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Anchorage, Alaska.

Spring Cleaning and Renewing Life

Snow is melting in Anchorage, spring is in the air!  After a brief vacation from writing and recipe testing I am happy to say:

I'm BACK!

I'm also very happy to see Blogger has new templates and designs easily available for changing up our blogs.  Oh baby I love tomatoes!  Which is now my background, makes this old momma look hot!

I've cleaned out my pantry, rearranged shelves, and got the approval from my sweetie even he knows where things are again.  Over the winter that pantry became a black hole of me saying "Where is it? I know I put that in here last shopping trip!"

Today I made up a dish of homemade Hummus.  I know it's easier just to walk into the grocery store grab a small container but it's so much more fun to experiment with different beans and seasonings.

'Just barely Garlic Hummus' was is my recipe for today!

Hats Off To Isaac Asimov

'The day you stop learning is the day you begin decaying, and then you are no longer a human being'
*Isaac Asimov
 

I try to practice this as much as possible. Sometimes wrapping my head around a new thing is daunting but well worth the experience!

For me trying out new methods of sewing, baking, photography are just a few ways for learning to increase my "human" status.

A few of my newest creations:

Since I have returned to my sewing roots and selling my creations at 1000Markets and Etsy I can only say "Millinery is available for purchase".

'Let Them Eat Cake'

In a household of only two people cooking recipes for 12 or even 6 becomes a challenge of what to do with the excess.  There is only so much room in our small freezer which is the top portion of the refrigerator.  In many recipes one can divide the recipe so that one does not have huge amounts that are left over.

Since the majority of my testing recipes are desserts; Well…

I send many of my trials to preselected testing folks to eat ~ as a shop who sells sweets it is really hard not to eat everything I bake.  But the saying goes ‘after awhile you don’t want to eat cake anymore’.  Now I can tell within one or two bites of a sample if it is wonderful or not.  If it makes my approval it goes to the testers.

This weekend I’m meeting several dear friends for lunch and as a surprise for Valentine’s Day I baked up a few tasty treats!

 Brownie Cheesecake:

 
This serves 12 folks very easily.  As with any cheesecake following the directions are the key to success!  

I also always recommend using the best ingredients.  It does not pay to scrimp on flavor or taste. Plus the end result will be well worth the smiles you receive when folks bite into your tasty meal or dessert!

One word describes this tasty morsel:

Beautiful!

Drooling Not Allowed or is it?

My sweetie pie was going with a friend down to Girdwood and Portage Glacier to visit some friends who work at both places and spend the afternoon out of my hair. What a better way to celebrate than a day alone to do things I like SO:

Instead of sewing I decided ~ Today was a baking day for home and family members who sometimes get special desserts because I love testing out new things!

Father in law who lives in Mill Valley was going to be treated to cookies and muffins; totally new recipes I wanted to test out.

After gathering up all basic supplies for the different recipes, I got my cookbook out and read once again over each recipe I wanted to experiment with for my tasty treats.

I choose a Pecan Cookie Bar, plus Raspberry Muffins, and Carrot Cilantro Muffins. All items I had not made before and was excited to try out!

Starting with the Pecan Cookie Bars, I followed the recipe and my mouth watered as they baked. When the time was up they look heavenly! The aroma was driving me crazy it filled the house with vanilla and that wonderful smell only cookies give a home! Since they even look like Pecan Pie I was thrilled – One of my favorite pies and rarely get since the mister is not a fan of pecan pie LOL.

I then proceeded to the muffins. Both recipes had the same basics and cooking time so I thought I would whip up the basic dough then divide and add the different main ingredients of carrots/cilantro and the raspberries for the other.

I quickly measured everything out for the dry ingredients. Using the blender to grade the carrots, I hand chopped the fresh cilantro. I mixed the two into one bowl and set aside. Measured the raspberries and set aside.

Adding the eggs and buttermilk to the dry ingredients I was happy with the texture and it even looked yummy. So I divided the dough in half and mixed each half with my different additives.

Baking for the desired time since I was making king size muffins I had to experiment with actual time…recipe called for 20 minutes for normal size muffins; it ended being an additional ten minutes for the king size.

Oh my ~ the kitchen is filled with aroma’s that are so delightful I wish you could all sit at the counter and take deep breaths in of fresh baked goodies!

I put butter on the Carrot Cilantro muffin OMG yummie!  The Raspberry muffin needed nothing!  It was sweet from the fruit.

Now I just have to decide if drooling is permitted

Amaretto - Its Not Just 4 Drinking!

I don't drink very often.  I do enjoy a shot of Amaretto once in awhile, a glass of good wine, or a splash of Kahlua in French Roast Coffee.  Rare treats these days and to be enjoy for special occasions.
 
But for cooking it’s another whole adventure!  Many of my stews have 1/4 or 1/2 cup of wine for an ingredient, have even tried Vodka, and for baking sweet treats; Rum and Amaretto my personal favorites in cakes and cookies.  

Wine reduced brings out flavors in many cooked dishes.  The alcohol is cooked out but the flavor left enhances any dishes that the chef may have added to a boiling pot or batter of dough.

Today I baked my Amaretto Silk Almond with Chocolate Frosting Sandwich Cookies and a new Crockpot Stew I'm testing out - I'm naming it 'Sunday Gone Crazy'.

In these cookies is 1/4 cup of Amaretto   My recipe makes 3 dozen cookies.  So the amount of Amaretto is very small per cookie but adds a delightful taste.

Sunday Gone Wild Crockpot Stew:

1/2 pound sirloin round steak

2 medium sized potatoes

one white onion

1 cup fresh whole mushroom tops

1/4 frozen corn

1/2 cup frozen cauliflower (I used green & purple cauliflower from my Farmers Market I purchased in late September and froze)

1/2 cup frozen Brussels sprouts

1/2 red sweet pepper

1/2 yellow sweet pepper

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons Olive Oil

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/4 teaspoon Celery Salt

1/2 teaspoon Dill Weed

1/2 teaspoon Ginger 

Slice meat into 1/4 inch strips, slice onion and sweet peppers.  Heat frying pan on med high.  Add the olive oil to pan.  Add meat season with the above seasoning until brown on all sides.  Stirring often.  Add onion and peppers; cook till onion starts to turn translucent. Place all in crock pot on high.  Cut potatoes into 1 inch chunks.  Toss in hot frying pan with butter & brown potatoes wedges on one side.  Season with all the seasoning to your own taste.  Add to crock pot with the rest of the ingredients. Cook on high for 3 hours.

Serves 4 - Salad, Cheesy Breadsticks will round out the dinner!  Serve with a glass of white wine of your choice.

Wrapping It Up - Blondies Grow Up!

As a baker the major concern for any of my treats is Wrapping them Up!

I want everyone to see the beauty of the treat, know instantly what the product is, and drool about the treat!  I also want to include something that is memorable ~ isn't that the goal of every business owner.

I've developed new labels for my "Treats in Jars" and now developing new ways to label my baked goods but with a way so that you can take the label with you and use in other ways. 

Tis boring to stick a label on the food safe cello pack.  After the treat is eaten - its tossed away.

Now with my sweet Tags you can use over and over.  As a bookmark for that newest paperback, or to put in your own cookbook to remember to visit my blog to get new ideas plus recipes for cooking and baking!  Even to visit one of my shops! Or you can wrap up you own little gift to someone by ordering a package of my Tags that will be available soon and sold at either of my Covered in Chocolate Shops!

http://CoveredinChocolate.1000markets.com

or

http://CoveredinChocolate.etsy.com

Blondie Brownies All Grown Up:

Cupcakes Gone Wild ~ Lemon Coriander Vanilla or German Chocolate

Oh how I love testing day!  New recipes get me all excited in a way nothing else can. 

Tasting different new treats makes my mouth water at times !

These Lemon Coriander Cupcakes will definately make ones mouth water with the sweet and sour flavors that tease a normally sane person into eating two!

Owning about 20 recipe books you could say I have a small passion.  But my weekly visits to the library bringing home the allotted 11 books at times is enough to break my arms they are so heavy!  Depending on my mood the cookbooks could be just about cakes, or just about candy, or only certain ethnic foods.

To me each and any cookbook is a treasure to behold.

Then taking a recipe and changing it up so that you are not infringing on someone prize is another whole task. 

In this day and age very few recipes are truly unique and original.  Just walk in any bookstore or library and view the Hundreds if not thousands of books using flour, eggs, and sugar.

We all like to pride ourselves that we came up with the newest & best theory but in baking and cooking there just are so many ingredients and certain ones are the basics to any recipe and then you can add to them.  Its like being a mad scientist.

Its totally fun and intoxicating.

Easy Cheesy Chili

 

After two days of snow falling making my neighborhood look like a Norman Rockwell painting, plus shoveling & using the snow blower on the white fluffy stuff Plus its about a good 12-18 inches deep now I have decided its time for one of my winter favorites!

Chili!

Deciding on chili as a last minute thought for dinner requires my Easy Cheesy Chili recipe.

In this using can beans and canned stewed tomatoes eliminates a long cooking process.

It is totally the most delicious quickie chili's one can make plus serve proudly or I would not be sharing this  with all my readers.

Easy Cheesy Chili

2 cans Red Kidney Beans
1 can Cannelloni Beans (these are just white kidney beans)
1 can unsalted Stewed Tomatoes

1 can of V8 (11.5oz size) juice

1 pound ground beef or ground buffalo

1/2 yellow onion

4 garlic gloves

2 teaspoons dried Cilantro

1 teaspoon Zesty Seasoning (Mrs. Dash or any other brand)

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon French Grey Salt
1/2 teaspoon Celery Salt

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon Coriander

1/2 teaspoon Paprika

1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili peppers 

1 Package Mexican 4 Cheese Blend

Rinse tops of all cans and open. For the 3 bean cans pour contents into large cooking pot. On the stewed tomato can open and pour juice into pot.  Then take the drained tomatoes place on chopping board and diced into small pieces. Then add to pot.  Add the can of V8 juice.  

Next dice onion, and chop garlic.

In a large frying pan you will need to add 1 to 2 teaspoon of oil heat over medium heat, add diced onion saute until tender and translucent, and add chop garlic stir until mixed.  Add ground meat at this time by breaking into bite size pieces to pan, sprinkle all seasonings onto meat and onions at this time. Stir meat, onions and garlic together ~ try not to break up the bite size pieces of meat. 

Cook mixture until meat is throughly cooked thru and browned a bit.  Once cooked add to the pot of beans, tomatoes and juices.  

Simmer for 1 hour. 

Serves 4 to 6 

to Serve:

Fill bowl 3/4ths full with chili, sprinkle with a handful of the the cheese completely covering chili with the cheese,  then place bowls under broiler for 1 minute til cheese bubbles and starts to brown. Now is ready for serving!

Serve with your favorite beer or as we do a tall glass of Chocolate milk.

Holidays past and present

Mom always made Christmas magical.  Even a life time later she still makes them fun and exciting for her great grandchildren!

Growing up within a large family any holiday was a major feat for my mother to get us ready, attend church service with 8 kids in tow, come home to prepare & serve a wonderful meal for us and my father and other family members who would visit, then she got to relax once we all went to bed that holiday night.

Anyone who grew up in the 50's and 60's can tell you our lives where simple and was not unusual for neighbors to have 3 to 15 kids.  In the seventies and eighties family size became 2 or 4 kids.

At Christmas the early years we always had a 'live tree' once grandchildren started appearing within the family my mothers tree became a "Fake Tree.

My tree's were live until we learned my one child had allergies.  Then I became a convert to the artificial trees.

In a way that turned into a problem.  I could put the Tree up the day after Thanksgiving and not take it down until mid January.  Then because I would fall in love each year with the tree and how it was decorated I would leave up to Mid February. Then it became a problem to take it down before the Easter holiday.  One year the tree was exceptional.  It was a dream ~ I put the tree in the library of my Victorian home.  That tree stayed up to Memorial Day.  I would have left it up all year but my family began teasing me as well as the neighbors.  I succumbed to pressure and took my favorite decorating job down.

A couple of years later a divorce followed, the sell of my Victorian home deemed selling and tossing things away. Two years later I move to Alaska.

The move brought about the lost of interest in celebrating and decorating for the holidays.The magic of the tree was gone for various reasons. For a few years I didn't bother with a tree.  Then brought a 5' fake tree and brought out the ornaments and the house once again became a place of magic.

I was happy with the One of a Kind ornaments.  Each one has a different story and range in age from 35 years old to four years old.   I haven't brought new ornaments for a couple of years.

This year I decided to enjoy the 'Christmas fake trees of the past'.  I've brought a 2' silver foil tree.  Tis lovely.  I went with lime green as the major ornament color, with a slash of a few other bright colors.  The larger 5' fake tree hasn't been set up yet, it will follow getting decorated the next couple of days; pictures of the beauty will be up this weekend.

This will sit in the kitchen window, so that as folks drive by the will have a glance of a time when I was a child of 10 and we lived in California that year and my great aunt had two trees, one a silver 6' with the colored light, and my favorite the "pink flocked angel tree".  Both seemed so very magical and different than the 'green' tree's I had seen all my life.  One day I will own a fluffy Ostrich Pink Feather Tree.

Can't wait for the 'after Christmas sales'  because I have my eye on several online sites that had the tree of my dreams for a perfect magical holiday next year.

Covered in Chocolate Catering is available for Holiday Parties in the Anchorage Area.  Visit either of my online selling sites to contact me.

Holiday Giveaway Package!

The Holidays are fast approaching!  Oh my ~ oh me!  Santa's everywhere are busy in their various shops making beautiful handmade gifts for all our loved ones!

A member of Team EEAT is having their first Giveaway for their shop located at Etsy.  Truly a very holiday special event for her.  May you have much success SugarPlums Bakery!

I thought it would be a fun idea to also do the same thing as SugarPlum's ~ Tell me and my readers about your favorite holiday!

Tell me about a holiday that was your favorite ~ it can be a happy, sad, funny, or just beautiful.  So post away contests ends Novermber 30th and I'll announce the winner on December 1st.  Then your gift package of my sweet treats will be mailed off on December 3nd.  It can be mailed as a gift to a loved one, or mailed directly to you! Arriving before christmas!  A value over $65.00!!!

A showstopper for anyone who loves receiving or giving a special gift!

The gift package includes:
kiwi jam, apple rosemary jelly, Nectarine/Plum chutney, Sweet Pepper Apple chutney, Red Caramelized Onion relish, white chocolate lollipop, chocolate bar, and a Toffee butter crunch candy.

Please note: There must be at least 6 different members to post for contest drawing! Other wise the contest drawing will be void.  So tell your friends and family about this blog and post your holiday favorite story!

Dinner for Chilly Nights in Alaska

Chicken Slouper

Serves 6
Cooking time 50 to 60 minutes
Prep time 20 minutes
2 whole chicken breasts with bone and skin
1 small bag of peeled baby carrots
1 red sweet pepper
1 orange sweet pepper
1 yellow sweet pepper
2 russet potatoes
1 large onion
1 bunch Purple Kale
1 pound aspargus
5 large gloves of garlic
5 cups water
seasoning: 1 teaspoon Poultry seasoning
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon smokey paprika
1/2 teaspoon celery salt


Clean/rise all veggies. Peel and then chop onion into large chunks. Top the peppers and take out seeds, slice in half, then quarters (each 1/2 should have 4 slices then). Leave peel on potatoes, dice into large chunks. Clean kale take off stem and chop roughly. Slice asparagus into 1/2 inch slices. Peel garlic leave whole. Cut breasts into halves.

In large cooking pot (at least a 5 qt) add water and chicken,seasoning, onion, peppers, carrots and kale. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Take breasts out at this point, remove bone and skin. Chop two of the halves into large pieces, leave the other two whole. Place back into pot, add rest of ingredients, simmer on medium heat for another 20 minutes until potatoes are cook through.

Serve in bowls over cooked yolk-less noodles, along with warm slices of herb cheese bread.

Hats a plenty and dreams of Magic on a Website

Secrets passions of mine: Two shops that fill these passions!

Besides my passion for cooking and crafts I have a couple that make me all girly girl. 

One is  heels~~ LOVE THEM ~~ but one learns all too soon Alaska is not High Heel friendly because snow, ice and freezing air is not so nice as toasty warm boots in winter.  So I only have a several pairs of heels that thrill me when I do wear on those rare times that I'm dressed to the 9's.  It's super my life partner is very very tall!

But the one thing about being a midwestern Gal in a state where winter is most of the year...I get to wear Hats.  I have hats for summer, hats for spring, hats for fall, hats for winter, and hats just because their cute.  From baseball caps, to a drop dead black creation by Liz Clairborne, to knit skull hats to silly fleece hats.  Its if it fits and I like - I buy.

At Victorian Crossroads a very dear member is delightworthyn ART/wares.   She creates one of my passions.  And its not for my feet!

I had a hat that I craved of hers.  Then I twittered about that beauty and dang if someone didn't steal it right under my eyes, plus a couple other of Delights' hats. Once you visit her shop you will see why -  they are delightful!

So this picture is another hat but not the one I am saving to purchase!  I don't want anyone stealing that beauty from me.  This little red number is sweet but that black one I have my eye on will be mine some day!

http://www.1000markets.com/groups/victoriancrossroads/products/8401

I greatly admire anyone who has talent of creating items that one can use for different websites that require GRAPHICS.  As a beginner with my Publisher and Photoshop Elements I've so far behind the eightball it's not even funny! I wish I could say I am a graphic designer, but the sad truth I'm not.  Beginner just does not cut it!

I'm in total awe of  the talents of this graphic designer artist: Bearcengic.  Her shop at Etsy has a great following.  With over 1,000 sells You can trust she knows how to please the pickest of graphic buyers!

As a person who sews, I found this banner speaking to me.  If I own a shop that still marketed sewn items I would buy this in 2 seconds flat! Visitors comments I know would be total praise!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28385504

I invite you to take a stroll through Bear's shop and discover her wonderful artwork that she has turned into various creations for websites.  From Banners, to avators, to postcards she does it all! She will build/design items just for you.  Don't wait any longer to get a fanatastic design for your website!

Reflections and Shops To Be Visited

In life I often do many things on my own.  Visit art shows, shopping, traveling, and just running around town doing different things.

I have a life partner who is as I am  ~ free  ~ we are two birds following where ever the wind blows us.  We share some common interests and but for the most part we are very different people in regards to interests.  He is heavily into ancient history BC and mine begins more in the 1700's to modern.  He world revolves around his daily bike riding and mine is the center of all things handcrafted.

One area we both enjoy is of course my cooking And we both enjoy the internet.


He is the one who started us on the internet way back in 1994.  Thinking back ~ OMG those computers where so slow lol it's a wonder that the internet survived...most likely it did only because technology was constantly changing and gets better, faster, and is the "new world" for exploring for mankind until we leave planet earth.

I love finding what others do for fun and creativity online. Belonging to a couple of selling venues, groups, and markets I am developing new friendships and finding fellow folks with same interests as myself, or their creative outlets are so much better than my own.

This week I'm going to be show casing several folks I think you need to meet!

Baubles Buttons & Beads at 1000markets  This shop has the greatest jewelry ~ old and new are mixed together in awesome pieces for your wrists, or necks and even your ears!  The shop owner has so much joy and enthusiasm it's so nice to be in the same market that Deb is!  We both belong to Victorian Crossroads at 1000markets.
http://www.1000markets.com/users/baublesbuttonsbeads

 
Cakes by Sugar Plums over at Etsy, a classy lady whose baked goods are a pure delight to ones eyes!  Her real life shop just moved into newer and bigger quarters and even though moving is a headace, Patty remained cool and classy.  Both of us are members of Etsy's Team EEAT plus Patty and I also shared a life time thrill - SugarPlums also went to the Emmy Awards Gifting Suite!
http://cakesbysugarplums.etsy.com

I invite you to visit these two shops and treat yourself to something beautiful to wear on date night or something edible & unique for your tastebuds.

Posters I love..wow a sale, a newsletter, and just fun

A little bird told me that AS2Designs is having a 50% off sale from October 23rd til October 30th.  The sale is for any and all of her products!  WOW a super holiday deal for sure!
 

A reminder to all to either sign up here for Covered in Chocolates Newsletter, visit either of her shops, leave a message by either email or convo that you want to receive the monthly newsletter; there is a signup over at http://covereinchocolatebakery.com also.  IT Will be full of recipes, tips, photos, and surprises LIKE: coupons, advance notices of Sales and when new products will be presented to the public!

 

Sun and Snow

The last two days have been crock full of sun! A wonderful treat indeed. Although when so sunny one must have dark sunglasses...that glare from the snow can blind you. Listen to me I sound like an ole mother hen "wear your sunglasses" LOL. Okay sometimes I forget not to preach. Did a little baking...tested out a recipe for Blue berry cake. Turned out rather good if I say so. I got a big bunch of fresh organic berries at the market - these berries where as big as my thumb. So in blue berry standards they are HUGE! And sooooooo tasty. So as the picture displays my lovely mini berry cake sliced and ready to eat. Makes you want some doesn't it! Just add your own whip cream. You could also try this: take 1/2 cup of the berries add two tablespoons sugar and 1/4 water heat over medium heat, bring to a boil, remove from heat, spoon over sliced mini cakes - totally awesome berry syrup.

Just Cooking...

Cooking for two at times becomes a challenge simply for the fact both of us do not like left overs. Yep we are spoiled. Although if the meal is big and more than I can eat, I'm one of those who can't really toss the leftovers into the trash. Goes into the fridge. Sometimes I'll warm up for lunch, most times a few weeks later I pull this awful looking creature out of the fridge; tossing promptly into the trash. The one thing I do like as leftovers are my soups! A hot bowl of homemade soup is really great on a cold winter day. It's minus 8 degrees this morning. Last night we had "Pat's Potato Soup" I love this hearty meal. A big ole slice of warm french bread and dinner is ready. I of course saved the leftover for today's lunch YES! Here's the recipe - Cook it up for your family tonight Serve 4 Pats Potato Soup 1 yellow onion 1 teaspoon dried chopped chives Seasoning: pepper, grey sea salt, mrs.dash, Use to your tastes but I suggest 1/2Teaspoon of pepper, mrs dash and ¼ of grey sea salt. 2 cloves of garlic peeled (toss in soup when you add the onion/zucchini/corn to soup mixture) 2 tablespoon butter 3 ½ cups water 2 to 3 cups of pre made powdered milk (you can use whole milk also) 2 potatoes ( you can use Yams also in this recipe and is really good too!) 1 small carrot shredded 1 medium size zucchini 2/3 cup frozen corn 1 can of tri beans (any brand is good) rinse under cold water until water runs clear and set aside to last 10 minutes of cooking soup. The brand I buy has kidney, pinto, and red beans in it. I’ve done just about any bean in this soup - all work. I just like seeing bits of color in this soup! White beans are really good in this also! Just what ever kind you like go for it but they must be rinsed so there is no carry over of coloring from the can of beans. COOKING DIRECTIONS: sliced potatoes in half length wise and then sliced thin, add potatoes and shredded carrot to water and add milk mixture, add seasonings, dried chopped chives and butter. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes then turn to low temp. While potatoes start to cook dice onion, saute in frying pan until cooked, slice zucchini in half and then slice ½“ thick, add zucchini and frozen corn to cooked onion, season to taste and cook about 5 minutes over low to medium heat, then add onion/ zucchini/corn to potato soup mixture. Cook on low for about 1 hour stirring often so that nothing sticks to bottom of pot. Last 10 minutes of cooking soup add the rinsed tri beans to pot. Serve with warm garlic bread.