Happy Birthday to Me!

Oh cake, how do I love thee, let me count the ways...

I love this cake not because it's beautiful or fancy or so decadent that you'll feel like you just died from an overdose of chocolate (no, there isn't any chocolate in it and yes, I still love it!)

No, I love this cake because it's honest and simple.

It's made in a 13x9 pan (nothing impressive there). The base is a yellow cake mix from a box (try to control yourselves). The topping is whipped cream, not fancy ganache or marvelous butter cream. What is special about it then? There are flavors of vanilla, pineapple and coconut. The texture is light, airy and moist. I wanted this to be my birthday cake because it reminds me of summer and after a long, cold winter it was a welcome taste of the tropics. Like that old commercial, "When I bite into a York Peppermint Patty I get the sensation of..." Well, when I taste this cake I literally could close my eyes and picture the clear aqua-green water of the Caribbean, the white sandy shore lined with palm trees and a hammock just waiting for me.

Is it wrong that food evokes such feelings in me?

So long winter!

Here's the recipe from the queen of southern cooking, Paula Deen!

P.S. If the name bothers you than call it whatever you want, I do.

My husband calls it "Highly Overrated Cake", hilarious!

Healthy, Happy Snacking!

So, does this look like it could be even remotely healthy? No you say? How about if you knew it was made with whole wheat flour, applesauce, only 3/4 cup of sugar and NO butter? OK, you're thinking, maybe it's healthy but how does it taste? Well, I put it to the ultimate test, I set it down in front of my kids. They gobbled it down and wanted more, even without the glaze on top! If that doesn't convince you that healthy and delicious can go hand in hand then you'll just have to try it out yourself! The best thing about this bread? When made without the options and cut into 16 servings it's only 2 WW points per serving! Seriously! So what are you waiting for? Ditch the high calorie muffins and breads and give this a try, your waistline will thank you!

Healthy Banana Bread

4-5 Ripe Bananas (mashed)

3/4 cup applesauce

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white all purpose flour (you can use all whole wheat flour if you'd like, tastes just as good)

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp cinnamon

Options (which obviously raise the calorie content but just by a little)

chocolate chips

chopped walnuts

cinnamon glaze (recipe below)

Heat your oven to 350 and prepare a bundt pan (spay with non-stick spray)

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix bananas with applesauce and set aside. Beat sugar and eggs on medium-high with a mixer until creamy then add in banana-applesauce mixture and combine. Turn off mixer and fold in the dry ingredients just until blended. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 min. Bread will be done when top springs back. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 min then remove from pan and cool completely.

Cinnamon Glaze (amounts are approximated since I really didn't measure them when I made it)

1 cup of confectioners sugar

2 Tbsp milk (or more for desired consistancy)

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Sweet Side

I know this isn't technically "baking" but this coleslaw is so sweet it belongs on a blog called "Sweet Rewards". Now, I am not a big fan of coleslaw in general. Every once in a while, when there is bar-B-Q around, I will have a little bit but I can say with certainty that I never crave the taste of it. Besides the taste, there are the calories, it's pretty high on the list of no-no's for dieters. HOWEVER...this tasty recipe from BHG.com (photo provided by BHG.com) has changed all of that for me. First of all, it's sweet and secondly it's lower in calories comparatively. It's so simple, bring it to your next family get-together and even the complacent coleslaw customer will compliment your culinary capabilities!

1.5 cups of pre-shredded cabbage and carrots (found in your produce section by the bagged salads)
1/4 cup of pineapple tidbits
1/4 cup of honey roasted peanuts (chopped)
2 tbsp of low-fat vanilla yogurt
2 tbsp of light mayonnaise

mix yogurt and mayo together in a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well coated. Keep refrigerated.

Making Whoopie

PIES PEOPLE!!!

I thought it was an appropriate cookie for Valentine's Day.

You know, cuz it's red ;)

Another recipe from the fabulous Bakerella!

The Red Velvet Sandwich Cookie, sweet and easy.

There's just one question...

...what do I do with the left over cream cheese frosting?

I'll figure it out :)

Sharing is Good...

...and I just think this blog needs to be shared with the world. I was checking out some of the blogs that were nominated for the "Bloggies" awards to see what was so special about them. Some of them were absolutely beautiful. The photos were professional grade and the writing was superb. It put mine to shame and I came to the conclusion that I will probably never have an award winning blog when compared to those. Seriously, it's like it is their full-time job to put these things together and the time and effort it takes to make something worth reading on a regular basis is more than I have available right now. So, while I was investigating the nominees I came upon a blog called "Cake Wrecks". I sat there and scrolled through the utter disasters that people called cakes and laughed so hard I cried. I mean, tears were rolling down my eyes and I thought, "This is a blog worth following!" Check it out, maybe you'll be glad you did. I must warn you, however, that sometimes things can get a little gross, like this post on foot cakes.....but still very funny :)

A Classic, The Pound Cake

Had an itch to try something new this week, pound cake.

I wasn't sure why they called it "pound cake" so I did a little (very little) research and here it is,

your "fun fact" of the day:

It seems that the original recipe from the early 1700's used a pound of every ingredient

(butter, sugar, eggs and flour)

and not because you gain pounds for eating it.

Hope you feel as enlightened as I do :)

They turned out nicely and the recipe I used actually made 5 mini loaves so I gave some away to some friends. I noticed something though, the mini loaves get eaten faster.

Dense and moist with a buttery almond flavor, it's easy to see why they went so fast. The recipe was actually one from Better Homes and Gardens magazine for Vanilla Sparkling Wine Pound Cake but I substituted milk for wine because I didn't have any. I also like to take a recipe down to it's bare-bones to sort of test it so I was OK with leaving the wine out this time. The basic recipe was delicious and I'm interested to know what difference the wine will make.

Until next post, happy baking!

All Hail The Birthday Girl, The Maker of Wishes, The Opener of Presents...

And here is the Birthday Girl, I bet you couldn't tell that from the picture.

This is from her 3rd birthday. It's funny, every past picture you look at of your kids you say,

"They were so little back then!"

You can't help yourself, it just comes out!

So let me get to the point of this post...drum roll please!

Here is the princess crown birthday cake I made for her last year,

and when I say "I", of course I mean "my husband and I".

I saw it in the Family Fun Magazine and knew I had to do it for her. What I didn't know was the amount of work that it was going to take. They make it sound so easy, "just do this and that, use this and that...blah, blah, blah", and I admit, the concept is "easy", reality is a little different.

It's a simple, two layer cake from a box (don't judge me, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible) frosted with canned frosting, that was the easy part. Then you take a roll of sugar cookie dough and using a template from their website you cut out the pieces of the crown. Here is where I spent hours trying to get the perfect cookies. They spread and I had to re-cut the hearts out of the middle AGAIN and trim the sides so they would be straight. Some of them weren't hard enough to stand up, some ended up crumbling, I was getting frustrated. But eventually, after the help of my wonderful husband, I had enough cookies to finish the cake and I could calm down. It turned out cute but boy, was it a pain! At least we have some good pictures of it and more importantly, my daughter LOVED it.

And one more picture, I just had to throw it in, my husband Jason and my son.

Thanks honey, couldn't have done it without you!

At the End of My Rainbow There Are Cupcakes!

We just celebrated my daughter's 4th birthday. As usual, I asked her what kind of party and cake she wanted to have. Her answer was, "Pink, purple, green,...", just a bunch of colors. So, I thought "why not?" and gave her the rainbow she asked for. She was specific about having cupcakes, and also about having the party at Jungle Bounce, an inflatable party place, but that's about it. I let her pick the colors of food dye at Michael's, the cupcake liners and the sprinkles and I think she had fun doing that. She took it very seriously, feeling very grown up with the responsibility of these decisions and after she had made her choice there was no changing her mind. Is she like me or you Jason?

So I just made a yellow cake from the box, Duncan Hines, and colored it with the chosen Wilton gel colorings. The colors are so vibrant and it didn't change the taste of the cake at all.

You can see how they show through the liners.

I borrowed the cupcake stand from my sister-in-law, Kathan, because for some reason I don't have one. I'll have to find one on sale or something because after this I don't know how I've lived so long without one! By the way, I didn't edit the color on these pictures, just the exposure, the colors were really this vibrant. I made a simple but yummy buttercream frosting (oh how I love buttercream frosting!) However, I could have used less purple and rose in the frosting because there was a bitter taste, for some reason that didn't happen with the green. I used about a 1/4 tsp in each and I think I could have used less without compromising on color.

Here's the close up, yum!

And the cut-in-two shot.

Look at how the batter spread, very cool. All I did was spoon each color into the center and the rest happened on its own. There was a birthday candle in this one that's why the center has that line in it, but it was the only one left in the house before I thought to take a picture of it like this.

These were very fun and very easy, unlike the cake I did last year for her 3rd, but that will be another post for another day.

I'll get it going again, I promise.

I'm sorry to all (two of you) who are trying to follow my blog, I have been very lazy lately and not posted anything. It's not like I haven't been baking but I haven't had the time to sit down and write about it. I will try to get things going again soon so please check back periodically. I'm sorry, hope everyone's holidays were enjoyable.

The Revision of The Dream

The last post I did felt pretty good at the time. I was satisfied with the pictures I had found and felt I was successful at conveying my ideas. I was glad to hear that some of you out there could identify with what I was feeling at the time....yes, it felt nice to have a dream of mine illustrated so that I could see it "on paper". However, I was gently reminded that I left something out.

My life is good.

It's not just good, it's blessed with all kinds of gifts from my Father in heaven and I am so thankful for what He has already given me that to "daydream" about having something different seemed ungrateful.

So here's a little post about reality.

I have two beautiful, smart, creative, funny children whom I love with all of my heart.

I actually got to carve out some time this week to make our first Christmas cookies together!

I have to say, even though getting together with all my family and friends still sounds great, this time with my kids satisfied me more that I could imagine.

I love building memories and traditions into our lives!

And look at the cookies we created :)

They aren't like the cookies that you see in certain magazines about "living" but they have more meaning and love than a perfectly decorated cookie will ever have. (By the way, the one that looks like a ghost is my sons angel)

I also have a husband who does everything he can to take care of me, whom I love with all of my heart also. He's smart and funny and thoughtful. He works hard to provide us with nice things and takes care of them when they break (which seems to be often lately). I'm also blessed because he knows so much about God's word and is able to teach his family the truth of scripture. If you haven't checked out his blog, you should. He's got some great stuff on there.

There are so many other things to be thankful for that it would end up being a very long list so I'll sum it up with this...

God continues to provide for our needs, He is faithful and trustworthy. And, as I was reading in Jeremiah this morning, I found comfort in these words from Him which were meant to strike fear in the hearts of the Jews because of their rebellion against Him, but for those of us who love the Lord they mean something else entirely...

"Am I a God near at hand," says the Lord, "And not a God afar off?"..."Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:23 &24

God is near to us and is active in the world today. He does not stand afar off and leave us on our own but takes care of us and cares for us and for that I am thankful.

Have a blessed day and a worshipful Christmas Season!

The cookie and frosting recipe I used can be found at

www.landolakes.com

"Best Ever Butter Cookies"

"Favorite Butter Frosting"

And the cake in the above picture was the lemon cake I posted about here.

Visions of Sugar Plums

I love Christmas Cookies. They almost look too pretty to eat...almost.

I know they're not sugar plums, what are sugar plums anyway? I don't really care since I won't be making any this season, my point is I'm dreaming today.

This post is a little different than my normal posts, I guess I'm in a bit of a wishful state of mind today. The weather outside my living room window, where I sit typing this, with my Christmas tree glowing and sparkling from all the decorations, looks like a typical "winter" day. The sky is gray and the wind is blowing like crazy. It looks like it should snow at any minute. But, alas, I live in Florida where the feels like temperature today is somewhere around 80 degrees (I'm sure) and instead of snow we will get rain (oh yeah, and a possibility of tornadoes). So, I sit in my warm, cozy house pretending to look out onto something like this...

...and daydream of being in a kitchen like this...

...with family and friends, sharing wonderful stories and laughing at funny things that have happened to us over the year, since the last time we got together to do some holiday baking. Not that I've ever done this but I dream of doing this. A whole day devoted to female bonding! Mothers, sisters, friends, anyone who wants to come to my house, relax, listen to Christmas music, have a glass of wine or egg nog and bake till their little heart's content (that is why I need such a big kitchen, it's not that I'm greedy, I need the space!)

And look at this kitchen table!

Can you imagine the cookie making that could go on at that table???

And for those wanting to take a break from the kitchen, you can sit and nibble on the goods by the tree.

What would the men be doing? I have a few suggestions. Hunting, fishing, snowmobiling...

...or relaxing in front of the TV watching football...

Or maybe shooting a friendly game of pool?

See, I didn't forget about you guys.

Welcome to my dream on this blustery December day.

Maybe one day it won't be "just a dream"

Lemon Perfection

Look at this cake. Isn't it beautiful? I didn't make it, you can find it here. I needed a picture to go along with the lemon bundt cake I made because in all my haste to get it out the door of this sometimes crazy household I forgot to take a picture of mine. I had to give you the recipe though since it is one of my all-time favorites. If you are a cake-lover but you hate what it does to your body this recipe will be your friend too. It's simple, budget-friendly, figure-friendly and delicious! It's also low-fat, low cholesterol and low calorie. There is something nice about being able to bake a great dessert that won't put everyone into a high calorie nose dive and your friends and family will appreciate that you're looking out for them too. I actually made this for a class that I'm attending at my church about eating right! So go ahead and bake up some love for the people in your life this season! Their waist-lines will thank you for thinking of them.

Lemon Bundt Cake

1 box of lemon cake mix

1 whole egg

2 egg whites

12 oz can of diet lemon-lime soda

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar

Juice of 1 lemon (approx. 2 TBSP)

Mix, bake and cool cake according to box directions using the ingredients above. After inverting cake out onto a serving plate, mix glaze and pour over cake. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12 servings.

Cake Pop Eyeballs

Here they are, the cake pop eyeballs I promised! These babies were slightly more difficult than I anticipated but the end result was worth it. Cool to look at and sweet to eat, they were a hit at the Halloween party I took them to and my kids couldn't keep their hands off of them! Well, who can blame them? It's not everyday you get to eat something like this.

So here are the products I used...

...and here is the process.

First, make your cake. Just a 13x9 pan will do since it doesn't matter what it will look like coming out of the oven.

Then, crumble it in a bowl and add some FROSTING!

Right here I'm thinking "I could skip all the work and just use that spoon to eat it like this and I'd be a happy girl" (did I mention I LOVE cake?) But my mom has drilled into my head "delayed gratification" all my life, so I restrained myself and pressed on.

This is what it should look like when it's all mixed together (that's one cake and one can of frosting). Not as appetizing to look at but let me assure you it tastes just fine. I had to taste it, for YOUR sakes!

Then roll into balls and place on a piece of wax paper and chill in the freezer. The colder they are the better they will hold their shape when you dip them.

I stuck some of them with sticks to make pops but most of them I left as just "cake balls".

I AM NOT HAPPY HERE!

The candy coating didn't melt in the microwave THE WAY THE PACKAGE SAID IT WOULD!

So I moved it to the stove and added some shortening because it looked dried out. Pretty soon we were back on track.

That's more like it!

The rest of the steps aren't photographed and I'm sorry about that. I got very focused on getting these things to look right (it was my first time doing anything with candy coating) that I forgot to take pictures. Just dip the frozen cake balls into the coating, spoon over the cake if needed, and lay on wax paper to dry. Bakerella suggest sticking the pops in a block of Styrofoam to dry upright, I agree with her.

Before they dry, stick an M&M in the middle to be the pupil and then let them dry completely.

The red frosting is just powdered sugar, a little water and food coloring piped on.

After a while I got tired of making eyes and decided to do some pretty sprinkles on the advice of my daughter who is a big sprinkles advocate.

The final presentation.

They were fun but I think it will be a while before I do this again,

maybe when the kids can help more :)

The "Sweet Reward" of Being Married

Don't you just love waking up to nice surprises? My husband knows how to make a girl feel special. Sunday morning, after a hard week with sick kids and little sleep, I wake up to find these beauties sitting on my dining room table. Aren't they GORGEOUS?! It was our 7 year anniversary and neither one of us knew if we'd be celebrating as usual because of some kind of virus going on in our house, but my husband made sure that I had lovely roses waiting for me. He's a keeper. I don't have time to list everything I love about him but he knows what they are.

We did manage to have dinner out at our traditional anniversary restaurant thanks to Grandma watching the patients at home and it was nice to get away just the two of us (which doesn't happen very often). Happy Anniversary Honey, I love you! Thank you for the flowers...

...and the wonderful life we share.

I praise God for the marriage I have with you, it is by His grace that

we are who we are today.

I Love Your Eyes....They Taste Really Good!

Halloween is coming up fast and I am super excited! My brother and his wife are having their annual Halloween party and I'm thinking about making these to bring along. Right about now my husband is rolling his eyes.....well, honey, you better be careful or they might end up on a plate! Just kidding Jason, I love you.......I'm not in trouble right? OK.

I have been looking at Bakerella's website and ooooooing and awwwwwing over her sweet little cake pops, wanting to do something with that recipe for Halloween and of course she has very cute ideas for them during this holiday but I'll admit, I'm intimidated. The shapes and the colors and the artistry....I needed something easy for my first attempt. So, while looking through the Taste of Home Halloween recipe book my mom gave me, I came across these little eyeballs. The recipe in the book actually makes a confection similar to a buckeye but I believe (and will try to prove) that it can easily be translated into a cake pop. Wish me luck!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies to the Rescue!

These cookies have a mission beyond what any other cookie claims it can do, are you ready for this? These cookies were designed to ease my PMS! YES, I'm telling you the truth. I came across this recipe while trying to find a "healthy" oatmeal cookie recipe to make for my family since all of us these days are watching what we eat. Even when you're dieting you still want something sweet, in fact, you'll tear the kitchen apart in search of it! So I saw this on another website (http://www.fitsugar.com/4016081 ) and decided to give it a try.

I had my lovely little helper by my side as usual and my trusty stand mixer (love that thing) so I got to work. Adding in bananas and Flax to help with cramping, butterscotch chips for yumminess and oatmeal for vitamin B6, the batter started coming together. I left out the peanuts that the recipe calls for because I wanted to keep it as low fat as possible but looking back now I should have thrown some in, they help with moodiness apparently.

I left plenty of room on the cookie sheet between each one because I didn't know how they would spread, they ended up not spreading at all and looked like little clumps of oatmeal coming out of the oven (that picture is of them before going in). So I flattened out the next batch and put even more on the sheet. They came out more cookie-like.

They weren't exactly what I expected them to be, so I got mad and threw them across the kitchen.....KIDDING! They were good enough to keep and my family loved them (my picky one wanted more after having had two already!) Did they ease my PMS? I can't say that they are miracle cookies but I haven't been craving things like usual. Maybe next time I'll grind up some Midol and throw it in there.......hmmmmm, new "pharmaceutical" cookies. Could be my niche?