A Birthday Party

My middle BIL's girlfriend had her birthday yesterday so we celebrated with a party today at my MIL's house. A few days go DH calls me from work. He and his brothers had cooked up the idea to have a surprise party for their mother (whose birthday is on Tuesday) at the same time as middle BIL's girlfriend. So, I was asked to make the cake.

Now, if you read my post about my youngest's birthday party, you remember that my MIL showed me how to make icing roses. So, I told DH that I would like to try and make her cake a little more than a 9x13 still in the pan with icing slathered on. He was game so I went to the store.

Wilton makes these $12 starter kits with several tips/bags/mini colors/couplings and instructions (I suggest YouTube or Wilton website videos!), so I picked up one. I figured I could at least try. If I was completely inept then I could always call my mom to rescue me. I grew up watching mom decorate the most fantastic cakes (we never had plain, boring cakes until we became teens and were too complicated and moody...lol). So, I figured I had a head start.

So, here we go.This is two 9 inch rounds stacked. I used two boxed chocolate cake mixes and two tubs of chocolate icing. I filled the pans over the halfway mark to let them mound up. When they cooled I cut off the top keeping in line with the top of the pans to create a flat surface.

And here it is. It is far from perfect but God gave me the patience to keep trying. The best part? My MIL loved it!

I am glad I took pictures before we left the house to head over to MIL's because in the midst of DH fixing vegetable beef stew in the dutch ovens outside, the MIL's oil carafe that sat on the back of the stove fell over on the cake and flattened two of the roses! Lol! I had not put it back far enough when I returned it to the kitchen. Hahaha! I had a great time creating this and thank God for the talented women in my life that have taken the time to teach me their craft.

Empty the cupboards...

Well, that is what I am doing. I am emptying my cupboards. By baking. I have so many mixes and ingredients for things. I know some of them are in danger of due-date demise so I am on a baking spree. Yesterday, I baked a devil's food cake in two bread pans.

While it cooled, DH and I went to Kroger's. Milk was on sale for $0.79 a half-gallon! We picked up 2 gallon's worth! After paying almost $4.00 a gallon, coming in around $1.60 for a gallon is a treasure! So, I called Grandpap and Grandma to check on their milk status and picked up a few half-gallons for them. We also picked up 3 gallon's worth of Kroger orange juice, as it is good til almost the end of the month. I love orange juice but it can be almost as expensive as milk, so I have not been getting any for a very long time. Having it is such a treat for all of us!

We picked up a few other items and returned home. After dinner, DH and I prepared dessert! I took the cake loaves out of the pans, placing them on a cutting board. DH got out the box of ice cream, cool whip, and marachino cherries. I opened the small tub of vanilla bean ice cream that had been left to soften (melt, really) on the counter. Then, we assembled! Pour a little bit of melted ice cream in the bottom of a bowl, a slice of cake, half a slice of ice cream from the box, a slice of cake, fudge sauce (melted in microwave per label's instructions), cool whip, cherry. Add a spoon. Give it to a child. Repeat til you get yours. Lick the spoon from the fudge sauce. Enjoy. *sigh* Nice.

Tonight, I made a Cranberry Quick Bread with Orange Peel. Delicious.

All of this has been enjoyable, if somewhat exhausting. I have had an awful migraine for the last two days. It peaked at a level 10 today, an hour after I took my medication. I am drained and sore. My teeth and gums hurt from the swelling and the right side of my neck at the base of my skull hurts greatly.

I had an MRI last week and the results were clean. Part of me is thrilled that there were no findings but another part of me is disappointed. I KNOW something is wrong. I can FEEL that something is wrong. Yet, NOTHING is there. Helpless. That is what I feel right now. So, I will empty my cupboards. I will bake. And probably gain 20lbs or get so sick of looking at sweets that I will lose 20lbs.

Anyway, another ramble.

So, yesterday...

...was obviously my birthday. It also reminded me that I have posted about my birthday every year since I started this blog. This will be the third year.

Just like the last few years, this is a progressive birthday. I had all these great plans on having dinner AND dessert ON my birthday. Nope. Didn't happen. Why? For the first time I can ever remember, I have a summer cold. It started yesterday afternoon just before the kids got home from school. Joy. So, my DH took pity on me and sprung for takeout even though he was perfectly willing to cook dinner for me like he had planned. It was just too hot and I was just too cranky to put up with the oven being on.

Today, I am still sick but moving better (it's amazing what a few doses of medicine can do for a person!). My mom called this morning and told me she is coming home today and will be back around dinner time. My brother (yes, the one with the broken knee and bionic parts) is bringing her home and my nephew gets to tag along! Yay! Well, those two are camping out at my house tonight (yeah, not even worried about the clean laundry that still needs folded or the boys' room that still needs to be finished...that's what being sick does to me).

I have, however, made my dessert for my birthday. When DH and I were on our mini-vacation he took me to Applebee's and I loved it. I was so stuffed that I couldn't even eat dessert! And what a dessert I found! So, I decided to make my own version for my birthday. And here it is:

I don't know what Applebee's calls it but this is my Strawberry Chocolate Mousse. Underneath the mousse is a layer of crumbled Oreo-type cookies. This is such a simple dessert! Start to finish (if you don't wait to plate it until later) would be about 30 minutes.

Ingredients are simple:

• Dreamwhip packets - I used two packets
  
• Instant Chocolate Pudding - 2 4-oz. packages
• Oreo-type cookies - I will leave the number of packages up to you! Lol!
• Milk
• Vanilla Extract
  

Just follow the instructions for Mousse on the back of the Dreamwhip Box (double the recipe if you want a lot...that's what I did). I crushed the cookies in a gallon-size storage bag - and freaked my boys out at the same time! The ramekins actually belong to my 18 y/o from when he made Creme Brulee a few weeks ago. I put about a serving spoon of cookie crumbs in the bottom. Two serving spoons of mousse on top of that and then a fanned strawberry on top of the whole thing. Assembly took about 5 minutes for 5 ramekins. I have enough to do about 5 or 6 more.

I may not get overly excited about my birthday, like I use to do, but I certainly enjoy experimenting with desserts..

Well, DH is almost done with the steaks and the redskinned parsley potatoes are about ready to come out of the over (geez, it's hot in this house!!!), so that's it. Give the dessert a try! You'll love it!

Good morning, All!

It has been raining here off and on for the last few days. We will get moments of pristine skies and beautiful sunshine only to have it quickly fade into storm clouds and pouring rain. This is good, though! We are behind on our needed precipitation for the last few months. This is needed.

Well, my grandfather has been doing so well after his pacemaker surgery. He isn't allowed to drive, yet, so I get to have fun running him and Grandma around on errands they want to get done. We went to Wal-Mart, yesterday. They needed to buy groceries for the house since the last time he stocked up was before his stay in the hospital. It worked out well since I had to pickup milk ($1.99 a gallon!!! Whoohooo!! got three) and peirogies, dry cereal and all the fixin's for Ham and Broccoli Bake. I will post my recipe at the end.

While we were walking around the store we noticed a great many men who walked and held themselves in a similar fashion. After watching them for a few moments, I realized they held themselves like my husband, our boys' friend Tom, my grandfather, my cousin...hmmm...all are some form of military. Why are they--AH! MOCK RIOT at the old Penitentiary!

The Penitentiary hosts international mock riots that bring military and police personnel from all over the world.

So, Mr. Chef's last day of school is coming in a few weeks. He reminds his dad and I every weekday how many he has left. All I think about is how many days I have left until I have to leave him in Pittsburgh...

Mom is still in NY with my brother and his family. His knee is healing nicely from what I learned during a quick phone call to Mom, yesterday. She is losing so much weight and sounds so happy! Being up there has not only been good for them, since she is able to help with the boys, but it has been fabulous for Mom. I wonder if my brother knows how wonderful it is to hear her so happy and relaxed.

Aunt Martha still hasn't completely backed up her computer files and reinstalled her system programs. She told me that she and Uncle have been enjoying the lack of Internet access (thank you, Mr. Virus!) and have been spending a great bit of time just sitting in the living room with the many new kittens (yes, THERE'S MORE!). She, Mom, and myself are trying to build up our handcrafts to take to a craft show at Uncle Sonny's nursing home this fall. So, she has been working on that as well. I have become quite competent at crocheting shopping bags! I have a pattern for a beautiful delicate reticule with a satin lining and seed pearls. Hopefully, I will be able to work on it soon. It's still a bit intimidating when i read the pattern, as I have never really worked from one. It's all been by sight and feel. One day, though, I will get it done.

So, it's time for the recipe!!! This is by no means a secret family recipe. I personally feel that food is food and everyone should be able to cook a basic meal, so NO SECRETS! This is my maternal grandmother's recipe. My mom wrote it in a family cookbook and gave one to me and my two SILs. Mine has stains and creases all over! It has been well-loved! Oh, and this recipe has been doubled for my family, so you are getting those measurements. If, after you make it the first time, just divide everything in half. Although, this does reheat quite well and tastes even better the next day! I am going to try and give conversion temps and measures, too, so Miss Linda!- it should work for you, too!

Ham and Broccoli Bake

Preheat oven: 350 degrees F/180 degrees C

Baking Time: Cast Iron - 50 minutes; Glass - 40 minutes; Metal - 35 minutes. These are all estimations so watch your food!

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16 oz/500 g - cooked chopped or diced ham (size of ham pieces is your choice)

2 cups/500 ml - Instant Rice

1 cup/250 g - Shredded Cheese (I've used cheddar, mozzarella/provolone combo, etc.)

1 cup/250 ml (liquid measure) - Milk

26oz/Family Size can - Cream of Chicken/Cream of Mushroom

1 small to medium - Onion, puree'd

12 oz-16oz/375-500 g - Frozen, chopped Broccoli

1 cup / 250 g - Corn Flake crumbs

3-6 tbsp/60-120 ml - Butter, melted (this all depends on how many crunchies you want on top!)

1/2 cup/125ml - water

3-quart/3 liter baking dish (the one above is a 3-quart cast iron braiser), Buttered and set aside. Medium sauce pan

Large Mixing bowl

Salt and Pepper

********************

Cook Broccoli, Cream of Chicken/Mushroom soup and water in medium sauce pan until hot and slightly done. In large mixing bowl, combine ham, instant rice, cheese, milk, and onion puree. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add broccoli and soup mixture to large bowl and mix together. Put mixture in baking dish. Combine corn flake crumbs and melted butter; spoon or sprinkle over top of dish.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake. For final FIVE MINUTES (5 min), remove foil and place back in oven. When done, let rest on counter or stove top for at least 5 minutes.

Hope you like it. I have made my own changes to Grandma's recipe over the years. My husband has to be told every - single - time, NO, you cannot have the whole thing! Anyway, I hope I got the measurements right. I grew up learning to cook by just looking at it and I still eye-ball recipes, so don't be afraid to adjust this one!

Progressive Birthday

I celebrated my birthday over several days this year. I didn't really have a party, I just cooked and had some really great food! Not to mention, grocery shopping two days in a row! So anyway, I wanted to show you what I had. For my birthday dinner my husband and I fixed Tuscan Stuffed Chicken Breast with Prosciutto & Mozzarella Cheese with Baby Greens Salad and Mixed Veggies. You are only getting a picture of the Chicken because he took my camera from me! Something was said about the food getting cold...oh, well!

I was amazed that the 8-year-old loved it! Even more surprising? My youngest son, who is super-picky about his food, cleaned his plate! He even thought about asking for seconds. Thought about it, but didn't! The teenagers, on the other hand, were less than pleased. They ate it anyway. They are good young men. Now, that ends day one! Oh, I know! Dessert happens on day two!

This is my Grandma's Broccoli-Ham Casserole. My husband loves this. My mom gave this recipe to me and my two brothers years ago for our families. Actually, she gave the recipe to me and their wife/girlfriend. Just clarifying. The guys would have lost the recipe in a week. We all use it. It is really good! I have to double the recipe. I even got to use my birthday present from my husband! My brand new 3-Quart enameled cast iron braiser. It was empty when dinner was done. Usually happens that way with a family of six.

I managed to get to at least one dessert on day 2! My SIL, Dana, posted her Dessert Nachos when she returned home after visiting us in WV. I decided to try them.

Not as elaborate as Dana's but she has been doing this longer! It only took me two half-sheet pans, 1/2 a hissy-fit for burning myself, and 1 phone call to Upstate NY to get the nachos done. Not all the fruit I used is in the picture. I had strawberries, bananas, pineapple, peaches, mango, and grapes. I wanted kiwi but they were like little cement balls! But the caramel drizzle made up for it. The vanilla ice cream made the kids happy, too! Dana, I think I love this!!! Thank you!

And tonight, day 3, I shall eat my birthday cake! I got to blow out the candles on my birthday, by decree of my husband (how cute!). He didn't have time to bake me a cake, so he bought me this beautiful little Red Velvet cake with cream cheese icing. At it's heart, it is a chocolate cake. They just dyed it red!

Okay, officially my longest blog. I think I am done now.