I made this yesterday for a class party at Andy’s school and it was a hit.  SO yummy.  I think it’s even better today than it was warm yesterday!  It’s easy and tastes as good as it looks!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, softened

Directions

The batter is REALLY thick so don’t be surprised when you can’t pour it into the pan.  You will have to scoop it in and spread it around.

Have a great day!

-t

{Picture Perfect} Class Info and Registration

And, just because I have a hard time posting without a picture, I thought I’d share one of our favorite recipes.  If you don’t have Tyler’s Ultimate Cookbook, I HIGHLY recommend it.  I make more stuff out of that book than probably any other and my kids scarf it down!!  Here’s one of our favorites that I made last night…bon apetite!

Tyler’s Ultimate Rustic Rigatoni, Sausage and Eggplant (we don’t like eggplant so I omit it!)

Ingredients

• Kosher Salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 links fennel pork sausage (about 3/4 pound)
• 1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 large can (28 ounces) peeled whole tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
• Leaves from 1 small bunch basil
• 1 pound rigatoni
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions

Yum!!  Have a great day!
-t

Recipe:

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, saute the chicken in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and mix well. Then add the broth, corn, onion, chili powder, lemon juice and salsa. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Break up some tortilla chips into individual bowls and pour soup over chips. Top with the Monterey Jack cheese.

I serve mine with quesadillas too.  A little twist on the tomato soup and grilled cheese.   The kids gobble this stuff up! 

You can have this at you house tonight in about 30 minutes…so easy and SO good!!

Enjoy!!
-t

A friend made this for me a few years back after I had Ash and it has been a favorite in our house ever since.  The kids like to call it “fancy mac and cheese” since it isn’t orange and doesn’t come out of a box.  Even better, it’s super easy and FAST!

12 oz Wide Egg Noodles

3 C Whipping Cream

1 1/2 C Whole Milk

2T Flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper (i use white pepper so it doesn’t ruin the look of the white mac)

2 C grated, packed Fontina Cheese

3/4 C grated paremsan

3/4 C grated mozarella

**optional add green peas**

**My tweaks..I TRY to make this a little healthier by making these adjustments:

instead of 3 C of heavy cream I use 3C of fat free milk

instead of 1 1/2 C of whole milk I use 1 1/2 cups half and half 

i haven’t noticed that switching the ingredients and amounts really makes much of a difference except that it cuts the calories and fat WAY down.

Cook noodles in Salted water until tender but firm..abou 5-6 minutes.  Drain.  Do not rinse.  Whisk cream, milk, flour, salt, pepper in a bowl.  Add 1C of Fontina, 1/2 C parmesan, 1/2 C mozarella.  Add noodles and stir.  Transfer all to a baking dish.  Toss remaining noodles and spread oer top of noodles.  Bake until bubbles and cheese browns (about 20-25 minutes) at 450 degrees.

Let stand 10 minutes and enjoy!!

Also, I’m a little late on this…but Congrats to Kristin…winner of the Shabby La Rose giveaway.  Email me your address and info by Friday morning to claim your prize…otherwise another winner will be chosen!!

Have a great day!
-t

I thought I’d share it now since it was finally a little cool and overcast today…a good soup making day!   It also makes a fun halloween dinner.  Simply add some fresh mozarella balls (and if you want to get REALLY creative, hollow out the mozarella balls and add a slice of green olive with pimento) then call it eyeball soup.  Serve it with a side of grilled cheese SAND WITCHES and you’re all set!   A big loaf of crusty italian bread cut in thick slices makes for the best sandwiches!!

I’ve had several requests for the recipe so without any further ado…

 4 TBS Olive Oil

3 Lbs Mini Carrots

2 Large Onions, chopped

2 28oz Cans of Whole Peeled Tomatoes

32oz of Chicken Stock

2 TBS dried Basil

1 Cup Heavy Cream

In a large stockpot sautee the olive oil, carrots and onions at medium heat.

Add the basil, salt, pepper and tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 minutes.

Puree the soup with a hand blender while adding the cream.

Easy enough, eh?

Enjoy!   Have a great day!

-t

How cute is that armchair simply covered with a sheet with some felt eyes and a mouth attached??  I LOVE no sew projects that use things you alreadyhave around the house ina creative way!!  And the best part is there is nothing extra to store once it’s over!  Just put the sheet back in the linen closet and throw the felt peices away…**Idea**…how cute would it be to actually MAKE some sheets like this though and put them on your kids bed!!  So easy to make a mouth and some eyes and stitch them on.  The kids would LOVE it!

I love these treat cones for any holiday…here is a cute halloween version from Country Living Mag.

YOU WILL NEED
-11″ x 14″ card stock
-1 yard each cream and black bookbinding or construction paper
-1 yard each assorted ribbons
-spray glue
-1/4″ hole punch
-stapler
-scissors and pinking shears

Cut 10″ squares of card stock and black and cream Japanese bookbinding paper (source: talasonline.com) or construction paper. Adhere the black paper to the card stock with spray glue. Wind black square into a cone and staple closed. Cut across top to even out the opening.

I LOVE these little frankenstiens and the mummy cupcakes.  The best part is you DON’T have to be a cake decorating genius to do it!  That is NOT one of my talents!!  

Witch-on-a-stick how to:

1. Cut off the tops of pretzel rods and set aside.
2. Melt one cup of white chocolate chips, 1 Tbs shortening and a few drops of green gel food coloring and stir until smooth.
3. Dip the cut end of the pretzels into the chocolate, covering the top 2 inches. Place the sticks on wax paper and sprinkles the sides of each with coconut  flakes to form hair.
4. Top each with a Hershey’s Kiss and refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened. Draw on eyes, nose and mouth with black decorating icing (available in tubes) and fisih by covering the Kiss too with black or purple. Yum!

Frankentreats:

1. Start wtih a packaged (or homemade) Rice Krispies Treat, and push each one into a wooken skewer; set aside.
2. Melt one cup of white-chocolate chips and one Tbs shortening; stir in green or neon-green gel food coloring (colored melting chocolate is available at most craft stores).
3. Spoon melted chocolate over all sides of the treats or brush them with a silicone brush then place them on wax paper, upright, to dry.
4. Embellish them with M&M eyes and ears, gummy worm mouths, Jujubes neck bolts and then refrigerate them until the chocolate hardens.
5. Top them off by drawing on hair with black icing and doting the eyes.
6. Finally remove the skewers and serve!

Mummy Cupcakes:

      1. Bake regular old cupcakes out of a box…homemade if you wish, but I’m trying to make it easy folks!!

      2. Dot icing on backs of 2 skittles for eyes and place on cupcake.

      3. use a decorating tip that will give you straight flat lines (available at michaels for about $1, make sure you get a coupler too, also about $1) make straightlines of icing all over the cupcake, overlapping them and just letting the skittles peek out of the “wrapping.”  Eat and enjoy!

And finally one of my favorites…

 Sorry for the fuzzy pictures…I found this on the internet and the picture quality is TERRIBLE!!   I LOVE white pumpkins!!  Unfortunately they are usually the most expensive…so why not paint a few??   A cheap bottle of white acrylic paint and you’ve got yourself a great set of white pumpkins!!  Take them a step further and once the white paint dries, have a little fun with some black paint.  I LOVE the spiderweb and zebra stripe idea!!   And you know I’m loving the polka dots…I LOVE anything with polka dots!!

Hope those ideas help to bring a little extra fun to your holiday!

Have a great day!
-t

pretty simple.  some apples sliced into discs, a little peanut butter, dried cranberries or raisins for a topping and coconut for cheese (i used the pre-shredded this time because I was too lazy to shred my own fresh coconut…so not quite as healthy!)

she gobbled up a whole apple in no time. 

and she had fun doing it!!

another idea I thought was cute that I found in case you are hunting for back to school snacks…

yogurt sundaes (plain yogurt flavored with honey topped with chopped fruit and granola)

have a great day!

-t

It was a matinee so we stopped for a quick bite in downtown SD beforehand at one of our favorite spots Extraordinary Desserts.  Usually we visit the Banker’s Hill/Balboa Park location which serves only dessert, but we decided to hit the Little Italy location this time which has a savory menu as well.   I ordered the Serrano Ham Panini with buffalo Mozarella, balsamic onions and a red plum conserve.  It also came with a small pilaf salad as well.  John had the salmon panini and we both ordered their specialty drinks.  Mine was a passionfruit with simple syrup and sparkling water, and his was a Kiwi concoction which they say is their specialty.  The food was beautiful…

but unfortunately looks can’t make up for taste.  It was supe tough and didn’t taste all that great.  About the only thing I would order again is the kiwi drink…that was good.

But, who really cares about the food all that much when you’re going to a place called extraordinary desserts anyways, am I right??   This is where they really shine.  You know you’re in for a  calorie filled experience when you arrive and this is the first thing you are greeted with…

Seriously the most beautiful desserts I have ever seen…mounds of cakes, cheesecakes, tortes, fruit cobblers, brownies, cupcakes, napoleons, you name it they have it and it is covered in gold leaf and edible flowers.  Truly an experience to eat something so beautiful. 

Our selections were :

Toasted Macadamia Caramel Cheesecake

Unlike anything you’ve ever tasted! A rich and creamy cheesecake with a macadamia shortbread cookies crust is covered with homemade caramel and topped with a thick layer of whipped cream.

and my personal favorite…

Dulce de Leche

A crunchy milk chocolate confection is hidden between layers of chocolate cake and creamy chocolate mousse. Homemade dulce de leche finishes this over the top chocolate torte.

Yes, this one is good enough it needed two pictures!! ;0  So, if you’re in the San Diego area and looking for a place to stop for something sweet then this is the place.  Just a warning, on the weekends they are open late to accomodate late night snackers and we have been known to stand in line for as long as 45 minutes to get a seat.  (at least at the banker’s hill location)They don’t take reservations and the dessert menu changes daily so your favorite might not always be there…but I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding a new favorite!    Prices range between 8-10 dollars on average per dessert but the portions are VERY generous and you can definitely share. 

I like to serve mine in these cute little mason jars.  It gives it a fun homespun look.  Add a few frozen raspberries in (I like to freeze mine so that they help keep the drink cold and keep their shape a little longer) a few basil leaves…yes, basil and lemonade do make a AWESOME combination, and one of these fun little sticks…

They add a fun touch to your drink and taste great too!!  You can find them at one of my favorite places to order old fashioned candies… Hammonds Candies.  Or, if you’re lucky like I was the other day, you can find them at HG in the gourmet foods aisle.  I know they say “iced tea sippers” but you can use them for anything!!

Here’s the recipe for killer lemonade:

1 1/2 C  Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

8 Cups Water

1 3/4 C White Sugar (you may want to tweak this to fit your preference for a sweeter or more tart flavor)

Stir 2 cups of the water and the sugar together in a microwaveable bowl/dish.  Microwave on high for a minute or so to get them to form a syrup.  Combine syrup in a pitcher with the rest of the water and the lemon juice.  Mix together and chill.  Serve over ice.

Just for fun, here’s a tip for serving this at a party.  This works well if you’re serving in the mason jars…

**you may have noticed the blue scrap of fabric tied around the mouth of the mason jar.  It not only added a fun splash of color to the drink, but it serves a useful purpose too!  When you have neighbors or guests over for a BBQ, serve your lemonade in the mason jars and use leftover fabric scraps in assorted colors to tie around each jar.  It will help guests identify which glass is theirs!**

Have a great day!

-t

I am in the mood for salads lately.  Whenever summer rolls around that’s pretty much all I feel like cooking and eating.  Probably because they’re cool and there is minimal cooking involved!  

Do you have a favorite salad recipe???  I would LOVE to have it.  And maybe I’ll even share it here if it’s ok with you???  Email me or leave it in the comments so I can give it a try!

Here’s one I’m anxious to try, courtesy of Country Living Mag…

1 tablespoon(s)	unsalted butter
2	Anjou pears, each cored and cut into 12 slices
1 tablespoon(s)	Dijon mustard
1/4 cup(s)	fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon(s)	maple syrup
1/4 cup(s)	olive oil, extra-virgin
1/2 teaspoon(s)	salt
1/8 teaspoon(s)	fresh-ground pepper
6 ounce(s)	arugula
1 head(s)	head romaine lettuce, washed, trimmed, and cut
1 ounce(s)	(about 1/3 cup) domestic blue cheese, such as Black River Blue, crumbled
1/2	chopped pecans
1	small red onion, thinly sliced

1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add the pear slices and cook until the pears are golden but still slightly firm to the touch — about 6 minutes. Set aside.
2. Combine the mustard, lemon juice, and maple syrup in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Season with the salt and pepper.
3. Toss the arugula, romaine, blue cheese, pecans, onion, and prepared pears together with the dressing in a large bowl. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!!  Have a great day!
-t