To All You ColourLovers

Stumbled upon this blog/website this week and fell in love! It's called ColourLovers: A community of people sharing their color inspirations - amazing! Color palettes for your living room, top color trends for fashion, dynamic color combos for print/websites and more... Seafoam & Tomato, love it. Enjoy!

- Jill

http://www.colourlovers.com/

Kitchen Shower for the Bride!

My mom and her two friends threw a Kitchen-themed Bridal Shower for a great friend of mine. It seems like most girls I talk to get excited about one major thing in their registry...a Kitchen Aid mixer. Hilarious as this might be, a Kitchen Aid is the sign of an established kitchen! And its price point makes it quite the investment piece that isn't just "picked up" on a weekend trip to BB&B.


For this reason, the hostesses decided to use the Kitchen Aid mixer as their joint gift for the bride... I decided to use it as decoration ;) I was quite happy with the way my table and invitations turned out, so fun! (Items used: Cobalt blue Kitchen Aid mixer, Anthropologie apron, yellow tulips, ribbon, tulle, apothecary jars, lemons, limes & color-themed spatula set & measuring spoons set.
Enjoy~ Jill

24 and Obsessed with my Bundt Pan

It's true. A few months ago I was in search of the "World's Greatest Budnt Pan" - which lead me to discover that not all budnt pans are created equal... far from it actually!


The original concept of the pan came from Germany. It was used to make kugelhopf, a lightly sweetened, leavened cake similar to modern America's coffee cake. In the 1950's a Minnesota-based company, Nordic Ware, replicated the stoneware mold and established the term "Bundt cake."


Nordic Ware Budnt Pans are basically the Kleenex of tissues. And from all the research I've done, their even baking surface & non-stick coating is far supreme to other models (just in case you're in the market for a bundt pan.) I went with the Heritage Pan b/c it was just so beautiful! So there's a tid-bit of research for you, now onto the reason I had to buy a Budnt pan! 

Cinnamon Coffee Cake
A recipe from my aunt, who seriously needs to write a book on how to be an excellent hostesses, because she's got it down to an art. This is her "go-to" breakfast treat to have available whenever guest come to stay. It's SO easy. I've made it twice now, New Years and Easter. Nothing but rave reviews. Enjoy!
~Jill


Yellow cake mix
1 c sour cream
4 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 c oil
1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding
1T cinnamon 
Preheat oven to 350. Mix cake mix, eggs, oil, instant pudding, sour cream, and vanilla about 2 minutes with an electric mixer.  Combine sugar and cinnamon, set aside.  Grease a bundt pan and sprinkle the sugar cinnamon mixture so bottom and sides are coated.  Alternately layer batter and cinnamon mix ending with cinnamon mixture (approx. 3 layers).  Bake approx. 45 min.  Can be made ahead and frozen up to 6 weeks.  10-12 servings.

How Does Your City Netflix?

Ok, I'm about to geek-out here, but I just thought this interactive feature on The New York Times just had to be shared! It's a look into the ebb & flow of Netflix rentals in top markets across the U.S. You can look at specific movie titles and how they index by zipcode and city, as well as how titles index vs. each other!

A Peek Into Netflix Ques

Check it out, I'll bet your inner geek just might cause you stay longer than expected!

Enjoy ~ 

Jill

Mom's Triple-Berry Crisp

This is Mom's first post and I can't wait to try it! Wow, it makes me miss Blue Bell though!
Enjoy! ~Jill


Sally: I have been looking for delicious desserts that are quick and easy to make but satisfy my sweet tooth and can somehow be healthy. I have made this recipe 3 times in the past month and we just love it as a bedtime snack with either a squirt of Redi Whip, a dollop of Cool Whip, or better yet, a conservative 1/4 cup vanilla Blue Bell Ice Cream.

This recipe makes 12 1/2 cup servings. Prep time is about 20 min and it bakes for 50 minutes.

3 12-ounce packages (8 cups) frozen mixed berries (I used Bird's Eye Frozen Mixed Berries in a 12 oz bag)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups regular rolled oats

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thaw berries. Drain and reserve the juices. The original recipe read to reserve 1/2 cup of the juices and discard the rest but don't do that or your cobbler wil be too dry. Keep all the wonderful juice as a little runny is much better than too dry.

2. In a large bowl, combine berries, sugar, juices, and cornstarch. Transfer to a 2-quart rectangular baking dish.

3. In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until pieces are pea size. Stir in oats and nuts. Sprinkle over berry mixture.

4. Bake 50-55 minutes or until bubbly and topping is golden. Serve warm. Per serving: 214 calories (without any Cool Whip or ice cream topping), 5 g fiber, 5 g protein, 5 g fat (2 g sat. fat), 5 mg chol., 16 mg sodium, 38 g carb.

A delicious lower calorie version to the traditional crumb top cobbler.
Enjoy!

Sally ~ Jill's Mom

Just because...

It's a Candelier! Love it.

Handstrung by Kevin Champeny. Approximately 5,000 acrylic gummi bears. 31" diameter. Credit: My Modern Met

Batting Practice in the Kitchen

For those of us that are new to the cooking-for-yourself thing, trial and error is inevitable within the kitchen. All the recipes in the world can't teach one to poach an egg (which I'm still admittedly nervous to try.) Much like hitting a softball, it's all about practice! Timing, pace, focus, picturing the end result... you see the connection, right? ;)

So while I do love time in the kitchen, if I cooked at a .500 average (50% chance of success), well I'd run out of money, food, time and most importantly patience! 


For this reason, I just had to post a new article by Cooking Light, The 25 Most Common Food Mistakes. It's seemed like such a great 101 session for us newbies, and potential refresher for those of you who have spent more years within the kitchen triangle (sink to stove to fridge.) So let the learning begin!

1. You don't taste as you go (Jill note: obviously the best part of being the chef, right!?!?)
2. You don't read the entire recipe before you start cooking (guilty)
3. You make unwise substitutions in baking
4. You boil when you should simmer
5. You overheat chocolate
6. You over-soften butter
7. You over-heat low fat milk products (just another reason to just use the good full fat stuff!)
8. You don't know your oven's quirks and idiosyncrasies (that's a trial and error issue)

9. You're too casual about measuring ingredients (guilty, really only a big deal if baking right?)
10. You overcrowd the pan
11. You mishandle egg whites
12. You turn the food too often
13. You don't get the pan hot enough before adding the food
14. You slice meat with - instead of against - the grain
15. You underbake cakes and breads (brownies do not fall within this "no-no")
16. You don't use a meat thermometer
17. Meat gets no chance to rest after cooking
18. You try to rush the cooking of caramelized onions (best pizza topping ever)

19. You overwork dough
20. You neglect the nuts you're toasting (totally guilty!)
21. You don't shock veggies when they've reached the desired temperature
22. You put all the salt in the marinade or breading
23. You pop meat straight from fridge to grill/oven
24. You don't know when to abandon, skip or start over
25. You use inferior ingredients (great balsamic has become my new best friend)


Hopefully you will find this info as helpful as I did. Check the Cooking Light link for more info on all 25 tips!
Enjoy~ Jill