My 1st Baking Contest

This weekend is the Arroyo Grande Harvest Festival! I am going to be submitting my amazing Zucchini bread recipe in the contest, wish me luck!

Here is a picture of my latest test run... I invented a yummy glaze to go on top, hopefully its a winner!

                                                   

My favorite season is football season!

Football season is here! I love the cool, crisp evenings, bundling up to go to the games and cheering on my teams and coach hubby! Tonight is the first AG football game of the season and I will definitely be there. Of course, no football game is complete without hot chocolate and some goodies. I made SMORE CUPS for tonight... yum yum, you have to try this SUPER easy and beyond delicious recipe.

7  whole graham crackers (1 cup finely crushed)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

6 tablespoons butter, melted

4 bars (1.55 oz each) milk chocolate candy, divided

12 large marshmallows

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place graham crackers into a large resealable plastic bag. Finely crush into crumbs. Combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and butter in a small bowl.
  Place 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture in each cup of a mini muffin pan. Press crumbs to form shallow cups. Bake 4-5 minutes or until edges are bubbling. Meanwhile, break two of the candy bars into rectangles. Remove pan from oven; place one rectangle into each cup.
• Cut marshmallows in half crosswise using shears dipped in cold water. Place one marshmallow half, cut-side down, into each cup. Return to oven 1-2 minutes or until marshmallows are slightly softened. Remove pans from oven to cooling rack; cool 15 minutes. Carefully remove cups from pan. Cool completely.
• Break remaining candy bars and place in small microwavable bowl. Microwave on high 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring every 20 seconds. Dip the top of each marshmallow in melted chocolate. Turn top-side up and let stand 40 to 60 minutes or until set. Makes 24 cups.

Check out the website I found these yummy things:  http://texascottage.blogspot.com/2011/08/smore-cups.html

My amazing tomatillo sauce!

After learning a couple of different versions, I have made my own - it is pretty amazing and the perfect compliment to enchiladas and especially tacos!  So good!

15-20 tomatillos, peeled and washed

1/2 of a yellow onion, chopped big

1 jalapeno, de stemmed and washed

1/2 bunch of cilantro

salt and pepper

1 avocado

4 cloves of garlic

Directions:

• After peeling and washing the tomatillos, put them in a pan wih the jalapeno and cover with water. Boil until the tomatillos skin starts to crack and they turn a light green color
• In a blender, add the tomatillos, jalapeno, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, and cilantro and blend. Do a quick taste test to make sure it is seasoned ok.
• Then add the whole peeled and de-pitted avocado and blend!
• Enjoy as a sauce on your tacos or add to tortillas with jack cheese to make salsa verde enchiladas- no baking required.

Rainbow Sprinkle Thumbprint Cookies

I LOVE thumbprint cookies and really can't resist sprinkles so I had to try these :)

2/3 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 and 1/4 cup flour

rainbow sprinkles

chocolate kisses

Directions:

• Beat butter until fluffy. Then add sugar, cocoa, soda, salt, eggs and vanilla.
• Slowly mix in flour
• Roll dough into 1 inch balls then coat in sprinkles
• Bake at 375 degrees for 6-7 minutes then remove and immediately place kisses in the middle

DIY Magnetic Chalkboard

I really wanted to make a chalkboard in my guest room so that I could leave cute little welcome notes for our guests. I found a tutorial for making the exact chalkboard I wanted and here is how I did it!

I first started with an empty frame that I had already painted, tin snips, sheet metal, nails, chalkboard paint, metal primer and an ultra smooth foam roller

Then, I primed the metal and painted with the chalkboard paint. As I was waiting for it to dry I wanted to make my own magnets. I found these little clock pendants in the scrapbooking section at Michaels. I bought some adhesive magnets and attached them to the clocks.

All Done!! I just nailed the sheet metal to the back of the frame and added my magnets!

Hung it in my guest room!

Lady Antebellum

Lady A was Fabulous!!!  Happy Birthday to my the most amazing woman in the world- my Mom!

Happy Anniversary

Stephen and I celebrated 3 years of marriage last night! He took me to the gorgeous restaurant, Ventana Grill in Pismo Beach! That restaurant has, hands down, the BEST view of the ocean and cliffs- you are literally hanging on top of the water. This "Coastal Fusion" restaurant starts with giving you warm, homemade tortillas with three different salsas and a cinnamon butter! Stephen had the Al Pastor Pork Chop served on grilled pineapple and I had the Blackened Scallops and Scampi served with creamed spinach! Then for dessert he got the Ventana Mud Pie and me the Plantain Strawberry Cheesecake wraps (see below). To top all of that off there is NO corkage fee- so we brought our own bottle of wine. Overall.. amaaazing dinner with the love of my life!