Treats for Stella

Although cats will always be my favorite pet, I cannot deny that I love dogs too. And so, when my girlfriend Kim asks me to take care of her Stella, I always say yes! This visit, I have spent some time baking my way through a doggie treat book. I am playing around with idea of making it a business and Stella is my taste tester. So far she has enjoyed most of the recipes!

"I am such a pretty girl!"

Now that doggie treat sure was good!

Look at me go, my doggie treats keep me going strong!

What do you mean, I have to climb all those stairs? Good thing I am one strong doggie!

Fido´s Low Fat Biscuits, 

from the K-9 Cookbook by Mary MacPherson

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 Tbsps cold water

1/4 cup skim milk

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 1/tsps garlic powder

2 egg whites

2 Tbsps vegetable oil

Directions:

Combine flour, cornmeal, rolled oats and garlic powder in one bowl. Whisk oil, egg whites molasses, milk, and water in a second bowl. Make a well in the flour and add the egg mixture and mix till well blended. Knead the dough and roll out 1/2 inch think. Cut out with cookie cutters. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Let cool for one hour in an off- oven. Cool on rack and store.

I am sharing this post with the Foodie Friday group over at Rattelbridge Farm

What would I do without Amazon.de?

Oh, the doorbell just rang....and who was it? Oh that beautiful,. wonderful package delivery man with a package from one of my favorite online shops....AMAZON. You see the other day while browsing the net in search of the perfect cake recipe for my mother in law´s 90th(which is less than 2 weeks away) I stopped by the website of the pioneer woman to see what she had been up to lately.

Turns out, she has been one busy lady and has published a new cookbook! YEA! You know what comes next! Forget looking for that perfect recipe, my next click was to amazon.de in the hopes they would have it, as I do not have the patience to wait for amazon.com to deliver to Germany. Excitement broke out in my kitchen as I proceeded to order the book and since my sister just had a milestone birthday on the 4th and loves to cook as much as I do, I ordered 2 copies! Oh she is going to just love this book. We are both fans of the pioneer woman´s guacomole and pico del Gallo recipes that were featured in her first book.

....and then the wait for the package to arrive.....thankfully I have amazon prime and I only had to wait 2 days, but still 2 very long days.

So now, at exactly 10:15 am I have the pkg in my hands! I drop all plans of housework and office work, who can work when there is a new cook book to be discovered?

Happy Wednesday Everyone

Yep that ´s my name---that´s my package!

Amazon.de---such pretty words!I wonder what Mr. AMAZON looks like?

the suspense builds as I rip open the package.....

and here it is....the latest edition to my cookbook Collection. Be sure to check back as I cook my way through the book!

Oma´s 90th

Well, only 16 more days...then my mother in law hits the big 90!! As many know my mother in law is not my best friend, but she is a good person and was always eager to help where she could. Since September of last year, she is living in an apartment in assisted living. For awhile we thought we were going to lose her, but thanks to some wonderful doctors in a clinic in Osnabrück, we got her back. It turns out, it was the meds that were messed up. So, I started planning a 90th birthday!

Most of the planning and prep work is done, except for the baking, which of course can not be done yet. If all goes well, I will be baking the cakes and cupcakes in my nieces new kitchen, or my sisters which just happens to be right around the corner!

Today I made the toppers for the cupcakes. I am falling in love with my cricut. I had actually bought for cake decorating, but since that is not working out to well I have been using it instead for scrapbook and paper crafts. Here is a first peak at the decorations for the cupcakes.

Be sure to stop by in a few weeks for more on this big day. And  then you all better come by in 10 years when we celebrate the big 100! I am telling you all this woman just might hit that milestone.

Man´s Best Friend

Welcome Back to New Recipe Sunday! 

This week I would like to share with you a new treat for your favorite canine pet, that I just tried out this morning! You see I dog sat last night and woke up at 6 am this morning and since it is Sunday and not much else to do so early in the morning, I started baking doggie treats (that had actually been my plan for the night before, but the bottle of red and some good movies canceled that plan!!!).

Spot´s Golden Cheese Dreams  found in the MacPhersons´s K-9 Cookbook

 (Shout Out to Marcy who let me borrow the book and the cookie cutters)

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

1 cup shredded cheese

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsps garlic powder

3 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:

Mix, the flour and garlic powder in a large bowl. Make a well and add the veggie oil, cheese, beaten egg, and milk until well blended. Knead the dough on a floured surface and roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with small dog bone shaped biscuit cutter and place a greased baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400° F and cool on rack to room temperature.

STELLA

my taste tester! It was awfully hard to get her to pose for me, so not the best picture! Will try again later today when I go back to check on her!

Hope everyone can have a wonderful Sunday

Lots of pink…..

So much pink, I could not decide which picture to feature this week, so I am showcasing all of them! The sweet babies are my great niece Clara and great nephew Felix. They came to visit last week. I would also like to tell you about my new kitchen handtowels. They were a gift from my niece Heidi. So perfect for me! Thanks Heidi and Thanks Mareike and Mom for coming to visit me! I did enjoy having you all here.

       

        

Happy Pink Saturday Everyone!

 Be sure to stop by Beverly´s at How Sweet the Sound for more pink!

A Great Deal

Don´t you just love it, you go to the mall just to browse and before you know it one great deal after another falls into your lap! Well, that happened to me the other day---I needed a break from home so I headed to one of my favorite places--TJ MAXX and that is where deal #1 fell into my hands!

3 gorgeous kitchen towels from williams-sonoma and it my favorite/kitchen color red. Price: 3 towels for 7 euros! What a great deal.

Of course my cart filled up with a few more items, how can it not? I think I put my birthday money from my mom to good use! Thanks Mom!

A golden Evening

Remember a few weeks ago, when I posted pictures of a gold tablescape I was designing for an upcoming catering job? Well, here are the pictures of that said evening! The hostess had gold chargers which I think made the table just pop out and grab your attention!

Now is that not a table fit for a king?

The stemware is WATERFORD! Oh so beautiful

I love the flowers she picked out

Fancy place cards

The Menu Card

Everything went really well, the host and hostess were happy, the guests were happy and the caterer(that's me) was happy. I had great help and look forward to the next event!

Happy Week Everyone!

http://www.thetablescaper.com/

http://betweennapsontheporch.net

lets dish Wednesday

http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/ 

Watermelon.....

A watermelon filled with fruit..... YUMMY

This past Sunday I catered a small bbq for an american family. Many salads were requested, one being a fruit salad. A dear friend of mine suggested using the watermelon as the bowl and although I have never done that, I tried and look here it worked! A simple carve, but nonetheless it still looked great. The green leaves on the far left, are pineapple mint, from my very own garden!

Happy Foodie Friday Everyone!

          

Salad Dressings

Hello and welcome to New Recipe Sunday! Today I am sharing with you a recipe for

Creamy Garlic Dressing

I found this recipe in my copy of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

Ingredients:

3/4 cup mayo 

1/4 cup sour cream

2 tsps white vineagar

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp dried basil, crushed

2 gloves garlic, minced

1/8 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. If necessary add some milk to get the consitency just right.

This was the salad that I made the dressing for! Got these pictures before we added the dresssing!

Happy Sunday Everyone!