Tag Archives: recipe

A wedding shower- The food!

May 18, 2009

Flowers and bees

The day of the shower was beautiful. Sunny, breezy, warm.  And the morning of the shower, my parents and I ran around finishing all of the last minute details for the shower. Starting with these:

Bee pops!

Inspired in part by Pioneer Woman’s “Springy Flower Pot Desserts” and by Bakerella’s infamous “Cake Pops,” I combined the two into these adorable little desserts. I spent the evening before the shower making the bumblebee cake pops.

Bumblebees

I simply followed Bakerella’s instructions to make cake pops… and then dipped them in yellow melting candy, added chocolate chips to one end for their stingers, brown candy coated sprinkle chips for the eyes and painted on their stripes and smiles with a toothpick dipped in melted chocolate candy.

Bees

Aren’t they cute??

Then my mom and I made these:

Flower pot

Using the smallest sized terra cotta pots we found at Hobby Lobby, we made this ice cream desserts.  We placed a vanilla wafer in the bottom, spooned some softened vanilla ice cream into the dish around a plastic straw and covered the top with crumbled oreos (which, with the filling left in the mix, really looks like potting soil!). We froze them like this overnight and the morning of the shower, we wrapped them in bright red and green napkins and tied with a black ribbon. (the wedding colors!)

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The napkins kept everyone’s fingers from freezing and made the flower pots look like they were wrapped as gifts from the floral department!

We placed cut, artificial flowers and the bumblebee cake pops into the straw immediately before serving.

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And the bride (and everyone else!) loved them.

The bumblebees were pretty time consuming, so I used the rest of my cake balls to make these:

Cupcake Bites

Again, I used wedding colors… and had one of the bridesmaids ask if I sold desserts as a business! I answered, no, but Bakerella should! (have to give credit for genius ideas where credit is due)

We even sent everyone home with a cupcake bite…

Cake boxes

…in their own mini-cake boxes!

Cake of boxes

Mom’s digital craft cutter was responsible for these wedge shaped boxes-

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And the adorable decoration they created when arranged into a layer cake! (Notice that one layer is “vanilla” and the other is “chocolate”!)

Dessert table

As if we didn’t already have enough sweets, we also served some lime bars, heart-shaped elephant ears, and HAMBURGER cookies (vanilla wafers, thin mints, red and yellow icing and green dyed coconut layered together- yum!) which fit our “outdoor”/”summer camp” theme.

We did serve lunch too…

Lunch

Salads and sandwiches!

And for good measure…

Champagne Punch

Champagne punch! Hey- we were all 21! Well, except for this little sweetie…

baby!

But she didn’t get to have any.

It was a beautiful, tasty afternoon. And the leftovers made the next day pretty sweet too!

Leftovers

Choose joy,

E

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My most favorite dessert- ever.

February 13, 2009

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Chocolate mousse.

I love pie, cobbler, and brownies. Cookies, cakes, and ice cream are great too. Creme brulee is delicious. But nothing beats chocolate mousse in my book.

Growing up, we had it in our house once a year. Valentine’s Day. It was almost enough to make good ol’ V-day my favorite holiday. (almost)

And now that I’m “the mom,” it’s up to me to carry on the tradition started by my mom- and Z is quite happy about that! He was introduced to mousse last year at my parents’ house. And his life will never be the same again. Which is good for me, because now I have an additional justification for making this ridiculously delicious (and easy!) dessert.

Here’s how you too can enjoy it!

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This is all you need! 1 cup of chocolate chips, 4 eggs at room temperature, 1/3 cup of HOT coffee, and 2 tablespoons of creme de cacao (which is totally optional!)

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A note about your chips- make sure they aren’t frozen. They should be at room temperature- it just doesn’t work right if you take them directly out of the freezer. (Z really likes to keep them there- even in the winter)

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Throw them into your blender.

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Pour in 1/3 cup of REALLY HOT coffee. (I brewed it fresh and poured it in right away!)

Then blend it ’til smooth. The hot coffee makes the chocolate melt.

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Then you need to separate your eggs. I have this handy-dandy egg separator but you can also just use the two halves of the shell.

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Put the 4 egg YOLKS into the blender with the chocolate and coffee.

Blend.

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Add 2 tablespoons of creme de cacao.

Blend.

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Then throw all of the egg whites into your mixer and beat until stiff peaks form. (This is why the room temp. eggs are so important. Cold egg whites don’t whip very well.)

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Pour the well blended chocolate over the whipped egg whites.

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And fold it all together gently by hand until it is well blended. (There shouldn’t be any big lumps of egg whites or streaks in the mixture.)

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Spoon the mix into wine glasses. My mom always uses stem ware- but we just have these stemless wine glasses.

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I only filled 4 glasses but you can get up to 8 depending on how much your egg whites whip up and how large your servings are!

Cover the glasses and refridgerate overnight.

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(Check out that fluffy, mousse texture… mmm)

Serve with plenty of whip cream and make sure there is someone to share it. Otherwise you’re liable to eat all 4-8 servings by yourself. And that way, there is someone around to revive you if you faint after the first bite. It’s that good.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love,

E

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Valentine Cookies

February 11, 2009

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It isn’t Valentine’s Day for me without these cookies.

My mom has made them every year for as long as I can remember- and just the smell of them reminds me of my parents’ home. Mom always tried to make Valentine’s Day special for us… and as a result, I’ve never “hated” the holiday (even though I never had a boyfriend for Valentine’s Day until I was dating Z in college!). We’d wake up to find the dining room table all decked out in red and pink and set really nicely where we’d sit and have a special breakfast. (donuts were often involved- or at least they were once and we were so excited it got translated to “often” in my memory! oh, and we never got donuts the rest of the year!) She would often have a little gift (beanie baby when those were the rage, candy, etc) sitting at each of our places and when we cleared our plates, we’d find a special card under our plates.

Lunch was always special too. We’d open our brown sacks and find one of our current favorites (sub sandwiches are SO much better in lunches than “normal” ones…), one of these delicious cookies, and usually some candy to share at our table. (People liked to sit by us. :)

Then, at dinner, Dad would give us a small gift- box of chocolates, a jewelry box, new crayons (when we were little!) and we’d have a nice dinner.

But it wasn’t over yet. The best part was yet to come. Dessert. The ONE day every year that we got this dessert. My absolute favorite dessert… which I’ll post Friday when I make it for our first married Valentine’s Day. :)

Until then, enjoy this recipe for these yummy cookies. They’re soft and chewy, savory, not too sweet and need to be eaten with a nice cold glass of milk. They’re big too so I like to wrap them up and give them to girl friends (or this year, my new sisters-in-law!) for Valentine’s gifts.

I’m totally addicted to them- but will ONLY make them for Valentine’s Day. (I like traditions… what can I say?)

Here’s how you make them!

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You’ll need: sugar, brown sugar, flour, shortening, butter, 3 eggs, baking soda, nutmeg, cream of tartar, and milk. For the icing, you need powdered sugar, milk, and white corn syrup (Karo).  Oh, and heart shaped cookie cutters!

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Add one stick of softened butter,

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1/2 cup of shortening,

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3 eggs,

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1 cup of sugar,

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and 1 cup of brown sugar to your mixer.

Cream together.

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And then transfer to another bowl. Or keep it in the mixing bowl if you’ll actually be able to stir things in by hand. (unlike me!)

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Then add 1 cup of flour,

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and then add 5 more. (total of 6 cups!)

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Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda,

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2 teaspoons of cream of tartar,

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and 1 HEAPING teaspoon of nutmeg.

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(the nutmeg is the best part!)

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Stir everything together until the creamed stuff is evenly distributed throughout the flour… it’s not done yet so don’t kill yourself trying to get everything mixed properly.

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Now, add 1/2 cup of milk,

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PLUS 1 tablespoon of milk.

Now you can stir the heck out of it.

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It’s a pretty dry, stiff dough. After it’s all stirred together, chill it for a while. (I left mine in for about an hour but it was because I ws making dinner. It might not take that long!)

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Take a chunk of the dough, roll it out about a 1/4″ thick. (I roll mine out on a smooth cutting board- easier to clean and the metal cookie cutter doesn’t mess up my table!) Also, this was a HUGE  cookie cutter. I only did a few at that size before switching to a smaller one.

Then, bake them for about 8 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

I forgot to photograph them after they came out… but they don’t get very much darker than when they went in. The bottom will be golden brown but the tops stay pretty light. You can remove them to a rack to cool.

Now for the icing.

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I ended up tripling this to get enough but here’s the ratio of this super simple powdered sugar icing!

1 cup of powdered sugar,

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4 teaspoons of milk (or 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon),

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and 4 teaspoons of  light corn syrup.

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 Stir! (and add food coloring if you want)

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Then drizzle it off the end of a spoon over the cooled cookies. I’m giving the big ones as gifts- so I put both colors on there to make them look “fancier.”

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If you give the wet icing plenty of time to set,

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You’ll be able to package them without them becoming all smooshed and ugly. (but they’ll still taste great either way!)

One more dessert and a Valentine’s day “craft” before Saturday!

Choose joy,

E

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Mama Jean’s Blueberry Cobbler

February 9, 2009

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I love chocolate. And pie (but not really chocolate pie… hmm…) But this dessert is at least tied for my favorite. My dad grew up with this dessert and when he married my mom I think it was a pre-requisite that she learn how to make Mama Jean’s (aka Grandma’s) blueberry cobbler. It helps that my parents grew up in north west Indiana- right by the border to Michigan- prime blueberry country.

Last August, Z and I camped with my family for a weekend in the Indiana Dunes and drove into Michigan to pick our year’s supply of blueberries. We came home with 15 pounds of blueberries… and they’re almost gone. Mostly because of this dessert. It’s the easiest thing I know how to bake (from scratch anyway!)- Z has made it by himself successfully before and even my high-school aged brother has pulled it off on his own. (Being a boyscout, he had to bake it in a dutch oven over a fire but it still turned out great!)

Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream or milk and tell yourself that because blueberries are pretty much the best food for you (seriously), the cobbler is good for you. Then eat the leftovers- if there are any!-for breakfast the next morning when no one is looking. (That way you don’t have to share!)

Anyway, here’s how you make it!

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You will need milk, flour, sugar, 1 stick of butter, baking powder, and 2 cups of blueberries. (I freeze 2 cups in each freezer bag so that I can tell exactly how many more cobblers that I can make during the winter. Fresh berries work too but they’re only available at a decent price in the summer!)

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You’ll also need some kind of baking dish. This is 1.5 quarts and it’s the perfect size. (slightly bigger works too- my mom’s is 2 qts)

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Throw the whole stick of butter in there and melt it. (Microwave or on the stove- I think microwave is easiest but whatever floats your boat)

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Then take a separate bowl and add 1 cup of sugar,

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1 cup of flour,

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2 tsp of baking powder,

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and 3/4 cups of milk.

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Stir it all up until well blended and all of the big lumps are gone. (it doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth!)

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Then pour the milk/flour mixture over the top of the butter.

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This part is important- DO NOT STIR. (I don’t know if actually makes a difference but just don’t stir it- fewer messy spoons, less arm fatigue, whatever.) Some of the butter will come up and around the batter- that’s ok. Just don’t stir it in! :)

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Now for the best part…

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Adding all of those beautiful berries…

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I love blueberries…

Again, you don’t want to stir these in. Just let them sit on top of the batter and butter. They’ll be fine.

Now, bake at 325* for about an hour and a half or until the top is golden brown. (The batter does rise to the top!)

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Here’s the last piece in the dish… it got served up so fast that I forgot to take a picture of it intact!

(See the golden batter sitting on top with the lovely berries all stuck together underneath??)

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Allow it to cool for a little while. (maybe 15-20 minutes?) You want to serve it warm but not scalding and allow the berries a little time to “firm up.”

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Spoon into dishes and top with a generous scoop ice cream (or pour some milk/cream over the top of it!- which I love)

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And try not to eat it TOO fast.

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(And in the morning, reheat the last piece in the microwave and it’ll taste just as good, if not better- than the night before! Oh, and I add milk for breakfast but Z just digs straight into the ice cream… even at 6:30 in the morning… :) )

Enjoy!

And choose joy,

E

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Quiche!

January 15, 2009

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One evening last fall, just in time for dinner, we realized that our fridge was in pretty sad shape so I turned to this cookbook.

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This book was a gift from my mother in law and it’s provided some really delicious and super cheap meals. The one I’m sharing today is simply called “meat-potato quiche.”

And this is all I used to make it!

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(plus some chicken but that was in the freezer when I took this picture!)

First, I preheated the oven to 425*.

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Then I cooked the the chicken in bite sized pieces. You need 3/4 cups of either diced chicken, ham, or turkey.

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Then I washed and grated the potato with my cheese grater. This large potato made 3 full cups of potato “shreddings” which is just what I needed!

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Then I dumped all three cups into a 9″ pie pan.

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And drizzled 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil over the potato and stirred it all in.

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Then I pressed the oiled potatoes into the pie pan, creating a crust. Bake this in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until it is just beginning to brown.

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This is what it looks like when I took it out.

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Measure one cup of evaporated milk.

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And beat in 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp of salt, and some ground pepper.

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Beat the mixture well and set aside for a minute.

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Then sprinkly in 1 cup of shredded cheese. The recipe calls for swiss or cheddar. The small block of cheddar shown in the first picture made just enough (which is good because I hate swiss cheese!).

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Then add the cooked chicken and 1/4 cup of chopped onion.

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Pour the evaporated milk, egg, salt and pepper mixture over the top.

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It’s starting to look like a quiche, eh?

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Then sprinkle some parsley over the top. And bake at 425* for about a half hour.

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Take it out when it’s golden brown and a knife inserted 1″ from the edge comes out clean.

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Cut into slices and serve! (It also tastes great after it’s been refridgerated and then you reheat in the microwave.)

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