Spectacular Succulents

A few weeks ago, we helped our good friend Michael celebrate his 40th birthday at his mexican fiesta! It was such a rad party complete with a Mariachi band, two piñatas, a lucha libre server, and a bicycle-powered margarita machine!! To see some photos from the party (including me working for my margarita) check out Michael and Maren's blog! To thank him for being born (because we are all so lucky he was!), I made him a succulent terrarium straight from our garden. 

I also plucked some of my very favorites from our yard and put them into this lovely flower dish that I got for Christmas. It has spikes in the bottom, so you push the stems into the spikes, fill the bottom with water and without much effort the flowers, or in this case succulents, can simply soak up the sunlight and and brighten up the living room.

In the spirit of spring cleaning, I recently repotted a bunch of succulents in the backyard to give them more room to breathe. I rearranged all of the pots, cleaned them up a bit, and added some dimension with some pot stands, tree stumps, and painted crates (from our wedding!). Also, you can see the bottles on sticks with yellow flowers in the background - these are also from our wedding. They lined the aisles at the ceremony and I have finally dusted them off from the garage and put them to good use outside! They really give the backyard a cheerful feel.

Potstickers

My mom is an excellent cook and one of her favorite things to make for people is Pot Stickers. A few years ago when I was visiting the fam in Bozeman, we all sat down and made Pot Stickers together. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to the recipe, which befuddles me because knowing what I know now, I don't have a clue how I survived over the years without these savory treats.

It all started when my friend Maren was about to have a baby and I wanted to come up with a  fun, unique, and yummy dinner to deliver to her family after the baby was born. I immediately thought about creating home-made chinese take-out, which got me thinking about those pot stickers. 

Pot stickers are relatively easy to make but they do take some time, so be patient and don't leave them to the last minute!

Pot Sticker Ingredients:

• 1 pkg wonton/pot sticker wraps (round) - I couldn't find round, so I bought square and trimmed off the corners.
• 1 lb ground pork (not sausage!) - This was not as easy to find as I thought it would be!
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 can water chestnuts, finely chopped
• 2 tsp grated ginger root - (Cool trick alert! The leftover root can be frozen in a ziplock)
• 3 green onions
• 8 black mushrooms - dried in a package in the produce section. Follow instructions on the package before using.
• 4 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Dipping Sauce:

• 2 tbls Soy sauce
• 2 tbls Rice vinegar
• chili paste (tiny bit!)
• sesame oil (couple splashes)
• 1 tbls brown sugar
• Add more of above ingredients to your liking

Mix raw pork, water chestnuts, ginger, green onion, soy sauce, mushrooms, pepper, and sesame oil in a medium bowl. See how easy!?  Put 1-2 tsp of mix in wrapper. Use egg wash around the rim of wrapper and seal by pinching. Place on wax paper so that they don't stick.

Pre-heat 2-3 tbls vegetable oil in a skillet. Add pot stickers and cook until browned on bottom. Once browned, add 1/2 cup water and cover for 5 minutes. (Be careful when you add the water, as it will splash and sizzle all over the place!!)  You may have to work in batches.

Serve with dipping sauce and enjoy!!

For the dinner delivery, I also made the Thai peanut noodle dish, and some Jasmine rice, a bag of seaweed snack from Trader Joe's (Maren's fave!) and a bag full of plums from our plum tree!  I put everything in cute little chinese delivery boxes from Cost Plus (lined with parchment paper!). 

Cake Batter Chocolate Bark

The other thing I made for our company Bake Sale was Cake Batter Chocolate Bark. Another Pinterest find originally from the blog How Sweet It Is. It was probably one of the easiest things I've ever made, although a bit expensive if you buy the good chocolate. 

Ingredients:

• 6 oz high quality dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70%)
• 12 oz high quality white chocoolate (I used Ghirardelli)
• 3 teaspoons of yellow cake mix (although, I think you could use more. Just be sure to add in a little at a time to make sure it all dissolves in the warm chocolate.
• sprinklers of your choice
• Foil cake pan lined with parchment paper

Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler. Pour the chocolate into the pan. Smooth it out with a spatula to the thickness you want. You don't have to go all the way to the sides. Stick whole pan in the freezer for 20 minutes. 

Melt white chocolate. Whisk in cake mix slowly, stirring well until no lumps remain. Let it set for 3 full minutes or until it slightly thickens. Remove baking sheet from freezer and pour white chocolate mix on top. Smooth out quickly so that it doesn't start to melt the bottom layer. 

Sprinkle on sprinklers and freeze again for 20 minutes.

Once set, break into chunks and keep refrigerated.

For the sale, I put a few pieces in clear favor bags and tied a bow around it. It was the perfect little  festive treat. This would also be a good treat for birthday parties, showers, or holidays with coordinating colored sprinkles.

Hawaiian Style

The theme for my Grandpa's 80th birthday was Hawaiian Luau. I thought pineapple fried rice and rainbow fruit skewers would be the perfect addition to bbq'd ribs and veggie kabobs. 

Pineapple Fried Rice

• Cooked white rice
• yellow onion chopped
• chopped roasted red pepper
• small bits of pineapple
• frozen peas
• cashews
• eggs
• sesame oil
• olive oil
• cumin
• S&P

Saute the yellow veggies in olive oil and a tbsp of sesame oil. Add the egg mix up lightly so it scrambles and fries up with the veggies. Add salt, pepper, cumin, to taste. Add the cashews and rice and mix until all cooked and warmed together. SIMPLE and DELICIOUS!

My second dish was rainbow fruit skewers that I found on Pinterest. My mom found the cutest skewers with flowers on the ends and I had help from my little cousins putting these little skewers together. I used blackberries, blueberries, kiwi, pineapple, oranges, and raspberries and they turned out so cute and festive!! They were a big hit!

Thumbprint Holiday Cookies

Made from a box, but super cute, festive and yummy!!

Happy Holidays!

These owl cupcakes will make you swoon!

We had a Halloween bake contest at work and I got plenty of inspiration from Pinterest, and landed on making these precious little owl cupcakes. I think they turned out great, and they were a huge hit at the party!! They were super easy to make. I used Double Stufd Oreos for the eyes and Reeses Pieces for the iris and beak. And I used a butter knife to create the owl-like tufts with the frosting!

Valentines Day Cheesecake Bites

I found this lovely recipe at one of my favorite baking blogs, Buns In My Oven. They seemed like the perfect Valentine's Day treat for our work fundraiser to support the American Heart Association.

I followed the recipe exactly and these yummy morsels came out perfect! I used all three toppings; raspberry sauce, caramel, and Nutella.

Click here for recipe (and even prettier pictures!) or see below:

For the crust:
•2 cups Oreo crumbs (just crush the cookies, filling and all, in a food processor or blender
•4 tbsp butter, melted

For the topping:

•6 oz fresh raspberries
•2 tbsp sugar
•Nutella, chocolate, caramel topping (only if you want a variety of toppings, optional)

For the filling:

•2 lbs cream cheese (4 8oz packages), at room temperature

•1 1/2 cups sugar

•Pinch of salt

•1 tsp vanilla extract

•4 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Enlist your children to line the muffin pans with paper liners. Combine the crust ingredients in a small bowl. Stir together with a fork until the Oreo crumbs are moist. Spoon 1 tbsp of the crust into each paper liner. Press flat with the back of a spoon. Bake for 5 minutes to set the crust. Transfer to a cooling rack.

To make the topping, add the raspberries and sugar to a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Press through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds. Set aside.

To make the filling, add the cream cheese to the bowl of your mixer. Beat the cream cheese until fluffy on medium speed. Beat in the sugar until the mixture is smooth. Mix in the salt and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time beating until each is fully incorporated.

To assemble, add 3 tablespoons of filling to each cupcake liner/crust. Dot a 1/2 teaspoon of whichever filling you are using on to the batter 3 times. You should have 3 separate dots of filling, 1/2 teaspoon each. Use a toothpick to lightly swirl the filling in to the batter creating a pretty swirl. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.

Bake until the filling is set, about 22 minutes, rotating the pans half way through. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill at least 4 hours before serving.

Yield: between 24 and 30 cupcakes

A Feast for Kings

This was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple so I wanted to go all out and show Steve my domestic skills. It was just him and I for dinner, but I didn't want to skimp. I wanted to make a feast with all of our favorites.

Instead of an entire turkey, I made a turkey breast. I bought one of those freezer-to-oven bagged breasts which turned out delicious, tender, and juicy. The bagged turkeys have NEVER let me down. The turkey came with a gravy packet too which was equally delectable. 

We looove mashed potatoes but I came across a recipe for turnip mashed potatoes. I don't think I've ever eaten a turnip and Steve wasn't too sure he had either. But the description said it tastes like a really mild radish. We love radishes so I decided to make two batches of mash - one regular and one turnip style. The turnip potatoes were AMAZING. The difference between the two were subtle, but the turnip mash had a slight bite to it and if you didn't know there was turnip in there, you'd be licking your lips trying to figure out why your mashed potatoes tasted kind of spicy. 

I made my own stuffing, using a simple recipe that my mom gave me. But, instead of white bread I used whole wheat bread just because it was what I already had on hand. I sauteed a yellow onion and three stalks of celery in a cube of butter and poured it over stale bread cubes. I added 2 tablespoons of poultry seasoning and a can of chicken broth. Since I didn't have a whole turkey to stuff, I baked the stuffing in the oven for about 40 minutes. YUM. Sometimes I add apples to the stuffing but we had some home-made applesauce frozen from a stash Steve's mom gave us earlier this year and I figured that would satisfy our appletite (ha!).

Instead of a traditional Thanksgiving veggie dish like green bean casserole or carrots or broccoli, or cauliflower, or ANY OTHER VEGETABLE, I had to come up with something creative so that Steve would get his vitamins. So, I made a tomato, red bell pepper, and radish salad. I cut the veggies up in big pieces and tossed them in a home-made vinagrette (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, walnuts, thyme, salt, pepper, and a weird herb Steve planted for me outside) and added some crumbled feta cheese on top. This was a hit. Steve couldn't get enough!

I usually make the Pilsbury croissant rolls for Thanksgiving, but this year since I was on a domestic binge, I decided to make some semi-homemade biscuits. I used my go-to Bisquick recipe that I posted about before. 

Last, but certainly not least. The pumpkin pie. I really wanted to try out a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Tirimisu. Steve wasn't really into the idea, and requested pumpkin pie instead. So, I attempted my very first pumpkin pie of all time and found a Paula Dean recipe for pumpkin pie using cream cheese. It came out so good that pretty much all I could think about all day today was getting my paws on another piece of that pie!!!

Now, we have so many leftovers we'll have lunch and dinner for the rest of the weekend and I am planning on making a turkey and mushroom soup next week. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and gorged yourselves like we did. Cheers to good food, family, and friends!

Anniversary Celebration

Earlier this summer, we celebrated our 2 month anniversary with Jillian and Chris, which just so happened to be their 4 year anniversary! ;) We were visiting them for a night in Vacaville and celebrated by going to a really hip tapas restaurant in Winters. We tried so many different dishes - steak skewers, tacos, bread and cheese, sliders, chicken, stuffed bell pepper, and on and on..top that with a huge glass of sangria to help us cool off in the 100+ degree summer evening. It was the perfect dinner with amazing company. 

After dinner, we stopped off at the Nugget Market to pick up some desserts to go with a special anniversary champagne toast!! Guess who's dessert is whos and I will give you twenty bucks.

Birthday Cake

Drumroll please.....

I present to you my very first cake from scratch for my hubby's 37th birthday! Yellow butter cake with chocolate frosting recipe from Martha Stewart. Baking a cake was serious work. It took me about an hour to prep the kitchen, then another hour to mix, and another hour to bake, cool, and frost. Don't even get me started on the cleanup. Chocolate EVERYWHERE. But, would I do it again? In a heart beat! I think this was the first time in my life that I actually enjoyed baking. It was sort of magical watching it all come together. And of course the end result was pretty and absolutely delicious!

 

Twenty Seven

Steve took me out to Madonna Inn on Saturday night to celebrate my 27th birthday. I chose Madonna Inn because I wanted to go somewhere festive and bright! Oh my, Madonna Inn was the PERFECT place for holiday cheer. They had the entire place decked out in snowy Christmas trees, giant ornaments, garland galore, flowers, tinsel, and everything else that you might consider to be a gaudy Christmas decoration. They had it all! My favorite part was the old-man band playing Christmas songs and other lovely tunes and watching all of the cute couples cha-cha-ing and swinging. I had a tender Filet Mignon (what else?!) and a complimentary (giant!) piece of Black Forest Cake, complete with a sparkling candle. What a treat!! Thank you Steve for taking me out for the third year in a row! I'm a lucky girl.

Festivities

I didn't feel as festive this year as I usually do during the holiday season. Maybe it was the 90 degree weather leading up to December, or maybe it was because I had to work on Christmas Eve. Regardless, I managed to put up my mini Christmas tree and decorate the house a bit.

We arrived in Bozeman on Christmas morning and my mom made us breakfast as soon as we walked in the door. After our tummies were filled, we opened presents, and napped, watched movies, and relaxed. My mom made a beautiful pork roast for Christmas dinner and I ate like it was my first meal in weeks.

My little brother got a Glock from Santa. Yes, a REAL Glock gun. He is so gangster. I wanted nothing to do with that gun, but Steve had something else in mind. :)


I didn't even know Steve was into guns, but ever since we got back from Montana that's all he can talk about. He's been reading gun magazines, internet articles, and has been practicing his shot at the local shooting range. Boys will be boys!

We only spent a few days in Montana, but every moment was so lovely. We ran errands downtown Bozeman in the 20 degree weather and I was stupid enough to forget my scarf, hat, and gloves. Luckily, every store you walk into has the heater blasting to about 80 degrees. My mom and I had a warm drink at the local wine bar and I had the BEST spiked coffee ever. It was regular coffee with a cute little creampot of white chocolate liquor. SO GOOD. The rest of the trip was spent playing RockBand with the family and eating - LOTS of eating :) We went to The Mint so Steve could try some Buffalo tenderloin. He absolutely loved it, which was surprising to me, because that was the first time I'd ever seen him eat steak of any kind.

I was so sad to leave, but glad we had such a nice time in icey Montana. We got home Sunday and had the whole entire week off of work to rejuvenate and enjoy the last days of 2008.

Thanks for everything Mom! We love you!

Thanksgiving Used to be Easy

This year, I cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner for 4, on my own! It was quite the challenge trying to figure out how much to make, what to make, and how to make it! Thanks to my mom for all of her patience and help...I probably called her about 500 times during the week with questions and she saved me when I nearly had a panic attack at Vons scouring the aisles for water chesnuts and Knorr Vegetable Mix. Anyway, the dinner came together perfectly and my guests were very happy.

Since Steve doesn't like very many veggie dishes, I had to be creative coming up with something to serve besides a salad. So I put together a fruit and veggie appetizer spread with fresh veggies, dip, guacamole and tortilla chips, cut up apples, pears, and raspberries, and spinach dip served with a warm baguette.

The main course was a 12 pound turkey stuffed with my mom's homemade stuffing (with apples!), garlic mashed potatoes, gravy (made by Steve's mom), cranberry sauce, and dinner rolls. We had TONS of left overs which was good because one of my favorite things of all time is warm leftover turkey sandwiches smothered in gravy.

For dessert, Steve's mom baked a homemade berry pie. I usually don't like pie, especially the crust (unless of course, the crust is made from crushed Oreos), but this crust was amazing. It tasted like cookies. So, the pie was incredible, and Steve and I were left with 3/4 of it for leftovers :)

So there you have it - little me, hosting my very first Thanksgiving Feast. I actually had a blast preparing everything and I learned a ton! Hopefully next year I can cook Thanksgiving for my family! :)

Class of 2008

Congratulations to my baby brother, the most recent high school graduate of the family. I won't bore you with the details of the ceremony, but I will say I have never seen my brother more alive. He is outwardly cheerful, proud, and social. Montana's really been good for him. So anyway, here are a few pictures of the graduate and his lovely party. (I created the fruit plate :)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom is the most generous, gracious, and giving person I know. When I am 49, I hope to be just like her. Highlights of her birthday celebration included shopping, special phone calls, dining, live music, laughing, and wine. What else could a birthday girl ask for? (Besides having her birthday advertised on the American Legion marquee, of course)

Tonight I tried Buffalo Tenderloin for the first time. I was skeptical, but let me be the first to tell you: BUFFALO MEAT IS BETTER THAN COW MEAT. It has absolutely ZERO fat, and was more tender than a baby's bottom. Think Filet Mignon...but better!

OH MY GOD. As I am writing this post, I am hearing the strangest horn/alarm/siren/scary noise outside. At first, I thought, "TORNADO!" and my heart began to pound. But, I just realized, it's a train. Okay. Breathe. Phew. (Why did I think it may be a tornado warning? See picture below.)

Anyway, back to the BUFFALO. It was awesome. But what was more awesome was the fact that we inhaled a carmel brownie sundae in about 30 seconds, my mom swigged red wine straight from the bottle, and my Grandpa's best friend, Pepe, rode the stair banister like a pony. You had to be there.