A sad pie... Strawberry pie....

Aren't those strawberries gorgeous??? We got a huge box, I think it is 4 lbs of strawberries...

So I decided to make a pie... last week, when MG was out, I had more food that what I needed and I a lot of fruit that would have gone bad if I didn't do something (I think that's totally bad written, but I couldn't think in another way to say it). Any way, last week, I made a strawberry pie and took it to the yarn shop. And It was Awesome!!!!
Delicious, sweet, pretty... total strawberry explotion! I took this picture before we finished it... everyone at the shop loved it...

So this week, I thought about doing a strawbery pie for the kids in the lab (not really kids, they are college students, but they happily eat all my baking adventures).

It came out nice and good looking, as last time.

So MG and I tried it before he took it to the lab, and it was AWFUL!!!!!!
Last night, before I made the pie, I had been preparing dinner and part of it included onion and mushrooms.
I washed the cutting board and knife and I made sure to scrub it really good so I could cut the strawberries....
Well, I don't know why but the pie was totally onion-y and horrible...
We agreed that it wasn't good or nice to take it to the lab like that. So we had to get rid of it. It was super sad!!! So no strawberry pie for now...

Here's the recipe I used... I totally recomend it!

See you soon!
S.

Lemon-Raspberry Coffeecake

I got the recipe for this cake from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine (April 2012). Because I didn't want to keep the whole magazine I just cut the page and it's kind of wrinkled and dirty... so for keeping it for further occasions I'll type it here and that way you can make it too.

When I first read Coffeecake I thought there was coffee involved in the recipe, and there's not so I think it means that is a cake for coffee time... which works perfectly!

Stop with the chit-chat and here's the recipe::

Lemon-Raspberry Coffeecake

Cut wedges straight from the pan or transfer the cake to a serving plate for pretty presentation.

Prep: 15 min    Bake: 45 min    Oven: 375°F   Cool: 10 min

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel

1 egg

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Powdered sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease bottom of 9 x 1 1/2-inch round cake pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment. Grease and lightly flour pan; set aside. For cake, in a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In medium mixing bowl beat 1 cup of the granulated sugar and the butter with mixer on medium to high until well combined. Add 1 egg and the vanilla. Beat on low to medium 1 minute. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to sugar mixture, beating just until combined after each addition; set aside.
3. For cheesecake filling, in small mixing bowl beat cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar on medium to high until combined. Add lemon peel and 1 egg. Beat until combined.
4. Spoon half the cake batter into prepared pan, spreading to edges. Pour cream cheese mixture on cake batter, spreading to edges. Using two spatulas, dollop remaining batter on cream cheese layer, carefully spreading to edges of pan. 
5. Bake 20 minutes or until puffed. Gently press raspberries into cake. Bake 25 to 30 minutes more or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Loosen edges of cake from pan; remove from pan. Sprinkle with powder sugar, if desired. Makes 10 servings.

Each serving: 309 cal, 14g fat, 72 mg chol, 302 mg sodium, 43 g carb, 1 g fiber, 5 g pro.

See you soon!
S.

Back again...

Hello guys!!!!!!!!!!

I've missed you!!!

My parents came and go, I had a great trip to Mexico for weddings and parties and baby showers and all kind of stuff... back at B-town, happy at the yarn shop and enjoying the summery weather.

knitting, crocheting, cooking, baking! what else can you ask for!

I'll be back soon to tell you more details about all of it... for now, just a delicious lemon raspberry cake I made for graduation weekend for one of MG's friends that was getting a Ph.D., and a little bit of the ceremony...

 

 

 

See you soon!
S.

U is for......... Ultimate news and stuff.

Hello guys!!!
I've been neglecting blogland! and then, on the day I was inspired to write a post, the blogger down occured and I just couldn't sign in or leave messages on your blogs... shame!

But I'm back with several things to share with you...

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies and Milk! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were delicious!!! Some friends said that they were "to die for" :o)

Mini veggie frittatas for evening snack!! yum!

Farpoint topper finished!!!

Close up of the texture and design.

This top it's made with Incredible yarn, by LionBrand, designed by Doris Chan in the book Amazing Crochet Lace. Ravelry project page here.

Me, happy, wearing the Farpoint topper.

I have a new knitting bag!!! for all my crochet! LOL

I finished my Rosa's Sleeveles Tunic!!

Took forever after I had to take it all off and start again... but it's finished and I love it!

At the lake!

MG took me a pic while I slept on the couch!

We'll be taking a trip to Rochester this week... I'm excited to see old friends and spend a good time there, and MG not working in the lab!!!
So I'll see you when we're back...
S.

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 V is for.......... Vibrant Colors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't you looooove it!????????

I mean, seriously!
I just have to look at it to smile!!!!

It is my Vintage Stripe Blanket in progress... I'm making it with my Sinfonía yarn that I brought back from Mexico. Do you remember it?
I haven't worked a lot on it... first I wanted to finish my tunic and then I got into the lace-y top.
But I'm really happy with it... I found out today that I made a mistake color wise, when following the color pattern I made with the random stripe generator... I have used some colors instead of others but still looks good.

So far, it measures 51x16 in! not bad huh?

And my last thing to share!
I just got a new camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My last camera stoped working and maybe you remember that I didn't have a very good start of the year with it, loosing the memory card inside the computer and all that... so I haven't been taking as much pics as I would liked. And I've been kind of sharing MG's camera, but it's not the best.
So about 2 weeks ago, I was talking in the phone with my Mother in law and she told me that her camera had died too and she wanted me to buy a new one for her here, because is cheaper than in Mexico, and another one for me!!!! we chose different cameras... she got a Nikon Coolpix P7000 and I got a Canon S95 that just arrived today!!!!

So I hope that with it, I'll be able to take more pics of nice things and be back to blog duty!
Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!!!!
See you soon... well, more like in a week or so, when we get back from our trip!
S.

O is for Oh Sweet Heaven!!!

Hellooooo guys!!!!

How are you doing today????
I'm fine, I'm happy and I have a headache!

Today I baked... a sweet, rich, heavy, moist and heavenly Chocolate Buttermilk Cake (if you follow the link it'll take you to the recipe I used).

I started early, not really... I started righ after MG left for work, at 9:30. I mixed all my ingredients and it was a huge amount of batter so actually I got 2 cakes and 6 cupcakes!!

They were out of the oven just before I had to run to my Zumba class... so they stayed cooling.
I took a cupcake just like that for my Zumba instructor, we are very good friends.

When I came back I made the Chocolate Ganache to ice the cake.

I did the cupcakes first when it was still warm and runny!!!

I added some sprinkles to the edges, and they look really cute and I think, professional!!!

I don't know if it has been the deep and rich smell and flavour in the air... the chocolaty air... but my head is pounding, and I didn't even tried the chocolate!!! (chocolate can give awful migraines)...

The cake was iced at the end of the evening, when the ganache had cooled and thickened enough!

The cake is going to MG's lab group meeting tomorrow morning... I told one of his labmates to bring some milk and cups with her because they sure will need it!!!
The cupcakes are going with me to the Yarn Store for the ladies!

And I'm off now to watch a new (I hope) episode of Grey's Anatomy! Do you like that show?? I love it!
I'll leave you with a last pic of my headachy precious treats!!!

See you soon!
S.

Birthday Cake...

I got MG's camera yesterday but he forgot to give me the cable to pass the photos to the computer, so it had to wait until today.

But here we are!!! back on track with color!!!! yei!!!!
This is will be my first post of this catch up serie... So lets start, shall we?
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Hello!!! I hope you all are having a wonderful day!
Here the sky is blue and shiny and that makes me feel happy and cheerful... I'm done with dark muted days and I can't wait for the spring!!!

Yesterday was MG's Birthday... he's 34!
On Monday I made a cake for him... I've asked him what kind of cake he would like and he chose a Tres Leches Cake (you can see my recipe in the link) that is a Mexican cake type in which you make a mix of 3 different types of milk and add them to the cake until is soaky and all milky and moist... it's delicious!!!

The cake was a dissaster........ and a total success!!!
It was a dissaster because I had made 2 cakes, top and bottom, because I wanted to add a whip cream and strawberries filling... So I was adding the milks mixture to the cakes, equally to the top and bottom part, and the top part started to crack! so I finished the milks addition and rush to prepare the whipped cream and cut the strawberries... I put the filling in place, looked great, and went on to flip the top cake to put it on top of the filling.... well, that didn't come out very good.....

The cake fall apart in my hands!!!! there were wet crumbles all over the place, most of it on top of the bottom part of the cake that had the filling, but some of it over the counter and a little bit got all the way to the floor!!!!!
I almost cried!!!
I didn't had time (or willing power) to make another one and I didn't wanted to put that one in the trash! so I decided to pack all the crumbles with my hands in my best of doing it cake shaped...
And immediatly I proceed to cover it with the rest of the whipped cream...
Then I took out of the fridge a pipping bag with icing from a previous cake and wrote "Feliz Cumpleaños Cielito" on top of it (that's Happy Birthday in spanish... and Cielito is how I call my dear MG), and put the cake in a box and in the fridge so it didn't melt or anything....

Here's the failure cake...

I think that looking it in that picture doesn't look THAT bad... and I must say that it was DELICIOUS!!!!!

And the absolute BEST part was that that night, when MG came home from work and opened the fridge he was surprised and happy with the cake... but after dinner when he took it out to cut a piece and opened the box and saw that it had writing on it, specially for him....

WOOOOOOW!!!!!!!!!!! he was speachless, super SUPER happy and overwhelmed and it totally worth all the dissaster!!!

Plus, he didn't really noticed anything, even when I told him about it and has been really happy enjoying his cake, and today he took 2 pieces to share with his friends at work!

So after all... my failure cake was a success!!!!

See you soon!

S. 

Don't forget to enter to my Giveaway!

Cheese treat!

Hello!!!

I'm off to enjoy some delicious Cheese scones thanks to Inthesky that published a great recipe here...
I'm sure MG will love them!!!!

I can't show them to you... my camera memory card is still inside the laptop... I went to a pc doctor today and they wanted to keep my laptop, take it apart and charge my with no less than 160 bucks!!! I'm not up to it for now... and since they told me it won't mess up with the system, I'll leave it there while I save up for that!

I have to by a new memory card though...

See you soon!
S.

I Have to show you!!!!!

Helloooooooooo everyone!!!!

Today was my last class of my basic decorating class... 4 classes and a month went by already!
I felt really comfortable with what I was doing today... I made my cakes yesterday, and today after MG left for work I started preparing my icing and filling for my cake.

I made a french vanilla cake and added a cream cheese spread in the middle and covered it with strawberries.......... yum!

 Then I added the second layer of cake and the buttercream vanilla icing..

It wasn't very smooth so I put it in the fridge to settle for a while and in the mean time I did another batch of icing and colored it for my decorations.
I got my cake out and smoothed it... mmm it looked so much better!

And almost without crumbles!!!!! yei!

So I ran to my class, and when I was closing the door of my house, I was holding my supplies bag and the cake box and the keys and all, and the box slipped off my hand and the cake went down and "crashed" into a side of the box... I was so angry!

Nothing bad happened and the surface didn't got any damage, the only thing was that the cake ended up off centered from the board and I couldn't get it back to the center without making farther damage... so it stayed off centered...

Today we learned how to make roses and writing... And I added that to my cake...

Do you want to see it???

Here it is!!!!!!

I am SOOOOO happy with it!!!! I liked it a lot and I was really proud of myself!!!
It was my "graduation" cake and it really felt like that...

I wrote "Happy day" on it because I was taking it to MG's lab to share with his labmates, and it wasn't anyones birthday or celebration, so I thought I could just go for a happy day to anyone and everyone!
Here's the top view...

And one from the back where you can see better te vines and leaves I added on the sides...
Do you see how is off centered in the board???

Well, that's all for today!
I wanted to share because I'm really excited about it....
Off to some hooky time now!!!!

See you soon!
S.

My first decorated cake...

Just a quick share!!! I didn't go crazy with this one, but I think it was acceptable to be my first...

MG said it was perfect for a 2 year old girl party...

Any way, the taste was awsome!! banana cake with cajeta filling (cajeta is a Mexican confection of thickened syrup usually made of sweetened caramelised milk... and I LOVE it!) and buttercream icing!

It went from this...

To this...

And here, the practicing cupcakes I made last week!

 I have some crochet to show you, but I need to take good pictures of it!!

See you soon!
S.

Christmas Presents!!!

So here I am after a whole week with MG just for me!!! yei!!!!
it has been a great week, with games, movies, cooking, working on the computer, laughs and love!

Here I want to show you my Christmas presents!!!!

All those great things that MG bought for me!!!!

This is a muffins/cupcakes pan... and has a great lid, you can slide the handle and take out some plastic discs....

 And put them together to have a cupcake exhibitor!!!!

Pictures are not great as I took them at night, but you can get the idea....
I LOOOOVE it!!! it's so great!!! so now I can make muffins, cupcakes, little breads or whatever, and take them out on the tray, and then get to a place and put together the red "tree" and display the treats!!!!!!!

WOW!!!!

Then we have a cookie mold, a pizza sheet, a cake mold, spatula, cookies recipe book, and box of sprinkle tubes!!!

 Here a detail picture of the cookies mold!!

The spatula has measures conversions printed on it, and I also received a wire cooling rack!!!!

And booooks!!!!!!!!!!!

Such great gift!!!!!

I'll show you tomorrow my present for him!

See you soon!
S.

Chocochips Muffins!!!!

Just really quick!!
While I was writing my last post, the muffins were ready!!!
I just took them out of the oven... look at this!!!

Behind is a ground beef-broccoli quiche that I made for today dinner!!
So bad that you can't smell my house right now!!!

See you soon!
S.

Donuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Helloooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you're having a really good day. I don't know why but my day yesterday was a bit blue. It was a gorgeous autumn day, all fresh, with clear sky, white and puffy clouds, crisp air.... and I didn't feel good for some reason. I was gloomy and down. And I went out for a walk that made me smile for a while... 

 

 

 

... though it didn't work for take away my blue mood... oh well!

It doesn't matter!!! today I'm so much happier! I'm just happy.
I woke up wanting to make donuts! my Sister in law gave us a donut maker right before I went to Mexico, do you remember??

And we hadn't try it until today... so while MG was cooking lunch and setting up breakfast, I was rambling between flour, eggs, sugar, milk and more to make the batter... then trying to figure out the right amount of batter to put on the donut maker...

So a few of them spilled out... that is how the donuts looked once I opened the lid after the waiting time, that is amazingly short!!!! just 3-5 minutes!!!
So the consuming time part is make the batter, and then, you just have to wait several 5 mins batches, and you have a whole batch of D-O-N-U-T-S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

 It made 60!!!!!!!! it's a lot!!! and sice we don't have kids or know any neighbors to invite to eat them... I put them all (almost) in little plastic bags, and now I'm off to MG's work to share them with his co-workers...
Here's after I sugared them...

 And here in the bags....

They are not super great and are far distant of the bakery donuts with decorations and all... but hey! I'm still learning this cooking-baking thing, and this was my first batch of donuts!

See you later!
S.