Three Sun Burned Faces, A Little Chocolate, and A Lot of Love

After a very busy 4th of July weekend, we went to the pool today with our good friend, Audrey. We had a fun filled afternoon of swimming and splashing. Afterward, we were all pooped! A quick rest was in store, but not for long!



My husband wanted something sweet after dinner, so we all whipped up a quick batch of brownies. This recipe may look suspiciously similar to the Nestle Tollhouse recipe, and that's because it is! We use their recipe from the back of the cocoa box and add our touches that make it extra special.



1 2/3 c sugar
3/4 c melted Crisco butter flavored baking sticks
2 T coffee (we use the leftovers from this morning's batch)
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t mint flavoring
1 1/3 c flour
3/4 c cocoa
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt






Preheat oven to 350. Mix sugar, crisco and coffee in large bowl. Stir in eggs, vanilla and mint. In separate bowl, mix all remaining ingredients. Slowly mix dry ingredients into wet mixture and mix until well blended. Spread into greased 13 x 9 pan and bake 18-22 minutes.

And what does the kitchen look like after the husband has got a hold of it??



This post was linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tuesdays at the Table. Be sure to check them out and all the delicious recipes everyone has to share

What's for Dinner? #1

I hear three words more than any others in my house.

"Jen, I'm huuuunnnggryy"

There is a great need for a "whiny" font.

But I digress. Here's a dinner we had this week that everyone loved.



To start with, I made an applewood smoked bacon wrapped tenderloin. It may sound complicated, but Sam's Club sells them preseasoned. And this is one of the easiest things to cook. There are many ways to cook them, but here's how I did this one:

Preheat oven to 275
Line 11 x 13 baking dish with foil
Place entire loin in dish and cover with foil
Bake 4-6 hours, or until fully cooked and tender

If you don't get a preseasoned loin, follow the same instructions above, but add half a stick of butter, one onion sliced, and season to taste (rosemary and some Mrs Dash are my choices).

In our house, pork comes with one of two things; Green Box Pasta (aka the Rice a Roni in the green box) or mashed potatoes. We went with taters this week. Mashed potatoes are pretty standard, but I usually try to mix things up a little bit by adding sour cream, chives, ranch dressing, cheddar cheese, or something like that.

Now, on to the veggies. With four kids, it's impossible to find a vegetable they will all eat, so we do offer a choice of fruit in place of the veggie du jour. This week we had cheesy broccoli. I make cheesy broccoli by cooking my broccoli (steam over boiling water until tender) then adding cheese soup and a few dashes of salt. The fruit option was apples that night, but that just means more broccoli for the rest of us!

When cooking a large tenderloin, there are always leftovers. This is one of the best things to have left over because you can make a completely different meal with it.

Take your leftovers and shred with a fork. Put the shredded pork in the crockpot with your favorite bbq sauce and let simmer on low heat until hot throughout. Serve on hamburger buns.

Stay tuned for more delicious dinners from our table to yours!

Summer Salsa

I love summer. Really, love it. And not just because my birthday happens to be July 8 (hint, hint) or my favorite holiday is July 4. There are so many wonderful things about summer. But on my top five list is fresh produce. Normally at this time, my garden would be full of all the ingredients I need. Unfortunately, someone didn't get my tomatoes planted in time, so we're a little behind. Fortunately, the great guys at Youngs farm opened their stand up today, so we're in business with the first fresh salsa of the year!



I bought four tomatoes, one large onion, a clove of garlic, an ear of corn, and a couple of green peppers. I also used some of my jalapenos I canned last year, a couple tablespoons of vinegar and a few tosses of kosher salt. Why kosher? I have no clue, but that's what I had in the cabinet. My husband claims he doesn't like corn in the salsa, but I do, and he eats it anyway.

I love salsa because you can make it however you want with varying ingredients. Hopefully soon, I'll have salsa completely from my own garden and I'll have some yellow tomatoes and red bell peppers to make it more interesting. I love to make different versions of it almost weekly during the summer. I'll try to get some pictures posted this summer of different things we make with the salsa. In the mean time, visit your local growers and make some salsa!!

Because Bass Players are Sexy...

So after my first attempt with fondant, my sister wanted to try it out. She decided she wanted to make a guitar cake. We made the cake late Sunday night and let it cool over night. Then we cut the neck and laid it on the board.

Then we made the template for the body of the guitar and cut out around it

Then a thin coating of frosting


Then color the fondant and roll out. It takes two people on a big cake to place the fondant on the cake. Make sure you smooth it out over the cake and seal the edges by pressing.




Continue this with all colors for all sections of the cake. Shape the other items to decorate and add finishing touches. Secure pieces with royal icing (egg whites and powdered sugar)




Here's what we learned in our cake:

Make sure you leave enough room for 6 strings, otherwise your electric guitar becomes a bass!!

Wilton's Forest Green coloring doesn't take as much as the other colors when coloring fondant

Making strings is a lot harder than you'd think

The recipe for chocolate cake on the back of the Hershey cocoa box is very moist, which is great for the cake, but a little harder to carve

All in all, her first try and my second try at working with fondant was a lot of fun and it didn't turn out that bad.

Summer Love

Here's one from last summer....


There's really nothing fancy about the ingredients, but it's all in the way you put it together. And really, who can resist chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream??!!

Chocolate cake, baked in 2 round pans
Ganache
Strawberries
Whipped Cream (Redi Whip)

When your cakes have cooled, top one round cake with 3/4 of the ganache and strawberries sliced thinly.
Add second cake
put the remaining 1/4 ganache in the center of the cake. Add fancy cut strawberries and Redi Whip around the edges. If you're already making the ganache with heavy whipping cream, then you could make your own whipped cream and decorate the cake using pastry bags and various decorating tips. It tastes so much better, but I just don't take the time to do so whne Redi Whip As you can see in the picture, I had issues with the strawberries staying in place, but that just goes to show the importance of picking your own berries or buying some locally rather than at the grocery store!
This cake works better with a dense chocolate cake, so I recommend using
this one, or even making it with brownies instead of cake.

Decorating with Fondant

Sorry, no recipe this time. But, my husband and I have been dying to try decorating a cake with fondant. Several years ago, my mom did a cake for my birthday with fondant and made it look like a pizza. I wish I had pictures from that, but we'll just have to settle for the picture from Saturday's attempt!


The base cake is pumpkin. I needed a solid base that wouldn't sag under the weight of the fondant. Pumpkin is a heavier cake so it worked out great. We bought three Wilton food coloring gels (red, black, and brown) to make everything. We made the brown for the crust, keeping it light and not really mixing all the coloring in to give it the swirled, oven baked effect. Then I tinted some store bought icing dark red to make the "sauce". We tinted a little more fondant red and cut out circles for the pepperoni. I used the left over brown from the crust and added more brown to make the mushrooms. I have never in my life thought I would need a mushroom cookie cutter, but I really wished I had one! Shannon tinted a little more fondant black and cut out olives. It turned out great for our first attempt. Now that we are comfortable with the basics, we're planning our next cake that will involve carving! I'm so excited! My sister is trying to escape my mom's house for a night or two sometime this summer and wants to try one herself. It looks like we're going to have a cake decorating summer!!

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Swirl

I was trying to make pumpkin cheesecake, but I sent my husband to the store to get the cream cheese. I should have known better! He came back with the small package of cream cheese, so I had to make something different. I basically took my pumpkin cake and swirled in a cream cheese "custard". It worked out great and made a typical autumn dessert more summer-y.










Cake Ingredients:

6 T butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c canned pumpkin
1 3/4 c flour
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder


Mix wet ingredients in mixer. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and slowly mix into wet ingredients. Pour into pan.

Cream Cheese Swirl:
8 oz package cream cheese at room temperature
1 egg
sugar (I didn't measure this, but I'm guessing 1/4 to 1/3 cup)

Mix ingredients together and drop on to cake batter. Using a knife, swirl the cream cheese mixture into cake, but do not mix it in!!

Bake at 350 about 30 minutes. The cake part will spring back when touched (like any other cake recipe)

Need a great grilling recipe to go with this? Check out Amy's Blog