Roasted chicken

Tonite I made Roasted Chicken for dinner.  It only took me 35+ years to make it.  I always thought it was hard but DUH! it is one of the easiest things I ever made.  All you have to do is take a whole chicken, stuff its insides with a cut-up lemon, a whole head of garlic, cut in half, stems of rosemary and thyme, bake at 425 degrees for 1 1/2 hrs and you have one of the tastiest things you have ever eaten.  Serve it first with mashed potatoes and a veggie and then you have wonderful leftovers.  I am going to make Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie.  Yummy!  The only thing I like to add is I cut potatoes in 1/4 inch pieces and boil them a bit and add to the filling.  Makes it a bit hardier and makes it go a little further.  All this is assuming you have leftovers from the beginning.

Cakes!

As I said in my last post, I was honored to bake the cakes for Philip's birthday.  However, there is a story behind the decorated cake.  I rarely have a recipe that is a complete flop but I had a complete flop of one cake and the decorated cake was the 3rd cake I had baked.  Thank goodness it turned out fine!  Actually better than fine, one guest at the party said he had had cake from a famous bakery and this was better than theirs!  Don't remember the name of the bakery, ( how bad is that!) but was very pleased with the compliment.

Now, the cake that failed was beautiful when I took it out of the oven.  Nicely browned, tested done and was perfect.  I turned away to clean up my mess and when I turned around, oh my goodness!, I was aghast when I saw it had fallen!  Flatter than a flitter!  What was 2" high when I took it out of the oven was now 1/2" high and about an inch away from the sides of the pan.  I have no idea what happened.  It was a recipe I use for cheater Italian Creme Cake only I did not put the coconut or pecans in it.  Should have been a very tasty cake but it has been reduced to a very tasty fallen cake that has a creamy texture and will be good with strawberries. 

One more thing about cake I decorated...it was a mix!  I love Duncan Hines cake mixes!  This one was French Vanilla.  It is so good I can't describe it.  I have a white cake I make from scratch called "Silver White Cake" from Betty Crocker but this is just as good if not better.  My family has a hard time telling the difference and that says a lot.  I will publish the Cheater Italian Creme Cake recipe and the Silver White Cake too.  Soon!

Dallas Weekend



The Birthday Boy and his cake

 This weekend we went to Dallas for my brother-in-law Philip's 60th birthday.  The party was held in a suite in the Adolphus Hotel in Downtown Dallas.  There was great food, good company and a great time.  I was honored that he asked me to bake a cake for the party.


German Chocolate Cake

 I asked what he wanted and it was German Chocolate, I knew it would be, and I made a white cake and decorated it.  It was a good thing I make two cakes because the German Chocolate was almost eaten and there was about half of the decorated cake left.  They both got rave reviews. 

On Saturday we went to a few antique shops and for dinner we went to Denton where Philip's friend Jim lives.  We ate at Hannah's off the Square.  The food was fabulous. 

I am always glad to spend time with family.