My new babies!!!

Sadly, Alycia from Something Borrowed Fine Rentals has decided to retire but I was able to purchase some of her beautiful cake plateaus before she did. I got this 14" square plateau...

And here it is with a leftover dummy cake from the bridal show...

This 14" tapered waist plateau...

and here it is with some dummies on it...

Got this 14" round scroll plateau...

and here it is with a dummy on it...

also got the 18" round scroll...

Aren't they so perty?!?!?

1/24/09

Just a couple cakes this week...an "Under the Sea" baby shower and a Luau theme for a 16 year old

Cute cake topper!

So, I was browsing through wedding-ish websites today (which I probably should have done more of when planning my OWN wedding) and look at this cute topper I found!
http://www.beau-coup.com/

1/17/09

OK, first up...a birthday cake for a 13 year-old girl. All iced in buttercream with fondant accents. A fire helmet for a retirement...actually, there were two retirements but the cakes matched except for the numbers so I just snapped a pic of one. Iced in buttercream, covered with fondant.

And another prego belly cake...love the baby's name! (Luna) Not sure why it's upside down though!

Melissa's Black and White Wedding

So, I usually just take pictures of my cakes and post them on here but today, I was blown away by my brides decorations. This reception was at Club 1000 downtown which is a beautiful venue already. Now, I see lots and lots of beautiful reception sites but I really loved the black and white theme from today. First off, four tiered cake iced in buttercream with coarse sugar, satin ribbon, and silver strands or pearls. I love how she used the black satin on the table and then trimmed with the lacy print!

Now, for her candy buffet, isn't it cute how her skirting is puffed up? I'm sure there is a name for this but puffy fits, right? So cute....

She had short and tall centerpieces, some twiggy, some flowery. Love how she added the black in there with the ornaments.

And this was unfinished, but part of her buffet. Not sure what was going on here but I still loved the set-up with the lacey type cloth over the black.

And finally, she used the paper lanterns which I always love...and look, there's my cake over yonder in the corner! :)

Bear Naked Fit

Ahhhhhh....I am so in love. I was browsing the health food section at my local Hy-Vee the other day and found the Vanilla Almond Crunch....Holy Moses, it's the best stuff EVER! I will say though, that you should probably bag up single portions of this stuff rather than eat it out of the bag because it is so good, you will definitely not be able to stop when you're supposed to. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!

O...M...G...

Seriously?!?! I would never make fun of someones wedding "style" but Holy Moses, you guys have got to see this.......here's a little preview just to get you interested:

http://tackyweddings.com/

Fun cakes!

This cake was done for a guys 30th birthday but not know ing FOR SURE what the crowd would be like the customer opted to have something covering certain areas.....still cute though, huh? Iced in buttercream with a fondant bikini.

This cake was for a past brides husbands birthday. Kinda like my groom from last week with his Batman, this guy seems to have an unnatural obsession with Superman...or so says the wifey. :)

Crockpot Sour Cream Salsa Chicken

This was good and easy. We almost always have the ingredients for this however, Steve and I decided that next time we will just nix the sour cream/cornstarch mixture and just eat the chicken. We paired this with brown rice and sauteed peppers and onions but wouldn't it be good if you just shredded the chicken and rolled it up in a lo-fat tortilla with lettuce and tomato?!?!
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 package reduced-sodium taco seasoning mix
1 cup salsa
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup light sour cream

Spray the crock pot with cooking spray. Add the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with Taco Seasoning. Top with salsa. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. When ready to serve, remove the chicken from the pot. Place about 2 Tablespoons cornstarch in a small amount of water. Stir well. Stir the cornstarch mixture into salsa sauce. Stir in 1/4 cup of sour cream.

Per Serving: 170 Calories; 2g Fat; 28g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 70mg Cholesterol; 403mg Sodium.
Servings: 4
Points: 3 per serving

Good resources for healthy eating

This website has tons of Weight Watcher recipes posted and the points are all figured for you so all you have to do is cook it and eat it!
http://recipecircus.com/recipes/Mom2two31064/

This website allows you to track your food intake. Experts always say to write down everything you put into your mouth and you will think twice before splurging on something you don't need. This is an online food journal that will track your calories, fat, carbs, etc. There is a free version but it doesn't total the numbers at the bottom but you can pay less than $40 for a whole year and then it will total up all your intake and also will let you add your own food to the database.
http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/calorie_counter.asp

If you have a blog reader or a bloglines, add this blog to your feeds. This blog has healthy, cost-friendly recipes...and other random stuff too!
http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/

And I think, this is my new favorite blog to follow. "Daily writings on fitness, diet, and health"
http://www.starling-fitness.com/

FRED!!!!!

Look what he's doing to my poor cake! *gasp*

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This is probably one of my all-time favorite Weight Watcher recipes. We do this one quite often, and it's easy too! Bonus! Pair this with a nice green salad an voila, dinners done.

3 (4-oz) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2/3 c. spicy BBQ sauce, divided

1 (16-oz) Italian-cheese flavored pizza crust

1/3 c. slivered red onion

2 T. chopped fresh cilantro

1 c. (4 oz.) pre-shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

(we also like to add sliced bell peppers to our pizza)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Place chicken on an ungreased baking sheet; spoon 1/3 c. BBQ sauce over chicken. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until chicken is done. Cool; chop and set aside.

3. Spread remaining BBQ sauce on pizza crust, leaving a 1" border. Top crust evenly with chicken and remaining ingredients.

4. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese melts. Cut into 8 slices. (serving size 1 slice)

points-6

calories-267

protein-19.3g

fat 5.8g

carb 32.7g

fiber .6g

There is a slight trick to make this easier...we cook chicken breasts and whole wheat pasta ahead of time so we can easily grab something healthy rather than something easy that may not be as good for us. So, for this recipe we can just grab a couple chicken breasts, chop 'em up and throw the pizza together...anything to make things easier is alright in my book. :)

1/3/09

Yay, my first weddings of the year. This cake was at Harrisonville Community Center. Three tiers iced smooth in buttercream with satin ribbon and a piped buttercream monogram. And the Batman grooms cake. The bride told me that the groom had an unhealthy obsession with Batman...hehe, we all have our vices I suppose!
This wedding was at Bliss Plaza in Greenwood, MO. Five tiers iced in buttercream with buttercream dots and satin ribbon, topped with truffles from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company...yum!

January Two...no, I don't plan on posting daily

The Food Network website is doing 30 days of healthy recipes!

"Start 2009 with 30 days of resolution-friendly recipes from Ellie Kreiger. Try healthy classics like Saucy Salmon, or made-over favorites like Chicken Parmesan."

January One-Weight Loss here we come

Well, it's the first of the year again and it's that time again. Time to start trying to watch what we eat, get to the gym, and take better care of ourselves. Last year, I started posting some good lo-fat recipes but somehow got side-tracked and quit. I am going to try again. Sometimes we eat recipes from Weight Watchers Cookbooks and sometimes we make stuff up but usually we eat pretty healthy around here. This year, Steve and his sister, Shannon, have decided to try and do a body building/fitness show so the pressure to eat right is really on now. Not only for him but me also. I can't have some super buff hotty for a hubs and be a chunky monkey right? Right. So, today I had a craving for chili and thought I'd just make it a bit healthier than normal. Ground beef always seems to pose a problem, even when you use the really lean stuff so I substituted steak for the hamburger and threw in some extra veggies (ALWAYS a good idea!)

Sam's New Years Chili

1 Lg. Can Chili beans

2 cans dark red kidney beans

1 lg. green pepper, chopped

1 lg. red bell pepper, chopped

1 lg. onion, chopped

8 oz. steak, cooked and chopped (this sounds like a lot but we have a protein hound in the house)

3 cloves crushed garlic

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 c. bloody Mary mix

1 T. Tabasco sauce

1 c. water

Throw it all in the Crock Pot and let simmer for a bit....you'll know when it's done (that would be when you can't take smelling the delicious aroma a single second longer and have to dig in....oh, and when everything is hot.)

I found this cool website that lets you enter ingredients from recipes and it figures the nutritional values too....it's very cool! Here are the values for this chili-

Nutrition Facts
8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 287.3
Total Fat 2.7 g
Saturated Fat 1.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.4 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.5 g
Cholesterol 16.2 mg
Sodium 1,039.9 mg
Potassium 536.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate 44.8 g
Dietary Fiber 15.1 g
Sugars 1.6 g
Protein 19.9 g
Vitamin A 14.8 %
Vitamin B-12 13.4 %
Vitamin B-6 15.6 %
Vitamin C 65.9 %
Vitamin D 0.0 %
Vitamin E 2.8 %
Calcium 6.3 %
Copper 12.4 %
Folate 19.3 %
Iron 22.2 %
Magnesium 12.3 %
Manganese 19.9 %
Niacin 10.7 %
Pantothenic Acid 4.4 %
Phosphorus 20.0 %
Riboflavin 11.6 %
Selenium 11.1 %
Thiamin 13.0 %
Zinc 11.0 %
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.