Hi everyone! We’ve been busy around here trying to get plans finalized for BirthdayBee’s party (I can’t believe it’s only a month and a half away, and right now we’re looking at a pretty ridiculously large guest list), working on ideas for a friend’s baby shower, trying to learn German (the big trip is in May), and playing with the new Cricut my fantastic husband bought me.

I was forced to take a little break last night when an upset stomach kept me home from cake decorating class. I had made cupcakes to bring in to practice making little icing roses on, and since they ended up not going to class with me, we thought we might as well eat a couple. Holy cats, were those things good! So good, in fact, that I didn’t get a picture of them before they were devoured and/or sent to work with D to get the calories out of the house. Well, we sent most of them to work. I had one for breakfast. I refuse to calculate the Weight Watcher’s points on these.

I wanted to make Georgia Pellegrini’s recipe, but wanted to use the coconut rum we had here in the house, and also wanted to add a lot of brown sugar and molasses flavor, as the brown-sugary flavor is such a vital part of Bananas Foster for me. Besides that, using the coconut rum instead of dark rum meant that there was no source of umami in the recipe, so using a little molasses cured that.

I had an idea to make a brown sugar buttercream or penuche frosting, but ended up making frosting while holding a grumpy 10-month-old who is afraid of the mixer, so had to come up with a good shortcut. I really liked the result!

Here, by request, is the recipe:

Bananas Foster Cupcakes (adapted from the recipe by Georgia Pellegrini)

FOR THE CUPCAKE:
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 stick butter, room temperature
1/2 c brown sugar
1/8 c white sugar (for the egg whites)
1/2 t coconut rum
1/2 c coconut milk
1 T molasses
4 egg whites
1 large ripe banana, smashed

FOR THE CREAM FILLING:
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c flour
3 egg yolks
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c coconut milk (or remaining coconut milk and enough cow’s milk to bring the volume to 1 1/2 c)
2 t coconut rum
a little drizzle of molasses (maybe a teaspoon?)
2 t vanilla
2 T butter

FOR THE ICING:
3/4 c butter, room temperature
1 lb powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt (more if using unsalted butter)
molasses to taste (I probably used about 1 1/2 T)
water or milk (I used water, as I was closer to the sink than to the fridge)

Preparation Instructions

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line one muffin pan with paper liners or butter and set aside. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, molasses, and rum until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the coconut milk, until just combined. Stir in the smashed banana. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy. Gradually add the 1/8 cup sugar and beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Gently fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Then gently fold in the rest.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until the cupcakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and let cool.

For the cream filling:

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl, and stir well to mix so there are no lumps. Set aside.
Mix milk, vanilla, rum, and molasses together in a separate cup.

In a heavy saucepan, beat the egg yolks well with a whisk. Over low heat, add the flour mixture to the egg yolks, alternately with the milk mixture, stirring constantly and scraping the sides and corners of the saucepan as you go so the egg doesn’t cook. When the mixture begins to thicken, add the butter, continuing to stir. Keep stirring until mixture reaches a nice pudding consistency, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Fit a pastry bag with a small tip and fill it with the cream. Push the tip through the top of each cupcake and squeeze the pudding into the middle. You’ll need to apply a steady and firm pressure until you feel the cupcake start to give, then fill until the top of the cupcake rises and starts to crack a little. Don’t worry – you can cover it up with frosting later.
NOTE: If you are going to spread your frosting on with a knife, you’ll want to pipe the filling in from the bottom of the cupcake. I chose to pipe my frosting on so that I could go the lazy route, fill from the top, and not have to remove the cupcake wrappers.

For the icing:

Beat all of the ingredients (except water or milk) together in a bowl, adding molasses (and maybe a bit more salt) until you hit the right “brown sugary” flavor. The icing will be thick and pasty. Add water or milk, a little at a time, until you get the right texture. Pipe generously over cupcakes.

…and the buttons are on! More to come later, but I wanted to go on record as being done as of today!!

Disregard the dirty mirror. Disregard the fact that the sweater isn’t blocked (I’ll block it tonight or tomorrow; it’ll be a more perfect fit after that step). Pay attention to the fact that it is DONE a day early!!

Wahoo!

I saw the most wonderful idea the other day. Kimara at Wee Folk Art put up a tutorial on making a Magic Cookie Bag.

Oh man. We love cookies. Especially D. Have I mentioned that his favorite thing to do when there are cookies in the house is to eat a dozen of them for dinner, wake up and eat half a dozen in the middle of the night, then have the remaining dozen or two for breakfast in the morning? I totally understand that impulse, and if I were as skinny as he is, I might be inclined to do the same. With that in mind, I don’t know if it’s a good idea or a bad idea for us to have a bag of ready-to-bake (or eat raw) cookie dough hanging around in our freezer, but I think it might be a good idea for the rest of you with more self control.

I would also like to suggest that you try her Oatmeal Scotchie recipe, as well. I forgot to ask whether my friend Jeannine used the same recipe to bake the superdelicious cookies she brought to our knitting meetup. Hers were chewy and delicious and had just the right amount of crunch to them, and I think you should make this recipe on the off chance that yours would turn out even 10% as tasty as the ones I had today. Seriously, it would be worth it even for 10% of that yumminess.

So, y’know, do it. And save some of the dough in your freezer. And bake them for me when I come over to visit. Seriously, cookies don’t have weight watchers points if your friends bake them for you, right?

Ada’s birthday is coming up in just a couple of months. I’m already obsessing over party details (I live for parties), have purchased most of the decorations, designed the invitations, and figured out the food situation.

I also signed up for a cake decorating class because: a) I love learning how to do things I don’t know how to do, and b) I want a totally adorable cake for Ada’s party, but am unwilling to spend upwards of $80 for a cake that’s just going to end up in her hair.

For those of you in the San Diego area, I’m taking the Wilton course at the Clairemont Michael’s. Susie is teaching my class, and she’s awesome.

Last night, I decorated my first cake (click for biggerer):

Cute, huh? Until you get a closer look…

From a certain angle, those octopi look downright deranged, don’t they?

I still had some (quite a bit of) icing left over when I got home from the class, so I mixed the colors together and added a psychedelic tie-dye border:

I’m no Ron Ben-Israel, that’s for sure! There are some things that I’ve just got a knack for. I wouldn’t say cake decorating is one of them, but I know I’ll get better with practice. I’m not sure exactly what I will produce for Birthdaybee, but it’s bound to be better than what I would have done sans-piping education!

Holy smokes, guys. I need to post a little more frequently so that I’m not doing this massive post dump all at once. I started out trying to write all this stuff into one post, and when I realized what a ridiculous idea that was, we ended up with, well, three posts in one night.

D and I had a great Valentine’s Day! First, we had a great photo shoot with LittleBee (who is getting to be not so little anymore). Click for biggerer.

That really is one of my favorite ways to spend a morning with the family – D and I trading the camera back and forth while Ada hams it up for us. If you look closely at some of those pictures, you can see some of her EIGHT TEETH. Holy smokes.

Afterward, Ada spent some time with her grandparents while we had lunch at Blind Lady Ale House, followed by some tasty ice cream on the best waffle cones ever made at Mariposa Ice Cream, which we ate while wandering around and musing on how lucky we are to live in San Diego (as well as how that food experience easily rivaled anything we’ve ever had, Paris and Buenos Aires included).

I made some progress on the sweater:

I also learned a valuable lesson; saying “not to jinx things, but…” is a surefire way to jinx things. Example: Saying “not to jinx things, but I’m making so much progress on this sweater that I wouldn’t be surprised if I have time to do two of them during the course of the Olympics,” will guarantee that the next row you hit in the pattern will bring things to a screeching halt for two days while you attempt to do the simplest of math in an effort to “distribute 41 yarn over increases evenly through the row.”

Without delving too deeply into the psychosis that led to this solution, I’m going to record here that my solution to the eyelet increase row in the February Lady Sweater was as follows (I’m making the 44-inch version):
k8, (yo, k5) x7, (k8, yo) x6, k12, yo, (k6,yo)x13, k12, yo, (k8, yo) x5, k8, kfb, k4, yo, (k5, yo) x5, k4, yo, k8

If that made any sense to you, you may have arrived at this after searching “February Lady Sweater / FLS eyelet row increase 44,” like I did before I came up with this insane fix. It remains to be seen whether anything has actually been fixed, though, so don’t use this until the sweater’s done and we can see whether I’ve got an extra arm coming out of my right elbow or something.

If that didn’t make any sense to you, you probably stopped reading a couple of paragraphs ago, and I don’t blame you. I’m off to repair my broken brain with some sleep.

I posted some time ago that I’d be participating in the First Milk Valentine Swap, and despite all of the weather-related mail woes, my valentine made it to my partner out east, and today, I got a fantastic little care package from Jenna at Spirographs and Flying Fish. Just look at all this fun stuff!

I don’t know how she could have known of my love for all things paper and ephemeral, but now she does. And now you all know that I had the calligraphy book upside down when I took this picture of it (flipped it for the sake of trying to save some face).

And tea? I have a big drawer full of hot teas, and am especially excited about these, as I’ve never tried either of them!

And how sweet is this little trinket?

Now, at this point, the battery in my camera died, so I’m prevented from sharing with you the cuteness of that card in detail or the wonders of that chocolate bar. That chocolate bar was probably the biggest surprise; those that know my chocolate preferences know that I’m not much of one for milk chocolate (barf), but I had to try this Bubble Chocolate. I mean c’mon! Bubbles wrapped in chocolate?

To my great surprise, it was delicious! I really could have eaten a whole bar of it (or two, or three…). The ingredient list was very short, and it tastes like they used a pretty high-quality chocolate, and I could go on and on, but what you should do is find someplace where you can buy it and try some for yourself. I’m going out to track down the dark chocolate tomorrow (and maybe pick up another milk chocolate).

Hi all, I had a conversation today that I’ve had many times since I started keeping this blog. I was talking with another mom about making time to craft and cook. I said “I do it all after Ada goes to sleep,” which is true. I also only do involved recipes once or twice a week, at the most. Usually, we do something like tonight’s dinner:

Simple, fast, easy, and satisfying. It takes about five minutes of actual work (if that). Here’s how to make it:

Trader Joe’s makes something called “Trader Joe’s French Cheese Souffle, ready to bake,” which is a bag full of little souffle nuggets (no pictures – didn’t think to take any until dinner was cooked) that you mound up into a ramekin and bake. It’s totally foolproof, delicious on its own, or you can add a little variety to it by mixing in some veggies. Tonight, we had broccoli cheese souffle; I chopped up a handful of broccoli florets, tossed them into the ramekins with the souffle balls, and put them in the oven.

When the souffles were almost done, I made a salad on each of our plates. For each, I grabbed a couple of handfuls of mixed lettuce (this one had minced herbs in it – yum!), then put them on a plate with a half-handful of dried fruit and nuts, then grated a little parmesan over the top. Drizzled with balsamic and olive oil.

The end. Yum!

So don’t go thinking we eat coq au vin every night, for crying out loud, guys! We’re big fans of the quick and easy around here!

Hi all! It’s time for the Winter Olympics, and as usual, I’m excited about the opening ceremonies and all the televised curling! This year, though, I’ve got one more thing to be excited about; I’m going to attempt to knit my first adult-sized sweater (for me – I know, I’m so selfish) as my entry into the Yarn Harlot’s Knitting Olympics!

I’m going to just quote directly from her site to describe the event:

The 2010 Knitting Olympics

Medals?
The Knitting Olympics has only a gold medal. (There is only do- or do not.) Finishers get a gold medal button for their blog, their name entered into a draw for a chance at a prize from me, and the joy of knowing that they are an Olympic level knitter, no matter how experienced they are. You are only competing against yourself. (Well. And the Olympic schedule.)

So what am I knitting? I’ll be making the February Lady Sweater in Cascade Yarns Sierra #57. I’ll cast on during the opening ceremonies, then report back to you later with my progress. If you’re on Ravelry, this project is posted here. Wish me luck!

Oh man. So much rain.

It’s been raining again. This is fantastic for the Sierra snowpack (and, by extension, California’s water supply). This is fantastic for our yard, too; we planted some lavender, artemesia, and bush sage today, and we can be pretty sure we won’t have to worry about them going into shock with as wet as it is out there. It’s fantastic for our camellias, too – they’re blooming like crazy!

The other thing that weather like this is good for is setting the right mood for comfort foods like chicken and dumplings. I’ve been craving it for weeks now, and finally got around to making it tonight. I really didn’t want to have a big mess to clean up, though, and wasn’t feeling up to a big to-do, so I made the abbreviated version. I made enough for the two of us to have a pretty hefty portion each (for a total of 12 weight watchers points each, or a reasonable person who wasn’t desperately craving dumplings could probably have split it up three ways for 8 points each). I got two dishes dirty in the process. I thought you might like to have the recipe.

Btw, this recipe makes big, fluffy, biscuity dumplings. If you want to make those noodle-like dumplings, I suggest you check yourself in for help at the nearest sanitarium. And yes, there are other ways to make this that will make it even more delicious, but not with less effort. This is the minimum required for tasty goodness. If you are a vegetarian, you can still enjoy this. Just sub veg stock for the chicken stock, and mushrooms for the chicken. It will still be delicious, I promise!

First, cut up an onion, some carrots, and some celery. Yes, those are baby carrots. I didn’t feel like a trip to the store for non-diminutives. This is the LAZY recipe.

Then, melt some butter in a dutch oven.

Cook the mirepoix (fancy term for those veggies you cut up) in the butter on medium heat. Just sweat the veggies; don’t put any color on them.

Add some chicken stock. I use the stuff in a box. I added one box.

Get some seasonings together. I used a bay leaf, some thyme, and a couple of slices of lemon this time. It’s just as good (though different) without the lemon and thyme, but I had it on hand, so there you go.

Tie those seasonings up in a piece of cheesecloth and throw it in the soup.

This recipe is a great way to use leftover cooked chicken. If you have leftover roast chicken or something like that, shred it up, throw it in the pot, and skip to the Bisquick step. If not, do like I did and just toss some raw stuff in. I used a chicken breast because I had one in the fridge. This is great made in a big pot and using a whole chicken (cut into parts, of course), but it would take us a week to eat that much. Or it would take me one really, really points-heavy day.

Turn the heat up to medium and simmer the whole mess until the chicken is cooked through. If you have some other veggies you’d like to add, you can add them at some point during this process. I threw in a couple of handfuls of frozen peas. When the chicken is cooked through (like in this picture), stick a couple of forks in there and shred it up.

Put some Bisquick in a bowl. I keep it around specifically for making this dish. Unfortunately, I discovered I was out of it, and had to make a run to the store, making this recipe much less lazy than I would have preferred. Anyway, put some in a bowl. How much depends on how much you like dumplings. I put a lot in (probably about a cup, which I think is just about right for two people).

Add enough milk to make a dough that’s a little wetter than biscuit dough. If you’re making the recipe with lemon, I’d really recommend adding a little extra salt to the dough, as well as some parsley and chives, if you have them. I was too lazy this time, but trust me – it’s really good.

Drop little spoonfuls of the dough into the simmering soup. Cook for about ten minutes with the lid off.

Then, cook for about ten minutes with the lid on.

When you pull that lid back off, you’ll have a creamy stew chock-full of tasty, fluffy dumplings.

Throw a handful of chopped parsley in (use the flat-leaf, for heaven’s sake; there’s just no good reason to buy that other stuff).

Eat the dumplings out of the pot with a spoon. Quickly, before your husband catches you!

If you get caught, pretend you were just tasting to make sure the salt is right. Then put some in a bowl and take a picture so you can keep up the ruse. Enjoy!

How lazy was that? So lazy I didn’t even bother with good lighting, which, btw, did not in any way affect the deliciousness.

Well, that was a nice long break, wasn’t it?

I’ve not mentioned it before, but in November, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. We caught it because I thought I had some variation of post-partum depression. I basically felt like I wanted to take a nap all the time. Thank goodness for my awesome doctor (who, I think, wanted to high-five me when she figured out what it was), but we’re still working on my treatment, so I have a few days here and there where all I want to do is sleep, so I spend pretty much all of my energy on the Bee and have none left for blogging. Hopefully everything is straightened out and that is all behind me, but do bear with me if I’m occasionally absent.

I’ve not had a wholly unproductive hiatus, though.

The weather cleared up, so we got to go outside! Hooray! It was awfully bright out, but Ada was so happy not to be housebound that she didn’t care one bit. She let me get some pretty gorgeous pictures of her, too!
(click for biggerer)

Yes, I know. She’s gorgeous. I’m still not entirely convinced she’s my child, though occasionally, her facial expressions make me think she might have a couple of my genes:

We also tried some new things. Ada had her first taste of blackberries (a big hit).

I made a dress (for myself – what?!):

I used Butterick 5243 (which is currently on clearance, if you like it), and the fabric was a $2 buy at a thrift store. I love this pattern! It’s got tons of sweet little gather details like this:

AND it was a perfect fit with only a single alteration at the shoulders near the neck (had to take about two and a half inches out of the yoke to get rid of a sort of weird gap). I’ll definitely be making it again!

Aside from that, I’ve just been working on my supersecret valentine for the First Milk Valentine Swap, but I can’t show you what I made until the recipient gets it. I’ll be mailing it out tomorrow or Saturday, so stay tuned to see what I sent (and what I got! Exciting!).

That’s all for now. I think this post has been long enough, don’t you?

Love,
C