V-Day Treat

I don't really have strong feelings about Valentine's Day one way or another. I probably cared more when I was in middle school/high school and wished I had a boyfriend to send me flowers. These days though it's kind of off my radar. I did get a little card/print for us, my friend Lynsey alerted it to me on Etsy. It's hanging in our living room now.

Now to the treat part - I committed a cardinal 'sin' - I used boxed cake and pre-made frosting! If that's not bad enough I used it to make cake balls (or if you're more refined cake 'truffles'! Shameful, but I so do not care. Y'all they are good. I'm almost positive there is nothing 'natural' in them but you what? that's okay. Sometimes you just want junky things. I used the recipe from How Sweet It Is (she has some fabulous pictures and more obscenely good-looking treat recipes). I bought Duncan Hines Strawberry Deluxe cake mix and cream cheese frosting and used Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips for the chocolate coating.

The hot pink sugar is from Bake It Pretty. The best part about these is that the cake is pink, very fun. They are really, really rich and sweet and I say that knowing I have a high tolerance for sugar.

I did have a hard time dipping them into the chocolate, not all of the cake part got covered. So there you have it, one of the few times I have used boxed cake mix and I don't feel bad about it. 

Tuesdays with Dorie: Bourbon Bread Pudding

It's Thursday, not Tuesday. I know. I meant to make this on Sunday but didn't get around to it. Yesterday we got snow so my night classes were canceled, SO I finally got the chance to make bread pudding. I didn't have any bourbon so I used a splash of Jack Daniels. I also didn't use the water bath to bake it in, I'm far too lazy for that.

I love bread pudding, it's my favorite dessert, and this one did not disappoint. Thanks to Sharon of Simply Southern for this week's selection.

Wonky Curtains

I sewed something, not very well though. I have wanted to make curtains for our kitchen door and kitchen window for ages. I looked at different fabric options and fell in love with some really cute Michael Miller prints (and I can't find now) but I couldn't justify spending the money. Instead I pawed around in the fabric stash I've been accumulating and decided to use fabric I bought last year when I went to San Antonio. The pattern is American Jane by Moda.

For the door curtains I used some lace at the bottom that I bought at an estate sale. There wasn't enough yardage left for the cafe curtains but I think that's okay. The seams are not really straight, but maybe no one will scold me. I'm just glad I had enough of an attention span to finish them. I'm sure there's a more proper way to make these, measuring and such, but being lazy and having a short attention span I just winged it.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Great Grains Muffins

These muffins seem so unsuspecting but gosh they're good, I think they might be my new favorite muffin recipe. I followed the recipe just as Dorie states, but left out nuts and used Red Flame Raisins for the fruit.

I loved the way they tasted, the cornmeal was crunchy and the maple syrup and raisins added the right amount of sweetness. I will be adding these to my weekend breakfast rotation.

Thanks to Christine of Happy Tummy for these week's selection!