the OTHER girls...

Vacation 2013...

Girls...

Chocolate Eclair Cake

From Cook's Country

Why this recipe works:This no-bake dessert is typically made by layering a mixture of instant vanilla pudding and Cool Whip between graham crackers and topping it with chocolate frosting. We loved the convenience of these store-bought items, but our enthusiasm waned when confronted by their flavor. With a couple of easy techniques (a quick stovetop pudding, whipped cream, and a microwave-and-stir glaze) and very little active time, we produced a from-scratch version that easily trumped its inspiration.

From our TV Show Watch This Recipe Season 5: Fun Modern Cakes

Serves 15

You can use 6 ounces of finely chopped semisweet chocolate in place of the chips.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups whole milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• 5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 1/4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 2 3/4 cups heavy cream, chilled
• 14 ounces graham crackers
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 5 tablespoons light corn syrup

Instructions

• 1. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in large saucepan. Whisk milk into sugar mixture until smooth and bring to boil, scraping bottom with rubber spatula, over medium-high heat. Immediately reduce heat to medium-low and cook, continuing to scrape bottom, until thickened and large bubbles appear on surface, 4 to 6 minutes. Off heat, whisk in butter and vanilla. Transfer pudding to large bowl and place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding. Refrigerate until cool, about 2 hours.
• 2. Stir water and gelatin together in bowl and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Microwave until mixture is bubbling around edges and gelatin dissolves, 15 to 30 seconds. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip 2 cups cream on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Add gelatin mixture and whip until stiff peaks form, about 1 minute.
• 3. Whisk one-third whipped cream into chilled pudding, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream, 1 scoop at a time, until combined. Cover bottom of 13 by 9-inch baking dish with layer of graham crackers, breaking crackers as necessary to line bottom of pan. Top with half of pudding-whipped cream mixture (about 5 1/2 cups) and another layer of graham crackers. Repeat with remaining pudding-whipped cream mixture and remaining graham crackers.
• 4. Microwave chocolate chips, remaining 3/4 cup cream, and corn syrup in bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool glaze to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Cover graham crackers with glaze and refrigerate cake for 6 to 24 hours. Serve. (Éclair cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)

Two Keys to Creamy Filling

Our filling combines custard and stabilized whipped cream.

• 
  1. Thicken Custard Just Enough Take the custard off the heat when large bubbles appear on its surface and leave a brief imprint.
• 
  2. Stabilize whipped cream Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks, stir in the softened gelatin, and continue whipping to stiff peaks.

Office/Craft/Sewing Room Update...

saw this idea on IKEA...

 when we were moving stuff I found these...

nailed it!

My Craft/Sewing Corner...

Kenneth's Office Side...

and just so you know, "keeping it real", what still needs to be gone thru...

It's a work in progress.

Just a Note: this is the fastest we ever got a room done. 30 days.

Office/Craft/Sewing Room Update...

We have finished the painting, and got the flooring down...

Added some decorations, we need to finish base boards and start loading in the furniture.

base boards up...
Okay... Raise of hands... who wants to help move?

PICMONKEY

Good Morning, Coffee Time...

PICMONKEY is an online photo program which allows you to collage your photos...

isn't this cool...

FREE......

Text "MOOYAH" to 30364 and receive a free burger...good until July 5, 2013.

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and then I changed my mind...

we are progressing with the horizontal stripes...

four down... one to go...

but that means, climbing up and down the ladder, so I've saved it for last...

this is the accent wall Kenneth mudded over, 

It was suppossed to be Green, But I changed my mind... WHAT!

  OK, so I am known for making changes in the middle of just about every project,

and I must admit Kenneth is getting much better at going with the flow. 

I really like this.

 

 I felt like we were on one of those remodel shows last night...when Kenneth removed the bottom trim we discovered this... termite damage!

 thankfully we had the house treated a few years ago so there was nothing alive.

So back to town for a replacement piece...

Luckily only the paneling was damaged.

Flowers and weeds...

I found this picture online this week and thought it was so cute...

it tells the whole story of what's been keeping us busy lately...

because along with the flowers there is always the weeds...

I love the flowers which are blooming around here now.

we have some bird seed planted sunflowers blooming...

see the tiny grass hopper...

 this is the hydrangea in the backyard... It  stays shaded...
But the ones in the front have started getting to much sun, so I improvised, and made them a shade cover...

the lantana in the front bed...

and the day lillies...

But along with all our free bulbs we transplanted we also ended up moving...

WEEDS!

Growing up, every Saturday my sisters and I had to go out and pick a brown paper bag of these small weeds that continuously grew in our yard.  It had to be packed down, full.  We were not aloud to get by with fluffing the weeds to make it seem fuller.  All the years we lived there we never got those weeds under control.  I am now pulling up a 5 gallon bucket full of weeds each morning trying to get these weeds under control.  I think some of the weeds I'm pulling now are the same type of weeds we had to pull up then. 

It brings back memories...

before we moved from Oklahoma, we transplanted this flowering bush  from our house to my Mom's. 

It had originally come from Kenneth's Mom's backyard.  After she passed. 

It' was blooming when we went to visit in May. So pretty.

we brought back this four o'clock from there this visit,  

its going to have red blooms.

while there we also went by a field of Canola. 

It looks like bushes of thin green beans. Inside is the seeds they use to make 

Canola Oil.  The seeds are very small, about the size of sesame seeds. 

It has a bright yellow flower which blooms and its such a contrast to see the acres of yellow flowers in amongst the wheat fields...