Milk Free Strawberry Cake

First Birthday Cake

I will make a brief appearance today to share with you a cake I made last weekend. I made this at the request of my sister-in-law for my nieces' first birthday party. Her children both have severe milk allergies. So she asked if I could just use store bought strawberry cake mix and Duncan Hines Vanilla Frosting. Both are milk free.

Let me tell you, I'm not used to working with gooey soft store bought icing, so it was a bit of a challenge. Her colors were blue, pink, and black and white. This is what I came up with. It's not my best work, but she was really happy with it. I simply removed the top layer for the birthday girl so she could dig into it and we cut and served the bottom layer to the guests. The birthday girl was so cute, she made a giant hole through the side straight into the middle like she was trying to eat her way to China! I think she liked the strawberry filling!

The black letters are her name that went all the way around the cake. In hindsight, I would have done that differently, because you have to turn the cake to see her full name.

I used Fonderific Fondant in white because it was the only brand I could find that was milk free. I used Wilton Sky Blue and Duff's Electric Pink to color the icing and fondant. After I cut the letters, I used a food safe marker to color them black. It was a lot easier than trying to make black fondant.

Summer Reading

I suppose part of the reason I feel like I'm on vacation since I've moved, is that I have been continuing to read. I've never been much of a reader. I've had to really be able to fall in love with a book within a few chapters or I'm out. Right before summer, I found a few books that I hadn't read and wanted to read and get rid of before the move just because I was trying to get rid of unnecessary clutter. That is one thing I love about owning a Nook. I can have tons of books and I don't have to worry about storing them. It is a wonderful thing.

The point here is, I'm now addicted to reading and I have been reading more lately than ever before in my life. I have bought some light, easy beach reads and I am loving them. I read in between unpacking boxes and in between hanging photos. I read while the kids are in the pool, and before bed. However, my favorite time to read is in the morning while sipping coffee. I sit on our new comfy chair that looks into our beautiful forest like backyard. It is such a peaceful, relaxing way to start the day. Without further ado here are two beach reads from this month.

I'm currently in the middle of this. It's about a family of women who go back to their vacation home on a small island off of Nantucket. They live with no hot water, no electricity, no phones, TV, etc. It reminds me of my own summers spent on our family's ranch in Mexico.

I was drawn to this book because it takes place in Nags Head, NC. It's about a group of girlfriends who rent an old beach house together for an entire month. I was a little turned off by the ending, but I still thought it was a fun read.

This isn't exactly a lighthearted beach read, but it was great nonetheless. Bring your tissues and your cooking skills along with this one. I was intrigued by the fact that this book contains a recipe at the end of each chapter. The family portrayed here does enjoy their dinners together and I love how the food described is made accessible to me. I wanted to mention this book because I noticed this author does have a book out called The Beach House, which  is currently in my cue.

I myself am off to the beach later this week for hubby's annual family reunion. It's about a four hour drive for us, but I'm looking forward to taking a vacation from our permanent vacation :). Speaking of vacations, we took a really fun day trip to Asheville, NC this weekend. We visited the very large Biltmore Estate. It was very fascinating. I can only imagine what life might have been like back then in the Vanderbilt family. Gloria Vanderbilt, mother of Anderson Cooper, is a descendant. Asheville was very different than I expected, it was a hippie mountain town. That's the best way I know to describe it. If you go make sure and stop by the Tupelo Honey Cafe or at least pick up their cookbook. I saw it today at Border's going-out-business sale. Don't bother rushing over to Border's just yet, you'll only save a whopping 10% off.

We Have Arrived In The East-Personal Reflection

Hey y'all! They really do say that here. Don't worry, I'm not there yet, nor do I see it in my future. We haven't been here for quite a week. I can't sleep. My shoulder and neck are killing me. I was tossing and turning imagining where I will put each piece of furniture and how will I decorate each room when our furniture finally arrives on Monday morning. It has been a hell of a week, wait, let me rephrase that. It has been a week from hell. The flight was fine besides the hour delay on the tarmac and Satan's spawn who happened to be sitting in front of us. We stayed a few nights in a hotel, spending our days driving around the town aimlessly. Ahhh, hubby's favorite thing to do, drive around. The hardest thing has been only one car. Talk about losing your independence. We spent several days browsing for furniture without buying anything, which really needed to be bought, considering I sold the kids beds before the move. Then, finally one day, we bought a couple beds and a table and moved into our empty house. Last night was our third night here.

Sitting up in bed, after checking my phone for the time which was 5 am, my first thought was to wonder if my family was still partying back home. I missed the first family party, my cousin's 30th. It was a surprise party. She and her sis threw me a surprise 30th and I really wanted to help with hers too, it just didn't work out. So, I am left to imagine how it went and I'll wait to hear all about it. I've been homesick since we began our stay in this big empty house. Besides normal bickering, the kids have been incredible, despite all the changes. I'm so proud of them. Things will be better once our stuff is here and we are busy unpacking. I'm optimistic about our future here, and still confident in our decision. The school year will be the most telling. In the meantime, here is a list of some things about NC...

Things about North Carolina I have realized since becoming a resident in the last week:

1. Most public restrooms don't provide seat covers.
2. I have found a miniature produce stand on the roadside that reminds me of the one back home. It has delicious peaches, which happen to be my favorite fruit.
3. The humidity is not as bad as I remember.
4. The kids and I love the thunderstorms, as long as we are home when they happen, which is usually in the late evening or night. Note to self, plan accordingly.
5. They have amazing restaurants here. However, I'm longing to cook and eat at home.
6. The lady who lives across the street from us is from San Diego. Yay.
7. The road to our house seems just as dangerous as our last road. Boo.
8. I don't think they have any cell phone laws here. As far as I can tell everyone is always driving and texting or talking. You can tell if they are talking even before you see the cell phone pasted to their face because they go really slow, then speed up, then slow down, then speed up again. The texters, just swerve all over the road.
9. City wide speed limit is 35, unless otherwise posted. Otherwise posted is 45. WTF? Must be so people can text and talk while driving.
10. People don't like to take the freeway, or highway, or beltway, or whatever they call it. If given directions, people will always tell you to go the side roads.
11. The downtown is called uptown. I do not subscribe to this nonsense. I don't care if it is up or down or sideways, it just sounds wrong.
12. I like how the daily rains wash everything clean.
13. I like my Costco at home better.
14. It seems like Harris Teeter has a monopoly on the grocery store chain situation. While there are a few others I have seen, Harris Teeter is the head honcho.
15. I have yet to see an unkempt lawn.
16. The Mexican food restaurants look promising.
17. I like to do yoga on my backyard deck. But it's more like that new thing, hot yoga. It's very beautiful, I feel like I'm doing yoga in a forest.

That's all I can think of now. Since things are arriving soon, we get our cars tonight (YAY!!!), I will be busy turning this house into our home. I'm sure I'll be back to regular blog posts in about a month. I sure am looking forward to it.

Dad's Favorite Chex Mix

This Father's Day the kids whipped up some of their Dad's favorite homemade Chex Mix. This recipe came from his grandmother and he asks for it often. I used my Father's Day Printables to make the labels and picked up the jars from Cost Plus World Market.

Chex Mix Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Box Rice Chex

1 Box Corn Chex

1 Large Bag of Pretzel Sticks

2 Cans Cashews

1 Bag Pecans

3 Small Bags of Sliced Almonds

Sauce Ingredients:

4 Sticks Butter

4 TBS. Worcestershire Sauce

3 Tsp. Tabasco Sauce

1 TBLS. Lawry's Seasoning Salt

Directions:

Melt all sauce ingredients in a small sauce pot. Divide dry ingredients into two large roasting pans. Divide sauce ingredients among the two pans. Fold the sauce gently throughout the cereal and nut mixture, being careful not to crush the cereal. Bake in a 250 degree oven for 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool and enjoy. Will keep for a couple weeks stored in an airtight container or ziplock bag.

Graduated and Guilty {Personal Reflection}

I know it sounds so cliche, but it really does feel like not so long ago I was walking Nash into kindergarten. He is just as sweet now as we was then. He is still way too smart for his age, and is still just as clumsy. Yesterday I attended his 8th grade promotion ceremony, cap and gown and all. I can't believe in just a couple short months he will be starting his first day of high school. I too started a brand new high school in a new city where I didn't know a single soul. I was so nervous I actually had my first ever period on that day. I guess I was a late bloomer but it made a nerve wracking day just a bit more traumatizing. Luckily, leggings and really long shirts were really in style that year and that's what I wore that day! It ended up being the best year and the best high school ever. I remember I had made friends with people in every "group". I would just walk around lunch mingling with each clique. Nash is pretty independent and outgoing and I know he will do just fine. He is the same height as me now and I know it won't be long before he shoots past me. It's bittersweet watching them grow up, isn't it?

With both my kids, I just try and constantly teach them and give them information they will need in life. You send them out into the world and hope that they remember those lessons when you're not there. I'm happy to report that most of the time my kids respect those lessons. Sometimes they falter, but Chloe proved this week that even though she makes mistakes she redeems herself and those lessons come right back into play.

On Thursday, the day before school let out for summer break, I picked up Chloe as I normally do. We walked back to the car and before we even got there she confessed she did something at school she felt really bad about. She quickly informed me that some girls had been in the bathroom, wetting toilet paper and throwing it up to the ceiling. She told me she tried it once too, even though she knows she shouldn't have. She hadn't gotten caught doing it, that's not why she was telling me. She told me because she was ridden with guilt over it. I told her we would talk about it more at home. We talked for almost an hour. She said as soon as she did it she felt terrible. She said she asked one of the girls who also did it if she felt terrible too. Apparently the girl told the teacher what she herself had done but the next day when I asked she was didn't know anything about it. When I informed her we were going to talk to the principal, she asked, "Oh, Chloe knows who did it?" I whispered, "No, Chloe is the one who did it." Of course there were several other girls who participated, but we weren't going to rat them out!

I had told Chloe that I was very proud of her for telling the truth but what she had done was called vandalism. I even looked it up for her and showed her the definition. Then I read her the California Penal Code, Section 594. It talks about the fines and jail times associated with vandalism. She was pretty convinced she was going to jail. I assured her it wouldn't be jail, just juvenile hall. She was sobbing pretty hard. Harsh right? But I really wanted her to know the real world punishment for her actions. I also thought it was really important for her to know that someone, probably the school janitor had to clean it up and she just made his job harder. I was concerned that she did something even though she knew it was wrong and gave her plenty of examples of how this could happen when she's older.  I presented situations of girls smoking in the bathroom, or drinking and driving. In those situations one mistake can equal a lifetime of pain. We decided the best thing to do would be to write a letter to her principal. I sent her to her room to write it and this is the letter she returned with:

Dear Mrs. ___________,

Today when I was in the bathroom I saw people getting toilet paper and putting water on it and throwing it at the ceiling. I did it once and I felt guilty and bad. I started crying when I got home and I told my mom. Then I knew I was breaking the law. I felt even worse. If you want me to do anything I will do it. I will clean the ceiling and pay ANYTHING. I feel like I am a horrible person. I am very, very sorry. I learned from my mistake and I promise it will never, EVER happen again in 10,000,000,000 years. I truly am sorry.

                                                                     Sincerely, Chloe

She drew a picture of herself on a ladder in the bathroom cleaning the ceiling with a speech bubble that says, "It's what I deserve."

We delivered the letter the next day right after school, which happened to be the last day of school. As the principal read the letter she seemed to groan with sadness, I thought she was going to cry, because both Chloe and I had tears in our eyes. The principal simply gave Chloe a giant hug and thanked her for her honesty. She made her promise she would go home and be a good girl for her mom. She then went on to tell me what a great mom I was (something I never get tired of hearing). She said most parents would have never done that, they would just brush it off, or reward them by taking them to Disneyland. Her words.

Even though I hate punishing her for it, she is grounded from the computer (her favorite thing) for two weeks. I continue to praise her for coming to me and for her honesty. I hope she continues to confide in me and trust me. I have a very special relationship with both kids and I never take that for granted.