Cake Decorating - Gumpaste and Fondant

I am now taking the third Wilton class (from my fabulous teacher Erin of Erin's Go To Cakes), and I am loving it. I am half way through the course and have so far learned how to make a fondant bow:


Rose,


Calla lily and carnation (I love the carnations).


I can't wait for the next class when we learn daisies and mums!

Belated Happy New Years

Wow, I took a bit longer of break over the holidays that I was intending from blogging. I haven’t done a lot of baking or even cooking really since the end of the holidays and have spent a lot of time trying to get the house back in order and finding homes for things that have shown up over the holidays.

The spice drawer in my kitchen was a disaster (see what I mean).


A trip the the dollar store for some little jars and an evening of labeling later it now looks like this:


My quilting room has also been rearranged (I can not fully open the door to get in!), and I have been working on something to fill the blank space on the wall above the ironing board. The rulers have finally found a home - with easy access from my cutting area, and the catch all drawer has been emptied and my supplies are organized in a handy little organizer (I got it for 50% off at Michaels!). I will have to post pictures, as soon as I get around to taking some and not getting distracted by working or cleaning. Now hopefully I can get some of those projects left over from last year finished (there are only 5 quilts in various stages sitting around the room, along with other smaller projects that were started and never finished).

Ella's Quilt

A few months back I showed a quilt I had made for Myah. Well her little sister, Ella, arrived late this summer and I set to work making a quilt for her. It took me a while to get the fabric and get it made, and even longer to actually find some time to get it to her as we start getting closer to the holidays.



I used a pinwheel pattern from Moda Bake shop and a layer cake of Ella’s Wishes from Collecting Threads. As soon as I heard her name, I knew it would be the perfect fabric!

It turned out great and I hope she likes it as I did!

Christmas Presents

This year I am making a few Christmas presents, some are for my own friends and family and some I am doing for a friend to give away.

Among the things I have put together for my own friends and family is this lovely little tea wallet:




I used the pattern from Is It Naptime Yet?, which was great and really easy to follow, and came together very quickly.


A few people will be getting rice heating pads some packaged with baked goods, bath salts or creams. I created the pattern for this based off a heat pad I had picked up a few years ago from a craft sale.


It works fantastic for the upper back and shoulders. I love how it wraps around and the arms hold it in place.

My friend was lucky to be one of the recipients of the bag/neck rice heating pad earlier in the year and decided she wanted to do something for her friends. I had seen the Wellness bag and rice heating pads on Sew Mama Sew and decided to put together something similar for her.



She ended up with 2 sets of bags, each with their own coordinating drawstring bags to hold them. Each bag has card attached with instructions.



Each set included a neck/back bag, an eye pillow with removable cover, hand warmers and an all purpose bag (a mix between the Amy Buttler eye pillow scaled up and the Green Wife for the inside bag).



Hopefully the recipients get some good use out of these bags!

Frosty!

While playing around on pinterest (oh the time I waste on that!), I came across a recipe to make your own Wendy’s Chocolate Frosty. I love Frosties and find myself stopping for them even in the middle of a Canadian winter! How awesome would it be if I could make them myself at home? That and I am always looking for ways to get my ice cream maker into more use. I did have to cut the recipe in half and that was a good thing as it still made a lot, which of course was promptly finished in 24 hours.... I wouldn’t have been able to fit a full batch in my ice cream maker anyways, so it all worked out.

Ingredients:
½ tub of light coolwhip
½ can of sweetened condensed milk
2 cup 1% chocolate milk

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in the icrecream maker and let run for 20 - 30 minutes depending on your maker and the desired consistency.

Serve and enjoy!


Reviews:
I loved this and couldn’t stop eating it. O remarked that it tasted just like a Frosty! We also decided for the sake of our waists, we should not keep the ingredients on hand, as it was so quick and simple to make things could quickly get out of control.

Menu: December 12 - 17

Oh wow, it has been a long time since I have posted a menu. This has been due to a few reasons, mostly the coming Christmas season. I have been busy trying to get things planned, made and wrapped (more on that later). Also O has recently completed his first 1/2 marathon, so that was a crazy week as well!

I am not sure how long I will continue to post the menus, but will try to continue for a little longer, although I may have to take another break over the holidays.

Menu:
Monday:Stir Fry
Tuesday: Thai Chicken Bites
Wednesday:Lasagna/ manacotti
Thursday: Work Function
Friday: Cheesy Vegetable Chowder (new recipe from pinterest, will post after I have tried it)

Others: chips, crackers, hummus, antipasto, whatever Christmas food is around the house

Baking: No real plans, we will see what inspires me off the Christmas list.

Caramel Apple Pie

Note: Let me apologize for this picture, I was lucky to snack anything to get a picture before this was devoured by O and a few friends! I will try to get a better picture when I make this again in the coming weeks.

This is Owen’s favorite apple pie. I originally found it on Allrecipes as Grandma
Opies Apple pie. I have made some changes over the years to suit out tastes more, and now it is the most requested apple pie I make, the main change I made is the addition of cinnamon - it isn't a true apple pie around here unless there is cinnamon.


Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
8 apples - peeled, cored and sliced (I like to use a slightly tart, baking apple)
Pastry dough for a double crust 9 inch pie



Directions:
1. Roll out the bottom crust of the pie and place in the pie plate.
2. Pile the apple slices into the pie crust, you want them so they mound slightly in the middle.
3. In a pot on the stove, melt the butter. Mix in the flour so that it forms a paste.
4. To the butter ‘paste’ add the sugars and water. Mix well and bring to a simmer until it thickens.
5. Add the cinnamon to the butter sugar mixture and pour over the apples in the pie crust.
6. Roll out and add the top crust (we use a full top crust with slits cut in it, but a lattice top works nicely as well if you like less crust).
7. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 350F and continue to cook for about 35 minutes.

Note: This pie freezes well. Just wrap in tinfoil and place in the freezer after step 6. When baking it, don’t let it thaw, pop it right into the oven and add an extra 20 to 30 minutes to the cook time.

Reviews:
This pie always gets great reviews, and is always requested when I ask if I should make an apple pie.