Chellisms

White Christmas!

Yay!

Oh oh oh!

Happy Christmas to all!

All of the presents have been opened and the kids are enjoying their spoils.

Tim surprised me this morning with news that he had the day off. Originally he was supposed to go in for his regular schedule, from 2PM to 11PM, but in the end he worked it out and is spending the day with us. I sent Tim on a scavenger hunt for his gift this morning, up and down the stairs he went and up a block to mom's house for the final clue. He was surprised and excited, that is the best part for me. To be able to surprise him with something is the best gift.

Pete got into the spirit as well and surprised my mom with a new wedding ring. She was really very surprised.

Okay, it's a bit blurry. She was so excited and hopping around that I couldn't get a clear shot.

Even the cats got in on the action. Max wasn't too interested but Madison thought it was great.

I am off to celebrate and eat good food, the prime rib is in the oven and the potatoes are ready to be mashed.

I hope that your day is as wonderful as can be. Happy Holidays to all!

Christmas Overload

I have gotten a few e-mails asking about whether or not we are really canceling Christmas. I would very much like to tell you yes. But I was vetoed by the man. I am not exactly sure why he is adamant we have a Christmas. He hates every bit of it. He did his shopping on Friday, waiting until the last moment as usual. Because I bought the Nintendo's so long ago I can not return them at this point, had I still been able to return them I would have and just started over.

While Christmas has been reinstated it has not been added to. It was left as is, same presents under the tree. Same decorations, nothing new has been added since that post. The below picture also includes presents for my mom and Pete, presents from Ashley Glen and Ethan, and presents from Lisa and John.

Look, no present overload.

Or should I say there was no present overload until Friday evening when I came home to discover that the UPS man had left 2 large boxes on my doorstep. Boxes from my dad and G. The girls always send then a list of ideas, this years list has 7 items on it. Total.

Somehow, somewhere someone got carried away...

Smooth Pants

Bailey came home from school singing a new Christmas song:

Grandma's gonna smooth the pants off of Santa...

Once I got done laughing I assured her that she had to be wrong. Either that or her kindergarten teacher is teaching things that I am sure are against standard curriculum. Heh.

Carrot Cake Duplication

Is today only Tuesday? It sure feels like a Thursday. I think I have accomplished more in the last 2 days than I did all last week. Then again, maybe if I had accomplished more last week I wouldn't be rushing around this week.

The girls and I have been putting together baskets for their teachers. We have spent the last two days running around gathering ingredients and baking, mini carrot cakes and fudge. Oh, and Borders gift cards. They have to have something to read while they induce a sugar coma.

Moving right along.

This carrot cake recipe is one that I have been working on for awhile. A few years ago while working for a mortgage company in CA I made a wonderful friend, Monica, whose sister makes the best carrot cake I had ever tasted. Since moving away from Lucy and her cake of carrot-y goodness I have tried numerous recipes, most of them pitiful replicas that came nowhere near hers. This time I think I may have gotten it.

Carrot Cake

Cake Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2 cups shredded carrots

1cup vegetable oil

8 oz crushed pineapple, drained well

3/4 cup golden raisins

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

4. Add in eggs, carrots, oil, pineapple, raisins and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

5. Pour into pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center come out clean.

6. To make the frosting: cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

7. Cool cake and frost.

8. Eat copious amounts.

Okay a few side notes. As you can see from the above picture I did not use a 9 x 13 inch pan. I used two Wilton mini-bundt pans. Each has 6 baking cups, so I have a total of 12 mini-cakes. I kept the temperature the same but cut my baking time to about 25 minutes. I began checking them after 20 minutes, I had one pan filled with a bit more batter so they of course took slightly longer.

You can definitely add nuts in, 1 cup of walnuts added in with the wet ingredients work well. You can also add in coconut, 1 cup added in with the wet ingredients. Tim hates nuts and I hate coconut, so that's where we stand on that.

Tim thinks mine need more frosting. He prefers the frosting taste in every bite, I am more of a purist and want mostly cake. Either way they are delicious. The cake itself is moist, the raisins give it a slight crunch that the addition of nuts would also give and the pineapple gives it a bit of oomph.

There are currently 4 left in my kitchen and they are calling my name. I think that means I need to go upstairs fast, before my willpower starts lacking.