frenchieandguido

Christmas time is the best time

2010-11-23T17:04:00.002-05:00

This years christmas colors....

Gold

Silver

White

Cream

Newspaper

So excited...Crafts and ideas to come tomorrow!

sing.dance.praise.love.cookm

Double layered Magic bars

2010-10-05T20:03:00.003-04:00

hello friends!

i have a very simple recipe for you that is oh so bad for you but OOOOH so good!

What you need!

4 1/2 cups graham cracker crust

1 1/2 cups butter

2 cup chocolate chips

2 cup white chocolate chips

4 cups sweetened shredded coconut

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

8X8 glass pan

What to do!

1.preheat oven to 350.

2. in bowl soften butter in microwave

3.combine your grahams and your butter to make a nice crust

4. press half of graham mixture into bottom of greased pan

5. poor on 1 cup of white chocolate chips and 1 cup of chocolate chips and 2 cups of coconut

6. poor on 1 can of sweetened condensed milk

7. REPEAT all of layers

bake for 30 minutes or until sides get a tan color.

enjoy! ( i am right now with a glass of red wine :) )

sing.dance.praise.love.cook m

Banana Spice Cake with Honey Cinnamon Frosting

2010-08-20T17:46:00.004-04:00

Hello Friends…

I know it’s been a while…I am very glad to be back and baking!

This recipe comes from the cookbook “The Village Baker’s Wife” by Gayle and Joe Ortiz. They own a bakery in Capitola, California. They are known for their beautiful display case, their amazing desserts and the perfect princess cakes. They are by far one of my favorite places to have breakfast. My late aunt Georgette had been taking us there since before I could remember we would get a pastry and walk down to the beach. Only good memories come from Gayles Bakery and so I am very honored to be making one of her masterpieces.

My dad always told me that you stick with the recipe at first then the second time you make it you can add things…well I broke the rules this time but it really is delectable!

What you need:

¾ cup unsalted butter

1 ½ cup sugar

3 large eggs separated

1 ½ tea vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups cake flour

½ tea baking soda

1 ½ tea baking powder

1 ½ tea ground cinnamon

½ tea ground nutmeg

½ tea ground cloves

½ tea ground ginger

¾ tea salt

¾ cup plus 2 tbs buttermilk

2 very very ripe bananas

What to do:

1.Preheat oven to 350

2. Grease and flour a cake pan…it calls for 2 9 inches…I used an 18 inch. Your preference

3. In your stand up mixer cream the butter (use the paddle attachment) when creamed add in sugar…beat till fluffy

4. With mixer running add in egg yolks one at a time waiting till each one is fully mixed in.

5. Blend in vanilla

6. Sift together baking soda, baking powder, the spices and the salt.

7. With mixer run alternate the dry ingredients and the buttermilk

8. In separate bowl whip the egg whites until stiff but not dry. (I had to hold the bowl to the mixer because the mixer bowl had the batter in it.)

9. Fold in the egg whites into batter along with bananas

10. Pour into pans and bake for about 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

When cake is done let cool…I put it in the fridge over night before frosting.

Honey cinnamon frosting

You need:

1 ¾ cup powdered sugar

1 stick butter

1 tbs honey

¼ tea ground cinnamon

What to do:

1. Whip butter with paddles attachment

2. Add in honey and cinnamon

3.Slowly add in powdered sugar

4. Mix for about 5 minutes

After cake is completely cool spread and eat!

sing.dance.praise.love.cook m

Morning Routine

2010-05-30T12:39:00.006-04:00

Mornings tend to be my favorite time of the day. Especially when i get to do all of my morning rituals. I have an amazing roommate Melissa, its great because we tend to wake up around the same time. She normally goes down stairs and starts brewing coffee or we both drag ourselves out of bed, put on our workout clothes and do some P90x. After we sweat to death, i go up stairs take a shower get ready then we tend to make breakfast, read and journal together... we are truly like the perfect old married couple. Its great! Its amazing how much more energy i have during the day and how much more chipper i am if i am able to have a morning that goes as planned. But as we all know life gets crazy and things fall out of wack. Even if i am not able to work out and sit for a while i make sure i still eat breakfast. They do say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It really gives you a lot more energy and it kick starts your metabolism. My normal breakfast almost without fail is what i have called Veggie eggs! Here is the very easy recipe.

What you need!

Colored peppers

Onion

Tomato

Squash

Spinach

mushrooms

(really any veggies that you like)

2-3 eggs

frying pan

What to do!

I always put the pan on high then when ready to put on the eggs turn it down to medium.

1. cut all veggies (I tend to cut all my veggies at the beginning of the week and put them in containers for easy access in the morning... )

2. crack eggs into small bowl

3. put a heft pinch of each into eggs

4. whisk together eggs and veggies

5. pour onto a sprayed frying pan

6. flip and keep folding the eggs into each other (will be done in about 3 minutes)

Your done! Now you have a healthy breakfast to kick start your day. Pair it with a piece of toast and of course some coffee!

sing.dance.praise.love.cook m

Potato Slices

2010-05-20T10:57:00.006-04:00

Hey friends! I know its been awhile sorry for the lack of posts...

So i spent this past mothers day with one of the most amazing woman in my life (besides my own mom). Her name is Dawn Bosch. She has been such a huge influence in my life and my time here in Orlando. So i was over there and she handed me a potato and a sweet potato and told me to make something. This is one of my favorite things to do...create something on the spot. If its not good its not a big deal you were just trying it out. Luckily this turned out to be great and everyone loved them.

You Need!

2 potatoes (either sweet or regular)

olive oil

crumbled blue cheese or crumbled gorgonzola

Garlic

Italian seasoning

rosemary

salt and pepper

cayenne pepper

The Dip

1 tsp rosemary

1 cup ranch dressing

What to do!

1. cut potatoes into thin slices (a little thicker than a potato chip)

2. heat skillet on high add olive oil

3. once hot place all potatoes slices in skillet

4. start seasoning heavily with italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and garlic.

you will have to flip pretty regularly so they don't stick to the pan.

5. Repeat seasoning twice.

Once they get a good crispyness to them sprinkle on the rosemary and cayenne pepper

6. Take out of pan and place on plate crumble the cheese on top while still hot so it melts a little on them.

The Dip

Add 1 tsp of rosemary to 1 cup of ranch dressing, stir, and dip!

Enjoy! This is a very simple recipe and went really great with some chicken or even a summer grill out!

sing.dance.praise.love.cook m

2010-05-05T23:41:00.002-04:00

My beautiful friend Jess Bennett took some shots for Frenchie & Guido at Lake Meadow Naturals last week... click for the pics! :)

Pictures

sing.dance.praise.love.cookm

Lemon bar Cheesecake bars

2010-05-03T14:22:00.002-04:00

A lot of times when I cook I mess up…the fun part about it is creating something new to save my failed recipe. So that is how this recipe came about.
I had this church potluck to go to last night so I wanted to make my moms famous lemon bar recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook. The lemon bars did not turn out at all. They were very crust like and didn’t have any of that lemon jelly on top. They tasted more like lemon crust…. but I had to bring something to this potluck and only had about an hour to figure it out…so! I decided to put some cheesecake topping over it and it turned out wonderfully! I didn’t get to take any pictures of them because I had to hurry. Plus they were all gone when I went to pick up my dish at the end of the potluck! SUCCESS!

Lemon bar crust

2 Cup Flour
1 Cup butter softened
2 cup powdered sugar
2 cup sugar
4 tsp lemon peal
4 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
4 eggs

In mixer beat flour, butter and powdered sugar.

Press in bottom of a 11x15 glass pan.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes

Beat in mixer till fluffy sugar, lemon, baking powder, salt and eggs. (You should mix it for about 5 minutes…it becomes a little frothy and this is why it turns out more crust like and not so Jelly)

Pour over crust and bake for 25 minutes.

Cool for 1 hour

Cheesecake

2 packages of Jello no bake cheesecake (you wont use the crust)
4 cups milk

Wisk together the powder and milk, pour over top of lemon bar crust and cool for 1 hour.

sing.dance.praise.love.cookm

2010-04-27T10:49:00.002-04:00

Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting
This is a very very simple frosting recipe! i love it because its not just a normal cream cheese frosting...the vanilla really gives it that extra sweetness...I always use a kitchen aid for making frosting but this is a new luxury to my kitchen. So if you don't have one don't fret! Hand held mixer work wonderful...and if you don't have one of those just leave the cream cheese out a bit longer to soften it up.

You need!
8 oz Cream Cheese
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
1/2 Cup butter (softened)
3 tea Vanilla

Ready Go!

1. keep your cream cheese out for a bit to make it at room temp
2. beat cream cheese and butter till fluffy
3. add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time
4. add vanilla
5. beat for 6 minutes

sing.dance.praise.love.cook m

Ripkins Red Velvet Cupcakes

2010-04-26T23:49:00.002-04:00

So i have this little friend name Ripkin. He is 3. He is full of life...he loves adventures, buzz lightyear, and singing loudly. And most important his favorite cupcake is Red Velvet. So this post is in honor of Ripkins love for Red Velvet cupcakes.

Red Velvet cupcakes seem to be the trendy cupcake right now for me I am not so much of a fan but everyone seems to love them so i make em! I tend to not only make what i love, but make what other people love. Making people full is one of my greatest joys.

The recipe for the cake came from www.epicurious.com and the frosting is mine.

You need!

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter softened (i "soft" butter in the mirco for 30 sec)
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tbs cocoa powder
2 ounces water
2 ounces red food coloring (2 little bottles)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tea vanilla extract
1 tea white vinegar
1 tea baking soda

Start!

1. Preheat oven to 350f
2. Prepare cupcake tins
3. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy
4. Add eggs and blend well
5. sift four and salt together into this mixture
6. make a paste by mixing the cocoa powder and food coloring
7. add in buttermilk, water and vanilla
8.in a small bowl mix baking soda and vinegar (like a 7th grade science experiment!)
9. fold your science mixture into the cake batter.
10. poor the batter into the cupcake tins and bake for 18 min.
11. DONT OVER BAKE!

How i check if cupcakes are done.
1. put a knife in one
2. if you dont want to leave a whole gently press on the top of the cupcake if comes back up like a sponge TAKE EM OUT! if it presses in then they are not done!

sing.dance.praise.love.cook m