5 Sticks of Butter Later

Happy Birthday America part deux. We went to a BBQ last night at Erin and Michael's to celebrate the 4th.

We made chicken skewers to brings and as well, I tried this patriotic cake from Pioneer Woman's cooking blog, which is originally from the Barefoot Contessa. Normally I do not make items from her blog because they contain enough butter to cause an instant coronary (5 sticks butter, 2 packages cream cheese and 1C sour cream). This cake however, with it's excessive butter was for a party, so I thought for sure I could make it and not bring any home. I also altered the cake a bit and cut the recipe in half since I wasn't using a sheet pan.

But there is a reason why you should always call your hostess first, especially if the hostess has the nickname "The Queen of all things Pie". The Pie Queen made a Banana Cream and a gorgeous Apple Pie with the criss-crossed top and all. She also makes all of her crust from scratch! Beeeeautiful. Anyway, the cake was a hit, but I have half of it left.

It is so good, it reminds me of our Spring Fling wedding cake. I'm toying with the idea of finishing it myself and inviting people over to SHARE in the calories. How many laps in the pool will I have to do to finish the cake today?

Snow Storm Equals Baking and Knitting

Apparently I've gone straight from cute housewife to ready to be an little old lady. So far this morning, I made 3 loaves or oatmeal bread, pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes, and started 3 knitting projects. I’m on a roll with the bread. My plan is not to buy a loaf of bread the rest of the winter. We’ll see how it goes.

I found this awesome new yarn store called Posh in Northwest Denver. Holly and I went yesterday and picked out a couple of projects. They are small but carry some very fun and hip looking yarns. Currently I am working on baby hats for a friend of mine who is having twins. I'll post pictures soon.

My Bread Thumb is Finally Brown

After years of high altitude bread baking failures, throwing out little hockey puck discs and 20lb. lead bricks, I have finally come across a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that works. Or maybe it was my yeast that worked. Whatever it was, I had whole grain TOAST for breakfast this morning!

Out of nowhere at 8pm last night, I decided I wanted to make bread. Rule number 1, don't try to make bread after 6:30pm at night, unless you are a night owl that likes to stay up. Rule number 2, read recipe directions in full before starting the recipe. Half way in, I realized I had to wait 1 hour for the 7 grain cereal mixture to cool. Ok, so if I add up the 30 minutes of adding ingredients and kneading (thank god for the kitchen aid mixer), 30 minutes of rising, another 15 minutes of kneading, 45 minutes of rising, and 45 minutes of baking, what I got was a late night. Counting on fingers, I realized it was going to be 11:30 before I went to bed. What had I gotten myself into? Even with the shortcuts I took, let's just say that DG was sawing z's by the time I got to bed.

But it was all worth it. Next stop, pizza dough.