Swirl Drop Flowers

I used some birthday money (thanks, Mom!) to buy myself cake decorating supplies in the form of a Wilton Decorating Basics Student Kit that included 12 decorating tips, 4 standard couplers, 2 featherweight bags, 6 disposable bags, 6 parchment triangles, 1 flower nail, 1 cupcake nail, 1 decorator brush, 12 flower template stickers, 1 spatula, and a practice board with stand and patterns. I think it was a pretty good deal.

I was so excited to get it! So the week it arrived, I made some sugar cookies and decorated them with swirl drop flowers. (PS: When does making cookies with kids become fun? Because I sure find it frustrating, but Charlie loves helping.) I liked the idea of a small project to start practicing; I didn't want to try tackling an entire cake right off the bat. I think I chose well.

It was fun. And they turned out pretty pretty if I do say so myself. I did run into a snag that I was concerned would be a bigger problem then it turned out to be: the tip to make the swirl drop flowers (Wilton 2D) requires a large coupler, and my kit only came with standard couplers. Weird, right? I was too excited to be deterred, so I just put the tip in the bag without any coupler. It worked. Not ideal, but successful. I definitely prefer how the coupler holds the tip in place, so I will be getting one eventually.

Since I had never made sugar flowers before, I wasn't sure what kind of frosting to use. I was reluctant to try royal icing because I've never used it before and I didn't have the ingredients. I've worked with buttercream before, so I used a Wilton buttercream frosting recipe I found online. As some of the comments suggested, I used all butter instead of half butter and half shortening. I wasn't sure about consistency, but I knew I didn't want it too thin, so I only added 1 T of milk instead of 2. The frosting turned out delicious! And while I'm no expert on the perfect consistency to make sugar flowers, I think it worked out really well. But I am definitely interested in suggestions!

To make the flowers, you rotate your wrist and squeeze out frosting at the same time. It's only a little tricky. When I went slow, more turned out wonky than almost perfect. But when I got in a groove and went a little quicker, it seemed more turned out almost perfect than wonky. I don't know; what's the best way to establish muscle memory? The thing I need to do better next time is to stop squeezing before I pull the frosting away. You can see that some of the flowers are a bit spiky, and I think I jumped the gun and pulled the frosting away before I stopped squeezing.

Now, as I was looking stuff up online to get ready for this attempt, I happened upon one of the most amazing frosting tricks ever! I'm serious. It's genius. If you don't believe me, check out this video--the good part starts after the first minute:

I tried it with this project, and using this trick made cleaning the frosting bag almost non-existent! I only had to clean a tiny bit of frosting out of the tip of the bag. It was so quick. I will do this from now on. (And I think I'll store my leftover frosting wrapped up in plastic wrap in the fridge or freezer for future use--it'll just need to get to room temp and then it's ready to go!) I had been debating the whole reusable vs. disposable frosting bag scenario. After all, the disposable ones are super convenient--and I REALLY like things to be easy. But why continuously pay money for frosting bags? This new trick has solidified my choice: reusable. Yes, the trick requires some plastic wrap, but it's not like the stuff is expensive. I think it's a perfect compromise.

Sushi

We had an Asian themed family dinner this month with my side of the family. I've been wanting to try my hand at making sushi, and this was the perfect opportunity! So I did.

I first had sushi as a missionary for my church. In my very first area, I had two companions: a sister from Nevada (Sis. B) and a sister from Japan (Sis. N). Sis. N was a Salt Lake City temple square missionary: for most of her mission, she was here in Utah taking visitors on tours of the Church buildings in Salt Lake City. But for a few months, she got to go down and proselytize in Texas. I loved Sis. N! She is genuinely one of the nicest people I have ever met, and after seeing how hard she tried to learn our language and our culture, I enjoyed taking an interest in learning about hers.

I used Food Network chef Alton Brown's recipe for sushi rice and followed his instructions on how to make a California roll even though I put different ingredients inside the roll: cream cheese, avocado, and orange bell pepper.

I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to use any kind of raw fish. I had considered using canned tuna or cooked shrimp, but ultimately decided not to.

When it comes to sushi, I generally prefer the California roll (rice outside, toasted seaweed/nori inside) because the nori has a very strong flavor. When the nori is on the outside, it is the first flavor to hit the taste buds, and I find it a bit overwhelming. But on the inside, with the California roll, the nori flavor is muted and mixes in better with the other sushi ingredients--I think.

For rolling the sushi, I did not have nor could I find a bamboo rolling mat. I did, however, have a ribbed place mat. So I covered it in plastic wrap and used that to roll the sushi. It worked out really well. Getting the right amount of rice and rolling the sushi up tight seems to be a skill that requires some practice, but for my first-ever attempt, I think my sushi rolls turned out pretty good.

I ended up with seven rolls. Which turned out to be about twice as much as I needed. We had about 20 people at the dinner. Not everyone was adventurous enough to try the sushi; some were held back by one ingredient or another (Who doesn't like cream cheese? My sister, that's who. Weird). But I did get several compliments from some of those who did try it.

I'm pleased with the result. Of course, I do recognize that my sushi is not really authentic . . . at all. I wasn't going for authenticity. But it was fun to make and eat.

As far as I know, Charlie was the only kid there who tried the sushi--and that's because I made him try it. He cried. Oh well. It's character building, right? But for a more American-kid-friendly sushi I would do things differently: omit the nori, cook regular rice with some sugar added in the hope that it would be sticky enough, omit the rice vinegar, and fill the roll with some kind of cooked teriyaki or orange chicken. I'd try to keep it simple.

Sushi is a food that can be done however you want. It has tons of creative potential!

Granola

The first time I heard of granola was from Man of the House, a movie I watched pretty often as a kid (and ps: the Biebs has nothing on JTT). Any who, in the movie, the future step dad makes a big fancy breakfast which the son refuses to eat and the mom makes his excuses by telling her fiancé that they usually only eat yogurt and granola.

Twenty plus years later, thanks to my cousins' blog, I learned what granola actually is.

A couple years after that, thanks to Sam's Club's taste testing, I actually tried some--and it was DElicious! So . . . instead of buying the 2 lb. bag for around $8, I decided to try my hand at making some of my own.

I used Jaime's recipe for Farm Girl Granola as my guide, but omitted a few of her ingredients: coconut, almond butter, and dried fruit. Coconut because I don't like it. Almond butter because I didn't have any and it was optional anyway. Dried fruit because I wanted my granola to be versatile; I can still add dried fruit to it when I'm in the mood.

For the nuts, I used equal parts chopped almonds and pecans--just because that's what I had. Also, my honey/molasses combination was equal parts of each. And I added 1 cup of wheat germ and a very light (because of my goal of versatility) sprinkling of cinnamon to the last 8-10 minutes of baking.

It turned out  . . . (drum roll please) . . . FANtastic!

My first taste was after it had cooled a bit but was still warm. YUM!

Then I spread some peanut butter into celery stalks and rolled it in granola. YUM!

Then I poured milk over some and ate it like cold cereal. YUM!

Then I made a parfait with strawberry yogurt, fresh raspberries, and granola. YUM!

Then I added some granola to my cold cereal. YUM!

Then I made cranberry granola muffins. YUM!

Oh, how I've enjoyed having granola around! The cranberry granola muffins were today's experiment; all I did was add craisins and granola to my favorite sweet muffin recipe (Betty Crocker's). They turned out hearty and delicious; they were a big hit.

I'm looking for more fun ways to use my granola, so if you have any ideas, please leave a comment!

Homemade Baby Food Revisited

In May 2011, I posted about making homemade baby food. I did it consistently with Charlie, and I've started it up again with Emmett. My main resource was, and is, Cooking Light First Foods (CLFF). I love it!

As I've started making food for Emmett, I decided to post some things I've learned. I still have not tried making all the foods in CLFF, but I have made quite a few. While most have been very easy, here are three I've had some difficulties with:

Green Peas
CLFF says to steam fresh or thawed peas for 6 min. or until very tender then process until smooth. I had a hard time getting mine smooth--and Charlie did not like the consistency.
I'd suggest steaming them longer, 8-10 min.

Plums
CLFF says to peel the plums. I dislike using potato peelers, so I looked online and discovered that plums can be easily peeled if they are blanched for 30 seconds. So I gave it a try, and 3 out of 14 of my plums had their peels easily rub off--it was fantastic. The others . . . not so much; I ended up using my potato peeler anyway. I think the 3 that worked were the most ripe. However, even though they peeled easy, halving and pitting them was a giant mess after they were blanched.
In the future, I will get the most ripe/over-ripe plums I can find, and halve and pit them prior to blanching. Then proceed with steaming and processing.

Dried Prunes
CLFF says to strain the mixture through a sieve after boiling and processing the dried prunes. This was time consuming! And frustrating!
I discovered that adding more of the cooking liquid to the mixture before straining made it a lot easier--go for thinner rather than thicker. But I also question how important it is to discard the solids. Would it be bad for the baby if I left them in? I don't know.

My Best Pasta Salad

Salad:

1 lb. uncooked pasta, ditalini or macaroni
1 1/4 cup frozen green peas, thawed
12 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved and lightly salted
1 1/4 cup cheddar, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2.25 oz can sliced olives, drained

Dressing:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
3 T. dill pickle juice
1 tsp. mustard
1 1/2 T. mint
1 1/2 T. parsley
seasonings to taste (onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper)

1. Cook the pasta in 1 gallon of water with 2 T salt. Drain. Do not rinse. Cool and dry in cookie sheet. 2. After all salad ingredients are prepared, cooled, or thawed, combine and refrigerate. 3. Make dressing and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate. 4. Toss salad and dressing 15 minutes before serving.

I created this recipe after talking to my friend Natasha, who always makes delicious pasta salads, and reading a very informative article online. The article does not give a recipe for a salad (it links to two dressing recipes), but it gives guidelines for ingredient ratios (how much pasta to how much fruits/veggies/nuts/meat/cheese to how much spice to how much dressing) and suggestions on how to prepare ingredients prior to adding them to the salad. This article was exactly what I was looking for. I don’t mind following recipes, but I like the freedom of being able to throw whatever I like, or have, together and creating my own meals. If you like to do that, too, then read this article.

I’ve dabbled with making my own pasta salads before, and they were ok. Really, just ok. But I took this one to a pot luck gathering, and I got so many compliments and so few leftovers. Honestly, I feel quite proud of myself.

One step the article recommended that I did not follow the first time is to cool and dry the noodles in a cookie sheet. (I didn’t have a clean one and took the lazy route.) I just left my pasta in the colander to cool and dry. When I went to combine the salad ingredients, my noodles had cooled and dried into one big mass. It was a bit of a pain. I tried breaking it apart, but the noodles started falling apart. I left the noodle mass alone until I was ready to mix in the dressing, because the article informed me that if your noodles stick together a bit, the dressing will help them separate. So after about 5 minutes of very gentle stirring, my noodles were separated and the salad was lightly covered in dressing.

I was also very reluctant to add the mint. The article suggests using a combination of dill and mint. I knew I wanted the dill pickle juice in the dressing because Natasha had recommended it, and I figured I ought to give the article’s suggestions a decent try. So I slowly, reluctantly added a bit of mint. I smelled and tasted. I added more mint. I smelled and tasted. I added more mint. Honestly, I feel like the mint took the dressing from mediocre to fantastic. That said, when writing down this recipe, I had to guestimate on how much mint (and parsley) I actually used. So, if you try this out, proceed with caution. And check out the article I used, so you can make your best pasta salad.

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberries, which we don’t eat very often, were on sale, so I bought some to vary our nutrient intake. I got enough to have some fresh—yum—and to use some to make blueberry muffins--yum yum! I had never made muffins with real blueberries before (the box mixes are all I had done), so I got a recipe from a fellow butter-lover, Paula Deen:

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 egg, slightly beaten

3/4 cup whole milk

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup granulated brown sugar or white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
2. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and sugar. In another bowl, combine butter, egg, and milk and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and with a spatula, stir until just combined. Do not beat or over mix; it's okay if there are lumps in the batter.
3. Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
4. Spoon the batter into the muffin tray, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from the oven.
5. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the granulated brown or white sugar and return the muffins to the oven to bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
6. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before turning the muffins out.

The only thing I did differently was use a 6-cup jumbo muffin tin (because I had it and who doesn’t love jumbo muffins), and as a result, I had to bake my muffins a bit longer. I measured my ingredients carefully and instead of producing a “batter,” I ended up with more of a cookie dough consistency. It still worked out, and my muffins tasted pretty good.

Yeah, just pretty good. Not amazing. Sorry Paula. The muffins just weren’t as sweet as I would have liked. So if anyone has a better recipe, please send it my way.

All in all, however, I consider my first batch of homemade blueberry muffins a success. Hurray me!

Pink Sheep Cake

We celebrated the October birthdays on my side of the family, and I designed this beautiful pink sheep cake. “Why a pink sheep cake?” you ask. Well, I will tell you.

We celebrated two birthdays: my cousin’s and my brother-in-laws. My cousin’s favorite color is pink, and my brother-in-law’s family has a sheep ranch. Viola. Pink sheep cake. I’m a genius.

My mom actually made the cake and frosting, but I put it all together. The brown frosting for the sheep’s face and ears is not the typical chocolate frosting we usually make; we used Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Cocoa. This was my first experience with it, and I thought it was delicious! Personally, I love the wiggly eyes. They may be my favorite part of the cake, and I will be using them again in the future. And I used a peanut M&M for the nose.

It may not look exactly like a sheep, but I think it’s pretty close, and it was a lot of fun to make.

Honey Lime Chicken

chicken
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
4 tablespoons chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. Place chicken in crock pot. 2. Melt butter in a small saucepan, and add lime, honey, and garlic powder until warm. Add chicken broth, salt and pepper. 3. Pour lime mixture over chicken. Cover and cook on low 8 to 10 hours.

I had my first experience with honey lime chicken just after Charlie was born when my sister-in-law brought us dinner: honey lime chicken enchiladas. They were awesome! The leftovers were even awesome! Mmmm. Unfortunately, I never got the recipe from her, but I found this recipe online and think it would make excellent enchiladas.

I have used this recipe, and it is good. My side of the family got together for dinner and did our own version of Cafe Rio (for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a Mexican restaurant in which you go through a cafeteria-like line and they build your burrito/salad/nachos to your specifications—fresh and delicious). The honey lime chicken was a huge success, and I definitely recommend it. Enjoy!

Chicken Lasagna

2 T. olive oil
lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions
4 medium chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
1 jar sauce, Ragu Roasted Garlic Parmesan
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
3 eggs
16 oz. cottage cheese, small curd
Italian seasoning, to taste

1. Mix chicken, 2/3 jar sauce, 2 eggs, and 1 cup cheddar. 2. Mix cottage cheese, Italian seasoning, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup cheddar. 3. Spread olive oil in bottom of 9x13 pan, coating evenly. 4. In pan, layer: lasagna noodles, 1/2 chicken mix, noodles, cottage cheese mix, noodles, 1/2 chicken mix, noodles. 5. Top with remaining sauce and cheddar. 6. Bake at 375° for 30–45 minutes, and let cool 5–10 minutes.

This was a fun experiment for me, and I think as a whole the experiment was a success. The lasagna turned out pretty good—not mouthwateringly fabulous, but pretty good. However, I think the concept has the potential to be mouthwateringly fabulous, but I don't know what the recipe needs to make it so. The lasagna was just missing something, so if you have any idea on what ingredients I could add or change, please leave a comment.

PS: For one of the side dishes with the lasagna, I had some cooked baby carrots, and unfortunately there were leftovers—I HATE veggie leftovers, they usually warm up overcooked and gross. Anywho, I had tacos for dinner tonight and was reminded of going to dinner at a Mexican lady's house while serving as a missionary. We had tostadas at her house, and for toppings she served the typical ones but also cooked carrots and potatoes. So, tonight I warmed up some cooked carrots, sliced them, and put them on my tacos. They were delicious! So the next time you've got cooked carrots leftover, I highly recommend trying them on tacos, or tostadas.

Homemade Baby Food

Since Charlie's been tolerating his oatmeal and rice cereals well over the past several weeks, I've decided to get him started on veggies and fruits. And in an effort to avoid buying expensive baby foods and to satisfy my control freak tendencies, I've started by making my own baby food with the help of a fantastic book my sister gave me, Cooking Light First Foods.

There are two specific things I really love about this book. First, it shows that you don't have to buy any expensive equipment. When discussing the tools needed to make baby food, the book gives a list of items ranging in price from as little as $2 to as much as $150. And thus far, none of the recipes I've looked at require the expensive baby food makers. Second, it offers lists of food choices beyond what I would have thought to feed my baby. After all, my thinking is just because I don't like a food doesn't mean I shouldn't expose Charlie to it; he may love foods I don't usually eat or enjoy. There are two lists I like to peruse, one that breaks fruits and veggies into color groups and another that groups fruits and veggies by seasons.

So, with my handy-dandy baby food cookbook, I got started by making Charlie some carrots. Now the recipe given is super simple and also kind of obvious—you may be thinking, "she needed a cookbook to figure THAT out!?" But I do find the book helpful. So here's the recipe:

1. Steam 1 pound carrots for 20 minutes or until very tender. 2. Blend, process, or mash until smooth, adding cooking liquid to reach desired consistency.

Since I already had a really awesome blender, I used that, and it worked great. Now obviously a baby isn't going to eat a pound of carrots in one sitting, so I spooned my carrot puree into an ice cube tray and put it in the freezer; when the puree was frozen I took the cubes out of the tray and am storing them in baggies in the freezer. One serving for Charlie is about two cubes.

All in all, the experience of making baby food was a success. I found it to be quick and easy. Plus, now I feel all thrifty and domestic—hooray for esteem boosters!

Hidden Kiss Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
48 Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped
powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 350*F. Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. Stir together flour and cocoa; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Mold scant tablespoon dough around each chocolate piece, covering completely. Shape into balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
2. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool about 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Roll in powdered sugar. Roll in sugar again just before serving, if desired.

Photo courtesy of hersheys.com.

My sister Jennifer is getting married next month, and for her bridal shower we had a kiss cookie theme. We had some traditional peanut butter blossoms and two varieties of what I call hidden kiss cookies. I made the above chocolate variety and my sister Andrea made an almond variety. Both were delicious! I was feeling lazy, so I didn't roll my cookies in the powdered sugar, but I was thinking that for holiday occasions, I might roll these cookies in colored sugar sprinkles. I think that would be fun.

Also, I tried to find caramel kisses but failed. But I think the caramel kisses would be extra delicious. Although in their absence, one could use rollos or even mini peanut butter cups--yum!

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

1/2 cup fresh pumpkin seeds
2 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400*F.
2. In a small saucepan, combine seeds, water, and salt. Bring to a boil; let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.
3. Pour olive oil onto a baking sheet. Spread the seeds on the baking sheet, all in one layer. Bake on the top rack until seeds begin to brown, 10-20 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cool completely before eating.

Photo courtesy of simplyrecipes.com.

This is a fun and festive recipe for the fall season. Jennifer and I tried it using the seeds from some pumpkins we carved. (See my fabulous pirate pumpkin below.) These toasted seeds made for a tasty snack!

White Chip Lemon Streusel Bars

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
2 cups (12-ounce package) white chips, divided
2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups regular rolled or quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup toasted pecan pieces*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon shortening

*To toast pecans: Heat oven to 350°F. Spread pecans in thin layer in shallow baking pan. Bake, stirring occasionally, 7 to 8 minutes or until golden brown; cool.

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Combine sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and lemon peel in medium bowl; set aside. Measure out 1/4 cup and 1/3 cup white chips; set aside. Add remaining white chips to lemon mixture.
2. Beat butter and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, oats, pecans, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, blending well. Set aside 1 2/3 cups oat mixture. Add egg to remaining oats mixture, blending until crumbly; press onto bottom of prepared pan. Gently spoon lemon mixture on top, spreading evenly. Add reserved 1/3 cup white chips to reserved oats mixture. Sprinkle over lemon layer, pressing down lightly.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pan on wire rack. Place remaining 1/4 cup white chips and shortening in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 30 seconds or until chips are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred. Drizzle over baked bars. Allow drizzle to set; cut into bars.

Photo courtesy of hersheys.com.

This recipe is DELICIOUS! It's a sweet, lemony, refreshing summer treat, and I highly recommend it. PS—I think toasting the pecans makes a big difference.