Waited too long....

I planned on going to the apple orchard with my family October 11th since my favorite apples (cameo) ripen in October. I checked the orchard's website this morning and saw that they're closed for the season as of the 3rd! NOOOOO!!!!! With company coming this weekend for Charlotte's birthday, apple picking can't be squeezed into the schedule.

I checked many other apple orchards in the area and they're all closed early. I'm so sad! I had hoped to pick 3 bushels this year. I'm hoping I can find some at the Farmer's Market but I know I'll pay a lot more for them.

Right about now I really wish I had a few acres and my own orchard.

Moist Cake Quest - Cake #3

With a week to go until Charlotte's Birthday, I set out to bake the last attempt at a moist cake before breaking out the Dunkin Hines. The first cake was a bust, the second was so close.... will the third time truly be a charm?

I was so excited to bake cake #3 with my sister, Katie, since she and her husband were in town this past weekend. I have love being around my little sister. She's hilarious. I wish we lived closer. I miss her already.

I bought two 9" cake pans and made sure they were 2" deep. I'm remaking this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Fingers crossed that the pans make this cake the winner.

She helped me mix all the ingredients and her sweet husband David was nice enough to take pictures of us baking together.

As you can see, we are very serious in the kitchen.

Very, very serious.....

I'm not sure why but the cakes baked much more evenly this time. I lined the oven rack under them with aluminum foil in case we had an over-flow like last time (we didn't) and I also used the new cake pans. I guess one of those factors resulted in evenly baked cakes.

I took the cakes out as soon as the middles weren't jiggly (if you tap the oven rack with a potholder the center of a cake will jiggle if it's not done... at least that's what has worked for me)

This made one seriously tall cake. I'll stick wooden sticks in it next time to keep the layers from sliding. This cake slice ended up losing it's top half as it fell backward under it's own weight. I made white buttercream with my go-to recipe.

The Verdict: Drumroll please.......

We Have A Winner!!!!! It was fantastic! The cake was light and moist. It even got better the day after it was baked. On day 3 it was still moist! Everyone in my family thought it was a great cake. The cake itself had great flavor and I would have been happy eating it alone, unfrosted. My husband still wants a huge bowl of just the frosting...

So, looks like I'll be making this cake again this Friday for Charlotte's birthday party Saturday. I'll show you pictures of how I decorate it.

My mom and sister had a great idea to turn this cake recipe into a lemon cake with a lemon glaze... stay tuned.

Weekly Menu

Wow, I haven't blogged in almost a week. It's been a busy past couple days. My mom and Mark moved this weekend (same city, different house). My sister and her hubby came down from MD to get some furniture Mom didn't need anymore and ended up staying longer to help in the moving effort. There was a fiasco with the moving company so we all pitched in this weekend hauling boxes and packing last minute stuff. I'm so happy for them that they're in their new house and *fingers crossed* the moving van will show up with their belongings this morning.

So, back to the weekly menu....

Monday: Chicken Pot Pie (I made an extra last Friday)
Tuesday: Beef Stroganoff on egg noodles
Wednesday: Baked chicken, Perloe (Cajun rice dish), veggie
Thursday: Mac & Cheese & Veggies
Friday: Spaghetti
Saturday: Dinner out with family in from out of town for C's b-day
Sunday: Homemade Pizza

My Little Boy

Half of all the pictures I take of Evan are blurred. From the moment he wakes up until the moment he falls asleep, he's busy. (Unless you turn on Teletubbies but I save that for when I really need it) It's rare to get a snuggle moment from Evan since he has so many things to get done before bedtime.... try to sneak into Charlotte's room, rearrange the DVD's near the TV, pretend the laundry basket is a boat... a two year old has very important things to do.

So, last night, we were dancing after bathtime. Charlotte was busy making Jon's sandwiches for the next morning by herself. (seriously, she was... I'll blog about that soon) Jon had turned up the tunes to help distract himself from unloading the dishwasher and I was trying to teach Evan how to shake his bootie. (Is that bad?) I looked at the clock and realized with 5 minutes until bedtime, we needed to slow this party down or he'd never get to sleep.

So, Jon found us a slow song and I told Evan I wanted to hold him and dance. He loved it and I loved the time to snuggle with him.... all 33 pounds of him.

I asked Jon to get the camera since this doesn't happen often. As I was looking at the pictures this morning it struck me how big Evan's gotten. He looks like a little boy now instead of a baby. I'm one of those weird moms who welcome their kids getting a bit older. I love how much fun they become as they approach preschool age... and how much EASIER they are as they get older.

Jon wanted to get in on the snuggle time too.

My boys.... gosh, how I love them. Evan may look a lot like me but he sure acts a lot like his dada. Easy-going (most of the time) , loves adventure, and loves an audience!

I think we may have a slow dance every night.

Weekly Menu

With Jon working 70 hours a week now that Marching Band is in full swing, I find it hard to have the energy or time to cook dinner each night. I really love cooking but only if I'm not completely exhausted. This week there were at least 2 nights that the kids and I had cereal for dinner and one night we ordered take out. We try to only eat out once or twice a month for several reasons.... #1 It's not as healthy #2 It's too expensive #3 I can usually make something that tastes better.... So I need to make a plan to avoid the temptation of eating out.


So, here's the plan... Each Sunday, I'll plan out my weekly menu here. The meals will meet the following criteria...
*Healthy (very little processed foods)
*Use what's on sale that week/in the pantry-freezer/fresh from the garden
*Be pretty easy to prepare on a week night or to be made ahead on the weekend and frozen.


This Weeks Menu:
Sunday: Beef Stroganoff (make 2 lasagnas for Saturday to freeze until then)
Monday: Tacos
Tuesday: English muffins pizzas
Wednesday: Roasted whole chicken, brown rice, veggies
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner (pancakes, eggs, fruit)
Friday: Chicken pot pie using leftover chicken from Wednesday
Saturday: Lasagna

Consignment Sales... How I Love Thee....

I had never been to a children's consignment sale until I moved to North Carolina. I was amazed! Rack after rack of gently used children's clothes, shoes, toys, and maternity clothes. You can find the best deals.. especially if you go on the 1/2 price day.
Almost every church and some civic groups hold sales in the spring and then again in the fall. The sellers get to keep a portion of the profit and the church keeps the rest as a fundraiser.
This morning there were three 1/2 price sales within a few minutes of each other. I went to one at 7, 8, and 9 am. It's nice going to the 1/2 price days because people aren't pushing and shoving to grab the best things like they've been known to do on the first day of the sale.

Here's what I bought today.

For Charlotte I found:
1 dress
5 pants
3 pajama sets/nightgown
10 shirts
1 coat
1 leotardI hoped to find a coat to match the bold colors of the hat I'm knitting for Charlotte. I found this one for $1.50!! It's not as shiny as it looks in the picture.


I found this leotard for Charlotte for $1.50! She was so excited! She wore it to gymnastics today.


Below is what I found for Evan:
11 Pairs of jammies (really nice footie jammies from Carter and Children's place for $1 to $2!!)
16 shirts
1 coat
1 cardigan
7 pants

I was thrilled to find some much for Evan in good condition. Little boys tend to wear out their clothes faster so finding clothes in good shape for boys can be a challenge. Not today! :)

Evan's winter coat (probably for next year since it's huge) $3!!!


A Baby Gap cotton cardigan lined with sweatshirt material for $1 !!!! It's so soft!


I also found some non-clothing items I thought would be great to add to the playroom.
A wooden block/farm set for $3.50

A big paper box full of connecting building set bunny thingys for $5.

I also got a few VHS tapes and puzzles.

Grand total.... $87!!!!!

I didn't pay more then $1.50 for any pants or shirts. A lot of them were $.50-$1. The most I paid for a clothing item was $3 for the coat. You couldn't go to Walmart and get 1/3 of what I bought today for that price. This, in my opinion, is the ONLY way to shop for kids clothes.

Sunshine On A Cloudy Day...

We have hardly gotten any rain in the past few weeks so I've welcomed the rain we've had in the past 24 hours. We've gotten a much needed 1 1/2" of rain and we'll get more tonight and tomorrow. My garden is very happy.


As much as I've appreciated the rain, I decided to go cut a few flowers to brighten up the kitchen on such a dreary day.

Some Coreopsis and Black-eyed Susan are perfect for a day like today. I'm not much of a flower gardener but these two have done really well.

Crazy-Good Chocolate Cupcakes

Okay, I promise that I'll stop tempting everyone with delicious baked goods AFTER I tell you about the cupcakes I baked the other day. We were invited over to a friend's house for dinner and I offered to bring dessert. I love baking when I get a chance to leave most of the baked goods behind. It's my way of making sure I don't over do it on high calorie foods.


The cake part of these cupcakes are Ina Garten's Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes. It calls for a can of Hershey's Syrup but I could only find the big bottle. Since a 16oz can of syrup is actually measured by weight, use 1 1/2 cups of syrup if it's from a bottle.

The recipe says it makes 12 cupcakes but I didn't fill mine up all the way so it made 17. Since there's not leavening in the recipe, I could have filled them pretty darn close to the top.


Now, to the frosting...
I tried Pioneer Woman's Sticky Chocolate Icing. I loved that it set up firm enough to make transporting the cupcakes pretty easy. It firms up to a soft fudge consistency. Simple enough... chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter... it firms up as soon as it cools so spread fast!

Add sprinkles and there you go.... ready to take to the cookout!

These cupcakes were fantastic! I will also try the cupcake recipe as a cake one day. It had a light brownie feel and taste. They were moist... even days later.

Now, if only I can find a yellow cake recipe that I loved as much as this one.....

Cheap Fun

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A $10 bubble machine we got last year from Walmart and beautiful weather.... made for a fun afternoon.

Whew... tired... finally!

Moist Cake Quest - Cake #2

So, with Cake #1 still not getting me to the Moist Cake Hall of Fame (that would be weird if there really was a Hall of Fame for Moist Cakes), I set out to find another promising recipe.

I came across this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I thought the addition of buttermilk would give it the moistness I wanted.
The batter was really fluffy and smooth. I thought to myself, "hmm... this bowl sure is full of batter... wonder if it'll fit in my pans."

Here's the mess it made in the oven when my question was answered.

Turns out that when you read the recipe very carefully, it says it makes 2" tall layers. My cake pans are only 1 1/2 ". Oops. I trimmed off the edges and set them to cool, wrapped in plastic.

I'm noticing that my oven doesn't bake very evenly.

I mixed up some of my buttercream icing. This time I added 1/2 cup of cocoa powder and a touch more milk to make chocolate icing. It's SOOOO good!

After the cakes cooled, I spread the icing between and on top the cake layers.

Icing Inspector #1

I'm beginning to love sprinkles. It takes a plain cake and makes it look party ready in just seconds.... for only $1.09. (By the way, if you want to turn pancakes into "Party Pancakes", add a few sprinkles to the mix or just sprinkle them on before you flip them over. )

Moment of truth.... drum roll please.....

Verdict: VERY Good! The icing still steals the show but the cake was much better this time around. I think if I had the right, deep pans this would have been a winner. The cake texture was light and soft. The cake itself had nice flavor. I still overcooked this cake just a bit so it was a tiny bit dry.

Jon took the rest of the cake to school with him today and asked his jazz band to sample the cake and describe it's taste using musical terminology. I can't wait to read the comment cards!!

I think I have time and energy to try one more cake before Charlotte's birthday. I'm going to try this same recipe but I'm going to buy deeper cake pans and I will watch the baking like a hawk to avoid overcooking it.

Fall Garden Update

I baked another cake for my Cake Quest this afternoon but I can't stand to look at pictures of cake right now (I've eaten too many sweets this weekend) so that will have to wait until tomorrow. So, tonight we have a garden update.Here's what the garden looks like if you hold the camera at a weird angle while standing on a patio chair.





Here's my zucchini plant with the first little baby zucc on it. It's only been a month and 3 days since I planted the seeds. Not too shabby.

It's also been a month and 3 days for the broccoli plants. They're looking really great. Some of the stems are bent to the side and some are perfectly straight... not sure why the difference.

This little guy is a parsnip seedling that is the same age as the above plants. Big difference since this little guy is only about 2 inches tall. It's really late to be planting parsnips so I'm not sure they'll be big enough to harvest before winter but we'll see. I had really poor germination but surprisingly, I counted 15 seedlings today! That's a lot more then I thought were out there.

Here are the new babies that were planted just a week ago. This is lettuce... a blend of leaf lettuces.

Here are the kale babies. They look just like broccoli seedlings to me. They germinated really well.

Here's swiss chard. It's funny how the stems are multi colored from the very start.

Yay for peas!!! I was so excited to find these little pea sprouts peaking out of the soil this morning! I had such bad germination this spring (not enough watering) that I was crossing my fingers for better results this time. Turns out that if you keep them moist like it says so in every gardening book out there, they'll germinate better. *slaps self on the forehead*

Here are the spinach babies. They look like little grass sprouts, don't they?

We've had so little rain in the past few weeks that I've been watering the garden by hand each morning. It's really helped my seeds to germinate more evenly then they did in the spring. I never knew I could get so excited to see the little seedlings pop out of the ground. It's like hunting for Easter eggs each morning when I go out to water the garden.