Cake: Or How I Impressed Everyone I Work With

I am so excited that one of my friends from my church at school is getting married this weekend and I was so thrilled when she asked me to make a regular sized cake to help out with their reception. The biggest problem I had with that was deciding which cake recipe to try! 

And it didn't take me long to decide on this Chocolate Blackberry Cake from Always with Butter. 

This cake was AMAZING. The chocolatey cake part was moist, the filling was rich and delicious, and the chocolate marshmallow frosting was unexpected and perfect for the cake. Although I'm not sure why it looks like there was no center and the filling isn't showing up, but it was there and it was fantastic.

And, like a good cook, I just couldn't serve anything that I hadn't made before, so I used it as an excuse to bake up a tester for my co-workers. 

Everyone raved about it and I've been getting compliments all week on it. Yay! I have a place to take all of my baking now- living alone is so difficult when you want to bake up something yummy and not eating all of it!

But other than my baking a cake (and checking off one of my to-do's for the year: bake and decorate a cake- frosting is more difficult than I really want to deal with on a regular basis), I've been doing a lot of the same thing for dinner:

Start: Rice

Then, add veggies

Then, add protein.

Eat and repeat! I really love eating my meals in bowls- I'm not sure why, but it just makes some elements feel more cohesive. 

How has your summer routine shaped up? Mine's still crazy, but I've at least got dinner basics handled! Have a great weekend! 

What I've Been Up to in the Kitchen

I'm SO excited to finally have a kitchen of my own, and I've been using it to its full potential lately. I never seem to have a clean sink (except now, after cleaning my way through a huge pile of dishes). Here are the wonderful things I've tried in the last couple of weeks, but haven't gotten to post about:

We made breakfast burritos with leftovers from some grilled vegetables and steak

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble- I got a little hungry and forgot to take a picture before I ate some! 

It tasted like warm jam covered with a crumbly, crunchy topping. Highly recommend! From Bon Appetit

Just some sauteed mustard greens, broccoli, mushrooms over roasted purple potatoes. Yum!

Cardamom Oatmeal Pancakes- I made a batch and froze it for quick breakfasts. I thought they were wonderfully hearty pancakes, even though I am boosting the amount of cardamom in the next batch I make.

Simple dinner of chicken sausage, broccoli and rice.

One of my crazy ambitious nights: Black Bean Hummus, Corn Chips, and Soft Chicken Tacos from Whole Grains for Busy People. But it was so delicious- the only thing I'll really change is adding some chili powder to the chicken tacos because they just weren't that spicy. 

And I can't wait to keep on cooking! Yay! 

Oh, and I made rhubarb streusel muffins and strawberry freezer jam, but I already put them away in the freezer and forgot to take a picture! But they were both delicious. 

Back!

I'm finally back to a *somewhat* normal lifestyle- vacation for a week at home and then to my new apartment to start my internship for the summer!

But I'm most excited about cooking and crafting on a more regular basis now that finals and group projects are done until late August/ September!

For Mother's Day, we celebrated by going to church and taking the boat out with the family. It was such a gorgeous day with a breeze! And I finally got more work done on my tan :)

It was a simple afternoon, and for dinner, we made pasta with sauteed vegetables and shrimp. Delicious!

 I can't wait to be back and posting more this week! I have a ton planned (both recipes and craft projects!) so stay tuned!

Back in the Kitchen

I'm back! After a week of exams and packing to move out, I'm finally home and back in the kitchen! I actually got back Saturday afternoon, but this is the first time I've had a chance to post some stuff, but I've already started the kitchen take over!

On Sunday, I pulled some of the spiced thumbprint dough that I froze over Thanksgiving and put some strawberry-rhubarb preserves in the middle. DIVINE!

And I made some bacon grilled cheese for the family dinner yesterday with sweet potato fries on the side (I followed a recipe, but I apparently didn't put enough oil on the sweet potatoes so most of them burned before actually "blistering" and getting perfect). But they still tasted good!

And I made myself some delicious gingerbread hot chocolate with gingerbread men for dessert! I just added maybe 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice (the easy way of measuring gingerbread spices!) into my regular hot chocolate mix that my mom makes. It was delicious! 

I hope your day is wonderful and I'll be posting again more regularly with the recipes that I love to bake and cook! 

Caramel Apple Crostata and Recap

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything! I feel so slack :) My life has been moving at a million miles an hour- way too many exams and essays in the last week for "midterms" (even though that was October 7th).

Over fall break (last weekend), I was able to knock out some butternut squash pasta sauce with penne from this recipe from GoodLife Eats. It looks a little like mac and cheese in the picture, but do not be fooled! It was AMAZING!

Yum! My boyfriend's mom said it was one of the best pastas she'd ever tasted. Score!

I also toasted some pumpkin seeds using this recipe/tutorial. I'd never done it on my own, but it was wonderfully easy and delicious. And pumpkin seeds have folic acid, which is great! I used Kirby's 14 n 1 Spice from the Columbia All Local Farmer's Market and I added cayenne pepper for a kick for Jonathan- even better. (But we ate them so fast, I forgot to take pictures)

But last week, it was so crazy that I didn't get a chance to breathe, let alone cook! But Friday, I made it to Hobby Lobby for Christmas present supplies and started on some presents. But those are super secret!

Today, I made a caramel apple crostata from the recipe on Sweet Bake's blog. My apples must have been HUGE because I filled 2 9inch pie crusts and had a little to spare. But I cheated and used store-bought crust because I bought some a couple of weeks ago with the intent of making apple pie on a stick. But this was SO much better.

But this week, I'm going to be in a baking frenzy for my friend's bridal shower. So I'll post more as I go along! Have a wonderful week!

PS: I'm eventually going to get around to telling you about my AMAZING weekend in Savannah, but that requires a lot more time than I have right now :) but stay tuned!

Rewind: What I've Been Up To

I know I've been away for a while, but I've been working on going through a few tutorials I had bookmarked and just getting my room at school all set up for the school year.

A canvas I created for a collage swap based on "Happiness"

Awesome scones that I made according to this recipe. It was a perfect recipe- it only made 8 instead of like 2 dozen!

Awesome mac & cheese I made in my vintage Pyrex. It was pretty simple and I just threw some noodles, cheese, bacon and a little condensed milk into it and baked it until it looked right. Experimenting actually turned out wonderful!

Not something I made, but a coffee my mom enjoyed on our last day out before I went to school. Its a honey latte made with real honey and it was fantastic!

And I made these flower pins from inspiration from this post. I love T-shirt projects!

A bib necklace inspired by the same post. I can't wait to wear it!

I covered my old bulletin board with fabric to make it my jewelry holder this year. And I can't wait to look at my jewelry every morning while picking out my outfit!

Cool vintage costume necklace I found in Missouri in an antique store.

New necklaces- the left is a pendant and leather necklace from Hobby Lobby and I made the pearl necklace on the right.

Close-up of the mehndi hand pendant I picked up in Asheville. LOVE it. Its a hand painted ceramic pendant I got for $2. And I got the strands of freshwater pearls at a gem show at the beginning of the summer.

Camera cover and technology pouch made from a pattern in One Yard Wonders for the PDA cover (the technology pouch was the original and the camera case was scaled down).

TV cover my mom and I made for my room at school. There is a backing of muslin on the sides and felt on the top part so it is more stable. We just measured the TV and winged it.

The door dec(orations) I made for the ladies on my hall. Each one was painted differently, but I can't show you mine because I already filled it out with personal info! But it's really cute too! Our hall theme is "Create a Better Campus."

A cigar box I picked up at the Gourmet Shop and am going to recover soon. More to come!

I just wanted to show y'all that I haven't been just sitting around! I will be back to posting regularly soon!