Haitus is over!

Apparently I had no inspiration to cook much over the summer. I shall blame the humidity and the disgustingly hot weather.

Ever since October rolled around I've been itching to try out new yummy recipes. Unfortunately life got in the way and I resorted back to my usual menus and didn't spend much time experimenting.

With November here, I've decided that I can't abandon my hobby any longer! I am going to attempt to juggle my schedule and plan things more efficiently so I can knock out at least one new recipe a week. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I am hoping to host a small dinner party to show off my culinary skills. I'm working hard on the menu and the guest list! If anyone has any suggestions for a side dish or dessert, please feel free to share :)

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

The Mission:
Use up the leftover buttermilk. So I searched through a few cookbooks and websites and found a Banana Cake recipe that sounded fantastic. I love a good fruit based cake.





The Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups ripe mashed bananas
• 2 tsps lemon juice
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/8 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

The Instructions:
Preheat oven to 275*F. Grease and flour a 9x13" pan (or use non-stick). In a small bowl, mix the mashed banana with the lemon juice and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, then stir in the banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for one hour or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. (This will keep the cake very moist and make it easier to frost.) Frost the cake with the cream cheese icing and garnish with chopped walnuts or pecans.


Icing Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
  

Icing Instructions:
Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth then beat in the vanilla. Add the confectioners sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.



The Result:
It smelled soooo good. It looked very pretty as well. If I make it again, I will halve the cream cheese icing recipe, since I didn't use it all. I only iced 3/4 of the cake, since my husband doesn't like cream cheese icing. I just found out that I don't like it either, so I'll only be icing 1/3 of it next time!



The Reviews:
I thought it tasted fantastic. Mark really liked it, as did my favorite co-worker. My husband's not a big fan of bananas (now he tells me!) so he wasn't overly thrilled with it. I think he's crazy - haha. I left some for my parents to eat and they both loved it. And to get rid of the extra icing, I sent Mark home with the tub of it. I'm sure he's already polished it off with a spoon :)

Raspberry Baked Brie

The Misson:

Make Raspberry Baked Brie as found in one of my older cookbooks. I never made it at Easter, so I already had all of the ingredients. It looked tasty and seemed elegant, so I figured it would be perfect for my sister's Bridal Shower.

The Ingredients:

• 1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 1 round (8 oz) Brie cheese
• 1 Tbsp seedless raspberry jam
• 1/4 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 egg, beaten
• assorted crackers or slices of French Baguette
  

The Instructions:

Unroll the crescent rolls and separate into two 6" squares. Place one square on a cookie sheet and press on the seams to seal. Place the round of brie in the center of the square and top with the jam and the fresh raspberries. On each corner of the remaining square of dough, use a small cookie cutter to cut out a shape and set aside the shape. Take the dough square and place it ontop of the brie round, folding the corners of the dough under. Fold the bottom layer of dough up around the top layer and pinch to seal. Brush with the beaten egg. Place the cut out shapes on the top and brush them with the egg. Bake the brie in a 350*F oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and place on serving plate. Cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm with water crackers or sliced french baguette.

The Result:

The brie turned out a bit browner on top than I would've liked. I also think that my cookie cutter was too big. If I use this in the future, I'll go buy a teeny tiny cookie cutter (perhaps in the shape of a flower or a heart). I honestly wasn't really thrilled with baking the brie in the crescent roll dough. I'm going to add a "brie bowl" to my Christmas list this year, so I can just bake it with the rasperries by itself and skip the bread part.

The Reviews:

Everyone said that it tasted good and that it looked very pretty. So it wasn't a complete failure, but only half of the brie was eaten. I left it with Mom to finish off.

Bridal Shower Punch

The Mission:

Make "Bridal Shower Punch" using the recipe that my sister found. It's the same punch that she made for my Bridal Shower in 2007. It's supremely tasty. I added sliced limes (recipe called for lemons or oranges, but I thought limes would look cooler) to give it some color other than pink.



The Ingredients:

• 8 cups of prepared sweetened pink lemonade (I used the frozen concentrate kind and mixed with water as directed)
• 4 cups of carbonated lemon-lime beverage (Sprite, etc.)
• 2 quarts raspberry sherbet
• lemon or orange slices (to garnish)

The Instructions:

Using a round ice cream scoop or large cookie scooper, scoop out HALF of the sherbet into balls. Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze. Once they're frozen, you can remove from sheet and place them in a ziplock baggie to save on storage space. By freezing the balls in advance, it will slow the melting process. I froze the balls over night. In a large glass punch bowl, mix the prepared lemonade and the lemon-lime pop. (Make sure that both are VERY cold, since that will slow the melting of the sherbet). Add in the remaining half of the raspberry sherbet and stir well until mixture is frothy. Add the small scoops of frozen sherbet and the lemon/orange/lime slices (if using) and serve immediately.

The Results:

The punch turned out fantastic! Since I was pressed for time, I failed to get pictures of the punch until it was ready to serve. Oh well. Freezing the sherbet balls ahead of time turned out really well. The only problem was that I kept wanting to eat them instead of saving them for the punch. Next time I'll have to buy a separate quart of sherbet just for me ;)

The Reviews:

The ladies at the shower enjoyed the punch. My sister was thrilled with it (it was a special request from her) and there were absolutely no leftovers. I swear I thought my Mom was going to lick the punch bowl! Though it's impractical to make this punch very often, I'm going to have to come up with an excuse to make it again soon.

Oreo Balls

The Mission:

Make Oreo Balls for Heather's Bridal Shower, They look fantastic. They sound tasty. And I'm pretty sure that they'll be impressive.

The Ingredients:

• 1 package Oreo cookies, crushed
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 package white almond bark
• 1 package chocolate almond bark
  
  

The Instructions:

Using a blender or a hand-held mixer, blend together the crushed oreos and the softened cream cheese. Roll into walnut sized balls and place on a cookie sheet. Chill for at least one hour. Melt approx 3/4 of the chocolate almond bark. Stick a toothpick in an oreo ball and dip it in the melted chocolate until coated. Place on a sheet of wax paper and allow to harden. Repeat for every oreo ball. While waiting for oreo balls to harden (approx 15 minutes), melt 1/4 of the white chocolate. Pour the melted chocolate into a decorator bag (or a plastic ziplock baggie with a tiny piece of the corner cut off). Drizzle white chocolate over the hardened oreo balls to decorate.

The Results:

Wow. I think they turned out pretty good. I had toothpick holes in each of the oreo balls and I didn't like that, so next time I'll try and figure out a way to elimate the holes. I also had problems with the oreo balls falling off the toothpick while I was dipping in the chocolate. I think next time I'll freeze the balls first. I'll see how that goes. They still turned out quite nice looking and I received a lot of complements on how professional they looked.

The Reviews:

I had not one single left over oreo ball. Everyone raved about how pretty they were and how good they tasted. My sister was very pleased with them and reserved a few for her to take back to school. I will definitely be making these in the future since they went over so well. The only complaint I got was from my husband, who didn't like the "wang of the cream cheese." But he doesn't like cream cheese, so his opinion doesn't count! ;)

Sausage Balls

The Mission:

Add one more item to the Bridal Shower menu... something a little more hearty and "male friendly" since my Dad and Husband would be scarfing leftovers later. So I started flipping through recipe books, taking suggestions, and checking around online and found these. I figured they fit the bill quite nicely for being a heartier appetizer. And they looked fun and easy to make.

The Ingredients:

• 1 (12 oz) package of extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 lb pork sausage (mild or spicy - your choice)
• 2 cups Bisquick baking mix
• 1-2 dashes of hot sauce
  

The Instructions:

Let the sausage come to room temperature before making. I've been told that this step is very, very important and that the balls will turn out dry if you mix them with cold sausage. I have not tested this theory, since I didn't want to have a dry appetizer. Maybe sometime I will try just to see what the difference is. Anyway - mix together the room temperature sausage, the grated cheese, the bisquick, and the hot sauce. I've found that it's easiest to just mix it by hand in a large mixing bowl. Shape bits of the sausage into tablespoon sized balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake in a 375*F oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until balls are hot and golden brown. Serve warm.

The Results:

I thought that they turned out fantastic. The recipe made about 60 sausage balls for me, and I found that it was a perfect amount. Since I was cooking them at my parent's house I wasn't using my own things, so I will make the following changes when I make them at home: first I will use a bigger mixing bowl to mix up the ingredients. It was difficult to do in a smaller bowl. I will also line the cookie sheets with foil so there will be no clean up. I love to cook and bake and entertain, but sometimes the amount of cleanup gets overwhelming!

The Reviews:

The ladies who attended the shower thought that they were fantastic. Dad really liked them, and my husband ate all of the leftovers. Then he went to the store to buy more ingredients so I can make more this week. So apparently these were a big hit! He wants me to make them for our next big cook-out as well. I'm very pleased with this recipe!