A review, and Happy Birthday, Jess!

The Barefoot Contessa Rocks...

My friend, co-worker, and fellow gestatation buddy turned 27 this week, and I thought I'd make her a yummy treat to get through the long work day.  I've had a box of cupcake mix from the Barefoot Contessa that my cousin gave me a little while ago.  I've been wanting to try it out, but the box only makes 12 cupcakes, so I was waiting for a time when I only needed a half dozen.  This was the perfect chance! 

As I've mentioned previously, I'm not usually a fan of the boxed mixes, but this one was great.  It called for real butter instead of oil that most boxes require.  I also liked that it came with a mix for the buttercream frosting.  Everything came out moist and fresh, which tasted delicious, but made it a little difficult to decorate.  The cake was so light that when I went to decorate, some of the cake was coming apart.  So, I had to stick with a simple design.

Can you see how creamy the frosting was?  Soooo yummy.  These were a mess to eat, but worth it!  They were perfect to snack on after lunch!

Happy Birthday, Jess!  I hope it was a great day!  Next year, you'll get to celebrate with your adorable little girl!

Caramel Candy Brownies and another loaf of bread!

Are you sick of the bread yet?

I'm certainly not...its delicious! 

Friends of ours came for dinner tonight with their daughter, Everly.  When Matt and I were engaged, Maureen and Andy bought us The Bride and Groom First and Forever Cookbook.  Whenever they come, I try to use some recipes out of it to show them how much I love it.  Everything I've made from this book has been fantastic.   I decided on the following menu...

Appetizer:

Brie with Apricot Topping (from the Year of Slowcooking blog)

Main Course:

Stuffed Chicken Parmesan (from the cookbook)

Fetucine Alfredo

Broccoli with sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts (from the cookbook)

Sun-dried tomato and mozzarella bread

Dessert:

Caramel Candy Brownies (from the bookbook)

Leftover Peanut Brownies (from my snow day on Wednesday!)

With some help from my parents, who are in from out of town, and Matt, dinner came together perfectly.  That doesn't always happen for me when I try to make dinner.  Something usually is undercooked or burnt or simply doesn't turn out the way I had hoped.  I was lucky this time!

As you can tell, I'm still on my bread machine kick...

For once, the loaf looked different from the outside!

How good do those sun-dried tomatoes look?

The inside was moist and savory.  The bits of tomato were a nice addition.

The caramel candy brownies were a recipe I've been wanting to try from the cookbook I mentioned earlier.  The basic brownie recipe was different from other brownies I had made in the past, but came out pretty good.  The authors of the cookbook said that you could use caramel candies or chopped up snickers.  Who can resist a snickers?  I certainly can't.

The desserts were a perfect ending to a fantastic meal and time with good friends.   Thanks, Maureen, Andy and Everly.  We hope you had a good time and can come again soon!

Another Snow Day!

Have I mentioned that I'm like a little kid on a snow day?

I'm lucky enough to work at a place that closes if it snows bad enough.  I wake up extra early waiting for a phone call saying that our agency is closed.  Usually, the phone call comes before 6 am.  This morning, at 6:25 am, I thought that we were going to have to go into work.  However, at 6:26, the phone rang!  I couldn't be more excited.  Its probably the only time before 8am when I sound alert and awake on the phone!  I promptly went back to sleep for another two hours, then woke up to start my day.  I made a list of everything  I wanted to accomplish today, and as of right now, I accomplished all but one of them.  After I write this blog, I may go finish that up, just so I can cross everything off of my list.  Why is it that crossing things off lists is so cathartic?   I feel super productive!

A few of the things on my list had to do with baking, of course!  As I mentioned previously, I normally bake cookies on snow days, but I need a little more time before I'm back in the mood for cookies after Christmas.  For dinner, I decided to make chicken noodle soup in the crockpot, and make grilled cheese sandwhiches.  That is one of my favorite cold night, comfort combinations.  I thought I'd try to fancy up the grilled cheese sandwhiches by making my own loaf of bread.  (Have I mentioned how much I love my new bread machine??)  After flipping though the recipe booklet, I finally found a recipe for which I had all of the ingredients I needed.  No way was I running out in the snow and ice to get more ingredients!  I decided on Parmesan Peppercorn French Bread.  Its sort of a joke in my family how much I love Parmesan.  Everyone makes sure at dinner to get to the parm first so that I don't hog it all!  Again, the bread machine makes it so easy to have a fresh loaf of bread in a few simple steps. 

 

I should probably stop taking pictures of the whole loaf of bread...from the outside, they all look the same!  However, if you look close, you can see the little bits of peppercorn.

The inside of the bread looks like a simple loaf of french bread, but when you bite into it, you can immediately taste the delicious blend of parmesan and peppercorn. 

I sliced up some cheddar cheese and made the grilled cheese extra crispy.  Grilling the bread really brought out more of the cheese flavor in the bread, and I thought it was the perfect combination!  Here's a picture of my soup that I made as well.  So simple to do in the crockpot.  Just add some leftover chicken, chicken broth, carrots, celery, onion and seasonings (which ever kind you like...I used Italian seasoning) to the crockpot and let sit for six to eight hours on low.  About 20 minutes before you are ready to eat, add any type of noodle you'd like to the pot.  I used egg noodles.  Voila!  The perfect snowy night meal.

For dessert, I wanted to make something simple but different.  I stared at my stash of cookbooks and decided to use my 101 Things to do with a Cake Mix cookbook. 

I had a box of white cake mix that was dangerously close to its expiration date, so I flipped through until I found a recipe that called for white cake mix.  I knew I found the perfect one when I saw "Peanut Butter Brownies."  And better yet, the ingredient list was small and I had all of them! 

All you need is:

1 box of white or yellow cake mix

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

2 eggs

2/3 cup of chunky peanut butter ( I didn't have chunky, only smooth, so I used that and then chopped up some peanuts to add to the mixture.)

1 1/2 tablespoons of milk (I thought the glaze was a little thick so I added a splash more of milk)

1 cup of powdered sugar

Add the first four ingredients to a mixing bowl, mix, and bake in a 9x12 baking dish at 350 degrees for about 16-18 minutes.  As soon as you pull the dish out of the oven, mix your powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over the "brownies" until even. 

I was nervous that this wasn't going to taste so great, but it definitely did.  It sort of tasted like peanut butter cookie dough.   I thought that I wouldn't like the glaze on top and wish that I had put some chocolate sauce over it, but the glaze complements it perfectly. 

Alright, well, back to being productive and checking things off my list! 

My new bread machine

I think we may be eating lots of carbs over the next few weeks...

Mostly because I am loving my new bread machine from my mom and dad!  So, before I show you what I've made so far, let me tell you the story of the bread machine.  In early December, I visited my parents to do lots of shopping...my father is still feeling the burn on his credit card.  One of the days, we went to the outlets and stopped in a kitchen store.  There was a floor model bread maker there for a great deal.  My mother had been saying that she wanted one for awhile, so my dad and she bought it.  I was a little frustrated because my parents have this great knack for buying things right before the holidays, leaving their children in a panic figuring out what to get them for a gift!  I proceeded to give my mother a great deal of grief about it over the next few weeks.  Well, much to my surprise, I opened a bread maker from my parents Christmas Eve.  Not just any bread maker, the one my parents had "bought for themselves."  They got me!  I sort of felt like an idiot for making fun of them for the past few weeks.  Oops!

Anyway, I decided to try it out yesterday.  After a few frantic g-chats with my sister-in-law, I finally figured out how to use the thing.  It couldn't be easier!  It even has a feature that you delay making the bread so that it will be warm when you get home from work.  How cool is that?!  You simply layer the ingredients in the machine, press the start button, then walk away.   However, as my sister-in-law pointed out, its not so efficient when you keep staring at the thing, saying "What the (bleep) is it doing now?" 

I decided to stick with the recipes from the manual to start.  The first recipe I flipped to was a Pesto Bread.  I had a little bit of pesto leftover in the fridge and thought I'd use it up.  All I had to do was layer water, olive oil, pesto, sea salt, bread flour, sugar, and yeast into the machine, click on my desire settings and press the start button.  A few hours later, this delicious loaf of bread was ready for the eating!

I chose the 1 lb. loaf option, since it was just Matt and I.  However, if I choose the 2lb. option, does is just make the loaf taller?  I may have to try it out and see...

Can  you see the little bits of basil throughout the bread?  So yummy.

I heated up some leftover marinara sauce last night, and we used it as a dipping sauce for the bread.  This afternoon, during the Eagles game (tear...), I poured some spices and olive oil in a bowl to dip.  Perfection.

This afternoon, I decided to try one of the sweeter recipes.  Cinnamon Swilrl Bread fit the bill (and I had all of the ingredients on hand).  I layered milk, butter, egg, salt, sugar, bread flour, and yeast into the machine and pressed start.  After the last kneading cycle and before the final rise cycle, the machine beeps and indicates that you can add the cinnamon and sugar mixture.  I pulled the dough out of the machine, removed the kneading paddle, rolled out the dough and poured the cinnamon and sugar evenly over it.  Then, I rolled up the dough and put it back in the machine.  An hour later, this lovely loaf appeared....

Looks a lot like the first loaf, until you cut into it...

Scrumptious cinnamon swirls!  It worked!  I don't know why I'm so proud of myself, I didn't really do anything..the machine did!

I can't wait to toast up a slice in the morning for breakfast.

If you've ever thought of making your own bread, invest in one of these puppies.  So easy, and the bread comes out perfect each time.  Expect lots of bread posts from me over the next few months.  I can't wait to try a bunch of different reicpes. I think I may try to make a traditional white bread loaf over the next week.  Perhaps we won't have to buy bread for Matt's sandwhiches anymore :)

Auntie Anne's Pretzels...

Snow Day Baking...

I verged from my usual snow day baking routine.  Usually, I bake cookies.  However, I am a a little cookied-out after Christmas.  So, I decided to try the Auntie Anne's Pretzel baking kit I bought a few weeks ago at the grocery store.  It was on sale, and I thought I'd save it for the perfect day, which turned out to be today!  These were so easy to make, and I have to tell you...taste EXACTLY like Auntie Anne's!  I made mostly regular pretzels and a few cinnamon & sugar ones. 

I got this on sale for $2.99.  And it made a ton...not a bad deal, instead of spending who knows how much a pop at the mall!

The cinnamon & sugar pretzels.  I made these ones a little smaller, and made a few less, since I knew Matt wouldn't eat them.  More for me :)

Can you see all that delicious cinnamon & sugar?

Here are the plain pretzels.  Matt LOVED them.  I think he's willing to forgo dinner tonight in order to consume all of these.

The butter and salt really make these extra yummy.

Matt loved these so much that he wasn't so happy that I took a small plateful over to our neighbors.  My usually generous husband was a little greedy!  These were so easy to make that I may try to follow the recipe from my bread maker to make pretzels from scratch next time!

Happy 1st Birthday, Meah.

Meah turns 1.

A friend of mine's niece turns one this weekend, and she and her boyfriend asked me to make a cake and cupcakes to commemorate the occasion.  The only direction they gave was that she was turning one and she is very "girly."  I did some  googling and came up with a cute but simple idea.  Again, I stuck with chocolate cake and vanilla cupcakes, since most kids like simple flavors.  Again, I used Martha's Fluffy Vanilla Icing recipe, which I think is the easiest to work with and tastes fantastic.  All of the other details are made of fondant...

Its snowing here, which always puts me in the mood for baking...

I think the look of the daisies is simple and cute.

I really wanted the cupcakes to coordinate with the cake, and I think it turned out great.

The cake...

The cute little teddy bear...I am digging teddy bears these days and have been wanting to do something with them on a cake...

I asked Matt to come up with a cake board for me since I ran out of them and didn't want to run out to the store in the snow.  This is what he came up with.  Cute, right? 

Happy 1st Birthday, Meah!

Happy 6th Birthday, Kate!

I feel old...

My girl Kate turns six on Monday.  I cannot believe how quickly she's growing.  She's a thoughtful, sweet, beautiful little girl who wanted a Unicorn Birthday Party.  She asked for unicorns and rainbows on her cupcakes.  This was actually more challenging than I thought it would be in terms of design.  Ultimately, I think I did a decent job.   From past experience, I've realized that its best to stick with basic chocolate and vanilla when it comes kids...any other flavors never seem to go over very well.  I used the chocolate and vanilla cake recipes from my Magnolia cookbook, and used the chocolate frosting recipe off of the Hershey's cocoa box.  I used Martha's Fluffy Vanilla Frosting Recipe, as well. 

For the rainbows, I found Extreme Airheads candy and just bent them into the icing.  Viola!  Simple, but kind of neat looking. 

For the unicorns, I did A LOT of googling to try to come up with something feasible.  In the end, I combined a few different ideas to come up with the final product.  I used white fondant for the faces and eyes, chocolate covered sunflower seeds for the horn, a black food coloring pen for the eyes and mouth, and tinted vanilla frosting for the hair.  I hope think they look like unicorns!  Hopefully, Kate will like them for her friend party tomorrow. 

I boxed them all up in nice boxes and again used the label embosser that I received for Christmas.



Have I mentioned how much I love the embosser?

Kate's mom is making a cake for her family party on Sunday, but she asked me to make a unicorn to put on top of the cake.  Not quite my best work, but the first time I've worked with shaping larger fondant figures.  Matt helped me try to figure out how to do it, and I think the end product is okay....

I used a birthday candle for the horn...not sure how I feel about it...

Anyone out there have any tips or suggestions for how to shape figures out of fondant?

Happy 6th Birthday, Kate.  We love you and are so proud of the sweet young lady you are becoming!

Bread

Banana Bread and Garlic & Herb Bread

For Christmas, my mom and dad bought me a bread machine.  I was super excited to try it out, but I got a little stalled when I realized that a small, but important, piece was missing.  Cuisinart was fantastic and shipped it to me right away, but  I went ahead and made some breads the old fashioned way.  My in-laws were coming a few days after Christmas, and I thought I'd make a garlic & herb bread from my new Williams-Sonoma Bread cookbook.  I timed it perfectly that it was still warm when I served it.  I paired it with some dipping spices and olive oil.  So delicious.  There wasn't a slice left!

Can you see all of those delicious bits of herbs?

I also decided to make some banana bread with the over-ripe bananas left on my counter.  My brother, Johnny, loves banana bread, so I thought I'd treat him as a New Years Eve gift :) 

I used my usual recipe that I have written down on the back of an envelope...I have no idea where it came from, but it turns out yummy every time. 

I thought I'd wrap it up nice for him and use my brand new label embosser that I received as a Christmas gift from my goddaughter, Caleigh.  So cute, right?!  Makes me feel like a pseudo-professional.  I believe its from Williams-Sonoma. 

The piece that I needed for the bread maker came in yesterday, so I'll post some breads once I use it!

Christmas Cookies!

Some quality baking time with the cousins...

I had a great plan to do lots of baking during my week off before Christmas.  I got off to a good start with cookie baking with my three cousins who live away at school.  Laura, Rachel, and Hilary came on Wednesday and helped me bake up some delicious Christmas cookies.  My plan was to continue baking more treats the next day, but inevitably, a cold decided to sneak attack me right before Christmas.  Not wanting to contaminate my family with my germs, I decided to put some of that baking on hold until I'm feeling better.  Matt's family is coming in this week to celebrate a late Christmas, so I'm hoping my symptoms subside enough for me to whip up some more holiday treats this week. 

Thank goodness for my cousins on Wednesday, though!  We made some great cookies that my family all enjoyed on Christmas Eve! 

Chocolate Mint Cookies

The girls insisted that this batter was delicious.  Due to the raw eggs, I was unable to try it out! 

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

This is a Hilary specialty.  She makes these every year for her family's Christmas party, and they are a huge hit.  They never last very long! 

Chocolate Chunk Macaroons

These were a new one this year.  I had coconut, so I thought I'd try out a Martha Stewart recipe.   I added the chocolate chunks instead of the traditional cherry.  They didn't turn out very pretty, but they were very chewy and yummy....

Snickerdoodles

Surprisingly, these are my favorite this year!  Very chewy and the perfect amount of cinnamon....

We also made chocolate chip cookies, which I didn't get a picture of.  Hilary jinxed the cookies by saying that hers have been turning out flat lately.  Well, of course ours turned out pretty flat!  But they were still chewy and delicious...just didn't get a picture.

We also made the dough for some sugar cookies, which is still sitting in my fridge.  Hopefully they will get made this week.  So much for my plans of lots of baking!

After the girls left, I whipped up some Gluten Free brownies for a co-worker of Matt's.  He has celiac disease, and I try to make him a baked good each year.  I made brownies from a Red Mill mix, but some day I'll work up the nerve to try a Gluten free recipe from scratch. (If anyone has a great recipe  I should try, please feel free to share!)   I made them in my mini muffin tins so that he'll have the perfect bite size snack.  I wrapped them up to go with the rest of his gift, and I think it turned out pretty cute....

Thanks for all of your help, Rachel, Laura and Hilary!  I had a great time with you that day.  Hope we can make it a new yearly tradition!