Zucchini Bread

My garden has been growing well, for the most part. Recently, my cucumbers and zucchini have really started to take off. I have two very large zucchini at the moment. Since I know my husband will not want to eat any of the zucchini as it is and I know I won't be able to eat two monsterous grilled zucchinis on my own, I decided to make zucchini bread. I used a recipe from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book. Their website does not have the recipe that I used.

This bread feels light and soft and baked up really well for a baking powder-raised quick bread. The color is light for a whole wheat bread because I used white whole wheat flour. I am starting to prefer it over traditional whole wheat flour. I like that it still has all the fiber of whole wheat, doesn't have the bitter tannin-like taste of whole wheat and isn't processed like white flour. It sounds like the best of all worlds to me.

I just tasted some of this bread and the texture is perfect. It is not dense like many whole wheat breads and the zucchini makes the bread super moist. The bread tasted good on its own, but I also tried it with some yogurt-based butter that I have. That was the ideal flavor combination for me. The butter was a great addition that took a good bread up to a next level.

I am looking forward to many more garden-inspired recipes in the future. My tomato plants have lots of buds and several green tomatoes at the moment. I have a feeling they will all ripen at the same time, so I will start thinking of things I want to do with all the excess...like marinara sauce, tomato soup, fried green tomatoes...and many more things.

Peanut Butter Cake Truffles

I was perusing the internet for various food sites and I came across a new trend in baking...cake balls. Or cake truffles, as they are also called. This seems to be something that is up and coming in the baking industry. One website I checked out sells 6 for $18.

What are cake balls? First you bake a cake, let it cool slightly and then crumble into small pieces. Pour in the desired frosting and mix well. After a brief stint in the refrigerator, form the cake/frosting mixture into balls and freeze two hours to overnight. They are then dipped in chocolate coating like a truffle and allowed to set. And voila! The other option is to use lollipop sticks to make cake lollipops.

I came up with several flavor combinations that I wanted to try out, but I only got a chance to try out one...yellow cake with peanut butter frosting coated with milk chocolate. This worked out really well. I was afraid there would be some logistical problems, like the amount of frosting to add or how large to make the balls, but it really went smoothly. I chose to use a small melon baller to get a consistent size by combining two scoops for each ball. This size seems to have a good cake to chocolate ratio. It is a lot bigger than a bite-sized treat, but if I went smaller, then there would be lots more chocolate than cake.

According to several places online, these will last for several days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. It is best not to store them in the refrigerator because the chocolate will start to sweat.

I started with a 9x13" cake and one recipe of frosting. This resulted in just over 50 cake truffles. So while they take more work than a cake or cupcakes, the yield is fairly high. I will continue to pursue this track and see where it takes me. I have lots of other flavor combinations that I would like to try. Hopefully other people will like them, I will start sharing some of my peanut butter cake truffles starting tomorrow.

Chick Fil A spicy chicken sandwich update

I am a little bit behind at the moment, my husband and I actually tried out the spicy chicken sandwich last Thursday night. I had a crazy week at work and then a long weekend, so I didn't get a chance to write about it.

Overall, I was fairly happy with the sandwich. I got the deluxe version with pepper jack cheese, lettuce and tomato. I can't remember actually having a regular chicken sandwich from Chick Fil A, it is not a place I have visited many times in the past. I thought the breading on the chicken had a good consistency, it wasn't hard and crunchy and the chicken itself was moist. I can agree with others than it isn't really spicy, but I was assuming it would be lighter than I would make on my own since I have been getting used to a lot of heat in my food. The spice had a good flavor all around and I was happy with it. Though I will admit I added two packets of Texas Pete hot sauce to my sandwich because I was craving some major heat that night. If I just wanted a 'baby kick,' then the sandwich would have been perfect the way it was. My husband agreed with me, though I think he would more often opt for a regular chicken sandwich over the spicy one.

I just checked out the nutrition info on the deluxe, which actually has more calories than the hotly contested KFC double down (540 vs 580 calories...the regular spicy chicken sandwich has 490 calories). People have been outraged that things like the double down are leading to the downfall of our society by increasing obesity. And yet at the same time, people are applauding the arrival of the spicy chicken sandwich. Now tell me how that makes sense?

The bottom line is that fast food is not to blame for the increase in the weight of Americans. Fast food on occasion is not going to make someone gain 50 pounds. People just need to learn about moderation and also need to learn on how to rely on themselves to prepare healthy, easy home cooked meals. Then the occasional fast food splurge will not have an effect on your weight or overall health. It is all about balance and the choices that we make.

Cheddar Apple Pie

Finally! I made an entire apple pie from scratch. I chose a recipe that had cheddar in the crust, hoping that the cheese would entice my husband to taste the pie. I don't think that he is bit on apple pie, but I thought the addition of cheese would be a good lure.

In my rush to get the pie completed before a party last weekend, I did not realize that the 2 1/2 cups of flour was not all in the crust. 1/4 cup of the flour was meant for the filling. When making the dough, I added quite a bit more water than the recipe called for, but that was what I needed in order for the dough to come together so that I could roll it out. But in my practice with pie doughs, I am getting a better feel for what the consistency should be.

It wasn't until I made the filling that I noticed my mistake in the crust. It was too late to turn back now, so I just went with the rest of the recipe. I used a vegetable peeler to remove the apple skin and then an 8 piece apple cutter to core and start the slices. I then cut the slices in half so that there were 16 identical sized slices. This worked out really well and didn't take near as long as I thought it would. I didn't measure out the apples, so I had quite a few slices left over when I added them to the pie crust. I made a huge mound in the pie and put the remainder in a container in the fridge.

I rolled out my top crust and fit it on top of the monster pile of apples the best that I could. It looked alright and definitely good for a first try, but I will need to practice the presentation more before I am completely happy with it. I had some trimmings from the crust left over so they went in the fridge as well. And now that I am writing this, I think I was supposed to dot 2 tablespoons of butter on top of the apples before adding the crust. I completely skipped that step in my rush, but to be honest, I didn't notice a thing that was lacking in the filling.

The pie baked just as suggested, no need to change the time or add the foil earlier than the recipe called for. The one thing that I did do differently was I spread a little butter on the top crust after it came out of the oven in hopes of preventing the crust from being too hard (which is a technique used for softening bread crusts). I feel like it worked well, though I wonder just how crunchy the top would have been without it.

The pie cooled just in time to take to the party. Everyone enjoyed the pie and no one mentioned anything wrong with the consistency of the crust. This was one baking mistake that didn't make or break the final product, which I am very glad for. I stored the little bit of leftovers in the fridge and had another piece last night. I tasted it both cold and after warming in the microwave. I definitely prefer a warm apple pie and the cheddar in the crust gave just the right amount of flavor without being over whelming.

I am very excited for the outcome of the apple pie and maybe I will make one when I visit my parents for the 4th of July...what is more American than an apple pie?

Chik fil A Spicy Chicken Sandwich

I normally shy away from fast food, and try to eat out other places only once a week, but I think that rule will be broken this week. For some reason, the Chik fil A spicy chicken sandwich has me all excited to try it. You have to admit, their marketing ploys on this one have worked out tremendously. I missed the whole 'reservation' thing, but that is alright. I think my husband and I will have that for dinner later this week. I had already thawed meat for dinner tonight and tomorrow when I realized that the sandwich was finally available, so it is looking like a Chik fil A trip on Thursday or Friday (that is, unless my husband jumps the gun and goes for lunch sometime before that). Like I've been saying, I am on a spicy kick, so this sounds like it will be right up my alley. From all the buzz I've been hearing, it has some heat but not too too much. That is understandable. There is a fine line to walk to make the heat-lovers happy and still attract people that don't eat many spicy things. I wonder if they have extra hot sauce packets so that I can add more if I want to? That would be perfect. I will be sure to write about my impressions once I finally get a chance to try it.

Genoise...fancy name for sponge cake

http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateGenoise.html

When I went to visit Paula Deen's cousin a while back, one of the things she mentioned was the need to know basic techniques and the best (only) way to get that is through professional training. She said I would need to know how to make things like...like...like (she couldn't even remember the type of cake that was so essential for me to know). I correctly guessed genoise, a type of cake I had read about but really didn't know anything about how to make it. So it went on my mental list of things I wanted to teach myself to make.

Turns out, genoise is just a fancy name for a sponge cake. I had made a sponge cake with the strawberries a few months ago, but still wanted to make another. I chose to follow the directions from the Joy of Baking website since it was so thorough (http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateGenoise.html) and it contained chocolate!

I had no trouble at all following the recipe or the techniques involved. I worry that I beat the eggs a little longer than I should have since the cake rose out above the 9" cake pan. But since it rose straight up, I think it was alright. I made this a weekend before a party and put it in the freezer since I knew it would be a hectic week at work. Freezing worked out really well. I took the cake out Friday morning, then made the mousse Friday night and put it all together that night to be ready for a lunchtime party on Saturday.

When making the mousse, there was a lot more than I was expecting. I had about twice as much mousse as in the cake in the picture. Rather than serving it separately, I added another mousse layer to the top of the cake. I will need to remember the mousse recipe, since it looks like it will be a good versatile recipe to have in my repertoire.

Overall, I am very happy with this chocolate genoise, it tasted and looked great! One more technique that I understand and now its time to move on to the next!

More Gnocchi!

I have posted about making gnocchi in the past, but it is something that I really like to have in the freezer for a quick weeknight dinner. I bought three baking potatoes and baked them in a 450F oven until soft. I figure if I am going to spend the time to make gnocchi, I may as well make lots of it.

After cooling and peeling the potatoes, I thoroughly mashed them and weight them. According to what I have seen online here is the best ratio for the gnocchi dough:

about 7-8 ounces mashed potato
1 cup flour
1 egg 1/2 tsp salt

I adjusted the amount of mashed potato to be 28 ounces so I could easily quadruple the recipe and off I went. This time, making the dough went so much quicker and smoother. I feel like I am getting a hang of it and definitely feel more confident about knowing how much flour I need. I quickly shaped pieces of the dough into ropes about the size of my thumb and cut into small pieces using my bench scraper.

There are two things I did differently from in the past. I made the pieces smaller since they puff up some while cooking and I also didn't bother with making the fork prints in each piece. That saved a significant amount of time. It just seemed like in the past that the fork prints didn't do much for the texture and taste of the gnocchi, they seem to be more for authenticity. But my husband won't notice and if it saves me some time, then I am more than happy to skip that step.

So I have a whole tray of cooked gnocchi that I can divide into about three bags for the freezer. That should last us for a while and I feel accomplished making something I once thought would be too complicated and difficult.

Honey Wheat Rolls

I wanted to keep working on my yeast breads, so this weekend I opted to make Honey Wheat Rolls using a recipe from King Arthur flour (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/honey-wheat-rolls-recipe). As usual, the recipe was easy to follow.

I added almost all my ingredients to the bowl of my stand mixer and got to the potato flakes, which I had a box of in the pantry. It turns out, I only had about 1/4 cup of potato flakes. Since I already added everything else to the bowl and didn't feel like going to the store, I just went with what I had. I added a bunch more flour to make the dough into a nice soft ball and transferred the dough to a greased glass bowl and covered for the first rise.

I got caught up in errands and other things, so the first rise was for about 5 hours, much longer than the suggested time. I divided the dough into 16 pieces (I am loving my kitchen scale...it came to the rescue again!) and placed them into the 9x13 pan for the second rise. I intended to let it rise for the suggested 1.5 to 2 hours, but right as I was about to turn on the oven, my dogs were whining for their afternoon walks. So again, the rise went longer than it should have, about 3 hours before baking. By this point, the rolls had grown to completely fill the pan. I knew the rolls would all run together when I baked them, but that didn't matter to me.

I followed the baking instructions, but my rolls never turned a mahogany brown. I baked them a little extra without the foil at the end, but the color wasn't turning, so I pulled them out of the oven anyway to prevent over browning on the bottom.

The end roll was quite tasty, despite not being as pretty as they could be. They are a bit sweet, but I like it that way. In the end, the extra rise time and the lack of sufficient potato flakes did not seem to be a bit deal. I am sure they would have turned out even better if I had followed the directions a bit more closely, but to be honest, I like the rolls good enough as they are.

Shrimp Curry

Last night I decided to play around a little in the kitchen for dinner. I had some shrimp, peas and cauliflower in the freezer, so I cooked those in some minced garlic and added celery salt and lots of curry powder. To make more of a sauce, I included some Kraft Philly cream cheese and some milk once everything had heated through.

The flavor was nice, but I will admit that there was something missing. I couldn't figure out if it was a flavor I needed to add or simply another texture. Perhaps the curry would have gone better with a piece of naan or some rice. I also think mushrooms and tomatoes would be a good addition next time, or even a little cayenne or other pepper for some heat. This was just an experiment, and I learned a lot to apply when I make a curry again in the future. I only added a little bit of cream cheese since that was all I had left from the contest and more would have been a better idea. But the whole point of the dinner was to use things that I already had in my kitchen so that I didn't need to go to the store.

I have some left over for dinner tonight, so hopefully I can remember to take a picture to add to this post.

Update:
So I completely forgot to take pictures Saturday of the shrimp curry before I finished it off. I will have to make sure I take some next time I make it.

Garden Update

I was able to harvest the first few things from my garden this week...a handful of cherry tomatoes and two jalapenos. I was so excited for the cherry tomatoes that they were eaten before I finished making dinner that night. The next couple I was able to wait and add them to my salad. Either way, they were wonderful! It was such a great feeling to have something homegrown and straight from the garden, especially my own garden!

I took two of the largest jalapenos when we grilled out for Memorial Day. They probably could have grown a bit longer, but I was getting impatient to taste them and there are lots more on both of the plants. I chopped up the grilled jalapenos and added some to a grilled portabella mushroom and to my spinach and asiago cheese sausage. Both ways, they were great. I have been eating more and more spicy foods, even putting red pepper on my pizza and adding hot sauce or something hot to lots of my foods. I guess its true when they say that hot stuff is addictive! Though, I am still hesitant to add hot sauce to scrambled eggs at the moment. I wouldn't put it past me to try it eventually though.

I really had no idea how much I would enjoy having a garden. Sometimes it is a bit of a pain to water all the time since the area does get so much sunshine, but I have found the time and it works out well since my dogs can get some good running time in in the backyard while I water or tend to my garden.

I am excited to try the Roma and Early Girl tomatoes that are growing, but are still green. Hopefully they will ripen soon. Other things growing but not quite ready include two green bell peppers (they might not make it through the weekend...I am getting impatient!), more jalapenos and some of my cayenne peppers are turning red. My basil and oregano plants are coming along nicely, so perhaps it is time to make some tomato sauce to store in the freezer. Freezing the sauce makes for an easy dinner some night.

Real Women of Philadelphia

Unfortunately, they announced the final two people that will be making the journey to Savannah last night. I hoped and prayed as much as I possibly could, but it just wasn't meant to be. They have all sorts of other things in the works, though this was the biggest part of the community. I will keep logging on to see where it all goes and hopefully something will put me in the right place at the right time and all the stars will align.

My husband will be out of town this weekend, and even though I have a lot of things planned that I want to get done, I will be trying to get some good baking in, as well. I haven't fully decided what I want to make, but I am leaning towards making some honey wheat rolls, a cake of some sort and something creative with the blueberries I have in my fridge. Maybe this will be the weekend I make my yeast cinnamon rolls. I have an awfully ambitious plan for the weekend, so we will see just how much I can get through!

still waiting....

So I lied!

I finished up the last video I was talking about in the previous post on Friday night. Check out my Fabulous Philly-Filled Fauxnuts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgVxG4Cs3zY

I came up with two other recipes on Saturday and shot one video on Saturday and the other at 1PM on Sunday...talk about cutting it close to the deadline, which was at 9PM. I still had to edit my video, upload it (which takes 1.5 hr, if it goes well the first time), then wait a little bit for it to show up before I could submit the recipe on The Real Women of Philadelphia. But it all finished...with 15 minutes to spare!!!

Irish Cream brownies: a coffee flavored brownie topped with a Kraft Philly cream cheese frosting spiked with Bailey's Irish Cream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVv_4np4g-Y

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies (I think the name is self explanatory, haha!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3plUasNObos


This phase of The Real Women of Philadelphia is now closed. From what I have seen, it looks like they notify people around Tuesday or Wednesday after the week closes. So pray very hard for me, and I will be doing the same. I worked very hard on every one of my entries for this contest and am proud of the recipes I have come up with. I have learned that I can push myself out of my comfort zone and be proud of the results.

I can take on anything!!!

Just one more video...

So I thought I was done with the Real Women of Philadelphia videos, but I have come up with one more recipe. I will be shooting that video either tonight or tomorrow. I am not sure if I will get to it tonight, since I have had an extremely long week at work and I am fairly exhausted. Though it is possible that I will get pumped up when I get home and want to do it tonight.

This is the last few days of the contest and there are only two more finalists left. They haven't announced the winners of the entree week, but it closed on Sunday and I think they notify people fairly quick. This is my last chance to make it to Savannah. I know I have what it takes, I just hope that the people reviewing the videos see that, too. I just can't begin to say how scared I am that my videos are being overlooked. I have worked very hard and hope they are getting the attention they deserve.

I am the most proud of my strawberry pies and the last recipe. Not only do they taste great, but they are truly creations from my own mind. I spent a lot of time thinking them through on the ingredients and execution and think that they came together just perfectly. I wish that I could send in video testimonials on my creations, because everyone loves them.

I will continue to hope and pray that I can join the rest of the finalists in Savannah and hope that there are people out there praying with me. This would just be a huge deal for me, I would be surrounded by professionals and would learn so much in a short amount of time that would take me much longer to figure out on my own. A little help to maybe start selling my creations would go a very long way and I would forever be appreciative!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Cream Pie and Strawberry Mojito Pie

Here are my two most recent entries for the Real Women of Philadelphia contest. Please bear with the lower quality of video, I have a size limit of 100Meg, so these longer videos need to be saved with a lower quality. I will go back once the contest is done and put up better videos.

The first is my Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Cream Pie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6N9Xp_2Rf0). A strawberry pie topped with chocolate ganache and finished with a cream cheese whipped cream topping. This was is so delicious and I am unbelievably proud of my creation. The cream cheese in the topping, rather than just whipped topping adds an unexpected element that makes the dish flow. What could be better than strawberries and cream? What could be better than strawberries and chocolate? A chocolate covered strawberries and cream pie, thats what!!!

The second is a Strawberry Mojito Pie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RThJUrBdxW8). When I first started thinking about this recipe, everyone was talking about the Kentucky Derby. I wanted a way to incorporate the traditional mint julep into one of my recipes. I thought of various strawberry cocktails and figured a strawberry mint julep would be a good combination. Since the Derby would be long passed (and I didn't have any bourbon in the house), I opted for a summer cocktail that is a bit more ubiquitous throughout the season. I chose a mojito, which is made of rum, mint and lime. I looked online and could not find a pie of its kind at all. I incorporated the mojito flavors into my strawberry filling as well as added rum to the cream cheese topping. This pie went over a lot better than I could have guessed! I took it to work and it was gone in less than 15 minutes. Everyone commented on its novelty and loved its taste. I was afraid that the rum would be too strong, but it turns out I guessed just right when I made this pie.

Top Chef University

I just came across this article from USA Today. It is a very interesting concept and I need to think it through to see if it is something I would like to try out. It is $25 a month and certain things need to be done to move on to the next course. I just worry that I won't have the time to devote to the site that I would like and I would not want to waste my money if it turns out I can't seem to progress as quickly as I would like. It is definitely something to think about...


http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-05-20-top-chef-univ-site_N.htm?csp=YahooModule_Life

TV's Top Chefs star in online university
By Michelle Locke, For The Associated Press

You've watched them whip up delectable dishes, and a soupcon of drama, in the Top Chef kitchen. Now, stars of the hit Bravo TV series are ready to school their fans: Pack your knives and go... online.

Top Chef University.com, formally launching this week, is designed to give users the experience of culinary school at their own pace, with 12 courses covering about 60 hours of content.

"It's so unique because it's truly a comprehensive program and it's really the first of its kind," says Nikki Cascone, Season 4 contestant and one of the instructors.

The site was created by Jeff Goldenberg, founder of Post Oaks Productions, a leading provider of live and virtual consumer training. He approached Bravo with the concept after getting hooked on the show. Given the green light, he hired trained chef Anthony Hoy Fong and Top Chef judge and culinary expert Gail Simmons to write the curriculum.

Both Simmons and Fong are culinary school graduates and they wanted to develop a program that felt was professional but also would resonate with home cooks.

While graduates won't come out professional chefs, "if you take this program to the end you will have, I believe, a really strong knowledge of the kitchen," says Simmons.

Instructors were picked with an eye to their time on the show. So, Cascone, known for her pasta, is teaching about pasta and grains. Richard Blais, the chef from Season 4 who favored cutting edge techniques like cooking sous vide, is teaching the advanced course that includes molecular gastronomy.

The program, which costs $25 a month or $200 for year-long access, begins with the basics — knife skills, pantry stocking — and moves on to stocks, soups, vegetables, proteins and dessert before finishing up with global cuisine and advanced techniques.

"It really is the only place on the Internet that takes you by the hand and leads you from beginning to end," Goldenberg said.

Instructors include Season 2's Marcel Vigneron, known for his ambitious cooking techniques — and hairstyle — and the behatted Spike Mendelsohn from Season 4. The courses are unhurried, with instructors going through the process in a methodical fashion.

"These guys are real chefs. They cook in restaurants every night. You're really getting one-on-one access to a professional chef," said Fong, who is culinary director of the online school.

Site users are given written tests to see if they've absorbed the material and will be able to upload pictures of their finished work and ask questions on class forums. Though no one can verify whether the dishes produced are hits or misses, coursework must be completed before the next level is unlocked.

So, no dramatic denouements where ousted chefs get the show's signature dismissal line of "Please pack your knives and go!" But those who complete the program will be Top Chef Certified.

At the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., communications director Stephan Hengst thought the idea was intriguing.

The CIA has teamed with Bravo in years past to run demo cooking classes in New York, which proved popular, says Hengst, "so it doesn't surprise me that Bravo is trying to continue to grow the Top Chef brand."

"For the enthusiast who's looking to get some more face time with their favorite Top Chef celebrities, I think it's a great chance for them to be entertained and to be educated," he said, noting that a number of Top Chef contestants, including some winners, are CIA grads. However, the online course "Doesn't necessarily stand up to the rigors of a professional culinary education," he says.

Of course, Top Chef University is thousands of dollars less than culinary school, and Cascone thinks it's a case of comparing apples and oranges. "There are great things to be offered about both programs," she says. "With the Top Chef University you can pause and you can constantly go back. It's really like an encyclopedia."

"I'm convinced that the home cooks and all the foodies out there are going to love this being brought to their living rooms."
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

garden update

Its been a little while since my garden was filled with all sorts of goodies, so here is a bit of an update.

Three of my five tomato plants have at least one growing tomato on them. The cherry tomato plant has a bunch coming in. I had better start thinking of some good ideas for all the tomatoes that will be coming my way!

The jalapeno and cayenne pepper plants all have some little peppers on them. I know the jalapenos have a while to grow yet, but I need to check into what size the cayenne peppers should be. I think I have that information on my computer at home, since I typed up all the information for all of the plants before throwing away the little tags. I didn't want to have to deal with the dirt if I kept the tags and this way I can have all the information in one convenient location.

There is a decent sized green bell pepper on one of the plants. I still need to look closer at the other one to see if there are any small peppers hiding out.

My zucchini plants have some nice blossoms on them. I had read that zucchini blossoms are a new trend in fancy restaurants. Maybe sometime I will try to make something with them, but for now, I will let them grow and harvest the full grown zucchini when they are ready. I am not quite ready to experiment with the blossoms before I try different things with the vegetable itself.

My cucumber plants are starting to spread out, which is a very good sign!

I really have no idea what is going on under the surface with the onion sets I planted. The stalks are still sticking up, which I guess is a good sign. I just have no idea whether they are growing under the surface or not and if so, when to take one or two.

As for the chives, I am a little unsure. There has been some grass invading my garden, but I think I see little sprouts that I assume are from the chives coming through the soil. I need to spend some time getting as much of the grass out as I can, when I can find a bit of time to do that.

The basil has taken off. I haven't cooked much with basil, but I will have to try a few things out soon to take advantage of my large stock. The oregano is starting to grow, even though it had a bit of a rough start and didn't take to being transplanted very well. I have the same problem with the thyme, which I started from seed, as with the chives. I need to look closely and see what is my herb and what is grass. Ditto for the spinach.

There is a large sprout on the butternut squash mound...hopefully it is the squash and not a weed!

So overall, I think the garden is making good progress. I am getting very excited and hope I don't jump the gun and take things before they are ready! I will be sure to take pictures and post them soon so I can share how everything is growing.

my attempt to be silly

So I wasn't going to put this video on my blog, but I figure I may as well. Paula had suggested that we get into character and not be afraid to be silly or step outside of our comfort zones. I came up with an appetizer quickly and tried to get silly with it...but failed miserably as you can see. But I guess it can't be an awful thing to post the link here and share just how horrible it turned out!!! I am not one for acting silly and can you tell that I have no idea how to curl my own hair!!!! I used to hate it when my mom would take the curling iron to my hair when I was growing up and just never learned to do it myself. I am always fighting with my hair to make it straighter, so trying to curl it was an adventure of itself. Oh well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxb8BHy0mRg

Real Women of Philadelphia Contest Entree Videos

I know that I have been keeping up with the blog quite as much as I would like recently. I have been spending a lot of time working recipes and videos for this contest. Then I was gone for 6 days to Florida to run a Muddy Buddy, a triathlon, and visit my husband's parents. It has been a whirlwind since getting back last Tuesday evening!!

Here are the two entrees I submitted for this week:
Philly Chicken Curry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rjn1nPG22A
Philly Breakfast Calzones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNCBty8bNeM

I am really worried about my Philly chicken curry recipe. I am the most proud of that recipe and video so far and submitted it on Friday morning. The people on the website review the videos before posting them in the gallery. It still says that my recipe has been 'submitted for review' when it should read 'your recipe is in the gallery.' According to the forum, the recipes are still considered for the week as long as they have been submitted, even if they don't make it into the gallery before the closing time. But I submitted the calzone recipe on Sunday morning and it is already in the gallery. I emailed the help people this morning just to double check my curry video will be considered, but haven't heard back from them yet.

From what I have seen on the forums, it looks like the winners are emailed around Tuesday or Wednesday after the week closes. So I guess I will know very soon the results of the entree week. I am still praying!!!!

A few more videos

I know I haven't been keeping up with the blog as well as I should be recently. This past weekend, we traveled down to Orlando, Florida to compete in the Muddy Buddy and I also ran a triathlon the next day. We also visited with my husband's family in Tampa for a few days. So things have been a bit hectic recently. Hopefully I can get things under control a little better now...

Here are a few more videos that I have been making. I wanted to say a lot more in the muffin video, but I guess I was just too worn out to remember much (and my husband was fairly impatient with having to videotape me, which only makes me more nervous in front of the camera).

Cinnamon Raisin Cream Cheese Muffins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJK5tqH8rxQ

Myers' family spinach dip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CBHFJXsplI

Shrimp Dip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH_zRlHYgbM

I have one entree video done, I just need to look at it again and upload it. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow sometime so I can go ahead and submit it. That is the only entree recipe I have for this week. Maybe I can come up with something else in the next few days, but seeing as how hectic work and home have been, I am not confident I will be able to. I have two dessert recipes that I have tested and really enjoy, I will be sure to make those videos this weekend.

I am still keeping my fingers crossed! There are still 8 slots left for the next round in Savannah. Think good thoughts with me!!!