Easter Strawberry Lemonade Cake & a story from my class... belated.

This adventure all started with my favorite time waster (Pinterest) and an assigment of dessert at our Easter dinner. (Thank goodness for friends who have no family in town either so we can get together!)

I let Kurt pick out what he wanted me to make since I don't do sweets very often (this may change when there are more people in the house but 2 people can only eat so much cake... plus neither of us need the extra sugar.. even with  baby on board.)  This is what he picked Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake it calls for a boxed strawberry cake and Kool-aid.  I could have been ok with the first indredient but I'm not a kid anymore... Kool-aid is not happening in this house! (I reserve the right to change my mind on this subject as my kids get to the age of enjoying such things.)

... and so the search began! It took a lot longer than I thought!  In the end I took a couple acceptable recipes and added my own twist.

Strawberry Lemonade Cake (adapted slightly from iambaker.net)

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp lemon extract
zest of 1 lemon
4 egg yolks
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup strawberry puree (from fresh or frozen but thawed)
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
3 cups diced fresh strawberries
2 tbsp flour

Method:

1. Get out butter, eggs, and thaw frozen strawberries at least 1 hour before you want to start baking... the best cakes start at room temperature... or so I've read.
2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 8-9-in round cake pans.
3. Whip four eggs whites in mixer until soft peaks form. Add 1 cup sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, whipping to maintain soft peaks. Pour whites into large bowl and set aside.
4. Cream room temperature butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy. Add in vanilla, lemon extract, & lemon zest. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition.
5. Sift together 3 cups flour, baking powder, and salt.
6. Alternatively add flour mixture and strawberry puree to batter until fully combined. Batter will be thick.
7. Fold in egg whites.
8. Coat diced strawberries in 2 tbsp flour and gently add to batter.
9. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Lemonade Cream Cheese Frosting (adapted from food.com)

1/2 cup butter room temperature
8 oz cream cheese room temperature (I used the 1/3 less fat stuff cuz that's what I had.)
6 tbsp thawed lemonade concentrate
1 tsp lemon zest
6 cups powdered sugar

Method:

1. Get out butter, cream cheese and lemonade about 1 hour before you intend to whip this up.  Room temperature butter and cream cheese are so much easier to work with than cooled... learned this the hard way.
2. Mix butter and cream cheese until smooth. 
3. Add lemonade concentrate and lemon zest and mix until smooth.
4. Dump in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time... or however you want... this isn't rocket science!
5. Taste it... if you don't like the flavor or the consistency change it up a bit... plus who can pass up a beater of icing!?

Kurt and I decided the frosting needed to be fluffier so we folded in cool whip... big mistake. It was running down the side of the cake... tastes awesome but it's making a mess... Kurt also thought the icing was a tad too much lemon, so you may want to start with 1/2 the zest or test it out without the zest and see how it tastes to you.  I sprung for a really nice zest grater a while ago so I'm always happy for an opportunity to use it.

 You can see the running in the icing ... what a mess! Tasted so good though!

On a totally un-recipe related note: I'm teaching 5 year olds at church.  I love them but they are a challenge sometimes.  I have to keep reminding myself that the most important part is for them to know that I love them, NOT getting through the lesson and keeping them on point (ha! they're 5 and they have the wiggles.)  This week was extra fun because they all wanted to tell me Easter bunny stories and what fun they had planned for after church.  Add to that swelling feet (which I put up in the middle of the lesson) and baby kicking enough that the kids could see it and we had ourselves a pretty good party.  I also started crying when I was telling them that Jesus loves them and will be there for them if they are sad or scared that all they have to do is pray.  Not sure if tears freaked them out or if it was good, but I know they know they aren't alone... if they got nothing else from my lesson aside from a sugar high I'm totally fine with that.  They are sweet kids and I adore them.

Feeling Baby Girl Kick

.... It's one of our favorite things lately. 

I still think it's kinda weird to feel something moving in there.  At first feeling her moving felt like stomach gurgling, only it keeps getting stronger.  There is no longer any mistaking what's going on.  Kurt likes to fall asleep to her kicks.  Lately she's gotten so strong that he lets out a surprised 'whoa.'  She's getting stronger that's for sure. 

I haven't let any one except Kurt feel her kicking yet, but if you all were closer I would let you! I miss you all so much... In fact it's thinking about my out of town family and friends that made me write this. 

I've been working on baby bedding this week... I'll post pictures of that later but I thought I should let you know that I'm thinking about you!

23 weeks

I know some of you are not happy with me for being bad about taking pictures of the belly.... so without making you wait any longer... here it is!  Taken today even!

Baby girl (who's name we haven't decided on yet) is a kicker.  Kurt likes to fall asleep to her kicking his hand... I of course fall asleep for a minute or more then I'm wide awake.  Sleeping has not been easy for me since we found out we were having her... I'm hoping it gets a little better before she gets here and I'm waking up evey 10 minutes to make sure she's still breathing!

Wild About Baby... Projects

... thought you might like to see what I'm up to...

Here's baby gir's room... I mean the dining room...

 

Butterfly Art in pinks and black and white on an aqua background (might put her foot prints on the mat board after she gets here just to make it extra cool!)

 I'm so excited that I have this one done already!  I'm not sure if you can see by my pictures that the butterfly wings are actually up off the page.  I put an extra layer of cardboard between the mat and the butterfly background to help them not get smashed by the glass.  You can also see the baby girl booties that mom made for her, and the book Kate gave us!

Here's what the baby's crib quilt will look like-ish.  I  had to improvise a bit cuz I was using leftovers from this quilt when I made it for Brad & Josie's baby, Emree.  The quilt is all cut and some of the blocks are put together but I had to stop when my surger decided it was done. (won't hold tension in the one dial and there's no way to get parts for it any more)  I was going to do the baby's room zebra, pink and aqua to match the butterflies but I had a chat with my mom and decided to save those for baby girl's big girl bedroom... I have twin zebra sheets I've been saving for her since I didn't go back to school like I was thinking I would... instead I got Kurt and more happiness than I was planning on for a long time!




Below are links to the rest of the projects coming up... I'll post pictures later.
Extra cute and simple mobile ... it's a chandelier! Don't worry I'm not using lead crystal... but it's going to look similar to this. Kurt spray painted one part for me today so I should be able to finish it while he's out of town this week.
Velcro to the crib skirt yep, less fabric cuz it Velcros on to the spring part of the crib.
Crib rail covers Should I do this? I don't know what's great and what's just fluff.
slide under the bed boxes I'll have to change the dimensions... our crib is pretty low so I think I'll only have about 4" to work with but I hate the idea of missing out on that storage space in such a small apartment already!
Bumper pattern option 1
Bumper pattern option 2 ... which one? I think they're pretty similar... if you have pointers please let me know.
Crib sheets this tutorial is so good I'm not sure I have a chance to mess that one up! :)

I have lots of fun projects to get done before too long.  The big one this week is figuring out how much I need of which fabrics and going to town on it!  I also need to take pictures of me looking pregnant as I'm sure some of you are curious to see this.  I was just barely starting to look pregnant in Oregon for Christmas... I think this bump might look like a baby instead of a fat girl finally.  No one ever talks about this awkward in between stage... or how long it lasts!

Picture log of 2012

Random March Snow Storm

Romney Ralley in MO... too bad it didn't pan out.

Go bags... in case of super emergency... cuz if you have it you won't need it, right?

Hacking into a fresh coconut was serious work!

Conference Cinnamon Rolls

Tres-Leches Cake... Kurt's favorite

Our last rock out session... we had to quit cuz our neighbor below us isn't cool with music.

Play blanket I made for Peyton

Making the veil for Kira!

Avengers! We loved it!

A stop in Hannibal with Janna when she came to visit in April.

Finishing our trip in Nauvoo (Janna and I)

I had to take a picture of this piano forte... I was pretty sure a few in my family would be happy to see it.

Michelle's wedding in UT

Chilling with Janna & Daisy

2 fisted eater... but a little more polite than usual

Making flowers for Kira's 2nd shoot & reception

Little man loved the bugs

Peyton & Kurt getting to know each other on the docks in Coeur d'Alene.

Ice Cream shop at WSU

Kurt liked his too

Another patio concert

Our patio garden (June)

I thought Plum (Plumeria) was dead when we left for our trip...She tricked us.

Our first search for fireflies.. a dud but the concert was fun.

Second firefly hunt... Can you see one?

My first Swiss Meringue Icing

Looks ruined but it isn't! Just keep whipping and it'll be beautiful.

My decorating set up.

This is what the Swiss Meringue looks like on the cake.

Finished cake made for friends.

Photo Bomb by Grant.

Nauvoo again with my family.

Catching frogs at the bank of the Mississippi River.

Mom & Dad the last morning there.

 

 

First doctor appointment...10/22/12... It's a bean!

After genetic testing we made this...

Surprise!

This is what we're most thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been terrible about blogging.  I'm working at it... I've got a new motivator to help me along... more on that later. I have to tell you I'm sorry in advance for few photos this time, I was so busy doing it I forgot to stop to take pictures!

This Thompson house is a house that loves our food.  Our philosophy is if we're going to eat calories they should be GOOD! (this doesn't mean that it can't be healthy.)

Last year I spent nearly a month searching out healthy Thanksgiving recipes.  I'm using a lot of them again this year but I've added a few new ones and I'm getting creative and combining 2 of them to make my potatoes.  I thought I'd share the recipes I'm using along with details on the recipes and our reviews.

Here's our menu:
Honey & Thyme-Brined Turkey
Bourbon-Cider Gravy (recipe below)
Mushroom Fennel Quinoa Stuffing
Salad de Maison (from mom, Melanie; recipe below)
combining: Creamy Cauliflower Puree & Skinny Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Pear Sauce don't forget dessert!
Pie in a Jar these I did in July and had in the freezer... score for me! Less time in the kitchen!

Jarred Cranberry Pear Sauce!

I'll start with Cranberry Pear Sauce... I've learned that home made is a million times better than the canned stuff (though I loved it as a kid, couldn't get enough!) The recipe is from Skinnytaste.com (you'll see lots of this site from me cuz I LOVE everything I've tried from it.)  I did it yesterday and put some in 4 half pint jars, one for tomorrow and 3 for later because there's only 2 of us.


Notes: I used regular sugar instead of Agave or honey, but it ended up being 3/4 cup instead of half.  The flavor was great!

The salad dressing has to be made 3-24 hours in advance so here's the recipe for that:

Salad de Maison
dressing:
 juice of one lemon
1 tsp salt
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
3/4 cup canola oil
mix together
salad:
1/4 lb. bacon, cooked & diced
1-2 heads romaine lettuce torn into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup crasins
1/2-3/4 cup grated Swiss cheese
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup croutons
combine all and toss with dressing just before serving
Notes: We didn't even touch the salad today but we love it and we'll devour it tomorrow!

Honey and Thyme- Brined Turkey notes:
This is Kurt's very favorite turkey, he loves it.  The recipe calls for a turkey breast but we used a whole turkey this time. It was a happy turkey, it danced in the sink and took a quick soak then a nice long soak (24 hours long in salty & sugary water) The whole bird worked really well, I thought the dark meat might have been a little too salty from the brine, but Kurt thought it was just fine.. he even had a whole drumstick with cranberry sauce on it. 

I found the gravy recipe in the Cooking Light magazine from last November.  Here's the recipe:
Bourbon-Cider Gravy
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 shallot, chopped fine
1/2 c. apple cider
1/4 cup bourbon (I subbed sparkling cider)
1 1/4 cup chicken broth, divided
3 tbsp. flour
Pan drippings from your turkey without fat if you can
1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (I bet you could skip this if you don't have it already, who wants to buy a whole bunch of parsley just for a tablespoon?)
1 tbsp. cider vinegar

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add thyme and shallot; saute 2 minutes add cider and bourbon (or sparkling cider;) boil 3 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half.  Combine 1/4 cup of broth and flour with a whisk.  Add flour mixture, remaining broth and pan drippings from your turkey, then bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 4 minutes or until thickened.  Stir in parsley and vinegar.

Notes: I found this gravy a little sweet for my taste... I'm not sure if this is because of the cider or from the honey thyme turkey drippings.  It had good flavor, just a little sweet for me.  Kurt thought it was OK. We'll try something new next year.

Stuffing Notes: This is really good.  I'll be using the leftovers as a whole meal by adding some sausage to it.  The flavors were just great with the fennel and other vegetables.  Kurt said it's good, and OK but if I never made it again he wouldn't be upset.

Potato/Faux-tato Notes: Kurt said they were AWESOME.  Here's what we did... prepped 2 potatoes as you would for regular mashed potatoes (I always leave the skins on cuz that's where the vitamins are.)  We cut a cauliflower into medium chunks, steamed them until a fork goes in easily.  From there you treat the two the same.  We added buttermilk, garlic, salt & pepper... simple but yummy.  Sorry for those of you who would like measurements... we added the buttermilk til it was the consistency we wanted and garlic, salt & pepper until it tasted like we wanted.

We had a very good Thanksgiving together.  We wish we could be closer to our family, but for now we get to be just us.  We got to eat good food, watch football and basketball, spend some time with new friends in the ward, and make memories together.  Kurt and I send love to our family and friends; we hope you are all enjoying your holiday as much as we have!