Weddings and a Carrot Cake

It's wedding season, guys.
Seriously...when I was at Target the other day they were selling bride themed bikinis in the swimsuit section. (Don't ask me why I was at Target. Or in the swimsuit section. Who needs to go shopping? Who needs a new swimsuit? NO one, that's who.)
But yes, I digress. Weddings. Summer is in full swing and here in the Pacific Northwest when the weather gets sunnier everyone goes a little twitterpated and wants to get hitched. It's cute.
And really, everyone likes to go to a good wedding. It's perfected fun, right? We've been carefully crafting the art of wedding celebrations since the beginning of time and boy has it paid off. And there is almost always cake.

Cake!
I got to make a wedding cake this past weekend for a friend of mine. The first time I made a carrot cake and brought it to a get together at Kyle's house years ago he found me and said, "Candice, when I get married I want you to make this carrot cake." I laughed and replied with an "Ok!" thinking that he would forget all about it.

He didn't. Three years later he met his lovely wife, Velina. They did their cute falling in love thing, got engaged, and started planning a wedding. And who did they ask to make their cake? Me!! I was so excited and a little humbled.
Oh.
And really nervous.
But it turned out to be really fun and rewarding. Everyone loved it, the bride and groom were super thankful and it was a happy wedding.

My sister actually was the photographer and my mom helped with the garden preparations so it was a regular family gig! Laura and I were pretty excited because we have always wanted to retire and start a wedding planning/photo/cake business after we grow old and grouchy from being in the education system for years.
(Yeahhhhh we haven't even started teaching and we already are planning for retirement. It's pretty sad.)
ANYWAY!

It was a blast, Laura took beautiful pictures, I brought a decent looking (and great tasting) cake, everyone had the time of their lives and swore it was the nicest wedding they had ever attended.
Or at least, until the next wedding...which was about 24 hours later. ;)

Easy Being Green: Homemade Pesto Rolls

I like green. I have a bright lime green cardigan. Seriously, who has a incandescent neon green sweater? Oh yeah.

I do.

And sometimes I sport it with my key lime green earrings. Or Kelly green nail polish. The two times I painted my bedroom when I was a teenager: green.
I especially like green food. My favorite apples are the green ones. I nearly always order salads when I am at a restaurant. Avacados? Yes.
You get the point.

So given my love for the verde, you would assume that I would be the number one advocate for Pesto. It's the greenest of greenies. I mean, it's a paste.
Made of plants. Really green plants.

But for some reason I can't explain, I've never been able to appreciate Pesto. I really don't know why. It definitely isn't for lack of trying. Whenever I see it my little brain goes: "Oooo! Green food! How tasty. I'm sure I'll like it this time. It's so pretty...." I try it on pasta. I eat it on paninis. I buy it "fresh" from the produce section at the supermarket. Every time it's been a let down.

But, I had never made it before. It seemed like a lot of work for something I didn't enjoy too much. And it would dirty too many dishes, right? Most definitely.

When I had a party to cater recently, they asked for a few dozen pesto rolls to be included in the appetizers. I usually buy a nice container of the aforementioned "fresh" stuff at the nearest grocery store to save time. But for some unimaginable reason everyone was out of stock. Everybody had a pesto run or something and drained the Basil reservoirs. I must have missed the memo.
And thankfully, because it forced me to make my own. It was worth it. This pesto actually tasted good.
Wait.
It tasted awesome! I was ready to put it on noodles, on toast, in a tortilla, mixed with scrambled eggs. I was honestly preparing to pesto-ize the world in a big way.

But I just rolled it up in these crescents. Because that's what I said I would do. I'll to have schedule another day on the calendar to smother the world in pesto, I guess.
Now, I'm giving you this crescent roll recipe because I'm so excited to tell you all about my new found green favorite. But I'm definitely going to be tweaking and twisting this recipe. Because although the rolls were good, the process itself is hard to work with. The dough hardly rises the second time, and it takes for-ev-er. And the roll itself could be softer, more tender...
So take this recipe with a grain of salt. Ha! I'm hilarious. Since it kinda needs a little more salt. In the recipe? Get it? Yeah...

Homemade Pesto Rolls
Yields about 3 dozen
2 1/2 cups flour + 2 cups flour
1 1/2 TB active yeast
1 cup warm milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 tsp salt
Pesto for filling-recipe follows

Mix your flour and yeast together. In a saucepan heat milk, shortening, and salt on stove top til shortening is just melted. Let sit til the milk is warm to the touch, not hot. Add to the dry ingredients and add eggs. Beat on low with a hand mixer for 30 minutes and then 3 minutes on high. By hand stir in 2 cups of flour to form dough. Knead the dough until it is smooth (about 5-8 minutes) Place in a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled (2 hours at least) Punch down dough divide into three parts. Let rest for ten minutes. Roll each section in rectangles. Cut your rectangles into 12 triangles. Spread the pesto thinly on the triangles and roll up starting with the widest end. Place on a cooking sheet or baking stone and let rise again for at least an hour. Brush with milk and bake at 375 until golden brown. Brush hot rolls with melted butter and serve warm or at room temperature.

Homemade Pesto
2 packed cups of clean basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup of pine nuts or walnuts (I used pine nuts)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a food processor pulse the basil leaves, pine nuts, and garlic cloves until coarsely chopped. Slowly add olive oil to mixture 1/4 cup at a time, processing until smooth. Season it with salt and pepper. Stir in the cheese. You can keep this in the refrigerator for about three days.

Ladies Fall Kick Off!

Saturday's Fall event went great! Lots of people gave the Purple Door Bakery compliments and it was encouraging to feed so many people successfully. I feel as if I can actually DO this...
It was an uphill battle and I'm thankful it's over, but I'm super glad I was able to do it.

Because it was a volunteer shindig it was great to work with other people who also love baking and cooking. My mom and sister did a great job grating cheese, prepping salad, baking frittatas...Laura even helped me do all the hundreds of tarts we put out (in addition to all the wonderful photos she took.). We were so sick of mushrooms by the end of it! Also, a good friend of mine, Shannon, came early on Saturday to help as well. She was a life saver too! I couldn't have pulled off such a succesful catering endeavor without the help of everyone and I am very thankful.

The Menu:

Salmon Asparagus Frittata

Mushroom Onion Tarts

Mediterranean Salad

Autumn Gingerbread Cookies

Purple Himalayan Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

We were even able to decorate the table to make it look festive and autumn themed. I'm so glad presentation is part of this. Making things look pretty is my favorite part of this job...

My favorite thing from this brunch: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting with chocolate chips and homemade candy pumpkin toppers.... :)

All in all, it was a very tasty and fun event!

Mushroom Tarts

I have another ladies event to cater this month!
*confetti* Yay!
The last Solace Event that I baked things for was so much fun! It was hosted in a garden with music and flowers. All the women wore nice clothes and ate dainty food. So I'm really excited about this next one. At first I was a little nervous because I was going to be the only person providing food. Last time there was another local bakery that brought muffins so I knew they could be my safety net if I dropped a whole platter of cookies or something. But by now the nervousness has faded away and I'm just happy to be baking for people. Today was a blessed day off of work so I spent it planning and testing the menu. I originally planned to do large platters of fritatta, but although I like making egg dishes for a dinner, the thought of 80 plus servings is a little daunting. And it didn't sound FUN.  I love cooking, but baking is what I really do best. So the menu had a face lift. Scratch the eggs. New addition=Mushroom tarts.

A big family sized tart for dinner. I couldn't just make a bunch of little ones, oh no. We whipped out the MAN sized baking sheet.

I experimented with two kinds. The first (which was my personal favorite) was Mushroom Asparagus. I used puff pastry to make it light and fluffy, fresh herbs and garlic to give it flavor, and swiss cheese. It was so tasty! And they look pretty cute if I do say so myself. 

 I'm getting pretty good at this food photography thing, aren't I? Eh. Maybe I'll let Laura do the other ones. Hehe. 

The second tart was Mushroom Bacon Onion Herb Deliciousness Tart. We ate a big one for dinner and everybody liked it. Even John Mark ate it, although he complained about the vegetables.

The baby one before he popped in the oven.

 Toasty warm and fresh!

Live and Learn

Friday afternoon last week I set out to enter the big wild world of catering. I had gotten a request to make a meal for not just a normal graduation party, but a double one! It was going to be themed after the Brazilian style of a Churrasco mixed with traditional American Barbeque. I was pretty excited...until I started stringing the last leg of the veggie kabobs, my chocolate cake fell, and the raspberry mousse wouldn't form stiff peaks. My feet hurt, I was sleep deprived and my emotional state was in shreds since I had never had a cake fall on me before. Not once in my whole life. Needless, in the end I did have a lot of fun and people liked it more than I thought they would. It was incredibly satisfying to see everyone having a great time and the graduates happy to relax. To heap on the good news: I have another catered event! Next Saturday I'm going to be making some baked goods for my church's garden party.

Menu for Double Graduation Party:

Romaine Caesar Salad

Bacon Water Chestnut Appetizers

Homemade Baked Beans

Creamed Corn

Colorful Kabobs with Peppers and Onions

Cheesy Grilled Potatoes

Brazilian Vinegrette

Churrasco-Style Grilled Steaks

2 Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cakes (one with more fudge than it's fruity sister)

Carrot Cake

Ready. Set. CATER!

Ok,
I promised myself I wouldn't post anything on here unless I had pictures. Alas! I have broken my oath...but it isn't that bad because I take this time to announce something very exciting.
I am going to CATER AN EVENT!!! For 100 people! It's a double graduation party and I am super excited. The people graduating and their family are so nice and fun to be around. I can hardly wait to make the menus and food.


Ok. Next time I PROMISE there will be pictures. Promise promise.