Tag Archives: United States

Happy Mother’s Day! Plus a Chocolate Pound Cake

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Hey there! I know it’s Sunday and I normally don’t post on Sundays…but I also know that today is Mother’s Day. And I think that certainly calls for a blog post. I have a couple things to share with you all today. One is a recipe, of course! And the other is short little video.

I saw this ad about a month ago, and it really touched me. Literally made me cry. I know, I’m a baby..crying during a commercial. But hear me out. Just watch it, I promise you it will touch you too. Here is it. Mother’s Day Ad.

I hope all you mothers out there had an awesome mothers day and everybody wished their mom’s a happy mothers day, and for those of you who have mothers that have passed, I hope you have remembered all the good memories you had with them.

I feel truly blessed to have my mother in my life. She has taught me so much that nobody else ever could have. She has taught me that women will always be right. She has taught me which boys to avoid and which ones are worth a shot. She has taught me what is right and what is wrong. She has taught me how to cook. She has taught me how to bake. She has taught me who to trust and who will have my back at the end of the day. She has taught me how to tell when a pizza is truly good.

She has taught me that sometimes you have to get your “south-sider” out to get your point across (sorry for those of you who don’t know what I mean by “south-sider”, maybe I’ll explain later). She is the one who sat through countless hours of teaching me how to drive, including the days of nauseating backing-around-the-corner. She is the one who I look up to as a role model and hope to become a fraction of a mother she is. I love her to infinity and beyond, and there is nobody who will ever be able to replace that. Love you mom!

So to bounce off of that, I made a chocolate pound cake that is perfect for Mother’s Day. I know that mother’s day is practically over now, but it’s great for showing your mother, grandmother, or any other special person in your life that you really love them! This is a rich, chocolatey, delicious cake that is sure to put a smile on anyone’s face. Enjoy!

Chocolate Loaf Cake

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

1 1/4 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (6-ounce) container nonfat vanilla/plain yogurt

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan, set aside.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, water, and vanilla extract.
  4. Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs, one at a time.
  5. Add half the flour mixture to the creamed butter-sugar mixture. Mix in the yogurt mixture, then add in the rest of the flour mixture. Mix until just combined and pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
  6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Cool in pan for 20 minutes, then turn onto wire rack to finish cooling process. Enjoy and store leftovers in airtight container or cake stand with lid.

Random Fact of the Day: A lion’s roar can be heard five miles away

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Week in Review (3/26-3/30)

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Ahh, what a relaxing week I had this week. So nice to take a break and spend the week in beautiful Florida for spring break!

Monday I shared with you guys my SRC post which featured Homemade salsa! Such a yummy and handy thing to have in the house. I’m so happy I made this and was so shocked at how easy it was! Once you have all the ingredients prepped, you are literally less than a minute away from fresh salsa. YUM

Tuesday I enjoyed the beautiful sunshine in Florida and started my day off with a nice run a little over 6 miles. Such a good feeling. Then…Then, I went up 14 flights of stairs. Yes, 14. FOURTEEN PEOPLE FOURTEEN! That’s insane! But you know what? It motivated me to where I ended up doing that the rest of the week.  FYI: It never got easier..

Wednesday I shared with you guys the sights of Ft. Lauderdale…this place sure has proven itself to be one ca-razy, unpredictable place!

Thursday was just another lovely day spent in sunny Florida. Ran. Laid out. Ate dinner. Repeat. Pretty much the same thing everyday, but hey, that’s how I like it! So nice getting a break from the busy school-soccer life and just veg out for a week.

Friday I showed you guys a post that I dug out from months ago! It actually made me a little proud of myself to see how far my photography has come. But the main reason I pulled this guy out was that I have been meaning to post it but it just kept slipping my mind and so it was just perfect timing to share it while I was out of town and soaking up the ray on spring break! :) Besides…you can never go wrong with any post that involves peanut butter!

Oh and another great thing that happened Friday? Well, we had our BEST, BEST, BEST meal of the week. We went to the Chart House, yes I do know it is kind of a chain. But ohmygawd after a week of on and off, kind of disappointing food, we had our BEST food that night.

We decided to try an appetizer, and we ordered the Oysters Rockefeller, which were fantastic. For the main course, I ordered grilled swordfish, and it was fantastic. It had the perfect char on it from the grill, but still was super moist and maintained it’s awesome fishy flakiness. There was delicious rice on the side as well as yummy green beans. Yes, yummy green beans, they do exist!

To finish off the meal, we ordered two lava cakes. (We always have a separate section reserved in our tummies for desserts!) The lava cake was awesome! Perfectly warm, and super chocolatey. It was topped with vanilla ice cream and bits of chocolate and chocolate sauce. I can not even put this dessert into words. I might try to recreate it, but if I fall short, I may just cry. It was so good. The whole meal was just the best possible way for us to end the week. I would not have changed a thing. Great food. Awesome service. Beautiful restaurant and view.

Best picture...now you can't tell me you don't want some of that!

Today I am sadly coming home. It’s such a bittersweet moment leaving lovely Florida. I’ll miss the beach, sun, and fish, but it sure will be nice to get back home and in the kitchen!

Random Fact of the Day: The average cough comes out of your mouth at 60 miles per hour.

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The Sights of Fort Lauderdale

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So I have been spending this week in Fort Lauderdale for spring break and have seen quite a few things we don’t necessarily get to “experience” at home. Care to take a gander? I took pictures for you!

Wait, you mean you *don't* want your face on customizable 3-D cuff links?

We found Santa…

That guy up there ^ is the one who I was talking about on Facebook the other day :)

The found of LA Fitness' little getaway place. It's for sale! Got a few million $$$ laying around?

I guess the next size up was just TOO expensive!

Between the red shorts, blue shirt, and the stance, i think this guy feels he is superman's long long brother. Or he kinda looks like he just is emptying his bladder...yuck

The owner of Oscar Meyer's house

Why arent speedos more common? Doesnt this just scream "I'M COOL AND FASHIONABLE!" ?

Sonny and Cher's house..where Cher gave birth to her daughter. She didn't believe in doctors. I think it's safe to say she sure does today

Hope you enjoyed the good, bad, and downright ugly of Ft. Lauderdale. There may or may not be more coming at ya later! I don’t even know…Ft. Lauderdale has proved itself to be one unpredictable little place.

Random Fact of the Day: Laughing for 15 minutes burns 40 calories.

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How Sweet’s Better Than Crack Brownies

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I have been meaning to try Jessica’s Better Than Crack Brownies for like EVERR. I love her blog so much! Her blog was the first one that I ever really started reading and I’ve been hooked to blogging since. She’s like my inspiration!

Anyways, I was reading the comments the other day on the post…I’m not sure why. It’s not like I’m a usual comment reader but, nonetheless I found myself reading them. There are some pretty interesting (aka. psycho) people on the internet these days. Here are a few of their comments…

This here is from Matt.. “you obviously never had crack”

Dee’s response?, “ lol..i agree:)”

Let’s see more, it gets even greater here folks.
Rick said, “so what happens if you actually put crack in them? better than heroin brownies?”
This one was part of one lady from Brazil’s comment “SO UNHEALTHY! Moreover lots of ready made stuff that we don´t have in Brazil! I Prefer wholesome Brownies that could at least be a LITTLE bit good for the health. No wonder Americans are SO FAT!”
       
Sheesh!! A little harsh, but sadly I guess it’s slightly true.
       
This other person’s response literally made me LOL, “really lady really?? its called being able to indulge every once in awhile…..yes some people overindulge sometimes…but hey whatcha gunna do! its not like we Americans are going to make these brownies and then sit there and eat the whole lot alone! were going to share them with our family and friends you idiot! that way we the bakers will most likely eat only 1 maybe 2…. get over yourself and your stupid brazilness…..boo on you! and who wants wholesome and little bit healthy for you brownies anyway! yuck!!! brownies are meant to be not good for you and delicious!!! duhhh!”
This is another pretty great response, “Brownies exist because people want to eat something really sweet and unhealthy once in a while. Therefore it’s a great idea to put processed candy in the brownies. Maybe you should make a Brazilian website called “How Semi-Sweet It Is” or “Brownies With Reduced Sugar Not Only Look Like Crap, They Also Taste Like It”. And Mrs. Cox, with a name like that, I find it ironic that you are talking about things that are hard to swallow.”
I could seriously read these comments all day and copy them on here but I think it’s just best if you all just go over to How Sweet and check them out…should give ya a pretty good laugh!
I adapted this recipe by converting it to an 8×8 inch baking dish. I also used this brownie mix that I got during post-Christmas sales! It says funfetti, but the candy chips are in a separate package in the box that you mix in separately so I just saved mine for a later use. 

Better Than Crack Brownies

(adapted from How Sweet It Is)

(This recipe was originally posted for a 13 x 9 dish, but I knew that many would be dangerous around myself!)

1 box mix or your favorite brownie mix, prepared

5 peanut butter cups, chopped

1/4 cup salted peanuts

3/4 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 Tablespoon butter

3/4 cup rice crispy cereal

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Prepare brownie mix according to directions on box. Pour half into an 8×8 inch baking dish, pour the remaining half into a plastic bag and you may freeze for later use. It’ll be good for a few months. Bake brownies in pan for 12-15 minutes.
  2. Take brownies out of oven and sprinkle peanuts and chopped peanut butter cups over top, return to oven for 2 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, melt chocolate, peanut butter, and 1/4 tablespoon of butter in heat proof bowl in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between each until fully melted. Mix in rice crispy cereal. Spread mixture evenly over top and place in fridge for at least 2 hours, until set. Enjoy and store extras in fridge!

Random Fact of the Day: The world’s most expensive burger costs $5,000 and is served at the Fleur de Lys restaurant in Las Vegas.

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Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

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There are several things in life I am not sure I will ever understand.

One of them would probably have to be high school kids. Not all high school kids, but quite a few. My days in my high school consist of me seeing other high schoolers doing the following…

listening to their iPods, WHILE there is music being played in the hallway speakers. Is your music really that important to you? Ok, that’s not that horrible, it just looks pretty funky to me.

And then there are the groups of kids who insist on taking up the entire hallways by walking side by side, so their little “pack” can pretty much bulldoze anybody over who is trying to walk in the opposite direction.

Lastly, and definitely the MOST ANNOYING…is some couple’s PDA. I’m not trying to sound jealous here or anything, like truly it’s great that two kids like and care for each other. I’m sure you two will be happily married, have 3 kids and live in a mansion together in 30 years. But seriously, must you lick each other’s faces off before each class?! I don’t even really mind seeing couples hold hands, but please do not bring out the tongues into any innocent, non intentional viewers. Please. I don’t even real understand how some couples can act so excited to see each other every passing period, like HELLO?! you just saw them like 45 minutes ago…But really I’m all for high school relationships. I insist.

Okay, now that you have heard my little ramble (I promise I’ll write something happy and positive about my school some other time to make up for my complaining. PROMISE!) on my school we can continue onto something fabulous.Double chocolate chip cookies. They’re like the good ‘ol classic chocolate chip cookies, but with DOUBLE the chocolate. If that isn’t greatness in a bite, then I don’t know what is!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks butter, cold

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour (all-purpose will work good too!)

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups chocolate chips

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cream together butter and sugars in electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs and beat until well-incorporated. Mix in vanilla extract. Beat in cocoa powder. Mix in both flours, salt, and baking powder until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
  3. Scoop cookie dough onto cookie sheet by about the tablespoonful, 2 inches apart. (I made mine a bit on the smaller side, the bigger they are though they better cookie you will have. TRUE FACT)
  4. Bake in preheated oven for 16-20 minutes. Chocolate cookies like these are easy to over cook because of their color so you can’t really see when the edges are browning, you will know they are done if you just touch the edge of a cookie and it feels firm and the tops/centers are still fairly soft. Let cool on a rack and store in an air tight container when completely cool.
Random Fact of the Day: There are more 100 dollar bills in Russia currently than there are in the United States.
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