Turkey week break and New review and recipe coming soon!

I am have been taking a small break this last week or so, My BFF  got married (congrats Mr.and Mrs. Coleman)I got to get all gussied up as I was a grooms woman.(yes a grooms woman) Tons of fun being on the grooms side I must say. Then of course  had to plan for Thanksgiving and with 10 guests including 4 kids running around. (I did not have another child since my last blog,   I just watch a kiddo when his mom is at work a few times a week before and after school.) So I have been cleaning, breaking up kid arguments, and bringing peace to 4 kids who were about to mutiny  multiple times over the holiday break..thus I have  not blogging. I also have been working on a few experiments. I do not mind being the"lab rat"so that you  may have a good review on something before trying it out. So in the next week or so expect a new post about homemade soaps.( Laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, hand soap, shampoo, homemade fabric softener.etc.. you get the picture.) In closing, keep an eye out for my next post which is coming very soon!!

The Best Homemade Play doh recipe

 


My whole family came down sick this week , except me so far. I This sickness means 2 of my 3 kids cannot go to school they cannot be around anyone it  because it is that contagious.
They are going on a 5 day weekend as of today. So they of course are bored out of their minds and about to mutiny with each other. I needed to come up with a new thing for them to do quick. As we go through play doh like nothing else. Mostly it ends up left out, dried  and smooshed into my carpet or I find dried chunks of it in other places around the house. ( I found my daughter putting chunks of it into the weight bench )
I have seen many play doh recipes, and  I have tried a few with  yucky results (usually crumbly and falls apart) the "real"play doh can get expensive and the Dollar Store stuff, crumbles and is rubbery and dries out when playing with it, but this recipe by far is the best. The kids helped me make it and the  are quite good about making sure it gets put away now.
I am actually thinking about making another batch and giving it to our guests this Thanksgiving. I think it would be a great conversation starter, a nice way to relax while waiting for food or other guests, and  it may bring out the kid in the adults.

Super soft  play doh recipe:
 2 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
2 cups of water
2 tbs of vegtable oil
1 tsp of cream of tartar
food coloring

Grab a pot and place all the ingredients into the pan except food coloring. Cook on low heat stirring constantly until the mix turns into a ball and pulls from the side of the pan to the center, if it is sticky keep cooking on low. You can pull a small piece from the top and mush it in your fingers  for a few seconds and if it resembles play doh texture its time to take it off the stove.

Dump it out on a silicone mat or large cutting board/ clean surface. Knead the large batch of dough until smooth, or in my case I divided it  into 8 same size balls,  and let the kids knead each one until its smooth. 
Take each ball once kneaded and smooth and flatten a little bit. Make a small thumb size indentation in the middle (like you do when you want a pool of gravy in your mashed taters ) and place 5 drops of desired food coloring into the indentation, then fold over and fold over again and start to knead until all the color is even throughout the ball of dough. I made the colors of the rainbow, and found that 5 drops give it a very vibrant shade. You may want to wear gloves of some sort because your hands can get very colorful. But if you don't wear gloves the color comes off after a few hand washings.

Once you have all your pretty, bright colored play doh, separate them into plastic baggies. I would have posted a pic, but my good camera was not working, and the small camera is missing. That is the Beta part of my brain , forgetting where I put stuff.

To -Die -For Ghiradelli Triple layer Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

My DH came across this recipe in a Woman's Day Magazine a when we were dating.( He actually proposed to me that weekend after Thanksgiving)  He made this for Thanksgiving  right before our engagement and he has made it every year since. The recipe is a little long, but the credit of the Recipe goes to the Woman's Day Author who wrote it. Its from the Nov. 2004 issue. This cheesecake is to die for. Oh so good, and rich, a small sliver will suffice.I modified it to how we make it. The original recipe calls for Oreo crumb crust. We have made a few modifications in this recipe its mainly using different chocolate and regular fat sour cream and added an extra egg and block of sour cream.

Crust:
1 1/2 C crushed Gram cracker crumbs
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
4 bricks (8 oz pkgs) cream cheese
1 C  sugar
2 Tbs cornstarch
4  large eggs
1/2 C  sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract (we use the real deal)
1 C or  6 oz. of  Milk Chocolate chips melted and cooled.(We use Ghriadelli)
1 C of  "real" canned pumpkin
1 Tsp pumpkin pie spice

Chocolate Glaze:
3oz of Ghiradelli bittersweet baking chocolate.
2 Tbs unsalted stick butter
1 Tbs light corn syrup

Garnish:
a small amount of sliced almonds (optional)

According to "Food Lovers Tiptionary" ( I highly recommend this book to any cook)when making a cheesecake, take out the cream cheese and get it to room temperature to make easy to mix together, also taking your eggs and letting them get to room temp as well helps. We have done this and found it bakes better.

Instructions:
Pre-Heat oven to 350. grease bottom and sides of pan well.
  Crust: crush up Gram crackers and place crumbs in small bowl stir in butter till all crumbs are moist. Press into bottom of pan. Bake 8 to 10 min. Set aside and cool. (the original recipe calls to wrap the  cake pan in heavy duty foil so that the cheesecake sits in a water bath. We had issues doing this and cakes have been ruined so we use the large roasting pan and fill it with water and place the roasting pan of water on the bottom rack so that the water evaporates and gives the oven moisture)

Filling: Beat softened cream cheese, sugar and cornstarch together on medium speed until smooth scraping sides . (Careful to not over beat it, too much air will cause the cake to sink and crack when baking.) Beat in eggs 1 at a time, mix each egg in thoroughly before adding next egg mix until blended. Beat in sour cream and vanilla.
Divide batter evenly between 3 bowls. stir in melted milk chocolate in first  bowl of cream cheese batter , add pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to second bowl of batter and whisk. Carefully pour chocolate cream cheese batter into crust in a even layer and smooth out with a spreader.Carefully add pumpkin cream cheese batter as not to mix layers too much, then pour third batter bowl of cream cheese batter on the top layer.

At this point it's ready to bake, you can do a water bath with your pan if you know how, or just place the cake pan on the top rack of the oven.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours or until it doesn't jiggles when shaken gently. (the less you open the oven the better) Once it is set, turn off oven and let cool inside oven for 1 hour. Once it has cooled for and hour, pull it out and let cool on a rack, place in fridge to cool for 4 hours.  (if you cake is cracked, don't worry about it the glaze will cover the cracks)

Chocolate Glaze:
Place baking chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a saucepan, over low heat, until the glaze is melted and smooth remove from heat and let cool for just a minute or so. Grab your heavenly cheesecake out of the fridge and place on a platter or cake stand and gently pour the chocolate glaze on the top of the cheesecake and spread with a spreader. If the glaze goes over the edges that is ok. Garnish with a few sliced almonds on top once glaze has cooled a bit. Place cake in fridge, and let cool until the glaze hardens.

Voila! You are finished, make sure to save a slice for yourself  because it will go quick! Let me know if you try the recipe what you thought of it.

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching

Fall is my favorite time of year. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Thanksgiving is the one time  I go "all out" for a holiday. I insist on hosting it every year if I can.  I think the reason why I love it so much is because for me,  the holiday is focused on giving thanks and being with family. Of course stuffing our tummies with turkey and all the yummy stuff that comes with the dinner is a big plus for me.

I tend to get crafty this time of year. Our normal tradition is that the kids make "placemats" from construction paper and paint them with their hand prints to make turkeys. Each guest has a custom placemat. We also have started to go around and say what one thing we were thankful for the past year. My husband makes this ooh so yummy to-die-for  Triple layer Ghirardellli  chocolate pumpkin cheesecake..I will post recipe very soon. So, I was wondering,  What kind of traditions does your family do for Thanksgiving?