Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake is a staple dessert in my family. You need a dessert to bring to a potluck? Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake. You need a dessert for a dinner party? Bundt Cake. You need a quick and easy dessert (that hits the chocolate craving)? Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake. It will never let you down.



I ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS, have a box of yellow cake mix, a box of vanilla pudding, and some chocolate syrup in my house on reserve just in case I need to make this cake.

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small package Instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions -- Mix the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, and water until smooth. Grease bundt cake pan and pour 3/4 of the batter into pan. Add chocolate syrup and chocolate chips to the remaining batter and stir to combine; pour into pan (on top of the "vanilla" batter) and swirl lightly with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes.


Once cooled, remove cake from pan and drizzle with chocolate frosting (I just warm up chocolate frosting from the can...yes, it is cheating, but it is great!).

Name-abusers to the max.

When teaching, I get to meet all kinds of children.
Some are awesome, some test my patience, some are funny, some aren't so funny, some are sweet, and others should have gotten an hour more of sleep.
It is a blast.
But my favorite part of all? Attendance.
Hands-down, one of the best parts of substituting (okay, I am exaggerating a little...) comes in the first 10 minutes of being in the class. I get to take attendance and hear the names of the students.
What were the parents of these children thinking?!?
I apologize in advance if you are reading this and have named your child one of the said names...but seriously?

You may need to take a few minutes to prepare yourself because some of these are absolutely ridiculous.

Love (boy). No joke, his name was Love...L-O-V-E.
October (girl).
July (boy). And, yes, he was born in the month of July.
Cupcake (girl). I kid you not. This poor girl was named CUPCAKE. Does she have a sister named Muffin? I will never know; I didn't have the heart to ask.

Dragon (boy). I can't even comment on this one.
Epic (boy). When he came out, his dad must have said "Dude, epic!" and the nurse mistook it as his name...?
Justice (girl). If you can't find justice in the world, just name your daughter Justice so at least you can find Justice in your house.

Peach Flaxseed Scones

Friends coming to town?!? Definitely an excuse to make more scones.

I used the same recipe as before (see Mixed Berry Scones), but instead of berries, I used a very generous cup of peaches, plus a sprinkling of flaxseed, and 1/4 tsp. almond extract instead of vanilla.

Delicious!

SCONES!

My wish was granted...a day off to make scones, go to the beach, and finish my book!

During summer school, there were mornings when we were all scatter-brained, tired, and anticipating the weekend. On such mornings, we needed a jolt of something, and more than once, Amanda saved us by walking in with warm scones. She would walk in with the scones, still in their warm pan, covered in a towel to keep them warm. They were as fresh from the oven as you could get without burning your mouth. Mmmm, mmm. They made our mornings, for sure.

Luckily, she passed along the recipe. Now, I can bring warm scones from my oven and, hopefully, brighten someone's day and maybe help them make it through "one of those mornings".

Scones

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1/3 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Berries (I used roughly 1 cup berries, mixing ollalieberries and blueberries)

In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter into the mixture is crumbly. Create a well in the flour mixture and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the egg, whipping cream, and vanilla. Stir in berries. Pour creamed mixture into the well in the flour and, using a fork, stir until it forms a moist dough.

Place dough on floured surface and knead a few times, folding over each time. Pat dough into a circle and roughly divide into 8 sections. Place sections in greased scone pan...if you don't have a scone pan, get one! Just kidding. If you don't have a scone pan, simple place the dough circle on a greased cookie sheet, cut into sections and bake.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for a few minutes and enjoy!

The scones are best warm!

Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law says that it will rain if you wash your car...
and of course, Murphy's Law must say that if you proclaim any appreciation for job-less days, jobs will come pouring in. I mentioned the bliss of unemployment, and ever since that proclamation, I have been employed every single day! Figures. And yet, I cannot and will not complain because it is a job, a paying job.
I have a fabulous scone recipe waiting for me to test when I have a free day, but until that day comes (maybe tomorrow?) it will have to wait.
As for now, I am teaching...and learning. Two days of teaching special education has grown my patience, taught me to count my blessings, and shown me that there is a whole lot of joy in the world and you just need to open your eyes to see it. So, go and open your eyes. Smile. Laugh. Enjoy every moment (jobless or not) because tomorrow is a whole new day.

Unemployment is...bliss?

Okay, so I know that unemployment wreaks havoc on countless lives and families across the nation...but can I just say that there are times when being without a job can be fabulous?!
Ever since kindergarten, I have lived the life of a student. School nine months out of the year, summer for a few months, and then school for another nine months. Summer jobs and temporary jobs intermingled, but for the most part, my concern was school, homework, and exams. And then I graduated college. No school in the fall?!? What?
Right now, I am in a unique place in life...one that will probably never happen again...and I love it. I don't have school and I don't have a "real", demanding job. Weird.
Yes, I would love to be working full time, but I am not, which means that I can enjoy a few lazy days. I can paint (which I have never done before!). I can go to the beach (a beach devoid of children because they are at school!) and read a book. I can organize and re-organize. I can sleep in or get up early, my choice. I can roadtrip. I can actually relax. Wow, what a concept. No school looming ahead, no pressure of finals in the coming months, no real deadlines.
I have a job, yes, but as a substitute teacher, I may or may not get called in to work tomorrow. Of course, now that I have sat back and realized how much I enjoy this leisure, my phone will start ringing or a long-term position will open up and I will once again be swept up in life. But until then, I will be relishing in these days of unemployment.

Going Bananas for Banana...

Lake trip #2 called for camping, long days on the lake, sunshine, and guaranteed increases in appetites, which meant we needed good food (and dessert), duh.
I say, "go gourmet or go home," and boy, did we go gourmet!
Dinner #1 consisted of authentic Mexican food (thank you, Brad), dinner #2 was barbequed steak, and dinner #3 (had the boat not broken down) was going to be a spaghetti feast with grilled garlic bread. Fabuloso!
Of course, to accompany the good food, I brought the dessert. Home-made snickerdoodles and banana muffins. The snickerdoodles are a classic, but the banana muffins were a new recipe.
I "splenda"ed them for the sake of a pre-diabetic on the trip and was a little wary of how they would turn out, but they surprised us all. Super moist, a good dose of banana, and wonderful for breakfast or snack.

Banana Muffins
3 large bananas, mashed
3/4 cup Splenda
¼ cup white sugar
1 slightly beaten egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
Dash of cinnamon

Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine together. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour.
Mix wet and dry ingredients all together, being careful not to over-stir!
Pour into muffin tins lined with muffin papers, and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

*These are much more flavorful the next day, and they freeze very nicely too!