Apple Crisp ~ individual servings

My little foil baking cups and wooden spoons finally arrived after being held up for over a week because of the snow. I was anxious to try them out so I made some apple crisp for Sunday Supper and divided it into the individual foil baking cups. I made both regular and gluten free and covered them with clear lids once they had cooled. For fun I stamped the wooden spoons which I tied to the top. 

After dinner I served whipped cream on the side. My recipe made quite a few so the cups made it easy to send some home with everyone. 

Speaking of dinner, 

we actually did eat a wonderful dinner before we indulged in Apple Crisp covered in whipped cream. 

For Sunday Supper Mr. Wonderful decided to smoke bacon wrapped pork tenderloins.

Each tenderloin is covered in a rub, wrapped in bacon, covered in pineapple rings and finally topped with maraschino cherries. He also sprinkled a little seasoning on top.

It was quite tasty!

Have a great day!!

Almond Poppyseed Cake

I made this yummy cake on Thursday to share with the ladies at our weekly dinner {previously on Tuesdays}. 

The crazy thing is that I only had 2 hours from start to finish to make the cake. I happened to get home later than usual on Thursday so I did not get in the kitchen until around 3:30. Since I had to be ready to go by 5:30 I was a bit pressed for time.

By around 4:00 I had the cakes in the oven. While they were cooking I cleaned up a bit and then made the almond pastry filling and prepared the frosting. Once the cakes were finished baking and cool enough to take out of the pans I popped them in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process so that I could get the cake assembled. At 5:00 I had no choice but to proceed with assembly and decorating and then pray that the frosting would not melt off on what turned out to be almost an hour drive over due to heavy traffic.

I am happy to report that I finished just in the nick of time, took a few quick pictures to share and off we went. Also, the frosting held up fine.

The cake received good reviews from all

which was 

"frosting on the cake!"

Have a great Saturday!

Chocolate Layer Cake ~ GF Sunday Supper

Last Saturday I baked a big batch of oatmeal cookies however they were not gluten free which meant I needed to come up with something else to bake for Sunday Supper. I settled on this Chocolate Layer Cake.

The recipe called for an interesting flour substitute which I was curious about however I was short a quarter cup of this one important ingredient. Now the question was,  should I cut the recipe in half, which would have been the easiest, or cut the ingredients by a quarter so that I had a little bit more cake batter? I settled on the latter. I also decided to keep the substitute ingredient a secret until after everyone had tried the cake and then see if they could guess what it was. I proceeded to recalculate the measurements and mix up the batter. To my surprise the cake baked up perfectly and now I was anxious to find out how it tasted.

The time finally came to serve the cake.  Everyone loved it and said they could not tell at all that it was a gluten free cake. It had passed the taste test with flying colors but before anyone had a chance to guess the secret ingredient my hubby accidentally spilled the beans...Quinoa! Yes, that's right, Quinoa was the replacement for the flour. I really wasn't sure if the cake would bake the same without some amount of flour but it did. I had never used quinoa as a flour substitute before, or for any baking for that matter, so this was a first for me and I was very pleased with the results. 

December Desert Getaway

December 2016 was a busy month and there never seemed to be enough time to work on my blog posts however I had some fun photos I wanted to share of a little Bizcation we took right before Christmas so decided to go ahead and post our adventure.  

Our weekend getaway started with an icy trip to the airport. It was my first time waiting on the tarmac for the plane I was on to be de-iced but we were finally cleared for take off and on our way to ...... 

Cupcakes, Cobbler & SNOW

What a week this has been! 

Earlier in the week we were covered in nearly 14 inches of snow in 24 hours and the temperatures this week have dropped to record lows in the single digits. 

Of course I can't complain much since I love snow. 

However, the snow coincided with a baking order I had promised to fill on Friday and with roads nearly impassable and businesses closed it made for a bit of a tricky situation. 

A good friend of ours asked me a few weeks ago if I would bake treats for a surprise birthday party for her husband who turned 60 and her son who turned 40 at the beginning of January. She wanted to serve their favorite desserts which were German Chocolate Cake and Berry Cobbler. Initially the serving count was for 100 but later adjusted to the final count of 70. I was more than happy to to accept the order and suggested individual servings since the party was being held at a venue downtown and it would make transporting and serving so easy. She agreed and I began to prepare.

Since I had only ever made German Chocolate Cake I went through a trial run last weekend to be sure my measurements and recipes would work in individual form and to make adjustments as needed. I also began searching for the individual baking cups, lids and spoons I wanted to use, which I could only find online, so I went ahead and placed my order. It was to arrive in 3 days making Monday the scheduled arrival date. Plenty of time. 

Snow began to arrive on Sunday however we ventured out anyway,  against all warnings, to get the ingredients in case we were snowed in later in the week as the forecast predicted. We were able to get to all but one store before the road conditions forced us to head back home. My personal shopper and driver this week, Mr. Wonderful, was able to get out later in the week to shop for the remaining ingredients,

thank goodness.

Wednesday after work I prepped all the ingredients. I chopped nuts, pre~measured dry ingredients and set out all the equipment needed. Everything was ready, except, my baking cup order had not arrived! It was stuck in route and it was no wonder since trucks were having trouble getting into the city in all directions. Thankfully I had a back up plan just incase it did not arrive. I had purchased foil baking pans for the cobbler to use in the event that the cute little cups did not get here in time and sure enough,

that is what happened. 

I turned on my ovens at 2:30 Thursday when I got home from work and turned out the kitchen lights at 9:30. 

Mission accomplished! 

I followed my baking plan to a tee and it worked. 

70 German Chocolate Cupcakes and 6 pans of Berry Cobbler

baked, packaged and delivered. 

In spite of the weather and road conditions the guests arrived and the 

Birthday Surprise Party

was a success.

Have a warm and wonderful weekend!

Balsamic Honey Baked Chicken Thighs

Today we are covered in ice and everything has been canceled or closed. Most flights are canceled at PDX and chains are required on most of I-5.  As for us, we are snuggled up inside the house watching this crazy weather turn from snow into ice and wondering what it will be like tomorrow although we've heard there is already a list of closures for Monday. We are still having Sunday Supper { Mr. Wonderful is smoking brisket & beans! } but there will only be 3 of us tonight since the roads are slick and icy. 

Yesterday I was busy in the kitchen all day. In the morning I did some baking, German Chocolate Cupcakes which I posted yesterday, and for lunch I made a thick Taco Soup which is a lot like chili and so good, especially when it snows! It is quick to put together and goes fast since everyone likes it. For an easy dinner we thawed out some chicken thighs, then I marinated them in a Balsamic Honey mixture and baked them in the oven. 

After they were finished baking I spread a Balsamic glaze over them and served them with a couple salads. Easy Peasy!

Wishing you a safe and warm Sunday!

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Today was cold and snowy so it was a perfect day to stay inside and make a trial batch of German Chocolate Cupcakes. I have a large order of cupcakes and berry cobbler to fill next week so did a quick run through to make sure the baking schedule goes as planned. 

Have a warm weekend!

Happy New Year!

We enjoyed waking up to snow on New Years morning

and had a fun afternoon preparing a wonderful little

dinner for four.

We had hot crab dip with homemade bread sticks as one of our appetizers.

For dinner we made Prime Rib, mashed potatoes, oven roasted Brussels sprouts drizzled with a balsamic glaze and homemade cardamom braid bread. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures.

For dessert I made a mini Oreo Cheesecake {not pictured}

and

three types of cookies.

A great way to start 2017!

Have a marvelous Monday!