Cookbook Shoot

I may have mentioned a time or two that I have been working on a new slow cooker cookbook the last 4-5 months.  There will be 100 new slow cooker recipes in the cookbook and I am so excited to share it with you later this year.

This past week was the cookbook shoot where we shot all the photographs for the cookbook.  I had a food photographer and her assistant fly into Portland.  It was a bit crazy because the whole city was shutting down thanks to Portland’s biggest snow storm in about thirty years but their planes managed to make it in amongst the hundreds of flight cancellations.   We spent five days shooting 50 recipes and 10 other lifestyle shots for the cookbook.  That meant that I got to recreate those 50 recipes in my kitchen.

I was so lucky to get to work with two great photographers – Erica Allen  a food photographer who is based out of LA and her trusty assistant, Bri of Briana Vail Photography who specializes in wedding photography in Utah, she’s also a great food stylist.

Let’s just say that 50 recipes requires a lot of food and a lot of cooking and my kitchen was pretty much a disaster all week.  There were usually 5-6 slow cookers going all day, every day.  If you follow me on IG, you got some peeks into the chaos on my Insta Story!

My two photographers were amazing and so fun to work with.  We had a great time together and I enjoyed learning from them.

I kept telling them they needed to move in with me and take all my photos for me.  This was a fun photo they took of the food prepped for one of our shots!

And they got this one too as the quiche patiently waited it’s turn to be photographed.  Let’s just say the table was not usually this clean!

As I mentioned we had a huge snowstorm in Portland that week and we even managed to spend a little time playing in the snow and taking pictures of it of course.

We had a beautiful view out the kitchen window too.

In addition to a lot of cooking there was also a lot of dish washing.

I lost track of how many times I ran my dishwasher each day!

The final recipe we shot was the Herbed Turkey Breast  – it made for a gorgeous shot!
We finished up a bit early on Friday so we made a trip, through the snow and ice to Salt & Straw, my favorite ice cream spot in Portland.  The girls loved it and there was no line thanks to 9 inches of snow and 20 degree temperatures!  It was the perfect way to celebrate wrapping up our week long shoot.   Loved these girls and I’m going to miss having them around.  Can’t wait to see the edited photos and how the cookbook comes together!!

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Homemade Almond Roca Recipe

Homemade Almond Roca

Delicious homemade chocolate almond toffee.  Tastes just like the expensive store bought version! CourseCandyCuisineAmericanPrep Time10 minutesCook Time20 minutesTotal Time30 minutesServings24 servingsCalories217kcalAuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup optional but helps prevent crystallization
• 1 cup almonds finely chopped and toasted
• 2 cups dark chocolate chips

Instructions

• Grease or oil a large rimmed baking sheet. Set aside.
• In a deep pot over low heat, combine the butter and sugar and cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon until the butter is completely melted and the sugar is dissolved. (Don’t rush this step! It may take up to five or six minutes for the sugar to dissolve but you don’t want the heat too high during this part of the process.)
• Once the sugar is dissolved and butter melted, turn the heat up to medium and stir gently as the mixture comes to a boil. Again, this may take a few minutes. Once it comes to a boil, clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and continue stirring gently as it cooks.
• During this time you want to stir the mixture gently back and forth (like a figure eight).
• The mixture will gradually get darker until it reaches 300 degrees F (in the hard crack stage).
• Once the mixture hits 300 degrees F, Immediately take it off the stove and stir in the finely chopped almonds.
• Pour the candy onto the prepared baking sheet, taking care not to scrape the bottom of the pot as you pour it out.
• Quickly spread the toffee into an even layer on the baking sheet using your spatula (or an offset spatula) – it will cool quickly which then makes it hard to spread.
• Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the hot toffee, tent with tinfoil (if needed), and let it melt for 3-4 minutes. (We’ve gone tented and no-tented with no significant difference. It may depend on the content of cocoa in your specific chocolate though. If it’s not melting all the way, tent.)
• Spread chocolate evenly and top with extra chopped almonds if desired.
• Allow to cool completely. This may take a few hours. (You can refrigerate it to let the chocolate set up but sometimes the quick cooling from the refrigerator can cause the chocolate to bloom. Bloom is white streaks and blotches that develop in the chocolate while it cools. It does not affect the taste but it lacks that smooth, shiny chocolate finish.)
• Once cool and the chocolate is set, break into pieces.

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A Celebration of Women

Monday’s post is late because I have just returned from spending 3 days with 4,000 amazing woman and 5 men!

I spent the weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the National Convention for the direct sales company I am involved with.

It was a weekend full of fun, little sleep, celebration, recognition, inspiration, motivation and information.

It was a group of 4,000 woman and 5 men who left their families, other jobs and obligations behind for a weekend focused on themselves and their direct sales business.

I spent the weekend listening to amazing woman share their stories.  Their stories of hard work, struggles, failures and successes.  They shared with us their best ideas and tips – willing to have everyone benefit from them.

I spent the weekend watching woman sing, dance, laugh and even dressing up a little crazy!

I spent the weekend meeting new friends and reconnecting with old friends.

I spent the weekend proudly watching members of my team and other women I know walk across the stage as they were recognized for their hardwork and dedication to their business this past year.

As I stood in the hall after the awards ceremony talking with a friend, she made the comment –

“This really was a celebration of women”

She was right – it was a celebration of women who have found a way to balance home, family, and a homebased business and for many of them, another full time job.  They do this because they believe in something.  In this case it is their product, the mission of their company and they are passionate about sharing it with their family and friends.

I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be a part of those  4,000 amazing woman and 5 men this past weekend.

It is an amazing thing that happens when a group of women come together in support of one another -when they feel passionate about something.   I am blessed to be involved in several different organizations and groups of women and I have experienced this over and over again.

I truly believe that there is nothing that a motivated and focused group of women can not accomplish!

The women this weekend have inspired and motivated me to want to be better and improve while providing me with information that will make me a better person and run a better business.

What a blessing women can be to other women when they come together, opening their hearts and minds to each other and support and encourage one another.  When they learn from each other and are motivated to do better instead of allowing themselves to be intimidated by others’ successes..

Thank you – 4,000 amazing woman and 5 men!

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I Had Fun!

Friday afternoon my husband called and asked me if I wanted to go golfing with him and the boys.  My first reaction was “UGGH – I don’t really have time for that”!

 I know that spending an afternoon on the golf course may sound like fun to a lot of you.  It was a beautiful, perfect “golfing weather” day.  Blue skies, sunshine, not too hot, a gentle breeze…but still the thought of going golfing, spending all that “time” on the golf course hitting a little ball around just didn’t sound fun to me – I had too many other things “I had to do”  .  I did begrudgingly say “I guess”.  Now – I use to golf.  In fact growing up I would spend every Friday in the summer at the Country Club for “kids day”.  I even have a few trophies to show for my efforts.  But since getting married and having kids my golfing days came to an end.  Life was just too busy, it was too hard to get someone to watch the kids or it seemed there was always someone who needed to go somewhere or something else to do that was a “better use of my time” .    In fact, I think I have been golfing once in the last 5-7 years.  (probably begrudgingly then too)..  Well, two Christmas’ ago I came down that morning to find a brand new set of golf clubs and a pretty red golf  bag sitting in the corner next to the Christmas tree.

 Again, some of you maybe thinking – wow – what a great gift

 Well – my first thought was “Why on earth is he giving me a set of golf clubs – I haven’t golfed in years.”  In fact my husband doesn’t even really golf!  It seemed like such a random gift.  And that gift sat in the corner of the garage basically unused (except for one round of golf last summer) for two years.  They are nice clubs, a pretty red bag and even a set of fuzzy head covers but I just didn’t seem to get around to using them.

Well I did go golfing Friday and guess what!  I had fun!  After I got out there and hit that first shot off the tee, which I hate because everyone else waiting to tee off is standing there watching you, I started to enjoy myself.  I began to remember why I use to spend every Friday golfing.  I had fun with my boys (all 3 of them – husband and two college boys)  It was fun to talk with them, learn from them as they helped me remember which club I should use when, have them say “good shot mom!” .  I could actually keep up with them too!   I enjoyed the beautiful weather and the wonderful flowers in the yards around the golf course – I had fun!

When I returned home I got to thinking.  There are other things in life that you put off doing, find excuses not to do, think you are too busy to do, or think you will do it next week, next month, next year.  When you finally get around to doing it you think – “Wow,  I had fun.  I forgot how much I enjoy this – I should do it more often.”

 Even in our business there are things that fall into this category – like teaching Get Togethers.  It’s easy to get out of the habit, to say “Life is too busy now, I’ll teach them later”  “I want to teach them but I just don’t have time”  There have been times in my life/business when life has just gotten in the way and I go for a period of time without teaching a Get Together, thinking I just don’t have time right now, or it’s so much work to pack up, get out of the house, etc.  But each time this happens and I do get out there I am reminded how much I really do enjoy it, how much I enjoy meeting new people, discovering their needs and helping them find solutions, learning from them and sharing Creative Memories with them and I have fun!.

In the busyness of life it is easy to forget what we love about our Creative Memories business, how much we enjoy teaching and sharing with others.

Creative Memories has provided us with some brand new tools to help us – they have made it so easy for us.  Don’t leave those tools wrapped up sitting in the corner of your garage like my golf clubs.  We have a beautiful new catalog and easy to present Get Together that uses that catalog.  Take advantage of the awesome new marketing materials and tools CM has provided us with (check out the new digital, baby, framing and branding brochures as well as the gorgeous new catalog).  We have an incredible array of beautiful new products!  We have so much to share  CM has done their part – the rest is up to us.

Take that first step, order those new catalogs and brochures..get on the phone and schedule that Get Together.  You too will find yourself saying “I had Fun! 

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