Halloween 2011!

There were some especially great costumes this year!

We had ties in both 2nd and 3rd place.

Congratulations "Red Solos Cups" for winning first place!!!

  

So we had Dorothy and the Scarecrow...

Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera...

Which couple is the real one?!

Boy Wonder!

 A missionary...   ; )

Kelly Kapowski, from Saved By The Bell...

Zach and his huge cell phone were also at the party  : )

The Farmer and his Wife.

A baker...

Starbucks employee and customer...

And games!

Every year my dad ends up around the "Left, Right, Center" table with messy hair, half a costume, and a really dirty face!

The Big Winner!

Here's to another year of great memories!!!

This is a new favorite recipe that we had at the party. I didn't bake it as long as the recipe instructed so that it would be a little chewy. I also bought kettle corn at Sprouts to start. It is basically covered in butter and sugar, how could you go wrong?!

Caramel Corn Recipe - ( Paula Deen, no wonder there is so much butter in it! )

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Over medium heat, combine first 4 ingredients and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda. Stir well. Pour over 8 quarts popped corn. Stir to coat well. Bake in large roaster or pan for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper to dry.

For the Love Birds.

This is a wedding cake I recently made.

I have been loving the little birds atop cakes!

'Til next time!

Pizza Pizza!

This pizza has peaches, basil, a really good ricotta, mozzarella and prosciutto!

 I used premade dough this time, and like to brush the crust with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt before baking.

Excellent with a glass of wine!

And this is Malaysian Chicken Pizza.

It is Dom and I's favorite and it is good!!!

The recipe is from Cooking Light. For an easy weeknight dinner it is perfect! If I buy premade pizza dough, and a hot rotisserie chicken from the store, the only thing left to make is the sauce.

I love it!

I hope you're able to fit a little bit of this into your busy weekend!

Malaysian Chicken Pizza- Cooking Light

3/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

Cooking spray

1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat, reduced-sodium Swiss cheese (such as Alpine Lace)

1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1 Basic Pizza Crust 

1/4 cup chopped green onions

Preheat oven to 500°.

Combine first 8 ingredients in a bowl; stir well with a whisk.

( This is where I use the rotisserie chicken instead. ) Heat a nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add chicken, and sauté 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan.

Pour rice vinegar mixture into pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook mixture 6 minutes or until slightly thickened. Return chicken to pan; cook 1 minute or until chicken is done. (Mixture will be consistency of thick syrup.)

Sprinkle cheeses over prepared crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border, and top with chicken mixture. Bake at 500° for 12 minutes on bottom rack in oven. Sprinkle with green onions. Place pizza on a cutting board; let stand 5 minutes.

An Old Favorite, A New Mug, And a First!

This breakfast was inspired by one of our favorite places in Phoenix, The Farm at South Mountain.

It is such a special place, with pecan groves and fabulous restaurants that use their own freshly grown ingredients. Just thinking about it makes me anxious for summer to end so we can go!



I could eat this every morning!

French toast with a crusty french bread... carmelized bananas with brandy... vanilla-cinnamon syrup with toasted pecans... and whipped cream!

And this is my new favorite mug. When I saw it in Starbucks it said, "I'm super cool." So I bought it, cuz that's what you do when you come across a talking mug!

And the First...

Trip to the lake for Will!

The first of many to come.

He kind of resembles Sponge Bob on his lifevest.    ; )

Happy Summer!

For the how-to on the french toast refer to the Go Nuts with French Toast! post from August 2009.

Enjoy!!!

Red, White, and Blueberry Pancakes!

This delicious pancake recipe is from Martha Stewart Living.
It uses part flour and part cornmeal and it is goooood.

July is one of my favorite issues of the year.

 The recipe wasn't in this month's, but I wanted to include it because it's so beautiful!



Here are the pancakes fresh off the griddle, with warm juicy blueberries.

First I spread orange honey butter on them, using orange juice that has been reduced until it is thickened.

And then top them off with whipped cream, berries, and cinnamon maple syrup with pecans.

Happy 4th of July!!!

 

 

Blueberry-Cornmeal Pancakes - Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients-

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for griddle
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 cups (1 pint) blueberries

Directions-
1.Whisk together flour, cornmeal, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, milk, butter, and egg. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).

2.Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Heat a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Toss blueberries with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Brush griddle with melted butter. Spoon batter onto griddle 1/3 cup at a time. Sprinkle with sugared blueberries, about 2 tablespoons per pancake. Cook until edges are set, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip, and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter and blueberries, adding more butter to griddle and keeping prepared pancakes warm on a baking sheet in the oven.

Orange-Honey Butter- Bobby Flay
3 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
2 sticks butter, slightly softened
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch salt

Place orange juice in a small non-reactive saucepan over high heat and reduce to 3 tablespoons. Place butter in a bowl and add the orange syrup, honey, and salt; mix until combined. Scoop into a large ramekin, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Crepe Crazy and the Kid Cave!

Look out! This is one of the best desserts ever!!!

I had a dessert similar to this one at a restaurant and have never forgotten it. They used puffed up pizza dough baked in a brick oven, incredible!

It is warm crepes with nutella, carmelized bananas with brandy, vanilla ice cream, and almonds.

Sometimes only the Best will do!

I'm not even a banana person, but these absolutely make the dish!

A few days earlier we had crepes filled with warm sweet cream cheese topped with fresh strawberries and blackberries soaked in a bit of sugar.

And a few days before that... we had crepes with melted dark chocolate chips, cream cheese and fresh blackberry sauce.

To make the blackberry sauce, mash them through a sieve, add sugar, and reduce over the stove until thickened slightly.

Oh Crepes... I've never met one I didn't like!

And this is the kid cave!

We decided to make the kids there own little space in the closet under the stairs.
We prepared it secretly and sent them on a scavenger hunt to find it.

 Of all the kids, Will thinks it's the most magical : )

Poor guy, his work is never done.

What's a cave without a bear?!

( He was a Costco steal. I couldn't stop laughing as I was by myself pushing the shopping cart with his huge arms hanging out the sides. )

Also among the amenities is a  Hi-Tech Quaker Oats Messaging System.

Dom humored me and let me screw two giant eye hooks into the wall for their pulley system : )



It's been so much fun.

'Til next time!!!

For the crepe recipe that I like to use, refer to the post Dessert for Breakfast Any Day, June 2009.