The Care-Paula Experiment: Dish 1: Croque Madame Casserole

My first Paula dish is Croque Madame Casserole. I watched Paula and Michael make it this past weekend on the Food Network, and I immediately developed a craving. You can find the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/croque-madame-casserole-recipe/index.html

I will admit this recipe was a bit adventurous for me . . . the concepts of cooking a sauce and frying an egg (no, I have never fried an egg before) were new, but I was determined to give it a try. I spent a good portion of my day last Saturday trying to hunt down Gruyere cheese. (I found it at Kroger.) I then had to go back out for the ham yesterday because the 3YO ate what I had already bought. I finally had all the ingredients together yesterday, so I gave it a go.

I was honestly surprised at how easy it was to do. The hardest part was frying the egg, and I could still use some practice there, but with enough cheese on top no one seemed to notice. And the taste? AMAZING! It was my-eyes-rolled-in-the-back-of-my-head good!

I was a little worried that my 12YO would not eat it, but he inhaled it and went back for seconds. He is the king of picky eaters, by the way. I failed to get a picture of the finished product as the boys were eating it before I even had a chance to sit down. I'll work harder to get pictures in the future.

Give this one a try. You'll love it!

With friendship,

Care'

The Care-Paula Experiment

Last weekend I finally had an opportunity to watch the movie Julie and Julia. Yes, I know that move came out in 2009 and it's now 2010. My inability to stay current with movies is a very long story best saved for another day. Anyway, that movie really inspired me to try and finally learn to cook.

I grew up with a Mom and Dad and multiple grandparents that could cook. And I mean REALLY REALLY cook. I was exposed to amazing food my whole life. When I got married, I gained a mother-in-law and a husband that can also REALLY REALLY cook. My sister can also REALLY REALLY cook.

Alas, I cannot.

Yes, I can make desserts and there are a few dishes I can do, but the ability to just walk in the kitchen, look in the pantry and throw something delicious together completely alludes me. If it weren't for my husband, the kids would be very tired of chicken and rice by now.

So, while watching the movie I got to thinking . . . could I do the same thing?

Right after the movie I caught one of Paula Deen's shows and the idea was cemented. I decided that I would learn to cook using Paula's recipes and watching her shows. Last week I started the journey.

Stay tuned for my trials and tribulations as I attempt to add new recipes to my arsenal. No more chicken and rice!

With friendship,

Care'

Cake Balls!

While browsing the internet I came across this site:

http://www.bakerella.com/

I was intrigued . . mesmerized . .excited . .

I am in constant pursit of making those wonderful little desserts. I LIVE for the Food Network challenges where they make the cakes and sugar sculptures. I have tried many times to create these masterpieces and failed. Miserably.

Yet, here was something that looked attainable. There was enough science to the process of making cake balls, but still room for creativity.

Could I do it? Dare I try?

Well, this past holiday season I did give it a go. In all I made about 20 dozen cake balls and they were all a HIT. For Christmas I asked for Angie's book. It is awesome and a great deal. I highly recommend it.

http://astore.amazon.com/bakerella-20/detail/0811876373

Here are some pics of my creations. I am anxious to try more!

Oh, and they taste GREAT too . . .

The ones on the top are chocolate cake inside with chocolate icing, and the trees are red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. I also made a batch with butter cake and butter icing dipped in milk chocolate. I don't have a picture of those because they were gobble up too fast.

You have to give these a try.

With friendship,

Care'

My Sister's Quilt - Update

Here it is - the top of the quilt all laid out. I wanted to get an idea of layout and placement so I could ensure there was a good balance of color. After fiddling around a bit (and playing with the pattern) this is what I came up with. Now all Ineed to do is join everything together.

Hopefully I can work on it this weekend. Lately it has been tough to put 10 minutes together. LOL! I had hoped to have it done by Christmas, but at this pace it may be a first anniversary gift.

With friendship,

Care'

My Sister's Quilt #2

I guess it's time to do a little update on the progress of my sister's wedding quilt. Despite the lag between posts, I have been quite busy. The front squares are completely ready and I'm working on the back squares now. For the front, I took the fans that my grandmother hand-quilted and set them into an unbleached muslin fabric. I chose the muslin because there was so much variety in the fan colors that I didn't want to take away from them. That, and the fact that the unbleached quality makes it appear older is very appealing.

After insetting each fan quarter into the muslin piece, I then went back and embroidered along the seams. I originally planned to do different color thread with different patterns, but ultimately decided that off-white would compliment the quilt best. Also, by keeping the embroidery simple, I think it helps unify the quilt. While doing the embroidery I quilted each fan to a piece of batting.

Next step is to do the back the same way - cut, assemble, quilt & emboider. Then, I can start joining the pieces!

My goal is to have this done by Christmas. Wish me luck!

With friendship,

Care'

Mummy Cake

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no Martha Stewart. I'll also be the first to admit that cooking is not my forte. Yet, for some strange reason I am constantly compelled to try and recreate those fabulous cake designs I see in Better Homes & Garden or on those Food Network Challenge shows. I even scoff at those cake disasters on the Cake Wrecks website (http://cakewrecks.com/). I can do BETTER! MMMUUUUHAHAHAHAHA!

I have no cooking skills. None. Nada. Zip. I can burn ice.

I also know that when it comes to cake decorating, I'm all thumbs. Heck, even someone with all thumbs could do better.

But alas, something pushes me to try. Some glimmer of hope shines periodically in the core of my soul that tells me "this time will be different!"

I know it will turn out bad. Really. Really. Bad. Yet, I still pull out the cake pans and mixer.

This month's inspiration was the mummy cupcakes found on the Better Homes & Garden website: http://www.bhg.com/holidays/halloween/recipes/17-frightfully-good-halloween-cupcakes/



Adorable, aren't they? They look easy enough. Chocolate cake mix, white frosting and some eyes. EASY-PEASY!

The trip to the panty revealed no chocolate cake mix. Fine, I'll make my own. Two hours later I was armed with a chocolate cake recipe that I found here: http://www.momswhothink.com/cake-recipes/chocolate-cake-recipe.html. Fabulous recipe. Takes great! It's definately a keeper.

I put together the batter and realized I did not have cupcake liners. No worries, I'll just make a three-tiered cake instead. This, my friends, is when I should have awoken Vince.

With cake in the oven I set off to get the frosting. Darn. No white frosting. We have chocolate and milk chocolate and some strange yellow stuff left over from last month's Sponge Bob cake, but no white. Off to search the internet for a buttercream frosting recipe! I found this one - also wonderful. It's so good you'll want to slap someone.

http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/buttercream-frosting/

I really liked how she explained how to swap out flavors and change the texture. Tips I knew that my new-found-made-from-scratch-cake-decorating-diva-company-extrodinare could benefit from.

Yes, you SHOULD be laughing at me by now. At this point my 3-year-old had toddled in and said, "Oh No! Mommy cooking!"

But, I was not to be discouraged.

The cakes came together well. They were a little difficult to get out of the pan, but I knew that putting them in the freezer for 5 minutes would solve that. Just a little tip I learned from soap making.

The tiers came out a little more rounded on the top than I had hoped, so I got out my trusty knife to try and even them out. Again, should have awoken the V-Man at this point.

I got my first layer on the plate, then proceeded to frost.

Hmmm. the frosting was separating and starting to run down the sides. After double-checking the recipe I realized at this point that I had used too much butter.

After allowing the cake to sit a few moments, I kind of liked how the oozing was looking. I mean, I was going for a mummy cake after all. Maybe it would be more scary than cute, but I was on the right track.

I added the next layers. Cool, oozing effect all around. But, I knew the top needed to be a bit more stiff. That's when I remembered I could add more powdered sugar to the recipe to get a stiffer recipe.

Darn, out of powdered sugar. Regular sugar will work, right? (Vince is still sleeping at this point, blissfully unaware of what I'm doing to his kitchen).

I added more sugar to get a better consistency. Still a little runny, but good enough for my now scary cake. And it still tasted good and now had a cool crunchy effect!

TA DA! Here's the finished pic:

I even managed to make some eyes with the frosting.

Okay, okay. I KNOW it looks terrible. I know it deserves to be featured in a "don't let this happen to you article." I know this.

But, it tastes amazing. And, since I didn't show the kids what I was trying to make, they are
none the wiser.

With friendship,

Care'

The Pics are In

I thought it would be a good idea to put up a pic of my sis wearning the bead-woven bracelet I made for her. I think it looked beautiful with her dress. I also made the veil. That was a very last minute thing, but it turned out great and looked beautiful on her. Now I can add "veil-making" to my bag of tricks.

This is a pic of Jen dancing with our Dad. This was taken in her backyard. I tell you, sitting on her back deck watching the sun go down every night would be hard to get used to - NOT! I think I may have fallen in love with Seattle.



With friendship,

Care'