Happy Birthday, Dorie!

In honor of Dorie’s birthday, Holly over at Phe.Mom.enon put together a fantastic virutal dinner party! There are a bunch of fantastic recipes from Around My French Table to check out. My favorite TWD ladies did a lovely job of making this dinner party special! You guys rock!

I made Quatre-Quarts from the dessert section of AMFT. (Secretly, I was running late, as usual, and the cake is in the oven as I type this. As soon as the sun comes up, I will snap a photo. Steathily.) This kind of cake is Jason’s favorite. Simple and plain but makes for a great breakfast with a cup of coffee, or an afternoon snack. I love cakes I can whip up in no time at all. (Like at 6:30 am when running late, and need to get something done quickly.)

The only changes I made were, I did not whip the egg whites as Dorie instructs. The kitchenaid bowl was in the dishwasher already. Also, I added vanilla extract that I made with gold rum. Yum. To top it off, I added a little vanilla rum glaze, because whats a birthday cake without a little frosting? We always have cake for breakfast on birthdays, this was no exception. Colby and I enjoyed cake as soon as it was cool. To quote Colby, “oOoo, cake!” Cake for breakfast really is the best. The best!

Happy Birthday, Dorie! I know you are in Texas right now. I hope someone has prepared a Texas sized celebration for you. Wishing you lots of love, laughs and sweets today! Much love from here in Pittsburgh. xo

Thanks to Holly for putting this shindig together! Love you! Go check out Holly’s blog for the round-up!

French Fridays with Dorie: Gougeres

Welcome to French Fridays with Dorie! Am I a little insane to run 2 baking/cooking groups simultaneously? Yes, indeed. But, anyone who knows me knows I am a few doughnuts short of a dozen. 😉

Dorie herself picked the first month of recipes for FFwD. The menu is fabulous and would make a memorable meal for sure. However, I am never on top of things like that. We do not have several course dinners in my household. Single course dinners get the job done here. So, the gougeres made a nice afternoon treat. A bunch of my fav TWD ladies and I did a tweet along as we cooked. It was really fun and pushed me into getting these babies made. I am a champion procrastinator. My TWD ladies keep me in line! I ❤ them.

The gougeres were wicked easy to throw together. I followed the recipe to the letter, only adding a dash of black pepper. They were done in a flash and ready to be devoured. My husband summed it up best, “They taste like puffy cheese-its!” Yes, yes they do. And they make me want to make cream puffs really soon too.

Next week, Gerard’s Mustard Tart! (It is totally going to take me out of my comfort zone. Im a little scared.) Special thanks to Dorie and my staff at FFwD. A lot of hard work and a zillion emails went into putting this cooking army together. If you want the recipe, BUY THE BOOK! 🙂

If you haven’t heard of French Fridays with Dorie, check out the blog and sign up!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Tarte Fine

Tarte Fine. This was so easy to throw together! Why was I dragging my feet? I need a TWD member to get up in my grill and harass me about blogging. I make 85% of the recipes along with the group. But, I rarely blog them. What is my problem? For reals, if someone wants to harass me about blogging, please do. You have my email addy. Please. I beg you.

This tart kind of made my day.

I’m about to get serious here, so if you are having a really good day and want to move along and not hear some heavy stuff, move along now. Now. Okay, Ive been reading almost non-stop for days about biomedical treatments for autism and it is blowing my mind. I have been having a rough time sleeping because my head is so full from all this new alternative therapy junk I have filled it with. I do not like to get political, at least not in public, but I read 2 books this weekend and they were eye openers. The website generationrescue.com also blew my mind. And talkaboutcuringautism.org is another one. WOW! Waiting to talk to the Neuro about everything I have learned and possibly putting Colby on a new diet. We will see! It is hard being truly hopeful. But really, what other choice is there?

Next on my list today was my middle boy, Brody getting bullied on the bus. A kid is hitting the hell out of him. Last year, Liam has several altercations with this bullys older brother. What the hell? How do parents turn a blind eye to their children physically harming another child? I was furious. So, I called the kids parent. This is how it went..

“Hello?”

“May I speak with your mother please?”

*click*

The daughter hung up on me. A call was placed to the principal instead.

Like I said, the Tarte Fine made my day.

Check out Leslie at Lethally Delicious for the recipe and the TWD blog for more day makers.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart

We are on vacation at Myo Beach again. I was lucky that I have made this tart several times and had a photo in the archives. Ive been keeping up with the TWD baking part just fine, but lousy with the blogging part. These are the times I love my photo archives.

This tart is so easy to throw together. If you have all the ingredients on hand, it comes together in minutes. I love the fresh summery peaches with the very simple homey custard. The almonds add a good crunch. 5 stars in our book.

Thanks to sweet tarte for picking this weeks selection, go to her blog for the recipe. Check out the TWD blogroll for the rest of the tarts. Next week, Cookies.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Brrr-ownies

Proof. Plain and simple. We liked them. My cousin Ali loved them. Im on vacation. I have no idea who chose this recipe. Sorry!!! So sorry!

Back to regular scheduled programming next week, and proper TWD posts.

xo from Myo Beach

Tuesdays with Dorie: Lemon-Vanilla Cake

Im on vacation. This cake was gone so fast, that there were no slices left to photograph. I couldn’t find rum. So… I added a little lemon zest to the cake and a little lemon juice to the syrup. Everyone loved it, and I will definitely make it again. Maybe this week!

Thanks to Wendy of Pink Stripes for adding another pound cake to my arsenal. Check out her blog for the recipe and the TWD blogroll for all the different takes on this cake.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Raisin Swirl Bread

It was easy. It rose well. And it tasted fantastic. I will definitely bake this bread again.

I stuck to the recipe this time. Only thing I changed was whiskeying up the raisins because mine were dug up from a container in the back of the pantry. The dough came together, just as it should, though not as wet as Dorie described. I forged on. It rose in the right time, rolled out well, rolled up well and baked up perfect. We toasted it up for breakfast 2 days in row. What a sweet weekend breakfast.

Thanks to Susan of Food.Baby for picking this yeasted treat. Check out her blog for the recipe and see all the other interpretations of this bread at the TWD blogroll.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Tender Shortcakes

I finally made it ON TIME! Its a Tuesday miracle. Excuse the blurry photo and the lack of berries.  Just relish in the fact that I completed and blogged about my tender shortcakes in time. If you want the truth of the matter. We didn’t even eat them with berries, or cream. Liam and I woofed them down plain for breakfast. They are simply delightful straight up. They need no funny business. Had there been any lemon curd in the fridge, maybe a smidge of that, but thats all. I mean it. They need nothing. We loved them and I plan to make them again, tomorrow, for breakfast. If thats not a rave review, I don’t know what is. 🙂

I meant to halve this recipe. And I did, until the heavy cream. I added all the heavy cream. Nice job Laurie. Nice job. I scrambled to make the whole recipe at that point. It seemed to work out okay despite my goofballness. I brushed the tops with heavy cream and sprinkled with coarse sugar before baking. They were a hit!

Thanks to Cathy of The Tortefeasor for hosting this week. Please visit her blog if you would like the recipe. Check out the rest of the TWD army as well. Lots of shortcakes made proper, with berries.

One more thing, we are walking in the Fun Run/Walk for Epilepsy in Pittsburgh, on June 19th, in support of our son Colby. We are asking that folks donate to the Epilepsy Foundation in Colby’s name. In return, I am running a raffle for all those that donate. Winner will receive 2 autographed cookbooks by Dorie Greenspan. I think thats a damn good deal. A good cause and free cookbooks! More info over at the TWD blog.

White Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

First things first. Its been a while since my last post. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know!! And that means its been a few weeks since I participated in Tuesdays with Dorie. Things are busy here! Colby has had quite a few doctors appointments. After his MRI, we found out he has a brain lesion which may be causing his epilepsy. This is kind of big news. It could finally give us a cause. Which would be HUGE! Various tests will have to be preformed to determine if it is the lesion causing his seizures, but these tests will require he be admitted to Children’s. Some genetic testing is going to be done first, and we will wait for that to come back. Other big news, Colby has been seizure free for a week, as far as we can tell. SEIZURE FREE! Hopefully the medicines continue to do their job for now.

Okay next, in a twist of fate, a coffee shop that catered the wedding I baked for back in April asked to sell my cupcakes once a week. Small orders, but its still very cool to me. These are the cupcakes I made today for them.

White cake recipe is from the lovely Peabody. Vanilla Frosting by me. If anyone wants the recipe, comment and I will type it out. Yes, I am lazy. Don’t judge me.

Hoping to hop back on the TWD bandwagon soon. I miss it!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

It’s a Tuesday miracle! I made it, I really made it!!! Okay, I threw this together today. And literally just got done making it. Like 15 min ago, but who cares. It’s still Tuesday isn’t it? Yes, indeed it is. So… moving along… I forgot to double-check that my ice cream bowl was in the freezer last night, alas it was not. FAIL! The bowl was only in the freezer half the time it was supposed to be, which is why my ice cream didn’t stiffen as well as it should. It’s in the freezer now and should be good to go by tonight.

If you make ONE recipe from Baking From My Home to Yours.. MAKE THIS ICE CREAM! It was so easy to throw together, and it is sooo freaking good. I mean like eyes rolling back in your head good. I mean that sound people make when they like something good.

Enormous thanks to Becky of Project Domestication for picking this fantastic recipe! Check her blog out if you’d like to make it yourself. Also, take a gander at all the other burnt sugar ice creams from the TWD blogroll.