Were the French the first to dip thick slices of bread into an eggy batter and fry them up? Some say yes, some say no, and we'll probably never know for sure. Regardless, one of the most popular breakfasts in America will always be known as French toast.
It seems like every culture has some variation of French toast (and the legitimacy of these is questionable, as I found it all on Wikipedia):
*In Germany, the dish is called Arme Ritter ("poor knights") and is sometimes filled with plum jam or vanilla sauce. If it's made with wine instead of milk, it's referred to as Betrunkene Jungfrau, "drunken virgin." Ha.
*In Italy, a variation is served as mozzarella in carrozza ("mozzarella in carriage"). In this version, a slice of fresh mozzarella is sandwiched between two slices of bread and the whole dipped in egg and fried. It is often topped with a tomato sauce and garnished with some chopped parsley and grated cheese to make three broad stripes of green, white and red, the colors of the Italian flag.
*In India, the version is savory rather than sweet, and the egg is beaten with milk, salt, green chili, and chopped onion. Bread is dunked into this mixture and is deep fried in butter or cooking oil. It's normally served with ketchup.
Why should you care? You shouldn't. I just try to spread the knowledge. Plus, I like French toast. I like it so much, I tried to transition it into cupcake form.
The cake part is of the fluffy and moist coffee cake variety, and the streusel imparts the cinnamon-vanilla aspect that is oh-so-important in French toast.
The plain truth is that these tasted nothing like French toast. The texture was (obviously) wrong and the flavor just wasn't close either. Does that upset me? Not at all, because even though these cupcakes bore no resemblance to French toast, they were extremely delicious and fun.
Any pointers or suggestions for my next attempt?
French Toast Cupcakes
Makes 24
Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
Streusel topping:
Maple buttercream frosting
3-4 pieces of bacon, cooked until crispy, drained, and chopped
Directions:
To make the streusel topping, whisk the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together.
Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or with your hands).
Place the streusel topping in the fridge until ready to be used.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin pans with paper liners.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
Beat together the butter and the sugar until fluffy, then add the eggs and beat until completely combined; mix in the vanilla.
Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture, and then fold in the sour cream.
Evenly fill the prepared cupcake cups, then sprinkle on the streusel topping, pressing it in a bit as you go.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Cool completely.
Make the frosting as instructed and generously apply it to the cooled cupcakes.
Sprinkle chopped bacon atop each cupcake.
11 Ekim 2012 Perşembe
a lil francophilia
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DO-IT-YOURSELF HOME SPA PARTY
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Are you tired? Overwhelmed? Stressed? Feel like you need a lift? Could you just use some gal time? Who couldn’t, right?!! A spa is great place to experience such a pick-me-up. But a trip to a spa can be costly, and these days, most of us are tightening up our spending a bit (and most of us would like to tighten up our tummies too. Hmmmm.). Well, the truth is, you can still have a spa experience and share it with a group of gal friends, and not have to spend bu-ku bucks. You just need to plan your own spa day at home. It can be done rather inexpensively (or more lavishly, depending on your budget), and it’s a nice “gift” if you will to share with your friends.
This past Sunday I hosted a spa party for 17 of my friends at my home. We started late morning and went until early evening. People could arrive or leave whenever they wanted. It was a relaxing, refreshing day. We might have been filling up our tummies more than we were tightening them, but we sure enjoyed ourselves in the process.
Here’s what you need to do to have your own home spa party:
INVITATIONS
Send out your invitations at least 2-3 weeks in advance, so that most of your guests will have enough notice to block out some time to be able to come. I used a spa design invitation available on evite. Evite had several cute spa party invitations to choose from.
SET THE MOOD
* Make your home a “testosterone-free zone” during the spa party. You need to make sure your husband and sons have an alternative activity they can do while your party is going on. Believe me, they’re not going to hang around. There is just something about aromatherapy candles and music CDs with “feng shui” in the titles that really creeps out a lot of guys. After I picked out the date and time for my spa party, the Sweat males in my household planned a “guys afternoon.” One of my sons’ friends (and the son of one of my guests) opted to hang out with them for the afternoon too. They went to Home Depot and Cabella’s, and then headed over to a friend’s home (the husband of one of my other spa party guests) to watch the Chicago Bears football game (I won’t say anything more about that, since I have one family member who is quite unhappy right now about how the Bears have been playing without Jay Cutler).
Here’s a photo of my husband, two sons and their friend, filling our fireplace with wood before our spa party. They wouldn’t look at my camera or me or my friends who were helping me set up; I think they were worried we already had robes on (but we didn’t!). But they were very sweet to get a fire going for us before they left. The crackling fire really added a lot to the whole spa ambiance.
If you have small children, you will probably want to send them to a babysitter or a relative’s house while you’re having your party. Ask your guests to leave their kids at home too. This is one event you’re not going to want any distractions from young children.
* Music Play List. My choices were two piano melodies: “A Peaceful Soak” by George Nascimento, and “Spa” by Roger St. Denis. We played each CD several times during the afternoon—not too loud—but enough we could hear them. They really set a relaxing, mellow mood for us, and nobody minded if we played the same tunes over and over again.
* Decorate. For a splurge, I ordered two eucalyptus scented candles Thymes (www.thymes.com). I don’t always like a lot of scented candles; sometimes they can smell artificial or too strong. But these Thymes candles have a wonderful, earthy fragrance that is not too strong, and each is advertised to burn for at least 40 hours. I placed about 20 other aromatherapy candles throughout my kitchen, dining room, family room and first floor bathrooms—some large, others smaller votives--all “herby” or earthy scents that complemented with, or at least didn’t compete with, the eucalyptus candles.
I also placed four wicker baskets filled with hand towels and wash cloths in various locations—my center island and countertop area in the kitchen, the coffee table in my family room, and on the seating area in front of the fireplace. This added to the spa feel, and also was very functional.
You can see in the very top photo at the beginning of this blog post that I also placed wooden massage hand tools out on tabletops--further adding to the spa atmosphere.
ATTIRE
Most of the time the dress for any of my parties is “comfy casual.” That’s especially true for a spa party. Since my home was a “testosterone-free zone” for the day, I told my guests they were welcome to bring robes and slippers to change into once they arrived—just like you’d do at a “real” spa. Or, if they weren’t comfortable with that, at the very least I suggested they wear comfy sweat pants (elastic waistbands—my favorite!), soft and roomy shirts, and flip flops. Since the hot tub would be on all afternoon outside, I also encouraged guests to bring their swimsuits.
THE TREATMENTS
There are many different treatments you can offer at your home spa. I decided to focus on the face, hands and feet. It’s good to designate a room in the house for each of your spa services, and have a schedule in mind of what you plan to do when. First, we did the face and hand treatments in the kitchen (although guests were welcome to recline in the family room while their masks were on) and that followed with the foot treatments in the family room. Lunch was mid-afternoon. We did detox wraps and Mary Kay makeovers after lunch. I sent out my schedule ahead of time to my evite list of what I was planning. That way if guests only had a couple hours free to come to the party, they could choose when to arrive. Not everyone could stay for the full 11 am to 5 pm block of time I had allotted for the event.
For the face, we had four different kinds of masks that guests could choose from. All of the ones I chose were good for normal to dry “sensitive” skin, and helped add softness and moisture. The ones with fruit and grains help to naturally exfoliate the skin, cleansing deeply into the pores.
The first three mask mixtures were homemade concoctions. You can’t make these up too far in advance, but I didn’t want to have to stop and mix them up after everyone arrived either. So I made these up about 1 hour before guests arrived. Each of these recipes makes enough for 2-4 people.
* Dark chocolate mask
2/3 cup cocoa
¼ cup heavy cream
2 T. cottage cheese
½ cup honey
2 T. oatmeal, ground finely
Mix all of the ingredients together in a blender until smooth.
*Lavender mask
1 cup oatmeal
2 T. flax seeds
2 T. dried lavender buds
1/3 cup Bentonite or white cosmetic clay (available at Whole Foods and health food stores)
2-3 T. almond or olive oil
Optional but a nice touch: 1-2 drops of lavender essential oil
Put ingredients in a food processor or coffee grinder and blend to create a smooth, thick paste.
*Avocado banana mask
1 ripe avocado, pitted
1 ripe banana
2 T. flax seed or whole wheat flour
¼ cup plain or vanilla yogurt
Mash together the banana and avocado with a potato masher. Add the flax or flour and the yogurt and blend until smooth.
* Black mud masks. One of my guests brought a jar of Dead Sea Black Mud, which many of us used on our faces. This was great! Dead Sea mud is known for alleviating dry, dull skin, along with helping with skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis and acne. Made with Dead Sea minerals, plant extracts, seaweed, olive oil and other organic matter, this product is good for all over your body, not just on your face. It’s easy to use. Just apply about a 1/8 inch layer to your skin, leave on for 20 minutes until completely dry, and then rinse off with warm water. You can buy a 16-oz. jar of this product from Amazon.com for $25.49 (with free shipping). My guests loved it!!
The same person who brought the black mud, also brought some lovely sugar scrubs—in very soothing, minty scents—for us to use to apply to our faces when removing our masks. I also had facial moisturizers on hand to use post-face masks.
Before the party, I had gone down to Dollar Tree and Dollar General and bought several packages of cloth hair bands and ties, so that guests could tie back their hair. I also bought small spatulas and spongy paint brushes for applying the masks. These were all set out on the countertop. So the first thing everyone did was tie back their hair. Guests found a partner, and then each would gently spread the mask mixture on the other’s face. Then they could lie in a reclined position for the next 15-20 minutes, with cucumber slices on their eyes (which we all know soothes tired eyes). Afterwards the masks were rinsed off with warm water and a soft cloth.
For the hands we had:
* Pumpkin Hand Mask/Wrap
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
¼ cup honey
Mix pumpkin and honey together; warm slightly in microwave. Dip hands in bowl to get a good coating of the pumpkin mixture. Put each hand into a gallon-sized plastic bag and press bags around hands. Relax with the bags tightly around your hands for 15 minutes before rinsing.
* Paraffin wax treatments. I got out my HoMedics ParaSpa paraffin wax bath, and guests took turns dipping their hands in for a warm melted wax treatment. Afterwards, everyone placed plastic gallon-sized storage bags on their waxed hands. After 15 minutes, the bags and wax were removed, and our hands felt soothed, hydrated and smooth. It’s welcome relief during cold weather when our skin is dry and chapped!
For the feet we had:
*Herbal foot soaks
I set out 8 plastic dishwashing tubs for guests to take turns using for soaking their feet. I found some wonderful recipes online and in some of my home spa recipe books for making homemade foot soaks. I also found a product online called Dancin’ Feet Herbal Foot Soak (available from www.localharvest.com) and decided to go with that instead of making my own, since it was a really good price and actually less costly than making my own concoctions. A 5 oz. bag costs $4.95, and each bag is filled with a mixture of peppermint, rosemary and thyme leaves, Yarrow flowers, orange peel, rose petals, sea salt, oatmeal and essential oils. It comes with muslin bags, which you fill, and then toss into a tub of warm water. Basically it’s like a foot soak tea bag, and it smells so-o-o-o good! We got about 8 foot soaks out of each package.
After soaking their feet, guests could apply foot creams and a nice, herby peel-off foot masks (I bought several tubes of Earth Therapeutics Tea Tree Oil foot peel for this). I also plugged in my HoMedics Elite Foot Massager and set it down in front of a comfy chair—which provided professional deep kneading massage with heat for the feet—for guests to use.
For all of these treatments, you’ll need bathroom areas and kitchen sinks available so guests can clean and rinse. We had two guest bedrooms downstairs and an extra large double sink on our center island that everyone could use for this. Besides the baskets of hand towels and washcloths that I already mentioned, I also set out a basket of disposable facial wipes, cotton balls and Q-tips on the kitchen counter, along with a large magnifying makeup mirror which was helpful for guests who were applying their own masks.
I know a gal who sells Mary Kay makeup, and she was available to do makeovers for anyone who wanted. This was offered after all the other treatments were done, and we had this gal set up in our front office, which served as her own makeup salon.
If guests wanted, they were welcome to use the outdoor hot tub any time during the afternoon. I had a stack of beach towels ready for them and at their disposal, and plastic goblets too so they could sip and chat outside in the tub.
* “It Works!” detox wrap
In addition to the services already mentioned, I also ordered a number of It Works! body and chin/neck detox wraps that guests could purchase. Most of us have a lot of toxins in our body. They come from environmental pollutants, and the foods we consume (soda, alcohol, coffee and processed foods are some of the biggest culprits!). If we’re under a lot of stress, that can cause more toxins to build up in our bodies. These toxins are stored in our fat cells. As more toxins build up, our fat cells increase in size(and therefore our body size). The wraps from It Works are designed to detox your body, causing you to skin to tighten and tone up. You lose inches in the process. The majority of my guests took advantage of the opportunity to try either or both a chin/neck or body (which was applied to the tummies) wrap. We did these towards the end of the afternoon, following lunch. The wraps were left on for 45 minutes, during which guests were to drink 2-3 glasses of water. As is typical, after their wraps were removed, my guests reported that they lost between ½ and 2 inches on their waistline. I haven’t talked to any of my guests in the last 24 hours, but generally people lose even more in the 72 hours after a wrap treatment. I can’t wait to hear how they did! I do think this is a great product, one that is a perfect addition to a spa party. If you’d like to have It Works! at your own spa party, or if you’d just like to get more information, here’s a website you can check out: http://trimyourbody.itworks.net.
Other spa services you could offer at your own spa party: You can hire licensed professionals to come and give mini-services without all the extras like robes and slippers. A nail tech gives manicures and pedicures, a massage therapist gives massage, and an esthetician can give mini-facials and do make-up. You can find them online, or, you could call a local beauty school to see if one of their graduates or students could come out and do facials and manicures.
Sometimes athletic clubs can refer you to massage professionals. I found one masseuse who did shoulder massages for $1 a minute, plus a $20 set-up fee. She only required that we could provide her a minimum of two hours of work. Guests would just need to pay for the number of minutes they wanted her massaging them. We ended up not using her, though, because we didn’t have enough people who wanted shoulder massages. Still, I thought I’d mention this anyway, just in case you might want to do it at your own spa party.
The great thing about spa parties is there’s a long list of treatments you could offer. You could offer manicures, pedicures, yoga sessions, facials, massages — the choices are endless. You just have to choose which services are best for your particular group of guests.
THE CUISINE
Late morning and all afternoon snacks and refreshments:
**Pitchers of ice water with fruit, cucumbers, mint leaves
**One beverage dispenser filled with iced strawberry pomegranate herb tea and a pitcher of iced blueberry herb tea
**Bottles of sparkling water and sparkling juice/cider
**Hot herb tea and decaf coffee service
**Fresh fruit platters
**Raw vegetables and dip platters
**Trays of garlic humus and pita chips
**Cucumber sandwiches
**Garlic cheeseball and crackers
**Mini banana nut bread loaves and mini cranberry pumpkin bread loaves--sliced
About 2:30 pm, I served lunch, which was a large tossed salad bar buffet on my kitchen center island, which I called “Sweat Tomatoes.” (I put the sign next to the bowl of tomatoes, which literally were “Sweat tomatoes,” because my husband had just picked from our garden.) Guests could choose from the following to make their own customized tossed salads, just like they would get a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant:
--Red-tipped leaf lettuce
--Spinach leaves
--Shredded red cabbage
--Sliced green onions
--Sliced cucumbers
--Sliced celery
--Sliced fresh mushrooms
--Alfalfa sprouts
--Bean sprouts
--Sliced red, yellow and green bell peppers
--Shredded carrots
--Broccoli flowerets
--Cauliflower flowerets
--Black olives
--Garbanzo beans (chick peas)
--Canned corn
--Canned black beans
--Grilled, marinated chicken, cut in strips
--Diced hard-boiled eggs
--Croutons
--Tortilla strips
--Candied walnuts for salads
--Almond Accents
--Grated cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses
--Eight different salad dressings (including my favorite, homemade creamy cilantro)
For dessert, we had:
--Mini chocolate and raspberry mousse cups for dessert
--Belgian chocolate cup candies
--Fruit salad
Several of my guests offered to bring food items, and I had them bring a lot of the afternoon snack trays and bottled beverages, and fruit salad for dessert. That eased my workload and helped me in terms of refrigerator space (I only have space to store so many trays and bowls of food that have been prepared!).
We had a lot of food leftover, but that meant I had something to feed to my hungry husband and sons after they returned home that evening. Since the Bears lost in overtime, I made sure to have some leftover chocolate cups on hand to give to my literally-grieving 16-year-old son. I was also able to send some “doggie bags” (or more appropriately, “hubby bags”) for the husbands of ladies who had come to the party. We usually have a lot of leftover food, and can’t eat it all by ourselves. I always try to have disposable plastic containers on hand for big parties, so that guests can take some extra food home. And some gals did assemble some salads for their husbands before they left on Sunday.
PARTY GIFTS
It’s nice if you can give some beauty-related party favors to all of your spa party guests. I had a basket of homemade soaps and hand lotions setting out in a large basket, and let guests know they were welcome to pick out some to take home.
It may sound like a lot of work. There are ways you can cut down on expenses and prep work. For instance, you could just serve snacks. Actually, we had so many snacks sitting out on different tables during the day, many of my guests thought that WAS the meal. Some were surprised when I announced that the salad bar was ready. So you could just have snacks and put on the invitation that you would like everyone to bring a snack of some kind. I didn’t do that with this. I only had people bring food if they asked. If you wanted to have the salad bar, you could ask each guest to bring 1-2 salad bar items.
Well, I think I’ve probably given you a pretty good idea of what you can do at a spa party. It’s really a wonderful way to relax and unwind with your gal pals. Even you’re the one who’s hosting, with planning, you’re sure to come away feeling relaxed and refreshed—along with your guests!
Happy home spa-ing!
~Becky
Are you tired? Overwhelmed? Stressed? Feel like you need a lift? Could you just use some gal time? Who couldn’t, right?!! A spa is great place to experience such a pick-me-up. But a trip to a spa can be costly, and these days, most of us are tightening up our spending a bit (and most of us would like to tighten up our tummies too. Hmmmm.). Well, the truth is, you can still have a spa experience and share it with a group of gal friends, and not have to spend bu-ku bucks. You just need to plan your own spa day at home. It can be done rather inexpensively (or more lavishly, depending on your budget), and it’s a nice “gift” if you will to share with your friends.
This past Sunday I hosted a spa party for 17 of my friends at my home. We started late morning and went until early evening. People could arrive or leave whenever they wanted. It was a relaxing, refreshing day. We might have been filling up our tummies more than we were tightening them, but we sure enjoyed ourselves in the process.
Here’s what you need to do to have your own home spa party:
INVITATIONS
Send out your invitations at least 2-3 weeks in advance, so that most of your guests will have enough notice to block out some time to be able to come. I used a spa design invitation available on evite. Evite had several cute spa party invitations to choose from.
SET THE MOOD
* Make your home a “testosterone-free zone” during the spa party. You need to make sure your husband and sons have an alternative activity they can do while your party is going on. Believe me, they’re not going to hang around. There is just something about aromatherapy candles and music CDs with “feng shui” in the titles that really creeps out a lot of guys. After I picked out the date and time for my spa party, the Sweat males in my household planned a “guys afternoon.” One of my sons’ friends (and the son of one of my guests) opted to hang out with them for the afternoon too. They went to Home Depot and Cabella’s, and then headed over to a friend’s home (the husband of one of my other spa party guests) to watch the Chicago Bears football game (I won’t say anything more about that, since I have one family member who is quite unhappy right now about how the Bears have been playing without Jay Cutler).
Here’s a photo of my husband, two sons and their friend, filling our fireplace with wood before our spa party. They wouldn’t look at my camera or me or my friends who were helping me set up; I think they were worried we already had robes on (but we didn’t!). But they were very sweet to get a fire going for us before they left. The crackling fire really added a lot to the whole spa ambiance.
If you have small children, you will probably want to send them to a babysitter or a relative’s house while you’re having your party. Ask your guests to leave their kids at home too. This is one event you’re not going to want any distractions from young children.
* Music Play List. My choices were two piano melodies: “A Peaceful Soak” by George Nascimento, and “Spa” by Roger St. Denis. We played each CD several times during the afternoon—not too loud—but enough we could hear them. They really set a relaxing, mellow mood for us, and nobody minded if we played the same tunes over and over again.
* Decorate. For a splurge, I ordered two eucalyptus scented candles Thymes (www.thymes.com). I don’t always like a lot of scented candles; sometimes they can smell artificial or too strong. But these Thymes candles have a wonderful, earthy fragrance that is not too strong, and each is advertised to burn for at least 40 hours. I placed about 20 other aromatherapy candles throughout my kitchen, dining room, family room and first floor bathrooms—some large, others smaller votives--all “herby” or earthy scents that complemented with, or at least didn’t compete with, the eucalyptus candles.
I also placed four wicker baskets filled with hand towels and wash cloths in various locations—my center island and countertop area in the kitchen, the coffee table in my family room, and on the seating area in front of the fireplace. This added to the spa feel, and also was very functional.
You can see in the very top photo at the beginning of this blog post that I also placed wooden massage hand tools out on tabletops--further adding to the spa atmosphere.
ATTIRE
Most of the time the dress for any of my parties is “comfy casual.” That’s especially true for a spa party. Since my home was a “testosterone-free zone” for the day, I told my guests they were welcome to bring robes and slippers to change into once they arrived—just like you’d do at a “real” spa. Or, if they weren’t comfortable with that, at the very least I suggested they wear comfy sweat pants (elastic waistbands—my favorite!), soft and roomy shirts, and flip flops. Since the hot tub would be on all afternoon outside, I also encouraged guests to bring their swimsuits.
THE TREATMENTS
There are many different treatments you can offer at your home spa. I decided to focus on the face, hands and feet. It’s good to designate a room in the house for each of your spa services, and have a schedule in mind of what you plan to do when. First, we did the face and hand treatments in the kitchen (although guests were welcome to recline in the family room while their masks were on) and that followed with the foot treatments in the family room. Lunch was mid-afternoon. We did detox wraps and Mary Kay makeovers after lunch. I sent out my schedule ahead of time to my evite list of what I was planning. That way if guests only had a couple hours free to come to the party, they could choose when to arrive. Not everyone could stay for the full 11 am to 5 pm block of time I had allotted for the event.
For the face, we had four different kinds of masks that guests could choose from. All of the ones I chose were good for normal to dry “sensitive” skin, and helped add softness and moisture. The ones with fruit and grains help to naturally exfoliate the skin, cleansing deeply into the pores.
The first three mask mixtures were homemade concoctions. You can’t make these up too far in advance, but I didn’t want to have to stop and mix them up after everyone arrived either. So I made these up about 1 hour before guests arrived. Each of these recipes makes enough for 2-4 people.
* Dark chocolate mask
2/3 cup cocoa
¼ cup heavy cream
2 T. cottage cheese
½ cup honey
2 T. oatmeal, ground finely
Mix all of the ingredients together in a blender until smooth.
*Lavender mask
1 cup oatmeal
2 T. flax seeds
2 T. dried lavender buds
1/3 cup Bentonite or white cosmetic clay (available at Whole Foods and health food stores)
2-3 T. almond or olive oil
Optional but a nice touch: 1-2 drops of lavender essential oil
Put ingredients in a food processor or coffee grinder and blend to create a smooth, thick paste.
*Avocado banana mask
1 ripe avocado, pitted
1 ripe banana
2 T. flax seed or whole wheat flour
¼ cup plain or vanilla yogurt
Mash together the banana and avocado with a potato masher. Add the flax or flour and the yogurt and blend until smooth.
* Black mud masks. One of my guests brought a jar of Dead Sea Black Mud, which many of us used on our faces. This was great! Dead Sea mud is known for alleviating dry, dull skin, along with helping with skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis and acne. Made with Dead Sea minerals, plant extracts, seaweed, olive oil and other organic matter, this product is good for all over your body, not just on your face. It’s easy to use. Just apply about a 1/8 inch layer to your skin, leave on for 20 minutes until completely dry, and then rinse off with warm water. You can buy a 16-oz. jar of this product from Amazon.com for $25.49 (with free shipping). My guests loved it!!
The same person who brought the black mud, also brought some lovely sugar scrubs—in very soothing, minty scents—for us to use to apply to our faces when removing our masks. I also had facial moisturizers on hand to use post-face masks.
Before the party, I had gone down to Dollar Tree and Dollar General and bought several packages of cloth hair bands and ties, so that guests could tie back their hair. I also bought small spatulas and spongy paint brushes for applying the masks. These were all set out on the countertop. So the first thing everyone did was tie back their hair. Guests found a partner, and then each would gently spread the mask mixture on the other’s face. Then they could lie in a reclined position for the next 15-20 minutes, with cucumber slices on their eyes (which we all know soothes tired eyes). Afterwards the masks were rinsed off with warm water and a soft cloth.
For the hands we had:
* Pumpkin Hand Mask/Wrap
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
¼ cup honey
Mix pumpkin and honey together; warm slightly in microwave. Dip hands in bowl to get a good coating of the pumpkin mixture. Put each hand into a gallon-sized plastic bag and press bags around hands. Relax with the bags tightly around your hands for 15 minutes before rinsing.
* Paraffin wax treatments. I got out my HoMedics ParaSpa paraffin wax bath, and guests took turns dipping their hands in for a warm melted wax treatment. Afterwards, everyone placed plastic gallon-sized storage bags on their waxed hands. After 15 minutes, the bags and wax were removed, and our hands felt soothed, hydrated and smooth. It’s welcome relief during cold weather when our skin is dry and chapped!
For the feet we had:
*Herbal foot soaks
I set out 8 plastic dishwashing tubs for guests to take turns using for soaking their feet. I found some wonderful recipes online and in some of my home spa recipe books for making homemade foot soaks. I also found a product online called Dancin’ Feet Herbal Foot Soak (available from www.localharvest.com) and decided to go with that instead of making my own, since it was a really good price and actually less costly than making my own concoctions. A 5 oz. bag costs $4.95, and each bag is filled with a mixture of peppermint, rosemary and thyme leaves, Yarrow flowers, orange peel, rose petals, sea salt, oatmeal and essential oils. It comes with muslin bags, which you fill, and then toss into a tub of warm water. Basically it’s like a foot soak tea bag, and it smells so-o-o-o good! We got about 8 foot soaks out of each package.
After soaking their feet, guests could apply foot creams and a nice, herby peel-off foot masks (I bought several tubes of Earth Therapeutics Tea Tree Oil foot peel for this). I also plugged in my HoMedics Elite Foot Massager and set it down in front of a comfy chair—which provided professional deep kneading massage with heat for the feet—for guests to use.
For all of these treatments, you’ll need bathroom areas and kitchen sinks available so guests can clean and rinse. We had two guest bedrooms downstairs and an extra large double sink on our center island that everyone could use for this. Besides the baskets of hand towels and washcloths that I already mentioned, I also set out a basket of disposable facial wipes, cotton balls and Q-tips on the kitchen counter, along with a large magnifying makeup mirror which was helpful for guests who were applying their own masks.
I know a gal who sells Mary Kay makeup, and she was available to do makeovers for anyone who wanted. This was offered after all the other treatments were done, and we had this gal set up in our front office, which served as her own makeup salon.
If guests wanted, they were welcome to use the outdoor hot tub any time during the afternoon. I had a stack of beach towels ready for them and at their disposal, and plastic goblets too so they could sip and chat outside in the tub.
* “It Works!” detox wrap
In addition to the services already mentioned, I also ordered a number of It Works! body and chin/neck detox wraps that guests could purchase. Most of us have a lot of toxins in our body. They come from environmental pollutants, and the foods we consume (soda, alcohol, coffee and processed foods are some of the biggest culprits!). If we’re under a lot of stress, that can cause more toxins to build up in our bodies. These toxins are stored in our fat cells. As more toxins build up, our fat cells increase in size(and therefore our body size). The wraps from It Works are designed to detox your body, causing you to skin to tighten and tone up. You lose inches in the process. The majority of my guests took advantage of the opportunity to try either or both a chin/neck or body (which was applied to the tummies) wrap. We did these towards the end of the afternoon, following lunch. The wraps were left on for 45 minutes, during which guests were to drink 2-3 glasses of water. As is typical, after their wraps were removed, my guests reported that they lost between ½ and 2 inches on their waistline. I haven’t talked to any of my guests in the last 24 hours, but generally people lose even more in the 72 hours after a wrap treatment. I can’t wait to hear how they did! I do think this is a great product, one that is a perfect addition to a spa party. If you’d like to have It Works! at your own spa party, or if you’d just like to get more information, here’s a website you can check out: http://trimyourbody.itworks.net.
Other spa services you could offer at your own spa party: You can hire licensed professionals to come and give mini-services without all the extras like robes and slippers. A nail tech gives manicures and pedicures, a massage therapist gives massage, and an esthetician can give mini-facials and do make-up. You can find them online, or, you could call a local beauty school to see if one of their graduates or students could come out and do facials and manicures.
Sometimes athletic clubs can refer you to massage professionals. I found one masseuse who did shoulder massages for $1 a minute, plus a $20 set-up fee. She only required that we could provide her a minimum of two hours of work. Guests would just need to pay for the number of minutes they wanted her massaging them. We ended up not using her, though, because we didn’t have enough people who wanted shoulder massages. Still, I thought I’d mention this anyway, just in case you might want to do it at your own spa party.
The great thing about spa parties is there’s a long list of treatments you could offer. You could offer manicures, pedicures, yoga sessions, facials, massages — the choices are endless. You just have to choose which services are best for your particular group of guests.
THE CUISINE
Late morning and all afternoon snacks and refreshments:
**Pitchers of ice water with fruit, cucumbers, mint leaves
**One beverage dispenser filled with iced strawberry pomegranate herb tea and a pitcher of iced blueberry herb tea
**Bottles of sparkling water and sparkling juice/cider
**Hot herb tea and decaf coffee service
**Fresh fruit platters
**Raw vegetables and dip platters
**Trays of garlic humus and pita chips
**Cucumber sandwiches
**Garlic cheeseball and crackers
**Mini banana nut bread loaves and mini cranberry pumpkin bread loaves--sliced
About 2:30 pm, I served lunch, which was a large tossed salad bar buffet on my kitchen center island, which I called “Sweat Tomatoes.” (I put the sign next to the bowl of tomatoes, which literally were “Sweat tomatoes,” because my husband had just picked from our garden.) Guests could choose from the following to make their own customized tossed salads, just like they would get a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant:
--Red-tipped leaf lettuce
--Spinach leaves
--Shredded red cabbage
--Sliced green onions
--Sliced cucumbers
--Sliced celery
--Sliced fresh mushrooms
--Alfalfa sprouts
--Bean sprouts
--Sliced red, yellow and green bell peppers
--Shredded carrots
--Broccoli flowerets
--Cauliflower flowerets
--Black olives
--Garbanzo beans (chick peas)
--Canned corn
--Canned black beans
--Grilled, marinated chicken, cut in strips
--Diced hard-boiled eggs
--Croutons
--Tortilla strips
--Candied walnuts for salads
--Almond Accents
--Grated cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses
--Eight different salad dressings (including my favorite, homemade creamy cilantro)
For dessert, we had:
--Mini chocolate and raspberry mousse cups for dessert
--Belgian chocolate cup candies
--Fruit salad
Several of my guests offered to bring food items, and I had them bring a lot of the afternoon snack trays and bottled beverages, and fruit salad for dessert. That eased my workload and helped me in terms of refrigerator space (I only have space to store so many trays and bowls of food that have been prepared!).
We had a lot of food leftover, but that meant I had something to feed to my hungry husband and sons after they returned home that evening. Since the Bears lost in overtime, I made sure to have some leftover chocolate cups on hand to give to my literally-grieving 16-year-old son. I was also able to send some “doggie bags” (or more appropriately, “hubby bags”) for the husbands of ladies who had come to the party. We usually have a lot of leftover food, and can’t eat it all by ourselves. I always try to have disposable plastic containers on hand for big parties, so that guests can take some extra food home. And some gals did assemble some salads for their husbands before they left on Sunday.
PARTY GIFTS
It’s nice if you can give some beauty-related party favors to all of your spa party guests. I had a basket of homemade soaps and hand lotions setting out in a large basket, and let guests know they were welcome to pick out some to take home.
It may sound like a lot of work. There are ways you can cut down on expenses and prep work. For instance, you could just serve snacks. Actually, we had so many snacks sitting out on different tables during the day, many of my guests thought that WAS the meal. Some were surprised when I announced that the salad bar was ready. So you could just have snacks and put on the invitation that you would like everyone to bring a snack of some kind. I didn’t do that with this. I only had people bring food if they asked. If you wanted to have the salad bar, you could ask each guest to bring 1-2 salad bar items.
Well, I think I’ve probably given you a pretty good idea of what you can do at a spa party. It’s really a wonderful way to relax and unwind with your gal pals. Even you’re the one who’s hosting, with planning, you’re sure to come away feeling relaxed and refreshed—along with your guests!
Happy home spa-ing!
~Becky
Grandma's Beef Stew
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Last month, I made a post about how to plan a soup party. This evening, as I was making beef stew for dinner, I realized I forgot to include that recipe in my list of favorites for a soup party. I decided I’d post this recipe now.
Stew is wonderful any time of the year, but especially when it’s cold outside. Okay…here in Dallas, it’s not exactly cold…at least by Midwest standards..but it’s still somewhat chilly. So tonight the stew really hit the spot.
I got this recipe from my grandmother when I was a teenager, and have fond memories eating it at her house when I was growing up. I’ve made it for my own family a lot over the years, and it’s one of my husband’s and sons’ favorite meals. You may enjoy this recipe too.
GRANDMA’S BEEF STEW
4 lbs. beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes (cube when beef is semi-frozen, for easy cutting!)
4 T. oil
5 cups water
2 large yellow onions, sliced thinly
3 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 ½ tsp. garlic powder
3 bay leaves
1 T. salt
2 tsp. granulated sugar
2 tsp. paprika
½ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. ground cloves
2 lb. bag carrots, peeled and sliced in ¼-inch slices
3 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ to ¾ inch cubes
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup all purpose flour
Brown beef cubes in oil in large Dutch oven. Then add 5 cups of water and the onions, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, bay leaves, salt, sugar, paprika, pepper and cloves. Let simmer over stove, uncovered, for an hour. Remove bay leaves. Add carrots and potatoes. Cover pot and cook for another 30-40 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. At the end of the cooking time, blend 2/3 cup water and flour together in a small bowl. Pour into stew and blend in and stir another 2-3 minutes—until stew is thickened. Makes about 10 to 12 large servings.
Enjoy!
~Becky
Last month, I made a post about how to plan a soup party. This evening, as I was making beef stew for dinner, I realized I forgot to include that recipe in my list of favorites for a soup party. I decided I’d post this recipe now.
Stew is wonderful any time of the year, but especially when it’s cold outside. Okay…here in Dallas, it’s not exactly cold…at least by Midwest standards..but it’s still somewhat chilly. So tonight the stew really hit the spot.
I got this recipe from my grandmother when I was a teenager, and have fond memories eating it at her house when I was growing up. I’ve made it for my own family a lot over the years, and it’s one of my husband’s and sons’ favorite meals. You may enjoy this recipe too.
GRANDMA’S BEEF STEW
4 lbs. beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes (cube when beef is semi-frozen, for easy cutting!)
4 T. oil
5 cups water
2 large yellow onions, sliced thinly
3 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 ½ tsp. garlic powder
3 bay leaves
1 T. salt
2 tsp. granulated sugar
2 tsp. paprika
½ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. ground cloves
2 lb. bag carrots, peeled and sliced in ¼-inch slices
3 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ to ¾ inch cubes
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup all purpose flour
Brown beef cubes in oil in large Dutch oven. Then add 5 cups of water and the onions, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, bay leaves, salt, sugar, paprika, pepper and cloves. Let simmer over stove, uncovered, for an hour. Remove bay leaves. Add carrots and potatoes. Cover pot and cook for another 30-40 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. At the end of the cooking time, blend 2/3 cup water and flour together in a small bowl. Pour into stew and blend in and stir another 2-3 minutes—until stew is thickened. Makes about 10 to 12 large servings.
Enjoy!
~Becky
Hot 'n Spicy Crock Pot Chili
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I said it before...and I'll say it again: I love my crock pots! (I say "crock pots" plural, because I have seven of them, in varying sizes. I use them all, often multiple crock pots for one meal. The main entree might go in a large 6 1/2- or 7-quart crock pot, and then I may have several side dishes cooking in the smaller or medium-sized crock pots. If I've got a large crowd coming over, I might have both of my two 7-quart crock pots cooking the same main entree such as roast beef.)
Cooking in a crock pot is an easy and stree-free way to entertain. You start the food cooking in the morning (You can even do all your advance food prep the night before and put the filled crock pot in the fridge until cooking time), and have very little, if any, food prep to do before your guests arrive (which means you can be relaxing beforehand!). And if it's a chilly day outside, you have the added plus of taking in all those wonderful smells coming from the kitchen all day.
I took advantage of my crock pot this past weekend. As I mentioned in previous posts, we had a Super Bowl party this past Sunday. We also had overnight, out-of-town guests coming over Saturday evening. I already had a lot to do Saturday night, with getting ready for the Super Bowl party. There wasn't going to be a lot of "free" time Saturday evening for fixing a big dinner. So my crock pot came to the rescue....again! I used my large crock pot, and made crock pot chili...which was enough for about 12 people. On the side we served sour cream, shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, diced onions, and Fritoes. Our guests brought corn bread and tossed salad. It was a very yummy...and filling meal. I made up the chili the day before--on Friday--and kept it in the fridge until Saturday morning. It cooked all day Saturday, and about 6 pm when our guests arrived, dinner was ready!
The recipe I use for chili is one that I adapted and tweaked from the small recipe booklet that came with my West Bend crockery cooker. Here it is:
3 lbs. lean ground beef
2 ½ cups chopped yellow onions (3-4 large onions)
2 ½ cups chopped green bell pepper (3-4 large bell peppers)
3 tsp. crushed garlic
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies, drained
4 (28-oz.) cans whole tomatoes (undrained), cut up
2 (15 oz.) cans dark red kidney beans, drained
2 (15 oz.) cans light red kidney beans, drained
4 T. chili powder
1 T. ground cumin
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
Brown ground beef with onion, green pepper and garlic in large skillet over medium heat. Drain excess grease. Transfer mixture to crock pot. Add remaining ingredients; stir to blend. Cook on low heat setting for 8 to 10 hours.
Enjoy!
~Becky
I said it before...and I'll say it again: I love my crock pots! (I say "crock pots" plural, because I have seven of them, in varying sizes. I use them all, often multiple crock pots for one meal. The main entree might go in a large 6 1/2- or 7-quart crock pot, and then I may have several side dishes cooking in the smaller or medium-sized crock pots. If I've got a large crowd coming over, I might have both of my two 7-quart crock pots cooking the same main entree such as roast beef.)Cooking in a crock pot is an easy and stree-free way to entertain. You start the food cooking in the morning (You can even do all your advance food prep the night before and put the filled crock pot in the fridge until cooking time), and have very little, if any, food prep to do before your guests arrive (which means you can be relaxing beforehand!). And if it's a chilly day outside, you have the added plus of taking in all those wonderful smells coming from the kitchen all day.
I took advantage of my crock pot this past weekend. As I mentioned in previous posts, we had a Super Bowl party this past Sunday. We also had overnight, out-of-town guests coming over Saturday evening. I already had a lot to do Saturday night, with getting ready for the Super Bowl party. There wasn't going to be a lot of "free" time Saturday evening for fixing a big dinner. So my crock pot came to the rescue....again! I used my large crock pot, and made crock pot chili...which was enough for about 12 people. On the side we served sour cream, shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, diced onions, and Fritoes. Our guests brought corn bread and tossed salad. It was a very yummy...and filling meal. I made up the chili the day before--on Friday--and kept it in the fridge until Saturday morning. It cooked all day Saturday, and about 6 pm when our guests arrived, dinner was ready!
The recipe I use for chili is one that I adapted and tweaked from the small recipe booklet that came with my West Bend crockery cooker. Here it is:
3 lbs. lean ground beef
2 ½ cups chopped yellow onions (3-4 large onions)
2 ½ cups chopped green bell pepper (3-4 large bell peppers)
3 tsp. crushed garlic
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies, drained
4 (28-oz.) cans whole tomatoes (undrained), cut up
2 (15 oz.) cans dark red kidney beans, drained
2 (15 oz.) cans light red kidney beans, drained
4 T. chili powder
1 T. ground cumin
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
Brown ground beef with onion, green pepper and garlic in large skillet over medium heat. Drain excess grease. Transfer mixture to crock pot. Add remaining ingredients; stir to blend. Cook on low heat setting for 8 to 10 hours.
Enjoy!
~Becky
Caramel Apple Cookies
To contact us Click HERE
We now return to fall treats after that diversion to an actual main dish. These cookies - my oh my. What a wonderful use for apples! I can't decide what part of this cookie I like best - the chewy caramel, the sweet apple, or the spicy dough that turns beautifully crunchy when baked. These cookies are autumn perfection.
Start by creaming together the butter, brown sugar
and applesauce.
Add the egg and vanilla
and mix until incorporated. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
Add the chopped apple to the flour mixture
and stir it up to coat all the apples.
Add the flour/apple mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. Then stir in the caramel bits.
Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and then drop small mounds of dough on the paper.
Bake for 12-14 minutes. Then let the cookies cool completely before removing to a wire rack. Otherwise the caramel bits will stick on the paper, and not stay in the cookie. That would be bad, very bad.
These cookies are great with a tall glass of milk!
One year ago: Portobello Spaghetti Risotto
Two years ago: Mixed Berry Coffeecake
Three years ago: Garlicky Shrimp and Spinach Pizza
Find more inspiration at Full Plate Thursday, Sweet and Swanky Stuff, Recipe Box, Thursday's Treasures, Tastetastic Thursday.
Caramel Apple Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple
1 cup caramel bits (or regular sized caramels, cut up into small pieces)
Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and continue to beat until combined.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in another bowl.
Add chopped apple to the flour and then add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and mix until combined. Then, add the caramel bits.
Drop small balls of dough on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes. Let cookies completely before attempting to move them off the baking sheet or else the caramel will remain on the sheet away from the cookie!
Makes 3-4 dozen.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Eat, Live, Run
We now return to fall treats after that diversion to an actual main dish. These cookies - my oh my. What a wonderful use for apples! I can't decide what part of this cookie I like best - the chewy caramel, the sweet apple, or the spicy dough that turns beautifully crunchy when baked. These cookies are autumn perfection.
Start by creaming together the butter, brown sugar
and applesauce.
Add the egg and vanilla
and mix until incorporated. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
Add the chopped apple to the flour mixture
and stir it up to coat all the apples.
Add the flour/apple mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. Then stir in the caramel bits.
Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and then drop small mounds of dough on the paper.
Bake for 12-14 minutes. Then let the cookies cool completely before removing to a wire rack. Otherwise the caramel bits will stick on the paper, and not stay in the cookie. That would be bad, very bad.
These cookies are great with a tall glass of milk!
One year ago: Portobello Spaghetti Risotto
Two years ago: Mixed Berry Coffeecake
Three years ago: Garlicky Shrimp and Spinach Pizza
Find more inspiration at Full Plate Thursday, Sweet and Swanky Stuff, Recipe Box, Thursday's Treasures, Tastetastic Thursday.
Caramel Apple Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple
1 cup caramel bits (or regular sized caramels, cut up into small pieces)
Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and continue to beat until combined.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in another bowl.
Add chopped apple to the flour and then add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and mix until combined. Then, add the caramel bits.
Drop small balls of dough on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes. Let cookies completely before attempting to move them off the baking sheet or else the caramel will remain on the sheet away from the cookie!
Makes 3-4 dozen.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Eat, Live, Run
10 Ekim 2012 Çarşamba
Shrimp and Goat Cheese Corn Cakes
To contact us Click HERE
Summertime is the perfect time for corn on the cob, and that's why Kristen chose corn and butter for this month's Improv Challenge. (At least, that's my assumption!) I can't wait to see all the creative ideas today - and I couldn't be more pleased with the recipe I tried.
I spied this dish a long time ago over at Greens and Chocolate, and this was my perfect opportunity. I added shrimp to the corn cakes to kick it up a notch, and made my new favorite dipping sauce (ranch and sriracha!) to accompany these morsels.
To start, pour half of the corn into the bowl of a food processor, then add the basil
and the shrimp.
Pulse 4-5 times until the mixture is slightly pureed, but still a bit chunky. Then add this mixture to a large mixing bowl along with the onions,
remaining corn,
baking powder,
baking soda, flour, salt and pepper and panko.
Stir this mixture well. Combine the eggs, milk and melted butter, and add it to the corn cake mixture.
Stir just until combined, but do not overmix or the batter will get too tough. Now fold in the goat cheese.
Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it's hot, drop large spoonfuls of batter onto the oil.
Cook for 2-3 minutes or until cakes are golden brown, then carefully flip over.
Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes on this side. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate and then continue with the additional batter. You may need to add more oil to the pan to ensure the cakes won't stick.
You can serve these with traditional Mexican-food fixings or with any dipping sauce that you like. Hooray for corn and butter!
One year ago: Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Two years ago: Spicy Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Three years ago: Summer Cucumber Salad
Find more great corn recipes in the linky below. For even more inspiration, visit It's A Keeper, Full Plate Thursday, Swanky Stuff, Bizzy's Recipe Box, Thursday Treasures, Tastetastic Thursday.
Shrimp and Goat Cheese Corn Cakes
2 cups cooked shrimp
1 - 14.5 oz can corn, drained
1 cup flour
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup thinly sliced basil
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
olive oil
Place shrimp, basil and half of corn in food processor and pulse until corn is slightly pureed, but still chunky.
In a large bowl, combine corn and shrimp mixture, remaining corn, flour, breadcrumbs, onion, baking powder, baking soda, goat cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Add eggs, milk, and butter, and mix until just combined. Don't over mix.
In large skillet, heat about 2 Tbsp. olive oil over medium heat, making sure the oil is spread evenly among the pan. Once heated, cook about four corn cakes at a time, scooping with a 1/4 cup measuring spoon. Let cook 2-3 minutes then flip to the other side, cooking until each side is golden brown. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate. Continue until all of the batter is used, adding more olive oil to the pan as necessary. Makes about 10 corn cakes.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Greens and Chocolate
Summertime is the perfect time for corn on the cob, and that's why Kristen chose corn and butter for this month's Improv Challenge. (At least, that's my assumption!) I can't wait to see all the creative ideas today - and I couldn't be more pleased with the recipe I tried.
I spied this dish a long time ago over at Greens and Chocolate, and this was my perfect opportunity. I added shrimp to the corn cakes to kick it up a notch, and made my new favorite dipping sauce (ranch and sriracha!) to accompany these morsels.
To start, pour half of the corn into the bowl of a food processor, then add the basil
and the shrimp.
Pulse 4-5 times until the mixture is slightly pureed, but still a bit chunky. Then add this mixture to a large mixing bowl along with the onions,
remaining corn,
baking powder,
baking soda, flour, salt and pepper and panko.
Stir this mixture well. Combine the eggs, milk and melted butter, and add it to the corn cake mixture.
Stir just until combined, but do not overmix or the batter will get too tough. Now fold in the goat cheese.
Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it's hot, drop large spoonfuls of batter onto the oil.
Cook for 2-3 minutes or until cakes are golden brown, then carefully flip over.
Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes on this side. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate and then continue with the additional batter. You may need to add more oil to the pan to ensure the cakes won't stick.
You can serve these with traditional Mexican-food fixings or with any dipping sauce that you like. Hooray for corn and butter!
One year ago: Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Two years ago: Spicy Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Three years ago: Summer Cucumber Salad
Find more great corn recipes in the linky below. For even more inspiration, visit It's A Keeper, Full Plate Thursday, Swanky Stuff, Bizzy's Recipe Box, Thursday Treasures, Tastetastic Thursday.
Shrimp and Goat Cheese Corn Cakes
2 cups cooked shrimp
1 - 14.5 oz can corn, drained
1 cup flour
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup thinly sliced basil
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
olive oil
Place shrimp, basil and half of corn in food processor and pulse until corn is slightly pureed, but still chunky.
In a large bowl, combine corn and shrimp mixture, remaining corn, flour, breadcrumbs, onion, baking powder, baking soda, goat cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Add eggs, milk, and butter, and mix until just combined. Don't over mix.
In large skillet, heat about 2 Tbsp. olive oil over medium heat, making sure the oil is spread evenly among the pan. Once heated, cook about four corn cakes at a time, scooping with a 1/4 cup measuring spoon. Let cook 2-3 minutes then flip to the other side, cooking until each side is golden brown. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate. Continue until all of the batter is used, adding more olive oil to the pan as necessary. Makes about 10 corn cakes.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Greens and Chocolate
Double Chocolate Caramel Brownies
To contact us Click HERE
It's Reveal Day again! Mondays are usually a drag, but not on Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day!! This month I was assigned to Julie's Eats and Treats, and it was so fun to learn that Julie and I are practically neighbors - well, at least that we share the same great state. Too fun.
I have had an appreciation for these delicious (dangerously so) brownies since high school, when a friend of my mom's made them for the first time. I have always enjoyed eating them but (gasp) I had never made them. So, when I saw them on Julie's blog, I knew the time had come.
I shared these with my colleagues, who couldn't get enough of them. They're that good. Get yourself some caramels and make these today!
Start by melting the caramels. Place the unwrapped caramels (this is the most time consuming part - unwrapping the caramels!) in a medium saucepan and add 1/3 cup of evaporated milk.
Cook over medium-low heat, stirring really often, until the caramels are nice and melted.
Set that aside. For the brownie base, add the melted butter 
and remaining evaporated milk to the cake mix in a large mixing bowl.
Spread half of this batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake for 6 minutes, then remove from the oven and sprinkle with the chocolate chips.
Top with the caramel mixture.
Dollop the remaining cake batter over the caramel. You can spread it out a little as I did here, or you can just leave it dolloped.
Bake for about 15 minutes. You don't want to overbake them - they'll look fluffy and loose but that's ok - the bars will set up as they cool.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. Don't cut them until they cool - and in my opinion, they're best straight from the fridge - or even the freezer if you're not concerned about expensive dental work (ahem).
Thanks, Julie, for the inspiration!
One year ago: Strawberry White Chocolate Ice Cream
Two years ago: Rhubarb Berry Cheesecake Pie
Three years ago: Strawberry Banana Trifle
Get more great ideas at Tasty Tuesday, Tuesday at the Table, Tasty Tuesday (#2), Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesday (#3), Crazy Sweet Tuesday, Tuesday Talent Show.
Double Chocolate Caramel Brownies
2/3 cup evaporated milk, divided
1 - 14 oz. package caramels
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 box German Chocolate or Devil's Food cake Mix
1 cup chocolate chips
Over low heat, melt caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a medium saucepan.
Mix cake mix, melted butter and remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Spread half of the cake mixture on the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the batter. Pour the caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Dollop the remaining cake mixture in small spoonfuls over the caramel. Bake for another 15-18 minutes, but do not overbake - the brownies will be puffy and seem un-done, but do not let them cook longer.
Remove and cool on a wire rack. For best results, refrigerate before serving. Leftovers should be refrigerated.
It's Reveal Day again! Mondays are usually a drag, but not on Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day!! This month I was assigned to Julie's Eats and Treats, and it was so fun to learn that Julie and I are practically neighbors - well, at least that we share the same great state. Too fun.
I have had an appreciation for these delicious (dangerously so) brownies since high school, when a friend of my mom's made them for the first time. I have always enjoyed eating them but (gasp) I had never made them. So, when I saw them on Julie's blog, I knew the time had come.
I shared these with my colleagues, who couldn't get enough of them. They're that good. Get yourself some caramels and make these today!
Start by melting the caramels. Place the unwrapped caramels (this is the most time consuming part - unwrapping the caramels!) in a medium saucepan and add 1/3 cup of evaporated milk.
Cook over medium-low heat, stirring really often, until the caramels are nice and melted.
Set that aside. For the brownie base, add the melted butter
and remaining evaporated milk to the cake mix in a large mixing bowl.
Spread half of this batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake for 6 minutes, then remove from the oven and sprinkle with the chocolate chips.
Top with the caramel mixture.
Dollop the remaining cake batter over the caramel. You can spread it out a little as I did here, or you can just leave it dolloped.
Bake for about 15 minutes. You don't want to overbake them - they'll look fluffy and loose but that's ok - the bars will set up as they cool.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. Don't cut them until they cool - and in my opinion, they're best straight from the fridge - or even the freezer if you're not concerned about expensive dental work (ahem).
Thanks, Julie, for the inspiration!
One year ago: Strawberry White Chocolate Ice Cream
Two years ago: Rhubarb Berry Cheesecake Pie
Three years ago: Strawberry Banana Trifle
Get more great ideas at Tasty Tuesday, Tuesday at the Table, Tasty Tuesday (#2), Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesday (#3), Crazy Sweet Tuesday, Tuesday Talent Show.
Double Chocolate Caramel Brownies
2/3 cup evaporated milk, divided
1 - 14 oz. package caramels
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 box German Chocolate or Devil's Food cake Mix
1 cup chocolate chips
Over low heat, melt caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a medium saucepan.
Mix cake mix, melted butter and remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Spread half of the cake mixture on the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the batter. Pour the caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Dollop the remaining cake mixture in small spoonfuls over the caramel. Bake for another 15-18 minutes, but do not overbake - the brownies will be puffy and seem un-done, but do not let them cook longer.
Remove and cool on a wire rack. For best results, refrigerate before serving. Leftovers should be refrigerated.
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