Best Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm not going to use best lightly here. I acknowledge everyone has different taste preferences, but for me and my family, this was exactly what we wanted. Unfortunately, the frosting didn't like me very much, so I had my cupcake frosting-less, but watching everyone else love it made me happy. I'm posting here so as not to forget, and remember I'm, at a high altitude, so I'll add my adjustments in parentheses next to the original recipes.

The cake came from Southern Living and the frosting came from Our Best Bites, both found online.

Best Carrot Cake

2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour (2 + 2T)
2 tsp. baking soda ( 1 1/2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk (I used almond milk with 1/2 tsp. vinegar)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated carrot
8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c. flaked coconut

Line cupcake pan with paper liners or 3 round cakepans with wax paperl lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350.
Mix the first four ingredients together. Set aside.
Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended, then add liquid ingredients. Fold in carrot, pineapple, and coconut. Pour batter into whichever pans you've chosen.
For the cupcakes, bake about 20 minutes, checking for doneness. For the cake, bake for 25-30 min. or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cook in pans on wire rack for 15 min. Then remove to the desired serving plate for decorating. For the cake spread cream cheese frosting between the layers and on top and side of cake. Frosting may need to be doubled. I made cupcakes, and this was just enough.

Best Cream Cheese Frosting

2 bricks (16 oz. total) cream cheese, full fat
1/2 cup salted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Let cheese some to almost room temperature, but still cool. (I let mine sit out about 25 min.) Slowly beat with butter, then beat at medium speed for a full minute or until mixed well. Slowly add powdered sugar, then vanilla, until blended well. This pipes really well and gives you a wonderful taste of cream cheese not just sugar. I dusted with crystal sugar on top to give it a "frosted" look to go with our "Frozen" party. More pics coming later.

USA Sign and the Colors of Summer

A little after Memorial Day I decided I needed something on the front door and yet I didn't want to spend a lot of money or time. So, I shopped my craft cupboard and found all I needed was some red and blue paint and the letters U and A. When I moved I threw out all my old craft acrylic paints,( several over 20 years old when tole painting was the rage) and have only bought four or five since we moved here, so I added two more. I found the S and I thought buying the other two letters in two different fonts in different sizes would work to give it a little interest and not make this very simple project completely dull. I had the leftover bandana prints leftover when I shorted the long banner into one that now fits nicely on the mantle. They wrapped easily around the grey coat hangar I found in my closet. The stars I have on my downstairs hanging tree. I don't remember where I got them - I think Ikea or Pier One but I have enough to share here. The board itself was made to be a piece of shelf I got at Ollies in Maryland several years ago for $2 and knew I'd find the right place for it someday. Its covered in burlap which was leftover from another project. I walked down the street to ask my dear dad to drill holes in the board for me when Mike was at work, and Voila~! Easy, simple, and yet makes a clear statement that we are a patriotic family. I'll keep it up until after the 4th when I'll replace it with my sunflower wreath. 

 Here is the view from the sidewalk. I like how visible and simple it is to read from a distance.

 My day lilies are up and about to explode in color. Can't wait!

 I stuck some small flags into the pink flowers. These aren't my favorite flower, but they sure grow well here, so I often get them. Wondering why I didn't get red or white flowers to match my USA sign? I like color. Lots of it, all of it, and the more variety the better. The front ground cover has beautiful purple flowers that are just starting to fade. They've been in bloom since April. The tulips in all their reds, yellows, and oranges were up in May in front of the bushes. Colorful flowers make my day!

 These chyrsanthemums should be in bloom as these all begin to fade in September, coming up in dark red and I think the small one is a pink melon color.  Yeah for Summer, and its bounty of beauty!

Piecemakers Barn Quilt

Mom and I went to a quilt show in Denver the first Sat. in May. We took MyGirl with us too and had a great morning. 

We saw one quilt twice. It was this one below. Up close it was spectacular, with all of the beautiful barns, but what it made it really special was all the details on each block. One of  them was a prizewinner at the show.

These are not just pieced together. There is all kinds of embellishment with ribbon and regular embroidery. 

Mom knew that she had this pattern at home. Its made by Piecemakers, her favorite quilt shop in Costa Mesa, California. Each year they publish a calendar and the patterns to make it. This is the calendar from 2003.

As soon as we got home, Mom got started. I said I loved it, and somehow I became part of this project though its way beyond my skill set or my patience level. If Mom wasn't actually doing all the tracing and sewing and ironing the pieces together I wouldn't do it. But I am helping with all the fabric selection and I have done some tracing and I am doing the thread embroidery. I did the ribbon embroidery on one tree. Mom's much better than I am.

Mom's been going great guns. I squeeze in a couple of hours a week. 

This is the July block picture on the calendar.

This is our block below. We don't have the exact same fabrics, but that's what makes it ours. And we've decided we're not hand appliqueing this . . . that would take Forever! We use a lot of wonder under. This is not a quilt you put on your bed. It hangs on the wall so we're not worried about it falling apart in the wash. A lady in our quilt guild made another Piecemaker's quilt and it took her 6 years and $6,000. We're not doing that. Mostly we use Mom's stash, though I found a couple of fat quarters of grey we needed on one of my trips to a quilt store next to a doctor's office. Our goal was to do one a month, but Mom is too excited so here it is June and she's starting Sept. and Oct. right now. 

When she gets the main pieces sewn on I start the hand embroidery. You can see below the outlines of the clouds and the stitching on the barn.

Here is Mom's beautiful ribbon embroidery for the flowers. LOVE these!

 This is the August block. Mom's got it ready to go. I have to start my part next.

 Here are the corn stalks she started. The black pieces are birds. When I'm done with the embroidery they will stand out more.

 I finished the embroidery on the June one we did below. Mom's now working on the ribbon embroidery.

 Mom's got May's over at her house. This one we did in reverse. . . issues with the pattern we realized afterwards, but its all good, and its all done! Can't wait to show you the whole thing when all the blocks are finished. It reminds us of my mom's mother, my Grandma Hatch, who loved old barns, so we're making it in her honor. Quilting really is a generational hobby and one my grandmother loved to do too.

Meal Planning Woes

I know I"m a week late for the monthly meal plan. I had a plan ready. Then last Monday I went to the doctor and she radically changed my diet in her quest to solve my health issues. You know how I was trying to be moderate and go Mediterranean. Now we're at radical, and frankly, that's hard to plan for. But here goes the next week on Gluten-Free, Dairy Free, Gerd, and Fodmap diet plans for me and tasty enough for the rest of them who are eating like normal people. Twice this week I'm having company so its going to be a good stretch for me to make this happen.

Some weird things : I can have goat cheese, but not anything from cows.
   I can have some of the veggies and fruits I like but hardly any of my real favorites.
   Some brands of almond milk hurt me worse than cows milk, but others feel fine.
   The Gerd and the Fodmap diets are like opposites almost, but they both have to do with one's GI system.
   I can have table sugar. Go figure! But it does make me feel less deprived just knowing that, though I've only had it once, with some homemade jam. Since I knew what was in it, I knew I'd be okay, and I was.
   I can have no nuts but I can have almond milk, and while more than a couple of whole almonds hurts me, almond milk doesn't. Yeah!

Some terrific things: I am losing weight which I wanted to do so this has made that a lot easier.
    I am trying hard not to be hungry by making sure I have enough calories.
    I can have the plain Cheerios and they are actually great with 3 fresh strawberries sliced. Thank goodness its strawberry season. I'll be doing blueberries and then bananas as the summer goes on.
     I LOVE goat cheese.
   
    Simple Saturday: Hamburgers (no bun or grilled onions for me), Home baked Potato Fries, Cucumbers and Carrots, and Fresh Strawberries

Special Sunday: Grilled Chicken and/or Turkey, Green Beans, Crash Potatoes, modified for me, Green Salad, Fresh Fruit Salad, and Rolls (not for me)

Mexican Monday:  Chicken Burrito Bowls - Chicken, Salsa, Beans, Rice, Lettuce, Cheese, Cilantro and Tortillas
        mine will be missing the salsa, beans, tortillas and cheese, but I'll replace cheddar with feta)

Seafood Tuesday
Since we're having company who I don't know if they can eat seafood, I'm going back to basics here: Turkey meatballs with gluten-free breadcrumbs, Tomato based sauce on the side, Mashed Potatoes using almond milk, Green Salad, Rolls (not for me) Fruit Salad Tart for dessert (I'll keep my fruit separate)

Meatless Wednesday: Egg Sandwiches, with Egg, Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomato, Goat Cheese, on Bread
    (Mine will be on gluten-free bread and have only egg whites and a very small piece of tomato) and
    Greek Salad (mine will be missing the artichoke)

Italian Thursday:  Chicken Spinach Pasta Salad using Brown Rice Pasta. (mine will be missing the red peppers,
    mushrooms, and dressing which I'll substitute with olive oil and vinegar homemade dressing and add carrots and cherry tomatoes)

Fun Friday: KFC Bucket - Grilled chicken, sides of cob corn and mashed potatoes, which I won't have from there, but will bring them home and have my own corn and potato and I'll add a green salad for everyone

Here's hoping to a great week!

Early June

Loving low key summer days and sleeping in until 7. 

The irises my friend gave us last summer that MyGirl planted are up and blooming and gorgeous!

 MyMike and MyGirl planted two apple trees last Saturday. Hope they grow tall and strong and give us plenty of apples in the next few years. And we're loving all the green grasses in the field behind us. So beautiful summer is. We've had good thunderstorms which I hope will prevent things from getting too dry and hopefully the arsonist will know these aren't good conditions to light a fire that destroys our neighborhoods again.

 LittleBuddy is off at National Youth Leadership Training camp for the Boy Scouts. He doesn't think he's a leader but he naturally is. He knows how to get things done and he is someone that his friends look up to. He is a hard worker and Yeah, I'm pretty proud of this boy.

 He's going with his best friend, who lives up the street. I'm sure they'll have fun just being together.

His backpack, however, was heavier than the one he took to Philmont. . . poor guy. They have to carry their tents and pads and those are heavy. He is getting taller and stronger though. At his recent physical he was up over six feet tall, almost 6'1". Will he catch up to his brother at 6'2"?? We'll see.

We miss having him around. He comes home on Sat. and leaves again on Monday morning for Stake YM Camp, so yeah, he's going to be camped out. Good thing he loves it though. I'm hoping he gets to catch a fish at one of these camps. Anything but bluegill. He and his brother caught 30 of those last Saturday afternoon. However, the fishing merit badge requires two Different kinds of fish, so let there be one trout who bites his line! And bring him safely back home to me!