13 posts tagged “i made this”
Unlike last year, Mr. G had a specific request for this year's birthday treat: He wanted a cherry pie. Having never made a cherry pie before, I went straight to my America's Test Kitchen cookbooks to find the best recipe.
The ATK folks did not disappoint. Per their recommendation, I hunted up some jars of Trader Joe's Morello cherries, which apparently make the tastiest filling (and they certainly look more lovely than the canned cherries I've bought at the supermarket). I did not end up having the time to make the crust from scratch, but ATK says that refrigerated Pillsbury pie dough is almost as good as homemade (and I know Mr. G loves it, anyway). For the sake of time, I also decided to forego the traditional lattice for the full top crust (it's not as pretty, but having more crust can't be a bad thing!).
Here is the absolutely DELICIOUS end result, which we ate for Mr. G's birthday breakfast today (warmed up and topped with a generous scoop of vanilla frozen custard, of course!):
Today I cohosted a baby shower for a friend who is adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. Although all baby showers are joyful occasions, this one was even more special because my friend and her husband have waited such a long time to be parents. Their journey inspired me to create this:
I experimented with using fringe (rather than ribbon) and shredded paper (to cover the tops of the diapers), and I was pretty pleased with the result. Ingredients were mostly purchased from her registry and included 42 diapers, 8 washcloths, 4 receiving blankets, 3 bottles, 2 combs, a brush, baby lip balm, body wash, and lotion.
I had such a good time putting this cake together, but the best part was seeing my friend's reaction to the surprise on top: a miniature baby (hand sculpted by Nancy), nestled in a silk peony and wearing a diaper fastened with beads in the colors of the Ethiopian flag. Here's a close-up:
... but I think the one I made for Mr. G's mom to take to a baby shower today turned out really cute! I used a Pooh crib sheet, a Pooh pant/cardigan set (hidden in the center of the cake), some Pooh decorative letters, and a Pooh stuffed toy to create this cake:
I took pictures of the entire process this time so that I can put together a tutorial for a friend of mine in Uruguay. She wants to teach the girls in her church to make diaper cakes so they can earn some extra income. I'm looking forward to seeing the ones they come up with!
Mr. Guycita and I usually celebrate Thanksgiving with his parents and grandma, who live nearby. This year his mom must have expected us to arrive at her house especially ravenous: She roasted two turkey breasts to feed our party of five! Despite a few half-hearted efforts to eat extra turkey at the Thanksgiving table (gotta leave room for dessert!), we were not able to consume even half of that amount. So Mr. Guycita and I ended up bringing home an entire turkey breast.
As one of the millions of Americans who currently have a ton of old turkey taking up valuable refrigerator space, I am glad that ideas for how to repurpose Thanksgiving leftovers abound. Tonight I prepared a recipe that Mr. Guycita requests every year after Thanksgiving—it's fast and easy and very tasty:
TURKEY CUPS
Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated biscuits
1 package McCormick turkey gravy mix
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup frozen peas, thawed (or leftover peas)
½ cup pimientos or diced red bell pepper, cooked
1 cup cubed cooked turkey (or chicken)
¼ teaspoon McCormick thyme leaves
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Open can of biscuits and press one biscuit onto bottom and sides of 12 muffin cups. Chill until ready to fill.
- Blend gravy mix and milk; set aside.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in peas, bell pepper, turkey, and thyme. Heat through.
- Pour gravy over turkey mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until gravy comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly, 1 minute or until thickened.
- Spoon turkey mixture into prepared biscuit cups. Bake 15 minutes.
A few weeks ago, a friend asked me to make a cake for a mutual friend's baby shower. The hostess hadn't selected a theme, so I acted on a tip from Anna and headed over to the photo galleries at Cake Central for inspiration. After reviewing hundreds of member photos, I decided to go with a rubber ducky theme.
Not happy with just trying a new design, I also wanted to experiment with using a new type of icing. I had a previous good experience with Italian meringue (it turns out that's what I iced Mr. Guycita's birthday cake with, although the recipe called it Swiss meringue), so I was very happy to find a recipe for Italian meringue buttercream that sounded just as good but much more stable and easy to work with. It was simple to make (no powdered sugar all over my kitchen!) and I loved the consistency. Most importantly, the taste was a million times better than the ultra-sweet type used by your run-of-the-mill bakery.
Under all the icing were three layers of Baking Illustrated's sour cream fudge cake (which was moist and deliciously chocolatey). I had to use three layers because the cakes were so dense that a mere two layers would not have created a very impressive cake.
The back story to the making of this cake is that, in a moment of distraction and with only a couple of hours left to decorate and deliver the cake, I added the blue tint before reserving some white icing for the bubbles. This misstep would have spelled tragedy but for the heroic efforts of Mr. Guycita, who ran to the store to buy more butter so that I could whip up another batch of tint-free icing. I really do have the best husband in the world.
Ever since reading The F-Factor Diet earlier this year (and learning about all the health benefits associated with a diet high in fiber), I've been on a mission to increase my fiber intake. Just about every day, I try to eat Fiber One for breakfast, grape tomatoes or broccoli dipped in lite ranch for a snack, and strawberries or an apple for dessert.
It's definitely a challenge to consume the recommended 35 grams of fiber per day, so I am always looking for creative ways to accomplish my goal. That's why I was so intrigued when I discovered The Sneaky Chef cookbook. Its premise is simple: By pureeing "yucky" foods (such as zucchini, cauliflower, beans, or sweet potatoes), you can easily sneak nutritious fiber into your kids' food without the little tykes ever being the wiser. Now, I don't have kids, but I do have Mr. Guycita, who hates veggies just as much as (or more than) your average, finicky child. I figured this would be a great way to add variety to my fiber obsession while still pleasing Mr. Guycita's palate.
I've been able to try several "sneaky" recipes since I got this book for my birthday two weeks ago. Although none of the recipes include nutritional info (a huge no-no, in my book) and it's clear that they are geared toward children (read: they could use the oomph of added herbs and spices), I have already found one dish that makes this book a keeper:
CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup pureed white beans (such as Great Northern or cannellini)
1/4 cup cooked egg noodles
1 cup diced, cooked chicken meat
1/4 cup evaporated low-fat milk
Salt to taste
Diced celery or carrots (optional)
Directions:
- Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour over the butter and stir constantly for a minute with a wooden spoon.
- Pour in the broth and mix in the white bean puree. If adding optional vegetables, do so at this point. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
- Stir in the cooked chicken, cooked pasta, and the evaporated milk, mixing for a minute. Remove from heat and serve.
Note: The pureed beans and evaporated milk make this soup seem decadently creamy, but it's low in fat and high in fiber (thanks to the beans, which can be pureed ahead of time and stored in the fridge for several days). I doubled this recipe so that I could have leftovers, and I added a healthy dose of cayenne pepper at the end for a nice kick. Enjoy!
* Picture recipe inspired by Vivren and made possible with the help of Mr. Guycita. Thanks, guys!
A few months ago, I read about a nonprofit organization called Bound 4 Freedom. Founded by some young women at my alma mater, the group makes and sells handmade journals. Their goal is to enable women to help themselves (by developing the skills to make and sell journals) and each other (by helping to produce journals during volunteer studio hours to fund the program).
The Bound 4 Freedom story made me want to purchase one of these journals, so Lindsay (who goes to church with the B4F gals) recently offered to pick one up for me. When I saw the journal she selected, I was so impressed that I decided to see just how these journals are made. Lindsay told me that studio hours are held twice a week in a classroom in her church, and she offered to accompany me to a session.
When we showed up, the B4F folks were super welcoming, and Lindsay and I were immediately assigned to poke holes in paper. I learned how to properly position the holes in the creases of paper that had been previously cut to size and folded in groups of five sheets (aka signatures). It took me a few rounds to get the hang of poking the holes (and then stacking the papers in a consistent direction so that the holes were lined up), but I was soon zipping along like a pro (well, almost).
After the paper was ready, we had to poke holes in the handmade covers. Once this was done, we took a certain number of signatures and sandwiched them between the covers, using a precise amount of twine to keep it all together (and making sure all those holes were properly aligned). I think I made four packets in under two hours, which I don't think is too bad for a first timer!
Since I was a newbie, this was as far as I went in the journal-making process. Veteran journal-makers, however, will take the journal packets made by volunteers and sew the binding to complete the journal. They will then use mostly recycled materials (including paper, fabric, ribbon, wallpaper, and buttons) to create a unique design on each cover.
The B4F folks are enthusiastic about their mission, and it shows in the beautiful and creative journals they produce (you can check out a bunch of examples in their online store). I had a great time volunteering and hope to do it again soon!
My manager brings in a special treat whenever someone on the team has a birthday. Since today was her birthday, I asked what she wanted me to bring in for her. She told me to surprise her, so I decided to work-debut a dessert that my mom used to make for us (she got it out of a Uruguayan cookbook):
This treat is super-rich and super-sweet, which is just how I like 'em! POSTRE AGUSTIN Ingredients: 100 grams semisweet chocolate Directions: * Unfortunately, I couldn't find real dulce de leche in time. I tried making it out of sweetened condensed milk (a technique that had been touted online), but that was a miserable failure. However, I had some Hersheys "dulce de leche" flavor (aka caramel) syrup on hand, and it made an acceptable substitute. ** I had a terrible time finding meringues this time, and finally had to go to the Miss Meringue site to see where they're sold. Wild Oats saved the day, folks.
Small amount of milk
1 egg yolk
50 grams butter
Vanilla, to taste
Cinnamon (optional)
300 grams whipping cream
250 grams dulce de leche *
400 grams meringue cookies **
I purchased my first belly dance fitness tapes about six years ago, after seeing the Belly Twins on TV. From the start, I relished the challenge of isolating movements in order to shimmy and undulate properly, but I felt silly doing the moves and was loath to let anyone see me "dancing." Even Mr. Guycita was banned from the room while I was exercising.
Last October, however, I finally got up the guts to start taking lessons with a live teacher. It's taken some time, but I've slowly grown to feel more comfortable dancing in front other women. In fact, I've had a blast! I even agreed to act as teacher's assistant for the most recent beginners session, and will be doing so again for the continuing class in September. And even though I still can't do all the moves as well as my perfectionist mentality would like, I am learning to just keep smiling as I allow my body to respond to the music. As my teacher says, the audience only knows you've messed up if you make a face!
Yesterday I took another step into the world of belly dance when I attended a veil-dyeing party organized by Fraoch's belly dance instructor. The instructor's costume designer showed us (a group of about 20 women) how to dye silk veils using vinegar, rubber bands and knots, squirt bottles of potent pigment, and a microwave. We had a ton of fun creating our little works of art (or science experiments, for those of us who didn't really know what we were doing!).
I really wish that I had pictures of the process and of all the incredible veils that resulted from it. But since I don't, I will just have to make do with showing you my own humble attempt. Not bad for a first try, eh?
Mr. Guycita's mom took the diaper cake I made for her to a baby shower last weekend, and it was a hit! In fact, a couple of her friends asked if I could make diaper cakes for them, too. I was thrilled, of course, and agreed to make the first one for this weekend.
The client provided a box of 96 diapers, five receiving blankets, four bug-themed bath toys, two pacifiers, a pacifier strap, a caterpillar rattle, and a stuffed toy bug (for the topper). The cake ended up being so big that I used all 96 diapers and had to add 11 diapers that were left over from my previous cakes!
I decided to wrap this cake in tulle, and I think it turned out very pretty. The tiny bows scattered on the tulle were my mom's idea. She was in town for the week, and we really had a great time working on the cake together. I think we make a great team!
