Meals as a Mrs. ~ Salted Caramel Apple Cake

This dessert for a triple layer Salted Caramel Apple Cake was so very good! We enjoyed it both as a cold dessert and melted after sticking it in the microwave for a few seconds.   I made this cake in the winter, coincidentally, during a blizzard when we were snowbound and it didn't quite turn out the way I thought it would.  Therefore this cake went down as being called an Avalanche Trifle Cake in honor of the weekend's snow instead! ;}

Here is what it should have looked like:

Here is my version (don't laugh!):

Ok, yeah, that is pretty funny!  ; )

Due to being snowbound, we were able to enjoy the apple cake that also has salted caramel buttercream icing for several days.  Both the cake and icing were made from scratch but somewhere along the line, as Adam and I iced the layers while also trying to clean up the kitchen, when we both had our backs turned the layers of the scrumptious cake started sliding off one another.....oops. At least the dinner (with a hilarious name) I had made that evening was a tremendous success (taste and appearance wise) even if the dessert wasn't!!  

Right before the tumble....!

Don't get me wrong, the cake was delicious in its new format.  Adam even declared it is his new favorite cake after having some seconds as a late night snack. However, we both were a little tired of it after feasting on it the next several days.  Due to the sheer volume of the cake let alone the size of the three layers, I recommend this dessert for large gatherings otherwise you will have leftovers for daaaaaays!  The cake, within the trifle dish, was so tall I had to remove the top glass shelf in our refrigerator so that it would fit in the fridge! Yowza!!  Hopefully if any of you make this cake, you'll have better luck at getting it to look like the picture on the recipe. I have to admit though that it was fun slinging pieces of cake and icing into the trifle dish once I realized there was no saving the slippery layers. Hehe.

The poem below, from the Engaged Encounter weekend paperwork, is a nice reminder as to what's really important especially as I start to feel the usual summer anxiety of needing to prep my courses for the upcoming fall semester while reflecting on recent evaluations and implementing changes for the future where needed.  I stopped over at school the other night and found my office in dire need of straightening up and reorganizing from my absence.  I look forward to getting the projects and exams that were left behind by my subs in files and purging extraneous paperwork before beginning to revise and update course syllabi and records for the fall but not today.  Tonight, I'm going to enjoy being in the moment as Charlotte happily swings and coos in her giraffe swing across from me, the boys wrestle and chase one another at my feet, and Adam gets caught up on his gaming and football.  There will be time later for worrying about work but for now I'm going to thank God for these blessings and take time to praise Him regarding what I currently see and hear in our living room.


Take Time


Take time to work, it is the price of success (yes, I would rather take my time to get a job done to ensure it is thorough and complete rather than rushing through it and this is why, sometimes, it's hard for me to get started on a task.  If I don't think I will have enough time to put forth my best effort I can sometimes find myself paralyzed and unable to start the job).
Take time to think, it is the source of power.
Take time to play, it is the secret to perpetual youth (the pups have this one down pat).
Take time to be friendly, it is the road to happiness.
Take time to dream, it is expanding your horizons (I would also say in addition to dreaming to be open to possibilities that might seem impossible...dream BIG!).
Take time to love and be loved, it is a blessing from God (all too often, I've been guilty of not being present due to thinking of what needs to be done in and out of the home but am hopefully improving in this area!  It is so important to communicate to our loved ones how important they are while we still can!  Life is so short for some and we need to put ourselves out there and embrace the moment more.  Don't take a single second or day for granted.).
Take time to look around, the day is too short to be selfish.
Take time to laugh, it is the music of the soul (so thankful for my funny hubby who makes me laugh every day! And my brothers.  They are hilarious too...especially Patrick!).

Author Unknown


 

Grandma Sue Meets Charlotte!

Adam’s mom came to visit us the other week!  This long awaited trip for her to meet her newest grandbaby was looked forward to by all and I can’t believe that a week has already passed since her return to California.  We miss Grandma Sue and can’t wait for her to come back again in July!

The trip began with Charlotte and me picking Mom Sue up from the airport as we drove back to Ohio from my hometown in northeastern Pennsylvania. 

The first embrace with Grandma Sue must have felt extra good after being in the car seat for so long!

After a long day of travel (by car and by air!), the aroma of a delicious dinner of shredded Teriyaki Chicken on a bed of sticky rice with a warm mix of broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower on the side that Adam had prepared greeted us as we entered the house.  What a delicious meal that awaited us!!  After dinner, we were able to get settled and relax.

Even though it had only been a couple weeks since Charlotte lay in the basinette, she looks so big laying in it now.  My how she has grown since birth!!

 We awoke to a cloudy and rainy (and at times stormy) Saturday which put a damper on our plans of attending an outdoor open house/May Crowning at a local convent/retreat area.  We opted to not go out in the damp weather and to just have a cozy lazy Saturday in which was fine as I was a bit tired from the last several days spent in PA and from traveling back to Ohio the previous and it had been a full day of travel for Mom Sue the day before as well.  It was so wonderful seeing Mom Sue and Charlotte together!!  Charlotte loved the extra snuggles, lovin', and quality time she got in with Grandma!

We also spent time on this day going through a huge suitcase of clothes for Charlotte that had been sent from her cousin Riley.  Many many many thanks to Alicia for thinking of us and passing along Riley's old clothes.  How generous!!!  It will be so fun to watch these beautiful cousins grow up together as they are only six months apart and will most likely be in the same grade at school!  I hope they are close with one another in spite of the geographical distance.  Later, we enjoyed a homecooked meal for dinner (apple cinnamon pork chops, baked potato, & veggies) and especially liked the peanut butter brownies that I baked (and continued to enjoy this treat throughout the rest of Mom Sue’s stay).  I will have to make this dessert for my brothers who are fellow peanut butter lovers during our family vacation in June!

The weather was more enjoyable on Sunday with the sun making an appearance along with a slight breeze.  After mass we had lunch at a quaint historical inn about a half hour away in nearby West Virginia by driving on twisty curvy mountain roads.  We enjoyed the service and food at Drover’s Inn as well as learning a little bit of history about the area and previous uses of the inn (such as the fact that there were pastures for the cattle and animals to roam as the drovers dined and drank at the tavern and inn).

 

The decor of the inn and placemats reminded me of the tavern we ate at in Colonial Williamsburg during our honeymoon as well as a restaurant we like in Gettysburg.  Looking at these last two pictures, is there any denying that Charlotte is Adam's daughter?!  From the nose to the cute dimple in the right cheek that both Mom Sue and Adam have to the fidgety leg when falling asleep that both Dad Tom and Adam have, she's definitely a Daddy's girl!  ; )

Upon returning to Ohio we were disappointed to learn that the children’s Eucharistic Adoration at our church was not being offered that afternoon as I had thought.  Guess we will have to wait until it starts back up again next year for Charlotte to experience it but I’m thankful that she and I have a couple days on which we’ll be filling in for a friend and substituting for her at her regularly scheduled Holy Hour at a nearby church in the meantime.  So, we wound up showing Mom some more of our neighborhood and even got to introduce her to a close friend and neighbor on the way home.

Sitting pretty in her Sunday best!

Snuggles with Grandma are the best!

Our Sunday night dinner was Orange Chicken as when I had made it recently Adam proclaimed it, “One of the best meals you’ve ever made!” which is pretty high praise coming from Adam.  Hopefully he and his mom liked it this time around too!!  We were able to read some more of Adam’s Baby Book that Mom Sue had brought with her after dinner.  The baby book, with its hard cover and being about an inch thick, reminds me of a textbook and contains an incredible amount of information.  It has been fun reading through it and learning more about Adam as a baby while also observing some similarities in our daughter!  She definitely has not only his physical traits but is also taking after him in other areas.  I’m also gaining some ideas about how and what I would like to document in Charlotte’s baby book after seeing Adam’s that his mom so lovingly wrote in over the years.  What a treasure to have such a detailed keepsake!!

Monday was a work day for Adam so while he was working, Mom Sue, Charlotte, and I ran some errands that included stopping in at the bookstore on campus and going to a large Catholic store in town.  We could have easily spent hours in each store but we tried to behave and limit our time (and money spending) to about an hour in each one.  We walked out of each store with purchases we were excited about and can hardly wait to dive into the books we bought.  We also managed to get some pictures printed at the local pharmacy so that we can start working on our respective albums of Charlotte.  That is going to be a big job….not to mention the baby book…due to all the photos that have been taken in her short precious life thus far.

Since Monday was our first wedding anniversary, for dinner we all went out to eat at a local family restaurant in a nearby town.  My chicken salad croissant sandwich was delicious and I will gladly order it again if we return to that restaurant.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the way home and stayed up into the night chit chatting some more.  An added bonus was that we were able to read Charlotte’s birth story notes and report together that our doula had sent us that night.  I hope Mom Sue was able to feel like she was there by our sharing the information in such detail with her that last night of her trip.  The next morning was when Mom Sue departed for California but knowing that we would be seeing her again in July (along with Dad Tom and Adam’s sister/Charlotte’s godmother:  Wendy) made saying goodbye a little bit easier.  It was so lovely having these last few days with Mom Sue and we can hardly wait for mid-summer when she returns!

Our wedding colors (light green, light purple, bright pink, sand, & blue) all in one photo with Charlotte on our anniversary!

One last bottle before taking Grandma to the airport.  See you in July!!  Xoxo.

Meals as a Mrs. ~ Dirty P's Garlic-Ginger Chicken Thighs

I'm not sure why this particular dish is called "Dirty P's Garlic-Ginger Chicken Thighs"...is it because the chicken looked dirty with all the seasoning and slightly charred skin on it?  Who knows?! 

I am not a fan of red onions but they are Adam's favorite on a hamburger so I was glad to try this recipe that used that particular kind of onion on the chicken.  Although later he informed me he only likes red onions if they are raw.  Duly noted!

 

Making the chicken "dirty"....I guess..according to the name of the recipe??!

Ahh, love the smell of the grill cooking!!

The crispy skin was my favorite part.  I also enjoyed the buttered broccoli Adam made as the side veggie for this one.

 

 
This dish was a fun one that utilized the outdoor grill but I remember wishing the taste of the orange juice would have been stronger than the taste of the garlic and ginger as those last two ingredients were quite overpowering.  In the future I would probably double the tangerine or orange juice to make the chicken have more of a citrus flavor to counteract the taste of the garlic and ginger.  Also, I think when we made this meal at the end of August last year, it was the last time we fired up the grill and thinking back on the taste of this meal, I can't wait for this summer's cookouts!!  Do you have any favorite grill recipes?  If so, please do share!!

Reading over this passage on families that we were given during our Engaged Encounter weekend back in October 2014 takes on different meaning now that little Charlotte is here with us.  Oh how I love our little family of three (five if you count Hershey and Dusty too)!!

Family Living

Family living...is love overflowing into new lives and new people
the pride of extended identity
and consternation at the radically new, 
amazed at how different the same can be.

Family living...is love as adventure
mixed with boredom
where the unexpected becomes routine
and things have to change
to remain the same.

Family living...is love fulfilling and exhausting-
fathers and mothers who can't fit in
the time to be husbands and wives
and wives and husbands who can't fit in
the time to be fathers and mothers.

Family living...is love with too many birthdays for some
and too few for others.  
It's growing up and growing old
but above all its growing.

Family living...is love that is not blind
but rather sees what others cannot, 
love with the courage to correct, 
the tenderness to soothe, 
the wisdom to guide.

Meals as a Mrs. ~ Impossibly Easy Turkey Club Pie

I made this dish, the Impossibly Easy Turkey Club Pie, from Betty Crocker right before school started back up for the fall semester.  It did come out slightly dry so next time I would add a large can of creamed corn to it!  I also increased the amount of cut-up cooked turkey from 1.5 cups to 2 cups.

 

Marriage Poem: The Art of Marriage

---

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.
A good marriage must be created.
In the art of marriage the little things are the big things…
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted;
The courtship should not end with the honeymoon,
it should continue through all the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude
of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.
It is speaking words of appreciation
and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience,
understanding and a sense of humor.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is finding room for the things of the spirit.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,
dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.
It is discovering what marriage can be, at its best.

The Art of Marriage by Wilferd A. Peterson, published in THE NEW BOOK OF THE ART OF LIVING, Simon & Schuster, New York, © Wilferd Arlan Peterson, 1962, 1963; ©Lilian Thorpe, 2004. 

I love the comparison of marriage to art in the above poem.  Adam and I are continually needing to cultivate and craft our marriage covenant and I love the idea of the thought of us as artists with paintbrush in hand as we splash color across the blank canvas painting the picture of our lives together.  Sometimes, one of us may make bolder strokes or use brighter pigments (let's face it, that would be me) while the other may opt to focus on the fine lines and provide details that might at first glance be missed by the viewer but upon deeper inspection would be brought to light.  I love that we're both artists in creating the marital masterpiece that lay before us and hope we can glorify God's majestic beauty through our meager attempts at artfully showing God's love through our actions to one another and others outside our union.

Meals as a Mrs. ~ Zucchini Chips

This appetizer had so much potential and I was excited to these zuchinni chips, however, I ended up not caring for them too much.  The paprika was a bit too strong for me and the zucchini chips did not turn out as crisp as I would have liked.  My former housemate, Raquel, who had come over for dinner the night I served these really liked this appetizer so off to her house the chips went as leftovers. 

If you choose to make this recipe, I suggest cutting the zucchini into much thinner slices than I did.  It turned out that our food processor was not big enough to accommodate the size of our zucchini...so much so that it got stuck in the food processor when we tried to force it into too small of an opening.  Oops!  Therefore, we had to resort to cutting our new replacment zucchini by hand and, as you can see in the pictures, our slices were on the thick side which is most likely why they were not as crisp as they could have been.

  
A Marriage Prayer (taken from our Engaged Encounter folder of paperwork)

Lord, help us to remember when we first met and the strong love that grew between us.  
To work that love into practical things so nothing can divide us.
We ask for words both kind and loving and hearts always ready to ask forgiveness as well as to forgive.
Dear Lord, we put our marriage into your hands.  Amen.