Real Men Don't Eat Quiche

Or so says my husband. I think he has bad memories of quiche because he hasn't had any desire to try one in years. His mom used to make a salmon quiche and my husband doesn't care for salmon. Maybe that's why he thinks he doesn't like quiche or fritattas. That soon changed when we were watching the Food Network and there was an episode of "Best Thing I Ever Ate" and there was a ginormous, incredible looking quiche. He and I were both drooling. It was huge and very fluffy looking.

I found a recipe online for a variation of Quiche Lorraine and I thought I would try it. I figure since it had meat, cheese and eggs, it couldn't be something Jason would complain about. You can't really go wrong with bacon and other yummy proteins.

This was a very easy recipe to prepare, which is ultimately the most important aspect of my cooking these days. If it has a hundred steps or takes forever to cook, forget it. I bypass the recipe. I need easy and fast.

We were over at my in-laws yesterday when I prepared this meal. It was very easy. To make it even easier, I prepped a lot of the things beforehand. Rather than fry the bacon and then crumble it, I find it much quicker and easier to cut the bacon into small pieces and then fry it. Much, much easier. Plus your hands don't get greasy and gross from crumbling the bacon.

I also pre-chopped the onions and pre-beat the eggs. I also cheated and bought premade pie dough. I didn't want to go through the hassle of making my own crust. That way, I pretty much had to throw the ingredients together in the pan and bake. It cut down on the prep time by about 10 minutes, which doesn't sound like a lot, however, to me, it is a lot. That is 10 minutes that can be spent doing something much more important, like burping a baby or taking a shower.

I paired this meal with roasted asparagus (yum) and a salad. All in all, it was a pretty healthy meal since it was mostly veggies. Obviously, you are getting some bacon, but if you cut the quiche into six big slices, you are theoretically only getting a slice or so of bacon in your whole piece and less than one egg.

This quiche was very good. So good in fact that there was only one piece left in the pan after we all ate. There is none left as of this morning though since my husband polished off the last piece for his dinner at 3:00am (he works swing shift). I guess it must have been good huh? Especially since the man says "Real men don't eat quiche". Okay honey, you keep telling yourself that.

Country Quiche

from: http://www.allrecipes.com/

8 slices bacon
1 small onion, chopped
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium heat until evenly browned. Drain (reserving 1 tablespoon grease), crumble and set aside. Heat reserved grease in skillet and saute the onion until brown.

3. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, flour, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper. Add bacon, onion, mozzarella and cheddar cheese; mix well. Pour mixture into pie shell.

4. Bake for 45 minutes or until lightly brown on top and firm in the middle. Serve warm.

Homemade Gifts

I am going to our family Christmas party on January 1st (it's a tradition) and this year, we were all tasked with bringing 15 identical gifts. Now, if you were to buy 15 gifts, that could get expensive. Plus, it's also hard to find a gift that a whole family can enjoy and get use out of. Even if you spent $4 per gift per family, that is $60! I love my family to death, but with a new baby and Christmas over with, I was looking to save some dough.

I looked online for some clever gift ideas that I could make. A few years ago, I made cookie mix and soup mix and put them in jars. I wanted to do something similar but that would take less ingredients and less money. Enter cocoa mix. Who doesn't like hot cocoa?

I found a recipe online and what do you know? It made 15 cups of mix. If you multiply that by 3, that gives you 45 cups of mix. Enough for 15 quart jars with room leftover to add marshmallows or mini chocolate chips to the top of the jar.

The ingredients are very simple. Powdered milk, cocoa powder, sugar and dry dairy creamer. I figured that was easy enough and I could easily make 15 jars in an afternoon. Just add a cute bow or fabric to the top of the jar along with the instructions and that makes a nice gift.

Here is the mix all stirred up and ready to be jarred.

Here are some tips that I used to make this cocoa mix:

* Buy the ingredients in bulk. I went to our local grocery store and bought all the ingredients from the bulk bins. This saved me a ton of money. The dry ingredients (including the marshmallows) were approximately $34. Keep in mind that I have leftovers of some things such as the powdered milk and mini marshmallows.

* If you have time, buy the mason jars from a second-hand store. I didn't have enough time or energy to stalk the local Goodwill, so I bought new. They were $10 for a dozen and I happened to have 3 jars of my own that were from another homemade gift foray several years ago.

* Use a funnel. I don't have one, but I improvised. I made one out of cardboard and it worked really well. A real actual funnel would have been better.

* Make sure your mixing vessel is large enough. My mixing bowl is not that big so I used a giant stockpot.

* Wipe down the jars on the inside before you add the topping. This makes it look prettier and less "powdery". I think it makes a big difference.

* Wipe down the outside of the jars when you are done. I found that the ingredients were a little sticky and it made a mess of my kitchen.

Total cost to make 15 jars: $44 and some change. Less than $3 per jar! I don't think I could have bought a gift that everyone would appreciate for less than $3. I could have saved a little more money had I bought the jars used. With a good cleaning, they would have been good as new.

Keep in mind this mix goes a long way. Each jar has 3 cups of mix. Each cup of cocoa takes 1/3 of a cup of mix. That means there are 9 servings per jar. I don't think that's too bad!

All packaged up and ready to go! I just need to add ribbon and the instructions on how to make a cup.


You can experiment with this cocoa mix by altering the type of powdered creamer. I just used plain, but wouldn't it be yummy to substitute vanilla creamer or maybe even Irish Creme? If I make these again, I might try that.

Hot Cocoa Mix
from: http://www.allrecipes.com/

10 cups dry milk powder
4 3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cup powdered non-dairy creamer

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry milk powder, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and non-dairy creamer. Stir until thoroughly combined. Makes about 15 cups of mix.

2. For one serving, place 1/3 cup of the mix and add 3/4 cup boiling water. Stir.

or, Pachey's method for jarring:

Pour approximately 3 cups of mix into each quart jar and top with mini marshmallows or chocolate chips to fill jar.

Pumpkin For Breakfast

Remember when I said that fall is in the air? You know what that means? It's time for pumpkin! Starbucks has had their Pumpkin Spice Latte out for a few weeks now and I will admit that I have indulged. Quite a few times actually.

I made two pumpkin recipes this weekend. One was enjoyed this morning at breakfast. It's a recreation of Starbucks' latte. How did it turn out? It was okay. Of course, it wasn't nearly as good as the real thing, but it saved me money and a trip out of the house at 8:00 in the morning.

I prepared this recipe last night and chilled it in my baby crockpot in the fridge over night. My lovely husband then took it out of the fridge and started it at 6:00 this morning (he works swing shift and usually comes to bed around that time). So, when I woke up, I had my delicious coffee beverage waiting for me.

I would suggest using much stronger coffee than I did. While it was good, I prefer my coffee to actually taste a little like coffee. So next time I make this, it will be with the stronger stuff. Also, I imagine whipped cream would be delicious on this. I wouldn't know. I am trying not to gain too much weight during this pregnancy, so I omitted the whip. I am pretty sad about that because I think the whipped cream really adds to the flavor.

Overall, this was easy and yummy. I have some leftover for my breakfast tomorrow which makes me doubly happy.

Crockpot Pumpkin Spice Latte
from: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/crockpot-pumpkin-spice-latte-recipe.html

2 cups milk (I used 1%)
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons white sugar (I used Splenda instead)
2 tablespoons (yes tablespoons) vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup brewed espresso or 3/4 cup strong brewed coffee

This will make enough for two people to have a big mug with a bit leftover. If you are having friends over, adjust the recipe accordingly. I used my baby crockpot (for dips and small things) for this, but you can double and use a bigger crockpot.

Add the coffee/espresso and milk to the crockpot. Whisk in the pumpkin, spices, sugar and vanilla.

Cover and cook on high for 2 hours if everything is cold. Whisk again.

See? Mine is a little pale. Use STRONG coffee!

Early Thanksgiving

It was early Thanksgiving at our house yesterday. Although I didn't actually roast a turkey, I did roast a chicken. Really, all I wanted was stuffing. Namely, the family recipe stuffing. It's so good. I get it maybe once a year (on Thanksgiving, imagine that!) so this was a treat.

Here is a picture of my lovely chicken and roast veggies:

I started a cooking extravaganza yesterday morning. I started out by making the stuffing and then moving on to Lemon Blueberry Bread, then Lasagna for tonight's dinner and then finishing off with Hearty Chicken Vegetable Soup. In between chopping and stirring, I also managed to clean out my entire kitchen cupboards and re-organize them. I know, weird right?

This stuffing is very easy to make. If you are really lazy, I suppose you could use those premade bread cubes that they sell in the store. In my family, we always used to save the ends of breads, aka: The Heels. Or, if a loaf was starting to get a little stale, we would throw it in the freezer for the next batch of stuffing. Since our freezer space is limited, I just bought a cheapie loaf of wheat bread and toasted it up in the oven to dry it out. It worked perfectly fine!

Can you believe that with all the cooking I do I didn't have most of the spices in this recipe? I have never made stuffing at home so I didn't have the sage, rosemary or poultry seasoning. So I had to buy them. At least I will have them on hand for next time. When I was growing up, my Mom used to tell me that there's a song about these spices. Is that true? That is how she remembered which spices to add. Sage, rosemary and thyme. Or something like that.

I didn't stuff the chicken. I didn't want to mess around with that. So, I baked my stuffing in a casserole dish. Don't do what I did: Overcook the stuffing. I probably should have pulled it out of the oven at an hour rather than an hour and fifteen minutes. It was still edible, although dry. Heck, I was craving it. It could have been burned and I would have still eaten it.

Even better? I pulled it out of the refrigerator today and sliced some off to make myself a chicken and stuffing sandwich. Yay for leftovers!

Stuffing

from: My Mom

2 eggs, beaten

salt

pepper

medium to large onion, chopped

one tablespoon parsley

1/4 teaspoon sage

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1/4 teaspoon rosemary

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1 1/2 loaves bread, dried, cubed

4-8 tablespoons melted butter

boiling water (enough to moisten)

* Add all ingredients together and mix with your hands. Stuff in bird or bake in a casserole dish.

A Smorgasbord!

For those of you who aren't familiar with that word, it means an extensive array or variety according to Dictionary.com. My husband had to work tonight, so I decided that I would make foods that he would never eat. I wanted to focus on making things that incorporated dill. I have a nice, big dill plant that was waiting for a haircut out in my garden.

So, what does my husband not like? Fish, sweet potatoes and raw tomatoes. Harumph! I shake my fist at him. What a combination huh? I must be ill because I am craving vegetables. Crisp, raw, tasty vegetables. Hence the sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Not that I need an excuse to eat tomatoes. They are my favorite food after all. See what I mean about the smorgasbord? I incorporated a variety of foods.

I took some recipes that I found on the net and adapted them for myself. Off to the grocery store I went. I found a beautiful halibut fillet that was 1/3 pound. Perfect serving size for one! What goes good with baked fish? Lemon and dill of course. I needed a lemon. My tomatoes needed company, so I picked up a cucumber and a red onion. What for? To make a salad of course! Not the lettuce type of salad though. You will soon see what I mean. Finally, a nice, ripe sweet potato was in store to make oven-baked sweet potato fries.

Hungry yet?

So without further ado, here is my delicious, tasty and also pretty meal:

Now I know you are hungry.

Since I adapted these recipes from the interwebs, I am going to claim them as my own. These are all very easy to make and take minimal groceries. Here is the breakdown of what everything at the store cost:

$.68 for the cucumber
$.58 for the lemon

$1.50 for the sweet potato

$3.31 for the halibut fillet

$3.29 for the pint of grape tomatoes

$.29 for the red onion

Grand total: $9.65

Now, if you usually keep these things on hand, your total will be slightly less. Or, if you happen to have a bazillion tomato plants growing (like I do), the tomatoes will not cost a penny at some point.

Have at it folks. This was a delicious dinner, and judging by the ingredients, you can tell it is also very healthy. Tons of vitamins and minerals and fiber. Plus, you are eating foods of all colors, so it's visually pretty too!

Baked Halibut

from: Pachey

Halibut fillet (I used one that was about 5 oz)

2 slices of lemon

3 sprigs of fresh dill

1. Spray a pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Place the fish in the pan, cover with the dill and then the lemon slices. Cover the pan with foil.

3. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the fish is flaky.

4. Remove the lemon and dill before eating.

Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries

from: Pachey

1 medium sweet potato

1 tablespoon canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash the sweet potato well and dry thoroughly. Don't peel it! Trust me, leave the peel on!

2. Cut the ends off the sweet potato. Cut the sweet potato in half. Cut the halves in half. Then, finally, cut THOSE in half. You will end up with eight fries.

3. Place the fries on a baking sheet. Drizzle the fries with the canola oil. Toss the fries until they are coated well with the oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. No need to turn them. They will get crispy.

Tomato, Cucumber and Red Onion Salad with Dill

from: Pachey

1 large cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Splenda

1 teaspoon salt

pint of grape tomatoes, halved

2/3 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

2 tablesoons olive oil

fresh ground pepper to taste

1. In a bowl, mix together the cucumber, vinegar, Splenda and salt. Let stand on counter for an hour, stirring to coat occasionally.

2. Add the remaining ingredients. Season with pepper. Stir well and serve.

That's a Pizza Pie!

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I chalk it up to the fact that I was on vacation for over a week. I enjoyed lots of culinary treats from such far away lands as Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Quebec. Quebec was awesome by the way! That could take up a whole separate blog entry.

Amazingly, I didn't gain a single pound on vacation. As a matter of fact, I might have actually lost one due to all the walking and mucking around on the farm (that is another blog entry too). However, I wanted to get back to healthy eating, and I was actually missing being in the kitchen. So armed with my Cooking Light cookbook, I sat down and made my grocery list.

Tonight, after working all day in the yard and getting a sunburn (oops), I wanted something quick and easy for dinner. Oh.My.Goodness! This recipe is awesome! A friend of mine, Katie, actually recommended it to me several weeks ago. I am so glad I made it.

This was the perfect meal to end a hard day in the yard. It was portable, tasty, filling, and it had the right amount of carbs and protein. Nothing says a Saturday night like a pizza, especially one that you don't have to feel guilty eating.

I can't believe this is light. It was so good! While not a typical calzone (typical calzones have ricotta don't they?), it was still delicious. It had just the right amount of cheese, chicken and sauce. The only thing that was missing was fresh basil. The recipe called for it, but I didn't have any on hand. I was going to use the fresh basil from my garden, but the slugs nixed that idea for me. Note to self: Put slug bait down tonight. I used the dried stuff and it was still good.

Here are the cute little calzones all ready to be sealed and baked.

Enjoy this easy, portable dinner. Have a salad with it and you will be all set. I type this as my husband is eating his calzone one-handed while playing his video game. See? I told you it was portable.

The finished product.

Chicken and Basil Calzones

from: Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2009

cooking spray

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound ground chicken breast

3/4 cup prepared pizza sauce

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 can (13.8 oz) refrigerated pizza crust dough

1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add garlic and chicken to pan; saute 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, stirring to crumble. Stir in pizza sauce and pepper. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in basil. Let stand 10 minutes.

3. Unroll dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; cut dough into quarters. Pat each portion into an 8x6-inch rectangle. Divide chicken mixture evenly among rectangles; top each serving with 2 tablespoons cheese. Working with one rectangle at a time, fold dough in half over filling, pinching edges to seal. Repeat procedure with remaining rectangles. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden.

Ahhhhhhhhh

That's the sound of relaxation. I have been bad in my blogging skills, but that is because I have been so incredibly busy. That is exactly why Jason and I needed a weekend away at Sandlake Country Inn. I last posted about this B&B in November of 2007 for our 1st wedding anniversary. It has been far too long since we visited (Sorry Diane and Ron!), so we packed up the car and headed to the beach.

Whenever we head to the Oregon Coast, we always stay at Sandlake. I have lost count, but I believe this was our fifth time spending the weekend there.

Here is why we love it:

1. Great food

2. Warm, inviting rooms

3. Very kind and personable innkeepers

4. Cookies at midnight, or any time of the day really

5. Special extras (robes to wear, cozy slipper socks, homemade bubble baths, etc.)

6. Ron's own roasted coffee

7. Cozy beds

This was the deck off of our bedroom. I spent a lot of time sitting out here watching the birds. It was heaven. To see pictures of the rooms, you can check out their website, or actually, just go there and stay a weekend.

I could go on and on. Seriously. We love this place and have recommended it to several friends. The people that we have sent have NOT been disappointed.

Yes, I take pictures of food. My husband thinks this is hysterical.

What arrives at your door an hour or so before breakfast:

Some of the best coffee we have consumed. Ron roasts it himself. I should have bought some before we left but I forgot. Do you guys ship?

Breakfast Day One:

It all comes bundled in a basket to your door. You get to eat privately (in your pajamas if you choose) in your room.

Here is what was on the menu:

Orange Pineapple Juice
Fresh Fruit with Sweet Cream Sauce

Baked Apple Oatmeal with milk

Sandlake Breakfast Pie

Strawberry Filled Muffins

Breakfast Day Two:

I took a bite of the coffee cake before I snapped this picture (I couldn't resist, it looked so delicious).

Here is what was on the menu:

Orange Strawberry Banana Juice

Strawberries and Cream

Diane's Homemade Granola and milk

Italian Eggs
Blueberry Coffee Cake

Now, it's back to reality and real life. I have to cook again, and not have someone else make it. Can I just order pizza for the rest of my life? Better yet, can I just go move to the coast and order pizza there?

Bad Blogger

I know, I haven't posted in a while. I apologize for that. This may be my first non-food related post.

Here is why I haven't posted:

1. I just finished a killer Statistics class and all my free time was spent doing homework.

2. My computer network where I store all my pictures is down. I could post recipes, but not pictures. How boring would that be?

3. I haven't cooked a lot. The husband is doing the Slim Fast diet, so I have been cooking for myself only. I would just like to point out that the hubby has lost 20 pounds so far. Not bad!

Okay, so enough with the excuses. I will promise to post very soon. I swear. Pinky swear.

Happy Birthday Carrie!

Last night, my sister came over for a belated birthday dinner. We had a good time eating, talking and opening presents. My blog background is very appropriate for the dessert I made. Nothing fancy folks. Just a boxed cake mix! However, I got to use my cupcake pan! I swear, I need to find more reasons to use it. It is so stinkin' cute! Anyone have a baby shower coming up? How about a birthday? I need more excuses to use this thing!

My sister requested a Funfetti Cake. She used to love them as a little girl, so I was happy to oblige. If you aren't familiar with what a Funfetti cake is, picture a vanilla cake with sprinkles mixed into the batter. It isn't bad and I guess you can make cookies out of the mix as well. There is a recipe on the side to do so.

I also made our family spaghetti sauce. Oh my, I haven't had it in over a year and I had forgotten how good it is! If you follow my blog, it is one of the very first entries I ever did. Sorry, no recipe here. My mom might disown me. Instead, I will leave you with a tasty cake pictures since I was a heathen and used a boxed cake.

Okay okay, I will post a recipe too. In honor of the cupcake cake, here is a recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/. Everybody loves cupcakes right? After all, I can't post an entry without a recipe. That would just be wrong. My Memere used to make these when I was a kid. They are made with ice cream cones and cake mix. They are super cute, although not as cute as my cupcake.

Cone Cupcakes

from: http://www.allrecipes.com/

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
24 flat bottomed ice cream cones

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Cream butter and sugar together well in mixing bowl. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in vanilla. Measure flour, baking powder and salt into small bowl. Stir. Add milk to butter mixture in 2 parts alternately with flour mixture in 3 parts, beginning and ending with flour.

3. Fill cones about 3/4 full leaving the batter 1/2 inch from top. Place filled cones on a baking tray. Bake in oven for about 15 to 20 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

4. Ice with any type of frosting you wish.

So, I leave you with pictures of yesterday. Cake, sauce and presents.

Yummmm, spaghetti. Jealous?

Baked, disassembled cake

Completed Cupcake Cake. Cute right?

Happy Birthday Carrie!

Pretty flowers and a picture of our tiny living room.

Apples, Apples, APPLES!

What do you think of when you think of fall? For me, it's Thanksgiving, candy corn and apples. Others like pumpkins, cold weather and the changing of the leaves. Here's why I love apples: apple pie, applesauce, apple crisp, and apple cider. I love eating apples plain too, don't get me wrong.

Today, I went to the Apple Fest at Portland Nursery. Every year, they have apple tasting, entertainment, fresh apple goods and much more. Considering that apples are about $2.00 per pound at the grocery store, the $.89 a pound at the nursery was appealing. Even better, they sell apples in these huge bins, and they always have kinds that you can't buy on the West Coast, like Cortlands. I love East Coast apples. That's where I grew up, so I have fond memories of going apple picking in the fall.

With my apple loot, I came home and made sauce. It's my first attempt, so I had to ask my Mom for help. Below is my picture biography of my applesauce venture.

1. First, begin with your apples. I used a combination of Swiss Gourmet and Spitzenburg. I wanted Macintosh, but the nursery was out.

2. Cut the apples to a uniform size. If you have small apples, half them, and then half them again. If they are bigger apples, cut them into about 1/8ths, or about 2-inch chunks. Don't worry about the seeds. Deep breath people. Trust me, DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE SEEDS. Do take the stem off and the weird blossom thing at the bottom though. Oh, and don't peel them.

Exhibit A:

3. Get a big pan and fill the bottom of the pan (just so it's covered) with water. Place the apples in the pan. Cover, heat on high until the water starts to boil. Then, turn down the heat to low and simmer. Cook until the apples are soft. This took about an hour on my stove.

Exhibit B:

4. Once the sauce has cooled a little, strain it. I used a colander because the mesh strainer I had turned my applesauce into apple juice. Mush the pulp through the holes until you have nothing but the skins.

Exhibit C:

This is all the skin that was left from that huge pan.

5. At this point, you have complete applesauce. Don't add cinnamon or anything to it until you are ready to eat. The spices will turn it a weird brown color.

So, my foray into applesauce was a success. I have enough to eat, freeze, and to make an applesauce cake. Plus, I have apples left over for an apple crisp!

Exhibit D:

Potluck Offering

My family is large, and so when we all get together, there is tons of food. I thought that I would be different and bring a bean and olive spread, but alas, I arrived at the potluck and there were already five other spreads. There was salmon dip, guacamole, clam dip, french onion dip, and some other odd looking thing. I didn't taste that one.

Here I was thinking I was going to be creative, but noooooo. Oh well. I thought my spread was delicious, and probably the only one there that was light.

This was easy to assemble and the ingredients are probably ones that you have on hand, except maybe the Kalamata olives. All you is pop the items into a food processor and voila! Bean olive thingy. I brought whole wheat crackers and they were the perfect addition to the dip. Guess what? I still have tons left over. I plan on using the spread on sandwiches, and on the leftover crackers.

So, the next time I go to a potluck, remind me to see if there are other people bringing dips. Please?

Provencal Olive Spread

from: Cooking Light June 2005

2 cans (15.5 oz) Great Northern beans or other white beans, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

4 teaspoons capers

4 teaspoons red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt

16 Kalamata olives, pitted

* Place all ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth.

People Stink

I had to set my blog to private because anonymous people (rude ones) were leaving nasty comments. So, maybe when I am more brave at some point in the future, I will make it public again. Instead, it's now invite only. Besides, this blog was more for me anyways to track my cooking progress.

So, here's to you stinky rude people! Take that!

Ode to the Cupcake

I got a new cake pan. I have wanted it for months and months, and finally broke down and spent the $34.95 to buy it. In my defense, I used a gift card.

What's so special about this cake pan? It's a cupcake! No, not a cupcake pan with individual cakes, but one single giant cupcake. It's super cool and I can think of a million uses for it (baby showers, birthdays, potlucks, molding ice cream). The pan is divided into two sections: The frosting top part, and the paper wrapper bottom.

Follow this link and you will understand: http://tinyurl.com/5qrn2b

This week, there will be no recipe. This is because I used a boxed cake mix. Hey, I needed to test it out and didn't want to spend a lot of money or time on something that could have been a disaster. Plus, the husband likes boxed cakes (I know, right?).

So, here goes the giant cupcake. I greased and floured the pan. Now, normally I would use all flour, but I wanted my bottom part of the cupcake not to have white dust. So, I used cocoa powder. I believe I learned to use cocoa from Martha Stewart.

Exhibit A:

The instructions on the pan say that for a boxed cake, you need more than one box to fill it. Each side of the pan needs to be two-thirds full. So, here is what it looks like. I think I filled them too much. Oh well, live and learn.

Batter in:

Bake! I had no idea how long they would need to bake for, so I kept checking after ten minutes. I think total, it took about 40 minutes to bake.

Yep, I filled them too much:

I ended up having to cut off some cake on each side, otherwise, the two pieces wouldn't have gone together right.

They are starting to look like a cupcake! On goes the frosting and the sprinkles. Yes, I bought sprinkles. What can I say? I was looking for presentation.

Now THAT'S a cupcake! I really don't want to cut into it. I have a feeling it's going to fall apart. But, at least it looked pretty for a little while.

That Doesn't Look Anything Like the Picture

Sometimes, cooking can be a disaster. I love making new recipes. Look forward to it actually. You can find your new favorite by trying new recipes. So, a few weeks ago, I found a really good chili cornbread recipe. You put beans, ground beef, spices and all kinds of yummy bits in your Crock Pot. Then, you topped it with a mix of cornmeal, creamed corn, milk and salt. This was supposed to turn out looking like thick chili with a cornbread topping. What it ended up looking like was this:



Keep in mind, this was well after the cooking time was up. I cooked it for three hours, then four, then FIVE and the cornbread never set up. Granted, it wasn't that much of a waste of money, but you know what? That is not the point! The point is that I was seriously looking forward to the recipe. IT DIDN'T LOOK LIKE THE PICTURE. It ended up being a congealed mass of goop. The chili didn't taste good either. Sigh.



What did we even end up eating for dinner that night? I don't even remember. Probably soup and sandwiches. Thank God those don't need a recipe.


Needless to say, I won't be trying that recipe again. Boooooo!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

For months, my husband and I have been looking forward to our anniversary. It's our first year together and we wanted to share it at one of our favorite places: Sandlake Country Inn. Sandlake Country Inn is a beautiful, romantic, and cozy B&B on the Oregon Coast. We have stayed at other B&B's, but this one is the best. No, I don't work there, and I am not getting paid to advertise (really, we just love it!). My husband and I have stayed there several times and even got engaged there. Here is why we love it:

1. The breakfast: Typically, at a B&B, you get a tiny breakfast and it's not very tasty. Well, that isn't the case at Sandlake. The breakfasts are delicious! They are delivered to your door in the morning and you eat En Suite. That's in suite for you non-French speakers. Here is a sample menu from our weekend:

Orange Strawberry Banana Juice

Strawberry & Bavarian Cream Puff

Baked Apple Oatmeal and Milk

South of the Border Eggs

Blueberry Muffins

It's enough to feed more than two people. Seriously. We never finish and always end up packing up the muffins for later. Served on a tray, or in a basket with Ron's Home Roasted Coffee. It's heavenly. Here is what it looks like delivered to your room:

2. The special touches: The robes, slipper socks, personalized printed cards, handmade lotions and bubble bath, books, movie collection and cookies anytime during the day or night. Feel like hot apple cider and cookies at 3 in the morning? No problem. Just find the cookie jar in the front room. Every time we visit, we discover something new.

3. Jacuzzi tub: Now, I know this doesn't sound like a very big deal to some of you, but to us, this is a HUGE deal. To find a tub for two people to fit COMFORTABLY is a feat. There is nothing like soaking in the tub and then sitting in front of the fireplace in your robe and slipper socks. Nothing.

4. The atmosphere: Did I mention the jacuzzi tub? What about the fireplace? Sandlake Country Inn is very private, with only three guest rooms in the main house and a Cottage. It's surrounded by gardens, a stream and lots of nature. We stayed in the Cottage and it was pretty cool watching the birds in the morning while drinking my coffee. You don't even need to leave the B&B if you don't want to. Curl up on the couch with your honey and watch a movie. Or read. Or just nature watch.

This was a memorable weekend for us. We got to celebrate our first year together and had some time to relax at one of our favorite places. I rave about it, because well, it's awesome! You won't be disappointed if you decide to visit, I promise.

Happy Anniversary to us! Thank you Diane and Ron! We will be back soon!

http://www.sandlakecountryinn.com/