Monday, October 9, 2017

My 3 BEST (secret) cake recipes revealed!

Amish Mama’s Apple Cake 5 to 6 medium sized soft apples, pared cored and sliced 1 TBSP Cinnamon 1 TBSP Nutmeg 3 Cups all purpose flour 1 TBSP Baking powder 2 TSP Salt 2 Cups Sugar 1 Cup + 1TSP Cooking oil 4 Large eggs lightly beaten ¾ Cup Orange juice 3 TSP Vanilla extract 1 Cup Chopped walnuts 3 TBSP Honey Instructions: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube (or bundt) pan. Dust apples with cinnamon & nutmeg and set aside. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt & sugar. Make a well in center of dry ingredients and add oil. beaten eggs, orange juice and vanilla. Combine for a smooth batter. Spoon ½ of the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange half of the sliced apples on top. Sprinkle with ½ cup of walnuts and 2 tablespoons of the honey. Cover with the remaining batter. Top with the remaining apples and walnuts ~ drizzle honey on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 85 – 95 minutes based on how hot your oven runs. Deep Dark Chocolate Cake 1& ¾ Cups Unsifted all purpose flour 2 Cups Sugar ¾ Cup Cocoa 1 & ½ TSP Baking soda 1 & ½ TSP Baking powder 1 TSP Salt 2 Eggs 1 Cup 2% Milk ½ Cup Vegetable oil 2 TSPS Vanilla 1 Cup Boiling water Instructions: Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Bake in a 9 x 13 pan at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes. While still warm, score top of cake as if you were going to cut slices. Warm for 10 to 12 seconds in microwave and then pour chocolate butter frosting over top of cake then put in the fridge for one hour. Deep Dark Chocolate Butter Frosting 1/3 Cup Butter (softened) 1/3 Cup Cocoa 2 Cups Powdered sugar 1 & ½ TSP Vanilla Worlds Best Carrot Cake! 2 Cups Sugar 2 Cups Flour 2 TSP Cinnamon 2 TSP Salt 1 TBSP Baking soda 3 Large or 4 Med Eggs (beaten) 1 Cup Vegetable oil 1 & ½ Cups Shredded coconut 2 Cups Carrots (grated) 1 Cup Pineapple (crushed & drained very well) 1 Cup Walnuts (chopped) 1 Cup Raisins Instructions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients. Add in remaining ingredients. Pour into a 9 x 13 baking pan and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool and frost with cream cheese frosting. Cream Cheese Frosting ¼ Cup Butter (softened) 1 8 oz Cream cheese 2 Cups Powdered sugar 1 TSP Vanilla 1 8 oz Can of shredded pineapple (press w/paper towels to remove liquid) 1 Cup Walnuts (finely chopped) Lisa Zmooda (Zmuda) Your Cowtown Realtor!

These Things I Wish...

It's been so long since I blogged (or even wrote for that matter) that I feel sort of strange about it. For a long while in fact, e-blogger had me locked out of my own blog. Then my search portal kept asking...do you mean akindjourney? No. Just kindjourney, thanks. So here I am, just hanging out in my back office while my sweetie watches the football game in the den. My life has been a true emotional whirlwind for so many years now. I guess you could say I am living in constant discomfort. I remember reading this for the first time many years ago. I read, get comfortable with discomfort. Well...I'm now more than comfortable, I'm seriously on the edge of mastery! Middle aged (check) Over the hill (check) 1/2 to centurion (check) empty nester (check) divorced (check) remarried (check) Grandma (check) home owner and real estate investor (check) Realtor (check) Coach (check) regional, national and MAPS Business One Thing Coach (check) sister of alcoholic (check) daughter of a bi-polar man (check) mother of two biological kids who love me (check) and of a special needs adopted child who hasn't decided yet (check) mother-in-law to one amazing young lady (check) and additional mother role to a man in the making (check) Lupus survivor (check) WHEW! Its times like these that I fall back on the comforts of my collections...books, clipping, poems and prose that bring me back to calm, serenity and a simpler time in my life. I'd like to share one of them now: These Things I Wish By Lee Pitts We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I’d know better. I’d really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and home-made ice cream and leftover meatloaf. I really would. My cherished grandson, I hope you learn humility by surviving failure and that you learn to be honest even when no one is looking. I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car — and I hope nobody gives you a brand-new car when you are sixteen. It will be good if at least one time you can see a baby calf born, and you have a good friend to be with you if you ever have to put your old dog to sleep. I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in. I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it is all right to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he’s scared, I hope you’ll let him. And when you want to see a Disney movie and your kid brother wants to tag along, I hope you take him. I hope you have to walk uphill with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely. If you want a slingshot, I hope your father teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books, and when you learn to use computers, you also learn how to add and subtract in your head. I hope you get razzed by friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and that when you talk back to your mother you learn what Ivory soap tastes like. May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on the stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole. I hope you get sick when someone blows smoke in your face. I don’t care if you try beer once, but I hope you won’t like it. And if a friend offers you a joint or any drugs, I hope you are smart enough to realize that person is not your friend. I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your grandpa or go fishing with your uncle. I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighbor’s window, and that she hugs you and kisses you when you give her a plaster of paris mold of your hand. These things I wish for you — tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. Lisa Zmoooda (Zmuda) Your Cowtown Realtor!