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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole


This Sweet Potato Casserole recipe is a long time family favorite in our house, especially during the fall! A good friend made this when delivering dinner after my first daughter was born, 14 years ago and I have since made it and passed it along to so many others who have loved it and asked for the recipe for themselves. So today I share it with you! Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe
4-5 sweet potatoes (boiled and mashed)
1 c sugar
1/2 c milk
2 t vanilla
1/2 c butter
2 eggs beaten
crumb mix topping (see below)
Boil and mash potatoes, add all other ingredients and blend with an electric mixer until smooth.
Place in casserole dish, add crumb topping and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 min
(I like to embellish with cookie cutout pie crust shapes!)
Crumb Mix
1 c brown sugar, 1/3 c butter, 1/2 c flour, and 1/4 c chopped pecans (optional)




Sunday, September 19, 2010

Decorating For Fall...

ENJOY!
I thought I would just share some snapshots of my fall tablescapes and decorations just for fun!





Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Beautiful Fall Sunday Brunch Wedding



A good friend of mine approached me for some ideas for a simple wedding on a budget. I thought the cool crisp mornings of early fall would make for a wonderful Sunday brunch wedding in their beautiful backyard.

Brunch was nothing less than wonderful displays of fruits, scones and muffins, crepes and delicious egg casserole. Celebrations were enhanced by sipping mimosas and flavored coffee.


Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Rolled Buttercream Frosting Recipe


Fall Cookies- Rolled Buttercream Frosting


I used the Wilton spray food coloring to add some "color changes" to the leaves.


These cute little acorns were detailed by just hatching across the top with a plastic edge and then painted with a little extract mixed with brown food coloring.

Try my Rolled Butter Cream Recipe as an alternative to fondant or
the rolled cream cheese recipe
Rolled Buttercream Recipe
1 cup light corn syrup (maybe try a low glycemic index agave nectar?)
1 cup  non hydrogenated shortening (like Earth Balance brand)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp  pure vanilla extract (or your choice)
2 pounds organic confectioner's sugar

In a large mixer with pastry handle, stir together shortening and corn syrup, salt and extract.  You can add your food colors now or knead into dough if you want several colors in smaller batches.  
Gradually add the sugar as you mix slowly until mix is thick and starts to ball up.
Form mixture into a ball on surface dusted with more confectioner's sugar. Knead until smooth. Roll out onto dusted surface and use cookie cutters to make your shapes!  Attach frosting cut out to cookie with a clean paint brush and a few dabs of agave nectar or corn syrup.  
Try making your cookies with a variety of non bleached  or whole grain flours and non refined sugars.  

See other recipes for NO sugar frosting on links below
No sugar Chocolate Frosting


NO sugar VEGAN "Buttercream" frostings





Sunday, September 12, 2010

Pumpkin Cookies with Rolled Cream Cheese Frosting

I always like to make fun holiday cookies and cuppies for my kids and their friends. Here are a few examples of some favorites!




Sugar cookies with Rolled Cream Cheese Frosting
You can use your favorite sugar cookie recipe or think of trying replacing any bleached flours with less refined and more whole grain types!  

My cream cheese frosting is made with 1 block of softened regular ORGANIC cream cheese mixed with a 2 lb bag of ORGANIC confectioner's sugar mixed in a heavy duty blender with a pastry mixer handle. Choose your favorite flavor by adding 1 tsp of natural extract.  You can add your food coloring while mixing or knead in by hand if you want several colors.  

I prefer lemon extract. (If you would like to make less it is 1 oz of cream cheese per 1 cup of confectioner's sugar). Cream the cream cheese until smooth, add extract, then slowly add sugar until mix is very thick. Pour mix onto surface dusted with more confectioner's sugar and form into ball. The mix will be sticky, so you will need to use extra confectioners sugar constantly as you work with the mix. Store in fridge..... work in small amounts constantly dusting your work surface as you roll. Cut frosting with the same cookie cutter you made your cookie with. It dries quickly, so you need to work rather fast. Attach the frosting with a clean paint brush and a few dabs of agave nectar or corn syrup "painted on the cookie".  I chose a regular fondant for the leaves and stem. I like to dust the frosting with cake decorators dusting powders to add an extra sheen.

See  the cookie recipe and other healthy alternative recipes HERE


Fall Cuppies
To Embellish these adorable little cuppies, I simply used small cutters and fondant from any craft store. I added some sheen and extra color with cake decorator dusting powders. You can make these ahead of time and air dry. They will last several weeks!
Search my blog for alternative cupcake recipes that are healthy, organic, no flour or sugar!

See other healthy NO SUGAR frosting recipes 
 at the end of the post HERE

Chocolate Frosting with NO SUGAR ideas HERE

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Fall Fun! Pumpkin Cupcake Toppers

Fall always brings these winds of creative inspiration for me. It is like the changes in weather and new colors in nature start to make me feel like meeting that with some of my own expression. From harvest celebrations, to Halloween and then Thanksgiving, there are so many opportunities to celebrate and share something fun and festive with family and friends.

Butterscotch Pumpkins


These little butterscotch pumpkins were so fun and easy to make. They are tasty enough to stand on their own or you can use them to embellish all sorts of fun fall treats!


Butterscotch pumpkins for fall recipe


Melt butterscotch or peanut butter morsels over low heat, add 1 can store bought frosting. Cool, mold add pretzel and lines.  You can also make them from my rollable cream cheese frosting recipe OR my rollable buttercream frosting recipe.  

Savory Fall Tarts

These were so delicious, a tad time consuming, but well worth the celebration of season they brought to a shared lunch with family and friends.

The shell is simple store bought pie crust, cut with a favorite seasonal cookie cutter, and egg washed to give the nice golden hues while baking. I chose a delicious mix of chopped organic frozen spinach, pressed garlic, sauteed onion and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese for my middle. But you can be creative and choose your own fill. Perhaps pizza sauce and mozzarella would be a kid friendly snack!

Fudge Pops


These fun fudge pops are such a great hit for kids! Here I used a simple store bought mix for dark fudge balls, inserted popsicle sticks and chilled in the freezer until hard. I then dipped them in a melted combination of one can store bought frosting, orange food color and a handful of Wilton candy melts to give the shell a soft but candy like coating. I tossed on sprinkles for fun!