Twiggie Makes by Candace Grahl

It is March 1st. FINE. UH. LEE. Normally the early months of the year don’t bother me too badly but we’ve had the most bonkers amount of snow and March 1 is just a nice reminder that spring IS a-coming! Even if they’re calling for more snow this week (which they are) we’re getting there!

I have to share this easy, healthy and oh-so amazing recipe with you. My husband has recently started a year-long wellness journey and one of the aspects of this project is that he not eat meat. This isn’t much of a stretch for either of us since the first three years of our marriage I was a vegetarian, so he got used to eating meatless meals. So in honor of his new eating habits & getting to crack open my dusty vegetarian cookbooks, I wanted to share this recipe with you. It is one of our favorites from back in the day & is now a family favorite - my picky four year old will even eat it, spinach and all. Enjoy!

Mediterranean Pita Pizza

(5) Whole wheat pitas
(2) 15 oz. cans of northern beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup crumbled feta
Fresh spinach leaves (about 4 hand fulls), rinsed and cut into strips**
(2) cups shredded mozzarella
(1) tbsp minced garlic
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mash beans in a medium sized bowl with a fork (this is relatively easy if you first rinse the beans in warm/hot water) or food processor. Drizzle with olive oil, add garlic and mix. Spread bean mixture evenly on pitas and bake 10 minutes in oven. While they’re baking, chop the spinach leaves. When pitas are done
remove from oven and sprinkle (in this order) mozzarella, chopped spinach, and feta. Cook an additional 10 minutes. You can also add chopped sundried tomatoes if you’re a fan or you want more pops of color.

** for this, I pluck any long stems off the leaves, pile them together & lightly mince them

A few weeks ago one of my dear friends Amy asked me if I would make a cake for her, & not just any cake but a surprise-gender cake for her, her husband & their family. They are having their first baby & were headed for the big ultrasound. They wanted the u/s tech to keep the gender a secret, they would then bring me the information & I would put either a pink or blue layer of icing in the center of the cake to indicate what they were having. Then the family would gather together that evening so they could all find out together. A pretty cute idea right? & I’d be lying if I didn’t feel a little drunk with power as they handed over the results & I watched her husband squirm at the thought that someone other than the doctor knew what they were having (sorry Jared!).

I had made the cake the night before (using Bakerella’s scratch yellow cake recipe - wonderful & relatively easy I might add) & once I had the ultrasound results in-hand I assembled the cake.

I have to say that I’ve iced cakes before but never trying to do a smoothed buttercream finish. I was quite nerve-wracked about it but it wasn’t that difficult. The best part about doing a buttercream finish is that if you mess up, you can smooth over the smudges pretty easily. I still need to perfect the overall “smoothness” but for my first go with it, ever, I wasn’t hating the results. I had to add the dots because I love polka dots & after Conner’s birthday party I was itching to use my icing tips some more.

Over all it was one of the funnest projects I’ve done in awhile - I got try something new & for something so fun as letting mom & dad know what they were having. I should add that I had to make four - yes, FOUR - batches of buttercream frosting. There was about three layers around the cake with two thick layers of icing on the inside & the thing weighed eight pounds (I got out the wii fit balance board & weighed it) - it is serious. I kept telling mom to prepare herself for the diabetic coma that would inevitably follow. I love having these types of projects to do - new, fun & a gift of sorts.

Oh, & they’re having a baby girl. Congratulations Amy & Jared!

So my baby boy turned four last week. FOUR! How does that even happen? One minute he is this red-faced screechy little baby & the next he is my fun, smart, articulate, hilarious little man. For a few months before his birthday he kept telling me over & over that he wanted a pirate party. Just for jokes I would ask him randomly, “So Conner, you want a clown party?” or “You’ve been asking for an animal party, right?” and each time he takes a deep breath & says, “No, mom, a piiiirrrrraaaattttte party. Pirate.” Isn’t he adorable? I found a stamp set I wanted to use, gathered some paper & started planning. I definitely got into it - I mean, in the invitation I really used the term “come have a swash-buckling good time!” *insert eye roll* but it was a lot of fun, especially the cake!!

Isn’t it awesome? Beth at Taste Selects, a local bakery took my design & ran with it. Love how it turned out! I did the red cuppies to accompany it & our good friend Ryan Portnoy came to snap the pics.

cupcakes…..yummmmmmmm

This is the pennant I made, which was super easy - cut out triangles, hole punched the edges, slide cotton yarn through, hang, voila - pennant. Conner loved this thing. When hubby & I were hanging it his eyes lit up & he kept asking, “Is that for me? Is that for my party?” The concept of alllllllll of this being for him was blowing his mind.

I am such a fan of cookie favors. I highly highly recommend doing them for your next party. No annoying toys that fall out of that awkwardly small little bag, no more leaked thing of bubbles all over your car, no. Instead, you spend a fraction of the cost (even if you buy already made sugar cookies & let your kid decorate them) & your guaranteed that everyone will love & use your favors.

These are the thank you’s that I did & while they were time-consuming they were still fun. Any excuse to nerd out with paper crafts & I am there! Piecing the squares together took the most time, but after that they came together easily.

Overall the party was a blast. I got to see my little guy set loose with eleven of his most-loved peers & while it parted my hair quite a few times, they all had a great time.

Happy 4th birthday my sweet Conner!!!

Well, I guess it’s week 1 for me since I’m just now jumping in. I was thinking of tackling mini-posts but even those can be a little intimidating. There’s Top Ten Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday & I keep thinking I want to start a Confession Thursdays cuz Lord knows I got lots of those…

So anyways, back to 52 new things. Brandi, I don’t even know if I’m doing it right but I’m giving it a shot! One of my goals for the new year was to try a new recipe every week. I hate cooking. I love baking (love. love. love.), but hate cooking. Because of said hatred, I cook the same things over & over. I’ve got a solid dozen recipes, but we’ve been eating those over & over since hubby & I said “I do” seven years ago. Hubby loves when he comes home & dinner is on the table. Seriously, he beams - that’s the only reason I do it. That & I don’t want my children to tell their teachers that “mommy makes the best turkey, cheese & ketchup crackers ever!” So to try & make the whole thing enjoyable for everyone I am experimenting with some new dishes. This one I did last night & it was so good, but so unbelievably filling I am pretty sure I was still stuffed well into this afternoon.

It’s Warm Tortellini Salad & Roasted Tomatoes with Green Beans. The only thing different that I did was I didn’t cook the green beans with the tortellini, but instead sauteed them with extra virgin olive oil & garlic salt. It was super delicious & like I said verrrrrrry filling. Go on, give it a go!

If you follow me on twitter you know I am slightly obsessed with poptarts. And by slightly obsessed what I really mean is I eat them all the friggin’ day long. I hadn’t eaten one in quite a few years (because I never really liked them all that much to begin with) and bought some for Max when he was going through his picky-food-phase, literally grabbing one of everything in the breakfast foods aisle hoping something wouldn’t end up being thrown on the floor in his fit of hunger-rage.

I decided to have one for breakfast one morning and, well, a switch was flipped and I CAN’T TURN IT OFF. I jokingly told my husband that I should make a poptart cake and then the idea was born. With some help of some of my fave twitter peeps I was encouraged to tackle this endeavor (encouraged…harrassed, what’s the difference, right?). A cake seemed too difficult but also kind of strange. I kept invisioning stacking poptarts on top of one another and then covered in icing? But then a pie could work. And not just a pie made of poptarts but a pie that tastes like one giant poptart.

Ahhhhh yes. This could be done.

It only took three attempts (and quite frankly I’m surprised it only took three) but I am now proud to share with you all - friends, fans, people who just want the recipe and will never return to this blog again - I give you the poptart pie. Enjoy!

Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Poptart Pie: Beta

Now, I have to say it’s in beta since I feel like it could use a little more tweaking, but that will be done on my own time. For now, it is still delicious and I must share the love. Oh, and it’s so easy!

1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp corn syrup
3 tbsp butter, melted
2 ready made pie crusts (you could opt to make your own but why?)

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) In medium bowl whisk sugar, cinnamon and flour. Mix in butter and corn syrup until all ingredients are blended. Pour into prepared pie crust, smoothing over entire crust and then cover with remaining pie crust. Poke holes in the top with a fork, toothpicks or a knife.

3) Bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely

Maple Frosting

This is optional but why not go all the way. What’s a plain poptart? Not very good, that’s what!

2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp maple flavoring
2 tsp water

Combine all ingredients into a runny paste (you can add a smidge more water if it’s too thick or a little more sugar if it’s too runny). Pour over cooled pie and let set.

*For the icing, you don’t need to pour all the icing if you’re not a big fan, it’s totally your preference. I liked it with more, hubby said it would’ve been just as good with less, so he could taste more of the pie filling. Also the pie is better the next day, so make it the night before and indeed have it for breakfast. Or lunch. Or all day. I am not here to judge.

And for my next trick: A Frosted Strawberry Poptart Pie. Hold on tight, my friends, I think we have opened Pandora’s box.