A year and a half later I've finally finished our wedding book. I can't believe it's been that long, but I love being married to my best friend. Here's what our book looks like.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day!
cBrad and I had a great Valentine's Day. Brad got me these beautiful roses. He had placed them in a few different vases so I could see them throughout the house.
I made a few valentine's decorations. The globes weren't hard to make, just time consuming. You can find the tutorial here. The hanging heart was an idea from Martha Stewart that was super easy. It can be found here. (Side note: Can you guess which picture Brad took and the ones I took? I'll give you a hint, mine are the ones with terrible lighting and less artistic flair.)
I tried something new for Valentine's dinner. I attempted homemade ravioli with a lemon basil sauce. Yumm. I don't really have a recipe for it since I kind of went off what I thought would work. The filling in the ravioli was ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan while the sauce was a reduction of cream, butter, lemon juice, basil, and some salt and pepper. Maybe because there was enough fat in it to make anything taste good, but I think my creativity was actually better than straight browned butter sauces I read about in my cookbooks.
I also made Brad homemade truffles, carmels, and turtles for Valentine's. I made them secretly while Brad was in class or at his DAT prep course. He was completely surprised when I brought them out.
The truffles weren't actually that hard to make. I had the most difficulty while dipping the chocolate, but that was mostly because I couldn't keep the chocolate at a good temperature. Here's the recipe for them.
Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate (divided)
3 oz milk chocolate
2 tbsp butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 teas vanilla
Chop the 9 oz of semi-sweet chocolate and all of the milk chocolate finely and put inside a glass bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until bubble form around the edge. Remove from the heat and add a fourth of the chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Pour the cream mixture over the remaining chocolate in the bowl and let sit until chocolate melts (about 30 seconds). Beat with a whisk until all the lumps disappear and the ganache is smooth (you can also use an immersion blender). Stir in butter until smooth and then add the vanilla.
Line a deep plate or shallow bowl with plastic wrap leaving overhang on one side. Pour ganache into the plate/bowl and spread evenly. Fold the plastic wrap over the ganache, pressing directly onto the surface. Let cool at room temperature at least 4 hours or overnight.
Once ganache has set, use a small cookie scoop or two teaspoons to scoop small mounds of the ganache onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Put in refrigerator for about 15 minutes or until firm enough to roll. Then place the chocolate mounds between both palms, squeezing slightly and roll into balls. Refrigerate until ready to coat.
Using the remaining 3 oz of chocolate (you may need more depending on how thick of a shell you want) melt in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted. Once melted, let the chocolate cool a little bit so the ganache doesn't melt too much when dipped. One at a time, dip each truffle in the chocolate with a two-prong fork (a plastic fork with the middle tines broken off works great), lift the truffle and let excess chocolate drip off. You can let them dry as is or roll them in cocoa powder, coconut or nuts.
I'm sure from this weekend alone I have gained weight from eating chocolate truffles and fattening ravioli cream sauces, but it's back to lighter meals from now on. Happy Valentine's Day!
I made a few valentine's decorations. The globes weren't hard to make, just time consuming. You can find the tutorial here. The hanging heart was an idea from Martha Stewart that was super easy. It can be found here. (Side note: Can you guess which picture Brad took and the ones I took? I'll give you a hint, mine are the ones with terrible lighting and less artistic flair.)
I tried something new for Valentine's dinner. I attempted homemade ravioli with a lemon basil sauce. Yumm. I don't really have a recipe for it since I kind of went off what I thought would work. The filling in the ravioli was ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan while the sauce was a reduction of cream, butter, lemon juice, basil, and some salt and pepper. Maybe because there was enough fat in it to make anything taste good, but I think my creativity was actually better than straight browned butter sauces I read about in my cookbooks.
I also made Brad homemade truffles, carmels, and turtles for Valentine's. I made them secretly while Brad was in class or at his DAT prep course. He was completely surprised when I brought them out.
The truffles weren't actually that hard to make. I had the most difficulty while dipping the chocolate, but that was mostly because I couldn't keep the chocolate at a good temperature. Here's the recipe for them.
Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate (divided)
3 oz milk chocolate
2 tbsp butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 teas vanilla
Chop the 9 oz of semi-sweet chocolate and all of the milk chocolate finely and put inside a glass bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until bubble form around the edge. Remove from the heat and add a fourth of the chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Pour the cream mixture over the remaining chocolate in the bowl and let sit until chocolate melts (about 30 seconds). Beat with a whisk until all the lumps disappear and the ganache is smooth (you can also use an immersion blender). Stir in butter until smooth and then add the vanilla.
Line a deep plate or shallow bowl with plastic wrap leaving overhang on one side. Pour ganache into the plate/bowl and spread evenly. Fold the plastic wrap over the ganache, pressing directly onto the surface. Let cool at room temperature at least 4 hours or overnight.
Once ganache has set, use a small cookie scoop or two teaspoons to scoop small mounds of the ganache onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Put in refrigerator for about 15 minutes or until firm enough to roll. Then place the chocolate mounds between both palms, squeezing slightly and roll into balls. Refrigerate until ready to coat.
Using the remaining 3 oz of chocolate (you may need more depending on how thick of a shell you want) melt in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted. Once melted, let the chocolate cool a little bit so the ganache doesn't melt too much when dipped. One at a time, dip each truffle in the chocolate with a two-prong fork (a plastic fork with the middle tines broken off works great), lift the truffle and let excess chocolate drip off. You can let them dry as is or roll them in cocoa powder, coconut or nuts.
I'm sure from this weekend alone I have gained weight from eating chocolate truffles and fattening ravioli cream sauces, but it's back to lighter meals from now on. Happy Valentine's Day!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Snow Hiking
We went on a little hike up Slate Canyon in the snow. It was really fun and Brad got to take a bunch of photos. None of them turned out really great though. Sorry.
We found this tree on our hike. Never noticed it before and it looks like it's been there awhile. But kind of funny. I don't know if I would have liked Brad breaking the law to propose to me.
We found this tree on our hike. Never noticed it before and it looks like it's been there awhile. But kind of funny. I don't know if I would have liked Brad breaking the law to propose to me.
While we hiking down we saw two hawk circling. It was quite pretty to see them flying around.
Rolling in the New Year
Bowling, Shoots Chinese, and playing games with Shelley and Trevor. Couldn't ask for a much better way to celebrate the New Year.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Not So Green Thumb
I've successfully got my orchid plant to re-bloom. I have two orchid flowers and a few leaves growing from the stem. I should feel proud, but my orchids are upside down. I have no idea what happened. I watered it properly, fertilized it, gave it the right amount of sunlight, and even regulated its night and daytime temperatures to help it to bloom. I gave so much time to caring for it. But the flowers grew in upside down. I thought flowers knew how to grow right side up all by themselves. Any thoughts on how to make my flowers grow the way they are supposed to?
Christmas Baking
I have been wanting a cast iron dutch oven. I keep reading recipes that you need a dutch oven to make, but alas no dutch oven. However, Christmas is a great time for wishes to be fulfilled and I am now the proud owner of a red, enamel covered, cast iron dutch oven.
When I got my dutch oven, I knew the first thing I wanted to try making was this. My sister-in-law Alissa is an amazing cook and she made this delicious bread for her daughter Ella's birthday. I've been dreaming of making this bread since we had it. Hard crusty crust, but soft and airy inside. I've never been able to pull off bread like that. So, I gave Alissa's recipe a try. It turned out better than I thought it would for a first try, but it wasn't anything compared to Alissa's. Now that I've tried it once I think it will turn out better next time. Thanks for the delicious recipe Alissa!
Christmas Spritz Cookies
Brad got a cookie gun for Christmas so we decided to make some Spritz. We called Grandma Packer for her recipe. Turns out that it is her mother's, Great-Grandma Scofield's Spritz Cookie recipe. Yummy.
1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp almond flavoring
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
food coloring
colored sugar crystals
Mix butter and sugar well. Add egg & flavoring. Mix in dry ingredients. Dough will be kind of stiff. Can add food coloring. Put in gun and pump out shapes. Can sprinkle colored sugar. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Take out before brown as they will continue to bake on the pan.
(As a side note, we did not have almond extract. We substituted vanilla, but it would have been better with almond.)
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