It’s time to celebrate yet another birthday at the office.  I have volunteered to be the  “cake baker” , but the birthday celebrant has to select his/her favorite cake.  Sometimes I even ask them to provide me with their favorite recipe, and I will do my best to create a cake.  This time the selection was a chocolate cake with lots of frosting.

Since I really love this Cocoa cake with Peanut Butter frosting, which several years ago my manager made for my birthday (she loved gourmet cooking), I decided to use that recipe.

It is the combination of the chocolate cake and the peanut butter frosting that makes this cake so decadent, as it reminds you of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

Ingredients for Cake:

• ¾ cup butter

• 1 3/4 cups sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• ¾ cups Hershey’s Cocoa

• 1 ¼ tsp. Baking Soda

• ½ tsp. salt

• 1 1/3 cups water

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Frosting:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

• ½ cup Peanut Butter

• ¼ cup butter, softened

• 4 cups powdered sugar

• 1 tsp Vanilla extract

Directions for Cake:

1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. Grease and flour two 8 or 9 round baking pans.
3. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar.
4. Add eggs and vanilla.
5. Beat 1 min. at medium speed.
6. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
7. Add alternately with water to creamed mixture, beating after each addition.
8. Pour batter into prepared pans.
9. Bake 35 to 40 minutes for 8 inch rounds, or 30 to 35 min. for 9 inch rounds, or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Cool 10 min.
11. Remove from pans.
12. Cool completely.
13. Frost the cake with creamy peanut butter frosting.
14. Cover and refrigerate.

Directions for Creamy Frosting:

1. In a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, peanut butter, and butter, until creamy.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar, and vanilla.
3. Mix well until well blended and creamy.

Mornings could be a very hectic time in any household, especially if everyone is on a very tight schedule, and in a hurry to get ready as fast as possible, and to move on.

It is even worse if you are not a morning person, and you have to drag yourself out of bed, even after the alarm goes off, and the snooze button is hit few more times (this is not a good idea).

Here are some of my suggestions to make the best of your busy morning, but it requires good planning the night before:

• Prepare a list of things to do in the morning, and follow it for a while until the routine is somewhat mastered by everyone  (This will work for  any household; singles,  married, families, or even retired couples)

• Keep the list  posted on the fridge, or any area in the house, where it can easily be viewed by everyone

• Delegating daily tasks, and engaging the whole family, is  another great idea to get tasks accomplished as a team

• Get as much accomplished as possible the night before (well began, half done…there is a lot of truth to that expression)

• Empty your dishwasher

• Fill it up with dirty dishes sitting around (much more pleasant to be greeted in the morning by an organized kitchen)

• Prepare the next day’s lunch bags, by at least putting in the drinks, snacks, and napkins

• You can even make the PBJ sandwiches, but spread both pieces of bread with PB then put the jelly in between the two, to prevent the bread from getting soggy

• Making a meat sandwich, place the meat on each piece of bread, then put the mayo or mustard between the meat, also to prevent the bread from getting soggy

• Check the weather forecast for the next day, and make sure everyone lays out their clothes out before going to bed  (this really cuts down on the morning confusion, not to mention the numerous outfits ending up on the floor)

• If you are sending off a child to daycare, pack their diaper bag and fill their bottle (store the drink it in the fridge of course),  and leave a reminder on your diaper bag to take the bottle

• Supervise your school age children to pack their school bags, special projects, instruments, sports equipment, before going to bed

• Replenish the water for your pet

• Schedule your children bedtime at least an hour or more before your own, to free up some time for yourself

• Insist that everyone places their dirty clothing in the laundry basket, not on the floor, after changing into their pajamas

• Everyone should have their own alarm clock set up with a wake up time. Best way is to get up as soon as the alarm goes off, rather than dragging it out and hitting the snooze button, as this may cause you to fall asleep again (you should try to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep, and 8 – 12 hours for children)

• Wake up time should be moved up, for days with inclement weather, which required earlier departure time, to allow for slower driving and traffic

• Don’t skip breakfast! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as it provides your body with needed nutrition to start the day, even if it is only a piece of fruit and a glass of juice, it is better than not eating at all

Also, just like breakfast gives you the energy to start your day, organized morning contributes to an overall better day.  Speaking of a better day, check out these suggestions on how to free up some of your time during the day.

I know, this looks like a lot to accomplish the night before, but these tasks require only few minutes each to complete.  But the key factor is the planning, organizing, and  delegating, which requires to select one person to be in charge of this.   You will be surprised how smoothly this whole process will proceed, and I assure you that there still will be free time for family fun, and less grumpiness in the morning.

I can speak from my own experience, as a morning person, if I don’t complete most of my unfinished tasks the night before, and especially select my next day attire, my morning is very unproductive, time flies by, and I end up leaving the house with breakfast on the go in one hand, and the car keys in the other, and no prepacked lunch.  Not to mention the mess I made of my closet, before I decided on the outfit for the day.

I am sure that many of you have lots of wonderful ideas of your own, and we all would love to hear about them, so please share and leave comments.

Dips are still part of the “centerpiece” foods at parties. Everyone loves having a scoop of their favorite dip, surrounded by veggies or chips. It makes it easy to move around and socialize, while enjoying your food at the same time.

I already shared the ever so famous recipe for the original Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip, but recently I had an opportunity to taste a much lighter version of this dip, and I could not believe how great it tasted.

So, if you are still sticking to your New Year’s Resolution to eat healthier, here is a recipe for you to enjoy without feeling guilty.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
• 8 oz Fat Free Cream Cheese, softened
• ¾ cup Frank’s Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce
• ½ cup shredded Low Fat Cheddar Cheese
• ¼ cup Fat Free Ranch Dressing
• ¼ cup Fat Free Oikos Greek Yogurt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Unwrap the cream cheese, place it in a microwave safe dish, and microwave for 10 seconds, to soften it.
3. Place cream cheese in a medium bowl, and stir until smooth.
4. Mix in Frank’s Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce, Low Fat Cheddar Cheese, Low Fat Ranch Dressing, and Oikos Fat Free Greek Yogurt.
5. Add chicken, and mix until combined.
6. Scoop mixture into a casserole dish, and smooth the top with a spoon to even it out.
7. Bake it uncovered for 20 minutes, or until the mixture is heated through (do not overcook, as it will begin to separate)
8. Stir well and serve.

TIP. Best served with cut vegetables (carrots, celery, peppers),pretzels, crackers or baked tortilla chips.

If you prefer less spicy version, you may cut the cayenne pepper sauce to 1/2 cup.

I never thought I would like the taste of a veggie burger, so at first I purchased some frozen ones, Veggie Medley by Gardenburger , and realized that they were not as bad as I thought.  Since I am not really a hamburger lover, veggie burger earned my approval.

I like making my own food at home, since it allows me to control what goes into it, and enables me to modify the recipe to my taste.

I looked up some recipes for veggie burgers, and came up with this modified version to fit The Fat Smash Diet.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels or frozen, thawed
• 6 mushrooms, finely chopped
• 2 scallions, finely chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Dash cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated
• 3/4 cup brown rice, cooked
• 1 egg white
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat.
2. Stir in corn, mushrooms, scallions, and bell pepper.
3. Saute for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add garlic, cumin and cayenne and cook for 30 seconds.
5. Remove from heat and stir in spinach.
6. Add carrot and brown rice and stir to combine.
7. Add egg white and season with salt and pepper.
8. Add some quick oats or more brown rice, if the mixture does not hold together.
9. Shape mixture into 6 disks and place on a plate.
10. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
11. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in non-stick skillet and cook veggie burgers until golden on each side.

Tip: I like to eat these veggie burgers plain in Phase I and II, but in Phase III, there is a choice of whole wheat bread or whole wheat muffin to serve these on.  Veggie Burgers, just like brown rice, are now part of my new food list, which I learned to enjoy.

We are familiar with the expression that “Diamonds are woman’s best friend”, but I think roses also fall in the same category.

If you are thinking of buying roses, Red seems to be the most popular color for Valentine’s Day, however for other occasions you may want to select a different color.

I would like to expand your horizons about the different colors of roses and their symbolism.  So next time you are shopping for these beauties, you might want to think twice about the color you want to purchase.

Then again, you can always select a bouquet of mixed colors, which is just as beautiful.

Red rose is the traditional symbol of love and romance.

Pink rose is a symbol of grace and elegance, admiration and appreciation.

Yellow rose is a symbol of warmth and happiness, joy and friendship.

White rose is a symbol of innocence, purity, honor, reverence, marriage and new beginning.

Orange rose is a symbol of passion, desire, enthusiasm, fervent romance, excitement.

Lavender rose is a symbol of enchantment, and feelings of love at first sight.

I hope you don’t worry too much about the color, since women love roses, period!

If you know that the special person in your life loves certain colors, then it does not matter what symbolic meaning has been assigned to these colors, just go ahead and go for her favorite color.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!!

Congratulations!

We successfully completed the Detox  Phase of the Fat Smash Diet.

Didn’t the 9 days just fly by?  Aren’t you feeling better already?  I sure am; it feels great!

Phase Two is much easier than Phase one, in regards to food selection.  Even though we still continue with all the foods from Phase One, we are making new additions.  This phase lets us get back to many of the foods we were missing during the past nine days.  It still is very important to eat 4-5 smaller meals per day, and healthful snacks in between.

We must remember NOT to skip meals, and stick to the eating schedule we have set up for ourselves in Phase One.  We must keep up the good work with physical activities, to keep on smashing the fat, and building good habits.

Here are the additional selections of daily servings:

MEATS:
(portions are 3-4 oz, which is equivalent to a deck of playing cards.  All these meats and fish are baked or broiled, NOT FRIED)

• Chicken without the skin
• Turkey  without skin
• Ground Beef:  EXTRA lean or ground sirloin
• Sirloin steak
• Lamb

SEAFOOD:

• Halibut, Tuna, Salmon, Snapper, Striped Bass, etc. – 3 oz. servings
• Shrimp – 4 large
• Mussels – 3 oz
• Oysters – 6-12
• Clams – 3

EGGS:

• 1 whole egg- scrambled, boiled, or poached

MILK and CHEESE:

• 2 1/2 cups of low-fat, skim, or soy milk
• 2 oz. of cheese (2 slices)
• ½ cup of cottage cheese

CEREALS:

• Any unsweetened cereals – 1 cup of cold, or ½ cup of hot
• Sweeteners:
• 4 tsp of granulated sugar (or sugar substitute)
• 1 Tbsp honey

DRINKS:

• Coffee – 1 10oz cup, and 3 cups or herbal tea, and 5 cups of Club soda or 2 cans of diet soda, and 1 cup of iced tea (sweetened only with 2 packets of sugar substitute, or Lemonade made with real lemons and 2 packets of sugar substitute or 2 tsp of granulated sugar.
• Unlimited flavored seltzer or tonic water
• Unlimited tap of bottled water

SNACKS:

• 2 graham crackers and 2 tsp. low-sugar jelly
• 2 Tbsp raisins and 10 peanuts
• 2 gingersnaps and ½ oz cheddar cheese
• 2 small chocolate chip cookies
• 15-20 fat free Tortilla chips
• 4 animal crackers and 1 small orange
• 2 rice cakes topped with 1 tsp. peanut butter
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 8 halves dried apricots and ½ cup skim milk
• 6 saltines-type crackers with 2 tsp. low-sugar jelly

EXCLUDED FOODS:

• White rice
• White Potatoes
• Bread/English muffins
• White pasta or whole wheat pasta
• White flour
• Pasties, donuts, Danish, cakes,cookies, brownies,
• Candy
• Ice Cream
• Potato chips, corn chips, tortilla chips, popcorn
• Chocolate
• Bacon
• Sausage
• Alcohol
• Fried foods
• Fast Foods
• Regular Soda
• Sweetened juices from a bottle or can
• Milkshakes
• Frappuccino
• Café latte or cappuccino

TIP: Don’t forget to do some physical activity after dinner.  Also, remember your food portion size:  less is more!

Whenever you weigh yourself, do it in the morning just before stepping into the shower.  You will love your scale.

We thought that the worse snow storm of this season was over, but as the saying goes “Don’t count your chickens until all the eggs hatch”, so here we are again…..with a bigger snow storm than the one before.

Our area does not normally get a lot of snow during the whole winter season, but this year is exceptionally snowy.  We moved over 200 miles south of the snowy area we lived at before, but I guess the snow just keeps on following us.

In my last post I was cheering you on with signs of spring, but today I will share some signs of winter still in full swing.

Lucky us, we have about 24 inches of snow, and it’s still snowing, and the snow drifts are quite impressive as well.

For those of you who never experienced snow, enjoy these pictures, and those who have to shovel it, welcome to the club.

Nice thick blanket of snow is now covering the earlier signs of spring I shared with you the other day.

Not only it has been snowing now for 24 hours, the strong wind is creating some very interesting snow drifts, like this one.  You can see the grass in one section, and the bank is about 3 feet  high on the other end.  It looks like a crater.

The snow is full of moisture, thus very heavy.  Here is a path from our garage to the street.  By the time I post this picture for you, it will be covered again by the drifting snow.

Welcome to our igloo, or at least that is how our front entry looks like.

Finally it stopped snowing, the driveway is clear, with a huge pile of snow on both sides, waiting for the hot sun to melt it down.

Here we are again, planning another Super Bowl party, and searching for party food ideas.

Well, since you are reading this post, you’re already in the right place.  There is no better place than grandma’s kitchen, Suburbangrandma, that is!

All the recipes I post are either prepared by me personally, or I have sampled them elsewhere, loved them, and posted them for you to enjoy.

This time I decided to post a very simple recipe, but quite presentable, and very well liked by my family, for years .

These are open face sandwiches, canapes, also know to my family as “kanapky”.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tbs butter, softened
• 1 Tbs Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix
• 2 large loves of rye bread (40 slices)
• 3 tomatoes,  sliced thin
• 4 pickles, sliced thin
• 6 eggs, boiled and sliced thin (use an egg slicer, for best results)
• 1 Lbs of ham, cooked, smoked, or your your choice – sliced on a thinner side as well
• 20 slices of American cheese, white or yellow
• Chives or scallions, chopped (to sprinkle on top for a fresh look, and to enhance the aroma)

Directions:

1. Mix the cream cheese, butter and salad dressing mix.
2. Set aside.
3. Remove the smaller end from the loaf of bread, if you are using bakery loaf.  If you are using a prepackaged bread without the ends, then you are all set.
4. Cut the cheese slices in half diagonally (forming triangles)
5. Fold each slice of ham in half, or cut in half it you plan to use only that much on each sandwich.
6. Get ready all the sliced ingredients: eggs, tomatoes, pickles.
7. Spread the cheese/butter mixture on each piece of rye bread (rather sparingly)
8. Place a piece of ham on top of the spread
9. Place a piece of cheese on top of ham
10. Arrange nicely a slice of pickle, slice of an egg, and slice of a tomato on top of the cheese slice.
11. Sprinkle lightly with chopped chives or scallions.

If you are looking for additional ideas, and recipes, you may check these out:

• Jalapeño Corn Dip
  

• Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip

• 7 Layer Guacamole Dip

• Swedish Meatballs

• Texas Caviar

• Mrs. Z’s Deviled Eggs

• Caramel Apple Dip

• Honey-Apple Brie Bites

• Turkey Taco Ring
  

Tip: The canapes in this top photo (close up view) were made for a tea party, thus very dainty, and I used only  1/3 of a slice of bread per each, so I used a grape tomato slices, 1/2  of an egg slice, and 1/4 of a slice of cheese.

If you plan to make these for an adult party, I would suggest to use a whole slice of bread for each canape,  plus the toppings listed in the recipe above.