Carrie's Sweet Life » About the Cook

Our Family

Carrie — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:50:25 +0000

Our family started out with one single little tiny black kitten, he is now a 3 year old BIG black cat who runs the house. Mister Kitty

We decided that Mister kitty really needed a friend so we adopted Miss Malibu.

And just last Winter we decided as if our life wasn’t crazy enough we wanted to add a little puppy to our mix. Peanut is still just that a little puppy who has more energy then we ever imagined.

Our family is about to grow more as we are expecting our own little turkey in Novemeber 2009. I started this blog as a cooking blog and would like to keep it that way, so this will be the only post on our exciting news, if you care to stay up to date, read how we told people, etc please check out The Sweet Life which we will update often.

Happy 2nd Birthday

Carrie — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:00:35 +0000

I can’t believe this little blog is now 2 years old! It started on in 2007 with a Coconut cake I made to celebrate Valentines day. I now make almost all my cakes from scratch and can’t say I will ever go back to boxed cake mix, homemade is SOOO much better.

I moved my blog to my own domain name in May of 2008. I hope you all enjoy reading my blog as much as I love baking and cooking in the kitchen, and I hope to countine my blog for many more years to come.

To celebrate my blog birthday I am giving away a Banana Nut Cherrios basket.

Included in this giveaway is a coupon for a free box of banana nut cheerios, banana tree with fruit basket, 2 cereal bowls, and a bread pan.

Please leave a comment with the following three things…

What your favorite thing about my blog?
What keeps you coming back?
What you hope to see in the future?

To be eligable you must answer all three question with a comment by Feb 17th at 12pm central time. The winner will be randomly selected and announced on Feb. 18th.

Good Luck!

Become a faceboook fan…

Carrie — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:14:02 +0000

Do you love my blog, well then become a fan of this blog on facebook.

Click the logo above or here to go to Carries Sweet Life facebook page and add yourself as a fan.

The Best of 2008

Carrie — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:01:57 +0000

Here is a look back at my favorite recipes of 2008.

Appetizer: Cheeseball

Breakfast: Carmel Rolls

Snack: CRACKers

Dessert: Turtle Cheesecake

Cookie: Tahitian Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

Main Dish: Cream Cheese and Pesto Filled Chicken

Side Dish: Crashed Hot Potatoes

Biggest Blog Hit of the Year: Applesauce Spice Bars with Maple Frosting

Hope you and yours have a safe and happy new year.

Blog Giveaway

Carrie — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:56:14 +0000

I know, I am late. I promised this blog giveaway a few weeks back, but we just got busy. We had an exciting new family memberjoin our family and she has taken a lot of time. I still have in the kitchen but just haven’t taken the time to site down and update my blog.

I have two more Progresso “Perfect Recipe” gift basket. You will receive the below basket. Included in this basket is a free coupon for Progresso Broth, a recipe card holder, recipe box and wicker basket, as well as a set of serving spoons and a spoon rest.

There is two ways to win…

First is to post a comment in my blog telling me why you love my blog
Second is to post on your blog about the giveaway and then posting a comment on my blog with a link to yours.

You have until midnight December 31st 2008 to post. I will announce the winners on the 1st.

Happy Thanksgiving

Carrie — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:00:49 +0000

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! And get to eat lots of wonderful food and enjoy time with your family.

Please take a moment to remember all that YOU are thankful for today!

Sweet 100

Carrie — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:17:32 +0000

I did the Omivore 100 a few weeks ago, but anyone that knows me knows that I am MUCH more a baker then a cooker, so when I saw this knew I had do it.

What’s your score?

Red Velvet Cake
Princess Torte
Whoopie Pie
Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
Beignet
Baklava
Black and White Cookie
Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
Kringle
Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
Scone with clotte cream
Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
Halvah
Macarons
Banana Pudding with nilla wafers
Bubble tea (with tapioca “pearls”)
Dixie Cup
Rice Krispie treats
Alfajores
Blondies
Croquembouche
Girl Scout cookies
Moon cake
Candy Apple
Baked Alaska
Brooklyn Egg Cream
Nanaimo bar
Baba au rhum
King Cake
Sachertorte
Pavolva
Tres Leches Cake
Trifle
Shoofly Pie
Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
Panna Cotta
New York Cheesecake
Napoleon/mille-fueille
Russian Tea Cake/Mexican Wedding Cake
Anzac Biscuits
Pizzelle
Kolache
Buckeyes
Malasadas
Moon Pie
Dutch Baby
Boston Cream Pie
Homemade chocolate chip cookies
Pralines
Gooey butter cake
Rusks
Daifuku
Green tea cake or cookies
Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
Creme Brulee
Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
Jelly Roll
Pop Tarts
Charlotte Russe
An “upside down” dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
Hummingbird Cake
Jell-O from a mold
Black forest cake
Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
Kulfi
Linzer torte
Churro
Stollen
Angel Food Cake
Mincemeat pie
Concha
Opera Cake
Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
Pain au chocolat
A piece of Gingerbread House
Cassata
Cannoli
Rainbow cookies
Religieuse
Petits fours
Chocolate Souffle
Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
Rugelach
Hamenstashen
Homemade marshmallows
Rigo Janci
Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
Divinity
Coke or Cola cake
Gateau Basque
S’mores
Figgy Pudding
Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
Joe Froggers
Sables
Millionaire’s Shortbread
Animal crackers
Basbousa

31/100 I have some fresh dessert ideas

New Kitchen

Carrie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:30:19 +0000

Adam and I made our big move about a month ago, although it was only about 10 minutes from our old place, it was still a lot of work, we still have some boxes left to unpack. But I made sure my kitchen was the first thing to get unpacked!!

I have SOO much more cupboard space and can store all my stuff

This is also a special celebration for my blog, it’s my 400th post, so now you will see where all my wonderful food comes from.

No this picture isn’t crooked, the fridge would be the white part

Fogo de Chao

Carrie — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:07:00 +0000

I first heard about Fogo de Chao when I was getting my hair done. My hair dresser was telling me she had heard about this place. I kind of stored it in the back of my memory as it sounded like something that would interest Adam has he is a total meat man.

Fogo is a brazilan steak house. When I asked Adam if he wanted that our sushi he was unsure. But he finally decided on this instead of sushi because he knows I am not a sushi person.

So we had a 5:30 reservation and were one of the first people to be sat for dinner (they only open at 5.) They had an amazing salad bar, with fresh mozzarella, heart of palm, few different salads, amazing Cesar salad dressing. Along with the salad bar they brought out some cheese biscuit things. I really don’t know how to explain them, but they were awesome.

Then came the main course, they bring out three sides for you, mashed potatoes, fried polenta, and fried bananas. The mashed potatoes were pretty average what you get else where. Neither Adam nor I had ever tried polenta, we thought it was amazing, it was like little french fries with parmesan on top, we had at least 3 trays of those brought out. I cannot review the bananas as I don’t like bananas but Adam said they were good.

Then came the meats, we each had a disc. One side was red and one was green. When you wanted meat you turned to green and all these guys came around and served you whatever you want. They cut it right off of the bone it. We tried bacon wrapped chicken and sirloin, top sirloin, filet migion, pork and beef ribs, pork sausages, and bottom roast.

All was very good, but the bottom roast was AMAZING! Adam and I were just in awe of the flavor.

And lastly since we were celebrating Adam’s birthday we got a piece of the chocolate mouse cake, also very good. It was so creamy, and soft and delicious.

We both left with a full and happy tummy and were not hungry for about 24 hours. Adam didn’t even grab a toothpick on the way out because he was worried he would lose the wonderful beef flavor in his mouth

So if you are ever around one of these, although it is a little pricey it is WELL worth the money for any meat lover

Blogging with Purpose

Carrie — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:27:00 +0000

Elizabeth at Elizabeth’s Cooking Experiments has awarded me a blogging for purpose award. I was very honored to be awarded this as I feel like I am just a normal Midwestern cook. I like to make the family favorites as well as go out on a limb.

I always love receiving comments from others, as well as seeing how many people actually look at my blog.

It’s my job to nominate five other bloggers whom I feel deserve this award.

Amber at Amber’s Delectable Delights. Amber’s pictures and bread recipes get me every time. I have noticed whenever I am searching for a recipe I always start at her blog.

Joelen at Joelens Culinary Adventures. I love reading about all the events that Joelen does around her community and all the interest things she puts in her blog.

Melissa at Meli can cook. Meli definitely can cook, almost everything in her blog makes me drool, I love her food and pictures.

Jamie at Good Eats ‘n Sweet Treats. Whenever I log into my google reader I look at her blog first, I love all her posts and desserts!

Michelle at Sugar and Spice. I love reading about all the events Michelle participates in, and all her dessert recipes.

Now, here’s what you five have to do

Nominate 5 blogs that haven’t had this award before

Each of the blogs must have a purpose

The nominated blogs must have a link back to this blog

The logo from this award must be displayed in your blog