New Years Eve 2010

Feast your eyes on some spicy ranch chex mix with corn and rice chex, cheddar jack cheez-its, peanuts, pretzels, and popcorn. I can't wait to get over to Sherwood's and put together the tablescape!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

New Years Eve 2009

Last year I whipped up about 100 chocolate covered pretzel rods for New Years Eve. This year a savory snack is in order and I cannot wait to make it!

Are You Getting Some of This?

Hmmmm who could all these bars be going toooo? I normally don't like to post food presents before they are given, but I''m on a blog posting roll and I can't stop now!

These are chocolate chip-popcorn bars. I opted out of the butter and corn syrup part of the recipe because it seemed really unnecessary. The drizzle on top is peanut butter and chocolate.

I had some extra popcorn, marshmallows, and melted peanut butter chocolate so I made these little guys for the tablescape. Well not really for the tablescape, I just really enjoy pretending I have a tablescape. Anyway someone will eat them.


I'll give you a peek at our completed food basket gifts later.

Christmas Cookie Batch 7

AHHHHH! We forgot about a cookie!! Yes 7 different kinds of cookies, 8 if you count the snaps that are on the tray. Happy Birthday Jesus, I hope you like cookies instead of cake!

These are lemon ricotta cookies a la Giada De Laurentiis

I've got one more dessert present coming up next!

Christmas Cookies, Batch 3, 4, 5, 6

Yes that's right, 6 kinds of cookies all tolled. Are we insane? Maybe. Are we cooking even more than just 6 kinds of cookies? Yes, so lookout for more food shortly.

Chocolate Crinkles

Pignoli (pine nut) cookies

Nut balls rolled in confectioners and granulated sugar

Spritz cookies, made into those fun shapes with a cookie press that was both exciting and infuriating all rolled into one.

Christmas Cookies, Batch 2

This is going in the gift tin along with the bark. They are icebox short bread cookies with craisin and blusins (blueberry raisins I wanted to call them blasins, but that already had a whole different connotation) mixed in.


Martha wanted me to cut these 3/8 of an inch thick. Is she fucking kidding me? Not 1/2 inch, 3/8 of an inch? I busted out the ruler and did my best.


More cookies on the way!

Christmas Cookies, Batch 1

PB and J thumbprint cookies! How cute are these guys? The recipe is courtesy of Sunny Anderson. I personally think she needs to get more FoodNetwork action because she's fantastic and quite frankly she's cookin' for real (see what I did there).

Preparing to go into the oven

Fresh outta the oven!

There will be lots more cookies on the way!

Bark

This year my sister and I are putting together food gifts for our relatives. My first creation is some milk chocolate bark with dried pineapple and blueberries, coconut, and white chocolate drizzle.

Just look at all of those delicious bits!

I had some left over white chocolate so I made this lovely little blueberry pancake look-alike for us to consume.

Christmas 2009

Above is our cookie bounty from Christmas last year. We made nut cups, chocolate crinkles, monster cookies, nut balls, pignoli cookies, oreo truffles, and chocolate pretzels.
I also made the horrifyingly gluttonous candied bacon fudge, seen below.


What sorts of treats are on the menu this year? Will we make more than 7 kinds of cookies? Will there be more bacon based desserts? The baking has officially begun today, so get excited for some sugar mania this week!

Pumpkin Oreos

This idea came to me in a dream, literally. And really, why have orange Oreos if they aren't going to have any delightful pumpkin spice-ness to them?

I mixed pumpkin puree, whipped cream, vanilla, and pumpkin spice together and sandwiched the mixture between some chocolate wafer cookies. I used great control and set them up in the fridge for ever hours before consuming them so that the wafer cookies get nice and soft.

In the end the experiment was a great success taste-wise, but not really much to look at photograph-wise.

Saturday Night Dinner

I haven't cooked a Saturday night dinner in ages. This particular Saturday night I had free range of the kitchen so I had to take advantage. Rachel Ray would call this a "passport meal" and tell me to watch Chinese movie alongside it. And wouldn't ya know it, we unintentionally watched the newest Karate Kid movie after dinner, damn you Rachel Ray!

I used this recipe for lettuce wraps. I didn't measure any of the spices and opted out of the jalapeno. They were quite tasty.


I also made some fried rice with "oriental vegetables," an egg, sesame oil and soy sauce.


My plate:

It was quite the passport meal.

Eggplant Raviolini Soup

Raviolini? Yes, that's right adorable little baby raviolis! I used this recipe as a guide, added some zucchini into the mix for good measure. I also pretty much refuse to purchase fresh herbs at the supermarket because I am a cheap-o so I opted out of the basil. Instead I sauteed the vegetables in flavored olive oil and I didn't miss that basil one bit.


Check out this action shot!


I demand adorable baby ravioli's in all soups now!

Bridal Shower Cupcakes

I had the pleasure of making cupcakes for one of my bestest best friend's bridal showers. Aren't they just darling? They are just vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing, but I had fun decorating them. I also dyed the insides pink (slightly orange because I used a yellow cake mix)


Congrats Beat Rice, I can't wait for the big day : )

Thanksgiving: the desserts

Our dessert menu:

mini oreo cheesecakes
pecan pie
german chocolate cake
pumpkin blondies
apple pie
chocolate cream pie

Here are some close up shots of the oreo cheesecakes:



That whole Oreo on the bottom really made all the difference.

Thanksgiving: the meal

Our menu:
turkey
mashed potatoes
brussel sprouts
peas and onions
sweet potatoes (covered with marshmallows, coconut, and pecans!)
stuffing
glazed carrots
corn bread

My plate, of which I had more than one:


Up next, the desserts!

Pumpkin Blondies

Honestly, everything should have pumpkin in it. It makes everything so delightfully moist and delicious. I made these pumpkin blondies last night. They smelled so freaking good we cut the edges off and ate them standing over the stove. Well, I had to know whether they could be served to company!

Just look at them chock full of chocolate chips and pecans. Now I have to sit around for 6 hours until I can eat one? I think not. Ate one for breakfast, it was delicious.


More sweet and savory Thanksgiving dishes to come!

Thanksgiving 2009

Last year I made a pumpkin cake with amaretto cream cheese frosting.




This year another pumpkin treat is on the way! Get excited!

Classy Mac

I have really been neglecting this blog this month, my sincerest apologies. Tonight for dinner I made my new favorite 10 minute dinner. I dubbed it classy mac because it has marscarpone and parmesan cheeses. As you can see in the picture the ingredient list is minimal as is the preparation. Simply mix them all together and dinner is served!

P.S. How awesome is my little cheese container? Be amazed, I have a cheese grater with a container attachment to collect the grated cheese! AND it comes with a lid for easy storage. Sigh, I love my gadgets.

The Horrors of Extra Halloween Candy

Peanut butter cookie + cream cheese + kit kats + reese's peanut butter cups = peanut butter cooking cream cheese candy bars.



There is really nothing else to say, except that I would have loved to have a candy bar with some caramel in it.