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 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!

National Cherry Turnover Day

Good morning and Happy National Cherry Turnover Day! These are super easy to make and delicious. Like tiny cherry pies!

You can find the recipe that I used HERE. This link includes recipes for the pastry crust, the cherry filling and the icing. I only used the crust and icing recipes this time and purchased a can of cherry filling instead. If you really want this to be even easier to make, you can always purchase ready-made pastry crusts, usually in the freezer section of the grocery store. I rarely buy them because from scratch is almost always cheaper and I have become quite comfortable making crusts in the last few years. The ready-mades are very fast and do come in very handy at times.

My turnovers turned out yummy. They did not get as golden brown on top as I expected so I may try an egg wash next time around. The kids enjoyed today's special treat and I had fun in the kitchen. My happy place. A perfect rainy day stuck inside.

Hope you are having a great weekend! Swing by tomorrow for yet another first for me...National Chop Suey Day. I have never purchased or worked with bok choy or oyster sauce before. Should be fun!

National Sponge Cake Day

Good morning and welcome to National Sponge Cake Day! Yet again a food holiday with a dish that I had never prepared before. For someone who cooks so so much, makes a partial living from doing so, enters cooking contests, sends meals to others and more...I have apparently been quite sheltered in the kitchen! Totally loving this food holidays challenge so far! I am just begining week two of this year long journey and I can't wait to see where it takes me.

So, sponge cake. Easy peasy. I found a recipe online that only requires three ingredients!  You can find it by clicking HERE. These are staple ingredients that most of you will have around the kitchen already. Need ideas for a quick treat for a potluck or an after dinner surprise? Go for the sponge cake. I decided to add 1 tsp. of lemon extract to mine for a little light citrus flavor, so technically 4 ingredients.

Beautiful. I whipped up some whipped cream to make it all pretty and stuff. (pun intended) And a few gold sprinkles...why not?! Set a plate like this down in front of a loved one and they'll think you spent all day in the kitchen just for them. It'll be our little secret!

Tomorrow will be the first time I take two same-day national food holidays and turn them into one recipe! I won't give away the surprise yet but come on back tomorrow and see for yourself!

National Pecan Torte Day

I had heard the word "torte" before but never knew exactly what it was. A baked good of some sort? Maybe something like a tart? Well, thanks to National Pecan Torte Day I learned something new today. Yay for knowledge!

A torte by definition is: a rich cake, especially one containing little or no flour, usually made with eggs and ground nuts or bread crumbs.

Got it. Lots of eggs + ground up nuts = deliciousness on a plate.

We held our monthly cooking session for my charity called Food With Love (see page tab above for more details) and we always send a dessert along with the foods we prepare. Now that this national food holidays project is underway, it sure does make it a lot easier to decide which treats to bake! Pecan Tortes it is! And how much fun to share a food holiday project with one of my besties who cooks with me?! Debbie totally nailed it with the torte making and baking. I mostly did the decorating. Fun!

We decided to make them into cute little individual sized tortes. The recipe is written for one 8" cake round but we divided the batter into five 4" spring form pans instead. The spring form pans worked alright but they did leak a little bit into the bottom of the oven for the first couple minutes of baking. Not a huge problem but I would maybe try some souffle dishes instead next time and only make four individual treats total.

You can find the recipe we used HERE. A chocolate pecan torte. I had a little of the almond caramel sauce left over from National Ice Cream Pie Day a few days ago so we went ahead and drizzled a little of that and decorated them with pecan halves. These turned out pretty darn good. I would put less melted chocolate on the top next time around but other than that I was super satisfied. They are really fluffy and spongy from all of the egg whites, not as sweet as cake. A nice change.

Here is the box we are sending to our current "adopted" family for Food With Love. A fun little surprise.

Hope you have a wonderful Monday! Thanks for stopping by #GinnyBites and I'll see you back here tomorrow!

National Spumoni Day

Hello and Happy National Spumoni Day! Now, Spumoni is traditionally an Italian ice cream dessert but I decided to give it a little twist today. Mostly for fun...but also because I couldn't squeeze three days of ice cream making into the schedule this week AND couldn't find any Spumoni at the couple grocery stores that I frequent. A Spumoni typically has three layers of ice cream; chocolate, cherry almond and pistachio. I did these flavors but created some beautiful Spumoni Cake Truffles instead. Yummy!

I was hoping to share an awesome recipe here but being my first time ever making these babies, I still need to tweak it a bit. I have made many cakepops before but never tried a multiple flavor or layering technique. I will give you the just for now.

I baked one 13x9 cherry chip cake and then crumbled it up and divided it evenly into three separate bowls. One third of the cake I mixed with chocolate frosting, one third I mixed with vanilla frosting and almond extract and then the last third I mixed with some pistachio pudding powder and vanilla frosting. I gently layered a teaspoon of each flavor and rolled into a ball. Then, I dipped each ball into melted semi-sweet chocolate chips and sprinkled with chopped pistachios, setting in the fridge to set. Voila! Spumoni Cake Truffles.

Hope you enjoy what you see here. If you get a chance to make some, please share. I would love to know! Don't forget that sharing is caring. Ginny Bites has lots more fun to come!

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Did you see the blog post where I announce my winning a spot into the World Food Championships this coming November in Orange Beach, Alabama?! Scroll on down and check out all of the fun foods posted earlier this week!

National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

It's National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day today! Now, I love pecan pie. One of my all time favorites so far. Especially around Thanksgiving time. Mmm! I never even knew there was chocolate version. How can you possibly make something you love so much even better?! Add chocolate, pecans and bourbon, of course!

Here is a link to the recipe I chose: Chocolate Pecan Pie by Betty Crocker. I followed this recipe exactly.

Super easy! And my house smells totally amazing right now! Here she is...

Ain't she a beauty? This pie is truly spectacular inside and out. I hope you get a chance to make one soon. Thanks for swinging by! And see you back here tomorrow for National Spumoni Day.

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If you are enjoying this national food holidays challenge so far, please like, follow, share and more! I am only on Day 6 of 365! So much more fun to come!

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National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

It's here! It's finally here! Today is the big day and the beginning of my year long national food holidays journey. I will be cooking, baking, eating, drinking and blogging my way through a whole year of food holidays! This is a BIG project for me and I am excited for and up to the challenge. Not only will this be a whole lot of delicious fun but it will also be a great way to spread the word about my personal chef business and my local food related charity. I can not wait to see where this food adventure takes me! Super glad you are along for the ride.

August 15th is National Lemon Meringue Pie Day! This excites me because I am very picky about my pies. I prefer pies without large chunks of fruit in them. So, a cool and creamy lemon meringue is right up my alley. What a fun and tart summer treat!

For this pie I chose the recipe from the tried and true Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. You know, the old red and white checkered one your grandma used to have? Maybe your mom? Well, that's where I got mine anyway and I use it quite often. It's old, beat up and beautiful...as it should be!

Below is the link to the current version of this recipe from the official BHG website, including the lemon filling, meringue topping and flaky pastry crust. The only difference between this recipe and the one from my old book are the meringue ingredients. Online it states to add 1 tsp lemon juice to the egg whites and sugar. In the book it states to use a 1/2 tsp vanilla and a 1/4 tsp cream of tartar instead. That latter is what I did.

BHG Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe

Pastry crust and lemon filling

Meringue is amazing, by the way! Many years ago I found it rather intimidating to make but now that I know what I am doing and feel confident, I will not substitute. It is just too yummy! If you are scared to make a meringue topping and choose the cool whip method instead, no big deal. Still very good. But, there is something to be said about a nice fluffy, sticky, perfectly golden meringue topping that really brings authenticity to a homemade pie. Totally worth the extra few minutes. Just go for it! I also like to use a spatula to make designs in the meringue before baking. Gives it some dimension once it is cooked and golden.

Meringue before baking

So, there it is. The first of many days to come! Come on back tomorrow for National Rum Day. I am mixing up an original recipe for it even...and am going to go eat some pie now!

Getting Ready!

Hello out there! Now that my crazy National Food Holidays project is in motion, I have been planning and preparing as best I can. Only 16 more days until my launch date of 8/15/16 and I can't wait! I would have started it sooner but am headed to Jamberry conference in Florida next month and decided it would be best to wait until the day after I come home to begin. Figured I wouldn't have access to a kitchen out there so, yeah. Kinda need that. 8/15 it is.

I have been busy! Blog is all set and ready. I also created a public Google calendar that you can find by scrolling down to the bottom of this blog page. Just in case you want to follow along. I have mapped out the food holidays I plan to cover each day from 8/15/16 through mid-April 2017 so far and will finish it up soon. There are very few days without a food to prepare. Some days even have 2 or more to choose from. If I have more than 1 item listed on a specific date, then I plan to try and make them both or incorporate them into something together. Sounds like fun to me...but, I'm crazy like that. In a good way, right? Don't answer that.

I have some extra fun things planned along the way, too. I wanted to find ways to highlight some local businesses that I admire. So far, 10K Brewing has invited me over for a tour and tasting on National Beer Lover's Day 9/7/16. I am not a beer drinker, more of a hard liquor kinda girl, and am excited to branch out and try some local brews. And, Two Scoops has invited me and my kiddos to swing by on Banana Split Day 8/25/16 for a tour and tasting, as well. Um, yum! I have a couple more local businesses on the line too but will wait to mention them until it's all set in stone. I am looking forward to sharing these places with you and will be sure to take lots of pictures!

Now, when I was researching this as something I possibly wanted to do, I could not find anyone that had taken on this project before. I thought it was an original idea. Ha ha ha. Scha! As if! (Imagine that said like I were Wayne & Garth) Anyway, yesterday, I came across a fellow blogger who did this starting back in 2014. I immediately reached out and am glad I did. She is so nice and gave me some great advice. If you have the time, swing on over to Jen's blog The Foodie Patootie. An awesome Miami based food blog! Jen made ALL of the national food holidays, which is like 400 or so. I so respect her ambition. My journey will be a little different and I am glad to have her in my corner.

If you are wondering how I chose the food holidays to cover, I used a combination of www.nationaldaycalendar.com AND the Wikipedia List of Food Days. I am sticking to holidays "observed" in the US. I only say observed because most of these are not "official" but are just public knowledge and fun. If there were any discrepancies between these 2 sites, I Googled the holiday and made sure it was a real thing, that the dates matched up and that multiple other sources agreed on it. Pretty time consuming, to be honest. But I am learning a bunch and looking forward to trying lots of new things! Hoping my kiddos get a kick out of it, too. Many days sound down-right delicious...but there are a few days that I am so glad I have time to mentally prepare myself for. Ha! Just you wait and see.

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