A fun coincidence since Rachael Ray also celebrates a birthday on August 25th :-)
These birthday pancakes are one several cake ideas in honor of Rachael Ray’s birthday month in the August issue, using a boxed mix~
You can add sprinkles to your cake mix batter or use a Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix. I added them to my powdered sugar glaze instead of the batter~
Mix your boxed yellow cake mix according to package directions~ I used a Pillsbury Moist Supreme Yellow Mix.
Ladle the batter into a nonstick skillet or griddle, and cook like you would cook pancakes~ I got 9 pancakes~ approximately 8″~ out of the box mix, but only used 7 for this cake~
Mix powdered sugar with 2 -3 T of water, milk, or orange juice and drizzle over your stack of “pancakes” and add sprinkles~
Rachel~ We blew out your candles and made a wish that you would come visit us soon!
Bobby Flay, whose signature style~marrying the flavors of southwest with his love of grilling~ and known for his bold flavors & zingy spices, prompted a trip to the Farmers Market for this Cook-Along. . .
for a medley of veggies. . .
and for flowers. . .
Where I married my farmers market purchases with some bold, colorful patterns in salad plates, bowls & placemats for the table. . .
and blended some fruits for Sangria. . .
It’s always fun to play with my food~ economical & convenient, when today’s centerpiece is also this week’s dinner :-)
I spied this Bobby Flay recipe in the May issue of Food Network Magazine~
We enjoyed these and will definitely make them again! I made a few changes~ omitting the port, (using red wine only) ; substituting beef stock for chicken; and using only ancho chile peppers since I was unable to find cascabel & New Mexico peppers. After browning the short ribs, instead of turning on the oven & the heat up in the kitchen, I put everything in crock pot on low for 8 hours, turning heat up in the tacos with a few jalapenos.
Recipe for the Red Pickled Onions included in the Chile Short Rib Taco recipe:
Bring 3/4 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup each red wine vinegar and sugar, and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and let cool, 5 minutes. Toss with 1 thinly sliced red onion in a bowl; cover and chill at least 4 hours, stirring occasionally.
I’m dining with the butterflies~ enjoying this book~ with its beautiful illustrations by Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), German-born naturalist and artist.
At a time when few women were educated or literate, and rarely travelled, Maria Sibylla Merian was a pioneer, and made history with her studies of insects in Surinam.
Trained as a copperplate engraver and watercolorist, she documented the metamorphosis of butterflies, laying the foundation for modern entomology.
On seeing a collection of butterflies from Dutch Guiana, (modern Surinam), she decided to study tropical flora and fauna, to discover whether the moths and butterflies she saw in collections shared the same life cycle as those she had bred: the egg and caterpillar stage.
In 1699 she sailed for South America with daughter Dorothea, the first time any woman had ventured on a journey of exploration on this scale.
Having evaluated and categorized her specimens, in 1705 she published her major work Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, in Dutch and Latin.
She made 60 copperplate engravings to illustrate the stages of insect development, arranged around the cultivated and wild plants she had encountered on her travels.
With its detailed text and imagery, the Metamorphosis is the first work on the natural history of Surinam. For 17th century Europeans it was an insight into an unknown world.
This quilted throw from HomeGoods migrated into my cart recently and was the inspiration for this table.
I thought it would be the perfect foundation for this book, with the butterflies sipping nectar from the quilted flowers~ while I sipped on tea from my Portmeirion Botanic Garden Blue Tea Set and dined among the embossed butterflies on my Lennox Butterfly Meadow Cloud plates.
Quilted throw/ HomeGoods by Ridgefield Home
Plates/ Lennox Butterfly Meadow Cloud/ HomeGoods
Trays/ HomeGoods
Bee Stems/ Sur La Table
Napoleon Bee flatware/Horchow
Napkins/Pier 1
Tea Set/ Portmeirion Botanic Blue/ Marshalls
I spread my wings with a little bow tie pasta chicken salad, recipe courtesy of Pillsbury~ to fly over and join the fun at Lynn’s Celebrity Cook-Along with Pillsbury~ and a few Pepperidge Farm butterfly crackers served on the side.
Dried Cherry-Nut Chicken Pasta Salad, recipe can be found here.
I substituted chopped pecans for slivered almonds in the recipe and made an additional substitution with the dressing called for. Not a huge fan of poppy seed dressing, I decided to try Trader Joe’s Champagne Pear Vinaigrette that is slightly sweet, and has some gorgonzola in it, when I read a comment that suggested adding some gorgonzola to the pasta salad for additional flavor. It was a quick & tasty substitution for the poppy seed dressing that I mixed with Olive Oil Mayo and complemented with the dried cherries, nuts, chicken & bow tie pasta.
I recently had a milestone birthday, and was gifted with my very own Poppin’ Fresh Pillsbury Dough Boy napkin holder, since the Dough Boy was introduced 5o years ago, in 1961 :-)
A metamorphosis~ from crescent rolls to sugar-sprinkled butterflies garnish a layer of berries, lemon curd & whipped cream.
“TASCHEN’s reprint of a hand-colored first edition copy, belonging to the University Library of Basel, includes the complete plates with a commentary by Katharina Schmidt-Loske. Merian accomplished a pioneering achievement of the modern age. This publication pays homage to her work and offers readers an opportunity to appreciate her sumptuous engravings.”
Join me for breakfast~ it will be just us & the Chickens ~
What’s your pleasure?
Are you a juice drinker? Orange or Grapefruit?
Or do you prefer your vitamin C from fruit?
Do you prefer coffee in the morning or a cup of tea?
If it’s tea, are you traditional?
English Breakfast or Earl Grey?
Flavored coffee or just plain old java?
Sweetener? Skim Milk or Half & Half?
Would you like a little protein to start your day?
If it’s the weekend~ a beautiful spring day, or a celebratory occasion like Mother’s Day, do you indulge in something out-of-the-ordinary like Eggs Benedict?
Maybe on a biscuit~ Southern Style?
With a serving of Hashbrown and Sausage Casserole with Carmelized Onions?
An Edible Book Review inspired by Jain at Food for Thought, a delicious blog for readers with an appetite for the written word.
Okay, so I’m a sucker for a little romance mixed with humor, so this was a great recipe for light reading for Valentine’s Day. A sweet, quick read and funny in true Ree-style for those who are familiar with The Pioneer Woman. While the story is sure to warm the cockles of your heart, there is also plenty of inspiration to warm your belly, with the recipes to be found and included in the back of the book.
From The Pioneer Woman:
“Back in 2007, I started writing the bodice-ripping saga of how I met and married my husband. What started out as a few paragraphs turned into a forty-plus chapter online serial, which concludes on our wedding day. The published version of Black Heels includes the complete online serial (with added material) as well as a whole new section, which documents our entire first year of marriage.”
It also provided me with inspiration to wrangle up a table for a little dish fun for this edible review~
I took my cue from the colors on the book jacket, lassoing and filling some mason jars with flowers, on a foundation of burlap. The bandana-inspired paisley bowls & plates are from Bed, Bath & Beyond.
“Read along as I recount the rip-roaring details of my unlikely romance with a chaps-wearing cowboy, from the early days of our courtship (complete with cows, horses, prairie fire, and passion) all the way through the first year of our marriage, which would be filled with more challenge and strife—and manure—than I ever could have expected.
This isn’t just my love story; it’s a universal tale of passion, romance, and all-encompassing love that sweeps us off our feet.”
“It’s the story of a cowboy.
And Wranglers.
And chaps.
And the girl who fell in love with them.”
“We lived life at entirely different paces. His day began before 5:30 am, and his work was backbreaking, sweaty, grueling. I worked so I’d have something to do during the daylight hours, so I’d have a place to wear my black pumps, and so I could fund a nightlife full of gourmet food and colorful drinks. For Marlboro Man, nightlife meant relaxation, an earned reward for a long day of labor. For me, nightlife meant an opportunity to wear something new and gloss my lips.”
“At times the differences concerned me, Could I ever be with a man who’d never, in his entire life, eaten sushi? Could I, a former vegetarian conceivably spend the rest of my life with a man who ate red meat at every meal?”
“My mind began to race, trying to figure out what it all meant. Do I need to learn how to whittle? Cook fried chicken? Ride a horse? Use a scythe?”
“And children? Oh. Lord.That means we might have children! What will we name them? Travis and Dolly? Oh my gosh. I have children in my future. I could see it plainly in front of me. They’ll be little redheaded children with green eyes just like mine, and they’ll have lots of freckles, too. I’ll have ten of them, maybe eleven. I’ll have to squat in the garden and give birth while picking my okra.”
“Does the world of agriculture have a different chart of wedding anniversary presents? Would the first anniversary be paper. . .or motor oil? Would the second be cotton or Weed Eater string?”
I rustled up some Cowgirl Food straight from the pages of the book. . .
“We shared each other’s histories while cooking in his kitchen in the country, me whipping out my arsenal of L.A. vegetarian delights with the same pride and enthusiasm that Marlboro Man shared his carnivorous ones.”
