Tuesday Tip!

Ahhhh! Why didn't anyone remind me it was Tuesday before I started getting ready for bed?!?! 

GASP!

Today was the first day of school and the first day of kindergarten for our littlest one. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by and today certainly was another example of how it will simply slip through your fingers. 

Somehow I found myself somewhere between the "walking dead" and "euphoric" stage in this new chapter of my life because I was now at home alone with hours to fill. I could do my "to do" list without needing to worry about feeding another human being or keeping an eye on the clock for naptime.

Guess what happened.

I forgot to eat lunch.

And I didn't notice the clock as I did laundry and cleaned the house.

So I forgot it was Tuesday.

And that you were waiting for me.

Anxiously.

Waiting.

For my tip.

And it never came.

So what I decided to do is to share my Tuesday Tip in a "how to" recipe.  But since it's now approaching midnight and I don't have pictures uploaded. And I picked up my mother from the airport today. And I'm now typing this on her bed. And she is trying to get to sleep. And she is kicking me out of my office/guest room.

I'll come back to tell you how to SIFT your way to a wonderful and delicious cake or cupcakes.

Yup. You heard it. That dreaded SIFT word in recipes.

But the thing is I know that you would love for me to tell you how to get something amazing out of a boxed cake mix.  And yes, it does require a little extra work. And yes, I know I still have to share the results of the test kitchen fail from last week. 

And yes, my mother is now kicking me. Literally.

sift, sift, sift, sift, sift...

This is why I should be in bed already.

Random streams of consciousness should really be me dreaming instead.

Happy Sleeping!

Tuesday Tip!

If there is any truth behind the universe being able to play a joke, then I'm currently the butt of it...and I'm not laughing...well, maybe today I did. 

A few weeks ago I told you that I have several tips in cue but then today happened, and I simply stared at the list with absolutely no desire to share any of them. From the number of women I speak with, I have been able to understand that we all go through a period of time when we question everything. Sometimes it's not a matter of low self esteem, it can be simply a matter of feeling unappreciated. That is when the questioning starts.

I wonder if I stopped doing this [insert anything here], would anybody even notice?

The list of questions can go on and on.  Some of you may know what I'm talking about.

Goodness. I asked Debbie Downer to move out of my house this morning. She was no longer welcome.  I even helped her pack her bags. Then I shouted,

"Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!"

Yes. Yes I did. REAL loud too.

Don't worry. The neighbors had already left for work.

Moving on.

Since lunchtime was upon us, I opted to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches -- a crowd favorite. I reached up for the bread basket and it came tumbling down on me. Flat bread, tortillas, hoagie rolls, sandwich bread, rice cakes...the whole lot of them. When I say "bread basket", I mean family-style-holds-all-of-our-perishable-eat-them-soon-bread.

And we eat a lot of it.

Tumbling.

Down.

On me.

The children thought it was funny. 

Maybe I did too.

Next, for some reason I decided to open the freezer.  At this point I don't remember why but I do know that I did.  Guess what.  Our ice maker started spitting ice cubes at me. 

Yes. Yes it did.

Now the children are really laughing...and hard.

And so am I.

Needless to say, I never did make those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Instead, I opted to bring out all the cut up fruit we had.  I served them into bowls and topped with whipped cream.  The children squealed with delight and we had so much fun.  As a matter of fact, as I type this out I can still hear them laughing hard and playing.

So my Tuesday Tip is probably the most practicle I can ever give:

Life may be a bowl of cherries but sometimes you really just need a little whipped cream.

No matter what you are doing in the kitchen or out, you need to try to remember to enjoy yourself. Be thankful for everything you have, no matter how small or insignificant you may think it is. Celebrate every success -- even the little ones.  Because if you spend your time looking down at what has fallen all around you, you might forget to look up and miss the beauty all around you.

And that's no joke.

Well maybe this Redskin's chef hat is.

Goodness he's so stinkin' cute.

Happy Baking!

Tuesday Tip!

Is it bad of me that I find today's Tuesday Tip! totally boring.  I mean who really wants to wait around for anything that isn't exciting?  Not me. But alas...[sigh]

Room temperature.

Yup. That's it. A waiting game.

Waiting for ingredients to come to room temperature is a boring, boring, boring...waiting game. They say  (who are "they" anyway?) that great things come to those who wait.  And I guess, "they" are correct because waiting is like watching your garden grow...

And then enjoying it's harvest...

Or waiting can be testing to make sure the chocolate is ready...

...not a minute too soon (or late) before the cookies can be added...

then wait some more...

Enjoy!

 Or wait until the chocolate sets up...

For fun MANLY birthday cupcakes!

Waiting can even be while the smells make your mouth water and you wonder WHEN OH WHEN will these herb buns be ready to bake?!

And then they are...and you do.

MMMMmmmmm....those are not biscuits ladies and gentlemen. Those are herb rolls I had to do all sorts of things to and....wait. But then when I finally got to bake them and serve them up for dinner HOT with butter...[fainted]

So this is my Tuesday Tip!  When getting ready to bake, unless your recipe says otherwise, bring your ingredients to room temperature first before assembling.  It really makes a noticeable difference in the end product especially when NOT waiting can actually cause some recipes to completely fail.

Now that my work is done here, I no longer have to wait. Everything is at room temperature, just as it should be. Ahhh...life is good. 

Happy Baking!

Tuesday Tip!

There is so much going on in my little baking world that I cannot imagine what is going to rise next.  I even have our daughter making recommendations - without prodding! Both our son and daughter are experimenting with their toys by making imprints on playdough and then bringing it to me with so much joy, "MOMMY! You can do this in fondant and place them on cupcakes!"

Oh.my.goodness. What have I done?

Oh well, at least they are playing and being creative.  It never ends around here.

So in keeping in line with childhood and what so many of us loved eating growing up, today's tip will be about: playdough Peanut Butter.

Scared ya didn't I?  Eat playdough...yeahhh...why I never...

Anyhoo.

There are so many recipes out there that call for using peanut butter but there is also such a HUGE selection of peanut butter nowadays that it seems easiest to just grab your favorite one and use it. But it's not that easy...or successful in baking.

First of all, I will say that I have a new love for natural peanut butter...and almond butter (thanks Cheryle!) But some of these products require stirring and refrigeration and more often than not, these are not suitable for using in recipes (or in packed lunches).  So my tip today actually comes from my test kitchen and I'm going to share with you which product I have found is the best to use...and tastes great.

Skippy Natural Peanut Butter.

This is a natural peanut butter that does not require refrigeration or stirring.  However, over time some separation does occur in your cabinet and you should stir a little before using. Also, even though it does have a shelf life it is a natural product, and you should buy only what your family or baking needs require. You know, if you use a lot, buy a big container. If you only use for desserts, buy a small container. If you eat it straight out of the jar morning, noon, and night...buy stock. And so on. You get the point.

The reason I like Skippy is because it has such a rich nutty flavor and they use a minimal amount of real sugar to sweeten instead of molasses like some others.  The molasses, when mixed with other ingredients, can make what you are working with a little stiffer and more difficult to manipulate. Molasses is good for gingerbread cookies but not for my peanut butter.  And of course, "natural" means it does not have all those unkind unpronounceable words that are famous for making peanut butter live forever on store and home shelves. No thank you.

So try some Skippy Natural when making peanut butter cookies or mix with cream cheese to spread on your favorite treat...yeah even...rice cakes. Or stick to the basics and make a healthier and yummy choice when making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the family that will hold up in the lunchboxes. 

That's it peeps. Nothing fancy today. Just some good creamy peanut butter.

MMMmmm....Peanut butter and chocolate. Simply Divine.

...

Happy Baking!

BTW, It makes me so sad to think of those who have peanut allergies today and aren't able to enjoy the dreamy creamy texture of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter cookies, Reese's candies, or even the now popular chocolate cupcakes topped with a rich peanut butter frosting. I have friends whose children are severely allergic and I sincerely hope a cure is found for this food that has issued a death warrant on so many. Someday. Soon.

While we all wait, I will continue to make desserts (whenever asked especially for them) in a thoroughly scrubbed down kitchen with the products and tools I keep separate just for my special "customers". The mommas who follow me know who they are :) LOVE YOU!

Tuesday Tip!

Hello again!

To be honest with you, I've been getting so excited about these tip posts that anytime I have a thought of something to share...I immediately go to my drafts and make note of them.  Ummm...either I have some really good stuff to share or I get way too excited over the simplest things.

Yeahhh.

Today's tip wasn't actually in cue but I got so excited over it that I moved it to the top of the line.  For some odd reason I just couldn't wait to share it with you!

Baking spray.

Yup. That's it! Sort of. Read on...

I love using baking spray on my pans for some of my brownie recipes because I have found that it works even better than greasing and flouring. When I make cakes, I do grease the bottom of the pan only. Then I place a piece of parchment paper over it and lightly spray the paper. I love how this is the muscle behind my cakes and brownies not sticking to the pan.

But our Tuesday Tip! cannot end there.

First...If you don't know what baking spray is then all you need to know is that it's basically cooking spray with flour and is a life saver in time when baking.

So which brand do I like best?

Pam.

Pam is actually the first of the baking sprays I ever used and when I tried others, I simply did not like them as much.

Would you believe me that I still have not reached the part of the tip I am most excited over?

So thank you for unsticking with me because here it is.

Anybody who uses baking spray knows it can be quite messy when preparing your pans because it just seems to get everywhere.  Time after time, I have found myself cleaning my sink, counters, and even floor after using the stuff. BUT NO MORE! Open your dishwasher door and spray your pan over it.  That way any over spray goes into the dishwasher and gets washed off during the next cycle. BRILLIANT!

I so wish I had thought of that years ago.

And now...you have it!

Happy Baking,

Tuesday Tip!

I think that probably the most difficult thing about writing these Tuesday Tips is to refrain from thinking, "Oh, everybody already knows that!" and then not even attempting the topic flirting in my mind.

The most fun thing I can see for this blog (still in it's infancy), is to have a few pages. Some would be dedicated to "Tuesday Tip", while another would be dedicated to recipes, still another to any awesome wrecks from my kitchen, and the main page would be the landing site...and so on.  That way in the future, any new visitors would simply click on a tab and find any previous hidden goodies.

So without further waiting for my loyal ten followers this week...here we go.

Butter.

There is so, so, so, so much I could write about this velvety smooth beauty but I'm going to stay very basic this week.  The question I used to ask all the time was: salted or unsalted?

When a recipe was not specific, I honestly had no idea which would be better in my desserts and I had been creating for YEARS!

Now part of it may be that I didn't pay enough attention to my culinary professor (Yeah, I was 19 and only completed four months of formal training. I'll blame it on "teenage short attention disorder". HA!) The other part is that I probably didn't want to store two different types of butter in my fridge. So I always went back and forth between the two.

Ummm...ask me today how many different types of butter I have. Usually no less than three. That's no lie.

Eh, hem...Moving on.

Your best choice for baking is UNSALTED butter. That way you can control how much salt you use in your recipes and it delivers a more consistent end result because there is no variation in the store bought salted item.  And when I say "butter", I mean real butter.  Unless you have an allergy to dairy, "stick" to the truest form of buttery goodness. Just leave the salted butter for your morning toast.

I know there are so many other things about butter you may have questions over. For instance:

• cold vs room temperature
• melted vs softened
• slow churned vs regular
• why real butter over margarine or oil spread?
• generic vs national brand
• ...and so on

If you would like me to give you my suggestions on any of these OR you have something else you've been wondering about, leave a note in the comment section and we'll go from there.

Happy baking!

Tuesday Tip!

Here we go! Here we go! Here we go! Our very first "Tuesday Tip".  And like I said in the previous post, this may be old news to many but may be new to some. So this is for you.

Buttermilk.

Let me say it again. Buttermilk. Yes, some people drink it but that is not our purpose today.

Buttermilk is a type of fermented drink that has a tart flavor and gives richness to the end product. When baking (or making pancakes), buttermilk is the better wet ingredient for your recipe.  Yes, it is more expensive than regular milk but it is so worth using.

Now if you bake alot like me, you won't have buttermilk left over sitting in your fridge wondering when it will ever see sugar and flour again.  You will always be in search of it. As a matter of fact, the dairy section in the supermarket can be a scary place for someone like me because as I turn the corner I always approach with caution.

Do they? Do they? Do they...have...some...today?

[opens eyes slowly as if watching a horror movie]

YES! They do!

And off I go with two of the largest containers I can find, which is usually no more than a half gallon carton.

But this Tuesday Tip is not just about buying buttermilk and using it. It's about how much to use and what to do if you don't have any. Ahhhh...now that is something I always need to remember.

First, in a pinch or if you simply don't bake enough to stock your fridge with even a pint of the sour goodness, you can make a fair enough substitute. Just remember that real buttermilk is always best.  Here you go:

• 
  
  Bring 1 cup of milk (preferably whole) to room temperature (30 minutes is actually fine)
• 
  
  Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice (the acid needed to "spoil" the milk)
• 
  
  If you do not have lemon juice handy you can also use apple cider vinegar
• 
  
  Let sit for an additional 10 minute
• 
  
  Milk will have a curdled appearance...because it is :)

Next, how much to use.  I have found that replacing the amount of milk called for in a recipe with buttermilk is a good match.  Also, I have found that when using a box mix (pancakes, cake, muffins, etc) you can replace the water called for with buttermilk too. The end product comes out tasting wonderful!  Buttermilk makes everything better.

Who knew being "spoiled rotten" would be so good! HA!

And that my friends is our first Tuesday Tip. Please let me know what you think or even if you already knew about using buttermilk.  I would really appreciate it.

Happy baking!