Tomorrow is Chocolate Cupcake Day, according to my “official” food holiday calendar. (Oh and today is Pasta Day, so we had ravioli.) So I decided to make some chocolate cupcakes. And by some, I mean 97. When asked why I made so many, I replied, “go big, or go home.” To which he replied, “you’re already home.”
Hopefully I can put together a recipe post for these, because they are amazing. Worse case: I have to make them again…
The thing about plans is that no matter how hard you try, life happens. Our dinner plans for this evening were dashed when I didn’t leave work until 6:30.
(This post was originally going to be about how rediculous some holidays are, like bosses day, but how amazing some holidays are, like chocolate cupcake day on Friday!)
Our youngest fell asleep less than two miles from daycare. We grabbed some Chinese on the way home. After dinner, I cleared the plates, but told the guys to keep their forks.
Some of my favorite memories growing up included dessert. Gramma would tell us to keep our fork when the plates were being cleared, and I always knew dessert was on the way!
Recipe for this pistachio cake coming soon!
Tonight I had every intention of posting a step-by-step on how I make stroganoff. But of course, I started cooking before I took photos. And then I had a my youngest telling me, in a very loud voice because obviously I hadn’t heard him the 400 times he had told me, that he wanted cereals for dinner. And no that isn’t a typo, cereals is plural because he wants a whole bowl. Try arguing with that logic…
So I resigned myself to posting a recipe without the tutorial, but with the finished dinner plate instead.
And then we ate…without the photo of the stroganoff, noodles and bright tricolor medley of corn, carrots, and green beans. And of course I didn’t think about it until after I had “lunched up*” the leftovers.
* lunched up is a verb meaning to place leftovers from dinner in containers for lunch.
Feeling a bit morose, I decided to slice up the cake I had baked, only to realize that I had forgotten to take photos of the cake too!
After thinking that I have the be the worst blogger ever, I told the guys that I will have to make everything another time so that everything can be photographed.
Everyone smiled as they ate their cake. How could I torture them with all this delicious food again!!
Tonight’s blog post might not have turned out the way I had planned, but so it goes. My family is fed. All is well.
Last Friday, I decided to make a menu and grocery list. I looked ahead on my food holidays calendar, and created a menu to celebrate those holidays.
Monday: Columbus Day – which means Italian – Angel Hair and Alfredo, wedge salad with Italian dressing, and garlic bread made with Jimmy John’s day old French bread
Tuesday: Mushroom Day – Stroganoff with extra portabellos
Wednesday: National Boss Day (Is that a real thing??) – Shepard’s Pie
Thursday: Pasta Day – Ravioli with sausage in a chunky red sauce
Friday: No real holiday, which means choose your own holiday…well not really but we haven’t had BLTs in a while
Weekend: we’ll have a full house, so it’s a little less structured.
Anywho… I have had this all planned out, groceries bought, meals prepped, when I realized at work this morning that today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. HOW DID I MISS THAT?! I mean, you would think I would remember that being 1/32nd Canadian…I guess I will have to chalk this up to poor planning. I am sure that my great-great-grandparents would say don’t worry aboot it, eh?
I did it!
My Kickstarter Project!: Field research for my historical fiction novel based on surprising members of my family tree
Edward I and Eleanor of Castile
After a conversation with my Gramma a little over a year ago, I started a family tree project. I didn’t expect to find anything too interesting. But was I wrong!
It didn’t take too much digging to find that we are related to the royal families of Europe! I know that many people can say they are related to royalty, and it’s not like I am asking to be call Princess Amberleigh or anything (unless you wanna!).
After this revelation, I dove into European history. I was reading everything the library had to offer and more! One of the couples that I found myself thinking about most often was Edward I of England and his first wife Eleanor of Castile.
The more I wanted to know about the pair, the less I found. They had a remarkable story, and it wasn’t being told. So I have decided to tell their story.
I have decided after a year of research that I need to dig a little deeper. I need to go to London. And I would like your help to do it!
I have created a Kickstarter campaign to fund my research trip.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ambleigh/research-for-my-novel-twelve-nights
I am asking people to back my research project and upcoming novel! Any monetary amount is welcomed, and there are rewards for specific dollar amounts.
I will be posting updates and answering questions posted on the Kickstarter page, as well as on my blog.
Feel free to pass the link on to friends and family, I would love the support!
Amberleigh
I have been researching a novel for about a year. It’s a story about my 22nd great grandparents: Edward I and Eleanor of Castile.
I am currently creating a Kickstarter project to fund a research trip to England. If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is an innovative way to fund a creative project. From their website:
Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of ambitious, innovative, and imaginative projects that are brought to life through the direct support of others.
I will be launching my project soon, and will post a link once the project has gone live!
Oh Pinterest…I love how you jump start my mind, get those creative juices flowing and leave me with 15 open tabs in my browser that completely overwhelm me. Ok that last part isn’t something I love about Pinterest, but it never fails that when I am on the computer looking for something on Pinterest, I get sucked into this downward spiral of food and crafts and weddings… OH MY!
I have tried quite of few things that I have discovered on Pinterest. I usually get drawn into a pin by a stunning photograph of something yummy, then think that I have to make this amazing thing for my family. Most of the time, things have gone swimmingly and there have been no complaints. Last night, however…
It all started with this pin:
See what I mean about yummy photography!
Clicking on the photo in the pin, I get to the website ohbiteit.com.
I read through the ingredients…awesome I have all that stuff!
I read through the instructions…seems simple enough!
So off I go on another culinary adventure! Popping open the can of biscuits they looked, well, …weird. They seemed a bit puffier than usual, but I REALLY wanted to make these dumplings!
In a big pot, the syrup was boiling. In I dropped the quarter biscuits. I started to get very excited as they started to puff up. I let them cook according to the directions, pushing them into the syrup then covering. I mixed together the sugar and spices…ohhhh this is going to be good!
I took the dumplings out and sprinkled them with the sugar mixture, then put them in dishes to serve, finished them off with a spoon of delicious smelling thick syrup….
Looks so good!
I put the bowls on the table with a couple of pieces of sausage. I waited with baited breath for the chorus of “mmmmmms” and “yuuuuumm”…but that didn’t happen. I felt crushed. I messed up something that was supposed to be AMAZING!
In all fairness to the quiet chorus, it wasn’t that great. I used weird buttermilk biscuits instead of flaky layer biscuits.
The syrup was amazing though. Thick and so maple-y…..mmmmmmm
I might not have hit that recipe out of the park this time, but that isn’t going to keep me from tweeking and trying again!
Oh…and Pinterest….I might have failed this time, but I’ll be back!
Life can be filled with sweet mistakes.
In my family we tend to wear a lot of hats, figuratively, wearing a hat literally just looks odd on me. My oldest is a student, an artist, a big brother, and occasional babysitter. The youngest…well he’s testing out the Terrible Two’s…so he is less than helpful sometimes! (but adorable in hats!) My Sweetums is my partner. We are a fantastic team. We might not be as well oiled as possible, but we are patient with each other (most of the time), very understanding of each others schedule and willing to pick up each others slack, because we know that the other would reciprocate.
Last year, I had a job where I worked a lot of night shifts. I would try to have dinner at least started for my guys with instructions on how to best finish it up. One night I had put a pot roast in the slow cooker with instructions on how to make a gravy using the “drippings” in the cooker. I said to add some flour and milk. Well evidently not everyone in the house knows that the flour is in the biggest plastic container and the powdered sugar is in the smallest.
The oldest loved the sweet gravy. He has asked for it numerous times since.
Today the Oreo cookie is 100 years old, but as I joked earlier, I am sure the ones packaged at the store are fresher….(rim shot)…
I want to now thank you for continuing to read my blog after that attempt at humor… 🙂
I love Oreos. I love the dark chocolate cookie. And eating Oreos is almost the only time I ever drink milk! But as much as I love them, I hate to pay the high price for a cookie I can make at home. Granted, the homemade version isn’t EXACTLY like the store bought cookies, but I think they are close enough. I actually prefer the homemade to heavily processed store bought cookies!
These were made as large cookies. This one is double stuffed, too!
I made these cookies big. The dough can easily be rolled out, and circles can be cut out (or any shape really!). I used a cookie scoop and then flatted the cookie with my fingers. A cookie stamp could be used to smoosh them. These will not fluff up. The cookie will be thin and more dense.
This recipe made 15 large sandwich cookies (30 halves and filling)
Cookie
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup dark chocolate powder (I use Hershey’s Special Dark)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
Filling
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
This post has been edited from the late night writing. I didn’t realize until this morning that I didn’t talk about the title of the post OR how delicious the meatloaf tasted. NOTE TO SELF: when you have hit the wall and you think you should go to bed…DO IT 🙂
Scheduling to be spontaneous is an oxymoron, but spontaneity was penciled in for today. Sweetie was heading out this evening for a weekend out of town, so I wanted to make lunch as special as dinners usually are around here. With the littlest being sick this week and being just a little clingy (understatement of the week!), I honestly haven’t gotten done what I had wanted to complete. BUT babies come first!
Lunches are usually either leftovers, something I can throw together quickly, or the very occasional meal out. However, today I wanted lunch to be a little something more. I wanted to sneak in a little quiet meal time with my Sweetie, which I knew could be a tough thing to hope for with a sick munchkin in the house. Luckily nap time cooresoped with lunch almost perfectly.
And I wanted to try a new Tastefully Simple product: Garden Veggie Dip Mix. This was another product introduced at Tastefully Simple On Tour in February. The first thing I thought when I was this product was YUM! The second was that I HAD to put this in a meatloaf. Garden Veggie Dip Mix is a mixture of red bell pepper, spinach, carrot, leek, garlic, onion, oregano, parsley, basil, thyme and rosemary. Oh My! What a fantastic way to sneak in some veggies into our dinners!
Meatloaf and I have an odd relationship. Most of the time, I am not a fan. My mom reads this blog, and I should probably say that I loved her meatloaf growing up, but I know (and I am pretty sure she won’t be shocked by this) that isn’t the truth. Not that it was bad…just…well I didn’t like it. Occasionally I will get in the mood of some meatloaf, and I have a special way I usually make it, but that is a blog for another day. Today I want to tell you about the turkey meatloaf I made for lunch.
I love colors in this slice!
I am not sure why I bought a pound of ground turkey from the grocery store. I am sure that I had some wonderful idea of how I wanted to prepare it when I placed it in the shopping cart, but honestly I have no idea what that idea was. So I had this pound of ground turkey sitting in the fridge, and a hankerin’ for some meatloaf and thought what the heck…just do it!
This tasted wonderful! I think next time I might add a mushroom or two or some more of the Garden Veggie Dip Mix! I loved the flavor. I can’t wait to add it to more things. Oh and I will probably use it as a dip.
Turkey Meatloaf
1 pound ground turkey
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons Garden Veggie Dip Mix
1/4 cup bread crumbs
Beat the egg and pour in Garden Veggie Dip Mix. Let sit for 15-20 minutes to reconstitute the veggies. Place ground turkey in a medium sized mixing bowl. Pour in egg-veggie mixture and the bread crumbs. Stir until well blended or if you are like me, mix with your hands. Slide meat mixture into a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
More Than Just Cookies 