key lime cake for happy birthdays

First of all, this is not a food blog. It may be hard to tell what with all of the food posts lately, but it is not. So. Now that we have that cleared up, let me share with you a delicious little treat I baked up for the mister's birthday over the weekend.

It is the Key Lime Cream Cake by the lovely Bakerella, and it is just delightful. No crazy ingredients needed to make this baby from scratch (coming from a person who considers cake flour a crazy ingredient, ok? Normal, plain old, all-purpose flour here.) I didn't have access to key limes, and regular limes did just fine. I won't repost the recipe here out of respect for the original author, but if you have any trouble accessing the recipe please let me know. 

 Also, I made two round cakes and did not slice them into additional layers. It just seemed unnecessary to me, so I skipped that step. Plus it just seems like an excuse to add more frosting and I'm not really into a whole lot of frosting. That being said, I also cut the frosting recipe in half and it was still more than enough for me. Really, I cannot imagine eating this cake with more than twice the frosting. Uhhh no. But the fresh whipped cream and graham crackers? Completely necessary. This made all the difference so I would not recommend skipping out on these. And don't just get Cool Whip. I mean, you can, but you won't be doing yourself any favors there.

Now I will admit that I am not the world's best cake decorator. I like to tell myself that messy is charming and nice, but let's be honest this makes me a little jealous.

That, folks, is a gosh darned gorgeous cake. Mine looked nothing like that. I piped my whipped cream on with a zip-lock back and ended up with a giant blob in the middle of the cake. And I have no clue how you make that happen with graham cracker crumbs on the side of the cake. No clue. Try as I might it all pretty much ended up on the tray around the cake, and what did stick to the cake messed up the frosting. But you know what? I don't think the mister minded. I don't think he minded one bit.

blackberry baked french toast for happy mornings

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of breakfast foods. Huge fan. If I could have belgian waffles every single day for the rest of my life I probably would. (Side note: I do not yet own a belgian waffle maker, and for some strange reason they do not sell frozen belgian waffles in NoVa. I don't get it, but they are severely lacking in my life right now.) The problem with breakfast is it tends to require effort. In the morning. Which is hard. So I like breakfasts that are super easy, but I also want them to taste amazing. 

Let me introduce you to a little something I threw together recently.

Looks amazing, right? So here's a little secret: I threw it together in just a few minutes with things I had around the kitchen and needed to get rid of. And. It was AMAZING!

ingredients:

1/3 loaf old french bread (or whatever stale bread you may have lying around)

1/2 cup leftover buttermilk you don't know what to do with (or half & half, or regular milk)

4 eggs

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

handful of blackberries (or any fruit you have)

for topping:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

2 tbsp butter or margarine

sprinkle of almonds (optional)

You with me so far? This sounds pretty easy, right? Almost all of the ingredients are substitutable. Make this with some challah bread, or old croissants, can you imagine? Yum! Throw some strawberries or peaches in there instead of blackberries, also yum. Leave out the topping if you want, it won't hurt my feelings. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I'm completely making up all those measurements. When I made this I just poured stuff together without measuring it. That's how easy it is. 

So here's what you do.

1. tear your bread into roughly 1" chunks and place in a small baking dish (I used a small loaf pan)

2. mix together eggs, milk, and vanilla

3. pour egg mixture over bread chunks until well covered

4. place in refrigerator for at least 20 minutes or until bread soaks up egg mixture. Do not skip this step, it makes such a huge difference!

5. now it's time to add your berries. You could be like me and carefully place your berries between and underneath and on the bread to be sure that each bite has a berry, or you could just sprinkle them all on top because what does it matter anyway. 

6. put flour and brown sugar in bowl, cut in butter until the mixture starts to form crumbles.

7. sprinkle brown sugar mixture over bread mixture

8. add almonds if you choose (it really did add a nice texture)

9. bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or so, until the top is nice and golden brown.

This made two very generous sized portions for the hubs and I. Just scoop it out, put it on a plate, and enjoy it. No syrup needed for sure.

If you made it through this whole post and decided to make this dish (or a version of it) for yourself, please leave a comment and let me know how it went!

The complete library of housewifery

The time has finally come to start sorting through all of the crazy unusual things that were left behind in this house when we moved in. The old mattresses and disgusting couch were taken away yesterday (thank you mister!) and I can now get to some of the stuff we've been storing in that side room all winter. Other than some long expired canned food and National Geographics, I really had no idea what I would find out there. I was surprised and delighted by some of the things I discovered this morning and it makes me want to spend all day out there. The mister might be dismayed at how much I want to keep instead of putting it in the yard sale we're planning. Ooops! But it really is like the complete library of housewifery in there! Knitting and sewing and lace making, in both English and what I assume to be Hungarian. Cooking. Children's books (I think. Again, Hungarian). Even a "Furniture You Can Build" book with sketches but no explanation of how to make it. Many of these books deserve their own posts. Today you get cooking.

 

This lady clearly bought anything Better Homes and Gardens sold her. I love it.

But here's what really stuck out in the collection.

Microwave cooking! Gourmet microwave cooking! The Exciting World of microwave cooking! 

There is everything you could possibly ask for here. Hot dogs, sandwiches, casseroles? Yes. Meat loaf, lobster tails, bread, apple pie? Yes. It wasn't a true American household in the late 70's and 80's unless you were cooking in your microwave and loving it. Also, there is some fantastic kitchen inspiration to be found in these books. The pictures are amazing!

Now how could I be asked to part with this?

Oh, and one more thing. Definitely keeping this one. Published in 1969.