In love....

Tomorrow, we are embarking on an adventure! We are replastering some areas of our apartment, (walls and ceilings), that have started to crack and/or peel in the last year or so. And when that's done, we're going to paint, and change out some of our furniture. My hubby and I have completely different ideas when it comes to decorating, so needless to say it's been a bit of a trial deciding what to do. I'm starting to think that I'm just going to have to do it all on my own while he's at work, and then when he gets home, "Surprise!" Heh heh.

Today, during my daily blog surfing, I came across this image from Nannygoat:



I was intrigued, and wanted to know more! Lucky for me, Nannygoat linked to Jones Design Co., where I saw this photo:




I am so in love with this idea. I think it looks really classy, and it can add a lot of character to the room. I was already envisioning our home with walls like this, but when I showed the pic to dh, he did not agree. He hates it!! Ugh. I guess I'm back to square one.

(Though maybe he wouldn't mind it too much in our bedroom... less wall space!)

Rainbow Birthday Cake

Several months ago, I saw this cake online at The Idea Room



and knew I wanted to make it for my oldest daughter's birthday. Well, the day has come! Last night I stayed up until about 1am finishing it. :)



In the example picture, it's obvious that she took the time to bake each layer individually, but let's be honest. Who has that kind of time?? Well, I suppose I could have done it, but I really didn't want to. Instead, I divided the batter into six equal parts and colored them. Then in one cake pan I layered it (bottom to top) yellow, orange, red. In the other I layered it purple, blue, green. I knew the colors would mix somewhat, but I had hoped they would still look like layers when we cut into it.

The picture doesn't do it justice - the colors are much brighter in person. And even though it didn't turn out exactly as I had imagined, my daughter absolutely loved it! And that's all that really matters, right??

And as a side note, I used Dana's (from MADE) recipe to make the cake mix healthier. I thought it was pretty good, but seemed a little dry. Will have to play with it in the future. :)

Baby Shower!

This past Saturday, I hosted a baby shower for my good friend Audrey, who, sadly, is moving away in a couple days. :( One of our other friends brought pasta salad and prepared the games, (thanks, April!), and two other friends, (Thanks Danly and Vivien!), brought the beautiful roses and bowls of fruit. I prepared the other food, but everyone helped with setting up and cleaning up afterward. Usually in our social circle, these things become potlucks, but I didn't want to do that this time.

First of all, the spread...

Cake/mini cupcakes, heart-shaped brownies, veggies crudites with hummous dip, olives, tortilla roll-ups, pasta salad, Asian Wonton Salad, strawberries, grapes, and 7-layer Mexican bean dip w/ tortilla chips.

A close up... I made the Asian Wonton Salad for our book group meeting earlier in the week, and everyone loved it. So I decided to go ahead and make it for the baby shower, too. Again, everyone loved it. You should try it. So easy, and so yummy! Find the recipe HERE.

With the 7-layer dip, I didn't follow an exact recipe. I intended to use Pioneer Woman's recipe, and her recipe for guacamole and pico de gallo, but I ran out of time. So it ended up being a basic compliation of several recipes.

I started with a layer of refried beans (with a bit of taco seasoning mixed in), then a layer of sour cream, then a layer of guacamole (3 ripe, mashed avocados + finely chopped tomatoes w/ the seeds and "wet" part removed + finely chopped red onion + a little salt + juice of half a lime), then a layer of salsa, then a layer of sharp cheddar cheese, a layer of shredded lettuce, layer of chopped olives, tomatoes and topped with chopped green onions. It took me longer to put it all together than I had planned, but it turned out good and everyone seemed to like it.

I couldn't believe how easy the tortilla roll-ups were to make. I didn't follow one exact recipe, but looked at several and then came up with these on my own. I used "cilantro and garlic" flavored tortillas. The inside mixture is a combination of 1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, about 1/3 cup sour cream, finely chopped red bell pepper, finely chopped red onion, finely chopped black olives. You spread a thin layer of the mixture on each tortilla, add a slice of ham or turkey (if you want), and roll it up. Tightly wrap with saran wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I made these the day before, so they refrigerated about 24 hours. When you're ready to serve them, you just cut off the "wonky" ends, and then slice them in 1/2 inch pieces. Yummy! I got a lot of good comments on these.

It took me a long time to decide what cake I wanted to make. I finely decided on this cake. I'm sorry, I can't remember where I got the idea from, but I probably googled "baby shower cakes" and a photo came up somewhere. So anyway, this is basically just a yellow cake mix with cream cheese frosting. I LOVE this recipe for cream cheese frosting, though because of the butter it turns the frosting a light yellow. I need to find one that will let the frosting be white so that it can be tinted a different color w/out looking funny. The flowers are just plain m&m's, but it tasted so yummy all together! :)

Cream cheese frosting:

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 tsp. vanilla

5 3/4 - 6 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in additional powdered sugar to reach spreading consistency. (This frosts tops & sides of two 8" or 9" layers. Half the recipe for a 9x13 cake.)

CAKE DECORATING TIP #1!

When trying to decide what cake to make, I looked up some websites about tips for frosting a layered cake. I learned a very good tip! When you frost the sides and top, do what is called a "crumb layer" of frosting. That is, just put on a very thin layer of frosting first, and yes it will pick up some of the crumbs. Then, put the cake in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes until the frosting hardens. Then do another, thicker layer of frosting on top. It's much easier to spread this way, and none of the crumbs get pulled to the top layer of frosting. It looks much nicer.

I brought a bunch of little silk flowers to scatter around the table for some extra color. I also made 2 candle holders (hard to see in the pic above), by using pretty-shaped jam jars, tying pretty ribbon around the mouth of them, and putting pink tea-candles inside. It was a nice added touch, I thought.

Lastly, I made this little "advice" book for Audrey, since it's her first baby. I bought a small hard backed notebook and covered it with fabric, and hot-glued on the embellishments. On the inside front/back flaps, I taped in coordinating paper, and throughout the book I taped in cute parenting quotes.

Audrey, you will be missed. Thanks for being such a great friend!