My First Craft

I made this awhile ago, but I'm kinda proud of it. I was bored one day waiting in the long hours the cable people say they will be there and having been dragged around by them all day I needed something to keep my mind off the waiting. I went home the weekend before and packed up my sewing machine, but forgot it when I left early. I needed to do something crafty that day; it was just one of those days. I knew I had felt, I knew I had embroidery thread and I definitely had time. 

I chose my large felt, pink, and two scrap pieces, orange and blue. I folded and pinned. I cut the flowers and chose where to place them. I threaded the needle and sewed the flowers on, orange then blue. I pinned again and sewed the folds. I sewed up the edges and I think the end result looks pretty good.

I don't know what I'm going to use it for yet or if I'm actually done with it. I've been thinking of adding a zipper. Maybe it could be a make up bag? Maybe a pencil case? The possibilities are endless.

I'm a Genius, I know.

Right now I'm supposed to be reorganizing the kitchen. It's not my apartment kitchen though. My boyfriends roommate was nice enough to give me their apartment kitchen. It's bigger than mine, but like mine it's over flowing with stuff. The upside is that they have more cabinetry, the down side is that they have a million dishes. What makes a happy cook? Two of her own kitchens :)

But, I'm not here to blog about the kitchen cleaning that has to be done. I'm here to talk about my most genius idea ever. It's Sunday and it's football season. Sunday lunch usually consists of brats. Yuck. Some of you may be gasping at the fact that I said yuck, but that's fine with me. I HATE them. It's their smell, they smell so gross. Bryan loves them though and I happily comply and cook some up for him. The worst part about making them? They roll! They always burn because I can't get them to say put how I set them in the pan. Until today!

I was frustrated at the Brats burning on two sides and not cooking at all on the others. I needed something to hold them up. I looked around the kitchen. Aluminum foil. Genius! I fashioned two aluminum foil brats and using tongs arranged them all in the pan. Perfect! It worked so well. No more hassling with brats that roll and burn. Yay!

Sorry for the bad photo! All the camera memories are full.

A Little Change to Come...

Other than cooking and baking, I love arts and crafts. Always have, always will. So, I have decided to not only include my favorite recipes on this blog, but also include my random arts and crafts projects. I'm excited for this new addition to my blog and look forward to sharing my new creations, both edible and not so edible with you in the future.

Another Birthday Cake!

I spent a great deal of my week making a very special birthday cake. If you've seen my first post then you know how much I love to make birthday cakes. I like to go a bit further than just the plain square cake with the edible confetti. This was a 21st birthday cake for a friend of mine. He happens to love Mikes Hard Pink Lemonade, so I thought what would be better than a Mike's Hard Pink Lemonade birthday cake?! Granted this didn't have any alcohol in it, but it did taste like pink lemonade!
My first challenge was the find a recipe for a pink lemonade cake. I searched the internet, mostly finding recipes that required you to freeze the cake. That was something I didn't want to do. I posted a recipe search on Yahoo Answers and received a recipe made by Paula Deen's sons. It was the perfect recipe. It was super simple and was made with ingredients that aren't a pain to find, like some I was reading about in other recipes. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
1 box white cake mix (18.25-ounce)
3 tablespoons pink lemonade drink powder
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Directions
Cooking Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans or sheet cake pan and line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper; set aside.

For the cake, in a large bowl, stir together the cake mix and lemonade powder. Prepare the cake batter according to the package directions, using the eggs and the oil. Stir the lemon zest into the batter. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers of the cakes comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Carefully turn cakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

The most labor intensive, if you could call it that, was zesting the lemon. Granted I do hate zesting anything, it wasn't that bad. I used a 9 by 13 inch pan since I had to carve something out of the cake. I was slightly disappointed when the cake didn't rise as much as other cakes do. I was expecting to be able to cut the cake in half and ice it to make it look bigger, but I was unable to cut it due to the size. Also, it didn't take 30 to 35 minutes for me, maybe 27 at most.

After it kind of cooled ( I felt the need to rush, so I didn't let it cool so long. Big Mistake. Let it cool!) I cut it into the shape using the template I made out of parchment paper. I crumb coated it and set it in the fridge to set before icing it. For those of you who aren't addicted to baking shows like me, crumb coating is when you ice a very thin layer of icing in order to "lock" the crumbs in. You don't want crumbs in the icing to ruin the look of the cake, do you? After about 15 minutes I took the cake out of the fridge and iced it with my family's secret icing recipe. I wish I could share it because it really is the best icing ever! I tinted some pink to make it look like it was filled with pink lemonade. I set it back in the fridge and made the royal icing to put the finishing touches on the cake at a later point. Royal icing recipe found here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html (Mine was the meringue powder recipe!)

Day two of cake decorating was my panic day. If you've made a cake with me or seen me make a cake then you understand what my panic day was like. It's the day the cake is due to be celebrated with and I'm icing and decorating down to the wire. I start to panic if something goes wrong, but things seems to work themselves out. Anyways, day two consisted of the wost cake baking day ever! I couldn't tint my icing black. It just kept turning purple. Not good. I panicked, I cried. A terrible day in the history of cake baking. But, it got done after an hour of walking to stores trying to find dye. I mixed the colors and followed the pattern I made with tooth pick pokes. I carried the cake covered through the rain to the surprise party place. It was a hit. It was a surprise!
Happy Birthday Adam!

An Incredible Thanksgiving Smell

When you think of Thanksgiving, most of you think turkey or stuffing, not me! My kitchen smells incredible. The reason for this is my new Thanksgiving staple, Pumpkin Muffins. These are seriously the easiest dessert that you could make. All you have to do is mix five ingredients together, put it in muffins tins and bake for 20 minutes; so simple to make something so irresistible.

What You Need:

Mixing Bowl

Spoon, whisk or spatula (I actually end up using all three by the end)

A sifter

1 box Yellow Cake mix

1 15 oz can Pumpkin Puree

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

½ tsp Ground Nutmeg

¼ tsp Ground Cloves

Sifting the cake mix into the bowl is optional and my original directions did not include this step, the mix just seems to come out so much better after you sift the cake mix.  Pour the pumpkin into the cake mix and stir until combined well. When you have blended them together well, add in all the spices and stir until they are incorporated. Prepare the muffin tins. I normally use the mini tins that bake twenty four at a time, but the large ones will work too. I line the tins with paper liners and use a cookie scoop to fills the liners. Using a teaspoon would work well for a job, but I found my cookie scoop is the perfect tool.

Bake the muffins in a 350 degree oven for twenty to twenty five minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Just look at the picture! How can you resist?!

(Seriously irresistible; they've been out of the oven for 20 minutes and I've eaten 7 already!)

Enjoy!

For the Taco Lovers

When finding new recipes I always try to mix it with a recipe I already know; like the potatoes from last night. Tonight's dinner was done for me! Blogchef.net's Taco Stuffed Shells nicely combine Mexican and Italian and its the perfect way to change up the normal weeks tacos.

Here's the recipe link: http://blogchef.net/taco-stuffed-shells-recipe/

 I did make a few changes though. First off, the amount of shells. It calls for twelve, but the ones I bought were somewhat smaller than I expected. I ended up using about twenty five shells to fill the 9 by 13 pan. The next change I made was the cheese choice. I misread the recipe when making the grocery list and forgot to buy cheddar, so I ended up using the Monterey Jack cheese plus a cheese with jalapenos in it I had already shredded for omelet making in the fridge. This worked out nicely, the finished product just didn't have the nice orange color. The third change was not really a change at all. While shopping I missed the chip isle and still needed the tortilla chips. I managed to find a small bag of tortilla chips, like the size available to toss in your lunches. When crushing these I was able to snip a small corner of the bag off and just crush them in the bag. It saved a mess. Although, I do have to warn you that stuffing the shells is INCREDIBLY messy. Be prepared, I was covered in filling by the end.


This recipe is delicious and I believe it has rightfully earned a spot in our favorite meals.

Sorry for the bad photos, the camera memory was full. These do not do this excellent meal justice!

Dijon Crash Potatoes

I decided when planning meals for this week that I wanted to try something new. I remembered seeing a recipe on Stacey Snacks that I thought looked delicious. I love red potatoes, so this couldn't possibly be bad. This recipe was perfect to mix the old and the new, so I decided to combine it with a favorite recipe of Bryans for our dinner tonight. Dijon mustard potatoes combined with crash hot potatoes.

Now, the idea of this recipe sounded perfect, but I still have a bit to work out to make it look perfect. First, they are incredibly easy to do. Second, they have the possibility of being delicious. Believe me, they would have been last night if I wasn't so tired and hadn't nicked myself with the knife while prepping the potatoes. Also, I have no pictures. Sorry. But heres a link to Stacey Snacks Crash Potatoes; she has photos that will make your mouth water! http://www.staceysnacksonline.com/2009/02/great-way-to-make-spuds.html
Lets start.

Step 1: Boil your red potatoes until fork tender. Mine took awhile because the bag of potatoes I chose had ones the size of my head; ideally you would want smaller red potatoes. Towards the end of the boiling process, when I know they are reaching fork tender, I started my Dijon sauce. I always eyeball this because that was how I was taught, but if I had to put measurements I would probably say 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/3 cup Dijon mustard and about a teaspoon each of Basil, Thyme and Oregano. This amount also depends on the amount of potatoes you are preparing. But, like I said, eye ball it. You don't want too much mustard; you want the mixture to coat the potatoes, not just sit on top of them.
Step 2: Prepare a baking dish with olive oil drizzled in the bottom for the potatoes. When they are fork tender, transfer them to the pan. Carefully mash them with a potato masher, not too much though. I didn't have one so I tried using a number of things - forks, spatulas, knifes - all of which didn't work. If you have a potato masher use it!
Step 3: Pour a little of the Dijon mixture over each potato, making sure each is nicely covered in it.
Step 4: Bake for 20 minutes at 425.
Step 5: Enjoy!

These were simple and besides the boiling, did not take much time to bake. They are just crispy enough on the outside and have the perfect potato texture on the inside. The are worth making with any dinner, but pair perfectly with a nice steak. Enjoy!

Thanks to both Stacey and the Pioneer Lady for the recipe!

Finished Truffles

I have completed a few truffles. I made just enough to take a picture, but as you can see they were melting and melting bad! I don't understand why they melted so badly. It wasn't hot in the kitchen.

I kept the chocolate mixture in the freezer for half an hour to forty five minutes. I took it out and started molding right away. Giada's recipe page recommends using a teaspoon measurement to scoop the chocolate out of the bowl, but I tried and decided it doesn't work very well. I decided on just a regular small spoon from the silverware drawer. This worked great. Granted, they weren't all the same size, but I don't mind. It's all about the taste at this point and these definitely don't skimp on taste. They are very rich.

I encourage you to try to make your own truffles. You can mix up the different chocolates and different coatings, it depends on what you like. Experiment before you pack for your holiday party though! They are delicious, but they take a few tries to get right. Good luck and enjoy!

Peanut Covered Chocolate Truffles

I have seen so many articles about truffles in magazines and on the internet lately that I decided it's time to try to make them. This recipe is adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis. Here's the link to the original recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/balsamic-chocolate-truffles-recipe/index.html
In this recipe she includes balsamic vinegar, but I left it out. Quite simply because I forgot to buy it. I've changed the recipe only a little from her original version, but the end result is still delicious.

8 1/2 ounces milk chocolate chopped ( I used Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate)
1/4 Cup Cream
1/2 cup Chopped Peanuts ( I had a jar of Planters salted peanuts that I just chopped up for this)

Using a double boiler, I melted the chocolate and cream together until it was fully melted. I took it off the heat and because I made this in a metal bowl over the pot of water, I just left it in the bowl. But, if you used an actual double boiler I would suggest putting it in another bowl. A bowl that it easy to get your hand into is best, as you'll be scooping these later.

So, this is the start of my problem area. I started this process around 1:30 yesterday afternoon. They are supposed to be refrigerated for an hour and then set out for two hours to cool. This did not happen for me. They've been in the fridge since yesterday around 2:00 pm. I tried twice to roll them, but they just melted. I've decided to put the mixture in the freezer for awhile. Hopefully this will work. I did manage to make four so far, but they have been funny shapes and melt right on the plate. They tasted really good though!

For the outside I decided on peanuts instead of the cocoa powder. I tried just cocoa powder and tried one. I almost choked on all the cocoa powder. Not a good choice. I tried mixing the cocoa powder with a little sugar, probably 1/4 of a cup of sugar. Okay, but still not as good as the peanuts. I used peanuts because that's what I had, feel free to mix it up. I'm waiting on the mixture to come out of the freezer and I'm going to try to roll some again. I'll post a picture when they are all done.

Posts to Come

Today was my last full day at home for this long weekend. I ended up shopping with my sister Mary. We visited Home Depot, Michael's and Ross. I also woke up today and decided to carry out my search for cute bowls and cups, anything that would make my food look extra delicious. After all, you eat with your eyes first.
My first find was at Micheal's. The cutest, tiniest loaf pan. It's ceramic which makes me love it all the more. I decided on a lavender color, but I had my choice from black, yellow, orange and black with polka dots. I had to buy it. It was also a steal at $1.00. The price was right!
The next place I fell in love was Ross. This store does not get enough credit. I am in love with Ross. I always head right back to the home goods part. This is the absolute best place to buy housewares. Sure, you might not have a huge selection, but you'll get an amazing deal. First, I found a gorgeous cake stand. Something I could have used. It was $12.00 though, something I didn't want to spend. I searched and searched through their stash of items. I found a wonderful casserole dish, something new and exciting. I've owned a casserole dish before! It was a steal for only $9.99! I had a decision between my casserole dish and another, which was my third find. I chose a smaller size of the other dish because I couldn't find anything that said they were oven safe. I don't want to risk it!
So those were my amazing finds today, all for less than $20.00! I look forward to using them in the future and hopefully they'll make for some beautiful pictures.

Artichokes with Dinner

So, before I started dating my boyfriend I had never had artichokes. Ever. Shocking I know. Now I can't get enough. We've probably had them with dinner ten times since I've started cooking in Richmond. So, I thought I would do tonight blog on the yummy artichokes that went with our dinner tonight. At home we have to split one, but here we each get our own. Which I love because now we don't have to fight over how to split an artichoke. That's not easy at all. So, lets begin.
When I buy artichokes I look for a nice green color and a slightly medium to larger size. We've had smaller one, but I don't really like them. So, after I purchase them I just pop them in the fridge until I'm ready to cook them. Before I'm ready to start cooking dinner, I start the water to boil them earlier. These take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes to cook, just to warn you. I normally make them for their ready right when I serve the meal, so they have time to drain and cool. Boil the water in a pot big enough to hold how ever many artichokes you are making, add a little salt to taste and toss some over your shoulder for good luck!
To prepare the artichokes for cooking I cut off the stems and about the first inch on the top of the artichoke. When the water starts boiling, I place the artichokes with the top side down into the water. I do this to the best of my ability, but sometimes they just don't cooperate. You'll see when you get to this step. Like I said I cook them anywhere from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. With these in the pictures I did 37 minutes, but should have probably done about 40 minutes. I turn them over halfway through the cooking time and I find one of the pronged slotted pasta spoons things works best for this. I remove the artichokes with the same utensil and let them drain in a stainer until it's time to eat them.
I eat mine with a little mayonnaise. Yum.They're pretty simple, they just take some time to cook. But, I recommend them. Enjoy the artichokes with your dinner tonight!

Sorry for no end result picture. I ate it too fast :)

Oh pasta.

I made myself dinner tonight. A whole box of pasta + a pound of ground beef + 1 can of pasta sauce = one really big dinner for one little girl. I had maybe three bites before I don't really feel like pasta tonight. I had tons of pasta left, what was I to do? Could I freeze it? Yes! I didn't even know you could freeze pasta until tonight. So, I googled of course. I waited and waited for everything to cool so I could finally package it up to eat at a later date.

I bought some rubbermaid containers when I moved to Richmond and searched through the box to see what would work. I found the perfect single serving sizes. The pastas. Three sauces. Too cute.

Above: Their new home on top of the corn dogs

Right: What it looked like beofre I kimd of ate it.

first breakfast at my apartment

Ooh, it's been forever. Sorry. I've been quite busy with school and not staying at my apartment. I've made some nice food creations at my boyfriends apartment though. I've made my easy delicious chicken enchiladas at his house a few times. The first time to his delight - "Oh my god, you need to make these every night!"
For moving down here to Richmond, I created a nice cookbook. Not as nice as I planned, just pages and pages of recipes in an orange folder. But, it brightens up the kitchen :)
Now to the enchiladas.

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Margarine ( I just use whatever I have, which always seems to be I Can't Believe it's Not Butter)
1 Medium Onion Chopped
1 Can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 Cup Sour Cream, plus some to top your enchiladas if you like that
1/2 Cup Canned Diced Green Chili Peppers, Drained
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
2 cups COOKED chicken cut into small cubes ( I used boneless skinless chicken breasts, I emphasized cooked because I had a bit of a disaster on my hands when I accidentally added uncooked chicken to the mixture)
Salt and Pepper to Taste
8 Flour Tortillas ( I normally use more, but it depends how you fill the enchiladas)
1 Cup Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Salsa

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. The directions I received from my middle school teacher when we made these was to cook this in an electric fry pan, but I just use a large skillet. So, heat the margarine in whatever you have decided to cook it in and saute the onions for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the soup and sour creams and mix. Heat this mixture, but do not boil. Add the chili peppers and chili powder. Saute this for a few more minutes. Add the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for three minutes then turn off heat. Cook tortillas as directed. Place an equal amount of filling on each tortilla, but normally I start out with less filled and then realize I haven't used enough so the later made ones are super full. Roll them all up and place in a baking pan, I use a 9 by 13 brownie pan covered with aluminum foil for I can just pull the whole thing out of the pan and easily get the enchiladas out. (Bonus, you have a clean pan and you can just throw out the aluminum foil - less dishes!) Sprinkle the mixture with the cheese, I normally just measure by eye or use as much as I want that day. Place in the oven and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Serve with salsa and sour cream. Enjoy!


Side note, I had my favorite breakfast today. Left over pizza and coffee in my favorite mug I got from Bryan :)

Favorite Summer Lunch

Yesterday, while trying to multi task, I decided to use the garden fresh tomatoes I had in my fridge before they went bad. I decided to make my favorite summer ( or end of summer) treat - tomato and onion salad. As advised by my dad, who has always made this for me, I went shopping for vidalia onions. Didn't find any... So I chose red onion. Slightly sweeter, but I was looking forward to seeing if the change was good. I just cut up two tomatoes and removed the seeds. You don't have to, I just picked this up from my dad. Then I cut up one medium red onion. I poured those both in a bowl and pulled out my Italian salad dressing that I had made before and poured just enough for me. This step is to the eye, depending how much you like Italian dressing. Then I just put this in the fridge and waited until today to have it for lunch. YUM! The perfect lunch for the end of summer.

Playing with MY deep fryer

As a apartment warming present my wonderful boyfriend bought me a deep fryer. It's so nice. Yesterday was the first time I got to use it. My boyfriend Bryan, his roommate Andy and I went back to my apartment to try it out. We bought mushrooms and zucchinis to fry, only one of which I have eaten before. During our trip to Rehoboth Bryan ordered fried zucchini at a restaurant and really liked it. So, the idea behind the gift was that I would make some for him.

I set up my line. The first bowl had flour, the second had egg and the final had Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. I cut up the zucchini into about 1/2 inch slices and started in the flour, which in time proved to be a hassle. So, I ended up using a zip top bag and putting both the flour and zucchini in that. The egg was the worst because for some reason the egg wouldn't stick to the flour. I just left it there for a long time and it seemed to work better. Bread crumbs gave them a very crunchy coat that was pretty good. We deep fried these at 375 degrees and they proved to fry really fast, probably not even 2 minutes. We served those with horse radish sauce that was super strong, but still pretty good. Nothing I'm going to try again anytime soon though.

Oh, and the boys decided to try and deep fry Milky Ways. They followed the exact same method as making the fried zucchini and dropped them in the fryer, Italian Bread crumbs and all. Ew.

I've slaved all day over these cookies!

It's September. I think I'm going to like this September. I woke up and felt that I need to bake. I didn't really feel like doing the whole flour, sugar, eggs thing because that results in the worst part of baking - the millions of dishes that you create along the way. I remembered I had Pillsbury Break and Bake cookies in my fridge. So, after I felt it was time to leave my boyfriends apartment for my incredibly hot one. I walked 3 1/2 long Richmond blocks to get my cookie dough. I packed that along with my good cookie sheet( you have to be prepared!),clothes for tomorrow and two Sunkist's and walked the long walk back.
I got back and preheated the oven to 350 degrees all while telling myself I could only have two pieces of uncooked cookie dough. I've already had two and I'm not even finished with the first package yet! Oh well. It's delicious. I hate the oven in my boyfriends apartment. It's the exact same as in mine, but I haven't used it yet so I don't know if I hate it yet. His stove doesn't seem to like me either. You can never tell how hot it is and the burners on top are terrible. They only go on high. Not good. But, I don't have to worry about that right now.
After twenty or so minutes I determined it was preheated by sticking my hand in to see if it was hot. It was. I pulled open the cookie dough and broke it apart. I strategically placed a few pieces on the cookie sheet. I don't want conjoined cookies. I don't like those ( although I could eat two cookies and use the excuse it was only one...hmm... they might not be so bad after all). I put them in the oven and timed it for 12 minutes. The first ones were a little under cooked. But, still yummy. The second were 12 minutes and 45 seconds. Really no difference. The third, cooking now, 13 minutes and 15 seconds because 13 minutes by itself would be unlucky ;)
I'm cooling them on a cutting board because I didn't carry my cooling rack 3 1/2 blocks to make things heavier. I was putting the thrid ones in the oven when my boyfriend came in to see what I was doing. That resulted in no cookies left on the cutting board/ cooling rack. Great. But, I have 24 more to go. All to be saved for the Redskins game tonight. I was told cookies don't go with football, but I bet they will be gone in no time!

Thinking back...

So, it's obviously been awhile since I posted my last entry. Sorry about that. I moved to Richmond for school, and all the time between the last entry and this entry were devoted to getting ready for that.

So, let me try to think of what I ate in Bethany. On the way there we stopped at this restaurant on the water. It looked nice, it probably would have been nicer if it were daytime. We meet in the parking lot and walk in, only to find that it's karaoke night in the bar. Oh what fun. My favorite song of the night - three drunk girls singing Like a Virgin. So, anyways, back to the food. I had fried shrimp. Not at all what I was expecting though. It was good, but a little over cooked. The sauce was incredibly spicy too. But, they drunk people singing karaoke made up for it.

In Bethany we didn't eat out for dinner like we usually do. Which kind of disappointed me because I do love going out to eat. We stayed in and had hamburgers and chicken, just the norm. Although for lunch we did eat out some. We ate at a place called The Frog House near the boardwalk. It wasn't bad. I had a BLT, one of my all time favorite foods. Still, anywhere I order it it can't ever win over my moms BLTs. But, I do have to admit, I make some pretty good ones too.

Breakfast was primarily eaten at the condo. We got pastries the first day from a bakery across from The Frog House. They were yummy. I'm not much of a scone person, but they do make one good cinnamon scone. We travelled to Rehoboth Beach one morning for a day of shopping. We left early, so we stopped there for breakfast. This was my favorite place we ate. It was called the Purple Parrot Grill. Breakfast there was average but still good. They made homefries the exact way my dad makes them, which leads me to believe thats the reason I love this place. They also had awesome coffee mugs. Something you probably don't know about me is how much I love coffee mugs. I use the same exact one every morning, but it doesn't stop me from buying more (example: my awesome asparagus stock one :)). Plus, their decor is pretty cool. It's tropical, as the name implies. They allow you to write on their tables/ chairs/ walls, which was cool even if I didn't do it. Overall it's a great atmosphere, good food and has pretty decent prices. And it's a favorite of the locals, which just furthers the reason to visit there when you go to Rehoboth Beach.

VACATION!

I'm leaving for the beach tonight. Hopefully Bethany Beach, Delaware has some yummy food! :)

Experimenting with the Deep Fryer

It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I like food. I love fried food. I know it's unhealthy, but it's just so yummy. A few months ago my dad decided to buy a deep fryer. We didn't try it out until last night. Now that I've done it I don't think I'll ever stop! We had french fries with our dinner last night. Quite a simple task, just pull them out of the bag, drop them into the deep fryer, drain them and eat them. They were delicious! I added Old Bay seasoning on mine, which made them extra yummy.

This morning I woke up and had the urge to deep fry again. ' I've got time today', I thought, 'so why not?' I walked into the kitchen and there it was. It was calling my name. Hmm, what to deep fry, what a decision to make. I thought back to my favorite cooking show, Good Eats. Pocket pies, that's it! As I was anxious to use the fryer and had a somewhat busy morning, I decided to just do it the easy way. I stopped by the grocery store and picked up some refrigerated pie crusts and two cans of apple pie filling. This should be simple. So I researched on the internet and found the pocket pies recipe from the show and I compared it to the one in the deep fryer manual. Pretty much the same. I changed a little for my own comfort also.

I rolled out the pie crusts and sliced it into quarters. I opened the can of filling and noticing that the apples were kind of large, I chopped them down. I took my time and filled the first quarter. It was good. I rubbed on some egg wash and closed the sides using the tines of my fork. It was time for the fun part. I pulled off the lid of my fryer and laid one pie in the basket. Two minutes. Flip. Two more minutes. Beautiful. Extra special when sprinkled with cinnamon! So good! I can't wait to make these from scratch after we go apple picking in the fall!

The Princess has gotten her wish!

I know this is kind of late, but my niece turned 9 in June and I was put in charge of making her cake. I love to bake, so naturally I accepted the challenge. I went to work planning a nice, simple princess cake. My goal when creating my own cakes is to create something exciting and new and this time was no different. I thought first of just a simple sheet cake, nothing difficult or crazy. Easy to transport and just enough for all the guests. Then I visited my Aunt and Uncles home for my grandmas party where my Aunt Ginny heard I was making the cake for my nieces party. She asked if I wanted to make a castle cake and without thinking it through my big mouth opened and out came yes! Oh I know, I'm crazy. She stepped out of the room and brought back a Wilton cake box with a picture of a beautiful castle cake on the front. It had two tiers, some flowers and towers; how hard can this be right? Wrong, oh so wrong. It consists of 236 TINY flowers! 236! Yikes, what did I get myself into?!

As we drove the 45 minute drive home I quietly planned my path of action to finish this cake. The party was the following Sunday and I know this will take longer than a day to do. My plan was the shop for everything on Tuesday and Wednesday, start the flowers on Thursday, ice what needed to be iced on Friday and bake the actual cakes on Saturday. Most of my plan worked out. My younger sister became my right hand man and actually proved that if she takes her time she's pretty good at piping. We completed the flowers with the help of my mom, I successfully make at least 10 batches of royal and butter cream icing and baked four cakes.

Saturday came and it was time to really put what had to go together. I iced the cakes and packed everything that needed to go, which included my "cake emergency kit" which was made up of basically everything that I had used up to that point to make the cake. I was scared to pack this cake into the station wagon and drive it two hours to West Virginia, but it made it without any harm. My sister and I finished stacking and decorating and finally it was finished! It was beautiful! It was a difficult task, but besides spending $100+ on supplies and the stress of getting it done on time, it was fantastic. Let's just say I'm not planning to do it again anytime soon....