Around here: transitioning from winter to spring

If you were to hang out with us right now, our days are filled with trying new recipes for fun and for my baking business. Homemade funfetti cupcakes and homemade crackers (pictured). We've also been enjoying getting outside to play in the yard or take a walk on the trail. Sometimes we're just downright silly and sometimes I'm just trying to relish this time with my toddler who is growing up at an alarming rate!

 wispy, golden baby curls ^^^

Dolphins Cake

This dolphin cake was for a sweet girl, who was turning 13! Her request, dolphins and purple and yellow stripes! Well, there might have been request for a crane too (for her brother, of course, who she was sharing the cake with) but we decided to give this girl her own cake, after all, 13 is quite the special year in a little ladies life! Happy Birthday Kirstyn! 

From Scratch: Salsa Verde

From Scratch: I'm going to start a new series 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.

This week I'd like to share a new favorite of mine! Salsa Verde! I'm pretty sure I had this for the first time when I was living in California, right after I graduated from high school. I decided to commit myself to a year of living in the inner city of Oakland, CA and volunteering there. It was a year that I will never forget and a year that I was introduced to a whole new world of food! Thai, Indian, Cambodian, real Mexican and Vegetarian fare were all new to me. I jumped at the chance to try any new flavors that my small town in PA couldn't offer me at that time. This green salsa was new for me and I loved it!

Fast forward 9 years to last summer when we were getting tomatillos in our weekly CSA share. We would regularly buy salsa verde at Trader Joe's, so I was pretty excited to find this simple recipe to make my own at home. It was delicious! I can't wait to make more this summer!

We enjoy our salsa with tacos, tamales, eggs, chicken and pretty much anything else you think needs a little kick of this awesome sauce!

 Salsa Verde: recipe from pretty simple great

• 1 1/2 quarts water
• 18 tomatillos, washed, husked, and quartered
• 4 serrano chiles, seeded and halved
• 5 whole cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 white onion, peeled and quartered
• 1 jalapeno, seeded (optional) 
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1 teaspoon salt

 Bring the water to a boil (cover with the lid to decrease the waiting time)

Remove the husk from them tomatillos, and discard. Wash gently under cold running water. Cut in quarters
Rough chop garlic, onion, and chiles
when water reaches a rolling boil add tomatillos, garlic, onion, and chiles. Boil on
high for 30-45 minutes

 Sift out tomatillos, garlic, onion, and chiles and set aside to cool. Reserve water for later

 Once cooled add tomatillos, garlic, onion, cilantro, salt and chiles to a food processor or blender and process. I add water until I reach my desired consistency. I like it to have small chunks of chiles and onions and not to runny. By slowly adding the reserved water, you'll have more control of the end result.

Liam Bakes

This morning we made individual apple baked oatmeals for a friend of mine who recently had a baby! Liam has been using the step stool in the kitchen more and more, so I thought I'd let him help out in the kitchen with me today! This is a first for us. I actually wasn't sure if he'd listen to my directions, but he DID and it was fun to stir, scoop and measure with this little boy by my side. A day that seems to have come faster than I could have anticipated.

He loves to help, and has regular little things he does for me or with me throughout the day, like throwing out a piece of trash or his diaper, washing some area with his rag, dusting, putting the laundry into the dryer. He eagerly waits for there to be something to help out with. I just have to constantly to remind myself to slow down and give him these opportunities!

The recipe for our easy favorite, apple cinnamon baked oatmeal can be found here!

Weekending

It's been a long time since I felt like we had a real weekend around here. One where I got to go out on a double date with my husband and some friends. Then we also got to have sushi with other dear friends who were in town from D.C. I got to sleep in on a Sunday morning with my boys and be lazy + a  little bit productive ( filed our taxes, wrote a lot of emails, etc.) and even find time to just sit with Jason and talk, laugh and be silly. These moment were truly a gift. Unfortunately there is usually a whole lot more work going on at our many jobs and my baking business, a lot of running out the door and talking briefly in passing. So I am especially grateful for all the moments we got to share as a family this weekend. I even got to make us a nice Sunday supper. The recipe above is from my grandmother. It's a classic favorite in our family! One that reminds me of a Sunday supper back in her day. While I did make chicken tonight that was delicious, this Chicken Alabama is still probably my favorite! I hope you had moments this weekend that remind you what it's like to take a step back from your daily routine and savor some quality time with those you hold most dear.

Lucky Cake

I did this horse shoe and clover cake not too long ago and thought it would be perfect for sharing on St. Patty's Day! So happy day to all of you Irish! Please eat some Irish potatoes for me tomorrow!

From Scratch: Brownie Sundaes

From Scratch: I'm going to start a new series 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.

We had company over for dinner this past week. I needed a dessert for the evening and was in the mood to make ice cream. When I was trying to come up with a flavor, I remembered when I was a kid and at church we sometimes had brownie sundaes with the boys and girls club. For some reason this stuck out in my head so vividly. I thought that it would be fun to do that, especially since there were kids coming over for dinner.

I'm starting this series off with three from scratch recipes!

* I'm not always this ambitious when it comes to making things from scratch. I love to do it when I have the time and it just so happened I HAD the time this week to make a dish with three separate components.

Ice cream: Recipe can be found here. I added vanilla bean and seeds to the milk and cream mixture.

Chocolate Sauce: forget the hershey's syrup. this sauce is so much tastier and high fructose corn syrup isn't the main ingredient or and ingredient at all.

~ from seeded at the table

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla

Combine the water and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium while stirring with a whisk to dissolve the cocoa. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Bring to a boil while stirring occasionally and heat for 3 minutes, watching carefully to avoid boiling over. (Turn down the heat, if necessary.) Remove from the heat and mix in the salt and vanilla. Let set to cool. Use a funnel to pour into a clean glass jar with a tight fitting lid. Store in the refrigerator for up to two months. 

Chocolate Chip Brownies: The best I've ever made!honey and jam's version of alice medrich's best cocoa brownies

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks, 5 ounces or 141 grams) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (9 7/8 ounces, 280 grams) sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 7/8 ounces, 82 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs, cold

1/2 cup (66 grams, 2 3/8 ounces) all-purpose flour

2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and microwave for 1:30 minutes. Remove and stir until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. It looks fairly gritty at this point, but don’t fret — it smoothes out once the eggs and flour are added.

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.

Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

Serve all three in a bowl, for a trip down memory lane!

Gumpaste Lilac Cake!

Lilacs! They are probably the most inspirational flower I could make this long, cold, snowy winter. So you can imagine how delighted I was to find out they were the favorite flower of this birthday girl. I'm just starting to dive into the world of do it yourself gum-paste flowers. It really intimidated me, until recently, when I was asked to do some hydrangeas for a wedding cake. I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I decided to try my hand at making some. That was my first experience making my own gum-paste flowers. 

 Lilacs were a little different story. Each little flower you see is made by hand, no cutter necessary. This tutorial was amazing! Yes, they were time consuming and yes you need to make way more than you think you'll need for a bunch and yes each flower is wired individually, but it was really great to learn a new technique and I couldn't believe how true to the real deal lilacs they actually turned out when I put them all together! 

For this 60th birthday I also made a couple dozen lilac frosted cupcakes to go with.

Thanks also to Optika for this shot of the cake and cupcakes! Go check out their new website! They do good work!

Baby shower cakes: recently

I've had a lot of baby shower cakes this winter!

 Also a lot of people in my life are pregnant or just had a new little one! It's that season and I couldn't be happier! I loved making little fondant onesies, bottles, pacifiers, etc. It's giving me baby fever! NO...it's not what you think! We are not expecting! Well at least not right now!

 Do you have a baby shower to plan or attend soon? I hope you found these to be inspiring!

Facebook Giveaway!

Does anyone else think this feels like the longest winter ever? I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway this winter, since these days can feel long and not to exciting! All you have to do is head over to my page on Facebook : Snacky French  "like" the page if you don't already, then share the sweet news with your friends! If I get 300 likes before next Thursday at 12pm, then I'll announce the winner and ask who referred them!

ATTENTION CAKE FANS! : If you like Snacky French, please tell your friends to like my page! If I can reach 300 likes in one week, I'm going to giveaway a dozen cupcakes to the 300th like and for the person that referred them a free cake! It's a win win! Let's spread the word! Please share this! I'll announce next Thursday if there is a winner!

If THE GOAL IS MET: The 300th liker will win one dozen cupcakes of their choice!!
The friend of the 300th liker (the person who referred them to like my page) will win a custom decorated cake ( any cake of their choice up to $100)

you can see more of my work at www.snackyfrench.com