Eat My What?!

When I was searching for a way to organize recipes a few months ago, I spent several days looking at all different types of websites to find what I needed.  One of those websites was called Eat Your Books.  At the time it wasn't what I needed, but I thought it was a great idea -

and I knew just the person who could use it!!

The basic idea is that you can make a virtual Library with all of your cookbooks and cooking magazines, as well as your favorite blogs - then you can search the My Bookshelf section for a recipe and it will search each of these sources for you!!  It will even keep track of the magazines you subscribe to and automatically add it when a new issue comes out.  

 Now, some people like to look throught their cookbooks for just the right recipe or search online for all the different ideas out there - and that is just fine!  I do both depending on what I'm looking for.  I have about 20 cookbooks, I love to use Pinterest and when I'm in a hurry I just Google it.  For me alone, this site is cool but wouldn't really be worth the $25 yearly fee.  However, remember I said I knew someone it would be perfect for??  That person is Felicia - she has a great collection of cookbooks!!  The downside to having all these great cookbooks is that she rarely gets to use all of them as much as she would like.  This site is perfect for her - and the bonus is that Jamie and I get to use it too!  We can add the cookbooks we own to the bookshelf and search all of them at once.  The biggest disappointment is that you can't get the recipes directly on the website - but that makes sense.  If all you had to do was add a cookbook and you had access to the recipe - why would you buy the cookbook to begin with?  So, what you get when you select a recipe is where to find it (including the page) and the ingredients list.  You can plan what you want to make, buy your groceries and pull out the right cookbook when you are ready!        

I have been waiting for the chance to get this for Felicia - and I finally had a great excuse - it was her birthday on Monday!  It isn't her only gift (it isn't really a gift if I want to use it too) - but I wanted to buy it for all of us to try out.  Now we just have to get all of the cookbooks we own into the Library!!

Have a great day!

Beth 

 p.s. If you want to try it out for yourself, you can sign up and enter up to 5 cookbooks for free.

Birthday time...

It's my birthday! I turned 34 on Monday. I really don't feel like I'm in my 30's but here I am. My husband surprised me with a mini vacation to Alderbrook Resort in Union WA. They have exceptional landscaping here.

I love this sign they have posted!

On top of getting a surprise vacation, our good friends agreed to watch our son for one of the nights. I don't often get to sleep in. I didn't really sleep in but I didn't have to get out bed and that was fun. I sure do miss my little guy though. He cracks me up every morning. He sings songs, he asks if I'm ready to get up and he pretends play with his toys.

We had a wonderful time here. The first night, as the sun was going down, my husband and son dipped their toes into the canal. My son keep playing and they they threw rocks into the water and he was extremely happy! We got to take him swimming in the indoor pool. He is a water boy for sure. The next day it was just my husband and me and we rented a paddle boat and putted around in front of the resort. The paddle boat is a slow moving ride. At least the one we use was. We decided to go back to our room and watch movies and eat pizza from a local cafe! It was so good!

Now it's time to pack up from our little home away from home. I had leftover pizza for breakfast, it's still delicious! I hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Lazy Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookie (Just One)

Is there anything better than melted chocolate and peanut butter?  It's one of my favorite combinations!  One night I was having a major craving for something sweet, but I was also feeling pretty lazy.  Luckily, this recipe is both easy and yummy! 

At first I was just going to make peanut butter cookies, but then I started thinking about how to add chocolate to them (My first thought was using mini chocolate chips).  Then I decided I really didn't want to spend a lot of time making individual cookies, so I thought I would try making a large cookie.  (Which I realise makes it a bar instead of a cookie, but I like the visual of a large cookie lol)  So, yeah - laziness totally created this recipe.

I used the following cookie recipe from here, and then made changes :)   

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar or 1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Choose your baking dish and use parchment paper to line the bottom. (I used my small, round casserole dish, but there was enough cookie dough to put it into a 9" square dish)  Put a layer of chocolate chips on the bottom of your pan.

In a mixer, combine butter and peanut butter. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined. Add the flour and mix until combined.

Spread your cookie dough evenly over the chocolate chips.  Bake until top is browned.  Peanut butter cookies don't set until they are completely cooled, so the center may look slightly undercooked. 

Let cool for 10 min and flip onto a plate.  You can either eat it right away or let it cool completely.  We did both, but Eric said he thought it was way better the next day.  If you eat it warm, it's all gooey and warm and yummy.  If you eat it cold (from the fridge), it's soft and crunchy and yummy.  I don't think you could go wrong either way!!

Enjoy!
Beth

No flour....really!

I made these peanut butter cookies last night. I was surprised there was no flour in the recipe. I read over the steps and then re-read them, I thought maybe they forgot to add it to the ingredient list. No they didn't, it really doesn't have flour! When they baked they smelled exactly the same as the recipe with flour. The only problem that I had, had nothing to do with the recipe, I didn't know my scoop came apart and a tiny little metal piece came off. Unfortunately Jerry, my husband, found it! Good thing he didn't break a tooth.

This is also a 1 bowl recipe!

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
Generous 1 teaspoon vanilla

Pre-heat oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a baking sheet or just bake the cookies right on to the pan like I did. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. I just scooped on to the pan, you can roll them into balls before putting them on the baking sheet. Then I got a small bowl of sugar and dipped my fork in the sugar then on the cookie a crisscross pattern. Bake for 8-10 min. They didn't rise very much, I really like them thin. I was thinking they might be thicker if I had rolled them.

My husband added some whip cream on the cookies, which we highly recommend. Jerry said he prefers this recipe, so yay I will add this to my recipe box!

I hope you enjoy your weekend! I know I will, my birthday is coming up so I'm excited!

Blah, Blah, Blah...

I have been spending a lot of energy on working out lately - so I really haven't been working on any fun projects to share!  I am getting home late and tired four days a week - I'm lucky if I still want to make dinner!  Although I have been hungry a lot lately, so I guess I shouldn't worry about not eating :)                   I thought that for today I would share some of the fun things that have been happining - some of them without any help from me...

One of the most exciting things for me is that I have zucchini growing!  I have already eaten some and I have 2 that I am going to be picking tonight for dinner.  I almost had a bad moment when the first few zucchini that started growing got to about 3" and then started getting yellow - I thought for sure I did something wrong - but it turns out they were not pollinated.  Since it's my first time growing zucchini I had no idea it will start growing before it is pollinated!  I don't seem to be having that problem anymore (I think it was just too hot for the bees before), but I do check them every day now.  Eric keeps getting confused and calling them cucumbers - I swear he is doing it on purpose now. 

I also have tomatoes growing.  I did not get huge tomato plants like someone I know and love, but I still got tomatoes!  My plants are between 18-24" and have at least a dozen quarter-sized romas growing already.  I planted my seeds directly outside in May, so they are months behind most, but I wanted to see how it would go.  I think next year I will start them inside, but we still have a few more months to see how they do.  My artichokes seem to be struggling but holding on.  I have to go out and thin them down to just a few plants, but it is so hard for me to knowingly 'kill' a plant that is growing.  I have grown artichokes before and I actually had them die back completely after transplanting and they regrew and even gave me a few artichokes to eat (the ants got the rest).  For now I water them and leave them to do their thing.  I also got one strawberry from my new patch - but by the time it turned red something decided it would be a tasty treat so boo...

We haven't made a ton of progress on our ongoing house projects - we have had a lot of events and random things come up the last few weeks.  I did get my cabinets ordered for the islands and pantry in the kitchen.  Now I just have to wait for them to arrive - should be 4 more weeks or so...We have also been working on finishing some small projects and planning what we want to finish before the end of the year.

The thing I have been mostly focused on recently is also the least fun - working out.  I have ramped up the amount I have been working out - I now do 2 days of 60 min cardio (Zumba lol - I am awful at it but it is fun and I sweat a lot!), 2 days of 45 min weight training and 30 min of cardio, and a day of moving (going for a walk, building a fire pit, some type of activity).  So yeah, 5 days of working out.  I am tired, hungry and sore all the time - and I have discovered I am incapable of eating healthy and working out at the same time.  I am easily swayed by food that smells good.  I also talk myself into eating more snacks/treats because I worked out and I hurt so I get a treat right?  All that aside, I have been noticing small differences in my arms, legs and face.  Eric says I look slimmer, but I don't really see that, and the scale is not helping because I gained 3 pounds last week.  I just keep telling myself it's muscle gain and if I keep going eventually I will lose weight.

Have a great day and enjoy the weekend!!

Beth  

A lot has changed

Towards the end of last week my husband got some unsettling news about his job. He was laid off from Microsoft. Of course we didn't see this coming! We are doing ok for right now. We are just nervous from figuring out how to care for our son. We have been told of some places we can reach out to for his Autism care. We know we couldn't be were we are today without Microsoft so we really thank them! 

From here on out we are trying to get everything figured out. Not to mention we need to get checked out and up to date medical wise. We will be busy for awhile until things settle down and we get in to a rhythm.

This is downfall for us, however I'm finding that this may work out just fine. I cherish the time I have with our son and now my husband will have some more time to see what I see. Have you ever removed tech devices in hopes that your family connects more. I think we will be doing that as well for a bit. Probably not completely but to a point. We have already been connecting more and I hope that continues.

I have been collecting crafts, books and other projects. I will be home a lot more which will be great. I would like to have a nice lawn soon. Last week I spent time with parents at their other home and my son played out side most of the time. I played outside most of my childhood, I'm staring to see my son needs that too.

I sure hope things work out for the best.

We built a fire pit!

I have a confession to make - I stole this picture :)  When I went to add my picture it was blurry (the biggest problem I have is taking pictures lol).  Since I wanted to share this project today, I cheated and took clips of the picture my brother posted.  (At least it's my yard!)  This past weekend was so much fun - hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law, getting rid of a random post in the middle of our yard (the previous owners had a dog run), building a fire pit, burning 1/3 of a tree that has been a huge ugly pile for 2 years, and getting a new BBQ.  It was pretty full!  Funny thing is - it all happened on Saturday!  I pretty much did nothing on Sunday lol.

It all started last month when we got together for dinner.  The restaurant had these individual s'mores on their dessert menu, and while we were enjoying the gooey yumminess that are s'mores, we started talking about how great it would be to have them whenever we wanted.  Then I mentioned we were planning to put a fire pit in our backyard...eventually.  Then they jumped in and said they would come help us build it if we wanted to do it soon.  I didn't even hesitate - we set a date and made plans.  We did have to push the date back once, but it turned out for the best because the weather was over 90 degrees on our original day, but a more manageable 80ish on Saturday.  (I wish I could say I planned that, but it was just me getting my days mixed up and planning 2 things at once.)

We started by taking the post out and bringing bricks from the front island around to see how big we should make it.  We reused the bricks from the front island because we are slowly disassembling it so we can move it.  I thought it was a great solution instead of buying something new and having a pile of bricks we would have to get rid of.  I also like how it makes our fire pit look like it's been there for a while.  Once we figured out how big we wanted it to be, we dug out the grass and put one layer of bricks even with the edge, then followed that with two more layers.  I like it this height, but I have more bricks so it might get another layer or two.  That was it - pretty darn easy - it took maybe an hour andf a half from start to finish.  The pile of branches in the background is about half of what we ended up burning.  We had a huge pile of tree branches, pine needles and dirt from when on of the trees in our front yard fell over during the ice storm a few years ago.  The stuff that was underneath was too wet to burn, but we can use it all summer long once it dries out. 

I have to say that the most amazing part was how much of a difference it made taking out that stupid post - seriously.  I wish I had taken a picture, but it probably would have been blurry too!  As you can see my yard has a loooong way to go before it is done (yes, that is a huge pile of cut grass in the corner) - I just keep telling myself that I'm fine as long as the weeds in the neighbors yard are taller than mine (you can see theirs over the top of the fence).  We need to replace the fence, plant new privacy trees (another victim of the ice storm), plant fruit trees, build garden boxes, build a deck/patio and replace our grass (cough,dead grass, cough).  Unfortunately most of those projects are pretty low on the list of things to do.  We'll get there eventually, but in the meantime we can enjoy a few s'mores!!

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend as much I did!
Beth

No Name Salad

It has been so hot here in Seattle, really too hot for most of us! The last thing I want to do is turn on the oven! We have been having a lot of cold salads for meals at my house. One day last week I just started throwing things in a bowl and came up with this.

Ingredients:
Avocado
Tomato
Red Onion
Corn (I cut mine off the cob)
Olive oil
Apple Cider Vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Dried basil

Chop up the first 3 ingredients, throw everything into a big bowl, mix and serve. It's as easy as that! 

My husband loved it, he even added grilled chicken and put it in a wrap for his lunch the next day.

Enjoy
J

I finally made something...sort of!

I made a quilt! I've been working on this particular design for quite some time. It's killing me! I'm learning about seems and pressing.  It was a little too late to fix it, somehow my Mom pressed it pretty flat. But her long arm quilting machine is acting up so she has to pull it apart and start over. The funny thing is it's for her! I can't wait to surprise her with it! I made the blocks from sewing strips together then cutting my squares from the big panels.

I'm sorry for a short post! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Cinnamon Roll Cake...Kind of

Yesterday I saw a post on Facebook that Felicia shared - Cinnamon Roll Cake from here.  The picture looked delicious and when I showed it to Eric he wanted to make it right away.  So we did - and my picture isn't quite the same...

There could be a few different reasons it didn't turn out quite right - I mean we were both putting in the ingredients (I was making dinner and helping Eric make this at the same time) so maybe one of us missed a scoop of flour or maybe he forgot to add all 4 tsp of baking powder (or any at all)...I will definitely be making it again because it has the potential to be awesome, but for now it is just like a dense coffee cake.  We will eat it because it tastes okay - it just wasn't what I wanted lol.  Also, we made two changes - we added raisins (because all good cinnamon rolls have raisins) and we didn't add the icing (mostly because we wanted to eat it right away and we were too tired to make icing by the time we ate dinner and made this). 

I think I am going to try this again over the weekend, so I will let you know if I get a different result.

Have a great weekend!
B

Finally Vacationing

My parents have a home in Packwood, WA and my son and I have been here for a few days. It's been so nice and warm. We have been swimming and mostly he has been outside running around on the grass and in the neighbors sprinkler. They live on a golf course and so he's also been watching the golfer's. I got a little sunburn - first I didn't put my sunscreen on early enough and then it washed off! It's not too bad, it just hurts a smidgen. I brought my sewing machine so I could work on some projects. I will hopefully get that posted this Friday. I've been spoiled with my Mom's cooking. I brought a notepad this time to write down her recipes. She makes an awesome spaghetti and I got to see what she puts in it, so I now know how to make it. My parents put up a canopy just outside on the patio so that we can it out there even in the sun. The canopy made it so we don't want to do much but sit out there! When we arrived they had elk hanging out in town which was so cool to see! Our whole drive we were looking at all the farm life around us. This is such a pretty area!

I hope you all get time to stop and enjoy life as we are!
F

An Egg Baked in an Avocado

If you are on Pinterest or Facebook chances are you have seen this at least once over the last year. After seeing this pop up over 100 times, I finally decided to make it. I started by preheating the oven to 425 degrees with a cast iron skillet in it. I used the pan with ridges because I thought they might help hold the avocado upright, but I think it would be fine in a flat bottom one too.
While the pan heated up in the preheating oven, I cut the avocado in half and got rid of the seed. When the oven was ready I took the pan out (don't forget the oven mitt.... Ouch), set the 2 avocado halves in and cracked 1 egg in each. I would do this part differently next time - I think some of the avocado should be scooped out to make the hole a little bigger. When I put the eggs in half of the white ran out, you can see it on the side. If you would like your yoke runny I would cook it for 10-15 min, if you want the yoke done all the way through cook it for 20-25 min. The one in the photo is cooked all the way through.

I made whole wheat toast to go with it. I used the egg and avocado as a spread for it. I thought it was good, but not as amazing as every one claims. Try it for yourself and decide.

Enjoy
J

Progress Report

I made it to 3 weeks not eating any grains.  It wasn't too bad once I got used to being hungry, but it was hard.  I was hoping I would feel better - I actually felt worse the first week, and then I felt normal the next two weeks.  I also hoped I would lose weight - but I don't think the 1.5 pounds on one day counts. Boo!  I did notice that I started slimming down in odd places - so not a whole body part like my arms, but just my elbows!  It's cool to have skinnier elbows but it isn't much of an incentive to keep going.  Plus, I have no idea if it was the walking/jogging that has helped or the eating - most likely both together.  I took an extra long 4 day weekend for the Fourth and about halfway through Eric asked what I was planning at the end of the 4 weeks - and I said I was planning to have grains with one meal a day and maybe one snack.  He asked me if it was worth waiting another week before starting that - I decided it wasn't.  So I gave up, but I did managed to do one thing - I am definitely not eating as many grains as I was before.  I fill up a lot faster when I do eat something made from grains.  That is definitely an improvement, and I feel like it is much more likely I can stick with only eating one meal with grains than none at all.

I have to give kuddos to anyone who has no choice about eating grain-free - I don't know how you do it!!

Handheld Cheeseburgers

I wanted to try something a little different and fun for my son. I found this recipe and had to try it out. I adapted the recipe a little. I served them with a salad, we received some peas from our new neighbors. They were so delicious! My son enjoyed them, success!

I buy Trader Joe's canned biscuits. This recipe calls for a tube that has 10 biscuits and to put 2 together and make an oval. I didn't have that many so I made smaller ones. It worked great. I did roll out the single biscuits and filled them and sealed them.

Here's the recipe.

1 can of biscuits (8)
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 small onion diced or how ever much you would like
Handful of cheddar cheese, I sprinkled a bit of cheese on each
Seasoning of your choice, I have a hamburger blend it's so good.

Brown beef with onions, add seasonings if using. Roll out biscuits one at a time, add about a spoonful of the meat mixture and top with a pinch of cheese. Fold the sides together and pinch together. You can make it look great by sealing it with a fork by pressing the tines onto the edge. When you have finished all of them them place them on a baking sheet, cut slits in he center to allow the steam to escape. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.


Enjoy!

Fresh Raspberry Cupcake Fail

                                                                          When I had Dexters' Birthday Party I needed to make cake for people too and not just dogs. :) I decided to make Fresh Raspberry Cupcakes, because I still had a lot of berries left from going to pick them. I went on Pinterest and found a recipe, I followed every word of it (I never do this unless I'm baking and then still sometimes not) and it did not turn out well. When I took the cupcakes out of the oven they looked perfect and yummy, about 30 minutes later I looked at them and they were a sunken mess. I broke one open and they looked bad and tasted worse! I'm not sure what happened, before I took them out of the oven the knife came out clean. I checked the recipe again - I completely followed it and still they turned out to be a disaster. We ended up with cupcakes from Safeway....... Gross. It was my fault really for trying something at the last minute instead of going with a sure thing. Leason learned -                                                                                                                   Always try new things ahead of time!

J

More Sorbet...can there be too much?



Blackberry Sorbet

  I know it seems silly to do another post about sorbet so quickly, but I couldn't resist.   Last week I bought raspberries and blackberries at the Farmers Market - and (as you might have guessed) made more sorbet.  I had 4 cups of each - the raspberries made a little over a pint, but the blackberries made over two pints!!  You might think we still have some left, but we ate it all already - and by we I mean Eric because I only had a few bites (I'm not a huge berry fan sadly but I keep try).

Making these took an extra step because I didn't add enough simple syrup to the pureed mixtures the first time - so I made more, remixed and froze it again.  I would definitely say taste it before you freeze it the first time and you can avoid this.  

So for each sorbet I used approximately the following - I would start at 1/2 cup and work you're way up to the sweetness you prefer - Eric likes it sweet (I'd make some joke about me being sweet but we know that's not true so we'll just move on).

4 cups raspberries

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup simple syrup

4 cups blackberries

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/4 cup simple syrup

Make the simple syrup with equal parts sugar and water, heat on low and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and cool.  Puree and strain the fruit, add the lemon juice and put it in the fridge until simple syrup is cooled completely.  Combine until the correct sweetness is reached.   Freeze until solid, puree again and freeze again.

I want to try changing the simple syrup to a 2-1 ratio so there is more water than sugar - I think it will help add volume without adding more sugar.  Eric says it's perfect the way it is, but it is a little pricey at around $5 a pint.  

I'm sure I'll have more sorbet soon - I bought Bing and Rainier cherries today, as well as apricots.  Fingers - crossed they will turn into tasty sorbet!

First Harvest - Onions!

This will be a pretty short post - I'm enjoying my day off!! Lol.  I did want to share the first harvest from my garden.  The onions aren't as big as I was hoping, but I actually like small onions so I'm not disappointed.   I cut the greens off and used them as green onions - those should last a while!  Since I won't be able to braid the onions to store them, I need to find a mesh bag to store them in.  The onions have been drying for about 2 weeks and I think they are doing pretty well - since I've never done this before it's all a guessing game for me. :)

I hope everyone enjoys their 4th of July!!

Beth

Blackberry Cobbler

I went to a farmers market and picked up a bunch of berries - they had blackberries which are my husbands favorite! He really likes pie, but I didn't time to make one. I will tomorrow or the next day, but I knew a cobbler would suffice for now. So I searched for a good recipe and found this quick recipe and I was happy! I love dump cakes and this seems very similar. The recipe called for self-rising flour. I made mine and will show that in my recipe. If you have self-rising flour use 1 cup.

Recipe:

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
11/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 cup sugar (1/4 cup reserved for topping)
1 cup milk
1 stick of butter melted
2 generous cups blackberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and butter an 8x8 pan. In a medium bowl mix flour, salt, baking powder, and 1 cup sugar. Stir in milk and mix until well blended, add melted butter and pour batter into pan. Sprinkle berries on top evenly and then sprinkle the remaining sugar on top of the berries and bake for 1 hour. Enjoy with ice cream or whip cream if desired.

Something to look forward to...the edges of the cobbler get crispy from the butter, those edges are my favorite!

I hope you enjoy!
F

Strawberry Sorbet

I had a plan - it was a good plan for taking a fun picture of the sorbet I made last week - but then I went to take it...and I admit that I knew I should take it as soon as I finished making it, but I was tired and didn't want to...so now all I have to share is this small amount that was left in the container.  Luckily (for me), Eric has a habit of saving the last few bites for later or I would have been too late :) 

This is a spoonful of Strawberry Sorbet.  The funny thing is - Eric was sure he wouldn't like it because of the strawberries I used.  I bought a 1/2 flat of strawberries (about 6 pints, I think) from the Farmer's Market by my house.  I cut almost 2 quarts up and put a little sugar on them, then I put it in the fridge.  Usually Eric will eat them throughout the day as a snack, but when I asked him the next day if he liked the strawberries he said he thought they went bad bacause they were so dark (I will admit that they threw me off at first too but after trying them they were so yummy, and yes there were ones that were pretty far gone, but not anymore than I would expect from the store for ripe strawberries).  I tried to assure him they didn't go bad - they were just ripe from the farm not the fridge at the store.  No go.  Well, I knew they were fine so I decided to make the sorbet I had originally planned when I bought so many.  After I made it, I told him to at least try it before saying no - then he told me it was the best sorbet he'd ever had! Hahaha - I deserve a gold star for not saying I told you so...I might have said it quietly though :)

This is a super easy recipe - it just takes time so no instant gratification.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup water

2/3 cup sugar
2 lbs strawberries (I used the 4 pints I had left, so I don't know how much it weighed)
2 tbsp lemon juice

Add water and sugar to a small pot on low.  Stir until sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and let cool, pour into a cool dish and place into the fridge.  While you wait, hull, puree and strain the strawberries (I used a food processor but I think a blender would work better).  Add the lemon juice to the strawberries and place in fridge as well.  Once the simple syrup is cooled completely, stir the two mixtures together.  Pour into a freezer safe container, cover and freeze for 3 or 4 hours (I had to wait until the next day).  Put it into the blender/food processor and puree one more time.  Re-freeze and enjoy!!
My 4 pints of strawberries made about 1 1/2 pints of sorbet.   I am excited to make a bunch of different types of sorbet - I can't wait for more fruit to appear at the farmer's market!!   The recipe is from here.   Enjoy! B

Carrot and Peanut Butter Dog Cake and a 1st Birthday Party

We had a first birthday party for our baby, Dex. Are you saying "What? A birthday party for a dog"? Yeah, we did it and had so much fun. My Peas gave me a puppy shower when we got him (my Peas rock!), so why not continue the crazy. We went to a nearby park, hung out with amazing friends (we missed you Beth), ate junk food, had cake and presents. 

I made Dex his very own birthday cake. It was really simple and he loved it. This recipe will make a small cake or a few cupcakes. I used a cake pan that makes the small cake for the top of a wedding cake and all of the batter fit nicely in it.

Ingredients: 

1 cup wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup shredded carrots

1/4 peanut butter

1/4 canola oil

1 egg 

1/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together the flour and baking soda, then mix in all of your other ingredients.

Bake for about 30 to 35 min or until a butter knife comes out clean.

For the frosting I just threw some peanut butter, powdered sugar and milk into my Kitchenaid mixer and beat it on high for 5 min.



Dexter waiting for his party to start (and for the carrot in my hand)!



Dex eating a piece of his yummy puppy cake!



Happy Birthday Dexy!

The idea for the cake came from here.

Let your puppy enjoy!

J