It’s been a long, long time.

Hey everybody.

Can I just say how sorry I am that it’s been so long since I last posted?  To be honest, I’ve had recipes and photos ready, but absolutely zero motivation to share them.  Today must be different though.  I decided that I just needed to post.  It had to be done.  It’s a rainy summer day here, and I really should be doing the dishes.  But dishes are about at the bottom of my “What I LIKE To Do” list.  They also score the bottom of my priority list.  Just come over, you’ll understand when you see the piles of dirty dishes on my counter.

So, instead of doing the dishes, I’m sitting down with a cup of Vanilla Nut Creme tea, and I’m [finally] writing a post.  This one won’t include a recipe, but one shall follow SOON, and when I say SOON, I mean like today or tomorrow.  Because, I also decided to make scones before doing the dishes.  You might say they partially inspired me to finally share.  The other factor was the fact that a few people in the last week have said that they love reading about all the food I post.  One guy said, ‘I have one question for you:  Why haven’t you been posting anything?”  I told him that I found out I was pregnant, and that was pretty much it.  It’s amazing how draining creating a baby is.  They are like little energy leeches, even at only a few weeks in there.

Would anybody like an update?  I’m almost 17 weeks pregnant, my baby bump popped last week (out of nowhere), and I’m feeling great, other than being exhausted!  I’m super glad nausea is over with - I was SO tired of feeling sick allllll the time.

A lot has happened since the last post.  I’ll just give a couple highlights from the last few weeks.  Cael turned 1!  How time flies!  We went to a Rascal Flatts concert (have I mentioned that they are my all time favourite, and I actually got to see them LIVE?!).  We also went camping for a night with a bunch of other young families.  And we drove 22 hours to visit some family and friends in Ontario – Which included much driving, Canada’s Wonderland, lots of great food, a beautiful wedding, a bit of shopping, and not enough sleep.  It was really a great time.  How summer is flying by!  It’s insane.  I cannot believe that August has arrived already and has been slipping by as I’ve been trying to put my house back together from all the packing and unpacking and birthday presents that have been going on here.

{Hubby was a photographer for some of our younger friends on prom night.  We both joined them all for dinner.  I got to dress up – definitely the highlight for me… well, along with awesome food.}

I hope this suffices as an apology post.  I will make it up to you with a stellar scone recipe in a short while.  I must go, as my scones need to be removed from the oven – they smell so good!  Peace out guys.  Happy August 2nd!  :)

PanCAKE

So the past weekend was slightly insane (which seems to be the norm around here…).  It seemed like go, go, go.  But I think it was mostly my emotions being taken on a hormonal rollercoaster ride.   (ie.- I found out for sure that I’m having another baby!)  So now you know!  :)

But truly, it was a busy weekend.  My poor mother fed me and mine 3 times in the run of the weekend, and we had 2 BBQs, so I didn’t do a whole lot of cooking.  I was in charge of dessert for both BBQs, and somehow managed to ruin both of them.  I saved them, but man…  It wasn’t a weekend for baking for me (apparently!).  Other than the meals, we went for a date on Friday, then we made a small [1 hour both ways] road trip to Costco on Sunday.  Yesterday was fairly calm.  We took Cael to the duck pond, which was fun (and sunny, which was wonderful).  And I decided to paint out a closet in our house to convert it to a bookcase.

And then there was this week…  It was just a right off.  Between being tired and nauseous (thanks to pregnancy…) and just getting the regular day-to-day stuff accomplished, let’s just say I didn’t feel overly motivated.  Anyhow!  My motivation has returned (at least for the moment) so here goes!

Found this one on Pinterest.  Loved it.  Who wouldn’t love chocolate pancakes piled on top of each other with whipped cream in between?  It’s a MUST love.  And the chocolate pancakes are great by themselves too…  (I may have possibly messed up the first few and eaten them… may have…)

Chocolate Pancake Cake

Recipe found on ZoomYummy.com  (it has been VERY slightly modified by me)

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 heaping Tbsp cocoa

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup whipping cream

4 Tbsp icing sugar

Chocolate sauce

Sliced orange for garnish (optional)

Combine vegetable oil, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Mix until combined.

Add cocoa, and stir.

Stir in flour and baking powder.  Stir until smooth.

Spray a pan with oil, (or if you don’t use spray oil, just put some oil in…).  Heat it up, and add about 1/2 cup of the batter to the pan.  I found that if you put any less than that, it was a real battle to flip the pancake without a disaster occurring.

Cook until bubbles start to form, then flip.  Once it is done (both sides should be dry, and not look batter-y), continue the same with the rest of the batter.

Let your pancakes cool, completely.

While you’re waiting, beat together whipping cream and icing sugar.  Beat until firm peaks form.

To put the cake together, simply layer pancakes and whipped cream.  If you aren’t serving it right away, keep it in the fridge.  I would wait until right before you serve the cake to drizzle the chocolate syrup and add the garnish.  (That way it looks more fresh, less mess.)

Thanks ZoomYummy for the great recipe!

I would highly advise you make this – it is super yummy.  And not too heavy either.  You could even have it for breakfast!  (Pancakes!!)

Hope you enjoy.  Have a great rest-o-the-weekend!

What’s your favourite thing to do when the weather starts to warm up?

Have I mentioned CRAZY lately?

**Just a warning – this is going to be a llloooonggg post.  But I hope you enjoy it enough to read it all!  :)**

Okay, here’s just how crazy I am.  At the moment, I’m FINALLY uploading my wedding pictures (from June 2010) to be developed…  I don’t have any printed off.  And I’m dead serious.  (Have I mentioned I am the queen of procrastination?  Because that’s true too.)  Not to mention baby pictures.  We have a baby?  You’d never know by my empty photo frames.

Anyhow.  We had a great, crazy, busy weekend.  My grandmother’s party was a hit.  I survived the 5K run.  Mother’s Day has come and gone.  All that in 2 days.  And it just hasn’t seemed to have slowed down very much.  I’ve had time to post, I won’t deny, but I’ve chosen to chillax instead.  Right now, I’m really still chillaxing.

I have to share this picture with you.  I just stumbled on it in choosing what pictures to get printed (this is a most certainly…).

You see, my brother Caleb got the brilliant idea of a turban for Cael a few months ago.  And now I do variations.  How do you like Biker-Cael-with-the-Cheesies?  I think he’s pretty darn cute, to tell the truth.

So!  I thought I’d  let you in on the 75th Birthday Bash.  The cake turned out pretty good (gave me a huge headache, but worth it… right?).  Along with my pan of squares, orange vanilla scones, two batches of shortbread cookies, AND 20 roast beef wraps.  I was flying on Saturday.  Literally, flying.  And slightly scared of crash landing in my mess of an icing-filled kitchen.  Mother’s Day, we went out for breakfast, and then we went for ice cream that evening too.  :)

How do you like my grandmother’s cake?

Doesn’t she look great for 75?  If I didn’t know it, I would have guessed 65, seriously.

AND NOW…  I’ll share some food with you.

I made and photographed these awhile ago.  They are a standard in every household, but I like to believe that these are the BEST of their kind.  Give it up for Chococlate Chip Cookies!

*Warning – this makes a big batch.  But they go fast, so don’t even worry about it!*

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is from a family friend.  The recipe says that the oatmeal is “optional”, but I would say that it is actually quite MANDATORY.  You choose in the end, but I’d advise adding oatmeal over not.  :)

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup margarine, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup oatmeal (I use almost a cup most of the time)

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix together oil, margarine and sugars.  Cream.  Add eggs and beat well.

The batter will look something like this:

Doesn’t it make you want to lick the beaters?

Next, add the salt, flour and baking soda, and beat until smooth.  Add the oatmeal and chocolate chips.

Bake for about 10 minutes (or until slightly browned).  They are awesome RIGHT out of the oven.  And almost equally awesome days later.

Please enjoy these on this nice spring Victoria Day LONG WEEKEND!  Woot.  Do it up.

Now if you would be so kind as to not fall asleep while reading these 30 ‘interesting’ things about me!  :)

30 Day Challenge

Day 6 – Write 30 interesting facts about yourself.

(This could be hard…  But here goes!)

1)  I love baking, but never follow a recipe exactly

2)  I work best under pressure (ie – ‘Queen of Procrastination’)

3)  I took Tourism and Hospitality Management at university

4)  I love doing cross words (but usually end up cheating for a word or two)

5)  Puzzles are awesome

6)  I study best at Starbucks

7)  My favourite thing to drink at Starbucks is a Skinny Caramel Macchiato

8)  There are three books I have read about 10 times each (and would still re-read) – they are all by Eva Ibbotson

9)  I have read through the entire Bible once, and am currently trying to do it again

10)  I married my high school sweetheart

11)  I am so glad I did

12)  I have the cutest little boy in the world, who laughs when he burps or farts (quite a boy, huh?)

13)  This summer will be the first time I’ve ever stood in a wedding other than my own

14)  I have an addiction to mustard coloured things

15)  I love my middle name

16)  I love wearing dresses, but I also love jeans – it’s a toss-up

17)  I love reasons to dress up

18)  I love kissing my hubby

19)  I love taking university courses (it makes me feel successful)

20)  I haven’t weighed myself since the day before I gave birth to my son

21)  I own a TON of Coke Cola memorabilia, but rarely drink the beverage

22)  I no longer have an appendix

23)  I was born with a cleft palate in my soft palate

24)  I have had the same group of 4 friends since grade 5

25)  I love to drive.  Like, I REALLY love to drive.

26)  Road trips are my dream vacation (well, other than touring France, England, and Italy)

27)  One of my favourite foods are Ribbits (Which are really bad for you, and you’ve probably never heard of them, but you should really try to find them, BBQ them, and eat them.)

28)  I love superhero movies

29)  Ice cream is one of many of my all-time favourites

30)  I am a firm believer in the death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  He is my Saviour.

There you have it guys.  You should know me a lot better now.  If I’m ever sad, or grumpy, buy me some ice cream or a Skinny Caramel Macchiato, and I’m good to go.

What do you think?  What did you find ‘interesting’?  Whatcha doin’ for the long weekend?

[I'm] CRAZY! About peanut butter?

Can I just say that I have a lot on my mind?  Because I completely forgot to do the 30 day challenge on my last post.  So I figured I’d better post sooner to make up for it (and to share more food because, you know, I bake WAYY too much and am WAYY behind in my posting, so I’ve given up taking photos of a lot because there’s just so much!)  Wow.  That was a mouthful.  Or an eyeful…  whatever.

30 Day Challenge

Day 5 – A time you thought about ending your own life.

I’ll have to give you the truth.  This is not life shattering, and not interesting in the least…  But I can’t say I’ve ever thought about that.  Ever.  Honestly.  Life is great.  Even when it’s not, I don’t think it’s smart to ‘play God’, if you know what I mean.  It’s not really our choice to end our lives.  Yes, they are our lives, but God has given them to us, and He’ll take them away soon enough, when He deems the time is right.

And now I’ll get to the rest of the crazy.  First of all, it’s 10:30pm and I’m still baking.  A cake to be precise.  A cake with 8 eggs and 8 cups of flour (ie – a BIG cake!).  The reason for this cake, is that my grandmother is turning 75.  And we’re throwing a party for her.  A big party.  That’s right, the cake needs to be bigger, so onto the chocolate layer I go.  (Well, after this post.)

Second of all, I have a zillion other things to bake tomorrow, plus decorate the cake.  Decorating cakes for me, is a time when everyone should probably stay out of the house kitchen.  I get kind of tense.  I hate to admit it, but it’s true.  Like, don’t look at me, don’t watch me, don’t speak to me, don’t even breathe around me.  Please.  (My poor, poor hubby…)

Thirdly, on Saturday, there is a 5k run/walk, and I’m registering… right now for it.  Kicking myself in the head, really a race?  Man.  I need to get back in shape.  I’m petrified…  But hopefully I’m still alive afterwards, because that’s also the day of the party for my grandmother, AND I have to make sandwich-type food that day too.  Hopefully there’s an urn of strong coffee somewhere in my travels that day.  An urn.  Not a mug.  Not a cup.  A 20 cup urn.  And chocolate.  And ice cream.  Okay, I’m getting in way over my head now (or I’m just over-tired and actually sharing with you what’s going through my brain).

Okay, and now, I’ve just spent half and hour trying to find a recipe that I made (I DID make it…  it DID exist at some point, somewhere) without success.

Nix that!!  I just found it!  Okay folks.  Let the recipe sharing begin.  I found this recipe on the Novice Chef, and made a few changes.

Peanut Butter Cream’wiches  (The EGG-LESS version – not on purpose)

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup water

3 cups flour

2.5 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream together shortening, and sugars.  Mix in vanilla, peanut butter and water.  Add flour, and baking soda and mix until well combined.

Roll into 1 inch balls and then roll into white sugar.  Place on cookie sheet and press with a fork.

Bake for about 8 minutes.  Cool, and then fill with Peanut Butter Filling!

Peanut Butter Filling

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1/2 cup margarine, softened

1 cup icing sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

Cream all ingredients together, until smooth.

Fill those cookie cream’wiches!  (Remember – wait until they are cooled first, or you’ll have peanut butter soup between two cookies.)

**NOTE:  The first thing I baked in my own house, and I was pumped to make them.  New house, peanut butter cookies with PEANUT BUTTER FILLING?!  Who wouldn’t be pumped?  Anyhow, I started putting things together in a mixing bowl, and discovered there were no eggs.  Devastated, or what?  I decided to improvise…  So that’s how the recipe changes came about.  If you want your cookies too look as pretty as the Novice Chefs, use eggs.  Just thought you should know.

In ending this post tonight, I just wanted to share a passage with you guys.  I read it yesterday, and I found it really encouraging.  You’ll find it in the Psalms.

“Make me to know your ways, O LORD;  teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”
Psalm 25:4-5 ESV

The whole chapter is really great, but these two verses just really stood out to me the other morning.  Teach me, lead me.  That is what I want.

Have a great Friday, and weekend following!

Happy Birthday Daddyo!

I had a great weekend.  I know this post is late in coming, but I have been feeling slightly exhausted…  So that’s my excuse.  There you have it folks, Kayleigh is exhausted.  But getting better.  :)

Back to my weekend.  My parents went away for the night on Friday, so I was going to keep my youngest brother for the night.  I had the [brilliant!] idea of inviting his best friend over, and her little sister ended up joining us too.  So I actually had some female company for once, and we weren’t outnumbered, which was really weird, but great.

This is our story.  Friday night, we had s’mores on my new fire pit thing (that my wonderful parents-in-law bought me for my birthday) – the kids loved it.  And I LOVED watching them have fun.  They snuggled up on the driveway with blankets and roasted marshmallows and stuffed their faces.

Then we came inside and they snuggled in to watch ‘The Quest for Camelot’ (my most favourite movie ever).

Then came bedtime (midnight).  (One of my other brothers decided to crash here that night too (he was in for it… keep reading, haha)).  One slept on a couch, two on the floor, and my brother took the other couch.  I didn’t hear them at all until 7 the next morning (I got to sleep in!!).  However, my brother wasn’t quite so lucky.  Apparently, they had been awake since 5:30.

Anyhow, I got them settled into another movie (Robin Hood) and they enjoyed some ‘baby tea’** while I started cleaning up and getting ready for breakfast.   After the movie, breakfast still wasn’t ready, so they took some chalk to the driveway and coloured it up.

**Baby tea is really milked down, sugared up tea.  About 1 tsp sugar, 1/4 cup tea and fill to the top with milk.  Kids love it, and get to feel ‘grown up’ too.

Breakfast menu – Homemade waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, smoothies and perked coffee (for those old enough to have it).  Breakfast went great.

The youngest girl told me that ‘You make the best waffles ever!’  Then she thought about it for another minute, and decided she’d better not say that, so she changed to, ‘You make the second best waffles ever (after Mommy)’.

I thought it was pretty cute.  After breakfast, we went for a walk, and then made cards for my Dad for his birthday.  Then their mom came and picked them up, and I had to get started on my dad’s birthday supper and cake!  Whew.  What a day.

So – my father had a birthday and I want to share his cake with you!

He requested a Hershey recipe that he loves to make (and eat too, apparently!).

The link to the recipe is here.  I’ll type it out for you too though.  I did make a few changes to the buttercream icing, so I’ll give you my version of that.  :)  Hope you enjoy!  The icing is amazing – just to warn you.

Oh oh oh!  And I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer for the first time ever!  It was really awesome.  I can’t wait to use it again.  I know, I know, you’re probably asking yourselves why I haven’t used it before.  Well, I am slightly old school, and a tad lazy.  Old school:  I tend to use a wooden spoon or a hand mixer for a lot of things (but I just couldn’t for cake, it needed a REAL tool).  And lazy:  I just didn’t want to drag the mixer over to my counter (it won’t reach the plug in my under-sized kitchen) and then have to clean all the parts…  *sigh.  But it was totally worth it.

Hershey’s Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup boiling water

I’ll give you my directions, as I make things differently than most recipes tell you to…  I just can’t follow directions!

Preheat oven to 350F.  Cream together sugar and vegetable oil.  Add eggs, vanilla, and salt, and beat well.  Add cocoa and boiling water.  Mix until combined.  Mix in milk.  Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and stir until smooth.

Pour into two 9×9 cake pans that have been greased and floured.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let them cool for about 10 minutes, and then take them out of the pans and cool them on wire racks.  Frost with One Bowl Chocolate Buttercream Icing.

One Bowl Chocolate Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup margarine, softened

2 2/3 cups icing sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter until smooth.  Add the rest of the ingredients, and beat until smooth.  If it’s too runny, add more icing sugar, and if it’s too thick, add some more milk!  Easy as that.  Now frost that cake.

It’s sooo good.  I hope you really like it.  And I’d use the icing on just about any recipe that you need chocolate icing for – it’s super good.

Happy birthday Daddyo!

What kind of cake is your absolute fave?

Happy Birthday To MEEE!

So, it was my birthday yesterday, and I had a request for a birthday post.  I do realize that it’s not my birthday today, so technically, this is the day-after-my-birthday post.  But I warned her that I would probably be late in doing this…  I enjoyed every second of my birthday doing other things.  :)

{I think Cael had a good day too.}

I’m getting on in my journey towards 30, which is pretty crazy.  I had decided a long time ago, that I really wanted to reach 20, but after that, I would just stay 20 forever.  So let’s just say I’m 20.  And I’ll say that forever.  Sounds pretty good to me.  What do you think?  Will it work?  Will it have staying power?

Aging is not actually something that bothers me.  I love getting older.  And I think I always will.  It means that I’ve made it through another year.  And this past year was pretty exciting.  I had my first baby [EVER!], and we bought our first house.  I’d say that’s a fairly productive year (if you were going to ask me what I thought…).

So to my birthday!  It was awesome!  I always feel let-down by birthday (well, not always, but sometimes).  Because you wait for them all year, and then they’re not entirely awesome, and then it’s a day gone and you have to wait 365 more days until the next one.  But yesterday when I woke up, I decided that I was going to make it a good day.  It’s all about how you think, and how your heart is.  Wake up with a prayer and sunshine outside your window, and I’d say it’s going to be a pretty good day.  I got an awesome hug from my hubby first thing, and then went to my mother’s house for a shower!  For those who don’t know, we don’t have a shower at our new house, so this was a really great thing.

Then, I made the frosting and filling for my birthday cake!  Mom had already made the chocolate cake.  I made myself a hot chocolate, and helped myself to lots of the chocolate cream cheese frosting.  Then I had my dad’s amazing chili for lunch, and Cael, Mom, and I walked back to my house, stopping to visit my grandparents along the way.

Keep reading, the awesome continues.

{Don’t you love the scarf?!  It was a gift from an amazing family.}

After I put Cael down for a nap, I was going to go outside to clean up a garbage mess that some rambunctious raccoons had made through the night.  BUT, on my way down the driveway, an amazing family came barreling up in their minivan. With tidings of the best coffee ever, homemade birthday cards and origami, a present AND cookies.  Like, the best day ever, right?

Over coffee and cookies, we hung out and talked for quite awhile.  Eventually, I lost track of a few of the boys in the family, and they came in my door bearing a bag with all of the garbage!  They picked it up for me!  Yay!  So happy at this point.

Soon came suppertime at my parent’s house, with all my family, and a friend.  Do you know what the best dinner ever is (in my books)?  It consists of BBQ chicken, BBQ potato slices, vegetables, Greek salad, corn bread, and butternut squash.

{Dad makes these – my Grampie’s recipe.  Don’t they look awesome?  And my crazy little bro… haha}

Followed by my favourite cake EVER.  Let me describe this cake to you.  This chocolate cake recipe, made into three layers.  The layers are filled with whipped cream, and then the whole cake is iced with chocolate cream cheese icing.  Pretty close to perfect.  Mind you, the cake never stands up quite straight, but that does nothing to how wonderful it tastes.

Then, there were presents.  Enough said.

Around 9 o’clock, I convinced my hubby to watch a chick flick with me.  Flicked through Netflix, and chose Vanity Fair.  I must say, it was pretty good.  He was bored, but oh well.  My birthday, right?  ;)  (Thanks babe for watching it with me.)

So there you have it.  That is most of my birthday summed up in, well…  I guess it wasn’t really summed up.  Quite detailed actually.  Oh well.

Here’s the recipe for the cake!

Cream Cheese Trifle Cake

One chocolate cake, made into three layers

Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing (recipe follows)

Whipped Cream Filling (recipe follows)

Place first cake layer on a plate, top with whipped cream.  Repeat for next layer.  After you’ve placed your third layer on, coat the entire cake with the chocolate cream cheese icing.  The more you can slap on, the better.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup margarine, softened

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 heaping Tbsp cocoa

3 cups icing sugar

Cream the cream cheese, margarine, and vanilla together.  Add cocoa and sugar, and beat until smooth.  Frost that cake!

Whipped Cream Filling

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup icing sugar

Whip together until firm peaks appear.  Fill that cake!  Do it.

Enjoy.  It’s really the best thing since sliced toast bread.  (That actually went through my brain, I had to write it.  Toast is completely different from bread, right?)

30 Day Challenge

Day 4 – Your views on religion

Religion, as such, is not something I believe in.  Religion is performing acts to achieve a purpose, normally eternal peace, life, etc.  Works does not get you these things.  Obedience does not get you these things.  The sole way to salvation is through Christ Jesus; believing in Him, that He died for you, that you’re a sinner and he can reconcile that.

“I am the way the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me”  John 14:6

He is the only way.  You can never work your way into heaven.  There is no possible way we can be good enough on our own.  Only through Christ’s death and His covering of our sins, can we come to God.

Date Oatmeal-Goodness Cookie Sandwiches

Ever had one of those weeks?  You know, the ones where you feel like PMS is a permanent illness?  Because that’s just about how I felt this week.  Man.  It was bad.  Talk about mood swings, and chocolate cravings…  haha.

I did a ton of baking and cooking the last of the week, but have no pictures to prove it.  I WILL take pictures.  I WILL get the camera out.  I WILL.  I WILL.  (I’m going to keep chanting that until it happens, okay?)

Thursday was baking day, for the most part, and Friday cooking.  Jeudi consisted of raisin bran muffins, Nanny’s Cinnamon Rolls, garlic croutons, and cooked chicken.  Vendredi was stuffed potatoes (best kind ever – I vow to share this recipe with you in due time), chicken quesadillas, garden salad, and blueberry pie.  Whew.

{I just HAD to include this photo – he’s being such a goose here, and he’s just TOO cute!}

By the time Friday was over, all I wanted to do was eat and sit down, and eat, and sleep, and… eat.  So eat I did.  And do I ever feel gross today.  Totally worth it though, I must say.

And!  Kudos to Second Cup.  They have new Maple Lattes out, and they are all kinds of amazing!  I could have had about 5 today.  I remained slightly not content with one…

So in my first post on cookies, I mentioned these as one of the kinds of cookies that I really enjoy.

Date Oatmeal Cookie Sandwich

1/2 cup margarine, softened

1/2 cup lard

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Pinch salt

3 cups quick cooking oatmeal

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Cream together margarine, lard, and brown sugar.  Blend in  eggs and vanilla.  Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix in oatmeal, until combined.

Next, roll the dough out, about a 1/4 inch thick.  Cut with a circle cookie-cutter.

WARNING – Cookie cutters are dangerous!  Mine broke on me, and give me a nice little cut on my finger.  Ow.

But I kept at it.  Bake these cookies for about 10 -12 minutes.  Give or take a little.

Let the cookies cool, then they’re ready for some filling.  As you may have noticed, I didn’t stick to date filling for all of these.  My brothers are averse to dates, or so it seems.  So I did them a favour, and filled half of my sandwiches with white buttercream icing.  I’d much rather the dates, but hey, that’s preference for you.

Date Filling

2 cups chopped dates

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup water

1/4 cup orange juice

Cook about 10 minutes, until thickened.  Cool.  Easy peasy,

*Just a note – You will have dates leftover.  I would just use them in a second batch (you can refrigerate them for quite awhile), or eat them on your oatmeal for breakfast – they are SO good.*

30 Day Challenge

Day 3 – Your views on drugs and alcohol

Now for me, this one is pretty easy.  No, and… no!  :)

I’m not your average 20-something year old gal.  I avoid both of these entirely, unless you count the alcohol in vanilla extract that I use in baking.

I see no point in destroying my body, or losing control to a substance.  I can also have plenty of fun – sober.  I don’t believe that we should let things control us.

“And do not get drunk on wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”  Ephesians 5:18 (ESV)

I think it would be much more constructive to pray, read the Bible, and live the life described there – to be filled with the Holy Spirit – than to be filled with spirits and not able to control myself.  I want to know what I’m doing, not forget whole evenings.  I don’t enjoy being sick either, so count me out of being hung over.  Please.

I know many people will not agree with me on this topic.  But these are my views, I’m just sharing.  Think it over.  :)

What is your favourite kind of cookie?

Spring Cupcakes

So, the title of this should really be – How to make a disastrous mess.  Because I did.

Man, did I ever.

And of course, who should come home to catch me red-handed in messiness?  But my hubby.

‘WHAT are you DOING?  Why don’t you put a tray underneath, so that you don’t make such a mess on the counter?’

It’s a good question really.  And the only real, true answer is…  I’m stubborn.  There you have it folks, I confess; stubborn to the bone.

You see, I tried a new icing recipe.  I’m constantly using our ‘Buttercream’ Icing recipe.  I use that about 90% of the time. So I thought I’d mix things up.  I used a royal icing.  And instead of following the recipe (as usual…) I made a few changes.  Which resulted in a runny mess of icing.  If it calls for meringue powder, use it.  Just saying.  Anyhow.  This is what I used for icing.  It worked in a sense, but not at all how I had envisioned them to be.

Royal Icing

4 cups icing sugar

2 egg whites

Water

Food colouring

Blend together the egg whites and icing sugar.  Add enough water to make the icing come together.  It should be slightly runny, but not overly runny (ie – more like molasses than oil).  Divide icing into bowls, and add food colouring, as desired.

For my cupcakes, I used this chocolate cake recipe.  It made about 2 1/2 dozen regular-sized cupcakes.

I dyed the icing four different ‘springy’ colours.  Then I bagged them (be careful if your icing is runny – it’ll run right out of the bags – no squeezing required!).  To achieve the tye-dye look, I put a circle of one colour (a 1-inch circle, filled in) on top of the cupcake.  Then I squeezed 2 or 3 other colours on top, and just let it run down the cupcakes, to create the effect.

If you’re smart, you’ll listen to hubby and put a tray underneath the cupcakes BEFORE you frost them.  But if you don’t, hey, that’s cool too.  

Cael thinks they’re pretty good…

30 Day Challenge 

Day 2 – Where you’d like to be in 10 years.

Okay, so it’s most definitely time for day two of the 30 Day Challenge.  This one will be a tad more difficult than the last one… but here goes!

Realize that these are dreams, and I realized that some of them may be slightly far out…

In 1o years, I’ll be in my thirties…  man, that sounds old.  I will still be happily married, my little boy will be in the double digits, and he’ll probably have 2 or  3 (or 4?) little brothers and sisters.  We’ll be living in our house (made by us), which will have an amazingly big shower, and a kitchen with lots of counter space.  I will bake for my kids, and they’ll learn to bake with Mommy too, and love doing it (and I’ll have learned patience…  hopefully).  I’ll own a business, and bake for pay.  Yes, those are the dreams.

Where will you be in 10 years?

Vegetarian Quiche

I love eggs.  And this post…  is about eggs.

Earlier this week, I had to make a meal for one of my friends that just became a new mom for the third time.  What to make, what to make?  This thought crossed my mind all day the day before.  What I decided…

I made quiche!

I used eggs from my father-in-laws chickens (which I really should have taken a picture of, because they are amazingly big, super healthy, and natural…  so good), so that made these quiches EXTRA good.

Quiche a la Bebe Marc

(Makes 2 9-inch quiches)

Pie crust for 2 pies

3 ribs of celery, chopped

1 onion

1 green pepper

8 eggs

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp parsley

Pinch chili powder

1 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Line 2 9-inch pie plates with pie dough.  Sprinkle celery, onion, peppers and cheese over pie crust.

 

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milks, flour, salt, pepper, parsley, chili powder and melted butter.

Whisk until combined.

Pour over vegetables and cheese in pie plate.

Bake quiches for 30-45 minutes (it really just depends on the oven), or until set.

I was super impressed with myself on this recipe.  I wanted a vegetarian dish, but I didn’t want it to be lacking in flavour – and it wasn’t!  It looked good, smelled good, and tasted great.

It must have been good, because my hubby ate over half of it!

*Note – you can substitute the coconut milk for regular milk or water.

Now to the 30 Day Challenge.

Day 1 – Your current relationship

Well, my current relationship has been my one and only, and will be my one and only. God willing.  I have been married to my amazing hubby for almost 2 years now.

We got married in June 2010

And while that isn’t very long, we’ve known each other our whole lives, and have been ‘together’ for 7 years now.  He is the love of my life.  Yes, we snap at each other, and get on each others’ nerves.  But more than that, we love each other, laugh together, cry together, talk, live….  And have an amazing little boy together.

We’ve been through a lot, and will go through a lot more.  I know, though, that no matte what happens, we will stick it out.  God is behind us, and will give us the strength we need to stay together and get through life together.

I love my hubby so much.  He’s quirky, a great guy, funny, and so good at so many things.

I could say so much more than that, but this my relationship in a nutshell.

Now you know.

Day one of the 30 Day Challenge.  Check.

What about you?  How’s your current relationship?  Do you enjoy eggs as much as me?

30 Day Challenge. And Easter. Wait – a cake too.

So, I came across a challenge on Tyler’s blog (which initially came from Elle’s blog).  It’s called the 30 Day Challenge (pretty self-explanatory, no?).  I’m going to attempt to do it.  I don’t promise to do all 30 days consecutively, but I will try my best to do all 30.  This way, you can get to know me better, and it’ll change things up a bit too.  Hope you enjoy.  And I’d love to hear from you – your thoughts, comments, and questions.

My next post will begin the challenge.  :)

But for now, I’ll (finally) share my Easter with you.  And my brother’s birthday cake.

First – the cake.  I had asked my brother what kind of cake he wanted (mostly wondering what I should decorate…), but all he said was chocolate.  He wasn’t very much help.  I already knew that.  Anyhow.  I thought about it for awhile, and came up with something quite easy, but that fit.  He has been set on watching all 9 seasons of X Files with my husband.  So – the X Files logo it was.

Sides first, then the top.

Then to the logo, the edges…  The blowing of the candles.

Now to Easter.  First off, our Easter is a little bit different from a lot of people.  We grew up without the Easter bunny.  Instead, we focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

This is the reason we celebrate Easter.  Jesus has risen.  And we aren’t just saying this.  We really believe that it’s true.  Christ, our Saviour, reigns.

We also have a family dinner.  Which means lots of food.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that there is no end to food when it comes to my family.  It is central to all of our gatherings.  I love it.  Mostly because, well, truth be told, I love food.  I didn’t have a hand at much this year, as we were in the process of moving into our new house.  But feast your eyes on what I feasted on.

As you can tell, I share my passion for baking with others in my family.  I think it’s genetic.  :)

Cael loved sitting with Papa at dessert time…  Cookies for him.

I also made a cake on Good Friday for a bunch of people that came over to decorate Easter eggs.  It was a really quick decorating job, but I thought it turned out pretty good.

My hubby got a hold of it after it had been cut into though…

Ohmy…

So – I hope that you have a great weekend.  I’ll get started on that 30 day challenge soon.  Thanks for reading.  And sorry my Easter post was so late.  Better late than never??

What’re your Easter traditions?