Sexy Strawberry Dressing

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

3 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon  ground black pepper

Add everything to a blender and pulse until smooth.  Use immediately or chill before serving.

We love this on a bed of romaine with sliced steak on top.  Also awesome with fresh spinach!

(The 12 yr old named this recipe…it was Tangy or Sexy…sexy works LOL)

PS

I’ll try to remember pics next time.

Cake Balls

I can’t take credit for this recipe.  I  blame credit Pioneer Woman who technically can’t claim it either. She posts about that here in which she properly gives Bakerella all the glory.

 

Here’s my less than perfect attempt at the lucious creations:

You can click the links above for the original recipe, but it’s really simple:

Bake a cake, let it cool. Mush it up with a can of icing, roll it into balls, chill to firm, then dip in melted chocolate.  Voila!

Dreamy!

Raspberry Trifle Update

Now with pics.

Peek-a-boo Cookies

I’m calling these “Peek-a-boo Cookies”.  They could be Valentine cookies, as that’s what I made these for, or they could be cut outs or whatever.

But I like “Peek-a-boo Cookies”

Aren’t they pretty?  I’ve wanted to make these for…forever…I finally got around to it.

It’s your basic sugar cookie recipe which you roll out to make sandwich pairs then cut a small shape out of half of them.

Roll, cut and bake as described in the recipe.  Cooling slightly on the pan then removing to a wire cooling rack to finish the job.

Once cool you smear on about a tablespoon of your favorite fruit spread.  I used strawberry above, because I couldn’t get any raspberry at the time.  Eldest and I were majorly bummed about that, but anyway, choose your flavor, smear it on the whole cookie then top with the ‘peek-a-boo’ cookie.  Then you can give them all a gentle dusting of powdered sugar.  How you ask?  Oh super simple, scoop a bit into a sifter or sieve and gently tap the sugar out as you make your way around the cookie display.

Super cute, super easy, super yummy!

Marshmallow Fondant

A new thing for me here, this fondant idea.  It looks neat, but I had heard it wasn’t so tasty.  Oh well, it’s a medium I hadn’t tried and you know how I like to experiment with this cake decorating stuff.  I’m not any good at it, but I sure do have fun with it.  Even though I often get myself on the brink of a breakdown.  hehe

Anyway, here it is.  The recipe can be found all over online, I’m not sure of the address.  So, my apologies for not giving direct credit, but, well, it’s not an original recipe or anything.  The same thing was found on multiple sites.

1 – 16oz package mini marshmallows

2 lbs powdered sugar

2 – 5 tbsp water

1/2 butter (ok, the recipe called for shortening, blech, boo, hiss..no WONDER folks say the stuff tastes less than wonderful, butter makes it better, right?)

 

First, melt your marshmallows with a couple tablespoons of water.  The recipes said 2-5 tablespoons and to add 2 to the marshmallows, but never said what to do about the other 3 ‘if needed’.  So, I just figured that part out on my own. Anyway, 2 tbsp water and marshmallows … you can either melt this at 30 second intervals in the microwave, stirring between each, or do it over a double boiler.  I have done it both ways.  Microwave is faster.  The results do not vary.

Marshmallows and water, microwaved for one minute.  Remember to stir after every 30 seconds.  To melt completely this may take a couple of minutes, depending on your microwave.

Once fully melted, dump 3/4 of the powdered sugar on top of the melted mallows.

Yep. Just dump it on there.

Now get that stick of butter.  You want to keep that out on the counter, handy.  Literally!  Cover your hands with it.  REALLY well.  Palms, tops, between your fingers.   Grease ‘em up really well now. Trust me.  You’ll be dipping back into this frequently.

Then, dig in.

Just like you are mixing bread dough. Get in there and start working things around.  I start in a kind of pinching motion. The mix is so light at this point, it feels pretty funky. :p

Keep mixing, until all of that initial additon of sugar is incorporated.  There will likely still be some stuck to the sides, don’t sweat that.  Just get as much as you can in there, all that loose stuff.  Just keep mixing and kneading.  Remember to butter your hands again as needed.

Once you’ve done that, butter up your counter.  Yes, you heard me.  Slather the counter, and your hands again, with more butter.  Dump the now more dough like mass onto the buttered counter and commence to kneading in more powdered sugar.

Aaah, look at those glistening hands.

Just keep kneading, kneading, kneading…

Now, the recipes simply say ‘incorporate the remaining powdered sugar’ However, if you do that, you then have none left when it comes time to roll the stuff out.  AND, I didn’t find the dough needed *all* of it.  I probably added another cup ?? It varies.  It will depend on the temperature and humidity in your home.

What you want is a nice workable consistency.  You don’t want sticky, like when you first started this endeavor nor even when you first plopped it onto the counter.  But you want to be careful that it doesn’t get too dry.  Dry fondant = cracking fondant.  That is NOT what we want.

This is where I assumed the extra water came into play ??  Sometimes the mix just seems a bit dry, yet, like it could take more sugar.  So, I would stretch a piece out and sprinkle on a tablespoon of water then knead it all in again.

Keep kneading.

Stretching and kneading.  Bread bakers should do well with this part. Even if the fondant is a bit stiffer than your bread dough.

Doesn’t it look pretty?

Then there you go.  That’s it.  You’re done!  You’ve made fondant!!  Woohoo!

You can color it before storing or after.  Whatever.  For that, just work in some gel coloring.  If you are going to use one color for the whole mass, you could add this in as you are adding in the remaining powdered sugar, to make it a tad easier.  I’ve added it in after the fondant was the consistency I needed because I was using different colors.

Now, butter it up and double wrap it in plastic wrap.  You can store it out on the counter overnight.  If it will be more than a day before you use it, you should refrigerate. Then just let it come to room temperature again before trying to work with it.

When ready to use, dust your surface with powder sugar.  A sifter is nice here.  Nothing like having to work with sugar lumps when trying to roll your fondant nice and smooth and flaw free!  I use a small seive, personally.

Be patient.  This stuff doesn’t roll easily.  This isn’t sugar cookie dough!  This is going to take a little more time.  Just keep rolling, and turning, and dusting. Remember to periodically lift the fondant and dust under it as you turn it, otherwise you will get a spot stuck smack in the middle.  And that won’t be pretty.  Trust me.

Before you know it, things will be easing up and it doesn’t seem so difficult to roll anymore.  You will want it to be about 1/8″ thick to cover your cake.  Be careful…OVERestimate the size you need.  It’s easy to cut it down, but you can’t add to it so well.  You’ll have to reroll the whole thing.  Or try to piece things together which doesn’t look pretty now does it?

Once you have that rolled out, give your cake a thin coat of icing.  It doesn’t matter if it’s homemade butter cream or canned stuff.  Just give it a little smear so the fondant has something to stick to.

Then, ease the sheet of fondant over your cake.  It’s not that difficult, really, it’s not, trust me!  I just make sure nothing is stuck to the counter.  Remember…turn and dust frequently  Then I just reach my arms up under the sheet, supporting well, but letting it drape a bit.  Center the sheet over your cake and lower it down, draping gently.  Now you will go back and put in any creases, forming it to your cake shape, nice and close.

Voila!  You’ve just fondanted a cake!  (Yes, that’s my new word ‘fondanted’)  

Now you can try making something like….

Nice and simple.

Raspberry Trifle

This may have another name already, not sure, I forget.  I found it on the box of Betty Crocker angel food cake.  Scrumptious!!

1 angelfood cake

1 8 serving box of raspberry gelatin

2 cups boiling water

2 – 10 oz bags frozen raspberries, thawed (I used one 12 oz bag and found that to be sufficient)

3 – 6oz containers raspberry yogurt

 

Prepare cake according to package directions and let cool.  Or just buy one premade.

Empty gelatin powder into a large glass bowl.  Pour 2 cups boiling water over it and mix until gelatin is dissolved.

Add in the raspberries.  You can leave a handful out for garnish if desired.

Refrigerate until thickened.  Now, the box’s recipe said 15 minutes, but that didn’t cut it.  Ok I timed it today and it took 1 hr and 20 minutes to thicken, very nearly set up.  Then I made the mistake of not putting the raspberries in previously..and they were still frozen…just a note..90% set Jell-o + frozen berries = fully set Jell-o. K? K. 

Now, tear the cake into pieces, about 3/4″ in size.  Bite-size.

Next, get out your pretty trifle and start layering.  Cake, jello w/berries then yogurt.  The box says layer half of each then repeat.  I like more pretty layers…I did 3 lovely layers.

Sprinkle a few berries on top, for good measure Refrigerate for a couple of hours to set things up a bit.

Store any leftover covered…says the box…leftovers? What the heck? Pffft

Venison Rummy

Ok, so that title stinks.  I’ll blame the cold.  

Anyway, I tried a new recipe the other night.  Note..this is the first I have used it, so don’t hold me to anything ok?  Normally I have use things a few times before posting.  But this was good and I needed a post over here.

I had some venison stew meat.  It needed something.

So I went browsing for some steak recipes.  And I’ve been dying to make something with rum.  I don’t know why.  Just wanna.  So, that narrowed my search.  I just planned to apply it to DEER meat instead of beef.  So, here we go…

1/3 cup rum

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

 

Mixed that all together then tossed in 2-3 pounds of meat and let it sit in the fridge for 3-4 hours.  Then I brought it out, gave it a toss then let it sit out on the counter for another half an hour or so while I prepared the rest of supper.

Melted a tablespoon of butter with a tablespoon or so of olive oil in my heavy bottom stainless steel skillet.  Sliced some onions and tossed those in just before the butter browned.  Got the onions all nice and translucent then added the meat and cooked just until done.

I had thought about making a sauce from the leftover marinade, but, well, the rice was done and I didn’t want it to wait and I was stinkin’ HUNGRY.  It was good as it was.  Though I may see what else I can come up with to work on this dish.  But there’s an idea for ya anyway.  Rum…it’s a good thing.