Favorite Cake Tools

 A year ago last month, I made my first tiered cake. Colson requested a three tiered cookies and cream cake. I did my best but it was a sight...

Over the next couple of months I continued to make cakes to practice. I continually got better the more I practiced and it was a hobby that I really started to enjoy. I watched hours of YouTube videos and Instagram videos.

I learned what pans to use and what tools would help to give me smooth sides. Today, I'm sharing all of my favorite tools that will help anyone make a tired cake!

The best pans that I've found are Fat Daddio. You can find them on Amazon and sometimes at Home Goods. I ordered mine from Orson Gygi. 

I've purchased several scrapers but my favorite continues to be the Ateco one. It is light and easy to use.

I love using parchment rounds in my pans. I use the cooking spray from Costco but the parchment rounds help the cake to come out easily.

I also use the squeeze bottle to apply any drips on my cakes.

One item that has made the biggest difference in my cakes is the Ateco revolving cake stand.

Here's a look at some of the cakes I've made over the last year. I no longer make cakes for people, it was short lived, but I still enjoy making them for my family!

Trying stripes for the first time!

Charlee Jo had a One in a Melon party and her cakes were my FAVORITE to make!

I never would have guessed that I could make cakes, but the journey has been so much fun. It has been a way for me to be creative and try new things. I hope that once my kids get older it's something I can pick back up. 

Chicken Noodle Soup

 I wanted to share this oldie but goodie chicken noodle soup. I've made it twice already this fall. I made it for my Grandpa and once for my family. I love this soup. 

This recipe is easy once your noodles are done. You just throw everything into the pot and let it cook for a couple of hours. Since it's on the stove, a weekend is the best day to make it since you can't leave the house.
 

 

To make your noodles:

In a large bowl, mix together:

2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of salt

1/2 cup of water

3 egg yolks, 1 whole egg

• Mix it together with a wooden spoon.
• Add in another 1/2 cup of flour and begin mixing with your hands.
• Separate the dough into smaller portions to roll out on the counter.
• Make sure you have a lot of flour on the counter, rolling pin, and your hands.
• Cut the noodles into THIN strips.
• Separate them out, laying them flat on parchment paper to dry.
• I made my noodles at least two hours before I'm ready to add them into the soup. The longer you let them dry out, the better.

 

To make your soup:

• In a large stockpot on the stove, bring 2 large boxes of chicken stock and 1 cup of water to a low boil.
• Add in chopped carrots and celery (However much you want. I use about 2 carrots and 3 celery.) Bring that to a simmer.
• Add in 1 large Rotisserie chicken (or 2 small ones) and salt and pepper to taste. Cook on the lowest setting for a few hours.
• 30 minutes before serving, add you noodles

I hope you enjoy!

Snickers Salad

Happy Tuesday, friends! Today I'm sharing another favorite salad to take to get togethers. I don't know that I would consider this to be a salad, but more of a dessert. Either way, it's so good!

Here's What You'll Need:

- 6 small apples, cored and chopped

- 6 snickers bars, chopped

- 1 (5.1 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding mix

- 1/2 cup of milk

- 1 (12 ounce) container Cool Whip

- caramel sauce

Here's What You'll Do:

1. Whisk together pudding mix and milk in a large bowl.

2. Fold in Cool Whip.

3. Fold in apples and snickers. 

4. Drizzle caramel sauce on top. Refrigerate until ready to serve!

This is such an easy side to make, other than chopping, it is quick! A tip for taking sides to get-togethers, grab some clear plastic bowls at the dollar store! You don't have to worry about your dishes! I hope you'll enjoy this side as much as my family does!

Favorite Recipe: Greek Salad

I've been student teaching since the beginning of January and my favorite thing to do is make a big salad on Sunday night and eat it for lunch throughout the week. My least favorite thing is packing lunches. I have to pack Colson a lunch on days that he goes to school too. I love being able to have something easy for me to pack.

This recipe was easy and I loved it! It lasted all week and still tasted great.

Gather my supplies: pasta, olive oil, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, green bell pepper, red onion, sliced olives, feta cheese, dried oregano. For the vinaigrette: olive oil, red wine vinegar, 1/2 clove of garlic, salt and pepper.

I boil the pasta and cook it al dente. While that is cooking, I mixed up my vinaigrette....

3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/2 clove of garlic

salt and pepper

And, I chopped the rest of my ingredients.

Drain and rinse the pasta with cold water until it's cool. I dumped the pasta and all the chopped ingredients into a big bowl. Mix it all up.

Add in the feta cheese....mix it up....

Then, add in your dressing. It's better to mix in a little dressing at a time so it doesn't have too much and make the pasta soggy. You can always add more later if you want.

This makes a lot and like I said, it lasted several days while still tasting great! I normally eat it as my mail dish and I'll pack a small side to go with it. You could also just make this as a side for dinner or a get together! I hope you enjoy!

Joc Bakes: The BEST Cranberry Dip

This is the perfect dip for the holidays! I have no idea where this recipe originally came from. Cara Carrol shared it on Instagram last year and I've been making it ever since. It's so good!!!

Here's what I used:

- 12 oz. fresh cranberries

- 1/4 cup green onion

- 2 fresh jalapeno peppers

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 tbsp. lemon juice

- 1/8 tsp. salt

- 16 oz. cream cheese

Here's what I did: 

- Hand-chop cranberries. This takes some time but it's worth it. Chop your green onion, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro. Toss it all in a medium size bowl.

- Next, add the sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Stir it all together.

- You'll cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

- The next day, take it out of the refrigerator and give it a good stir. Next, strain out all the liquid. Make sure you use a colander with small holes or you'll lose some of your ingredients. 

- Whip your cream cheese for a few minutes and spread it into the bottom of a pie plate.

- Pour your cranberry mixture over the top and stick it in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve!

I serve it with Ritz crackers. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do! It's my go to recipe whenever I need to take something to a get together for the holidays!

Apple Dump Cake

With the holidays coming up, I thought I would share a very easy dessert recipe. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand. I like to keep things in my pantry that might come in handy.

This is such an easy recipe that doesn't take very much time at all! With friends and family getting together, this would be an easy dessert that tastes so good!

What you'll need:

• 1 box Spice Cake mix
• 2 (21 oz) apple pie filling
• 1/2 butter
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

What you'll do:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Spray the inside of a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. I use Pam.
• Empty cans of apple pie filling into the bottom of your dish. Make sure to spread it out evenly with a spatula.
• Spring cinnamon over the apple pie filling.
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine the dry Spice Cake mix with melted butter. Stir it together until it's a crumbly consistency.
• Pour the cake mix over the apples in the dish. I just use my fingers to spread it out so it covers all of the apples.
• Bake for 30 minutes. Make sure the edges are hot and bubbly.
• Serve with ice cream!!! Enjoy!

Joc Bakes: Banana Bread

Every time I buy bananas they get too ripe for my liking and I end up tossing them out. But now...I found the perfect banana bread recipe. It's so easy and extremely moist.

It took me about 10 minutes to mix up and then I baked it for 50.

Here's What You'll Need

- 3 ripe bananas

-1/3 cup melted butter

-1/2 cup sugar

-1 large egg, lightly beaten

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1 tsp baking soda

-pinch of salt

-1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Step 1 - Preheat over to 350 degrees. Spray an 8" x 5" loaf pan with baking spray and set aside.

Step 2 - In a large bowl, mash the bananas until completely smooth and then stir in the melted butter.

Step 3 - Add the sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda, salt and flour and stir until the batter is thick and combined.

Step 4-  Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into the loaf pan. I sprinkled some mini chocolate chips on top.

Step 5 - Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool completely on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy!

Travis took this with him on his fishing trip and came home telling me how good it was! You could easily add nuts, but we prefer to leave them out.

Happy baking, friends!

Soup Sunday: Chicken Noodle

This past Sunday was the perfect weather for soup.

Since the Broncos played early, I had plenty of time to make chicken noodle. This recipe is easy once your noodles are done. You just throw everything into the pot and let it cook for a couple of hours. Since it's on the stove, a weekend is the best day to make it since you can't leave the house.
 

 

To make your noodles:

In a large bowl, mix together:

2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of salt

1/2 cup of water

3 egg yolks, 1 whole egg

• Mix it together with a wooden spoon.
• Add in another 1/2 cup of flour and begin mixing with your hands.
• Separate the dough into smaller portions to roll out on the counter.
• Make sure you have a lot of flour on the counter, rolling pin, and your hands.
• Cut the noodles into THIN strips.
• Separate them out, laying them flat on parchment paper to dry.
• I made my noodles around 11, and didn't toss them into my soup until around 5. I like to let my dry out for a long time but at least two hours is good. 

 

To make your soup:

• In a large stockpot on the stove, bring 2 large boxes of chicken stock and 1 cup of water to a low boil.
• Add in chopped carrots and celery (However much you want. I use about 2 carrots and 3 celery.) Bring that to a simmer.
• Add in 1 large Rotisserie chicken (or 2 small ones) and salt and pepper to taste. Cook on the lowest setting for a few hours.
• 30 minutes before serving, add you noodles

That's it! We like to eat our chicken noodle soup over mashed potatoes. This makes a lot of soup so I have leftovers for lunch all week! Enjoy!



Soup Sunday: Potato

When the weather starts getting colder, I love soup. I love to make a big pot of soup on Sunday for dinner and enjoying it all week long for lunch. Homemade soup is my thing. I love making it and I really love eating it! This fall and winter I am on the lookout for some new recipes but I'll share what I make incase any of you love soup as much as I do!

 

This past Sunday I made a potato soup. I've made plenty of potato soup in the past but this Sunday I tried a new recipe and it was so good!

 

 

 

Here's what you'll need:

 

 

-4 large baking potatoes (baked and scooped)

-12 slices of booked bacon, chopped

-6 cups of milk (I used whole)

-2/3 cup butter

-2/3 cup flour

-1 cup sour cream

-1 1/2 cups of cheese

-green onions

 

 

Here's what you'll do:

 

I started out with baking my potatoes and then scooping them out. The prep work of scooping your potatoes and chopping your bacon will make the process so much easier.

 

Melt your button on low heat.

The stir in the four until it's smooth.

Cook it for about a minute. You'll want to whisk continually so it doesn't burn.

Gradually stir in the milk and cook over medium heat. Make sure to stir constantly so it doesn't burn. Milk is slow to heat but easy to burn! Eventually it will be bubbly and thick. This took the longest time.

 

Next, but in the potatoes, a handful of bacon, about a cup of cheese and a bunch of green onions.

Stir it all together, add salt and pepper and a little bit more of everything else!

 

After the soup is heated, add in the sour cream and keep warm on the stove.

 

I served it in a bread bowl but it's just as good in a bowl! I had leftovers for lunch yesterday and plan on doing the same today! This recipe tastes so good but it's not good for you. I guess that's why they call it comfort food!

 

 

Let me know if you make it and what you think!!

Also, let me know what your favorite soup recipes are, I would love to try them!