Cherry chip cake disaster!

Hello, everybody! We made the most DELICIOUS cherry chip cake for my husband's birthday. Unfortunately... it didn't want to come out of the pan! WHY OH WHY didn't I use Ruthy's recipe?? But I have pictures so you can laugh along with us. Since it's probably user error and not really not the recipe's fault, so I'll share it, too.
But first, some of our recent happenings!

 We have a new project. We've done trunk refurbishes before and it's a BIG project. This is a steamer that my grandparents used in the early 1900's and we've had it for quite a while. But now is the time! Stay tuned for updates...

 So, my kids raised a ton of money for the Cub Scout pack and this was one of the rewards, hitting the den leader with a pie. I rolled my eyes when I heard, but apparently to an 8 year old boy, it's the greatest thing EVER.

 They were all good sports about it...
                                                      
Also one of the prizes they won- a walkie talkie set. This was very useful for when we delivered all those bags of coffee.They would run up to the door, and then they'd stop at the curb until I sad, "RETURN TO THE MOTHER SHIP".

 We just turned the last of our Easter eggs into deviled eggs and I hated to say goodbye. Our hens lay beautiful brown eggs and they turned out looking like dragon eggs!

 Also... baseball season is here. Goodness. I'm not a sports person but seeing these kids in their teeny uniforms... like goats in pajamas. SO CUTE.
                                                       
Of course, all this running around is in between viruses. We're STILL fighting different bugs. This time it was the stomach flu. Yuck.

 Cherry trees are blossoming!! Pray for good weather and no hail. A few years ago we lost most of the cherry crop in the area. It was horrible.

 Those clouds better bring rain (good) but not hail (bad).

 SO. That brings us to this delightful creation!!

 Here is my husband accepting his fabulous cake. With a smile, no less!!

It was absolutely delicious, so I'm posting the recipe. Just make sure to let it cool before removing from the pans. I wasn't in the kitchen at the time and my younger kids didn't know that step. Now they do.

1 10 ounce  jar maraschino cherries
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tspt salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice


I also added about three drops red food coloring. Maybe that was my mistake?? LOL. Anyway, cream the butter, sugar, egg whites, vanilla and almond together. Mix the dry ingredients. Add, in alternating batches, the buttermilk and dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add in the chopped cherries. 

Pour into greased cake pans and place in a preheated (350) for 35 minutes or so. GOOD LUCK. :D

All in all, it was delicious. We used a buttercream icing but you can also use a cream cheese frosting if you prefer. 

That's all for now! Be sure to stop by my authors pages at Virginia Carmichael or Mary Jane Hathaway for book news. 

All the Blue of Heaven was free last week....

And on the 27th, Purple Like the West will be on sale for .99! All to prepare for a new historical release on May 15th! 

Until next time!

Epic Kitchen Fail!!!!

I love cauliflower. And I love old things, hence the scale!!!

We've got a lovely bunch of cauliflower coming ripe from our experimental patch this year... And then I saw THIS RECIPE on facebook...

Cauliflower Hash Browns!!!!! You mince or grate the cauliflower (hello, Cuisinart!!!) and then mix deliciously wonderful stuff with it... after you salt it and then wring it out.... ??????

But, whatever.

I love cauliflower. How could seasoned cauliflower be bad???

Oh, darlings.... trust me. It can be very bad!!!!

Now some of the kids liked them. Dave ate some, but he was starving because I'm busy writing and he probably thought it smart to grab food as availability allows... I get it.

First, the whole house smelled like old cabbage after salting the minced cauliflower, then wringing it out. Or maybe old diapers would be a better analogy. Either one equated "Not Good"... I prefer brownies baking, thank you very much, but okay, moving on....

After you've mixed in the eggs and cheese and seasonings, you form the mix into hash-brown (McDonald's style) shapes and roast them on parchment paper...

Add more old cabbage smell to already stinky house.

When we took them out, they looked GOOD!!!! Roasted brown, not burnt, and they resembled hash browns.

They tasted nothing like hash browns.

They tasted like... old socks.

Really dirty ones.

They were not worth the time or the smell or the effort required.

I shoulda made cake!!!! Now cake is always a good choice!  I am not even going to share the recipe with you unless you clamor for it, because it was that bad....

But I'm sharing pics because pics are fun.

"Let them eat cake"... the internet professes that Marie Antoinette never uttered those words. I'm not sure how the internet knows that, because she lived a very long time ago... but in any case, I'm adopting that mantra today....

Let them eat cake.... and I hope you enjoy it!

Cute kid alert!!!

This was last Friday at my house: WHAT????

Who put that there?????

And there????

My dahlia!!!!!!

So that's how we entered the weekend, but today we're up in the 60's and hazy/sunny/cloudy... but warm!

And ready to move toward Thanksgiving and Veteran's Day and Christmas while staying on track for writing sweet books.

And speaking of sweet books.... Look at this from St. Martin's Press for $1.99 Can you believe that price???

Love it!  Available for that price for any e-reader! Amazon   AND  Barnes&Noble!!!!

Welcome to Heywood, Oregon where three lost women find healing, hope and love under the bright light of the town's old Star Inn this Christmas season.

Jed Taylor knows how to cowboy up on the range, and on the sales’ floor of his family’s rapidly growing western and ranch store in Central Washington, which is exactly where he would normally be a week before Christmas… but when he heard Mia O’Loughlin was planning a trip north, pregnant and alone, Jed’s promise to her late husband kicked in. More Grinch than grace, he boarded a plane and headed to the coast, determined that his best friend’s widow wouldn’t make the long trek alone.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, widowed, pregnant and all alone on the West Coast.

E.R. nurse and Red Cross emergency responder Mia O’Loughlin had always taken life in full stride, but losing her deployed husband the week before she realized they were expecting their first child knocked her off-kilter. With Christmas and her due date approaching, all she can see is getting back home to Kittitas County for the birth of her child… their child… and seeing her failing Grandpa Joe one last time. Determined to do it on her own, she reluctantly allows Jed to accompany her, mostly because the gruff cowboy showed up and won’t take no for an answer.

But when a blizzard grinds their progress to a stop in Northern Oregon, the light from an old inn beckons them into a town hunkered down to ride out the unexpected storm. With the help of the inn’s wise and wonderful “angel,” Mia realizes the old white church has been turned into a shelter. She insists on leaving the inn to help those forced out of their homes and off the highway. As she and Jed improvise to provide comfort to others, they begin to see that facing this once-dreaded Christmas together could be the very best way of all.