Broccoli Cheese Pinwheels

One of my sorority sisters is a member of the Make Ahead Mommas.  This is small group of moms that get together and come up with great meal ideas that can be prepared in advance and frozen for future use.  AND, make meals that kids love to eat.

The "mommas" are gaining popularity and have been featured on local television shows.  This week they were on TV and had some fun kid-friendly recipes!  One was Broccoli Cheese Pinwheels and I knew this would be a hit with my kids.

We rolled out the pastry dough on to wax paper and B spread some olive oil mixed with chopped garlic.

 

Then we sprinkled some fresh broccoli that I had chopped in to small pieces.  Then we topped with about 1/3 to 1/2 cup each of mozzarella and parmesan  cheeses.

With the help of the wax paper, I rolled up the pinwheel and helped seal the long edge with a little water.  We then placed the log in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Slice the log in to 1 1/2" rounds and place on a cookie sheet and bake!

I served these yummy pinwheels alongside bbq'd salmon.  Everyone had at least one pinwheel... or two.

And in the November/Thanksgiving spirit, here is 'Tom the Turkey' that we had to disguise for B's school project.  Tom is now a football player!

Broccoli Pinwheels, courtesy of Make Ahead Mommas
1 package of puff pastry
½ cup thawed frozen broccoli, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
olive oil
mozzarella cheese, grated
parmesan cheese, grated

Thaw frozen puff pastry dough for 10 mins before using. Unwrap and delicately unfold. With a rolling pin and a little flour flatten dough.

Sprinkle with olive oil, minced garlic, broccoli, and cheeses. Gently roll up and place in freezer for 5-10 mins.

When ready to bake and serve, heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut in to 1 ½” disks and place on a cookie sheet, and place in oven for 15 mins or until nicely browned.

(If making for future use - cut in 1½" disks and place on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen, store in ziploc bags.)

Chocolate Cake with Rich Chocolate Frosting

For my family's get together today I made a cake that starts with a box of Devil's food cake mix.  The frosting took a little more effort, with almost 15 minutes of letting it mix in my stand mixer on medium speed.  That was a long time to wait and unfortunately, I wasn't a huge fan of the frosting result.  If you do want the recipe, please email me.  Otherwise I'd rather save recipe space for items I'd make again.

Always a bummer to not be blown away by a chocolate dessert.  Granted, the cake was perfect flavor and texture, and so rich I could only eat half a slice!  It was the frosting that sank this cake's chance.

Crayon Wall Art

Today is my birthday, so as a gift to myself I planned a fun art project to do with the kids.  I purchased a 12x16 art canvas and two boxes of crayons.

We laid the crayons down in our preferred order and then made sure we had enough to cover the length of the canvas.

I then glue gunned the crayons on to the canvas.  Blake handed me each crayon as I secured them. Team  work!

We then headed upstairs to our white, tiled bathroom and plugged the hairdryer in and turned it on hot and full power.

It took a few minutes to find the best method to melt the crayons.  I discovered that keeping the dryer on the hottest setting with the lowest blowing setting worked best.  We did splatter some crayon on to the floor, but to clean up I just aimed the hairdryer on the spots to heat them up and wiped with a kleenex.

Pretty cool artwork that will brighten up any room!

Meyer Limoncello and Lemon Curd

What do you get when you combine 18 meyer lemons worth of peel and a bottle of vodka?  Hopefully a very nice limoncello liquor in about 60-80 days!  I saw an article about limoncello and have always wanted to make some.  Due to the lengthy process, I had to make it today in hopes that it may potentially be ready in time for our Christmas Eve party. I seem to be good at finding 'must do now' projects.

I thought peeling the lemons would be a cinch.  Turns out you 'can't' have any white pith on the skin - just pure yellow.  This is a bit more work being so careful!

By the end of all these lemons I got pretty good at peeling in one continuous strip.

I divided my one 750ml bottle of vodka between 3 jars, then divided the peels evenly between jars.

Turns out I was able to fit all the peels and vodka in to two jars... So much for me dividing the lemon peels in to three pretty, little piles and weighing them (yes, I weighed them)...  The color of the peel in the jar is so vibrant, this picture doesn't do it justice.

I then placed the two jars in a dark and cool place and will check on them in 30 days! At that time, I'll add a sugar mix and another 750ml bottle of vodka and let it sit for another few weeks before giving it a try! Stay tuned and stay patient since this will be a long time in the making!

When I was done making liquor I realized I had 18 lemons remaining.  What to do, what to do!  And I was in the mood to make something with immediate return, instead of the 2-3 month torture of the vodka lemon mix.

I searched the internet for meyer lemon recipes and the one that kept coming up was meyer lemon curd.  The curd is imilar to a pudding and is spread on scones, pancakes, muffins, or used in tart-like desserts.

Eggs whisked in bowl.

Lemon juice heating up on stove.

Whisking sugar in to the eggs.

The eggs and lemon mixture on the stove.

Adding cream, vanilla and salt after mixture has been removed from stove.

Pressing the mixture through a strainer directly in to a jar.

The finished product is a gorgeous lemon yellow (no pun intended).  It's flavor is similar to a semi tart lemon pudding and is amazing on toast, pancakes, and scones.  You must give it a try - especially if you make a batch of limoncello!

Lemon Curd, courtesy of Cooks Illustrated
1/3c. lemon juice, from 2 lemons

2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled
1 Tbsp heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch table salt

Heat lemon juice in small nonreactive saucepan over medium heat until hot but not boiling. Whisk eggs and yolk in medium nonreactive bowl; gradually whisk in sugar. Whisking constantly, slowly pour hot lemon juice into eggs, then return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, until mixture registers 170 degrees on instant-read thermometer and is thick enough to cling to spoon, about 3 minutes (see photos, below).


Immediately remove pan from heat and stir in cold butter until incorporated; stir in cream, vanilla, and salt, then pour curd through fine-mesh strainer into small nonreactive bowl. Cover surface of curd directly with plastic wrap; refrigerate until needed.

Gelatin-mania

I think many of my friends think I have lost my marbles when I showed up to the tailgate with these jello shots.  A purple 'W' inside gold shots.  These were time consuming to make, but the end result was so cool! 

Jello just tastes better in the colors of purple and gold!

And what tailgate party is complete without a full bar and two different beer selections via keg?  My type of party! 

Tea for 2 (yr old)

Coming up with a theme for C's 2nd birthday party was easy.  She loves her tea set, and she loves to have 'hot tea' at her play table. So a 'Tea for 2' party is now in the works.  We're doing a very small party this year, so making fancy invites wasn't a big chore.

The tea party invite plays on the theme of tea... colorful tea cups and tea bags.  I chose a couple different paper patterns and cut out a tea cup shape - going on the idea of tea cup collections having different patterns.  Here are a few of my grandmother's tea cups in my office:

The completed tea party invitation:

The 'tea bag' insert pulls out of the cup to reveal the party details.

I'm excited to get to work on the other details! Stay tuned!

November Kid Activity

Want an easy and fun daily activity for your kids?  How about a turkey that gets one feather every day until Thanksgiving!  It takes a little cutting from mom or dad, colored contruction paper (black, brown, yellow, red, orange, and any colors you want for the feathers), and a glue stick.

Click on the below image to enlarge, and print on 8 1/2" x 11" paper or Click Here.

1. Choose a background color.  I used black so the turkey and it's feathers would stand out.

2. Cut out a turkey body from brown paper or a grocery bag (aim for a fat bowling pin shape). 

3. Cut two eyes out of black paper (or use a pen to make two round dots - even easier!).

4. Cut out a yellow or orange triangle for the beak and cut a tear drop shape from red paper for the wobbler.

5. Cut two feet out of orange paper.  I cut two 'U' shapes and then made some cuts to give the feet a webbed look.

6. Cut out a bunch of feathers, 24 to be exact since this year Thanksgiving is on the 24th of November.  I  folded a bunch of colored paper together and cut out long feather shapes.

7. Glue time!  First, glue down body by putting glue ONLY near the top of the head and on the bottom half of the body.  Stick to background.  You want to be able to stick 'feather's behing the turkey's body, thats why we left the neck and upper body area glue-free.

8. Now have your kids (or you!) glue on the beak, wobbler and feet.  Let dry and then tape to the wall or hang in a frame without the glass.

9. Each day during November have your child add a feather to the turkey.  You may need to add a bit of glue to the feather so they stick!  By the time Thanksgiving arrives, your turkey will have a full set of colorful feathers!

Another option... instead of cutting feathers out of colored paper, you can buy colored feathers from the craft store.