Baking And Boys!

Spiced Apple Cider and Banana Muffins

2009-11-04T22:48:00.001-06:00

Want a yummy, healthy muffin? Here you go.

We have some apple cider and I have lots of very ripe bananas, but what really got me with these is that they are pretty healthy and I was able to use some yogurt that I have and need to use. I changed up quite a bit a recipe that I found at the Eating Well website. The recipe called for apple butter, but I used banana and I cut a little bit of the oil in the recipe. You can get the recipe from Eating Well on their link. But here's my muffins.

Spiced Apple Cider and Banana Muffins, by Katrina Smith, adapted from Eating Well, Winter 2004

Streusel:

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts

Muffins:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1 large egg

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup very ripe banana, mashed (2 small bananas)

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 cup spiced apple cider

1/3 cup nonfat Greek Yogurt

2 overflowing tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin cups with paper liners or spray with cooking spray. I made 11 regular muffins and 12 mini muffins and lined them with paper liners.

In a small bowl, combine the streusel ingredients. Mix the butter in with your fingers until well combined.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and brown sugar until smooth. Then whisk in the bananas, syrup, apple cider, yogurt and oil. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry with a rubber spatula just until combined. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups. Sprinkle with the streusel (I only put streusel on the 11 bigger muffins.)

Bake the mini muffins for 10 minutes and the larger ones for 14 minutes. Cool in muffin pan for a few minutes. Then remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Have some hot apple cider with one of these! I made Wassail from this recipe at Allrecipes. I only made half the recipe. Love the smell of it brewing on the stove!

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Sam's new favorite pasttime---

Completely dismantling the couch downstairs and then sitting and watching Max and Ruby or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It isn't very fun to put back together, almost like a puzzle, but doggonit, he's CUTE!

He's so proud of his accomplishment!

Then there's Bob. Our friend, Bob. He's pretty proud here, too, after all, he's got Hostess Sno Ball BOB Cakes named after him! ;)

TWD--All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake

2009-11-03T06:03:00.001-06:00

For the month of November, as TWD bakers, we are so kindly allowed to post any of the month's four recipes in any order we choose. It worked out nicely that after I decided to make the All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake it would be perfect for our friend, Tes' birthday. I just realized we forgot to take a picture of Tes with a candle in her slice of cake. We sang to her earlier in the evening, but forgot when it was time for dessert. Whoops! Tes' birthday is really on Halloween. We had the cake Monday night.

This bundt cake was chosen by Britin of The Nitty Britty. You can get the recipe for this bundt cake on her blog, or you can just get Dorie's book, Baking From My Home to Yours and have a ton of great recipes at your fingertips!

I followed the recipe, even using freshly grated nutmeg for the first time. I used ground ginger instead of fresh. And in place of the one cup of cranberries, I used 1/2 cup of cranberries and 1/2 cup fresh pomegranate arils (about 1/2 a POM). Love POMs! The cake came perfectly out of the bundt pan (some others mentioned sticking problems.). All I did was spray the pan with cooking spray. The cake sure left a wonderful smell in the house while it was baking! Mine only baked for 50 minutes. Dorie suggests 60-70 minutes. It passed the knife insertion test, so out it came. Perfect!

I love my Chop Wizard, it chopped the apples into the perfect little tiny squares.

I recently made some pumpkin cream cheese ribbon bread that wasn't "ribboning" very well, so I swirled it around and made pumpkin cream cheese swirl bread. The recipe had some orange zest in the cream cheese, and I really liked it. I have the recipe if anyone wants it. The bread was great and quite moist and pumpkiny flavorful! Where was I going with this? Oh yes, orange zest and pumpkin!

I decided to make an orange icing for the bundt cake. I had a little butter sitting on the counter, so I threw that in as well as some powdered sugar, pinch of salt, orange zest, some orange juice and cream. It tasted great!

Orange Icing, by Katrina

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon orange zest

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons butter, softened

pinch salt

6 tablespoons cream (or to desired consistency)

Mix all ingredients together and whisk until smooth and no lumps remain. Drizzle over cake.

Love the pecans in this cake and on the top. The cake has many great flavors. Tes and I loved it! The rest of the family---pppbbbbttt! The boys didn't even try it. (They had a little ice cream and MORE Halloween candy! Is it gone yet? jk) Kevin ate a little courtesy piece, then told me he doesn't really like cranberries. (Never knew that, he loves cranberry juice!) I loved the juicy POMs with their little crunch.

I gave Tes a big hunk of the cake to take home.

Great bundt cake!

Thanks for the great pick, Britin! Hey, speaking of bundts. Do you like big bundts? Mary at The Food Librarian does. She loves (it may now be a love/hate relationship) bundts so much that since October 15th, she has been posting a bundt cake per day on her fabulous blog, in honor of the upcoming National Bundt Cake Day, November 15. Why is that date important? Hmm, yes, someone is having a BIG birthday that day. It's me, it's me. I just think it's so nice of Mary to make so many cakes in honor of my birthday. Wow. (jk)

Lovin' the bundts, Mary! Check out her blog, if you haven't!

Happy Halloween! (Caramel Pecan Brownies and more Rice Krispies Treats!

2009-11-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween from a couple of nerds! (No, I don't have a witches hat on, that's a decoration on the door.) You can't see my lovely white socks with clod-hoppy black shoes, also my nerdy make up job of blue eye shadow and really red, poorly caked on red blush and lipstick . Classic!

There's a "kick me" sign on his back. Kevin was a perfect nerd. I just went along with it. ;)

We had Darth Vadar and Obi Wan Kenobi at our house. And a basketball player.

Then we had a very uncooperative Candy Corn.

This is really how Sam trick-or-treated. Just wearing regular clothes. I supposed at least the shirt was orange!

Happy Candy kid!

And the loot. Their pumpkin buckets were stuffed to the top after trunk-or-treating at our church and then hitting up the neightborhood door to door. (Sam stayed at home for the door to door stuff with the big nerd!)

Big Bro and Little Bro. This is a cute picture.

Pictures from the school Halloween Party parade on Friday. I also hung out in Taylor's classroom for his party and took lots of pictures.

Taylor's teacher, Mrs. Heider, was a KU Jayhawk!

Classroom treats--some gluten free cupcakes (a girl in the class has celiacs) and some really cute mummy cookies. Oh yeah, I made those. Cute, easy. Sugar Cookies cut with gingerbread boy cutter. White frosting, then piped on white chocolate and red hot eyes. I saw the idea for these here at Family Corner. This great website is run by none other than the amazingly talented Amanda of Amanda's Cookin'--a fellow foodie blogger and person I consider a friend I haven't met yet!

Some friends of ours had us over Friday night for a little Halloween shindig. I brought some treats.

Literally, Halloween Oreo Rice Krispies Treats. Same recipe as these Halloween Oreo Caramel Rice Krispies Treats, but with no caramel and chocolate on top.

I also made some most delicious Caramel Pecan Brownies. (I know, I can't seem to get off the turtle/caramel-pecan kick!

THESE. ARE. BETTER. THAN. GOOD!

I used my favorite brownie recipe---it's the Dorie Greenspan Tribute to Katharine Hepburn Brownies.

Caramel Pecan Brownies, by Katrina adapted from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking From My Home to Yours

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 to 3/4 cup pecans, whole and toasted

24 Kraft caramels (hello--unwrapped!)

4 tablespoons cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8x8 inch square baking pan with foil so that edges of foil hand over the sides slightly. Spray lightly with cooking spray.

Melt butter and cocoa in saucepan over medium heat. Whisk together, remove from heat when melted and combined. Let sit 3-5 minutes. Whisk in eggs, then sugar and vanilla just until combined. Add flour and salt. Stir just until combined. Spread half the batter evenly over bottom of pan.

Put caramels and cream in a glass microwave safe bowl. Melt in 30 second intervals, stirring between each. When melted and stirred together until smooth, pour caramel over bottom brownie layer. Line the caramel layer with the pecans (line them up like little soldiers in rows). Add the remaining batter to a plastic sandwich bag. Snip a little off one corner and pipe the remaining batter evenly over the top (this was so much easier than trying to evenly spread the batter over the sticky caramel!). Bake for 25-35 minutes (test for brownie crumbs on toothpick. I think mine baked for 30 minutes, but I always start checking before that!) Cool completely on wire rack, then for most awesome fudginess, refrigerate for a couple hours before cutting into desired size pieces.

These were a huge hit at the Halloween party we brought them to. Hope ya'll had a wonderful Halloween, too!

TWD--Cherry--Nope, Fudge Brownie---Yep,Torte?

2009-10-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

I did not make the Cherry part of this week's chosen TWD recipe, Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte. I also did not make the mousse. The recipe was chosen by April of Short + Rose. You can get the full cherry laden, mousse-y recipe on her blog.

I actually kind of like cherry and chocolate together, but my husband does not--at all. He even makes a nasty face when we pass by the boxes of cherry cordials at the stores during the holidays. I didn't think the boys would like it either. And the mousse, well, sounds de-lish, but I decided against the cream cheese, mascarpone and heavy cream. After looking at the richness of the brownie recipe, I just thought we didn't need all the extra fat involved with the mousse. Maybe someday. Yes, I'm sure someday we'll "NEED" that fat. (eye roll)

SO, I halved the brownie recipe, scooped three ounces of batter into six ramekins, injected (with a pastry bag) the batter of each one with some ooey, melty caramel (12 unwrapped caramels and 1 1/2 tablespoons cream--melted together). I wanted them to be more on the underdone side, so they baked for 19 minutes.

Mmm, grab a fork and dig in. Um, no, not yet. They need something more. Okay, my plan all along was turtles! I don't know what it is, but I've really been in to caramel lately (my recent Heavenly Chocolate Caramel Rice Krispies Treats and Halloween Oreo Caramel Rice Krispies Treats to name a few things). I almost feel like I cannot have something caramel without nuts, specifically pecans. BUT, I made these individually like this so the boys could all have a snack and we have a few here who don't like nuts (or so they say ;). So I removed the brownies from each ramekin with just a little lifting with a spoon and they all came out nicely. (Whew.)

Um---YUM! But, that's not all! Since I was skipping the mousse, I wanted to "challenge" myself with something, so I did something I hadn't done before and I whipped some cream (using my arm and hand, a whisk, a bowl, some cream and a tablespoon of powdered sugar). I feel a little proud about this! After just a short time and a little arm pain, I had fresh whipped cream!

Some may know, I grew up a Cool Whip girl and I cringe a little to tell you that well, I still prefer Cool Whip to the real stuff. But we had the fresh real stuff with these brownies! After a nice dollop of whipped cream, whoever wanted to sprinkled a generous amount of pecans over the top and then just because it seemed like the right thing to do, another drizzle of some caramel. Oh, and the boys, of course, had to have some sprinkles on theirs!

This. was. good!

I would now like to try this recipe as just some regular brownies sometime. Thanks for the fun pick, April. Feel free to check out the other "tortes" at the Tuesday's With Dorie blog. I can't wait to see all the mousse tortes out there!

A Very Random Post Because I'm a Little Behind and Some Blogger Linky Love

2009-10-24T00:22:00.001-05:00

Lil' Smokies Mummies--the boys loved these. Lil' Smokies sausages and Pillsbury crescent rolls cut into thin strips. Spooky eyes those mummies! Wait a second, those aren't mummies, those are babies wrapped in swaddling clothes. No. Okay, they're mummies.

And I made mummy pizza for dinner tonight.

Used string cheese for the cheese. Guess what Parker wants to be for Halloween? Yep, a mummy. I don't know if I can get the string cheese to wrap all the way around him. Hmm, Pillsbury crescent rolls? No. Well, ya'll are no fun. I'll have to see what else we can come up with! ;) Okay, moving on.

I didn't take any photos, but I made this delicious Black Bean and Sweet Corn Soup with Cilantro and Lime that I found at Maria's blog, Two Peas and their Pod. It was SO good. I cut her recipe in half and added some chopped chicken for a little added protein. I even made homemade tortilla strips as Maria suggested. Love them. Great recipe.

I also made a yummy Sweet Potato and Peanut Butter Soup from Nick's blog, The Peanut Butter Boy. It's a thick soup and I even added an extra cup of chicken broth, but it also makes a great sauce for pasta. I enjoyed on top of some spaghetti squash and with some sauteed spinach stirred in. Good stuff--the peanut butter in it was awesome!

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Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (Nutella), recipe from Holly at Phe/MOM/enon, which she got from a Gale Gand book. This is so good! It "hardens" up a little a few days after making it, but is still spreadable. It has a little bit stronger hazelnut flavor, but it's good. If you love Nutella, you've gotta try this.

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Taylor's birthday. Believe it or not, I didn't post very many pictures from his actual birthday. He wanted to make his own cake--chocolate, and decorate it. And decorate it he did! I let him go to town with the sprinkles!

We made the ever popular and simple Crazy Cake. Where did I originally get this recipe? None other than--Anna at Cookie Madness. It's made right in the baking pan.

I let him do this last year, too. Whatever holiday sprinkles I had, he sprinkled them. You're only 6 once, so live it up!

I love this next picture. Parker found a couple of cool rocks at school. He decided to wrap them up and give them to Taylor for his birthday. He worked so hard on the "card" he made to wrap them in and give them to him and was so excited. That's true brotherly love.

Another birthday--over.

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These are some really good Blue Cornmeal Pancakes I made recently. I got the recipe from Marye at Baking Delights. She made hers with blueberries. I did not. But these are good. Guess where the recipe is from? Mesa Grill's Cookbook. Marye added lemon zest. So did I. These were good pancakes.

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This little stinker. He was being awfully quiet the other day. Never a good sign. He got Kevin's laptop off the floor near the bed, got up on the bed and was working on something very important, just like Daddy does!

If that's not the look of a Little Stinker, I don't know what is!

He's starting to not like me taking so many pictures of him, especially when he's "in trouble". Love this little stinker!

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Hang on, I'm almost done. For now.

My friend April came to visit and brought me these awesome cookies. The boys gobbled them up! April has many talents, one of which is cake and cookie decorating. I thought these were awesome! Thanks, April.

When April brought me those cookies, another friend of mine, Meagan, came with her. Meagan has a fun blog called Domestic Wonder. She brought me some cookies, too. They are good and different. They are made with a spice cake mix. I've made cake mix cookies before--chocolate and yellow cake mixes. But I'd have never thought to try spice cake. Check out the recipe on her blog. She also posts other recipes and lots of fun, cute, easy ideas of crafts and activities to do with kids. She has a cute little boy who is two and another one on the way! Thanks for the cookies, Meagan!

Halloween Oreo Caramel Rice Krispies Treats

2009-10-22T17:24:00.001-05:00

Really, need I say more? Rice Krispies Treats with a thin Oreo cookie layer on the bottom, Halloween Oreos broken up and mixed in the treats, a layer of gooey caramel with a chocolate ganache on top--Halloween Oreo Caramel Rice Krispies Treats!

I feel like these didn't photograph as well as the Heavenly Chocolate Caramel Rice Krispies Treats I recently made and posted, but if you like Oreos, these are awesome! These, as well as the others, seem so rich to me that just a small cut square is a perfect bite (or two). And then, try not to snitch a little more. To me, these are like having a Fun Size candy bar and they are SO good! I'm just going to say--play around with the Rice Krispies Treat recipe, you'll be surprised and amazed and how many good and different options there are for them. They are one of my favorite goodies to make--and so easy--no baking required. You could leave off the caramel and chocolate ganache and just add Oreos to the Rice Krispies, but dang, that caramel is good!

I like these refrigerated, the caramel is still gooey, but more set, but I also love when they are room temperature and the caramel is more ooey gooey! You decide. Wanna know what I did to make these? Okay.

Halloween Oreo Caramel Rice Krispies Treats, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

10 Oreo cookies

2 tablespoons butter, melted

9 ounces marshmallows

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 ounces (4-5 cups) Rice Krispies Cereal

7 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped

24 caramel candies, unwrapped (duh!)

1/4 cup cream

6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips

4 tablespoons cream

More Oreo cookies for top (4-6), broken up or chopped

Line a 9x9 inch pan with foil. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.

In bowl of food processor, grind Oreos finely. Add melted butter and combine together. Sprinkle into pan and flatten evenly. Set aside.

Melt marshmallow and butter in large saucepan or microwave safe bowl and stir until combined well. Add cereal and mix well. Fold in the 7 chopped cookies. Spread in pan over Oreo layer. Press down evenly using a potato masher sprayed with cooking spray--works great!

In small saucepan, melt caramels and cream together until smooth and gooey. Pour over Rice Krispies. In small microwaveable bowl (or small saucepan), heat cream to just boiling. Pour over chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl. Let sit for a minute, then stir with a wire whisk until smooth and glossy. Spread over caramel layer. Sprinkle with broken/chopped Oreos. Put in refrigerator until chocolate layer is hardened and set. Remove from pan using foil edges. Cut into desired size pieces.

These are as good as you are thinking!

Oh, I meant to tell you the reason I decided to do an Oreo crust on the bottom of these. The day I made them, I received this----in the mail.

I received this fun, cute 4-cup food processor from Cuisinart. When I attended the Food BlogHer Conference last month in San Francisco, they gave us a coupon for one of these food processors! How cool is that? I was excited to try it out and had to grind up some Oreos! I like that it is small, sometimes I just don't need to get out my big processor. Thanks, Cuisinart and BlogHer!

TWD--Sweet Potato Biscuits and/or Pumpkin Biscuits

2009-10-20T06:18:00.001-05:00

I made half a batch of the Sweet Potato Biscuits chosen by Erin of Prudence Pennywise for Tuesday's With Dorie this week. They are good biscuits, but I learned that no one here really likes biscuits. Well, I do. But I shouldn't eat half a batch of sweet potato biscuits. I only wish they actually taste like sweet potatoes. I didn't think they really had much more of a taste than regular biscuits. I used real steamed sweet potatoes that I pureed, instead of canned. I pulsed the dry ingredients and cold butter in the food processor, carefully. It worked great. I carefully folding the sweet potato in with a fork. I also added about 1/2 tablespoon of cream to get the dough together and moist. And I added a pinch of nutmeg. (Can't taste it.) **Update, write up was Monday. Tuesday--today, the sweet potato in the biscuits is much more noticeable in taste! There may be some peanut butter on these in the very near future!

I thought these were good warm out of the oven with some butter. Good pick, Erin, I'm glad I made these.

But that's not the end of the story.

On Saturday, we had a little birthday party for Taylor, it was the one where friends are invited. I planned it a little too late to get very many of his friends to come. But I think it worked out great. His best little buddy, Joey came and together with Scott and Parker, we helped them each carve a pumpkin and then as Taylor wanted, they all got to frost and decorate a cupcake.

Picture intermission----

Taylor and Kevin thought it was fun to leave some of the guts hanging out of the pumpkin's face. Taylor and Joey drew a picture of a jack-o-lantern face on a piece of paper and Kevin and I cut them out.

Kevin actually got Scott to pose for a picture and it looks good. This is rare. Yay! Scott cut his pumpkin all by himself, although he made me do most of the gutting. No one likes to gut a pumpkin. Go figure. Actually, I loathe it, too.

Parker drew his face on a piece of paper, too, and we used a star cutter to cut one of the eyes. He did some of the cutting himself and I helped with some.

Sam napped through the pumpkin carving (thank goodness!), but he was excited to see them when he woke up. I love this next photo. Sam LOVES the Flip Camera, which I affectionately called "The Bertolli" (Thanks BlogHer and Bertolli who gave me the camera when I got to go to the dinner sponsored by Bertolli at St. Supery Winery on my trip to San Francisco last month.) Sam can use the camera with ease and he's only 2! He gets it out of my purse now when we're at the store (instead of my cell phone, which would drive me nuts!). Anyway, Sam grabbed "the Bertolli" so he could take pictures of the pumpkins just like his Daddy was. I love how you can see their reflection in the (dirty) window in this picture.

The cupcakes I made were from a yellow cake mix. But I decided to make part of the batter orange (in color) and part of it I added some cocoa. This is what the cupcakes turned out like.

I made some chocolate frosting using the recipe on the Hershey's cocoa container. The boys when to town.

It's all about the candy and sprinkles on top at our house!

Sam's got "The Bertolli" right there with him.

Didn't they all do a great job? Oh, kidding, these are the ones I did.

Back to TWD Biscuits! I decided just for the heck of it that after carving four nice sized pumpkins to just cut off the flesh from all the eyes, noses and mouths and cook the pumpkin and use it for the biscuits. It made exactly one cup of pumpkin puree that I drained in a tea towel in the fridge overnight. It was perfect puree.

But if you know me, I didn't just make regular pumpkin biscuits. (No, I didn't add chocolate this time, although, hmmm? ;)

I wanted the biscuits to be kind of scone-like and I wanted to really get a sweet cinnamon flavor. While again I didn't think the pumpkin taste was very noticeable, I did get some really nice "biscuits" that were even better the next day!

Here's the biscuits after I just brushed the tops with some cream and sprinkled some turbinado sugar on them.

Then I tried them as I sometimes think of biscuits--with butter and honey.

Good, but still not what I wanted.

THIS is what I wanted them to be like.

I made a very simple icing with powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, a little cream and some cinnamon. These were great! Dorie mentions that these are good when completely cool. I thought these were even great the next day. They were flaky, but dense and moist and the icing added just the sweetness I was looking for. I had read on the P&Q board that Laurie had asked Dorie about using pumpkin and she said to add some extra flour and sugar. So I did.

I iced 9 of the 15 biscuits. I also added cinnamon to the dough, but not quite enough. Would I make these again? Probably, as they seemed to be a perfect, quick way to make a breakfast treat when there's just not enough time for cinnamon rolls. So thanks again for the fun pick this week, Erin! Check out the other TWD blogger's biscuits, too!

Come back later this week for some more amazing Rice Krispy Treats I've made. In case you missed it, I recently made and posted these killer treats! If you can imagine it, I've kicked them up another notch!

Humble Apple Cake Recipe--Kicked Up A Notch

2009-10-16T16:34:00.001-05:00

I thought that I'd play around with this Humble Apple Cake I found in our local Community Mercantile (natural health foods store) newsletter that comes out monthly. While I originally thought the cake looked pretty good and healthy to boot when I first glanced at it, AND IT IS, I couldn't help myself and really kick this up.

Humble Apple Cake, adapted from Nancy O'Connor's Rolling Prairie Cookbook (1998)

Yep, pretty humble, I'd say. I made a few changes from the original recipe. It called for honey. I used agave nectar. I made homemade buttermilk (adding some lemon juice to 2% milk and let sit for 5 minutes) and I added some cinnamon. I was rather surprised this apple cake didn't have cinnamon! Humble. But I was excited to try it as it was healthy and low fat with whole wheat pastry flour, no refined sugar, a minimal amount of oil and only egg whites.

The cake is cakey. Duh. And it's apple-y. Duh. Oh, it's also a little nutty. There's walnuts. But it just wasn't enough. Hmmm. What could I do? (Smiling and smirking to myself, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

Wanna see?

Caramel. But, hmmm? Is that enough? Of course not. It's me talkin' here. What would I normally do to something? Anyone? Anyone? Ice. Scream. Yeah, that's it!

Or in this case, I used a fat free frozen yogurt--you know, to stick with the "healthy" theme of this dessert. It was also a fat free caramel ice cream topping, if that matters. This was really good--and there wasn't even chocolate in it! ;)

Humble Apple Cake, with caramel topping and frozen yogurt, adapted by Katrina from Nancy O'Connor's "Rolling Prairie Cookbook"

6 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup agave nectar (honey or even sugar would work)

2 large egg whites (or 1 whole egg)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup 2% milk and 1 teaspoon lemon juice (sit for 5 minutes to make homemade buttermilk)

1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or a combination of whole wheat and all purpose flour)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups apples, unpeeled and chopped to 1/4 inch dice (I used 1 Granny Smith and 1 Golden Delicious--any kind is fine)

2/3 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. (Or just spray the pan--I like foil for easy release!) (The original recipe said to use a 7 1/2 x 12 inch pan, 9x13 worked fine!)

Whisk together the oil and agave (or honey/sugar). Add egg whites, vanilla and buttermilk. Whisk together well. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix in to wet ingredients. Stir in apples and nuts. Spread batter evenly in pan and bake for 25 minutes. Let cool on wire rack. Remove from pan using foil edges. Cut into desired size slices. Serve with warm caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt! Mmm!

Playing Catch Up

2009-10-15T22:36:00.001-05:00

I'm behind and getting more behind every day it seems. So I'm playing rewind here. How far back should I go? Hmmm.

My parents were here back in September, you know that. (I love this picture. Dad's looking at one camera and Mom is looking at another. Suppose we should have gone one at a time with the cameras.) Anyway, one of the reasons they came, besides to see their favorite daughter (Ha!) is because Parker turned eight and chose to get baptized a member of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Ignore my fat arms. Yes, I have to point those things out so no one thinks I was clueless. ;)

Dad and Da Boys!

Man, we're such the photographic family. Sigh.

Getting ready to take the "plunge". The lighting in that room was horrible!

Nervous, Parker? ;)

September 20, 2009. (Family friend, Bob Gross, confirmed Parker a member of the church after he was baptized by his Dad!) We are so proud of you, Parker, and this decision you made to be baptized in the church.

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While I was in San Francisco a few weeks ago, Kevin made dinner for the kids one night (Well, he actually made dinner for them each night, but one in particular I wanted to show you.)

He made these individual chicken pot pies. I had left a Pillsbury magazine called Pot Pies and Casseroles in the kitchen and he saw the cover photo and decided to make that one night.

He adjusted the recipe a bit and I don't know exactly what he used to make it, but it looked really good and if you want the recipe, let me know, or look for the Pillsbury magazine at your grocery store check out counters. I know one of his alterations with the recipe was instead of using chopped cooked chicken breast, he used, get ready for this, some cut up frozen chicken nuggets. Mmm. ;) These have frozen mixed vegetables and jarred Alfredo sauce, also Pillsbury refrigerated garlic breadsticks. He actually went to the store with the boys and bought the breadsticks. (Great job, Hon!)

I love that he did these fun photos in case I wanted to put this on the blog.

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Sam and his neighbor friend, Sean. Not sure WHAT Sam was so upset about.

Man, if looks could kill! I know he actually didn't really feel very good on this outing. We'd gone to the carillon bell tower at KU Campus to listen to our friend, Liz, play the bells.

That's a happier baby! Sam was playing with blocks one day a few weeks ago and said, "Mom, pichur".

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Painted biscuits with food coloring and milk, cut into shapes. Made butterflies with sausages for the bodies. The boys thought these were pretty fun, but were disappointed that the color wasn't as bright after they baked. Maybe I baked them a couple minutes too long. I got the idea for these from Mandy's great blog, Gourmet Mom on-the-go.

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Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Peanut Butter Bumble Bees. I made these for a meeting I had at church with all the other ladies. They are yummy and super simple to make!

Recipe from Allrecipes for Peanut Butter Bumble Bees. I must have followed this one as the recipe indicates as I didn't write any notes on it.

"Don't eat me. Pleazzzzzzzzz." Sorry, they were all eaten right up.

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Playdoh fun. Talented, isn't he.

Okay, okay, I may have had a hand in this. But he did help put the rays on the sun.

Taylor did this whole thing himself. Again, they both asked me to take these pictures. Now if I could just get them to pose for pictures when I actually WANT them to. Sigh.

Okay, I feel better about getting caught up--a little. Next up, Taylor's birthday from Monday last.

TWD--Allspice Chocolate Chip Crumb Muffin--Coffee Cake and Another Birthday Boy

2009-10-13T06:54:00.001-05:00

Well, I had to do something different didn't I? I mean, Allspice Muffins just wasn't enough for me and hello--no chocolate. I don't think so. ;) kidding. I was actually glad this week's Tuesday's With Dorie recipe was a simple one, it was chosen by Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table (I think this woman is GREAT!).

This all came down to me just being so lazy that I didn't want to prep a muffin pan. I know, it's not like it's so much more involved than putting foil in a pan, but after I thought about it, I just thought it would be fun to try the muffin recipe as a coffee cake. It WAS fun and pretty tasty, too. I'm actually really glad I added the chocolate chips because I thought just the part of the cake that didn't have any was rather plain. Mostly I just don't think the kids would have eaten the muffins as the recipe was written.

I did change a few things in the recipe. You can get the recipe as Dorie wrote it at Kayte's blog, or you can get the book, Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan. Lovin' this book and this TWD group.

Oh, I also made a rippled layer of chocolate chips and brown sugar in the center.

Here's the recipe as I made it. I made a few ingredient changes where I didn't think it would affect the recipe too much. These were nice and moist. I hadn't really used allspice as a main flavor ingredient before and did think it was a little too much like cloves, but it wasn't bad, just not what I would do again. I would have preferred this with some cinnamon in it as well.

Allspice Chocolate Chip Crumb Muffin Coffee Cake, adapted by Katrina from Dorie Greenspan, Baking From My Home to Yours, pages 16-17

Streusel:

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Middle Layer:

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

sprinkles of allspice

Muffins:

1 cup all unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs

1/2 cup fat free milk

1/4 cup low fat buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8x8 inch square pan with foil. Spray with cooking spray. Set aside. (Or could make muffins.)

For the streusel, put the flour, brown sugar, allspice and chocolate chips in a medium bowl and mix together. Add the bits of cold butter and toss, then use your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until you have irregularly shaped crumbs. Set aside in the refrigerator.

For the middle layer, combine the brown sugar and chocolate chips in a small bowl. Set aside.

For the muffins, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the brown sugar. In a glass bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, milk, buttermilk and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and stir together just until mixed.

Put half the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the chocolate chip/brown sugar mixture evenly over the batter. Sprinkle with desired amount of allspice. Spread the second half of the batter evenly over that then top with the streusel. Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack, then using the foil edges, remove from pan and cut into desired size pieces.

I may have gone a little long in the baking, the streusel was a little more crispy than I wanted, but it was still good.

The boys all enjoyed a piece Sunday morning.

Check out all the other "muffins" out there in TWD world. Sorry I had to add chocolate to your muffins, Kayte! ;)

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Happy Birthday, Taylor! The big SIX Monday. More to come about all the birthday festivities!

We love you, T, and are sure glad you're part of our family!

Heavenly Chocolate Caramel Rice Krispy Treats and My Mom!

2009-10-09T22:44:00.001-05:00

Besides the fact that for the most part these are "rice" Krispy treats (I say "rice" with quotes because I used the new Jumbo Whole Grain Krispies), so for the most part I didn't make THAT up, but besides that, I'm happy when I actually totally make something up and especially when it turns out YUMMY! Okay, that first sentence was grammatically horrible, but I don't feel like what it would take to think through fixing it to make it sound better. So I'll shut up about that and just tell you these Heavenly Chocolate Caramel Rice Krispy Treats are SO good.

I wanted to come up with something to use up some aging (but not stale) Rice Krispies I had--the new Jumbo Whole Grain ones as well as some large marshmallows that were beginning to all stick to each other in the bag. I also had some caramels in my baking pantry. My wonderful, clean cupboards and pantry! My parents were here from Idaho a few weeks ago.

Then they went and spent some time with my brother, Matt, in Indiana, over to my sister, Sara's, in Iowa and we "conned" them in to coming back to Kansas so my mom could stay with the boys while we went to Virginia. My dad left my mom and we got her a ticket to fly home. He drove home the next day. Anyway, my wonderful mother (Love you so much, Mom!), cleaned out and organized all my kitchen cupboards. They were a little stuffed full of stuff and in quite the disarray. She's into being all organized and such lately and told me I need "bins, bins, bins." We got a bunch of all different sizes and she purged things that needed to be thrown out, moved things I didn't need in the kitchen to our downstairs storage and made it so easy for me to find things in my kitchen! Anyway, she made a bin full (a big, heavy bin) of all the candy I had stashed everywhere. Some being little things here and there, but most of it was candy I'd purchased to make something with during all my baking--hence, the caramels.

So where was I? Oh these delicious treats! I wanted ooey gooey and boy did I get it! Here's what I did

Heavenly Chocolate Caramel Rice Krispy Treats, by Katrina

*Note, some of my measurements are a little strange, but that was because I wanted to use up some things I had. But one thing I've always believed in with Rice Krispy Treats is extra marshmallows and/or a little less Krispies as there is just nothing worse than hard, dry, too crispy Rice Krispy Treats.

17 ounces marshmallows (a 16 oz. bag would be fine)

6 tablespoons (3 oz.) butter, cup up

6-7 cups (8 ounces) Jumbo Whole Grain Krispy cereal (Rice Krispies would be fine, too)

48 caramels (14 ounces), unwrapped (duh ;)

1/2 cup cream

12 ounces (1 package) semi sweet chocolate chips (I used Hershey's Special Dark)

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons cream

pecans (optional)

Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray (or just spray the pan). I love foil for easy release, I use non-stick foil.) In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine marshmallows and butter until melted. Stirring very often. Stir in cereal and combine well. Spread evenly in pan. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, add caramels and 1/2 cup cream and melt together over medium heat. Stir frequently as it melts, about 5 minutes. Pour the hot, gooey caramel over the rice crispies and spread it evenly. It will seep all through the nooks and crannies.

Put the chocolate in a medium sized bowl. In a small saucepan (or a microwave safe dish--which is what I did), bring the 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cream to a boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for about one minute. Stir with a wire whisk until it is melted and smooth. Pour that over the caramel rice treats and spread evenly. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. Remove from pan using the edges of the foil. Peel off the foil. Set on a cutting board and cut to desired sizes.

Do you see the goo-factor here on the underside of these? They have a perfect chewy-crunch and an immense caramel flavor, not to mention a perfect amount of chocolate. I sprinkled about 1/3 cup of pecans over about one third of the caramel (some of my kids think they don't like nuts). I also think pecans on top of the chocolate layer would be good. Turtle Rice Krispies! Mmmm!

These are super rich and so good that they really shouldn't be in my hosue, for my sake. They are sticky enough that Sam wasn't crazy about them. Silly, lick your fingers. Come to think of it, Taylor and Parker didn't like the stickiness either. I shared some with some friends last night and they liked them.

In closing, it was so fun and wonderful to have my parents here and my mother even longer. Thank you so much for watching the boys for us while we were in Virginia! I never seem to forget to take pictures of food, but darn it all, I didn't take as many pictures of my parents and my mom with the boys as I would have liked! I meant to have all four of them get in a picture with Grandma before they went to school the morning she left, but forgot until it was just Taylor and Sam. Here's what we got. Sam screaming and fighting to get away. Sigh.

Love you to pieces, Mommy! Thanks for everything.

TWD--Rewind All The Way to Last Week--Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart, and Happy Birthday, Kevin! (Sorry--I Tried and Couldn't Get the Pudding Made For This Week's TWD!)

2009-10-06T00:07:00.001-05:00

First of all, Happy Birthday, Hon! (Oct. 5)

Second, sigh--it's been a crazy, busy two weeks! After going to San Francisco to attend the Food Blogher '09 Conference, I got back from that last Monday night, then Kevin and I left on Thursday as he had an interview at Virginia Tech and they invited me to come along. My mom watched the boys for us (THANK YOU, MOM!!!) and we had a great trip. Interview went well (glad it wasn't me), Virginia is beautiful and Kevin and I decided Roanoke, VA has the cutest, little airport in the world! It had six gates. Six. That's all. This was heaven for Kevin as he really hates crowded places. I joked as we waited in the rental car line that when two people came and got in line behind us that they just doubled the population at the airport! As we sat waiting for our airplane (thank goodness those weren't too small!), it was so nice and quiet and peaceful and so not crowded. Kevin said, "I seriously feel giddy." I asked him if he wanted to skip around a bit.

That's the whole airport. See, cute, huh.

Kevin and I were really upset that our plane was at Gate 6, I mean, we had to walk all the way down to the end of the terminal! Why is it that whatever plane you're getting on is always the farthest gate away? Those lucky people who had Gate 1! (Seriously, From Gate 1 to 6 was probably maybe 100 yards! CUTE! ;) Okay, moving on.

Loved the gorgeous rolling hills in Virginia! And no Blacksburgians, them are not mountains! ;)

We missed the changing leaves by just a week or so. In fact, we got there on Thursday and barely any trees were starting to change.

Virginia Tech Campus is beautiful!

Even just in the few short days we were there, the trees were working their autumn magic.

We loved the buildings on campus.

Then I just have to show you this. As Kevin and I were leaving Blacksburg to drive back to Roanoke to the airport, we passed a Wienermobile. Even just one split second later and I would have had a perfect shot for Kevin to have opened his mouth and get a bite of the thing! How cool of a picture would that have been!

Okay, where were we? Yes, by next summer, we will be moving. Not sure where yet. We will know in the next month or two. The suspense is killing us! ;)

We got back Sunday afternoon. (I always write my TWD posts on Monday night.) So it's Monday, but you're really reading this most likely on Tuesday. Anyway, today (Monday) is/was Kevin's birthday. For the occasion, I just couldn't pass up last week's TWD that I missed. So I made the Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart that Carla at Chocolate Moosey chose.

I have an 11 inch tart pan. So I made one and a third the recipe for the sweet tart dough. Perfect amount.

I should have gone with my instinct and doubled the caramel, but after spreading it as thin as I could with the pecans I used, it just wasn't enough. So I made another quick batch of the caramel. I followed Dorie's instructions to a tee and had me some nice caramel. The only thing I thought was that it was just a bit too solid. I wanted ooey, gooey caramel like the picture in the book looks and like many TWDers tarts looked that I drooled over last week. Mine was a bit more like maybe a Sugar Daddy--remember those--teeth pulling candy on a stick from back in the day.

I'd seen that many said there was plenty of ganache, so I made the amount the recipe called for and it was perfectly enough for the 11 inch tart. The ganache set up beautifully, but I liked it better fully chilled and served right from the fridge than having it at room temperature. But everyone we had over for Kevin's birthday loved it.

In my haste to serve a 14 people or so for the birthday festivities, I didn't think my pictures of a slice of the tart turned out very well. Oh well, that's all I've got. Still, the tart was pretty good. I would definitely tweak a few things if I made it again. For the caramel, I wouldn't cook it that last two minutes after adding the butter and cream and hopefully it wouldn't be quite so chewy and toffee-tasting. Then, I would try it with a milk chocolate. I just think the darker chocolate is not quite sweet enough. Rich enough though! I'm picky about the things I make, I want them to be perfect, but everyone who ate some of it said it was great.

Kevin actually hasn't even tried it yet. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday treat, he said he really just likes brownies. So I also made a super quick batch of brownies (boxed, shhhh!) with walnuts (per Kevin's request).

So this was Kevin's birthday treat. A couple brownies with a little Chocolate Ice Cream and of course, a candle.

My mom and Taylor made Kevin a birthday crown. He wore it proudly all evening. Then I missed the shot of him blowing out the candle, so I made him pose for a couple. You're welcome, Honey. (He loves it when I post goofy pictures of him on my blog!) hehe

Happy Birthday, Kevin! We love you! (The boys all proudly made him some fun homemade cards and were so excited to give them to him all day.)

Missed getting a picture with all the boys together and their daddy.

He got himself some nice (read-expensive) sunglasses for his birthday.

My mom doesn't eat chocolate, so I also wanted to have a treat she would like (and I knew others would like it, too!) So I whipped out My Divine Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. I've been wanting to make it again for a while now.

Sorry for such a long post. And sorry also to Garrett of The Flavor of Vanilla for not being able to get to the pudding this week. I really wanted to get it done and post a two for one, but it just didn't happen. Check out his pudding and the recipe on the link to his blog, along with what the other Tuesday's With Dorie bloggers have done this week! Life should be slowing down just a bit now for a short while. Sigh! Yay.

Giveaway Winner!

2009-10-02T09:09:00.001-05:00

We have a winner for my grater/juicer and the Oikos/Stonyfield Farms Organic Greek Yogurt coupons giveaway!

Amanda from Amanda's Cookin' was the chosen winner after Kevin and I and each of the four boys chose names out of a bowl. Then my mom (who is visiting and staying with the kids while Kevin and I are out of town! Thanks, Mom!) blindly chose one of the six that were picked by us. Amanda is the winner! I've already spoke to Amanda (via email) about her big win! ;) Congrats!

I've been crazy busy with travel and things over the last couple weeks, but sure hope to be back to my regular posting SOON! See ya!

TWD--Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart and a Giveaway

2009-09-29T06:13:00.001-05:00

I just got back from my wonderful trip to San Francisco for the Food BlogHer Conference (check out my fun post all about the trip if you haven't seen it yet!) Monday night. So I was not able to make the heavenly looking Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart that Carla at Chocolate Moosey chose for Tuesday's With Dorie this week. But rest assured, my plan is for you to get a two for one next week! I just can't pass that tart up. And I can't wait to see what all the other TWD bakers and bloggers do with it!

Now don't think I'd just leave it at that. I thought since you've taken the time to stop by that I would have a little giveaway. And why? Well, because during the summer I got one of these grater/juicers and while I was at it, grabbed one to share with a lucky one of you, too. I have actually really liked especially zesting citrus with it. And I just now noticed that it also has an egg separator, too. I've actually only used it for zesting and juicing, but now I can't wait to use it the next time I need to separate an egg or two (and heaven knows with TWD, we will have to separate eggs! ;) I also like that it measures liquids.

But that's not all. You see, a few months back, the people at Stonyfield/Oikos Greek Yogurt sent me a nice little package of goodies which included some coupons for some of their Oikos yogurt. I quickly found their smaller single serving containers of yogurt at my grocery store and loved the yogurt! But they also sent me two coupons for the 16 oz. containers of Oikos Greek Yogurt. Believe me when I tell you, I have searched HI and LO at all the stores 'round these parts and I cannot find 16 oz. containers of Oikos yogurt. I even looked an hour away from here at the nearest Whole Foods and thought for sure they would have it. Nope. I have given up. But I do not want to see these coupons just go to waste. They are good until the last day of the year. And they could be yours for the taking.

Hurry before this guy eats the coupons! He's pretty scary and hungry. He almost bit my finger when I grabbed the coupons back! ;)

Leave me a comment telling me your favorite city to visit (or live) in and why. I've got another crazy week coming up as Kevin and I will be going out of town on Thursday and won't be back until Sunday, so hmmm, let's see. How about deadline for the giveaway will be Thursday at 9 a.m. central time. Then we'll pick a winner before we leave. (Kevin has an interview with Virginia Tech and they pretty much already want him to say yes to the potential job offer so much that they want me to come, too. Heck, we'll take a nice little getaway together, and just on the heels of my great trip to San Francisco as well! Thanks beforehand to my mom for coming to watch the boys while we're gone. We'll owe you for this one for sure!) This little giveaway is for those in the US only. (Sorry.) We'll randomly choose a winner in our favorite way, by putting all the comments in a bowl and having each of the boys pick one, then for fun this time, we'll have my mom choose the winner from those! So fun. Good luck.

It's "The Bay Area"! (And Food BlogHer '09 Conference)

2009-09-28T02:26:00.001-05:00

I'm in "The Bay Area" --otherwise known as San Francisco--not "The Bay" as I was once so matter-of-factly corrected by my then three year old niece, Ehryn. Year ago--let's see, I'll do the math, my niece was about three then, and she's almost 22!!! Gasp. I can't believe that. Anyway, about 19 years ago, I visited my sister, Mandi, as she lived in/around Oakland. She took me all over to see the sites of San Francisco, her beloved city (My sister passed away almost 10 years ago, being here in San Francisco is bringing back floods of Mandi memories!). We piled in the car one day, with my niece along for fun and as we were going across the bridge (The Bay Bridge--right?), I said to Ehryn, who I was sitting in the backseat with, "Ehryn, we're going to the Bay." She said to me in such a corrective, authoritative voice, "Katrina, it's The Bay Area." Well, who knew? I hadn't realized you couldn't just call it The Bay. No matter what you call it, here I am! Kevin worked it out for me to be able to go to the Food BlogHer '09 Conference. He has been home with the boys all weekend while I'm here "playing". (Thanks, Kev, this really has been a great getaway. I recommend "mom's getaways" to all moms. It's a good thing.)

Friday afternoon I arrived and had a great time relaxing in my gorgeous Le Meridien Hotel room for a few hours before I got to go to the St. Supery Winery for a BlogHer/Bertolli Frozen Foods dinner. I entered a contest and was one of about 20 bloggers chosen to attend this dinner, which was endorsed and some of it made by Chef Rocco DiSpirito.

Do not laugh at me in the picture, I feel like I look like a deer caught in the headlights (not to mention I think I look fat--but don't I always!), but here's Rocco and I.

It was so fun to see him. (If you know me, you know I like seeing and meeting famous people. He mingled with everyone and ate dinner right there with us. He stopped and talked about each of the courses he prepared (my pictures of the food turned out horribly-so I will spare you that!). Rocco is endorsing Bertolli Frozen Meals and I think he has great reason to do so. I thought their frozen pasta dishes were pretty darn good! Some were better than others, but I especially liked their Chianti Braised Beef & Rigatoni and the Mushroom Lasagna in a tasty tomato rosa sauce (The mushroom lasagna is not available in stores yet--but will be VERY soon!) I'm sure I'll stock a few of these ready to make and EASY meals in my freezer and am super glad I got to try them! Thanks, Laura and Stacy (Ogilvy) and all the Bertolli crew as well as Gina and Erin from BlogHer! They gave us a nice gift pack of a bottle of wine (Enjoy, Anna!), a Flip Video Camera and we're told they are sending us a signed copy of one of Rocco's cookbooks! Thanks, Bertolli!

Part of the evening, duh, since it was at a winery was pairing the best wines with the different pasta dishes. You may know that I don't drink alcohol. Never have. Never will. I still enjoyed getting the chance to go to the winery, it was beautiful. And it was fun observing the others around me enjoying all the different wines throughout the evening and watching their personalities change as they'd had more and more to drink! ;) Some handled it better than others. (By the time we got to the winery, it was just getting dark, so we didn't get to take pictures of the outside. Beautiful wine country though! I kept thinking of Cathy at Noble Pig while I was at the winery. She and her husband are starting a vineyard in Oregon, you know. And someday, she'll be the one talking all about the wine and sharing her love of it with all the visitors. For now, she has a light hearted, delicious blog!

Yesterday was the first annual Food BlogHer '09 Conference. I met (and she'll be embarrassed, but she's MY hero of the baking and blogging world), Anna of Cookie Madness!

I'd never met Anna until yesterday, but felt like we were old friends. I am glad she talked me in to going to the conference and that I got to put a real person with this blogging friend I've enjoyed baking and chatting with for a while now.

I'm kind of lame in the picture taking department--lame in that I chicken out of telling people I want their picture and really lame when I'm in the picture myself. But I totally enjoyed meeting so many people whose blogs I've loved and had the pleasure of reading and looking at for a while now! I will probably forget some, but especially enjoyed meeting---

Mary of The Food Librarian (Can you say--YUMMY bundt cakes? The myth has been resolved. Not all librarians are old ladies with buns in their hair. hehe Mary is a great, young gal with a tasty blog and she just happens to be a librarian, too.)

Wendy of Pink Stripes (A fellow Tuesday's With Dorie baker whose blog leaves me drooling!)

Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod (Maria's blog is newer than mine and she's probably in her early 20's, but she bakes, cooks and blogs like an old pro! If I was in Utah, I'd want to eat at her place!)

Nicole of Baking Bites (Nicole's blog is one of the first I ever started reading. And besides Cookie Madness is probably the site I turn to for yummy recipes that I know will turn out every time. I've made a lot of Nicole's recipes and can't wait to buy her new cookbook--a picture with every recipe, my favorite--that and it's all delicious looking baked goods!)

Jenn of Just Jenn Recipes (A new blogger with more yummy food!)

Lori of The Recipe Girl (I didn't even realize Lori was on the bus in the seat right in front of me to the winery until they had us all introduce ourselves and tell about our blogs. Lori's blog is another I've enjoyed for a while now.)

Tiffany of The Cookie Blog (Again, didn't realize she was on the bus to the winery until she introduced herself to everyone. I kept thinking she looked familiar. Her blog--Hello, it's all about cookies!)

There are more bloggers I met, those are some off the top of my head, it was great to meet everyone that I met!

The conference was really good, full of lots of great speakers, all of which who have very successful blogs. I attended sessions which included some of these great bloggers.

Alanna Kellogg of Kitchen Parade and A Veggie Venture (Wasn't familiar with her blogs, but can't wait to

check them out more!)

Kalyn Denny of Kalyn's Kitchen (love looking at all her healthy dishes and pictures of Utah and have for a couple years now!)

Lauren (Lolo) Ulm of Vegan Yum Yum (I'm not vegan and don't ever plan on being vegan, but she was a great speaker and I can't wait to see more of her blog--she also has a cookbook coming out!)

Elana Amsterdam of Elana's Pantry (I'm not gluten-free, but have loved her blog for a few years now. Take a look at her gorgeous photos! Elana also has MS, which is a topic near and dear to me and makes me "love" her even more! Elana can take a picture of simple, plain old kale like nobody's business!)

Michelle Lentz of My Wine Education (Enjoyed listening to her ideas about blogging.)

Those were the panelist at the first session I attended. After Anna and I sat on the floor (packed room!) for this session, there was a break and food demonstration by a former Top Chef participant. It was LOUD in the room full of people talking and Anna and I decided to go outside and take a walk. We took our BlogHer conference swag bags back to her hotel so we didn't have to lug them around the rest of the day. Then we took a taxi back to the St. Regis where the conference was held. Lunch was being served.

Rocco was at it again, telling us about Bertolli frozen meals and even showing us how quick they are to prepare. The tables were set very nicely and we ate a nice salad with tuna, three more Bertolli pastas and a roll. Anna and I skipped out on dessert (milk chocolate panna cotta--by Rocco--I've never cared for panna cotta/flan type desserts), but we wanted to go get an actual chair at the next session.

The next session we attended was great, too. (I'm being too lazy to write all about the things we learned, but it all helped me figure out which direction I want to go with my blog.) The speakers in this session were--

Amy Sherman of Cooking With Amy (I wasn't familiar with her blog, but met her because Anna knows her. She is very knowledgeable in the blogging world and really nice. I'm excited to add her blog to my reader, especially as I just went to her blog so I could link it and right there front and center was one of my favorite things--peanut butter and banana on a slice of bread!)

Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen (Jaden has a cookbook coming out. The photos on her blog are divine!)

Helen Dujardin of Tartelette (Helen's blog is beautiful and yummy. She is a "real" pastry chef/food writer/recipe developer/food stylist/food photographer/food class instructor/WHEW! That's a lot of talent!)

Had enough of all these blog link reviews? Then stop reading this. ;) I'm going to continue. Why? Just because I feel like it.

The final session of the day that I attended was a fun panel that included---

Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman (Ever heard of her? Who hasn't, really? She was a joy to listen to. Somehow, as a mom of four, home schooler, among other things, she has five great blogs!)

Diane Jacob of Will Write For Food (Fun foodie reading!)

Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic (If you want to know what kind of guy Garrett is, check out a recent post of his about Pumpkin Bread Pudding with shaved chocolate and look at his caption on the photo of chocolate on a grater. Too funny, but please, take his advice!)

Susan Russo of Food Blogga (Oh my gosh, there's so many great blogs out there, here is yet another!)

Photo intermission-------------------------------------------- Feel free to get up and stretch your legs for a second.

Next up was another demonstration by Chef Elizabeth Falkner. She took a bunch of Scharffen Berger chocolate ganache, gooey caramel, homemade marshmallows, some spicy spices, pretzels, peanut butter, Corn Nuts and a few other things and combined it with her hands. Then she let conference goers put on plastic gloves and dig in by the handfuls and eat the concoction out of their hands. I did not take any, but everyone who did sure thought it was fun and delicious.

We then attended the closing keynote by three popular bloggers which again included--

Ree of The Pioneer Woman

Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes (Food blogging at its best.)

And one of my newest favorites, David Lebovitz (Ice Cream hero of my life this summer! David added some nice humor to the panel as he enjoyed taking a friendly jab at Ree and Elise during the discussions.)

I knew this picture I took wouldn't come out very well because of the lighting in the room, but here's Ree, David and Elise.

And THAT concluded the conference. Whew. Why did I link all those blogs? Really, for my own benefit.

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I ordered a salad and a little dessert from the hotel's room service for dinner Saturday night. A gigantic Asian salad that I felt like I really plowed through, but still left quite a bit uneaten. I should have taken a picture of the thing. As Sam says about lots of things these days, "giant". It's so cute, you should hear him say it. I must be missing my bebes.

I first thought this Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Cheesecake with fresh berries and caramel drizzle looked a little wimpy for the price I paid for it ($8), but after eating the salad, this was the perfect amount of cheesecake and the berries with caramel were delicious!

The cheesecake doesn't even look that great, (I hate the lighting in hotel rooms!) but I thought it tasted fabulous.

Today (Sunday), I dilly dallied through the morning, realized my hotel was only a few blocks from the Ferry Building, went for a little walk around the area and worked a little on this blog post.

Embarcadero Center and Ferry Building

While I was down at the Ferry Building, a 10K Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer Awareness was going on.

I was feeling a little welling up inside as I watched people run to the finish line for a bit. I thought it was great to hear little groups of people cheering the runners on as they were almost done. Someday I'd like to run a benefit race of some kind.

Anna and I met up at 12:30 with Rina! We had never met Rina before, but she is a reader of our blogs, who talked with Anna about meeting as she lives in the area. She was so nice to meet up with us. She made us some cupcakes--Red Velvet. I took two of them and gave Anna the rest to take home. Rina--they seriously are really good, very moist and I love the little chocolate chips inside. Get that blog started! Can't wait to see more! ;)

We had lunch at Tartine, which was an interesting, busy bakery with funky art on the walls.

Here is Anna and I at Citizen Cake , which is owned by Elizabeth Falkner, the executive chef who was at the Food BlogHer Conference and has also appeared on Food Network and is quite the renowned chef! Lots of yummy things at Citizen Cake!

Thanks for the rabbit ears, Anna! ;)

Yummy cookies. I assume. I bought a couple. The German Chocolate cookie and "the" chocolate chip cookie. Didn't try them. I accidentally left them in Rina's car! Oh well. I'll bet they were good and heaven knows I didn't NEED them! ;)

What a couple of great ladies!

Rina then took us to the Ferry Building for some shopping. I bought one of these giant cookies. They are from Scharffen Berger. A little crisp, but mostly chewy and the chocolate is FINE!

More crappy hotel room lighting.

Thanks again for spending the afternoon with us, Rina!

Anna and I said our goodbyes, then I took a little break in the hotel room before deciding I wanted to make my way down to Fisherman's Wharf. It was probably close to two miles there and another two back. But I'm so happy I did it. Loved seeing more of good old San Francisco and it was gorgeous warm weather with a nice breeze.

I thought, "Oh cool, there's some sea lions out."

Then I walked a little further down the pier where there was a much bigger crowd of people. And lots of funny barking noises. Then I saw the real party.

I am pretty sure the last time I was in San Francisco--15, 16, 17 years ago there were NO sea lions out. I read this. Cool.

Alcatraz

Way off in the distance of this next one you can see Golden Gate Bridge. It was just starting to get a little foggy, so I never did get a good picture of it. Sure purty out there though!

I passed by Boudin Bakery where you can watch bakers prepare some of the bread. You can also talk through the window to them (the bakers, not the crab. Ba dum dum!). Look at this giant crab loaf and cute pig.

I got me a half turkey/avocado sandwich and little salad to go. Didn't realize until I got back to my hotel to eat it that they didn't give me a fork. I had a spoon in the room. You ever try eating a salad with a spoon?

Both the salad and the sandwich were really good. Just don't tell anyone that I mostly ate the salad with my fingers (worked much better than the spoon did!).

Before heading back though, I made my way a little further to Ghirardelli Square. I wanted to because it brings back memories of when I was in San Fran with Mandi (my sister).

CHOCOLATE!

My boys will LOVE these pictures. They'll probably also like the bag of taffy I got for them!

The Candy Barrel Store

And that, my friends, is possibly my longest post ever (I'm not sure though, because NYC last year in April were some pretty long ones.) This is how I can only get it done. I know that once I go home tomorrow, I'll have a much harder time than sitting in the quiet of the hotel room. Again, THANKS, Kev, for working it out for me to go on this trip!

TWD--I Think They Should Be Called Jam Pufflets or Something Like That (We don't say that other two words in the title around our house, although I love it!)

2009-09-22T06:26:00.001-05:00

Today's Tuesday's With Dorie recipe was chosen by Jacque (What a talent she is!) of Daisy Lane Cakes. The recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours used a(nother) flaky pastry dough (similar to last week). This dough was very wet and many complained that it was hard to work with, especially as it became room temperature quickly after it had been chilled. I just used lots of flour on the counter and didn't have any sticking problems. I worked quickly and made sure I had everything else I needed ready to go. Although it's wooden and not marble like some, I also threw my rolling pin in the freezer for a couple hours. I think it helped.

I made half the recipe. I cut circles not squares. And then as Kevin put it, "you just can't follow a recipe exactly, can you?"--I came up with lots of fun things to put inside. The recipe only suggested jam. I did some with jam. Raspberry. They're good.

That would have been a lot of raspberry pufflets had I done them all that way.

So I didn't. I made a couple with some chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Yep, that's right.

I had fun looking in the cupboard for things that would be fun and yummy. I made some with mini chocolate chips, coconut, and almonds. They were "joy"ous!

I made a couple as Smore's. That's right. Marshmallow Creme, chocolate and graham cracker crumbs.

A few of them I added the raspberry jam and threw in some pecans, too. I know, I'm nuts! But they're good ;) Also made one with just some chocolate chips.

There was still all the scrap dough left. I balled it up and wrapped it back up and put it in the fridge to chill again. Then I didn't feel like rolling, cutting, filling, pinching together, and venting anymore, so I made a pufflet galette. After rolling the dough out thin, I used the rest of the raspberry jam I had out and spread that on the bottom, then I sprinkled the remaining coconut over that. Followed by some chopped pecans and almonds and the mini chocolate chips. THIS, my friends, is delicious! A wonderful combination of flavors! Perfect because I didn't have to put such a small dab of filling on it, I didn't have to pinch anything or vent it with holes. I brushed some milk on the dough then sprinkled it with sugar.

Crusty, flaky things are dangerous for me. I like them. I eat too much. I should have quartered the recipe.

I love crust. Oh, I said that already.

I like the filling, too. It all went great together.

Thanks, Jacque, although this was similar to last weeks turnovers, I had fun playing around with it. Check out all the other pufflets in TWD Land for more creative deliciousness.

Come on back next Tuesday's, (I may not post again until then as I'll be going out of town in a few days for a short time--Food BlogHer's unite in San Francisco baby! I'll be having a giveaway you'll definitely want to see!

TWD--Flaky Apple Turnovers--Flaky, But Not Really Apple

2009-09-15T06:16:00.001-05:00

This week's Dorie Greenspan's, Baking From My Home to Yours recipe was chosen by Julie at Someone's in the Kitchen. She chose Flaky Apple Turnovers on pages 316-317. I did not make apple turnovers. Although I do love apple pie. I just didn't think the kids would eat the apple, so I made cherry turnovers AND, and--get this---BANANA chocolate chip turnovers. That's what I'm talkin' about.

I'm not very thrilled with the way my pictures turned out, but the turnovers are quite tasty! (I think the egg wash LOOKS like egg on the turnovers. Maybe it's just me. I mean, I realize it IS egg, but it looks kind of funny. And looking at the actual turnovers themselves, it doesn't look that noticeable. Anyway, thanks for the fun pick, Julie. Feel free to check out the Tuesday's With Dorie blog to see all the other "apple" turnovers out there this week.

I halved the recipe. (Used light sour cream) Chilled the dough in the freezer (I was in a hurry), for about 30 minutes. Let it sit out on the counter for 10 minutes or so. Rolled it out, folded it in thirds and put it in the fridge for a good hour. That's all the time I had. I had no problem rolling out the dough (on a floured surface). I made about 8 banana turnovers. No measurements. I just chopped up a banana, threw in some mini chocolate chips and some brown sugar. Spooned a small amount into my 3 5/8 inch round cut dough circles. Then I made 8-10 cherry turnovers. I used canned cherry pie filling. The boys like it. So does Kevin. Then I still had leftover dough, so after chilling it again, I made a rustic streusel topped cherry galette. Sprinkled everything with turbinado sugar.

I knew the cherry filling would ooze. Oh well.

Banana Chocolate Chip Turnovers

I didn't even measure for the topping. A little flour, sugar and some butta.

Has to have a little of this---

Ahhh, much better.

And as a sweet ending, Sam was playing with blocks today (Monday) and said to me, "Take a picture, Mom." Could he BE any cuter? Didn't think so!

Such a sweet, angelic face on such a little stinker! ;)

Love you, Sam-o!

Birthday Rainbow Cupcakes and Romesco

2009-09-13T22:22:00.001-05:00

I've seen Rainbow Cupcakes hovering (I was going to say "floating", but rainbows don't float, so I went with "hovering") around the blogosphere and they looked so cool. So I thought I would make those for Parker's birthday party he had with his friends. That was supposed to be last Saturday, the 5th. Parker decided to (gross) vomit a few times that morning. Not sure why, not sure what was wrong, but since his birthday party was at the local swimming pool, I canceled it. I could have seen the local paper's headline the next day, "Community of Swimmers Infected With Stomach Virus." Yeah, no. Lucky for us, they were able to get us in the next week, yesterday. I had already made the rainbow cupcakes but hadn't frosted them yet, so into the freezer they went. They were great! The kids loved them and although just a tad time consuming, they were easy to make!

I used a recipe I found on Nicole's trusty blog, Baking Bites. Her recipe said it would make 10 cupcakes, so I doubled the recipe and must have filled mine with a lot more batter, because the double recipe only made 12 cupcakes. I can tell just from looking at hers and mine that I definitely filled mine fuller. Hers are so cute and dainty. She also used one less color than I did. Parker and his friends thought they were pretty cool, so that's all that mattered. I piped some white 7-minute frosting on top because I thought it looked like clouds. Get it--rainbow and clouds. 'eh

All the colors, ready to go.

So last Saturday, after we postponed the party, I couldn't help it, I froze 11 cupcakes and kept one to frost and cut open, I was anxious to see the inside. I made up a super easy marshmallow frosting, just a tiny amount, enough to frost one cupcake. I used marshmallow creme, a little butter, powdered sugar and a touch of vanilla. It was pretty tasty.

Not quite a rainbow, but pretty darn colorful and cool. In hindsight, I would 1, omit purple next time and 2, not use quite so much of each color. It would also be fun to just use 2-3 colors and swirl it around for a tie-die look.

Fast forward one week. I pulled the 11 frozen cupcakes out of the freezer and frosted them on Saturday. I made a 7-minute frosting, which is also like marshmallow and really good. I love that it has no butter! Just egg whites, and a sugar syrup with a little cream of tartar in it. Let the mixer do the work and you have a great, not to sweet, fluffy frosting.

I used a recipe found here on the King Arthur website for the 7 minute frosting.

Some of the kids scarfed their cupcakes down.

Parker, on the other hand, took one bite of his and told me he didn't want it. I'm telling you, there's something wrong with these boys of mine not liking cake! I think Parker did eat about half that bag of Doritos, Cheestos, Pretzels Munchies!

It was a good, (easy) birthday party as they swam for an hour, Parker opened presents, then had treats. I like that.

I enjoyed sitting and talking with one of the boy's moms while they swam. Taylor was mad at me because I didn't get in the water with him. I was getting quite the glares. (BAD photo color!)

Before the glares, Taylor was actually having fun. It was when he realized I wasn't going to get in the water with him that he was pretty mad. I didn't want to leave the one mom sitting by herself (AND I didn't have to get into my swimming suit!)

Parker was having so much fun, this is the only picture I could get of him in the water with his friends.

Happy Birthday, Parker. It's now officially over until next year!

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There was about half that 7-minute frosting leftover, so I whipped up one of these quick, tasty Chocolate Crazy Cakes. I took the frosting and added one ounce of melted bittersweet chocolate and folded that in. Mmmm!

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Now, to end this post with something savory. What? Well, I can't help it. Blame it on Chef Paige. Yep, another class, more delicious recipes. I feel like I'm really branching out here. The recipe was part of Paige's Spanish Tapas class. I can't wait to make the Tortilla Espanola--delicious potato omelet. (I'm pretty proud here, I even ate a bite of shrimp. I do not like shrimp! It's more the texture, but I did taste it!) Tonight as part of dinner, I made Romesco. Paige has adapted a recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone book. This stuff is so flavorful and de-lish! It's a sauce/dip for broiled or grilled vegetables. Well, thin it out a little more and I could almost drink it! ;) (ha, kidding!) Since it's a sauce, it didn't photograph really well, but here's a few photos anyway.

Wait, that looks pretty good to me!

I served it with some roasted carrots, baby potatoes and sweet potatoes and some baked, crispy flatbread. I think this would be fabulous on some crusty, toasted baguettes or another similar bread. The Flat-out bread crisps were really good. Kevin thought this was just okay, he thought it was a little sweet and not spicy enough to him. (Nothing seems to be spicy enough for him.) I LOVE this just as I made it and it tasted VERY similar to the one Paige served us in class, which makes me happy. I'm going to save some for my parents who are coming to visit this next weekend! We're also going to a dinner/class by Paige--my parents will love it!

Romesco (Catalan Pepper Sauce), by Paige Vandegrift adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (also adapted again by Katrina)

4 Roma tomatoes

1 red bell pepper

1 slice Country-style white bread, cubed (I used some crusty white bread I had in the freezer)

3-5 cloves of garlic (I used 4 small cloves)

1/4 cup almonds, roasted

1/4 cup hazelnuts, roasted and peeled (after roasting, the peelings kind of just come right off, put them in a dry dish towel and roll them around, most of the skins will come off)

1 to 2 teaspoons ground red chile or red pepper flakes (I used 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes)

1 to 3 teaspoons sweet paprika (I used 2 teaspoons)

1 to 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (I used red wine 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat the broiler. Rub tomatoes and red pepper with a bit of olive oil (oops, I forgot that) and broil until beginning to blacken and the skins split---2-4 minutes on each size. Cool. Peel and seed the pepper. (It peeled perfectly. I did not sweat the pepper in a paper bag or rinse it under running water--Paige says not to do that--you're washing away all the flavor!) Peel and core and seed the tomatoes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil (the 2 tablespoons) and fry the bread cubes until golden and crisp. Set aside to cool. When cool, grind the bread with the nuts, garlic and chili flakes in the food processor. Add the tomatoes and pepper and the paprika and puree until smooth. With the machine running, gradually add the oil and then the vinegar. Taste and season with salt and pepper. (If you want it even a little spicier, add some cayenne pepper to taste. I thought it was PLENTY warm as I made it, Kevin on the other hand, didn't think it was even lukewarm. He's weird that way! ;)

Serve with steamed or grilled seasonal vegetables (potatoes, asparagus, green beans, beets, carrots, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, etc.)

Makes a generous 2 cups. (Freezes well.)

Note: You may substitute almonds for the hazelnuts (using 1/2 cup almonds total.)

A Craving and Healthier Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2009-09-11T22:53:00.001-05:00

Today, after reading Emily's latest post at Visions of Sugar Plum all she did was say "Levain Cookie" and I was having a major craving for one of my favorite chocolate chip cookies! I kept thinking, "Dang, I'll have to make some of those copycat cookies (<-favorite recipe from Lisa Michele) that I love so much. Then all the sudden I remembered, I can't believe I forgot!, I had two actual Levain cookies in the freezer! And I began singing, "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog..." (Sam's favorite thing right now is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and he LOVES that song!) When we went to Indiana the beginning of August, Kevin had a little business trip to New York City. He bought me two cookies and when we got home, I wrapped them up and stuck them in the freezer. BINGO! So thank you for the little reminder Emily (who, by the way, has posted some GREAT looking chocolate chip cookies that I know I'll have to try soon!) While the cookies were thawing on the counter, I caught this guy trying to steal one.

"Excuse me, Mister, but that's MY cookie!" I quickly (so as not to get bit) snatched it back just before he got it down. Whew. And do you see how big that cookie is--it barely fits in his mouth! (hehe, I kill me.)

It was almost as if I was there in NYC. (Okay, I wish, but it's the next best thing!)

The other cookie. This double chocolate one is for some-really-strange-for-me reason almost too much for me. By far--the chocolate chip walnut is the best! But one of the times I was in NYC last year, I also tried the chocolate peanut butter chip cookie and it's great! (Note--Kevin, on next trip to NYC, I'll take all ccw's please! ;)

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I recently made this decadent Chocolate Zucchini Cake that originated from a King Arthur recipe. Then I got to wondering if I could make it a little healthier and have it still be really good. So I did.

This cake is so super moist and perfectly chocolaty! It's even better after being chilled in the refrigerator and the next day! There is a slight flavor from the whole wheat flour, but it's good, almost a little nuttiness. Since I was making it with some healthier changes, I also used less ganache on the top, but it's still plenty!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake, Healthier Version, adapted by Katrina, original recipe from The King Arthur Flour Company

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup coconut oil (or canola)

3/4 cup natural cane juice sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons lowfat buttermilk

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/8 ounces Dutch-process cocoa

1 cup zucchini, finely grated (middle/seeds removed)

Ganache Icing--

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 1/2 ounces dark chocolate chips, melted (I used 60% cacao Ghirardelli chips)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with foil. Spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the applesauce, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the egg. Scrape sides of bowl.

Stir in the buttermilk alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa. Mix until well combined. Fold in the zucchini.

Pour and spread the batter evenly in the baking pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes (mine took 32 minutes), until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake on a wire rack. Remove the cake from the pan using the foil edges.

Prepare the ganache by heating the cream to a simmer. (I actually used the microwave and it worked great, just do it in 10-20 second intervals and stir in between.) Pour the cream into a bowl with the chocolate chips. Let sit a minute or two. Stir the melted chocolate and cream until combined and smooth. Spread over cake evenly with an offset spatula. See how long you can wait before cutting slices of the cake and eating it. (The ganache hardens as it sits, but doggonit it's good right away! ;)

I decided to do this after talking to one of Kevin's sisters (Nutrition Momma--check out her blog and super cute kids!). She told me she made the chocolate zucchini cake and I was quite surprised because she doesn't often eat goodies like that and after she told me of a few of her changes, I decided to give it a try. This is a super delicious treat! Thanks, N. M.!

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Taylor's turn for some pictures from Indiana.

This one cracks me up looking at Taylor. He could not be more thrilled with Tanner's bunny ears, never mind Sam's complete glee!

Taylor was not tall enough for a lot of the rides at Holiday World, but he also would not want to go on many of them even if he could. While waiting for the others to finish a ride, Taylor was caught riding one all on his own. ;)

After finding out the camera was on him---

I did get Taylor to ride this Eagles ride with me (I don't remember the real names of any of the rides.) He thought it was pretty fun and cool to control which direction the eagle flew by pulling on it.

Whenever he'd pull it one direction and we'd go "flying", I'd holler like I was really scared. He got a kick out of that.

Besides the fact that I was quite squished in this thing, the ride was pretty fun and perfect for Taylor's age. He went on one other ride, the turkey--something--this one---

I went on this one with Taylor and he screamed scared to death and cried the whole time. (It really wasn't that bad.) I loved watching the boys have so much fun doing things they'd never done before.

TWD--Chocolate Souffle, With Some Pictures Thrown In.

2009-09-08T07:04:00.001-05:00

First of all, I wish this was funny--

All the kids, including most of the neighbor kids were outside playing this afternoon (Monday). I knew Sam had gone outside, but since all the bigger kids were out there, I assumed he was fine and hadn't checked on him for a while (20 minutes or so). Kevin came upstairs and asked where Sam was and I told him he was outside with all the kids. So he went and checked on him and no kids were to be found. The boys were all in a neighbors backyard--and they had not seen Sam at all! (Panic!) We all frantically went looking for Sam. The neighbors uncovered window well? No. At a different neighbors house? No, they weren't home. We all dispersed and began looking everywhere. Then we heard one of the neighbor boys hollering from right outside our garage. "There's Sam in the car," he said pointing.

Sam got into Kevin's car. Messed with all the buttons and wipers, locked the door and opened an umbrella Kevin had in there. Thank goodness it was not a hot day--only in the mid-70's. But Sam was still sweating. When we got him out, he said, "hot." That little STINKER! Whew! SO glad he was okay. And we've learned that Kevin will lock his car in the garage from now on! And that I will check on him MORE often while he's outside NOT playing with the other kids!

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Okay, on to Tuesday's with Dorie! This week's recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours baking book was chosen by the wonderful and ever-so-talented Susan from She's Becoming Doughmesstic. She chose Chocolate Souffle, which is found on page 406 in the book. You can get the recipe on Susan's blog.

Souffle, souffle, souffle. Never actually thought I'd make it and actually never really thought I'd ever want to. I always just thought of souffle as a yellow, eggy looking thing served at a brunch or something. I don't care for eggy tasting things, well, except I do like eggs, scrambled, fried, hard boiled--not souffled. I asked on the P&Q if the CHOCOLATE souffle tasted eggy and I was assured (by another "great"--Caitlin from Engineer Baker) that it did NOT--chocolate was the flavor winner here.

Okay, I was game. I mean, we're talking chocolate. How could I not play? ;)

I found a cool, tall mug (16 ounce) and decided to make half a recipe (you know, in case no one really liked the souffle). This really was very simple to make! Melt chocolate (I used 60% bittersweet Ghirardelli chips) with some sugar. Whisk in some milk. Let it sit for five minutes while you (I mean the mixer) whisks some egg whites. Add egg yolks, then carefully fold in the whites. Pour into a buttered and sugared dish and bake (I did 25 minutes at 390 degrees--because that's what Nancy from The Dogs Eat the Crumbs said worked. (Gotta love Nancy, too! Dang, you fellow bloggers out there are awesome! ;) ) Hello--simple! And hello--chocolate!

Hello Souffle! Ready for the oven.

Rising in the oven (Don't be trying to look at my dirty oven.) I was just really happy to see it rising. Knife test inserted in at an angle indicated that it was done!

I heard that it "falls" fast, so I was ready for some photos.

Oh, powdered sugar on top!

Let's dig in! Careful, Sam, that mug is HOT!

Sam wanted some RIGHT then. I had to scoop him some out and put it in the fridge. He was not happy about waiting until it was cool enough, but he happily ate it when it was.

"Help me, I'm melting." said the souffle.

And it was good. Chocolaty. What more could a person ask for? A little ice cream on the side? Okay.

That's our recent "new love", David Lebovitz' Philadelphia Style Chocolate Ice Cream (my version). While I think the souffle was chocolaty enough and a vanilla ice cream would have been better with this, we only have chocolate in the freezer right now (shh, we've made this ice cream three times since I blogged about it--gasp! Don't worry, we've given quite a bunch of it away, AND there's still quite a bit of it left.)

I'm really happy I decided to make this week's recipe and I'm glad I didn't make the full recipe--or else I'd be in trouble for eating too much of it! Thanks for the fun one, Susan. Check out all the others over at TWD Headquarters.

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And because I keep forgetting and feel bad, I wanted to take a moment to thank Claire from Cooking is Medicine (what a gal--a newly graduated medical doctor who finds time to bake up yummy things for all the people around her--she's lovely!!) for passing this award on that she gave me a few weeks ago. It's the One Lovely Blog Award.

Thanks, Claire, so nice of you to think of me! I'm supposed to pass this on to 13 other lovely bloggers, but I just can't pick. You're all lovely and so are your blogs. If you're reading this--you get the award, too! Pass it on.

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Tired of all the pictures yet? No, good. I've got more. I have to do it this way, folks, or I just can't seem to get it all done, posted, put there for safe/record keeping and for all the world to see! So here's a few pictures of Scott from our trip to Indiana.

Scott loved all the rides and things at Holiday World!

Love this picture of Scott and Parker with his cousins, Tanner, Tristan and Hannah.

Ridin' on the turkey ride with Aimee.

The world's tallest water ride.

Don't look so excited, Scottie!

Fun times!

Happy Birthday Parker! (A warning about a long post with lots of pictures!)

2009-09-06T23:10:00.001-05:00

Parker turned 8 today! I remember the day Parker was born like it was yesterday. I was SO ready to have him. I was having contractions for a few days that just wouldn't "do their thing". My doctor made an appointment for me to go to the hospital and be induced. Finally! My mom flew in from Arizona that afternoon. We picked her up at the airport and drove straight to the hospital. (I wanted my mommy with me! ;) I arrived at the hospital at 1:30 p.m. and while they were "prepping" me for induction (drugs!) and such, (they had already broke my water and I was dilated to a measly 3.) Anyway, while the nurse was getting machines and things ready to hook me up, I started shaking and complaining that I felt like pushing and when my mom saw me, she said that was definitely a sign that labor was imminent. So we asked the nurse to check and see how things were going as I was panting through a contraction and really feeling it. Since it had been such a short time since arriving, the nurse thought I was being a big baby and she (sort of joking, but sort of not) said "ahh, buck up you wimp." Moments later, she finished what she was doing and "checked me" just to shut me up. Then she said in quite a hyper tone, "you're a 9, you're about to have this baby, we gotta get this room ready and get the doctor here!!" I began a small version of freaking out while the nurses scurried to prep the room for a delivery.

Meanwhile, I just wanted to push the baby out and at the same time was pretty upset that I wasn't going to get any drugs or an epidural. And where the heck was that doctor!? They kept trying to tell me to wait and not push or do anything until the doctor arrived. Well, guess what--I didn't really care if the doctor was there! He FINALLY arrived and then they tried to make me wait until he got his stupid booties on his shoes. Whatever. After that, I was screaming all through the super quick delivery of Parker, "I get NO drugs, nothing!" They just kept assuring me I'd be okay. I just had it in my mind that I was going to be induced with pitocin, sit there in the hospital "laboring" all day--with an epidural and all the sudden Parker was born, I'm not sure the doctor had even been there for 15 minutes and only about an hour after I arrived at the hospital--all 9 pounds 2 ounces of him, all natural childbirth, thank you. Dadgum, that hurt like a sonofagun!!! BUT--I felt so good afterwards, immediately after as well as days after. I compare that birth to my first with Scott, where I labored for two days, went to the hospital at about 2 a.m., received an epidural, FINALLY pushed for about 2 hours 11:30 a.m. and Scott was born. I felt like it took a lot longer to recover in the hospital AND at home. (I dunno, maybe it was just because Scott was my first and everything about it was new to me.) I said after that if I could always guarantee such a fast delivery, that I'd go natural over the lengthy drugged labor anytime. And I'll have to conclude with Taylor and Sam's birth stories another time!

Back to Parker---Eight years old! Woohoo. He's been waiting for this one. Parker is excited to be in Cub Scouts. He actually couldn't wait, so much that we let him join a few months ago (since our troop is through our church, he is allowed to do it that way.) Parker is very gung-ho about scouts--as soon as he got his book, he sat down and completed everything for his Bobcat that day! Parker is a great kid with a desire to learn and do all he can and as fast as he can. We love our Parkie Doodle/Park-n-bean! (He will not be happy that I just put those names in there, ah, what the heck, he won't even know! ;)

Parker is also excited to get baptized into our church (LDS). He will get baptized in two weeks when my parents will be here visiting. We're pretty excited about their visit, too!

Parker had a birthday party scheduled on Saturday with his friends at the indoor swimming pool. Friday night he went to bed not feeling very well. In the middle of the night, he woke up feeling even worse (stomach issues!). Saturday morning, he "let it all out". We had to postpone his birthday party--I thought the swimming pool people and swimmers would appreciate that. You're welcome! By 9 a.m., Parker felt better. 'Sup with that? By noon, we decided to go eat lunch as a family and go to the Topeka Zoo. It was a fun afternoon and you would never have known that Parker didn't feel good that morning!

"Parker, look out for that bear, he's going to eat you!" We had a fun time at the zoo!

The birthday boy!

The birthday loot.

While I will admit that some of them are cute, especially and including this one Parker got today for his birthday, I just don't get the whole internet thing about Webkinz. I find it kind of annoying, maybe it's moreso because a few years ago all three of the boys wanted one, so after much talk, we broke down and got them each one, then the computer-time fighting began. Sigh! Parker has been begging for a new Webkinz for quite some time now. He wanted either a monkey or a mouse. This monkey, which he has named George, is one of the big kind (I didn't even know they make them this big.) It was the only monkey the toy store had.

Oh the anticipation!

They are both pretty darn cute!

Parker was so excited to get a box of diapers for his birthday! So was Sam! Okay, this is what was really in the diaper box.

Here's Parker's birthday cake. I learned some things about how I'd go about this one next time, and there will be a next time. You MUST go see Emily's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake! Emily is just about the cutest, young gal you'll ever see and she is so flippin' talented when it comes to coming up with ideas, executing them and making some de-licious goodies! She recently shared (on her blog, Visions of Sugar Plum) this delightful creation. What did I learn? Freeze the ice cream on each layer one layer at a time. I tried (time constraint) to just quickly layer it all after softening up the ice cream a bit too much. Therefore, the ice cream melted all over. Never you mind, this is a great, TASTY dessert! It begins with a 9 inch chocolate chip cookie, then ice cream, then a chocolate cake layer, and more ice cream, then more cookie, MORE ice cream, another cake layer and is topped with a chocolate ganache. (Parker doesn't like dark chocolate, so I made the ganache with milk chocolate, which seemed a bit more runny, even after freezing it again (for a short time). This was fun and gives lots of ideas for doing it again. Thanks, Emily!! You rock. (Her browned butter chocolate chip cookie recipe is great for sure!)

So here we are with quite the melty pictures. We lit the candles quickly and sang fast!

That ice cream you see there on the tray is actually re-frozen. It melted and ran after I'd put it back in the freezer! It just couldn't take the pressure! ;)

I'm serious, this is good. But go see Emily's pictures after looking at the rest of this one! ;)

Banana Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Banana Brownies

2009-09-03T10:47:00.001-05:00

I saw these cookies on Cathy's blog, Noble Pig and HAD to make them. They combine one of my favorite things--banana with one of Kevin's favorite cookies, Snickerdoodles! Kevin does not like a snickerdoodle that is crunchy or turns hard after one day. These are the answer to that problem. Add banana! It's a subtle flavor, but they taste great. I served them at a church potluck and they disappeared quickly.

Banana Snickerdoodles, from Cathy at Noble Pig, adapted from Going Beserk

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon cream of tartar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup shortening (192 grams)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, plus more for rolling cookies

2 large eggs

1 ripe banana (I used 2 small--about 1/2 cup banana)

ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and banana. Mix together. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Once the dough is mixed it will be very wet. Use a tablespoon or tablespoon-sized cookie scoop to drop balls of dough into the cinnamon-sugar. (about 1/2 cup sugar to 1 teaspoon cinnamon). The dough becomes very easy to work with once it's dipped in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Roll into balls and bake on parchment lined baking sheets at 400 degrees for 9 minutes (9 was too much to me--7 was perfect!--Katrina) Cool cookies on wire rack. Store in an airtight container and they will stay soft for several days. (Ours did not last that long to find out!)

You can smell them now, can't you?

And normally I would post something I just BARELY saw on someone else's blog quite so soon, but these went well with the banana theme here today and they are fabulous brownies! Check them out over at Cookie Madness. She got the recipe from Gloria who won third place at the Minnesota State Fair for these brownies. They are SO fudgy (not light and cakey as you would expect from banana!). Again, the banana flavor is very subtle, but make these brownies have that "hmm, what's in there?" taste and quality. If you love brownies, you NEED to try these. One of the keys to a great, fudgy brownie is letting them cool completely AND chilling them in the refrigerator before cutting. LOVED these!

Hello, Fudgy, Yummy Brownies! Ooh, ooh, ooh. (That's supposed to sound like a monkey, get it--banana brownies, monkeys.....eh, sigh. Okay, I'm a little weird, but you still should try these brownies!)

Gloria’s Minnesota State Fair Chocolate-Banana Brownies, adapted by Gloria from a recipe of Anna's at Cookie Madness

5 oz semi sweet chocolate (or a little less that 1 cup chips) (I used Hershey's semi-sweet chips)
1 oz bittersweet chocolate (or 3 tablespoons chips) (I used Ghirardelli 72% cacao chips)
6 tablespoons salted butter (I used unsalted and added some salt as Anna suggested)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 t vanilla (optional) – Gloria leaves it out, anna added ½ tsp
1/2 of a small banana-well mashed
3/4 cup sifted flour (3 ounces)
1 T unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter, add an extra pinch)
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup lightly toasted chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray cooking spray on bottom only of an 8 inch metal pan. Gloria noted that for the fair, she used non-stick foil to line the pan. (I used the non-stick foil for ease of removing the brownies from the pan.)

Mix flour, cocoa, and salt together and set aside.

Combine sugar, eggs, and banana in a separate bowl-stir until combined. I did this with a fork.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium low heat, then reduced heat to low and add 5 oz and 1 oz of chocolates. Cook and stir over low until smooth. Cool 5 minutes.

Add chocolate to sugar egg/banana mixture-stir until combined.

Stir in dry ingredients until just combined.

Fold in that last 1/2 cup chips and nuts. Bake 35-40 min, check at 35 (Anna’s note: I baked a full 45 min And I only baked mine for 35--so start checking with toothpick at 30 minutes!--Katrina)

Cool completely before cutting. Anna’s note: I like to chill before cutting. (I second that motion!--Katrina)

*whispers---You're gonna like these!

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And now, I will from time to time post random pictures from our trip to see my brother and his family in Indiana last month. Monica sent me a CD with all the pictures she took from her camera and darn-there's some good ones and I have to say between my brother and I, we have some CUTE kids (mine are cuter, of course. hehe)

This is so sad, Sam got to/had to go to Holiday World with us and we dragged him around to do all kinds of fun things all day. I know, you're feeling really, really sad for him, especially after seeing this picture. Let's all play the world's smallest violin for him.

Okay, really, Sam didn't get to have nearly as much fun as the bigger kids and he really was a trooper all day!

He did have some fun in the water that day!

I will feature a different kid on different posts.

TWD--Cheesecake Brownies

2009-09-01T06:27:00.001-05:00

I made three kinds of brownies for TWD this week, which was chosen by Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell. Why did I make three? I suppose I like to torture myself. jk

I made the recipe as written by Dorie (Baking From My Home to Yours, pages 104-105). I was skeptical as I'd read the P&Q's earlier in the week and many talked about the brownie being kind of dry. (I left out the espresso in all of them. No coffee at our house.) I baked this in a 9 inch square pan at 325 degrees, but just because my pan is dark in color, so I like to turn the oven down 25 degrees. I thought the cheesecake to brownie ratio was a bit high for these, in fact, I thought I estimated saving 1/4 of the brownie batter for the top pretty nicely, but it was hardly enough to go around. This batch of brownies is a little dry, you can even tell in the photos. I also left the sour cream topping off all the brownies.

Cheesecake with brownie is not my favorite combination. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I made the recipe. But I decided to be a little more creative and made the recipe again, using an 8 inch square pan, but only making 1/2 the recipe for the cheesecake and making it peanut butter cheesecake. I used about 1/4 cup peanut butter and forgot the sour cream (accidentally). I liked the brownie to cheesecake ratio better, but the brownies were still kind of a dry/not very fudgy kind of brownie. I also layered some mini Nutter Butter cookies on top of the cheesecake before swirling in the rest of the brownie batter.

Looks pretty yummy. For these, I only put about half the brownie batter on the bottom, so there would be more to swirl in the top.

After baking, cooling and chilling the brownies, I cut some fun (but still a bit dry) slices of brownie. Look at the one on the top right--it looks like a fish!

The peanut butter flavor was pretty good, but I just wish the brownie had been better.

Oh, I could have called it good for TWD this week, but NO--I wanted some rather gooey, fudgy cheesecake brownies, so I turned to my newest favorite brownie and whipped up some of the Dorie--Tribute to Katharine Hepburn brownies. Didn't realize I was almost out of cocoa, so these have 1/4 cup regular cocoa and 1/4 cup Hershey's Dark cocoa--hence the DARK color. I made up another batch of the cheesecake for the brownies and swirled that in. But still thought it was too much cheesecake mixture, so I left out just a bit of it. I did half the brownie batter on the bottom again and saved half for the top, instead of 3/4 to 1/4.

Going in to the oven.

Ready to serve.

These were definitely much more fudgy. We all agreed this was more like cheesecake with brownie in it, instead of brownie with cheesecake. It's good and quite rich. Yes, that's a lot of brownie. I've already given a bunch of it away. Whew. Thanks to Melissa for a fun pick to try this week. You can get this recipe on her blog, linked above.

Oh, and remember that I saved a little of the cheesecake mixture. For kicks, I threw some mini Oreos in it and put it in six mini paper lined muffin tins. These may be the best thing I baked today. A great little bite of Oreo chocolaty goodness in a cheesecake. Yum!

Go check out what some of the other Tuesday's With Dorie bakers did with these brownies this week.

Symphony Chocolate Toffee Almond Scones and a Vegetable Goat Cheese Tart

2009-08-30T23:14:00.001-05:00

I have been taking some cooking demo classes at our local natural foods market. Most of them that I've taken are by an amazing local chef, Paige Vandegrift. She makes some amazing and wonderful food--food that I would never have thought I'd make or (and especially) like eating. Like for instance, she uses onions a lot. And we ALL know how I feel about onions. But (and Mom, you'd be proud of me), I always taste/eat everything she makes. You see, how could I turn down this wonderful food that we in the class have just watched her prepare for us? Everything is always so good. I think I'm also drawn to these classes because every now and then I get to go have someone cook for me, I won't hear anyone whining or complaining and I get to just leisurely enjoy my food. What a great thing! And as a bonus, I'm learning a lot from the lovely Paige, Le Cordon Bleu in London trained chef. To me, she's like our own Julia Child right here in little ol' Kansas! I wish I could blog everything she's made in all the classes I've been to, but that would take a separate blog in itself. She makes usually 4-5 different dishes at each class.

I've made a lot of Paige's recipes since taking some of her classes. Maybe not the prettiest dish, but I made this Corn, Zucchini and Pink Eyed Peas Succotash (yep, there's onions in there and I even put them in. I know, you're feeling so proud of me!) And while I could taste the onions, all the other flavors were really good and the onions wasn't too overpowering.

I've made other things as well but especially wanted to share Paige's scones with you as well as a perfectly flaky and wonderfully flavored vegetable goat cheese tart. At the last class I went to just last week, Paige served us cornmeal shortcakes with peaches, mint and soured cream. Yes, it was as good as that sounds! I have had some friends over the last couple years talk about some amazing scones they got the recipe for from these classes they've taken. I didn't realize at the time they were talking about Paige's scones, as I hadn't taken any of the classes then. I heard from a number of people how great these cream scones are. Paige mentioned at this last class that the cornmeal shortcakes were similar to her scones without the cornmeal and replacing the butter for all cream. That's it, I'd heard enough talk about them and decided I needed to make some! I have only made scones one other time and that was in May when I tried some pumpkin pecan butterscotch scones that Anna at Cookie Madness made. They were good.

So I made Paige's scones. They are a base for scones that you can add anything you want to and so I did!

You had to know there would be chocolate in my scones. Hershey's Symphony Milk Chocolate, Toffee and Almonds to be exact. These. were. really. great! These could not be more simple to make.

Cream Scones with Chocolate, Toffee and Almonds, adapted by Katrina (recipe from Paige Vandegrift)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup heavy cream (plus a little more for brushing on the tops)

turbinado sugar (for sprinkling on the tops)

3 ounces Hershey's Symphony Milk Chocolate, Toffee and Almonds bar, chopped

1/4 cup almonds, toasted and chopped

1/4 cup Heath chocolate toffee bits

1/4 cup Ghiradelli 58% cacao baking chips

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl. Whisk to blend well. Add the "mix-ins." Stir in dry ingredients with a rubber spatula while pouring the cream, continuing to stir until a soft, sticky dough is formed.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly (8-10 times). Pat the dough into a circle 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Cut the circles into 8-12 wedges (depending on the size you want, I did 12!) and place the wedges an inch or so apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush each scone with cream and sprinkle generously with raw sugar.

Bake at 425°F until golden brown, about 15 minutes. (Mine took 13 minutes.) Remove to wire rack and cool.

These scones are really healthy, so eat 2 or 3. Oh yeah, kidding! Well, there's almonds, those are healthy. ;) Splurge, I say, you'll be happy you did! I can't wait to try this scone recipe with lots of other mix ins. You should use about a cup of mix-ins. I may have used more than that, so sue me!

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Then there's this Provencal Vegetable Tart with Herbed Goat Cheese. It was a little work, but worth it. We had our neighbors over for dinner and they loved it and I loved it. Kevin thought it was just okay, but that's just because he thinks everything should be spicy and he didn't think it had enough flavor. Of course I'm going to think/say this, but the one Paige made in class and served us was better than mine. This was made with a wonderful and easy short crust pastry dough. It rolled out beautifully and will have to be a pie crust I try in the future for other things.

Pate Brisee (Short Crusty Pastry), by Paige Vandegrift

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour (150 grams)

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (114 grams)

3-4 tablespoons ice water

Combine the flour and salt in a medium sized bowl. Rub the butter into the flour until the butter is in small pea-sized pieces. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of water over the flour/butter mixture. Using your hands, fluff the mixture until it begins to clump, adding more water if necessary. Turn the dough out onto a counter and form into a mound. Using the heel of your hand, gradually push all the dough away from you in short forward strokes, flattening out the lumps. Continue until all of the dough is flat. Using a bench scraper, scrape the dough off the counter, forming it into a single clump as you do. Form the finished dough into a thick disk. Chill for at least 30 minutes. (*Disclaimer, Paige did all this by hand and strongly suggested that you NOT use a food processor, but me being the rebel that I am (and lazy), I used the food processor. Short little pulses with the flour and butter, the key is not to over blend it. And then she said if you do use a food processor to never add the water in the processor, do that part by hand. I actually forgot and just added the water right to the processor, pulsed a few times, then turned the dough onto the counter and formed it. It worked just fine, just DO NOT OVER PULSE IT.)

To roll out the dough after letting it warm up for a few minutes at room temperature. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a circle that is about 1/8 inch thick and is about 13 inches across. Transfer the dough to a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

From this point, I will skip a lot of the details, but if you'd like a more complete recipe, let me know. The tart is then layered with a softened goat cheese (8 ounces) with about 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme. Then about 12 ounces of Japanese eggplant, 12 ounces zucchini and 3-4 Roma tomatoes. The eggplant and zucchini were broiled in the oven before going on to the tart. The tomatoes (which I didn't have Roma and used cherry tomatoes) were sliced and lightly salted, then put on paper towel for 10-15 minutes to remove some of the excess liquid.

After assembling the goat cheese and vegetables on the tart, fold up the edges and bake in a 375 degree oven on the lowest rack until the tomatoes are slightly puckered and the crust is crisp and golden brown--about 45 minutes. (I baked mine about 50 minutes). Drizzle the tart with olive oil if desired and let rest for five minutes (or cool until just tepid) before serving. Also the variations of flavors and vegetables to this are endless. Again, let me know if you'd like more detailed directions to broiled the vegetables as I shortened this quite a bit for the recipe we received from Paige!

Ready for the oven.

Slice and serve. Want a bigger piece? You will. Thanks, Paige! Love the classes and all I'm learning in them!

Fun Pictures and a Couple Goodies (there may be some ice cream! Shock!) Heavenly Chocolate Ice Cream (No Eggs)

2009-08-27T23:16:00.001-05:00

Every Monday night we have Family Night. We have a quick little gospel lesson with the kids, then an activity/game and treats. Each person takes turns with different assignments for the evening. One is the lesson, one gets to choose the activity and what treats to have, among a couple other assignments. It was Taylor's turn to choose the treats a couple weeks ago. And I asked him what he'd like to have and he said, "Gingerbread men" O---kay. I explained to him that those are something better in the winter around Christmastime. He didn't care and was pretty adamant about gingerbread cookies. So that morning, he and Sam helped me make the cookies.

I used this recipe from Allrecipes for Big Soft Ginger Cookies, as I read that some were making them into gingerbread men. I did have to add quite a bit of extra flour. It was suggested that you chill the dough if you're going to roll it out, but we didn't have time to wait for chilling, so I just added enough flour until the dough was good enough for rolling. (The recipe says to use margarine, but I used butter.)

Sammie chowed down on the cookie dough! I love how in this next picture you can see some flour on his nose.

Don't worry, Mom, he got a haircut last week. I haven't taken a decent picture of it yet, but it's the shortest it's been (although still curly!). I love his dirty bum in this picture and the back of his haircut with mussy hair.

That night for Family Night, everyone got to decorate their own gingerbread cookies.

Parker and Taylor went to town with all the candies and sprinkles I had for them to decorate with and I have no idea why they both chose pink sprinkles for the "pants" on their gingerbread men.

Scott wouldn't be in a picture with his cookie (surprise!), and for some reason his is holding a Halloween pumpkin. ???

Kevin went ALL OUT decorating the two cookies we made for him!

And my lovely little cookie. The only gingerbread girl of the bunch!

Our friends, Bob and Tes, went on a vacation and they always bring each of the kids and Kevin and I little souvenirs. I think this one might be one of the funniest things I've ever seen. It is a "Genuine Old Weather Rock". Here is what it says on the wood.

Place Unit Outside and Observe following

1. If the Rock is WET--it's raining!

2. If the Rock is WH"ITE--it's snowing!

3. If the Rock is moving back and forth--it's windy!

4. If the Rock is hard to see--it's foggy!

5. If the Rock is casting a shadow--it's sunny!

6. If the Rock is cold--it's cold out!

7. If the Rock is warm--it's warm out!

Your Old Weather Rock is Never Wrong!

That makes me laugh every time I see it or think about it!

Bob also gave us this cob of popcorn. Have you ever seen one of these?

We were a little skeptical that it would really pop.

It popped!

The boys really got a kick out of this. Thanks, Bob and Tes!

Would ya look at this?

That is chocolate ice cream, my friends! Surprise, I told you there would be ice cream!

Into the freezer you go (although it was FABULOUS at this stage!)

What ice cream is that? Why it's David Lebovitz' Perfect Scoop, Philadelphia-Style Chocolate Ice Cream. Everytime I make another ice cream, it seems that I say it's the best I've ever had. Well, I'm tempted to say it again. I LOVED Dorie Greenspan's chocolate ice cream (custard style-with eggs). It is amazing in its own right--lots of great, dark chocolate flavor. But I've decided I like the non-egg kind of ice creams better than the eggy ones.

Chocolate Ice Cream, Philadelphia Style, by David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop

adapted ever so slightly by Katrina

2 1/4 cups heavy cream

6 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

pinch of salt

6 ounces Hershey's Special Dark chocolate, chopped (wow, I just realized David's recipe says unsweetened chocolate and I thought it was just supposed to be bittersweet!)

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together the cream, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full, rolling boil (it will start to foam up). Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate until it's completely melted, then whisk in the milk and vanilla. Pour the mixture into a blender for 30 seconds, until very smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (I like putting it in a bowl and then in an ice bath until the mixture is cold, then refrigerate.) I didn't churn mine in the ice cream maker until the next day and I think that made it even better! Freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

This ice cream was so perfectly scoopable after about two hours in the freezer and what I like about it is that it never got hard as a rock after being in the freezer for a couple days. The mix-in possibilities for this chocolate ice cream are endless!

That'll have to be all for now, but I've got more, Folks! (I also made DL's Chocolate Sorbet--delish--super rich and I can only eat a little bit at a time. I actually haven't even really eaten much of the chocolate ice cream because the sorbet is a lot lower in fat and cures my chocolate cravings. I usually just taste these ice creams when I clean out the ice cream maker bowl.)

Come on back!

Sam's nap today (Thursday)--in our bed. Um, let's not have this be a new trend, Buddy! ;)