All Aboard

We all had our train tickets for the wedding reception.

The Union Depot is a historic railroad station located in St. Paul, Minnesota. It has been recently remodeled as a hub for all  types of transportation including trains, buses and light rail.  The Depot also hosts public events and private parties. The bride and groom being very detailed oriented put a lot of thought and effort into their event assisted by family members.  The table decor was  vintage chic. A pink and white theme was carried through from the rehearsal dinner the night before.
Each centerpiece was a family silver piece and the flower arrangments were made by the bride's mother. The silver centerpieces rested on vintage books.

 

I remember this water pitcher belonging to my mother.
The creativity did not stop there. Check out the farm scene with 3 stables made by the groom.

The groom's family farms in SW Minnesota. A variety of farm animals were spray painted gold. Around the neck of each animal was the guest's name and table number. Over 200 were made!
I got a pig.
 

Vintage suitcase that held wedding cards.

Between the music, food, drinks and conversation guests could even go to a designated area and play bean bag toss and other games. It certainly was a memorable day.

Congratulations Emma and Jake

P.S.
So while we partied Bella had her first sleepover at the house with Mulligan. Check back on the next posting The World According to Bella to see what happened later in the evening. 

A Dry June Wedding

Imagine having to plan a wedding in Minnesota with the deluge of rain we have had this past month. June has been the wettest month in history with water levels at historic highs and flooding all over the state. So to even get one or two dry days in a row is truly a gift. My niece was fortunate on Friday the weather was in her favor for an outdoor party before the rehearsal. It was a beautiful evening to be outside to enjoy the festivities. 

Pink was the theme for table decor. The guests enjoyed themselves playing a variety of outdoor games. 

Creativity abounded with the bride and groom gifts for their groomsmen and bridesmaids. 

These gifts were handmade by the groom. It was a wooden crate that held 4 small glasses (each glass was nestled in a cut out circle in the wood which was the exact shape of glass bottom), a variety of craft brews and 4 jars of homemade snacks ( such as M and M's, nuts )  It certainly must have taken him a long time to make 10.

Of course the bride was quite creative decorating the bridesmaid's gift boxes. Inside each box was a piece of jewelry with a gift card.  And the bride lovingly had this handkerchief embroidered with this sweet saying from a childhood book she liked and gave it to her mother. With the popularity of Pinterest these days I found it quite interesting that the bride or groom did not go on Pinterest for any of these projects and came up with the ideas on their own.   

The evening had a Mexican theme with food served from Chipotle Restaurant.    

And here is where I had a part in the evening festivities.

Mexican Wedding Cakes

a.k.a Russian Teacakes and Walnut Snowballs 

Cook's notes: The recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies. Be sure to keep dough chilled after making one batch of cookies. 
Ingredients:

• 2 cups pecans or walnuts (chopped in food processor) 
• 1 cup softened butter but cooler to the touch than at room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp.pure vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/8 tsp. salt if using salted cream butter otherwise 1/4 tsp.
• 2 cups powdered sugar for rolling dough balls 

Directions:

• Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy for 2 minutes. Add in vanilla and mix well.
• Mix flour and salt, add to sugar mixture, beat for 2 minutes.
• Add in nuts and mix well.
• Chill dough in refrigerator for one hour.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll dough into balls about 1-1/2 inches and place 2 inches apart on sheet.
• Bake for 14 minutes or until edges of cookies start to brown. Start checking at 13 minutes.
• Cool cookies on sheet 2 minutes,then transfer each one to wire rack. 
• In a large bowl place 2 cups powdered sugar and drench 3 warm cookies at a time in powdered sugar. Place each cookie back on wire rack. 

 

Mexican Kahlua Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 TB. softened butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1-2 TB. Kahlua liqueur

Directions:

• Over a double boiler on low heat combine chips, cream and butter.
• Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
• Remove from heat and blend in Kahlua.
• Store in refrigerator until serving and warm slightly in microwave.

Meet Emma and Jake

Texas Slaw

I was quite taken with this hanging plant (a door prize at a luncheon-did not win). It was a new variety of petunias that I have never seen. The outer flower edge was a deep purple and it was quite a contrast to the lemony yellow center. A stunning array of flowers. I did an Internet search and came up with this name 2014 Spring Trials:Cohen Happy Magic Petunias 

Texas Slaw

Cook's Notes: I have been down South many times and enjoyed their variety of dishes and home style cooking. But it was Up North when I had my first taste of Texas Slaw. It is a adventuresome salad with a Tex-Mex twist. What a nice change from the traditional coleslaw and a perfect side for your next potluck, tailgate party or BBQ. The salad should sit several hours for flavors to meld before serving. 
recipe from allspice.com
Ingredients:

• 1-16 oz. package of coleslaw mix
• 2 cans each 7 oz. Mexicorn or 2 cups frozen fresh corn
• 2 fresh jalapenos peppers, seeded and diced
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 cup lite Ranch dressing
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground coriander
•  1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 Tb. lime juice
• 2 cups shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
• 1/4 of a red onion, cut in strips 

Directions:

• Mix peppers, cilantro, Ranch dressing, spices and lime juice.
• Blend dressing mixture with corn, coleslaw mix, onion and cheese. 
• Refrigerate several hours before serving.

that an old ketchup bottle works great filled with batter so there is no mess. So simple why didn't I ever think of that idea!

Panzanella Salad

Panzanella or panmolle (bread salad) is a Tuscan salad of bread and tomatoes popular in the summer. It includes chunks of soaked stale bread, diced tomatoes, onions and basil, dressed with olive oil and vinegar.

Cook's notes: Panzanella Salad is a great way to use up leftover or slightly stale bread and ripe tomatoes. The original recipe is typically made with red wine vinegar and olive oil. This version substitutes balsamic vinegar for red wine vinegar. Be sure to use your best extra light virgin olive oil as quality becomes apparent after the first bite. The dish gets better the longer the flavors are allowed to infuse so you can make it several hours in advance. Be sure to stir the salad a couple of times.

If you happen to shop at a store that carries oils and balsamic vinegars consider buying chocolate balsamic vinegar. I splurged recently and bought a small bottle. 

The taste is amazing. I drizzled it over vegetables and roasted them and used it in the Panzanella Salad. Other uses for chocolate balsamic vinegar include: using it over ice cream or macerate fresh berries with it for a simple, yet decadent dessert.
This recipe serves 4








Ingredients:
Salad

• 1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1 inch cubes you will need 2 cups
• 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
• 3 large ripe tomatoes, cut into cubes
• 1 cup diced cucumbers or 1 cup diced zucchini
• 1/2 cup diced sweet red pepper
• 1/2 cup diced yellow pepper
• 1/2 cup diced  red onion
• 6-8 basil leaves, coarsely chopped
• optional grilled summer squash or cooked green beans
• optional adding in mixed greens

Ingredients:
Vinaigrette

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup extra light virgin olive oil
• 3 TB. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes, 1/4 tsp. dried thyme and 1/4 tsp. dried oregano

Directions:

• In a blender add oil, spices, minced garlic and vinegar. Mix well. 

• In a bowl place stale bread cubes and add half of the vinaigrette to the cubes. Toss to coat well and set aside at room temperature for 10 minutes.
• In a large bowl add tomatoes chunks, onions, peppers, cucumbers and torn basil leaves. 
• Salt and pepper to taste, stir to combine ingredients and add in rest of vinaigrette with bread cubes.
• Mix the salad ingredients and let sit for at least 30 minutes. The longer the salad sits, the juicer the tomatoes will be.   

 

Use a muffin tin as a cooling rack.

Ice Scraper as Pastry Dough Lifter

Lift sticky pastry dough from the work surface. Next to ice, this job really isn't quite so hard.

Outdoor Feast

"Adopt the pace of nature: Her secret is patience."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 There are certain challenges in taking loon pictures. One is having a dog in the boat who as soon as she spies a loon barks non-stop. Another challenge is trying to keep the camera steady in a boat. And lastly, if you get too close to the loons the parents will dive under water. In this picture the mother is feeding the baby a fish that is in her bill. The father loon was off to the side protecting the mother and baby from danger. 

A hungry loon family can put away a lot of fish. Biologists estimate that loon parents and their 2 chicks can eat about a half-ton of fish over a 15-week period.

Watching the loon feast motivated me to take my food feast to the deck and enjoy the lake view.  

Grilled Menu for Seasonal Plate Food Column 

Cherry Bomb Cupcakes 

This recipe was posted June 15, 2014. But note that I changed the cupcake batter recipe to one that would make a larger batch of cupcakes and could also be baked as a 13 x 9 cake.

Cherry Apple Slaw

Cook's notes: Cherry Apple Slaw is a twist on traditional coleslaw using red cabbage and fresh arugula. Some prepared dressings that pair well with this salad include Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette or Creamy Poppyseed dressing.

Inspiration for this recipe came from Midwest Living Taste of Summer 2014 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shredded red cabbage
• 4 cups fresh arugula
• 2 Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples, sliced into thin strips
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 3/4 cup diced green onion or 1/4 red onion, cut into thin strips
• 3/4 cup sweet yellow pepper cut into thin strips
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or roasted sunflower seeds
• prepared dressing

Directions:

• In a large bowl toss all ingredients except dressing
• Add dressing right before serving

Spice Rubbed Grilled Pork Chops on a Stick 

Cook's notes: The dry rub contains spices that bring a little heat to the chop. Be sure to soak wooden skewers for 30 minutes in water before using on the grill. 

Inspiration for this recipe came from Midwest Living Taste of Summer 2014 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless pork chops 
• 1 TB. soy sauce

Spice Rub

• 1 tsp. each paprika and brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. each garlic powder, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cumin, dry mustard, cayenne pepper and cracked black pepper

Directions:

• Brush chops both sides with soy sauce.
• In a bowl mix all spices together.
• Sprinkle rub over both sides of chops and rub it in with your fingers.
• Insert a skewer into each chop.
• Lightly grease grill grates with olive oil. 
• Sear chops 2 minutes a side and then grill chops for 30 minutes on medium heat. Turn chops once after 15 minutes. Use a meat thermometer which should register at 160 degrees. Let chops stand 3 minutes before serving. 

Pork chops are a particularly versatile dish that will go with a variety of wine both red and white. Suggested wine pairings include:

Red-7 Deadly Zins, Marietta Old Vine, White-Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, Louis Jadot Chardonnay

A Midwest Breakfast

Create a Midwest breakfast to start your day.

Wild Rice and Blueberry Pancakes

Cook's notes: Wild rice and buttermilk gives these hearty pancakes a wonderful texture and blueberries are a flavorful addition.  Cook wild rice according to package directions but do not add salt use plain water. How much wild rice is personal preference so start with 1 cup of cooked wild rice to batter, add more as needed. Cooking wild rice the day before is a time saver since it takes about 50 minutes to cook. Any leftover rice can be used in  making a salad.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour or cake flour
• 3 TB. sugar
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 3 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 TB. vanilla
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 5 TB. melted butter
• 1-2 cups cooked wild rice
• 1 pint and a half blueberries, rinsed and patted dry on a paper towel
• syrup/butter

Directions:

• Warm oven to 350 degrees and then turn oven off. Cooked pancakes can be stored on baking sheet in warm oven while you finish cooking the others.
• In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to combine and make a well in the center of the ingredients and set aside.
• In a separate bowl beat buttermilk, 2% milk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla.
• Heat a griddle over medium high heat. You can flick water across surface and if it beads up and sizzles it's ready to go.
• Pour the wet mixture into the well of the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to combine. Add wild rice and blueberries and mix just until blended. Do not over stir-batter should be slightly lumpy. 
• Pour or scoop 1/3 cup batter for each pancake onto the griddle.  

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 3/4 cup milk or substitute soy, rice or almond milk
• 1/2 cup ice cubes

Directions:

• Crush ice cubes first in a blender, then add ingredients to mix well.

Smoothie Options include:
Best High-Protein Smoothie Ingredients:
• Nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt
• Nonfat or low-fat plain milk
• Nonfat or low-fat plain kefir (fermented milk drink)
• Tofu
• Natural peanut butter
• Almond butter
• Plain soymilk
• Plain almond milk
Best Fruits for Smoothies (use fresh fruit, frozen fruit or fruit canned in water or its own juice):
• Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Peach
• Banana
• Apple
• Melon
• Cherries
• Apricot
Best Vegetables for Smoothies (use raw):
• Carrot
• Kale
• Spinach
• Avocado
• Cucumber
Healthy Smoothie Additions for Flavor and Additional Nutrition:
• Flaxseed
• Chia seed
• Old-fashioned oats
• Spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger)
• Vanilla extract
• Coconut water
• Unsweetened cocoa powder

Some of my favorite uses for Magic Erasers include:

• Removing scuff marks from floors, doors, and baseboards (…not only scuff marks, but also years of black grime & built-up hairspray on white baseboards in the bathrooms & door panels of cabinets/doors)
• Making tennis shoes look like new again
• Cleaning white grout effortlessly
• Removing set-in tea stains in the Mr. Coffee Instant Tea Maker (pitcher & tea holder)
• Cleaning the textured plastic parts of the computer monitor, keyboard & mouse
• Removing set-in stains from drink coasters (…even those ceramic ones)
• Cleaning in the tiny nooks & crannies of the electric can opener

…but wait, there’s more! Check out this site
http://household-tips.thefuntimesguide.com/2006/01/magic_erasers.php

Cherry Bomb Cupcakes

And let the celebrating continue with Father's Day and Cherry Bomb Cupcakes.
Cook's notes: This recipe was inspired by Midwest Living Magazine. It puts the sizzle in your baking pairing chocolate with cherries and is a crowd pleaser. I added flags for a festive touch. These cupcakes would be a great addition for your 4th of July celebration. The batter is a little runny but bakes into a moist cupcake. This batter can be used to make a 13 x 9 chocolate cake or 22 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 1-10 - ounce jar maraschino cherries 
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil 
• 2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 TB. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup freshly brewed coffee
• 2 TB Kirsch (cherry brandy) or 2 TB. cherry juice
• 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

• Drain cherries, reserving juice; set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 
• In a bowl beat egg, buttermilk, oil, kirsch or cherry juice and coffee on low speed until until combined. 
• Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture and blend well for 2 minutes on medium speed. 
• Spoon 2 tablespoons of the batter into each cupcake liner. Place one cherry into batter of each cupcake. 
• Cover cherry with batter so cupcake liners are 3/4 full of batter.
• Bake in a 350 degrees oven. Start checking at 15 minutes to see if they are done. 
• Cool cupcakes in pans on wire racks for 2 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pans; cool completely on wire racks.
• In a medium bowl combine powdered sugar and several tablespoons of reserved cherry juice. Add additional juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, to make an icing of drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over cupcakes, add red and blue sprinkles and top with a cherry. Refrigerate cupcakes 30 minutes to set icing. 

____________________________________________________________

Billy Collins remembered his father in this poem"The Death of the Hat." It evoked memories of my growing up years when my father always wore a hat and an overcoat when he left the house. 

Billy writes...
On Father's Day, "The Death of the Hat." For all of the fathers out there and for everyone who had (or has) a father. Hats off to you.

THE DEATH OF THE HAT
by Billy Collins June 16, 2013

Once every man wore a hat.

In the ashen newsreels,
the avenues of cities
are broad rivers flowing with hats.

The ballparks swelled
with thousands of straw hats,
brims and bands,
rows of men smoking
and cheering in shirtsleeves.

Hats were the law.
They went without saying.
You noticed a man without a hat in a crowd.

You bought them from Adams or Dobbs
who branded your initials in gold
on the inside band.

Trolleys crisscrossed the city.
Steamships sailed in and out of the harbor.
Men with hats gathered on the docks.

There was a person to block your hat
and a hatcheck girl to mind it
while you had a drink
or ate a steak with peas and a baked potato.
In your office stood a hat rack.

The day the war was declared
everyone in the street was wearing a hat
and they were wearing hats
when a ship loaded with men sank in the icy sea.

My father wore one to work every day
and returned home
carrying the evening paper,
the winter chill radiating from his overcoat.

But today we go bareheaded
into the winter streets,
stand hatless on frozen platforms.

Today the mailboxes on the roadside
and the spruce trees behind the house
wear cold white hats of snow.

Mice scurry from the stone walls at night
in their thin fur hats
to eat the birdseed that has spilled.

And now my father, after a life of work,
wears a hat of earth,
and on top of that,

A lighter one of cloud and sky--a hat of wind.