Crazy for Pound Cake!!!

Did I ever mention that I am absolutely bonkers over pound cake? Not the ones that are fluffy and light as a feather but the ones that actually weigh 5 pounds in the bread pan. I know, this ain't no diet food but it is scrumpt-dillie-umptious!!! Yum, yum, yum! So imagine my excitement when I came across this blog and she had a yumma-rific recipe for one. Mixed with fresh blueberries and strawberries. And cream cheese. And 6 eggs. No kidding. This is the real deal, everybody! So here is the recipe - along with my usual tweaking (and don't worry - it still calls for 6 eggs).

Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Fresh Berries

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (sifted)

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (room temperature)

8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)

2 1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

6 eggs (room temperature)

1 cup whole milk (room temperature)

1 1/2 cups hulled and diced fresh strawberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

3 tbsp. flour

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2. Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside

3. Using a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar for about 6 minutes

4. Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated

5. Add vanilla and milk

6. Add flour mixture a little at a time until well combined

7. Toss the berries in a bowl with the flour until well coated. Fold the berries in the batter with a spatula or wooden spoon

Pour into two greased 9x5 loaf pan

Bake for about 60 minutes until the top is golden brown

Oh, and there's more. Completely optional but if you want to go all the way, you have to make this for the cake. Come on, it's only a few more extra calories. I promise that it's tasty!

Cream Cheese Icing

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

2 tbsp. butter room temperature

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp. milk room temperature

Cream butter and cream cheese in the mixer. Add sugar and milk. Drizzle or spread over the pound cake (make sure that the pound cake has cooled down). ENJOY!!!

Coming soon...

What's bright, cheery, and has HAPPY written all over it? My Happy Flower Headbands, of course! New colors for Fall coming soon to my shop (hopefully by tomorrow). Cheers!!!

The Paper Addict Giveaway! (ENDED)

Meet Holly - the paper addict behind "The Paper Addict".

Holly: " I love colors, as can be clearly seen in my shop lol. My name is Holly, I'm 28 years old and have been married to my awesome hubby for about a year. I love simplicity & presentation. I do and have dabbled in a number of arts and craftsmanship. And love photography as well".

I love her shop because of the simplicity of her style and design. Check out some of these beauties from her shop:

Teeny Tiny Cards

Blank Cards

Blank Cards set of 6

Flower Tags

Are you addicted yet? Yes? Then I have good news for you! Holly is giving away a set of these beautiful cards to one lucky person. It is a set of 6 Rustic Leaves design blank cards that are perfect for Fall!

Here is how you can enter (please write a different comment for each entry):

1. Visit The Paper Addict on Etsy and pick a favorite

2. Follow Holly's blog

3. Become a follower of my blog

4. Grab my pretty button for your blog

* If you don't have your email on your blog profile, please include it in one of your comments.

Good luck everybody! The winner will be picked through random.org on Sunday, August 23, 2009.

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for all the entries!

Sunday Dinner - week 6

(image courtesy of food network)

Summer = BBQ. We LOVE to host barbecue dinners. We usually serve not just your typical hotdogs and burgers but we also do some other grilled meat dish on the side. Here is one of my favorites. It is REALLY easy to do. Just marinate and grill. The asparagus just gets tossed in the oven and the couscous cooks in about 5 minutes.

Grilled Chicken Thighs with Roasted Asparagus and Couscous

Chicken marinade:

1 1/2 - 2 pounds skinless and boneless chicken thighs

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup barbecue sauce

1 tbsp. Montreal chicken seasoning

sprinkling of salt and pepper

Toss all the ingredients in a ziplock bag and marinate in the refrigerator overnight or at least 4 hours. Grill until each side is done.

(image courtesy of food network)

Roasted Asparagus

1 bunch (at least a pound) fresh asparagus

good olive oil

kosher salt for sprinkling

freshly ground pepper

coarse ground garlic powder for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Rinse and dry asparagus and place on baking sheet

3. Drizzle with olive oil and toss until well coated

4. Spread the asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle generously with the salt, pepper and garlic powder

5. Bake for about 25 minutes until the asparagus is tender and crispy

(image courtesy of food network)

Couscous: I buy the boxed kind from Near East and usually get the one with Pine Nuts. You can buy whatever flavor you want and just follow the cooking directions on the package.

Enjoy your Sunday dinner!

The Bribery.

(January 2006 Deacon at 1 month and Skylar at 15 months)

My 4 1/2 year old daughter Skylar wants another baby brother. BEGGING I think is the right word for it.

Skylar: Mommy, can I please have another baby brother? Puh-leeze?

Me: Skylar, you already have a baby brother (pointing at her 3 1/2 year old brother Deacon).

Skylar: Deacon's not a baby! Look at him - he's SOOOO big! I want a baby brother! I'm gonna ask Daddy!

Well... good luck there. Wish daddy could get pregnant instead of me. But she's right. She never really had a baby brother. Her brother and her are only 14 months apart. She doesn't remember him being a baby at all. He grew up alongside of her. Her baby sister, on the other hand is exactly 3 years younger than her. But at 22 months, she is slowly outgrowing babyhood and Skylar is so pining for another little one.

So she has resorted to bribery. Here are some of the items she has tried to entice me with:

and this...

Skylar: Do you like it mommy? Do you think it's pretty?

Me: Yes, Skylar. I think that it is ve-ry pretty.

Skylar: Okay great. Now can I have a baby brother?

Oh boy...

Choco-Toffee Chip Cookies in a (Mason) Jar

My kids have been in summer camp for 8 weeks. The whole summer. And they love their camp counselors. All TWELVE of them. So what to give TWELVE camp counselors at the end of summer camp? Hair clips or headbands for a 19 year old? Nah. Cookies!!! I've been playing around with some recipes and I found this one from the book Baked. After some minor tweaking, I ended up with some fantastic Choco-Toffee Chip miniature cookies. Skylar was very eager to help out. I was also inspired by Julie's post a few months back and have been waiting for the perfect time to do a similar project. Well here it is. The Choco-Toffee Chip Cookies in a Jar.

Choco-Toffee Chip Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter (softened or room temperature)

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups chocolate chips (I used Hershey's semi-sweet)

1 cup Toffee Chips (I used Heath Toffee Bits)

1. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda together and set aside

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer (with the paddle attachment) beat the butter and sugars together until smooth and creawmy.

3. Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla.

4. Add half of the flour mixture until well incorporated. Add the remaining flour mixture.

5. Fold in the chocolate chip and the toffee chips with a spatula or wooden spoon

6. Store batter in an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (if you want larger cookies, set the oven to 375 degrees)

8. Line cookie trays with parchment paper.

9. Using your hands, shape batter into 1 inch round balls and place on cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart.

10. Bake for about 5-8 minutes until the side of the cookie starts to turn a golden brown. Cool for about 5 minutes (the cookies will continue to cook so do not wait until the cookie is a dark brown before you take them out).

Setting up the Mason Jars

Fill each mason jar with cookies until full

I tied a 1 inch wide grosgrain ribbon around the jar and tied a bow on the top. Secure the sides with tape so the bow doesn't slide off.

I made name tags and taped them in front of the cookie jar

Homemade cookies. From scratch. With loving little hands. For less than $2 each. Could it get any better?

My Pretty Blog Button

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I've forgotten that a few months ago, this awsome graphics designer from etsy, sugarelli, created this cute little blog button for me to use for advertising. Now it's up for grabs to use on your blog. So go ahead and button up!
To add this button to your blog, just follow these simple steps:
1. Copy the HTML code in the code box under my button2. Go to Layout on your blog3. Click on Add a Gadget4. Click on the HTML/Javascript gadget5. Paste the code on the text section6. Save and move the gadget to the desired area on your blog7. Enjoy!