A Cake for Isla

I have not a clue as to how a little girl who has virtually no exposure to the Wonderful World of Disney has such an enormous affection for all things Tinkerbell, but she does. Isla's heart on for the tiny beast appeared one day out of the blue and here it has stayed.

So, of course, for Isla's birthday I endeavoured to make a Tinkerbell cake. I had seen the photos online. I might have shown them to Isla, and now her mind was made up. It looked really difficult. The combined potential brutal honesty of two preschoolers sent shivers up my spine. It was gonna have to not suck. I was scared.

Now being cable-less has left me at a disadvantage. As far as gleaning useless information from TLC to be recalled at convenient moments I am now at a loss. Internet to the rescue! I Googled how-to videos on 5 different kinds of fondant and how to apply it. The term 'crumb coat' kept coming up...so I Googled that too. Down the rabbit hole I went.

I really wanted to make marshmallow fondant from scratch. It tastes better and doesn't have as much crap in it...then went and bought Wilton pre-made and added food colouring. The Wilton site itself was a wealth of information and I used their butter cake recipe in the end. And despite cautionary cries in chat rooms everywhere, I used my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl as a cake pan. It worked like a chizzarm!!!!

Ice Cream Cake Pops by Bakerella

Long story short, the cake did not suck...it was all kinds of awesome, nowhere near as difficult as it looks, but every bit as pretentious! Fondant is absolutely my new favourite thing! Oh, and my three year old :)

For Jack's Birthday I plan on successfully trying my hand at these Cake Pops...

Quiche-tastic!

I have no idea when I started to like quiche. I never did as a child, there was always something about the dish that never seemed to sit right. Isla, on the other hand, will eat three man-sized pieces! It wasn't until I headed to a pot luck and wanted to A: try my hand at pie crust from scratch and B: make a large vegetarian dish for a friend who would be in attendance. It was a huge hit, inexpensive, and my previous aversion to quiche had apparently gone the way of the dodo. My personal verdict; delicious!

Now that we have had our first snow fall of the year here in Rossland I am starting to break out the good ole comfort foods once more- cause they are splendid I can use the oven to heat the house!

I follow the recipe for fresh pie crust on the box of the Crisco all-vegetable shortening. Sometimes I will use butter, even though the pros recommend against it, since the shortening is hydrogenated. The crust will be more brown and flavourful with butter, and I still cannot decide which way I prefer. Oh I do substitute some of the regular unbleached flour with whole wheat or better yet, Spelt. Some, not all, no more than a quarter.

The first misconception I had about quiche was that baking one would require heaps of eggs. The one I make only requires three. I pre-make several balls of dough and freeze or refrigerate them (depending on the weeks meal plan) then as I am combining the quiche innards I  preheat the oven to 400 F and bake the empty crust. It takes about 7-10 minutes to mix the following ingredients:

In a mixing bowl beat 3 eggs with a fork. Stir in:
-half cup crumbled feta
-1-2 diced or chopped onion (depending on your texture preference)
-cup of full fat, plain yoghurt
-pack of defrosted and drained chopped spinach
-dash of nutmeg
-Salt and pepper to taste since some Feta is quite salty already
-Pour into crust.
-Top with fresh grated Asiago.
Turn the oven down and bake for 45 minutes at 375 F

Boom: quiche in under an hour!

This Little Piggie...

Canadian Halloween, it is the same day as American Halloween but ones costume needs to be designed in such a way that it can be worn over a snowsuit. It is either that or you are forced to wear your snowsuit over top and then what was the point of even wearing a costume? Ughhhh...I hated that as a child...that daylight Trick or Treating scene from E.T. where the kids are running door to door in their tutus and tights always made me wicked jealous.  That being said I still had my love on for Halloween till I was in my twenties, have I mentioned that I look like I am 12?!

For Jack's very first Halloween I wanted to be crafty and make his costume from scratch. I loved my costumes growing up and they were never store bought. My mom made them when I was little and later we would drag out our parents old clothes or hit Value Village and assemble wonderful outfits. One year I commissioned a poodle skirt, meaning I begged and my mother made it happen. I wore that poodle skirt for three years. It was wonderful. I cannot believe I have no idea where it is now.

Little Piggy Jack @5 months

As the 31st of October loomed large in front of me I realized I was waaaaaay too disorganized and unmotivated to buy the scratch materials, so I improvised - still well inbounds of my "must-make" parameters.

I bought the biggest stuffed animal I could find, gutted it, and cut its face off. I then hemmed the raw edges, sewed ties onto the back and glued the nose onto a piece of cardboard with a Dummy poking through. Genius!

I loved it so much that both of my not-so-chubby little piggies wore it! Some other families have even borrowed the piggy and provided their own stuffing! It was the best "Home-Made" costume EVER!

Little Piggy Isla @11months