Tackling Cookbook Writing

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Well, I am really phoning it in today however, I have been swamped with spring cleaning. As I was digging through that, I got into tackling the organization of my recipes. Before I knew it, I started compiling my own cookbook. It got me to thinking...

If I wrote a cookbook, would anyone buy it?

Monday Menu Planning

Check me out over at At Work, At Play or At Home All Day talking about girlie stuff:-)

Here, I am doing more menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie and finding more deals at Pick N Save for $5 Dinners .

Jack's Pizza were on sale at Pick N Save this week for $4.00/10! I will need them this week because it is going to be really, really busy with all the spring cleaning. That's what I have been working on all weekend so, no recipe today:-(

Here is what I am serving this week:

Monday: Semi-Homemade Spaghetti Dinner

Tuesday: Garlic Chicken Risotta

Wednesday: Eat out for Daughter's Picnic

Thursday: Fish and French Fries

Friday: Leftover Buffet

Friday's Foto Fun with Eclair Cheesecake

It's time for Carrie's Friday Foto Fun:-) And I am up to my old tricks again.

This little beauty that I made for a dinner party last week may not be pretty but it was really good!! It was inspired by a dessert that I always order at a local restaurant called Maxims. It is a brilliant creation of a layer of cheesecake, topped with a layer of chocolate cake, filled and frosted with chocolate buttercream, glazed with chocolate ganache and garnished with a mini eclair. What's not to like right? Would you like the recipe? Ok:-)



Eclair Cheesecake

Ingredients:
For Cheesecake Layer:
1-1/4 cups vanilla wafers, crushed
1/4 cup butter, melted
3-8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tbls vanilla
1-1/2 cups sour cream

For Chocolate Cake Layer:
1 Devil's Food Cake box mix and all ingredients it requires

For the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup cocoa or three 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
3-4 tablespoons milk

For Ganache:
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbls unsalted butter

For Whipping Cream for Assembly of the Cake:
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 tbls powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. In a small mixing bowl, combine wafer crumbs and butter and stir well. Press crumb mixture into bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Chill.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, melted chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Fold in sour cream. Pour mixture into crumb crust.

3. Wrap bottom and sides of the springform pan in foil and put it in a roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water until it is half-way up the springform pan. Bake the cheesecake in the water bath for 1 hour and 10 minutes at 325. Turn off the oven and let cheesecake stand in the oven for 30 minutes with the oven door ajar. Remove and cool on wire rack. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours.

4. Bake Cake per the directions on the box.

5. In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add cocoa and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use.

6. For the ganache, place chocolate in a medium heat-safe mixing bowl. Heat cream and butter over medium heat then, bring to boil. Immediately pour cream over chocolate and mix until the chocolate is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes.

7. To assemble, frost cheesecake with the chocolate buttercream icing. Top with the chocolate cake. Frost the cake with the buttercream. Chill for 30 minutes.

8. For the glaze, place the fully chilled cake on a wire rack over a baking sheet. To cover cake, pour the ganache into the center of the cake. Working quickly, spread with a spatula over the sides of the cake to create an even coating of ganache.

9. To garnish, make the whipping cream. Chill a small bowl and your beaters. Put the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla in the bowl and whip until stiff. Fill a pastry bag with a star tip and pipe 14 stars on top of the ganache frosted cake. Chill for 5 minutes to set. Serve and enjoy:-)

Serves 14

Not That Much Going On...

This is the only gardening we got done with week:-)

Easter Planning Resource

It's time for another Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom or Wordful Wednesday on SevEn cLoWn CirCus:-)

Last week, I wrote about my Easter decorations. Well, Better Homes and Gardens saw it and countered with these pictures:

How cute are those?!!! I love Better Homes and Gardens and I have always used them as a great resource for the home. To that end, click here to check out what else they have going on to prepare for Easter:-)

Tackling Latin Cupcakes

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

I tackled another Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee Challenge . This time, the theme was Latin Flavor and my submission was "Taste the Passion Cupcakes".

These are white cupcakes drenched in passion fruit syrup filled with passion fruit curd topped with dark chocolate ganach. The passion fruit really pairs nicely with good quality dark chocolate.

Meatloaf

Check me out over at At Work, At Play or At Home All Day talking about girlie stuff:-)

Here, I am doing more menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie and finding more deals at Pick N Save for $5 Dinners .

Ground Beef was on sale at Pick N Save this week for $1.99/lb! I will use it twice this week: Spaghetti and Meatloaf.

Here is what I am serving this week:

Sunday: Meatloaf (See recipe below)

Monday: Semi-Homemade Spaghetti Dinner

Tuesday: Chicken and Pasta

Wednesday: Leftover Buffet

Thursday: Fish and French Fries

Friday: Eat Out

Saturday: Leftover Buffet

Meatloaf
6 Servings
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 medium onion, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce,
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmigian
1 pinch Coarse salt
1 pinch Black Pepper
1/4 cup ketchup

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place ground beef in a large mixing bowl and punch a well into the
center of meat. Fill well with the egg, bread crumbs, onion, garlic,
red pepper flakes, Worcestershire, parsley, cheese, and a little salt
and pepper. Mix up ingredients until well combined, yet not over-mixed.

3. Form into a loaf on a half sheet pan. Brush with ketchup. Bake 30
minutes.

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 521.63
Calories From Fat: 246.91
Total Fat: 26.86g
Saturated Fat: 10.70g
Cholesterol: 123.97mg
Sodium: 474.61mg Potassium: 713.90mg
Total Carbohydrates: 40.50mg
Fiber: 2.74g
Protein: 29.86g

Recipe Author: Inspired by Rachael Ray's Meatball Subs
Recipe Source: The Food Network
Web Page: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/meatball-subs-

Recipe: $5.58 ($3.47 w/sale)
Serving: $0.93 ($.58 w/sale)

Friday's Foto Fun with the Ultimate Blog Party

It's time for Carrie's Friday Foto Fun:-) It's also time to party...again...

That's right!!! Today is 5 Minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog Party!!

Susan and Janice are those beautiful twin bloggers who have brought you many, many great carnivals. My favorites are:

1. Tackle It Tuesday (click here to see some of my tackles)
2. Wordless Wednesday (click here to see some of my pictures)

You can find me under these labels every week. I have found so many new sites to follow and who follow me and I just love my 5M4M!

For those of you who are new to Susie's Homemade, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Susan (a.k.a. Susie) Ewing. I am a thriving stay-at-home mom of two wonderful girls (5 and 18) and a caretaker of my 67 year old live-in mother. I started this blog to support my chocolate shop on Etsy.com ( Susie's Homemade Chocolate Shop ) but, it has become so much more.

It is here that I explore my adventures in homemaking, baking, cake decorating and gardening. This has lead to competitive baking , writing for other sites and designning other blogs . I am thrilled by all that has come to me over the last year that I have been on line.

The thing that is nearest and dearest to my heart is cake design. Now, my long-time readers have to bear with me here. This is the third time I posted this slide show. I am reposting it here for the benefit of my new readers. This really shows what I am all about.

I love stalkers. Check out my left-side-bar for the many ways you can stalk me in cyberspace! I just started Twittering (if that's a correct verb). So, you can follow me there now too:-) I sure hope that you like what you see here and come back soon:-)

Getting Ready for the Show

These are my plants for the boxes on my patio and they are all getting ready for this year's debut in the sun.

First, my impatiens got a hair cut by pruning most of the long legs.

These Marigolds were started from seed. They are dressed and ready to go.

And finally, these are my German Ivy. I just woke them up from their warm winter's nap and they are getting their grove on too.

In a couple months, these will all be in their full glory and ready to adorn my patio for a Memorial Day cookout!! I can't wait!!!

St. Patrick's Day Cake

It's time for another Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom or Wordful Wednesday on SevEn cLoWn CirCus:-)


This is just a little something I whipped up for my family for St. Patrick's Day. I had an extra chocolate cake layer that I frosted in chocolate buttercream frosting, topped with mint chocolate chips and garnished with Thin Mint Cookies and white chocolate. Look's pretty good for doing it on the fly doesn't it?

Tackling Easter Decorations

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . Its' St. Patrick's Day and I am tackling the green over at Happy to be at Home . Here, I am decorating for Easter:-)

My mom collects Beanie Babies and when she moved in a couple years ago, I wanted to incorporate some of her into our home. We have a curio cabinet in our dinning room which we use to get started on our seasonal decorating. So, that is where the Beanie Babies go.

Here is what it looked like before:


And here is what it looks like now:



It's so cheery and really getting me into the mood for spring (like I needed any more incentive:-)

That's it for me. What are you tackling today?

Corned Beef Dinner

Check me out over at At Work, At Play or At Home All Day talking about girlie stuff:-)

Here, I am doing more menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie and finding more deals at Pick N Save for $5 Dinners .

Of course, Corned Beef was on sale at Pick N Save this week for St. Patrick's Day and so was cream cheese! I will use both of these twice this week. In addition, crescent rolls were on sale too and I will use these to use up the Corned Beef. So, I got lot's of things doing double duty for double the savings:-)

Here is what I am serving this week:

Sunday: Corned Beef Dinner (See recipe below)

Monday: Semi-Homemade Spaghetti Dinner

St. Patrick's Day: Classic Reuben Ring (using left over corned beef and Crescent rolls that were on sale.)

Wednesday: Garlic Chicken Risotto

Thursday: Leftover Buffet

Friday: Eat Out

Saturday: Dinner with Friends (I am using the cream cheese that was on sale to bring Susie's Oh My Gosh, Ganache Chocolate Cheesecake to this event.)

Corned Beef Dinner
Serves: 8 (including the leftovers for the Reubens:-)
Ingredients:
3 1/2 lb Corned beef
4 cups Water
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 small cabbage
4 medium carrots
4 medium potatoes
1/8 tsp pepper
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
4 Tbl horseradish

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425. For meat and vegetables, rince brisket with
cold running water; trim off excess fat. Pour water into a roasting
pan. Place brisket and bay leaf in the pan and top with garlic.

2. Cut onion into thick wedges. Cut cabbage and potatoes into
quarters and carrots into 2-inch squares.Arrange onion and cabbage
around the brisket. Top with carrots and potatoes. Sprinkle with
pepper. Bake 1 1/2 hours or until brisket is fork-tender.

3. For sauce, combine cream cheese, milk and horseradish in a small
saucepan. Wisk over medium heat until warm.

4. Carve brisket diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Serve
with vegetables and sauce.

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 569.16
Calories From Fat: 319.82
Total Fat: 35.69g
Saturated Fat: 14.42g
Cholesterol: 123.65mg
Sodium: 2221.81mg Potassium: 1274.83mg
Total Carbohydrates: 31.38mg
Fiber: 3.44g
Protein: 31.25g

Recipe Author: The Pampered Chef
Recipe Source: The Pampered Chef: Main Dishes

Recipe: $13.68
Serving: $1.71

Friday's Foto Fun with a Winner

It's time for Carrie's Friday Foto Fun:-) It's also time to party...

Happy 200th post to me! I can't believe I have racked up 200 of these things already and still going strong! Thank you so much to everyone who follows my blog and to my new readers, I hope you find my material useful or at least entertaining:-)

And now for the moment you have all waited for.....

The winner of a 1/2 dozen of Susie's Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls is:

Alicia from More Than Words !!

I am especially excited about this winner. She is a long-time reader, commenter and follower and just the sweetest person ever! Thanks Alicia for your continued support:-) And congratulations! I will contact you to get your information to send out your prize on Monday.

Thanks to all who played:-)

Gardening To Do

I am still recovering from the Spring Fling. No pictures today:-( Just another to do list:

1. Turn compost.

2. Sow more seeds.

3. Transplant seedlings.

4. Clean yard tools.

That should keep me busy for a while:-)

Spring was Flung and Now Its Sprung

Yesterday's SITs Spring Fling was so much fun! Now, it's time for another Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom or Wordful Wednesday on SevEn cLoWn CirCus:-)

This is my garden's very first sign of life this year!! Yippeee!!!

Tackling Spring Cleaning and Spring Fling

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . I am tackling Spring Cleaning over at Happy to be at Home.

AND...

SITs is having their Spring Fling and I am playing along but giving away some of these:

That's right...1/2 dozen of Susie's Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls. So, if you ever wanted to order but never pulled the trigger, here is your chance to try them for free!!

Here is how to enter:

1 entry- Leave me a comment on this post.
1 entry- Follow me on Facebook (button is on the left)
1 entry- Follow my blog
2 entries- Link to my contest on your blog.

The contest ends on 12 AM March 13th (Friday) which will be my 200th post!! So, I have a lot of great stuff going on this week and a lot of things to celebrate!

This should be fun. Thank you for reading and being such a great support for my blog. This is my way of giving back to you!

Pork Roast

Check me out over at At Work, At Play or At Home All Day talking about girlie stuff:-)

Here, I am doing more menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie and finding more deals at Pick N Save for $5 Dinners . Last week was totally crazy for me so, I only have a weekday menu for you today:-)

Roast Feast at Pick N Save this week! I got a Pork Loin Roast and it's normally $3.99/lb. This week it was $2.49/lb. so, I am making Balsamic Roasted Pork Loin!

Here is what I am serving this week:

Sunday: Balsamic Roasted Pork Loin (see recipe below)

Monday: Semi-Homemade Spaghetti Dinner (pasta sauce was on sale too this week!!)

Tuesday: Sweet and Sour Pork (using left over roast)

Wednesday: Leftover Buffet

Thursday: Chicken and Pasta

Friday: Poker Night Out/Eat Out

Balsamic Roasted Pork Loin
Ingredients:
2 Tbls steak seasoning rub
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 c olive oil
2 lb boneless pork loin roast

Directions:
1. Dissolve steak seasoning in balsamic vinegar, then stir in olive oil. Place pork into a resealable plastic bag and pour marinade overtop. Squeeze out air and seal bag; marinate 2 hours to overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

3. Place pork into a glass baking dish along with marinade. Bake in preheated oven, basting occasionally until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F (65 degrees C), about 1 hour. Let the roast rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 269.09
Calories From Fat: 194.76
Total Fat: 21.98g
Saturated Fat: 5.00g
Cholesterol: 50.40mg
Sodium: 40.43mg Potassium: 238.52mg
Total Carbohydrates: 0.98mg
Fiber: 0.00g
Protein: 16.58g

Recipe Source: Allrecipes
Web Page: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Balsamic-Roasted-Pork-Loin/Detai

Recipe: $12.48 ($9.46 on sale)
Serving: $1.56 ($1.18 on sale)

Friday's Foto Fun with Amoxicillin

It's time for Carrie's Friday Foto Fun:-)

This has been my life all week:
Amoxicillin for sinus and ear infections and
thermometer to make sure the fever is kept at bay:-)

Gardening Progress Report

Ok, a month ago, I started a list of gardening projects I needed to get done before spring hits. Here is my progress on that list:

Force spring bulbs: Not done.
Test seeds: Done
Repot houseplants: Done
Repot seedlings: Done
Start watering German Ivy: Done

Ok, in all honesty it took me a month and not a week to get this list done but, so far so good right? I decided not to force bulbs this year. Not a big deal because I have enough going on in the indoor garden.

The next thing I need to do is keep planting and repotting my seedlings and clean up my outdoor tools for the coming season. It's getting closer everybody!! I can feel it!!

Wordless Wednesday

It's time for another Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom or Wordful Wednesday on SevEn cLoWn CirCus:-) (It's more Wordful than Wordless today.

Who is this little guy and why is he here? He is the University of Wisconsin: Madison's own Bucky Badger. He is here to tell you that I attended my first collegiate event! My oldest daughter plays clarinet for the Pep Band and they played at the Milwaukee Admirals hockey game this weekend!

It was so much fun! They played before and during the game and really get the crowd going. At the end of the game, they came out on the ice and were playing and dancing around. It was the first time I got to see how much fun she is having in college. I couldn't be more happy for her and I am a proud mama:-)

I was Tackled Today

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom and this time, I got tackled...by the flu! No fun:-( I have been out of it all weekend and now, my little girl has it too.

Once I snap out of this, I have to get started on my spring cleaning list. First on the agenda, cleaning out closets so I can go spring shopping:-) If that's not incentive, I don't know what is:-)

Red Gold Tomatoes!!

Check me out over at At Work, At Play or At Home All Day talking about girlie stuff:-)

Here, I am doing more menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie and finding more deals at Pick N Save for $5 Dinners . Last week was totally crazy for me so, I only have a weekday menu for you today:-)

Lent Specials at Pick N Save this week. I picked up some shrimp for $5.88/lb(it is normally $9.99/lb.!) So, I am making my Special Fried Rice with Shrimp!

Also, remember I got all those free tomatoes sent to me from Red Gold? Well, the package included a recipe book so, I am trying their Tomato Basil Chicken. The recipe is below:

Here is what I plan on serving:

Monday: Mega Meatball Pizza (love Rachael Ray)

Tuesday: Tomato Basil Chicken (see recipe below)

Wednesday: Left over Buffet

Thursday: Special Fried Rice with Shrimp (That's my Pick N Save pick:-)

Friday: Eating Out!!

Tomato Basil Chicken
Ingredients:
1 (9 ounce) package prepared chicken breast, diced
1 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
1 (14.5 ounce) can Red Gold Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic and Oregano or 1 (14.5 ounce) can Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes with Garlic & Olive Oil
1 1/4 cup water
1 (6 ounce) package rice pilaf mix
1/4 c chopped fresh basil

In a nonstick skillet combine all the above ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 18 minutes. All the liquid must be absorbed

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 329.13
Calories From Fat: 80.14
Total Fat: 8.80g
Saturated Fat: 1.95g
Cholesterol: 31.25mg
Sodium: 147.35mg Potassium: 239.13mg
Total Carbohydrates: 41.15mg
Fiber: 1.21g
Protein: 19.48g

Cooking Tip: About 1¼ pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts can be substituted for a 2 to 3 pound broiler/fryer chicken. Twelve ounces or ¾ pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts equals about 2 cups of cubed cooked chicken.

Recipe Source: Red Gold Tomatoes Heartwarming Recipes for the Busy Cook

Recipe: $3.52
Serving: $0.88