what's for dinner wednesday :: lemon filled cupcakes

It's not a secret that I love to cook. I think it stems mostly from the fact that I like to eat good food! I also like the fact that it's somewhat of a creative process so even if I'm not getting any sewing/crafting/decorating in, I can always be creative in the kitchen! 

I also like the idea of themed posts - so by no means am I turning into a food-blogger but I am going to start posting food posts on Wednesdays! A bunch of us on instagram have been tagging our dinner prep posts #itswhatsfordinner and it's a fun and inspiring hashtag to follow when looking for dinner ideas! I won't always share dinner recipes on what's for dinner wednesdays - but any kind of recipe! I just like the alliteration effect - hahaha! So first up will be these delicious cupcakes that I made the other day! 

I had leftover lemon curd from the wedding cake I made for my sister-in-law's wedding and needed some birthday treats for a girl in my class at church. You can find my lemon curd recipe in this post - it's delicious and good on so many things! (think crepes, crumpets, english muffins, toast, a spoon - and there's an idea for little tartes in that post too.) 

So here's how I filled them! I cut out a little cone shaped hole in the middle of each cupcake and set the middles aside (lining them up so I could match them back up with their corresponding cup). I also cut the pointy part off so there was just a thin, flat top for covering the filling. 

I then used my little cookie scoop (think mini ice cream scoop) and dropped a dollop of lemon curd in the hole - not quite reaching the top. 

Next, I put the tops back on trying to line them back up so they sat flush and not leaking out any filling.

  

And of course frosting on top! I started in the middle of the cake to kind of secure the edges of the top. They were delicious and I neglected to take any photos of them being eaten. Think hostess filled cupcakes 1,000,000 times better!

You can use any kind of cake mix and frosting. However, I do recommend a white or vanilla cake to pair with lemon filling - lemon cake mixes overshadow the awesomeness of the filling!

Here's what I used:
Duncan Hines white cake (substitue milk for water - makes for a bit denser moister cake)
Canned cream cheese frosting (I know! the horror! I could have made my own but I didn't have time)
1 recipe Lemon Curd

I hope you make these - or at least try the lemon curd - it's so easy and delicious!!

What are you cooking or baking today?

{amylouwho} bits and pieces

I feel like I have so many things to blog about!  I have some more things I want to share about The Sewing Summit and I've been on a project prepping spree!  But I'm feeling a little all over the place trying to pull things together!

This is what I look like all over the place.  WIPs, cutting several new projects at a time and scraps!

My kids are all home sick today.  It started with babylouwho on Friday, sisterlouwho following yesterday afternoon, with brotherlouwho getting hit with it last night. Late.  And mrlouwho is working long hours training for an upcoming deployment.  Good times.  

I decided today would be a sweatpants and slippers sort of day. And instead of wallowing in self pity (well maybe I will a bit), I'm getting to work.  I lysoled every hard surface in my house down yesterday, so I don't feel too bad about neglecting my floors.  And laundry.  And dirty dishes.

Sometimes the dirty dishes are worth it though - Apple Cake @ The Smitten Kitchen

I'm going to close the giveaway for Sara's bag tonight and announce the winner tomorrow!  Sara will be guest posting for Sew &Tell on Friday - I hear she's finishing up a quilt top!  I love reading your comments about your WIPs.  It's so fun to know there are so many out there working away too.

I'm glad to know that you liked the interview too! I'm planning on doing more of these types of things. I have a super fun sew & tell extravaganza planned for November 11 - I'll post the challenge this week!  Keep on the lookout.

Scraps I used to throw away.  Now I hoard them for mini quilts.

So what else?  I have a lot of blogging issues on my mind.  Like, I feel sort of lame for being pretty absent most of this year.  I really loved the sew & tell community that we had built and with everything I had going on last year it got to be too much for me to be able to connect with everyone the way I wanted to.  And now I'm afraid I was being too nit-picky about things, and I got super inconsistent.  Then there's the whole URL change thing - that was a real downer.  And then there are all of the amazing women and amazing blogs I discovered through sewing summit and sometimes I wonder - what am I doing trying to blog? I'm a total amateur!! I don't really do tutorials, I seem to make the same things over and over, I'm not really interested in making money off my blog, so what am I doing here? Showing off?  I certainly hope it doesn't come across that way.  When I really think about it, it's the people that I've met and the community that we have that keeps me coming back.  I also love that there is a cycle of creating, sharing and inspiring that goes on in our online sewing/crafting community.

So I really do hope you like coming here.  I appreciate your time when I know how busy we all are.  Thanks for sharing your goodness and talents with me every week.  I'm recommitting to be a better blogger/friend.  I hope you'll come back again soon.

I'd love to hear why you blog and the things you love about it. Do tell!

Sew & Tell + Bake/Cook & Tell - Thanksgiving edition!

After licking the beater, the bowl and spatula I was pretty sure this cheesecake was going to be good!  I had looked up recipes and found so many!
Like this one with chocolate chips.
The girls at Our Best Bites added carmeled pecans to theirs.
Of course Paula Deen has a version too (I almost did this one).
and AllRecipes had a marbled version.  (AllRecipes is a great resource for tried and true recipes!)

They are all almost the same base recipe - although a lot of them use a gingersnap crust.  I LOVE gingersnaps!  I ended up using the Pioneer Woman's because it was most like the lime almond cheesecake that I like to make.

PW's version has a layer of caramel sauce on the crust and then again on top of the cheesecake.  While that sounded good - it also sounded a little TOO sugary for me.  I like my cheesecake pretty unadulterated.  So I omitted all of the caramel steps, and followed Paula's lead and added a teaspoon of vanilla to the batter.

I'm not opposed to a little whipped cream though.  And maybe with a few crushed gingersnaps on top.  So much so, that the food stupor I was in after a delicious dinner, made it impossible to remember to take any pictures (PW has a nice one with the recipe though)!  It was good though - especially if you like pumpkin pie flavor, but not the texture of the pie (which I don't)!

Would you like to share a recipe today?  Or maybe you got some sewing done?
Remember:
1. Link to a specific post about a finish you had this week (don't just link to your blog, please!)

2. Mention and link back to this post so more peeps can join in the fun!  Please add a note about sew & tell . Now that we have a button this is super easy - you can just cut and paste the HTML from the link over there on the right sidebar!

3. Enjoy getting motivated and patting each other on the backs in the comments! This is what I find so fun about sew & tell - sharing and inspiring each other!

autumn colors and pumpkin bread turned muffins

This is my favorite tree in the fall.  I drive by it every day on the way out of my neighborhood.  I had to stop today and get a picture.

There are so many different colors in there - I just love it!

I bought this mum last spring.  After it bloomed and died I kind of neglected it for a while.  Then my mom suggested I put it in my flower bed.  It kind of just sat there all summer and early fall.  A couple of weeks ago the buds started coming out on it.

They really are pretty, unassuming little flowers.

I have yet to get my sewing area back in order.  I have a project I can do by hand for sew & tell tomorrow, but I'll keep it a secret.  Instead of sewing I've been baking today.  I used my SIL's (Laura) recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip bread and turned them into muffins (Go bug her to post her recipe and to finish her Amy Butler yoga bag for sew & tell this week!)

But let's be serious.  They aren't muffins - they're cupcakes.

Especially when you make pumpkin cream cheese icing to put on top.

And I'm perfectly okay with that.

You can pretty much use any pumpkin bread recipe.  Mine made 12 regular sized muffins (20 minutes @ 350), 1 mini muffin pan full (13 minutes @ 350), and two smaller loaves (probably should have been 3.... still trying to bake through the middle, it's been 45 min.  Final time: 50 min.)

I had some pumpkin cream cheese from the deli and added a little butter and powdered sugar to make the icing.  Delish.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Icing
1/3 C pumpkin cream cheese (whipped or softened)
2 Tbsp melted butter (makes for easy hand blending, no hand mixer required)
1/3 C powdered sugar
dash or more cinnamon
Blend together with a fork and dip mini cupcakes directly into bowl and eat immediately spread on cooled cupcakes.

sewing-fest 2009 comes to an end.

My mom left today. It was very sad. I thoroughly enjoyed having her here. We were so productive!! And the kids loved having someone else to read them bedtime stories. I'm boring now. My daughter kept saying, "but we want Grandma Suzie to stay with us!" Amen.

Between stories and outings and eating and trips to the fabric store, we managed to get a lot of sewing done! I got my quilt-along top put together. I really like it! I sent a picture of it to my husband and his comment was, "it's really colorful. And it looks like a lot of work." Well, it was! Thank you for noticing!

I'm sure he will love it come winter and we are watching a movie on the couch and he gets cold.

I finally got a bag made for my mom - It was about time!! Part of the problem was fabric selection. Once she got here and saw this in my stash it was a no-brainer. Chez Posh by Moda. If she hadn't chosen it, I might have used it for myself!

And because she's my mom, I let her design a second set of interior pockets specially sized for her doo-dads.

You know you have a fabric problem when you load some to be washed and think, Hey! I need to take a picture of that! It looks so pretty! On second thought, maybe it's just a blogging problem I have....

I also made some delicious blueberry scones from Cook's Illustrated. They are delightful! Here are the blueberries ready to be shaped into the triangles of joy. There's some lemon zest in the dough, just in case you were wondering.

My mom loves to bird watch and so I thought I would get a feeder to see if I could get the cardinals to come and visit. The first cheap feeder I bought was destroyed by a squirrel within the first week. This is a squirrel-proof one that is really cool! The cage on the outside of the feeder is spring loaded so that when the squirrel gets on it his weight lowers the leaves to cover the feeding holes. Nifty!! And look at all the fun birds that I didn't know were my neighbors.

And this picture reminds me of the idea I had for my Notion or Two quilt!

More Sewing-fest 2009 pictures to come. You have to see the apron she made! (but I have to upload the pictures first.)

don't forget the nutella

I did it. I made some bread. I've baked bread before, but never with such success from the first try! That book I told you about, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, is revolutionary!! I read through the first few chapters, got an understanding of the theory behind the technique and tackled it on Saturday morning. By tackling it, I mean, taking the 4 ingredients and mixing them up in a bowl - about 5 minutes - and then I let it sit for a few hours. After another few minutes of shaping the loaf and letting it rest, I popped it in the oven and this is what came out!!

I am so happy with the crackling crust and chewy interior. I can't wait to try the rest of the recipes in the book.

And I'm serious. Don't forget the Nutella.



Do you want to add buying this book and baking some bread to you to-do list? Check out a cute and sassy to-do list template download at Heirloom Paperie. (if you love paper stuff - you will love this creative paper designer!)

good things #4-5 of 5

4. A Notion or Two quilting bee

These are all the blocks I've received so far. They are so adorable! The last ones are completed but I haven't gotten them yet - so you have to go to our photo pool on Flickr to see them. Or not. You can just wait until the whole thing is finished and I post it here. But really, do you want to wait THAT long?

5. Smitten Kitchen's Apple Cake

I made this recipe for Andrew's 1st birthday. It is so delicious!! If you need some inspiration in the kitchen Smitten Kitchen is the place to go.

good things #2-3 of 5

so maybe I'll post 2 today.


2. Garmin Nuvi 760 and Southwest Airlines and some random good person.

Remember my husband the excellent gift giver (see #1)? He gave me a Garmin GPS for Christmas. It's true I'm a gadget geek. And this thing is great. Not only does it tell me how to get places, but it answers my phone for me and reads my text messages! How cool is that?

To make a long story short, I took it with me to Utah and it fell out of my bag on the plane on our trip back and I didn't realize it until the next day. I called SWA lost and found 2 times the following few days with little hope that it would be returned. Then. THEN! The third time was the charm and someone had turned it in. And it just came in the mail today. and I AM SO HAPPY!!! I was literally sick about it. for days. Lesson learned: People are inherently good, don't love stuff - it just breaks or dissappears - but take care of what you do have, and even little prayers are answered. (I was so desperate I emailed Garmin to see if they would donate a couple to me - one to try out and one to give away. Ummm, it was a long shot and I haven't heard back. But if I do I'll be having one SWEET giveaway!)

So to help me in the future, I bought a dymo label maker so I can label all my belongings with the following: "I am mother of 2 small children. If you have found this it's because I can barely keep track of my mind let alone my personal items. I'm sure I will realize soon that this is missing and would appreciate a phone call to let me know I need to make arrangements to retrieve it. And maybe you could pick up a couple things at the store for me while you're out?"

3. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

One of my favorite blogs, Blue Yonder, has talked a lot about the quest for good homemade bread. She raved about this book and so I ordered myself a copy and it arrived today! I am so excited to get started! I'll let you know how it goes. They even have a web site if you want to learn more.

petite gateaux d'amandes

or petite almond cakes. They aren't really french - but I think desserts sound dressed up in French. They are probably more Scandinavian...

I made these yummy little cakes for Christmas eve. They aren't that difficult, but they are unique enough to have that allure of only having them certain times of the year. For some reason I have designated Christmas/New Year's as a time to make them.

It's a very dense almond cake - almost a pound cake. But you cook it in a sheet pan. Can you tell by the spreader how THICK the batter is?

I got the recipe from a good friend and great cook many years ago. You use almond paste (in a can or a tube) and I think it is the secret weapon.

Maybe mine seem suited for this time of year because I use a star cookie cutter to cut them out. But you could use any shape. I think my friend just used a small 1 1/2" circle. The leftover bits are great for trifle or shortcake type dessert too.

I was going to top them with lemon curd (delicious) but I thought I had some and didn't. Boo. So I dusted some with powdered sugar, others dolloped with a bit of strawberry jam (raspberry would be delightful as well). And some I just left au naturel.

Just trust me when I say it hard to eat just one.

Petite Almond Cakes
1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour, or 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. regular flour
1 8-oz can almond paste (Solo brand, or I used a danish paste that came in a little box with a tube of it inside)
1 1/4 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Grease and lightly flour 15x10x1 inch baking pan, set aside.
Sift the cake flour, set aside.
Crumble the almond paste into large mixing bowl.
Add sugar and 2 of the eggs. Beat 2 minutes.
Add butter and beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 3 minutes.
Add remaining eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition and scraping sides of bowl frequently.
Fold in flour.

Spread batter in pan. Bake 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes or until light brown. Cool. Cover cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Using a 1 1/2 inch round cookie cutter, cut out 54 cake rounds from chilled cake. Decorate as desired.

Decorating ideas:
*Orange buttercream frosting garnished with grated pistachios and mandarin orange segments.
*Chocolate buttercream frosting, garnished with shaved chocolate and chocolate dipped raisin or whole almond.
*White mountain frosting, topped with a sugared pansy.
*Pink mountain frosting, garnished with a pink rosebud.
*Lemon curd
*Fondant with toasted coconut.

looking for a last-minute neighbor gift?

When I was living with my parents after college my mom and I used to bake up a storm at Christmas. We'd make 5 or so different kinds of cookies and treats and deliver them to the neighbors. It was always so much fun! I loved my mom's kitchenaid and her big kitchen with counter space galore for the whole process.

Fast forward 5 *cough cough* or so years later and I don't have the space, time, or the energy. But I still wanted to do something edible (read: non-cluttery) and tasty. So I had a brainstorm of an idea! And without patting myself TOO hard on the back, I must say - I think it's a pretty good one. So good that I wanted to share.

a little backstory:
We love having a nice hot breakfast on the weekends when we have the luxury of a lazy morning. And we've been scarfing down some delicious whole wheat pancakes from a recipe my sister-in-law Christine gave me. To give the recipe credit, it started out as an imitation of some IHOP pancakes, but I think it's been varied enough to have become it's own entity.

I don't normally like pancakes, especially those of the gummy, dense, blah variety. But these are nutty and fluffy and soak up copious amounts of syrup (I'm a convert to the real stuff with nary a drop of high fructose corn syrup in sight). I think the secret is the Cream of Wheat. If I'd thought ahead I would have taken some pictures. . .but they disappeared to quickly.

Anyway, I thought this time of year with its slow mornings and family togetherness would provide ample opportunity and necessity for multiple breakfast options. So I made up my own pancake mixes and boxed them up with the recipe! All the recipients have to do is add the liquid ingredients and toppings of their choice!

The hardest part was growing and harvesting the wheat. Then I just called the little red hen to see if he would help me . . . okay I'm kidding. I did grind my own wheat, but it literally took minutes to

fill each bag,

print up the recipe:

Whole Wheat Country Griddle Cakes
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Instant Cream of Wheat
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or regular milk with 1 added tbsp of vinager or lemon juice for each cup milk)
1 egg
1/4 cup oil (or applesauce or a mixture of both)

Preheat a skillet over medium heat, spray with non-stick spray.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until all ingredients are wet.
Pour the batter by 1/3 cup portions onto the hot pan and cook.

Makes 8-10 large pancakes. Delicious ones.


and put it all in a cute box (dollar-bins at Target!).

It's fast for the giver. And convenient for the recipient. It's a win-win.

And in case I don't make it to your house - consider this my gift to you. Bon Appetit!

christmas is the best

and the busiest! Things have been so crazy around here. Along with shopping for birthday and Christmas gifts, ear infection visits to the doctor and pharmacy and a myriad of other errands and parties . . .

We've been doing a little decorating,

making more placemat pillows (I think I'm addicted),

this one is a microsuede, way too nice for food to be spilled on it! But perfect for a pillow. Plus I have a thing for snowflakes.

eating a little birthday cake with peppermint ice cream,

and maybe I had cake for breakfast this morning

visiting with Santa,

playing with those foam sticker thingies,

and exchanging hand-made gifts with friends.

My friend Megan gave me this little gem. She is so creative and fun! She raided my scraps and used some of my favorites! I love it so much! It will hang in my sewing corner forever (it really is just a corner - until we get to a house where I can have my own room).

Here' s a closer look:

Then she handed me another package and told me this was a gag gift. I opened it and saw Amy Butler paper and thought, "Huh? How can THIS be a gag gift?"

Click on the image to read what's written on the package.

Remember the dream I had? That Megan, she sure makes me laugh! What a great friend.

oh and I was wondering if anyone else finds that their definition of the 4 food groups changes this time of year. Here's mine:
M&Ms - mint chocolate and peanut
Clementines
Cheese balls and crackers
Cookies, cookies and more cookies (this is a whole different category than just cookies)

dairy fast, over!

About 7 months ago I had to cut dairy out of my diet to help my little guy's problem spitting up. Apparently the lactation consultants were wrong when they told me I could eat whatever I wanted and it wouldn't affect my milk. There was a direct correlation to the amount of dairy I ate and how much he spit up. I read that the protein from cow's milk can be found in human breastmilk and it's very hard for a lot babies to digest. They usually grow out of it by about 8 months - so I've slowly been adding dairy back in this last month and he's doing quite well and is even eating yogurt all on his own!

Well, maybe that's all a little too much back story just to lead up to a recipe I want to share with you. I knew one of the things I wanted to indulge in once I could, was a little cheesecake! I've decided that I don't really LOVE cheesecake, unless it's this recipe for Lime-Almond Cheesecake. I love the tartness of the lime with that hint of almond in the sour cream glaze. I'm always looking for a gathering to take this to - because if it were at my house I'm afraid I would eat all of it. By. my. self. (as a side note, I wish I were a food photographer. Then I would have all the equipment for taking gorgeous pictures at night in my poorly lit kitchen, oh well.)

This was a hit evidenced by the measley 5 slices that were left. One of which I ate on the way home.

I think the secret is to make it 3 days in advance and let it sit in the fridge. And resist the urge to eat it early. I found great instructions for slicing it too - I love google. This recipe is courtesy of my friend Lisa that I knew back when I just graduated from college. I've tweaked the crust part a little bit to solve some of the baking issues I had. And this time I lined the bottom with parchment paper which made removing it from the pan a breeze. Parchment paper holds a special place for the part of me that hates messy clean-up.

Lime Almond Cheesecake
Crust
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 C vanilla wafer cookie crumbs
Melt butter. Combine with crumbs and press into a 12" springform pan.

Filling
4 - 8oz. blocks cream cheese (I used the Neufchatel - 1/3 less fat - but still tasty!)
1 1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Lime juice (I used fresh squeezed)
pinch salt
4 large eggs
Whip cream cheese for 5 minutes (seriously, I set the timer, turn on my Kitchen Aid and juice the lime or empty the dishwasher or something while I wait).
Add sugar and whip 2 more minutes. Add lime juice and salt - blend thoroughly.
Add eggs one at a time on lowest speed of mixer just until eggs are incorporated into the batter. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes. Take out of oven and let rest 10 minutes while you prepare the glaze.

Sour Cream Glaze
2 C sour cream
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp pure almond extract

Mix together. Spread glaze over cheesecake - spreading to the edges (I used one of those offset handle spreading spatulas). Return cake to oven for 10 more minutes. Remove cake, cover and put it directly into the fridge.

Hints for making your cheesecake taste the best:

1. Prepare cheesecake 3 days in advance.
2. Remove cake from fridge one hour before serving.
3. Let the cake sit out for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

This would be a great holiday dessert offering for a large group. Oh yeah, I just remembered - if you have a hankering you can make a smaller batch. I halved the recipe once and made mini cheesecakes in my muffin pan. I just put a nilla wafer at the bottom of the muffin cup and then topped it with the filling. If I remember correctly I halved the baking time too. I can't remember if that made a dozen or a two..... They were just as delicious - plus they were smaller portions and finger food friendly.

Bon Apetit!!

Challenge update: My mom and I both got our workouts in today. Go us!!! Now let's go have some cheesecake!

going bananas!

So I was at the commissary the other day. We were woefully short on bananas. As I approached the banana stand I was sad to see that all the bananas were Christmas green. You know the ones I am talking about, they don't even stand a chance of ripening well. Upon further inspection I saw 2 suspicious looking paper bags also on the stand. "Hmm", I thought, "what is that?" Then I saw they were full of bananas, of the yellow variety. And there were A LOT of them. I was surprised that some of them even still had a little green on the stem. AND, they were only $2.00 for the entire bag. "WHAT??!" The green ones were .54/lb. I sat there scratching my head for several minutes wondering if it was worth the savings to take home THAT many bananas.

Here are some of the things that went through my head as I contemplated bringing them home:

• how many fruitflies are going to invade my house?
• will they go bad before I have time to use them?
  
• do I have enough freezer space to accommodate all of these?
• how many smoothies can I possibly eat?
• do I really like banana bread THAT much?
• (and follow up) do I need to buy chocolate chips?
• can I lift this bag?
• do I have a pet monkey?
• isn't there some sort of pie with bananas and nilla wafers?
• does someone I know have a pet monkey?
• is there a way to make fabric out of banana peels with which to make reusable shopping bags?

As you can see my bargain loving side won out. I wish I had weighed the bag when I got home. This picture was taken after several had already been eaten. I'm now pawning bananas off to my in-laws, neighbors, and 2 kids. And if you know me, and live close to me, I hope you like banana bread!

Unless you have another idea - anyone have any to-die for banana recipes? Have you ever seen anything like this?

my luck has not run out

This seriously is crazy. I just won another giveaway! Maybe these things just happen in 3s. And this one is from one of my favorite cooking blogs, Bakerella! It's a cookie book and I'm really excited to try out some of the recipes. So, lucky you, if you live near me. I will be needing taste testers!

Thanks, Bakerella! You made me smile today!

Robyn, seriously. We need to start a club.

***UPDATE: I just talked to my husband on the phone, and being the stats, economics, uber-logical thinker that he is figured out that the chances of this happening is like 1 in 2 million. WOW! Then he said next time I need to win something good - HELLO! all these things are awesome. He just doesn't understand the beauty of good soap, a way to keep your hair out of your face while washing, and fine cookie art. Well, he might understand the beauty of good cookies. I think he's just wishing Ed McMahon was knocking on our door. I just think he's funny.

Oh, and my friend Carla says it because I spend a LOT of time on the computer reading blogs.... she may have a point.***