today is a special day, part two.

Reason number three today is a special day: It is my best friend's birthday.

My best friend, H, is completely amazing. She is one of the only people who 'gets' me and I am pretty sure that feeling goes in both directions. She is an amazing mother, a loving girlfriend, and the best friend a girl could ask for. We have had plenty of adventures, laughs, and cake eating... What is a best friend if you do not do your fair share of cake eating?!? Another bonus: I can order pizza without consulting her first because I know she is the only other person who likes pineapple on their pizza.

Ham, I hope you have the greatest, bestest, most wonderfullest birthday in the history of birthdays. I love you lots and lots and will see you later for a chow down which includes cake, duh.

{The perfect BFF: Posing with statues of bears with fruit on their heads.}

{The perfect BFF: Frequent concert going. Rascal Flatts, 2006.}

{Kenny Chesney, 2007}

{Kenny Chesney, 2007.}

{Brooks and Dunn, 2010.}

{The perfect BFF: Random selfies.}

{The perfect BFF: Holiday Parties.}

{The perfect BFF: Appreciating a good plate of nachos.}

{The perfect BFF: Feeding small hounds Doritos while drunk.}

{The perfect BFF: Resourcefulness when it comes to cake eating.}

{The perfect BFF: Frequent trips to one of your favorite places on earth.}

In honor of Hamson turing the big 2-7, I am sharing my favorite chocolate cake recipe courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa.

Ingredients:

Butter and flour for greasing the pan

1 3/4 cups all-pupose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cups cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk*

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 extra-large eggs, room temperature**

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup of freshly brewed hot coffee***

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8" round cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper.****

2. Combine all dry ingredients and mix in an electric mixer.

3. In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients with the exception of the coffee and add to dry mixture. Mix on a low speed until combine and then pour in your coffee. (The batter will be runny and that is absolutely okay, I promise.)

4. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes.

5. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes than turn them out and let them completely cool on a wire rack.

6. Frost accordingly. :)

*In my opinion using the real deal buttermilk instead of the milk & vinegar or milk & lemon option makes it taste better.

**I have always used large eggs instead of extra-large eggs with this recipe and it always turns out great.

***Hot coffee is the key here so do not omit it! I promise you won't really be able to taste it and it brings out the chocolate flavor of the cake. (And that is coming from someone who is not a coffee fan.)

****This recipe can also be used for cupcakes. It will make roughly 2 dozen cupcakes. They should only bake for about 30 minutes, maybe even less. I baked them for 40 minutes and dried them out a little bit. :(

I have not found a chocolate frosting recipe that I am completely in love with yet. Today I am going to try Williams Sonoma chocolate buttercream recipe. It can be found here.

I'll update later with how that recipe turns out. 

And here's the update:

So the chocolate frosting recipe isn't too bad. Still not my fave but it was good for B's birthday bash. It is super duper sweet... Almost too sweet to use on chocolate cake. And, it makes a TON of frosting. I used the recipe to frost H's cupcakes and then froze the rest to frost B's cupcakes for his birthday and I still threw out like half of the frosting! I recommend cutting the recipe in half.

That being said, I am still on the hunt for good frosting recipes. If you have one please share it in the comments! 

turkey-loaf cupcakes

As of lately we have been trying to eat better and limit our eating out to once a week.... Which is a very difficult task for me because my family eats out ALL THE TIME. The hubs has it a little bit easier because his mom is Martha Stewart in the flesh and blood and made him meals three times a day when he was growing up. Along with our eating-better goal, I have limited my meat intake to just chicken and turkey. It's just a personal choice, plus I feel a lot better when I don't eat red meats or pork. My husband still eats other meats and so does my son, but they are kind of forced on the limited-meat diet because I am the cook in our household.

Tonight, I made turkey-loaf cupcakes. They were soooooooo good. I tried cooking with ground turkey once making turkey burgers and I did not like them, but this recipe is a total keeper. It's a modified version of the Six Sisters' Stuff Meatloaf Cupcakes recipe so if you want to make it with ground beef check out that recipe... But the turkey ones are pretty good. :)

Turkey-loaf Cupcakes
1/2 of a large yellow onion
2 celery stalks
2 carrots
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 garlic cloves (the original recipe calls for 2, I used 3 small cloves)
1/2 cup of ketchup
1 1/4 pound of extra lean ground turkey
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons of mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs

For the Glaze:
1 cup of ketchup
1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon of dry mustard

For the Mashed Potatoes:
3 large russet potatoes
1/2-1 cup milk
1/2-1 cup sour cream
1 stick of butter
garlic powder, pepper, and sea salt to season

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

2. Put onion, carrot, celery, oregano, and garlic into a food processor until chopped to your liking. Personally, I am not a huge fan of super chunky meat loaf, so my veggies get a really good chopping. While the veggies are going in the processor, put the olive oil in a skillet to heat up. After the oil is heated through your veggies in there and give them a good sauté.

3. Combine the sautéed veggies, 1/2 cup of ketchup, and remaining ingredients into a bowl and give it a good mixing.

4. Combine the ingredients for the glaze in a small separate bowl and stir until the brown sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

5. Spray a cupcake pan with vegetable oil spray and scoop the meat mixture into the cups. Make sure you are completely filling the cups. After the cups are filled, glaze the tops of the meat with the ketchup glaze. Pop them in the oven for about a half an hour or so.

6. While the turkey-loaf cakes are in the oven, bring a pot of water to a boil. Peel and cut up potatoes and boil them for about 20 minutes.

7. When the potatoes are soft remove them from the heat and drain out the water. Add the rest of the mashed potato ingredients and mix either by hand or by electric mixer.

8. When the the turkey loaf cakes are done, carefully remove them from the pan and then scoop some mashed potatoes on them. If you want to get super fancy-pants you can put mashed potatoes in a pastry bag and make your mashed potatoes look like frosting.

9. ENJOY! :)

Note: I chose mashed potatoes because I had some russet potatoes that needed to be eaten. Mashed sweet potatoes would probably be a good choice as well.



After I made them, and B & his dad devoured them, I went to put the left overs in the fridge. I have no idea what exactly I did, but my clumsiness got the best of me and the pups scored big time!

{Guess they thought they were pretty yummy too!}

{B wanted his picture taken once I took a picture of the pups.}

the easy-peasy breakfast sandwich

I wanted to share this recipe that I had originally saw on Pinterest to anyone who may come across this blog! As I mentioned in a previous post, B, the dogs, and I are all pretty late morning risers; B usually doesn't get up until 9:30 or 10.  The hubs works 12 hours day that have, as of lately, been starting at 7, so he gets up around 5 or 5:30.  In an attempt to be a pretty darn good housewife I decided that I would make him these breakfast sandwiches and freeze them so he wouldn't be stuck with cereal every morning for a quick breakfast.

The original recipe called for english muffins, eggs, canadian bacon, and cheese.  The first week I made them I substituted sausage for canadian bacon and bagels for english muffins.  The hubs informed me that the bagels were too thick for re-warming in the microwave because by the time the bagels were warm the cheese was completely dissolved. The next week, I reverted back to the english muffin and I am pretty sure they ended up perfect!

I like this recipe because it can be pretty versatile. You could use bacon, canadian bacon, sausage, or even chicken. I am sure egg whites can be substituted for eggs and you could use biscuits, english muffins, or even pancakes if you prefer!

You can make and freeze as many as you like, I make 3 or 4 at a time depending on my husbands work week so that is what my recipe reflects. The pictures are me making two because I was only a half-good housewife this week. :)

The Easy-Peasy Breakfast Sandwich



Ingredients:

4 Eggs
4 English muffins
4 slices of Sausage (I use the Jimmy Dean All Natural Sausage roll)
4 slices of Cheese
Salt & Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. While the oven is heating prepare your eggs. Grease 4 ramekins with some vegetable oil and place the ramekins on a baking sheet. Crack one egg into each ramekin, break the yolk with a fork, and season with salt and pepper. When the oven is ready pop those babies into the oven for about 12-15 minutes.



3. For the last 5 to 10 minutes that the eggs are baking, start cooking the sausage. I cut a slice about 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick and then smash them thin while cooking on the pan. They should be about the same circumference as the english muffin.



4. While the sausages are cooking pop the english muffins in the toaster.



5. Then you can start putting your sandwiches together. Don't forget the cheese! Also, be careful taking the eggs out of the ramekins. The ramekins are super duper hot and are slippery if you are trying to turn them over while wearing an oven mitt!



6. After the sandwiches are put together, stick a toothpick through them so they stay together (just don't forget to remove them before eating!), put them in a plastic zip lock baggie, and toss them in the freezer.



7 When you are ready to enjoy, pop them in the microwave for about a minute and a half or more, and enjoy! :)


(I just had to share my super cute kissing dachshund salt and pepper shakers...)