Been too long, blog friends.

I just realized that I haven't posted in about 2 months! Truth is life hasn't been that exciting. I've been working at two different restaurant jobs and hanging out with my best friend Sarah in my spare time. 

But I will try to start posting more often again. 

Loves!

Make the Best Birthday Cake

Here are two of my cake secrets I'm going to share with you, because I believe that cake this good should be shared with others. That's what Jesus would do. 

SECRET # 1

Yesterday was my little sister's 5th birthday, and I wanted to make her a special cake.

She asked for the "white kind" so I went to the store and bought some cake mix in a box.

I think we can all agree that even Betty Crocker struggles to keep up with the good tasting cake in this world (wedding cake, for example, is amazing!). Cake mixes from a box are just not as good. (How do those wedding cake makers bake such delightful delectables??) So I decided to fancy up my cake to make it taste thick & yummy. It's quite simple actually. I researched some good substitutes for the ingredients they wanted me to put in (oil, water). This is what I came up with.

For the 2 white cake mixes, I put in 7 eggs (one extra than it called for) and then I substituted 1 cup of oil for 1 cup applesauce. That's it. (If I'm telling the truth, I meant to substitute the water as well, for something like sour cream, by I just forgot. By hey, it turned out fabulous anyway.) I'm really happy I tried the applesauce trick because it gave the cake a nice, subtle fruit kick to it.

After I mixed it all up, I baked 4 separate 8" pans for layers. After cooking for about 35 mins (follow the directions on the box), I let them cool, then put them into separate large Ziplocs and put them all in the freezer over night.

The next day, my mom whipped up some frosting from scratch and I stacked & dirty iced the cake. It's 1,000 times easier and more pleasant to frost the cake after you freeze it. The layers were firm, not floppy, so icing the cake did not turn into a frustrating experience where I ended up crying profusely. I also thought up a clever cake top idea and it turned out super adorable, if I do say so myself. The end result was an alternating pink and white, 4-layer, vanilla cake. The cake topper banner was fashioned out of string, scotch tape, paper, and some decorative Japanese chopsticks. I also took a pic of my sister Geneva and printed it out, then glued & cut it out on an empty cereal box. Ta-da!

********************************************************************

SECRET # 2

I wanted to share another cake secret that is the laziest (and yummiest) thing you've ever heard.

All you need is a boxed cake mix & 1 can of soda. Mix 'em all together, bake at normal heat, and voila! Cake.

And not just any cake. This cake is thicker, zingy, and you can claim it as vegan (no eggs)! 

Combos that I've tried:

• Chocolate + Dr. Pepper (The DP gives the cake a tiny cherry flavor. I love it.)
• Vanilla + Sprite
• Vanilla + Sprite Cranberry

I would not recommend using diet soda. You gotta use the sugary stuff. I researched it a little bit, and don't call me on this, but the fake sugars in diet soda could be dangerous when heated up to extreme temperatures, and I also read that diet soda just doesn't work as well as the regular stuff. So why worry? Use regular :)

I hope you'll try either of these two secrets I suggested with making cake taste amazing, even when it comes in a box. Comment or send me an email if you did! Take pics!

Kirk out.

Try this! Chock-Full-of-Veggies Chili

So one night I made this chili for dinner. The recipe was from South Beach Diet. I made some changes to it as I went along, but the end result was so tasty I wanted to write down my version of this delicious chili. And I'm sharing it with you!

Ingredients:

• 2 TB extra virgin olive oil
• 4 bell peppers (any color), chopped
• 4 ribs celery, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced (or a few spoonfuls of that garlic stuff in a jar)
• 2 TB chili powder
• 2 TB dried oregano
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cans (15 oz each) pinto beans
• 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans
• 2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add bell peppers, celery, and garlic.Cook, stirring, until vegetables begin to soften, about 7 mins. Add chili powder, oregano, cumin, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes longer.

2. Add beans & tomatoes (with juice). Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until chili is fragrant and slightly thickened, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm and garnish with fresh herbs, if desired. (I garnished mine with some sour cream so don't feel bad about it if you want to do the same.)

Servings: 7 

I wish I'd taken my own picture, but it really doesn't look as awesome as it tastes.

Recipe for Healthy 3-Ingredient Cookies

I am so pooped after today. I tried out a new cookie recipe, made pork chops & cowboy beans, and some lunches for tomorrow. Whew!

So I tried this new cookie recipe because I've seen it around on Pinterest and it looked easy. I suppose the end result will look like this:

Except those chocolate chips look suspiciously like rasins......



Here's the catch about these AMAZING COOKIES--it only needs 3 ingredients!!

Oh my heck!!

Yeah.

So I'll give you the recipe and you can try it out.

You'll need:

• 2 large bananas (I had small bananas so i used 4)
• 1 cup oats
• 1 handful chocolate chips

Oh, and I took lovely pictures of my adventures with these cookies so lucky you! I actually have my own pics for step by step instructions :)

Mash up the bananas in a bowl.

Add the oats & chocolate chips. Mix well.

Spoon out onto cookie sheet. (I recommend greasing the cookie sheet, otherwise they'll stick to that pan like a needy girlfriend.)

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Yay! 15 minutes is plenty of time to clean up your mess you've made so far. Look at all them dishes you dirtied.

Just be careful to not rub off the Sharpie finger mustache you made!!

Darn it...

AACK! Don't forget about the cookies!!!

Remove from oven and let cool.

And voila! Scrumptious cookies. They're definitely banana-y, but you can eat a boat-load without feeling like, way guilty.

Makes like 15 cookies! Om nom.

Cirque du Sunfest

My wonderful university hosted a carnival tonight! Free for students! (Free is AWESOME!) I took some of my nanny children along with me and we had a great time! I just had to post about it right when I got home!!

We bounced and played on the bouncy slide & race course, got our faces painted, ate cotton candy and nachos, and went in the photo booth. 

Girl group shot. How cute are these chicas??

All the kids with some Star Wars characters. Love it.

Here's a shot of my beautiful face with my Potter scar on it. Yeah. I'm awesome.

Here are our photo booth shots after we got our faces painted :) The mimes decided to jump in on the last one. I didn't mind! 

My feet were freezing by the end but it was worth it for the kiddies to have fun! Hope everyone's Friday night was just as awesome as mine :)

Cool Thing of the Day: SMASH JOURNAL

Heya! I'm here today to tell you all about these awesome SMASH journals I discovered! 

It's kind of like a scrapbook but smaller, and really cute. They have quite a few styles out now:

 This is me with my "Pretty Style"journal!

 


The cool thing about these books? First of all, it comes with a pen that also has a glue stick! 

Crazy right??

They also have gorgeous pages that inspire you to write whatever you want! Here's a pic of a random selection of photos I plastered on the first couple of pages to express who I am. 

These examples of mine probably look unfinished to you. Well you're right. One of the things I love most about these things is that I feel like I can add more to any of the pages at a later date. I don't have to finish right away.

You can also buy some awesome accessories for these bad boys. As far as I know, they sell mini writing pads, ribbons, elastic bands to keep your folio together, date stamps, "Secret Pockets," sticky tabs, switch tape, and tons more!

I definitely recommend these journals. I bought my first one at Deseret Book, but of course they are available on Amazon and at other craft & book stores. Check it out and email me your creations! :)

Au revoir!

How To: Curl Your Hair with a Flat-Iron

I only have two hair tools: my hair dryer and my straightener. & I love to curl my hair all the time. 

I don't even own an expensive straightener. I don't need to. My hair is resilient and will work with anything. Yay me!

Since I am lazy and I don't really want to make my own DIY, I decided to show you some DIY's that I approve of for you to look at. :)

Here's one from The Fixation Files, and wikiHow is always a great place to look! The best advice I can give is just experiment. I mean, practice makes perfect, right? I don't even own a curling iron because I'm pretty much a pro with my flat-iron. 

Have fun!