A “Simple” Cake

Hey y’all! Happy Wednesday. I don’t know about you but this week is flying by…but then again they all do.

Today I want to share the recipe I used to make the cake for Eric's 40th birthday party. Now, I have to preface this by telling you that my husband really doesn’t care for cake.

When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his party he said “ice cream cake”. Well, that just wouldn’t work with the party being outside and all.

So, I went with Plan B…a simple vanilla cake. He l.o.v.e.s. bananas so I thought if I could somehow make a banana filling that would be even better.

With the help of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law here’s what we came up with.

To start off I knew I was short on time, so it was going to have to be a  boxed cake {gasp!}.

But then my friend was telling me about a pin she had on her Pinterest board of how to make a boxed cake taste like a baker. It looked simple enough so I did it.

I also used a tip from a friend of freezing the cake before frosting to make it easier.

Well, let me just tell you that both of those tricks were awesome! I will definitely be using them again in the future.

So, let’s get started on this cake shall we?

I have to apologize that there are not pictures from along the way. Frankly I was in a bit of a rush come party day to get this cake plated and on the sweets table.

Here are the recipes for each part:

Vanilla Cake

1 box cake mix {I used yellow}

The amount of eggs on the box + 1 more

Use melted butter instead of oil and double the amount

Use milk instead of water

Mix well with an electric mixer. Place in greased and floured round cake pans and bake according to directions on the box.

Now, here’s a little disclaimer: When I pulled my cakes out of the oven they looked all fluffy like boxed cakes do and then they went flat. I got nervous but went with it anyway. They turned out PERFECT. They were perfectly moist. So, don’t be alarmed if your cakes do the same. It will be fine.

Cool the cakes on a wire rack for a bit, then wrap them in saran wrap and pop those suckers in the freezer. The cool part about this trick that I learned is that you can do this days in advance and then frost the day of…awe-some!

Banana Cream Cheese Filling

4 oz. cream cheese – room temperature

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 large egg white – room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1-2 bananas mashed {depending on how “bananay” you want it}

Beat cream cheese and vanilla with paddle attachment on your mixer. When smooth, set aside. Take another clean mixing bowl and your whisk attachment and beat the egg white until frothy – about 1 minute. Gradually beat in sugar. Increase speed to high and beat until shiny and stiff peaks form.

Add cream cheese mixture and banana. Beat until smooth.

When you are ready to frost, take your cakes out of the freezer and unwrap them. Place one layer on your cake plate and spread the filling on top. Top with the second cake layer, and now you’re ready to frost.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

This has to be my favorite frosting in the world and is such a crowd pleaser.

3 cups Confectioner’s Sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1-2 Tbsp. Whipping Cream {you can use half n half here}

Mix sugar and butter slowly in your mixer {so it doesn’t make a mess} until blended.

Increase speed to medium for 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and 1 Tbsp. cream.

Beat 1 minute

Add more cream if needed and beat until blended. {I usually use 2 Tbsp. at the least}

Once your frosting is made, frost that cake and there you have it. The cake will defrost within a couple of hours and everyone will love your cake!

Remember that birthday boy I was telling you about who doesn’t like cake. Well, he LOVED this one…so I think I did OK.

So tell me, what’s your favorite cake or cake trick???

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Pinterest Party…Spring Edition

Last week, my friend Cristine and I hosted our second Pinterest Party for some preschool mamas.

We decided that since we had so much fun at the Christmas one we’d host another one come spring. Well, the weather might not feel like spring, but we all have spring fever and are ready for some new decorations.

Wreaths seem to always be a hit, so this time Cristine had the idea to recreate a wreath she bought from Etsy.

See the wreath on the left? She bought that one on Etsy for a good chunk of change. She shopped around for the supplies and figured we could make them for more than half the cost because let’s face it, labor was free. Ha! She made the wreath on the right. Cute huh?

So, we decided to make a burlap wreath, Easter egg styro-foam trees like I made last year.

We also had some leftover wooden frames from the last party, so we put those out to decoupage spring scrapbook paper and decorate.

If you remember from the Christmas Inspired Pinterest Party we asked that everyone bring a dish that was “Pinterest inspired”.

We did the same this time around as well. Because the crafts we picked cost more than the last one we asked that each person give $15.00 towards their crafts.

This worked out great.

To get the party started we set up her dining room table with the three crafts.

Burlap Wreaths

Easter Egg Tree

The Decoupage Frame

We set her kitchen up with the food and drinks.

The cocktail of the night was my “Peep”tini.

You can find the recipe HERE.

We mingled for a bit and then got to work. It was so much fun…as usual.

The wreaths turned out great!

I’m still working on mine. However, my friend, Jaleh, finished hers and it’s hanging on her front door as we speak.

Aren’t they all just adorable? I’ll have another post showing how it’s made in case you want to make one yourself. They’re very easy.

The night got late and we ran out of time to make the Easter Egg trees. Most of the girls bagged up their supplies and took them home to finish at a later time.

As one friend worked on her tree I sat and talked with her. I got antsy just sitting there not crafting, so I grabbed a wooden frame, paper, buttons, and hot glue and got to work on a wooden frame.

It was so simple and I just love how it turned out. And can we just talk about that picture for a second??? That is a picture of my sweet Dallas when she was just 16 months old. Look at those thighs!!!

Anyway, this Pinterest Party was another great success. Everyone had fun and it was a great way to spend a few hours of girl talk and cocktails.

So, if you could throw a Pinterest party what would your theme be??? Thanks for stopping by!

40th Birthday–Picnic Style

Hey y’all. Happy Monday! This post has been on my mind since last week, but just haven’t had the time to sit and write it up…until now.

Last weekend we threw a party for my oh-so-awesome husband. He turned 40 on the 14th! Seems kind of crazy if you ask me that he’s 40, but he still rocks!

We decided on a picnic style afternoon and what we southerners like to say a good ole pig pickin’.

I got in touch with a guy who is friends with a dear friend of ours who makes the best pig. I’m telling y’all his pig will make you slap yo mama silly. Well, maybe not, but it is the BEST! Mike was more than happy to do the pig and most of the sides for us. I knew I didn’t want to have to do too much of the food, so I catered it out to Mike.

We chose a picnic style atmosphere because it just fit.

We rented tables and chairs and a big bounce house for the kids.

We also set up some corn hole games in the backyard for anyone who wanted to play.

We set up the tables and chairs under a couple of pop up tents I borrowed from friends. It was nice to have a covered area for people to sit.

We settled on colors of light blue and red because they seemed like good picnic colors.

I made a few decorations…mostly just flag banners to hang in the tents for a little something extra.

We put the food in the garage to keep it from the weather.

I hung white sheets from our hanging shelf to give it a nicer background.

I got out my trusty 4th of July decorations and used a few of those as well. I hung red/white/blue lantern lights with a star in the middle, because we all know my Eric was the star of the show. Ha!

Take a look at the sweets table. Pretty fun. It was filled with Eric’s two favorite candies…Swedish Fish and Twizzlers.

My Sister-in-law made the cupcakes – just white cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting.

I made the cupcake toppers. They turned out super cute. I took pictures of Eric from all his years as a child until now, and we made them into toppers. It was fun to see him through the years.

As for the cake, I made that. It was plain and simple, just the way he likes it. I’ll share the recipe later, because it did turn out delicious or so I was told…I was stuffing my face with pig and didn’t have cake that night.

Also on the table we had a frame for people to sign for a little memory.

This is always a fun thing to put out at any party.

We also had the drink table with lemonade and sweet tea…perfect for a picnic.

Please don’t mind the weed identification poster behind the drinks. Identifying weeds while getting a drink is always fun, right? Ha! I ran out of sheets and didn’t realize it was such an eyesore until I saw the picture…whoops. But then again, weeds and picnics do go hand in hand.

Beer and wine were also served.

I have to tell you, it was such a fun party. There was lots of running around the morning of the party. And when we woke up and it began to sprinkle I may have been caught in a closet breathing into a bag, but the sun came out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Perfect for a picnic.

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband, Eric. He was so happy that is brother and family were able to come and join us. And I couldn’t have pulled this party off without the help of my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. Well, I could have, but it sure wouldn’t have been as much fun!

Thanks y’all for all your help!

Happy birthday, Babe! Here’s to 40 more great years!

 

A big THANK YOU to all those who helped pull this party off, from letting us borrow tents or corn hole boards, to helping get the keg and making food. It all turned out great. But it was just awesome to hang out and celebrate with our wonderful friends and family!

Thanks for stopping by.

A Run for a Cause

Yesterday morning was pretty cold.

There were teeth chattering and lots of shivering.

Yesterday was the day I’ve been training for for a few weeks now. I along with several friends ran a race.

We ran a race for a good cause.

It was the second annual Ella’s Race. It was a race to raise money for pediatric cancer. Chick-fil-a sponsored this race, and can I just tell you I think it was my favorite race I’ve ever run.

Granted I’ve not run too many races in my life but this one had a meaning like no other. It was in honor of a child…a sweet, beautiful child who was taken from her parents, family, and friends way too early due to an inoperable brain tumor.

I never knew this sweet angel but as a mother and human being I think we can all relate. A child is precious, and one that has to be taken from us so quickly is just plain “NOT FAIR” as my children like to say.

But, Chick-fil-a and many other sponsors came together to for this race in honor of this beautiful little girl to help raise money to hopefully one day find a cure for this awful and unfair disease.

Yes, it was very cold yesterday morning, but as the hundreds of people who came out to run and support this race crowded in a “herd”, we were all warmed by each other and the spirit of this little angel.

This is us before the race. We were trying to keep warm and getting super excited to run.

As we crowded in the street before the start, all of a sudden there was a flash mob of parents and children who started dancing a routine to “Call Me Maybe”.  At first we were a little confused and then we realized it was Ella’s parents and classmates doing the flash mob because Ella would’ve loved that.

Yeah, not a dry eye in the streets at that point.

Before we knew it the gun was fired {by her big brother} and we were off. There was a 5K and 10K. We were running the 10K.

I haven’t run a 10K since 1996 when I ran the Peachtree Road race. There was a little more training I had to do this time around but it was worth it.

The race was very hilly and pretty hard at times especially the last mile {which was straight up hill}. I was running with my great friend and running buddy, Jaleh. It was wonderful having her there with me. She helped keep me going when I didn’t think my legs had anymore in me. Yes, I’ve run 6 miles in the last couple of weeks, but not uphill, and that my friends is a whole other beast.

There was a point toward the end that I just didn’t think I could run uphill one second longer. My legs slowed. Then all of a sudden I felt a little push. There was no hand on me, but I had a push in my back like I’ve never felt. I started running again and finished that race in my best personal time. I like to think it was sweet Ella who helped push me up that hill. I figured if she can face what she faced in her sweet little life, I can certainly tackle and conquer one hill. I finished for her.

I hope to run this race every year. To see the people of all ages who came out to work together for a cause like no other touched my soul. I am honored to have run in a race for this little girl and all those children who face cancer, defeat it, and grow angels wings.

“Peep”tini

I want to share this little concoction a couple of friends of mine came up with, and I named it the “Peep”tini.

We needed a fun drink for our Pinterest Party we were throwing and what better than adding peeps, right. I mean who doesn’t love those sugary little marshmallow fellas?

These are super simple. Here’s what you need:

Sparkling Lemonade {from Trader Joe’s}

Cranberry juice

Orange or Mandarin Vodka

Triple Sec

Lime

Peeps

Colored sugar

Before you prepare your drink, you’ll want to dip the rim of your glass in water that’s in a shallow plate, then dip in green colored sugar.

In your martini glass combine 1 oz. of each: lemonade, cranberry juice and vodka. Add 1/2 oz. triple sec, and a splash of lime.

Now, I tried mixing all this in my shaker, but the top kept exploding off and going everywhere…I guess because of the carbonation. So, you can just mix in the glass itself and save yourself some mess.

Add a little peep guy on top and enjoy. {You might want to cut a little slit on the underside of the peep to help him stay.}

I hope y’all enjoy this sweet little treat just in time for Easter. Happy Friday!

Key Lime Pie Smoothie

Oh my goodness! I cannot even believe that it’s been three weeks since I’ve last posted. Please excuse my apologies.

I don’t know about you, but when March 1 hits, I not only get spring fever, but my calendar ramps up and I run around like a crazy person {more so than usual}.

We’ve been quite the busy bees around here the past few weeks with teacher appreciation and my hubby turning 40 and all that goes with that.

I’ve got some great posts to share with y’all…just need a little time to get them done. Just when I have a minute at night to sit and edit pictures my brain is done and I pretty much fall asleep with computer in lap.

I digress.

Anyway, today I want to share a quick smoothie recipe I came up with the other day. We’ve been getting into smoothies lately, so I’m trying all kinds of different ones.

I’ve been trying to be better about eating yogurt lately, but let’s face it…I hate yogurt. I try, really try to like the stuff but I just don’t. So, I’ve been putting it in my smoothies and drinking it. Much better.

We had a beautiful day the other day. It was 68 degrees and sunny…pretty hot for these days. Ha!

The kids and I wanted a smoothie so I started making them. Hunter gets his normal chocolate, and I made Dallas strawberry.

I had recently bought some key lime yogurt and immediately thought of key lime pie. I threw some things together and mixed it with my Emersion blender. It was so good. So, I thought I’d share it with you today.

 1/2 cup key lime yogurt {or one of these small containers}

1/2 cup milk

1 Tbsp. honey

2 sheets graham crackers

4 ice cubes

Put all the ingredients either in your blender or cup, crumble up the graham crackers a bit.

Blend it either with your blender or emersion blender until smooth.

Yummy! It was so delicious!!

I hope you enjoy it one day too. I hope it will bring a little summer to you too. Let me know what you think.

CoveRump Give-a-way: WINNER

Hey y’all! Happy Saturday!

I’m so excited…today is the big day to find out who the lucky winner is for my first give-a-way.

First, I’d like to thank Adrienne once again for helping me with this give-a-way. Thanks Adrienne for your support!

I absolutely love my CoveRump and plan on getting at least one more. I know that whoever the lucky winner is will find that they love it too for an extra layering piece in their wardrobe.

Without Further ado, the winner is…

Lucky number 8:  Jenni Ellinger

Congratulations, Jenni! You’re the winner of not only the awesome CoveRump, but also of my very first give-a-way!!!

Jenni, I will get in touch with you and we will go over the winning details.

Thank you everyone who entered! It means so much to me that you follow and support me.

If you still want a CoveRump, don’t forget to visit Adrienne’s website.

CoveRump Website

You can also “Like” their Facebook Page and keep up to speed on their promotions, sales, and exciting news.

Thanks y’all! Have a wonderful weekend!!!

S~