Favorite Ingredients Friday-Chocolate Snickerdoddle Cake

After reading and trying the recipe for Snickerdoddle cupcakes on Amy's blog, I decided to get out my Cake Mix Doctor's cookbooks because I sure did not remember that recipe, sure enough it was in there. I made those cupcakes and they were wonderful. I found this recipe in Chocolate From the Cake Mix Doctor. I made these into cupcakes too and they are great! Here is the recipe.
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Chocolate Snickerdoddle Cake or Cupcakes
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1 package(18.25 oz.) plain dark chocolate fudge cake mix
3/4 cup milk
2/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cinnamon-Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting(see recipe below)
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1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 530 degrees F. Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out excess flour. (I used cupcake liners in my cupcake pan and skipped this step.)
2. Place the cake mix, milk, oil, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla in a large bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for one minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 more minutes, scraping down the sides again, if needed. the batter should look well combined. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with a rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.
3. Bake the cakes 28-30 minute. Cool for 10 minutes in pans on cooling rack. Run a dinner knife around the cake and invert on another cooling rack so you can put it right side up. Allow to cool 30 more minutes.
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Cinnamon Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
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1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
8 tablespoons 91 stick) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
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Place the cream cheese and the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined. 30 seconds. Add the cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and 3 3/4 cups of the confectioners' sugar. Blend with the mixer on low speed until ingredients are moistened, 30 seconds. Add more sugar if the frosting seems too thin. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy, 2 more minutes.
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This cake or cupcakes freeze well without icing. Wrap in aluminum foil or a cake saver and freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
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For more great recipes, go to Overwhelmed With Joy.

You make me smile award!

I was given this award from Rennee. Who I would definately throw this award right back at her! She is one of the sweetest people who really tries to make you smile! Here are a few more bloggers who make me smile. If you are awarded this award, you need to pass it on to fellow bloggers who make you smile.
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1. Kate- Kate is one of the sweetest people I have ever met and she can definately make me smile. She is definatley someone who if we knew each other in real life, I think we could be best friends!
2. Kara- She definately is a very sweet person. She is always there to help you with all of those blogging questions!
3. Dawn- Have you read this girl's posts. She is so funny. Her pepper story is the best, but I have read others!
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There are so many others that I could name! But if I did my 3 people would have nobody to pick. So, I am sure those people will be picked through there passing the award on!

Book Review- The Survivors

I am a very loyal reader. I pick my authors and I read those authors. I usually listen to other people's reviews to find new authors to read and have found quite a few that way. This time, I went out on my own, I found this book in the new section at the library and thought it looked pretty good and I was right. This was a book that I had a hard time putting down. The main story line is a plane crash, which by the way went down in Carlisle, Ky, (I lived there for a couple of summers) that has only four survivors. Two senators, a small boy and a young girl fresh out of college. The boy and the college graduate witness the murder of one of the senators. So, they must run from the crash site because the other senator knows they witnessed the murder and he wants no witnesses. The senator starts to chase them during a severe snow storm on a mountain. The boys family comes to go help find him and they rely on a psychic to help them find the two. Thre is lots of action in this book and even a couple of love stories, which I thought must have been really hard for the author because she lost her fiance while she was writting this book. Overall I loved it. I did however have a hard time imagine some of the things that happened with survival in the snow and bad weather and some of the things that the 85 year old man did, but it is a story, right?

For more Fall into Reading 2007 participants book reviews got to this post.

Kara's having a birthday contest

Well, her blog is having a birthday contest! My friend Kara is having a contest to celebrate her blogs first birthday. She is giving away some really cute handmade stuff. Kara is really talented so go check out her contest and check out her store where she sells so of her creations.
P.S. They would make great Christmas presents.

Book Review-Ghost Town at Sundown

Ghost Town at Sundown is the tenth book in Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House Series. Jack and Annie are continuing to work on becoming Mast Librarians and must go to a Ghost Town to do research and find the answer to a riddle. They end up trying to save a horse and meet a really neat wrestler.

Book Review- Dolphins at Daybreak

Dolphins at Daybreak is the ninth book in Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House Series. Jack and Annie are still working on becoming Master Librarians and must answer a riddle and do research at the ocean this time. Very interesting view of the ocean.

Book Review-Midnight on the Moon

Midnight on the Moon is the 8th book by Mary Pope Osborne in the Magic Tree House Series. This time, Jack and Annie travel to the moon to find the last clue to free Morgan from the spell. This book seemed to me to give a lot more facts about the moon and moonwalking that my son really enjoyed. In this book they do finally get to see Morgan again!

Book Review- Sunset of the Sabertooth

Sunset of the Sabertooth is the 7th book by Mary Pope Osborne in the Magic Tree House series. This time Jack and Annie go to the ice age to find another clue to help free Morgan from the spell. They even met a sabertooth tiger along the way a fun read. Only one more clue to find.

Festival Time!

There are a lot of Fall Festivals in Eastern Ketucky. We decided to go to one this past weekend. Here are some pictures. It was HOT!

Bad Morning!

Dh left the door open to the laundry room. I was changing Neil and when I came back in the twins had climbed up on my Rubbermaid tubs and were looking out the windows in the laundry room. Then I noticed, that they had poured out 1/2 of my new container of laundry detergent(a HUGE container). I noticed this because I stepped in it. I had a load of clothes ready to go in the wash sitting in front of the washer on the floor. The detergent was all over the clothes, I hope it does not stain the clothes. I put them all in the washer and I am hoping for the best. I had to put towels down to get the rest up and then I noticed that they had put some in my dryer vent. I know you all are probably just laughing. I promise you they did this mess in less than 5 minutes! I am so frustrated with them. It is something new everyday. The are the most curious things!

Fall into Reading 2007

So I am going to participate in the Fall Into Reading 2007 Carnival at callapidder days. There will be book prizes again and a $10 gift card. Go to callapidder days to read all about it. Here is my list for this fall.
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1. The Survivors by Dinah McCall-FINISHED September 27th
2. A Time To Mend- Angela Hunt
3. The Only Best Place- Carolyne Aarsen
4. Morning Comes Softly- Debbie Macomber
5. Twilight-Stephenie Meyer
6. Anne's House of Dreams-L.M. Montgomery
7. Just Between Us-Deborah Bedford
8. A Carol for Christmas-Robin Lee Hatcher- FINISHED October 21st
9. Return to Me- Robin Lee Hatcher-Finished October 29th
10. Sweet Revenge-Diane Mott Davidson-FINISHED October 9th
11. Copper Crown- Lane von Herzen
12. Candy Cane Murder-Laura Levine, Leslie Meier, Joanne Fluke-
finished October 13
13. Stalemate-Iris Johansen
14. When the Morning Comes-Cindy Woodsmall-FINISHED October 20th
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Son and I will be reading out loud and on his own:
1. The Magic Tree House Series-Mary Pope Osborne
2. The Boxcar Children Series-Gertrude Chandler Warner
3. Some of the Harry Potter Books-JK Rowling

Menu Plan Monday-Spet 24

I am working on my house this week so things are going to be easy! Sorry, but no links this week.

1. Soup and sandwiches
2. Pizza
3. Spaghetti
4. Lazagna-I am going to make one morning and put in fridge and then pop in the oven.
5. Leftover Lazagna
6. Breakfast
7. Eat out
For more menu ideas go to Organizing junkie.

Book Review: The Burnt House

I used to read this series a lot by Faye Kellerman. So, when I saw this book at my library, I had to get it and read it. This is the Lazarus and Decker series. This book is called The Burnt House. These are usually a murder mystery. This time a plane crash happens (at an apartment building) and a woman is supposedly on the plane, but they never find anything, including her body, to place her on the plane. So her parents get Decker to find out who murdered her. Along the way they find a female corpse at the crash scene that is dated at least 20 years earlier. Through a weird series of events these two murders seem to be connected through the people involved. I really get into these books, but they usually take me a little longer to read. There are so many facts surrounded around the police work. I really enjoyed the book. I will have to say that I did not like how it ended though.

Book Review: Afternoon on the Amazon

Afternoon on the Amazon is the 6th book in Mary Pope Osborne's Magic tree house seris. This time Jack and Annie go off to the Amazon to find the second of four clues to help Morgan. Very intersting book. Lots of Amazon facts! My son loved this one as well.

My little girl and her first purse!

Katie Sue got her very first purse and she loves it! What's in it? She has her play cell phone, play beeper, and some fruit loops lol. She says that's her snack. Nathan is so mad because she will not let him play with it, but I am not buying Nathan one! lol!

New Stroller

Well, I finally bought a new stroller. This is what I bought. It came from a different store than the link but it was the last one, a display model. No putting it together and they knocked $10 off and I love it. I only had to wipe some dust off of it. It is not the Jeep one that I wanted but it was more than half the price of that one. Now wonder what I will do if I win that other stroller?

What am I going to be doing?

Well, dh brought home Neil's new bed tonight. I really do not know how he got it in the Malibu, he says he almost did not. So, now I have to deep clean my room and clean out my closets in there(hey might as well do that while I am cleaning) and get that bed set up. Oh, my I do not even want to think about that job. It is going to be hard, but I think when I get done I will be so happy. I just wish we could do like that Clean Sweep show and take everything out and then put it all back in. That would be nice. I used to do FlyLady and she always said that your bedroom should be your most peaceful place in your home(and in order to be peaceful, it needs to be clean), well I will agree with that because my bedroom sure has not given me much peace lately and it is a mess, no joke. I think it kind of happened when we added an extra occupant (Neil) to the room and all of the baby paraphernalia. So, I guess for the next couple of days that is what I will be doing. About 4 years ago, we bought a new king size bedroom suit and even though my bedroom is big, it takes up a lot of room, so I just do not know how I am going to fit it in there yet? (Anyone know any free places where you can map out your room?) Anyways,I can't wait to get some of that peace back into my I mean "our" bedroom! I will have to get some pictures up of my new peace and Neil's new bed.

Book Review: Night if the Ninjas

Night of the Ninjas is the 5th book in Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series. Now that Jack and Annie know Morgan they wait for her to come back. They find the tree house again and a note from Morgan that she needs help so the kids find an open book in the tree house and go to Japan and the time of the Ninjas. The note from Morgan tells them something about finding 4 things. They figure out the first of the four in this book. This book as all of the others so far has been very vivid in the scenes in the book. Very fun series, I think I am hooked too. If I read to Nicholas at night, it takes me about 1 hour to read a whole 10 chapter book. Nicholas still reads some on his own but we have been finishing a book a night sometimes because Nicholas wants to find out the clues etc. Very good read!

Book Review: Pirates Past Noon

Pirates Past Noon is the 4th book in Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series. In this book, Jack and Annie follow a parrot to the days of the pirates. They help them look for a treasure. Jack and Annie finally find out who the mysterious, "M" is at the end of this book.

Sick Again!

Yes, that is right for the past two days I have had a cold. All my children have had it, so I knew it was my turn. This is the first time Neil has been sick. He can't stand for you to even touch his nose. Poor guy. My cold has moved into my chest and I can barely talk. I know the weather may be the culprit as the weather has really changed lately. I am just so sick of being sick!

Works for Me Wednesday: A recipe

I made this recipe last night. I love enchiladas and I like this recipe because it is made so much easier with the help of Hamburger Helper and it is quite yummy! Hamburger Helper works for me!

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Easy Oven Enchiladas

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1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup milk
1 1/3 cups hot water
1 package Hamburger Helper® cheesy enchilada
6 Old El Paso® flour tortillas for burritos (8 inches in diameter)
1 jar (16 ounces) Old El Paso® salsa (any variety)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
3 tablespoons milk
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1.Heat oven to 350°F. Cook beef in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain. Stir in 1/2 cup milk, 1 1/3 cups hot water, uncooked Rice and Sauce Mix. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; cover and simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender.
2. Spoon 2/3 cup beef mixture on each tortilla. Roll up tortillas; place seam sides down and widthwise in ungreased baking dish, 13x9x2 inches. Spread with salsa; sprinkle with cheese.
3. Bake uncovered 15 to 20 minutes or until hot. Stir together 3 tablespoons milk and the Topping mix 30 seconds; drizzle over enchiladas.

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For more great WFMW post see Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer.

Book Review: The Boxcar Children

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner was a book I remember loving as a child. I did not read any of the other book in the series though. I remember this being the first book I really enjoyed. Basically this book is about 4 children who run away from their grandfather. They build a life living in a Boxcar. Nicholas really enjoyed this book. I am reading these to him before he goes to bed at night and he really likes that. Even though this book was written a long time ago, Nicholas really enjoyed it and we are now reading the second book.

Book Review: Mummies in the Morning

Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborne is the third book in the Magic Tree House series. This time Jack and his 7 year old sister go back to the time of mummies and pyramids. The book taught a lot of things about that time. The children get to help a thousand year old mummy find her Book of the Dead. We also used the research guide that goes to this book to answer questions that we had about things going on in the book. another good book not only for reading, but for all the neat things it taught about that time period. Onto book 4. We actually read this book in one day. Nicholas read his 20 minutes and then I finished reading the book to him, it took about 1 hour.

Book Review: The Knight At Dawn

The Knight at Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne is the second book in the Magic Tree House series. This time Jack and Annie go back to the days of knights and castles. Nicholas really enjoyed this book, guess I am kind of hooked on the series now too. They collected another clue at to who owns the tree house too. A really good read! Guess it is onto book 3.

LORIE

I saw this at Stace's Place. You go to Flickr and put in your name and it creates a picture for you. Here is mine. Lol I think one of them is a grave stone.