Homemade Pizza Sauce - Recipe

Since getting the pizza oven we have been perfecting all things PIZZA! Can't say it's the worst thing ever😉 For a traditional NY style pizza, we only like Contadina brand pizza sauce. But for something more Neapolitan styled, we really like this one that I make...

 15 oz crushed fire roasted tomatoes*

1 T evoo

1 small clove garlic, roughly chopped

1/2t dried oregano

scant 1/2t kosher salt

Blend until fully combined. Keeps about 1 week in the fridge. This style of pizza sauce is runnier than the "American style" but it's easy to whip up and really really YUM!

*can use non fire roasted, but I like the flavour of the fire roasted better - so, as pictured, I went with diced over crushed because that's all the store had when I was shopping - the diced were fire roasted and the crushed weren't. So can play with it/use what you have access to!

Swedish Meatballs Recipe

Superbowl food is kinda my favourite part of the Superbowl 😉 This year I tried a new recipe at Brian's suggestion for Swedish Meatballs. I don't even think I've ever HAD Swedish Meatballs, outside of Ikea...so, I can't say I'm an expert in them at all. But this recipe I found online was easy, and fast, and DELICIOUS, and I'm posting it here so I can find it again when I need it. (Found on https://themodernproper.com/swedish-meatballs and there are lots of extra tips etc there that I am not including here). For the party, we just ate the meatballs (plucked out of the gravy), but I'll make them again and serve with the gravy over mashed potatoes or egg noodles! They were really good, and as far as a "fussy" food goes, they were really easy and not time consuming. Since I know how to cook, I am posting just the "simple version" of the instructions. If you happen to be less comfortable in the kitchen, look up the original recipe. 

MEATBALLS

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1/4C flat parsley, minced
1/2t ground allspice
1/2t ground nutmeg
3/4C yellow onion, grated (about 1 med onion)
2 t salt
1/2 t ground pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4C plain Panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs
2 T avocado oil (for cooking, olive etc ok)

CREAM GRAVY

1/2 C butter
1/2 C all purpose flour
4 C beef broth
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1T Lemon juice
1/4 t ground allspice
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1 C heavy cream

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients for the meatballs together until combined. Form into roughly 35 meatballs (1.5" each).

2. Heat oil in pan, and brown meatballs on all sides until they are well heated/browned (approx 5mins). When done, remove from pan, and remove any excess grease.

3. Melt butter in pan, add flour to make a roux. Add broth slowly and whisk. Add spices. Whisk, and gravy should be thickening. Slowly add the cream.

4. Once gravy is simmering, add meatballs back to the pan. Simmer until meatballs are cooked all the way through (about 10mins)

Serve over mashed potatoes or noodles.

Brian's Chicken Wings - Recipe

This isn't maybe exactly a recipe, more of a process - but it's worth sharing because the results are super delicious!

Cook chicken wings until juuuuuust done cooking in the oven (do not overbake).

Deep fry wings in peanut oil for approx 7 -10 mins. 

Once they are fried, toss in melted butter right away while they're still really hot.

Sauce with your fave sauce or flavoring spice or rub! 

It isn't really that difficult at all - but it's the most effective way we've found to get crispy wings, which is what we like. Nothing worse than rubbery chicken skin 😩.

To reheat leftover wings, the best way (to maintain crispiness) is to heat in an air fryer or a toaster oven.

Chicken Lombardy - Recipe

Every once in awhile you see a facebook video on how to make something. And it looks SO delicious you just have to try it. And when you do, #winning, it's ah-may-zing! That's how we feel about this spectacular dish, which tastes like something you might order in a restaurant. The official recipe I used is here. But it's a little "fussy" as written. I'll put ingredients here with my own "how to", and if you know how to cook, you're good to go. Perhaps if you don't know how to cook you need more step by step, but I'm saving you time, and not altering the outcome, so you should love me, if you don't already that is;-) This is perhaps our very very favourite dish, currently!

(I double this recipe for our family, and we have a serving or two left over - it's excellent reheated)

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts - cut thin (butterfly if thick), and pound between wax paper or similar
1/3 C butter divided (2 T approx for mushrooms, rest for cooking chicken)
1/2 C flour
8 oz sliced mushrooms - canned is ok in a pinch, but trust me, fresh makes all the difference here! If using canned, use liquid, don't drain it
3/4 C Marsala wine
1/2 C chicken stock
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 C shredded mozzarella (shredding it yourself instead of pre-shredded really does make a difference)
1/2 C parmesan cheese ("real grated" instead of the 'for spaghetti' kind really makes it great, but can use either)
green onions (optional, but nice)

Dredge the chicken in flour, and pan fry in butter (or olive oil), flipping for even cooking, until done (but not over-done). If you have two large pans, when chicken is nearing done, start cooking the mushrooms in butter (if you don't, use the same pan for both - maybe do mushrooms & sauce first, then set aside and cook chicken), when mushrooms are cooking down well and browned and delicious, add the wine, stock, salt & pepper, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer while chicken finishes cooking, about 10 mins. Heat oven to 450, and grease a 9x13 pan. When chicken is done, place in 9x13 in a single layer. Pour the mushrooms and sauce over all. Top with cheeses and green onions. Bake for 15-20mins, (while you make the rice), once cheese is melting and browning, you're good to go! Serves well over rice, or pasta

Hot Crab Dip

Brian had a craving this past winter. Crab dip. Like the yummy appetizer kind you'd get at a restaurant. He just had to have it. So we googled a few different recipes and kind of mixed and matched them together to make one we thought sounded good, and man oh man, is it ever good! We used basics from the recipes of Our Best Bites, and Paula Deen and I think one random element from an All Recipes or something. Anyway, we thought it sounded good. And surely, it is worth trying! (And tastes great even using canned crab meat, which makes it affordable). Something that is a real winner for serving company, as it tastes pretty "fancy". Imitation krab meat can be used for people who are allergic, but using the real thing is definitely better.



2 8oz pkg's of cream cheese (can use neufchatel cheese -1/3fat, but not no-fat or low-fat)
1 C mayonnaise (light is fine, but no miracle whip)
1/2 C shredded parmesan cheese (can use grated in a pinch)
3/4 C shredded pepperjack cheese
3 - 4 cans of white crab meat, or about 1 1/2 C shredded crab (fresh, or frozen, thawed)
approx 1 T lemon juice
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C green onions
1 T creole or mild course grain mustard
1/4 t cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Mix lemon and crab, and then combine with all other ingredients. Spread in a 9" pie plate or similar, and sprinkle the top with Old Bay Seasoning (optional, but worth it) bake about 20-25 mins until heated through.

Serve with crusty bread, crackers, celery, whatever you like to dip with. ENJOY!

Sugar Scrubs

So this Christmas brought me a new obsession. And when I say obsession, I mean it quite literally, can't. get. enough. Sugar scrubs. I don't know why I never used one before. Or really ever heard of them before. A friend made me a homemade sugar scrub as a Christmas gift, and it was so amazing. In case you're weird like me and don't really know about them, sugar scrubs are just basically sugar and oil, and you rub it on your skin in the shower to exfoliate and moisturize. And it feels so great! The thing I noticed, and that I liked the best, was how CLOSE of a shave I would get after using on my legs. And how great it was for rubbing on my calloused heels. The only thing I didn't love, was that in a really hot shower, the sugar would "melt" faster than I wanted it too, - I wasn't done scrubbing and so I had to use more. Not really a problem, but still. When I ran out I googled how to make it, and Pinterest to the rescue. There are about a million recipes to try, and trust me, I'm going to try them all, eventually!

I decided to make a Coffee Sugar Scrub, because the coffee won't melt away like the sugar will, so you can get a really good scrub! I would encourage you to pick a recipe on Pinterest that sounds good, and give it a go. I would say an approximate guide to know if it's a good one is that the "dry" or "scrubby" bit should be at least double the volume of the coconut oil (I've only made coconut oil based ones, personally, and that does seem to be the most common base oil used)

My original one was white sugar, coconut oil, a little bit of vanilla extract, and peppermint essential oil. When you make it, maybe start with 1C sugar, and 1/2C coconut oil, and then add a bit more sugar if needed to get the right texture or consistency.

I made one with white sugar, coconut oil, and lime essential oil. Possibly my fave. The smell was amazing!

The one in the picture is ground coffee, white sugar and coconut oil. I think I did about 1/3C coffee, 1/3C sugar, and a bit less than 1/3C coconut oil, and that fit in the container I was going to use.

I have so many more I want to try, thanks to Pinterest ideas! I don't want to make any batches too big, so that they run out faster and I need to make more! Wahoo!

My skin has literally never been better. I use on my body, and even my face, though not the face every day/time. My eczema is pretty much gone. I think that's because of the coconut oil, but whatever the reason, I'm just loving these scrubs!!

Cold Brew Coffee

Because it sounds hard but it's so easy! And I LOVE it, because I love iced coffee in the summer.

Take 4 Cups cold water, and a heaping 1 Cup of coffee grounds, and dump the coffee into the water (You can use more coffee if you want an even darker brew)

Put the pitcher in the fridge for about 24 hrs. The grounds will float at first, but will eventually settle. Or give it a little shake, and let it sit and brew in the fridge, easy!

After a day or so, pour the coffee out, through a coffee filter to catch all the grounds.

I use my pour over coffee thing to do that - I make pour over coffee instead of using Keurig. (So easy. Just place that over your mug, and pour hot water over grounds)

The filter will catch all the grounds, and then you're almost done! You will have a very dark brew, and you can dilute it a bit at this point to taste - you want it stronger than normal because of the dilution of ice and cream when you drink it.

I add about 3 C cold water personally, and that's the end!

Some ice, and a bit of this creamer, and you've got a delicious, and low-calorie iced coffee!!

Enjoy!

Dishwasher Detergent - DIY

I started making my own dishwasher detergent - and it works so well! It's a powder, and there are other recipes to be found online, and since each dishwasher washes in its own unique way, make a small batch of your recipe to test it on your machine and make sure it's doing a good job.

I've been using vinegar as my "jet dry" rinse agent for years, and I'm glad I now have an economical, and toxin free way of cleaning the dishes also:-) Essential oil drops can be added to the powder for scent, if desired

2 parts borax
2 parts washing soda
1 part salt
1 part citric acid

Use 2 T for each load.

Easter - Recipe

Easter was a little crazy this year! It started out normal enough - we had 2 different families, and 1 teen from church join us for dinner. I served both turkey and ham. When menu planning, I asked Brian what he wanted for dinner, other than the meat, of course, and he requested creamed peas and carrots.

And on Sunday, he said they were the best he's ever had. Such high praise does not come easy from that guy, so I thought I better get the recipe down so I can repeat it. You know how you google search something (which is what I did) but then next time can't find it at all?! That happens to me too much:-)

So see below for the BEST EVER creamed peas and carrots recipe. But first - so Easter, our friends brought their puppy Fenway with them. He's an Old English Bulldog and about 5 month old, and 40+ lbs. After dinner, the guys went outside to unload some firewood and pallets to burn (we love hanging out around a big fire, of course!), and the dog was on the porch. When Josh (dogs owner) was coming from the yard to the house (through the porch), he scared the dog, who started jumping and barking at the door, to get into the house, while looking behind him to keep an eye on the porch "intruder" that he apparently didn't recognize in the moment.

In all his jumping and panic - he broke his leg. Commence dog-screeching and human panicking (and yes, a few tears). The biggest thing was getting ahold of the beast and getting him still. And then it was off to the emergency vet for all the guys. And then a swap late at night so Brian could get home to bed. So the evening was unfortunately ended before it really got going! We'd finished the main meal, but hadn't yet had dessert, or games, or bonfire...so we'll have to have a re-do! Poor Fenway was at the vet until almost 2am Sunday night, and then had surgery in Richmond on Tuesday. He came through very well, and should be ok in about 6-8 weeks.

Comforting Peas and Carrots Recipe

*my adaptations/changes in ( )

1 16 oz bag of frozen peas and carrots (I used fresh baby carrot sticks, along with frozen peas)
1 t sugar
2 T butter
2 T flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t white pepper (I used black pepper)
1 1/2 C milk (I used 2%)
2 T minced fresh dill OR 2 t dried dill (I used dried)


Prepare frozen vegetables per package directions, adding sugar,

Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then add flour, salt and pepper to form a roux. Gradually whisk in milk over medium heat and bring to boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly, then add dill and cook until thick and bubbly.

When peas and carrots are cooked, drain them and place in serving bowl. Pour cream sauce over vegetables and stir to combine. Serve.

(I left the vegetable plain, and had the cream sauce in a gravy boat for people to "cream on their plate" as some people coming to dinner liked the veggies plain, without the sauce)

Guinness - Recipes

Trying to reinforce the Irish side of our heritage to the kids, I like to attempt about one Irish meal per year. LOL :-) Here are recipes for corned beef, and Guinness cupcakes!

For a few years now, I've used Guinness to cook the corned beef in. It's soooo delicious!

Put corned beef in crock pot, and sprinkle with seasoning packet. Add 2 cans of Guinness Draught (14.9 size), and 1/2 an onion and a bunch of garlic cloves, cut in half. You want the liquid to almost cover the meat (smaller size meat might only need 1 can). Cook on low for 9hrs. It's easy, and SOOOO yummy.

Use about a cup or so of the beer "gravy" once the meat is done, to add to the water to cook the cabbage in.

This year also, I bought a 4 pack of the beers to use for the cooking, and kinda wanted to use them up. (I needed 2 for the main corned beef, another 1 for the smaller corned beef we'll use Reuben Loaf), but I had one can left. I found a recipe online for Guinness Chocolate cupcakes. Why not!

Well, they are actually delicious! So if you ever find yourself with an abundance of Guinness on hand that you aren't drinking - well, make a cupcake! They are moist, and the perfect balance of fluffy/dense. We really enjoyed them. The beer scent is obvious in the uncooked batter, but really not detectable by taste once baked. A very nice from scratch chocolate cupcake recipe.

Green, white, and orange, naturally.

GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE WITH BAILEY'S IRISH CREAM FROSTING
1 C unsalted butter (or use salted, and decrease added salt by a bit)
1 C Guinness Draught or Stout
2/3 C dutch processed cocoa powder
1 C brown sugar
1 t salt
2 C all purpose flour
1 C white sugar
1 1/4 t baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 C sour cream

Preheat oven to 350

In a saucepan, heat butter, beer, cocoa and brown sugar, whisking until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temp.

In your mixing bowl, combine salt, flour, white sugar and baking soda. Add the cooled beer mixture and beat on medium for 1 min. Add eggs and sour cream and beat on medium for 2 mins or until smooth.

Divide batter evenly among cupcake cups. Bake for approx 20 mins, or until done. Cool before icing.

ICING RECIPE
** I didn't want to buy real (alcoholic) Bailey's for this, because it uses so little, and I knew I'd probably never use it again - and alcohol is so $$. So I substituted for using Bailey coffee creamer instead. The flavour is probably lighter and less intense than using the real deal as suggested in recipe, but this does make a nice "light irish cream" flavour.

1/2 C  butter
4 C icing (powdered) sugar
1 pinch salt
3 T Irish Cream (Bailey's or Carolan's)*
1 T milk *

*Or substitute approx 4 T Bailey's coffee creamer in place of Irish Cream and Milk

Mix together until sugar is incorporated in the butter and liquid - then beat on high until light and fluffy.

French Recipes

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

I found this recipe here (there is a pic). I decided against a traditional cordon bleu because of the time intensity and volume of people I was making it for. If you are going for real tradition, and aren't feeding a crowd, the wrapped ham and swiss is really nice. But this has all the flavour in a regular ol' casserole. It's REALLY yummy! ( I doubled this recipe)

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks

dry breadcrumbs

1 egg, mix well into 1/2 C milk

8oz swiss cheese, cubed

8oz ham, diced

1 (10 3/4oz) can cream of chicken soup

1 C milk

Dip chicken in egg and milk mixture, then toss with breadcrumbs, coating well. Brown in a little oil until golden.

Place in 9x13 baking dish. add cheese and ham.

Mix soup with 1 C milk and pour over all. Bake at 350 for 30-35 mins, or until tender and bubbly.


Bistro Style Gratin Dauphinoise

I found this recipe here (there is a pic). These are probably the best potatoes I have ever had in my life. No joke. They are amazing!! And actually very simple to make. Yes, I did get fresh thyme, and used 2 sprigs as suggested - I suppose using some dried thyme, and straining it out would work too - but I like to make a recipe the way it's written, the first time I make it:-)

3 lbs waxy potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (Idaho or King Edward are waxy potatoes, Russet is not)

6 oz gruyere cheese, grated

salt

pepper

1 1/2C heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream depending on where you live)

2-4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 T butter

gruyere cheese for topping, optional

Preheat oven to 300. Take a heavy bottom dish or oven proof gratin dish and grease it with some butter.

Layer the potato slices in the dish, slightly overlapping each other, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper, and sprinkling each layer with a liberal amount of cheese.

Sprinkle cheese on the top of the last layer.

Put the cream, garlic and sprigs of thyme into a saucepan and bring them gently to a boil, then remove the thyme, and pour hot cream over the potatoes.

Dot the top of the gratin with the remaining butter and some extra cheese if you wish, and bake for about 1 to 1.5 hrs, or until the potatoes are soft and the top is crispy and golden brown.


Fresh Salad with French White Balsamic Vinaigrette

This one I just sort of made up, based on suggestions from friends via facebook. Salads are French, originally - who knew?! It was delicious, and my boys declared it their favourite part of the meal. But then, they always love the salad best...weird kids!

Mixed greens (spring and spinach combo)

1 apple, chunked

bacon, about 4 slices, cooked and diced

gorgonzola cheese

croutons

candied walnuts (or almonds)

I found a White Balsamic Vinaigrette by Brianna's (brand name). I was told this was a "French" dressing, and the label itself says it's a French Vinaigrette, so I guess that's right:-)

Christmas Recipes

We had a few new things this year, and they were winners!! Cranberry Salsa, Methodist Potatoes, and A Cherry Danish. We had a lot of old favourites too...and we just had a LOT of good food all around, but these new recipes are worth trying. First up -

CRANBERRY SALSA

I saw this recipe on ourbestbites.com, and it looked delicious. Guess what? It is! It's easy to make and gorgeous to look at too:-) This is all it is - make fresh salsa, but instead of tomatoes, use fresh cranberries. It's really one of those life-changing wow moments, and I feel our holidays will never be the same. As with all fresh salsa's, you can alter the amounts of ingredients to suit your tastes, I loosely followed the recipe suggestions for my first attempt (mostly I eyeballed their approximate suggestions, but didn't actually measure)

Notes:  Feel free to adjust this basic recipe to taste. One recipe makes enough for 2 blocks of cream cheese.  Often I’ll just serve it over one block at a time and save the extra salsa for another night.

Ingredients
12 oz bag fresh cranberries, washed
2 jalapenos, minced (adjust according to taste)
1/2 cup sliced green onions, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar, more to taste if desired
2 8oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature

Instructions
Place cranberries, jalapenos, green onions and cilantro in a food processor and process until fine.  Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in lime juice, salt, and sugar.  Chill in fridge for about 2 hours or more.  To serve, spread cream cheese evenly in a pie plate or other shallow serving dish.  Spread salsa on top and serve with crackers.

Wheat Thins are amazing with this, but other crackers or even corn chips would be fine too.


METHODIST POTATOES

This recipe is a family recipe from our friends who joined us for Christmas this year. They are wonderful!!

1/2 C onions sautéed in 1/4 C butter
1 (2 lb) bag frozen potatoes (small diced potatoes - could use "fresh potatoes" too, I'd imagine)
1 can cream of chicken or celery soup
1 lrg pkg cheddar cheese, cubed
16 oz sour cream
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Topping:
2C corn flakes
1/4 C butter

Mix everything together and place in casserole dish (9x13). Top with 2 C corn flakes coated in 1/4 C melted butter. Refrigerate, until ready to bake (can be made a day in advance). Bake at 350 for 40-50 mins, or until cooked through

CHERRY DANISH

This recipe is from Kraft, and it's an easy "make ahead" for Christmas brunch. It tastes like (only waaaay better) the danishes you buy at a grocery store bakery. You could substitute the cherry pie filling for another flavor too!

2 cans crescent dinner rolls
2 tubs (8oz ea) cream cheese spread (or use 8oz regular cream cheese)
1 1/2 C icing or powdered sugar, divided
1 egg white
1 t vanilla
1 can (21oz) cherry pie filling
1 to 2 T milk

Preheat oven to 350. Unroll one of the cans of crescent dough. Place in 9x13 baking pan; press into bottom of pan and press seams together to seal.

Beat cream cheese, 3/4C icing sugar, egg white, and vanilla with mixer on medium speed until well blended. Spread onto crust. Cover with pie filling. Unroll remaining can of crescent dough onto wax paper. Pat out dough to form 9x13 rectangle, pressing seams together to seal. Invert over pie filling to form top crust. Discard wax paper.

Bake 30-35 mins or until golden brown. Cool at least 20 min. Gradually add milk to remaining 3/4C icing sugar, beating well until blended and thick. Drizzle over warm dessert. Cut into 24 rectangles to serve. Store leftover dessert in the fridge.

Cheesy Chicken Risotto - Recipe

I tried a new to me recipe this week - I got it awhile back from my sister, and never got around to making it. Big mistake. It is versatile, SIMPLE and delicious. My kids were all kinds of suspicious as I was preparing it, because I told them it was new...

Kenna: I hope this is one of your good recipes {because I always make them terrible food, right? ;-)}
Me: Well, I think it's pretty good, it's Auntie Lauryn's recipe and you like her cooking
Brooks: Is it as good as Uncle Mark's pancakes?
Me: uuuuuhhh, probably not, because there is no syrup involved
Brooks: awww, he makes good pancakes
Kenna: I ate eight!

So it might not stand up against pancakes, but everyone liked it, even Brian:-)

CHEESY CHICKEN RISOTTO BAKE

1 can mushroom soup
3/4 C water
1/2 C milk
1/4 C parmesan cheese
3/4 C white rice, uncooked
2 C spinach, raw leaves (can omit if you don't have any)
1 C red pepper, chopped (or use green, yellow etc)
1 t thyme
3/4 lb cubed chicken, raw (I use 2 large boneless skinless breasts cut up for a double recipe)

1 T parsely (optional as garnish)

- Mix soup, water, milk and cheese in a shallow 2 L casserole dish (bigger if you are doubling of course). A 9X13 works fine

- Add all remaining ingredients, stir and cover

- Bake at 400 F for 35 min (covered)

- Stir, and then bake for 15 min (uncovered) - *or until rice is hot and tender (I find this usually requires an extra 10 minutes or so for a double recipe)

- Sprinkle with parsley

Let stand for 5 min before serving

What makes it easy is that it's all in one dish, chicken can still be semi-frozen (thawed enough to cube up, but not thawed all the way), is definitely an "eye ball it" recipe, as far as chicken and veggies go (add more, or less, and it'll be fine) and it doesn't take forever to cook!

This one is a winner, and perfect for the 'throw together' type of last minute dinner. I don't know about you, but I stock all these ingredients (maybe except the spinach) in my pantry/fridge at all times. Easy Peasy!

Poured fondant - Recipe

I tried something new! I've heard about it, and now was the perfect time to give it a try. See, making a fondant cake is time consuming, and completely destroys your kitchen...I've not been able to figure out a neat and tidy solution. It's just messy. For my cookies and cupcakes business, I don't do cakes - because they are much much much too time intensive, and would take so much time out of my family that I couldn't charge enough to be worth it. I do like making cakes, and trying things, but I'll keep that to personal occasions, not for hire.

Well, a friend placed an order, she is also a caterer, and has given/will give me business, so it is within my best interests to keep her happy. And she wanted themed cookies and a cake. The theme was whales, and so I knew I could maybe try this new technique (saving me time!), and it WORKED. Yay!

This type of fondant will not work in all cakes or situations (comparing poured fondant to rolled fondant), but if you're into cakes, you'll see that this can have it's place.

I poured the fondant over the nicely crumb coated cake (be as even and smooth as you can about it)

It's up on a cooling rack, so the excess can drip away.

I've only done this ONCE, so I am by no means an expert, but I'll share what I've learned this first time around. Any other significant discoveries in the future, and I will update the post.

POURED FONDANT RECIPE


9 C icing sugar, sifted*
1/2 C corn syrup, warmed (the clear kind is preferred, if you want whiter fondant)
4oz white chocolate, melted
2 t vanilla OR almond extract
1/2 - 1 C warm water

*(that is 1 2lb bag plus 1C) - icing sugar is also called confectioners sugar. THIS MUST BE SIFTED. I did not sift it, as I usually don't sift things (quite often it is an unnecessary step), but this time, it's important. I didn't sift it, and I had tiny "balls" of icing sugar that did not get mixed smooth. 

Mix all ingredients with only 1/2 C of water on low in mixer until well blended. Up the speed a little, and add more water, just a little at a time, until you reach a thick, yet very pourable consistency. Too much water will give you a sheer-er application. Too sticky and it won't run down the sides of the cake.

Pour this right away on a cake that has been crumb coated, (be even and smooth about it, imperfections will show through - So use the paper towel method to rub out any ridges etc) - after cake is crumb coated, place in freezer for about 20 mins or fridge for maybe 40 - you want it cold when you pour the fondant.

I covered a 12" round, two layers high. It could have covered a third layer too,by the amount of excess, I'd say.

Pour the fondant over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides. There is almost no need for touching it at all, it will pour and smooth itself out, if you do need to touch it with an off set spatula to help it "move" over the edge, do it quickly before it begins to set.

Make sure your cake is on a cake board BEFORE you pour the fondant. Have the cake on a cooling rack, to allow excess to fall away.

After about 30 mins, the excess will have all dripped off. You can take a knife, scrape it from the table (super easy), and wipe the table as normal. Anyone who has rolled fondant knows there is nothing normal about the way you need to wash your table after the fact. So the clean up here is AWESOME. If you laid wax paper down prior to pouring, it would be even easier to clean up!

 The cake gets dry to the touch within an hour, it never gets totally hard though. So for decorations, I would suggest buttercream (flowers, words, etc). I used a fondant whale I made, and he is heavy, so he sunk in a bit

 I am not sure if it was me, or if I wiggled the cake too much getting it onto the display platter, but I got "cracks" - they aren't actually cracked, but they look kinda like that, even though the surface is smooth and unbroken. Because this is a "water" looking cake, I thought it kinda went with the theme, so I decided not to worry about it. Next time I will either move it sooner to display platter, or later. Not sure which yet:-) (while still more "wet" or while completely "dry", I'll need to research it)

These are the "cracks" - even though the surface is perfectly smooth. The whale is heavy, so you can see how he settled in.

Burger Bar - Recipes

We we're hosting a "few" friends for a 4th of July cookout. I think we ended up with 16 adults and 13 kids? Maybe there were more kids. It's hard to count that many rapidly moving little people. But I think there were supposed to be 13 of them there:-)

Hurricane Arthur threatened our fun - but didn't. It ended up being a gorgeous day, and the perfect evening for a party. In an "American tradition" we did a bbq, of course - burgers. I decided to do something a little different, and fun..."knock off burgers".

We had a Burger Bar, where you make your own "fave" burger, just like at a restaurant. I selected 4 different types/styles/tastes of burger recipes, and it was a HUGE hit!! Check out all the recipes below

Banzai Burger (Red Robin knockoff)

Angry Whopper (Burger King knockoff)

(Bacon) Swiss Mushroom Burger (Applebee's knockoff)

Big Mac (McDonald's knockoff)

I made cards, and set each one at the "station" for said burger, with all the toppings.

This tells you how to assemble your burger correctly, step by step.

BANZAI BURGER

(to cook/make - marinade beef patty in teriyaki sauce for a few hours before grilling. Drain pineapple rings of juice, and marinade in teriyaki sauce for a few hours, and grill the pineapple until warm)

1. Bun, mayo on top side
2. Place meat on bottom bun
3. Cheddar cheese on meat
4. Tomato slice on cheese
5. Pineapple ring on tomato
6. Spoon small amount of teriyaki sauce on pineapple
7. Iceburg lettuce on pineapple
8. Place mayo side bun on top, and ENJOY!

Burger stations, after most of the carnage had taken place. - We ate a LOT of burgers! I should have taken a pic of everything all neatly lined up, ready for assembly - oh well! I had the table in 4 "lines" and everything needed for each burger right there. So it was pretty easy to read the assembly steps and make the burger.

 ANGRY WHOPPER

(To make sauce and onion petals, click here for recipe)

Build from bottom up
1. Sesame seed bun
2. Meat
3. Pepper Jack cheese
4. Jalapeno slices
5. Bacon
6. Sauce
7. Spicy Onion Petals
8. Tomato slice
9. Shredded lettuce
10. Top bun, and SPICY!


SWISS MUSHROOM BURGER

(to make mushroom sauce, heat 1 can of condensed mushroom soup, approx 8oz can of mushrooms with juice, a few squirts of Worcestershire sauce, and about 1/2 of a regular sized onion, cut in thin slices. Heat/sautee on stove top in non stick pan until onions are soft and all is hot)

Build from bottom up
1. Bun
2. Meat
3. Swiss cheese
4. Bacon (optional)
5. Mushroom sauce
6. Top bun, and YUMMY!

BIG MAC

(to make the special sauce, click here for recipe) - to make a "middle bun" use a bottom bun portion, or carefully slice the bump off the top of a bun, making a perfect middle bun layer

Build from bottom up
1. Bottom bun (sesame seed)
2. Special sauce (use lots!)
3. Diced onions
4. shredded lettuce
5. American cheese (Kraft single slices)
6. Meat
7. Middle bun
8. Special sauce (use lots!)
9. Diced onions
10. 3 dill pickles slices
11. Shredded lettuce
12. Meat
13. American cheese
14. Top bun
* Optional 13a, ketchup, and these are THE BEST!

sides and dessert:-)

I made some red, white and blue camo cupcakes (red velvet, and white cake, some of which dyed blue)

I used a light meringue style icing, so it is very fluffy and light....so I piled it high:-)

Yay, 'Murica

Because this was just toooo cute. G & G (Grey & Giavanna). They had matching arm and face "tatch-toos", and she's holding flowers she picked from my garden. Cute, or what?! He's only about 3 weeks older than she is, and he says she's his best friend - or Abram, her brother. He can't decide between them:-)

Whether you celebrated Canada Day or Independence Day this week, I hope you had a lovely day off celebrating with friends and family!

Beach Season & Soup Recipe

The kids have been begging to go the beach for a few weeks now. When we lived in Norfolk, it was only a few minute drive to our fave spot, so we could squeeze in a quick beach trip in an otherwise busy day.

Since we moved, it's now a 30 minute drive to the closest beaches (one of which is our fave, yay)...But it requires more planning on my part, and a solid chunk of available time. It's been a busy month so far, and it just hasn't happened.

But they were delighted when I suggested a beach afternoon, after baseball was over. Other than cleaning and doing laundry...we didn't have anything else to do! (And who wants to dust or fold laundry, really?!)

The beach is really a magical place. There are no toys (or very simple ones), and yet no one gets bored...in fact, as long as we've ever stayed at the beach (sometimes near all day), I don't think I've ever heard the kids ask to leave, or be happy about going home. Water and sand and sun provide a kind of fun that nothing else can.

I love this kid. We had a nice talk. He has all kinds of interesting stories.

Kenna is getting buried in the sand by Brooks

This day, I had to entice them to leave...with bread bowls. Haha! Let me explain...for Mothers Day, we went to grab lunch at Panera Bread (because I wanted to go there, and we knew the wait times would not be long). Kenna is our soup girl. She adores it. So she got chicken noodle, in a bread bowl. This was about the best thing that has ever happened to her. Rarely has a girl ever been more in love with her meal. With my meal, I got some broccoli cheddar soup (in a regular bowl:-) and it was delicious.

Fast forward to last Wed night - Someone at our church has a connection with Panera - they get all the "day old" stuff, and bring it to the church for the seminary students to take home for free. Brian works out at the church on Wed nights, and was there at the time of the bread drop off. He noticed 2 bread bowls, and he snagged them. Yes, literally taking food out of some seminary students mouth;-)

But you should have seen Kenna. It was as if Daddy was a bread bowl magician. She couldn't believe he could procure such an amazing thing. She talked about the bread bowl from Thursday onward. We'd decided I'd make a knock off Panera recipe to go in the bowls (which were enjoyed by Kenna and Brooks. The rest of us had "just regular". The recipe was stellar, all 5 of us loved it!

So on this day, I enticed them to leave the beach with the promise of a bread bowl:-) Here is the soup recipe!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup - a knock off Panera Bread Recipe

2 T. Butter, melted
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. all purpose flour
4 c. half and half
4 c. chicken broth
1 lb. fresh broccoli
2 cups, julienned carrots
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 t. nutmeg
16 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Saute onion in butter.  Set aside.   Whisk butter and flour over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.  Stir constantly and slowly add half and half.  Add chicken stock, still whisking.
Simmer 20 minutes.
Add broccoli, carrots and onion.  Cook over low heat until veggies are tender – about 20-25 minutes.  Add salt and pepper.  The soup will have thickened by now.
Carefully transfer soup mixture to blender and puree.  Return soup to pot (or crockpot) over low heat.  Add cheese.  Stir until well blended.  Add nutmeg right before serving.
Makes 8-10 servings.

NOTE: I felt that 2 C carrots was too much, I will reduce this amount next time I make it, maybe down to 1C and see how that compares.

Star Wars Cake

Brooks wanted a Star Wars cake - so this was the simple easy idea I came up with, it has the roman numeral for 7, since that is how Star Wars numbers their episodes, and it's says:

Have A Happy Birthday You Must - which is totally how Yoda would say it, according to Google

He wanted a vanilla cake with chocolate icing.

Crumb coated!

The recipe for the cake comes from my sister - a made from scratch vanilla cake. It's pretty good for a from-scratch cake. I have my scruples with from scratch cakes. Basically - I like light "fluffy" cakes, and Duncan Hines delivers each and every time. Homemade is usually denser. Sure enough, this one is more dense than DH...but, that being said, it IS still really a good cake. I wonder if I found something similar, recipe wise, but with oil instead of butter...maybe would be better? All of that is very personal preference though. For people that like a cake with a heavier feel (not as dense as pound cake), it's perfect! Check out the recipe here

I bought these toys to go on the cake, and now they can be played with:-)...the sabers light up!

And the icing - I tried a new recipe, and it's a total winner in my book. I will use it most often on cupcakes I think - the light chocolate taste will go well with a fudgy cake.

This recipe is light, fluffy - and made from Hershey bars and not cocoa powder! Can you say WINNING?! I think you will be very happy you tried this buttercream. Check it out here.

Cake Flour

Well, are you like me...constantly subbing out cake flour for all purpose flour without ever really thinking about "what is the difference" - maybe it's just me. I've never bought cake flour, I've always been mildly curious as to what the difference was, but it took until today to google it and figure it out. I don't know why, but I literally stood in front of the cake flour at Walmart (about to grab some), and googled it on my phone.

Thanks to my findings, I didn't buy it.

Here's the skinny - (I am making a from scratch vanilla cake tonight, and wanted it to turn out "just so")

For every cup of all purpose flour used, take out 2 T. And add 2 T of cornstarch to replace what you took out. Sift together. Done.

So for my recipe today, I measured out 3 C all purpose flour. Then I took out 6 T of flour, and added 6 T cornstarch.

EASY, right?! *I didn't actually sift it, I put both flour and cornstarch in my Kitchenaid, and mixed them together for a good long while on the "stir" setting, while I got the other ingredients prepared.

I guess it makes for a lighter cake? I am baking the Brooksie boys birthday cake, so I'll let you know what it tastes like, and if it was worth the extra effort (not that it was really hard, or time consuming at all).

My tip of the day!

It's a Boy!

I was asked to make a cake for a baby shower. In keeping with the theme of their day...

 I traced pics like these - from the plates, napkins, etc, and made the characters with royal icing

I

And then I just put them on top of the cake! It turned out pretty cute, I think. The best part of this cake is the recipe. I'm posting it here in case in the link ever disappears. I had this cake once, at my sister in law's wedding, and it was one of the best cakes I've ever tasted in my life, I think. It was so good!

DELICATE WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 box Duncan Hines Classic White Cake Mix
1 (3.4oz) box of instant vanilla pudding and pie filling
4 large egg whites
1 C water
1/2 C vegetable oil
5oz finely chopped white chocolate

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all together, except the white chocolate, blend on low for 30 seconds, then blend on medium speed for 2 minutes. Hand fold in white chocolate. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 18-20mins, or until done.

With this cake, I did a cream cheese icing filling, with a layer on top of that of seedless raspberry preserves. I iced the cake in almond buttercream.

I sure hope it tastes amazing! Since I am not going to the shower, I won't get to try it out. Sad face. Need to make this again for ME...maybe for Brian's birthday:-) Or Easter:-) Or both!! :-D