My Scandinavian Baking Center

As most of you know, we recently moved to a new community. It's been a long process! Brent moved last November into an apartment and I trailed behind..... not moving until September. Just 2 weeks ago we moved into our house here.

It's been fun and also alot of hard work packing and unpacking. We are still not done, but slowly and surely we'll get there!

One of the things I really wanted was to make a baking center. My Grandma Laura had an old fashioned baking center cupboard and I just loved it. My brother has it now. It has drawers that pull out for flour, sugar, etc. She was a wonderful baker and when we went to visit I loved to sneak into her cupboards in her pantry for cookies and goodies.

Her parents were from Norway and she and my Grandpa Sven both spoke Norwegian. She made wonderful fattigmon, lefsa, and roll outs. So when I put my baking center together, I thought of her and decorated it with my Scandinavian things.

The center has an outlet,so I can plug in my mixer.I used 3M hooks to hang my measuring cups and spoons.

I have my cookie sheets, baking pans, flour and sugar canisters down below. Up above I have recipes easy to grab, and on top more cake pans. I can stir things together right in the cupboard, or turn around and use the counter top.

It's not exactly how I want it yet...I guess you'd call it a work in progress. I want to add racks on the inside of the doors for my spices. But I thought I'd share it with you anyway!

Here are a few of my favorite posts....recipes that remind me of my Grandma.

Drommers

lefsa

cinnamon thumbs

sandbakkels

Merry Christmas!

This year for Christmas we traveled to my daughters and son-in-laws house for Christmas. This is the first Christmas in ages that I didn't host the Christmas dinner..they did...and what an awesome meal it was!

The food was incredible. We loved all the dishes they chose to make. They both like to cook (as much as I do} and it really showed in every bite. I can't even tell you which was my favorite! But I can post their recipes to share with you, which I plan to do this week.  I took pictures of all of them, of course!

Our son and Brent's mom came with us, too. We had a good time driving there together....it was a long haul....but alot of laughs....so it went quickly!

We spent the weekend playing games and EATING! Here we are in our traditional "in front of the tree" pictures.

Notice Forrest Gump is on TV...they wanted me to make sure I got that in the photo...one of their favorite movies.

This is the little princess...Zoe...eating the treats we brought her.

It was so hard to say goodbye....here they are in front of their new house. They just moved this fall, about a 6 hour drive from us. I can't wait until the next time we can visit!

I am so thankful that God blessed us with such a wonderful Christmas. It seems they just get better each year!

Taste of Home Cooking School...and a win!

One of my friends and I went to the Taste of Home cooking school last weekend. J & B Foods {and other sponsors} put one on about every other year or so, here in town. I try to go if I can, they are always fun! The tickets are only $10 and you get a bag full of goodies and coupons, PLUS two T of H magazines. So it's a good deal.

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First we walked around and signed up at all the booths. It payed off....the photo up above is of my win.....a Tastefully Simple basket of goodies! Love that stuff. We also sampled alot of good food along the way! My favorite were the wild rice meatballs in a BBQ sauce. In fact, I'm making them for Monday Night Football.

We were kinda late getting in to the class{too much sampling I guess} and ended up sitting on the bleachers. Yikes, they were hard and uncomfortable! But the show was good....the chef was alot of fun...joked and sang quite a bit while he cooked. I wished he would have sang more...he was really good!

You can read more about Guy here.

                                                                                Guy

Here are some of the dishes he made....click on the links for the recipes!

                                                          Egglands Best huevos rancheros

                                                        King Arthur pumpkin whoopie pies

                                                       Domino's agave chocolate cake

                                                  Wisconsin BBQ chicken pizza

                                                                 Ground nut stew

There were several other recipes he made..a few I plan to try out and post later this week..so check back!

Shaggies and Shrubbies

Have you tried these yet?

 I really like them..especially the scrubbies. The wash clothes are great too. I got mine from the store I work at called Northern Traditions / Olde Liberty. You can find out all about them here. I bought a bunch of them and have been giving them as gifts..I need to get some more for myself!

 Check them out they are AWESOME!

Recipe Rewinds

Hi!

I have decided to put all my recipes on one blog so from time to time I will be moving recipes from my stamping blog to this one. I'm calling them recipe rewinds. Enjoy!

Birthday Goodies

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My daughter and son in law gave Brent a breakfast basket containing his favorite coffee, some muffin mixes and a whole case of jam for his Birthday. We've been enjoying them all weekend!

The muffins were called Sticky Fingers.

We tried the cranberry orange package first and are saving the blueberry for next weekend. They were delicious!

The jam is from Spoonful of Fruit.

We started with the Mixed Berry....love it.... and can't wait to try the rest! The Breakfast basket was a great idea....I'll have to remember that idea for future gifts.

I WON!!!!

I was over on one my favorite blogs{ Baking and creating with Avril} leaving a comment a few weeks ago, and little did I know by doing so, I would win this awesome give away!

I was so excited to open the box from Tate's and see this wonderful cookbook and the 3 pack carton of cookies! I have already marked so many recipes I want to try, and Brent has been eating the cookies like crazy. Since I'm still watching what I eat since my surgery, I only tried a few bites. I can see why he's devouring them. They're very crispy and have a wonderful buttery flavor! {I froze a box so I could have some when I'm feeling better!}

So thank you so much to Avril for sponsoring this give away, and thanks to Tate's Bake Shop for the terrific gifts! You can check out the wonderful Tate's Bakery here.

Christmas 2010

I finally downloaded my Christmas pictures and thought I'd share a few of my favorites. It was a wonderful Christmas ..even though I had to have surgery a couple days later!

Here's Brent's mom with a pile of presents!

The traditional pictures in front of the tree:

 

                                                                   

                                                                   Our two kids!

Brent and I.

My daughter and her hubby..and of course their little Zoe!

Wishing you a Blessed New Year!

Have a

Greetings.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Brrrr...

                               Yes, that's SNOW! It snowed last night and this is what I woke up too. I always enjoy the first snow..it's so beautiful. And when it gets cold, I love to spend time baking in my kitchen. I have some cookies in the oven right now, so check back tomorrow as I'll be posting them!

That's crazy!

My daughter sent me this photo that I just have to share. She made a burger using a Krispy Kreme donut for a bun! As if that's not bad enough...it's topped with cheese and bacon! A friend of hers had seen the idea and they decided they would give it a try. She said it was good! I read about it here. Over a 1,000 calories.

That's just crazy!

Laguna Beach Trip Review

Brent and I spent this past week in Laguna Beach, CA. It was sunny and warm! But at home it was windy..very windy as they closed all but one runway at the Minneapolis airport just the day before we flew home. Some places got quite a bit of snow,too. But it was all over just in time for us to fly home!

Most of the time we lazed around on the beach.....

                                                                            relaxed,

..and ate alot! The food was excellent.

One of our favorite places was just a few blocks from where we stayed. It was called Avila's El Ranchito. The best part was they served chips and salsa...with lots of cilantro....just the way we like it.

The first time we went together. Brent ordered the enchilada dinner. I ordered a chicken and rice burrito off the a la carte menu as I wasn't very hungry after eating all the salsa and chips. When the waitress set the burrito down I said, "You must have the wrong person...I didn't order all this!" It was HUGE. I mean it could have fed a family of 5! I did the best I could but there was still about 3/4 of it left!

 The next time I went at lunch by myself while Brent was at meetings. I was kind of afraid to order a taco after the burrito incident, but the waiter assured me it was normal size. It was. It was also the best chicken taco I ever ate! The waiter recommended the Flan for dessert and hey, I'm on vacation, why not? It was wonderful..I made sure I got every bit of the caramel sauce.

Another place we liked was called, "The White House." It's the oldest restaurant in Orange County. We ate there a couple of times. The first one was lunch. Brent had his usual.... burger and fries. But this burger was excellent! I tried some..the sauce on the burger was awesome, and the fries had a smokey seasoning on them that was so addictive. I was almost sorry I didn't order it as it was SO good...until I tried my CA Eggs Benedict. It was perfect. I loved the avocados under the velvety smooth sauce. I may fly back to just have that again!

The second time we were there with a group. Brent and I both had the blackened Mahi Mahi. Again...it was some of the best I had ever had!

Another place I would like to mention is Cest La Vie. I was wandering the streets down by the Main Beach looking for a place to eat lunch and came by this. All the fresh baked pastries caught my eye..and of course I had to indulge and buy a few. But first I went to the restaurant. The waiter was awesome. He recommended a few things as the menu was kind of overwhelming to choose from. I settled for a  Le Parisien sandwich and fresh baby spinach salad. It was a great choice! I loved every bite.  I sat there for a long time enjoying the ocean view.

Of course while we were in CA there was a Vikings game on Sunday night. Brent wouldn't leave the room. Later he wished he had..it was a sad game. But the food was good! I had read about Gina's pizza so I took advantage of having a house pizza delivered. That did not disappoint either!

 I enjoyed eating at Splashes, too.  We ate lunch there one day, and enjoyed some wonderful swordfish one evening for dinner. One night we went with a group of people to La Casa del Camino. The food was amazing. I especially liked the three cheese pasta.

We took a day went over to Newport Beach. Went to Fashion Island....walked out on the Balboa Pier.

This guy caught my eye.

I also loved the flowers. No more till spring back home!

I also found another bakery I liked. See why:

I would go back in a heart beat. The people were so friendly, the food great, and the hotel was excellent.

And the views...just can't be beat!