Saturday Evening

On Saturday evening we had friends over for dinner. It was probably our last Grilled Pasta of the Summer. I used Janice's recommendation and tried a new Alfredo sauce recipe from Best Bites.

I used 2% milk and added some parsley for color.

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Toss the milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender. Process until smooth and set aside.

In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Stand above the pan (but not close enough to scald your face) and inhale. Ahhh…butter and garlic. Okay, now get cooking again. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to burn it.

Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.
When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.

For dessert I baked a Tiramisu Layer Cake. We had an Italian theme going on with dinner so I just went with it. I'll post the cake recipe sometime, if you like.

We had starters on the patio and dinner inside. It was a fun evening with good conversation and great friends. A nice way to move from summer into fall.

Scrapping, Baking, Cooking this Week

It's not too early to start your December Daily album. I did some scrapping with friends this week and made pages for days 1-25. I am not going to scrap December Daily 1-31 this year but rather 1-25 plus Thanksgiving weekend. It's my way or the highway and I think this will work for me. Last year I was exhausted for the holidays as we put the addition on the house so no December Daily. I missed it.

This year I used a kit from Hobby Lobby, a Pretty Little Studio Christmas kit that I won from Ali Edwards, some packs from making memories that I got at the UVill sidewalk sale and mini file folders from the new Paper Source located in UVill. A mishmash of products keeps me from getting bored. I'm not a heavy embellish'er, more of a plain Jane but I do say, "when I grow up I want to be an embellish'er just like Julie!" I'm trying!

I got a ton done and met some great women. Love that :) A good day of reconnecting. Amy's husband is a beans to bar chocolatier. We didn't have hot chocolate but rather we sipped drinking chocolate.

*Hubby was in Washington D.C. this week. His luggage may have had more fun than him as it went to Hawaii. He eventually got it. This afternoon he and hopefully, his luggage come back home where they belong. I missed him...

*Besides a scrap day I have been crafting up some fun things for the redecorated guest room. When Hubby is out of town I make Max a BiG pan of beef and bean enchiladas. That way I don't have to make dinner all week. Everyone is happy and I have time to make stuff.

*Shalom Sunday this week at church so I am busy baking cookies and finding fun things to send in soldier's care packages. Ideas?

*My windows are filthy but I'm not going to wash them until the potatoes are harvested from the field next door. One year I washed all the windows, dusted the house and everything was a dusty mess in a matter of minutes. Lesson learned! I'm waiting it out.

*I got new eyeglasses. They are purple and paisley. You'll see me coming...

*Hubby and I are having a small dinner party on Saturday evening. The foodie and wine connoisseur friends are coming. Game on!

*Have a great weekend! The weather promises to be unpredictable. When I left my house for boot camp before six this morning it was 71 degrees outside. Weird.

Ick!

Boys get dirty. Someone once told me that boys are just noise with dirt on it. They were right. Max went riding on Sunday and it was dusty. He had on several layers of clothes but the dirt goes right through clothing. Sweat, dirt, grease and oil, blood stains on the riding clothes.

I missed my calling in life... I should be starring in laundry detergent commercials.

Happy Birthday Yogi

We celebrated my Dad's birthday today. We all love Dad's Birthday because his favorite meal is pic-a-nic food. Just like Yogi bear, "hey Booboo, let go find a pic-a-nic." Fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans, a green salad, Ina Garten's corn salad, fresh crab legs and french bread. Yum! My Dad is smarter than the average bear.

I brought dessert. I remember Dad having a bowl of Neapolitan ice cream at night before bed so when I found the recipe for Neapolitan Layer Cake on Pinterest I knew I had to bake this special birthday cake for a special guy on his birthday.

Neapolitan Cake

adapted from:here and here

Strawberry Cake

1 c. sugar

1 1/2 oz. strawberry Jell-O

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

1 + 1/4 + 1/8 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. milk

1/2 T. vanilla

1/4 c. strawberry puree (I used frozen strawberries and pureed them with a bit of sugar in my magic bullet until smooth)

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add dry Jell-O. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Combine flour and baking powder and add alternately with milk and vanilla; beating until just combined. Blend in strawberry puree. Pour batter into one (9-inch) greased and floured cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until done. Cool in pan 10 minutes, invert to rack and cool completely.

Vanilla Cake

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour one (9-inch) round cake pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk and vanilla until smooth. Pour into dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 22-26 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert to rack and cool completely.

Chocolate Cake

For the chocolate cake:
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
6 tbsp. dark cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 large egg
½ cup black coffee
½ cup buttermilk
1½ tsp. vanilla extract

To make the chocolate cake, butter and flour the edges of a 9-inch round pan, shaking out the excess flour. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt; whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, vegetable oil and egg. Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, blend in half of the dry ingredients, beating just until incorporated. Blend in the coffee, buttermilk and vanilla just until smooth. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

I try to use good quality cocoa when I bake, after all I want it to be worth the effort. A bit of coffee with chocolate just amps everything up a notch. When recipes call for coffee I use Starbucks' Via, easier than brewing a pot and very tasty. I make a cup and sip the leftovers as I'm baking.

I use the spray flour and oil combo, it's easy and it works great. As I have mentioned before, buttermilk in a recipe just amps it up to a whole new level.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cubes butter, softened

1/3 c. shortening, optional

1 stick cream cheese, softened

6 c. powdered sugar

3/4 c. strawberry puree (frozen strawberries with a bit of sugar, thawed and pureed)

2 tsp. strawberry extract (I didn't use any, I didn't have any and the strawberry flavor was fine without it.)

a few drops red food coloring, opt.

Cream together butter, shortening and cream cheese until fluffy. Add 2 cups powdered sugar. Add 1/4 cup strawberry puree, strawberry extract and food coloring and beat until smooth. Add remaining powdered sugar and strawberry puree alternately and beat until reaches desired consistency.

I put it in the fridge for an hour to chill it back down and firm it up prior to frosting the cake.

TO ASSEMBLE CAKE: Slice the strawberry and the chocolate cake layers in half horizontally. Trim the vanilla cake if you want it to be the same size as the strawberry and chocolate, if not, just leave it whole. I used the whole layer. Place one chocolate layer down on your cake board and top with either strawberry jam or strawberry frosting*. Top with a strawberry layer and top with more jam or frosting*. Top with vanilla cake, then more jam or frosting*. Followed by the remaining chocolate layer, jam or frosting*, then top with the remaining strawberry layer. Frost entire cake with strawberry frosting and decorate as desired. Eat immediately or store in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.

*I used frosting only. I served the cake with Neapolitan ice cream, of course.

On this last shot I think my Dad is wiping a tear because Max is such a putz!

Happy Birthday Dad! Love you!

Sweet Dreams

Last night was just another restful night at the Stone House. Max was at school helping his shop teacher with a project. Hubby and I sat in the hot tub and then retired to bed ten thirtyish. Max came home, was chatting with us, when the conversation turned to chairs. He needs one in our bedroom for when he comes home and chats with us. He was sitting on the floor. Then the conversation went to chairs...

Max and Hubby are chatting about other things and my brain is stuck on chairs. I blurt out, "honey, you were right, we shouldn't have brought that chair to the dump."

Max and Hubby look at me like I'm crazy and I am so that's okay.

Me- "you know."

Them- "uh, no we don't."

Me-"the red upholstered chair that I bought at a garage sale with Sam a million years ago, well not really red, it's faded."

Them- "what chair, what garage sale, what are you talking about?"

Me- "the upholstered chair! that was in the carport and we brought it to the dump!"

Hubby- "It's still out there."

Me- "No."

Hubby- "Yes."

Back and forth we go, Max is putting in his two cents and we go on and on...

Hubby- "It's out there."

Me- "SHUTUP!!!"- in a good way!

Hubby-"I'll go find it right now!" By now they have both lost patience with me and just want me to see the chair and go to sleep.

So, we hop out of bed, Hubby goes out to the carport and comes back with the chair.

I am so happy! A chair! A little chair that will fit through the guest room door(it's tiny)! I go online and find the slipcover that I'd seen on sale for $9.98, regular $69.95. It is this slip cover that got me feeling bad that I'd dumped the chair in the first place.

I can redo it myself if the slipcover doesn't work out, I just know it.

I do a happy dance all the way back to bed!

At that point Max left the house to camp out at school to have first choice of activities for LCHS's Outside the Walls. Of course I lay there wondering if that was good parenting to let him stay out all night. Toss and turn a bit...

Let that thought go, he's a good kid, drift off to sleep.

I fell asleep dreaming of my cute little chair with BiG potential.

I woke up when my alarm went off at 12:30 a.m. to start two crock pots of breakfast casserole for the museum docent's breakfast this morning. Sleep interrupted.

Then I took a nap until six and hopped out of bed for the day.

At eight Max and friends came home from camping at school to sit in the hot tub before their day begins at school.

I think we'll all go the bed early tonight. I'm tired...

Company for Dinner

Company coming for dinner means dessert. Except Blake isn't really company, he's like one of our guys.

Hubby and I had picked blackberries and Hubby loves this dessert recipe. Except he calls it, that really good stuff your sister, Kathi made at Desert Canyon.

I'm sharing this recipe which I was making while distracted by sweet Lily. That's the reason for the lack of quality pictures taken while baking. This recipe is so easy that I think you can make it without step by step pictures showing you the way.

And really, can you blame me? I had an adorable baby to love on.

Black and Blue Dessert

6-7 cups blackberries and blueberries- I used mostly blackberries

Sugar and flour- like a pie. I used 2/3 c. sugar and 1/4 flour.

The original recipe doesn't call for cinnamon but I sprinkled it lightly over the berries.

1 yellow cake mix

1 cube of butter

Mix the cake mix and butter to make crumbs. Put it on the berries. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

*I thought of adding almonds and a splash of almond flavoring to the crumb mixture to late but I think that might be tasty too.

Took one for the team this morning. I needed a picture of the finished dessert for the blog.

Black and Blue Dessert with a dab of vanilla ice cream is a nice change from the protein shake I usually have for breakfast...