Spring Surprise! (Fudgy Chocolate Cake)

The trees are budding, the flowers are blooming, the puppy is shedding and it's finally feeling like springtime!!

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything - don't worry, nothing terrible has happened in the past few weeks.  I just don't have anything yummy to post.  I haven't been feeling well since ACE-a-palooza, because, well....I'm pregnant!! 

Hennebaby is due November 18, and we're all really excited!!  (We have names picked out, but for now our last name has to do.)  I found out during finals week, which made it REALLY hard to concentrate on studying change theory and gerontological disease processes, but somehow I made it through the last four days of finals, passed my exit exam (with flying colors, not to brag, haha) and convinced my classmates that I had actually given up alcohol for Lent.  Then, a few days into my first week of free-me-time, it started....Morning sickness.  Or the proper name for it, All The Freaking Time Sickness.  Starting Week 6, a few days after ACE-a-palooza, I haven't been able to stomach even the idea of food, let alone make anything to take pictures of.  In fact, I've watching TLC nonstop and been eating a lot of this:

Ahh, to be 8 years old again.  Anyway, my body feels like a science experiment.  I started to read the "What to Expect" book, only to find that I had EVERY. SINGLE. SYMPTOM. possible, including the weirdo ones like nosebleeds, congestion, headaches, acid reflux if I lay down with less than 2 pillows and the ability to smell better than my dog.  I swore that if one more person suggested that eating crackers in the morning was going to fix me, I would throw up on them.  Needless to say, a food blogger's worst nightmare.  Poor Layla  has been stressed out about why her Girl Human can't seem to stand up without making a horrible retching sound and why Boy Human is the only one who feeds her anymore. 

So that was the past 4 weeks.  For the Easter weekend, my parents came to visit, which was such a blessing.  It was so nice to be pampered and waited on for a few days!  Bob is a wonderful Baby Daddy, and he takes good care of me, but one of us has to go out and bring home the bacon, and that's not me for the next few weeks.  It was soo nice to have some help for a few days.  My mom turned into Mama Extraordinaire, making Easter Saturday dinner, cleaning my disaster of a house and doing all the laundry that had piled up.  In those few days, I moved into my 10th week and started feeling better, with the nausea fading to just the morning and before bed.  (It's my theory that Hennebaby is a boy, since a boy fetus starts to produce testosterone during Week 10 and I'm thinking that's what's counteracting my preggo hormones and helping my body to calm down a little.  We shall see!!)

So, my plans for this blog are to include one pregnancy recipe and (eventually) postpartum/new baby recipe a week to help those other food-loving expectant moms and their families.  The remaining recipes will probably be to satisfy my cravings, which are starting to be, um, interesting in their diversity and surprise factor.  

But, without further ado, I bring you....chocolate cake!!  One of the things I have had no interest in during my icky-feelings is chocolate. Given that it's Easter time, and that Hubby's favorite Easter candy is Reese's peanut butter eggs, my mom decided that for dessert on Easter Saturday she would make him a little treat, in the form of chocolate peanut butter fudge cake.  Using her easy recipe for chocolate fudge cake, she substituted chocolate peanut butter from Peanut Butter & Co for the fudgy filling and drizzled some fudge topping on the top.  Also, the recipe calls for a bundt pan, but since I somehow don't have one, we used a springform pan that worked just as well.  

This cake was rich and delicious and even Hennebaby seemed to approve of the two tiny pieces I had.  The peanut butter flavor was infused throughout the cake, and it was sweet and rich without being tooth-achingly over the top.  And as an added bonus, my house smelled AMAZING for several hours!!

Fudgy Chocolate Baby Daddy Cake

(from Mama Extraordinaire)

1 box chocolate fudge cake mix
1 box chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
8 oz sour cream
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
2 eggs
1 jar fudge ice cream topping (or chocolate peanut butter topping)
Powdered sugar for the topping

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, oil and sour cream well.  Place one half of batter in a greased bundt pan.  Using the back of a spoon, make a 'well' around the center ring of batter.  Fill with topping and cover with the remaining batter.  Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or till cake tester comes out clean.  Cool in pan 5 minutes then invert on cake plate.  When cool, top with glaze or powdered sugar.  Store covered.  Enjoy!!!

**For Turtle cake, use caramel ice cream topping for the filling and top with pecans.  Dream up your favorite combination!!

The End, Finally (Homemade Samoas)

Well, folks, we did it.  My classmates and I are officially nurses!!  Last Saturday was our exit exam, and I passed with flying colors (not to brag, haha).  It was a crazy, wild ride, and while I can't honestly say that I enjoyed every second of it, I'm definitely grateful for the experience.  

So now that insanity is over, I'm recovering from a year of no sleep and mucho stress.  This past week has been blissfully relaxing.  I should start working in May, once I take the boards and get my license, but until then I have a few things going on that I'll share over the next few weeks.  I have some new ideas on where to take the blog, and I hope that my readers (all three of you, haha) will be excited.  More about that later.  On to the main event!

My Little Sister... (Homemade Tagalongs)

My little sister turns 21 today.  21.  The age of adulthood.  And drinking.  And gambling.  And generally having fun in a legal-ish type way.

But first, before all of that, I had to make her something to celebrate with.  Rachel loooooooves peanut butter.  Loves it with a capital L.  So, taking this all into consideration, I made her my homemade version of our favorite Girl Scout cookie, the Tagalong (also known as Peanut Butter Patties.  Original Tagalongs and Samoas, however are the best.  You can read about the GS cookie bakeries and varieties here, if you're so inclined.)

This had nothing to do with my love of peanut butter and chocolate.  This was solely for the purpose of making my little sister happy.  I'm pleased to report that these cookies are deliciously like the originals.  I only had one, just for testing purposes. 

Seriously, just one.

Handful.  :o)

Happy birthday, little sister!!!

Homemade Tagalongs

(from the wonderful Love and Olive Oil)

 1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups white flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

1-1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

12 oz milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips (your preference)

1-1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preheat your oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Cream the butter and sugar and slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt (this way it won't make too much of a mess).  The dough will form a ball in the bottom of the bowl.  Chill the dough for 15 minutes, then roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 1 to 1-1/2 inch circles.  You could do this part by hand if you had a really good eye, but let's face it, I don't, so I used the cookie cutter.  Place on the lined sheets, close together because they won't spread very much.  Bake for 12-13 minutes, until the edges are browned.  Place the cookie sheets on a wire rack, and press a thumb-sized indentation into the middle (this is where the peanut butter will go), then transfer off the sheet onto the racks.  Save your parchment paper.

Once the cookies cool, stir together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, pinch of salt and vanilla into a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave for 20-40 seconds, until the mixture is soft enough to pipe.  Put the peanut butter mixture into a pastry bag or a plastic baggie with the corner snipped off and pipe a small amount into the middle of the cookie (about 1 teaspoon, depending on the size of your cookies).  I used a knife to spread the peanut butter until it was flattened.  As the peanut butter mixture hardens,  in a small bowl, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave (usually 2 rounds of 30 seconds will do) or over a double boiler.  Stir in the vegetable oil.  Place your saved parchment paper under your wire rack.  Dip the top of each cookie into the chocolate, and place on the wire rack to harden.  

Store in a cool place, if you have any left to actually store.  :o)