The lemon concentrate I froze from last year has been long gone since July, but I am eagerly awaiting this year's lemon crop in our front yard. In anticipation of all things lemon, enjoy this recipe for Lemon Buttermilk Sheetcake. I have made this cake several times - it's a nice balance between tart and sweet.
Taken from the Cook’s Country Cookbook
Cake Ingredients
2.5 cups cake flour (if you don’t have cake flour, see note below)
1 t baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
¾ c buttermilk, room temp
¼ c fresh lemon juice and 3 T grated fresh lemon zest (~ 3 lemons)
1 t vanilla
1 ¾ c sugar
12 T butter, softened
3 large eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk, room temp
Glaze
3 c confectioner’s sugar
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 T buttermilk
Cake flour substitute
For every cup of cake flour needed, substitute 7/8 c all purpose flour and 2 T of corn starch. For this recipe use 2 cups plus 3 T of all purpose flour and 5 T of corn starch.
Directions
• Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 9x13 pan. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in one bowl. Combine the buttermilk, lemon juice and vanilla in another bowl or measuring cup.
• In a large bowl, beat the sugar and lemon zest on medium speed about 1 minute. Transfer ¼ cup of sugar mixture to a small bowl and reserve for later. Add the butter to the remaining sugar mixture and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at atime, and the yolk until combined. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Mix in 1/3 of flour mixture followed by ½ of the buttermilk mixture. Repeat with half of the remaining flour mixture and the remaining buttermilk mixture. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until smooth, about 30 seconds.
• Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until the cake is a golden brown, about 28-34 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.
• For the glaze – meanwhile, whisk the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Spread over warm cake and sprinkle with reserved sugar mixture. Cool completely and serve!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
HB 2 - Momma 0
Introducing baby food to HB has been interesting. We've included small amounts of rice cereal in his formula since he was about three months old but it wasn't until recently that we've actually tried feeding him anything with a spoon. I started last week by [trying] to feed him pears. He seemed to spit everything back out with most of it ending up on his bib. Two days later I attempted to feed him peas with the same results. After having most of the baby food I tried to feed HB end up on his bib I decided that maybe he wasn't quite ready for this new chapter so I took a break. For a week. Starting yesterday I started feeding him rice cereal with some formula mixed in - he liked it! [I shouldn't be surprised since he has been drinking this same concoction for about a month now.] I was so proud of our Lil Man that I attempted peas for the second time tonight; that's where HB scored his first point of the evening. After getting one spoonful past his sweet little lips he lowered his head, shuddered and spit the peas out. I tried giving him the rice cereal concoction but he just wouldn't have it after I played that little trick with the peas. Following "dinner" I changed Lil Man's diaper; this is where HB scored his second point. He peed on me before I could get a dry diaper in place. [I've gotten really good at quick diaper changes but he was a quick lil guy this evening!]
 |
| Lil Man hates peas but loves OU! |
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Peach Praline Pie
Each fall a friend of mine takes orders to bring back boxes of peaches from Utah. These peaches are the plumpest, juiciest and sweetest peaches that I have ever eaten. In anticipation of ordering a box this year, I am posting a delightful variation for peach pie. My mom served this at lunch last week while we were passing through town before Labor Day.
Peach Praline Pie
Taste of Home cookbook, Elizabeth Hunter
4 cups sliced, peeled, ripe peaches (about 3 pounds)
½ cup sugar
2 T quick-cooking tapioca
1 t lemon juice
½ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
¼ cup butter
1 unbaked, deep dish pie shell (9 inches)
In a large bowl combine peaches, sugar, tapioca, and lemon juice; let stand 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine flour, brown sugar and pecans in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Place pie shell in pie pan and cover with peach mixture. Sprinkle praline crumble mixture over the top, allowing peaches to show if desired. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 20 minutes longer or until peaches are tender and topping is golden brown.
[The original recipe asked you to place a portion of the praline mixture directly on top of the pie crust, below the beautiful peaches. We found this a sad waste of the praline because it became soggy. Per my mom's recommendation I posted the recipe placing all praline on top!]
Peach Praline Pie
Taste of Home cookbook, Elizabeth Hunter
4 cups sliced, peeled, ripe peaches (about 3 pounds)
½ cup sugar
2 T quick-cooking tapioca
1 t lemon juice
½ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
¼ cup butter
1 unbaked, deep dish pie shell (9 inches)
In a large bowl combine peaches, sugar, tapioca, and lemon juice; let stand 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine flour, brown sugar and pecans in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Place pie shell in pie pan and cover with peach mixture. Sprinkle praline crumble mixture over the top, allowing peaches to show if desired. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 20 minutes longer or until peaches are tender and topping is golden brown.
[The original recipe asked you to place a portion of the praline mixture directly on top of the pie crust, below the beautiful peaches. We found this a sad waste of the praline because it became soggy. Per my mom's recommendation I posted the recipe placing all praline on top!]
Monday, September 3, 2012
HB - the past four months
I don't want to take my blog count over the top or anything, but geez, I've only posted once in 2012. That's definitely not hard to top! I've been telling myself that I blogged four months ago but I guess I am mixing that date up with the birth date of my child. It's hard to decide where to begin after an almost eight month hiatus from my blog but I thought I would begin with the bright spot of my year - my firstborn child, HB. I want to keep it short and sweet tonight but I promise to connect the dots of the past eight months later.
No matter how much friends and family share about having children I have learned that nothing can fully prepare you for how truly wonderful and delightful motherhood is. Or how challenging some of its early moments can also be. Becoming a mom has simply been more - more thrilling, more joyful, more fun, more blessed than I could have ever imagined. It's hard to think my life before this point - my son has brought so much joy and wonder to my life and I am so grateful for the reminder that he is of God's awesome creating hand in our lives. I am reminded of God's great power and intricate creativity on a daily basis as I observe my son developing and growing.
With all that said, enjoy the amateur cell phone pictures of the month-by-month growth of my sweet son. (I am working on the whole "taking pictures from consistent distances and angles.") Clockwise, from top left, one month, two months, three months and four months. He has gone from posing as a sack of potatoes at one month to actually sitting up pretty well on his own at four. Hubby is the "spotter" ready at a moment's notice to reach out with cat-like reflexes and prevent Lil Man from face planting it into the arm rest of his great-great-great grandfather's rocking chair.
No matter how much friends and family share about having children I have learned that nothing can fully prepare you for how truly wonderful and delightful motherhood is. Or how challenging some of its early moments can also be. Becoming a mom has simply been more - more thrilling, more joyful, more fun, more blessed than I could have ever imagined. It's hard to think my life before this point - my son has brought so much joy and wonder to my life and I am so grateful for the reminder that he is of God's awesome creating hand in our lives. I am reminded of God's great power and intricate creativity on a daily basis as I observe my son developing and growing.
With all that said, enjoy the amateur cell phone pictures of the month-by-month growth of my sweet son. (I am working on the whole "taking pictures from consistent distances and angles.") Clockwise, from top left, one month, two months, three months and four months. He has gone from posing as a sack of potatoes at one month to actually sitting up pretty well on his own at four. Hubby is the "spotter" ready at a moment's notice to reach out with cat-like reflexes and prevent Lil Man from face planting it into the arm rest of his great-great-great grandfather's rocking chair.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Scrapbooking Christmas Cards
Happy New Year!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family; hubby and I enjoyed our first Christmas as a married couple. We even have decorations packed away at this point:) I enjoyed my time off from school as a teacher and was able to relax and take care of some projects that I hadn't had time for during the first semester. I wanted to share the outcome of one of those projects below - after looking for a creative way to preserve the Christmas cards and pictures sent by friends and family I decided to scrapbook them.
After gathering all pictures that you want to include, crop pictures down to an appropriate size. I left some pictures bigger than others until I had a chance to work on the layout. If needed you can always go back and crop more off.
Finally, decide how you want to arrange pictures on the scrapbook paper of your choice. The layout below was for a few cards I had saved from 2006. You can mount pictures on other paper before gluing them down so they have a border, or you can glue them straight away to the background paper. Make sure to include the year - I also like to include some Christmas appropriate scripture.
If you have another crafty idea for preserving Christmas cards I would love to hear about it - please leave a comment! Also, I hope you enjoy seeing the familiar faces of mutual friends - so fun!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family; hubby and I enjoyed our first Christmas as a married couple. We even have decorations packed away at this point:) I enjoyed my time off from school as a teacher and was able to relax and take care of some projects that I hadn't had time for during the first semester. I wanted to share the outcome of one of those projects below - after looking for a creative way to preserve the Christmas cards and pictures sent by friends and family I decided to scrapbook them.
After gathering all pictures that you want to include, crop pictures down to an appropriate size. I left some pictures bigger than others until I had a chance to work on the layout. If needed you can always go back and crop more off.
Finally, decide how you want to arrange pictures on the scrapbook paper of your choice. The layout below was for a few cards I had saved from 2006. You can mount pictures on other paper before gluing them down so they have a border, or you can glue them straight away to the background paper. Make sure to include the year - I also like to include some Christmas appropriate scripture.
If you have another crafty idea for preserving Christmas cards I would love to hear about it - please leave a comment! Also, I hope you enjoy seeing the familiar faces of mutual friends - so fun!
I pray 2012 got off to a peaceful start!
Monday, December 26, 2011
2011 Review
Dear Friends and Family,
The first edition of the Wright Family Christmas card is coming to you electronically for a couple of reasons. One - Christmas snuck up on Katy very quickly. As a teacher she feels like Thanksgiving and Christmas happen two weekends in a row. Two - Katy wasn't up for the third massive mailing of 2011. (The first massive mailing was wedding invitations and the second was thank you cards after the wedding.) We hope you enjoy our first family Christmas greeting as we briefly recount the multitude of blessings God gave us this past year month-by-month.
January - Katy kicks off the second semester of her fourth year of teaching with a student teacher who did a great job and allowed Katy to work on some projects around the Ag department.
February - Kelly asks Katy's dad for her hand in marriage; we were engaged soon after on February 11! The madness of wedding planning ensued.
March - Katy's FFA Dairy Judging team named State Champs. We also headed to Florida for the wedding of Brian and Mindy Estevez - the trip was a nice time for Kelly to meet some of Katy's Florida "family."
April - A lamb from our August 2010 sale was selected as the Grand Champion Lamb at La Paz County Fair in western Arizona! Wedding plans continued although most big decisions had been made. Kelly continued working hard on handmade contributions for the wedding including wood centerpieces, wagons for gifts, the arch and unity candle. He was a busy man!!
May - We married on May 28 at the Groseta Ranch Headquarters in Cottonwood. We honeymooned in Winter Park, Colorado where we stayed in the cabin of our friend's, Jake and Rebecca Mutz. We both are so grateful to the many family and friends who made our wedding day a memorable event - from helping run errands, to baking homemade desserts for the dessert buffet or making decorations.
June - This was a big month for Kelly - he turned 40 and celebrated 15 years with the City of Chandler as a firefighter! Kelly enjoys his job and the challlenges he works to overcome with the "C shift" guys which includes firefighting, technical rescue and HAZMAT calls. Brandy also competed in the Arizona Junior Beef Ambassador Contest and placed first; to say the least we were both very proud!
July - Kelly started feeding spent brewer's grain to our sheep (the leftover grain after brewing beer) - he was able to work a deal with the brewer at the Tempe branch of Gordon Biersch Brewery. We are excited about this opportunity because it will help cut our feed costs down quite a bit since we can now feed less hay and we get the grain for free. Katy was also awarded the Outstanding Young Member award for the Arizona Agricultural Teacher's Association at their annual summer meeting in Tucson. Brandy also moved back to Florida this month to live with her mom; we both miss her but pray for her often and look forward to her next visit.
August - Katy started her fifth year as the Buckeye Ag Teacher and FFA advisor with a new teaching partner that has brought far less stress into her professional life. We also found out that Katy was pregnant; "morning" sickness ensued for the next 16 weeks. (It was more like all day sickness!) Kelly had his annual Wright Club Lamb Sale on the third weekend of this month and we sold over 30 lambs to 4-H and FFA members from across Arizona. Katy's sister, Anna, was our auctioneer and she did a great job!
September - We took 10 of our best ewes to west Texas to be bred. We are both hopeful about the prospect of what will come from this - we are already anticipating March 2012 when these ewes lamb out.
October - We finally used some of the gift money from our wedding to purchase unfinished hardwood floors for the three bedrooms in our house; this was going to be Kelly's project while Katy was out of town for a week. Katy traveled with 25 students to Indianapolis for the National FFA Convention where she also had two teams competing in National contests: Marketing Plan (21st out of 42 teams) and Dairy Judging (22nd out of 44 teams). The month ended well with one of the lambs we sold being selected as the Grand Champion Lamb at the Arizona State Fair!
The first edition of the Wright Family Christmas card is coming to you electronically for a couple of reasons. One - Christmas snuck up on Katy very quickly. As a teacher she feels like Thanksgiving and Christmas happen two weekends in a row. Two - Katy wasn't up for the third massive mailing of 2011. (The first massive mailing was wedding invitations and the second was thank you cards after the wedding.) We hope you enjoy our first family Christmas greeting as we briefly recount the multitude of blessings God gave us this past year month-by-month.
January - Katy kicks off the second semester of her fourth year of teaching with a student teacher who did a great job and allowed Katy to work on some projects around the Ag department.
February - Kelly asks Katy's dad for her hand in marriage; we were engaged soon after on February 11! The madness of wedding planning ensued.
March - Katy's FFA Dairy Judging team named State Champs. We also headed to Florida for the wedding of Brian and Mindy Estevez - the trip was a nice time for Kelly to meet some of Katy's Florida "family."
April - A lamb from our August 2010 sale was selected as the Grand Champion Lamb at La Paz County Fair in western Arizona! Wedding plans continued although most big decisions had been made. Kelly continued working hard on handmade contributions for the wedding including wood centerpieces, wagons for gifts, the arch and unity candle. He was a busy man!!
May - We married on May 28 at the Groseta Ranch Headquarters in Cottonwood. We honeymooned in Winter Park, Colorado where we stayed in the cabin of our friend's, Jake and Rebecca Mutz. We both are so grateful to the many family and friends who made our wedding day a memorable event - from helping run errands, to baking homemade desserts for the dessert buffet or making decorations.
June - This was a big month for Kelly - he turned 40 and celebrated 15 years with the City of Chandler as a firefighter! Kelly enjoys his job and the challlenges he works to overcome with the "C shift" guys which includes firefighting, technical rescue and HAZMAT calls. Brandy also competed in the Arizona Junior Beef Ambassador Contest and placed first; to say the least we were both very proud!
July - Kelly started feeding spent brewer's grain to our sheep (the leftover grain after brewing beer) - he was able to work a deal with the brewer at the Tempe branch of Gordon Biersch Brewery. We are excited about this opportunity because it will help cut our feed costs down quite a bit since we can now feed less hay and we get the grain for free. Katy was also awarded the Outstanding Young Member award for the Arizona Agricultural Teacher's Association at their annual summer meeting in Tucson. Brandy also moved back to Florida this month to live with her mom; we both miss her but pray for her often and look forward to her next visit.
August - Katy started her fifth year as the Buckeye Ag Teacher and FFA advisor with a new teaching partner that has brought far less stress into her professional life. We also found out that Katy was pregnant; "morning" sickness ensued for the next 16 weeks. (It was more like all day sickness!) Kelly had his annual Wright Club Lamb Sale on the third weekend of this month and we sold over 30 lambs to 4-H and FFA members from across Arizona. Katy's sister, Anna, was our auctioneer and she did a great job!
September - We took 10 of our best ewes to west Texas to be bred. We are both hopeful about the prospect of what will come from this - we are already anticipating March 2012 when these ewes lamb out.
October - We finally used some of the gift money from our wedding to purchase unfinished hardwood floors for the three bedrooms in our house; this was going to be Kelly's project while Katy was out of town for a week. Katy traveled with 25 students to Indianapolis for the National FFA Convention where she also had two teams competing in National contests: Marketing Plan (21st out of 42 teams) and Dairy Judging (22nd out of 44 teams). The month ended well with one of the lambs we sold being selected as the Grand Champion Lamb at the Arizona State Fair!
November - We returned to the farm an hour south of Lubbock to retrieve our ewes - they were in good condition. Still looking forward to early lambing both for these 10 ewes and the other ewes we bred for early lambs to our youngest ram, Carrera. We also picked up our colt, Dib, in Amarillo on the return trip. Kelly did an awesome job finishing the hardwood floors in the guest bedroom and nursery. He worked his tail off to finish the proejct in the nick of time - we hosted Thanksgiving for both sides of our families! We had our first ultrasound the day before Thanksgiving and found out that we are having a boy!
December - Katy had the FFA State Champion Novice Prepared Speaker at the Midwinter contest early this month. Kelly also earned the "Best Husband of the Year" award for all his hard work in helping decorate the house for Christmas which included painting the living room and dining room as well as hanging lights inside and outside of the house! We celebrated Christmas in Cottonwood and are looking forward to the last few days of the year.
We pray 2011 was full of blessings for your family too! We praise God for bringing us together and giving us the gift of a healthy, growing baby thus far in Katy's pregnancy. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for the Wright's in 2012 - check back for updates!
Much love,
Kelly and Katy
December - Katy had the FFA State Champion Novice Prepared Speaker at the Midwinter contest early this month. Kelly also earned the "Best Husband of the Year" award for all his hard work in helping decorate the house for Christmas which included painting the living room and dining room as well as hanging lights inside and outside of the house! We celebrated Christmas in Cottonwood and are looking forward to the last few days of the year.
We pray 2011 was full of blessings for your family too! We praise God for bringing us together and giving us the gift of a healthy, growing baby thus far in Katy's pregnancy. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for the Wright's in 2012 - check back for updates!
Much love,
Kelly and Katy
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Picture Highlights from Last Week
School is officially out for Christmas Break and this teacher is super excited for a chance to clean house (exciting, I know), sleep in a little, and see family and friends. While I look forward to the coming festivities, I wanted to share a couple of highlights from the past week though.
Hubby and I traveled north last Friday and I got to spend Saturday morning baking with my beautiful Grandma. She is visiting from Montana and I was glad for the chance to finally hang out with her. I was dying to make gingerbread cookies so she acted as Executive Chef and supervised my work!
After my baking session was complete, hubby and I headed to Sedona for the wedding of a long time friend from my hometown. Sedona is beautiful at anytime of year but a little chilly for an outdoor wedding a week before Christmas. Some of you have been asking for a picture of the baby bump, this is as close as you'll get until the next time I post pictures.
My thoughtful sister gave me a certificate for a cake decorating class as a bridal shower gift last spring and we finally had the chance to redeem it! After I finished my last day of school on Tuesday we met for a quick dinner and then sat down for an hour and a half of instruction on using fondant. We both felt like we should have taken notes but after leaving we both feel more comfortable decorating a small cake with fondant. Check out my cute little winter themed cake below - I didn't have a plan when I started but the snowflakes turned out well and I love my little snowman!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)