Day 24: Labor Day Spinach dip

- 1 package of vegetable soup mix (dry)
- 1 container of sour cream (large)
- 1 cup of mayonnaise
- 1 box of frozen spinach (chopped, thawed and drained)
- 1 small can of tiny shrimp
- 1 small can of crabmeat
- green onions (chopped)*
- cheddar cheese (shredded)*
- 1 round bread loaf (large)

Day 23: Friday Lasagna Night!

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 (32 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 32 ounces cottage cheese
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 9 lasagna noodles
• 1/2 cup water

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium heat brown the ground beef. Drain the grease. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese, eggs, half of the grated Parmesan cheese, dried parsley, salt and ground black pepper.
3. To assemble, in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish evenly spread 3/4 cup of the sauce mixture. Cover with 3 uncooked lasagna noodles, 1 3/4 cup of the cheese mixture, and 1/4 cup sauce. Repeat layers twice. Top with 3 noodles, remaining sauce, remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Add 1/2 cup water to the edges of the pan. Cover with aluminum foil.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F(175 degrees C) oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Fudgy Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

from Pillsbury

1/2 C butter, melted
2 C graham cracker crumbs (32 squares)
1 8 oz. bag toffee bits
1 roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 12oz. bag chocolate chips
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 T butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease 13x9 baking dish and heat oven to 350.

Have the roll of cookie dough sitting out for around 10 minutes to soften up.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup of melted butter, 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and 3/4 cup of toffee bits. Pour mixture into the greased pan and press evenly until mixture covers bottom of pan. Refrigerate for around 15 minutes.

In a 2 qt saucepan, heat the milk, chocolate chips and the tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Stir frequently until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Spread the mixture over the graham cracker crumb mixture.

In another medium mixing bowl, break up the cookie dough and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs until blended. Crumble the mixture evenly over the chocolate layer and the sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup toffee bits on top.

Bake for about 25-35 minutes or until it's golden brown. Cool completely before cutting, probably around 2 or more hours.

Day 22: S'more cupcakes!!!

I woke up this morning at 6:30am.  Honestly the reason why was because yesterday night I was up until midnight.  Just so you all know, I am by far too old to be staying up until the wee hours in the morning.  Especially since I have 2 young children.  I drug all day... until I had a lightbulb moment and decided to get a triple grande latte from Starbucks to give myself a zing.  Well... it did give me a zing but I'm still fidgety from it... at 9 o clock at night.  Crazy!!  3 Shots of expresso didn't used to effect me this way... or I don't recall it doing so.  Any who.... Onto the recipe!!!!

I made cupcakes tonight... surprise surprise right?  I love cupcakes.  Believe it or not I usually only try at most a bite of my finished product.  It's funny when you start making them all the time they lose their charm.  I give this cupcake recipe a medium in difficulty just because they take so dang long to make!  3 and a half hours later I was packing them in pyrex containers for Jon to take to work tomorrow.  Too long if you ask me!!  Also, the recipe called for a cream cheese buttercream icing... and let me reiterate that cream cheese icing in general rather "buttercream" or other wise SUCKS.  SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS.  period.  You just don't get that wonderful consistency that you get when you use shortening instead.  So... keep that in mind when you see my piping onto the cupcakes.  Runny icing is an understatement... But... Jon said they were awesome and that people at his work would eat them.... so there you go.  All of my cupcakes either have a problem with the cake moistness (my wreck of a margarita cupcake) or the icing is too runny or doesn't taste right.  Perfecting the art has taken longer than expected.

Cake Recipe

1 ¾ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder                          

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

¾ cup boiling water

Graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)

Marshmallow Cream Centers:

4 oz cream cheese

½ cup marshmallow cream

1 ½-2 cups powdered sugar

Graham Cracker Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese

½ cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 tablespoons whipping cream or milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 360 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners (24).
Mix sugar, brown sugar and oil for 3 minutes until smooth.

3.   add sour cream and vanilla extract stir well.

4.    Add eggs one at a time and mix only until incorporated. 

5.    In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

6.   Add dry ingredients and boiling water to sugar mixture alternating between the two. 

7.    Spoon ¾ teaspoon of graham cracker crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Shake pan to spread evenly. 

8.   Fill liners ¾ full and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.


This is what the cupcakes looked like when they were done:

9.   Mashmallow Cream Centers: Beat cream cheese, marshmallow cream and powdered sugar.  Add more powdered sugar to taste.  (This mixture should not be thick like a buttercream, because it will be in the center of your cupcake.)

10. When cupcakes are cooled, cut out a small area from the top of the cake and pipe marshmallow cream into each cupcake.


This is what the cupcakie centers looked like:

mmm!!  Now let me show you a picture of the "piping bag" I used... it was simply a sandwich ziplock with the corner cut off:

11.   Graham Cracker Buttercream: Beat cream cheese and butter until light and creamy.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla and graham cracker crumbs.  At this point, the buttercream will look like cookie dough.  Add heavy cream a little bit at a time until buttercream consistency is reached. 

12.  Pipe onto cooled, marshmallow filled cupcakes.


The Cupcakes looked awesome except for the horrid icing :)  Here's a finished pic:

l p
They are ok cupcakes.... but my own homemade recipe was much better.  I'm still perfecting my art.  But I love cupcakes.  It's a passion. :)  until next time!  xoxo

Day 21: The stay-at-home-mom mothership.

This past week has been quite busy so far.  So much so that I haven't been able to prepare my family an adequate meal much less blog about it.  :-/  I have noticed however... that my new found obsession with new recipes and cooking has been detrimental to my waist line.  Maybe it's just me... but those pants have been just a bit snugger these past few days.  Maybe I'm retaining water.. who knows?  But Jon and I have cut out sweets so I've also been having withdrawls if you will.  Headaches and hunger pangs that cannot be satiated from anything other than sugar.  I'm telling you guys.  Sugar addiction is real and I suffer from it.  lol.  The headaches would go away once I took a sip of diet soda or ate a cookie.  This is bad.  real bad.  What have I done to myself???!!  My struggle to stay away from sweets took a nose dive last night when I had a night alone without the kids.  I had a piece of cake.  *sigh*  I'm hopeless.

Getting to the title of this lovely blog entry, last night I went to a parent's meeting for Alex's new preschool.  I was new of course so I didn't know a soul except for the director who I had met when Alex, Jon and I had toured the preschool.  When I walked in I figured she probably didn't remember me... I mean afterall look at all these women with kids that go here.  NO WAY.  But she said, "Alex's mom!!"  What made Alex stick out I wonder?  From my view it would have been my son's boyish good looks... his beautiful smile.... his sweet innocent blue eyes.  For her it was probably his inability to be social at first meeting.  He is so cautious.  And while most people look at that as... he doesn't like me.... he won't ever like me..... I look at it as wisdom.  Because when was caution ever bad?  He has a very subjective view of everything which I am so proud of.  So Miss Bryant... not saying that you remembered me because my son is "anti-social" but if you did.... I don't care.  :-P

Any way... these women were so chatty.  I felt like I was walking in to a ball room full of gaggling geese.  And... while I feel bad for saying this... because I myself can "gaggle" I am definitely like my son and do horribly in new social situations.  I think talkative women either sense that I am bad at this social thing or they sense that I am someone that will sit there and listen to them talk.  Because every time I am in a new social situation I almost always have a woman sit next to me and engage me in a 30 minute conversation about random anticdotes about her life.  Tonight was no exception.  In both areas I was introduced.  The meeting area where all the mothers were, and the individual classroom Alex will be sharing with 8 other children.  Now, keep in mind I have no problem with this whatsoever.  I just find it a tad amusing that I attract talkative people.  I have more so since I"ve become a mother.  It's usually the extreme type A personalities as well.  But I will say that some of the closest friends I have like to talk and are very type A and I love every minute of it.

Alex's teacher was very.... type B I guess.  She didn't have much to say about anything so I intervened on her umming and hmmming....by asking questions I would like to know about my son's class... what their typical day was like... can I bring treats for his birthday... what temperatures are they kept inside from outside play.... things of that nature.  Hey... no one else was.

In running news, I have reached the 3/4's point of my training.  2 miles this morning!  I cannot tell you how amazing it felt to run that 2 miles.  I felt euphoric as I was driving home.  I only have a little more left until I'm "5k ready."  I am so so thankful God has given me legs to run and energy to go the distance.  :)

Until next time all!!  xoxo

Day 20: Sushi substitute? Absolutely!!!

So... everyone knows that lately I have developed a slight obsession with Pinterest.  On this website are copious amounts of crazy yet amazing recipes that I just want to spend all day in the kitchen baking.  If only I had unlimited amounts of confectioners sugar, white sugar, flour, brown sugar, and cream cheese I would be one happy woman.  Most of the recipes on Pinterest are desserts as stated in my entry before... however I found a keeper of a Salmon recipe.  and By keeper... I mean MAN!  This dish is amazing.  I made it for a few friends that came over last night and it was devine.  It was light and the perfect dish to impress.  And it was not only beautiful and colorful... but SOOOOOO delicious.  I think what made the dish so amazing was the eternal obsession my stomach has with Sushi.  But not just California roll sushi but the..... aaaahhhmazzzinggg philadelphia roll cream cheese salmon combination.  With an amazing eel sauce and a spicy sriracha sauce on top.  My mouth is just watering thinking about it!!

So a disclaimer before I post this recipe.  It is medium difficulty.... I'm not going to give it easy because the Salmon requires "stuffing" as you might say, and the marinade involves a LOT of different ingredients.  SO. SO.  worth it.  trust me.

Lets' get this show on the road!!  Here's the recipe.

First the Terriyaki Marinade recipe:

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 cup water (or pineapple juice)

5 tablespoon packed brown sugar (use only 4 tbsp if using pineapple juice)

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 tablespoons honey

1. in a small bowl, combine cornstarch & 1/4 cup cold water. stir until cornstarch is dissolved; set aside

2. in a saucepan, combine 1 cup water, soy sauce, ground ginger, garlic powder, brown sugar & honey; bring to a simmer

3. when liquid is simmering & brown sugar has melted, add the cornstarch/water mixture & simmer until thick enough to coat a back of a spoon (do not overthicken!)

Ok, Now this is not in the recipe but I used the marinade on the plate at the end as a garnish.  It looked AMAZING and gave a lot more taste to the dish since I only had time to marinate the fish for half and hour.  Here's what the marinade looked like:

Not too impressive looking at first but this stuff is the FIRE!  Soo good mmm mmm!!

Next is the Sriracha Sauce.  I was afraid that Jon's last minute run to the Kroger to get the ingredients that I needed for the dish wouldn't produce the sauce since I researched the sauce and the results said that "more and more grocery stores were starting to sell the sauce."  It's an extremely hot sauce from Thailand that goes on Sushi in Japanese restaurants.  I was nervous but Jon found it in the ethnic food isle!  I was ecstatic.  This sauce is perfect.... so yum!!!  You want to dip everything in it.  Chicken Nuggets, french fries, fish sticks.... my arm... lol.  Everything!  It's very simple to make.  Here it is.

SRIRACHA CREAM SAUCE INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup Sriracha sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons condensed milk

I let Jon make this because it was so easy to make.  :-P  J/k my amazing hubby volunteered to help with the dinner preparation so that's why he made it for me.  d'awwww.  Directions? GO!

SRIRACHA CREAM DIRECTIONS

1. in a medium bowl, combine Sriracha & mayo & whisk well

2. add condensed milk & whisk until fully incorporated; add more condensed milk for a milder taste & more Sriracha for a spicier taste

Ok.... so you have all that made... now comes the hard part.  There are several things that they don't tell you in the original recipe... like you MUST use amazing cuts of Salmon to get the taste you want... and by amazing I mean.... 4 cuts of this "amazing" salmon is 16 bucks.... Phew!  expensive!  But worth it.  B) cutting the Salmon "envelopes" is harder than they make it out to be.  Use a sharp knife.  None of mine were sharp enough but again.... this was an impromptu dinner with less than 24 hours notice.... again.  (Thanks Jon. :-P)  So cut me a little slack :-P  Here is the fillet recipe!!!  

STUFFED SALMON W/ SRIRACHA CREAM SAUCE INGREDIENTS

2 salmon filets

teriyaki marinade (recipe below)

sriracha cream sauce (recipe below)

2-3 tbsp cream cheese (room temperature)

green onions (thinly sliced)

sesame seeds

olive oil

Instructions?  sure.

STUFFED SALMON W/ SRIRACHA CREAM SAUCE DIRECTIONS

1. in a baking/marinading dish, place salmon filets & add 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup teriyaki marinade. let marinade reach about 1/2 of the sides of filets. marinade in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to overnight

2. preheat oven to 400 degrees. meanwhile, line a baking dish with aluminum foil & lightly brush with olive oil; set aside

Picture of the pans?  Sure.

3. on a cutting board, slit the sides of each salmon filets making a long pocket/envelope; do not pierce through the other side!

4. insert about a tablespoon of cream cheese into each pocket; do not overstuff or the cream cheese will seep out during baking

5. in the prepared baking dish, place stuffed salmons & sprinkle a nice amount of sesame seeds. cover the baking dish & salmon filets with another sheet of foil & bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until salmon is cooked all the way through

6. after baking is done, place in a serving dish & drizzle with sriracha cream sauce & garnish with thinly sliced green onions

I know you're DYING to know what this splendid dish looks like.... well I'll show you.  We always break out our wedding china for guests so please view my beautiful china :-P  also... as an amazing accompaniment I laid the fillet over a bed of Garlic and Olive oil cous cous.  Drizzled a little marinade on the sides and on the cous cous and topped with the sriracha sauce and green onions.  I can't explain to you.... how much this tasted like my favorite sushi without anything raw... :-P  and How simply perfect this was.  Here is the end result.  

Next, for dessert I made a Coca-Cola cake.  I found this recipe also on Pinterest but I had tasted the cake before and I was TOTALLY stoked to make it.  I mean this stuff is heaven in a pan I'm telling you!  Also, it was a perfect ending to an amazing meal.    Here's the mix recipe for the dry ingredients:

preheat oven to 350, and grease up (I used oil spray) a 9×13 (or so) pan.

mix:
2cups flour
2cups sugar
1/2tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp cinnamon

Then you mix that stuff together!  Picture?  sure.

Pretty simple.  Next you mix the wet ingredients with the exception of the eggs and vanilla extract.. and bring them to a boil.  Here are those.  

in a saucepan over medium high heat stir this up good until it boils:
1 cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup coca-cola (from bottle is my preference!)
1/2 cup buttermilk


Picture?  Sure.

now take off heat and add that to the flour mix & whisk until combined.

Then add:
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract

What does that look like?  why... I'm glad you asked.

After this, you put it in the pan and bake it for about 30 min. or SO... I say or so because I ended up having to baking for more like 40-45 minutes.  But I would set the timer for 30 minutes and judge by tooth pick if it's ready and adjust your time from there.  When it's almost done you make the glaze.  Here's the recipe:

1/2cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup coca cola

once that boils, remove and slowly stir in 4cups of confectioners’ sugar until nice and smooth. Then add in about a cup of chopped pecans, and give it a stir.  You want to add the glaze the minute the cake comes out of the oven.  Here's what the amazing cake looks like:

Soo good yall.   SOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!  I hope you guys try it because you won't be disappointed at all :)  Have a great day you guys!!!  xoxo

Day 19: I hope I live to be 90.

Man!  It has been awhile since I've updated this blog.  I've had a busy last few weeks.  Our family took a trip to Kingsport TN where most of Jon's extended family resides, to celebrate his great grandmother's 90th birthday.  90 years old!  Can you believe it?  I sure can't.  I hope I live to be 90... even in my 80's I would consider an achievement.  I wish I could have found my camera charger where I would have had photos of the event but alas... I STILL cannot find my battery charger for my camera.  I've mis-placed it and I still haven't found where. Don't you just hate that?

I felt so sorry for Jon's family this weekend.  My children were in absolute horrid moods the entire time.  I seriously don't know what got into them.  Over the weekend, I kept wondering to myself... "where the heck did this come from?????!!"  Alex was in the... I need to cling to my daddy mode most of the time so he was either wailing because Jon was gone... or wailing because Jon went to the bathroom... and so forth.  Hannah wasn't really cranky but spit up EVERYWHERE.  I apologized to Jon's grandmother the day we left stating that she was amazing to put up with the spit up. lol.  I was almost sure Hannah had spit up on every surface in her home.  I'm just thankful to the Lord that it was all hard wood flooring.  I would have never been able to forgive myself if she had spit up and stained carpet.  Because goodness knows their carpet in their rooms are COVERED in their spit up stains.  Some stains I can get out with carpet cleaner or bleach, and the others are there forever.  Or until we get our carpets professionally cleaned which probably won't happen until our home goes on the market.

To end... we had an amazing time in Kingsport!  I got to go on a quality time trip with Tina (Jon's Aunt) and her sweet daughter Caylee to the Hobby Lobby.  Where Tina's keys proceeded to be lost.  I didn't mind though as I found it entertaining retracing our steps trying to find them. lol!  I also got some time to talk to Tina about my new found addiction to running which she and I share.  It's great to talk to a more seasoned runner and get tips for running... how the 5k's/half marathon's work and how to build endurance.  I really enjoyed talking to someone as enthusiastic about the sport as I am or more! :)

On the way home from Kingsport Jon got the HP Touchpad bug.  You know.... the tablet pc that went down to 100 bucks overnight?  Yea well Jon was determined to get us each one since they were so cheap.  We checked I'm sure about 10 or 12 Best Buys for stock.  And in the end we both ended up scoring one on an electronics website that no one knew about that happened to have them in stock.  Best Buy was worthless in the end.  :)  I also discovered the website "Pinterest" on the way home which kept me busy the whole 8 hours on the way home.  That website is so AMAZING!  So many DIY ideas, craft ideas, kids clothing ideas, and FOOD ideas.  I love baking more than anything as you guys know. :)  And this website had amazingly delicious looking recipes for EVERYTHING under the sun.  Mostly desserts, but there were a few entrees in the mix.  Jon said that the reason for that was because every woman is obsessed with sweets... which I think is probably true.

In children news, This morning I was doing the dishes.  Trying to get breakfast dishes put in the dishwasher and make Hanni's breakfast before going in to wake her and I put a few banana pieces and some cheerios in the living room on the coffee table for Alex to eat.  In case you don't know, in addition to breakfast Alex likes to have a mid morning snack of cheerios and some sort of fruit.  So he apparently scarfed up his banana and comes in the kitchen while I'm doing dishes to ask if he can have more.  He keeps buzzing around me saying combinations of dada na na ba ba... and I wasn't really paying attention.  All the sudden he makes a noise and I look towards him and he utters, in the most perfect english... "Banana!"  Yup.  you saw right.  the WHOLE word.  I was in shock.  I couldn't believe my 22 month old just said the whole word Banana.  I start laughing and pick him up and hug him.  He acted as though he didn't know why I was freaking out. lol.  I wanted to cry it was just the most perfect sound I had ever heard.  My son say a whole word... not na na.... or utterances.... but a whole word.

Hannah has started crawling.  Not just army scooting but crawling.  She took her first two crawls this morning in Alex's room while we were playing before their naps.  It was so great to see that.  I really never got to experience that with Alex so it is awesome to be experiencing all the firsts with Hannah.  :)

In running news, I have gotten up to a mile .4.  So close to the halfway point!!!  I can't believe it :)  I've started thinking that I want to get a run in 5 days a week instead of 4 but I can't seem to get my butt out of bed in the mornings that I usually don't run.  I guess my body knows it hasn't been trained to get up at 5 am on those days. lol.  I am still averaging a 12 minute mile.  which isn't bad.  If I keep this up I should finish my first 5k in around 40 minutes?  That's what my goal is.. but I would be content with 45 minutes. :)

Well with that followers I will end!  Thanks for reading!!  I will post recipes on Thursday that I will have most likely gotten from my new favorite website pinterest.  This is the last week that Jon has before he starts working out and cutting sweets from his diet.  I actually need to cut the sweets as well.  We both have horrible sweet toothes and it seriously needs to get reigned in.  I told Jon that he only has to work out Monday and Friday.  I hate acting like a mom but I just want him to be healthy.  and he has officially been completely sedintary for a full year and a half.  It's time for him to start back.  I want to have my husband for a really long time.  Maybe 90 years?  :)

Until next time!  xoxo.

Day 18: My little boy is growing up! ;(

This past Sunday Alex was promoted to the 2 year old class at church.  It was a pivotal moment for me as a mother.  Realizing that my sweet son that I remember giving birth to like it was yesterday is already 2.  Already promoting to a new Sunday school class and most of all already starting preschool in the Fall.  I just can't believe it!  Hannah is still in her same class, but she's an infant so I doubt she will be promoting until January.

In other news, I can safely say that I am not going to be making cakes for a LONG time.  I made 3 cakes this weekend, 1 of which is still in my freezer.  The idea started as you followers saw on Friday when I wanted to try for the first time to make a from scratch cake and icing.  Well that cake turned out amazing, so I volunteered to prepare my sisters birthday cake for her upcoming birthday lunch at J Alexander's.  I asked her what kind of cake she would like... thinking it would be something simple such as vanilla.. or chocolate.  Nope.  She wanted a Red Velvet Cake.  So I dove in.  Preparing the cakes and attempting to prepare the cream cheese icing.  Let me just state that I should have just iced the cake with buttercream because the cream cheese icing recipe that I aquired made an absolutely HORRID frosting.  It was runny and gross and looking at the cake once I iced it... I realized that no... no.... this was not going to work.  I couldn't very well serve my sweet sister... this horrible excuse for a cake.

So I pre heated the oven.... and started over.  The end product ended up being my best cake yet!!  a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  It was heavenly if I do say so myself.  :)

After this cake excursion you can bet that I won't be making a cake for awhile.  At least a month or so. lol.  Plus we don't need it in the house.

My parents in law kept the children for Jon and I last night so this morning has been a little odd.  I've already gotten all my cleaning done and now I don't know what to do with myself.  I wish I could lull myself back to sleep but my internal clock usually doesn't let me this early in the morning.  With them not being here, I still went through my morning routine.  My run, making Jon and I breakfast, packing his lunch, preparing coffee... But boy did I miss my Alex.  I missed making his breakfast and cuddle time on the couch while I drink my coffee.  I miss Hannah's shreeking which she does all day long. lol.  I get them back at 11 and it can't come soon enough.  :)

Thanks for reading!!  xoxo

Day 17: I've been itching to get to this post!

So this is going to be an all day affair with writing this blog entry.  Mainly because keeping up with two small children is an all day and all night affair in itself.  You have to have eyes like a hawk to watch Alex these days.  He's officially in to everything!  Saturday at the cosignment sale I saw a friend that I haven't seen in years who has a son that is a month or so older than Alex.  I asked her how he was to which she responded, "Girl.  we've been to the emergency room 2 times... this summer."  WOW.  She proceeded to tell me that she keeps him from climbing and getting into trouble by warning, "You don't want to go to the emergency room again do you?" lol.  I walked out of the sale with affirmation that my toddler could indeed be much worse.  contrary to popular belief of myself sometimes.  :-P

This morning I got up at my usual time to go run to yet another pitch black morning.  Is it true that during the fall and winter months have earlier mornings?  I hope so... I need to stop treadmill running if I want to be ready for the 5k.  Everyone knows the treadmill is nothing like running on pavement... so I'm hoping it cools down soon.  It's just too hot to run outside right now.  Even at 5:30am in the morning.

After breakfast I was sitting in the living room with the kids and the Today show had Maroon 5 on as their concert artist of the week?  All the sudden Alex screams in his loudest voice, "DADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  thinking he somehow thought Jon was home I said, "No baby your daddy is not home yet."  He then furiously points to the tv and screams, "DADA DADA!!!!!!"  He thought the lead singer of the band was somehow daddy.  Which I thought was extremely hilarious!  I started laughing so it made him start to cry which I felt bad about. At first I kind of entertained the thought, "hmmm.. I guess Jon does look kind of like Adam Levine." lol!  But then I remembered.... that Alex also points to Matt Lauer and says DADA.  so.... maybe not so much. lol.  

On another note, last night I made a homemade chocolate cake with homemade butter cream icing!  Let me just state as a disclaimer before I post recipes... that this cake is addicting... and it needs to leave my house. lol.  I was originally going to make it as cupcakes where Jon could take them to work knowing my horrible horrible sweet tooth as well as his.... but he didn't want share and convinced me to make a layer cake.  So I did.  and oh my gosh it is so great!  I'm making it for my sisters birthday dinner on Sunday because I am so so proud. :-P  Here we go!  Recipe first:

Cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Icing:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 11x17 inch sheet cake pan.  

For me, I used to separate cake pan rounds instead of the sheet cake pan... just because I of course was not making a sheet cake.  


In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and baking soda. Stir in the eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. Set aside.


Here's what this looks like.  While making this cake I kept saying to myself.... hmmm what an odd way to mix ingredients for a cake.  But I think the way you mix and add makes the cake more moist.  Here's what this looks like:

kinda like a thick dough I guess?


In a saucepan combine butter, oil, cocoa and water. Bring to a boil and stir until smooth
here's a picture:

kinda looks gross... and lets be honest.. if you tasted it it would be!.  No sugar that was in the other ingredient mixture remember?


Slowly blend into the flour mixture. Pour into prepared pan.


Picure?  why yes of course!

mmmm!  Baking away!! 


Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.


Now these baking directions are complete nonsense.  I had to bake these cakes much MUCH longer than 20 minutes.  Now you are probably saying to yourself... "But Carolina, those cake pans are deeper than a sheet cake pan of COURSE you would have to bake it longer."  No friends... I'm talking double the bake time for these beauties.  It was not the deepness of the pan although considered.  Just bake the cake for the alloted amount of time the recipe calls for and make sure the middle is cooked.  I had to cook my cakes for an extra 14 minutes.  Just sayin.  


"Well Carolina?"  You may be asking.... "What did your homemade chocolate cakes turn out like?"  Good question.  Here's a picture.  :-P

Now for the icing!!  The icing was sooo fun to make!  It takes a little elbow grease but is so worth it in the end I promise!!!  


In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer


here's what that looked like :-P

*sigh* the start of something wonderful.  


Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. 


This "gradual" thing they speak of is pretty important.  Here's a picture:

I think this is after about two cups of confectioners sugar.  mmmmm!


When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.


They aren't joking folks but take heart!  The milk makes it beautiful and fluffy again!  Here's a picture:

There it is... in all its glory.  The most loved icing on the planet and with good reason!  Better Crocker you aint got nothin on this stuff!  Here's a pic of the cake iced.  Jon did the majority of putting the layers together and icing the cake.  He's much better at meticulous stuff than I am.. mainly because I don't have the patience for small things and he does.  Here it is in all it's wonderful splendor!

It was so good!!!!  Here is a picture of what the inside looked like.  After we both had a slice.  :-P

Jon LOVED and I mean loved it.  He told me that the cake was VERY impressive to be made completely from scratch and I had to agree.  :-P  


Here you are guys!!  I hope you enjoyed it!!  till next time.  xoxo.