National Coffee Ice Cream Day

Was yesterday!! But I made some and it was wonderful. I am going to have some more tonight. Yay for National Coffee Ice Cream Day!

I don't know about you guys but the long weekend, the annual back to school shenanigans and the real life stuff going on has got me spinning. Many things are changing and falling into place over here but I need to get some things organized around here if I am going to keep up! Hopefully in a week or two things will calm down and get back to a routine. I'm working on it.

I have today and tomorrow off. Next up is National Wienerschnitzel Day on Friday. Um, yes!!! I can't wait to eat some! (drool)

National Cheese Pizza Day

It's Labor Day weekend. It's a Monday. It's the last night of summer break before the kids go back to school. A busy kind of weekend. Today also happens to be National Cheese Pizza Day. Yeah, I did it. I totally ordered cheese pizzas for lunch from Pizza Hut. I am not sorry to say this either.

It's real life in here folks! Sometimes this chef orders take out. The kids were pretty happy about it, too. A fun spontaneous surprise.

It is my personal opinion that cheese pizza is very boring to eat. Pizza is supposed to be a vessel for me to get lots of cheese, veggies and meat into my gullet in a very satisfying way. Something was definitely missing today. But...in the spirit of this challenge I did it. Lol!

Side note: Pizza Hut is having a crazy good deal right now. I bought 2 medium cheese pizzas, 2 orders of boneless  wings and 4 20 oz bottles of soda for $30. Not bad. Mom for the win.

Tomorrow is National Coffee Ice Cream Day, which is pretty awesome. Maybe you'll come back and see?

National Macadamia Nut Day

Yesterday was National Macadamia Nut Day. I must say I baked the cupcakes and prepared the frosting the night before hand. I decided to wait and decorate them yesterday so I could take my pictures while they were fresh and beautiful. I threw the frosting in the fridge overnight because it contained milk. Took it out to soften around lunch time and it took many many hours for it to get back to whiping and spreading consistancy. Lesson learned, I guess. So that is why my post had been delayed. Anywho...

Yum and yay for cupcakes! I chose to bake some white chocolate chip, macadamia nut and Craisin cupcakes with a vanilla butter cream frosting. After all of the waiting to eat them they were delicious. I did send a box to the neighbor house though. Too many treats lately! Ha!

I used a basic chocolate chip cupcake recipe. Instead of 1 cup of chocolate chips I used 1 cup of an even mix of choclate chips, chopped macadamia nuts and Craisins. Easy stuff.

Thanks or reading. Next up is National Cheese Pizza Day! See you soon.

National Welsh Rarebit Day

Today was one of my favorite food holidays to prepare so far. National Welsh Rarebit Day. When I first read about this dish a couple of months ago I was thinking, oh no rabbit! Eew! It's not rabbit. (whew!) Although Welsh Rabbit is another name for this dish. Maybe it was one of those missteps in translation that just stuck. Doesn't matter to me. I didn't have to make and eat rabbit, it involves homemade cheese sauce (yum) and it gave me a great excuse to make breakfast for dinner. That's always fun. Breakfast is my favorite. For serious. I actually had a morning wedding so that we could serve brunch at the reception. I.Friggin'.Love.Breakfast.

Welsh Rarebit is a creamy cheese sauce over toasted bread. I read a few different recipes and decided I would use them all loosely and make up my own. Some recipes used beer. Some didn't. There were different types of breads used. It seemed pretty up for interpretation so I tried it out. I am very pleased with how this turned out. Welsh Rarebit is typically a side dish. One recipe I read said it is good served over toast or poached eggs. Perfect. Breakfast it is. And I get to poach some eggs! Another fun first for me.

The three recipes I narrowed it down to can be found at the following links:

Alton Brown
Pioneer Woman
Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (red & white checked one)

I chose French Brioche bread. I had never had it before but it looked and sounded perfect for toasting. The subtle hint of sweetness in the bread was pretty damned perfect smothered in a savory sauce! I lightly buttered both sides and browned them in an electric skillet.

For the cheese sauce I used half shredded cheddar and half American cheese. I used half and half creamer instead of beer. I did use the Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard and the dash of cayenne pepper. Since I decided not to use beer I added a decent sized splash of white cooking wine to give it a little nudge towards the "fancier" versions.

Bacon, poached eggs and orange slices seemed the appropriate choices to turn this side into a full on breakfast dish. I had never poached an egg before or even tasted one. This task has been on my long mental cooking to-do list so what the hay? Come to find out I can totally poach an egg and I even enjoyed eating it.

I am also pleased to report that the kids and my hubby loved this one, too. I am one happy mama tonight! Thanks for reading. Tomorrow is National Macadamia Nut Day and I have already begun preparing a tasty treat. You'll see!

National Blueberry Popsicle Day

Happy Friday! It's National Blueberry Popsicle Day! And thanks to last weeks cherry Popsicle day, I already had the Popsicle molds!

These taste pretty good. Not as sweet as I was hoping for. I was going for a cremosa beverage type thing. Next time I will choose a flavored creamer as opposed to the half and half I used this time. Maybe french vanilla or hazelnut.

I used approximately half blueberry flavored sparkling water and half creamer, leaving room to drop in six fresh blueberries in each mold. I froze them until solid and that's it. A nice cold treat for a Summer day.

Enjoy! Come back tomorrow for National Welsh Rarebit Day. It's not rabbit! Don't worry. I was. Lol!

National Cherry Popover Day

Today is National Cherry Popover Day! First time making these. I found an online recipe and just went for it. These treats are not sweet but turned out chewy, fluffy and mostly good.

You can find the recipe that I used today right HERE. The only change I made was to use the cherries from the cherry pie filling I had left over from the other day instead of fresh pitted cherries. I hate to waste ingredients and do like how they turned out. I just dropped each cherry individually into the popover batter and stirred them in gently for a little marbling effect.

As for the baking time and temp, I will need to play with that a bit if I use this recipe again. The recipe says to bake them at 450° for 20 minutes and then at 350° for 10-15 minutes more. I did this but mine were slightly over done after only 8 minutes at the 350°. Also, it stated to preheat the greased muffin pan, which I did but the grease started smoking pretty badly so I had to take it out early. They still tasted pretty good, though.

So there it is for today. Tomorrow is National Blueberry Popsicle Day. I have my Popsicle molds all ready to go. See you then!