350 Cupcakes Later....

CUPCAKES!!!!

Yesteray our Supervisory Union held an all day District wide Music Festival (for Grades 4-12), and I was commissioned to make cupcakes for a lunch celebration.  It was quite the project, but the kids were delighted when I rolled the cart into the room and that was reward enough for me.  After practicing all day we served the students dinner and then they made the final preparations for a free concert. 

All in the Day of a Soapers Life

Chocolate heaven in a log of soap

Yesterday I made some chocolate soap as it was feeling like one of those days.  My son was excited when he smelled the chocolate and thought I was baking.  Needless to say, he was sorely disappointed to discover the source of the chocolate smell was coming from the soap room and NOT the kitchen.  The only problem I have with this soap is that one of my son's friends thought the soap was fudge as he walked through the soap room and took a bite out of one of the bars.  He quickly found out it was NOT fudge! 

The beginnings of laundry soap

The next project of the day involved creating a soap base for some laundry soap that I will be testing in the near future.  This morning I needed hubby's help to release the soap from the mold because the arthritis in my hands is really giving me fits the past couple days.  After cutting the soap into managable chunks I grated the soap before it turned hard as a rock.  When finished, it looked like snow.  Hmmm...inspiration for a Christmas project?  Perhaps!



Oops!

Last night in my haste to get a third batch of soap poured before hubby returned from his snowmobile adventures I had a "little" issue with one of the molds.  Due to the arthritis acting up, I "thought" I had secured the bottom on one of the round molds.  I fill these molds inside of a bucket to avoid any spillage dripping all over the place.  After the first mold was filled I moved it to its resting spot, and then went about filling the second mold.  All was fine until I went to move the second mold when the bottom let loose. 

I was stunned over what had just happened and amazed that none of the raw soap got on me or my shoes!   To date that has to be the biggest mess to clean up after.  The plus side is that the floor got a good cleaning, and I was thankful the tile didn't get ruined.  It is apparent that next time I pour in these molds I plan on laying down a bunch of newspaper on the floor for easier clean up if that ever happens again. 

I had hubby make sure the bottom of the molds were secure before he headed out on the snowy trails this morning "just in case" a soapy inspiration comes over me, but my plans are to take the day for myself and putter around the kitchen.  I'm feeling like it is a good day to make some fresh baked bread to go with our dinner tonight.  If my son hasn't eaten all of my chocolate chips "in hiding", we might even have some chocolate chip cookies to enjoy. 

Monster Cookie Recipe

I apologize for not putting this recipe on my blog sooner. The week has gotten away from me. It's vacation week for Ms. Moo, and I am holding my daughter's baby shower this weekend, so there has been the meticulous cleaning, decluttering and all that good stuff going on. Spring cleaning early, if you will...only it sure doesn't look or feel like spring up here in Vermont at the moment.

MONSTER COOKIES
Yeild: A LOT (if you don't eat all of the cookie dough)!!!

Mix in large (I'm not kidding when I say large) pan in order given

1 pound soft margarine (Ms. Moo prefers real butter)
2 pounds brown sugar
4 cups sugar
12 eggs
1 Tbsp. Corn Syrup
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
8 tsp. baking soda
3 pounds peanut butter
18 cups rolled oats
1 pound chocolate chips
1 pound M & M's
(Ms. Moo also adds 1 pound chopped walnuts)

Variations: You could put raisins, dried cranberries, or any kind of baking chips - butterscotch, peanut butter, broken candy bars, etc.)

Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 12 min. Cool on pan for a couple minutes before cooling on rack. Freeze baked cookies in airtight containers. Enjoy!

Monster Cookies

Growing up my mother would make Monster Cookies. I was always amazed at the size of bowl/pan required to mix up the tasty treats. The name of the cookie, I have decided, isn't so much a description about the size of the cookies but rather the amount of cookie dough you end up with.

It was loads of fun to take turns stirring up the massive batch of cookies, but I never paid much attention to the amount of time spent baking them after my mother had us take turns mixing the dough. And, I never really paid much attention to the fact that we had container after container of cookies stored away in the freezer after the baking frenzy.

The recipe was passed along when I got married and I've made them a few times, and decided today was a great day to mix up a batch while I had two kids and one "adopted" kid that were willing subjects to do the mixing. After about 4 pans into the baking process I decided a recipe of this size would be more fun if I had the oven space and larger sheet pans like I use at school.

The Most Dangerous Cake Recipe in the World

Someone sent this to me on email so I bring it here to share with all my bloggy friends...don't say I didn't warn you. Teresa, get your treadmill ready cuz you are REALLY gonna need it this winter!

The 5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons cake flour (that's plain flour, not self-raising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla essence
1 coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla essence, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The
cake
will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now
we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or
night!

I Will Never Bake the Same....

I had the pleasure of baking alongside the most interesting lady today. Her name is Susan Miller, and she is in charge of the Baking School at King Arthur Flour. I learned so much valuable information about baking with whole wheat flour and whole grains. Good bye hockey pucks and door stop wheat breads, and hello tender and fluffy wheat breads. I'm kinda short on time today but I promise I'll blog about the experience in more detail with tips I took away from the experience. Today's class has inspired me to experiment and bake with whole wheat flour and whole grains with renewed techniques and interest.

Cake Meets Mr. Turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner

My favorite creation ~ I had to jump all over this one.

My sister and late Aunt shared the same Birthday that always managed to fall right around Thanksgiving. When my kids were little, I took to cake decorating as a means to earn some extra income, and decided to tackle the ULTIMATE Thanksgiving Cake the year their Birthday fell exactly ON Thanksgiving.

The cake was made in the shape of a turkey. 1/2 white and 1/2 dark(chocolate). The frosting was colored and textured to make the cake look just like the turkey had come out of the oven and I had even put some fancy frills on the "legs" to really show it off all the more. There was "Stuffing" made out of white cake protrouding from the "turkey". Surrounding the turkey on the tray there was a "baked Potato with a pat of butter", "peas", and "carrots".

My Aunt was a small and short, but she was a wild spitfire...and a nosey one at that! When she arrived I asked if she thought the turkey was going to be enough to feed everyone. She walked up to the cake, poked the leg and said "That is one tough bird!" It was then that I told her it was actually her Birthday cake. First words out of her mouth, "OH MY GOD!!!!" We heard those words repeatedly throughout the day...and sadly no one wanted to eat the Turkey Cake because they found it to be too fancy to eat.



This post was inspired by The Etsybloggers Team July 21 Blog Carnival. We could choose between two topics.

Theme 1: Your favorite creation. Tell about your favorite creation and share a picture.
Theme 2: It's a heatwave. Tell of things that you do to keep cool or have fun in the sun.

30 Recipes ~ 2 1/2 Day - Part 3

This is the last of the highlights from the Healthy Cuisine For Kids Class. If you missed Part 1 & 2 - You can find Veggies here and Meats here.


Asian Sesame Noodle Salad made with whole grain pasta. This one had some kick to it...I think there was a bit of measuring issues with the red pepper flakes, actually.



This dough is amazing. It is a yeast dough that is thick and pourable. It can be used to make pizza crust, or baked into focaccia bread. This one was made with half whole wheat flour, with herbs and garlic granules added to the dough and topped with olive oil and low fat mozzarella cheese. It is so delish that I make this one at home.



Tabouleh salad is my favorite! The flavor combination is fabulous! I find this does not go over well with the majority of students at my school when offered as a choice with the main meal, but it is a huge hit with my vegetarian eaters who frequent the salad bar.



These whole wheat sugar cookies are the bomb! The wheat flour lends a nutty flavor and if you get the right type of wheat flour where you find bits of the grain you can deceive everyone to think there are nuts in the cookies. I'm not a fan of nutmeg, but I can tolerate it in these cookies.

FYI - The Culinary Institute of America writes, reviews, and updates the recipes that the USDA gives all schools as standardized recipes. All of the recipes I have featured between the three blog posts are available to every school that participates in the National School Lunch Program.

Triple Party Fun

Yesterday we held a Triple Party for three teens. Ashley finished her first year of Technical School, Tony graduated High School, and Tony's sister graduated college. I didn't take any action shots at the party because we were fighting wind and rain. Thank God we had canopy tents set up for cover so the day was not a total loss. I did capture the food I contributed to the occasion...I kinda went a little overboard...but that is the creative side of me when I get an idea in my head and run with it.

"Veggie Platter"... Hidden under all of the veggies is a bunch of fresh kale that I picked from our garden.


"Fruit Bowl"...Just for the record, I didn't have a bowl large enough in my house to mix this quantity of fruit. I had to clean and disinfect my sink in order to mix it up. I used 1 Watermelon, 2 cantaloupe, 2 pounds strawberries, 3 pounds red seedless grapes, and 2 fresh pineapple. And yes, it all fit in the basket that was lined with tin foil.


The cake turned out great. The idea in my head was coming together masterfully. The topper exectuted exactly as I had it planned out in my head. Everything looked great when I went to bed Saturday night.


Unfortunately, heat and humidity with the fluffy boiled icing request did not agree. I knew the weight of the topper would not be supported sufficiently with the slowly sinking, sad and droopy icing on the cake. Instead, I used the cheesy plastic topper I had as Plan B.

By the time I got the cake to the party, the droopy frosting had conveniently slid south and the cake was exposed. I wasn't even going to try to fix it at that point. No one seemed to mind that the icing had slid, they were anxious to dig into the cake and there wasn't much leftover at the end of the day.

Beetnik Cake

This cake recipe was graciously contributed by Mary Lou LaPierre, Jericho Elementary School, Vermont. It is part of a recipe booklet Vermont Feed has given as a handout from their various conferences and classes that I have had the pleasure of attending over the past four years. You can find a sampling of some of their other recipes in a PDF file here. I have tasted all of their recipes and haven't found one that I didn't like.

(Keep in mind these are written for larger quantities so you could cut the recipes in half or fourths for home use.)

BEETNIK CAKE
Yield: 25 servings
Set oven to 350 degrees

67 oz. cooked & peeled beets in water (chop in food processor and use juice)
2 cups cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce
2 Tbsp. Vanilla
3 pounds sugar
3 Tbsp. baking soda
7 eggs
1 1/2 pounds unbleached flour
1 1/2 pounds whole wheat pastry flour

Directions:
Puree beets in food processor with juice. Mix all ingredients in mixer. Pour into greased sheet cake pan (or lined muffin tins). Bake 40-45 min. (if cutting recipe in size I would check after 30 min.) Muffin cups check after 20 min. Test with toothpick. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or frosting of your choice.

Gourmet Feast

There are those (I won't mention any names, but I commonly refer to him as DH) who thumb their nose up to the idea of healthier meals in schools. He is of the opinion that people should have the choice of what they want to eat and no one should be forcing them to eat healthier. Part of my job is being creative with the healthier food options. I have many healthier options that look appealing and taste great so the challenge to prove him wrong went into full swing today.

Fresh Garden Salad made with fresh greens purchased at the Farmer's Market. After having to buy lettuce in the grocery store all winter long, fresh baby greens hit the spot!

Due to technical difficulties, there is no photo of the pasta salad made with whole grain pasta. Does not change the taste, and the slight color variation of the pasta isn't noticeable. I mixed in peas, red onion, white albacore tuna, a bit of mayo, and garden seasoning with no salt.


Jamaican Jerk Chicken hot off the grill. Made with boneless skinless chicken breast. Always a hit when I make it. I love cooking extra so I can add some of the leftovers to a Garden Salad for lunch. A vegetarian option - the jerk spice mixture would be awesome on a piece of firm tofu then grilled. YUM!


And what EVERY Gourmet Feast should have...Rich Dark Chocolate cupcakes with Whipped Icing. I seriously don't know what happened to the first two or three cupcakes. I certainly didn't go "healthier" on the dessert, although I do have a recipe for chocolate beet cake that is excellent and no one even knows they are eating veggies! I figured I best just break him in "slowly" with the healthier options. After all, he had baby beet greens in the salad and he didn't know what it was.

DH had no complaints, but the look on his face was priceless when I told him today's healthier food experiment worked. He really didn't notice anything different about the baby greens (won't tell him about the beet greens) and the whole grain pasta went unnoticed. It has made him think twice about his earlier opinion.

Cupcake Fun

For those of you that know me well, you know I'm no Martha Stewart in the kitchen. Meaning - I don't do all of the fancy "perfect" stuff, I'm a plain jane, K.I.S.S., type of cook. Every once in a while I get inspiration to try something new and "fancy". It just so happens the inspiration for the aboved pictured delicacy was birthed from the Cupcake Pop recipe on the Bakerella website.

Mine certainly are not perfection like hers. What I can say is that they are #1 - too time consuming to reach the end result and #2 - I am wearing cake, frosting, chocolate bark and red candy melts; my kitchen doesn't look much better. They taste good, but the texture put me off. I like my chocolate cake and frosting, just not mixed/mushed together like this. I'll stick with baking cupcakes and leave it at that.

Chocolate Cupcakes

This afternoon the scavengers were pounding their feet to the kitchen for the cupcakes before they were officially cooled, never mind decorated. I grabbed the chocolate icing and start slapping it on with the spatula...sigh! Too plain and simple, but that didn't seem to bother the masses, they were gone in record time. Gotta get out my copy of The Cake Bible this week and find some new cake recipes to test out.

Banana Nut Bread

This afternoon I walked into my favorite little neighborhood store, which happens to be run by some of the BEST neighbors anyone could ever ask for. The store is very small, but they offer THE best deli meats; their hand cut and trimmed steaks are by far the best I've ever had. They recently remodeled the store to include a great salad bar. Their customer service is outstanding, and while their prices aren't always the cheapest, I don't mind patronizing my neighbor. Today they were about ready to throw away some very ripe bananas and jokingly one of the young men asked if I wanted them for a cheap price. Homemade banana bread...YES! I made no haste to get home so I could get to work in the kitchen. So my husband often reminds me ~ cooking is the OTHER use for our kitchen. LOL With both of the girls gone this week, I had two very willing and eager male taste testers that couldn't wait for the bread to cool down. I'm surprised you don't see the steam rolling out of the loaf of bread after I cut it and took a quick snap shot.