May Cookie Carnival: Almond Macaron Sandwich Cookie

This month's Cookie Carnival is the Almond Macaron Sandwich Cookie from Williams-Sonoma you can find the recipe here. As you may know, macarons have been on my to-make list since forever ago. I have always been intimidated by them, reading many blogs, tips and tricks about them, so that one day I could suck it up and just try them. I never did, until this month's challenge was sent out. I am happy to say I can now cross these off my list! I couldn't help but think that maybe somewhere in Paris, real French macarons were being made and eaten the same time I was making them.



They are nothing perfect, they need more practice. Lots more. lol. C'mon, you can laugh outloud! I know they look silly! I managed to find a few that were the same size and looked ok for photos.
I was kinda rushed and dealing with a cranky boy, I wanted time to read over notes I've found, but just didn't have time.

Here's what I did:

-used a 1/4" tip instead of a 1/2"

-used a small 9" vinyl bag instead of my big canvas pastry bag *tip fell through it

-piped assorted size 'coils' instead of uh, 1 1/2" puddles? *next time draw circles to follow

-let them sit out for 1/2 hr prior to baking to 'harden the shell'

-I used frozen-thawed egg whites (lots of leftovers from TWD --next time let them sit out 24 hrs)

-ground up toasted almond slivers instead of hazelnuts

-to make super fine sugar, I pulsed granulated sugar in the processor

-used semi-sweet chocolate chips for the ganache, *Nutella next time!

-I forgot to tap the pans to help flatten them

-baked them for 11-12 minutes on both a silpat and parchment

-they stuck on the silpat, but came off beautifully from parchment

-my batter seemed to be thicker than what I've seen before -Hmmm?

So, they may not be smooth or shiny little things, but it's my first time, and next time I know. They have cute little feet though! So I used a wet finger to smooth the points down, should I smooth the whole thing out next time? Or find a bigger tip?? They stuck to my silpats, about ripping out the insides. The ones baked on parchment came out nice and with a bottom.

They had a nice delicate crunch and they were very delicate piping the filling! I LOVE the flavor of them alone! We all did. I think that the ganache was a bit much for them, or maybe I put too much on. Anyways, I'd love to try these again after refreshing my mind with tips and tricks. I'm glad this was our challenge. I may have never attempted these otherwise! They weren't really hard to make either, maybe a little extra work, but hey, if you love baking....

See the round up here!

Some sites to peek at for more tips:

Tartlette

YouTube 1 -how to pipe, now I know, lol

YouTube 2

La Video

enjoy,

Review and Giveaway: Fairytale Brownies!

This giveaway is now closed! Winner to be announced!


I am so excited about this! The wonderful people at Fairytale Brownies http://www.brownies.com/ were so kind enough to send over a gift box full of their brownies! It arrived safe and sound in 2 days, with the box fully insulated to help preserve the brownie's freshness. Mr. was lucky to have gotten an early Father's Day treat since this came festively wrapped ready for gift giving. Inside the pretty little box, there sat nice and neat, 12 little brownies, each in a fun flavor! We shared a few, cutting each into quarters so we can taste each one. Wow! They have great flavor to them, they are moist, chocolaty and yummy!

Fairytale Brownies are made with pure ingredients - rich, dark Callebaut Belgian chocolate blended with pure creamery butter and farm fresh eggs. All-natural Fairytale Brownies are certified kosher and free of trans fats, hydrogenated oils, preservatives and artificial colors. Check out the many flavors they offer!








They even blog about them here http://blog.brownies.com/blog/fairytale-brownies! Plus if you're a neighbor to them in Phoenix, AZ, print out this coupon to BOGO free! Also look for them featured in Gelson’s Markets in Southern California, they are now selling Fairytale Brownies too!


How would you like to WIN a Father's Day Dozen like this? You get one of each flavor! Yay!



Enter to win by visiting their site here, and telling me what flavors you'd like to try! Please leave a comment below with your email, so I can contact you if you've won!
One lucky winner will recieve these just in time for Father's Day!


*BONUS: earn up to 5 more entries by showing some "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" bloggie luv!
Please post yourself a new comment for each one that you do or if you already are:

- Follow along with "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" in your reader or widget
- Follow me at Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway (you must use the @MommyImHungry in your tweet) I'll twitter you back!
- Follow along with my Facebook side bar widget
- Blog about this giveaway on your blog and post the link here
- Snag my blog button here to share on your blog


My Giveaway ends: 7 pm pst, Wednesday, June 10, 2009.
Please read the fine print:
-Open to all USA residents
-You must leave me a way to contact you, preferably email
-Winner(s) will be posted on my Blog & Twitter
-I will choose my winner(s) using Random.org
-I may post special messages to earn extra entries if you follow along! yay!

Don't forget to follow along and be the first to see new recipes, reviews and giveaways!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Roasted Banana Muffins

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Roasted Banana Muffins
adapted from Aggie's Kitchen

Roasted Bananas
6 large ripe bananas, sliced into halves
3 TBL cold butter, cut into pieces
2 TBL brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place sliced bananas into a baking dish. Place butter evenly over bananas and sprinkle brown sugar on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes. Dice or mash for recipe.
-Picky Palate




6 ripe and roasted bananas (how to above)
4 large eggs
1 ½ C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ C whole wheat flour
1 1/4 C granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 C peanut butter
2 C mini chocolate chips

For topping
2 Tbsp. turbinado sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray muffin pans.
In a medium mixing bowl, mash the bananas or dice them. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla and stir well to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and stir to mix. Add chocolate chips and peanut butter, and stir to combine. Scoop the batter into the prepared pans, and set aside.
In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter in the pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, transfer to wire rack.

enjoy,

Review: Jerky.Com Buffalo Jerky and an Award

The gracious people over at http://www.jerky.com/ sent over a package of their Black Pepper Buffalo Jerky for us to try out. I love pepper, but was afraid no one else would eat it. Well, that didn't stop them! I did brush off what I could and it was gone in just days. We loved it!

"An Old West snack with superior flavor. Hand-sliced strips of Grade A, top-round buffalo seasoned with all-natural ingredients and marinated to perfection will leave you wanting more.
Made from 100% natural grass-fed buffalo, No added preservatives or MSG, Low in cholesterol, fat and calories. "

If you're a jerky lover, head on over to http://www.jerky.com/ and check out their selection! They've got fast FREE* shipping too! You may remember my review on their Pineapple jerky, Mmm good stuff! Thanks Jerky.com! You guys are great!

Time for Awards! I received the Passionate Blogger Award from my adopted blogger, Tania at Love Big, Bake Often.


<a href="”http://ldylvbgr.blogspot.com/”" target="”_blank”"><img src="<a href=" target="_blank" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/ldylvbgr/Recipe%20photos/passionatebloggeraward.jpg" /><br /></a>

The Rules:
1. Take the logo and code for your blog.
2. Write five things you are passionate about apart from blogging.
3. Tag 5 people on your lists and let them know you Awarded them.

Five things I am passionate about.....
1. Family- where would we be without them? I love them!

2. Cooking & Baking- it's rewarding when I can make good food others enjoy, visually & tastefully delicious.

3. Photography- taking photos of moments that go by so quickly. To remember them for the years to come.

4. My blog readers- really! I love hearing your comments, letting me know you were here. It makes me want to blog more and share recipes and give things away! Without you guys, I wouldn't be as passionate about my blog. Thanks! =)

5. Friendships- without it, it could make one feel lonely. Brighten some one's day Say hello, just because you care!

I am passing this award onto these Passionate Bloggers:

1. Crys over at Swains R'Us for her passion of Family, Faith & Friendship =)

2. Kelli over at All K Names for her passion for her family, blogging & friends

3. Leslie at Leslie Loves Veggies for her passion of food, friends and deals

4. Helene at La cuisine d'Hélène for her passion of foods, friendships and blogging

5. Kristin at The Krumwiede Six for her great passion for helping others, family and life

enjoy,

Grill Daddy brush Winner!

It's a winner!


Ok, so I am a little late closing out this giveaway tonight, I let a few comments slip in to have a chance to win. I have to tell ya, this brush really does work. I used it tonight by myself, and it was really easy peasy. The grill was nice and clean ready to get all mucked up again with the marinated chicken I grilled. Check out my video I made of us using it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MDDfXm8A0

So my lucky winner is going to love this!! I think it's perfect for them. I was just at her site checking it out, and whoo eee! Check out their 5th wheel! Congratulations Kathy of Fulltime Adventure #13!

Check your email I just sent ya, and reply asap, so you can get your grill on!

enjoy,

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chipster-Topped Brownies

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe Chipster-Topped Brownies was chosen by Beth of Supplicious. Take a look at those! The best of two worlds.

This was like 2 desserts in one. Chocolate chip cookie topped brownies! This was really easy to make, mix the brownie ingredients (I used pecans in mine), then make up the cookie dough and spread it on top of the brownie batter. Bake for about 1 hour (I covered my cookie top with parchment so it wouldn't get too brown). You can see some of the cookie's chocolate chips sank to the brownies.

Would you believe even at day 3 we still have about half the pan left! I thought for sure they'd be gone in no time.

Head on over to Beth's blog for the recipe, if you must try these!

enjoy,

Dorie's (basic) Buttermilk Biscuits

These are biscuits great , served with sausage gravy, as a breakfast sandwich, butter and jam or honey. You can find the recipe here from her Baking: From My Home To Yours cook book.

I went ahead and played around with her recipe as she suggested by using 1 3/4 cups AP flour and 1/3 cup cake flour, a little baking soda and buttermilk. I baked them for about 13 minutes. It's a really easy recipe, and I recommend using a larger cutter (my 2.5" cutter was tiny), they gave us like a 2 bite size biscuit. It gave us 18 biscuits though.

another 2nd hand shop find - aluminum jelly roll sheet! yay!

See these here also!

enjoy,

Revamped: Sausage Gravy

I decided to change my original blog post for this recipe. It's been years since I've bought Bisquick, so here is my homemade version for sausage gravy.

1 pound breakfast pork sausage
4 TBL sausage grease drippings
1/4 Cup flour
3-5 Cups warmed milk
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp rubbed sage
Biscuits (Dorie's recipe here)

Brown sausage in large skillet over medium heat. Drain, reserving 4 TBL of drippings (I also use leftover bacon grease and butter). Place sausage aside. Add reserved drippings to skillet and whisk in flour until blended. Gradually whisk in milk until smooth; add in seasonings (or add to your liking). Return to heat, until thick (may need to add a little more milk if it becomes too thick). Stir in sausage. Serve with hot buttermilk biscuits.

(revamped 5/11/2024)

This is part of Tina's:


enjoy,

Review: Grill Daddy Pro!

This giveaway has ended.

Thanks to the folks from Grill Daddy Pro, I think they knew how much I love to grill. They were gracious enough to send me their Grill Daddy brushes to try out and tell you about. I thought an actual video of us reviewing it would be best, so I had Mr. do the honors.


our before grill shot

Check it out in action! Stop by here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MDDfXm8A0 to watch my home video review of the Grill Daddy Pro!

That night I made bbq sauced grilled chicken legs with our favorite homemade sauce, Big Al's K.C. Bar-B-Q Sauce and grilled corn on the cob. I thought something saucy and cooked on would be the best to show you how well this works! It took us just one fill and just minutes, to get our grill sterilized and cleaned! You can see the difference. It really did work and was easy to use!

the after shot

This Grill Daddy Pro barbecue cleaning tool cleans dirty grills in minutes with water! Once you're done grilling, just fill the Grill Daddy brush water reservoir with water, turn the valve on, and start brushing your hot grill. The water will turn to steam once it hits the grill, cleaning away the grilled on gunk! The Grill Daddy is made with removable stainless steel bristle brush attachments for easy dishwasher cleaning and made with FDA approved plastic! Their infomercials here or here, if you'd like to check it out again.

Get grillin'! Have you started grilling this season yet? Well because they were gracious enough to not only send me a brush, but they want to send one of my readers one too!! Enter below for your chance to win a Grill Daddy brush! Go check out my video again, to convince you to enter! =)

*Enter to win, just comment me below with your favorite foods to grill! Don't forget your email! (I am not sure if they'll send the bigger or smaller brush)

*BONUS: earn up to 4 more entries by showing some "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" bloggie luv!
Please post yourself a new comment for each one that you do or if you already are:

- Follow me with my Twitter side bar widget
- Tweet about this giveaway (you must use the @MommyImHungry in your tweet)
- Blog about this giveaway on your blog and post the link here
- Add my blog button to your site and post your link here

My Giveaway ends: 7 pm pst, Wednesday, May 27, 2009.
Please read the fine print:
-Open to all USA residents
-You must leave me a way to contact you, preferably email
-Winner(s) will be posted on my Blog & Twitter
-I will choose my winner(s) using Random.org
-I may post special messages to earn extra entries if you follow along! yay!

Don't forget to follow along and be the first to see new recipes, reviews and giveaways!

enjoy,

Cake and Frosting Winner!

The super dooper, lovely lucky, wonderful blog reader winner of the Naturally Nora cake and frosting mixes is...

#12

Yay! You get cake! So, check your blog and respond asap so we can get these out to you! =)

enjoy,

Blogging Error Message?

Hopefully other's will see this so they know, I was told that the error message pop up in IE could be from the Google friend connect/follow widget. There seems to be a bug in it, so try removing it from your blog, and all should be ok! =) It worked for me! Hopefully they fix it soon. Pass the word around!

Blog Issues...

There seems to be a problem getting onto my blog. Windows IE tells me it can not open this link and needs to abort. I've seen it, and know others have too. Hmmm. I have NO idea. Any clues??

sorry,

Tuesdays with Dorie: Fresh Mango Bread

Kelly of Baking with the Boys selected Dorie's Fresh Mango Bread for this week's TWD recipe. Mangos have become a favorite around here since my oldest was little. Auntie Penny (Hi Penny!) turned her onto them. I never cared for them before, and only the past couple years have I become fond of them. Now is it mangos or mangoes? Today I will call them mangos. The first time I ever bought one, I had to look up how to cut them. Good old YouTube helped. Take a look at all the Mango recipes I've blogged about here.

For Dorie's bread, it took me 3 mangos to get the 2 Cups needed, I did cut them into bigger chunks though. I like having a piece of fruit in a bite of bread. I also used 1/2 tsp. each of ginger and cinnamon, much less than called for. Instead of using the zest of 1/2 a lime, I used the whole thing and I also omitted the raisins.

The flavors came out perfect, I think. The bread is to be wrapped up, and the next day it will become so moist, so moist you have to be careful picking up a slice! We all loved it, and will add to my regular recipes!

Over at the TWD group we have a post where we can get P&Q about that week's recipe. A few of us had "hairy" bread, meaning fiberous mangos. I read that it was from over ripe mangos. One of mine was kinda mushy, and the other 2 were not. When choosing a mango, I look for mostly red-orange skin and ones that are a little soft.

You can check out Kelly's blog for the recipe as well as the other TWDers breads, linked below.

enjoy,

Naturally Nora Cake and Frosting Giveaway

This Giveaway has ended!

Remember my review on the Naturally Nora Cake and Frosting Mixes that I won from Picky Palate? Well now it's your turn to win some cake for yourself! Nora has graciously allowed me to give away 2 cake mixes and 2 frosting mixes of your choice to one lucky reader!






cookie cookie cake w/chocolate frosting (cocoa added to vanilla frosting)


How to win! Here's what you've got to do. Just leave 1 comment below with your ABC answers and you'll be entered to win! Want more chances to win? Read on!


A. Visit http://www.naturallynora.com/ and tell me what you like best about her cake & frosting mixes!
B. Next visit Nora's site http://www.naturallynora.com/cake-mixes.php and choose your 2 cake mixes.
C. Then visit here http://www.naturallynora.com/frosting-mixes.php and choose your 2 frosting flavors.


*BONUS: earn up to 6 more entries by showing some "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" bloggie luv!
Please post yourself a new comment for each one that you do or if you already are:

- Follow me with my Twitter side bar widget
- Tweet about this giveaway (you must use the @MommyImHungry in your tweet)
- Blog about this giveaway on your blog and post the link here
- Follow "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" with my side bar widget
- Follow "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" with my side bar Facebook widget
- Add my blog button to your site and post your link here


My Giveaway ends: 6 pm pst, Thursday, May 21, 2009.
Please read the fine print:
-Open to all USA residents
-You must leave me a way to contact you, preferably email
-Winner(s) will be posted on my Blog & Twitter
-I will choose my winner(s) using Random.org
-I may post special messages to earn extra entries if you follow along! yay!



Don't forget to follow along and be the first to see new recipes, reviews and giveaways!


good luck,