Boo!
No, it's not Halloween yet! It's just the way I spent the Morning out on
the deck. Taking full advantage of some of my new Aveda goodies I picked
up yesterday from Spa-boy in Charlotte. I did a 50/50 mask on my face and a
fabulous smelling hydrating mask on my hair. Both feel soft as silk!
Someone suggested that my Look might scare
away the Butterflies. But he was wrong...
If anything, I believe my look attracted more butterflies because
I'm convinced there are Twice as many as I saw last night!
I love Butterflies!
They're not afraid of a Little facial mask!
Time to take off my Masks and get to my cooking and baking!
It's a Triple-play Sunday in my kitchen today. First, I need to
whip up some Cupcakes. I know it seems like I just made him Banana
cupcakes - and, I did. However, they didn't hold up so well. Great recipe. But since
only one person in this house eats cupcakes, he need cupcakes that don't turn into
Hockey pucks two days after they are made. After I bake his cupcakes I'm making
Ina's roasted tomato/Basil soup again. Finally, I offered to bake Pioneer Woman's
best Chocolate sheet cake (ever!) for a work Birthday tomorrow... So let's Get started!
How cute are these Love-note cupcake liners I found?
Too cute!
While my cupcakes cool it's time to Slice up some tomatoes
These are probably the Last of his summer garden tomatoes
Too bad... Because growing tomatoes for me in Summer comes in
second only to his Pool-boy abilities. I'm going to miss both!
Minced garlic!
Now I remember what I loved about this recipe so much
It's so Easy!
Into the Oven they go for 45-minutes
While the tomatoes roast it's time to begin putting Together the sheet cake. One thing
I didn't like about making it last time is that I wasted nearly a whole Half-gallon of
buttermilk. It's not like you can just go Borrow it from your neighbor so I bought
it... Sadly, I could only find Whole buttermilk in the 1/2 gallon size. And, the
recipe calls for only 1-half cup... True that I did end up making the Cake twice,
but I still dumped the rest of the Jug into the sink when I couldn't use it
before it expired. Since then however, I've read that you can Freeze
buttermilk. So that's what I'm doing this time. In 1/2 cup amounts!
You know what this means, right? It means that if you're planning to
bake the Pioneer Woman's best chocolate sheet cake and you're
in the Neighborhood, you can just pop over to Borrow some!
Yum, yum, yum!
Time to frost some cupcakes! First, I'm going to use up the cream
cheese Buttercream I have left over from those Banana cupcakes
But before I frost cupcakes, I need to get our soup started!
Someone just asked me what Smells so good. I told him it's
garlic, Onions and German chocolate cupcakes. He said,
that's a Hellava combination you've got going there!
Like he's Surprised that I'm such a multi-tasker?
Silly man!
Look! He grabbed one Before I could get them all iced!
Now I remember Again why I love this recipe!
These roasted tomatoes are Good right off the baking tray!
Put them into the soup and It's just amazing!
Soup is simmering, Cupcakes are iced... Time for me to simmer a little too!
No place I'd rather simmer than in the pool!
It's clear Fall is on its way... The leaves are beginning to turn
And, the flowers are beginning to disappear
Some of the Leaves are even beginning to fall. I miss Summer already!
It's been a pleasant and mild summer here. Unlike Monterey right now, where
poor mom and dad are Baking in 100-degrees. The fires burning in Santa Cruz
prevent them from opening the windows too, which makes it even worse!
Being the good Daughter that I am, I invited them
over for a swim. Truly a pity that it's a 3,318 mile drive!
Okay... I've simmered Long enough. Time to make a sheet cake!
Pioneer Woman calls it the Best chocolate sheet cake - I call it the Easiest!
this time... Thank you very much!
I hope no one at work has a Nut allergy besides me!
I guess we'll find out tomorrow at Two o'clock!
Frosting this cake is just as Easy as baking it!
a Few of my work collegues have made this cake
themselves on my suggestion. So I already know they'll love
it. Probably more since they didn't have to Bake it!
When Taste-tester asked me to make this soup for him
again I was surprised. Mostly because he has to know it
means he'll have to Clean my food mill again. Maybe
cleaning up the Food mill isn't as bad as I think. But
it's not like I'm in any hurry to find out for myself!
Truthfully, this soup is worth whatever Effort it takes!
That it pleases my Taste-tester is just icing on Top of my cupcake!
