Black and White Striped Fondant Birthday Cake

by penji1

It was Courtney’s friend Melody’s birthday on Saturday so Cort and I got to practice our fondant skills again which was awesome but this cake gave us a good workout since it was taller than all the others that we’ve done so far.  I had some difficulty laying the fondant over that tall beast but in the end it came out pretty good.  We copied the design from the Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste Lesson Plan book (with a few modifications of our own to hide the boo boo’s!).  The cake is the Chocolate Almond Sour Cream cake recipe and the fondant is Satin Ice White Buttercream fondant which so far is the best tasting fondant that we’ve tried.  Happy Birthday Melody!

Lunch at The Blue Lemon

by penji1

I’m a little behind in my blogging so for those of you who subscribe to my blog, get ready because there’s going to be several posts today as I try to catch up!  I had lunch last Thursday with my friends Diane, Burke and Barbara, who I all work with in the film business.  We try and meet every couple of months for lunch and it was my turn to set it up so I suggested we try The Blue Lemon in Highland.  It was really good food and the atmosphere and decor were awesome too (my favorite color is blue and the decor is a lot of blue and silver so I really liked it a lot!).  We ate and then sat and visited for awhile and no one made us feel like we had to leave which has happened to us in other restaurants the minute we finish eating.  My only complaint would be price; my sandwich was $10 and didn’t come with anything like fries, chips, etc, it was another $2 to get any kind of side with your meal.  Not a big deal but for $10 give me a few chips on the side or something!  🙂  So here’s what we ate:

They brought this to Barb by mistake but I took a picture of it anyway because it looked so pretty and tasty!  After looking at their menu on line, I think it’s the Artichoke and Tomato Chicken.  I would definitely try it on another visit.

Burkie had the Chipotle Pineapple BBQ Brisket and said it was really good.

Barb and I both had the Salmon BLT which had a fancier name on the menu but that’s what it was really!  It was excellent, I really liked it!

Di had the Blue Lemon Steak Griller which I forgot to take a picture of but found this one on their website and she said she really liked it too!

So I guess that’s 4 thumbs up for The Blue Lemon in Highland (there’s one in SLC too).  I will definitely go back again to try one of the other menu options as I did have a hard time trying to decide what I wanted from all the menu choices.

Head of the Class Graduation Cupcakes

by penji1

The daughter of one of my oldest friends (I’ve known Ann since we were like 11 – 12 years old) graduated from BYU’s College of Nursing yesterday (way to go Alyse!).  Her mom and dad threw her a party to celebrate so I made these cupcakes for the party.  They came out pretty cute and everyone seemed to like them.  The recipe is from the book “What’s New, Cupcake?” by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.  The cupcakes are the “Perfect Cake Mix Cupcakes” which are already on the blog so I’ll just tell you here how to make the “graduates”!

10 vanilla cupcakes baked in liners to match school colors

1 (16 oz) can vanilla frosting

yellow, red and blue food coloring

1 cup canned chocolate frosting

1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s)

1/4 cup each orange, red and yellow cereal O’s (such as Froot Loops)

12 sticks yellow gum (such as Juicy Fruit)

3 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles

2 teaspoons white decorating sugar

12 mini chocolate and peanut butter cups, unwrapped (such as Reese’s)

12 chocolate covered thin mint candies or graham crackers (such as After Eight or Afrika cookies)

10 blue mini candy coated chocolates (such as M & M’s minis)

1  Tint 1/4 cup of the vanilla frosting with the yellow and red food coloring.  Tint 3 tablespoons of the vanilla frosting blue.  Spoon each color frosting into a separate Ziploc bag.  Spoon the chocolate frosting into a Ziploc bag, press out excess air and seal the bags.  Tint the remaining vanilla frosting light tan with red food coloring and the cocoa powder.  (I just used the cocoa powder here.)  Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

2  Frost the cupcakes with a mound of light tan frosting and smooth.  For the ears, press 2 orange cereal O’s on opposite sides of each frosted cupcake, just above the paper liner.  (My box of Froot Loops hardly had any orange loops so I used yellow for the ears except on the cupcakes with yellow hair and then I used the few orange ones that I had.)  Add hair as directed below.

For a bald head:  Sprinkle with white decorating sugar to cover.  (I poured the sprinkles on a paper plate and gently rolled the top of the cupcake around the plate until covered.)

For a crew cut:  Place the sprinkles in a small shallow bowl.  Roll the frosted cupcake in the sprinkles to cover.

For curly hair:  Starting at the bottom edge of a frosted cupcake, press the red cereal O’s into the frosting in overlapping circles, leaving the top empty for the graduation cap.  Repeat with the yellow cereal O’s on another cupcake.

For long blond hair:  (Just FYI – the gum was really hard to work with, maybe mine wasn’t fresh or something, so I only did 2 gum heads!)  Using scissors and 4 sticks of the yellow gum, cut lengthwise strips 1/8″ wide from 1 short end of each gum stick, leaving 1/2″ at the other short end uncut.  Cut the remaining 2 sticks in half crosswise and cut more thin strips, leaving 1/2″ at the other short end uncut.  Press the long pieces into the frosting at the sides and back of the cupcake and add the short pieces to the front to make bangs.

For short blond hair:  (I forgot to take a picture of my short blond hair cupcake.)  Cut 6 gum sticks in half crosswise.  Using pinking shears, cut 1 short end to create a zigzag end.  Using straight scissors, cut long strips, leaving a 1/2″ section uncut at the straight end.  Press the gum pieces into the frosting to create 2 layers of hair.

For frosting hair:  Snip a small (1/8″) corner from the bags with each of the tinted frostings.  To make curls, (forgot to photo the frosting curl ones) pipe the orange frosting all over 1 cupcake.  Repeat with the chocolate frosting and another cupcake.  To make shaggy hair, start at the edge of the cupcake and, using the squeeze – release – pull technique, pipe rows of hair with the chocolate frosting.  To make parted hair, mark a line down the center of the cupcake with a toothpick and pipe rows of chocolate frosting from the center line on either side, leaving a small gap to show the tan frosting.

To make white shaggy hair:  (This was my contribution to the hair styles!)  Pour shredded coconut on a plate and gently roll frosted cupcake in coconut to coat.

3  Press a chocolate peanut butter cup, large end down, on top of each cupcake, adding a dot of frosting to secure if necessary.  Pipe a dot of chocolate frosting on top of each peanut butter cup and add the chocolate covered mint or cookie as the mortarboard.  For the tassel, starting from the center of the mortarboard, pipe several lines of blue frosting, allowing the frosting to overhang the edge of the chocolate.  Press a blue candy on top.

Minestrone Soup

by penji1

I thought I was done making soups this season but Mother Nature says no! so here is another variation on the Minestrone theme from the Food Network Magazine by Ellie Krieger.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, diced (I didn’t have an onion so I used 1/4 cup dried onion)

4 cloves garlic, minced (I pressed them with the garlic press)

2 stalks celery, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1/3 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2″ pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1 (28 oz) can no salt added diced tomatoes

1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes

6 cups low sodium chicken broth (I used three 14.5 oz cans of chicken broth)

1 (15 oz) can low sodium kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup elbow pasta  (I used cappelletti and I did 1 cup because 1/2 didn’t look like very much)

1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese  (I’m out of Parmesan, bummer!)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil  (left this off)

1  Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat.  Add onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic and cook 30 seconds.  Add celery and carrot and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes.  Stir in green beans, dried oregano and basil, 3/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste; cook 3 more minutes.

2  Add diced and crushed tomatoes and chicken broth to pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes.  Stir in kidney beans and pasta and cook until pasta and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.  Season with salt.  Ladle into bowls and top with Parmesan and chopped basil.

1 serving = 2 cups which is 260 calories

Orecchiette with Broccoli, Tomatoes and Sausage

by penji1

This recipe came from “All You” magazine.  The sausage gives it such great flavor!

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I pressed it)

8 oz hot or sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings (I used the smoked sausage that you can find in the grocery store near the cold cuts because my family likes it better and I cut it into bite size pieces)

1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes with juice

salt

1 pound orecchiette, penne or pasta shells (I used penne)

4 cups small broccoli florets

shredded Parmesan, optional

1  Warm oil in medium skillet over medium high heat.  Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add sausage and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until it looses its pink color, about 6 minutes.  (If you use the kind of sausage that I did then you just need to cook it until browned which will be less than 6 minutes.)  Add tomatoes with their juice and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the juice has evaporated and sauce has thickened, about 10 minutes.

2  While sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Stir in pasta and cook according to package directions.  In last 2 minutes of cooking time, stir in broccoli and continue to cook until pasta is al dente and broccoli is tender.  Drain, return to pot and toss with sauce.  Serve immediately, with shredded Parmesan on the side, if desired.

White Chip and Macadamia Nut Coffee Cake

by penji1

This is a Hershey recipe from http://www.HersheysKitchens.com.  Courtney was too hungry to wait for me to put the White Drizzle on it so we went without.  It was really sweet without the drizzle so I’m not sure if you even need it.

crumb topping:

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

6 tablespoons firm butter

1 1/3 cups (8 oz package) Hershey’s Premier White Chips and Macadamia Pieces (I couldn’t find these together in a bag, maybe they don’t make them anymore, so I used 4 oz (or 1/2 cup) white chips and 4 oz of walnuts)

coffee cake:

6 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 cups flour (I added another 1/2 cup as the batter looked really thin)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/4 cup milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

white drizzle:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 – 3 teaspoons milk

1 teaspoon softened butter

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1  Heat oven to 350.  Grease and flour 13 x 9 x 2″ pan.

2  For crumb topping – combine brown sugar, flour, butter, white chips and nuts in bowl until crumbly.  (I used my pastry blender and mixed the butter, sugar and flour together with that until crumbly and then stirred in the chips and nuts.)  Set aside.

3  For coffee cake – beat butter, sugar and brown sugar until well blended.  Stir together flour, baking powder and cinnamon then beat into butter mixture.  Gradually add milk, egg and vanilla, beating until thoroughly blended.  Spoon 1/2 the batter into prepared pan and top with 1/2 the crumb topping.  Gently spread remaining batter over topping.  Sprinkle remaining topping over batter.

4  Bake 30 – 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely.

5  For white drizzle – beat together powdered sugar, milk, butter and vanilla.  If necessary, add additional milk 1/2 teaspoon at a time until of desired consistency.  Drizzle over cake.

Pasta with Green Beans and Tuna

by penji1

This recipe came in one of my cooking magazines (can’t remember which one) and was in a “Cooking For One” section but it sounded good so I quadrupled the ingredients for the 4 of us and it came out great.  We had it hot for dinner but I’m thinking it will taste just as good, if not better, cold for lunch tomorrow.  I’ll give you the original recipe for 1 serving and then my amounts for 4 servings.

coarse salt and ground pepper

3 ounces fusilli or other short pasta (I used a 17.6 oz bag of fusilli)

2 ounces green beans, trimmed and halved (I used about 8 oz)

1 (3 oz) can  chunk light tuna packed in water, drained (I used two 7 oz cans)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (4 tablespoons but could have used more, maybe 6 – 8 )

1 tablespoon natural almonds, chopped and toasted (4 tablespoons)

2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley (left this out)

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest, plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice (I used all the zest and all the juice from 1 regular size lemon)

1 small garlic clove, pressed (I used 1 giant clove of garlic, probably could have used 2)

1 tablespoon chopped olives or capers (optional, I did not add these)

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions, adding green beans 1 minute before end of cooking.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine tuna, oil, almonds, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice and garlic; season with salt and pepper.  Drain pasta and beans and add to tuna mixture.  Stir to combine.

Caramel Brownies

by penji1

This is one of my all time favorite brownie recipes which I got from my sister in law Laurie many years ago.  They are so yummy and gooey and so easy to make.  They are also good cold.

1 package caramels (this time for the first time I used those Kraft Caramel Bits which are just small balls of caramel not wrapped which was great because I didn’t have to spend 20 minutes unwrapping caramel squares and I can tell you because I’m eating a brownie right now that they taste just the same as the caramel squares)

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 box German chocolate cake mix

3/4 cup melted butter

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 cup nuts (walnuts of course!)

1 cup chocolate chips

Melt caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk.  Heat oven to 350.  Grease 9 x 13″ pan.  Mix cake mix, butter, 1/3 cup evaporated milk and nuts together.  Press 1/2 the batter in prepared pan and bake for 6 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips then drizzle with caramel over chocolate chips and then crumble remaining 1/2 of dough over top of caramel.  Bake 15 – 18 more minutes.  Cool before cutting.  Can be stored covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Crunchy Orange Chicken Salad

by penji1

This recipe comes from VeryBestBaking.com.  The salad was really good but the dressing looked and tasted strange so I ended up throwing it out and making another dressing which comes from a Pampered Chef recipe for Asian Citrus Salad (which is already on the blog) so I’ll give you both dressing recipes here and you can decide which one you like best.

dressing:

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1/3 cup orange juice

1 egg, well beaten

salad:

3 cups cooked, chopped, boneless, skinless chicken breast meat (I used a can of Costco chicken)

3 large stalks celery, thinly sliced

3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

2 tablespoons sliced green onion

1 (11 oz) can Mandarin oranges, drained (reserve juice if making alternate dressing)

lettuce leaves

1  For dressing, combine sugar, flour and salt in saucepan; gradually stir in evaporated milk, orange juice and egg.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until dressing just comes to a boil and begins to thicken.  Remove from heat.  Cover and refrigerate until cool.

2  For salad, combine chicken, celery, nuts, dressing and green onion in large bowl.  Gently stir in oranges.  Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.  Serve over lettuce.

alternate Asian dressing:

7 oz oil (to cut down on the oil/fat content, I use the reserved juice from the Mandarin oranges and then however much oil is needed to get to 7 oz)

3 oz rice vinegar

2 oz soy sauce

1 clove garlic, pressed

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons sugar

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Family Pasta Salad

by penji1

A Pampered Chef recipe.

16 oz uncooked cavatappi pasta (I used elbows which are similar to cavatappi)

8 oz mild cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2″ cubes (I used shredded instead)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1/2 cup sliced celery

1 small carrot, grated (I hate grating carrots so I just used the veggie peeler to make long, thin strips instead)

1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I used a red onion)

1 cup light mayonnaise

8 oz plain fat free yogurt (didn’t have any yogurt so used sour cream instead)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1  Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and rinse pasta under cold running water until cold.  Place pasta in large bowl.  Add cheese, peas, celery, carrot and onion and mix gently.

2  Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, salt and pepper in small bowl.  Add to pasta mixture and stir to coat.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.