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Spring Is Coming!!!

I can totally feel it!  Everyday I hear of birds that are back in town and about the Easter candy being out at Wal-Mart.  The temperatures are getting higher and we are supposed to be near 60 on Friday!!!   I am planning on walking outside instead of on my treadmill.  The other thing that makes me know spring is coming, is we just signed Ethan up for T-ball.  We have literally been waiting for years, (I know he is not even 4 yet) but this child was ready pretty much out of the womb.  Last night, Jimi took him to a basketball game at the school. Afterward, Ethan was playing, dribbling, and shooting while Jimi was talking to a friend, who also coaches a basketball program for kindergarten and 1st graders.  The friend said he has not one 5-7 year old who can handle the ball the way Ethan does.  So being able to finally play a sport, is very big here.  T-ball is the first and then he will be eligible for soccer in the fall.  Anyway, just thinking to warm evenings at the ball field watching the little ones embark on their first season of T-ball can even make a skeptic smell spring in the air.  Oh, and I got my latest issue of Martha Stewart Living and the cover stated it was time to start planting.   Which reminds me, the last time I was at the store, all the peat pots and seeds were making their debut.   Believe me I am just planning my  vegetable garden in my head and cannot wait to see how my perennials will look this spring.

What have you seen that tells you spring is near?   I would love to hear.  Hope everyone is doing well and remember we have our give-away for the Gourmac cookie stamps ending soon so be sure to get yourself in it.


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The Original GreenPan!!!

Yesterday, on Valentine’s Day, I received a very green present.  Jessica, from The Original GreenPan, sent me a nice little gift bag chock full of goodies.  It contained a 8″ high end, commercial grade non-stick pan, a very nice apron, pot holder, and care sponge.  I am so anxious to try this baby out.  As a mother, I am always so concerned with what are children are exposed to .  I mean, we are long aware of the dangers of most non-stick cookware.  If heated without anything in it, it can kill pets such as parrots.  This does not sound like something we want to use near our growing and developing children or when we are pregnant does it?  The ambitious goal of GreenPan™ was to create a new, healthy cooking experience in non-stick cookware. In 2007 GreenPan™ was ready to take off and succeeded in bringing to the market the first healthy, eco-friendly non-stick pots and pans with the revolutionary new PTFE/PFOA-free coating,Thermolon™

My Gift Bag!

The pan they sent me is from their Rotterdam Collection.

Here are some important facts from GreenPan’s website.  You should visit it yourself to learn all about their extensive line of products,  www.green-pan.com.

  • Our non-stick pots and pans are the first to be made with a non-stick coating made of minerals instead of plastics.
  • PTFE coatings are manufactured with the aid of PFOA (PerFluoroOctanoic Acid), which is classified as a ‘persistent pollutant of the environment’*. Besides that, PFOA is a tough chemical that the body has the greatest difficulties in expelling and is known to be a ‘likely human carcinogen’*. We don’t use PTFE, so no PFOA can be emitted in the environment. * According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency, a US federal agency in charge of the protection of human health and the environment) 

  • Less energy is used when Thermolon™ is applied on GreenPan™ products, which means 60% less CO2 emission compared with the production of PTFE-coated pans.

The best thing I like about Greenpan is that their products are healthy for us and our environment.  They do not produce any harmful fumes!

I also like that the coating is designed for superior performance, better cooking, better taste and is easier to clean.

I am going to be doing a full review by cooking in this great pan very soon.  I will let you know what I think of these environmentally friendly pans.   GreenPan has a variety of collections and also includes baking and roasting pans.

 

 

Here are some of the other goodies and other views of the pan they so graciously supplied me with to review.

The handle on the pan is removable.


I will test this pan out very soon and let you know what I think.  I have been very impressed with the literature they sent and the wide range of products available.  I plan to do some reading later on tonight and learn more about this healthy alternative non-stick cookware.  Hope you all are having a great day!!!


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Gourmac Anytime Cookie Stamp Set Give-Away Rules!!!

Gourmac is providing a set of the Anytime Cookie Stamps for a give-away for my blog readers.  To be eligible you must reside in the lower 48 states, since these are being sent direct from Gourmac.  You also must subscribe to my blog and like my blog Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mommy-Ramblings/142284565832382.  You must also like Gourmac’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gourmac/147370535276337 and post a quick comment on their page of which product you like best.  Please also share this contest on your Facebook page.  Tell your friends to like our FB fan page (Mommy Ramblings) and give your name.  The one with the most referrals will win.  Good luck and the contest will end on Friday, February 18th.


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Happy Birthday Michael!!!

Yesterday, was my third child and second son’s birthday.  He was 18!!!  Where did the time go?  I made him a decadent cake with my signature chocolate almond buttercream frosting.  It was so good, too good, and I did an extra long treadmill session in anticipation of it.  We had a nice family party and celebrated the joyous day.    Happy Birthday Michael, we love you!!!

I will be adding pictures later, right now things are not cooperating.  : )


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Winner of the “My Little Cupcake Cake Pop Mold” is…

Amanda Hawman!!!  Amanda, we want to see the creations you make with this mold, so be sure and submit pictures of your beauties to me.  Congratulations!!!  We have a new contest starting today for the Gourmac Anytime Cookie Stamps so be sure to check as I will be posting the contest very soon.  Cupcake POP Mold


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Valentine’s Day Treats!!!

Besides baking Michael’s birthday cake for tomorrow, I decided to bake some sugar cookies for  Valentine’s Day.  I use the following sugar cookie recipe and I just love it.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt (I do not use the salt myself)

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
  3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Use Valentine’s Day theme cookie cutters. I chose to use hearts of different sizes and edges.

The dough is so easy to work with.

Prior to baking you can decorate or leave plain to dip in chocolate after baked.

I do not let them over bake and I love that they are soft and not crunchy.

The recipe makes a good amount of cookies.  Amount will depend on the size of cookie cutters you use but I have three platters full.

These cookies were calling to Ethan who we told had to wait until after dinner.  As you can see from his face and hands, he did not waste any time.

 

 


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Gourmac “Anytime” Acrylic Cookie Stamps Review!!!

Monique, from the Gourmac Company was so kind to send me a set of their acrylic anytime cookie stamps to review.  The set comes nicely boxed with 6 acrylic cookie stamps.   The set includes a bunny,  pineapple,  cookie creature, heart link, leaf, and a chrysanthemum.  The stamps are made in the USA and are modeled after the old-fashioned glass cookie stamps of yesteryear.  The benefit of them being acrylic is that they will not break or chip like glass and are great to use with kids.  Another thing I love, is they are dishwasher safe.  The interior of the box has two shortbread recipes.  There are more on their website at http://www.gourmac.com/cookstamrec.html.  I chose to use the Scotch Shortbread Cookies recipe which is a very simple but buttery shortbread.  It contains very few ingredients and the only change I made was to add some vanilla extract.  This is the recipe:

Scotch Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter

2 cups sifted flour

1/2 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (this I added on my own)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt.  Blend these dry ingredients into the butter until it becomes a stiff dough. Shape dough into 1″ balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Dip the stamp of your choice in colored crystal sugar, flour, or powdered sugar and then press the stamp into the dough ball.  Repeat for each ball.  Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

I use parchment paper to line my cookie sheets but you can just use an ungreased cookie sheet as well.

I used powdered sugar to use for dippping the mold in before stamping.

 

Stamp the cookie balls one by one with the design of your choice.

Bake 25-30 minutes

I made these cookies very quickly but they still turned out well.  If I had taken a bit more time they would have been better but this should show you anyone can use these stamps and get a nice result.  I would recommend these cookie stamps and in fact the company has been so generous to give a set away to one of my blog readers.  I will be posting the rules of that contest very soon so make sure you are subscribed to my blog and like the Facebook fan page.  You should also check out Gourmac’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gourmac/147370535276337.


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It looks like I will be doing a lot of baking this weekend.

I need to do my review on the set of acrylic cookie stamps I received today from Gourmac.  Michael’s birthday is the 13th so that will require a cake and I do have the supplies to try the cake pops again.  Last but not least, I wanted to bake some cut-out sugar cookies with Ethan and Luke for Valentine’s Day.  All this should make for a very sweet weekend.  I will be having another contest for a set of brand new cookie stamps just like the ones that I am reviewing.  They will be sent to the winner direct from the company and I will post rules later.  We still have the “My Little Cupcake Pop Mold” giveaway going on so be sure to get in on that as it ends on the 14th.  I have lots of other reviews and give-aways coming up so stay tuned.

Are you all doing some yummy baking for Valentine’s Day?  Do tell.  Well, I better rest up for my baking marathon.  Have a good night everyone!


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Baking Flowers!!! My Review of the John Wright Flower Cast Iron Muffin Pan!

The UPS driver had a treat for me today.  The John Wright Company sent me one of their cast iron flower muffin pans.  The original Wrightsville Hardware Company was founded in 1880 near their  present location in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. Along with their foundries, they have a retail store and outlet in a converted turn-of-the-century warehouse on the bank of the lovely Susquehanna River.  John Wright remains America’s oldest continuously operating manufacturer of cast iron products!!  Their products are proudly made in the USA.

The first thing to note about this pan is its weight.  One could easily get a great bicep workout just by lifting the pan a few times.  The detail is also amazing.  There are 7 different flowers and the name of each flower is written into each cast iron mold.

A nice assortment of recipes accompanied the pan.  I chose to make the corn bread muffins.  The recipe is as follows:

Corn Bread Muffins

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

3 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Yellow Corn Meal

1 Egg Well-Beaten

1 Cup Milk

5 Teaspoons Butter, Melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add corn meal.  Add to mixture: egg, milk, and melted butter.  Beat until smooth, but don’t overmix.  Bake in the greased muffin pan at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

I made the above mixture and it filled the muffin pan exactly.

 

The muffins are a very generous size.  As soon as they achieved the desired golden brown color, they were removed from the oven.

 

The muffins just lifted right out of the pan without any problem or sticking.  The muffins were beautiful, big, and airy.

Add some butter and enjoy!

Don’t they look delicious?

 

I give this pan and the John Wright Company 2 thumbs up!  I think I am going to have to try their cookie pans next.  They have great cookie pans that have lots of neat designs like: Alphabet Cookie, Sweetheart Cookie, Sleigh Full O’Toys Cookie and many more.  Their molded cookie recipes with these pans, I just have to try.  All of the John Wright molds are coated with their exclusive non-stick coating, “Ironclad Non-Stick Coating”  If you would like to purchase one of their pans you can call their toll free number for the nearest store, 1-800-444-9364.  You can also order from their website at http://www.jwright.com

I hope you give their pans and recipes a try.  I am telling you these are the most delicious corn muffins I have ever had.  Try it, and see if you do not agree.


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Some Cake Pop After-Thoughts!!!

Can you believe it?  I am writing about cake pops once again.  Over the hours I have had to reflect after making them yesterday, I have had a lot of thoughts.  First, since I wrote my review last night right after making them, I do not think I was far enough away from the process to truly form an evaluation.  We all know that recipes are trial and error and that we often come away with things we would do different next time to improve the process.  So now that I have had the proper time to contemplate everything, I can say that I will attempt to make cake pops again.  I have to give it at least one more shot.  I think I will try the mold inventors recipe of using 1 package of Oreo cookies and one brick of cream cheese.  I do not think I will ever make cake balls again with red velvet cake.  It is not that the cake did not taste good but being they were on traveling sticks and having 5 kids that include two toddlers,  it had its problems.  Since the cake balls can fall off the sticks and some little children may then accidentally step in the fallen cake balls or go to pick them  up and accidentally make contact with my walls, there are some issues.  See, my kitchen tile floor and the hallway look like they would in the aftermath of a mob hit.  There is even a red hand print on the window of my side door.  Looks like the person fought until the end.   So today as I have been scrubbing up the evidence of the cake ball massacre, I have come to the conclusion that said children will only be allowed to eat the cake balls in their appropriate chairs.  Beyond that, I have found that it would have been easier if I had thinned the dipping chocolate with Crisco.  I hate using Crisco so I don’t have it in the house but after researching the web it seems that it is the thinner of choice.  Also, I think I would use different dipping chocolate.  I spent twice the price getting some premium brand and it seems I would have been better off with one of the more inexpensive choices out there.  So I guess we live and learn and I am no exception.  Sometime this week I will get to the store to get some more supplies and try this adventure again.  As I look at some of the alternatives to how others get a cupcake shape on the stick using a series of cutters and molding, I can safely say the “My Little Cupcake POP Mold” is a much easier and friendlier option.  You can also use powdered sugar on your hands to make handling the mixture less sticky.  So with all this said, I will indeed embark down this road again with my newly gained knowledge.  I will of course let you all know with pictures and words how it goes.   So yes, there will be more posts about cake pops in the future.  I certainly hope the winner of the give-away mold will send me some pictures of their creations so I can post them for you all to see as well.  Hope you all are enjoying Superbowl Sunday.  Jimi made a huge spread of goodies, wings, spiedies, dips, veggies, and more.  I love being married to a man who can cook.


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