Breakfast Girl's Night

Last night was girl's night at my niece's house. Our theme was breakfast and pjs...it was so much fun!!! Of course there were Mimosas... this is Dana and Drea popping open the champagne over the fence...I'm not even telling you what is on the other side of the fence, but the goal is to get the cork over the fence haha!

This is the Cinnamon Rolls rising, I just liked the way they looked. Green Chili Casserole, Cinnamon Rolls, and French Toast Casserole. The Green Chili Casserole seemed to be the big hit of the night, but I could have seriously eaten that whole pan of French Toast Casserole.... YUM!

French Toast Casserole

from: The Pioneer Woman Tasty Recipes

For the casserole:

1 loaf french bread ( I cut off all the crust)

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Topping:

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

2 Tablespoons dark corn syrup

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped (I also toasted)

Spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray. Fill with bread cubes so the dish is completely covered to the top.

In a large bowl mix effs, milk, half and half, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. Pour over top of bread mixture. I pressed the bread down slightly to make sure it all soaked in. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

For topping: Mix all ingredients. Pour over top of bread mixture. Bake until puffed and golden. About 40 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Green Chili Casserole

7 ounce can green chilis, whole

1/2 pound Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded

2 eggs

2 cups milk

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

Arrange chilis on the bottom of a buttered 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, you may need to split them open. cover with shredded cheese. Beat eggs until fluffy. Add flour slowly and the salt. Beat until mixed. Pour over chili-cheese mixture. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven 45-50 minutes. Till brown on top and casserole is firm.

Girl's Night

Tonight was Girl's Night at my house. We try to get together as often as possible... good friends, good food and definitely good times. Tonight was no exception...although we missed you Emily! This is the before picture.

We had so much fun decorating cookies and chatting. It's hilarious where our conversations can go!

Nice Lips Dana!

Nice arm Andrea haha! Told you it was going on the blog :)

And after...

I had a great time ladies... can't wait to do it again, you guys are the best!

Diet starts again tomorrow!

Chocolate Espresso Pot de Creme

Tonight my friend Amanda hosted a Christmas party. She asked me to make the desserts for her, which I love to do. In addition to the lemon mini cheesecakes with raspberry sauce that has become a staple in my repitaur, I wanted to make something chocolate. It had to be something rich and decadent, and in individual servings. I immediately thought of Lava Cakes.... but still wanted it to be something a little different. I remembered these cute little Pot de Creme pots that I had, and thought they would be perfect. I found a recipe on Epicurious that had high reviews, and was simple enough.

They sure were cute! I hope that Amanda and her friends enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Sierra's Dessert Table

A couple of weeks ago I made the dessert's for a birthday party. The colors were bright pink, and black. I'm really happy with the way everything turned out. Unfortunately, my pictures were some how lost, as were Tommy's (what luck???) Andrea, who made the beautiful flower arrangements and helped me with the desserts did get a few, and I wanted to share them.

There were strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting, as well as the small cake on the top pedestal. Cream puffs, sugar cookies, lemon mini cheesecakes with raspberries and raspberry sauce (you can barely see them to the left on the second picture). Not pictured were Bakerella's cake pops and coconut chocolate chip blondies. Hopefully the next party I do I'll get more pictures ;)

Pirate Party

image courtesy: Ian Bender
My Friend Charlotte's Son in law had a surprise birthday party, and I was flattered that she asked me to make the desserts. The theme was a Pirate party.

image: courtesy: Ian Bender
The Pirate ship was made using the Nordicware Pirate ship pan, and we made cupcakes with blue frosting for the sea. Andrea did all the detail work on the ship, she did an incredible job! And the birthday boy's brother made the flags... I'm impressed! Andrea also helped me frost all those cupcakes, in addition to the blue we also made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, I think there was about 200 all together. This really was a group effort, I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Andrea and I had fun baking and frosting. (thanks Andrea!) And it sounds like the party was a success, all those cupcakes were happily eaten!

Cookie Decorating

Andrea and her sister Jamie came over for sugar decorating night.
They were very creative!


This is a ladies mitt that Jamie created, so cute!

We had a great time watching Christmas movies, visiting, and decorating cookies.

I have been busy at work... this is our busiest time of year. And I still need to finish my Christmas cookie platters. More baking for the next couple of nights.

Andrea and David

My good friend, Andrea, had a beautiful fall wedding last month. The reception was held at Oak Farm Vineyards, in this fabulous, old, rustic barn.


It was a perfect backdrop for her colors, brown and green. I love how natural it looked.
This is the dessert table, She had a two tierd cake, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, and mini lemon cheesecakes. I made the cheesecakes. I was flattered that she wanted them as part of her desserts.

image: Tom Saragoza

Isn't she a beautiful bride? This is one of my favorite pictures.

The professional pictures were all taken by a very talented local photographer, Tom Saragoza, also known as my daughter's boyfriend :)

image: Tom Saragoza

Aren't the grounds beautiful?

image: Tom Saragoza

Awww, the happy couple.