Wednesday, January 7, 2009, by Leigh Anne
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Today is my birthday!
I’m not telling you how old I am but I will give you a hint - next year is a very BIG birthday for me!!!
Here I am on my first birthday - aren’t I a cutie!
One thing I learned, years ago, to assure a happy birthday is to just ask for what you want. Don’t let people guess! So what do I want for my birthday? Like all good bloggers I love comments and blog subscribers. In fact, two of my goals for 2009 are to increase comments on my blog and to increase my subscriber count.
So as a birthday gift to me I’d love for you to forward the link to my blog to a couple of your friends and encourage them to subscribe or add me to their rss reader! Also, if you have never left me a comment I’d love to hear from you. It’s really not hard. Just click through to the actual blog if you are reading this in an email update and scroll on down to the end of the post - click where it says comments and say hi! I promise it’s not hard and I’d love to hear from you.
So what is a birthday without a cake? I am not a big cake fan, in fact I’d prefer pie to cake, but when it comes to birthdays I am a firm believer in cake!
My cake of choice growing up was always an angel food cake, usually with either pink or purple frosting.
I have gotten a little bit more sophisticated since then although I still love angel food cake. The past few years I have enjoyed a poppy seed cake with lemon cream cheese filling and frosting from the local Beaverton Bakery - yum!
This year I decided to take things into my own hands and make my own cake. Now if my husband still wants to buy me my favorite cake from Beaverton Bakery I won’t refuse!
Lately I have had a thing going for caramel cake and I’ve been experimenting with different recipes. The caramel cake I made for my birthday is one I found over at Smitten Kitchen.
The cake is made from scratch and is light and moist. I find some cakes that are made from scratch too heavy and dense but this one is not. Be sure and use cake flour.
The frosting is really a soft caramel - it is so good!!! One of the reasons I eat cake is for the frosting and this one doesn’t disappoint if you like caramel.
I wish I could share a piece with all of you but since I can’t I’ll just have to eat your piece too!
The recipe makes a 8 x 8 cake which is a perfect size for my reduced size family!
I’m off to “Eat Cake” and enjoy some girlfriend time for lunch, a massage and dinner out with Jim and Tessa.
Caramel Cake
For cake
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes
1 C well-shaken buttermilk
For caramel glaze
1 C heavy cream
1/2 C packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Equipment: a candy thermometer
Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter an 8-inch square cake pan and line with a square of parchment paper, then butter parchment
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture may look curdled). Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.
Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.
Make glaze:
Bring cream, brown sugar, corn syrup, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Boil until glaze registers 210 to 212°F on thermometer, 12 to 14 minutes, then stir in vanilla.
Put rack with cake in a shallow baking pan and pour hot glaze over top of cake, allowing it to run down sides. Cool until glaze is set, about 30 minutes.
Note: Cake (before glazing) can be made 1 day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
Monday, January 5, 2009, by Leigh Anne
I want to begin this post by stating that I LOVE my children!
I LOVE when my three full size adult college students come home with all their adult sized STUFF!
I LOVE it when they bring - three laptops, i-pods, cell phones, Blackberry and all the assorted plugs, chargers and head phones that go with them. And then there are the suitcases full of clean and dirty clothes.
I also LOVE the piles of big shoes that end up everywhere! Theirs and their friends!
I LOVE that my food bill triples and my kitchen becomes a 24 hour diner.
I LOVE having people roaming my house all hours of the night - some going to bed after one a.m. and then one getting up at 3:30 a.m. to go to work! Did I mention I am a very light sleeper!
Really - I truly do LOVE it - O.K. - so most of the time I LOVE it!
I LOVE having all of my family home under one roof!
But I must admit, now that they have gone back to school I am LOVING how quiet my house is - at least for a while.
I am LOVING fixing pancakes for Sunday dinner. This would never have flown with my two “no meal is complete without meat” college boys.
The college kids did leave something behind though- their germs! Four of the six of us are down with the flu - so far I’m still standing!!!
Yes, I put a throwing up child on an airplane - sorry Southwest!
Don’t get me wrong I LOVE my children and I LOVE having them home but I also LOVE my house when they are not here - that’s a good thing right?!
Now that it is a little quieter around here I’ve had a little time to reflect. Time to think about the new year ahead and to review over last year.
I pulled out my list of Goals for 2008 to see how I had done.
Last January I set a total of eleven goals and I am proud to announce that of those eleven I accomplished ONE - yes ONE! And that goal was finished at 6:00 p.m. on January 31, 2008! Nothing like cutting it close! I could feel bad and beat myself up but I don’t because although I didn’t accomplish all eleven goals I did make progress.
Did I read the 100 books? No, but I did read 32 and that was more than the 29 I read in 2007!
Did I walk 3 times a week and do strength training 2 times a week -No, but I did walk 2 times a week (o.k. - well, most weeks and there was the Wii Fit I did once or twice!)
Did I get all my family scrapbooks up to date? No, but I did make several albums as gifts this year and kept our family blog current which is a great virtual scrapbook.
Did I travel to a foreign country? No, unless you count Utah! But I had some wonderful visits there with family and friends.
Did I hit my target weight? No, but at least I didn’t gain any weight - o.k. so there are those couple of holiday pounds….
The only goal I accomplished is one I have set for the last 5 years and have successfully completed each year - to read a certain book of scripture each year.
Tessa goes back to school tomorrow - after a 24 day Winter Break thanks to Arctic Blast 2008 and I’m going to use some of that quiet time to set some new goals for 2009.
I think I might just scratch out 2008 and add 2009 to that list of goals and start over! Although I think I will take that 100 books a year goal down to 50!
As I shared with you before - my focus for 2009 is to Find Joy in MY Journey! If I accomplish all my goals - great! If I don’t -at least I made progress and hopefully I found Joy doing it!
So my question for you is - do you make New Year’s Resolutions or goals? What’s one of your goals for 2009? Do you have a mantra or word that will be your focus in 2009? Read this great article if you need some inspiration in choosing a word. She also has a great list of words to choose from here if you need some help! You’ll see my word on the list - JOY!
Leave a comment below and let me know what one of your goals is or what your word for 2009 is! Happy New Year!
Popularity: 6% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Inspire
Friday, January 2, 2009, by Leigh Anne
Happy 2009!
I mentioned on Wednesday that we welcomed the new year with our traditional Soup’s On party. Soup is a great way to feed a crowd.
As promised, today I will share with you the menu from our party. This year I cooked up four big pots of soups. I have shared the four soup recipes on the blog before so just click on the name of the soup to find the recipe.
The most popular soup is always my clam chowder. I don’t like clam chowder but everyone else sure does. This was the first one to be eaten and the first one to disappear. The secret to this recipe is the pepper bacon! Clam Chowder just isn’t very photogenic - sorry!
My favorite soup is the Tortellini Sausage Soup!
For a bit of a kick I made a pot of Chicken Tarragon. Add more or less paprika to determine your heat.
And the fourth soup this year was Roasted Red Pepper. I actually had to make this soup twice.
I was trying to be efficient and get all the soups made the day ahead. This soup is super easy - just put the red peppers, onion, garlic and olive oil in a pan and bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. The mistake I made is I left it in the oven for 4 hours! I totally forgot about it. You would have thought the yummy smell of garlic, onion and red peppers baking would have reminded me but it didn’t.
Fortunately Cali noticed the oven was still on and asked what I was cooking - otherwise who knows how long it would have cooked for. Believe me, after four hours there is not much left of those onions and red peppers! Another trip was made to the store and we started over!
I also made a batch of my favorite, super easy, rolls -Magleby’s Rolls
Guests also brought an appetizer or dessert to share. I baked up a batch of Nordy Bars and Lemon Cheesecake Bars. I tried out a few new appetizer recipes too which I’ll share in the next couple of weeks.
It is a fun way to ring in the New Year - good food, food friends and fun! Here’s to more of the same in 2009!
I am in need of a few new soup recipes - do you have one to share?
Popularity: 13% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
Wednesday, December 31, 2008, by Leigh Anne
I’m spending today getting ready for our annual Soup’s On New Year’s Eve Party. I’ve lost count of how many years we have been doing it.
I cook up 3-4 big pots of soup, a few appetizers and desserts. Our guests also bring an appetizer or dessert to share so there is always LOTS of food! I’ll share more details on the food on Friday.
I love starting the new year with good friends, good food and some fun!
Some friends just stop in for a bowl of soup and then go onto their next activity, some friends stay for the evening. Later in the evening we usually pull out a game or two (we got a few new ones for Christmas) and then ring in the New Year with sparkling cider and poppers!
Today though I want to continue the ice cream theme that I started on Monday by sharing our family’s favorite Christmas Day dessert - Ice Cream Pie!
Our family motto is “There’s always room for ice cream - it just melts and fills in the cracks!”
Ice Cream Pie is an easy, quick and delicious dessert. There really isn’t even a formal recipe.
All you need is:
Some type of pie shell - we use store bought graham cracker and oreo cookie.
A favorite flavor of ice cream - this year we used vanilla and mint chip.
Some type of sauce - My mom’s Hot Fudge Sauce works perfect!! For caramel sauce I buy Mrs. Richardson’s Butterscotch Caramel Sauce
Candy - crushed up Heath bar, Andes Mints, Snickers, candy cane etc.
Our family’s favorite combinations are:
Graham cracker crust, vanilla ice cream, Mrs. Richardson’s Caramel Sauce, crushed Heath Bar
And this is another popular combination at our house:
Oreo cookie crust, mint ice cream, hot fudge sauce, and crushed Andes Mint candy
Step One: Soften ice cream and layer half of it on the bottom of the pie crust
Step Two: Pour a layer of fudge sauce or caramel sauce over ice cream. Use as much or as little as you like - no rules
Step Three: Sprinkle 1/2 of crushed candy over sauce. I used 4 Heath bars total.
Step Four: Repeat!
Put back into the freezer until firm. Enjoy!
Use your creativity! What combination would you put together?
Popularity: 13% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
Monday, December 29, 2008, by Leigh Anne
After 12 straight days of snow I think we have finally thawed out. I have lived in Portland for 26 years and never remember having snow for this long!
Well, when you are stuck in the house because of snow and ice what is the first food that comes to mind? Hot chocolate, homemade soup, cinnamon rolls???
Last week at our house it was ice cream! Yes, ice cream. When I announced I was making ice cream for dessert Cali’s reply was “It’s too cold!” Logan’s reply was “It’s never too cold for ice cream!”
I have to agree with Logan.
Several months ago I had seen a recipe for Cinnamon Ice Cream over at Rachelle’s blog and copied off the recipe. I thought it would be perfect to serve with my Blackberry Cobbler or Apple Pie.
I was right.
It was quick and easy to mix up in my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and was the perfect compliment to the Blackberry Cobbler. I am a cinnamon fan and cinnamon and ice cream are a great combination.
So next time you get snowed in or even if you’re not - make ice cream!
Cinnamon Ice Cream
by rachelle
2 C cream
1 C half and half or whole milk
1 C sugar
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 dash salt
1 tsp vanilla
Combine cream, half and half, sugar, cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Whisk well to combine, place in the freezer to chill for an hour or two, pour cooled mixture into an ice cream maker and process until set. Place ice cream into Tupperware container and freeze for a few more hours before serving.
Remember - it’s never too cold for ice cream!!
Popularity: 16% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
Friday, December 26, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Over the Thanksgiving break we had a family photo taken.
Having a family photo taken is a lot of work! Picking out what everyone is going to wear and making sure it all works together, making sure everyone has a good haircut, finding a time when everyone is available, including the photographer, and then in our case this year - dealing with the weather. A dense fog decided to move in the morning we were to have our outdoor picture taken. Fortunately our great photographer found a pocket of sunshine!
Last year I chronicled our family photo experience here. If you want a laugh, check it out.
For you mothers of young children who think having a family picture taken will get easier when they get older - think again! I use to bribe my boys with the promise of Happy Meals if they smiled good for the picture - now I just threaten!
But I have to admit that our family photo experience this year was one of our easier ones. I only had to threaten Clark not to make silly faces a few times!
Thanks to my friend Sarah who took these wonderful pictures. She is also the one who took the picture I use in the header for my blog. If you live in the Portland area and need a family photo taken I highly recommend her!
The Wilkes Family - 2008!
Popularity: 20% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Connect, Family
Thursday, December 25, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Merry Christmas! Hope you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas day!
I wanted to share our family Christmas card with you.
Enjoy your day!
Popularity: 19% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Connect, Family
Wednesday, December 24, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Do you have a favorite word?
A word that just speaks to your heart, a word that motivates and inspires you? A word that just seems to pop up every time you turn around?
That word for me is Joy - it’s not an unusual word this time of year. In fact, last year I added this to my holiday decorating….
I decided that Joy was not just for Christmas but it was something I needed to remember and focus on all year long so I left it on the wall - it is now a permanent part of my decor. A daily reminder that it is up to me to bring Joy to my world.
Because that is not always an easy thing to do - I decided I needed a few more reminders. I have an entire Joy tree (this one doesn’t stay up all year). The Christmas tree in our family room is decorated with Joy ornaments….
and a few other pieces of Joy decor…
Recently I came across the following quote that I have decided is my new mantra for 2009. I love it so much we put it on our Christmas card this year.
“Let us relish life as we live it, find JOY in the journey, and share our love with friends and family.” Thomas S. Monson
I have decided to tweak it just a little bit - I want to find JOY in MY journey. Life does not always go according to plan but it is up to us to find JOY in the journey that life gives us. I hope to find more JOY in my Journey in 2009.
Do you have a favorite word, a word that speaks to your heart?
I have had several requests for pictures of my holiday decorations. I recently posted pictures of some of them on my family blog - if you are interested you can check them out here, just click here. Enjoy!
Popularity: 21% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Family, Inspire
Tuesday, December 23, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Back in 1985 a tradition was born.
In Portland, if you want to see the “real” Santa, you go to Santaland at Meier & Frank (now Macy’s).
So of course when we took our first baby to see Santa, off to Santaland we went. As a six month old Logan thought nothing of the funny, jolly old man and happily let Santa hold him for a perfect photo moment.
Well, it was a different story the next year Our cute little 18 month old didn’t think that funny, jolly old man was too great. Logan started screaming when we attempted to hand him to Santa so we could get a picture.
Being the smart man that he is, Santa invited mom and dad to join him. So all three of us piled onto Santa’s lap.
O.K. - so no comments about the hair - it was the 80’s!
Thus, a tradition was born! For the last 23 years the whole family -now six of us - visit the “real” Santa at what is now Macy’s. We all pile onto Santa’s lap for the traditional family photo!
Yes, each of my children, ages 24, 22, 19 and 15 still sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. And you know what - they love it!! You see the rule at our house is “You don’t believe, you don’t get!”
We haven’t missed a year. There have been years when someone has been missing in the photo - the years our boys were serving missions in Argentina and Chile and then there was the year Clark had a wrestling match (don’t start me on that one!).
But there has been a family Santa picture for the last 23 years! I have them all in an album if you want to see!
Well, if you have been watching the weather at all, you may know that the Northwest is now in it’s 9th day of Arctic Blast 2008! Yes, we currently have 10 inches of snow in our front yard and this morning all cars were being advised to only drive if you had chains. I don’t think the City of Portland owns a snowplow!
As a result of the weather our annual visit to Santa hadn’t happened yet.
Well, we were running out of time - only three more days until Christmas! I wasn’t about to let this be the first year we didn’t have a family picture with Santa.
So, we put the chains on the car, loaded in and headed downtown. It was no surprise but there was no line to see Santa and we got the photo! Guess I am the only mother in Portland willing to risk her children’s lives to get a photo with Santa!!
Taking a good family photo with six people can be a challenge. Every family has one - the one member who loves to make funny faces in pictures. You know the one - everyone looks great in the picture except for that one person - the one in the back sticking out their tongue or making rabbit ears. Well ours is Clark. See what I mean!
We have just learned that you never take just one photo - you take several.
You can imagine how we laughed when we saw this picture - Clark is the only one that looks good!!
But thanks to a persistent photographer we got it - we got a good one.
The one for the family album.
Popularity: 22% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Connect, Family
Monday, December 22, 2008, by Leigh Anne
When my children were younger one of our favorite holiday traditions was to have Breakfast with Santa downtown at Meier & Frank each year. We probably did it for 10 years or so. It was fun to get dressed, eat breakfast in the beautiful Georgian Room, enjoy the entertainment and of course see Santa.
Sadly, my children have all outgrown the experience and the Georgian Room is gone but we decided our neighbor children hadn’t outgrown it so we started our own Breakfast with Santa at our house. For the last three years we have invited the three “cul de sac” families to join us for breakfast one Saturday morning before Christmas. But instead of getting dressed up, everyone comes in their pajamas!
We serve the same menu they served in the Georgian Room.
Pancakes…
But ours come with Cinnamon Syrup
Little sausages…
and hot chocolate with lots of whip cream!
The kids all have a great time decorating gingerbread houses together.
We use the kits they sell at Costco!
And then there is that special visitor…..
This year, because of the weather, Santa arrived via special delivery (Thanks Dave!!)
After visiting with each of the children and finding out what they want for Christmas Santa heads out…. until next year Santa!!
Now the confession…
I use Bisquick to make pancakes! I know, that may be hard for some of you to believe but I do - or at least I did, until this year.
Several months ago my friend Sherra had a Pancake Throwdown on her blog and shared a recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes. Well, of course, I had to try them! Since that day I have never used Bisquick to make pancakes again!
They are yummy! If you don’t happen to have buttermilk on hand you can make your own by putting 1 Tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar in a liquid measuring cup and then add milk to the 1 cup line. Let sit for 5 minutes and you have a decent buttermilk substitution.
Give them a try and you may never use Bisquick again either!
59 Diner Buttermilk Pancakes
- 2 eggs
- 2 C buttermilk
- 6 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1-3/4 C flour
- 2-1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Combine liquid ingredients and dry ingredients separately. Mix until smooth. Let batter rest for 10 minutes. Cook on a preheated, lightly greased griddle for 1 minute. Turn pancakes and finish cooking. Makes about 10 pancakes.
Popularity: 27% [?]
Print This Post
Categories: Connect, Family, Nourish, Recipes
RSS Subscription
E-Mail Subscription
