Cherry Chip Sweetness

This weekend was my 27th birthday. Aaron & I celebrated Saturday evening with dinner out and then we returned home to bake a cake and watch a movie. This May we will have been married 5 years and this is the first time we have made a cake for either one of our birthdays. We went to the grocery store and searched through all the cake and icing flavors to find one that sounded delicious. We decided on Cherry Chip with Dark Chocolate frosting. We were a little adventurous in our baking adding a few goodies to the batter, but it turned out alright. We searched through the cabinets at home to find something to decorate it with and ended up with our masterpiece pictured in the top left corner. It was yummy and we had a great time enjoying our cake and some time together. Sunday we celebrated with my family. Dad grilled steaks for lunch, and Mom made brownies for dessert. Everything was utterly delicious and my birthday was quite special. Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate. Oh, and my little man turned 10 months this weekend too!

A 'Super' Weekend

This weekend was awesome. Friday night we had another Girls Night. We had the best time playing Bunco and charades. May I just say that Richard Simmons cleaning a bathroom never looked so good. Can I get an amen? Anyways, we had a blast eating and playing. I'll refrain from putting up the videos to avoid complete embarassment for some of my dear friends.

For our Girls Night I made a recipe I'd been dying to try. It will completely take away any New Year's revolution you may have, so proceed at your own risk. I saw it on Bakerella, and thought Girls Night was the perfect time to some Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies!!! They were delicious! (It's a Betty Crocker recipe, so if you are interested you can check out their website).

And now for the Super Bowl...

Sunday we had a little Super Bowl Party at Mom & Dad's. It was just us, but we had a blast watching the Steeler and Cardinals duke it out for a win. We were all rooting for the underdog and thought they were going to pull it out until the last few seconds of the game. The video below is the half time show we had. I don't think Bruce Springstein has anything on us.

A Little Sugar & Spice

Last night we all got in the baking spirit for Christmas. Beth, Amy, Mom, & myself made all kinds of holiday candy. We made all the favorites...buckeyes, chocolate covered peanuts & crackers, mint chocolate bark, chocolate crisps, etc. I tried a new recipe for Oreo cream cheese truffles that I think turned out pretty delicious. I have another recipe or two that I want to try, so I don't think all the holiday baking is done just quite yet. The best part of the night were the home movies. Beth came across a ton of our old home videos so we popped them in while we baked, and we all died with laughter. Here's to more happy baking and reminiscing.

It's Time for Baking

I have never been much of a baker or cook for that matter, even though I enjoy doing it. It just seems that I never have the time to put into it. Whatever is easiest seems to always win at our house. However, my cousin Jessica has inspired me with all her baking and has introduced me to some pretty awesome blogs about cooking and baking. Well I was looking at the Bakerella site and saw this recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Maple Brown Butter Frosting. If you are like me the name alone sold you. I decided that I must make them, I mean they sounded soooo good. I decided to omit the pecans since neither Aaron or I are big fans of nuts in our cookies. It was my first experience baking from scratch, and if I can give myself a little shout out, I don't think I did that bad of a job. They were pretty good, but I think they would have been better if I had been able to make the frosting to go with them. I baked all day Tuesday, and Levi was feeling a little neglected, so I didn't get a chance to make the frosting, but I'm dying to try it. Any of you wanting to try a new recipe, I'd recommend you give this a try.