Valentine's Baking Ideas III (Cake Edition)

And there is always cake!

If you have been following the blog this week, I have been going through my iPhoto looking over past creations trying to decide what to make for Valentine's dessert tomorrow. An easy hit could be a good ol' cake! I have made some pretty yummy and fun cakes over the years, and even posted about some of my adventures here.

I made this heart cake for an Anniversary John and I had. The round cake was a different height than the square cake, but you get the idea. Tasted good, anyways!

Cherry Chip love cake with pink icing.

My Mom gave me a bag of slivered almonds and I didn't really know what to do with them, so I put them on a cake! Random and tasty.

I don't have a corresponding photo, but I recently made a chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter cake which featured 24 Reese's Peanut Butter cups on the top and between the layers. It was really rich, but I did not regret the giant piece I cut for myself.

As Valentine's draws closer, I better decide what dessert to make soon!! Are you baking anything? What yummy treats will you be making?

Valentine's Baking Ideas II

I did a lot of baking in the summer of 2009. So much in fact that I forgot about these decadent creations.

Oreo Cookie Truffle

Peanut Butter Ball

Also from Bakerella, these Oreo Cookie Truffles and Peanut Butter Balls are so incredibly good, that I am currently obsessing about all the wasted time I've spent over the past few years not eating them. How have I only made these once!?! They are made from mixing a crushed up bag of cookies (oreos or peanut butter creams) with a package of cream cheese. Then they are gloriously dipped in chocolate (milk or white). So freaking good! They are also bite sized so you luckily cannot have just one.

Mmm...a whole tray of them...

Even if I don't make these for Valentine's Day, they NEED to be made soon. Super yum!!

Valentine's Baking Ideas

We don't really invest too much into Valentine's Day around here, but it is a great excuse to make an amazing meal and bake something yummy. For dinner I am making my elaborate home made sushi (my favourite!), and I have spent the past 24 hours obsessing over blogs and YouTube videos trying to decide what dessert will be.  Should I try something new or pick an old favourite? Maybe something old and something new? All the Christmas goodies should be worked off by now, time for Valentine's treats!

Last night during my obsessive dessert research, I turned to my iPhoto for inspiration and discovered a whole series of baking experiments I did before I had this blog. Way back in the summer of 2009 I was obsessed with Bakerella (and why not, she is amazing!) and I tried a number of her recipes and took photos of the results. In a baking salute to Valentine's Day, I am going to post some photos from the 2009 experiments, and hopefully it will help me decide what to make for dessert on Thursday.

First stop on this trip down memory lane: Cake Pops. When I first heard of Bakerella's awesomeness it was because of these spectacular little things called cake pops (find the recipe here). I have made them three or four times, using various cake flavours, but always cover them in chocolate and sprinkles.

My Classic Cake Pop

Around the time I started making cake pops I also started experimenting with food colouring gels. They are so potent and work so wonderfully - you only need a small amount to add a lot of colour.  I decided to try some cake pops with red and yellow cake.

Yellow and Red Cake and with corresponding bowls of icing

Crumbled red cake - just add red icing!

Crumbled yellow cake - just add yellow icing!

Red and Yellow cake pops - pre chocolate coating

Chocolate and sprinkle with red inside Cake Pop!

Chocolate and sprinkle with yellow inside Cake Pop!

Have you made Cake Pops before? Do you like them? Have you made any fancy ones? I have been looking at a lot of different styles that might be perfect as a Valentine's Day dessert. If I had the ingredients on hand I would probably be making some right now!

Winter Walk

Such and beautiful and peaceful day where I am today.  Found a partially fallen tree on a walk through the woods. Nature continually reminds me how amazing it is.

Meal Planning Update

We are half way through the last week of our month long meal plan and it has gone amazingly well. It has been so wonderful to not only know what is for dinner but to also have all the necessary ingredients on hand. Who knew a little organization could feel so good?

We have stuck to the plan pretty well, only changing a few things around when we realized that Sunday is too lazy to cook vegetarian, and swapping different meals within the week just because we felt like it.  Also, when we made Chili, the leftovers lasted longer than expected and we replaced Taco night with Chili taco night.  We are being really flexible yet sticking to the essentials of the plan. The only time we ate off the plan was last Friday when my in-laws unexpectedly picked up dinner for us. It is hard to say no to free food, especially on a Friday night when we were feeling lazy.

With the organized menu, we have increased our vegetables intake which was one of my goals.  Lots of salads and steamed veggies with dinner, and I am getting super into sweet potatoes. I mashed one today and ate it with a sandwich at lunch time. It was amazing! We have also ramped up our use of the bread maker, as I've been making tonnes of buns, loaves of bread, and weekly pizza dough.  Home made bread and buns are cheap, easy to make, and taste delicious!

In terms of cost savings, we actually spent more on groceries this month than we normally do. I think it is a case of spending more on the front end and over time it will be cheaper for us.  We bought some staple items that we won't have to buy monthly (a 10kg bag of flour, 2 jars of yeast because they were on sale, etc.), and my freezer is currently a stockpile of meats that will last well into February.  Just based on the amount of food we still have, I am predicting that February we will spend less than we normally do.

The plan for next month is to repeat the meals we had in January, accommodating for the minor adjustments we made.  I think this is a plan that will stick for us!