Oooohhh laaa laaa lemony cake

I'm sure everyone has this recipe but in case you missed the boat like myself until about 8 years ago, I'll share.

I love lemon flavored sweets. Pass on the chocolate, I'll take the lemon bar, lemon cake, lemon drop, lemonade, lemon, lemon, lemon...okay you get it.

How I got this recipe was walking down the baking isle and overheading a lady tell her daughter how she makes this lemon-jello cake. Of course being the nosy Nelly, I stopped and listened. Then I asked a few pertinent questions and I gathered the ingredients and you bet I made this cake.that.very.same.night.

I made this cake this weekend for friends coming in to town for an overnight visit. Here it is without pictures-but you are getting used to taking my word for it right? (Sorry the cake was eaten before the battery on the camera could fully charge).

Lemony cake

1 yellow cake box (made up and baked up according to package directions for 9 x 13" pan)
1 small package lemon flavored jello gelatin (make according to package but DO NOT REFRIGERATE)
1 small package instant lemon flavored pudding mix
1 cup milk
8 oz container cool whip (slightly thawed)

Make the cake. Cool the cake to room temperature. Pour the jello liquid all over the cake. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Mix pudding mix with milk for 2 minutes. Fold in cool whip and spread over cake. Refrigerate.

If you have time, make it the day before-the lemon jello soaks in the cake and makes it super moist. It's one of my favorite things. Have a good week all.

Running and Top Shot

One nice thing about running on a treadmill is catching up on your TV shows via hulu.com. I am almost done with season 3 of Top Shot.

Oh, you don't know about this show? It's cool. It's a reality show and it's a shooting competition. I love it.

On the whole, the men and women who've competed are ex-military. It's a pretty good show.

The show runs 43 minutes and I run for that amount of time.

What shows have you been watching that I need to tune in to?

Crockpot Roasted Chicken

This has become my favorite way to fix chicken. No fuss. No heating up your house with the oven on in the summer. Just plug the crockpot in and 5 hours later, you have the most delicous, fall-off the bone, impress-your-man chicken.

Here's what you do. Clean a whole chicken. Place in crockpot. Spread some of your favorite seasoning salt on top (we love Johnny's seasoning salt). Turn on high and in 4 1/2 to 5 hours, you have roasted chicken. Note: no extra liquid is needed.

It makes for two meals at our house. My men like the dark meat so they have this with some sort of veggies. Whatever is leftover, I make into chicken soup.

Free and Clear Shampoo

I started using a shampoo prescribed to me by my dermatologist called "Free and Clear Shampoo". The shampoo has no dyes, lanolin, fragrance, masking fragrance, protien, parabens, and formaldehyde. My head has never felt better. The shampoo does not lather as well as the amped-up shampoos but my sensitive scalp is not burn after washing with this. I've switched my entire family to this shampoo. You can order it from your pharmacy or online. It's not outrageously expensive. LOVE. IT.

I'm a blog stalker

I have been stalking this one particular blog written by a lady who is just awesome. She is just so cool. She's a WW leader, sews, a stay-at-home mom, and she has the most interesting recipes on her site. She's very inspirational. She lost 80 lbs. and has kept it off for years. LOVE HER.

I wish I enjoyed blogging as much as her or have 30 hours in a day instead of 24 hrs. Here's her site in case anyone stumbling onto my blog wants to look at what a real blog should look like: www.thewwchick.blogspot.com.

Taste of Home

I love the magazine Taste of Home. It has the most wonderful stories of regular people sharing and enjoying their experiences with cooking. No gourmet, hoity-toity flair in this magazine-just yummy recipes that are usually right on the money. Here's a recipe I made this morning for the boys and they LOVED it. Best of all, once I typed it into the Weight Watchers recipe builder, two pancakes were only 2 points (my regular pancake recipe is 3 points /pancake)!!!! I haven't had pancakes in a long time but now that I've got this recipe-I will be sure to put it into the rotation.

Applesauce Oatmeal Pancakes (Taste of Home April/May 1994)
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 cup skim milk
2 TBSP applesauce
4 egg whites

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add wet ingredients and mix. Let sit about 2 minutes. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfulls onto a heated griddle coated with nonstick cooking spray. Flip after about 1 1/2 minutes. Serve warm with syrup and leftover applesauce. 2 pancakes / serving

My lovely

I forget to mention how much I love my husband. He is my most favorite in the whole wide world. Without him, I wouldn't have the life that I love now and two little spitfire boys. How lucky am I?

Bacon

I love bacon. It not only taste good but is so versatile- many uses to liven up any dish. My boys like to eat bacon with their oatmeal that has been drizzled with maple syrup. I like mine anyway I can sneak it in with minimal impact on my thighs. There's no substitute for it-no matter how many people try to convince me turkey bacon taste the same...it doesn't. Why have bacon if you're not going have real bacon?

Being on this new way of life eating has been very interesting. The old me would devour whatever bacon would be left on the plate in addition to what I had already eaten. Now, I cut one slice in half and eat it slowling and leisurely making it last. Then, I walk away. It's 1.5 pts. I still get to eat bacon. I just don't a whole hog's worth anymore.

Kitchen-Aid Mixer

Oh how I love my Kitchen-Aid mixer, it makes me look so good with so little effort. I absolutely would be lost if it ever brokedown. I can't live without this little kitchen appliance. It's my R2-D2 sidekick but BETTER because it doesn't make obnoxious noises and I can eat what's in the bowl later.

What do I do with my super-duper mixer? I make homemade bread using the hook attachment (kneading?! never), whip up mashed potato, and make cheesecake batter. And that's just what I did today. I hate touching raw meat so when I have to mix up my ground meat for meatloaf or meatballs...all gets dumped into the mixer and I let it do the work. I even made lean ground pork using the grinder attachment.

Those that have one and using it regularly know what I'm talking about...those who have one and let it sit there-use it. Or better yet, call me I'll come over and teach you what fabulous stuff you can make with it. And those who don't have one, save up and get one. You'll never regret it.

Snow...AGAIN?!!!

Mother Nature thought we needed a little more snow and was not ready to give us spring even though the daylight savings time change occurred early. It's been snowing lightly last week and melting much to my lovely husband's disappointment. He's been itching to use his big snow blower since its arrival. Well, we got dumped on these past few days and he has had four occasions to use it. He has been giddy and skipping along while removing snow from our driveway and our neighbors. Our boys and I have gone out to play when he's been out there and I gotta say-I don't know what to do with myself now that I don't have to shovel snow. So, I've been taking pictures and standing around looking useless and chattin' it up with my neighbor while husband snow blowed. His big smile and rosy cheeks make me happy to have snow for him.

His joke used to be "How do you turn a dishwasher into a snow blower? Give her a shovel." Well, I am retired from the backbreaking snow shoveling for now and that makes me smile.

Sodium Bicarbonate a.k.a. Baking Soda

I need to sing the praises of baking soda. It has so many uses. I not only use it to bake with and make my refrigerator smell better. I add it to my washer to help give our clothes a little ooommp! if you will since I use the most mildest of detergent because my skin is so sensitive. In addition, I use baking soda to clean my baked on goo clinking to my casserole dishes whenever I bake a roast, vegetables, or lasagna. Just make a paste with a little water and elbow grease and it's bye-bye hard, crusty mess.

In this period of potty training and having two boys, I sprinkle baking soda around the bottom of my toilet and let it stand for 10 minutes. It's amazing how it wicks the hidden yellow liquid hidden underneath the toilet. EEEWWWHHH. Sweep it up and clean your floors as usual.

Every once in a while, I add a tablespoon of baking soda to my sinks and chase it down with vinegar and once the chemical reaction is complete (no more bubbling) I hit it with hot water. Preventative measure to keep my sinks from getting clogged or smelly.

If I have an upset stomach from overloading on chili paste in my food or eating too much acidic food, I add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to 1/3 cup water and drink it. Taste awful but within 10 minutes, my stomach is not upset anymore. In addition, if you rinse your mouth in this solution, your breath smells nice.

As if this ingredient isn't hard working enough, you can make a paste by mixing it with water and scrub your face with it and it helps loosens and remove blackheads. WHOO! HOO!

Lastly, this gift from God is dirt cheap. I buy a lot of baking soda-Costco size is too small, that's how much I buy.

SAF Instant yeast

Oprah Winfrey has a TV talk show that features called "Oprah's favorite things". She gives away these chosen favorite things to her audience. I can barely watch it because I've always wanted to be in the audience on that particular day. But where this is going is it got me thinking about all of my favorite things that make my life great and I'd like to share it.

As I was making a batch of cinnamon rolls this morning, I was reminded how far I have come in the area of yeast baked goods. When I was starting out in my twenties, I could not get the yeast package work properly enough to get my dough to rise and therefore any rolls, bread, or pizza dough I made tasted like hard rubber. I wanted the light, airy, soft, and chewy texture I loved biting into. After finishing college, I went to work for a local Pacific Northwest dry mix baked goods company and was introduced to a product called SAF instant yeast. Not to be mistaken with the active dry yeast sold in little packets where you add warm water and sugar, then wait while the yeast start the fermentation process before you can even add it to your dry ingredients. On the other hand, instant yeast does not require any coddling or worry prior to making the dough-it's nearly foolproof. You just add it to your dry ingredients and when you add water and mix, the yeast goes to work...instantly producing a dough that rises and voila you are on your way to making cinnamon rolls that would make Cinnabon shareholders nervous.

This favorite ingredient has taken away the guess work and fear that many of us have of baking yeast-leavened products. So, look for it in your supermarket and if they don't have it-keep looking it's worth it. It usually comes in a vacuum sealed bag at room temperature. Once opened, put the bag inside a ziplock bag and store it in the freezer. Here is the substitution for your recipes: for every 3 to 3 1/2 cups of flour, add 1 tsp instant yeast. There you go-have at it, you're going to love it.

Happy baking!!!!