Rum Cake

I know it isn't exactly the season for rum cake but this one is so good you could eat it spring, summer, fall and winter!

Recipe adapted from Golden Rum Cake by Jackie Smith

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup of each of the following: veggie oil, water and darkkkk rum!

Glaze

1/2 cup of butter

1/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup dark rum

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Combine both mixes and add in the eggs, water, oil and rum. Pour batter into bundt pan. Bake for 1 hour! Let it cool.

To make the glaze, combine butter, water and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue stirring and boil for 5minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup dark rum.

  \

The best way to add the glaze is to poke holes through the bottom of the cake while it is still in the pan. Pour half the glaze over cake bottom. The holes let the glaze seep through the cake and soak it in. Pop cake out of bundt pan and pour remaining glaze on top, let it set to cool before serving.

***I have no patience, the cake smelled delicious and I assumed all things taste better straight out of the oven. But if you try eating it before it cools completely be prepared. All you can taste is the alcohol. Remember, the cake tastes better the longer you let it cool!!!



Up-cycled swimsuit

I purchased a really cute swimsuit before Brandon and I went to the Caribbean a few years ago and was so disappointed by the design and fit of the triangle top. I only wore it twice over the past three years. I knew what I didn't like about it and I thought I could fix it up and I DID!

The turquoise was attached by clear plastic thread.  The bead was too long for the top and made the two pieces very spread apart, which made the coverage terrible. I was always looking down to make sure I didn't pop out.

I had some earrings that I had only worn a few times and a really cute bracelet with charms that matched the same metallic from the clasps on the bikini top.

I used the hook off of the earring to secure the two triangles together.

I took this charm off the bracelet and attached it to the clasp. I love the way it turned out and am finally able to wear it!

Bead detail from the swim bottoms.

Letter craft

I started with the 'W's all over the house. They sell these wood cut-out's at hobby lobby for next to nothing and I bought some decorative scrapbooking paper to cover them with and then also did one in corks.

The cork 'W' took more time than I expected. I wanted to use real corks and not the foamy ones so it took some time sorting them. I also wanted to include some of the corks from our favorite wines and ones that were more decorative so the overall design took a little longer than I thought.

Coleus!

I am in love with the beautiful lime greens and deep burgundies of the coleus plant. It is very easy to grow in shaded areas, was on sale at work ($1.98 for a six pack!) and goes great with my new pot! I paired it with a green and white caladium and some dracena spikes, voila!

Hungry

I started blogging because I thought I would have a lot to write about. I guess my life just isn't that interesting!

It hasn't been days or weeks, it has been MONTHS since I last got on here and wrote something *shame on me.*

To sum things up...

                                                        I went on vacation to the coast

 My boyfriend became an uncle(the lil guy tagged along to the coast),

My best fran came to visit, we thought it would be cool to take artsy photos of my roommates art @ 2am

and of the bottle we were working on...

I made out of this world jalapeno cornbread

Took a boat ride on lake Austin

         I bought some purdy plants for fall!

I'm off today, still in my pj's (gasp!), thinking about dinner and what to cook and dreading going to the store because I know I'm gonna spend big bucks!

That's actually why I wanted to post something today. Have you ever been stuck when it comes to dinner? When you're just not sure what to cook? I usually call my mom first-we crave the same things, creepy. Her hubby is diabetic so sometimes her dinners don't sound to exciting. So you're stuck, chicken or beef, which veggies to serve, what sides, etc. Skimming through food blogs will answer any questions! I love to check out the blogs or websites and see what everyone else is making, it's better than flipping through a Martha Stewart mag or an old recipe book because A: it's free! B: someone out there really really made this and took pictures of it and was so happy and proud of it they decided to post it online for strangers to gawk and salivate over! C: There are endless amounts of blogs!

Here are a couple to get you started! Tastespotting.com, Foodess.com, Foodgawker.com, Melskitchencafe.com, Healthygreenkitchen.com, Thismommycooks.blogspot.com, Tastykitchen.com, Lovinintheoven.com...I could go on but these are just a few to get you hungry!

Doesn't this sound good? http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/acorn-squash-with-wild-rice-pilaf-and-polska-kielbasa/

Creeping Jenny

     Unfortunately for me, I work at a home improvement store. It's not that I don't like the job, or the people, or the hours. It's unfortunate because I end up spending down time making shopping lists of what we need next for the house and the yard, it's usually really bad when I go into the garden section of the store and see all of the plants and the people that come to buy them. The little old ladies are the best customers because they're experts at matching plants up for their yards and I've learned to take notes. I have also discovered that even though flowering plants are stunning when they bloom they're done for after the last flower falls off. I especially dislike roses. They can be a real pain if they get diseases or bugs. So I've learned to appreciate the succulents and accent plants that aren't fussy. I found one today that I really love

Creeping Jenny! ha ha

Sampson thinks they look fab

One of my projects, four varieties of basil. Lemon is the best so far!

My awesome humming bird feeder. I love that it's glass instead of plastic, I just hope it never breaks!



Homemade Potato Salad

One of my favvvvorite vegetables is the potato because the possiblities are endless, mashed potatoes, french fries, scalloped potatoes, baked potatoes (loaded please!) hashbrowns, ...endless They are also a great side to any meal.  For dinner the other night we grilled some thinly sliced pork cutlets in Jerk Sauce. Jerk Sauce is a Jamaican marinade that is really flavorful and usually spicy. If you've ever tried the Jamaican Jerk Sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings, you'll know what I'm talking about. But, thankfully for us, the one that we bought is very mild and slightly sweeter.  Because we live in Texas, bbq beans and homemade potato salad were the first choice for sides and they worked out great!


Ingredients:

10 medium sized pototes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup of mayonaise
4 tbs yellow mustard
2 hard boiled eggs
1/3 cup onion roughly chopped
1/4 cup of hamburger pickle slices, chopped
4 tbs pickle juice
2 tbs coarse black pepper
salt to taste

Feel free to tweak this as need be, I ended up adding more mayo and mustard the last time I made this!
Potatoes...lots of potatoes

Onion, Pickles and Eggs

The good stuff, just discovered Duke's Mayo recently and I'll never go back to Helmann's, RIP!

First you'll need a medium/large pot to boil the potatoes in until they are fork tender but not mushy, it will take around 10-15mins once the water is boiling. Drain the potatoes and let them cool.  In a small pot you can boil the eggs, I only used two. Set them aside to cool once they are cooked.

For the dressing use a large bowl and start with the mayo and mustard, add the salt and pepper, onions, pickles and juice. When the eggs are ready you can peel them and slice them up roughly, toss them in. The potatoes need to be room temp or cooler before you add them into the dressing, if they still aren't cool you can run them under cold water. Once they are completely cooled and drained you can add them into the dressing. It's ready to serve but if you want it cold, cold, cover and refridgerate for an hour before serving.

This was such a fast and simple potato salad recipe and it would be hard to mess it up, if you've never tried making it yourself, give it a shot! I will never be buying the ready made store stuff again! Make it the day before you're planning on serving it, the onion flavor comes out more the longer it sits and it's extra tasty the next day.