Baby Shower Cake

This cake was so much fun to do. My friend asked me to make a cake for a baby shower she was throwing for her friend who is having her first baby, a little girl. How exciting! I jumped at the opportunity and immediately dreamed up the design. She sent me a picture of the baby's crib bedding so I used that as a color and design starting point. A lot of work, I'm not going to lie - it's just me in my little kitchen, no staff of helpers to get the cake baked, filled, and dirty iced before the real fun begins with the decorating. Still I love the process, it's an outlet and when it turns out so fantastic, I enjoy it even more. Hope you like!!

(I'll post the lemon cake recipe in a future post, it was yummy :)

Black Forest Cake

Don't you just love how it looks - I love it when things just look so yummy you want to eat it right now! I first attempted this cake last year for my husbands birthday. While it tasted phenomenal, aesthetically it didn't do too well.

LAST YEAR'S CAKE MISTAKE!

This year for his birthday I was determined to redeem myself and create an authentic (with one major substitution) and aesthetically pleasing Black Forest Cake.

Start with a regular chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's food). Make it according to the directions (I used bean puree instead of oil). Bake 2 - 8 or 9 inch round layers. Let cool. Level the cake by trimming off the dome.

Ingredients:

1 can of tart cherries packed in water

Cherry pie filling

1 pint whipping cream

8 oz baking chocolate, semi-sweet or bitter-sweet

Process:

Make a simple cherry syrup - drain the tart cherries reserving the juice. Combine the cherry juice with equal parts sugar, heat on stove until the sugar is dissolved and then let it cool = simple cherry syrup. *Note - An authentic Black Forest Cake calls for Cherry Liquor or rum drizzled over the cake layers - I'm definitely NOT an alcohol person and using alcohol was not an option, thus I came up with the cherry syrup instead.

Make ganache: Bring 1 cup whipping cream to boil. Pour over chopped chocolate in large bowl. Let sit a few minutes then whisk until completely melted and combined. Let it cool and set up in the fridge.

Whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form, sweeten with sugar.

Assembly:

Pour several tablespoons of cherry syrup over both cake layers, allow the syrup to soak into the cake.

On the bottom cake layer, pipe a ring of ganache around the top rim forming a 'barrier' or 'dam'. Spread 2/3 of whipped cream over bottom layer inside the ganache barrier. Sprinkle several tart cherries on top of the whipped cream.

Place second layer of cake on top of bottom layer, making sure the top layer is upside down so the very top of the cake is completely flat and not domed.

Frost the sides only with ganache. Pipe a design around the bottom of cake with ganache (I made a normal shell border with a #32 tip)

Pipe a reverse shell border around top of cake with remaining whipped cream (I used a 2D tip for this). Fill in top of cake with cherry pie filling, keeping within border and not disturbing the whipped cream.

So yummy - don't you wish you had some right now!!

AND happy birthday to my wonderful, hardworking, sweet, loving, ever-faithful, patient husband of 10 years! Here's to a hundred more baby!! Love you!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I really love artichoke dip. My husband and I order it at restaurants when we feel like splurging. I found this recipe years ago (allrecipes.com) and have made it a handful of times, I always get compliments when I make it. I think it ranks up there with the restaurants. You should try it!

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped (apparently you can buy marinated and non-marinated - I have always used the marinated)

1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese (I used Italian cheese blend)

1 - 2 garlic cloves, minced

Combine all ingredients in small baking dish. Cover and bake at 375 until bubbly - about 25 minutes.

Couldn't be easier - seriously.

Cheese Bread

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine. Loved it when I first made it, and then made it again today for company and everyone here loved it too. Good recipe! And what's so great is that it is a fast bread recipe, you only let it rise once for 20 minutes, so you can be from start to finish in less than an hour. Awesome!

1 cup warm water

1 tsp sugar

1 TBSP yeast

1 TBSP oil

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour and used way more than 2 1/2 cups - just keep adding a little at a time until it reaches the right texture - soft dough but not sticky)

In a bowl, combine water, sugar, and yeast. Add oil and salt. Add 1 cup of flour, mix well, keeping adding flour little by little until a soft ball forms. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl, cover and let rise in warm place for 20 minutes (I always heat my oven on 350 degrees for exactly 2 minutes, turn off the oven and then let my dough rise in the warm oven, works wonderful! And I cover the bowl with a lid or with plastic wrap, never a towel, this keeps the moisture in better)

Place dough on a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan greased with olive oil. Pat dough until it stretches to the edges of the pan.

Brush the top of your dough with olive oil, just enough to coat your dough, don't drown it. Combine seasonings:

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/8 tsp pepper

Sprinkle evenly over dough.

Add 1 - 2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese and 1/4 to 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese (I used italian cheese blend) - sprinkle evenly over dough.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Make-ahead Spinach Manicotti

I totally blew it on the picture of this dish, it looks way ugly - but don't be deceived - this was delicious! I've never made manicotti before, and this recipe I found is awesome, and way easy. The recipe comes from Taste of Home magazine submitted by Christy Freeman.

1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided (I used the grated kind from the can)

1 egg

2 tsp minced fresh parsley (I used 1 tsp dry parsley)

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp garlic powder

2 jars (28 ounces each) spaghetti sauce with meat

1 1/2 cups water

1 package (8 ounces) manicotti shells - left uncooked

In a large bowl, combine ricotta, spinach, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup parmesan, egg, parsley, onion powder, pepper and garlic powder. Combine spaghetti sauce and water; spread 1 cup sauce in an ungreased 9 x 13 baking dish. Stuff uncooked manicotti with spinach mixture; arrange over sauce. Pour remaining sauce over manicotti. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and parmesan. Cook it right away or you can put it in the refrigerator and save it for a day. Take out of refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 14 manicotti shells or 6-9 servings depending.

I found it to still have a lot of sauce even after cooking uncovered. The water may be able to be reduced a bit. I liked the extra sauce though, it was not watery at all. This fed my family of 4 two dinners and a lunch - winner! I liked it so much I'm going to make three pans of it for my big family reunion in June!!

Homemade ice cream sandwiches

These are the easiest things in the world to make, and so worth it. I've had homemade oreos, or chocolate sandwich cookies. While very yummy, they are always so rich. Even after just one bite I'm not sure if I get through the whole thing. These ice cream sandwiches were light and refreshing and perfect.

I started with cake mix cookies - very simple

1 cake mix (any flavor really, but I chose Devil's food)

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

**side note - I substituted the oil in the recipe for 1/3 cup bean puree. Bean puree???, yep. You can substitute it for oil in a lot of baked goods and you don't know the difference. In fact, in my opinion, if you're substituting oil in cakes, breads, and muffins - things that are supposed to be light and cakey and fluffy, they turn out better with the beans (more moist). If you are substituting beans for butter in things that are supposed to be flat and chewy like cookies and brownies - they don't turn out right, they're too cake-like. Anyway, for these cookies though, it made them the perfect texture for the sandwich - PERFECT. Go to this link to see where I got the idea for using bean puree and information on how to do it http://everydayfoodstorage.net/?s=bean+puree.

Mix the cake mix, oil (or beans), and eggs together until you get a dough similar to sugar cookie dough. I had to add some water because I used the beans. Roll cookies into a 1" ball and flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in powdered sugar (or you could use cocoa powder). Bake at 375 for 9 minutes or until done. Let cool on cooling rack.

After cooled, scoop a large ball of any flavored softened ice cream you want (I used reduced fat cookies and cream). Place on one cookie (turned upside down) flatten with spatula then top with another cookie and press.

So simple! The slightly warm soft chocolaty cookie, the cool ice cream. My husband kept saying "mmmmmm" with every bite.

Try it (if you haven't already!)

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

When planning out my month of meals I assigned Thursday to be my "bean" day of the week. Each day of the week has it's own main ingredient or type of food. Monday is soup day, Tuesday is leftover day (I always have leftover soup), Wednesday is Pasta, Thursday is rice or bean or rice & bean, Friday is Chicken...etc.

This Slow Cooker Turkey Chili recipe comes from Cook's Country magazine. It is definitely not a 5 ingredient or less recipe, luckily I already had all the ingredients but one on hand. It turned out really yummy. A little too spicey for the kids though. One problem for me was that the recipe made way too much to fit into my little slow cooker. I ended up having to just simmer it slowly on the stove top in my stock pot. I felt it turned out perfectly yummy just the same. The recipe says it feeds 8 - 10, but I think it feeds more. I would say at least 12 if you're eating anything else with this dish. It makes a lot, I'm going to have to freeze some of it.

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

1/4 cup chili powder

1 TBSP ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

2 slices of hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces

1/4 cup soy sauce

6 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper

2 lbs of ground turkey (anything but 99 percent lean)

3 TBSP vegetable oil

3 onions, chopped fine

1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 (16- ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (28 - ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

1 TBSP brown sugar

2 tsp minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo (this is your heat, eliminate it for mild chili, or use crushed red pepper or something else for heat, if you prefer)

1. Heat chili powder, cumin, and oregano in large nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Set aside.

2. Using potato masher, mash bread, soy sauce, 1 TBSP toasted spices, half of garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in large bowl until smooth. Add ground turkey and gently knead until well combined.

3. Heat 2 TBSP oil in now-empty skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Cook turkey mixture, breaking up meat into 1 inch pieces with wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Transfer to slow-cooker insert. Add onion, bell pepper, and remaining oil to now-empty skillet and cook until softened, 6-8 minutes. Stir in remaining toasted spices, tomato paste, and remaining garlic, and cook until paste begins to darken, 1 - 2 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.

4. Stir beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, brown sugar, and chipotle into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until turkey is tender, 4 to 6 hours. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips.