Eat Me

Ok, so if up until this point you haven't been swayed into buying This book. I think this latest creation might push you over the edge.

Ice Cream Sandwich....YUM....

These things are so easy to make  it's kind of silly that I have had this book for over a year and I haven't gotten around to it yet. 

But that being said, they were a hit and I will be making another batch before the big move in a few short weeks.

I also want to try the watermelon Popsicles and Peach ice cream too.

So many options in this book..

But....

 Don't these just scream EAT ME?!?!

 

Cooling down....

This dreaded heat has not only caused me to shut myself inside to keep cool. It has also got my mouth watering for those yummy homemade ice cream recipes from The Perfect Scoop again. So I dusted it off and scanned through the tons of recipes looking for one that I could make without running to the store. And I found one!!!

Pina Colada Sorbet......

It's so good and so simple to make, and you can't beat that fresh flavor!

So of course we haven't even finished this up and I am already chilling my next batch..

Cheesecake Ice Cream..

I can't recommend this book enough, It really is great and if you don't believe me

well then you can just drool over my photos until you cave. :)

Let's go Dutch Baby

I can't believe I haven't made one of these in over a year. I remedied that and made them twice in one week. Had to make a few this morning to share with my dad who came out to watch the kids play softball/baseball this weekend. He had never had one and he gobbled it right up, which puts a huge smile on my face cause my dad tends to lean on the picky side of things.  YAY ME!!

I can't decide what I enjoy more, the taste or the show??? It's hard to resist peeking in the oven to

watch these things puff up in crazy formations, but if I really had to pick it's most definitely the taste..

I top them with the traditional lemon squeeze and powdered sugar...Simply yummy

If you haven't tried one yet..you must! The whole experience is simply

marvelous...

And if you need a pretty decent recipe this is the one that I used..

                                                                     Dutch Baby

Craving Chocolate?

I made these....

                                                             Saucepan Fudge Drops

                                                             1 cup all-purpose flour

                                                            1/4 teaspoon baking soda

                                                                1/8 teaspoon salt

                                                         5 tablespoons unsalted butter

                                                  1/3 cup  unsweetened cocoa powder

                                                          1/2 cup granulated sugar

                                              1/3 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed

                                                       1/3 cup buttermilk or yogurt

                                                         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Preheat oven to 350 F and place racks in the upper and lower
thirds of the oven.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment
paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl, and
set aside.  Place the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and melt. 
Once the butter is melted and sizzling, remove from heat and whisk in cocoa
until smooth.  Add both sugars and stir until blended - the mixture will be
stiff and sandy at this point. Stir in yogurt or buttermilk and vanilla.  Add the dry
ingredients and stir gently until just combined. Scoop rounded tablespoons of
dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake the
cookies until they look dry on top and are cracked all over, but are still
slightly soft when pressed, about 10-12 minutes. Rotate baking sheets from top
to bottom and front to back about half way through to ensure even baking.  Slide
the parchment, cookies and all onto racks to cool.

Via

Sharemykitchen

Apparently from this  

Book

That I must get my hands on.

Seriously quick to make and the texture is insane.

Crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.

Not something you get often with thin cookies like this.

Only problem is they are all gone now.

The kids loved them too...

The whole darn rainbow....

Yep the whole nine yards today. And I claim these the coolest cookies ever, at least that I have made anyways..

Me and the kids had a blast being creative with these.

I made them and some chocolate covered pretzels for a bake sale tomorrow.

Figured I would go the route of "eye catcher" . Gotta have something at that table that

gets you looking at all the yummy goodness.. 

Job well done right?? I mean who can pass these up??

The kids have already started begging me to make more.

I even attempted and failed to save a few for the hubby.

Shay kept asking me for more and when I said there was none he knew just

where I hid the few extra for dad.

And of course he told me I could just make more. Dangit, hate when the little people

out smart me...

I think next time I will let the kids have full reign of the creativity and see

what comes of it.

Because no matter what, these things hit the spot!!!

If you want to bake some fun...

I found the recipe

                                                                           Here

buzzing along.....

I have been busy making and baking, with every intention to share here but with the added effort of keeping the closest eye on my teens I haven't been online much this week.

Not to mention the few times I have been online trying to comment on others blog posts my stupid Internet browser isn't letting me and I don't have the patience to figure it out so I get frustrated and sign off.

We are currently on Spring Break in this household and of course it falls right on Scott's rotation part of the month so it's just me and the kids hanging out with the occasional night visit from the Soldier.

I have hid the cable box and only allowed small amounts of time online for both the kids and I and wouldn't you know things are going pretty good.

The house is staying cleaner then normal and we have been very active with several visits to the park and even a few hours at the pool today...

We've  made

Pizza

And

Pretzel bites

Among other things, like waffles, cheesecake and

sugar donut muffins yum...

Of course I have been making crafty things too...

These hats for a friends little one..

And slowly working on this little cable hat for Sophie, just cause I thought it was cute of course..

Sometimes to regain a little order you have to slow it down and get back to basics..

Taking that extra bit of time to remember how blessed you are and how fast time will fly by when you are to busy whining about the little things...

With that said, I'm sending up a big prayer for Japan and those affected by the quake.

As a California native I know earthquakes well, but I could never imagine having to deal with such widespread damage and chaos.

Just kind of kicks you in the face, that tomorrow isn't guaranteed so soak up every minute..



Hungry.....

Now that I am slowly getting my appetite back after this horrible week of sickness. I am having all sorts of cravings for home baked goods. And when that happens I always find myself  popping over to 

Smitten Kitchen

 to see what I can find....Something quick and yummy but still a little healthy

I found these 3 pears laying around and wouldn't you know she has a recipe for that..

Pear Bread

It was quick, it was easy, and I even baked them in my new mini loaf and bundt pans to speed up the process. And all I have to say is YUM..

You know you want some....

Cookies and Coasters

Due to the whole "trying to lose weight" thing. I have not been doing much baking lately. Of course I can only hold out for so long. So I made some toffee crackle cookies because they are too good to pass up.

Try them out......

Toffee Crackle Cookies

prep: 25 minutes Bake: 20 minutes per batch Oven: 300〫

1 Cup Butter, softened

1 Cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cup AP flour

1 cup chocolate covered toffee pieces

granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 300〫. In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 minutes. Add brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla 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 toffee pieces.

Shape dough into 1 1/4" balls. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Dip bottom of a glass into granulated sugar and flatten each ball to about 1/4" thickness.

Bake about 20 minutes or until edges are firm but not brown. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

 

 

 

 

So clearly as a distraction to keep my hands busy so that I did not eat them all before the kids came home from school I decided to crochet up some more coasters.

I love this pattern I found awhile back on ravelry.

Shell Coasters

This is my second time making them and no doubt will not be my last.

Really is a sweet pattern..

 

I have a new stash of cotton itching to be used so I am off to make a potholder or two.

Hope you are having a lovely day!!!

Yum for the tum tum...

Don't you just love it when you have an idea or desire and you voice it to others in random chatting. Only to hear a few weeks or so later they suddenly have the same idea. I am sure it probably not a conscious thing most of the time but that can drive me crazy. Especially when it's your own mother doing it. ha ha..

So the other day I was talking to her on the phone and she brought up how she wanted to make a pumpkin roll and it looked so good etc. Well I of course had brought this to her attention around Thanksgiving and wanted to make it for our Christmas Eve dinner but never got the chance.

After talking with her about it I had to bake one up and fast, can't have mom beat me to it.Thank goodness for those extra cans of pumpkin laying around the pantry. This was super quick and easy to make and not to mention insanely yummy....

Alexis said it looked weird and kept asking what it was, then after I told her she begged for a piece. Which was fine by me because we all know by this time what that means. She's my photo prop, totally think it's a fair trade. She does too of course.

If you still need a bit more pumpkin in your life and want to bake one of these bad boys up, I used THIS recipe and it was perfect...I took the easy way out and used a few of those silicone baking sheets to bake it on and roll it in. No sticking and easy clean up works for me...

Never not Moving

As expected for this time of year life has been super busy. Scott has just left for a 10 day trip in the field, in which the Commander made sure us wives knew at a recent meeting that they would not be coming home for a random shower or  dinner etc and no cell phones are allowed this trip either. So yeah I am a little bummed, but in a way it's a relief knowing if I go to the store or head into town I wouldn't take the chance of  missing him if he were to get a small break. So I can kind of keep myself busy and whiz through this rotation, goodness knows I have plenty to do.

I did knit him a quick neck warmer last night since he kept hinting at how cold it was going to be out there, sleeping in tents on the cold hard ground....Nothing super fancy but enough to keep his face and ears warm when he is trying to not freeze in his sleep.

We did have a great Thanksgiving break though. Lot's of food and wonderful company.

Sophie had her first Turkey dinner..

Shay ate a little food and lots of pie

There was Chaos in the kitchen...

(absolutely love my sisters expression, so totally how I felt too..)

And of course Daddy and Sophie snuck away for a nap amongst it all.

And to close the night we had one of my soon becoming infamous Cheesecakes, to celebrate my Grandfathers 82nd birthday

My mom even called to let me know he wanted to order 2 for Christmas

with the comment that they were the best he has ever had.

Now that's one heck of a compliment...

Happy Birthday Grandpa

I Love You

My Creative Space...

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.....

That little tree was a silly product of a dream I had the other night. Who knows why the heck I was dreaming about it but it has potential. This really doesn't do it justice but it will have to work as my inspiration for the time being at least until I can find the time to work on it more..

So on to a finished project....

Little fingerless gloves, made for Sophie but she refuses to keep them on so thankfully they fit Shay too.

Gotta love that rib.

Raveled

I have also made 5 more cheesecakes this week on top of the previous 2 that I talked about before.

I enjoy making them but it can be pretty stressful when you are baking them for other people. The crack factor freaks me out a bit. But I think I am getting the hang of it. I am sure a will be getting a ton more orders as Christmas gets closer so that should be fun...

Well we are off to my mom's in San Diego for Thanksgiving and will probably head up the coast to spend the rest of the weekend with my sister so it will be a nice Holiday weekend for us.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Happy Thanksgiving for those who celebrate :)

Don't forget to visit Kirsty :)

Cheesecake Envy

The hubby came home with another cheesecake order the other day. One of the guys saw a picture of a cheesecake in a magazine, ripped it out and passed it along to Scott to ask if I could make it for him.

I was told he actually pondered making it himself and although Scott talked him out of it. Something (maybe a little evil) in me would LOVE to see him try. I mean, the poor guy had no clue what a spring form pan was. And what single soldier has a mixer handy? I guess I could be wrong but I can't help but chuckle just thinking about him trying to hand mix the whole thing. You can't tell me that wouldn't be just a little hilarious to watch.

So yeah I went ahead and made it for him, and wouldn't ya know Scott the lover of Cheesecake decided I had to make two, one for him of course.  Apparently since I had never made this particular cheesecake before he had to taste test it before handing it over. Uh huh...

So yesterday I made two Layered Turtle Cheesecakes 

(link has a picture of the real deal, I don't think I did to bad)

I often wonder if my hubby knows just how spoiled he is.

Makin' Whoopie....

Pies that is.......

Seriously you need to make these if you are even the slightest kind of pumpkin lover. I made them last night after the kids were in bed and I was afraid I might eat them all before morning.

So just make sure you are not solo when these come out of the oven.

Just a warning :)

 

I used 2 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice instead of the separate spices and 3/4 cup oil + 1/4 cup heavy cream in place of the full cup of oil.

From: Martha Stewart

FOR THE PUMPKIN WHOOPIE COOKIES

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon ground cloves

2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

FOR THE CREAM-CHEESE FILLING

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1.Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.

2.In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

3.Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.

4.Make the filling: Sift confectioner' sugar into a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla, beat just until smooth. (Filling can be made up to a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate; let stand at room temperature to soften before using.)

5.Assemble the whoopie pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end. When cookies have cooled completely, pipe a large dollop of filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate cookies at least 30 minutes before serving and up to 3 days.

.

Fluffy goodness...

If you watch any Alton Brown shows you might have seen these already.

You can find the recipe HERE.  They really aren't that hard to make but be prepared for a mess.

And super sticky fingers, the cornstartch/powdered sugar  combo do wonders to help with that though.

 There are tons of different takes on homemade marshmallows in blog land. I thought I would start with the basics first and then go from there.

 Excited to try a different version soon.

Til then I am thinking about making THESE.

But I am pretty sure the kids would love THIS idea a bit more.

And oh yes, rocky road ice cream would be perfect too.

The possibilities...

My Creative Space

As usual you can find several different projects going on over here at my house this week.

This open work shawl/scarf will be finished soon and then I will have another excuse to have a photo session with my 12yr old ..

And happily after a few failed attempts (explained here) at sending out my postcard for the great big postcard swap and recently hearing that my swap partner had returned home after a getaway and there was nothing waiting for her. I made up yet another postcard, this one is different then the first two, maybe that other design was cursed or something.All I know is I double checked with the postman that it would go to the right address before I let it slip out of my hands. So hopefully 3rd time is truly a charm.

Oh and I finally made something that I have been itching to do for awhile now.

Homemade marshmallows!!!

They are still "setting" so I will for sure post more pics and info tomorrow.

These of course are the projects I had time to photograph so keep an eye out for more. Hoping to have a giveaway and tutorial posted for the trivet fancy within the next few days as well. So pop back in if you are interested in making one or winning one.

I think Kirsty is on break but I had to play anyways cause I am addicted :)

Dip me in happy....

Although I sadly ran out of yarn to finish my Milo and will have to wait for the postman to bring me more.

 It was a good weekend..

A good weekend indeed...

 Started playing around with this crochet thread. Cheery

 Snuck in an afternoon nap with the little one. Dreamy

Baked a few things...

Banana and Apple bread...Yummy

The little one wore shoes for the first time and rocked the 80's style. Groovy

And of course quite a lot of fun was had at the park...

Sweaty

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too...