Carrot Birthday Cake

Happy Tuesday everyone!  We had a lovely long weekend, and of course I have lots of progress to show you on the dining room, which is nearing completion... yay!

However, lately I feel like I'm just giving you the news; what we've finished, what we're working on, etc.  So today I'm going to add a little life and give you a fab recipe.  I love to bake, when I was in university I used to bake to relieve stress so around exam time there would be cookies flying out of the oven.  Our house was very popular for studying as you might imagine.  I joke that my husband (who I met in university) married me for my chocolate chip cookies.

This cake recipe has become one of my signature go-to things to make for a party, plus its hubby's favourite, so that doesn't hurt either.

Remember when I mentioned about hubby's birthday party a couple of weeks ago?  Well for his birthday he said that all he wanted was a carrot cake, so that's what I made! Of course I also threw him a party and made lots of other food and maybe I also got him a gift too... can't help it!  I LOVE birthdays.

So without further ado here is how you can make a fabulous carrot cake of your own.  Oh and did I mention that it's also low in fat!  Could it get any better? 

Carrot Cake (adapted from "Must Bake Carrot Cake" from Janet & Greta Podleski "Crazy Plates" book)
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (usually I use 2 cups white and 1/2 cup whole wheat)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp EACH baking soda and baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
1 small can of crushed pineapple drained of all juice (do not include the juice)
3 eggs
3/4 cup plain yogurt (not sweetened)
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray 2x8" round baking pans with non-stick spray (I also add parchment paper to the bottom of the pans for easier removal).

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, pineapple, eggs,
yogurt, applesauce, oil and vanilla.  Stir in grated carrots.  Add flour
mixture to carrot mixture and stir until well blended.  Stir in walnuts and raisins.

Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a
toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  Set pan on a wire
rack and cool cake completely.

Remove cake from pans and frost as desired (I like cream cheese frosting).

If your cake looks like this and is surrounded by empty plates you know it was good.

Yum!

I'm linking this up to Rhoda's Recipe Party

Beautiful Window Glass Makeover on a Budget

So I was at HD shopping for wooden blinds and I was like "They cost HOW MUCH?!".  Man, that is not happening ($400-$800 in case you were wondering).  I'm not putting ugly aluminum blinds in my pretty dining room, which is about all I can afford ($200).  I also like the bamboo shades, which are pretty affordable, but not formal enough for the look I want.

Then I saw it.  It was like some enchanted evening and I spotted it across the crowded room (name that movie/play).  It was perfect!  A beautiful glass pained window.  Are you ready?

Amazing!  I know, the perfect amount of elegance, privacy and very clean and crisp.  How did I afford to change out the glass of the windows when I couldn't afford blinds?  Its not new glass!  It is a film that is applied to the windows.

Here's the low down.  For $60 ($30 for each 2'x3' film) I transformed the window with just water and about 5 minutes of my time.

Sorry I don't have an pictures of the process, honestly, it took like 5 minutes or less and was SUPER easy.  It comes with really good instructions.
Here's the low down on how you do it:
First you remove the film from the package and trim to fit your window, you can cut it easily with regular scissors or a utility knife (I used scissors).
Next you spray the window with water (hint: I found that the more water the better because then I could slide it around to get it perfectly into place).
Then you take the backing off the film and position it on the window.
Using the squeegee (fun word!) that is included with the film you smooth it out and remove any bubbles (you may want a towel here to absorb the water that will squish out, I just squished it all out and then wiped it up afterwards).
Voila!  Brand new window, easy as pie.

The best part is that the film is removeable.  If you put it on crooked (which may or may not have happened on my first attempt) you can simply remove the film and try again, or slide it into the right position if you've put enough water underneath it.  This of course means that you can remove the film at any time and reuse it somewhere else.  It's not sticky like a sticker, just clingy like plastic wrap, except plastic wrap hates me and always sticks to everything, and the window film is awesome and made my day.

It looks so real that you can't even tell until you actually touch the window.  We've already fooled a bunch of people into thinking that it is real leaded glass.  Amazing!

If you decide to check it out for yourself the brand I used is called "Light Effects" and the pattern is called "Vienna".  They have lots of options including some funky coloured stained glass ones for if you wanted even more privacy or to conceal an ugly exterior view, like if your window looked out into an alley or a brick wall. 

Window before beautification

And now

Dining Room Painting

Progress has been made!  It looks soooo good.  We've been painting machines, which is nothing new since we've already survived a painting marathon.  However, I think hubby has banned me from using two paint colours in anymore rooms.  It takes twice as long to paint it since you can only do one colour at a time.  We'll see.  For now I am celebrating that I can finally put away the paint cans (at least until I have to touch up all the molding... boo).

Anywhoo... Check it out, I can't wait to see it all come together.  What do you think so far?

Before

After