Bonus!

I have recently found a couple links I love!

1) Sprout Online has a great collection of kid-friendly recipes, designed around adorable PBS kids shows. http://www.sproutonline.com/sprout/recipes/

2) Cake Wrecks is a hilarious blog that documents the most horrifying professional cake mistakes! Fabulous way to kill a little time and brighten your gloomy days! http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com

Busy, Busy, Busy

We’ve had such busy weekends (and even weeknights) that I’ve missed the last two weeks of blogging! Last weekend my husband and I set out on another cake making adventure. We had two cakes planned and completed them with a fair amount of success! We made a scrumptious triple layer chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, shaped like a box of Coors. The second cake was a triple layer vanilla cake with a pomegranate-lavender filling, covered with buttercream and carved into the shape of a race car. The cakes and buttercream were pretty straightforward, basic recipes. The pomegranate-lavender filling on the other hand, was a spur of the moment, special creation! We started with my well-loved lavender & honey frosting recipe, then added a jar of homemade pomegrante jelly, whipped it together with my hand mixer, and voila! Although a bit on the sweet side, the vanilla cake and special filling were favorites at last weekend’s birthday party.


The pomegranate jelly has been a homemade Christmas staple since my husband and I became engaged in 2002. Each fall when the leaves turn, we go to my husband’s Grandma’s house to pick pomegranates. We spend each night for a couple hours picking all those little seeds from laundry baskets full of the red, juicy fruit. We follow Grandma’s recipe to make Pomegrante Syrup (also known as grenadine, and a special treat itself!). After boiling pot after pot of syrup, we begin making jelly. This week, just in time for fall, I am sharing this family favorite with you!

Wilson’s Pomegranate Jelly

Step1 – Making Syrup
Peel pomegranates and remove pulp. Place 10 parts seeds to 11 parts sugar in saucepan. Let stand 24 hours. Bring to boil and strain at once. Syrup can be poured into jars and sealed until ready for use.

Step 2 – Making Jelly
3 ½ cups pomegranate syrup
1 ½ cups apple juice
¼ cup lemon juice
1 pkg pectin

Bring apple juice, lemon juice and pectin to boil. Add pomegranate syrup and boil 2 minutes. Put into sterilized jars (about five 8 ounce jars per batch) and seal.

Sunday Afternoons

Friday evening rolled around none too quickly last week, and fortunately for me in an odd stroke of luck, my husband did not have to work. As he worked feverishly on a pot roast dinner, he allowed me to retreat to the bedroom to relax. I decided it was the perfect evening to watch a couple episodes of 18 Kids and Counting that I had set the dvr to capture. As usual, I am mesmerized by the family’s joyful attitude and their organized lifestyle. I reflected on the chaos that surrounds my small family of two children. How can this mother of 18 children maintain order, while my children run amok yelling like banshees? This inspires me to do a little soul searching (and internet research!).

Right now, we are living what I would call an a-typical life. I work part-time in the middle of the day and my husband manages a restaurant, which makes his schedule unpredictable. We are fortunate that one of us is always home with the children, but I think this opposite schedule also has its downfalls. We don’t get to sit down, the four of us for dinner every night. Also, I miss Family Sundays. I have decided, that although at this point we cannot plan each Sunday to spend the afternoon having family time and sharing a meal, we can plan to have at least one family day each week when my husband is home. It is my hope that the more time we spend together; with the tv off, the better the foundation is laid for communication and nurturing amongst our family. As I compare the values the parents on 18 Kids and Counting portray to their children, I view my commitment to frequent family dinners as the first step towards assuring our values are imparted on our children and creating a new positive atmosphere of calm, organization and consistency.

Introducing Lavender & Honey

At nearly 30, I feel like I have spent the decade since high school a little bit “lost-and-found.” I have discovered hobbies I thought I would adore, found activities I know I don’t like and revealed my true passions. I have become a wife and a mother. I have grown in my faith with has helped me become a better friend and daughter. As my friendships and family grow, I find my pastimes become intertwined with these people I love. I photograph every moment I can, then fill scrapbooks with these images, tidbits about the day and souvenirs from our special adventures.

My husband and I also have a mutual love of cuisine and nourishing those we care about. In my fondest memories, food has always been central in holidays and joyful gatherings of friends. We have treasured sharing this love of cooking and baking with those around us, and most recently, with our children. Though they are small, they love to be with mommy and daddy in the kitchen, helping in their own small way. Our newest adventure has been exploring the cake baking and decorating world. I look forward to sharing our successes (and failures) on this journey into creating my own blog. In this realm, I would like to share one of my newest favorite recipes. It is a recipe I modified to suit my tastes.

Lavender & Honey Frosting

1 cup cream cheese – softened

2 cups powdered sugar

¼ cup honey

2 Tablespoons dried lavender

Blue food coloring optional

Use coffee or spice grinder to cut dried lavender. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and honey until smooth. Add lavender. Frosting will not be very thick. Goes great as filling in a delicate butter cake.