It's October already!

For all of you who check my blog day after day and find nothing new... heres your new post!

Unfortunately I dont have any food related blogs... But I did find an AWESOME website that sells Giant Gummy bears ha ha. I think its awesome. Its more than 20 dollars for a gummy bear! check it out

http://giantgummybears.com/index.aspx



We have been quite busy with the kids, the house and my new adventure... Just wait, I'll get to it in a minute.

We have been in the process of Potty training justin. He is 2 1/2 and sooo ready! So far so good, its been 3 weeks with very minimal accidents. We started off with m & m's as treats.. Then one day he tells me, MAMA, no more mm's... lol too cute.

So then we decided to give him gummy bears. When justin uses the potty, he gets a small amount of gummy bears, and so does his sister.  Then brooke asks for more and I tell her when justin uses the potty we will have more. So she walks over to justin and says, Justin Pee Pee pleaaassssssssssssse Its adorable!

We started cutting back on the treats, when he doesnt ask, we dont give. But we do have a sticker chart. The first 2 weeks were awesome, he put one sticker every time he uses the potty, and his sister gets one sticker.  Well now that we are on a new sticker sheet, he puts the stickers wherever he pleases that day. Sometimes the wall, sometimes the floor, his sisters shirt, the bathroom door, his feet, moms feet, shirt, butt... wherever he pleases lol.

On to my new adventure..........

I have decided to open up an online boutique. My first love is cooking (besides my kids of course) Then its sewing. I absolutely LOVE to sew. I could sit in front of a sewing machine all day long and just make things.
Well, now that Im a business woman lol, I need a bigger sewing room. So we took the biggest room in the house, its like 20 x 20.. and made it into my sewing room!
Im hoping to Open my store by Halloween. In the meantime I am very busy making my items to sell and I also am doing a craft show in November with a friend. So I have a ton on my plate right now!!!!!!!


Im also fighting a sinus infection, so baking for jerrys work is non existant. I didnt know if what I had was contagious therefore I didnt want to send anything in. Im hoping to bake sunday. So be ready!!!!!!! new recipes for everyone!!!!

In the meantime, check out my older posts and find something to make!! love you all!!

Awesome Popcorn!

At the west side market in cleveland, tucked away in the back corner is an AWESOME popcorn shop. Its called Campbell's popcorn. They have TONS of flavors. My favorite is the Cheezy popcorn. I tried the Dill pickle popcorn this time. But it was too sour. I love dill, LOVE LOVE LOVE dill. But this popcorn had too much citric acid in it.

Try it out next time you head out to the west side market. They give out free samples!

Granola Bars

Usually when I bake for my husbands work, I try new recipes that I find online, OR i just make cookies. I know im boring! With 2 kids running around, potty training one, yelling at the other, filling sippy cups, cleaning up accidents on the floor, doing laundry, thinking about dinner, taking care of our renters, paying bills ... etc... I dont have much time to bake! But truly it is my passion. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to bake.  So when my husband tells me at 3pm on a tuesday that the following day they are having a pot luck lunch. Yah at 3pm!  He did tell me that I didnt have to make anything. BUT that's not me. Im always the one to send in a crap load of food!
So this time, I made Granola Bars! And they were SOOOOO good. I used a mixture of Raisins, apricots and..... drum roll please...... Hawthorne Berries... I highly doubt that anyone reading this knows what these are. And if you don't live near a China town, you won't find these sugary goodness. We LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Even though I dont understand why noone truly knows what they look like lol.   The Hawthorne berries are cut into strips and rolled in sugar and are so yummy. It kinda reminds you of eating a fruit roll up but cut into strips. So good.


Enough of me talking... here is the recipe!





Granola Bars
1 1/8 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cup corn syrup

3/4 cup butter, melted

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup craisins

1 c dried fruit


In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and vanilla. Combine the remaining ingredients; add to peanut butter mixture and stir to coat. Press into two greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pans. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Don't overbake or they will get crispy. When they come out of the oven, run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the pan a little. Cool on wire racks. Cut into bars. Yield: 3 dozen.


(If you would like to incorporate Peanut butter into this recipe, cut the Corn Syrup back to 3/4 cup and add 1 cup of peanut butter.)

Limoncello Recipe

I should've posted this before, when I posted the Limoncello pictures. Here is the recipe to it.

Limoncello

15 lemons
2 bottles min. 80 proof vodka
4 cups sugar
5 cups water


Wash the lemons to remove wax and pat dry. Zest the lemons with a peeler. Try not to get any of the pith (white part) on the lemon rind.  We are only using the lemon peels for this recipe. So take the remainder of the lemon and squeeze the juice out. I freeze the juice for lemonade later. It's a great way to add ice cubes to lemonade when its hot out.

Put the peels in a large glass jar. Add one bottle of vodka and seal the jar tightly in a cool, dark place for at least 2 weeks.

After the 2 week resting period, combine sugar and water in a saucepan and boil until the sugar is dissolved. Allow the sugar water to cool. Add syrup and the other bottle of codka to the limoncello mixture that has been resting for 2 weeks. Allow to sit for another 30 days (a month)

Strain out the lemon peels through a piece of cheesecloth. Pour the limoncello into another container. Press the peels down to get all the extra flavor out of the peels. Stir the limoncello. Put the Limoncello into clean bottles and seal tightly (I used the vodka bottles)  Let the Limoncello sit for another week before drinking.  Store it in the freezer.

Butterscotch Cookies

(sorry no pics with this one, we ate them too quickly!)

It's been SOOOOO cold lately.. I love it though! Its time to fire up the stove and bake anything I can think of! Oh and Make lots of apple cider, or mulled cider.
For some reason this time of year makes me think of butterscotch. Im really not sure why. I found a Butterscotch Cookie recipe online through stumbleupon, and I felt the need to try it. Recipe and pictures below.

YOU BET YOUR BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIES
http://dujourmag.com/blog/kitchy-weekends-butterscotch-cookies/

makes 2 dozen
1 stick softened butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup butterscotch chips



1. preheat the oven to 375 F
2. cream the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl (I only used spatula to creaming the butter and sugar)
3. add the egg and vanilla to the creamed butter and sugar. Blend the ingredients well.
4. Mix the flour, salt and baking soda in the other mixing bowl. Add this dry mixture to the wet mixture. Blend it well. You have cookie dough! Now mix the butterscotch chips into the dough.
5. Spoon the dough onto the greased cookie sheets to make these drop cookies. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Allow the cookies to cool before eating them

My favorite Food Blog sites

These are in no order of which are my favorite. Just a random order of some of my favs. There are sooooo many more. But for now, check these ones out!


http://www.stumbleupon.com/
http://www.userealbutter.com/
http://www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/
http://www.amandascookin.com/
http://www.cupcakeproject.com/
http://www.thepressedpastrychef.com/
http://www.honeyneverspoils.com/
http://www.momswhothink.com/
http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/
http://www.theparsleythief.com/
.http://annies-eats.com/

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Sour Cream Double Chocolate Banana Bread


Adapted from Savory Sweet Life Chocolate Banan Bread

•Unsalted butter, 8 tablespoons (1 stick), softened
•Granulated sugar, 1/4 cup
•Brown sugar, 1/4 cup
•Egg, 1 large
•Ripened bananas, 2 large, mashed
•Sour cream (low fat okay), 1/2 cup
•Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon
•All-purpose flour, 1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon to be tossed with the dark chocolate
•Baking soda, 1 teaspoon
•Cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons
•Salt, 1/8 teaspoon
•Dark chocolate chips, 1 cup, coarsely chopped

•Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, banana, sour cream and vanilla extract. Mix until well blended, about a minute. Add 1 cup of flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. Mix until everything is well incorporated, about 2 minutes.

Toss dark chocolate with 1 tablespoon of flour. This will ensure that they don’t sink to the bottom of the bread when they bake. Mix dark chocolate into the batter.

Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes (mine took 53 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from the heat and allow bread to rest in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert the pan to release the bread. Let the bread cool on a cooling rack. You can serve this bread warm, though it will slice better when it’s completely cool after about an hour and a half.