I've been a slacker and not posted in quiet a while... I will blame the busy holidays! Here is a cake I did today for some people in our ward. It was a white almond cake with a cream cheese raspberry chocolate chunk filling. it was tasty and coinsidering I'm dealing with my second case of Mastitis with in two months...it turned out well. The cake topper was made by the aunt of the bride.

We had a wonderful Halloween party with friends, complete with carnival games and spooky food. The kids thought it was great and couldn't believe the food.

                                         we had Mummy pizza's and Mummy pigs in a blanket

 Jack o'latern cheese ball and witches finger breadsticks( Next time I will make the dough myself rather than store bought dough and allow myself more time to really get them finger like)

 And candy corn rice crispies and witches hat cookies. also not pictured were the spidered deviled eggs and spooky hand punch.

It was great fun and we look forward to more holiday fun in the upcoming months.

Made this for dinner lastnight and Darwin said he would be happy if I made this meal once a week, and the kids ate it so I guess it is a keeper! It was pretty good. Now you might have noticed that I seem to always change at least something to each recipe I find. I always like to change it a bit to make it my own, so I did switch it up alittle bit, added a few more seasonings, Here is the link to the orginal recipe http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/2011/10/crispy-cheddar-chicken.html But this is what I did...

Chicken:
8 large chicken breasts

2 sleeves Ritz crackers
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder 

2 C milk
1 tsp cayenne
1tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 T garlic powder

4 C cheddar cheese, grated
fresh parsley
Sauce:
1 14 ounce can cream of chicken soup
4 T sour cream
2 T butter
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley
1/4 tsp thyme
Milk as needed to thin out sauce

Combine the Milk, with the cayenne, salt, pepper and garlic powder for about a half hour. place ritz crackers in a food processor and pluse till fine, add salt, pepper, garlic and onion. In another dish combine the cheese and parsley. Remove the chicken from the milk and place into the cheese, pat cheese on each side, then coat with the ritz crackers, and place on a baking sheet. Bake the chicken at 350` for about 40 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked. Meanwhile prepare the sauce, in a sauce pot combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer. Season as needed with salt and pepper and if you want a thinner sauce as as much milk as needed. Top the chicken with the sauce.





Then this is a picture of the wedding cake I did for Devin and Emily's wedding, that was the day before I had Carter....the top three layers are a combo of styrofoam and rice crispy treats....They ordered sheet cakes for the rest of the the guest and the wedding cake was just to serve the wedding party...I won't do that one again. Working with the styrofoam was such a pain! Thank heaven's for my Dear friend Michelle who was a life saver and helped SO much with this cake, not only did she provide me with a house to do the cake in but she did so much as my large baby belly continued to get in the way. For future reference I will NOT do wedding cakes when I'm nine months pregnant! overall it turned out good, however this picture shows the bottom teir strip is not level and I must admit as I look at it even now it is DRIVING ME NUTS! oh well. I just got hired to do my first cake in Lakeview too, a wedding in December, with cake to serve 100, buttercream and simple decorations, should be great!

So life has been a little more than just plain right crazy and thus the blog and me cooking took a back burner. Since my last post, I've done a wedding cake, while 9 months pregnant, had said baby, the day after the wedding and then spent 8 days in the NICU, got home and have been adjusting to life with five children all six and under! I'll post pictures of the wedding cake in the next post, we are so glad that Devin and Emily finally made it official and she is now part of our family!
Anyhow, this beautiful and oh so scrumptious picture above was of an experiment of mine and let me just say it was beyond a success, it was so yummy and we will definitely do it again as the possibilities are endless.

For a quick easy dessert all you need is
Cake mix of your choice (I used chocolate) prepared according to directions on box
strawberries, sliced and sweetened with a bit of sugar
vanilla ice cream
chocolate syrup
waffle maker

yep waffle maker, fill your waffle maker with the cake batter and cook till done. immediately top with strawberries and ice cream and syrup! You will have a quick and simple dessert that will be sure to dazzle your guests! And it is SO good!

Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta

It has been SO hot lately I dread cooking, I now strange huh? Normally I love it and Look forward to making dinner...perhaps it is my growing belly that is making me miserably hot or the fact that my house doesn't cool off the way I would like it to...whatever it is my inspiration to cook has vanished. Plus the summer is supposed to be full of BBQ dinners...our BBQ isn't working. I think something must have gotten disconnected in the move because I can't get it hotter than 200`...alas the minimal cooking dinners.
I really didn't want the oven on so I decided to make a pasta dish and it was SO yummy!  Here is the recipe and let me tell you it is a GOOD ONE!

4 boneless skinless Chicken breast
2 T minced garlic divided
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
bunch of fresh basil + 1 T fresh basil minced
3 T olive oil
1/4 onion
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 box penne pasta, cooked al dente

Heat a bit of oil in a saute pan and add the garlic and 1 T basil, add the chicken and cook till complete. Set aside.
In a food processor or blender make the pesto. Add the tomatoes, bunch of basil, remaing garlic, onion, cheese and oil. Blend well, if too dry add more oil if too wet you can add more tomato, basil or onion. Season with salt and pepper. Slice the chicken breast, and add to the hot cooked pasta. Add pesto and toss well. Toss with a bit more cheese if liked and serve hot.
Simple easy and so good!

Denver's Birthday

So my next post was gonna be on a friend..but she has yet to give me a recipe she wants posted so... I'll move on to other events in our lives. Denver my first born and oldest son is HOLY COW six! No way where did the time go? We went to the Oregon coast for his birthday because he wanted to be on the beach for his birthday so we went. It was a fast but fun trip... for the cake oh the cake... ugh he wanted Buzz lightyear. So about a week before we left I shaped and carved Buzz out of rice krispies thinking that'd be the best way to do it and then we would just do the Alein Cupcakes there for the cake part... hahaha, well the day before we leave I'm working on Buzz putting the fondant on him and I have to go and rescue a screaming child...Emery I believe. I return to the kitchen to find Buzz on the floor demolished and Parker looking guilty. He swears he didn't touch him and that he just fell... Oh well so I frantically start thinking what to do. I baked an extra cake and made half of Buzz out of cupcakes, and packed up everythign else for the road trip... well cake doesn't travel well and it was rough, but overall it turned out okay and the six year old LOVED it which lets face it is all that matters!

Friends...

We have finally made the move to Lakeview and although I'm thrilled beyond thrilled to be here with Darwin, to be a family again, it was really hard for me to leave the wonderful friends that I had in Burns. I decided I would do a few posts highlighting a few of those friends and the wonderful cooks that they are!

So first off, they are in NO particular order and I love them all equally and will miss them all DESPERATELY! Rebecca is first mainly because she is the first one to respond and return a recipe to me!

Now I've only know Rebecca for a year or so but we became fast friends! It always helps too when you have kids the same age! Her son Luke is Denver's Buddy! Rebecca is one of the kindest people I've ever met. Before she officailly moved to Burns we were "becoming friends" over facebook, before she even moved here she was offering to help watch kids and planning play dates! She has always been there when I needed help or a meal. She was a lifesaver during my recovering through appendictus! She is an amazing mother and I'm sure wife but I can't testify to that one myself ;) Her kids are the sweetest and such a good example of well behaved children!  Oh and since this is a recipe blog I should mention she is a GREAT cook. She makes this spinach dip that I kid you not I crave at ALL hours of the night this pregnancy...and now you all can try it and love it and crave it too!

Spinach Dip
1/2 cup mayo
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1 pkg Rance dressing mix
1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 or 4 cups fresh spinach chopped

combine all and serve cold with crackers.

Thanks Rebecca for being such a Great friend!