Texas Tea Party

Last night the Poo was very sad. Her Papi, who is daddy when she is sad, had to go away for the night. He has sleep apnea and had to go for a sleep study. This was not ok with the Poo. She is not used to him not being here for bedtime and cried her little heart out when it was time for him to leave. It was made worse by the fact that he had to go so quickly after getting home from work since the study was in another town.

So to help her out we decided to make it a girls night and change the focus. We bake home made strawberry muffins, sliced fresh strawberries and strawberry whipped cream with strawberry tea in a REAL tea pot. What fun we had! She picked a table cloth and we had to put on dresses and rings and use our very best many at the tea party. It really took her mind off of Papi and gave us some much needed play time. She even shared her muffins with Lynette @ Crazed Mind. When it came time for bed it was the same old routine. Teeth brushed, potty done, nightgown on, story read and she crashed! No fussing or crying at all. She sure is growing up fast. I hope to squeeze in as many tea parties as possible before she outgrows them. If any of you would like to have your own tea party with your little ones here is the recipe for the muffins. They were great!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2/3 cup butter

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons strawberry extract

3 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups milk

8 to 10 fresh strawberries diced

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and both extracts. Sift together dry ingredients and add alternately with milk while beating. Beat for 1 minute. Pour into two 9 inch round pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. We used a mini muffin pan and started checking after about 15 minutes.

Easy cake to make and so delicious. Would be a good birthday cake as well.

Food Porn Anyone?

As many of you know, I cook a lot. All the time it seems. I am always messing with recipes and making changes, adding flavors and changing textures. With the cold we have had I have been doing a LOT of baking. So much so that we have had plenty to share with friends.


During the last cold snap we were stuck at our house for 4 days. No fun at all. My dear friend Lynette was unable to share our cinnamon bread pudding, strawberry scones and pineapple upside down cake. So this time I decided to bake a day in advance. The bad weather is due tomorrow so today I have baked 3 delicious cheesecakes. We have almond amaretto, chocolate kahlua, and parrot bay coconut!



Did you notice a theme? Yes, they are all alcohol cheesecakes! I made them with Lynette's home made amaretto and kaluha and my own rum. What could be better to snuggle with on a cold wintry day? Is there anything more comforting that delicious food made with love from friends? No, I don't think so either. We often do shared meals where we all prepare what we have and combine it with what our friends have. It is a great way to use a little bit of groceries and have a feast for all. For anyone who may want it, the recipe for the basic cheesecake is as follows:
3 blocks cream cheese
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 T. lemon juice
1 t. vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients, pour into graham cracker crust and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool at least 4 hours before serving.

For the extras I added :
3 T. cocoa
1/2 c. kaluha for the chocolate kaluha cheesecake

2 t. almond extract
1/2 c. amaretto
sliced almonds on top for the almond amaretto




1 cup shredded coconut soaked in 1/2 cup parrot bay coconut rum for 30 minutes for the coconut cheesecake

Hope everyone enjoys!

Snow Day

Well, after 75 degrees on Saturday we reached a high of 23 degrees here today! Woohoo! I know its colder other places but this just doesn't happen here. We have what looks like snow but upon closer inspection is really a sleet, ice and snow mix. Very crunchy and not fun to play in at all. I have to say when I got up this morning I very excitedly went to the door because I had heard it start last night. I am from a more northern place in Texas so I wanted to build a snowman and make snow angels. Unfortunately the Poo still has a nasty cough and I could not drag her out on 25 mile per hour winds to play(much to her dismay).
So instead we decided to have a snow day. What is a snow day you ask? Well, I will tell you. For us, we decided silly string would be great fun.



We even attempted to ambush the Papa when he came home from work but our string wouldn't spray. The can I left attached to the front door for him miraculously worked great. Talk about karma!
Our poor dogs could not find a good place to hide as we chased each other with silly string through the house. Neither of us were aiming at them but you could not have convinced them of that fact. Also, since our house is old and drafty(like the windows are wide open drafty) we decided to bake to keep the house warmer. The Poo loves to mix and add ingredients so that was lots of fun for her. We even put together a princess puzzle and wore our princess power rings.
Loads of fun for a little princess. We managed to make a large bread pudding with dulce de leche to put on top, a cinnamon swirl bread, chocolate chip cookies, and baked spaghetti with garlic bread.
Not a bad day at all. She had a good time and I got some cleaning done.
Most importantly we stayed WARM!!