Fresh Bread

You can tell which day a loaf of bread was baked by the color of its twist tie, the colors go alphabetically.

Crab Gorgonzola Linguini

2Tb. butter
1/4 C. milk or half and half
1 large can of fresh crab sold in butcher's fish case($15 or so)
Gorgonzola cheese (1/4 C.?)
black pepper, paprika, Ruthy's chicken and fish seasoning is good (Penzeys)

Saute the crab in the butter so give it more flavor. Season liberaly. Add just enough cream make it sauce-like. Add cheese to thicken. Serve over spaghetti. I got hand made vegetable (beet and spinach powder) linguini. It was delicious!!

Princess Dress

Sewed this dress for my favorite 3 year old.  It is made with blue satin and sparkly organza. There is a 14" zipper down the back. I also made a cancan slip for underneath the dress. SOOOO fluffy!!

Tabouli

Last night was taco night. I still have leftover salsa in the refrigerator. Tabouli will be a great way to use the leftovers.

1 C. bulgar wheat
2 C. boiling water
leftover salsa

Place bulgar wheat in a bowl.  Pour boiling water over the wheat. Use a plate or something to cover the bowl.  It takes about 10 minutes to fully absorb the water it needs; you can pour off any extra water after 10 minutes. Use a fork to fluff your wheat. Add salsa to the bowl and refrigerate. Serve with hummus and kebabs. YUM!

Coconut Cake with 7 Minute Icing

14 1/4 ounces cake flour, plus extra for pans, approximately 3 cups
(we are subtracting 1/2 C. of the cake flour, and adding 1/2 C. coconut flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh coconut milk
1/2 cup fresh coconut cream
(we are adding an extra 1/2 C. milk to compensate for coconut flour)
8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
16 ounces sugar, approximately 2 1/4 cups
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 egg whites
1/3 cup coconut water

Thank you Food Network
 534 calories per slice, but very low in cholesterol and sodium, and high in selenium.

Plant not Mushroom

Conopholis americana, American cancer-root or squawroot or bear corn, is a perennial, non-photosynthesizing parasitic plant, from the family Orobanchaceae and more recently from the genus Conopholis but also listed as Orobanche, native but not endemic to North America and when blooming, resembles a pine cone or cob of corn growing from the roots of mostly oak and beech trees.

7-Minute Frosting/Swiss Meringue

1/3 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 tablespoon white corn syrup
1 1/2 cup sugar
2   egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water and egg whites into a mixing bowl and beat for 1 minute with a handheld electric mixer.  Using the double boiler method, place the bowl over the top of rapidly boiling water, making sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top bowl.  (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy.)  Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes.  Remove the bowl from the boiler and gently stir in vanilla with a spatula.

Variations:
Chocolate: Fold in 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled, before spreading.
Marshmallow: Add 1 cup quartered marshmallows when removing frosting from the heat, beat by hand until spreadable.
"Sea foam" or brown sugar frosting: Use packed measure of brown sugar instead of white. Omit the corn syrup or cream of tartar.

Coconut Preparation

2 coconuts
vegetable peeler
food processor or lots of patience and a box grater
1 C. 2% milk (boiling)
1/2 C. vodka
3 containers

Peel and shred coconuts. Store leftover coconut in refrigerator.

Coconut Milk	Coconut Cream	Coconut Extract
1/2 C. milk	1/2 C. milk	1/2 C. vodka
2 oz. coconut	4 oz. coconut	1.5 oz. coconuta
combine in a container	combine in a container	combine in a container
steep for 7 hours	steep for 7 hours	steep for 7 days
puree in food processor	puree in food processor
strain thru cheesecloth	strain thru cheesecloth	strain thru cheesecloth

These will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.  We will be using everything to make coconut cake.

Coconut Flour
Take your left over coconut pulp and place on a baking tray and place your oven on it's lowest setting 170-200 degrees until dry.  Check often to make sure it doesn't burn.  Transfer your dry coconut flakes to a food processor or coffee grinder and pulse until it's a fine texture.

Cake flour

All purpose flour (3 C.),corn starch (6 Tbs.),sifter

 

Measure out the amount needed for your recipe.  For every 1 cup of flour remove 2 Tbsp of flour. Now add 2 Tbsp of Cornstarch for every 1 cup of flour.  Sift 5-6 times and it's ready-to-use cake flour.

The flour we are using to make our coconut cake will be 2.5 C. ap flour, 5 Tb. corn starch, and 1/2 C, coconut flour. We will need to add and extra 1/2 C. milk to compensate for the coconut flour. (It's like a sponge)

Orchids

Lowes does a very bad job keeping their plants alive.  You can almost always find discounted rejects on the bargain shelf.  With mother's day approaching, I was very excited to find some new orchids!  These square vases are on sale at Michaels this week for $2.99.

Orchid

Meet the newest member of the family. Onc. Tsoku Marguerite

Fairy Door

Ive been reading a lot about urban fairies and fairy doors.  I am installing one in my apartment soon. I am working on two of them right now.

Spring

Caturday