Sunday, March 29, 2009

Fruits of Labor


With the price of herbs and veggies these days why not grow your own! Matt and I have decided to grow tomatoes, rosemary, basil, strawberries, and cilantro. I hope out of that list at least one thing grows. I haven't had much luck with gardening (I tried to grow a hydrangea last year and let's just say it didn't make it). We bought this thing to assist with our tomatoes called Topsy Turvy. It just hangs the plant upside down and gives you more, faster growing tomatoes. Pretty cool!

Carrot Cake!



One the best things about Easter coming up is carrot cake! I love it but have never made it until this weekend. I read some recipes online and then tweaked it to my own personal taste. I always try to cook/ bake lowfat so I always take out vegetable oil whenever I can and always use less sugar if I can. So here was what I came up with:

Cake
4 eggs
3/4 cup of canola oil
1/2 unsweetened applesauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 4oz of pineapple (no juice!) *add more if you like "chunkier" cake
3 cups largely grated carrots
1/2 cup of pecans *add more if you love nuts....also I bet walnuts would work nicely too
1/4 tsp of nutmeg

Icing
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter softened
8 oz cream cheese (lowfat works fine) softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powder sugar

Bake at 350 for 35 - 40 min for two 9" round pans

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and flour pans.
2. Beat together all your wet ingredients. Mix all your dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to your wet mixture. Mix in carrots and then fold in pineapple and pecans. Pour into pans and your good to go! Let cool on wire rack before icing.
3. Frosting: Beat ingredients together until creamy and smooth. Add pecans or even coconut to decorate. Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Amanda's Bachelorette Weekend!

My Big Sis is tying the knot this May so we took her to Hilton Head for her Bachelorette. We went to their annual Wine Fest and had a blast. That Saturday happened to be her 27th bday as well so it was so much fun at dinner to have a cake with all her girlfriends around. Our family friend, Hillary, came down for it and entertained us all weekend. Good Times!

Sisters


So this is my first blog. Yay! I have been thinking about starting for a while and have finally taken the plunge. To tell a little bit about myself is that I grew up in Simpsonville, SC from a family of four girls and now live in Charlotte with my husband Matt. I am so lucky to have 3 sisters who I adore. I can't imagine life without them! Sappy but true! I came across this old photo of the day Charlea (the baby who is almost 21 now) came home from the hospital. Cute!

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About Me

Charlotte, North Carolina
I am a 25 year old newlywed just trying to figure out my crazy life!