Don't Tell My Husband About This Post... (Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream)

Not Really... I never keep secrets from Michael. I can't. It's not my nature. I think I just feel guilty about sitting here at the computer and NOT working on my real estate class. I SAID I wasn't going to write any more blogs until I was through with my classes. Now I am finding myself not wanting to take pictures anymore because I won't be posting them on my blog anyway. So, I am breaking my own rule. Here are lots of pictures to let you know what's been going on around here.


Some of the neighborhood girls hanging out with Sophie and Reed in the backyard.




Reed and Cooper on a Field Trip to the Farm.

I fixed Taylor's hair for her Prom. Isn't she beautiful?

Most of you heard about the pound cake I dropped on the floor, but here is a picture of it. (I made this yummy pound cake for Teacher Appreciation Week and when I was transferring it to the plate, I dropped it. So, I made another one to take to the school.) By the way, we ate the pound cake that dropped on the floor. It was still good.

My Grandmother on Mother's Day. I couldn't get her to smile. She is the Matriarch of our family.

Mother's Day at my Aunt Jackie's house. I love hanging out with all the girls! In this picture we are planning Anna's bridal showers.

Occasionally, we break out and dance in the kitchen. Not really, Madi and Rebecca are trying to teach us the "Hoedown Throwdown." We are getting ready for Anna's wedding reception.

Reed and his cousin Jack.

I can't believe Sophie is swimming in the cold lake.

Lee fishing with Russ and Bo.

Michael, Brandon and Reed relaxing by the lake.

Field Day with Bo

Field Day with Sophie

Sophie got the GAME BALL after she hit a HOMERUN! And the Ice Cream truck just happened to be sitting in the parking lot as we were going to the car! Bonus!

The neighborhood kids all came over for a swim one sunny afternoon in April. I guess I was in a good mood that day!

Memorial Day at the house. Mom relaxing by the pool.

Sophie and Cheyenne

Cooper and "The Smile"

Baby Cydney and Carter

Caleb and his eyelashes

Michael and Brandon in a heated game of ladderball. Notice Michael's perfect form:)

Bo and Russ waiting their turn at ladderball. Don't think that's gonna happen.

For Memorial Day we had some delicious BBQ that Carter made. I would have to say it was the best BBQ I have ever had. Also we had hashbrown casserole, cauliflower salad, baked beans, brownies and homemade icecream. Mom made the ice cream and it was so good. She also brought some toppings. She made a raspberry chocolate sauce with chocolate fudge sauce and raspberry jam that was so yummy. But my favorite topping was the strawberries, mmm.

Here's the recipe she used for the ice cream:

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

2 cans Eagle Brand Condensed Milk

1 pt whipping cream

1 qt half & half

Whole Milk

1 sm bottle vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients except milk and pour into ice cream freezer. Stir in milk until mixture reaches fill line. Churn until set.

Shower Food (Petite Fors)

We had a great time at the shower last night. The food turned out really good and I wasn't stressed out about getting everything done. I started cooking early in the week because I didn't want to have to do everything the day of the party. My petite fours were a huge success! (See recipe below.) I will definitely make them again. It wasn't hard, it was just time consuming.

The Menu:

Jello Slush Punch / Coffee / Tea / Water / Soft Drinks

Cheese Straws

Toasted Pecans

Spinach / Strawberry Salad

Croissants

Hot Chicken Salad

Mixed Fruit (Thanks to Missy)

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Petite Fors

I found Pink Hershey Kisses at Walmart that said, "It's A Girl." I got a good deal on white roses from Sams. I put pink balloons everywhere, even on the mailbox. I got my plates and napkins from platesandnapkins.com (thanks Jackie). They were pink and brown and they were perfect. We did play one shower game where everyone had to guess the flavors of baby food just by looking. It was fun and a good way to let Sophie be involved in the shower.

Speaking of Sophie, she lost another tooth yesterday. She looks so cute!

I'm heading into the kitchen now to clean up my mess. It's not too big of a mess thanks to my friends who helped with clean up last night. I've also got to get to work on laundry because we have another weekend full of baseball. Hopefully we won't get rained out, but it's not looking good. Have a great weekend everyone!

Jodi's Petite Fors

Pound Cake

(I used my mom's "Five Flavor Pound Cake" recipe and baked it in an oversized cake pan.)

1 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1 tsp each: coconut flavoring, rum flavoring , almond flavoring , lemon flavoring, vanilla flavoring

Cream together margarine, shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat thoroughly. Sift flour and baking powder. Add milk and flour to butter mixture and mix well. Add flavorings and mix well. Bake in a greased and floured over sized rectangular cake pan. (I also lined my pan with aluminum foil and greased and floured it again because I wanted to make sure it didn't stick.) Bake at 350 for about 1 hour. Let cake cool in pan for 20 minutes. Grabbing the aluminum foil, pull the cake out of the pan and place on wire rack to cool completely. Wrap cake entirely with foil and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Teacake Icing:

(I used My Grandmother's "Teacake" Icing for this. I just made it a little thicker than I normally do.)

2 lb Confectioners Sugar

6 Tbs. melted Butter

2/3 cup whole milk (heated for about 30 sec in microwave)

2 tsp. vanilla

Few drops of Food Coloring

Mix everything together and stir until smooth. Don't add all the milk at first. You will need to add it gradually until you get the consistency you are looking for.

Icing the Petite Fors:

This is the time consuming part. First, I trimmed off the edges of the cake. The scraps are a good treat for the cook:) Then I cut the cake into squares, as consistently sized as possible. ( I used the bottom of the cake as the top of my petite fors, does that make sense?) I then spaced three cake squares out on top of one of my wire racks. I placed a large bowl underneath them. Then I poured the icing over the cakes one at a time. I made sure to put the icing on top pretty heavy and it dripped down the sides. The leftover icing went into the bowl and the rest stuck to the cakes. I did need to use the back side of a spoon to make sure the icing was covering the sides of the cakes evenly. This took a while and I had to stop several times to empty the icing from the bowl underneath my wire rack. I also had to make sure there were no cake crumbs in the icing, because that's just not pretty. Finally, for decoration, I made another batch of icing and colored it brown with cocoa. I put about a cup full into a plastic baggie and poked a whole in the bottom. Then I made stripes on the tops of the Petite Fors. (I tried to make polka dots but I couldn't make them not look like yummy, pink and brown dice.)

Winter Break Update (Peanut Butter Poundcake)

We are in the middle of winter break right now and I love it! We stayed around the house yesterday. I got caught up on the laundry and the kids worked downstairs cleaning up the playroom. Now, we can enjoy the rest of our week together. We will probably go see a movie tomorrow and maybe we will visit the park later in the week.

Friday night Bo and Russ spent the night with Lee and Cheyenne (Sophie's BFF) spent the night with us. Sophie and Cheyenne have been best friends since they were 2 1/2 years old when their brothers were on the same baseball team. I remember they used to play in the dirt together. Then they went to preschool together and were in the same class for 2 years in a row. Now they are in kindergarten at the same school, but not the same class. We also live in the same neighborhood which makes playing together very convenient. On Thursday afternoon, Sophie walked down to Cheyenne's house to deliver her early Valentine gift to Cheyenne. It was a best friends shirt and they both wore them to school on Friday. Here's the picture, precious:

We also enjoyed putting a 1000 piece puzzle together this weekend. This is something that everyone in our family loves to do, especially Bo. He is so unbelievably patient for an 8 year old. Sophie likes to take a piece out of the part of the puzzle that is already completed and put it back in the same spot. Reed will sit at the table with us and just ask if he can help. We usually just say no and he understands. He will be able to join us one day. For now, I'm just thankful he doesn't try to destroy the puzzle.

My favorite thing about this weekend was our tennis match. It was a beautiful day and the kids got to play outside all day long. Michael and I finally got to play together and I really enjoyed it. Sometimes people say it's hard to play with their spouse, but not me. I loved it! We ended up playing 3 sets and finally won the match in a tiebreaker!

It was a home match and I was in charge of bringing a dessert. I woke up early Sunday morning with baking on my mind. I finally decided on a Peanut Butter Poundcake, from Johnnie Gabriel's cookbook, and it was delicious. Here's a picture of the leftovers and the recipe:

Peanut Butter Poundcake

1 cup butter

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

5 large eggs

3 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lour a 15-cup tube pan. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the sour cream and the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down sides and bottom of the bowl. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Put the milk in a small bowl and add the vanilla. Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk to the creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down the sides and the bottoms of the bowl. Fold in the mini chocolate chips . Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool on wire rack for 10 - 15 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack and invert again onto a serving plate.

I frosted mine with a chocolate buttercream frosting and sprinkled with mini chocolate chips. Next time I will try the cooked fudge frosting.

Tag, your it! (Brown Sugar Bars)

I've been tagged twice by Tiffany and Angie! I'm always up for a good game of tag!

So, here's what you do:

1. Go to your 4th folder where you store your photos.

2. Select the 4th photo (no exceptions).

3. Post the picture with an explanation.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

5. I tagged Allison, Flo, Jill and Julie

The 4th photo in my 4th folder was this picture of Sophie in Oct 2005, asleep in the car. She sleeps just like I do, with her mouth wide open:)

Speaking of Sophie, my poor baby is sick again today. She has strep throat AGAIN! I can't remember how many times this is, but it's a lot! We are going to visit the ENT soon, I hope she doesn't have to have her tonsils removed, but if it will help we are definitely going to do it. Anyone have any recommendations for a good ENT?

Also, speaking of tonsils, did you know your tonsils can grow back? I had strep throat around Christmas and I went to a "minute clinic" type place to get a prescription and the Dr said I may have to have my tonsils removed again. Yesterday, at Sophie's dr appt, I asked if tonsils can grow back and the answer was yes. Very interesting...

So here's Sophie, at home with me today. She is full of energy and bouncing off the walls! I couldn't send her back to school today because she is still contagious. . .Although, she was probably just as contagious yesterday when she called me from the school complaining of a sore throat. Poor baby, I didn't go get her because I didn't really think she was that sick. I thought she was just wanting to come home:( She called me on Monday, from the nurse's office because she bumped her head on the table at school. Then on Friday of last week, she called me from my Mom's office (Mom is the book-keeper at my kids' school! Awesome for me!) saying she had a tummy ache. So, when she called me yesterday, I just put my foot down and said, "Just try to stay at school and if you aren't feeling better after lunch, you can call me." I decided to go ahead and make a dr appt for her after school because Cooper, my nephew, had strep throat and Sophie was around him all day on Sunday. Sure as the world, she had it and I am holding the title, "Worse Mom in the World!"

I did hyave some fun in the kitchen some this weekend! We had a home tennis match and I made some Ham/Cheddar wraps. These are perfect for tennis, because they are easy to transport and easy to eat. They were really good too. You just lay out a flour tortilla, spread a small amount of mayonnaise on it, layer it with good deli ham, lettuce shreds, and some shredded cheddar. There are tons of other stuff you can add to it also, but for a crowd, I try to keep it simple. Then you just roll it up. Depending on the size of the tortillas, you can cut them in half or leave them whole. Then I wrap each one in plastic wrap so they stay fresh. I also bought some Hebrew National "pigs in a blanket" from the freezer section at Publix. They were delicious and very low maintenance.

For the Super Bowl party, I made Brown Sugar Bars. I wanted something pretty simple to make and something I could make on Saturday, because Sunday's schedule was going to be tight. Here's that recipe:

Brown Sugar Bars

I wish I had taken a picture because they are really fancy looking with the almonds on top.

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 (12 oz) pkg semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, roasted

Beat butter and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add egg and vanilla, beating until blended.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to butter mixture beating until blended.

Press dough into an ungreased 15x10 in jelly roll pan with lightly floured fingertips.

Bake at 350 for 12 - 15 minutes or until golden. Place pan on a wire rack. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over warm cookie. Let stand 5 minutes; spread chocolate chips evenly over top. Sprinkle evenly with almonds. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Make about 3 dozen.

Sophie's Birthday (Lemon Squares)

We had such a great weekend! For most of the day on Friday, I was preparing for Sophie's Hello Kitty birthday. At about 4:30 our first guest, one of our neighbors came over and started playing with Sophie. This was perfect timing because Sophie was getting really anxious about the party. Eventually, the other 4 girls got there. My dad came and picked up Bo and Reed so us girls could all ride together. We then made our way to the mall for a "food court" dinner, where we met the rest of the family and the boys. The girls were already having so much fun!

At 7:00 we moved on to Build A Bear Workshop where the kids had a blast! We played games, we ran around the store, and we stuffed and dressed our bears, kitties, and rabbits. After a long time at Build A Bear, we headed home for cake, ice cream and presents! Sophie loves each and every one of her friends.

The rest of the night was kind of a blur for me... We headed downstairs to work on some crafts, which I totally enjoyed! I think the girls had fun too.

After crafts and some dancing, we went outside so the girls could jump on the trampoline for a little while. Then we came back in for "Makeovers at Midnight." I don't know what I would have done without Madi and Ashtyn.After the makeovers, I got everyone's sleeping space ready, popped some popcorn, and put in High School Musical. The girls finally got settled down and I think Sophie was the first one to sleep at about 1:30. The rest of the girls dozed off shortly after Sophie. We only had 1 "casualty" of the sleepover. We did have to make a 4:00 AM wake-up call to one of the girls parents to let them know she was ready to come home. I couldn't let the girls sleep too late on Saturday morning because we had to leave at 10:30 for Bo's basketball game.

Sports Update: In Bo and Sophie's basketball league, they don't really keep an official score. BUT... the coaches keep score anyway. Bo's team won and Bo scored 6 points. Sophie's team won too. She didn't score any points, but she played awesome defense and caught a pass and got a shot off. I couldn't believe she actually knew what to do! I played tennis with my brother Lee as my partner on Sunday and we won. This was Lee's first official ALTA match and he was a nervous wreck about it. I couldn't believe how AWESOME he was at tennis. He is pretty athletic and he is pretty tall, so it shouldn't have been that surprising! I would be his partner any day!

Lastly, for Sophie's birthday she requested a Cookie Cake from the mall. Since we were having dessert here, I decided to make some lemon squares too.

I LOVE lemon squares! Here's the recipe:

Lemon Squares

crust:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

3/4 cup butter, very cold, sliced

Filling:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp grated lemon peel

1/3 cup lemon juice

confectioners' sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 X 9 baking pan. For the crust: combine the flour, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and butter slices in a food processor until crumbly. Press evenly into prepared pan and bake for 20-22 minutes. For the Filling: In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder and set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, sugar, lemon peel, and lemon juice. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well. Pour the filling over the baked crust and bake for 26 minutes. When cooled, cut into squares and sift a light coat of confectioners sugar over them before serving.