Pecan Pie

Posted on 12/21/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

A few quick words on pecans. Pecans are delicious. I adore them.

Most pies are yummy. (Maybe not minced meat or even pumpkin for me, actually.) Sweet and savory pies. I still have a memory on my tongue of a spaghetti pie my mom used to make when I was a kid. Yum.

Pecan pie is one of my favorites. (Right behind coconut cream pie!) Usually I only eat pecan pie once or twice a year, though. It’s a holiday pie for me.  And for years I have made it the same way.

I modified my regular recipe a little this time around with mixed results. As much as I love pecans I think this pie had a few too many of them. I enjoy the glop as much as the nuts in this pie and with this many nuts there wasn’t enough glop. But that’s an easy fix. . just back off on the pecans a bit.

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Brown Sugar Spice Cookies

Posted on 12/20/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

I mentioned yesterday that lots of cookies were baked in our kitchen recently. This is one of the other cookies Tim and I spent our day baking and decorating. They are fantastic. A delight with or without icing. We used the same icing as we used on the sugar cookies.

I know some people are big fans of gingerbread. (Dad) These are not exactly gingerbread cookies. Just nice spice cookies. But festive and tasting of the holidays, none the less.  (And by “tasting of the holidays” I do not mean pine trees. Not delicious I assume. I promise not to try it, Tim.)

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Iced Christmas Sugar Cookies

Posted on 12/19/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

Aren’t the holidays exhausting? So much to bake, cook, wrap, decorate, mail, buy, etc. .. ..and still try to find time to enjoy the holiday in your own way.

I bake a lot. (ya think?)  Sometimes I get so involved in holiday baking and candy making that I have way too much to even distribute to friends and family.  Sometimes I spend so long in the kitchen in a single day that my feet hurt as though I have been wearing high heels in a 5k. (Probably not a good idea, by the way.) Sometimes my jeans feel too tight cause I have eaten enough fudge to choke an elf.

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Blue Velvet Cupcake with Bacon Buttercream Icing

Posted on 12/12/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

I am not a fan of red velvet cake. Don’t judge me.

The first time I had it was in my twenty’s after I moved to the south and the cake in question was made with several ounces of red food coloring and lots of Miracle Whip. Ewww.. . it was not good.  I was not familiar with the red velvet cake or people’s deep love of it and that cake made me wonder why anyone ever loved that red mess of a cake. It put me off of red velvet from the start.

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Sarah’s Key Lime Pie

Posted on 12/05/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

As you read this I am on a warm little vacation complete with beaches and fresh fish. Tim and I found the time and cheap airfare for a quick get away. We both needed to feel some sun on our faces and sand between out toes.

So I’ll share a little taste of Florida with you. Time for a key lime pie. This is the key lime I always make. I love the tart tang with the sweet chocolate crust. Yup, I prefer it with a chocolate crumb crust. You can make your own with chocolate wafer cookies or even oreos. Or you can take a shortcut as I did this time and use a store bought oreo cookie crust.

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Turducken

Posted on 12/01/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

A quick note on Turducken.

We made one for Thanksgiving this year.  It’s a cajun thing. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this Frankenstein monster of birds, it’s a Turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken and the whole thing is stuffed with layers of cajun stuffing.

We ordered ours online. No place in Michigan sells Turducken. . imagine that.

It was an exciting thing to try on the first Thanksgiving we combined both my family and Tim’s family.  We followed the package instructions but used an electric roaster instead of the oven.

It’s boneless except for the turkey legs and wings so you can cut through it in big slices.  It was so fun to see the slices after we cut it. And it smelled delicious.

I thought the stuffing was great, the turkey was cooked perfectly. . .but the duck was awful! I am not  duck fan. I think it flavored the chicken and that tasted like duck, too. Ewwww. Not for me. I actually spit a bite into my napkin! Discreetly and in a lady like fashion, of course. 😉

As fun as the Turducken was, I think it’ll be our last. It was an awesome novelty to experience once though! Maybe next year we’ll experiment with stuffing different kinds of meats. . .like a large fish with a small fish with some shrimp! HA!

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Roll up Pies

Posted on 11/28/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

Thanksgiving is over. Turduckens have been eaten. No more pie till Christmas. Whew! Now the mad dash to the next holiday.

I mailed my Christmas cards out 2 days after Thanksgiving. I know. . .just smack me now. I have always done my Christmas cards in November. My goal is always to have them out no later than 12/1. This year I did them even a little earlier than usual since I knew there would be a lot to do for Thanksgiving.

Since starting this blog a little over a month ago I have kept it very secret. The thing is that a blog is very narcissistic. It’s me, me, me all the time. And as much as I wanted to muse about my time in the kitchen and share recipes with people, I was nervous about putting myself out there all the time to everyone. I am not that kind of gal. I like to keep my life to myself.

If you are reading this in the week after Thanksgiving  it’s likely you got a christmas card from me. My sweet and supportive husband has been gently prodding me to go public and he suggested I just put the web address to the site in my christmas cards. I decided that was a splendid idea.

So. . . .drum roll. . . ta da! I’ve officially gone public.

Since we are going to make it all about me now,  I’ll give you a little snap shot of my childhood. The Roll Up Pie. This is one of those go to images in my head when I think back on my childhood favorites.

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Orange Cake and a Happy Anniversary to Tim

Posted on 11/21/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband, Tim!

Two years ago today we had the most enjoyable wedding on the beach in Florida. It was laid back and just right. I’m so very happy to have married my best friend and an all around wonderful man. I love you, sweets.

And as unhappy as she would be with me for sharing this with the world. . . today also would have been my mom’s 60th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

We lost her 4 and a half years ago. It’s been hard to not have my mom around. Tim and I used her birthday as our wedding date to honor her memory and make her a part of our day. It made me feel better to consider her a part of things for my wedding. I miss her everyday and wish I could be throwing her a huge birthday party for her 60th.

In honor of these two important people in my life, I made mini orange cakes with raspberry filling and orange buttercream.

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Pumpkin Biscuits with Orange Honey Butter

Posted on 11/14/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

It’s almost Thanksgiving! Can you believe this year is almost over? And can you believe Christmas is right around the corner? Yikes. . .it’s enough to make me want a warm pumpkin biscuit slathered in orange honey butter.

These are part of Thanksgiving dinner in my world this year. They are soft and delicate and the butter is delicious. It’s been a few years since pumpkin biscuits were on the holiday menu so this year I thought it was time to revisit them.

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Mushroom Risotto with Roasted Buttercup Squash

Posted on 11/07/2011 by sugarcoatedsarah

I love risotto. I have been making it for years. . the same basic recipe. It’s one of those things I learned to make really well and made over and over. It was one of the first things I ever made my husband when we were first dating. I’m pretty sure it was one of the things that made him first fall in love with me. After 6 years together it is still the dish he requests when I ask him what he is in the mood to eat. Some couples have a song, but I sort of think of risotto as our food. Unfortunately for him, after making it a zillion times, it is not usually my go to dish anymore. Sometimes I forget all about it for long stretches of time.

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