Chocolate Praline Cake

Dear Chocolate Cake-

Oh, how I love thee.... You are so delicious, yet dangerous to me?!

Love,

Brooke

This is absolutely amazing. The topping by far is my favorite part. If you don't like pecans, well, shame on you!

Chocolate Praline Cake

1 box devils food cake mix plus ingredients to make the cake

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 cup pecans, chopped

Make the cake using the directions on the box. Set aside.

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add brown sugar and whipping cream and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add chopped pecans to the mixture. Pour mixture in the bottom of a bundt pan (must use this type of pan). Then carefully spoon the cake batter over the sugar mixture. Bake @ 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Invert cake onto platter. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whip cream.

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Family Home Evening Board

For my sister's birthday, I decided I wanted to make her a Family Home Evening Board. (Check out her amazing blog about her special little boy, Bugg. It is sure to warm your heart and has fabulous pictures). I first took an old picture frame and painted the frame yellow. My sister has a very bright and cheery house so I wanted to coordinate colors. I mod podged coordinating scrapbook paper to the board in the back of the frame and cut out the letters using my Cricut and mod podged those as well. I printed out some pictures black and white and laminated those and stuck some velcro on the back so the pictures could be moved around each week. And what's a gift without a monogrammed letter? I'm slightly addicted to those. Such a fun gift and I'll be making one of these for our family too.

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Blender Salsa

Chips and salsa are one of my all time favorite snacks. I love this black bean salsa, but I wanted to try something else home made. I'm all about quick and easy, so I was excited to find this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, My Kitchen Cafe. Super yummy, easy, and quick with just the right amount of heat. This would be great for 4th of July BBQ.

One Minute Salsa

1/2 small red onion, peeled and quartered

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1/4 cup drained jarred pickled jalapenos

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

In the bowl of a food processor (or a blender), pulse the onion, cilantro, jalapenos, lime juice, garlic and salt until coarsely chopped.

Add the drained tomatoes and pulse until combined. Don’t overprocess in this step if you want your salsa to remain chunky – just give it a few good 1-second pulses until everything is mixed. Place the salsa in a fine mesh strainer or sieve and drain briefly. Transfer to a bowl and serve. (The salsa can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)

Recipe Source: from Cook’s Country

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Making Memories

Our good friends had baby boy #3 a month ago. We paid a visit to the cute little guy last week. Since they already had two older boys, I figured they would be set for clothes. So I decided to make this. The "P" stands for baby Parker with his weight and birthdate. I painted the letter and mod podged the scrap book paper and letters cut from the Cricut. I glued on the train and that was it. I know after having more than 1 baby, I've already forgotten some of the stats for my 2nd baby. This will be cute little decoration and a special memory for baby #3.

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The best Chocolate Cake Ever

To celebrate being in my 20's for one last year, I wanted to make my own birthday cake. And well., let's face it, if I didn't make it, I wouldn't get a cake. No offense to the hubby, but cooking isn't his thing. I turned to one of my trusty sources , Your Homebased Mom, for this cake recipe. And boy was it good. The frosting will make you gain weight, just looking at it. One cup of butter plus heavy whipping cream too?! That's butter on butter!! But oh so worth it.

The BEST Chocolate Cake

1 box devil’s food cake mix

1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix

1 C sour cream

1 C canola oil

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 C milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 C semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bow mix together all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into a buttered and floured cake pan. I used two 9-inch pie pans.

For cooking time, use the cooking times on the back of the cake box as a guide and add about 10 minutes to that. Check for doneness using a tooth pick.)

Buttercream Frosting

1 C butter

4 C powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 C heavy whipping cream

In a mixer cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue creaming until well blended. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream. Blend on low speed until moistened. and then beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

MIA and a Star Spangled Banner

I feel like I've been MIA for awhile. It's been rough but I'm glad to be back in crafting action. My son was sick last week, I turned 29, and then spent the day after with my head in a toilet bowl with the stomach flu . It was awful! When my son was sick, he barfed on my entire face (yes, it was classic) and on my pillow, I had to get a new one which was hard as a rock and caused a kink in my neck. Now I have had neck pain for a few days now. Ugh! Not good. Enough of the awful week and onto some crafting goodness.

I love being patriotic. We are so blessed to live in this wonderful country, America. Summer time reminds me of patriotism and I thought it was time for a new door hanging. I pulled out an old bulletin board and of course, some red, white and blue paint. I didn't want the flag to be perfect, so I just drew it on by hand and painted it. I used my cricut to cut out "Land of the Free" and mod podged that on. Very simple and festive!

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Graduation Money Lei

My baby brother graduated from high school last week. It was a bit sentimental for me since I was 11 years old when he was born. I've watched him grow up and it's amazing how fast time has gone. He has turn into quite the stud muffin! He's off to college and then on a mission for our church.

For graduation, I wanted to do something fun and different. I saw an idea similar to this on Your Homebased Parties. You can make it as cheap or expensive as you want depending on how much money you want to give. My brother took the money off the lei before I could even get a picture of him so I stole this from my sister's camera!

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