Baking

Progressive Bowl Party

Posted on Feb 6, 2012 | 8 comments

I just had a major freak out because I couldn’t find my camera. After thinking about the progression of last night, I retraced my steps in my head and couldn’t figure out what could have happened to it. I mean I only had one beer!!!

But, thankfully, I found it, tucked under the covers in my bed. Strange. Anyway, the retrieved pictures of last night’s fabulous feast(s) are below! Super bowl party-hopping is officially my new favorite. I got to experience a wide variety of food and say hello to many different friends! And, I never had to stare at the screen for an extended period of time:)

Food highlights included beef and bean chili, buffalo chicken dip….

lil smokies in some kind of cheesy bread,

greek hummus dip, pulled pork sliders, and…

football themed desserts!

I think my double chippers went over well, as I overheard and few yumms.

Though I didn’t feel strongly about either team, I was glad there was some excitement in the game. And I’m really, really glad that I found my camera!

If you participated in bowl festivities, what super food did you eat?

PS – I’m gonna be an aunt!

The Night Before Chistmas

Posted on Dec 25, 2011 | 7 comments

…was tons of fun! I took it easy all day – went for a run outside this morning and put the final touches on my white chocolate peppermint cheesecake this afternoon.

Then around 3, Matt’s parents arrived and the real party started!

We drank beer and chatted for a few hours and Matt and I prepped two pizzas for a late-night dinner.

Bacon, mushroom, red pepper on whole wheat and pesto, goat, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil on white.

We got all dressed up for church and walked down to the Christmas eve service.

There was lots of singing!

We put out our flames and headed home to a cozy fire.

But that wasn’t the only fire – some toppings from my pizza fell off into the oven and started a small fire! Luckily, it went out on it’s own, but it filled part of the house with smoke and made for a delicious wood-fired pizza.

Then, we feasted.

And I must say, I was very happy with how delicious my cheesecake turned out! Can’t wait to eat more tomorrow.

The eve was perfect, although we did miss my sister and kanz!

I’m uncomfortably full and can’t wait for bed. Tomorrow, we do it all over again – hooray for more food and family. Merry Christmas;)

Sprinkles

Posted on Oct 7, 2011 | 3 comments

My office takes turns baking a birthday treat for all the employees and today it was my turn. I received this fancy schmancy cupcake mix from Matt’s mom & sister and have been waiting to use it. We all know I haven’t been in the kitchen much, so I’m glad I had an excuse to try this mix,

I hadn’t ever had Sprinkles cupcakes until Scottsdale and they are amazing!! I whipped up the batter using egg whites, milk, and butter – it was really thick! I had a bit of difficulty getting it into the cup cake papers, so they ended up really big on top.

But big is good when it comes to cupcakes.

I whipped up some strawberry buttercream to go on top.

I debated using fresh strawberries or frozen and went with fresh because I thought the flavor would be better. But the frozen ones produce so much more juice that the flavor wasn’t as strawberry-heavy with the fresh ones. So, I just kept adding strawberries and then the icing got too thin:( I added more sugar, but then ran out, so I couldn’t thicken it up nearly as much as I would have liked. It still tastes pretty good, but you never know how others will react. The signature dot from the Sprinkles mix makes the cupcakes so cute!

You know what these got me excited for? Wedding cake!!! And guess where I’m headed right now? A wedding! On my way to Charleston, SC for the wedding of one of Matt’s best friends. I took my first half day at work and I couldn’t be more excited for a weekend escape. Happy Weekend!

Iced

Posted on Jun 6, 2011 | 5 comments

I spent my afternoon baking! I was in charge of dessert for an end-of-year party tomorrow night. I know I much prefer homemade dessert, so I figured everyone else would too.

I was kind of dreading coming home and dirtying up the kitchen, but as soon as I got started, I was reminded of how much I enjoy baking! Although, I do not do well around endless amounts of dough…

I mixed up the dough and then let it chill while I went to spinning. It was an hour-long class and it was really tough today…but felt good in the end.

I used a simple sugar cookie recipe from the Joy of Baking, and the end result was just how I like ‘em. Moist, thick, and nearly raw on the inside…

But they looked a little plain…

I was a little sloppy with the bag, but I smoothed these over with a spoon after I was finished.

And of course, I sampled two. And then went back for another. Success.

I’m off to bed and I have back to back gatherings tomorrow! See ya.

(I) Heart Cake

Posted on Feb 11, 2011 | 9 comments

Good afternoon.

So I’m out the door on the way to a bridesmaids gathering for my newly engaged friend Lauren. I was in charge of a dessert and I knew I wanted to bake something new, but I wasn’t sure what. I love cake, but I’ve actually never baked my own (well, I’ve obviously made one from a cake mix before, but never from scratch), so I decided to give it a shot.

I had so much fun baking this!!!!

The batter was some of the lightest and fluffiest cake batter I’ve ever seen.

I can’t remember where I saw the idea to put together a square cake and a round cake to make a heart, but it was many years ago. I went with a heart theme in honor of the bride and groom’s love (and the upcoming holiday).

The assembly was scary, but I seemed to have made it work!

The icing is strawberry buttercream and I used sprinkles and a home-made stencil for the decoration….

I can tell you the batter and icing taste pretty good on their own, but I’m not sure if the cake will be good…I’m actually a bit nervous to have people taste my first cake.

I’ll let you know how its received tomorrow and I’ll try to save you a piece:)

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Lots of pink and red this week….please note that the frumpy frock on Thursday was an attempt to make myself look older and thus give my evaluation more credibility for my meeting. I think it worked.

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Cheers to the weekend!

Mahi + Barley Juice

Posted on Feb 10, 2011 | 8 comments

Wow, I feel so much better knowing I’m not the only person in the universe without cable. Thanks for the interesting comments!

Sooo, my IEP meeting ended up being just fine because the parents didn’t show and the team had a more casual discussion without them.

I took the day off from the gym so that I could spend my afternoon baking for a girls gathering tomorrow night. I’ll show you the final product tomorrow, but let’s just say I licked way too many bowls this afternoon.

Dinner was fantastic. I grabbed some mahi (marinated in lemon and olive oil) at TJ’s this week and pan-fried it. Tj’s frozen fish seems to be hit or miss so I wasn’t expecting too much flavor from these guys. But the fan-frying produced some nice greasy juices that made for an awesome sauce over saffron rice.

All together, this meal was spectacular, especially the little burnt pieces I scraped from the bottom of the pan:)