H is for hats and hyacinth

Continuing on in working through the letters of Brighton's name, we studied the letter H this week.  We had cousins visiting, so we included them too.  We talked about hats and what each is used for.

Then we made some of our own hats.  Flower crowns for the girls... 

...and bowler hats for the boys.  Don't you just love the deer-in-the-headlights look on Brighton's face??!

The next day we made handprint hyacinth pictures. 

Another activity we did, which I didn't get photos of, was to "heart attack" the girls' rooms.  We made their beds and tidied their rooms and put cut out hearts all over their walls.  It was fun for them to find them at bedtime.  Don't we all need a small surprise from time to time?

The last thing we did was a Hawaiian dinner.  We were supposed to learn to hula as well, but it didn't happen.  I've never tried Hawaiian recipes before, but I found one I LOVE!  And it's SO easy.  If you like kahlua pork, you'll love it.  I'll share it with you so you can fall in love with it too.

Oven roasted kahlua pork

3 pound pork roast

2 c water

1 tsp liquid smoke

1/4 c kosher salt

Combine water and liquid smoke.  Place roast in crock pot (or roasting pan if you want to cook it in the oven) and pour water/smoke over it.  Sprinkle with salt and cover.  Cook for 6 hours on low (3 hours at 400 degrees in the oven).  Shred with a fork and serve over rice.  So good!!

Annual Henry family lights-less soup night

Our tradition of seeing the lights at the park and a soup party afterwards was kind of a bust this year.  We still had soup and hot chocolate, but because it was raining, a hay ride wasn't exactly sounding fun, and one of the kids broke her arm earlier in the day.  Our kids were very disappointed, but we shut them up with cookies and hot chocolate:)  Better luck next year!  It wasn't feeling the same without Grandma or Grandpa either.  These are the only photos I got of the night, but I wanted to record that it did still happen, just a watered down version.

I did, however, discover a yummy gourmet hot chocolate recipe that I tried out before our wrapping party with my sisters-in-law the following week.  It's a copy cat recipe developed by my neighbor, who is an awesome chef.  It's salted caramel hot chocolate, and I found the recipe here.  I'll repost it here too.

Salted caramel Hot Chocolate

INGREDIENTS

Hot Chocolate

3 Tbs caramel, lukewarm, plus 1 Tbs for garnish

4 Tbs chocolate ganache (see recipe below)

6 oz 2% milk

1 tsp hazelnut syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla syrup

Pinch medium coarse sea salt

Whipped cream


Ganache

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup heavy cream



DIRECTIONS

Hot Chocolate

1. Coat inside of mug with caramel

2. In medium saucepan, bring ganache and milk to desired temperature

3. Pour into mug

4. Add hazelnut and vanilla syrups

5. Stir well to combine

6. Garnish with whipped cream, caramel and sea salt



Ganache

1. Scald heavy cream in medium saucepan

2. Pour into a bowl with the chocolate chips

3. Stir until smooth, then allow to cool

For time's sake, I used liquid caramel ice cream topping.  The thicker stuff would probably work better, as this stuff slid down the cup and ended in the bottom.  Oh, it was divine!  Pad-the-butt good, but worth it!

 

Pumpkin Cinnamon rolls

I finally found a recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls that I love.  It even has whole wheat flour in it, so I can fool myself into thinking it's kinda healthy.  (Too bad it doesn't also fool my butt!)  I made them for my birthday breakfast.  My mom stayed overnight, since she hates driving in the dark, so I made them for her, too.  It was fun to have her sleep over.  For the recipe, go here.  I hear the Pioneer Woman also has a killer recipe for cinnamon rolls (literally, since it calls for a whopping amount of butter!).  That's next on my list to try.

Eggnog Mousse from Family Circle

I found a recipe for eggnog mousse recently, so Brighton and I made some for FHE last week.  It was very good, but very rich, so enjoy in moderation.  I'll share the recipe with you.

Eggnog Mousse

4 eggs, separated

1/2 c plus 2 Tb sugar

1 c heavy cream

1/4 c butter, cut up

2 Tb dark rum

2 Tb brandy

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

In a large metal bowl, combine yolks, 1/4 c each of sugar, cream, and butter.  Place bowl in saucepan of simmering water.  Cook, stirring constantly, until temp reaches 160 degrees, or about 4-7 minutes.  Remove bowl from pan.

Beat remaining 3/4 c cream with 1/4 c sugar, spices, liquor, and vanilla (I omitted the brandy, and substituted 1 tsp rum extract for the rum.  It was a little strong; maybe start with 1/2 tsp and add more as desired.) until stiff peaks form.  FOld into egg yolk mixture.

Beat egg whites until frothy.  Gradually beat in remaining 2 Tb sugar and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.  Fold 1/4 of the whites into egg yolk mixture.  Fold in remaining whites.  Refrigerate, covered, until mixture just begins to mound when spooned, 1 1/2 hours (it took only 30 minutes to reach this point for me).  Spoon into 6 glasses, cover and refrigerate at least one hour.  Garnish with additional nutmeg.  Enjoy!

Et fini, la Francaise!

Like I said, I was most excited for France, but it really got the shaft.  I didn't nearly do it justice like I had planned.  Perhaps because the kids' excitement waned, perhaps by the busyness of this time of year.  I might have to try it again next year.  I took very few photos; really of just one night.  The first night we had Croque Monseiur; the next night we went to an outdoor movie in Salem, and took our dinner with us.  We had Chicken provencal, haricots vert, and more artisan bread.  The last night we had our traditional French night.  We ate chicken cordon bleu casserole, cauliflower au gratin, grape juice (since the French love their wine--we had whine of a different sort. haha), and for dessert, crepes Suzette.  I really wanted to do them flambe, but brandy was in short supply in our house.  Next time.  I really wanted to do a French tart, but didn't have time.  The last thing I made was pain du chocolat, which is basically white roll dough that you wrap around a piece of milk chocolate, bake, then lightly frost.  Yum!  We used to eat them in French class at BYU. 

Chicken cordon bleu casserole

cauliflower au gratin

Crepes Suzette

This wrapped up our theme units. Not sure if I'll repeat it next summer. It was more intensive and required more time, effort, planning, and participation. I will probably go back to the ABC's next summer, which fit better around all our other summer activities. But I really enjoyed the foreign cuisine, and found some new family favorites. And some things we will leave to the natives!

Italy

We finally finished off our Around the World unit with Italy and France.  I should have started with these 2, because I was most excited to get to France, but by the time we got there, the kids were not excited about the idea anymore.  We all enjoyed the foreign cuisine, but I couldn't muster any excitement at all for the country and its culture.  Brighton, however, continued to be interested in the language; he still says "g-way gwoh" when he burps (from our Chinese unit back in June), and demands that I count in French every time it's warranted.

Here we celebrated Italy by making homemade pasta.  It was an all day experience.  The kids had fun making it, and really enjoyed it, but were glad that we don't have to do that every time we have spaghetti or alfredo.  I actually broke a sweat!

Mixing the dough...

Rollin out the dough and cutting.

My new arm accessories.  D'ya like?

I made sauce from scratch also.  I love the smell of it simmering on the stove.  It's the smell of fall in my Mom's house as a child.

One happy customer.

And for dessert, chocolate biscotti.  I didn't bake it as long as the recipe called for, so it wasn't too crunchy.  Mmm, it was delicioso!

Day 2, fine dining Italiano style.  I planned on dining like the Italians do, in courses, so I set a fancy table, complete with candlesticks, and Josh Groban softly crooning Italian love songs in the background.  Lose the kids, and this was a very romantic meal:)

We started out with soup and bread.  This day we made gnocchi.  I've never made it before and it was oh-so-time-consuming!  But everybody really enjoyed it, so next time we'll buy it frozen:)  This is my all-time favorite soup recipe, a knock-off Olive Garden chicken gnocchi soup.  It's muy bella! (that may be a combination of a few languages).

Here is the recipe:

Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Cream Soup

From beginning to end it takes about 10 min. of prep and 30 min. cook time
1/3 cup olive oil or butter
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 lb. chicken
1/3 cup flour
1/2 carrot shredded
1 stick of celery
1/2 cup fresh chopped spinach
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
3 chicken bullion cubes
Cracked pepper to taste
Gnocchi
On medium heat:
Melt butter in a soup pot, add in the garlic and sautee, add your chicken and cook through out

Add flour and stir in flour and mix well until the flour is cooked into the chicken.  Next add your milk and heavy cream.  Then add the veggies(Carrots,Celery,Spinach).  Add three bullion cubes.  Add your Gnocchi last; it takes 3-4 min. to cook throughout.  Mix ingredients well until soup thickens and stirring occasionally. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

We also had artisan bread.  Easy recipe I got from a bread class at Thanksgiving Point 2 years ago:

3 c lukewarm water (can use cold, but it will double your raising time)

1 ½ Tb yeast
1 ½ Tb kosher salt
6 ½ c all purpose high quality flour (the quality of the flour makes all the difference.  I use Canadian flour)

Add yeast and salt to the water, and add flour all at once. Stir until all the flour is mixed in. Cover bowl with a non air-tight lid and let it sit on the counter for 2+ hours, til it starts to flatten out on top. DO NOT KNEAD. Use a generous amount of flour when shaping dough.  Heat oven to 450.  Place a baking stone in oven to heat.  Shape dough into a ball and let rise on a cornmeal-coated pizza peal for 40 mins.  Before baking, cut a few criss-cross slits in top of bread, and slide onto hot pizza stone.  Add a cup of water to broiler pan in bottom of stove (or put a pan of water in with stone), and bake for 40 mins.  Let cool and slice.

Second course was chicken parmesan.

Next was sauteed spinach.  I actually liked this, which surprised me since I grew up on cooked spinach and swore I'd go hungry before I ever ate it again.

Last was pears, followed by homemade vanilla gelato.  Mmmmm..

Finishing up the week was Chicken Italiano, which is one of my favorite recipes (thanks Sallie for sharing!), and homemade spinach and tomato pizza.  Loved Italian week!

I made some salt dough one day and showed the girls the pictures of The Leaning Tower.  I had them try to sculpt it with their dough.  Savannah didn't do too bad, did she?

We finished up the week by making gondolas.  Man, I hate glitter!  It's a staticky, cleaning nightmare!  I was still finding it in odd things 2 weeks after the gondolas were trashed and long gone.

More Indian food and recipes

We are getting an overload on curry and turmeric this week.  I joked with the kids that our insides are probably as stained yellow as our dishes have become.  We made Chicken Tikka Marsala, roasted red potatoes and naan bread for dinner this night.  I've had tikka marsala before, and really liked it, but this was too spicy for me.  If you make it, tone down the spices and eat it over rice.  We neglected to do that.

Chicken Tikka Marsala

1 cup yogurt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

4 teaspoons salt, or to taste

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

4 long skewers

1 tablespoon butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

3 teaspoons salt, or to taste

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1.In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2.Preheat a grill for high heat.

3.Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side.

4.Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Roasted Red potatoes

3 1/2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
3 pounds small red potatoes, halved (about 8 cups)
1 3/4 teaspoons black mustard seeds
6 dried red chiles (I omitted these after our Chinese fire-breathing experience)
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 jalapeño, seeded and minced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala
Cooking spray
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
8 lime wedges

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Combine 1 tablespoon oil and potatoes, tossing to coat. Set aside.
3. Heat remaining 2 1/2 tablespoons oil, mustard seeds, and chiles in a large skillet over medium-high heat; cook 1 1/2 minutes or until seeds begin to pop. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add ginger, garlic, and jalapeño to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in salt, turmeric, and Garam Masala; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add spice mixture to potatoes, tossing to coat. Arrange potato mixture in a single layer in a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
4. Bake at 400° for 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender and browned, stirring every 10 minutes. Stir in cilantro, mint, and juice. Serve with lime wedges.

Indian Naan bread 

(just google a recipe for this--there are so many, and mine turned out too crunchy, so try a different one)

Day 4? of Indian food we had something more mild, thank heavens!  We ate on the floor for a more authentic Indian dining experience.  I made Bombay Chicken and rice, Indian sweet bread, and creamy rice pudding for dessert.  The kids were really wary of the rice "pudding" but I stressed that they had to try everything and couldn't proclaim anything "yucky" until they tried 3 bites.  Surprisingly, at the least the older girls have been adventurous in trying all the new foods.  I've been proud of them as they've sampled all the different and strong foods I've put on their plates.  Hopefully it will stick with them into adulthood.

Bombay chicken and rice

1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice

6 ounces diced dried mixed fruit (I only had craisins so that's what I used.  I'm thinking apricots would be good)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
1 (3 pound) chicken, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 teaspoons curry powder, divided (I believe I cut this down to 2 tsp, since I was on curry overload)
1/2 teaspoon paprika

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2.In a 9x13 inch baking pan, mix rice, fruit, onion, sugar and salt. Pour in water. Arrange chicken parts over the rice mixture. In a small bowl, mix butter, curry powder and paprika. Brush butter mixture over chicken pieces. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil.
3.Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until chicken juices run clear and rice is tender.

I didn't get a photo of the sweet bread, but we all really liked it.  There were no leftovers.  Here is the recipe:

Indian Sweet Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1.In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt and water until a soft dough is formed. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. Divide dough into golf ball size pieces and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap.
2.Select a ball of dough and roll out until very thin but not torn. Sprinkle lightly and evenly with sugar. Fold up dough into a small square and roll out again until thin.
3.Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium heat. Place the rolled dough onto the pan and cook for 1/2 to 1 minute on each side until golden. Serve immediately. Repeat until all dough balls have been rolled and cooked.

Bollywood, Taj Mahal, and all things curry

Today we started learning about India.  I had to clarify with my kids when I said "Indians" I was not meaning the kind that slept in teepees and wore moccasins.  We had an Indian meal tonight.  Man, do they like their food spiced!  I had half my spice cabinet on my countertop to make these 4 dishes!  I was skeptical about some of them, but I think everybody liked them, for the most part.  I'll post the recipes, if anyone is interested in trying them. 

In the pitcher we have Mango Lassi.  This was by far everyone's favorite.  You might want to double this.

3 c plain yogurt

1 c chopped mango or peaches

1/2 c water

6 Tb sugar

Blend well in a blender.  Serve over ice.

This is called Garbanzo Stew.  Sounds gross, I know, but I actually really liked it, for ethnic food.  Even my older kids ate it, and Waverly ate some of the beans. 

1 Tb olive oil

1 c finely chopped onion

4 c chopped tomato (about 1.5 lbs)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp curry

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/8 tsp ground red pepper (I left this out)

2 15-ounce cans garbanzo beans, drained (I only used one)

1/2 tsp garam masala (an Indian spice--Macey's carries it, but it's expensive so I made my own)

1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and saute 5 minutes or til tender.  Stir in tomato and next 5 ingredients.  Cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in beans and garam masala (if you google this spice, you can find an ingredient list for it.  It's just a mix of more familiar spices, plus some odd ones that I omitted.  So maybe it's not completely authentic without the green cardamom pods, but close enough for us!)  Cook for 5 minutes or til heated through.  Serve with cilantro.  Serve over peanut rice (recipe below).

Peanut Rice

1 c basmati rice (I used regular white long grain, as true basmati rice is EXPENSIVE!)

2 1/4 c water

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 c petite peas, thawed

1/2 c roasted peanuts

Mix rice, water, salt and turmeric in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil.  Cover and turn heat to low.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  When done, add thawed peas and peanuts.

Tandoori Chicken

1/2 tsp curry

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp turmeric

2 Tb water

4 chicken breasts

In a bowl, mix spices.  Add water to form a smooth paste.  Rub paste into chicken breasts, and place on a plate.  Cover, and let marinate for 20 minutes.  Brush grate with oil.  Grill 6-8 minutes per side til done.

Apparently Indians eat every meal with some kind of flatbread.  This one is called Chapati, and it's very similar to tortillas.  Here is the link for the recipe and instructions.  It's not hard, and my kids really liked it.

http://indianfood.about.com/od/breadrecipes/ig/How-to-Make-Chapatis/

After dinner, my girls disappeared for a short time.  They're usually good about clearing their plates after they're done, so I wondered where they went to.  About 10 minutes later they came back in.  They had been in the bathroom, painting red dots on each other's foreheads with washable paint.  They wanted to be authentic.  We all had to get one too.  Tomorrow they want to wear the headdresses and eat on the floor, in true Indian style.  Tomorrow we are having Tikka Masala, Roasted potatoes, and Naan bread.  I might also serve them rice pudding, though Savannah has already declared it to be yuck.  I searched for Indian dessert recipes, and even found a cupcake one, but my excitement soon petered out when I saw it had curry in it.  Most of the desserts had something similar.  Hmmm...I'm thinking chocolate chip cookies?

Orange mango soup

With mangoes on sale 2/$1 a few weeks ago, I scoured the internet for some different recipes to use mangoes in, other than my stand by, mango salsa.  We tried strawberry mango daiquiris, and orange mango soup.  My kids thought it was funny to eat cold soup; so did I until I discovered strawberry soup; now I'm a huge fan of summer soups!  Here's the recipe:

2 tsp honey

1 1/2 cups OJ (I used fresh because I had it, pulp added in)

3 ripe mangos

1 1/2 c buttermilk

lemon juice to taste

throw all in a blender and blend til smooth.  Let sit in fridge for several hours to let flavors ripen and serve cold.  I didn't have time to let it sit.  We ate it immediately, and I topped each serving with a sprinkling of nutmeg.

Recipe for strawberry mango daiquiris:
3 strawberries

½ c white grape juice, or similar juice
1-2 tsp rum extract
2 limes, juiced
2 Tb sugar
2 c ice
1 c mango

Throw all in a blender and blend until smooth.  We loved this!

Recipes

Here are the recipes from the cinco de Mayo party:

Annies Fruit salsa and cinnamon chips

2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden delicious apples, cored, peeled and diced
1 pound strawberries
8 ounces raspberries
2 TB white sugar
1 TB brown sugar
3 TB jam, any flavor
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavor Pam
2 c cinnamon sugar

In a large bowl, mix cut up fruit (gently break apart raspberries in half), sugars, and jam.  Cover and chill in fridge to let flavors mix.
Heat oven to 350.  Coat one side of each flour tortilla with Pam.  Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and spray again with Pam.
Bake for 8-10 mins.  Repeat with remaining tortillas.  Cool and serve with salsa.

***cook's note:  this is the way the recipe reads.  When I make my salsa, I use any apples I have on hand, usually fuji or braeburn.  I don't see too much of a difference.  You can substitute frozen berries for fresh, if neccessary, though fresh is better.  For the batch I made on Saturday, I doubled it, used frozen raspberry/blackberry blend, and used Scott's homemade green tomato jam.  It gave it a slightly different flavor than normal.  I prefer strawberry jam. 
The easiest and quickest way to do the chips is to lay a tortilla flat on a cookie sheet.  Spray with Pam.  Lay another on top and spray.  Repeat for about 5 tortillas.  Then cut into wedges with a pizza cutter.  Dump your cinnamon sugar in a ziploc bag and shake your Pam-coated tortilla wedges in the bag, Shake-n-bake style.  It will coat both sides, but, it's SO MUCH FASTER!  Throw them on the tray and spray again with Pam.  I had to sprinkle a little more sugar on them from the bag; the first batch done came out just cinnamon-covered.  Bake for 10 mins for a crispier chip (I hate them soft, don't you?)

Fried Ice Cream
1 cube butter, melted
2 1/2 c rice krispies
1 c walnuts or pecans, crushed
1 1/4 c coconut
3/4 c brown sugar

Mix all ingredients.  Spread in a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 300 for 30 mins.  Cool completely.  Crumble slightly (mixture will stick together in one big sheet) and sprinkle half on the bottom of cake pan.  Spread 1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream on top.  Top with remaining nut mixture.  Freeze til firm.
Serve with hot fudge sauce, caramel, whip cream, etc.
***cook's note:  I'm bad at substituting.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  I subbed crushed corn chex for the rice crispies, since that's what I had. 

Hot fudge sauce (from Get off your butt and bake.com)
1 can condensed milk
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Melt in a saucepan until smooth.  Store in fridge. 

Caramel sauce (from Ivory Family Favorites/Make a Wish cookbook)
4 TB butter
1 1/4 c brown sugar
2/3 c light corn syrup
3/4 c evaporated milk

Melt butter in pan; add brown sugar and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and cook, stirring constantly, to soft-ball stage (use a candy thermometer).  Remove from heat and stir in evaporated milk. 


Cafe Rio Chicken (in ward cookbook, submitted by Kristin Koyle)
1 small bottle zesty Italian dressing
1 TB chili powder
1 TB cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 lbs chicken breast

Cook all together in a crock pot for 4 hours.  Shred meat and cook 1 additional hour.

***cook's note:  this makes a BUNCH.  I didn't increase the recipe at all, and it fed 18+ with leftovers.  I used a big bottle of dressing.  I used half to cook in, and I added the rest after I shredded the chicken in order to keep it moist.  But it was in the crock pot for 6 hours or more.

Cafe Rio dressing (same as above)
1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe)
2 tomatillos
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno (I used canned)

Add all to blender and blend til smooth.

Update:  Oops, forgot the daiquiris:)

Strawberry daiquiris

1 lb. fresh or frozen strawberries
1 can frozen limeade
rum extract
ice cubes

This recipe is to taste; I used a capful of rum for the above measurements, and a cupful of ice.  Dump all in blender and blend well.

Panna Cotta with Chocolate Sauce

I stumbled across this recipe a few weeks ago while reorganizing my recipe cupboard and wanted to try it.  I thought it was quite good, though my children weren't as enthused about it.  I liked it as something different.  Here's the recipe:

2 T cold water (place in a small bowl)

1 3/4 tsp uflavored powdered gelatin (sprinkle on water and set aside)

In a saucepan combine:

1 1/2 c heavy cream

1/2 c milk

3 Tb sugar

pinch of salt.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and boil for 1 minute stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and whisk in 1 tsp vanilla, gelatin mixture, and 1 Tb more sugar.

Chill over ice bath in fridge until it begins to slightly thicken.  Transfer to 6 ramekins or bowls.  Chill until firm.  Serve with your favorite fudge sauce on top.

Oreo fudge ice cream cupcakes

I made these little babies for a family birthday dinner at our house yesterday. I'm a sucker for anything you can call a cupcake! They were delish! For the recipe, go here.

Another picture of my dessert

I made this dessert for Bunco last week, which I hosted. Thanks to Lisa Pollock for the inspiration from book club the week before! I love chocolate, strawberries, raspberries, and real whipped cream! And I have a somewhat newish love affair with ganache. Fancy French word, easy recipe! I did not win, by the way, for you Bunco afficionados!

This is just a chocolate cake, topped with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with ganache, and crowned with fresh berries, and a chocolate filigree.  Simple yet inspiring!

Pretty treats

My sister Julie made these for a family get-together this month. I thought they were so cute, so I had to take a picture. She did think I was a little strange for photographing my dessert, but it was too cute! Simple, I know, but I've never had dessert on a stick before. I guess even brussel sprouts would be cute on a stick...maybe.