Guiness Cake

Chocolate Guinness Cake 



■Prep time: 10 minutes■Cook time: 1 hourIngredients:

■1 cup stout or porter beer, such as Guinness

■10 tablespoons unsalted butter

■3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

■1 1/2 cups superfine sugar

■1/2 cups dark brown sugar

■3/4 cup sour cream

■2 eggs

■1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

■2 cups all-purpose flour

■2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

■1/4 teaspoon salt


Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 8 or 9-inch springform pan with butter and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. (I used a bundt pan)

2. In a large saucepan place the beer and butter. Cook over medium-high heat until the butter has melted. Add the cocoa powder and sugars and whisk together. Take off heat and allow to come to room temperature.

3. In another bowl beat together the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract until very, very well combined. Add to the butter-beer mixture and whisk together.

4. In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the beer-butter mixture and whisk together until it just comes together. Pour into the prepared pan and give the pan a few short drops onto the counter top to shake the air pockets in the batter to the surface and out of the cake. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Run a knife around the edge to separate the cake from the pan and pop the ring off the spring form.

The original recipe called for cream cheese frosting, but instead I did a caramel glaze. I think it turned out pretty well!

Chicken Enchilada dip

I found this recipe on Pinterest and modified it slightly for the crock pot. It was a huge hit at our recent taco party, and I'm itching to make it again at home!

3 chicken breasts (uncooked)
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c mayo
1/2 c sour cream
8 oz Mexican blend cheese
1 can diced green chiles
1 jalapeno, finely chopped

I tossed everything in the crock pot on low, minus half the cheese. Four hours later, I stirred everything together and shredded the chicken. I added the remaining half of the cheese to the top and left it on warm to melt it. Delicious!

Poor Papaw

Hayden, upon seeing his Papaw had a "boo-boo" on his leg:

Ok Papaw. I get this for you. But I need a knife and it will hurt. You look this way.

No doubt his little mind is remembering the Splinter Incident from a few weeks ago. The tweezers just didn't cut it.

Crock pot italian chicken

I tested out another Pinterest recipe the other night. This is one I've seen on everyone's page, and this week is hellacious at work so I needed something quick and easy, that I had all the ingredients for. I modified it slightly, since there are usually only two and a half of us eating.

3 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz cream cheese
1 packet dry italian dressing
1/2 c milk

6 hours on low. Serve over noodles. Voila! It turns out kind of like a tangy alfredo. I really liked it and so did Jay, Hayden just kept saying, "It's different. Everything is different!" But he's also on an eating strike so his opinion doesn't count.

Date night

Jay and I have had some unexpected date nights recently and it is definitely true what they say...you still need to date your husband once you have kids! A couple of weeks ago we went to a birthday party during the day but then made dinner plans for the evening. Since Lila was so kind as to set her bedtime at 7pm when she was 2 months old, we've decided not to mess with that. So we had my parents come over to watch the kids while we went out to dinner, and also decided to catch a movie. You know you're getting older when you say, "Gosh, a 9:30 movie? We won't get home until midnight!" But we had a great time at dinner and enjoyed The Avengers.

The next week, Jay surprised me with concert tickets to see Dierks Bentley and The Eli Young Band on a Friday night. This was especially exciting, since he works 3rd shift and we never get a date night on Friday because he's at work! We had a great time and the show was awesome! We had never been to White Oak Amphitheater before and I can't wait to go back. It's such a fun outdoor setting especially for that kind of concert. We love being parents and miss them when we're away from them, but sometimes a few hours away from the kids and time to appreciate each other is just what we need!

We loved the concert, despite the $9 beers, and the weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor concert. Hello, summer!

Amendment One

So. North Carolina has failed where 29 other states have failed, in civil rights for same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships. They put it to a vote, and 61% of North Carolinians voted to pass the amendment, which defines marriage as one man and one woman, and is the only legal domestic partnership recognized by our state. The implications of this, besides just on same-sex marriages, have the potential to do a lot of harm to a lot of people, whether intended or not. As I cast my vote, I couldn't help but remember where I was around this time last year.

I was driving to DC. Meigh and Christina were getting married. I had never been to a lesbian wedding before, but had plenty of lesbian friends. I didn't exactly know what to expect. Would it be like all the other weddings I'd been to? Would their vows sound like mine? Would anyone object? I got my answer in Vicki Stephenson Hatch's face. Vicki was the mother of one of the brides, my friend Meigh, the Meighling, from Salem. As the music played and we all stood and turned to watch Meigh walk up the aisle, I turned to look at Vicki. The look on her face is one I have a hard time describing, because I'm sure I'd never seen anything like it before or since. I somehow saw Meigh's whole life in her mother's face. I saw the joy of looking at a newborn daughter for the first time; I saw the excitement over her first steps, her first words; I saw the pride in watching her go off to college, and then graduate. All of that rolled into an easiness, an excitement, a happiness in knowing that Meigh had absolutely found the one person she was meant to be with on this earth. There was no shred of doubt on Vicki's face, no slight longing for a husband for Meigh instead of a wife. And then I knew without a doubt, this was unlike any wedding I'd ever been to.

After the ceremony, when the reception and the mingling and the eating and the dancing were going on, I couldn't help but notice that every single person in attendance was excited for Meigh and Christina. There were no back-row bets on how long it would last, no snide remarks about flowers or decor or choices of dresses. Everyone there was enjoying themselves in a celebration of love and of their union. I can promise you, it was the most unique wedding I've ever been to.

I guess I'm disappointed that more people from my state have never been to a wedding like that. Where it didn't matter that it was two brides getting married; just that two people were in love and wanted to show the whole world by coming together as one. So many people have cited their religious beliefs over this amendment, but we must serve a different God. The God I pray to wouldn't cast aside people like Meigh and Christina because the God I pray to suggests we should love one another. That we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

I'm not embarrased to be from North Carolina today, or yesterday, and I won't be tomorrow. I wish more people saw love for what it was, just love. Not who loves, but how they love. My friend Margaret said something the other day that has reverberated with me every single day since I read it: When we get to the end of this life, we will find that we were worried about the wrong things and that homosexuality was one of them.

To the zoo!

We took our first trip to the zoo this season, and it was Lila's first trip ever! The zoo with two is definitely a different experience but we are learning as we go! The stroller proved to be helpful, as Lila preferred to nap in it and roll around about half the time, and the other half was content to be strapped to my chest and looking around. Hayden was excited about all the animals of course, and kept trying to use the machines to see further (despite never putting money in them).

We paid the extra fees for the Giraffe Observation Deck (they were busy fighting in another part of their habitat) and for the Dinosaur Exhibitions. The dino stuff was pretty cool. We walked around, where they had moving replicas of a lot of dinosaurs. The kids could do an archaelogical dig in the sand for fossils, pretend to drive the jeep, and even got sprayed a few times by some overzealous reptiles.

The 4-D dinosaur movie proved to be a little scary for Hayden, so he and Jay didn't last but about 90 seconds in the theater. We enjoyed pizza and other zoo treats, including ice cream! Hayden was very sweet to share his ice cream with me, while Lila looked longingly at all the things she just can't have yet. After ice cream, the boys went on the Carousel and Hayden had a blast!

Lila is content to spend most of her time with me, but for a little while each day she needs some daddy time. The zoo was no exception, and she had fun hanging out with daddy at the geyser, while Hayden hid behind me to avoid the water spraying him.

After we had walked our way through Africa, the dinos and part of North America, Hayden's feet started to get heavy. As he trudged along behind us, I asked him if he was tired and ready to go home. His response was, "Mommy, my batteries is runnin' out". We took this to mean it was time to go, and packed up to head home. As we left the zoo, he kept asking to go back. Finally Jay told him that we can only go to the zoo one time per day, and we'd already been today. He seemed to accept this, and was passed out after about 30 seconds on the road.