7 ounces good quality* milk chocolate, melted and cooled
Glaze:
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tsp light corn syrup
To make the cake:
Preheat oven to 350F. Generously butter a 6-mold mini bundt pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg and beat for 1 minute more, then beat in the vanilla.
On low speed, add half the flour mixture and mix only until it is incorporated. Add in the milk and mix until just blended. Then add the remaining flour mixture and mix only until it is incorporated. Blend in the melted chocolate.
Divide batter evenly among the 6 molds. Bake at 350F until cake tester comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes.
Cool for 5-10 minutes in pan. Then remove the mini bundt cakes from pan and cool to room temperature before glazing.
To make glaze:
Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water or in the microwave on low. Stir in corn syrup. Spread glaze or drizzle over cakes. Allow glaze to set at room temperature, about 15 minutes.
You can skip the chocolate glaze and just dust the mini bundts with powdered sugar.
In an earlier post, I admitted that I wasn’t doing cloth diapers for the double yuck factor. Well, we are now using cloth and it really isn’t that bad. We use prefold diapers with diaper covers and it is actually super easy. One of our most recent additions is a diaper sprayer which is attached to the toilet. You can use this to spray off the poop from the diaper rather than the traditional dunk and swirl. My husband loves using the sprayer so this is a double blessing for me Since we still have lots of disposables, we are using them at night. I haven’t quite figured out what we’ll do when we are out of them. Abby soaks the diapers pretty fast so not sure how to get through a whole night. I can’t imagine trying to do cloth diapers if I didn’t have a washer and dryer in house. A factor that I didn’t take into account was that the diapers add a lot of padding to Abby and her clothes don’t fit very well anymore. The onsies are barely snappable and her pants look like highwaters….oh well, what does a 9 month old know about fashion anyway?
Tuna is one of those necessary evils. I have lots of it. I know it is good for me and yet, I dread eating it. Today I combined several different ideas and wahla! tolerable tuna.
My new combination:
Mayonnaise/ ranch dressing (2-3TB)
Relish (2TB)
Mustard (just a dab)
1/4 Sweet Onion – diced
Cilantro – chopped, about 1/4 cup
1/4 apple – diced small
It tastes even better if you let it sit for about 2 hours before eating. Enjoy
Our daughter Abby seems to change more and more everyday. Here is a video of Abby starting to “talk.” I guess she really had a lot to say! Her facial expressions are the funniest thing! I think she was listening to everyone talk around here and decided that she needed to also join in.
Rex is an honest portrayal of a mother’s journey to accept, love and enjoy her son’s diagnosis of blindness and autism. Catherine Lewis, author and mother, draws in the reader as she describes her life living with Rex, her son who is blind, autistic and yet a musical savant.
Rex was born blind to a surprised mom and dad. As he developed, doctor’s found a cyst on his brain that led to further complications. Rex was also found to have autism. Catherine graciously and humbly recounts these first years as she longs for her little boy to be “normal” and yet love this little one God had given her. Providently, she was able to place Rex in a school for blind children at 6 months. Through their help, Rex made incredible gains for a child in his situation. It was during this time that Catherine’s marriage fell apart which is unfortunately very common for parents with children born with disabilities. Ironically, it was Rex’s father that was instrumental in helping Rex discover his musical abilities. For Christmas, Rex’s dad brought over a keyboard. At age 3, Rex was playing Mozart. Rex’s abilities on the keyboard surpassed all that anyone thought possible. Rex was labeled as unable to “cross-over” his body (example – his right hand couldn’t go to his left side) and yet on the piano, he was able to cross-over. In his house, Rex struggled to get around and yet on the piano, he was completely spatially aware.
The book once again highlighted the miracles that God works in the human body. Autism is a “disorder” that completely challenges what we think about how the brain works. With Rex, he is able to create and perform music that is completely beyond his years.
One of my favorite aspects of the book was Catherine’s relationship with the Lord. It was during the first few difficult years that she was encouraged by her brother to attend church. God used Rex to bring Catherine to Himself. This is not just a temporary turn to God as I see so often, but rather a genuine belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You’ll love reading Rex and you’ll see God’s hand in almost every page.
Since we still have lots of disposables, we are using them at night. I haven’t quite figured out what we’ll do when we are out of them. Abby soaks the diapers pretty fast so not sure how to get through a whole night. I can’t imagine trying to do cloth diapers if I didn’t have a washer and dryer in house. A factor that I didn’t take into account was that the diapers add a lot of padding to Abby and her clothes don’t fit very well anymore. The onsies are barely snappable and her pants look like highwaters….oh well, what does a 9 month old know about fashion anyway?
