what's cooking in my kitchen

Alright, so I know I just did this on Saturday, BUT...I had to share this one with you and I just couldn't wait another day. I feel the need to share this amazing cake with everyone!!  This is the other dessert my little one and I made on Saturday. And yes we did have a fabulous day together too. As I type this late Sunday afternoon I am hearing thunder... should make for an interesting evening. Awesome...
So what did we make??????
This...

Oh would you look at that??!!! Yes it's as good as I think it looks too! What is this wonderful little treat called? Lemon Blueberry Cake. How on earth have I lived my whole life without it??!! I have no idea. But now that I have found it I shall make it again!!
I was actually looking for a Lemonade Cake. All the ones I found were made with a box cake, and I didn't have one on hand. Never do. Humph. Now what? Well I scrolled on down the page and saw a picture of this cake, only there's looked much "prettier" then mine. Mine looks homemade, there's looked professional. But I'm ok with that. It still tastes wonderful. And that's the point. Right?! I thought so too.

Here it is before I cut into it. It's kinda lop sided. Not sure why all my cakes are when I layer them. But this is as fancy a making cake as this gal gets. I usually just leave it in the 9x13 pan and slap on some frosting. One of my many SIL's makes cakes, and sells them. She does the fondant thing, and wow are her cakes beautiful. She even made a wedding cake recently. I hang out with her too. Just in case you were wondering. Anyways she does a beautiful job and they taste good too. Even better. Just a little bunny trail there for you.

I took lots of pics making this, but there are many steps and 3 different parts to making this cake, it would make for a very long post. So I won't post them.

Here is the filling in between the layers. It's homemade lemon curd. I say that because I was asked if I had made my own. I had no idea you could buy lemon curd. Nope no dye in it, just some farm fresh egg yolks there for ya. Perty hu? I put some of the frosting around the edge so the curd would stay in. That is the white stuff around the edge.

Now if ya like here is the recipe. Oh and I found this on a google search. Type it in and your sure to find it.

Lemon Blueberry Cake (Sorry I have no printer friendly version, so if ya want it yer gonna have to long hand it ;-)
2 C flour +6 T
1 t salt
2 t baking powder
3 C blueberries fresh (I only have frozen, and didn't coat them with the flour per the recommendation.)
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C milk
2 t vanilla
3/4 t lemon extract
1 t lemon zest
1.5 C sugar
4 eggs
2 sticks butter-soft
Preheat oven to 350. Sift dry together. Take out 1 T flour, and save to coat blueberries. Coat the blueberries if they are fresh, with the 1 T.
Stir milk, sour cream, vanilla, lemon, lemon zest together in a bowl.
In mixer cream sugar and butter until it's nice and creamy looking. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each.
Mix in flour and milk mixture, alternating each and mixing well. Fold in blueberries. Divide into 3, 9in  round pans, that are greased and floured. Bake about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Lemon Curd
3 egg yolks
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 C lemon juice
6 T sugar
4T butter cut into chunks
Combine everything but the butter. In sauce pan over medium heat stirring constantly until it gets thick. Want it to coat the spoon. About 5 min. Remove from heat and add butter 1 T @ a time. Keep it smooth. Cover and put in fridge for an hour before using. Make double batch of this for the cake.

Zesty Lemon Frosting
1 C butter
5C icing sugar (I had no idea what this was so figured it was powdered sugar and that is what I used.)
2 t lemon zest
60ml lemon juice
1/2 t lemon extract
6T whipping cream
2 T water

Cream butter and zest. About 3 min. Slowly add sugar. Beat 2 min. Add rest of ingredients and beat another 3-5 minutes. Want it nice light and fluffy.
Layer the cake, put curd in the middle, frost the top. Keep in fridge due to the curd.
Enjoy!!! Just so you can see the cake you'll be slaving over for a while one last time before you leave...it's worth it!!

what's cooking in my kitchen

OMW!!! I have to share this recipe with you. It's soooooooooo good! My youngest and I are home alone, all the others went off with Daddy, so we have been cooking up a storm here this morning. We have our supper with my in-laws tonight, and I'm in charge of dessert. I have another one that I will share with you next week. And washing dishes. I asked her if she would wipe them for me and she gives me a devilish smile and say "only if you give me some chocolate." with her sparkling blue eyes and toothless grin. I happily give her some chocolate and she happily helps me with the dishes. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree I guess! She talked my ear off the whole morning.
So what did we make????
Almond Joy Bars!!! Oh ya!!! Once your done drooling over the picture you can continue!! ;-)

 Here they are all done, just waiting for me to put the camera down and pop one into my mouth.

 Mix brown sugar, flour, sugar, and butter together

 Smoosh it down in a pan and bake it for 8 min, just to brown it up.

 Mix lots of coconut, vanilla and sweetened condensed milk together. Stir it all up and...

 plop it on top of your cooled crust. Spread it around, go ahead and take a small sample if yer into that sorta thing. Pop it in the oven and bake it a little while.

Melt some chocolate and smear it on top  of your baked coconut delishiouness. Chill it, and then cut into small pieces and enjoy!!!
Here is the recipe if ya like.
Mix
10 T soft butter
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 t salt
2.5 C flour
Beat sugar and butter together for about 5 min to make it soft and fluffy looking. Then add flour and salt and mix so it looks like crumbly bread. Bake 350 for 8 minutes and then cool.

Mix together
28 oz coconut
28 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 t vanilla
Plop it on top of the cooled crust, and bake it at 350 for about 20-25 min. Just to firm it. Take it out and cool it.

Melt 5 C bitter sweet chocolate, and spread it on top of the bars. If you like almonds plop them on top before you spread the chocolate. Put in fridge to harden. Enjoy, that's it!!

Have a great weekend all!

{this moment}

My version of this moment.

what's cooking in my kitchen

First of all thank you so much for all the well wishes! The elephants are slowly leaving..lol!

Now for cooking. Well I had two recipes I wanted to share, but deleted the pics of one of them. I'll tell you it was a Blueberry Puff Pastry!! OMW!! So good. Just have to make another one, and not delete the pics, before I get them on the computer. Oh darn.
The other one I made with my SIL. And lets just say they were AMAZING!! I only have two pics though. What did we make?
These bad boys!!! 

Pioneer Woman's Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Quesadillas!! They are sooooooo good. I just love grilled chicken, and fresh pineapple, so why not throw them in flour tortillas? I made her homemade flour tortillas too. They are so much better then the store ones. Basically all that is in them is cheddar cheese, chicken, jalapenos, pineapple, BBQ sauce and cilantro(I didn't have any so didn't put it on). Easy peasy right?! We ended up adding some red onion, and yummy! Served with rice. My kiddos didn't like the hotness of the jalapenos, but the rest they liked. So I will leave them off next time for my kiddos.

Here they are all grilled and melted together for a wonderful flavorful mouthful! (say that 3 times fast!)
There you have it! Enjoy if yer so inclined!
Have a great day ! 

something new

I'm trying something new. Never made it before. A friend of mine gave me the mother. What?
It's Kombucha. Ever had it? Do you like it? I tried it, and  it's not bad. It's expensive to buy it at the store. I can drink some everyday or every other day, and see how it goes. Maybe my kiddos will drink it too. I decided to give it a try. Why not?! I love to try new things. Besides it detoxifies. haha I had to google the benefits. But now that I know I'm all set to try it. I'll let you know in 7-10 days how it turns out, depending on the weather. Needs to be warm. I put it above my fridge and that should keep it warm. It's just the original kind. You can make all different kinds. So here are the pics.

sugar to boiling water

4 tea bags. it's decaf so my husband can try it too.

everyone needs a mother, including kombucha

gotta have some kombucha from a previous batch to add

here 'tis.

all ready for a warm dark place.

Can't wait to try it!
Have a great day all!

moving fences

Sunday afternoon was such a beautiful day. So beautiful that after church and lunch that I took an hour long nap! Yup I did. I've got a terrible head cold and it's like an elephant is sitting on my chest and in my nose. Yeah. Awesome. So after my nap we all went outside and put up the pasture for the cows. It's really a two person job. We set up the perimeter, then we will section it off and rotate the pastures. The grass is still not real thick and lush all over, it's early here, but it's coming nicely. We just needed to move the pasture so they didn't go through the fence to eat the greener stuff. We are all for rotational grazing! Actually grass based is what we want, but due to our situation we do what we can! It's what we are striving for. So anyways... Walking around the field with an elephant is not really all that great. Plus with the new life that is springing out everywhere causes me to sneeze and blow my nose every few steps. My husband told me to go sit and take it easy. I didn't listen and said I was fine as I gasped and wheezed and sneezed the whole time. haha The kiddos were out there with us talking, laughing, and running around the field. It felt so good to be out and have the sun on me and listen to them and chat with my husband. Joel Salatin has said if you wanna be a grass farmer you better like to walk, or something along those lines. So true as I learned last year! But you know I enjoy walking around the field with my man catching up in our conversation and spending time with him. The kiddos are never too far off and their laughter and chatter bounce off the air and surround me like a warm blanket. The cattle mooing at us to hurry up and move the fence so they can go enjoy it. Then watching Maggie go out last night as the sun was finally going to bed, and listen to her munching happily on the lush green grass. The slight sound of her hooves sinking a small amount into the water logged earth, after all the rain. To watch her flick her tail and shake her head and see her ears flop back and forth. The sun seeming to glow off the soft brown of her coat. The contentment I feel surrounded by the things I love.

apple blossoms

sun setting as we finish up the pasture

It was a good Sunday in the country for this country girl.
Have a great Monday all!

projects

A friend of mine is having her first baby . A girl! So happy for the couple! So I am making her a baby blanket. I finally picked up the yarn and have picked out the pattern that I'm gonna use, and even done a small trial run on it. It's a new pattern I have never made, and I think I can do it, if I pay attention. I have until some time in August to get it done...But I know 3 women that are pregnant and due around the same time. Guess I better get busy!! I love to make baby blankets! Here is the yarn. I just love the color! It's Persimmons. Kinda orangy colored. When I actually get some done on it I'll show you!
Do any of you knit? I can't crochet to save my life. It's bad all the way around! I'd love to learn to make sweaters.  My grandmother makes beautiful ones, I should go spend the day with her and try it out. I'd love that! She knits too.
Any who...

Oh and FYI I have two new recipes, one I made with my SIL, you know the one I hang out with all the time! Maybe someday I'll tell you her name;) The other I did not. SO that will be coming next week. And it's a whole lot of yummy deliciousness! If yer into that sorta thing!  Just a tease!
Have a fantastic weekend all!