Tuesday's with Dorie: Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte

Creamy and rich with a bit of a kick. That's how I'd have to describe this dessert. Can you guess what the secret ingredient is? Course Ground Pepper. Yep, you read that right. I never thought I'd be putting pepper in a dessert. The things you learn from baking along with this group!

It doesn't taste much like pepper. It just gives your mouth some heat after you've swallowed a rich and creamy bite. If you would like to make it and experience it for yourself, visit April of short + rose for the recipe. Personally, I think it would be fantastic without the pepper, but it does make it interesting...in a good way.

There were a couple of other tricky ingredients in this recipe. The first one was kirsch. I don't cook or bake with alcohol, so I'm always looking for substitutes. For this one I used cherry juice for the kirsch. The cherry juice didn't light a flame, BUT it did taste fantastic!

This dessert also called for Mascarpone cheese. I had no idea what that was. I looked it up on the Internet to see how it was packaged and found it at HEB. Wal-Mart didn't carry it, so I made a special trip just for this cheese. It was totally worth it though, because combined with cream cheese and some other sweet ingredients, it makes a FABULOUS topping.

I give this recipe two thumbs up.

Tuesday's with Dorie: Sweet Potato Biscuits

I made these biscuits for a dinner that I had on Sunday and they were a hit! I made them in the morning and tried one hot just to see if they really did taste better if you let them sit as Dorie suggests. They weren't bad hot, but then I waited the suggested 15 minutes. They were better. Much more "potato-y" as she says.

By the time dinner came around it had probably been eight hours. And, in my opinion, they were even better--much better! My three-year old said it all when he took his first bite. "mmmMMMMMmmmm" The next day his search for another biscuit was met with disappointment when I informed him that they were all gone. Note to self: double the recipe next time!

Thanks, Erin of Prudence Pennywise for chosing this recipe. I'll definitely be making these for Thanksgiving. Be sure to check out her blog for the recipe!

Surrounded By Butterflies

On Saturday afternoon, I went outside to find myself surrounded by butterflies. They were everywhere and there were so many of them! I got into my car and drove to the temple which is about 15 miles from where I live. The butterfly phenomenon did not end in my neighborhood--it was everywhere.

After the temple, I went grocery shopping. When I stepped out of the store I noticed an unusual number of birds gathering on the telephone poles. All their chirping made it sound like I was in a rain forest instead of a major city! As one observer pointed out, "[the butterflies] must look like manna from heaven to them."

Tuesday's with Dorie: Allspice Crumb Muffins

I'm so glad these were easy to make because I met a few bumps in the road. First of all, I was out of milk. I got the kids ready and headed out to pick some up at the local HEB. We were piling in the van when I realized Erik's car seat was in Landon's car.

No worries though, we have powdered milk in our pantry. I went to crack open the never-before-used bucket of milk. It was very difficult getting the lid off of the 37.5 lbs container. Somehow I managed, and I'm glad I did. These muffins were delicious. I even substituted half of the all-purpose flour for wheat flour. This is a recipe I'll be making again and again!





Thanks to Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table for choosing this week's recipe! Be sure to stop by her blog for the recipe or buy the book: Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (who, by the way, worked with Julia Child).

Body For Life Update

As much as I enjoy the BFL workouts and nutrition plan (and I'm not being sarcastic), I was getting very discouraged not being able to measure any results. Landon and I finally decided to order a body fat tester so that we could mark our progress.

So far I've lost 6%-7% body fat and gained about 5.5 lbs of muscle. Yay! I was so excited to see that all of the hard work is actually paying off. Now, if I can just keep it up...

Luncheon with Mitt Romney

My good friend and former roommate from BYU, Shelly, has some good connections and was able to get us tickets to a luncheon with Mitt Romney. We went up to meet him and have our picture taken before it started. I was too nervous to say anything more than hello and ask if we could get a picture.

During the luncheon, Mitt gave a speech. He said that although we have challenges, he has hope for the future of America. He believes that the people of America are strong and that we will rise above our problems.

I sure hope so. It seems like everytime I turn around, there is one more thing to worry about: H1N1, Afghanistan, the economy, terrorists, healthcare, the dollar weakening, and the list goes on.

I have a lot of respect for Mitt Romey, and it was an honor to attend a luncheon with him as the speaker. It would have been neat to meet his lovely wife too, but I didn't see her there.

Tuesday's with Dorie: Split-Level Pudding

This week's dessert was simple and delicious. Creamy and smooth. I love the hidden chocolate ganache on the bottom. It's a nice little surprise. Thanks to Garrett of Flavor of Vanilla for choosing this week's recipe.

One of the Advantages of Living in San Antonio

SEA WORLD!!!

It takes a real man to ride this baby!

Body For Life

I've never liked exercising. I don't like feeling sore or like I'm going to puke. Plus, I've never really known what I was doing. Well, a few months ago Landon and I went on a cruise (Russia, Estonia, Sweden) and just for fun we took a body composition test. Well, it wasn't fun. Not even one bit. I was shocked and dismayed at the results. When the trainer reported that I needed to gain a lot of muscle by lifting heavy weights and that "hopefully" I would be able to do this so that I didn't become a shaky old grandma, I was a bit stunned.

I was also almost brought to tears by the percentage of body fat that I had. I knew I had a few pounds of baby weight to loose, but the percentage was seriously unexpected. (Please don't ask, because I just won't tell you. Not on this blog.) You see, most of my life I was seriously underweight. People even asked me if I was anorexic. (Very rude by the way--and if I had been, did they really think I'd say yes?) I was very proud of myself when I finally became a normal size at twenty-five.

Here I am now, on a twelve-week exercise/nutrition plan. I've done it for five weeks now. I really love the food and working out hasn't been bad. I have a lot more energy and I feel pretty good. The only problem is I don't think I am pushing myself hard enough. My goal is to gain 7+ lbs of muscle and get down to 15% body fat. I hope that by publishing this post, I'll be more motivated to push myself harder and make every workout really count.

Wish me luck.

Roswell, New Mexico

This is another place we visited on our drive to San Antonio. The entire city is dedicated to welcoming aliens. An Arby's sign read, "Aliens welcome," and there were pictures of aliens everywhere we drove. In the museum, a man welcomed us and asked us how many earthling children we had. The museum might have been more interesting if the answer to that question hadn't been: two wiggly ones!