I have not forgotten!

Do you feel abandoned?

So, so sorry!

I have not forgotten you, my loyal 16 readers! I've been so busy and today I am going to be officially a GRANDMA!  At the very moment I write this out, mommy and daddy already know whether its a boy or girl but they're not telling until we arrive at the hospital.

Can't wait to get back home and make a HAPPY BIRTHDAY cake!

See you soon and happy baking,

Tuesday Tip!

Ahhhh! Why didn't anyone remind me it was Tuesday before I started getting ready for bed?!?! 

GASP!

Today was the first day of school and the first day of kindergarten for our littlest one. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by and today certainly was another example of how it will simply slip through your fingers. 

Somehow I found myself somewhere between the "walking dead" and "euphoric" stage in this new chapter of my life because I was now at home alone with hours to fill. I could do my "to do" list without needing to worry about feeding another human being or keeping an eye on the clock for naptime.

Guess what happened.

I forgot to eat lunch.

And I didn't notice the clock as I did laundry and cleaned the house.

So I forgot it was Tuesday.

And that you were waiting for me.

Anxiously.

Waiting.

For my tip.

And it never came.

So what I decided to do is to share my Tuesday Tip in a "how to" recipe.  But since it's now approaching midnight and I don't have pictures uploaded. And I picked up my mother from the airport today. And I'm now typing this on her bed. And she is trying to get to sleep. And she is kicking me out of my office/guest room.

I'll come back to tell you how to SIFT your way to a wonderful and delicious cake or cupcakes.

Yup. You heard it. That dreaded SIFT word in recipes.

But the thing is I know that you would love for me to tell you how to get something amazing out of a boxed cake mix.  And yes, it does require a little extra work. And yes, I know I still have to share the results of the test kitchen fail from last week. 

And yes, my mother is now kicking me. Literally.

sift, sift, sift, sift, sift...

This is why I should be in bed already.

Random streams of consciousness should really be me dreaming instead.

Happy Sleeping!

Test Kitchen...redo

Yesterday I told you about a complete fail I had.  I can tell from the amount of traffic to this blog and the lack of comments, generally means there is very little interest in what happened.  But as I said when I first started this space of trial and delicious errors, I will include you in on what I learned. This particular one has been a lot of fun.

As of this moment, I've redone the recipe I started yesterday with the kids.  We've started all over again and are hoping for success.  Every step of the way, both children are reminding me how delicious our "fail" was yesterday.

Oh, and by the way, that very cake was gone by late morning.

Now off I go to pull out the redo from the oven.

One last thing, a huge huggable HELLO to the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Singapore, France and Vietnam!  Glad you stopped by to read...even if just a little.  Smiles from the USA!  I'll be back with the test kitchen results. See you then.

Happy Baking,

Today's Test Kitchen

Oh no. Not again. Not another fail.

Yup. But this time it was the most fun I've had with my children in the kitchen. Once I get the pictures taken of the final product, I'll upload them and tell you what happened.  It just so happens to be cooling right now and yes we are still going to eat it.

Just remember, when you start smelling smoke and the timer still hasn't gone off yet...check the oven.  Quick!

I did. But it was too late.

So after turning off the smoke alarm, I gave the children and I sampled the crust I was forced to remove. (Yeah, that's never a good sign. You know, hard crust on a cake.)

They say it's really yummy though.

I agree. Almost like a really nice sweet biscotti.

Just wait until I tell you what happened and why.  But first I need to go clear out the air and clean up my oven.

Happy Baking!