Pantry Revisited

Mevrouw Cupcake by Mari chose Creme Brulee for this week on TWD. I've never made creme brulee before so bear with me on this journey. I'm marching to the beat of my own drummer this time! And remember, things are not always as they appear. . . First, I got all my ingredients together in one spot. Then, the dry ingredients were mixed by hand. This is how it looked before the blow torch. And this is the finished product! Okay confession time. I do not own a blow torch, and these closely resemble Cheddar Apple Scones! A blow torch on these would have made a nice, crunchy sugary topping on there to break through. Hmm. . that might be worth trying the next time around. We were allowed to do a re-wind this time and since the scones were made before I came onboard with TWD, I wanted to try them. They were delicious. Next time I would like to try them with more apples, a little cinnamon, and maybe a sugar drizzle on top. Or, better yet, dipped in chocolate. Everything is better dipp...

This week's recipe for Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup was chosen by Chelle of Brown Eyed Baker . I'm so sorry Chelle - I simply have not had the time this week to make this wonderful sounding soup! I promise I will do better next month. I'm new to Barefoot Bloggers so please give me a break this week? In other words, don't write me off just yet!!

Michelle of Bake-en chose Dimply Plum Cake for this week's recipe challenge. I was very excited to bake this cake because I love plums. My favorite way, however, to really eat a plum is just fresh with salt on it. I know some of you will gag, but I'm a real salt lover. Salt makes almost any fruit taste better in my opinion. Before I move on to the whats, whys, and how-to's of actually baking the cake, I have to brag and show off my new KA mixer! After three trips to the store returning first a Sunbeam, then a KA that was scratched, I finally got my sought after, shiny, bright red KA mixer that I have always wanted. I love it. Here it is: I know. You aren't jealous because you ALL already have one! Well it is my first one so just be a tiny bit happy for me. Now for the baking part. My plums must have been humongous because I only needed five plums to fill the top of the cake instead of the called for eight. Maybe it isn't the right season for plums because the store...

Since I love baking cookies, and I love chocolate, yes I love chocolate, did I mention that I love chocolate, I was excited about yet another cookie challenge. This week's recipe was chosen by Claudia of Fool for Food . Good choice and thanks Claudia! Even though I love chocolate, (did I mention that already?), I did substitute butterscotch chips for one of the chocolate chips the recipe called for. The butterscotch took just a tiny bit off the edge of the chocolate and I thought they were scrumptious. Very moist and chocked full of good things. The cookies were a big hit. They are really rich so it only takes one or two to satisfy your chocolate cravings. I took the cookies to my big dance Saturday night to share with my friends/fellow dancers at the President's Ball. This is a black tie affair that occurs every September. It sort of starts off the formal dance season for us. My DH looks so handsome in his tuxedo. The women all dress in black or white. There was, strangely en...

Because my life is not full enough (joking), I have added more excitement and joined Barefoot Bloggers. I have always loved Ina Garten and her show The Barefoot Contessa. She makes entertaining and cooking look so easy and she always seems to enjoy the parties so much. I cannot wait to try my first recipe in this group. These members cook twice per month and blog on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays about their cooking experience. In addition, one of my friends on TWD, Cathy of The Tortefeasor by Cathleen , has blessed me this week with an award! I was shocked to say the least. But excited to know that someone actually reads my blogs and enjoys them. Thank you Cathy! Cathy is a very talented cook, although humble, with three beautiful children. Be sure to check out her blog! I also received an award from Nancy of nancysrecipes ! Nancy has been very encouraging to me with her comments. Thank you both! Here are the Award Rules: 1. When you receive a diamond, make a post about it on your blo...

Happy day after Labor Day! This week Stefany of Proceed with Caution chose Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters for our weekly baking challenge. Chandler and I were at the lake most of the weekend, but due to the cloudy weather we decided to come home early Monday. The fish were not biting our hooks anyway. That gave me plenty of time to bake this week’s cookies! I love oatmeal cookies, but have never much liked the raisins most of the recipes contain. So I was really glad this recipe omitted those. I just noticed that my picture of these cookies pre-baking looks just like my picture below of my granola grabbers! I promise they are different pics and different cookie dough! I thought I had purchased all the ingredients I needed, but when I started to mix the batter, I realized there was not a cup of plain flour anywhere in my pantry. I substituted self-rising flour leaving out the salt and baking soda and that worked just fine. I used chunky peanut butter and chocol...