Daring Bakers Challenge: Lemon Meringue Pie

This months Daring Baker challenge was a great task.... Lemon Meringue Pie. What better in the dead of the icy New Jersey winter than the refreshing blast of Citrus! This month I post for you an image of a painting I completed with the Lemon Meringue as star! (lets put 6 years of art school to good use!)

This pie was fairly easy to make. First make a pie dough and blind bake it in the oven for about 20 min. Then take out the pie weights and bake it a tad more. Next I made the lemony custard filling.... I soon discovered that I had paper cuts on my little art teacher fingers (curse those little kindergartners and their sharp art work!).

The filling was quite tart, but it was complemented nicely by the very sweet meringue topping. My Hubby will certainly enjoy this pie for the next few days!

Check out the other great LMP's that the Daring Bakers cooked up! http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com/

New Caketopper!

Isn't this the cutest topper?! I just completed another Etsy.com order. This time my order ships out to a gal in Kansas City MO. She is having a fantastic vintage inspired wedding. I included her little black lab doggie on this topper. I have been getting more and more requests for doggies/kitties so I am learning as much as I can abut diffrent breeds. My next topper needs to have a little black and white cat, and yet another order calls for two little chihuahuas!

I love to chat with brides to be.... each wedding seems so diffrent and unique. One topper I am slated to make is going to a wedding in Spain and another to a fabulous wedding on the coast of Italy (If only my wedding was in Italy and not in Delaware!).

You can check out my little topper business on the website Etsy.com. It is a great place to find all sorts of handmade treasures! My Etsy name is Oilpainta.

Biscuits

Great Biscuits! Hubby doesn't know the difference between a biscuit and a bun. He calls a roll a muffin, whats up with that?

These biscuits turned out mighty tasty. They were light and buttery!

New Topper

People are finally taking notice of my toppers! It all started with an issue of Martha Stewart weddings..... I saw a very very cute wedding cake topper featured in an article, and knew my craftiness could pay off! 6 years of art school put to good use! I crafted the first topper for me and Hubby's wedding, and I thought it was fantastic. I made sure my wonderful wedding photographer took plenty of pictures of it.

I came up with the great idea to create a listing for a custom topper on etsy. Sure enough someone took my bait and bought one. Since then I have sold three toppers, and have three more orders in the works!

Just the other day I got a mention on one of my absolute favorite blogs www.weddingbee.com

I think I am now offically a caketopper queen!

I have a new order for a couple who are getting married in Spain. The groom's name is Pepe and they have a cat named Loco! How cute is that.

Great Coffee Cakes

Hubby bought me a great new cookbook for Christmas! Carole Walter's "Great Coffee Cakes". I haven't baked anything from it yet, but it has been fascinating to read through.

There is an extended section on how to make croissants complete with illustrations on how to make the elaborate folds and turns.

Another fascinating section is on how to make a thin phyllo like dough by hand, requiring alot of stretching to make the dough into a paper thin sheet. Carole gives a great suggestion inviting some of your friends over to have a dough stretching party . I can't wait to try the great recipes in this book. I will try a few and post my results!

Sweet and Spicy Salmon for Hubby

Dear hubby never really liked fish, until one day he just decided he did. He decided he liked salmon, which is probably the most fishy of the fishes, but my husband just does weird things like that. I have been using a standard salmon recipe of a mustard-honey wine-sauce, but I decided to mix things up a bit. I saw this recipe on food netowork a la that crazy haired guy fieri. He used cedar planks to cook his salmon on, but I decided not to. This sauce for this salmon was very tasty. I cooked myself up some chicken wings and brushed them with the leftover sauce.

Garlic Apricot Salmon

2 tablespoons oil
2 jalapenos, cut into rings
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 cup apricot preserves
4 (4 by 4-inch) pieces parchment paper
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skinned and boned
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (3-inch) fresh rosemary sprigs
1 lemon, zested

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small saute pan over medium heat, heat oil. When hot, add jalapenos and saute until caramelized. Add garlic, and before it begins to brown, deglaze with white wine. Next add mustard and apricot preserves and bring to a simmer. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes and let completely cool.

Place parchment paper baking sheet, add salmon, lightly salt and pepper, place a rosemary sprig on each fillet, and liberally apply cooled apricot mixture.

Cook salmon until medium-rare; remove from oven and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes until serving. Garnish with lemon zest

Turkey Meatloaf?!

I am back from my holiday hiatus. My wonderful husband and I traveled to Vancouver WA to visit my in laws. I came back with two new barefoot Contessa cookbooks and a few cookbooks that I purchased at a used book store!

My husband is trying to eat a little healthier this year, so I thought I would whip up some turkey meatloaf. Usually I make him a beef meatloaf, but I figured I would lighten it up a little. I used a recipe I found on Epicurious and it cam out mighty fine! The meat mixture is really really wet when you prepare it, but I think it helps keep the turkey from drying out in the oven. I used an Alton Brown recipe for the glaze on the top.... I think that is hubby's favorite part!

Turkey Meatloaf
Adapted from Epicurious
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/8-inch dice
3/4 lb cremini mushrooms, trimmed and very finely chopped in a food processor
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs (from 2 slices firm white sandwich bread)
1/3 cup 1% milk
1 whole large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 1/4 lb ground turkey (mix of dark and light meat)


Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cook onion and garlic in oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until onion is softened, about 2 minutes. Add carrot and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated and they are very tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, parsley, and 3 tablespoons ketchup, then transfer vegetables to a large bowl and cool.

Stir together bread crumbs and milk in a small bowl and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in egg and egg white, then add to vegetables. Add turkey and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to vegetable mixture and mix well with your hands. (Mixture will be very moist.)

Form into a 9- by 5-inch oval loaf in a lightly oiled 13- by 9- by 2-inch metal baking pan and brush meatloaf evenly with Alton Brown Meatloaf sauce (recipe follows) Bake in middle of oven until thermometer inserted into meatloaf registers 170°F, 50 to 55 minutes.

Alton Brown Meatloaf Sauce

1/2 cup catsup
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Dash Worcestershire sauce
Dash hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon honey (or you can substitute brown sugar)

Mix together and brush over meatloaf