Late Easter Wrap Up

I have been having internet issues here lately, so please excuse the lateness of this Easter post, but I wanted to share a few things!

Last Sunday was a great day! One of our family get-togethers actually got cancelled and after we went to church, my husband and I were left to our own devices for the day. It was the best holiday ever!

We ended up going to a Mexican restaurant and having brunch. (We are always down for Mexican food ~ even in the morning!) After stuffing our bellies we went home and crashed on the couch and watched movies! I wish all holidays could be that low-key and relaxing!

If you follow my Instagram, you may have already seen some of these pictures. If you don't follow me, you should! I am obsessed with Instagram right now! It's like a mini blog and I usually post things once or twice a day. I love it!

Anyways...back to this blog!

I decided way back in January while watching an episode of Martha Bakes on PBS to make her Carrot-Ginger Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting for Easter. It looked delicious wrapped in candied strips of carrots, but I had seen some super cute bunny and carrot sugar decorations at Country Kitchen that I wanted to put on it instead. I love putting my own spin on things and making it my own! It turned out so good! (And saved a few steps too!)

Getting ready to go in the oven. It was a very easy recipe ~ even for a beginner! This was my first "from scratch" cake I had ever made. And yes, I am a very messy baker. Ask my husband!

Soooo cute!!! I was very happy with the way everything turned out! A lot of times in life things don't go as planned, but this actually did! Thanks Martha!

It was delicious as well! I definitely will be making this again! I highly recommend it! Adding the ginger and the orange to this cake just takes it to a whole other level!

Another shot of my nephew's Easter basket I put together!

And this is my "Easter Basket" from my husband! I mean the Easter Bunny! He always does such a good job! I can't wait to plant it in the ground and have it come up year after year!

On an Indiana backroad heading for church! It was a beautiful day!

I really liked this stained glass at the church. I had seen it before, but on Easter it just really struck me. Maybe it was the sun shining in. I love stained glass.

We went to my husband's parent's church because his dad was in a play. He was the angel that told everyone that Jesus had risen from the tomb.

My Easter meal! It felt a bit like A Christmas Story, going to an ethnic restaurant on a holiday and all. It was delicious and I think I have found a new favorite kind of omelet ~ pico de gallo and cheese with sour cream and a squirt of lime juice! Delicious!

  Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!
 

Martha Bakes!

 

I was lucky enough to have a rare, lazy kind of Saturday just putzing around the house doing random things when I saw that Martha Bakes was on PBS! 

 

 I hadn't seen a Martha show in a long time so I was excited. I had to sit down and watch it while I was folding some laundry (#multi-tasking!) 

 

 This episode featured recipes from "The South" such as Buttermilk Pie, Bourbon Bread Pudding, and Carrot-Ginger Cake with Orange Frosting. YUM!

 

I forgot how mild-mannered, quiet, and low-key Martha is. I guess I'm just used to watching all these loud, in your face, high energy cooking shows that are so popular right now. I missed Martha!

 

It was very peaceful just listening to her soothing voice narrating how to make a braided pie crust - or a pate brisee as she calls it (that's French for pie crust.)

The kitchen set on Martha Bakes is so bright, clean, and simple. I love it! Now how to incorporate some of that into my own kitchen?

 

I also caught a cool show right after Martha Bakes called A Chef's Life, which chronicled Chef Vivian Howard as she went about putting together her cookbook. It was shot documentary style and really interesting. 

 

I'm really going to have to start paying more attention to what's on PBS! 

 

The Carrot-Ginger cake with Orange Frosting. I may have to make this for Easter.

 

Chef Vivian Howard of A Chef's Life

Photographing her cookbook...how exciting!

Thanksgiving Disasters and Black Friday Deals

How did everyone's Thanksgiving go?!? Any baking disasters? I'd love to hear about them!

Mine started off so good. I was positive this year everything was going to go smoothly and everything was going to turn out perfectly! Who am I kidding? I always think that. I think you have to start out optimistically otherwise you'd probably never even begin.

My first downfall was that I started my baking too late in the day. Like 8pm too late. I always do. Hopefully now that I have it written in stone I can look at this next year and remember to start earlier! (haha, yeah right!)  All I had to make was a classic pumpkin pie and some super delish cranberry fluff. Piece of cake! I wanted to make a pumpkin pie simply because I found some really cute tiny leaf cookie cutters last year and I wanted to try and replicate all those beautiful pies I see on Pinterest with all the fancy leaf work on them. It almost worked.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie (my family's go to) is super easy to make so that part was no hassle. Even doing the leaf-trimmed crust was pretty smooth sailing, especially since I didn't follow anyone's directions, I just made up my own way to attach the leaves and prayed it worked out (It did, for the most part.)

The trouble started when I sliced my finger open trying to make an aluminum pie crust protector since I couldn't find the ones I know I had somewhere. Then, as I was trying to attach it to my fragile pie crust, some of the leaves fell off into no-mans land at the bottom of the oven and immediately started burning-which I somehow promptly forgot to remove and my whole house smelled like it was on fire for two days. Then, I forgot to turn down the heat part way through the baking of the pie so the crust leaves drooped and got charred and the pie itself was looking pretty dry. At least the leaves in the middle of the pie turned out pretty good! Thank goodness I also had a Patti LaBelle Sweet Potato Pie from Walmart to soften the blow. Those things are AMAZING!

I bet even Martha Stewart has had a few baking/cooking disasters in her day. They say practice makes perfect so maybe when I'm 80 I'll have this all down pat!

I removed some of the more burnt leaves on the crust and added my pre-baked leaves for the middle. Those turned out really well! I tried to strategically place them to cover all the cracks! It didn't really work but it actually tasted really good!

Speaking of Martha! I got some awesome Martha Stewart fall appetizer plates at Macy's! They were a steal! At $15 and $17 a piece normally, I only paid about $12 for them both! They had some other really cute items in the collection (like a white and gold pumpkin covered soup bowl!) but I had to limit myself to just these two. I love them and they made up for the fact that nothing else I set out for on Black Friday worked out! The silver (or gold in this case) lining of my Black Friday shopping excursion. Best purchase of the 2016 fall season for sure! Thanks Martha!