Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

Rob and I are going to compete in the West Fest Dutch Oven Cook Off. Last night I thought we should practice our desert. It turned out amazing.

A few pics from SF

Banana Nut Bread a la DO

We went to San Francisco last week. Pictures coming soon. I had 12 bananas sitting on the counter that went real brown while we were gone. Perfect for Banana Nut Bread. Never cooked BNB in a DO so what do you do? You jump in and get'er dun. Here is how it turned out. YUMMY!!! Can't wait for tomorrows menu.

I can Braid

This morning I woke up and made the most yummy bread. I was really nervous but thought you will never know if you can do it if you don't try. So...I tried and I will make it again and again and again. OH SO GOOD

OH How I love it

Years ago, when Godfathers Pizza was around and I was in Jobs Daughters, (lets just say 18 years ago), we would go to for pizza often. My FAVORITE pizza was their taco pizza. I spent some time last night looking for taco pizza recipes. Keep in mind anything you cook on the stove or in the oven can be done in a DO. I found several recipes. I took a little from each and came up with my pizza. I found a recipe for pizza dough. I was VERY nervous because I have never ventured into cooking anything that involves yeast...unless it is Rhodes bake and serve. But once again I stepped out of my comfort zone and did it.

I invited my parents over for dinner, but just a few hours before it was time for them to arrive, I got nervous and thought you better buy pizza crusts that are guaranteed to be good.

I did 2 taco pizza's. One with the crust I made and the other with the store bought one. I also did a pepperoni. They turned out great. I surprised myself. The best part was, everyone agreed my crust was better than the store bought. Guess I know I can do it now. So proud of myself.





Half eaten but you get the idea

I did it!!!!

I said I was going to make pizza pockets...and I did. They were YUMMY!!! My brother and his girlfriend Jamie came over to drop some new DO toys to me. There were two left and they ate them. Butthead even told me he was proud of me. I can't tell you how much that means to me. He is a amazing chef so his approval is a HUGE bonus. I will keep trying to impress him and maybe one day I will be 1/4 as good as him.

Lovin' the black pot

Last night I broke out the Dutch Ovens for dinner. I think they are going to be the perfect way to cook this summer. Our kitchen has a catch 22. There is a huge sky light that heats us in the winter and burns us out in the summer. I will probably cook most of our dinners this summer in the black pot. I did chicken, potatoes and a mud cake for dinner. I have to say, it turned out pretty good. Today I am going to do pizza pockets. I'm sure there will be a post on how they turn out. :)

The Black Pot

For the past few years, every gift giving event my brother and his girlfriend Jamie gave me and Rob dutch oven gifts. (They compete in dutch oven competitions, and even qualified for "worlds" this year.) All of the gifts have been sitting nicely in the garage, boxed up, and collecting dust. David constantly asked me when I was going to use them. He even tried to talk us into doing a competition with him. "Are you crazy? I don't cook."
Well Monday night, after yet another time of Dave asking me when I was going to use the dutch ovens, I broke them out and cooked a pineapple upside down cake. It was amazing! Even my brother approved. WooWhoo. Now that is a accomplishment.

Remembering...

This weekend we went to the cemetery and had a picnic at my grandparents grave. Budah told us..."this was the best picnic ever." I wish that he and Mik had been able to know my grams and gramps here on earth. Budah was only 6 months old when my gramps died. My grandparents would have loved them so much and would have loved to have watched them grow.
My grams and gramps were wonderful and loved their family unconditionally. They were true examples to me. I miss them both more than I could have imagined and feel blessed that they were my grams and gramps.