Food I have been cooking lately...and the stories behind them.

So much of our life is surrounded by food.  We eat three meals a day plus snacks.  We get together with friends or family and there is usually a nice food spread.  We plan our meals, shop for them and spend time cooking and cleaning up after them.  A LOT of our life is consumed by food.  That is why the last several years I have tried to make it as enjoyable as possible.  And I have learned to love cooking in the process.  In my opinion, food = love and love = food..

I am not a photographer.  Most of these pictures were taken with my husbands i-phone so they are not great but they each have a story, nonetheless.  So here they are...in no particular order.


Asher celebrated his 3rd birthday in August!  When I asked him what type of cake he wanted he immediately responded, "Chocolate!"  A while back I remember seeing a "S more's" cake that I really wanted to make and it was a lot of chocolate plus marshmallows (and he loves marshmallows too) so I knew this would be a winner!   If you can't tell from the picture, it has 2 brownie layers, 2 chocolate chip cookie layers, a graham cracker layer, a cheesecake layer and 2 frostings!  Now, I was a little weirded out by the cheesecake layer because I thought that is really didn't fit with the theme of the cake...but boy how wrong I was...it was what MADE the cake!  Both frostings are also amazing.  If you would like to try this lovely decadence yourself than you can find the recipe here.

This is my favorite of the all the food pictures because it is the ultimate expression of love!  My wonderful husband  got my two oldest children up at 5am to make me this wonderful breakfast.  They tried being so sneaky and quiet but I knew they were up to something...because mom's know everything, right?!  Allison drew me the cute banner and made the fruit plate.  Austin helped cut veggies and set the table.  And Chris made me tasty hash browns, sour-dough toast and an omelet!  Oh, and they went and picked flowers from outside too!  Simply beautiful!

Here is my birthday cake.  Chris wanted so badly to make it himself but I picked out a kind of complicated cake.  Not that he wasn't up for the task...we were just sooo busy and he didn't really have the time.  He made the brownie layer all by himself and helped with the other two layers. Even though he is completely capable, lets face it, when it comes to working in the kitchen I am just faster. :)  If you like coconut than this was "to die for!"  You can find the recipe here.

This is the cake and ice cream I made for Chris's birthday....way back in May.  It was so good, I had to include it.  Chris would NEVER ask for a cake for his birthday.  Every year I have always made him a quick-no-bake type cheesecake.  He loves them.  This year, I pleaded for him to try something new.  He said "yes" as long as it wasn't cake.  ;)  I told him about this cake and he said that if I thought he would like it then he trusted me.  So I went to work making this cake, along with home-made vanilla bean ice cream.  They were both so-so good.  And this was a lot easier to make than the previous two cakes.  So if you want to try the ice-cream, go here (I made the french-style kind)....and if you want this amazing cake, go here.

My husbands cousin wanted to throw her daughter a huge princess party and asked if I would cater it.  I said  I would be happy to.  She wanted me to make the butterfly cupcakes that I have made before but I saw a super cute princess cupcake that I thought would fit the theme better and really wanted to give it a try.  I didn't get any pictures of the rest of the food but, luckily, I did manage to grab a few quick shots of the cupcakes.

My sister-in-law, who has two boys, has been waiting a long time to have a little girl and was finally blessed with one in July.  We were planning to throw her a baby shower before hand but she was put on bed rest literally 2 days before it was schedule (in SLC) and couldn't make it down.  Unfortunately, I had pre-made the cupcakes and froze them, as well as had already made the toppers.  So I put the cupcakes together anyway and took pictures and sent her a virtual baby shower.  :)  We are so glad that Zoey came healthy and happy!