Craziness In The Kitchen

Today Hannah was making a trial run at this cake that she plans to take to some friends of ours over the holidays. OH MY!

First, she made the batter, no problem. She put the pans in the oven, set the timer and walked away. The timer went off, she opened the oven and it was cold! Someone had turned off the oven; I truly do not know who or how this happened. (that is my story and I am sticking with it) She was trying to work quickly to catch the little sun we have had to take pictures. See, this cake was also going to be a guest post on someone's blog.

She turns the oven on and lets it preheat and gets the cakes in the oven AGAIN. All good. They come out perfect.

She made the ganache for the filling last night and had it in the frig. That goes in the middle and it is time to make the icing...

OH my. It is a 7 minute icing if you have a hand mixer. We don't! So she has to hand mix it over boiling water. She enlists myself and her brother to take turns. It is now called the "15 minute icing' at our house.

Next I am asked to help with the icing of the cake except that the recipe didn't make enough to cover the whole cake. We are professionals here. No problem, we will ice half and she can shoot that side.

Well, that is all well and good except it becomes painfully obvious that she did not temper the chocolate correctly and the ganache is 'melting'. OH GOOD GRIEF!!!! On top of that this '15 minute' icing is getting marshmellowy and will not spread.

We decide to take the icing off and make a different icing. I tell Hannah to get busy with a new icing recipe and I will get the icing from hades off while trying to keep the ganache in!!! I finish and the cake looks like it has been attacked by a rabid baker with ganache oozing out like its life blood leaving it's battered body. (ok, a little dramatic, but you had to be there)

I throw the cake in the frig to try to save the filling. I open the door a couple of times just to taunt Hannah. Mean Mom!! She about falls over. Still no pictures of this lovely cake and the post is due to go to the blogger today.

After Hannah got the new batch of icing whipped up, she decides to take some of ganache from the middle. Can you say crazy??!! She grabs the top layer and the filling is running between her fingers. She is yelling at the dog to stop licking the floor and trying to keep the layer from breaking. Chaos!! But, she manages to pull it off.

The new icing was much better and we got it on the cake! She ran down stairs and got pictures and wrote her post. You can see it on her blog honeyandjam.com after Friday; it has to make is debut as a guest post first.

Here is another picture of the lovely, exhausting, bless our hearts cake!

Hannah made this wonderful Blood Orange Yogurt Cake for dinner tonight. This cake is amazing!!! It is one I would definitely recommend making. Lovely flavor and texture.

picture courtesy of Hannah Queen

Cupcakes!

Hannah made these tasty devils yesterday evening. They are Raspberry Devil's food cupcakes and they are amazing!!!


Devil’s Food Cupcakes
makes about 2 dozen

9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups cake flour or all purpose
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup strong coffee
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup milk

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sift together cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
3. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (If using a standing electric mixer, stop the mixer as necessary to scrape down the sides to be sure everything is getting mixed in.)
4. Mix together the coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.
5. Pour into lined cupcake pans, about 3/4 of the way full, and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.


The frosting is raspberry jam, butter and powdered sugar.

New Sewing Project, Etc.

The girls and I are working on a new sewing project. Eco-Coffee sleeves for disposable coffee cups. Hannah did the stitching and Sarah did the sewing of the sleeve. We are hoping some local stores will carry them.

We are still working on bread making, but the lady we were selling to just can't buy enough to make the trip worth our time. We hope to take samples to a local coffee shop soon. This would be much closer for us and they can probably purchase in larger volume.

William's business will be shut down now until end of February so we would like to find some sources of income. He usually does not work from November or December until end of February. It is something we are accustom to, but it is more difficult financially since the economy has taken a dive. The joke is we no longer have a 401k, we have a .001!!! Unfortunately, it isn't a joke. :(

But, God is still God and it will be all right.





Here is the Christmas card wreath we made from old cards. It took some time, but it was cheap and cute! We are all about cheap and cute.

As I Sit and Blog

The girls are in the kitchen making cookies. CHOCOLATE CHIP!!! Because I requested them.

Sarah is Hannah's sous chef on most baking projects and they are a hoot to watch and listen to. I love that they work together even if it gets loud sometimes. And the cookies get made!

Right now they are singing while they are working. Could a mama ask for more?!

Hannah Made Food Gawker Again!!

Hannah is #9292 on Food Gawker!!

Her first entry was #8989.

When you go to the site you will find the recipes.

We are PROUD!!!

Do you know what these are???

These are Whoopie Pies!! They are called Whoopie Pies because when you eat one, you yell "whoopie!"

This is our newest addition to our baking lineup. Our customer that buys our bread needed some small items to sell, so we decided to try baking these. We used an Amish recipe and they are wonderful! The cookie part is so easy to throw together and the filling is alot of powdered sugar, egg whites, milk and vanilla.

Here is the recipe:

Cookie

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbl. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 vegetable shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl and set aside.

Place butter, shortening, and sugars in electric mixer fitted with paddle. Mix on high until smooth. Add egg, mix until pale and fluffy. Mix in half flour mixture, then milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining flour mixture.

Drop about 2 tbls. dough onto baking sheets that have been greased or lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 in. apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Filling

2 egg whites

1 box or 1 cup 10x sugar

1 cup shortening

4 tbl. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Beat egg whites till stiff. Add shortening and vanilla and blend. Add milk and then add the sugar. Beat until smooth.

Spread on bottom side of one cookie, top with second cookie. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: not responsible for family members or friends running in circles yelling "whoopie" after biting into one of these delicious little devils.

Morning at the Farmer's Market

Early morning...very early, very cold.



Still early, still cold



Later in the morning, little warmer, or hypothermia

We delivered our first order of bread today to the restaurant/bakery. The owner was very happy with our labels and the variety. Go us!! Friday I will call her and see what she needs for the following week. She also told us to bring her anything new we make.

I just feel blessed for the opportunity to work with my girls, teach them a business model and the benefit of hard work. Of course, the hard work part they got down pat; catering is HARD work!

God Is Good!!!

Today I got a call from the lady that has the bakery. She wants to order from us!!! Tuesday we will take her several of each bread we do and see what is popular. She is also interested in us doing special orders for her during the holidays.

Tonight the girls tried a new Pumpkin Bread and it was great. We will add that to our list.

Hannah will have to take the lead in getting us ready for the Farmer's Market on Saturday. Sarah will help after her lessons. I have a full week with school, a board meeting, meals, and some baking.

I am so thankful for industrious girls. They impress me to no end at how they 'step up to the plate' when we have a task to complete. I think of the Proverbs 31 woman and how God is growing them into just that. They take on home improvements projects then throw on an apron to bake.

God is so good and faithful to us.



Proverbs 31:27 - She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Farmer's Market

Today we got up at 6am to head to our town's Farmer's Market. It was cool and overcast and fall like. Everyone was set up above our railroad tracks in a long line. It is like small town America and I love it.




Here is our sample and business card holder. Hannah found this at Target and I love it.



We had a great day and sold almost all our bread. We had 1 loaf left!!




We were set up under a small tree that was actually a large problem. We ran into this dang limb several times. I finally took the small limbs and pushed them up into the tree.




Here is some of our bread. Everyone enjoyed the samples and bought all our Whole Wheat Apple and Banana bread; we didn't have enough. Hannah and I are working on quantity adjustments this week along with a few other tweeks.





We are looking toward the next few weekends and our Harvest Festival coming up in October. It is two full days so I think we will need close to 200 loaves of different breads. William, Sarah and Hayden will work this one as Hannah and I will be doing a Ladies Retreat for our church.

Divine Provision

I am continually amazed how God provides opportunities for us. And today we have been provided not one BUT TWO!! He is an awesome God!

We received a call from a cabin rental company that would like to talk to us about managing some of their cabins in our area. This would involving cleaning and being on call if a client has a problem. Also, we would provide bids for staining the cabins. I meet with the owner next week. I pray that we find favor with her and are able to meet her expectations.

DeGina called and told me that we have an opportunity to provide baked goods to a local restaurant. The lady would like a sample of several of our breads Monday; so we will bake this weekend. We will start with whole wheat bread, honey wheat bread and banana bread. This is a wonderful opportunity for us also.

William and I have been concerned how we were going to manage through the winter. We do not do exterior work once the temps drop below 40 degrees. These two jobs could take care of that.

Oops...

Added brownie recipe below; so slide back down there and check it out! It is worth your time...

Brownies

Sarah decided to experiment tonight with a new brownie recipe. They are more cake like and the the frosting has honey in it. They were good!!!

Recipe:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder

Melt butter. Stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread into 8" greased pan. Bake at 350 for 25 mins. These brownies are cakey? cakie? cake like!

Frosting:
3 tbs. butter, softened
3 tbs. cocoa powder
1 tbs. honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners sugar
Milk as needed to spreading consistency

Combine and frost while warm!!

(If you are not a big fan of honey, get your head examined! Just kidding, just reduce the amount of honey or leave it out.) Personally, I liked the taste difference. It felt organic, natural, less guilty. Anytime I can delude myself, I am THERE!!

JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY

Today started out looking unproductive, but alas, I overcame!! Or was overcome!!!! We'll put it to a vote later. We were staying home today since we were gone all day yesterday for church and lunch and praise team practice and church and dinner. (ok, not a frugal day, but it could have been worse) Really

I couldn't get motivated at first; too much to do with the house, school preparations, etc. We needed bread and I bought some dough enhancer to try. So, I got busy with that first. Lawsy, the dough was sticky; I do NOT know what was up with that. It turned out fine, but I thought I had stuck my hand in a fly trap. (bad analogy)

Next, I had those apples that Rita and Mark gave us. APPLE PIE for dinner!!

Now, on to school preparations. The Charlotte Mason method takes some preparation in advance. There are books to hunt down here at home, online and at the library. I have to see how much is required from each book for each term. There are historical documents to hunt down; easier now because of the internet. And I have to work out the kids schedules. Tired Now! Spent several hours on and off on this.

Then there are the bills. UGH! So, I sat down and paid some bills.


Still

Early

In

The

Day



Dinner: these people gotta eat. Meatless Monday! Mac & Cheese, greenbeans, corn, salad and what is left of the bread. And apple pie.

In between I did interact with my children and husband. Washed dishes. Became my son's hero because I successfully transferred a picture from the internet to his PSP! Mom Rocks!!

Had really ripe bananas so decided to try a new banana bread recipe. Will let you know how it turns out. It is in the oven as I write.

So, did I overcome or was I overcome with some sick, incurable need to be productive. Be gentle....

CHERRIES!!!

My
father-in-law has some cherry trees and my sweet husband went over and picked some. It didn't take long to pit enough to make a cherry cobbler. Lattice topped.

Sweet as...

PIE!! We went to friends for dinner the other night and decided to bring everything to make a dessert. Let me clarify, the friends were my best friend and business partner and her family. We aren't in the habit of bringing an unmade dessert to people's homes! We made Paula Deen's apple pie with crumb topping. It was a HIT.

Bakin' Bread!

One of my first changes on the homefront was to stop buying bread and start baking it. SUCCESS!!! Flour flew and encouragement rang out and two rises and 35 minutes in the oven later, we had BREAD! I chose a simple recipe that makes a honey wheat bread. It is wonderful and easy for beginners. Here is the link for the recipe. I love this website also.
http://www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_wheat_bread