Ina Garten's Carrot and Pineapple Cake

This is my go-to recipe for Carrot Cake.  It's Ina Garten's recipe and I usually leave out the raisins and walnuts since most people I know don't like those ingredients.  It's a wonderful carrot cake recipe that is moist and tasty!  

Carrot and Pineapple Cake

recipe from Ina Garten

Ingredients for the cake:

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil

3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 pound carrots, grated

1/2 cup diced pineapple

1 cup raisins (optional)

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Ingredients for the frosting:

3/4 pound cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 pound confectioner's sugar

Directions:

Preheat over to 350.

LINE the bottom of 2 round cake pans with parchment paper, and then grease and flour the pans.  

Beat the sugar, oil and eggs together with a stand mixer until light yellow, and add the vanilla.  In another bowl mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until blended.  If you are using the raisins and walnuts, toss with 1 tablespoon of flour before adding to the batter.  Fold in the carrots and pineapple and mix well.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 pans and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.  I usually stick my layers in the freezer to make frosting easier!  

Cream Cheese Frosting:

mix the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of your mixer until combined.  Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

Frost your cake and ENJOY!

New Camera

Landon and I gave each other (ok really more for me) a camera for Christmas this year.  I have been wanting a DSLR for about a year now and am super excited to learn how to take better photos with it.  I purchased a Canon T3 from Amazon - they have a fantastic deal right now here. It is very basic, but perfect for what I need it for!  

UPS dropped our package off at 9 p.m. and these were some of the first shots I took with the camera.  I just couldn't wait for the girls to wake up the following morning for a little "photo shoot"!  Many of you asked how I have learned some of the different techniques such as "bokeh".  I have been searching articles online and pinning to my Photography Board on Pinterest.  You can follow my board and we can all learn together!!!!

Here are my sweet girls the next morning on a cloudy and chilly day!  We had such a good time, even if Lauren wasn't in the picture-taking mood!  

Over the weekend we took the girls out to take a few more pictures.  I Love how sweet Brooke looks holding the picture frame. 

This is one of my favorite photos so far!  This is sweet Lauren in front of (about 8 feet) our Christmas tree.  I love the "bokeh" in the background, but most of all I love her sweet face and those dark brown eyes. 

I have been working on the layout/appearance of the blog the last few days.  A big thanks to my friend emily for helping fix my template and creating the pages up top.  I have a tab designated for recipes, and my plan is to move all the recipes from This Hungry Mama over here so I won't have to keep track of both blogs.  :)

12 days of giving

We are halfway through our 12 days of giving!  The girls and I have really enjoyed finding creative ways to give to other people this Christmas.  God has given us SO many blessings and I want to teach the girls how to be a blessing to others.  It's a tradition I hope to continue every Christmas.  You can read about what we did last year here.   My hope is that this post will inspire you to give outside of your "comfort zone" and to be a blessing to someone around you!  I can guarantee it will make them smile!!!  

day 1 - lily & lauren stuffed the mailbox with puppy chow for our favorite mail lady.

day 2 - we got a little snack basket together for a local owasso policeman.  they are all posted at different intersections around our shopping areas during the weekends, so it was easy to find someone who needed a snack!

day 3 - brooke gave these sweet socks to a special little baby.

day 4 - we bought lunch for the car behind us in the drive-thru.

day 5 - ups comes to our door at least 3 times a week thanks to thirty-one & amazon.  we left some cookies on the porch for him!

day 6 - excited to take these donuts to the church office staff this morning before school!

Lily & Lauren Update

I can't believe it.  December 10th marked Lily & Lauren's half birthday making them TWO & A HALF!  Wow - I can't believe it - I still try to rock them to sleep and call them babies but they are growing SO quickly.  I'm so thankful for them and believe it or not, I am STILL in awe every time I think about the fact that they are twins.  It's amazing to see them growing up together.  They have their own little personalities but are always looking out for one another (and Brooke!).  

 Lauren is always VERY affectionate to Lily and gives out kisses and hugs freely!  Landon and I gave each other a camera last week for Christmas.  I a SO excited to have something to capture these special moments.  

Lily loves her baby - she doesn't leave home without her.  She loves boots, meat, singing, playing the guitar and dancing.  She is very loving and my favorite thing that she does is when she wraps her arms around me and plays with the back of my neck.  

Lauren is a little more on the crazy side.  She follows Brooke wherever she goes and that little dimple on her left cheek makes her look even more mischievous than she already is.  :)  She loves shoes, carbs, singing, jumping on the bed and spanking her own bottom.  ha ha.

So BLESSED.

Chalk Paint Basics

Well I am FINALLY getting on here to write a post on my favorite paint product...Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!  You are going to cringe as soon as I tell you the price tag is $38 per 32 ounce can!  YIKES!  I can tell you that this product is worth every penny.  There is no sanding, priming or prepping (besides cleaning the surface) before painting with this "magic" paint.  I have painted wood, fake wood, metal and plastic with great success!  It goes a very long way, and saves you lots of time, frustration and energy.  It requires a coat of wax on top, but that can be purchased for under $10 and will last you FOREVER!  Here are some examples of how far one can of paint can go...

All these pieces were painted with one can of the "old white".  Dining room table, 5 chairs, buffet  chandelier, bathroom vanity, windowpane and several other little items!  The dining room table and buffet were craigslist treasures, and I LOVE how they turned out!

These pieces were painted with one can of "duck egg blue".  windowpane, piano, chest, bathroom vanity and an antique vanity (which I haven't finished yet!).   It's my favorite color - just a beautiful antique blue!

Here's what you need:

This is what the Chalk Paint looks like.  Go HERE to find a stockist near you.  I have used both the Annie Sloan soft wax and the Minwax finishing wax.  They are both great products, but I really love the minwax because it is under $10 and I have barely made a dent in the can.  It protects and gives your furniture a beautifully finished look.  

I usually paint one coat on the furniture and then paint a second coat that is thinned out with water next....to make the paint go further.  I like the distressed look so I don't want to waste too much of the paint on full coverage.  When the paint is dry, you can distress it using a light sanding block or a wet rag.  I usually use a sanding block on real wood, but if it is pressed I use a wet cloth.  After you distress the wood, I use a cloth to apply the wax to the wood.  It's easy and QUICK!  Everyone asks my secrets to refinishing furniture...but it's really just the paint that is amazing!

I am currently doing some office furniture for a friend in the color "florence".  Here is a before and (almost) after of one of the pieces.  It is a beautiful teal/turquoise and I think I'm going to have to buy some for myself!

I always go to Miss Mustard Seed for inspiration or help with techniques.  She has some great tutorial videos on waxing and painting with chalk paint!

My friend Emily has a great post on homemade chalk paint over at her blog Putting Down Roots.  You will be inspired by her beautiful Armoire makeover as well as many other things!

Hope this answers some of your questions....please let me know if you have any more!

November - where have you gone?!?

November has come and gone - it's amazing how fast time flies the older you get.  I'm really trying to cherish these little moments with the girls.  I can't believe how big they are all getting!  Landon and I have been married 5 years!  We went on our first weekend away without the girls.  It was only for one night, but we had an amazing time together and felt refreshed after our little getaway!

We stayed at the Keeter Center in Branson, MO.  It is a beautiful lodge and they spoil you with fresh milk and cookies at turndown service, and a rise and shine breakfast!  We LOVED it and spent a lot of the time laying in bed and watching TV.  Ah - such a luxury!

Here is Brooke at her Thanksgiving program at school.  I didn't get to join her for the lunch but Landon was able to go and eat with her.  She loved that special Daddy Time.  

Seriously - these two melt my heart ever day.  They have their share of fighting, but they are truly best friends and do everything together.  

We started a tradition a couple years ago where we eat a traditional dinner as a family and then write everything we are thankful for down as a family.  It's one of my favorite things to do.  I am SO blessed having these three sweet girls to spend each day with.  

The Christmas Season is in full swing here - we are all decorated and are excited to celebrate all month long!  It is my favorite time of year and it is even MORE fun now that the girls really get excited about it almost as much as I do!  Hope you have a wonderful week!

family photos...

I LOVE getting family photos done - I just love all the memories that photos capture.  Let's be honest though I am ALWAYS stressed when it comes to picture day.  We had a mini session with my favorite photographer Stephany on Saturday.  Landon and I decided that we were going to make this session as stress free as possible with the girls.  We wanted it to be an enjoyable experience.  Did I mention I had EIGHT dozen cupcakes due that morning/afternoon?  8 dozen cupcakes and 45 baseball cookies were made in my kitchen, and I finally got a chance to get ready at 2, wake the girls up, get them ready, deliver cupcakes at 2:30 and made it with just a minute to spare at 3.  We pulled up to this BEAUTIFUL location and Stephany greeted us with her cheerful self.  I mean honestly, who needs to be stressed out when you have a photographer that loves your kids and loves to work with them?

Brooke smiling for the camera

Here's a side by side of Lauren who ALWAYS wants to be just like her big sister.

Lily is usually the wanderer who does her own thing.  I love it.

We had a FUN time - I realized I had two dramatically different earrings on towards the beginning of the shoot and we had lots of laughs about that.  This photo that Stephany captured brings a smile to my face and really tells a story about how crazy our life is right now, but how BLESSED we are.  If you live in the Tulsa area and need an amazing photographer please contact Stephany.  You won't ever be disappointed and she is one of the sweetest friends to me now!