Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  I hope you have a blessed day filled with fun times and great memories!

I am busy preparing some rolls for our Thanksgiving feast (well...actually for our Thanksgiving dinner, a dinner at our church for families in the area and for our Advent dinner coming up on Sunday).  The ones for Sunday will visit the freezer once they cool.  I don't know if I have mentioned these garlic knots before or not, but if not, you are seriously missing out on some completely wonderful dinner rolls.  Generally I follow the recipe and make eight huge rolls, but for today's sake (needing so many rolls), I used the dough to make 16 rolls each batch.  My second batch is about the come out of the oven, and I have one more to go.  Even dividing the dough up into 16, the rolls are quite large.  I may just do that in the future instead of 8 giant rolls.  Oh, and those of you scared of using yeast, this is super friendly recipe.  I am sure you will be successful if you give it a whirl.

This afternoon we will head to my family's house to celebrate Thanksgiving together.  This is a holiday we rotate families each year.  It makes it far less stressful this way.  I am bringing pumpkin cheesecake (made it for the first time), garlic knots, and some smoked salmon our neighbor brought us bake from his trip to Alaska (a thank you for watching his house for him).  It should be a fun afternoon together.

I am thankful...

I am married to a wonderful man who adores me and loves our children.
We have been blessed with three delightful boys who fill my heart with joy.
We have family that lives nearby.
I have the ability to stay home and raise my children.
We were able to refinance our home because not only will it save us money each month, but it will allow us the option to purchase a larger house for our growing family.
We got in contact with James' and David's older siblings and started a relationship with their families.
And much, much more!

Cheddar Bacon Scones

My husband had to do another early morning firewall change this weekend.  Poor guy had to be at his office at 4 a.m.  He asked me to make something for him to take in and share...well, technically it was more like "Would you like to send something in to work with me?" which can be translated into "I really want you to make something for me to take in."  One of his coworkers had mentioned bringing in donuts (although I don't know any donut place open that early personally), so I decided to go with a savory item instead, so it wasn't just a bunch of sweets.

I found these Cheddar Bacon Scones on Annies Eats and thought they looked and sounded tasty, so I gave them a try.  This was my first time ever making scones in general, but the recipe was a breeze to follow.  I used nitrate-free bacon and fresh green onions in my scones.  The scones were delicious!  I am not saying they are healthy considering you crumble ten pieces of bacon into the batch, and you get eight scones out of the recipe...putting the count of bacon at over 1 piece per scone, but they tasted wonderful.  Next time I will cook the bacon a little longer making it more crispy because it looses a lot of that in the scone.  I am also thinking this would make a terrific addition to a nice corn chowder or other similar soups during the summer.

Now that I have successfully made these savory scones, I am excited to start testing out some sweet scone recipes...especially since I have a read a tip that scones can be frozen before they are baked, and you pull them out the morning of and bake them a few additional minutes.  That sounds convenient, but it does take some prep work, so we will see if I get that ambitious. 

Menu Plans

I used to do a decent job creating a weekly dinner menu which helped with planning and prepping said dinners.  Lately our meals have been more fly by the seat of your pants...mostly meaning I forgot to take something out or I didn't put any advance thought into our meals.  This makes life more crazy, so I am gearing up to restart weekly menus beginning today.  I checked the weather, and it will be HOT, HOT, HOT all week, so I used that to create a grilling dinner menu plan for the week.

Here is our plan for this week covering tonight through Friday:

Monday

Hamburgers
Corn on the Cob


**I already made the from scratch hamburger buns, so they could bake while it is cooler.  The corn on the cob was freshly purchased from the farmer's market this weekend.  I will add some fruit to our meal as well.

Tuesday

Crock Pot Roast (Mexican flavored)
Refried beans
Roasted Corn


**I will need to soak the dry pintos tonight, so I can cook them tomorrow morning, so we just have to heat up and smash them up.  Also I need to pull out the frozen roast we have.  Fruit or salad will be added to this meal.

Wednesday

Grilled Salmon
Grilled Zucchini
Rice

**Our neighbor went to Alaska, and he brought us back some fresh line caught salmon fillets, so my husband plans to grill them on a cedar plank.  The zucchini is from the farmer's market, and the rice is the microwaveable brown rice from Trader Joe's.

Thursday

Asian Chicken
Asian Rice

**This is our last meal my MIL prepared for us when baby David came into our house.  It is a good cook on the grill meal.

Friday

Grilled Pizzas

**Since it has been a few weeks since we have had pizza, and James loves to help prepare pizza, it will be a fun Friday night dinner.  I will make our pizza dough, and we will have to figure out what toppings we would like on top.

Now moving forward, I need to continue to plan our meals in advance to make the evenings run smoother.  It also helps with grocery shopping too.

Baking Cookies

James thoroughly enjoys helping in the kitchen, and it has been a little while since I have purposefully requested his assistance.  I decided it was high time to change that, so preparations were made to allow James the opportunity to bake some cookies with my guidance.  We even picked up a smaller bag of peanut butter M&M's at the grocery store the other day to add to our cookies.

Yesterday morning the house was nice and cool due to running the whole house fan all night, so I gave James the option of making cookies now or waiting until later.  He choose now, and the timing was convenient since Daniel had just fallen asleep in the swing.  However, Sam also wanted in on the action, so I ended up pushing two chairs up next to the counter (one for each child) and set some ground rules about being nice to each other during the cookie making process.

Surprisingly, baking with both boys went amazingly well.  Sam mostly watched, and James did a lot of the measuring and dumping into the mixing bowl.  They both thought it was great fun to watch the mixer beat the ingredients together.  Once the dough was ready James and Sam helped add M&M's and chocolate chips.  Then came the fun part...taste testing the cookie dough while the first batch went in the oven.  GASP! Yes, I did allow each child some cookie dough to eat...isn't that one of the fun parts about baking?  James and Sam were allowed to sample one cooled off cookie as well.

It was enjoyable allowing the boys to help make cookies...mainly because they had so much fun with it.  Such a simple and easy to create joy...not to mention some adorable pictures of my two special helpers.  A morning well worth the cleaning afterward...  After all one of the first things James mentioned to my husband upon his return home today was the process of us making the cookies.  James went as far to describe what we put in the mixer and how the cookies were completed.  Apparently making cookies made a lasting impression for my little man.

Couple Cakes

My last cake class took place our first full day with baby David.  The two older boys stayed home with Daddy, but David tagged along to the class.  I didn't even make the cake or the frosting for this class.  My mom was sweet enough to offer to do the baking, and I let her since we had just added a baby in our home.  Both my mom and I agree the last class was pointless.  The only items taught were the basket weave (which I had done impromptu once before) and the reverse shell border.  The rest of the time was set aside for actual cake decorating.  My mom and I decided we will not be continuing the fondant and gum paste classes...partly because we did not enjoy our introduction to that media, but mostly because we would both rather have the entire cake edible as opposed to having to pull the decorations off.

My husband had to go into work extremely early last weekend to upgrade the firewall.  His coworkers were requesting a cake since I did one following the last firewall episode, and since I enjoy spoiling my husband, I put together a cake using his artistic rendering.  Unfortunately, my picture is not the greatest...I couldn't get my camera to be agreeable...next time I should do a manual picture instead, but I didn't think of it.  I made a from scratch strawberry cake with a homemade custard filling.  To the custard I tossed in small chopped strawberries to add some texture to the cake as well as flavor.  The frosting is a cream cheese frosting.  Basically the old component is the blue guy who is larger but struggling to lift small dumbbells.  The new component is smaller, but he can lift heavier dumbbells...showing his superiority off.  Honestly the cake was more white than it appears above.  I didn't get to taste the cake myself, but my husband says it was really good.

By the way, as a side note, I was asked to make an add on wedding cake.  They had ordered a professional one but needed a smaller cake to serve because they didn't think they would have enough.  I was honored to be asked; however, I turned down the request for a few reasons.  1) Life is really busy/crazy/busy/crazy with three little kids, and I am still adjusting.  2) I would want someone's wedding cake (even if it was just the smaller serving one) to be perfect, and I didn't have the ability to dedicate that much time (see #1 above).  3) I am not good at frosting flowers yet, and I would think the best decoration for a wedding cake would be flowers.  4) I don't need all that added stress in my life at the moment (see #1, 2 and 3 above).  However, like I did say, I was honored to be asked.

Dance Recital & Strawberry Cupcakes

Our niece had her first ballet recital on Sunday.  The recital took place at a high school theater and was estimated to last about two hours.  Since we didn't feel Sam could sit through that long of a performance (our niece's dance wasn't until the second act), and Sam wasn't feeling well, he stayed home with my husband, and I took James to the recital with me.  I was impressed with how well James did overall...even with him asking me twice in the first six dances "Is it over yet?"  James sat nicely on my lap and for the most part sat quietly throughout the whole performance.  We did leave after my niece's performance because my brother and sister-in-law were pulling my niece out and leaving at that point.  During intermission, I called my husband and notified him that plans had changed (long story), and he should head over to the high school with the cupcakes I had made for my niece as a special something for her recital.  After we had cupcakes together, my niece and her family left, and the rest of us had dinner together at a spaghetti place.

However, let's talk about these cupcakes for a minute.  I decided I wanted to make from scratch strawberry cupcakes for my niece because she loves strawberries, and she is also a huge fan of the color pink.  I used the recipe on Smitten Kitchen for Pink Lady Cake.  The only changes I made was to use fresh strawberries that I pureed (since they are in season right now), used all purpose flour (just reduced the amount to 4 1/4 cup instead), and made cupcakes instead of a layered cake.  I found my cupcakes needed to bake for 20 minutes before they were done.

I used the cream cheese frosting recipe listed for this cake except I ended up adding far more sifted powdered sugar to get the right consistency for piping the cupcakes, and I dyed the frosting pink as well.  I wanted to test out some of my frosting tips because I am unfamiliar with what they do, so I purposefully used multiple decorating tips to get a feel for them.  I kept the overall designs simple...going with the idea of creating tutus on the cupcakes.  This probably would have been more ideal with a butter cream type frosting because it is stiffer; however, the cream cheese frosting complimented the cupcakes perfectly.  The strawberry flavor was incredible, and the cupcakes were light and moist (the consistency you expect from boxed cakes).  My family thought the cupcakes were delicious, and I plan on using this strawberry cake recipe in the future for sure.

Less Processed, More Homemade

I am attempting to make meals and snacks that are less processed and more homemade for several reasons. 

1) I know exactly what is in my food...no extra preservatives or added colors and flavors.
2) It is healthier for me and my family.
3) Most homemade items taste a whole lot better than their processed counterparts.
4) Doing homemade can amount to a decent amount of savings...not with all things, but with some.

I have been meddling with this idea for a little bit of time now, and as I think it through a bit, I am trying to incorporate more and more homemade foods.  For example I have been making my own macaroni and cheese (haven't bought the boxed stuff in over a year), hamburger buns (started this within the last several months), refried beans (started this a couple months ago...I use dried beans, soak them, cook them and then re-heat them with a little olive oil, some chicken broth and seasonings), Caesar dressing (actually my husband makes this) and other items as well.

Last night I made homemade bread crumbs for the first time...I had some bread that was going stale and wasn't going to keep much longer.  Tomorrow I am going to try my hand at homemade pasta sauce, and I will make the pizza dough that will accompany the sauce tomorrow night.  I will be making a large batch of sauce to freeze and use for future uses as well. 

I would like to start making my own breads, granola bars and much much more.  Although homemade seems far superior on all accounts, it is also time consuming, so that has to be factored in.  I can sometimes make good use of the boys' naps, and some evenings I put aside some time to cook and bake, but I also want to spend time with my husband too.  It is a delicate balance, but as I strive to do better in this regard, it will get easier, I am sure.

I would like to eventually start making my own jams and applesauces and learn how to can those items.  I think it would not only be a fun hobby, but it would provide fresh, tasty homemade healthier options for my family.
Of course there are always yummy looking baked goods and candies I want to try making too.  I think it would be fun to give homemade marshmellows a whirl as well as caramels and other tasty candies.  Then cakes, cupcakes, breads and everything else too.

I have a friend who amazes me with all the healthy foods she has readily available for her family.  She also has two little ones, similar ages to mine, and I am impressed she finds ways to make it work for her.  A couple weeks ago at a play date, my friend brought  homemade graham crackers for her kids' snacks.  Now, I have actually thought about making those because I saw a recipe in a magazine, but that is as far as I have gotten with it...just thought about it.  I am inspired to give it a try sometime soon.  My friend is a great mom, and I aspire to be like her.  : )

You Want What You Can't Have

So, today I am supposed to get a CT scan done this afternoon, and part of the requirements for getting the CT scan completed is I cannot eat or drink anything but water for four hours before the CT scan.  Not that big of a deal, really; however, this morning when I got up with the boys, I only ate some of the leftover blackberry yogurt left in the container I had given to Sam (I had scooped some out of the container and put in a bowl for him, and I ate what was left in the container which was about two tablespoons).  I had all intentions of eating a little bit more once I got everyone settled.

Well...let's just say, we had a busy morning going out the park and playing with our cousin and Grandma (she was in town for Grandpa's dr. appt.), and I never got around to eating anything.  My mom took the boys up to her house to allow me time to pack for our camping trip this weekend and so they can play with their cousin some more, and she plans on returning the boys after my CT scan which works out well for everyone.  I just sent them off on their way a little while ago, and I came inside planning on helping myself to the peanut butter brownies I made the other day and some lunch, but then I looked at the clock and realized my time to eat has passed, so instead I got myself a tall glass of ice water, and now just sitting in my kitchen is tormenting me because I can see so many yummy things to eat that I am not allowed to touch.  It just seems so much more difficult than I had imagined it would be.

Let me tell you about these peanut butter brownies, though.  They are delicious!  When I think of peanut butter brownies, I conjure up images of brownies swirled with peanut butter; however, these are more like a peanut butter cookie bar.  It is a peanut butter base mixed with chocolate chips with a melted ganache adorning the top.  I followed the Peanut Butter Brownie Recipe from Smitten Kitchen except I used bittersweet chocolate chips (what we prefer and what I had on hand) for both the chips mixed inside and the ganache on top.  What a nice change from the regular brownie dessert items...then again this family loves chocolate and peanut butter, so when you combine the two, it is heavenly.

Food Tour

Today my husband and I went on a daytime date.  We dropped our boys off at my parents' house and then headed to a quaint little historical town about an hour away for a food tour.  We were able to walk around this historical town learning about the historical aspects as well as stopping in at several restaurants or shops to sample some locally produced food items.

We started off sampling a potato boat, as the restaurant called it.  Basically it was home style potatoes with fresh veggies (carrots, snap peas, broccoli, red cabbage) and pesto sauce mixed together sprinkled with cheese and a dollop of sour cream.  This was actually my husband's and mine favorite sample we had the privilege of trying today.  Next we sampled two flat crust pizzas at another location...one was a meat pizza and one had pear, Gorgonzola, and balsamic vinaigrette.  Third we stopped at an artisan ice cream shop and got sample sized portions of ice cream.  The lemon custard was wonderfully creamy and delicious...it was essentially vanilla ice cream with a nice hint of lemon throughout.  The mint chip ice cream was too earthy for me...way too intense of a flavor.  The mango sorbet was alright.  A winery was the next stop, but my husband and I decided against the wine tasting; however, we did sample the olive oil and balsamic vinegar available.  Following this stop, we hit up a truffle shop and were given the ability to choose any flavor we would like.  Both my husband and I got the dark bittersweet chocolate truffle, and it was creamy and delicious.  Finally we stopped at a family friendly pub and had samples of their onion straws and a pulled pork sandwich.  My husband did the beer sample at the pub, but I opted out.  Those who partook in the beer sample were given small glasses of a light and dark beer to try.  My husband decided he likes beer as much as he always has...not very much at all.

Overall it was a fun experience, and we enjoyed the quaint town thoroughly.  The food tour itself was interesting in both the historical and culinary aspect.  We are glad we signed up for this non-typical date, but we don't think we will sign up for any of the other food tours this company offers...not because we didn't enjoy ourselves and not because of the tour leader...she was wonderful, but mostly because the other food tours are nearby to our own town, and it doesn't seem nearly as fun as the town we did visit today.

Mexican Brownies

I had originally planned on taking Mexican brownies to our moms Cinco de Mayo play date at the park, but I had ended up cancelling because I needed to drive my final cake to my husband's work.  We ended up going to the park and playing with Daddy for a little while that day.

Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided to put them together last night.  We also made homemade vanilla ice cream to top the brownies.  I had never made Mexican brownies before, and I was a little nervous...not about the cinnamon part but about the cayenne pepper part.  Well...let's just say, the brownies are amazing!  They have wonderful flavor!  My husband says he thinks he enjoys them better than regular brownies because the spices add such a nice taste to them.  I followed Aaron Sanchez's recipe for Mexican Brownies...the only changes being I used the cayenne pepper since I could not find the Mexican pepper.  Also I had intended to add some bittersweet chocolate chips to the batter, but I had forgotten, so after I threw the brownies in the oven, I quickly sprinkled some chocolate chips over the top (I know, I know...you are not supposed to open the oven once you put something in to bake, but I had just put them in, so I figured they would be okay).  Next time I will mix the chocolate chips into the batter.  The brownies are tasty the way they are, but if the chocolate chips were mixed into the batter, they wouldn't have changed to a lighter color.  For my first attempt at Mexican brownies, I was extremely pleased.  Believe me, there will be a next time...and a time after that...and a time after that...etc.

Cake Class #4

Tonight was the final basic cake decorating class.  We learned how to make a ribbon rose which I still need lots of practice with, but they do look extremely pretty when created correctly...as I could see by most everyone else's attempts.  Writing was another topic that was covered, but to be honest, I didn't give much thought to this portion because I have written on cakes before without needing to add piping gel to make the writing work well.  Then the remainder of the class was our final project...decorating a cake using some of skills we learned in class.

For this class we were asked to bring an iced cake with us, and we would use our frosting to decorate it during class time.  I promised my husband my final cake could go into work with him since his work hasn't seen any of my cake decorating accomplishments.  Since it is bike month, and my husband will be riding his bike to work tomorrow, the boys and I will drive over and hand deliver the cake...hopefully we will be able to steal Daddy for lunch at the nearby park, but we will see how busy his schedule is. 

As I have mentioned before, I am using these cake classes as an excuse to test out recipes that intrigue me.  For this go around, I decided to bake this Coconut Cake by Tender Crumb.  I also choose to fill the cake with this Lemon Curd by Kitchen Confidante.  I had seen a few coconut cakes filled with lemon curd online, and I have never attempted a lemon curd before, so it was calling out to me.  Personally I think the lemon curd tastes delicious, but a few others (my husband, my mom and James) thought it was a bit too sour.  I am hoping the sweet cake and the sweet frosting will help ease the tartness of the lemons.  For the frosting I just made a butter cream using coconut milk in place of regular milk.

I wanted to decorate my cake in a tropical theme since it is a coconut cake, so I decided to focus on palm trees using the leaf tip (super neat!) we learned about in class.  I did try out the shell pattern for the border of the cake where the islands were not.  Also I added some coconuts to the palm trees and a few flowers down below.  I am pretty pleased with the overall look of the cake...even if it is a bit uneven and not precisely what I originally imagined.  For some reason I thought I was going to have room to add the sun and clouds and other additional items, but it didn't work that way, and I think I am happy with that.  If I had put all those things on the cake, it would have taken away from it...in my opinion.

Update: We dropped off the cake (and got to sample a little) at my husband's work.  I was already receiving rave compliments right away from my husband's coworkers.  The coconut was not very noticeable (at least not to me, and I don't like coconut), but the lemon sure stood out.  Overall I am very pleased with how it turned out.

Cake Class #3

Last night was a really fun cake decorating class.  I actually learned a lot of new skills and had a good time practicing and then finally decorating the cupcakes we brought along to class.  I ended up using these delicious Dark Chocolate Cupcakes from Brown Eyed Baker as well as her Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and her Vanilla Buttercream Frosting since I didn't like the way the class frosting turned out last week.  I did end up adding some meringue powder (just a couple tablespoons) to the frosting for the sake of creating a crust on the flowers we designed.  I didn't put the frosting in the fridge either...I just left it in tupperware containers in the garage until we left for the class.  The frosting worked perfectly for piping, and it tasted oh so delicious!  I was especially happy because I got away with the all butter frosting...I was trying really hard to avoid adding shortening if I didn't have to.

We learned how to make shells, leaves, rosettes, drop flowers, a pompom flower, a shaggy mum and the fancy looking swirl of frosting on the cupcake.  Our teacher also showed us if we do the reverse of the fancy swirl (starting from the middle and working our way out), it creates a rose design on top of the cupcakes.  This is not an official method of the class we are taking, but I thought it was wonderful that our teacher was willing to show us tips and tricks that she has learned along the way.

I was surprised that most of these decorating skills are not that complex.  In fact, I was amazed at how easy some of them were...like the leaves, for example.  It was nice to actually do well in one of the cake decorating classes as well...nothing like taking  a class and feeling like a failure.  That feeling didn't creep in last night although some of the skills I had to practice a little more than others.

It was a fun evening, and now I have some new skills to use for cupcakes and cakes.  I am not sure how often I will make flowers due to having two little boys, but that doesn't mean I can't use these neat flowers for fun or for other occasions or family members.

 

Cake Class #2

I am dubbing this cake my clown cake...mostly because of the bright colors.  Last night's cake class was not like I expected.  I was under the impression the teacher would direct us on the new skills for the night and then set us to work.  However, instead it was more of a do it at your own pace, and the teacher would just help with questions that arose...instead of a visual demonstration to get us started. 

I ran into a few problems.  First of all, my frosting which started off way too stiff because I had put all my frosting in the fridge, ended up being far too soft, and that gave me all kinds of problems.  Yes, I did use butter instead of shortening because I prefer the taste and the more natural process for making frosting.  Secondly, I deviated from my original coloring scheme which resulted in a more clown-like cake than I had intended; however, if I call it a clown cake, it doesn't seem so bad.  Next we didn't pay careful attention to the lesson plan book, so we didn't transfer the pattern to our cake the correct way...thankfully it still worked without destroying all the frosting.  Of course our teacher showed us the correct way after she saw us do it the wrong way.  Finally, I didn't put a filling in my cake...just used more butter cream frosting because I ran out of time, and my boys lost patience with my fiddling in the kitchen.  A filling would have helped even out all the sweetness from the butter cream frosting...oh well!

For next week, perhaps I will try using a butter cream frosting I have decorated with before and see if it makes a difference since I had so much trouble with this recipe.  Also I learned I am not a huge fan of using the copy and paste pattern idea.  If you don't make sure to frost over the lines, you can see the piping gel peeking through the frosting.

For the cake itself I followed the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cook book for the Citrus Yellow Cake...essentially a yellow cake with finely shredded orange peel added into the batter.  I wanted to try something different since that is part of the fun for me in taking these classes is to test out new cake recipes.  I didn't have enough time to really go crazy, and I also didn't make a store run, so I had to make do with what I had on hand.  The citrus cake is different.  It is flavorful, but I think it would taste better with a luscious cream cheese frosting instead of butter cream...the butter cream is just too sweet.  Either that or perhaps I am just not a huge fan of a citrus cake.

In-Home Date Night & Delicious Ice Cream

Last night my husband and I had an in-home date night...just meaning we purposefully set aside the time after the boys go to bed to have a date night together...not to do household chores or work on the Jeep or anything else that might occupy the to-do list, but to spend some quality time together.  We do this periodically, and it is really nice.  

Usually we will cook a meal and dessert together which we don't get the pleasure of doing very often due to two little boys that demand our attention.  Last night this was the plan, but then my husband and James made the most delicious pizza for dinner, so my husband and I decided we would eat that with the boys and then just make a dessert together instead of a whole meal.  We figure we will save the rib eye and all the other sides we had considered for another night instead...although my husband did have to cook up the rib eye (which we sampled, and it was finger licking good!) since it had been set to room temperature to make cooking easier.

For the dessert, I had chosen a homemade ice cream to try out.  I took a couple ideas along with my own thoughts and merged them into a wonderful creation.  I knew I wanted to start with a chocolate base...just because my husband and I love chocolate so much.  Forty Cakes had a wonderful Chocolate Ice Cream recipe I choose to try out for the base, and I am glad I did.  The consistency is wonderful, and the flavor is perfect.  This might become my go-to chocolate ice cream base for the future.  I wanted to add mix-ins to our ice cream, and I wanted to do something a little different than just throwing in some candy chunks.  While perusing the internet, I ran across Pixelated Crumb and was so taken in by the beautiful pictures that I took some time to pour over the recipes, and I stumbled upon Raspberry Swirl and Brownie Ice Cream.  Can you say incredibly delicious looking?!  In all honesty, I found this recipe before the chocolate ice cream one mentioned above.

I ran with the idea, but using some of my own creativity.  I switched the base to chocolate which I already told you.  I did use the brownie and swirl idea from this site though.  The brownies were incredibly rich, fudgy and perfect...for eating in general, but especially in the ice cream.  I ended up making a 9x13 pan instead of 8x8 because my 8x8 was occupied.  I just decreased the baking time and watched/tested the brownies carefully.  They only needed to bake for twenty minutes altogether.  Now onto the swirl component.  Instead of doing a raspberry swirl, I decided to try for a strawberry swirl instead.  I bought some fresh, organic strawberries (they were on sale the same price as the regular strawberries), cut them up, added a little sugar and a splash of pure vanilla extract (I didn't like the idea of using vodka, and vanilla extract has some alcohol to help with the fruit not completely freezing...or at least that was my thinking).  I let the strawberries rest in the sugar and vanilla for a little while and then I pulsed them in my food processor.  The small chopped up chunks of brownies went into the freezer, and the strawberry puree went into the fridge while we focused on the chocolate custard ice cream base.

Once the ice cream base was complete and cooled in the ice bath, it was poured into the ice cream machine and set churning.  As that process ended, we mixed the brownie chunks in right away and then layered ice cream with spoonfuls of the strawberry puree, swirled it around with a knife a little bit and set it in the freezer to harden up.  Granted when we ate the ice cream last night, it hadn't had enough time to set up completely, but even so, it tasted so wonderful.  I think chocolate, strawberries and brownies ended up being a winning combination.

 **A picture of the ice cream after getting the brownies and strawberry puree mixed throughout and before getting put into the freezer to harden.

 

**A scoop of ice cream ready to be eaten...you can clearly see the strawberry swirl, but the brownies are not super noticeable in the picture.  They sure tasted good though!  Perhaps next time we may add more brownie chunks than we did...my husband seemed to think it needed more, but it might have been the scoop he ended up getting because mine had a decent load of brownies throughout.

Don't those pictures make you want to run out and either buy or make your own ice cream?

Cake Class #1

My mom and I signed up to take a cake class together.  This is actually something I have been interested in doing for awhile now, so when my mom mentioned taking one together, it was a perfect excuse to expand my cake decorating knowledge.  After all, I would much rather take the cake class with my mom than all by myself.

Tonight was our first basic cake decorating class.  The instructor is really nice and knowledgable.  She actually bakes and decorates a lot of wedding cakes which is amazing.  I wouldn't want that stress personally, but I am inspired by those who can handle the stress and deliver gorgeous wedding cakes.  There was a lot of talking tonight and not much doing, so in that regard it was not the most exciting, but the future classes should be a lot more interactive.  We did practice using a star tip to make stars on some sugar cookies which was fun, but it wasn't anything new to me.

Funny thing...when we arrived for the class, my mom and I had to purchase some ready made decorator frosting.  I think the reason they have you purchase the frosting for the first class is so they don't have to worry about the consistency being correct.  Well...I loaded my decorator bag with my frosting as did my mom with hers.  I had the toughest time getting the frosting to start piping out of the bag.  I had to squeeze the bag so hard, my hand was actually shaking, and my mom was wondering what was going on.  We switched bags, and her frosting slid out as easily as butter.  When we switched back to work on our cookies, my decorator bag actually broke because it couldn't handle all the pressure of the thick, stiff frosting.  Good thing I was using a disposable one!  When I put together my next decorator bag I just used some of my mom's decorator frosting, and it worked a thousand times better for me.

Next week we will decorate an actual cake, so that should be a lot of fun.

James' Adoption Day

Two years ago today, our amazing three year old, James, became a forever member of our family (paper legal), and we couldn't be happier about that.  To celebrate James' adoption anniversary, the morning started with making a cake together.  Since James loves to help in the kitchen, he really enjoyed this, and what child doesn't love to play with sprinkles and M&M's! This recipe was following Sweetapolita and her Funfetti Layer Cake

 

Then later in the morning, my dad came over and picked up James to take him out on a fun outing.  They grabbed a bite to eat and then took a tour at a cool reptile museum.  This is really special because it is the first Grandpa (my dad) and James outing just the two of them.  One of the requirements was no more diapers...the grandchild must be potty trained because my dad doesn't do dirty diapers.  James had fun seeing all the different animals and being able to touch some of them.

Afterward they picked up my nephew (same age as James) and returned to drive James' Jeep around.  Both sets of grandparents and my nephew joined us for dinner to celebrate the adoption.  We had hamburgers with homemade buns, potato salad, beans (my mom made), and fruit (my mother-in-law brought).  Then for dessert we had the cake James helped make and some chocolate ice cream...to offset all the vanilla.

I think James had a great day, and he felt incredibly special.  I doubt he understands the whole concept of adoption and what it means, but I have been told and believe that we should use "adoption" vocabulary frequently in our daily lives and make adoption a topic a child will feel comfortable asking questions about as they grow older and helping them to understand and come to grips with the whole idea.

If nothing else James' adoption is a perfect reason to celebrate.  : )

Jeep Practice Cake

Yesterday I finally got around the making a practice Jeep cake for James' birthday party which is coming up this Saturday.  I have never made a shape cake before...one that you shape yourself.  First I found a chocolate cake recipe I wanted to try: Moist Chocolate Cake.  So I started by whipping together a batch of cake mix and filling my mini bundt pan with the batter.  The mini bundt pan makes six cakes, so I knew we would be able to sample a couple of them to make sure the cake was good before I made the whole cake based on that recipe.  I was happy with how the bundt cakes turned out...they will make perfect wheels.  Also my husband, James and I agreed the chocolate cake was yummy!

Once we determined the cake batter was a hit, I went ahead and whipped together a few more batches, making two 13x9 cakes and one 8x8 cake.  Fortunately, I baked the cakes in the afternoon and then waited until the boys were asleep to assemble the cake.  That gave plenty of time for everything to cool off and allowed me to focus only on the cake.  First I put together a base for the cake.  I ended up wrapping a book in foil and using some frosting to glue it to my cake holder.  Then I wrapped a piece of cardboard in foil as well for the cake body to rest on.  Next time I will using a thicker base, so the wheels can be set more accurately.  The wheels are just glued to the cake with a decent dab of butter cream frosting.

For the filling between the layers I created a whipped ganache.  I have read the idea somewhere before, and I have been wanting to try it, so I figured why not try it out on my practice cake.  I carved a little of the 13x9 cake off using a serrated bread knife to make the form of the Jeep.

 

Next I took the butter cream frosting I had made and did a crumb type coat over the Jeep.  I left the wheels alone though.

 

I had to make an additional batch of butter cream frosting in order to color it for decorating the cake.  When I have asked James what color he wants his Jeep cake to be he has gone between green and blue, so for the practice cake I decided I would make a green Jeep.  I dyed some of the frosting tan first and started by doing the top (although I goofed up and forgot to factor the doors in...the practice Jeep just doesn't have any doors).  Then I used the green coloring to get the frosting ready for the body.

 

 

After the initial frosting application, I need to go through and start adding some details.  I used some of the white frosting to create the headlights and windows.  I also used some of my leftover whipped gananche (but softened) to cover the wheels including the middle section. 

Of course at this point in time the cake is still missing some vital details.  I used black coloring and filled a decorators bag in order to pipe out the finer details.  For the actual birthday cake, I will make sure to include the doors, more lights and perhaps even a spare tire.  My husband and I also decided I should cut the 13x9 cakes to make them just slightly more narrow, so it looks more Jeep-like.  Between that and adding an extra layer of 8x8 cake on top, it should work out well.

 

The true test was how the cake in its entirety turned out, and since I couldn't just cut a wedge off to sample before sending it into my husband's work, I had to just sit back and wait to hear how it was.  The verdict is...everyone LOVES it!  The cake is really moist, and the filling and frosting work perfectly.  My husband says to make it the exact same...except in regards to the areas we already mentioned we wanted to change.  I am happy I don't have to alter a crucial component (frosting, filling) before the party.

Sam's First Birthday

Overall I was very happy with how Sam's first birthday was celebrated.  The cousins all had a blast playing together both inside and outside the house.  They always have a great time when they get to together...it is very fun to watch.  We had some family that could not make the celebration which was a little sad, but our other family members came even if they came early because they could only stay for a short while or if they came late and missed some of the party.  I must say my favorite part of a first birthday is the smash cake.  After all generally it is the most entertaining especially since we didn't plan any games or activities since Sam is so young.

Sam's smash cake was shaped and decorated as a baseball.  I wrote a large number 1 and his name on top of the cake.  I did put the smash cake on a foil lined cake circle to make it easier to store before the party.  Sam didn't know what to think of it at first, and we all though the cake was going to wind up on the floor when he tipped it sideways.  My husband helped pull the cake off for Sam, and Sam went to town on the frosting and smashed the cake mostly all over his belly.  I don't think Sam actually ate a lot of it...mostly just took small nibbles and played with it, but it was great fun to watch.  Sam even tried to share his cake with his guests...what a little sweetheart!  Eventually Sam just sat there without interest in the cake anymore, so we took him and gave him a quick bath and change of clothes before moving onto the gifts.

The main cake that was served to all the guests ended up looking pretty good, I thought...especially considering I have only decorated cakes for fun before.  We did make some homemade vanilla ice cream to serve with the cake as well.  I did end up putting a layer of preserves in the two larger sports balls like recommended by my husband.  Down below you can see a look at how the inside of the cake appeared.  I didn't think to take this picture until the very end, so fortunately there was still some cake left...technically what you see are the leftovers from the large birthday cake.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed in the taste of the cake.  I am not sure if that was because this was the third time having a sample of the same cake over a two week period or it is falls into the fact that I am more of a chocolate girl myself.  Whatever the reason, I just wasn't amazed like the first time I tried making the cake, and that was my disastrous attempt.  : )  However, I am still a fan of this Italian Meringue frosting.  That is deliciousness!  Most of this falls into the fact that I am not a fan of overly sugary frosting, and this is a lighter less sickly sweet frosting.  My mom even made the comment that she thought she could eat a whole plate of the frosting.  I imagine there is some exaggeration there since I don't know if anyone could chow down on just frosting, but I appreciate the compliment she gave on the frosting.

I will say after the party I told my husband I was so glad we were not having to do this all over again three weeks from now.  I am so relieved that James' party will take place at a venue where the workers will take care of all the details.  I just need to show up with the birthday boy, his birthday cake and party favors for the guests.  Speaking of which, I will need to make at least one practice cake before James' birthday because this will be my first attempt at a shape cake.  I may have mentioned it before, but the goal is to make a cake shaped like a Jeep for James' birthday.  I will have to make either an additional cake or some cupcakes as well to make sure we have plenty for everyone since we have friends coming as well as family.

Practice Cake # 2

I waited until last night to bake my second practice cake because we choose to send a cake into my husband's work since one of his coworkers is leaving.  Today is his coworkers last day.  I stayed up late baking all the cake sections, making the frosting and putting it together.  The good news is...the cake turned out great, I was able to practice making almost all the shapes I need for Sean's birthday party, and I got the frosting to turn out!  The bad news is...I tried to frost the cake quickly because it was late, and we wanted to go to bed, so the cake could have looked even better.

Let's talk the Italian Merginue Frosting for a minute.  First of all I would like to say that I really appreciate the information provided on this site regarding this type of frosting: Tips for Italian Meringue Frosting.  After my last disaster, I tried to research more about the frosting before tackling the cake again.  I really wanted to be successful.  Want to know the funny thing?  Once I added the last portion of butter to the frosting, it turned really runny and looked like my disastrous frosting from my first attempt.  I was so frustrated because everything about the frosting had seemed to be yielding much better results than last time.  I just kept the beater going, and after several minutes of beating, the frosting thickened back up and was perfect for using on the cake.  The worst part is, my original frosting attempt was probably fine...I just didn't beat it long enough.  I am glad to know that now though.  I was thinking I would need to do a simple buttercream recipe, but I was pleasantly surprised and pleased when my consistency was achieved.

Once again, time was not on our side, so I just dyed the frosting and spread it over the balls with a knife instead of piping it all fancy or taking more time to smooth it out better.  Below you will see the completed cake.  However, across the balls, I wrote "Mark, you have a lot of balls to leave _______!" (company where my husband works).  My husband came up with the expression.  Hopefully his office gets a kick out of the cake today.  I enjoyed putting it together...especially since I know I can do it again this evening for Sam's first birthday cake.  Success all around!  : )

Update: Everyone at my husband's work loved the cake!  Hooray!  However, I did get some good feedback for when I put Sam's birthday cake together.  I should make sure to fill the bigger sports balls with jam as well because they are so thick, and it is a lot of cake in those pieces.  Good information to have.  : )

Recruiting James

It has been a little while since I have openly and purposely invited James into the kitchen to help with a cooking or baking task.  Yesterday I decided it was high time for that to change.  I decided to try my luck at homemade hamburger buns.  While James was taking his nap, I whipped the dough together and got it rising in a covered bowl.  Once James woke up, we went to work, and James had a blast!  He enjoyed punching down the dough, helping me break it into smaller chunks of dough, rolling the dough into balls, smashing down the balls and brushing milk on the top of each hamburger bun.  The result was a beautiful golden brown hamburger bun that was tasty, but perhaps next time I will play around a little bit and add some more seasoning or flavoring to the buns since I just made them the "plain Jane" way this go around.  James was and still is very proud of his hamburger bun creations.

The recipe was extremely easy, and I am not always super successful at yeast breads, so I love the way the recipe had you boil ingredients and then set them aside until room temperature.  Having a stand mixer with a dough hook also makes this super easy.  Definitely a good basic white bread dough recipe.

By the way, here is the recipe I used: Belles Hamburger Buns.