Tag Archive: Recipes

Pinter Test Kitchen: Success in October

November 3, 2011

Jessica Johnson from Keeping up with the Johnsons started a little project called PinterTest Kitchen. This project basically is where you post about things that you have tried or made from the ideas that you “pin” on Pinterest. As of right now, I have 36 boards and 1154 pins on Pinterest. 1154 pins is a lot. I’ve done a few projects that I’ve found on there so I thought I would join in and share.

Halloween Bunting

Of course, I caught on the bunting trend like everyone else. My only problem is that I don’t sew. I found this Banner Tutorial awhile ago. I got all of the fabric for a Halloween theme. I cut out the banners, and got the bias tape. I prepped everything….and then outsourced the sewing to Alissa from Rags to Stitches. Alissa is always sewing something. I bribed her with usage of a basket of mine that she covets. I’m going to start looking for some fabric for a Christmas themed bunting next. Hopefully by the time I’m ready, I will be able to do the sewing myself.

Besides poking myself in the fingers with the pins and outsourcing the sewing, this project was a big win! The author of the tutorial has a great template for the banners also. I have permanently saved that template.

I made a few extra banners and sent them to my cousin-in-law Jackie in Arizona. I’m going to make her some Christmas ones too.

CrockPot BBQ Chicken

Ironically, I tried a recipe from Jessica last month. In October, she posted an easy recipe for CrockPot BBQ Chicken. I’ve had a crockpot for quite some time and I barely use it. I thought this simple recipe was something that I could do. I got all the ingredients and made it on a Monday. The recipe says to cook it between 4-6 hours. I found that 5.5 hours is the perfect time for it. We came home from soccer practice and our house smelled so good.

Angry Husband and Angry Kid are super picky. They ate every bite of this chicken. I served it with baked beans and corn, plus a loaf of fresh french bread. This chicken is now a family favorite.

Another Pinterest Win for me!

Nutter Butter Ghosts

I’ve known about this recipe for Nutter Butter Ghosts for about two years. I always forgot about it when it came time for Halloween. This year, I remembered. My friend Kelly posted about the recipe, that she actually got from her cousin Marta. Marta has the step-by-step directions. Yes, it looks super easy right?

Well, I was dumb and forgot about the double broiler part. I burnt my white chocolate upon my first attempt. I had to make a call for help to Kelly. She advised me that you cannot put chocolate straight onto heat because it will burn. She talked me through the double broiler method and the microwave version. The microwave version is to put the white chocolate into a bowl, and microwave it for 30 seconds. You take it out, and stir it. You put the bowl back into the microwave for 30 seconds, and stir again. You keep using 30 second intervals until the chocolate is finally melted. I had to do this three times.

But I survived and the cookies turned out awesome. Even my parents were impressed.

So far, I’ve had no Pinterest fails. I am picky about the projects that I chose. And I don’t like to lose. Hopefully, I can practice on some Christmas-themed goodies this month.

Have you completed a project or recipe from Pinterest? What was your favorite thing that you’ve done? What projects should I or other people stay away from?

Link-Up with JJ!

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50 Best Recipes Cookbook

August 18, 2011

Blogging, In The Home

It’s here! It’s here!

After literally MONTHS of creating, the “50+ Top Blogs All Time Favorite Recipes” cookbook is HERE!!! You may have seen a sneak peek of this gorgeous recipe book this past month. We hope you have been anxiously awaiting it. Now, until the end of August, it’s available for purchase. But wait, scratch that, it’s not a purchase. The best part is…

it’s a donation!

100% of your donation will go to the American Red Cross to help the many people who have been affected by recent natural disasters around the world.

After seeing the devastation in Japan, several top blogs teamed together wanting to somehow make a difference. More than 50 blogs donated one of their favorite recipes to be complied into an incredible cookbook designed by chickabug (design talent was 100% donated as well). Basically a lot of people worked really hard to make something extraordinary. Now, it’s in your hands to make a difference.

This one-of-a-kind cookbook was originally only going to be offered as an E-book for a $10 donation. But after receiving feedback from readers, we realized that many of you want a physical copy. We approached our favorite publisher, Paper Coterie, who was willing to donate 100% of the supplies, and 100% of the cost of printing for this amazing cause. Are you feeling the warm tinglies yet?! We are!!! This started out as one person having an idea. Now over 50 blogs and an amazing publisher are involved and now it’s YOUR turn.

Together we ~~can~~ will make a difference. The E-book is for sale here for a $1o donation. If you have a computer in your kitchen or an electronic reader, (ipad, kindle,etc.) this is the copy for you. You can just click on the recipe you want from the table of contents and it will take you right there. It’s sweet.

The hard cover cookbook is also available, (wait for it…) for only $10.

You will be amazed at the quality of this book. The only extra expense you will have will be for shipping ($4 or more depending on where you live and how many copies you order).

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You can smile knowing you made a difference to someone, somewhere. And you can smile because you will have a beautiful full color recipe book with gorgeous pictures and delicious recipes to try. We truly hope you love the cookbook. We think you will. You might just want to buy one for your mom, sister, and mother-in-law for Christmas.

Please share this post with your friends and family on your Blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Let’s make this go VIRAL! How cool would that be?

Here is a button to put on your blog:

and the link:

http://recipestohelp.bigcartel.com/

Remember 100% of the proceeds will be benefiting the American Red Cross.

*The American Red Cross name is used with its permission, which in no way constitutes an endorsement, express or implied, of any product, service, company, individual or political position. For more information about the American Red Cross, please call 1-800-HELP NOW or email info@usa.redcross.org.

Contributing Bloggers:

Holly from 504 Main
Kimbo from A Girl and a Glue Gun
Michelle from A Little Tipsy
Amanda from Amanda’s Cookin’
Julie from Angry Julie Monday
Amy from A Savvy Life
Rachel from A Southern Fairytale
Becky from Becky Higgins’ Blog
Becca from Birthday Girl (now Cake.)
Megan from Brassy Apple
Kierste from Brown Paper Packages
Karly from Buns in My Oven
Kate from Centsational Girl
Diane from Created by Diane
Kara from Creations by Kara
Heather from Dollar Store Crafts
Jennifer, Jamie & Jodie from eighteen25
Monica & Cathy from Fabulessly Frugal
AmberLee from GiversLog
Katie from goodLife {eats}
Jennifer from Hostess with the Mostess
Shelley from House of Smiths
Missy, Shelley & Alison from How Does She
Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie
Beckie from Infarrantly Creative
Kate from Kate Landers Events, LLC
Mandy & Jessica from Little Birdie Secrets
Dana from MADE

Marie from Make and Takes
Ashley from Make It and Love It
Brandy from Nutmeg Nanny
Katy from No Big Dill
Kristen from Paper Crave & Domestifluff
Amy from Positively Splendid
Whitney & Ashley from Shanty 2 Chic
Cindy from Skip To My Lou
Michelle from Someday Crafts
Stephanie from Somewhat Simple
Mandy from Sugar Bee Crafts
Melanie from Sugardoodle
Marian from Sweetopia
Sachiko from Tea Rose Home
Krista from Budget Gourmet Mom
Cassi from The Crafty Crow
Stacie from The Creative Crate
Tara, Kiirsten, Corie, Kristen, Erika, Cami, Kari, Lisa P., Wendy, Bridget & Lisa M. from The Dating Divas
Kim & Kris from The DIY Dish
Melissa from The Polkadot Chair
Kim from The TomKat Studio
Kim from Today’s Creative Blog
Ashley from Under the Sycamore
Stephanie Lynn from Under the Table & Dreaming
Vanessa from V and Co.
Kathreen from Whip Up

Simple Tip For Getting Printed Version:

https://www.papercoterie.com/promo/recipes-to-help/

click on the picture of the recipe book and then
click on create this book
login or create a login
then click preview
add to cart
verify
check out

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Six Layer Rainbow Cake Tutorial

May 31, 2011

In The Home, Parenting

I sometimes try to be Super Mom. But with working full-time, I sometimes have to outsource. I called my BFF Stacey the weekend before Angry Kid’s birthday party, and asked a favor. This was not a small favor, but a relatively huge favor. I asked her if she could make a rainbow layered birthday cake for Angry Kid’s party. For some crazy reason, she agreed to do it. I had almost all of the supplies (well colors for the cake), and I took them all over to her house. While I was there, I may have borrowed two large tables and some chairs too.

I also forgot to mention the fact that she’s NEVER made this cake before. I sent her some photos from the Internet.

Doesn’t the cake look delicious? I took this photo right after Stacey cut the first slice at the birthday party.

Stacey is also a smart BFF. She knew that I would probably want to post a tutorial of some kind on my blog. So she took photos along the way, and even typed up some tips for making the FAMOUS rainbow cake, well these cakes are sorta famous on Pinterest and parenting blogs.

Six (6) Layer Rainbow Cake Tutorial:

1. MIX-Make TWO (2) packages of white cake mix. Stacey used the stock ingredients. I add some extra items for my rainbow cupcake recipe, and they are listed in my blog post. Either recipe is fine, as in straight out of box, or added items.

2. DIVIDE-Divide the prepared cake mix into SIX (6) bowls equally, which equates to about 1 and 1/2 cups of batter per bowl.

3. COLOR-Color the batter in each bowl different colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple). Stacey used a combination of Duff Brand Color Gels, and Wilton Icing Colors. I had both of these brands in the box that I gave to Stacey. Stacey preferred the Duff brand because they were in a squeezable bottle.

4. PREP and GREASE-Prep the (6) cake pans for baking. Stacey used Pam with Flour spray to coat the pans. She HIGHLY recommends it. You don’t have to bake all (6) seperate layers at once. You can do a few at a time, and wait for them to cool, then bake more.

5. BAKE-Bake the cake layers according to the directions on the cake mix box.

6. COOL-Let the cakes cool.

7. CUT-Once the cakes are cooled, cut the rounded dome off the top of the cake. They need to lie flat, due to the layers. (IMPORTANT)

8. PRE-MADE BUTTERCREAM-Stacey pre-made a crap load of buttercream. I’m not sure of there is a definition for the specific amount that crap load indicates. Stacey uses THIS buttercream recipe which works like a charm every single time.

9. PREP BUTTERCREAM LAYERS-Stacey made thin layers of a frozen buttercream transfer the day before to speed up her assembly process. She traced the bottom of the cake pan on a piece of wax paper. She did this because she knew that the cake layers would be relatively thin, and prepping/freezing the buttercream would help the cake from crumbling.

10. STACK-Stack the layers, cake-buttercream-cake-buttercream, alternating obviously.

11. HEIGHT-After assembling the cake, it should be approximately SEVEN (7) inches tall. It will FALL over if you don’t put dowels in it. Stacey learned from a friend that you can use straws in lieu of dowels. The straws are easier to trim that dowels too.

12. TRIM-Trim the excess from the straws that are holding the layers together.

13. FROST/ICING-Stacey did a “crumb coat” of frosting before she brought the cake to my house. She transported this cake for an approximate thirty minute drive. When she arrived at my house, we placed the cake in the freezer for approximately TEN (10) minutes. After the “crumb coat” had hardened a little, she then completed the frosting/icing of the cake. By doing a crumb coat and freezing it, the cake is easier to frost.

14. DECORATE-Place cake on cake plate or other serving platter. Finish off cake but placing decorative trim around the bottom, or other decorations on top of the cake. I made my own rainbow cake bunting with felt.

15. ENJOY CAKE-Take pictures of the finished cake, like tons. I’m a blogger, did you think I was talking about eating the cake? Once the cake is cut and eaten, depression starts. The cake was sooo awesome.

16. TAKE MORE PICTURES-There’s only one piece of cake left? Well of course, you need to document that. Take more pictures, post them EVERYWHERE!