Fun chocolate designs!

This past week at work we have hosted the NCAA Sweet 16 and today we will be hosting the Elite 8. I really had no idea how much people loved college basketball until I had to go through the past few days. We had building VIPs and the Mayor of Boston in our suites and guess who got asked to make the desserts!!! hehe. I made pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting and maple jelly beans, cream puffs filled with vanilla bean whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate, mini warm chocolate chip cookie cups and chocolate cheesecake with whipped cream and chocolate basketball designs. The chocolate designs are easy and I am going to tell you how!

1. Melt dark chocolate over a double boiler. JUST CHOCOLATE no butter no cream just chocolate. The darker the better it makes the chocolate shinier when it hardens.

2. Let chocolate cool slightly and put into a pastry bag.

3. Line a sheet pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

4. Cut a tiny bit off the bottom of the pastry bag, just large enough to write with.

5. Draw or write whatever you want! For the NCAA I drew basketball hoops and nets, basketballs, wrote out NCAA, Duke, Villanova, Pitt and Xavier and did some fun little designs.

6. When finished put your tray in the freezer to harden.

7. Once hard peel off paper or silpat slowly and decorate cakes and cupcakes as you wish!! Just be careful they are fragile.

Canning was a success!

Canning was a success. Blueberry jam and applesauce line my fridge with an expiration date stating a year from now! Isn't it amazing! Self sufficiency at it's finest. Haha. Well, maybe 4 jars of jam and applesauce won't keep me if the economy crashes or something crazy but it does lead hope for my baking business I like to run October-March. You should definitely check it out in a couple weeks everything will be up and running. I'll write another blog about it when it's all set but if you want to check it out anyway its   http://www.myspace.com/wickedfunsnax  Everyone should try canning. Just make sure you keep everything super clean and do not alter recipes. You must have certain amounts of acids and sugar in your final product and recipes made to can will already have the correct amount. Well kids, my day has been made, I'm off to a red sox game! 

Have you ever noticed?

Today I went to Michael's Craft Store to get some mason jars for canning (oh don't worry, i'll let you know the results!) While I was there I found a slew of halloween crafts that made my eyes water and fingers twitch! Not only that, it made my wallet cry too. I can't believe Martha Stewart is charging $6 to make your own cupcake toppers, when it came with little strips of paper and a couple toothpicks. I feel as though this may be one of those things you could figure out on your own for way cheaper! I did have success in other means at the craft store today, I got my mason jars ($1.00/jar not bad!), orange and black food coloring (for pumpkin cookies of course), pumpkin cupcake cups and some pretty halloween ribbon to put around my jars when I give my friends my homemade apple sauce (which again, ill let you know how that goes!) I do love the craft store for many things, I don't want it to seem like I hate it because of my run in with the Martha Stewart products. Don't get me wrong if I had $10 to blow on make my own bat headband I would. I just don't! I think I am going to change my blog name to Foodies and Crafters. I do love crafting and want it to become a bigger part of my life! Especially since I am moving into the city, I got to make things look nice for cheap, and add my own special touch! I will let you guys know how everything goes with the canning! I'm pretty sure I am going to attempt it tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Ugh. It's that time.

So, it's 10:00 am and I can't seem to get Al out of bed so we can go see an apt in Woburn. And seriously, I feel like absolute crap! I feel bitchy and crampy and I don't want to deal with getting him up. So, I am going to just stay on the couch until he decides to get up. If we don't make it on time...oh well. No need to get upset over nothing! I'm just sitting here, chillin out, watching my cats get the last of the morning sun in front of the slider (they are hairless cats, they do that sort of thing.) I feel as though since I am so cranky (and trying not to be) and since it is 10 am maybe I should go on about breakfast! I've been trying to have breakfast everyday even if it's just a handful of dried fruit just to get into the habit. Once school starts I will definitely be trying to have breakfast everyday because they only have vending machines there. Ick! I'm sure I'm not the only student/full time worker out there or even parent/full time worker etc that needs a couple little hints for breakfast. I'll give you some of mine, but you better write back with some of yours!!

Instant (but not instant!) Oatmeal

1 cup rolled oats (you could use instant but I like the regular better its only a difference of like 3 min)

1 1/2 cups of water (or more if you like yours a little more runny)

1/3 cup dried cherries (or blueberries, or raisans the list goes on)

A pinch of salt

2 tbsp milk (if you like)

2 tbsp cherry preserves (or blueberry, or brown sugar, or strawberry wte)

Put oats, water, cherries and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the oats are tender remove from the heat and add preserves and milk if you like! enjoy!!

Snack Mix on the Go!

1/4 cup dried cherries

1/4 cup chocolate covered raisins

1/4 cup pretzels

1/4 cup chex 

1/4 cup kix 

1/4 cup nuts (if you like, I'm allergic! I keep them out)

Mix everything together in one bowl and seperate 1/3 cup each into little baggies! Snack on the go!

I Hope you enjoy these!!! Give me some of yours.

Fall Apples

Today was the first day of fall to me. Not because the calendar said so (because well...it won't for another few days.) But because I went apple picking with Breyanne for the first time of the year. We split a bag ($6 each which is not bad for a couple hours of fun) and went into the field. I climbed trees despite the rules and breyanne laughed at me as I dropped more apples than I picked. We talked about what we would make with it and that peaked the conversation of "canning". We decided after picking we would go on a mission to find a canning kit! Sadly, after 2 hannafords, a walmart, a stop and shop, a shaws and a home depot we could not find one!! Finally, when I got home target.com was our savior! We both will be ordering them and our plan to be completely prepared when the economy crashed will be forfilled! lol! Maybe that's a little outlandish but it would still be fun to have the option and to be able to give jelly and jams as gifts and such. Here's a couple fun apple recipes for you. They aren't exact but that's how I roll. Hope you like them!

Apple, Onion n Sausage Stuffed Pork Chops:

1 Green Apple, peeled and cored, cut into small cubes

1 Large Sweet Onion, chopped

2 Sausages (apple would be nice but wte you like) casing removed

1/2 cup apple cider

4 Thick Cut Pork Chop (bone in or boneless whatever)

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Saute apple, onion and sausage together until everything is caramelized. Deglaze the pan with apple cider, add salt and pepper to taste and set aside. Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat. Cut slits into the thickest part of the pork chop so that the opening goes most of the way through but not all the way. Stuff a tablespoon or so of the stuffing into the slit and use a toothpick to seal. Put extra stuffing to the side. Salt and pepper the pork chops on both sides. Put enough olive oil to coat the pan and sear the pork chops on both sides until golden (about 4 min per side). Place pan in oven until the pork reaches 155 degrees and let rest for 10 min. Spoon over the rest of the stuffing and serve!

Easy Apple Crisp

6 mac apples, peeled, cored and cut into bite size pieces

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup flour

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and butter a 8x8 baking dish

Mix apples, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl. In a small bowl with a fork mix brown sugar, flour and butter until crumbly. Put apples in baking dish and then top with brown sugar mixture. Bake in 300 degree oven for 30 min or until golden brown and delicious!