Chocolate Birthday Cake

Hey y'all!
Last weekend, Mom became another year wiser. That's right, it was her birthday! Our aunt came down, spent the weekend with us and took Mom shopping. Of course we made her presents and cake, chocolate cake!
 
Here is an adorable paper frame Hagen made. I love the little RV!
 

And here is a little video of us singing 'Happy Birthday', and Mom blowing out her "candle"....

We had an enjoyable weekend celebration!
And now onto the cake...
 

I have a confession to make about this cake... it was made from a mix... go ahead, ridicule me...

Are you done? Okay, well this mix is our favorite to use whenever we are short on ingredients and time. It is gluten and soy free, and we only use it occasionally. 

For the cake you will need:

 1 bag of Pamela's Chocolate Cake Mix 

3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup strong coffee
 1/2 cup water

Mix together the above ingredients and pour into greased cake pans. Bake at 350* for 25- 30 minutes. This mix makes two 8-inch round cakes or 24 cupcakes.

For the ganache you will need: 
  1 10 oz bag of Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips 
2 Tablespoons cream cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk, or heavy cream
    
Put these ingredients into a saucepan or double boiler on low heat. Stir until you have a nice liquid. I started out with 1/4 cup of milk, then slowly added more to get the consistency I wanted. You may have to add more liquid, depending on if you use milk or cream.

When your cake is cooled, pour the ganache over the top. I like to do a small amount at a time, letting it soak in and spread out. 

When it comes to chocolate, I'm a pushover...
I hope you enjoyed this not-so-made-from-scratch recipe!
Blessings,
Layla

Spring...

Spring is here in Texas! It is so beautiful!

The grass is green and lush, 

and speckled with pretty wild flowers!

 Eli and I. Yeah, we're crazy...

 Reflections of Layla in a puddle of spring rain...

 Isn't this little guy the cutest pony you have ever set eyes on?!? He is right across from our RV so we get to pet him quite often! :)

 

 Guitar at the beach...

 Primrose... They are so beautiful and this would be an awesome pic if it wasn't for that blurry blade of grass right in front!

 Look at that beautiful bright Texas sunshine!

 Sunset...

 Twisted vines...

  

Well folks, That's all for now... 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures! :)

Have an awesome Wednesday!

Blessings, Hagen

Hagen & the beach...

Hello Friends!

We didn't take any pictures for our usual Wednesday post, but I did snap a few of Hagen at the beach this weekend...

 

I really like this one. She brightens up my world!

Isn't she so darn cute?!?!

I hope you enjoyed these pictures...
Which is your favorite? Honestly, I can't pick!

Hope you are having an awesome week!
Blessings,
Layla 

Recipe: Lime-Orange Jello

Spring is here in Texas! We had a lot of rain last week, and now there are flowers popping up everywhere. I know Hagen is happy, she loves taking pictures of flowers! 

With the mild heat, we needed a nice treat to cool us off. I was short on ingredients, so went searching on the internet... I came across Whole New Mom's recipe for homemade jello. 

Here's my version...

What you need:

4 Tbsp gelatin

1/4 cup raw sugar

1 1/2 cups boiling water

3 cups cold water, divided

Juice from 4 limes 

Juice from 1 orange

1/2 tsp orange extract

1/2 tsp grated lime rind

1. Put gelatin in a large bowl, pour in 1 1/2 cups cold water. Allow gelatin to soften while water is boiling.

2. Add boiling water to gelatin, and stir until dissolved.

3. Add the remaining ingredients, including the other 1 1/2 cups cold water.

4. Pour into 13x9 pan.

5. Refrigerate until set, about 5 hours.

Enjoy!

I would like to try this recipe again, using honey as a sweetener. 

My younger siblings had never eaten Jell-O, it being full of sugar and who knows what! When I put a bowl of this homemade jello in front of them, they didn't know what to do with it!

    Do you like jello? If so, what is your favorite flavor?

Blessings,

Layla 

 

 

Recipe~ Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

It has been a while since I've posted a recipe. Actually, it has been a while since I've been able to bake. I have been trying to get used to the tiny oven in our tiny house. I think these Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies are worthy to post!

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup orange juice

4 eggs, room temperature is best

1 teaspoon vanilla or orange extract

1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup pecan (or almond) flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350* 

2. Foil cookie sheets and grease with coconut oil 

3. In a large bowl, mix together the first 6 ingredients 

4. In a small bowl, stir together the flours and baking soda 

5. Mix dry ingredients into the wet

6. Allow batter to sit for a few minutes, letting the coconut flour soak up the liquid

7. Drop cookies by tablespoon on the cookie sheets

8. Bake for 10- 15 minutes

9. Let cookies cool a bit before removing from pan

10. They taste even better when they have been refrigerated over night!

    

 

Since my oven is so small and doesn't radiate heat too well, I had to set the heat higher. You might want to try 325* first, depending on your oven.

It has been fun experimenting in the RV. I hope to add more RV recipes in the future!

 Chocolate and orange are one of my favorite combinations! What's your favorite chocolate combo? 

Blessings,

Layla 

Photo Shoot!

Before we moved, I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot of some dear friends of ours! It was getting dark... but I love silhouettes, so it was all good!

This is a really good one of them all!

 

 This is my favorite!

 They are so good at playing instruments, I just had to include it! :)

  Love!

Well I hope you enjoyed these pics! 
Why don't you head on over to Kaelyn's (The violinist) fashion blog! You'll love it! 

Blessings, Hagen 

I ♥ Thursday {No. 8}

Finally, another I ♥ Thursday post!

Layla's ♥

This adorable shop called Kintage. Their motto is "Always pretty, never over $50"

 Coming home to Texas!
And finding funny Texas things to pin,
 like these...

And lots of Nautical Nonsense,
since we are close to the beach...

  ...these adorable anchor earings...

...collecting shells off the seashore...

 ...and this is irresistible!


Hagen's ♥

 Oh, how I have missed the library, it's creative atmosphere and so many books to choose from! Oh, and I got my first library card!

 I love Richard Peck, he is one of my favorite authors. I just finished Secrets at Sea!

Curling up in a cozy corner with a book, my favorite!

I also love a nice cup of tea! Raspberry and Chamomile tea is my favorite.

It's been raining...

I love palm trees...

 ... and evening primroses. 
They are all over Texas!

What are you loving this week?
Blessings,
Layla & Hagen

 

What She Wore Wednesday- Maxi's

I know this is a bit late, but I wanted to make sure I posted about our Easter celebration before I moved on to the fashion!

On Sunday, Hagen and I both wore maxi's. I'll start off with Hagen's...

 Hagen wore a green printed maxi dress, sequined shrug, brown flats and wooden bead necklace. I love how everything flows together!

 

This picture was taken outside of the cowboy church we visited on Sunday.

  

I really like this picture. It looks like she's a jungle princess! This is outside the Mexican Restaurant.

~What She Wore~

maxi dress- thrifted $5

green tank- thrifted $2

shrug- free from a friend

flats- free from a friend

necklace- from our late Grandma

hair flower- made by Layla 

 Now it's my turn...

I wore a maxi skirt, a deep purple tank, tan crocheted shrug and roman sandals. 

The maxi skirt is actually a funny story...

I was kinda stressing out about what I was going to wear for Easter, when Hagen dug out a maxi dress that neither of us have worn in a while. I was excited! When I went to try it on, I found that the zipper was stuck, and refused to budge. We all took turns yanking and prying on it, but that just made it worse! So, I resolved to turn it into a skirt.

I pulled out the sewing machine, and went through my mental checklist:

thread- check
bobbin thread- check
foot pedal- check
iron- check 
elastic- check

pins- wait, where are the pins?

We searched and searched, but alas, no pins! I had to improvise. I ironed my seam down well, and used a few bobby pins to secure the fabric. It was a simple alteration, once I was able to do it. All in all, I was pleased with how it turned out!   

~What I Wore~

maxi skirt from a dress- thrifted $5

tank- Target $2.50

shrug- free from friend

sandals- Walmart $10

lace headband- made by me

I hope you enjoyed this post. I am happy to be doing another What She Wore, it has been too long! And one more quick picture of us...

Praying that you are having a good week!
Blessings,
Layla <3