2012: Just Getting Started

The new year is a new opportunity to try new things! Shane and I started the new year with a new meal that I stole from Marissa's Blog (originally from Pioneer Woman). 

And with a few free days before school started I also FINALLY tried a cake recipe from the blog Love and Olive Oil- Banana Praline Cake w/White Chocolate Ganache Frosting! 

Here are some pics below: 

Shane took care of making the zucchini cakes

He fried them up after shredding the zucchini and mixing it all up!!

We cooked up some gfree pasta and added some fresh tomato to the pasta and pesto cream sauce. 

 It was delicious and almost made us late for our movie that night!

I was so excited to use my new 6 inch cake pans from my mom to make a "mini" cake. It's hard to justify making an entire layer cake for just two people, but a mini cake doesn't make me feel too bad  : ) (even though there is still have of it sitting in our fridge!)

And so the Gluten Free Version of the Banana Praline Cake w/White Chocolate Ganache Begins! 

 My 6 inch Wilton Pans

 The Cake batter and praline and frosting ingredients.

 While the cakes baked I boiled the pecans to prep them for "sugaring"

 Drying. . . 

After drying they are coated in powdered sugar. . . 

Then fried "til starting to brown". . . 

 This was confusing for me since pecans are already brown! I burned a batch and had to start back at square one..... : ( 

Sugared "Praline" Pecans

Now time to start the Ganache

 The whipped cream for the "ganache"

I used a food processor to grind up the sugared pecans. These were then added to a portion of the frosting to make the praline filling for each layer. 

 The hardest part for me is being patient while the cakes cool-they finally did and I was finally ready to assemble the cake! 

 The White Chocolate Ganache (slash whip creamed) frosting was to die for, and I could have eaten it all by itself!

 FINISHED!!!!!

 Shane laughed at me when I finally finished decorating it and exclaimed "If this cake isn't love I don't know what is!" Simply meaning- a LOT of love went into this little cake : ) 

 It was hard to wait til after dinner to try it-but it was worth the wait! 

 So glad I was able to try this recipe-it was well worth the time and effort. We rang in the new year with some great food-that is for sure! 

 Though it was sad, today I finally put away "Christmas"

Not my favorite part of the new year. 

 I finally made a trip to Michaels to grab some supplies (and hopefully inspiration) to finish the craft I began with my mom and sisters over break. ( I was pretty excited because most of it was on sale!)

 These yarn balls were the original embellishments I had made for my large wreath-but no one seemed a big fan of the combo-and to be honest it would have been hard to fasten them. 

 I also had my mini wreath to worry about as well....

 I started by making felt "rosettes"-they were okay, but didn't quite match up to the quality of Racquel's. 

 I simultaneously worked on painting a small wooden "W" to finish off the brown wreath. 

 A little twine and some hot glue and I had one down : ) 

 I started with fastening the first large felt rose and figured I would add as I went ....(and yes that is a coffee pot filter under the glue gun-we have a whole bag that don't fit our coffee maker-so I try and find random ways to use them-haha)

 Since it is still winter, the pinecones were looking like a good option. 

Finished Product! - Looking forward to switching it out with our Christmas Wreath. 

Product that I'm loving right now: Nature's Wick candle. Shane bought this for me as one of my stocking stuffers and we both have loved this candle!! The smell is amazing, but not only that, if  you can see from the picture it has a different kind of wick (it looks like a tiny flat piece of wood) and it crackles like a burning fire.

Definitely savoring this great gift! 

 

Shane and I are back in the swing of things with school (We started on Monday, the students arrived Tuesday, and yet it still felt like an extra long week!) We are hoping our bodies will start to readjust as we plow through what we hope will be a short mild winter down here in Georgia! 

-M.W.