Scones of thanks....

So when your BFF is recently married and they are in the process of buying their first house AND it’s Thanksgiving there is a lot and I mean a lot to be thankful for. So when Gigi said she wanted some scones how could I deny her that. Now I played it off like oh hmmm yea that sounds good. All the while I was going over what I had at home to make scones with. BINGO! I have everything I need.

To keep with the theme things I am thankful for, I wanted to show her just a smidge of how thankful I am to have her in my life. I found the perfect basic scone recipe.

I made these little gems smeared them with the raspberry jam that I made. ME!! I MADE JAM!! Oh and I made some with Nutella because if you are going to splurge it should be worth it and Nutella makes any splurge worth it! I could be wrong but probably not! Ahaha!

My plan was to bake these and leave them on her doorstep to find when she got home. BUT time got away from me and the pouring rain here in MI had me in a “I’d like to stay in my pajamas all day mood”. So what I did was I wrapped them up and left them by her back door with a note. I wanted to take a pic for you guys of me sneaking up there but again it was pouring rain and I was trying to be sneaky. I left the scones and sent her a text saying I left her something outside her back door. HA!

You know I am sure we all have a lot to be thankful for, I can say there are so many days that go by I forget about some of these things. It happens. But moments happen when you are reminded of how truly great life can be if you just let it.

So with that being said I am so truly thankful for everything I have and everyone in my life. I am even thankful that at this very moment my coffee cup is empty because I really don’t need any more caffeine! Ahaha!

Make these scones for someone to show them how thankful you are that they are in your life. Oh heck make them for yourself because you can and be thankful you had all the ingredients! aha!

Enjoy! Keep on Making Stuff!!


Glazed Raspberry Scones(click here for the original recipe):
  2 cups all purpose flour

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1/3 cup (about) raspberry jam (do not use seedless)

Glaze

•  1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon rose water (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles fine meal. Gradually add 1 cup cream, mixing until dough comes together. Turn dough out onto sheet of foil; pat to 1/2-inch thickness. Using 3-inch heart-shaped or round cookie cutter, cut out scones. Gather scraps; pat to 1/2-inch thickness and cut out additional scones. Using floured knife, start at point of each heart and cut horizontally halfway through scones; fill with 1 generous teaspoon jam (jam will show at edges). Transfer to baking sheet. Bake scones until brown, about 18 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool scones until slightly warm.

Meanwhile, mix powdered sugar, remaining 3 tablespoons cream, and rose water in bowl to blend. Spread glaze over scones. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

This is Gigi and I on her wedding day....isn't she the prettiest BFF ever!

How to freeze soup and save space

You know how your freezer gets full of plastic containers...well whatever mine does. One day I was determined to come up with a way to make room.

I took my handy freezer bag filled it with my soup then laid it inside a baking dish. I did this until all my soup was bagged up.

Then I took the dish and put the entire thing in the freezer until all the soup was frozen! Fan freaking tastic!!!

Once it was frozen I took it out of the pan and neatly stacked it in my freezer. It took up 1/4 of the space a bunch of containers would have.

Moral of the story is you must make soup or anything that will lay flat in a freezer bag and try this you will love it!!

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!!



Here's a pic of my tomato basil soup before going into the freezer! Love!!

Banana Pumpkin Bread and a little update on me

Oh hey! I’ve been gone for a few. You see my office moved a hour away, it was summertime.

So much has happened since my last post. An update would take way too long so let me just say this summer was filled with fun, friends, love and happiness!!

Back to the reason we came here…..FOOD!!

The best thing about fall cooking is pumpkin. I love pumpkin anything.

I had these bananas waiting so patiently for me to eat them and I just couldn’t so I did what any responsible person would do. I found something delish to bake them in so they wouldn’t go to waste! DUH!

Being early November I have been dying to bake/make something to eat with pumpkin. So on my search for a new banana recipe I found this on one of my fav blogs! If you are watching your weight or just trying to eat right then this recipe is right up your alley. I am have made so many recipes from this site we would be here all day if I went on about how awesome and delicious everything is!

Best thing is if you are on WEIGHT WATCHERS this has the calorie break down AND she shows the points per slice. HI SHE MADE IT SO EASY!! So if you are keeping your mind right and your body tight browse this site you will love it!! Gina is a gift from the yummy food gods!!

OH OH!! So I mashed the banana then I added the pureed pumpkin, tossed in my pumpkin spice and the brown sugar. Let’s just say this mixture could be eaten by itself. Holy cow! SO GOOD!! Almost like a pumpkin butter. Ok sorry I got side tracked day dreaming about it on vanilla bean ice cream!

This is right from the site, I followed it exactly, no modifications for a change!

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!!

Pumpkin Banana Bread
From Skinny Taste.com

Pumpkin Banana Nut Bread
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 12 slices (1 loaf) • Serving Size: 1 slice • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 3 pts
Calories: 146.5 • Fat: 2.7 g • Carb: 33.3 g • Fiber: 1.6 g • Protein: 2.7 g
Ingredients: 
Pam baking spray
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves*
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg*
3 very ripe medium bananas, mashed
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar, unpacked
1 large egg white
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional, 5 pts+ per slice if using)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with baking spray.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, pumpkin spice and salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add egg whites, egg, bananas, pumpkin and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
Add flour mixture and nuts (if using), then blend at low speed until combined. Do not over mix.
Pour batter into loaf pan and bake on the center rack for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the pan cool at least 20 minutes, bread should be room temperature before slicing.
* 1 tsp of pumpkin spice can be substituted for cloves and nutmeg.

Sunday Fun-Day Salad

Tina and Omar were our awesome hosts for a great Sunday Fun-day! Not only was the house full or great people it was full of great food! Omar grilled some chicken kabobs, burgers and hot dogs like it was his calling in life. Oh and the pineapple....hello love of my life!! SO GOOD!!


Tina made a macaroni salad that was delish! Sarah brought veggies and dip, she's my fav because she had radishes! I heart radishes! Steve and Sarah also made adult cupcakes with KAILUA in them and in the whipped cream frosting!! What better way to cocktail! Weee!

Laurie made buffalo chicken dip. A classic party goodie that always goes over well.

And beer everyone brought beer.

The only thing missing was some freaking sunshine!!

Hello Mother Nature, it's me Barbie. You see me I know you do I'm extremely pale and wearing long sleeves still and dying to wear some open toe shoes. Can we have a little talk about this no sunshine stuff??
UGH!!

As for me I sort of winged it based on some recipes I've seen online over the years. I made a corn and black bean salad. IT WAS SOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!! Again I may be partial!!

So here is the recipe my darlings!!



Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!!

Corn and Black Bean Salad

Dressing:
1 cup lime juice
1-1.5 cups of EVOO(the amount will depend on how much dressing you like)
Salt, pepper, garlic to taste.
The seasoning part for me was a add a dash taste game until it was just right. Same with the lime juice. I added a bit more once the salad was done for a little extra zing!

Salad:
2 cups cooked white rice
2 cans of black beans partially drained (i used one plan and one seasoned)
1 bag of frozen corn (Steve had a great idea to use trader Joes fire roasted corn i agree!)
1 red 1 yellow and 1 orange bell pepper
1 medium red onion
2 avocados
Approx 12 cherry tomatoes halved

Directions:

I let the frozen bag of corn thaw in the fridge over night.
In a large bowl mix the beans and corn in a bowl.
Now cook 2 cups of rice.
Once rice is done add to beans and corn and stir until mixed well.
Add about 1/2 of your dressing and really give it a good stir. Take a taste and see if anything need to be added more lime juice salt pep etc. I added a dash more of each but for you it may be just right.
I let it sit for about a hour so the dressing could really settle in.
Ok so give all your veggies a good chop. I diced all mine. OK WAIT! Don't cut the avocados until right before you are ready to serve it!
So now add all your veggies and again give it a good stir. Stir like you mean it! Stir like you are trying to get rid of that flabby upper arm you somehow acquired over the winter. (just saying ahaha)
and VOILA!!

Your yummy healthy tasty salad is done. Like I said add the avocados right before you are ready to serve.
Now like I said I know there are about 42 million recipes like this on the net but I cannot give any specific blog or site credit because I essentially winged if from what I have read. So to all you folks with a similar recipe already post....THANK YOU!

Oh and this salad is great 24 hours after you make it. I have some today for lunch and it's calling my name!!

Giant Cookie Birthday "Cake"

Every year for my oldest dearest friends birthday I make him some sort of crazy cake. There have been lots of themes in the past. Kitty Litter, naked mermaid, boats and hoes and on and on. This year I decided to make something special.

Steve loves my peanut butter dark chocolate chip cookies so I decided to incorporate that into his cake. I thought and thought then it came to me.....

A GIANT SANDWICH COOKIE!!!

Yes indeedy!!

So if you make a full batch of my peanut butter cookies add in a bag of dark chocolate chips it will make 3-4 9 inch cookies depending on how thick you make them. Mine took about 25-27 mins to cookie to a nice soft golden brown.

The filling was a combo of 2 of my regular frostings. It's essentially a cream cheese frosting with 2 cups of whipped heavy cream.

I really think you could make this with any cookie and frosting you like. I think a sugar cookie with something light and a hint of coco would be great!!

Kids would love this. Well all my friends are over 30 and we all loved it too so...

Here are some pictures to make you wish you were at Steve's birthday party. Maybe next year...!

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!

I can't even explain how awesome this was. I recommend a large glass of ice cold milk!

Naughty Cornbread

Press 1 to speak to a live girl
Press 2 to hear a true confession from a snowed in executive assistant
Keep on reading to know what makes this cornbread so naughty!

AHAHA sometimes I really do make myself laugh. I know I'm usually the only one laughing but who cares. I'm awesome! AHAHA!

Our Best Bites  always has fab recipes and these ladies have yet to let me down. I have made several of their recipes and i heard great things from Gigi about their chicken and dumplings.
Another snow day here in Metro Detroit. Gotta love all the fuss we had on Groundhogs day about Snowmagedon 2011 and we hardly got anything. This was way worse but NONE of the hype.

I was sitting at Gigi's talking about her up and coming wedding to the oh so wonderful Marko, all while she baked cookies. Really great warm yummy cookies from Mega Bite we knew it was snowing and we were supposed to get 2-4 inches but weren't really concerned. Next thing we know I peek through the blinds and say OH MY GOSH LOOK!!! It was a blizzard out there.

I gather my things and head home!! I could have used some skis.

So moving on....it's now Monday morning and I wake up at 4:30 to check the weather and the news to see the roads and the city is under a mountain of wet heavy snow. GROSS!! It looked pretty mind you but still GROSS!!! ahaha!!

I call it and email my Boss who is in California on business that I am snowed in and will be working from home. This working from home thing is pretty awesome. I got a lot done and was able to clean on my breaks and bake this yummy cornbread!!

I had everything I needed for a special meal for me and my sugar booger but he kept getting calls to do more jobs. OH WELL. So I made dinner for me and my mommie dearest who was also snowed in.

We had yummy breaded pan seared pork chops, mashed potatoes and this ever so awesome cornbread. Well I had the cornbread for dessert. I warmed it up and poured honey over it!! YEAHHHHHHHH!!!

Now I'm not a huge box mix fan but as I said Our Best Bites has never let me down so i took their word for it. Below is the recipe from their site. Follow it! Love it! Don't make yourself sick eating too much of it!!!

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!!

NAUGHTY CORNBREAD
I box of YELLOW CAKE MIX

2 boxes of JIFFY CORN BREAD MIX

NOTE: at anytime the recipe calls for water replace it with milk. I used skim milk.

This is so simple....

Preheat the oven according to the cake mix box. Mine was 350F for a 13x9 pan.

Now in a large bowl pour in the cake mix and mix it according to the directions on the box. Eggs, Oil, and replace water with MILK

In same owl pour in both boxes of corn bread mix and mix it according to the directions on the box. Eggs, Milk etc

So now you have all 3 boxes of mix and their ingredients mixed well together in a bowl.

Here is where I wish I would have added a can of cream corn or drained can corn for a more corny taste. HAAHA CORNY!! OK anyway!!

Grease your pan/pans. You can use muffin pans loaf pans whatever your hungry heart desires.

Pour in your mix and cook 35-45 mins depending on the oven and the humidity where you live.

This will come up nice and golden and your house will smell like country lovin!!

Cut a hunk as soon as it's cool enough for you to handle. Smother in butter or honey or just eat it plain and let out a OH YEAH DADDY THAT'S WHAT I LIKE.

I assume this is normal and why it's called Naughty Cornbread!! I mean you would think so right???Right???

This makes so much I vacuumed sealed a bunch and left a nice portion out for munching on during the week!

The original recipe is linked above!!

 look at how golden and yummy this looks!!! WOW!!

!!!Cheers!!!

Tres Leche Torta de cumpleaños para Linda (Tres Leche Birthday Cake For Linda)

So I mean how ambitious would it be for me to roughly translate an entire blog entry using the real Spanish words I know along with the made up ones I like to use all the time.

I like to pretend I know Spanish and make up words that sound mucho Spanish. See I just did it!! ahahaa!

But I will spare you the humor or lack there of. If you know me personally you know I usually find my jokes way way more funny than anyone else. I'm ok with that. I'm an only child I blame my Mother, as we all should for all our flaws! It's our right as children to blame them!

Oh man I am just laughing to myself right now like a big old ninny!! one day i will do a blog entry with all my corny jokes. Kind of like a stand up routine but virtual! SWEET!!

Anyway....


I'm all for exposing myself to new things and taking friends and family along for the ride so what better way to do so then with a birthday cake.

Just so you know Linda this cake gave me a panic attack when I tried to flip them out of the pan and they were stuck. When I say stuck I mean stuck like that guy in the old Super Glue adds with the hard hat on hanging from the iron beam stuck!

BUT alas my trusty paring knife and spatula saved the day!

For those of who do not know Tres Leche means 3 milks. This cake is soooooo light and airy and then you just drench it with this creamy sweet smooth milk mixture and let it soak over night. Then of course the next day you cover it in fresh whipped cream and toasted coconut and sing Happy Birthday! Or just eat it if it's not someone's birthday ahaha!

Again this recipe is from my most fav recipe diva The Pioneer Woman. She adds cherries to hers but I was looking for something a little less kitschy and a little more delicate. So I toasted coconut. Click here for the link(http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/09/tres-leches-cake/). Get Ree's cookbook and her novel they are both AMAZING!!! I have both and cannot wait to have them signed!!

Happy Birthday Linda!!! I hope you love your cake. I had fun making it!!

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!



Tres Leche Cake

I copied this right from the Pioneer Woman's site because she wrote it out perfectly. Thanks again Ree Drummond for creating such a great resource!!

Ingredients

1 cup All-purpose Flour

1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder

¼ teaspoons Salt

5 whole Eggs

1 cup Sugar, Divided

1 teaspoon Vanilla

⅓ cups Milk

1 can Evaporated Milk

1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk

¼ cups Heavy Cream

_____

FOR THE ICING:

1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping

3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes(i let mine soak over night in the fridge). To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable. Spread over the surface of the cake. I took it one step beyond and toasted some coconut and put that ontop along with a yummy dark chocolate drizzle.
 

oopsie

this cake is so light and airy. I love it's golden color!

whoever thought of soaking a cake with sweet milk is brilliant!

look it's like a little milk moat formning around the cake!!

Happy Birthday Linda!

Apple and Onion Pork Chops

Going to the grocery store for me is not an option when I have so much stuff in the fridge/freezer to make yummy things with!

So tonight I decided I was going to experiment with some stuff I normally would not combine....center cut pork chops, 3 small Fuji apples, and 1 large white onion. OH and one can of Bud Light.

I read this recipe on a site who knows where and when so the source like a lot of the things I make is sketchy ahaha!

It was probably Martha or something. I get lots of inspiration from her recipes.

Am I rambling again? Yes. I know.

So here it is plain and simple.

This turned out waaaayyy better then I thought and will for sure make this again and try it with chicken next time since I prefer that over pork. I enjoyed this with Pioneer Woman Crash Hot Potatoes which I blogged awhile back here POTATOEY GOODNESS(click)
Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!!

Ingredients:

4 chops of choice or chicken breasts

1 large white onion

3 small sweet apples cored and peeled

1 can of beer

1 cup of olive oil

seasoning of choice (i just used sea salt, fresh black pepper and dried parsley)
Directions:

pour 1/2 cup olive oil in the pan and add seasoned chops or chicken and cook/brown on both side until done

remove from pan and set aside.

leave crumbs and what not in the pan and add the other 1/2 cup of olive oil and heat.

chop onion

peel core and slice apples and add to the pan


Sautee the onions and apples until caramelized. Add half a can of beer once caramelized and let reduce a bit.

Add the chops or chicken back to the pan and cover with the apple onion mixture.

Add remaining can of beer and let simmer until reduced to a saucy goodness.


Serve with veggie or starch of choice and chow down!!!
 
OH side note my honey ate this the next day and I stole a bite and the flavor was AWESOME!!



The apple of my eye!! OMG!! HA!

this smelled soooooo good!



so i had one little sip!

served up with a crash hot potato!! Great dinner!!