Joy in the Kitchen!

If you like German Chocolate Cake topping, you will like the topping for this delicious oatmeal cake!   My Dad joins us for dinner every Sunday and I've enjoyed making some dinners and desserts that my Mom used to make.  This Oatmeal Cake is one of those desserts that I remember Mom making on special occasions as I was growing  up.  We often had it in addition to pies at Thanksgiving dinner, and it was a cake she took to pot luck dinners.   The topping for this is carmeley and full of nuts and coconut.  The cake is a bit heavier and moist.   Personally I count this cake as a health food considering the oats, cream, and eggs that are involved here. :) Total mixing and baking time, including the topping that you put back in the oven, is around one hour.  Time well spent! Mom's Oatmeal Cake 1 1/2 C. boiling water 1/2 C. butter 1 C. uncooked quick oats Mix together, cover pan and set aside for 10 minutes. Mix together the following dry ingredients: 1 C. white

Happy Valentine's Day!   I decided to bake cookies to decorate for my family for Valentine's Day this year.  I usually make sugar cookies but I don't always do more than slather frosting across them and sprinkle with pretties.  Sometimes I have time and it's fun to make them pretty - my girls who are 11 & 13 and my granddaughter who is 7 will LOVE these. (and I'm pretty sure my sons and grandson won't pass up a cookie just because it's pink and prettied up!) I used to work with Shirley at a restaurant years ago.  She was like a second Mom to me for several years as we worked and chatted together several evenings a week.  One year for my birthday she gave me a Dough Disc which you can see HERE  .   It's a plastic disc with a cotton cover that you slip on when you're ready to roll dough.  It works AMAZING!  Holds the flour nicely and when you're finished you just shake it in the trash & toss the cover in the laundry.  ANYWAY, along

I love the frosting on German Chocolate Cake.  So carmeley and nutty and sticky and wonderful!  I needed to make some cupcakes for a birthday today and since there was no school, my girls had fun helping.   I love having the kids help in the kitchen.  They always want to to the fun stuff  like cracking eggs, or measuring sugar, or stirring.  I hardly EVER have a child beg me to help with the dishes or put ingredients away.  Hmmm...  For this recipe we needed 3 egg yolks.  My friend sent me a link to a video that showed an innovative way to separate eggs, and though I think just using the shell is easy enough, we gave this new method a try, just to see.  It was fun!    You can find that video HERE .  Essentially, you just crack an egg into a bowl and use an empty water bottle to suck the egg yolks up out of the whites.  It was pretty easy as long as you didn't break the yolk while cracking the egg.   Here are a few pictures of our trial...  Cool trick, right?!  Who