Thursday, April 18, 2013

Make You Loco Coconut Cake

I had this cake a couple of months ago, and I was in heaven! There will be days when I will crave this cake. I hope you all do too :)

Chris and I lead a Supper Club lifegroup on Wednesday nights. One of the ladies that comes made this delicious cake. Last night after I got off of work, we were meeting at Connie and Johnny's house. While the men talked about fishing, the ladies discussed recipes. I HAD to have the coconut recipe, and Connie spilled the beans!!  The secret: letting the cake sit overnight. So of course Chris had to take me to Publix to get the ingredients to make it last night. No I did not stay up all night making a cake :D

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix(Connie used Funfetti the first time. I decided to have a coconut overload. So coconut was my pick). You also need all the ingredients to make the cake
1 larger can of cream of coconut. I believe its $2.69 at Publix
1 medium sized Cool Whip thawed
Shredded coconut

Preheat oven and prepare cake batter according to box. Bake cake. As soon as the cake is complete, pour the can of cream of coconut on top. Let this soak up all night. Spread cool whip over entire cake. I had about a 1/4 inch layer. Sprinkle as much shredded coconut on top as your heart desires.

MMMMM!!! Hello, morning snack

Now, as you can see, I am missing my back half of this piece. Well, that piece actually was already in my tummy because of all of the cream of coconut that was absorbed.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes/Weekend Getaway

The last couple of days have been amazing! Hopefully good news coming from an OBGYN appt on Friday(I have a follow-up on the 23rd. It's always been a dream of mine to be a mom and we're having some issues. I hope to find out what those are when I go back.) After the appointment was over and I had lots of blood drawn, Chris whisked me away to Chattanooga for a weekend getaway. When we got there Friday afternoon, we checked into our bed and breakfast, The Garden Walk Inn. After getting settled, we headed to Ruby Falls. The exhibit was okay. Both of us agreed, the best parts were learning about the history of it and seeing the actual waterfall. My goodness, it was gorgeous!

Before we left on the trip, I researched places to eat. One of the places I came across was The Acropolis Grill. They bring you fresh bread and homemade cinnamon butter to begin with. I ordered their Caesar salad with homemade dressing, and Chris had their potato soup. For the entree, I had their Farmer's Pie. He had their lamb gyros. Both were delicious! I could eat there every single meal. Dessert was a little different. I had their sugar free Strawberry Patch cake, and Chris had their Tiramisu. His dessert had too much coffee on top. It was definitely not the best one we have ever had. If that was the only bad thing-who cares.

Saturday morning we woke up in time for breakfast which included bacon, cinnamon chocolate chip pancakes, orange juice, and coffee. One word to describe it: heavenly. The room was full of windows and you could watch the squirrels in the garden, observe the beautiful flowers and greens, and admire the vintage furniture. The owners came by the tables and made sure that you were thoroughly taken care of and satisfied. With breakfast as good as that, how can you not be :) After breakfast, we headed into downtown to the Tennessee Aquarium. I knew that it was voted one of the best, so I was super excited! We went through it in about 3 hours, and it was a lot of fun. We both love to learn and observe, so it was like nerd heaven. Outside of the aquarium, there were lots of venders. We had to get goodies to bring home. I am so excited to wear my new badge holder to work tomorrow!! Across the street from the aquarium is Ben and Jerry's. Being an ice cream lover and ALWAYS having it in my freezer growing up, we had to go. The girl behind the counter was awesome! She explained all of the flavors to us, and let us try a sample before choosing anything. It's the little things that make me happy :) After that we went back up Lookout Mountain to Rock City. I was a little unsure. What's so cool about rocks? Boy was I wrong! The scenery was beautiful, and the designers were very creative in the landscaping. We went to Lover's Leap and learned about it's history. Basically it was a Romeo and Juliet story with 2 Native Americans. In one of the trails, there was Fairyland Caverns, and it was full of black lights with sculptures of Mother Goose tales. It was very cool! We had free wine tasting later in our journey through, and Chris got a new leather hat. He's stoked about it.

For dinner, we went to Sing It or Wing It. The menu items are named after famous singers. I thought it was precious. Before 9PM, any age can be in there. If you want to sing karaoke, you pick a song from the binder, give it and your name to the dj, and when its your turn, rock it out. Chris and I didn't sing, but we had so much fun watching everyone else. An older woman got up there and sang Prince's song "You Don't Have to be Rich." Of course she danced with it too, and she was amazing!! I hope after we left she sang more. We went back to Acropolis just to get dessert to go(they have a dessert fridge in the front of the restaurant) and came back to the bed and breakfast. Sunday morning, we got showered and packed and headed to breakfast for the last time. This time, we had a peach french toast bake and sausage. It was slap yo' momma good! I hated to leave, but we had so much fun. I am definitely married to an incredible man. He planned all of this and did an amazing job. I love investing in our marriage.

Here's a couple pictures:

The Lover's Leap Waterfall
My precious hubs and me
Moonshinin' gnomes

The beginning of Fairyland Caverns. There is an actual neighborhood on Lookout Mountain called Fairyland and the street names are fairytale characters i.e. Cinderella, Aladdin, Snow Ride, and Red Riding Hood.


 I had an off day yesterday, and while trying to plan meals, I came across stuffed sweet potatoes. There's the new staple in your kitchen.

Ingredients:
4 medium sized sweet potatoes
1 can black beans washed and drained
1 cup corn-I used fresh corn that I cut off of the cob(4 half ears)
pepper
paprika
cayenne pepper
parsley
cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash potatoes and with a knife, poke small holes. Place on baking sheet and bake in oven for an hour. While they are baking, wash and drain the black beans and put them in a mixing bowl. Next, place paper towels in your microwave and put the corn on top. Microwave for 8 minutes. Remove from microwave and let cool. This helps the shuck and strings to come off easier. Once removed, cut the corn off of 2 ears and place in bowl with beans. I didn't measure my spices. I just added until I got the flavor just right.(Everyone has their preferences.) Mix all of the ingredients together. When the sweet potatoes are soft, they can be removed from the oven. Slice and open them like you would a baked potato. Add the corn/bean filling and top with cheese.

It's easy, delicious, healthy, and very filling! I hope you all enjoy this recipe. What different ingredients will you use?

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Lawdy Lawdy

I have made so many new recipes lately that it is hard to keep up. So today I say "Who says you can't have cake for breakfast?"

Yesterday was my day off, and boy was it a lovely day to have off. I got to have breakfast with the hubs and our fur babies. I worked out some, went to Wally World for some ingredients, stopped by Hobby Lobby for some material, and went to Hartselle to my MIL's house to make pillow covers. I have to admit I do have a sewing machine that I got from her but I am terrified of it. I am so scared that I'm going to sew my fingers in it. Confession: I sewed 2 pillows and I came out with all 10 fingers attached and unpricked.


My new pillows!
While I was at her house, we made Paula Deen's Lazy Man's Dessert. I saw it on Food Network last week and thought it was time for a try.

Ingredients: 
1 can crushed pineapple
1 can pie filling-she used blueberry. I used blackberry
1 box Butter cake mix
3/4 cup melted butter
crushed nuts(optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray casserole dish with non-stick spray. Pour pineapple, juice and all, into the pan. Layer pie filling on the top. Then, spread the dry cake mix over the filling evenly. Drizzle the melted butter over the entire mix. Lastly, top with crushed nuts. Bake for 40-50 minuted or until the middle of the cake mix is cooked. Remove from the oven and enjoy immediately! This is a dessert from Heaven, and it's EASY!! 

So, when I came home yesterday I had an idea. I had a can of pumpkin and a spice cake mix in  my pantry. We all know how well those go together. Since I am on call right now, I figured I would give this recipe a shot.

Ingredients:
1 large can of pumpkin
1 box spice cake mix
3/.4 cup butter
almond milk-<1/4 cup
crushed nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray casserole dish with non-stick spray. Pour pumpkin into the casserole dish and pour almond milk into the pumpkin ad stir. I added enough almond milk to thin the pumpkin out. You want the texture to be slightly liquid. Top with the dry spice cake mix. Pour the melted butter on top. Sprinkle crushed nuts over the butter, and bake for 40-45 minutes. Oh my goodness! This one was delicious too!!

  Pumpkin lover's unite!!



I hope you all enjoy these new recipes!! What combinations will you try?