Paula Deen's Peanut Butter Cake

Hubby's birthday is coming up next Sunday. His favorite sweet is chocolate peanut butter cups so I when I found this recipe I knew it was THE cake to celebrate his 34th birthday. I sure hope he likes it!

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour*
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder*
• 1 teaspoon salt*
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• Peanut butter (at least 1/2 cup; if using more, decrease shortening by an equal amount)
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs

Frosting:

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup peanuts, salted**
• 2 cap-fulls vanilla extract

*I plan to substitute self rising flour for the all purpose flour, salt, and baking soda. This will simplify this recipe a bit.
**I plan to dust the cake top with finely chopped peanuts instead of mixing the whole peanut in the frosting.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F if baking with a metal dish; 325 degrees F if using a glass dish.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Add graham cracker crumbs, peanut butter, shortening, milk, and vanilla. Beat mixture with electric mixer on low until moistened, and then beat on medium for 2 minutes. Add eggs and beat for 1 minute. Bake in greased 9-inch by 13-inch pan for 30 to 35 minutes. Do not remove from pan to cool.

For the frosting: mix all of the ingredients together. Pour into a saucepan and bring mixture to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Cool slightly. With a wooden spoon handle, poke a few holes in the cake, and then pour the warm frosting over it.

Jenn also writes about frugal living, crafts, and cooking at the Frugal Front Porch.

Flip-Flop Sandal Card

~Heather also blogs at HEATHER LESSITER and The Fat Bottomed Girl.~

This simple yet adorable card is perfect for a summer birthday party. Depending on colors and materials used, the look can be changed for a boy or a girl. This one was made to match the birthday cake which was decorated with green and pink flip-flops.

Materials Needed:

Paper or printable shoe pattern*

Card stock

Scissors

Ribbon or cording
Glue (I recommend glue dots)
Markers
Stamps and/or stickers (optional)

Step 1: Trace a child's shoe onto a piece of paper or print the pattern I made following the tips below*.

Step 2: Fold a piece of card stock and trace the pattern being sure to place the outer side of the shoe directly on the fold; cut the card stock along the lines.

Step 3: To cut the ribbon or cording to make the shoe straps. Lay the ribbon on the shoe shape to determine where the straps should lay to look correct and cut the pieces slightly longer than what you need.

Step 4: Using glue or glue dots, attach two ends of the ribbon at the point that would fall between the first and second toe. Fold the other ends under slightly and attach them to the shoe shape near the edges. Trim any long ends off.

Step 5: Use stamps, markers or stickers to embellish your flip-flop sandal card.

*Instructions for printing shoe pattern: Click on the picture below. Go to your file menu and click on "print preview". An over sized picture of the pattern will come up. Click on the arrow next to "shrink to fit". For a card that will fit into a standard envelope, type 35% in the box. For a slightly larger card that will fit into a business size envelope, type 40% into the box. Click on the print document button.

Roasting Corn on the Cob

Fresh sweet corn, one my favorite summer indulgences. The corn in my garden did not produce very well this year. We ate every last little ear it did produce though, and are patiently awaiting our second planting which looks much healthier.

The neighbor's corn, however, is big, sweet, and beautiful. And she has just invited me to come and pick all I want. I will be there today (after I pick my beans, again.)

Sweet corn is good about any way you fix it, but my favorite way is to roast it on the grill. Roasting on the grill is easy, and the taste is incredible. As an added summer bonus, grilling the corn keeps the heat outside, where it belongs.

The How To:

1) Preheat the grill on medium heat.
2)Remove the outer layers of the husk, and pull out the brown silk of the corn.
3) Place on the grill. Turn occasionally, and roast for about 40 minutes. Cooking time will vary depending on the grill heat, and the size of the ears. Pull back the husk a bit to check, but be careful. The corn will be very hot.

One additional tip: If your corn is not fresh picked, you will need to add one additional step. Soak the ears in water for half an hour or so to rehydrate the husk. This will prevent them from catching fire on the grill.

Removing the husk and remaining silk is an easy task after roasting. The corn will stay hot in the husk for quite some time. So, be careful when you started to shuck it.

Enjoy that sweet taste of summer!

Carnival #127

This week the carnival is traveling down under to Frills in the Hills for the Make it from Scratch Carnival, Aussie Style. Thanks to all who participated, and a big thanks to Liss for putting it all together for us! Here are some of my favorites this week.

Onion Soup
This sounds delicious; creamy and served over French bread. Yum!

Homemade Chocolate Syrup
We all need a little chocolate in our lives!

Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer
A very simple (and economical) way to kill germs.

Next week the carnival will be at I've Got a Little Space. Hope you join us!

Easy Egg Drop Soup

It's really not that difficult to make authentic Chinese Egg Drop Soup but I wanted some substance with it since it was a stand alone soup! I did some online research and found the same basic recipe but many methods to make it. The overwhelming problem with Egg Drop Soup was getting the egg to form silky ribbons instead of turning into a rubbery disaster. All the different sites kept repeating the key is constant stirring while slowly drizzling the egg into the soup. With a little ingenuity I resolved this problem so you can make Egg Drop Soup almost as easy as boiling water.

Ingredients

3 cups chicken stock

1/2 tbs salt

1 tbs freeze dried chives

1/2 cup uncooked egg noodles

1 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs cold water

1 egg + 2 tsp cold water

Directions

Bring top 3 ingredients to full boil on Med High heat. Toss in noodles and cook till al dente. While noodles are cooking: mix cornstarch and 2 tbs water in a separate bowl. Crack the egg plus 1 tsp cold water into a ziploc sandwich bag-seal-gently massage egg till beaten and set aside. (The goal is to avoid lots of air bubbles but to have the egg beaten well). Add cornstarch mixture when noodles are almost done and cook 2 additional minutes. Remove pot from heat, snip small tip off the corner of you beaten egg bag. Get ready to drizzle egg with one hand while constantly stirring with the other. (This part takes some finesse so you'll want to make sure you have the bag comfortably in one hand but still be able to control how you pour. That's why there's no photo of that step!) This method cooks the egg without over-cooking it resulting in light and tasty soup! Recipe makes enough for two lunch sized servings.

Read Jenn's other recipes and craft projects at Frugal Front Porch.

Homemade Edible Jewelry

~Heather also blogs at HEATHER LESSITER and The Fat Bottomed Girl.~

I took a break from crafting this week and let the kids take over. I handed them a bowl of Lifesaver Gummies, a large bowl of Fruit Loops Cereal and some cotton crochet thread. They made bracelets and necklaces that barely lasted long enough to get pictures of them. We tied them up and they immediately started munching.

As they snacked and we talked, we started talking about other candies and cereals you could use. We started giving them cute names like ‘Breakfast on the Go’ and ‘Snacklets’. That gave us a great idea! We thought these would make great items for the kids to sell at school during their student store days.

The student store days are also called Factors of Production in 4th grade, but Matthew will be having a similar section this year in 6th grade. The kids learn all about running a business from research and development to marketing and sales. They can provide a service or a product. We talked about how easy these would be to make ahead, put into zip-top bags and label for sale. I can also see these being a great addition to any lemonade stand or bake sale!





So as part of our research, I'd like to ask you for additional ideas for these. What other cereals and/or candies would you use? Can you think of any other names that would be catchy or cute? Leave a comment and let us know! Thanks so much!

Firsts on the First - Preserving Cabbage

I've grown cabbage before, but only enough to eat. This year we planted quite a bit more in the spring, and started some from seed a few weeks ago for a fall crop. There is no way we are going to eat all that cabbage. Time to learn to preserve it!

A little over a week ago, we attended a play date with a group of friends. Hot dogs were grilled, and everyone brought a side dish to share. There was a bowl of coleslaw there that looked a little different than what I expect coleslaw to look like. I'm adventurous, so I added some of it to my hot dog. (It is a West Virginia custom, but one I've thoroughly embraced since living here.) It was different, but absolutely delicious.

Imagine my delight, knowing that I have a lot of cabbage, to find that it was a home canned slaw. Crystal was kind enough to share the recipe with me.

Slaw
1 medium cabbage

1 large carrot

1 green pepper

1 small onion

1 tsp salt

-syrup-

1 cup vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 cups sugar

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp mustard seed

*Boil syrup ingredients together one minute.

*let cool.

*shred together vegetables

*add salt

*let stand one hour

*Drain water from veggies

*rinse twice

*drain well

*pack tightly in pint jars

*pour enough syrup in each jar to fill space and bring to correct head space.

*seal

*process in BWB 15m.

*** Use as is or with mayo

My head of cabbage was fairly large. I doubled the other ingredients to accommodate. I did have some extra syrup left at the end, but just used it to make some fresh slaw for dinner.

I used the food processor to chop all the vegetables. The slicing blade worked very well for the cabbage, and the chopping blade did the job on the carrots. I used the grater on the onion and peppers, and I thought they were too fine that way. Next time I will simply chop those vegetables too.

I also packed mine in quart jars, and increased the boiling time to 20 minutes. My yield was three quarts.

And as if trying one new thing in a day weren't enough, I tried sauerkraut in a jar. I saw this recipe over at Laura Williams Musings last summer, when I had very little cabbage. This is a very simple recipe. Click on over there to see it.

I can't say for sure my cabbage preserving was a success, since we have not yet tasted the finished product. They sure do look pretty in the jars though!




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