Holiday Wreath

Since Thanksgiving I put my last years wreath up on my front door. Which I thought I was going to keep up until I went to my friend Liz's house and she was making the cutest wreath for her front door. I decided to make the same wreath as Liz! Thanks Liz! The only thing I had to buy was a wreath wire holder, which I got a Micheal's Craft Store for like 3 bucks! How cool is that!

Ginger Spice Cookies

These cookies turned out so yummy! Over the summer I went to Bali and brought back a ton of different spices, one was Cardamom. For the last few months I didn't know what to do with the spice. So, last week I decided to make spice cookies. I found this recipe on Food Network and it turned out chewy, soft and so YUMMY!





*** I left a few ingredients out due to not having them!

Exotic Spice Cookies with Ginger, Cardamom and Rose Water

Recipe adapted from Camilla Saulsbury, Nacogdoches, TX

Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger
* 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 large egg
* 1/4 cup honey
* 1 teaspoon rosewater
* 3/4 cup turbinado (raw) sugar, for rolling

Directions

Whisk the flour, ground ginger, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, pepper and salt in a medium bowl until blended. Mix in the crystallized ginger. Set aside momentarily.

In a large bowl beat the brown sugar, butter and shortening with an electric mixer until fluffy (do not overbeat-it will add too much air). Add the egg, honey and rosewater and beat until blended. Stir in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon, mixing until just until blended. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray 2 cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon the turbinado sugar in thick layer onto small plate. Using wet hands, form dough into 1 1/4-inch balls; roll in sugar to coat completely. Place balls on prepared sheets, spacing 2 to 3 inches apart.

Bake cookies until cracked on top but still soft to touch, about 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on sheets 1 minute. Carefully transfer cookies to wire racks; cool completely.

Z is for Zucchini!

One thing that I love is Zucchini bread! Here is my version of a pretty good batch of zucchini bread. Check it out!

Zucchini Bread
Adapted from several sources

Yield: 2 loaves or approximately 24 muffins

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease one 8x8 pan ( you will have left overs, I made a smaller one for a friend)

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.

Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Root Beer Bundt Cake!

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post! How time fly's! For Johnny's birthday last month I made a Root Beer Bundt Cake from Baked. The cake turned out really moist, but I could not taste the root beer, I think it has to do with what kind of root beer is used. Next time I bake I will try with a different brand. Besides it not totally tasting like root beer, it was DELICIOUS!!!

Halloween Deco

It's time to start decorating for the holidays! Decorating really helps me keep my spirits up and puts a smile on my face! Since I don't have a lot of room to have decorations everywhere, I thought of a way to have pumpkins in my house but not use my space! I have a window in my kitchen that overlooks the parking area and entrance of my condos complex. I added pumpkins that hang in the window! It looks pretty cute and I have gotten some complements from my neighbors. Take a look!

Johnny's Birthday!

Happy Birthday, to my husband, John! Last night we went to a friend's house for dinner. They recently bought a house in Palo Alto so a birthday dinner was a good excuse to see the new house. I asked John what kind of cake he wanted me to make and instead of cake he wanted a apple pie! So, I took it as a challenge since I have never made a apple pie. I now how to make a pretty good crust so I just needed to figure out the filling part! I decided to use a recipe for pie crust that I have always used, because I knew it was good, and I went to an original, The Joy of Cooking for the apple pie recipe. I got a great response from everyone who ate it, and I also thought it was really yummy!

Sweet Potato Bread

The other day I was grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and found something I had never seen before, canned sweet potato puree. I love pumpkin bread and thought it would be a yummy twist on it! So I bought it with a cart full of other items! Yesterday was a lazy day for me, so I decided to make Sweet Potato Bread. I found a recipe on All Recipes.com and here is my version of the Southern Sweet Potato Bread with Pecans.

1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg with one egg white
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons non fat milk
1 can of sweet potato puree
1/2 chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325, and grease a 8x4 loaf pan
In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar.
Add eggs and milk and mix until blended. Finally, stir the sweet potato puree and walnuts and pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow bread to cool before serving and then ENJOY!!
***I think the bread came out a little crumbly so, next time I would add more oil to bind the ingredients.