Spring Lemon Cake

  I love spring. I love Food Network. I love eating. 

Add these up and we have an fabulous equation. 

BEHOLD

The Lemon Cake

I made two changes to the recipe and it was still sooooo amazing.

#1 I skipped the syrup part and only did the glaze. It was still super sugary and lemony.

#2 I added lemon whipped cream. 

Lemon Whipped Cream

Blend heavy whipping cream until the cream has set up and become thick. Then mix in Crystal Light lemonade powder to taste. Yum. :)

Being Stress Free and Actually Liking Your Life

Stress

This little word and I are BFFs. It's a love-hate relationship. This little word pumps me up so I can get my list of 1,489,3492,479,304 things done. Then, when I get home, this little word leaves me feeling exhausted, drained, and empty. I feel like ever since becoming a teacher my life has been 10 months of "GO GO GO FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS GOOD AND HOLY, GOOOO" and 2 months of laaaaazy sloth lady. Having 20-ish little curious 8 year olds all day plus the 60 hour weeks tend to do that to a person. 

For the first two year of my teaching career I just always felt yucky. I had permanent knots in my back that wouldn't go away, was always getting sick, and just straight up didn't like my life. 

Then, this year I decided things would chance. I decided that life has to have balance. So these are the things I've done to attempt balance.  

First, ME TIME. 

ME TIME does not equal staring at the T.V. like a brainless zombie when you get home. Nor does ME TIME equal ranting, crying, or venting to someone about life. 

ME TIME = something that makes you better

For me, ME TIME was deciding to do Kung Fu. After not exercising for two years due to exhaustion, I found that when I was taking a class that I paid for, I would actually go. (I'm SOOO not the self-motivator type.) Also, exercising actually gave me more energy and helped me sleep better. Plus, it doesn't hurt to have a little more self confidence that I could kick some butt if push came to shove! 

(Hopefully.) 

Second, separate work and home. 

Believe me, I know how hard it is to try to relax at home when you are wondering if you remembered to email that student's parent back, or if you will be able to grade all those papers on time, or if should just put those activities you made in your bag the night before so you don't forget them the next morning. I think if you are super busy, you just have to plan for down time and make sure to mentally separate what you need to worry about today, and what can wait. If all you worry about is work, you aren't balanced. Part of each day should be dedicated to work, and part (even if a small part) should be dedicated to your "real" life, "home" life, whatever you want to call it. 

Third, make life fun.

Fun life = having something to look forward to

I think it is important to get out and DO stuff! Make life worth living! Give yourself something to look forward to, even if it is something small! It might be the chance to watch your favorite T.V. show with your hubby, or your chance to call an old friend and chat and just catch up. Give yourself a manicure or pick up a fun hobby. There is so much to do, but often times stress makes us too exhausted to get up and DO stuff. DO stuff anyways! I still have a hard time with this one because I get really tired. But I always catch a second wind of energy and am glad I used my time making memories instead of being a zombie. 

(Cave exploring in the great Tennessee.) 

Spring Cleaning and Organizing Joy

If you are like me at all, then you have THE CLOSET.

You know. . . . the closet where you shove junk until you "figure out what to do with it."

Well, our closet isn't exactly a closet, it's a space in our bathroom with shelving that serves the same purpose. 

Now, I am going to show you the before picture as long as you pinky swear not to judge. 

PINKY SWEAR

I am not ashamed to say that I am an avid couponer. I love it. I love stocking up on things when they are dirt cheap or free after coupons. The only problem is where to put all that extra stuff I'm not using at the moment. 

That's when these little life savers come into play. 

They have these plastic shoe boxes at Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree for 97 cents which is AWESOME! 

Usually stores charge you a couple bucks for each. No thank you. 

So we begin to sort all of our extra supplies. . . . . 

Make a bin for our extra dental supplies. . . . 

. . . sort the deodorants. . . . 

 . . . the extra make-up. . .

. . . the hotel supplies that I have, ahem, collected. . . 

. . . and WA-BAM. Done. 

Last, we clean out the shelves and go the OCD-mile by labeling.

 I made sure to consider putting things I hardly ever use up higher and things I use frequently down low where I can reach.
(I'm not THAT short, just a little lazy.)

Ta-DA!!! 

BEFORE & AFTER

                                                        

                                                            

Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake

The other day I and the rest of the Pinterest community fell in love with something called 

Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake

from Call Me Cupcake.

Now, we all drooled over this picture. Don't lie, I just saw you drool too. It was something I knew I had to try and see if I could make. 

Now this is the part in the story where we really, really regret not paying attention in high school chemistry when learning about conversions. AND this is the part where we curse America for not measuring the way that the rest of the world does. Take a look at the ingredients yourself:

Anyways, so if you want to make this bad boy, you will need one of these life saving tools:

I converted the DL amounts to ML amounts since that is traditionally what we have. 

And the rest I just estimated as closely as I could while still keeping it easy for you. 

The biggest problem is that in America we usually measure all things in cups, while in this recipe they used grams and deciliters, which don't always easily convert. 

So here we go...

Ingredients Revamped:

Crust

*2 1/2 C crushed oreos

*7 1/2 TBSP melted butter

Cheesecake 

*2 AND slightly more than 1/2 packs cream cheese

*1 can sweetened condensed milk (396 g)

*50 ML sugar (that is about 3 1/2 g)

* 4-5 TBSP lemon juice.

*2 TSP vanilla extract

*3 large eggs

* 1/3 pack of dark chocolate (see note)

Ganache

*1/3 pack of dark chocolate (or 100 g)

*100 ML heavy cream

For the preparation, follow the rest of the instructions on Call Me Cupcake.

P.S. You can't skip on the ganache!!! I just used ready-made for the caramel part and it was totally fine. But there is just something heavenly about the texture and taste of chocolate ganache that no store can emulate. 

(Note: I used semi-sweet. The recipe calls for 100 g. and a pack of chocolate chips is around 300 g, so I just eyed it.)

Oh sweet gloriousness!!! 

Add crushed nuts at the top that have been slightly broiled.

  In the original recipe it calls for roasted whole pecans, but I prefer them crushed. 

Can I eat the entire thing in one sitting? Would that be wrong? 

I am not ashamed to say I ate this slice for breakfast. 

OK, maybe a little ashamed. 

But this is a no-judging zone.