Sweet Treat Tuesday

It was baking day. The sweet treats had nearly run out, and we can’t let that happen, so it was time to replenish. 

Classic chocolate chip cookies are a must around here as they freeze well which makes them handy in a pinch. Our freezer supply had diminished so this was a good time to restock. However, what I was really after was cake.

We are fortunate to have a good supply of homegrown frozen blueberries so when they caught my eye while grabbing something from the freezer I knew the dessert would need to include some of those gems. My recipe ideas were finally narrowed down to this Blueberry Pecan Coffeecake. The great thing about this cake is that it is wonderful for breakfast as well as dessert. 

We could hardly wait for the cake to cool before cutting into it. Of course, it is hard to beat warm cake straight from the oven, or cookies too for that matter. Then, a bit later, I realized I had forgotten the whipped cream. There is just something wonderful about a dollop of whipped cream on top of almost anything. That was a quick and easy fix though. Now we have both, cake  and whipped cream.

A couple of classic sweet treats for dessert { and breakfast } this week.

That should hold us, at least until the weekend. Haha!

Happy Tuesday!

Meals on Heels ~ Ribs, Baked Beans & more

This Bake & Take meal for four turned into a meal for only one on the day of delivery this week due to some unforeseen circumstances. 

As soon as we received the news we offered to deliver the meal in spite of the change in plans and just reduce the portion size. We got the go ahead and then packed up large single servings of each dish to assure some leftovers for another meal or at least some hardy snacks. 

We had more than enough for two families so there was plenty leftover for our dinner plus some extra which we boxed up for another care package.

Thankfully it all worked out in the end and a smaller version of the meal was delivered after all.

Happy Friday!

March Madness sweet treats

We kicked off March Madness this year with a Bracket Party at J & C’s house on Saturday. I was asked to bring dessert so finally had it narrowed down to cookies and cupcakes by the night before. 

Basketball sugar cookies seemed like fun however I do not have a basketball cookie cutter, and time was short, so I had to come up with a way to make them look like a basketball without taking too long. 

A round cookie cutter is the closest thing to a basketball I have so any sort of detail had to be improvised. After giving it some thought and ruling out frosting I came up with plan. Once the cookies were cut out I pressed each side with the outer edge of the same circle cookie cutter and then took a knife and pressed in the cross down the middle.  Easy peasy, but I still thought the cookies needed a little something more. Perhaps some texture. All I could find that might work was my meat mallet so I tried that and liked how it looked. The DIY basketball cookies turned out to be fairly simple, however, there was one more little detail to add.

WORDS! Since this was a Bracket Party I decided to stamp the names of all the March Madness teams on the cookies. Since we were not hosting the party this year I had some extra time to spend on details. 

That actually took the longest since each letter had to be stamped individually by hand but it was fun and well worth it. 

Cupcakes were also on the baking list for the Bracket Party.

Basketball themed cupcakes of course. 

To make it simple I used Nilla wafters to make edible Basketball Picks for the tops of the cupcakes.

It was the wee hours of Saturday morning when I made the cute little basketball toppers so a good quiet project. They were easy to make and went together pretty quickly.

Once those were finished it was onto baking.

Two and half dozen cupcakes and then a couple dozen cookies after that. 

Thankfully all the sweet treats were finished and ready to go in time for the party. We had a great time and as always our brackets kept changing after each game. As for my bracket, it looked good after the first round of games however that all changed Saturday afternoon. I am now in eighth place with only a slight chance of moving to second place when all is said and done. It will be fun to see who in the family ends up as our bracket winner this year. 

Happy Thursday!

 

——— P&B’s Extreme House Makeover ——— .....Kitchen Renovation :: phase 2 :: continued.....

As promised, I am back to share the rest of Phase 2 of P&B’s Kitchen Renovation which was the installation of their new custom made upper cabinets. The last post covered the construction of the upper cabinets and the prep work needed in the kitchen ahead of installation. Once the soffit, cabinets and hood of the stove were all removed it was time to put up the next set of cabinets.

The cabinet pictured above was installed above the stove and will eventually have the hood underneath once the new range is installed. It is a nice sized cabinet although the venting will take up much of space inside. 

The cabinet on the interior wall is the largest upper unit. It has double doors on the section next to the doorway and the other end next to the wall is a single cupboard with one door. It will be a bit more difficult to reach but all storage space is considered premium.

In comparison to the old original cabinet, as seen on the left, the new version is both taller and wider. 

Next, the upper cabinets along the outside wall were hung. 

Crown molding was added at the top of the uppers and will also be added this week along the top of the Phase 1 cabinets on the opposite side of the kitchen. 

Progress is being made little by little. Once the appliances arrive it will be time for Phase 3 of P&B's Kitchen Renovation which will include installation of the lower cabinets and also some new lighting. In the meantime, more cabinets are under way back at the shop so that they are ready to go when everything gets here.

🍀 Happy St. Patricks Day!🍀

——— P&B’s Extreme House Makeover ——— …….….. Kitchen Renovation :: phase 2 ……..…

Dust has been flying around here as more cabinets have been under way for Phase 2 of P&B’s Kitchen Renovation. This time around it was all about the upper cabinets. The old cabinets were most likely the originals and had seen better days. They also were very small and did not make use of all the available wall space so Mr. Wonderful designed the new cabinets with that in mind.

He decided the best course of action was to remove the soffit on the far wall so he could take advantage of that space as well as the unused space above the old cabinets on the adjoining wall. That allowed him to  increase the height of the new cabinets which in turn would provide more storage space. To keep on schedule he went over to the house a couple days before installation to remove the old upper cabinets and the soffit which really helped in the long run. 

He’s a man with a plan so he wasted no time and started right in on the uppers as soon as he had Phase 1 completed. He had the boxes built in no time.

Then back to the paint booth. 

Doors and shelves were next. 

Finally, the drawer slides and hinges were added. 

Once they were all adjusted it was time to pack up and head over to install the new upper cabinets. Since there is so much to share I thought it would work better to do it in two posts so I will be back soon with the installation details of phase 2 and how the new cabinets are transforming P&B’s kitchen. 

Have a Great Day!

Freezer Meals for 2

Cooking for just the two of us most often produces leftovers which we like to freeze if the batch is large enough. The frozen meals come in handy on busy nights or times when we just do not feel like cooking. 

It is also a great way to share meals with others which is what we have been doing recently.

It has quickly become a routine. 

So now we divide and freeze quite regularly when we cook. 

It has been working out great. 

More Freezer meals coming soon. 

Happy Saturday!

Rainy Day doodle

We have been drenched this week with a crazy amount of rain coming from an extreme Atmospheric River in the sky according to the experts. We usually refer to it as the Pineapple Express but whatever you call it is a soaker. 

The skies have been mostly grey the last several days however our spring flowers are beginning to bloom which provides some needed color spots around the yard and a reminder that spring is just around the corner.

So, when it is wet and cloudy day after day it is good to remember that you can't make a rainbow without a little rain. 

Happy Thursday!