Summer Fun Recipe - Fairy Fudge

Ahhhhh! Summer!! My favorite season! Lots of time for relaxing, swimming, reading, biking and playing. Also, the kids and I are taking advantage of our free time to create, explore, discover and experiment. We tried a recipe in my daughter's Usborne Fairy Cooking book this week:

PRETTY FAIRY FUDGE

They both loved it - tastes like frosting! :-) Since this recipe is already readily available online, I'll post our version but it is ©Rebecca Gilpin and Catherine Atkinson. The book is really cute and from Scholastic, so support your school when it's back in session or your local Usborne rep and check out this neat kids' cookbook!

Ingredients:
• 16 oz. powdered sugar
• 4 oz. large marshmallows
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• food colouring
• small cutters
• small sweets for decorating

Instructions:
1. Sift sugar through a sieve into a large bowl. Make a small hollow in the middle of the sugar with a spoon.
2. Using clean scissors, cut the marshmallows in half and put them in a small pan. Add the milk, butter and vanilla
3. Gently heat the pan. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until everything has just melted.
4. Pour the mixture into  the hollow of the sugar. Mix everything together until it is smooth, then mix in a drop of food colouring

5. Leave the mixture to cool for 10 minutes, then make it into a flattened round shape. Then, wrap it in plastic food wrap
6. Put the fudge mixture in a fridge for three hours to go firm. Then, sprinkle a little powdered sugar on a clean work surface.
7. Roll out the fudge with a rolling pin until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Then, use the cutters to cut out lots of shapes
8. Squeeze the scraps into a ball, then roll out the ball and cut out more shapes. Then, decorate each shape with a sweet

Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week.

Christmas Gingerbread Houses

Do you make or decorate a gingerbread house at your home during Christmas? If you have kids, its a fun treat – kids of any age, right?! Sunday afternoon my kids tried their hand at decorating this adorable Christmas snow cottage:

They're a little young for the build-your-own gingerbread scene, so pre-assembled works great for us. About the second of November I picked up this gingerbread house on clearance at Target for about $4:

But, naturally we go in our own direction. :-) The kids get to eat the orange gumdrops and black bats while they decorate since they're entirely inappropriate for our sweet snow cottage! :-) I dyed the orange frosting brown and used it as the ground cover in which to stick all the cereal, marshmallows and assorted lawn trimmings. I piled oodles of possible decorating candies and snacks and treats on the island from which they could pick whatever they wanted.

They did almost everything by themselves. They had been filled with inspiration after a Friday night on our downtown's Gingerbread Christmas House Tour. Have to capture it quick with the camera, as at this age, they are mostly just interested in eating it! :-)

Dessert Time!

Here's a peek at some of the desserts we've been treating ourselves to recently.
Deep-Fried Banana:

My wonderful husband surprised us with these fruity concoctions one night. Individual servings of deep-fried banana sprinkled with Ghiradelli chocolate chips and a dusting of powdered sugar. (Keep the batter light in order to cook quickly and not turn the banana to mush.)

I decorated this Angry Bird birthday cake for my son's family birthday dinner:

A simple 2-layer round cake. Marshmallows for his top feathers. Two pieces of chocolate for his tail feathers. Slices of marshmallows for his white eyes. Orange gel beak. All outlined with chocolate piped from a baggie with the corner cut out.

And with fall comes the classic – Apple Pie:

Love to use Granny Smith apples to give my apple pie some attitude. Serve with drizzled carmel and a dollop of whipped cream. Mmmmmmmmmm!

Desserts for New Years Parties!

Here are two of my favorite New Year's Party desserts:

Spell out "2012" in chocolate turtles!

(visit the link for a complete tutorial and recipe for these assorted nuts, caramel & chocolate turtles!)

Flourless Chocolate Cake with "2012" medallion on top

It's hard for me to post these in time for others to do before the New Years parties ... so this year I'm trying to do better with these reminders of previous years. Desserts around here generally involve lots of dark chocolate, but this year medallion style could be done on any kind of cake. Enjoy!!

Ice Cream Cake Recipe ... no chocolate?

My son requested another ice cream cake for his birthday this year ... but "no chocolate!"
WHAAAAAAAAAAT? No chocolate?? Eee gads!! Should we keep him?!   :-)
What's a mother to do?!

Why, make him an ice cream cake of course, even it's without our beloved food of the gods - chocolate. Last summer I first detailed our recipe for ice cream cake for that birthday party. If you want a big dose of chocolate, check that one out. To start this recipe:

Recipe for no chocolote Ice Cream Cake:

Crush about 25 vanilla or other flavor sandwich cookies and mix with 1/4 cup melted butter. Press into bottom of 9 inch springform pan. Stand 10 oatmeal or other large crispybcookies around the rim:

Fill the bottom with softened ice cream, mushing it in and leveling – we used a vanilla with peanuty pretzel things in it. Pop into the freezer to set up for about 15 minutes, depending on how soft you had it. Then use a second flavor to scoop into balls for your top layer. Here he chose peanut butter cup.

Cover and freeze until ready to serve.
Set out a buffet of toppings: all sorts of sprinkles, chocolate and carmel syrups, nuts and whipped cream. Here's daddy's choice:

My son's was covered in a wave of sprinkles, a dollup of whipped cream ... and NO chocolate!  :-)

Homemade Summer Popsicles

Yummmmmm!!!!!!!! Homemade berry popsicles!

• Ice Pops recipe from Allrecipes.com::
• 1 (3 ounce) package fruit flavored gelatin mix
• 1 unsweetened, flavored soft drink mix package
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 cups cold water
• 
  
• Dissolve gelatin, soft drink mix and sugar in boiling water. Stir in cold water and pour into popsicle molds or small plastic drinking cups. Freeze until hard. (If using plastic drinking cups, freeze until firm, insert popsicle sticks, then freeze completely.)

• I saw a few other recipes that added a bit of yogurt to make the popsicles creamy, so we added a small container of flavored yogurt this time and it tasted great!

Fresh Apricots for Summer Sharing

Time to pick our apricots! The birds know just when the apricots are ripening - so we better get to them first!

We fill a simple paper cone with some to take as a thank you to a dinner party:

Wash some more to prepare for baking:

And then my kids and I prepare an apricot crisp to share with the friends at our play date:

We've added blueberries and raspberries to give it more flavor punch!

And there we have the fruit of our harvest! Apricot crisp! Yummm!
(I used a new recipe that was kind of just ok, so next time I'll stick with my peach crisp recipe. Always adjust depending on the ripeness of your fruit.)

"Messy Boy Party" Part 3: Ice Cream Cake!

If you've followed my previous two posts, you knew what was coming. The "cake" portion of the Messy Boy Party that I threw for my son's 4th birthday.

Part 1: The Messy Theme and Part 2: The Games] I made an ice cream cake and here's the finished product:

Here's how it looked before the boys helped decorate it:  :-)

That was part of the entertainment! Each little guy picked something from the topping bar and they took turns decorating the birthday cake!

They chose blue sugar, lots of assorted sprinkles and some generous dumpings of chocolate and caramel sauces... most of which landed on the table cloth! But they did love participating and, after all, this was a "Messy Boy Party!"

Here's how I made the cake. Which happened to be my first homemade ice cream cake, but I think first of many to come!!  :-)  It's my version of this recipe from allrecipes.com (thank you ARVILLALAR)

Crust of 25 crushed Oreo cookies with 1/4 cup melted butter. I used low-fat Oreos but not sure of the logic in that. :-) Pressed into bottom of my 9 inch springform pan. Standing around the rim are 10 chocolate covered graham cracker/cookies.

Cover crust with almost a jar (or maybe a whole jar next time!) of hot fudge topping. Nuke it first for easy pouring. Pop in the freezer for 15 minutes:

Soften 1 1/2 quarts of chocolate ice cream. I used Edy's Limited Edition S'mores flavor, so the lumps you see are mini marshmallows. Pick a flava flav you like. (I guess my Edy's was VERY melted because it seeped behind the grahams and that's the line you see from the outside. It doesn't bother me, but if you don't want that, don't soften too much, just enough to mush it into a layer.):

Spread out evenly and pop back into the freezer for 30 minutes:

Your second layer of ice cream is scoops. I used Target's Cookies & Cream, scooped using a medium size scooper. It's from Pampered Chef and I always use it to when filling muffin and cupcake batters. I could have squeezed my scoops closer together. I didn't like seeing any gaps, so I "infilled" with all the Cookies & Cream that had melted while scooping the balls:

Freeze 4 hours or overnight. Top with anything and everything you find worthy! About the only things we didn't top ours with were the whipped cream and cherries mentioned in the original recipe! And here is one slice of heavenly Chocolate Ice Cream Cake melting in the August heat:

Ours tasted VERY sweet, so slice thin! With those tall grahams, next time I'll double the ice cream quantities, too! Hmmm, do I need another occasion to make my second Ice Cream Cake???? How about 'Just Finished First Week of School Occasion?!"

30th Birthday Party Ideas

This weekend I hosted a surprise 30th birthday party. Even though it's hard for me to imagine the day I'll turn 30, (wink, wink) I thought I could still pull off a fun party for my friend!

As you know, I'm into the details, so I'll share some of my party food tips/secrets/ideas in this post ... and some of the decor/gift ideas next time.

First, I realized the party – a lunch/pool party – was on the same weekend as my daughter's preschool graduation, first dance performances and my wedding anniversary. Not wanting to overextend myself, I decided to commission another friend to make the cake:

My friend, Anna, came through with this gorgeous 2-tier cake that wowed the birthday girl and guests. I think every 10 years, we deserve a really special treat, right?! I'm not one for "regular" store-bought cakes, yet didn't want to be up all night trying to create my own "masterpiece." Tip - when in doubt, have others do!  :-)  Thank you, Anna!

Just for fun (and in case there was an abundance of kids) I made this purple "3-0" rice crispy dessert:

The two large numbers were made using 1 batch of the typical recipe:
6 cups cereal,
3 T butter,
1 bag marshmallows.
I added purple food color to compliment our purple, green and pink color scheme, then covered my hands with greased sandwich bags to shape the "30."

The main course: Hosting a party for up to 30 adults and assorted munchkins usually requires someone to man the grill for extended amounts of time. And someone to watch the kids by the pool. And someone to play hostess... I served a make-ahead entree – pulled BBQ chicken... Something I've never made before!   :-)

I trimmed and slow-cooked 16 large chicken breasts in the oven for 6 hours on 250 degrees. With what, you ask? Just S & P and a big bottle of Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce! I looked up a lot of BBQ recipes before I got started and thought "why spend precious minutes following a recipe that may or may not turn out, when I could use a recipe (in a bottle) that someone else has already spent untold minutes perfecting?"  :-)  If time is an issue for you, buy a bottled BBQ sauce brand you like and go for it!  Don't hate me 'cause I'm not southern!  :-)

After 6 hours, I removed the chicken from the sauce and shredded using two forks. Returned to the sauce for another hour in the oven. Then the fridge overnight. Popped the pan back into the oven with more sauce the next day, 2 hours before the party. Result: deeeelish!!   (serve with whole wheat buns - large for adults and smaller ones for the kids.)

Punch is always a good beverage choice for parties! It's colorful, festive and tasty:

Raspberry Lime Punch:

1 half gallon lime-ade,
1 L ginger ale (optional: raspberry ginger ale,)
raspberry sherbet (that you've softened and squished into a ring mold and frozen; use lime flavor for an all green punch,)
1 sliced lime.

Tip: offer covered cups with straws for the little ones; extra ice in a bucket; and a liter of Coke and water for alternatives.

More party pics next time!  :-)

Mean Green Veggie Machine

January is the perfect month for making soup. But I have two toddlers who have yet to eat anything more than the noodles out of any soup we've tried ... until this:

Broccoli Cheese Soup -- Pureed!

They loved it! I loved it! We danced! We hugged! We ate veggies! :-) I put it right up there with hiding spinach in fruit smoothies and pureed carrots in tomato pasta sauces.

Recipe for Broccoli Cheese Soup
INGREDIENTS:

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large diced red potato
• 6 1/2 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 pounds fresh broccoli florets
• 1 large handful fresh spinach leaves
  
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 6 ounces grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• salt & pepper (I use garlic salt)
  

PREPARATION:

Melt butter in heavy medium pot over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour to make roux. Add garlic and sauté about 2 minutes. Add stock, potato and all seasonings; bring to boil. Lower heat, simmer uncovered until potato is fork tender. Add broccoli and spinach, heat for 2 minutes. Stir in cream. Gradually add cheeses until melted.

Pour into blender in batches. Puree until thick and silky smooth. At this point you can heat and serve with extra grated cheese (for the fun of having it melt in) and crusty bread. OR continue on for a grand finale:

Preheat broiler. Place 6 oven proof soup bowls on baking sheet. Divide soup among bowls. Sprinkle 1/3 cup cheese over each. Broil until cheese melts and bubbles around edges, about 4 minutes.

.....................

This is the Epicurious recipe I made my Broccoli Cheese Soup variation from. The sharp cheddar adds a lot of flavor. Since I have onionophobia, I always add extra garlic & other seasonings. Seems like you could hardly go wrong if you're pureeing it. We have a Vita-Mix so there was not a single trace of broccoli visible to tip off the kiddos! :-) Yummm ... tasted great for leftovers! Visit www.lifeasMOM.com for the Ultimate Recipe Swap of great veggie recipes.

Celebrate 2010 ... with CHOCOLATE!

Happy New Year!

March out the turtles for 2010!Since we're still polishing off our Happy Birthday Jesus chocolate cake from Christmas, I thought I'd make something a bit different for a New Year's Eve dessert ... like giant number chocolate turtles!
Melt one bag caramels with 2 Tbsp cream. Assemble nuts into number shapes on lightly buttered wax paper. For party variety I made each number a different nut - walnuts, pecans, cashews and almonds:
Once caramel is melted, let sit just a minute or two so it's not too runny. Carefully drizzle caramel over nuts. Let cool 1/2 hour. Spray a spatula with Pam & use it to transfer the turtles over to the party platter. Adjust as needed.
Melt some quality dark chocolate and give your giant number turtles their shells!

You could also use this idea for a special 'number' birthday or event. Or use letters to spell out a name!

Have a very blessed 2010!!

Flowers, Fish & Friends ... and GIVEAWAYS!

I must tell you what & who I have been INSPIRED by lately. And it's the reason I've been lagging in my blog posts of late. I took on a design project that has been taking up quite a bit of my time. So, in every free moment, I've been trying to enjoy this gorgeous fall weather with my kids:
They've been "collecting" all the "fallen" flowers in our yard and on outings. I've been the honored recipient of these valued treasures!

And we have ONE chrysanthemum plant from last year that has truly thrived! This vibrant bush is almost as tall as my kids! (if you know the stories of my black thumb, then you know why I'm especially thrilled about this - one out of three ain't bad!)
Along with my unusual work hours, comes shortcuts in the dinner department. Well, my foodie husband whipped up a low-fat, low-carb meal for us recently - Halibut with his HOME-GROWN cherry tomatoes and herbs. Yummmmm! (recipe at bottom)
And now for the exciting project I've been designing. A great friend of mine, Laura Contreras-Rowe, has just authored a TRULY inspiring book:Aim High: Extraordinary Stories of Hispanic & Latina Women is a compilation of mini-biographies of 33 amazing women. Women who have "aimed high" and overcome assorted obstacles to fulfill their dreams and goals. Successful, prominent women who you have heard of, or will be soon! As I read their stories, I am so inspired! The book is targeted to young Hispanic girls, but the more non-Hispanics who have read it, including several that are not so young!, the more we realize that it's an incredible tool to motivate and challenge girls of any background, race or age. This definitely needs to be on many Christmas gift lists!

Aim High is being printed as I type, and I can't wait to have the final book in my hands. It's a hardcover "coffee-table-style" book, full of colorful photos and fabulous design! Tee Hee! The author, my friend Laura, has had national press and is already setting up her book tour. I'm honored to be a part of this inspirational project.

For more information about Laura and her book, or to pre-order, you can visit here. She'll be rolling out the new site, www.aimhighbook.com any day!

AND ... you can win one here! Please leave a comment with your email address, and one lucky, random winner will receive one autographed copy of Aim High when they're available (probably right after Thanksgiving). You must have a US mailing address. Giveaway ends midnight MT Nov. 16th.

AND ... I just received something really cool from DaySpring - something else I designed that I can give away! SOOOOO, that'll be coming up shortly, too!! Stay tuned!!

Halibut en Papillote:
Wash and dry the fish fillet. Set aside. Cut a large rectangle of baking parchment and place on a cookie sheet. Put the fillet on it and top with:
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp medium-grind black pepper
- 1/8 C fresh Italian Parsley - chopped
- 1 large green onion - chopped
- 1 C sweet cherry tomatoes - cut in half
Drizzle over 1 tsp olive oil. Top with another piece parchment, folding edges together to seal and make a packet. Cook in preheated oven 400 degrees until the fish is tender (up to 18 minutes for a thick fillet).
You can also do this with individual fillets, like tilapia, making a packet for each person.

Fall Party Treats & Using Pressed Leaves

What to do with all those leaves you and your kids collected on the weekend hike? Why, press, dry and decorate, of course! I love using nature for seasonal decorating. We brought a tray of treats over to cheer up a friend the other day: Since she's a healthy, ingredient-reader kind of girl, we baked oatmeal chocolate chip muffins and decorated them with a little more melted dark chocolate -- spelling out her name with one letter on top of each muffin:
Our freshly-pressed red maple and yellow oak leaves gave our tray a festive, fun, fall feeling. :-)And, of course, my little artist decorated a rainbow-colored leaf card to go along with our treats!
Here's the recipe I used for

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins:

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 c buttermilk
1/3 cup oil/applesauce
1 t vanilla
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t soda
1 t baking powder
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
~ 6 oz chocolate chips

In one bowl mix egg, buttermilk, oil and vanilla with fork. Set aside.
In another bowl mix flour, salt, soda, baking powder, oatmeal and brown sugar by hand.
Stir liquid mixture into dry ingredients.
Mix until blended.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Fill greased muffin cups and bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins.

(Recipe adapted from my great friend Maralyn Mathias's cookbook Around the World with Annie.)