Weekend fun

We have had a full house since Friday. Thank you to all our loved ones that traveled up to us for the weekend. It was a blast.

I knew I would be doing a lot of cooking this weekend with 12 extra mouths to feed. First up was on day one we started out with Cake batter pancakes and waffles. It is exactly what it sounds like. I made cake batter and made them into waffles and pancakes. We topped that with whipped cream, Pomegranate syrup, chocolate chips and butter. It is as sweet as it sounds. Kids love it. Guests stuck with syrup and butter.

Dinner was a BBQ at our house. We started with a salad. I am not a fan on lettuce salads, so I tend to use baby spinach. We added dried cranberries, sesame seeds and pomegranate arils, topped with balsamic vinaigrette. This may be a new favorite salad (at least as long as we have fresh Pomegranates) I marinated some chicken breasts with rosemary, thyme, peppercorns crushed, oregano, dried garlic, dried onions and garlic salt. Then threw it on the grill. Hubby was the grill master for the night. He rocked it. Chicken came out so juicy and full of flavor. I made for the side rice. The rice was sauteed in butter until golden then boiled with coconut oil, vegeta and ground pepper. Perfect pair with the chicken.

Dessert was a real treat. I wanted to continue on with the pomegranate theme. Like that should surprise anyone? With the help of two adorable little helpers we made dark chocolate shells filled with white chocolate pomegranate mousse. The shells were an easy make. Just made a batch of chocolate, but instead of making it milk chocolate I it dark with the use of some bitter cocoa powder. Very rich. The filling was made by making a batch of white chocolate, but not letting it harden. As I was in the process of making that I had my daughter making the pomegranate part. This was just pomegranate juice mixed with gelatin, set aside to harden. Then on to 2 cups of heavy cream beat to fluffy and stiff, thanks to my son for that part. Add in a touch of vanilla, the white chocolate and pomegranate gelatin mixture. Whip it all and refrigerate to harden.

By the time the filling is set the shells are too. Now just use a pastry bag and fill the shells. We topped them with a couple arils and they were light and delicious.

Like one dessert is enough. Ha! We have a fire pit in our backyard and a nice bonfire going so what better second dessert then one cooked over a fire pit. We made campfire pies. This is something I should sell as kits. They are easy and amazing. You take biscuit dough, and  dowel (about a 1.25 inch diameter by 4 feet long) press the dough onto the dowel and wrap it around the end. Slowly cook it over the fire. SLOWLY is the key to a fully cooked pie crust. Once it is cooked remove it and fill with your favorite pie filling and top with whipped cream. The end result is what we call a campfire pie. It is warm and sweet, a perfect mixture.