Vote Lucy into Round 4! UPDATE WE WAS ROBBED!!!

Brian and I would like to thank everyone who helped our little baby Lucy make it through three rounds of Mutt Madness. The competition was tough, but I have to say that in my eyes Lucy is still the cutest dog ever!

Here are a few pictures of me consoling Lucy this morning after I broke the news to her that we didn't win. She was very upset and asks that everyone (including the paparazzi) respect her privacy.


Tonight is our last opportunity to vote Lucy into round 4 of MUTT MADNESS 2009! Please click here and help vote our little baby Lucy into Round 4!!

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What's For Dinner...

Tonight our friends Kelly P. and Nicole were over for dinner. Since Brian has been doing really good eating healthier and exercising (which I should start doing too!) I tried to make something healthier than I normally do. I tried to make cupcakes using my usual white cake recipe and it did not work at all. The cake is a wonderful recipe for a white sheet cake, but when converted to cupcakes, not so much. The cakes pulled away from the papers, they were delicious but not pretty. I also tried to add a bit of brightness to my frosting by adding a little lemon juice, which in my opinion was too much. Everyone ate a lot of them so I suppose that is a good sign.

Back to dinner. I have been on a Iceberg lettuce craze for the past few days, so I decided to make Iceberg wedges with homemade blue cheese dressing, organic grape tomatoes and avocado. SOOOO DELICIOUS. Kelly said that she does not eat blue cheese, but when she tasted mine she said it was not like any that she had tasted before and then she ate her entire wedge!


I actually found Roquefort and Maytag blue cheeses, but at a price averaging 13 dollars for a small wedge I decided it was too rich for my blood!


Now onto the buffalo wings. Normally wings are fried and then tossed with sauce, I marinated mine in garlic and sauce and then broiled them on a rack and baking sheet until they reached 165˚F on a thermometer. When they were done I tossed them with 2 tablespoons of melted butter and more sauce. There were only three wings left so that tells me that everyone liked them...


At one of our favorite wing restaurant they sell chips with bacon and cheese. Since we are eating a bit healthier I tried to make a reduced fat version. I oven baked the chips with olive oil and garlic salt. While they were baking I cooked up some TURKEY bacon. When the chips were crisp I added a sprinkling of cheese and the bacon. I would have normally made 2 times this amount, but it seemed like the perfect amount for all four of us.


Here is a pic of Charlie after he just woke up from a nap.

Just a Quick Post...

I had a very long day today up at 4:45 am to be at my internship at 6am to 12. After internship I worked from 12:30-5PM, then class from 5 until 8PM. After I came home I found Brian hanging out with our friend Kelly. Brian said that he would make dinner so while he was on his way to pick up the pizza Kelly was demanding something sweet. I baked a few chocolate cakes last weekend to keep in the freezer for such an event. So in about 10 minutes with the help of Kelly we whipped up a Toasted coconut and chocolate cake.

It was delicious!



I was showing Kelly some useful tools such as various piping bags and tips and how it makes a difference to use a rotating cake stand. I think she was intrigued!

I also just wanted to post a quick post of some cute (I think they are cute) cupcakes that I made at work today!

Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad

On Friday we were invited to to a showing of a movie at the Unitarian church in Youngstown. Some of my cooking was requested so I decided to take some roasted vegetable pasta salad and two cakes. The cakes that I decided to take were a chocolate mint cake and a peanut butter cake. Everyone loved the food and my friend Rachel asked me to post the recipe for the pasta salad so here you go Rach...

Ina Garten is always looking for a way to "turn up the volume" on regular food. When I first started making this salad I would use bottled Italian dressing and canned roasted red peppers. Yesterday I had enough time to "turn up the volume" myself.

I first started off by roasting 3 peppers. I chose yellow, red and orange. I think that these peppers are a bit sweeter than the more common green peppers. I also love the vibrant color that they add to the salad. Over the open flame of our range I roasted all three peppers until they were charred black.


I then put the peppers in a brown paper sack for about ten minutes and let them steam.


Meanwhile I roasted the asparagus. I tossed fresh asparagus in a few tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place the asparagus in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes.


In my serving bowl I mixed the vinaigrette. I normally would use a small bottle of Italian dressing, but in the spirit of "turning up the volume" I decided to double the recipe for the vinaigrette that I posted last week.

Louis' Vinaigrette

2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp kosher salt
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3/4 C. Olive Oil (I do not like to use extra-virgin here)
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons sour cream
2 cloves of crushed garlic

In a large bowl whisk together mustard, pepper, salt, vinegar, parmesan cheese, sour cream and garlic.

Slowly whisk in olive oil until all ingredients are combined.

After the peppers have steamed use two paper towels to wipe the charred skin off. Do not run the peppers under water because that will wash away all of the flavor.


I then chopped up the peppers...


When the asparagus was finished I chopped it into bit size pieces...


Boil, drain, rinse and cool 1 1/2 lbs of a pasta of your choice. I used Cavatappi I rinsed and chilled the pasta because I did not want it to absorb too much of the dressing which it would do if you mixed it while the pasta was hot. Once pasta has cooled toss it with the vinaigrette, asparagus, peppers, 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.


I also added cheese cubes. I do not know why I love these cheese cubes, I suppose I could have been a bit more sophisticated and use a feta cheese or bocconcini. I was feeling cheese cubes.


Everyone loved the salad!

I also made two chocolate cakes. I doubled the recipe for Martha Stewart's One Bowl chocolate cake so I would have extra cakes in the freezer whenever I need them. I made a mint buttercream and ganache for one and peanut butter buttercream for the other.

Here is my huge double batch of cake batter.

Annual Post: Signs of Spring

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING EVERYONE! It seems like every year I write a post called Signs of Spring. Here it is from 2008, in 2007 I was not real good about putting titles on my posts so this one is not title Signs of Spring, but you get the idea.

While taking the pups out today I actually had time to take my camera outside and take pictures of what is popping up in our yard I was excited about what I saw. Have a look!!!

The first thing that I was excited to see blooming was my chives. I have had these in this pot for years and they come back every single year. I am excited to soon get to use these chives for potatoes, biscuits, salads and a lot of other recipes.


My friend Steph & her husband Jeff gave us these Galanthus nivalis. Galanthus means "milk-white flowers" the common name for these flowers is snowdrops. I was excited to see these sprouting last week and then again when they bloomed.


We have crocus of every color in the flower beds of our front yard.



I could not believe it when I saw a daffodil bud. Brian's dad Ronnie gave me some daffodil plants from his yard to plant in ours. Every year I go to his yard and steal a few armfuls of them, I guess his gift will cut down on my thievery.


I was VERY excited to see that on the inside of the pineapple resembling leaves of the hyacinth there is a stalk forming. Brian and I both absolutely love the smell of of Hyacinth!


The pups were real concerned with what I was doing and wanted in on the action. Since our front yard is not fenced in and I do not trust that Charlie would not run for the Mexican border I chose to let them observe me photographing our yard from inside the house.
Charlie looks so bored, Sofia looks really concerned and you can barely see the top of Lucy's head!

My Idea of The Perfect Salad...

I love all kinds of salad from fruit to potato and egg to Waldorf, they are all delicious! Except I can not handle sweet potato or pasta salads. I have to draw the line somewhere and Miracle Whip is where on the other side of the line! Last time that my friend
Diane visited Ohio we had her parents over for dinner. We made a delicious dinner and a salad with homegrown lettuce. We had an idea of how to make vinaigrette, but that was all, just an idea. We were guessing on what to add to the bowl using a dash of this and a pinch of that. The salad came out good, but I must admit that it was not great.

After watching the new season of Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics I was inspired to give her vinaigrette recipe a try. I think what we Diane and I were doing incorrectly was not adding enough salt and I think for my personal taste I like a more mild tasting oil the extra-virgin olive oil that we were using was too strong. Ever since I revisited vinaigrette I have been working on adjusting the recipe to my own personal taste. I believe that food is about satisfying your own personal taste. Making your own salad dressing is quick and easy and perfect for a casual meal or to feed guest.

I also believe that the components of are equally as important as the dressing. At times I am in the mood for crisp iceberg and other times I love soft buttery baby greens, but they have to be cold. No matter how you like your salad give vinaigrette a try. I made a salad last night, have a look....


Ever since making my own croutons I will never go to the pre-packaged "sawdust" croutons that come from the store. I make my croutons by cutting cubes of bread from the delicious ciabatta (and by "our" I mean the delicious bread that the bakers at my internship Sparkle Market make). In a large skillet heat 1 teaspoon of butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat, put the bread cubes in the skillet and toss to coat with oil. Add one pinch of pepper and a pinch of kosher salt. Cook tossing frequently until lightly toasted. THEY ARE SO DELICIOUS!


Here are the finished croutons. Nicole and Brian love them too!


Now onto the vinaigrette. In a large bowl (you can even do this in your serving bowl) place 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, 2-3 pinches of kosher salt (about one teaspoon), 1-2 pinches of pepper (1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper), 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard and 1 garlic clove crushed.


For the past seven years Brian and I have gone to Carrabbas to celebrate our anniversary. I absolutely love their house salad dressing which is a creamy vinaigrette. I have been testing how to replicate their dressing, I've tried buttermilk which was good but not close and I have found this combination. 1 tablespoon of sour cream and finely grated parmesan cheese, I grate my cheese on a microplane.


I then whisk in 1/4 of a cup of 100% olive oil, I found that extra-virgin olive oil was too strong for my taste.


Now for the components of the salad. If you are making your salad in advance make the dressing in the bottom of the bowl and then top with your greens and then whatever else you decide to put into your salad. Here are a few things I like.
I love croutons, carrots sliced paper thin, onions (also sliced paper thin), raisins for sweetness to balance out the tart vinegar, and finely shaved cheese or shards of cheese shaved with a vegetable peeler, oh yeah and the tender spring greens.


I made my salad in advance and put it in the refrigerator.


When everyone arrived I tossed all of the ingredients together and we all enjoyed it so much.


I had a single layer chocolate cake in the freezer so I decided to make a peanut butter cake. Peanut butter buttercream, then a drizzle of peanut butter and chocolate!


This is gone today so I would say that everyone loved it! I did! I also found this wonderful blog post on Smitten Kitchen about making and freezing cakes.

T.G.I.F.

Last night after I got home I made the Martha Stewart Baby Bootie cakes for our soon to be god-daughter's momma Kellie. Even though I was tired I think they came out looking cute! Here are some pictures of the process.

Red velvet was the requested flavor.


I used a bowl to cut the 1/2 sheet cake into 5 equal rounds.


After that I started to build the booties.


2nd layer.


Toes...


After a coat of pink tinted cream cheese frosting here are the finished shoes.


Fruit leather was used to create the straps.


I made this cake at work today, I was scared to write on it but Connie told me that I need to learn! She and I were both happy with the results.


In other news we had to find another foster home for Kelly the dog that we had agreed to foster. We were downstairs and Nicole was upstairs with the pups and we heard a big commotion and Nicole yelling like she was one of the cops on the television show Cops. The commotion was of Kelly and Sofia getting into a really serious fight. Kelly drew a bit of blood on Sofia, but Sofia is one tough bit#h and I think that we taught her how to B.H.H if necessary (Bust a Ho's Head). Brian and I felt terrible about it, but both decided that ultimately our dogs safety had to be our #1 priority.

It is a serious thing, but I like to make light of the situation. Although I was not there to witness the fight I found a video on youtube that I believe is EXACTLY how it went down. See Below...

Internship Progress and Other Photos...

I can not believe that after this week I will only have 5 weeks left at my internship. 10 weeks has certainly gone by fast! I would like to think that my skills have improved, but I feel as though I have so much more to learn and I can not believe that we graduate in a few weeks. I would love to Martha glitter-fy my cap.

Anyways, at my internship we were still having the sale on German chocolate cakes so I had to make 6 more.


We also had to do the large decorated cookies. I like decorating these, they are fast and easy.



Another day we had to do quarter sheet cakes for the case and Connie told me to do whatever I wanted to do to decorate them. I decided to try a princess cake and OMG it ended up turning out looking like a drag queen cake. I told Connie that I needed to put a tiara and a wig on it and she added, "AND FAKE EYELASHES" well we don't have any of those things on stock so I put in some high heels and dots. AND SURPRISINGLY THIS BEAST OF A CAKE SOLD THE VERY NEXT DAY!


I tried a St. Patrick's day cake and it came out okay. It may be borderline cakewrecks worthy!


Here is a pic of the whole lot of cakes that Connie and I did...


On Sunday I had to teach a OneStroke painting class. The class was of flowers, but only using two colors. I had never painted these so here is my practice page I did before the students arrived.


Yesterday we had to decorate more cakes so here are a few pics of the ones that I did...


And in other non-cake related news Brian and I are fostering another dog. She was going to be put down just because she has pit in her. They are automatically condemned to death because of their breed. I do not think that it is fair, she is a very sweet dog and she gets along with our herd of dogs. So if anyone needs a cute sweet dog!!!


And of course Lucy's inner Tyra comes out any time there is a camera around so she just had to get in on the photo shoot action...

Sunday Night Dinner....

Today was a good day. I was sick all last week and feeling a bit more like myself I decided to make dinner. This morning I had to teach a painting class at JoAnn fabrics. After that I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a bit of ingredients for dinner.
Inspired by the German chocolate cake sale we were having at my internship I wanted to make one for us here at home. Everything came out delicious! Have a look...

To keep up with the sale at work I made these six cakes at work in about 15 minutes.


The very next day I had to make 8 more, these took about 20 minutes.


At home I decided to make vegetarian chili and jalapeno cheddar corn bread.


After I got the chili off to cooking I decided to start on the German chocolate cake. I used the one-bowl chocolate cake recipe out of Martha Stewart's Cooking School, although the recipe in the book is a bit different.


While the cake was cooling I made Billy's chocolate buttercream (WHICH IS DELICIOUS AND EASY) for the cake and coconut-pecan filling for the top.


Herbed potatoes for Brian to eat with his flat iron steak.


Here is a pic of the cornbread, chili and potatoes. Everything was so delicious!!!!


All of the recipes for the cake made enough for two German chocolate cakes so I made an extra cake for Brian to take to the office tomorrow. I hope they enjoy it.


Happy Sunday everyone and have a wonderful week.

Jephanie's Birthday Cake(s)

One of my very best friends Stephanie and her hubby Jeff (also a great friend) celebrated both of their birthdays last week. When asked what type of cake that they wanted Steph said she liked chocolate and Jeff wanted something fruity. I decided to make them each their own birthday cake. I baked the cakes last Wednesday and froze them to decorate yesterday. Have a look....

Here is my mess of a kitchen while baking and making lemon curd. The batter for Jeff's cake was a vanilla cake with lemon zest. It is then layered with lemon curd, berries and then whipped cream.


Here is the inside of one of the layers of Jeff's cake...


And here are some pictures of the finished product...


Now Steph's cake was a dense chocolaty Devil's Food cake iced with a Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream! SO GOOD!

Here is a picture of me incorporating butter into the meringue...


Instead of leaving the top of the cake plain I melted some chocolate, spread it in a glass dish, let it chill, and then used an offset spatula to create curls...


Here is the finished cake. I am so glad that I have been able to apply the knowledge that Connie has taught me at my internship to make my own cakes look delicious.