Baking My Way Through Baked – Recipe #11

For the next recipe that I made from Baked, I decided to go outside of the breakfast chapter….while still making something for breakfast.  The Raspberry Crumb Breakfast Bar looked quite delicious.  Anything with raspberries in it is automatically delicious.

There were a couple changes that I made to the actual recipe.  First, I hate getting out equipment that I don’t feel like I need.  That’s why I rarely ever use the food processor.  Sometimes, a food processor is necessary.  Sometimes, it’s just another thing to have to wash.  I felt like this time, it was the latter.  So, I used a pastry cutter instead.

No extra equipment to wash. Crust comes out the same.

I also made a change with the amount of sugar that was added to the raspberry filling.  I knew that I would need to use frozen raspberries since it would be a bit difficult to find a pound of fresh raspberries.  However, I was not able to find plain frozen raspberries.

Sugar added. No plain frozen raspberries to be found.

These bars looked really great when they were done.

Mmmmmmmm

But, I had trouble believing that they were going to cut really easily once they had simply cooled.  Once cooled, they still seemed kind of squishy.  So, I waited to cut them until they had been in the refrigerator overnight.

Yummy!

These turned out really nicely.  They were really easy to make and they weren’t too sweet.  I will definitely be making these again.

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A Scarf for Ryan – #8

Although the temp might be in the 90s this weekend, right now you definitely need a jacket when you go outside.  Since this might be the last time in quite awhile when a jacket is required if you are going outside, I made the decision to finish this scarf tonight!

Scarf!!!!

Finally! Finally I am finished with this scarf! It’s actually kind of a good thing that spring has decided to take a vacation away from Chicago because Ryan might actually be able to use this scarf without having to wait until November.

Baking My Way Through Baked – The Tenth Recipe

So, it’s been awhile since I’ve actually done some baking.  I decided that that would change when I brought breakfast to work on Friday.  I took a look through the breakfast section of Baked and went with the Marble Bundt Cake.  Bonus?  My aunt and uncle gave me a new bundt pan with carrying case for my birthday!  It was time to christen the new pan.

For the chocolate layer, I decided to combine two types of dark chocolate.

Mmmmm. Chocolate.

I think that perhaps I didn’t divide the batter properly.  It ended up looking closer to 50/50.  And the chocolate batter was only supposed to be 1/3 of the entire amount of batter.  Oops.

Yum.

At first, the cake looked lovely and swirled.

Beautiful batter.

But after it baked, the two layers seemed to separate so that there was just a blob of chocolate surrounded by a little bit of the non-chocolate batter.  Perhaps this is because there was just too much chocolate batter?

Not very marbled. But still yummy.

This recipe was actually one of the easiest that I’ve done in the Baked cookbook.  The directions were very simple and seemed pretty accurate.  And it was really delicious!

When things work out even when they don’t

This past weekend, Ben and I had a date to go shopping and get some food.  Those are two things that I enjoy greatly.   The plan was to find some maternity khaki pants.  I need some maternity khaki pants.  And do you know what I discovered?  One can not find khaki maternity pants.  Apparently, they only exist online.  *sigh*

But have no fear.  Although my goal of finding the perfect pants was not achieved, remember that we had two things to do.  We went shopping and ate food.  And eating food has never been something that Ben and I have had trouble with.

Lunch?  Shrimp and cheese grits at Heaven on Seven.

Shrimp! Grits!

Dessert?  Parfait at Scooter’s.

Yum! Custard! Italian ice! Together in a cup!

Two of my favorite foods with one of my favorite people.

And now, I can find some pants online.

One of my fave parts about knitting

No, this is not to update the fact that I’ve finally finished Ryan’s scarf.  *sigh*  I swear I’ll finish it.  I swear I will.  But one of my favorite parts of knitting is planning my next project.  Should I finish the one that I’m working on before starting another project?  Of course I should.  Is that what’s going to happen?  Not necessarily.

Last summer, I bought some books with baby knit patterns with the idea that I would start doing some knitting for my nephew.  That didn’t happen.  And that still hasn’t happened.  Now, there is a new little niece on the way and Ryan and I are expecting our own baby.  So, it’s official.  It’s time to dig out the baby knitting books and start planning.

Planning the next project really is one of my favorite parts of knitting.  I love looking at patterns.  I love going to the yarn department at Jo-Ann.  I love all of that.

So now comes the hard part.  I will (I will, I will, I will, I will) finish Ryan’s scarf.  I only need to add a couple more inches to it and it will finally be complete.  And then I will (I will, I will, I will, I will) pick out and start some baby (and toddler) projects.

Which do you recommend?  Blankets or baby hats? Or both?