Thank me now and curse me later

One Sunday a month, my husband's family gets together to celebrate that month's birthdays. With Grandma, Grandpa, aunts, uncles and cousins, we end up with quite a crowd. Last Sunday, we threw the 4th of July into the mix. Our contribution to the party was a fantastic carrot cake. Back in 2005, I found this recipe in InStyle magazine. Everytime I make it I am completely taken aback by how delicious it is. In fact, it is so good that I can only make it once or twice a year. It's the kind of cake you just can't stop picking at. On Sunday, as we cleaned up the kitchen, everyone seemed to keep coming back to take "one last bite."

Because I keep losing the recipe, I'm posting it here so I can always find it. Hope someone out there enjoys it too. (Sorry there's no picture, but by the time I thought about it there was nothing left but crumbs and frosting smears.)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
4 cups grated carrots
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 pkg. (8oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 pkg. (3oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8” cake pans. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into medium bowl. In large bowl beat together sugar, oil and eggs with electric beater on medium, until well blended. Beat flour mixture into egg mixture until just blended. Stir in carrots and coconut (this seems too dry and impossible first, but the more you mix, the more the moisture in the carrots helps the blending and mixing). Evenly divide batter into prepared pans. Bake in heated oven 40-45 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pans on wire rack. In medium bowl beat cream cheese and butter until blended with electric beater on medium. Add confectioner’s sugar; beat until mixture is smooth. Add vanilla. Place one cake layer on serving platter. Spread with about ¾ cup frosting. Place second layer on top. Spread top with remaining frosting.

Weekend Edification

This weekend, Meridian School is partnering with the fabulous folks at Pizzeria 712/Communal, to host a film screening and panel discussion about food. (One of my favorite and least favorites topics.) Local chefs and farmers will be there to talk about the nutritionally & environmentally responsible options we have right here in Utah. If you are local, want to come watch a free movie, and hear passionate people talk about what they love, you should stop by.

Go here

or here

for more information. See you there!

Saturday, May 15th, 1-4 p.m.

Meridian School

280 S. 400 E.

Orem UT

Happy Earth Day!

On Monday, our family sat around the dinner table discussing things that we could each do this week to help the earth. With a 9, 5 and 3 year old, we have lots of willing helpers and eager reminders. Here's the list of things we decided we could do this week.

Dad -- drive his scooter to work, instead of the car. Uses much less gas. Good for the planet and the wallet.

Mom -- remember to actually use all the reusable bags at the grocery store, buy an "eco" dish-soap, walk to school & back 1 time instead of driving, and turn off the temperature control in the house. (Confessions: the walk back and forth to school is a little under 2 miles each way, and there is a really big hill on the way. If it was just me, I might do it more often, but with a stroller and 2 grumpy kids, it's a LONG walk. AND, I turned the heat on this morning. It was snowing and really cold inside. So sue me.)

9 -- be in charge of making sure all the lights are off in rooms that are unoccupied.

5 -- be "The Recycler." (Must be said in "super-hero" voice.) He's been learning about all the things that can be recycled, and even helped Dad take out the big blue recycling can last night.

3 -- make sure the water is turned off after brushing teeth. Can't tell you how many times I find the water running after she brushes her teeth. But not this week.

Tonight, we are going to watch The Story of Stuff and eat leftovers in celebration of Earth Day.

Peace out from Nadia, aka green hippie-chick.

Another post about food

I have loved Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef, for years. How can you not love a guy who calls himself the naked chef, seriously?



Anyway, a few months ago, my husband told me about how Jamie Oliver won the TED prize this year. (My husband is a TED addict, strange but true.) We sat in front of the laptop and watched Jamie's passionate plea for the health of America's children. It was mesmerizing. That's when I first heard about Jamie's new show here in the US, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," and signed his petition supporting getting better food into schools and keeping cooking skills alive. How could I object? You could sign it too...

I've really been enjoying my Friday nights over the past few weeks, watching Jamie's show with my kids. It's made them think a little differently about food, and the importance of eating "stuff that's good for you." It's even made them a little more adventurous. (Baby steps.)

So, if you're like me and don't have much to do on a Friday night, head on over to ABC and watch a little Jamie Oliver. If nothing else, his accent is awesome and he has great phrases that you can substitute for your typical American cuss words.

Spring Cleaning

There is always something about Spring that makes me want to clean up, clear out and start fresh. It doesn't last long, but while the feeling is in the air, I plan to take advantage of it.

I'll admit that I'm not much of a homemaker. I don't glory in clean toilets, or feel the need to be able to eat off my kitchen floor. I have to give myself small, focused tasks, and hopefully the sum of those tasks will equal a home that is more orderly, organized and pleasant to be in.

My current mini-task is one kitchen drawer. It's the draw that holds all of our kitchen tools. Not the utensils or small appliances, but all the other stuff; peelers, spoons, spatulas, garlic presses, zesters and so forth. Over our marriage, we have amassed quite a collection. My husband and I always end up getting strange little kitchen do-dads for each other's Christmas stockings each year. The drawer had gotten so full that getting it to close was nearly impossible. But, getting rid of anything seems almost impossible too. I need this stuff.

So, here's how I am tackling my over-abundance of kitchen gadgetry. I emptied the entire drawer into a box. Then, I panicked and put the measuring cups and spoons, can opener, peeler, pizza slicer and ice cream scooper back in the drawer.

Everything else remains in the box. Anything that is taken out of the box to be used during the month of April will go back in the drawer. On May 1st, the box and any of it's remaining items will be taken to DI.

Now, off I go to make a meal plan that will require me to use all my stuff.

Bullet Post

- It's spring, which means that it's birthday time in our house. We've celebrated two of the three kids birthdays in the last 2 weeks. You know you have birthdays that are close together when you end up throwing away half a birthday cake because everyone is tired of cake. Must remember to post birthday pics and such on the other blog.

- When parents get sick, dad always ends up being the sicker of the two. Never-mind that mom had to clean the house, do mountains of laundry, host a birthday party, teach primary music, and care for a sick three-year old of the most unpleasant kind, all whilst suffering from a sore throat that made eating, speaking and yawning unbearable, running a low-grade fever, and being so exhausted that sitting on the couch immediately led to snoring. No, now that dad is sick, mom's complaints from the last week are paltry compared to the raging fever, bone-wracking chills, and puss encrusted throat that dad is suffering from. Hmph.

- Laundry is a thankless task. Especially now that everyone is potty-trained and changing their own clothes, multiple times a day. (Someone please tell me why, once a child is potty trained, they feel the need to change their pants 6 times a day, even when they are perfectly clean?) Also, now that soccer season is upon us, the coach has twice as much laundry each day. All that being said, laundry has two great perks. (Don't tell my family.)

1. Everyone else hates to do laundry, so they leave me alone as I sort, load, fold and put away. Blissful time, all by myself.
2. I claim all treasures I find in the laundry as my own. I can do whatever I want with them. That means all toys, drawings, rocks, paperclips and other such treasures get dumped in the trash. And, all money found in mine. Look at how I cleaned up this week.

$4.12, a hair clip, a tiny key, a pistachio shell (can't figure that one out since we haven't had pistachios in the house since NY), a stack of business cards (anyone want to send their kids to a great little independent school, just call my husband) and a paperclip. Awesome.

- There's nothing like a good romance novel (or 6) to keep stress at bay. Well, that and diet coke. We have a big chair in our master bedroom, next to a sunny window. There's nothing that makes a day seem a little brighter than 20 minutes in that chair with a frosty cold diet coke, a blanket on my lap, and a little romance between a viscount and a governess (for example.)

- I'm thinking of planting a small garden this Spring. Our ward has a garden, and we have a small plot reserved for our use. The kids are jazzed about digging in the dirt and watching things grow, but I'm wondering if planting a garden, with just their help, is a little more than I can handle. As a total gardening novice, will I only end up spending money and time on a piece of dirt that will give forth... nothing? Looking for gardening tips of the most basic variety.

That's just the way it is

When you get all jazzed up and start feeling cocky about having your youngest child potty-trained, well, just beware. That's the day when your soon-to-be 5 year old will sneak into your bed in the middle of the night, and empty his bladder. Unpleasant, to say the least.

There's nothing like kids to take you down a notch. Off to put the clean sheets on my bed!