Blueberry girl

My friend Amanda made an AWESOME blueberry pie for our Bible study one night a couple months ago.  Normally I do not like pie, much less fruit pie but this was amazing.  Actually I quite LOVE pecan pie, but other than that I'm not a pie lover.  I got the recipe which turns out to be Pioneer Woman's blueberry pie recipe in case any of you out there in bloggie world are interested.  The best thing about this pie is she allows the blueberries to do all the work.  There is no more than two tablespoons of sugar in it and barely any other ingredients to get in the way so it ends up being this really healthy pie and that easily gives me the excuse to eat it for breakfast!  In fact all three of us here in the house have eaten it for breakfast!  Jordan thought it was wonderful and ate nearly two pieces!

She obviously made quite the mess and even got some in her hair, but it is hard NOT to when they're hanging in your eyes so much!  We are growing her bangs out but it is quite the process, let me tell you!   On a completely different note, Jordan just saw this picture as I'm writing and is now wiping her face with her hand to show that she had a messy face and is laughing as she does it.

One more story.  Jordan was sick for about a month with mostly diarrhea but there was some nausea as well.  By the end of it she weighed less than she did 3 1/2 months prior at her 15 month check up.  It was awful for both of us but I cannot imagine what she was going through.  Especially seeing her now that she is all better, her goofy little personality has come back and she seems to be laughing and giggling all the time nowadays.  It makes me feel even worse for her being sick after seeing this major change in her personality.

Lazy

I have been feeling very lazy lately and haven't wanted to do much of anything but lie around. I think it has something to do with the 20 & 30 below weather. It has been freezing! I did find some energy the other day to make some Meringue cookies! I had lots of leftover egg whites from another recipe that called for several yolks. My meringue cookie recipe that I usually use only calls for 4 whites so I tried searching for another recipe that might call for 7 egg whites but had no such luck. I did come across a recipe that for "mocha" meringue cookies that sounded yummy so I decided to go off of my recipe and add the ingredients from the mocha recipe. The result:



I was impressed with what I came up with. They were very chocolatey and had the perfect hint of coffee flavor. Unfortunately, I didn't write how much of what I put in! I really need to get better about that. It just seems that I get so busy adding a little of this & a little of that, oh maybe some more of that, just a little more. Before I know it I have lost track of how much I've added. I am open to suggestions!

A Month of Sundaes

If my sister or I got grounded growing up our parents would tease us saying that we were grounded for a month of Sundays. Neither of us knew what that meant and it drove us nuts; Mom & Dad got a kick out of it! Now after we are both grown up and married my mom found this book and gave it to us as a gift from her and Dad this Christmas. The really cool thing about the book is it's all about ice cream; ice cream is my FAVORITE! It's about the start of ice cream in the USA! I find it interesting that all ice cream parlors/soda shops back in the day were in drug stores (pharmacies). Who'd have ever thought? I guess a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down! At the back of the book it has a list from state to state which are the best ice cream parlors and one listed is here in my hometown! It also mentions what is the "best" at each place.

Double-Chocolate Christmas Praline-Fudge Cake

I am obsessed with cooking & baking. I am both proud and slightly embarrassed to say that I own around 200 cookbooks. The amazing thing is that I have only purchased maybe a total of 10. My friends and family know me too well. My mom bought me a Gooseberry Patch Christmas Cookbook last year; a cake in it caught my attention and I really wanted to make it. Brandon was deployed in Iraq at the time and I couldn't imagine making it just for myself! Well now that he is home, I FINALLY made it last weekend! And it was just as delicious as I imagined it would be (well worth the wait)!!!





I usually have a really difficult time with layered cakes so I am really proud of this cake! I've got a story about the last time I tried a multiple layer cake! My parent's had gotten me a cake pan to make a checkerboard cake; I made the cake, assembled the layers and went about my business. When I came back upstairs, a huge chunk from the top layer had fallen off! I "glued" it back on with some frosting and continued on my way only to come back and see that the chunk had fallen off again but it took with it part of the next layer. I tried "gluing" it again but came back a third time to find that even more had fallen off! It was hopeless, but HILARIOUS! I ended up dumping the entire cake into a regular 9x13 pan. It looked really sloppy but still tasted oh so delicious!
Here is the recipe to the cake in the picture above. If anyone makes this let me know what you think!

Double Chocolate Christmas Praline-Fudge Cake

1 cup butter or marg
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
Chocolate Ganache
Praline Frosting

Cook first 3 ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter melts and mixture is smooth; remove from heat. cool. Beat buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add butter mixture to buttermilk mixture, beating until blended. Combine sugar, flour and salt; gradually ad to buttermilk mixture, beating until blended. (batter will be thin). Coat 3 (8") round cake pans with non-stick vegetable spray; line with wax paper. Pour batter evenly into pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 22 to 24 minutes or until set. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool layers completely. Spread about 1/2 cup ganache between cake layers; spread remainder on sides of cake only (not top). Chill cake 1/2 hour. Pour frosting slowly over top of cake, spreading to edges, allowing some frosting to run over sides. Freeze, if desired; thaw at room tempurature 4-6 hours. Makes 10-12 servings


Chocolate Ganache

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup butter or marg, cut up into pieces

Microwave chocolate chips and cream in a glass bowl on medium power (50%) 2-3 minutes or until chips are melted. Whisk until smooth. Gradually add butter, whisking until smooth. Cool, whisking often, 15-20 minutes or until spreading consistency. Makes about 2 cups.


Praline Frosting

1/4 cup butter or marg
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring often; boil one minute. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add toasted pecans, stirring gently 2-5 minutes or until frosting begins to cool and thicken slightly. Pour immediately over cake. Makes about 1 3/4 cups.