and we're done...

Unpacking that is!

It took me MUCH longer to get unpacked this time around then in the past, but there was just a lot going on right when we got here, and packing sort of took a back burner. But we are done now (thank goodness!!!) and it looks more like "home" than just a house. The only thing we have left to do is hang our pictures, and put up some curtains. Oh - and make one last run to the Goodwill because in the unpacking we unearthed some other "treasures" that we no longer need to haul around.

We really enjoyed our Labor Day weekend. Saturday we went to a beach for a bit to hunt for shells, then to this great little farmers market where I had the best breakfast sandwich EVER. We're going back this weekend just so I can have another. I'll even take a picture to show you all...you'll be drooling.

Sunday we went hiking. It was the longest one we've done so far, and I am very proud of the boys. We did a loop out to a lookout point and back, and total it was about 3 miles, which is pretty good for a 3 and 5 year old.

They had a blast and really enjoyed it - as you can see they were some happy hikers -


...so we are going to hit up another area this weekend. One of the coolest parts was at the end we stopped by a waterfall. It was incredible.


This week is going by fast. I can't believe it's already the middle of the week. I guess that's due to the longer weekend. Next week is the hub's b-day and I am at a loss of things to get him. Any ideas out there?? Well, my attention is being requested by my little munchkin, so I am out until next time. Enjoy the rest of the week folks!

The Peanut Gallery

Hello Folks...

Well as I write this post I am laid up on the couch with ice on my ankle. Why you might ask...well it seems that I am not strong enough to move large heavy objects (like TV's) and happened to drop the TV I was moving on my ankle. Thankfully it sort of just went down the side and not directly on top of my foot, but I do have a nasty gash and a little swelling. However...today is the 14th which means its posting day for Daring Cooks, and because I really enjoyed this challenge, I wanted to be sure to get it posted on time!

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

I had NO idea how fun, and super easy, it is to make your own nut butter. I chose to do peanut butter, but I have lots of recipes bookmarked for all sorts of butters. But because we are moving next month, I didn't want to go TOO crazy making stuff that we would then have to try and hurry to use up. Here are a few pictures of my peanuts and butter...forgive the poor quality, I used my phone to take these pictures because I didn't want to go up and get my camera...I know lazy, but sometimes that's just how I roll.

The recipe I made was delicious. I sort of used a combination of two different curry recipes that I had on hand. I only had about 1/2 the ingredients for each, so I did a combination and it turned out wonderful. AND the whole family loved it, which is always a plus. It's a chicken and vegetable curry and at the end I tossed it with some noodles (we didn't have any rice)...YUMMY!



I still have some of my peanut butter left and I've been using it in my oatmeal, on crackers, celery, really anything you can put peanut butter on, I've been using it. I think after the move, homemade nut butters will become more of a standard in this house! :)

Okay folks, if you are interested in the directions for making your very own nutty butter wonderfulness, you can check out the info HERE. I highly recommend giving it a try!!

This post is going to be short and sweet. I should probably take the ice off my foot and check on the swelling, so with that I'm off. I'll be back soon though - later gators.

Big Threes!!!!

Hello folks, how's it going??

It is a beautiful morning here, just one of those days that makes you want to get out there and do stuff. Which is good because later we have a picnic for the hubby's work that we are going to. This morning I have dedicated to getting things done. So far I've done my bible study, had breakfast, folded the last of my laundry, and loved on my kiddos. Now they are watching a show before breakfast, so I figured I would use this un-disturbed time to do some bloggin'. :)

How was everyone's Independence Day weekend?? What did you do to celebrate our country's independence?? We had a FABULOUS weekend. My mom and dad came up for one last visit before we move on to celebrate both the 4th and then our little munchkin's THIRD birthday!! I can't believe my "baby" is three. He is doing fabulous, and just such the little man now. It seems that overnight he went from my little guy, to full fledged "big kid" that no longer needs much help from Mama and Daddy. He's 100% potty trained (has been for about a month now) and into everything that big brother does. So here's a big birthday shout out to my little man - Happy Birthday Sweetie...Mama LOVES you bunches!!! Here he is with his Lightning McQueen cake that yours truly made. It's a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and Lightning McQueen of course. The recipe was wonderful and I'll post it at the end.

Three years ago...

My sweet boy

Here are some more pictures from our weekend. For the 4th we went to see fireworks, and the next night we did lots of fun fireworks here at the house. The boys had a blast, and really got into it this weekend.



The hubs and I even got a date night which was awesome. I dragged him to see Eclipse so I could get my vampire fix (I know...me and all the other little teenagers). It was much better than New Moon, but I really can't wait for the last one. That was my favorite of all the books...but waiting is something I will have to do because it's like 500 days until it comes out or something like that...hmmmm.

So, we are at 5 weeks until our moving day! I can't believe it's so close - CRAZINESS!! It's hard to believe that our time here is just about up. I'll be sad to leave, but am also really looking forward to our new adventure. I just wish I knew where we would be AFTER SOAC, but I'm going to have to be patient on that one (yet again just like above) because we still have awhile before we know anything that is "final". However, I'm not so much looking forward to the whole "going out to sea" bit again, but I'm sure I'll get into the swing of it again...sooner or later. :)

In-case you missed it on my FB, check out Matt's claim to fame. Okay maybe not "fame" but he's in a recruiting video for the Navy.



Hehe...

So, I think that is about it for our updates. We are still making the most of our summer. Lots of time at the pool and the parks, and playing with friends. Okay, well here is that recipe I promised. My mom found this recipe and brought it with her, it was the one my grandma used and she always made the BEST stuff so I was excited to try it. She didn't let me down, it was AWESOME! I'm a big fan of carrot cake, but I'm kind of picky about it. I don't like it to have a bunch of extra "stuff" in it, I just want the wonderful carrot-y cake-ness. For our cake I did omit the nuts, because both my hubby and daddy are not a fan of nuts in baked goods, so I left those out, but everything else I kept the same.

Grandma's Carrot Cake

Ingredients and directions

- 1 1/2 cups oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs

Mix the above together. Combine the following separately then add to the above.

- 2 c. sifted flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 3 tsp cinnamon

Stir in the following:

- 3 c. shredded carrots
- 1/2 c. chopped pecans (optional)

Cook @ 350F for 30 min in (3) 8 inch cake pans. Let cool on rack then frost with cream cheese icing. * Note: this recipe makes three very thin layers, if you want two thicker layers you will need to increase the baking time.

Enjoy!!

Okay, well that's it for me folks. I really will try to be better about posting, but I can make no promises! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I know we plan to!!

Daddy's Day Deliciousness

Is deliciousness a word?? It must be because I didn't get the little red squiggly line indicating I spelled something wrong. Good thing because that totally describes the wonderful creation I made to celebrate my sweet hubs and what a wonderful Daddy he is to my boys.

But first, let me back up a bit. A few weeks ago I asked my dear husband what he wanted to have for dessert on father's day, and he said he wanted chocolate chip cookies...to which I responded...Seriously??!!?! I'm offering to make anything and you want cookies?? Well, he did, but I just didn't feel that was enough to show him what a great dad he was. He did get his cookies, but I made them a few weeks ago (you all remember my post about those cookies right??) to satisfy the cookie craving. Then...for fathers day I made chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake - AMAZING.

I don't think I could have made him anything better. It was creamy, the cookie dough was amazing, it didn't even crack...perfection! Again I turned to my trusty A Passion For Baking book that has quickly become my "go to" book for all baked goods. I have yet to make anything out of that book that isn't truly amazing.

Home made cookie dough for the cookie dough parts

The middle layer - cookie dough and mini chocolate chips

Ready to go into the oven

one happy daddy :)

Aside from sitting around eating lots of cheesecake, we had a wonderful Father's Day. We went to church, then brunch at one of our favorite brunch places, then home so we could all just lay around and relax and enjoy time together. Dinner was light, quick and easy then it was off to the movies to see the new Toy Story 3 movie. We had a great time, and the movie was really cute. Both boys really enjoyed it - although I swear my little one just goes for the popcorn.

I am truly blessed that my boys have such an amazing daddy. Because of his job, there is a lot that he has missed, and that will continue to happen. But when he is here, he makes every SECOND with those boys count. One of my most favorite parts of the day is when I'm in the kitchen fixin' supper and my boys (all three of them) are in the next room wresting or playing some sort of "tag - you're it" game. The squeals of laughter just melt my heart. I thank God everyday for my wonderful family.

I hope you are all having a great week so far. We have been enjoying the hot sunny days of summer and spending a lot of time at the pool and playing in the sprinklers (or sprinkles as my little one says). There is just something about running through sprinklers that defines summer.


If I can figure out A. how to get video off my phone to my computer, and B. how to post it on here I'll post some footage of my big kid swimming. He is a full fledged swimmer now - the kid even went off the high dive!! Alright, I really do have to wrap this up! Until next time...later gators.

Chocolate, cleaning and cookies

We have orders to CT - it's official! Not that there was any doubt, but still, it makes it "real" for us military folks.

Things are on a roll and now we are in "moving" mode. I don't know that I've wrapped my head around all of it just yet, but I'm excited about our next step, so I think that's a good thing! We have our papers in for the movers, and all our housing stuff is done - so those are two big checks off the old "to-do" list.

Yesterday and today we spent a good chunk of time in our basement, we don't even have that much stuff down there, but just looking through what to keep, toss, etc. We are also trying to arrange what down there is going into storage while we are in CT and what will be making it to the new house. We had BAGS of stuff to toss. It's amazing what you think you "might need" later, then realize that in two years you haven't looked or thought about it, so it can probably go. As a reward to my dear hubby who worked very hard this weekend, I made his favorite, chocolate chip cookies (a new recipe for me) and they were AMAZING!! But hold that thought, we will get back to the cookies!

Needless to say, we will be going through this house room by room repeating the same process, so that's a glimpse of my life for a little while :). But on the up-side, it always feels so good to do a big "clean out".

As for after our stay in CT, well hubby finally decided on his top pics, and he sent in all his info to his detailer on Friday. That being said, the jobs can and most likely will change, and we won't know for certain (meaning actual orders in hand) where we are going until after the new year. He will get verbal orders before that, but those are not the "real" thing and are subject to change. (I know you Navy folks know all this, but for you non-Navy folks...). His top choices take us anywhere from CT to Hawaii and in-between. His first choice would be to be on the USS Jimmy Carter out of Washington State, then after that the USS Missouri that is currently in Groton, CT, but will be moving to Hawaii. So we would just be in Groton a little longer, then when it was time for the boat to go, head over to Hawaii. He made sure to check on the timing, and will would be good to go for a home-port change (for all of us). After that I really didn't pay much attention, I know there were two more in Hawaii that were near the top, and a couple in Groton, and one in Virginia. So...we shall see...eventually!

So, in CELEBRATION of our next step, and as I said above, just to do something nice for my sweetie, I made some chocolate chip cookies. I had a recipe I wanted to try out, and am really glad I did, because these are better than my old "go to". They are from the cookbook "Passion for Baking" that was given to me by my sweet friend Sam not too long ago (waving to Guam), and I have been baking things from it left and right, and have yet to find something that wasn't amazing, and these are no exception. They are buttery, tender, and just melt when you take a bite...

Who needs the oven...I'll just take a spoon...

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 cups AP flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

To make:
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper, and preheat oven to 350F
- Cream together butter and sugars until very smooth, about three minutes
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix well
- Add in the flour, baking soda and salt and mix to combine
- Stir in chocolate chips
- spoon onto baking sheet and cook, 8-10 min for small cookies, 10-12 for large
- enjoy still warm with a tall glass of milk :)

Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and I'll be back soon :).

Back in business!

Haha - we have internet again, and it's ALL OURS!!! No trying to surf the web on my phone (although it is quite good at that) or taking the laptop to various locations to hook up with some wifi - no we are back to the land of technology here! Well almost...we don't have our home phone hooked up yet, or the cable upgrade, but those are coming tomorrow. :) Hooray!

So, I know it's been forever - there is so much going on I hardly know where to start!! Matt did his triathlon a few weeks ago. We had a great time cheering him on, and we were gone about 4 days so it was also a nice little mini-vacation. Also, my mom, dad and sister came as well, so it was great to be together as a family. We all had a lot of fun. My in-laws came to town over Memorial Day weekend, and that was nice as well. We had a bunch of friends over for a crawfish boil and it was a big hit!! I'll have to post pictures of that soon.

I have been baking up a storm here recently, so it's hard to pick one thing to post on my first post back, but I'm going to have to go with the sugar cookies that I made for big kids graduation reception. You probably remember (or maybe you don't but that's okay) that I was hired by his school to cater the cookies for the reception after the ceremony.

For about three days I lived, ate, and a few time almost slept in my kitchen. The order was for 350 cookies...that's a lot of cookies y'all.

The baking went really fast actually, but then I got to the "outlining" part and thought maybe I didn't charge enough after all - haha. It took FOREVER. And as you will see, every surface in my kitchen was at one point covered in butterflies!!

Not only did this part take forever, my hand was so cramped at the end of the night it hurt to straighten my fingers!!

But then the filling in wasn't so bad either, so overall it was a very fun, and positive experience, and they got lots of compliments.


Here are a few pics of my big kid at graduation. I can't believe next year he will be in "real" school - crazy!

And here are some of the many cookies out and ready to be gobbled up!

So, there you have it - a quick sum up of three days of my life! :) In other news, we are moving in just over two months...YIKES!! We still have nothing set up because we don't have orders yet...but who really needs those right!?!? Hehe, kidding - we've been told they are "on the way" so hopefully soon. The hubs also got his slate (list of jobs that will probably be available for his next tour) and while I know it changes and nothing is final, it's nice to see where some of the options are. He is changing his mind daily on the order of his list, so really I couldn't even venture a guess as to what our top choices are. It will be awhile (and I mean many months for you non-navy people) before we know anything for certain, but I'll keep you posted! :)

OKay, well this is getting really long. So with that I'm going to wrap up for today and promise to be back soon with some more updates!

PS the sugar cookies/icing recipe I used is the same that I posted before back with the baby shower post.

It's Here!!!

Farmer's Market season that is! I LOVE going to the farmer's market and getting all my goodies for the week. This weekend we got some awesome asparagus, and rhubarb. I also got my herbs for the summer and a few other goodies as well. My "perfect" Saturday morning starts with an early (but not TOO early) morning run, home for a shower and coffee, then me and my boys load up and go to the market and grab a bite while we're out. Ahhhhh.... Of course it doesn't ALWAYS happen like that. There are many times, because that's the way life is, that some or all of those events don't happen...but in my perfect world, they always do. Here are a few pictures from this weekend's outing.

my three guys

Off and running

So, this was my first time to purchase or use rhubarb, and I have to say I am a fan. I got a ton of strawberries on sale so I made a strawberry rhubarb crisp.


It was delicious. The filling was a little runny, probably due to the fact there was no thickening agent in it, just sugar and the fruit, so next time I think I'll try a different recipe, but it was still super wonderful. I didn't follow the recipe for the topping though, I did my own.

ready to be baked

This was the perfect dessert to go with the hubs smoked brisket he made for Saturday night's dinner. And of course you can't have any kind of crisp without the addition of some vanilla ice cream. It would be better if it were homemade vanilla, but I don't have an ice cream maker, and won't let myself buy one because then I would probably make (and therefore eat) ice cream all day long every day! So here it is: my first ever rhubarb endeavor, and a wonderful way to welcome in the farmer's market season!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Adapted from HERE

Ingredients:

5 cups strawberries, washed, dried and sliced
2 cups rhubarb, washed, dried and sliced
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal (old-fashioned, not quick-cooking)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the strawberries, rhubarb, and sugars. Spread the fruit in the bottom of a 9 x 12-inch baking dish.

Combine remaining ingredients in food processor and process until you get nice crumbles. Distribute crumbs evenly over fruit. Bake in preheated oven for 30 min. Let cool slightly then serve up with vanilla ice cream (or flavor of your liking). Enjoy :)

Cupcakes Galore

Hello kids! What have you all been up to?? I have been baking up a storm here recently, although I don't have too many pictures of my creations. No good reason for that, just laziness on my part - but I do have a little treat for you all today.

Last weekend we went to a pig roast, which was a lot of fun. Our neighbors have one every Spring, and this year I think they out-did themselves. The boys played non-stop for HOURS and actually were asking to go home before 9PM because they were so worn out. It was a fun night for all. And you can't beat a party that you can walk home from...it just doesn't get any better than that!

For my food contribution I made two different kinds of cupcakes. Cherry Chocolate and the much raved about "Carbomb" cupcake. Honestly I have to say the cherry variety was my favorite, but everyone else seemed to LOVE the "adult" variety. Although I do have to say that I could have ate the whole batch of Bailey's butter-cream frosting all by myself - no cupcake needed. Of course I probably would have landed myself into some sugar induced coma and then missed out on all the fun, but that stuff is so good it might have been worth it. ;)

For the cherry chocolate I just used a chocolate cupcake, filled it with butter-cream, then frosted the top with a cherry butter-cream icing and topped with a cherry. I also added in some chopped cherries into the cake batter. YUM! I have to say I think they turned out so cute!

Filled and waiting for their toppers

Adorable AND Tasty

The Carbomb cupcake recipe can be found here. I followed the recipe exactly - with the exception that I left out the alcohol in the ganache filling. Overall I was happy with how they turned out, and was glad that everyone seemed to enjoy them.

All "dressed up" and ready to go to the party

So, that was our big event last weekend. This weekend we have NOTHING "planned" and I am actually almost just as excited about that. We're going to the farmer's market tomorrow, so I'm hoping to pick up some goodies to do some baking Sunday. I LOVE the farmer's market and am so glad it's that time of year again. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and I'll be back soon (I hope) with more yummy goodness.

April Showers

Okay, so here's my corny joke...if April showers bring May flowers, what do may flowers bring??

Give up??

Pilgrims... Ha Ha! Okay, I told you it was corny, but my big kid loves that joke.

We have had some rain the past few days, and yesterday woke up to a pretty rainy morning. The boys (well really just my big kid) actually requested something OTHER than cereal so I took the opportunity to try a pancake recipe that I've been wanting to make for awhile now. Because what is better on a rainy morning than a big old stack of pancakes??


They turned out FABULOUS and are now my most favorite "go to" pancakes. They are fluffy, sweet but not TOO sweet, with a hint of butter - YUM! Of course I could have ate the whole batch, but I had to settle for a bite of the munchkins stack. The boys and the husband also gave these a double thumbs up. And, one of my favorite things about this recipe, is it doesn't require any ingredients that I don't usually have on hand. Don't get me wrong, I love me some buttermilk pancakes, but I don't always have a carton of the buttery goodness on hand.

So, if you're looking for a good go to pancake recipe, might I suggest the following:

Fabulous Pancakes

recipe adapted by me from HERE

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream (or just use all milk)
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

Heat a griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot. Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee - or a nice tall glass of milk.

So, what else have I been doing other than making rainy day pancakes?? Not much actually - although I feel like I've been really busy, it's just normal day to day ins and outs. The school year is almost over, and we are looking forward to the summer and all the fun it brings. I've been baking up a storm, which means the guys that work with my sweet husband have been enjoying lots of goodies. Today I sent in a batch of those banana sticky buns that I posted a few months ago. I heard they were a hit! I also made some creamy lemon bars, which I will post hopefully this weekend.

That's about it for me...until next time...go make some pancakes and get your upcoming weekend started off right!!!

Feels like home

Well...tastes is more like it really, and "home" is sort of questionable seeing as how I have moved every two years or so since I turned 15, so there is more than one place that I call "home". But in this case we are going with "home" as in Georgia - where most of my family and my husbands family is, and where we just came from. (Okay - "just" is also stretching it - but go with me here.)

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

Brunswick stew became a favorite of mine when we lived in south GA. There were some great BBQ places there that served up some amazing Brunswick stew. So, I was really excited when I read about this challenge a few weeks ago.

Ready to get things started

We were given two recipes to choose from, a long one and a short one. I picked the long one, and actually made it even longer by letting it cook in the crock-pot all day. There was a mishap along the way, but nothing too terrible. I was taking this photo of my progress and realized something...

I had added in the onion and carrot before I was supposed to. The stew turned out fine, the veggies were just a little softer than they would have been had I put them in at the end. When it came time to serve it up I had to get a picture of the "spoon sticking up" in the pot - SUCCESS I must have done it right!

I made a few changes - in addition to the crushed tomatoes, I added in some tomato paste because I like my stew with more tomato flavor. I also added in some smokey BBQ sauce because the stew I am used to is made with smoked BBQ and seeing as how I don't have a smoker, I figured this would be the next best option. It worked and tasted wonderful! I also only made 1/2 the recipe, and it was MORE than enough for my little family, in-fact we froze about 1/2 of it and are having it for dinner again tonight!

served up and ready to dig in

So if you're looking for a great stew recipe, I highly recommend this one! Thanks Wolf for a great challenge! You can find the recipe for both the long and short version HERE.

cookies by Kel??

So, remember a few posts ago when I was raving about those delicious sugar cookies that I made for the baby shower?? Well...it seems that I am not the only one that thinks they are wonderful. I made another batch last week for little Easter gifts and to go to my friend that has now HAD the baby that we had the shower for. I sent these cute little baggies off with the big kid to give to his teachers as well.

Well (big dramatic voice) yesterday when I dropped big kid off at school his teacher told me how wonderful they were then asked me if I would be willing to make cookies for the graduation party in May for the whole preschool!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?! They are going to hire me to BAKE - and apparently are even going to pay me to do it!? I about jumped out of the car with giddiness over this - but figured that would hold up the drop off line so I contained myself.

I don't know any details yet, but I'm guessing it will be about 200-300 cookies. She did tell me they want butterflies, so that will be fun when decorating time comes. I'm just so excited, I had to share!!

Things here are going well. We found out that we are definitely here until mid-August, the owners of our house approved our lease extension, so that is a HUGE blessing! It's nice not to have that hanging over our heads. And while we do get to stay longer, we still are only about 4 months out - which isn't THAT long. I hate to say it but the bubble is deflating rapidly... The hubs and I have sub ball this weekend, so that should be a good time. It's always nice to get dressed up and get out for a bit. Plus, I got some super cute new shoes ON SALE that I am wearing and very excited about. Yes folks...it's the little things.

Well, that's about it for me. Just wanted to leave a quick post with some updates. I have had a major itch to do some baking, so chances are you will see something from me this weekend. Happy hump day everyone!

seeing orange?

It's the end of the month, which means it's time for me to post about my Daring Bakers challenge for March - insert blog checking lines here:

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

This dessert consists of all sorts of wonderful elements, all which were made from scratch. A cookie like crust, whipped cream, marmalade and lots of yummy oranges. The most challenging for me was making the orange marmalade from scratch. I have never made any sort of jam or jelly in my life, and really had no idea what to expect. I decided to make mine a blend of oranges and strawberries in hopes that the boys would eat leftovers on sandwiches and such.

Ready to be blanched for the marmalade

Strawberries and oranges about to go for a spin in the food processor

The marmalade turned out very nice, and I have been using the leftovers on toast - yum yum. I think I need a bit more practice though because mine was a bit runny, but still firm enough to work for the dessert.

The assembly of the dessert was also a challenge, not because it was hard, but because I managed to make a complete disaster of my kitchen!! Caramel sauce ALL over my fridge, spilled drinks while cleaning up said caramel sauce, orange juice, cream...it's wasn't pretty. But I managed to get it all put together and to my astonishment, even turned out with a pretty final product. Here is a picture of my kitchen floor with all sorts of food on it that had to be pulled out of the fridge, wiped down, and then put back in after I cleaned the caramel off everything...

The finished product was well worth the mess...or at least it looks like it is. I took it out of the freezer for photographing purposes only, and now it is back in there, wrapped up nice and tight, until Sunday when I will serve it for dessert. I can honestly say I have never had, or made a dessert like this one, so I am curious as to how it will taste, but from what I hear, it's not going to disappoint.

Finally a few pictures of my finished challenge:

Straight out of the freezer on the left and on the right a view of the cross-section after I cut a piece out.

Ta-da: finished and plated with the caramel sauce