Rainbowlicious.....Muffin Style

 

We Love Rainbows.

I've been wanting to try these Rainbow Cupcakes

{Rainbow pancakes are next}.

So we did.

They came out really Fantastic looking...

I didn't even frost them because I didn't want to hide any of the CoLoR~

we got lots of compliments on them.

 

Gather your supplies:

White Cake Mix

Food CoLoRing

Six Bowls

Muffin / Cupcake pan

Mix the cake mix per instructions.

USE THE EGG WHITE ONLY!!!

if you add the Yolk,

it makes the batter yellow

and your colors will be off.

I used a measuring cup

to equally divide the batter into the bowls.

It worked out to approx. 3/4 cup of batter 

in each bowl.

Start coloring to your desired shade or satisfaction.

Once you have done that,

start layering in your pan.

 I used a Muffin pan for 2 reasons:

1} The bigger size yields a better Rainbow

2} 6 Muffins will disappear quicker than 12 Cupcakes

and yes, I used the old

ROY G BIV

to make sure I was layering correctly!

{obviously, the Purple is IV}

Bake

Cool

Viola!

it just makes me so damn Happy.

TarT Class

What a Wonderful way to spend the Day! 

I've always been interested in Pastry making/cooking.

Over the last several years, I've occasionally called around
locally for just a Pastry Class.

You always had to take the full Cooking Course {4 year program}.

Finally they came up with the 2 year Pastry program.

Then even Better than that.....wait for it: LEISURE Classes!

What better way to learn some new stuff 

without the financial and time commitments 

needed for the full course. 

They average about $100 dollars a class, 

give or take a few dollars.  

Since I know a guy...I got a discount. 

Twice.

 

This particular class was on the Turkish Mother's Birthday 

{Happy Birthday Mom!}

so I treated Her also. 

Oh what a LoVeLy Day!

We prepared 1 Large Fruit TarT

and 4 Smaller TarTs of Various Stuff.

I forgot to get a picture of the Fruit TarT

{not a fan of Fruit TarT so I gave it to Eleanor}

The Mini Tarts were actually easier than the big one.
I'm definitely a Fan now.

This is what we made:

Apple Bourdalou 
{this was my favorite}

Chocolate TarT

Linzer TarT

These were Delish! 

The Blu Man wiped them out in two days!
I did manage to get half the Apple one.
We were able to keep the extra dough, so I can remake them.

This was the German Chocolate TarT which was really Tasty

but we used the wrong type dough so it fell apart. 

This was a mini HoHo Holiday...

Family, Food, Fun

{the 3 most important rules and criteria for a proper Holiday}

 If you're looking to try something new and broaden your horizons,

look up your local Culinary school and see what they have to offer.

now I can cook allll Faaaancy!

I'm so Baked!

The last few weeks have seen a flurry of flour power as I have been baking up a storm.

Cheesecake brownies,

Apple cake

Caramel Apples
Persimmon and Walnut Bread

Pineapple Upside down cake

 and we haven't even hit Thanksgiving yet!

Homemade AppLe Sauce

 Well, color me Red, and Golden and Sweet.....
call me Apple.

Although our weather is still
in the summer temps! ...Srsly!

The Womb Fruits and I wanted to make Applesauce.

We picked up a bunch of really nice fruit
from the Fruit Stand on Saturday,

and I chose Gala apples for the applesauce.

I've been wanting an excuse to use
my new pressure cooker 

I was given for my birthday last April, 

and this is as perfect an excuse.

Applesauce is so verra easy.

6 apples ~ Gala {or your choice}

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Cardamon 

I peeled, cored, sliced the Apples.

Put in the pressure cooker

and add the rest of your ingredients.

Lock the pressure cooker,

place Knobble on lid,

and place on high heat.

When the steam sets the Knobble to 

a steady rock and roll,

turn your heat down to medium/low heat.

If the Knobble stops rocking and rolling,

turn the heat back up.

When the Knobble starts, that's when you 

start your Cook Time.

FOLLOW YOUR PRESSURE COOKER'S INSTRUCTIONS!!!

CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION!

After the cook time was done,

I de~pressurized it, by lifting the knobble

with a long utensil and then unlocked the lid.

I let the Applesauce simmer for about

10 minutes to cook off the extra water.

It made about 2 cups of Applesauce,

and it was gone in one sitting!

Next time I will try less sugar, 

it did tend to get that syrup ring

around it when it settled in the bowl.

The taste was Wonderful!!!

Next up, on the cOOking front..

Candy Apples!

The Big Dinner

We always try to have one The Big Dinner 

when we do road tripps.  

Sometimes, it's a Restaurant, Sometimes, it's cOOking.

Since we had a full kitchen I was in the mood to cook it.

A full on Roast Beef Dinner

I love to cook roast, its just that I hardly do.

I like Sirloin Tip roast best, 
but any beef roast will do.
As with most all of the meat I cook, 
I use very simple Spices.

For the Roast, I use:
Salt
PePPer
Garlic ~ fresh or powdered
Onion ~ diced or little strips
Water ~ about 1 cup


Tin Foil
Roasting pan or dish
*****
Puncture the Roast all over, place some cloves of Garlic in a few. Throw the Onions and rest of the Garlic into the pan, 
add the water, cover with Tin Foil.
 









I cook my Roast on a low temperature, 
around *250/300 degrees 
for approximately 45 mins to an hour. 
Adjust yours to the size of your roast 
and the temperature of your oven.
Take the Tin Foil off 
and turn temperature up to around *350,
finish cooking for another 30 ~ 40 minutes, 
basting a couple of times.
Test the Roast. 
I cut the center to see, and go from there. 
We like med!rare at our humble abode.





The Sides
*****
Yams ~ I just opened the can, put in pot, added a touch of salt,
a sprinkle of sugar and cooked on a low heat til heated through.

Peas ~ a couple of pieces of butter; 
cook til heated through. 









Rice ~ long grain.
Cooked for about 20 mins and then allowed 
to "steam" with towel placed on top
MAKE SURE BURNER IS OFF!!!!!

And of course, I~have~conquered~the~gravy Gravy.

This time I decided to try a canned store bought Beef broth

which worked technically, but wasn't anywhere NEAR the prize 

you get when you use  
the Broth & Drippings from the actual meat.

It was still delicious; just had to flavor it up more.

Who is that guy?

Add drinks,

Bread,

Cherry Clafouti for Dessert

and you truly have The Big Dinner!

The only sound was the clinking and tinkling

of Silverware against China.

Is there a better compliment?

Birthday Treats

Monty Python Birth Sketch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arCITMfxvEc

yes, on this great day back in the great year of 1967, 

Little KeLLy Ann came into this world, 

a bit after Midnight and eager to start the Adventure. 

And what an Adventure. 

Here we are 43 years later, and I see how I've grown 

passing things on to My Children...Tradition.

My oh so CooL Family gave me these two really beautiful plants.

Our local grocer had them, and I fell for those colors.

Loropetalum {pink}

and

Kerria Japonica {yellow}

 

I've planted them by the front door in front of my studio window.

The Turkish Mother totally surprised Me 

by gifting me a new juicer { for all those Lemon Meringue Pies}

I cleaned up and donated my old juicer to Goodwill.

and much to my LoVeLy Delight: my very own pressure cooker.

I'm forever stealing hers to make applesauce, and then forgetting to bring it back. oops....problem solved. 

 

come on autumn!

Those big ass eclairs I asked for, and I was gracious enough to share. 

They are from my favorite bakery.  

It was a great day....again! "}

Happy Day of Thanks, and I have conquered the gravy.....

 

 Happy Thanksgiving, pEEps.

Yes yes, it has been quiet exhilirating....

I conquered the Gravy.

After many years,

and 

many attempts

I did it!

It wasn't burnt!

It didn't taste like flour!

IT WASN'T ENOUGH!

But now that I can make it..

I am also responsible for the bigg~ass Turkey {so bigg it deserves two G's}

That roasting pan is the one My MoM has used 
for as long as I can remember.
Now it's Mine.






Even though I never actually had My grandmother's recipe for it,
I know She always used the giblets in Her Cornbread dressing.
Lucky for Me, years ago I found a recipe on~line, and I would
swear that it was Hers. The aroma that fills the house just putting
the Ingredients together is worth the gazillion ingredients that go in it!

In addition to the tradition of Lemon Meringue Pies

{another passed on by MoM}

I was in an AppLe mOOd.
AppLe Cake was in order.

The recipe I used is from this cookbook.

I should be posting it in a later best selling tell all...

ok, not a tell all, just a blog post.

With the extra apples, I added an AppLe CriSp to the boo~feh.

Raves!

All in all, it was a grand day out!

PeRSiMMoNs

PersiMMons.

Now that I understand the Persimmon, lol,...........





I'm not sure how many of You have ever actually tried a Persimmon, but I tried one for the first time today.

What a Wonderful Surprise!

It has this warm, subtle spicy, Vanilla taste.

My Vietnamese neighbor across the strEEt, brings them to Me
(he's always bringing us fruits and vegatables that He grows Him Self,
as weLL as the pLants to grow)

The Persimmon fruits that He brings are of the Hachiya variety.

They are VERY astringent, and I can testify from personal experience that yes, biting into an unripe Hachiya is, as I read somewhere, like drinking a cup of tea made with six bags!

Talk about instant dry mouth!
Blech!

But, then this wonderful, amazing thing haPPens, .............it Ripens!
It gets all squishy, like an over ripe tomato, (they haPPen to look like a tomato too)

I'm not sure if you can see how the Persimmons on the left are darker than the right (pic at top)
but those are the ripe ones.

And You think, No way!
Yes Way!
You split the skin and can scOOp the inside out with a spOOn and eat it, just like that.
YummY.

What I did was set them out on a plate, on Their tops, as They ripened I would move Them to another plate with a bowl on top (to keep those nasty fruit flies off). They all ripened pretty quickly and mostly together.

Look at that Beautiful pattern on the inside.

(Sigh) I'm a sucker for Natural Beauty in Things............

When I had a plate full of ripened ready PeRSiMMoNs,
I cut Them in half, ScOOped Them out,

and put them in a tupperware to store in the frEEzer.
That way I have plenty of PuLP to use in any recipe.

I'm for sure going to make a PuDDing, and there was a Persimmon Walnut bread I want to try.

Here's to New Things.
ChEErs!

cOOking

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Upside-Down-Pear-Chocolate-Cake-354975?mbid=rss_epinr

Ok, well, we have had consistent rain for a week now, so I haven't goTTen any gOOd pics of Me Decorations...

and then, the Brand New BaTTeries I put in the camera, are drained, again!
Even though I haven't taken any pictures. So, alas, I am pulling off the internet.
Saw this recipe on Yahoo and thought, hmmm, that lOOks really great.
One of my favorite cakes to cOOk is Pineapple Upside Down Cake (my dad's fave, .....damn, miss him)
This looks like a really nice variation to try.

Since I'm heading to Whole Paychecks, I mean, Whole Foods later,
I will add some pears to my list.