Award-Winning Caramel Apple Cake (Possibly my spiritual gift)

I think my spiritual gift might be baking and cooking. Just throwing that out there. It's certainly not keeping a clean house, being skinny, or distinguishing tongues (Dear people of Tennessee, sometimes I still do not understand a word you are saying). But baking, I can win awards for.

I took this cake to work this week to enter in a contest. And it won me some movie tickets. Possibly by default since there weren't many entries. But this cake is award-winning none the less! And delicious and full of everything that is fall.

I inherited a huge bag of apples from my sweet friend Emily, since they were ridding their fridge of everything before their big move to Canada. (Ca-razy!) I was trying to figure out what to do with them and I remembered this cake. I got this apple cake recipe from one of my teachers in nursing school. She brought the cake to a meeting and it was divine. When I got married, I registered for a bundt pan just so I could make this specific cake. (But you don't have to have a bundt to make it!) And two years later, this is the first time I've made it. I made one last week for my hub and he ate like half of it in one night. So for the contest I made it again and decided to top it with a caramel glaze. Yummy. The cake by itself is super delicious, but the caramel glaze just kicks it up a notch. And makes it so pretty!

The best part about this cake is that the ingredient list is short and the cake comes together quick. I actually had everything already in my pantry.

Fresh Apple Cake
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 cups diced apples (I didn't peel the apples for the first cake and it was delish, but I did peel them for the second cake and it was a little better, the apples kind of just melt into the cake)
2 eggs (well beaten)
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla

Stir together sugar, oil, eggs, and apples. Separately stir together all other ingredients. Mix everything together. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan or bundt pan at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. (I think the bundt takes the longer time, it took me about 55 minutes with the bundt.)

Caramel Glaze (from The Runaway Spoon, found on Food Gawker)

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

In a saucepan, melt together butter, brown sugar, salt, and cream. After everything is melted, bring to a rolling boil. Let the mixture boil for one minute. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Then vigorously beat in powdered sugar. (You should definitely sift first, I didn't and had to very vigorously beat and still ended up with some lumps)

Make sure the cake is completely cool or the glaze will slide right off.  Also make sure that as soon as the glaze is done, you pour it over the cake. (It firms up pretty quickly.) Put some foil under the cake or you will make a big mess!

Then you can eat the drops. Like I obviously did.

Daylight was gone when I took the above pics, so I snapped one at work.

There you have it. A delicious apple cake to make for your man, your mom, or yourself this weekend. A few more quickies for your Friday:

1. Hoda and Kathie Lee were in Harry Potter World at Universal Studios this morning. Two of my favorite things combined!

2. I am in love with this nail polish. Glamour Purse by Essie. I got tons of compliments on it this week at work, plus this pic is from this morning. Which means that I made it through a week of wiping butts, opening pill packages, and doing intense hand hygiene without a chip. Don't judge my cuticles.

3. The winner of the Mary Kay giveaway is Kerry! Probably because her and my mom are the only ones that read this blog. Which is ok with me! (Let me know what color you want!)

4. Thank goodness being skinny and keeping your house clean are not real spiritual gifts.

Happy 11/11/11!

There's no place like home. And no shoes like ruby slippers.

We went home last weekend for a few days, short and sweet. We wanted to meet the new June bug. And she is so sweet! All these pics are from my iphone. Since I'm slightly obsessed with it and its picture taking capabilities.

And we are kind of obsessed with her big brother, who is growing like a weed! Seriously, this kid is adorable and hilarious. He changes so much every time we see him!

 We got lots of family time and included a trip to the Bass Pro Shop. My mom and bro just love the fish.

I also visited my Grandma Voth, who is 90. Wow.

 I had an afternoon with the besties and we hit up Pryde's in Westport. Ok, I did not even know this existed and I lived like a mile away from there for two years! Amazing kitchen store. Check out this chandelier made out of whisks. Love it.

 There is a pie shop inside the store so the whole place smells amazing.

 Cara modeling a sexy gardening hat.

Does anyone else love the owl trend that is happening right now?

Also, I'm in love with the instagram app on the iphone. I can't help it. All those wonderful filters...

 Love.

Caleb and I went to the Kansas sampler store to stock up on Kansas gear. I found this super sexy Dorothy wig to complete my Halloween costume. They said no one had ever bought one before. Ha.

Back to work on Halloween. I channeled my Kansas girl spirit. Red shoes: check. Mini Toto dog: check. Awesome Dorothy wig: triple check.

Are those red shoes dress code appropriate? I think not!

And there is our quick trip in a nutshell! I'm spending today cleaning, doing laundry, and doing errands. And going to the gym to get my butt kicked again. I could barely walk this weekend!

Last chance for the giveaway! I'll announce the winner later this week. You know you want some free Mary Kay! I also have been cooking up a storm, so I'll post some recipes as well.

Happy Monday!

Celebrating Two Years in Charleston, SC (Part 2)

Back to our Charleston trip...which I had to split up into 2 parts since I'm kind of excessive like that...

On Monday (the last day of our little trip), we took a tour of Fort Sumter, which is where the Civil War started. I think this one is the best pic of us on the trip, which is funny since I always want nice pics of us dressed up and it never really works out.

The fort is an island so we took a lovely little ferry ride out. There was a museum and just tons of cool history to be soaked up. Nerdy, I know.

We also toured the Military Museum back in Charleston.

We spent our last evening at High Cotton, which was our favorite restaurant. The food was amazing, the atmosphere was great (live band and gorgeous dining room), and our waiter was hilarious.

Caleb had steak with bourbon bacon sauce and I had the most delicious shrimp and grits. Ever.

Seriously, go to Charleston just for the food. It is insanely good.

Pics of our adorable room at Wild Dunes in Isle of Palms. Very comfy and cute, it had a patio, kitchenette, large bathroom, and washer and dryer!

We got up bright and early to watch the sun rise over the ocean and were not disappointed. Beautiful.

Obviously, I have to share a pic of my sweet husband cooking me breakfast. Future self: remember, he does know how to cook eggs and bacon!

We stopped at a scenic overlook on the way back. Who doesn't love some good scenery? This reminds me how insanely beautiful it is to live in Tennessee. Also, I left my iphone here and a man that was blowing leaves picked it up and ran it over to the car before we drove off. I'm not sure how long this iphone will last...

Caleb has a mustache from my hair blowing in the wind. I think it suits him.

I love that we saw the ocean and the mountains in the same day. We are so blessed! This trip was a blast, go to Charleston for
1. the food
2. the good hair days
3. the shopping
4. the history
5. the ocean
6. the good times with your lover




PS. Don't forget to enter my giveaway! The odds are pretty sa-weet for you right now! Check it out:
Giveaway

Awesome Christmas Gift Ideas + My first GIVEAWAY!!

If you are on top of your game, you are probably already thinking about Christmas gifts. If you are on the bottom of your game, you probably wish that you thought about Christmas gifts before December 24th. One day in the  faraway future, I will maybe have Christmas gifts bought and wrapped and stored away in a snug little closet somewhere. I actually bought the first Christmas gift of the season last week (George and June, you are the lucky winners. Good thing you can't read this).

In case you didn't know, my beautiful mom has her own Mary Kay business that she started after she retired from teaching. Mary Kay is a great company that sells cosmetics and skin care products. I've used their cosmetics since I was allowed to wear makeup and used the skin care products before that. Actually, when I was really little, Mom sold Mary Kay and I used to steal the samples for my own personal makeovers. So basically I've been using it forever!

I did my own makeup for my wedding using Mary Kay products. (Ok, I had a little help from the bff.) But it turned out beautiful!

My mom has been using Mary Kay since she was in her twenties and has amazing skin.

My Grandma Frank has been using Mary Kay products for 35 years.

Beautiful.

We've been exchanging Mary Kay products as gifts for Christmas for years now. It's perfect because the products are luxurious and useful at the same time. There is something for every price range- you might be surprised at everything you can get!

A few great gift ideas:

1. Mascara (starting at $10)
2. A Lash Love mascara, Oil Free Eye Remover, and eye lash curler set ($30)
3. An eye shadow ($6.50) or eye shadow with applicator ($9)
4. A lip color (either a lipstick, liquid lip color, or lip gloss) ($13)
5. Lip color + lip liner pencil ($23)
6. Hand cream ($10) or Satin Hands Luxury Set ($34)
7. Satin Lips Set ($18)
8. Mint Bliss Energizing Foot Lotion for feet and legs ($10)
9. A fragrance (starting at $25)
10. Professional makeup brush collection ($45)

There are even great products for teens and tweens!

My mom, Kaye Voth is a true consultant and excited to help you pick the perfect gift for your loved one...or yourself! She offers free shipping and gift wrapping. She has many customers all over the United States!

So here is the GIVEAWAY! We are giving away one NouriShine Lip Gloss in the winner's color choice!

So here's what you do:

1. Become a follower of this blog

2. Go over to the site: www.marykay.com/kayevoth and browse around

3. Come back and comment with your favorite product!

4. For an extra entry, advertise this giveaway on Facebook or your blog! (Make a separate comment for each entry)

Check it out! You can also give my mom, Kaye Voth a call at 573.433.9598

Winner will be announced next week! Happy Shopping!

Celebrating Two Years in Charleston, SC (Part 1)

*Warning: serious picture overload! I can't help it...*

This morning I woke up, turned on the Today Show, made a pot of coffee, threw a load of laundry in the wash, and then sat down to put music on my iPhone and make a blog post. My house looks like a tornado went through it. But obviously blogging is more important.

We spent a fabulous four nights in Charleston, SC for our anniversary. Then we got back and I spent two days to renew my certification for ACLS (Advance Cardiac Life Support-I can save your life!) and then working for three days. But back to Charleston...

Can I just say that I loved Charleston? First of all, the weather was perfect. In the 80's, sunny, no humidity. I had amazing hair days every single day. We woke up on Saturday morning at like 6am, because we are old now and that is when we naturally wake up because that is actually sleeping in for us. We drank some coffee and got ready and drove into Charleston. (We stayed in Isle of Palms, which is about 20 minutes outside Charleston.) We were obviously the first people up because nothing was open yet. Around 9am, all the runners finally came out. And Charleston has many, many runners. Way more than Kingsport, ha.

Good morning, Charleston Harbor! I pose like this every morning when greeting the day. Oh wait....I don't.

We hit up the market, which is this amazing open air market in the middle of Charleston. Its four blocks long and has tons of handmade items and cool unique stuff. The coolest thing was these handmade sweet grass baskets. They were everywhere. And cost a lot of $$$. I didn't buy one because I was like "$50 for a tiny basket? $150 for a normal basket? No way!" But now I kinda wish I had...

Good looking backsides, ladies. Must be all that running...

We got some breakfast at the Sweetwater Cafe...the low country omelet was yummy...

I wasn't running anywhere after this breakfast.

For some reason, we had decided that we both needed new pairs of sunglasses very badly. So we found a Sunglasses Hut, stat, on King Street. King Street is like the mecca of good shopping. It was a beautiful, magical place. So we got some sunglasses. I almost got pink ones. Almost.

We also enjoyed some delicious moon pies from the Moon Pie General Store. 

We took a carriage ride of the city and learned all about the history as a a horse pulled us around. I was super impressed with the cleanliness of the city since there are horses everywhere. They actually put little bags on the horses to catch their poo. And whenever the horse urinates (sorry, just being blunt) they pull over and call someone to come clean it up.

For dinner Saturday night, we ate at Poogan's Porch, which was an old house made into a gorgeous restaurant. Caleb had pan seared jumbo scallops with applewood smoked bacon grits, wilted spinach and crawfish beurre blanc. I had pan seared snapper with sauteed arugula , and  summer tomato and bacon risotto with a lemon avocado compound butter. (And yes, maybe I did just go to the website to get the exact description of what we ate.) We had some pimento cheese fritters for an app and pecan pie for dessert.

I know the pics are yellowy but we are inside at night, helllo.

I was kind of obsessed with these boots for the whole trip.

Also on Saturday we got some iPhones. It was our anniversary gift to each other. I don't have any pics of them, but they are magical.

On Sunday (anniversary day!) we were tired from spending the whole day Saturday walking around, so we laid on the beach and read and drank mimosas. It was lovely. I am in love with beaches. I feel like I appreciate them more being from Kansas, where there are no beaches.

We went into Charleston for dinner and ate at A.W. Shucks, where the seafood is ah-mazing. Blue crab dip, oysters, seafood casserole, crab cakes, and stuffed jumbo shrimp wrapped in bacon. We had a delicious peach bourbon bread pudding for dessert but we could barely eat any of it after the massive meal we just had.

Two years, baby!

Charleston, I love you. The second part will be coming later because I need to go get ready for the day. Can I end by mentioning that I hope my personal trainer doesn't see this blog? Because I'm pretty sure he would be making me do walking lunges for the rest of my life as a punishment.

Rocky Top Tennessee

Before I start the real post, I just want to say that a patient told me I was "too hardcore" yesterday. It was amazing. If making someone take their medicine that they would die without, then I am happy to be hardcore. I'm pretty sure I've never been accused of being too hardcore before, but I am excited about my new identity. Ha.

We headed out to Knoxville on Saturday to tailgate with all the Kiewit folks and watch Tennessee get beat by Georgia. (Coach Dooley, I don't know anything about football but I did note that your team cannot run the ball. At all. Maybe try something else?)  I hate to say this, but UT is just so much more hardcore about football than KU and their stadium is so massive, the games just have a different feel than KU. Also not sitting in the student section just isn't as fun. Ha. But we had a great time since we don't really care. And what's not to love about a great tailgate?

I do feel like a serious traitor wearing an orange shirt.

Just hanging out with some Housewives...

Caleb showing off his corn hole skills.

Neyland Stadium is huge. For reals.

But honestly, my favorite part was the halftime show. The band did this Wizard of Oz theme, complete with Dorothy and all the characters. (And the Wicked Witch of Georgia, hardee har har.) Since I get called Dorothy on a daily basis, I felt like it was just for me.

The weather was perfect, as compared to last year.  It did make us miss KU and college and being poor and not working 12 hour days and feeling like 9pm was the beginning of the night instead of bedtime. We feel old.

All the words to the Rocky Top song. Tshirt of the guy in front of us.

Last minute pic as we were leaving the stadium after the third quarter. I like it.

I just wanna say: Rock Chalk Jayhawks, Go KU!

I'm heading to my personal trainer session (fancy, I know). My last session was Thursday and on Friday I couldn't walk right. Don't kill me today, Chris!

Happy Monday!