Category Archives: Nico in the Kitchen

Feb 23

Not Going Out In March

This is an experiment that might come back and haunt me, but I’m going to give it a try. I want to see if we can eat every meal; Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, and Dinner at home for the entire month of March. Yep, your read that right, zero Take-out and zero Fast Food for the entire month.

I’m hoping that it will help out the food budget a bit, but I bet the boys will grow tired of home cooked meals, and riot against me with a flurry of take-out foods. I wonder if there is such a thing as Happy Meal withdrawal?

Wish me luck, this is going to be an interesting March.

P.S. Look forward to savings totals, and a few guest posts from my hubby James… Which may or may not be grumpy.

Feb 18

Snack Time

Today I had to bring snacks again to Thade’s preschool. The Teacher had said that the kiddos would be baking Gingerbread cookies, so I just needed to bring a small snack. I thought Cheese and Crackers and Apple Juice would do the job.

I made little Mild Cheddar Cheese stars for all of the kiddos. Hopefully Thade’s class will like the snack today.

Feb 18

A Dessert Filled February

On Valentine’s Day I had a fun time helping my best friend cater a Valentine’s Day Dinner. My kitchen stayed extra busy and I had a blast making the desserts too.

My kiddos have already requested the mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes again, so I’ll be making these soon.

The Sweetheart Sugar cookies were too cute. I’m in love with decorative Clear Sugar, and I can’t wait to make a big batch of cupcakes to decorate with the pretty sugar.

Shaunna came by to help dip all of the Strawberries. I can’t wait for garden fresh strawberries this Spring.I see a lot of Chocolate Ganache dipped Strawberries in my future.

I assembled the dessert plates at the Dinner site, and thank goodness all of the cookies made it there in one piece. It was so much fun getting to help out with the Dinner, and I’m looking forward to the next one.

With all of these Valentine’s goodies, I couldn’t leave my hubby out…

So I came home and whipped up a Valentine’s Day Cherry Pie, complete with little hearts and all.

Feb 14

Nico’s Bakery

Whew! Today has flown by. I did pass my renewal this afternoon, and thank goodness. I was super worried though, it has been several years since I’ve taken a test of any kind. Anyway back on point, today I started baking for the Valentine’s Dinner for tomorrow night. I’m in charge of the desserts and dinner rolls too. I was very happy to spend the afternoon, busy in the kitchen!

I made up a double batch of Dinner Rolls.

After the dinner rolls were out of the oven, and we were all finished with dinner, I started rolling out and baking the Sweetheart Sugar Cookies.

These sweeties will get iced and decorated tomorrow, along with the Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes. I got them baked today too, but somehow I forgot to get a picture…

Tomorrow I’ll be Ganache dipping a whole lot of Strawberries, and maybe making a few Truffles too. I can’t wait to get back in the kitchen tomorrow.

Feb 12

What To Do With Those Strawberries

I had a few Strawberries left over from my Chocolate Ganache Dipped Strawberries, and I wanted them to go to good use. Today I’m running low on everything in the kitchen, but I’ve got enough Oatmeal to make some tasty muffins for breakfast, so let’s get to it.

I’m using my favorite recipe for Oatmeal Muffins, but I am adding in a few extras.

After you have combined the Oats and Milk add in a few Chopped Strawberries, and a teaspoon of Vanilla, then let it hang out for 15 minutes.

You need one bowl for the dry ingredients, and one bowl for the wet ingredients.

Once the Oats & Milk have set for 15 minutes, pour the mixture into the egg and oil bowl, stir to combine. Then add the mixture into the dry ingredients bowl, and stir to combine. Time to fill the muffin tin.

Pop them into the oven for about 23 minutes.

Once they are all done, move them to a rack to cool, and you’ve got yummy Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins. This would make a tasty Valentine’s Day breakfast, or a sweet treat for anytime.