked again. He replied again, "Black." I then asked him what color the fish was. He said, "Blue." OK, so he's not confused. I asked again multiple times before church, after church, before lunch, etc. and each time he told me the fish's name is "Black." Eventually he managed to expand the name to "Black and Blue," and that, oddly, is apparently the fish's name. Friends of ours have a fuchsia Betta named Raspberry, and I guess I was hoping for the same type of creativity. Maybe he would name him Sapphire or even Blueberry. But no, our fish has been named Black and Blue. I bet he's the only fish in the world with that name.

Let's be honest, we all know that I have baking issues. Bryssy passed me the link to a neat recipe idea for Easter morning called, "Resurrection Rolls." It involves telling the story of Jesus' burial in the tomb using a marshmallow to represent His body, and once the rolls have baked the marshmallow SHOULD basically dissolve into the roll leaving the roll "tomb" empty. The only dough needed is crescent roll dough from a can, so I thought I could handle that.

In anyone else's kitchen, this recipe would probably be a great way to share the Easter story with children. Unfortunately, not only did my rolls NOT absorb the marshmallow, thus leaving "Jesus" still in the tomb, but some of the rolls oozed the marshmallow through the cracks. I will let you supply your own sacrilegious jokes for that one. At least our son is only two and hasn't yet reached the age where scarring him for life is a real possibility. Probably.

This final baking problem is a word of warning for those of you who might be using the cookbook The Cupcake Doctor. In that book is a wonderful idea for Easter Basket cupcakes. The cakes are baked in waffle cone bowl "baskets" instead of cupcake liners. First of all, the recipe should yield ten cupcakes because there are ten bowls in a package of waffle bowls. Problem number one is that I found it quite difficult to find 10 basket-worthy bowls in a package. I made six (one for each of us at lunch) and poured the rest of the batter into an egg-shaped pan that I have. A second problem I encountered with the directions involved the amount of batter to use in each cup. The instructions call for 1/2 cup per bowl, but that would be far too much and a messy overflow would be imminent. I found that 1/4 cup was pretty much perfect. The baking part was fine, believe it or not, and having wrapped the bowls in foil they did not scorch. The "disaster" came this afternoon when it was time to decorate the cupcakes. I had stored them in an airtight container to transport them to lunch, and when we opened the container to start our decorating fun we found cupcakes sitting on wilted waffle cone disks. The moisture from the cakes had done to the bowls what ice cream does to them if it isn't eaten quickly. The cakes were sticky enough to mold them back into a basket shape, and they were very cute once decorated, but the taste just wasn't the same.

So, there you go! Still making the hard mistakes so that you don't have to!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter--do you have any stories to share?

Preserving the Past

It's strawberry season in Florida, and this year I decided to make preserves. I asked my great-aunt and grandmother for a tutorial on how to do this, and this is what they told me:

1. Take equal parts of chopped and washed strawberries (or any other fruit) and sugar.

2. Place them in a heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Stir frequently, and adjust the heat as needed to prevent boil-overs.

4. Pour or ladle the finished product into sterilized jars and wipe the rims to remove any of the syrup; top the jars with lids that have been sitting in boiling water and screw on the rings.

5. Wait until the lids pop--that means they're sealed.

So far I haven't tasted the finished product (it's REALLY hot!), but it looks so cute in these adorable jars that it couldn't be bad, could it?? :D

The Great Cupcake Disaster

This was not what I pictured when I started baking these red velvet cupcakes for our MOPS fundraiser tonight:

The tops were uneven, the bottoms were lightly scorched, the papers were unrecognizable (you should be able to see cute little hearts all over them), and all of the cupcakes shrank once they cooled. It wasn't pretty.

I removed the yucky papers and trimmed the cakes into better shape.

I cut them into layers, settled them into new papers, and gave them a little frosting-in-the-middle height enhancement.

A little pipe of frosting on top and a few sprinkles later, these look pretty good compared to their pre-makeover selves!

Blastin' through breakfast...

Do you make breakfast for only one or two people? Do you like pancakes and waffles? Do you hate doing dishes? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, this little miracle spray can may be what you've been waiting for.

It's called the "Organic Batter Blaster" and it's a little controversial. Some people don't quite see the need for something so, well, Jetson-like, but if you've ever tried to make pancakes for just yourself, you know that even just using one egg that mix turns into a lot of breakfast. With the Batter Blaster you point and shoot your way to a one or two pancake meal with no wasted batter. And, might I add, only a pan to wash instead of bowls and measuring cups. (Do I sound a little lazy here?) The can is recyclable so that makes the material waste a little more tolerable. Did I mention it's organic? I mean, anything that says "organic" has to be wonderful, right? ;)

As far as the actual pancakes go, they are a little different from what you would make with a more traditional method. The company talks about "light and airy" pancakes, and they're right--the air in the can certainly adds to the "air" affect, and the cakes end up somewhere between pancake and crepe. They are not the traditional thick cake, but they're not completely flat, either. I like them, but I'm a little wierd when it comes to texture. Here's the finished product:

Normally this one can sells for $4.99 at Publix. I would never pay that much for this convenience. Currently (until next Wednesday) the cans are BOGO (buy one get one free) and there is a $1 off coupon you can print as many times as you want by following this link: John Tesh Radio Show Offer (While you're there, check out the cute promo video!) The final cost is $2.99 for two cans, and as each can produces approximately 28 pancakes I calculate each cake to cost around $.05. So, that's not too bad to try something new and to get a little break in the morning. The current cans don't expire until the end of March, so there's plenty of time to use them as well. If your Publix is out of them, don't forget to request a rain check!

NOTE: I had to search a while to find the cans--they were on the top shelf near the coffee creamers.

Lentils...

I have been obsessed with lentils since I began hearing how good they are for our health. They are packed with fiber and protein but very inexpensive, and because of that they were the recommended meat substitute during the Depression.

It hasn't been easy for me to find good lentil recipes, though, so when I saw this one at the bottom of the page in a recent Family Circle magazine, I tried it immediately. I don't know the real definition of Chili, but honestly, this is really more of a chili-flavored soup. Regardless, it is easy to make with staple ingredients, and we thoroughly enjoyed it for lunch on this cold and cloudy day!

(Cooking Notes: This makes a full pot of soup, and I'm planning on freezing the leftovers for another day. I did substitute chicken broth for the water for a richer flavor. The diced tomatoes really made this soup for my son and me, so use ones that you really like!)

Smoky Lentil Chili
(Family Circle, Feb. 09, pg. 156)

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup chopped onions; sauté for 2 minutes. Add 2 chopped garlic cloves; cook an additional 30 seconds. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of chipotle chili powder and 2 teaspoons ground cumin. stir in 3 cups of water, 1 cup dried brown lentils (rinsed) and 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes. Increase heat and bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes, adding water as needed. Stir in 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt. Serve with brown rice.

Adventures in Baking

Today I thought I would do something I've never done before--bake dark chocolate cupcakes with a creamy ganache filling in my new Christmas pans. For our church dinner this evening. Where other people would actually be eating them. What could go wrong???

Um, yeah. Apparently things with molten centers should not be inverted too quickly. Or, at all.

At least my little boy enjoyed them.

Escarg...oh, no, you didn't! or "Them's snails!"

One of my most favorite scenes from Little House on the Prairie was when Mr. Edwards and Charles were eating in a "fancy" restaurant in one of those big cities they always visited for business. They decide to order something really nice, and the waiter suggests the escargots. The men order their "es-car-gots" and when the little morsels arrive at the table, both men are outraged--"Why, them's snails!" they shout as they leave the restaurant in a fury.

I went on a cruise with my husband's family last weekend to celebrate his lovely grandmother's 80th birthday. It was the first cruise for our family of three, and we were told before leaving that we should be prepared for the wonderful food. Guess what? It was wonderful, and there was plenty of it. On the menu for our formal dinner evening I did spy something that always makes me giggle, and well, gag--the incredibly luxurious escargots bourguignon. Them's snails, for us simpletons.

I feel like I have a pretty adventurous pallet, but personally I find a plate of snails, excuse me, escargots, to be one of the most vile dishes I have ever tried to eat. They taste like grass and dirt. What about the delectable garlic butter sauce, you say? Well, I would prefer to eat that on something not disgusting like pasta or vegetables. I may even prefer to eat that on actual grass and dirt rather than consuming an escargot.

So, back to the cruise. I am a Frenchie-Francophile (that means "lover of France" for those of you raising your eyebrows) who has actually lived in France and has been served "escargots done right" and I can imagine no greater punishment than being forced to eat a plate of smelly, once-slimy creatures swimming in fat, garlic, and herbs. My brother-in-law (a very cool guy, by the way) ordered the escargots as his appetizer. He won't eat a fresh tomato, but he will eat a plate of slugs in sauce. I don't get it. Is it the luxe factor? I have a theory on that.

I think it went something like this: Two con men are walking through the woods searching for provisions for their next meal. One looks down at the ground and inspiration strikes. "Hey! Remember how we tricked that emperor into walking around naked? Well, there's plenty of snails here--let's see if we can get the rich people in town to eat them! Get out the garlic butter and herbs!"

It couldn't possibly be that someone saw it as a good idea. Who would seriously look down at the ground and say, "Check out the slime trail that thing's leaving! Looks like good eats to me! Quick, get the garlic butter and herbs!"

Oh oui, Somewhere out there is a dead Frenchman who is laughing hysterically saying, "I so wasn't serious about that! You're not really going to eat those are you???" With a French accent, of course.

An actual escargot de bourgogne. (Apparently a homeless escargot.)
This picture was taken in 1998 in the woods near Autun, France in the region of Burgundy.
Amazingly I was able to take this shot without succumbing to the urge to reach down, snatch him up and eat him.

Saving Dinner!

November is Meal Planning Month over at the FlyLady site and it couldn't have come at a better time for us. We have just finished a Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) session and the meals we prepared need to last until after the New Year, so if I don't plan well we may be out of food before Thanksgiving!

My meal planning strategy is facilitated by knowing what is in my freezer. I took the list of meals we prepared at OAMC and I printed a blank calendar from Outlook. I also opened our family calendar to see which nights we would need dinner as well as which nights we might not. I noted any evenings where one or more of us would not be home as that changes my cooking plans, and I recorded anything important on the no-longer-blank calendar. I then tried to complete the meal calendar by assigning dishes to the remaining days. A typical week looks something like this:

• Monday: Sweet Soy Chicken with Rice
• Tuesday: Mexican Torta
• Wednesday: Ekklesia (This is our church's weekly dinner--yay! No cooking!)
• Thursday: Chicken and Rice Wraps (My husband would night be eating with us that evening due to a meeting, so we would have something easy to prepare in small quantities. These are great just defrosted in the microwave like a burrito!)
• Friday: Pizza or Spaghetti (We eat this every Friday night and it is not a freezer meal)
• Saturday: Panko Parmesan Oven-Fried Chicken Salad
• Sunday: OYO (On Your Own) Night! We eat whatever we want, but it's every man for himself. Usually, this is my cereal for dinner night!)

I write any side dishes or ingredients that I need on the calendar as well as any thawing instructions, then I stick the finished chart on the freezer so that I can see it any time.

If you're new to meal planning and are unsure where to begin, may I also recommend SavingDinner.com? You'll find a link to it on the left side of the page. Leanne Ely publishes a free daily e-newsletter that provides recipes and helpful tips for feeding the family, and if you're interested she also has an enormous selection of freezer recipes for purchase that take minutes to prepare. If you need LOTS of help with meal planning you can purchase a weekly Menu Mailer where she gives you recipes and shopping lists for the entire week. Personally, I have purchased several of her freezer recipe sets including Chicken for the Freezer and Heart Healthy for the Freezer. The Moroccan Chicken with Honey Couscous is a favorite in our OAMC group. (Sorry for the advertisement, but I really do love Ms. Ely's products!)

So, that's what works for us! We eat well and we don't spend as much money at restaurants anymore...what works for you? Check out Crystal's site for more helpful hints!

Cupcakes!

When my mom said she was worried she wouldn't be able to finish my son and nephew's birthday cake last week, I must admit I was pretty excited. I yanked my sprinkles out of my suitcase and exclaimed, "We can make cupcakes!"

I've been waiting for an opportunity to make cupcakes for weeks since Pam made her beautiful ones for our sons' party. Hers were topped with vibrantly-colored frosting and the kids decorated them with sprinkles. They were yummy, too.

Pam's Cupcakes

My sister Tara and I went to work, and here are the results (Tara was the bug sculptor--I'm better at sprinkling things!):

Fall Sprinkles



Pumpkin and Leaves
(I desperately wanted to make this one when
I saw it on the cover of a magazine)

Spider on a Web


Mommy Spider and Babies


This was an accident, and we laughed hysterically about it.
I think we'll call it, "Take that, you very hungry caterpillar!"

Just Too Good...

I'm blogging right now to get away from the box sitting in my kitchen. I ordered an assortment of freeze-dried fruits and veggies from Just Tomatoes, and it finally arrived today. I was expecting something good, but I had no idea how addictive it would be...

I heard about these in my favorite toddler cookbook, The Toddler Cafe, by Jennifer Carden. She uses them in homemade trail mix and I decided to give it a try. We're going on a fairly long road trip in a few days, so we need snacks and I would prefer that they be somewhat healthy.

I ordered the following: Just Cherries (WOW), Just Grapes (thankfully not as good as I'd hoped, but good enough to eat them all anyway), Just Veggies (corn, peas, peppers, tomatoes, and delicious), Just Strawberries (just like the kind you pick out of cereal), Just Raspberries, Just Blueberries, and Just Blackberries. The first four came in little easy-to-open bins, and they are what I'm having a hard time avoiding. My son is, too--my two-year-old keeps circling the table saying, "Box, box, please, please!" He really likes the cherries. So do I.

The last three on the list came in non-resealable plastic bags because I ordered smaller quantities of them, and that is the only thing keeping them from being devoured--my perfectionism will only allow me to open a non-reclosable bag at the perfect time so that they can be enjoyed perfectly. At least it's working for me in this case.

So, do I recommend Just Tomatoes? YES, particularly if you live near me and we can order together. The more you order, the cheaper the unit price, and if you order more than $100, shipping is free. Any takers??? Please???

OK, I've gotta go. My son just nabbed the strawberries and he's waving them in front of me...it's healthy, right?????

Pumpkin Muffins

It's October 1st, and in our house that means it's also time for pumpkins! I tried this muffin recipe for breakfast today--I had some new silicone muffin pans that were just begging for something yummy! (The recipe is courtesy of King Arthur Flour--if you love their flour, visit their site. They have tons of great recipes!)

(Note: I opted to use only the whole wheat flour for these muffins, and they were great!)

Pumpkin Leaf Muffins

These muffins can be baked in our autumn leaf molds for a special seasonal touch, or as a regular muffin. You can customize their flavor with grated carrots, raisins, oatmeal, or 3/4 cup chocolate chips, chopped nuts or apples, or cinnamon chips.

On their own, they're wonderful with a dab of Maple Cinnamon Butter (recipe follows).

1 cup (8 ounces) pumpkin (about 1/2 of a 15 ounce can)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (4 ounces) packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons (2 5/8 ounces) vegetable oil
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
1/2 cup (4 ounces) milk
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose or King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In a large bowl whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, oil, molasses, salt, spices, and milk. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and baking soda together. Add all at once to the wet ingredients and mix until all ingredients are well combined. Drop about 3 tablespoons (or a scant quarter cup) of the batter into the greased leaf molds, or the wells of a prepared muffin pan. Bake for 16-18 minutes, until firm to the touch for leaf molds; 18 to 20 minutes for regular muffins. Yield: 16 to 18 leaf shaped muffins, or 12 regular muffins.

Maple Cinnamon Butter

1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) brown sugar

Beat all the ingredients together until the mixture is smooth. Serve with Pumpkin Muffins.

**Here are the pics of my finished muffins. I actually like the leaf-shaped ones the best!**

In the Kitchen--Organization

What I find to be the biggest hurdle to organizing my kitchen is not the cubic footage of the cabinets, but the surface area available in the cabinets.

I add shelving layers whenever possible to my cabinets (it is much easier to remove plates, bowls, and glasses this way):




I organized my bake ware and cookware in one cabinet using two chrome adjustable shelves:


My laundry area is actually a closet in my kitchen with the plastic-coated wire rack style of shelving. Before, I had to stack everything, and it always ended in an avalanche of foil and plastic containers. I took some pieces of the cubic closet organizer I have in another room and repurposed it to hold my boxes. (Instead of using the clips that came with organizer for the shelves in the middle I used cable ties to hold everything together.)


(By the way--I'm not a Ziploc hoarder nor am I an employee of the Ziploc company! I'm storing all of those bags for our Once A Month Cooking group!)

This is what works for me! How do you organize your kitchen?

Check out other ideas at Rocks in My Dryer!

Caramel Apple Tartlettes

Apple season is coming, and here is the "fruit" of my labor from a recent kitchen experiment!

Caramel Apple Tartlettes

1 prepared, unbaked pie crust, rolled flat (I used a pre-made crust that comes already rolled--keep it simple!)
2 medium, tart apples
cinnamon
1-2 T butter, melted
2-3 T caramel ice cream topping (or your favorite caramel sauce), warmed and fluid

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples. Set them aside for the moment.


On a floured surface, roll the pie crust and press any tears to mend them. Use an apple-shaped cookie cutter to make around 12-14 pie crust apples (my son helped with this). Brush them with the melted butter, then sprinkle them with a dusting of cinnamon.



Arrange the thinly sliced apples on the apple shaped pie dough pieces. (I tried to arrange them so that they gave the apple shapes a 3-D appearance) Sprinkle them again with just a dusting of cinnamon. Take the caramel, and using a spoon, fork, or small sandwich bag, zig-zag the caramel over the apples.



Bake the tartlettes at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes. Check on them when you begin to smell the cinnamon emanating from your kitchen. When they are done, the crust will be baked and the caramel will have oozed over the apples. The apples should be tender. Remove them from the pan to cool, and be careful with small children--the caramel will be VERY hot for a few minutes.



We devoured these straight from the cookie sheet, but they would be wonderful served as a garnish for ice cream.

What is your favorite recipe that uses apples?

Goin' Paperless...

Whether it is because of a noble stand we're taking or because of the guilt I feel over a recent impulse purchase, we (and by "we", I mean "I") have decided to go paperless in our household! No more paper towels, no more paper napkins, and no more toilet paper...well, OK, the last one isn't true, but I thought it might be funny.

First of all, why should we go paperless? Well, for me it is a noble two-fold reason: 1)we waste way too much paper and 2)the paper we are throwing in the trash is pretty expensive. Why pay big money for inevitable trash? And, why kill a tree in the process? (What did a tree ever do to you, unless of course, a tree has fallen on you or your home, in which case, please accept my humble apologies--especially to my mother-in-law Donna.)

Now for my not-so-noble reason. I was sucked into one of those store gimmicks the other day where they announce over the intercom that an AMAZING product will be demonstrated in two minutes and only people in the store will be able to claim a free gift, etc. That day, the product was the Magicloth, a chamois-type towel that can part the Red Sea with it's absorbent power. I stood and watched, received my free gift (a small square of a Magicloth), answered a couple of questions (I tend to pay attention when people talk--it's the teacher in me) and received two more free squares of Magicloth. I watched the rag soak up water from a pie plate that was nearly overflowing (I can't tell you how often this has happened to me--don't you just hate it when your pie plates start flooding?) and then the presenter POURED a 2-Liter bottle of diet soda onto some carpet, and the Magicloth absorbed all of that, too. Now, I don't pour soda onto my carpet very often, but my toddler DOES pour chocolate milk on the floor occasionally. Could this be the answer to my problems? Finally, the presenter clenched the deal. "You can even replace your paper towels with these Magicloths!" That's all I needed to hear. I was almost out of paper towels, and the thought of going to Sam's to buy the industrial-size package and then STORE it was something I was not looking forward to. And, so, I became the proud owner of two packages of Magicloths (4 large towels, total). The price was about the same as the cost of the mega-pack of paper towels, so I thought, why not?

I took the lovely khaki brown towels home (they are approved for military field use, of course, so they must look like the desert) and cut two of them into four pieces each. I stashed the other two under the sink unopened in case I need a quick gift later. (Watch out, Teresa, your birthday is coming up!) I have used them now in place of paper towels for two whole days, and so far so good. They do wash well in the washing machine, and they dry pretty quickly (although, you must be careful to hang them dry--that was one of the questions I answered correctly at the demonstration). I DON'T use them to dry my hair as the instructions suggest is possible--that seems a little weird to me.

Am I 100% confident that we will be able to use these towels to totally replace our paper ones? Not really. Already we realized while planning for the recent tropical storm that washable towels are great until it's not possible to wash them anymore because the electricity isn't working. We bought one roll of paper towels and agreed that they were only to be used in an emergency. So, we shall see how this paperless venture goes--stay tuned!

Be sure to visit Biblical Womanhood's Frugal Friday for ideas on saving money!

Do you have a great granola recipe? I would love to see it!

Let's have a contest!!!

I would like to start making my own granola, but I don't have a recipe for it. So...do you have one? Send me your tried-and-true but simple recipes for granola, and I will post the best ones in a future blog entry! (Your reward will be all of the notoriety and fame that being posted on my blog entails! lol)

My only rule: No craisins. I really don't like them.

I can't wait to see your recipes! Thank you for sending them!

Pasta e Fagioli

Do you need a simple meal that is made with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry? This is one of my favorite soups--Pasta e Fagioli. There are many recipes for this particular Italian soup, but I have taken what I like and simplified it so that I can make it in a hurry. Enjoy!

1 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, diced (the smaller the cut, the quicker it will cook)
2 heaping tablespoons of sun dried tomato pesto (I use the one that Classico makes)
4 c. chicken stock
2 cans kidney beans (I use one can of red kidneys and one of cannellini beans)
1 cup short-cut pasta (I use Barilla Plus elbows)

In a large pot (whatever you use to make soup), cook the onion in the olive oil until it becomes translucent. Add the bacon and the carrot. Cook until the bacon is cooked and the carrots are becoming tender. Add the garlic and cook until it begins to soften. Add the pesto and stir to combine.

Add the chicken stock and beans. Bring the soup to a boil. Add the pasta, and lower the temperature. Cook for about 10 more minutes, until the pasta is tender. Taste, and season if necessary. (Makes at least 4 servings)

That's it! An incredibly filling meal that only takes a few dollars and a few minutes. Enjoy!

Would you like to see more frugal tips? Check out Frugal Friday on Biblical Womanhood!