Denver's Birthday

So my next post was gonna be on a friend..but she has yet to give me a recipe she wants posted so... I'll move on to other events in our lives. Denver my first born and oldest son is HOLY COW six! No way where did the time go? We went to the Oregon coast for his birthday because he wanted to be on the beach for his birthday so we went. It was a fast but fun trip... for the cake oh the cake... ugh he wanted Buzz lightyear. So about a week before we left I shaped and carved Buzz out of rice krispies thinking that'd be the best way to do it and then we would just do the Alein Cupcakes there for the cake part... hahaha, well the day before we leave I'm working on Buzz putting the fondant on him and I have to go and rescue a screaming child...Emery I believe. I return to the kitchen to find Buzz on the floor demolished and Parker looking guilty. He swears he didn't touch him and that he just fell... Oh well so I frantically start thinking what to do. I baked an extra cake and made half of Buzz out of cupcakes, and packed up everythign else for the road trip... well cake doesn't travel well and it was rough, but overall it turned out okay and the six year old LOVED it which lets face it is all that matters!

Friends...

We have finally made the move to Lakeview and although I'm thrilled beyond thrilled to be here with Darwin, to be a family again, it was really hard for me to leave the wonderful friends that I had in Burns. I decided I would do a few posts highlighting a few of those friends and the wonderful cooks that they are!

So first off, they are in NO particular order and I love them all equally and will miss them all DESPERATELY! Rebecca is first mainly because she is the first one to respond and return a recipe to me!

Now I've only know Rebecca for a year or so but we became fast friends! It always helps too when you have kids the same age! Her son Luke is Denver's Buddy! Rebecca is one of the kindest people I've ever met. Before she officailly moved to Burns we were "becoming friends" over facebook, before she even moved here she was offering to help watch kids and planning play dates! She has always been there when I needed help or a meal. She was a lifesaver during my recovering through appendictus! She is an amazing mother and I'm sure wife but I can't testify to that one myself ;) Her kids are the sweetest and such a good example of well behaved children!  Oh and since this is a recipe blog I should mention she is a GREAT cook. She makes this spinach dip that I kid you not I crave at ALL hours of the night this pregnancy...and now you all can try it and love it and crave it too!

Spinach Dip
1/2 cup mayo
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1 pkg Rance dressing mix
1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 or 4 cups fresh spinach chopped

combine all and serve cold with crackers.

Thanks Rebecca for being such a Great friend!

Mario Cake

Denver's best buddie Luke celebrated his 6th Birthday today. Luke came over when we celebrated Porter and Parker's Birthdays and all he could talk about was the marshmellow frosting! His mother asked me if I would make a cake for him using the marshmellow fondant. I was happy to. However I had to summon my inner video gamer, which I soon found out there isn't an inner one of those in me, so I googles alot. His theme was Mario. The cake turned out cute and it was a huge hit!

Marion Berry Pie...Mmmmmm

Alright, the move is done! For now until we get to do it all over again in a few weeks! I REALLY hope and pray that the house in Lakeview is ready by July 1!! Anyhow today we had a lovely sacrament farewell to Darwin's cousin Delight who will be leaving in 2 weeks to serve in the Baton Rouge Louisanna Mission. Later this evening we had a family get together and I was assigned to bring dessert. Well being that my living quaters are dishelved and unorganized..I went for simple and what ever it was had to come from stuff I already had on hand.. So Marionberry pie it was and my oh my it was good! Now I'm not a huge fan of warm berrry pies unless I have some cool ice cream to eat with it, so I decided to make a cold pie this time around and it was a hit.

Here is the recipe...

Marion Berry Pie
5 cups frozen Marion berries
1 cup sugar
4 T cornstarch
2 T lemon Juice
1 9inch pie crust baked

In a sauce pot add 2 1/2 cups of berries, the corn starch. lemon juice and sugar. Place remaining berries back in freezer till needed. Mash up the berries and cook on meduim heat till it comes to a boil. Cook for 3-5 minutes stirring constantly until berries are mashed and filling is liquid. Allow to cool completely, then gently mix in remaining frozen berries. Add to baked shell and chill till served. Serve cold.

Lack of cooking...Sorry

I've hit another slump in my cooking this time due to...moving AGH!! I hate packing and unpacking...it is such a pain! It seems as though I pack a box turn around and when I come back to that box seconds later the kids have unpacked it... We have to be out of our house this weekend, but still don't have a place in Lakeview so...we are moving into our shop, which is 800 square feet and we just finished it into an apartment. It looks amazing and too bad we are moving and don't get to enjoy it as we originally planned. Oh well it is finally done, and provides me and the kids a place to live for the time being and should really help sell our house!! So most likely NO real cooking will happen this week. We are hoping to get into our rental home in Lakeview sometime in July. We also found out that baby number five is....a BOY! When Emery was born I joked around saying good luck to any boy that ever wants to date her between 3 older brothers and her father...now with this baby also being a boy I now say good luck to any boy that just wants to look at her! Oh well. We are thinking of naming him Carter Steven, and yes we know that the ER ending with all of our boys is confusing and we really don't do it on purpose, it just so happens that ALL of the boy names we like end in ER, I haven't found one that doesn't that I would even consider...so sorry if we confuse you all,  I figure I was called my siblings names all the time growing up and our names were nothing close to each other so really what's the big deal ;) Anyhow. Carter Comes from Church history and Darwin's side of the family and of course the Steven is for my wonderful father who has taught me so much and is such a wonderful example to me. I pray that this little boy will look to his namesakes for examples and guidance. Anyhow, I have to go pack some more....

Orchid Cake

The gum paste orchid cake... I think it turned out good. The picture I was given orginally had A satin ribbon and a string of pearls and real orchids on it. The Bride (Darwin's Cousin wanted everything edible) Which added up to ALOT of work for me, but I'm very pleased with the outcome. The only thing other than the dowels and cake boards that was NOT edible on the cake was the wires on the flowers that held them together. The bride loved it and it seemes as everyone else did as well.

 This is the top view of the orchids on the top teir.

Me with my master piece. I really enjoyed doing this cake, and I'm really proud of how it turned out. I always have to mentally prepare myself for when they cut into the cake, because I see all the hard work and it disappearing so fastly... I wasn't quiet ready when they cut into this cake and quinged a little bit! Oh well, it looked great and tasted great and now all I have left is pictures!

More cake...

I'm making the wedding cake for Darwin's cousin this weekend and she wanted everything edible. So I've been busy making these:

They are gum paste cymbidium orchids. The actually are a very pretty red, not the brown they look in the photo...poor lighting I guess! The cake is 4 round teirs, chocolate cake with mint filling, white cake with vanilla bavarian filling, chocolate cake with chocolate filling and lemon cake with raspberry filling, all cover with buttersream and marshmellow fondant. Lots of work. Photos will be coming soon!