Southern Living

Southern Living is one of my favorite magazines for finding recipes, home decorating, and gardening tips.  In the April issue there is a section dedicated to the almighty strawberry.  And since strawberries happen to be one of my favorite spring/summer time treats, I was hooked immediately.  Among the strawberry goodness was a recipe for strawberry-lemonade muffins.  They sounded amazing, quick, and fairly simple to make so I decided to give them a try!  Behold, my results:

If you want to try some for yourself check out the recipe below.  If you want to see this recipe along with much more strawberriliciousness (yes, I made that up) check out the April issue of Southern Living!  Happy Baking!

Strawberry-Lemonade Muffins

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided

1 8oz. container sour cream

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tbsp. lemon zest

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 large eggs lightly beaten

1 1/2 diced fresh strawberries.

1. Preheat oven to 400.  Combine flour and 1 cup sugar in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center of the mixture.

2. Stir together sour cream and next 4 ingredients.  Add to flour mixture.  Stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently fold strawberries into batter.  Spoon batter into lightly greased 12 cup muffin pans, filling 3/4 full. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup sugar over the batter.

3. Bake at 400 for 16-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Day 20: Pound Cake Love

Today I have been high on cold medicine most of the day and have not really felt inspired to photograph anything.  So, here is a photo I took of a pound cake that I made last week.  Now, there is an interesting story behind this pound cake.  I had intended to do a step-by-step tutorial on the making of this cake similar to the one I did for my Red Velvet Cheesecake.  However, I was rushed by someone, who shall remain nameless (he knows who he is), during the baking process and it ended up not getting done and sticking to the pan.  But, fortunately I grabbed this shot while it was still in the pan, and I thought it sufficiently conveyed the fluffy texture of the pound cake and would perhaps still inspire you all to go out and attempt this cake yourself!  And since nothing says "I love you" more than baking someone a cake, maybe you could make it for your honey for Valentine's Day.  Happy Baking!

Ingredients:
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
3 sticks butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour (Sans Down brand works well)
1 tbsp. vanilla

Directions:

• Mix cream cheese and butter until well blended.
• Add sugar and blend until smooth in texture
• Add 2 slightly beaten eggs and keep mixing
• Add 1 cup of flour and continue mixing
• Alternate eggs and flour 2 more times (3 times total)
• Mix in vanilla
• Pour mixture into greased bunt pan and place in a cold oven
• Set oven to 300 degrees and bake for 1.5 hours

*Special thanks to Brenna Kendrick for providing me with this recipe!

Day 16: Free Chick-fil-a!!

First of all, I want to congratulate Bobby & Kaycee Stoker for winning the free couple's photo session!  I am so excited about working with you guys.  For those of you who also responded, there will be another freebie soon so check back often!!

To continue in the spirit of spending no money for awesome stuff, today's picture of the day is a Chick-fil-a biscuit.  But, my friends, it is no ordinary Chick-fil-a biscuit, for this biscuit was entirely FREE!  That's right, Chick-fil-a is doing another free breakfast week! I realize this week is almost over, but you still have one day left to register for your free breakfast item (at least in the Columbia area, I don't know about elsewhere in the world).  So be inspired by my buttery chicken filet and go out and claim your own!

Pin It

Day 14: What's for Supper?

I was so proud of the dinner I made for my husband and I tonight that I had to share it with you all.  This was my first attempt at making Japanese food and surprisingly it tasted almost exactly like what I would order in a restaurant!  The most exciting part however, was the white sauce.  It was amazing and you can find the recipe here.  My husband and I both agreed that this would have to be regular meal in our house from now on!  Try not to drool on your keyboard...

Pin It

New Twist on an Old Recipe

I recently stumbled upon a recipe that grabbed my attention immediately.  It combines two of my absolute favorite desserts and I just could not get it out of my head.  So even though I have been eating very healthy this summer (22 pounds lost so far!), I decided to treat myself to this incredibly rich dessert.  I have enjoyed my mother's red velvet cake for as long as I can remember.  After moving out on my own I have attempted to replicate her results on several occasions, but nothing is as good as mama's!  However, it's still yummy :)  So when I discovered the recipe for RED VELVET CHEESECAKE, I decided to use my mother's red velvet recipe instead of the one given and combine it with their cheesecake recipe.  Follow along as I attempt to combine these two classic desserts!


First....the cheesecake.

I gathered my ingredients....

Mixed them up and poured into a 9-inch spring form pan....

Bake cheesecake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  While the cheesecake is cooling, it's on to the red velvet.....

Combine these ingredients into a lovely batter that will stain your white mixing bowls a nice shade of pink if you don't rinse out immediately (I learned this the hard way).  Then pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans and bake for 30ish minutes at 350 degrees...

Once these are done and cooling, you're ready to start on your cream cheese icing.  Just make sure to watch out for sneaky husbands who like to steal samples...

Once cakes have cooled and you've wrestled the icing away from your loved ones, you're ready to start assembling!  Place one red velvet layer on your cake plate and spread a layer of icing on top...

Then, add the cheesecake layer and spread some more icing on top of that (because you can really never have too much icing)...

Now you're ready to top off your cake with the other red velvet layer and finish icing the cake!

And you're done!  You can spend the next few minutes posing with your creation because it will probably be the best thing you have ever created...it was for me :)  

And just for kicks and giggles, here are some shots of the final product!  Enjoy!

So I'm not prepared to share my mama's red velvet recipe, but here is the link to the recipe that inspired me to undertake this endeavor:

Red Velvet Cheesecake Recipe

Let me know if you decide to try it and how it turns out!