Top 10 Domestic Happenings of 2010

2010 has been a wonderful year in my every-growing domestic world. I have learned so many fun skills and expanded my horizons because of this blog. I figured I'd reflect on the year and highlight a few noteable happenings and favorite posts.

I started Project Domestication to learn, grow and enrich my life... and after reviewing my posts this year I can definately say that some improvement has been made and some fun has been had! So without saying any more, please enjoy my favorite domestic happenings of 2010.

These are in no particular order.)

1. Getting down and dirty with a raw whole chicken, and turning it into a lovely dinner. This is all thanks to me joining another baking group, French Fridays with Dorie.
Read the post: French Fridays with Dorie: Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux




2. Growing my first garden as an adult. There's nothing like starting tomatillos, corn and tomatoes from seeds then enjoying them on a warm summer night by the grill!




3. Joining a local CSA and loving delicious local and organic produce each week. Jacob's Cove tomatoes are the best on the planet! I didn't post near enough about what I made with my produce each week. I'll save that for 2011. I've got a killer roasted ratatouille recipe.




4. Hummus. I make this recipe way more than I ever blog or tweet about it. Plus I really love the Williams-Sonoma: Mastering Hors D'Oveuvres cookbook that it comes from.

5.  David Lebovitz's Chocolate Ice Cream (custard-style)
I honestly made this ice cream recipe more than 15 times this year. No joke. I don't even want to think about the amount of money I spent on Amano Chocolate to make it. If you make any ice cream this year... you must try this recipe. And you must buy David's book, The Perfect Scoop!




6. Supporting local restaurants, bakeries and companies.
I love my home state. I can't think of a better place for me right now. I've hit up my fair share of local bakeries and cupcakeries and Utah-owned companies that sell wonderful food products. Whether it's Lehi Roller Mill Flour, the Kouing Aman from Les Madeleines or a maple bar from Provo Bakery I love it all. And...of course, I'm trying new cupcakes all the time and blogging about them over at Utah Loves Cupcakes.


7. Networking with other bloggers through events and more. I co-hosted the Utah Food Blogger's Bake Sale and Cupcake Conference. I spoke at Startup Princess about branding your business and more. I was also able to meet two of my favorite bloggers (The Pioneer Woman and Bakerella) at their book signings. It is so fun to meet fellow bloggers.



8. Buying proper knifes. For my birthday, my husband bought me a Shun chef's knife and a gift certificate to a  knife skills class. I'm horrible for not blogging about this. But holy cow, this changed my prep life. I will never go back to less than great knife. (Note, picture is of my pairing knife, not chef's knife)
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9. Subscribing to Cook's Illustrated and making no less than 3 recipes from each issue. When we decided to subscribe to this magazine I had to promise myself that I would make it worth our while. So Adam and I make three recipes from each issue. They have been delicious. Our favorites have included beef stroganoff, week-night chicken pot pie, red pepper rice pilaf, banana bread and chewy brownies.


10. Continuing strong with Tuesdays with Dorie. Tuesdays with Dorie is what spring boarded me into a more intense focus of baking. It's also given me a long-term goal that is somewhat crazy, some what fattening and so fun. I would have never guessed five years ago that I would have committed myself to baking out of a cookbook every single week for nearly 4 years. I've gotten to the point where I know I won't stop because I have to complete this goal. Besides,  I'm more than halfway through ;). I joke that when I'm done, I will have some sort of degree in baking. Heck, four years oughta give me something. I will be sharing my favorite TWD recipes this next Tuesday since it's the 3 year anniversary.

10 Honorable Mentions:
Lemon Layer Cake & Lemon Curd
Dolce de Leche Duos
Visiting Sprinkles Cupckakes in California
Shirley J Wilted Spinach Salad
Lobster Rolls at Red's Eats
Provo Farmer's Market & Basil Ice Cream
Whole Wheat Fig & Date Bars
Burnt Sugar Ice Cream
Merry Christmas Eve & Our Travel Tree


I look forward to a wonderful year in 2011. I hope to stretch myself even further to grow. As well as achieve more balance by dividing my focus outside of the cooking and baking realm. I hope to do more decorating, home improvement, quilting, traveling and other domestic activities. But don't worry, this girl has a love of food and it ain't going nowhere.

What would you like to see on Project Domestication in 2011?

Happy New Year!

Tuesdays with Dorie - REWIND: Chocolate Armagnac Cake (The Cake That Got Dorie Fired)

The holidays have been so fun and are going by way too fast. I've been baking and cooking a lot, but not blogging about my adventures near enough. Oh well, I'm having way too much fun hanging with my family and staying up way too late.

This week for Tuesdays with Dorie we could post a "REWIND", meaning any recipe we wanted. I have been dying to make Dorie's Chocolate Armagnac Cake since the group made it in March 2009. This cake is also known as the cake that got her fired. You've got to read the back story here on Dorie's blog.



This cake really speaks to me. It has prunes and chocolate. I love prunes!

And better yet, I got to try my first hand at the 'ol flambe. I'll admit I was nervous, but I loved it. We don't drink in our house, so I don't have alchohol on hand. But was able to use my homemade vanilla that was made with rum. It lit up nicely and was seriously so fun.

I brought the cake over to my parents to share and we all loved it. This cake was terrific and I will make it again. I find it very special.

You can get the recipe of off LyB's blog, And then I do the dishes.

Merry Christmas Eve & Our Travel Tree

Christmastime in our lives is surrounded by remembering.

It's about remembering our Savior Jesus Christ's birth and His wonderful life and sacrifice. It's a time to be with family and remember our heritage and blessings and help create a brighter future for our posterity. It's about recalling the year, its highlights, low lights and the lessons we learned.

When Adam and I were married 4 1/2 years ago today, actually. We decided that we wanted our married life to be full of traditions that were filled with remembering. One of the traditions we started on our very first Christmas was our Christmas Travel Tree.

We love to travel together and have been very blessed to do so often these past few years. It doesn't matter if it's a weekend trip to St. George, a road trip to see Mount Rushmore or a cruise around the Tahitian Islands--we have loved the time we get to spend together. Some of the best memories I have with my sweet husband are on these trips. We get to explore new places, experience different cultures, and talk about our hopes and dreams.


(Christmas ornaments from 2006-09 travels)

We decided that we would never just buy  ornaments for ornaments sake, but rather, we would collect ornaments from our travels and special life events.


Here's how the Olsen Christmas Travel Tree works:

We keep a little rod iron tree on a chest of drawers in our bedroom all year long. When we go on a trip, we pick an ornament out and when we return home we put it on the iron tree to admire until we decorate it the day after Thanksgiving.

The picture to your left was taken early Fall 2010. It is pretty full since we had a busy year full of fun.


When we decorate our tree, we put each ornament on the tree one by one and share a memory from the trip. I look forward to this day all year long. We reminisce about crazy flight delays, fun chats on a long road trip, people watching and favorite new restaurants we discover.

Then when we take our tree down on January 2 we box all the ornaments up, and start all over with a blank rod iron tree for the new year.

Our Christmas Travel Tree and its ornaments are some of my most prized possessions. I can't imagine how beautiful and full our tree will be after 40 years of marriage and a little family to pick out more ornaments!

Merry Christmas Eve to you and yours!

11 Last Minute Gifts for Utah Foodies

I adore my home state. I love finding local companies that product quality sweets, treats and products. Here's a little list of some of my favorite products to enjoy for yourself or give as gift this Christmas season.

All of these would make great stocking stuffers too!




1. Double Fudge Cakebites from The Sweet Tooth Fairy


(Photo via flickr user EverJean)

2. Amano Chocolate - My favorite bars are the Madagasscar, Dos Rios and Guayas, I'm also a lover of their new confections, particularly the cocoa nib brittle and cherry cordials.

3. Blue Cattle Truck Mexican Vanilla





4. Kouing Aman from Les Madeleines



5. Cupcake Chic Cupcakes



6. Gift Card to Communal and P712


7. Gift Certificate to Coney's Frozen Custard


8. Shirley J Food Products (I love the Pizza & Pasta Seasoning for homemade vinaigrettes!)

9. BYU Bookstore Fudge (Pennuchi is my favorite)

10. Stephen's Gourmet Cocoa

11. Some Dude's Fry Sauce

This was hard to narrow down...I've got nearly 50 other ideas to share. What are your favorite food gifts?

Cake Pops, Cake Balls and Candy Melts on My New Boots

Back in October, Bakerella visited Utah on her Cake Pops book-signing tour! So naturally I had to attend and I was lucky enough to meet up with my SLC girlfriends, Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod and Becky of Vintage Mixer. We had a fun time meeting Angie and hanging around Williams-Sonoma (I love that store!).





Here we are with some Utah goodies for Bakerella. I'm all about spreading the Utah loves so I brought up some Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes and cake bites, Shirley J food products, Blue Cattle Truck Vanilla, REAL Salt and other local deliciousness. Bakerella, I hoped you loved them!



We decided at the book signing that we'd get together and have a fun little Cake Pop baking and decorating adventure! We met up at Maria's house and got to bake in her brand new remodeled kitchen! Holy guacamole it was so beautiful! I am so happy for Maria and Josh, they've been working so hard on it for the last few months. You gotta check it out, she's got some crazy-amazing appliances from Thermador.



Okay, back to the Cake Pops. These things are adorable. Angie's book was so helpful with all her tips, tricks and step-by-step instructions. She really makes making Cake Pops doable. I had fun melting the candy melts and forming the balls. So much fun in fact, that I got candy melts all over my new sheepskin boots! Anyone know how to get them off? Anyway, after a few tries the three of us ladies really figured out how to work those cake pops. Practice makes perfect.

We went festive and made Bakerella's snowmen, what do you think?



Here's our snowmen. I took a special liking to the one on the right.  He was my first successful one and I named him Sebastian.

 
Becky came up with the cool idea to do ornaments. She even brought real ornament tops for us to out on top. I thought these were very pretty.



 
Here's more. We had tons of options for decorating sugars and toppings.



If you don't own Bakerella's Cake Pops cookbook, go out and get it. It would make the perfect holiday gift for any baking or decorating enthusiast.

Be sure to read Maria's and Becky's posts about our Cake Pops adventure. Thanks again, friends. It's always fun to meet up and create.

Holiday Baking List 2010

Baking bloggers bake a bunch. {Say that 10x fast!}

So when the holiday season comes around it just gets down-right crazy.

I started to think about all the treats and festive dishes I wanted to make this year. There are a lot. Then I started to think about my blogging group commitments...and I am not sure if it is physically possible for me to bake everything I want and keep up with those groups. But I will try...{and still somehow manage to fight the holiday bulge!}

I love holiday dishes and baked goods. They are so fun, festive and create memories and connect you to your heritage. I can't wait to make some of my favorite holiday recipes.

Alright friends, here's my list. It's a combo of recipes that I've made, dishes I grew up with and new dishes I'd love to try. I'm not sure what I'll get to, but this list is for list's sake. My goal is to make at least six of these recipes, two from each category.

Recipes I've made and loved in the last 5 years:

* Peppermint Bark Brownies by Cafe Johnsonia

* Homemade Marshmallows by Alton Brown

* Decorate the Christmas Tree Doughnuts (Already made, just need to post!)
* Divinity (Family Recipe)
* Cranberry Jalapeno & Cream Cheese Spread
* Homemade Hot Chocolate (I'll probably try a new recipe.)
* Linzer Sables
* Fondue
* Tall & Creamy Cheesecake by Dorie Greenspan
* Sugar-topped Molasses Cookies by Dorie Greenspan



Family Recipes:

* Cinnamon Rolls

* Swedish Meatballs

* Au Gratin Potatoes

* Dopi 

* Rice Pudding

* Fudge

* Wassail/Grogg

* Mom's Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

* Christmas Morning Waffles with Strawberries and Whipped Cream

* Potato Latkes

* Pecan Rolls

* Truffles

* Divinity

* Cheese Ball

* Eclairs
* Shirley Temple Mocktail
* Gingerbread Men & Snowflakes
* Fruitcake
* Christmas Sugar Cookies

New Additions, I'd love to try:
* BAKED Sweet 'n Salty Brownies
* Saffron Buns
* Limpa Bread
* Sugar Cookies
* Homemade Peppermint Bark
* Spiced Nuts
* Chocolate & Raspberry Marshmallows by Dorie Greenspan
* Shirley J Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry BBQ Sauce from Master the Holidays
* Cherry Cheesecake Cookies
* Hermit Cookies
* Christmas Cupcake (I can't decide what flavor!)




I would absolutely love if you would share your favorite holiday recipes with me!
Links welcome!

Happy Holidays!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Translucent Maple Tuiles

Hindy from Bubie's Little Baker blog chose Translucent Maple Tuiles for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie this week.

I've made tuiles before and I was excited to try this maple version. These were easy to whip up, and quick to bake. It was a bit tricky to get the tuiles off the sheet, but after some practice it was second nature.



I thought these were super pretty, and I wish I would have made some homemade ice cream to go with them. I only made about 1/3 of the batch so maybe I will make ice ceram later this week!

Get the recipe form Hindy's blog and check out the other TWD baker's blogs.

Making Whoopie {Pies}

This summer I had my very first whoopie pie while visiting New England. Why on earth did I wait so long? These cakey-cream-filled-cookies are fun to eat and yummy. One of my favorite things to do is to re-live and re-create food memories at home. So I made my own whoopie pies!

I wanted to make something something completely different from the traditional Cranberry Island chocolate whoopie pies I had in Maine, and I wanted to go the more festive route. I chose the ever-popular Pumpkin Whoopie Pies by the guys at Baked. I knew I couldn't go wrong. As you know, I love their cookbooks.



Here they are: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling!

Don't they look divine? Trust me they were. I knew this recipe was going to be delicious. It had been given much acclaim by almost everyone, including Martha Stewart. And speaking of that you must watch the video where Matt, one of the owners of BAKED NYC, makes the whoopie pies on her show. I love watching how the bakers themselves make it. Even though there are tips in the book (which are crucial), it's fun to watch.

I also think you'll get some entertainment out of the segment.  Matt did such a great job. It has got to be a fun challenge to go make something on Martha. In my opinion, it is one of the hardest shows todo a cooking segment on. You never know what Martha is going to throw-in or toss out. The PR girl in me is thinking about how I would prep someone for this show. I swear my Q&A and scenario list would be pages long and we would tape run-throughs out the wazoo.  Matt, I'm not sure if you got extra media training, but kudos!

 

Now back to the whoopies!

Here are my notes:
* Quick and easy to make. Minimal work for such a high ROI!
* I loved making these by hand. Anytime I get to use a wooden spoon I smile.
* Next time I would love to try my hand at grinding my own spices for these. With that said, I had some wonderful high-end spices, especially cinnamon.
* Listen to the BAKED note and chill my pumpkin longer. Make sure to portion it out then chill it rather than in the can. My cookies spread, but not too much. It was my fault.

My husband lived in New England for a couple years and didn't have the best impression of whoopie pies. He always thought they were overrated and never cared for the Crisco filling. But he loved these, particularly the cool spice flavor that lingered.

 

You've got to add these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies to your holiday bake list. I know it's December but Pumpkin is still cool, people! 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling
from BAKED: New Frontiers in Baking

Ingredients:

Makes 12 whoopie pies

* FOR THE PUMPKIN WHOOPIE COOKIES
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
* 1 tablespoon ground ginger
* 1 tablespoon ground cloves
* 2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

* FOR THE CREAM-CHEESE FILLING
* 3 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
* 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
(I also added the beans from 1 Tahitian Vanilla Bean)

Directions

1. Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

3. Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.

4. Make the filling: Sift confectioner' sugar into a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla, beat just until smooth. (Filling can be made up to a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate; let stand at room temperature to soften before using.)

5. Assemble the whoopie pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end. When cookies have cooled completely, pipe a large dollop of filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate cookies at least 30 minutes before serving and up to 3 days.

You can print out the recipe from Martha Stewart's site, here.

If you're looking for a cookbook to give for Christmas this year, buy BAKED: New Frontiers in Baking or BAKED Explorations. You will love them!

2 Years of Cupcaking

Yesterday marked my 2-year Anniversary of Cupcake Blogging over at Utah Loves Cupcakes!

I will forever be in love with the idea, taste and cuteness of these individual-sized treats. Cupcakes are a tradition that is here to stay. Thanks to everyone who has been part of this sweet journey.

Head on over to Utah Loves Cupcakes to see what I'm doing to celebrate the occasion.