TWD Rewind: La Palette’s Strawberry Tart

Yesterday I decided to skip trying to change the Mocha-Walnut Bundt Cake and do a rewind instead.  This  recipe caught my eye for two reasons:  the delicious-looking strawberries and  the pepper.  I mean, who puts pepper on a dessert?!?  I immediately wanted to try it.

La Palette’s Strawberry Tart is a definite keeper.  Simple and delicious, it's a perfect treat for strawberry season.  What about the pepper you ask?  I couldn't really even taste it.  I think it just gave it a little bit of a kick. I'll keep the addition of the pepper in the future.

Tuesday's with Dorie: To Sub or Not to Sub--That Is The Quesiton

The option of making the Coconut Tea Cake for Easter was given, so I'll be making the cake this weekend.  This means that today I should technically be posting about the Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake.  The only thing is we don't drink coffee here.  I did buy some hot cocoa with the thought of substituting it for the coffee.  Then I planned on using cinnamon instead of espresso, but I  don't want the recipe to be a flop.  What do you think?  Should I make a last ditch effort to make this cake with these substitutes?

Bye-Bye Cacti

We have two oak trees and a few other trees growing together in our front yard.  In the middle of these trees were quite a few cacti.  I did not like how they looked together.

The cacti didn't fit and I wanted to get rid of them, but I didn't want to kill them.  Luckily, our neighbors wanted them.  They are moving to a three-acre lot in July and have plenty of room for them.  So on Friday night, Landon and I got to work on the front yard.  Removing the cacti was by far the most difficult part.

She's a BIG beauty--just not in my front yard.

Hooray for a man who is not afraid of a few cacti thorns!  He did come  away with a few battle wounds.

We also did a lot of other work that evening and the next day.  We trimmed the hedges, cut off the dead portions of the aloe vera plant, raked leaves, and pulled a few weeds.  We also put decorative rocks around the trees and shrubs and bought some pretty planters and flowers for the front porch.  The crowning event was when Landon and Brother Tidwell finished building the front fence.

Our front yard looks a lot better and it felt great to work outside in the beautiful weather.  So what's left for the front yard?  We still need to trim the trees, pull up the aloe plant (after she's bloomed), fertilize the grass and plant some flowers.  When it's all finished, I'll post some pictures of the changes.

Erik Turns Two

On the 24th Erik officially turned two.  I say "officially" because he has been acting like a two year old for a while now!  To celebrate, we went with our former neighbors and friends to the Japanese Gardens.

It was a beautiful and sunny day.  The kids had so much fun running around the gardens, climbing the steps, looking at the fish, turtles, cats, and flowers.

Erik was such a big boy on this day.  He didn't want any help going down the stairs or anywhere else.  He finally relented to me helping him down a very steep trail.

What's that up there?

After WWII, the name of the gardens was changed to the Chinese gardens.  The name was just recently changed back.

After the trip to the gardens, the kids had ice cream and played outside.  Then Erik opened some presents from his friends.

The next day (Erik's official birthday), we had cake and opened presents.  I made one of Dorie's recipes for the cake.  It was called Gooey Chocolate Cake.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  It is so good.  Warm and crunchy on the outside with gooey chocolate on the inside.  I'd have to say it is one of my favorites.  I overestimated on the amount of chocolate, so a couple of them turned out too big, but it still tasted heavenly.

This is me trying to be creative with a limited amount of time.

Blowing out the candles.

The birthday boy.

Everyone enjoying the cake.

Erik especially enjoyed it.

I wish I could have captured on film the look of delight on Erik's face from getting an airplane for his birthday.  It was priceless.

Now, for memory's sake, I list some of the things that Erik does, says, and loves:

--Most frequently used word/sentence: "no" and "let go of me."  (Can you tell he has an older brother?!)

--Favorite foods: eggs and pizza ("peepa")

--Erik LOVES to dip his food in sauce.  Sometimes he'll just keep dipping the same piece of food and just eats the sauce.

--Erik is very determined.

--Erik will defend his brother with his fists from perceived and real threats.  I would think it was cute and funny if he didn't do it to us too!

--He loves and is very attached to his blanket.  He won't let me put it on his bed during the day--just in case he "needs"it.
--He love to eat and he also LOVES dogs.

We love you Erik!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Tuesday's with Dorie: Dulce de Leche Duos

Dulce de Leche Duos is just  a fancy name for Really Good Cookie Sandwiches with Caramel in the Middle.  I loved these little cookies and so did my neighbors.  You know the recipe is a hit when your neighbors ask you for the recipe.  One neighbor just told me out-right that they were divine.  So I gave him another one as he helped my hubby build our fence.  My four-year-old gave me a big hug and said in such a grateful voice, "Thank you!" when I found one more cookie for him to eat.  I'll definitely be making these again.

I decided to make the Dulece de Leche instead of trying to look for it at the store.  I took two cans of sweetened condensed milk, put them in my crock pot, covered them in water, and cooked them for eight hours.  The result was a fabulously sweet  caramel.

Thank you Jodie of Beansy Loves Cake for choosing these cookies!  If you would like to make these cookies yourself, then stop by Jodie's blog for the recipe!

Tuesday's with Dorie: Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart

Do you know what I have discovered this week?  I've discovered that I really love tarts.

Rachelle of Mommy? I'm Hungry! chose Dorie's Soft Chocolate and Raspberry tart and it is delicious!

The crust is made with Dorie's sweet tart dough with ground almonds.  This dough is easy to make and to work with.  And of course it tastes absolutely wonderful.

The chocolate portion of this tart is a combination of dark and milk chocolate.  I was so happy to mix in some milk chocolate.  I get tired of deserts with just dark chocolate.  This combination of dark and milk was really nice.  The only thing I wish I had done differently was to use fresh raspberries.  They were out at the store, and so I bought frozen instead.  

Be sure to stop by Rachelle's blog to get the recipe for this fabulous tart.

Oh, Give Me A Home

It seems like I have fallen off the blogosphere except for the occasional Tuesday's with Dorie post.  A lot has happened in the past three weeks: some of it was in our control and some of it was not.  We have been blessed through each event and each little storm cloud has had its silver lining.

Here is a sample of the things we have been doing lately that have been in our control:

BEFORE

AFTER

Landon and Brother Tidwell building our front fence with the "help" of Jonathan and Erik.

This is is the first time I've done painting by myself.  I felt satisfied after all the hard work was over.

And the best part about living here is the view from our bedroom balcony.

Thumbprints For Us Big Guys

My sister-in-law and her her two little girls were here visiting this weekend.  I thought it would be fun to make these cookies together.  They were simple enough to make and taste great.  I love the little bit of raspberry jam in the middle of these short-bread cookies.

The only modification I made was I used almonds instead of hazelnuts.  I couldn't find any when I was grocery shopping and I didn't want to drive all over just to find some nuts.  I would love to try them with hazelnuts though.  And maybe I'd put a little chocolate in the middle just to see if it tastes like Nutella.

Please visit The Ugly Food Dude for the recipe.  And thanks, Ugly Food Dude, for choosing these cookies!

No TWD This Week

In a perfect world, I would have baked this week's recipe even though we moved this weekend.

It's not a perfect world.  :D