Stream of Consciousness, Little One styel

This was Little One's 10 minute or so verbal ramble this morning, nearly verbatim:

I want to do the Monster Dash race with you this year.  I'm gonna wear a costume, but I'm not sure which one.  I really want to get another gold medal.  If I do the Kids K and the Monster Dash, then I'll have THREE GOLD MEDALS.  Do you think Daddy would wear his costume?  I think he should wear his gorilla costume.  But he should wear one of your old swimsuits over it so he doesn't look like a naked gorilla.  I wonder if he will mind the mommy cooties on the swimsuit.  I guess you can just wash it.  I wonder where the cooties go when you wash them off in the washing machine?  And then he can wear your swimsuit, and a long hair wig, and you can paint his face like a clown.  So he can be a girl gorilla clown.  Will you do my hair?  Two braids.  Who was on the phone?  Wrong number?  What's a wrong number?  Why did they want to talk to someone named Wayne?  My name isn't Wayne.  Your name isn't Wayne.  Daddy's name isn't Wayne.  Huh.  Maybe they have a friend named Wayne.  I'm gonna go in your shower and get my feet wet from your shower water.  Whoa!  Whoa!  No, I will not fall.  Okay, maybe I will fall a little.  But I didn't get hurt.  See?  Now look at me, I'm disco jogging!  Oh say can you see?  By the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed as the twi-lies last geeming.  Whose broad stripes and bright stars...Huh.  Look at that.  Now watch me!  Mom!  You are not watching me!  Watch me!  Whoa!  Whoa!  Look it's a magic trick!  Now I'm gonna disappear!  Bet you can't see me!  No you can't!  Nuh-uh!  Mom, what earrings are you wearing today?  What shape are your earrings?  Ovals?  They're really not ovals, Mommy.  They're kind of squarish ovals.  Hey, I've got a chipmunk voice.  Mom, can I see the rest of your earrings?  Pleeeeeeease????  Next time you and Daddy have a date night, I want to pick out your earrings for you.  Now I'm going to go make you a burrito, Mommy.

Happy National Chocolate Cake Day!

It just occurred to me that this is my first post in over a month.  Yikes.  I stink at blogging.  But I'm really good at baking when there's a national holiday involved, evidently.  

Today is National Chocolate Cake Day.  I was unaware of this fact until sometime late this morning.  We also happen to be dealing with a big ice storm today, so I found myself in a bit of a situation: (1) sudden desire for chocolate cake, and (2) a rather pathetic pantry where chocolate cake baking is concerned, and (3) icy roads that made a quick trip to the grocery store a bit of a fool's errand.

After a bit of digging around on the internet, I found a recipe for cake that would work with what I had on hand, and a different recipe for frosting that would work.

First: The Cake

I found a recipe for chocolate cake using Greek yogurt on this blog, Chocolate and Carrots.  I made a couple of tiny adaptations based upon what I had on hand.

Easy Chocolate Greek Yogurt Cake

You need:

1 Cup sugar

2 Cups flour

4 Tablespoons cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 Cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt

1 Cup skim milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9" pan (square or round) with cooking spray.

Mix your dry ingredients in one bowl.  Whisk the yogurt, skim milk, and vanilla together in a different bowl. Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients and stir well.  Pour cake batter into prepared pan, bake for 35-45 minutes; use a toothpick to test for done-ness. (The original recipe called for 35 minutes; mine wasn't done at that point and took an additional 7 minutes.) Allow to cool in pan for about 15 minutes, then turn out onto serving plate.

Best part about making this cake? No eggs.  You get to lick the beaters without worrying about getting food poisoning.  Also?  It's easy and you don't have to haul out a mixer to make it.

Now on to the frosting:

I found this recipe along with a cake recipe on Never Homemaker, but didn't have the right stuff to make the cake.  The frosting looked easy and do-able though.

Peanut Butter Greek Yogurt Frosting

You will need:

3/4 Cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt

1 Tablespoon vanilla

1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter (Nutella would also be awesome here)

3/4 Cup powdered sugar

Mix the yogurt, vanilla and peanut butter together and stir until well combined.  Add the powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.  (I used my Kitchen Aid with the whisk attachment for this frosting and it turned out very smooth, but I also think you could easily do this by hand or with a hand mixer.)  Spread frosting on cooled cake.  Store frosted cake in refrigerator.

(You'll notice from the picture up above that we also scattered some chocolate chips on top.  My youngest was absolutely indignant that I didn't put any sprinkles on the cake. I mollified her with chocolate chips.) 

So, how was it?

Pretty good, actually.  The cake is more dense than your typical boxed-cake-mix cake and it has a nice chocolate flavor.  It would take additions really well, so if you want to add some chocolate chips or nuts, go ahead.  And while the cake got thumbs-up from everyone at the table, the reaction to the frosting was a bit more mixed.  Personally, I loved the frosting.  But I'll admit, the slightly sour taste of the Greek yogurt does come through pretty strongly.  I think that is balanced out by the sugar, and I think that it goes well the the peanut butter.  My husband and kids weren't all that crazy about it though.  I think a more traditional peanut butter frosting would be good on this cake, but I also think it'd taste fantastic with traditional chocolate frosting.  I also kind of want to try it with some cherries and whipped cream - it would make an awesome Black Forest-type cake, I think.

All in all, it was a nice way to celebrate National Chocolate Cake Day, even when your cake-making ingredients are limited.

Finding my thoughts...

It's hard to find one's thoughts on a day like today, and to group them into a cohesive form, and to then blog them.

It's hard to look at the faces of anguished parents on the news and imagine what their pain must be like.  What must the uncertainty be like, as you wait for news of the fate of your child?  And what of the sudden and searing pain of loss experienced by parents whose children were killed?

It's hard to see a photograph of children being led by a police officer across a parking lot that looks so very similar to the parking lot at your own child's school.

It's hard to hear that some of the children who died were kindergarteners.  Children who still believed in Santa Claus and superheroes and inherent goodness.  Children who likely did not know evil until it burst into their classroom.

It's hard to answer the questions that your 4th grader poses: Is that why we practice lock-down drills?  What if that happened at my school?  What would my teacher do if that happened at my school?  What would you do, Mom?  What if that happened on my bus?  What should I do if a bad guy comes to my school at recess and starts shooting?  Why did he do it?  Why did he want to kill kids?

It's hard to witness tragedy (even though we may be so far removed, geographically speaking) so close to Christmas; hard to see a town decorated with twinkling Christmas lights plunged so deeply into sorrow.

It's hard to take a phone call from my dad, a school bus driver, and hear the emotion in his voice as he talks about how the kids that were killed were no different than the young kids he drives to school each day.  There was a weariness in his voice as he asked the same question we've all asked over and over today..."why?"

It's hard to know what the answer is in all of this, to know what the solution is, to figure out a way to keep it from happening it again.  It's hard to keep from getting political.  It's hard not to have knee-jerk reactions and not react in the emotion of the moment.

But do you know what's not hard?  It's not hard to be happy when your kids get off the bus at the end of the day.  It's not hard to hug them tight.  It's not hard to pray over them.  It's not hard to reach out to neighbors and say "hi," to build stronger communities, to help the less fortunate, to make this world a better place.  It's not hard to pray for the families of Sandy Hook Elementary and ask God's peace and love to surround them on this cold December night.

Cinnamon Honey Cold Cure - A Follow Up

So two days ago I told you all about how the cinnamon honey cold cure worked for me.  I was positive that my cold was nearly over.  I actually did run that night (like I said I would) and my run was really good.  I was feeling really well.

Then yesterday hit me.  Ugh.  Yesterday was the "my nose is a streaming snot faucet" kind of day.  I was disappointed that my cold wasn't over, and that it was somehow worse.  At the same time, when my husband asked me how I was feeling, I said "You know, I'd feel great if my nose would stop running."  Because by then, the scratchy sore throat was gone, and I really felt good despite being a human snot fountain.

Today I'm better.  Fewer kleenexes.  Less drip-age.  Still not 100%, but I'll definitely take it over yesterday's symptoms.

So would I still recommend the cinnamon honey cold cure?  Yes.  Because one day of non-stop runny nose is better than 3 days of it.  And I honestly think it's one of the best throat soothers that I've tried.  It's no miracle cure (as some articles would have you believe), but neither are most over-the-counter cold remedies.

Cinnamon-Honey Cold Cure

A few months ago, my mom told me (or tagged me in something she posted on Facebook, which, let's face it, is pretty much the same thing anymore) about using a cinnamon and honey mixture to help cure a cold.  I then saw it about a bazillion times on Pinterest.  So when I felt a scratchy throat coming on, I thought, Let's try it.  It can't hurt.

Why might it work?  Honey has antioxidant and anti-bacterial properties that neutralize harmful agents in the body.  Cinnamon has anti-fungal properties and can inhibit the growth of bacteria.  So it makes sense that these two mixed together could help knock out a cold.  (Side note: I've also used honey mixed with nutmeg as a facial mask to knock out acne - it reduces swelling and redness like you would not believe and troublesome, painful zits are knocked out within 24 hours.  No lie.)

Here's what you do: mix a teaspoon of honey (most sources recommend local honey, but I just used regular store-bought honey) with a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.  That's it.  Take one teaspoon 3 times per day for at least 3 days.  The first day, I mixed up a quadruple batch so I'd have enough for one day, plus a little extra.  I've seen other people who mix up a cup or so at a time and then have it on hand for whenever a cold arises.  Mix it up in whatever size batch you want, just make sure to keep your quantities of cinnamon and honey in proper ratios.

I dutifully took my teaspoon of cinnamon honey 3 times a day.  What I noticed right away is that it's a great throat soother - the honey is smooth and coats really well, and the cinnamon provides a little heat.  So I actually took a few extra doses throughout the day to help soothe my scratchy throat.

Important question: What does it taste like?  It's not bad at all.  Kind of like cinnamon sugar on steroids because there's a bit more cinnamon than you'd normally consume in cinnamon sugar.  Much better tasting than NyQuil, that's for sure.

Results: I'm impressed.  On the first day of my cold (when I started the treatment), I noticed that I would feel a bit better soon after taking the cinnamon honey.  On the second day of my cold, I didn't necessarily feel better, but I could tell that my cold was going to be a minor one and I appreciated the throat-soothing properties of the cinnamon honey.  I'm on day 3 of my cold right now.  I feel like this could be the last day of my cold.  The sore throat is a lot better and the drippy nose is almost done dripping.  Heck, I'm even planning on going running tonight.  I can't complain about a 3 day cold, nor can I complain about an all natural treatment that gets me back to normal faster.

Cake Balls and Care Packages

I sent out some care packages to a couple of Army soldiers and a Marine last week.  One of the soldiers is someone who served with my husband overseas and asked specifically for the cake balls I sent them for Christmas one year.  Posting about that on Facebook led to a request for the recipe.  They're so easy, y'all.

This recipe is for German Chocolate cake balls, but it's adaptable, and I'll show you how once we walk through the basic recipe.

German Chocolate Cake Balls

1 box of German Chocolate cake mix + ingredients needed to make cake
1 can of creamy coconut pecan frosting
1 and 1/2 pkg. of chocolate almond bark

Prepare and bake your cake according to package directions (I usually bake mine into a 9x13 size).  Allow cake to cool, then use two forks to tear it into crumbs.  Yes, you want to take a perfectly good cake and reduce it to crumbs.  They don't have to be fine crumbs, but the smaller your cake chunks are, the better.

In a large bowl, mix your cake crumbs with the can of frosting.  Mix well, making sure to thoroughly incorporate the frosting with the cake.  Using a spoon or melon baller to scoop out a bit of the cake mixture and shape into small balls using your hands.  I make mine fairly small, so that a cake ball can be consumed in 1 or 2 bites.  Some people like them bigger.  Whatever floats your particular boat is fine.  Allow balls to chill well in the refrigerator or freezer - this will help later on when it comes time to dip them.

Once the balls have had time to chill, you need to start melting your almond bark.  This stuff:

I usually melt about half a package at a time.  It's really important to make sure you don't over-melt your bark - the sugar will end up carmelizing - so if you use a microwave (instead of the double-boiler method), stir and check on it often.  Like every 30 seconds or so.  Also important to note: keep water away from your bark; it will cause melted bark to curdle (get lumpy) and it will be no good.

So once you have melted bark and a pan full of chilled cake balls, you're ready to dip.  Dipping methods vary.  I know a lot of people prefer the toothpick method (put your cake ball or item to be dipped on a toothpick or bamboo skewer and dip), but it never works for me.  Behold:

I did a couple with the toothpick method to show that it never works out for me.  The one in the bottom right corner was done using my fork method; the rest were done with the toothpick method.  Technically, they're fine.  They're still cake balls.  But they just aren't as pretty and uniformly coated.  So here's how I do it:

I drop an un-dipped ball into the melted bark and use a fork to roll it around until it's covered.  Then I slide a fork underneath the ball and lift it out of the bark.  I use a second fork to kind of wipe the dripping bark off the bottom of the first fork and then gently allow the now-coated ball onto a sheet of wax paper.

That's it.  Dip the rest of the balls, let them rest on wax paper, and allow the bark to harden.  Depending on the kind of bark you use and how big your cake balls are, the amount of bark you need will vary.  Making these balls took up about 1 and 1/2 packages of bark.  Just be prepared to melt more bark as needed.

The fun part about this recipe is that you can be as creative as you want and create custom flavor mixes.  Just change up the cake flavor, the frosting flavor, and the bark.   Some examples/ideas:

• Spice Cake + Cream Cheese Frosting + White Almond Bark
• Devils Food Cake + Chocolate Frosting + Chocolate Almond Bark
• Red Velvet Cake + Cream Cheese Frosting + White Almond Bark
• Lemon Cake + White Frosting + White Almond Bark
• Chocolate Cake + Peanut Butter Frosting + Chocolate Almond Bark
• Caramel Cake + Creamy Coconut Pecan Frosting + Chocolate Almond Bark
• Orange Supreme Cake + White Frosting + White Almond Bark

You can also get creative when it comes to decorating the cake balls - from super easy sprinkles or colored sugars to more complicated designs, a la Bakerella.  Just remember, sprinkles and such will stick better when your frosting is still "wet," so work accordingly.

So back to the care packages.  Believe it or not, these cake balls travel really well.  I first sent them overseas a few years ago to my husband and to a friend of mine, both of whom were stationed in the sandbox.  Their cake balls arrived in great shape and everyone who had one really liked them.  Many people asked for the recipe.  When I package them, I arrange them on a paper plate, slide the paper plate into a gallon sized ziploc bag, and then seal the bag, trying to remove as much air as possible.  If mailing with other items, I'll try to cushion the cake balls a bit so they don't get crushed.  

In addition to the cake balls, I sent my servicemen a few other treats that travel well: 

Peppermint Bark Popcorn - recipe here.

Cinnamon Pretzels - recipe here.

Cinnamon Bun Popcorn
I swear I don't know why there's a
 huge chunk missing in the middle of the pan. Recipe here.

I packaged these in quart sized ziploc bags and used them to cushion the cake balls.  Then I threw in some other assorted treats, sealed the boxes, filled out customs forms in triplicate, and sent the boxes on their way.

Happy National Bundt Day! (Featuring Pumpkin-Oatmeal Bundt)

Today is National Bundt Day.  If you didn't read my post from earlier this week, go back and read it to discover my history with this day. (You don't have to read it really, there's no history - Bundt cake is just a really good idea, and I wanted cake on Bundt Day 2010.  But I've celebrated each Bundt Day since then.  Because I like cake, y'all.)

Last week, my friend Ruhama (who started me on this Bundt Day broo-ha-ha) put a reminder on Facebook that Bundt Day was coming up.  A good idea on her part, really, because Bundt Day doesn't get all the fanfare and promotions of bigger holidays like Halloween or Christmas.  It kind of gets lost in the cracks, and that's just tragic because it's a holiday about cake.  So I started thinking about what kind of Bundt I'd make this year.  Seriously - I didn't procrastinate this year and glob a bunch of things together.  I actually planned ahead and looked through my recipe books.

I settled on a recipe from a cookbook my mom gave me many years ago, Have Breakfast with Us II, a collection of recipes from bed & breakfast owners across Wisconsin.  The recipes are all breakfast recipes, of course, but of the ones that I've tried, they've all been good.  And you've gotta think, these are the recipes for food they serve their guests - it must be good.  So although I've never made this particular recipe before, I figured it'd be pretty good.

The original recipe is called Morning Pumpkin Coffeecake and it is meant to be a Bundt cake.  I'm sure it's a lovely cake to serve with brunch at a Victorian B&B, but I can't get my stuff together early enough in the morning to make a breakfast Bundt.  So this will be dessert tonight.  Cake is cake, after all.  (I think this is Clue #1 why I wouldn't be a good B&B proprietor - "What?  You want me to cook you breakfast?  Before I've had my coffee.  Pfft.  Whatever.  Even my kids know they are on their own for breakfast.  It's every mortal for themselves around here, at least until I've got 2 cups of coffee on board."  I would maybe make a good Supper & Bed proprietor, though.  I'm usually together by then.)

So besides changing the name of the cake, I also modified the ingredients a bit to cut sugar and fat.  The original called for 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine.  I cut the butter in half and subbed Greek yogurt for part of it.  The original also called for 1.5 cups of brown sugar.  I cut the brown sugar in half and subbed in Splenda.  The original called for 6 egg whites and I just used 3 whole eggs (I don't have a problem with whole eggs, nutritionally speaking.  I do have a problem, however, with wasting 6 perfectly good yolks.)  I also didn't have the amount of raisins called for by the original recipe, so I used some dried cranberries, and I also added some chopped walnuts and increased spices.

Okay, let's get ready to rock Bundt Day 2012.

First step, assemble your ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.25 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 6 tablespoons butter (or 3/4 of a stick)
• 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup Splenda
• 1 can 100% 
• pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350 and spray your Bundt pan with cooking spray.  Mix dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, salt and spices) in a bowl.  In bowl of stand mixer, combine softened butter, Greek yogurt, brown sugar, and Splenda.  

Beat until creamy and light.  Mix in pumpkin and eggs, combine thoroughly.  Gradually add flour mixture by spoonfuls until all of the flour mixture is evenly combined with wet ingredients.  Add in raisins, cranberries, and walnuts, combine. 

Pour cake batter into prepared Bundt.  Bake 60-70 minutes, until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes, then unmold from Bundt pan.  Cake can then be frosted, glazed or dusted with powdered sugar. (I glazed mine with a small amount of a cinnamon-powdered sugar glaze.)

Nutrition: Depending on how big you cut your slices, this cake is fairly decent (calorie-wise) in its unfrosted state: 218 calories for 1/12 of the cake, or 262 for 1/10.  Nutritionally speaking, it's okay.  For 1/12 of the cake, you'll get 10 grams of fat.  Which isn't great, but it's less fat than what you'd get in a traditional boxed cake.  Sugars are only 6.3 grams, so that's not too bad, and total carbs are 29g.  

Verdict: I'll post an update in this spot later tonight, after we've had this cake for dessert.  :)  Check back later.

Updated (10-16-12): Sorry about not posting an update regarding the cake last night.  I've got kids, you know?  Anyhow...it's a good cake recipe.  The flavor is very good, and it's decently moist.  I thought it would have benefited more from cream cheese frosting (as opposed to the glaze), but my husband said it was fine the way it is.  It would definitely be a good choice for a breakfast or brunch spread - I think it was very "muffin-like" and could probably be adapted into outstanding muffins quite easily.  The kids gave it mixed reviews - one kid opted to skip it completely as he's not a huge fan of pumpkin to begin with (and evidently, he's also not a big fan of frosting-less cake).  Middle One ate all of hers and said it was good.  Little One ate parts of hers, which is saying something because when we have cake, she usually eats the frosting and leaves the cake behind.