John and Bailey's Wedding

Here is my latest creation. It was probably one of the hardest I've done! It was HUGE!! The hardest part was transporting it to the reception. It took me, my mom and my dad to drive it down there safely. Oh man did it get banged up on the way. Luckily I was able to touch it up, put it together and enjoy the reception. The bride and the groom were happy, I hope. ;)

It's been a crazy week!

Tuesday consisted of:
a. going to work for 7 hours
b. grocery shopping for cake supplies and more cake pans!
c. baking half of the cakes for the wedding this weekend
d. helping mike study for his physics test
e. falling asleep on the couch instead of helping mike study :(

Wednesday consisted of:
a. missionaries coming over to give us a message
b. temple recommend interviews with the bishop
c. making dinner and eating dinner
d. helping mikey cram for 2 more tests
e. PAY DAY :D

Thursday consisted of:
a. going to work for 7 hours
b. going to U paint it (ceramic painting place) with Melissa my ex=roommate (it took almost 3 hours!!)
c. cramming dinner down our throats
d. classical concert of a flute and guitar for Mike's music class
e. catching up on my Lie to Me episodes

Friday has so far consisted of:
a. going to work for 7 hours
b. going to the grocery store to get MORE cake supplies (it's a huge cake)
c. baking more cakes for the wedding this weekend
d. packing and making sure I have everything
e. stressing out about whether I can transfer it the the wedding ok
f. also stressing out about whether the ribbon is the right color?!?
g. ENJOYING THE BEAUTIFUL WEATHER...from the inside of my house ;)

Saturday WILL consist of:
a. waking up early to drive home (YAY!!!)
b. trying out a different technique to make my icing so that it is truly "white"
c. decorating a 4 tier cake (16", 12", 8", 6") for the wedding
d. transferring the cake to the reception ( :S )
e. putting the cake all together ( :S )
f. enjoying the reception
g. GETTING PAID!!

Congrats John and Bailey :D

Pictures coming soon. Now don't get me started on next week!!!

Pumpkin Doughnuts

Pumpkin Doughnuts

2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground ginger
dash nutmeg (I do a double dash ;) )
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
Oil for frying
Spiced sugar***

1. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add the 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Beat until combined, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in the pumpkin, buttermilk, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour until well combined. Cover and chill 3 hours (I actually chilled mine overnight and it still turned out great)

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/2 in thickness. Cut with floured 2 1/2 in doughnut cutter, dipping cutter into flour between cuts. Reroll as necessary.

3. Fry doughnuts, 2 or 3 at a time, in deep, hot fat (365 degrees) about 2 1/2 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on a paper towel. Coat warm doughnuts in spiced sugar. Makes about 12 doughnuts plus holes.

***Spiced sugar: combine 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies

So it's fall time and I absolutely LOVE fall! Especially cooking with pumpkin! I found this recipe and just had to try it out!!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies

4 oz cream cheese
3 heaping tbsp pumpkin puree
3 tbsp sugar
1 box brownie mix

1. Mix the brownie mix according to the package.
2. Cream together the sugar, cream cheese and pumpkin in a mixer until smooth and creamy.
3. Pour the brownie batter into a greased 9 X 13 in pan.
4. Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the brownies. Use a knife to swirl it together.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

** I added about 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a 1/4 tsp nutmeg to the pumpkin mixture. It tasted like like pumpkin pie!

Pasta alla Carbonara

Pasta alla Carbonara

1 lb spaghetti or other long pasta (i.e. linguini or fetuccini)
1/2 lb bacon
1 pt heavy cream
2 eggs
4 oz Parmesan

1. Cook pasta and set aside.
2. Cut bacon into 1/2 in pieces. Cook until crisp.
3. While the bacon is cooking, combine the eggs, cream and cheese in a bowl.
4. After the bacon is crisp, add the pasta to your pan. Coat the pasta in the bacon grease and heat through.
5. Add the cream mixture and combine. Heat through and serve!


* I love having all the bacon flavor in this dish. If you want to drain a lot of the grease off, feel free to do it. It won't affect your dish that much!

Cornbread Hamburger Pie

My husband LOVES cornbread. We eat regular shepherd's pie all the time and he told me he had it with cornbread on top on his mission. When I found this recipe, I just had to try it out!

Corn Bread Hamburger Pie

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 can condensed tomato soup, undiluted
1/4 cup salsa
1 tbsp steak sauce (optional)
1 package (8 1/2 oz) corn bread
1 can green beans, drained
1 1/2 cups frozen corn

1. In a 10-in ovenproof skillet, cook the beef, onion and green pepper over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain.

2. Stir in the soup, salsa, ketchup and steak sauce if desired.

3. Meanwhile, prepare corn bread batter according to package directions; let stand for 2 minutes.

4. Spoon over beef mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until slightly browned.

Yay new blog!

I have this crazy love of recipes. I love cookbooks, cooking, food, grocery shopping... you get the picture. So I decided that I wanted to start a blog of the recipes that I have tried and liked so that maybe you guys could try them out too!