It's decoupage time!

I know I have been woefully neglecting this blog. I have just been busy..and ummm...yeah, busy. Really I just wasn't feeling too creative I guess. Efforts to drop a few pounds have kept me from creating desserts in the kitchen and so on and so forth.

But I did have a project in mind...and I finally completed it! I had the idea to decoupage some Hipstamatic prints onto tiles for display around my home.

I am a bona fide Hipstamatic freak...I really do have an addiction to that phone app and it's about time I actually displayed some of the images from Hipstamatic instead of them living in infamy on my phone.

with the foam brush I carefully brushed the Mod Podge onto the back of the picture

Placing the picture onto the tile and carefully working out any bubbles and making sure the picture is glued well

drying onto the tile

carefully brush a coat of Mod Podge onto the top of the picture to seal it to the tile-I did two coats giving about 30 minutes in between coats

finished tiles!

Items needed:

Mod Podge...I think I bought the gloss one
foam brushes
tiles of your choosing-I bought some white tiles at Home Depot, I think they were around $.30 a tile.
photos-I did just printer printouts of the images
newspaper to protect work surface

I can't wait to get some stands to display these tiles around my home. They turned out much better than I was expecting. :-)

Gingerbread Snack Cake...so full of aromatic spice!

I love this gingerbread cake.  It's so easy to make, tastes great at room temp or warmed...great for breakfast, coffee or as dessert. My son is a gingerbread fanatic and will try to eat the entire cake by himself.

2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon into a dry-measure cup and level off)

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

2/3 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 cup molasses

1 cup water

1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Butter a 9-inch-by-2-inch round pan and line the bottom with parchment paper or buttered wax paper. Set aside.

2. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

3. Stir the flour and spices together in a large bowl.

4. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat, then (still on low heat) stir in the brown sugar, molasses and most of the water, leaving a couple of tablespoons in the measuring cup. Stir together to combine and increase the heat to medium. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

5. Stir the baking soda into the remaining water.

6. Remove the butter mixture from the heat and pour the baking soda mixture into it. Add the liquid to the bowl of dry ingredients and use a large rubber spatula to quickly fold everything together. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the gingerbread until it is well-risen and feels firm in the center and the point of a paring knife inserted in the center emerges clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then loosen the gingerbread from the side of the pan with a small paring knife if necessary, and invert it onto another rack. Peel off the paper and replace it with a rack, then invert the stack and remove the top rack. Cool completely before serving.

This recipe appeared in the local newspaper last year.



My new favorite chocolate chip recipe...

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies!

My daughter and I decided to bake some cookies today.  I'm gearing up for the baking frenzy that's coming up after Thanksgiving. I had just a spot of sour cream left over from another recipe and this was the perfect way to use it up! I have found sour cream makes for a really delicious add in to baking recipes.  One of my favorite frostings is a dark chocolate sour cream frosting.  I will have to remember to blog about that one later. On to the cookies!

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup shortening (I used butter flavored)

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 package (12 oz) chips. I used dark chocolate but any flavor of chips can be used

Heat oven to 350. Beat sugar, butter, shortening, vanilla and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes or until set and just beginning to brown. Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

This recipe is in Betty Crocker's Cookie Book. So easy and tasty!

(the second and third images have some white balance issues...)



Garden tomatoes...soooo good!

I love tomatoes and always have. Finding a good tomato can be a challenge though-either grow 'em yourself or find a good farmer's market. These beauties were grown in my parent's garden. They are mostly the size of grapes and are just so delicious. I wish I could keep them all through the winter.  Since that's impossible I'll just sit here with my bowl of tomatoes and stack of napkins to catch all that chin dribbling juice. Delish!

Mmmmm....zucchini and Panko!

If you like breading things with breadcrumbs and haven't discovered Panko you are missing out!  They are super crispy, light and make for an incredible crunch to fried foods. One of my favorite things to bread and fry is zucchini. The other night I made pizza (see recipe a few posts below) and decided to make these delicious beauties to go with it.

I used all purpose flour (King Arthur brand...it really is a very good flour), water and Panko.  The all purpose flour went into one shallow bowl and to it I added some seasoned salt, onion powder and some dried herbs...oh, and red pepper flakes. Then in another bowl the water and in the last bowl the Panko...which I also seasoned with red pepper flakes. This is completely customizable...season it how you like it.

Breading foods by hand doesn't have to be messy-who likes digging that stuff out from under your nails? What I do is use my right hand for wet and left for dry. I took a zucchini slice, dipped it into the water with my right hand, tossed it into flour bowl and with my left hand coated it in flour. Then with my right hand I dipped it into the water again and placed into Panko bowl. And using left hand coated the slice with the bread crumbs. I know some people like to bread as they fry but it's easier for me to just bread it all at once and have it on a cookie sheet ready to go to the fryer.

Heat the fryer to 350 degrees and drop slices in.  Watch closely so they don't burn. After they are golden brown remove from oil and drain on paper towels.  Serve with pizza sauce. Oh, and sprinkle with freshly grated parm or romano cheese. I'm drooling already just thinking about them!

Fall sunrise....beautiful!

My husband was taking my son to school the other morning and when I stepped out to tell them goodbye I saw this beautiful sunrise.  I quickly dashed into the house (did I even finish telling them bye?) and grabbed the camera so I could try to do it justice.

Of course I should have set up the tripod but with the light changing so quickly I was afraid to miss any of this gorgeous color. So the photo isn't as sharp as it should be...but hey, the color is great! :-P

Another reason I love this image so much is that this view is about to be gone forever from my front porch.  They are finally building houses in that field.  The 'lone' tree will no longer stand out, the outline of the church will be hidden from my view. The only thing constant is change right?  Just have to learn to roll with it.

Most everyone loves a grilled cheese...

I love a good grilled cheese.  And a panini grilled cheese is even better!  Since we invested in a nice panini grill we eat sandwiches quite often. And of course a panini grill really creates taste bud tingling sandwiches when homemade bread is used. I use a bread machine because there are times when I'm am yeast-challenged. Usually when I use the bread machine it will turn out just fine...but if I were to do all that kneading and rising myself it flops on me 75% of the time.  Downright discouraging. There are times when I decide to get crazy and select the 'dough' cycle on the bread machine so I can mold the loaf how I like.  I live dangerous...cautiously. ;-)

Homemade Rosemary Bread (Better Homes and Gardens The Complete Guide to Bread Machine Baking)
1 1/2 lb loaf

1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
4 tsp butter
3 cups bread flour
4 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp bread machine yeast
1 spring snipped fresh rosemary

Add ingredients to machine according to manufacturer's directions. Select basic bread cycle.

Here is my finished, melty and delicious panini grilled cheese.  The only ingredients I used were the homemade rosemary bread, cheddar cheese, Roma tomato and just a bit of cilantro.  Olive oil is brushed on the top of the bread and then grill in the panini press. Easy, simple and satisfying.

You want to use a Roma tomato or if you don't have a Roma then scoop out seeds-nothing fun about a soggy sandwich.

mmmm...cilantro!

brush with olive oil