Blue Chaste Tree and Triple Chocolate Cake

Well I usually have a green thumb. I mean I'm usually like the Jolly Green Giant. I can grown anything, but apparently that thumb doesn't extend to the Blue Chaste Tree which according to Southern Living Magazine is an easy tree to plant and grow in mid-summer. According to them, you only have to water 3 times a week. WRONGO! I have watered this plant almost everyday because it's leaves are drooping and dropping. The Lord has watered it, but nothing helps. This tree looks horrible and as though it is dying. Ugh!!! The two Crepe Myrtles are thriving and I don't water them but about twice a week. I planted them at the same exact time and yet that Blue Tree is doing terribly. Well at least Lowe's gives a one year guarantee. I hope it doesn't come to that, but we'll see.

Maybe my green thumb is turning into a cooking thumb. I bake cakes like crazy as I mentioned in my last post. Today I baked a Triple Chocolate Cake (recipe courtesy of cake mix miracles). I decided I should cook my husband a chocolate cake since he loves chocolate. I found this recipe and decided to try it out. I also decided to let my husband help a little since after all its his cake. WRONG move! I laughed til I thought I would pee in my pants at what happened next.

I asked him to get out the bundt pan and spray it with the cooking spray. I am putting ingredients together and obviously paying him no attention. When I look up, he says "All done". Boy was it ever! LOL My poor husband had held the nozzle of the spray right inside of the pan rather than a foot or so away. The pan was YELLOW and about 1 inch thick with spray. I just bust out laughing. He looks and says it came out like this I swear I didn't double coat. I can't talk for laughing. I finally hold the can at the top of the sink and spray and say you aren't supposed to hold it in the pan. I just can't quit laughing. Eventually he starts laughing but he said I didn't know to hold it away. It was then that it greatly dawned on me. Men know nothing about baking (well 80% of them anyways). I should have been more clear, but it still made for an absolutely hilarious scene. I wish ya'll could have seen my pan. I cleaned it out and poured the cake in. After 50 minutes I had a wonderful chocolate cake. See below for recipe, but beware I made some changes.

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 package chocolate cake mix
1 (3.9 oz) chocolate instant pudding mix
2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
8 oz sour cream
4 large eggs (I used 5 for a fluffier cake)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I omitted)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup veggie oil
powdered sugar (I omitted)

Whisk together all ingredients but sugar until well blended. Pour batter into well-greased 12-cup bundt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until cake begins to pull away from sides (it took mine 50 mins). Cool in pan on wire rack for approximately 15 minutes; remove cake from pan, and cool completely on wire rack. Sift a small amount of powdered sugar over the top of the cake (Since I omitted the sugar, I took a handful of semi-sweet morsels, place them in a zip baggie, microwaved for about 20 seconds, then cut a small hole in the end. I then used the baggie like an icing bag and swirled the chocolate over top of the cake until it was used up.)

I hope ya'll enjoy this cake, but beware it is very rich but good. Not for those who aren't big chocolate fans.

Cakes, Housework, and New Furniture

I haven't written anything in awhile; however, I have been a baking queen. In the last week I have baked 4 cakes. I baked 2 Black Russian Cakes, 1 Sock It To Me Cake, and 1 Mandarin Orange Cake (recipe from my friend Briana, see left). They have all received rave reviews (excepting the Mandarin Orange Cake which noone has tasted as I just made it). Apparently they were so good my husband thinks I should open a bakery, and the 2nd Black Russian Cake came about as a request from a family friend after they tasted the first one.

I don't know about a bakery, but I sure do like the art of it. It peacifies (is that a word and if so, is it spelled right) and relaxes me. I really enjoy it, and have had quite a bit of time for it since I no longer work. I also seem to have quite a lot of time to clean house and everything else. I tell you I do not know how everything got done when I worked fullish time. Oh yeah, my husband helped me! Now that I don't work, I told him I would do the housework as that was only fair. As long as he made the money, I would keep the yard and house up. I think I made a mistake. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE doing it, but it would be nice if occassionally he would wash the dishes (with all the baking there ends of being 2 -3 loads a day). Oh well! C'est la vie!

I also think I made a 2nd mistake by buying a new couch with a recliner on either end. A week and a half ago, I went and got a new couch and oversized chair. Our couch had a broken frame. It sat you on the floor almost. So in the interest of giving my hard working husband a comfy seat and our house a nice look, I went and found this gorgeous couch which is fabric but looks like distressed leather. It is so soft and very comfy. We got a paisley chair (which is huge) to match it and it completely changed the look of our house. Anyways, now my husband loves it so much I have to have a crowbar to pry him up. I swear he would eat, sleep, and stay on that recliner if allowed. Which reverts back to the afore mentioned paragraph which says he doesn't help, and that recliner is part of the problem. Oh well, he works hard at work and I am thankful for that and the fact that he has a job.

I'm Home, I'm Back, and I Love It

I had a fabulous week of relaxation in Florida with my mom. We had a girls week and just chilled out. We went to Disney World. I LOVE Disney World. I don't care that I do not have kids or that I don't ride a lot of the rides, I just LOVE it. All the shops, the streets, the different lands, etc. It is awesome!

Now I am home and I couldn't have been happier to get here. I missed my sweet hubby and my darlin' puppies. I did not, however, miss housework. I cleaned all day today, and I still feel like my house isn't clean. I guess I should say piled up rather than unclean. I have washed clothes, dried clothes, folded and hung clothes, vaccuumed (is that how its spelled?), washed dishes, dried them and put them away, etc. I was so busy all day but I still feel like there is a lot more to be done.

Speaking of washing clothes, I would like to forewarn everyone that some sun lotions may discolor your clothes once you wash them. I had a white terry cover up for the pool. Obviously I was wearing lots of sunscreen since I am lily white. None of these lotions had a bronzer or anything else in them that would make you think they would discolor something, but guess what, they did. I opened my washing machine lid after laundering the cover-up and various other articles of clothing and it was the only thing that was discolored, and only the parts which had contact with my skin were discolored. Those which touched my swim suit were still white. It is the oddest thing I have ever seen, so needless to say I have been bleaching the thing for about 6 hours now and it is just now turning beige. So, beware of sunscreen lotions.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I definitely did because I was let in on a secret from a friend of mine. I have been praying for her secretly because her and her husband were having some difficulties, many of which stemmed from hurt feelings and lack of communication. When we spoke over the weekend, she told me that they had talked for a long time and worked some things out, that things were not perfect but much better. I am so happy for them. I have been worried about them, and I have been praying they would talk to one another and open up the lines of communication and they did. Folks, prayer works!

I read a passage in Ecclesiastes 3 which basically said God endures forever, nothing can add to it or be taken from it. How true is this? God can make anything happen. Anything is enough with God, because there isn't a single thing in the world which can be better or more fulfilling than his love. AMEN!