June Daring Bakers - Bakewell Tart

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Bakewell tarts…er…puddings combine a number of dessert elements but still let you show off your area’s seasonal fruits.

Like many regional dishes there’s no “one way” to make a Bakewell Tart…er…Pudding, but most of today’s versions fall within one of two types. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling.

The version we’re daring you to make is a combination of the two: a sweet almond-flavoured shortcrust pastry, frangipane and jam.

This month I was super excited to participate in the Daring Baker Challenge, because I was going to be joining up with my friend Jill to share our results together. Plus my sister Kati is in town and she's been wanting to try out one of my "experiments". Sadly, I wasn't all that thrilled with how it turned out. It tasted bland to me, even with the lemon curd filling I had chosen to use rather than a jam. Jill had chosen to use a strawberry-rhubarb filling and hers was much more moist than mine and I absolutely loved her tart tin!~ (*note to self, must buy tart tin from Target*) Mine also fell in the middle (pictures to come later). Not really sure what was going on there with that. Sigh.... But if you want the recipe and feel up to the challenge, you can visit Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar for the full recipe and directions.

OH well, it wasn't a complete disaster. I was able to hang out with friends and share some fun stories and good laughs. PLUS, I stored the leftovers in the fridge, so maybe once its chilled a bit I'll enjoy it more. AND I had a ton of lemon curd leftover that I was able to use with some fresh homemade scones and whipped cream, which was a total bonus. Yum-my.

I'm very excited to see what's next and meet up again with my new friend Jill for another taste-testing event! :-)

Recap of the weekend

This weekend was so awesome and so relaxing. I FINALLY caught up on some of my favorite shows, finished a book and cleaned up the house on Friday night. Then on Saturday Jason and I were able to hang out around the house and picked up a pool at KMart for Jeep & Seven. And to say they love it is a complete understatement...
And around and around they went....

The best part about this little pool - it wears them completely out! They were asleep at 8pm and didn't wake up for 12 hours. (*Sigh*)....best dog toy ever!
Look at cute little Jeep all curled up for the night. That's my boy!

Then yesterday we spent an awesome afternoon & evening with our friends Dana & Julie before they headed out on their 2 month tour/trip. Ben & Alicia came over and we BBQ'd out and just enjoyed each other's company. I'm going to miss Julie so much this summer!!

Hope you all had an awesome weekend as well!

An Opportunity For Praise!

This last week was an opportunity to trust God. A couple of our dearest friends, Dana & Julie had quite the scare this last week. Over the camping trip a few weeks back Dana had Julie show us a suspicious mole on her arm. Jason, being familiar now a couple times with what irregular moles look like, mentioned to her she really should get it looked at. So she tried for a couple of weeks to get in touch with a dermatologist from our church who practices at Vanderbilt. For whatever reason, the nurse just wasn't calling her back and finally Julie just had to corner the guy at church and ask him to please look at it and let her know if she should come in. He wanted to see her the very next day.

Last Tuesday they did the biopsy and said they would have the results within a couple days. On Thursday she got the call from the doctor, it was malignant melanoma. His prognosis wasn't good and he said he needed to measure it to find out how deep the cancer cells went. If it was .75-1.0 mm dense, he was going to ask Julie to undergo lymph node mapping to see where else the cancer might have spread to. And then they would discuss treatment options. She called me Thursday evening barely able to communicate the news through her tears, and said she was hoping some of us from the small group could come over that night and pray over her. Within a few hours, everyone had dropped what they were doing and headed over to be with her and Dana. We all surrounded her, anointed her with oil and prayed faith and healing over her body. It was awesome to see everyone come together so quickly as a family and be there in a time of need. And yet as scary as it was, I didn't feel fear. I knew God would move on her behalf.

Friday afternoon I get a call from her that the cancer was only .71 mm thick. Wow. God moved and answered our prayers down to the specifics. It was incredible and Julie was ecstatic. As we all were. She headed back to Vanderbilt that afternoon and they removed more tissue just to be safe, in all its probably a 4-5 inch gash in her arm and then they stitched her up. She was so brave and I am beyond grateful. I love this girl dearly. She has been a gift that God has added to my life and to our small group since last fall. We have quickly become the closest of friends. That's what friends are for. To be family when family is not close by. To pray at a moment's notice when needed. To hold and comfort when there is fear and uncertainty. And to stand beside in battle when the trumpet sounds. I am so grateful, so blessed beyond words with the friends God has brought into my life here in Nashville and even more grateful He answers prayers.

The Calm After The Storm

To say I've been slammed these last few weeks is an understatement for sure. I was able to pick up a transcription job for the same folks I did last time, and ended up transcribing 15, 40 minute sermons over a period of three weeks. WHILE still meeting with our small group, WHILE planning out a small group camping trip over Memorial Day Weekend, WHILE meeting with my high school girls D group, WHILE going to a friend's baby shower, WHILE watching out-of-control and ridiculously adorable 4 month old puppies. It was insane and I think my arms are going to fall off now. Or maybe just my fingers. Either way, I really could do without being around a computer for a while.

But the good thing is - the transcriptions are done! I've made some extra moolah! Our small group ended for the summer with a bang! The camping trip went off without a hitch (for the most part anyway). The shower was a blast! And the puppies are still out-of-control and ridiculously adorable 4 month old puppies, only now a few pounds bigger.

For fun, let's just do a little comparison right now, shall we? Yes, I think we shall.
Aww....so cute. Just 8 weeks old. Jason's hands held their little chests close to him.

And now.

Holy Crap! ONLY 11 WEEKS LATER!!! And they're not even half way grown yet!!! We are now accepting donations for dog food to keep them from eating us out of our home. Just kidding. Sorta.

And really that's about it for news around these parts. Well EXCEPT for the fact that Jason and I bought our plane tickets to California in August! We decided to spend the first couple days in San Francisco with Scott & Kelley, enjoying the city for a couple days and then driving up to Clovis to stay with Jason's family and attend his 20th high school reunion. I know right? 20 years!!! At least he gets a reunion. I just get to live vicariously through him and see what the hoopla is all about.

So I leave you with these photos from our camping trip. Yes, I know, more dog pictures. But what can I say, we love them and they're a big part of our lives. And I'm sorry, but if you don't love looking at adorable Labrador puppies, then seriously you must have no heart.

I know, your wondering if Tim McGraw joined up on our little camping excursion, but alas, its just my redneck-trucker-wannabe husband that decided to surprise me with this fun little look when I met him up at the campgrounds. No, no, no, it's not Earl from My Name is Earl. Ah yes, that would be a nice close shot of the hotness I like to call my man. Though that day, I was more referring to him as a convict from America's Most Wanted. Scary.If you notice, we camped on the side of a hill. Thankfully the place where our tents were are nice and level, but everywhere else was like camping in a Dr. Seuss book, all topsy-turvy.

Look at Jason's truck and you get an idea how steep it was. My calves STILL hurt from walking around.

Probably the highlights for us was taking the pups for their first swims in the lake. It was awesome, they loved it and we loved how much it wore them out! I got some great shots of them on the rocks and learning how to swim.

Seven is a born natural at fetching sticks out of the water. And I know the water looks nasty. It was really muddy by the beach, but a lot nicer further out. Regardless, please believe there was no way I was getting in that nastiness.

Though Seven had no problem bringing the nastiness over to me. He was sopping wet and decided he'd like to snuggle. My new shirt is still stained and I'm tried to get the mud out. But he's too cute to stay mad at for long.

This close up of Seven is why I need an SLR. Our friend Chad took this shot and I'm in love with it. What a beautiful boy.

Seven learning to swim with Jason.

Jeep also learning to swim. He wasn't a big fan of it at first and had no intentions of fetching a stick. But as soon as he got his paws on a water bottle, he was all about the fetching. That's my boy, nothing but the best :-)

Typical fetch with Seven & Jeep. Seven fetches and Jeep waits to take it from him.

A whole lotta wet dog. The dark brown puppy is our friends Chad & Tabby's dog Beasley.

Resting and drying in the sun.

They're cleaning each other here - I love the tiny bit of Jeep's tongue you can see. So cute.

I'm proud to say I took this pic. It was pure luck it turned out the way it did, but I love it.

Home sweet home. Jeep is not our cuddler, but he's learning :-) They are too adorable. I look at this and know someday Jason is going to be an amazing dad.

And finally here's Seven sleeping behind the couch and up against the wall. What a goober, my monkey.

If you're still reading this, I hope you have a great weekend - I know I will! Nothing but catching up on shows, coffee, reading, sleeping in and a hair appointment - ahhh, perfection!

Grow faster! No wait, slow down!

Alright, so once upon a time (4 months ago), Jason and I became parents to a little black lab we named Seven and his bigger brother, a yellow lab we named Jeep. And they came to us as furry, tiny bundles of love weighing only 9 and 11 pounds. I mean look at them! They were so small that their first set of collars were too big and we had to fasten them around their bellies!
And now, they're huge. You know how everyone says babies grow so fast? Try having a Labrador puppy. You don't get 12 months of chubby little cuteness to squish - oh no, try like 3 weeks or a month! This is Jeep now at 4 months of age and weighing in at 30 pounds. He might actually be even more than that. He's gigantic and he's got a heck of a lot of growing left to do. I can barely lift him now.We love to snuggle them late at night on the living room floor on pillows and blankets, since they're not allowed in our bedroom - I know, we're such awful parents. But seriously, there's barely enough room for Jason, myself and Banks in the bed as it is. Speaking of Banks, the poor girl is not getting nearly the attention she used to get. She tries hard to be around them but in the end growls, hisses and scratches out at them. We're hoping as they get older and more mellow, she'll be more brave. To make up for the lack of attention, she's now taken a liking to curling up under the blankets next to me under my left arm when I sleep. I think its adorable and am glad she's becoming a snuggler. The pups go down for 2 naps a day, one at 10:30 and then another around 2:00 or 3:00. They play hard and they sleep hard. This picture of them on the porch is right before their next nap.

You can always tell how tired Jeep is by how red his eyes get.

They're really adorable when they team up and carry a big stick together around the yard.

Aw, my boys I love them so much. They drive me crazy sometimes and house training at times has been a bear so I wish they would grow faster so they have a bit better control. But then other times I want them to slow down from growing, so I can enjoy their puppiness. I can't imagine how much bigger they'll be in another month or two!

Paint & Feathers

As the heat turns up here in the South, the weirdness of my dreams increases. This weekend I dreamt that I was in a play, a play I didn't know I was in. And the night of the performance, I was freaking out because I had never seen the script and the show had already begun! The next thing I know, people backstage are grabbing me and shoving me in a massive white suit with huge go-go white boots and a headpiece. They take me into the basement and start spray painting me bright yellow and rolling me in feathers. My roll apparently in this play is to dress as Big Bird from Sesame Street and perform some interpretive dance.

What the?

Yeah, thankfully Jason woke me up out of that one, cause believe it or not, I was completely stressed out about my role. I did not watch sesame street, see feathers or wear yellow the day before.

Please, explain this to me.

Yup, big bird.

Friday Fill-In

And...here we go!

1. The first rule of working in an office and getting along is not gossiping!.

2. I've never had clams.

3. When I think of carnivals I think of cotton candy.

4. Gerber Daisy's are my favorite spring flower.

5. Things on my desk include tons of folders & files, pens, Kleenex, lotion, water bottles and all the cards my husband has given me.

6. Friday's makes me wanna jump for joy!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to picking up my friend Julie to head to Jill's house, tomorrow my plans include hanging out with the girls and celebrating my birthday with lunch and a movie and Sunday, I want to relax, read and hang out with my man!

April Daring Bakers - Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I've only attempted cheesecake once and that was for my sister Kris' birthday when she came to visit us in Nashville. And in my opinion it was a bit of a disaster because the water leaked through the foil and made the crust soggy and the center of the cake was undercooked - yuck.

This time I was excited to attempt it again and see if I could conquer the cheese!

But sadly, the cheese conquered me......

After a ton of frustration and a LOT of cleaning, I waited another day and my husband convinced me to try it again...

And luckily, I was quite victorious!

Our assignment was to make a basic cheesecake from the recipe given by Jenny and then make whatever modifications we desired on the crust, flavors and toppings. My favorite cheesecake to order at the Cheesecake Factory is the Adams Peanut Butter Cheesecake, its ridiculous.

So I tried putting my own spin on it and made an Oreo cookie crust, then sprinkled the crust with a crunchy filling of Peanut Butter Cups and Butterfinger. Then I made the cheese filling and added some Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter and poured it over the crushed candies. I baked it for 50 minutes and let it cool in the oven. Then refrigerated it for a day and finished the decor with more crumbled candy filling and a peanut butter based frosting.

This cheesecake ROCKED MY WORLD and was well worth the second effort. I'll be adding this one to the recipe box for sure!

Cause That's How We Roll

The 24-hr-read-a-thon was somewhat of a success. I say somewhat because a bunch of girls got together over at our friend Julie's home with books in tow and ready to enjoy a full long day of catching up on some much needed reading and relaxation...

Aww...can't you feel the heat of the sunshine just by looking at this picture? That would be myself, Amy and Julie out on the lawn reading and Tabby up on the porch. It was so lovely and so serene. And I even have the sunburned back to prove the hours of enjoyment!
Books, bare feet and blankets.

This is not a posed picture, we truly were sitting in our chairs, enjoying each other's presence and reading our books with either a glass of wine or in my case a bottle of G2 :-) Divine isn't it?

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But then.....
We started to get a little distracted...

Maybe the heat was getting to us....

Or maybe we were taking an afternoon break to celebrate Melanie's birthday ghetto style. (click on picture for larger view)

Ain't nothing but a G-thing, right Rachel?

Here's Master-C blowing out her candle and receiving her dirt cake. (which is basically a cake made to look like a potted flower)

Cause that's how we roll yo.

It was such an awesome weekend. I almost finished one book, but I had puppy-duty from 5pm on and they took up a lot of time to watch. We are definitely going to do this again! And next time, collectively we'll track how many pages read.