Monday, August 13, 2012

New Breaky Fave


So this is my very favorite new face that Owen makes.  He makes it when he is thinking about his next move in life.  In this particular instance, he was thinking very hard about where he was going to throw his handful of acorns that we collected on our little hike in Shenandoah National Park.


We took Jeremy's parents on a little hike (ha!  look how flat this "hike" is - isn't it amazing??) and a picnic.  Owen LOVED hiking with Grandma and Grandpa and walking almost the entire 1.3 mile loop!


Little Mister even picked up a hiking stick that Grandpa carved his name into :) 


On this particular hike, Grandpa was the Dear Spotter - seriously.  My father-in-law has mad dear-spotting skills and pointed out about 5 deer.  And they are so not afraid of the human-kind.  This little guy walked right past us!

Owen and the ladies :)

Anyfood, the whole point of this post is to share a Pinterest success.  I had been wanting to try German Pancakes because they looked vaguely like my family's Curly Pancake recipe.  BUT, they are baked and not fried in shortening...which is the key ingredient in making Curly Pancakes curly and thus only made once in a blue moon.  Not only are they saturated in grease but the kitchen is a beast to clean up after frying all of that doughy goodness.  Enter baked-pancakes and you have a healthier version with very little clean-up! 


The German Pancakes were similar in consistency, super easy, and they received two thumbs up from both of my boys.  If I knew more about the science of food, I would play with the batter and figure out how to get a little different texture but I am completely clueless in that respect.  I guess I will wait for my mom to get here in a week and a half and see if we can come up with something!

German Pancakes
Source:  www.tastesbetterfromscratch.blogspot.com via Pinterest

Ingredients
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
dash of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp butter

*Optional: dash or two of cinnamon - I am addicted to cinnamon in anything and everything!

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425*.  As oven pre-heats, put the butter in an ungreased 8 x 8 baking dish and place in oven, just until melted.  

Place the eggs, milk, flour, salt and vanilla in a blender; cover and process until smooth (I just whisked mine together in a bowl as I hate cleaning my blender). Pour batter into baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown and puffy. 

When done, sprinkle generously with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup. 

Happy Breakfast!

How fabulous is this heart-shaped stump?  I Heart it :)
 


Saturday, August 11, 2012

Chock-it Dump Truck Cake



For Owen's 2nd Birthday all he wanted was a "Chock-it Dump Truck Cake."  I kid you not.  We started talking about his birthday about a week before and he totally remembered the Wilton Dump Truck pan we bought at Hobby Lobby before we moved to Virginia.


So the day before his little birthday party, we made a cake together :)  He insisted on wearing an apron because Mommy was wearing one. I found the manliest one in my arsenal - and of course he needed the "Merry Christmas" chef hat! 



And what cake-making experience is complete without licking the mixer paddle?


And the rubber spatula??


Tada!  Chock-it Dump Truck Cake complete with cream cheese frosting and M-Ms (as Owen calls them).  I generally don't like chocolate cake - but both of my boys do.  I used an old standby recipe that my mom makes for my family when chocolate cake is requested - she doesn't like chocolate cake either :)  I don't know what it is, but I just don't like chocolate cake...or chocolate ice cream.  Anyfood, this recipe I actually like because it is nice and moist and has chocolate chips in it!

Chocolate Chip Cake

Ingredients
1 package Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (I use Duncan Hines)
1 (4 oz) package Instant Chocolate Pudding
1 small package semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used 2 cups)
4 eggs
1/2 cup veggie oil
1 (8 oz) carton of sour cream
3/4 cup water


Instructions:

Blend together all ingredients except chocolate chips with a mixer.  Blend for 1 minute on low then 4 minutes on medium.  Add chocolate chips.  Pour into a well greased 12 cup Bundt Pan (or a well greased Dump Truck Cake pan)*.

Bake at 325* for 1 hour.  Dust with powdered sugar or cream cheese frosting.  (But really, why would you bother with powdered sugar when you can use cream cheese frosting?)

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 box powdered sugar (3 and 3/4 cup - and as a side note, I used the Target brand of powdered sugar and it ended up v. v. granulated and not appetizing in my opinion...)
1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese - softened
1/2 to 1 stick of butter (I use the whole thing - and make sure it is salted butter)
1 tablespoon vanilla

Blend together in the mixer and enjoy!  I freeze my extra and enjoy it on graham crackers when no one is looking!

* Some chocolate chips will sink to the bottom of the pan during cooking.  When you invert the pan and attempt to remove the cake, it may give some resistance as the chocolate chips like to stick to the pan!

Owen enjoying a tire of the dump truck cake while I breath through some contractions/the baby actually flipping around so that he or she is now head down - that was not a fun experience!