Any excuse to bake!

I got two new recipes and decided to welcome Fall with some yummy cookies.

First, I tempted Bakerella's cake balls. I was thinking about making some for Hudson's birthday party so I wanted to give them a whirl. Instead of red velvet, I did French vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting and I dipped them in white chocolate or semi-sweet. They are okay - I don't think I like the store bought frosting. Next time, I may try them with homemade frosting.

(If you want to know the best way to make these, here's what worked for me. I baked the cake in a 9x13 pan on Thursday. I crumbled the cake and mixed it with the frosting on Friday. I put it in the fridge for a few hours then rolled the balls on Friday night. I let it freeze overnight and dipped the balls in chocolate on Saturday)

For some reason, blogger keeps rotating this picture, but you get the idea.

I had alot more success with Jaime's pumpkin pizzelles. These are much more cakey than traditional pizzelles. For example, you can fold them and they will bend, not crack. I wasn't sure I was going to like the texture. Then I rolled a few, filled them with maple frosting, and sprinkled with pumpkin pie spice. Now we have a winner!!

I used my Aunt Coll's frosting recipe and just added a few squirts of maple syrup. If you're trying to recreate this, just make a basic icing and add as much syrup as you think it needs to have a maple flavor. I probably added 3-4 tablespoons.

The perfect "side" to a great cup of coffee on a cool Fall day!

And so it grows....

Here's a picture of Ryan rubbing his "lucky beard" after the Steelers victory over the Browns. Two weeks down, 14 to go....

GUILTY!

Ryan was dressing Hudson after his bath and Ryan's mom and I were chatting down stairs. I heard Ryan talking to someone in a more serious tone (i.e. not baby talk). He came down stairs and told us that he gave Hudson his Blackberry to play with, but he didn't lock it (rookie mistake). Hudson was so uninterested in getting his pajamas on that he called 911. And then hung up on them. Needless to say, they called Ryan back to see what the emergency was. Here's a picture of Hudson after the call, still holding the Blackberry and looking quite guilty - we caught him redhanded!

Gazpacho and grilled cheese - YUM!

GAZPACHO (from simplyrecipes.com):

6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped (I use 5 - that's all that fits in my food processor!)
1 purple onion, finely chopped (I use half of one onion)
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 sweet red bell pepper (or green) seeded and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
6 or more drops of Tabasco sauce to taste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (omit for vegetarian option)
4 cups tomato juice

Method

Combine all ingredients (I put the tomatoes through the garlic in the food processor and then mix in the liquid ingredients in a large bowl). Blend slightly, to desired consistency. Place in non-metal, non-reactive storage container, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight, allowing flavors to blend.

Serves 8.

OLIVE-PESTO GRILLED CHEESE
8 slices ciabatta, halved lengthwise
2T olive oil8t Basil-Almond Peso (see below)
8 slices fresh mozzarella
1/3c pimento-stuffed green olives chopped
BASIL ALMOND PESTO (this makes enough for two batches of grilled cheese, so I freeze the leftover pesto for the next time I want to make this)
1c fresh basil leaves
1/2c fresh parsley leaves1/4c olive oil
2T sliced almonds toasted
2 garlic cloves
1/4t red pepper flakes
minced zest and juice from one lemon
salt to taste
Puree all ingredients in food processor until smooth (Keeps for one week chilled, one month when frozen)

Preheat grill to med-high (I use the Foreman Grill for this). Brush uncut slides of ciabatta slices with oil.Spread 1t of pesto on the cut sides of each bread slice then top with mozzarella and olives. arrange second slice of bread on top. Grill sandwiches weighted down with a baking sheet and bricks (or the lid to the Foreman Grill!) until toasted on one side, 2 minutes. Flip sandwiches over, weight down, and grill until golden and cheese melts, 2 more minutes.

A word from your sponsors...

The family that bleeds (and drools) black and gold...

HERE WE GO STEELERS!!!

Hudson's 1st trip to "Pittsburgh's Disneyworld"!

In March of '07, we went to Disney World with our friends Roger and Kristen. It was my first time there. Kristen is originally from Pgh, so I told her that I thought Kennywood was much better than Disney World. It remained an ongoing joke between us so when Ryan's birthday rolled around, they bought him Kennywood tickets (awesome gift, by the way). We were all excited to get our "Kennywood outfits" on and head to the park with them, but our schedules never worked out. So Ryan and I made an impromptu trip to Pgh last weekend so that we could use the tickets before the park closed for the season. We went with Hudson and my brother Joey. We had a great time! Hudson is already excited for next year when he can actually ride something other than his stroller. I think he was eyeing up those Potato Patch fries too!

Mommy and Hudson at the entrance

George Michael getting some fries.

Hudson, Mommy, and Cowboy Joe

Until next year....

The story with the beard...

A bunch of you have been asking me what's up with Ryan's beard. In the 11 years that we've been together, I have never seen him with facial hair. While we were in Ocean City, he just got lazy about being on vacation and didn't shave. That resulted in this:

You can't really tell from this picture, but this is when he started to look like George Michael, i.e. Hudson's "Father Figure". He's been complaining for a little while that he's had the same haircut for like 10 years, but doesn't not what else to do with it. Once he started to grow the facial hair, a light bulb went off and he decided that this was the way to change his look. I wasn't worried about it lasting for too long since I know that it gets itchy when it grows in. Around this time, the beard turned into this:

The next day, he decided that he couldn't take the itch and went to shave it off. Just as he lifted his razor, it dawned on him that the Steelers have been winning (their last preseason game and first regular season game) since he had the beard. Similar to the playoff beard in hockey, he decided that he couldn't shave it now. It just wouldn't be fair to us as Steeler fans, the men in the black and gold, and the entire city of Pittsburgh if he were to contribute to a loss just because he shaved. So the beard continues to grow. My hope is that he'll end up looking like a contestant on Survivor by the time February comes.

I'll try to post weekly updates following each Steeler victory. Here we go....