Garden Update

Long time, no update and since a picture is worth a thousand words, here we go!

Please ignore the grass. It is the bane of my existence. In our city, we are prohibited from using any form of chemical weed control. Ask me how I feel about that! Ergggghhh. Anyway, the planter box on the left is the herb garden and the herbs are ginormous! I have got purple basil, regular basil, rosemary, mint, parsley, chives, and cilantro. Loving it!!


The planter box on the right is full of mostly cherry tomatoes.

How come no one ever told me that tomatoes from your own garden (or planter box!) are way better than any other tomatoes?? Well, they are!! These plants are definitely wild growers. Next time, I will have to use the wire teepee-looking things. You know what I mean, plus I have no idea what they're called...

Music Note Cake Pops

My son's school had a music night a while back and I volunteered to bring something for the food portion of the evening. Of course, I can't do something that someone else may bring. I have to be unique - maybe this is the Type A in me?

Anyway, so I made cake pops (thanks to Bakerella for inspiration!) but not in the conventional way. I baked a vanilla cake mix that I tinted Tiffany blue (I was testing the colour for another cake - more on that one later...) and then smashed it all up. Add in some cream cheese frosting and we're ready to go.

I rolled the mix into small balls and inserted a stick into each one. After dipping each one in melted chocolate, I set them upside down on parchment paper with the stick up in the air. Some sprinkles and such were added, and then I piped some royal icing around each stick for extra stability.

The next morning, I flipped the cake pops over and stuck them in my styrofoam board. I piped a dark chocolate ganache circle onto the base (now the top) of each cake pop. While the ganache was still setting, I gently laid the music notes on top. (It is possible that I broke almost as many music notes as I used. No telling though. Those are super duper fragile little things!!)

Needless to say, they ended up being used at the fundraiser table instead of the food table, and not one was left. I didn't even get one. :( Oh well, maybe next time.

Best Ever Banana Muffins / Banana Bread

My husband told me that once you have made a recipe a certain number of times, you don't have to give credit to the person who gave you the recipe since it is now adopted as your own. I like this philosophy! Haha! Well, it has had some changes from the original, so I suppose it really is my own recipe now! :)

INGREDIENTS
2-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil (I use olive or grapeseed)
3/4 cup milk
4-5 mashed bananas (4 if large size; 5 if medium)
1 - 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degress F.
2. Mix first 8 ingredients together - leave slightly lumpy. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. For BREAD: grease and flour pan, and bake for 55-65 minutes. For MUFFINS: use muffin liners and spray lightly with Pam; bake for approximately 20 minutes. Makes one loaf pan, 18 large or 20ish medium muffins.

Super light, moist, fluffy, and full of chocolatey goodness! Enjoy!

Quick & Easy Peach Freezer Jam

I love peach and I love freezer jam. I prefer freezer jam to cooked jam, mostly because the fruity flavour of the freezer jam is the closest match to the fresh fruit flavour.

Making freezer jam is super easy - mash the fruit, add the sugar, boil the pectin, stir, and pour into jars. That's it. You can easily make freezer jam in under 30 minutes, including the fruit prep.

INGREDIENTS
For peach:
2 lbs peaches (2-1/4 cups prepared fruit)
1 lemon (I used 2 tbsp bottled lemon juice instead)
5 cups white sugar

DIRECTIONS
Follow the instructions in your package of pectin. These were my instructions:
Pre-prep: Prep glass jars by washing and scalding (easy way to scald is to submerge the jars in boiling water on the stovetop). Dry fully.
1. Peel peaches.
2. Prep fruit by pitting and finely chopping/grinding. (Do not use a food processor. You can use a potato masher - I didn't have one of those so I used a pastry knife.)
3. Measure fruit, add lemon juice, and stir in measured sugar.
4. Mix well and let sit for 10 minutes.
5. Add fruit pectin to 3/4 cup water; bring to hard boil (a boil you cannot stir down) for one minute, stirring constantly.
6. Remove from heat; add fruit and sugar, and continue to stir for 3 minutes.
7. Jam texture should be similar to gelatin that is beginning to set.
8. Immediately pour into jars, leaving about 1/4" room for expansion during freezing. Let stand at room temp for 24 hours before freezing.


Note: If jam will be used within 2 or 3 weeks, you can store in the fridge instead of freezer.

How To: Easy Way to Peel Fruit

I have been wanting to make jam since last year and was completely committed to making it happen this year! No more slacking!

In order to make the jam (peach this time around!), the fruit has to be peeled, and who wants to spend lots of time with their paring knife? Not me. Here is what I did...


Step 1: Gently cut a large X in the bottom of the fruit. (This is where the skin will begin to pull away from itself.) Get a medium sized pot of water boiling.

Step 2: Place the fruit in the boiling water for a couple of minutes. Different fruits may take different amounts of time. I left the peaches in for approximately 2-3 minutes.

Step 3: Remove the fruit from the boiling water. Check the X in the bottom - if it has spread apart or is already peeling, you are good to go!

Step 4: Immediately place the fruit in an ice bath. Several ice cubes in a bowl of cold water will do the trick. Leave in for a minute or so, as this will finish the blanching process.

Step 5: Remove fruit and peel off the skin. It should come off very easily and in large pieces. Most of my peaches needed only 4 pieces removed to skin the entire fruit. (I usually leave each fruit in the water until I can peel it as I don't like them to dry.)

Step 6: Repeat Step 5 until you are all done. Then, on to your recipe!

Note: Some of my X's were a little deeper than I would usually cut. Not to worry though, as this should not affect the fruit or the recipe.

This method of peeling works well with peaches, plums, tomatoes, nectarines, apricots, etc. Happy peeling! :)

Not Dead or Maimed

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted. However, I have been writing blog posts in my head. Does that count?

In the past few weeks I have been ridiculously busy - 3 parties (university grad party for my sister, my daughter's birthday party with garden fairy theme, my son's birthday party with Star Wars theme), producing a yearbook for a private elementary school, juggling a crazy work schedule, and being a wife and mother. And I made my daughter a super cute 4th of July dress!

I have sooo much to blog about; I just have to sit down and find a few minutes to slap together to actually do it, and to go through all the pictures I have taken. Whew. I would like to thank the Academy my hubby who has been making more than his share of dinners lately. So Baby, here is a shout out to you: I love you!!

On My Mind: Chairs

I can't figure out exactly what decor type is me. I have taken a bunch of the tests and I usually get pegged as contemporary, glam, urban, metropolitan, or modern. I agree sometimes, but I think those quizzes don't ask enough of the right questions.

I love luxe glam, I love aspects of modern (but usually more on the contemporary side of modern), and I even love aspects of both traditional and mediterranean decor. Oh, and throw some art deco into the mix too, just for fun. I guess I have to label myself eclectic.

Here are some of the chairs I am loving right now.

Barrymore Furniture - Brooke chair

Structube Furniture: Amalfi armchair

Christopher Guy: 30-0007

Christopher Guy: 30-0011


Christopher Guy: 30-026

Christopher Guy: 30-029

Christopher Guy: 30-045 (back of chair shown)

Barrymore Furniture: Townsend chair

Barrymore Furniture: Coco chair

Decorium: Hector chair

Decorium: Zoe chair

DeBoers: Zebra chair

Zgallerie: Zack accent chair

Zgallerie: Alister chair

Zgallerie: Loft chair (front view, back view)

Zgallerie: Concerto chair

Zgallerie: Harper chair

Lovely eye candy, isn't it? :)