Gestures

I Was Craving Stuffed Peppers

2011-02-24T18:02:00.002-05:00

When I first started trying to eat healthier I found myself at a loss of healthy meals that I found filling and well balanced. I became a vegetarian about 16 years ago. I thought that it would help me lose weight. Boy was I wrong! My diet consisted of pasta, cheese and bread. Vegetables were not something that I loved or even liked. I became huge!!! I lost weight in my early 20s, but I was in the percentage of people who gain weight back in the first five years and then some.

When I joined Weight Watchers I was given a certain amount of points I could eat in a day and fruits and vegetables are free. I have come to embrace vegetables and experiment with all kinds of whole grains and other things that were outside of my comfort cooking zone. Quinoa was something that I was unfamiliar, but not unwilling to try. Quinoa is a seed that is cooked like a grain. It is versatile and can be eaten savory or sweet. The deli department at work made stuffed peppers and the smell got me craving some. I tried to make them healthy and delicious. Have a look:

Quinoa has a bitter coating on the outside of it. The powder acts as a natural pesticide. To get rid of the coating I simply rinsed the quinoa under water. I also rinsed black beans for later use in the filling.

In a heavy bottom pan I sauteed mushrooms, onions and jalapeno. I then added the black beans and brown rice.

While the filling was cooking I spooned some of my homemade marinara sauce into a 9x13 casserole. I then added 1/4 C. of Parmesan cheese to the filling.

After tasting the filling I felt that it was missing some acidity. In the pantry I found whole canned tomatoes. I used kitchen shears and cut them into pieces directly in the can. I added it to the filling and then one cup of cooked quinoa.

I then halved bell peppers and stuffed them with the filling. I lined the baking sheet with the peppers and sprinkled them with more Parmesan cheese.

I baked them covered in at 357˚F oven for 40 minutes and then uncovered for about 15 minutes. They were very delicious, healthy and filling. I am taking some to work tomorrow for my coworker and I to enjoy for lunch.

I have lost 50 lbs since starting a healthier lifestyle (cliche I know) and I feel as though I have totally renovated and expanded my tastebuds and cooking. I look for any opportunity to stuff vegetables into whatever I cook and as far as Weight Watchers I try and get as much bang for my buck as possible. I do not like to waste Points on empty calories and processed foods. I prefer real and fresh ingredients that are made from real food and not chemicals.

Baba Ghanoush

2011-02-19T19:54:00.002-05:00

Since starting Weight Watchers on the turn of the new year I have started to venture out of my old stand by meals. I have begun to eat so many vegetables and I have tried to adhere to the rule of eating a variety of vegetables the colors of the rainbow. One day shopping for groceries I pointed out to my Brian that our shopping cart looked so different than it would have about 3 months ago. Instant macaroni and cheese, white pasta, ice cream and other delicious, but not healthy foods were replaced with whole wheat pasta, fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. I have been a vegetarian for over 16 years. I became vegetarian thinking that I would lose weight, but I was wrong. I did not lose any weight on a diet of pasta, cheese and bread. Vegetables were not exactly my cup of tea.

Since starting Weight Watchers 6 weeks ago and striving to live a more active lifestyle both Brian and I have lost weight. I have lost 45 lbs and I can honestly say that I am eating more throughout the day than I was before and I have come to embrace vegetables. My go to meal has gone from mac and cheese to a whole wheat wrap filled with roasted vegetables, Tofurkey lunch "meat", cottage cheese, any kind of fruit, and lots of water. I pack my lunch every day and I try and be as proactive as I can be when it comes to eating. I love shopping at a store here in Youngstown called Ghossains. They make whole wheat flat breads which I use for wraps, burritos and even pizzas. While really hungry one day I tried a sample of an eggplant dip/hummus called Baba Ghanoush. It has a smoky creamy flavor and is low in fat and can be used for various things including a spread on a sandwich, filling in a wrap or dip with pita.

I tried my hand at making my own today and for a first time I must say that it came out SO DELICIOUS! Have a look!

To give the Baba Ghanoush its smoky flavor you first start out by charring the eggplant on a grill.

Once charred the eggplant bakes in the oven until tender inside (about 10-15 minutes).

After removing the eggplant and once it has cooled a bit I removed the black skin from the soft flesh inside.

I have seen various preparations of this part of the dish. I watched one woman smash the ingredients together with a fork for a chunkier texture. I decided to put mine in the food processor for a smoother texture. It is really up to your own personal taste.

Tahini, which is a sesame seed paste is first added to the eggplant.

Then fresh garlic.

And lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Here is the finished dish with some pita. It was really good. I have had eggplant dishes which I really did not care for, but I must say that this dish is completely different and extremely delicious! Give it a try!

Chop, Chop: Tabouli

2011-01-19T18:55:00.002-05:00

Tabouli is a Mediterranean dish made of finely chopped parsley, various vegetables and cracked wheat known as bulgur. There is a shop here called Ghossains that I like to buy spices, whole wheat flat breads and tabouli. I found a recipe for tabouli and tried my hand at making it. Have a look:

The tabouli from Ghossains tastes delicious and healthy. All of the ingredients are very healthy for you and the ingredients are full of nutrients. Parsley, mint, lemons, bulgur, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and green onions.

The bulgur needs to be softened. Some recipes said that it had to be combined with hot water, but it works fine if you soak equal parts bulgur and very hot water from the tap for half an hour. The recipe called for 2 cups of bulgur and 2 cups of water. I will get to that later...

Let the chopping begin. While the bulgur soaks all of the vegetables need to be chopped very finely. The cucumberrs are diced.

Mint was minced.

Two bunches of Italian flat leaf parsley were chopped beyond fine. Chopping this parsley reminds me of culinary school. We use to have to chop parsley finer than fine and then take it up to our chef instructor. He would tell us to take it back to our stations and chop it finer. My hands would cramp!

Green onions chopped.

All of this green in a bowl just looks super healthy.

Now this is the part where I said I would talk about later. In my opinion this recipe called for wayyyyy toooooooo mmmmmuuuuuchhhhh bulgur. I would have preferred 1/2 the amount of bulgur. Next time I will try only one cup of bulgur.

1/2 a cup of olive oil.

The juice of three lemons.

And here is the final dish. Traditional tabouli is much more green than brown. This is why I was not happy with this recipe. It is good, but the amount of bulgur was the dominant flavor over the fresh green vegetables. I like to eat tabouli in while wheat wraps with hummus and lettuce.

If you have never had tabouli give it a try. It is a healthy salad that that is versatile and delicious!

Recipe via: http://www.greatpartyrecipes.com/tabouli-recipe.html

More Effort in the New Year...

2011-01-13T17:42:00.003-05:00

It is no secret that I love delicious food. I love to make delicious food and even more I love to eat delicious food. Brian and I have decided to try to get back to a healthy weight and get back to our old selves. Brian has taken the low carb route and I have decided to increase vegetables, reduce unhealthy carbs, refined sugars, flours, and eat a more natural vegetarian diet. I have been eating so many vegetables, low fat yogurt and whole grains. I have even noticed a considerable decrease in our spending due to not eating out so much.

I have taken my juicer out of retirement and I have been buying and trying so many new vegetables. I love the vegetarian black bean soup from Panera and tried to find a similar recipe for it online. This particular recipe appeared on a few websites it was easy to make, but I must admit that it is not as tasty as the one from Panera. Have a look.

The recipe starts off by chopping celery, onion, garlic and red bell pepper.

The onions, garlic, celery, bell pepper and water are combined over medium high heat until softened, about 10 minutes.

After ten minutes add one can of beans, cumin and salt.

I used an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth. If you do not have an immersion blender the soup can carefully be pureed in a blender.

Combine the cornstarch with 1 1/2 tablespoons of water.

Add the remaining can of black beans and the cornstarch slurry to the pureed soup.

Finally the juice of half a lemon was added and then cooked for about a minute longer.

Here is the final black bean soup. It was low fat and delicious, but next time I make it I think I will increase the cumin, garlic and add some jalapeno.

I am considering doing Weight Watchers so this will be a new adventure in healthy cooking. I am trying to find a balance between delicious and nutritious. I will update often. Wish us luck!

Recipe via:
http://www.food.com/recipeprint.do?rid=49737

Ingredients

o 1 onions, finely chopped
o 2 garlic cloves, minced
o 2 celery ribs, finely chopped
o 1/4 large red bell peppers, finely chopped
o 2 small chicken bouillon cubes
o 1 -1 1/2 cup boiling water
o 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, undrained
o 1/2 teaspoon salt
o 1/2 teaspoon cumin
o 1/2 lemons, juice of
o 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

1. In a pot, combine the first six ingredients; simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add half a can of beans, salt and cumin; cook for 5 minutes.
3. Puree soup (I use an immersion blender which makes it easy to do it right in the pot).
4. Add the rest of the beans to the soup.
5. Combine the cornstarch with 1 1/2 tablespoons of water.
6. Add the lemon and the cornstarch to the soup; cook until thickened.

Long Time No Blog: What I've Been Up To

2010-12-22T07:39:00.005-05:00

It would be an understatement to say that it has been a while since I have blogged. I have not intentionally been avoiding my blog it just seems as though time has been going by so fast. The last time I posted a blog was in August and I sincerely cannot believe that August was four months ago.

I have a lot to blog about, but I will sort of summarize it to save time! I have baking to do!

I asked my mom to come home (to Ohio) for the holidays and she agreed. She came out before her birthday. I asked her what kind of birthday cake she wanted and she said she wanted to make an ice cream cake. Have a look:

We first started off by baking white cake and then freezing it. Here is the cake right out of the freezer.

We then put a layer of whipped cream mixed with strawberries in syrup.

The day before we softened strawberry ice cream and spread it in cake pans lined with saran wrap. The saran wrap helps the ice cream discs slip out of the pan when ready.

Another layer of cake.

A final layer of whipped cream and berries.

Here is the final huge ice cream cake. It was very good!

Happy Birthday MOM!

Next subject is more cake. I was asked by a close friend to do her wedding cake. I was so nervous because I had never made a wedding cake. Her wedding was going to be on Halloween and the idea she had for a cake was the look of a spider web from afar and scroll work up close. She came over and I asked her questions from how many guests, flavors, delivery time and other important questions.

I baked the entire cake the day before and started decorating it very early the day of the wedding. Have a look:
I covered the cakes with fondant and smoothed. My mom gave them a final smoothing and then trimmed the excess fondant.

Each layer needed to be supported by wooden dowels to keep the top layers of cake from crushing the ones below.

Here are my smoothed out cakes. By the way the bride chose white cake with Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream.

Here are Ma and I figuring where to put each layer and you can see there is buttercream glue on the bottom layer.

With cake stacking you just have to do it. Do not hesitate or be scared just grab them and start stacking.

More smoothing.

Buttercream piped beads to bring it all together.

I practiced the scroll design and when I was happy I started on the cake.

I started from the top and worked my way down with the vertical lines.

Scroll work is not hard it is just time consuming and takes a steady hand and good eyes or reading glasses!

I filled in the vertical lines and then added some curls and dots.

I have to say that this cake came out better than I could have hoped for.

Here is the cake all boxed up for our trip to Pennsylvania for delivery.

I had to do some on sight finishing touches.

The bride loved the cake and was honored to say she "had the very first Louis Gastelum wedding cake."

Next subject, even more cake.
One of Brian's friends wanted a cake for her Brother's rehearsal dinner. She wanted a Christmas theme cake with with an ornament type design on the top. Ma and I went to work and this is what we came up with.

White cake and Bailey's flavored buttercream seem to be popular. That is what this cake and ornaments are made out of. They were then covered with colored fondant.

We used silver and gold highlighter dust to give the ornaments and iridescent look and then did some painting with more dust.

Ma wanted to add some more finishing touches.

Here is the finished cake. They loved it! I accidentally sprinkled a bit of gold dust on the cake. I loved how it looked so I added some more.

I will make an effort to post on a regular basis and I have plenty more to catch you up on but this is a good start!

Homemade Dog Treats...

2010-08-06T19:41:00.003-04:00

I have been trying to make small strides towards providing our dogs with a healthier and more active lifestyle. The girls and I have been walking almost every day and we have even gone hiking on the trails at Mill Creek Park. Sofia and Lucy absolutely love it and I could definitely use the exercise too. For years we have been buying our dogs treats as rewards for good behavior (in addition to play and verbal praise, of course). We try to choose healthy options, but sometimes those are not economical and readily available.

After doing a little research (a google search) I found a recipe for making sweet potato dog treats. The recipe was very easy and resulted in a large amount of dog treats for little cost. Have a look:

I started off by peeling two organic sweet potatoes to make them easier to cut. The potatoes will shrink a considerable amount when dehydrated in the oven so I tried cutting them into a few different sizes. I first tried using a mandolin, but it was more difficult than I had anticipated and the slices were thinner than I wanted.

Here is my first pile of sweet potatoes.

I then neatly arranged the potatoes on a parchment lined baking sheet.

I was able to achieve thicker slices of potato by CAREFULLY using a sharp knife. The treats are then placed in a 200˚F oven for three hours. I flipped the treats after about 1 1/2 hours and then let them finish cooking.

Here they are after about one and a half hours. You can see that they shrank considerably.

Some of the thicker treats had to be left in the oven for a little longer and I turned the oven off and let them sit inside overnight. Here are the treats the next day. I broke some of the sweet potatoes into smaller reward treats for good behavior and left some larger for chew treats.

This picture of Sofia carefully taking a potato from me cracks me up!

I believe that almost everyone in North-East Ohio has sampled my baking some way or another, but our dogs have not had the pleasure. I found an easy recipe for homemade Apple-Cheddar Dog Biscuits on of course www.marthastewart.com

From The Martha Stewart Show, October 2009
Izzy's Apple-Cheddar Dog Biscuits

Ingredients

Makes about 16
2 cups barley flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1/3 cup shredded cheddar
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a nonstick baking mat or parchment paper; set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients and about 3 tablespoons water to form a dough. Roll out mixture between two sheets of plastic wrap to 1/4-inch thick; remove plastic wrap and cut out biscuits with a 3 1/2-inch bone-shaped cookie cutter. Reroll scraps and continue cutting out biscuits.
Space biscuits 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes until nicely browned and firm.
Transfer biscuits to a wire rack. Turn off oven and place biscuits on wire rack in oven overnight. Remove from oven and store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.

Here are all of the ingredients. All of these ingredients can probably be found in any pantry. I actually had to go to a health food store to find the barley flour, but it was inexpensive. I did not want to buy pre-made apple sauce so I made my own.

All of the ingredients are mixed in a large bowl until well combined.

I rolled portions of the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap. You can see all of the cheese and oats.

Instead of using a dog bone shaped biscuit cutter I used a 1/3 inch scalloped (Martha Stewart of course) biscuit cutter to make smaller treats.

Here are the beautiful treats lined up perfectly on a sheet pan.

I cut out all of the treats and then rerolled the scraps and cut out more treats. I got about 97 treats out of one recipe.

Here are the dog biscuits all baked and golden brown.

The treats are then placed on a wire rack and allowed to dry in the oven overnight.

Here are the dogs patiently awaiting a first taste of the biscuits. The black dog is our foster/rescue dog Marvin (pronounced MAAAAVIN) I tried a little taste of the biscuits and they were good. They tasted sort of like an unsalted cracker, which is good since salt is not good for dogs (or humans).

Here is the jar we use to store our dog treats. It makes me feel better knowing exactly what we are giving to our dogs instead of trusting some discount bag of treats. I must say the dogs absolutely love each and every one of the treats and when they hear the clang of the lid coming off of the treat jar they come running. Remember, the sweet potato treats are dehydrated sweet potatoes and will become rehydrated in their little bellies. We give our pups small pieces of sweet potato as a reward and larger ones about once a day. If you have time to try these I recommend it because your dogs will thank you!

Our Baby Boy Charlie

2010-07-30T20:57:00.004-04:00

Over a year ago I opened up a blank Pages document and titled it, "Charlie is Getting Older." The reason that I started typing this was because until that day I had never thought of our hound dog Charlie as anything but a puppy who only caused headaches and frustration. I started writing that document because back then Charlie did start to display some signs of becoming a senior dog. Charlie usually ran up the steps like a stampeding bull, but I remember that day he could not make it up the basement steps and I actually had to carry him to the top. I believe that Brian had to do the same thing another day that week.

In the following few days Charlie returned to his old self and began to act crazy again. Brian and I got Charlie when he was only two months old and my God he has been a terror. He has chewed countless valuable items, eaten many pizzas and any other food he could get his teeth on and he has made more than one person cry. Don't get me wrong Charlie caused all kinds of havoc, but he had a great big heart. Any time we had guests Charlie would be the first to greet them and he would usually have to be restrained so he didn't tongue kiss our guests! Charlie also loved to meet new people and other dogs. I remember once we took him to a walk around the lake in Florida and we had to leave because he was so excited and happy to see other dogs and people that he was pulling on his leash so hard he started choking and people were looking at us like we were abusing him! Charlie use to love going to the dog parks in Arizona. He would run and run leading a pack of dogs and once he was looking back at the other dogs while running and ran straight into the back of some lady's legs sending her flying into the air and onto her back.

Charlie was a very demanding dog. I always say that dogs usually love to do what they can to please their owners. Not Charlie, Charlie wanted to know what you could do for him. If you had a blanket he wanted it, if you had a valuable possession he would chew it and his dinner needed to be promptly served at 5:00PM and he would start letting you know this starting at around 3:30. Charlie would also take advantage of any newcomer who did not know that he required constant supervision. While working in the backyard Charlie would watch Brian and I for a while until he caught an opportunity where we weren't looking at him and he would take off to rummage through the neighborhood trash to see if there was any food. Our friend Kellie came to let Charlie out while Brian and I were in school for a long day and I left her fresh chocolate chip cookies on the counter. Charlie remembered those cookies were there and as soon as she let him out he ran directly for those cookies and helped himself to a few.

Once Charlie made Brian's mom Carol cry because she was babysitting a group of children and trying to garden. The stress of the children combined with Charlie digging up and giving Carol back the plants she had just planted not once, but twice. Charlie was sure not to leave Brian's dad Ronnie out of his generosity by leaving the gift of fresh poop in his shoe.

Brian and I got Charlie after we had been together for about a month. I actually told the gentleman who was selling them that we were interested in the female dog he had. Well we got stuck in traffic and in that time the man sold the female. I was so upset I told Brian that I did not even want to see ANY of the dogs! The man opened the door and as soon as I saw one of the chubby pups run across the floor I changed my tune. There were two dogs one was playing on the floor and the other was playing with the man's children. I asked the man if those were all of the dogs and he said in a disgusted voice, "there is one more...." I told the man that I could not make my decision until we had seen every dog. He rolled his eyes and went into the room for about 5 minutes. In that time he had to crawl under the bed and dig this pup out that did not want to be bothered. The man held the dog out to us and he let out a big grunt to which my response was, "that's the one!"

Oh Charlie was an absolute terror he ate trees, PDAS, phones, glasses, remotes, entire loaves of bread. Charlie loved his little sister Sofia and then his baby sister Lucy. He always acted like he was not interested in either of them, but when they would snuggle with him he didn't mind. We had to put Charlie to sleep on July 16th, 2010. His aging body could not keep up with his young spirit. Charlie began to lose control of his back legs because of a bulging or degenerative disc in his back which was cutting off the message from his brain to be able to control his legs. I can say now that this was the right thing to do for Charlie, but it did not make it any easier.

What I would have give for one of those moments of frustration when Charlie would destroy something. When we took him to the vet to see what was wrong with him I got a glimmer of hope when he tried to rummage through their trash to find something to eat. Charlie's condition quickly got worse and he would cry in pain a lot. Since I had never gone through this before and Brian had I did not know what to expect and I actually became angry at any discussion of putting Charlie to sleep. I did not want to hear it and I prayed that Charlie's youth would return the next day. Charlie would wake us up in the middle of the night crying in pain and Brian pleaded with me to think of what is best for Charlie, I just wanted to hold onto him thinking that maybe tomorrow would be better.

The vet did not have an open appointment to see Charlie for a few days so we had to wait. It was awful. It was awful knowing that there was a set time and day for the last time you would get to pet and see your dog. I had a day off of work and just spent time with Charlie as did Brian. A few times alone I would just sit on the floor and sob and Charlie would muster up strength and come over to me and look at me lick my cheek and then go lay down again. Sofia and Lucy would come running over any time Brian and I would cry to console us. I am not sure if they understood what was happening, but they knew that we were upset and they wanted to help. The strict rules that we had for Charlie disappeared and he got what he wanted. He got to lay on the couch with a heating pad and blanket, he got scrambled eggs and hot dogs for breakfast and we held him and told him how much we loved him.

I am typing this because I did not know what to expect. If you have ever taken a dog to be put to sleep it happens very, very fast. The vet explained to us what was going to happen. Brian, Nicole and I went and comforted Charlie. Brian and I snuggled with Charlie and told him we loved him and cried. I told Charlie that at first I did not even want him, but now I can not even imagine not having him. The vet came in and after she was done we were comforted when she said, "he is not sick anymore." It did not make it any easier and we all miss Charlie a lot. They gave us a nice heart with Charlie's paw print on it and his name and the date. Brian and I both pulled the bracelets our niece Olivia made us off and wrapped them around Charlie's arms and told him that his daddies love him. We also gave him his favorite blanket and buried him at Brian's dad's house. Brian told me that he was sad, but he wanted to turn his sadness into affection for our other two dogs.

It has been two weeks since Charlie left us and it still hurts. I typed this because in those days leading up to it I did not know what to think. I felt incredible guilt and I told Brian that I was not sure it was the right thing to do. I would read pages on websites and this one actually helped me feel better. The comments section was where I read that other people had and were going through the same thing and for them it hurt a lot too. Brian was my strength through this ordeal. Now I know that we did the right thing. It was selfish to try and hold onto Charlie while he was suffering and if you have a dog in that is in pain and can not be treated than it is best to do what is right for the dog, not for yourself. Brian wanted to remember Charlie as a vibrant dog that caused terror and had a big heart. There was an out pour of condolences from friends and family and that helped a lot too. People shared poems like The Rainbow Bridge
it all helped.

Charlie would have been 9 years old next month. I tell Brian almost ever day, "I miss Charlie..." and Brian says back, "I do too." I have since tried to turn my sadness into energy for the other dogs. Sofia, Lucy and I have been walking almost every day and we have even gone hiking. While walking with our girls I talk to them telling them how good they are and I even ask them if they miss Charlie. At first I would get tears in my eyes thinking about how much Charlie would love to be there walking beside us, but I just keep on walking and tell myself, he is.

A Spring Fiesta!

2010-06-24T12:35:00.005-04:00

Our friend Rachel moved out of our house over a year ago. Rachel called and said that she was craving some of my Mexican cooking and wanted some. I invited her and her girlfriend over to our house for some tacos, rice, beans, etc...

A funny side story is that once upon a time Rachel actually had the nerve to tell me, "Louis, I like your Mexican food, but one day I want to try authentic Mexican food..." I almost mommy dearest-ed her with a wire hanger and asked her what do I look like Polish? Chinese? I said "I AM MEXICAN!!!!" So on a trip to Arizona we took Rachel to Mexico and ordered her some tacos and guacamole, salsa and all of the fixings. She took one bite and her eyes got real big and she said, "uhhh uhhhh" she didn't like it and admitted she liked my cooking better. HAHA!

Back to the fiesta. Brian invited all of Northeast Ohio to our small dinner and we had a lot of people show up. It was actually great and I am considering turning this fiesta into an annual Cinco De Mayo Fiesta. My mom was still here at this time so she helped me out a lot. Have a look:

For me, it would not be a Mexican feast without rolled tacos. I remember my mom making rolled tacos when we were little and we LOVED THEM! I suppose they were semi-homemade because she use to use Hormel canned roast beef in gravy. It use to be inexpensive and was good. Since we were having such a large amount of people coming and had to make so many tacos I decided it would be more economical and probably more delicious if I made my own shredded roast beef. I used a large beef pot roast and roasted it in a crock pot over night. As with all the roasts I cook in a crock pot I cooked it in a very, very hot skillet generously seasoned with salt and pepper until it forms a crust on each side. I placed the crusted roast in a crock pot and filled the pot with water almost covering the roast. I then covered with sliced onion and garlic. The next day the roast shredded perfectly.

I had tried to use my own roast to make shredded beef tacos and Brian said the meat was a bit dry and could have used more flavor. The Hormel beef my mom use to use was in gravy so I decided to make gravy out of some of the juice from the crock pot. I brought about 3 cups of the liquid from the roast to a skillet and brought to a simmer once simmering I put a slurry of about 3 tablespoons of flour and 1/2 a cup of water to the juices. This thickened up beautifully and I added enough of the gravy to the shredded beef to make it moist and give it more flavor. It should not be runny or juicy at all.

Here are all of the ingredients I needed to make the rolled beef tacos.

I heated a stack of store bought corn tortillas in the microwave wrapped in a dish towel in the microwave for about a minute until they were hot and pliable. If the tortillas are not heated they will crack and split when trying to roll them. I keep the stack of heated tortillas in the dish towel so they do not dry out or cool off.

This process is easy, but when making close to 300 tacos it is a bit time consuming! We placed about 3 tablespoons of cooled shredded beef in each corn tortilla and rolled it into a taco. The taco is then secured using a wooden toothpick.

We kept on rolling out tacos and I placed two rolled tacos on each toothpick with the open flaps facing each other so each taco held the other taco's flap shut.

My mom told me to put three tacos on each toothpick and if necessary use a second toothpick to hold it all together. This will help out when it comes to frying the tacos. Here is the new and improved method.

Here is a good start to our taco workshop, but we still have a long way to go!

I have been a vegetarian for over 15 years. I make vegetarian rolled tacos filled with flavorful mashed potatoes. I made mashed potatoes and since they were going to be taco filling I made them a bit dryer than usual. I added less milk than regular, creamy mashed potatoes. I also added cream cheese, cheddar cheese and both onion and garlic powder and of course garlic salt and pepper to taste.

These tacos are made using the same method as the beef ones. I did not spread the filling out to the edges of the taco so it did not fall out during frying.

Here is my mom on the other side of the counter rolling tacos. We had such a great time and laughed the entire time. I miss cooking with her.

Our pile was slowly growing.

And growing! We actually rolled all of these tacos the day before the fiesta. My mom said that she actually liked doing this better for two reasons, it saved time the day of cooking them and also because the chilling helped them hold together better while frying them.

Of course I worked the day of the fiesta so by the time I arrived home my mom had made the salsa, rice and beans! She was frying the tacos in about 1/4 inch of canola oil.
Here is my mom the pro taco fryer! She had about three pans going at once!

They are cooked until they are golden brown and crispy.

Once the tacos were crisp my mom would put more uncooked tacos in their place and then the toasted ones on top to drain.

After they come out of the pan they are placed on a dish lined with paper towels and then sprinkled with kosher salt.

We had quite a few platters of tacos and kept some of them warmed in a 200˚F oven.

Here is Lucy supervising in the kitchen!

While my mom was finishing up the tacos I started making strawberry margaritas! They were so good and easy to make!

We also made two Tres Leches cakes topped with fresh whipped cream and fruit.

Here is my Brian feeding our goddaughter Amelia (Millie) some chips!

Then cake.

Then ice cream.

Here is Millie's reaction to the cold ice cream!

Back to normal!

Here is my mom eating chips and salsa, oh and a margarita too!

Here is Rachel, she is the one who wanted "authentic" Mexican food.

I think everyone had a great time eating and laughing. I am looking forward to having another Cinco De Mayo celebration next year. Here is Lucy all tired and sleepy after an exciting day.

Remembering and Reliving: Tortillas

2010-06-09T19:24:00.004-04:00

I have a strong memory of my mother making homemade tortillas for us to eat. We use to sneak a tortilla or two right off of the stove, slather it with butter, roll it up and enjoy the warm and soft treat. My mom made tortillas like an expert. After she remarried her knack for cooking delicious Mexican food dwindled and she stopped making tortillas.

Last year, my Mother moved in with my partner and I. My mom stayed here for a year and it was great. We cooked and laughed and taught each other a lot. After exactly a year my mom made the decision to move back to Las Vegas. I remember the day she left Brian and I wished her well and watched her walk across the security check-in at the airport. I held it together, but Brian didn't. As soon as we got into the car and started on the drive home I cried. I cried when we got home. I cried the next day and the day after that. Brian and I took a long weekend in North Carolina and had a good time. The day we came back to Ohio and our home I cried again. To me our home and my kitchen did not feel the same. I cooked side-by-side with her for a year and had grown to love this time together. The first time I cooked something in the kitchen without her I stood there for about five minutes in silence just staring and wishing she would come down from her room and ask me, "What are we cooking?" I remember just staring and staring.

I consciously avoided returning to normal life and everyday tasks. My grocery partner was gone, so I stopped buying groceries. A trip to Wal-Mart turned into me being sad because I was there alone. It has been three weeks since my mom has left and I have slowly begun to stop avoiding doing the things that I use to do with her.

One thing my mom tried to remaster while she was here was tortilla making. She tried to recall the recipe she used and threw some ingredients into a bowl and rolled them out like a champ. We both crunched on those over-sized flavorless jawbreakers and smiled a bit we did not touch them again. She had lost her touch for making those warm delicate treats.

The best cook I have ever met was my Nana Gastelum (My Dad's mother). She fed all of us. For her, feeding us was to show us how much she loved us. Every Sunday we would go to her house for breakfast. We would eat a big delicious breakfast and clear the table by the time the table was cleared she would begin cooking us lunch. We were all stuffed from breakfast, but we enjoyed the time with her and her cooking.

I remember when she was very, very sick right before she passed away and my Dad went to visit her. She was in bed and when my dad arrived she asked him if he had eaten yet. He responded, "no" and that he was not hungry. I remember her trying to get out of the bed and coughing and coughing because she was so upset that her son had not eaten. I remember my dad telling her to stay in bed and rest and he went into the kitchen and ate something just to appease her so she could rest. I have adopted that same philosophy. Anyone who comes into our home is usually fed well. When I cook I try and make it the best it can be and I hope each and every one of our guest feel satisfied and cared for.

I have slowly made my way back into the kitchen with my mom gone. The item I have decided to tackle pays homage to both my mother and my grandmother, tortillas. Have a look:

The ingredients for tortillas can be found in any pantry and the process is very easy.

4 C. All Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Salt
1 TBS Baking Powder
1/4 Vegetable Shortening
1 1/2 - 2 C. Very Hot Water

1. All of the dry ingredients are combined by hand in a large bowl.

2. The vegetable shorting is then cut into the flour by hand until it is evenly distributed throughout the flour.

3. Slowly add the hot water 1/2 a cup at a time mixing with your hand. You will probably not use all 2 cups of the water.

4. Mix the dough until it becomes a smooth ball. I kneaded it by hand for about 5 minutes. I used all but about 3/4 C. of the water. The dough should be a little sticky, but not stick to your hands.

If you look at the bowl all of the flour is incorporated and the ball is a little tacky. The Ball of dough should rest for half an hour. After the resting period I pinched the dough into balls the size of golf balls, I had 18.

Each ball must be rolled out very thin. I tried using a regular rolling pin, but did not have much luck.

Here is my very first tortilla cooking away on a cast iron griddle. My grandmother had a Comal to cook her tortillas in. A comal is a very well seasoned, thin and usually very old cast iron skillet.

I used a dry towel to press the tortilla onto the griddle. The griddle was hot and I flipped the tortilla after about 30 seconds.

This tortilla would not get my grandma's seal of approval! It was thick and misshaped!

I switched to a french rolling pin and that worked much better. I rolled each tortilla out very flat. A few tricks which helped me were to use enough bench/dusting flour to make sure the tortilla does not stick to either the surface of the counter or my rolling pin and to turn the tortilla a quarter of a turn after each roll. MUCH BETTER AND ROUNDER!

You can see that my tortillas improved as I made them.

Here is my stack of warm and beautiful tortillas. They were not crunchy and they reminded me of the delicious ones my mother and grandmother use to make.

I made Nicole get the butter and eat one while it was still warm.

I could not resist making each of us a quesadilla while the tortillas were fresh and the griddle was still warm.

The tortilla toasted up beautifully and the cheese melted and became gooey!

Some sour cream and salsa topped off this wonderful treat.

This is the only picture I have of my grandmother. I have it in my bedroom in a frame that says, "I love you!" It reminds me of the wonderful woman my grandmother was and just how much she loved us. I am not sure about my feelings of the afterlife and/or ghosts, but every now and again I am overtaken by a feeling of pure love. I can only describe it as being hugged and told, "I love you!" In my heart I know that it is my grandmother telling me that she loves me and is watching me and my response is, I love you too....

Cutting Peonies with Lucy

2010-05-26T15:28:00.003-04:00

Recently, we moved my tree peony and I am not sure it liked it. Peonies do not like to be moved so I do not think mine will be blooming at all this year like it did last year.

A few years ago we planted a few various types of peonies and this year they bloomed beautifully. I took Lucy outside with me to cut a bouquet, have a look.

Lucy was curious about the peonies, but I had to tell her back up since peonies are poisonous to dogs if ingested.

Maybe she loved the sweet smell of the blooms.

It is an old wives' tale that peonies need ants to bloom, it is not true. In fact ants are attracted to the sweet nectar produced by the peony buds. There is a simple solution to rid your freshly cut flowers of ants.

I filled the sink with cold water and gently place the peonies in the water.

I love the beautiful pink hues on the flowers.

I only filled the sink with enough water to submerge the flowers beneath about an inch of water. This can also be done in a bucket.

You will see the ants begin to jump ship...

The peonies wanted to float so I gently placed a plate on the stems.

After the flowers were ant free I drained them and placed them in a vase full of cold water. Here is Lucy posing with our bouquet of beautiful peonies.

I Met Martha Stewart Today!!!

2010-05-14T22:15:00.003-04:00

Now anyone who knows me can tell you that I sort of like Martha Stewart. Okay, anyone who knows me can tell you I am crazy for Martha Stewart! I like her books, shows, magazines, products, recipes, foods, etc! Everything! One day last week after coming home from work I hopped on my computer, went to www.marthastewart.com and saw a link stating, "Come see me in Pittsburgh." I was excited, but I did not get my hopes up because I figured the event would be fully booked. I clicked on the link and it said there were 80 tickets left and they were FREE.

The event was a book signing for Martha's new Everyday Food book, the Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook and her new line of Martha Stewart Clean products. We rounded up a posse and headed up there, have a look.

The booksigning was held at Giant Eagle Market District. The store was so beautiful and large I would have loved to spend more time looking around, but we were on a Martha mission.

Here is a view of the huge store.

The books had to be purchased at the Giant Eagle and a receipt needed to be present in order for Martha to sign. She was actually signing bottles of her cleaning products too!

Here is a ticket with all of the rules for the booksigning including no unauthorized memorabilia to be signed, no posing for photos and to be ready!

Here is Ma looking bored while waiting. We arrived at 9:30 and the booksigning was not until 11.

The staff at Giant Eagle prepared food from the Everyday Food book and passed it around to all of us it was delicious!

Here is White Bean Dip and pita chips, which was DELICIOUS! They also served Walnut and Dried Fruit Granola, DELICIOUS! and Spicy Cheese Crisps! YUM!

Martha gave a brief description of her cleaning products and commented on how muggy it was in Pennsylvania. We were watching from a tent while she talked.

Once inside there was another beautiful display of her eco-friendly cleaning products.

Another monitor of Martha Signing.

There was a good crowd.

And when we finally saw Martha it was wonderful! She was just as beautiful as she is on TV and looked wonderful!

Here is Martha talking to my Mom. Martha asked Ma what she did, to which my Mom replied she worked at a casino in Las Vegas. Martha got a big smile on her face and said, "LAS VEGAS!"

Here they are BFFs till the end.

Now I am not sure what happened, I handed my camera off to Brian who was in line behind me to take my picture, but he did not take one single picture! Haha it's okay though. When I got to Martha I told her I loved her books and that she was in inspiration. I also congratulated her on her two Emmy nominations and she said, "OH I KNOW!!!" I said thanks again, grabbed my book and left. It all happened so fast and since there are no pictures of Martha and I I'll insert this picture of Martha working the stripper pole for you to imagine how our encounter went.

After I met back up with Ma and Brian Ma was so starstruck and about to cry and faint and just overjoyed. I was so happy to see her so happy!

I had three things signed by Martha.

Her Homekeeping Handbook

Her new Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast book

And Issue #1 of Everyday Food magazine from 2003! I actually had Brian have Martha sign this!

It was such a wonderful day and wonderful event. It went by so fast, but it was a dream come true!

West Side Market

2010-05-02T08:50:00.002-04:00

It is a rare occasion when Brian and I have the same day off. Recently, we both had a Friday off so we decided to show Ma one of our favorite places The West Side Market in Cleveland, OH. I always think that it is good to go to these types of places with a meal in mind or you will not have any idea of what to buy. I knew that we should buy salad greens for a delicious salad, a crusty baguette, tomatoes and fresh basil for bruschetta and we could grill something at home. Have a look at our trip.

Here is the outside of the market. There are plenty of people who will stop you and ask you to vote about some current issue.

Now the market consists of two areas a covered "open air-esque" portion with fruits, veggies, flowers and uncooked items. Here is the entrance to the very long produce section.

Here is Ma looking in awe at the large selection.

I told Ma not to buy the first thing you see because you can probably find it cheaper and better down the way. I told her it was best to walk through the market and then decide what you want to buy and who to buy it from. Here she is throwing some side-eye to a vendor who had salad greens priced much higher than another we visited previously.

Brian was a bit uneasy with all of the people shouting and asking you if you wanted to try samples of their produce.

Beautiful potatoes! Last time I purchased fingerling potatoes and made Ina Garten's herbed new potatoes.

It all looked so good.

Here is the indoor section of the market which looks as though it use to be some type of train station (I will google that later) I love the tiled ceiling. In here you will find prepared foods, meats, cheeses, breads, candy, cakes, falafel, and spices

Here is Ma at the spice vendor. I think I was going in depth into the history of some spice or another. She looks bored..

Here we have a delicious treat, which I had never had before. This vendor is called Crepes De Luxe. They prepare hot crepes, both savory and sweet, filled with the delicious filling of your choice. The crepe batter was poured onto a hot grill and expertly distributed with a type of wooden paddle.

I chose one called "The King" it was filled with chocolate, bananas and peanut butter. Now what this vendor lacked in friendliness he made up for with his delicious crepes.

It was so delicious! Ma chose one with pears, walnuts and caramel and Brian chose one with strawberries.

Ma and I could not resist eating our crepes despite the fact that they were 900˚F.

Here is another angle of the market.

Here are some delicious looking cakes.

Later, after we left the market we met our friend Kelly and her niece Leah for dinner and a walk around Legacy Village. Here they are enjoying some gelato!

If you ever get a chance I recommend the West Side Market. It is a bit busy and crazy, but I always have a fun time.

There is Absolutely No Knead (No-Knead Bread)

2010-04-13T19:11:00.006-04:00

I have been intrigued ever since I watched Jim Lahey demonstrate how to make no-knead bread on YouTube.

The technique seems fool-proof and fairly easy. I had a day off of work and decided to give it a try. Have a look:

The recipe calls for only four ingredients which I already had in my pantry.

Flour, salt, yeast and water.

I mixed the dry ingredients in a large bowl and then added hot water. The dough must be mixed for about 10-20 seconds to make sure that all ingredients are moistened.

That is it! For now.... I made two batches which had to rest in a warm place for 12-18 hours. I chose 12 hours because I am as busy as Melanie Griffith in the 1988 hit comedy/drama Working Girl.

After 12 hours the dough has become very voluminous and full of bubbles from the fermentation of the yeast.

The dough then had to be turned onto a floured surface and then folded over onto itself. The gluten has had time to develop in the dough so it will appear stringy and stretchy.

It looks good to me!

My mom said that she wanted one with oats and grains on the top so I made one with oats and sesame seeds on the top.

The balls of dough have to rest for two more hours wrapped in a floured cotton towel. This is the point where you would add any embellishments you please.

The secret of this bread is to bake it in a dutch oven. I have two so I decided to make two loaves. The bread must bake for 30 minutes in a very hot oven. The recipe says to heat your oven to 500˚F, but my dutch ovens are only oven save to 450˚F.

After two hours passed I carefully placed each ball of dough into the dutch ovens.

The bread must bake for 30 minutes covered in a hot oven. After 30 minutes the lids of each pot are removed and the bread will continue to cook and brown for 15 more minutes.

Look at that lovely crust!

I was advised to let the bread cool for about an hour, but the temptation was much too great.

We were able to wait for about 20 minutes before we had slices of warm bread slathered with butter.

This recipe was easy and very delicious. The result is as close to an artisanal baker that I am going to get right now.

If you plan ahead and are looking to bake some delicious and beautiful bread give this recipe a try. I know that we will be making another batch soon!

_____________________________________Recipe___________________________________________

November 8, 2006
Recipe: No-Knead Bread

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Happy Birthday Millie!

2010-04-04T12:25:00.007-04:00

Yesterday was the Birthday party for Brian and My Goddaughter Amelia Belle. Amelia, or Millie, was born on April Fool's day and she is such an adorable, beautiful and happy baby. Her mom sent me a picture of Millie's decorations for the party and let me have creative freedom to make a memorable cake fit for such a wonderful little girl. Have a look...

Now, Brian and I are proud Godparents so there are going to be A LOT of pictures!

This is Baby Millie! Look at those cheeks!

Here is the decor Kellie chose for Millie's party. We chose to use the colors hot pink, lime green and lavender for the cake. It just so happened that my friend Steph's mom gave me a set of mini cookie cutters with butterflies and flowers which we used to make decorations for the cake.

Since it was Millie's first birthday we knew we had to go over the top so we decided to attempt a topsy turvy three tiered cake. We first started with LOTS of cake.

The white cake had to be chilled, then stacked, layered and frosted.

Here is the cake with a crumb coat of vanilla buttercream frosting. This process had to be repeated on the other two layers.

Here are all of the layers stacked. We had to create "seats" in the cakes to set the cake above. The cake appears that the layers are about to topple over but it is just an illusion. Oh yeah we had to use dowel rods as support so the layers did not crush the layer below.

Here are the gum paste embellishments we created. We wanted these figures to create a cascading spray around the cake. They had to be made and allowed to harden over night.

We covered each layer of cake with homemade marshmallow fondant and then started to stack. Look at Mom's expression of glee in the back as she sees the cake start to take shape.

Here are all three layers.

Each layer was decorated with something different. Here is Ma cutting fondant flowers to put on the hot pink top layer.

We work well as a team!

The middle layer had a bright pink ribbon and bow around it. Here is Ma carefully removing the ribbon from the table.

The bottom layer was adorned with large lime green polka dots. It looks so cute!

Here is the cake all assembled. There are paper supports in the gum paste bow to allow it to dry and firm up, they were removed before the party.

Kellie loves cheeseburgers and cupcakes (on clothing) for Millie so we created this adorable little cheeseburger smash cake.

Here is little Millie wondering why the large crowd was gathered around her and singing.

Millie went slow with the cake at first.

But, with some help the smash cake was smashed! I love this picture because it looks like Kellie is feeding baby Millie a real cheeseburger!

I think she liked it...

Here is Millie unwrapping her gifts. She was much more interested in the ribbon and tissue paper.

The theme Kellie chose for Millie's BABY shower was primary colors. They had cupcakes in various primary colors with fondant letters on top, the decorations were all primary colors and on each table there was a scattering of baby blocks. While cleaning up at the party I asked Kellie if I could take the blocks because I had an idea (Martha Stewart of course) for them. She agreed and over a year later we made this adorable mirror for Millie's nursery.

My mom did actually made the mirror and she did a wonderful job. I got a little teary eyed when I heard Kellie tell Millie that she would be using that mirror in her baby's nursery too.

Brian said he thought the mirror would match Millie's nursery well. Here are some shots of her nursery.

This lion is hand-made by Kellie's Mom, which she sells on Etsy. All of her creations are so cute and unique.

Here is a shot of the cake at the party! It was a gigantic cake and everyone enjoyed. The party was wonderful!

Brian and I are so lucky and blessed to have been chosen to be a part of such a wonderful little girl's life. I hope next year we can make a cake fit for such beautiful little girl!

Mounting A Staghorn Fern...

2010-03-10T19:38:00.005-05:00

I do love rare and unusual plants. The first time I actually saw a staghorn fern in person was in Florida. Staghorns are epiphytic meaning they do not require soil to grow. Staghorns and orchids attach themselves to larger plants and make themselves at home. When I got home from that vacation I knew I had to have a staghorn fern and I actually found one at a small plant shop close to home. The fern did well for about a year until it developed scale (bugs) which eventually killed the plant and I was sad!

I decided to try my hand again at keeping a staghorn fern, but this time I decided to mount it. Have a look:

Mounting a staghorn requires a few simple tools which I found around the house. A wooden plaque, staple gun, fishing wire and moss.

The fronds of the fern are a little fuzzy this is for absorption of moisture in the air. My mom was trying to wipe them off because she thought it was dust.

I took a wooden plaque and nailed a picture frame hanger on it.

I soaked moss in warm water and then squeezed out the excess water.

Fishing line was stapled on the back of the plaque prior to putting the moss and fern on the front of the plaque.

I placed the moss on the wooden plaque.

After I removed the fern from the pot it was purchased in and removed and rinsed all of the soil off of the roots. I made a space in the middle of the moss and then wrapped the roots in the moss.

I used the fishing line and wrapped around and around and around and around the plaque securely wrapping around the base of the fern.

After safely securing the fern to the base I use A LOT of staples to secure the fishing line to the back of the wooden plaque. Here is the fern looking at home in our bathroom.

I love this fern and I am glad that I decided to try growing another fern. I hope that this one lasts longer than my prior one.

Jephanie's Cake 2.0

2010-02-28T21:13:00.001-05:00

This weekend was the birthday celebration for our friends Jeff and Steph. Last year I made them each a cake because Steph loves chocolate and Jeff loves fruit. This year was a not an exception, but my cake-making skills have improved a bit.

Steph requested a chocolate cake in the shape of her favorite animal, a crab! Have a look at her cake.
I made a devil's food cake with chocolate cake and a cream filling.

We had to sculpt the body of the crab on a cake board. We used marble cake for the bodies of the animals.

We then sculpted the duck's body.

He is so cute!

The bodies of each animal was covered in chocolate buttercream and then chilled.

We made marshmallow fondant and tinted it appropriately for each animal. My mom was confident enough to work on one of the animals alone so she worked on the duck. Here is the duck getting a green head.

He then got a brown body. My mom said it looked like he was wearing a dress.

While mom worked on the duck I worked on the crab. His body was covered in red tinted marshmallow fondant and then placed on the cake.

Here is the crab with all of his legs and pinchers!

Here is the finished duck! I frosted the cake underneath which was banana chocolate chip cake with banana custard filling and whipped cream frosting. Mom did such a great job on the duck!

She said he looked real mad!

Here is the crab cake all finished! I ground up graham crackers and spread them on the top of the cake to look like sand. I also used a Witon chocolate mold to make chocolate shells.

Jephanie (Steph and Jeff) loved the cakes and so did everyone else at their party. If you have a look at the cakes it appears that the duck lasted longer than the duck.

We loved making these cakes and look forward to what they will request next year!

Granola...

2010-02-19T16:55:00.002-05:00

I may have an obsession with Martha Stewart, but I find such inspiration from the wonderful ideas produced by her company. Terry Trespicio, editor for Body + Soul Magazine showed ideas to organize your refrigerator to promote healthy eating. In an attempt to eat healthier I have devoted the entire top shelf of our refrigerator to healthy food including fresh fruit, vegetables, yogurt and other healthy snacks.

In the January/February issue of Everyday food there was a simple and easy recipe for granola. I had never made granola so I decided to give it a try.

The ingredients to make granola are simple and can be changed to suit your tastes. The original recipe did not call for mango or coconut, but I decided to add them anyways. I did not have pecans at home so I just doubled the almonds. Here are all of ingredients that I used.

All of the ingredients, except mango and cranberries, were mixed together in a large bowl.

The oat mixture is then spread on a large sheet pan and baked in a 325-350˚F oven for about 30-45 minutes. The mixture will fill your house with a delicious aroma.

Here is the granola out of the oven. We took it out of the oven as soon as it was golden brown and a crunchy consistency.

I chopped the mango to make it a size similar to all of the ingredients.

I packaged 1/2 C. portions of the granola into snack bags and placed them with all of the other healthy snacks.

If you have never made granola I suggest you give it a try. Store bought granola is good, but it can be filled with artificial ingredients, flavors and preservatives. It was nice to make easy, healthy and delicious snacks to provide healthier options for my family.

St. Valentine's Day

2010-02-16T18:02:00.003-05:00

I have loved Valentine's day ever since I was a child. I remember exchanging cards in school every year and crafting a "mailbox" to place all of the Valentine's cards I received. I love hand-crafting gifts for my Honey. Last year, I made him an intricately cut paper heart pinned into a specimen box. This year I opted to make something sweet. Of course, Martha Stewart was the inspiration for the gifts I made. Have a look:

I knew that when I saw Martha making these craft paper boxes on her show I just had to make them. They were easy to make and and beautiful.

To finish the box I made a glittered buckle and used satin ribbon to tie around the box. Here is a picture of the buckle, but for some reason I forgot to take a picture of the box, ribbon and buckle all together. I'll try and take a picture later.

Now, to go inside of this box I turned to Bakerella for her adorable and equally delicious cupcake pops. Here are my cupcake bites nestled inside of the cute polka-dot box.

I put the bites into festive Valentine's mini cupcake papers. They fit perfectly and looked right at home.

I had some extra bites so I placed them on a small cake pedestal. I love how each is individualized with a variety of white sprinkles, M & Ms in various hues and sprinkle hearts.

Here is the handmade Valentine's card I made for Brian. I love the gold doily, it looks like its glowing.

Brian bought me this beautiful, intense red cake stand covered with raised hearts. Good thing I had baked a cake earlier in the day that needed a home.

Here is a homemade German Chocolate cake which I made for Brian, my mom, Brian's dad and I to enjoy after dinner. We took them out to Carrabba's for Valentine's day. We usually go to Carrabba's every year because that is where Brian and I went on our first date 8 and 1/2 years ago.

This cake was oh, so delicious and an perfectly sweet ending to a perfectly sweet day. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!

Homemade Snowballs!

2010-01-26T20:51:00.003-05:00

Snowballs have always been a favorite of mine ever since I was a child. It had actually been years since I have had a snowball and while on vacation in Florida I decided to buy a package of them and share one with my mom since they are her favorite. After just one bite we were both disappointed. The delicious sweet fluffy cake and marshmallow tasted like waxy dry cake with little flavor. I have been told quite a few times, "Louis you have spoiled me." People tell me this in relation to my cooking. If there is an option of cooking an item out of a box or package I am totally against it. I believe that the extra bit of effort results in a delicious irreplaceable flavor that beats out convenience any day of the week.

Well, cut to seven months later and the craving for snowballs struck again, but instead of opting for the dry, waxy pre-made version we decided to make our own combining a few trusted recipes. Have a look:

I started by baking some chocolate cupcakes. Actually, I was baking a chocolate cake and had extra batter that would not fit into the pans. I was able to get 10 extra cupcakes out of them. If you are looking to make these snowballs you can make an entire recipe of One-Bowl Chocolate cake and you'll have about 12 extra cupcakes to frost with whatever you choose. The cupcakes needed to be taken out of their paper liners and hollowed out. I used a melon baller and removed a portion of the cake to make room for the cream filling.

The cream filling consisted of two ingredients one jar of marshmallow fluff and one stick of unsalted butter. The filling was then piped into the hollowed out cupcakes and the cake "plug" that was previously removed from the cake is placed back over the filling to seal the bottom of the cupcakes. The cakes are then turned over with the hole on the bottom.

Now, time for homemade marshmallow. Marshmallows are actually very easy to make and require a few ingredients. We had to double the marshmallow recipe .

Making marshmallows is simple. You first start off by "blooming" or softening unflavored gelatin over cold water. Sugar and water is then cooked to the soft-ball stage of about 238˚F on a candy thermometer. The gelatin is then poured into a stand-mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and WHILE THE MIXER IS ON LOW the sugar and water mixture is SLOWLY POURED INTO THE MIXER in a steady stream. If you do this too fast or with your mixer on higher than the lowest setting you will send 238˚F scalding syrup flinging all over yourself. After a minute turn the mixer on high and let it go for 10 minutes.

We pulsed about 1 cup of flaked coconut in the food processor for about 10 seconds until it reached our desired consistency. Afterwards, we tinted the coconut with a bit of rosy pink gel food coloring by shaking it in a plastic Zip-loc bag. We also decided to use the same gel coloring (while it was mixing) to the marshmallow to make a pale pink. Using a large piping bag fitted with a large 1/2 inch tip we piped marshmallow around the cupcake to completely entomb the cake in marshmallow. They looked like tiny beehives! Make sure this is done on parchment paper and to be safe you can lightly spray it with nonstick cooking spray.

After we had all of the cakes covered with fluffy marshmallow we sprinkled with coconut. Both my mom and I were giddy while making these, haha!

We let them firm up for a few hours, but the temptation was awful. We had to try them and they were absolutely delicious. They were exactly the flavor and texture we were craving back on that trip when when we ate that pre-made sawdusty lump. My mom said it, "was the best and freshest snowball" she had ever had.

I must agree that they were decadent.

Recipes:
Marshmallow for Piping (x 2)

INGREDIENTS

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

1 unflavored gelatin (2 1/2 teaspoons)
1/3 cup cold water, for gelatin, plus 1/4 cup for syrup
1 cup sugar
DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water. Allow gelatin to soften, about 5 minutes.
In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water and sugar, and stir over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring, and place a candy thermometer into sugar water; wipe sides of pan with a wet brush if sugar crystals have splattered up. Boil sugar until temperature reaches the soft-ball stage (238 degrees). Remove syrup from heat; add to softened gelatin. Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, hand-stir the mixture a few minutes to cool; place bowl on the mixer stand. Beat on medium high with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form and the marshmallow mixture holds shape, 8 to 10 minutes.
Transfer marshmallow mixture to a large (14-inch) pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch (No. 11 Ateco) tip, and use immediately.
First published Copyright 2009 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

Makes 18 to 24.

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
First published Copyright 2009 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Easy Delicious Breakfast...

2010-01-24T19:32:00.003-05:00

I have been making Cheese Strata ever since I watched Martha Stewart demonstrating the recipe on her show. It is an inexpensive, easy and quick recipe that requires common ingredients and the result is a beautiful and equally delicious dish. If you love eggs and cheese give this recipe a try because I promise you IT IS DELICIOUS!

Cheese Strata

This recipe adapted from "Martha Stewart Living" (May 2005).

INGREDIENTS

Serves 6.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more, softened, for baking dish
8 slices Pain de Siegle or sourdough bread
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
4 large eggs
2 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
DIRECTIONS

Butter an 8-inch square baking dish; line bottom with 4 slices bread. Sprinkle with half of each cheese. Top with chives. Layer with remaining bread and cheese.
Whisk together eggs, milk, melted butter, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture into baking dish. Cover; refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake strata until puffed and golden, one hour, to one hour and 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
First published December 2005

This recipe has a few ingredients, Swiss cheese is one of them. I am not normally a fan of Swiss cheese, but it is quite delicious in this recipe. I have fed this to a few people who absolutely do not like Swiss cheese, but they loved it.

First start off by lining a buttered casserole dish with four slices of sourdough bread.

Sprinkle bottom layer of bread with 1/2 of each of cheese. Top with four more slices of bread and the remainder of the cheese.

Eggs, milk, melted butter and a few spices are mixed together to make a flavorful custard.

The savory custard is then poured over the bread. The recipe calls for fresh chives, my chives are frozen under snow so instead I used one scallion, using both white and green parts.

The entire strata is then covered and placed into the refrigerator overnight. Here is what mine looked like after the bread slices absorbed the egg mixture.

The next morning preheat the oven to 325˚F and bake for 1 hour to, to one hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown.

This recipe takes about 10 minutes of prep time and the rest is baking. I made this strata the night before work and baked it while I was getting ready. I shared it with my coworkers and they loved it. If you have not tasted strata give it a try. I hope this recipe will become one of your favorites.

Savory Spinach & Cheese Danish...

2010-01-20T21:46:00.004-05:00

I am not sure if this can be called a danish, but none the less it is delicious. The other day I stopped at a bakery and tasted a pastry filled with cheese and spinach. I was not sure if I would like the pastry so I only purchased one of them. Well it turns out every (excluding Brian) loved it and we had to split it three ways. Instead of stopping by that same bakery to pick up some more I decided to try and recreate them at home, have a look:

Savory Spinach & Cheese Danish

1 Sheet Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry
8 oz Cream cheese, softened
2 TBS Shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 C Fresh spinach
1 Egg, lightly beaten
Salt & Pepper, to taste

I've said it before and I'll say it again, life is too short for me to make puff pastry from scratch. One day I may change my opinion, but not any time soon. These danish require few and simple ingredients available in every grocery store.

I began by preheating my oven to 400˚F On a lightly flowered surface I rolled the pastry to a rectangle about 18x6 inches.

I used an offset spatula to spread 8 OZ of softened cream cheese over the puff pastry. I made sure to leave about an inch of pastry without cheese, this is going to be the seam where the pastry is sealed.

After spreading the cream cheese evenly I put a light sprinkling of cream cheese and a VERY light sprinkling of salt. I resisted the urge to put too much spinach because spinach is full of water and I did not want the danish to become soggy.

I then brushed egg on the clean edge of pastry.

I folded the pastry over once and lightly pressed.

The pastry was then folded to enclose the filling and lightly pressed again.

I generously brushed the entire pastry with egg and then sprinkled with parmesan cheese and pepper.

The pastry was then cut into two halves and each half into thirds making six danish.

With the corner of the bench scraper I then made a cut into the top of each danish.

Place the danish on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

The danish are then baked for about 18 minutes until lightly golden and puffed. I LOVE MY NEW OVEN!!!

Allow to cool and enjoy!

They came out so delicious and were very close to the ones I purchased the other day!

Let's Wok!

2010-01-19T20:38:00.004-05:00

Martha Stewart has always been an inspiration in my daily life, but recently it seems that we have been doing a lot of the ideas and recipes featured on her show. A segment on wok care and stir-fry recipes was recently featured on Martha and also in Everyday Food magazine. Today Ma and I shopped for stir-fry ingredients and a decent wok. Have a look:

There are a few steps necessary to take prior to cooking in your wok for the first time. We first started by looking for a wok which was not coated with Teflon. A new wok should be washed with soap and water. This is the ONLY TIME soap should touch a wok. To clean a wok in the future use hot water and a sponge. The wok then needs to be seasoned. Here's how.

Heat the wok over high heat until it begins to smoke. Make sure you have your exhaust fan while doing this.

Once the wok begins to smoke use tongs and a paper towel drizzled with vegetable to coat the wok. After the wok is coated with oil reduce the heat to low and continue to heat for 15 minutes.

I used extra-firm tofu as the protein in one of the stir-fry dishes. We cubed the tofu and then fried it over very high heat and about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Once the tofu was browned I removed it from the wok and set it aside.

For a side dish I took hari coverts stir fried with garlic, ginger, teriyaki sauce and crushed red pepper flakes.

In order to steam/soften the beans up a little I placed a lid over them in the wok for about a minute.

These were delicious!

I had my Mom fry the dish with chicken. Again, we used a smoking hot wok with a bit of vegetable oil and cooked the chicken. We cooked the chicken until it was opaque, but not fully cooked.

We removed the chicken and set it aside. In the wok we added broccoli, julienned red peppers, mushrooms, bok choy, garlic, ginger, bean sprouts and carrots.

After the vegetables were cooked we added hoisin sauce, soy sauce, baby carrots, the reserved chicken and bamboo shoots.

The second stir-fry was then cooked exactly the same, but with the fried tofu added in the end.

As another side dish I stir-fried some boiled noodles with hoisin sauce, scallions, rice vinegar and soy sauce.

I fried an egg and chopped it up for people to use on top of their dishes. I did not add it to the stir-fry dishes because my Mom does not care too much for egg.

I had fun using my new wok for the first time. Though I did feel like I needed some type of direction or stir-fry 101 to guide me. I felt as though we just walked through the Asian section of our grocery store, a little lost, and just started throwing ingredients into our cart. I will have to do a bit of research and find various other recipes to try. If you are looking for a wok I found mine for $14.99 at a restaurant supply store in Youngstown called Zabel. If you already have a wok dust it off and give it a try.

Baby Cakes!

2010-01-17T21:59:00.002-05:00

We had two cakes to do this weekend. Each cake was completely different and required a bit of creativity. The first cake was for a friend of our friend Kellie. They first wanted a Spongebob cake, but the son changed his mind/interests to John Deere. I asked the mother for some toys and was able to use those to embellish a farm themed cake. Have a look:

I thought the farm animal toys really made the cake look realistic.

Here is an arial view of the cake. They said the child who the cake was for could not stop staring at the cows drinking out of the pond.

I used cake crumbs to fill the beds of the trailers being hauled by the John Deere tractor.

The other cake was for our good friends Sheila and Glenn's daughter's first birthday. The said they wanted a monkey cake, with that being the only input my creativity/mind started to flow. Here is a sketch of the concept I came up with.

I have never baked a cake larger than an 8 inch so it was different baking a 12 inch cake. It took a bit longer and was heavy! Here is the cake covered with baby pink buttercream.

A two layer second tier of chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream was added on top of the bottom tier.

I added a small piped simple border.

We had to carve out a space in the cake for the monkey to rest in. I got a bit nervous while constructing this cake, but it started to come together really well. I used a chopstick to add claw marks to the cake where the monkey was digging in and my mom helped make gumpaste and fondant details.

They asked for a banana shaped smash cake for the baby so I gave that task to my mom. She did a wonderful job and the baby loved it too!

We also added some flowers and feathered them with a brush.

Both families loved the cakes and it was wonderful to take part in making two different birthdays special.

A Little Latin Cooking....

2010-01-09T22:28:00.004-05:00

A guest on the Martha Stewart Show inspired my Mom to try her hand at making Pupusas. If you have ever had Mexican food you have most likely eaten Masa. Masa is dough made out of corn meal. Masa is used to make corn tortillas, tamales, and Pupusas. Prior to moving to Ohio my Mom worked in a casino in Las Vegas. She had many friends at the casino from various parts of South America. Her friends tried to explain the process of making pupusas to my mother before, but it was difficult to understand until she saw them being made on the Martha Stewart Show. After seeing how simple they seemed she decided to give them a try. Have a look:

The corn meal needed to be made into masa. Mom used broth, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder and oil to make the meal into masa. She used a brand of corn meal/flour called Ma Se Ca. Once the consistency of the masa was right we formed balls and then flattened them into patties.

We filled the patties with cheese.

Once the patties were filed with cheese we had to close the patties to encase the cheese.

The patties were then cooked on a well oiled griddle.

Here are some finished pupusas. They were delicious served with refried beans, sour cream and salsa.

Since we had excess masa from making pupusas we decided to make tamales. Tamales are similar to pupusas, but are prepared a bit different.

Tamales are made by steaming masa filled with a filling of your choice in dried corn husks. Tamales are traditionally filled with pork cooked in chili sauce. Since I am a vegetarian I fill mine with beans, potatoes, cheese, salsa, chilies, and olives.

Corn husks come dried, they first need to be soaked in hot water and then rinsed very well.

I actually had to give my Mom a refresher course, tamales 101. You first start by taking a clean corn husk and smearing it with masa.

You then add your filling, in this case I had refried beans, cheese, a piece of potato and green chilies.

After the tamale is filled you fold the sides in and the end up. Here are the first few tamales we made.

The tamales were then steamed in a pot of water. The water should not touch the tamales. We used a very large pot with a pasta strainer insert and filled the pot so the water level was just below the strainer. The tamales steamed for about 2 1/2 hours until the masa was firm.

Making tamales brought back memories of eating at my grandmother's house. While making tamales I talked with my mom about how good of a cook my grandmother was and how much she loved all of us (my siblings and I). I loved making tamales with my mom while making new memories and remembering cherished memories of this delicious tradition.

New Year's Feast...

2010-01-03T17:17:00.002-05:00

This New Year's eve we decided to have a few close friends over to our house and our former tenant Rachel. I did not want to cook an extravagant meal, but there are some traditional dishes I felt the need to offer to our guests. Pork and sauerkraut is often eaten for good luck in the New Year. Since I am a vegetarian I do not eat pork, I usually force Brian to eat pork for both of us and I eat the sauerkraut. Our friend Nicole said that it was the best pork she had ever eaten so I suppose I did a good job preparing it. Have a look:

I used a pork butt roast cooked with sauerkraut. Since moving to Ohio I have had sauerkraut on every New Year, one thing I did not like about some I have had was the addition of brown sugar to sweeten up the sauerkraut. I do not know why, but cabbage and brown sugar is not appealing to me. A friend gave me the idea of adding an apple to the roast in place of the sugar in order to add a bit of sweetness. I started the roast off as I do all of my roasts. I seared the generously salt and peppered roast in a very hot pan until a brown crust formed. I put the roast into a slow cooker filled with chicken broth. I then surrounded the roast with sauerkraut.

I then grated an onion and honeycrisp apple and topped the roast with those.

Brian and I have lived in quite a few places and one thing that excites me about a new place is trying the different types of foods and learning how to cook new dishes. There is a large Polish population in North East Ohio and they have given me the opportunity to try some very delicious foods such as haluski and pierogi. I make haluski from time to time, but I have never had the courage to tackle pierogi. Everyone I had spoken too strongly advised against it because it was such a labor intensive task. That only made me want to make them more. Have a look.

Of course we turned to Martha Stewart for a how-to on making pierogi. Martha's mother taught her how to make pierogi so we knew we could trust the recipe.

The filling for the pierogi had to be flavorful. Potatoes, cream cheese, cheddar cheese an, how could you go wrong? The recipe said it made a total of 60 pierogi, but we ended up with about 120.

The pierogi we first made looked a bit rough, but after we passed up the 50 mark they looked perfect.

When the pierogi were boiled we divided them into two portions.

One portion was served with carmelized onions and brown butter.

The other half was served with bacon.

And of course a generous spoonful of sour cream.

I wish I had some right now. Everyone loved them and our friend Nicole who is actually Polish said I could be honorary Polish. Here is our table full of hors devours and snacks. We had a fun game of taboo had a few too many spirits.

Happy New Year everyone! Try and make some pierogi of your own.

Christmas is Over???

2009-12-30T17:47:00.003-05:00

I can not believe that Christmas is over and the year 2009 is gone as quickly as it arrived. It is hard for me to try and think back on a few things that stick out in 2009, not because it was uneventful, but rather that it went by so fast. Graduation was a big event, getting hired as a pastry chef was another, and I suppose our road trip to the Key West was another big one.

Christmas this year was busy. On Christmas eve I made a Bouche De Noel, which is a chocolate (or other flavored) cake roll decorated to look like a log. Have a look:

I made a genoise chocolate cake from Martha Stewart's Cooking School for the inside of the cake. Genoise cakes are really easy to make and bake in about 7 minutes. The cake needs to be rolled up, while warm, in a clean dish cloth that has been dusted with cocoa powder. The cake is allowed to cool in the cloth so it retains a rolled shape. If you tried to roll this cake while it was cold it would just crumble apart.

Here is my Bouche De Noel all decorated, I filled it with fresh whipped cream, covered it with chocolate buttercream and piped it with buttercream holly and berries. I also put a Merry Christmas sign on the log, which I purchased from work.

Our friend Nicole recently celebrated her 37th birthday. We had plans on going out for dinner, but there were no plans for a birthday cake. It is my firm belief that everyone should have a cake on their birthday so I made this cake for Nicole at work. I love the little Christmas light cake picks. The cake is marble cake with a mix of chocolate whipped cream and chocolate buttercream.

One of Brian's officemates wanted a cake for Christmas so I made this. The flavors requested were yellow butter cake with nuts and raisins frosted with Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream.

Every year I handmake 60 Christmas cards for all of our friends and family. I love using various mediums to embellish the cards. Every year I make snowmen. Last year I painted snowmen and made faux bois paper as the background. This year I found flocking powder by (of course) Martha Stewart Crafts and used that to make the snowman's scarf and VERY TALL top hat fuzzy.

Instead of hand painting 60 snowmen I paint a few, scan them, copy them and then cut them out for the cards. Here is a sheet of snowmen covered with "fennel" colored flocking powder.

The flocking powder is used just like glitter, you place glue where you want the powder to be and then sprinkle with powder.

I was not sure if I liked the flocking powder on the scarf so I tried different color glitters (girl, you know I have hundreds of kinds!) In the end I chose the flocking powder, and it just did not feel right without glitter. I was going through glitter withdrawals so I glittered the band on his hat.

Here is the finished card. I used two contrasting types of scrapbook paper and a cute red ribbon and I stamped blue snowflakes on the background. The card itself was a brown recycled cardstock.

I am glad all of the daunting tasks of Christmas are done and we have the new year to look forward to. I am about to go make pierogi for the very first time. Wish me luck!

Cookie Exchange 2009...

2009-12-13T12:36:00.003-05:00

I think I can speak for everyone involved when I say that the cookie exchange initiated and coordinated by our friend Stephanie is highly anticipated. In the three years we have been exchanging sweets the number of participants has increased and the cookies have gotten more delicious. I was excited to have Ma help me in the kitchen because it would have been exhausting to make all of the cookies we did all by myself. Have a look:

This was a busy week with all of the baking we had to do. Brian requested cupcakes as a treat for his students, we made them two types, red velvet with cream cheese icing and chocolate with chocolate buttercream. I also threw together some sugar cookie dough for use later.

I love how these red velvet cupcakes came out. They came out exactly as I had envisioned them with a ring of red sanding sugar and a candy poinsettia on top.

I did not have anything to put on top of the chocolate cupcakes, but I remembered that we had extra peppermints leftover from making peppermint bark. I love how cute these came out.

The two cookies that I chose to make for the cookie exchange were clothespin cookies (of course) and Linzer cookies with jam. My mom was quick to perfect her clothespin cookie rolling technique.

The Linzer cookies were made out of a pecan dough. I rolled it out between two pieces of cling wrap, which made the job easier. We used a Martha Stewart Collection fluted biscuit cutter to cut out the delicate cookies.

We had to cut out 216 of these to make a total of 108 cookies!

One 1/2 of the cookies had a design cut into them so the jam inside was visible. We used raspberry jam in half of the cookies and sour cherry jam in the other. We positioned our table so the television was in view, we watched Yes, Virginia while we worked. It was a cute movie. Here are the finished Linzers

We ended up receiving 8 dozen varieties of cookies in exchange. Here is a glossary of what we got!

They are all so delicious and beautiful and as last year I can not wait until next year!!!

Random Variety Post #1

2009-12-08T20:26:00.007-05:00

I can not believe that it is already December. Where did this year go? I have just been working and trying to enjoy life. It does seem though that all we do is work and sleep. When writing blog posts I try to have some theme or subject, but while going though my photos I could not find a theme except for randomness. Have a look:

Our friend Kimmy is getting married so we were asked to make the cookie favors. The theme of Kimmy's shower was Alice and Wonderland. They requested red and white sugar cookies with the phrase from Alice in Wonderland "Eat Me" written on them. Here are a few pictures of the cookies we made.

I loved using the damming and flooding method to make these cookies look beautiful.

This cookie was my favorite.

Kimmy and her sister Kellie loved the cookies, here is a note from Kellie.
"Everyone loved the cookies you made for Kimmy's shower! I saved one
for me...and Josh ate it! I'm sure they were delicious!
They were so beautiful! Thank you and thank your mom for helping!

Kellie."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lucy's Punishment

For Christmas Brian puts out a lot of decorations and toys from his childhood. He put out some stuffed animal frog and while he was at work I found our mini dachshund Lucy ripping the doll to bits and chewing on it's hat. I figured an appropriate punishment would be to make her wear the hat. She looked very upset about his punishment.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Murad's Cake

My friend Brooke wanted to give her boyfriend a special cake for his birthday. She asked me if I could make him a cake version of the bass guitar he plays in his band The Zou. Here is a look of what we created.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work Creations

One thing I enjoy about my current job is the ability to be creative. We can make anything our imaginations can conceive for our customers to enjoy. I use to be really intimidated by using frosting to create and decorate cakes, but I am starting to realize that if you think of yourself as an artist and the cake and frosting as your medium then that takes a bit of the intimidation away. I have started to let go and enjoy, I have also started to think in the mantra that my co-worker/cake Yoda Connie says, "ITS JUST CAKE!"

Have a look at some of the things I have recently made at work.

I love snowmen so naturally I had to make a snowman cake.

These little guys sit atop chocolate chip and buttercream sandwich cookies.

After some of the snowmen above sold I decided to create a Christmas tree forest.

Here is a dinosaur cake someone ordered for a 6th birthday. I was a little nervous because I had to make this on a day when Connie was not working. I was scared of messing him up, but he came out fine.

These cupcakes created a lot of talk and a lot of compliments.

I apologize for the randomness, but I hope you still enjoyed.

Re-Post: Clothespin Cookie Forms

2009-12-04T18:21:00.003-05:00

Just because it is the baking time of year I am reposting some links to find clothespin cookie forms.

http://louisj80sgarden.blogspot.com/2008/12/clothespin-cookie-forms_17.html

http://gramajoanscookieforms.com/

Thanksgiving Day Post...

2009-11-28T23:44:00.007-05:00

Every year I take on the task of preparing the Thanksgiving day feast. Although it has been an enjoyable task, it had also been incredibly exhausting. There are a lot of steps that go into preparing a large meal and it is easy to forget one. This year was different. The one thing that made this year different was having my mom here. I really can not recall the last time I was with one of my immediate family members for a holiday. Usually by the time Thanksgiving dinner is finally prepared I am exhausted and there are dishes up to the ceiling. My mom was a huge help and I loved making memories in the kitchen, have a look:

Of course I would use nothing other than Martha Stewart recipes. I used Turkey 101 for our delicious turkey.

The recipe starts off by soaking your turkey in a brine. Every time I make this brine the scent fills the house and immediately reminds me of Thanksgiving.

Working at the various cooking jobs I have and watching a lot of cooking shows I have learned what you can and should make in advance. The pies (pecan, pumpkin pie and pumpkin praline cheesecake) were all made in advance.

I loved showing my mom how easy it is to make piecrust in the food processor and the fillings are just as easy. There is really no reason to buy frozen pies. Actually, my mom's pie crust came out beautiful and mine came out looking like I made it in some back alley.

We used Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe and the pies came out so delicious!

I woke up early on Thanksgiving morning to take the turkey out of the brine. It has to sit out and come to temperature before placing it in the oven. Just like last year the poor turkey came out of the brine looking almost purple.

No Stove Top for us. I cubed two loaves of Italian bread and let them dry on the counter for a few days and of course Martha Stewart's Classic Stuffing recipe was used. What did not fit into the neck and tail end of the turkey was baked separately in a buttered casserole dish.

Here is Ma cutting up 1/2 of the onions for the stuffing.

The turkey was stuffed in the neck and tail ends baker's twine was then used to truss the turkey. Trussing is done to make the turkey more compact and ensure even baking. The wing tips are turned under and the legs are tied close to the body. If the wings and legs are left away from the body they would finish cooking way before the rest of the turkey and most likely become way too dry. Turkey 101 does not require a baking bag or foil to cover the turkey, instead cheesecloth soaked in two sticks of butter and a bottle of wine is draped over the bird.

As an alternative to regular green bean casserole we used Everyday Food Magazine's green bean casserole. I thought the recipe was okay, but the mushroom sauce was a bit to runny for my liking. Maybe I should have cooked it a bit longer so it was thicker.

Here is the cheesecloth covered turkey after a few hours. The browned cheesecloth is removed and the turkey bakes a bit longer to brown and cook more. I placed foil over the parts of the turkey which I though were browning too quickly.

Of course Lucy was in the kitchen carefully supervising our cooking. She was willing to clean up any wayward scraps. I also had to include a picture of my beautiful Martha Stewart Collection turkey platter which I found on sale at Macy's a few years ago.

When the turkey was done we placed it on the platter an garnished with persimmons, grapes, parsley, sage and starfruit. I must say out of all of the turkeys I have made this one was beautiful.

Since I am a vegetarian I have never tasted my turkey. My mom was willing to carve the bird here she is with her birthday apron. Well since I am a vegetarian and have never tasted my turkey I must rely on everyone's comments to gauge how well I did. My mom said it was the most moist turkey she had ever had and everyone else said it was so delicious.

Everyone was sooooo stuffed when dinner was ready, but none of us could resist dessert. There was pumpkin praline cheesecake, pumpkin pie and pecan pie (all from scratch) I also heard someone say, "Oh there is nothing like homemade whipped cream!"

This may seem like a bit much, but it was so helpful. My mom said that she liked the way that I had everything planned to be ready at dinner time. I actually wrote out a schedule on the dry erase board in my kitchen and it helped a lot. I had everything planned by the hour and it worked great.

I told my mom today THANK YOU for helping make this Thanksgiving special. I told her that I was not thanking her for helping me make pies, shopping for ingredients or cleaning up my mess. I told her I meant thank you for just being here, I said that it was the best Thanksgiving I have had in years and it was better by just having her here by my side and making memories with me.

Last Day at New Job...

2009-11-08T20:00:00.006-05:00

I was so nervous to start working at my new job in a restaurant downtown. Between three jobs I worked really hard and some days were very long. To be honest I liked my jobs, but I felt like all I was doing with my life was sleeping and working. Any time I had off of work I was sleeping. I came to the realization that I was not enjoying my days and was working every minute of my life away. After some strong encouragement from Brian I made the decision to go back to school.

In January it is my plan to start the Master's program in Hospitality & Tourism Management. I would be doing this with the goal of teaching in some capacity. I believe that every single one of us are teachers and I personally find extreme joy teaching others. My last day was this Friday. It has been so nice to have a day off with time to enjoy my day, my house and my family. I have been making dinner and playing with the pups, decorating for the holidays and various other things that I did not have time or energy for.

I made dinner the other day. Have a look:

I decided to make Ina Garten's Lemon & Garlic Roast Chicken . It was easy to make and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

I used organic vegetables and an all natural chicken.

A rack is usually used to raise the chicken off of the bottom of the pan and ensure even cooking. A good way to make a side dish and not use a rack is to line the bottom of your dish with veggies. I used carrots, onions and Yukon gold potatoes.

The chicken needed to be washed.

Here is the chicken all rinsed and patted dry.

Here is the poor chicken standing on its neck. The inside cavity is generously salted and peppered and then filled with an entire head of garlic cut in half lengthwise and two lemons.

I then tucked the wings under and tied his little legs with twine. This ensures even cooking.

The chicken was then rubbed with butter and lined with bacon.

I also made mashed potatoes.

Here is the beautifully browned roasted chicken.

I cut it up and put it on a platter with the vegetables.

I also made bread pudding and served it with Haagen-Das Five Brown Sugar ice cream.

And of course Lucy looked interested in the bread pudding. Look at her teeny ears flopped back!

That meal was a few days ago. I am going to miss the creative freedom that I was given at my old job, but I have noticed a desire to cook and bake more at home. Tonight I made eggplant and chicken parmesan, lemony asparagus, pasta and an apple upside cake with homemade caramel mousse. I AM SO FULL! HAVE A LOOK AT THE CAKE:

I know this life decision will be a challenge, but I know it will make me a better person and I know that I can do it. I hope everyone has a happy week... Tomorrow is Monday :(

Happy Birthday Ma!

2009-10-24T22:22:00.002-04:00

My mother's birthday is this coming Monday, but the restaurant we wanted to take her to is not open that day so we decided to take her today. I know I had a great time trying to make this day for her as special as possible. Everyone asks her what her secret is to looking young and having nice skin and her response is, "Pond's Cold Cream." I had a great time, I hope she did too. Have a look:

We went to eat at Combine Brothers in Hermitage, PA. The food there is wonderful and they give you tons of it!

Here is my beautiful mother!

Haha! This picture cracks me up! In the photo I was trying to show how huge the rolls are and I was using my mom's head as a comparison! I think she thought I was going to throw it at her and knock her out...

I am a pastry chef and a cake decorator so I have learned a thing or two about decorating cakes fast. Last night Brian took my mom with him to pick up some take out. While they were gone in about an hour I baked a Pineapple Carrot Cake from scratch and cream cheese icing. When they got home I hid the cake to cool and put the frosting in our refrigerator in the basement. I made my mom the same cake that I requested for my birthday. We both love carrot cake. Oh yeah and my mom was quite proud that her sparklers set off the smoke alarms!

My sister Marcie introduced my mom to the world of frothed milk on your coffee. Since then my mom was on a hunt for a milk frother. I found one for her as one of her gifts.

We also gave her a cha-cha apron which looks more like a party dress than an apron. She loved it!

I decorated this cake IN THE BASEMENT after I came home from work. It did not take long and I think it came out great!

I used a beautiful antique cake pedestal, which was given to me by my wonderful friends Steph and Jeff

It was so delicious!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Around the House: Halloween Edition

2009-10-21T16:30:00.003-04:00

Oh my God is all I can say about the past few weeks. I wrote a blog post back in July of 2008 titled Hello Life, How I've Missed You. I feel like another one of those blog posts is necessary. For those of you who do not know I have 2.5 jobs. I work at a supermarket as a cake decorator, I also work as a Pastry Chef for a posh restaurant downtown creating desserts and confections. In the past four days I worked close to 40 hours. I worked at the supermarket in the morning and in the evening I had to make desserts for parties and buffets at the restaurant. Brownies for 150 with only one day notice and desserts for over 600. There were some days that my feet hurt so bad that I wanted to cry and there were times that I was so stressed that I wanted to cry some more. I made it through that and I have learned a lot and have made some good life decisions (which I will discuss later).

In all of the craziness we still found time to decorate the house for Halloween. Have a look at some of the events and pictures from around here.

Here is Lucy posing by the Cinderella pumpkin trying to stay warm wearing her skeleton Halloween shirt.

She was nice enough to let her brother and sister join in her Fall photo shoot!

It is true that buying pumpkins for Halloween is addicting and this year is no exception.

Here is our dining room table. Of course there is no where to eat, but there is plenty of glittered items including two Halloween trees, glittered skulls and pumpkins.

Last year I made one of these Halloween trees and it sold at a craft show. I was so sad because I wanted it for me. Ma and I each made one.

Here is another view of the dining room. Look at the creepy claw in the window, which is of course from Martha Stewart.

A pair of gargoyles waiting to be glittered.

Here is our fireplace and mantle looking the same as it did last year.

Here is a better picture of my Jack-o-clock.

My Ma carved this pumpkin, which is getting spookier as it gets older.

I will never get tired of the glittered skull centerpiece on the dining room table.

An eerie green fleshed pumpkin on the table. It looks like zombie skin!

That Bakerella is quite a lifesaver. I needed to make mini desserts for the buffet at work. I found a recipe for mini cheesecakes on her blog and I used those which were simple and delicious. I garnished them with various items including whipped cream, chocolate mousse, pecans, cherries, toasted coconut and caramel.

I had to make about 7 of these platters.

I did a few trays of brownies with whipped cream, mousse and caramel.

And pumpkin pie squares too!

I must apologize for such a long absence from posting. Lately I have just had energy to work and sleep. I am hopeful that it will change soon!

A Good Day...

2009-10-03T20:17:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to post some quick pictures from our pumpkin picking excursion today. My friend Connie told us about a pumpkin patch in Cortland by her house. She said that the lady who grows the pumpkin had all kinds of pumpkins and warty ones too! Anyone who knows me should know that I am a big Martha Stewart fan. A few years ago Martha proclaimed her love for warty and nubbly pumpkins so of course I love them too!

There were so many varieties and sizes of pumpkins to choose from.

Here was the largest field of pumpkins, but don't be fooled they had hundreds more.

We were provided with a wagon to collect pumpkins with. Here is the gang.

Brian was assigned to wagon pulling and pumpkin heaving.

Now these are the kind of pumpkins that I was interested in.

My mom walked the rows looking for the perfect pumpkin.

This monster pumpkin was only 7 dollars!

I told my mom that I was going to buy a warty pumpkin and she said NOOOOOO. She said she would not come out of her room if it was in the house or she would put a handkerchief over it when we were not home so she would not have to see it. I took a picture to remind her of it!

Here are all of the pumpkins we chose, THEY ARE ADDICTING! Fellow blogger and friend Bridgette said today, "I need more pumkins!!"

I had such a nice time today, I hope everyone else did too!

Sugar Cookies...

2009-10-01T22:17:00.003-04:00

Today was a good day. My Ma and I shopped, stopped for coffee and then came home and created some lovely sweets. I was fortunate to have a full day off today, unlike most days I am either at one job or the other. We stopped by a cake decorating shop suggested to me by my co-worker and friend Connie. The place was called the Sugar Shack in Niles, OH and it was great. The woman working there was very friendly and they carried items that I have not been able to find locally.

After we returned home we began baking and decorating sugar cookies. Have a look:

I purchased a few different Halloween cookie cutters including a tombstone, pumpkin and extra large pumpkin.

I used the sugar cookie recipe off of Martha's website. Whenever this recipe is featured on The Martha Stewart Show, Martha staff member Dani Fiori uses. Her cookies are so cute!

In leu of using flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter the recipe suggests rolling the dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap. The plastic wrap trick worked beautifully.

Here I am cutting out sugary tombstones.

After baking the cookies they needed to cool for a while.

Brian has a meeting at work tomorrow and he requested some type of sweet to take. I made him applesauce cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting. I found these cute little orange cupcake liners.

The cupcakes call for unsweetened applesauce. We did not have any applesauce at home so we made our own out of Honeycrisp apples from White House Fruit Farm. After the cupcakes cooled I frosted them and sprinkled them with various orange and black sprinkles and sugars.

Here are all of the cupcakes ready to be devoured tomorrow. I hope they like them.

Back to sugar cookies, we used royal icing tinted in various colors to decorate the sugar cookies. They came out so cute and were fun to decorate.

These black cats were iced black and then dipped in black sanding sugar.

Here are a few of my favorite sugar cookies. I think they came out so cute and delicious too!

I love how the tombstone cookies came out. We bought sugar eyeballs at Sugar Shack and used them. They were so cute on the spider cookie, but they make the cat look like it had way too much coffee.

These cookies were delicious and so fun to make. I can not wait to make some for Christmas.

Rock Out with Your Cake Out: Claribel's Guitar Cake

2009-09-26T23:16:00.003-04:00

Our former tenant Rachel messaged me the other day asking if I could make a cake for her girlfriend Claribel's birthday. Claribel loves guitars and also plays. Rachel wanted a guitar cake made out of chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream. This cake was so much fun to construct. Have a look:

I had to make a template so I could carve the cake into a guitar shape.

The cake was double layered. My mom and I had to do some construction to cut out the cake board to hold the the pieces of the guitar together. Once I had the cake trimmed we had to cut out some squares in the middle which would have wooden pieces. These wooden pieces were there to enable us to screw guitar strings into the cake.

The cake was then covered with homemade chocolate buttercream and put onto the cake board.

We made black marshmallow fondant and covered the cake. After we added the black layer we were then able to start adding the details.

We used different food colorings to paint the various knobs and switches. I absolutely loved how it was coming together.

Here is the guitar painted with a wood grain and ready to be strung with wire.

We then added guitar strings from eye hooks on the body of the guitar to eye hooks on the neck.

Here is an aerial shot of the guitar.

I think Claribel liked the cake and was surprised.

After working so hard on this cake it was hard to watch it get sliced and devoured.

Here are Rachel and John getting a piece of cake.

This cake was so fun to make. My mom and I kept on commenting how we loved making it and how it just came together very well, unlike the Statue of Liberty Cake.

It has been a long day and I have to work early tomorrow so I am keeping the text portion of this post short, but please enjoy the pictures and leave comments of your opinions of the cake!

Plotting My Death...

2009-09-19T20:49:00.002-04:00

I just had to post these pictures of the pups in their favorite Halloween costumes. Okay they hated them, were deathly afraid of them and were plotting my death the entire time I was taking these pictures. Have a look:

Now here is our hound dog Charlie. These devil horns should be a permanent part of Charlie's head because he is awful. If there is something to get into then he will get into it. If there is something that you value then he will shred it to bits. Here is Charlie as the Devil otherwise known as Charlie.

Since Lucy is a mini Dachshund I figured this hotdog costume would be appropriate. It looked so big in the store, but when I got it home it fit her more like a saddle than a costume. She was petrified after I put this on her and she would not move. I think she just went to her happy place in her head.

Sofia wanted in on the action too. Once I put this costume on her she immediately gave me hardcore side eye.

Fall is quickly approaching and it has been pretty exciting prepping the house for Halloween. The Fall wreath is on the front door, Ma and I made Halloween trees and the weather is getting much cooler. Here is a photo of the Martha Halloween Jack-o-Lantern clock. I used a styrofoam pumpkin which I found at target for $10.00. I also used a real clock movement inside so the clock actually works. I had it on the mantle until a gust of wind came and blew it off so I will have to fix it tomorrow.

Happy Fall!

State of Liberty Cake challenge

2009-09-13T23:14:00.005-04:00

This weekend we had a cake order for a Statue of Liberty Cake. The cake was for a little boy who is in love with Lady Liberty, he refers to her as Lisa. This cake was a challenge to do since it was the first time we tried an upright cake sculpted out of fondant, buttercream and rice krispies. Have a look...

Here is the sketch I came up with for the concept of the cake.

My mom and I at Home Depot looking for pipes and fittings was quite a sight to see. We needed supplies to create the support structure for Lady Liberty. After about 1/2 an hour we found some pvc pipes and elbow joints. We trimmed and cleaned the pipe then started to build the rice krispy treats around the structure. It was sort of like brick laying using buttercream as the mortar.

Here is her internal structure. After we were happy with the shape we coated her with buttercream and let her firm up.

We tinted some marshmallow fondant to match the real Statue of Liberty and used it to cover the rice krispy statue.

I do not know how those cake decorators on Food Network Challenge do it it was so stressful making this! Her left shoulder started to slouch and fall down. It was frustrating and I did get a little upset, but after walking away for a while and coming back we were able to fix her slouching shoulder, oh yeah and a shot of vodka. Here is the Statue after we had her done.

We gave her a coat of green luster dust.

I was told that the little boy loved Lisa. Here she is at his party behind the chocolate cake we made. My mom made little boats to put in the harbor. I think its pretty close to the sketch.

A Day Off....

2009-09-09T17:44:00.004-04:00

It has recently become a rare occasion for me to a day off at both of my jobs on the same day. That day is tomorrow and I am so excited to have a ay off of both jobs! Today was a good day I found out at one of my jobs that I do not have to complete a really big task which is a big relief off of my shoulders.

At work I had to make a cake for a party. I wanted to make it look really nice so I put a lot of detail work on it which took my entire shift.
Here is a picture of the side of the cake...

We have a lot of tomatoes ripen at once in our garden so my mom and I had to do something with them. Yesterday we went to Brian's dad Ronnie's house and he let us pick some tomatoes from his garden too. Have a look.

We blanched and peeled the tomatoes to get them ready to preserve.

Seeds are the most bitter part of the tomato so we had to remove them by gently squeezing the peeled tomatoes. While removing the seeds we collected the juice using a strainer in a bowl.

We put the peeled tomatoes in the food processor for a quick pulse.

Viola! We have crushed tomatoes for sauce, salsa or whatever else we can use them for.

Look at all of the juice we collected. My mom is going to use it for soups and/or spanish rice.

Here are all of the tomatoes, we divided them into 28 oz portions of crushed and 2 cup portions of juice. All of these containers went directly into the freezer for later use.

A weekend of Cakes and Welcome Back Internets!

2009-09-05T17:34:00.003-04:00

At our house we've not had the internet for over two months and that time has been hell! You really do not know how much you take something for granted until you do not have it anymore. I have missed blogging so much and have missed keeping up with my fellow bloggers and various other friends online. So with that said I just wanted to give a quick explanation of my lack of blogging lately.

As far as cakes go we have been busy here with a few cake orders every weekend. It is so great to have repeat orders and to hear people rave about how the cakes tasted and how they helped make someone's day a little more special. Our friend Tara needed another cake, same flavor, but Dora themed. When the cake is for a child I love to put a toy on so the child has something to play with after the cake is gone. I saw a cake similar to this in a catalog at work so I placed Dora's house on a cute landscape (underneath which is chocolate cake with caramel filling and chocolate buttercream).

Our other friend Kris' daughter is celebrating her birthday today. They requested a tie-dyed orange cake with peace signs on top. I was so excited to do the cake, but being that I am still learning and do not have an airbrush of my own I was facing a challenge. Brian suggested I use multiple flavors of marshmallow fondant and swirl them together. They worked together well and created a neat effect. I hope Miranda has a wonderful birthday and enjoys the cake!

On a more personal note today is my partner Brian's birthday. I had a challenge of making him a cake for his birthday too. Luckily he worked so I was able to run home after I worked and get his cake decorated. Anyone who knows my Brian knows that he loves chicken nuggets and peanut butter. I didn't think a chicken nugget cake would taste too delicious so I opted for peanut butter. I had such fun making this cake, I was aiming for super decadence. We are going to need big glasses of milk to wash it down! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!

Lightning "McQuinn" Cars Themed Cake

2009-08-21T21:40:00.002-04:00

I would have to say that Brian is my #1 fan. He is always bragging about everything I do and has more pride and confidence in my skills than I do. One of his friends from elementary school contacted him and asked if I would be interested in making a Lightning McQueen cake for her son Quinn's Birthday. I did a bit of research online and found some pictures. My mom is such a great help. She bought me a small Lightning McQueen toy car to use as a model. It was great fun making the cake, have a look:

Brian's friend wanted white cake for the car on top of the cake and chocolate for the bottom. I baked the cakes and then had to carve McQueen out of cake.

After the car was carved I had to crumb coat it. This layer of buttercream helps the homemade marshmallow fondant stick to the cake.

Here is the vibrant red fondant rolled out and ready to cover the cake.

Here is the cake covered, the fondant then had to be smoothed into place.

McQueen really started to show once I added the eyes and mouth.

I printed McQueen's decals on edible rice paper. They came out wonderful!

McQueen is on a double layer chocolate half sheet cake with chocolate buttercream. YUM!

Close up!

I hope they like the cake. HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUINN!

Sunday Night Dinner....

2009-08-16T20:15:00.003-04:00

I have been busy at work lately so I have not had a lot of time to blog. There has been plenty going on around here just not a lot of time or energy to blog lately. My friend Brooke needed a cake for the Marquee awards happening so my mom and I were happy to oblige. The day prior to making the cake we took a day trip to Pittsburgh. While in Pittsburgh we found some Martha Stewart Collection cake stencils and we got to use them on the cake, have a look:

We gave them a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. We used the stencils and cocoa powder to embellish the cake.

Here is a view from the top. We all agreed that it came out lovely and hope they liked it.

At Rosetta I had to make 140 mini quiche. Making all of those quiche had me craving some quiche of my own. Here are some pictures of the quiche being made.

I wanted to make two different quiche. I started by making Martha's Pate Brisee . I then sauteed some mushrooms and leeks for one of the quiche.

Homemade piec rust is so easy to make and well worth the minimal time it takes. Martha's rule of pie crust is make it cold and bake it hot.

Here is my homemade pie crust.

After my pie crust was formed and chilled I prepared the filling. I made one quiche with leeks, mushrooms and cheddar cheese. The other was grape tomatoes, spring onions and goat cheese.

We had a simple salad with vinaigrette, while the quiche were cooking I made croutons out of asiago cheese rolls. YUM!

Here are the beautiful quiche, which by the way were delicious! Everyone commented about the buttery flaky crust.

They were so good! You should try some making some of your own...

Golf Cake

2009-07-31T20:22:00.003-04:00

I believe that sharing all of the tasty confections that we make is an important part of being a good baker. I am always sending sweets to work with Brian. The other day I received an email from one of Brian's co-workers requesting a red velvet cake for her father's birthday. She said that he loved golf, but his birthday was upcoming weekend, but because of the short notice we could make it any time. I responded to her email and told her that we would be able to accommodate her order and make her dad's birthday special. When I graduated from college it was with the goal of having my own bakery. I was lucky to have my mom move here and help me to achieve my goal. She is/has been a big help, have a look:

Going with the golf theme I drew out a sketch and emailed it back to Tara for approval.

It seems as though red velvet is a very popular flavor. I was so tired when I got home from work today I handed my recipe over to my mom and "supervised" as she made it.

We used gum paste to create golf balls with cute little dimples.

After the cake was baked we frosted it with buttercream and had to make a hole for the golf ball.

We used a grass tip to create a beautiful putting green!

My mom picks up on decorating very quickly. I showed her the grass tip and how to use it. She told me that they did not have grass tips when she was younger. She did an excellent job creating a lawn!

I put a vibrant blue border around the top and bottom.

When the grass was ready we were able to place the ball on the cake.

Here is my mom practicing writing, "I LOVE GOLF!!"

She was soon ready to write it on the cake.

My mom had the idea to use a smaller gum paste golf ball in place of the "o" in the word "golf."

Here is the cake with the writing on the side.

And here is the finished cake all decked out with an 18th hole flag!

I hope her father loves the cake and it helps make his birthday special. My mom had a wonderful time making it and I had a wonderful time sharing tips and tricks for decorating and watching her get excited as the cake took form.

Gimme Some, Some, Some of that Cinnabon...

2009-07-24T21:42:00.003-04:00

I have no idea why, but I've had a craving for Cinnabon. There are no Cinnabons located anywhere close to our neck of the woods so I did some research online and found a recipe that is pretty close. Next time (and I will not lie about the fact that there will be a next time) I will cook them a little less. I baked them for 20 minutes and they should have been cooked for only about 16-17 minutes. The result was delicious and easy cinnamon rolls with a gooey center. Everyone loved them. Have a look:

I first started by using my stand mixer to knead the dough. I love my stand mixer it makes all of my baking tasks much easier.

Once the dough had been kneaded it had to rise for an hour. After an hour passed I rolled the dough out into a large rectangle.

Butter in the dough, butter in the icing and a slathering of butter inside of the rolls.

Once the rectangle of dough was slathered with butter, I generously sprinkled it with brown sugar and cinnamon.

The rectangle was then rolled into a long roll.

The roll was then cut into 16 1" pieces and then placed into a baking pan to rise again for a second time.

While the rolls were rising I made the icing.

Here are the rolls after they were allowed to rise for a half an hour.

After the cinnamon rolls came out of the oven they were ready to be anointed with gooey icing.

Here are the cinnamon rolls after receiving their first slathering of icing. Make no mistake, of course they were covered with a second coat of sugary goodness.

I recommend trying this recipe, the result is sinfully delicious and gooey cinnamon pleasure.

In a Pickle....

2009-07-23T18:25:00.002-04:00

Last weekend my Ma and I went to the Hartville Market. It was such a wonderful experience and some of the deals we were given were just too good to pass up. I taught my mom one of the tips that I learned from shopping at farmers markets, do not buy the first thing that you find. That tip held true because right when we were about to leave we came to a booth with a woman who everyone referred to as "mother." Mother had huge baskets of cucumbers for 3 dollars. When I saw these cucumbers I knew they would be perfect for homemade Amish Garlic Dill Pickles . Mother gave us a bigger deal, she gave us two baskets of cucumbers which weighed about 30 lbs for 5 dollars. When we got them home Ma and I made pickles, have a look:

We have a very big and very deep sink. Here are all of the cucumbers "mother" sold to us.

As I always say, I love the opportunity to teach. My mom had never canned before so I shared with her everything I know about it. I told her the number one rule is to be extremely clean. Here are all of our sterilized jars. Most of these use to be Brian's Mother's jars.

We made a huge pot of flavorful pickling brine.

We made the pickles a bit thicker than in prior years. We used my Pampered chef crinkle cutter until the arthritis set in.

I told my mom that we needed to put enough cucumbers in the jars so there would be enough pickles in the jars after they were done pickling.

Once the jars were filled with brine and cucumbers we used a chopstick my sister Marcie gave me as a gift to poke around in the jars to help all of the air bubbles escape.

Again I stressed to my mom the importance of being clean and sterile. After filling all of the jars we wiped the rims clean.

Here are some of the jars ready to be processed in a water bath.

After about 8-10 minutes the jars needed to be carefully lifted out of the water.

YUMMM PICKLES!

These pickles need to sit for two weeks and after that they will be ready to be devoured and share!

Ronnie's Birthday Fish Cake

2009-07-19T21:29:00.023-04:00

Yesterday was Brian's Dad Ronnie's birthday. One of Ronnie's favorite passtimes is fishing. We decided to have all of the family get together (which doesn't happen often enough) and celebrate. I jumped on the opportunity to improve my cakemaking skills and decided to make Ronnie a widemouth bass fish cake. Have a look:

I first started by researching pictures of bass online. After that I sketched out my design.

in a tribute to Steele Magnolias I just knew the inside cake flavor for the fish had to be red velvet. I started by baking a red velvet cake.

I then sculpted the red velvet cake into some form of a fish.

The fish cake was then crumb coated with delicious homemade buttercream.

I needed the top and tail fins to be hard so I made those in advance.

For the base of the cake we chose marble.

My mom was a big help. I love teaching and learning with her. After we decorated the base of the cake we had to get the bass ready to be placed in his new home. We Covered the fish with scales.

I painted the bass with shading and shimmer.

Here is the finished cake. I just love him! He was delicious too!

EXTREME CLOSE-UP!!

I'll blog later about the fish being fileted at the restaurant as he made the ultimate sacrifice for Ronnie's birthday. There was quite a but of interest from everyone in the restaurant. Strangers were coming up to admire and we had sooooooo much cake we shared with the kitchen! They loved it too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RONNIE!!

Vacation Part 4: Key West

2009-07-06T19:18:00.004-04:00

I can say one thing about Key West. It is hot! It was hot. I would tell Brian, "MY FACE IS MELTING!!!" On one of our excursions out into town we decided to take the trolley around the island. Have a look:

The trolley driver was nice and full of useful information. He provided us with extensive information about almost every inch of the island. They provided us with "air conditioning" which was a paper fan that did not help much.

The different tidbits of information we were given about the island was interesting such as the wild chickens running around the island are protected by law. They were brought to the island to cockfight, once it was outlawed the chickens were released and are now protected. There is a $500.00 fine for causing harm to any of the chickens.

My sister got us tickets to a few different attractions on the island. We all agreed that the Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory was our favorite. We got off of the trolley and walked to the conservatory, once inside it was such a beautiful, peaceful and surreal experience.

The staff really work to make the conservator a peaceful sanctuary. The foliage inside was just beautiful. I was in awe of all of the Bird of Paradise plants.

These butterfly benches were beautiful and the faux aged copper patina blended well with the plants.

There were so many kinds of butterflies fluttering around and some of theme were hard to take pictures of because they would not sit still.

I am glad these ones were cooperative.

This one is so beautiful!

The koi pond and fountain added to the peacefulness.

We could not visit Key West without stopping by the original Margaritaville. My favorite part of it was the air conditioning.

We walked around the boat dock for a while looking for manatees, but we did not see a single one! We saw barracudas jumping trying to escape sharks.

We also had tickets to an aquarium so we visited there too.

This is the touch pond. This pond is full of creatures for visitors to gently touch and feel. It turns out I was the only one brave enough to touch any of the creatures.

Okay, so the sea cucumber was a bit gross, but it makes for an interesting picture. I also had to pick up the huge hermit crab to take a picture of his face for my friend Steph. There was also a conch, which I saw Martha eat on her show once.

Here are some various fish.

Anemones..

Now in this tank visitors are not allowed to touch any of the animals. It is full of nurse sharks, stingrays and turtles.

Once outside we were able to see the sharks being fed. There was food available to feed some of the other fish which share the tanks with the sharks. It was a feeding frenzy. Oh yeah and I so wanted to put this staghorn fern in the trunk of our car and bring it home!

After disinfecting and sanitizing this conch shell my mom tried to make melodious music. She sounded like an injured dying porpoise.

Vacation Part 3: Off To Key West

2009-07-05T22:20:00.003-04:00

Brian and I both were a bit terrified of driving across the bridges to get to Key West. We left Daytona Beach early in the morning and made it to Miami by lunch time.

Driving into Miami was beautiful. It would have been great to have more time to spend in Miami.

We stopped for lunch in Miami, afterwards were off to the Keys. When we actually started the long drive across the many bridges that connect the Keys we realized it was not bad at all.

Once we were all settled into our hotel rooms we found a beach to put our feet in. The water was sooooo warm and there was a big heron walking on the beach.

We woke up early on our first morning in Key West to watch the sunrise. The water was beautiful, but it was too cloudy to see the sunrise.

We returned to the beach we visited the night before and walked around for a while. The water was not as warm as it was the night before.

This was the highlight of my mom's vacation (mine was the air conditioning!) On the way back to the car a man asked us if we were interested in purchasing fresh coconuts. We bought two coconuts one to drink and one which was riper than the other to eat. I was expecting the inside to taste like fresh Pina Colada, have a look.

Here is the man retrieving two coconuts from the pile that he collected that morning.

The man used a knife to cut through the thick exterior of the coconut.

Okay, so I have to be honest. The inside coconut water did not taste anything like a fresh Pina Colada. It tasted like fermented coconut mixed with 5 week old stale warm beer.

The man had to relocate to the sidewalk to break open the coconut for us to be able to eat.

While waiting for the coconut to be opened I noticed this beautiful flower growing on the beach.

Finally inside the coconut.

We bought a coconut for my mom too. She posed for this picture, but after she tasted the awful coconut water inside she dumped it into the bushes!

Eating the fresh coconut was really good. I loved walking on beach early in the morning and the coconut man was also something I will always remember.

Vacation Part 2: Familiar Places

2009-06-30T16:24:00.003-04:00

While we were in Daytona Beach, Florida on vacation we had to stop by Brian's dad Ronnie's hometown of Seville. Seville is a very tiny place and Brian jokes there are more people in the cemetery than there are living in the town. Brian's uncle was not home while we were in Seville so we stopped by the cemetery to pay respects to Brian's grandmother. Have a look:

Here is the main road running through the cemetery. It was a very hot and humid day so there were plenty of mosquitos out ready to gnaw on me.

Inside the cemetery there are old trees covered with spanish moss and air plants. Brian told me that his mom use to bring Spanish moss back from Florida for use in flower arrangements.

I love visiting places and looking at all of the plants and greenery. I am also excited to show plants to other people. My mom had never been to Seville before so I made sure to show her the epiphytic airplants growing on the bark of the old trees in the cemetery. I got excited when I saw these. Vendors at the flea markets in Florida sell airplants which have been placed inside of various vessels such as seashells and pots. I am not sure of the exact type of airplant the one below is, but I think it is called Tillandsia.

My mom picked plenty of these airplants to try and get them to successfully grow in a shell at home.

I am not sure why this always amazes me. Some of the tombstones in the cemetery are very old. At first glance this tree does not seem too out of the ordinary.

Upon closer inspection you will see a very old tombstone. The tree has grown around the tombstone and almost completely enveloped the stone with its trunk.

My mom wanted me to take a picture of this beautiful sweet pea.

We just could not go down to Seville Florida without stopping by a roadside vendor and getting some fresh, hot, boiled, cajun peanuts. If you have never had boiled peanuts before I highly recommend them. They are made by boiling RAW peanuts in a strongly flavored brine. I specified raw because Nicole and I tried to recreate boiled peanuts at home and tried to use roasted salted peanuts. After cooking them for four days in a crock pot we called Brian's mom and asked her what we were doing wrong. Brian's mom cracked up at us like we were fools (and I think she said we were fools) for waiting four days to figure out something was wrong and again for not using RAW peanuts.

We opted for cajun boiled peanuts which are salty and a bit spicy. I would compare a boiled peanut to the flavor and texture of a cooked bean. The vendors keep the peanuts in hot brine and scoop them out into plastic bags for customers to eat.

When we were walking back to the car I snatched the bag out of Brian's hand. A woman who had just purchased peanuts was pulling out of the lot rolled her window down and said while laughing, "I saw you snatch that right out of his hand!" We all laughed.

My mom never had boiled peanuts before, but she loved them! They were so good and brought back fond memories of our short time living in Florida.

Vacation Day 1: Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons

2009-06-20T17:37:00.002-04:00

As a graduation gift to ourselves Brian and I decided to get out of Ohio. Brian dubbed our vacation as a "Tour De Florida." On the drive down to the Key West we decided to take a detour in Savannah, Georgia at Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons restaurant. It was quite an experience. Have a look:

We arrived in Savannah at 9AM after driving all night. The Lady & Sons opens for lunch at 11AM, but the hostess begins to take names at 9:30. We arrived at 9:00AM, to put our name on the list at 9:30AM, to have lunch at 11:00AM. THERE WAS A LINE WHEN WE GOT THERE!

We had a pretty good place in line. I felt bad for the people who were all the way down the block, it was a hot day. We finally were greeted by the hostess and were able to put our name on the list.

After we put our name on the list my mom shouted, "OMG THERE SHE IS!!!" It turned out that it was just a cut out of Paula standing in the Paula Deen store window. We went inside to look around and enjoy some of the air conditioning. Here are some pictures of Paula's beautiful storefront. Inside the store I fell in love with the variety of cute platters (I am a platter junky!)

The hostess instructed us to be across the street at 10:45 and wait for further instruction. Here is a picture of the 11:00 lunch group.

While waiting in this line we chatted with a woman who was very friendly and worked in an information kiosk across the street from The Lady & Sons. She told us that the crowd that day was nothing and the day before there was a large crowd and a belligerent woman. We were talking to her and laughing when she said, "OH HERE COMES JELLYROLL" we looked at her and must have had a "what the heck are you talking about" expression on our faces. She told us to look across the street towards the restaurant and we would see "Jellyroll" she then went on to tell us that "Jellyroll" was Paula's homegirl. When we finally saw Jellyroll she looked very intimidating and serious.

Her stern demeanor suddenly transformed into a welcoming smile.

It was Jellyroll's job to tell us how we would be seated and to welcome us to The Lady & Sons. Jellyroll instructed us to use the crosswalk and not get a ticket for jay walking. She then asked everyone, "ARE YOU READY TO EAT!!!!!"

After Jellyroll gave her instructions she rang her big bell and shouted "COME AND GET IT, COME AND GET IT!!!"

Inside the AIR CONDITIONED restaurant we were taken to the one of three floors which seated the hundreds of guests who travel to taste Paula's food. I am not a sweet tea drinker, but I just had to have a sweet tea while there. Ma said that she never had fried green tomatoes before so we ordered some as an appetizer. They had a wonderful consistency and flavor, but they were incredibly, super salty. We did not finish them because they were way too salty.

We all decided to have the buffet. I am glad I did because I am a vegetarian and I tried a bit (okay a lot) of everything. I had rice, greens, mac and cheese, black eyed peas, grits and creamed corn. There was a woman walking around handing out garlic cheddar biscuits and ho-cakes (which Brian described as a cross between corn bread and a pancake) they were served with syrup.

We were stuffed by the end of the meal and then the waiter came around with a tray of desserts for us to choose from. We had a choice of peach cobbler, banana pudding and gooey butter cakes. I chose the gooey butter cake IT WAS GOOD!

I think that the overall feeling of the restaurant was the food was alright. They love their salt down south and it is apparent. I am glad we went to eat at the restaurant because it was an unforgettable experience.

Around the house...

2009-06-16T18:10:00.003-04:00

Today was my day off of work(s) so my mom and I decided to do a bit of shopping. We first went to lunch and then to White House Fruit Farm to pick up some fresh strawberries.

As you can see on the side of these boxes White House Fruit Farms provides a "pick your own" option for its patrons to pick their own strawberries, to that I say HECK NO! Who needs their back blowing to bits and burning up in the sun. NOT ME!

We purchased a total of 8 quarts of strawberries to make jam. A secret that I learned from Brian's mom Carol is to freeze berries until you are ready to use them. Of course I will be blogging about making jam, but that will not be until after we get back from vacation. The strawberries had to be cleaned hulled.

This is 4 quarts of the strawberries (half of them). This colander is huge you and this picture does not do show how large of a quantity of berries this is.

I love this picture.

Here are our washed and cleaned berries ready for the freezer.

At home, in the back yard my dill was ready to be picked. I am waiting to use this dill until I have enough cucumbers to make pickles.

Here is all of the dill I chopped down.

I don't know why I love this little pig, but he looks at home in a pot of lemon balm.

In the front yard there are plenty of blooming flowers.

lilies

Hydrangea

In my fern garden

Japanese Painted Fern

Cinnamon Fern

In the kitchen Brian has his vacation counter marked. On Thursday we are going to Savannah, Georgia to eat at Paula Deen's Lady and Sons restaurant and then to spend about 9 days of r & r on the beaches of Florida.

Our pups are not allowed in the kitchen so here they are looking sad while sniffing for dinner.

Cutest Cupcakes

2009-06-12T18:33:00.006-04:00

Brian and I had over 60 people at our graduation party where we had a cupcake buffet. One of our friends Lisa ordered cupcakes for a bachelorette party. The party colors are hot pink and black so Lisa wanted cupcakes to match. It is so great having my mom here because she helps me a lot while making cakes and she is as eager to learn new things as I am. I have tasted store bought fondant before and to me it tastes like a combination of sugar and dust my mom and I made our own and it is quite delicious. Lisa wanted a combination of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes frosted with Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream. We finished the cupcakes tonight. I really hope they like them as much as I love them. I am so happy with how they came out. I hope they make the bachelorette party special! Have a look.

Here are the vanilla cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream. We piped just enough on to hold down the fondant caps that we were going to cut. Bailey's buttercream is so good!

Here is the pink and black homemade fondant we made. I cut a piece of pvc pipe to roll the fondant out (a little tip I saw on Food Network Challenge."

We used a patterned mat to press a design into the fondant.

We used a scalloped edge biscuit cutter to cut the fondant tops out for each cupcake.
I think they look so cute!

Here is a close up of one of the black scalloped disks for the top of a cupcake.

Lisa said she wanted diamond dust so we used pearl dust mixed with vodka to paint the tops of them. My mom and I both agreed the pearl dust made them look complete.

Lisa also wanted a small cake for the bride. We covered a chocolate cake with pink fondant and then used different round cutters to make circles and rings. The rings and circles were then painted with pearl dust.

Here are the cupcakes and cake boxed up. I hope Lisa, the bride and the party love them as much as I do!

"Sexy Desserts" & Six Cakes

2009-06-10T17:41:00.004-04:00

UPDATE: Here is the video of the news segment featuring my desserts.

Source: http://www.wfmj.com/Global/category.asp?C=83318&nav=menu491_4

The restaurant that I work at is going to offer breakfast to its patrons so I was asked to make pastries such as muffins and danish to accompany the gourmet coffee. I did not get a chance to finish making these items on the day I was asked so I decided to go in on my day off and make some quick muffins. I worked at my other job at 6:00AM that day and figured it would take me about 2 hours to make the muffins.

When I arrived at work I was tired and one of the owners of the restaurant came to me and asked, "would you be able to put together three desserts to be on the news tomorrow?" My automatic response was, "yes..." in my head I was saying "OMG WHAT!!!!" He said that he wanted something summery, light and "sexy." I am not sure why, but I have been wanting to make napoleons for a while so that was one of the three. After that I remembered that Ina made meringue cups and strawberries are starting to peak so that also came to mind. He told me that he could use the triple chocolate mousse cake I made the other day so I actually only had to make two.

The meringues needed to bake for two hours and then rest in the oven for another 4. I knew that I had to get those in the oven before I started anything else.

After I had the meringues whipped, piped and in the oven I cut disks of puff pastry and started those baking in another oven. I found a recipe online for a lemon and strawberry napoleon so I used that as the foundation. While the puff pastry was baking I made lemon curd and put it in the cooler to chill. When the puff pastry was done I split each round into three layers. While plating this dessert I kept on hearing in my head, "It has to look sexy" the first attempt looked as Ina would say, "like a dog's breakfast" I asked one of the new chefs if she had any suggestions and she was such a wonderful help. She said she loved plating food and came up with the final plate design that I presented. After we had the lemon curd and raspberry sauce on the plate we both agreed that it needed some green. The only green herb that we had in the cooler was basil. Basil and lemon go together well so I garnished the plate with a chiffonade of basil. Have a look...

This is the plate design that the other chef came up with....

From here I began to build the napoleon...
A layer of puff pastry

After I put a spoonful of lemon curd on the pastry I topped that off with some freshly whipped cream which had finely chopped basil and more lemon curd folded into it then strawberries.

These layers were repeated and then topped with a final puffed disk dusted with powdered sugar. Here is the final dish. I garnished with some fresh basil from my own garden.

After the meringues were done I placed them on a blue plate dusted with powdered sugar. They were then filled with fresh whipped cream and a ladle full of cold cooked strawberries and blueberries.

Here is the meringue and cream ready for the berries...

I had to go into work this morning to plate all of these desserts up so they were ready for television. I did not want to add the berries to the meringue until the last minute because I did not want it to look like a mess. When the news people came into the kitchen they asked if the desserts were ready and I told them that the meringue just needed to be topped with the berries and then two mint leaves. They asked me if I wanted to do that on camera. My eyes got huge and I replied, "no thank you." HAHA they had the idea to have the anchor man do it on camera. It was all very surreal to watch this happen to something I made!

The meringue that they did for the news segment was actually taken to another room after they finished filming to be used in another segment so I do not actually have a picture of that one. Here is a picture of the test meringue which I assembled yesterday.

The third and final dessert they showed was one of the triple chocolate mousse cakes. Here it is plated....

Here they are discussing my desserts.

I still can not believe that any of this happened!!!! The news segements will be on tomorrow morning. If possible I will try and record video of it and maybe even post it!

In other cake news Rabbit Hole is opening at The Oakland Center for the Arts this weekend and they needed a few birthday cakes. My mom and I worked on these all day and we are quite happy with how they came out. Here is a cake collage!

It is true what the president of the board for The Oakland called me I am "the busiest bee!"

Work and then Work...

2009-06-06T18:51:00.002-04:00

I have been busy getting use to my new job at Rosetta Stone Wine Bar & Cafe. I was getting real bad anxiety prior to going to work, but now I feel better. It has also been weird not having a regular schedule. Being a student at YSU I became accustom to a regular schedule and after graduation that regularity was just gone. It has taken some time to get back into some sort of groove/schedule.

I have been busily making cakes and sweet confections at each of my jobs, have a look:

At Sparkle I found beach themed cake picks. I made a cute beach cake.

At Rosetta Stone chocolate seems to be a favorite so I concocted various chocolate desserts.
Double chocolate trifles.

A chocolate sheet cake for 50 people. This cake was huge and weighed a lot!

I made a pineapple carrot cake last night. It looked so delicious that I came home and made one here too.

The cake must have been a hit because this was it today.

Today at Rosetta I made toasted coconut crème brûlée and triple chocolate mousse cake.

They looked very good and I was quite happy with how they came out!

Tara's Next Cake...

2009-05-31T19:23:00.004-04:00

My friend Tara asked me if I would make her a mini wedding cake for her anniversary. She requested a Buttery Nipple flavored cake which is yellow butter cake, Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream and butterscotch filling. My mom helped me out a lot, the second I am done using a utensil it is washed and placed back in the drawer I got it from. While making the cake for Tara I was also baking 7 cakes for the Oakland Theater's opening of Rabbit Hole.

I think that Tara's cake came out looking good. I need to practice a lot more on my roses, but Brian said, "She'll love it!" I hope so...

And of course a gratuitous shot of Lucille!

Bear Claws & A Day's Work

2009-05-30T16:47:00.003-04:00

Before I started my new job they mentioned making bear claws. I had never made bear claws before, I actually do not think I had tasted one before. I have no idea why that struck fear in me so bad, I woke up at 2:50 AM that night thinking about those bear claws. I did a bit of research and came up with a filling that was just delicious and as I have said before, life is just too short for me to make my own puff pastry. I used frozen puff pastry and filled them, have a look.

Here are the bear claws, they do not really look like the bear claws that I have seen at grocery stores, but they were sure delicious!

I made one like a danish and I was pretty happy with how they came out. Prior to baking, I brushed them with egg wash and sprinkled with almonds. After they came out of the oven I drizzled them with a glaze made of powdered sugar and water.

Today at work there were still some of my chocolate cakes left so there was really not much to make. I was told that they needed a small birthday cake. I made a white cake with strawberry and cream filling and vanilla buttercream. I topped it with a chocolate covered strawberry drizzled with white chocolate. I hope the birthday person likes it.

I also made a frozen Key Lime pie so they had something else to serve. It came out beautiful. I hope it tastes 1/2 as good as it looks.

I feel like I am getting a better grip on doing this job, but it is still going to take some getting used to.

First Day at New Job

2009-05-28T17:31:00.003-04:00

So I can not believe today. I can not believe what has happened over the course of the past week. During one of my classes last semester at YSU we had to give presentations on a fictitious event. I chose the grand opening of a bakery to be a little more Martha I took in sample cupcakes for everyone to taste. One of my classmates and friends tasted the cupcakes and had seen some photos of the cakes I made during my internship. Well when her friend and owner of a restaurant he told her that he was looking for a pastry chef. I got a call the next day and was asked to interview. I told them that I had never interviewed for a pastry chef position and if I should bring in samples, he said "sure." I took in a French Apple Tart and a Sweet & Salty Caramel Cake. Well they must have loved them because I got a call a few days later offering me the job.

Today was my first day. Everyone there was nice and I was told that I could make three desserts of my choice. I chose to make Key Lime Pie, Carrot-Pineapple Cake and their Creme Brulee flavored with Kahlua. Well I could not find cake pans to make the carrot cake or evaporated milk to make the Key-Lime pie. Have a look at what I made instead:

Instead of Key Lime Pie I made profiteroles which are these puffs made from a dough I made called Pâte à choux.

I then filled them with vanilla ice cream and topped them with chocolate sauce and homemade strawberry sauce or coulee.

Instead of Carrot-Pineapple cake I made an adaptation of my favorite cupcake, but with the volume turned up. I made a larger portion of chocolate cakes filled with homemade caramel, topped with chocolate buttercream, drizzled with caramel and a gold dragee. I baked them in a hand-cut parchment cup to make them look a bit more sophisticated than my previous version (from Martha of course!)

So if you are in the mood for a good homemade dessert stop by the Rosetta Stone in downtown Youngstown. Here is a link for their website. I would post more about today, but I am a bit tired!

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T22:12:00.004-04:00

Today was Memorial Day and we celebrated by cooking out and eating on the deck. I had to work this morning at 6AM, but I was excited to come home and spend some time with the family. Whenever I make potato salad I like it much better the next day. I think that letting it chill in the refrigerator gives the flavors of the salad time to meld. My mom seasoned the steaks, boiled the corn and made what she called "Barrio" corn haha, she said that street vendors sell it seasoned with mayo, chili powder, garlic salt, lemon juice and pepper. It was very good, I loved it and Nicole practically licked the bowl. All of the food was delicious have a look:

Here is a picture of all of the ingredients for my French apple tart and another picture of my potato salad.

This tart is super easy to make and takes no time at all. The end result is something that looks beautiful and tastes heavenly.

The tart does not take any special ingredients and is pretty inexpensive to make.

Nicole prepped the shish kabobs and I manned the grill. I have also included a picture of Charlie sulking being scolded for getting too close to the grill.

Here is a the picture of my finished tart. Everyone loved it and it was great served warm with French vanilla ice cream. HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE!

Cakes and Blooms

2009-05-24T18:55:00.003-04:00

Connie, the person that use to be my internship supervisor is away on vacation and while she is away I am the cake decorator. At our store we have cakes called "designer" cakes. They are sculpted cakes that are reasonably priced. Whenever a customer orders a cake their order is placed on a board that is labeled Monday-Friday. My heard sunk into my feet when I saw that two designer cakes were ordered a of a dog and a truck. My fear and anxiety went away when I was told that Connie made the cakes before she left and all I had to do was paint them. Connie is so good at making these cakes and I was afraid of messing them up, but I must say that they came out looking wonderful. Have a look...

Here is a dog cake a customer ordered. It came out so cute!

Here is a truck which was ordered by the same person.

I think that I did a good job painting these cakes and I hope that Connie would be proud. My coworker thought I did a good job painting Connie's cakes. So when a customer ordered another designer cake she took the order and thought I would do a fine job. The customer wanted a cake to resemble a crabby patty from Spongebob Squarepants on a wooden floor. I was a bit nervous but I think it came out looking okay for me doing it all myself.

Here are some other cakes that I made to be put in our case of cakes that are ready for customers to pick up.

At home I have been so excited to see everything that has been blooming lately. I grabbed my camera and took a walk around the yard.

I just love the iris that have bloomed in the front yard. I posted about these last year, but I will never get tired of posting about them.

Some of the stems are so overloaded with blooms they are toppling over. I put the stems that toppled over into various vases around the house.

In the backyard the chives have blossoms and are begging for me to make cheddar and chive biscuits.

Behind the chives along the garden fence the clematis have bloomed in a spectacular show of violet and green.

Here are some other various photos from the yard: A yellow iris by the pond, my pot of thyme on the patio, columbine by the window well and our beautiful angel statue.

Of course I could not write a post about the back yard without including the pups. Here are a few pictures of Charlie and Lucy on the deck.

Here is a picture of Sofia looking statuesque as Nicole would say.

Commencement & Cupcake Buffet....

2009-05-17T21:30:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Brian, Nicole and I graduated from Youngstown State University. It was such a wonderful feeling to walk across the stage even though I do not remember much of it. Commencement actually seemed like it took 20 years, but walking across the stage and receiving my diploma seemed like it was 2.3 seconds long.

After both (Grad & Undergrad) commencement ceremonies we had a party at our house. So many wonderful people came to our house and help us celebrate, Brian estimated about 60. My family came in from out of town to help us celebrate too. We had such a wonderful time, I had the idea of having a cupcake buffet at the party so I had to get to work early on it. I started on Thursday by baking all of the cupcakes. The cake flavors I made were lemon, chocolate, butter, peanut butter, coconut and carrot/pineapple. The day before our party my mom helped me make caramel, German chocolate cake filling, and eight different types of frostings ALL FROM SCRATCH!

We had such a good time at the party here are some pictures of commencement and our cupcake buffet:

Here is a photo of me full of smiles right after I received my diploma.

Here is a picture of Brian, my mom and I after Brian received his degree.

And here are some pictures of the fabulous cupcake buffet that my mom and I made. The flavors that we made were:

Pineapple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting drizzled with homemade caramel
Peanut butter and Jelly cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream and strawberry jelly
Coconut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
Lemon cupcakes with raspberry buttercream and a dollop of raspberry jam
Chocolate with Chocolate buttercream and caramel filling
Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream with butter cake and butterscotch filling
Butter cupcakes with Vanilla buttercream sunflowers
German Chocolate cupcakes

We made so many cupcakes on our buffet we were only able to put out about half of them.

I baked a total of 233 cupcakes.
Here are the Bailey's ones and the Chocolate caramel ones.

Here are the coconut cupcakes.

Peanut butter and Jelly.

Pineapple Carrot cake wtih Cream cheese frosting.

Vanilla buttercream sunflowers.

Chocolate caramel.

It was so great having my mom help. I just had to make the buttercream show her how to decorate one sample cupcake and then she would complete the rest as I started to make the next flavor of buttercream. All of the cupcakes came out wonderful even though Lucy pulled a fast one on us and ate one raspberry lemon cupcake.

It was such a great day and it was wonderful to be surrounded by friends and family.

Around the house...

2009-05-13T07:36:00.006-04:00

Brian, Nicole and I graduate in three days. Brian and I have been very busy trying to get the house ready for graduation. Last time I blogged about our kitchen was back in December and it looked like this. I will post about the current condition of our kitchen later.

Brian and his dad built a bathroom in the basement. They put up walls, a shower, tiled and installed a sink. It came out wonderful. In an attempt to recycle, instead of throwing away the closet door from another room, Brian used it in the basement. It probably used to be white years ago, but it had turned yellow. I told Brian that I would paint it white and I wanted to Faux Bois (wood grain painting technique) the panels of the door. Here is how it came out...

I used this tool, which I purchased at Jo-Ann's a few years ago, to create the Faux Bois or false wood pattern. I actually bought two of them because they were on clearance for a dollar. Good thing I did buy two because the dogs thought it would be absolutely adorable to take the one I had on my crafting table and chew it to bits. I am a fan of Faux Bois because of Martha's love for it. I also used this tool to create the background of our Christmas cards last year.

Here is the finished door (minus the handle) repainted white and then the Faux Bois painted the panels. I did not want the colors to be too crazy so I just took some of the same white color that I used to paint the door and mixed a little bit of black paint into it to create a grey color.

Here is a close up. I love how it came out!

Brian and I had a quiet dinner at home the other day and I told him I would make a strawberry tart. Here are some photos of that process.

Mise en place. I started out by getting all of my ingredients and supplies ready. I then made a graham cracker crust with butter, sugar and a pinch of salt. Brian gave the small hand food processor in the bottom right to me quite a few years ago for a birthday present. I love it and use it all the time.

Graham cracker crust is not hard to make. Preheat oven to 350˚F. I use one entire plastic package of graham crackers (put int the food processor to create crumbs) from the box of graham crackers to make a crust, three tablespoons of granulated sugar, a pinch of salt and one stick of melted butter. Combine all of those ingredients in a bowl and then press the moistened crumbs into a tart pan with a removable bottom. To ensure that all of the crumbs are pressed into the pan evenly use the bottom of a measuring cup to press them in. This bakes for about 10-13 minutes then allow it to cool completely before filling.

While the crust was baking I made the filling: 1 8 oz package of cream cheese (room temperature), 1/2 C. powdered sugar, 2 tsp. vanilla, 8 tbs. unsalted butter (room temperature), a pinch of salt and about 1/4 of a cup of sour cream. Place all of these ingredients into a bowl and thoroughly mix with a hand mixer.

Here is my finished tart. I used 1 lb of fresh strawberries sliced and placed on top of the filling. This last step is just to make the tart a bit more visually appealing and make it look delicious. Place 2 tablespoons of strawberry jelly it in a microwave safe bowl, microwave for about 30 seconds, use a brush and coat all of the strawberries with the warmed jelly. The tart then needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

The last thing I would like to mention is my Momoyama Tree Peony. I will never get tired of blogging about this. Brian bought this for me a few years ago for a birthday present. Last year (exactly to the day) I posted about this tree peony and that it had bloomed one flower. It was so beautiful and huge! This year it has 5 buds on it and they are huge, I would say about 8 or 9 inches across and the petals look like beautiful crepe paper. I love these tree peonies and I am so thankful to Brian for getting it for me.

Here is the peony bush with the flowers.

Here are some close ups of the huge flowers, I thought the one from last year was huge, but this year they are gigantic.

We will be having house guests for graduation so I hope these peonies make it until then. I would love to cut one or two of them and put them in vases inside.

A Good Day...

2009-05-02T20:10:00.004-04:00

This morning I had to be up at 4:45 to be to work by 6AM. I am tired as I sit here and type this but there were just a few simple things that made me happy that I wanted to share. I type these "good day" blog posts for myself because there are some days when I need to look back and be reminded what a good day felt like. It is silly, but on those awful days it does help.

Today was the annual Spring Fling party for the Pride Center so I made pasta salad, everyone seemed to like it.

After we got home I took the pups outside after they ate dinner I noticed our lilac tree had blooms all over it! I was excited to be able to cut a huge bouquet of them and arrange them in a vase for the house. They smell so wonderful and I know that they are one of Brian's favorites.

Here are a few pics of the pups and the lilacs:

The next little thing that made me happy was that the June issue of Martha Stewart Living was waiting for me when I got home! It is full of wonderful ideas, desserts and good things:

Martha's From My Home to Yours column is all about blueberries:
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I have not had a chance to thouroughly look through the entire issue, but this recipe in the back of the book for strawberry shortcake cookies is a must try.

Marcie's Pasta Salad...

2009-05-01T13:12:00.005-04:00

Sometime last week my sister Marcie posted photos of her Spring Fling party. She made what looked like an amazing pasta salad.

Well last weekend Brian had some classmates over to work on their big final project and I decided to make dinner. I was not sure of the recipe which Marcie used so I took some of the ingredients that she listed on her blog and improvised the rest. The result was an amazing pasta salad and the fact that there was none left is a good indicator to me that everyone liked it.

Here is my improvised adaptation of Marcie's pasta salad.

1 lb. pasta (I used Barilla Piccolini mini farfalle)
4 oz. goat cheese (plain or herbed)
1 C. dried cherries, chopped
1 C. pecans, toasted in a dry pan
Zest and juice of one lemon
3/4-1 C. extra virgin olive oil
3 T. sour cream
1 clove of minced garlic (I used my microplane)
1 package of fresh baby spinach
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions. While pasta is boiling prepare lemon vinaigrette.

In a large bowl combine lemon zest, sour cream, salt, pepper and garlic with a wire whisk. Once all ingredients are incorporated slowly whisk olive oil in creating an emulsified vinaigrette.

Roughly chop the pecans and the cherries before incorporating them into the vinaigrette.

Toss entire bag of spinach into vinaigrette to coat. When pasta is al dente drain it and place it on top of the spinach in the bowl, the heat from the pasta will wilt the spinach. Crumble half of the goat cheese into the pasta salad and mix while it is still warm this creates a creamy consistency throughout the salad.

Allow salad too cool and break up remaining half of goat cheese on top of salad, refrigerate and serve cold. I also garnished mine with some strips of lemon zest.

THANK YOU MARCIE FOR YOUR INSPIRATION!

Brownies for The Oakland

2009-04-30T18:57:00.007-04:00

"Musical extravaganza" Reefer Madness premiers tomorrow at the Oakland Center for the Arts. A brownie bake-off was held last Friday and I was strongly encouraged to enter (Brian and Nicole). I entered and won 3rd place with my double-chocolate brownies with toasted pecans and Bailey's Irish Cream caramel. The winners brownies are going to be featured at opening night, hence this blog post.

Here are the recipes that I used:

Double-Chocolate Brownies
adapted from Martha Stewart Living, February 2006

INGREDIENTS

Makes 8.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup best-quality unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Vegetable oil cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides. Coat with cooking spray; set aside.
Melt together butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat. Stir until smooth; let cool slightly.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Put eggs, sugar, and vanilla into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until pale, about 4 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture. Add flour mixture; beat until just combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add about 2/3 cup of toasted and chopped pecans.
Transfer batter to prepared pan, and smooth top with an offset spatula.

Pour about 3/4 C. caramel (recipe below) over the brownies. Swirl caramel through-out brownie mixture using a bamboo skewer.
Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownie between edge and center comes out with a few crumbs, 30 to 35 minutes. (Do not overbake.) Let cool 15 minutes; lift out of pan, and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool completely. Drizzle 1/2 cup caramel and 1/4 cup chopped pecans over brownies. Cut into 8 rectangles. Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Caramel Sauce-
1 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 C. Unsalted Butter
1/4 C. Sour Cream
Pinch Kosher Salt
2 Tablespoons of Bailey's Irish Cream (optional)

Place butter, salt and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring mixture to a boil, whisking frequently. Continue to cook until you can no longer feel or see grains of sugar in the caramel, you are not trying to make candy you are just melting the sugar into the butter (about 3-5 minutes).

Remove mixture from heat and allow to cool for a minute. Using a wire whisk mix in sour cream and Irish cream. Allow mixture to cool.

You can use any type of nut you prefer, Brian likes pecans so that is what I use. I place the nuts in a dry pan over medium-high heat until they look toasted and you can smell them. About 5-7 minutes.

Okay so there are the recipes I used. Here are some pictures of the process.

Anyone who knows me knows that I never make anything out of a box or pre-made mix. Here is a photo collage of the brownie making process.

It was weird baking without Brian or Nicole here. I had no one to lick the bowl when I was done.

I have been making and using so much of this caramel lately. I use it for brownies and to also fill cupcake. I am sure that it could be used for hundreds of different things.

Here are the brownies fresh out of the oven. I let them cool completely before I drizzle caramel over them and add a sprinkling of toasted chopped pecans.

I doubled the recipe above and got 24 brownies out of it. I placed each brownie in a cupcake liner and then them in a bakery box topped with a "Home-Made" sticker.

I hope they enjoy them.

Here is some information about the show that begins tomorrow and runs tomorrow, May 1st - May 16th.
"This musical is based on the 1936 cult classic propaganda film. A spoof on the overacted portrayal of the dangers of “marihuana,” the musical version follows a pair of innocent high school sweethearts on their drug-crazed journey into madness!"

"Performance dates are Fridays and Saturdays May 1-16 with all show times at 8:00 pm. A special midnight show will be held to celebrate closing night (May 16). An opening night reception will be held on Friday, May 1, and will feature nachos and salsa from the Boardman Chipotle as well as winning brownies from the Oakland Brownie Bake Off."

Click here for even more information.

Tara's Cake...

2009-04-24T10:17:00.005-04:00

Two years ago during my first semester as a real college student at YSU I had a class. I remember writing a paper for this class saying that I wanted to be an entrepreneur simply because I did not know what to categorize myself as. If I recall correctly I got a decent grade on the paper. Even back then I was obsessed with Martha Stewart, you can tell because I used her book The Martha Rules as one of my references.
Stewart, M. (2005). The Martha rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start,
build, or manage a business. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Books.

It turns out that my instructor back then currently takes classes with my partner Brian and he is always telling her about my baked goods. Her son's birthday party is today and she asked if I would be interested in making him a dinosaur birthday cake. I had previously never created any type of themed cake or anything other than a round or square one so I was up for the challenge.

Well I finished the cake this morning. Have a look....

I used two cakes one 9x13 rectangle cake and an 8 inch round cake, both of them were Martha Stewart's one-bowl chocolate cake recipe.

I made Billy's chocolate buttercream (which is delicious and easy). In between the layers of the cake I put chocolate buttercream and homemade caramel sauce! YUM!

The quick ice tip is one icing tip that I can not live without. It makes frosting a cake much easier and ensures an even application of frosting.

I know it looked a mess in the picture above, here is the cake after I smoothed the frosting out.

I used a round cake to create a waterfall on top of the rectangle cake. When people see cakes like these they think that there is just a big mound of frosting inside, but it is actually cake!

I carved out the waterfall before I put the waterfall on top.

I frosted the round cake and then made white buttercream for the water. I wanted to have a dinosaur inside of the pond on the bottom so I had to carve out a hole for that (which Nicole eagerly ate).

I then used a leaf tip and a regular round tip to create foliage, snakes, vines and a border around the cake. One thing that Connie (my internship supervisor taught me was to use scraps. I crumbled cake around the top of the cake to make a rough terrain and then mounded some into boulders at the bottom of the waterfall.

I hope they like the cake and I am excited for their reaction. I am not excited about cleaning up the kitchen....