Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today’s post contains recipes and tutorials to make yourself a lovely little St. Patrick’s day.
1. Bakerella’s Green Velvet Cake Balls.
2. Martha’s Shamrock Boutonnieres.
3. Mama Jill’s St. Patty’s Day Headband.
4. Twig & Thistle’s Printable St. Patrick’s Day Coasters.
5. I am Baker’s St. Patrick’s Day Scotcheroo Bars.
This week’s recipe is from my awesome mom who made this delicious dessert when I was visiting. It’s only 5 ingredients and takes 8-10 to bake. You can whip these up for dessert tonight!
Molten Chocolate Souffles
Makes 2 servings:
4 tablespoon unsalted butter +more for the ramekins
1 tablespoon flour + more for the ramekins
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons sugar
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Butter 2, 4 or 6 oz. ramekins and dust the inside with flour. Place butter and chocolate in microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring, until melted and smooth. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg, egg yolk and sugar until thick and lighter in color. Add the melted chocolate mixture and flour and beat until smooth. Divide the batter between the prepared ramekins. Bake until edges are set and center still jiggles slightly, 8-10 minutes. Let stand 15 seconds. Run a knife around edge , invert on plate, dust with confectioners sugar. Serve with fresh mint , strawberries or raspberries. Delish!
Today is food Friday! Here is a cute way to wrap up sweets for your valentine. Cut out small hearts (I used a heart punch) out of red or pink paper. Use clear tape to adhere them onto a sheet of wax paper. Place another sheet of wax paper on top and them use it like wrapping paper to wrap up any type of dessert (or gift). I baked a pound cake in the photos above and tied it up with baker’s twine.
What do you bake or cook on Valentine’s Day?
A few years ago my mom started to tradition of cooking a delicious stuffed French toast on Christmas morning. So this year I continued the tradition and made some for Kevin and I. It’s so easy and you don’t have to wait until the holidays to make it. It’s perfect for a weekend breakfast in bed or Sunday brunch.
Take one loaf of french bread and slice, at and angle, into eight pieces. Cut a slit along the length of each piece. Meanwhile, mix one 8 oz. “block” or softened cream cheese, with about 1/4 c. orange marmalade, and 1/4 chopped pecans (walnuts are great too). Fill each piece of bread with about 2 tbs. of the mixture. Then just coat with your favorite French Toast egg mixture. Ours is eggs, skim milk, and cinnamon. Fry up the bread in a skillet and serve once golden brown on all sides. Dust with powdered sugar. Makes 8 large slices.
I served ours with fresh pineapple and apple chicken sausage. Yum.
Here’s a little recap of what I got for Christmas. I will post another vlog next week!
A couple weeks ago I drove down to Miami to visit my family for a couple days. The first night I was there my parents and I went to the Fresh Market in Coconut Grove and picked up several delicious things and created our own ready-made tapas meal. This would be such a great idea for a quick holiday party or a small get together with close friends.
And yes, you guessed it, I got my craftiness from my mom.
Here’s a gift guide for your favorite foodies.
Clockwise, from the top right:
1. Foodie Fight A Trivia Game for Serious Food Lovers, $18.95
2. The Cheese Tasting Party Kit, $16.95
3. Pewter Bird Measuring Spoons, $96.00
4. Damask Filled Steel Blue Coasters, $23 set of 4
5. Serendipity3 Frrrozen Hot Chocolate Mix Canister, $14.79
6. Chef’n Emulstir, $15.49
7. White Porcelain Sampler Set, $19.95
8. Martha Stewart Makes Cookies iPad app, $4.99
9. Cabinet Mount for iPad, $69.99
This Thanksgiving my clever husband came up with the idea of making several dipping sauces for our turkey. I have always loved the idea of transforming traditional holiday dishes into something delicious and unique. So here’s what we came up with chimichurri sauce, cranberry orange sauce, raspberry honey mustard, and curry mustard.
Below are the recipes for all the sauces. The chimichurri was by far everyone’s favorite!
Cranberry Orange Sauce
Zest & juice of 1 orange
1/2 c. Sugar plus more if desired
1 bag of cranberries, rinsed
Pinch of salt
In a medium sauce pan, heat 1/2 c. water with orange zest, juice, sugar and salt over medium high heat until the sugar dissolves. This takes about 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer, until cranberries burst, about 6-7 minutes. Stir in more sugar if you want it a little sweeter. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
Curry Mustard
6 tablespoons light mayonnaise
3 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
6 tablespoons water (less water, depending on how thin you want the sauce to be)
Mix everything together in a small bowl.
Raspberry Honey Mustard
Mix 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup Dijon mustard and 1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam.
Chimichurri Sauce
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
8 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 lemon wedge (juice of)
1 tablespoon diced red onion
1 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
Simply pulse everything in the food processor.
The holiday’s are officially upon us and that means the hunt for gifts has also begun! Chronicle Books, my favorite publisher of art, design, craft, and cook books has a contest going on. If you comment on this post you will be entered to win all the above books! That’s a $500 value! You can give them to friends and family on your list and even keep a few for yourself. Here are my favorite picks I would love to give (and keep) this season.
1. Button Girl by Mikyla Bruder
2. Polaroid Notes by Jenifer Altman
3. Pretty Pantry Gifts by Tara Duggan
4. The Small Stakes by Jason Munn
5. Cake Pops by Bakerella by Angie Dudley
6. The Exquisite Book by Julia Rothman, Jenny Volvovski, and Matt Lamothe
7. Designer’s Notebook by Andrew Schapiro and Brad Mead
8. This Is NPR by Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Noah Adams, John Ydstie, Renee Montagne, Ari Shapiro, and David Folkenflik
9. Little Book of Letterpress by Charlotte Rivers
10. Paper + Craft by Minhee and Truman Cho
11. Cuba Style by By Steven Heller
12. Lotta Jansdotter’s Handmade Living by Lotta Jansdotter
13. Print & Pattern by Bowie Style
14. Beer A Genuine Collection of Cans by Dan Becker and Lance Wilson
15. French General: Handmade Soirées by Kaari Meng
16. DIY Fashion by Selena Francis-Bryden
17. Dorm Decor by Theresa Gonzalez and Nicole Smith
18. Pulled: A Catalog of Screen Printing by Mike Perry
19. Tees: the Art of the T-Shirt by MAKI
I’m taking a break from art and design Tuesdays to share our Thanksgiving day menu. Any suggestions on things to add? What does your menu look like?
