Day to day grind.

Life is and has been pretty relaxed as of late.
Guppy is growing entirely too fast for my taste.
Mr. M has been getting back into the daily life of work, home and the occasional time to play.
I've been busy cooking, baking, cleaning and getting out of "single mom mode".

I have to say, I couldn't be happier with the daily workings in the Gomez house.
Since I have been (borderline obsessively) in the kitchen working on new recipes, I have decided to add a food blog to document these culinary adventures.

I'm excited to see where this all ends up, but the best part of having an adventure is the journey- not the destination =)

Doin Big Things.

Big day indeed!
Well big week for that matter.

Guppy not only cut his first TWO teeth this week, but today he decided to CRAWL!!!
Lucky for me, I happened to be recording him with my camera when he decided to make him big move!
Then it was on.
I spent the next hour moving things he loves to touch ( his diaper wipes, and his toy truck) waaaay out of reach.
And sure enough, Guppy would crawl right to them!

This is a pretty big deal, seeing as he's not even 7 mos old yet =)
I couldn't be more proud of my little man.


So, since Mr M has to work tonight, I decided to fix a celebratory dinner for us to mark the occasion.
We are having:

Slow Roasted Pepper corn crusted Pork Loin with caramelized yellow onion hearts
Creamy Red Potato Mash with Homemade roasted vegetable gravy
Lightly sauteed broccoli rabb with garlic
and buttermilk biscuits.

I'm pretty impressed with myself for this one.

"cake pops".

First off I have to say, Gross. As in, these taste like regurgitated sugar vomit and cake crumbs.

I had no idea these had such a following. Nay, a year ago I had no clue what they even were!
I had the great misfortune of trying them at a friends baby shower. I barely choked down the one I ventured to try, as the mother-in-law had 'made them herself' and proclaimed I MUST try them.
Gag.

Now that wasn't the end of that experience, the woman then explained in great detail how said 'Cake Pops' were made.
This (mind you) is the recipe EVERYONE follows, home cook & professional baker alike.

Cake pops:

Bake a boxed cake, any flavor, in a 13x9 pan.
Cool completely, then mix till a fine crumble.
Mix in 1 can, again- any flavor, ready made frosting.
Combine and mix till the consistency of play-doh
Shape into melon ball size spheres, or desired shape, and chill.
Thoroughly melt almond bark/candy melts in bowl
Coat cake balls, add a pop stick, decorate, cool then serve.


OMFGIWTTU!!!!!
First off, a freaking box cake?!? Then to make it worse, frosting MIXED in?!?!
Sounds good to most people, but the consistency is (as I would imagine, and I do) of baby poop.
Sugary, sugary baby poop. But don't forget the candy coating & sprinkles on top.

Ughhhg.

Now that I've said all that, I come to this. The decorations are cute. now mind you this creates a dilemma for me.
No way in HELL am I going to use that recipe, EVER.
But ,my mind is now filled with ideas for variations to bring similar results.
IE: home made cake, frosting and or a filling that will mix to make a form able material.
Though I have serious reservations on the texture, I feel like it would be better with less "frosting" leaving a more "cake" like texture.

Now if only I had access to liquid nitrogen.....hmmmm.