The shower is tonight and I've done lots of preparing. The button maker arrived late yesterday, and I've really been itching to break it out of the box and play with it, but that's going to be my Saturday morning treat.
So, I took a lot of pictures while I was cooking today.
First I made pasta salad, and way too much of it. I thought I'd double the recipe, because it said it was for 4 servings. I guess whoever wrote the recipe must have liked really, really large servings, because I think my doubled recipe made like 20 servings. Two big bowls of it.
I used wheat pasta, cooked and rinsed, then added red and yellow peppers, and onions. I minced some garlic for it and added fresh cracked pepper and sea salt. A few tablespoons of olive oil and about 1 cup of sour cream later, it was ready to chill for a few hours.
Next, I made the chocolate covered strawberries. I make these a lot when we are entertaining or going somewhere. They are super easy, and relatively inexpensive, depending on the season. They always look fancy and nice too, which I love since presentation is my favorite part of food.
So, basically, just melt some chocolate chips, much like the wafers for the candy. You are supposed to add shortening to the chocolate because it helps it form and harden properly, but shortening has partially hydrogenated oils in it and that just disgusts me. I could probably write an entire blog about trans-fats and how disgusting they are.. but I'll just leave it at saying that we don't have any foods with anything hydrogenated in our house. We do however have partially hydrogenated soybeans to make our candles with. Think about that folks, candle wax... in your body.. doing all sorts of yucky things to your arteries. Anyway, I digress. I will sometimes add just a tiny spoonful of Smart Balance to the chocolate to make it shinier on the strawberries. Today, I was making some white chocolate, some milk chocolate and I didn't listen to my own advice. I burnt the white chocolate.... So, there will only be a few white chocolate covered strawberries. Fine, since most people prefer milk chocolate ones anyway. I always wash the strawberries under cold water and then dry them with a towel. If you don't dry them, the chocolate slides off, and looks lumpy and weird. Not pretty.
I'll update later with how the truffle making goes! I need a bath and a trip to the store for balloons.
So, I took a lot of pictures while I was cooking today.
First I made pasta salad, and way too much of it. I thought I'd double the recipe, because it said it was for 4 servings. I guess whoever wrote the recipe must have liked really, really large servings, because I think my doubled recipe made like 20 servings. Two big bowls of it.
I used wheat pasta, cooked and rinsed, then added red and yellow peppers, and onions. I minced some garlic for it and added fresh cracked pepper and sea salt. A few tablespoons of olive oil and about 1 cup of sour cream later, it was ready to chill for a few hours.
Next, I made the chocolate covered strawberries. I make these a lot when we are entertaining or going somewhere. They are super easy, and relatively inexpensive, depending on the season. They always look fancy and nice too, which I love since presentation is my favorite part of food.
So, basically, just melt some chocolate chips, much like the wafers for the candy. You are supposed to add shortening to the chocolate because it helps it form and harden properly, but shortening has partially hydrogenated oils in it and that just disgusts me. I could probably write an entire blog about trans-fats and how disgusting they are.. but I'll just leave it at saying that we don't have any foods with anything hydrogenated in our house. We do however have partially hydrogenated soybeans to make our candles with. Think about that folks, candle wax... in your body.. doing all sorts of yucky things to your arteries. Anyway, I digress. I will sometimes add just a tiny spoonful of Smart Balance to the chocolate to make it shinier on the strawberries. Today, I was making some white chocolate, some milk chocolate and I didn't listen to my own advice. I burnt the white chocolate.... So, there will only be a few white chocolate covered strawberries. Fine, since most people prefer milk chocolate ones anyway. I always wash the strawberries under cold water and then dry them with a towel. If you don't dry them, the chocolate slides off, and looks lumpy and weird. Not pretty.
I'll update later with how the truffle making goes! I need a bath and a trip to the store for balloons.
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