I was sitting at my computer trying to work but was absolutely mesmerized by these little yellow things flying by my window! Then it hit me.......It's Fall Y'all. From past posts on my blog you will know that fall is my absolute favorite time of year, the temps are perfect, the ground is covered by natures quilt of leaves and the trees...oh boy....the trees changing colors are soooo beautiful. When you blink it is Halloween and then Thanksgiving and all of a sudden it is Christmas!
I am looking forward to Christmas this year as I will be home in South Africa with my family and I will get to meet my little niece Shannon for the very first time. However it is bitter sweet as we are moving back permanently and I will miss every single one of my wonderful friends that I have made here in the USA. I feel blessed to have them in my life and thanks to Facebook, I will be able to keep intouch with them on a daily basis.
So for now I am looking around the house and see piles of stuff ready for a garage sale and pictures that need to be packed and memories that need to be locked away safely. Wonderful are those who come into your life, and wonderful are those who stay in your life.
The baking will continue and the blogging even more so. I am coming home SA, I hope you are ready for me!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
HOT HOT HOT
I kind of realized yesterday why it is that I spend so little time in the kitchen lately.........it's HOT! Yip who wants to spend a day in front of the oven or stove when its 90+ degrees outside!! Bleh, however football season has started in my house and then I am barely home to do anything in the kitchen!
My new quest for this week is to find some easy meals that can stand and await to be eaten that do not require me to stand in front of any hot stove or oven and that will give me the freedom to come and go as I please! With that being said, yesterday was the first day for football really and my oldest son was at football camp and proceeded to break his hand! Now I know that these things happen and cannot be avoided and certainly do not happen on purpose, but man does it mess with a summer schedule!!! hehehehe
I do not wish to wish this summer away at all, but I am looking forward to those wonderful fall days when I can open the windows and doors and have that fragrant fresh air blowing through the house, while enjoying the silence while the children are at school.
Anyway before we know it Halloween will be on the door step with Thanksgiving chomping at the bit to be next, and Christmas will be waiting in the wings to make its Grand Red and Green entrance. Yip you guessed it my favorite time of the year is right around the corner.
Enjoy the HOT HOT HOT summer because my sweet smelling, costume making, pie baking, present wrapping season will be here shortly.
Jacki
My new quest for this week is to find some easy meals that can stand and await to be eaten that do not require me to stand in front of any hot stove or oven and that will give me the freedom to come and go as I please! With that being said, yesterday was the first day for football really and my oldest son was at football camp and proceeded to break his hand! Now I know that these things happen and cannot be avoided and certainly do not happen on purpose, but man does it mess with a summer schedule!!! hehehehe
I do not wish to wish this summer away at all, but I am looking forward to those wonderful fall days when I can open the windows and doors and have that fragrant fresh air blowing through the house, while enjoying the silence while the children are at school.
Anyway before we know it Halloween will be on the door step with Thanksgiving chomping at the bit to be next, and Christmas will be waiting in the wings to make its Grand Red and Green entrance. Yip you guessed it my favorite time of the year is right around the corner.
Enjoy the HOT HOT HOT summer because my sweet smelling, costume making, pie baking, present wrapping season will be here shortly.
Jacki
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
To List or NOT to List, this is the question?
Okay so on the very 1st of June I promised that I would certainly blog more..............well clearly that has not worked out so well for me!
I am struggling to find content to blog about. I know a man who makes lists about everything, I am serious about EVERYthing! So I guess this is the root that I will have to follow from now on. I am just not getting around to everything that I need to be getting around to and I have certainly needed to put out some fires because of that! So lists it will be!
I just have to find the right system that will work for me, do I list the things that I need to do around the house first and then list what I should prep for dinner and then what area of my real job I will be attending to and then make a list of how I will entertain the kids for the last month of their summer vacation? Whew pretty soon I will be making a list to tell me which list to tackle first! However I still think that the list thing is for me.
Maybe if I start with a basic list............1. wake up...........2. eat.................3. shower.............4. eat.................5. shower....................6. go to sleep! Yeah maybe that's a little tooo basic!
I think that I will start by splitting my day in 3. I am just one of those people who can't do anything until the house is clean, so I think that I will start with that in the first part of my day and then dedicate the second part of my day to doing my real job and save the last part of my day for odds and ends with the kids and folding that laundry that I never go through in the morning. Yeah, that's a plan I think I will try that for a week and get back to you on how that has all worked out for me!
Let me know who of you list and don't list.
Jacki
I am struggling to find content to blog about. I know a man who makes lists about everything, I am serious about EVERYthing! So I guess this is the root that I will have to follow from now on. I am just not getting around to everything that I need to be getting around to and I have certainly needed to put out some fires because of that! So lists it will be!
I just have to find the right system that will work for me, do I list the things that I need to do around the house first and then list what I should prep for dinner and then what area of my real job I will be attending to and then make a list of how I will entertain the kids for the last month of their summer vacation? Whew pretty soon I will be making a list to tell me which list to tackle first! However I still think that the list thing is for me.
Maybe if I start with a basic list............1. wake up...........2. eat.................3. shower.............4. eat.................5. shower....................6. go to sleep! Yeah maybe that's a little tooo basic!
I think that I will start by splitting my day in 3. I am just one of those people who can't do anything until the house is clean, so I think that I will start with that in the first part of my day and then dedicate the second part of my day to doing my real job and save the last part of my day for odds and ends with the kids and folding that laundry that I never go through in the morning. Yeah, that's a plan I think I will try that for a week and get back to you on how that has all worked out for me!
Let me know who of you list and don't list.
Jacki
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The most amazing cookies I have ever seen!!!!
http://sweetsugarbelle.blogspot.com/
I just had to share these with you, I follow this blog and this woman has the most creative ideas when it comes to cookies!!!!! I love to bake and would give my left.........well arm wouldn't do cause then I couldn't bake.........okay left eyebrow to be able to do cookies like these!!!
The skill and patience is beyond me and don't know if I could even eat a cookie that looked this amazing!!
To see art like this inspires me and just humbles me to the gifts that God so freely hands out!
Its wonderful to see someone share their talents. I am a huge fan and in absolute awe!
And as you have guessed it I am going to try my hand at these cookies, I will post the results, good or bad!!!!
Thanks Sugarbelle for the inspiration!!!
signing off to go make a batch of cookie dough
Jacki
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
I wanna hold your hand!
My Niece Jessie turned very sweet 16 on May 3rd and every year since I have started baking cakes she has put in a birthday cake request!!! Since I have had ZERO training on making cakes and everything I know is self taught, this girl has FAITH, because every year it gets more difficult and more difficult! The theme for this year was The Beatles, the instructions that I got were "please put a Union Jack on the cake with a yellow submarine and the silhouettes from Abbey road, and could it please be Rainbow cake inside!!!" Considering I have never made a rainbow cake in my life before, I looked at her sweet face and said "Sure No Problem" with my lips and inside my head the little man who reminds you that you are cashing checks with your mouth that your body can't cover was running around like a crazed lunatic screaming "why did you say that why"! Well, I put on my brave face and this is what the end result was!
The Batter for the Rainbow cake!
The Batter in the pan going into the oven!
what it looked like out of the oven,
A view from the top after I had cut off the crust to level the cake, yip you see the whole and think What, a cake with a hole in the middle, don't worry if you look at the pictures going into the oven the silver flute thingy-ma-jig has cake batter inside and that acts as a plug!
Tad ah................
And that's what the inside looked like!
All in all I think it turned out pretty great, Jessie loved it and her friends thought it was awesome, so all is well that ended well!!! Oh by the way that cake tasted like you were biting into a rainbow it was moist and soft and sweet and yummy and made you feel good!!!
So we will see what next year brings......................thank goodness its a whole year away!!!
All in all I think it turned out pretty great, Jessie loved it and her friends thought it was awesome, so all is well that ended well!!! Oh by the way that cake tasted like you were biting into a rainbow it was moist and soft and sweet and yummy and made you feel good!!!
So we will see what next year brings......................thank goodness its a whole year away!!!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Yip I went AWOL again!!!
Man I have been so busy and just could not find time to blog a little and I miss it so much! You know this is where I get to display my creative talents (yeah thats me blowing my on horn), vent about my kids good and bad!!
I have done a few cakes and cupcakes since I last blogged and I need to just get them on here, when I have the time. However I am currently busy with a Beatles themed "Sweet 16" cake for my niece. I am very excited about this cake. A little nervous to because the inside has to be rainbow cake!!!! Yeah you read right RAINBOW! The base of this cake is 14" so pray for me!!!
Anyway will check back soon and post lots of pictures to that we can all catch up!
Your baking buddy
Jacki
I have done a few cakes and cupcakes since I last blogged and I need to just get them on here, when I have the time. However I am currently busy with a Beatles themed "Sweet 16" cake for my niece. I am very excited about this cake. A little nervous to because the inside has to be rainbow cake!!!! Yeah you read right RAINBOW! The base of this cake is 14" so pray for me!!!
Anyway will check back soon and post lots of pictures to that we can all catch up!
Your baking buddy
Jacki
Monday, March 21, 2011
Yo Gabba Gabba
So I got a call to do a Muno cake.................yes I asked myself who and what is that? Well I soon found out that I was clearly the only person who did not know what Yo Gabba Gabba was. My neighbor's little boy was turning 2 and he loves Muno. I did his body in layers of vanilla and chocolate and each leg was its own flavor. I covered Muno (whom I am now good friends with) in modelling chocolate and I made his party hat out of a sugar cone that was covered in yellow modelling chocolate and painted with blue luster dust.
My neighbor's son absolutely loved his cake and kept saying "see Muno cake". Its always so rewarding to see the look on the birthday boy or girls face when they see the cake. Its also fun to chat with the guests and see their reactions to the creativity on a board! The Q&A session that follows the reveal of a cake like this is always rewarding, because only then do people appreciate and respect the time and effort that goes into a cake like this! Had loads of fun meeting and making Muno. Happy Birthday Colin............I look forward to see what we will be making next year!!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Homemade Fudge!!!
Whenever the kids are in the mood for something homemade and sweet and really quick, I always go to this recipe, its easy and I always have the ingredients on hand and something homemade always beats something store bought! I know your family will love it as much as mine does! I was not going to post this recipe because everyone has a fudge recipe, but this one goes out to my very dear friend in Australia...........Natalie!
INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups of sugar
5 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp syrup
4 Tbsp butter
1 Can Condensed Milk
1 tsp Vanilla essence
Grease a 20x28cm dish.
In a heavy pot mix together the sugar and water and stir over a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Add the syrup and butter and stir until the butter has melted.
Add the Condensed Milk and stir until the mixture comes to a boil.
Boil slowly and keep stirring constantly, for about 20 min to make sure that the fudge is ready drop a drop of fudge into a glass of water and if it hardens its ready.
Remove the pot from the heat and add the vanilla essence and pour out into your greased dish, I use a 20 X 28 cm dish.
Cut into squares when its almost cold.
The best part about this is you can make different variations of it with anything you have in the cupboard.
Make peanut fudge by adding a cup of peanuts to it before you pour it into your dish or add about 100g of chocolate chips to it to make chocolate fudge or for kids parties you can even add in jelly beans or m&m's. Whatever your fancy is add it to this fudge and sit back and watch everyone enjoy!
I would love to hear some of your ideas and how you changed up your batch of homemade fudge!
It will be SWEET to hear from you (pardon the pun)
Jacki
INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups of sugar
5 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp syrup
4 Tbsp butter
1 Can Condensed Milk
1 tsp Vanilla essence
Grease a 20x28cm dish.
In a heavy pot mix together the sugar and water and stir over a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Add the syrup and butter and stir until the butter has melted.
Add the Condensed Milk and stir until the mixture comes to a boil.
Boil slowly and keep stirring constantly, for about 20 min to make sure that the fudge is ready drop a drop of fudge into a glass of water and if it hardens its ready.
Remove the pot from the heat and add the vanilla essence and pour out into your greased dish, I use a 20 X 28 cm dish.
Cut into squares when its almost cold.
The best part about this is you can make different variations of it with anything you have in the cupboard.
Make peanut fudge by adding a cup of peanuts to it before you pour it into your dish or add about 100g of chocolate chips to it to make chocolate fudge or for kids parties you can even add in jelly beans or m&m's. Whatever your fancy is add it to this fudge and sit back and watch everyone enjoy!
I would love to hear some of your ideas and how you changed up your batch of homemade fudge!
It will be SWEET to hear from you (pardon the pun)
Jacki
Thursday, March 10, 2011
How to make modelling chocolate!
When you are at a birthday party and you see the cake with all of its embellishments you just want to dig in............yeah not so much when its covered in FONDANT!
Fondant is a wonderful medium to work with and that's how I covered cakes when I started cake decorating but then I discovered this wonderful little baking miracle called Modelling Chocolate. Not only is it great to cover cakes with but to sculpt and make decorations for cakes it magic and tastes wonderful! Modelling Chocolate is so so easy to make and real fun when cake decorating with the kids!
Here is how its done:
10 oz chocolate discs/chips (any color)
1/3 cup light corn syrup
In a double boiler melt chocolate, when nice and smooth remove from heat and add the corn syrup, mix with a spatula until it reaches the ball stage. Spread it out onto a piece of wax paper that is placed on a table and smooth it out to form a sheet. Leave it open and untouched for 2-3 hours. It will be pliable and can be stored at room temperature in an air tight container for about a month.
If you are covering a cake with it, you simply roll it out just like you would fondant, using powdered sugar to cover the surface so it does not stick.
Modelling chocolate is great to use when you want to add just a small embellishment on a cupcake or fill your cupcake with your favorite filling, turn it out of its cup and cover it like a little cake. The options are limitless with modelling chocolate. So don't be scared, try it, I promise you will love it!
Happy melting, covering and sculpting
Jacki
Fondant is a wonderful medium to work with and that's how I covered cakes when I started cake decorating but then I discovered this wonderful little baking miracle called Modelling Chocolate. Not only is it great to cover cakes with but to sculpt and make decorations for cakes it magic and tastes wonderful! Modelling Chocolate is so so easy to make and real fun when cake decorating with the kids!
Here is how its done:
10 oz chocolate discs/chips (any color)
1/3 cup light corn syrup
In a double boiler melt chocolate, when nice and smooth remove from heat and add the corn syrup, mix with a spatula until it reaches the ball stage. Spread it out onto a piece of wax paper that is placed on a table and smooth it out to form a sheet. Leave it open and untouched for 2-3 hours. It will be pliable and can be stored at room temperature in an air tight container for about a month.
If you are covering a cake with it, you simply roll it out just like you would fondant, using powdered sugar to cover the surface so it does not stick.
Modelling chocolate is great to use when you want to add just a small embellishment on a cupcake or fill your cupcake with your favorite filling, turn it out of its cup and cover it like a little cake. The options are limitless with modelling chocolate. So don't be scared, try it, I promise you will love it!
Happy melting, covering and sculpting
Jacki
Rev it Up!
My youngest son's best buddy had his 7th birthday party at Slingshot speedway, pretty cool place the boys got to race slot cars for an hour and then we headed over to the food court and had lunch and cake! This was such a super idea, the boys had a ball and the cake was well received!
Avery (birthday boy) asked for real cars on his cake, pretty bright you man, because when the cake is all done he gets to keep the cars!
The cake was vanilla with a traditional buttercream icing and covered in modelling chocolate with the checkered flag also done in black and white modelling chocolate and all of the decorations were done in modelling chocolate to. This cake was easy but for the tires that were handmade and the checkered flag that had to be punched out square by square! It was worth every little groove and square when I saw how much Avery loved his cake!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Well this is just awful
Can someone be that busy that you are unable to blog for a month, 1 month, One whole month? Well it seems that way! I have been to busy to even page to my blog at all the past 4 weeks. Well I am here now and I will make sure that this will NOT happen again. For my previous blog I wanted to try out some $1 recipes from the dollar diva and have not even tackled that yet! Where do the hours go to in the day?
I am the first one awake in the morning so you would think that I get a head start on everyone else right? Wrong, I am so busy tending to everyone else's needs that I don't think I sit down until lunch time, when my stomach folds me in two and refuses to let go of the hold until I feed it. I know you all know what I am talking about.
Then the kids come home from school and its snacks and homework and all kinds of things and when I realise it I need to get dinner going and before I wipe the sleep out of my eyes my husband is home and I am serving dinner and then its dishes and getting the kids in the bath and then into bed and reading and finally I get to have a shower and bruise my bed! Oops only once I have checked that all the doors are locked and light are turned off!
I am happy to do it, and now that I have written it all down I know where my day goes to! The infinite pro's and cons of being a stay at home mom.
Well I am back now and hopefully am able to keep up with my blog and put some recipes on here.
Take care all
I am the first one awake in the morning so you would think that I get a head start on everyone else right? Wrong, I am so busy tending to everyone else's needs that I don't think I sit down until lunch time, when my stomach folds me in two and refuses to let go of the hold until I feed it. I know you all know what I am talking about.
Then the kids come home from school and its snacks and homework and all kinds of things and when I realise it I need to get dinner going and before I wipe the sleep out of my eyes my husband is home and I am serving dinner and then its dishes and getting the kids in the bath and then into bed and reading and finally I get to have a shower and bruise my bed! Oops only once I have checked that all the doors are locked and light are turned off!
I am happy to do it, and now that I have written it all down I know where my day goes to! The infinite pro's and cons of being a stay at home mom.
Well I am back now and hopefully am able to keep up with my blog and put some recipes on here.
Take care all
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Could we all just be Divas?
A simple little book I picked up in a Dollar Store for one simple little dollar and six cents tax, has really got my mind spinning!
The book is called "Dining with the Dollar Diva" by Elizabeth J. Fisher. Now the title of this book grabbed my attention right away, as I am sure it would have grabbed any one's attention who is on a budget! I didn't page through the book while in the store, it was only $1 what did I have to lose. I came home and packed all the unnecessary stuff I had bought at the Dollar Store away and put the book on the table, and thought "Well I will get around to reading it soon". We happened to be snowed in for a week, and when cabin fever set in, I certainly needed a distraction.
I picked up the "Dollar Diva" and proceeded to take a long hot bath while reading it. The titles to the recipes sounded great, however, upon reading the ingredients I kept finding myself replacing them with goods bought at a Kroger or Walmart or Publix, which as you may have guessed would not be "Dinning with the Dollar Diva" anymore. This got me thinking, was it that I didn't trust the goods sold by Dollar Stores? Not at all, I have bought many many things from Dollar Stores.......but have I ever consumed anything that I had bought at a Dollar Store? Right there was my answer.....NO! Why not? Dollar Stores sell name brand items, and what if my situation was one where I could not afford the name brand item! Oh the HORROR!
I saw a movie called "Julie and Julia" and was pretty impressed by Julie who took on the task of preparing every single one of Julia Child's recipes! So I have set this task out for myself with the "Dollar Diva". I am going to make every single one of these recipes using ingredients from the Dollar stores or 10 for 10 deals at other stores but I will make sure that none of the ingredients cost more than a good old American Dollar! Just to see how much of a Food Diva I really am!
This is not going to be easy for me, as I am extremely picky about what I eat and feed my family. With my youngest son being allergic to all Poultry and my husband being allergic to any and all Shell Fish, you can imagine the menu that this household is accustomed to!
I hope you will all take this journey with me, I will blog after every recipe, adding the cooking experience and the taste and the reviews from my family. I truly hope that this will transform me from a $10 Diva to a $1 Diva.
Penny for your thoughts
Jacki
The book is called "Dining with the Dollar Diva" by Elizabeth J. Fisher. Now the title of this book grabbed my attention right away, as I am sure it would have grabbed any one's attention who is on a budget! I didn't page through the book while in the store, it was only $1 what did I have to lose. I came home and packed all the unnecessary stuff I had bought at the Dollar Store away and put the book on the table, and thought "Well I will get around to reading it soon". We happened to be snowed in for a week, and when cabin fever set in, I certainly needed a distraction.
I picked up the "Dollar Diva" and proceeded to take a long hot bath while reading it. The titles to the recipes sounded great, however, upon reading the ingredients I kept finding myself replacing them with goods bought at a Kroger or Walmart or Publix, which as you may have guessed would not be "Dinning with the Dollar Diva" anymore. This got me thinking, was it that I didn't trust the goods sold by Dollar Stores? Not at all, I have bought many many things from Dollar Stores.......but have I ever consumed anything that I had bought at a Dollar Store? Right there was my answer.....NO! Why not? Dollar Stores sell name brand items, and what if my situation was one where I could not afford the name brand item! Oh the HORROR!
I saw a movie called "Julie and Julia" and was pretty impressed by Julie who took on the task of preparing every single one of Julia Child's recipes! So I have set this task out for myself with the "Dollar Diva". I am going to make every single one of these recipes using ingredients from the Dollar stores or 10 for 10 deals at other stores but I will make sure that none of the ingredients cost more than a good old American Dollar! Just to see how much of a Food Diva I really am!
This is not going to be easy for me, as I am extremely picky about what I eat and feed my family. With my youngest son being allergic to all Poultry and my husband being allergic to any and all Shell Fish, you can imagine the menu that this household is accustomed to!
I hope you will all take this journey with me, I will blog after every recipe, adding the cooking experience and the taste and the reviews from my family. I truly hope that this will transform me from a $10 Diva to a $1 Diva.
Penny for your thoughts
Jacki
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Funky at 40
I had to laugh when I got the call to do this cake! The person this cake was for is a Lacrosse coach at Georgia Tech, who apparently likes to wear eccentric pants and socks! I thought his wife was kidding when she said his choice in Pants is "out there" well while making this cake I could not wait to meet him.
I am happy to say that he was blown away by his cake and he was even more impressed with his pink pants! What a nice couple. It was such a pleasure to make this cake for them. Happy 40th birthday Ken!
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