laissez le bon temps rouler!

We hosted a Mardi gras party at our house last night.  We found the "baby" in the King Cake last year and decided to go all out for our party.  Last year it was really just R & I and our friend Dan.  We didn't have a kings cake baby so we added a duck. 

We know we were a few days late as Fat Tuesday really marks the end of Mardi Gras but we really just wanted a good reason to get together with friends and have some fun.  
I started preparing for the party by perusing pinterest. :) Of course.  There are so many great ideas for everything there. Lot of great decorating and invitation ideas for parties.  


I made an adorable wreath for the party with extra mardi gras beads we had. I got a few strands from the Dollar Tree also. The hardest part was probably cutting out the fleur-de-lis from foam board.  Any suggestions on how to cut that stuff?  I already had the wreath from a previous one I made and had most of the beads. The green were actually a long strand tha was used on a Christmas garland. The amount you'll need depends on how thick the beads are and how thick your wreath is.  I just cut the fleur-de-lis from the foam board and painted it.  The center is just gold glitter. My house looked like stripper visited. :) 

For food we had craw fish that we picked up from our local Hy-Vee store. It was precooked and frozen so we just needed to heat it up. To do this I boiled a pot of water and stuck a few crawfish in at a time for about 3 minutes.    
I made some Jambalaya type soup...Our friend told me he wouldn't call it Jambalaya but it was good.  I used this recipe.  I couldn't find banana pepers (or didn't look that hard) so I didn't use those but used a whole red and green pepper.   I also used a sausage ring (near the ring of bologna in our store)  instead of polish sausage.  Honestly, I didn't even try any of it because I was so tired of food by the time the party came. I had been cooking all day and munching as I went! 
I made crab dip from here. And also made some bbq beef from a crock pot recipe book I have.  It was pretty good as well.  

Beyond that, the most important part was the King Cake. :) I made a blueberry cake and a cherry cake. King cake is a sweet roll cake. Almost like a cinnamon roll in cake form.  I used this recipe  from The Food Network.  I added pie filling with the cream cheese filling.  To hid the baby, I did it after cooking because I didn't have a real King Cake baby, I turned the cake upside down and cut a small slit in the bottom. After flipping right-side up I couldn't even tell were it was.  We made our own colored sugar because finding purple and yellow was difficult. I just took a half cup of sugar and slowly added a few drops of food coloring at a time while mixing very well.   I think it might work well if you used superfine sugar rather than regular. 

I also found a picture of super cute cookies and decided to try to copy them. I'm not the best at frosting but I really want to work out that this summer! I think they're still cute but the originals were way cuter, but I didn't have that much time to make them! 

Overall I think every thing turned out great and we had a really fun time. We had lots of beads and masks for every one.  Our friend brought over some of Pat O'Brian's Hurricanes and some other Grape punch.  Pat O'Brian's is a place in NOLA that is famous for their hurricanes as they were the original. 


I think it was a successful party. Not as crazy as the real deal but it was a good start! :) Everyone came decked out in Purple and Green some with great hats and their own masks! 


As always, Enjoy! Have a great day! 

~H

  

Eat: Busy Baking Cupcakes

Hi friends! The kitchen is a mess, you know what that means!

If the title didn't give it away, today I was busy busy baking goodies for this weekend. It's tulip time in Pella. Which is a 3 day festival celebrating our Dutch community. They are parades and more food than you could ever imagine eating in 3 days (but most of us try!). It's been something that I've been a part of since I was born. I've dressed up in a Dutch costume every year through high school. I was in marching band and have done so many other things. It's a huge part of every Pellan's life.

So if all those other food stands are up why am I busy baking? At the ambulance office during the weekend we have an abundance of goodies and food for those of us working so we can easily grab something before being called out or whatever the case may be.  So I made some Caramel Brownies a new recipe from "Just call me Maria", some chocolate fudge bars that's a recipe my mom has had forever. They're delicious. And I had a request from my good friend to make cupcakes. He pretty much hasn't stopped talking about them since he tried them. I was contemplating not blogging about them because I'm kind of greedy when it comes to my favorite recipes but I figure it's probably better to share so more people can enjoy the delicious chocolatey cupcakes.





At first I was hesitant because I do not like Guinness or any dark beer for that matter. Through so research though, I found that the Guinness flavor exaggerates the chocolate flavor. So I thought I'd give them a try. I could barely stop eating the batter after I got a small taste. Fabulous. 
I found the recipe on Pinterest but it comes from Sugar Dish Me. I signed up to get her new postings and so far I haven't seen one that I wouldn't mind trying. I haven't looked much deeper in to any of the other ones but if they're half as good as the Death by Chocolate Guiness Cupcakes, they'll be amazing. 

Death by Chocolate Guiness Cupcakes

Printable 

Link to Sugar Dish Me

Prep time   25 mins

Cook time   20 mins

Total time    45 mins

Author: Sugar Dish Me

Serves: 24

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup Guiness Stout
• ¾ cup Dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 eggs
• ⅔ cup sour cream
•  
• Frosting
• **1 cup butter
• **3½ cups powdered sugar
• **1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• **1/2 teaspoon salt
• **2 teaspoons vanilla
• **4 tablespoons heavy cream, as needed to desired consistency (Bailey's Irish Cream works great!)
• 
  
• Ganache
• ***1/4 cup heavy cream
• ***3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ***2 tablespoons butter
• ***2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the Guiness and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Let cool slightly for a few minutes.
4. While the chocolate/butter/beer cools, using an electric mixer on low, beat the eggs and sour cream into the flour mixture. Pour in the chocolate and continue mixing until combined, about 1½- 2 minutes.
5. Distribute the batter evenly between the muffin cups.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely.
7. To make the chocolate buttercream, beat the butter for a minute until it’s fluffy. Sift in the powdered sugar ½ cup at a time, beating a little in between each addition. Sift in the cocoa powder and beat until it’s combined. Add the salt, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream. Continue mixing until smooth. Add the last 2 tablespoons of heavy cream (or Bailey’s; see note), more if needed, to reach the desired consistency.
8. Pipe the frosting onto each cupcake.
9. To make the chocolate whiskey ganache, heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until it simmers (be careful not to burn!). Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips until smooth. Whisk in the butter. Then whisk in the whiskey.
10. Drizzle the ganache over the frosted cupcakes. Let it cool and set before serving.

When I made them the first time I did not make the Ganache because I wasn't sure if Jack Daniel's was bourbon Whiskey. I do like Whiskey but didn't want to go back to the store to get a bottle. (I did learn that Jack is bourbon whiskey so next time I make them I will try it). This time I am using cream, not baileys and no whiskey in the ganache so that they are friendly for those of us on call for EMS. :) I added some vanilla extract in place of the whiskey.

The frosting is very fluffy from the cream, so it is probably easiest if you pipe it on not frost. When I made it with Bailey's it was thicker so I used a knife to frost them. 

Well I think the chocolate drizzle really finishes it off.  They may be messy but they're well worth it. 

Let me know how you like them! I'm excited to try other recipes with beer/liquor in them. I think they're prefect for summer time!

~Enjoy!~

Life Check: Being Healthier

Today I am restarting my diet and exercise for 2013. I went downhill with school and a new semester so now that I am well into it I have decided it's time for another go. I also went to the dr today for a physical and he told me loosing some weight will help my feet problems. Which I knew and have been working on, he also told me nursing school wasn't an excuse for putting on extra weight. For some reason hearing from him that I needed to start doing something hit hard and home. So I decided today that I will be using MapMyRide for my intake and exercise. I've talked about it before which you can read about Here.

I have wanted to start working out more mostly because we have developed a love for rock climbing. We've bought most of the supplies we need so we're itching for spring to come so we can go more hopefully. Right now we've been going to Climb Iowa a couple times to get the hang of it. With rock climbing, being out of shape makes it extremely hard, at least for me. I tire out easily so I need to build my stamina and strength. So for the few people reading, if you have any advice or workout ideas I'd love to hear them! I'm contemplating joining the gym but have a fear that I wouldn't go enough to make it worth it. My schedule is so all over the place it is hard to find a consistent time with going anywhere. So home workouts are favorable right now. We'll see how it goes this month though. :)

I went to the grocery store with the attitude of buying healthy. Being in school I snack. A lot. It is so easy for me to pick up a bag of chips and eat most of them while I'm working on homework or whatever. I have gotten into the habit of an after school snack too. So I looked for a healthy snack that is also something I would enjoy. I plan to throw together some raisins and m&m's with some regular almonds so I get the nutrition and satisfy my sweet tooth. If I'm motivated enough, I'll measure it out so I can just grab a bag or container of it before going to school without having to worry about eating the whole lot. While I was picking up the almonds, I was looking at all the other flavors and saw dark chocolate.  Blue Diamond makes an oven roasted dark chocolate flavored almond. They are delicious. I tried them as soon as I got home. 160 Calories for 1 oz (24 nuts). So a little more than I wanted calorie wise but they have a lot of good things in them (i.e. vitamins and minerals). Blue Diamond lists little tidbits of info on their site. Almonds should help curb hunger and give me that crunchy texture that I love about chips.

If for some strange reason you don't like chocolate, they make a ton of other flavors. Honey roasted is probably my favorite traditional flavor. And I just saw they make "nut chips". I may try them out next time!

What's your favorite "guilt -free" snack?

~Enjoy!~

Eat: Review: Jesse's Embers

 The other weekend we actually had a "date" night. R had seen an advertisement for Stomp. So he woke me up and asked what we were doing to make sure we could go. We've sorta been waiting for a while for it to come to Des Moines so we could go. I had seen shows similar but not the official Stomp before. Randy has seen it a couple times.

Regardless, the show is fantastic and if you get a chance to go, I highly suggest you take advantage of it. It is not like other musicals or shows. It is very audience engaging. Even though there is no dialogue, a story is being told. And the main performer gets the audience to interact. Everything from trash cans to barrels, to pots and pans to lighters to tic-tak boxes and even the kitchen sink are used as instruments. By the time the audience walks out the door, the sounds that may have been annoying when walking in were now part of an on-going musical in our heads.  Daily R and I are like "we could be in Stomp!" when we're making some noise.

Anyways, since we were going to be in Des Moines for supper, I decided to look for some where we hadn't been to eat. I wanted somewhere close to down town so that we would be able to get to the show in time.  Some light research led me to find Jesse's Embers. It was ranked I believe #4 on Trip Advisor for top restaurants in the area.

If I had not done the research to find it, driving by we probably wouldn't have stopped. It is a little hole-in-the-wall. The parking lot holds maybe 20 cars, and the dinning room space is limited too. So I suggest you get there early. Walking in, it feels like you are walking in the backdoor to the kitchen.

 The menu consists mostly of steaks grilled on their "Open Pit" grill which is part of the dinning room. We both ordered steaks. I thought they were very good. Moist and tender. Along with the steaks, bread is served, and we got a salad and baked potato. All of which were very good. I have heard to get the house dressing though, we were unaware that this existed so we ordered our regular french on them.

Overall it was a very good meal, I am sure that the atmosphere is what they are going for but for me, it wasn't what I was expecting or looking for. It was very crowded and I felt as though I was intruding on the neighboring table, who were somewhat rude. Not exactly what I wanted for our 'date' night. The pricing is very reasonable and the location is not far from down town so it made for a good choice before going to the show at the Civic Center.

We might go back, but R is pretty partial to Texas Roadhouse steaks.   :)

Print Friendly Recipes!

 Hey all! Just in case you're wondering I have newly created a place where you can find more printer friendly recipes.  They'll mostly be the ones posted on here but in a more black and white style so you can go to that page and print it straight from there. Yes it is another step but better than wasting all your ink and you can print it rather than write it down. :) I thought it be helpful to some. So you can check it out {here} Yes, I'm a cheater on blogger and am using google pages for it. I'll try to remember to link each recipe up to it but if I forget feel free to remind me! :) 

PS. I will hopefully be posting my pumpkin bar recipe later! :) I also have a sewing craft I did a few weeks ago that should be getting a post one of these days too. but until then! 


~Enjoy!~
HR






https://sites.google.com/site/reddoorrecipes/

Eat: Apple Crisp.

Things have been pretty busy for me lately but I did find a few minutes to make an apple crisp the other day. School is into mid term time so things are picking up quite quickly but it's going well! :)

To me, Apple Crisp is probably the epitome of fall desserts. The greatest part is it takes like literally 5 minutes to throw together and about a half hour to bake and most often the only thing you need to grab before making it is the apples. Super awesome for if you need to throw together a dessert in a hurry. And honestly who doesn't like apple crisp!?

Delish:HERSHEY'S Perfect White Chip Chocolate Cookies

I have always loved baking. Pies are probably my specialty, but it really doesn't matter, I'll try everything at least once. That was the goal for these cookies the last time I made them. I had gotten white chocolate chips for something else and never got around to making it and didn't have a full bag of regular chips but wanted to bake. The recipe is on the back of Hershey's white chocolate chips, but here it is from the website.

Hershey's Perfect White Chip Chocolate Cookies 

(link to website) 

 <my printable version> 

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Premier White Chips

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F.
2. 2 Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in white chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. 3 Bake 8 to 9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking; flatten upon cooling.) Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4-1/2 dozen cookies.

 This recipe really does make about 4 dozen cookies, (not like other that say they do but you only get about 2. ) The dough will be kinda stiff when you get all the flour in but that's how it's supposed to be. I always press my cookies down a bit before baking, but I suppose you wouldn't have to. Depending on your oven 9 minutes is about perfect for mine because you want them to be a little bit soft. I guarantee you won't be able to eat just one. (sorry for terrible pictures, I'm not a photographer!)

In other news, I have an ADORABLE new nephew. I'm pretty excited about it, but they live in Texas so I won't be able to see him in person for a while. Although we're thinking about making a trip down later this fall. Despite only seeing a few pictures of him and him only being born yesterday about noon, Rylan has stolen my heart! How could he not!? So precious.