Queen of the Gorillas!

Lily-Queen of the Gorillas

Yesterday was "Monday Funday."  On Mondays I take off work to have adventures with Lily. Usually, we are joined by my best pal, Debra and her daughter, Cari. Yesterday they were sick so we went it alone.

We went to the Columbus Zoo and had the BEST day.

The Zoo was practically deserted and many exhibits were closed (Heart of Africa, the playgrounds, etc) but it turned out to be a huge blessing. There were no lines, no taking turns on the statues, and lots of the bigger animals were awake and alert! NOT sleeping away the heat of the day. We saw Tigers, and bears swimming, gorillas playing and Flamingoes in all their pinkness!

I got the best pictures I have ever taken at the Zoo because of the sunshine, the cool breeze and no crowds!  I highly recommend going on an "off" day.

So! This picture.

I had just bought Lily a little necklace at the Manatee gift shop. I helped her onto the gorilla and she sat proud as can be and declared herself "Queen of the Gorillas!" 

You can bet I snapped that shot!!!

Enjoy my Little Queen.

Halloween Tags 2014

Happy Halloween 2014!!

This year I played a LOT with color and Halloween stamps. I ended up making several tags that I really liked.

This is my favorite! I loved the juxstaposition of Turquoise and orange! (With some yellow added in for  interest!)  The pumpkin and Spider web are Tim Holtz (Stamper's Anonymous)

Pumpkin and Spider Web-Tim Holtz- Stamper's Anonymous

The sentimet- Hampton Arts

Happy Halloween and pumpkin are from Stamper's Anonymous

The "31" I bought at Hobby Lobby.

Just playing with color and Glitter glue!

I love this Skeleton but couldn't quite get him to "pop" the way I wanted. 

ALL of these are from Stamper's Anonymous (Tim Holtz)

Vote for Lily!!

Vote for Lily! Lily was chosen to as the October "Kid Pic of the Month" All the previous winners are up to win the cover of the December issue. I have been telling EVERYONE to vote! PLEASE click on the link above and vote for THIS picture!

Skeleton Sugar Cookies

Skeleton Sugar Cookies

I have a friend named Marnie that LOVES Halloween. She even got married near October 31st so her wedding could have a tasteful Halloween theme. So, when I saw this cookie stamp at World Market, I just had to try it! 

The stamp came with instructions that simply suggested finding a recipe that did not use baking powder. The reason being that you don't want the cookies to rise and thereby lose the stamped image. 

I thought, "How easy. No baking powder. Easy enough!"

Roll a walnut sized ball of dough and press the dough flat with the stamp.

Here is a cookie stamped (before baking) using the first recipe I found. No baking powder! However, the minute they went into the hot oven, they spread and the image was totally lost.

Tasty but…..

First batch……Fail!  

The only reason these have a slight image is as they came out of the oven my husband pressed the stamp on them while still hot. (The first batch-totally blank)

They were good sugar cookies-chewy and sweet. Taste-success. Skeleton-Fail.

I decided to try again. I Googled cookie stamp recipes and chose this one.

Brown Sugar Short Bread Recipe

The recipe is very simple:

1 c. butter
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. sifted flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter with sugar. Add egg and blend in flour. Fashion into balls the size of walnuts. Flatten with cookie stamp or roll out with rolling pin to 1/3-inch thickness and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until brown. Makes 4 dozen if a cookie stamp is used or 3 dozen if cut out with cookie cutter.

TIPS- I figured out it's best to have a little flour out. The stamp can get a little sticky causing it to stick to the dough and ruin a press. I would powder the stamp a little between cookies. Also, I learned to roll a ball of dough and place it directly on the cookie sheet (either ceramic so they won't stick or onto a baking sheet or parchment) and press it there. It is much easier than stamping on the counter and then trying to move it to the cookie sheet. They tear or stretch or rip. Better to stamp them right where they will stay!!  Also, the recipe calls for 10 minutes baking time. Mine took almost 20!!  Start with 10 and keep an eye on them till they are full baked.

Yay!  Skeleton Cookies!  Or as Lily Belle calls them "Scallywag cookies!"

As for taste-I'd say the first recipe tasted better but I took the second to work to celebrate October birthdays and I came home with an empty plate. So! I am calling this a Halloween success!!  If you have a different recipe that would work-share in the comments!! I would love to try again! 

Blueberry Pancakes a la Emily Bites

You may know that I have been trying to watch what I eat and lose a few pounds. After exhausting most of the recipes offered on Weight Watchers, I started looking at other sites. I found one that I really like called 

"Emily Bites. Lightened Up Comfort Food"

http://www.emilybites.com

She featured this Blueberry Pancake recipe that looked so easy and delicious (AND WW approved!) that I had to try it.  The secret is starting out with some blueberry yogurt!

Here's the recipe:

Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 (5.3 oz) container nonfat Blueberry Greek Yogurt (I used Dannon Light & Fit)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ cup white whole wheat flour (my preference, you can use all-purpose or wheat if you prefer)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup fresh blueberries

I started with 5 pounces of "Noosa" yogurt that had blueberries already mixed in. 

(How's THAT for a shortcut?!!) You can use any variety of Blueberry yogurt you wish- or plain yogurt and fresh blueberries or Greek yogurt and frozen blueberries. It's the possibilities make this recipe so easy!

Mix with a tablespoon of honey and and 1 large egg.

Then, mix in 1/2 cup of Whole Wheat flour (I use Whole Wheat Pastry flour as it's lighter-- You could also use all purpose flour if you want)

and a teaspoon of baking soda. 

THAT's IT!  

 Then bake like you would regular pancakes and you have a light, fruity, Weigh Watchers approved (Just don't eat many…..) breakfast that the whole family will love.
You could add fresh blueberries on top if you have some on hand. 

Even the Tot enjoyed these! The recipe made about 6 small pancakes. I saved two for the next morning's breakfast and they were still tangy and light. 

Adventures in Disney!

Carrot Cake for my Dad.

 My Dad's 73rd birthday was coming up. My parents belong to a camping club and my sister suggested we go surprise them on Saturday night at the potluck. Mom mentioned wanting to make Dad a Carrot Cake for his birthday, but because they were going up on Thursday she was afraid it wouldn't last. I decided to take this as a challenge and make a Carrot Cake from scratch!
My plan was to buy the frosting (I had never found a suitable homemade frosting recipe) but THIS one had a good looking recipe included so I gave it a go. BOY is it good.

If you do nothing-KEEP THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING RECIPE! You can use it for all your cake, cupcake, etc. baking!

LilyBelle could not wait to eat that cake!!! 

Carrot Cake Recipe

Start with carrots! I went ahead and shredded the 3 cups of carrots first and set it aside.

Looking over the recipe, I realized that Carrot Cake is similar to Banana Bread or Zucchini bread. It's a basic cake recipe with a vegetable thrown in that in the baking becomes sweet.

Mix the wet ingredients:

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Mix 

Mix together the wet and dry

Add the 3 cups of carrots and 1 cup of chopped pecans.

See how EASY that was??

I decided to make a layered cake. So pour 1/2 into each Springform pan.

Bake 40 to 45 mins in oven 350 degrees

Cool COMPLETELY

Now for the frosting-

(THIS is the recipe you need to keep!!!)

1/2 cup butter softened

8 oz Cream Cheese softened

4 cups of confectioners sugar (Powdered sugar)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Beat in mixer until smooth and creamy.

TA DA! Cream Cheese frosting! Good enough to rival anything in a can AND no lard!!

You could add color for decoration! I'll never buy frosting from a can again!

Place one cake on plate. Trim around to make it flat. (the kids do NOT mind eating the trimmings! lol)

I had my husband do the frosting. He has a better handle on this than I do. I always manage to tear the cake.  We decided to frost like the recipe photo-in between and on top.

Next time, I will suggest less frosting for the layers and go for an all over frost.

Sprinkle with Pecans!

My father and many campers reported that the cake was VERY good. In fact, my parents only had a few pieces left over to enjoy for themselves. 

Another dessert the pleases all!!