Safari Shower

My sister-in-law is expecting a boy this spring and her mom planned a safari-themed shower for her. I loved it! I am so excited to meet this little guy.

It was my job to make monkey cupcakes so to Google images I went! There are so many ideas out there and if you're patient and extremely creative you can pull off some fabulous safari animal cupcakes but I have to keep things simple so I found a picture that looked like something I could do and got to work. My daughter "helped".

I was really happy with the way they turned out!

 

Congratulations, guys!

Chocolate + Orange= Match Made in Heaven

We were having special people over for dinner and I really wanted to make a special dessert. I have never attempted a torte but this recipe for Orange Chocolate Torte popped out at me from Taste of Home which I so badly wanted to try. I loved the orange extract in it and even grated a bit of orange rind around the base as I served it.

Of course, as hard as I tried, I could not imitate the picture and mine ended up being lopsided AND my truffles flattened in the frig, never to be round again AND it was harder than it looks to get those chocolate sprinkles around the side of the torte! But nonetheless, it was splendidly rich! The recipe says it should take 30 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to bake and cool. Uh, good luck with THAT! This took my all afternoon! The best part was having fingers and spoons to lick! :)

I remember ordering a Mocha Valencia at Starbucks which is a rich, creamy blend of  coffee, dark chocolate, and zesty orange. It was my favorite drink. It's no longer on the menu board, but I bet they'll make it if I ask. It's just that every time I go in, I stare at the board and end up ordering something I've had a million times.

 We have about 10 inches of snow on the ground- maybe this weekend is a good time to order one!

Baked Oatmeal is for Winter

What could be better than a bowl of baked oatmeal on a cold morning?

I went to a friend's house and she served us some of her yummy baked oatmeal for brunch. She added blueberries that she had picked and froze last summer.  Just simply delicious!  I came home and realized it's so easy and it lasted us all week! Savannah and I have been putting leftovers in bowls, adding milk and microwaving them until warm.   I had a bag of frozen mixed berries I added and loved it!  I think you can throw anything you'd like in the mix- even shredded carrots to give it a "carrot cake" look and taste.

Here's the recipe I used- but there are tons out there and feel free to swap out or switch up as much as you'd like with a simple recipe like this.

Winter Baked Oatmeal

5 cups of oats
2 cups milk
4 large eggs
 1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
Options: 1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 shredded carrots, chocolate chips, frozen berries, fresh seasonal fruit ( I have enjoyed strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, peaches, apples etc).
 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix up everything in a bowl and pour into a greased 9x13 pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Any leftovers store nicely in the refrigerator!

Sneaky Chocolate Cake

The other day, a friend and I were talking about likes and dislikes and my hubby made it clear that he HATES anything mayonnaise. But I knew if it was in a cake, he's never know the difference. I googled "chocolate mayonnaise cake" and found a fantastic one on Food Network. I made it with a peanut butter frosting and guess who's been eating the most of it!?! You can check out the link for the recipe yourself but here's a few changes I made-
I used 3/4 cup sugar instead of the full cup (knowing the it would be sweet enough with frosting added to it)
I don't have cake flour so I just used all-purpose flour.
I up-ed the cocoa powder to 3/4 cup to give it a richer flavor.
I don't have buttermilk so used milk
instead of sweetened whipped cream, I made up a peanut butter frosting.

The recipe doesn't call for eggs or oil because the mayonnaise does that job for you. The batter looked more like brownie mix and was difficult to spread in the pan, but it rose like cake and tasted like cake :)

I am currently use an over-sized toaster oven and at times I only have the bottom heater on or both bottom and top, keeping my eye on whatever is in there at the time. I hear it's hard to bake something all the way through without burning the edges. Try doing a little broiler during the middle of baking time, turning it back off and the bottom on back to finish the job. Just an idea- my quick breads, cakes, brownies always turn out wonderfully in the toaster oven, alternating heaters.

This is a great chocolate cake- dense and moist.

If you decide to make any of my recipes,
I would love to hear of any changes you make/ideas you have!