Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Simple Cakes
Today I’m sharing two very simple cakes, one of which is my favorite chocolate cake. Both of these recipes came from my mom and beyond that, I’m not quite sure where she learned them. We’ve been making the chocolate ganache cake for as long as I can remember. The key to this cake is the coffee and ganache frosting. I’ve had many versions of this cake and they’ve missed the flavor mark and I truly believe it’s due to the coffee which brings out the cocoa.
The lemon citrus cake is a new recipe for me, however it’s been one my mom has had in her massive recipe book for years. I love the tangy citrus flavor and it can be even stronger by adding 4 drops of Lemon Vitality essential oil. I think this cake would be the perfect addition to a spring dinner, summer BBQ or even to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in just a couple short months!
Chocolate Ganache Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/4 cup Dutch cocoa
1 cup strong coffee
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk* (see note)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease the bottom of a jellyroll pan.
In a mixing bowl, mix together flour and sugar and set aside.
In a small saucepan melt butter. Add cocoa, coffee and vanilla into melted butter and mix well.
In a 2 cup measuring cup, measure out 1/2 cup buttermilk and add the baking soda to the buttermilk. Stir together and let sit for 5 minutes until it begins to foam. Then add 2 eggs into the buttermilk and whisk together.
Mix all wet ingredients into the flour and sugar mixture and mix well.
Pour into greased jelly roll pan and bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until center springs back.
Remove from oven and let cool before adding ganache.
Ganache
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1-1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
In a small saucepan bring whipping cream to almost a boil then remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour ganache over the cooled cake and spread evenly. The cake can then be placed in the refrigerator to set the ganache.
*NOTE: If you do not have buttermilk , mix 1-½ teaspoon white vinegar with enough milk to make ½ cup. Let stand 5 minutes and then add the baking soda.
Lemon Citrus Cake
1 pkg. lemon cake mix
1 pkg. lemon flavored gelatin (JELLO)-small pkg.
4 whole eggs
¾ cup water
¾ cup vegetable oil
Mix batter according to package directions using above ingredients.
Grease bottom of a jellyroll pan. Pour cake batter into pan and bake 350 degrees 25 minutes.
Drizzle with powdered sugar icing (recipe below) and sprinkle with lemon, lime and grapefruit rind.
OR pour into a greased bundt cake pan (use Crisco to grease pan then dust with flour. Bake according to bundt cake recipe on the cake box. Cool 15 minutes and turn upside down onto a cake plate. Dust with powdered sugar when cool.
Powdered Sugar Icing
3 cups powdered sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
Enough water to create desired consistency.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Welcoming the New Year
Welcome to 2019! We are happy to welcome the new year and not all that upset to say goodbye to 2018 because when we look back on it, it was a struggle of a year for us. Filled with stress, anxiety, challenges and hardships, but we made it through and we are so much stronger for it and for that we are grateful for this past year. We learned how to rely on each other, how to ask for help, hot to simplify, how to say no to more and how to prioritize. We aren’t fools, we know there was good that happened in 2018 too, like expecting a new baby, making our health a priority, building our Young Living business and focusing more on our relationships with Christ and with each other. We had a lot of good happen, but those tough times we experienced were so hard and we’re ready to move forward.
There’s a lot we want to accomplish this year and we’re not really setting them up as resolutions because those never seem to really hold up, but we know we want to be more intentional about certain things.
- With our fourth babe arriving soon we want to get back to planning our weekly date nights, whether that’s getting out of the house or staying in.
- We want to grow our Young Living business because it’s been life changing for us and we want that for everyone we know.
- Take on less projects and plan more for our family.
- Simplify our home by decluttering and organizing as much as we possibly can.
- Continue to improve our health as a family.
Mike and I have really enjoyed the tradition of choosing a word for the new year and I can’t remember what I chose last year because I let myself get so far off track focusing on it, but this year I chose two words: unapologetic + optimistic. I realize I often allow myself to feel guilty saying no to projects and people and I’m often left exhausted and frustrated. I’ve also been so drained and stressed this past year that I’ve become pretty pessimistic, even though I like to call it being a realist. It’s being a pessimist and I hate that so I’m choosing to change it. Mike’s word for the year is fuel. He often chooses a word that applies to several different faucets in his life. Fuel for his soul by growing deeper in his relationship with Christ, fuel for his body through healthy eating and exercise and fuel his mind by learning something new. He likes to be complex and deep!
I’d love to know what you do for the New Year, are you the resolution type? A one word type? Or just plan on eating more tacos?
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
A Very Grinchy Birthday
Finn grew a huge love for How the grinch Stole Christmas last year and ever since Halloween of this year he’s been asking to watch it non-stop. While his birthday was approaching he initially requested a Transformers themed party, but it all changed just a week or so into November when he changed his mind to a cartoon Grinch theme.
Finn is quite the traditionalist, much like our nephew Keegan. Finnley loves to keeps things classic especially when it comes to the Grinch. His favorite is the original and he will tolerate the Jim carey version, but he really isn’t too sure about the new one currently out in theatres. Maybe we’ll try and see it over Christmas break.
With it being December and the new movie in theatres I really thought finding Grinch themed things would be easy and I was totally wrong. I had hoped to find some sort of classic agrinch figurine to use as a cake topper, but no such luck! We did find a classic plush Grinch with Max we used for part of our decor and then stuck with classic red and green with pops of lime green and pattern.
It really couldn’t have been. More perfect for his December birthday with our Christmas tree in the corner and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. Once everything came together it just made his little party and our seem so much more festive and magical. I’m actually having a hard time taking those precious snowflakes down, but I think we’ll move them to the playroom and keep them up all winter long.
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Kid’s Christmas Gift Guide
Calling all the last minute shoppers!!!! It’s the most wonderful time of the year and I’m so excited to share our favorite items for both boys and girls in our Holiday Gift Guide!I always look forward to shopping for our littles as it’s always so much fun to see how much they’ve changed over the coarse of the year and what their interests are each Christmas season.
This year we decided to keep Christmas simple. Last year was a big year and since our kids tend to gravitate towards specific actives we thought it was best to keep a tidy budget and gifts simple. We love finding items that help spark the kids’ imagination and encourage them to pretend. We typically give some sort of building or block set, books, something to cuddle like a stuffed animal and something to do that gets them moving. On my Instagram page I shared exactly how we did everything this year and for us it’s kept everything very simple and not stressful at all.
We decided after learning what the kids really wanted for Christmas we would set a budget of $100 per child and split that budget into 5 gift categories: Something to Do, From Santa, Want, Outside Time, Read. None of our gifts were purchased from a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale, we simple created our list on the Notes app on our phone and put each item into a Christmas list on Amazon and watched the items as they went on sale. Our budget did not include stocking stuffers, as we try to shop for small items throughout the year and get things we know they’ll need for the upcoming year such as socks, toothbrushes etc.
K’s List: Our Generation Doll, Our Generation Accessories, Roller Skates, Kids Made Modern Jewelry Jam,
O;s List: Play Makeup, Baby Doll Accessories, Melissa and Doug Modeling Dough Tools, Mrs. Peanuckle’s Tree Alphabet book, JellyCat Octopus
Kensington has had her eye on an American Girl doll for a few months, but because we’re keeping a tight budget, we going with the Our Generation collection from Target. I think this is a wise decision that Kensi has also agreed upon for such a doll. It’s a great way to gauge if she loves this type of doll and also allows her to build her clothing and accessory stash since everything fits universally. We’ve agreed if she loves her doll and still wants an American Girl we can ask for it for her birthday next summer.
Finn’s birthday is at the beginning of the month and has requested Power Rangers and anything Grinch for his birthday and Rescue Bots and dinosaurs for Christmas. He’s pretty simple and I love that he knows exactly what he wants! It makes our lives so easy!
Olivia is the hardest one to shop for this year. She’s not into the typical 2 year old stuff, because she’s constantly keeping up with Kensi and Finn. She loves dressing up, playing with baby dolls, Calico Critters and all the tiny little piece type of things because they’re ‘so cute mama!’ This year we’re definitely getting Olivia this adorable JellyCat Octopus because every week when we go grocery shopping she requests to see the octopus in the seafood counter. The Whole Foods guy knows us by now and always engages in conversation with her and points out other fish for her to see, but the octopus always steals her attention!
This idea of shopping kept everything organized and really simple for us and we love how we can adjust it year to year based on what we set as our budget along with the kids interest. We hope this can help your family keep things simple and help you avoid the drama that can come with the frenzy of unnecessary spending during the Christmas season!
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