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Monday, January 31, 2011

Try Something New: Lemon Curd

I have never heard of lemon curd before today. I was cruising the updates in my blog list and i found this recipe. I had to Google just what lemon curd is. Turns out, it is like lemon pie filling...now that i can handle! I found the recipe on a blog called swEEts by e. I had been thinking of making applesauce tonight, as i used up the last bit this morning in my oatmeal, but i decided to pick up a couple of lemons on my way home and make this instead. It is extremely easy, and delicious!

Lemon Curd.



3 eggs.
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice. (I needed 2 lemons)
1 TBS lemon zest.
3/4 cup sugar.
4 TBS butter.

Whisk eggs, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan.
Over medium heat, cook until mixture thickens and reaches 160 F with candy thermometer (about 10 minutes)
Remove from heat and sieve for lumps.
Cut butter into small cubes and whisk into warm mixture.
Add zest and allow to completely cool before using.


So i got about this much :-) I tried it along the way, and it was perfectly lemony but not to sweet. I had to take this next picture because i thought the yolks looked neat just floating in the pan. This was after fishing out one piece of shell and poking a yolk to cover another (this is where the sieve comes in). Also after wiping the side of the pot because i dripped egg white all over it. No matter how much i try, and i have plenty of practice, i can not crack an egg without making a mess, either poking my thumb/fingers through it, dripping the white everywhere or dropping shells into it. I am resolved to live with my weakness, and have become an expert shell picker-outer because of it.


So finally with this recipe i got to use the candy thermometer my Mom gave me for Christmas. Unfortunately, the pot was to small and it kept falling out, even with the clip. I got one almost good shot of it, though! I found the lemon curd started to boil before it reached temperature, so i had to be very careful that it did not splash me. This was thick, so it spurted like pasta sauce rather then just bubbled like boiling water.


And finally, the only real hard part of the operation, and it wasn't really all that difficult; i pushed it through a sieve to remove the egg shells and lemon seeds. Yummy. I had forgotten to zest the lemon before i juiced it, tried to zest the peels (and found a cut on my finger) and said forget it and just went with the zest from an extra lemon.  I had bought 4 just in case.


It doesn't look like a lot because it is in a large mixing bowl. So now that i have some yummy lemon curd, what am i to do with it? Hmmmm....Also, this is officially my 99th post! Later in the week, i plan on making gnocci for my 100th post, I can't wait to try the recipe, i am not exactly sure which day i am making it yet, though, since i was promised a dinner out this week! 


Sunday, January 30, 2011

Self Frosting Oatmeal Cookies.

I can't quite remember where i picked up this recipe, but i am about ninety nine percent sure it was from this book. This weekend, i planned to do only two things, make oatmeal bread and make gnocci. Neither got done. I realized yesterday morning that the recipe i had was for oatmeal rolls, not bread, and that i didn't quite have enough flour for  it. I can't buy flour until the end of the week, so that was out. I made yesterday's breakfast casserole instead. This morning, i got an invite to go skating and then to a hockey game. I was all for it, so i ended up having KD for dinner instead of gnocci. I work early all week, so it will be coming soon! These cookies, i managed to make today because there is a refrigeration period, which i used to my advantage. I mixed them up at 10:30 this morning, and baked them at 7:30 tonight. I had an awesome day of skating, taking pictures and watching the hockey game, the Seadogs won 5 - 2 , YAY! OK...i'll stop jabbering now and give you the recipe. :-)

Self Frosting Oatmeal Cookies. 


1 cup each brown and white sugar.
1 cup cooking oil.
1 tsp vanilla.
2 eggs,
1 tsp salt.
1/2 tsp soda.
1 tsp baking powder.
1 + 1/2 cups flour.
2+1/2 cups oatmeal.
Icing sugar

Cream together sugars, oil and vanilla. Add eggs and mix well.
Sift together flour, salt, soda and powder. Add to creamed mixture. Add oatmeal.
Chill dough 2 hours. Roll into walnut sized balls and roll in icing sugar. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 F for 8 to 10 minutes.


This recipes makes oodles of cookies!! I got just over four and a half dozen. That will keep me going for awhile :-) They are crispy and sweet, but surprisingly not to sweet from the double sugars.


The batter was quite dry, but easily mashed into balls. I only had to use about 2 Tbsp of icing sugar and had some left over, so don't pour to much out and waste it! I also only dipped the tops into it, and i had to brush it off some; icing sugar has a habit of clumping. This morning i planned on dipping a few in cocoa to see how they would fare, but i forgot. Oops. But, always something to try next time! I am really enjoying this recipe so far, so i think i will have to make it again, it is a perfect recipe if you need lots!

Even though my weekend didn't turn out as planned, i had an enjoyable time. I hope everyone else had a good weekend to!!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Breakfast Casserole for Dinner

This morning i felt like having sausages for dinner. But what to do with them? Usually i just throw them in a pan, bake them and serve them with some veggies. But i really didn't feel like that today. Last time, i forgot about the leftovers and ended up tossing them. I don't like doing that. So i decided to make a casserole out of them. I did an internet search for sausage casseroles and found that 99% of the recipes were breakfast casseroles. Why not? They all looked easy, sausages, hash browns, eggs; so i looked at a bunch of different recipes and set out to invent my own.

The first thing i did was chop the sausages into bite sized pieces. The casing kind of slipped off while i was at it, so i tossed that. I threw the sausages into the crock-pot at about 11 this morning with a quarter of a red onion and a quarter of a green pepper; all sprinkled with Italian spice. I only used a bit of the veggies because i like to stretch them. At four dollars apiece, it is nice to use it for more than one recipe.


So in everything went on high, while i worked on my new photography blog, My Saint John. I love multi-tasking :-) After a couple hours i had to drain them. The sausages cooked this way were extremely greasy!


I just tipped the crock pot (with an oven mitt) and scootched all the meat and veggies to one side, then scooped out the grease with a mini ladle, whose original purpose was for making chocolates. I let them cook another 20 minutes or so while i ran down to the store to get only eggs, milk and hash browns, nothing else because rent is due this week. Guess what? The store had no hash browns! (After the whole macaroni fiasco i should have known better). I wasn't upset, i had potatoes at home, i could deal. So, i marched back home with my milk and eggs, and a garlic bread. I had some leftover red potatoes and some mini brown ones from the garden last summer, so i just chopped both types up small, washed them and threw them in with the sausages.  Then i went out to Lily Lake on a photography expedition. 


See that building on the edge of the lake? That is where my sister is getting married in a month and 5 days...well, technically a month and 1 day because February is a shortie. An hour later, i got home and looked into the crock pot, i couldn't believe the potatoes were cooked already! So, i whisked up 5 eggs with about 3/4 cup of milk, some Mrs Dash, salt, pepper and grated Parmesan and poured it over the meat and veggies. I turned it to low and went and worked on my blog some more. Another hour later, i checked on it. It looked like the eggs were not cooking...strange. So i opened it up and poked it with a knife. The eggs were solid, dinner is ready! And it's only 4PM.


I turned the crock pot to Warm and walked away, planning on serving dinner at abut 6:30 as usual. But, at about 5:30, my stomach was growling, so i took a plate of my masterpiece and sprinkled it with some grated Mozza/Cheddar cheese.


Yummy. It was actually quite delicious, albeit a little bland. Next time, i will add a bit more spices, i think. Also, the next time i will start prepping it a bit later in the day. All in all, it was a good dinner experiment. The rest of the pot is staying warm for my beau later tonight, and then i will have some for breakfast tomorrow. I am really glad i chose to cook the sausages separate, as all the recipes i had found stated to throw everything in and cook it all together. I think this had the potential to be extremely greasy  had i not had the chance to drain the meat. 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! 




Friday, January 28, 2011

Welcome to my new design

I decided to change things up a bit, to celebrate my (almost) 100th post! I found a font that is close to my own handwriting and decided to go with it! Add the notebook background, and my new look is almost like my own hand made cookbook I have sitting on top of the refrigerator. :-)

I'd like to say Thank You for joining me on my wonderful cooking journey, and welcome to any newer visitors. Everyone is welcome to join the fun! I may make a few more changes in the coming days, and happy to have everyone join me for 100 and beyond!!


Five Cup Slice

Last night, i wanted a dessert to go with my beef stew, so i skimmed through my squares cookbook and picked out one that looked quick and easy, called Five Cup Slice. All the dry ingredients add up to five cups, which is great because i mixed them together and poured it into two different square dishes to be sure i had the right fit before i added the milk. Sometimes, i will start pouring a mix into a dish and find out that it is either to big or to small and then have another dish to wash; this time i just had to wipe it out. I couldn't get a really good picture of the book, for some reason i could not zoom and focus the camera, no matter what combination of light, flash, zoom, etc i used.


Five Cup Slice

1 can sweetened condensed milk (11 oz - 300 mL)
1 + 1/4 cups medium unsweetened coconut.
1 + 1/4 cups raisins or currents.
1 + 1/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips.
1 + 1/4 cups unsalted peanuts. 

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Spread evenly into a greased 9 X 9 inch pan. Bake in 350 F oven for 25 to 30 minutes until starting to turn golden. Let stand on wire rack to cool, cuts into 36 squares. NOTE: peanuts and raisins can be chopped for better distribution if desired. 


The recipe reminds me of an old commercial. A Mom in the kitchen with a large plate of rice krispie treats. She is sitting reading a novel and eats one of the squares, decides they are perfect, and so messes her hair, puffs some flour and water on her face and walks out of the kitchen looking very frazzled, to sounds of her family emphasizing saying she should not have gone through the trouble. This is as easy as the krispie squares, looks as complicated and is just as delicious. I may not make them again, though, unless they are leaving the house. They are beyond extremely sweet. I got a sugar high from eating one! Yummy! 


The mixture didn't look much different going into and coming out of the oven, save for the brown edges. I mixed the dry stuff together before adding the milk, though, just so everything was even throughout. I was lucky, i had just enough of all four ingredients in the house. With last night's snowstorm, i wasn't going out, and almost had to pick a new recipe! 


The only issue i had with the recipe is partially my own fault. They weren't quite cool last night at bed time, so i just wrapped the pan and stuck it in the fridge. Today after work i decided to cut it up. I had a good workout doing that!! Hard as a rock! I managed to slice it into about 30 and am waiting a bit for them to warm up before taking them out of the pan. Don't forget to grease the dish, i almost forgot and i can only imagine what it would be like to try and chisel this out!!

So this is the third recipe I have tried in my new cook book, Company's Coming 150 Delicious Squares. And as of now, i am highly recommending this book for anyone who loves squares, or participates in bake sales, or just plain loves to bake! There are pictures of every recipe, something a lot of cook books do not have. The cover price is 16.99, a bit pricey in my opinion, but if you can find it for cheap, i'd say pick it up. 

Happy Baking! 


Thursday, January 27, 2011

A story of beef stew, a new veggie, a fight with a turnip, and more snow.

It snowed again today. At first, they were expecting up to 30 cm (about 12 inches), then they changed it to about 15 cm on the coast (where i am) and up to 35 cm inland. The storm was supposed to start at 4 am and be done by noon. I got up at 6 am and peaked out the curtains, to see just how bad my walk to work was going to be. It was fluttering down, but not much; comparable to sprinkling rain. 35 minutes later when i walked out the door, it was snowing and blowing full force. The street was covered with a heavy dusting and it looked slippery. I walked through the mess to work and on breaks all day peaked out. It finally stopped sometime between 2 and 3 PM, when i was off. And i got home to the following on my doorstep.


Yup, i walked through it to get in, up to my knees on the top step. The wind had blown snow about 1/4 way up the door. Thankfully, while i was upstairs getting changed into jeans, the sidewalk plough went by; so instead of having to shovel from door to curb, i only had to do the steps and what the snowplough had pushed onto them..

While i was at work, one of my teammates and i were discussing dinner. I told her i planned on making a beef stew tonight, because of the storm and i knew i would be shoveling, i thought i deserved a nice warm dinner. She was looking for parsnips for a recipe, and had been having a hard time finding them in the supermarkets. I advised to go to the City Market, which is attached by pedway to the mall that our call center is located in; since i have been able to find some things there that i had not been able to find elsewhere. She came back with a bag of parsnips and offered me a couple for my stew, since i have never tried them before. In case you have never had them, parsnips look like a white carrot. I really liked the smell when i was peeling them, it kind of reminded me of a sweet apple.


On my walk home, i stopped in the City Market myself and picked up a turnip and a sweet potato for my stew...and then while i was prepping my veggies i had a fight with the turnip. I have eaten turnip, but I have never cooked with it before and didn't realized how hard they are; and so i managed to get my knife stuck in it. It is a brand new knife, and therefore very sharp! I had to carefully cut my knife out with chunks of turnip using a paring knife, i then peeled the chunks and used in my stew. Here is my poor knife, i could neither push it the rest of the way through, nor pull it back out. 


I also threw in a few small red potatoes and a large carrot chopped up. By the time i was done shoveling and cutting veggies, it was after 4 PM,and since i wanted to use my crock pot and still wanted to eat sometime tonight, i threw all the veggies together in a large pot and boiled them for a bit. While making my broth, i cooked the meat until it was about 3/4 done, in the frying pan. I left the temperature on high a bit to long, and therefore almost burned it. Thankfully, i caught it on time. 


As for the broth, i didn't use a recipe this time. I had some leftover chicken broth in the fridge, so i poured that into my large measuring cup, it was about 2 cups. I added another cup of beef broth, and then for kicks, i added about a Tbsp of beer & chipotle BBQ sauce, a generous couple of Tbsp of HP sauce, and a half tsp of prechopped garlic from a jar.


Into the crock pot i chopped about 1/4 of a red onion which i sprinkled Italian spice over.  Finally, i added the broth, cooked veggies and meat.


I turned it on high about 2 hours, and made dessert, which i will post tomorrow night. And i served this with leftover bread sticks that i had thrown in the freezer last weekend. 


I knew my mixed up stew was going to be delicious before i even tried it. The smell was divine!! It was mostly the HP sauce, i believe. It tasted almost exactly as it smelled, i can't wait to dig into more for lunch tomorrow! I will leave you tonight with one more snow picture, i took this while walking through the graveyard on my way home. It was very windy and i thought the snow blowing around the tombstones looked eerie. Good thing it was daylight!! 



Monday, January 24, 2011

Inventive Munchies

It has been a long time since I have gone into the kitchen poking in cupboards looking for an idea to pop into my head, and just going with it. Tonight's experiment came from a bad case of the munchies and an itchy tattoo. I have been trying to avoid all night that my new tattoo itches like the dickens. I don't want to scratch it, for fear that it will wreck the color before it heals, so i was looking for something to do to distract myself. As for the munchies, i had some popcorn, but really didn't feel like it; I had some Tostitos, that expired in August; and I had various crackers on the shelves, but i wasn't really feeling like those either. I started looking at my squares cookbook, then saw that it was almost eight; to late to begin cooking. I thought maybe pita chips...no pitas. Then POP! Into my head came an idea. Bread chips!

I took two pieces of bread and sliced the crusts off as close as i could. Those went into my crumb/crouton bag in the freezer for another time. Then i rolled them super flat with my rolling pin.


I then cut each piece into fifths and each one of those in half. Onto each piece, i spread a thin layer of garlic butter, and dipped it into some Parmesan cheese.


Finally, i threw them into the oven at about 375 F for 8 minutes. They came out as crispy little pieces of Parmesan toast.


I just threw them in a bowl and ate them plain, while watching a movie; but they will go well with any type of dipping sauce or even some ranch dressing. As for my tattoo, it is still bugging me. I will have to put some cream on it and go to bed soon. I got my sister to take some pictures this afternoon. I am very impressed with it and will be going back to the same artist this summer to have my other tattoo completed. 




Friday, January 21, 2011

Bread Sticks

School was cancelled even before it started snowing today. Yesterday, they were calling for 35 cm (14 inches) of snow between this morning and tomorrow morning. Today, they cut the amount in half; but that is still a fair bit of snow. So far, we are up to about 2 inches, maybe 3, and it is easing off; so we may be lucky. Off at three, i decided to trudge home through the snow and make a comforting dinner. 

I got the idea for bread sticks from two different blogs; but the recipe i tried came from Just Cook Already.  I decided they would go perfect with a lasagna, and i can take some with me tomorrow for lunch to! 

Bread Sticks.

1 + 1/2 cups warm water.
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp yeast.
3 +1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt. 

Combine first three ingredients and let sit five minutes, until yeast activates. Add flour and salt. Mix until smooth. Let rise in warm place for ten minutes. 
Roll out into a large square. Brush with melted butter mixed with garlic. Sprinkle with kosher salt. 
Fold in half, cut into 1 inch strips. Twist and place on baking sheet; let rise another 15 to 20 minutes. 
Bake at 400 F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until browned. Immediately after baking, brush with more garlic butter, sprinkle with more salt and grated Parmesan cheese. 


They look really delicious, and it made plenty! I ended up using all four of my cookie sheets. 


This is after i panned them, but before sitting for the 20 minutes. 


I also cheated and just used pre-made, store bought garlic butter. The recipe for the lasagna i am making is Here. I am going to go start it now; dinner is to be a bit late since i took the meat out at three it is still a bit frozen. This is my second foray into the land of yeast...guess there is no excuse now. Next weekend i am going to make the oatmeal bread I have been yearning to make (now if i can just find the recipe...it is in one of the piles on the coffee table...hmmm). 





Thursday, January 20, 2011

Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes

I found this recipe on another blog i follow, called That Skinny Chick can Bake It is a great blog, and i enjoy reading. She had posted this one before Christmas and immediately i knew i wanted to make it. I had bought something similar for my beau for Christmas, and he really enjoyed them, so i wanted to make more. I decided Valentine's day is the perfect time to give them (last year i made him truffles). Today, i am home from work since i have to work the weekend...at about 1:30 i started going stir crazy. I had already cleaned most of the house, read a bit, watched some TV, and even just bounced around the internet. I have nowhere to go until 5, when i have to go pick up my nephew from the babysitter's. I was bored. So, since it said this recipe freezes well, i decided to make it today.

Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes. 


6 Tbsp Oreo cookie crumbs (i used 5 cookies)
1 Tbsp sugar.
2 Tbsp butter, melted.
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened.
1/4 cup sugar.
1/4 tsp vanilla.
1 egg.
2 oz semi sweet chocolate, melted, cooled slightly. (1 square = 1 oz)

Line mini muffin tin with paper liner. Mix crumbs, 1 Tbsp sugar, and butter. Tamp about 1 tsp of mixture into each cup.
Beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer on medium speed.  Add egg; mixing on low until just blended. Mix in melted chocolate. Use a spoon to fill each muffin cup 3/4 full.
Bake 12 to 14 minutes at 325 F, or until center is almost set. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. To serve, peel off liners.


I used mini liners with hearts on them that i got at the dollar store. The recipe states it make 20 to 24, and i got exactly 20, which is great! It also showed how to make a chocolate ganache to put on top, i think i will do that closer to Valentine's, and i bought some cinnamon hearts candies to put on them as well. 


Here is a picture of the bottom cookie portion. I found it a bit greasy, so i think next time i will use either less butter or more cookie. I also only have the one mini muffin tin, and didn't want to bake them in two batches, so i stuck the extras into a larger muffin tin. They expanded a bit, but not to much. Those ones are on the bottom edge of the rack in this picture. 


I only made two mistakes that i will correct next time. One was i mixed it with the egg and cream cheese to cold, so when i dumped the chocolate in, it solidified a bit. I had to microwave the mix for 15 seconds to make it smooth together. The second was i just dumped it into the cups, didn't smooth it or anything; i figured it would 'melt' into place. Some of them are lumpy and not aesthetically pleasing, next time i will take the extra minute to smooth it out. My beau won't mind the looks, but if i were making these for anyone else, i would like them to look nice. 


So now i am ready for Valentine's day (he does not read this, so he won't know :-P). I had a bit of a hard time in the kitchen today. I got a new tattoo yesterday for my birthday gift to me (a month early; last year I bought my mixer as my gift, and i love it!). It is a medium sized Celtic knotted shamrock at the nape of my neck. The tattooist put a bandage of sorts over it, just a clear piece of tape, he said they use it in hospitals to cover IVs and that i am to leave it on for 3 days; anyway, because i have this huge piece of tape on my back, i am stiff and finding it hard to reach up. And of course, all the dishes i needed today were on the top shelf! Soon enough, it will heal, and i will have a beautiful piece of artwork to share! 

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Quick & Easy Peanut Butter cookies

This is one of those recipes you make when your kids come home for school with a notice from last week saying 'please donate for our bake sale'...and it is tomorrow. I originally found it on the back of the Kraft peanut butter jar, but i have not seen it there in a few years, so this time i just pulled it from the website. The only picture i could find was from a recipe that they had dunked the ends in chocolate. Here is the basic recipe.


1 cup (Kraft) smooth peanut butter.
1/2 cup sugar.
1 egg.

Mix until well blended. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Roll into 18 balls, drop 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Mash crosswise with fork. Bake 18 to 20 minutes in 325 F oven. 


This recipe makes a moist, albeit a bit greasy, cookie. They keep nicely, to; they do not go rock hard after a couple days. The recipe does not make a lot, though. So if you need plenty, you are better off doubling it. I managed to fit it all in a cereal bowl to refrigerate.


 This is a fast recipe that i recommend anyone try if they are in need of a quick peanut butter or cookie fix! 


Sunday, January 16, 2011

Cake

Finally, the cake for this afternoon's wedding shower. This is not a homemade cake. Little sister's favorite cake is Rainbow Chip...not exactly something you can just whip up. So I bought a cake mix and had my little man K help mix it up. We counted the eggs (3) and compared the numbers on the box to the numbers on the measuring cup for oil and water, then measured everything out and timed the mixer while it spun. Finally, I dumped the mixture into a giant measuring cup so K could pour it into the pans.



Yummy.


Oops!


K loves taking pictures to, he wanted to take one of the cake (i had the camera zoomed in from the others i had taken, so he got an extreme closeup)


All done...one half bigger than the other, adds character. :-) 

Last night before bed, i gave the cake a crumb layer of icing and stuck it in the refrigerator to harden.  I was super tired when i did it, as it was close to midnight, and this morning when i pulled it out i discovered the mess i had made. Thankfully, i had remembered the waxed paper to protect the plate. 


This morning, i let the leftover icing warm while the cake stayed chilled. I spread the warm over the cold to (almost) get a smooth finish.


Finally, i decorated it. I just wrote 'Congratulations' on it (i had it right, but i put it into a spell check program and wrote it down first to be absolutely sure; don't want to end up on Cake Wrecks). 


I added the loops and flowers because i thought it looked a bit plain, i used gel in the center of the flowers. Now all i have to do is remove the waxed paper and put a cover over it, and somehow get it to the other side of town with all my other goodies.


The color of the wedding is Hunter green. I tried my best to make this color, i used about 8 drops of green and 3 of blue in about 6 Tbsp of icing to get the above. I think it maybe needed twice that to get the real color, but i know she will appreciate it either way. Six more weeks to go! 







Saturday, January 15, 2011

Cherry (and Pumpkin) tarts

As long as i can remember, there have been cherry tarts at Christmas. My Grandmother (Dad's Mom) would make them at Christmastime, and Dad would allow us one each on Boxing Day when we visited her. There were three of us, and i have 3 cousins and many aunts and uncles that would visit, so we had to save some for everyone else. After my Grandmother passed, my Mom started making the tarts. Finally, my Mother shared the recipe with me; they are my sister's favorite treat and she has not been let into the secret, so decided to make them for her wedding shower tomorrow. I am going to share this family secret with the world! Read each step carefully, this is an extremely difficult recipe! 


Step One: Buy a package of frozen tart shells. I used store brand because I am cheap and wanted to save 20 cents. As per the package, thaw for a few minutes then separate and spread them on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes.


Step Two. Buy a can of Cherry Pie filling. Open it (careful, sharp edges!) Spoon filling into tart shells. 


Step Three: stand back and admire your hard work in the kitchen. Eat one before presenting to guests, because that is all you are gonna get!! They tend to disappear. 

Because i had more shells than cherries, I thawed a bit of pumpkin pie filling and made a few of those to. I just filled the precooked shells and baked them for another 15 minutes. They turned out really nice.


I had my nephew Kyristan (K) over today while his Mommy worked; because his Daddy was sent to Alaska for work. K and I had these for a snack. He inhaled two of them, i was very surprised! He was supposed to try pumpkin pie last fall, when we showed him how to make it (here). He did not have a chance to try it. Pumpkin pie,  I find, is something either you really like it or you don't. I would not say many four year olds are into the taste. I expected him to take one bit and say he wanted something else, but they just disappeared! I will have to make some more for him. 

K and I had a fun day; I took him to his skating lesson, and then we came back to my place for lunch and made a cake for the shower tomorrow. I told him the cake was for a party we are having for Mommy, i tried to explain a wedding shower, but he thinks it is her birthday. Then we played some Wii and went out to meet Mommy after work to have dinner and catch a hockey game (poor Seadogs lost in overtime). It was a fun day! All afternoon, K really wanted to play Wii, but i told him we had to finish the baking first. So while i filled the tarts, he played in the living room. Suddenly, it got really quiet...and you have to wonder what a four year old is up to when it gets quiet!!! I peeked out and this is what I saw...


K kneeling in front of the television with the game package, studying it. He is not allowed to touch the game disks and therefore had to wait. He sat there patiently for another 15 minutes 'reading' the game box. Poor kid.

So tomorrow is the wedding shower finally, and i have only one more thing to do. I have to ice the cake in the morning. K helped me make it, so the layers are a bit lopsided, but that adds character!! I can't wait for tomorrow, it will be so much fun!