Hi!!

I hope everyone has a 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

2011 IX Center Christmas Connection

This year they had a nice walk thru Christmas Scene area before you shopped.

It was VERY crowded this year...

The IX Center is Huge incase you have never been there and they only use a small area for this event.

It was the only event taking place this year so I don't know why they don't spread out the isles a bit.

The flakes on the floor was a nice touch.

I love Snowmen!!

Here they are again. =)

He forced me on here just so you know...see that grin???

(anyone who knows me knows I don't like ferris wheels)

Q also got a new mohawk hat there too this year-

 the cat chewed a hole in the one I bought him last year...

Kindle

Amazon makes me =)

I love love love my kindle!

(I use the app on my iPhone all the time.)

There was an article posted on Yahoo! the other day bashing it.

This is NOT an iPad people so don't act like it should be.

I mainly bought it to read on it. But I can also do light web surfing, gaming, listen to music and watch streaming videos on it if I had Netflix or kept the Amazon Prime, which I did not.  

I think it works fine for what I wanted it for.

I didn't expect an iPad so it's all good.

Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes

Happy Halloween in December hahaha

I'll have to see if I can dig up the recipe to post...

It's been over a month since I made these-I'm not sure what I

did with it haha.

These were pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Mmmm

I bought these fun sugars from Mardi Gras Cake Supply Shop.

Sister Dog

This is Buffy the Sister dog.

She was "not" going to be dressed.

Until we bought her a shirt that she LOVES!!!

Rissotto and Chicken

We went shopping at Aurora Farms and I bought this to try:

and we went to GFS and bought this Tempura Chicken Nugget bag

We sampled this and got this at a kitchen store in Aurora Farms too.

We will need more soon haha

Here I am cooking the Risotto...it took forever.

Mmm!

I would get the Chicken and Mustard again =)

I wasn't very impressed with the Risotto.

Tater Tot Casserole (recipe Included)

We made this last year when Q and I had a cookie decorating extravangaza.

We just had it recently-cooked in the toaster oven of course!

Here is the recipe =)

Beef Vegetables and Tater Tots Casserole Recipe

Serves/Makes: 6

INGREDIENTS:

2 cans DelMonte French Cut Green Beans (drained)

OR,

2 cans Veg-All Mixed vegetables (drained)  <--- We used Can corn, Regular Green Beans and Carrots

1 small can chopped mushrooms (drained)  <--- nope

1 pound ground beef

1 sweet type onion (as Vidalia, if available) peeled, chopped

2 tablespoons bacon drippings or shortening (if needed for browning the above)

1 clove garlic, crushed, peeled, minced (optional)

1/2 small can Tomato Paste

2 tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon table salt

2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet Browning Sauce

3 tablespoons Half & Half or Cream

1 Small Bag Frozen Tater Tots

1/3 stick butter, melted or Butter Spray



PREPARATION:

Preheat Oven to 375 Degrees F. Drain vegetables of choice and place them in a buttered 2 or 3 quart casserole dish. Brown beef and peeled and chopped onion, adding a little fat only if needed. Break meat up small. Add crushed, peeled and minced garlic (optional) and stir in well -- Do NOT brown garlic. Add tomato paste to meat, stirring it in to caramelize. Add sugar, salt, pepper. Stir in Kitchen Bouquet and Half & Half or Cream. Spread meat mixture over drained vegetables. Top with a layer of Tater Tots. Melt butter and drizzle over the top or spray with butter spray. Bake at 375 Degrees F. for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

cupcakes for work

We had a birthday in the office so I decided to make cupcakes!

I made my usually yellow cake but bought this frosting at GFS:

Can I just tell you that we will be keeping this in stock...

I covered them in chocolate-than frosted them

We went to Aurora Farms and picked up this carrier...

but it bows in the middle and smashes the frosting...

it will be my muffin carrier lol

Back to the cupcake carrier drawing board...

2010 cookies

I don't hink I ever told you how many cookies I made last Christmas from the poll...it was 1019.
I had grand expectations to put how much of each ingredient I used....yeah...still didnt get that far.

First Snow of 2011

Happy 11/11/11

She missed the first snow of 2011 so I wanted to make sure I captured it for her.

HAHAHAHA

Pica Cake (Almond Cake) recipe included

At the end of September I was asked to make a Pikachu Cake:

an Almond Cake with Marachino Cherries in it.

We don't eat almonds so I wasn't sure how this would turn out,

but I was like, Ok I can do this.

So Hubby goes and gets the supplies:

Did you know Canned Almond Paste looks like this?? lol

And here is a shot of my Beautiful Toaster oven =)

Love it!

Mixed up the batter, plopped cherries in it.

Here it is cooling...not too bad.

Then I made a few yellow cupcakes, in case the Almond cake was yuk.

But it went over well!

Almond Cake

from David Lebovitz (who adapted from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Shere)

http://traceysculinaryadventures.blogspot.com/2011/08/almond-cake.html

(But of Course I did my own thing and added some sour cream for more moisture)

1 cup (140 g) flour, divided

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups (265 g) sugar

8 oz (225 g) almond paste

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cubed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

6 large eggs, at room temperature



Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour.



Whisk 3/4 cup (105 g) of the flour, the baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl.



Combine the sugar, almond paste and the remaining 1/4 cup (35 g) of the flour in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the almond paste is finely ground and the mixture is crumbly like sand. Add the butter and both extracts to the bowl and process until the batter is smooth and fluffy. One at a time, add the eggs, pulsing a few times to incorporate after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl and pulse two or three times to incorporate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl one last time then add the remaining dry ingredients and pulse a few more times, just until incorporated. Do not overmix.



Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 60-65 minutes, or until the cake is a dark golden brown and springs back when pressed in the center. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and run a thin knife around the outside to loosen the cake from the pan. Let the cake cool completely in the pan, then remove the outer ring. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.



(Wrapped tightly, the cake will keep at room temperature for about 4 days.)