Homemade "Slow Cook" Chocolate Cake

I just made my first non-boxed cake. Ever. Mixing eggs and oil into a $1 boxed cake is just too easy, but I will tell you, I'm never buying another chocolate cake mix again.

This recipe is that good.

By the way, this is a slow-cook cake, not a slow-cooker/crockpot cake. It bakes at 300° for an hour. Two words: super. moist.



2 Cups Flour

2 Cups Sugar

¾ Cup Hershey's Cocoa

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Buttermilk*

1 Cup Oil

1½ Teaspoons Vanilla

1 Cup Boiling Water

* If you don't have buttermilk, add 1T. white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and let it sit for 5 minutes before adding it to the mixture.

1. Preheat to 300°.
2. Mix all the ingredients into mixing bowl.
3. Mix at medium speed until all ingredients are blended and smooth.
4. Pour into greased and floured baking dish
5. Bake 1 hour, 50 minutes if you bake on convention.
6. Cool completely before frosting.

For a light, fluffy white frosting, whip together with an electric mixer:
1/2 cup softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites

I got this chocolate frosting recipe from Tammy's Kitchen:

1 cup butter, softened (NOT melted)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer. Gradually beat in the vanilla, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. Beat in enough milk to achieve a spreadable consistency.  Spread frosting on cake right after making the frosting. If you wait too long to spread the frosting, it will lose some of it's light airy fluffiness when you spread it.

Q&A Wednesday - Are Frequent Shopper Programs Worth It???

Kendra asked, "Just wondering if you do any of the frequent shopper reward thingy's at Walgreens or CVS. I've been meaning to try one or both of them but I honestly don't know much about either, especially if they'd be worth it. I'm thinking with 2 little girls it would be good to figure out how to lessen the expense of health/beauty products!"

Yes, I play the "CVS Game" and we save good money on diapers, groceries and tons of toiletries. I get most of the items I "buy" for free or really, really cheap. For instance, I haven't paid more than $3 for a package of diapers since I began shopping at CVS. If you play their "game," you can save big money. I also get paid $1 back after most toothpaste purchases. They basically pay me to leave their store with my toothpaste. And it's all legit.

However, I am not a fan of Walgreens because they have many more rules than CVS. For example, you can stack manufacturer and store coupons, but you can't use more coupons than you have items, so if you have 8 coupons and 7 items, you have to buy a pack of gum or something or their computer won't complete your transaction. Also, coupons can't exceed the amount of an item's price (even if the price is $.99 and the coupon is for $1 off) and my biggest frustration is that you can't use their Register Rewards to purchase an item that will give you more Register Rewards. Not to mention that their stock of sale items is pitiful. I leave there annoyed 100% of the time.

The first thing you need to do is head over to Money Saving Mom's blog and read up on her posts for CVS 101 and Walgreens 101. She lays it all out there and I couldn't explain it better if I tried. If you have both stores nearby, my suggestion is to start with CVS first.

Money Saving Mom and The Good Deal Gal are my go-to blogs to find out the deals at CVS every week. They tell me the best deals and often link up to printable coupons for items that are already on sale, giving the out of pocket cost and the potentially free or even free plus overage items.

The frequent shopper deals at CVS and Walgreens are not a scam, but they are absolutely a way to get you into their store to develop loyalty for their big money maker: prescriptions. It's a smart ploy, really, except for people like me who rarely, rarely have prescription needs. And when I do, both stores often have coupons that give you a $25 store credit for filling your prescription there. Not a bad deal if you have a co-pay insurance plan, but beware if you pay out of pocket, like I do. Costco, Target and Walmart have the same prescriptions for much less than CVS and Walgreens. Years ago, I was naive enough to think that they each priced their drugs similarly. Um, no. They don't.

Anyway, give CVS a try. I keep my Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) with my cash in my wallet so I never lose them. And I've only run into one CVS location that cares about the expiration date on ECBs; most gladly accept expired ECBs.

My biggest tip is to shop early for their deals. They don't restock their shelves as often as grocery stores, but they DO offer rain checks if they're out and they WILL give you the ECBs on your next visit when you make your purchase.

Expect to spend a little time scoping out the deals for a few weeks until you're good at the game. It didn't take long for it to become second nature for me. I don't shop there every week, and sometimes I'll go a few months without stepping foot inside CVS, but I'm a loyal fan of their system. I've saved a ton of money there.

Best of luck!!!

Ready to Unplug?

Yesterday, I received a text from a friend that said, " Friends and Family: As of today, we are kicking off new boundaries. After 3pm, I will not be reachable unless you call the house. I won't check my {cell/mobile} phone until after the kids are in bed. Please call me if it's urgent...I don't want to be unavailable to you. I hope you understand our attempt at being less distracted parents. XOXO"

How inspirational is that? I am so on board with unplugging from 3-7pm every night. For me, I'd also like to commit to staying away from the computer, since "quickly checking the dinner recipe" often turns into 35 minutes worth of detours through my email and all over the Internet. Between homework followed by "the witching hour" followed by preparing, eating and cleaning up dinner, then baths and bedtime, who needs additional distractions?

I'm starting to realize that the phone is no longer my friend. In the past year, I've gotten to the point where I roll my eyes and even groan when the phone rings. After the 2nd call of the day, I'm sick of hearing it ring.

Don't get me wrong, I love talking to my friends and family on the phone, but that's part of the problem. I get lost in the phone calls and before I know it, 30 minutes have passed, the kids have been ignored or have gotten into trouble for interrupting, and I'm behind on the 10 tasks I was doing before answering the phone.

How often does your phone ring? How often do you hear the text indicator on your cell phone? Do you feel obligated to answer the ring and check the text? Or chat with the caller and respond to the text? Or worse, do you have the ability to get email, Facebook or Twitter on your phone??? I can't imagine how often my phone would beep if I had Internet access on my cell!

Before cell phones, I tend to assume we weren't as busy. For those of you in your 30s and beyond, think back to the 80s for a minute...are you picturing feathered hair, heavy make up and double socks of different colors? Good. You're there.

No one had cell phones; if we were out and needed to talk so someone, we waited until we got home or if it was really important, we found a payphone.

Call waiting was new; sometimes we'd dial a number only to hear a busy signal and we had to try again later.

If the phone rang during dinner, our parents wouldn't let us answer it and we didn't even have Caller ID to see who had called. (*gasp!*)

As a teenager, we had to wait our turn to call our friends because there was one line in the house for everyone to share.

If our parent's boss called the house after 5pm, it was urgent, like informing them that the office had burned down. Now employers can text after hours to ask one more quick question about a project. No one seems to have any patience anymore. Nothing can wait until later.

I completely agree that cell phones are convenient and save tons of time. Almost every week, I receive texts from neighbors asking if I need anything from Costco, Super Walmart or Sprouts...today it was Home Depot. And I send the same texts to them. I'll often respond with something like, "Yes, toilet paper and 1% milk - thanks!" and I'm able to hold off going to the store for a few days. Seriously convenient.

But at what point is enough enough? When we feel the need to chat with friends or text throughout the day and it interferes with the attention we give our kids, what message are we sending???

One friend of mine (who works full time outside the home) turns off her phone as soon as she pulls into the garage and it stays off until morning. She has a baby girl that she doesn't get to see all day and she refuses to allow others to intrude upon those precious few hours with her husband and daughter.

Along these same lines, I know another family who has a house rule that at 8pm, all cell phones are turned off and plugged into their chargers. The teens aren't allowed to talk and text throughout the night and the parents are more engaged in helping with homework and kissing everyone good-night. I love that rule.

Your boundaries are going to be different than my boundaries, but my hope is that you will read this post and realize that you have to set some limits. Don't allow the convenience of technology to compromise your priorities. Learn to say, "no," more often in order to put your family first. For a short time each day, vow to ignore the ringing phone and turn off the cell so you're not tempted to peek at the texts.

Are you will to challenge yourself? What limits are you going to set?

Meal Plan 9/13/10

I haven't meal planned all summer. The 4:30 "What am I going to make for dinner?!??" drama ends today...I just can't handle it any more!

Breakfast
Whole Grain Waffles
Oatmeal
Cereal

Lunch
Turkey sandwiches or PB&J with pretzels, cheese sticks and apple slices
Salad for me

Dinner
Monday - Bowties with Broccoli & Sausage and Whole Wheat French Bread Rolls
Tuesday - Taco Salad
Wednesday - Crock Pot Chicken Burritos
Thursday - Crust-less Quiche with spinach and mushrooms
Friday - White Bean Ravioli in a Balsalmic Brown Butter Sauce
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Mike's dad's birthday: burgers on the grill, corn on the cob and baked potatoes

Dessert
Peach Crisp
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

(The fall decor in my house is affecting me. Must...bake...)

The BEST Crisp Topping Recipe

Whether you like apples, peaches or something with berries in it, this recipe is a great topping for any kind of fruit crisp. Actually, a friend recently tried this on top of blueberry muffins and it turned out delicious. I sprinkle this over plain fruit, but you could add sugar or whatever you want to the fruit before adding the topping.

(A quick tip about peeling peaches: Cut a shallow X into the bottom of your peaches, put them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then remove them into an ice bath. The skin will loosen from the flesh and peel easily.)

(A quick tip about peeling apples: Buy an apple/corer/peeler/slicer. Or put it on your Christmas wish list. But seriously, you need to get one...it's one of my favorite tools.)

Crisp Topping
1 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
1/2 cup walnuts

Combine above ingredients in a bowl, then cut in 1/4 cup butter. Sprinkle over fruit in a 9x13 inch pan. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 35 minutes.



Mike always smears his with ice cream, but I like mine plain. Then again, for him, the crisp is more of an accent to the ice cream than the other way around...

Bed-Wetting Issues

In a comment from the post about protein in Ryan's urine, someone anonymously asked, "How's Ryan doing? He has been in my prayers since you posted this, and I'd love an update."

First of all, THANK YOU for praying for him. That was so encouraging to hear and put a huge smile on my face. Bless you, Ms. Anonymous!

After that post, we went back to the doctor the next day with a urine sample (that Ryan did NOT dump back into the toilet) and all was clear. No protein. Weird, huh? They said that's why they wanted to re-test it with the first pee of the day. It was just a fluke and we are completely relieved.

This whole thing started when I mentioned at Ryan's 6 year well check that he's started having night time accidents again. I think it was only once or twice a week, but couldn't be sure because Ryan had found a package of Pull Ups and had started wearing them again so he wouldn't wake up in wet sheets at midnight.

Ryan has had (seemingly) random issues with bed-wetting forever. It never really concerned me because he has not one, but two friends who are almost a year older than him who still wear Pull Ups at night. I used them as my gauge. When he was four and they were five, even though Kaylin was two and 100% potty trained, it was helpful to know the friends were still peeing at night, just like Ryan. Then he was five and they were six, now he is six and they are seven.

Last summer, my psychologist aunt in KC suggested that I take Ryan out of Pull Ups at night and wake him up to go to the bathroom when I got up (I was pregnant and getting up multiple times). It worked for months, and I continued waking him at night after Jason was born because I was awake nursing him, anyway.

We eventually got to the point where we could wake Ryan just before we went to bed around 10pm and he would stay dry until morning. Most of those nights, we were dragging a sleep-walking five year old into the bathroom and trying to convince him to stand by the toilet and relax. Sometimes, he would lay down next to the toilet and fall back to sleep, other times he would go to the bathroom easily, but occasionally, he'd stand there and cry hysterically, half-asleep and completely disoriented. And on those nights, I'd put him back to bed without fighting him to go to the bathroom.

I can't remember when I stopped the 10pm bathroom break. Sometime in the spring, maybe? I think he had huge tantrums 2-3 nights in a row and I threw in the towel, only to find him dry the following mornings.

But this summer, the accidents started up again. It took me a few weeks to see a pattern, but I realized that the nights he had accidents were nights he had basketball practice or after we'd swam all day. (I figured out he was so tired and slept so hard that he didn't get up to take himself to the bathroom.)

So when I mentioned all of this to our new pediatrician (before she tested his urine and found protein in it that first time), she made a few suggestions.

First, she recommended that I get rid of the Pull Ups. I have to admit that if I were wearing a diaper and had to pee at 2am, I might just let loose and fall back to sleep, too!

Second, she said to make him drink a full glass of water with breakfast, making sure he's hydrated early in the day instead of needing lots of liquids at the end of the day. Also, she suggested sending him to school with a water bottle to keep at his desk to hydrate throughout the day, which we already do because in Arizona, you need a water bottle with you at all times. Because "it's a dry heat." (If you've never been to Phoenix, you might not get that...)

Third, she gave the standard suggestion of cutting off liquids after X o'clock. For us, since Ryan goes to bed at 7:00, she said he could have a small, four ounce cup of water at dinner, then nothing else to drink for the rest of the night. This has been very difficult in the past, but I think following rule #2 and hydrating him first thing every day would help.

Last, she told me to do a "double void" at nighttime. (Apparently a "void" is when you empty your bladder.) She said to have him go potty before stories and prayers, then again as the VERY last thing before he gets in bed. I guess most kids rush through going potty the first time, too excited for stories, and they don't completely empty their bladder. She said to ideally space the two "voids" 15 minutes apart.

If those tricks didn't work after a month or two, she wanted me to call her.

Sure enough, he hasn't had a nighttime accident since the appointment and that was over two weeks ago. I've even heard him get up to go to the bathroom every day during the 5am hour, which is a bummer because I don't think he ever falls back to sleep after that, but at least he's waking up to pee!

I know this is an issue that lots of mom deal with, but not many moms talk about, so I wanted to share what we've tried and what's been suggested to us. An update on our two 7 year old friends who were wearing Pull Ups: one has gone two weeks without an accident and attributes it to being in 2nd grade, the other one still fills his Pull Up every night to capacity, sometimes even soaking the sheets, too. He gets cut off from liquids at 4:00 and still has trouble all night long.

One thing that seems consistent with all three of our boys is that when they have to go, they have to go NOW. They don't give much warning and if the car isn't pulled over ASAP, there's an accident. One mom even noticed that when her son pees, it's only a tiny bit, so she's going to check with the doctor regarding the possibility of an unusually small bladder.

I don't claim to have all of the answers, just some possibilities for you to try if your child is having nighttime accidents. I seem to be past the daily sheet/comforter laundry marathons, but I don't know that I'm out of the woods forever. Yet. Everyone says that kids outgrow this, so we'll see how long it takes my kid!

Does anyone else have tips or tricks for concerned and frustrated moms out there?

"Special Dates" Can Be Simple

The one piece of advice that I hear again and again from moms is to take my kids on regularly scheduled, individual "special dates."

But what I'm coming to realize is that anything can be considered a "special date." It doesn't always have to be ice cream or a big deal event. If I am alone with one of my kids doing anything outside of the house, I've started labeling it our "special date."

For instance, this week Ryan came home from school complaining that kids were making fun of him because his backpack was of a "baby show." I've recently figured out that "baby shows" are those that are blatantly educational in any way. Elmo, Dora, most programs on Playhouse Disney...it seems that all of the shows my kids are allowed to watch (and still enjoy, by the way) are being labeled "baby shows" by Ryan's peers who have older siblings.

So how is the Disney movie Cars a baby show? What major life lesson does Lightning McQueen teach??? That's what I'd like to know from these six year old theologians.


Regardless, I'm reading in Grace Based Parenting that kids need "the freedom to be vulnerable" in a family, so instead of arguing about what is or isn't a baby show, I agreed to buy Ryan a new backpack. The fourth week of school. When this one is in perfect condition. (Thank goodness I can save it for Jason, right?)

Back to my point: special dates. I took Ryan to Target to search for whatever backpacks are left on the shelves. God rewarded my Super Mom efforts with a giant 30% off sign on the backpack aisle. That gave me the chance to get Ryan a Spiderman backpack for this year and a no-one-should-be-able-to-find-a-reason-to-make-fun-of-this plain blue backpack for next year.

I also noticed clearance tags on some other staples Ryan needs like PJs, t-shirts and even gym pants for football practice. So it felt like around every corner, I was asking Ryan, "Would you like Star Wars or Iron Man underwear?" and "Do you like black or blue shorts better?"

Our 30% off backpack shopping trip ended up being more than $76.

BUT my boy was smiling from ear to ear the whole time. Not because I spent $76 on him, but because I kept saying throughout our shopping trip, "Are you having fun on our special date, buddy?" Which was always met with a giant smile and a hug on my leg, sometimes even a kiss.

Give it a try. Label grocery trips with just one child as a "special date" and see the results for yourself. Sometimes it's how the package is wrapped and presented that makes what's inside extra special!

My head is spinning...

I have wanted to sit down and type a dozen different posts this week, but my life has been crazy. I've had so many plates spinning this week, I can't keep my head straight.

Here's my week so far:

After coming home from my weekend away as a mom of 7, the first thing I did was slept like the dead (I seriously don't think I moved for 9 hours), then woke up and did mega-laundry all day Monday.

It was around that time that I remembered that our van has been acting up. We're taking a road trip this weekend and, wanting to avoid being stranded in the middle of the desert, I needed to take it in for a check up. So I begged my sweet friend to haul me and all three kids to and from the mechanic to drop off the van Monday, then to pick it up Tuesday night.

Being stuck at home Tuesday was nice; I was thrilled to play catch up and regroup. I even made lasagna while Kaylin and Jason played. Since I've been horrible at meal planning lately, I was proud that I thought ahead and bought cottage cheese and lasagna noodles last week, knowing that I had an eggplant that I wanted to use.

I cooked the noodles (only to find out that I didn't need to, but whatever) alongside the eggplant in one pan and the ground beef in another. I went to line my 9x11 pans with spaghetti sauce only to realize I didn't have any. Very unlike me...it's one of my pantry staples.

No problem, I stocked up on diced tomatoes when they were on sale recently, so I just pureed those in my new Magic Bullet that I got for my birthday. (love it!)

Once the layers were assembled, I went to put mozzarella on top and realized I was out of cheese. Completely. Now I ask you: WHO makes lasagna without checking to see if they have spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese first?!?!? And, of course, I was stuck without a car to go to the store. Thankfully, another sweet friend stopped and picked me up some cheese. (Don't I have the greatest friends???) Problem averted.

While I was making the lasagna, I noticed Kaylin stealing Jason's toys and dangling them in front of his face to try to get him to crawl where she wanted him to go. I wasn't thrilled that she was teasing him, but figured Jason would cry if it bothered him.

After a while, I heard Kaylin sigh and quietly say, "No one wants to play with me." It wasn't a bratty complaint, she genuinely seemed sad. It broke my heart! I scooped her up and said (in my best hero voice), "I'll play with you!" She said, "But you're cooking and Jason won't play with me. He keeps crawling away." I asked if she wanted to play or help me cook and she chose to help me cook. That killed two birds with one stone!

I forgot to mention that over the weekend, we got a ton of calls from some things I'm selling on Craigslist. So in the midst of everything this week, people have been coming by (2-3 per day) looking at stuff to buy. One gal drove from across town, stayed for over an hour, picked out $12 worth of clothes and said she only brought $10. Whatever lady, don't lie to me. You didn't drive across town with only $10. If the $2 means that much to you, please take the stuff as my gift to you. And stop eating up my time with my babies!

That was a little frustrating, but what annoys me more is the people who no call, no show. I even say, "If you think you'll be late or don't think you can make it, please call so I'm not sitting around waiting for you." This girl last night immediately said, "Oh I WILL be there. I really need this." I squeezed her in between Kaylin's gymnastics class and babysitting a friend's kids last night (during our family dinner, mind you) and does she show up? No. Did she call? Of course not. (*sigh*)

A logical person would pull the Craigslist ads and just wait to sell everything later, right? After things settle down, after our annual family vacation, just...later. The problem is that I've had these ads running for over a month with virtually NO interest. Now, for some reason, emails and phone calls are coming in by the dozens. I'm a little concerned that if I wait until next week, everything will get quiet again.

Moving on to Wednesday. Ryan had his 6 year well check last week and they found some protein in his urine. (TMI? If so, feel free to skip down a few paragraphs.) So they asked me to get another sample from him first thing in the morning and bring it in during another appointment. At 5am, I get a tap on the shoulder.

"Mommy, is this the day I need to pee in the cup?"

"Yes it is. Don't forget to put the top on it." (I drifted back to sleep)

(a few minutes later...or it could have been hours for all I know...I was exhausted)

"Um, Mom? I didn't pee in the cup."

"Why not?"

"Because I had to go so bad that it made it all bubbly in there and it looked like I put soap in there but I didn't so I just dumped it out."

He dumped. it. out.

You have to realize that last week, I drove across town to pick up this sterilized cup while I had five kids in the car. My schedule has been so packed that I had to book out this doctor appointment more than a week for a problem that could be serious and that Mike is kind of anxious about.

And now we can't go to the appointment because he dumped out the reason for our visit.

My initial reaction was to wig out a little bit, but the new "I'm gonna miss this" me used restraint. "Buddy, you shouldn't have dumped it out. We really needed that for the appointment today that now needs to be rescheduled in an already hectic week before we leave town. That was a big mistake. Please go back to bed and we'll talk at breakfast."

A few minutes later, I get another tap on the shoulder. "Mom? I thought of a solution. I can rinse out the cup and try to pee again and get the sample we need for the doctor."

"Don't worry about it, Ryan. I need to get a new cup from the doctor and it has to be the first pee of the day. Thanks for trying to think of a solution to the problem. Go back to bed."

"Are YOU trying to think of a solution, Mom?"

"No, buddy. The only solution is to reschedule the appointment and try again a different day. I need to go back to sleep and so do you. It's 5:15am on a school day."

So I rescheduled the appointment and now need to find time to go pick up a new sterilized cup for tomorrow morning. And get my oil changed. The mechanic said nothing was wrong with my car, I just need an oil change. Sure - because I have time to drag two squimy kids to a dirty car place and sit around for an hour while they change my oil. Not this week! But I really should do it before we leave town.

In the middle of all of this, there have been conflicts with my scheduled times to volunteer at both kids' schools that I've been trying to work out. And I needed to reschedule "meet the teacher" for Kaylin on Tuesday because I didn't have a vehicle. And my mom is having a garage sale tomorrow and Saturday and really needs an extra body there so she doesn't get ripped off. Which means I'm racking my brain thinking of things I can bring over to sell if I'm going to be sitting around there anyway, right?

My phone has been ringing off the hook, even my doorbell has been ringing a ton. I've been through periods of chaos and back-to-back appointments, then moments of quiet, when I catch up on some reading. (I've been reading Grace Based Parenting and can't wait to share what I'm learning.)

In the midst of my crazy week, the kids still need to be cared for and nurtured, I'm still doing my normal household duties like homework, cooking, picking up toys, bathing a baby whose knees and tops of his feet are suddenly black all the time...it's just been never-ending!

Oh. And we're going to California on Sunday. So I need to figure out a time to get us all packed and ready for THAT!

This would have felt like a hectic week without the California trip. And without the van issues. And without the garage sale. Thank goodness there's a vacation "light" at the end of this tunnel.

Thanks for listening to me vent. I just needed to rant for a bit. I let Kaylin watch Dora, Jason's asleep, my van is packed with garage sale stuff for my mom's as soon as he wakes up and I'm already feeling better getting all of this off my chest. Now if you'll excuse me, I have another family coming to look at stuff from Craigslist any minute. Then I'll drop off the garage sale stuff, come back to our side of town for "meet the teacher" for Kaylin, drop the kids off with a neighbor to go to the dentist (why did I schedule that this week???) and race home to make dinner before going to Bunco tonight.

What a week. Let the whirlwind continue...