Bridal Shower Highlights

Few highlights from Allison's bridal shower--The Four F's were present & accounted for:

Food (and flowers!)....

the bride approves of yummy food!!

Friends...

FEUD--Bridal Shower Feud that is!!

AND of course FUN...

oh, and let's not forget--FASHION SHOW! That's a lot of F's for one weekend! I think I counted 6 F's total.

Still recovering,
SG

Recipe: Turkey Pinwheels

I experimented with a recipe for turkey pinwheels last week.  They were yummy delicious, but I think I am going to switch honey mustard with a spicy mustard on my next go round so the recipe below will reflect that change.

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

8 ounce turkey diced small

1/4 cup cream cheese

2 tablespoons sourcream

1 teaspoon spicy mustard

4 (or more) tablespoons grated cheese (cheddar is what I used)

1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Step by Step:

1.  preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. unroll crescent roll dough on lightly floured surface.

3. pinch perferations.

4. stir all remaining ingredients until well blended. taste and adjust as needed.

5. spread filling over rolled out dough leaving 1/2 inch on all sides.

6. roll dough and seal sides.

7. chill in fridge 15 minutes.

8. cut into slices and bake 10-15 minutes.

9. best served warm but yummy heated up!

Pictures:

 

gobble gobble,

SG

My Favorite Things: Lid Rack

So, I want to start sharing with everyone some of my favorite things around the house that, in some form or fashion, put a smile on my face!!  My first item is simple, cheap, and it falls under the kitchen organization category--the lid rack! I first spotted this lid rack in a post on my FAVORITE blog, Young House Love!

Here's one of our kitchen cabinets that house our lids BEFORE the lid rack:

we were secretly hiding Troy's bulk Pringles snacks under there too.  so the lid rack forced me to put it in a better place so that the cabinet looked it's absolute best.

The lids looked so sloppy just sitting there!  

So, here's the much better AFTER:

It's like 1000 times better!! And really, now that I look at this picture I can also put the plastic lids to the mixing bowls in the lid rack too!! And the lid rack has made room for more Pyrex dishes for me to add later!

So there ya have it.  One of my favorite things---our new lid rack which cost less than $10 before tax! Can't beat that with a stick!! What are some of your favorite organization tricks?  Stay tuned, I have one more to share with you this week!

Hats off to the lid rack,

SG

Update: 

I've added more to the space! yay!!

another mixing bowl, 2 more pyrex dishes, our collapsible colander, and my favorite OXO mixing bowls!

Easy Bake Oven: Blueberry Quick Bread with Orange Glaze

Nah, I didn't pull a throw back to one of my favorite childhood toys, but last week I made a yummy blueberry quick bread that was quite easy since it came from the box.  The adventure part, however, was the glaze I made--my very first glaze!! And it was SO easy, I'm sure MANY glazed yummies are in my future!

Blueberry Quick Bread:

boxed blue berry muffin mix

fresh blueberries (some box mixes come with canned blueberries)

eggs (box will tell you how many)

milk (box will tell you how much)
virgin olive oil (box will tell you how much)

Tools:

bread pan 

Orange Glaze:

2 tablespoons orange juice

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Step by Step:

1. Make blueberry bread according to box directions.

2. Bake.

3. Allow bread to cool 30 minutes.

4. Remove bread from bread pan. Cool additional hour.

5. Glaze. whisk orange juice and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl.

6. Pour glaze over bread.

Pictures: 

YUM,

SG

Recipe: Lemon Swirl Cream Cheese Pie

This recipe popped up in my google reader and I just had to give it a try! My first attempt at pie making!  I'll admit, I cheated a bit by not making my own crust...I'm not quite there yet!

Lemon Curd Ingredients:

1 tsp fresh lemon zest

1/2 cup strained fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

Lemon Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:

2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Reserved Lemon Curd

Garnish Ingredients:

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp confectioners’ sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Crust:

store bought graham cracker crust

Tools:

small saucepan

mixer (hand or stand)

piping bag

star tip

zester

note: this pie requires chilling overnight before serving.

Step by Step:

1. lemon curd preparation is first.  beat eggs in bowl.
2. in saucepan whisk togehter lemon zest, lemon juice & sugar
3. turn oven to medium heat. stirring until sugar is dissolved.
4. add in eggs
5. add in butter
6. cook (stirring constantly) over medium heat until curd has thickened (about 7 minutes)
7. set aside 1/2 cup lemon curd (remaining is reserved to be used in pie filling later)
8. cover with plastic wrap & allow to cool for 30 minutes.
9. after curd has cooled for about 20 minutes preheat oven to 350 degrees
10. prepare cream cheese filling.  in mixing bowl, beat cream cheese & sugar until smooth.
11. beat in eggs, one at a time.
12. add sour cream, vanilla extract, and reserved lemon curd (NOT the 1/2 cup set aside)
13. pour mixture into pie shell.
14. dollop the remaining 1/2 cup lemon curd onto filling and swirl through with a small knife
15. bake 30 minutes. 
16. remove and let cook for 2 hours.
17. refrigerate overnight.
18. prepare garnish. mix whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a chilled bowl.
19. pour into piping bag and decorate border of pie as desired.
20. refrigerate at least 1 hour prior to serving.

Pictures

 

Lemony delicious,

SG

Recipe: Cookie Bars

 Last week I was bitten by the baker's bug.  I made two delicious items--cookie bars and lemon cream cheese pie.  So, here's the scoop on each of them (next blog entry will be on the pie! this one is about the cookie bars).

I was intrigued when I saw this recipe for "cookie bars" so I decided to give it a whirl and tweak it just a bit to make it my own!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup Reese's peanut butter chips
2 handfulls of mini marshmallows

Tools:
rectangle glass pyrex dish
olive oil spray
mixer (hand or stand)

Step by Step:

1. preheat oven to 375
2. spray pyrex dish and set to side
3. in separate bowl whisk salt, baking soda & flour. set to side.
4. combine butter, vanilla, sugar & brown sugar
5. add both eggs. one at a time.
6. mix in the dry ingredients from step 3.
7. mix in chocolate chips
8. mix in peanut butter chips
9. mix in marshmellows
10. spread in pyrex dish
11. bake 20-22 minutes.
12. take out & let cool for at least 20 minutes before eating.

Pictures

YUM,
SG