Bakerella I'm not. But I tried.

Have you seen the cute cake pops that Bakerella is famous for? If you haven't, you must pause right now and head to her website (http://www.bakerella.com/) and check them out right now.  Once you've done that, you can come back here and see how to have fun TRYING to make them. 

The premise is easy.  Bake a cake, crumb it up, add some frosting, make cake balls on a stick and decorate!  (I learned to make a photo collages just so I could show you all how I made a mess of my kitchen!)  After I baked a  Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix and used my decades old food processor (Christmas 1979 or thereabouts) to turn the cake into crumbs, I added about 2/3 of a container of cream cheese frosting.  One mistake here was probably not waiting until the cake was completely cool.   But proceeding along, I used a little ice cream scoop to make the balls, rolling them around in my clean hands to make them completely round.  I chilled them in the freezer slightly before "sticking" them.  You can see that there must be a better technique to this step.  I found that they stayed better once I put a little of the candy coating on the stick first. Styrofoam did help stabilize them while they waited for their turn to be dunked in the container of orange candy chips that had been melted in the microwave.  I found some food safe markers at Michaels that I thought I could use to draw cute little jack o'lantern faces on each one, but they didn't work.  I resorted to mini chocolate chips and green tic tacs.  After about three hours of this, I only had about four good ones and several ugly ones.  Since little D was coming over for a few hours, I placed the remaining cake mixture in the fridge to tackle the next day.  My cake pops might have been ugly, but they definitely passed his taste test!

Moving on.  The next morning I decided to take the easier route and turned my cake pops into cake truffles.  This I could handle!  I see some possibilities for Christmas cake truffles here.  Maybe red velvet cake mix, white candy coating and any number of holiday sprinkles or decorations.  Bakerella has lots of ideas on her website.   While I was there, I found this recipe for Pumpkin Butter Dessert Bars.  This is more my type of baking!  Our subdivision had a fall festival/potluck supper last evening so I took a plate of the bars and cake balls/truffles to share.  A good excuse to make a mess of my kitchen and try a fun new recipe !

Other than these kitchen adventures, I spent some time in the sewing room this week too.  Now that they've received their package I can show  the three little embroidered shirts for three little spooks.  Do you know how hard it is to find nice plain colored t-shirts for little kids? 

Have a good week !

Complete Randomness

I can't believe it's been a whole week without a new post here. Sorry to those of you who've taken the time to stop by and have found that I've been MIA. So now you'll be forced to endure a blog post of complete randomness (sp?) because I guess that's been my week.

The things you learn on Facebook. Yes, I've succumbed to the monster that's taking over the cyber world. It is almost as time draining as blog hopping but with a shorter attention span required. But I did learn that the Oklahoma niece is a fan of this tea. So while at the grocery this morning I found Stash's Pomegranate Raspberry Green Tea. I understand her obsession. This is my new favorite too! For the rest of you in the Monday Losers with Sharon, this is my tip of the week. A little green tea is good for you and can help ward off the snacking urge. (Note the Breville one cup coffee brewer which we love. It works great for a quick cup of hot water for tea too.) Have you heard about the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day? Just one word - yummy! The dough is mixed with only four simple ingredients and kept in a container the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. I've yet to master the technique to form the perfect loaf but who cares what it looks like, right? Next time I'll try the recipe that has more whole grains since we don't eat a lot of white foods any more.
D continues to stack up the kitchen cabinet doors. Beamer loves to go in the workshop and check on the progress.
He's even gotten some of the doors stained. The beautiful grain lines of the quarter-sawn oak are even more apparent with a little stain. The doors (and the kitchen) will be a Mission/Arts and Crafts style. We finally decided on door hardware this week so hopefully will have that to show soon. The first bid we got for counter tops was pretty scary so the search is still on. I'd like to have quartz (Silestone or similar) or granite.
I've been in the sewing room too. I completed this Bunny Hill Jelly Bag using a portion of Tula Pink jelly roll and there's a knitting project in the works too. I'm having a good time with that one - but that's all I can say right now! A little progress has been made on the nursery bedding. More to come on that in the future.

So that is my random Monday post. Oh - yes before I forget, Miss Sharon, I did lose .5 this past week! A completely undeserved surprise when warm, fragrant, yummy white bread has been resting on my kitchen counter next to a tub of butter and calling my name!

Pans, pedicure and such

Have you made them yet? This is the second batch. Can't you smell them? My normally dessert avoiding husband finished off the last pan. Check back to the last post for the recipe. The smaller 9x9" pan is definitely the way to go. I love my Goldtouch pans from Williams-Sonoma. I got them for Christmas a couple of years ago and since then I've thrown out some of the old rusty pans and added to my collection. My last purchase was the muffin tin, but I've also got a 9x13 cake pan, a bread pan and an awesome sculpted pumpkin bread pan. They bake very evenly, are extremely non-stick and don't scratch easily. A little pricey but worth the extra pennies. Here's the result of my sewing ventures for the week. I ordered this kit from Cozy Cottage Fabrics after seeing it on another blog that I've become addicted too, Red Geranium Cottage . I almost didn't post this photo because I don't think I did it justice. I'm not happy with the mistakes I made on the outer border but by the time I realized what I'd done, it was too late to fix. So I used this as a stipple stitch experiment (try saying that three times fast!) My machine has a pre-programmed small stipple so I tried that on the outside border. It's not really the look I was hoping but glad I tried it. Someday I'll try to free-motion quilt - when I get brave! In the meantime - I've got a new table topper:) My BOM quilt from 2007 went off to a quilter this week along with the first quilt for Grandbaby#1. I can't wait to get them back but I'll have to be patient for a few weeks. I'm not sure what the next project will be. E reports that the computer sleeve fit the MacBook nicely but suggested that a handle might be nice. So I might try making another-after I get back from vacation!

Yes I'm going on vacation! Just the girls- E, B and me. They had planned on doing something together then invited dear ol' mom to come along. Since we're going to do the beachy thing, the much needed pedicure was today. I love the polish color. It is Opi , Charmed by a Snake. Wouldn't that be a fun job, to come up with the names for new colors! It was pretty cold coming home in the flimsy little salon flip-flops. And of course there was sn*w! I'm sure I'll come back with lots of pictures, so stay tuned! I don't know if I can post to the blog from my iphone, but I may try. Sometimes it can be a little tempermental with emails and such.

But before I go on vacation, I'll be taking a trip to Kansas. Not a vacation, but a quick trip to attend Aunt Sylva's funeral. It will be a sad occasion, but nice to re-connect with aunts, uncles and several cousins. I just looked at the weather and the forecast is good. Just like many areas, Kansas has had a long winter. Temps in the 5o's and low 60's almost sound tropical.

(I wish someone would explain to me why Blogspot chooses to double space where I don't want to!)

Leaving you with Beamer as he enjoys a little nap. Why is it that any time I lay the clean laundry on the bed, he uses it for a pillow? Today he picked D's favorite Life is Good socks. So I guess, if you're a cat and there is warm from the dryer laundry to curl up on, life is good!

Dreaming about RV's

Could this be the RV of our dreams? This weekend we drove across the river to the Boat, Sport and RV Show at the fairgrounds. After paying our $9.00 entry fees (yes, each!) we spent a few hours touring some of the RV's and motorhomes on display. It looked like there were many more boats than RV's but we didn't even make it over to look at them. We've had a boat or two in the past, so that's not an activity we're going to pursue anytime soon. This 1954 travel trailer had been restored by a local RV dealer and was drawing quite a crowd. The RV industry has certainly come a long way.
This is a photo of the interior of the 5th wheel travel trailer that we liked the most. It is a Carriage Carri-Lite. The interior workmanship and cabinetry impressed my woodworker husband. It even had a flat screen television that disappeared behind the fireplace, tile floors, 4 door refrigerator and many, many other deluxe features. Of course, the price tag on a unit like this is deluxe too! We have heard good things about the Carriage products and they do make less expensive models. I follow the blog of a couple who are full-timing in a Carriage 5th wheel, The Wandering Wishnies and they seem to be very happy with theirs.
Do you suppose he's wondering if he could fit a motorcycle or woodworking tools in there? That is one concern we have with getting a 5th wheel, as to whether we could double tow the motorcycle trailer or put a lift on the back of the trailer for the bike. We keep looking for a toy hauler that has some of the same features as these nice 5th wheels. But it seems that they are built to cater to the motorcross or racecar fans and then also lose some of the living space.

One of the new things we've been seeing lately is alot of the Heavy Duty Trucks folks are using to pull their 5th wheels. There were a few specialty motorcycles on display too. This chopper was painted in honor of the Ryder Cup that will be held in Louisville in this coming fall.

That's the highlights of the weekend. Today I've been experimenting with a different camera, but I'm not sure if it takes any better photos than my little Kodak. Can you tell which Beamer photo is taken on my camera or on D's Sony? I think the zoom might be better on his and also the close-ups. I'll have to try some more when I have something more interesting than my lazy cat.

I saved dessert for last! It is (mostly) sugar-free! Now I'm going to go find the Cool Whip.
Just a little teaser as to the remodeling project. It doesn't look like much yet does it? He has completed more than this though! (It's just kind of hard to photograph.)
Until next time. Thanks for checking in!

Photos of the Week

A cold winter day comes along and I get a hankering to bake. Why does that happen when we're trying to cut down on carbs and calories? So I tried to find the healthiest bread recipe I could and then vary it according to what I have on hand. The recipe I found online here. I like the fact that this website lets you change the serving size and adjusts the quantities automatically. I changed to serving 36 instead of 72 and it made one nice size loaf and three small loaves. I almost forgot to take a photo until we'd sliced off the first two pieces. Yum! I added more ground flax seed and used some oat flour to make up for some of the whole wheat flour. I was able to use some of the wheat you gave me last summer, K. I ground it in my coffee grinder (after cleaning it out, of course).

We had a little snow here this week in Southern Indiana. These are views out our back door. Just ignore the power lines and it looks pretty nice! Even though there's a road behind our house, there's not a lot of traffic and we can enjoy the view of the farms and trees. Some of you folks in the "north" will find it hard to believe that this was enough snow to cancel school and other activities! I suppose there was a little ice on some of the roads though.

Leo came to visit this week. See how much he's grown! Soon those ears will be at proper German Shepherd attention. He's been going to school and doggie day care and learning good puppy behavior.

Until next time - have a great weekend!

Is it really October?

Happy October ! Fall is probably my favorite time of year. But where is it? Here it is the 4th of October and it is 90 degrees outside. Crazy mother nature. I guess I'll just have to pretend like it is and decorate for the season anyway! This is a photo of my front door - the mums should open up bronze/orange.
I was in the mood to bake today. So I baked Gingersnaps. Back when son J was in high school, this was his favorite cookie. I'm not sure if they still are ( my guess is that anything his bride bakes is his favorite !) but he'll probably tell me to send them his way anyway. I've sort of given up on my experiments to make cookie recipes healthier. They just don't taste the same do they? But I did replace half the flour with whole wheat flour and added about 1/8 cup ground flax seed. They look a little different but do taste pretty good. Now where's the apple cider?
More domestic things today. I've been working on this Christmas lap quilt called All Wrapped Up and have ten of the blocks done, but not sewn together yet. I bought the kit at Among Friends Quilt Shop . Click here for a picture of what it is supposed to look like when I get done. I probably should have taken the class to keep me motivated. The table topper below is one of my first quilt projects I actually completed about 4 years ago. It is always such a good feeling to actually get something finished. Like most quilters, I have lots of UFO's (in quilt language that's unfinished objects) and my table in the basement usually has at least two or three spread out. Here is a photo of my sewing center in the basement. I didn't take a picture of the table in the other room because it was so messy! My sewing machine is a Husqvarna Viking Designer II. I really enjoy this machine but it has more functions than I can actually use. Maybe someday I'll take the time to figure out all the specialty stitches. I did take a class in free motion quilting this summer and I hope to be able to feel like I'm proficient enough to do it on something someday.
Here's my view from my sewing machine. When we finished the basement in this house we made the office/bedroom/sewing room so I could see the television while sewing. It works pretty good, I just need to spend more time there and I could get some of those UFO's done! Note the entertainment center and speaker cabinets. My much talented husband made these last winter from quarter sawn oak. Aren't they great? I am so lucky!!

Now back to sewing.....

Muffins for the Road

I should be packing for our weekend trip up to Chicago land, but I thought I would share a recipe with you all this morning. I made these yesterday to take with us . The photos aren't very good - but the muffins are!

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

3 eggs

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup Splenda Blend

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

1/2 cup applesauce

3 T softened light cream cheese

1 t. vanilla

2 cups grated zucchini

Beat the eggs and sugars together, add

remaining ingredients and mix well.

Add:

6 T. unsweetened cocoa

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 - 1/2 cup ground flax seed

1 1/4 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (dredge in a little flour to keep them from sinking)

1/2 cup (or more) chopped nuts

Blend well. Fill muffin tins (paper lined- makes about 18-24)

or 1 bread pan and 12 muffins.

Bake: 350 degrees

muffins 20-22 minutes

bread 50-60 minutes (leave bread in pan

about 10 min. before removing)

I've been experimenting with some of my standard recipes to make them a little more healthy. I've been pleased with the results of this one.

It is a beautiful day today, so it should be a good day for travel. Though I'm sure everyone else will be on the road for the long weekend.

I managed to get out and get my two mile walk in this morning. It certainly goes faster when it's not so hot and I put my MP-3 player on. I've got some good songs on there right now. Brad Paisley has a funny new song called "Online". I particularly like the marching band version at the end ! Another new song I've added is the Reba McEntire/Kelly Clarkson duet "Because of You". I've got quite a variety to listen too. Not just country but others like Josh Groban, Jewel, John Mayer, Jack Johnson (thanks J!) and Elliott Yamin plus many others ( but yes, mostly country!)

Off to find the suitcase now. Looking forward to seeing some our family this weekend. I hope to have some good stuff to blog about next week!