Valentine's Day Dessert

Look at this beauty with layers of brownie, chocolate mousse and raspberry mousse.  Definitely lots of work but delicious!

Recipe here

Southwest Chickpea and Corn Salad

It's been nearly a year since my last post so this boring recipe post doesn't quite seem fitting as the inaugural post.  Oh well, I mainly just want to just this down for my future reference.  I'm selfish that way.

I got this great corn salad recipe from my boot camp instructor and adapted it heavily for a satisfying vegetarian meal.  So here is my southwest chickpea and corn salad recipe:

1 packet taco seasoning of your choice
1 T soy sauce
2 T water
2 t lime juice
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine taco seasoning, soy sauce, water and lime juice.  Stir in chickpeas until fully coated and allow to marinate for at least an hour.  Strain chickpeas to get rid of the excess marinade.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Pour chickpeas onto baking sheet and spread into an even layer.  Spray chickpeas lightly with cooking spray and then bake at 400 for 20 minutes.  The outside will be crunchy and insides should be satisfyingly chewy.

I made these chickpeas a day ahead.  They are great in wraps and tacos too!  They won't be crunchy the next day but still very tasty in this salad.

2 c frozen or fresh corn
1 poblano pepper, cut into 1/4" pieces
1 sweet potato, cut into 1/4" pieces
1 T olive oil
Avocado
Tomato
Romaine lettuce

Preheat oven to 450.  Combine the corn, pepper and sweet potato in a 9x13 baking dish and toss in oil to coat.  Bake at 450 for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  The sweet potato should be soft and the corn and pepper should be slightly charred.

Allow the corn mixture to cool slightly.  Put a handful of romaine on a plate, top with chickpeas and corn mixture then chopped avocado and tomatoes to taste.

It was quite a satisfying salad that required no dressing at all!

Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

Phew, let me just start by saying that hosting birthday parties on back-to-back Saturdays is a lot of work!  Even though I kept Calla's 1st birthday party much more low key, it almost seemed like I was rushing around more in the days leading up to it.  But it was all worth it in my opinion.  I remember some great parties growing up and want to create the same memories for my kids.  (I realize Calla won't remember her 1st birthday but I will.)

Without any further ado, here are the highlights of the meal and decorations.  First, the invitation:

Completely copied from multiple sites and super easy to make with a printer, mini hole punch, mini brads and circle punch.

I also made a caterpillar mobile from lanterns using these instructions:

And a pair of caterpillars using photos from her first year (1 from each month):

(Those are just construction paper dots using my circle punch to add a little more color to the multiple tables we used.)

I made hats using the same tutorial as I did with Ian's party and punched out some stickers to doctor up plain white cups.

I didn't get pictures of the cake (gasp) or the food with the exception of the fruit.  I used the fruit from the caterpillar's Mon-Fri diet as part of the menu with these free printables.  I also made an quick orzo salad and cut up some pinwheel sandwiches using spinach wraps and shaped them into a caterpillar with a tomato head.

I made a caterpillar cake inspired by this design.  I still need working on wrapping fondant over round cakes but I really prefer buttercream anyway.  But it turned out pretty well despite my novice efforts.

And I made a birthday plate for Calla just like her big brother's.  We plan to use it each year (as long as she's willing).

Finally, I made these butterflies as favors for the kids but I totally forgot to hand them out!  They're Skittles and Trix cereal.  Not sure what to do with all these treats now...

So now I have a whole year to recover before the birthday rush begins again.  I can't wait!

Chocolate cupcake with salted caramel buttercream

Yet another cupcake recipe to share (and for me to record for future use).  I adapted several different recipes into one decadent cupcake.   Just take a look...

This little beauty is a chocolate cupcake with caramel filling, salted caramel buttercream topped with a caramel drizzle and milk chocolate toffee bits.  Pretty much all of my favorite things wrapped up in one little treat.  Though the cupcake recipe makes 24 cakes, the frosting only covered 12.  So I made another batch of frosting but substituted 1/2 cup of fresh strawberry puree for the caramel and omitted the salt.  Fresh strawberry buttercream is definitely a winner too.  A bit lighter than its caramel cousin if that's possible considering the butter and sugar involved. 

I have no destination other than my belly in mind for these 2 dozen cupcakes.  Yikes!  Unless anyone wants to drop by for cupcakes tomorrow, my co-workers will get to polish these off on Tuesday.  If only I loved working out as much as I love baking.  *sigh*

Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
(makes 24-27 standard sized cupcakes)
From Glorious Treats

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (best quality available)
1 cup boiling water

Caramel Filling
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup caramel topping

Salted Caramel Frosting
Adapted from The Novice Chef

2 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup caramel topping; plus more for drizzling
3/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
1 pound confectioners’ sugar

Instructions:

Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for two minutes.  Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin).

Fill liners 2/3 full with batter.  Bake cupcakes for approximately 22-24 minutes.  Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Stir sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping to make the filling.  Scoop out a hole in the cupcake and spoon in the filling.  Replace the scooped out portion of the cake.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter.  Add vanilla, caramel topping and fleur de sel and mix until well combined.   Add confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Pipe icing onto cupcake, drizzle with caramel topping and sprinkle with Heath milk chocolate toffee bits (found in the baking aisle).  Or sprinkle with chopped Snickers bars.

Ladybug birthday cupcakes

Our dear friends moved on Saturday and were brave enough to host a birthday party for their 4 year old on Sunday at their new home.  Impressive!  So I volunteered to make cupcakes for the birthday girl.  She requested ladybugs and I was happy to oblige.  I made perfectly chocolate cupcakes with my favorite vanilla buttercream grass and fondant ladybugs, funfetti cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and another fondant ladybug and fresh strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream and m&m ladybugs.  I only sampled the strawberry which was good but perhaps a little dry.  Since I have said the same thing about other recipes, I should probably adjust my baking times.  The hubby tried the funfetti and gave his usual "it was fine" response.  Not much to go on there.  Oh well, just an excuse to try both the chocolate and funfetti recipes again!  Overall I was very happy with the decorations.  And I even made an extra batch of grass and roses for my sister's family to celebrate their move to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  Win-win! 

Candy Bar Cake recipe

For the anonymous commenter on my birthday post, here is the recipe for the Candy Bar Cake.  It's definitely my favorite!  But based on the size of my "Goodies" board on Pinterest, I have many new favorites waiting to be tried.

Candy Bar Cake
Liberally adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
Cake-
1 package devil's food cake mix
1 1/2 cups milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 small package instant vanilla pudding mix

Filling-
1 1/2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 (12 oz) container Cool Whip, thawed
7 Heath bars, coarsely chopped (substitute any candy bar you'd like)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Prepare 3 8-inch cake pans (my sister introduced me to Baking Pam and I haven't looked back.  It's flour and oil in one quick spray!).

Combine cake ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Beat on low speed until combined.  Beat 4 minutes on medium speed.  Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Turn out cakes from pans and allow to cool completely.

For the filling, beat cream cheese, sugar and confectioner's sugar until smooth.  Fold in Cool Whip and candy bar pieces.  Spread between cake layers and on outside.  I then added a layer of chocolate buttercream to the outside for a cleaner finished look.  And because chocolate is fantastic.

My birthday in pictures

Handmade by my kiddos with help from their Daddy.

Almost triple digits, woohoo!

Candy bar cake (chocolate cake, whipped cream/cream cheese icing with toffee and chocolate buttercream)

This is my idea of the proper cake to frosting ratio...

Party, party, party

We hosted an open house recently to celebrate Calla's arrival.  It was such a joy to see so many special people gather to pour out love on Calla and our family.  We are blessed!  Every baby should be cherished as much as Calla.

In preparation for the party, I had a great time sourcing handmade decorations and treats as well as making many of my own.  Instead of searching all over for recipes and resources again, I thought I'd recap anything here for my future reference.  Plus everything turned out so beautifully that I had to share pictures.  (Disclaimer - I was snapping pictures at the last second with the wrong lens so the quality is not great.) 

DESSERT BUFFET:

• Chocolate Cupcakes -  Magnolia's Vanilla Buttercream will definitely be my go-to icing in the future.  It is DELICIOUS!  If buttercream is wrong, I don't want to be right.  Edible pearls and wafer rice paper butterflies from Sweet Deja Vu were beyond adorable.  I was very pleased with these cupcakes.
• Chocolate Covered Oreo's - I used a candy mold which created a professional looking result.  Tutorial here.
• Mini Strawberry Cheesecake - Used this recipe but made into individual cheesecakes using silicone muffin molds.  They definitely needed to be frozen for at least 2 hours before unmolding but I love the finished result of the individual servings.
• Sugar Cookies - I tried a new recipe which was very good.  Traditionally I have used buttercream to ice cookies but I wanted to try royal icing for a clean finish.  The flavor wasn't as good as buttercream but the cookies were very pretty.  I think adding vanilla or almond extract would help.  I used buttercream to attach these custom fondant monogram toppers from Two Sugar Babies.  Some of the monograms were damaged beyond repair in shipping but I ended up with just the right amount for the plate.  And I think her other designs which aren't as intricate would travel better.
• Petit Fours - I'm not usually a lemon dessert fan but these lemon petit fours from Dulce De Luna were delicious!  The almond raspberry flavor was also tasty.
• Cake Pops - Red velvet, yum!  I met a woman who was selling cake pops as a fundraiser for Relay for Life and asked her to make 2 dozen for the party.  Win-win!
• Chocolate and Vanilla Marshmallows - If you haven't tried handmade marshmallows from A Little Bit of Sweet, you are missing out!  They are light, fluffy and absolutely delicious.
• Meringue Cookies - Huge mistake, most of them broke during shipping and no one ate those that made it in tact.  Oh well, you live and learn.
• Hershey's Kisses - Found clever little stickers from Posh Pixels and had them customized with Calla's name and initial. 

Chocolate covered Oreo's

White chocolate covered Oreo's

Red Velvet Cake Balls

Sugar cookies with royal icing and fondant monogram toppers

Lemon and almond-raspberry petit fours

Meringue cookies, handmade marshmallows, kisses

Kisses with custom stickers

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream

Wafer rice paper butterfly and edible pearl decorations

OTHER FOOD & DRINKS:

• Tea sandwiches - I don't generally like tea sandwiches plus I tried new recipes so this was a gamble.  Both the chicken salad and cucumber sandwiches (used Best Cucumber Sandwich recipe) were completely gone and received many compliments. 
• Fruit
• Veggies and dip
• Orzo pasta salad
• Scones and homemade blackberry jelly (Jeff's contribution)
• Water - I added cucumbers, limes, strawberries and raspberries to water to make it a little prettier
• Raspberry lemonade with lemons brought from Arizona by my mom
• Coffee and assorted teas
• Champagne bar with pomegranate juice, orange juice and peach puree.  In a flash of frugal brilliance, I bought simple vases from the Dollar Store for the juices since I didn't have enough pitchers.



Food table



Fruit water and raspberry lemonade

Coffee and tea in my mom's silver tea service set (paper heart garland above)

Champagne bar (custom letter blocks in front)

DECORATIONS:

• Tissue paper pom poms came in a kit from Prost to the Host.  I just had to attach the monofilament, fluff and hang.  My mom had the clever idea of using a needle to hang them.  You can't even see the holes!
• Paper heart garland from Paper Polaroid.  I am saving this to use for Valentine's decorations in the future.
• I adore the name blocks from Countryside Sayings.  They were a great addition to the party decor and I ordered colors that will work in Calla's room afterward.
• I made the food labels using frames from DreAm Loft.  It came in a set of 6 different designs but the shop owner sent each design separately as well which worked perfectly since I only used one.
• Using this tutorial, I created a twin heart wreath for the door.  It was a ton of work (and a ton of glue sticks) but I will also keep this to reuse for Valentine's Day decorations so it was worth it.

Pom Poms, glass trays and food table

Pom Poms close up

DIY heart wreath

Practice makes perfect

I've always like to bake but haven't really had the time.  With a back-to-back sabbatical and paternity leave, I've had the luxury of baking lots of cakes.  And by lots, I mean 4.  Considering I do the baking and decorating while Ian is sleeping, I think 4 is a lot.  I could bake while he is awake but then I have to listen to him say "whatcha making mommy" and "want some" about a billion times.  It's just not worth it.  What I've ultimately discovered is that I enjoy trying new recipes and am pretty darn good at baking.  But on the decorating side, I'm just ok.  I need to spend more time smoothing the icing and such to ensure a better outcome.  And I probably need some tools.  I love the process though and I think with practice I will be much better.  I'm looking forward to more excuses to practice! 

Ian's birthday cake:  dark chocolate cake with cream cheese icing and fondant dessert decorations (cake and icing are my go-to recipes)

Ian's other birthday cake:  chocolate cake with candy bar filling and chocolate buttercream icing (DELICIOUS!!!)

Our friend Bethany's first birthday cake:  cookies and cream cake with buttercream Oreo filling and vanilla buttercream icing and cake ball bee

Valentine's cake (per Jeff's request):  chocolate cake with fleur de sel caramel filling and ganache icing (the ganache wasn't sweet enough for me so I would leave it in the filling and sub chocolate buttercream for the icing)

Happy Halloween

As soon as the Kid got a peek at these, he started singing "Happy Birthday."  Apparently he thinks cake is only allowed at birthdays.  Heh.

 Mummies...

...and spider webs...

 ...and worms in dirt...

OH MY!

I was in a hurry to deliver these to a friends house so I didn't have time to take a decent pic.  But they are pretty cute, er scary,  and in keeping with my must-be-simple-to-decorate rule.  Plus I tried a new vegan chocolate cake recipe that turned out remarkably moist and tasty.  After my last attempt at vegan cupcakes turned out disappointingly dry, I'm happy to have a new go-to recipe.  Happy birthday...I mean, Happy Halloween!