Mother's Day Brunch

We filmed a Mother's Day show where I got to invite my sister, DeDe,  to come over and help me prepare a brunch for our mom.  It was so much fun!  DeDe and I demonstrated how to make a Fritatta and a Ginger and Raspberry Trifle.  We also personalized some cute treat jars for our mom and both our mother-in-laws.  It was a really great show!

This is the Ginger and Raspberry Trifle.  This is one of my mom's favorite desserts, so it was a perfect choice for a brunch honoring her! 

It is really quick and easy to make.  The cake used is just frozen pound cake "from your grocer's freezer". (that sounded just like a commercial, LOL!)  Sara Lee is my favorite.

I love ginger in anything. In this dessert, it is the star.

If you've never used fresh ginger, you're in for a real treat.  It is so fresh and snappy tasting, it's great in any spring recipe!  I peeled and chopped the ginger root, and used it to make a ginger-infused simple syrup.

 

 After the syrup had steeped for 20 minutes, I simply brushed it onto the sliced pound cake.  

 

Fresh whipped cream is a welcome addition to any dessert around my house!

Building the trifle is as easy as

One....

 

Two.....

Three....

How could you go wrong with fresh whipped cream and raspberries?


Here is the recipe:

1 frozen pound cake, thawed
1 piece ginger root about 3" long
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2-3 cups fresh or 1 bag frozen raspberries

Peel and chop ginger root.  Place in a sauce pan with 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup water.  Bring to a boil and remove from heat.  Let steep in covered pan for at least 20 mins.  Drain syrup and reserve, discard ginger root.

Slice pound cake into 12 slices.  Brush both sides of cake with ginger syrup, repeating until syrup is gone.


Whip heavy cream with powdered sugar just until peaks form, taking care not to over beat.


To assemble trifle, layer cake, whipped cream and berries.  Repeat layers as necessary, ending with whipped cream.

Wire Baskets

Anything old and "farm" looking, especially if it's made of wire, is all the rage in home decor right now.  I really like these wire baskets, but again, I don't like the price tag attached.  I came across some great ideas for DIY wire baskets here, and a really good tutorial here.  You'll have to check them out.  I especially like the lined one, on the first link, above her fridge. As soon as we get a new fridge in our kitchen, I am going to make one of these!

Besides one on top of the fridge, I had another great spot for these baskets, so I followed the tutorial and made a couple for my teenage daughter's bathroom.

This is the finished product.

When I first started this project, I wasn't super confident it would turn out.   However, it was actually a lot easier than I had anticipated it would be.  It only took me about an hour and a half to get these done once I had all of the supplies gathered. I bought a roll of mesh wire at my local hardware store for just over $5.  I already had the floral wire I used to "sew" up the seams of the baskets, and the wire cutters, so I didn't need to purchase either of those things.  The mesh roll also came wrapped with a long piece of wire that would have worked for the seams on one of the baskets. I chose not to use it because I wanted both of the baskets to look the same.  Now that they are finished, I really don't think it would have mattered.  You can hardly see the wire I used.  I still have enough of the roll of mesh wire left over to do a couple of smaller baskets or something else.  Not bad for less than $6!

At a fraction of the cost of the inspiration baskets, this was a very satisfying project to do.  It is always fun and rewarding to turn raw materials into something functional.  Especially if it will help my teenager stay neat and organized!  Now that her bathroom counter is under control, what can I find to help her bedroom floor?

Eggs-tra Tasty Eggs for Easter!

Today was a super laid back day.  I didn't have plans to do anything or be anywhere, so I decided to play in the kitchen.  These eggs were so much fun to make and they are seriously one of the best desserts I've ever tasted!  They are made with a milk chocolate shell and a white chocolate mousse filling topped with a dollop of lemon curd.  SO GOOD!

I started out with a kitchen full of kids and these:

How did I turn kids+balloons into super yummy chocolate Easter eggs?  Let me show you.

Dip the balloons in chocolate, or in my case, let your kiddo's do it!

After the chocolate hardens, with the help of the fridge, pop the balloons and remove them.  Super simple and fun!  While we were doing this, we had one pop just after we'd dipped it and set it on the tray to dry.  Chocolate splattered EVERYWHERE! The kids thought is was so funny, so did I until I started cleaning it up.  It seemed like the more I wiped, the more there was to clean up still.  It was all over me, one of the kids, the floor, the walls and the fridge.  Thank goodness none of it made it to the ceiling! lol!

Once the shells are hardened and the balloons removed, you could fill them with any number of things.  I think they would be cute filled with an assortment of candies or really anything you can think of.  I wanted these to look similar to a Cadbury Egg, so I filled them with white chocolate mousse and used lemon curd for the "yolk". 

Here are the recipes I used:

White Chocolate Mousse
from Food Network.com

7 ounces white chocolate, chopped very finely
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

In a large glass bowl, place the chopped white chocolate and set aside.
Add the egg yolks and sugar to a small bowl and whisk until pale in color.
In a saucepan, over low heat, bring 1/4 cup of the cream to a simmer, and slowly add the cream into the yolk and sugar mixture to temper.  Pour the creamy mixture back into the pan and stir with a wooden spoon until it coats the back of it.

Pour hot mixture into a fine mesh sieve placed directly over bowl with the chopped chocolate.  Stir until completely smooth.

In another bowl, whip remaining 1 cup of cream to almost stiff peaks.  Fold half the whipped cream into the white chocolate mix to lighten and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Refrigerate until set, approx. 1 hr.


Lemon Curd
adapted from allrecipes.com

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup butter (room temp) cut into small pieces

In the top of a double boiler, whisk eggs and sugar.  Stir in lemon juice and lemon zest.  Cook over simmering water for 15 mins or until thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in butter until completely smooth.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill.  Put the plastic directly on the lemon curd to avoid a skin forming.


So, the egg shells are super fun, easy and very kid friendly.  The mousse and lemon curd are a little time consuming, but well worth it!  I love home made lemon curd.  To make this quicker, you could buy the lemon curd pre-made as well as replacing the mousse with an instant pudding.  If you are not in a rush, you will not regret the time you spend making these recipes from scratch.  They are really, really good!

Enjoy!

Quiet Book

I am always on the look out for things that will keep my little one quiet and happy during church.  Sometimes I wonder why I bother going because all I do is chase her around, and I don't get much from the meetings.  So, when I saw this project I knew I was going to make one for her.  We haven't had an opportunity to use it during church yet, but I sure hope it will give us the congregation, a few minutes of peace and quiet!

I used pictures of our family and people that are important to her, as well as pictures that have meaning and importance to our church.

It was quick, cheap and easy, three things I really like about a project!   I bought name badge holders from Wal Mart.  I paid $1.50 for a 12 pack.  The size of the opening in the name badge thing was approx. 2.5" x 3" so I used a photo editing program to re-size all of my pictures just a little smaller than that.  I printed out the re-sized photos on photo paper because I happened to have some on hand.  If I hadn't had the photo paper, I would have just used white cardstock.  After that, it was as simple as cutting cardstock and decorative paper to the right size, adhering my pictures, and slipping them into the name badge holders.  After that was all done, I twisted each name badge holder onto a key ring that I already had on hand.  Using book rings for this would have been a little easier, but I didn't have any and the key ring worked just fine.  After getting them all on the key ring, I simply added a few pieces of ribbon for a little embellishment. 

It was so easy, I even made one for my nephew!