Party planning party

I pulled out the calendar. I am getting ready for my Party Planning Party with my hubby. (He doesn't really call it a "party" like I do) It is basically the time every month or so  that he and I pull out our calendars and compare work schedules, kids' school events, sports schedules, church events, and then block out some days to have friends over for dinner, extended family events, or parties to celebrate various holidays or special occasions. We have found that, like many things, if we don't plan some dates and times to practice hospitality, it just won't happen.

Of course, we are entering into prime Celebration and Holiday Season and I am so excited. I have various groups of my own friends and co-workers that I want to have over for brunch, lunch, dinner, theme parties... whatever. Since I work part-time, I have one foot in the "corporate world" and one foot in the "stay-at-home-mom world" so I have an eclectic group of people that I interact with and can't wait to spend time with now that I am getting settled in my new home JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

Be watching for my update tomorrow on exactly what plans I come up with for hosting: from the simple to the not-so-simple. I am thrilled to be putting things on the calendar and welcoming people into our home. There's a slight change this year to my usual holiday party planning season due to a family wedding and a graduation falling during prime hospitality season; but of course I'll be participating in those classy events as well!  Fun times are ahead. My creative juices are flowing.  My kids are even wanting to have their friends over for parties. I'm so glad they are learning the joys of  hospitality. Before I know it, they will be trying to join in on the monthly Party Planning Party!

Spooky yummy treats... with help from my old friend

My old friend, the Kitchen Aid mixer, was joyously unpacked last night. What better way to make her feel needed and appreciated, I thought, than to put her right to work on meringue?  These spooky little ghost meringues are easy and so cute. Meringue can be tricky sometimes-- your bowl and beaters need to be completely clean and totally dry, the weather can't be too humid, the egg whites should be room temperature, and you have to beat them long enough... but I usually just do what I can and hope for the best! In my case, some of my ghosts ended up a little, well, "tired". I think that the meringue in the bottom of the bowl wasn't quite stiff enough.The last ghosts I made ended up leaning backward a little, which my kids happened to think was HILARIOUS. Regardless, the ghosts of all shapes, and levels of quality were appreciated and gobbled up. My son even announced that his belly is now haunted.

Any little sprinkles will do for the eyes and mouth. And yes, I did use tweezers to place them on the faces of these darling little ghosts.

Halloween Ghost Meringues
3 egg whites, room temperature
pinch of salt
1/8 t. cream of tartar
1/4 t. vanilla
3/4 c. powdered sugar
tiny candies or sprinkles for eyes and mouth

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Place egg whites, salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla in bowl of electric mixer. Whisk at medium high speed until  the whites are frothy and have increased slightly in volume. Leaving mixer on, slowly sprinkle in sugar. The whisking will take about 20 minutes. When you can lift the whisk and leave a structured peak, the meringue is done.

Carefully fill a pastry bag (or Ziplock bag with a small corner cut off) with meringue. Slowly pipe small mounds/ghost-looking blobs(!) onto prepared baking sheet. Press small candies or sprinkles in for the face. Place in middle of oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn off oven and keep ghosts  in oven for another hour and a half.

When ghosts are at room temperature, they should be crisp  and are ready to be gobbled up.Store them in an airtight container.

Emerging from the dust and boxes

There's a treat coming. It is almost Halloween, and although we aren't huge Halloween-celebraters at my house, I do always have some little something special around for Halloween snacking. Generally we would snack on little treats during the whole week leading up to the 31st, but things are different this year with all of the transition in our lives. Rest assured,  I am determined to whip up something. And I have just the thing in mind.

You see, one advantage of moving is that you are forced to go through all of your junk stuff and determine how much of it you really need to keep. One of the things I went through was a huge basket of recipes that I had clipped from magazines or found online over the past five years. I had a basket labeled "Recipes to Try". Now most of them are all organized in a folder and I am actually going to TRY them! The Pumpkin Bars recipe was one of those. And next...a cute little Halloween treat just in time for the big day. You'll have to check back tomorrow for the big reveal!

Salmon, marshmallows... and a chunk of beef

So, I had a little dinner dilemma last night. I hadn't been to the grocery store in a while. We'd been eating pizza, subs, and general fast food/junk food for what felt like weeks during our move, and I couldn't bear to eat more take-out (even though it was tempting). I'm still in a minimally functional kitchen (long story) which is  worse than the tiny-yet fully functional- kitchen I just left. I have random boxes of  spices, cookbooks,  pots, pans, and dishes everywhere, so it was going to be a chore to put together something decent for dinner.

In the freezer was what we brought with us from our other freezer when we moved (WHY??): 1 piece of salmon, 2 bags of marshmallows,4 empty ice cube trays, 1 bag of pesto, 1 parsley root (thanks, Mom), 2 hot dog buns, ice cream, and a chunk of beef. I decided to go with the beef. I had been hoping to pitch it into the crock pot and go about my business, but since the odds of finding the crock pot were slim, I decided to put the beef in the oven and see what happened. I mixed up some spices to make a rub, threw in some garlic, and ended up with a surprisingly tasty dinner. The meat wasn't as tender as I hoped, which was probably due to the cut of meat (?). I am still not well-versed in meats. The meat smelled DELICIOUS while cooking, but got done a little more quickly than I anticipated, so I sliced it, placed it in its juices flat in the baking plan, and covered it with foil until the biscuits were done. Who knew such a cozy meal could come from such a pathetically-stocked freezer?

Yummy Save-the-Day Beef

2 lb beef bottom round roast
1 cube beef bouillon
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. canola oil
5 cloves garlic
2 T brown sugar
1 T finely chopped onion 
1 T dried parsley
1 t dried oregano
1 t chili powder
1/2 t pepper

Dissolve bouillon cube in water. Pour in bottom of 8x8 baking dish along with oil. Mix all other ingredients (except for garlic) and rub onto beef. Place in dish. Cut 5 slits in beef large enough to press garlic into. Press one garlic clove into each slit. Cover entire baking dish tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 45 min and reduce heat to 250 for another hour. Slice, pour juices over meat, and serve.

Pumpkin bars: dessert, snack, breakfast!

Well, the camera hasn't surfaced, so there are no pics to post of the pumpkin bars. But I do have the recipe. This was one I found online somewhere years ago. I changed a few things (of course), and they are a tasty fall treat. I even discovered that they are yummy for breakfast! In fact, next time I make them I might just make them in the morning so that my family can wake up to the delicious smell of fall. These are more of a cake-y type bar than a dense bar, which makes them a perfect coffe-cake style breakfast. But they also made a great lunchtime dessert for our movers! Ahhhh.... the versatile pumpkin bar.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 3/4 c. sugar, divided
3 large eggs, divided
1 c. canned pumpkin
1/4 c. water
1 3/4 c. all- purpose flour
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. ginger
1/4 t. allspice
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t baking powder

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan. Beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 of the eggs, pumpkin, and water until well blended. Add flour, spices, baking soda, and baking powder and mix until well blended. Spread batter into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, remaining egg, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Drop mixture by tablespoon portions over batter. Pull a knife tip through filling to slightly swirl into batter.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Let cool in pan; then cut into squares. ENJOY!

Party time?

Well, moving day came and went. We had beautiful weather, no injuries, and minimal breakage. I call that a success! We are living amongst the boxes now. And there sure are a lot of them.  It was such a happy day to see my long-lost (long-in-the-storage-unit) kitchen friends being carried off of the moving truck: the panini maker, food processor,  fondue pot, chafing dish, china dishes... It just made me want to throw a house-warming party! It will probably be a little while until I'm ready for that, but I am wading my way through the boxes to the kitchen so I can get back to the fun with all my gadgets.

Two are better than one

It's Moving Day.  (I probably should get off of the computer and do some more packing). Most of our stuff is in storage, so the packing has been fairly minimal. After my recent clowning around in the kitchen, I figured that yesterday I should spend some time packing and cleaning. But, after thinking about it, I decided I would rather make  pumpkin bars.

I had been wanting to make pumpkin bars after finding my long-lost recipe while packing up some cookbooks and recipes, and I decided that I should make some for the movers. Nothing fancy- just quick and easy pumpkin bars. (I can't find the camera, so the pics and recipe will have to come later). A beautiful, sunny, Fall day was forecast for Moving Day, and  pumpkin bars would go perfectly with a Fall move! So I whipped up the pumpkin bars, sampled one (ok, two small ones), and then my husband got home. He told me that he had forgotten to mention that his mother was making pies for Moving Day. He couldn't remember when she told him, why he hadn't told me, or how many pies she was bringing . At first, I was irritated that I didn't know this sooner, since I had I spent time baking when I should have been packing. But I really did enjoy  that last hurrah in my tiny kitchen. And pumpkin bars are all spicy-smelling and made the house smell so good. And really, when you think about it, there's never really a problem with having two desserts.

Classy isn't just for grown-ups.

It was Noah Day in Mrs.Green's classroom. All of the other moms signed up to bring the cute paper plates and napkins, the goldfish, blue jello, and animal crackers. There was nothing left on the sign-up sheet. I suppose I should have sighed a sigh of relief and gone about the business of finding a COSTUME for my son to wear to Noah Day, but I became preoccupied by three little cookie cutters that I knew were (still packed away) in a box in the back of my pantry: a monkey, an elephant, and a lion. Cute. Cute. Cute. They are just the heads of the animals, which I guess sounds a little gross when you really think about it, but they really are adorable. (The cookie cutters  are made by Wilton, and you can find them on Wilton's website or at craft stores that sell cookie cutters and baking supplies). I just had to make them. Sure, they were going to take a lot of time, but they had the potential to turn out so cute-- and even a tad classy.

 I'm sure "Room Mothers" or "Parent Helpers" -or whatever they're called -  rarely have a mom email them asking if she can please make intricate little animal- head cookies for 16 grubby little first graders. But that's what I did. I put them in individual bags for the kids to take home with them, and they loved them! After all, classy isn't just for grown ups.

Celebrating life

I found these cute little napkins at Party City, on one of my random trips to look for party supplies. I love napkins with pretty designs or inspirational or funny sayings. They're fun conversation starters (and they also make a great hostess gift with a little bow tied around a package.) These particular napkins are one of my favorite finds ever. If there were more, I would have bought every package they had!  In fact, I might just frame one of these. The message  communicates my feelings about hospitality and making everyday  things special for not only friends, colleagues, and accquaintances, but also for my own husband and kids. So often we take life for granted, as we rush through life from one appointment and errand to the next.  There is so much to enjoy, savor, and appreciate in each day. I hope you are celebrating life today.

The nut discussion

Although dear Rachel did post a comment which concisely states her thoughts about nuts, and which happens to be precisely my opinion as well (barring peanuts), I figured it would be  interesting to see if there were those out there who are less nut-loving than the two of us are. Is there something you've made that called for nuts as "optional" so you opted to (gasp) leave them out?

My son, for one, would be the first to voice his comment about the "lumpy" texture of nuts. He picks nuts out of everything I make. Maybe he will someday discover the pure beauty and matchless taste in the texture of nuts in practically anything... desserts (of COURSE),  salads, muffins, candies, breads.  Nuts are healthy, tasty, and add interest, don't you think?

I like the way you roll, Pumpkin Roll

It's fall-ish outside, which means it's pumpkin-ish INside. At least at my house. As soon as fall weather comes, I'm ready with my pumpkin and spices. For years, I bought pumpkin roll at the bakery at a local grocery store, thinking that they had perfected the Pumpkin Roll. Boy, had I thought wrong. As I watched the price go up on my beloved Pumpkin Roll, and as my children began to grow and require more then the teeny tiny slice I tried to get away with serving them, I decided to set out in pursuit of an "adequate" pumpkin roll recipe. I ended up with a superb pumpkin roll.  You will soon realize that I rarely follow a recipe exactly, usually figuring I have a more brilliant idea (!) for a modification or else finding that I am plain out of a specific ingredient,  requiring a substitution of desparation. Either way, my cookbooks and internet recipe print-outs end up marked up beyond recognition and I usually have to re-copy them altogether, resulting in a... well, I just have to say it:  a real classy treat.

So my pumpkin roll recipe is below. It has become a fall  favorite. You'll notice it calls for pecans. We'll save the nut discussion for another day. For now (as long as you aren't allergic), please just make your pumpkin roll with nuts. You'll thank me later.

The Pumpkin Roll

This cake roll with cream cheese swirl is perfect for entertaining because it can be made ahead, and it freezes beautifully. Enjoy!
3 eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. lemon rind
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. allspice
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans Cream cheese filling 1 cup powdered sugar
8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick (4T) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. lemon juice


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a small jelly roll pan or cookie tray (with sides). My pan is 10 x 15 and the batter fills it to about an inch from the end of the pan.  Sprinkle pan with nuts. Beat eggs on high speed for 4 minutes, and then add all remaining cake ingredients, mixing until well blended. Pour into prepared pan, spreading to edges. Bake for 15 minutes. While baking, dampen a tea towel, spread out on counter, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. After cake has baked, immediately remove from oven and turn out onto tea towel. Roll up cake (on short side, so that you will make a shorter, but thick, roll) in towel and let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes.

Prepare cream cheese filling by blending all ingredients until smooth. Unroll cake and spread with cream cheese filling. Roll up without towel and chill for at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving

It's a new era in this tiny kitchen

So...this blogging thing: I have considered starting a blog for about a year now, but I didn't know how I could possibly tear my self away from everything else I spend time doing to sit down and, well, BLOG. However, after a little prodding from friends and a little time management improvement by me, here I am. And it should be an interesting few months, so visit me often to check in on my progress! I am currently living in a temporary little place, on the brink of moving into our new house. It's been an adjustment getting used to a smaller kitchen (and smaller everything). I have shed a few tears over my short-term, yet painful, separation from my big fancy kitchen toys like my Kitchen Aid mixer (hopefully she forgives me for sending her off to the storage unit for several months) and my small-yet-significant items like cookie cutters, fancy cupcake papers, and miniature spatulas (which I use mostly because they are just so CUTE).

I love cooking, baking, hospitality, and generally doing things to encourage and cheer people up. I find that treats from the kitchen usually do the trick. I plan to use this blog to share ideas for food, desserts, parties, recipes, photos and traditions. Stop in often to keep up with my antics in the kitchen! I hope that you enjoy this blog. I hope that you learn something new. I hope that you are inspired.