Archive for October, 2009

Joes’s Farm Grill www.joesfarmgrill.com is an amazing farm/restaurant  in Gilbert where they are putting out amazing food everyday with fresh ingredients that they grown on their own farm.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert…it’s all homemade and delicious.  Next Wednesday, November 4th you can come in and try a hot, fresh cheeseburger fresh off their grill for FREE!!  Their sweet potato frys and handmade milkshake would be a great pairing to go with the burger.  Here’s their menu http://www.joesfarmgrill.com/Pages/Menu.html Take a ride and check out the farm and enjoy a free burger on Joe.

Joe’s Farm Grill

3000 E Ray Rd.

Gilbert, AZ

Hours 7 days, 7am-9pm

Currently Jeremy and I have two children. Every year I have so much fun making them a special cake for their birthday. Each year with practice and tips from other bakers I get better and better. I truly enjoy doing this and seeing the happiness it brings to my childrens’ faces. Hopefully soon i’ll be able to create special cakes for more than just my own children and share the love a homemade craft brings.  Here are all of my cakes so far and tips and tricks to make them unforgettable! Don’t forget to jot down the buttercream frosting recipe as it is way less expensive to make yourself and much more tasty.

Buttercream Frosting recipe:

1 cup crisco (do not buy butter flavored as it is very yellow in color)

1 stick soft salted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 egg whites

1/4 cup milk

2lb (32oz) bag confectioners sugar

Add egg whites to soft butter and crisco with handmixer/kitchenaid mixer (yes eggs whites if you want to have a real, crusting buttercream frosting you can work with…no you will not get sick I use them every time in the frosting)

Add milk, vanilla and slowly incorporate the powdered sugar.  Color with food coloring as desired and refrigerate till use.

princess/castle cake

I made this out of  four 8in square cakes.  I always bake my cakes one day before decorating.  Heavily spray your cake pans with pam before pouring in batter.  After the cake cools turn them out onto wax paper and wrap in wax paper then a healthy layer of tin foil and put in freezer for at least 8 hours.  It is essential when you are carving/shaping and crumb coating a cake for it to be as cold as possible.  The cake is 3- square cakes stacked upon each other  and the top is two quarters of the last square cake stacked  leaving you with half of a cake as scrap. Cake cones and sugar cones are used to make the towers.  I connected the cones with frosting and rolling them in white chocolate and pink sprinkles; they set up overnight in the fridge.  Decoration is purely a personal preference.  I wanted Ave’s cake to have a “candyland” look so I choose more traditional candy.

Next on the list was my little man’s cake and I saw this idea online and thought i’d try it. 

the birthday inchworm

All you need to create this cake is a bundt pan and one box of cake!!  Of course freeze cake after it is cooled.  Then when ready to frost, cut cake in half then cut the remaining half into two pieces.  Sets up very easily on a cookie sheet.  I used vanilla wafers, gum drops, and Boston baked beans to decorate this littler “bug”er   Another easy tip: add 1 cup of pudding into every box of cake you make.  It makes it so much more moist. You can add banana pudding to a white cake and totally change the flavor. 

Here’s my latest and greatest Barbie cake that I made about a week ago for my daughter’s third birthday.  I have to admit, this cake was the most daunting and I was afraid to make it up until the last minute.  Once I got started it actually wasn’t all that bad.

Baking the cakes was easy, two 8 in rounds and with my handy dandy 40% off coupons for Jo-Ann Fabrics I purchased the Wilton Sports Ball pan for only $7.99 and I have about a dozen or more ways that I can use this pan in the future!!  I used two boxes of cake and filled both 8in rounds and both sports ball molds.  The sports ball pan is pretty much like two 6in bowls that once baked you can put together to make a ball; instead I used one half for mini barbie and the other mold to top the full sized barbie cake to have a perfectly rounded top on her dress.  When using the 8in rounds as a base to the full size barbie cake you will need to carve the cake to achieve an even look.  This was the part I was afraid of, but as long as you use a serrated bread knife with frozen cake, it was easy!!  I did two layers of icing on barbies dress doing the first as a simple crumb coat, then into the freezer and back out for one las smooth even layer of frosting.  I used the rose tip and some sugar flowers from the Wilton line that I also purchased super cheap with my coupons at Jo-Anns. 

My son’s birthday is on Thanksgiving this year, so his farm animal cakes will be updated here in about a month or so!! Can’t wait to make these either

Star Wars cake/cupcakes for 5yr b-day

3yr old birthday party dalmation puppy, all edible.

Isiah's Farm

Well, here it is folks!  For anyone who’s had my Mac n Cheese and wanted the recipe.  It’s not even mine, lol…it’s all on Ruth’s Diner. I never add the bay leaves or even dry bay leaves since I simply never have them on hand.  It is seriously the BEST mac you will ever have! Omit the breadcrumbs if their not your thing.  Sometimes I do a crispy bacon topping with crumbled potato chips and bacon.

• Recipe courtesy Erik Nelson, chef and owner at Ruth’s Diner in Salt Lake City, UT
• 16 oz bag uncooked macaroni noodles
• 1 cup diced onion                                                                  
  

  serious mac before I dreamed up a crispy bacon/chip topping

• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 cups grated Cheddar
• 2 1/2 cups grated Monterey jack
• 1 cup cottage cheese                       

For the topping:

• 1/4 cup melted butter      
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions

Cook macaroni, drain do not rinse.

In a large saute pan, saute the onions in butter. Add the flour to make a roux and cook for 1 minute. Add the milk, cream bay leaves, paprika, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, stirring often. Mix the 2 cheeses together in a small bowl. Once the mixture is at a simmer, add 3 cups of cheese mixture and the cottage cheese. Stir well, remove from heat, and remove bay leaves from mixture. Add macaroni noodles to milk mixture, mix well.

Pour 1/2 of macaroni mixture into a 2-quart baking dish, cover with 1/2 of the remaining grated cheese, add remaining macaroni mixture and cover with the remaining grated cheese mixture.

In small bowl mix together the topping ingredients and top the macaroni. Place into the oven and bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Ingredients     

Prepared by moi in my kitchen!

• 2 medium red tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 2 medium yellow tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 3/4 cup(s) diced fresh mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup(s) chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt

1. Gently toss tomatoes, mozzarella, parsley, basil and salt together in a large bowl. Season with pepper.

This is a great summer salad.  I enjoy making it with a variety of different shaped and colored tomatos.  It is fresh, simple, and addicting!  Do what you like, add a flair of your own.  Either way, it’s a crowd pleaser.

Polish Dill Pickle Soup  

• 6 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock or beef stock
• 4 large dill pickles, shredded
• 1/2 cup pickle juice, from the pickle jar
• 2 1/2 cups thinly sliced potatoes
• 2 tablespoons instant flour (regular flour will work too)                                                                                         
•  1 cup milk 
•  1 egg
• 2 tablespoons soft butter

Garnish

• chopped fresh dill
• sour cream
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a large saucepan or soup pot with cover, combine stock, pickles, pickle liquid & potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook covered, over low heat until potatoes start to get soft (about 10 minutes).

2. Combine flour and milk, add to broth, bring to a boil and remove from heat.

3. Combine egg and butter and stir into broth.

4. Return pot to the stove and heat through without boiling. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with sour cream and or dill.

This soup was incredible!  If you enjoy pickles you will certainly like this soup.  Simple and easy recipe.  Too simple for me, I added crumbled fresh kielbasa that I fried up in a skillet.  Pair with a hot crusty bread to soak up the creamy broth.  My young kids also really loved this…for me it’s a winner!!!