Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Our Heaviest CSA Veggie Box Yet!

Look at today's CSA box of veggies that we got today! My mouth is watering just looking at it!

We got purple basil, purple royalty beans (that turn green when you cook them) a black beauty eggplant, 6 ears of bicolor sweet corn, watermelon, heirloom tomatoes, peppers, squash, and some of the biggest sweet potatoes I've ever seen! I can't wait to dig in and get creative!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Beef Stroganoff Soup

Only one more week until school starts here in Michigan! My kindergartener is super excited to get started, ride the bus and meet all of his new classmates!

Fall is just around the corner so I have a delicious soup recipe for you today.  The recipe says you can leave this as a runny, broth soup or you can add some cornstarch to thicken it up a bit.  I like my soups on the thicker side, so I took the extra couple of minutes to thicken it up a bit.  It turned out great! The beef was oh so tender and just full of flavor!


Beef Stroganoff Soup

Source: For The Love Of Cooking


Yield: 6
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours 20 min.

INGREDIENTS:

3 t. olive oil
3/4 lb. of lean chuck, cut into small bite sized cubes
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
6 c. beef broth
1 T. Dijon mustard
1-2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
2 c. egg noodles
2-3 T. corn starch + 1/4 cup of beef broth (if thicker soup is desired)
3 T. sour cream
Chives, chopped, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the beef and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until browned. Add the onion and mushrooms then cook, stirring often, for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme then season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste; cook stirring constantly for 1 minute. Add the beef broth, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaf to the Dutch oven then stir until well combined. Cover with a lid and simmer for 2-3 hours.
Turn the heat up to medium then add the noodles and cook for 10 minutes or until the noodles are cooked through. If you would like a thicker soup mix 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch with a bit of beef broth then add to the boiling soup and stir well until thick. Remove from the heat and let sit for a minute or two to cool down. Add the sour cream and stir until well combined. taste the soup and re-season with sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, Dijon, or Worcestershire sauce if needed. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Busy At Work...

Things have been busy at work and I've had a lot of fun decorating cakes lately! Thought I'd take a minute to show you a few that I made the past couple of weeks. Decorating cakes never gets boring because each one is always different from the next!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Caprese Salad

Caprese salad is a favorite of mine! When we got a pile of tomatoes and a big bunch of basil in our farm share box, I immediately thought of this salad!  I live really close to Zingerman's Creamery which just so happens to make fresh mozzarella cheese daily!  It doesn't get any more fresh than that! Freshly picked tomatoes and basil plus fresh mozzarella = one amazing caprese salad. I've made this several times this summer!


Caprese Salad
Wash and tear basil leaves and toss with fresh chopped tomatoes and chunks of mozzarella
cheese. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Angry Birds Cake



Today is my brother-in-law's birthday!  I'm so glad we were able to spend time with him this past weekend because that means I was able to make his birthday cake {and eat some too}!  It was hard deciding just how to decorate his cake but I decided to go with Angry Birds. A chocolate cake with cherry filling...YUM!!!  

Happy Birthday!!!!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

BeiBei the Dog Cake

On Thursday I had the opportunity to make another dog cake.  This time for my hubby's workplace. This is one of the most time consuming but favorite cakes I make! It's so much fun seeing this cake come together. And even more rewarding to see the look on the person's face when they see their cake for the first time.

See how excited she was?



Here's a close-up of the cake, complete with bow and nametag...

Here's her actual dog. See the resemblance?

Thursday, August 2, 2012

University of Michigan Cake

I had a fun opportunity last weekend to make a cake for a Ph.D. graduation party.  It's fun living in a college town and this colorful cake was a big hit and full of school spirit!

CSA Update

I am still LOVING the box of fresh veggies I get from our farm share each week! Despite the hot and extremely dry summer we have had, Zilke's continues to fill our boxes with an abundance of delicious fruits and veggies.  In this week's box, we got cantaloupe, new red potatoes, baby swiss chard, tomatoes, onions, tomatillos, a squash, a cucumber and peppers of all shapes, sizes and spiciness! Yum!!!  My 5 year old even asked me tonight if he could eat a whole tomato. He sat and ate it just like an apple! We love our veggies around here!!!