Monday, January 31, 2011

My sneaky sneaky project!!

Yay! I can finally share my sneaky plans I have had the past few weeks. :) I have been planning to make a replica of my parent's wedding cake for their 30 year anniversary (which is today). Before I go into how I made the cake, I must tell you how perfectly my cake idea fitted into their celebratory plans. I already had the idea of making a cake for my parents when my dad called and said he wanted to surprise my mom with a little mini ceremony or vow renewal on their anniversary. He wanted to make sure the family would be there and we could do it at a park. I suggested Crane's Roost, a beautiful park in Altamonte Springs and plans were set! Little did he know that his plans fit perfectly with my desire surprise them with a replica of their wedding cake! Hehe! I ended up asking my dad for their wedding album and lead him to think I was making a creative moments album for them. All I really needed was a picture of their original wedding cake. Muahahaha!




My sister Stephanie and I got together a few days ago for a craft store trip and I spent the weekend prepping the cake (baking and dirty ice it) so we could decorate on Sunday.

First I baked the pound cake. I let it cool, cut off the rounded tops of the cake (and ate it... yum!!), stacked it on the trays and did a thin layer of buttercream icing (I will share the recipe on another day) to keep crumbs from getting in the way when we decorate the cake. Then I put the cake in the fridge overnight. This is what they looked like in the fridge...



Then I made some royal icing to make the hearts, the "30" and the monogram for the top of the cake. To make the arched hearts I put parchment paper on a rolling pin, drew the hearts with royal icing onto the parchment paper and let it dry overnight. Royal icing dries hard (though fragile) and I was able to pick it up after it drying and place it on the cake (using more royal icing as glue).

After the cake sat in the fridge overnight, Stephanie and I made buttercream icing to cover the cake and royal icing for decorating. The decorating part surprised me at how fast it went. It actually took longer to bake the cake and set it up for decorating than it did to decorate it!

Here it is....







The top cake was butter pound cake with chocolate filling and the lower cake was butter pound cake with whipped icing for the filling. Yummo!!

Easy to peel?

My mom’s deviled egg recipe is a popular request amongst my friends and family. One day soon (with my mom’s permission) I will post it for you. :) My problem has always been peeling the darn eggs. I found the following to be extremely helpful and hopefully it will be for you too!

Easy To Peel Hard Boiled Eggs
If you’ve ever struggled to peel a hard boiled egg or ended up with a greenish yolk, try this… Start with eggs that have been refrigerated for several days because new eggs will not peel easily. Usually any egg you buy at the store will fall into this category!



1. Place the eggs in a pot of COLD water. Be sure there is at least an inch of water above the top of each egg. Our well water is icy cold and roughly the same temperature as an egg taken from the refrigerator, but if your cold tap water is not as cold, let the eggs sit in the cold water for about five minutes, then replace that water with more cold water. The idea is to equalize the temperatures of the eggs and water so that both the water temperature and the egg temperature start out the same. (If you just put refrigerator-cold eggs in water warmer than they are, the water will heat up faster than the eggs and the eggs may crack. Some people add a teaspoon of salt or vinegar to the water when they are cooking eggs. This supposedly helps keep the inside of the egg from oozing out if an egg shell cracks. I do not use either salt or vinegar, because I have found that starting with the eggs and water at the same temperature prevents the eggs from cracking as they cook.)

2. Place the pot with the eggs and water over high heat until the water comes to a full boil. IMMEDIATELY take the pot off the heat and cover with a tightly-fitting lid. The eggs will cook from the heat of the water. The eggs do not need to be, and should not be, boiled. Overcooking eggs causes the iron in the yolk and the sulfur in the white to combine, and this is what makes that ugly greenish color around the yolk.

3. Let the eggs sit in the pan in the hot water for 12 minutes for medium eggs, 15 minutes for large eggs and 18 minutes for extra large eggs. This timing is very important.

4. Drain the eggs and fill the pot with cold water. I like to empty and re-fill the pot several times to make sure the heat of the eggs doesn’t heat the water back up again. You can also put ice cubes in the water. The water should be very cold. Letting the eggs sit in the cold water until the eggs are completely cooled helps the papery membrane stick to the shell, instead of to the egg, and makes the egg easier to peel.

5. Let the eggs cool completely. To peel the eggs, gently tap the large end of the egg against a hard surface like your kitchen counter. This should crack the shell. Turn the egg and crack the other end. The shell should peel off very easily.

6. Hard boiled eggs in the shell can be refrigerated up to one week. Hard boiled eggs out of the shell should be used right away.

Recipe written by Shirley

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

For all nursing moms out there...


I have found something that tastes fabulous and increases your milk supply.... Chewy FiberOne Bars!!! I prefer the oats and chocolate flavor. :) I had just discovered the yumminess of the chocolatey oaty bars that remind me much of a candy bar when a Lactation Consultant said I should eat them to increase my milk supply. It is something about the oats. (Oatmeal increases milk supply as well).

I buy my bars at Costco. Best price I have found so far!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

My new fav app!

With a busy husband, a two year old and a 5 month old, I need a little help in setting a routine to get things done around the house. I came across this Home Routines app for the iPhone and I love it!!




You can edit the routines in the app to fit your needs. I also like FlyLady I still receive email reminders from FlyLady and have put some of their routines into my Home Routines app.

Monday, January 24, 2011

A knitting venture

A few years ago I learned how to knit scarves. I have knitted 6 scarves and have attempted to knit a baby blanket (that project sits undone in a closet somewhere). This time I decided to venture out a little more and make a baby hat for my 13 week old little man. I had some yarn left over so I made him a small matching scarf. Aiden wasn’t as proud of the results as I was…





This is the instructional video I watched to make Aiden’s hat…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB3-Qf4w870 (cut & paste)