Getting Crafty with Google Maps

One of the assignments for my class at school was to take a list off the internet and put them on a google map using documents on the google drive. I will not kid you it took me a while to understand this but when I did, what an amazing tool to use in all parts of your life. I can see you using this to hold a progressive dinner at your church or creating a brochure for a convention telling participants the location of popular destinations near by. Heck you could use this feature for anything. I will be helping coordinate an international convention here in Jacksonville and I am excited to be able to use this to help lead people to places around town. Try it out. Go to google drive and create a spreadsheet of destinations and then you can create a google map and import into your map. You can even customize the little icons that point out where places are on the map.

Getting crafty with tech is even more fun than getting crafty with food.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zPbD_ueqjC4Y.kLKlqkigAmo4

Royal Icing revealed

Well last week we left off with royal icing in the bowl. I was intending to make some super adorable Easter Cupcakes but my schedule got messed up, but I did make some adorable royal icing bunnies that I had my girls help me to decorate. 

One thing you want to remember when making royal icing decorations is that you make double if not triple what you need because some end up like this poor little guy. 

After the bunnies dried I got some edible food markers and had my girls help me to decorate our furry little critters. This one is mine. I went with the more standard bunny. Pink ears and nose, pretty blue eyes.

My middle child who is a huge Vincent Van Gogh fan created a "Starry Night" bunny 

My eldest daughter went more 21st century with a green zombie bunny. 

Royal icing can keep in an air tight container for up to a year and even though a couple will break on you they are a fun way to give a child a chance to channel their inner artist and eat it too.

Don't be afraid of royal icing. Make up a batch and play around it is a fun median to make some adorable 3-d decorations . 

Easter Cookie Prep

This is part one of a two part post. I am going to make Easter cookies with my Mom and my girls tomorrow. You will see all that next week. This week I did what I could ahead of our cookie time.

I made a large batch of Royal icing. If you do any kind of baking you need to know how to make royal icing. The icing is great it is the texture of regular buttercream when you mix it up so you can use the same decorating skills you would with buttercream but after about 24 hours it hardens. You can decorate on wax paper and after it dries you can peal it off and have 3d designs for your dessert.
I am going to show you all that in next weeks blog so please check back.

Royal Icing 

Your going to need (Recipe found on Wilton.com)

4 cups of powdered sugar

3 tablespoons of Meringue Powder

5 tablespoons of water (it usually turns out to be more like 10 tbs of water but will explain latter on.

You put the powdered sugar and meringue powder in the mixer bowl and sprinkle the water on top of the mixture. This step isn't in the recipe but after years of making royal icing, trust me it will stop the storm cloud of powdered sugar when you start the mixer.

After about a minute if you notice your icing looking like -

Add some more water a tablespoon at a time until the mixture is smooth. Don't worry over this step, if you do it wrong and add too much water you can add some powdered sugar and fix it.

Start mixing, slowly and steadily increase it till it is on high. Once the mixer is on the highest it can go set you timer for 6 minutes and walk away.

The meringue powder is made from egg whites and like when you make a meringue the mixing is what makes it stiff. After six minutes your icing should look like this.

The icing should make hard points. Meaning when you stick your spreader in the bowl and pull it out there should be a stiff little points. If the point bends at the middle or it doesn't peek at all then mix for another couple of minutes.

Once you are complete either use it or cover it tightly and store in a dark warm place.

There are some things to remember when working with royal icing. ALWAYS keep it covered and if it starts to get crunchy cover it with a damp paper towel. It will take color like any icing but while it waits in the pastry bag make sure the tips of the bags are in a fold of a wet paper towel.

Don't be afraid of royal icing it is so easy to work with and once it dries you can store the flowers or whatever you make in an air tight container for up to a year. So think about that child getting married in a year and she wants 19 million roses on her cake. With Royal Icing you can start now and make those dreams come true. Have fun and come back next week when we use this container of happiness.

Happy Easter and Happy Crafting.

Chicken Fried Steak

 Growing up my Mom was the one who made dinner, whether she worked that day or not so most days the meals were quick and filling. We would have sandwiches or Spaghetti but on the weekend she would have the time and energy to cook a really great meal. One of the house favorite meals wad Chicken Fried Steak and we would have it with Corn Fritters and Mashed potatoes and if that wasn't enough carbohydrates and starch for you we would usually cap that amazing meal off with Sour Cream Pound Cake for dessert.

I took video and pictures last week when my mom made us Chicken fried steak and corn fritters. I hope you try this and enjoy it as much as we  always did.

Start with a mixture of Panko Breadcrumbs and flour 

Add salt, pepper and red pepper to the mixture

Be sure to add the salt, pepper and red pepper to the steaks on both sides

Crack a couple of eggs and add them to the bowl. Use a fork to break the yolk and scramble them

Get nice and brown on both sides and then add enough water to cover the steaks, replace the lid and let simmer on low medium heat until the water boils down

While it boils down you can try your hand at corn fritters 

Hope your meal turns out as yummy as ours

Grandma's Recipes

This week my Mom and I were talking about extended family. I was born later in my Mom's life so I really don't know many of the extended family on either parents side. Unfortunately that same disconnect holds true for my siblings' children and their children. That made me think of how we could bridge that divide a little, and give my Mom's grand and great grandchildren a piece of her. They may not be in the same state as she is but they can share some of the family stories and recipes that we grew up on.

The first recipe that I am going to share is for Peanut butter candy. My Dad had a huge sweet tooth and every time he got hungry for something sweet he would ask Mom to make a batch. Mom would pull out her old tattered cookbook and set to work. Us kids would gather around once she poured it into the plate to lick the spoon and the pot (yes it is that good).

I plan on sharing over the next three weeks, several of Grandma's recipes. I have one more recipe on tape of Chicken fried steak with a side of corn fritters, but computer problems won't let me upload it tonight maybe by mid week. I was running out of space on my computer so I had to export this in a smaller format, but I hope you are still able to hear and see Grandma as she walks you through the most popular Smith recipe ever.

I hope you enjoy Grandma's Peanut Butter candy. The plate in this video was a quarter gone when we wrapped it up and went to bed but there was only two pieces left by morning :) Enjoy and come back for the Chiicken Fried Steak and Corn Fritters and our next video session we will capture Grandma's Sour cream Pound Cake.