How amazing is this? Simply replace one center board with a metal gutter and you have a built-in cooler. Keep waters cool, water balloons, flowers, ANYTHING! Love this idea!

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I could call these Big Game Sliders but the last time I made them was my daughters 5th birthday, which was as loud and as rowdy as any big game gathering I have been to. And talking about the ‘Big Game’, I was at the gym a week ago and happened across a show on the Food Network that featured a couple of ‘Big Game’ recipes and just to give you an insight at the kind of snack they were serving – their big drawcard recipe was caramelised (ie. fried) bologna  on a slice of white sandwich bread! I left the gym in feeling slightly ill (and horrified) and went home to devise my own ultimate big game bash snack list.

These were at the top of that list and they are crowd pleasers if I do say so myself. I always make both beef and turkey because these days there are alot of people who do not eat red meat.

Say ‘no’ to bologna this weekend as part of your big game menu and go for gold with some decent fare – most importantly, enjoy the event. And just between us, the big drawcard for me are the advertisments – but I keep that quiet, sip on my wine and cheer along the rest of the USA.

Beef Burgers
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large red onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 slices of bread, crusts removed
500 grams good-quality minced (ground) beef
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 heaped teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
oil for frying

To assemble
18 small buns (I use mini brioche buns)
18 slices of Roma Tomatoes (usually 3 Roma tomatoes)
18 small squares of Iceberg lettuce
1 cup caramelised onions
ketchup

Put the olive oil into a large frying pan on a low heat and add your chopped onions. Fry for 10 minutes until the onions have softened, set aside and let cool. 

Place the bread in a blender or food processor and blend to a fine crumb. Put the cooled onions into a large bowl with the rest of the burger ingredients. Use a fork (or clean hands) to mix the mixture together really well, then divide into around 18 equal balls for sliders. Wet your hands and roll the balls into burger-shaped patties about 1/2 inch thick. Place your burgers or sliders on an oiled baking tray and pat with a little olive oil. Cover them with cling film and put the tray into the fridge for at least an hour, or until the patties firm up.

Pour some of your favourite frying oil in your frying pan and turn to a high heat, letting it get really hot. Cook your burgers for 3 – 4 minutes on each side – you will need to cook them in batches. Place onto absorbant paper when totally cooked.

Cut your brioche buns in half and butter lightly. Place a burger on the bottom bun, followed by a small squeeze of ketchup and some caramelised onions – then the tomato and iceberg lettuce. Place the top of the brioche bun on top. Serve immediately – I like to use frilly toothpicks.

Turkey Burgers
2 tablespoons Canola oil
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 cup finely grated Gruyere cheese
4 shallots (scallions), thinly sliced
1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper

To assemble
16 small buns (I use mini brioche buns)
16 slices of Roma Tomatoes (usually 3 Roma tomatoes)
16 small squares of Iceberg lettuce
mayonnaise (or spicy mayonnaise – recipe below)

In a medium bowl, use a fork to gently combine ground turkey with Gruyere, scallions, breadcrumbs, mustard, and garlic; season generously with salt and pepper. Cover in plastic wrap and place in your fridge for 30 minutes to firm the mixture up, then gently roll mixture into 24 balls and form into 1/2 inch thick patties.

Heat oil in a skillet and fry patties for about 3 minutes on each side, remove and set on absorbant paper.

Cut your brioche buns in half and butter lightly. Place a burger on the bottom bun, followed by a dollop of mayonnaise – then the tomato and iceberg lettuce. Place the top of the brioche bun on top. Serve immediately. 

Spicy Mayonnaise
8 teaspoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons ketchup
1/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika or cayenne pepper
juice of a lemon

Combine all ingredients together and use – left overs can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.Tweet

Have a great Super Bowl Sunday and I hope your team wins, because mine sure didn’t even make it close.  I consider Super Bowl a holiday in its own right as it brings friends and family together for one common goal (and a lot of good food).  Need some additions to fluff up your spread for the game? Check out a few good ones I found:

Sweets (Football Cake Pops) from love and butter

Savory Appetizer (Potato Rings) from Spoon Fork Bacon

Bright Appetizer (Tilapia Tacos) from Chef Wanabe

Vegan (Jalapeno Poppers) from Healthy Happy Life

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1.  Friendship Bracelet Valentines from Dandee    2.  Princess and Super Hero Peg Doll Valentines from Crossing the Bugger-Dixon Line  3.  Lucky In Love Scratch Off Valentines from BHG  4.  Envelope Valentines from Nest of Posies  5.  Peach Prize Ball Valentine from The Sweetest OccasionTweet

It occurred to me yesterday at lunch that TOMS has truly penetrated the market.  Our whole party was wearing TOMS (not on purpose), our waitress was wearing black sparkle TOMS and when we left the bistro (after my daughter threw up mussels and escargot on her TOMS) the friendly homeless man outside was wearing TOMS.

I figure that if the movement has reached this man, wearing a tacky Christmas sweater in Palm Springs heat, it has truly been a success.  This makes me happy.  We gave our delicious doggy bag to him and went home, invigorated to buy new TOMS. I love them for my daughter–they make great everyday run around shoes, but it was really time to look for a new pair for myself.

Imagine my glee when I spotted the new Ballet Flats that TOMS offers.  Yes, ballet flats.  They come in all different fabrics: burlap, linen, leather, chambray and suede.  TOMS has been successful not only because of the pure goodness of the cause, but also because their design and marketing teams rule.  They have kept us on our toes (pun not intended but left in) adding new colors, fabrics, styles and entire collections on a regular basis. A great business model for a worthy company.

Brand new for Spring 2012 (and some available now) – TOMS Ballet Flats.  See the current collection – more on their way.

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Does your morning breakfast routine need a little help these days?  I know mine does. In the morning while rushing around getting ready for work, the last thing I want to do is make breakfast let alone a little packet of instant oatmeal that is never as good as it looks on the box or in the commercials. When I stumbled upon this genius recipe I could not wait to share it with all of you busy women. On-the-go oatmeal is also a great snack for after a workout, in the middle of the day or even at night when you are craving something sweet. You can even customize the recipe with your favorite dried fruit or even bananas.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
• 1/4 brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup almond milk – or milk of choice [skim, soy, rice, etc.]
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk – you can omit, just replace with another 1/2 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1 apple, pored and peeled and cut into small 1/2″ pieces
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup raisins

Optional: nuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cupcake pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In large bowl mix together oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In a separate bowl whisk together milk, coconut milk, applesauce, and egg whites.

Add wet ingredients to the oat mixture and mix until combined. Carefully fold in apple pieces and raisins.

In prepared muffin/cupcake pan, fill each cup about 3/4 full. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until tops are browned

Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.Tweet

I’m noticing this trend in all aspects of my life, which is the over-engineering of things. I’ve noticed that a lot of the baby food recipe books are completely over done. I think it’s wonderful for the parents who have time to make a 5 course puree meal for their baby using extremely fancy items, but for me, it’s unrealistic. That all being said, when a new parent, or even a parent of several kids who finally decided to try to make their own baby food goes to make their first batches, it’s not an easy task. Not only do you have no idea where to really start, but a lot of the recipes out there are extremely involved. When my daughter was born, we all rushed to this blog with recipes by age. My first recipe was a complicated broccoli cheese soup that took forever to make and gave her so much gas! Apparently Liza Huber, author of Sage Spoonfuls, thought this exact same thing.

Not only can you buy all of the accessories needed to create, store and travel with your own homemade purees, but her book, Sage Spoonfuls, is the holy grail of all baby food cookbooks. Sage Spoonfuls is truly the only book you’ll need because she breaks down everything you need to know in one handy book. You’ll learn all about the benefits of going organic, Allergies and food intolerances (and what to look for), nutrition basics, herbs/spice knowledge, foods to avoid and even choking and infant CPR techniques. Then she goes into detail about the tools you need, shopping lists, preparation of the foods, how to puree, how to serve and store the purees.

Ok, if that didn’t sell you, I need to explain to you why I truly love this book. As I mentioned earlier, most recipes books try to impress you with their complicated recipes that they guarantee will wow your child. But when you go to the grocery store, you see basic items on the shelf that your child loves. Liza explains to you all the basic foods to cook for your child. By basic I will give you an example of what I mean. She breaks the sections off into age of the child. We’ll use Banana as an example. She tells you how many ounces one banana will make. Tells you all of the vitamins you’ll find, how to prepare it, serve it, take it on the go and everything else you need to know about pureeing your own bananas. Then she tells you all of the wonderful combinations that work well with bananas. Both fruit and vegetable options and how to mix them together. I LOVE THAT! I swear, I haven’t found this in any other book. I’m so excited for my next baby to arrive here this summer because I’m going to be a baby food making machine once they’re able to eat food.

Head over to Sage Spoonfuls here and save yourself some serious frustration by avoiding all of those other recipe books. Look no further because I found it for you!

Special thanks to Sage Spoonfuls for providing a sample for review purposes.

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What little girl isn’t completely captivated by the magical world of Fairies? My daughter even has her own fairy catching jar in her bedroom. She hasn’t caught one yet, but she’s still trying. This amazing party was thrown by Shea for her daughter Ruby’s 5th birthday. Check out the full set of photos here at Kara’s Party Ideas.

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A tarte tatin is one of those recipes that always seems to be far more complicated than it really is – when in actual fact, after you have made it once you will be wondering why it hasn’t been on your ‘lets bake this ALL the time’ list for every dinner party, family get together or Saturday night dinner-in. It is that easy and that impressive – not to mention delicious!

But let’s not save our Tarte Tatin for dessert only, we devoured ours after a morning of ice skating in Central Park – it seemed to work well with our hot chocolate. In fact those caramelised apples sitting atop the beautifully buttery, pastry could almost be passed off as a decadent breakfast treat. Whether, it be morning, noon or night and whatever the occasion, this is certainly one of the most richly satisfying and feel good desserts treats I have tasted in a long time.

Pastry Ingredients
141 grams/5 ounces cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon aster (superfine) sugar
1 1/2 cup plain (all purpose) flour
3 to 6 tablespoons iced water

Filling
4 medium apples, fresh and firm (Granny Smith or Pink Lady work really well)
113 grams/4 ounces salted butter
1 cup caster (superfine) sugar

To make the pastry, combine the flour and sugar in a bowl and place it in your freezer, along with the cubes of butter and your pastry cutter or fork. Leave for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, place a large piece of parchment paper on your work surface and scatter it liberally with flour.

Remove everything from your freezer and begin to cut the butter through the flour mixture, this will require a fair about of elbow grease. Stop when the larget pieces of butter are the size of peas.

Add the ice water a little at a time, processing just until the dough starts to come together and almost looks shaggy. Gather it together and place on your work surface (handle the dough as little as possible so the little pieces of butter do not melt). Lightly flour the surface of the dough and your rolling pin and carefully roll the dough into an 11 inch circle. Using the pargchment paper, move the dough onto a large rimless baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To prepare the filling, preheat your oven to 190 c/375 f. Peel and core the apples and cut them in half.

Place the butter into an ovenproof skillet or pan, measuring around 7 to 8 inches across the bottom and 10 to 11 inches across the top, and melt over a low heat. Remove from heat, add the sugar and whisk until combined and dissolved. Arrange your apples over the top, cut small pieces if you wish to fill in gaps.

Return your pan to the stove top and on a high heat, boil for around 20 minutes or until the juices in the pan turn to an amber colour. Remove from the heat.

Place your dough onto of the apples, and working quickly, tuck in the pastry into the sides using a spoon. Place in the oven and bake until the pastry is a golden brown colour, about 25-35 minutes. Remove from your oven and allow to cool on a rack about 30 minutes.

Run a knife along the inside edge of the pan, place your serving dish on top of the pan and flip over so your Tarte Tatin inverts onto your platter.

Your Tarte Tatin will last a day at room temperature, and another if refrigerated, heat slightly before serving if not eaten immediately.

Notes: This can be made with slices of apples rather than just halves. And feel free to substitute the pastry with a shop bought puff pastry, although I promise you the homemade one will be a thousand times better!

Yield: Serves 6 – 8Tweet

I know “sew do it” is a cheesy title, but I like it and it embodies my relationship with my sewing machine.

I learned to sew at a very young age on a very old Singer.  We had an affair, this lovely machine and I, one summer sewing what my mom called “hippie tops” and then parted ways.  Once I had my daughter, a surge of domestic drive revived my want to sew.  It stayed there, a want, for awhile.  Projects collected and some even were started, but not much came to fruition (hello tree skirt, curtains, and doll bedding).

Then this little thing called Pinterest infected my life, begging me to spends hours a day looking and pinning everything from hair-dos  to gardening tips.  I ignored the sewing projects for some time.  Then, I gave in and started pinning my “sew do its”.  But, nothing pushed me to act and complete until I saw a tutorial for kids pajama pants.

My daughter has a lot of pajamas but it never seems like enough.  After all, she does wear them every night and sometimes into the lazy days.  And those ever-growing legs of hers–I cannot keep up.  I bet many of you can relate.  Back to the tutorial–I found this very detailed tutorial by Dana Made It and it just spoke to me.  I said, out loud, to no one in particular, “I could make those”.   The first thought that came to me was almost a bully reaction of “so do it” (see, title, get it?).

So, I did it and they turned out so lovely we’ve got two more pairs waiting to be created.  Being the generous soul that I am, I’m sharing it with all of you who have not yet pinned it.  See the full (dummy proof) tutorial here at Dana Made It.  Dana really spells it out for you, making this sewing project doable for anyone.  And what could be more relevant than PJ Pants?

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