j's birthday sushi cake

J's birthday was fast approaching, and I had my eye on fun cakes that were made to look like sushi platters. Since working with fondant (and making my own) was on my goal list I figured this was the best time to try it out.

It wasn't perfect, getting the fondant smooth over my cake was the toughest part. I made a 6 inch, 2 layer Hershey's Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. The Hershey's recipe is the one from the back of the cocoa container and it's always been my favorite. As always, I made the cake (and frosted it) the day before because day old cake is 100 times better than fresh cake.

baking, cooking & crafting list

I recently saw a few blogs where people were keeping track of their lists of things to do before a certain time or a certain age etc. I decided to start a list of things to complete before we leave Alabama...I'll keep this list updated (and probably add to it) as I go along. All suggestions are welcome!

Baking:
Croissants - Nancy Silverton's Breads From the La Brea Bakery (or from Flour)
Doughnuts - Allrecipes
Cake w/Fondant - Allrecipes 11/19 birthday sushi cake
Homemade Naan - Allrecipes

Cooking:
Spinach & Artichoke Dip
Popcorn Balls
Curry Chicken
Homemade Udon
Sushi

Sewing:
Baby Booties - like the baby snugg boots 12/19 booties for my future niece
New apron for me
Fleece baby jacket
Dog Jackets for Mac & Zoe

Yarn:

Learn to crochet  11/10 thanks to youtube!

Knit or crochet baby blanket 12/19 baby blanket for my future niece

Knit or crochet baby hat 12/24 newborn baby hat

Crochet something out of 'plarn' 12/27 started plarn market bag

Other Crafts:
Learn to emboss (heat) 11/14 made anniversary & birthday cards
Ornaments 11/7 felt ornaments for exchange & family

All suggestions are welcome!

Updated 1/12/2011

sweet tomato pizza & buffalo chicken pizza

I'm not a huge fan of regular pizza, but the ones I make at home are 10 notches above anything from Dominos. 

In the spirit of new recipe month I found myself three new recipes; dough, sweet tomato sauce and buffalo chicken pizza (for J)!

I usually make a quick dough that doesn't need to rise because it's so much faster, but this time I opted for a full on pizza dough...don't worry - it's definitely worth the time....

2 1/4 teaspoons (or a .25 ounce packet) active dry yeast 

1 1/2 cups warm water (110*)

1 teaspoon brown sugar

In large bowl, dissolved yeast and brown sugar into warm water. Let stand 10 minutes or until frothy.

Note: If you've never worked with yeast before, I promise it isn't difficult. I don't actually get the temperature of my 'warm' water I just finger test it (with a clean finger of course!). You want to be able to comfortably stick your finger in it for a few seconds. If its too hot, just pour a little out and add cold water. If it feels kinda luke warm (like you wouldn't get in the tub because you know you'd be cold in a few minutes) then continue to heat it up. It's important not to have your water too hot because it can easily kill the yeast. I always buy yeast in the jar because I use so much, but feel free to buy the little packets if you just want to try it out (they usually come in packs of 3, always in the baking aisle). Make sure to refrigerate your yeast after opening, if you bought the jar. 

sesame beef lettuce wraps & chicken pasta bake

After my pesto I was on a new recipe high. I had finally found one to add to my binder of deliciousness and I was left hoping the next would be just as good.

I found this recipe for Sesame Beef Lettuce Wraps on Under the High Chair about 9 or 10 months ago when I was scouring the internet for any sort of lettuce wrap recipe. In California we'd been spoiled with two wonderful restaurants within walking distance that both had amazing lettuce wraps. I already have a turkey lettuce wrap recipe that is to die for, but that's for a later post.

I was shopping at Walmart (ugh!) and of course couldn't find any flank steak so I picked out a thin cut of chuck rounds instead. I also couldn't find any sesame seeds - go figure - but I wish I'd had 'em.

empanadas, empanadas!

Come on...it's a fun word, just say it....Empanadas, empanadas, em-pan-a-das!

Okay. Jokes aside, last night I made my first empanadas. I was inspired by these yummy tapas J and I used to get at Bar Celona in Pasadena, CA. Now, it was harder than I thought to find a chicken empanada recipe so I finally just winged it.

My super simple, but delicious, empanada recipe:

2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 jar of your favorite salsa
1/2 cup cheese, grated
1 pkg puff pastry, thawed

I cut my chicken into 1inch strips and then sauteed on the stove with about 1 cup of salsa. Then chopped the chicken up into teeny-tiny pieces.

Once the puff pastry is thawed (my package said it takes 40 minutes) you can cut out circles of any size. I used a drinking glass for my circles, about a 2 inch diameter.

molten lava...

New recipe!

You know those amazing lava cakes you get at shmancy restaurants? I've always wanted to try to make one. Most recipes I've found look a little daunting, with a billion steps and odd ingredients.

Then I found this recipe: Molten Chocolate Cakes on my favorite recipe site.

These cakes were super simple to throw together, the only time consuming part was melting the chocolate & butter in a double boiler (which of course I don't own, so I improvised)

my first biscotti & failed tempura

You win some, you lose some...right? We'll that's definitely what happened to me! Let's start with the good news:

I wanted to make some cookies but am sooo tired of the regular chocolate chip variety (okay...MY chocolate chip cookies are no where near regular) and have had Biscotti on my 'To Try' list for a while. I went out and bought my Almond Extract and Anise Extract and then couldn't decide so I mixed up two different recipes (from AR). I must note here that Anise Extract is VERY strong, and for those who don't absolutely love liquorice -stay away! The dough didn't smell too strong so I was feeling optimistic with the recipe that included Anise...boy was I wrong! As it baked (the first time) the smell took over my kitchen but I followed through and cut the log up into biscotti shaped cookies but couldn't bring myself to eat them after the second baking, fail #1.

My second biscotti recipe called for Almond & Vanilla extracts instead (seemed much safer) as well as orange zest. This  recipe was easy to throw together since, by round two, I was a pro. And turned out wonderfully, so I sliced them up and baked them a second time to get that great biscotti crunch. Now the slicing, at least to me, was a challenge. I realized after the first batch that I was cutting them incorrectly and it took a second to figure out how to get them to look like biscotti! Here's my primitive sketch just in case someone has the same brain fart as I did when I read: "cut diagonally".

bread and insanity

J and I started this crazy 60-day workout regime on Monday: Beach Body Insanity....and it truly is insane! I woke up yesterday and couldn't stand up straight because my legs were so sore, but, we powered through anyways. This morning I was only about 90% as sore as yesterday, so we're moving up.

Now, I'm definitely not fat but I am for sure out of shape and I have a stack of clothes that proves it. I keep an under-the-bed-box full of clothes that don't fit. Today I went through those clothes (and pulled a few more from my closet) and organized!

These are the clothes that don't fit (left->right): Top Row - pajama bottoms, workout bottoms, shorts/skirts, pants and 'fancy' bottoms. Bottom Row - pajama tops, workout tops, tank tops, long sleeves, and 'fancy' tops. It's an entire wardrobe of things that don't fit. I had some sitting in my closet because they were things that didn't necessarily fit, but I would wear them under another top or jacket.

So this is the challenge...I will continue to try these things on over the next 60 days (we do a 'fit test' every two weeks, that might be a good time for my 'fit test') and if it doesn't fit by the end of the 60 days, it's going...No ifs ands or buts.

my vegetable garden & sour dough starter: part 2

So the first of my seeds/plants arrived the other day and we finally went to Lowes to pick up soil so I could plant them! We might have gone over board...oh well! I have one (17x36inch) planter box finished already, by the wonderful boyfriend, and he built another one that's twice the size but the sealant needs to dry before I can put it outside and fill it with delicious-ness!

I must say I'm a little upset at Gurney's for the fact that my order is taking so long. I've only received 2 of the 12 seeds/plants I ordered...and their 'order history' page basically sucks. I'm emailing them today to see if I can get some answers. But in the mean time...

I planted my strawberries! They are shipped as plants (25 total) but I only had room to plant 18. Most places say to plant strawberries far apart because their roots like to spread but I've been reading about square foot gardening and decided I would attempt to grow them closer together and see what happens! (I planted them yesterday evening and this morning they look extremely happy. They've started to open their leaves and are turning green-er)

I also found a great online kitchen garden planner from Gardener's Supply Company that is fun to play with, and they also suggest square foot gardening.

I've also started my seed potatoes by sticking them in southern facing window so they can grow 'eyes' before I put 'em in the ground. I'll be growing my potatoes in garbage bags because it's a cheap an easy way to continue to cover the plant with soil as it grows so that I, hopefully, have a larger harvest!

my sourdough starter: part 1

As mentioned in another post, I sent away for a sourdough starter from an organization known as Carl's Friends. You can read all about them on their website and even order your own for free but the gist is that this is part of a sourdough starter that Carl's family, and now friends, have kept alive for over 150 years. Doesn't get much better than that, does it?!

My boyfriend and I were both spoiled in that we grew up with original San Francisco sourdough at our fingertips. It was only after moving to southern California that I realized sourdough bread wasn't something you could get just anywhere. And now, living in Alabama, it's absolutely impossible to come by unless you have it shipped overnight from a company like Boudin Bakery. And as one can imagine, that costs a pretty penny. So I decided to try making my own, I have high sourdough standards so we'll see...

I sent my SASE to the group and was beginning to get a little worried since it had been a few weeks with no sign of my starter. But I read on their website that it could take up to 6 weeks (it's a network of volunteers and they have to dry the starter...you can read the lengthy explanation on their site). Then, a few days ago, mine arrived!

It comes in the mail looking like this: