A's Tailgate and Rainbow Cupcakes

Let's go Oak-land. Clap, clap, clap clap clap.

This is my team. The Oakland A's. The only professional sport I enjoy watching is baseball and the only team I root for is the A's. Lately I've lost some faith in my team. They just kinda, well, they SUCK! Anyone in the Bay Area knows this. It's been a rough couple seasons. I'm finding it more and more difficult to make it to games. Why drive out there, deal with traffic, pay 17 F#@!ing dollars to park, just to see my boys stink up the field and lose horribly? Why? Because the A's have been there my whole life. I've grown up in that parking lot. So what can motivate me to cheer on the team that keeps letting me down?

Tailgate parties!

I love to tailgate. Luckily, so do my friends and family! I get to go hang out in a parking lot all day and drink beers and eat BBQ with my favorite people in the world. Pretty lucky. By the time we get to the game, we don't care too much about if our team wins or loses (k, that's the beer talking), but we do care about having fun.

My dad, nicknamed Fun Guy, (that's him in the orange shirt) organizes these big tailgate parties. He's been doing it for years and I consider him to be a professional tailgater. All the food and drinks are purchased ahead of time. The meat is marinated, the veggies are fresh, and (big surprise) the cupcakes are plentiful.

Oh, and our seats weren't bad either.

Oh, and the A's won that night, by the way!!

When I came across this recipe for Rainbow Cupcakes, I immediately thought of the tailgate parties. Green and yellow cupcakes are just too cute and perfect. I didn't end up having enough green food coloring so these came out a little pastel-y but oh well. I think you get the idea. For the frosting, I just made a traditional buttercream. 1 stick softened butter, 1 tsp vanilla, juice of one lemon (usually I use milk here but the lemon gave it a nice flavor), then keep adding powdered sugar until the right consistency is met.

Taste The Rainbow Cupcakes

I found the recipe on I♥cuppycakes!

She got the recipe from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski

2 1/2 cups AP flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature

2 large eggs + 2 egg whites, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

food colors of your choice

buttercream frosting

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the sugar and butter until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and egg whites, one at a time, beating on low. Add vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions, ending with the flour mixture.

Divide the batter into different bowls, one for each color you use. Add food coloring per bowl and mix to combine until you get the vibrant color you want. Add batter color by color, about 1 tbsp of each color until all the colors fill the cupcake liner about 2/3 full.

Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

New Zealand Anzac Cookies

Maybe this post should be titled: New Zealand Anzac Biscuits, because in New Zealand they call cookies "biscuits" and they call biscuits "scones." Are you keeping up? No? Yeah, neither am I. But I do love these cookies/biscuits so it doesn't really matter anyway. Call them what you like, they are good.

Meet my good friends Gillian and Gareth, the G's:

Gillian is one of my best friends from high school. After college, she began her career in the wine industry. She makes wine, people! How cool is that? This is how she met Gareth. He is from New Zealand. These two are actual soul mates, two halves of one whole, all that romantic, sappy stuff that you would normally NEVER hear me say, but I will say it about them because I just can't help it. So these two get to travel the world, following the harvest season in different countries. They have the most amazing lives. Their most recent trip was to Gareth's home country of New Zealand and they brought me back a little gift - The Edmonds Cookery Book. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about this book:

The Edmonds Cookery Book is the quintessential guide to traditional New Zealand cuisine. It was first published as The Sure to Rise Cookery Book in 1907 as a marketing tool by a manufacturer of baking powder, but it is now known as a Kiwi icon. The front cover shows the old factory on Ferry Road in Linwood, Christchurch (since demolished) and their slogan "Sure to Rise"...

The book has been described as 'as much a part of New Zealand kitchens as a stove and knife', and that at one time it was 'sent unsolicited to every newly engaged couple in New Zealand.'

Edmonds recipe books have sold over 3,000,000 copies. It remains New Zealand's fastest selling book with over 200,000 copies sold in one year.

So for my softball team last week, I decided to bake something out of the book. Gareth recommended the Anzac Biscuits so that is what I made. They are very yummy. Sweet and hearty - the perfect fuel for a game. And I should probably point out that our team won last week. Maybe it was the cookies or maybe it was the fact that The G's came to cheer us on or maybe a combination of the two. The G's are off on their next adventure, working a harvest in France. I already miss them but I'll be turning to Edmonds to keep me busy until they return.

Anzac Biscuits
from The Edmonds Cookery Book

1/2 cup AP flour

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup shredded coconut

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup melted butter

1 Tbs molasses

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 Tbs boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, coconut, and rolled oats. On the stove, melt the butter and stir in the molasses until well combined. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and add this to the butter mixture. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Place one tablespoon of mixture onto greased cookie sheets. The mixture will be very sticky so try not to handle it too much. I just used a tablespoon and scooped it out and onto the sheets with a teaspoon. The cookies will expand and flatten as they bake. Only put eight per cookie sheet, evenly spaced. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Yield: about 16 cookies.

Baked's Chocolate Pie

This pie is my second contribution to the Baked baking group I joined about a month ago. (My first being that amazingly decadent Peanut Butter Pie). So far, the book has gone 2 for 2 in producing the richest and most decadent desserts I've ever made. The pie has a light and creamy chocolate filling topped with scratch whipped cream. I would recommend this recipe to anyone baking for a dinner with friends because there is no way you'll want this whole thing in your house! It comes out looking very pretty and professional and your friends will be impressed. You can read my post on the baking group's blog here.

Dinner with friends is just what we did Monday night. Our friends, Mike and Katie, invited us over for dinner and to see their new house. I just can't get over how beautiful the house is, it's in such a cute neighborhood and everything is in pristine condition. I'm very proud of them for all their hard work. We attended their wedding about a year ago and Katie has been helping me so much with my own wedding planning these days. It's so nice to have someone who has been through all this recently and can answer those small obscure questions that come up all day long. Another fun fact about Mike and Katie? They read my blog! They've even used one of the recipes I posted for Lemon Bars to bake and hand out to their new neighbors when they moved in. That makes me feel special. I just have to feature them in this post. Here they are with the chocolate pie:

Classic Diner-Style Chocolate Pie

from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Chocolate Crust

30 Chocolate wafer cookies (about 6 ounces)

1 Tbs sugar

6 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate Filling

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tbs chocolate malt Ovaltine

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup cornstarch

5 large egg yolks, room temperature

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

5 oz dark chocolate (60-72% cacao), coarsely chopped

2 oz milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 tsp whiskey

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Cream

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sugar

In a food processor, grind the cookies to a very fine powder. There should be about 1 1/2 cups. Put the crumbs in a bowl and mix in the sugar. Pour the butter over the crumb mixture and mix until well combined. Press the mixture into a 9-inch pie plate or spring-form pan. Put the crust in the freezer while you make the filling.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, Ovaltine, salt, and cornstarch. Add the egg yolks and whisk until combined. The mixture will look like a thick paste. Slowly pour in the milk and cream, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly to prevent the mixture from burning on the bottom of the pan. Boil for 30 seconds, then remove from the heat.

Add the chocolates, whiskey, and vanilla and whisk until combined. Continue to whisk for a few minutes to cool the mixture slightly. Let the mixture stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. A thin skin may form during this cooling period. Simply whisk the mixture again until the skin is gone. Pour the filling into the frozen pie shell. Place in the refrigerator while you make the shipped cream.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk together the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently spoon whipped cream onto the top of the chocolate filling in the chilled pie crust and smooth with an icing spatula or knife. Return pie to the refrigerator and chill for at least 4 hours.

Paula's Magical Peanut Butter Cookies

Last week, I had a lot going on and was in danger of skipping my softball baking duties. I just knew I couldn't face the team without bringing something (especially since I was on vacation the week before). There are certain team members, who shall remain nameless, who I could just picture giving me a hard time if I skipped - you know who you are. Time was running out, there was no inspiration, I didn't want to buy a ton of ingredients...

Then I was saved by my good friend Rebecca! For your reading pleasure, I've copied and pasted our G-Chat convo:

Rebecca: so the peanut butter cookies..not bad.

me: mmmm

Rebecca: easiest recipe ever

I heart Paula Deen

me: OMG she's so great

Rebecca: Paula Deen's Magical Peanut Butter Cookies

me: wow

4 ingredients!

i'll make these!

Rebecca: seriously!

yummy

Yep, only 4 ingredients! All I had to buy was a jar of PB. Plus, without any flour, I didn't have to use separate mixing bowls so low dirty dish scenario. I was able to whip these babies up on my lunch break! The cookies were crumbly and simple. I used creamy peanut butter, but next time I might try crunchy to give them a little something extra.

Magical Peanut Butter Cookies

from Paula Deen

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet.

In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla, and stir well with a spoon. Roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet. With a fork, dipped in sugar to prevent sticking, press a crisscross design on each cookie. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven, and sprinkle the cookies with some of the remaining sugar. Cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack.

Fresh Strawberry Pie & Wine Night

Dear Occasional Sugar,

I have been neglecting you and, for that, I am truly sorry. You see, I started you as a hobby because I needed a hobby. I have a lot of free time and you became an excellent means for me to be more productive during that time (goodbye Hulu). Only now, I have something else to occupy me all day long - planning a wedding! Prior to a few weeks ago, I would spend my time daydreaming about icing and new baking gadgets. Now, I'm thinking about wedding projects - all the things I'm going to tackle myself so that I can save some sweet moolah next year when I walk down the isle.

It's not you, it's me.

I'll try to be better, I promise. Don't worry, I'm still baking. I'm just a little s-l-o-w in getting the posts up. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Love,

Deanna

Ok, so my good friends started up a "wine night." We all take turns hosting about every other week or so. Everyone brings a bottle of wine to share and we taste them all, discuss what we like or do not like about them, and eventually each choose a favorite. It's just a way for us all to try new things and see what we like. This week was our turn to host. We did a Vino Italiano theme this time around. Italian wine and appetizers. It was a lot of fun! Here are some pics of my beautiful friends (please don't judge the lawn chairs, we have a very small apartment):

I really wanted to bake something but I didn't have much time. What I did have, though, were strawberries. Lots of strawberries. I started searching for recipes using fresh strawberries and stumbled across this Fresh Strawberry Pie recipe from the blog, Short Stop. I just love her step-by-step photos. The pie was super-easy. I cheated and used store-bought crust (sorry Paula!) because I didn't have the time or patience to make my own. The filling was so good. Really tart and sweet. I received a lot of compliments and hopefully it wasn't just because we were about 9 bottles deep by the time I served the pie ;)

Strawberry Pie

a family recipe from Short Stop

1 quart (about 2 pounds) fresh strawberries

1 cup sugar

3 Tbs cornstarch

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 unbaked pie crust

Wash strawberries and hull. Chop 1/2 of the berries with into small pieces or process in food processor. Pour crushed strawberries into a sauce pan and begin to cook over medium heat. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl and add to the sauce pan. Add lemon juice and cook on low heat for about 10-20 minutes or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.

Cut remaining strawberries into halves and mix with the cooked mixture. Allow this mixture to cool down on the counter while you prepare the crust.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place pie crust into 9" or 10" pie plate. Flute edges. Prick with fork all over, about 40 times. Place piece of foil inside pie crust, lightly pressing around inside bottom edges of crust. Fill with dried beans. (The beans allow the pie crust to remain its shape.) Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and remove beans and foil. Return to oven and bake for 5 minutes until edges are golden brown. Allow crust to cool to room temperature.

Pour strawberry mixture into baked pie shell. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours, or until pie is set. Serve topped with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

Big Sky Country

Have you ever had a week pass by so quickly that you thought that maybe you dreamt it? I've just returned from my yearly trip to Montana and I do not believe that I've ever had a vacation pass by so quickly. I felt like we were packing to come home less than 24 hours after arriving. For those of you who have never been to Montana, you are missing out. It's such a beautiful part of this country that I hope everyone can get a chance to experience. You will feel like you've traveled back in time to a place with wide open space, sparkling rivers, plunging cliffs dotted with wildflowers, and herds of wild buffalo, a place where you find real cowboys actually herding cows across the highway. Every person you pass will wave "hello." And the sky! It's definitely bigger out there!!

I've been going to Montana every summer for the past 19 years. It all started when my grandparents bought a beautiful log-cabin home on the bank of the Madison River. The trip has evolved into a large family reunion. My mom has 5 siblings and, each year during the first week of August, they all try to make it with their families in tow. This year, we had 16 people staying at the house. We've developed a comfortable routine where we each take turns cooking and doing the dishes. There are traditional activities we do every year and we also like trying new things. It's so much fun and I feel so incredibly lucky to have this opportunity every summer.

This is a photo of their house

This year was especially fun for me because my fiance (it's still strange for me to use that word) joined me for the first time. He had a blast and is excited to be adding this yearly tradition to his life. We went to Yellowstone Park one day. We did both the northern and southern loops which meant 9 hours of driving but it was so beautiful that we hardly noticed the time. I took about 300 photos but here is just a small sample:

There are traditional activities that are done most years. There is the "Family Scramble," a best ball 9-hole golf game that's the highlight for some. (I detest golf so I don't play but Eric contributed) Those of us who don't participate, meet the teams on the 9th hole to cheer everyone on.

We went to Virginia City, an old gold rush town that has kept many of it's buildings from the 1800s intact. There is a candy shop in town that is the trip highlight for my little niece and cousins. You fill your bag with as much candy as you want and pay by the pound. They have homemade taffy that's so delicious.

A fairly new tradition for the trip is tubing down the lower Madison River. This was Eric and my favorite thing we did all week.

And it just wouldn't be a Sarmento family trip without some form of softball being played.

I baked a couple times while there. On my family's dinner night, I baked a couple cheesecakes - one plain and one chocolate. They were both so good! In the interest of saving some space on this post, I'm not going to type up the recipe. You can find it here. It's from Tyler Florence and it's amazing! For the chocolate version, I substituted chocolate graham crackers for the crust and omitted the cinnamon. I separated out about a cup of the cheesecake batter and mixed in melted bittersweet chocolate. Pour the plain batter into the crust and then spoon dollops of chocolate batter on top. Run a sharp knife through the batter to make the swirly look. So pretty! Since this is my dad's favorite thing I bake, I'll be making it again soon and I promise to be more detailed on the steps I take to bake the perfect, crack-free, cheesecake.

I also baked a cherry pie. Not only is this Eric's all-time favorite dessert, but it's also my grandpa's. I didn't have a cherry pitter so I used canned cherries. They didn't have tart cherries at the store so I tried Bing Cherries. Not my favorite but everyone else seemed to like it. Now I'm not sure what happened with the pie crust. I used my usual Paula's Perfect Pie Crust recipe like always, but I think this is the BEST pie crust I've ever had. I did end up using salted butter because that's all I could find. Plus, I was baking at over 5,000 feet so the altitude may have had something to do with it but it was SO crumbly and yummy. For the filling I just heated 2 cans of cherries (minus the juice) over the stove, simmering for about 10 minutes. Then I stirred in about 4 tsp of cornstarch to thicken, and added 3 Tbs sugar, the juice from about 1/2 a lemon, and 1/8 tsp of vanilla. (Cherry pie is better with almond extract but I didn't have any of that either). My grandpa was a happy camper.