A Little Rest and a Recipe

After all our craziness the last few weeks it was nice to have a day off today. Technically I was supposed to be at a training for the Y all day, but yesterday morning I asked if I could reschedule it.

So that left us with a day to do nothing. Andrew hit his head Thursday night and was ordered onto bedrest and constant supervision (concussion) and I was glad to stay home and have a lazy day with the family. I did put jeans on long enough to run pick up some milk and take the kids into the yard for a bit.

Axel practiced a little tree climbing.

We didn’t exactly do nothing ALL day. The kids cleaned their rooms and I got some cleaning done too. We then grilled for supper and the kids and I baked up my favorite dessert. Chocolate Cherry Crisp. Sooo yummy, although you have to like cherries and chocolate or you won’t like this!

Chocolate Cherry Crisp

(Recipe from Easy to Bake, Easy to Make)

2 (21oz) cans cherry pie filling
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup (4oz) chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375*F. Spoon pie filling into a 9inch square baking dish. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar and cocoa powder in a medium bowl; mix well. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form.

2. Sprinkle flour mixture over pie filling. Sprinkle with chocolate chunks.

3. Bake until filling is bubbly, about 40 minutes. Cool slightly on a wire rack and serve warm.

And may I recommend a scoop of ice cream with it?

Irish and German

We had a fantastic afternoon with family today eating and eating and eating. Hubby’s birthday is next Saturday and he will be out of town so we got the fam together for his favorite meal. Lucky for him his birthday is right by St. Patrick’s Day because his favorite meal is corned beef and cabbage (weirdo). We finished it off with a tasty dessert of German Chocolate Cake. I got to thinking that this would be a perfect Kleinschrodt meal (my ‘step’ dad’s family) because my grandma was Irish and my grandpa was German. They are both dancing with Jesus now but it was lovely to think about them while I baked.

Andrew’s sister actually did the cooking, but I did the baking. I have a recipe for German Chocolate Cake that came from Andrew’s Great Grandma Good (his dad’s mom’s mom!).  Rumor has it that this recipe may have actually come over with the family from Germany, but we don’t know a whole lot about it. After eating this cake today, I just have to share the recipe. It is so amazing!!!! (The super sad news of the weekend is that my new camera broke so please excuse my cell phone pic.!)

Great Grandma Good's German Chocolate Cake

German Chocolate Cake

1 (4oz) package of German Chocolate Bar (in the baking aisle)

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup of butter or 2 sticks of margarine (I used butter)

2 cups of sugar

4 egg yolks

1tsp vanilla

2 1/1 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

4 egg whites beaten stiff

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate in boiling water and let cool.

2. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.

3. Add yolks one at a time beating well after each.

4. Blend in vanilla and chocolate mixture.

5. Sift flour, soda and salt and add to the chocolate mixture alternating with the buttermilk, beating after each ingredient until smooth.

6. Fold in beaten egg whites.

7. Pour into three 8in cake pans lined with paper. (I did two sprayed 9″ pans, but it baked a tiny over the edges.)

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes and let cool.

Coconut Pecan Icing

2 cups of evaporated milk

2 cups of sugar

6 slightly beaten egg yolks

1 cup of butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup coconut

1 1/2 cups pecans

Directions:

1. Cook milk, sugar, butter and eggs together until thick.

2. Add vanilla, coconut and pecans.

3. Let cool and then ice the cake.

St. Patrick’s Day Food and Treats Ideas

Rainbow Waffles from *Random Thoughts of a Supermom*

I am always looking for fun ideas of things to do with the kids and this year I have been especially interested in making holiday inspired treats. These are the things that the kids will remember! Toys and clothes are broken and outgrown but memories tend to stick.

Rainbow Rice Crispy Treats from thirty handmade days

After coming across many fabulous ideas for St. Patrick’s Day I decided to put them all in one place so you and I can both find them more easily. A special thanks to tatertots & jello because several of these ideas I found from her Facebook posts!

Fruit Fun-Fetti Cupcakes from the MOTHERLOAD

Rainbow Pancakes, Cupcakes, Cherry Jigglers and more are linked up here at Pizzazzerie.

 

PIZZAZZERIE

St. Patrick’s Day is also my brother’s birthday and favorite holiday. I think I might try to make some of these up and send to him.

Shamrock Pretzel Snacks from Sun Scholars

Fruit Rainbows, Leprechaun Legs, Shamrock Shakes, and so much more linked up on this blog post from My Delicious Ambiguity.

My Delicious Ambiguity

And for those of you who don’t feel like baking, these really would be a ‘sweet treat’.

 

Sweet Pot of Gold from CraftOManiac

This last one is my favorite. I think I’ll save it for Miracle’s Birthday this summer!

 

Rainbow Birthday Cake from Sew Dang Cute crafts

>Darn Fridge

>Our fridge went out this week and so I had some food to either eat fast or throw out. It was time to get creative.

At Christmas time Andrew and I took the Dirty Bingo prize. We were so gracious about it too! haha.

So my sister-in-law really wanted the cup with the straw and when I saw them at Target last week I had to pick one up for her. But…. I promised to only give handmade gifts this year so I was stuck. Andrew said he could just give it to her, but it still wasn’t quite right.

Enter food that needs to be eaten. I took a puff pastry, rolled it out, and cut it into 8 squares. In each square I placed either a bite size Snickers bar, or a bite sized Twix bar. I then wrapped them up and baked them. I have to say they were pretty tasty! Each puff was then wrapped individually and put inside the cup. Yeah! Homemade treats:)

A Sick Day

We are having a runny nose, icky cough, pajama-y kind of day around here! We canceled plans and are spending our time snuggling and watching PBS. One of our favorite kind of sick day foods is a smoothie. They are  nice and cold on your throat, and a good way to get some nutrition when you don’t feel much like eating. I recently came up with a new recipe that I wanted to share for those of you with little ones.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup yogurt, any flavor (I like to use greek yogurt because of the higher protein, but Miracle isn’t a fan.)

1 jar baby food- fruits are best!

3 ice cubes

Put it all in your blender and blend until smooth.

This is where those kids cups from the restaurants come in handy. Put a lid on it, and add a straw. The kids can safely drink their smoothies on the couch! (Unless your one year old realizes how fun it is to pull the straw out.)