Pink Saturday

I've been absent from Pink Saturday the past few weeks. We've been out of town, without internet access, so I've had no way to link to Pink Saturday. I am guessing there's a way from my phone but have yet to be successful.

Today I am sharing a couple of pink roses from my garden.

Happy Pink Saturday !!!!!

From The Good Life

Sadly enough today's From The Good Life doesn't reflect such a good life for many. Here in Omaha, as well as all around us we're experiencing terrible flooding. Having lived in the midwest all of my life, I've experienced flash flooding and some river flooding but never anything like this. Farmland and towns have become lakes, highways are closed and levee's are breaking. I was amazed on Sunday when I spoke with my son, who lives in Los Angeles, he hadn't heard anything on the news about what was going on here. Just this week, I've started to see a bit in the news about the devastation but certainly, or so it seems, not as much as when disaster occurs on the east or west coast.

Photograph courtesy of St. Joseph Post

The really sad part is this could go on for weeks or even months, as the release of water continues from Gavin's Point Dam in South Dakota. Please keep all of the people effected by this in your thoughts!

Father's Day Tee Time Cupcakes - Martha Stewart Cupcake Club

When Rachael asked me to host June's Martha Stewart Cupcake Club, I thumbed through the book trying to decide which recipe to choose. Father's Day Tee Time Cupcakes, the perfect choice for June.

Don't tell Martha but I cheated a bit on these. (Didn't she do that on something, too?) Anyway, with a lot going on preparing for Mike's graduation party in Minnesota, I used a boxed cake mix! Okay and canned frosting, too! At least I am honest and letting you all know, I could have passed them off as homemade and you'd you have never known.

These cupcakes were so fun to put together. After searching everywhere for something to use for the golf ball, I settled on a white gumball. Since the gumball was kind of large, I made giant cupcakes. The balance of the ingredients were easy to find! I used construction paper for the pin flags. If you're looking for something fun to make for Father's Day, give these a try.

Father's Day Tee Time Cupcakes

24 Cupcakes (Your choice of flavor)
White Icing of your choice
1 to 2 cups green sanding sugar
18 round white candies
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (3 -4 sheets finely ground in food processor)

1. Using an offset spatula, spread each cupcake with a smooth layer of icing. Pour green sanding sugar into a small bowl. Dip tops of frosted cupcakes in the sugar, then sprinkle more on top to coat completely.
2. To create putting greens, make flags (you will need 18). Cut out lengths (3 to 4 inches) from white grosgrain ribbon. Fold each length around one end of a wooden skewer, and adhere folded sides together with hot glue or double sided tape. Cut ribbon into a triangle shape and plant the skewer into a cupcake. Place a small white candy "ball" near the flag.
3. To create sand traps, spoon about 1 teaspoon graham cracker crumbs in the center of each of 6 cupcakes. With your thumb, make an indentation in the middle of each pile of crumbs, shifting to one side to form a steeper side or an irregularly shaped trap.

Refrigerate 30 minutes to allow frosting to set.




You can find the other MSC member's cupcakes here!

I am linking this to Sweet Tooth Friday and Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday !!

Quick Crescent Taco Pie

Have you participated in the Celebrity Cook Along over at Happier Than A Pig in Mud ? If not, you should check it out. Each month, she chooses a chef or in this month's case, a company. You pick a recipe and blog about it.

This month's Celebrity Cook Along is Pillsbury! To make it even better, Jo at LazyonLoblolly is giving away a Dough Boy and a cookbook! Gotta love that Dough Boy...and Pillsbury!

When I think of Pillsbury, I often think of desserts. Since I am always looking for new dinner ideas, I chose a main dish. If you like tacos, give this one a try! It was DELICIOUS, one I will be making again soon. It's quick and easy to put together and make's a great weeknight dinner.



Superspeedway Taco Pie
Recipe Courtesy of Pillsbury
Ingredients:

1 (1.25 oz) package taco seasoning

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup water

1 (8 oz) package refrigerated crescent rolls

2 cups crushed tortilla chips

1 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

In a large pan brown your ground beef. Drain of the grease and stir in the seasoning mix and water. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles. Place the triangles in a ungreased 10 inch pie pan, pressing to form a crust. Sprinkle 1 cup tortilla chips over the bottom of the crust, Spoon meat mixture over crust and chips. Spread sour cream over meat mixture and cover with cheese. Sprinkle the remaining chips over the top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until crust is brown.

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday, Tuesday's at the Table, and Tuesday Night Supper Club.

Secret Recipe Club

One of my favorite things about participating in a blog hop is the new friends you meet. Secret Recipe Club introduces you to new blogging friends and new recipes! Here's how it works, each month you're assigned another person's blog, you choose a recipe from their blog and post about! Can you keep a secret? If you're going to participate in Secret Recipe challenge, you have to! You can't reveal the blog or the recipe until the posting date! How fun is that!! Secret Recipe Club is the creation of Amanda at Amanda's Cooking!

This month I was assigned the blog, Haggis and the Herring! Haggis and the Herring is a husband and wife blog team who feature "tasty recipes tested in our kitchen – drawing from flavours around the world including our English, European, Mediterranean and South-Asian food experiences." There were so many recipes to choose from, it was hard to narrow it down to just one.

We love roasted potatoes, so after much deliberation, I chose Crunchy Roasted Potatoes and Carrots. In this recipe you boil the potatoes and carrots before roasting. I've seen lots of recipes where you boil potatoes before deep frying them. I cut my potatoes into large chunks instead of a dice. I used 1/2 regular paprika and 1/2 smoky paprika. Mine didn't get very crunchy but maybe that's because I made them on a silpat instead of parchment? We really enjoyed these, they were just a little spicy with a lot of flavor.




Crunchy Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
by Daniel Saraga November 3, 2010
Courtesy of The Haggis and The Herring

Serve it as a side or eat it alone for the pure comfort-food value.
Ingredients
5 or 6 potatoes, diced, (peeled, optional)
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into 3/4" rounds
3-4 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
to taste salt

Instructions
1. Boil potatoes and carrots in salted water until soft (15-20 minutes).2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.3. Drain and run potatoes and carrots under cold water for 2-4 minutes, drain again and let dry for 2-3 minutes.4. In a small bowl, mix oil, paprika, cayenne and a pinch of salt.5. Toss potatoes and carrots in oil mixture and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.6. Roast for 30-45 minutes, until outside is golden and crispy.
Details
Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 1 hour 10 mins Yield: 6 servings

Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake

What if your favorite cookie could also be a cake? It can be if you love Snickerdoodles. I found this recipe over at Let's Dish. When I read Danelle say it was one of the best cakes she'd eaten recently, I was sold. I made this cake for a co-workers birthday and Danelle is right, this one is a keeper. It's so moist and tastes just like Snickerdoodles!



Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake
Ingredients
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream

Directions
In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon; mix well. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously spray a 9-inch Bundt pan with cooking spray, being careful to cover all the nooks and cranies, as well as the center tube. Gently dust the entire inside of the pan with about 1/3 cup of the cinnamon and sugar mixture, set the rest aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Beat just the butter on medium speed for one minute. Add the white sugar and mix for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and blade and add the brown sugar. Mix for 2 minutes until the mixture is light brown and uniform in color. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream; beat well. Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture Spread the rest of the batter into the pan and sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I am linking this to Full Plate Thursday and Foodie Friday !!

From The Good Life

I am excited to have my first guest poster on Little Bit of Everything. He's my photographer, my taster, my supporter and my best friend. If you haven't already guessed, it's my husband Tim. Thanks for all you do for me!

Hi! I am Julie's husband, Tim aka "The Photographer". I seem to be on standby 24/7 as I never know when Julie is whipping up that next creation in the kitchen or I need to photograph something PINK! When Julie asked if I wanted to be her first guest blogger, I knew I had to tie something fun together, incorporating my pictures and of course food.

With summer temperatures rising this week it takes me back to our vacation this winter in Cabo San Lucas. Our friend Larry and I went fishing in the Pacific. We had the option to fish inland (small fish and lots of them) or head out in the ocean 40 miles and the chance for Yellow Fin Tuna. We went for fun and adventure and we found it. I never knew Tuna traveled with Dolphins. It was an amazing site to see hundreds of Dolphins and Tuna jumping at the same time next to the boat.

As a kid in Minnesota, I learned seeing a fish jump and catching a fish are two different things. We were lucky enough to catch a nice 15 pound Yellow Fin. After reeling him in, our deck hand filleted the fish out at 40 MPH on the back of the boat. If you have ever cleaned fish it’s hard enough doing this standing still. We ended up with 4 nice fillets that would sure taste good on the grill this summer.

This week, We fired up the grill to enjoy our catch. We lightly covered the 1 1/2 inch thick filets with olive oil and seasoning. Having never grilled this type of fish, our wisdom and Google said to cook 2 minutes each side. The joy of cooking is to experiment and learn. Looks like we needed to sear on one side and flip over after 1 minute, or less as they were a little bit over done. Still tasty, it brought back great memories of a great vacation.