I don't have kids so Spring Break doesn't mean the beach since school is out for the week.  Although I like the beach!  Spring Break for me means Cake Decorating for Teens April 4th and 5th at The Cook's Warehouse at Ansley Mall.  This is the fourth year I've taught this class and it is fun.  Which is what Spring Break should be. 

We had a great Easter weekend.  I actually cooked for clients on Saturday, not normal for me, but I didn't have days available and they were hungry.  Traffic was good on Saturday and their kitchen was good to work in.  I had a pretty quick day and after cooking I headed to the warehouse store to purchase powdered sugar.

Lots and lots of powdered sugar.  I bought 44 pounds of powdered sugar.  It comes in 4 pound bags so I needed 11, a case is 12 but I didn't want to go crazy!  I also bought 8 pounds of butter and 6 dozen eggs.  I needed the supplies for the Cake Decorating class today and tomorrow.

Once home with my pounds of ingredients I knew I needed to make our Easter dessert.  Yes, we have Easter candy but I wanted some dessert too.  I had seen a recipe for Carrot Cheesecake Bars from Kraft and decided to try them.  I made them Saturday so they could chill.  They are very good and since they have carrots in them, I feel better about them.  I know, it's not enough vegetables but it's more than none.

Carrot Cheesecake Bars from Kraft foods
makes 24 bars

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
• 3 packages (8 ounce each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup finely shredded carrot (about 2)
• 1 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
   
2. Mix butter, crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon;press onto bottom of 13x9 inch pan.  Bake 10 minutes.
   
3. Beat cream cheese, vanilla and the remaining sugar and cinnamon in large bowl with mixer until blended.  Add sour cream;mix well.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition just until blended.  Stir in carrots;spread over crust.
   
4. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until center is almost set.  Cool completely.  Refrigerate 4 hours.  Serve topped with Cool Whip.

I didn't make too many changes.  I grated the carrots on the box grater on the small shredding side and they were perfect.  Actually my husband grated them.  I looked at the packages of graham cracker crumbs and graham crackers and they all had high fructose corn syrup, so I purchased some graham cracker sticks and crushed them.  I did not use Cool Whip, I whipped some cream. 

Besides cake for dinner Sunday I baked a ham with a pineapple chipotle glaze, scalloped potatoes, broccoli, asparagus and rolls.  It was a pretty traditional dinner which is not what I normally make.  I don't really like ham, but this one was very good.  It was a locally produced ham that I bought at Whole Foods and it was tasty. 

This morning I was up bright and early because I still needed to pick up milk and 14 pounds of cake flour for today's class.  Of course I had to go to 3 stores to find enough cake flour. 

The class started at 9.  I demoed some basic cake decorating borders, stars, roses, writing and then the class started playing with icing and color and practicing.  During the class each person made a 2 layer cake which they will decorate for real tomorrow. 

Today was practicing with fake cakes and just getting the feel for the piping bag, colors and deciding on a cake design.  Tomorrow the teens will decorate their cake and take it home to enjoy.  We had lots of colorful fun today and I can't wait to see the finished cakes tomorrow. 

Just a quick note to show off the cake decoraters and their finished cakes.  Everyone did a great job, had wonderful colors and imaginative ideas.   We made tons of icing today. 

Today was the first of 2 days of cake decorating class and things went well.  Today we worked with icing, piping bags, tips and made cakes.  Tomorrow we'll make more icing, frost and decorate cakes.  Everyone was very imaginative, colorful and did well with the bags.  Not an easy thing to grasp.

Today was just pretend and practice.  Tomorrow we'll frost real cakes to take home.

I ordered produce from Local Food Stop last Friday and was very happy with what I received.  I was able to plan my menu based on what I received and made carrot muffins.  I don't really like cooked carrots so this was perfect. 

It's a Good Morning Muffin from There's a Chef in My Family by Emeril Lagasse

2 teaspoons unsalted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup grated carrots

1 cup grated parsnips

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup dark raisins

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and chopped

2 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. If not using muffin cups then grease the wells of the muffin pan with the butter and set aside.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir in the carrots, parsnips, raisins, pecans, coconut, and apple.
3. In another bowl, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
4. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir until the batter is just blended.
5. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the wells.
6. Bake until the muffins spring back to the touch and are golden brown, about 35 minutes.
7. Using oven mitts or pot holders, carefully remove the muffins from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.
8. Remove the muffins from the muffin pan and set aside to cool completely.

I made a couple of changes and they worked fine.  I did not have parsnips so used all carrots.  I did not have a Granny Smith Apple so used the Pink Lady I had.  I filled the muffin papers very full and got 17 muffins instead of the 12 the recipe states.  They are moist and tasty.

I need to go get ready to sleep now so I will be well rested for cake creation tomorrow.  I think I'll sleep well, but probably not curled up like Cody.

Okay, so I really would have had to not even try to make a cake to fail cake class, but the final class was Tuesday and I decorated a cake.  I didn't taste it, I sent it to work with my husband who claimed it got rave reviews.  It was a basic yellow cake with buttercream icing, vanilla fondant and daisies.  I would like to branch out and learn how to make more types of flowers so will need to take more classes.  It is fun.  My cake is the green, yellow and white cake and my classmate's is the pink and white cake.  We only had 2 in class and that was nice.  A fun site to browse is Cake Central. 

If you are interested in cake decorating at all, our teacher is Sari and she did not cry at all during teaching unless she did it in the car after class.  Seriously she is patient and fun and teaches lots of classes.  Her website is Sari's Flair and you can see some of her cakes and flowers and find out about classes.

Yesterday I had dinner at NY Prime with some of my friends and co-workers from KitchenAid.  We had a great meal of baked shrimp, jumbo lump crab, steak, cheesy potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, wine, and shared desserts.  We were there about 2 hours and had lots of great conversation.  It's always fun to meet new people and find out how they decided to do what they do. 

I did not rush through dinner and I did not speed on the way home but I did make it home with 6 minutes to spare before the Top Chef Finale! I knew Casey was not going to win and I wanted Dale to win.  I know Hung is a good chef, I just liked Dale's personality better.  So now the television obsession is over and I can get back to not having to be home and awake at 10 on Wednesdays.  Until the next season.  Unless I watch the reunion show next week.  We'll see. 

Today I am going to go to KitchenAid training at Insperience to talk with the new people Paula and Jonathan.  I'll just share some of my experience from working with KitchenAid.  Saturday I'll be at Cook's Warehouse Brookhaven demonstrating the pasta attachment and sampling some Cook's Warehouse sauce, so stop by and pick up an attachment.  It is so easy to use. 

Nothing really exciting though.  My husband left Friday morning for a Souly Business weekend, so it was just me, the dog and the cats, all girls.  I spent a lot of Friday at Centennial Place and just relaxed when I got home.  I think I did some knitting and watched a movie on tv.  I made dinner - steak, spinach and bread and had a quiet night.

Saturday I had a kid's cooking class at Cook's Warehouse where the menu was Asian Appetizers.  Once I got home, Maggie was more than happy to nap with me.  Dinner was Mac and Cheese!  I made my menu, read and watched TV.  Girl's nights are NOT exciting. 

• Baked Sausage Wonton Cups
• Chicken and Cilantro Bites
• Thai Crabcakes with Cilantro Peanut Sauce
• Wonton Cannoli with Ginger Sauce

The class was small, only 8 students, but they as usual did a great job.  All the appetizers were good, my favorite was probably the Chicken and Cilantro Bites. We held them in the warming drawer until we were done with the rest of the appetizers and they held nicely.

 This is a rare shot of everyone actually reading before starting!

More Reading!

 Chicken and Cilantro Bites from Gourmet Magazine May 2005

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar, not seasoned
• 1 pound ground chicken, not breast
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 whole scallions, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Stir together soy and vinegar in a bowl for dipping sauce.
2. Stir together chicken, egg, cilantro, scallions, sesame oil, and salt with a fork until just blended.
3. Spread cornstarch in a shallow baking pan. With wet hands form chicken mixture into 1-inch balls, transferring them to baking pan as formed. Wash and dry your hands, then gently roll balls in cornstarch until coated. (Balls will be soft.)
4. Heat 1/4 cup vegetable oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook half of balls, turning over occasionally, until firm and golden (they will flatten slightly), 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.  
5. Add remaining 1/4 cup oil to skillet and cook remaining balls in same manner.
6. Serve meatballs with dipping sauce.

 Sunday was church, a quick trip to Publix and home for breakfast.  I also hit the library so I'd have books for the week.  Today I need to make flowers since my cake final is tomorrow.  I'll make the cake tomorrow and finish decorating it in class tomorrow night.  That's the plan. 

Our menu for this week:

• Sunday: Roast Salmon, Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach
• Monday: Chicken Noodle Soup
• Tuesday: whatever
• Wednesday: Pork Roast, Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli
• Thursday: Pasta, can't remember what kind right now
• Friday:open right now, lazy during girl's weekend

I'm going to make some daisies now while I'm rested and able to do tiny, tedious things.