The Nifty Foodie's Life

If you would have seen me two years ago, you wouldn’t recognize me. I thought taking chicken from the freezer to the skillet was ok, and putting it on high heat? All the better. Hamburger Helper and Manwich were luxuries. Pillsbury rolled cookie dough was dessert.

Yes people, I was NOT a foodie. When I got engaged to the hubs in March of 2008, I began to think about how I won’t have Mom’s baked shells every week or the luxury of having someone figure out food for the family. It was going to be just me and the hubs.

So, I ventured onto a forum called What’s Cooking and lurked around.  These ladies were about my age, and cooking AMAZING meals for their families. I had to learn. I started watching Food Network, and completely got mesmerized by Alton Brown.

Alton Brown is just awesome. I’m a huge science geek, and his show just reaches out to me, because he explains WHY? It’s so great and refreshing that Food Network has someone like him on the show. I have learned so much from him, cooking and baking wise.

Fast forward a couple of months, I started my food blog. I was proud of my cooking and baking, but I know it wasn’t exactly to par. I thought this picture looked great at the time. ::rolls eyes:: It looks like goop on top of a pathetic cupcake.

Then, something hit me. I suddenly wanted to take Wilton classes. Before that, my cakes were, well, Cake Wreck worthy, you could say.

Yeah baby. That’s high quality decorating with funfetti cake mix, canned frosting with liquid food coloring and an aerosol can of piping frosting. That’s how we do it at LSU.

Ok, maybe not. Is this better?

After taking all four classes, this was my final cake of the courses. I think there’s a slight improvement over the Cake Wreck above. Don’t mind the cracking fondant…I didn’t give it enough kneading love.

Nowadays, I find myself finding more challenging recipes to try. One of my new goals on the baking list is french macarons. I really love how pretty they are, although I’ve never tasted them. I’m sure someone would like them though if I didn’t!

I’m also improving little by little on my photography, which I’m so happy about. I use a Canon SD1100 IS. It’s a point and shoot, but it works for me!

This picture actually got on FoodGawker! I was so happy when my blog got nearly 500 hits in 1 day!

I hope that my blog’s success keeps going up from here. I get a little giddy when I see how many people subscribe to see what’s going on in my kitchen, and even more happy when I get a comment! I love being a foodie!

This past month, I decided to participate in Operation Baking Gals for the first time. Baking is one of my favorite hobbies, and now that I’m on a diet, I’m trying to find opportunities to bake that don’t require me to have a pan of brownies housed on my counter for a few days. Too tempting!

I knew I was going to bake three items: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies, Halloween M&M Biscotti and The Chewy, which will all be featured on Skinny Food by Amy. 

I first went to the Dollar Tree and bought three packs of disposable containers, along with packing supplies. I also got the flat rate APO/FPO shipping box for free at the post office to do this. If you were doing this to send to someone NOT in the military, go ahead and just get a flat rate box. You’ll be glad you did…my box of goodies ended up being 7 lbs.!! Flat rate rocks!

First, I followed the directions on the OBG website, which said to line the containers with paper towels and place a few pieces of apple peel in the fold nearest where the baked goods will be placed. Then, I loaded up the containers with baked goodies, put another paper towel with apple peel and taped the container shut, just in case!

Then, I put in one layer of baked goods in the box and squished in grocery plastic bags around them to make the boxes as immobile as possible. The trick here is to make everything in the box stay absolutely still, so if they are shaken, they won’t get super crumbly before reaching their destination. I’ve shipped two boxes of decorated cookies using this method with GREAT success!

Then, I added a second layer of baked goods. I ran out of containers, so I lined two ziplocs with a paper towel and apple peel and filled them up. I wrapped them tightly in bubble wrap as well. I’m not quite sure how these will fare, but hopefully, since they ended up being packed in pretty tightly, I’m hoping they will be ok!

I also added a note to tell them how much I appreciate what they do for our country. Then, I added a bunch of plastic grocery bags to surround the second layer of boxes/bags, as well as on the very top, put two layers of bubble wrap, so they don’t accidentally cut through the goodies when opening the box!

All in all, this was a fun way to show appreciation to our troops! I paid maybe $20 (including $11.95 shipping) to do this, and I know I’ll definitely be doing this again!

I’m thinking, if I have enough Internet buddies interested, of hosting a team for December’s shipping dates. It is the holiday season after all, and who doesn’t like baking with fun holiday sprinkles?!

This is a really late post, but this WFMW is not as broad as usual. In cake decorating, you learn how to work with many different mediums. Buttercream, Meringue, Royal Icing, Fondant, Gumpaste, Modeling Chocolate–just to name a few.

Honestly, there are advantages and disadvantages to each one, but my favorite (so far) is fondant. The only problem? Fondant isn’t cheap…at all! At least the pre-made stuff isn’t.

So, when I found a Marshmallow Fondant recipe online, I was skeptical. I was afraid of the sticky gooey disaster, but let me tell you, that stuff comes together!!

Another advantage, marshmallows and powdered sugar are DIRT CHEAP as opposed to a box of fondant! Oh, one more thing….you can flavor it with extracts. No need for hard-to-find candy oils, like you do with regular pre-made fondant.

Here’s the latest cake that I made with Marshmallow Fondant for my Wilton course, and if you’re curious, check out the recipe here!

Pardon the kleenex and torn ribbon there. It’s been a while since I worked with fondant!

Marshmallow fondant works for me in cake decorating. To see what works for other bloggers, check out We are that Family.

I’m sure most of you who have tried your hand at baking have at least ONCE placed all the flour or powdered sugar in a bowl to mix with wet ingredients and you end up with a HUGE poof of flour/sugar cloudiness in the kitchen. (Thank you hand mixer with settings of fast -> faster.) That poof ends up going everywhere and if it’s sugar, oh boy, a STICKY mess!

When I started taking Wilton Courses, I remember making that first batch of buttercream. Oh, how I tried to avoid the cloud, but the only way to do it was to mix by hand at first, then turn on the mixer and mix away. It was a hassle!

Here’s the hero to the story — the KA stand mixer.

source

The great thing about this mixer is that the bowl is very deep and the settings start off at a very slow stir (no more clouds!), all the way up to super fast it will make meringue in a minute! I also can make DOUBLE batches of buttercream in this mixer, because the motor can totally take it. It’s such a time saver, and now that I’m enrolled in Course 3 (starting this Friday), I can actually look forward to making my icings!

This mixer definitely Works for Me!

To see what works for others, check out We Are That Family!

As much as I hate the heat, there are some things I love about the summer. One of those, mainly, is in season fruits! Berries, melons, ahh…bliss!

So, for today’s Works for Me Wednesday, I’m going to share some of my favorite fruit recipes. Maybe these will inspire you for that big cookout happening on the 4th!

All of these recipes are from my food blog, Skinny Food by Amy. Enjoy!

You can definitely start your summer mornings with a big piece of this low-fat strawberry bread! It’s delicious!

If you are in the mood for something classic this summer, here is an All American Apple Pie that will not disappoint!

If you want something light and refreshing that will help you to beat the heat, definitely give this Watermelon Sorbet a try!

If you are making a classic cake for a party, give this yummy blackberry filling a try. You can sub any berries for the blackberry really if those aren’t your thing. It’s delicious!

To see other Works for Me Wednesday summer recipes, check out We are that Family!