Amy Scott's Thoughts

It’s a been a drippy couple of days here in western Washington. Days like these are perfect for baking projects and with Thanksgiving coming up, I figured I would start some new baking adventures. I attend an annual event called Taste of the Holidays at my church. It’s a fun tasting of holiday goodies. They send me home with the recipes every year and I’ve never made a single thing out of the books. After this year’s TOTH, I decided I was finally going to make something out from these recipe books that I’ve stored for so long.

Of course, this is me, so I had to pick desserts! That is my favorite part of any meal! I went back through the books and picked three recipes that I remember liking a lot. I set to baking yesterday when I got home from work and finished up this afternoon. My first project was called Hello Dollies. They have graham cracker crust with chocolate (I used both milk chocolate and white chocolate), coconut, condensed milk and pecans. The second project I started was pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. I will admit that I just used store bought frosting. I figured with all the baking I had planned, it would be nice to have one step completed for me. The third project was raspberry ribbons. I think these were the hardest of all. It’s a cookie was raspberry jam down the middle and a glaze drizzled on top. There were more steps to this recipe and I don’t think I got the exact balance of jam to cookie down.

Because I plan I sharing these goodies with family tomorrow I couldn’t dig right in and chow down. However, I’ve never made these recipes before so I did do a little taste testing… I needed to know what I was serving! Overall,  I think these treats were tasty and I look forward to sharing them with others. Every year when I attend TOTH, I get a little overwhelmed by how awesome all the food is. I guess I always figured that I would never be able to do as good as a job as the chefs so why try… I’ve decided that is a dumb attitude to have! So what if I’m not the best – these turned out great and I am very happy with them! That is all that matters! It’s not a contest!

I feel like I cheated a bit. On Thursday night my husband and I made a small feast and it was very much like that of Thanksgiving. Now it didn’t have all the trimmings, but it had all my favorites! Jeremy grew a ton of potatoes this summer in his garden. I asked him if he wanted to make anything in particular on Thursday night since we would both be home and he said something with potatoes. From there the inspiration of our meal unfolded. We could do mashed potatoes… we have a frozen turkey breast in the freezer… I could attempt to make dinner rolls for the first time… Jeremy would stop by the store and get cranberry jelly. There you have it – my Thanksgiving staples – turkey, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls and cranberry jelly. Yum!!! In the original plan, Jeremy was going to make stuffing, but he was too hungry when he came home so the stuffing went by the wayside so we could eat faster. Sad for him, not so much for me. I’m not sure why, but I’ve never been a big fan of stuffing.

I was really nervous about making dinner rolls. I guess I’ve heard one too many stories about how someone’s rolls didn’t rise enough or the rolls turned into hard lumps or they were undercooked and doughy. In my mind, rolls have always been something that could go wrong in a number of ways. Normally I stick to buying already baked rolls or the frozen kind. However, in my quest for culinary greatness, I decided to try my hand at making dinner rolls. I found that I like making rolls more than I like making bread. The recipe I used was easier to work with and the flavor was better in my opinion. The only thing I struggled with is getting my dough to rise because my house tends to be on the colder side. However, it was worth the patience and the rolls were fabulous!

We enjoyed our meal a lot! A pre-taste of what is come in less than a week! It’s so hard to wait until Thanksgiving when there are so many good foods in the stores and commercials on television keep showing holiday meals. It was impossible to pass up the opportunity! After dinner, Jeremy talked me into playing Wii Party with him. He has been trying to get me to play for a while, so I caved. It was fun. I won one game and he won the other. Snowflakes fell for a bit so we sat with the curtains open so we could see them falling. After Wii Party, I made an apple crisp to end our feasting evening! I know we’ll have lots of pumpkin treats next week and I still had apples to use, so it seemed that apple was a better direction to go! Overall it was a very tasty and fun evening. It truly feels like the holiday season is here and I am loving it!

In a previous blog, I explained that Jeremy and I have an abundance of marshmallows in our pantry. I created pumpkin spice marshmallow treats a few weeks ago using Cinnamon Burst Cheerios and Jet Puffed Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows. This creation tasted great, but I learned a few things from the experience. First – Cheerios are harder to cut than Rice Krispies. Second – Cheerios get a soggy texture after they are encased in marshmallow. They were great the first day, but they next day they no longer had the firm texture they once had (and that was while they were stored in an airtight container).

With these learning experiences in mind, I set out to make another marshmallow creation. This time I used Cocoa Krispies and Jet Puffed Chocolate Mint Marshmallows. To finish off the taste and presentation, I sprinkled Andes Mint baking chips on the top. In my opinion, the marshmallows don’t really taste all that chocolatey or minty. I melted them in them in the microwave and during the process the brown and green coloring blended to make a strange color. The Cocoa Krispies are very chocolatey and I think they are going to be the real flavor punch of the treat. Once the marshmallow was mixed with the cereal, the color didn’t seem as odd.  I figured since the marshmallows didn’t have a strong mint flavor, the mints on top would really complete the chocolate mint combination.

It’s been really fun coming up non-traditional recipes with marshmallows. So far all my creations have been in cereal treats, but I have another recipe up my sleeve for the holidays that involved dipping marshmallows in white chocolate. I am very excited!!! So this is not the last of the marshmallow blogs! More marshmallow fun is still to come!

There is nothing worse than starting a project with lots of hope and having it end in failure. Welcome to my morning!!! Last weekend while we were visiting family, Jeremy and I picked up a 10lbs. bag of Honey Crisp apples. I was brainstorming what I could do with them since we couldn’t eat them all before they went bad. I originally decided I would make an apple crisp tomorrow for our life group. However, I later decided that I want to try my hand at making a pie again. Since a pie needed more time, I set to work on it this morning.

This time I made my own crust because we were out of the mix we’d used in the past. I was okay with making my own crust because I really wanted to try it. It turns out making crust is a bit of a challenge. At least it was to me. I conquered the pie and added a lot more apples than the last pie I made. I thought I had learned from my past mistakes and this pie promised to be better than the last. I love sugary tops on pie so I decide to add that element to my crust. I followed the directions…

However, I was met with failure. The sugar on the top of the pie burnt and made my pie both look and smell unappealing. I was so discouraged because I had put over 2 hours of effort into that pie and I was planning on taking it to life group. That was no longer an option. I will not bring sub-standard goodies to my life group.

I knew I needed to make something else for life group, but I didn’t have the time to do something as complicated as a pie. I went into the pantry and pulled out my pumpkin spice bread mix from Costco. I had just used this mix last night for pumpkin spice waffles, so I knew this would be tasty and quick. The box had a cookie recipe on the back, so I went to work making pumpkin spice cookies. They turned out great and they helped with the semi-burnt smell in my house.

When trying to practice and develop skills, failure is going to happen. Something you did well last time might not turn out great the next time. I am still learning. The last apple pie I made didn’t have enough apples. This time great amount of apples, but burnt crust. I’m not sure what next time will hold, but I can assure you – there will be a next time. I’m not giving up. I may not ever be a pie master, but I will make a decent pie that I am pleased with. This is my goal. I believe it’s possible. If not – thank God for prepackaged mixes that make for quick snack substitutes!

I guess that you’ve probably caught on to the fact that I like to bake. When I have the time, I’m choosing to bake instead of buy things. I’ve been making more goodies for gatherings. One such opportunity happens every week on Wednesday nights. I love making a treat for my class of 5th/6th girls. I’ve been trying to make more things for scratch. I’m also trying to do very seasonal baking. 

This week I decided to make brownies… from a mix… but I couldn’t just leave it the way it was! I decided to put a twist on this brownie mix that I make quite often. I’ve never made peanut-butter brownies, so I thought this would be a great time to try to add another layer to something I’m very familiar with. I hopped online and consulted good ol’ Betty to help me with peanut-butter element.  To jazz things up and give the brownies some fall color, I added Mini Reeces Pieces to the mix and sprinkled them on top. The colors are just right to make it feel like an autumn goody.

These brownies turned out fun and festive! Not too mention tasty! It was very rewarding to add another element to a classic! I’m learning that baking is a way I can bless others and share something that brings me joy. I didn’t intend for this blog to become a location for me to showcase food, but I’m finding it brings me great happiness and I’m enjoying the challenge of trying new things.

I’ve found the last couple of Saturdays have held similar activities – cleaning the house and baking a special treat! The weekends have been filled with gatherings of friends and family. Thus, I’ve needed to have the house tidy and something to offer my guests. For life group two week ago, I made the applesauce spice cake. I’ve already posted how yummy that turned out! I’m already planning on making that again – this time for my Wednesday night class.   

Last Saturday was my first venture at pie making on my own. I’ve watched Jeremy make a pie and I’ve made a pie with Jeremy, but until last week I had never done it by myself. It was a bit of a personal challenge to show myself that I can do it. Apple pie was decided on because it was to be shared with family for my father-in-law’s birthday. He is big fan of apple pie, so it seemed that would be the best option. Since it was my first time, I did learn that I need to add more apples next time. I used an extra apple in the recipe, but I should have used another. I know that for next time. I also used a mix for the crust again. Now that I am out of the mix, I plan of making my own crust next time. Baby steps!

Today is a life group Sunday, so yesterday I decided to bake banana bread to take to the group. It might sound odd, but I’ve learned that bananas freeze well and they can then be saved until you plan on making some bread. It’s a chilly to prepare them, however, they taste great! I used the recipe from my Shueyville cookbook and it’s a classic! I shared the recipe in a previous blog if you are curious. The great thing about this recipe is it needs to be split into two loaves. We will take one loaf to life group and the other loaf will be munched on by Jeremy and I. It’s perfect for sharing!

You’d be amazed by the amount of marshmallows that I have in my home. Jeremy and I have a fire pit in our backyard and every year we like to try fun, new marshmallow flavors for our S’mores. We have developed a bit of a collection because when we see a new flavor we haven’t tried, we buy it.  We had a bunch of half open bags leftover from this summer. I recently decided to “thin the herd” and get rid of some of the older marshmallows. I’m not sure why it is this way, but you get rid of something, before you know it the item has multiplied again.

One of our life group members brought three bags of marshmallows to share with the group. Two of the flavors I had seen before. The one I hadn’t seen before was pumpkin spice marshmallows. We opened the bag so we could sample them and they were very tasty. Just a week after we received the 3 new bags, we were given 6 boxes of gourmet marshmallows as a gift for Pastor Appreciation Month. We have not yet tried them, but they look very good. I think we might have to wait for a reason to share them so we don’t over do it! I like marshmallows… I’m not saying anything against the marshmallows that have been given to us. I am just surprised that I tried to take the collection down to a reasonable size and it more than doubled!

I started to think about what I could do with all these marshmallows. The bag of pumpkin spice ones had been opened, but the majority of it was left uneaten. I let my mind wander and I came up with the idea of using the pumpkin spice marshmallows to make some kind of marshmallow treat. Now the classic is Rice Krispy Treats, but I wanted to stay with the fall theme. After exploring the cereal aisle yesterday, I landed on Cinnamon Burst Cheerios. I figured the cinnamon and pumpkin combination would make for a yummy autumn treat.

This afternoon I assembled what I am calling Pumpkin Spice Cereal Treats. Using the basic Rice Krispy Treat recipe, I mixed my fall inspired ingredients together to create a yummy marshmallow treat. The recipe on the back of the bag said you could decorate using candy corn or another fall candy. I didn’t think the flavors would mix well, so I used Wilton’s Colorful Leaves Sprinkle Mix. I thought they would add to the fall theme without adding another flavor layer.

The recipe on the back of the bag also suggested using a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter to make the treats into a pumpkin. I have a large pumpkin shaped cookie cutter and I knew that if I used it I wouldn’t get enough servings out of the recipe to share with my class of girls tonight. I decided to keep it all in the 13×9 pan instead.

All I can tell you right now is that they smell amazing and look good. I don’t like to present goodies that have already been partial eaten so I must wait until tonight when I share them with my class of 5th/6th girls to sample them. Here’s hoping they are a yummy snack for my girls and for myself!

I love chocolate chip cookies! Especially the Toll House recipe in my cookie book. Recently I’ve done some twists to this classic recipe and they’ve been a lot of fun. The first variation I tried was pan cookies. It’s the same exact recipe just baked up to fill a jelly roll pan. I cut these into 2in squares to serve. The second variation I did was to add fall colored M&Ms as half of the called for chocolate pieces. It’s fun at different times of the year to use special M&Ms to give it a holiday flair. Sometimes it’s fun to take something you know by heart and make it a little a different!

Tuesday night, Jeremy informed me what we were going to make our own raviolis and pasta sauce for dinner. This has been a goal of his for some time now. He has a ton of tomatoes from his garden and I knew he was ready to try his hand at making homemade pasta sauce. What goes well with homemade pasta sauce? Homemade pasta!

Jeremy set to work on the sauce while I started the pasta dough. This is the first time I’ve ever made homemade pasta and it certainly was an experience! Even though I got a workout trying to roll the dough super thin, I would say it was still too thick. The flavor of the dough was good, but the once it was boiled the raviolis almost turned to bread. Not a texture I’m used to and a little dense. I will try harder next time to get the dough as thin as possible because it will expand in the cooking process. We used an Italian cheese blend and then added grated Parmesan cheese on top of the blend. The stuffing turned out well. I also learned that more cheese is always better when it comes to stuffing ravioli.

The pasta sauce Jeremy created was very flavorful. We used a packet of spices to flavor it, but the truth is we really didn’t need the packet. We had all the spices that it included in our own spice collection. Jeremy also added some extra spices and some ketchup to the mixture. He is pretty good at getting things into balance.  We both agreed that meal was good, but there were things we know better for next time. Overall, I rated it a 5-6 out of 10 (10 being awesome, 1 being inedible). We also came to the same conclusion when we attempted to make deep dish pizza a few weeks ago.  We might not get it perfect the first time, but we learning lots and having fun in the kitchen together.

After we were finished with cooking experiments, we sat down the kitchen floor and starting carving our pumpkins! Jeremy is super creative when it comes to carving. Every year I’m sadly disappointed with my own carving skills. I’m not sure why I expect to get better each year, but I don’t… My pumpkin looks so sad compared to Jeremy’s two pumpkins. Regardless of my skills, I always love gutting the pumpkin and squishing my hand around in the gooey, seedy insides. This was our first time carving pumpkins with Toby around. It was humorous to watch him smell the pumpkins, lick the pumpkins… try to eat the pumpkins!

It was a very fun and full night in the Scott household! I was certainly tired when I was done from all the focus I put into that pasta and pumpkin! When it comes to pasta – I think I have a bright future. When it comes to pumpkins – I think I need to accept I’m not an artist!