From Scratch: Roasted Tomatoes ( Plus my favorite way to eat them)

From Scratch: A new series here on the blog! Ever since I got married and had my own kitchen to cook in, I've been interested in making things from scratch, that I would ordinarily buy. Don't get me wrong, I didn't grow up in an overly processed foods family, in fact, my Mom would refuse to buy certain things I begged for at the grocery store on Saturdays, saying oh I can make that for us. And she did! I've been trying to take that a step or two or three farther over the years and I now have an ever growing arsenal of my favorite recipes for things I would have normally bought before. So I'd like to share some of those here from time to time.

It's that time a year when cherry tomatoes are about to come in and take over our lives. I kid, well kinda. I actually made roasted tomatoes in the winter for the first time because cherry tomatoes are really the only edible looking/tasting tomatoes in the grocery store during the cooler months and this brought some cheer to my winter meals. But now that my tomato plant is full of little green cherry tomatoes it reminded me to share my favorite way to use them up!

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes ( spread over ricotta toast)

cherry tomatoes or other small varieties
oil
rosemary
salt + pepper

Toss these together on a rimmed cookie sheet or oven safe bake-ware. Roast at 425 for 20-30 minutes until they begin to pop and "deflate"! That's it! Now you can puree them into a lovely fresh tomato sauce, add them to a store bought tomato sauce for some added flavor, or spread them onto crusty bread with ricotta and a drizzle of good olive oil.

Ricotta Toast

Good crusty bread
whole milk ricotta ( it's the best, I'll never go back to part skim)
garlic
olive oil

Slice bread and arrange on a baking sheet. Slice a clove of garlic and rub on each toast. Bake until slightly crispy. Spread a generous spoonful of ricotta, topped with some slightly cooled roasted tomatoes and finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. YUM!

Bumble Bee Baby Shower Cake + Cupcakes

 This has definitely been the year of the baby shower cake for Snacky French! That's just fine with me. I have certainly been able to play around with quite a few themes and ideas for each cake or cupcake order I've received! 

This hive and bumble bee cake was especially great to make! I love these bee invites! Their heart wings and honeycomb design ( on the back) were a great inspiration for my design. The cupcakes have a fondant hexagon on each cake to look like honeycomb. Topped with bees and their buzzing trail and a few flowers mixed in for variety! The hive came together nicely, especially with the addition of the "flying bees" hovering around the cake. It was my first time suspending anything above a cake, so I was delighted that it worked out, just how I was envisioned it.

 I also had the pleasure of being in attendance to this shower, since it was a relative, which made it that much sweeter!

                                                         ^^^  (a closer look at the bees) ^^^

Mother's Day + Memorial Day

 It's been a little while since I did a family update. So here are two weekends that we had a lot of fun recently! Mother's day was lovely. A hike in our old stomping grounds of Frenchtown. Followed by lunch at Moo, a walk around Lake Nochamixon and a some ice cream at our favorite Owowcow!

Memorial Day was spent up in the mountains visiting Family! It was a nice weekend to get away, and we even had friends come up for a day as well. We enjoyed some hikes, a wagon ride and time with our family who we don't get to see too often. May was a good month!

Jungle Themed BABY shower cakes TWO ways!

I had the honor of doing two jungle animal baby shower cakes back to back! It was my first time making a zebra, which was a lot of fun. I changed it up a bit for each monkey. Can you see the subtle differences? The giraffe and elephant are like old friends. You can see the original jungle cake here. 
Look for more cake and cupcakes updates soon.

life this week:

watching- "Call the Midwife" on PBS
favorite snack: "Food Should Taste Good" salt and pepper sweet potato chips
drink: gingerade kombucha
wishing: my dry skin would clear up with this warmer weather
looking forward to: our weekend away to the mountains to see family
proud of: Liam for making this most amazing tower today on his own and bringing me over to see it!
the house: well... a laundry room and powder room have been dry walled
growing: lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and herbs this year

21 days without sugar

^^ clockwise: cottage cheese and applesuace + salad in a jar, cauliflower crust pizza, basil cream artichoke baked chicken + asparagus, "apple muffins"-grain free, sweet potato and chicken burrito bowl, tuna salad in a jar, baked spaghetti squash bake, egg muffins, spinach and artichoke stuffed chicken with asparagus.

I know your thinking this blog is about cakes, happy home endeavors and my adorable little boy... and it is, but it's also a about our day to day life as well. So hear me out on this one.

Jason and I have been feeling so tired, sluggish and unhappy with the way our bodies just don't seem to get us through the day very easily. Hopped up on caffeine and sugar, these were our coping mechanisms to working long shifts, staying up too late, running a small business, renovating our house and caring for our son. We both decided things really needed to change, so we decided to cut out sugar for 21 days. We based it loosely off of the 21 day sugar detox. We did eat dairy and some beans, however. Those just felt like sacrifices we couldn't make. Other than that we didn't eat any sugar ( other than what was in our fruit of the day) or carbs. Spaghetti squash, cauliflower and sweet potatoes became my new best friends!

Let's just say the first couple of days were hard. We both had major headaches, irritability and some mild hunger. After 4-5 days, eating our whole foods became routine. It's not like we haven't eaten fairly healthy in our lives and have a taste for whole foods, we do, we just got off course these last few years. Our biggest obstacles to overcome were soda, feeling like I needed something sweet and mindless snacking. I packed breakfast and lunch for each of us each night before bed , so we didn't have to think about what to eat in the morning. We enjoyed a lot of new salad creations and dinners, thanks to some fabulous recipes found on instagram from @wholesome_goodness  @lesleywgraham @jennaskitchen @marcicooks @eating_whole 

We finished up last week and we both feel good. Really good!  So good that we think we are going to try and keep up this eating lifestyle, with the occasional sweet treat ( and taste-testing new recipes of course! I am a baker after all) We have energy again, so much so that I actually look forward to working out! We lost some weight and have a better idea of what our bodies need on a daily basis, instead of just shoveling in whatever we feel like and paying for it later.

So, that what's been going on around here this last month. Just thought I'd share, to inspire you if you are in a rut, like we were, crazy busy and overwhelmed. If you take just a little extra time per day and planning per week to make thoughtful healthy meals, you really can see and feel a difference in your health ( body + mind) in a short amount of time.

From Scratch: Homeade Lemonade

From Scratch: A new series here on the blog! Ever since I got married and had my own kitchen to cook in, I've been interested in making things from scratch, that I would ordinarily buy. Don't get me wrong, I didn't grow up in an overly processed foods family, in fact, my Mom would refuse to buy certain things I begged for at the grocery store on Saturdays, saying oh I can make that for us. And she did! I've been trying to take that a step or two or three farther over the years and I now have an ever growing arsenal of my favorite recipes for things I would have normally bought before. So I'd like to share some of those here from time to time.

I love fruity drinks! Here is a classic! I got into juicing my own juice when we inherited the one pictured above! I tried my hand at orange and grapefruit juice and of course lemonade! They are so unbelievably fresh, it's worth the extra work to make them from scratch! Of course you can always stir a few extras in like berries, basil, mint or make an adult version. I've been wanting to try this Rosemary St. Germain one from Lesley!

What you need:
1 cup sugar
5 cups water, divided
6 to 8 lemons (about 1 cup of lemon juice)
Ice

How to do it:

1. Make the simple syrup. 
   Combine the sugar and 1 cup of the water in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over low heat to dissolve sugar.  Once the sugar is completely dissolved, remove from heat to cool.
2. Squeeze the lemons.  Roll each lemon over your cutting board, pressing down as you do.  This will help them to release their juice.  Cut in half and squeeze.  Repeat until you have one cup.  You may not need all the lemons but try to save at least one half if you want to garnish your glasses.
3. Combine.  Add the cooled syrup to your pitcher, followed by the lemon juice and the remaining 4 cups of water. Stir.  Taste and adjust: add a few tablespoons of sugar if it needs to be sweeter or the juice of 1/2 lemon if it needs more tartness.
4. Add ice.  Add ice to pitcher if you think you will drink the whole pitcher right away.  Otherwise add ice to each glass.

Princess Aurora and a Dollhouse cake!

Here's two cake's I did this spring for two of my neighbor's little girls! Princess Aurora's skirt was made out of cake and butter cream and then I "dressed" her upper body in pink fondant to match. It's been a while since I did a princess cake, so it was a fun challenge. This dollhouse cake is so sweet! It's what my little girl dreams are made of! I can only hope Allegra felt the same way!

 Have a merry weekend all!

Easter weekend festivities 2014

oh the eyes full of wonder...

Off to our very first egg hunt at our neighbors house! The kids hunted the eggs and then got to dye them! Fun was had by all!

Brunch with some dear friends!( and yes our dining room wallpaper is peeling, we LIVE IN a fixer upper after all :)

Egg hunt #2 for the weekend! He was a professional the second time around!

Enjoying our trail together as a family!

The only family photo we got with a boy who just wanted to play ball! We had a great Easter with family and friends! One of the best I do believe!

Lego Cake and Cupcakes

 Here is a incredibly fun cake I did recently for a little boy who LOVES legos. Who doesn't? I remember playing with them for hours and hours. We are looking forward to doing the same with our son. The cupcakes below here were something new I tried for this order. Homemade funfetti cupcakes sans all the artificial flavors! I think they will be a great addition to the cupcake lineup!