Join Me in My Addiction!

Thank you for visiting my blog...and for allowing me to share with you my addiction. I love to collect recipes. I love to read cookbooks. I have been collecting recipes for as long as I can remember, and on any given day there are one or two (or more!) cookbooks residing on my nightstand!

This blog is chronicling my adventure as I fulfill my resolution of trying (at least) one new recipe each week. I hope that you enjoy!

I invite you to join me in my journey, simply by clicking the "Join this Site" link below. And please feel free to comment on any of the recipes, and pin away. Thanks, I look forward to sharing with you!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Sweet and Sour Chicken

At one of my recent Scrumptious Sunday Link Parties, Mandy from Mandy's Recipe Box posted her Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe.  My husband loves Chinese food (I'm not a big fan) but her recipe spoke to me as one I should make as a treat for my husband. And since all the ingredients are items I normally stock in my pantry, it was easy to put together! 

Here is what I did:

A great at-home recipe for this popular restaurant dish
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (partially thawed)
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 eggs (beaten)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
salt and pepper, to taste

3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 325F.

Prepare two bowls for dipping - one with cornstarch and one with the beaten eggs.

Heat vegetable oil in frying pan.

Clean chicken breasts and cut into pieces. Mandy recommended cutting the chicken while still partially frozen, which did make cutting the chicken easier.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Coat chicken in cornstarch by dipping in bowl.  After cornstarch, dip into the egg mixture, coating the chicken.  Place chicken in the heated oil and cook for a few minutes (but do not cook through).

While the chicken is cooking in the pan, prepare the sweet and sour mix.  Using a whisk, mix together the sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soya sauce and garlic powder.

Once the chicken is browned, place the chicken in an 8x8 baking dish.  Coat the chicken with the sauce.  Bake for 1 hour, turning the chicken every 15 minutes.

VERDICT:
Both my husband and oldest son were skeptical about what I was making for dinner.  We told our son that it was "plum sauce chicken" because he loves plum sauce and figured that would help to get him to eat it.  After their first bites, they both said "Yum!" My son said that the "Chicken was very good, Mommy" and my husband cleaned his plate!  We did both agree that we'd like to add a little more "crunch" to the chicken the next time we cook it, and as much I would like crushed almonds (but hunny is allergic) we both thought we should try adding panko to the recipe.




Saturday, April 28, 2012

Guest Post with Peace Love Recipes!

My friend Courtney from Peace Love Recipes asked me to write a guest post for her this week.  I am SUPER EXCITED about this honour - and to top it off, I'm her first guest!  And I'm also excited about the recipe...pop over to her blog to check in out!  In the meantime, here is a little teaser picture!

Check it out at Peace, Love, Recipes!

Thanks so much Courtney for the invitation!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Yummy Mummy Contest

I am a proud member of voiceBoks, a blogging community for parents.  It's a great place to be...if you are a blogger, you too should check it out! (and tell them I sent you!)


voiceBoks runs different contests and challenges - a few weeks ago it was the ABC's of Me - and currently I am taking part in the "Yummy Mummy Contest".  This was another challenging one, as like the ABC's, I'm not one to talk about me in great length to many people.  And to participate in the contest, I had to ask people to tell me why they think I should win the Yummy Mummy contest.  It was hard for me to ask, but I did it...and here is what some of my wonderful, fantabulous family and friends had to say:


My husband:
She is a kind and thoughtful person who always puts others before herself.  She will do whatever it takes to make sure the people around her have a smile on their face and will always go the extra mile without asking.  I am thankful that I wake up next to the same person I am dreaming of.  I can's imagine a day without her.
me<insert tears here!>

My oldest son (age 5):
She takes me to special places like swimming and walks.  She makes me happy when I am sad by giving me hugs and kisses. I like to do crafts and drawings with her.
me <insert a big smile here>


My baby boy (age 9 months):
My Mommy is the best!  How do I know?  She is always so happy to play games with me!  Like when I spit up all over her and me, she plays "peek-a-boo" with me as she wipes up my face and clothes, her clothes, the couch and the floor.  She works hard to make me wonderful meals, and I really like blowing bubbles of food just after she feeds me a mouthful of dinner.  It makes my highchair tray look so pretty, I like to smoosh around all the food, and my Mommy smiles because she just loves my games.  She also loves the game I play when I call for her, especially at 4 am, every single day!  She always answers my call with a smile and a song (even though she can't really carry a tune).  She showers me with squeezes, kisses and tickles every day.  She really is a Yummy Mummy! (and yes, I do like to chew on her fingers, she's THAT yummy!).

My mother-in-law had some lovely things to say too:
I believe my daughter-in-law Dawn deserves the 'Yummy Mummy' award because:
- she can shower, dress, do her hair and makeup AND look fabulous in under 10 minutes.
- she traded in her cute little clutch for a bag big enough for wipes, diapers, soothers and snacks.
- she can have as much fun teaching her baby to swim at the Y as splashing in the Caribbean.
- she uses her hands to pat a bum, to stroke a cheek, to soothe an owie and to catch some vomit.
- one of her favorite things is slobbery baby kisses.
- every single day she chooses to put her kids' happiness and well-being ahead of her own.
- she knows that being a 'Yummy Mummy' is actually a state of mind; its trying to find the almost impossible balance between raising kids and finding some time for herself.



And from a few of my amazing, wonderful friends:

Dawn is an incredible Yummy Mummy!  I don't know how she does it all!  She works full time and is still excellently organized, healthy, and creative.  She has a wonderful family and is devoted to her sons and husband.  They make a great team under her leadership.  I love her recipe blog and have tried several recipes already.  It's great to have an easy source of helpful and tasty recipes at hand.  Thanks Dawn!!

Dawn is one of the yummiest mummies I know!  She is a wonderful mother, wife and the best friend anyone could ask for.  She is always smiling a huge beaming smile bursting with love, kindness and joy!  I love this yummy mummy with all my heart! 

My dear friend Dawn would be the perfect recipient for your Yummy Mummy award. I can’t tell you enough how loved and respected she is by her peers, her colleagues, her friends and her family. She’s the type of woman who is always there when you need her (for better or worse), she’s incredibly thoughtful and selfless, and she’s a super-Mom and wife to the three men in her life! I am grateful for Dawn’s friendship and wisdom, and I’m proud of who she is in her community and her home. What more can I say... I just really love Dawn with all my heart, and anyone who knows her will say the same.

Wow everyone, I feel so loved!!  Contest or not, I am one of the luckiest people in the world to have such amazing people in my life. 

Thank you for being part of my life, I love all of you!


Scrumptious Sunday #8 - Features

Thank you everyone for sharing 93 recipes at the Scrumptious Sunday Link Party - I am always so inspired by all that you share!  If you haven't browsed through the posts, you really should ! 

If you are a feature this week, please be sure to grab your button for you post or blog.  Thanks!

I was featured, I was Featured by Addicted to Recipes



Here are this week's features:

Creme Brulee French Toast by Desperate Craftwives



Luscious Broccoli Salad by Grateful Belly


A Lighter Chicken Tikka Masala by Lisa's Dinnertime Dish


Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread by Cookin' Up Good Times


Scrumptious Sunday Link Party #9 will open Saturday at 8 pm PST.  Can't wait to see what you bring to the party next week!




Thursday, April 26, 2012

Apple Brown Betty Muffins

Apparently I've been on a muffin kick lately.  Well, I do love muffins, and they are easy to eat, especially when you have a baby in one arm/attached to your hip :-)  I know, I should put him down, but he gets so so SO upset, and he's my baby.  It'll pass...I'm already seeing signs of that, at least he'll go to my husband more often (though I am still the favourite).  Plus, they aren't babies for long...I need to get as many cuddles in as I can!

I have been reorganizing my old recipe binder, it was time to buy a new heavy-duty binder and retire the old one.  So that's been one of my projects, as well as adding more tags to the recipes for ones that I haven't yet tried from the collection.  I found the recipe for these Apple Brown Betty Muffins that I clipped from Appeal Magazine in 1998 but never made...and decided now was the time to make them.  Here is the recipe:

These taste just like apple crisp, but in muffin form!
3 medium sized apples, peeled and chopped
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Grated peel and juice of 1 large lemon

Topping:
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.


In a small bowl, combine apples, oats and buttermilk, let sit for 10 minutes to soften the oats.

In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a third bowl, combine eggs, oil, vanilla, lemon peel and lemon juice.  Add this mixture to the softened oat mixture and stir well.  Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

Fill greased or lined muffin cups 3/4 full.

Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the muffins.

Bake 16-22 minutes, cool in pan before transferring to a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

VERDICT:
These were very tasty muffins.  Tasted so much like apple crisp, a family favourite in our house!  And I loved the hint of lemon in them as well, nice touch :-)  The muffins didn't last long, so that should speak to how much we liked them!



Monday, April 23, 2012

Roasted Broccoletti

We really enjoy broccoletti (or broccolini, depending on who you ask!) but it is one of those things that is hard to find in the grocery stores.  It seems to be one of those things that we get as a vegetable when we are fortunate enough to go out for dinner (on a kid-free dinner...meaning to a nicer restaurant).  What a surprise when then other day I came across broccoletti stocked in one of our local stores!  I scooped up a pack and was super excited to show my husband.

I decided to prepare the broccoletti similarly to how I prepare asparagus (and so many other vegetables!)...roasted in the oven.  Here is the recipe:

A vegetable treat, our oldest son loved it.
Broccoletti (approx 10 spears)
Olive Oil
Sea Salt (we use Epicure chili garlic sea salt)
Garlic (1 clove, minced)
Red Pepper Flakes

Preheat oven to 325F.

Wash broccoletti, trim end and cut thicker spears in half lengthwise. Lay on a foil-line baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Season with minced garlic, salt to taste and lightly season with red pepper flakes.

Roast in oven for approximately 15 minutes, or until done to your preference.  You may choose to flip the broccoletti half way through.

VERDICT:
Our oldest son was super impressed with the broccoletti.  He kept commenting about how good it was.  Great news that the 5 year old loved it!  My husband and I both also enjoyed the dish - nice, fresh tasting.  Roaseted vegetables are delicious!    

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Scrumptious Sunday #7 - Features!

Wow everyone! Another amazing party! I am so inspired by all the recipes that you shared at the Scrumptious Sunday Link Party - you should check out all the recipes if you haven't already!  Last week you shared with me 92 recipes at the party! THANK YOU!

Be sure to grab your button for you post or blog.  Thanks!

I was featured, I was Featured by Addicted to Recipes



Here are this week's features:

Cinnamon Roll Grilled Cheese Sandwich from Galley Kitchen: Bake Up, Little Suzy


Crispy Baked BBQ Ancho Chile Chicken Bites from Little Mommy, Big Appetite


Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas from Grateful Belly


Aries' Birthday Cake from A Little Inspiration


I will also be featuring these on my Facebook page - be sure to check them out there too!

Scrumptious Sunday Link Party #8 opens tonight at 8 pm Pacific.  I look forward to seeing what you bring to the party next week!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Guest Post with Debbie Does Creations

Guest posts are fun! 

Debbie from Debbie Does Creations asked me to write a guest post for her "Recipe of the Week" for this week - she asked me to share my current favourite recipe...please head over to her blog to read all about it. 

Thank you Debbie for the opportunity!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Bedroom Makeover

You are probably wondering, what does a bedroom makeover have to do with  a food blog?!  Well, the bedroom makeover was for our oldest son (J), who celebrated his 5th birthday this month.  The bedroom makeover took me away from creating in the kitchen for a few days as I was working on the project - and I thought my friends in my blog world would enjoy seeing a different part of who I am.  The new room was part of his birthday present from us, bye-bye to the little boy room with trains and hello to a big boy room.  I had found a picture on Pinterest that I loved (the squares - second picture on the link) and wanted to incorporate the squares into the room makeover.  I had all sorts of ideas in mind, I had hoped to incorporate orange into the bedding as J's favourite colour is orange, but I had NO LUCK finding something that I liked.  So after much searching, I decided to go with shades or blue and white, as I finally found a bedding set that would work for the makeover.  I was all ready to start picking paint when J informed us that he wanted fire trucks in his new bedroom (J has wanted to be a fireman for most of his 5 years).  Red fire trucks with the blue & white bedding that I had picked out did not work well together...so my original plan went out the window! 

Back to shopping here there and everywhere to see what I could find.  Finally I came up with a new duvet cover that I felt would do the trick.  It had the red for fire trucks, plus new colours to work with.  A girlfriend and I spent an evening "accessory" shopping for the room, I picked out the paint colours, and my revised plan/vision with squares on the walls was back in action.

We started slowly packing up his room for a few days prior to the big makeover.  Thankfully my parents had J over for a sleepover so that we only had the baby to care for on the weekend we were doing the work, and this enabled us to surprise J with his new room.

Here is the BEFORE:



And here is the AFTER:

The final result of our son's bedroom makeover

And here is what we did!


Modern style for this boy's bedroom
Furniture: Some of the furniture is still the same - no need to replace perfectly good furniture!  The bed and nightstand are still the same.  We added a "new" chest of drawers, which was mine out of our closet. I repainted it red to match the bedroom.  The chest of drawers that J had in his room went into his brother's room (matches the furniture in there).  We found a used desk for sale on a local buy and sell the week of the big re-do, and it matches perfectly.  It cost us a whopping $12!  Cool!  There is a bookcase, however, it is not paintable so my handy, woodworking Grandfather is building J a new one that we can paint red to match the rest of the room.  Lucky boy!

Closet: My husband added a second row of shelving in the closet so that we had more hanging space.  Our son loved it - not only did he get new hangers to hang his clothes on, he spent forever organizing and re-organizing the hangers into different colour patterns.  It was (and still is) too cute!


Workspace in or son's bedroom, with a stripe of orange, his favorite color
Wall Colours: I have a hard time painting a room just one colour.  Most of the rooms in our house (that aren't still "Builder's Beige") have been repainted with at least two colours.  I can't help it, it's just who I am!  And with the squares being incorporated into the design, there had to be a few colours in there.  So the walls are painted with four colours.  Yes, four.  Actually five.  But the fifth colour matches the existing trim, so I'm not really counting it (white).  I had three colours picked out to match the new bedding and accessories, but (as mentioned) since J's favourite colour is orange, he would have been sad if there wasn't orange in the room - so we added a stripe of orange on a little angled wall next to his desk that is perfect (he can see it from his bed and desk, but the rest of us can't see it when we walk in the room).

Red - General Paint (GP) Sizzle
Dark Grey - (GP) Artesan 
Light Grey - (GP) Spray River
Orange - (GP) Glazed Carrot
White (GP) - used to paint over the blue wall and over the trains to ensure the new colours would go on evenly


Wall Vinyl: Fortunately for us, my husband owns a vinyl business and was able to create the wall vinyl for J's room.  He found a maltese and a few fire trucks to go up on the walls.  Saved me from having to hand-paint them (like I had the trains way back when...before he had the business).  It was great too as he was able to match the vinyl perfectly to the paint and accessories.

Window Coverings: The blinds are the same as before, the curtains are new. Long. Bold. Red. Love them!  The curtain rod is also new.


And this was our son's reaction to his new room...I think it passed inspection ;-)





Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

I have been craving cookies lately, I love cookies.  I'm a cookie monster of sorts.  Really, I am!  I come by in naturally, my Dad is a big cookie fan too :-)

I figured I would try to make some cookies that might please both my cookie palate as well as my husband's.  My favourite kind of cookie is my Mom's chocolate chip cookie, my husband prefers oatmeal raisin.  So this recipe combines my likes with my hubby's, along with a few extras.  These certainly are loaded cookies!  I found the recipe in a Taste of Home Cookies & Bars cookbook, and added raisins to the mix.  Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup quick oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut, flaked
1/2 cup pecans, crushed
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and two sugars.  Add in eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Add in quick oats, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans and raisins.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 11-12 minutes or until done.  Remove from oven and cool for about 2 minutes before moving to a wire to finish cooling.

VERDICT:
These were super tasty, and a hit with everyone, even though my husband did comment that the cookies could use a little less chocolate chips and a little more raisins.  Ha!  (Didn't slow him down eating them though!). These were super good, and next time I would probably try adding some sunflower seeds to the batter, just for fun!



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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Scrumptious Sunday #7 - Link Party!

Scrumptious Sunday Link Party #7 is NOW OPEN....link up your favourite recipe(s) from the last week here

I am looking forward to reading all of your submissions - thanks in advance for joining my party!

Remember I will feature 3 recipes after the party closes both on my blog and Facebook page. 

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Scrumptious Sunday #6 - Features

Scrumptious Sunday Link Party #6 was another amazing success!  There were so many beautiful recipes shared by you.  Thank you all SO MUCH!  I read each and every one of the 93 recipes that you shared!  If you are one of this week's features, please be sure to grab your button! (If you have any troubles with the button, please let me know!)

I was featured, I was Featured by Addicted to Recipes




This week I am sp pleased to feature five recipes.  Here are the features:

Tomato Feta Breakfast Cups from Will Cook for Smiles


Baked Spaghetti Squash Gratin from The Kitchen is my Playground


Apple Spice Monkey Bread from Pint Sized Baker


Brownie Mud Hen Bars from Crazy for Crust


4 Layer Strawberry Meringue Cake from Hugs & CookiesXOXO


Congratulations everyone!

Scrumptious Sunday Link Party #7 will open tonight (Saturday) at 8 pm PST.  Can't wait to see what you bring to the party next week!





Thursday, April 12, 2012

ABC's of Me

I belong to the blogging community, voiceBoks.  It's a great community for parents, I've met such neat people through there - so glad that I was invited to be part of all their fun!

One of our "challenges" this month was to blog the "ABC's" about us.  If you haven't tried to do this before, you should - it is a harder than you might think.  And fun!  I'm pretty excited to read the other ABC posts that my blogging colleagues put together.  Since I write a food blog, I thought it would only be suiting if I write my ABC's a little about me and a little about food! 

Here we go:

Apple pie and ice cream, a traditional dessert, and one of my (many) favourites!  We live in an apple producing region and we are very fortunate to be surrounded by an abundance of apples each fall.

Blueberries.  I love blueberries.  I love baking with blueberries.  I love eating fresh blueberries.  Blueberries and ice cream, oh yum.

Cinnamon Buns...I love my Mom's cinnamon buns, I can smell them them from miles away.  I'm not kidding...we live a 5 minute drive from my parents, and I often just seem to know when my Mom is baking cinnamon buns!

Dawn.  The time of day that I was born at.  Also, my first name.

Eggs Benedict.  Classic eggs benny with tomato added in, one of my favourite breakfasts.

French toast...another fabulous breakfast favourite of mine.  Wow, that was a lot of "F"s!

Grilled vegetables.  A staple in our home.  We love to chop up a bunch of fresh vegetables, toss them with spices and grill them in a grilling basket on the BBQ.  So good.

Husband.  I have an amazing husband.  Love you!

Ice Cream.  We are ice cream junkies at our house.  Really a good thing that we don't have a Dairy Queen within walking distance to our house anymore!

Jotting things down.  I keep lists.  Lots of them.  In little notebooks.  Things to do.  Things to remember.  Ideas.  It's genetic I think.  My Grandpa used to do it.  My Dad does.  I do too.

Kids.  I've always wanted them!  We are so lucky to have our boys.

Lasagna. One of my favourite dinners.  With garlic bread.  And caesar salad.  Yum!

Mustard.  My favourite condiment.

Neurotic. I am sure my husband thinks I am sometimes.  Me and my crazy ideas! 

Onions.  I use them a lot when cooking. I seem to chop some up and throw them into a lot of our meals.

Peaches.  Millions of peaches, peaches for me.  Fresh Okanagan peaches are my absolute favourite.  Oh I can't wait for August!

Quinoa - I've only had it once.  It was delicious.  But my husband might be allergic to it. Darn it!

Raspberries.  I love raspberries.  Fresh raspberries.  Raspberries in smoothies.  Raspberries and ice cream.  Made a fantastic raspberry pie last year.  Planted my first raspberry bush in the garden last year.  Can't wait to see how well it does this year.

Sons.  I have two of them.  They are amazing!

Tomatoes.  Last year our garden went crazy with tomatoes.  We planted 6 cherry tomato plants, different varieties, and we harvest more than 1500 tomatoes.  Not kidding!

Uber-organized.  That's me.  Most of the time.

Vegas.  As in Las Vegas.  Where my husband and I got married!

Wine.  Love white wine.  We live in a wine region.  We are very lucky.

Xercise.  OK I know I am cheating here.  But "X" is tough!  And really, I should exercise more!  So that's my "X" and I'm sticking to it!

Yard.  I love our back yard.  I love our flower beds, I love our garden. I love picnics on the lawn with the kids. 

Zodiac Sign - Virgo.  If you follow that stuff, it does describe me pretty well!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Nanaimo Bar Ice Cream Cake - Guest Post

Dawn from DJ's Sugar Shack invited me to guest post on her wonderful blog this week!  My first guest post, so very exciting!  This gave me a GREAT reason to just HAVE to bake...and my family agreed...my husband declared that this new recipe might just be his new favourite dessert!  Cool!  Check out my post at DJ's Sugar Shack for this very delicious Nanaimo Bar Ice Cream Cake!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter Bunny Carrot Cake and a Feature!

Let's talk about DESSERT!

For the first time in a few years, we did not host our son's birthday party over the Easter long weekend.  So, I had a little extra time to make a different sort of cake (not the birthday sort...yet!), and with our son nearly 5, he is caught right up in all the Easter excitement.  I saw this picture at The Southern Lady Cooks, which inspired me to try my own Easter Bunny cake for dessert.  And I figured, since it is Easter, we need carrot cake!  I was going to try out my Mom's carrot cake recipe for the project, but then I found that the full baking instructions weren't written on the copy of the recipe that I have, and since she and my Dad are off rv'ing I can't just call her and ask her all the details. So I found a different carrot cake recipe to try.  I based my cake on one found in Company's Coming - Desserts and combined it with my Mom's recipe.  Here is how I made my carrot cake:

1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and cooking oil.  Add in eggs, one at a time, beating.  Add in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add to the wet ingredients, stirring to mix.

Stir in the carrots and raisins.  Pour into greased cake pans (two 8x8s, two 9x9s or one 9x13 pan).

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool and frost.

I baked the cake late at night, so I left the cakes to cool overnight and made my frosting in the morning.  I frosted the cake with the same Cream Cheese Icing recipe that I used earlier in the week to frost the yummy Carrot Pineapple Raisin Bran Muffins that I made for my son's preschool, except that I doubled the recipe to ensure that I had enough icing :-)

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups icing sugar

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Beat well.  Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy. 

Now, onto putting the cake together!

Assembling the Cake:
You'll see that I made the cake to look a little more "bunny" like.  I made the cakes using two 8" rounds, and cut both of the cakes in half.  I took three of the halves to make the back end of the bunny - I put some icing between each layer and stuck them together. The remaining half I cut in half again and made the bunny's head (again, icing between the layers and stuck them together.  I generously frosted the cake with the cream cheese icing, and used decorating gel for the eyes, whiskers, nose and mouth (in black and pink).  I sprinkled unsweetened coconut on top of the icing for a more fur-like effect (I used as much as I thought was necessary - probably 1/3-1/2 cup).  I used some of my crafting paper to make the ears (in pink and white).  It was a cute little bunny, not bad for someone who isn't very good at decorating cakes!!

VERDICT:
The cake was well-received by everyone!  Everyone thought it was pretty cute and said it was tasty.  My icing only eating 4 year old ate some of the cake, which rarely happens!  He even asked me to make him a bunny cake for his birthday party next weekend.  That's a good sign.  My husband, who "does not like cake" said that it was really good, which was also evident by how clean his cake plate was after dessert!  My maternal Grandparents, who joined us for dinner, both said "whoa, those are big pieces" when I was slicing the cake, but both of their plates were clean afterwards too!  I thought it was delicious, a nice, moist, heavy but not heavy cake (does that make sense?!), very tasty indeed.  The cream cheese icing was perfect - not overly sweet, and the unsweetened coconut on top was great too!  This one could become a new Easter tradition, you never know!

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I am so excited to share with you that another of my recipes has been featured!  Thank you My Favorite Finds for featuring my Baked Not Fried Fries - these have been a popular post!  If you haven't checked out the recipe yet, you should.  They were so good!


Would love for you to "Like" me on Facebook! 


Sunday, April 8, 2012

Scrumptious Sunday #6 - Link Party!

Scrumptious Sunday Link Party #6 is NOW OPEN...link up your favourite recipe(s) from the last week here!

Would love for you to "Like" me on Facebook and would you, pretty please
VOTE FOR MY BLOG at the voiceBoks

"Top 10 Foodie Blog 2012" contest by clicking this link and voting for Addicted to Recipes (just two little clicks for you, easy breezy, and will really help me out!) THANKS so much!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Blueberry Raisin Wheat Bran Muffins - Crazy Cooking Challenge

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Hello to everyone from the Crazy Cooking Challenge!  This month our challenge was Blueberry Bran Muffins.  I am new to the Crazy Cooking Challenge, but looking forward to the fun!  This is a re-post from an entry I did in January...but it's a good one.

I love muffins, I really do.  Probably has something to do with the fact that they can be eaten with one hand, and I always have a baby in the other!  I know everyone says that muffins can be bad for you, especially those store bought ones, but I think that if you can find the right recipe, you know what's going into them and therefore what's going into your body.  And if you are satisfied with what you put into the muffins, then that's what matters :-)


I especially like blueberry muffins, and I like the idea of bran muffins, though I find bran muffins too dry.  So I have always been on the search for the perfect blueberry bran muffin recipe.  You'd think it would be easy to find the perfect recipe.  Maybe I am too picky, I'm not sure.  Today I found a new bran muffin recipe which I modified when we made them, and part of the modifications included adding blueberries.  Here is the recipe we used:

1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups natural wheat bran
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup raisins

Cream shortening and sugar together.  Add molasses and eggs, and beat well.  Add buttermilk, then add bran. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add to liquid ingredients.

Stir in raisins and blueberries.

Place in lined muffin pan, bake at 400 F for 18 to 20 minutes or until muffins are done.

Makes 12 large muffins.

THE VERDICT
These are a nice looking muffin and taste pretty good.  The blueberries make the muffins especially moist. Big plus! Personally I am not a big fan of molasses, so next time we make these I will actually cut the molasses from 1/4 cup to 1/8 cup.  I think it still needs to be there, just a smaller amount. My husband and oldest son both liked these!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Scrumptious Sunday #5 - Features!

Scrumptious Sunday Link Party #5 was another amazing success!  Thank you all SO MUCH for sharing your recipes!  I read each and every one of the 87!  They were all so good!  Again I had a hard time choosing 3 to feature, so again this week I've chosen 4!  Be sure to grab your button!

I was featured, I was Featured by Addicted to Recipes





Here are this week's features:

#17 - Cranberry Brie Puffs from Will Cook for Smiles


#38 - Guacamole Grilled Cheese from The Captivatng Life


#7 - Crock Pot Chicken with Bacon from Grateful Belly


#18 - Best Cherry Pie from Miz Helen's Country Cottage



Congratulations everyone!

Scrumptious Sunday Link Party #6 will open on Saturday evening (8 pm PST).  Can't wait to see what everyone brings to the party next week!

Happy Easter to everyone! 

Would love for you to "like" me on Facebook and vote for my blog at the voiceBoks
"Top 10 Foodie Blog 2012" contest by clicking this link and voting for Addicted to Recipes (just two little clicks for you, easy breezy, and will really help me out!) THANKS so much!