Chocolate Strawberry Cake

Sorry all for the delay. Here is a picture of my latest creation. Drum roll please... :)



Some things I would like to note about it... It was much more difficult that I expected. The strawberries started to leak juice, thus destroying the wonderful finish on this cake and I added too much strawberry filling thus creating a slight bulge in the layers. Other than that, it was great and delish!

I used the Hershey's Chocolate Cake recipe, with some alterations (my secret) and a strawberry filling. The fondant was marshmallow fondant and chocolate marshmallow fondant, both I made from scratch and the most difficult part... In hindsight, next time I would cover in a chocolate butter cream and add the fondant bow to it.

Lessons learned and overall a cute cake!

JL had helped me make the chocolate covered strawberries and since we made some extras, I created this as well!



Live, Laugh, Love & Enjoy!

Stouffer's Corner Bistro Review

As I was wandering the grocery store with JL, a rare occasion mind you, I came across an interesting new line by Stouffer's. Being in the save-money-mode for so long I have gotten really tired of Lean Cuisines so I was on the look out for something new and this was it.

I love tomato soup and I am really trying to pretend Fall is already here so what could be better than soup and a melty sandwich? Not much. Although I have had better soup in my life, this really wasn't bad, in fact, I would have it again. The melt is very much like a Hot Pocket and was pretty tasty.

I would definitely get this again for a quick and easy meal but another idea came to light... Why don't I make my own tomato bisque, incredibly cheap to make, and take Hot Pockets in place of the sandwich and spend less money? The meal costs about $4 but on sale it ran me about $3.50. Where as a serving of homemade tomato bisque would cost about $1 and the Hot Pockets are usually two for $2.50, thus totalling my yummy meal at $2.25, saving a whole $1.25 to $1.75. This may not seem like a lot but it sure can add up! Plus, I will then have tomato bisque on hand for dinner if I am too tired to cook! (Brilliance!)

Other soups I want to to try are corn chowder and chicken noodle (I have yet to try a perfected recipe for this...). Any suggestions are welcome!

Live, Laugh, Love & Enjoy!

Stouffer's Corner Bistro Web Site

First Tierd Cake

So this Friday I am going to be delivering my first tiered cake. It is for a friend's birthday party and my gift is a cake, don't act too surprised people!

Since I have yet to have an excuse for a tiered cake I think this is it! I plan on keeping it simple with two tiers.

She has requested chocolate and strawberry but left the rest to me so this is my idea...

Chocolate Devil's Food Cake with strawberry filling for the first layer (12" round). A white cake with strawberry filling for the second, since some people don't like chocolate (silly people) (8" or 9" round). The tiers will be covered in a chocolate fondant (I know Sarah but you need to try MM fondant, it's actually made with marshmallows!) with chocolate covered strawberries lining the edges and accents of red fondant decorations on the sides and top. Since I am new at fondant I am not committing to many decorations until I know it will look ok. I am a perfectionist but I think all my ceramics experience will pay off in this task...

Wish me luck and I will definitely post pictures and recipes after I am done!

Live, Laugh, Love

Fish Sticks

Who didn't have fish sticks growing up? I know that was always a staple in our freezer and then my uncle would come visit and say how horrible it was to eat fish like that and just last week he made his own fish sticks from fresh fish he brought back from Alaska the day before... you get the idea :)

My love for fish sticks was developed from my youth, regardless of what my uncles thoughts on the matter were, and I will say that even though I agree that fresh fish probably tastes better, here in SoCal, really good fresh fish is pricey. Besides that, I am not about to eat anything that comes out of our coast, they close the beach because of a sewage spill but hey, lets eat what's swimming in it! Really???

So which ones do I like? Well for starters I am not a breaded fish stick indulger. I prefer the battered kind. Why? Well breaded typically uses bread crumbs and I am not a fan of the consistency on fish, since fish is so delicate. I find the breaded are typically crunchier and if that's what you like then fabulous, I just prefer the delicate crisp-ness of the battered fish.

For brands, I really like the Van De Kamp's. They have a few options, such as beer battered or regular battered, halibut vs cod and other flavor varieties. I chose the classic but have been tempted to grab the halibut ones, I presume the fish would be firmer and that might be a good thing.

So you ask, besides Fish sticks with carrots and tater tots, a typical meal when I was young, how can one enjoy fish sticks? Well, here is a few ways you can prepare them and the ones with the star are JL approved :)

- Fish Tacos, just bake them and cut them into slices
- Fish Sandwiches*, great with cheese, lettuce, tomato, tartar sauce on a french roll
- Fish Fillets on a salad
- Fish Burrito (I know, duplicate... kind of)
- Instead of baking them, you can fry them...*
- Stuffed and then baked, just thaw them out for a few minutes first
- Served with fries* :)

As you may know, I am not a fan of the processed salad dressing so you can presume I am not a fan of jarred tarter sauce, unless I am the one making it... Here is an easy way to whip up some tarter sauce for really cheap!

Mayonnaise
Pickles (diced)
Lemon Juice (or Pickle Juice)
Pepper
Paprika
Onion Powder

Combine about 1/2 cup of mayo with a splash of lemon juice.
Add in the pickles, as much as you like.
Add in a dash of pepper & onion powder and two dashes of paprika.
Combine and taste.

As you can see this recipe is a "wing-it" sort of recipe so make sure and taste it and add the flavors you are missing. Paprika gives a bit of a sweetness where the lemon juice gives the tart-ness. I typically don't add salt to this since the pickles are usually pretty salty already but its up to you!

Live, Laugh, Love & Enjoy!

P.S. This heat is not letting me enjoy a fish stick since I can't possibly imagine turning on my oven. At 106 deg it may just cook us all, why use an oven :/

Pulled pork and lots of wine...

The other evening we had a couple of friends over for some pulled pork sandwiches and wine, lots of wine... I made some coleslaw but it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to, a little to tangy, but it was a delicious contrast to the sweet BBQ any way. I used a bit of this and a bit of that, the ingredients are listed below but not sure how much of each I added...

Shredded cabbage
Fresh lime juice
Low fat mayo
Milk
Sugar
BBQ spice rub
Salt

I mixed up the dressing and then added the cabbage. I also had the leftovers the next day and the flavors were more developed and better but I have to say the fresh crispness of the cabbage was refreshing, especially when it is way too hot...

For the pulled pork, I made that a couple days before so I could just shred it and toss it with some carmelized onions and BBQ sauce. I would highly suggest you try and get pork butt since it will be easier to shred and take less time to "fall apart". I used shoulder and needed to be cooked for a loooooonnngggggg time... (Its what was one sale...) I would also advise you to try and use a slow cooker if it is hot.

Live, Laugh, Love & Enjoy!

Say what???

Monday JL decided we needed to go to the store and get groceries for the week, in an attempt to save some money we agreed that we need to make dinner at home more often. I love the idea that he wanted to help me, took some of the weight off my shoulders! As we were wandering we had to think of meals, seven of them. I came up with a few and then he throws a curve ball at me... "What about fried chicken with mustard?" I simply replied, "Are you crazy?" I couldn't think that dipping chicken in mustard was an excellent combination but frying it, for me, seemed to just be wrong... Although I was totally aghast at this combination I decided why not? The worst case scenario I would have a can of tomato soup on standby, so I said ok.

Tuesday rolls around and I decide lets get this over with. I had planned on making a vegetable saute with the mustard chicken and thought we should use the veggies while they were still relatively fresh so Tuesday was going to be the day... (Soup was standing by.)

Funny, but it really was as simple as he explained. He took out about 8 drumsticks and covered them with mustard. While he was getting more mustard on his hands than the slimy chicken, he had about 1/2 inch of oil in a large fry pan heating up. Once the oil was hot (on medium heat), but not smoking, he lightly placed all the drumsticks in the pan and walked away... Hmm... I peered at the bright yellow chicken and thought, well I really like mustard so this may not be that bad... Plus, as JL says, "anything fried is delicious!" LOL, not sure about that, but almost everything is better when its fried... Throughout the cooking time we rotated the pieces as they browned so all the sides would be crispy. The cooking time took about 30 minutes.

The review on last night dinner? It was DELICIOUS!!! It didn't taste like mustard at all, it actually resembled the chicken from El Pollo Loco but a little more crispy, which I like better. Yes it was fried but without the breading it really wasn't that unhealthy since it didn't soak up much oil at all. The only thing I might suggest is to let your chicken marinade in the mustard for a little bit or overnight.

We did have this with a vegetable saute but next time I would just try and mimic a meal from El Pollo Loco, with fresh salsa, tortillas, a salad and some spicy pinto beans.

Live, Laugh, Love & Enjoy!

Am I really a foodie snob???

This past weekend was a busy one, so much so that I wasn't able to do my weekly grocery shopping (yes, I shop for the whole week in a day...). Yesterday I decided I just needed to figure out what to make and go to the store. This was going to be the week to start to eat healthy and I really wanted to try out some new recipes so I am upping things a notch by including things in my meals I don't normally.

So the story goes...

Yesterday I stopped by the market, not the quick small one but the one that was a little larger and I was hoping would have more selections, I was sadly disappointed. Not only did they have the same things the smaller one did, but I had to walk all over the market a few times just to find what I wanted, or find out they didn't have what I wanted. So you may ask what I was looking for? Well, I wanted more than just one variety of real Parmesan cheese, not the stuff from the container, and blue cheese. Picky I know, but it seems to me that if there isn't more than one option I am forced to buy the one brand they have and I have no choice in the matter. The one thing that threw me off was that they didn't have arborio rice for risotto. Since it isn't a rice at all there was lots of confusion on where it should be. I suppose I will need to start shopping at Henry's or Trader Joe's instead of the local market but those options are a bit farther for me.

To sum it up... As I was roaming the store from end to end multiple times I started to wonder, am I a foodie snob? Do I really need more than one option for blue cheese? Why can't I be ok with Butoni chunk Parmesan cheese? I guess I am but I figure that if I am going to eat something it had better taste good and I guess my palate is getting more refined so my cooking skills and market choice have better rise to the occasion.

After all the running around yesterday I had to go home and make dinner. JL was such a sweetie and he helped me with dinner and washed the dishes, I love him so. For dinner we had BBQ chicken drum sticks with salad. I enjoyed a strawberry blue cheese salad where JL is a traditionalist with his avocado & tomato ranch salad.

Not to go on a tangent but I have also noticed that I don't care for bottled salad dressing, SNOB I know!!! Last night I made this one and it was so yummy, I would suggest you try to whip it up if you can. It will keep for a 2-3 weeks.

Live, Laugh, Love & Enjoy!

Smore Smores'!!!

The idea of having a Smore is making my mouth water... Some fun alternatives to the tried and true traditional favorite can be fun and much less messy then the original.

Love this idea by SwEEts by e - Bite-Size Smores

Or the one done on Cupcake Wars with a graham cracker crust, chocolate cupcake filling and a whipped meringue. I'm sure you could also use a marshmallow cream whipped to add texture and a blow torch is always a fun aspect...



If you want something refreshing a Smores' Pie is always a good idea. Use a graham cracker crust, spread chocolate ice cream in the crust, freeze for a little bit to firm up the ice cream and top with either large marshmallows cut in half or the whipped marshmallow cream idea (or both...) and again, use a blow torch to give it the effect of a Smore. The only hard part for this one is that you would need to add the marshmallows at the end, before serving, otherwise they would get cold and the whole point of a Smore is the combination of textures and temperatures... Also you would need a torch but they can be found pretty inexpensively at a cooking store. You could also do it the way Amy does it by clicking here, it is an extreme version of my simplified one...

Live, Laugh, Love & Enjoy!!!

Peach-Blueberry Cobbler

Sorry it has been a while since I have posted a recipe on the blog but here is a great one for a quick but delicious dessert. What wouldn't be delicious with a whole stick of butter in it?

Sorry about the image quality, iphone...


Cobbler (you can add the fruit you want to)
Derived from Pioneer Woman Berry Cobbler recipe
1 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/4 C sugar
1/2 C unslated butter (1 stick), melted
1 C milk (I used 1% and it worked well so any kind will be ok)
2 1/2 C fruit cubed (or whole berries)
Bit of sugar

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Combine dry ingredients and mix
- Add milk and combine
- Add in butter and mix
- Pour into greased dish, either 10" round or other type you have on hand
- Spread fruit over batter
- Sprinkle with sugar
- Bake for 60 to 75 minutes (depending on pan)

For the one I made I added a sprinkle of nutmeg to the batter and used brown sugar to top it instead of white. You can get creative and use apples (soften them first) and add cinnamon to batter and sprinkle with brown sugar or torbindo (sp?) sugar... Let your imagination flow, you can't mess this one up!

JL's Reaction: For not being a sweets guy he liked it, it isn't too sweet since the tartness of the fruit balances it out.

Live, Laugh, Love & Enjoy!

We have been busy!

So it has been almost three weeks since my last post and I feel like I have majorly been lagging on the posting... Since my last post I mentioned making a lot of baked goods and I have been continuing on that path since.

Things I have made lately include:
Strawberry Puff Cake
Apricot Jam
Lemon Poppyseed cake with Vanilla Buttercream
Chocolate Chip Cookies

Next on my list:
Chocoalate cake with a Cookies N Cream filling and with this one I am going to try my hand at fondont. I will be amking my own marshmallow fondont which I am told tastes much better than the traditional kind that most bakeries use, so wish me luck :)

Count down 'till the B-Day: 15 days

Live, Laugh, Love!

BTW if anyone wants a recipe for these things just post on the blog and I will add it for you! Sadly today I forgot my baking journal so all the recipes are at home :(