Kneaders Cranberry Sauce

The best recipe EVER! Just ask this little lady.

You will find the recipe here.

YUMMMMMMMMY!

First of all, thanks so much to Danielle who has been on a creative tear lately! I have enjoyed so much reading about all your creative pursuits. We haven't done much on the creative side lately, but I did want to share a recipe that we really liked and that would be great for fall. It's Butternut Squash-Leek soup. I have to warn you, it looks awful when you serve it, but it is DELISH. Matt even liked it, which really surprised me. Enjoy! Happy fall!!!


INGREDIENTS
• 1 whole garlic, head• 4 tsp olive oil• 6 cup(s) leek(s), thinly sliced• 4 cup(s) butternut squash, cubed and peeled• 2 cup(s) chicken broth, low sodium• 1/2 tsp salt• 1/2 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350. Remove white papery skin from garlic head (do not peel or seperate cloves). Wrap head in foil. Bakeat 350 fro 1 hour, cool 10 minutes. Seperate cloves, squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins.2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leek, saute 5 minutesor until tender. Stir in garlic, squash, 2 cups water, broth, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil.3. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until squash is tender. Place half of squashmixture in blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over the opening of the blender. Blend and serve in bowls.

By the way, I got this recipe from www.youvegotsupper.com. They send you five dinner recipes with side dish suggestions every week. It's been kind of fun to try some of them out.

Marshmellow Fondant

For instructions on how to make marshmellow fondant (the kind I use on my cakes), go to Marshmellow Fondant 101. You can make them too!

Baby Shower Cakes

This is the cake I made (with a lot of help from Christine) for Emma Walker's baby shower. It's a triple chocolate cake; chocolate buttercream frosting on the bottom layer, vanilla frosting on the top. Marshmellow foundant covering the whole cake and embellishments made out of dyed foundant.
Minutes before taking this picture, Mark (my bro) made the SURPRISE call telling us he was engaged! Wahoo!

Christine (my mentor!) and I made this cake for our friend Katie's baby shower. Christine made the duck family out of gum paste. I frosted it and made the bubbles. Together we made the "barrel" out of wafer cookies. So cute!

After making 2 cakes in 2 consecutive Friday nights, plus crochetting 2 blankets in during those weeks, I told Michael I reached my creative limit!

I really love making cakes though. And crochetting. Just not all at once.

2 Blankets Crochetted

I crochetted (I really can't figure out if that's how you spell it... oh well) 2 blankets in the past couple of weeks. This one was for my sweet new niece, Sukai. The other was for Emma's new baby boy, whenever he arrives. They both looked like this, but Sukai's was yellow, blue and pink. Baby Walker's was white, yellow and blue. It had a lot of fun making them. After finishing them both I felt a little weird without a project, so I've decided to keep making them to donate to a hospital or shelter. They're the perfect size for a small baby and really warm for Boston winters. It's a little way I can continue to give to those around me AND continue my "therapy." Crochetting is good for my soul and mind, like yoga but on the couch.

Michael modeled Sukai's blanket: This is how Sukai feels when using it:
What a wonderful husband!

Baking Day

So I've stolen the idea of a Baking Day from Money Saving Mom, a blog I follow. She shares a lot of excellent recipes, some which are from Tammy's Recipes. I've mainly bookmarked the recipes from MSM and haven't searched Tammy's site on my own, but everything looks delicous, simple and affordable.
Anyways, the idea of a Baking Day is baking lots of goods you'll use throughout the week for meals. Muffins, waffles, bread, pita bread, etc. She freezes some to use at the end of the week or in future weeks. I like the idea. I don't really have a "baking day;" I tend to do it on an as need basis. Right now I bake bread when we're out, make waffles for breakfast one morning and double the batch to freeze the leftovers, make muffins while Lilers is napping, etc. We don't have a lot of leftover freezer space to freeze weekly things. It's currently full of veggies, fruit, homemade chicken stock, and freezer jam, plus meat. Maybe someday we'll get a small extra freezer, but until then, I do mini-bake days all the time. I make muffins and waffles to stretch out our cold cereal or when we don't have any on hand since there haven't been any decent sales. Soooo, in the spirit of baking day:

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
(Not in the least bit healthy, but Michael loves them)

1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking pwdr
1 1/3 c. mashed ripe bananas
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
1 c. chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine first six ingredients. In a small bowl, combine bananas, oil, and egg. Sit into dry ingredients until just moistened. (Over-stir and they won't rise) Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min. Makes about 1 dozen.

Possible variations: I add 1/2c. whole wheat flour and 1 c. all-purpose to make it a lil healthier, and no one's the wiser. I don't add a 1 c. chocolate chips; more like 1/3- 1/2 c., if I even add them at all. Could possibly substitute applesauce for vegetable oil-- haven't tried it, but next time I have some applesauce on hand, I plan on trying it out.

Recipe is from Hilary Grant in the Frisco 1 ward cookbook.

Blueberries

My friend Sara and I were talking about blueberry recipes the other day and it made me want to find more to add to my collection. I didn't used to like blueberries AT ALL, but we went to a farm to pick some a while ago and the blueberries there were divine. Mom made a blueberry cobbler and I couldn't find the recipe she used, but I found this one that's similar for a blueberry crisp by Martha Stewart. If you're in the mood for a good blueberry desert, I highly recommend this.

Blueberry Crisp

Martha Stewart

This crisp has a loose and juicy filling. If you would prefer a thicker filling, add an extra teaspoon of cornstarch.

INGREDIENTS

For the filling

• 6 cups (3 pints) blueberries

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

For the topping

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (or chopped nuts, such as almonds)

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

• ⅓ cup sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°. Make the filling: Mix blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in a bowl. Transfer to an 8-inch squarebaking dish.

Make the topping: Stir together flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer until pale and fluffy. Stir dry ingredients into butter. Using your hands, squeeze topping pieces together into clumps.

Sprinkle topping evenly over filling. Bake until bubbling in center and brown on top, about 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for 30 minutes before serving.