over the weekend

Such a good weekend!

My heart is so full after spending the springy-est Easter Sunday with my little family. 

The perfect end to our March (WHAT?! Where did March go?)

Friday. Pretty big day around here.....

We got.....The Chicks. Our girls.

We named them and gave them a home (uh, it's a box for now).

We'll be back to introduce the ladies tomorrow.....

We  played outside and colored eggs, and played outside some more.

Saturday I ran. And ran and ran. Charly and I found new trails, and explored the hills until they took us to the clouds. The sun was shining, the mud was starting to dry, and the trees were beginning to bud....perfect running.

Saturday afternoon we worked in the yard. 

Dirtied our hands and feet. Spent every hour of daylight outside.

Sunday we woke to birds singing (I swear it was a Disney tune) 

and headed to church in our Sunday best.

And of course this picture had to happen.

We feasted.

Roast Chicken (so I felt a little guilty roasting this bird with baby chickies living in my house.....)

The BEST potatoes ever (Martha's recipe)

Roasted Artichokes

Salad with grilled beets, blue cheese, and sugared pecans

Deviled Eggs

And for dessert......Lemon Cake!

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Ina Garten's recipe. The only thing I changed was using coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, and using a 9" round pan instead of a loaf pan

Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt 

1 1/3 cups sugar, divided 

3 extra-large eggs 

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons) 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

1/2 cup coconut oil 

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze: 

1 cup confectioners' sugar 

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 

 Directions 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Grease a 9" cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan. 

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. 

In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the coconut oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 27-30 minutes, or until a toothpick placed in the center of the cake comes out clean. 

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside. 

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool. 

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and drizzle over the cake.

Enjoy!

How was your Easter Weekend?

how we weekend

This weekend was made of up everything a weekend should be made of. 

sleeping in

sunshine

a perfect trail run through the stickiest of mud

firing up the grill

staying out until sunset

bike riding

skate boarding

(both resulting in skinned knees)

staying up too late

adorable Littles dressed up for church

an Easter feast!

egg hunting

chocolate cake

kite flying over snow melting on mountains...

this weekend just made me so very excited for summer to get here so we can have weekends like this every week. over and over again.

I think my favorite thing about this picture of my and my girl, is that under our easter-eggy sunday best we both have the grossest bruised and bloody legs.....we play a little hard around here.

and.....last but not least....The Cake. 

As of Saturday night I still wasn't sure what I was going to make for dessert. I knew I wanted to make a cake of some kind, so I just started making chocolate cake and let it figure itself out from there. 

I wanted to keep it simple, so I opted for one layer, and ended up just doing simple chocolate whip cream to top it. very easy.

Chocolate Cloud Cake
named by The Children
this cake could easily be made into two layers, but I poured the batter into one 9" round pan, and then had enough batter left over for four cupcakes.

Chocolate Cake

2 ounces semisweet chocolate

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup boiling water

6 TBS butter, melted

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

2tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line bottom of one 9" pan with a round of parchment paper. Butter paper, and sides of pan.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with boiling water and cocoa powder. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

In a bowl add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat butter and sugar until combined. Add eggs (adding one at a time) until thickened slightly and light colored (about 3 minutes). Slowly add buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined well. Add flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.

Spoon batter into pan, Fill about 3/4 full.

Pour remaining batter into cupcake liners.

Bake cake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25-28 minutes. 

Cupcakes should be done in about 13-15 minutes.

Let cake cool for about 5 minutes and then remove from pan onto cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting. 

Chocolate Whipped Cream

this is easy to play around with and you can add more cocoa/sugar depending on how sweet/chocolaty you want it.

2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup powder sugar

1/4 + a few TBS unsweetened baking cocoa

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat with electric mixer for a few minutes until you reach a thick whip-creamy consistency 

Spoon onto cake. 

Dust with cocoa powder.

If you want to add a few chocolate pieces for decoration (and eating of course) melt down some good semi-sweet chocolate and spread it thinly onto a piece of parchment paper. Pop it into the freezer for a few minutes until it has set back up. Break it in to pieces and VWALLA!! fancy cake topper.

enjoy!

How was your weekend?

this weekend.....

aaallllllmost weekend.....where has my week gone?

School has been out and I don't think I'm ready to go back next week.....can't we just start our summer vacation now?

What are your plans for the weekend?

I am currently planning out our Easter feast, and the only thing I know for sure is that we will most definitely without a doubt be shoving our faces with these potatoes.

We had them last year and I have constantly thought about them since.

The kids have requested artichokes, and I am dreaming up something for dessert.

What are you making for dessert? Decisions decisions.

I am checking out early for the week--trying to take advantage of 

extra time with these adorable children I have.

May your weekend be filled with sunshine, colorful eggs, kite flying, bubble blowing, fresh flowers, and Easter feast eating. And if you have a few extra minutes, take a peek at this video

so we can all remember that HE is the reason we celebrate this wonderful day, 

and not the terrifying mall easter bunny.

Happy Easter!

If you too are still looking for an Easter dessert......maybe try

-angel food cake

-this cake with strawberry buttercream ruffles if you are lucky enough to have fresh strawberries where you live

-lemon yogurt cake

easter weekend

It was hard to see the weekend go....especially sending the boy back to school. blah. who needs school? Isn't August through April enough?

This weekend we ate more (still stuffed), played harder (the girl scraped her face off falling off a skateboard....she'd dainty like that), and stayed up later than normal (stuck in a heated game of Sorry....we are party animals!)

The Menu:

Breakfast: we had Martha's orange pull apart rolls (made with whole wheat pastry flour).

In between: Cadbury Eggs.

Dinner: Roast Chicken with dill, oregano, lemon and garlic.

The absolute best potatoes I have ever eaten in my life (recipe here). Gruyere cheese is my favorite.

Deviled Eggs (of course.)

Mouth watering artichokes from The Cookbook....guess you'll just have to pick up a copy when it's done to get the recipe! (see cookbook updates here)

here are just a few photos....haha mostly of food but that's how I roll.

Oh....and I made angel food cake. Have you done that? I was absolutely terrified that it wouldn't work out....but it did!! yum. I knew I could count on Alton Brown to lead me through step by step.....although I would recommend not starting such a thing at 10 o'clock at night...it really could have been a disaster.

Angel Food Cake

recipe from Alton Brown 

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cake flour, sifted

12 egg whites (the closer to room temperature the better)

1/3 cup warm water

1 teaspoon orange extract, or extract of your choice

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a food processor spin sugar about 2 minutes until it is superfine. Sift half of the sugar with the salt the cake flour, setting the remaining sugar aside.

In a large bowl, use a balloon whisk to thoroughly combine egg whites, water, orange extract, and cream of tartar. After 2 minutes, switch to a hand mixer. Slowly sift the reserved sugar, beating continuously at medium speed. Once you have achieved medium peaks, sift enough of the flour mixture in to dust the top of the foam. Using a spatula fold in gently. Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.

Carefully spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan. Bake for 35 minutes before checking for doneness with a wooden skewer. (When inserted halfway between the inner and outer wall, the skewer should come out dry).

Cool upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour before removing from pan.

We topped ours with homemade whipped cream and strawberries. 

enjoy!

a boy and a girl and a sea of pastel

Happy Easter!

the 10 minute tie + a few simple easter projects

I am not at all a fan of how commercialized holidays are.....from the aisles of the store to blogland itself--it's a little out of control, don't you think? We keep it very simple around here.....so simple that I just realized today that it is only a few days until Easter, and maybe I should find something Easter-y for my kids to wear to church Easter Sunday.

Enter the 10-minute tie.

My boy loves to wear ties--he feels so big, and when I can whip them up in a few minutes--he can wear them all he wants.

There are lots of really cute tie tutorials and patterns floating around the www right now, which is awesome if you sew, cut straight, and are good at following patterns.....but I terrible at all of those things.

So this one is easy because you start out with an old tie--like one of your husband's old ties that he hasn't worn in years, yet still has hanging in his closet for some reason. We've also found some great vintage ties at the thrift store with some really fun patterns for little boys--it's fun to see what you can find.

What you need:

old tie (we are using one of Robby's old ties today.....it is EIGHT years old!)

scissors

needle

thread

adorable boy who loves to wear ties

1. Tie the tie onto your boy to figure out how long you will want the finished product to be.

2. Cut across.

3. Fold the ends of the tie up in the back to form a point. You may have to do a little more trimming here--all ties are different--some are 100% fabric, and some have liners inside that you may have to reach in and trim a bit. Either way--super easy.

4. Sew the ends up, being carful no to take the needle through the front layer of the tie.

Does it look awesome in the back?? NO! I told you I am not a seamstress. But was it a cheap/free tie, and no one will ever see the back? oh yes.

5. Place tie on boy.

6. Feel really good about yourself.

that's that.

We've been adding tulips and daffodils around the house, as well as fancy schmancy maple blossoms. What are maple blossoms you ask? Why, they are the branches cut of our maple tree while they are blossoming into leaves. I love them because not only do they add lots of color, a honey-ish smell, and general "springyness" to the room, they also continue to transform even after they are cut--so it's a good way to teach your kids about how leaves are born, if you are nerdy like me.

and a few things we pulled out from last year....

Super easy Easter baskets we made (tutorial here)

And this pompom garland that I hung up again (tutorial from last year here)

And just to keep the real reason of Easter in mind.....

happy day!