Black Forest Lava Cake

So this picture doesn't do it justice, but if you love cherries and chocolate, this is an awesome recipe!

4 tablespoons Butter

1/3 cup white sugar

3 eggs (beaten in their own bowl)

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup flour

1 1/3 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (I like Ghiradelli)

Preheat oven to 400.

Spray or butter and sugar (sprinkle to coat) muffin pan (6 or 7 muffin cups).

In my Kitchen Aid, I cream butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs. Add the vanilla, then salt. Add flour. Melt choco chips in bowl in 30 second intervals until completely melted. Add into batter and mix until blended. (Just a few seconds in the Kitchen Aid). Pour into the prepared muffin pans. Bake 8-10 min. 8 minutes seems to work great for me.

The pictures I took, I did not have my cakes turned over to look more like a mountain, but however you want to serve it, (even serving them baked in ramkins is great), dust with powdered sugar. Add cherries (cherry pie filling), and can use whipped cream, piped in for added decor/flavor. (Black Forest Cakes definition are cherries, whipped cream, and chocolate cake). I liked just having the powdered sugar. I wish I took a picture of the nice oozy center. These turned out fantastic!! I. ate. two. Ha!

Another thought was to put some cherry pie filling into the muffin pans and THEN the chocolate cake and then bake, turn it over and have the yummy cherries on top, baked into the cake. So I will try that next time. Anyway, this recipe is super fast and easy. The longest part is the melting of the chocolate chips, but totally worth it, as you get to lick the spatula after... yum!

Food

So I decided to go the food direction and post foods I've made or created on here, because I realized I am pretty passionate about it, I just really enjoy putting flavors together, so why not! And I have REALLY been enjoying the other food blogs I've been reading. It's been so inspiring.

The bad thing is, either I need to take a photography class or a different camera. I tried taking a picture of the creamy artichoke dip I made, and with the flash, it made the food all washed out. So bummed! Anyone have any tips??

So this week I made white wheat bread, salsa verde, artichoke dip, bruschetta, and now I'm going to make molten lava cakes. I have an idea for the lava cakes but first I want to try the regular recipe and then see if my idea works in the next batch. Fun to create! I'll let you know how it turns out. So yeah, bummer about not being able to post the pictures of what I've made so far...

Here is another website that I just discovered that is super cute! If you know anyone that loves food, this site is great for gift giving and having little boutique type items... http://foodzie.com/.

I will keep you posted on my lava cakes.

Okay I'm updating!

Hola~ There have been happenings! We went on a cruise to the Caribbean that Kev got through APX. It was fun. We took the kids and it was really nice. Then we came back and enrolled Rach in school so that she could have more socialization. I thought we would be doing more with other homeschoolers, but with Jake's nap schedule and stuff, it wasn't working out. Also, our little girl neighbors moved in Oct and so then Rach was really out of it, especially after volleyball ended. So I was like, okay, I got to spend a semester with her, I feel like we got what we needed out of homeschooling for now so let's put her back in. Not to say we won't ever do it again. In fact, I am thinking that when Gabs is in Kindergarten and Jake is Gabi's age, Rach will be in Jr High and it would be fun to have her out with me during that crazy transitional time. We'll see.

So here we are in January, back from the fabulous cruise and getting in the routine of things. Kev is, at this moment, back in CA doing our rock chip repair business and doing fantastic. So this is the sad thing is that we are most likely moving back to CA when our lease is up, end of July. We love it here in Austin, but our business is really successful out there, so why not keep it going?! It's most entreprenuer's dream to have a successful business and work the schedule around however you want and Kev totally has that. So yeah. Unless some other thing occurs, we will be heading back. It isn't horrible, because we have all our same friends and family there, so it will be nice. It's just hard to part with this wonderful community we have met here! But we are a pretty fluid family and adjust easily.

Anyway, Kev wants to go back to school and he also wants to get his insurance certification as well. He has always been interested in the insurance world. All our journeyings have been good to help Kev figure out what he wants to do for his life and realizing the blessings he has, etc. All of our travels have helped us get closer as well.

I'm also trying to figure out the direction of this blog. I have seen some fantastic blogs. Do I want to go informational (become another cooking blog since I love to cook)? Do I want to go opinionated (share my thoughts of what I have read, current events, etc)? Do I want to keep this more as a public journal and throw my soul out there? Stay tuned. Ha! Or maybe it will be all of it!

I also just wanted to post on here how I'm grateful for being here in Austin because without this move here, I wouldn't have met the Carlson family, the Hall family, the Zivics, Adamsons, Howas, Laura Moore, and others I am not naming because it could go on and on. But those of you who may end up reading this, know that I love you whether I named you or not! Thanks for everything you have taught me, the interests you have shared and inspired in me, the kindness you have shown to our family. This has been a wonderful time in our lives! We are truly blessed and I hope that our friendships can continue to grow no matter where we are at in this world. And of course being closer to Kev's siblings has been a plus, so Lisa, it's been fun getting to know you more since this whole time, we never got a chance to hang and get to know each other very well and now we have. I hope that relationship can continue to deepen. Especially since you are stuck with me for eternity. ha!

Oh, and those that are affected by the floods in Austrailia, Brazil, Phillipines, and S. Africa, you are in our prayers.

Happy New Year, everyone! It's going to be great.

October... My favorite time of year!

It's been great with the homeschooling. We are enjoying our time together and Rach is learning a lot. I am loving learning again about the US History and the subjects of plants and insects and things from her science class. Also, with Language Arts, I am re-learning how to write correctly as I think with texting and being super casual in email, I forget where my commas need to go sometimes! Rach is also in volleyball- the Dragons! And they have won some and lost some. It's been fun to watch Rach as she is doing fantastic!!

Gabi is enjoying our sandbox at our volleyball pit. She also has learned to petal her tricycle! I can't believe how fast she is growing. She is very complimentary and tells us she loves us all the time and kisses us on the arm or leg or cheek- whatever she can get ahold of.

Jake is pulling himself up on everything, climbs up the first two stairs, (so we have to block them!) and eats many things. He loves electronics as he loves to chew on the phone and wii remote! He says Dada and Mama, but he only says mama when he is crying for me to get him. :)

Kev has adventured in solar sales. He has been training the past couple of weeks and this Saturday he gets his very own appointment. We can't wait! He is enjoying learning about the solar industry and what it is all about. There are so many avenues; so it is neat as this has opened a whole new world for him!

I have been enjoying learning about cake decorating! I am looking forward to my next classes so that I can make some really fun things.

I am also busy planning Rach's 10th birthday party and looking forward to my parent's visit here. We are looking forward to showing them the area and a day in the life of us!

The weather has been perfect here! I can't believe it. I love being outside and feeling the cool gentle breeze.

And I'm also getting all of our passports together for us to take a trip to the Eastern Caribbean over New Year's! This is with APX like our Cancun trip. It's perfect because SolarTek shuts down for the holidays and so Kev can take off and it won't affect anything!

Time to go outside and enjoy the weather...

Hot Summer

Today was very hot, well, it's been hot. I can't believe it is August 10th already. Kev only has 7 more Saturdays of selling. Which speeds us up to October. Crazy. So we swam with our friends Eva and her children, Alfred and Hanna. It was so cute because Alfred doesn't know English, he speaks cute Swedish, and so his mom taught him how to say "Stop it", because I guess the girls were doing something (they were all having a blast, so maybe it got to be too much?) but it was hilarious because he was so intense in saying it. And so he would run up to the pool and say "STOP IT!" So strong. And then later Gabi was doing something and he would run up and say "Stop It, Gabin!" I loved it! I told Eva, we need to teach him another phrase, like, "I like you". ha! Anyway, so the kids had fun and Eva and I had fun chatting it up. They left about 4:30 (oh and you can see pics on her blog because I forgot my camera), and then the sister missionaries came over for dinner at 5:30.

Dinner was homemade pizza and salad and fruit. Rach made cinnamon roll-ups for dessert. I think dinner turned out terrible! My pizza had an odd taste, like fermented stuff, and I put on zuccini that we shredded before for zuccini bread, so I'm wondering if it was that, but I smelled it before using it, so yeah, I am not sure. Of course the sisters said it was fine. And then the salad, my salad dressing or something was off, I made my usual vinagrette and I don't know. And then the watermelon I had just bought today was bruised and stuff (went to Walmart instead of H-E-B!) So I was like, you guys, I'm so sorry. You have to come back again, and I hope you'll want to and not dread Sis Wadell's cooking. They were laughing. We also had new neighbors moving in so they went to talk to them when they left. I told them how I have the Preach My Gospel book and how I am still in the beginning because I am marking like, every scripture, and they were like, yeah, skip ahead to the lessons. So I am gonna do that! And this just in, Jake went from laying down to sitting up on his bottom tonight. First time. It was amazing!

It's over for the Summer Reading program at the library. We had a great time with it. Last year the Cedar Park library had more toys/goodies. This year, we were at the Round Rock library and there were just gift coupons to get free kids meals or doughnuts or frozen yogurt, etc. So we have had fun with it! Nice afternoon treats thanks to the kids doing reading, which they enjoy and do every night anyway.

We are now a part of the Royal Academy Homeschool group and they told us about a camping trip that a big group does, so we are going to do that the last week of this month, and I'm very excited! We stay in cabins, we get to swim and hike and do crafts and yeah, cell phones won't work and they say no electronics. It's gonna be amazing to be together without this stuff.

Just some cute pics... Gabi and Rach and Brooklyn swimming at Barton Springs. Grandma and the cousins. Rach and Jake. Rach and Gabs with BFF Olivia and Isabel when we went to CA in June. Rach looking beautiful with the every cheesey Gabs!

August Already!

So it's August. And I've decided it's official: I'm going to Homeschool Rach for 4th grade and do some preschool work with Gabs. I know it seems like a big undertaking but I have been wanting to do this for the past few years and now we are in a great commnity where there is a lot of support and a lot of great programs.

I will be using the ABeka Academy program and Math U See. I'm really excited. I ordered some fun history and science books and so yeah, I think it's going to be a great year! ABeka has online streaminig of lectures. They have previews and so the teachers look great! We are also going to do Rosetta Stone Spanish. It feels so good to take education into my hands. (Who knew I was such a control freak?!) But I'm excited about the history lessons and the science projects. The group we are with here has a sewing class where the woman has 4 sewing machines, so I am going to get Rach in that.

I will be able to have Rach watch a short lecture video while I go over letters and other preschool teaching moments with Gabi. On another blog, confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot, she has an excel spreadsheet of their daily/weekly calendar. So I have that now and so each week I will have it put up so that the girls can see what we are going to be working on. I also like the workboxes she talks about and I will wait for the curriculum I ordered to come in the mail so that I can make plans with the workboxes.

I know Jake will be getting more active, I am loving it! I know that we will have to all be flexible, but I really see this system working pretty good! Also, there are good free apps that Kev has on his phone like memory and flashcards that Gabs like to do, so we can have her doing that when Rach is doing something with me. Rach is full of ideas and wants to do things like make bread like the pioneers (not in the bread machine, lol!) and so it is great to have her ideas and into this as well. She also has met lots of friends at church. She has Heidi, Alexia and Melanie. It is awesome! Prayers were sure answered for us!! I hope the girls can stay close and enjoy each other at church. I wonder what our callings will be when we get them, I was thinking Primary because it's so big. But yeah, I used to be able to see Rach's interactions with the other kids in her Primary class in Rocklin, and here I haven't been able to see how she is with the kids, but she comes home happy and fine. In Rocklin there was already a clique. I think Brushy Creek ward is nice because there are a lot of commings and goings and so the kids lose that clique stuff.

I'm excited we will be here in the Fall, when Kev is done with APX so we can do things around here that we didn't get the chance to do last year. We plan to go to SeaWorld and see the bats and stuff as part of science field trips.

Last night we had dinner with our new friends, the Carlssons. They are from Sweden and so it is very interesting to talk to them. We met them at our other apartment complex as our apartments faced each other and we'd be at the pool around the same time. They are only here until February for Richard's work, and then they go back. We are really looking forward to getting to know them more! I will have to upload some pictures of the kids playing later! It was funny because before they came over for dinner, Rachael was wondering how they would play with their 3 year old, Alfred, because he only speaks Swedish. But we discovered (I told her this would happen) that "kids play" is the international language! I think the kids had a great time! I made lemon-pepper talapia, ceasar salad, fruit salad, wild rice and rolls. And Eva brought a yummy sticky chocolate cake with fresh figs and raspberries and whipped cream. Yum!

Eva has inspired me to get more caught up on our blog! So here I am, back in action. Nothing too eventful has been happening. Just Kev works long hours, but is making the moola to pay off debt, so that is great! We miss him though, since he works 6 days. Also, it's fun to be in the same complex as Lisa, Erik and Kyson. It's nice the cousins get to play and us adults get to get closer.

Until next time!