Fair Warning to Be Careful With Recipe Searches

Our mom makes this absolutely delectable dessert called Candy Bar Cake. Needing a dessert for a gathering last night I googled "Candy Bar Cake recipe." None of the images that came up resembled what I was looking for, so I continued to allrecipes to do an ingredient search. I plugged in all the ingredients I could remember, devils food cake mix, sweetened condensed milk, toffee bars, caramel. And I was appalled at what I found. Let's just say to keep our blog at the desired G rating, I will not be telling you what the "s" stands for in "Better Than S-- Cake II." In-a-ppro-pri-ate is all I have to say. I should have just called my mom for the recipe. 

variation from recipe: while cake is still warm, poke holes with the dowel of a wooden spoon

I followed the suggestion to use twice the caramel and condensed milk in the recipe

topped with whipped topping and crushed milk chocolate toffee bars

The cake turned out delicious. It sat in the fridge for 24 hours soaked generously in caramel and sweetened condensed milk. It didn't survive long in the pan.

{CONFESSION: Okay, I knew what this cake was called the whole time. Our mouths would water when Mom would bring Candy Bar Cake to the table after Sunday dinner. Enough time since the last time we ate it would have passed that someone would say, "Isn't this really called Better Than Something cake?" censoring it for my little brother at the table as we all snickered a little. One time my brother piped up, probably eight or nine at the time and said, "I know what it's really called! Better Than Sugar Cake!" It was so cute. The name stuck. He's 16 now. Hope he doesn't kill me for telling this story. Love you little brother.}

DIY Cat Home

My husband and I recently adopted a sweet cat. When we first got her, we kept her in the guest bathroom. This was temporary, so after about a week, we moved her to the basement. We wanted her to feel it was her space, so we made our very own cat home!
We were so pleased with how it turned out, and Lady Bug (our cat) seems to really enjoy it.

First: Locate a futon (preferably an old one). You can look at the DI, Savers, Wal-mart, or your mom's basement. We got our futon from my husband's sister. She was getting rid of it, so we grabbed it! (Don't ever resist the opportunity to obtain a free futon.)
Second, buy a cat bed and blanket. We got our cat bed from Petsmart and the blanket came with Lady Bug when she was adopted. If you don't have a cat blanket, watch for upcoming tutorials on how to make them.

Third: Place the futon in the corner of the room you cat will be staying in.
Fourth: Place the bed in the desired place on the futon. (I chose to do it on the corner because cats seem to like corners.)
Fifth: Watch as you become your cat's new favorite person!
Note: Feel free to add your own twist! We put some toys on the futon and a scratching post next to it...express yourself and do what works for you and your cat.

Handy Car Paper (H.C.P.)

Handy  Car Paper

Recently my husband and I took a 40 hour car trip. I was put in charge of packing the car with supplies for our comfort. If I get a big response to this post, I can provide you with a list of all the things I put in our car. When faced with the decision of what to do for those little sneezes and runny noses that sometimes occur, I was perplexed. 

I don't know about you, but I did not want to spend that $2.53 on a box of kleenex! (We've got a turtle to feed.) Nor did I want to try and find a spot for that awkward shaped cardboard box! (We needed AMRAP <as much room as possible> for our trail mix and snap peas!) 

I thought over this dilemma for a good 48 seconds, when I really only had 47 to spare. (To read how I manage my time, click here.) Then, it hit me. I could use a common household item to solve my money and space issues! I ran to our storage closet and pulled out some toilet paper.  It wasn't Charmin, because my husband works at Walgreens and he had bought a different kind of toilet paper that was a better deal, but I'm sure that Charmin would have the same results.

What were the results?? Complete bliss for all of our nose needs. The "handy car paper" or H.C.P. as I like to call it, could squish so easily in between our gear shift and radio panel. Note that I did say squish. I had to put some effort into getting it in that spot. The nice thing was that as soon as I got it in there, it stayed put! As you can guess, when we used it, it got smaller in circumference, so it didn't fit there as snug, but we were okay with that. If it bothers you, you can try putting it other places once it gets to that point, like the jockey box, or the side pocket door, or under your seat! 

Next time you take a road trip, pack some H.C.P.! Words cannot express the accomplishment you feel when you can satisfy your loved one's car sniffles.

Meatballs?

The other day, I decided I wanted to try to make meatballs. I love meatballs, but I recently found out I have celiac disease. So, I found a recipe that uses rice and Chex instead of bread crumbs. Perfect solution! One slight mistake, if it calls for instant rice, it means instant rice. I decided to try to make the meatballs with regular rice. They stayed together great, they looked a little funny and they tasted AWFUL!! They tasted like uncooked rice, mixed with hamburger that wasn't seasoned enough. I love meatballs, but these were nasty. Better luck next time!