SALMON PHYLLO CUP APPETIZERS

As part of my Christmas brunch buffet this year, I made some cute and tasty salmon appetizers.  I put together the salmon mousse filling myself and thought I'd share it with you!

I found the pre-made phyllo shells in my local Safeway.  This particular brand came in a box of 15 which was the perfect size.  Some of the brands show FILLO on the front of their packaging.

As for the ingredients, here's what you'll need and how I put them together........

INGREDIENTS:

4 oz. package sliced smoked salmon

2-3 Tbsp. capers (divided)

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. sour cream

1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning

¼ tsp. dill seasoning

salt/pepper to taste

splash of lemon juice

fresh dill

DIRECTIONS:

Bake cups in the oven as directed.

Separate the salmon slices and using a fork, break apart approximately 3/4 of the slices with a fork.  This portion will be added to the other ingredients to make the filling.  The other remaining slices will be used as the pieces which stand up inside the cup, so slice those into narrow pieces. 

In a small bowl blend together the cream cheese and sour cream using a fork.  Add the Old Bay seasoning, salt/pepper, 1-2 Tbsp. of capers, and the lemon juice.  Continue mixing with the fork breaking up the capers in the process. 

To assemble, add a slice of the salmon half the circumference of the perimeter of the shell.  Using a pastry bag with a large circular tip (remember there are pieces of salmon and capers that need to pass through the opening), fill the cups to the rim with the mixture.  

Once the cups are filled. Garnish with capers (3-5) and fresh dill.  Refrigerate approximately 30 minutes prior to serving.

NOTE:  I ended up with a small amount of leftover filling.  Enough to top 5-6 triscuit crackers for lunch the next day!    

Enjoy!

BAGEL BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

Oh man!!!!  This has become my new favorite breakfast casserole recipe.  It is loaded with flavor, is light and fluffy and can be made the night before....oh, and it bakes up so pretty.  What more can you ask for?

I just made this for our Christmas brunch (yes, we celebrated on the 22nd) and it was devoured.  When the recipe indicated it serves 8-10, it was right on.  I served 8 adults, and we literally had 2 portions left.

Think of a bagel breakfast sandwich in a casserole, and that's exactly what you get with this yummy dish.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups whole milk

3/4 cup half and half

8 large eggs

kosher salt and black pepper

1 tsp. dry mustard

1 1/3 cups crumbled cooked breakfast sausage

1 1/3 cups packed baby spinach

2 large plain bagels, split and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 1/3 cups shredded provolone

8 oz. cream cheese, cut into ½ inch cubes

*2 Tbsp. "everything" bagel seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with either butter or cooking spray.

Whisk together the milk, half and half, eggs, dry mustard. 3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in a bowl.  Fold in the sausage, spinach, bagels and 3/4 cup of the provolone.   Pour into the prepared baking dish.  Dot the top with the cream cheese and sprinkle all over with the bagel seasoning and remaining provolone.

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Uncover and bake until the casserole is puffed, golden brown at the edges and set in the center, about 45 minutes more.  Let cool 15 minutes before serving.  

NOTE:  You can assemble the entire dish the night before, refrigerate and bake the following morning.  Let the chilled casserole sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before baking.

ENJOY!

*Everything bagel seasoning can be purchased online, or you can make it yourself.  Turns out I had all but one of the spices I needed, so I opted to purchase that one and make my own. (2 Tbsp. poppy seeds, 1 Tbsp. white sesame seeds, 1 Tbsp. black sesame seeds, 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. dried minced garlic, 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. dried minced onion, 2 tsp. flaked sea salt or coarse salt)

recipe adapted from:  www.foodnetwork.com

WINE GLASS NAME TAGS

This was my first attempt at these, so needless to say I learned a lot for the next time......and I would like there to be a next time so I can improve on these.

Anyway, I thought they'd be fun for the holidays.  After all, how many times have you set down your drink and then nobody can remember whose is whose?

I made these with my Silhouette machine.  For those of you who know Silhouette or Cricket, you know lettering can take some time.  Especially when you have letters with a "counter".  A counter is is the center of a letter which is totally enclosed like an "e", "g", "a", etc.  Before you can cut those you first have to work on each individual letter to create a cut so the entire counter isn't removed.  Complicated?, I wouldn't call it complicated, but definitely tedious.   And then, when you're a perfectionist like I am, it can take a bit of time (to be hones, I'm still not completely satisfied with these....but, they'll work)!

I knew I liked my name!  No counters; so mine was one of the easy ones!  Of the family names I needed to create, five of them had counters....whew!!!
I already have plans for next years and they involve snowflakes!!

MUSHROOM SPINACH BAKED EGGS

I love to try breakfast casserole recipes.  This one that I'm sharing I just tried today and I have to say, I thought it was pretty darn good! 

The prep wasn't too terribly difficult, and the baking time was just about 25 minutes.  So from start to finish I would say it was just about an hour.

This would be great for when you have houseguests, or maybe a special brunch! 

INGREDIENTS:

olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

½ lb. white musrooms, sliced

6 cups baby spinach (about 6 oz.)

6 slices potato bread, lightly toasted

6 large eggs

½ cup whole milk

3/4 cup shredded gruyere cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Heat approximately 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden; approx. 8 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and cook, undisturbed, until they begin to brown, about 2 minutes.   Add ½ tsp. salt, and pepper to taste; continue cooking, stirring occasionally until soft....about 4 minutes.  Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.  Arrange the bread in the dish in a single layer with the edges slightly overlapping.  Spoon the mushroom/spinach mixture on top.  

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Crack an egg onto each piece of bread; season with salt and pepper.  Pour the milk evenly over the top and sprinkle with the cheese.  Bake until the egg whites are set, approximately 25-30 minutes.   My eggs ended up a bit overcooked....or let's say, I was wanting my eggs to break open when I sliced into them....I'm going to have to experiment with the time to find just the right cooking time to achieve what I'm looking for - 28 minutes was too long.

Note:  The recipe mentioned you can make this ahead and refrigerate overnight.....add the eggs just before you pop it in the oven. 

Enjoy!

recipe c/o:  www.foodnetwork.com

CEDAR CHEST REFINISH

This Lane Cedar Chest belonged to my Dad's parents and has been a part of my household as long as I've lived on my own.   I'm estimating it's age to be from the 1920's or 30's at best.  So, she's going on close to 100 years old.

I don't know how long I've been wanting to refinish this piece.  I just knew that over the years it had lost its lustre and I wanted to restore its beauty.

Below is a picture of it before I began the restoration.  It's made of a mahogany wood and has beautiful lines and details, including those gorgeous legs....but not only was the finish dull, there were plenty of scratches, gouges and dings that had happened over the years.

This is the piece after the restoration.  Isn't she a beauty!?  I decided not to go quite as dark with the stain.  I actually think that you can see more of the character of the wood with the lighter color.

This truly was a tag team effort between my husband and I.  Before I began I read a lot of information on restoration, watched videos, you name it.  The last thing I wanted was to damage it along the way.  It took us several weeks to finish (we also had a couple of weather delays due to some unexpected cool weather that moved through), since there are lots of steps along the way, but it was definitely worth the effort.

You can see the scratches on the leg (original) on the left and look how pretty that new leg looks with a fresh coat of stain and finish!  

Let me take you through the steps.....                                                                                                                                                                  The first step was to remove the old finish.  After doing lots of research I opted to use Blue Bear stripping gel.  I liked that I could use it indoors, it was a gel and was a more natural product (made of 100% American grown soy beans).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              This took some time since you actually need to let it sit after applying the gel.  The finish actually turns into a molasses like consistency.  I used rubber gloves, plastic scrapers and about a roll of paper towel.  I had purchased a canvas tarp and placed that under the chest to catch any drips.  I didn't end up with too much on the tarp, but was glad I had taken the extra precautionary step.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Since I didn't want to touch the wood inlay medallion on the front of the chest, I covered that using wax paper and double sided tape.  It worked like a charm.  If you look closely at the chest, you'll see lots of grooves, deep decorative cuts and of course the spindle legs.....these areas took lots of time!  After the finish was removed, I used mineral spirits to get at any leftover residue.  I used a brush to put it on and a rag to remove it.  

Next up....sanding.  Lots of sanding! We used the electric sander first, followed by a lot of hand sanding.  This took a good deal of time too...again, the legs and grooves took the most time.   Little pieces of sandpaper and all sorts of experiemental techniques in order to get at those tough areas.  My cuticles were an absolute mess afterwards!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    After the sanding came the staining.  Followed by the finish.   We used the Varathane brand for both the stain and polyurethane.  I chose American Walnut with a clear satin finish.  

               

And there they are side-by-side the true "before" and "after".  I'm confident this piece is going to stay in the family long after I'm gone.  Hopefully, our efforts will keep it looking good for the next 100 years!                           

                                                       

APPLE CREAM CHEESE BUNDT CAKE

I want to share this yummy bundt cake recipe which is loaded with robust fall flavors, like apples and pecans!  I will tell you it takes a bit of prep time....but you'll be rewarded in the end.

An extra burst of flavor is found in the cream cheese filling and praline frosting.  

INGREDIENTS:

Cream Cheese Filling:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. softened cream cheese

¼ cup softened butter

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Apple Cake Batter:

1 cup finely chopped pecans

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. ground allspice

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup canola oil

3/4 cup applesauce 

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups peeled and finely chopped Gala apples (about 1.5 lbs)

Praline Frosting:

¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 Tbsp. butter

1½ Tbsp. milk

½ tsp. vanilla

½ cup powdered sugar

Step 1 - Prepare filling.  Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended and smooth.  Add egg, flour, and vanilla; beat just until blended.

Step 2 - Prepare batter:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake pecans in a shallow pan 8-10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant; stirring halfway through.  Stir together the flour and next 7 ingredients (through Allspice).  Add eggs and next 3 ingredients stirring until dry ingredients are moistened.  Finally, stir in apples and pecans.

Step 3 - Spoon 2/3 of the batter into a greased and floured 14-cup Bundt pan.  Spoon cream cheese filling over apple mixture leaving a 1 inch border around edges of pan (I found this difficult to accomplish).  Swirl filling through apple mixture using a paring knife.  Spoon remaining apple mixture over cream cheese filling.

Step 4 - Bake at 350 degrees for 1-1.25 hours or until a long wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack and cool completely (about 2 hours)

Step 5 - Prepare frosting.  Bring brown sugar, butter and milk to a boil in a 2 qt. saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly; boil 1 minute, whisking constantly.  Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.  Gradually whisk in powdered sugar until smooth; stir gently 3-5 minutes or until mixture begins to cool and thickens slightly.  Pour immediately over cooled cake.

NOTES:  I opted to roast the pecans the night before to save myself that step.  Also, I already changed the praline frosting ingredients to half of what the original recipe called for....I felt there was way too much since it's extremely sweet

Enjoy!

adapted from:  www.southernliving.com

PLASTERED BRICK WALL

I had the pleasure of helping create a plastered brick wall recently and wanted to share it with you.  I think it turned out pretty darn good for my first attempt!

There were several steps along the way to the end result, including caulk, paint, plaster, sanding, did I mention paint?

The first steps I've already shared when I added a faux brick wall to my studio.  The sheets go up fairly easily and really help you feel like you're making great progress.  This particular wall took three sheets.

The next step is the caulking between the sheets to hide the seams, followed by lots of hand painting of the caulk lines and the bricks themselves to give them a more authentic look.  Again, there are additional details on my first blog post.

To create the plaster for this wall, I used drywall joint compound.  In doing research I've read that some folks use this, some use drywall mud and others use plaster.  Since I had some leftover drywall joint compound from our basement project, I went with that.  You put it on with a drywall knife.

It dries a little yellow, so I used a very broad paintbrush to paint white paint over the top.  I used more of a whitewash technique by dipping my brush in paint and then water.   The final step in the painting process was to whitewash some of the bricks beneath the "plaster" since in reality they would have been worn and weathered underneath the plaster.

Once it was all painted to my liking, I used sandpaper to smooth, and in some cases remove more plaster in places creating jagged edges and blank spaces for more of a worn look.