October 31, 2012

A Winter's Light Table

Things have been a bit crazy around here with interviewing for medical school, and I've finally come to a bit of time where I can take a breather. My brother-in-law got engaged a while back, and my MIL has enlisted my help with the rehearsal dinner. Little does she know that I would love to take it completely over and go a bit crazy with it - I'm having to refrain from going into full on boss-mode. I claim that I was born bossy, so it's really not my fault. : )  We're getting together this weekend to talk about ideas and such, and since they're getting married in January I'm loving (what I call) a winter's light theme. Basically, I'm thinking white and silver and sparkle.





The last picture is more wedding reception than rehearsal dinner, but isn't it breathtaking? Armed with inspiration, we'll see what we come up with this weekend, and I'll do my best not to take over.  : )




October 20, 2012

Halloween Cake Pops

I was in charge of bringing a dessert to a party tonight, and since it's almost halloween I had the idea of making eyeball cake pops. I used a Pioneer Women recipe found here as my original inspiration, and when I told Lars about it he found this blog with other really cute halloween inspired ideas. I'm not sure about you, but I have this problem that I have super cute ideas in my head and my hands never get the memo - most of my creations don't turn out quite as I had hoped. My cake pops definitely aren't as professional looking as those that served as my inspiration, but I think it was a valiant first cake pop effort. No matter how they looked they were delicious and got rave reviews!
The Frankensteins were my favorite design. Oddly enough, the eyeballs were the ones eaten first at the party.

This was the best Dracula I made. I had trouble getting the "fangs" to actually look like fangs and not blood drool.

I used the cake pop stick to make deep indentions in the cold cake ball before dipping into the candy coating so it looked more like a pumpkin. The stem is one fourth of a tootsie roll, and I drew on a vine with colored royal icing. The cake pops look slightly condensation-y because they are just a touch. I had to keep the pops in the fridge because I chose to use buttercream icing rather than plain vanilla that doesn't need refrigeration. To me, the buttercream is totally worth it. These took forever to make and decorate, but I had so much fun! I definitely think I will be making these for other shindigs in the future. Who knows, maybe with more practice they'll actually start looking more like the pictures in my head.  : )




October 16, 2012

Cheddar Garlic Buttermilk Biscuits (Just like Red Lobster!)

I've been looking for years for a recipe that mimics the delicious cheesy biscuits at Red Lobster, and I've finally found one! Of all places I ended up stumbling upon this recipe on the back of my bag of flour. Who would have thought? I've been making this tomato soup lately, and these biscuits are the perfect complement. Aside from being easy to make, the recipe makes a bunch of biscuits, and they're just as good warmed up in the oven.

There are only a few ingredients that you'll need. (Sugar not shown.)

This recipe calls for self-rising flour. If you don't have self-rising flour or prefer not to use it simply add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for each cup of all-purpose flour used. Mix flour, garlic powder, parsley, sugar, and shredded cheddar.
Add cubes of butter.

Cut in butter cubes with a pastry blender, fork, or your fingers until the mixture is crumbly.



Stir in buttermilk. (If you don't have buttermilk or run out, you can easily substitute in regular milk or even whipping cream.) Add additional tablespoons of milk as needed if mixture is dry.

Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a silicone-lined, or a plain ungreased, baking sheet. I typically get between 14-17 biscuits depending on how I'm feeling and how large I make each biscuit.


Bake at 450º for 12-14 minutes or until tops are browned.
Brush with melted butter if desired and enjoy!

Cheddar Garlic Buttermilk Biscuits (Just like Red Lobster!) 
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cold and cubed
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup cheddar, shredded
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp parsley, dried
2 Tbsp butter, melted (for brushing on top after cooking)

1. Heat oven to 450º.
2. Mix together flour, sugar, garlic powder, parsley, and shredded cheddar.
3. Cut in butter cubed until flour mixture is crumbly.
4. Add buttermilk and stir until combined. Add additional milk as needed if mixture is too dry.
5. Drop large spoonfuls of dough onto a silicon-lined (or plain, ungreased) baking sheet.
6. Bake 12-14 minutes until tops are brown.
7. Brush with melted butter.
8. ENJOY!

October 13, 2012

A Late Night Laugh

This describes my life perfectly. I showed it to Lars and he nearly died from laughing so hard because he knows that this is all I can talk about each time I return from the store. Hope it makes you smile too. Have a great rest of the weekend!