First Daring Bakers Challenge

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

I was so excited when I saw this challenge. It has felt like the Daring Cooks and Bakers were mind readers with my first two challenges being things I had been thinking about trying. Unfortunately, for this challenge the product didn't turn out at all like I had imagined.

One reason I was so excited was that I had the perfect opportunity to test out my decorating talent AND share the results at my sister-in-laws baby shower that I was co-hosting. So I headed to my local Ace Hardware and purchased the cutest little baby onesie cutter.

I am also always excited for the opportunity to use my pretty blue KitchenAid mixer that was a wedding present form my parents. Someday I plan to decorate my whole kitchen around this pretty thing (and my favorite color yellow).
The first go at the cookies didn't turn out so hot, probably because I used powdered sugar...and that meant an unplanned trip to the grocery store to pick up more sugar. Luckily, the little grocery store where we live had the baking sugar that the recipe suggested. So that was exciting since I hadn't been able to find it anywhere else!

The 2nd try worked much better.
Once it came to the actual cookie decorating I had a pretty hard time getting them to look the way I wanted. I wasn't able to get the royal icing to the right consistency. I'm not sure if it was an issue of process or patience, but I'm kind of guessing it was the latter. At least one or two didn't turn out awful, but that isn't enough to bring to a shower...So, much to the excitement of my husband the cookies stayed home with him. After all they still tasted good :)

Here is the recipes for the cookies.

And the Royal Icing can be found here.

Do You Remember?

The 21st Night of September...well, I might...but only based on what was for dinner!

What a dreary day it was yesterday! The first few photos (everything until dinner) are from my cell phone since I forgot my camera at home. Look at the skyline! Up beyond those clouds there is supposed to be the rest of a building. In keeping with the fall weather I went over to Starbucks for my favorite Caramel Apple Spice. Beyond delicious! On the side I had a piece of their lemon pound cake - since I'm not giving up on summer yet.
Even before I got out of my nice cozy bed yesterday morning I was looking forward to lunch. Though the weather may be dreary and the warm drinks may hit the spot - I wasn't really ready to say goodbye to summer and all the fresh fruits it brings.

So for lunch I recreated one of my favorite Panera salads (though they made it really easy by selling their salad dressings!). So spinach topped with mandarin oranges, pineapple, and strawberries. With a side of strawberry banana yogurt with Fiber One mixed in. If I don't look out the window - I might even forget it is mid-September.

Dinner was from my Cooking Light magazine. Well, it was more inspired by the recipe in Cooking Light. I made the 5 minute version that used the toaster instead of the oven. You can find the real Prosciutto, Pear and Blue Cheese recipe here or in the October 2010 issue. While I love all the ingredients separately, the combination wasn't really my thing.

The reason I had picked the sandwich was the simple fact that simple ingredients were the stars. Fruit, meat and cheese. Recipes without a lot of fancy ingredients or fuss remind me of Italy. I have been seriously bitten by the travel bug lately, and I think I wanted this recipe to bring me back there. Kind of a tall order for a sandwich.

Tonight is another Cooking Light recipe. Spicy Filet Mignon with Grilled Sweet Onion from the October 2010 issue. Filet Mignon is a little pricey for my bones, so I substituted a different cut of steak that happened to be on sale - and it was still WONDERFUL!

First Daring Cooks Challenge!

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

This challenge came at the perfect time, because I had been drooling over a few canning cookbooks at the local bookstore. I had been nervous to try it though, because it seemed complicated and an investment with all the items to buy.

When I chose to make the apple butter my intent had been to can it, unfortunately, I halved the recipe, and in the end there wasn't even enough to fill a 1 pint jar (despite the recipe saying that it made 4 - 5 half pint jars...so I figured 1/2 would make a 1 pint jar). Instead I froze what I had made in a plastic baggy, though I don't know how long it will stay in the freezer. I think the husband and I will be breaking into it soon, as it smelled fabulous.

I haven't given up on canning though (which is good, because I currently have 12 - 1 pint jars sitting on my dining room table. I plan on trying at least one or two more recipes, and hopefully I will be able to give some as gifts when the holidays roll around.

In the meantime I have a yummy breakfast.

Weekend Festivities

Last weekend was a busy one in our household. It was the first Gopher home game, and the results were disappointing to say the least.

Sunday was my sister-in-law's baby shower that I co-hosted. I had hoped to get a lot more accomplished leading up to the shower, but with some pretty busy few weeks leading up to the shower I wasn't able to get as much done as I would have liked. In fact, I was sewing part of her gift up until 15 minutes before my mother-in-law arrived to drive me to the shower!!

All-in-all I was very happy with the onesie that I made (though I had planned on making more), and I still might make those few extra and give them to her at the hospital/at Christmas time.

I used a pattern by Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching that I purchased at Crafty Planet. I really like how it turned out!

So here are a few photos of the onesie:

Well, that's all for now!! I have a few more almost finished, so maybe I'll actually start posting regularly :)

Chicken Enchiladas Verdes

Tonight's dinner was so delicious I had to post right away. Ripped from the pages of my Real Simple magazine we had Chicken Enchiladas Verdes. Although the picture below leaves something to be desired, you can hopefully imagine the gooey-cheesy dinner we enjoyed tonight.
If you don't have the September 2010 issue, you can find the recipe here. It was pretty easy to make and tasted great! My husband said it might be one of his new favorites, though it is pretty high in calories, so it won't be an addition to our weekly menu.