Monday, June 21, 2010

From time to time......

I like to share recipes! I love to find new recipes! Yesterday we had dinner for the entire family for Father's Day! It was nice! I made ribs and chicken drumsticks, in a special rub, slow cooked in the oven and smothered in barbeque sauce. Then of course we had to have corn on the cob and baked beans with it! And dinner wouldn't be the same without Tiffany's potato salad! To top it off I tried a new recipe from Betty Crocker (http://www.bettycrocker.com/?WT.dcsvid=MjA5NjQ1OTEyMwS2&rvrin=C28C686C-0A83-DC11-920E-00110A5B41E6&WT.mc_id=Newsletter_BC_06_17_2010_Non-GmailYahooControl) for dessert, Key Lime Poke Cake! Can I say it was soooo easy and sooooo good? It was!


Here is the recipe:

Cake
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 eggs

Key Lime Filling
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup Key lime juice or regular lime juice
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
4 drops yellow food color
1 drop green food color

Frosting
1 container (12 oz) Betty Crocker® Whipped vanilla frosting
2 teaspoons grated lime peel

Garnish, If Desired
Fresh strawberries
Key lime slices
Lemon leaves
1. Heat oven to 350°F for shiny metal or glass pan (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour.
2. In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 26 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. With handle of wooden spoon (1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter), poke holes almost to bottom of cake every 1/2 inch, wiping spoon handle occasionally to reduce sticking.
4. In medium bowl, stir together filling ingredients (mixture will thicken). Pour over cake; spread evenly over surface, working back and forth to fill holes. (Some filling should remain on top of cake.) Refrigerate 1 hour.
5. Spread frosting over cake; sprinkle with lime peel. Garnish with strawberries, lime slices and lemon leaves. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): No change.



The only thing I did different was instead of the frosting, we topped it with Cool Whip! Let me say again, it is super yummy!

Have a yummy day!

Chris

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Some days.......

Okay, so I am sooooooo slow, but I actually went to a crop last month, Express the Moment's to be exact, and I got some layouts done! I have been in a serious freeze this past year, where I have convinced myself that I will never make perfect, publishworthy layouts and so I don't even try! But slowly, in the past few weeks, I have begun to feel a thaw. Okay, so I will never be a trendsetter, or an award winning designer! The important thing is to record history for my family! So that someday they won't be facing an entire dresser of photos (yes my mom left behind an entire dresser, stuffed) with no idea who, what, when, where, or why! So you will have to put up with my mediocre attempts at our family history because it is important that I get it done!

Here are a couple of entries for 2009! This was Chelsea's senior picture, that she put in her yearbook. I took the pictures for her, in our corn patch. Then she took the one she liked best and played with it in photoshop until she got this black and white photo with the guitar in color! I love it! We make a good team!
Last fall the colors were so awesome! The pictures on the left page are from my yard. We had all kinds of yellows and oranges! Then the right page shows our resident turkey herd, across the dry bed from our place! The warm sun drew them out that day! I have such fun photographing them! They are a hoot! Anyways, I loved this paper and so the page just fell together! I also loved the title of the page and the play on words: this perfect {fall} day! The play is that is can read this {fall} or perfect day! or this perfect day! or this {fall} day or {fall} day, they all fit!

I am also trying to get back to using my food storage in my menu! I kind of get out of the habit and use alot of fast food when we are in tax season. Anyways, last night I made honey mustard porkchops (mix 1 C honey and 3 Tbl mustard, glaze porkchops and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours) and cornbread (I shared the recipe last year, uses powdered eggs and powdered buttermilk and it is awesome) and the vegetable was frozen carrots I made from our garden last fall! It was all so yummy! So easy too!
Hope you have a productive day!
Chris