Sunday, July 26, 2009

Wedding Waiting

CAUTION: THIS POST MIGHT CAUSE DROOLING. POSTER WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED TO ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT SUCH AS BUT NOT LIMITED TO CELL PHONES AND KEYBOARDS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

At this exact time in 45 days, I will be a changed woman. I will have just finished pledging my love to the very special man in my life. I will probably be having my picture taken while wondering when we can go inside and eat, drink, and be merry...

These past few months have just flown by, and as our big day rapidly approaches, I'm trying to tie up all loose ends and figure out exactly what's left to do. Somehow, that always circles back around to food. ;-)

I've recently tried a few recipes that have to do with our upcoming nuptials. One was a pumpkin spice cake with a white chocolate glaze. The other was a sugar free oatmeal cookie.

The spice cake was done in order to sample something for one of our cake layers. A good friend of ours, Cortney, will be making the cake for us, and she sent me the recipe to try out.

Oh.
My.
Goodness.

Delicious.

Extremely simple (you even get to start out with a --GASP-- box cake mix. I know, a lot of people frown on that, but I say, if it tastes good, why the heck not?? So here's the recipe!

White Chip Pumpkin Spice Cake

Ingredients:

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan.

COMBINE cake mix, eggs, pumpkin, evaporated milk and vegetable oil in large mixer bowl. Beat at low speed until moistened. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes; stir in morsels. Pour into prepared Bundt pan.

BAKE for 40 to 45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 25 minutes; invert onto wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle half of glaze over cake; serve with remaining glaze.


FOR WHITE CHIP CINNAMON GLAZE:
HEAT
3 tablespoons CARNATION Evaporated Milk in small, heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat just to a boil; remove from heat. Add 1 cup (6 oz.) NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Premier White Morsels; stir u
ntil smooth. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

No, seriously. It's that easy! I'm sure you could easily adapt it to cupcakes or mini bundt cakes or rounds or whatever you fancy. Just finagle the timing. I wanted to taste it at its best, so I stayed with the bundt pan.







Yes folks, that's right. So good I had to show you twice.

This was gone after a day.

What's that? You STILL want more? Well Ok...

Several guests invited to the wedding will be from out of town. We've decided to put together some OOT gift bags (Out Of Town) to place in their hotel rooms so they have something nice. We'll have practical things like tissues, pain killers, bottled water, pen and paper, and a few other odds and ends... We will ALSO have a few it

ems I've opted to include, in order to hit them where it really counts-- their stomachs! I'd like to put some tasty treats in their bags, like muffins or cookies and cake balls. I haven't quite decided what all I want to make, but I do have several ideas. One in particular involves my fiance's mom. She's diabetic, but loves oatmeal cookies! Y'know, the ones you buy at the store with icing drizzled on top? So I searched and searched for a recipe to try, and I finally decided on one. Sugar free oatmeal cookies.

It called for a lot of ingrediants, but nearly everything I already had at home! I'm sure a lot of people already have all the necissary items. The only two things I had to purchase were wheat flour and oatmeal.


Here's a line up of all my ingrediants:



(minus the vanilla extract, which for some reason was a little camera shy and snuck out of my picture)

And here's the result!

They're nothing at all like I'd imagined, but they're super tasty! I understood after they were made as to why I needed all those spices. It really gave it a nice flavor. Of course, it wasn't very sweet because it was lacking sugar, but the vanilla and the apple sauce turned out to be just enough. The consistency was what really surprised me. The texture was definitely more of a cake than a cookie. I'm not really learned on the science behind the food, so I'm not quite sure why it was like that, but it was certainly still tasty. And anyway, I might just decide to start marketing "cakies" and make me a fortune! ;-)

Chickening Out

Sadly, I haven't been cooking a lot lately. I'm gearing up to become a Mrs, and in doing so, I've been trying to cut out all the delicious foods in which I was previously enjoying, in order to not only be a little healthier, but to ensure I will still fit into my beautiful gown!

I'd like to think that everything has a silver lining if you look for it long enough... In this case, it's this: Cutting out the constant baking and cooking will give me a chance to catch up on my posts! I've done a few things since Bryan's birthday, and I have nothing to show for it!

Here's a tasty plate I made a few months ago that is guaranteed to tickle your palette and warm your belly.

Kaytucky Chicken



Crash Hot Potatoes



mmmm... stuffed, breaded chicken breast (cream cheese, green onion, italian cheeses, bacon, red pepper flakes, parsley, garlic) with corn, tomatoes, and "crash" potatoes. the original recipe for the chicken called for pastry shells instead of breading for the outside... i couldn't find any pastry shells, which is why i breaded them instead. they were still delicious! a couple nights later i ran across shells, so i made them again. didn't get pics of the second batch... but i must say they're better with the shells. the potatoes are amazing-- crunchy on the outside, mushy on the inside. topped with olive oil, fresh rosemary, and some italian cheese.

Follow the links for the original recipes!


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