A Boy and His Castle

Pretty much since the day after his last birthday, my friend's son Brady has been telling me he wanted a cake in the shape of a Zamboni. I had NO idea how I was going to pull that off. Fortunately for me he is now into Lego's and crazy about his castle and knight themed Lego's and decided he wanted a castle instead.

The cake was a 10 inch and 6 inch yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and was surrounded by a blue gel moat. The towers were ice cream cones frosted with buttercream and covered in red sanding sugar. The Knights and dragon were supplied courtesy of the birthday boy. 

Happy 5th birthday, Sir Brady! 

Yes, This Blog Still Exists (well, kind of...)

Yeah, so this blog thing didn't go exactly as planned. It's only been like, um, 4 months or so. That's not so bad, right? One post every 4 months. Yep.. totally successful blogger.

So, here it is... the cake that saved the From the Hill blog... yellow cake, cookie dough (egg-less so as not to freak anyone out), and chocolate buttercream frosting. I'm not sure life gets any better than this.

p.s. Really you could use any cake flavor/recipe you want... I just am partial to yellow.
p.p.s Also, my photography skills have not improved AT ALL during this blogging hiatus. So sorry.

Cookie Dough Cake

Cookie Dough

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

4 Tbs. milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups mini-chocolate chips

Combine first 5 ingredients in mixing bowl and combine. Add in flour; stir until well combined. Add in chocolate chips. I made this the night before, but would recommend you let it sit out or it will be more difficult to spread on the cake.

Cake

1 yellow cake mix

1 vanilla instant pudding mix (3.4 ounces)

1 cup milk (I used whole milk... i think it's best for baking, and what's a few more calories?)

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients; mix well. Pour into 2- 8 inch cake pans that have been greased & floured (I cheat and use the Pam Baking spray... ). Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Set on baking wracks and remove from pans after 10 minutes.

*I know the ingredients sound a little crazy... a cup of oil is a lot. You could totally just bake the mix as the box says. This recipe is from the Cake Doctor and it it, in my opinion, SO much better than just the plain mix.

Chocolate Buttercream

1 stick butter, softened

1/3 cup cocoa (more if you like a stronger chocolate taste)

3-5 cups powdered sugar (I used probably closer to 5 this time because I felt it was too chocolate-y. Use your best judgement)

1/3 cup milk, plus additional as needed.

1 tsp vanilla

Mix butter and cocoa until well combined. Add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beet until frosting is fluffy. Add additional milk as needed.

taken from my cell phone... I'm slightly embarrassed to post this horrific picture, but I had to show you the cookie dough!

Video

Ok, I have been an extremely poor blogger as of late. In my defense, I've been out of the country training for a new job for the better part of 2 weeks and just haven't had the energy. And I'm totally being lazy on this post to share a video I watched today... it's adorable. I especially love when the daughter sings and yawns at the same time. So cute.

Oh Right... This Blog is Supposed to Encourage More Cooking!



mmm.. shrimp!

 Well I'm now a month into this blogging business and I am not doing so well!  I blame it on what I'm now calling The Great Never Ending Cold of 2011. My cooking has been, well, pretty much non-existent lately. It doesn't help that I can't really taste food. Mix that in with the feeling like crap and add a final touch of laziness and, well, there you go!

I did actually make dinner New Year's Eve. (For the record, I have cooked since then - I don't want anyone to worry that I haven't eaten for the past 8 days... it is me we're talking about here!) Anyway, my big exciting new year's that ended with me in bed before midnight, started with a dinner of shrimp tacos. Most people know that I would be happy eating Mexican food pretty much every night of the week... so I thought it would be a good way to welcome the New Year. And I was right... they were yummy! This recipe is pretty much made up, so I'm leaving off measurements... fix as much or as little as you need and the seasoning is really up to your taste!

Wow... I HAVE to work on my photography skills! They were really not this bland looking!

Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Cream

raw shrimp, deveined and shells removed

oil

chili powder

garlic powder

corn tortillas

(you could use flour tortillas, but I'm currently obsessed with corn tortillas so that's what I recommend)

avocado

sour cream

lettuce

cheese

First, make the avocado cream. Mash your avocado with a fork, sprinkle on some salt, chili and garlic powder. Mix with sour cream - I used about 2/3 cup to 1 large avocado. You could also add some lime (I didn't have any) or some cilantro if you liked that sort of thing. Once it's seasoned to your liking, throw it in the fridge to marinate a bit while you make the tacos.



For the tacos: Heat your skillet on med/high heat and once it's warmed up add your oil... not a lot - just enough to coat the shrimp. While your pan is heating up toss the shrimp in the chili and garlic powder; add to heated oil. Cook the shrimp... about a minute and a half on each side until done. Set aside. Heat another skilled on med/high heat... once it's hot (no need for additional oil) heat the tortillas... about a minute on each side. Spoon in the shrimp, cheese, avocado cream, lettuce... whatever other toppings you'd like. So good!

Train Wreck

Confession time... I am a fan of The Bachelor. I've watched every season but one. It's like a train wreck that even though I know it's wrong, I can't help but look. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to keep watching this season. It's only one episode in and I'm so annoyed. Oh, who am I kidding... we all know I'm going to keep watching!

Anyway, Bachelor Brad is back for a second chance to find his true love. His first season was three years ago and in the end he didn't pick either of the women. Apparently this was some sort of reality TV war crime and his penance is to repeat his time on the show. I don't see the big deal - he didn't see a future with either one so he let them go instead of proposing and then breaking up 30 days later like the other Bachelors before him. But, his public beatings seem to have taken every ounce of self-esteem from the poor man and he's spent years in therapy figuring out why he didn't propose to the women he didn't love and now he's ready to fix this mistake! He better find himself a wife this time... one of his potential brides suggested that if he doesn't he would have to move to a remote cave, grow some sort of crazy beard, and never be seen in public again.

So on his first night there was the usual parade of crazy quality "ladies". The first one out slapped him! There was a woman who summoned him to the car to open the door for her. Another one sang to him... seriously - WHY do they think this is a good idea? Would you, on a first date with someone serenade him? I couldn't even watch that one... thank God for the DVR so I can fast forward through the truly awkward moments. Another "lady" told him that someone dumped her because of the size of her ass and then proceeded to ask him if he could handle, ahem, all of her. Oh dear god. Oh and I saved the best for last... there is a girl with fangs. FANGS. I'll say it again - FANGS!!!  And he says "they are really hot". And HE KEPT HER. I can't believe I voluntarily watch this.

Next week I'll be keeping a count on how many times someone says "For the right reasons". I'm sure I heard it at least 10 times in the 2 hours tonight. I also may have to start drinking on Monday nights to survive the season. Because I just can't miss this "journey"... that would be crazy!