Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Share Our Strength Bake Sale 2010

Is it possible to be intoxicated with relief? Because let me tell you, I felt high when my Share Our Strength bake sale was over! I thoroughly enjoyed it, I could not have pulled it off without the help of some amazing people--and I was thrilled when it was done :)

Almost as soon as we started to set up people were there wanting to buy things. It was crazy! We were still trying to get table clothes on tables and treats priced, and people were throwing money at us! And who could blame them? We had frosted sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, peanut butter cookies, oatmeal cookies, mint brownies, oatmeal brownies, tuxedo brownies, marshmallow brownies, orange brownies, cinnamon rolls, homemade chocolate sauce, homemade salsa, homemade breads, caramel popcorn, homemade jams, coconut cakes, chocolate cakes, 2 fondant-covered, tiered cakes, 4 decorated cakes, lemon bars, banana bars with cream cheese frosting, crumb cake, cupcakes, chocolate-dipped pretzels--MORE! We hardly had room on the tables for everything, and by noon the tables were half empty. It was awesome :)

The response was just incredible! A huge thanks to Goldenwest Credit Union for the use of their parking lot.

I have to thank Barbara, our mayor's wife, and their cute girls for coming out and supporting our sale.

And I have to thank one of our city's councilmen, Craig Tischner, for coming and holding a sign on the street corner. He was such a good sport!

Our super-cute Miss Herriman and one of her attendants came and helped out--don't we look like models with the wind in our hair? ;)

One of the adorable young women from my church came and played her guitar and sang for us.

My 3 year-old spent most of the time she was at the bake sale playing in the rocks in one of the credit union's flower beds :)

Little Cesars pizza donated pizzas for lunch for the volunteers working our sale. Ummmm....Pizza! Pizza!

The weather was supposed to be bad--rainy and windy. We were blessed with beautiful weather during almost the whole sale. When we were down to just a few things this storm rolled in. Needless to say we decided to call it a day and packed everything up. My 13 year-old and I took what was left to our fire station. The guys at the station were so cute when we walked in with our boxes of goodies. They were so surprised and grateful that we thought of them. I almost didn't know what to say--our fire fighters do so much for us every day. We're the ones who need to be thankful :)

While we were cleaning up we realized we didn't have a picture of all of us in our shirts. This is my family and my sister's family. I couldn't have done it without my sister's help. She is amazing :)

And....we made $718.50! Wow! If you'd like to donate something to my team, you can click here to go directly to my team's page on the Share Our Strength website. All amounts help, large or small. Thanks! :)

This bake sale was such a great experience, even with all the stress. I've made notes about what worked and what didn't (and what to do differently next time) and I'm excited to do it again!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cake

Pin It Who doesn't want cake for breakfast? This is a version of my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cake. Really the only difference is I add melted chocolate, which, according to my daughter, makes it more desirable. I have to admit I think she's right. The original is good, but this one is yum. This cake has all kinds of good things in it so I'm happy to serve it up for breakfast. I cut my cake into 15 pieces, wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and then freeze them. 30-45 seconds in the microwave and breakfast is served. OK, I occasionally steal one out of the freezer.

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cake
Printable Recipe

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup applesauce
2 eggs
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pureed pumpkin (I used canned)
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1. Heat your oven to 350; spray a 13x9 glass pan with non-stick spray.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl; set aside. Combine all of the wet ingredients in a medium bowl (I use a 4 cup glass measuring cup), and whisk until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently mix and fold together with a rubber spatula until just combined.

3. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan, spreading it evenly, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or almost clean (a few moist crumbs are OK).

4. Cool completely before cutting into squares (if you can wait that long). A plastic knife makes nice, clean cuts. Serve plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar, or use the glaze from my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cake.

1/12th cake: 257cal/12g fat/3g fiber/6 WW points
1/15th cake: 205cal/10g fat/2g fiber/5 WW points

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

2010 Herriman Against Hunger T-shirt

My Share Our Strength bake sale is only a week and a half away! I've been busy getting all the last details in order, including making our official 2010 Herriman Against Hunger T-shirts--designed by yours truly :) I'm so excited for bake-sale day to get here, and at the same time I'll be so glad when it's over! Especially since my family is off to Yellowstone at the end of the month. Ahhhh...vacation.... :)

If you'd like to make a donation to my bake sale (any amount helps!), you can click on the graphic at the top left this blog and make a donation directly to my team through the Share Our Strength website.

Thanks!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day Mac & Cheese

When you see a picture like this you know there's got to be a story, right?

My oldest daughter is almost 14. She is a budding cook, and for Mother's Day she sent me and my husband off for a long walk while she made dinner (you can see where this is going...). She had everything planned out--she even had my husband take her grocery shopping the night before so she'd have everything she needed.

Life is just busy, and Don and I don't have much free time to spend together, so our 90-minute walk was super nice and relaxing. On our way back to the car his cell phone rang. This is what I heard:

Don: Hello?
Alex talking
Don: Oh, man...
Alex talking
Don: Is there anything left to eat?
Alex talking.
Me: Is she OK? Does she need to get her aunt? Does she need help?
Don: OK, we'll be home in about 15-20 minutes. (hangs up the phone)
Me: Is she OK? Does she need to get her aunt? What happened?
Don: Something caught on fire. But she's got it.
Me: What does that mean?
Don: She's OK. She's got it.

So the kitchen-side of the story goes like this: Alex wanted to make Mac & Cheese for us for dinner. She planned, bought ingredients, and followed the recipe, which ends with browning the bread crumbs under the broiler. While she washed the dishes (isn't she a dear?) she smelled something burning. It was the bread crumbs. She quickly pulled the pan out of the oven, and the bread crumbs were on fire--with actual flames. In seconds her mind ran though all the things you can do with a kitchen fire and ended up blowing on them to put them out. Then she called us (see the above conversation). As you can imagine, she was totally deflated. I tried to cheer her up with hugs and tales of times I've blackened things, but she was pretty sad. Her first time totally solo in the kitchen and there were flames.

She wondered if we could still eat it. "Of course," I told her, "we just scrape off the burnt crumbs and it's good as new." I would have choked it down if I had to, but it was really very good, and I ate more than I should have. I was so proud of her! The meal (and the time with my husband) was a wonderful Mother's Day gift :)

And, before anyone berates me for posting this (for, you know, not wanting to embarrass her), the pictures and the post were her idea--She loves telling the story ;)

Friday, May 7, 2010

Pasta with Mushroom Sauce + 1-year Blogaversary!

It's been so busy here I didn't realize it was my 1-year blogaversary this week until the day of (5/5). I asked my Facebook fans (are you my fan yet?) if I should post something sweet or savory, they picked savory. Now, I have to be honest: this is not something I whipped up in response to my Facebook fans--I've hardly been cooking lately--but I have had the picture for this recipe hanging around, apparently so I could post it now :)

Pasta with Mushroom Sauce

8 oz shaped pasta, such as bowtie, fusilli, or penne
16 oz crimini mushrooms, rinsed and sliced
3 cloves garlic, pressed
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cold butter
3 green onion, dark parts only, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
fresh ground pepper to taste
fresh shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain the pasta (don't rinse it) and return it to the cooking pot to keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, spray a 12-inch nonstick skillet with non-stick spray, and heat it on medium-high heat for 2 minutes; reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 10 seconds.

3. Add the mushrooms and cook until they have begun to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the salt and cook until most of the water released by the mushrooms has evaporated, 8-10 minutes, stirring often. Add the wine and simmer until it's reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth and simmer until it's reduced by half, 5-8 minutes.

4. In a small bowl, mix together the remaining 1/2 cup chicken broth and the flour until it's well combined. Stir the mixture into the sauce and simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and quickly stir in the cold butter. Add the green onion, parsley, and fresh ground pepper to taste.

5. Add the sauce to the pasta and stir to combine. Serve with fresh shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Makes 4 1-1/2 cup servings.

1 serving=257 cal/3.75g fat/7.25g fiber/5 WW points

*NOTE: I use Smart Taste pasta because it has added fiber with brings the Weight Watcher points down.
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