Military Monday

 

Happy Memorial Day.  Spending the day with my favorite soldier.  Thinking of all those that can’t be with the ones they love.  Was checking out some of the posts of friends on FB…one stuck out in particular.  Written by a wonderful leader who I am proud to call my friend.  Much love Cory.

“Much respect to the fellas who never made it home. Our thoughts are constantly with your families and with your memory. Miss and love each and everyone one of you.”

Take some time to thank those who are serving and have served.  Remember.

Wordless Thursday…

 

I know I am a day late with this post….and I hope you will forgive me. The day got away from me.

A great friend of mine (Mia Cupcake) asked if I would be interested in a 30 Day Photo Challenge….of course I said yes, and that I would give it a go….We started last week and decided to post ever Wednesday.  Here are my first 6 photos….

1. A photo of yourself:

2. A photo of what you wore today:

3. A photo of your favorite place to be:  (Wherever these two are!)

4. A photo from a high angle:

5. A photo of whatever you please: (Jason bought these for me….good husband)

6. A photo from a low angle:

Come back next week to see another weeks worth….

Mixing together two favorites

 

Every once in awhile a light bulb goes off on the baking side of my brain.  And sometimes that light bulb ends up with awesome results like this one…..

I was having a pretty crappy day yesterday, but this is not the time or place for those issues….so when I have a crappy day I try to think of things that make me happy.  I will also say it was a little gloomy yesterday too, and I was missing all the sunshine we had last week.  So I decided to create some of my own sunshine, in the form of LEMON CURD.    And even though I would be happy just eating said lemon curd out of the jar with a spoon….I figured the family would rather something else yummy for snack/dessert.  And since this pound cake recipe turned out SO well, I decided to combine the two. 

I bring you….Vanilla Bean Pound Cake, with Lemon Curd swirled inside.  It is TO DIE FOR.   Basically I just layered the pound cake batter with the Lemon Curd in between….and the curd stayed nice and soft.  Just perfect.

If you are every having a bad day I strongly suggest you make some of this….you can’t help but smile at a bowl of bright yellow lemony goodness.  Trust me.  It worked for me. 

Look at this cake:

Wordless Wednesday

LOVE these freckles….

PS….I am starting a 30 day Photo Challenge with my good friend Mia Cupcake, so next week will be a 7 day round up of the weeks photos.

Old Fashioned Recipes

I love recipes that get handed down from other generations.  I have several that I have been lucky enough to receive from my mother and Omi.  But this one isn’t from my family.  My amazing friend, Laurie (aka @SuperSlush) was kind enough to share her Grandmother’s Pound Cake recipe with me….and told me it would be ok if I posted it here to share with you all.   This recipe is very basic, but absolutely delicious.  There are so many different things you can add to this recipe to make it even more delicious depending on your mood….on my first attempt to make this recipe I was in the mood for a Cherry Lemonade….a la Sonic.  So I added these…

Maraschino Cherries!! Oh, and some lemon.  I love these cherries…I really don’t care how they are made, or what goes in them…they are yummy. 

Old Fashioned Pound Cake   Recipe Graciously Given by Laurie

Preheat to 350. Grease a 10 inch bundt or tube pan.

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup shortening
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup milk

Cream sugar, butter and shortening until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping sides in between additions. Alternate flour and milk, starting and ending with flour. Pour into greased bundt/tube pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

To make this a Cherry Lemonade Pound Cake zest and juice two lemons and add to the sugar, shortening and butter while creaming.  Drain a jar of maraschino cherries (save the juice to make a powdered sugar glaze), and fold in cherries before putting batter in pan.

To make the cherry glaze mix the juice from the jar of cherries with powdered sugar until you achieve the desired consistency.  Pour over cooled pound cake.

Look at this cake….but look quick, it wont last long….

Thank you, Laurie for sharing your Grandmother’s recipe with me…and for letting me pass it on to all of you.

xo

Monkey Monday

 

I got my “craft on” yesterday.  I use to be a big crafter.  I would obsess over scrapbooks, card making, knitting (failed miserably), attempted to crochet, quilting, stamping….you name it – I have the supplies for it.  Seriously, I have enough crafting supplies to open a small store.  When we lived in CT I would visit the JoAnn Fabrics so often they knew Jakob by name!   But baking and cooking have temporarily taken over my creative brain.  I really should sort through all the crafting supplies and sell some of it…to pay for new baking pans and sprinkles. 

I saw a picture of this on Pinterest (if you love to be inspired by all things beautiful you must check out pinterest) and thought it would be a fun thing to make for the students in Jakob’s class.  A cute little incentive to do some reading.  And it involves gummy candy…come on, we all love gummy worms.

So easy.  I took little cellophane bags (the same ones I use for my cookies), put in three gummy worms, and staple on the cute little tag.  I downloaded some free tag templates, glued onto red card stock and folded it over the top of the bag. 

Jakob was SO excited to take them to school and hand out to his friends.  And they were all pretty happy to receive them.

Are you allowed to take in treats like this to your child’s class??  If so, what do you like to take in for a special treat?  Ideas and links always appreciated!

Wordless Wednesday

This is one of my favourite coffee mugs….

Meatless Monday

 

I am guest posting over at Piccante Dolce, pop over and check out my recipe for an Asparagus & Goat Cheese Quiche.  Leave some comment love while you are there.    Look at this….it’s delicious.  Seriously.

Thoughtful Thursday

I am now 37.  I celebrated my birthday last Sunday with my favourite three boys….it was perfect.  A laid back morning, coffee and chocolate croissants, an early lunch and then off to the Children’s Museum in Tacoma and Hello, Cupcake for a birthday cupcake.  Perfection.

Jakob wanted to bake me a cake.  He was asking me about what kind of cake I wanted for a few weeks.  And it would have been the best cake I have ever had, I know this.  But with Jason’s birthday just a week away, and all the other stuff that I had been baking for fun, I knew that we really didn’t need another cake in the house. (no matter how delicious and sweet it would have been)  So we decided to go out for cupcakes.  Jakob was VERY excited by this.  He wanted to go back to Hello, Cupcake since he loved it the first time.  They like being able to pick what they want and never get the same thing. And Hello, Cupcake has fantastic cupcakes.  And some great little toppers.  Jakob picked this one for me…..because I am a girl.  Love that kid.

I love that Jakob wanted to bake cake for me with his daddy.  But a great day, and a great cupcake made it just what I wanted.  I mean, look at these boys….they are so happy.  It was a great way to celebrate getting old! 

 

I am madly in love with these two!