Fleur de Sel Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce!

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This chocolate cake concludes any meal on a rich note. A delightful salted caramel topping poured over the top and out onto your plate, this is a little piece of heaven that will leave your guests begging for another invite!!

A Pillow Trick! Jacob's pillow!

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Laura, my step daughter, wanted a very special pillow for Jacob's nursery. She looked every where, and just couldn't find, " Just the right one"! I got wind of this, and asked if I could help. She loved the idea of having me make a custom pillow for little Jacob. She is designing Jacob's nursery around sports, so, I came up with a few ideas, she and I shopped for fabric together and I was off!

Two new appetizers- Pancetta wrapped mango & veggie shooters!

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 Memorial Day holiday weekend is here! Have you decided who you will be celebrating with? Have you decided what you'll be eating? Whether you are hosting a barbeque or would like to place flowers on a loved ones headstone, we are hoping you enjoy your Holiday and have very pleasant memories. 

We decided we wanted to get one last pizza party in with our outdoor pizza oven, before we fly back to Seattle for the "Summer of babies"! What about you? If you're still figuring out what to make, here's 12 delicious ideas to consider that will be a great addition to the holiday table...

How to carve a watermelon baby carriage!

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Tink's Baby Madison shower- Part III

If you are hosting a baby shower sometime in the future, you may be thinking about cute centerpiece ideas for the main table of your party or for the food buffet. From flowers, balloons, apothecary candy to diaper cakes, there are so many options for celebrating the upcoming birth of a tiny baby. For those of you planning on serving fruit at the party, you should consider making a adorable watermelon baby carriage. This fun centerpiece is really easy to make and guaranteed to make your guests smile.

 

May SRS -Black Bean Avocado Quesadillas!

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For this months SRS, we were assigned Jutta from www.HungryLittleGirl.com -the creator of this monthly recipe swap! I enjoyed looking through all her recipes as she has a nice variety of healthy and comfort type dishes. TT and I are focused on eating healthier so it was hard not to whip up one of her delicious casseroles. So many to choose from!

I ultimately decided on something "lunchy" and light so I chose her Black Bean Avocado Quesadilla. I changed it a little bit because I didn't have an avocado on hand and had some left over southwestern chicken from a dinner the previous night. My southwestern chicken was made in the slow-cooker and had shredded chicken breast, black beans, corn and a can of Rotel tomatoes with green chiles. It's super easy and healthy. I thought adding this mixture to these quesadilla's would make a nice addition to the cheese. I didn't add anymore black beans as my southwestern chicken already had it. 

Here is my verion of Jutta's Black Bean Avocado Quesadilla's.
http://www.hungrylittlegirl.com/1/post/2012/08/black-bean-avocado-quesadilla.html

Jungle Animal Onesie Sugar Cookies

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As promised -here is part two of Tink's jungle animal themed baby shower. This post is to share with you all the jungle animal onesie cookies I made as favors. 

You can get the complete tutorial on how to make the sugar cut-out cookies, including the royal icing recipe here: http://www.sewwhatscookingwithjoan.com/2013/03/onesie-sugar-cookies-gender-reveal-party.html

I bought the fondant jungle animal toppers from a gal on Etsy. One of these days I would love to teach myself how to work with fondant, but because there were so many other details to attend to, I made it easy on myself. Plus, I could not resist buying from these talented women on Etsy who make all sorts of adorable toppers! 

Tink's Jungle Themed Baby Shower!

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What a weekend! JJ, Laura and I have been preparing for this shower for weeks and it was finally upon us! All the hard work paid off and we put together an incredible shower for Tink. There are so many great pictures to share with you guys I am going to break it up into two posts. I want to show you guys the sugar cookie cutouts I made specifically for this event -they are so stinkin cute!! I will blog about those Friday.

Our hope is that you get some inspiration from this shower to use in an event you may have around the corner. Some of our inspiration came from a few pinterest ideas, which is so helpful when beginning to plan. 

We strung jungle themed onesie's to string and attached to the fireplace mantel. Under this we placed all the gifts. We found the foam jungle animals on Etsy. Those finished the banner perfectly!

Tink's Chicken Enchilada's

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My daughter Holly has mentioned these delicious chicken enchilada's to me many times. It is one of her after work go to recipes and now I know why! They are the perfect blend of creaminess with just the right amount of "KICK", they take about 30 minutes of preparation time and 30 minutes of conventional baking time or 15 minutes of Convection bake time. I paired with herbed rice and my Cabo Quinoa salad .......delish!

Baked Alaska with Italian chocolate gelato for Mom!

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A Three generation picture , my Mom, my daughter and me. This was taken on Holly's wedding day, over 4 years ago. Now my beautiful daughter is expecting and we will welcome Madison in the next few months! A fourth generation about to be born!! Happy Mother's Day!

With Mother's Day coming up on Sunday, it got me to thinking even more about my Mom and how grateful I am to her for giving me a love of sewing and cooking. My mother is an exceptional seamstress and home chef and I grew up in a home of several sewing machines, ranging from the fancy to the antique and with lot's of family functions with food ranging from a family barbeque to a multiple course sit down dinner for 40-75. I grew up loving large family/friends gathering's and to this day, love to have large parties! I just love life and I have my Mother to thank for that!

Pancetta crisp with apple and gorgonzola!

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Start Mom off with this elegant appetizer for her brunch on  Mothers Day! Show Mom you appreciate her with breakfast in bed! While she is enjoying her first course of "Pancetta crisp" you can make her main course!

Veal Scallops in Wild Mushroom Tarragon sauce

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Veal in a mustard cream sauce is a classic. This  recipe is perfect for a quick dinner like we had a few nights ago or a dinner party for six.  If you get all your prep work done ahead of time, everything comes together in less than 10 minutes. If you are not too picky, you could even make it late in the afternoon and give it a quick reheat just before serving.  Accompany, with orzo or white rice, it is delicious!  At this time of the year, a rhubarb strawberry cobbler or a fruit crostata would be a perfect dessert. I pound the veal a bit and dry the scallops in paper towels. Use fresh tarragon, it's milder; or use half the amount if you are using dried.  Try cooking with the same wine you are serving for dinner.  And use all of the cream, it needs it, but if you are watching your waistline, you can use half and half, however the sauce will be thinner. The recipe calls for coarse grained Dijon.  I used regular and felt it tasted great!

Southwestern Black Bean Salad

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This salad also doubles as a dip, paired with some tortilla chips and in this case, I used blue organic tortilla chips. It's refreshing and filling and a perfect dish to share at your Cinco De Mayo party you may be attending or hosting this weekend. It's a great meal or side dish in the hot summer months. I will be making this often!

Southwestern Black Bean Salad
-courtesy of SkinnyTaste.com 

JJ's favorite Chocolate flan with salted caramel sauce! Cinco de Mayo!

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How do you spell romance? I spell it D-E-S-S-E-R-T! In particular I love this Ibarra flan. The first time I tried Ibarra flan I was at a restaurant in Seattle on Queen Anne called Barbacoa (which has since closed). Chef John created this fabulous recipe with Mexican Ibarra chocolate that I fell in love with and I ordered it, every time we went! I begged for the recipe and finally got a scribbled recipe for 24 people, that quite honestly was not accurate! Last year I made an Ibarra flan and blogged about it, but, I have perfected it to serving eight and added a few more touches of my own that I think you will love! This can be served in individual ramekins as well!