The Southern Cake Series - Sad Cake

The Southern Cake Series - Sad Cake

February 25, 2016

We've officially hit the first recipe in The Southern Cake Series and today is all about Sad Cake!

Why's this cake called Sad? 

Well it's sometimes referred to as desolate cake, and that's because it falls after baking. 

The recipe seems to be the bake bone of an amazing blondie recipe. It's chewy, moist, and the perfect vehicle for any number of add in ingredients you wanted to toss in. 

The original recipes I've found all call for pecans and coconut, or pecans and chocolate chips. 

For this one I opted for just chocolate chips. 

The batter for this is also incredible thick, thicker than a brownie for sure. It was almost like spreading a biscuit dough into the pan. However, even though I couldn't get it to the edges of the pan it still spread out and rose beautifully once it was baking. 

So if you give up on spreading it out like I did, never fear, it will spread it's self out a bit more. 

Sad Cake

Ingredients:
116 oz box light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cups of Pioneer Baking Mix (biscuit mix)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp butter

Directions:
Combine brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl, by hand. Mix well. Add a cup of biscuit mix, melted butter, and a little of the chocolate chips. Continue to stir and add ingredients until all ingredients are used. Do not use a blender. Grease a 9x12 pan and line with parchment paper. Spread batter into the pan. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until done.

*Note - the batter will be hard to stir. I also used a 9x13 pan because I didn't have a 9x12. 

I sent this cake with Jeremy the other night for Celebrate Recovery at church and I'm lucky I grabbed the two funny shaped corners for us to try because it was completely eaten. I really loved the bite I had and from what I heard it was well loved. 

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Current Happenigns

Current Happenigns

February 23, 2016

Eating: Mainly Whole30 still. I had a bit of fun over Valentine's and then my Great British Bake Off obsession set off a world of baking, but my plan for the year is to stick to it but not be insanely strict. I mean, I'm baking a cake every month for The Southern Cake Series, I'm going to be having a bit of cake.

Reading: Bringing Up Bebe was great and I just started French Children Eat Everything. Overall I really liked Bringing Up Bebe and would recommend it, the sleep suggestions in there really helped kick out the bad habits that had developed over Christmas.

Watching: Great British Bake Off is my jam right now, and sadly Netflix only has the 6th season online so I'm watching episodes with peoples heads cut off and weird backgrounds on Youtube. I'm seriously that obsessed. My other show obsession as of late was The Supersizers Eat with Giles & Sue from the BBC. They basically just live in different periods of time and eat what those people ate. Plus Sue Perkins is hilarious.

Doing: As little as possible. With Jeremy's commitments to things I've had to take on the holding down the fort mentality. I really struggle with whether or not other people think I'm doing enough and often agree to things I don't want to do just because of that. Which is why this is the year of "no" and I'm trying to get away from that mentality. I really need to read The Best Yes, which I've been planning to do since it came out.

Buying: We bought a recliner, I know, super exciting. Other than that my main purchases are bread flour and yeast to further my ever growing obsession with GBBO.

Loving: I'm loving how independent Harrison is becoming, like right now I'm blogging while he plays with a book behind me. Glorious! I'm also loving that pumping is officially done. Now it's just breastfeeding until he weans, which I am assuming will be never and I'll end up on an episode of The Maury Show.

Hating: The weather down here. For once I'd like to have a real winter. The past two winters have been hot and muggy. I know Yankee's disagree, but I like for the single ice or snow day we get once every blue moon. Sadly I think we get more blue moons than ice days.

Crafting: Not a dang thing, not a single dang thing. Isn't that a shame.

Listening: I've recently come upon the Jamie Ivey and Marriage More podcasts. I really like Jamie, especially her podcast with Honey Holden. Marriage More is a little hit or miss for me.

Pinning: I've basically pinned everything Mary Berry on Pinterest lately. Again, Great British Bake Off.

Going: It's been rumored that we will go somewhere for Easter, visiting family obviously. Other than that I feel like my going only seems to be to Walmart and work.

Enjoying: Baking, I'm enjoying baking. After Whole30 I decided to do a cake series, which turned into baking everything off of GBBO and I must say that sticking to Whole30 besides the occasional dessert experiment is pretty enjoyable.

Hoping: That we get another cold snap before Easter.

Considering: I really want to start a garden, or at least get a herb garden going this year. We are also thinking about digging up the entire front flowerbed and redoing it. Low maintenance is going to be the name of the game.

Wearing: Clearly it's early Spring over here, or a continuation of fall. Who can tell anymore. Either way I'm wearing winter stuff and pretending I can get away with it until Easter Sunday. Then I'll cry in my hot tea that the weather is warm and there are no more lovely concealing layers to be worn. 

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Meal Pinning Monday

Meal Pinning Monday

February 21, 2016

It's another Monday. 

When's Easter break? It needs to be Easter break. 

In other news I'm turning 30 this week and Kiddo is turning 1, so aside from the usual Whole30-ness of our meals it's going to be a cake filled weekend. 

[What is Meal Pinning Monday?]

MPM is how I meal plan for our little family. I once spent a lot of time searching the web and my recipe books hunting for new recipes and ideas for what to cook every week. Then, Pinterest came along and made meal planning much easier for me. Every weekend I look over what I have pinned the prior week and decide what I would like to cook and make my grocery list from these recipes. MPM came about as a way to share what I am cooking, and to also see what others are cooking every week to hopefully get even more dinner ideas from other bloggers. If you don't pin your recipes feel free to just share what you are cooking.

Monday - Bacon Burger Salad 

Tuesday - Beefy Ratatoullie

Wednesday - Nana's Pot Roast with Pasta for the guys and zucchini noodles for me

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - Papa's Poboy's for my birthday dinner:)

Saturday - Hazan's Roast Chicken & PW Mac & Cheese for Harrison's birthday dinner

Sunday - Spaghetti Squash with Chicken and Cream Sauce

Breakfast - Instant "Yogurt" and Hard Boiled Eggs (not strict Whole30, but I'm not on a strict one, so I left out the honey)

Lunch - Salad with Bottom of the Jar Dressing, Chicken Salad, & Seed Crackers

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Chocolate Chip Loaf

Chocolate Chip Loaf

February 18, 2016

This bread is brought to you by binge watching The Great British Bake Off in case you were wondering. 

Who else mid day on a Sunday with house full of Valentine's Day candy says, "Hmm, I think I'll make an enriched bread dough."

The dough for this is a super easy crescent roll dough made in the bread machine that I've pretty much decided is fool proof. 

The filling, well, Jeremy kept commenting that Nutella would be amazing in this dough. 

I bought chocolate chips for the first of my Southern Cake Series cakes and tossed a few in the dough I was saving. 

Which might I add, this stuff freezes like a charm! 

Here's the dough after I egg washed it and let it proof for a bit before hitting the oven. I didn't have an extremely long roll, but I opted to lay it in the pan as close to a Povitica as possible. 

You can't see the individual layers as well as a Povitica loaf since I only added chocolate chips, but had I made this the way Jeremy suggested you'd see them.

The dough is very similar to a Povitica by the way, as far as ingredients go. 

Here's the after. 

I can't say patience past the proofing stage in my strong suit. I had a gorgeous icing and couldn't bare to let the bread cool before drizzling it on, hence the runny icing. 

Next time, there's always next time. 

Paul Hollywood wouldn't approve my far too early need to ice this loaf. 

Chocolate Chip Loaf

Ingredients::

for the dough - 

1 cup whole milk, warmed

1 stick of butter, melted

2 eggs, room temp, slightly beaten

4 cups of bread flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

for the loaf - 

1/2 dough recipe

1/2 stick of butter, melted

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 egg, beaten 

for the icing - 

1/2 cup icing sugar

just enough water to make a thick, slightly running icing

directions - place ingredients in a bread machine in the order listed. Make sure to make a slight well in the flour for yeast, but not deep enough to touch the liquid. Set machine to dough and allow to run the cycle and rise. 

Turn dough out onto a slightly floured surface, you don't want to add flour to the dough, just enough to keep it from sticking. Divide into two balls, save 1/2 the dough for another time (or for crescent rolls). Roll dough ball into a thin rectangle. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle over chocolate chips. roll tightly like a cinnamon roll and snake into a parchment lined loaf pan. All to rise in a warm spot for 1-2 hours. 

When dough has proofed preheat oven to 350. Brush lightly with beaten egg. 

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. 

Reduce heat to 300 and bake for an additional 45 minutes. Cover with foil once it is browned nicely. Be sure to check the dough starting around 35 minutes to see if it's done. You can check this by seeing if it gives at all when poked. If it does it isn't done, when it starts to spring back the bread is done. 

Allow to cool. Mix icing sugar with water and drizzle over the cooled loaf. 

.........................................

There seems like there's a lot to this loaf but I promise it's super easy, especially with a bread machine. You spend more time waiting then anything else. 

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Meal Pinning Monday

Meal Pinning Monday

February 16, 2016

Quite clearly on a Tuesday. 

There's a congested baby at this house that only wants Daddy is that is any indication of what this is going up on Tuesday! Might I also add that the queen of the meal prep totally got off track this weekend with Valentine's Day and made ice cream, bread, and everything else on earth except breakfast and lunch for the week. 

How's it only Tuesday?

[What is Meal Pinning Monday?]

MPM is how I meal plan for our little family. I once spent a lot of time searching the web and my recipe books hunting for new recipes and ideas for what to cook every week. Then, Pinterest came along and made meal planning much easier for me. Every weekend I look over what I have pinned the prior week and decide what I would like to cook and make my grocery list from these recipes. MPM came about as a way to share what I am cooking, and to also see what others are cooking every week to hopefully get even more dinner ideas from other bloggers. If you don't pin your recipes feel free to just share what you are cooking.

Monday - Hazan Roast Chicken with Potatoes & Green Beans

Tuesday - leftovers

Wednesday - Balsamic Roast with Carrots and Sauteed Kale

Thursday - leftovers with more veggies

Friday - eating out

Saturday - Lemon Spice Chicken with Cauliflower Rice and Salad

Sunday - Mofongo with Chicken

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Bottom of the Jar Salad Dressing

Bottom of the Jar Salad Dressing

February 12, 2016

As promised during MPM this week, here's my new salad dressing obsession.

It started off as something to do with the remainder of my Whole30 mayo and morphed into me making gobs of mayo just to eat this with salad.

I wasn't as salad obsessed as I use to be, and this has turned me back to my craving a head of lettuce days.

bottom of the jar salad dressing

Ingredients::

1 1/2 tbsp homemade mayonnaise

1 tsp Dijon mustard

salt & pepper to taste

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Directions::

Stir well and toss with your favorite salad. 

This has been my most recent salad transporting vehicle.

If you haven't hopped on the Cuppow band wagon you need to get on. My mother gave me a few screw on pouring lids and a coffee mug lid a few Christmas's ago and I fell in love. What I'm using above is one of their bento inserts in a quart jar. 

Happy salad making ladies! 

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The Southern Cake Series

The Southern Cake Series

February 9, 2016

The recent 50th anniversary issue of Southern Living prompted me to dig up some nostalgia in the collection of my grandmother's cookbooks that reside on our bookshelf.

There's basically a copy of every Junior League book in the Delta, plus many more compilation cookbooks from mothers and grandmothers across the state of Louisiana.

I've looked at many of these recipes, but it's been a solid 6 years since the last time I attempted to make one of the cakes. Blame the Caramel Cake debacle of 2010 on that one.

Pop is probably off still trying to saw his way through the icing and into that birthday cake.

Let it be known, Caramel Cake Icing is not for the faint at heart, or the low in humidity.

But I digress...

I started off with six cakes I was aiming to make over the course of the year. Let it be known I'm one who loves a good post theme, hence the Grandmother's Recipes tag I've been working on for years (there's a lot of recipes in her cookbook people, I may never finish.), so why not stretch it into an entire year of cake and make the most reoccurring recipes in my old community cookbooks.

Therefore, The Southern Cake Series was born.

Let's face it, I'm  not derailing from Whole30 once a month to try a cake and not tell you about it.

I like to talk about food too much to do that.

So over the next 12 months we will visit 12 traditionally Southern cakes + this month I'l be sharing my favorite birthday cake recipe!

I'm thinking that I finally perfected it, the cake is basically all my favorite things rolled into one and I've been calling it the Fluffer-Nutter Cake and actually thinking about and planning it for weeks now.

Because I'm just simply that obsessive.

Over the course of this series I'd love for you to share your favorite family cake recipes with me, and if you'd like... guest post about the cake and the story behind it.

Hopefully everyone loves this idea as much as I do, I basically just love the idea of having an excuse to make a cake every month for the next year. 

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Meal Pinning Monday

Meal Pinning Monday

February 7, 2016

It's nearly our favorite day of the year over here, and it's only because we love to grill steak! 

Valentine's Day and our anniversary are the two times a year we use as an excuse to get a good ribeye. I haven't cemented out app down yet, I kind of want to venture away from the usual, but who knows. 

This Sunday is diary reintroduction for Whole30 by the way. Needless to say I think I was missing oatmeal more than ice cream. 

[What is Meal Pinning Monday?]

MPM is how I meal plan for our little family. I once spent a lot of time searching the web and my recipe books hunting for new recipes and ideas for what to cook every week. Then, Pinterest came along and made meal planning much easier for me. Every weekend I look over what I have pinned the prior week and decide what I would like to cook and make my grocery list from these recipes. MPM came about as a way to share what I am cooking, and to also see what others are cooking every week to hopefully get even more dinner ideas from other bloggers. If you don't pin your recipes feel free to just share what you are cooking.

Monday - Paleo Nachos

Tuesday - Grilled Chicken with Roasted Green Beans and Potoates

Wednesday - Oxtail Stew

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - Scotch Eggs with Roasted Potatoes, Salad with Avocado and the dressing I'm blogging on Thursday:)

Saturday - Shepard's Pie from the Whole30 book

Sunday - Ribeyes, Pomme Frites, Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream with Fudge Sauce from an old cookbook & the appetizer I haven't decided on just yet. 

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11 Months Old

11 Months Old

February 5, 2016

Notice that he's so on the move that there was no time to take cute staged pictures! 

The kid has things to play with and I was in him way. 

Weight: over 20 lbs

Length/Height: 27.5 - probably hasn't changed since the last appointment

Eyes: more hazel, they go between blue to green/brown depending on what he's wearing

Hair: Brown like Mama's! 

Clothes: 12-18 months

Diapers: size 4

Likes: Meat and peanut butter. He also likes peek-a-boo and playing with us, oh and bath time! 

Dislikes: non meat food items, being taken out of the tub. 

Eating: He's in a meat, peanut butter, yogurt, Cherrio, apple sauce kick

Sleeping: all night!!!

Milestones: He's cruising and getting brave enough to let go for a second. We also discovered he could crawl, but only naked on a cold floor.

If I had to describe our eleventh month in one word, it would be: sleeping, I feel like I have the option to sleep these days. Especially since I quit pumping at night. 

Mommy notes: Harrison's hair is starting to look like it might curl like mine and Jeremy's did as kids, so a hair cut will definitely be delayed! 

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Baby Led Weaning Meal Ideas

Baby Led Weaning Meal Ideas

February 3, 2016

I was recently asked for ideas for babies/toddler meals. 

Let me just say we are still in the early days, the little sucker who was eating great has taken another weird turn (they do that sometimes) and has about 5 foods he doesn't fuss over. 

If you're interested thats meat, peanut butter, apple sauce, yogurt, and Cherrios. 

Also, if you haven't read the Baby Led Weaning book I suggest doing that. I finally got out of a Facebook BLW group because so many people in it hadn't read the book and it was a little nutty in there. 

I know this is a blog and I'm telling you don't get all your info from blogs. 

So today it's zero how-to and just a few meal ideas I've found that I like! 

To start BLW gives a few portions guides for adults and older children for each meal:
veggies & fruits 5 (3 veg & 2 fruit)
grains & starchy veggies 2-3
meat, fish, & other protein rich food - 1
dairy and calcium rich foods like hummus or sardines - 1
healthy fats - 1/4 portion

Babies aren't going to stick to those guidelines, but it's good to offer from each. The author mentioned that babies will eat proportionately more protein and fats than adults while toddlers will eat larger quantities of carbs.

Still keep in mind that a baby size portion is a baby sized handful.

A friend of mine mentioned that that a baby feeding book she read suggests the following guidelines for meals (I don't have the dinner suggestion because I was just asking about breakfast and lunch, he just eats what we eat for dinner.)

Breakfast - grain, fruit, dairy
Lunch - protein, grain, vegetable, fruit, dairy

Now, because I love Pinterest and this makes it easier to save recipes, here is my Baby Led Weaning board. I thought it would be easier to browse this, as well as see new recipe finds.



Whether you are doing BLW or not there are tons of great BLW recipe blogs that will give you tons of meal ideas. 

For myeslf breakfast and lunch are the hardest since he is at the sitter. I really don't want to send anything too messy. For dinner I just strip him down to his diaper and let him go to town on whatever we are eating. 

Know this though, they go through eating phases, so don't get discouraged when that happens. Right now we are in the middle of a phase and I think it's due to teething. He also suddenly decided he wants to be fed off of an adult fork. 

Go figure. 

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