We like cartoons.

I like cartoons, always have and I know I always will. I’m sure when I’m 45 I will still love to watch all sorts of cartoons… correction… I KNOW I will.  🙂  This last weekend I was fortunate enough to have my family out for the husband’s birthday; by the way, we had a blast! Initially it was my mom, Andrea (little big sister), Linda (big sister), her husband and daughter. We got things ready for a little birthday party for the husband while he was out taking a police officer exam. [Wish him luck! 😀 ] We did a Bee Movie theme, it’s his new favorite movie. My husband and I signed up for a Hollywood Video membership for $29 a month and get unlimited movie rentals a month. The second we signed up I told him I wanted to see Bee Movie. He rolled his eyes and said I was lame. 🙄  I’ve seen the previews and thought it looked too stinkin’ cute to pass up. After about 4 weeks, I FINALLY got a copy and we saw it as soon as we got home. The movie is SO cute and funny. I definitely recommend it to anyone.

Back to the main topic… my sisters, mom and bro-in-law get the house decorated and began the enormous task of making food. We begin to make cupcakes, salsa, potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, hamburgers and hot dogs.  😀  The party went off great! Everyone ate, talked and enjoyed the day to celebrate such a great man… my husband! We all sat and vegetated after filling our bellys with food and began watching UFC when the door bell rings. Koa flips out and I run to the door to tell whoever it is to stop ringing the door bell when I see my dad! WHAT! MY DAD! My dad didn’t come with my sisters and mom on Friday evening because he had to work on Saturday and was just going to stay home and wait for his girls to come home.  So while we were eating then beginning to vegetate he was getting out of an 8 hour work day, then driving the 4.5 hour drive for the husbands birthday. How awesome is my dad? I know, too flippin’ awesome.  🙂  On Sunday morning, I woke up at 7 am. BOO!  😐  and began to make breakfast for everyone. My dad wakes up and showers and plops on the couch. What is he watching you ask? SpongeBob SquarePants. Yup, SpongeBob SquarePants. He is a 48 year old dood that absolutely loves cartoons, which shows me what I will be like to watch at that age.

When I saw this weeks recipe was carrot cake, I secretly got excited! The husband loves carrot cake, but I don’t make it all that much because of the shredding. I am famous for my crappy shredding skills and shredding chunks of my fingers off. But I knew Dorie wouldn’t fail me with a fantastic recipe… and as usual, she didn’t. This is a great cake with an awesome flavor. I changed my version up a bit by making it like a jelly roll then cutting circles out to make mini cakes. I cut the sugar on the frosting but it was still delicious. Check out other TWD bakers here.

Bill’s Big Carrot Cake
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs

For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick ( 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract
½ cup shredded coconut (optional)
Finely chopped toasted nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut (optional)

Getting ready:
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.
If you’d like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this position.

To assemble the cake:
Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting. Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft.
Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:
This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it’s good plain, it’s even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:
The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it’s firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

The Tank.

My little big sister Andrea is fun, I mean SUPER fun. She is my younger sister but I call her my little big sister because she is taller than me. She is also known as the tank. She is a tall gal that can get into your face when she wants and doesn’t give a rats ass who you are. She will tell you what she thinks and you have to live with it. She is intimidating and occasionally scary… just like a tank. 😀 This past New Years Eve was at my house, it was fun. Lots of family, lots of fun and loads of good times. It was the second event/holiday that my husband and I hosted at our home. It was awewsome to see the whole gang, which in reality was not even the whole gang. We were operating at 40% or so. But I’m looking forward to Christmas 2008; we will be having the W-H-O-L-E gang. Eek! For N.Y.E this year my sister and I made Rice Krispies Treats for the kids. We went shopping for ingredients and as we went down the marshmallow aisle I quickly grabbed the store brand and went on my way. She called me a cheapo. I told her it’s the same thing as the other brands but I’m saving like two whole dollars, TWO DOLLARS! She gave me a look, rolled her eyes and called me a cheapo… again. 😐

In my defense, I’m a bargain shopper. I don’t spend more than I need to on anything. Depending on what I am cooking or baking I will opt for the store brand for an item, if available, or a cheaper brand. I can save between $12-$50 dollars on my food bill. It isn’t saving thousands of dollars but I see it as a more money in my pocket. We all know extra money is needed with the rising gas prices. 😦 To be completely honest, with many items I have not tasted or seen a difference in the quality of the item. The Wal-mart brand, Great Value, of zip-lock bags close just the same as the Ziploc brand does, the GV frozen corn cooks up just as juicy as the Del Monte brand and the GV chocolate chips make cookies just as ooey, gooey good as the Hershey’s chocolate chips. 🙂 There are a few items that I won’t substitute like cocoa powder, preserves or BBQ sauce. But if I can save a few bucks here and there with off brands I will.

Since having this incident with my sister any single time I walk down the marshmallow aisle I think of her and it makes me miss her. She lives in California and I’m in Arizona so we don’t get a chance to see each other all that much. But, boy, when we do see each other we have fun, I mean SUPER fun. 🙂 These are for her and I really hope she always knows how much I love her, no matter what happens.

When I saw that this weeks recipe for TWD was marshmallows I was so excited! I had a few problems with the sugar syrup. I let it go half a minute longer and it began to get rock hard! But the third time is the charm and I think my ‘mallows came out fantastical. I plan on making Rice Krispies treats this weekend when 25% of the gang hopefully comes over for the husbands birthday partay. Check out other TWD members here.

Including marshmallows as a spoon dessert may seem like cheating — after all, they’re eaten with fingers (or, by campers, from sticks picked up in the forest) — but making them at home is too much fun to miss. And in fact this dessert is related to others in this chapter: the base is meringue — sweetened and strengthened by a cooked sugar syrup and fortified by gelatin.

There’s nothing difficult about making the marshmallows, but the meringue does need a long beating. While you can use a hand mixer, a stand mixer makes the job easier.

I’m giving you the recipe for a basic vanilla marshmallow. See Playing Around (below) for raspberry, chocolate, cappuccino and pumpkin marshmallows.

Makes about 1 pound marshmallows

About 1 cup potato starch (found in the kosher foods section of supermarkets) or cornstarch

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 1/4-ounce packets unflavored gelatin

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

3/4 cup cold water

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar

GETTING READY: Line a rimmed baking sheet — choose one with a rim that is 1 inch high — with parchment paper and dust the paper generously with potato starch or cornstarch. Have a candy thermometer at hand.

Put 1/3 cup of the water, 1 1/4 cups of the sugar and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, continue to cook the syrup — without stirring — until it reaches 265 degrees F on the candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.

While the syrup is cooking, work on the gelatin and egg whites. In a microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining cold water (a scant 7 tablespoons) and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it is spongy, then heat the gelatin in a microwave oven for 20 to 30 seconds to liquefy it. (Alternatively, you can dissolve the gelatin in a saucepan over low heat.)

Working in the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in another large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until firm but still glossy — don’t overbeat them and have them go dull.

As soon as the syrup reaches 265 degrees F, remove the pan from the heat and, with the mixer on medium speed, add the syrup, pouring it between the spinning beater(s) and the sides of the bowl. Add the gelatin and continue to beat for another 3 minutes, so that the syrup and the gelatin are fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.

Using a large rubber spatula, scrape the meringue mixture onto the baking sheet, laying it down close to a short end of the sheet. Then spread it into the corners and continue to spread it out, taking care to keep the height of the batter at 1 inch; you won’t fill the pan. Lift the excess parchment paper up to meet the edge of the batter, then rest something against the paper so that it stays in place (I use custard cups).

Dust the top of the marshmallows with potato starch or cornstarch and let the marshmallows set in a cool, dry place. They’ll need about 3 hours, but they can rest for 12 hours or more.

Once they are cool and set, cut the marshmallows with a pair of scissors or a long thin knife. Whatever you use, you’ll have to rinse and dry it frequently. Have a big bowl with the remaining potato starch or cornstarch at hand and cut the marshmallows as you’d like — into squares, rectangles or even strips (as they’re cut in France). As each piece is cut, drop it into the bowl. When you’ve got 4 or 5 marshmallows in the bowl, reach in with your fingers and turn the marshmallows to coat them with starch, then, one by one, toss the marshmallows from one hand to the other to shake off the excess starch; transfer them to a serving bowl. Cut and coat the rest of the batch.

SERVING: Put the marshmallows out and let everyone nibble as they wish. Sometimes I fill a tall glass vase with the marshmallows and put it in the center of the table — it never fails to make friends smile. You can also top hot chocolate or cold sundaes with the marshmallows.

STORING: Keep the marshmallows in a cool, dry place; don’t cover them closely. Stored in this way, they will keep for about 1 week — they might develop a little crust on the outside or they might get a little firmer on the inside, but they’ll still be very good.

Playing Around

RASPBERRY MARSHMALLOWS: Fruit purees are excellent for flavoring these candies.

For raspberry marshmallows, you’ll need a generous 1/3 cup of puree; reduce the vanilla extract to 1/4 teaspoon. After the batter is mixed, gently fold in the puree with a rubber spatula. You can use the same measurements and technique for other purees, such as strawberry, mango and passion fruit.

CAPPUCCINO MARSHMALLOWS: Sift 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon together into a small bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup boiling water and mix until smooth. Reduce the vanilla extract to 1/2 teaspoon, and add it to the espresso mix. After you add the sugar syrup and gelatin to the meringue, beat in the espresso mixture and continue.

LIGHT CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOWS: Melt 3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate and stir in 2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder. Reduce the vanilla extract to 1/4 teaspoon, and after the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the chocolate mixture with a large rubber spatula.

PUMPKIN SPICE MARSHMALLOWS: Whisk together 1/2 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and a pinch of ground allspice. After the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the spiced pumpkin with a large rubber spatula.

It’s Aloha “goodbye”.

I’m not sure if I have every mentioned it but I used to live in Hawaii. 😀 Yeah, that tiny speckle in the ocean, 2,000 miles from the Pacific coast. Noe was in the military and we were fortunate to have been given the chance to be stationed there. We were there about about 3 and a half years but were hit with the “island fever” no more than 3 month after arriving… or atleast I was. I’m not talking about island fever the possibly fatal disease, I mean island fever where you realize you are on a speck in the ocean and it’s a 7.5 hour plane ride to anything. Literally. Don’t get me wrong, Hawaii is an absolutely beautiful place to live. The beaches are world famous, the parks are amazing and well, it’s a really laid back place. When someone is late or just taking their time doing a task, they say “I’m on Hawaii time.” Which we did live like this for a while. 😉

We were at the beach anytime Noe wasn’t training or in Iraq ( 😦 ). We just laid on the beach, roasted and toasted ourselves, went out to dinner afterwards, then home to shower and out to the movies. This process was our typical itenierary any day off for Noe. I loved it. But when holidays came along, birthdays were being celebrated, family was sick, family members were being born in California… we missed it. Noe and I are all about family. We wouldn’t be where we are without them. Not being a native of the Island we didn’t have family there. We had friends, and some amazing ones I might add, but not family. 😦 Which made me develope the island fever, that enters your body and you want to leave as soon as humanly possible. You want a normality you are used to. Musicians usually don’t go to Hawaii for concerts, no Vegas, no Mexico trips, no AUTHENTIC Mexican food, no TARGET, no OLIVE GARDEN, there are great a many things not in Hawaii, including my family. I am used to these things and people right around the corner in Orange County, CA.

I am greatful for the amazing friends I have made in Hawaii, the awesome activities I got to accomplish (shark cage diving! WOO!) and the experiences I have had, but I don’t think Noe and I would be returning soon. We miss the big blue ocean, the laid back atmosphere but it will always be there, sadly family doesn’t live forever.

I got this recipe from “500 cupcakes” by Fergal Connolly. I think the recipe might be off a bit. I halved the cake recipe but used the entire topping recipe. Nonetheless they are awesome. I love my little tropical plate I got from Ross for .50 cents! WOO! Megan and I loved Ross in Hawaii, we LOVE deals. When I was still living with my parents my pop used to ALWAYS ask for a pineappple upside down cake. He asked almost daily and I made them almost daily. This is for two special people in my heart, Megan and my pop, she would love the deal I got on the plate and my dad would love this cuppy. 🙂 LOVE YOU TWO! ❤

Pineapple Upside-down cupcakes

For the topping
20 oz can crushed pineapple
1 stick sweet butter, melted
3/4 C packed brown sugar

For the cupcakes
2 sticks sweet butter, softened
1 C superfine sugar
2 C self-rising flour
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Grease two 12-cup muffin pans with butter and dust with a little flour, tapping out the excess. In the bottom of each cup, drizzle 1 T of melted butter, 1 T pineapple and 1T brown sugar.

Place all the cupcake ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and pale, about 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon batter on top of the pineapple mixture in each cup. Bake 25 minutes, then remove pans from the over and cool for 10 minutes.

Turn out the cupcakes onto dessert plates, serve warm with heavy cream if desired.

Store in airtight container for up to 2 days.

My soap box moment.

It’s beed busy at work. It usually is when you have about 5,000 inmates all acting like 2 year olds and whining about anything under the sun. He said this, he looked at me like this, he bumped into me… blah blah blah. Sometimes I want to hit them in the head and say “Atleast you get to walk around and enjoy the sun for a few hours, inmates in segregation are inside 23.5 hours of the day, so SHUT IT!”. But they still complain. Don’t get me wrong, I like my job there are even some days when I love it. 😛 It keeps my busy and keeps steady money in my bank account. But don’t forget, I’m a state employee so it isn’t much. If you have ever worked for a state agency you know it’s the bottom of the bucket. The county is a little better but the city employment is what you want to shoot for. On top of being a state employee, I also work for the department of corrections. We usually never get the funding we need, aren’t included in decision making and are seen as police department rejects. I don’t see it that way. These men and women are keeping over 38,500 men and women behind bars and in line. They over see the women on death throw, DUI offenders, child molesters, rapists, murderers and anything in between. Weather they are 4 feet tall or 7 feet tall (we have some 7 footers at my work) and up to 500 pounds. They deal with poo being flung at them to inmates with geniune illnesses even to the ones wrongly accused (sometimes it happens). They do a lot, put up with a ton, get paid pennies but come to work everyday prepared to keep us safe by keeping them in line and inside, they do it all withOUT any weapons besides themselves and their quick responsiveness. So next time you see a corrections officer, don’t call him a gaurd and thank him for what he or she does. *steps down from soap box*

So for all of my officer friends a sweet treat for dealing with some nasty working conditions. 🙂

This was a great recipe. I made mini-tarts because they are too stinkin’ cute. Noe isn’t a fan of lemon so I made the orange version. If you’d like to see other TWD member made, go here.

Here is the tart recipe, I will get the orange cream one up soon. 🙂

Sweet Tart Dough
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 T) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in- you should have some pieces the size of oatmeal fakes and others the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses- about 10 seconds each- until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change- heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate and dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

To press the dough into the pan: butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Don’t be too heavy handed- press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferable longer, before baking.

To partially or fully bake the crust: center a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.

Butter the shiny side of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, against the crust. (since you froze it, you can bake it without weights). Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, carefully press it down with the back of a spoon. For partially baked crust, patch the crust if necessary, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack. To fully bake the crust, bake for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown. Transfer pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature before filling.

More like dough"NOT"…

Anything that involves yeast scares me. Period. I took a gourmet foods class in high school and rocked at just about everything. Just about. I was aweful with yeast. Didn’t wait long enough, waited too long, didn’t knead enough, kneaded too much, etc. When I saw Peabody was hosting an event (along with Helen at Tartlette) I was over joyed to participate. But then I realized, I’m going to have to use yeast. CRAP! But I rolled my sleaves up and went to it.

I Google searched “baked doughnut recipe” and came to the awe inspiring Heidi Swanson’s recipe. I have heard a lot of people having success with this recipe. I thought well, I can’t screw it up THAT bad. But to be honest, I think my fear got the best of me. I started out well, I was patient with the yeast, I let it rise, but then disaster strikes. I think, correction, I know what I did. I rolled it extremely thin for a doughnut and cut the hole to flippin’ big. I know, I know I should have tried to help my poor doughNOTs but I didn’t. I’m an awful doughNOT mom. Sigh…

They weren’t all that bad. More bread-y then a light and air-y doughnut. But I love my doughNOT all the same.

Enjoy!
-M

Baked Doughnuts

Don’t over bake these, if anything, under bake them a bit – they will continue baking outside the oven for a few minutes. You want an interior that is moist and tender – not dry. Also, be sure to cut big enough holes in the center of your doughnuts – too small and they will bake entirely shut. Remember they rise, and they rise even more when they are baking. These really need to be made-to-order, but you can make and shape the dough the night before if you want to serve them for brunch. Instructions: after shaping, place doughnuts on baking sheet, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Pull them out an hour before baking, and let rise in a warm place before baking.

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt – just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments – if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven at this point and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people (like myself) don’t have a doughnut cutter, instead I use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.
Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes – start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. Eat immediately if not sooner.

Makes 1 1/2 – 2 dozen medium doughnuts.