Raising Olives is a blog that I follow, she has excellent tips for Moms. I came across this recipe on her site called a Dutch Puff. Sounded good, perfect for an easy, super quick warm breakfast. Today is the 3rd time I have made it and we love it.
Toppings we have tried:
A dab of yummy fruit yogurt in the middle
Fresh cut strawberries and cantaloupe with a sprinkle of white sugar
Powdered Sugar and Maple Syrup
The possibilities are endless. One comment on her post is from someone in the UK and this is like Yorkshire Pudding except with sweet instead of savory.
fresh out of the oven
The first time I made it, I did so in a 9×13 pan however we had alot left over, and like her recipe says it is best fresh, hot out of the oven. The next 2x I have halved the recipe and used a 9″ glass pie dish.
Puffy and Yummy
You really can’t beat it for a quick, easy breakfast option. I think I might try to top it with crunchy bacon and grated cheese. We’ll see how that goes…
I love Joy the Baker, she has inspired in so many ways. She comes up with such yummy, interesting recipes. A couple of weeks ago she made Homemade Almond Joy candy bars. Simple recipe, super delicious. Although they are super rich, must have coffee or milk with one. Her’s turned out looking perfect, mine did not. They were still yummy.
Freshly Toasted AlmondsCoconut with AlmondsDab of Chocolate to hold the almond in placeFreshly dipped, this is where it gets messy!After being chilledI decided not to completely cover in chocolate because it is so rich, hence they do not look as pretty
Even though mine aren’t that great looking, they did taste delicious. Also, with the leftover chocolate I coated some almonds, huge hit with my boys!
On a side note: I almost didn’t post this because I don’t like the way mine looked… but then I was thinking that that is reality. I don’t want to put up any false fronts, like everything is always peachy and perfect. So here I am exposing myself… in all my chocolate messi-ness.
We love chocolate chip cookie dough. Now, thanks to Joy the Baker we can eat it on stick, and not worry about Grandma’s warning about raw dough! Thanks Joy!
By the way, you MUST visit her blog, Joy has the best food blog ever!
eggless batterbefore freezingdipped in semi-sweets
Today was the big day! A few days ago I blogged about my 1st Apple Pie, I wanted to enter a pie contest this weekend. I had planned on making a pie between then and now but my husband went out of town and I became really sick. I didn’t think I would end up in the contest after all. I woke Saturday morning and went right back to sleep, like 3 times! I had already missed my Saturday morning class and I relished the thought of staying in and doing nothing.
Then I walked into the kitchen, there sit all my pretty Granny Smith Apples… darn. Then I open the fridge and see my pie crusts waiting to be rolled out, hmmm. I had to at least give it a try. It was 9:30 by then, entries could be received no later than noon. I started but with the 3 little boys and all the prep work, I put the pie in the oven at 10:50.
crustapple in the crustlattice worklattice after trimmingbaking
I pretty much gave up then because I would only have 10 minutes to drive there and get the pie entered. Then I decided to keep trucking. I got all the kids ready, the car ready, the entry form, everything. I loaded the kids in the car and then came back in to get the pie and head out. SHOULD have taken the pie out before I loaded the kids, I should have not left it unattended at such a critical stage! Overcooked, some burnt crust! No!
Ugh! I cooked it about 6 minutes too long!
At this point I was like, “just keep swimming, swimming” (think Dori from Nemo). I was determined to keep going, keep trying. I headed up a traffic filled, over-congested major throughfare. I even muttered “It is in the Lord’s hands now”, to which my 7-year old asked what I meant. Traffic is killing me but I have resigned myself. OK we are at the light to turn left into the parking area… 2 minutes. NO PARKING, anywhere, I ask an attendant what I can do since I literally have 1 minute left. He told me to find a cadet and the cadet would run it in. AWESOME. Ok, I am not out of this yet.
I flag down a cadet and give him the run down, he is on a mission!
Now, since the winners will not be announced for another hour or two, I head home. I planned on meeting my mother and sister there later so we headed home to get water and use the facilities.
Cider Days TicketsOliver with his Soda Shop Hat
Back at the event, while waiting for my mother to show up, we missed the announcement of the winners. Turns out my mom already went in and she said she thinks I might have won. I was thinking, no way – it’s kind of burned… So here is the video, you have to watch and listen to what one lady tells a couple of other ladies, it is hilarious! I turned the camera on when I first walked in the room, the room had pretty much cleared out at this point.
So there you have it! It won on taste! I’ll take it, that is very cool! Even though it doesn’t look pretty, it’s tasted delicious! When they asked which one was mine I proudly said “the ugly one”. I took 2nd Place!! Yay! This has been quite an experience, so fun, even though I was sick I am glad I preserved, what a great feeling.
2nd Place!!!Just proving that looks aren't everything! :O)
I am still bummed that I burned the crust but I know it will never happen again! I didn’t expect to win or even get an honorable mention, so I am thrilled.
Lunch. Lunch can become boring for kids and they become uninterested and picky. At least that is what has happened to my kiddies. While browsing blogs I came across 2 really cute blogs FULL of ideas on making fun lunches. They are:
Inspired by other blog moms once again, I set out. I had cutters so I didn’t need to get any. I did pick up the muffin tins at the Dollar Tree and then some cupcake liners at my local grocery store. I picked up 10 packs of fruit leather (.50/each), pretzels, crackers, cheese, almonds, turkey and cookies.
Our Muffin Tin Lunch:
Cut Fruit Leather into Rectanglesuse small cutters to punch out shapeOliver helping outfun muffin tin lunch
3-Cheese Cheese Slice, cut out with extras chopped up… Fruit Leather cutouts… Almonds, Turkey Rolls on fancy toothpicks… Goldfish and Mini Oreos
lunchtime
**In this last picture I show my 2-year old with fruit leather – MISTAKE! Do not give to toddlers, trust me**
It was fun and the kids were so excited when they came to the table, that is a first! Thanks for the inspiration ladies!
My first Apple Pie and the 2nd pie I have made in my entire life. Last year I made a crust at my former Mom’s group , I made the Libbys pumpkin pie recipe with it.
Did I mention this was a trial run for a Pie Baking Contest I decided to participate in? Recently we went to a local city cultural and history center, it was really cool, I plan to blog about it soon. While we were there I picked up some brochures and one was advertising ‘Cider Days’.
Here is what the city website says:
Celebrate the autumn season at the 35th Annual Cider Days harvest festival! Cider Days includes booths serving cider by the glass or gallon. Festival-goers can also bring apples (or buy them at the event) and use our presses to make fresh apple cider to take home.
There is the bake-off, demonstrations, hayrides, petting zoo, arts and crafts, bands and more.
Who could resist? The event sounded so fun, so Fall! A Bake-off… what a fun experience! I am game. I set off to research crusts, pies, apples, everything! Not that I expect to win or even come close but I want to do for the fun of it all. Experience some Americana, if you will.
I originally was going to use 1 recipe but wanted to do my own thing too. In the end I took ideas from several recipes and took what I like, left out what I didn’t. I came up with some ideas, made a game plan and tonight it was time to get to work.
I posted pictures below, against my husbands better judgement *laughing*. I told him I wanted to keep it real and hopefully it would get better as I blog about making another practice one and then one for the Bake-off, at least that is my plan right now.
So here it is…
Getting started on the crust, then the applesGranny Smith Apple slices before I sprinkled them with cinnamon
OK, so far so good! At this point I have a sugary mixture simmering away on the stove-top, looking good still….
Timing is everything and as an amateur I simply didn’t have my lattice work done in in time for my stove-top concoction to be ready. I had my husband keep stirring it while I rolled out more dough and cut the strips. I was in such a hurry when I pulled them up quickly most of them broke, I threw them on anyway. At this point all I keep saying is, “Well at least it will taste good!” and giggling nervously.
I put it in the oven without taking a picture, this is what came out:
Critique: few spots are burnt, mixture didn't spread, it had already hardened by the time I put it on the pie, no lattice is apparent _lol!
Then I cut a piece out, it didn’t look so great on the plate, but let me tell you it was so very tasty.
Fell apart, but was very good! Very, very good!Side view after cutting …Ooey gooey, crispy, carmel-ey
Stayed tuned for parts 2 and 3! Happy baking! Happy Fall!
Lately I have seen blogs that have theme days, one theme is to only post pictures for “wordless Wednesday”. Today I want to share more pictures from the Botanic Gardens of Denver.
So this shall be my “Silent Saturday”, starting…. right…. now…
Since I started blogging I have found so many awesome blogs out there. The community of bloggers is a tight knit one, everyone is so friendly, helpful and informative.
I joined my first blog hop last month and it was so much fun! Honestly I have been wanting to join another but thought that might be next Summer; since I am new to Blog Hops I didn’t know bloggers do them frequently. Much to my happiness I found a new one. The topic is … Where do you blog? .
I usually blog from my Mac in the schoolroom that should be a living room. It is a lively room where most of the family activities happen, I think my current record for being uninterrupted is about 10 minutes, not bad. It’s really our office/craft room/schoolroom/gameroom/now my blog room :O)
Step into my office:
My Office :O)My Husbands Desk
My desk my Mac is on the left side of my desk
>> I HAD TO come back and comment on the caption of this picture reading it later, it seems as though I am trying to convince you that there really is a Mac there. That made me laugh, I should have said that my Mac is usually on the left side of my desk. ooops.
We rarely eat out, that includes fast food too. We go out to eat with my family for special occasions so we get our fill. Recently, we received a gift card as a thank you. It was to a local American fare restaurant called Merle’s it is located in the super-cute, Downtown Littleton area. The decor is modern and cozy and fun! Plenty of seating, the first level has huge garage doors slide open for an open, outdoor feel, the upstairs is all patio overlooking the downtown strip. The menu has a wide variety of salads, sandwiches, burgers and yummy entrees. We went for lunch and our kids ate off the kids menu ($4 each includes drink).
The verdict: DELICIOUS!
The service: Fast and Friendly
The Atmosphere: A+
Merle's Monte CristoBBQ Beef Brisket Kids Corn Dog with Fruit
They have a live band on the weekends plus a Saturday and Sunday brunch.
Never thought I would be in an issue of Colorado Parent magazine!
A couple of months ago I wrote about having the opportunity to meet with a group of moms and learn about make-up. It was for Colorado Parent Magazine and it was so much fun! The issue just hit the newsstands, take a gander, it’s a great magazine. If you are in the Denver Metro area, there are a ton of excellent resources in it. Can you find me in the magazine, let’s play “where’s waldo” with me.
