St Patrick's Day festivities

Wow! What a party!

I felt exhausted after everyone left, but kept on trekking and cleaning so I could enjoy my Sunday morning in peace... I must be getting old because everyone left for the bars at 11pm and I was so happy to just curl up in bed and go to sleep! Lol!

Don't get me wrong though, I had fun!

But I do think the best part of having a party is the planning and preparation bit when you get to be creative and decorate and bake and arrange... It's just in my nature...

So here is a little photo journey of the party.

The cake batter than I could have eaten by the spoonful... I really really really wanted to!

  ...But I was smart and not so selfish and actually made a "sheet cake" with it... This is the cupcake recipe from Annie's Eats. I love tried and true recipes... I would have made my usual Busy Day Chocolate cake, but we didn't have enough vegetable oil. Annie's Eats came through for me again though, I really love this recipe! 

I made little pastry bites with puff pastry again. I brushed the dough with egg yolk and then put a dollop of herb cream cheese and a little piece of pepper on top. Baked until golden brown... Anything bite-size and made of buttery pastry is always a party favorite. 

These are also good for budget parties because the 1kg of dough only cost (I think 3e) and I got 80 squares out of it. Add about 2e for the cream cheese and about 1-2e for the pepper and you have a nice little savory appetizer for a decent crowd for only a max of 7e! I like! This is also so versatile, e.g. I made blue cheese apple pastries for new years the same way.

I was soooooooooo happy with the decor!!! I seriously don't want to take down the little squiggle streamers and especially the bunting!

 Here are the savory bites set out before folks arrived... 

I always serve carrot sticks as an alternative to dip (dips not shown...) and other on-sale vegetables... They are cheap, tasty, and everyone loves them! It also ensures that there is something for everyone, since not everyone wants buttery pastries and greasy chips... Yeah, weird, I know!

We popped the popcorn ourselves stove-top style. I think it tastes the best (plus we don't own a microwave). 

To flavor it, we made a chili butter by adding hot sauce to the butter as it was melting. Then we tossed it in the bowl! 

The green herb popcorn was made by adding a green herb spice mix (it has everything in it!) to the melting butter and then tossing it in the bowl. 

We have been making a lot of popcorn lately because it's also such a blank slate, and cheap too!

Right at the bottom of the picture above is the caramel corn we made on Thursday. This little bowl was all that was left after 2 days munching on it. OMG, delicious! Recipe is from none other than Annie's Eats. Hey, I like that site!!

With all the bars I have been making lately, it was only natural that I make one for the party as well. So I made up a recipe inspired by this recipe. Well, I used that recipe for the crust because it is a really good crust for these types of things (believe me, I have tried a few). 

But the topping or filling if you will, is made with:

200g Finnish rahka (could be substituted for really thick Turkish yogurt?)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

lemon zest of half of a lemon

juice of one lemon (about 1/2 cup)

1 tsp vanilla

Mix and then pour on top of the crust (that has been in the oven for about 15min per the linked recipe) and then bake again for about 25-30, until it's set but not burnt or brown. (Wow, great discription!)

I topped it with the leftover 7 minute frosting from my cake and then put the extra lemon zest on top with some kiwis (which were great with the lemon and brought the added bonus of being green!) 

And last but not least, the cake.

As I just said, it's covered in a 7 minute frosting (more like 15 minute frosting) which was a new baking challenge for me. (By the way, I halved the recipe and still ended up with a lot).
I liked the frosting, but I didn't like it. I don't know, the jury is still out on it, I guess.

I made the green swirls by taking my Wilton's green coloring gel and dropping individual drops all over. Then I took a toothpick and swirled it around in the frosting back and forth, kind of connecting the dots.

It was FUN!

Like I said, I love having and planning parties.

I love the excuse to bake new things. 

This was a fun one to have the green theme!

Thanks for reading, hope you are enjoying a relaxing post-St Pat's Sunday!

Enchiladas and the S'mores cookie bar

I was lucky and got a candy thermometer for Christmas (thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law) and we finally tested it out with marshmallows. I've been inspired to try other candy again soon, but I think I'll need my husband's help then too! It's kind of stressful as a beginner!

We definitely won't be buying any more Finnish marshmallows which are far too sweet, artificially flavored and kind of expensive (especially if you want American style white fluffy marshmallows). 

The recipe was awesome and detailed, I loved that it had how to use European and US ingredients (gelatin). It was by David Lebovitz and is linked here. 

Like my nails? :) They remind me of being 10 years old but I love how fun it looks! Hot pink and glitter! 

I promptly used the homemade marshmallows in my own version of  a s'mores cookie bar. I got kind of mad that we didn't have graham crackers (to use in all the recipes on pinterest) so I just used the chocolate cookie dough base and called it a day. 

The recipe is HERE. 

I plopped my marshmallows on it, a piece of dark chocolate, added a dollop more of cookie dough and baked it for about 30-40 min. It was ooey-gooey and so rich it was almost gross. 

In other words: delicious, sinful, worth every bite! 

Dollops of cookie dough...what it looked like right before the oven...

Post-oven and positively fabulous! 

The main course for our little dinner party was enchiladas. It's just about one of my favorite meals. 

I was lucky enough (or they were actually) that my guests had never had enchiladas before (?!) so we really wow'ed them.

The internet is full of recipes for enchiladas, I have never used any. I kind of just do it my way. Wanna know how? Here's a few pictures and at the end, the recipe I made up.

(Hubby used to work at a taco/tortilla chain called Moe's so he's the house expert on rolling them up. Professionalism rocks!) ;)

Above is to give you an idea of what lies beneath the cheese, below is the amount of cheese needed (go big or go home!)

The toppings:

The meal. 

Enchiladas Anneli Style
(Makes 12-14)

Heat oven to 200C/375F. Butter your ceramic or glass oven dishes.

600g ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning of your choice (or make your own seasoning through pinterest!)
1 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves chopped garlic
1 can kidney beans (or a small bag of frozen corn, or whatever else floats your boat...)

Cook these things together as if you were making tacos. Add the kidney beans last.


12-14 8" tortillas (we only made 12 because we had small dishes. We had leftovers of all the ingredients and could have easily made more).
500g shredded cheese
1 can/jar of taco sauce/salsa
Jalapenos, chopped (optional)

Put some meat mixture in the middle of the tortilla, sprinkle a little cheese on top (like in the first picture). Roll it up and put it in the greased dish. Spoon (or pour if you are like me) the salsa on top and sprinkle jalapenos on if using them. Use the rest of the cheese to cover the enchiladas. Yum!
Bake until golden brown and delightful, about 20 min.

While they are baking, set up your toppings! We used:
Lettuce, chopped
Red onion, chopped
Tomato, chopped
Fresh Cilantro, chopped (We used to not use it, but it makes it so much better!) 
Sour cream, salsa, hot sauce
Boiled rice

It was an amazing meal. Dinner and dessert both!

Koda loved the company, his best friend Elvi the French bulldog came over to play last night, too. 

Isn't she adorable?!?! The ugliest piece of cuteness EVER! (and I mean that in the nicest way possible because I luuuurve her!)

Before I send you on your way... let me share melted chocolate s'mores cookie bar goodness.

Thanks for reading and I'm sorry if you just drooled on your keyboard. ;) 

Happy Kitchen and Bellies Day

I spent most of yesterday crocheting on the couch (a little surprise gift for Baby H's daddy to open) and enjoying my newly completed granny stripe blanket. 

Yeah, you heard me! That one! It's done! 

Honestly, I could have kept going with it, it wasn't nearly the size I wanted it to be nor did it empty out the blue/green/brown yarn stash as I was hoping it would...but I just wasn't feeling the love for it anymore. It was becoming a kind of stone around my neck and preventing me from starting more blanket endeavors. It's perfect for the couch which is what it was intended for. Therefore, I sewed in the million ends (will never make the mistake of not sewing in as I go again!) and called it DONE! 

Now I'm just waiting for good lighting in the living room to take pictures of it on the couch. :)

But yes, the blanket was completed Thursday, Friday was spent submerged in baby crochet and today in the kitchen. My third favorite place in the house (#1 being bed with my head on a soft pillow, #2 the couch with a good project or gathering inspiration on pinterest!). 

I was inspired to make a funfetti cake thanks to the pin on pinterest which lead me here. 

Pretty, huh. 

I had only ever had funfetti cake from the box before and they obviously don't sell that here. It seemed like something fun to make for a surprise birthday party we had thought of going to (but then lazily decided not to because who could leave a sore Koda Bear behind?!). 

 ...Wait a minute, that's not Koda Bear! Manta has stolen his "recovery bed"!

 (Even she gets pillow face teeheehee)

My plan to make it according to the link's recipe failed though, as we didn't have enough eggs OR butter! So I went a-searching the interwebs and came up with this vanilla cupcake recipe from Martha's website (which I mixed sprinkles into) and this vanilla buttercream recipe (which I halved) from none other than one of my fave's, Annie's Eats.

Let me just tell you, licking the bowl of this cupcake batter...it was so delicious I could cry remembering it. The cupcakes. Delicious. Airy, fluffy, sweet...perfect! The buttercream is ridiculously sweet (as it should be, ya know, funfetti cake!) and together...it's just amazing. 

As the husband put it "you're a dangerous friend". Apparently to not only to his mental health (teehee) but his physical health, too! 

My one complaint though, is that my sprinkles melted in the cupcake so they don't stick out like in the inspiration picture. Boo! I guess I have to buy the crazy industrial strength ones from the US next time we go, because the sprinkle selection here is pitiful! 

So after this crazy sugar high, we were hungry for something salty. We had a lot of beets left over in the fridge from Christmas so we boiled a few for the Finnish Lindströmin pihvi (Lindström's "steak") and roasted the rest in the oven with a few potatoes and onions (and garlic, oil, salt and pepper) at 225C for about 45min. 

It took a while to make everything (why do beets cook sooooo slooooowly??!) but it was well worth the wait. Hubster and I agreed this is a make-again meal FOR SURE! 

Here is how you make it:

2-3 medium boiled beets tossed in vinegar (or pickled beets), diced

1 onion, diced

1 dl bread crumbs

1 dl cream (we used low fat veggie cream)

salt and pepper to taste

400 g ground beef (we used 7% fat)

splash of cream

Mix bread crumbs and cream and let them soak a bit. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix (by hand works best). Make patties or meatballs. We made 10 smallish patties/large meatballs. 

Fry in a pan with butter until cooked through. Just before serving, pour some cream into the pan and let the patties soak it up. I tossed them gently in it. (Use cream especially if you have dry low-fat beef like we did).

Serve with the roasted beets and potatoes. (Dijon mustard on the taters was deeelish!).

Now I am full and satisfied and wondering what on Earth I am going to do with all those CUPCAKES! 

Thanks for reading!

Ah, the NEW year

2012 welcomed itself with quite a celebration, we certainly have never thrown a party quite like that before! Lots of people, lots of fireworks, lots of mess to clean up the next day... But it was fun and everyone seemed to have a good time. 

Here's a few pictures of the food! :)

I made "apple-blue cheese bites". I looked for recipes with blue cheese with something like this in mind, but couldn't find any (even on pinterest!) so I made it up as I went. They were super easy to make and everyone loved them! 

I had 1kg of puff pastry (thawed), cut into small squares (we had 80!)

2 egg yolks for the egg wash

2 apples cut into small bits

about 200g blue cheese, crumbled

I baked them at about 200C until golden and yummy looking! 

I also baked some chocolate cupcakes using the Annie's Eats recipe. It was AMAZING! A bit more fiddlesome than other recipes but soooo worth it. They turned out perfectly and the batter as well as the cupcakes were to die for! It was definitely a recipe I'll use again!

I frosted them with the Our Best Bites cream cheese frosting and then shaved some chocolate on top with a veggie peeler. It turned out really nice!!

We also had some chips, carrots and cucumber with dips. And some folks brought some chocolates. It wasn't as much as we've done in the past, but I wasn't really feeling up to days and days worth of preparation. Ah, lazy party hosting. :)

The weather has slightly improved as of New Year's Eve... Snow again! In fact, yesterday it snowed almost ALL day! But sadly, today it's kind of wet slush again. Argh! Where is our winter?!

This week is my second to last week of vacation but I'm kind of considering it my last because I will try to get some school work done next week. Boo! 

Therefore, I have started a few projects. I am making some baby stuff for my sister-in-law who is having a baby shower at the end of the month! I am hoping to get it all done in time to make it through the mail! 

And to top it off, a new project for myself: pink, white and gray hexagon blanket. I'm going big (or trying to anyway) and hoping for enough hexies to make a queen size blanket for the bedroom. :) I have all year, ya know! I made 7 hexies last night, the first ones took forever to wrap my head around! I used the Attic 24 pattern but I'm not joining as I go. I prefer to sew them together. I always worry that if something comes undone with the join as you go method, the whole blanket will unravel.

I'll try to share some pictures next time, at least of the hexies! They're GORGEOUS!

Thanks for reading, hope your year is off to a good start, too! :)

Using our oven.

Here is a food post, haven't had one in a while. It's partially because of lack of time to even make dinner as well as lack of appetite. Fortunately hubby-man always has an appetite and makes sure we get food in our bellies every now and then. Lol!

Dinner last night was EXCELLENT. Meatballs with oven roasted veggies.

The meatballs were:
400g ground beef
1 egg
~1 dl (1/3 cup) bread crumbs
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
barbeque sauce (to taste)
splash of milk

We let it sit and soak up the flavor until the veggies were almost done (20-30 min). Then we cooked them in a frying pan, turning them every so often.

The veggies were:
5 small potatoes
1 smallish sweet potato
2 onions
4 carrots
1/4 rutabaga

Peel and cut into equal size pieces (we cut them rather small so they would cook faster). Toss in a large bowl with oil, salt, pepper, ground cumin, oregano, paprika and anything else that tickles your fancy. Bake on a large cookie sheet at 225-250C (437-482F, thanks google!) for about 30 min or until softened and tasty looking. :)

We followed this amazing meal with oven baked apples. You know, it never hurts to let the dinner theme carry on to dessert!

To make these you need:

Apples (we had 4 gala apples)
about 1dl (1/3 cup) brown sugar
 cinnamon
1/2 dl water (so 1/4 cup?)

Peel and core apples, put them in a buttered dish. Sprinkle on the brown sugar and cinnamon and then pour the water over them. Let bake for about 30 min or until soft at 225C or 437F. I suppose you could toss them in sugar and cinnamon before baking, but I chose to toss them in the syrup in the bottom of the pan once it formed. It coated them nicely and man, these were amazing with vanilla ice cream!

I also  have this to share. 

This is an overnight french toast casserole. I have eaten something similar years ago and I was testing the recipe for Christmas morning breakfast. I didn't have pecans so I used almonds and we didn't have the kind of bread the recipe calls for. However, this was tasty, but rather soggy and some parts very egg-y. I don't know if it was an error on my part, but I think the french toast casserole I've had before was waaaaay better. However, if you'd like to try, here is the recipe for this one.

In addition to eating well yesterday, I managed to finish one of my two handmade gifts (and I want to keep it for myself!) and start my thesis plan. I also vacuumed and managed to rest (flu coming on!). 

Thanks for reading, hope you have a nice weekend where ever you are! :)

Foxes! Crispy crumbles!

Yesterday, I did indeed make the crisp/crumble I had planned to. 

For it I used:

4 small plums, diced
1 Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, sand pear, diced
1 1/2 - 2 dl apple sauce
1 dl brown sugar
1 tsp pumpkin spice (ground nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice)

Crust
~3 dl flour (I used gluten-free = wheat starch)
75g margarine, cold
1 tbl brown sugar

Butter a dish. Make the filling by mixing it all together... Then make the crust by pinching it all together (my butter was too soft and made this hard to do!). Bake at 200C/~375F till bubbly and golden. (25-30min)

While I was baking it, I happened to look out the gorgeous window and see something that made me scream with delight! TWO FOXES FROLICKING! 

AAaAAAAh! 

I love it!

Amazing animals, they are one of my favorites.

Thanks for reading!