Thursday, August 27, 2015

Pound Cakes

So this week my mom and I signed up to make two pound cakes that we would be donating to a fundraiser for a woman in the community who is battling cancer. We wanted to try to make a cake that would keep well and something that people might not always think to make to have a little bit of variety. 
So we dove into our church's re-print of their very first cookbook and found a recipe for a Nestle Quik Pound Cake. The second recipe came from the cook book that my mom made for myself, my brother, and my grandma this past Christmas.

Nestle Quik Pound Cake Recipe


Ingredients:
1½ cups Crisco
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups cake flour
¼ teaspoon salt  
1 cup milk
8 tablespoons Nestle Quik (Chocolate or Strawberry)


 Cream together Crisco, sugar, eggs, and vanilla


Add cake flour, salt, milk, and Nestle Quik
Mix until smooth


Pour into a tube pan
Bake at 325° for 1½ hours

 Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325°
Cream together Crisco, sugar, eggs, and vanilla
Add cake flour, salt, milk, and Nestle Quik
Pour into a tube pan
Bake for 1½ hours
*For a plain vanilla cake, leave out any Nestle Quick and add 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon lemon flavoring


Sock it to me Cake (aka Coffee Cake)



Ingredients:
Cake:
1 box Duncan Hines Butter Golden Cake mix
1 cup sour cream
⅓ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
4 eggs
Filling:
2 tablespoons reserved cake mix
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk



Combine filling ingredients and set aside


In a large bowl, blend cake mix, sour cream, oil, sugar, and water


Add an egg at a time, beating a little bit after each egg


After adding all 4 eggs, beat on high speed for 2 minutes


Pour 2⁄3 of the batter in a greased and floured Bundt pan
Sprinkle filling over batter in the pan


Pour remaining batter on top of filling
Bake at 375° for 45-55 minutes

Instructions: 
Preheat oven to 375° 
Combine filling ingredients and set aside
In a large bowl, blend cake mix, sour cream, oil, sugar, water
Add an egg at a time, blending a little after each egg
After all 4 eggs have been added, beat on high speed for 2 minutes
Pour 2⁄3 of the batter in a greased and floured Bundt pan
Sprinkle filling over batter in the pan
Pour remaining batter on top of filling
Bake for 45-55 minutes
(You can check to see if the cake is done by lightly touching it, if it springs back, take it out!)
Cool for about 25 minutes then remove from pan
Blend powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl
Drizzle over cake

This recipe is typically made with a glaze. Since we were making this cake a few days in advance of the benefit, we chose to skip the glaze because they would be wrapping individual slices in plastic wrap for the fundraiser.



I hope you enjoy! Please comment or email me with any questions or suggestions! Feel free to share any of your favorite pound cake recipes in the comments!

Gracefully,
Anna








Monday, August 17, 2015

The Future

Hello Everyone! I know it has been almost two whole weeks since I have posted. For that, I am sorry! Since just recently moving all of my stuff back home and settling in I have been trying to be more involved with my church again. 

Last Sunday, August 9, my church celebrated our 100th Anniversary Homecoming. It was great. My mom was on the committee to help plan and prepare for the big day so I helped her with some of that stuff. Also last week we had our annual Vacation Bible School. I ended up also volunteering for that last minute so I was really busy with that and preparing to start school again today.

Since all of those things kept me pretty busy last week I never got around to posting. But I am kind of glad. It gave me a week to reflect on what God is doing in my life at the moment and what He will be doing in the coming year as I am at home again. 

I have been looking forward to moving back home for quite some time so I can get involved in our church again! So far it has been great. I ended up helping with crafts for the kiddos during VBS and I loved it. All of the kids were just so sweet and it's so exciting to be involved in helping to grow their faith. I also really loved getting to work with the other craft teachers. We shared lots of laughs over the week!

I am in this odd transitional part of my life where I have become part of the "boomerang" generation. That is those of us who graduate from college with a 4 year degree and move back home with mom and dad. I'm hoping to be accepted into 1 of 2 Radiology programs I have applied for in Fall 2016. 

I am taking classes at a local community college in order to fulfill some admission requirements for those programs. I have really been questioning what my future will hold. But then I heard the message Dr.Denise Honeycutt delivered on Homecoming Sunday about God's "Wild, Extravagant Hope" for me. 

Her message reminded me that no matter what I've done in the past, no matter my sins, my failures, or my shortcomings, God has wild, extravagant hope for me. And God has that same hope for YOU. In her message she quoted Jeremiah 29:11. I have been reading this verse daily since then. It helps me to remember that though my future may not be clear to me at the moment, God knows what it holds. God has a plan for me. God will use me. And God will show me those plans in His time. 


Gracefully,
Anna




Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Wedding Style Part 2


If you missed last week's post read it here: Wedding Style Part 1

Happy Tuesday everyone!

 I hope you had an amazing weekend. Mine was less than exciting. I had to finish moving out of my college apartment and get it all cleaned up. I hope you all had a little more fun than I did!

Today I'll be talking about looks you can wear to a couples shower and a wedding!

In my opinion, these are two of the most fun events you can attend if you're involved in a wedding! I love the couples shower because it gives you the opportunity to hang out with the guys and the gals together to celebrate your sweet friends that are getting married! 

The Couples Shower

The couples showers I have been to have been pretty casual so I chose to go with a more casual look for ya'll today! This look could easily be dressed up with some wedges and bold jewelry!





Let's just talk about these shorts for a minute. I know they don't look all that exciting here in these photos, but let me tell you, they are GREAT. These shorts have some stretch to them so that makes them super comfortable. Although you can't tell from this picture, they are a little high wasted, and I love that! They are super cute when you tuck your top in! Also, I got them out of the clearance section in Old Navy a couple weeks back, and when I was there, clearance had an extra 30% off! That made them a little less than $7! And on top of all of that, they come in a palm leaf pattern which I also picked up!
 I love this tank as much as I love these shorts! The back is so cute. The straps are adjustable which is perfect since the back is a little low. This tank comes in 5 patterns. I wish I had gotten the tan pattern as well. I really had a hard time choosing between them but the day I was shopping I was gravitating towards all things blue! 

Shorts | Tank | Watch | Sunglasses | Similar sandals here & here | Similar bag here

The Wedding

So let's get down to business here! When it comes to picking an outfit for a summer wedding I usually consider these 3 things:

1) Location (indoors or outdoors)
2) Weather
3) Occasion (formal or casual)

If I know I am attending a wedding that is indoors with an indoor reception, I usually go for something with a little more volume to it. Meaning, if I am going to be outside for several hours for the wedding and reception, I'll usually pick something a little lighter that flows more. I also think about shoe choice when I'm considering the location!

Weather is a huge factor to consider. If there is even the slightest chance of rain, I go for a maxi dress. I don't know why. I'm not even sure that makes sense because a maxi is more likely to drag the ground just a little. But I always feel more comfortable in a maxi if it is raining. I think I'm the only person that thinks that! Am I weird?!

And finally, I consider the occasion. If I am attending a wedding at a barn or a vineyard, that's a little more of a casual look. If it's a church wedding or a wedding in a hotel ballroom, I'll definitely dress it up a little. These changes can be made easily with accessories! 

This dress is actually a few years old but it has just been another one of those staples in my closet. I love the blue color. You can do so many different things with it. I chose this maxi because it is very comfortable and easy to move in. When I'm at a wedding, I want to be able to dance! 




Similar dress here | Similar denim jacket here | Sunglasses | Watch | Similar necklace here | Similar sandals
* You can't see my shoes, but they were flat sandals that sold out at Target so I'll link similar ones!
** At Old Navy you can get an extra 25% off your order through Wednesday, 8/5! (Use code MATH)

Thank you so much for reading! 

"What is done in love is done well." -Vincent van Gogh

Gracefully,
Anna