Pennies on a Platter

My dear friend and her husband are first time home owners!  To help them celebrate, I wanted to do something special because she has been such a light in my life and has made my life feel pretty dang special.  So I set out to make these cookies.

This was my second experience working with royal icing.  Even just being the second time, I’m already getting the sense that when working with this type of icing, you get better and better the more you practice.  I must admit, though, that halfway into decorating these, I thought they were going to turn out disastrous!  The details of the grass, windows, door, etc really made the difference and brought these cute little homes alive!

Right now I’m still looking for my favorite sugar cookie recipe, so I’ll spare the one I used this time (although I did like it, I didn’t “love” it).  I do, however, love the royal icing recipe and will share it below.  Also, please check out Annie’s fantastic tutorial on royal icing at Annie’s Eats!

Royal Icing

Printable Recipe

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tbsp meringue powder
5 Tbsp water
additional water as needed

In the bowl of a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to mix together all ingredients.  Let mix for 7-10 minutes, until the sheen has disappeared.  The icing is now at it’s stiffest consistency.  To thin it out, continue to add a little bit of water (by teaspoons) and stir by hand until it’s at the right consistency for piping.  Separate the icing into different airtight containers, to match the number of colors you plan to use.  Color appropriately with desired gel food coloring.  Transfer only the amount of icing needed for piping to pastry bags fitted with Wilton size 1, 2 or 3 tips.  Pipe outlines on the cookies where you plan to fill the thinner icing, in the next step.  Let set. Meanwhile, keep the additional icing covered to avoid hardening.

To create the filling, thin out the icing remaining in the airtight containers by very gradually adding teaspoons of water and stirring by hand.  The icing is at the right consistency when it rapidly drips off the spoon and immediately smooths back into the icing remaining in the bowl.  Use either a squeeze bottle or spoon to pour the filler icing into each outlined cookie.  Spread out to the edges with a toothpick until smooth.  Pop any bubbles with the toothpick, as well.

Let set completely for a few hours or overnight, and then decorate with additional piping icing as desired.

Source: Adapted from Annie’s Eats

As our moving date gets closer, we are getting busier with packing and seeing friends before we leave.  This means fast dishes are essential, especially at lunch time.  These burgers served up a fantastic quick meal the other day when we had only a moment to spare and grab a bite to eat.  To help quicken the pace, I bought the meat already shaped into patties, and it didn’t hurt that they were on sale.  After all ingredients were factored in, the burgers totaled less than $1.00 each!  And, trust me, you can’t find a Bruschetta Burger on any of those fast food restaurants’ value menus for $1.00!    It’s worth every penny to take the time to grill it yourself and slap on some cheese and tomatoes at the end.

Although the original recipe gives ingredients for a rub, I used some hamburger seasoning I had on hand.  You can do the same, or just refer to the original source to make your own.

Bruschetta Burgers

Printable Recipe

Yield: 4 burgers

4 burger patties
hamburger seasoning, to taste
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
2 Tbsp basil, shredded
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 hamburger buns
spread butter
garlic salt, to taste

Preheat grill.  In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, oil, garlic, salt and pepper, stir in the basil; set aside.  Season hamburgers with choice of hamburger seasoning.  Grill until cooked through, flipping only once.  After flipping burgers, top each with about one tablespoon of the mozzarella cheese and one tablespoon of the tomato mixture.  Continue to grill until the cheese is melted.  In the meantime, butter the buns and sprinkle with garlic salt.  Toast on the grill for a few minutes.

Assemble the burgers and serve with choice of condiments.  I prefer to eat mine as is, no extras. YUM!

Source: Adapted from Miss in the Kitchen

The last time I went on a bit of a blogging hiatus (one year ago), it was because I was pregnant and wanted to vomit every time I thought about Pennies on a Platter.  This time, I’m not pregnant but other life changes are in full swing.  We are moving!  Ben recently accepted a job offer in Southern California, so we’re packing our bags and our baby boy and heading west.

This is the biggest move we’ve made, so we’re busy searching for places to live, scoping out moving options, packing up our belongings, and trying to spend as much time with our friends here as possible.  We love where we live now, and have the best friends and church we could ask for, but we know we’re being called to this next step of ministry for a purpose, which excites us to no end.

That being said, until we finish our move and get settled, I won’t be blogging as often (as you can already tell).  The timing is a bit bad, as I’m starting the baby food process with Judah and can not wait to share my favorite recipes.  Some of the next upcoming posts may not be about food, but updates of our move instead.  I’ve come to adore you, my readers, and definitely want to keep you posted!

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your favorite thoughts (food related or not) of California.  Chicago is a great city, and I’ll dearly miss it.  So, to help me not miss Chicago so much, please share what you love about Southern California, or the West in general!

Hey everyone!  I’m sorry for the lack of posts lately.  Work has been crazy and so has been my little Judah!  We’re finally at the assumption that teething is the reason he is now keeping us up at night.  He gnaws, he poops, he drools, he cries.  But, during the day…what an angel!  Oh the joys of parenthood. 

Although I do not have a new recipe post for you, I certainly didn’t want to keep you waiting to hear the winners of the Tazo teas.  So, here we go!

Congratulations to …drum roll please?

Sarah, who said, “I could use a bit of focus and rest these days. And a little daily dose of green tea won’t hurt either! Thank you for the opportunity to win!” Me, too, Sarah.  Me, too!  Especially with the lack of sleep I’ve gotten, I’ve had little stamina for concentration at work!

And our second winner is….

Delilah, who said, “I love Tazo teas! These new ones sound delicious & I would love to try them.” They ARE delicious, Delilah!  Can’t wait for you to give them a taste!

Congratulations, again.  I hope you love the teas and tea set.  I’ll be contacting you through email, so please make sure you respond or I’ll have to choose a new winner.

Thanks, everyone, for the kind comments.  I hope to have more giveaways for you soon.  So, if you didn’t win this time, you’ll have another shot for other giveaways in the future!

In the meantime, I’ll welcome any advice on how to make a teething baby sleep through the night…

Yesterday was Earth Day.  Somehow I was confused and thought it was last Thursday, because Starbucks gave away free coffee to those that brought in their reusable travel mugs.  They claimed this was in honor of Earth Day.  I obviously chose to ignore any calendar I saw that said otherwise and clearly stated the 22nd (not the 15th) is Earth Day.  Starbucks was my source. Why would I believe a bajillion calendars over Starbucks?   Silly me!

Well, Starbucks did it again.  They gave out free coffee yesterday, for the REAL Earth Day. I missed it.

Starbucks is not the only one joining in on an Earth Day giveaway!  In honor of Earth Day (now a day late) I am giving away an ‘earthy’ tea package to two of my readers!  The package includes the new line of Tazo well-being teas, a bamboo tea box, tea holder, tea pot and two tea cups.

The new line of teas (which will be available at retail and natural outlets) are made up of the Tazo Focus, Tazo Rest, and Tazo Thrive.  As the tea packaging describes, Tazo Focus awakens the senses with it’s cleverly invigorating mix of black tea, roasted yerba maté, orange essence and cocoa peel. Tazo Rest is a caffeine-free lulling blend of rose petals, valerian root and citrusy herbs.  And, Tazo Thrive is a formidable blend of green teas and botanicals, and naturally includes antioxidants.

To enter the giveaway, please leave me a comment to this post.  Nothing fancy, no other rules, except that you must live in the domestic U.S and you may only enter once.  Giveaway closes next Monday, April 26th at 8:00PM Central time.  I’ll announce the winner next week!  Good luck, and I can’t wait to hear all your “hello’s!” once again!

UPDATE 4/26/10 8:00PM: This giveaway is now closed.  I’ll announce the winner soon!