Lazy Winter Morning Pick Me Up! Orange Oatmeal

Check out the LAZY recipe I accidentally posted on the other blog! LOL! http://superherooflove.blogspot.com/2015/12/orange-oatmeal-for-wintry-mornings.html



 



Lazy Happy Birthday Cake -- Easiest Homemade Cake Ever!

 

 

This is the easiest bestest most deliciousest chocolate cake on planet earth. I've mentioned it a few times before.  It's from the best food blog on earth, Smitten Kitchen. If you have time to make the whole recipe of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake your guests are very lucky.  I have made it for several birthdays or important celebrations and every time someone in the crowd says it's the best cake they have ever had.

 

Well, when you don't have time to do the whole thing, like I didn't this weekend for my friend Elisa's birthday dinner, I used the cake part of the recipe (super fast in one bowl with just a whisk!  No mixer needed even!), whipped up some cream with orange rind and orange liqueur, and did a little decorating to make it look a little more impressive. 

 

So, here's how to make a super easy birthday cake:

 

1. Soak Orange Slices (or berries!) in Orange Liqueur while you make the cake.
2. Make the Smitten Kitchen Chocolate Cake (click on the above link)
3. Whip up two (2) pint containers of heavy whipping cream with orange rind of two or three oranges (to taste), a splash of orange liqueur and some powdered sugar (to taste). 
4. Once the cake is completely cooled (seriously, completely -- don't learn the hard way, like I did! LOL!) slather whipped cream on first layer.
5.  Add orange slices (or berries!) and a sprinkle of toasted pecan pieces.
6. 
7. Proceed to the next layer.  This is a three layer cake so you have one more layer to do before you get to the top!
8. Slather the entire cake with the whipped cream -- which is so much easier to spread than frosting, so it's super fast!
9. Decorate as you see fit! 

   

 

Lazy Rainy Day Soup

We did a Moroccan-themed dinner party last night which was quite delicious. I'm enclosing links to the highlights of the meal -- the Chickpea Soup, Moroccan Spicy Carrots, and a Tangerine Olive Oil Cake. The cake isn't necessarily Moroccan but tangerines always remind me of Morocco because they have the most scrumptious tangerines there...oh my god they are divine. And, Aaron loves olive oil cake so I thought it would be the perfect dessert. I added a bag of bittersweet chocolate chips to the cake recipe and oh lordy was that amazing. It's my new obsession -- chocolate and orange. I can't get enough of it right now.

But, the soup. First, let me tell you it is so unbelievably easy to whip up. It literally takes about 10 minutes total and then you let it simmer and the aroma of Moroccan spices waft through the house. Our guests walked in the house and said "It smells amaaaazing!" and the soup was definitely the reason.

The only addition I made to the soup is I served the bowl on a plate and on the plate I put a big juicy slice of fresh lime and insisted that everyone squeeze it over their soup at the last minute. The lime against the backdrop of the cinnamon and other spices was the absolute piece de resistance that popped all the flavors out to front and center.

It is raining really hard today so I am very excited to have the leftovers.

P.S. JUST ate the leftovers....it's just as delicious as last night. I'll definitely be making this soup again soon.

Sexy Water

I caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror at Pilates this morning. Not lovin' it. I confess I haven't been drinking enough water lately. I've been busy in the evenings so I've been missing TV shows and movies that I normally would catch. So, they are waiting for me in the DVR lineup. When I finally sit down at the end of a busy evening, I feel like the casts are in there screaming "Watch me! Watch me!" So, I stay up way too late and do as they ask, of course.

The fallout is that I have been underslept these last few days and I've been drinking more coffee. When I'm nursing coffee in all its myriad forms throughout the day, I don't drink as much water. Just a few days out of the habit and I literally forget to bring water to my desk! And, I consider myself a water-holic, so this is odd for me. But, being underslept all I want is sugar and caffeine. Water isn't enticing me right now, and my skin is suffering.

I need to turn this around so I stopped at the store on my way home and got some oranges. I have a Persian cucumber, and there are lemons on the tree outside. So, as soon as I hit "POST" I'm going to go make myself the most delicious pitcher of ice water with thinly sliced cucumber, orange and lemon. I am committed to drinking the whole pitcher before I go to bed. I promise you, oh dear blog witness.

And, I'm going to put it in my favorite glass pitcher so I can see the colors. I need to make my water as sexy as possible. That should do it.