Bundt Cakes Galore

Recently I went to an attic sale and purchased the cake pan shown above.  Now, I have an obsession with making bundt cakes.  Seriously, I have made three in a week and a half.  Yikes, I need help.

I have been using this chocolate bundt cake recipe from Joy the Baker.  If you have never looked at this blog, you certainly should.  The cake is delicious, but I did find one thing wrong with the recipe.  The first time I made it, the cake was way too dry.  The next time I added about 1/2 cup more of coffee and more chocolate chips and it was perfect.  

The third time I made this recipe (I know, embarrassing), I made a chocolate ganache to put on top.  It was decadent, but incredibly rich.  If you are a chocolate lover, I recommend, like Emeril would say "kicking it up a notch" with the ganache. 

Cash

There has been a new addition added to the family!  This sweet lovable pup, deemed Cash, joined our family a week ago.  He is some sort of Australian Shepard/Border Collie Mix, meaning he is extremely handsome.  Our house has exponentially been busier, but much more fun and active at the same time.  Boone is still adjusting...

Life

Here is a quick glimpse into our crazy lives the past two weeks... Basically all I have done besides work.

Super fast and delicious pasta recipe.

Mouth watering cookies- add chocolate chips!

The book I am currently reading.

Current series we are watching.

An alternative to alfredo.  Yes, more pasta.

Trying to think of an anniversary gift, year two.

And yes, already thinking about homemade Christmas gift ideas...

Newman Farms

We built a garden.  A raised bed to be exact.  Here is what we planted: Broccoli, radishes, spinach, carrots, and mixed lettuces.  It has only been a week, and we already have broccoli micro-greens!  If all goes well we should have some veggies for the picking by late fall.

Vacation

Me oh my, it has been a long time since my last post!  To catch you up on our life, we were away from July 3 to basically July 21, traveling all around the Carolinas. Two weeks ago, I officially took over my new role at work, so I'm putting in a lot of hours at the office.  Last Monday Andrew started his first class. Between studying and work, we have not had much time for anything else.

Now back to our trip. We started down in Figured 8 island with Andrew's family, and then our dear friends from Memphis came to the beach to visit us for the week.  Once our stay at the beach was over we headed to Lake James to spend a few days in the NC mountains with my family.  After arriving home for a day, I headed to HHI to spend the weekend with friends from Clemson.  It was a busy yet restful few weeks, but we are glad to finally get back into the routine of life. Here are a few pictures from our trip....

Beach Bound

This Wednesday Andrew and I head to the beach...woohoooo!

I couldn't be more thrilled because we have about two weeks worth of vacation back to back.  To be honest, this vacation is much needed after our recent move to Charlotte and all the transitions and stress that moved with us.

So I have beach on the mind, and here are a few things I have been thinking about....

A check list for the beach.

How to control my wild beach hair.

Nail polish.

7 tips for staying healthy while traveling.

Picture found here:

Father's Day

What did you do for Father's Day?  We had a pleasant visit and lunch with my parents, and brother, Greg.  My dad requested a lemon meringue pie, so that was my gift to him.

I used the recipe from The Back in the Day Bakery cookbook.  This adorable bakery is in Savannah, Georgia and the owners happen to be friends of Paula Dean...so you know it is both delicious/full of BUTTTTTTEEEERRR.

Happy Father's Day to my father-in-law!!  Sorry we didn't get to see you  :(

And thank you to my friend Shelley for providing the stache straws, they were the perfect addition.