Eggs Need Hats Too!

You'll never look at an egg the same. It will seem like something is missing. 

These guests arrived at my Bed and Breakfast this afternoon and are staying through Sunday.

This is Elizabeth, from the sweet town of Custard Ohio. She took a dip in her pool and her mascara ran all over. I re-did her make-up after she toweled off. Note: use a permanent marker or draw the eyes after dipping them. Cupcake paper hat with carstock lining, cupcake paper polka dot dress.  

This is Senor Pepe'. He lives in Dallas and makes the best Texas omelet around. Old headband suspenders, and a toilet paper roll cowboy hat makes him the best around. 

This is Bobby from Zeno California. His favorite thing to do is ride The Wisk at the county fair. Egg carton hat with a red felt brim and lettering. 

This is Princess Rosalee, owner of the Grand Empire on Mille Lacs Beach (MB). She loves to toss coins into the wishing well (wishing for her prince of course). Felt crown complete with Amethyst, Emerald and Peridot jewels. Vera Wang slim fitting egg carton dress. 

 Ah yes, Robin of Hood Fan Montana. Skipping from fry pan to fry pan taking from the omelet to give to the poor scrambled eggs. Triangle shaped, yellow feathered felt hat. Green carton tights.  

The victory Viking from Minnesota. Rooting for the home team. Purple pride pinstripe carton pants, long yellow threaded hair, and card stock horns. 

They each get a room with a view. 

  My own collection of Elizabeth's, and Pepe's.

The April 2012 edition of Family Fun magazine gave us more Easter hat and craft ideas. You didnt think I came up with this on my own did you? Have fun!

80th Birthday Cake

Grandma's 80th Birthday Cake

 A carrot sheet cake, with cream cheese frosting! 

Cant forget the cupcakes!!

Those are gum paste Gerbera Daisies. I purchased a sunflower cookie cutter and instead of laying them flat (like a sunflower) to dry, I used old egg cartons to form them. Lined the holes with tinfoil and gently pressed them in. There are over 55 of them. It took a few different nights to do all of them.

 

I also made little circles with the extra dough to use on future cakes. Gum paste doesnt have much flavor, but keeps for months. All the kids wanted to eat the flowers, but to their surprise, they dont really taste like much of anything. I used gel food cloring.

There she is, sweet old Grandma!

Easter Salad

A simple favorite. This recipe has evolved from the basic tuna noodle salad, and now, after a few revisions, it has turned into a pasta salad worth eating!

Here is the base:
1/4 brown sugar (sometimes I substitute with agave)
1/c salad dressing (I like to use 1/2 c. Mayo & 1/2 c. Miracle Whip)
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 TB white vinegar
1/4 tsp. (or to taste) Spice Islands Beau Monde seasoning

Here is the rest:
2 c. cooked chicken, cut into chunks or 1 can tuna
2 c. shell noodles, cooked and chilled with cold water
1 c. celery, chopped
2 Tbls. sweet onion, chopped
1 c. cherry tomato's, sliced in half
1/2 c. frozen peas
1 c. chickpeas
2 c. spinach leaves, ripped and stems removed if desired

Try adding:
- Water chestnuts or cashews for crunch,
- Grapes for sweetness
- Shredded carrots for added color

Mix it all up and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Tips:
- Tastes best when made the day before.
- Add the spinach and cashews just before serving to avoid sogginess.
- Cook the chicken in chicken broth and season with lemon pepper. 

Anniversary Ginger Carrot Cupcakes

Anniversary Ginger Carrot Cupcakes
Made for my Grandparents 65th Wedding Anniversary. 65 years!! 65 years!! That is incredible!

They go together like carrot cake and cream cheese frosting! 

These ginger carrot cupcakes are dense and moist and topped with a smooth cream cheese frosting. The fresh ginger gives it a little different flavor from your average carrot cake and a nice change. 

Recipe here!

It is always a joy for me to be baking in the kitchen. Especially with the kids. As impossible as it can be at times, its all so much fun, and they just love it, as long as I continuously feed them! I only have a small window of time to bake from about 8am to 10am. After that there is nap time for the little one, then prep for lunch, eat and clean up, another nap and dinner prep eat and clean up. That pretty much takes care of the day until bedtime. That's when I do the decorating! So if I can get the cakes and frosting made, I'm good to go! 

Carrots: a bunnies favorite snack

 Daniels job is to line the carrots up in the food processor, then push the button. One of his favorite movies is 'the food processor movie'. The one that came with the FP. It has a chef on there making a bunch of different recipes using the 'prep 7 food processor' (that he, the chef, says about a hundred times!). Daniel would watch it every day, over and over if I let him. But he can tell me exactly how to make a pie crust using the FP! He's so visual.

Before doing anything else, get those walnuts roasted. They need to cool before adding them to the batter. The best way I found was to bake them at 320-350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until they start to crackle.

Daniel and I watched a few YouTube videos on how to roast walnuts. I knew how but wasn't quite sure how long and the temp, so maybe I didn't really know how. But again, this is a favorite thing for Daniel, to watch cooking shows. I think it's wonderful!

They will be light brown when toasted correctly. They smelled so good and toasting them really brought out the natural flavors.

 I ate about half of them! And then once the cream cheese frosting was done, I would take a walnut and pipe a little dot of frosting on it, then eat it. I don't understand how my Mom can bake and not taste-test anything. That would be pretty much impossible for me. 

 He has his own whisk.

Whisking eggs is a daily job around here. Every morning we make eggs for breakfast. Those delicious free range green eggs have such a deep yellow yolk. I think my Dad eats eggs every day too. And I'm pretty sure my brother does. Must be something we learned growing up on the farm. 

Dolly is my helper, or mess maker, whichever way you want to look at it! I think she's helping in her own little way. She has her own chair that she pushes over to the counter herself, she also pushes a short little bench over too so she can get up and down from the chair. Smart as a whip and oh so independent! Reminds me a little of myself.

Ginger, Sweet Ginger! 
Fresh ginger was the key to making this cake different. The smell of fresh ginger is irreplaceable. 


The recipe called for 2 tsp and that was plenty. Once the cakes were baking, it filled the whole house up with the smell of ginger. I happen to like ginger, but not everyone does. 


You can replace it with ground ginger which I think would make it a little less 'gingery' if that's a word. 

I only needed a few cupcakes so I made a little layer cake also.

And look at those cute little cupcake papers! My mom found these Wilton papers at Walmart! I also just saw them at JoAnne. Love them and want more!

Ahhh the cream cheese frosting. Num num. It took 3 batches of this to pipe the cupcakes and the layer cake. I had about 2c. left over.

 I have to admit, that every time I bake anything, the kids get a huge spoonful. They stand there begging me saying 'can I have some now?" over and over. I try not to let those little fingers in the bowl, but Lydia is so quick. Today I was making a marble cake and she snuck her little fingers right into the bowl, got a big huge handful! But that's the fun of being a kid AND the fun of baking!

I always use my Pampered Chef cookie scoop to drop the batter in. That way each cup cake is equal. But, you already know that trick. I wonder at what point my cookie scoop will end up in the sandbox?  

  Now it's time to decorate, my favorite part! I wouldn't mind having someone bake the cakes so I could just decorate them. But then, my Uncle Dick reminded me, that I could just use a shoe box if I just wanted to decorate something! Ha! he's right!

 Of course it has to have a carrot piped on it. Have you ever seen a carrot cake w/o a carrot on it?

I totally messed up and did not take a picture of the final layer cake. BUT here is a lovely picture of the crumb coat! So imagine this looking a lot like the cupcakes but in layers :D

All in a days work. Or maybe it was two days. I am for hire if anyone has a request ;-) The more tricks I learn the more fun I have. It's really just a matter of when there is time. Next month I'm learning how to play with gum paste and fondant!

All cakes I decorate are done in the wee hours of the night. I cant think straight when I have kids glued to me. Guess that's another reason why God made me a night owl. Oooh, how about an owl cake....there I go dreamin again.


Happy Anniversary Oma und Opa!

Your family appreciates every minute of those 65 years spent together! Thank You!!

A Diabetic Brownie

Every month or so, the kids and I go to the elderly apartment downtown. We visit Mrs. Larson, a woman of God. She always showers me (and the kids) with her wisdom.

Through conversation I learned that Mrs. Larson is diabetic and because I love to bless others with food, I wanted to find a quick, simple diabetic dessert for her.

 I found these nummy little brownie bites called 'Cant Tell They're Low-Fat Brownies' (recipe here). I substituted half of the sugar with agave, applesauce for the prunes, added about 20 chocolate chips and baked them 26 minutes to keep them gooey, topped them off with sifted powdered sugar. Mmmmm

These low-fat brownies were delicious! Best of all,  Mrs. Larson enjoyed them, especially with our cup of hot cocoa!

Chocolate Candy Cake

I first fell in love with this cake at a baby shower. The recipe is flawless and simple. The cake is moist and thick. The frosting is decadent and delicious. It's a beautiful marriage!

Recipe for Cake:
1 package devils food cake mix (yep, serious cheating!)
1 1/2 c. Milk
3 eggs
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 (3.5 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
Combine ingredients and mix on medium speed for 4 minutes.
Use 2 - 9" cake pans lined with parchment (or 3 - 8" pans).
Bake at 325 for 25 minutes.
Let the cakes cool completely IN the pan on cooling racks. When completely cooled wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 1/2 hour and up to a week in the freezer.

Recipe for Frosting:
I doubled this and enough leftover for cupcakes the next day
3/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. water
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. clear imitation vanilla (or use real vanilla, it just wont be white frosting)
1/8 tsp. butter flavoring
4 c. confectioners sugar
1 c. pecans, chopped (substitute nuts for skor bar or toffee bits)
2-4 (1.5 oz) milk chocolate candy bars, chopped (try substituting candy bars with oreo cookies)
Blend until well combined

To curl the white/dark chocolate:
Use Bakers chocolate bars (they are thicker and easier to shave). Warm the squares up (20 seconds) in the microwave. Shave with a vegetable peeler. They will curl nicely. I used 100% cocoa, unsweetened, dark chocolate. It tastes terrible alone, but with the sweetness of this cake, you would never know it!

After the cake is completely cooled, layer the cake with a nice thick layer of frosting. Add the top layer and put a crumb coat of frosting on. Refrigerate for 15/20 minutes then frost the rest of the cake. Lightly press the chocolate curls into the sides and top of cake. 

Slice and enjoy with ice cream!

Lefse

Do you have leftover mashed potatoes? It's amazing what you can do with them. This day we made lefse.

It's best to use a potato ricer to make your potatoes light and fluffy. Lefse is hardy recipe and you really only need a few ingredients. My recipe includes salt, heavy cream, sugar, butter and lots of flour. Since I already had salt, whole milk and butter mashed into the potatoes, I just added a little sugar and enough flour to make them like dough, then rolled them into walnut size balls.

Once we rolled them out REALLY thin, we threw them on my griddle and cranked the heat to 400. Once they browned and bubbled up a little, I flipped them and cooked the other side for about 1 minute. They cooled nicely on a damp towel. I covered them with another towel.

A little History about Lefse

It's hard to say when lefse originated but Norway suffered from the effects of the potato famine in the mid-1800's, which is about the time that many Norwegians came to the United States. They brought their knowledge, griddles, mashers and rolling pins. The result is a delicacy that's part of a special tradition replicated in every Norwegian-American town for more than 150 years. A tradition that you can be part of once again. Here is a version of Lefs's history by Jim Berg from Albert Lea, MN. Now Den, vot you know bout dat.... Did you know that lefsa was invented by the norweigen Vikings... Von day, dey vent and was going to raid Ireland..... Vell they got over der, but they couldn't suprise dem Irish people cause they were making too much noise coming across the Nort Sea from Norway. When they got to the shores of Ireland, they tried to land But couldn't. You see the Irish heard them coming and began throwing their potatoes at them darn vikings so dat the cud not land. Vel by golly, do you know vat. They load that ship with all the potatoes dat got trowed at dem, pulled out their oars and finally got back to Norway. When they got there they played aroung with those potatoes and came up with a bread, and called it LEFSA. They had a big party that night, day got out that old foul smelling fish and put it on Lefsa and that is where the Lutefisk Supper vas born...........My Grate, Grate, Grate, Grate, Granfodder was on that ship that raided Ireland. I'm sure glad they brought it to America other wise we would not have Lutefisk Suppers Today. My Lena makes the best darn lefsa in Minnesota. Corse I have to help otherwise she'd eat it all up while she was cooking it and we would not have any for supper that evening.... I'm sure glad they have Lutefisk Suppers around Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. My mother Palma, made all the lefsa by herself. They wern't very round, but then she always said you could not taste the round...... Your Friend.......... Ole Story taken from lefsetime.com where you can find recieps and equipment to make your own!

Homemade Noodles

It's almost too easy. We received a pasta machine for Christmas - $20, TJ Max. Cheap investment for what it can create. Great for soup fans or Moms who make noodles at least once a week for the kids.

 

Recipe:

2c. wheat flour

5 eggs

1. Pour the flour into a bowl and the eggs into the middle of the flour. Mix the eggs with a fork until they are blended with the flour. Knead the mixture with your hands until smooth. If it's too dry, add water. If it's too soft add flour. 
2. Cut into small, fist sized balls. Roll out on a floured surface. 
3. Pull through pasta machine. 
4. Hang over chair or drying racks to dry a bit before adding to boiling water  

Tips:

• A good mixture shouldn't be sticky. You can't really hurt the dough by adding too much flour.
• Do not use eggs straight out of the fridge, best at room temp. 
• Noodles will keep in the fridge uncooked for up to a week. 
• All purpose flour can be substituted. 
• If you do not have a pasta maker, roll out dough really thin and cut into strips with a knife.

I used these noodles in our chicken noodle soup, also just cooked a few up to eat for snacks with red dipping sauce.

Flour Power!

Baking bread really shouldn't require so much clean up, but when kids are involved, time is the essence of cleanup.

The kids were great until it got a little out of hand. Really? Did you have to put it in her barely-there hair? Now when I put her in the tub it's going to make a beautiful creamy paste on her head! Oh and it did, she was a pasty mess in the tub. Took extra bubbles to get that out.

You can barely see my nice bread dough on the counter. This was my first successful attempt at making my Grandmothers sweet rolls. I used my mixer for 1/2 the job then did the mixing manually. That seems to be the key. I think the mixer mixes too much (if that makes any sense!).

Oh he looks so proud of how well he buried his sister in flour! She had a great time too - slapping her hands in the piles of it on her highchair. Crazy kids!

Being Frugal

Check out this great website for frugal idea's and coupons galore!!
http://thefrugalgirls.com/

Staying Up Past Dark

It was such a beautiful night that we just had to enjoy it. We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores! Daniel loved it. Not to mention he slept great that night. Maybe keeping him up later is the key? Maybe it was that cool fresh air?!

"What? I get to stay up late!! Oooh I'm so excited!!"

"Thanks for the special snack Dad!"

"Mmmmm. This tasted great but I only had two bites because I was so busy making 'parking lots' with my sidewalk chalk". 

"Oh no! MOM, I need a napkin!"