Ngati wanted a Transformers birthday cake. The cake is two 6″ Key Lime flavored layers, covered in buttercream and then Duff’s fondant again from Michaels. Cort made all the decorations and did a great job. She had to reinforce with toothpicks and skewers since there wasn’t time to let the tall pieces dry very much but we have found that putting them in front of a little portable fan really helps the drying process when you are under a time crunch. Happy Birthday Ngati!
Courtney called me at like 7:00 Monday night and announced that we had to make two birthday cakes the next day for Ngati and Ngaio (they are the children of some good friends of Jaren, Courtney’s hubby) so I started baking right away and then she came over Tuesday and we spent most of the day trying to crank out two fondant birthday cakes. They came out pretty good considering that we were under a bit of a time crunch. Ngaio wanted a Disney Princess cake and settled on Tangled so Cort got a Tangled Barbie from Target and we made the classic doll cake. I baked the cake in my Pampered Chef Batter Bowl and then made a smaller 6″ round layer to give her some more height to accommodate the Barbie. The batter bowl cake was Pink Lemonade flavor and the circle on the bottom was a yellow cake. We used buttercream icing and the fondant is Duff’s brand from Michaels. Courtney piped on some decorations on the dress as time was running out to make any with fondant. Happy Birthday Ngaio!
I can’t even begin to describe to you how good these are, except to say that I am still trying to watch my weight and count calories and I ate 2 of them yesterday! Even now I know that they are down there in the kitchen taunting me and I so badly want to go eat one for breakfast but like I said, I had two yesterday so I’m trying to pretend that they aren’t there. YUM!! The recipe comes from a blog I really love called “Six Sisters’ Stuff”.
brownies
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
1 Preheat oven to 350.
2 With mixer, blend melted butter and cocoa until smooth. Add flour and sugar and beat together. Mix in eggs and vanilla (and nuts if using them) and mix until combined, do not overmix.
3 Pour batter into greased 9 x 13″ pan. Bake 20 – 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.
4 Let brownies cool about 10 – 20 minutes and then frost while still warm.
frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
dash salt
Mix all ingredients together until smooth.
Next up for Sunday dinner, this delicious pasta salad, everyone really loved this. The recipe comes from “Betty Crocker”, one of my favorite recipe sources. And it was the first time this summer that there were enough tomatoes from our garden to make an entire salad!
2 pounds Roma tomatoes, chopped (8 – 10 medium)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
8 ounces Mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2″ cubes (2 cups)
1 (1 pound) package rotini pasta (I used a pasta called “lumaca rigata” which everyone enjoyed because of the funny shape)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (totally forgot to put this on top because everyone was starving so I was rushing)
1 In large bowl, mix tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, oil, basil and mozzarella. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to blend flavors.
2 Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cold water to cool and drain.
3 In large serving bowl, mix cooked pasta and tomato mixture until well combined. Sprinkle Parmesan over salad.
Courtney and Jaren came over for dinner after church yesterday so we were all together and ate out on our deck in the backyard, it was good family time and a good dinner! This chicken recipe comes from a blog called “Picky Palate”. It has all the qualities of a recipe I love – easy to make, quick to make and delicious!
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I only had 4 thighs so I did those and then 4 chicken breasts too)
6 ounce jar of pesto (I made some fresh basil pesto with the basil from my garden)
1 envelope Ranch dressing seasoning mix
1/2 cup chicken broth
Place chicken thighs, pesto, Ranch dressing mix and chicken broth in crock pot and stir gently to combine all seasonings. (I put the chicken in then mixed together the pesto, Ranch and broth and then poured it over the chicken.) Cook on high 3 – 4 hours or on low 6 – 8 hours.
I made these last night for Bob and Luke’s fishing trip today. They were super easy, super quick and super tasty, my only complaint is that the recipe only made 2 dozen. The recipe comes from a blog called “The Frugal Girls”.
1 box Triple Chocolate Fudge cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 Combine cake mix, eggs and oil in large mixing bowl and beat well.
2 Stir in chocolate chips.
3 Chill dough in fridge for 15 minutes.
4 Drop onto ungreased nonstick cookie sheets in rounded balls.
5 Bake for 8 – 9 minutes or until done at 350.
(Here is what I’ll do differently next time – the dough was really oily so I think I’ll try 1/3 cup oil, there was barely enough dough to keep the chocolate chips in the cookies so I think I’ll try 3/4 cup chocolate chips and finally I will smoosh the cookies down a bit before baking because they didn’t really spread while baking and therefore came out as round cookie balls rather than more cookie shaped cookies.)
This is what happens when the zucchini explodes in your garden and you don’t have a job, you get multiple posts on the food blog involving zucchini! (Just wait till the tomatoes explode!) This recipe comes from a blog called “Nancy Creative”. It was good but I wanted it to be more lemony so if I make it again I will double the amount of lemon in the batter.
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil (I used vegetable)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
juice of 1 lemon (or 2 tablespoons) (I’ll double this next time)
zest of 1 lemon (double this too)
1 cup grated zucchini
1 Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour (or use the cooking spray for baking) a 9 x 5″ loaf pan.
2 Mix flour, baking powder and salt in bowl.
3 Beat 2 eggs well, then add oil and sugar and blend well. Add buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest and blend well. Fold in zucchini.
4 Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until blended, but don’t overmix.
5 Pour batter into loaf pan, bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 – 15 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely.
Lemon Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
juice of 1 lemon (or 2 tablespoons)
Whisk sugar and juice together until smooth. Spoon over cooled loaf.
Dinner last night, trying to use up some of the produce from our garden and also from my neighbor’s garden, thanks Teresa! This recipe comes from a website called “Ready Set Eat”. It was easy and fast to make and Bob loved it! We were thinking you could use it in a wrap too.
1 tablespoon canola oil (I used olive)
1 1/2 cups quartered lengthwise, sliced zucchini (I used zucchini and yellow or summer squash)
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1 onion, diced (the recipe didn’t call for this but I added it in)
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14.5 oz) can fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic, undrained (I didn’t have this so I used a regular can of diced tomatoes and then pressed about 2 cloves of garlic into the pot)
3/4 cup water
1 cup instant white rice, uncooked
1/2 cup shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese blend (forgot to put this on)
(I also added 1 can of Costco chicken)
1 Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini (and yellow if using) and bell pepper (and onion too if using) (also add garlic here too if using separately from tomatoes) , cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beans, undrained tomatoes and water (add chicken here too if using). Increase heat and bring to a boil.
2 Add rice and stir well. Cover, remove from heat and let stand 7 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with cheese.
Courtney called this morning requesting homemade Chicken Noodle Soup as her throat was sore so of course I had to make her a treat to go along with the soup and this bread seemed like just the thing as it would be soft on her throat and use up some zucchini from our garden and it was chocolate! Win, win, win! The recipe comes from a blog called “Notes From My Food Diary”. Cort let me slice off a piece before I left and it was pretty good, a good balance of zucchini and chocolate.
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1/3 cup cocoa powder or Dutch process cocoa
1 2/3 cup flour
2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini, gently pressed through a colander over a bowl to release some of its moisture
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips (a combination of bittersweet and semisweet), save 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top of bread (I used all semisweet)
1 Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2″ loaf pan.
2 Beat eggs, honey, oil, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add salt, baking soda, baking powder, espresso powder, cocoa and flour, mixing well until combined. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan. Scatter reserved chips on top of batter. (Totally forgot to do this!)
3 Bake bread for 65 – 75 minutes, until toothpick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
4 Remove from oven and let cool 10 – 15 minutes before removing from pan.
My son Zach asked if I would make some treats for him to take to work to share with his coworkers and of course I said yes so I found this recipe on my Pinterest page of “Sweet Recipes I Want To Try” and they did not disappoint! It’s a Betty Crocker recipe and is pretty easy to make. I just love that praline/penuche topping especially when paired with chocolate!
brownies
1 (1 pd, 2.3 oz) box fudge brownie mix, plus ingredients to make brownies
1/2 cup chopped pecans
praline frosting
1/2 cup whipping cream
6 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (to toast pecans, preheat oven to 350, spread pecans in single layer on baking sheet and bake about 5 – 7 minutes or until golden and toasted)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom only of 13 x 9″ pan with cooking spray.
2 Make brownie mix as directed on package. Stir in pecans. Bake as directed then cool completely, about 1 hour.
3 Mix cream, butter and brown sugar in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in toasted pecans, powdered sugar and vanilla. Cool 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
4 Spread frosting over brownies. Allow to stand for 30 – 45 minutes or until frosting is set before cutting. (If you cut the bars about 45 minutes after frosting, this will allow you to cut with minimum cracks to frosting.)
Penny's Food Blog 