Salted Caramel Chocolate mug cake

I've tried a lot of the "cake in a mug" recipes out there.  Actually I shouldn't be proud of that and probably shouldn't admit it.  I love sweets of most any kind.  They are truly my biggest weakness!  Well all that to say I came up with my own recipe that is pretty amazing!  I thought I'd share!

Chocolate Mug Cake:
1 egg
1/4 cup flour
5 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch of salt
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp veg oil
a couple drops of vanilla extract

Whisk all ingredients together in the mug.  Make sure they are mixed very good no lumps at all.  I've found it's easiest to put wet ingredients at the bottom so the dry doesn't stick down there.  Heat in the microwave for about a minute and a half to two minutes.  When I've made mine I've been about a minute and a half.  Next make the salted caramel topping.

Salted Caramel topping:

(you want to put this in the microwave immediately after the cake gets out so everything is still hot)

3 kraft caramel squares

1 tsp milk

kosher salt

Place both ingredients in a bowl.  Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds stir then heat for another 15 seconds.  Mix together and pour on top of the cake.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and enjoy!

Let me know what you think!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Balsamic Pork Chops with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

My husband and I ended up getting a couple of Pork Chops and some Sweet Potatoes at the grocery store.  We didn't really have plans for how we were going to cook them but wanted it to be amazing.  We searched recipes and couldn't find anything that both of us agreed on.  So Cliff ended up on the marinade for the chops.  I think it would have been even better if we would have let it sit all day in it but all we had was about a half an hour.  This marinade was also for two chops.  So if you are cooking more adjust accordingly.  I still can't get over how delicious it was!  

The Marinade:
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
 3 garlic cloves
2 tsp honey
Salt and Pepper to taste

So I started on the Sweet Potatoes.  I had 4 good size potatoes.  Boiled them in a pot.  Drained them and added all the goodness to them.

Sweet Potatoes:
4 Potatoes
1 stick butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar

We mashed all this together and ta da an amazing and really cheap dinner!  Especially since the Pork was on sale for less than $4 a pound! 

Hope ya'll enjoy!  Let me know what you think!

Dr Seuss 1st birthday party

For Nathaniel's 1st birthday I decided to do a Dr Seuss themed party.  It was so fun and easy to decorate for.  We decorated with Cat in the Hat hats filled with tissue paper so they'd stand up.  Then put Dr Seuss books all over the table.

My friend at Darling Deuce Designs made Nathaniel's adorable onesie.  It was so perfect!

I made jell-o in cups then added some Swedish Fish to make them look like the fish in

the Cat in the Hat story.  They looked super cute... but after they sit with that fish in there that fish is super soggy... Trust me you just do it for the looks and toss it out after!

For the cupcakes I frosted them then topped them with blue cotton candy so they looked like thing 1 and thing 2.  Another pointer add the cotton candy right when people get there.  It melts FAST!  Really if I was to do it again I would add the cotton candy right when people started eating them.

I made him a smash cake to look like the Hat from Cat in the Hat.  He demolished it!  He didn't mess around at all!  We eventually had to take it away because I'm pretty sure he would have eaten it all!

We had the Dr Seuss Happy Birthday to you book sitting out so everyone could sign it.

It was such a fun birthday party!  We had such a blast!