Anita Baker

I spent a good part of the weekend trying to make cake pops made popular by bakerella. I stole the idea from Crystal Chick, who did a great job on them. But, she does a great job at pretty much everything.

At least 5 hours over the course of 2 days, 6 trips between the grocery store, Michael's and Hobby Lobby and about $30 worth of supplies, and I determined to leave the cake pops up to Bakerella and Crystal Chick. Here is a picture of what I ended up with...




I don't know what in the world possessed me to do this! I am not a baker or a cook of any kind. These are the cutest things when you find someone who knows how to pull it off and they are delish! It doesn't seem hard. My problem was getting the melted candy on the balls. If you try this, send me some feedback on how you did it.

Other things I did this weekend...

• Went to the mall 4 times, but only went in twice (I was unable to find a parking spot the other times)
• Tried on men's underwear in the middle of Macy's
• Tested out my calf muscles on a new trail at Shelby Farms. Turns out I was not quite ready to run. Sorry for wasting your time, Kayla! That was the worst 4 miles I can remember
• Found my brother-in-law a pretty pimp pajama set for the New Year's Eve party
• Hung out with my larger than life friend, Heckmat
• Researched the band Kings of Leon and found that I really like them!

Right now I am getting ready to go to the Christmas party for my part time job. Hopefully, I will win an IPod or some kind of MP3 player because my NotPod keeps telling me there is an internal error. Damn it! I will let you know how it goes.

Dessert!

We are having a dessert contest at one of my jobs. I love to eat dessert, but I am not a baker. Cooking in general is not something that I am the best at. I love to do it when I have time and for special occasions, but desserts are not my specialty by a long shot. I can, however, follow a recipe quit well so I asked around for ideas and here are a few of the recipes I got:

Charlie Brown Cake - By Ruth Dean
First Layer: 1 3/4 c flour
3/4 c nuts (pecans or walnuts)
3/4 c oleo, room temp

Blend mixture and put into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 min. Then cool


Second Layer: 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 c powdered sugar
1 1/2 c Cool Whip

Whip cream cheese & sugar together. Add Cool Whip. Spread over 1st layer

Third Layer: 2 pkgs instant chocolate pudding
3 c milk

Mix pudding with milk. Pour over cream cheese layer

Fourth Layer: Spread Cool Whip over top and sprinkle with nuts. Refrigerate overnight!


Saucepan Brownies - By Candi Brown

1c Butter 1c cocoa 3c sugar 6 eggs 1 1/2 vanilla
2 1/4c flour 2 1/4c flour 3/4t salt 1 1/2 chopped nuts

Place butter and cocoa over low heat in 4qt saucepan. Milt, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in, in this order: Sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, salt and nuts

Pour into greased and floured 10 x 15 1/2 x 1 pan and bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes

Cool and cut into squares or bars


Fresh Fruit Dip - By Jackie Hallen

1 16oz cream cheese
1 small jar of whipped marshmallow

Mix ingredients together. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, if preferred. Dip strawberries, bananas, and apples or any other fruit


All of these look like really yummy recipes. I went from not having a good recipe to enter with, to having too many to choose from! That's OK though. I love it. I will make all of these at some point with so many functions going on between now and New Years!

If anybody has any good dessert recipes, feel free to hand them over!