I......

Have a headache.

want to go bake something yummy but need to lose 10 pounds.

have been trying to work out everyday.

Have to much laundry to do.

Still want to drive through that mud puddle.

Want to jack up my truck so I can drive through the mud puddle.

Want to go shopping, but don't see any cute clothes to buy yet, hope its not a bad year for fashion.

Wish I wasn't so tired.

Wish I could read books at night and not fall asleep.

Am the camp leader for our ward this year! Don't know what I'm doing, but I love camp.

Try to do natural and organic foods.

I died my hair to get rid of the out grown highlights.

cant get my Serger working right so I haven't been able to sew anything on my long list of "things I want to sew".

Wish I had a horse to ride.

Wish my kids would pick up after themselves.

I wish Justin and I could go out on dates everyday :) I love him so much!

Wish my kids wouldn't be so picky when it comes to food.

Hate that the songs on cartoons get stuck in my head all day!

Wonder what animal the purple one is on the Backyardigans?

Cant wait to get our new little puppy. (Feb. 14, love day!)

Wonder if anyone would notice if I threw half the stuff we own away???

Hates that the baby poops every time we are at DI(Annalyses after school thing) never fails!

Want Madden to be done with teething, he is taking the longest time-EVER! He has 6 on top and 2 on bottom! And were 20 months! Common dude! your killing me at night!

Need to get the garden going.

Need to get my house organized, its driving me insane!

Justin needs to finish projects that are driving me nuts cause there not done!

Cant wait until we get our driveway paved next month, then the kids can ride there bikes on it! And I can roller blade on it!

Need to update my blog roll, so many cool blogs I have found.

Wonder if I am the only one who has to write down all the random things rambling in my head!

Wonder how long I can make this list?

Think I'll stop for now.

O.K......here it is!

Now that I know ya'll are still out there I will share the recipe!! Thanks for all of you who commented! Us bloggers LOVE comments!

The Cake
1/4 cup butter butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup canola oil
4 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finally chopped
3 cups sugar
3/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs, at room temp.
3/4 cup buttermilk, room temp.
2 Tbs. vanilla extract
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Butter 3 9x2-inch cake pans and line each with parchment paper. butter the parchment, then dust with flour and knock out the excess.
In 3-quart saucepan, combine the butter, oil, chopped chocolate, and 1 cup water. Heat over medium heat until melted.
In large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, and the cocoa powder. Pour the hot chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture and whisk until combined.
Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, then whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Divide the batter evenly among the pans.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean.
Cool on racks for ten minutes. Invert the cakes onto the racks, remove the parchment, and cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting
6oz good semisweet chocolate
2 sticks 1/2 pound butter, at room temp.
1 extra large egg yolk, at room temp.
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 Tablespoon instant coffee powder (optional)

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
In the bowl of am electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on med. speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.
*you can use any good semisweet chocolate, but don't use chocolate chips because they contain stabilizers.*


Homemade Marshmallows
3 1/4-oz envelopes unflavored powdered gelatin
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 Tbs. confectioners' sugar; more as needed

Poor 3/4 cup cold water into bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Attach the bowl mixer and fit it with the whisk attachment.
Clip a candy thermometer to a 3-quart saucepan; don't let the tip of the thermometer touch the bottom of the pan. In the saucepan, boil the the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and the 3/4 cup water over medium heat without stirring until it reaches 234 degrees to 235, about 10 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin in a slow, thin stream.
add the vanilla, carefully increase the speed to high, and beat until the mixture has thickened and cooled, about 5 minutes(the bottom of the bowl should be just warm to the touch). Line a 9x13-inch pan with foil, leaving an overhang on 2 sides. sift 1 Tbs. of the confectioners' sugar into the bottom of the pan, then pour the marshmallow mixture into the pan and sift another 1 Tbs. confectioners' sugar on top. let sit at room temperature until set, at least 2 hours.
When cutting the marshmallows, dip your knife into cold water after each cut, then put the marshmallows in a bowl of confectioners' sugar and toss to coat the sticky sides. Wrapped well the leftover marshmallows will keep at room temperature for up to a month.

No one likes me!

Cause no one ever leaves me comments! If no one loves me I won't post the triple chocolate cake with homemade marshmallow recipe!

Today

It has been raining ALL day.

I stayed in the kitchen and made ww bread, two kinds of Artisan bread dough for later in the week.

Graham crackers, that didn't turn out so I wont be posting that recipe any time soon!

And some granola.

Put some stew in the crock pot.

My house is a mess but we have yummy bread!

The baby is taking a nice long nap and I am lost in blog land.

My older two children are at there cousins so it is very quiet, almost weird.

Trying to decide if I should go take a shower and get dressed or just wait and take a nice bubble bath later and put different Jammie's on, just how long can one wear the same pj's? Did I mention there was no school today or Monday? Nice long weekend baby!

I actually watched a show during the day that wasn't cartoons.

Good day today. Cant wait to get my babies home, have some comforting warm stew and bread and watch a good movie! have a Fab weekend ya'll!

Fudgy Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup butter softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar (optional)


Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin cups with paper bake cups.
2.In large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla until well blended. Add applesauce, blend well.
3.In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and cinnamon, if desired. Add to butter mixture, blending well. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with batter.
4.Bake at 350 degrees F. for 22 to 26 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool slightly in pan on wire rack. Sprinkle muffin tops with confectioners' sugar, if desired. Serve warm.

I don't know how many chocolate recipes this makes but these were really good, and they have applesauce in them so how bad can they be!?

Pesto Pasta with Chicken

This is a throw together dish!
I just cook up some pasta, any shape will do, whatever you have, mix it if you don't have enough of one. Add some already made pesto, or you could make your own if you have lots of fresh basil around, here is a simple recipe for one. Toss in some leftover chicken, or you could cook some breasts up and chop them up. Sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese and tomatoes and your good to go, if you wanted you could pop this in the broiler to melt the cheese. and if your rich and can afford pine nuts they are awesome in here, its just like the dish at EZ's, only it didn't cost you $8 a bowl!

Gimmie a Piece of that Peanut Butter Cake!

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup coarsely chopped miniature chocolate-covered peanut butter cup candies

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom and side of 9-inch round cake pan or 8-inch square pan with shortening; lightly flour.
2. In medium bowl, beat all ingredients except candies with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan. Sprinkle with candies.
3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm or cool.
I had to try one before putting up the recipe so I could tell you if the were good or not, they are fab-u-peanut butter-lishous! And next time I will do MORE Reeses and bigger chunks!
So fast to put together to!

Instead of a Christmas Card I do a New Years Letter

Happy New Year Ya’ll!
January 2010
Another year has flown by and time for our annual letter.
This last year was a good one for us. One of the main things that happened this year was Annalyse’s baptism in July, a very special time for the whole family. She is maturing faster than I can keep up with. She is learning to play the piano and got a nice keyboard for Christmas to hopefully keep that talent alive. She is doing excellent in school and is in an after school program called Destination Imagination, which I somehow ended up being the leader of. She is such a great help around the house and loves to cook and bake just like her Mamma.
Zander is our 4 year old who is all boy to the core. He and Madden play boy stuff all day long, shooting, wrestling, cars, transformers, heroes, you name it and they play it. It sometimes ends in a bunch of ”I’m sorry’s” or ”I didn’t mean to”, but they are good pals and I am glad they have each other to play with. Zander is also attending pre-school this year and loves it. His teacher is a good friend of ours so he is always excited to go, and he gets his backpack ready at least 3 hours before it is time to leave. He is learning very quickly and can spell his name and count really well. I can’t believe he will start kinder in the fall. He also cracks us up daily with his cute since of humor, like buying hillbilly buck teeth out of a vending machine.
Madden J, what can I say, he is the sweetest little Mamma’s boy! Thinks he can do anything his older brother can do, like jumping off things or wrestling the older kids. He is such a happy child and goes with the flow. He does however have a temper at certain times but I think he is just trying to find his place in the family and let us know that he is part of it to! He is growing up way to fast and I am trying to savor every moment because I know the terrible 2’s and 3’s are around the corner.
Justin is still an IT manager at USAA and loves it, says it’s hard but he likes a challenge. He is running the auto insurance development part which keeps him quite busy. He is still building his Jeep, he was off for 2 weeks during the holiday and was able to work on it quite a bit, I think they were able to get the engine to turn over. I know not the most exciting news but it’s a milestone for him! I just can’t wait until it is finished so I can drive it through some huge mud puddle!! He also keeps busy building things for the house, he made some built in bookshelf in the office, shelves in the pantry and any other little things I need for the house.
As for Me? I keep very busy with the kids and house, trying to keep it under control. I am excited to get my sewing done on my new Serger I got for Christmas. I am now learning how to sew clothes for the kids and having fun doing cute projects I had been bookmarking throughout the year. A big accomplishment for me this year was that I got my chickens and kept them alive; I am now getting eggs from all 8 of them. I am working on making a homestead, up next this year is a garden that the dear don’t eat, wish me luck on that one!
We had a wonderful 2009 and hope 2010 is just as good, and we hope all of you have a great year as well, we are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in our life, wishing you the very best.
Love the Horton Family

This for all of you who I don't have an address for!

Cold Weather

This is not snow or ice that we got this was scraped off an ice skating rink!

*Us Texans are weenies when the weather gets below 40 degrees*

*This has been the coldest winter ever!*

*My mud puddle is/was frozen over for two days*

*The pipes in the well house froze over even with the heat lamp on in there*

*We had no water Saturday morning cause Justin forgot to turn on the water in the house*

*We are just not set up for so many freezing days*

*We celebrated our 12th Anniversary after we got running water in the house!*

*We have loved the last 12 years of being together!*

*getting kids dressed to go out when it is freezing is very time consuming, not to mention you dirty lots more clothes!*

*I don't like to be cold*

*If it is going to be super cold I want there to be snow to play in*

*I think I'm done complaining*

Alrighty then

We will now go back to our regularly scheduled programing. The Holidays were fun and great but I'm glad were getting back to our regular routine. Justin went back to work today so that already feels back to the norm, I love having him home but it throws me off my routine cause all I want to do his hang out with him, but all he wants to do his get things done around the house that he never has the time to do(oh and game ever spare minute he has!). It was great to have him home for 2 weeks though. I kept trying to find some time to blog about all the pictures I posted but I was to busy trying to get the house in order after Christmas and visitors it kinda got trashed. So now I have a few minutes to explain some of the photos!
My Brother Simon and his wife Tierra came down to spend Christmas with us I felt so special that they wanted to spend it with me and my crazy brood. We had a wonderful time going down town San Antonio, seeing the Alamo, the wax museum, and Ripley's believe it or not, that's some of the weird pictures you see. Christmas was beautiful and fast, Tierra likes to saver ever moment(as do I) But my children were to excited that they tore into everything and had it over in about 10 minutes. They got so many wonderful things, as did I ;)
Now the pool??? well we had a very strong wind storm Christmas eve and it blow it down!! Justin and Simon had to take the walls down so it wouldn't get to ruined. That thing as been such a pain in the butt! I really really really hope we can be able to put it back up come spring.
We also went to Fredricksburg TX, a quaint little German town with lots of cool little shops to look at, I had the best time! It was awesome weather, shopping, and my family, couldn't ask for a better day. Zander, he is so funny, we went to this ice cream shop and he saw those little gum ball machines with the toys in them and wanted to get something really bad, so we scraped 50 cents together and he went to get it. When he came back to the table he was wearing these crazy hillbilly teeth! He cracks me up everyday! So the pictures of him and weird teeth are the buck teeth he got, he has a thing for those kinda things, he went crazy for some vampire ones at Halloween time. We let the kids play at the park and ware off all the ice cream and then they slept the whole way home!!
As for new years we did nothing, zilch, Nada, hung around and watched movies all day, which wouldn't have been that bad if we hadn't been doing that all week!! Then I came down with a nasty sinus infection and was out the rest of the weekend. Today is Monday and I am feeling soo much better and ready for these monkeys to start school!! I will try to put up the recipes for some of the stuff I made over Christmas, like the marshmallows and hot chocolate. Oh! and did you see the triple layer chocolate cake with homemade marshmallows on top???? Yea we had a rocky start but it turned out and was so chocolaty good!!! Oh and I was reading in an alternative medicine book that dark chocolate is good for coughing, who knew? One more reason to love chocolate I guess!