the gut buster

As part of the bon appetit series I've been lagging on....

I pretty much love to cook and bake when we have company and lots of people to feed. My cousin, Erin, and her boyfriend came to visit this weekend and I made the famous sticky bun, also known as the "Gut Buster." Here it is, along with the recipe for those of you who have a sweet tooth.

The great thing about the gut buster is that you make it the night before, so in the morning you just pop it in the oven and 40 minutes later you have a delicious and beautiful breakfast!

Recipe...
I'm going to write the recipe how I make it - the user friendly and quick way!

1.5 loaves semi thawed bridgeford frozen loaves (frozen section of the grocery store) chopped into 1/2 inch thick pieces - or you can use frozen rolls (24 of them)
1 cup of walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup of brown sugar

Using a bundt pan, spray it GOOD with pam or olive oil spray
Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of brown sugar into the bottom of the pan
Add the nuts

mix in another bowl....
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 package of NON instant pudding (vanilla or butterscotch)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

cut...
one stick of butter - into 1/2 inch chunks

layer the rolls or loaf chunks, sprinkle some mix, add some butter chunks and repeat until it's full and you're out of ingredients. Cover lightly with a piece of wax paper and set it aside on the counter until the morning - you must let it rise overnight.

In the morning, bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes until the bottom looks brown like my photo above. Enjoy with a big glass of cold milk!

Bon Appetit!

this was just a cool photo of the fountain outside my studio window - isn't it beautiful?

Getting Personal

So, it's been a while since I've blogged and I've been thinking, there's more to me than photography. It's a huge part of my life and my passion, but I enjoy lots of other things as well, and I think it's about time I share. Now, I'm going to share more about me, but I have one request - and that is that you share more about you! There are over 200 of you "lurking" a week who check and read this blog, but never write comments - basically that means your a stalker! So un-stalk yourselves and I'll do the same!

Tonight I made my favorite soup, I just call it Thai Soup, but it has a real name - of which I'd have to look at a Thai menu to find out. Anyhow, I really enjoy cooking & baking, especially when I have family and friends to enjoy it with! So periodically, I will share my favorite foods to whip up and my secrets - if I have any - for that particular recipe.

All of my favorite recipes, which are "generation" worthy - are put into this handmade book I made in college. I used to make handmade books all the time, but haven't in a while - since I'm so busy taking photos! It's something I love and for a really special something I will make one. For instance, take this recipe book. Inside are prints I made from Zinc plates - if you are familiar with printmaking you'll know what I am talking about. Then I watercolored them to add color and bound the book together with a purple gross grain ribbon (because it won't stretch) and pink thread, to keep with the colors. It does not have signatures, each page is individually sew in.

So, back to the recipe, if you can read the photo - or enlarge it, you should try it! I could eat this soup everyday of the week. I've been making it for years and my tips if you do try it are:
add extra mushrooms
cut back a bit on the chili paste (if you don't like your nose to run while you're eating)
add cilantro
use the whole shallot
don't skip any ingredients - especially the odd ones like the chili paste and fish sauce - they are key!!!

Bon Appetit!