This Blog Has Moved!

Please continue to follow me, as I move my food blog to Wordpress.com. In efforts to separate my family blog from my personal one, I've chosen to use separate accounts for them. Please visit the new location of "Livin Sweet" here:

LIVIN SWEET BLOG

Be sure to update your accounts to follow this new site:

http://www.livinsweet.wordpress.com/

Stay tuned to my new site to see what new cakes I've been decorating and crafts I've been trying!

I've been very busy...

Happy Birthday Gabriele!

The cake perfectly matched her dress - sparkle polka dots included! I wish I'd gotten a picture of her with the cake, she looked so adorable! The perfect little Minnie Mouse! Happy first birthday Gabriele!!!!

Veggie Soup

Please forgive me for not also posting a picture...I didn't like any of the ones I took...and well, the soup got eaten too fast for me to try and take another!

It is, indeed, the new year and basically everyone is on some sort of crazy diet. I decided not to have any major resolutions, just to try and get back down to my pre-baby size (and I'm almost there!). I am not a huge meat eater - unless I'm going all the way with some great BBQ or a guaranteed-to-be delicious steak. On a regular basis, I prefer veggies, carbs and oh, fish is okay. So last night I decided to make an "Everything veggie in my cabinet and fridge" soup. It included the following ingredients (and they can certainly be substituted for your favorite coordinating vegetables).

Fresh Garlic (minced)
Carrots (whole carrots sliced - more flavor!)
Celery (sliced)
Canned Stewed Tomatoes (diced - I took mine out of the can to cut them smaller, they came halved)
Canned Green Beans
Fresh Romaine Lettuce
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Chicken stock (32oz box, or coordinating amount to your veggies)

I like to use whole carrots - they are much more fragrant and flavorful than the baby carrots. The stewed tomatoes won't get soggy and fall apart like fresh tomatoes would - they also have a little more flavor to them.  You can certainly use fresh green beans, also - but I find they're softer from the can. You can substitute the romaine lettuce for any of your other favorite greens like spinach or kale. You could also add onions and potatoes if you wish - you can add the potatoes along with your other fresh veggies. If you want meat, you can also add that - just put it in and cook thoroughly along with the garlic (and onions) - or cook separately and add in the meat later...but of course, it would no longer be veggie soup - it would be regular soup!

I started with a little bit of olive oil in the bottom of my pot to brown my garlic, on medium-high heat. If you have any onions, you could dice them and add them in with the garlic - I just didn't have one. Once garlic and onion is browned, add in the chicken stock. I then added in all of my carrots and celery. Bring to a boil and let these fresh vegetables soften for about 5-10 min (you want to give them a head start since the canned ones are already soft).
Turn the heat down to medium. Then add in your canned veggies. I think the tomato really makes the dish- it adds such a great flavor and provides adequate salt. You could, of course, add more salt if needed, but we're trying to stay away from that, too. Stir periodically. Once everything is well incorporated, add in your greens. It's okay if your pot is VERY full - it'll go down as it cooks. Cover with lid, and let your greens cook down and soften. Stir occasionally, mixing in your greens as they cook down. Add in black pepper, garlic powder and, if desired, salt to taste. Viola! Stone soup.

Happy New Year!

This is the cake that Jana won from my drawing a few weeks ago! Happy New Year!

I barely had time to finish this and get out to door to deliver it...so please forgive my fondant mess on the counter if you can see it!

One.

One Boy, Two cakes.

My son turned one year old today. I made his cake, of course.

The bottom layer was a lemon white chocolate cake with white chocolate pudding in the middle and the top layer was french vanilla with chocolate pudding in the middle. The design of the cake was inspired by the decorations in my son's room. The walls in his room are light blue with one milk chocolate brown wall that has white (vinyl) birds flying across. I also used a print from a painting in his room from Creative Thursday. This artist is incredible and I adore her work!!!! She is creative and genuinely inspiring. The characters from the painting "Jackalope and Friends" are made of gum paste, sculpted by yours truly...I must say, I don't think I have ever sculpted a thing in my life! I was, however, pleased with how they turned out...I did learn a lot, however - which will be beneficial for gum paste figures in the future.

This is the baby cake that my son didn't actually eat, but only poked his finger into lots of times, licking off the icing. Weird kid, I know. I'll let him have a real piece tomorrow.

Dang, I love that kid.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas.

The white ones are mint Oreo...On one of my new plates I got for Christmas. I have a thoughtful spouse, who shops at Anthropologie for me.

I had a birthday cake that got cancelled, so I used my already baked cake to take to our Sunday dinner with family. The face is a little rushed, we were running late. But the concept is pretty fun. I just used a square cake and buttercream frosting.

It's a white chocolate cherry cake with white chocolate pudding in the middle. Stay tuned next week for more cakes...it's my baby's first birthday next week!

Soup - Broccoli Cheddar

I love broccoli cheese soup. As a matter of fact, it is one of the only ways that I will eat broccoli. I especially like this soup at Jason's Deli. They have the best!

That, actually, might be the downfall of this particular recipe. While it tasted fine, it was not all that and a bag of chips - like I had wanted it to be. I won't say where I got it (since I don't want to discredit the source), but I did get it online and that particular blogger had raved about how great this recipe was. I followed it to the t- but it was not great. I will have to try this soup again - perhaps making up my own recipe? I'll let you know what I find out.

On another note - I made peanut butter truffles again last week, but this time with my own recipe...they were pretty dang good and JC ate about half of them on his own before I finally told him to take them to work and share! They're not quite perfect yet, so I'll keep working on that.

In the mean time, here is the recipe for the soup:

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 can chicken broth (about 1 3/4 cups of broth)
1 small onion, diced

1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. butter
Pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon)

2 c. milk (I used 1% with great results)
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (the sharper the better for flavor - I used sharp cheddar and hopefully next time will have extra sharp cheddar on hand)
1/2 c. shredded swiss cheese
steamed chopped broccoli (the amount of broccoli really boils down to preference - I wanted a lot of broccoli in my soup, so I chopped and steamed approximately 2 1/2 to 3 cups of broccoli florets)

Simmer chicken broth and chopped onion for 15-20 minutes in a covered small saucepan, until onions are soft. Heat milk in microwave for 1-2 minutes. In a separate medium-sized stockpot, melt butter then add flour and pepper. Cook together for a couple of minutes, then whisk in warmed milk. Stir and heat together on medium-high heat until soup starts to thicken. Next add chicken broth and continue to stir until well blended. Add cheeses and steamed broccoli. Serve immediately.

Makes approximately 4 servings (with two adults and three kids, we finished the pot of soup in one dinner serving it in bread bowls, so if you are serving more adults or serving the soup in regular bowls, I would consider doubling according to the number of people)

So here are some of the changes I suggest doing when making this particular recipe - first - I simmered my chopped onion (finely chopped!) in the chicken broth for about a half hour...then did become clear, but they remained a little too crisp for my liking.

Second - I normally like most cheeses, however, I didn't like the stronger taste of the swiss cheese in what was supposed to be broccoli cheddar....I say do a little less swiss and a little more cheddar in its place.

I personally like my broccoli to be really soft...I got one of those steamer bags in the frozen section...I don't think it got soft enough. It was convenient, but it might be better to put the broccoli in a food processor briefly, breaking up any bigger chunks that might hold their fresh crunch.

My last grievance was that it was kind of grainy...not sure that many other people would notice. My husband didn't, and neither did my baby...they both ate tons of it. I am not sure why it did this, but I am going to look into it. It might have been the flour, it might have been that I heated my cheese to hot? Not sure. Just watch out when you make it and beware that it has that tendency....

Otherwise, the flavor was pretty good and making it was SO easy! Really simple to make - and it was perfect for the freezing weather we're having here right now.