God Bless the USA!

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very happy 4th of July weekend and send a HUGE THANK YOU to all of those men and women who have fought and are fighting to keep our country safe and free! Without your bravery and dedication, who knows where we would be??? You are in my prayers always.

Stay tuned for my post-4th of July post! I'll be making Grandma's Strawberry Pie and perhaps a blueberry tart as well!!!

Before I close this post, I wanted to leave you with one of the best songs about our wonderful country:

Baking Adventure #24

As I sit here in my food coma, I figured what better to do than blog about the amazingness that recently hit my taste buds and is now nestling in my belly...

My dad has been requesting Chocolate Cream Pie (the third of his pie requests if you recall) for a while. [In fact, if I had a dollar for each time he mentioned it over the last month or so, I could possibly invest in the KitchenAid Stand Mixer I've been eyeing for quite some time.] Dad has been hounding me so much about this pie request that I'm almost positive he thought it would be his Father's Day "surprise" I've been so secretive about. Well, I must tell you: HE HAS BEEN FOOLED!

This week's baking adventure is an old recipe made by a very special lady and I really believe she had a hand in how wonderful it turned out as she rests in heaven with our eternal Father.

GRANDMA'S TEXAS SHEET CAKE

Like I said, a very special lady came up with the basis for this recipe and I just found out the story behind it tonight. Sure, you may find other recipes for TX Sheet Cake online but my grandma's will trump them all (Is being biased a sin?).

The story behind the cake recipe is that my grandmother used to make Jiffy Cake out of the box for 39 cents all of the time, and my dad loved it so much that she wanted to figure out how to make it on her own. [SIDE NOTE: Dad used to eat the entire box of Jiffy cake in one sitting with a gallon of milk... (that makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it) Told you he gives my sweet tooth a run for its money, didn't I?]

Anyways, back to this week's baking adventure...

My cousin stumbled across grandma's recipe as she was going through some old pictures and things and typed it up and sent it to me a little over a month ago. Immediately, I knew I HAD to make this for Father's Day. My dad is one of those men who is extremely difficult to buy gifts for but this was sure to surprise him!

First was to prep the ingredients. In case you hadn't noticed, I love Publix brand bakery items.

Now, this recipe is different from most cakes I've made. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING went into a saucepan and was heated on the stove at some point during the process. It was so simple and so much fun to make.

First step for the cake itself was to combine 2 sticks of the butter, 4 tablespoons of cocoa, and a cup of water.

Heat until boiling.

Then remove from heat and dump in flour, sugar, and salt (that had previously been sifted together). Stir this until well mixed.

Then dump in eggs, sour cream, and baking soda. Mix this until well blended and smooth. (You might see air bubbles but that's about it)

Pour cake batter into a WELL-greased jelly roll pan (I HIGHLY recommend PAM for Baking) and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.

While the cake is baking, it's time to make the frosting! (Arguably the best part of eating cake... in my humble opinion.)

Take another stick of butter and 4 more tablespoons of cocoa and melt over the stove in the SAME saucepan you made the batter in...

and GET THIS: there is absolutely no need to clean the saucepan OR spoon/spatula you were preparing the batter with (unless of course you lick the spatula) Please see below for evidence supporting the only reason to clean...

Does this face scream guilty or what?

After the butter has completely melted, add in powdered sugar, vanilla (there was no vanilla in the cake batter... shocker, I know!), and baking soda.

Mix until smooth (except for maybe some air bubbles).

Grandma's recipe calls for a cup of chopped nuts to be added; however, my dad and family aren't fans of nuts in baked goods so instead I decided to substitute Heath bar toffee bits to maintain the crunch factor.

After the toffee bits are evenly mixed into the frosting, maintain stirring every now and then until cake is ready to pull out of the oven. Once out of the oven, frost IMMEDIATELY.

Then let cool completely before decorating and cutting into. If you can't wait, I highly recommend licking the bowl and spatula yet again to satisfy the sweet tooth. ;-)

And decorate with the worst hand-writing known to man... ok, maybe yours won't be this bad but it was late at night (I had to wait for dad to go to bed so his surprise would be awaiting him upon stumbling down to the kitchen on Father's Day morning) and I was rushing... or at least that's my excuse for now.

Before I forget, I must show you one of the KEYS TO SUCCESS when baking. Everyone is always asking me different tricks and tips, but this one is a MUST no matter what you are baking...

Are you ready???...

Here it is...

Never before revealed...

You must, and I repeat, must, make a MESS of not only the kitchen but whatever article of clothing you're wearing as well.

Whew! Now that the secret is finally off my chest, this is what awaited dad the next morning:

Grandma's TX Sheet Cake, Graffiti Zoo chocolates (one of his all-time favs), and a card

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful father who has sacrificed so much so that his daughters could have the life experiences he was never able to have. I am forever grateful dad. I love you!

Ode to my Momala

Mother's Day 2010 was spent with the greatest mom in all the world. (You're probably sitting there thinking yours is, but I beg to differ and I will fight you over it. *puts up dukes*)

My mom always dreamed of having three little girls... which she wanted to name Marcia, Jan, and Cindy [I kid you not]. By the grace of God, she was able to have her wish, and by the grace of God, we were not named after the three daughters in the Brady Bunch.

She first became a mother in July of 1984 but was too afraid of dropping her baby, so her husband took over the baby-holding for the first few weeks of my life... Her next daughter came out fighting and loving Mexican food in March of 1986 and last, but not least, little "Katie" arrived relatively peacefully in June of 1991.

My mom is the epitome of selflessness. She has always put her family before herself for as long as I can remember. The ONLY time she puts herself first is when we make her... even then, she can't help but do something for us. There aren't enough praises in the world that could be given to justify everything she is, stands for, and has done for our family.

Last Mother's Day, I started a little tradition of cooking her one of her favorite meals and continued it this year... dad was none-to-pleased either year but he gets his turn on Father's Day. Below are the two things I cooked for her this year. Both were super fun, delicious and relatively easy to make!

CHICKEN POT PIE

CHOCOLATE MOLTEN LAVA CAKE w/VANILLA ICE CREAM

To all you mothers out there, I hope you had an amazing day. Thank you for all that you do! And to my Momala, I love you more than you'll ever know!

Baking Adventure #19

A day late posting this week's baking adventure but for good reason! Life has been INSANELY and AMAZINGLY busy the last week, so please excuse me if this post is misspelled (thank God for spellcheck), uses poor grammar, or is just plain bland. The recipe for this week's adventure was my grandmother's so I will try my best and do it good by providing an enthusiastic post!

This Easter season was filled with my confirmation into the Catholic church and great times with friends (new and old) and family, so it was only appropriate to celebrate the Easter holiday with a recipe from my grandmother, who is peacefully resting in heaven...

Strawberry Pie

If you notice from the specials in the produce section at the grocery, Strawberries, among other fruits, are very much in season right now! In fact, the grocery where I bought my ingredients for the recipe had 4 pints for $5! WOOHOO!

First things first: Prep...

[Insert picture that I forgot to take here. Please don't hate me. Mentally picture strawberries, strawberry gelatin, sugar, corn starch, and a Pillsbury pie shell (can't find a recipe that is better than premade).]

First, I baked the pie shell in the oven at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes like the pie shell packaging suggested. While it was cooling, I hauled and halved the strawberries...

Then layered them as neatly as possible into the baked pie shell.

Next, I combined the sugar, water, and corn starch in a pot over medium heat and stirred until thick. This took about 15-20 minutes of some TLC... TLC meaning stir and let sit for a minute or two, then stir and let sit again. Looking back, I probably should've let it get a little thicker, which is a takeaway for next time!

After the sugar starch was thick, I added the strawberry gelatin and red food coloring to make a gel and poured over the strawberries while still hot.

Another takeaway for next time: buy a DEEP DISH pie shell!!!... Strawberry goop kind of overflowed... and by kind of, I mean there was strawberry yumminess all over the counters! So much so that I had to place the pie on a pizza pan while it set in the fridge.

After the pie set for a few hours, I made some homemade whipped cream (*as grandma smiles down from heaven*) with heavy cream, powdered sugar, and a touch of vanilla!

Please note that homemade whipped cream doesn't save well, so prepare it right before serving. It was the perfect addition to an amazing Strawberry Pie! There are requests already to make it again soon. It's looking like a few great people at church are going to be getting this the next time as well!

[The pie crust was no match for the strawberries' strength but if you look hard enough you can find the little guy under there somewhere.]

Hope you all had an amazing Easter holiday and were able to celebrate with those near and dear to your heart!

Oh, before I forget! I made some cookies too as a "thank you" to some people at church for their amazing help and support throughout the RCIA process. Check out the little goodie bags:

Until next time my friends! Muah!