A Cake Full of Flowers

Spring cakes should be light and beautiful, reflective of the season.What better than adding flowers whether the real thing or edible. They add to any bridal or shower cake along with making a lovely Mother's Day treat.

What can you use> An y fresh or even candy flours work.If you;re opting for fresh.Please use edible ones. No one wants to be poisoned by a cake decoaration. The same applies to the greens used.Think of decoatinga pretty white ro plae pink frosted cake with roses,nasturtium, chamomile, lavendar and hibiscus. if it can be made into a te ait's safe to eat. As for the greens, sprigs of basil and mint work however keep in mind these are strong smelling and could leave a tingle of flavor on the icing and cake. Bay leaves also are good and can sub in for rose leaves.How to attach them to a cake? Cut the stems off and then using florists tape to gather them together.it's just gently inserting the stems on an angle into the frosting. You make want to have a thick blob of it so the stems adhere nicely without the threat of falling off. Another idea is attaching it with a water tube filled with water so the flowers maintain their freshness.

Chocolate, fondant and marzipan also make for exquisite flowers as well.  You can easily buy molds for any kind of colored chocolate on Amazon or in places such as Michaels' A mocha cake would look lovely with a few dark and milk chocolate Bloons gracing one side. An engagement cake would look ;lovely with pastel colored chocolate,  which can also be bought at Michael's. Try to use  good chocolate like Ghiradelli's melting wafers for this. The better the candy , the better the consistency. Marzipan, that thick almond paste also works well for sculpting all sorts of flowers and leaves. Keep in mind you don;t have to go for authenticity here. Thin petal s will tear easily. Roll out and cut ones with a half inch thickness to them . Shape the petals by flattening them with the back if a spoon and them assemble to form flowers. Fondant  flowers are basically the same way. You can use fondant tools such as cutters and scissors to form leaves and petals.Keep in mind that dying both substances can be messy.Use a gel dye for all the flowers and greens.

Flowers on a cake add beauty. Try decorating your cakes with these for a refreshing ,pretty look.It's a salute to the garden.

Food Thrifting

 Clothes thrifting is a big thing right now. It's basically heading to the local consignment store and getting good et slightly used clothes and acessories on a budget. Now with rising food prices home chefs are practicing food thrifting of a sort. It's basically   budgeting to deal with those rising costs in the supermarket.

Associate food editor at the Wednesday Food section, Kristin Chambrot wrote about how to spend wisely  two days ago. Everyone is feeling the pinch across the board and it helps to shop wisely.Ms. Chambrot consulted with several experts about what to do and how to get the most for your dollar. One, ,blogger, Beth Moncel of Budget Bytes urges consumers to evaluate.Download budgeting apps such as Pockethuard and Mon arch will let shoppers import all their financial accounts into a centralized hub. There's also the second option of going old school and using an account book(read notebook) and tallying with a pen or opencil and calculator. Set a limit as to what you want to spend.Keep in mind every household is difference thanks to size and needs. Fifty per cent of the family paychecks should go to basics. Also go over what everyone is eating. They may not be consuming everything.Do what Dasha Kennedy, author fo Broke Black Girl does, figure out how much one person eats and times it by the number of people in the household.

As any home chef and homeowner will tell you making a list is all important.Yes it;s fun to get the extras that everyone loves. Just don;t go overboard when shopping (along with remembering that all important rule. - don't shop hungry.You'll wind up with everything under the sun in your cart).Ms.Chambrot recommneds gravitating to filling,tasty dishes that have low cost ingredients. Think a vegetarian chili with beans or a coconut chuicken curry. Another aspect that should be mentioned is where to shop. Go to stores like Lidl and Aldi for really good prices on canned goods, veggies and boxed goods. Lidl has excellent mushroom soups for 68 cents a can and bigger cans of hearty minestrone and pea soups for $2.58, Buy their brands of national brand cookies and cereals for three to four dollars cheaper along with their twelve pack of soda for only three dollars. Aldi has excellent pastas, risottos and spaetzles along with snacks and crackers for only two to three dollars. If these aren't;t in your area, Wal-Mart Costco and now Target has some really good prices on basic food items. Also take stocl of your pantry and never let anything go to waste.

Food thrifting should be apart of life,especially these days. Budget and spend wisely. You can wind up with tasty dishes that cost only pennies.