It's the Life

Cinnamon Apple Chips - So Crispy!

 

It's fall!  My most favorite time of year.  A few months ago my mom gave us a food dehydrator and we have been drying everything we can.  I am not, however, a big fan of dried apples.  I think they are spongy and I don't like the texture at all.  There is a company that makes crispy dried apples, that are delicious, but they have a lot of sugar.  I thought I'd try to make my own, without the corn syrup. You don't need a dehydrator to make these, I ended up using my oven instead.

My main goal was to get them crispy, like a chip.  The key to the crisp, is thin slices and a simple syrup.  I haven't been using much white sugar at home lately, so I used coconut sugar instead.  It is granulated coconut nectar.  It's not nearly as sweet as white sugar, but it still did the trick!

Start with apples. Obviously.  You can use whatever apples you like. I've been using red delicious apples.  Wash and dry them before you start.

For the best results, you should use a mandolin slicer. This allows you to get really thin, even pieces.  They are not expensive, I think they are worth every penny.  This one has julienne slicing option, which I use all the time.

I know a lot of people core their apples before they slice, but I like the look of the un-cored apple.  Just make sure you remove the seeds when you are done.  I also like the skins on, you could remove them before you slice, if that's what you like.

Once you get the apple sliced, soak the slices in a bowl with a little bit of lemon juice. They don't need to soak long, and make sure you don't use a lot of lemon, you don't want the lemon flavor.

Now for the simple syrup.  I used 1.5 cups water and 1 cup coconut sugar.  Bring this to a simmer until the crystals dissolve.  The measurements are the same even if you are using white sugar.  Once it simmers, submerge the apple slices in the pan.  Let them sit for a minute.  Bring them out one by one and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Now sprinkle them with cinnamon or a cinnamon sugar mix. I don't think they need the extra sugar, but I did try it both ways.

Bake them at 225 degrees for 45-60 minutes.  They feel soft right out of the oven.  At 45 minutes I remove one chip from the pan and set it on the counter.  Once it cools, it gets crispy!  Sometimes it takes an hour before they crisp up.  I keep removing one every 5 minutes until I get the crisp and then I remove the pan and remove the apples from the parchment paper.  Once the pan is out of the over, it's best to remove the apples before they completely cool, so they don't get stuck to the paper.

 

You can try to store them in an airtight jar, but I don't think they will last long enough for you to get them into the pantry!

Skylander Giants Birthday Party

This year, my son wanted to have a Skylander Giants birthday party. I'm sure all you ladies out there with a young son have a house full of these by now.  I might have to sell my house to support my child's Skylander problem.

The Invitation:

(I have been told the character of Chaos, is not spelled "Chaos" but Kaos...my mistake.)

This was Jefferson's 8th birthday party and Skylander's happen to have 8 elements.  It seemed it was meant to be. He also let me know that he wanted to plan it. I was good with that, but I gave him a bit of help too. I told him to pick his favorite character from each element and we would figure out a treat and a game to go along with each.

Armed with a small handful of money, we went to the dollar store and the grocery store bulk section.  

#1: Earth Element: Prism Break

For the first game of the party we played a matching game using a laser pointer. The boys were to use the laser pointer, like Prism Break's light, to pick which card to turn over. 

The treat/prize was a Prism Sugar Cookie. (sugar cookie with a crushed sucker on top)

 

#2: Undead Element: Eye Brawl

For the Undead Element, we played a target shooting game.  Shoot the eyeball.

 

The prize for getting a bulls-eye was a jaw breaker. I wish I would have bought eyeball jaw breakers at halloween.  Oh well.

#3: Water Element: Thumpback

This game was supposed to be played outside, but it was March, in Utah, and it snowed. Sunny and beautiful every other day that week, but not on the party day.

The game was a water relay race...in my house. First team to fill up their water jug to the orange line wins! Prize were gummy sharks pretending to be whales.

 

At first I was worried about my floors, but as they played, I was worried about slips and falls and broken necks. Tile is slippery when wet.  They had a GREAT time with this one.

#4: Tech Element: Trigger Happy

Jefferson chose Trigger Happy as his Tech character.  We needed to shoot some chompy's and there needed to be gold.

My very creative child decided to use the Cootie game pieces as Chompy's and we got some guns that shoot large balls at the dollar store.  We were going to spray paint the guns and balls gold, but my husband said he was very sure the guns would not work with paint in them...so we went with function over aesthetics. 

 

The prize was gold money chocolates, of course.  (How happy is he?)

#5: Fire Element: Eruptor

Jefferson saw these ball-in-cup games at the dollar store and thought we could use them as catching a fire ball in a cup.  Eruptor is one of his favorites and he shoots fire balls. These dollar store games ended up being really great because the boys were able to get a candy prize and a toy prize to take home.

 

The game was timed, whoever gets the ball in the cup the most times in a minute wins. The prize was fire balls.

#6: Air Element: Swarm

We called this the Bee Keeper Game.  Keep your "bee" in the air longer than anyone else. These were also from the dollar store. 2 "bees" and 2 rackets for $1.  Nice!

 

The prize was a bag of lemon heads.  My favorite of all the prizes.

#7: Life Element: Tree Rex

I have been told, by my son, that Tree Rex crushes things.  So, we got a bunch of small green balloons to act as a chompy.  The boys had to blow up their balloon and then crush it until it popped!

 

We found these coconut bark candies in the bulk section of our grocery store. They looked like bark so we got them, but they were actually pretty darn tasty.

#8: Magic Element: Pop Fizz

For the potion creation game we went with the old - food coloring under baking soda trick.

 

Each kid picked his liquid magic (vinegar), thinking the clear liquid would decide their color. The kid with the orange liquid wins!

 

The prize for this game was pop rocks. Of course, every kid got a prize, but not every kid could claim to be the champion.

Food:

 

In the Skylander's game, the characters eat donuts, so we had a donut cake. They also eat pizza, so we had that as well.  Very easy!

I can't believe my child is 8 years old! I always tell him that I like him more and more every year. I really lucked out with this one.

Click here for the game print outs!

Click here for the treat print outs!

Belgian Caramelized Waffles

A few years ago I was introduced to a waffle, an amazing waffle.  A waffle to ruin any other waffle.  It was at a place downtown Salt Lake City called Bruges Waffles & Frites.  The owner and chef is from Belgium and he makes the most delicious, authentic, Belgian Caramelized Waffles.  If you are ever in Utah, you must make it one of your go-to destinations. 

Over the last year or so, it seems like Utah has become waffle CRAZY! Many different waffle houses have opened and there are a couple different waffle trucks that park in a different location every day.

These waffles are not your typical runny pancake batter on a waffle iron.  They are made from a yeast dough that rises into a sugar cookie type batter.  They are also full of Belgian Sugar Pearls.  I have not seen these sugar pearls in any of my local grocery stores, but lucky for me (and you) the internet makes almost any item available to be delivered to your front door.

My friend, Sydney, and I were determined to make these waffles at home.  We tried, we were successful!  

Belgian Caramelized Waffles:

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups Flour - 1 packet dry yeast - 3/4 cup lukewarm milk (I used coconut milk) - 2 sticks soft butter - 2 eggs - 1/2 tsp salt - 1-2 tbls vanilla bean paste (you can use extract, but paste is better, much better) - 1 1/2 cups Belgian Sugar Pearls - 1/4 cup coarse sugar - You can add cinnamon if you like, I did not.

Instructions:

Dissolve your packet of yeast in your luke warm water.  While that dissolves beat your butter until smooth. Add your flour, eggs, salt & vanilla. (if you are using cinnamon, add it here as well)  Beat together.  While mixer is running, slowly add your milk & dissolved yeast.  Mix well. Your batter should resemble bread dough. Now let it sit on the counter for 30-60 minutes until it rises and doubles in volume.

At this point you still have your two sugars that have not been added to the mixture:  

Your Belgian Sugar Pearls and your course sugar.  

This is raw sugar and it works really well to give you a caramelized waffle.  

When your dough has doubled, you can stir in your sugar pearls.  Your dough should look like sugar cookie dough. We made our dough at night and then I put the left overs in the fridge, when we made them the next morning, they were just as delicious as the night before.

You can make the waffles small or large. Just roll the batter into any size ball and then roll in the raw sugar. This step is not necessary, but it makes a big difference in the crispy "caramelized" exterior of the waffle. 

 

Place the ball in the center of the waffle iron, close and let it cook. While you wait, get your toppings ready. I really like strawberries and cream on my waffles, but this biscoff spread is EVIL! It's so good on the waffle...or right off the spoon. 

It's beautiful!

 

We made these on a fancy professional waffle iron and then again on an inexpensive home waffle iron.  I didn't notice any difference in taste.  The professional iron was definitely more "user friendly" because it's heat can be adjusted up and down like a toaster and it has a timer. With the inexpensive iron, you had to watch it to make sure the waffle wasn't over or under cooked. But other that that, they both work well.

Order some sugar pearls and make these at home. Once you do, you might be glad the pearls aren't available in your local stores, or you might be tempted to eat them every day!

Café Zupas Tomato Basil Soup

I have been trying to find a tomato soup recipe that I love for...forever. I have tried canned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, roasted, sun dried, etc etc. Always disappointed. Always.  I do love the tomato basil soup at Café Zupas and there are lots of recipes out there that say their recipe tastes the same, and then they don't, and I cry into my bowl of soup.  I had given up, admitted defeat. No more botched attempts for this lady.

Then one day my mom sent me a link to this video.  It is a Café Zupas chef making the soup. Sure he's making a huge vat of soup, sure they don't give you any portions or even tell you what he is doing...but I was excited, really excited. With my mom on her computer at her house and me at my computer, both on our cell phones, we watched the video over and over, pausing, starting over..."what is that?  Those are almonds...aren't they??".  Once we knew all the ingredients it was only a matter of portions. Our first attempt was pretty good, but still not right, but the second attempt...OHHHH the second attempt.  I cried into my bowl of soup, but this time, they were tears of triumph and joy!

Do you want to know what the real secret to this soup is? It's not the tomato part, it's the basil part. It's the PESTO part.  It should really be called Tomato Pesto soup, or maybe even Pesto with Tomatoes soup.

You want to start with LOTS of Basil. None of this 1-2 tbls of basil crap. You need 2 cups or a 4oz container of basil. Now that's some basil. Wash it and dry it.

To dry it, I spread the leaves out on a towel and then roll them up in the towel. Squeeze them and then unroll them.

1 cup slivered almonds. 1 cup parmesan cheese.

5 cloves of garlic. 1 1/2 cups olive oil. 2 tsp salt.

Add to a blender or food processor.

Blend together into a delicious beautiful pesto. I could eat pesto with a spoon. Set this aside for now.

Most good soups start with butter and onions.  This one is the same, we are going to use some celery as well.

6-7 stalks of celery - diced. 2 medium onions - diced.

Throw them into a large pan (we are using a pressure cooker) with 3/4 cup butter and 2 tsp dried oregano. Saute until the onions are transparent. Don't let them get brown.  Your house smells awesome already!

Add your pesto to the veggies and then add 4 quarts of bottled tomatoes or 5 cans of stewed (un-seasoned) tomatoes. (These tomatoes are from my mom's garden, so they are especially delicious) We also added a small amount of sugar to cut some of the acid. You could also add a bit more salt (1 tsp or so) if you think you need it.

At this point, your soup is more green than red.  This is good. This is FLAVOR!

We used a pressure cooker and cooked for 4 minutes.  If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can put everything into a crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  I know this seems like a really long time, but it will allow your tomatoes to cook down into the pesto and veggies and become the beautiful red-orange color you expect from a tomato soup. The pressure cooker just speeds up the process.

(If you decide to use a pressure cooker, PLEASE follow the directions that come with it. Pressure cookers can be very dangerous if not used correctly...like removing the lid before the pressure has come down after cooking. I'm talking about big BOOM...scalding soup everywhere...if you know what I mean.)

Once your soup has finished cooking, add 1 quart of heavy cream, stir and eat. Try not to cry into your soup.

But if you just can't help it, I totally understand.

Valentine Birthday Party

For my birthday this year, I decided to go with the Valentines Day theme.  My actual birthday is the day before Valentines, so I'm used to having lots of red & pink around.  When I was a kid I used to have a heart shaped cake every year.  As I got older, I grew tired of the pretty pink theme. It's been a good 15-20 years since I've had a heart birthday. I thought it was time for a throw back little girl valentine birthday party.  I think that means I'm feeling old and nostalgic...

The Decorations:

I love balloons. I don't know what it is about a balloon, but they make me really happy. Anything that comes in a bouquet makes you fell special.

I added a few Valentine decorations throughout the kitchen. The plates, heart bowls, mushroom s&p shakers and glass decor were all previously given to me as gifts. Spoiled!

I put my cricket paper cutter to good use again for this party.

I got this idea from a local scrapbook store.

I used the same double heart idea to hang staggering hearts above the treat table. I added a few glass & pearl beads to the string.

I found these cute X"O"'s at a craft store. I traced them onto scrapbook paper and then cut them out. Using Modge Podge I glued the paper to the wood shapes. Once they dried I added glitter glue around the edges. Once that dried I added flowers and leaves to the heart shaped "O"s. (Okay, my mom added the flowers and leaves)

The Activity:

If you've followed my blog for very long, you know that I am a big believer in having an activity at a birthday party. It gives your guests something to do and encourages them to mingle and have conversations. Especially if you have guests that don't know each other very well, or at all. It helps everyone feel involved and included in the party. It also gives them something to take home, a sort of gift from the host.

This string art idea came from this blog.  She did hers on a giant scale. We did these on much smaller blocks.  I bought wooden boards at the craft store that were 6x36 inches and then my husband cut them into nice 6x6 blocks.

I used modge podge to glue the scrapbook paper to the boards. Once they were dry, Sydney and I hammered very small nails in a heart shaped pattern.  When the guests arrived to the party, they picked out a board and a floss color. 

We all sat around the table and strung these cute hearts. Click here to see a tutorial.

The Treat Table:

Some treats I made, some treats were brought by my guests. Thanks Syd, Rachel & Laura!

Chocolate Dipped Heart Marshmallows: I bought a bag of heart marshmallows, melted some pink candy melts, dipped the tops, sprinkled with sprinkles, let dry on parchment paper, then added a sucker stick and small ribbon.  Easy Peasy.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Heart Cookies: Make your favorite peanut butter cookie dough (I used one of those pre-mix packages from the grocery store...shhhh), once they have baked and cooled a little bit, place a dove chocolate heart in the center.  Don't put the chocolate in when they are still hot, the chocolate will melt. Don't wait too long or they won't stay. My child could eat all of these in one sitting.

Heart Sugar Cookie Sandwiches: Make your favorite sugar cookie dough (or use the pre-made dough), roll out the dough, cut into circles and bake.  Once they come out of the oven, use a small heart shape cookie cutter and cut the center out of half the circles. Spread your favorite frosting on the whole circles, top with the heart cut center, add sprinkles.

Shirley's Heart Sugar Cookies: Purchase these at your local bakery.  If you are lucky enough to live close to a Shirley's...buy them there, and get some raspberry sweet rolls while you are there, you won't regret!

Cupcake Chic Cupcakes: I really wish I could tell you I made these cupcakes. They were adorable and delicious.

Valentine Chex Mix: Melt 5 oz of white candy melts, pour over 3 cups chex mix. Gently stir until coated. Sprinkle with powdered sugar until coated.  Melt 5 oz pink or red candy melts, pour over 3 cups chex mix. Gently stir until coated. Sprinkle with strawberry cake mix until coated.  Spread mini pretzels on a parchment paper. Drizzle melted candy melts over the top of them. Add sprinkles before they dry. Put everything in a bowl with valentine m&ms. Delicious.

You might notice I used the same red & white polk-a-dot scalloped table runner I made for my party last year. (I also used it at the Mario Party for my son)  If I had realized how much I would be able to use the runner, I might not have complained so much as I tried to press out all those scalloped edges.  This year I just laid down some pretty lace with it, amazing how much a little lace can change the look of the table.

Thanks again to all my party guests. I love that we all get together, ladies from all parts of my life, to talk, laugh, eat and enjoy  each other’s company. I love you all! 

To those few friends from years past that were not able to make it this year. (Some had the nerve to move away!) We missed you!

Caprese Salad with Walnut Pesto

I did a tiny tiny favor for a friend the other day, and in return she took me to lunch! (I got the better end of this deal!). I ordered a caprese salad. It was delicious. Days later I was still thinking about that salad. So...I re-created it at home!

For the salad you need: Red Leaf Lettuce, Mozzarella slices, Tomato slices, Balsamic reduction & Walnut Pesto (recipe to follow)

The first thing I did was put about a cup of Balsamic Vinegar in a small pan on the stove. Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer. Let it simmer until you only have about 1/2 a cup left. (If you were doing 2 cups, you would reduce it by half to 1 cup). Remove from heat and let cool. This will make the vinegar thicker and sweeter. Delicious.

Next, you make your pesto. Usually pesto is made with pine nuts, which is really good. The best pesto I ever had was at a place in Salt Lake City and it was a walnut pesto, so I thought I'd try it out. I was not disappointed!

 

To assemble the salad I chopped up some lettuce and added it to one side of the plate. Then I laid a few pieces of mozzarella next to it. 

With a spoon, spread some of the walnut pesto over the cheese slices. 

Add some tomato slices to the top. Sprinkle some salt & pepper. (I can't wait to make this again when my mom has tomato's in her garden...and I take some for myself!)

Lastly, spoon some of that yummy balsamic reduction over the top of the tomato's and lettuce. 

And then inhaled the whole thing!

(At the restaurant they had a balsamic dressing to go with it, but when I was eating it, I wished I had more of the reduction instead. So, I didn't bother with another dressing at home. It has plenty of flavor without an additional dressing.)

Chicken Tikka Masala

For Mothers Day this year, my mom requested Tikka Masala for dinner. This is one of the very first recipes I developed on my own. I started with an authentic recipe, which had so many spices in it, that it was grainy like sand. I tried it over and over again, adding things, taking things away, until I FINALLY got the recipe I wanted. 

It's an easy recipe to make, you just have to remember to marinade the chicken before hand and give yourself time for the sauce to simmer. The longer it simmers at the end, the better. 

I've made a pdf of the receipe for you. Download it here!

This is what my plate looks like before I dive in. I love me some cilantro! I hope you give this a try, and I hope you love it as much as my family does. 

Avocado Egg Rolls

I saw a "pin" on pinterest for some avacado egg rolls. They looked good and I thought they would be good with the leftover chutney dip!

Avocados, onion, cilantro, sundried tomatoes & salt. (Good with chips too!)

I tried to make the rolls fancy and beautiful, but fillo dough is not my friend. So, I went "rustic" and just cut three layers into rectangles, added the filling and rolled. 

 

Heat oil in a pan and fry the rolls until they are golden, turn and fry until golden on all sides. Dip them in either cilantro lime dressing, or cliantro chutney. 

Yummy lunch, dinner or starter. 

Chicken Pakora with Cilantro Chutney

There is a local Indian restaurant that my family loves. I always order the Chicken Pakora appetizer for Jefferson. It comes with this spicy cilantro chutney dipping sauce. It is so good I want to eat it with a spoon.

I have been trying to re-create it for a very long time. I finally found the right mix of flavors! 

For the chicken, I used the same spices I use when making tikki masala (I will post an awesome recipe for tikki masala later). I baked the chicken instead of frying. Grilling without the breading would also be yummy.

There is something magical about cumin, ginger & cinnamon. They smell delicious together and taste even better. I added a little bit of them to the bread crumbs before I coated the chicken. 

 

Sushi Class

My awesome husband signed us up to take a Sushi making class this Tuesday!!

I am beyond excited!

Hopefully they'll let me take a few photos while I'm there.