Baking Woods

I'm Still Here!

2010-05-23T07:29:00.002-04:00

I have no good excuse and I'm not going to try to make any. I just keep forgetting to post. Well, I'm going to show you two cakes that I've done recently. They're not the best, but I'm still learning. The first one I did for a lady who wanted to thank the auto body shop that was working on her car. Yes, it's pink. That's what happens when you don't have any red icing and you try to make your own.

The next one I made last week for a lady's birthday. She loves lighthouses.

I have to make a three-layer coconut cake this week for another lady. I'm kind of relieved that it's just a simple cake like that. I want to do more character/shape cakes, but it's alot of work and I have to bake brookies for two restaurants this week.

Last weekend was E's and my 10th anniversary! Wow! I can't believe it's been 10 years already. Actually, it feels like I've been with E for all of my life, but in a good way. I'm so happy that he is a part of my life. We couldn't go away for long because of the turkeys, but we managed to get a night away and stay in Staunton. I've never been there, even though it's only about an hour away. I'm so glad we went because it is beautiful. Todd and Carrie gave us a gift certificate for one night's stay at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel for Christmas, so we used it for our anniversay. We have to go back next weekend to pick up an antique buffet that we are buying. I can't wait to get that in the house.

Anyway, I'll try my best to post more often. Have a good day!

A Good Birthday

2010-01-14T08:53:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday. My 31st to be exact. I'm feeling pretty good about it. I took off from work early just so I can do things that I wanted (or needed) to do around the house. I had many birthday wishes on Facebook, received a couple phone calls, and had Todd, Carrie, and Vera over for pizza. E was so upset that he forgot to wish me a happy birthday before he went to work. I told him not to worry about it. He didn't forget my birthday, he just forgot to say "Happy Birthday". No biggie. He brought home some nice presents to make up for it. One for sure I know he already had. The other two I think he got because he felt so bad. He's so funny. I told him that we already celebrated my birthday on Sunday with dinner at Bonefish and he bought me some new workout clothes. He didn't listen, of course.

I know I still haven't posted those pics from last month. I keep forgetting while I'm at home. I'll remember one day...hopefully. If not, oh well. Tomorrow is another day. :)

Have a great day!

Happy New Year....late.

2010-01-08T08:57:00.000-05:00

Well, I had a really great post all ready to go a few weeks ago. E, however, came over while I got up to finish making breakfast and decided he was going to look up something on eBay. Instead of pulling up a new page, he just used the page my post was on. I haven't gotten around to re-posting it, yet. I do want to share with you all my Christmas holiday, though. I had an adventure and we did some fun things.

One thing that I didn't get any pics of, though, were the Rockettes. I took Mom to see the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular at the John Paul Jones' Arena. We left early, thinking we had plenty of time to get there. Boy were we wrong! Traffic was backed up sooo bad that we ended up being about 10-15 minutes late. We decided to forgo the parking lot (which I paid to have a parking space) and instead parked in the nearby shopping center and walked. Good thing. We would've been later since the parking area was a mad house.

The show was nice and we had some pretty good seats. We were in the balcony, but close to the stage. I really, really wish I thought to bring my camera. I could've gotten some really good pics. One thing that really burns me, though, is that I could've had really, really close seats if I had gotten the tickets when I first tried to. I thought maybe I wouldn't go since they were a little pricey, but I later changed my mind and the seats were already gone. Oh well. I'll remember that next time.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year's. I will be posting our gingerbread house activity and our New York trip hopefully this weekend. I even have a few pics of Christmas day. I want to try to post more regularly this year. We'll see how that goes.

I Know......

2009-12-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

Yeah. It's been awhile. I've thought about posting many, many times, but just never got around to it. I want to try to post every day, but I forget. I've been really busy lately. I've been baking up a storm, but I haven't been to the farmer's market since mid-October. I've been baking brookies for the restaurant, cakes for people, and cookies and other goodies for people. I've even been baking things just to try new recipes. Sadly, I haven't taken many pics. I just baked a pumpkin pie last night, so I'll have to take a pic of it before I slice into it and post it, along with the recipe, on here.

To get myself started for the month of December, here is a pic of a frog cake I baked for someone two weeks ago. It took all day to decorate it and it was really heavy. I was told to make it for 25 people, but I think I made it too big. I was going to use smaller pans but E insisted that I use a bigger pan. I have to research and find out how big to make a cake for the amount of people that it's for.

**Well, apparently the pics don't want to upload at this time. I'll have to try later....**

Happy Halloween!!

2009-10-31T12:31:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween! We had a costume contest at work yesterday. I wore my trusty old Civil War re-enactment outfit. Well, one of them. It's the first time I wore it to work. I don't take the best pictures, but I'll show what I have.

I did win a prize! I won "Best Fit to Personality". Hmm... I wonder what that's really supposed to mean. I was told it's because I'm so quaint and quiet.

I had another order for a cake! Yay! This time it was a trout cake. I had so many ideas buy my tools and equipment are still limited. If I keep this up I'll be able to buy the things I need.

I wanted to do the entire cake as a trout, but I didn't have a pan big enough so I made a standard size sheet cake (two layers) and carved out the trout on another cake. I made two trouts just incase I messed up, and sure enough the first one didn't turn out like I wanted. I changed gears and came up with this. E helped out with the blue icing and cutting the trout. He won't admit it, but he liked it. :)

Monster Truck Cakes and the 70s

2009-10-18T09:11:00.001-04:00

I've been so excited this week because I was asked to bake a birthday cake for a friend's grandson. He wanted a monster truck cake. I looked up ideas online and found some pics that I liked. The pics used cake molds, but I didn't have one so I had to make my cake by stacking loaf pan size cakes. For the wheels I used my mini bundt pan. I wanted to make the truck black, but I didn't have time to run to C'ville to pick up any supplies, so I had to make do with what I had. The truck ended up being gray. It took a lot of hours and a lot of work, but I think it turned out pretty good for my first 3-D cake:

It was supposed to be Grave Digger. I needed more supplies to be able to decorate it correctly, but I think you can tell what it is.

Last night we attended a surprise birthday party for a friend. The party was a 70s theme so E and I got dressed up. I had a black dress that was his mom's from the 60s/70s and E bought an outfit from a party store in C'ville. It turned out great!

Gotta love the afro!

Old Buildings

2009-10-09T14:42:00.000-04:00

I love old buildings. I'd love to buy and old Victorian and fix 'er up. I found this website where a guy goes to old abandoned buildings and takes pictures. This is something I'd love to start doing. It's so neat to see things frozen in time. I wish somebody would buy the buildings, however, and fix them up instead of letting them fall apart.

Where Have I Been???

2009-10-01T17:06:00.000-04:00

I've been busy!! That's where I've been! I've been tired, I've been busy, I've been tired, need I go on??

I can tell you that this past week I've had to bake 11 pans of Brookies for the restaurant. They've certainly been keeping my busy! I'm taking the night off from baking tonight, except I'm going to bake something for our snack day at work tomorrow. I think I might create something new. I'll let you know if I do. Oh, I do have a yummy and healthy apple cake recipe I want to share. I'll take pics tonight and post tomorrow (hopefully).

Well, let me tell you about my exciting day yesterday! I haven't tried to give blood for over 10 years now. I say "tried" because I've never been able to give a pint before. Every time my veins would collapse. We had a blood drive at work yesterday and I thought I'd give it another go. E warned me not to. He said I have low blood pressure and I shouldn't do it. I told him I would be fine and it's a good cause. He told me not to complain to him if I wasn't feeling good afterwards. Whatever! I would be fine! Plus I'd get a $5 giftcard to Qdoba!

I get to the lobby and have to fill out my info. The guy gives me my giftcard and tells me to go on out to the bus where they'll take my vitals and what not. On the bus they take my blood pressure and it was fine. It was 121/73. Pretty high for me! I'm usually around 95/60 these days. I thought that was a good sign. The tech then pricks my finger to check my iron level. She had a hard time getting much blood out and the iron level read low (First Warning!) She said I could stop now or she could get her supervisor to try on my other hand. I told her to go ahead and try. Why not??? The supervisor comes in and pricks another finger on my other hand and my iron levels were fine. Great! Good sign, right??

I go on out and they ask me which arm. I told them either one so they decide to take it from my right arm. A male tech comes to me and preps my arm. He told be to squeeze this stress thingy and hold tight. He searches my arm and then decides to look at my left arm. I repeat the steps and he searches again. He calls over the supervisor and she looks at both of my arms. She points to a spot on my right arm and told him he could try this or he could try another spot on my left arm. He decides to go with my left arm. I now have to get up and move to the other side of the bus. (Second Warning!)

He preps my left arm and sticks the needle in. Nothing comes out. (Third Warning!) The supervisor comes back and she tries to find the vein. Jackpot! We have blood! I sit there and after a couple of minutes we realize the blood has stopped. (Fourth Warning!) They take everything out and say I could stop now or they can try the other arm. I know what you are thinking. I already have the giftcard so why not stop while I'm ahead, right? Well, I really did want to try to give blood. I told them to try my right arm. I have to get back up and go back to the other side of the bus.

The supervisor takes over from here and she preps my arm again. At this time I realize E is on the bus. He comes around and watches what they do. The supervisor finally gets blood! Yay! E just shakes his head and says he'll see me later. After a few minutes, the male tech comes over and looks at my bag. The blood is flowing, but it's really, really slow (Fifth and Final Warning!!) Finally, after a tiny can of orange juice and several songs on the radio I'm finished! I have finally given a pint, a pound of my blood! Yay! Did you know that you lose a pound when you give blood??? Apparently Weight Watchers' people do!

Anyway, they ask me if I'm doing okay and I said "yeah". What are you supposed to feel like after you give blood??? Can anybody explain this to me?? After all, I've never donated before. They tell me to get up and go ahead and go back inside. No problem. I have to wait a few seconds for somebody to move out of my way and I felt a little weird, maybe lightheaded, but didn't think much of it. I went on out the bus and headed back inside the building. As soon as I got inside I felt it coming! The overwhelming feeling of passing out came over me and I rushed to have a seat in one of the chairs. I heard Annette ask if I was okay and the next thing I new Vicky was calling my name and several people were around me. Yep, I passed out. How embarrassing is that?!?!?!? I apparently went stiff just as I passed out and scared Vicky half to death. I was out for less than a minute, I believe. The supervisor nurse came in and gave me ice packs (I was sweating profusely!) and a coke. She went back out and got me several bags of cookies and pretzels. She told me to eat the pretzels right away and to keep drinking because that would bring my blood pressure and sugar back up.

After a few minutes I felt I was able to get up and go back to my office. They kept asking me if I felt okay because I didn't look okay. I was apparently completely white, but color slowly started to return to my face. I told them I felt much better and went back to my office to eat some cookies and finish of the pretzels. I called E and, well, you can guess what he had to say! He wasn't too happy with me, I told you so, yadda, yadda, yadda. I tried to explain to him that my blood pressure was up today, but he didn't want to hear it.After a few minutes I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I was yellow!! I got a cup of water and went back to my office. I had to finishing printing payroll checks so I wasn't able to go to lunch right away. The supervisor nurse came back to check on my after a little bit and I told her that I felt sick and lightheaded. She said that I would probably feel better if I threw up. I had to explain to her that I cannot throw up at my own will. I have to take something to make me throw up, like ipecac. She told me to just get some lunch and drink plenty of fluids.

After the checks were done. I still wasn't feeling good. E called and said he didn't want me to drive in my condition so him mom came and got me. After I finally got something to eat I started to feel a little better, just really, really tired. I stayed on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. By the time E go home, I was feeling well to go with him to take the Brookies in and to pick up my truck.

I have to tell you. I will never, ever give blood again. All the signs were there and I chose to ignore them. I even recognized the first sign but figured I'd at least try one more time. I should've realized after the second sign, however, that I would be in for it if I continued. Oh well, lessons learned.

I hope this doesn't discourage anyone else from donating blood. I was just a little dehydrated and tired. Plus the fact that I usually have low blood pressure may have contributed to my troubles. I guess I should probably listen to E a little more often, huh? Oh, and he was extremely happy to be able to say "I told you so!"

Zucchini Crisp

2009-09-04T08:56:00.001-04:00

My word! This is so good! E keeps asking me for it. He told me that I need to cut up and freeze the rest of the zucchinis so we could have this all winter long. I guess I better get busy!

1 large zucchini (about 1 1/2-2 lbs.), peeled, seeded and cut into chunks (like apples slices)

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (a little more or less to you liking)

Crumb topping:

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup flour (I use whole wheat)
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
6 tablespoons butter, (can be pretty cold from the fridge), cubed - if you use unsalted butter, add 1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

In a large saucepan, combine the zucchini, lemon juice, and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8x8 inch baking dish lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.

While the zucchini is cooking, make the crumb topping. Combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, and nuts. Cut in butter--works best using your hands. Keep combining by rubbing it all together until you have a crumbly texture. Set aside. (The crumb topping can be made ahead and chilled or frozen for later use.)

Remove the zucchini from the heat and stir in sugar and spices. Pour the zucchini mixture into the baking dish. Top with the crumb mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes until topping is golden brown.

It tastes just like apple crisp! Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream for an even tastier treat. I usually eat leftovers for breakfast. :)

This picture is actually of the crisp using a pie crust for a bottom. I didn't make this, my mother-in-law did. You can use a pie crust if you like, just bake it for a few minutes before adding the zucchini and crisp topping. I forgot to take a picture of my crisp. Next time I make one I'll update the photo.

Enjoy!

What is Our Country Coming To?

2009-08-27T08:46:00.000-04:00

E and I have been talking alot lately about the state of this country. It's pretty sad, and pretty scary. I like our President as a person, but as a leader, not quite as much. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't vote for him. It had absolutely nothing to do with the color of his skin or that he's a Democrat (I consider myself an Independent.) I didn't vote for him because I didn't believe his promises. I didn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. I didn't believe his "change" would be a good change. Well, so far it's not. I watch alot of news on both ABC and Fox. Many people say Fox is the "Republican news". I think it's just the news that tells all sides of the story and not just what they want us to hear.

I've been watching alot of Glenn Beck lately and this week he's got some powerful shows on. There are many questions that I'd like to ask my President and even my state leaders. I have so many "whys" and "hows" but I don't know who to ask and even if my voice will be heard. I want to stand up and fight for what I believe in, but where do I begin? I want to be able to make a difference and help bring this country back to it's roots. I want to make sure that we still have our freedom, because the way things are going now it'll be gone.

If you go to http://www.glennbeck.com/ or http://www.foxnews.com/ and look for Glenn Beck's site you'll find out about the "advisors" that surround our President. You will be surprised and shocked, to say the least, at what they believe in. There are questions that Mr. Beck has posted for us that we need to be asking our government. If we don't, if we don't stand up and demand a change, we are going to lose so much. I'm terrified of what's to come. I don't normally promote other people's opinion unless I strongly believe in what they have to say. If you are reading this blog, please check out the websites, or watch Glenn Beck's show at 5pm eastern on Fox News. You will learn so much that the other news networks just aren't reporting.

I've Been Busy

2009-08-21T09:00:00.006-04:00

I have been so busy lately. The warm months are always busy for me because there's always so much to can. This is what I worked on last night:

We have made 19 jars of Hot Salsa, 19 jars of Medium Salsa, and 38 jars of Mild Salsa. And we're not done. I picked more tomatoes on Wednesday so I have more sitting in the basement waiting to be made into something. I told E that we could make some more Hot Salsa since hot and mild are the biggest sellers. I want to make sure I have enough tomatoes, however, to make some spaghetti sauce, possibly more chili, and maybe even some ketchup. I've heard homemade ketchup is to die for.

I don't think I'll be going to the Farmer's Market tomorrow because they are forecasting rain all morning. Fine by me. I love having a break. I think we'll probably either make more salsa or I'll just take a break and work on some gourds are give my self a pedicure. I'd love to do the pedicure, but I really, really need to get some gourds done. The Street Festival is three Saturdays away.

Our corn is finally ready, so last night we had corn on the cob with dinner. Yum!

If I have enough, I'll be canning some again this year. I canned corn for the first time last year and I'll tell ya, that was the BEST canned corn I have ever had. When you can your own veggies, it's always SOOOO much better than what you buy in the store. Here's hoping we have a good crop of corn this year!!

Peace out.

Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

2009-08-17T11:38:00.004-04:00

I remember the Nationwide commercial that has the animals and people singing that song "Oh What a Beautiful Morning". I also remember two years ago while on a short overnight trip with Mom, Bonnie, and Dee Dee that this commercial came on while we were eating breakfast in the hotel dining area. I was lip synching the song and a man came in and busted out laughing at me. Apparently I looked quite comical. Hmph.

Anyway, I love mornings like this:

The fog in the lower distance. On mornings like this we are above the fog. Mornings like this are cool and a little crisp. Mornings like this remind me of Fall. I love Fall. It's my favorite season. Unfortunately this pic was taken two weeks ago. It's supposed to be in the upper 80s today. Not so nice.

Have a great day!

Storm Watching

2009-08-14T09:40:00.005-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a storm come from the SouthEast. It is VERY unusual for a storm to come from that direction unless it a hurricane. This storm looked like it was going to be a bad one.
The clouds were so heavy.

Oh look. You can see where I work in this pic. There it is. That big massive white building at the bottom of the picture. The commute is great, but it kinda sucks living soooo close to work.

We were preparing for a pretty bad storm, but it just turned out to be heavy rain and some wind. No thunder and lightning. I was amazed at how angry the clouds looked.

Have a great day!

Corny Cornbread

2009-08-13T14:18:00.004-04:00

E wanted cornbread with his taco salad the other night so I told him that I'd make some. While he was at the gym I looked all over for the Jiffy cornbread mix but realized I was out. Ahh! I've never made cornbread from scratch before! I found a recipe that sounded good and decided to change it up a bit. It turned out so good!

Corny Cornbread

1 1/2 cups cornmeal
2 1/2 cups milk (I used 1%)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can whole kernel corn, drained (or 1-2 cups fresh corn---I used a mix of both)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine corn meal and milk; let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile in a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs, and oil until smooth. Mix in the corn. Pour batter into prepared pan/s. I used two greased cast iron skillets. One large and one small. You could probably use a greased 13" x 9" pan or cornbread molds.

3. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes (depending on which pan you use. It only took my two skillets approx. 25 mins), or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

E loved it! I think it may have been a little more golden if I had poured some melted butter on top before baking; not quite sure. We've been eating the leftovers every day since I made it. I'm seriously thanking about heating some up for breakfast and slathering it with butter and maple syrup. It's THAT good!

Enjoy!

Update 8/14/09: I warmed a piece of the cornbread up, slathered it with butter, put a hot fried egg on top, and poured some real maple syrup over it all. YUM! Oh, I was in heaven. When E got home, I told him what I ate and he gagged! He thinks eggs and syrup are disgusting. I so disagree. It's so, so yummy!

Gnu Bars and Larabars

2009-07-31T08:57:00.003-04:00

I've been looking for healthy, yet yummy, bars that I can take to work with me when I have a snack attack and keep in my purse. There are sooo many "healthy" bars out there, but most are full of crap (high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, etc.) and I refuse to put stuff like that in my body (if I can help it!) I read my labels VERY carefully. I came acrose Gnu Foods Flavor & Fiber bars this past weekend at The Vitamin Shoppe. I decided to give them a try along with Larabars. I have to tell you, I found two winners. TheLarabar is tasty and completely healthy (only ingredients on the Cherry Pie bar are dates, almonds, and unsweetend cherries). There's 4 grams of fiber and 190 calories (at least in the Cherry Pie bars.) I'm definitely going to make them apart of my pantry. What's better than having bars handy that are only 3 simple ingredients and that taste great?

The Gnu bars (I tried the Banana Walnut and Orange Cranberry) are very yummy. The only downside is they have a bunch of ingredients (compared to the Larabar) but they are all good ingredients. There's only 130 calories and 12 grams of fiber (in the Orange Cranberry bar). That's 48% of your daily value for fiber! Wow!

You can go to www.GnuFoods.com and www.larabar.com to check them out. And just to make it clear, I'm not getting paid in any way to write this blog. I just found two great bars that I'd thought others should know about.

Have a great day!!

Happy Independence Day!!

2009-07-02T11:32:00.003-04:00

Have a happy and safe 4th of July! I'll try to remember to post some yummy recipes I've been cooking/baking up these last few weeks. Unfortunately remembering is my downfall.

An old pic of me and my cousin eating the brownie or cake mix left in the bowl. I still do this!

Farmer's Market

2009-06-12T11:30:00.007-04:00

Here are some pics from the Farmer's Market last Saturday.

A selection of my jams, salsa, and hot sauce. I really need to start making more flavors. I usually have a bigger assortment than this.
Brookies and Rhubarb Coffeecake. I'll have to remember to post the recipe for the coffeecake. It is delicious and has been a hit.

Chocolate Chip Cherry Scones, Blondies, Coffee Lovers' Coffeecake, and more Brookies.

Indian Fry Bread. These are such a HUGE hit. We made them two years ago but didn't make them last year because I started waitressing again. Now that I quit, we have time to make them again.

I have one gourd bowl that I'm selling. I really, really need to do more gourd and craft work but I've been so busy. I have a table on the right hand side where I sell plants and vegetables. In the middle of the food table, I have samples in the cake dish. Samples ALWAYS gets more sales.

Sesame-Tofu Stir-Fry

2009-06-10T10:41:00.003-04:00

I made this for dinner last night and boy was it good. Yes, I did put shrimp in it only because E wanted me to. We had it a couple of weeks ago without the shrimp and he loved it, but this time he wanted something meaty. That, and he's afraid of getting too much soy.

Sesame-Tofu Stir-Fry
adapted from Fitness Magazine

1 12-oz package extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Cornstarch
1/4 cup finely chopped unsalted peanuts
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 16-oz bag frozen stir-fry vegetables*
2/3 cup bottled stir-fry sauce
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 cups hot cooked brown rice

1. Lightly coat tofu with cornstarch. In a bowl, combine 1 Tbsp of peanuts, the sesame seeds, ginger, and red pepper. Add tofu; toss gently.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add tofu mixture to skillet. Cook briefly, stirring gently, until sesame seeds are toasted and tofu begins to brown.

3. Remove tofu. Add vegetables to skillet; cook and stir until heated through. Add stir-fry sauce; cook and stir gently until mixture is bubbly. Stir in tofu; heat through. Sprinkle with remaining peanuts and the scallions. Serve over rice.

*The original recipe says to thaw vegetables. I didn't. I put mine in the wok frozen and cooked until they were thawed and heated through.

**I cooked the shrimp in the wok before I cooked the tofu.

Egg Drop Soup

2009-06-02T15:25:00.003-04:00

Oh yummy! I love egg drop soup. I've tried making it at home before with just chicken broth and eggs and I've even used a flavor packet from the grocery store, but this recipe is the bomb. I hope you enjoy it. E and I certainly did.

Egg Drop Soup
adapted from Simply Recipes

3 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups of chicken stock
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3 green onions or chives, chopped
1/4 tsp of pepper
3/4 cup of sliced mushrooms (I used baby portobello, but shiitake would be really good).

1. Reserve 1/2 cup of chicken stock and mix with cornstarch until dissolved.

2. Place the remaining chicken stock, ginger, soy sauce, green onions, mushrooms, and pepper in a pot and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir. Reduce heat to a simmer.

3. Slowly pour in the beaten eggs while stirring the soup. The egg will spread out into ribbons. Turn off the heat and garnish with a few more chopped onions or chives. Serve immediately.

This was even really good re-heated the next day. It's a definite keeper! I ate mine with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. This would be great with an egg roll.

Farmer's Market Treats

2009-05-28T15:05:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday was our first day at our new venue. We moved to the back parking lot instead of the park. There's so much more traffic now. It only made sense to move back there. We've been wanting to for a long time but the last market master didn't want us to for some reason. We now have a new market master and he was all for it. I had a table full of delicious goodies including our Indian Fry Bread which always sells out and Praline Brookies.

I made these cake pops to sell. The tasted wonderful, but the chocolate coating started melting because it was so hot. Everyone that saw them was impressed, but I only sold 3, go figure! The recipe is very simple (Thanks Bakerella!) Just bake a cake (any flavor). Using a 13x9 sheet pan is easiest. After it has totally cooled, shred cake into a big bowl. You can use a food processor if you like. Stir in 2 cups of cake icing (any flavor) and mix well. I had to use my hands. form into balls and place on a wax paper-covered sheet pan and pop into the refrigerator until set or freezer. Once everything is nice and firm, take out balls and push sticks in them. Dip them in melted candy coating (any flavor) and let dry standing up. I turned an egg carton upside down, punched holes in it and dried the cake pops on that. Worked wonderfully.

These are Sugar and Spice Donuts I made. I threw away the recipe because I decided I wasn't going to make them again. They were okay, but I have a killer Apple Cider Donut recipe that's much better. These were actually really good the next day after I heated them in the microwave for 30 seconds. I might try another donut recipe or I'll make some scones for this weekend. I have a couple of scone recipes I'm dying to try along with one that was a really good seller last year.

Storms

2009-05-18T15:55:00.007-04:00

I love to take pictures of storms, especially lightning. Saturday, we went to C'ville so I could get a few supplies for baking. On our way back, we noticed the ominous sky. Going north, you could see how wicked the sky was and see all of the lightning. I told E that we just might beat it home. Well, we did, just barely. Coming up 15 we could see the bow in the clouds (the front of the storm) and it was just north of the house, but we were definitely going to get something. I tried to take pictures of it going up the driveway, but E was driving so fast and wouldn't slow down. Forgive the horrible pics, but you can at least get the gist of it.

This is as we were just turning in the driveway. You can see the edge of the storm. Where it changes from light to dark is the edge.

Here's another shot coming up the driveway. E was really flooring it! The dark clouds were so wicked looking. I was looking for rotation, but never saw anything.

Here is another shot coming up. The storm is already moving closer.

This is where the curve starts. The front was probably just above town at this time.

When we got home, we jumped out of the truck and unloaded it. I was able to get this shot in. I wish I had time to adjust the lighting and all, but I wasn't sure how fast the storm was moving. You can really see how wicked the clouds were.

We didn't really get any close lightning with this storm. The worst of it was just north of us. We did, however, get torrential downpours. It poured down for three hours and never stopped raining until Sunday morning. Our driveway was washed out in several spots and water was pouring out of the conduit pipe underneath the electrical meter. Something needs to be done about that because that can cause some serious problems! I wasn't too impressed with the storm, though. I was just in awe over the look of the clouds. I wish I had been home even 15 minutes earlier so I could've gotten some really good pics. Maybe next time!

Happy Anniversary to Me and Grilled Chicken Pasta

2009-05-14T14:39:00.004-04:00

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary! I can't believe it's been that long already, yet I feel like I've known E forever. Tonight we are having dinner at Elmwood at Sparks. I'm excited! I've always wanted to eat dinner there. Todd and Carrie gave us a gift certificate so now we are "forced" to try it. :) I like that they try to keep their ingredients local. If anybody is ever in this area, you can check out their website at http://www.elmwoodcatering.com/. Oh, and they cater (obviously!) They catered our friends' wedding and the food was sooo good. I've had lunch there several times and absolutely love it, but now I finally get to try their dinners and I'm so looking forward to the ravioli. I've had my eye on that for several months now.

I made a really good (and very simple) pasta dish for lunch yesterday. I didn't take a pic, but the recipe is sooo simple:

Grilled Chicken Pasta

1 grilled chicken breast (seasoned however you wish), chopped
2 cups cooked whole-grain penne pasta
1/2 cup red grapes, cut in half
2 Tbsp celery, chopped
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 Tbsp fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Throw all of the ingredients into a bowl and stir. Enjoy!

I grilled the chicken and boiled the penne while I was getting everything else together. Yesterday I ate it warm and today I heated it up very slightly. It's okay cold, but much better warm. I seasoned the chicken with this new seasoning I got from Tastefully Simple. Oh, how I love Tastefully Simple. It's called Green Tea Peppercorn Seasoning. Divine! I'm having a party next month so I'm going to have to stock up on it since it's just seasonal.

For the basil, I only use fresh basil. You can use 1 tsp dried if you like, but it just doesn't taste the same. There's nothing like fresh basil. We still have a basil plant left from last year. Actually, we now have two. I cut a nice stem off the plant and rooted it. I didn't use any rooting hormones or anything like that. I just cut the stem, put it in a jar full of water and left it in the window sill. We don't get any direct sunlight in the kitchen so it only had indirect light. After a while you'll notice a slime ball growing where it was cut and then a few days later you'll start to see the roots growing. I'm so fascinated with all of this!

Anyway, I have lots to do. I have a lot of baking to do for Saturday and I have so much I need to plant in the garden. Will there ever be enough time to do everything???

Dried Cherry Coffee Cake

2009-05-08T10:42:00.001-04:00

This was okay, but I think next time I won't use dried fruit. Fresh or canned fruit would be way better. Maybe this weekend I'll work on a rhubarb coffee cake, even though my rhubarb is the green kind and not the red kind.

Dried Cherry Coffee Cake

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup dried cherries, chopped
2 tsp cinnamon

Batter:
1/2 cup butter, soft
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups sour cream

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cherries, and cinnamon; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until crumbly. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture and sour cream to the butter mixture, beating just until combined.

Spread half the batter evenly into a sprayed 13x9" baking pan. Sprinkle with half of the reserved sugar and cherry mixture. Repeat layers; cut through batter with a knife to swirl.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 28-33 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Cut and serve.

Coffee Lovers' Coffee Cake II

2009-05-07T13:26:00.003-04:00

This is a recipe I got from Taste of Home. I accidentally changed it because I didn't pay attention to what I was doing and added too much butter. Nonetheless it was awesome. I think I'll keep the butter amount because I can't imagine eating it with any less.

Coffee Lovers' Coffee Cake II

adapted from Taste of Home

1/3 cup granulated sugar

4-1/2 tsp instant coffee granules

1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Batter:

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

2 Tbsp walnuts, chopped

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, coffee granules and cinnamon; set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until crumbly. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to butter mixture along with sour cream. Beat just until combined.

Spread half the batter evenly in a sprayed 9-inch square baking pan; sprinkle with half the reserved coffee mixture. Repeat layers; cut through batter with a knife to swirl. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 28-33 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Serve warm.

These are the ones on the left.

Squirrels Were Harmed in the Making of this Blog

2009-05-05T10:12:00.004-04:00

Sorry, but I'm not gonna lie to you. That's just how nature rolls. It can be cruel sometimes, but on a lighter note, Dixie was very proud of herself!
Dixie caught a squirrel the other day. She was very, very proud of herself. She brought her prize home to me so I could congratulate her. She is weird like that. Kind of like a cat. Another weird thing about her is that she won't eat them! She treats it more like a prize, or toy. She sat there for hours with it sitting next to her. When I found out about it, she just picked it up and carried it closer to me.

This is the same dog that caught a mouse and gulped the entire thing without even biting down!! At first I was terrified the thing would scratch her throat going down or tummy, but after I calmed down and realized that it wouldn't be alive that long, I just worried about her having a tummy ache! Such a weird dog!

On another note, I got my first harvest of the season!! I had to thin out the lettuce so I had a bunch of baby lettuce for salads. I need to go out there this evening and do some more thinning if it ever stops raining!! Well, I can't complain too much because we need the rain and the temps have been nice and cool the past week! I love having an actual Spring. I can't stand Virginia Summers!

I made two coffee cakes this weekend, so hopefully I'll remember to grab the recipes and post them this week. I need to make a cake for the coffee shop so I'll probably be working on one the next couple of days. Thursday I have exams and that evening I need to start prepping for the farmer's market on Saturday. So much to do!!

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies...Mmmmm

2009-04-28T13:06:00.006-04:00

I picked up a bag of Reese's Premier Baking Pieces at the grocery store the other day because they were on closeout. I probably never would've realized they existed if they weren't marked down. That said, I just had to have them. They are cute! Little itty bitty Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The kind you find in Moose Tracks Ice Cream. Yum!

Anyway, I decided I wanted to put them in brownies. Oh, they are good. Here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

4 oz unsweetened chocolate (4 squares)
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 bag Reese's Premier Baking Pieces
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter

Melt 3/4 cup butter and unsweetened chocolate in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Combine with sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, and Reese's Premier Baking Pieces in a large bowl. Mix well. Pour into a 9" x 13" baking pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done. Cool completely.

Melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Spread over brownies.

You can either eat them now or wait for the chocolate/peanut butter topping to cool. I couldn't wait. Cut and enjoy.

Lemon Crunch Pie

2009-04-27T14:06:00.003-04:00

This pie was quite tasty. I love lemon pies, but only if they are tangy. I certainly made this one tangy. E took a slice before I was able to get a pic of it whole. The man just couldn't wait any longer. Enjoy.

Lemon Crunch Pie
adapted from Calico Cooks! cookbook

1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
zest and juice of 2 lemons
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 cup boiling water
2 egg whites
1 baked (9-inch) pie shell
3/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup butter, softened

1. Combine 1 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt in a micro-wave safe bowl. Stir in the lemon peel, lemon juice, and egg yolk. Add the boiling water and mix well with a wooden spoon.

2. Microwave on High for 2 minutes; stir. Microwave on Medium for 1 minute; stir. Microwave on Medium for up to 5 minutes or until thickened and clear, stirring at 1-minute intervals.

3. Beat the egg whites in a mixer bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold the hot lemon mixture very gradually into the egg whites. Spoon into the pie shell.

4. Mix the flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, and baking powder in a bowl. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over pie. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Black and White Brownies

2009-04-24T08:30:00.003-04:00

I didn't particularly care for these brownies only because I can't stand white chocolate. E asked me why I made them if I didn't like white chocolate. Well, I figured other people like it so maybe I'll try this recipe out to see if it would be good enough to sell. E liked it, so I'll probably tinker with it some and make it again to sell. I followed this recipe almost exactly, but next time I'll make my own brownie base. This recipe uses box brownie mix.

Black and White Brownies

1 19- to 21-oz pkg fudge brownie mix, including ingredients needed to make brownies according to box directions
1 10-to 12-oz pkg white baking pieces
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 Tbsp hot water
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cups pecans, chopped

1. Grease the bottom of a 13x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Stir in half of the white baking pieces, all of the semisweet chocolate chips, and the 1/2 cup pecans. Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan.

2. Bake in a 350 degrees F oven about 25-30 minutes or until center is set. Sprinkle with the remaining white baking pieces; bake for 1 minute more. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

3. For frosting, in a small bowl combine melted butter and hot water; stir in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Beat by hand until smooth. I found that there wasn't enough liquid so I added a splash of milk until I was able to mix it smooth. Spoon over top of brownies. Sprinkle with the 3/4 cup pecans (I didn't). Cool about 1 1/2 hours or until frosting is set. Cut into bars. Makes about 36 brownies.

These were way too sweet for me. The white chocolate just made it that much worse. Again, E liked them. I left a couple at home for him to eat and gave the rest away. I think I'll try a recipe with out the white chocolate and with my brownie recipe. I have some ideas of what to do.

It's going to be hot this weekend (90 degrees!!!) so I'll be doing a lot of garden stuff. I worked some in the greenhouse yesterday evening and planted a lot of things. I'll start planting green beans tomorrow in the garden and maybe potatoes and corn. I think it'll be warm enough now to put some tomato plants in the ground, but I won't be putting too many in. The ones I started from seed are still too small (I was late getting them started) so E went and bought a few plants. I have some milk jugs that I'll use if the temps drop too low at night, but I don't think we'll have many more of those days.

I made a killer lemon pie last night which, hopefully, I'll post Monday. I usually like to follow a recipe exactly before I make any changes, but I didn't like the amount of lemon called for (I love tangy lemon things) so I added more and omitted one item. It turned out fabulous. E was chomping at the bit this morning to dig into it, so I didn't get a pic of it whole; there is one piece taken out.

Sweet Potato Muffins

2009-04-23T14:32:00.003-04:00

I'm trying to find healthier sweets for E and I to eat at home. My mother-in-law made these Sweet Potato Muffins and gave me the recipe. They were really good.

Sweet Potato Muffins
1 sweet potato
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup honey
1 (6 oz) container vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease or line with paper liners 16 muffin cups; set aside. Prick sweet potato several times with a fork and place onto a baking sheet.

2. Bake the sweet potato until easily pierced with a fork, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let potato cool enough to handle then peel and mash.

3. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees F.

4. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Stir in the oil, eggs, vanilla, yogurt, applesauce, and mashed sweet potato just until all ingredients are moistened. Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.

5. Bake muffins until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Optional toppings:

I just place a pecan on each muffin and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar before baking. You can also try the following:

1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 tsp cinnamon

Blend ingredients together in a food processor or blender. Sprinkle topping over unbaked muffins before baking.

Grilled Chicken and Roasted Potatoes

2009-04-22T11:47:00.005-04:00

Okay. Who doesn't know how to grill chicken? I love grilling. E decided he wanted to try a different seasoning on the chicken. It turned out great. Basically, it's just 2 Tbsp seasoned salt, 1 Tbsp Rosemary and 1 Tbsp Thyme. Mix all three together and rub on the chicken before grilling.
I wanted to have some roasted potatoes with the meal. I just cut up a few small potatoes, sprinkled them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and popped them in the oven until they started to brown. Very simple, but quite good.

This meal was very quick and very simple. The only part of it that took any decent amount of time was the broccoli salad. Still, it was worth it. I like to have just simple meals every now and then.

Broccoli Salad

2009-04-21T13:34:00.012-04:00

I absolutely love this broccoli salad. It's better than anyone's I've tasted and way better than what you can get at the store. I have had some good broccoli salad, don't get me wrong, but this one has the flavors I love. I made it Sunday to go with dinner.

Broccoli Salad

1 large bunch fresh broccoli florets, cut or broken up small
1 cup raisins
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped onion
8 crisp fried bacon - broken up

Dressing:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar

I like to shred my own carrots and cheese. There can be some yucky stuff in the packaged ones.

I cheated with the bacon because I was in a hurry.

Place all of the ingredients from the broccoli to the bacon together in a large bowl.

Stir together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

Pour dressing over veggies, etc. in bowl.

Mix everything together well. Enjoy!

This already makes a large amount. I've been eating this for lunch and dinner the past couple of days and we still have a couple of days worth left. If you're having a big BBQ or party, you can easily double this recipe.

If you're daring, you can make changes to this. You can add nuts, substitute dried cranberries for the raisins, use a different type of cheese, use turkey bacon, add apples, or use different vinegars. I used white vinegar this time but have used cider vinegar and red wine vinegar. Either vinegar makes a delicious dressing, but I think cider vinegar is my favorite.

YUM!

Carrot Cake

2009-04-20T16:23:00.006-04:00

I have been terrible about keeping up with this blog this month. I just completely forget about it! I'll try to be better. I promise. For Easter, I made this yummy carrot cake. I got the recipe from http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/. It is good, trust me. I made a regular one and E took it to work where everyone gobbled it up. I then decided to make a lower-fat version for us. It tasted fabulous, but I made one mistake. I substituted all of the oil with applesauce. I should've used SOME oil, maybe 1/4 cup. If you make this low-fat, please, please, please use some oil. The texture was a little rubbery-ish. Very edible, but just didn't like the texture.

Cake:

2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups grated carrots

Icing:

1 stick butter, softened
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1 pound (16 oz) powdered sugar
1 cups pecans, finely chopped
2 tsp vanilla

Cake:
Mix together the sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda and powder, and cinnamon. Add to egg mixture, stirring until combined. Stir in carrots. Pour into a greased and floured pan (I used two rounds). Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 - 50 minutes, depending on which pan you use, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pans, then remove to a wire rack. Cool completely.

Icing:
In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and blend; mix in nuts. Frost cooled carrot cake.

Enjoy.

I have several recipes to post, hopefully, in the next few coming days.

A world of color

2009-04-07T15:44:00.007-04:00

I found that color comes out better in lower light. Here are a few pics around the house that show some of the new Spring color.

This pic is a little blury (sorry, I'm not too steady) but it's of our plum tree. The Cleveland pear tree is in the background, as well as the greenhouse. Oh, and yes. Those are Easter egg decorations on the plum tree. Don't laugh at me. This is a pic looking down the hill towards the highway and work. It's amazing how fast everything turns green. You can start to see the green "fuzz" on the trees.

This was my very first flower bed. It needs a lot of TLC. I'll get to it eventually.

Here is another flower bed that has been invaded by wire grass. I'm going to dig up what I can save and then start over. My poor lavender probably won't make it.

I've been so busy lately with baking and trying to get things done outside. I'm supposed to make a delivery to the coffee shop this evening, go to the grocery store, bake two batches of coffee cake, and cover up what I have planted in the garden because it's supposed to get down to freezing tonight. Somewhere I have to find time to eat dinner, work out, and clean; maybe even study a little if I can. Oh, and I can't forget sleep. It'll come around eventually.

I've tried making a lemon cornmeal cake twice now. The first time I decided to do cupcakes. It tasted great, but it wasn't pretty. I used my stupid stoneware and the cupcakes didn't come out smoothly. They were also very flat on top. I made it again yesterday using my stoneware bundt pan and it sunk (terribly) in the middle. I'm not sure if it's the stoneware, the oven, the recipe, or me. I'm going to try it one more time before I either a) give up or b) tinker with the recipe. It tastes great the way it is, but I can't sell it. I'm also hoping to find time to try some new recipes I have floating around in my head. Lot's of sampling ahead for us and our co-workers. :) That's why we joined the gym!

Coffee Lovers' Coffee Cake

2009-03-31T14:26:00.003-04:00

Finally!!! A day late and a dollar short. Actually, more like a week late and well, I'd hate to think how much short. :)

Here is the oh-so-wonderful coffee cake I've told you about. D-LISH! YUM! Yumm-o anyone?? I finally remembered to take a picture of them. I've been so busy with work and work and work and, need I go on? I've been baking brookies like crazy and trying out some new recipes. When I'm not baking I'm either at my full time job, messing with the dumb turkeys (stupid turkeys!!), or working outside.

I have FINALLY quit working at Fabio's. No more for me!! Yay! I did, however, tell them that I'll help out every now and then. I sure hope the won't need my help. Also, since it's Spring, I've been doing a lot of things outside. I've gotten all of my Spring veggies planted and started seeds for most of my Summer and Fall veggies and herbs. So can't wait!! E mowed the grass for the first time this year over the weekend. Sigh. I love the smell of fresh cut grass.

The weather has been beautiful, minus the rain on Friday and Saturday. The temps have been in the 60s to 70. I actually wore shorts Sunday! If I think about it, and I emphasize on "if", I'll take a pic of the green-ness (is that even a word??) of the farm. It's too late to get a pic of my plum tree flowering because all of the flowers have already fallen. The stinky pear tree is flowering, though, and the redbuds are starting. Anyway. Here is the recipe I've been promising:

Coffee Lovers' Coffee Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 rounded tsp instant coffee granules
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar (I prefer dark)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces*
8 oz sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1. Combine the flour and coffee granules in a large bowl. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt; stir well. Cut in butter w/a pastry blender until crumbly. *I soften the butter just a little bit and use my hands to blend it in. Press half of the crumb mixture into a lightly greased 9" square or 13x9" baking pan; set aside.

2. Combine sour cream and baking soda, stirring well. Add remaining crumb mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Add egg, stirring gently to combine. Pour sour cream mixture over crumb crust in pan. Sprinkle with pecans.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 - 50 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Spring at Last!

2009-03-23T09:58:00.002-04:00

Yay! It's officially Spring. I love Spring. Don't get me wrong, Fall is my favorite season. There is just a feeling of renewal that comes with Spring, however. Everything is turning green again. Flowers are blooming. Birds are singing. Frogs are peeping. It's so refreshing.

I did a bit of baking this past week and this weekend. I'll try to remember to post the recipe for my Coffee Lover's Coffee Cake today or tomorrow. I'd like to post a pic with it, so tomorrow might be better. The restaurant has placed several big orders with me so I've been trying to keep up with that while also trying to get goodies down to the coffee shop. I only have one more day to work at Fabio's (**glee**) so that will give me two extra days to bake. Yes, two. I couldn't bake on Thursdays because I wasn't able to take anything to the coffee shop Friday evenings. Now I'll be able to bake Thursdays and Fridays if I want to. Of course I will be taking a couple of days off here and there. I don't want to get burnt out.

Now that Spring has finally sprung I have been able to plant spring veggies in my garden. This weekend I planted onions, leeks, spinach, lettuce, arugula, peas, and broccoli. I am soooo looking forward to having my own fresh veggies! I started peppers and tomatoes this weekend. I'm a couple of weeks behind, but that's okay. Once they get to the right size, the greenhouse will help them grow fast. Last year my plants may have been slightly too big to sell, although they sold quite well. This year they'll be the perfect size. I'll start some herbs this week. I plan to have a big herb garden if E helps me with getting the bed made.

It's about time to cut the grass for the first time. It could've used a cutting this weekend, but I was too busy with other things. I'll either do it later this week or Saturday morning. We're supposed to get rain Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Bummer for a weekend! The temps are staying pretty cool. I'm hoping this Spring will be like last Spring, long and cool. We had an actual Spring instead of bouncing right into Summer. I hate Summer. Feeling like you are melting in a bowl of pea soup is not fun. I probably wouldn't hate it so much if I lived in a different climate.

Okay. Enough for now. Gotta get back to work. :)

Snow and Spring

2009-03-16T11:25:00.003-04:00

This is one of the best things about living on a mountain (granted it's a small foothill mountain, but it's still a mountain.)

Friday morning we woke up to snowfall. This picture was actually taken at lunch time. When I got to work, I was the only vehicle with snow on it! AND I had about a half inch of snow on my truck! I noticed there was hardly any snow sticking to the ground at work. By the time I left for work there was no snow left on the ground. Looking up the hill I could see the mountain range was still white with snow. When I got home, I decided to take this picture so you can see how cool it was! The white is what snow was left around 1pm and it was still snowing. Looking down the hill towards work (the big white building) you can see there is no snow. I love how we can be colder at the house and warmer down at work. One thing that makes me cringe is when we are in a drought and I can clearly see rain falling at work, but we are getting nothing. The mountain range will split storms and they will sometimes go around us.

About Spring....we were in the 70s/80s at the beginning of last week, then the cold front came in. You can see the green grass poking through the snow. As of today, there is green grass going all the way down to the bottom. Love seeing the green!!

Mocha Nut Scones

2009-03-12T10:08:00.005-04:00

I made these yummy Mocha Nut Scones Tuesday night. I wanted something breakfast-y to take to the coffee shop and I was told by some customers that they needed better scones there. The ones they have now taste good, but they are too dry and a little on the sweet side. These are just right. They are biscuit-y like a real scone is supposed to be and they have the perfect touch of sweetness to them. I created this recipe by combining two recipes that I already had. I hope you enjoy them!

Mocha Nut Scones

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp instant coffee granules
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Whipping cream
Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl combine the flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, baking powder, instant coffee, and salt. Using a pastry blender or a mixer, cut butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in center of the flour mixture; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl combine eggs and 3/4 cup whipping cream. Add mixture, pecans, and chocolate chips all at once to the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir just until moistened. You can use a spoon if the fork is grabbing all of the flour.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough by folding and gently pressing it for 10 to 12 strokes or until dough is nearly smooth. Divide dough in half. Pat or lightly roll each dough half into a 6-inch circle. Cut each circle into six wedges.

4. Place dough wedges 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush wedges with whipping cream and sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden. Remove scones from baking sheet; serve warm.

Reheat by toasting in a toaster oven or regular oven for just a few minutes.

I'm trying to think up something to make for the coffee shop in honor of Saint Patty's Day. I'm scouring through recipes so hopefully I'll come up with something I can make tonight.

On another note, what is up with this weather??? I know, Spring will be here next week. This is perfectly normal to have 80 degree weather one day and 40 degree weather the next. It kind of sucks, though. I love Winter, but I love Spring even more. My poor plum tree is blooming and we are supposed to have snow and ice mix tomorrow!! I hope I have plums this year.

2009-03-06T10:05:00.003-05:00

ROCKY ROAD OATMEAL DROPS

1 Tbsp instant coffee crystals
1 Tbsp warm water
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet choc chips
1 1/2 cups pecans, toasted and chopped
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

1. Lightly grease a cookie sheet; set aside. In a small bowl combine coffee crystals and warm water, stirring until coffee is dissolved. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugars, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and coffee until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Stir in rolled oats, chocolate chips, pecans, and marshmallows.

3. Drop dough using an ice cream scoop 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degrees F oven about 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack.

These were really good. If you want to taste more of the coffee, you can double the amount you put in.

The. Best. Banana Bread. EVER!

2009-03-04T13:41:00.007-05:00

Okay. I made this banana bread Sunday from I recipe I saw in Southern Living. I changed it around a little bit, one because I didn't have any nuts on hand, and two because I just didn't read the entire recipe! Nonetheless it turned out FABULOUS!!! E said I had to get rid of it because he couldn't stop eating it! I only have one bread pan (I know, it's a sin!) so I made one loaf and one in a cake pan.

This pic was taken not too long after I got it out of the oven. The next day there wasn't much left! I ended up putting the loaf in the freezer so sticky hands wouldn't eat it all up!

Coconut-topped Banana Bread
adapted from Southern Living

Bread:

3/4 cups butter, softened

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

**1 cup chopped pecans, toasted** Optional

1. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

2. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8 x 4-inch loafpans.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull away from pan. Remove from oven and place on wire rack.

Coconut Topping:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 cup sweetened flake coconut

2 tsp vanilla

**1 cup chopped, toasted pecans** Optional

1. When there is about 15 minutes left for the bread in the oven, stir together butter, sugars, and milk in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut, pecans, and vanilla. Spread hot mixture over banana bread when it comes out of the oven.

2. **I skipped this part but it would be great!** Broil loaves 5 1/2 inches from heat for 2 - 3 minutes or just until topping starts to lightly brown.

3. Cool in pans on wire racks for 20 minutes. Remove from pans and cool 30 minutes on wire racks before slicing.

This WILL NOT last long. It is soooo delicious. I didn't read all the way through the directions at first so I didn't toast the topping. It is still yummy! Enjoy!

It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter!

2009-03-02T08:56:00.008-05:00

I love it!!! We haven't had snow like this in a looonnnggg time. It looks like we got about 8 inches, but it's a little hard to tell because of the snow drifts. As of right now it's still snowing, but the sun is out. Everything is so pretty. I think I'm going sleigh riding after work tonight!! We definitely have enough hill to do it! Here are some pics I took this morning before I went to work (and yes, I still have to go to work!)

This is looking up the hill at the leylands on the other side of our driveway circle. The grapevines and turkey houses are in the background.

Here is a bird on a piece of weed just off the porch.

This is looking on the other side of the hill. You can just barely see the water tower in the background.

This is the little grove of trees next to the house. My in-laws' house is on the otherside, but it kind of blends in right now.

We filled the bird feeder this morning. The birds are having a feast! I'll try to get pics of the kids later if I can. Dixie didn't want to have anything to do with the snow this morning. Rebel didn't mind and Linus was having a blast. E got to have the day off since they came and got his vehicle last night. There's only a couple of 4-wheel drives on the force and he has one of them. He's so lucky!! I can't take off since I just live right across the road!

Yay for Me!

2009-02-23T13:14:00.005-05:00

Saturday evening E and I went to the coffee shop to talk to the owner. She was really excited about getting my goodies in her restaurant! Yay!! She also wants me to sell my jams since there is a gift shop. I took her samples of some jams and Peanut Butter Brookies. She and everyone else absolutely loved them. She wanted me to start bringing her things right away. Yesterday I spent the afternoon baking and canning. Here is a pic of the Peanut Butter Brookies and Gingerbread Biscotti that I am taking down there this evening. The biscotti will go great with their Gingerbread Lattes. I don't drink coffee and even that sounds good!
I'll think of a couple more things to come up with and take them down there later in the week. The partner even asked if I could do cakes and pies. I told her I'd have no problem with that, but I'd have to figure the cost out. Some cakes and pies might be too expensive. I explained to her that I only use quality ingredients, so that can make the prices go up some. I'll have to experiment some this week. In the mean time, E and I need to do some serious exercising!!

On another note, Wayne (E's step-father) was having a heart attack Saturday. I say "having" because it was caught before it turned into a full-blown heart attack. He looked pretty bad when the rescue squad took him out. He's doing much better now and may be able to come home today. I hope he takes it easy from here on out and I hope the start eating healthier. I don't think I should be using them as my guinea pigs anymore!

Cranberry-Orange Biscuits

2009-02-20T13:18:00.003-05:00

Last night I made the Coconut Lemon Bars with Chocolate Cookie Crust. They certainly looked nice, but I was still unsure about the taste. I made a small pan so we could sample it. I didn't put nearly enough lemon on it. The 1/2 sheet that I made for the restaurant had more lemon. E and I were still undecided. I took the bars by the restaurant at lunch today and Randy cut me off a piece to try. They were actually good! The crust was nice and moist and there was just the right amount of lemon. The sample pan I made had a dryer crust, so I obviously baked it too long. The moist crust makes all of the difference.

I have finally remembered to grab my recipe for these yummy biscuits. These are so good hot out of the oven on a cold morning.

Cranberry-Orange Biscuits

Adapted from BH&G

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 tsps baking powder

1 tsp finely shredded orange peel

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

1 Tbsp fresh orange juice

1 Tbsp milk

1 recipe Orange Glaze

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Ina a bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, orange peel, salt, and baking soda. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs. Add dried cranberries; toss until well mixed. Make a well in center of the flour mixture. Add yogurt, orange juice, and milk all at once. Using a fork, stir just until moistened.

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough by folding and gently pressing it for 10 to 12 strokes or until dough is nearly smooth. Pat or lightly roll dough until 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough with a floured 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, rerolling scraps as necessary and dipping cutter into flour between cuts.

3. Place dough circles 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes or until golden. Remove biscuits from baking sheet; cool 5 minutes. Drizzle with Orange glaze. Serve warm.

Orange Glaze

Ingredients:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp finely shredded orange peel

3 to 4 tsps orange juice or more if needed

In a small bowl, combine ingredients to reach glazing consistency.

I Forgot!

2009-02-19T13:34:00.002-05:00

Well, as usual, I forgot something. I forgot to grab my recipe for the Cranberry Orange Biscuits to post today. I'll TRY to remember to do that tomorrow, but I can't make any promises. I took the lemon bars to the restaurant yesterday afternoon. Randy said he liked the idea of the cherry coconut bars, but he didn't like the cherries (they were canned cherries). He wants me to, instead, use lemon. I told him I didn't think lemon and chocolate went together and he said they certainly did. He wants me to bring them in tomorrow. Guess what I'm doing tonight?

It was nice to not have to work at Fabio's last night. I knew Ann needed the money so I let her work my shift. After all, I do have a full time job (among the many other things I do) and Fabio's is her only job. I was able to sit down and work on knitting a scarf that I've been working on for a year now!! I undid the whole thing a couple of weeks ago and am just now getting back to it. I got a good bit done during the commercial breaks while watching Lost. Oh, and I have to say I just LOVE Lost! I have so many questions this week so I hope they answer a few of them next week.

Busy Weekend!

2009-02-18T09:34:00.008-05:00

I've been a busy bee this weekend. I've been doing a lot of baking and seed starting. Right now I have a couple varieties of lettuce, spinach, leeks, and arugula waiting to sprout. Maybe by this weekend they will have. I'll be seeding some more lettuce tonight and maybe some flowers.

Last night I baked a 1/2 sheet of lemon bars. Here they are, ready to go to the restaurant today.

E took some samples that I baked this weekend to the coffee shop. He's going back today to take some business cards. I hope to hear back from them soon. I'm thinking I should probably bake a few cakes, cookies, and pies to take to them to sample. That way they'll know what all I can bake.

I took some samples to work and everybody loved them. People kept thanking me for bringing them yummy treats. Sigh. I love to make people's taste buds happy! E took a sample tray to his supervisor and she said that she will volunteer to be my official taste tester. :)

Here is a pic of my Brookies and a recipe I created, Cherry Coconut Bars. Those bars were delicious. I'm entering them into the Pillsbury Bake-Off. I doubt I'll have a chance, but you never know. I'm going to toil around with some other recipes to see what I can come up with.

I decided that I wanted to start baking my own bread. I'm a little nervous using yeast, so I decided to just start out using the bread machine. Here is a loaf of white bread. The house smelled so good as it was baking. Oh, and it tasted good, too. If I have time this weekend, I'll try to do some regular bread baking. I think I'll have to go buy some more bread pans first, though.

Saturday morning I wanted to make E a nice V-Day breakfast. Along with eggs and bacon, I made these Cranberry-Orange Biscuits from BH&G. I'll try to remember to post the recipe tomorrow. These were delicious! I've never made a biscuit by scratch before (can you say Bisquick?) so this was a treat. It's so much better than the baking mixes so I think I'll start making all biscuits by scratch from here on out. I may mess around with something tonight, or just take the night off. I haven't decided yet.

Miss B

Cranberry Bars

2009-02-11T12:18:00.005-05:00

I wanted to actually bake a Raspberry, Walnut, & Chocolate Bar, but soon realized I had no raspberry preserves nor walnuts. Therefore, I had to compromise. I didn't think my Spiced Blueberry Jam or the Banana-Mango Jam would work to good with this. Since I already had the crust in the oven I had to come up with something. So....I pulled out a can of whole cranberry sauce and some pecans. This bar scared me when I first took it out of the oven because I didn't think it was done, even though the top was nicely browned. Everything still seemed so soft. After it completely cooled, it all fell into place. This actually turned out to be a good bar and a somewhat healthy one at that (unless you want to take into consideration all of the sugar!) Here is the recipe and some not-to-pretty pics. Sorry. I really, really need to get a good camera.

Cranberry Bars

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar (I used white, but you could very well use brown)

1 can whole cranberry sauce

Topping:
1/4 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, butter, and 1/3 cup of brown sugar with electric mixer at low speed; mixture will be crumbly. Press onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool for 10 minutes. Spread cranberry sauce over crust.

3. Mix 1/4 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar, eggs, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Spread batter over cranberry layer. Sprinkle with pecans and chocolate chips.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely. Cut into bars.

What a Morning!

2009-02-10T08:19:00.005-05:00

I started this blog with the intentions of only posting when I had a recipe, tip, or baking experience. I didn't plan to post anything today because I didn't really have anything to share. That was until this morning. Dixie went near a skunk this morning. She didn't get a direct spray, but she certainly got some of the offensive smell on her nose. Living in the country, I should be used to this, right? Ugh! I can never get use to that smell! I have tried many things to get rid of the odor. I have found one reliable concoction that I use everytime now. It's from "Joey Green's Amazing Kitchen Cures "book. I love this book. It has so much useful information. Here is the recipe I use. There may still be a slight odor left behind, but nothing, and I mean NOTHING like the other concoctions leave. Oh, and I don't have to worry about having a pink dog for a month!

Skunk Odor Remover

In a bucket, mix the contents of one small box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, two cups hydrogen peroxide, one teaspoon of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, and one gallon warm water. Use a scrub brush to wash with this solution.

I'm telling you, it's a God send. Miss Dixie is on the back deck freezing her little tail off (don't worry, the temps are rising to near 70 today!) but at least most of the smell is gone. I can smell only a hint of it when I put my nose right up to hers. Now, I just hope the house airs out by the time I get home.

http://www.amazon.com/Joey-Greens-Amazing-Kitchen-Cures/dp/1579546447/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234272528&sr=8-1

Excited

2009-02-09T11:22:00.001-05:00

Okay. Now I'm really excited. Just dropped off a pan of Brookies at the restaurant and Randy said they are selling like crazy. He does stuff with Montpelier and said that they'll probably want my Brookies. He said he's going to be relying on me heavily. Sounds like I'm going to be busy!!

Healthy Banana Bread and Graham Cracker Bars

2009-02-09T09:18:00.002-05:00

We had an absolutely beautiful weekend, but I really didn't get to enjoy much of it. Saturday we spent the ENTIRE day in the turkey houses. I had to take two showers! UGH! I ended up having to take two showers yesterday, too. My skin is soooo dry now. I read in one of my magazines that olive oil is a great natural moisturizer, so I decided to try it. So far so good. My skin looks and feels great. I'm going to try using it for a deep conditioner tonight.

Mom came over yesterday to drop me off some eggs. THANK YOU!!! I've been baking so much lately and experimenting. This really helps cut the costs down. I looked at the fruit bowl and noticed the bananas were getting a little brown so I decided to make banana bread. I searched through my (probably millions) recipes and found a Weight Watchers recipe that sounded good. I didn't have all of the ingredients so I had to improvise. It's a not-too-sweet banana bread that soft and healthy. E said he likes it because it isn't too sweet. He said things that are really sweet make him thirsty. Here's the recipe my way and a couple of pics of the finished product:

Healthy Banana-Oatmeal Bread
adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tsp melted butter
2 large eggs, beaten
4 medium bananas, ripe
1 cup uncooked old fashioned oatmeal

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Add oil and eggs; mix thoroughly.

2. In a smaller bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or fork. Add bananas and oatmeal to batter.

3. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into pan and bake until top of loaf is form to the touch and a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes in pan. Flip out and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes. Slice and enjoy.

I found this recipe for Graham Cracker Bars in Better Homes & Gardens. It looked good so I really wanted to try it. I followed the recipe exactly and wouldn't want to change it. It was heavenly! The only complaint I have is that the graham crackers will be soft the next day. It should've been obvious to me since that happens when something soft (the filling) is stored with something crispy (the crackers). They were still delicious this morning, just didn't have that nice crisp to it. Here's the recipe:

Graham Cracker Bars

as seen in Better Homes & Gardens

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

12 graham cracker rectangles

1 Tbsp butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 to 3 tsp milk

Directions:

1. For filling, in a medium saucepan combine 3/4 cup butter, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup milk, and egg. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a full boil. Remove from heat. Stir in pecans and crumbs. Cool 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, place 6 of the graham crackers, side by side, on foil-lined baking sheet to make rectangle about 10 x 7 inches in size. Spoon filling in small mounds onto graham crackers. Carefully spread to an even layer being careful not to move crackers. Place remaining crackers on to to match up with bottom crackers. Lightly cover bars with plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator at least 4 hours or until filling is firm. Cut into bars.

3. In small bowl beat 1 tablespoon butter with whisk or electric mixer until smooth. Gradually whisk in powdered sugar and enough milk to make a thick drizzling consistency. Drizzle over bars. Let stand until set. Makes 24 bars.

I took a break after I finished up and then headed on over next door to bake some brookies for the restaurant. I'm getting ready to run those by now. E took the Graham Cracker Bars with him to work this morning, so I'll found out what they think about them later.

Update

Everybody loved them. It sounds like these are going to be a keeper.

My First Blog

2009-02-06T15:51:00.000-05:00

Okay. This is my very first blog. I'm new at all of this. I absolutely love baking and am working on some recipes that I might be able to enter into the Pillsbury Bake Off. It's a long shot, but I have to try. I've had a recipe in Woman's Day before, so you never know. Last night I made a Bourbon Pecan Brownie. I don't like alcohol, so I ended up not liking the brownies. E loved them. He took some to work and they all loved them. He let our ever faithful guinea pig, Ned, try one and Ned took one to the restaurant where I am currently baking Brookies for. Randy was on the phone and gave him the thumbs up. I guess the brownies turned out well, but I personally cannot get past the alcohol.

Tonight I have to work at Fabio's, so I won't be experimenting. I'll be baking this weekend, however. I'm trying to find something nice and chocolatey. Randy might want to use my lemon bars for V-Day, but I think chocolate is more romantic than lemons. No? We'll just see what I come up with. I need to find out if Randy would consider cakes and pies. I have so many things I want to try in those forms. I think I need to talk with him.

Well, it's almost quitting time here and then I'll be off to the restaurant to work. It really sucks working two jobs, but I love having extra money. Maybe I can make enough extra money baking....eventually. We'll see.