Wow! 8 months since my last post!

I'm seeing a trend. I post 5 times a year on my blog. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. I'm at work and a friend needed a recipe that I remembered was on my blog. So...I signed in to get it instead of waiting until I get home to get it out of my recipe box. Yep, I haven't posted anything since September 2010.

Today is the last day of school!! Yippee!! I plan on doing a lot more cooking this summer since we don't have sports practices, piano lessons, girl scouts, etc. I only work about 1 day a week in the summer so it leaves more time for going to the pool, I mean cooking! My goal is to post more on my blog. Claire and I already have big plans to make homemade bread and some other things we've never made.

This past weekend, Memorial Day, I made cake balls. They were Red Velvet with white coating and blue sprinkles. Get it?? Red, White and Blue!! Here's the recipe:

Cake Balls

1 cake mix (any flavor) prepared and baked in a 9x13 pan

1 tub frosting (any flavor)

1 block almond bark (white or chocolate)

Make the cake like the box says. Cool completely (I mean completely!). Crumble cake in a large bowl and stir in frosting. Shape mixture into balls (I use a cookie scoop) and place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Refrigerate for a couple of hours (they did better leaving them overnight). Melt almond bark in a measuring cup. Dip balls one at a time and place on wax paper to harden. It might be necessary to zap the almond bark again if it cools off to much and gets thick. Yields: 52 balls

As you can see, the possibilities are endless. Next time, I will use chocolate almond bark as it's hard to keep every crumb out and red velvet really shows up in white. I'm thinking German Chocolate Cake...hmmm, sounds yummy. These can also be made into cake pops by putting them on a sucker stick (Let dry in a block of Styrofoam so all sides are pretty). I think I'll try using sucker sticks next time.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...blog more often!

Summer Storms

Sometimes you need a rainy day in the summer...so you can stay inside and get things done. That's what I'm doing today! If it had been 100 degrees and sunny, we probably would have packed up and gone to the pool. But, since it's cloudy and on/off rain (although it is sunny now~Texas weather!) we stayed home and I'm doing some much needed laundry. I also took the time to put dinner in the crockpot (red beans for red beans and rice) and I have a loaf of banana bread in the oven. On another day, I would have just thrown those over ripe bananas in the trash. Since I had some time between loads of laundry we will now get to enjoy some banana bread this evening after dinner.

You know it's summer when:

1. You have 5 kids at your house (when you only birthed 2)

2. There is more time to cook

3. No worries about bedtime and if the kids bathed (heck, we'll probably go to the pool tomorrow so forget the shower!)

4. Family time

5. You get more sleep! That's one of my favorites.

Here's the recipe for the Banana Bread, in case you were interested. It's from Mom Rasmussen. I'll give her exact recipe, although I add chocolate chips instead of nuts and also add a little vanilla.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

5 Tbs. sour milk (that's milk with a little vinegar added)

3 mashed bananas

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup nuts

350 for 60 min. (Check it at 50 minutes) Makes 1 large loaf pan or 2 small

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, milk and bananas and mix well. Add flour, baking soda and salt a little at a time stirring after each addition. When combined, stir in nuts (or chocolate chips). Pour into well greased loaf pan and bake. Cool in pan a little and then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Great for breakfast if it lasts that long!