Chocolate-Caramel Butterfinger Cake

I received a phone call from my little sister the other day.  Her name is Lorna and she is a wonderful mommy to four kids, three of them being actual children, and the fourth being her man-child husband, Casey :)  Of course I say that in the most loving way possible!

Lorna has a unique way of asking for things, just like my Mother (I'm sure that is where she got it from).  Instead of straight up asking a question or asking for something, she makes suggestions.  This time around her "suggestion" went like this.. "So, I thought that I would call you and let you know it would be great if we could work together on a surprise cake for Casey's birthday over Memorial Day Weekend."  I smiled on the other end of the line, knowing exactly what she meant, and replied "So, just to clarify, your asking me to bake a cake for your husband's birthday?"  To which she swiftly and excitedly replied, "YEP!" with a giggle.

In the past 10 years, I don't think I have ever said "no" to my sister.  Now, prior to that is a different story, there were a number of instances where I would say "NO, you can't wear my clothes!" or "NO, you can't drive my car!" or "NO, get out of my room!".  Both my sister and mom know now that if they ask me to do something, of course I am going to deliver.  So, this situation is no different, I would LOVE to make a cake for her husband's birthday for a plethora of reasons, most notably a) Everyone deserves a surprise cake on their birthday, b) I enjoy baking and decorating cakes, c) I can't say no to my sister, and d) I get to eat some delicious cake, too!  After discussing what his favorite cake flavor and candy flavor are, we decided that a chocolate cake featuring Butterfingers would be a winner.  Perfect!  I have the most yummy recipe in my messy cook book cupboard, now just to find it...

Found it!  You know a recipe is a good one when you pull out the piece of paper you printed off from the internet and it is smeared with sticky chocolate and caramel.  This recipe comes from allrecipes.com and is straight from the makers of Butterfinger.  Only adjustment I made was I used cool whip topping instead of whipping up my own because I prepared this at my cabin and didn't have my mixer along.

Another funny story to this cake making madness, I sent my husband to the grocery store for the ingredients, he came back with "Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk".  I had to inform him that he got the wrong thing and failed to read what I had specifically listed out for him as "Nestle Carnation Sweetened Condensed Milk".  His response, "No! I swear that was the only kind of canned milk they had! You need to be more specific!" (but he pronounces specific like Pacific Ocean).  I don't know how I could have been more "Pacific" than that, next time I will have to text him pictures!

Gather Your Ingredients:
*1 box of chocolate cake mix & ingredients - Any brand you prefer, I used Pillsbury Chocolate cake because that is what the hubby brought back from the store
*1 (14oz) can of NESTLE CARNATION Sweetened Condensed Milk
*Bag of Nestle Butterfinger Bites
*1 jar or bottle of caramel ice cream sundae topping - You don't use the entire thing, so if you have some in your cupboard, no need to go out and get another bottle
*2 containers of Cool Whip - you can whip up your own topping if you'd like with 1 pint of whipping cream
*NOTE: Make this cake 1-2 days in advance of consumption for optimum taste

Get to baking!

1. Preheat your oven to the temp indicated on the box's directions (in my case 350 degrees) and mix your chocolate cake ingredients.

2. Bake your cake for the time indicated on the box's directions (in my case it was 30 minutes) and remove to cool completely.  In order to let the cake cool completely, I took a break and attended our Lake Association's Annual Meeting, where I enjoyed a delicious Bloody Mary at 8:45am, and we talked about fishing, weed harvesting, and lake studies. My brother and I own the cabin together and he guilted me into attending on our behalf, he was quite disappointed to find out later that the meeting was at a bar with bloody's and breakfast.  Oh the joys of owning a cabin :)

3. Chop up the Butterfinger Bites, I used about 3/4 of the bag and snacked on the remainder!

4. Poke holes in your cake one inch deep and one inch apart with the end of a wooden mixing spoon or other utensil that would be similar in width. If you would like your cake to be more saturated, poke more holes closer together, every 1/2" to 3/4" apart.

5. Pour the Nestle Carnation Sweetened Condensed Milk over the entire cake.  Make sure it is covered evenly.

6. Sprinkle half of the chopped Butterfinger over the top of the condensed milk and drizzle Caramel Sauce over the top of the Butterfinger.

7. Spread the two containers of Cool Whip over the top of the cake.  I know it seems like a lot of Cool Whip, but it is great with the chocolate cake.

 

8. Sprinkle the remaining half of the chopped Butterfinger and drizzle Caramel Sauce over the top of the Cool Whip topping.  What is great about this cake is that the topping can be as messy as you want it to be, no need to be perfect when decorating.

9. Keep refrigerated over night before serving.  I actually made this cake in the morning, refrigerated it, and then served it that same night.  Although everyone thought it was delicious and almost ate the entire cake that night, when the leftovers were consumed the following day everyone thought it tasted better after sitting overnight. The extra time in the fridge allows the condensed milk and caramel sauce to better saturate the chocolate cake.

I hope you all enjoyed Memorial Day Weekend, hope you got to spend some quality time with family and/or friends while honoring those military personnel who have died protecting and fighting for our country.  Be thankful for everyone in your life and the time you have with them.  

Totally Amazing & Fetastic Guacamole

Guacamole is one of my all time favorites for spring and summer!  Hopefully the weather will start to cooperate here in Minnesota after what has seemed like a never-ending winter.  Maybe this recipe will bring some warmth and sunshine our way, or at least trick our minds into thinking we are on a beach in Puerto Vallarta sipping on a Margarita and dipping some crisp tortilla chips into a bowl of guacamole goodness.  Oooooohh... Margaritas... is it happy hour yet?  Guacamole is such a crowd pleaser and has always been one of my go-to "bring a dish to share" recipes for barbeques or any summer gathering.  I love making it because the ingredients are always fresh and guacamole is so versatile, you can put it on anything!  When I first started making guacamole, it was simply to avoid eating the paste-like, pre-made guac that they sell at the grocery store, and I typically only made it using a couple avocados and salsa.  Over the years, my recipe has definitely increased in ingredients and prep time.  Although there is a lot of ingredient chopping involved in this recipe, I promise you the extra labor is SO worth it.  This recipe makes enough guac for a party, it is very easy to reduce the recipe.

Prepare your guacamole arsenal with the ingredients below:

*Ripe Avocados (Qty 6) - should be slightly soft when you squeeze them, avocados vary in size, but the larger the better, larger avocados means more guacamole!
*Red Onion (Qty 1)
*Jalepeno (Qty 1)
*Tomato (Qty 1)
*Cilantro (Qty 1 Bushel) - they typically sell this in a bushel at the grocery store
*Garlic (Qty 6 Cloves) - you can also used pre-packaged minced garlic
*Lemon (Qty 1)
*Lime (Qty 2)
*Feta Cheese (1 container of crumbled - any brand)
*Olive Oil (1 Tablespoon)

*Vinegar (1 Tablespoon)

*Salt

*Pepper

*Dippers of Choice - Tortilla Chips, Crackers, Pretzels, Veggies

1. Finely chop the red onion, jalepeno, cilantro, garlic & tomato and combine in one large mixing bowl.  I recommend chopping the tomato last as it will get your cutting board wet with tomato juice and it's no fun to chop cilantro on a wet cutting board.  Here's a tidbit for the cilantro - Wash it, dry it, remove majority of the stem (I don't like the stem so I take the extra time to remove all of the cilantro leafy goodness from the stem), bunch together the cilantro to make chopping easier.  Set aside a small portion of the chopped cilantro for garnish at the end.

2. Remove the pits from and scoop out the avocados into the mixing bowl with the already chopped ingredients.  If you are having trouble removing the pits from the avocados, use your knife and twist as pictured above.

3.  Halve the lemon & limes and squeeze into your bowl of ingredients.  Warning: Make sure that you don't get any of the lemon seeds in your bowl!  

4.  Add the Olive Oil & Vinegar to the bowl and MIX up your ingredients until well combined.

5.  Chop the crumbled feta cheese (sometimes its more chunky than crumbled so i always give it an extra chop) and fold it into your guacamole.  I do not like to add the feta before I mix the main ingredients because depending on the softness of it, the feta can get lost in the guac and I like to see all of the ingredients, it makes it pretty :)

6.  Taste your guacamole and THEN add salt & pepper to-taste.  I always taste the guac before I add the salt and pepper because the feta already adds some saltiness to the mixture, so it is better to wait until the end.

7. Ta-da!  Garnish with a bit of chopped cilantro and you have some Totally Amazing & Fetastic Guacamole!  Take a dip & enjoy!

Butter Ranch Pretzels

Two of my favorite things: BUTTER & RANCH!  These pretzels are the ultimate "I am too lazy to make anything else" party snack.  There is NO BAKING involved!  I am going to go ahead and warn everyone now that these pretzels are far from healthy.  Minus the unhealthy stigma, these pretzels are always a hit and are super addictive.  Great for a quick snack, poker party, pinterest party, etc.  My dear friend Liz gave me the recipe to these gems back in our "party days", her relatives have been making them for ages, and you will find out why.  I love these pretzels with an ice cold brew, yum!  The ingredients below are what I use for when I bring them to a party with 15 people or more.  For instance, I made this batch for our friend's BBQ birthday party and they were devoured during an intense game of Cards Against Humanity, so much fun!  I was in a hurry while getting ready for the party, so my pictures are limited, but the recipe & process are pretty straight forward.

Gather your ingredients:
*Pretzel Twists (Qty 2 - 1 pound bags) - Any brand will do, but I always seem to gravitate towards Rold Gold
*Popcorn Oil (1 container/bottle) - You will find this in the chip aisle by the popcorn, usually hidden on a super low or super high shelf, the only brand that I have been able to find is Orville Redenbacher
*Powdered Ranch Dressing Mix (Qty 2 packets) - I always get the Hidden Valley brand, you can find this in the salad dressing aisle.  Make sure you get "Ranch Dressing Mix" NOT dip mix, it will not taste right if you make this simple mistake.
**Additional Optional Ingredients - You can add chex cereal, peanuts, sesame sticks, or anything else you'd like to the mixture**

Get to mixin'!
1.  Using two large mixing bowls, pour each bag of pretzels into it's own mixing bowl.  
NOTE: KEEP THE BAGS, DO NOT THROW THEM AWAY
2.  Sprinkle one packet of the powdered ranch dressing mix over each bowl of pretzels.
3.  Pour half of the popcorn oil over each of the bowls of powdered pretzels.
4.  Mix the ingredients well.
5.  Important part!  Continue to mix the ingredients on 15 minute intervals for at least an hour.  For example, after the initial mixing, wait 15 minutes, mix again, wait 15 minutes, mix again, wait 15 minutes, mix again... and so on.  This is important because the pretzels will slowly absorb the oil/powder mixture, while they sit some of the mixture will gather at the bottom of the bowl, so during the next round of mixing the oil/powder mixture from the bottom of the bowl continues to coat the pretzels with its' buttery ranch deliciousness :)
6. If you are not planning on serving the pretzels immediately, simply transfer them back into the bags you saved from the beginning and seal with a chip clip until your ready to serve!  They will stay good for up to two weeks if properly sealed and stored.

I dare you to try to eat just one!  Enjoy!

First Stitch Fix Review

I have been receiving monthly Stitch Fixes since May of 2013, however, I did take a 3 month break during my pregnancy.  I discovered Stitch Fix while reading various blogs and immediately signed up.  My wardrobe was in desperate need of something exciting and new.  What is great about Stitch Fix is that you receive items that you might not even glance at in a retail store.  Here is a quick description of what Stitch Fix is, I pulled it directly from their website - "Stitch Fix is the first fashion retailer to blend expert styling, proprietary technology and unique product to deliver a shopping experience that is truly personalized for you. Simply fill out the Stitch Fix Style Profile and our personal stylists will handpick a "Fix" of five clothing items and accessories unique to your taste, budget and lifestyle. You can buy what you like and return the rest!"

How do you get yours?  Follow the simple steps below:

1.  CLICK HERE to be taken to their website to start the process.

2.  Fill out your Style Profile - This is really fun.  Just keep in mind that some items can be a bit expensive, so it is best to select that you prefer lower priced items if you are a bargain shopper like me.  Lower price does not mean lower quality, I always get high quality items at the lower price points which typically range from $30-$70.  Also, in your style profile, they give you the option to link your profile up directly with one of your Pinterest account.  I have a Pinterest board called "If I Were Stylish..." and I just linked that right up and my stylist is able to see some of the styles, colors, and fits I tend to gravitate towards.

3.  Pick the date that you would like to receive your first fix - This service is great because you can choose a date further in the future and you will also be able to opt out of the monthly fixes at any time just like I did during my pregnancy.

4. Receive your fix - This is THE BEST part.  You receive a super cute box containing five items selected especially for you!  They also include styling cards for each item with suggestions and photos on how to pair the items with clothes you might already have in your wardrobe.  Definitely do this, trust me, there were a couple items that I tried on and decided right away that I didn't like them.  But then I decided to stop being lazy and actually try to pair the item up as they suggest, and voila!, an item that I might not have kept instantly became one of my new favorite pieces to wear.

5.  Decide what you'd like to keep - To receive your box you pay a $20 styling fee.  This $20 styling fee is then applied to your final purchase as a credit.  You just sign-in to your stitch fix account and complete the checkout process.  If you decide to keep all five pieces, you will get an additional  25% discount on all five items.  If there are items that you have decided not to keep, no problem, just seal them up in the pre-paid mailing bag and drop them off at the post office!

During the checkout process, you can give your stylist plenty of feedback on what you liked and/or disliked about your fix.  You can also let them know what you might like to see more or less of in your fixes.  For example, I was attending a few weddings last summer and requested to have one of my fixes include dresses only, and when I was getting further into my pregnancy I requested larger items and tunics that I could easily wear throughout my pregnancy.

If you are still unsure about Stitch Fix, no worries, I will be sure to continue to review my fixes here for your viewing pleasure.

Here is my May Stitch Fix review:

Please ignore my bad mirror selfie taking skills and cropping my own head off.  I had just gotten out of the shower, my son was napping behind me in his rock 'n play, and I was rushing to try items on before heading to daycare and work.

This top was okay.  It was comfortable, classy, but just underwhelming.  Heading into the summer months I am looking for something a little brighter and colorful to add to my wardrobe.  I decided not to keep this item.  This item was priced at $48.

 I love this color.  This top was super sheer and comfortable.  I loved the key-hole, the cut, and length of the shirt, BUT, I had an issue with how it flared out around my mid-section.  Although it hid my trouble areas, it really just didn't lay well against my body.  I decided not to keep this item.  This item was priced at $48.

I knew I would love this skirt the moment I saw it!  I am a sucker for anything maxi and love the jersey material.  You can't really tell in the picture but the skirt is a darker cobalt blue with white stripes.  I love the fit and feel of this skirt and it will be great for the summer.  I decided to keep this item.  This item was priced at $58.

This dress was beautiful.  The color was so vibrant.  It was jersey material and super comfortable.  Only problem for me was that it was about 10 inches too long and way too big for me up top.  This dress would look great on a tall and tan beauty :)  I decided not to keep this item.  This item was priced at $78.

This print is so amazing.  The pictures really don't do this dress justice as it has so many different colors.  I had issues with this dress with the overall fit.  It was too large for me up top so the material bunched just above the tight waistline for me.  The bottom of the dress was also an awkward length on me, just a bit too long.  Hopefully I will get a similar dress in a future fix, I had a hard time letting this one go.  I decided not to keep this item.  This item was priced at $68.

Hopefully you all can experience your first Stitch Fix in the near future.  Happy Shopping!

*Note:  The opinions and statements above are entirely my own.  I am in no way affiliated with Stitch Fix and have not been compensated for this post & review.  I am just a big 'ol fan of Stitch Fix.