Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Treats for a Prego Friend

As of late, I find myself volunteering to make something for a friend's baby shower when that time comes... I don't know why - I think it has to to with my innate need to feed people. And who else would appreciate food more than a pregnant woman?? Seriously, I can imagine how hectic it will be trying to put together a decent home-cooked meal after the baby is born so I guess I just feel the need to help in the food department? Anyhow, this weekend is my college girlfriend's baby shower & I'm making vanilla & chocolate cupcakes - from scratch. ( I just refuse to make anything that came out of a box but that story is for another day) Today's food story is actually from food I made for another friend's baby shower about a year and 1/2 ago - let's call her Mrs. P.

A little background on Mrs. P: I'm friends with her through her hubby. Her other 1/2 and I attended the same church until they got married... Went to the wedding: it was a weather questionable day but all in all it was a lovely ceremony & fun reception albeit a bit EARLY (it was a late morning ceremony w/ a lunch reception)... Ok before I go off on too much of a tangent, fast forward to the weeks leading up to baby shower. Her sister graciously put together her cute shower - such attention to detail. Anyhow, I decided I wanted to make something that both Mrs. P & Dr. P (but only if he deserved it - j/k) could enjoy with little effort on their part. I decided on lasagne - could easily be frozen but then reheated & maintain taste. I was on a cinnamon roll making binge so I made a batch of those as well.  

I made turkey & spinach lasagne to lighten it a bit... I do tend to cut down on the salt in the recipe though - you want the flavor of the food to come through but you don't want to feel like you're licking a salt brick... Some lasagne recipes call for a mornay sauce layer (scalded milk w. butter & flour whisked in and some cheese) but I find that sauce to be unnecessary - it tends to make an already substantial pasta dish too heavy in my opinion.

On to dessert - cinnamon rolls... My favorite part of cinnamon rolls is definitely the middle coil. Whenever my sister & I made the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in can we would always fight over the center roll in the pan. Anyhow, I wanted to make the rolls for Mrs P airy with the right amount of chewy factor not a hockey puck. I let the dough rise once before rolling it out and then I let it rise again in the pan before popping them in the oven... Whenever I see a recipe I like I inevitably change it a little bit to give the end product a little something something. This time around when the recipe called for granulated sugar I swapped it with turbinado sugar (aka Sugar in the Raw) & I used good quality organic unsalted butter. For the frosting I added some ground cinnamon into the whipped cream cheese frosting - I did make a bit extra just in case Mrs P wanted to dip the  rolls into extra frosting.

I arrived to the shower with gift & food in hand... Mrs P asked me if it was ok if she shared the goods with the guests which of course I agreed to - both were a hit. =) I did make 2 square pans of each so Mrs P shared the rest w/ Dr P.

 cinnamon rolls ready to go in the oven

close up

it's like a bucket of frosting

 turkey spinach lasagne

closeup (I think the edges were a bit overdone but nonetheless it was enjoyed)

This weekend I hope girlfriend enjoys the cupcakes~ (I will share the story & pics soon)

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