Cake Balls

This morning I decided to attempt to make cake balls. It's cake that you then add some mixin's and then dip in hard chocolate.

• Use your favorite recipe or box mix


• After baking let cake cool


• Crumble cake into a large bowl


• Add your favorite icing and mix


• Using a small or large melon/ice cream scoop - scoop cake balls onto a parchment lined pan


• Place in FREEZER (important so crumbs don't fall off into melted chocolate)


• Melt "wafer (white or chocolate) confectionary coating" in microwave or on top of double boiler


• Take cake balls out of freezer and with a metal or wood skewer poke into the bottom of a frozen cake ball


• Dip into melted white or dark wafer confectionary coating and place on parchment to dry


• Decorate to your liking with sprinkles (while chocolate is still moist), dots, lines, etc.

These are delicious! You won't believe just how yummy and moist they are. For fun put them in a bowl with ice cream. Then you can have your cake and ice cream too!

This will be part of a class that I am putting together for children and adults.

More information to come.

To get this great platter and 3 square bowls that come with it, contact Robin Raible at:

www.pamperedchef.biz/rraible

Sushi Class

This past week I had the pleasure of teaching a Sushi Class at the Missouri Botanical Gardens and also for a private event at someones home in Farmington, Mo. Both classes were lots of fun.

The event that I taught in Farmington was a larger private group than what I normally do but everyone had a great time and the group of couples were a riot. They were singing Karaoke, drinking lots of Sake and having fun learning to roll sushi.

They learned four different types of sushi rolls and then enjoyed the fruits of their labor. I should get some pictures of the class posted this week for all to see.

Spring Fling

This past Friday Nicole G. gave her good friend Maggie an In-Home Culinary Birthday Class and invited Maggie's sister Ann as well.

The three ladies had a great time creating the Spring Fling feast that Maggie had selected which consisted of:

• Beggars Purses with goat cheese filling
• Mixed Green Salad with fresh fruit, Champagne Vinaigrette and more
• Stir fry salmon medley with pasta (above)
• Grilled Pineapple/Bananas Foster

They did an incredible job with each dish and loved their creations. As I sat down to sample the dishes with them, I must admit they all tasted perfect.

It was a fun night, shared with good friends, in the privacy of their own home.

POM Wonderful!

I love POM pomegranate juice. This morning as I was online I saw a blurb about it and decided to open it. In addition to the health benefits that I already knew it had there were some other facts that I didn't know about it.

If you like pomegranate juice and even if you don't you might want to read the health benefits. It might just have you running to the store to buy some. Plus check out the recipes.

Easter Ham Leftovers

Now that Easter has come and gone I'm sure many of you have lots of leftover ham from dinner. Here's a fabulous sandwich that I know you will love. You can serve this on mini party rye bread or have yourself a nice big sandwich.

French-Toasted Ham and Cheese

1 8oz pkg party sliced rye bread or large rye

1 8oz pkg swiss cheese, sliced

leftover sliced ham

Mix next 2 ingredients together:

2 tablespoons of orange marmalade

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Mix next 2 ingredients together in a bowl:

1/2 cup milk

1 egg beaten

Cut the ham to fit on the slice of rye bread (large or party size); cut cheese and put on top of ham. Put a dot of marmalade mixture on top of the cheese ( a bit more if using a large piece of rye) and then put on the other slice of bread.

Heat oven to 450 deegrees. Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine on a cookie sheet in the oven.

Dip each sandwich in the egg mixture to cover.

Place sandwich on cookie sheet and grill in oven at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Serve hot!

This is so scrumptious I just know it will become a favorite of yours. Plus you'll get through that leftover ham in no time at all.

Easter Treats

On Thursday, April 9th, 2009, Great Day St Louis aired the second segment of my Easter & Passover recipes. This time I created a bunny cupcake that I am sure the kids will love.

I hope that you enjoy the video segment.

http://www.kmov.com/greatday/video/?nvid=350461&shu=1

Wishing all of you a very Happy Easter & Passover!

Great Day St Louis

Yesterday I had the priveledge of having the folks from Great Day St Louis come out to my home to film me cooking a recipe for Easter and Passover. I had a lot of fun.

I prepared two dishes that will be featured on Great Day St Louis this coming Tuesday, April 7th and Thursday, April 9th at 10am on KMOV Channel 4.

I created both an entree and dessert for the holidays. I don't want to give away the full details of the dishes, so you'll just have to watch. If you miss it though I'll make sure I post the video online with the recipes.

Don't forget to tune in this Tuesday and Thursday at 10am on KMOV channel 4.

If you'd like to schedule a culinary class in your home please contact me at:

314.799.1633

vkb2@hotmail.com