4/22- Rebecca's First Birthday Cake!

I can't believe that the baby that inspired this blog is a year old already! Even though she's been out of the "oven" for a year now, I haven't come up with a better title yet. She was the inspiration, I can't let go of that! Anyway, I decided that she needed a spectacular cake for her first birthday, so I rolled up my sleeves and dove into the land of fondant! Being a Food Network junkie, I'd always wanted to try it, so I figured this was my chance!

I found an amazing-sounding chocolate cake recipe on allrecipes.com, so I decided that would be my base. Then since her room is chocolate brown and light pink, I decided I'd go with strawberry buttercream frosting. Let me tell you, the combination was just perfect! The cake was super easy to make (I made 4 of them. Yes. FOUR).  The buttercream is easy enough, but I ended up makig 4 batches of that as well. Let's just say that trying to make my life easier by making it ahead of time and freezing it did not work out. Note: you CAN NOT freeze this kind of frosting and then use it later. It separates and gets all gloppy and runny at the same time, and is absolutely disgusting. If you're like me, you'll try it and then end up scrambling to make 2 more batches of it when you're supposed to be fondant-ing and put yourself into a frenzy because you're running out of time before the party and the baby just woke up so now you have to do it all with both kids awake and you'll never get it done and what are you going to do??? Thankfully, my mom and sister rode to the rescue and helped me finish assembling the cake so I avoided total mental breakdown. Moms and sisters rock, don't they?

So I got the cake layered, crumb-coated, and all set to go in the fridge, only to discover that it wouldn't FIT! I'd made the base too big and it just wouldn't go in! Thankfully my sister and I managed to squeeze it into my parents' extra fridge. Phew! I also threw together 2 smaller cakes- one for Rebecca to demolish, and one for my brother-in-law who is allergic to strawberries. I got the smaller ones covered and decorated and finished them up rather quickly. Rolling out the fondant to cover the massive cake was more difficult. It took me 3 times to get it to not stick to the counter, and then the dang rolling pin poked through when I finally got it on the cake. I patched it up as best I could since there was no way I was getting it back off, and I think it still turned out ok. I worked on the cake until about 9:30 the night before her party, and then got to work assembling her toy kitchen. Now THAT was a project, but that's not exactly related to the cake, so I digress. :)

The cake was really fun to make, all things considered, and I hope to have an occasion to play with fondant again sometime soon! I've already warned my husband that this could become an addiction, and I've actually already had someone tell me they'd pay me for a cake! How cool is that?!

Cake: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/One-Bowl-Chocolate-Cake-III/Detail.aspx

Frosting: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/strawberry-meringue-buttercream

4/19- Grilled Salmon with Fresh Lime Cream

I can't believe I haven't posted this one before! This is one of our family's all-time summer favorites. It's light and refreshing, and good for you too! It's from a random little Betty Crocker magazine thing I grabbed in the check-out line one day, and I'm SO glad I did! There are a few in there that we just love! This one's really easy, too!

SALMON:
1 tsp grated lime peel
1/4 c lime juice
2 T honey
1 T chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried dill weed
2 tsp canola or soybean oil
1 1/2 lb salmon fillets, cut into 6 pieces
1/2 tsp salt

FRESH LIME CREAM:
1/3 c fat-free mayo
1 tsp grated lime peel
2 tsp lime juice

1. In small bowl, mix lime peel, lime juice, honey, dill weed, and oil.
2. In 8 inch square glass baking dish (I use a zip loc bag) arrange salmon skin side up in single layer. Pour marinade over salmon; turn in marinade to cover all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 20-30 minutes.
3. Brush grill rack with oil. Heat coals or gas grill for direct heat. Remove salmon from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle salmon with salt. Place skin side down on grill. cover and grill over medium heat 10-15 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with fork. (Maybe I buy crapy salmon or something, but it never takes that long to cook!)
4. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix all lime cream ingredients with wire whisk. Serve with salmon.

I am telling you, you will LOVE this recipe! The lime cream is really what makes it. I always add a little extra lime juice and zest to give it a touch more flavor. It doesn't taste like mayo at all, I promise! Oh man, now I'm hungry. I usually serve this with some grilled veggies like squash and zucchini, and Parmesan Cous Cous. Delicious!

4/15- Sausage and Pepper Calzone

I posted this one in February of last year (here's the link for the recipe: http://las8704.blogspot.com/2010/02/sausage-and-pepper-calzones.html) but I'm posting it again because I made an improvement on it. I happened to make these again on an absolutely gorgeous day, and I just plain didn't feel like having billions of pans to wash afterwards. So I looked down at the sausages I'd bought, and decided it would be faster to grill them. Then I looked at the peppers and onions, and decided I'd grill them too! WAY less clean up, right? So that's exactly what I did. I tossed them all on the grill, cooked them up beautifully, got squirted with grease from the sausages a few times, and then pulled them off and chopped them all up. I also didn't have much mozzerella, so I just used the whole tub of cottage cheese. It tasted AMAZING! The extra flavor from the grill was absolutely delicious. I will make these this way from now on! Fewer dishes to clean, and that unmistakable summery flavor from the grill just made these calzones a million times better! (In my humble opinion, of course. ;) )

As a side note, the very first time I ever made these, I didn't have peppers so I threw in zucchini and squash instead, and they worked really well too! I had planned to do that this time, but my co-op veggies didn't show up in time. Oh well, next time! Also, I always end up with WAY more filling than I need somehow. I discovered that the extra filling tastes great on Ciabatta rolls for sandwiches for lunch; my husband has also eaten it on top of rice on leftover night without complaint. :)