Burlap and TV

Yesterday I had the opportunity of going with my daughter to a local TV station because her blog Tatertots and Jello.was featured one of their segments.  Of course it had snowed the night before so we loaded all the necessary equipment she needed into the car as the snow filled our shoes.  We  parked in the wrong garage and so arrived one minute later than planned and scrambled to get everything out onto the set before the show started.  Jen was the second segment.

It was her first time on TV and she was a little bit scared (or maybe a lot, really) but she did an awesome job and of course, as her mom I was very proud of her.  Here she is with the hosts of the show Brooke and Darrin

I forgot my camera again, but I took pics with hers the whole way through as she demonstrated how to make her original burlap wreaths.

You can find her tutorial for them here. If you want fun, creative, and inexpensive ideas for your home and family please check out her blog.  You can also learn our fate as we are both direction-challenged!

It was a fun experience for both of us!

Two Chocolate recipes from TV

Foodie Friday

I can't remember where I saw this idea on TV but I decided to try this Chocolate cake using only canned pumpkin for the ingredients.  So I used a regular cake mix and substituted the eggs, oil and water for just one small can of pumpkin.  It comes out moist, and tastes very chocolaty and I couldn't taste any pumpkin in it.  It does not rise like a regular cake mix cake does but was more like a brownie. The best part about this is that it ends up having only 194 calories and 3.6 grams of fat per serving. (I baked it in a 9 x 12" pan and cut it into 12 pieces).  My family loved it!  Even the one who generally doesn't eat dessert!  Of course, I made a delicious frosting from Ina Gartner's book so that kind of deletes the savings from the cake, but well, it was delicious.  I made it with my granddaughter so we added M&M's on top.

Speaking of Brownies here is a recipe that was featured yesterday on a local TV channel-a gourmet version.
(This sounds like I just sit home and watch TV!  Honestly I don't.  I did have it on all day when I took down my Christmas decorations and that is when I caught the pumpkin chocolate recipe.  I think it was from Rachel Ray)  It uses a spice that you can order on the internet-Ras El Hanout.  It has a combination of cinnamon, pepper, cumin and a couple of other spices. I have never used it.  Have any of you?  It sounds delicious to me.
Moroccan Spiced Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup + 2 tbsp Butter
• 2 eggs
• 6 tbsp E. Guittard Cocoa Rouge Rare Red Dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder, or
• other unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 1 ½ tsp Ras El Hanout Moroccan spice blend
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup all-purpose flour

Method:

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and blend well.
Mix in vanilla, cocoa, flour, and Ras El Hanout until smooth.
Divide batter evenly into eight 8 oz. ramekins OR an 8x8" greased cake pan.
Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes; or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
To serve, dust with powdered sugar and serve with sweetened whipped cream.

Thanks to Michael at Designs by Gollum for hosting Foodie Friday. Check for more good recipes by clicking here.