Janet in the City

Cupcake Hero!

2010-04-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

So I was on my normal foodie website and one of the cupcakes that I clicked on mentioned a monthly contest with a featured ingredient. I have no illusions of winning, but I think it might be fun to make some cupcakes to enter into the contest. The ingredient that needs to be used for the May contest is cocoa with some extra kudos if you use Askinosie Cocoa. When the cupcakes are made and the entry has been posted on your website you email the cupcake hero peeps and they will send you an email back letting you know that your entry was submitted. The email address is: cupcakeherostaff@gmail.com. I hope you all have as much fun doing this as I am going to!

WEDDING PICTURES!!!!!!

2009-09-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

Our photographer has posted our pictures so I am excited to share a few of my favorites. It was such a perfect day...I am glad to have pictures to capture what I missed. It was such a blur! To view the rest of the pictures click here.

Engagement Pictures

2009-06-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

Last month we had our engagement pictures taken. Here are a few of my favorites...

Wedding Website

2009-04-18T09:28:00.001-07:00

Janet and Michael August 14, 2009

So the time is just flying by! I cant believe that I am getting married in about 4 months! Where does the time go?? We decided that we arent going to do the traditional "save the date" pre-invites. Instead we have made a website just for the wedding. That way everyone can check out the latest and greatest on the wedding plans. I hope you stop by and check it out!

Cookies, Cookies and more Cookies!

2008-12-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

So this weekend was becky's annual cookie swap. It was a huge success and as usual I came home with too many good cookies. This is bad when I am trying to keep the weight down. Luckily, I bring them into work and they get devoured pretty quickly. If they didnt I would be in trouble! I couldnt decide which cookies to make so I decided to be an over achiever and make 3 different recipes that I had been eyeing.

Here was the result: Peppermint Bark (pretty dang close to the William Sonoma recipe), Orange Cranberry dark chocolate chip cookies, and Pumpkin Cream Cheese Truffles. I think they turned out really well and I think the 1/2 pound candy box was a nice touch to wrap them up for the party.

Peppermint Bark

12 oz Chocolate Chips

1 pound White Chocolate Chips

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1/2 cup peppermint candy, crushed

1. Preheat oven to 250. Line a 9x13 pan with foil, letting it hang over the sides. Spray foil. Pour the chocolate chips in an even layer on the foil. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until almost melted. Remove from oven, smooth with an offset spatula or knife. Place in refrigerator until cold and firm, about 20 minutes.

2. Melt white chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a metal bowl over simmering water (don’t let bottom of bowl touch water), until chocolate is almost melted. Remove bowl from water and stir until completely melted, stirring in extract. Let cool a little bit so it does not melt the chocolate layer when you pour it on top. Pour this over chocolate layer, and, working quickly, spread to cover.

3. Sprinkle with crushed candy.

4. Chill until both layers are firm. Lift foil out of pan and shake off excess candy. Trim edges. Cut into 2” wide strips. Peel bark from foil and cut each strip as desired. Chill in covered container. Makes about 2 pounds.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Truffles

1/2 cup white chocolate chunks

2 cups white chocolate almond bark (4-5 cubes)

1/3 cup ginger snap cookie crumbs, plus extra for garnish

1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs, plus extra for garnish

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1/2 tsp orange zest

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of fine salt

2 ounces cream cheese, softened

Melt 1/2 cup of chocolate in a double boiler over medium low heat. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the remaining ingerdients ( minus the remaining chocolate) into the bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Transfer to a shallow bowl, cover and chill until solid enough to roll into balls, about 2 hours.

Line a large sheet tray with parchment paper. Melt remaining 2 cups white chocolate almond bark and transfer to a small, deep bowl. Roll 1 heaping teaspoon of the pumpkin mixture into a ball in your hands, then drop into the chocolate. Working quickly, gently spoon chocolate over to coat. Using a small spoon or fork, lift the truffle out of the chocolate, shake off excess and transfer to prepared sheet tray. Dollop a bit of extra chocolate on any parts that remain exposed, then sprinkle a few gingersnap or graham cracker crumbs over the top, if you like.

Repeat process with remaining pumpkin mixture and chocolate, then chill truffles until chocolate is completely set, about 1 hour.

Orange Cranberry Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

1 egg

zest of 1 orange

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar, beating with an electric mixer until light. Beat in egg and orange zest. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add in the flour mixture, stirring only until just combined. Stir in the cranberries and chocolate chips.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (about 1 1/4-inch balls) onto prepared cookie sheets and bake for 9-12 minutes, until edges are very lightly browned.
Cool for 3-4 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Finally I went to Jenn's house the night before the swap and helped her by making these candy cane cookies. I think these were my second favorite to the peppermint bark. They were fairly easy to make too. My nephew loved watching as he poured the red food color in and the dough was magically red! They didnt make a ton but enough to fill a cute plate.

Candy Cane Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 egg
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red food coloring
2 tablespoons finely crushed peppermint candies
2 tablespoons sugar

Stir together 1 cup sugar, the butter, milk, vanilla, peppermint extract and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Divide dough in half. Stir food color into 1 half. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Heat oven to 375ºF. Stir together peppermint candy and 2 tablespoon sugar; set aside.

For each candy cane, shape 1 rounded teaspoon dough from each half into 4-inch rope by rolling back and forth on floured surface. Place 1 red and white rope side by side; press together lightly and twist. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; curve top of cookie down to form handle of cane.Bake about 9 minutes or until set. *Immediately sprinkle candy mixture over cookies. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

BRRRRR!!!!!!

2008-12-15T07:15:00.001-08:00

Ok I just need to take a moment to complain about the weather. Normally this time of year I like it cold so you can really get into the holiday swing, but this morning it went to a whole new level! It was the coldest night in over 100 years in denver. Not including the windchill it was hovering around -19 degrees. I take the light rail to work in the mornings and with the traffic I was a few minutes later than normal making me miss my train by a mere minute. This did however make me have to wait in the now balmy -15 degree weather for over 10 minutes. I think my lungs now hate me. That and my face may have frostbite...I'm not too sure how long that takes to set in. Well here is too the winter weather and hoping it reaches the 9 degree high today.

Christmas Time is Here!

2008-12-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

So I love this time of year. When the weather starts getting cold I can't help but want to bake. This is dangerous for pretty much everyone around me as then I start to push my treats on to anyone that is in the vicinity. My sister Becky has a cookie swap that I am involved in every year and to tell you how much I love to bake I am making three different recipes that I have been wanting to try. I dont want to post any recipes that aren't tried and true but one recipe that I found last year for the swap turned out to be one of my favorite...plus it is just fun to say APPLE DOODLES...I told you it was fun. My whole family loved these cookies so here is the recipes that is easy and fast to make, perfect for this time of year when we are all short on time.

Apple Doodles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

* 2/3 cup butter-flavored shortening
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 2 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* ½ teaspoon salt
* 1 cup finely diced peeled tart apple (about 2 apples)
* ¾ cup chopped walnuts, optional

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir half into the creamed mixture. Stir in the apple, walnuts (if desired) and remaining dry ingredients. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 3 inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield 3 dozen.

Pumpkins

2008-10-27T21:34:00.001-07:00

We had Jenn and Steven and the kids over to the house to carve pumpkins on Saturday night. It was originally supposed to be at Becky's but since the kids got sick we moved venue and lost some of the fun. Becky we missed you and the kids! Here are the pumpkins...

All the hard workers. Some of us are even multitaskers and can talk on the phone and carve at the same time!!!

Can you guess you did which pumpkin??

Busy Weekend

2008-10-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a busy one. It started with my nephew Dylan's soccer game. It was so cute to see him play what I like to call "swarm ball".
His favorite parts of the game seemed to be at the end going through the parent tunnel and since it was the last game of the year he also got a medal.

GOOOO Team!

The Team

And the medal goes to...

Picture Tag

2008-10-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

My sister Becky tagged me telling me to open my third picture folder and post the third picture in the file no matter what it is. This scared me but I was surprised that it was on okay picture.

This is from opening day Rockies this last summer. I had some pretty good seats...too bad the Rockies SUCK! Well I guess it is my turn to tag people. I tag Jen McDonald and Ann Reed.

Engaged!!!

2008-10-09T07:49:00.000-07:00

So here I am starting a new chapter in my life. On Saturday the 27th of September Michael gave me the ultimate surprise. So it all started earlier in the day when we were going downtown to meet some friends for dinner. When he came to pick me up there was a super long stem rose on my seat. I told him I loved it and asked what it was for. He told me he just saw it and thought it would be fun to give it to me. I thought nothing of it and off we went to go downtown. (After all this happened he told me that he tried to get away during dinner to get everything and give it to me downtown but I like how it happened much better.) After eating and hanging out we both were ready to relax at home and watch a movie. As we got settled into the movie he said he forgot something in his car, and he comes back in with another super long stemmed rose. He got down and asked me to marry him!!! Inside the rose was my ring...1 carat princess cut solitaire! I am so happy and excited to be sharing my life with this wonderful man!

Free Hangbag Giveaway

2008-10-09T07:47:00.001-07:00

So I there is a website for you to be able to win a free handbag. In honor of their new website handbag planet is giving away 24 bags in 24 hours. Check it out! It is hard to pass up a chance to win a new purse!
http://www.handbagplanet.com/

Hiker in the city?

2008-07-08T09:38:00.001-07:00

So more on my adventures in Alaska will follow, but I wanted my blog to start out on the right foot. After my backpacking trip in Alaska Ann and Jen had to retrieve their packs after rescuing a few boys the day before. We happened to be at church when the packs were exchanged and since Ann was carrying a sleeping Kai, I was left to carry hers in my lovely church attire. There was much laughter at how "hot" I looked. They decided to document the moment with a picture and a promise to put this on a singles website (yikes!). They said it basically showed it all...I love the outdoors but can look awesome as well. ha ha.