Chicken in Tomato's and garlic

Just a little something I whipped up today for the hubby!

Okay, I used boneless skinless chicken breast but I think thighs or legs would be better.

4 pieces Chicken of choice

6 ripe tomato's

Olive oil

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup white wine

1 onions

1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil

8 cloves of garlic

Preheat oven to 400

I poured olive oil into the bottom of my Dutch oven and then added butter. Heat until butter is melted and bubbly. Brown chicken on both sides then remove from the pot. Put in the White wine and let it cook down about half then add onions and garlic. Let it cook for about a min then add the tomato's and herbs of choice. Smash the tomato's down then bring to a boil and place the chicken back in the pot. cover and place in a preheated oven for an hour to hour and a half. Chicken will be fork tender.

I served this with Rice Pilaf but would be good with Mashed potato's or pasta also

Friends on Vacation!!

Well, we just had our first vacation in 2 years. Everyone told us, go, you deserve to take some time off. The beach was calling my name and I was responding back with "I am on my way my love". What we did not know at the time of planning was it was calling Tropical Storm Lee's name and he responded also. We debated on weather we should go or not, there were 2 other couples going with us and all were in for heading for the beach front condo. My husband and I arrived first so when picking the rooms our thinking was first one's there are the WINNERS.... what we did not take into consideration was that the last one there takes revenge. First night there I woke up to a scratching sound at 2 am. I just thought it was the wind from TD Lee or maybe a sea gull looking for a place to get out of the storm. I got up and set on the balcony for a while until my husband came out to check on me. I told him I heard something but he just patted me on the head and said the voices inside there were talking to me again. Little did he know!!! Around 4:30 we decided to lay back down for a little bit. Well a few hours later I wake to my husband almost standing in the bed yelling to me "WHAT DID YOU SAY" I yelped back " I DID NOT SAY ANYTHING", I just figured he was dreaming and rolled over to hear him say .....DID YOU HEAR THAT???? I was like no what did you hear. He said it is saying...in a whisper....."can you hear me". the look on his face was priceless and full of fear. Well this went on for a little bit until I heard it. I jumped up and yelled....I HEARD IT. By this time everyone was getting up. My husband went running out of our room telling them the condo was haunted. They all laughed. He then proceeded to cover the TV with his tee shirt, like it was a

poltergeist and was going to jump out of the TV and snatch him in. This went on for over an hour, us hearing it and him running out to get them to come in and hear it. Finally we all decided to go and eat breakfast. Tim and I were going in our own truck because we needed to go and pick up some stuff afterwards. The other 4 left and we getting ready to leave when our of the room we heard "can you hear me" again in a whisper. I got to searching the room and found this little mic that our dear friend had placed under the TV. It makes random noises along with "can you hear me". We stood there trying to think what we were going to do to get them back, we hid the mic and decided to just not say anything. We put it under a shell in the living room and waited. They got back to the room before us and was watching TV when the little device went off again. They knew they were busted!!! Needless to say we all had a good laugh.......but we are in the planning stages of payback!!! We had a great time, we relaxed, ate a lot of food, got new hair doo's, thank you TD LEE I am still picking the knots out, we laughed and enjoyed great friends. Thank you mostly to God for all His creation! Praise Him in the Storm!

The joy of canning!

This year I turned 50 .....whew that was hard to say.  I am finding that my eyes don't work as well as they used to, I can't hear as well, and the one thing I said I would NEVER do is grunt like my mom always did when she would try to get up off the floor, I am doing.  I am also finding out that the things that were so important to me at 25 seems really silly now, so I am guessing the things that seem so important to me now won't amount to much in 25 more years.   I have decided to start posting recipes that I am trying and some that I am making up myself.  I have also decided to put down just some random things that I find either on the web or just in plain sight.  I figured I had better write them down somewhere while I can still remember them.    So lets get started.....for the past 2 weeks my friend and I  have discovered the joys of canning.  We are learning that there is nothing that you can't put in a jar and either water bath it or pressure it and it will keep for years, really!!!  I am dead serious, I have canned potato's and I am about to can a chicken. Not a live one just for the record.  Now my first canning experience with a pressure cannier was scary.  There is a lot of pressure in that pot and I did not really understand that until I was finished and took the potato's out of the pot and they were still boiling in the jar.  They boiled for about 30 minutes after I removed them from the pot.  So the next thing on the list was Southern Chow Chow.  We spent near 3 hours chopping and shredding veggies, then had to let them soak for 12 hours.  The next morning, early, like 7 am, we  cooked them and canned the beautiful concoction.  We stepped back and admired our beautiful work of art.  We even giggled a bit over it.  This week I believe we will tackle soups!!!  

Superman !!!!

This is a French Vanilla Cake with vanilla buttercream icing and covered in Satin Ice fondant.  All decorations are Fondant.  Happy 4th Birthday Spence!!!

Road of Life cake

This cake was a Surprise 50th Birthday cake for a wonderful lady.....It is a  Strawberries and cream cake covered in Satin Ice Fondant.  This cake represents events in her life from birth to her turning 50th. 

Diamonds are a girls best friend !!!

This was for a surprise birthday girl turning 30 !!!  This is a French Vanilla cake with buttercream filling, covered in Satin Ice Fondant.

E I E I OHHH someone is turning 1 down on the Farm.

This is a french vanilla cake iced in Vanilla buttercream.  All the little animals and fence are made out of fondant.  The icing was airbrushed green so there would not be a bunch of little green teeth.  :)

Farm Animals for a 1 year old cake

These little critters will be heading to a little boy's 1st birthday.  These were so much fun to make.

Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty for a 2 year old birthday.  This is a strawberry short cake flavored cake covered in Buttercream icing. 

Fairy Tea Party

This cake is for a 6 year old who is having a Fairy Tea party birthday.  Top layer is Chocolate cake with buttercream filling and the bottom layer is Butter cake with buttercream filling.  All covered and decorated with Satin Ice fondant.

Happy Birthday Fairy Princess Lily

Monogramed Sugar cookies

24 monogramed Sugar Cookies for a little girls birthday. 

Just had to post these

I got to be at the birthday party and had to post pictures of these beautiful 1 year old

Harlee posing with her cake.  I love that little outfit.

                                               She was sucking on the fondant.  LOL 

                                            She is so beautiful !!!!!  Happy 1st Birthday Harlee

Strawberry Short Cake Theme

This is for a very special little one year old !!!!!  Happy Birthday Harlee Grace.  This is a French Vanilla Cake with vanilla buttercream filling, covered and decorated in Satin Ice Fondant.

Yummy Chocolate and Peanut butter

Okay so what could be better than Chocolate Cake????   putting a peanut butter filling inside it and then coating the outside in peanut butter too thennnnnn.......covering it in a chocolate gaunche  Only the best icing ever.  This was for a lady for her thanksgiving dinner.  Though she was thinking that one slice would not be missed.  :)  Now lets get our christmas cakes ordered.......only three weeks left to place an order.

Buckeye's

I was going thru some articals the other day and came across this one.  Now that the holidays are apon us it is time to get the candy making tools out and get to work.  Hope you enjoy this recipe

Buckeyes


Adapted, just a little, from Baked Explorations



Yield: 36 to 42 tablespoon-sized candies; I made 64 with a #70 (1/2-ounce) scoop and got 64



The classic recipes for buckeyes I’ve found on the web use up to twice the amount of powdered sugar (yes, 6 cups) and two full sticks of butter for the same amount of peanut butter. This variation is less aggressively sweet, with a little tang from cream cheese and warm flavors from the graham crumbs. The only thing I wished it had was salt — perhaps a quarter teaspoon? Maybe a half teaspoon of something light and flaky? I think that salt really brings out the flavor in a peanut butter candy (try just the peanut butter portion of a Reese’s peanut butter cup alone if you don’t believe me), especially against a chocolate coating.



1/4 cup (2 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups peanut butter (smooth, but you can use chunky if you are looking for more texture)

1 cup graham cracker crumbs (from about 14 graham crackers)

Salt (optional, see note up top)

3 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks or 5 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

12 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped



Make the filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter together until combined. Add the graham cracker crumbs and beat for 10 seconds. Add the sugar and butter, and mix on the lowest speed until it stops floating off everywhere, then increase the speed until the ingredients are combined. Scrape down the whole bowl well, then mix again. The mixture will be quite sturdy and a little dry — perfect for shaping. Set it aside while you prepare the coating.



Make the coating: Melt the chocolate either over a double boiler, stirring until it is completely smooth or in a microwave in 30 then 10 second increments, stirring before you start it again until it is completely smooth. Let it cool to tepid (about 100 degrees, though I’d go a little cooler next time for a thicker coating; I had a few ounces of chocolate leftover) while you shape the peanut butter centers. [Alternately, you can temper the chocolate (fairly simply instructions here) for a perfect showy finish.]



Assemble the candies: Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Scoop out slightly more than one tablespoon’s worth of filling (their suggestion; I used a scoop that made them a little smaller) and use your hands to form it into a ball. Place the ball on the prepared sheet and repeat the process until all of the candies have been shaped. They can sit close to each other but make sure they are not touching.



Using a fork or large skewer, dip each ball into the chocolate and roll it about so that almost the entire candy is coating, leaving a small circle uncoated. Play around with a few practice pieces; I found it easiest to stick the skewer in the side, angle the bowl I was using towards it and make sure it became submerged as I rolled the candy around. But don’t fuss too much; even the “ugly” ones won’t go to waste.



Chill the buckeyes until they are set, about 30 minutes.



Do ahead: Buckeyes will keep in the fridge for what the book says is 3 days, but I’d say at least a week, should you keep them in a lockbox and hide the key.

Let the Games Begin !!!!

Who's going to win !!!!!!

Who has the better team????

Well guess we will find that out in a few weeks.  But for now.....I have completed all the cookies for the Ladies night at the church.  These are Cinnamon Sugar Cookies ........... 85 Cinnamon Sugar Cookies all for the love of game. 

One last thing  ROLL TIDE ROLL!  :)

COOKIES !!!!

Okay baking done and 85 cookies later..........

Now time to decorate.... :)

While we wait !

While waiting on my sugar cookies to set in the frig for a couple of hours, I found a great recipe for some Buttercream Icing I wanted to share.....enjoy

Swiss Mocha Buttercream


This used to be made with fresh egg whites that were heated with the sugar, but I have found the powdered egg whites work equally as well without the danger of raw eggs. This is not a low-calorie icing but it's creamy texture and wonderful flavor are excellent in pastries.

4 Tablespoons Powdered Egg Whites

3/4 Cup very hot water ( or stong coffee for Mocha Buttercream)

2 teaspoons Almond Extract or Vanilla

2 cups superfine sugar

2 cups butter-room temperature

1-1/2 cups shortening

2-2/3 cups sifted confectionary sugar

Dissolve powdered egg whites in very hot water for at least 5 minutes. Add sugar & flavoring and mix thoroughly. Place on mixer using a whip and whip until stiff peaks form. Slowly add the butter and shortening until very light and creamy. Add confectioners sugar and beat on medium speed until creamy and light.

For Chocolate Swiss Buttercream, simply add 2 ounces of melted unsweetened chocolate to the finished icing. It will keep well in the freezer in a sealed container.

Let the Cookie making begin.

okay so I have 75 cookies to make and decorate.  Lets get started

Get all the stuff together

Best Vanilla ever !!!!!

Yummy....cinnamon sugar cookie dough

Now time to get it wrapped and into the frig for a couple of hours. 

Hydrangia's and Hummingbird

This cake is a Red Velvet Cake with creamcheese filling.  The cake is covered and decorated with Satin Ice fondant.  This is for a lady turning 80 years old. 

Lets get baking

Well lets getting baking.....

Red velvet cake just waiting to be filled and decorated

and here is one waiting to go into the oven

and for a little added treat....... for me !!!