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.

SuperCook...Check It Out

Ok...I found this phenomenal recipe website. Its called SuperCook. I posted the link below in my link section but here it is as well supercook.

On here you input the ingredients you have in your house and it will locate recipes which use those ingredients. This is great if you are like myself and have to stretch every dollar. (Bri, I thought you might like it for recipe planning or for stretching those groceries out on that 3rd week) On weeks when you are running low on groceries and can't think of anything to cook, you can input the items you have and come up with something to cook. It will also tell you if you need something you didn't input. For instance, I input ground beef, cream of mushroom, and butter and was given 3 recipes which used only those ingredients (some or all of them). One recipe was for creamy sloppy joes.

The best parts about the site is you can create your own recipe album and add those that you like to it. The other best part is it gives you the complete nutritional value, just like you would find on a box of crackers. This makes it super easy to eat healthy. This is a great site and I highly recommend it to all.

New Housewife and Mini Meatloafs

Ok...It's official. I have become a housewife. Ok, I still work and go to school, but on my days off, I am a housewife. I LOVE IT. Uh-oh I think I'm in trouble. I never wanted to be a housewife, but I love my husband and LOVE making a home for him.

Today, I baked a cake. A HONEYBUN Cake and it is delicious. I washed 3 loads of laundry, dried them, and folded them. I dusted my whole house. I washed dishes and picked up the junk...ok alright, my room is still messy, but hey that's why its our bedroom, no one is supposed to see it ;-) LOL On top of this, I am marinating chicken breasts to make teriyaki chicken with rice and just took mini-meatloafs out of the oven. Oh and did I mention I even slept in til about 10 am.

Here is the recipe for the meatloafs:

1lb ground beef/turkey (I use turkey)
1/2 cup Dale's seasoning
1/2 box stuffing mix
1 tablespoon Heinz 57 sauce
1/2 package (more or less by your own taste) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray. Mix the first 3 ingredients together. Fill each up on the pan 1/2 to 2/3 full of meat mixture. Once filled, brush Heinz 57 over tops of meat mixture. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove and top with shredded cheese. Replace in oven and cook for additional 5 minutes. Let cool and then remove from muffin pan.

I am so enjoying being a housewife (on my days off). I used to couldn't understand for the life of me why any woman would want to stay at home day in and day out and cook and clean. It was a mystery beyond my comprehension, but I had the epiphany today that gave me insight. Its fun and extremely rewarding. I have always had great respect for women who were stay at home moms and wives, and now they have my envy as well because it can be a truly fulfilling way of life, this I learned today. So I say again, my hat is off to all of those women.

Carrot Cake

4 - eggs
1 1/2 c - vegetable oil
2 1/4 c - sugar
2 1/4 c - all purpose flour
2 tsp - baking soda
2 tsp - baking powder
1/2 tsp - salt
2 tsp - ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp - ground cloves
1/2 tsp - ground nutmeg
3 1/4 c - finely chopped carrots
1/2 c - chopped walnuts
1 c - well drained crushed pineapple

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line bottom of pans (3 - 8in or 2 - 9in) with parchment paper.

Beat eggs and oil for 2 minutes on medium speed. Add 1 cup of sugar, mix for 2 minutes. Add remaining sugar & mix for 3-4 minutes. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Add to egg mixture beating on low speed until blended. Add carrots, walnuts, and pineapple. Mix until well combined.

Divide batter into pans and bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes clean. Cool cakes to room temperature, wrap in plastic wrap or tin foil, and refrigerate overnight.

Next day, ice cake with white chocolate cream cheese icing (see post). OPTIONAL: Chop extra walnuts and place around cake in icing.

NOTE: If you do not have parchment paper, spray pans with PAM, but be careful when removing cakes from pans. The pineapple causes the cakes to want to stick to the very bottom of the pan.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing (way better than regular Cream Cheese)

3 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese (room temp)
2 - 12 oz packages of Toll House white chocolate morsels
3/4 cup - unsalted butter (room temp)
2 tsp - grated lemon rind

Beat cream cheese on medium speed with a mixer until smooth. Melt chocolate, then mix with cream cheese. Add butter a little at a time. Add lemon rind and beat until smooth.

Tip: If icing is too runny to stay on cake, due to the chocolate being warm, place in fridge for 10 mins until cool.