"I make cookies - I make soup - at the same damn time" (Future Voice)

So, today was a busy day. I made sugar cookies for one of my co-workers whose daughter is having her first communion - AND - John is sick, so I had to make him homemade chicken noodle soup.

The cookies were an interesting task- cross-shaped sugar cookies with edible glitter. They look...rustic- yep, rustic. They taste really good- and that's what really matters, right? I had to figure out that cookie frosting and cookie glitter must be treated just like Elmer's Glue and paper glitter- thin layer of cookie frosting, shake on the glitter- shake off the excess. Pics are below. Keep scrolling for the soup.

The Crosses were really interesting to work with

The Pink Ones

Packaged and ready to go

Now, for the soup. I made my own stock by boiling four chicken thighs, four carrots, four stalks of celery, 1 small onion, 2 cloves of garlic, fresh dill, rosemary (from my garden on deck), thyme (from my garden on deck) pink and green peppercorns, bay leaves, and salt. After about an hour and a half- there wasn't a whole lot remaining, but what was remaining was delicious! I pulled all of the veggies out, shredded the chicken, added some sautéed carrots and celery, leftover bowtie pasta, pepper and a little garlic salt. It was soooo good and John loved it! He should be feeling better soon!

All of this

Cooked down to this

And this was completely fantastic!

Spaghetti Night doesn't have to suck

So tonight, I made spaghetti - well, it was actually bow tie pasta. Instead of the heavy ground beef or turkey, I made it meatless with a lot of flavor. It's almost not blog worthy because it was so simple and I did not make the sauce completely from scratch. I started with store-bought, organic marinara. I added basil, (picked fresh from my "garden on deck"), crushed pink and green peppercorns, fresh Parmesan, and garlic salt (I know - I know - I only added a little). It took about 20 minutes from start to finish. It was delicious, meat-free and once again- a score with John. We didn't miss the meat- we added a light Caesar salad and it was a wonderful and quick dinner. This is what its all about.

The ingredients

My bowl of spaghetti

My real man ate quiche

So, tonight I decided to make quiche. It was spinach, mushroom, caramelized onion and bacon (turkey bacon) quiche. Honestly, it needed more egg, but it was delicious - and John liked it - Bam! They say that real men don't each quiche - but my real man loved it! Check out the pics - next time I'll use more egg. Will work on it again soon.

The Ingredients

The Filling - I added some sour cream later

Before baking

Fresh from the oven

Pinkberry - The new crack

So, today I went to Phipps in Buckhead. Whenever I am on the north side, I must eat or shop at a place that only sets up shop on the north side. Today's treat was pinkberry - frozen (soft-serve) yogurt. They let you taste this wonderfulness before you make your final selection. I tried the salted caramel first, it was delicious, but I wanted something fruity. I looked up and saw their new summer flavor- Peach. After tasting this amazingly refreshing flavor, pinkberry became a need. I ordered a small peach pinkberry with fresh peach and mango - I immediately regret ordering the small. This stuff is awesome. It was tart and sweet and really peachy- and the fruit was not previously frozen. It was delightful, and a small is only around 165 calories! If you have not tried it, find one close at www.pinkberry.com

Oh yeah, then I got home and realized I needed to cook something. I had some fresh green beans and fresh corn - so it was gonna be a vegan dinner. I cooked the green beans on a foil-lined cookie sheet, in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Try it- they taste like candy.

I had some brown rice too (I know rice and corn is bad- but at least I had green veggies). Anyway, the pics are below in case you wanna try the roasted green beans. Holla!!!

Pound Cake Ain't Posed To Be Pretty

So, today I slammed my thumb in the trunk- it hurt like crazy, but I still managed to bake tonight.

Baked Buttermilk Pound Cake - 2 Loaves (see pics below). I pondered for a long time on how to make the pound cakes pretty and dainty like the cupcakes, then I realized - pound cake isn't meant to be cute. Yes, it should look appetizing and nice, but no pink frosting, no sanding sugar, no gum paste flowers, no fondant - no! Just good old fashioned butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, (beat in one at a time), flour, and this time- buttermilk. Give it a good glaze and as long as it tastes like someone's mama or grandma made it- you are successful. Let's hope both my teammate and my very thoughtful parent like these - not so cute - but tasty cakes.

Cupcakes - Disaster and Triumph / Better Fast Food Choices

So, today I baked cupcakes for one of my co-worker's - 12 chocolate and 12 vanilla. They turned out great - in the end.

I started the morning reading Good Housekeeping and drinking a vanilla chai tea smoothie (I am not supposed to drink this because its made with soy milk and soy protein - but it tasted really good). I would suggest drinking this stuff as a meal replacement - there is 340 calories in one bottle and that is enough for a meal - not a drink.

Check the fast food facts from good housekeeping - and the delicious drink. Keep scrolling for the cupcake drama.

So, here are the first batch of vanilla cupcakes - the batter and the finished product. You can see the disaster. I over-filled the pan and the recipe was bad for cupcakes - way too crumbly. I didn't use a Martha Stewart recipe, so its my own fault. Its OK to laugh.

I obviously had to re-bake the cupcakes - and I didn't take pictures of the new ones without frosting.

The chocolate cakes - both cupcake and frosting - turned out great. The pink butter cream frosting for the new vanilla cupcakes was so sweet - it tasted like a cotton candy nightmare. The original picture is below. I ended up mixing the original pink vanilla butter cream with some left over cream cheese frosting and it was great. Here are the pics of everything. I hope my co-worker's daughter loves them.

This is the cotton candy sweet butter cream - ewww



These are the cupcakes with the butter cream / cream cheese frosting mix. This frosting was great!

 I still need to bake more, but I just have to finish tomorrow - I gotta go to bed now. Good night!



Cupcakes In A Jar and Sugar Scrub

What is it? Cupcakes in a Jar. I saw this on the Cooking Channel and decided to make them for Mother's Day Gifts. Unfortunately, my mother has not moved to Atlanta yet (I'm still hoping), so she didn't get any of these treats (I sent her a treat that wouldn't break or melt in it's travel from Atlanta to Detroit).

How do you do it? You make red velvet cupcakes - then you cut them in half - and layer them in a jar with frosting and pecans (At least that's what I did). The idea came from Yummy Cupcakes - some bakery - somewhere in another state. They didn't do red velvet, but this is the South and EVERYONE loves red velvet. I added a chocolate chip pecan cookie - to make it cuter. Lets hope this (And the sugar scrup - just keep scrolling down for that one) goes over well at today's Mother's Day cook out.

What is it? Homemade Sugar Scrub. Its a great, natural exfoliant for the hands and feet. Its easy, affordable and everyone likes it.

How do you do it? Mix 1 part oil to 2 parts sugar. You can use brown sugar or white sugar - I used white. Add drops of your favorite essential oil or soap fragrance, and if you want color - add soap / scrub dye (You can find this at the Hobby Lobby). Make sure to put it in a glass jar - its oil so it will not hold up in anything else. I made vanilla (yellow), Japanese Lotus Flower (Pink) and Honey Almond (Blue)

So I started a food blog

So, I will try to make this blog as simple as possible - cooking (sometimes with John and I on video), making gifts, and having a little something extra to say every now and then. That is all.