Myles Mission Farewell

I can't believe it's time for Myles to leave in his mission already! His farewell was last Sunday. He did a great job on his talk and we had lots of food. This post won't be as detailed as other post because we are busy getting him ready to go. But I wanted to remember what we served. I started a week before and made breads to freeze. We bought mini quiches at Walmart - that was the only place we could find them. And Brazilian cheese bits at Costco- Ryan's dad, John, suggested them because they are gluten free and John can only eat gluten free. I also bought plain Greek yogurt and vanilla-honey Greek yogurt for yogurt parfaits. I bought dark chocolate cinnamon cashew granola at Sams club and tons of berries to add to the parfaits.

Funny story- we didn't end up using any of the berries I bought. Two of my friends from the neighborhood asked if they could help bring something. Julie is a really good cook and I said to bring any kind of breakfast food like muffins or cinnamon rolls thinking she would bake something. Kristen also asked what she could bring and I said a fruit bowl. Ryan's mom had offered to bring fruit too. So I was thinking we would have 2 bowls of fruit. BUT.. Julie brought over a large bowl of mixed fruit before church - so I was thinking 3 bowls of fruit. But then Ryan's mom brought over an entire cooler FULL of fruit! We had so much! Kristin brought over 2 fruit trays too. We ate a good portion of it and then we gave Andrea's left over fruit back to her. (I still have a little bit left in the fridge.)

So, back to what we served. The first thing I made was Mini Lemon Poppy Seed muffins:

1⁄2 cup creamy butter, softened
2⁄3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1⁄3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
zest of 1 lemon
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup buttermilk substitute (made with the remaining lemon juice from the 1 lemon and enough milk to make 1⁄2 cup)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line mini tins with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, and beat well after each.
In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, poppy seeds, and lemon zest.
With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating two times with the buttermilk, then lemon juice, and then vanilla.
Beat just until smooth.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, 3/4-full.
Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely.

The original recipe was from food.com, but I kept forgetting to separate the eggs and I didn't have as many lemons. So this is the version I made!

Later I went to the store and bought more lemons, and then I decided to get rid of the frozen zucchini from the freezer. I had what was supposedly 10 cups in the freezer, but by the time I got all the extra water out of it, it was only 2 or 3 cups - go figure? But at least I used it all up.

I made Olivia's Lemon Zucchini Bread. It was probably the most popular item at the table!
2 cups cake flour substitute
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
½ cup canola oil
1⅓ cups sugar
2 TB fresh lemon juice
½ cup buttermilk substitute (fresh lemon juice mixed with milk)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup grated zucchini
Glaze ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar 2 TB lemon juice
1 TBSP milk

To make cake flour substitute, put 2 Tbsp of cornstarch in the bottom of a 1-cup measuring cup, then fill the cup as usual with all-purpose flour and level top.
Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Then add oil and sugar until well blended. Add lemon juice, buttermilk, lemon zest to this mixture and blend all together. Fold in zucchini until it is mixed well. Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend all together until well combined. Pour batter into greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. While still warm, make glaze and spoon over the bread. Let the glaze set up before cutting and serving. (I put mine in the freezer for a few days!)

I then made Mini Scrambled Egg Cups. I combined 2 different recipes (one from allrecipes and one from superhealthykids and made it up as I went. This is about what I did.

1 pound mild Italian sausage, browned- probably more than I needed, but I used it all.

12 - 13 eggs, beaten

Diced dried onion (original recipe said 1/2 c chopped fresh onion I just threw some it - probably 2-3 Tbsp)

1/2 tsp Salt and 1/4 tsp Black Pepper (I threw some in)

Italian herb mix ( from the grinder in the spice aisle - I added some)

1/4 tsp garlic powder (don't remember if I added it)

1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese (didn't measure that either)

1/2 c milk 

1 to 1 and 1/2 c fresh spinach leaves, chopped finely. The recipe said to stack the leaves, roll them up, and slice them thin- that worked well. 

Mix everything together. Spray mini muffin tins well. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the eggs are slightly brown. I adapted all of these recipes from regular size to mini, so they didn't cook as long, but I just kept an eye on them, so I'm not sure how long they actually cooked. I served these with salsa I bottled last year.

I found a gingerbread recipe I wanted to try. In the comments it said it was bread for breakfast with butter on it. I didn't think butter sounded right, but I had cream cheese on the table to add to any of the breads. It came from FoodnessGracious. I didn't make any changes. It was a super easy and yummy recipe. So I'm reposting it. 

Sticky Gingerbread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg beaten

2/3 cup warm milk

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Line an 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper and cooking spray.

Whisk together the flour, ginger, and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Melt the butter in a pan with the molasses and brown sugar.

Once melted, add the flour to the liquid and stir well with a spatula.

Add the egg and stir.

Combine the warm milk with the baking soda and stir to combine.

Add the milk to the batter and mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture into the pan.

Bake in the oven for about 75-80 minutes until the top is springy to the touch.

Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

I thought we had lots of sweet breads and we needed something more savory. I remembered the Cheddar Cheese and Chive Bread I made last year and posted here, so I made that again. And yes, I had to buy more zucchini after getting rid of everything in the freezer. Ha ha ha!

Mom asked what she could bring. Ryan's niece, Abby, is Vegan and so I thought I better make something she could eat. I remembered a recipe Mom used to make that used a bottle of fruit. I was going to make it, but I didn't have a bottle of fruit. Mom said she did. She said using bottled apricots make it taste like Gingerbread. I think that's what she used. It was great! The recipe I have calls it spoiled fruit cake. But that doesn't sound appetizing. Mom made it into a loaf to match the rest of the breads, so I called it Fruit Bread. But I don't think that name does it justice. 

Fruit Bread - or Mock Gingerbread - or Spoiled (bottled) Fruit Cake

1 quart of any bottled fruit, juice and all - mom's recipe said cherries or plums

4 teaspoons soda – mix in with fruit and let it foam

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil

4 cups flour (not sifted)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cloves - optional

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 to 3 teaspoons cinnamon

Mom's recipe that I have a copy of didn't have directions. But one on the internet said to blend the fruit in a blender or chop into small pieces. I don't know what she did. My recipe said to bake in a large pan at 325 for 50 min or 350 for 30-40 min. It seems like a pretty forgiving recipe.  The internet recipe said to cook at 350 for 50 min or until a tooth pick comes out clean, but it had a lot more oil. 

Mom also made Banana Bread. I'm sure she used her standard recipe. Here it is:

1/2 cup butter or shortening
1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas (riper the better, and frozen in the freezer)

1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream butter.  Gradually add sugar, creaming well. Add eggs and bananas. Blend thoroughly. Combine milk and lemon juice in small bowl and set aside.  Add soda and salt to creamed mixture. Add flour to banana mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.  Blend well after each addition.  Stir in nuts if desired.  Grease bottom of bread pan.  Pour in batter about 2/3 full. Bake at 350* for 60 -70 minutes until bread springs back when lightly touched in center (or until knife comes out clean.)  

I thought I should have a second vegan bread, so I used to chocolate cake recipe I have used before to make Vegan Mini Chocolate Muffins. I followed the recipe, but instead of putting it in a loaf pan, I put them in mini muffin tins. I had a problem with one batch of Lemon Poppy Seed muffins sticking to the papers, so I found a suggestion to spray the cupcake liners with cooking spray before putting in the batter. That worked a little too well- the muffins nearly fell out of the papers. They were delicious, but a little too crumbly. The neighbor kids loved them! The Pugh kids ate a bunch. Their little 4 year old even came to the door afterward and asked for more of them. It was funny. He didn't mind I gave him the ones that were falling apart - they still tasted good. 

I made 3 more dishes the 2 days before. - I know way to much- but I wanted to try them. I made Dutch Apple Bread before, but I never had a chance to post the pics or the recipe. Mom said it was great the last time I made it. It ended up really crumbly. I'm not sure if that's because I froze it or if it's just crumbly. It's from Butter with a side of Bread. I think I followed it fairly closely. 

1/2 cup softened butter (1 cube)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups diced peeled green apple (I used a green apple and a fuji apple - I think it was closer to 2 cups)

Topping:

5 TBSP cold butter

1/3 cup flour

2 TBSP granulated sugar

2 TBSP brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Vanilla Glaze: (Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Set aside)

1 TBSP melted butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 TBSP milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x5 bread pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add in eggs, milk and vanilla and stir to incorporate. Mix in flour, salt and baking powder.  Fold in apples. Transfer mixture to prepared baking pan.

For topping, combine all ingredients and mix with a fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter in pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in bread comes out clean. 

Let cool. Remove from pan and drizzle top with vanilla glaze. 

We had lunch on Pioneer Day (July 24th) at Corner Bakery. I saw their Cinnamon Creme Cake and thought that looked yummy. I decided to find a copycat recipe and make it. Kristin's 12 year old son said he liked it so much he wanted his mom to make it for his birthday! It was also a big hit at the party, but also very crumbly. 

TOPPING AND FILLING INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 2/3 cups flour

2 sticks salted butter, melted

CAKE INGREDIENTS

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, room temp, cut into pieces

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

5 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

2 cups sour cream (I just used an entire 16 oz container)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease with shortening and flour a 10 inch/12 cup tube pan very well. 

Combine first five topping ingredients in a large bowl, add melted butter and combine with a wooden spoon. You want big chunks of the topping and filling so don’t over mix.

Cake: Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium size bowl, set aside.

In a large bowl cream butter, shortening, and sugar until very light. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in almond extract. Add the dry cake ingredients alternating with the sour cream. The batter will be very thick.

Spoon half of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the topping mixture over the batter, then the remaining cake batter, then remaining topping. Press the final topping layer into the cake layer very gently, just to make sure it ’sticks’.

Bake in the center of the oven for 50 min to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cake is done when it starts to pull away from the sides and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Loosen sides of cake with knife and invert onto a wire rack and then invert again on to serving platter. Sprinkle with powder sugar to finish.

The last thing I made was Cherry Chocolate Babka. I have seen lots of Babka recipes and wanted to make one. We had lots of cherries in the fridge and I thought maybe I could use them to make Babka. But you can't use fresh cherries. I wanted to make it anyway, so I bought dried tart Montmorency cherries at Costco. Here's the recipe I used as a guideline with some changes from another recipe I found. I think this is about what I ended up with:

150 g (1 cup) dried tart Montmornecy cherries

60 ml (¼ cup) Torani hazelnut syrup

335 g (2¼ cups) plain flour, plus extra, to dust - I needed more like 4 cups

7 g yeast - yes I used a scale

95 g unsalted butter, melted - I think this is about 7 Tbsp

95 ml lukewarm milk

45 g sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

80 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids),roughly chopped - I used Ghirardelli 60% cacoa bittersweet chocolate chips. 

Soak cherries in hazelnut syrup overnight. Drain and reserve the liquid. (I needed more liquid and cherries - so maybe use more of both next time - definitely more syrup.)

Grease a long bread pan, (mine is 12 x 4.5 inches), and line with parchment paper

To make dough, sift flour and ½ tsp salt in a large bowl and stir in yeast. In a separate bowl, combine butter, milk, sugar and eggs. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in milk mixture. Mix to form a dough. (Adding lots more flour to actually make a dough!) Using your hands, knead dough until smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Using floured hands, shape into a 12x 18 inch rectangle. Leaving a 1/2 -1 inch border along 1 longer edge. Thicken reserved syrup by heating in microwave for a short time. Spread onto dough. Scatter over drained cherries and chocolate. Starting from the edge without the border, roll up dough. Pinch the border to roll and the ends closed to seal. Cut dough longways down the center of the roll. Twist the 2 halves around each other keeping cut side on top and holding in the filling as much as possible. Press the ends together. Carefully place the twist into the prepared bread pan. Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray. Allow to rise again until nearly doubled - about 1 hour. (I forgot mine - oops and it raised longer than that, but it looked great! I lucked out!)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 min or until golden brown. One recipe said to bake it until a skewer came out clean and also to cover the top midway through baking. I think I cooked it 20 min, then covered with tinfoil and cooked it another 10 minutes or so. Cool in pan for 10 min. then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Ryan liked the bread, but no one really tried it. Ryan said it's because the name scared people away. He didn't mind - it left more for him! I think next time it needs more filling. When I baked it, you couldn't really see the different layers anymore. Maybe I need more syrup or something more for a filling.... I'll have to come up with something. 

Overall the party turned out great. Myles said lots of his friends didn't come because they were out of town, but he had a few people show up - even a couple of girls I had never met before. We did end up with lots of leftover breads, so my freezer is still full. Anyone want a slice?

Myles Birthday: Lemon Huckleberry Cake and Nutella ice cream and Lime Cornmeal Bars with Blueberry Glaze

Myles is an adult!! Wow, I'm not old enough to be his mom anymore. Since it's his last birthday at home for awhile, I wanted to make something special for cake and ice cream. He didn't have anything he really wanted but he said the ideas I gave him sounded good. We ended up making Nutella Ice Cream and Lemon Huckleberry Cake yesterday. Last week when we visited Steven, he took us to pick wild huckleberries! We brought a bunch home and froze most of them. But we saved enough to make this cake. We took the leftover cake and some leftover Lime Cornmeal Bars I made 3 weeks ago and froze to Grandpa Jenny's house this evening to celebrate with the cousins.

Lemon Huckleberry Cake
(adapted from Mel's Kitchen)

1 cup  butter, softened to room temperature
1 3/4 cups  sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (made from milk and 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)
2 cups fresh huckleberries
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

WHIPPED LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
12 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans with at least 2-inch sides with parchment paper and coat with nonstick cooking spray
In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes (don’t cut down the time on this step).
Add the eggs and vanilla until well-combined, 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir the dry mixture into the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined and a few dry streaks remain.
Add the buttermilk and lemon juice to the batter, and stir by hand, folding the batter until just combined.
In another bowl, toss the huckleberries with the 2 tablespoons flour. Add the huckleberries and remnants of flour to the batter and fold in by hand with a spatula or wooden spoon until just-combined. Overmixing may result in a tough, dry cake.
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes until just baked through. The top will spring back lightly to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out with moist crumbs but not wet batter.
Let the cakes cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans before turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the frosting, whip the cream cheese and butter together with a handheld electric mixer or with an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix on low speed (so the powdered sugar doesn’t fly everywhere) until combined. Increase the speed to medium and mix until creamy, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream and whip the frosting until very light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
When the cake has cooled completely, place one round on a platter or plate and spread the top evenly with frosting. Place the other cake round upside down on the frosting and press just lightly. Continue frosting with a thin spatula or offset spatula until the top and sides of the cake are evenly frosted. Garnish with blueberries (I ran out of fresh huckleberries) and lemon slices, if desired.

Nutella Ice Cream
This recipe came from Just a Pinch. I followed to cooking directions so we wouldn't have raw eggs in our ice cream.
2 large eggs
2/3 c sugar
2 c heavy cream, cold ( I might have used just whole milk for the cream and milk)
1 c 2% milk, cold
3/4 c nutella
1/2 c hazelnuts, chopped

Beat the eggs and sugar together and then add the milk in a sauce pan. Cook it, while whisking, until it got to scald temperature and begins to thicken.  Add the Nutella and cream while blending until smooth. Pour into a small bowl and place into a large bowl filled with ice water to chill the ice cream mixture.  When chilled freeze according to ice cream maker instructions. After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the hazelnuts, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready. Serve while soft or put in freezer until firm.

Lime Cornmeal Bars with Blueberry Glaze
I found this recipe on Epicurious and I think I made it as written:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lime zest
4 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk ( It was very rich and I think I will skip the egg yolk next time)
3/4 cup fresh lime juice
For the blueberry glaze:
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. spray a 9x13" baking pan and line with parchment paper, leaving a 1" overhang on both long sides.
Combine cornmeal, powdered sugar, salt, and 2 cups flour in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add 1 cup butter and beat until mixture resembles coarse meal and dough sticks together when you rub it with your fingers. Transfer dough to prepared pan and press into bottom and 1/2" up sides with your knuckles. Bake crust until golden, 18–20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and reduce oven temperature to 300°F.
While crust is baking, whisk granulated sugar, lime zest, and remaining 3 Tbsp. flour in a large bowl until combined. Add eggs and yolk and whisk until smooth. Whisk in lime juice and pour mixture onto hot crust (it's easiest to do this with pan on oven rack) and bake until topping is set, 25–30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool.
Make the blueberry glaze:
Combine blueberries, granulated sugar, and 3 Tbsp. water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until blueberries have burst and sauce is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Let cool slightly. Purée blueberry mixture with an immersion blender until smooth. Let glaze cool.
Pour blueberry glaze over lime filling and spread to form an even, thin layer. Let cool completely, then chill (or freeze) until ready to serve. Lift bar out of pan using parchment overhang and cut into 24 squares or more because they are very rich!

Kellie liked the cake and the lime bars. She even asked for the recipes, so I think I must have done a good job with those!

Memorial Day Camping

I had a bunch of days off for memorial weekend - Myles didn't however. But I thought it would be fun to go camping! I know- that's a shock! But I figured we could handle 1 night. I didn't decide on this until the Monday before memorial weekend- kind of late to plan anything. But after looking at some ideas on the internet, we ended up at a teepee in Fremont Indian State Park. We drove down Friday after school, only stayed one night and came home Saturday afternoon. The perfect length of time for a camping trip! And we even took the dogs with us. I wanted to find some meals that would be easy to take and not hard to cook while we were there. It turned out great and the kids liked it!

Camping dinner:

The standard hot dogs to grill
marshmallows for S'mores
Starburst candy to roast
Grilled Cheesy Sausage Pineapple Skewers
Mexican Street Corn - yummy!
Grilled Apple Crisp - easy to make.

Our version of these recipes below:

Grilled Cheesy Sausage Pineapple Skewers

½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ teaspoons dried Oregano
1 package fully cooked sausages with cheese (we used Johnsonville Beddar with Cheddar)
½ ripe Pineapple
¼- ½ large Red Onion

Combine the olive oil and oregano in a leak proof container. Allow to sit for at least an hour before grilling. Slice the pineapple into 1 inch chunks (we had lots left over and grilled that separately.)  Cut onion into large wedge chunks. Cut each sausage into 5 pieces.

If using wood skewers, soak them for 1 hour before assembling.  We used wood ones when we went camping, but metal ones when we came home.

To thread the skewers: slide on 1 piece of sausage, 2 pieces of onion, pineapple piece. Repeat and end with a piece of sausage.
Heat the grill. Place the skewers on the grill and brush with oregano infuse olive oil. Rotate halfway through cooking and brush the other side of the skewers with oil. Remove when the onions are cooked; approximately 5 minutes. Serve with barbecue sauce if desired. - We skipped that when we camped.

Mexican Street Corn

The family all LOVED this corn and said we are going to make it like this from now on!

6 ears sweet corn with husks
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup cotija cheese, crumbled
6 tablespoons cilantro, chopped or more
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 limes, quartered

Trim the tops of the corn to remove extra silk and leaves. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place the corn covered in husks directly on the oven rack and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the corn is tender and juicy.
In a small bowl, combine the garlic powder with the mayonnaise. Mix cotija cheese with smoked paprika. When the corn is done, remove husks and brush the corn with the garlic mayonnaise. sprinkle with the cotija cheese and cilantro. Serve with the lime wedges to squeeze over the corn.

Grilled Apple Crisp

3 firm apples, peeled, cored and diced
4.5 Tbsp sugar
3 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
2½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened - I'm pretty sure I forgot to put this in!!
 heavy duty foil

Toss apples with sugar and lemon juice and set aside.
Combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well until fully combined.
Tear off six 11 inch pieces of foil and spray well with non-stick cooking spray. Tear off six more 11 inch pieces of heavy duty foil and set aside.
Divide the apples evenly onto the foil sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle each with the topping.
Fold foil over in half and crimp the edges. Place crimped pouch on a piece of heavy duty foil and fold in half and seal edges. Place on grill and cook for approximately 20 mins. Remove and carefully open each pouch.
Transfer to plates and serve with vanilla ice cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon if desired.

Camping Breakfast:

I couldn't decide which recipe to make, so I did 2 of them. Myles liked the burritos better, but Pierce liked the sandwiches better.

Campfire Breakfast Burritos

½ tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen hash browns
8 oz cooked ham, diced
12 eggs
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 (4.5 oz) can green chilies, mild
2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup chopped cilantro or more
8 (12-inch) flour tortillas (we only used 7 of them)

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the hash browns and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously. Add in the ham. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the hash browns and ham have both browned, about 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Whisk in the taco seasoning. When the hash browns and ham have browned, pour the eggs into the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until the eggs have set. Stir in the green chilies, cheese and cilantro.
Warm the tortillas. Put ⅛ of the egg mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up like a burrito and wrap tightly in foil. Store in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator or in a cooler.
When ready to cook, place wrapped burritos in hot coals next to fire. Let the burritos sit in the coals, turning once, until heated through, about 10-15 minutes. (The time will depend on how hot your fire is.) We did ours on a grill and it took about 20 min.

Breakfast Sandwiches

Ingredients

1/2 lb. bacon
6 eggs
6 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
10oz frozen hash browns
6 slices cheddar cheese
6 Thomas English Muffins

Cook the bacon in either the oven (at 400 degrees for 15 minutes) or in a skillet until crisp. Drain on a paper towel lined plate, but do not discard the grease!
Place the grease into a large cast iron skillet, or heavy bottomed skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the refrigerated hash browns and press into an even layer. Let cook for 6 to 7 minutes, until golden brown, then flip over in sections and cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes, or until cooked through. Season the hash browns with salt and pepper. Divide into 6 portions.
Meanwhile whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper in a bowl. Lightly coat a 7x9” cake pan or casserole dish with non-stick spray and pour the egg mixture in. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes, then gently stir the eggs in the pan, turning the sides over and pulling up the bottom layer of cooked eggs. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Stir one more time and cook for an additional 3 minutes, or until the eggs are mostly set. The eggs will continue to cook once taken out of the oven, so don’t over cook them. Cut the eggs into 6 equal squares.
Assemble your breakfast sandwiches on top of the Thomas English Muffins: cheese, hash browns, egg, bacon, top bun. Enjoy now, or keep reading to make sandwiches portable.
Wrap the sandwiches halfway in parchment paper so the bottom is covered, but the top is open. Place, open side up in a foil container and then cover the container with foil. Keep the sandwiches chilled until ready to serve. To reheat, place the covered trays on a grill over medium heat. Cover and cook until the sandwiches are heated through. Ours seemed to take a really long time this way. With the ones we had leftover we wrapped them individually and they heated faster. It's even faster just to put them in the microwave!

Mother's Day Crepe Cake

Ryan made me crepes for mother's day. We found a recipe for a Crepe cake and did our own. We used our standard crepe recipe found here, and then assembled the cake:

1 recipe of crepes
1 pint jar of homemade lemon curd
2 cups whipped cream
Triple berry pie filling
powdered sugar
fresh raspberries

We took all the filling out of the triple berry pie that I made for Myles mission party. I had used 1 jar of triple berry pie filling from Smiths and some frozen raspberry pie filling I had. We had about 3/4 of the pie left. Mix the whipped cream and the lemon curd together. To assemble the crepe cake, put one crepe down on a serving dish and spread with berry filling. Top with a second crepe, and spread with lemon curd mixture. Repeat layers until all the crepes are used. Sprinkle the top with sugar. Cut like a cake and serve with remaining lemon curd mixture and fresh berries.

Myles Mission Reveal Party

Myles got his mission call on Adria's birthday, Thursday, May 11th. We invited all the family over on Saturday May 13th and had them guess where Myles was going on his mission based on the food we served. Since he was called to Washington Federal Way, we decided to serve Salmon - and since he is going Spanish speaking, we decided to do fish tacos. We also had cherry pie, triple berry pie, Jazz apples from Washington with caramel apple dip, cherries, and blueberries. We had Jones Soda and Americana Cherry Soda (both made in Washington too.)

We used the same fish taco recipe we have made before and we tried a second one that Ryan found on Food and Wine made with Salmon. The fish was good, but I think I prefer the other coleslaw. Here's the recipe with a few changes:

Dry-Rubbed Salmon Tacos with Tomatillo-Avocado Slaw

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
20 oz of salmon fillets (we used the frozen ones from Smiths)
Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
2 tomatillos, husked and quartered
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 small jalapeño, seeded and quartered
1 garlic clove
6 tablespoons sour cream
1 ripe avocado—halved, peeled and pitted
2 cups finely shredded red and green cabbages
2 cups broccoli slaw
8 corn tortillas
Hot sauce and lime wedges, for serving

In a small bowl, stir the cumin with the chili powder, and brown sugar. Season generously with salt and pepper. Brush the salmon fillets with olive oil and dredge them in the spice mixture.

In a food processor or blender, puree the tomatillos with the cilantro, jalapeno and garlic until smooth. Add the sour cream and process until smooth, then add the avocado and pulse until creamy. Transfer the dressing to a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the cabbage and broccoli slaw and toss to coat.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Stack the tortillas and wrap them in foil. Bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put the salmon on a grill pan grill the salmon fillets over high heat, turning once, until nearly cooked through, 8 to 9 minutes. Transfer the salmon to a plate and flake with a fork.

Fill the tortillas with the salmon. Top with the avocado slaw and serve right away with the hot sauce and lime wedges.

We had leftovers the next day for dinner- Ryan and the boys added sriracha mayonnaise to their tacos.

Adria's Lemon Birthday Cake

Adria asked for a lemon birthday cake this year. And we had an art themed birthday party so we made her cake look like an artist pallet. A few weeks ago one of the girls at work, Jenny Christensen, brought the MOST delicious lemon bundt cake! So I asked her for the recipe. She found it at Chef in Training blog. Here it is reposted with my changes - I had to make lots more frosting to make it into a layer cake.

1 box lemon Cake Mix - Duncan Hines brand

1 small box INSTANT Vanilla pudding Mix (3.9 ounces) - Kroger brand

½ cup Sour Cream

¾ cup Oil

¾ cup Water

½ cup Sugar

4 Eggs

1 Tablespoon lemon zest - I used 1 large lemon and all the zest from it.

3 Tablespoon lemon juice - I used all the juice from the large lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together for 3 minutes on high. Pour into 2 greased 9 inch pans.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and cake springs back when lightly touched in middle. Let cool for 10 minutes on wire rack, then remove from pans. Allow to cool completely and freeze to make it easier to frost. Wrap each layer individually before freezing, then stake them in the freezer. Someone put an ice pack on top of my cake after it had been in the freezer for 8 hours, and it flattened the top some - it worked out great so I didn't have to try to cut the dome of the cake off.

Frosting

8 ounce cream cheese, softened

4 -5 cups powdered sugar or more

1 Tablespoon lemon zest - all the zest from 1 large lemon

2-3 teaspoon lemon juice

Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add 2 cups powered sugar, lemon zest, and 1 tsp lemon juice. Mix well (this is where the original recipe stops - and is enough for a bundt cake but not a layered cake). Add 2 cups powdered sugar and and another tsp lemon juice. Mix. Add more powdered sugar and lemon juice until it looks like the correct amount and correct consistency to frost the cake. 

Put a small amount of frosting on the cake stand to hold the bottom layer still. frost the top of the bottom cake layer. Then put on top cake layer. Frost the top and sides of cake. I made the "paint" spots my putting a small dot of frosting in each spot and topping with gel frosting and mixing with a tooth pick.

Olivia's Birthday Easter Cake

I found a TON of Easter recipes I wanted to try. Unfortunately, I always have bigger plans that I have time for. Today, even though Easter was 3 days ago, I am starting on another one I didn't have time for: Danish Easter Cake. It needs candied lemon and orange - so I'm making a bunch of that even though I only need 1/8 of a cup. We looked at 4 different stores for it. No one has it. What a disappointment.

Anyway, I found several other dessert recipes (ALWAYS dessert with me!) And here are the ones I made:

Robin Egg Cake

This one is from Deals to Meals. She says its vanilla flavored, but it has almond flavoring in it too, and I think it tastes more like almond. Maybe because I forgot to put the vanilla in the frosting too (oops!) It was still delicious. Olivia loved it. I had another recipe that was similar, but it had strawberries in it, and since she is anti-fruit, we didn't make it.

1 package white cake mix
1 cup flour
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk or buttermilk (I used the homemade version: milk with lemon juice in it)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 Tbsp egg whites ( or egg whites from 4 eggs)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, spray 2  9-inch round pans, line with parchment paper and spray the paper too.
Stir together the white cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.Pour in the water, milk, sour cream, vegetable oil, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg whites, and beat with an electric mix on low until all the ingredients are mixed and moistened.
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans, and bake in the preheated oven until the top is a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes. I think mine took longer. The recipe said 20-25 but that wasn't nearly enough time. Maybe my oven is dying.....Allow to cool before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 stick salted butter
*You want the butter not super cold but not quite room temperature either, if its too soft the frosting wont pipe properly. You want it just to the point that you can press a finger into it and it will indent but not push through easily.
4 ounces cream cheese
2 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar ( I used Kroger brand, the recipe said you could only use C&H or it'd be gritty - whatever -  We ate it and no one complained of grittiness)

Directions from the original recipe follow - I pretty much followed the. Didn't time it exactly, but I did A LOT of beating. I had to stop in the middle at making it too and stuck it back in the fridge, so I don't know how that affected the temp. of the butter:

In a medium size bowl beat butter until it almost turns white, approx 7 minutes. This is the crucial first steps so watch the color change carefully depending on the speed of your mixer it could take longer. Add the cream cheese, heavy cream, and vanilla extract and beat again for another 3-5 minutes. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time beating 2-3 minutes in between each cup. All the beating is a pain, but well worth it in the end! Pipe on to cupcakes or frost a cake! This is enough to do a 2 layer cake.

Robin Egg Topping

1 Tbs. Cocoa powder
Vanilla extract
Coconut flakes - about 1/3 cup ( I didn't measure)

Mix the cocoa powder with enough vanilla to make a runny paint- I think it took about 3 Tbsp of vanilla - lots more than I expected. "Holding a small arts and craft paint brush with one hand, gently flick the bristles with your other index finger to splatter the chocolate paint. Practice first onto a piece of paper towel or wax paper until you get the hang of it. When you have practices for a bit you’re ready to start speckling, hold the paintbrush fairly close to the cake and start splattering."

When the cake is all splattered, add enough coconut to make a nest to the rest of the "paint" and mix to color the coconut. Arrange the coconut into a next and top with eggs- I used white and blue Whopper Robin Eggs, and some Palmer chocolate eggs. The large egg is 2 half peanut butter Palmer eggs stuck together.

I made 2 other desserts too and for the sake of completeness and so I don't have to look for them again here they are: (Both are from Just A Pinch)

Easter Knot Cookies (or Anise Sugar Cookies)

2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 c sugar
6 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp anise extract
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
8 c sifted flour
6 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

BUTTER ICING RECIPE
3 -4 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter
1 tsp anise extract
milk
food coloring

Cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, milk, anise and vanilla. Add salt and baking powder and mix until combined. Slowly add the flour. Grease cookie sheets. Roll dough into 1/2” logs and form into knots. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool until barely warm. Dunk in icing and let dry.
To make butter icing, combine sugar and butter. Add anise. Slowly add milk to desired consistency. Add food coloring of your choice.

Springtime S'mores

These were Myles favorite of the 3 desserts. I thought they were a little too gooey, and I don't think I liked the white chocolate I used. - I used Private Selection. Maybe next time I will try the Ghiradelli as suggested. I had to add A LOT more marshmallows that the original recipe said. We doubled the recipe and added the entire bag, minus the handful Adria and Genna ate.

1/2 c heavy whipping cream
12 oz (1 bag) white chocolate morsels (Ghiradelli is best)
about 3 cups miniature colored marshmallows
1 box (9 oz) shortbread cookies

 LINE 9-inch-square baking pan with heavy-duty foil. (I sprayed mine too - maybe that wasn't a good choice?) Break cookies into small bite-size pieces.
Heat cream in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until bubbles appear around edges. Remove from heat. Add white chocolate; stir until smooth. Cool, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 12 minutes.
Add marshmallows; stir to coat. Gently stir in cookie pieces until combined.
Spread mixture into prepared pan; press down lightly. Refrigerate until set or cover and let set on the counter. Cut into bars.
**Variation** I didn't try this one, but found a similar recipe that used 3 1/2 cups marshmallows, milk chocolate chips, and 7 1/2 oz chocolate covered graham crackers broken into pieces.