My birthday was earlier this week. Megan has been taking a Culinary class in high school this year and decided she was cooking dinner on my birthday. She was sneaky! She gave Emily a list of ingredients she needed and Emily went to shopping without me. I was banned from the fridge for the day.
That evening, I was banned from the kitchen while Megan did all the cooking. Emily was at work, so Heather and I watched a movie while Megan cooked.
Here is the finished product:
Pan-seared, caramelized chicken with a cream sauce
Homemade vinaigrette dressing over greens
I made garlic bread
Dinner was delicious! I think she should cook more often.
Emily's boss is one of the guys in my program at school. She came home from work and had this picture of the district manager and her store manager.
He has a shirt, hat, and other Cookie Monster things.
While we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma K we decided to make Sesame Street cupcakes.
DJ was SO excited!
We didn't have the white chocolate wafers so we used marshmallows for the eyes.
It was SO hot and humid that the frosting kept melting. We would decorate one cupcake and put it in the fridge. It didn't help. The poor things looked like a sci-fi toxic meltdown! Their faces kept sliding onto the cookie sheet.
Lily didn't care. She ate a cookie monster cupcake anyway.
Look at the BLUE tongue!
Megan made cookies with Grandma, too.
She gave this "zombie cookie" to Uncle Devon in honor of his Walking Dead obsession.
Heather and Megan are going to church girls camp in June. To help each girl raise money their youth group hosted a spaghetti dinner and dessert auction. The money raised by the spaghetti dinner was divided evenly between all the girls; however, the money from the dessert auction was applied to whichever girl brought the item.
My girls spent the morning at Grandma's house baking. Then we came home and did some more baking at our house. It was SO MUCH FUN! Their dad loves pecan pie but Grandma only makes it at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The girls wanted to learn how to make it for dad and practiced by making two for the dessert auction. Grandma was kind enough to have them make a third one for Dad. He was appropriately excited!
We also made triple chocolate brownies, no bake cookies (Papa's favorite!), lemony lemon brownies (Heather wanted to try this new recipe), and Cookie Monster cupcakes. Everyone was very generous and the girls earned all the money they needed for camp. Megan was excited because the highest selling item was her Cookie Monster cupcakes. She said next year she will make a whole bunch!
Megan made chocolate cupcakes. The eyes are white chocolate melts and chocolate chips glued on with white frosting. We bought a small bag of mini chocolate chip cookies and made blue frosting. I piped the frosting onto the cupcakes and Megan added the cookies and eyes. We used a special frosting tip -- Wilton 233. The frosting took a while, but Megan was patient and SO excited about how cute they turned out.
We recently attended an activity for the young women at church. After the meeting we were served the above rainbow cupcakes topped with whipped cream. Aren't they festive?
I found out the leaders used a recipe from Family Fun magazine. I thought I'd share the instructions in case anyone else wants to try them.
After making chocolate chip cookies with Grandma last week, Megan has become a baking expert. When I made cookies yesterday she insisted that I had to add half white flour and half whole wheat flour "like Grandma does."
The girls raved on and on about how much better the cookies tasted. They also felt that since the cookies were "healthier" they should be able to eat more of them.
The last time I baked cookies using whole wheat flour they complained that the cookies tasted "weird". It is amazing how adding Grandma's stamp of approval for the same ingredient suddenly makes it okay.
I can't wait to be a Grandma and wield that kind of power!
Every great speech starts with a "hook". This was mine.
I gave a speech this week on the origin of cookies, how cookies arrived in the United States, and some history about American-made cookies. I thought I'd share some of my research with you.
- Cookies are thought to have originated in Persia, in present-day Iran, during the 7th century A.D. The Persians were one of the first to cultivate sugar.
- Early bakers would test their ovens by putting a dollop of cake batter on a pan and putting it in the oven. When the little cakes were done, the oven was hot enough to bake the full-sized cakes.
- By the 14th century, cookies were commonplace throughout most of Europe.
- Cookie recipes were first brought to America in the 1600's by Dutch immigrants.
- The word "cookie" is derived from the Dutch word koekje, which means "little cake." Apparently, the little cakes were popular enough that bakers started making a whole panful of them.
- Although cookies remained popular with home bakers through the 1800's, due to the high cost of sugar they were typically reserved only for special occasions.
- In the late 1800's, commerically manufactured cookies became quite popular. Below are a few that you might recognize from grocery shelves today:
Graham crackers were introduced in 1898. They are named after the Reverend Sylvester Graham who advocated a diet that included vegitarianism and eating only whole wheat flour. Apparently, he felt the white processed flour wasn't healthy. Many followed his health plan so Nabisco marketed these crackers following his guidelines.
Barnum's Animal Crackers were first manufactured in 1902. They were named after circus showman P.T. Barnum. He and his circus made a tour of England, where people were enthralled by his animal show. English home bakers began to make animal-shaped "biscuits" to go with their tea. Nabisco decided to follow suit. The crackers were first sold in little boxes with strings so they could be hung on Christmas trees. The boxes still have strings on them today. There are currently 17 different animal shapes available. Can you name them all?
Hydrox chocolate sandwich cookies were manufactured in 1910 by Sunshine Biscuit Company. They were so popular that Nabisco created a similar cookie two years later.
Oreo cookies were an instant hit. They have been the best-selling cookie on the market ever since they were introduced in 1912. Ironically, Hydrox was always considered an Oreo knock-off, when really it was the other way around.
Girl Scout cookies were originally homebaked cookies sold by local troops to earn money. The national organization decided that it was a great idea and commerically manufactured cookies were first sold in 1934. In the following year, they introduced the boxes with the Girl Scout logo with which we are all familiar.
Despite all these yummy cookies on store shelves, most people still agree that homebaked cookies are the best. Of homes where people bake, 90% report baking cookies....and more than half of the cookies baked in American homes are chocolate chip cookies. These popular cookies were created quite by accident in the 1930's by Ruth Graves Wakefield at the Toll House Inn Restaurant in Whitman, MA, while making a batch of cookies that called for baking chocolate. Legend has it that partway through mixing up the dough she realized she was out of baking chocolate so she chopped up a Nestle chocolate bar. She thought the chocolate would melt and spread throughout the cookie dough. Instead, the chocolate retained its shape so chocolate chunks were in every bite.
Her customers loved the new cookies and their fame spread. Before long, her recipe was published in a New York newspaper. Several years later Nestle began marketing chocolate chips. Ruth sold Nestle her recipe in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips. Her recipe has always been printed on the Nestle chocolate chip packaging. Because of the name of her restaurant, the recipe is called Toll House Cookies.
I actually just set out to find a quote or two about cookies to include in my speech, but I ended up speaking only about the history of cookies. While I typed my speech, my niece baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies, which I handed out after my speech. After all, “A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand."
When I was in junior high school, I took a home economics class. We completed a variety of assignments, including sewing and cooking. During a cooking assignment, my best friend, Debbie, and I found this recipe in a classroom cookbook and thought it sounded yummy.
Unfortunately, the assignment was a 2-day project. We prepared the dish one day and cooked it the next day. I don't recommend EVER doing that with this recipe! Needless to say, the potatoes came out BLACK and tasted pretty nasty. The sauce was good, though, so I tried the recipe at home and baked it the same day. It was SO much better the second time! Ha Ha It became an instant family favorite.
Over the years, everyone in the family has tweaked it somehow. First, we added cheese to the sauce, and then we added more ham than the original recipe suggested. We have increased the amount of sauce and my folks added green peppers. The final result is one we all love. I hope you enjoy it, too.
Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 c. ham, diced
3/4 c. chopped onions
3/4 c. chopped green peppers (optional - I still like the plain version better)
6 T. butter
6 T. flour
3 c. milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
Melt butter in sauce pan over low heat. Add flour and stir until blended. Add milk and heat to thicken. Add cheddar cheese and stir until melted and well blended. Place half of sliced potatoes in bottom of 9x9 baking dish. Sprinkle half of ham, onions, and green peppers on top. Cover vegetables with half of sauce mixture. Repeat layers. If desired, sprinkle extra cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until potatoes are tender.
My family usually makes a double batch because we love the leftovers! Enjoy.
There are times when I love having my children grow up. Today is one of those times.
I have been working on a research paper rough draft all night. The girls have been really good about giving me peace and quiet to work. However, a little while ago I looked up and saw Megan getting ice cream and milk out to make an Oreo shake. I received a nifty little Ninja for my birthday a few years ago that makes perfect one-serving shakes.
I know she only planned to make one (for her!), but I had to ask if she would make me one. She didn't hesitate to agree.
When the Ninja turned on Emily, who was practicing the piano, turned to me and asked, "What is she doing?" When I told her she said, "Oooh! That sounds good!" Megan rolled her eyes but willingly made another one.
Before she finished Emily's shake, Heather came out to investigate the noise, as well. Megan made yet another shake before FINALLY making her own.
My Oreo shake was doubly sweet knowing that it was made cheerfully with love.
After Heather's unsuccessful attempt at baking me a 2-layer birthday cake, I decided we needed to spend some time in the kitchen. I bought two round cake pans and explained the correct process to Heather. She decided to try it for her friend Austin's birthday. She floured the pans, mixed and baked the cake, and colored the frosting I made. She even used the decorating tips herself. Here is the result:
I helped smooth the sides, but Heather frosted it.
Heather made blue frosting because she and Austin both like blue.
Heather's birthday is two days after Austin's, so Megan wanted a turn making a 2-layer cake. After all, Austin took his cake home so no one here got to taste it! Megan's attention span is apparently pretty short, because I ended up doing most of the work.
The filling layer was a bit runny so we thickened the rest of the frosting. It is a little lopsided, but still tasted yummy!
My visiting teachers supervised and added advice on decorating.
Heather seemed happy, even if her dad did give her horns. (I told you he is ornery!)
Making a wish!
It turns out Charmaine's birthday is four days after Heather's, so Grandma Libby made brownies for her. We put LOTS of candles on them. Hee Hee
Wow! Look at that smoke!
We had a great week of birthday fun and the girls learned something about baking 2-layered cakes. Definitely a good week!
We have a Christmas tradition of baking cookies and delivering them to friends. This year Grandpa and Grandma K came and helped us bake. Grandpa takes his baking VERY seriously. He even brought his own apron!
We made a variety of cookies, including some really cute frosted sugar cookies. We used bright green, yellow and red frosting, but apparently I didn't take any pictures. However, I did take pictures of the cutest cookies ever.....reindeer cookies!
These were our favorites because a) they are so darn cute, and b) they were easy. The girls decorated them using pretzel twists, chocolate chips, and red hots.
We went Christmas carolling with our friends and delivered Christmas cookie plates to friends from our ward and their ward.
Heather decided to bake a cake for my birthday. My favorite cake is chocolate with white frosting. On the box there was a picture of a 2-layer cake, with frosting in between the layers. Heather thought that looked really yummy and decided to make that kind of cake.
Unfortunately, Heather's mom is a slacker mom. I either bake cupcakes or I bake a cake in a 9x13 pan. I don't even own the round pans used to make a 2-layer cake! Poor Heather had no idea how to make a cake that looked like the picture and Emily wasn't around, so Heather improvised. She spread a layer of cake batter in a 9x13 pan, spread some white frosting on top, and added the rest of the cake batter. She then baked it, fully expecting the cake to come out like the one on the box.
It didn't come out quite like she had hoped. You can see the frosting that oozed out one end. Plus, she set the digital timer and forgot to push "start" so it cooked a little too long. However, the middle part tasted amazing!
I love that she took the initiative and made the effort to make something wonderful for my birthday. I guess Heather and I need to spend some quality time in the kitchen. Sounds fun to me!
Heather and Megan have recently learned to make cupcakes. What I love is that they like to make the cupcakes for other people. I like this because they are learning to serve others, but also because we don't usually have the cupcakes sitting around the house tempting me to eat them.
A week ago we made cupcakes for a party at the church. This week Megan made cupcakes for two of her favorite people: one of the janitors at school, and her PE teacher. Both had a birthday and both received a pan of cupcakes from Megan and Heather.
We colored the frosting to match the neon colored cupcake papers Megan baked them in. Don't they look festive?
The exciting thing is that Megan mixed up this batch of cupcakes all by herself! I am so excited for the girls to learn to cook.....and to enjoy it.
My sister gave me a Sun Oven for Christmas. Using the heat generated by the sun, you can cook anything outside: bread, casseroles, meat, etc. Sharilyn said she made pork chops that fell apart at the touch of the fork. Meat is amazingly moist and so delicious. The best part is that you can't burn anything in the Sun Oven!
I love food cooked in the Sun Oven, but I don't always remember that it takes longer to cook outside. I have to put the Sun Oven out early in the day and let things slow cook during the hottest part of the day. After working for so many years, my brain doesn't always think about dinner at 10:00am.
The other day I put out ham and baked potatoes, though. It was really nice to have dinner done when I got off work at 5:30pm. I need to remember this more often!
Every January, the youth in our stake participate in a Youth Olympics. They compete in various sporting events, both individual and team sports. They can participate in scholastic event, performing arts, photography, sewing and cooking, as well.
Emily enjys cooking and took 3rd place in the dessert category last year with Mississippi Mud Cake. She wants to try the main dish and bread categories, as well, this year. Part of the judging is based on the recipe submitted, which demonstrates the difficulty level of the preparation. Emily is considering Grandma Libby's eggroll recipe as her main dish entry. Naturally, we had to practice to see if she could do it. For Youth Olympics, the youth must do the meal 100% by themselves. This time, however, Grandma Libby and Papa helped.
This is the meat and vegetable filling. Yum!
Heather doesn't like hamburger or sausage, so they made some meatless eggrolls for her. That sounds boring to me!
Grandma showed Emily how to spoon filling onto the eggroll wrappers.
That looks SO good!!
Emily's first "roll" was more flat than round.
Grandma demonstrated how to get a tighter roll.
Papa did the cooking in hot oil.
As you can see, the recipe made enough eggrolls for Emily to get plenty of practice rolling eggrolls!
Heather's favorite part is making "Chinese fries" out of the leftover eggroll wrappers. We just slice them into strips....
and drop them into the hot oil.
Looking good!
Heather likes them sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Grandma, Papa, and I like them with cinnamon and sugar, but Heather was cooking so her preferences won.
Emily decided she was a pretty good cook!
Megan agreed. She loves Grandma's eggrolls.
Heather wasn't too excited about the meatless eggrolls. LOL
She was MUCH happier with the Chinese fries!
Since Emily has to be able to make the eggrolls on her own, she will have to practice a few more times before January. That means we will have to EAT eggrolls AT LEAST 2 or 3 times. We are willing to sacrifice for her success, though! LOL
A friend sent me a link to a blog entry explaining in detail how to can butter. Apparently, if you can it properly the butter can be stored for up to three years without refrigeration.
I have not tried it yet but I thought it was a pretty neat idea so I am including a link here for you.
A friend introduced me to a new website today. I thought I'd share the fun Easter ideas with you.
The blogger for this site makes cake balls, which I had never heard of before. You bake a regular cake, let it cool, then crumble it into a bowl. You add a container of store-bought frosting and mix it all together. Then you shape the cake and frosting mix into balls and cover them with candy melts. You can leave them as balls or add them to sticks and make cake balls. You can even go one step further and decorate them in creative ways, like these Easter versions.
I haven't tried them yet, but I can tell they would be more work than say cupcakes. However, for special occasions or parties these would be really cute.
I am going to explore the website some more to see what else it there. I added the link to the website here in this post as well as on my favorites. Happy baking!!
The weekend after Thanksgiving we had Sharilyn's boys for the weekend. We had males in the home so we invited the Elders from our ward to eat with us, too. We planned to BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs. The Elders were SO excited! They begged to be allowed to do the grilling. Men are so funny!
They did a great job grilling. We loved having them over.
One of the things the girls wanted to accomplish this summer was to learn to cook and bake. Grandma K is famous in our family (and elsewhere) for baking goodies. One family favorite is Chocolate Frosted Cookies. These are chocolate cake-like cookies with chocolate frosting and candy sprinkles. What kid wouldn't love that?!
Today was baking day. When I got home from work there were yummy Chocolate Frosted Cookies on the kitchen table. Talk about adding spice to my day! I was SO excited!
As I was taking a picture for the blog site, Emily suggested I include the recipe. That girl is so smart sometimes! Here you go.....
Chocolate Frosted Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix:
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. shortening
Add and mix: 6 T. cocoa
Add and mix:
3 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 t. vanilla
1 c. milk
Drop spoonfuls on cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool. Frost.
Chocolate Frosting
4 1/4 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. sour cream
1/2 c. shortening
dash of salt
1 t. vanilla
4 T. cocoa
Mix well. Frost cookies, adding candy sprinkles or chopped nuts on top.
Heather is sitting beside me saying "yummy, yummy" over and over. If you decide to try our recipe let us know if you agree with her.
