Can I make a request for the recipe Jayson uses for his hamburger buns? My second request is for Casey's Kahuna Burgers!

Fondant

(definitely not the most beautiful cake you've ever seen, but
it's one of the cutest ones I've made! It was for Zane and
Renny's white coat ceremony.)

Sara mentioned fondant the other day and so I really wanted to try and make it. I found this fabulous recipe online. Here's the link.

I used Alton Brown's cupcake recipe for the cake: here.
You can find the recipe written here.
Then just pour half of the batter in one 8 inch round cake pan and the other half in the other one.

And then Jayson just melted down frozen strawberries with sugar to make the filling in the middle of the two layers. Plus some buttercream frosting.

After assembling the cake put a thin layer of buttercream frosting over the entire cake then decorate with the fondant! Have fun!

Pasta Al Forno

This recipe comes from my friend Ugo who is a born and bred Italian! We really like this and it makes a TON! - Penne pasta
- Ragu' sauce (meat sauce);
- Bechamel sauce (white sauce);
- Shredded mozzarella cheese;
- Shredded Parmesan cheese;
- Dry basil.

For the Ragu' sauce:
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil;-
1 carrot finely chopped;-
1/4 onion finely chopped;-
1 bouillon cube;-
1lb lean ground beef;-
2 cans of tomato sauce (15oz. each);-
salt and pepper to taste;-
1 pinch of sugar.

Saute the carrot and onion in the oil in a medium size sauce pan. Add the bouillon cube and ground beef. Stir well until beef is brown. Add tomato sauce and 1/2 can of water (about 1 cup). Add salt, pepper and sugar. Continue to cook on low heat for at least one hour, stirring occasionally.

For the Bechamel Sauce:
1/2 cup of butter
1 tsp of nutmeg
1 pinch of black pepper
1/2 cup of white flour
1 qt. milk.

Place butter, nutmeg and black pepper in a sauce pan and melt on low heat. Mix half of the milk with the flour in a blender and add it to the butter together with the rest of the milk. Stir continually on low-medium heat until sauce thickens.

Putting it all together:
Cook and drain pasta. Mix with Ragu' sauce and place in a pyrex pan (13x9). Pour the bechamel on the past with the help of a large spoon. Generously sprinkle the cheeses and add a touch of dry basil for color and taste. Cover with aluminum foil and place in the fridge or freezer until ready to eat it. At that time, bake it for 1 hour at 350F, remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

Brazilian Lemonade

This drink is so refreshing and so Easy! Give it a try and anyone who wants to borrow my blender is welcome to do so! I got this recipe from Allrecipes. A site I love and where I get 90% of my recipes. Enjoy! Let me know how you like it!
2 limes
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
3 cups water
ice

Wash limes thoroughly. Cut off the ends and slice into eight wedges. Place limes in a blender with the sugar, sweetened condensed milk, water, and ice.
Blend in an electric blender, pulsing 5 times. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove rinds. Serve over ice.

so can we make requests for recipes? if we can I would like the recipe for Shauna's pasta with the white and red sauce. (I think it got deleted off my email, sorry Shauna!)

Honey Mustard Chicken

HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN

8-9 Chicken Breasts
1 cup honey
1 tsp. curry powder
½ cup butter
½ cup mustard
Salt

Melt butter and whip in the rest. Cover chicken and bake at 375 for one hour.

This is a great recipe you can throw together with items you usually always have on hand. I 1/2 the recipe for our family and only cook it for 35-45 minutes and serve with rice. The sauce is really good to pour over the rice.

Easy to Find

Last post from me today - I promise! I just thought of a few ideas that would make recipes easier to find for future use.
- It's easier to see the title of the recipe if it's in bold type.
- And labels. At the bottom of each post there's a 'labels for this post' section where you can type key words. Just type all the words in your recipe' s title - eg for Sara's Turtle Cake I typed: chocolate, cake, caramel, turtle. Then when I click on one of these words it will pull up all recipes that have that word in the 'labels for this post' section. So they'll all be linked together. Also if anyone knows how to add a google search on the blog that would be great to have!

I was also thinking that it does link our names to the blog as contributors, but what if we also posted a picture of ourselves along the side? There's so many of us down here that like to practice photography we should be able to get fabulous looking portraits. Just an idea. Let me know!

What's in a name?

When I created this blog I couldn't really think of anything clever to name it. So let's rename it! Just leave a comment with your suggested name and in a week I'll put up a poll list on the side and the name with the most votes wins! Here are some of the suggested ones all ready:

The Biga - it's the yeast concoction that makes bread taste so yummy
Domestic Goddess
Fixn's 'n Mix'ns

So suggest away!

Brittany's Poppy Seed Dressing

I love this dressing! Brittany, I hope you don't mind that I'm sharing it before you, but I seriously always have this dressing in my fridge!

1/4 c sugar
1 c oil
1/3 c cider vinegar
1 T. chopped dried onions (I almost never have the dried ones so I use fresh ones sometimes)
1T poppy seeds (they're cheap in Grenada)
1 tsp dry mustard (I've used sandwich mustard for this before and it was fine)
1 tsp. salt

I hope you like it as much as I do!

easy dinner idea

Chicken Parmesan Pasta

• 1 12 oz package of pasta (we use bow tie)
• 2-3 chicken breasts boiled and shredded (we use canned chicken sometimes)
  
• 1 cube margarine or butter
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbs garlic powder
• 1 Tbs parsley flakes

Cook pasta and add the chicken. In a separate pan melt the butter and add the cheese, parsley flakes and garlic powder stir together and poor over the pasta mixture.
serve immediately (it is better hot). We usually have biscuits with jam on the side.
Enjoy!

Turtle Cake

This is a variation I made of a cake my mom has made for a long time. It's usually made with a toffee candy bar melted into a thick sauce. Instead, I used a caramel sauce recipe we already had. If anyone has a suggestion on how to make the caramal sauce thicker, it would be greatly appreciated. That way the caramel layer would be more distinct in the cake. But regardless, this is very delicious!

Turtle Cake

Swiss (or regular) chocolate cake mix
1 c. pecans
1 bag chocolate chips
Caramel Sauce

Make cake mix and pour half into greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 350. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the caramel sauce:
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup corn (Karo) syrup
Bring to a boil, and let boil for a couple of minutes. Done.

Pour most of the caramel sauce over baked cake and sprinkle nuts and chocolate chips. Pour remaining cake batter on top. Bake for 30 minutes. When the cake has cooled a bit, you can pour the remaining caramel sauce on top. It makes the cake even more divine!

Let me know how it works out for you.

New Ideas

This blog was an idea - and easy solution - to a problem we all have, what to make for dinner. So my friends and I have decided to make a communal blog of what we make for dinner. And when we get together and someone asks for a recipe they only have to type it out once and then it's forever stored on the blog where we can all use it again and again without the risk of it getting lost. Hope you enjoy!

And the first recipe is ...

Alton Brown's Leek & Potato Soup

3 Tbl butter
1 lbs leeks (about 3-4 leeks)
14 oz potatoes (about 3-4 potatoes)
1 qrt (4c) veggie broth
1c cream
1c buttermilk (substitute 1Tbl vinegar and 1c milk - let it sit for a few minutes)
1 tsp white pepper

- melt the butter in a soup pot on medium
- add leeks and a pinch of salt - hear sizzle then turn it down so you don't really hear anything to 'sweat' the leeks for 20-25 minutes
- add the peeled and chopped potatoes
- add beggie broth
- bring to boil then turn down to a low simmer for about 45 minutes
- puree the soup
- add your dairy
YUM!

Note: Honestly, I wouldn't add that much dairy the next time I make it. I think I'll try it with just a cup of milk. That's a lot of fat and I don't think it makes that much of a difference.

So if you make this and you like it leave a comment so we all know! Or if you make variations to the recipe to make it better - again let us know so we too can enjoy!

Hopefully this will become a fabulous reference for us all - not only those in Grenada - but all of us around!

Ciao