Carrot Art, Carrot Ninja, Carrot Cake

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My wonderful 8-going-on-40-year-old son Walker has recently gone on another health kick.  Usually, he comes home from school and has an hour of downtime before any afternoon activities or before he does his homework.  He, of course, goes right to the refrigerator to get a snack which is typically lemonade and a bag of chips.  Well, now he has turned in the bag of chips for “long carrots” as he calls them (as opposed to the mini carrots that come already peeled).  I know he must love the taste of carrots, but I think he has more fun peeling the carrots and carving them up into different shapes before he eats them.  I came downstairs the other day to find carrot peeling all over the sink, counter and window behind the sink.  Exasperated, I asked him how he got peelings everywhere.  He replied that he just peels carrots so fast, like a ninja, that they fly all over the place and then proceeded to show me.  He is too funny, and it is impossible to get mad at him for carrot peelings all over the kitchen when he is a self-proclaimed carrot ninja.  He also has taken to cutting his carrots into pipes or different animals.  I googled “carrot art” today and am not sure whether or not I should show this to him as he will have me buy all the carrots in the store so he can try to make something similar.

So with all the carrots in my house now, I guess a carrot cake is necessary.  I looked up a bunch of carrot cake recipes, and surprisingly, a lot of them had pineapple or cranberry or some other type of fruit or nut.  I was just after a plain carrot cake with cream cheese icing (which makes everything better), and this seemed to be the best one.  Let me know if you have a better recipe!!

Ingredient for Carrot Cake:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

4 eggs

3 cups shredded carrots

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients

Add sugar, oil and eggs

Mix well

Add carrots, mix well

Bake at 350 for 1 hour

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Icing:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy

Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar

Store in the refrigerator after use

 

The Surprising Taste of Honey

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Walker went on a field trip recently to Bee City (www.beecity.net) as his science class is studying pollination and the different parts of a flower.  He had a ball! In addition to the bee hives,  they have a petting zoo with llamas, lemurs, monkeys, miniature horses, etc.  The best thing though was that he came home with a big plastic bear full of honey.  He promptly asked if he could try it, and so he opened up the squeeze top and squeezed a little into his mouth.  I am so sad that I didn’t have my camera with me because his face was priceless.  His eyes opened so wide and he said, “That is not at all what I thought it would taste like!!!”  I was shocked that he had never tried honey before.  How had I let this happen?  Honey is not something that I keep around- I don’t put it in tea or on toast.  I love honey, but I just never use it.   I have no idea what he thought it was going to taste like, and of course, he really couldn’t describe what it did in fact taste like.  He is an extremely adventurous eater.  He has tried blood sausage, tripe, quails eggs, escargot, any kind of liver pate, he loves caviar, so I had just assumed that honey was on the list as well- I guess not.  I, on the other hand, have been known to be a touch picky when it comes to food.  I have to say that I am much much more adventurous now, thanks to Walker, and that it really has never been a fear of what food will taste like, but it is more about the texture.  I was recently out to dinner with friends, and the chef brought out a dish of breakfast radishes for us to try.  Everyone was raving over them, and I thought about Walker and his surprise with the honey.  So I tried the radish, and it wasn’t anything like I thought it would taste.  Isn’t it amazing that food can taste so different than how you thought it was going to be.  But, back to the honey.  Now that I have a big plastic bear full of honey, I started looking for a recipe that would use the wonderful and “surprising” taste of honey to make the dish.  I found this Classic Honey Flan recipe and photo on www.honey.com which seemed like a pretty reliable source for all things honey.

Classic Honey Flan

Ingredients:

3 eggs beaten

1 1/2 cups 2% milk

1/2 cup of honey divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Combine eggs, milk, 1/4 cup honey and vanilla. Beat until mixed but not foamy. Combine remaining 1/4 cup honey and cinnamon in small bowl; mix well. Place 4 (6-ounce) custard cups in 8-inch square baking dish. Spoon 1 tablespoon honey-cinnamon mixture into each custard cup; divide egg mixture into each custard cup. Place baking dish on middle rack of oven; pour boiling water into baking dish around custard cups to 1-inch depth. Bake at 325°F 30 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Serve warm or cold.

Easter Angel Cake

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It was over 90 degrees in Charleston yesterday.  It is 50 degrees today.  Other than the obvious answer of a cold front, how does that happen?  I feel like it is colder Easter weekend than it was for Christmas.  The one good thing about the cold. I was supposed to go to the Masters today but had to give up my ticket because my dad had surgery today (he’s ok), and I didn’t want to be out of touch for the entire day.  The good thing about the cold is that now I don’t really mind that I missed the Masters.  I really don’t care that much for golf, and I would have been miserable walking around for hours in this weather.  So, instead, I have caught up on some TV, and I made an Easter Angel Cake.  I was looking at Pinterest.com yesterday and saw so many great ideas for Easter.  People are so freaking creative it boggles my mind.  I am not one of those people, but this sounded so easy and cute that I thought I would give it a try.  All you need is a box of Angel Food cake mix, whip cream (you can either make it or just use cool whip which is what I did because I was running a little short on time), green sprinkles, and some sort of fun Easter candy- I used pastel colored Reeces Pieces- yum.  There was the suggestion to use shaved coconut but I am not a huge coconut fan, so I decided to skip that, but I do think I would look very pretty and fun.  So, basically, follow the directions on the Angel Food box to make the cake.  Let the cake cool and the cover with the whip cream.  Then decorate with sprinkles and candy to make it look like a little egg hunt.  I was hoping to do this yesterday with Walker because this is such a fun and easy thing to do with kids, but after homework and soccer practice, we ran out of time.  He headed off to NYC today to spend Easter with his dad, so I had to decorate the cake alone, but I think Walker would be pleased with my efforts.

Alice Boffin Toft’s Bakery

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This is Alice Boffin Toft’s Bakery.  I am not sure where or when we got this, but as a child, this was a favorite.  It was my sister’s, and while she allowed me to play with it, I was extremely jealous, so for a birthday, I got a vegetable cart which you will see in other pictures.  Obviously, not nearly as cool, but when combined, the two were better than any mini grocery store.  If you look closely, in the front is a big yellow cake with a yellow rose.  I thought that was the most beautiful cake in the world and dreamed one day of being able to get a cake like that.  I actually hadn’t thought about that cake for some time, but my wonderful, awesome, beautiful nieces- Phoebe  age almost 6 and Anna age 2 1/2- came for a visit last week, and my mother brought out the Alice Boffin Toft bakery and the vegetable stand.  They loved it!  I will readily admit to taking the box and playing with the bakery while Anna was taking a nap and Phoebe and Walker were off doing something else.  Well, of couse Anna woke up from her nap and busted me in the living room playing with the bakery (you can see the vegetable cart in this picture).  Then Walker and Phoebe found us, and then my play time was over.  I am so glad that this little bakery and all its wonderful treats is still something that little girls and even little boys when dragged along by their sweet cousins want to play with.  In keeping with loving things from the past, here is my great grandmother’s chocolate cake recipe which is super delicious.  However, one day, I hope to be a baker fine enough to make a beautiful yellow cake with a beautiful yellow rose, but until then, I can always pull out Alice Boffin for fun!

Sarah Walker’s Chocolate Cake:

Cream:

1 ¼ sticks butter

2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Then add, one at a time

2 large eggs

Mix:

1 ½ cups unbleached flour

1 tsp. salt

Mix:

1 tsp. baking soda in ½ c. boiling water

1/3 cup buttermilk

Melt:

2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350.  Place chocolate in small pan to melt in oven or in microwave.  Beat butter and sugar, add eggs.  Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with buttermilk and soda mixture.  Bake in 2  8” pans at 350 for 30 minutes.

 

Dreaming about Blackberry Farm

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I woke up around 3 am on Saturday morning from a dream that I can’t remember but with the idea in my head that it would be a fantastic birthday present for Corby and his best friend Hank (their birthdays are just a few days apart) to go to Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.  Blackberry Farm is a luxury hotel, food mecca, garden of Eden, paradise that I have only heard about from a few friends that have been very lucky to get to go through their work.  It sounds so fabulous and delicious that it is clear why I am dreaming about it.  So, in my 3am daze, it was all planned out in my head perfectly.  Hank and his wife who live in Houston with their two adorable little girls would fly to Memphis where they have family to drop off the girls and then drive over to Blackberry Farm.  Corby and I would drive up from South Carolina, and Hank’s wife Katherine and I would cleverly devise some meeting where Corby and Hank would be so surprised that we were all there together, and we would have a phenomenal weekend with glorious food and wine.  I thought about our upcoming trip (their birthdays are not until February- maybe getting a little ahead of myself) all weekend and rushed into work this morning to google Blackberry Farm.  The website www.blackberryfarm.com promised everything I was imagining.  The scenery is breathtaking, the accommodations look heavenly, and the food, well almost too good to be true.  With a little more digging, I soon discovered that it would take a lottery win for my literal and figurative dream weekend to happen.  But still, here is another amazing thing about this farm- they have truffle dogs.  Yes, that’s right, dogs that hunt for truffles.  Apparently, most of the truffles in the world come from Spain, Italy and France, but a few years ago, they discovered that truffles grew exceptionally well in the hills of Tennessee, so of course, truffle dogs are in order.  And, they are adorable!  This is a picture from an article Garden & Gun wrote a while ago about the truffle pups, and here is the article http://gardenandgun.com/article/gold-diggers.  In addition to the truffle pups, Blackberry Farm has a wide variety of activities to make your stay even more unforgettable.  Anything from fly fishing to fox hunting to horse back riding to yoga and to cycling with on occasion George Hincapie WHAT!!  Check out their Tour de Smokies in October (dreaming dreaming dreaming)http://www.blackberryfarm.com/events-manager/tour-de-smokies.  Not only that, the resident chef is Joseph Lenn who received the title of Grand Chef by the Relais and Chateaux organization.  And, he studied and worked in Charleston with Chef Bob Carter at the Peninsula Grill and assisted Chef Sean Brock in opening the Heritage Hotel in Nashville- it is destiny that I go.  So, while I work on my lottery win, I will continue to dream about one day going to Blackberry Farm, meeting some truffle pups, being surrounded by gorgeous scenery, and salivating over the food and wine.  One day!

All done skiing- its time for Spring!

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We got back from Vail last night to 80 degree weather- a very welcome change despite the fact that I was still wearing my wool socks and my feet almost melted off walking to the car.  Vail was amazing!  I have not been to Colorado in over 20 years and never in the winter, and it is breathtakingly beautiful.  It certainly helped that the weather was excellent- it was in the 50s by mid morning of the first three days we skied which made the snow like mashed potatoes, and it was spring skiing at its finest.  The last day it was about 20 degrees, and I had not packed for 20 degrees.  Lets just say that Corby spent the majority of the last day skiing by himself while I walked around Vail village looking for a present for Walker and then hunkered down the awesome coffee shop the Yeti’s Grind (www.yetisgrind.com) which has the best cupcakes.  On St. Patrick’s day, we went in there before we hit the slopes and got an Irish Carbomb cupcake- holy amazing Batman, that cupcake set me right for the rest of the day.  One of other fun places we checked out was the Red Lion (www.theredlion.com).   This is probably the most famous apres ski place in Vail, and it is not to be missed.  Phil Long puts on a fantastic show while you are indulging in their GI-NORMOUS plate of nachos and sipping on your favorite cocktail.  It might be worth getting of the mountain early just to grab a seat.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, we spend one day skiing at Beaver Creek and had lunch at the Ritz Carlton.  This place is kind of silly it is so nice.  We had lunch on big couches (the couch in the picture is the one we sat on) in front of a huge window watching skiers come down the hill, and we sat next to Joe Kern from CNBC (I had no idea who he was, but Corby is a big CNBC watcher).  Corby and I spilt a turkey club and a bowl of tomato parmesan soup. Honestly, I am not sure it it was the setting or the relief of taking my ski boots off, but that was the best damn soup ever!

Now we are back in Charleston- it is full on Spring with the azaleas blooming everywhere and tank tops and flip flops have taken back over, and to put the ski season and winter behind me, I found this very spring time recipe on www.GoodHousekeeping.com for a Lemon Ricotta Cheese cake.  Enjoy!!

Lemon Ricotta Cheese cake

Ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons butter or margarine,  softened
3 to 4 lemons
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 packages   (8-ounce)  reduced-fat cream  cheese softened
1 container   (15-ounce)  part-skim  ricotta cheese
4 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half or light  cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan with heavy-duty foil to prevent batter from leaking out during baking.

In a springform pan, with fork, mix graham cracker crumbs and butter until crumbs are moistened. With hand, press mixture firmly onto bottom of pan.  Bake crust 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack, about 15 minutes.

Reset oven to 325 degrees F. Meanwhile, from 2 lemons, grate 2  teaspoons peel and squeeze 1/3 cup juice. In small bowl, stir together sugar and  cornstarch until blended. In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat cream  cheese and ricotta until smooth, about 5 minutes. Slowly beat in sugar mixture.  Reduce speed to low; beat in eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, and lemon peel and  juice just until blended, scraping bowl often with rubber spatula.

Pour batter onto crust. Bake cheesecake 1 hour. Turn off oven; let  cheesecake remain in oven 1 hour.

Remove cheesecake from oven. To help prevent cracking during cooling,  run a thin knife between edge of the cheesecake and pan as soon as the cheesecake comes  out of the oven. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate cheesecake at least 6 hours or overnight, until well chilled.

To serve, remove foil and side of pan and place cake on plate. From remaining lemons, with a sharp knife, cut 8 very thin center slices; use to garnish the top of the cheesecake.

 

Disney Surprise and Profiteroles

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We surprised Walker with a trip to Disney World this past week.  Corby and I have been planning this since before Christmas, and I was looking forward to his reaction more than to the trip.  We had it all planned out- we would pick him up from school and tell him we were taking him down to a plantation (he is doing a year-long project on plantations), and then we would surprise him when we got somewhere in Georgia.  Of course, last Tuesday night, Walker woke up with 104 fever and did not go to school on Wednesday but to the doctor, who pronounced that Walker had strep throat.  Fortunately, his fever was gone and we got him on antibiotics immediately, so we were still able to leave on Wednesday afternoon.  We still told him that we were going to a plantation, and finally, somewhere south of Savannah, Walker asked when we were going to get there- here is the video of his reaction- so fun- click here to watch disney video!!  Thursday morning we went to the Animal Kingdom, where Corby and Walker rode the Yeti Mt. Everest ride 3 or 4 times.  I sat and waited as I don’t do roller coasters.  We went back to the hotel for some lunch and pool time and then headed over to Epcot for some more roller coasters for Walker and Corby and more waiting for me.  Then we went to Les Chefs (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/les-chefs-de-france/) for dinner in France at Epcot.  I don’t actually remember what I had for dinner because I was so excited to order Profiteroles for dessert.  I had read Les Chefs was known for their Profiteroles, and I was beyond happy when they arrived, as they were so delicious.  I have found a recipe on www.joyofbaking.com that looks very good, and when I get more than 5 minutes of free time, I can’t wait to try to make them!  The rest of the trip was fabulous- lots more roller coasters and waiting.  Walker’s reaction and the profiteroles were definitely my favorite parts!

Choux Pastry

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs lightly beaten

Egg Wash Glaze:
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

for Choux Pastry:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place rack in the center of the oven.  Lina a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, and salt.  Set aside.  Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and with a wooden spoon or spatula, quickly add the flour mixture.  Return to heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball (about a minute of two).  Transfer the dough to your electric mixer or hand mixer and beat on a low speed a minute or two to release the steam from the dough.  Once the dough is lukewarm, start adding the lightly beaten eggs and continue to mix until you have a smooth sticky paste.  Spoon or pipe 12 mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, spacing them a couple of inches apart.  Beat together the egg and salt for the glaze.  With a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the dough.  Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.  Bake for another 30-40 minutes or until the shells are a nice amber color and when split, are dry inside.  Turn the oven off and with the door slightly ajar let the shells dry out for a further 10-15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on a wore rack.

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:

4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate cut into small pieces
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Chocolate Ganache Directions:
Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth.  Use
immediately. (The ganache can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. Reheat in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.)

Filling:
Vanilla ice cream
To assemble- split the pastry shells in half, fill the bottom halves of the shells with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and replace the top.  Drizzle each profiterole liberally with warm chocolate ganache.  Serve immediately.

Charleston Cooks!

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As it turns out, my previous post about Corby not being all that into Valentine’s Day was a bit off.  Corby, the sweet, wonderful, handsome, talented, brilliant man that he is, gave me a cooking lesson at Charleston Cooks! as a Valentine’s Day present.  Here is the drawing in my card- it is of Meg and Corby going to Charleston Cooks! and they are excited- it is pretty cute. We had our class last night, and it was so much fun.  The title of the class was Winter Comfort Foods, and while it was almost 80 degrees in Charleston yesterday and felt nothing like winter, I am never going to turn down the opportunity to make, and here is the menu we made:

Appetizer: Homemade Three Cheese Crackers with Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Entree: Beef, Pork and Veal Meatloaf with Italian Herbs and Barbeque Sauce

Sides: 1) Brown Butter Scallion Mashed Potatoes

2) Spinach Souffle

Dessert: Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

All fantastic!  Our amazing instructor was the very talented chef Emily Kimbrough- she has cooked all over the country at amazing restaurants from Colorado and finally, luckily for us, to Charleston.  The evening consisted of a walk through the kitchen with Emily explaining the concept behind each dish, and then the group broke into little groups to make each dish.  Corby and I chose the Spinach Soufflé station as, while I can make popovers well, I have never mastered a soufflé… until last night, where we made the most amazing spinach souffles EVER.  While I might admit to not being the biggest fan of spinach, this really was delicious.  I can’t wait to try a cheese soufflé because what could be bad about that?  I am also very excited to try a dessert souffle as well.  The interesting thing that she told us was that as you obviously coat the souffle dishes with butter so that they won’t stick, it is best to line them with something so that the souffle will rise much higher.  For a dessert souffle, you should coat the inside of the dish after you butter it with sugar, and for the spinach souffle, we coated it with finely grated Parmesan cheese.  Emily said this makes a souffle rise much much higher.  Here is the recipe for the spinach souffle that serves 12:

spinach souffle

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
10 oz frozen spinach thawed
2 shallots, minced
2 1/2 cups milk
2 cups Swiss cheese, grated and divided
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 tsp nutmeg
6 egg whites
2 egg yolks

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.  Butter 12 4 oz ramekins.  Sprinkle the butter with cheese.
  2. Using your hands, press liquid out of the spinach and discard liquid.  Set aside.
  3. Heat 5 tbsp butter in a saute pan over medium heat.  When the butter is hot, add the shallots.  Cook, without stirring, until the shallots start to brown.
  4. Add four and stir constantly until the flour smells nutty, about 3-5 minutes.
  5. Add the milk, about 1/2 cup at a time, and allow the mixture to thicken after each addition.  Simmer until the mixture coats the back of a spoon.
  6. Add the spinach, 1 1/3 cups of cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Simmer until the mixture is very thick.  Allow to cool slightly- about 5 minutes.
  7. Meanwhile, place the egg whites in a mixing bowl and whisk to soft peaks.  Do not overbeat as this will make it difficult to fold the egg whites into the soufflé properly.
  8. Once the spinach mixture is cool, place egg yolks in a mixing bowl.  Whisking constantly, add the spinach mixture slowly to the egg yolks.  This is called tempering (bringing two things to the same temperature)
  9. Add 1/3 of the egg whites to the spinach mixture and fold in.  Repeat with the remaining egg whites until all is incorporated.  Do not over-mix as this will make the soufflé not rise.
  10. Divide the mixture among the ramekins and top with the remaining cheese.  Bake in the oven until puffed and set, about 25-30 minutes.  Serve immediately.  Do not open the oven for at least 20 minutes as this can make the soufflé fall.

I know this may seem like a lot of directions, and having everything laid out in the proper measurements was incredibly helpful, but it really seemed easy to make, and they were so good and light and puffy.  The whole dinner experience was fantastic. The meatloaf was amazing as was the soup and mashed potatoes, and the chocolate cake was out of this world.  It was all so easy to make and the instructions were so helpful.  Emily taught us so many tricks about how to cut an onion without crying (don’t cut the root off- had no idea!) and how not to get your meatloaf mixture all gummy.  Here is a picture of the dinner minus the dessert which by the way, some crazy in the back of the class didn’t want hers and guess who got extra- we did!  We had a great time, and I can not wait to go back.  Charleston Cooks! is owned by Maverick Southern Kitchen Group (www.mavericksouthernkitchens.com) which also owns Slightly North of Broad- aka S.N.OB. (where Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively had lunch on Monday- fancy), High Cotton, and the Old Village Post House.  All of these restaurants are musts when visiting Charleston.  Thank you Charleston Cooks! and Emily (and Corby) for a wonderful night!!

Skiing, Swimming, Sledding, and a Pinata

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We took 14 people up to North Carolina with us this past weekend, so including us, there were 12 adults and 5 children (and 2 dogs). It was a packed house, but we all had so much fun!  Corby, Walker and I drove up on Thursday night which also happened to be Corby’s birthday- we stopped in Blowing Rock at Bistro Roca (www.bistroroca.com) for dinner which was fabulous.  I had a pulled pork crepe that was out of this world.  Walker had mussels that he said were delicious, and Corby had meatloaf that was really good.  The only drawback was that we saved one slice of meatloaf to put in our eggs on Friday morning, and when we stopped to get gas after dinner, Nemo- my pesky 10-year-old Springer Spaniel- ate the meatloaf- it was disappointing.  Oh well.  Friday, we skied all day at Sugar Mountain which was so much fun- bluebird day and 50 degrees- what more could you ask for! The rest of the gang arrived on Friday night.  Saturday, we woke up to another beautiful warm day and an amazing egg, cheese, and vegetable casserole made by Marguerite.  So, the way we set up the weekend was every family was in charge of one meal- we didn’t count lunch, and I was in charge of appetizers and desserts.  After our marvelous and healthy breakfast (the casserole consisted of the only vegetables we had all weekend) we set off on a hike to Lost Cove, while the kids went snow tubing.  It is a beautiful hike down to these amazing swimming holes generally used in the summer unless you are crazy like the men on our hike who decided to swim- in February- in 45 degree water- what?  Anyway, appetizers after we got home included “cheesy goodness” which is Edam cheese wrapped in Pillsbury Crescent Rolls baked at 350 for about 35-40 minutes, and a cheese plate- yay cheese.  Dinner was the Haynie’s famous hot dog bar- every topping you could ever want on a hot dog, and then for dessert, I made the Cheesecake Strawberries which were amazingly good and easy and Blondie Bars- also easy and delicious!  In one batch I cut up Twix Bars- that was something special.  Sunday morning was a breakfast for the history books.  Kendall and Robert made Bailey’s french toast with some sort of homemade heaven (aka syrup), venison sausage, and they added a bowl of fruit for good measure.  While we were eating, it started snowing which of course made the kids go crazy!  We ended up getting about 5 inches of snow throughout Sunday- the sledding, the games, the snowmen, and the snowball fights exhausted everyone!  To revive the group, I made Bacon appetizers which I found on the Pioneer Woman website (www.thepioneerwoman.com).  It was the most simple and fantastic thing ever!  Take a package of bacon- cut it in half.  Lay out the half strips of bacon on a baking sheet.  Place a club cracker in the center of the strip of bacon, place a spoonful of Parmesan cheese on top to the club cracker and wrap the bacon snugly around the cracker and cheese.  Bake at 250 for 2 hours. Really really good, and they did not last long!  After another amazing dinner cooked by Robert and Olivia- beef stew with baked potatoes, we brought out the pinata for the kids which was so fun!  The whole weekend was amazing, and not surprisingly, Walker slept for 3 and a half hours on the car ride home!  Such good food and good friends- can’t wait to do it again!

Pinterest and Cheesecake Strawberries

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I admit that I am pretty slow to the game when it comes to new social media technology.  I am terrified of this new facebook layout and won’t even look at friends pages that have the new layout because I don’t understand it.  I don’t twitter or tweet or whatever you call it even though I probably should.  And until literally five minutes ago, I had heard of pinterest, but hadn’t ever looked at it.  Well I just did, and this is one of the first things I saw!   What is this amazing little treat???  It was put up by The Sweets Life (www.thesweetslife.com).  It sounds easy, delicious, and looks fancy- YAY!!  These are the directions I copied from the Sweets Life website- which I clearly need to read a lot more of!

Cheesecake Strawberries

Ingredients:
-1 lb large strawberries
-8 oz. cream cheese, softened (can use 1/3 less fat)
-3-4 tbsp powdered sugar (4 tbsp for a sweeter filling)
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-Graham cracker crumbs

Directions:

1. Rinse strawberries and cut around the top
of the strawberry. Remove the top and clean out with a paring knife, if
necessary (some may already be hollow inside). Prep all strawberries and set
aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla
until creamy. Add cream cheese mix to a piping bag or ziploc with the corner
snipped off. Fill strawberries with cheesecake mixture. Once strawberries are
filled, dip the top in graham cracker crumbs. If not serving immediately,
refrigerate until serving.

So, while I am still a complete novice at pinterest (I am actually waiting for an invitation to join), I am intrigued by what might be on this site or did I just find the best thing right off the bat?  Can’t wait to make these!