Patriotic Treats with a Side of Summer Accountability

It all started when I was pinning (which I do quite a lot now that school is out and when I'm successfully putting off doing something) away on Pinterest and I came across this pin...

Stephen and I were going to enjoy a cook-out at his parents house for Memorial Day Weekend and I decided that I was going to make one of Stephen's most favorite treats: Cake Balls.  Have you ever made cake balls?  Have you ever tried them?  If you've never tried them, you need to get your hands on at least one and taste the goodness for yourself - they are truly amazing.  If you've never made them, let me caution you: they are very time consuming.  Back in February I made the mistake of asking Stephen what he wanted for his birthday.  He insisted that he wanted nothing and I insisted that it was HIS birthday, I would make him ANYTHING he wanted (did you read my post from Monday to see how busy I was during this time?).  He decided that he wanted cake balls.  I'm pretty sure a part of me died a little inside when he said that...of all the things he wanted, he chose the most time consuming dessert possible.  However, I did tell him that I would make anything he wanted (dang it!) and so cake balls it was....

Fast forward to May - school was about to be out and summer was on the verge of happening - I was feeling adventurous!  I was going to make cake balls...not just any cake balls, Patriotic Cake Balls!!!  {cue the dramatic, excited music}

These were my inspiration from this website:

1st step was to make the cake balls.  If you've never made them before, here is the recipe (there are a million if you google "how to make cake balls" or "cake pops" and they're all about the same).  I used a half a tub of frosting to make mine.  I went with white cake (mine and Stephen's fav) and white icing.  After I made the cake balls, I arranged them in my 13x9 metal cake pan to get an idea of how many of my balls {insert inappropriate middle school boy jokes here} needed to be red, white and blue.

Once I figured out how many balls needed to be what color, I got to work and did each color separately.  I used the Wilton colored candies from JoAnns (or any craft store - even Wal-Mart carries them) to coat my cake balls.  I had lots of trays of different colored cake balls sitting around my kitchen.  Talk about needing self control to just hang around them without eating them!  If you do make cake balls, be sure you make lots of extras so you can just pop them in your mouth while you're working!

Unfortunately I did not do my math correctly and I didn't have the right amount of white cake balls.  What's scary about this is that I teach 4th grade math....this was a perfect example of math in real life (because everyone makes cake balls, right?) and yet I failed at it.  Stink.

The good news is that even though I was short on the white balls, they still tasted great!  It's a good thing that these desserts take a while to make, otherwise, I'm pretty sure I would make them entirely too often and my thighs would pay the price for this bad addiction!

For this upcoming 4th of July, I'm thinking about making this dessert from Betty Crocker:

I'm also thinking about making these to hang under the pergola by our family room window:

Now onto the side of Summer Accountability.  I know you probably don't care about how I'm spending my summer days and please know that this part of the post is entirely for me.  Last summer I found myself getting overwhelmed by all the different things I wanted to accomplish during the summer time. This overwhelming feeling kept me from accomplishing much of anything.  As a way to try and ward off laziness, I've decided that I'm going to blog about my daily activities during the summer.  Maybe it'll keep me from getting sucked into Bravo's Real House Wives Marathon because I'm ashamed to tell all of blogland that this is how I chose to spend my day!  So here it is, my daily what dos:

Monday: walked Princeton in the morning, changed the sheets on the bed and washed them, put sheets back on the guest bed, did the laundry and put it up, blogged, did my Bible study, worked on a small art project that I had been putting off, touched up trim in the entry way, went to Bible Study.

Tuesday: walked Princeton in the morning, put a first coat of paint on the inside of the front door, put up the last basket of laundry, went to dinner with my parents, took Princeton on an evening walk.

Wednesday: walked Princeton in the morning, put a second coat of paint on the front door, cleaned up in the basement, my friend Julie came over and we hung out most of the afternoon, took Princeton on an evening walk.

Thursday: cleaned up the paint mess, went to the grocery store, worked out in the backyard for 3 hours, vacuumed and tidied up, made dinner and Stephen's parents came for dinner, took Princeton on an evening walk.

Friday: filled the dishwasher, did the rest of the dishes, worked in the vegetable garden, painted the first coat on our bedroom closet, emptied the dishwasher, blogged.....

Do you think I'm crazy yet?  Feel free to skim past these random lists of my uneventful days...I'll be honest - I did get sucked into a few episodes of Real House Wives of the OC...it's like a train wreck and I can't turn away.  These women are SO mean to each other.  It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that they exist, they're adults and I'm aiding their richness by being sucked into their drama.  Ugh. Do you have any "guilty" tv pleasures?  I'm not gonna lie....I also get sucked into Real House Wives of NJ....okay, enough confessions!

I'm linking up with these parties:

Thirty Handmade Days; Naptime Crafters; Simply Designing; My Romantic Home; Finding Fabulous; The Shabby Nest; Chic on a Shoestring Budget;  The Scrap Shoppe; A Vision to Remember; Tatertots and Jello; I Heart Naptime; DIY Showoff; Homemaker on a Dime; Sumo's Sweet Stuff; Craft-O-Maniac; Uncommon Designs; C.R.A.F.T.; Lines Across; That's What Che Said;  Creatively Living; An Extraordinary Day

Mmmmm! Minestrone

Sometime ago I told you that Stephen could eat his weight in soup.  He loves it. period. end of sentence.  It could be a 99 degree, muggy August day and Stephen would have no problem slurping down a big 'ol bowl of soup.  Needless to say, we're a bit different in that department, although I do love a good, warm soup to warm my bones on a cold, winter day.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) we haven't had much of a winter here.  It's February 29th and the low today was 48 with a high of 72...seriously.  Good thing I made this soup on Sunday (when it was probably about 10 degrees colder) - oh well, I still loved it!

I found this recipe on Allrecipes, and you can find it here.  I made small alterations to it that I will explain below.

 Cast of Characters:

*3T Olive Oil

*3 cloves of garlic, chopped

*2 onions, chopped

*2C chopped celery

*5 carrots, sliced

*2C of chicken broth

*2C of water

*4C of tomato sauce

*1/2C red wine (optional)

*1 can 15oz kidney beans, drained and rinsed

*1 can 15oz green beans

*2C baby spinach, rinsed

*3 zucchinis, quartered and sliced

*1T chopped fresh oregano (I used 1/3T of dried)

*2T chopped fresh basil (I used 2/3T of dried)

*Salt and pepper to taste

*1 lb of pasta (I like the small tubular pasta - my favorite for this recipe: ditalini)

*Parmesan cheese for garnishing

*If you'd like to add meat, I made this recipe the first time by adding 1/4lb of pancetta (I got mine in the deli)

Before I get started, I like to chop up everything so it's ready (zucchini on the left, carrots and celery in the middle, onions on the right)

Chopped garlic cloves, ready to be used

Then I get going...

Stage Directions:

*In a large pot, over medium heat, heat olive oil and saute garlic for 2-3 minutes.  Add onion and saute for 4-5 minutes (or until translucent).  If using pancetta, add it to your pot here.  Add celery and carrots, saute for 1-2 minutes.

*Add chicken broth, water and tomato sauce, bring to boil, stirring frequently; add red wine.  Reduce heat to low and add kidney beans, green beans, spinach, zucchini, oregano, basil, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 30-40 minutes, the longer the better.

 (pre zucchini, spinach, and beans)

*Cook your pasta according to the package.  We like pasta in our house so we cook a lot!

*Put pasta in the bottom of your bowl and add the minestrone to the top.  Garnish with parmesan and/or Romano for an extra umph! :)

Who knows what happened when I uploaded my pictures onto the computer - they got a little bit cut up, but it did not effect the taste of this yummy soup! ;)

Pin It

I'm hanging out over with Mel at The Larson Lingo, checking out all the yummy soup recipes at her Soup's On Party!

Craving Pizza?

Last month, Stephen and I had Stephen's sister and her husband over for dinner and a game of Settlers of Cataan.  In an effort to please all people involved, and to spice things up, I decided that we would all be making our own personal panned pizzas.  I had a great "Chicago-Style Pepperoni Pan Pizza" recipe from The Cook's Country Cookbook that I had made back in the Spring for my Chicago Small Group  that turned out to be quite a hit.  The only problem with it was that the pizzas it made were only 9" (and they weren't intended to be personal pan pizzas) - not that big.  The more I thought about it, the better that was - with a smaller pizza, we could all make our own and have a pizza exactly the way we wanted it!  Here are pictures to show the progress; recipe to follow:

My pizza toppings: sauce (recipe to follow); mozzarella; mushrooms; green pepper; onion; Italian sausage; pepperoni

The dough before it started to rise

Cutting up the toppings to prepare for the dressing of the pizzas

Dividing the dough among 4 8" cake pans - be sure you rub them down with olive oil first

Once you've divided the dough, push and pull it to cover the entire bottom of the cake pan

Assign everyone their own pan and allow them to make their pizzas to their liking and then bake in the oven

Enjoy! - YUM!!!

Ingredients for dough:

(To make an 8" pizza for 4 people, I doubled these recipes)

*1/2C olive oil *3/4C plus 2T skim milk heated to 110 degrees *2t sugar *2 1/3C all-purpose flour, plus extra for the work surface *1 envelope rapid-rise or instant yeast *1/2t salt

What to do:

*Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 200 degrees.  When it reaches 200 degrees, turn it off. Lightly grease a large bowl and coat two 9-in cake pans with 3T of the oil (I used 8").

*Mix the milk, sugar, and remaining 2t oil in a measuring cup.

*Mix the floud, yeast, and salt using a standing mixer and a dough hook. Turn the machine to low and slowly add the milk mixture. After the dough comes together, increase the speed to medium-low and mix until the dough is shiny and smooth, about 5 minutes.

*Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, shape into a ball, and place in the greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the warm oven until doubled in size (30 minutes).

*Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, divide in half, and roll each half into a ball.  Take 1 ball of dough at a time and spread it across the bottom of your cake pan.  Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot (not the oven) until puffy and slightly risen, about 20 minutes (oops!  I forgot to do this - still tasty!).  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

*When the dough is ready, cover it with your favorite toppings and then put it in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the dough is browning around the edges.

*Enjoy!!!

Simple Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

*1T olive oil *2 garlic cloves, minced *1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes *Salt and pepper

What to do:

Cook the oil and garlic in a medium saucepan over low heat until fragrant (2 minutes). Add the tomatoes, increase the heat to medium and cook until slightly thickened, 10-15 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  

I promise, this is sure to please!  Who doesn't like to be able to make their own, tasty personal pan pizza?!  It sent me right back to elementary school and collecting book-its to take to Pizza-Hut!  I hope you love it as much as we do!

Salt Dough Ornaments 2011

So last year, I decided that I was going to try my hand at making salt dough ornaments every year to act as a gift tag for Christmas gifts for friends and family.  My 2010 salt dough ornament was a snowman's head and I decided that this year I was going to go for a Christmas tree.  I used a very simple recipe:

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water

Directions:
1. Mix salt and flour.
2. Add in half the water, then gradually add the remaining water.
3. Knead until the dough is smooth
4.  Roll out the dough on baking paper or floured counter top
5. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or design your own.

Bake at 250 for 1-1 1/2 hr Make sure you don't burn them.
Let cool completely & paint.


Here is a progression of my 2011 salt dough ornament:

It was super easy and a lot of fun to do.  I ended up throwing away dough because I just didn't need 9,999 Christmas tree salt dough ornaments!  My goal for my 2012 salt dough ornaments (I know, grow up Kari and stop making goals for your dumb salt dough ornaments) is to take advantage of my summer and get 'em done in July!  Haha.  Isn't that always how it goes...????

Christmas Tree update:

As I was taking ornaments off of it, more and more lights continued to go out.  Are you kidding me?!?  No, no I'm not.  My tree is de-ornamented with 1/2 the lights working in the middle of the room.  Ugh.  Decorating for Christmas is SO much more fun than de-decorating.  Can I get an "Amen!"?

In other news, we made it through another Monday.  Congratulations to you on that great accomplishment!  Every Monday I live through reinforces the idea that my students aren't capable of killing me...yet ;).

May your Tuesday be great, swift and painless!

Thanksgiving

Yeah, I know - it's December 12 - why am I posting about Thanksgiving?  Well, because my body still thinks it's November despite what I keep telling it!  As a result, I'm just now getting around to sharing my Fall decorations with you :).
This year, Stephen and I had the pleasure of hosting my families' Thanksgiving at our new house.  I was so excited to have everyone come over and hang out - I knew that this was what was going to make our house feel more like home (I know, gang me, but it's true!).  Thankfully, I've been loving fall for a long time now and so I had plenty of fall decorations and table linens already.  However, in our Chicago Apartment, we only had a dining room table.  In our new house, we have been blessed with the room for a kitchen table and a dining room for a dining room table (which we inherited from my parents).  So, when I knew that Thanksgiving was going to be over here, my mom and I trucked it to Kohls and we got some good deals on linens to adorn our dining room table.  I was also excited because this would be the first time we used our wedding "china".  I say "china" because Stephen and I didn't actually register for china because we know that eventually, one day far, far away, my mom is going to give us her china.  However, we did register for what I call our "fancy dishes" from PB (the emma dishes) to use whenever our Fiestaware was just too much for the occasion.  This was an occasion that the Fiestaware needed to tone it down a bit!
We were hosting my immediate family (mom, dad, sisters and their husbands - and also Little Elliott of course) as well as my Aunt and Uncle from Bowling Green.  With that being said, there were 10 of us total so 4 would sit at the kitchen table and 6 at the dining room table.

Our kitchen table all decked up for Fall, wearing her reversible fall table runner and place mats that I made last year.  I wanted needed some burnt orange napkins to go with the whole she-bang and scored big time when I found a set of 6 pumpkin fabric napkins at JoAnns for $2 a pack - yes, please!

 A close-up of the table all set.

Here's a close-up of a place setting.

In the dining room, I reeeeaaaalllly wanted this table runner from Crate and Barrel, but just couldn't bring myself to spend the $50 on it.

I was pretty pumped when I found one at Kohls that looked pretty similar only with olive branches on it for a MUCH better cost (I think it was like $15) than the one at Crate and Barrel.  You might also notice that we've painted our dining room....more to come on that, later!

 Our dining room table wearing her new table cloth, runner and wine colored napkins, all ready for Thanksgiving!

A close-up of the set table.

One of our emma place settings - sorry for the turned picture!

I loved decorating for the season, but I also loved baking and preparing just as much!  My sisters, mom and I tagged team the efforts for our big Thanksgiving Feast and it was a success (if I do say so myself!)!  My mom bought the turkey and I had the honor of preparing it and roasting it.  If you've never done this, please know that it is incredibly disgusting!  I immediately got on the phone with my mom and my mother-in-law and thanked them for graciously doing this every year!  My mom also made a beef dish (for all those none turkey goers out there) and pecan squares for dessert.  My sister Melissa made a killer goat cheese and beet salad, as well as an amazing pumpkin, gingerbread trifle - a true pinterest success!  My sister Laurel made my mom's famous cheese grits, as well as her spinach casserole.  I made (with the help of all listed above) mashed potatoes, Southern Living's cornbread stuffing (to-die-for) as well as a tasty brie appetizer (recipe compliments of Melissa).  My Aunt brought her sweet potato soufflé as well as her cherry fluff.  Needless to say, we were all holding our bellies and wallowing around for a bit after the meal :).  

If I had to pick, my favorite Thanksgiving dish is my mom's cheese grits.  I know that may not sound Thanksgiving-ish to you, but boy does it scream Thanksgiving to me!  What about you - what's your favorite dish?  Anybody else out there from the south and enjoy some good grits on T-day?

Here's to the Red, White and Blue!

I love summertime.  I love holidays.  I love desserts.  That is what inspired this 4th of July dessert post!  I look forward to the day when Stephen and I have a nice backyard where we can celebrate this great holiday by being outside and hosting friends and family at our place.  When that day comes, maybe I'll make one of these scrumptious desserts!

Red, White and Blue Pie

Red Velvet Trifle

Brownie Trifle

Flag Cake

Super simple!  I remember being a little girl and seeing this on the front cover of my mom's Women's Day and instantly thinking it was amazing!

Brownies'n'Berries Dessert Pizza

You could also do this with the regular old dessert pizza on sugar cookie crust

Mini 4th of July Cheesecakes

Summer Berry Trifle

Evidently I love trifles! :)

Flag Mini Tarts

4th of July Fruit Skewers

Easy Peasy!

Fruit Tart with Vanilla Custard

Which one do you think looks the best to try?  I can only make one and I obviously need your help deciding!

Bon Appetit: Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

The other day, I was using my cornstarch (to make this yummy strawberry pie) when I snagged this great recipe from the container.  I was so intrigued by the simplicity of this and the possibility of having fall in my mouth, that I decided to give it a try for my small group.  Verdict? These mini pumpkin cheesecakes are so incredibly good and so incredibly easy, that I know this won't be the last time I make them!

Here's what you need:

*18 paper baking cups (2 1/2 inch)

*18 gingersnap cookies

*12 ounces cream cheese, softened

*3/4 cup sugar

*1 Tablespoon corn starch

*1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

*2 eggs

*1 cup canned pumpkin

*1/3 cup corn syrup (light or dark)

Here's what you do:

*Line muffin pans with 18 paper baking cups. Place 1 gingersnap in each.

*Beat cream cheese, sugar, corn starch and pumpkin pie spice with an electric mixer.  Add eggs and mix well.  Add pumpkin and syrup; beat 1 minute.

*Pour filling into paper baking cups, dividing evenly.  Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 30-35 minutes, until just set.

*Chill for 1 hour.  Garnish as desired (I used slivered almonds and chocolate chunks)

*Makes 18 mini cheesecakes

Thanks Argo Cornstarch for changing my life! :)

Here's a handy dandy little recipe card I made for you!  Just click, save and print!  (Thanks to Mel over at The Larson Lingo for this great idea!)