coming soon

Hi friends! I'm not gone, I promise. We're finally moved into our house and I'm still working on unpacking everything. We spent 2 weeks without internet (it was hard, I missed reading everyone's blogs!) but we're up and running now!

Here's some things I've got planned for you:

• a giveaway!
• lasagna rolls
• a yummy halloween sandwich
• a yummy halloween treat
• a pasta dish
• individual cakes
• alfredo spinach pizza
  

and I know there are more recipes, but I just can't think of them, my brain is fried. . .but they're coming soon! :)

Winner!

Thanks for all of you who checked out Tablespoon.com and entered my giveaway!


I did a random number pull out of the 10 entires received and #3 was the winner! Congrats BH!! Send you mailing address to: krystalrecipes (at) gmail (dot) com and that prize pack will be on it's way to you (and you can enjoy all the coupons on the site)

Be sure to come back tomorrow, for another giveaway, this one even bigger. . .it's going to be awesome!

Giveaway!

It's a giveaway time! The great folks over at myblogspark (and general mills) let me in on a little secret that I want to let you in on as well. It's called Tablespoon.com and it's a new website from General Mills where you can find, save, and share recipes you love! I know, there are a lot of recipe sites out there, but frankly, there can never be enough. The more recipes to share the better, right?

Here's what they told me about it:

"When you visit Tablespoon.com, you can:

• View more than 25,000 of the best recipes on the web
• Share recipes easily on places like Facebook and Twitter

When you join Tablespoon.com, you can:

• Add your own recipe creations
• Create your own version of existing recipes that suit your taste.
• Save up to $80 every month with printable coupons from brands you love Rate, comment, and save the recipes you try
  

Bonus! And if that wasn´t enough, if you add your recipes to Tablespoon, your recipe and profile could be featured in a Tablespoon newsletter, which is sent to thousands of subscribers! The Tablespoon team will select some of the highest rated member submitted recipes to be featured in the weekly newsletter. If your recipe is highly rated, it could even be the main feature!"

It's going to be great. To promote this awesome new site, they invited me to join and check it out. Yeah, they gave me an incentive as well. These awesome hot pads, a measuring cup (holds 3 1/2 cups) and a set of tablespoons (duh, I know).

And, to make it even better, I get to give away a set to one of you as well!! Here's what I want you to do to be entered in win this price pack:
1-Go check out the site. Play around on there, search through their recipes, join up! :)
2-Come back here, and tell me what your favorite feature on there is.

I'll tell you what my favorite feature is: Their search smart feature! It lets you choose what you do and don't want in the recipe, how many ingredients you want, what type of cuisine you're looking for, how long you want the cook AND prep time to be, what type of course, the rating, and the contributor (it has recipes from betty crocker, old el paso, muir glen, fiber one. .. the list goes on!)

So head on over to Tablespoon and let me know what you love about it! The contest will CLOSE ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT. But stay tuned, I have another giveaway coming up as well! :)

Lemon Bars

LEMON BARS


I have been so busy lately. Packing up the house, and getting ready to move. Then I accidentally deleted about 10 recipes with pictures off my computer. Needless to say I haven't been cooking much! I'm working on packing my kitchen up today so I might not be around for a while. . .again.

I made these lemon bars a while ago, while my sister was here. I threw her a baby shower, as the girl was getting ready to pop out her FOURTH boy. I thought she deserved some new things for this boy, instead of all the hand-me-downs. I also made ham rolls.

I decided to try the recipe from The Sweeter Side Of Amy's Bread, since I had packed up the cookbook with my go-to lemon bar recipe. These were super tart!! wow!! But I like them that way.

LEMON BARS
From: The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread

Filling:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp unsalted, cold butter

Process above ingredients in a food processor until it resembles a coarse meal. Press it into a prepared (make sure you use parchement paper sprayed!) 9x13 pan. About 1/4" thick, and press it up about 1/2 inch up the sides of the pan. Press firmly! Bake at 350degs for about 20 minutes. Rotate the pan once to prevent uneven cooking.

Topping:

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, slightly beaten
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 5/8 cups lemon juice (freshly squeezed!)
• 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp whole milk
• 1/4 tsp salt

Whisk together the sugar, eggs, and flour, then stir in lemon juice, milk, and salt. Blend well. When the crust is done baking, pour the topping onto it. Bake for 20 minutes, until the topping is just set and browned. Allow the bars to cool completely before sutting.

How I spent my weekend

My sister-in-law's father got remarried this weekend and she was in charge of the wedding. I volunteered to make the wedding cake for them.

My first wedding cake. I'm rather proud of it! the bottom layer is half devil's food with a raspberry filling, and 1/2 rice krispie treat. The middle layer is all rice krispies, and the top is all cake.
The ribbons on coming out of the top layer are part of a Peruvian tradition (the bride is Peruvian), similar to our throwing the bouquet tradition. Attached to the ribbons are little charms. All the single ladies gather around the cake and pull a ribbon, and whoever gets the ring charm is the next to get married!

It was rather stressful making the cake, but it turned out so well! I think I'll continue making them when asked. :)