Ohhh Honey . . .Honey Bun Cake is AWESOME!

 So every now and then I get the hankering to bake something and well that happened this weekend.  Before I launch into my weekend baking story I would just like to clarify that I am by no means a professional cook or even a very good cook. I mostly cook out of a necessity to live. Growing up my Mom use to practically beg me to spend time with her in the kitchen so she could show me how to cooks, but I would have rather watched football with my Dad than stand around the kitchen. SO when I got married despite my Mom’s best efforts I could put together a mean mac’n cheese and that was about it. Unfortunately, as a newlywed you can only have man’ n cheese so many times before your waist line starts to reflect it. Thus, I had to embrace cooking and learn things trial by fire. There were a lot of panicked calls to Mom which I am sure she was amused by, but I have now developed a fairly good respect for cooking. The one thing I have always enjoyed is baking even in my younger non-cooking days I loved to learn about anything that would satisfy my sweet tooth. Just to reinforce I am not an expert, cook I mostly just have the right tools and know how to read from a recipe (I don’t even do that to well sometimes).

Okay, back to my baking urge I got this weekend. When Nick and I got married a former co-worker, Regina, gave us a Pampered Chef fluted/bunt cake pan and a customized cake recipe book. She had actually made the recipe book herself and bound it. Such a sweet gift. I have used the recipe book several times because like me Regina also had a fierce sweet tooth and I knew she would only give me excellent recipes. This weekend I made the Honey Bun Cake recipe from her book. OHHHH my it was FABULOUS!! Below is the recipe if you would like to also experience this awesomeness.

 

Honey Bun Cake

Cake:

1 Box yellow cake mix

4 eggs

3/4 cup oil

8 oz sour cream

1 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix 1st 4 ingredients together until well blended. Spread 1/2 of the cake mix batter into a 9 x 13 cake pan. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together. Put 1/2 of this mixture over the cake batter in pan.  Add remaining cake batter and remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture. Swirl with butter knife.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes

 

Topping:

1 pkg chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all topping ingredients together and pour over hot cake.

The cake is awesome! A special thanks to Regina for her wonderful Cake Book gift, it has come in handy many time.

Hope you have a fabulous time with your baking!

July 4, 2009- Long Weekend Events

 

Friday Night Double Date Night

Normally on Friday night Nick and I have date night but this Friday we got to have Friday Night Double Date night. We went with John and Nicole to seen Transformers Revenge of the Fallen at the Abingdon Cinemall and then dinner at Macado’s in downtown Bristol.

Transformers- Revenge of the Fallen

I love seeing movies at the Abingdon Cinemall because normally the movies with more special effects you can see in digital in there theater with the “Lucas” sound system.  Most recently we had seen the new Star Trek there in digital and it was AWESOME! A direct quote from Nick about the picture clarity “It’s so clear I might cry.” Well, this Friday, July 3rd Nick, Nicole, John and I trekked out to the Cinemall in hopes of seeing Transformers ROTF in digital and were disappointed to find that they were not showing it in this format.  Needless to say this is only where the disappointment begins. I honestly had a few doubts about this movie going in especially after reading some of the reviews, but I keep some hope alive. However, the reviews were true the movie was short on plot but did have plenty of action! The one thing that bugged me the most was the ill-placed sexual innuendo that had nothing to do with the anything at all. It is hard for me to give this movie a solid “Bad” because my husband loves Transformers in general. We actually own the old animated movie. So I will just say I did not like the movie but liked the idea behind it.

Disclaimer- This is my opinion alone and I am sure there are people out there that loved this movie and I mean no offense.

Macado’s

After the disappointing movie we decided to check out Macado’s, a new restaurant in down town Bristol. Several of my co- worker’s had eaten at Macado’s in other cities and had sang its praises. So when John suggested we eat there I was really excited to try it out. Macado’s was FABULOUS! I got a chicken and Mac n’ cheese bake and it was awesome! Nick got a Ruben and said that he still has dreams about. So if you have not been to Macado’s I definitely recommend giving it a try.

All in all Friday Night Double Date Night was a success and as always we had a great time hanging out with John and Nicole.

 

Fireworks in Telford

For those of you who attended big city fireworks you missed a really great show right in the heart of Telford on July 4th. Nick and I gathered along with several others at his friend John David’s house and had our own fireworks show. No one was injured (to badly), nothing was burnt down, and we got to see some cool fireworks without fighting the crowds. I did not actually participate in any of the lighting of the fireworks but I did attempt to take pictures of the antics. And this attempt reminded me yet again that I am ready for a digital camera up grade. My shutter speed was just way to slow really capture the action. I got my digital in 2005 and it still works for the most part but the technology has come so far since then and I just really feel it is time for a new one. I need facial recognition!!!  Despite my camera issues we had a great time with great friends and below are a few of my feeble attempts at pictures.

 

A special thanks to anyone who has fought or is currently fighting to defend our freedoms! Happy Independence Day!!

2nd Anniversary!!!!

This past week on June 23rd, Nick and I celebrated our 2nd Wedding Anniversary! It's hard to believe that 2 years have gone by since we got married, time has truly flown by. Nick and I started a tradition last year that we plan to repeat for each of our anniversary's. On our wedding day a friend of ours gave Nick $50 and told him to take me out for a nice dinner that night. WELL . . .instead of doing that we got Zaxby's which is one my favorites (Nick's too) and took it back to our house. So in keeping the tradition we have Zaxby's for dinner on our anniversary. This year we picked it up and had a little picnic on Wing Deer Park, which was really nice.

Nick and I at Wing Deer Park on Our 2nd Anniversary- June 23, 2009

In celebration of our anniversary Nick and I took a little trip to Gatlinburg to do a little shopping and some hiking. My mother told me when I got married that I should have picked a wedding date later in the year so anniversary trips would be cheaper, but I was determined to be a June bride so Nick and I end up taking trips at peak tourist time every year. This year I got us a good deal on a cabin using VRBO. If you have not used VRBO you should give it a try it is FABULOUS! We rented a cabin called Bearadise- which I think is just so funny. But on VRBO it had lots of pics and great reviews, and we found everything to be as advertised for our stay. Below are a few pics for you to check out . . .

The Bearadise

Master bedroom

The Catwalk- this lead out to a really neat upper deck

 

View of the living room

We drove down to the Bearadise Friday after work. The cabin was located up in the mountains but still close enough to all life's necessities (downtown g-burg). One bad note was our Garmin the cut back turns seemed to confuse it and it took us 30 minutes Friday night to get back to our cabin from dinner. I think rain and darkness were also factor but it was still an unnerving experience.  Our Garmin has had a few other glitches recently so I think it might be time for a map update.

Saturday we took a hike on Little River Trail located in the Smokey Mountain National Park between Sugarland's and Cades Cove. I had actually hiked there years ago with my parents (1996 to be exact according to my Mom who keeps hiking records). The trails was pretty flat and nicely shades with tree cover, which I was thankful for since it was such a hot day. Nick and I had actually gotten all fancy and packed a huge back pack with a lunch but we did not hike as far as we expected so we lugged a backpack for nothing. Here are a couple of my favorite pics from the hike.

A pretty view of  “Little River”

Another pretty spot

Ain’t he cute??

Saturday night we had a nice dinner at Calhoun’s one of our favorite “out-of-town” restaurants. Although we still enjoyed our meal we did find that the overall service at the restaurant had gone down hill and so had some of our favorite menu items. Despite that we did have a FABULOUS dessert- Banana Pudding, but this was not just any Banana Pudding. Instead of the usual vanilla wafers it was made with white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. It was just wonderful, absolutely yummy! I am getting hungry just thinking about it right now.

Sunday we hit the Outlet Malls for a little SHOPPING one of my favorite past times. Now in general I am not a huge outlet shopper I do not feel like you truly get the best deals. They lure you in with that “outlet” word but then everything is still full price or close to it. However on this little outlet excursion we did really well. I got a great deal at the Gap Outlet on some shorts, Nick got several things from Old Navy and they were so cheap I felt like we were stealing or something. We also found some really good deals on kid clothes, but not having any kids yet not being able to pass up a good deal we bought a couple of things for our nephews.

All in all it was a FABULOUS trip and a Happy Anniversary!!

I  am happy to be married to Nick, he is truly the love of my life and my best friend. We have had a wonderful 2 years and I look forward to many, many more!

 

Picking out Paint

When Nick and I got married we bought a foreclosure that needed some work. Luckily, Nick is pretty handy and I like picking out new stuff :) (I paint some as well). Thus, we have been able to do most of the work ourselves. We are currently finishing up a master bathroom project and I am prepping for our Master Bedroom by picking everything out so we will be ready to go.

So for about about 3 weeks now I have been trying to pick a paint for our master bedroom, and I must confess that anytime I go to pick a paint color it is challenging. HOWEVER this one has been the biggest challenge yet. I was wanting a beige/taupe/brownish color . . .little did I know that there were SO MANY options on that. Luckily, Glidden (our paint of choice which can be purchased at Home Depot) now has one of the most FABULOUS home decorating/renovating things I have ever seen, tiny bottles of paint sample. They are only about $3.00 and come with a brush! For those of us who are incapable of making a decision and like choices, choices, choices this is FABULOUS!

Despite the fabulous new sample bottles, I have yet to be able to pick out a color. I have tried three samples (see photo below) and have not liked any of them. I have mad some really BAD choices so far:

• Whispering Wheat- looked a bit flesh tone
• Soft Suede- a nice color just to dark for us
• Warm Carmel (had high hopes for this one)- looked like clay mud
• Mixing Whispering Wheat and Soft Suede- just bad
• 

So I guess it is back to Home Depot to get some more little sample bottles and give it another go. I am confident that I will find the perfect color! And then it will be on to picking out floor :)

Good, Bad, and Fabulous!

So I started this blog over a month ago and then got a little lost as to what to do . . .I mean I could not fathom what I could write about that would really interest other people. THEN this week I had an epiphany, I could use this blog to fine tune my writing skills and talk about things I like and of course things I do not like on a variety of topics. I am talking everything from restaurants, stores, clothes, food, recipes, books, movies . . .the possibilities are endless. Thus . . .The Good, the Bad, & The FABULOUS!

So in the interest of starting this new blog epiphany off right here is something I had this week that was FABULOUS! (Cue drum roll) BUTTERSCOTCH BROWNIES! Ohhhh my, these were truly FABULOUS! My sister, Jennifer, actually shared the recipe with me with a warning that they were quite addictive and she was Ohhhh Sooo Right! I made them for Nick and I Thursday night and well I think we have already ate half a 9x13 pan, ooops! They were fairly simple to make and did I mention that they were FAT FREE . . .okay not really but that were very tasty and lets face it we all deserve a treat now and then. And I am choosing to pretend they are fat free ;)

Here is the recipe for anyone else that would like to join in the fabulousness . . .

Butterscotch Brownies:

Prep: 25 Min Bake: 30 min Oven: 350°

Cool: 2 hours Makes: 24 brownies

1 cup butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Maple Icing:

1/2 cup softened butter

3 cups powdered sugar

4 teaspoons milk

2 teaspoons maple flavoring (maple syrup works 2)

1. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 – inch baking pan: set aside
2. In a medium saucepan melt butter. Add brown sugar, stirring until combined. Cool mixture for 10 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
3. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt; stir in egg mixture. Stir in chopped nuts. Spread batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake in a 350° oven for 30 minutes.
4. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Frost with Maple Icing. Let stand until icing sets. Cut into bars.

Maple Icing:

In a medium mixing bowl beat ½ cup softened butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add ½ cup powdered sugar; beat well. Beat in 4 teaspoons milk and 2 teaspoons maple flavoring. Add 2 ½ cups additional powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating well after each addition. If necessary, add a little more milk to reach spreading consistency.

I know that the recipe is long but it is simple and FABULOUS! I hope you enjoy it!

It's Offical I am a BLOGGER

Well, I never thought it would happen BUT it has. I have decided to join the wonderful world of blogging. I used to think blogging was a bit silly but after reading some done by friends I now see them as more of an information sharing opportunity. That being said I want everyone to know that I am not doing this because I am full of myself. Just to share information be it good, bad, or ugly.

I do have a truly FABULOUS life. God has truly blessed Nick and I and for that we are both grateful. There is a hymn we use to sing at church and the title has escaped my mind at the moment but it is has a line that says "Without him I would be nothing . . ." and I take that to heart everyday. Without our faith in Jesus Christ we would be nothing not matter how much we had. So I grateful for all or blessings EVERYDAY! Below are just a few of the things I am grateful for :
Nick- my husband

My Parents & Sister

Nicks Family- The Oaks'