A Blog Called Wanda

Chocolate + Peppermint = YUM!

Well...Christmas time is fast approaching! Are ya ready?! I think I am finally ready and winding down a bit. I'm posting some food today instead of a card. One of my very favorite flavor combinations is chocolate + peppermint. I love anything with those two flavors! REALLY love me a peppermint mocha or some chocolate covered Altoids, or Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark squares...Mmmmmm. Okay, now I'm hungry again! Usually I like to make Peppermint Bark at the holidays, but it just didn't happen this year. My other favorite thing to make is Chocolate Mint cupcakes. I made two batches this week! I use Devil's Food cake as the base and then add Pure Peppermint extract to a basic frosting recipe. Crunch up some candy canes and sprinkle them on top...voila!

 

 

Every year, I can't wait to get out my few prized Spode dessert plates. I only have 10 of them, and they make me happy! We bought them several years ago when we used to have an annual dessert party at our house. Aren't they pretty?

 

One batch was to bring up to my brother's house for us to eat, and the other batch was for our Annual work Holiday Potluck, which was Monday. Here is the batch all ready to go on Monday in my pink carrier!

 

Do you have a favorite holiday treat that you make? What is your specialty? I would love to hear about it...leave a comment with a link to your recipe. Have a great day today! Thank you for visiting!

Caramel Apples for Fall...

Hi friends! Today I'm not posting a card...I'm posting some food fun! This past weekend I got a bee in my bonnet to make some fancy schmancy caramel apples. I was trying them out to see if they were something I could make to bring to work for Halloween. Well...before I get too deep into this post I will tell you two things. One, they were FREAKING delicious! Two, I will never be making them again! It was a total sticky, gooey, chocolately, caramely mess that took all day! I will have to think of some other treat to bring to work! Have you ever seen THESE?  A few years ago someone gave us some of these and they were the most decadent and yummy creations. So, Miss Wanda thought she could make them at home and save fifty bucks! I now know they are worth every penny! Okay, on to the food fun...

You need nice pretty green granny smith apples, caramels, chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips. Sounds easy so far right?

 

 
 

 

Unwrap all the caramels (have the DH do this part) and put them in a pan with a tiny bit of water and melt them very slowly, stirring a lot! This part will turn into cement later!

 
 

 

 

It takes quite a long time to turn to molten lava...but be slow about it. If you burn it, the entire thing is ruined! I would say it took at least 10-15 minutes.

 

To dip the apples, I put them right into the pan on the stove and then used a spoon to spread the caramel over the apples. Be sure to let it run off for a while or you will get giant puddles of caramel on your wax paper. (This was my second attempt).

 

Put them in the fridge right away to chill the caramel and harden it. I left them in the fridge for about an hour and then double dipped them in caramel again. It seemed too thin with just one coat.  Put them back in the fridge for another hour....

 

Now the chocolate! Melt semi sweet or milk chocolate in the microwave on low - stirring a lot also. I dipped the apples right into the container and spooned the chocolate over them. Then put mini chocolate chips on the apples! YAY!

 

 

 

 

 

Then you put them back in the fridge for another couple of hours....

 

And then go and read a stamping magazine and take a nap...and wait to eat the yummy apples.... 

 

Finally! Here is the finished product all gussied up for my photo shoot! MMMMMMM.... They are not quite as shiny when they come out of the fridge. But that's okay.

 

 

 

And...about five seconds after this photo was taken, these pieces were GONE!  So delicious! If you have more patience than I do - you should try it!

 

What is your favorite Fall recipe? If you have one to share, leave me a link...I would love that! Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

 

Scenes from a weekend...

Hello everyone! Are you having a lazy-around-the-house kind of Sunday or a run-errands-til-you're-crazy kind of Sunday? We are having the lazy variety... Some laundry is in the dryer and I'm in the craft room mostly cleaning, but hopefully creating soon. I've had a nice weekend so far and thought I would just share some pictures with you today.

Yesterday one of my gal pals hosted us at her house for a girl day. It was fabulous! Relaxing and silly and just a plain old good time! We started out by having a make your own pizza bar. Isn't that the most fab idea ever? We started with Boboli pizza breads and then piled on the goodies. You know I love to take pictures of food - so I couldn't resist. And, trust me, it was just as good as it looks! :-)

 

 

Here's mine before it went into the oven....LOTS of veggies!  

 

And when it came out...

 

Are you hungry yet? I could eat this every single day I think...

 

 

 
 

After pizza we did a little bit of easy stamping and chatting...made some cheery Spring cards with this nice color palette and some favorite Amuse stamps. 

 

 

 

After stamping we had desserts and played Scrabble (otherwise known as the game I lose every time) and had some champagne! Perfection if you ask me! I really must get better at Scrabble. I think I am improving from playing Words with Friends on my iphone. I have some friends who are killers! (You know who you are)!  

 

 

 
 

The next set of pictures are from today in my front yard. This morning we had a full on thunder storm...which is extremeley rare here in Northern California. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever heard thunder that loud around our house. The lights flickered a bit and then it blew through in about an hour. As soon as it stopped raining I grabbed my camera to capture the just-after-the-storm light. It did not disappoint.

 

The hydrangeas are growing like crazy. I think there are probably about 200 blooms on two plants! The blooms are all in various stages. Some are completely green, some are all blue...and most of them are in between.  

 

See what I mean about that glorious light!? I did not photoshop the color on these at all! When the sky is cloudy there are no shadows and no glare...just soft even light...mmmmm.

 

 

 

 

 

This is our front flower bed with all the pretty impatiens the DH planted last weekend. By then end of the Summer they will fill the entire bed and be about a foot tall!  

 

I think maybe the thunder scared Mr. Buddy! He is in his cat camo tent with those giant eyes looking at me...am I okay??  

 

Thanks for popping by today! Have a blessed day.  

 

Tea and Scones... It's wedding day!

Congratulations William and Kate!

 
 
'Cheerio Lords and Ladies! It's Royal Wedding Day! What a lovely day and how nice to see some good news on the tele today. In this day and age of constant change I think it is so great to see tradition in action. I don't really have an opinion one way or the other about Monarchy in a political sense...I just know that I love all the ceremony and elegance that comes from doing things the same way for hundreds of years. The gorgeous gothic architecture of the church, the uniforms, the hats, the crowns and carriages...all of it is interesting to me. It is also a wee bit personal, as my father's family name is from Wales!

I remember staying up all night in 1981 (I was in high school) to watch Diana and Charles' wedding. That was way back when and my family didn't own a VCR yet! It was a big deal. This year, I set the DVR for about 10 hours worth of BBC America and am now watching it in the background as I go about my day.  In honor of this very British day...I decided to make scones and tea! Pip Pip!

 

I found the recipe on All Recipes.com....click here to link to it...   I made the recipe exactly as it is listed, no changes. I cooked them for 17 minutes exactly. With scones, be careful not to over cook them. They will look like they're not cooked enough...but they are! If you cook them too long, they get dry. I like that this recipe has sour cream in it. You can't really taste it, but it makes them moist.

Here they are before going into the oven. I like to leave mine together instead of cutting them apart before cooking. I added dried apricots instead of raisins. I think it would taste good with dried cherries or blueberries, too.

 

 You MUST have English Breakfast tea and marmalade!

 
 

 

 

 Here they are just out of the oven....mmmm....

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is just perfect!

 
Did you watch the wedding? I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Please stop by my blog on Sunday morning for a BIG announcement! Next week there will be a lot of activity here on the bloggy blog. I hope you will join me! I've been keeping a crafty secret and I can finally tell you! 

 
 

Peppermint Bark!

Today I have a treat to share...and some stamping! One of my favorite treats to make and share at Christmas time is Peppermint Bark! MMMMMM. I love anything minty and chocolatey. Peppermint Mochas...York patties...and Peppermint Bark. It's super easy to make (although really messy) and a nice treat to give others. Everyone seems to like it. I had fun this year documenting the process for you and making some cute tags to put on the boxes and bags. I hope you decide to try it!

All you need to make Peppermint Bark is Chocolate, Candy Canes, and Peppermint Extract! How easy is that? I like to buy Ghirardelli Chocolate because it seems more creamy to me. Don't use old chocolate because it won't melt nicely.

Melting chocolate is simple, but you need to take your time so it doesn't scorch. I make it in the microwave! I like to use pyrex glass for the melting process. Put all the chocolate chips in the dish and microwave for about one minute. Stir and then microwave again at 30 second intervals...stirring each 30 seconds. To make it shiny, you can add about a teaspoon of crisco to the chocolate.

 
 

Once your darker chocolate is melted (you can use milk chocolate or semi sweet or dark - your preference! I like to mix semi sweet and dark together) spoon it onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. spread it around to try to get a nice even layer. Then put it in the fridge. You want it very hard and cold before doing the next step.  

 

 

Now, the fun part! Smashing candy canes! Put them in a freezer bag and take out your agressions! Hee hee. You want some little chunks left for decoration. Now, melt your white chocolate same as the darker chocolate. After your white chocolate is melted, put in 1-2 teaspoons of Peppermint extract and candy cane chunks and stir, stir, stir!

 
 

 

Take the darker chocolate out of the fridge and spoon the white chocolate on top. I like mine very separate, but some people wait for the hot white chocolate to melt the dark chocolate and swirl it. After you put on the white chocolate mixture, sprinkle more candy cane pieces on top! Then stick it back in the refrigerator.

 

 

This time around, I tried making some in this little silicone mini muffin thingee I have. It ended up making them like little candies instead of the traditional bark.

 

Let it cool for a long time - at least a few hours. Take your bark out of the fridge and break it into pieces. Now it's ready to eat!

 

 

I wish my computer had smell-o-vision so you could smell the minty-ness of this! It smells so fresh and yummy. Doesn't taste bad either (of course I had to taste test it, right?)

 

 

Here's how the little candy ones came out:

 

 

 
 

 

Next, to start on the tags! I used this cute set from PTI - Tiny Treats Xmas - for the first set. I used Kiwi Kiss and Real Red inks from Stampin' Up and a giant punch I have had for years.

 

 

For giving out, I used some of these boxes from Wilton. They are about four inches square and I found them at Joann's Crafts in the cake making section. Line the box with wax paper in case the chocolate melts.

 

 

Ready to go!

 

 

 

 
 

I ended up making three kinds of tags...of course, all with a peppermint theme! These were all the stamps I had that were candy cane related! Do you love that little penguin guy? SO cute!

 

 

I used a few Copics for the image. I added glitter glue to the white parts of the candy cane and his hat. I put two leaf punches together to make it look like a wreath on the bottom.

 

 

I only had a few of the boxes, so the rest of my treats went into cello bags and glassine bags. I stapled them shut and then double-sided taped the tags onto the front. Pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 
 

 

Dreadful Edibles and Deadly Morsels...

Spooooooooky Treats in store for you today here on the bloggy blog! I work with a small group in my office, so it's fun to be able to bring in treats and such for holidays. Before this job, I always worked in a giant office with lots of people. I never wanted to bring treats because I wasn't able to bring enough for everyone! Now that I have about 10 co-workers I bring in stuff all the time. I had fun making these spooky candy jars for the peeps! I will make some kind of cupcakes too...just haven't found the right idea yet. Do you make treats for Halloween?? Share!

 

 
 

The little treat jars I found at Michael's a while ago. I filled them with candy corn and pear Jelly Belly beans to look Halloween-ish! The labels are (again...I know) from the Martha Stewart collection for this year! I love them! They are really thick and the writing is metallic! Just a really simple and quick project but a fun one.

 
 

 

 

 
 

We had a crazy whirlwind weekend! We drove to Los Angeles and back in two days (900 miles on the car!!!) and attended the Scream Awards show!! I will have lots of details to share, but I want to wait until after the show airs tomorrow night. It was a fabulous, weird, fun, wild time!!!

 

Time for another recipe! Chicken Waldorf Salad...

What a whirlwind weekend... Fun day on Saturday over at Paper Garden and hanging out with Teadub! Yesterday Miss Donna B had seven people over for stamping and a delicious potluck luncheon. It was such a nice time and the food everyone brought was really great. I worked on my colored pencil techniques and gabbing the day away with our awesome stamping posse!! Thanks Donna!!

My contribution to the potluck was Chicken Waldorf Salad. I want to share the recipe with you. It is super healthy and fresh - perfect for a summer lunch or dinner.

The ingredients are Chicken breast, red apples, red grapes, walnuts, bibb lettuce, chives, light mayo, sugar, salt and pepper. The key to a chopped salad like this is to cut all the pieces into uniform size. I used about a pound of chicken breast, two large red apples, about 30 grapes (cut in half) and about 1/2 cup of walnuts. To make the dressing, whisk together the light mayo, the juice of one lemon, 1 teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt and pepper. To serve it, make a bed of bibb lettuce, spoon in some salad, and then sprinkle with chives. Don't put the chives on until the last minute because they are so strong in flavor!

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner and a movie review...

This weekend was full of good times at our house! We cooked (and ate), did lots of crafty stuff, got some chores done, and went to a movie! I wanted to share a recipe I came up with for dinner and also share my movie review for Inception.

In the Summer I love to eat fresh fruit and veggies whenever possible. I love how fruit tastes when combined in different ways with protein. Friday night I made Chicken Shish-ka-bobs with pineapple, red bell peppers, and purple onion. I used giant chunks of chicken breast and then cut the other items into large wedges.

If you use wooden sticks, be sure to soak them in cold water first. This prevents them from catching on fire (!) and also keeps the food from sticking. I used our Cuisinart Grill to do the cooking. A grill pan would work just fine too.

Before...

After...

MMMMMMMMMouth watering...

 

 

On a bed of wild rice...

 

Add the teriyaki sauce at the very end after the cooking is done...

 

Root Beer floats for dessert!

 

We went to see "Inception" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page. I'll first warn you that it is a L-O-N-G movie - over two and a half hours. It was action packed and also full of really cool special effects and international scenery. The premise is pretty interesting and has to do with Leo's character trying to get into other people's dreams in order to change their thoughts. The side story has to do with the death of his wife. They did a good job of explaining the process so that the audience wouldn't be confused. I don't want to ruin it by saying too much. I'm still thinking it over and I'm not sure I loved the movie. It was entertaining and worth the time to go. Not too shabby to look at Leo for two hours either...Just sayin. It is sci-fi to some extent. Mark didn't like it at all. I'd say overall I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Warning...you're going to be hungry after you read this!

So you all know that I'm always saying...you have to bring your camera everywhere you go! You never know where beauty will be found and ya need to be ready. Here in Northern California we have this great grocery store chain called Nugget Market. The stores are gorgeous and the food is always fresh and beautiful. When I went there last week to buy the items for the mango salsa...I busted out the camera and took some pictures. I really liked how they came out so I wanted to share them with you. I'm warning you, though, you're going to be hungry after you see these...

 

 

 

Can't say I didn't warn you! Don't you want to go cook now??

Wanda's Mango Party Salsa Recipe!

Hi! Today we are heading up to my brother and sister-in-law's house to celebrate her birthday and their youngest son's birthday. One thing I haven't made in a long time is my Mango Party Salsa. I decided that would be a good thing to bring to the party.

Here's the Recipe: Two mangoes, two kiwis, I cup crushed pineapple (drained), 1/2 red onion, 1 red bell pepper, two tsp sugar, juice from one small lime, and a dash of salt. Optional: Cilantro and/or jalapeno peppers. Cut all ingredients into small, uniform pieces and mix. Chill for at least an hour before serving. 

I like to serve it with Scoops chips or some other light, white corn chips. It is also really great on a salad of butter lettuce with some chicken breast. I hope you try it and enjoy it!

Before:

 

After!

 

 

 

I was in the kitchen today a lot...made blueberry muffins for breakfast...and a cappuccino! I love those days when I can cook good healthy food for us. Never enough time to do that, huh?

 

Signs of Summer!

Yikes! After all the excitement from yesterday - today seems kinda mellow! Mark made it to Stockton to drop off the Silver Surfer at around 3:00 in the morning! Today we celebrated our anniversary by going out for a nice lunch at our favorite place - PF Chang's. YUM-MMMY! It was nice to be out and about and we also did a little shopping for some necessities. It was a wonderful day together.

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Jilli Bling's beautiful home to stamp all day with the gal pals. I cannot wait. It is my first time doing the whole shoe-box thing too. Everyone will bring enough project supplies so that we can all make two of each person's card. I am looking forward to it very much. I will also be bringing the Copics to do some coloring. We are having a salad potluck and I volunteered to bring a dessert. I found a recipe for Lime Cake and baked that today. Click here for the recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

Our little impatiens are starting to take off and grow...

 

The hydrangeas are going CRAZY...

These are some clouds that I saw Thurdsday night! They were so amazing I had to pull off the freeway and take a picture. The clouds were so unique and they looked like soft folds of fabric. I don't think I've ever seen clouds quite like these.

 That's it...some signs of Summer from my home to yours. Have a great night!

Random stuff on a sunny Saturday...

Hi there! It's a beautiful sunny Saturday here at the ranch. Went stamping last night at Jilli's stamp group and made some super cute cards and had wonderful, necessary girl time (thank you Jilli!) Slept in really late this morning - darn allergies.

I have a thank you card to share with you today - kind of a Mary Engelbreit feel to it. Hope you likey! the stamp is from Penny Black.

 

Here is a close up of the coloring/shading:

 

From the side you can see that I popped up the entire image on foam tape. I colored a second set of the top flowers and put them on the bottom near the bee hive - I go through A LOT of foam tape in my stamp room!

 

My Copic color pallete for this project:

 

This afternoon/evening we are heading out the the park for a big BBQ for my brother's 30th birthday party. I made a Mediterranean pasta salad to bring to share. It is yummmmy! I use cherry tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, cucumber and feta. The dressing is Bernsteins Cheese/Garlic Italian. I let the veggies soak by themselves in the dressing first so they get the flavor. That way the pasta doesn't get too soggy. The feta goes on at the end.

Some wise advice today from Buddy the Cat....He says if you only put HALF your body on the scale, you will only weigh HALF as much! Good advice! Hahahaha.

 

 Best wishes to all for a fantastic weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you are spending the day in the company of people who love you - spouses, friends, family... Also a good day to watch the Olympics. I have lots of Valentine's stuff to share and I'm sending some blog love your way. Hope you eat too much chocolate today!

First off...My Furry Valentine...Mr. Buddy looking quite debonair on the craft room counter:

Some cupcake treats I brought to work on Friday:

 
I made the little doo dads for the tops from the Stampin' Up "Love Bandit" set and some other VD stamps I had around. Scallop circles, and voila! Cupcake toppers!

A cool Vintag-ey Valentine I found at one of my favorite stores. I thought it was so pretty and old fashioned:

And Finally, the last of my Valentine Cards for this year:

 

Things to love about New Jersey...

So, I've never been to New Jersey...but I watch WAY too much reality TV! So I kinda feel like I've been to New Jersey! Here are some of the many things to love about the Garden State:

The Housewives...

Snooki and The Situation at the shore...

The Boss...

 
The Cake Boss...

 
And this recipe...

Did anyone else see the recent episode of Cake Boss where they made a GINORMOUS Crumb Cake? It looked like heaven on a plate to me! I knew I had to make a crumb cake!  I scoured the interwebs and found this:

The recipe can be found here on Recipezaar: http://www.recipezaar.com/New-Jersey-Crumb-Cake-33645. I made it almost exactly according to the recipe. Here are my changes: Use only unsalted butter. In the topping mix I added 1/4 cup of light brown sugar and 1/4 cup of chopped pecans. I cooked it for 35 minutes instead of 30 minutes. 

The entire house smelled like cinammon while it was in the oven. YUM. I think I'm going to rename it Crummmmmmmmmb Cake. Here are some pix to make you drool and to inspire you to make it too! 
 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today. Share your recipes with me if you like and I'll try them out next. Have a blessed day everyone.

Julie & Julia and a Blackberry Cobbler

 
This movie is delightful! It is adorable, sweet, funny, and positive - and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Family friendly and lighthearted. I was already an Amy Adams fan, and this movie sealed the deal.

It was totally appropriate timing, too, since the subject of the movie is writing a blog! I found that part totally on point for me right now and several parts made me laugh. It is sort of scary putting it out there in cyberspace and just waiting to see what happens...

So, after watching the DVD I had to bake something! One of my specialties is Blackberry Cobbler. I use the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book. It is in the "Old Fashioned Desserts" section. I make it with only two adjustments. I do not use nutmeg - just cinammon. I find the nutmeg too overpowering for the berries. Also, when cooking the berries, I use white sugar instead of brown sugar. I always use Baker's Sugar too - which is super fine. It doesn't matter if the berries are fresh or frozen. This dessert is to. die. for. with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Here are some pictures to make you hungry:

Yumminess in the oven...

Sooo hard to wait for it to cool off....

Are you drooling yet?

Have a great day everyone and Happy Cooking!