Tuesdays with the kids...errr Dorie

This weeks pick for TWD was Summer Fruit Galette by Michelle in Colorado Springs. Well, in my most recent attempt to be a great Mummy...I made my pie crust dough and enlisted Sarah& Sean to roll it out between parchment paper. This turned out to be a complete nightmare as I had made an error while making the dough but was hoping that a little extra flour would correct it.


It didn't work so then I started over...sadly the difference appears to be in the butter. You see, our son is lactose intolerant and we have been enjoying a little shopping at Whole Foods until I went on Maternity Leave and no longer travel that way. I am glad to be off but I am missing Whole Foods already!!! So, batch #2 was rough as well...so #1 Mummy slipped a few ranks and just put the Summer Fruit Galette together herself. Sorry kids!!! At least we tried...

I hope to find another supplier of my Earth Balance Butter soon as these were pretty sad looking Galettes...I did try one and to be honest the end product was a little disappointing as well. I did not make the custard since there was no room left in my galettes so that may have been part of the problem...but the crust was definitely too think (I just couldn't get it to cooperate! I managed to scrape together 4 mini galettes which I am sure the kids will enjoy with some ice cream tomorrow...

I am happy to be getting back into the swing of things but am off to sleep now as Simon's 3am wake-up call will be here far too quickly!

Enjoy!
Heather

Hats off to the Birthday Boy!

As I promised...here is another one of my most recent creative adventures! Our little guy (now middle child...hmmm) had his birthday this past weekend. He never goes far without his favourite baseball cap so I thought what could possibly be a better cake than the cap itself.

It took some convincing to get him to wear his hat frontwards but Mummy won that battle so here he is just delighted with his cake and his matching hat! I caught no end of grief because there was no maple leaf on the cake but I thought I ought to be excused as we have a 3week old infant in the house!!!


Here is a close-up of the cake itself...I made the letters with white chocolate and an alphabet mold. The cake itself was 3 layers (2 yellow and 1 chocolate) with Strawberry buttercream icing between the layers. Yummy! I baked and layered the cakes then I froze them and sculpted them into the shape of a hat. This is the first time I have ever sculpted a cake so I learned a lot here...I am looking forward to the next one!

The cake is iced in marshmallow fondant while the bill, the button and the adjustable strap on the back are made out of gum paste. This was my first time working with gum paste as well but it didn't cause me too much trouble!

Happy 4th Birthday Sean!

Enjoy!
Heather

Welcome Simon William!

After an extra nights stay at the hospital and 2 weeks of no internet at home...I am happy to report that Simon William and I are settling into life with the rest of the family! Simon came into this world weighing 9lbs10oz and has now passed the 10lb mark at just over 2 weeks! What can I say? We don't make small babies in this house!!!

Here we are the proud (and tired) parents of Sarah, Sean and Simon. Sweet. We enjoyed a picnic at a local park with the kids and are having fun keeping up with the older ones while trying to manage the schedule (or lack thereof) of an infant!
Here are the proud older sister and brother...they are loving their new baby brother and can't give him enough hugs and kisses!

More creative adventures are forthcoming...I just need to find some time to sit down!

Enjoy!
Heather

TWD Pie in the Oven...

Well, if all has gone well...I am in the hospital with the latest addition to our family right now...but as a treat to my family I decided to bake this week's treat anyway...This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe Double Crusted Blueberry Pie was selected by Amy of South in your Mouth.

Since it is nowhere near blueberry season here in Southern Ontario and we have so much local fruit available I decided to sub cherries for blueberries. This was, of course, having to go out and locate a cherry pitter and making a splatter disaster all over the kitchen and myself pitting the cherries!!! It was entertaining at least!

I am not normally very good with pie crust (even our 6yo daughter managed to remind me of this when I was rolling out the dough (she watched very closely for fatal errors). But this dough (once refridgerated) was lovely to roll out. I can't believe I managed to pull it off in one go for each of the crusts (top and bottom!) I did make the edges a little too thick for my liking but other than that the crust really was quite lovely if I do say so myself!

Here it is...my finished product...everyone loved it and I was again the star Mummy on the scene!


We served it up with some ice cream and enjoyed it on our patio...our last supper as a family of 4...so crazy!!! Tomorrow is a big day and I still have some packing to do (well, all of my packing really). So I need to remove myself from here and get to work! Do you think I will get some of my own homemade pie in the hospital? I am wondering who is going to eat it now that I have to fast and the kids are going to be out and about with various volunteers from our family and friends!

Enjoy!
Heather

Happy Canada Day!!!

Well, I hope that all of our Canadian readers had a great Canada Day and all of our American readers are looking forward to a fabulous Independence Day! We enjoyed our day as a family here...We started the day off William Sonoma Style with Maple Leaf Pancakes...which were, of course, topped with Canadian Maple Syrup!

The kids and I decorated some cupcakes, Canadian Style, of course! Before lunch and we sang Happy Birthday to Canada and enjoyed the cakes of our labour! These delights were banana cupcakes with Maple Leaf Quins...such fun!

We then headed off to Charles Daley Park in Jordan where we enjoyed some supper, a clown who does amazing Balloon Art. His name is Halaloo if you live in the area he is definitely worth checking out! Sarah wanted a purple flower and Sean chose a Monkey in a tree..how cool is that??? There were some pretty amazing balloons at the park!!!

Finally, Sean really enjoyed 'monkeying' around in the bouncy castles...he wanted me to take lots of photos but this is one of my favourites...Sarah had a quick hop in one and then was done but Sean must have gone 4 times!!!

We had a great Canada Day as a family...we then headed home and relaxed with a movie and some kettle corn (who knew there is no butter in kettle corn??)

Enjoy!
Heather

TWD Apple Cheddar Loveliness

With each passing week I think that I am not going to get to the treat of the week as the weather is so hot here (we have no air conditioning in our house so I do not want to unnecessarily heat the house) but then we have this one amazingly cool day that I break down, turn the oven on and make the treat of the week. I can't seem to help myself!!!

This week's Tuesday with Dorie delight was Apple Cheddar Scones chosen by Karina of The Floured Apron. There was a lot of talk this week about the dried apples...I have to admit I did not go out of my way to find them...I simply gave in and grated some fresh apples. This did not seem to negatively impact the recipe in anyway however, I did find that they were a little too fine so next time I would chop rather than grate...I LOVE apples and cheddar and I just did not get enough of them in this recipe!


I made these first thing in the morning and served them to my tasters first thing in the morning as part of their breakfast. This was followed up with at least one "You're the best Mummy ever!" What can I say? Things are very dramatic in the Creative Bug Household!!!! Anyway, we did find that the preference was to serve the scones with butter as it did not detract from their lovely flavour...they were light and fluffy...everything a scone should be.

In order to be able to make these puppies square I had to use a whole lot of flour and pat them out carefully...but they did not cause any trouble once they were paired with the flour. The only substitution I made this week was shortening for the butter (Dorie even mentions that this is okay). It helped me save a little on that organic lactose free butter we seem to be burning through ever since I joined Tuesdays with Dorie!!!

Here they are in all their loveliness...a recipe worth indulging in. Simplicity at its finest.

Enjoy!
Heather