Smokey, barbeque chicken

I was going to post pictures of my new bbq/smoker, but my camera or cord or computer isn't working properly.  :(  Tonight for supper I am smoking boneless/skinless chicken breasts.  I spiced the chicken with a bbq spice rub from my Joy of Cooking book.  They smell good, and we will taste them when W comes home from work.  I have also made fried rice and some green beans.  I'll post the spice recipe later.  Wendy

Lincoln's 3rd Birthday

For Lincoln's 3rd birthday I made a cake.  I wasn't intending to do anything like this, but a few weeks ago we were looking at someone else's pictures and Lincoln said 'mine dozer cake.'  I told him I would try.  For 3 weeks I looked in every store I went to, for the little toys.  I looked at Walmart, Dollarama, The Great Canadian Dollar Store, Sobeys.  They didn't have them anywhere.  Finally renovations were done in Superstore so I looked there too.  They had them, and they were reasonably priced.  I used a recipe Nicoline told me about for fondant.  It turned out very good.  The only thing I would do differently with it is to cut out some of the icing sugar when adding cocoa for the brown fondant.  It would make it easier to knead and roll.  I made a buttercream type of icing, (shortening and custard whipped) for a filling and decoration.  I used this cake recipe as it has always made a really good cake for me.  I actually made 2 9x13 cakes.  I needed one for the cake and then I knew I would need some cake crumbs for the decorations.  (We also had a church lunch on Sunday and I figured that I could take cake, it would be easy as I had to make cake and icing anyways.)  I used ice cream cones with green icing for a couple of trees.  I used gel food colouring for the first time.  It was a bit different to use, but it wasn't difficult.
Here is the finished cake.  All ready for eating.

Grandpa and Grandma White came to celebrate with us.

Blowing out the candles.

And so, Have a good day all.  

Next I have to come up with an idea for Wesley's cake.

I already have an idea for Elizabeth.

Cashew 'Cheese'

This week I was looking for a recipe to make 'Cheese Whiz' and as I was looking I came across a cheese alternative.  It had never occurred to me that I could make a fake cheese.  I found this recipe for a soy and dairy free 'cheese'.  I read it and thought, "this looks easy."  So, I started looking for raw cashews.  They had them at Friendly Bulk Foods here in town for a lot cheaper than at Superstore.  I measured out the cashews that I would need,

added water,

and left them to sit in my fridge for the weekend.

On Monday, I took them out, rinsed them, and put them in the blender along with the other ingredients (sorry, I forgot to take pictures).  Then I blended them.  A powerful blender is almost a must.  I had no cheesecloth so I used a fairly thin dish towel to hung it to drain.  After 24 hours approx I took it out of the dishtowel and 

here is my 'cheese'.  

I put it in a dish

and put it into the fridge.  

It isn't exactly like cheese, but it is fairly smooth and creamy, has a bit of tang, and tastes pretty good.  I've tried it on a sandwich with lettuce and tomato and I enjoyed it. I will probably make it again.