pinch me. yes, really.

A little over a year ago, the Good Year Blimp flew directly over my house.  I joked to everyone in my family that it was because of my blog.  Back then, I was just starting to get a few followers and I was getting about 2000 hits a week.  Man, was I ever excited!  Just to put me in my place though, my husband commented that Martha hadn’t emailed me yet.  As in THE Martha.  Well, no, of course she hadn’t.  I’m a nobody.

So, imagine you are in my kitchen last week, (hopefully you are cleaning my cabinets or vacuuming while you are here, but that’s beside the point) and you see an unusual email address pop up on my computer. Hmmm, you say.

Hmmm, indeed.

It’s The Martha.  Well, not exactly Martha Martha, but a representative from her show.  “We found your blog, and Martha wants to have a show all about pies.  Want to come to New York and bring a pie for a competition on the show?”

Well, Hell no. I quickly responded.

JOKING!  I of course said sure! How awesome is THAT?  But New York is awfully far. Like, 10 hours.  And I am a nervous person in general.  Putting a hillbilly like me in a city like New York all by my lonesome could be detrimental to my well being.  So what to do?

I email asking for a little help. Could I get another ticket or two, you know, for friends? (Seriously, who asks Martha Stewart things like this? You are supposed to just accept your good fortune and go on with yourself, not ASK for anything.)  And would you believe I get a PHONE CALL? From the freaking Martha Stewart Show??

Of course, she says. The tickets are yours.

So, in two weeks, I am making the trek to the Big Apple with a Big Apple Pie in tow, along with my sister, Jennifer, who decided she, too, will be making an apple pie.  For the record, if she wins anything, I am taking it.  Fair’s Fair as Billie Jean would say. I want the scooter.

Not only will Jennifer be with me, but so will a couple of my Blogging/Twitter friends!  I got in touch with Gail, the Tough Cookie (@THEToughCookie on Twitter) and Carrie from Fields of Cake (naturally!) and they are joining me, too!  Can’t you see it?  US, in New York, at Martha?

I’m so excited, you have no idea.  Just to be able to hang out with all these gals is a treat in and of itself, but to be hanging out together at the Martha Show? Well, like I said…Pinch Me.

Squuuueeeee!

Well, that’s the news. Now I have to figure out how to lose 37 pounds in 14 days, JUST IN CASE the camera should swing my way.  Wish me luck.

pumpkin brioche gets all decked out

Remember all the rage on the blogs and Twitter when Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day came out?  Well, they’ve done it again…this time with Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  I was thrilled to be contacted by my friend Zoë François, co-author of the books, to do a review of the new book.  I mean – me?  What a treat to even be asked! 


Here’s where it got tricky on me though. Healthy isn’t actually a common word in our vocabulary 'round here.  Bread is also pretty tricky, too…as I Kill Yeast. I kill it. Dead.  Cold house or something, but yeast is fairly suicidal in my presence.   I really wanted to do her book justice, though…she trusted ME to review it.  So, after flipping through the pages several times, I landed on Pumpkin Pie Brioche. Yum. Doesn’t the name just sound delicious?  As I am still becoming DoughMessTic, I had yet to make brioche…and for those of you as new as I am, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. Brioche is just a fancy word for really nice bread.

The Pumpkin Pie Brioche adventure almost failed before I even started, as in my town, my small, one grocery store and a WalMart town, White Whole Wheat Flour isn’t available. Nor is vital wheat gluten (VWG), whatever that even is.  Eek.  But you know what? Zoe said to go on and use my All Purpose Flour. She didn’t tell me exactly how much, but I gave it a good guess. You see, All Purpose Flour has enough gluten of it’s own to make the bread work without adding the VWG, and at the same time, it isn’t as heavy of a flour as the Whole Wheat.  That means I had to adjust the amount of All Purpose Flour UP to accommodate the wetness.  So I did.

Another thing I had to adjust was the oil.  I didn’t have enough, and darn it, I wasn’t about to go to the store again after having JUST gone for eggs.  So I used part melted butter and part oil.  Oh yeah…honey. I don’t dig honey.  Instead, I  used the same amount of light corn syrup for the honey.  Yeah, yeah, I know…I was doing everything in my power to completely ruin this recipe. Even I  knew it had bread fail written all over it.



But you’d be wrong, and so would I.  This recipe survived my manipulations. It survived my cold kitchen. It survived ME.  It was gorgeous to work with!  I think that’s the true test of a great recipe…if you can mangle it up the way I did and it still succeeds with flying colors, well, you’ve got one hell of a recipe there.  I can’t wait to make it again, but I made so much of it on round one that it’s still sitting in my fridge waiting on me to make something else with it.  This go round, I made these…

Pumpkin & Chocolate Toffee Cinnamon Buns with Caramel Cream Cheese Icing.

Try to say that out loud and not drool into your keyboard. I dare you.

I pulled out about half of my Pumpkin Pie Brioche and patted it down with some flour, then rolled it out into a rectangle.  Then I softened some butter and spread it on top, sprinkled on a good helping of brown sugar and cinnamon then followed that with lots of chocolate chips and toffee bits. Then I rolled it up and pinched the seam.  I sliced the rolls about an inch and a half thick and placed them in my paper brioche cups, and sprinkled on a little more toffee before sliding them in to a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Once I pulled them out, I topped them with a healthy dose of sweetened cream cheese icing and a drizzle of homemade caramel and chocolate syrup. Good God…talk about a treat.  The flavors complimented each other in ways you can’t even fathom…so I recommend you make some yourself!  If you need precise amounts or more detailed instructions on the filling or toppings, please email me…I’ll be happy to clue you in!  Until then, here is the Pumpkin Pie Brioche recipe from the book Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day!

Pumpkin Pie Brioche
from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, makes two 2 pound loaves

• 3 cups white whole wheat flour (I used 3 1/2 cups AP Flour)
• 4 1/2 cups unbleached All Purpose Flour (I used this amount, too)
• 1 1/2 Tbsps granulated yeast, or 2 packets
• 1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• 2 Tbsps Vital Wheat Gluten
• 1 tsp Cinnamon*
• 1/2 tsp Ginger*
• 1/2 tsp Nutmeg*
• 1/4 tsp All Spice *(*I cheated and just used 2 tsps Pumpkin Pie Spice)
• 1 1/4 cups Lukewarm water
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup Honey (I used Light Corn Syrup
• 3/4 cup Neutral flavored oil or melted butter (I combined the two)
• 1 3/4 cups Pumpkin Puree or one 15 oz can of Pumpkin Puree
• Egg wash (I omitted as I was making buns)
• Raw Sugar for sprinkling on top (Again, I omitted)

Mixing & Storing the Dough:
Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt, VWG & spices in 5 quart bowl or lidded (not airtight) food container.
Combine the liquid ingredients with the pumpkin puree and mix them with the dry ingredients without kneading, using a spoon, a 14 cup food processor (with dough attachment), or heavy duty stand mixer (with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you are not using a machine.
The dough will be loose, but it will firm up when chilled. Don’t try to use it without chilling it for at least 2 hours. You may notice lumps in the dough, but they will disappear in your finished products.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
Refrigerate the dough in a lidded (but not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days. Beyond that, the dough stores well in the freezer for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.  Freeze it in 2 pound portions. When using frozen dough, thaw it in the refrigerator for 24 hours before use, then allow usual rest/rise times.
On Baking Day:
Grease a brioche pan or an 8 1/2x 4 1/2 inch nonstick loaf pan. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a 2-pound piece of dough. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball. Place ball in the prepared pan and allow to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 1 hour 45 minutes. (Note: I baked mine in mini brioche paper cups and only allowed them to rise in the oven as the temperature got up to 350.  Big cheat, but it worked.)
Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350F with a rack placed in the center of the oven. If you are not using a stone in the oven, a 5 minute preheat is adequate.
Just before baking,  use a pastry brush to paint the loaf’s top with egg wash, then sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake near the center of the oven for approximately 45 to 50 mintes. Brioche will not form a hard, crackling crust.  The loaf is done when it is medium brown and firm.  Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time.
Remove the brioche from the pan and allow it to cool on a rack before slicing or eating.



Now, while I fully recommend you BUY this fabulous book (because hello? It really is pretty revolutionary in the world of bread baking) I am lucky enough to have permission to GIVE one of you a copy! That’s right…Zoë has generously donated a copy for me to give one DoughMessTic reader!  Just leave me a comment here to be entered to win.  Want more chances? Okay…

• Tweet a link to this post, then come back and tell me you did it. 
• Want another chance? Mention this post on your OWN site, and again, return here and tell me in another comment. 
• Need more chances? Fine. Click over there on the Google Friend Connect and then Comment about it! 

That’s like, 4 chances to win per person!  Good Luck!  I will announce a random winner on November 2nd…so get on it!  Thanks Zoë for the great book!!

Daring Bakers October challenge…macarons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.  

Boy was I relieved to see macarons as our challenge this month! I really like making them, and though I have tried a few different recipes, I pretty much stick to the tried and true method I have been using since I found success.  If it weren’t for the brilliant instructions and advice of Helen, of Tartelette, I may still be stuck back at square one.  Helen has wonderful ideas and suggestions, and any time I need assistance, she’s always there…that helps so much.

For this months challenge, I made all chocolate shells, but filled them with 3 different fillings. Some were “snickery” – filled with homemade caramel, chopped peanuts, and chocolate ganache. So tasty! I love the peanuty flavor.  Some were Chocolate Mint – filled with chocolate ganache and chopped Junior Mint Candies.  Lastly, some were Almond Joy – filled with coconut, and coconut infused chocolate ganache.

Just for fun I made a montage of some of my previous Macaron Flavors…I love making them and see no signs of stopping.  In fact, I love making them so much that I have added them to my Etsy Store, and have sold several dozen in only a week.  Hooray!

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week…and stay tuned for my Wednesday post.  I have a great recipe and fantastic giveaway!!  See you tomorrow! 

Chocolate genoise with chocolate mousse

What a mouthful. Literally and figuratively.    

I made this cake on Saturday to celebrate Jon’s birthday with his parents who were in visiting.  I only had from about 2:30 in the afternoon until dinner time to get it made, and I was thrilled with how quickly it came together, despite the somewhat daunting recipe.  Carrie (yes, Carrie from Fields of Cake again) hooked me up with this recipe after my distress post looking for a similar type of cake…so thanks again, Carrie!

While it was certainly delicious and chocolate chocolate chocolate, it may have been a little too much.  I think if I make it again (I will) I will use more milk chocolate.  This time, I used mostly all dark chocolate, as it’s what I had on hand.  Milk chocolate may be the way to go.  As you can see in the pictures, I did a top layer of sweetened whipped cream on top of the mousse just to lighten it up a bit.  It really was a pretty cake, and very impressive to look at.  I can see it being made in a couple of 6 inch rounds and stacked super tall – now THAT would be an attention getter.  Next time.

Chocolate Genoise Mousse Cake

adapted from a Godiva recipe

Chocolate Genoise:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Mousse:
9 oz. Chocolate, coarsely chopped(I used mix of dark & milk)
1/4 cup Godiva Liqueur
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
Ganache:
7 oz. Dark Chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup heavy cream

Whipped Cream Topping:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup heavy cream

Make the chocolate genoise:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter bottom of 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat whole eggs, egg yolks, oil, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla in bowl until tripled in volume, using electric mixer at medium-high speed. Add flour all at once, folding until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. (NOTE: I was bad at following directions. Be SURE to beat those eggs until they are tripled, and only mix in the flour until JUST combined.  otherwise, you will have a dense cake instead of the fluffy one you want…although the dense cake is still delicious.)
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Make the milk chocolate mousse:

1. Place chocolate in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium (50% power) for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave 30 seconds more or until chocolate is softened. Stir until smooth. Add Godiva Liqueur, oil and vanilla, stirring to combine. Cool to room temperature.
2. Beat heavy cream in bowl until soft peaks form, using electric mixer at medium-high speed. Gently fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture.

Assemble the cake:

Loosen genoise from pan, using a knife. Remove side of springform pan. Carefully remove paper. Cut cake horizontally into two equal layers. Place one layer cut side up in bottom of springform pan. Spread half of the mousse on cake. Place top layer on mousse and spread with remaining mousse. Cover and refrigerate for 2  hours or until mousse is set.

Make the Whipped Cream:

Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form, then add vanilla and confectioner’s sugar and continue to beat until fluffy. Add to top of the cake with piping bag if you have one.

Make the ganache:
Place chocolate, corn syrup and vanilla in bowl. Heat heavy cream in saucepan over medium heat to a simmer. Pour over chocolate mixture. Let stand 30 seconds. Stir until smooth and let cool.  Once cool, ice the sides of the cake.  Using a piping bag, drizzle lines and swirls on the top of the cake for decoration.

Will I ever catch up?

So...I just looked at my 52 Books in 52 Weeks status. Oh my. We have but 10 weeks left in the year (gasp!) and I have a whopping 16 books left to read. I guess I should be proud of myself for actually reading 36 books so far this year, because really, that's pretty good. But I'm not giving up yet. No, not yet. I can do it...even if I have to read a book a day between Christmas and New Years Eve.

I recently got a copy of Eileen Goudge's newest novel "Once in a Blue Moon" from the folks at the One2One Network to review. Once I finally had a minute to pick it up, I couldn't seem to put it back down. Don't you love books like that? It wasn't that I could relate to the tumultuous lifestyles contained in the book, or that I knew what it felt like to have everything good in my life at risk, but it was written in such a way that I understood, and felt the tension as well as the characters. Very well done.

Many times when I am reading a book, I tend to picture Hollywood's film adaptation of the book and try to imagine who I would cast. Richard Gere? Are you hearing me? You would make the ideal Randall Craig. Ideal. So silky and gorgeous, I couldn't think of anyone else when reading about him. The rest of the cast I rounded out with George and Izzy from Grey's Anatomy, along with Jennifer Aniston as Lindsay. Sorry if that's who you will now have to picture, but that's just me. I do that kind of thing. But who wouldn’t want to read a book picturing all of those fab actors? Do yourself a favor and pick it up for yourself…it’s available at Amazon by clicking the picture above. Oh, you don't want tot pay for it? Good news - I have a copy to give away, along with one of her other titles! Click here for details.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I spent most of my day today making a Birthday Cake for a teenage girl. Not just any old cake, a Purse Cake. My first ever Purse Cake. It's a surprise for her from her Dad & new Step-Mom (hi John & Lisa!) and I am delivering it to her at lunch tomorrow at her High School. The cake is lemon with white chocolate and lemon buttercream, and blueberry filling. I hope she'll like it!

On another note, this weekend Jon's folks are coming in to stay with us because Jon's birthday is next week. That means - another cake. Unlike Seven's birthday, I intend to only make 2 birthday cakes for Jon, not three. So, does anyone have a great idea for a cake I can make him? it needs to only serve about 6-8, so it doesn't need to be huge. He loves pumpkin pie, but he's not a huge cake fan...this one may be tough. His favorite cake of all time we had on a cruise. It was a very rich, almost brownie like base, topped with chocolate mousse and then a chocolate ganache, I think. Something along those lines. He'd be thrilled with something like that - does anyone have a recipe for that?? Help?

Cupcakes, all grown up

Yesterday we were invited to a party to watch football and eat turkey.  A group of 20 Hokie fans, ready for great food and a great ballgame. Little did we know we’d be watching the Georgia Tech team eat turkey as well.  It were UGLY, folks. Let’s move on from that.

  I decided to contribute dessert, but time and budget were tight.  As you know, I am still involved in the Eat on $30 Challenge, so whatever I made needed to fit in that allowance.  I think I succeeded.

A few months ago, I ordered some cute baking cups from Bake It Pretty (love that shop!) that I hadn’t found a good use for.  You see, I wanted the dessert to not only taste good, but look good, too. Cupcakes, as we all know, taste fantastic, and they are perfect for parties because they are already portioned.  But they look, well, kiddie.  These brown baking cups remedied that.  So I made a box mix Devils Food Cake ($1.00) and filled each of the baking cups a little over half full.  No cupcake tin required, these little guys stand on their own.  The box mix makes about 25 of them.

Once they were baked, I let them cool a little while I made a Chocolate Cheesecake Buttercream (Cost? About $3.00) .  One day I will post the recipe for you – it’s one I adapted from Carrie at Fields of Cake.  It’s so whippy and delicious, and entirely too easy to be a good thing.  Plus, it holds up so well to piping, I imagine you could even pipe roses and other flowers from it instead of the crappy old Crisco icing.  I need to try that for you to make sure.

Before I iced them, I filled them full of Chocolate Bourbon Caramel, another gift from Carrie.  When I visited her a couple of weeks ago, she gave me a jar of this deliciousness. Chock full of Bourbon, it really warms your tummy.  I thought it was the perfect thing to compliment this cake, and made it stand out from your average picnic cupcake.  Then I piped on the buttercream and then topped it all off with the homemade Kahlua Caramel that I made a week or two ago.

Verdict?  Yum.  So rich and creamy, you can get over it being a box mix.  So pretty you can get over it being a cupcake.  Give it a try if you need something quick and painless, but I’ll warn you – they are hard to stop eating.

Here’s the recipe for Carrie’s Chocolate Bourbon Caramel…I don’t want you to be without it!

Chocolate Bourbon Caramel

by Carrie Fields, of Fields of Cake

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water – 3 Tbsp.
• 3/4  cup unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tbsp fine sea salt
• 3 Tbsp Bourbon
• 3 ounces excellent quality dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup excellent quality sifted cocoa powder

Equipment

• 2 or 3 quart, heavy-bottomed pot
• candy thermometer
• whisk

Step 1: Prep
Get all of your ingredients out and measure everything ahead of time, as the process goes quickly and it will make things run smooth for you. Cut the butter into Tablespoon sized pieces, it will help.

Step 2: Caramelize the sugars
In the pot, mix the sugar, salt, corn syrup, and water over low heat with a whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. Raise heat to high then cover the pot and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Remove lid and boil mixture up to about 300° F. Remove from heat and swirl the pot gently. You’ll notice the mixture start to darken a bit. (It may be easier for you to watch the color to decide when to remove from the heat.  Watch it closely, as it will burn easily. You want tot color to be amber, maybe a little darker, as the residual heat will keep cooking it for a bit.)

Step 3: Incorporate the fats
Drop the butter pieces into the pot and whisk until the butter is incorporated. Next, pour in the cream and again, whisk until blended. Note: The butter and cream both have water, so they will cause the pot to bubble up and release very hot steam. Make sure to wear an oven mitt to protect your hands and forearms. Now mix in the bourbon and whisk until blended. Then add the chocolates and whisk again (like crazy!) until blended.  Allow to cool.

At room temperature, the caramel will be pourable and gooey.  When refrigerated, it becomes the consistency of the caramel found in a Twix bar.  Enjoy!

 

Day Six of the Eat on $30 Challenge saw us spending about $2 on Breakfast for Seven, $5 on Lunch for the 3 of us (Frozen Pizza and Kool Aid) and a total of about $5 for our contribution to the dinner party.  Total spent - $12.00

doughmessticrafting

Let me clarify…Not Rafting.  Crafting.  But I thought 2 c’s looked like one c too many.

So, crafting.  I’ve been trying to add things to my Etsy Shop, other than Custom Cookies.  I added French Macarons, which, yes, are still cookies…and I am very eager for someone to order a batch.  I priced them cheap compared to what you can buy them for in a bakery (if you can even find a bakery on your neck of the woods that sells them) – so, maybe I’ll get a sale or two from them pretty soon.

I also started making little Charms.  You could wear them on a necklace or bracelet, but my original thought was as a cellphone charm.  I see lots of folks personalizing their phones these days.  Personally, I made one for my Keychain.  There’s really a lot of things you could do with them though!  One gal ordered 10 of them from me yesterday for her Mini-Christmas Tree…what a cool idea!   Here’s what they look like…if you want some, head over to my Etsy Shop for details, or email me and we’ll work something out!

I also need to summarize yesterday, Day 5,  of the Eat on $30 Challenge.

Leftover Potato Soup all around for lunch and dinner.  Seven had a yogurt and Eggo for breakfast, and Milk.  No one paid for anything to drink, namely because we were out of drinks and water was acceptable versus driving to the store.  Total Spent?

     Less than $1.00.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

I know, I promised you a recipe for homemade syrup today.

It’s still today, officially.  Don’t beat me up too bad. It’s been a realllly long today. Really long.  But I need to be true to my promise.  I have great readers, and they need great chocolate syrup.

I had never made my own syrup before last week.  To be quite honest, I had never even considered it something  “makeable".  I mean, Hershey’s already has some in a bottle that squeezes, and it isn’t really all that expensive.  But in my quest to become domestic, I feel the need to learn to make everything there is to make, just in case there is some great disaster and corporations like Hershey’s no longer exist.  Or if I am suddenly forced to move to somewhere like the Outback and I don’t have a Walmart.  Now I’ll know how to make homemade chocolate syrup to go on my homemade ice cream. I guess since I went to school for art I could also make my own ice cream bowl, but lets not push it.  I feel sure the Aborigines will trade me a very pretty bowl for a little bit of Limoncello Sorbet.  Just a hunch.

But anyway, Chocolate Syrup.  So simple.  So cheap.  No effort involved in the least.  And it is waaay better than store bought. Way Way. I hope you’ll try this yourself.  If you can find some cute bottles (maybe ask a bartender to save a few flip top Grolsch bottles for you?) these would make super cool gifts.  Slap a printable label on it with your logo and they’ll think you a re a genius. Feel free to sub in other flavors besides vanilla.  Mint, for example, would be outstanding.  Orange.  Coconut.  Use your imagination!

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

½ cup good quality cocoa powder
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
Pinch salt
1/3 tsp vanilla

Mix the water and cocoa in a saucepan over medium heat until cocoa is dissolved. Add the sugar, and continue to stir. Boil for about 3 minutes over medium heat, then add the salt and the vanilla (or other flavoring). Let cool. Pour into a sterilized glass jar, and keep stored in the refrigerator. Keeps for several months. Yields two cups.

Days 3 and 4 of the Eat on 30 Challenge haven’t completely ruined us.  I am still under the weather, so, not eating helps the budget.  Jon, however, makes up for it.  Reining in a man (non-blogger) isn’t easy.  But we’ll survive.

Seven had breakfast at Mom’s yesterday. I didn’t eat, as per usual.  For lunch, he and I had macaroni soup that Mom made us.  I’ll even count the cost ($1.00) even though we didn’t pay for it.  Jon was working and had lunch out ($5.50) and then decided he needed dinner out, too ($10.00).  Seven and I shared a bowl of Chicken Noodle-Os ($1.00) and he also had some fruit (50 cents) and crackers (25 cents). 

Day 3 total $17.25

Today Jon was home and brought me lunch from DQ.  It immediately made me sick, so, waste.  Jon and Sev had Eggos for breakfast ($1.00) and lunch cost us $8.00.  Dinner was a really nice potato soup for all of us, at an estimated $9.00.  We’ll be eating that tomorrow, too.  Totally worth the expense.  My non-blogger husband used an internet recipe and it was fantastic.  Seven ate his face off.  No, not literally…I have to draw the line somewhere!

Day 4 total $18.00

Last mention of the day – I added a couple of aprons to my Etsy Shop last night, and French Macarons today at a great price!  Check them out!

it only looks expensive

Two and a half days into the Eat on $30 Challenge and we are doing just fine.

Perhaps it’s the fact that we haven’t been eating from the Mastering the Art of French Cooking Book.  Perhaps it’s because I have been beyond sick.  Perhaps it’s because we really don’t spend that much money on food anymore.  I think it’s a combination of all three…but mostly, I really believe that the July Experiment of living on $100 with the Penny Pinching Pantry Raid has made me a very frugal person.  I really can’t cut back much more than I already do, which I guess is a good thing.

Monday was Day One.  Luckily, Jon had made a huge amount of Pork Barbeque on Sunday.  Juicy, tender, full of flavor, and best of all – on SALE.  He cooked us about 6 pounds, and the cost? $5.00.  With the seasonings, vinegars, etc – I am guesstimating $7.00 total.  So on Monday, we both ate it for lunch & dinner.  Seven had yogurt and grapes for breakfast (35 cents for the yogurt, 25 cents for the grapes).  I had a Diet GingerAle (25 cents) and Sev had some KoolAid (10 cents).  At dinner, we added a box of Velveeta Shells & Cheese ($1.50) and a can of Green beans (60 cents).  So, very little money spent on Monday.  I’m going to go ahead and count the entire PorkFest on Monday, but we ate it on Tuesday as well.  Tuesday was a bit unusual – I was too sick to really eat. Jon ate leftover pork for lunch & dinner.  Yep, just pork.  Seven had yogurt again for breakfast, plus whatever Mom fed him while she was keeping him.  For dinner, he had Totinos Pizza Rolls (about a bucks worth) and some grapes and string cheese. He also had milk both days (est. $1.00 total).

Total for the first two days:

About $12.60, give or take, plus the dessert I am about to introduce you to, which brings the total to around $15.90.

  For dessert on Monday, because I was trying to be budget conscious as well as creative, I made Puff Pastry filled with Nutella Mousse and Homemade Chocolate Syrup.  Perhaps there is someone reading this that has yet to use Puff Pastry (which was ME until about a year ago, it isn’t impossible!) and needs to be enlightened.  YOU MUST HAVE PUFF PASTRY ON HAND.  At all times.  Trust me.  Just buy a few boxes, put them in the freezer, and whenever you are short on time but needing something divine, grab it.

 

I let one sheet thaw ($1.75) then cut it into little rectangles before baking.  While it baked, I made the Nutella Mousse.  I used about a cup of Whipping Cream (75 cents), 2 tablespoons of Nutella (30 cents) and a quarter cup of powdered sugar (15 cents).  I whipped that together until it was nice and fluffy (whip the cream first, then add in the Nutella and sugar, it will do much better) and once the pastry was cool, I sandwiched the mousse in between two pieces.  When I was ready to serve it, I simply poured a little homemade syrup (30 cents) over it.  It was delish!  And so easy!  Newbies – give it a shot – you’ll like it!  Tomorrow I’ll be posting the recipe for the chocolate syrup, so stay tuned!

 

On another note, I have just started writing for The Examiner as the Roanoke Food Examiner. It’s a fun gig, and I am happy to have it!  Check out my first post there?  Subscribe?  I’ll be posting a few times a week, so I would appreciate the feedback.  Anything you’d like to see?  A special recipe? Something related to the holidays?  Say the word, I’m open to suggestions!

 

Secondly, I opened my Etsy Store today, and already had a sale!  Open for all of 10 minutes, and I get a hit!  I am going to be adding aprons along with my custom cookies, but if you can think of something else that would go over well, I’d LOVE to know!

See you tomorrow with the recipe for Chocolate Syrup!

Eat on $30

Many of you will remember that my family and I survived on only $100 plus our freezer and pantry items back in July.  $100 for the entire month, including all of our meals out.  It wasn’t easy, and it really opened my eyes to the way we had been overspending at the grocery store and wasting money on uneaten leftovers and unneccesary meals at restaurants.  Since then, instead of 3-4 weekly jaunts to the grocery store, I go maybe once every 10 days. Huge difference.  I haven’t been tracking each and every dime, but I know I have made a significant difference in our wallets.

I have been wanting to address the challenge again, but a month is really difficult for me to commit to at this time of year.  Birthdays, holidays – it’s just tough all around.  But when I read about Running With Tweezers one WEEK challenge, I knew I had to give it a go.  The challenge will be, well, challenging, as we must account for every single item we consume, other than salt, pepper, and butter. EVERY ITEM.  Spices, flour, eggs. You name it, we account for it.

The goal is to survive (and eat WELL, in our case, not just crap food) for one week on $30 per person.  For my family, that’s $90.  In theory, to me, that seems pretty easy. In Theory.  I don’t spend that much money each week.  Does that mean I am one of the struggling Americans who has had to cut back on foodstuffs? No.  My family is not hungry.  We have never gone hungry…and thanks to my parents and Jon’s parents and our grandparents, I feel pretty secure in knowing they wouldn’t ever let us go hungry.

But we are LUCKY.  We are by no stretch of the imagination rich.  There are bills we have a hard time paying.  I had to save for several months in order to buy the French Oven I wanted (and it wasn’t the Le Creuset, either).  I don’t go out and buy clothes just to buy them anymore.  I hit yard sales to buy Seven’s toys and clothes.  But we have a great house (with a big mortgage), a garden, 2 nice vehicles, we can go on vacation, we have cable, and phones, and the internet.  We are comfortable, even when our ends don’t exactly meet.  But there are folks out there who really struggle.  According to RWT:

• At some point during the year, 1 in 5 Americans receives food assistance from 1 or more of the 15 programs providing help. 
• In 2009, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will help feed 31 million people per month. The average monthly benefit? $101. 
• Between March 2007 and March 2008, the global price of food rose 43%. 1 billion people - 1/6th of the world's population - live on $1 per day.

So, $30 per person this week.  We are starting today, which is a day behind some of the group.  We’ll go through Sunday.  It may be tough on us, as my Hub will be working out of town a few of those days.  He’d be on a per diem, though, so I may have to play around with that a bit.  We are allowed to eat with friends, but not be moochers; we’re allowed to eat dinner at the Samples Counter at Costco.  Really, it’s up to us.  How we live on our $30 is up to US.  Isn’t it always?  Couldn’t we all be more responsible?  Maybe if we were, a billion people in the world would have a little more to eat. Maybe.

I intend to do my part, at least this week.  Let’s get the word out.  People are hungry.

Please support others that are participating in this challenge by visiting their sites…I am only one of many…

• Betty Joan is an Atlantan who blogs at Trouble With Toast . She's actually been doing it last week but will be posting about her experience while we're all doing the challenge. You can find her on Twitter @bettyjoan.
• Carrie Neal - also from Atlanta - is blogging at carrienealland and tweets under @carrienealland
• Paula of the gorgeous blog bell'alimento is taking part! Follow her on twitter @bellalimento
• The Broke Socialite of the eponymously named blog can be followed @brokesocialite
• Atlanta food blogger Jimmy of Eat It Atlanta will be taking part in a crash course week before a wedding he has to be in. Follow him @EatItAtlanta. 
• Robert - @rdyson on Twitter - is also taking part from Atlanta. Check out his blog here. 
• The amazing and fabulous Jen - who blogs from Colorado at Use Real Butter - can be followed @userealbutter
• Mike - who took part last time and made a blog especially for the challenge - will be doing it again. You can also follow him @boutte. 
• Zach is kicking off a new blog with this challenge - Mise en Face. Follow him @drzachary.
• Kristina will be taking place from Tennessee via her blog TNLocavore.com and @TNlocavore
• Tami of Running With Tweezers, the mastermind behind this challenge…great gal! She tweets at @runwithtweezers
• Another Susan, this time of Frugal Hostess, tweets @frugalhostess
• Diana of A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa is on Twitter @dianabauman
• Hailey of Hail’s Kitchen blogs and tweets from Utah -  @hailskitchen

because I love contests

Do you?  Something about a contest just gets my blood pumping.  My favorite contests are trivia.  I LOVE taking tests. Seriously.  Call me crazy if you want, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if there is a job out there that involves just sitting around and taking tests all day log – sign me up.  I’d take the SATs again if they’d let me.  Heck, I’ll buy a guidebook and take the Bar Exam or MCATS…I just like the thrill of waiting on the scores. (Did I say too much? Have you left already? I hope not…hang in there.)

So anyway, a few months back I was trolling Twitter when I see Cupcake Rehab. I have no idea who she is, what she’s about, really, no info on her at all.  It isn’t like I see her tweet and then stalked over to her blog…she just made me giggle.  Her Tweet?  Something along the lines of her watching her neighbor across the way, a minister, watch porn on his big screen.  It cracked me up.  Maybe it was my mood or maybe I was ovulating and my hormones took over. I don’t know.  But it made me laugh and so I tweeted her back.  Since then, I have frequented her site, we’ve kept in Twitter Touch, and she’s helped me out when I had blog design issues that neither of us could figure out.   

So, when she announced a CONTEST on her site to celebrate her Blogiversary, I of course wanted in.  She’s giving away cute prizes!  I need prizes to feel good about myself!  The prizes don’t even need to be REAL, I just like feedback. Good, bad, whichever, it’s like getting your report card and I LOVED that. (I know, I should really stop that kind of talk before I scare all of you away for good.)

What I did for the contest was to make cupcakes based not just on the girl behind the blog, but the LOGO of the girl behind the blog.  Her logo is a sweet purple, with cutesie sprinkles, and chocolate chip cookies, and pretty little flowers, and, ummm, skulls.  Visit her site, ya’ll, it will all make sense.  For flavors, I went with a Vanilla Buttercream, because Vanilla is supposedly her fave, atop a Devils Food (because of the skulls) cupcake stuffed with a chocolate chip cookie, just like in her logo (although you can’t see it, it’s there. Trust me.).  As you can see, I decorated it up to mimic her site.  Success? I feel okay about it…but there may an overwhelming amount of competition!  As long as someone tells me I did a good job, well then, I passed this test.

And that, friends, would make me happy. Hormonal or not.

Have a great week!

A fun new site

Have you heard of TableSpoon.com? Well, you have now! Just click through to my review blog for the details and a little giveaway! (Everyone likes free stuff, right?)

Have a great weekend!

home again, home again, jiggity jig

Whew.

You may have noticed my absence for the past week…(did you notice? I hope so.)  My husband and I were in a wedding in Newport, Rhode Island over the weekend, and since we were already 14 hours from home, we decided to extend our trip for a few extra days. Neither of us had been to Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont, so we cruised around and saw the sites.  Beautiful up there, especially now with the leaves.  Just gorgeous.  We spent the entire day Tuesday just hitting the highway from Portland, Maine across New Hampshire, to Brattleboro, Vermont (okay, that town is a little kookie) to Bennington, Vermont (soooo cute!) and then through New York and Pennsylvania. 13 and a half hours, and we didn’t kill each other!  We stayed the night at my high school best friends house, and it was so great to be able to catch up with her.  I just wish we had had more time!  She stressed about making me muffins. Whaaat? Do i stress you all out?  Are you frigtened of what I think?  Eeeek.  I’m so not that person!  I’m just happy to be eating at all!

I was  lucky enough to schedule a couple of Blogger Stops.  In Warwick, I met up with Donna of Spatulas & Corkscrews on her sailboat.  She’s not kidding you guys! She really does live on a boat with a tiny little kitchen.  Now I know where she sits when she is blogging, what she’s probably watching on her flat screen, and what color her throw pillows are!  It was so nice to be able to put a face with a blog – it changes a lot!

I also met up with the elusive Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch while we were in Warwick.  I know what she looks like! (Not telling. She keeps herself so well hidden!)  I found her kitchen amazing.  She’s taken an average size workspace and divided it into a real chef’s kitchen.  She even has a peg board just like Julia Child!  And speaking of Julia – her little kindergartener – what a cutie!  She’s even more precious in person.  Jon ate her up…they talked dinosaurs while Jayne and I chatted.  So much fun!  Jayne, of course, tells the story of our meeting in much more humorous fashion – check it out!

On Monday I met up with Carrie of Fields of Cake at her home in Brunswick, Maine.  I knew I was going to like her, but WOW…I didn’t realize how much.  We’re the same age, love cake, and we were both in magazines recently!  While I was there, the UPS man brought her advanced copies of Get Married, and her little horsie cupcakes were in there!  So cute.  I wish I could have stayed longer, or maybe packed her up and taken her along with me. I need her cake genius!  Hopefully she’ll move down here with her husband and kids when he retires from the Navy…probably not a lot of Naval business going on here in the mountains.  So, Carrie – look in to that.:)

I’ll be back to posting in the next day or so…just got to get my kitchen legs back, so sit tight!  Until then, here are a few pictures I snapped on our trip…enjoy!     

Pumpkin Vous Francais?

I don’t actually speak French.  I bet you figured that one out on your own, didn’t you?  But then again, you don’t come here to learn a foreign language, you come here to get fat get yummy recipes.  And I am glad you came!

Over the weekend, I whipped up the most Fall-licious breakfast for Jon & Seven…Stuffed Pumpkin French Toast.  I had recently been on Recipe Girl’s Blog, and she had made a version of this, so me being me decided to recreate it in a different way.  First off, she used Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.  I was fresh out.  I didn’t realize that  the boys had eaten all of it when my back was turned.  So I had to resort to Golden Grahams, which aren’t that different. Also, she didn’t stuff hers, and to me, French Toast needs to be Stuffed. Otherwise, you will miss out on some very rewarding calories.  Ask my butt! It knows!

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think of it.  Fall? Licious?  I have a hunch you’ll think so.

Stuffed Pumpkin French Toast

adapted from www.recipegirl.com

• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• 3 Tbsp  milk
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 Tbs granulated sugar
• 4 cups Golden Grahams cereal, crushed
• Eight 1- 1/2 inch thick slices of French bread

For Cream Cheese Filling

• 4 ounces softened Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• splash of Vanilla

1. In a low-lying, flat bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin, cream, milk, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla and sugar.

2. In another low-lying flat bowl, place crushed cereal.

3. Combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in small bowl until smooth.  Cut slits in each of the slices of bread, and stuff each slice with a dollop of the cream cheese mixture.

4. Heat griddle to medium-heat, coat with butter or Pam. Quickly dip bread on both sides into the egg mixture, then cover both sides of the bread with the crushed cereal. Place on hot griddle. Heat 2-3 minutes on each side, until lightly browned. Repeat with remaining bread if all of it does not fit on your griddle.

5. Serve immediately with maple syrup.

 

Before I go, I want to share a couple of pictures with you.

Seven. My Son Seven. Rotten ‘cause that’s the way I made him, I guess. On Monday, I had a large cookie order to work on, and I was all but done.  I had cleaned up the kitchen, put away the utensils, the pans, the cookies.  But in my haste on the way to the bathroom (yes, I GO) I left out the flour container.  I was gone, what? A minute and a half? Two minutes? Okay, maybe I stopped and looked at Twitter for a second, but not long.  Anyway, here’s what I came back to…

Devil Child.  Couldn’t you just eat him?  I could. I do, sometimes.  He fusses though when I bite, he says it “hurts the baby.”   Devil. Child.

Have a great weekend everyone! I am on my way to New England for a wedding and to meet a couple of Bloggers along the way! Stay tuned for updates  !