"My Favorite Chocolate Recipe" Monday

So, most of you know that I love to cook. My sister Jenn gave me a subscription to Cooks Illustrated magazine and my goal is to try one new thing each time. Last month I came across a recipe for:

Foolproof One Minute Chocolate Frosting

Now, a title like that is just asking me to prove it wrong. Foolproof? I'll show you! I love buttercream frosting but I can never make it quite right and it just ends up tasting like powdered sugar with a touch of milk. I'm not a huge, huge chocolate fan, but since I'm surrounded by people who think a cake really isn't worth eating unless it's chocolate, I thought I'd give it a try. Amazing. It is so easy, very yummy, and looks almost professional.

The recipe note says this can be made with milk, semisweet, or bittersweet chocolate (I used milk). It makes enough to frost one 9" 2 layer cake (to avoid lots of crumbs, stick the cake in the freezer for a bit). And, it's more like 7 minute frosting...

Foolproof One Minute Chocolate Frosting
20 Tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (60-65 degrees)
1 c. confectioners' sugar
2/3 c. Dutch -processed cocoa (I just used the plain old Hershey's cocoa powder)
pinch of table salt
3/4 c. light corn syrup
1 t. vanilla extract
8 ounces chocolate (melted and cooled slightly) (I just melted milk chocolate chips in the microwave, 20 seconds at a time -- don't do it too long or too fast or they will seize up and your spoon will somehow get stuck in a big lump of hard chocolate)

In food processor, process butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt until smooth, about 30 seconds, scraping side of bowl as needed. Add corn syrup and vanilla and process until just combined, 5-10 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl, then add chocolate and pulse until smooth and creamy, 10-15 seconds. Frosting can be used immediately or held in the fridge up to 3 hours.

So, if you try it out let me know how it goes!

And, now your turn! What is your favorite CHOCOLATE recipe??? Grammy? I believe you have an oft requested hot fudge recipe... :)

If you know my husband...

...you'll understand why this dish made him happy:

Apple Dumplings with Mountain Dew

Yes, there are really only two apples but TWO(!) sticks of butter. Really. This dish is evil on so many levels.

We were visiting Jared (Cash's brother) and Maren and Maren showed me this fantastic site: The Pioneer Woman Cooks and it is so much fun!! This is a great site. She shows you step by step with great pictures and witty quips how to cook! Her pictures and instructions almost make me think I could make these recipes. Mostly, I just read it because it's funny. Anyway, she had this recipe for Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings and I knew that I just had to make these for Cash. They were delectable. And fattening. And I gained 10 pounds just reading the recipe.

So, thanks Maren for the great recipe and fun site!

We had a great Spring Break -- we went to Sun Valley (to visit Jared and Maren) and then we went to see my brother and his family in Burley and had a nice visit with my sister Jenn and her family. It was great to be with so much family; we are blessed to have such great families and even more blessed that we love to hang out with them!

I've decided that since Flashback Friday (which I missed this week because I was out of town) is so fun I'm going to try "My Favorite "fill-in-the-blank" Recipe Monday" -- so get your recipe box ready to share! I can't wait to get some new recipes! :)

And I write the things of my soul... (2 Ne 4:15)

I have to say that I have loved this blogging thing. I started after we moved away from Texas and I had pangs of homesickness and wanted to keep some sort of connection. This has been such a fun way to keep in touch with loved ones as far away as New Hampshire and and as close as down the street. I am so grateful for all the amazing women (and men) that I know and who I can admire by hearing their triumphs, tragedies, and troubles. It is a window into those things worth noting -- large and small. So, thanks so much for sharing glimpses of your life and making me laugh and helping me realize the importance of friends and family.

I found these two great quotes off a link from my friend Calise's blog...
"You will have significant experiences. I hope that you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh you memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experience." Gordon B. Hinckley.

Whoop and...

GIG 'EM!

Flashback Friday

So, my friend Tricia (the one I steal most of my blog ideas from) has another fun blog thing...Flashback Friday. So, you know those pictures from when Flashdance was a movie and the one shoulder sweatshirt was introduced for the first time? Yes, those...pull them out, scan them in, and post those beauties!

This flashback picture may date me. My friend Tiffany posted this on her Facebook...Yikes! Remember, I grew up in Texas! (thankfully this is post big-bang days!) This is Pine Tree High School Senior Prom with the group of girls I hung out with. All I remember is that my date was a good friend, Adam Morrison.

I can play Tag without running? I'm in!

My Sister-in-law, JeNeale tagged me, so here goes...

10 Years Ago:
1998: Cash and I had been married two years and we were at Idaho State in Pocatello, ID and we were living in our funky apartment in the blue house and we loved that place. I was working as a secretary at ISU and starting the last year of my bachelors. Cash was working at an eye glass place and had a really long, nasty goatee. We played lots of pinochle until the wee hours of the morning with our friends Chad and Lataun. It was also a tumultuous year: I was called as RS President in our student ward, I had my first miscarriage while on vacation (with Chad and Lataun) and my mom went into the hospital later that year.

Things on my to-do list Today:
1. Well, it's 11:30 p.m. and so, I'm going to pretend like it's been 30 minutes and it's tomorrow...a Sunday.
2. Go to Ward Council Meeting (oh, I must remember to set out church clothes after this because that means Cash is in charge of getting the kids ready...)
3. Try to keep the kids quiet and reverent for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
4. Hand out brand new Visiting Teaching Districts...ughhh.
5. Quick after-church-lunch of spicy ramen (the boys) and black noodles (the girls) while reading the Sunday paper. :)
6. RS meeting with the new Stake RS Presidency.
7. Some sort of dinner.
8. Treats at our house with birthday cake and ice cream for Emmett Cash.
9. Bed!!!!

What would I do if I suddenly became a Billionaire:
1. Is there any way to get out of paying taxes on it????
2. Ok, it looks like we all think alike...Pay off all houses and student loans for my family and Cash's family.
3. Buy Cash a major league baseball team and name a minor league baseball stadium after him.
4. Set up an endowed chair for Cash: The Gregory Cash Hill Professor of Public Administration, at Texas A&M.
5. Build a really beautiful library with a huge, kid-friendly reading area for kids and tons of kids books and name it after my mom.
6. Go on a service mission with Cash.
7. Take my kids to Korea.
8. Build huge cabins scattered in different states so that everyone could get together and play.
9. Pay a guy to put in Mom Hill's light fixtures. ;)

3 Bad Habits:
1. Diet Coke...occasionally Diet Coke before noon
2. Being impatient with my kids
3. I don't necessarily think it's a bad habit, but Cash's number 1 pet-peeve: peeing with the door open
Lucky for you, I can only list 3...I could go on and on...

3 Places I've Lived:
1. Out of the country: South Korea and Venezuela
2. American Fork, Utah
3. Texas: Longview and College Station

5 Jobs I've Had:
1. Oriental Express (the best mall food. ever.)
2. Bodacious BBQ (my smelliest job. ever.)
3. Secretary for a property management company
4. When we were first married I sold phone cards door to door and business to business and it was awful. But, I never complained because Cash was cleaning toilets for Varsity Contractors.
5. Teacher

5 Things people don't know about me:
1. I am sweaty-palms-bad-dreams scared of overpasses/underpasses and bugs.
2. In high school I was a synchronized swimmer, complete with the sequined wrist and ankle bands. Yes, it was sexy. It gets chalked up there with my other short-lived career as a clogger.
3. I competed in the Ricks College Homecoming Pageant.
4. I often read the ending of books before I start (in essence, I don't like surprises...and I can't keep a surprise very well either).
5. I love grasshopper cookies, sour cream and onion Pringles, garlic, sugar snap peas, and black beans.

OK, all you who read (yes, you!) who have not been tagged...YOU'RE IT!! Alisa, Katie, Kate, Emily, Tricia, Rhi, Lataun, Jenny, Melvin ladies...
Cash, though you resist blogging, you have to at least put your answers in a comment.

Emmett's Happy Day

Happy Birthday Little Boy...

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

I'd like a refund please.

So, this is the unfortunate side effect of spell-check...

p.s. no one tell Cash this came from Sam's Club or we'll never be able to go to Wal-Mart again (he hates going to WM anyway, and only goes if he thinks our neighbor will be working and he can hang out in the paint section with Mike while I get diapers and such.)

Mormon Soul Food

I have many weaknesses:
Diet Coke
Old movies
Movies with Colin Firth
Costco
Clearance racks
Mary Higgins Clark books
Not taping the walls when I paint
Counting the puzzle pieces when I put them away
Reality TV (Survivor and Dancing with the Stars)
The Dollar Store
Reading the Sunday paper in the same order. every week.
Sleeping in
The smell of Sharpies

But perhaps the most embarassing... these:

I can pretty much eat a whole pan of these. I'm serious. Ask my sister. She was here and we made a pan (a cookie sheet pan!) and I think she was pretty disconcerted to see that I couldn't walk by without a little piece. Or a big piece.

I'm also embarrassed to admit that I didn't even know how to make them until about a year ago. My SIL JeNeale makes them with little pieces of almost melted chocolate chips which, to me makes them practically gourmet. For some reason Rice Krispy Treats seem like the quintessential Mormon treat. Am I wrong? I remember eating Rice Krispy Treats as a kid -- and as a mom, what's not to love? cheap. fast. easy. So maybe they're nutritionally void of anything good and my brother in law the dentist may not approve, but I LOVE them!

I just made a tray (yes, that's right, we make 'em Texas-sized here..) and we're going to cut them out with cookie cutters and wrap them for Audrey's friends. Then, I will only be able to eat the scraps....at least that's the plan.

So, what's your weakness? Lindor truffles? Blue Bell Ice cream? Netflix? Endless.com? Tuesday nights at McDonalds? :)
Fess up!

Gratitude.

I have been MIA from my blog for a while because we had a family emergency and a scary week. Last Sunday I got a call from my brother Kevin saying that my brother Jae's wife was in a coma. As you can see from the picture, Jae's wife Emily is a gorgeous, sweet lady and she's so good for my brother.

Now, the Schroeder kids don't do well with the word "coma" because the last time my mom was conscious before she died was when they induced her into a coma to try an experimental procedure. She never woke up. So, we were so worried about Emily; the doctors didn't have a lot of positive things to say early on. She wasn't conscious and Jae was a wreck. My sister from CA came up for the first few days and then Cash, Emmett, and I went down on Wednesday morning and stayed until Friday night, when my dad came in from Texas. We spent a lot of time just sitting in the hospital with my brother making sure he was eating and not driving himself crazy with worry. While we were there Emily started to open her eyes and even said a few words. Jae was the most excited when she said she wanted a Diet Coke! He knew that was Emily...and she got one after a couple of days! She loved Emmett and kept telling Jae that she wanted to steal him or have a "cute baby like Emmett."

We are really grateful for her miraculous recovery; by the time we left on Friday she was moving down to the rehab room and had all her tubes and monitors off and it was just a fantastic day. What a blessing.

After having such a scare, I realized that I am grateful for so many things: Cash. Family. Modern Medicine. The Gospel. Priesthood Blessings. Flexible Jobs. Eternal Families. (and as an homage to Emily...Diet Coke.)

I just re-read above and just so it's not open to interpretation, I mean the Cash I sleep with, although the other is nice too, but it doesn't love me unconditionally.