Friday, March 7, 2008

Shrine Circus

Took the kids to the Circus! We had to wait in line out side for a long time and it was freezing cold, but once we got inside it was nice and stuffy!! There were black elephants, Beautiful Huge Tigers, trained dogs,and a baboon! There were acrobats, ribbon dancers, hand and hand balancing, ultimate motorcycle riders!! It was really good and the entertainment was never ending! the Tigers were my favorite of course, they were funny too! One even did tight rope walking, that was really cool!! My second fav and one that I enjoy every time i go was the "wind-up toy elephant"!! For all you non Circus goers.... A clown comes out with some stuffed animals and one being an elephant... he winds them up and they don't move, but the last one, the elephant does... for a while then it falls over like dead! so he winds it up over and over again and i goes then falls over dead! But what most people don't know is that is really a really well trained dog in an elephant costume!! It is soo cute and this particular dog was the best one I've seen!! The kids all loved every minute Seilers favorite was the Amazing Ultimate Motorcycle Riders!!! He just couldn't believe they could fit six riders in that sphere and they all could ride around without hitting one another!! It was great family fun!


Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Betty Crocker??! NO!

Our Ward helps out one night of every month to feed the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House and this month I signed up to take a salad! Well the sister in charge of who brings what came to me on Sunday and asked if I would bring a dessert instead?! This month's theme was Italian so I decided I would look up a recipe I've never tried before and see how it worked!!! Has anyone ever tried Tiramisu?? For those who have probably know that this recipe is usually made with coffee or espresso! But, I found a recipe for it without those! And it was wonderful! I made it last night and put it in the fridge all night and today until i took it tonight at 7! Needless to say I brought the dish home clean!!!
Strawberry Tiramisu

Ingredients:

4 large eggs*
2 cups Mascarpone cheese, don't use substitutes
about 36 Savoiardi (lady fingers) found at your local grocer
3/4 cup sugar
fresh strawberries for decoration

For the strawberries sauce

1 - 1/2 lbs. fresh strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water

Instructions:

1. In a sauce pan cook strawberries, sugar and water for few minutes until the sugar dissolves.

2. Pour the strawberries in a food processor and blend until smooth. Pass the strawberry sauce through a fine mesh strainer to eliminate the seeds. Set the sauce aside until cool.

3. In the meantime beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then refrigerate.

4. In a large bowl beat the egg yolks with the sugar until fluffy. Use an electric hand mixer or a food processor.

5. Add the mascarpone cheese to the egg yolk mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.

6. Gently fold the egg whites into the mascarpone mixture.

7. Dip both sides of the savoiardi into the the strawberry juice and place them in the cake dish (my dish is rectangular about 18" x 10"). Cover the savoiardi with some extra spoons of sauce.

8. Spread half of the mascarpone cream over the ladyfingers then cover this layer with
remaining ladyfingers always dipped in the strawberries sauce.

9. Complete the dish spreading the rest of the mascarpone cream.

10. Decorate with strawberries slices or if you prefer cut in half. Refrigerate for at least 6-7 hours, better yet overnight.