Recipe book giveaway number 1!!

One of my most favorite wedding presents that I received was a handmade Cookbook binder from my brother. It was a three ring binder filled with page protectors and on the outside he had inserted food related cartoons  he had torn out from some of his favorite Calvin and Hobbes books. (that’s love right there let me tell ya!) He also filled it with some great recipes. It was an awesome gift to me, a new bride, who hadn’t done much more than cooking mac n cheese from a box before then! He knew I was gonna need all the help I could get! And you know what? After 12 years, I STILL have that cookbook, and it is STILL my main one I always turn to! I won’t post photo’s of it, as in 12 years of dedicated and faithful use its seen it’s share of spills and wear. But that’s why the page protectors are so great!none of the actual recipes ever got messed up! And It’s now also filled with with recipe clippings and recipes on scratch paper, and others of all different shapes and sizes. Another plus to this method of cookbook, you can use any size paper and not worry about loosing it! Even if it’s written out on a paper napkin! I still have all the original recipes that he added right in the beginning of the book.

So let me just stop for a min and say again ” THANKS JOHN! I LOVE IT! AND USE IT CONSTANTLY!”

Recently I combined my love of cooking with my love of Rubber stamping. (wait did I just say my love of cooking? the reluctant chef loves cooking? WOW I’ve come a long way!) anyway, I wanted to pass on the gift and share the binder cookbook idea with others! So I have whipped up some new handmade recipe binders to give away, complete with 20 page protectors to start you off, and I will also include in a few family recipes to get the ball rolling for you!

 

So here’s the first one that I am giving away. And I need to give it away soon or I’ll keep it!! I just love these colors! I’m hoping someone out there will too. This one is made out of pretty Purple and Aqua colors. It’s adorned with a really cute chef holding a cupcake (I had to put my love for cupcakes in there somewhere!

 

here’s a pic of both sides

 

I don’t think the winner will be dissapointed!

So the question is, would you like to have this recipe binder?

If so, and in celebration of Memorial day weekend , just leave me a comment and tell me what’s your favorite summer food? What are you looking forward to eating the most this summer? is it ice cream? corn on the cob? watermelon? what do you crave on hot summer days? For me I think it’s going to be grilled shrimp this year. I can’t stop craving it! A nice cool fruity drink sounds sooo good too! ok back to you, what does it for you in the hot summer months?? Be sure to leave me a way to contact you!

One entry per person please, if you’d like to be entered twice you may tweet the contest and link back to the blog post for a second entry  (my twitter name is Reluctant_chef) you must add me so I can see it!

Contest will end at Midnight Monday May 25th. (I’m giving it several days since I know many of us will be in and out doing fun memorial day activies and getaways (yours truely included

Winner will be picked by a random number generator and announced on Tuesday May 26th

I have more on the way if purple and aqua don’t do it for you

Good luck and HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY (WEEKEND)

 

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Fishing cake

This is a purely selfish blog post. My husbands birthday was yesterday and I knew I wanted to make him a special cake that was all about HIM. His most favorite place in the entire world is in a boat on a lake with a fishing pole in his hands. So it was no question what his cake needed to look like! I quickly sketched up exactly how I wanted it to look. It actually took me all of five min. to figure it out, which was good because I only had about 7 min before our church service was starting! It took me two days to make this cake from start to finish. Not whole days though, I was out of the house with it at 11 am to deliver it on day two. I took it to his office so he could share. When the cake was completed I busted out in a fit of giggles and couldn’t stop. It looked exactly like I had planned it out.  I couldn’t believe it. It was cute!  lol. So without further ado, here is my hubby fishin on a lake, lol!

 

 

 

I definitely intend to get more practice in on making people.  (need to work on my people skills, ha ha) This was my first time, and he came out kinda blocky, but I needed to make sure that he was going to be stable enough. Cause we women like our men stable

 

Close up of the cat tails. Everything on this cake is completely edible, minus the fishing pole and fishing line

 

 

Close up of the bass fish that he caught, splashing out of the lake

 

the lilly pads. I wanted to make tiny frogs too, but ran out of time. I was tickled the flowers turned out so well

 

Back view of the cake, notice the fish in the boat that he already caught.

 

Here’s a better view of the fishing line.

 

 

The boat was cake that I carved out and covered with fondant.

 

 

I only use homemade Marshmallow fondant on my cakes. I won’t use anything else. Not only is it edible, but it actually tastes great! (think cereal marshmallows)

 

So there you have it, my hubby’s fishing cake. It was so much fun ( i have to laugh here, because I originally typed FIN instead of fun, lol pun intended I suppose!)  to make and gave us all a big smile. It made it in perfect shape, even after a 45 min drive on the bumpiest interstate you could ever drive on! It didn’t last long AFTER it arrived though

Thanks for looking!

 

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Oatmeal Cream Pies

 

 

 

Today I made these homemade oatmeal cream pies. Let me tell you, they taste even better than they look! My kids are in sheer heaven. Who can resists these soft sweet cookies filled with gooey goodness?? Not me! I have been dying to try this recipe and it did not disappoint! Wanna learn how to make these yummy treats? Well follow me!!….. 

 

 

The cast and crew

you’ll need Flour, Sugar, Salt, Molasses, DARK brown Sugar, powdered sugar, Shortening, eggs, Vanilla, butter, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, & rolled oats

I tweeked the original recipe just a bit for a sweeter filling that was less salty than the original, but not too sweet, the cookie holds most of the sweetness itself!

 

 

In a bowl, combine 1 3/4 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tsp baking soda, & 1/8 tsp cinnamon, mix it all up

 

In a seperate mixing bowl, cream together  1 cup of softened butter (2 sticks) , 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, & 1/2 cup granulated sugar

 

 

Add in 2 eggs, one at a time, beating after each.

 

Mix in 1 Tbsp Molasses and 1 tsp Vanilla

 

 

cream well

 

Now slowly add in flour mixture a little at a time until just blended.

 

Now hand mix in 1 1/2 cups whole rolled oats (NOT quick oats! they are too mushy)

 

Spoon tablespoon sized dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Two important things to remember here. Don’t go bigger than a Tablespoon size or so, these cookies will SPREAD, so don’t use too much at once. Also, using parchment paper on your pan will allow the cookies to pop right off while still holding their shape, very important to be able to make these into pies

 

 Space them out well to give them lots of room to spread, you don’t want to cram these together

 

Bake cookies at 350 for 8 – 10 min. Watch them carefully. You want just the edges to start to brown, the middle will still look wet/uncooked, and thats OKAY! it allows the cookie to fall flat and get that oatmeal pie look. It will be fully cooked don’t worry.

let cookies cool completely

 

Now let’s make the filling!

 

Place 1/4 tsp of salt in a small cup. Add in 3 tsp of very hot water and stir allowing salt to dissolve. Set aside to cool.

 

in a mixing bowl add in one 7 oz jar of marshmallow cream fluff

 

 

Now add 1/2 cup of shortening. STAY WITH ME! I know I know, eww ick, ack, but your going to have to TRUST ME on this! No, unfortunately you can not substitute with butter, it just won’t work. Dump in the shortening real quick and do what I did, just pretend it is now marshmallow fluff and don’t give it another thought! lets move on, quick…….

 

 

add 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, and 1 tsp of Vanilla

 

 

Mix on high 3-4 min until fluffy.

 

 

Now pour in salted water and mix well again

 

 

Ta-da, we have marshmallowy cream for our pies

 

 

Now take one cooled cookie and slather on the good stuff

 

Top with another cookie and EAT!

 

Whew! and we’re done!

 Store in a closed container to keep cookies soft.

 

My review of this recipe:

 

The cookies are sweet and soft, just the way a cream pie should be. The filling is oogy gooey and (WARNING) messy! I was planning on sending these to the Hub’s office, but the tops kept wanting to slide off, and  the filling kept slowly oozing out the centers. It was like it was continuously trying to expand. No big deal really, just not the greatest for presentation wise. So unfortunately for us (HA!) they had to stay home to be eaten by the family   After sitting in a sealed container for several hours I think the filling has finally set enough to where its not moving around anymore, but they are still ooey gooey!

The kids all say these are better than the store bought ones hands down.

I give it an A for taste and a B- for presentation. Trust me, no one’s gonna care how they look once they sink their teeth into them!
Oh and I got 18 oatmeal pies out of this recipe
ENJOY!

 

 

Based on a recipe from Recipe Zaar.  Adapted for taste

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• Cream Filling
• 3 tsp very hot water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow cream
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Process

1. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl.

2. In large mixing bowl, cream margarine and sugars. Add in eggs, beating after each. Finally beat in molasses and vanilla.

3. Add to the flour mixture to creamed mixture and beat until just blended; mix in the oats with a wooden spoon.

4. Drop dough by tablespoons on parchment lined sheets, with plenty of space in between.  Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 8 – 10 minutes, or until just starting to brown around the edges. They will look moist; don’t overcook ( Let sit on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

5. While the cookies are cooling, prepare the filling. In small bowl, dissolve the salt in the hot water. Set aside and allow this to cool.

6. Combine marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl; mix on high until fluffy , about 3-4 minutes

7. Add the cooled salt water and mix well

8. Spread filling on flat side of one cookie, press 2nd cookie on top.

Makes 1 1/2 – 2 dozen

    Store in a closed container to keep cookies soft. 

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