Table Quilt

 I have a very nice, but pretty old table in my dining room. Okay, granted the table is not in the best of condition and it looks bare when left exposed.  So I decided to make a nice colorful cover for it, thinking a quilted table cloth may just be just what it needs to perk the look up a bit. So I pieced together a variety of colors for this new design. I started the design in the middle of the quilt with a color scheme made for four basic colors. From there I used the same basic design with contrasting colors, sewing using remaining fabric remnants into my new, colorful table quilt.

Small Birthday Cake - Banana Layer Cake

 I have made many banana breads in the past,but only a few cakes. Not too long ago I made this recipe that works well for me. See the recipe at the link here. I made 2 small 6 inch banana cakes that I decorated with a few chocolate chips on top of each cake pan (in case you are wondering about the dark smears on the cake, well that is the chocolate chips. They were a great addition) and decorated within all four layers on this dense, but very moist cake. The density of the cake helped it hold well together, so I was able to make each layer very thin without crumbling or tearing.

The thin layers also made it nice to work with my icing. This icing gives the cake that extra moist, soft sweetness most people want. My cakes are usually not this sweet, but because of the type of cake I made, the sweetness works nicely.

   I was a little worried that the cake may be too dense but nope, it really was just perfect. The cake cuts beautifully and just melts in your mouth even without ice cream. But in lieu of a Birthday celebration, we did top each thin slice of cake with couple scoops of vanilla ice cream ...mm-mm good.

Updated this page to include 2 more banana cakes I made a week later, thought I added the pictures here below!

 

Decorated Cookies - Cupcake & Ice Cream

 It's been awhile since I did some fun baking and I have a couple of friends that are deserving of a treat, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and put together a few of my favorite cookie designs in order to create some pretty and delicious gifts for them. And baked treats are always a nice gift !

 I made 2 nice designs with 4 bright and fun color themes. I had some nice supplies to work with and with the ideas I wanted to execute, it all worked out pretty well. My pink didn't come out as good because there was a little blue left in the mixer when I mixed and created the pink, but the pink was still pink, so it still looked good.

 Now for my Cookies;

I decorated the Ice Cream Cookies late at night and was really tired so I am not as happy with my work. But after having a good night sleep and being well rested, I did a better job decorating the Cupcake Cookies this morning and really enjoyed how the colors and design turned out. Happy me :)

Chicken Enchilada with homemade sauce

   I have made these chicken enchiladas a few times in the past, and it seems I have made some real improvements with this dish. My husband says this is true and I hope he is right rather than me praising myself. Could it be  both ? ( ha ha ! )

   I decided to write down this new recipe this time just in case I forget what worked really well this time, so here it goes. 

   One really important and helpful ingredient I used in this recipe is buying a nice juicy rotisserie chicken from BJs. They are really delicious and the juices work well during the bake. First, I tear apart the chicken and chop them up into small cubes. I made chicken broth out of the rotisserie chicken bones, which was a wonderful idea... no waste and super tasty ?!

   I needed the chicken broth to made the enchilada sauce... tada! The enchilada sauce recipe is key to this recipe ... hey you can buy the sauce from the store if you choose to do that but as for me I made my own..hee hee !

Here are the ingredients and instructions on both the enchilada sauce and the casserole.

Enchilada sauce:

3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup warm water  

1/4 cup flour  (mix flour into the warm water, mix well )

2 tbs cumin

1 tbs chili  ( +/- depending on how spicy you want it to be )

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tbs paprika

1 tbs garlic powder

15 oz mild salsa ( or you also use tomato sauce, I like salsa )

Pour everything together in a sauce pan and cook, stirring occasionally in medium to low heat until bubbly and thicken, turn off heat and let it come to warm or room temperature.

Casserole:

1 medium size onion - chopped

1 recipe enchilada sauce (or at least one can of 28 oz enchilada sauce)

2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

18 to 20 8-inch flour tortillas

I am using 2 Pyrex baking dish, greased the bottom of the dish with a few drops of vegetable/canola oil. Layer a thin layer of enchilada sauce on the dish. 

In a big bowl, combine chopped onions and chicken together.

Add some enchilada sauce to the mixture just enough so the mixture could come together.

Fill each tortilla with 2 heap tablespoon of chicken and sprinkle with some cheddar cheese and roll up tightly and place roll on the dish. 

Place each roll one after another tightly so they fit snugly together.

After all the rolls are in the dish, cover the entire top of dish with enchilada sauce. 

Bake at preheated 350 degree oven for 35 mins.

As soon as the time is up, sprinkle the top of dish with a layer of cheddar cheese and put the dish back to the oven while the oven is still super hot but turned OFF.

After about 5-15 mins, casserole is ready to be served, enjoy!!!

        We put a big dent on this dish after dinner .... it was real treat for our palettes  and our tummies                   were grateful ;)

Hungarian Goulash

I found and love this recipe on https://www.savorytooth.com/hungarian-beef-goulash/ and I have used this recipe a few times. So I am putting this in my blog so I refer to the recipe. I will be adding pictures of the goulash as well. 

INGREDIENTS:

3 pounds beef stew meat cut into 1-2 inch chunks

3 yellow onions chopped (about 2 pounds)

2 cups broth (either beef, vegetable or chicken broth)

6 ounce can tomato paste

10 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/4 cup paprika

2 tsp cayenne 

1 tsp salt

2 Tbs balsamic vinegar

2 Tbs oil (either olive or canola)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. I used a 6 quart dutch oven.

Add onions, garlic, salt, and pepper to the pot. Cook until the onions soften, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Coat the beef chunks in a mixture of paprika and cayenne, and add to the pot. Cook until the beef browns, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add broth, balsamic vinegar, and tomato paste to the pot, and stir. Cover with a lid and let simmer until the meat is very tender, about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve and garnish with parsley or cilantro or spring onion (optional) .

frozen birthday cake

I recently made this 'Frozen' themed birthday cake for a 3 year girl. It was 3 layers of vanilla and sour cream cake with buttercream icing. I decorated it with blue and white marzipan stars and snow flakes, along with a sprinkling of buttercream dotted snow drops. It had an elegant appearance but was really a simple theme and design. It worked really well. I had a few of movie character figurines on top
 ( Elsa, Ana and Olaf )along with a cardboard number 3 that I laced with a paper napkin.

Fabric Remnants

I am really tired of looking at my old kitchen hot pads. They have taken a beating over the many years I have been preparing food in my kitchen. Each time is use them I feel that I should go buy some new ones and throw these away.
The materials are still good it is just that their appearance is really an embarrassment. They are screaming to me, "throw me away ! Please put me out of my misery ! Do anything but for crying out loud just don't leave me this way !
  So when your kitchen hot pads start making demands on the chef, it is really time to do something ! So, let's give them a make over. Time to pull out some the remnants and give these guys a new look so here you are... do you feel better now ? You definitely look better. What do you think ?