Chunky Chicken Soup

This recipe is so good and really easy to make. I've become a big fan of the Pioneer Woman blog, (thanks Bri!), and it's one of her recipes. I've never cooked with parsnips before, and I'm not sure I like the taste, at least not how strong it is in this recipe. I probably would make this again with one less, and add more celery to give it more structure and change in texture. I loved it though!

Ingredients

• 1 whole Chicken
• 1 whole Bay Leaf
• 64 ounces, fluid Unsalted (or Low Sodium) Chicken Broth (you May Use Half Broth And Half Water If Desired.)
• 1 whole Large Onion, Chopped
• 3 whole Ribs Of Celery, Sliced
• 3 whole Carrots, Peeled And Chopped
• 3 whole Parsnips, Peeled And Chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Ground Black Pepper

Preparation Instructions

Place all ingredients but the pepper into a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until chicken is done, vegetables are tender, and soup flavor is divine. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Serve in a bowl, then sprinkle black pepper over the top.

*Note: Adjust broth levels and/or vegetable amounts as needed.

Book Wreath

Thank you, Pinterest. I have another craft I have to do! I thought this was beautiful, though I felt so guilty cutting up a book to make it. I found The Count of Monte Cristo and Camille by Alexandre Dumas at DI, which are my two favorite books. After four sticks of hot glue, burnt fingers, down one book, and 200 cones later, this is what I came up with! I love looking at the pages and being able to recognize the story, I smile every time.

Overdue Update

This semester has been so busy and I've gotten too far behind on my posts. Now it's time to play catch up!

To start off the semester, I made a birthday cake for my roommate, Hannah. Happy 22nd birthday, Hannah! (You're just going to ignore that this is three months later...) I had so much fun making this cake and it was probably one of the easiest ones I've decorated! I experimented this time with a Swiss meringue butter cream, which is much more forgiving than regular butter cream and not nearly as sweet, where the icing is a good inch thick. I love how fancy it looks, when all I did was take a petal tip, and a few zig-zags later, voilà!



My favorite part of the cake is the layers, all five of them. I did a gradient from dark yellow to white with an easy raspberry filling in between.
I slacked off and got busy with school, I didn't do too much for a few months until Christmas time. Merry Christmas! Mom gave me a small budget and asked that I do a Christmas/wintery display in the nook above the dining table. I absolutely love decorating and went to town at Hobby Lobby. I think Mom almost died when she saw I was buying dark red feathers and gems to put in the garland, but I like how it turned out.



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Over the past couple of months I've become addicted to Pinterest. (Thanks Amber and Sarah!) I've learned things from fashion and hair tips to homemade dishwasher detergent recipes to more craft ideas than I'll ever be able to do! One day I saw a picture with baked marbles and I thought that they were absolutely beautiful, (much to the cringe of Mom who made these in the '60s). After I baked them, doused them in cold water and watch them crack, I had to figure out something good to do with them...with a little bit of practice I twisted wire around them and came up with this:






I absolutely love these. I have one hanging on my car mirror and it sparkles so much in the sunlight!

Lemon Cake

This cake needs a little bit of work still. It's a lemon cake with a raspberry filling and a white chocolate mousse icing. Next time I just need to make more mousse and add just a touch of sugar to the raspberry filling. Still, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The only thing different from the recipe is I added a package of white chocolate instant pudding to the mousse, I made this before and without that it's way too runny.

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 8 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate, chopped
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries, garnish

Directions

1. Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions for two 9 inch round pans. Cool cakes completely, then split each in half to make 4 layers.
2. To make Raspberry Filling: In a blender or food processor, puree raspberries. In a saucepan, heat pureed raspberries until boiling. Mix cornstarch with a small amount of water and stir into raspberries. cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Set aside to cool.
3. To make White Chocolate Mousse: In the top of a double boiler, heat white chocolate with 1 cup of the cream, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool to lukewarm. Whip the remaining 2 cups cream until soft peaks form. Stir in the vanilla. Fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into the white chocolate mixture, then quickly fold in the remaining whipped cream. Do not over-mix, or the mousse will become grainy.
4. Place 1 cake layer on serving plate and spread with white chocolate mousse. Place the next layer on top and spread with raspberry filling. Repeat next layer of cake with mousse. Cover with the final layer of cake. Frost top and sides with mousse. Pipe a border with remaining mousse. Garnish with fresh berries.

"Funny Face"

Audrey Hepburn is one of my favorite people; she was so classy and very intelligent and always very modest. I tried to draw the Audrey Hepburn picture that Fred Astaire took at the beginning of "Funny Face." It's been a long time since I've drawn so it was a little rough, I need a little more practice, but I'm really happy with how the eyes turned out.

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."
- Audrey Hepburn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI0ZHQON_IQ

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

This is just about as close to heaven as you can get: cheesecake stuffed strawberries. They might be one of my favorite treats, and it only took about 30 minutes to make.

Ingredients

• 2 quarts fresh strawberries
• 1 box Jello No Bake Cheesecake
• Graham cracker crumbs
• Chocolate for drizzling

Directions

• Wash berries and hollow out the centers
• Mix cheesecake according to directions. Put cheesecake into piping bag and fill each strawberry until slightly overfilled.
• Dip into crushed graham crackers to coat the top
  
• Drizzle with chocolate

These are addicting, I can't get over how good they are! I got this idea from http://juneberry-lane.blogspot.com/

Pinwheel Bouquet

My apartment needed a new summer center piece and what's more summery than pinwheels? I felt like I was back in first grade. I got the idea from http://juneberry-lane.blogspot.com/2011/06/tutorial-tuesday-diy-paper-pinwheels.html which is becoming one of my favorite blogs, I have so many new projects I want to do.