A day of baking

Yesterday, I was in the mood to bake. I know it's the middle of summer. And I know that it is hotter then blazes.

But you see, with Nathan being sick, I am cooped up in the house. And since you can only vacuum the floors so many times, I turned to baking.

( On the vacuuming note.....if you would see Emma's clothes after she has been crawling around the floor, maybe I should vacuum the floors a little more. That darn dog hair. )

First up was the chocolate chip zucchini bread that I talked about before.

IT WAS AMAZING!!

With an abundance of zucchini from my garden what better thing to do with all this zucchini??

The kids have almost devoured the 1st loaf.

My friend Liz talked about a blueberry pie that she made a while ago. I thought it sounded interesting and thought I would give it a try.

Boy am I ever glad I did. It might be my new favorite pie. And it is Jeremy approved.

While cleaning up this mess........


Nathan did this..........

 I did not yell. But I did tell him that I think he should be buying me a new set for HIS birthday. Especially since he broke a plate a week or so ago. AARRGGHH. 

And it was one of my favorite colors.




EDIT****************** I just read this over again and it made it sound like Nathan cleaned up the mess. He didn't. :) I did, he just broke the bowl. :(****************************

Emma Girl woke up from her nap and happily sat in her chair till I got done.

Well.....

almost.

Daddy kept her entertained while I cleaned up.

Way to go Daddy!!!!

:)

recipes I love

Pineapple upside down cake....

delish!

Nonstick cooking spray 3 cups cake flour, plus more for pan 1 cup butter, softened, plus 1/2 cup, melted 2 1/4 cups sugar 5 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/4 cups whole buttermilk 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar 2 (20-ounce) cans pineapple slices in juice, drained well (reserve 2 tablespoons juice for frosting) 1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained well Pineapple Buttercream Frosting, recipe follows Chopped pecans, for garnish, optional Directions Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and coat with flour. In a large bowl, beat 1 cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating until fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and set aside. In a small bowl, add the 3 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Add the flour mixture into the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Divide the brown sugar evenly into each pan. Pour the melted butter equally over the brown sugar. Arrange the pineapple slices and cherries over the brown sugar. Reserve remaining pineapple slices and cherries for another use. Pour equal amounts of batter over the fruit and bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Invert the cakes onto wire racks to cool completely. To assemble the cake, carefully arrange 1 cake layer, pineapple side up, on a cake plate. Carefully stack the remaining cake layer, pineapple side up, over the first layer. Frost the sides of the cake with Pineapple Buttercream Frosting. Press chopped pecans into sides of cake, if desired. Pineapple Buttercream Frosting: 1/2 cup butter, softened 2 tablespoons reserved pineapple juice 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar Beat all the ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. The recipe is a Paula Deen recipe. I love her. I didn't take a picture of the finished product. I ran out of time. As you can tell, I didn't make it in the round pans like the recipe calls for, I made it in a 9x13 pan. I also did add the frosting and the nuts on the edges of the cake.

Things I love

Today has been one of those days when you just know that you will get alot accomplished. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I didn't go back to bed after Hunny left (for work....yah!!!) at 6:20.

I stayed up and started going with my day.

If there is 1 thing that I want to accomplish this summer, it's TRYING to teach the kids a little bit of responsibility. They have a great way of charging through the house and leaving a disaster in their wake.

SOOOOOO.....with that being said, it's time the kids learn how to clean the bathroom. I figure they are old enough to clean a toilet and a sink. Especially when they are the ones who make most of the mess.

When I told Dada what she was going to be doing, she just kinda gave me this look like....you've got to be serious. But she did it. I was there guiding her the whole time. And I was thankful she didn't complain.


1 of Brother's jobs today was folding some towels. They sat there for a few minutes....until his friend came over and wanted to play. Boy, those towels sure got folded AND put away real quick then!!




(Notice the stuff on Brother's face?? The mulberry's in the neighbors yard are ripe. Dada and Brother spent a while picking and eating Mulberry's today.

The neighbor lays a sheet under the tree to make it easier to catch the ripe berries. They each had a bucket, and were trying to fill the bucket.

As with most berries around here, I think they ate more then they picked!!)

While the kids were doing there chores, I was able to make an apple pie for dessert tonight.

( I already have ribs in the crockpot, and we will have mashed potatoes, corn, and biscuits also for dinner )

There was just a little bit of pie dough left over, and so with the leftovers, I made these little cinnamon rolls.

My mom used to make them when we were a kid. I remember being excited when there was a little pie dough left over and Mom would make them.

I know the kids were excited about them today. Brother's friend was still here when they were done, and they sat on the porch eating them, I overheard Brother say to his friend......my Mom's the best cook. She just makes the best food.

He didn't know I was there or that I was listening, but those words melted my heart and soul.

Later on, I overheard Dada telling Hunny as he was eating some how they were super good.

So needless to say, I think they were a hit.



Cinnamon Sugar Pie Crusts

Leftover pie dough
Butter
Cinnamon
Sugar

Roll out the pie dough into a rectangle
spread butter generously onto dough
sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar to taste

Bake in oven until browned. Usually about 25-35 minutes.

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I don't think we have any ice cream. I think we might have to make a run to the store for some vanilla ice cream to go on top of our pie!

I better be off!!

Banana Split Brownie Pizza

A couple days ago, Hunny and I were watching 1 of my favorite shows.....Paula Deen.

I was more watching it, Hunny was there b/c he was bored!! :)

Paula's show was all about Banana's.

She made this recipe and Hunny and I both were drooling by the time it was over!!

So we got the stuff for it and I fully intended to make it.....sometime.

But Hunny beat me to it.

At work the next day, I received a picture message on my phone of the finished product.



I could barely make it home! I was so excited to try it.

Hunny even waited till I got home to cut into it!

I don't think I could have waited that long!!



All I can say is that this Banana Split Brownie "pizza" is DELICIOUS!!!!

Halloween 2009

This years Halloween has been so much better then last years!!! That was an awful day!!!

Brother was Darth Vader.


And Dada was a witch?? We found the dress in her closet and thought it would be perfect for her costume this year. (Hunny said she looked like a widow.)

Daddy took them around the neighborhood while I stayed at home and (with coffee in hand) passed out candy.

We ordered a pizza from our favorite pizza joint and I made an apple cake (with apples from Grandma and Grandpa S trees) for dessert. It was delicious!!!


Apple Cake

4 1/2 cups diced, peeled apples
2 eggs
2 c sugar
1/2 c oil
2t cinnamon
1t nutmeg
1 c chopped pecans ( I used walnuts b/c I like them better)
2 c flour
2t baking soda
2t baking powder

Mix all together and put in a greased 9x13 pan.
Bake for 45 min in a 350 degree oven.
Let cool and frost.

Frosting

1/2 c butter
8 oz cream cheese
1t vanilla
1# powdered sugar

Mix together and spread over cake.

ENJOY!!!!

Your house will smell wonderful.

Things I Love

Today for lunch I decided to make spaghetti. I decided to make biscuits to go with it. I LOVE baking powder biscuits. LOVE THEM, LOVE THEM, LOVE THEM!!!!! So I got all the ingredients for it and called my 2 little helpers in.

They had fun greasing the pan,

and cutting out the biscuits.

They anxiously awaited the arrival of the biscuits from the oven.

When we sat down to eat, the kids all grabbed a biscuit and Victoria whole heartily said that these were the best biscuits ever.

Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup skim milk

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450.

Grease a baking pan

Put the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the shortening and mix together.

Add the milk all at once and stir to moisten all the flour and shortening. Dust a surface with flour, turn the dough onto the surface and knead the dough ten times.

Pat the dough into a circle about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. Cut the biscuits with a two-inch cookie cutter and place on the prepared pan with a little space between the biscuits.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned.

Homemade Guacamole

I made guacamole for the 1st time ever today. Since eating at my favorite restaurant is Chipotle, I have let my taste buds go wild. I have always hated guacamole! ALWAYS!!! But Chipotle makes the best guacamole!! And I decided that I wanted to try and make my own! I mean it can't be that hard right?!

(As I sit hear writing this, I am wishing that I took pictures of it! )

Here is the "recipe" that I used. It was quite delicious.

2 avocados, halved, seeded and peeled ( I just scored them and cute the fruit out!! )
a little cilantro ~ I don't like cilantro
1 clove of garlic
2 cherry tomatoes cut up small
1/2 a jalapeno, seeded
1/4 of an onion, chopped finely

Mash the avocados, and then combine the rest of the ingredients.

I think next time I will add a little lime in it and more jalapenos.


It doesn't taste as good as Chipotles, but it was still good.
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I also TRIED to make Kabobs. Which I have to admit, that I failed miserably. The meat was to tough. I thought that I had just cooked the meat to long, but I think I think that it was really just tough.

A HiKe in the WoOdS

Tonight, Hunny and I took the kids on a hike at a local park. It was a nice day out, and I have just wanted to spend some time outside. It's great jeans and sweatshirt weather here!!

Hunny and Brother walked on ahead of Dada and I. They were laughing and talking about who knows what......Probably Indians!! :)

Dada wanted to wear her trusty cowboy boots. It was really muddy in spots tonight, and she wanted to tromp through the mud, but didn't want to get her pants wet, so she put her pant legs into her boots and off she went!!

There were some beautiful flowers already blooming.

We had to pick some for a bouquet for our table. They are currently sitting in a basket on my table. :)

I absolutely LoVe this picture of Dada. I think it is 1 of my all time favorites.

Brother was more interested in walking with Dad, then getting his picture taken with Mom!!

We walked through the trails, to a different park where there are a ton of horses. The kids were so excited to feed them hay. I think next time we go, we will have to pack some carrots and apples.
The hay barn was open tonight, and the kids wanted to go exploring. As soon as Brother saw the tractors he forgot all about the ceiling high hay stacks.
The horses were so friendly tonight.
Dada was all about the pictures.

Brother and Hunny found a great pine tree to climb. Dada wanted to climb it but I was a chicken and thought she would slip and fall with her cowboy boots on. The tree was huge, and they got quite high before they climbed back down.




We really had a nice time tonight as a family. Hunny and I both commented about how we have to do that again. It was just so nice to go "get lost" in the woods.

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I had some ripe bananas, so when we got home, I threw together some Banana Walnut Bread......my FaVoRiTe!! It is now smelling so good. It is almost done, and I cannot wait to spread some butter on it, eat a slice.


Banana Walnut Bread
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t cinnamon ( I never measure this, I usually just pour it, I like the taste!!)
1 egg
1 c mashed bananas - about 3
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c oil
1/2 c walnuts

Grease bread pan

In med bowl ~ combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and a pinch of salt

In another bowl ~ combine the egg, bananas, sugar and oil.

Combine the banana mixture with the flour mixture till moistened. Fold in nuts.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 min.

Enjoy!!

Things I LoVe

When I was a child, my mom used to make fruit dip. She usually only made it on holidays, or special occasions. But I always loved it when she made it. Now that I am grown, I make it all the time.

The teachers celebrated my birthday a couple months ago, and instead of bringing me a cake or cupcakes, they brought me fresh fruit and fruit dip!! They know me so well! It was a perfect snack for my birthday.






It is so simple to make!

FruIt DiP
1 box cream cheese
1 jar marshmallow fluff

Mix together.

Told you it was simple!! If you wanted to change the color, you could use strawberry cream cheese.

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Today is my late Grandma's birthday. It was been probably 6 years since she died. But she was gone to me long since then. She had Alzheimer's, and she moved to California to live with my aunt about 14 years ago. I never saw her after she moved. I loved her very much. She was always nice to me. This was taken at my house growing up. She would come and visit us every Easter. I was probably 5 when this was taken.

SuGar CooKies

I have neVer been a crafty person. In fact I have always ran the other way when people even talked about crafts. Just ask Tancy!! I think that has changed since I started working at school. I see how much the kids love doing art projects. I think before I honestly didn't want to be bothered with doing it. How selfish of me! I think of all the fun things I have missed doing with my kids because of my own selfish thoughts. Now that I know how much fun it cAn be, my goal is to really take the time and do FuN little projects with the kids. (Don't get me wrong though....I still don't like a huge mess!!) Like I said in my previous post, this week I am really showing my family how much I love them. And after learning that LoVe is spelled TiMe. I have really tried to give my family my time. In doing that last nights project was making sugar cookies. ( I will post the recipe below ) And let me tell you. The kids were SO excited about this! Dada couldn't wait to get home from school! Homework was done in record time. I had previously made the dough, so all we had to do was roll and cut out the cookies.
The other day at Target (which I LoVe that store BTW) I picked up some cute heart shaped cookie cutters. They had about 4 different sizes which I loved! The kids had fun picking their size cookies that they wanted!
The kids didn't want my help. They wanted to do everything by themselves. I did roll out the dough most of the way and then let them "finish" rolling it out and then they picked their cutters and had at it. Some of the cookies looked better then others. Some of Brothers were pretty mutilated but it was so worth it to see the look of pride in his eyes.
We got the first batch in the oven and were anxiously waiting for them to come out of the oven! Dada couldn't wait to ice them!
I think Brother was just interested in icing 1 of them.....just so he could eat it! After he ate 1, he quickly disappeared!
I felt bad for Dada, her sugar was high yesterday, so she wasn't even able to have 1. But she was a great sport about it, and was happy just to help ice them.
I do want to thank Joy. She came over to babysit last night so HuNny and I could go out for VaLenTineS DaY. Dada and her finished icing the last dozen or so cookies. And then she even helped clean up the kitchen!




Here's the recipe for the SuGar CooKies. I used my favorite recipe book The Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
4 teaspoons milk
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Thoroughly cream shortening, sugar, and vanilla. Add egg; beat till light and fluffy. Stir in milk. Sift together dry ingredients; blend into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Chill 1 hour.

On lightly floured surface, roll half of dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Keep other half of dough chilled until ready to use. Cut into desired shape with cookie cutters. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees about 6 to 8 minutes. Cool slightly, remove from pan. Makes 2 dozen



I also iced the cookies using a recipe I got from my best friends mom years ago. Her mom makes the most AmaZinG wedding cakes ever! And she used to work at this little amazing bakery where I grew up. Her name was Suzy, and she is a very dear lady to me. I don't think she knows how much she meant to me growing up. Erica and I would always want to go to each others house, but for one reason or the other I always ended up over at their house. Suzy AlWayS made me feel welcome and LoVed. Even when Erica and I would come up with quite the shenanigans ( and let me tell you, we had some doosys ) She was always KinD to me. Her home was a ReFugE to me especially when things in my life seemed so uncertain. I love her dearly. Anyway.....here is the recipe.

2 lbs powdered sugar
1 cup crisco
2 T butter
2/3 cup milk
1/2 t salt
2 t vanilla
Combine and beat for 10 min. This recipe makes a lot of icing. But it is worth it when you are making lots of cookies or cupcakes and you want lots of colors.