B.S.C.

Gluten free pumpkin bread

I don't have a photo of it before it was devoured because when one is baking bread in the morning before heading to work and putting the kids on the bus, there is ususally no time for pictures. 

IT WAS A HIT!

after turning another load of laundry yellow yesterday, i felt much better about myself as a mother after making this.

It's the recipe from the back of the Pamela's Gluten free flour- the pancake mix one.  There are also lots of recipes for it. We use it to make pancakes that EVERYONE in the family likes and I once used it to make a decent scone.  Next up, I'm making muffins. 

Anyway, here's the recipe (adapted from pamela's products)

4 TBSP melted butter            1/2 cup of sugar            2 large eggs           

1 cup of canned pumpkin pie mix (i used farmer's market organic canned pumpkin pie mix, which was great that i didn't have to mix in any spices since i was kind of in a  hurry)

mix that all together

then add 1- 1/3 cup of Pamela's mix

mix completely.

pour into a greased loaf pan.

for a yummy topping mix 2 TBS melted butter with 1/3 cup brown sugar and spread over the top. 

bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. 

and now I am drinking cheap white wine (vinho verde), waiting for the kids to get their pj's on and missing my husband-he's in new york.  Really wishing we were together tonight.  It's a hard night for our family.  Thinking of Grandpa Mike and wishing I could turn back the clock and he'd still be there with us. I can't help but think what a kick he'd get out of Miss Annie these days and how proud of the responsible young lady that Gracie has grown to be. 

 

 

tres leches cupcakes

I made these for a bridal shower last week.  I thought they were wrecked at the point where you pour on the three milks...the 3 milk mixture did not soak in.  I should have poked larger holes in the cake.  And then there was the frosting.  It hadn't cooled enough when I mixed the butter in, so it didn't set up very well. I also didn't make my own caramel sauce.  I used Fran's, cause you can't really go wrong with Fran's can you?  And because I used Fran's, I omitted the salt called for in the recipe.  I finished the top with a little shaved bittersweet chocolate.  I HEART my micro-plane.

In the end, they turned out ok though.

Eric had no problem eating the one (or two) that I saved for him.   

I'll be making these again. 

father's day and this and that

**this morning annie looked in the mirror and said "i think i'm having a bad hair day"

to which gracie replied "it looks like THAT EVERY DAY."

and annie said "well, THANKS sissy."

all said with great sarcasm.  i laughed hysterically. the apples don't fall far from the trees sometimes.

**we're watching true grit right now.  i feel like we're doing something illegal.  we hardly ever watch a movie let alone on a "school night." fortunately i have busy work to do while watching like, folding laundry, blogging, cutting out box tops (joy) and cutting out letters for VBS decorations.  

let me just tell you that if you think helping on the vbs decoration committee gets you out of actually teaching at VBS...well...you thought wrong.  

i'm in charge of a 2nd grade class.  not a helper, not doing crafts.  in charge.  now who thought that was a good idea?

**i did something crazy and unlike me.  i got in the bod pod at the club this evening.  it's this pod thing that measures weight and percentage of lean muscle mass.  it told me i needed to lose 6 pounds.

i promptly came home and ate a gallon of ice cream to drown my sorrows (not really, we didn't have any in the house). 

**i've been thinking a lot about my run last friday and why it was so, so bad.  i felt like there had to be other reasons, aside from my shoes, that were part of my demise.  

do you think that, maybe just maybe, eating a theo dark chocolate bar with almond and cranberries in place of lunch or half of your child's chocolate easter bunny in place of dinner is not proper nutrition?

**we spent father's day weekend at the townhome. had a nice lazy saturday and invited some  new friends over for dinner since eric said i was cooking enough for 10. 

on the menu:  grilled new york and filet mignon, grilled garlic shrimp, grilled asparagus, homemade mac and cheese (you can find it here. it made a ton but we ate most of it.  it was so good and the kids liked it too. it will become a townhome side dish staple) cilantro butter for the corn on the cob the neighbors brought, a corn, tomato and cilantro salad

and cheesecake bars with chocolate ganache.  uh yeah, will be making these again. and again and again and again.  and surprisingly, 3 out of the 4 kids ate them.  once guess as to who wouldn't eat the rest of hers.  apparently it was "too chocolatey."  turd.

we ate our dessert at the neighbors and the kids made s'mores around their cool little fire pit.

and while making their s'mores, they got an education in what happens when crazy aunt sally drinks too much at the wedding that was being held at the club house-dances off on to the golf course by herself and then trots around the corner to secretly suck on a lug rocket.  so you know, we also got in a lesson about the deadliness of cancer sticks.  

always valuable. 

and us adults had a great evening entertainment with the fine selection of music being played by the dj. i guess there were some famous pro football players there. 

we didn't get the kids to bed until 10:30 that night.  

the next morning annie gave eric a special father's day treat by waking up at 5:30. fortunately she sandwiched her way in between us and managed to successfully hog the king sized bed for the next two hours. 

sunday brought beautiful blue sky and some pool time.  and all of us counting the days until we head back. 

 

this and that

haven't been too crafty as of late.  just a little bit here and there

made this little bunting banner for some bundt cakes that i made for a staff appreciation last week

that my friends, is wine cake- not necessarily a visual wonder but seriously so good i could polish off almost a whole cake.  ok, i've never really tried to do that but i am sure if i set my mind to it...

a little running themed birthday gift for a very dear friend.  heaven knows i love a good theme.

it has my favorite running things--socks, hat, kind bars for pre race fuel, shot blocks, i tunes for music, pre race java, and a little chocolate for after. plus some birthday candles.  it was fun to package it all cute like. 

personally i am hoping that my favorite post race treat on june 25th will be the dick's burger and fries that i scarf down...i might even make it two, provided i'm not puking and pooping my guts out like the last two times i ran a half.  

is that too much information?

apparently it's more commonly called runner's colitis.  who knew?

i really wanted a burger after the cinco de may half.  i was so bummed that it wasn't going to happen for me that day. 

and finally because i really like to make my morning crazy, i loaded the girls in the car early, ran them to FROST doughnuts, starbucks to get another lunch and then to gram and papa's house to take papa some get well cards for his foot surgery, father's day cards, a father's day gift

THAT my friends is a gift card holder.  i couldn't have made it that stinking cute if i had tried

AND some father's day/get well treats

i *heart* free printables. 

i *heart* my dad too.  

and then i ran the girls back to school in the nick of time and dashed to work. while on the way i still had to stop for my coffee (priorities you know) and i had to stop to get popsicles for some very sweet students that i saw this year making me approximately 30 minutes late for work.  

so if they fire me...DAD,  it was all for you and it was worth it.

apple dumplings

yeah it's 8:55, the kids aren't in bed, eric's just eating dinner and i'm blogging.  

i call it "practicing for summer vacation."  

any minute now i'll tell them to put themselves to bed and foolishly think for 10 seconds that it might actually happen. 

for eric's birthday dessert, he chose his grandmother's apple dumplings- or as we referred to her, Great Grams.  she passed away last july and we remember her with very fond memories.  she was such a loving woman who certainly got great delight from her two grandsons and then her great grand daughters.  i am lucky enough to have this recipe, typed up and signed by her, from a kitchen shower that was thrown for me when eric and i got married.

i love making apple dumplings because they are like a mini apple pie without all the fussing over crust and they're much gooier (ok that word looks weird but it didn't come up on spell check) and if you don't like gooey you are crazy!

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar        1/4 cup butter

1 cup water        1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 c flour            3/4 cup shortening

1 tsp baking powder        4 granny smith apples, sliced and peeled- i use an apple slicer, then peel

1/2 cup milk

Put sugar, water, butter and cinnamon in a saucepan and bring to a good boil.

Mix the dry ingredients and add shortening. I use a pastry cutter to blend. Cream well together and add milk. 

Roll out and cut in six squares. Put apples in the center and fold edges over.  i just always kind of make a ball and try to inch the edges together.  i never seem to roll my dough out enough.  but it works. place in baking dish and pour thickened sauce over dumplings.

bake at 375 for 35 minutes.

best with vanilla bean ice cream of course.

and my little two cents.  i've always used regular cinnamon and it's been delicious.  for christmas this year, my mother in law ordered me a bunch of spices from penzey's.  the little baking box came with two types of cinnamon.  china cinnamon which is closer in taste to the regular ole cinnamon i typically use.the other was ceylon cinnamon--it has a slight citrus note and was recommended to use in place of "regular" cinnamon in apple pies.  

i thought i'd give it a whirl. 

we both took our first bites and it was like the heavens opened up and i could hear angels singing softly in the background.  there was just something about them that was the best ever.  i'm positive  it was that cinnamon!

yummies

eric doesn't love my baking.  oh he'll eat whatever i bake but he's very boring when it comes to baking.  he really just wants a few things cheesecake, apple dumplings, pecan pie, coconut cake and carrot cake(which i will never make because i think cream cheese frosting is sick and wrong.)

yeah, i said it.  

so the other day i stumbled upon some mini cheesecakes from minibaker.

her recipe makes 12 but i halved it since...well, there are 4 of us and we don't need 12 mini cheesecakes.

here's my 6. i just ate one.  i might share the rest with eric or i might not.

here's how you can make them too. this makes 6. double if you're feeling piggish and you'd like to make 12.  

preheat oven to 350 and put 6 cupcakes liners in a muffin tin

crush  3 sheets of graham crackers to equal 1/3 cup and mix with 1 TBS melted butter

put 1 TBS of grahams into each cupcake liner.  press down with 1/3 or 1/4 cup measuring cup and bake for about 5 minutes.

beat the following together: 1 brick of room temp cream cheese, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 a cup of sweetened condensed milk (it's about half of the can) beat out all of those nasty lumps

fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 18-20 minutes.  

let cook and then put in fridge to chill

once they've set up you can remove the liners and top with your favorite fruit.  yum!

on a savory note-

my favorite vegetable is asparagus.  i often roast it in the oven for about 20 minutes on 350 with kosher salt, olive oil and some good balsamic vinegar. we don't have fancy balsamic over here so i had to make do with the cheap stuff.

anyway this evening, i toasted some slivered almonds and set aside. then i thinly sliced some shallots, tossed them with the asparagus, olive oil, kosher salt and balsamic and roasted for about 18 minutes.  for the last two minutes, i threw on some crumbled blue cheese and let that melt.  once it was done, i sprinkled the toasted almonds on top. 

so good.  seriously. so. good. 

eric and i kind of fought for the seconds. 

nighty night.

chocohotopots

i saw nigella lawson make these one day last week on the food network.

i've had an unhealthy obsession with wanting to bake something in ramekins for almost a year now.  but frankly, creme brulee and pots de creme scares me.  water bath? toasting the top?  scary.

i've conquered a few baking fears school this year: scones, pie crust (it's not pretty but it tastes fine), a fruit tart, vanilla pastry creme, scratch pudding, meringue powder for decorating cookies, and a couple of fancy cakes and frostings.

BUT i am still scare of a few things: making caramel from scratch and baking things in ramekins.

when i saw nigella make these, i thought to myself "that would be a good place to start."

it was so easy. and they turned out delicious.  i got a thumbs up from each family member.  i highly recommend these as a dessert you can whip up for company after dinner is done, so they're still hot when you serve them.

i can even tell you the recipe from my memory.  shocking, i know. 

preheat oven, with baking pan in it,  to 400 

use almost a tablespoon of butter to grease the bottom and sides of four small ramekins

melt 4 oz . bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao)  with 1 stick of unsalted butter-on a double boiler or in the microwave

let cool a bit while doing the next step

crack two large eggs in a bowl and whisk in 3/4 cup of superfine sugar.  whisk in 3 tablespoons of flour.  

pour chocolate and melted butter  into egg, sugar, flour mixture. i whisked as i was pouring. ( i was worried that the chocolate would be too hot and cook the egg so i poured slowly and whisked away and it was fine.)

divide into ramekins. bake for about 20 minutes.  the cake puffs up and gets a little crackly on top. 

eat while hot so the inside is nice a gooey!

these will become a treat staple at our house.  next time, they might need a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream on top.  or do you think that's over doing it?

i think i'm ready for chocolate pots de creme now.

stick a fork in us

we're done. 

i was so excited for the sunny day, but man it's exhausting. 

11.5 mile run this morning, grocery shopping, coconut chocolate pie making, pate brisee making, vanilla pasty cream making (both for a fruit tart for tomorrow), bbq'd shrimp and scallop dinner making, easter egg dying, lots of kitchen cleaning, laundry (always laundry, right?) and finally easter basket stuffing. 

i'm so glad i'm not fixing dinner tomorrow.  thanks gram!

forgotten that i'd taken a picture of the cookies i made this week.  um...i also forgot i had that totally cute plate from last year.

dying easter eggs

annie was super excited about the beautiful green.  it's her favorite color.

 

yay for dying eggs during the day so i could get some natural light for photos.  

we'll see how this tastes tomorrow

anxious to see how that tart turns out too.  my first tart.  love an excuse to by a new pan.  :)

looking forward to celebrating tomorrow.  Happy Easter Everyone!  

now i pass out in 3...2...1...

random blogging...

**is such a fantastic  way of avoiding putting away the laundry that's been strewn across my family room since yesterday.  

annie just told me i'm smart.  now that's not something i hear every day...or ever, so i'm just going with it and will bask in the glory of my 6 year old thinking i'm smart for at least the next hour or until she gets that look on her face that tells me i'm dumb. 

she's home again by the way.  she didn't want to go to school this morning but didn't complain about anything hurting other than feeling tired.  i sent her.  and got a call at 11:30 with a report that she had a low grade fever.  i picked her up and it was gone within the hour.  classic.  

i don't know what's going on with her, but she's gots ta get better. 

a couple of weeks ago annie didn't want to play outside with her sister and neighborhood friends.  she gets bored and they typically don't want to play what she wants to play. she's the youngest girl.  who wants to listen to her?  it's a hard row to hoe. 

so i told her she could have a lemonade stand, but i didn't want her selling it to her friends for profit.  that's not really my thing.  so we came up with the idea that she could raise money for japan. 

it takes a lot of concentration to pour so you don't spill.

it was just our luck that the very generous and kind neighbor boys were working up a thirst playing basketball that day.  

annie donated $4.00 from the lemonade stand and a big pile of her very own coins to the coin drive at school the next day. 

i heart her.

she's sitting on the steps reading out loud to herself right now.  she's finally learned the power of being able to read to herself.  yay!  

and, i forgot to take away the sharpie so she used it again today, thankfully not on the furniture.  it got all over the cover of one of her books.  lesson learned.

**miss gracie just decided last night that she's saving up her money for another american girl doll so for her birthday she wants accessories for kit.  i love how she wrote a neatly printed list with each item and it's price so i could notify the grandmas.  

**i just love a tall non fat caramel macchiato.  i rarely get them, but for only 140 calories i should get them more often when i need a sweet afternoon treat! (sometimes i can't believe the size and type of drinks people get at starbucks.  why spend your calories on that people???)

**how do i get my cupcake frosting to look so tasty? ok, i'm not trying to say i'm awesome or anything because we know that's not true. but a friend asked me about it in my last blog post.

i have some extra large decorating tips-the giant closed star , the giant open star and one that isn't a star (not pictured).  i like to support independent retailers so i buy them from here.

here are two of my extra large tips. I SAID TIPS.  DON'T misread that. i seriously think that's how annie got my sense of humor.  we find the same things HILARIOUS.

and before i forget...we were watching Dumbo today (i'm not sure if it could be more politically incorrect)  she mentioned how silly the mouse and dumbo were after drinking the pop.  hmm...yes, i went there. i explained how they were drinking alcohol which kids shouldn't do and adults can only have a little bit.  

"but they're acting so funny?!"  she says.  

me: yes, that's what alcohol does

to which she replies "well, i'm already funny."

yes kid, yes you are.

i use wilton decorating bags. don't use ziplocs.  not strong enough.  and usually i use a coupler.  bake it pretty was out of couplers so i bought mine at michael's.  of course the first time i went to use the extra large tip i couldn't find the coupler i had purchased. it worked just fine without the coupler.  

step one- snip off the end of the pastry bag

step two-put in the tip

step three- put bag in a tall glass and fold the side of the bag down over the glass

step four- fill bag with frosting using a spoon or a spatula. not too full though or it oozes out the top. they make bands that seal the top, but i haven't found it necessary to use

step five-twist the top and decorate

i start from the outside of the cupcake and work my way in. 

et voila.

this is what the open/round whatever it's called tip makes

i really like that look

and this is what the open star tip makes

now i need to go talk annie down from the ledge.  sickness makes number two emotionally labile.  she's waited all afternoon for gracie to come home only to have gracie and their mutual friend NOT want to play what annie wants to play.  

maybe i'll go have a spa date with her in her spa theme room.

 

 

it's a baking kind of weekend

or "it's no wonder i can't lose any weight"

been wanting to make samoas for a while now. 

these were good, but they didn't have the preservative-y goodness of the real girl scout samoa.

i have a confession to make...

i didn't buy any girl scout cookies.  i just didn't want them in the house and if i am going to feed my kids crap, i'm tryin to feed them freshly baked goods.  sorry.

i wanted to buy some for the troops, but when i go to the store there is never anyone out selling since i go in the mornings. AND no one came around to my door.  so that's that. 

today i made cupcakes for our neighbor's, jenna, birthday.

i didn't actually eat a cupcake, but i have to taste the batter and then the cooked product and then the chocolate frosting as i'm making it. 

it's not good.

i've got one more thing to bake for tomorrow night and then i'v got to take a break for a long while.  

well...at least until next weekend.  

and now i've got to go run on the treadmill because i didn't burn enough calories at "hot yoga booty" or whatever it's called-my rear is in pain.  thank you janette for encouraging me to go.  it was a good class but i still can't really get over the cat pee sweat smell.  you know me and my olfactory nerve.  i have super human powers of smell.