chocolate cake.

sifting through our pantry i discovered a jar of mayonnaise with a 'use by' date of three days away. i'm not one to use food after the suggested 'use by' date so set to work finding something to do with all that mayonnaise. further sifting - this time on pinterest - awarded a very possible option, an option i responded with, "and why not?!" and so i did. i used the mayonnaise to make a chocolate cake. seriously.

while it doesn't happen often, making an outrageously rich dessert, when it does you just need to go with it and enjoy. such was the case concerning this cake. i made this recipe twice in a two-day span, the first as a half recipe to ensure goodness and that i wasn't wasting my time or groceries. goodness ensured and worthy of ingredients, i made it a second time, producing a luscious, decadent, heavenly sweet - showcased on a pedestal and delivered safely thirty-miles north for our after church communion potluck sunday whereby it was consumed in quick order. yUm.  

{mayonnaise chocolate cake}

4 cups flour

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups mayonnaise

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups water

* oven 350

* grease cake pans (2-9") and dust

with additional cocoa powder (not flour)

* in large bowl put dry ingredients and which

to remove any lumps

* in mixer put wet ingredients mix until smooth

* add the dry to the wet. slowly.

* do NOT overmix .. you want a light moist cake

and overmixing produces a dense heavy cake

* divide batter into 2 pans.

* bake 30  minutes or until tester is clean

* remove from oven and put on wire rack

* after 15 minutes remove from pans

* cool completely before frosting

{chocolate frosting}

1 cup unsalted butter (melted)

1 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups powdered sugar

~ 1/2 cup milk (as needed)

* with cocoa in your mixing bowl add the melted butter

and combine until very smooth

* add the remaining ingredients and mix 2-3 minutes.

* frost as usual .. i used a jumbo tip for the decoration

spaceships and laserbeams

receives all credit for this most

amazing cake. and it sure is.

amazing.

hope you enjoy.

 

some yUm & a good thought.

good afternoon, friends.

while the hubs repaired a portion of the gutter

threatening to dislodge from the house i got busy

and baked a new batch of granola. we used

the last of the other batch this morning over

greek yogurt and strawberries. 

one bin for the deep freeze and one bin for the fridge.

pecans and medjool dates this time. yum.

it makes a good size batch .. used the humongous

tupperware bowl i bought probably 30 years ago.

my tiny dish of (D3) supplements

waiting for me to choke down..

i love the quote imprinted on the surface:

"do more of what makes your soul happy."

.i'm trying.

after the granola was baked and portioned and stored, 

i used some leftover bacon from the deep freeze

along with biscuits made for yesterday's main meal,

and put together some simple little blt's on a biscuit.

it was yummy and just enough until our main meal.

.a cute little snack.

*

last night i prepped a chicken & spinach lasagna then put it in the fridge, allowing the flavors to held overnight. we usually eat our main meal at 3pm so i best get this in the oven. i made a simple salad to go along. the pan of lasagna will offer us dinner today and tomorrow, then i'll portion, package, and freeze the remainder for future meals or to offer to folks who are either under the weather or had a recent surgery resulting in a bit of need .. cuz who wants to cook when you're feeling ick, right?

*

:: sherry's granola ::

5 cups oats

1 cup oil

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

1 tablespoon cinnamon

put oats & cinnamon in a large bowl.

heat the remaining ingredients then pour

over oats and mix well. on parchment lined

cookie sheets (i use two) divide and spread the

mixture then bake at 325 for 15  minutes.

remove and stir then bake 5 minutes. then

remove and stir and back into the oven

5 minutes more. remove from the oven

and let sit about 15 minutes before 

breaking it tup and putting back into the 

large bowl. *** now you can add your

preferred nuts and/or dried fruit. today

i added about 2 cups of pecans and 

2 cups of chopped medjool dates.

mix it up good then portion,

putting some in the deep freeze

and some in the fridge.

this is great as cereal, 

equally delish sprinkled over yogurt.

the granola with the pecans

and dates .. tastes like a cookie.

*

until next time..

.sherry.

 

and in this new year...

*

it seems to have been so long since i peeked in on this little corner of the world.. time away was needed. essential actually. life has a way of happening and some areas of that life needed a rest. those who know about such things will understand. but.. i'm here now, sharing bits and pieces of a quiet life.

*

december found us on the road two days traveling to washington state, arriving on my sweet sister shirley's birthday. after a wonderful dinner and cake she opened gifts .. and i hope her heart was blessed. the next morning we whisked my mother away - tucking her in and setting off for the oregon coast where we spent 5 nights and 6 days right on the coast, facing the coast, relishing in the coast. the weather was perfect if you appreciate rain and fog. wink. i happen to appreciate it very much! my mother was always a sun seeker and while precious little of the stuff appeared (virtually nil), she enjoyed the benefits only the sea can offer. early in the mornings we glimpsed fishing boats on the horizon, the last morning there were twelve such boats under a glorious moon. we took back roads to where mom lives (with shirley & family) in washington state. once home, mom was snuggled in nicely with the kitties, shirley offered a delicious dinner, then we were off to snuggle in to our digs for the next week which was a hotel. Christmas arrived with rain then snow.. and all the while the hubs and i were tracking the winter storm happening at our own home two days drive away. more importantly though, this Christmas marked the first time in over 30 years we were all together for the holiday! cramming 431 sisters etc required a bit of grace. wink. wink. it was special, especially so for our mom.. sure wish we lived nearer to pop over for a visit or whisk her away for an afternoon or overnight. i hold in my heart the precious time we had together this visit. add to our nice holiday, the snow at Shirley's! such a treat to have a White Christmas together.

time well spent .. reading .. together

coastal arrival .. we immediately soaked up

a smidgen from the brightest opportunity

the last morning of our coastal getaway..

*

heading home after Christmas in Washington, the last day was the longest. the hubs checked for open roads before we set off, then changed the route a bit at one point. there aren't enough snowplows to make tracks on every road, also keeping in mind that one's plans need to be open to change based on weather and road conditions. thankful for our very able vehicle, for provisions (warmth and food), and the hub's excellent driving skills, we made it home ..... oh my what a deluge of white stuff! a five-foot berm at the end of our rather long driveway, and four-feet of snow to trudge through to the front door and much longer to the garage. the hubs basically dragged me through the snow to the house to suit up and make our way out again, full winter gear donned including our boot trax to guard against slipping over the ice. the next two hours we shoveled and snowblowed a path wide enough to get our vehicle into the garage, then brought inside only what we absolutely needed overnight. the rest could wait. i admit to some rather pitiful whining and the response from the hubs to quit that foolishness. after a bite to eat we readied for bed and zonked out, only to wake and find yet another foot of snow had fallen overnight. once again we suited up, trudged out, snowblowed and shoveled. three local guys ventured by and helped with more berm removal as well as helping the hubs to clear multiple feet of snow from our newer trailer's roof; the 1955 boles aero was protected from snow under a structure on another part of our property. since then, the snow has become a heavy icy mess - such a mess that the weight brought down our gutters and damaged our home's siding. the dark side of snowmaggedon.  temps are raising just a tich this week which will hopefully make for a better snow melt. don't get me wrong.. we love the snow and we need the snow! but a good melt is equally enjoyed .. if nothing else then to thaw out a little. even i'm cold! shocker, i know. wink.

isn't it beautiful? {not our home... just a personal favorite in our town}

the icicles are aMaZinG!!!

*

winter brings cold weather activities not all of which involve

shoveling or skiing or snow-machines etc. puzzles, for example.

this one is from artwork by Emily Winfield Martin.

i love her art and will be looking into ordering one or two

more of what she has in the market. we're almost done with this one.

my grandmother's canasta table is the perfect place to work on the puzzle.

here's a link to see what else is available:

Emily Winfield Martin Puzzles

one morning the hubs and i had dental cleaning appts at the dentist

in our tiny little town, after which we decided to check out a cafe

for breakfast in the next tiny town. great breakfast! then we walked

about a block (sure am glad we wore our boot trax!) away we

ventured in a cute little thrift shop. i found a few treasures

but the hubs found this vintage coffee maker (from the 70s) in the

original box. good job, hon! talk about cute .. and smoooooth coffee.

i nabbed the cute mug perfect for a swig of liquid life that afternoon.

eye roll. while in the kitchen i mistakenly took a picture

with my cell phone. truthfully i'm glad it happened

because the floor is so pretty.

oh and do you like my stylish crocs?

*

"The kitchen is liberation. It's the conduit between

the garden & the table; a ticket to self-sufficiency;

a laboratory of nourishment; an upholder of

food security. It makes a bold statement

in a world drowning in consumerist ideals.

And it's time to reclaim our ground here."

~ Jill Winger

{visit her blog by clicking the link on my sidebar}

*

simple foods - pretty setting - nourishment

for the body and soul

this beautiful vintage table runner was a Christmas gift from mom.

i love how it looks on our rustic table, how it is complemented by our

napkins and soup color! i wish we could bypass our two weeks of spring

then long fire season also known as summer - because knowing me

i'll be wearing that table scarf AS as scarf come autumn.

*

"In the middle of the room stood a long table of plain boards placed on trestles, with benches down each side. At one end of it, where an arm-chair stood pushed back, were spread the remains of the Badger's plain but ample supper. Rows of spotless plates winked from the shelves of the dresser at the far end of the room, and from the rafters overhead hung hams, bundles of dried herbs, nets of onions, and baskets of eggs. It seemed a place where weary harvesters could line up in scores along the table

and keep their Harvest Home with mirth and song, or where two or three friends of simple

tastes could sit about as they pleased and eat and smoke and talk in comfort and contentment."

Kenneth Graham, Mr. Badger chapter of The Wind in the Willows.

*

“Have your heart right with Christ, 

and he will visit you often, 

and so turn weekdays into Sundays, 

meals into sacraments, 

homes into temples, 

and earth into heaven.”

― Charles H. Spurgeon

*

"Fill me with peace, 

that no disquieting worldly gales may 

ruffle the calm surface of my soul."

~ Valley of Vision

*

a few friends i know wait, after prayer, for a special

word by which to establish their year. this year

in this strange world in which we currently live,

i'm holding on to these words:

"This year, let us dissolve all our hopes into a single hope,

to know Christ and be found in Him. May this be the year,

to desire a radically transformed, deeper, truer,

knowing Christ as the all-sufficient One."

~ Elisabeth Elliot

. . . . . . . . . .

p.s.

font style and size is squirrely in my attempt to publish this post.

if it looks wonky i thank you for your grace ..