A Sweet Treat...Lindt Truffle Cupcakes

Lindt Truffle Chocolate Cupcakes

This is from The Sisters' Cafe....

24 Lindt Milk Chocolate Truffles, unwrapped

1 box chocolate cake mix (they used devils food; I used milk chocolate)

1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

1/2 C oil

1/2 C water

1 C sour cream

Mix up everything but the truffles and fill lined cupcake pans (24). Bake at 350 for 5 minutes; then lightly press a Lindt truffle into each partially baked cupcake...I'd press a little more firmly...you want most of the truffle sunk down in the batter, but not totally covered. Bake an additional 13-15 minutes. Cool completely, then frost with cream cheese frosting.

Having the Spirit....

This is something that was in my Seminary Files...Julie D. just used it in a RS lesson, so thought I'd add it here....Remember...these aren't All or Nothing lists....but sometimes we don't recognize that just feeling calm is evidence of the Lord's Spirit filling our lives.

After reading the negative list, go back a read the first one again because just reading the second list can bring a dark feeling!

When You DO Have the Spirit:

1. You feel happy, calm, and clear-minded.

2. You feel generous.
3. Nobody can offend you.

4. You wouldn't mind everybody seeing what you're doing.

5. You are eager to be with people and want to make them happy.

6. You are glad when other succeed.

7. You are glad to attend your meetings and participate in church activities.

8. You feel like praying.

9. You wish you could keep all the Lord's commandments.

10. You feel "in control". You don't overeat or sleep too much, you don't feel uncontrollably drawn to sensational entertainment, lose your temper, or feel uncontrollable passions or desires.

11. You think about the Savior often and lovingly; you want to know Him better.

12. You feel confident and are glad to believe.

When You DON'T Have The Spirit

1. You feel unhappy, depressed confused and frustrated.

2. You feel possessive, self-centered, or resentful of demands made on you.

3. You are easily offended.

4.You become secretive and evasive.

5. You avoid people, especially members of your family; and you are critical of family members and Church authorities.

6. You envy or resent the successes of others.

7. You don't want to go to church, go home teaching, or take the sacrament. You wish you had another church job or no job at all.

8. You don't want to pray.

9. You find the commandments bothersome, restricting, or senseless.

10. You feel emotions and appetites so strongly that you fear you cannot control them; hate, jealousy, anger, lust, hunger, fatigue.

11. You hardly ever think of the Savior; he seem irrelevant to your life, or worse, part of a confusing system that seems to work against you.

12. You get discouraged easily and wonder if life is really worth it.

Now go back and read the first list.....

Happy Birthday, Val! (the cute Dean girl..)

Happy birthday, Val....a great sister, "crafty" lady...and a pretty darn good bowler!

But growing up with a darling, golden haired cutie of a sister was a little hard on my very limited self esteem...note the frizzy haired big sister with the cat eye glasses!

In this photo...Patti, Val, Gpa Earle, Grandma Clara, Gpa Roger, Jesse...and of course our awesome orange naugahyde couch!

Healthy New Year! Breakfast Casserole

Mark's been working on getting in shape in the new year so we've been trying some recipe's out of this cookbook....the author, Devin Alexander, wrote The Biggest Loser Cookbook too.

This is a low fat version of Breakfast Casserole...it's pretty good, especially with a little sour cream and taco sauce on it.

1 1/2 C chopped onion (red and or white)

1 C chopped red or green pepper or a combo

6 slices whole-wheat bread, cubed(from a fluffy loaf, not a dense one)

2 C shredded low fat cheddar cheese

1 1/4 C (5 1/2 oz) lean ham steak, cubed

2 1/2 C egg substitute

1/4 C milk

2 t dry mustard

1/2 t pepper

1/8 t salt

Saute onions a peppers in non stick pan until veggies are tender. Mist a casserole dish with Pam and spread half the bread cubes. Then layer half the cheese, half the veggies, halm the ham. Repeat layers. Mix egg substitute, milk, mustard, pepper, salt. Pour over bread. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning preheat oven to 350. Bake about 45 minutes. Let stand 5-10 minutes, then cut and serve...6 servings (209 calories, 23 g protein, 4 g fat)

Recently Read ...The Demon Under the Microscipe

A couple of interesting medical histories....

The Demon Under the Microscope

The subtitle says it all...from battlefield hospitals to Nazi labs....one doctor's heroic search for the world's first miracle drug....Sulfa...

The Knife Man Blood, Bodysnatching and the birth of modern surgery...

In an era when bloodletting was considered a cure for everything from colds to smallpox,surgeon John Hunter (1728-1793)was a medical innovator... and he crosses paths as friend or doctor with so many famous historical figures....he advised Benjamin Franklin about bladder stones, treated King George III, James Boswell, William Pitt, David Hume, Adam Smith, lived next door to Joshua Reynolds,Joseph Haydn, advised the infant Lord Byron's mother to fit her baby with a corrective shoe...his home in London was a combination home/natural history museum, and dissecting lab...with a backdoor specifically for bodysnatchers to bring him fresh corpses...Robert Louis Stevenson used it as a model for the home of Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde.


After reading The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, I was interested in reading his first two novels....very different from Racing...but I enjoy his writing style...When I read the descriptions of them on Amazon, they didn't sound very interesting, but I was drawn into them from the first pages and read each in only a couple of days...

How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets

Raven Stole the Moon

Grandma Eck's Carrot Cake

Grandma Eck's Carrot Cake

2 C + 2 T flour mixed with:
2 t cinnamon
2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt

2 C sugar
1 1/2 C oil (substitute half applesauce for lower fat)
4 eggs
2 C grated carrots
1/2 C chopped walnuts
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained, and mixed with 1/4 C sugar*

Beat sugar, oil, eggs; add dry ingredients, then nuts, carrots and pineapple. Bake in 9x13 pan at 350 about 50 minutes. You could also make in 2 9" rounds or about 28-30 cupcakes and adjust baking time.

* Sister Tobler often uses this recipe for wedding cakes and found that a few years ago the cake ended up darker than when she first made it...she figured out it was because crushed pineapple used to be canned in a sugar syrup, but now it's done in juice...healthier, but making for a darker cake...so she drains most of the juice and adds the sugar...I don't know that I would have ever noticed it being a little dark....

Frost with cream cheese frosting....

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 cube unsalted butter (or salted works ok)
3-4 C powdered sugar
1 t vanilla

Something I just learned about this frosting....I always used to have the cream cheese and butter quite soft...I left it out on the counter for several hours or all day ...but this frosting has a better texture if you have the cream cheese still quite firm ....maybe not right out of the refrigerator, but still a bit cold and firm....and don't overbeat the frosting. Cream cheese breaks down if too soft or beaten too much...which is how mine always turned out...

Family Favorites: Frozen Pea Salad

Frozen Pea Salad

All the ingredients are quite variable, depending on the size of container you're using and how many people you want to serve. Once mixed, the salad doesn't save overnight...this amount is what I usually make for a family dinner...

1/2 head iceberg lettuce, shredded

3 stalks celery, chopped

4-5 green onions, chopped

1 small can sliced water chestnuts

Layer the above ingredients in order (lettuce first) in a bowl or container. Then over the top dump 1 pkg frozen green peas (about 10 oz.) and spread out so everything is covered. Then "frost" with about 1 C mayonnaise (or enough to seal in the peas) I usually use low fat mayo.

Over the mayo, sprinkle 1 T sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or several hours if possible)

When ready to serve, toss with:

1 C shredded cheddar cheese

5-6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped