Strawberry Cake-#10...

Strawberry Cake...yummmmm.  This turned out very well but the recipe did not call for salt...add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  So I am not putting the recipe in here because I forgot it at home.  I thought I had it in the computer but alas, I do not.  Will add it later...sorry.

 

Everyone liked the cake.  It was very moist and had very good strawberry flavor.  I did not use food coloring but next time I think I will.  It would look much better with the color added.

 

 

 

 

 

So on the home front.  Lanie got up Saturday morning and asked me if I could be her mommy like I was to Lillie.  I of course told her yes.  She asked me if she was still going to have to write Jacquez at school and again I had to tell her yes.  We have not been able to get a court date and are working on it but it is difficult. 

 

I also tried to take her to the doctor on Monday...ok, let me start at the beginning of the weekend because it is a doozy!  Saturday morning we were all gungho to go garage saling.  We set out and stopped to mail a letter and as Nonnie was turning left onto Lemay Ferry she ran into the huge cement planter in the middle of the street.  We went ahead and drove the car the three blocks home and parked it, called the insurance company.  We had to get a rental car but decided to go ahead and have a fun day otherwise we would sit at home and snipe at each other and be irritable.  I'm glad we did because we got some exceptional deals at a few different garage sales. 

 

I took Monday off to take Lanie to the doctor.  When we got there, her insurance card had the wrong doctor on it so the receptionist told us to just call and have it changed.  When I called they did not have Nonnie as the guardian.  When I asked who was listed as guardian they said that it would be the parents.  I told her that they were passed and she gave me the number for the state and transferred me.  After several times on hold and them being cut off we decided to just leave.  I was so upset by this time.  We even went over to the Social Security office to see what we could do and if they could help us at all but then I did not have Lanies SS Card with me so we left there feeling very depressed and useless.  When we got home I called the doctor listed on her card and it was the health center in Carondelet and you have to call every morning at 8:00 until they can fit you in which is at least 2 week lead time. I am having a very hard time with the road blocks in our way.  I feel like I keep hitting a brick wall and banging my head repeatedly and getting nothing done!!  I am trying to  do  something good here by adopting Lanie but I keep getting shot down at every turn.  It cannot be this hard!  I got nothing accomplished Monday and took the day off-WITHOUT PAY-for nothing!  Let me tell you, I cannot afford to take a day off without pay! 

 

You know, I know that money does not buy happiness but it would sure make life a little bit easier to navigate the issues that we are working with now.  The cost to get her shots by my doctor is about $120.  We need to get the shots before school starts.  We started working on getting her on medicaid in June! 

Cake #9-Lemon Blueberry Cake...

This cake is very good!  It tastes Awesome and the just tastes like Summer should taste:

LEMON BLUEBERRY LAYER CAKE

Ingredients:

Cake

• 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 and 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature¹
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups (360g) sifted all-purpose flour, careful not to overmeasure ²
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk³
• zest + juice of 3 medium lemons⁴
• 1 and 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh (258g) or non-thawed frozen (275g)
• 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces (224g) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature⁵
• 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3 and 1/2 cups (420g) confectioners' sugar
• 1 - 2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) heavy cream⁶
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and lightly flour three 9x2 inch cake pans with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. Make the cake: Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high until creamy - about 1 minute. Add granulated and brown sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until everything is combined, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Set aside.
3. In a large sized bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat on low speed for 5 seconds, then add the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Remove from the mixer and stir lightly until everything is just combined. Toss the blueberries in 1 Tablespoon of flour and fold into the batter. Batter is extremely thick. Do not overmix at any point. Overmixing will lend a tough, dense textured crumb.
4. Spoon batter evenly into 3 prepared cake pans. If only using 2 cake pans, your bake time will be longer. Bake the three layers for about 21-26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine took 21 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
5. Make the frosting: Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until no lumps remain, about 3 full minutes. Add confectioners' sugar, 1 Tablespoon cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add 1 more Tablespoon of cream to thin out, if desired.
6. Assemble and frost: First, using a large serrated knife, trim the tops off the cake layers to create a flat surface. Place 1 layer on your cake stand. Evenly cover the top with cream cheese frosting. Top with 2nd layer, more frosting, then the third layer. Top with frosting and spread around the sides. The recipe doesn't make a ton of frosting, just enough for a light frost. Top with blueberries or lemon garnish if desired. Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes before cutting or else the cake may fall apart as you cut.
7. Make ahead tip: Prepare cakes and frosting 1 day in advance. Keep cakes at room temperature, covered tightly. Refrigerate prepared frosting in an airtight container until ready to use. Frosted or unfrosted cakes may be frozen up to 2 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature if desired before serving.

This is a little labor intensive and should definetly be made ahead of time but it was well worth it.  The lemon and blueberry's just hit all the right notes on the tongue.  The cake was half gone just 45 minutes after arriving at the office. 

A plus side to this little endeavor...I have now sold 2 cakes!!  So, I guess, if you live close to me and want a cake-please order one!!  Prices vary on which cake you want. 

Now, a side note on "my life and times..."  We went to see our therapist again this week.  I was feeling very down about just being a parent and then it was looking up and then down again.  The roller coaster is killing me!!  If you have been reading this blog from the beginning you know that we have had real issues with Lanie and her "poop painting".  She has never really stopped and it just keeps getting worse.  Last week she had it all over her body, the walls of her room and every availble peice of clothing, bedding and towels!  I don't feel like we are getting anywhere with this and she is 5 1/2 years old!  Our therapist wants us to talk with the pediatrician first.  I will take her next week to see her dr. and then go from there but this is getting really old!!  If you have any life lessons regarding this, please let me know because I am at the end of my rope! 

Last week...Pistachio Cake...

Last week I made a Pistachio Cake.  It was pretty good but not as moist as I would like it to be.  The flavor though was incredible.  Sorry this took so long, just too much going on, but here is the recipe and review:

  

Pistachio Pound Cake Recipe

20 M

• 2 H
• Serves 10 to 12

Ingredients

For the pistachio pound cake

• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2/3 cup ground pistachios
• For the glaze
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1/4 cup crushed pistachios

Directions

• Make the pistachio pound cake
• 1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). Line a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on the 2 long sides of the pan. Butter the pan and parchment.
• 2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and honey on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
• 3. Add the flour and the milk to the creamed egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat on medium-high for about 20 seconds between additions, stopping and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and the pistachios and beat on low just until combined.
• 4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the cake is cracked on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Take a peek at the cake after around 45 minutes and if it’s beginning to brown quite a lot, cover the cake with aluminum foil to prevent the top from becoming too brown.
• 5. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then either grab the parchment overhang and carefully unmold the loaf or invert the loaf onto a wire rack. Remove the parchment and slide it under the wire rack. Let the loaf cool completely.
• Make the glaze
• 6. While the cake cools, combine the confectioners’ sugar, butter, honey, and cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
  If you prefer a simple, runny glaze, heat just until the mixture is combined.
  If you prefer a sticky, candylike glaze, cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to bubble. Continue to cook, still stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the glaze from the heat.
• 7. Slowly spoon the warm glaze over the cake, allowing it to soak in between spoonfuls. Some of the glaze will inevitably run down the sides of the cake. Sprinkle the crushed pistachios over the cake and let it cool for 1 hour before slicing and serving.

 

 

My Pistachio Cake

 

This was an easy cake to make but shelling the Pistachio's takes time!  I had very good reviews of the cake.  Everybody thought it had great flavor but that it was not as moist as they would have liked.  

Feeling more positive...

As many of you know, Lanie is a Strong Willed Child (SWC).  She can be defiant, argumentative and plain stubborn.  So many times I have felt like an absolute failure when it comes to raising this child.  Being a SWC is not a bad thing, and it can actually be good if she is guided properly.  She can be a leader among her peers.  She will be strong enough to not follow peer pressure and stumble in her teenage years as so many of us do.  But the problem here is that I do not know how to guide her. 

In an effort to not be THAT parent I read parenting books a lot.  I have read The Kazdin Approach to Parenting and the Scream Free Parenting books in the last couple of weeks.  They are both extremly good books and fit close together teaching the same basic principles.  One of the things that struck me in the Scream Free Parenting book is that we are not responsible for our children, their behavior, their feelings or any of their choices.  We are responsible to them for our behavior, feelings and choices.  We cannot make them responsible for our reactions.  I have always said things like "Lanie makes me so angry, upset or frustrated."  That is not true.  She is not responsible for these things, I am.  I am the only one who can make myself feel anything. 

Also in this book, it talks about how we need to take care of ourselves first to be able to take care of anyone else.  The following is a direct quote from the book and I am really impressed by it:

"I love me, work on me, and build myself up so that I can come to you from a position of wholeness, a position of fullness.  I take care of me so that you don't have to.  From fullness I can then empty myself, my gifts, my love, my actions for your ultimate benefit.  I am the only one in charge of me, and I am the one ultimately responsible for me and my well being.  Therefore as a steward of my greatest gift, my life, I need to take steps to ensure my health, my calmness of mind, my sanity, and my own validation as a person in the world.  Thus, I can free you from having to provide those things for me.  Thus, I can truly serve you without needing you to serve me." 

This totally touched me because if I don't see to my own needs I cannot expect anyone else to.  I need to Focus on myself, Calm myself and Grow myself up!

One of the things that I decided to do was make a chore chart for Lanie and reward her when she does her chores by paying her.  As a 5 year old, she is not making a lot of money but what she is making she is able to make the decision about what to buy with it.  She is also able to do or not do whatever chore on the chart but understands that if she does not do the chore she does not get paid for it.  She has been able to have money for the last few weeks so that when we go garage saling, she has her own money and gets to spend it on whatever she can afford.  By doing this she is also learning that she runs out of money way before we run out of garage sales!  But she is learning! It helps that I don't have to nag her either.  I just tell her that if she does not pick up her toys, she does not get a star on her chart which leads to money in her pocket on Saturday.  It works and I don't have to nag and yell.  Win/win!

Also this weekend we started seeing a therapist.  She spent the first session with my sister and I while John was in the waiting room with Lanie.  She asked what was the reason we chose now to come to her.  I immediatly told her that it was because I was turning into my mom.  I was screaming and yelling like my mom did and I don't want to be that parent.  She listened to us as we told her how the three of us parent this stubborn, strong willed child.  She was amazed at the structure and schedule that we maintain.  She complimented us on that and on the choice to come to her now rather than wait until Lanie was a teenager and totally out of control.  She saw how committed we are to making a good home for Lanie and our desire to be the best parents we can for this little girl.  Next week she will spend time with Lanie get to know her. 

I feel such a weight lifted off my shoulders just for the fact that we took a positive step this week.  This week we have homework from the therapist.  We are supposed to write down the things that Lanie likes to see, hear, smell, taste and touch.  I really like Angie, I think she will be good for all of us!

Cheese Cake!

 

This weeks cake was Cheesecake-New York Style with Strawberries.  I had very good response with this one.  I had never tasted NY style cheesecake so did not know what to expect.  I thought is was ok but I like the Jello no bake cheese cake.  Those who like cheesecake this way thought it was very good.  My famiily loved it.  Well over half is gone and 6 people at worked have tried it and liked it.  Below are pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is very labor intensive and takes a very long time from start to eat!  Be prepared!

 

 

New York-Style Cheesecake with Fresh Strawberry Topping

Yield: 12 to 16 servings

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:

For the Cheesecake Crust:
8 whole graham crackers, broken into pieces
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Cheesecake Filling:
40 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature and cut into 1-inch pieces
1½ cups granulated sugar, divided
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup sour cream
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
6 eggs
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

For the Fresh Strawberry Topping:
2 pounds strawberries, hulled and cut into ¼-inch slices (about 3 cups sliced strawberries)
½ cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup strawberry jam
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:

1. Make the Cheesecake Crust: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 300 degrees F. By hand or using a food processor, crush the graham crackers into fine crumbs. In a medium bowl stir together the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Pour the melted butter into the bowl and use a fork to toss the mixture until it is evenly moistened. Transfer the crumbs to a 9-inch springform pan and press evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust until it begins to smell toasted and starts to brown around the edges, about 13 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cook while the filling is prepared.

2. Make the Cheesecake Filling: Increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees F. Beat the cream cheese on medium-low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl, add ¾ cup of the sugar and the salt and beat on medium-low speed for another 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the remaining ¾ cup of sugar and beat again on medium-low speed for 1 minute.

4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla, and beat on low speed for 1 minute.

5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg yolks and beat on medium-low speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs, 2 at a time, beating for about 20 seconds between additions and scraping the bowl between additions.

6. Without touching the crust, brush the sides of the inside of the pan with melted butter. Pour the filling into the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees F and continue to bake until the center of the cheesecake registers 150 degrees F on an instant-read digital thermometer, about 1½ hours.

7. Place the pan on a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes, then run a paring knife around the cake to loosen it from the pan. Allow the cake to cool until it is barely warm, 2½ to 3 hours. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours (the cheesecake can be refrigerated for up to 4 days).

8. Make the Fresh Strawberry Topping: In a large bowl, toss together the sliced strawberries and the sugar. Let sit for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to combine.

9. Process the jam in a food processor until smooth, about 10 seconds (or, whisk vigorously until the jam is completely smooth). Place the jam in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer, stirring frequently, until the jam is dark and no longer frothy, about 3 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, then pour over the strawberries and stir to combine. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or up to 12 hours (the strawberry topping is best served within 1 day of making it).

10. Serve the Cheesecake: To unmold the cheesecake, wrap a hot kitchen towel around the outside of the pan and hold in place for 1 minute. Remove the sides of the pan, then slide a thin metal spatula between the crust and pan bottom to loosen, then slide the cheesecake onto a serving platter. (If you prefer you can leave the metal bottom under the cheesecake and place it on a serving plate.) Let the cheesecake sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

 

It has been determined by my family that this one will take a prominent place in my repitoire!

 



Stong Willed Child!

This weekend has been an exhausting, trying, horrible weekend!  Besides the fact that I got to see my beautiful niece Haley, the rest of the weekend was not a good one. 

Folks, We have a...

STRONG WILLED CHILD!! 

Why am I typing that in all caps??? because OMG!! this child has tested my nerves, my patience, my will, and my belief in all that is good in the world! 

I have been reading articles, blogs and books on the Strong Willed Child and every one of them fit Lanie!  But I do not know how to react to her!!  I give her two choices and she wants a third.  If I give her three choices, she wants a fourth!  If I tell her the sky is blue, no its not, its green! 

What have I learned from these things I am reading?  She is a NORMAL strong willed child-and I don't know what I am doing!  I am the worst parent on the face of the earth and I am damaging her beyond repair and she is going to hate me when she grows up, and will need to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on therapy but she will be a great actress, songwriter, novelist, play writer, or whatever because she has plenty of drama to draw from!!

Yes, I am getting us into therapy...starting this Saturday...if I live that long!!  My mantra until then???

This too shall pass!  This too shall pass! This too shall pass! This too shall pass!
This too shall pass! This too shall pass!  This too shall pass! This too shall pass!
This too shall pass! This too shall pass! This too shall pass! This too shall pass!