Sweet and Simple Bakes - St. Clements Cake

My father has an expression he often used when as a child I tried something and failed. He would say you get an E for effort. I guess in his eyes that was like an A. Well this months Sweet and Simple Bakes is one of those E for effort times.

First off the recipe is in grams and I don't have a scale. Yes, I am going to invest in one. I am actually waiting for this measuring cup to be available. I converted the recipe as best I could. Second, my butter was too soft. I was determined to make this cake, so I went ahead and made the batter. It looked and smelled great. I made the cakes in two small loaf pans. When I peeked in the oven, I noticed one was overflowing like a lava flow in the oven. Next we have the burning smell, on goes the fan and we open the doors. The good news, the smoke alarm didn't go off.

Once I had the smoke cleared from the kitchen, I needed to determine if my cake was done. The recipe said smaller pans 30 minutes and golden brown. It's been 30 minutes and it's golden brown. I used a tester and it APPEARED to come out clean. I pulled them out of the oven. I glazed them and then watched the middle sink and sink and continue to sink.

As I said it's a day where I get E for effort. The two pieces in my photograph are the two best pieces out of both cakes. This cake has a great texture and the wonderful flavor of citrus. I will make it again...after I get a scale.





The recipe can be found here. You will find the links to all of the talented and creative Sweet and Simple Bakers here.

On another note, I love all things chocolate and want to start a baking group around Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard. If you'd like to join me in this yummy baking adventure, please leave me a comment.

Banana Pecan Cupcakes - MS Cupcake Club

When I saw the Banana Pecan Cupcakes were this months bonus bake in the MS Cupcake Club, I was thrilled. My husband has a banana almost every morning with his cereal and I always have bananas in the freezer. My go to recipe for bananas is Mrs. Flint's Bread but I am always looking for new and different banana recipes.

Sometimes a cupcake can be more like a muffin. For me, this is one of those cupcakes. You can find the other MS Cupcake Club members who participated in this bonus bake here.



On another note, I love chocolate and I would love to start a baking group based on Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard. If you like to join me in this yummy baking adventure, please leave a comment.

TWD - Chocolate Caramel Tart

My weekend baking turned into quite an adventure. One thing about getting older, I have mellowed and took it all in stride. Unlike 20 years or so ago when I couldn't get the Christmas tree in the stand and tossed it out the sliding glass door. My neighbor next door felt sorry for me and came over and helped us with the tree. Now that's a Christmas memory!

TWD didn't come without challenges. I don't own pie weights (they're on my Christmas list now), so I decided to use rice. Not such a great idea, some of the rice stuck to the dough. I was getting ready to start my caramel and realized I didn't have enough sugar. Was this a sign? I decided not to take a chance and waited to finish the tart until tonight.

I made a half recipe and used two mini tart pans. I used macadamia nuts instead of peanuts. My caramel came together nicely. However, I wasn't fast enough spreading it into the tart pans. It hardened and was very difficult to spread. I had a lot of ganache leftover. What should I do with the ganache? I am glad I made this recipe because it was a challenge for me and I tend to bake comfortable, easy recipes.

This week's Tuesday's With Dorie hostess was Carla of Chocolate Moosey . You can read about Carla and find links to the other TWD bakers here.

A Confirmed Make Up Junkies Favorites

I've been a "make up junkie" since I was a teenager. Always trying the latest foundation, mascara, lip gloss, blush, eye shadow, etc. etc. My make up drawer and bathroom cabinet contain hundreds of products. At 50 something, shouldn't it be time to settle down and pick my favorites? Well as it turns out, as I was cleaning out my make up drawer, I realized I have done just that. I so love my favorites, I had to share them with you.

I have also discovered EBay is a great source for purchasing make up. You can find some real bargains!!

Foundation - Bare Minerals by Bare Escentuals - Mineral Make Up is good for your skin and the best thing...for all those nights you just can't bring yourself to remove your make up...you can sleep in it!!

Concealer - Summer Bisque by Bare Escentuals - Nice coverage without looking like cover up.

Finishing Powder - Smash Box Halo Hydrating Powder - Creates a nice soft finish and helps foundation stay on all day.

Eye Brows - Smash Box Brow Tech - So easy to work with and natural looking.

Eye Shadow - Well Rested by Bare Escentuals (Base) - Just as it's name says, it gives your eyes a great "well rested" look and is an excellent base.

Eye Liner - Waterproof Shadow Liner - Smash Box - No more of the thin pencil like eyeliner, this creates a beautiful smoky eye liner.

Mascara - BLINC - By far my absolute favorite find. I've struggled for years with mascara melting below my eyes and creating those lovely racoon eyes. This mascara stays on your lashes. It's so interesting, it creates a tube over your lashes. The first couple of times you remove it, you'll think you removed an eye lash but it's the tube of the mascara coming off instead.

Perfume/Body Lotion/Shower Gel - Amazing Grace by Philosphy - Love, love , love this fragrance. It's so clean and so natural. While standing in a check out line or being waited on by a sales clerk, I am often told how nice I smell.

Clarisonic Mia - My newest purchase and it's proving to be everything that I had read and heard it would been the talk of radio and tv shows. It was one of Oprah's favorite things and is talked about on Eva Scrivo's Beauty Talk on Sirius. This is a smaller version of the original Clarisonic. I have wanted one for a while but held off because of the price. The original was around $200.00.
The Mia is about half the size of the original but has all of the same benefits.

I am not going cold turkey breaking this addiction. The one product I am still not 100% sure of is blush. I've never found one that I just LOVE. Do you have any suggestions for me??

Bobbing for Apples

Apples just make me think fall. When I was younger, middle school maybe?, my church group always had a fall party. We always bobbed for apples and of course, the boys always shoved the girls heads further into the metal tub of apples and water. I think that was the last time I bobbed for apples.

We stopped at the farm store on the way home from Tim's moms and found an apple picker. Tim was able to pick lots of apples from our tree. I wanted to make something that would let us enjoy the apples when the leaves are off the trees and there's snow on the ground.

Crockpot Chunky Applesauce

10 apples
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons brown sugar
dash of salt
1/2 cup water
lemon juice

Peel, core, slice and chop apples. To keep them from turning brown, place in a bowl with water and a little lemon juice. Combine all ingredients in the crock pot. Cook on low 8 - 10 hours or until soft.

My notes on this recipe: I decided I wanted a little thicker sauce, so I used my imersion blender to puree half of the sauce. I froze this freezer containers.



The applesauce is good to eat on its own. I used it for a topping for the SMS Pefect Pound Cake that was a little dry. It makes a wonderful topping for French Toast.

License To Grill Cookbook

This morning, dressed in a jacket and the wide brimmed gardening hat my son gave me for Christmas last year, I avoided the very large yellowjackets and successfully pruned the overgrown basil plant. The nights are going to start getting cooler next week and I know the days for fresh basil are numbered.

Little Bit of Everything's featured cookbook this week is License To Grill by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby. I believe I purchased this book when we had our lake house. We were in a grilling rut and I was always looking for new grilling recipes.

Basil - Garlic Chicken Breasts

1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons minced garlic

4 whole boneless chicken breasts

In a small bowl, combine the basil, garlic and olive oil and mix well. Rub the chicken breasts with this mixutre. Sprinkle with sale and pepper. Grill over a medium fire, skin side down, until the skin is crispy 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the breasts over and grill for another 6 minutes. Grill until the chicken registers an internal tempeature of 170.

My notes on this recipe: I used both chicken breasts and thighs.

Outdoor Wednesdays - Garden Flowers

Backyard Beauty!