Zucchini Bread with Salted Caramel Frosting

I hate summer. Even as a kid I hated it. I hate the heat, humidity, bugs, sweating....I could go on and on. And since I didn't grow up with a pool, going to the pool isn't something I really care to do at all. I am perfectly happy sitting in my air-conditioned 67 degrees cool house, sipping iced coffee and doing non-summer things. Baking. Cooking. Reading. Shopping. The usual things I enjoy. And most people are like, "Oh, I just love working out in the summer outside!" I hate those people. They either can tolerate the heat or they're full of shit. I prefer working out indoors, preferably in an air-conditioned environment. Since this is pretty much the hottest summer I can remember in a long time, I also have no tan. Ryan thinks it's ridiculous because the last two years when I worked as a nanny, I spent pretty much every day at the pool with the kids (which I hated. I spend all that money on highlights and then the sun and chlorine strip my hair. No thanks.) I also figured since I spend a small fortune on anti-aging products, it doesn't make sense to slather amino peptides on my face each night and wear moisturizers with at least 15 SPF then bake my face in the sun. So I've been avoiding it like the plague. 

Fortunately, that gives me lots of time to do stuff inside I really enjoy doing. Like making Salted Caramel Frosting and icing yummy things with it licking it off my fingers and eating it by the spoonful. Fortunately for you, my dear friends, I'm going to post the recipe! I'm not gonna lie. This stuff is amazing. If you make it, it will be gone. It was so tempting just not to eat the caramel by itself.

One of the few, few, few things I like about summer is the bountiful zucchini. I have zucchini coming out my ears. And I LOVE it. We have been eating zucchini about 43 different ways in the past three weeks. One of my favorite ways is just straight sauteed with some garlic. Ryan and I also love zucchini bread, and I made two loaves of it the other day. I had some salted caramel frosting left over from a cake and slapped some on top. Oh baby. I now need to make more zucchini bread and frosting. If you make this, be prepared to need to make about a batch a week. It's a bit time consuming but so worth it. Enjoy!

Salted Caramel

(adapted from Life on Blackberry Farm)

1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons corn syrup (light Karo worked great)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine the sugar, water, and the corn syrup in a large saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
 

Cover the saucepan and let it cook over medium heat for 3 minutes.
 

After 3 minutes, remove the lid, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil.
 

*Do not stir from this point on, but instead swirl the liquid around the pan so that the caramel doesn’t burn.* (This is the tricky part. Use an oven mitt to hold the handle of one side of the saucepan)
 

Continue to cook until the caramel turns an amber color then remove from the heat and let stand for about 30 seconds. It honestly took forever. I was wondering if I was doing something wrong. Just keep swirling. It will get there.
 

Pour 1/2 cup heavy cream into the mixture. The mixture will bubble up significantly and is very hot.
 

Stir the mixture.Add the butter, lemon juice, and salt. Stir until combined.

There's your salted caramel. Let it cool and it is amazing, especially over ice cream.

Salted Caramel Frosting

Set aside 1 cup of the salted caramel. 

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachement, combine 2 sticks of butter and 8 ounces of cream cheese (both softened). 

Beat until creamy. Add 3-4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar. Do this slowly and without the mixer running or you will have a mess. Add just a bit at a time. 

Once combined, add the 1 cup of salted caramel. 

Add more confectioner's sugar to get the right consistency. I feel like I had to add A LOT of powdered sugar. Next time I will let my salted caramel cool more, but I couldn't wait!

It was about 97 when I made this frosting last week, and I used it to make a 4 layer chocolate cake. The humidity and heat killed my icing and it wouldn't stay stiff, so I didn't take any pictures. However, I did snap a shot of the icing on zucchini bread that I was eating for breakfast a few mornings ago!

Trip to Germany

 First, an apology to everyone who reads my blog. Just as I thought I would seriously get my butt back into blogging on a semi-regular basis, my mom and I had to make an emergency trip to Germany. My grandma was visiting her relatives with my uncle and his family, when she collapsed at the airport. She ended up spending 10 days in the hospital in Frankfurt with a pulmonary embolism. It was then discovered she had blood clots in her legs and she wasn't cleared to fly home with the rest of the family. Since I have yet to find a job and my mom only works one day a week, her and I flew over on June 23 and returned home on July 1. Here are a few photos from our trip! Because of my grandma's condition, we were unable to do any traveling and sight-seeing, but we stayed with the most amazing family members (Hi Guenther and Christel!) and had a wonderful time.

Friedberg Castle

Strausel & Lilli. I was obsessed.

Part of the Budegen Castle. Beautiful.

haha, this was our car! a lime green Ford Fiesta. I was surprised- this little pea had green giant pep on the autobahn.

Tuxedo Nails!

 

Tomorrow is a big day...my friend Nicole is marrying her fiance Greg! Nicole and I have known each other since we were in middle school. We spent many, many Friday nights together throughout junior high and high school, hanging out at the mall and movie theater, waiting for our parents to come pick us up! Many Friday nights at high school football games and TGI Friday's afterwards, and once I even lied to administrators at my high school, saying Nicole was my cousin, just so she could go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dance Fundraiser with me! (We did get kicked out which was complete bull$hit, especially since I raised the most money that year. I ended up winning free prom tickets!)

I'm not in Nicole's wedding, but that doesn't mean I can't get all dressed up and go all out. And by all dressed up I mean my nails. There are three things I think a lady must always check off before she leaves the house. 1) wear decent undies. You never know when you'll be in a car accident and have to have your pants cut off in the emergency room. Seriously. I worry about this happening. 2) always have clean hair. Along with no holes in your underwear, who knows when you'll be able to shower again. Dry shampoo will only take you so far. And 3) do your best to have nice nails. I don't care if they're acrylic, gel or natural, just keep them from looking like talons and slap a coat of neutral paint on them so you look like a woman. 

I knew right away back January how I would be wearing my nails to at least one of the four (4!!) weddings I will be attending this year. Zoey Deschanel wore tuxedo nails on the red carpet for the Golden Globe awards. They were fabulous! You can see what inspired my look here. Love them!

This mani was fairly simple to create. I don't have any black nail polish and the dress I'm wearing is blue so I decided a dark midnight blue would work perfectly. (BTW- the dress looks purple online and is even called Purple Royale...but it is seriously the same color as my old Civic SI- if I put the dress on top of the hood you wouldn't be able to see where they aren't the same. Exact dupe) For this mani you will need: nail polish remover, cotton balls, q-tips, toothpicks and at least two colors of polish. I used Sally Hansen's White Tip for the white, China Glaze's Up All Night, and OPI's Last Friday Night from their Katy Perry Collection.

I painted both of my ring fingers with two coats of White Tip and let it dry. 

 

Then I painted the bottom of my nail with Up All Night. I just went slow and started with a thin line and made it thicker as I went. 

Then I placed one dot directly above the line in the middle of my nail, and surrounded it with two dots on each side. From there it was a simple task of connecting the dots to create the bow. Finally, I added three dots down from the bow to the line looking like buttons. 

I painted the rest of my nails with two coats of Up All Night and let them dry. I finally went back over the tuxedo with Last Friday Night. It's a blue glitter and it really made them pop! I topped everything off with one coat of Essie's Polish Refresher. 

 

When I think of tuxedos, this comes to mind!! I absolutely love this part of the movie and it's so true. Tuxedos are formal but tuxedo nails are fun! So what do you think? Are tuxedo nails something you see yourself wearing to an event? I think these nails are awesome and will be great for tomorrow's wedding! Congrats to Nicole and Greg!

 

Splatter Nails

 

I haven't done one of these posts yet! I'm surprised because I am obsessed with all things nails! I love nail polish :o) The job I had before I got laid off really kicked off my passion for painting nails. I nannied a little girl who loved having her toenails painted. (Check back later- I'm going to post all of the toe nail designs I have painted! Fun!) Of course I needed to buy colors to do all the designs I wanted and I decided I was only going top shelf and therefore... An OPI addict was born!

You can see some yellow around my middle finger and splashes on my hand from my attempt at a whole hand of splattered nails!

I decided to create a splatter affect on my nails. This look is achieved by dipping a straw into the color of polish you want to splatter and holding it about 4 inches from your nails. Then take a deep breath and blow hard through the straw. The polish will splatter out onto your nails. I wanted to do all my nails but all I ended up with was a huge splattered mess on my hands. So I cleaned it all up and taped off around my ring fingers and only applied the splatter affect to them.

You will need a base color polish, 4-5 different colors to splatter, some straws, cotton balls, nail polish remover, tape and cotton swabs.

I began by painting all of my nails with one coat of China Glaze Snow. Then I painted my nails with two coats of Ultra Pro's Punki Pink. This is a fantastic hot pink and the more coats you add the brighter it gets. I let this dry and then prepared for the splattering. You can use any colors you want in any order. For my splatter effect I used OPI's Ate Berries in the Canaries, OPI's Rumples Wiggin', Sally Hansen's Lightning and China Glaze's Snow. It takes awhile to dry and when I had too big of a glob of one color, I used some crumpled up Saran Wrap to shift it around. It is supposed to look crazy! Once my nails were completely dry I added a coat of Essie's Polish Refresher. I know, I know, it's not a top coat, but I'm completely out of my favorite top coat CND's Super Shiney. Best. Top Coat. Ever. Use your nail polish remover and cotton swabs to clean up any mess you have and ta-da! Splattered nails :o) I'm going to try this one out again for the Fourth of July with red, white and blue. Hope you enjoyed this nail post!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

If you know me, then you know I love long hair. I have always had long hair...it's just part of who I am. If you ask me to name a beautiful woman I would say: Angelina Jolie. Beyonce. Eva Longoria. Ali Landry. They ALL have long hair. I had really long hair at our wedding and then got it cut soon after. I've been letting it grow since, so it is pretty long. It also had some really bad split ends. I knew I would definitely be getting at least an inch cut off the length so I began looking at hair cuts in general. I have loved this hair style on Gwyneth Paltrow for a really long time.

 

I think this hair cut is gorgeous. I love the length and the color but this hair cut IS the style. There would be no ponytails or half pulled back and I cannot stand hair hanging in my face.I posted this picture on my facebook and the opinions on whether I should do it were really 50/50. Then I posted a picture of myself with my long hair. 

I had a lot of people saying to go for it, and a lot of friends saying to keep it long! I planned on having it cut up to about the top of my tank top. I thought all night about whether to cut it or keep it long and when I woke up I knew deep down that I could never have a cut like Gwyn's. It's absolutely beautiful, but she's a celebrity and I'm just me and I do wear pony tails more often than not. I needed it longer so I could style it. This is a picture of me right before I got dressed for my appointment!

Very long!!! I loved it!

Let me just say how much I love my hair stylist. Her name is Erin and I've been going to her for almost 6 years. Our relationship began around the same time as I started dating my husband! So I would say it's serious :o) She has never screwed me over in any way and always gives her honest opinion on my hair. She knows I loathe bangs, side bangs, short sides, razored edges, etc. and knows I love long hair, long layers, blonde highlights and being a red head occasionally! She rocks. When I got there today I showed her the 3'' I definitely wanted chopped off before we began anything. She snipped them and we started talking coloring. Ryan has wanted me to go blonde for the longest time so we decided we would do that (well, as blonde as a brunette can be without looking like a hooker). Erin foiled my entire head (it took an hour) and then I had to sit under the steamer and sweat for 15 minutes. Rinse, wash, condition, rinse again and we were ready to get out the shears. I told Erin to cut it up to my shoulder blades. She gave me a mirror to look at it. I looked in silence contemplating for honestly a good 30 seconds before I said, "take off another inch and a half." Erin chopped that off and then I closed my eyes until it dried and styled!

I'll admit. I was scared to death to look in the mirror. Erin gave me the mirror again to look at the back and I think she was holding her breath! I finally said, "I love it!!" and that was the truth. It is a huge, huge change for me but I'm glad I did it. My hair feels a lot lighter, bouncier and healthier. Here are a few new pics!

It looks crooked because I'm leaning back on one side!

 

I love it! What a huge difference and overall I lost about 9 inches. But I'm definitely more blonde and way shorter hair but I absolutely am very happy!!

Whiskers on Kittens...

I am so far behind on this blog!!! The last post I had was three weeks ago, and that was the day after we brought Coala home. She is such a doll, but more on her later! On Tuesday, May 1, Kitty had five kittens, two male and three female!

   

Kitty wanted in the house and wouldn't leave me alone around 2PM. I put her in her box she likes and whenever she moved around I could see wet spots on the towels. Her water had broke and I called my mom. My mom said it could takes hours for Kitty to deliver since this was her first litter. I left Kitty in the basement where she was purring contently and went outside to do some yard work. When I went down to the basement a couple of hours later to check on her, I heard little mews coming from somewhere. I started calling Kitty who had a very low, guttural growl. She came up behind me and started rubbing against my legs. She was a mess! She was soaked and looked completely disheveled. I followed the sounds of the mews and found three kittens back behind our hot water tank. Kitty wouldn't go to them, so all I could do was put her in her box and hope she would know to move them with her. I went back upstairs and my heart was pounding thinking Kitty was going to abandon the kittens. I went back down and Kitty was in her box without the kittens. I grabbed a towel and picked up the kittens and moved them into the box with Kitty. I pet Kitty and she purred then growled once and the next thing I knew, a little purplish red sac appeared. She licked the sac profusely and a baby black kitten fell out. I was in awe. Of course I was texting all of my friends that we now had four kittens! I sat with Kitty while she cleaned up the newest kitten and the others started nursing. Within fifteen minutes another sac appeared and Kitty began cleaning the last kitten off. Five kittens!!! Kitty cleaned all the kittens up and let them all begin nursing. 

After about a week I began touching the kittens. Kitty let me hold them without hesitation and I decided to name them after spices! 

Jasmine is by far the smallest. All of the other kittens are crawling around and she doesn't yet. She also doesn't have a solid meow, it's more of a mew. All of the kittens have homes, except for the gray male Pepper. If anyone wants a kitten, let me know! There is no way we can keep him with Ryan's allergies. Kitty is bad enough!!

Jasmine- female (the runt)

Pepper and Paprika, male and female

Wasabi- Male

Basil- Female

As if things weren't crazy enough, a week ago my dad called and asked if I wanted a kitten. I thought he was surely joking, but he showed up holding a little male about 1 1/2 weeks older than Kitty's kittens. My parents were walking up to our house and heard something screaming in the field. My mom walked through the briars and about 10 feet off the road was a little kitten crying in a puddle of water. We decided to see if Kitty would accept him and she licked him off and laid down around him so he could nurse. So now we have six kittens!! I couldn't think of a name for him but when I saw him climbing the concrete wall in the basement trying to get out of the area we made for the kittens, it was clear. I told Ryan we should call him Spiderman and we named him Spidey.

Spidey- Male

I am obsessed with Spidey. He is the sweetest kitten! I saw him using the litter box and he just bobbles around. He wants to be held a lot and he is eating wet kitten food. I think Spidey is extremely lucky to be here with us. He definitely wouldn't have survived out in the field by himself. My best friend is planning on giving Spidey a forever home :o)

So that's the condensed story of the kittens! They opened their eyes around 10 days old and today is their three week birthday. They are amazing. Every day they are getting stronger and move active and looking more like kittens and less like aliens! I am so excited for them to get bigger and go to their new families. It will be a bit sad seeing them go, but a lot less crazy around here. Right now they are all being breastfed, but starting next week I will be introducing wet kitten food to them. Kitty is getting spayed so her milk will dry up and they will need to be weaned. It will be a full time job trying to get them all to eat and keeping Kitty away so they learn.  

As for my excuse for not updating recently...they say a picture is worth a thousand words...

How can I get work done with this?!

 

Meet Coala (and Nittany and Luna)

4-30-12, with Coala in New Philadelphia, OH

Yesterday, Ryan and I did something crazy. We went out and rescued another puppy! We have been discussing adding a puppy to our family for about a year now. Once you have two, what is one more? I couldn't be happier with the rescue center where we got Luna and now our new puppy Coala from. They are called From Heaven to Earth Animal Rescue and they are located in New Philadelphia, Ohio. They receive most of their puppies from the Amish because the Amish do not believe in getting their dogs neutered or spayed. The puppies all come with a health record, their first shots, they are dewormed, and have been given Revolution. They also come with a bag of the puppy food they're on, but I always switch them over to Blue Buffalo.

8-14-09, at the breeder's in Dubois, PA

Nittany was our first puppy. She is a purebred Toy Fox Terrier. I had wanted a TFT for years and found a breeder in Dubois. We communicated for about 2 years before I graduated from college and moved out. I let the breeder know I was ready to take a puppy and by waiting that long, I was at the top of the waiting list! We got Nittany on August 14, 2009. I couldn't even sleep the night before we drove to get her. I almost cried the minute I picked her up. She only weighs 9 pounds full-grown, so she is like a perpetual puppy. It never gets old to me. She was my first baby and still is my number one snuggler. 

Nittany, 6 months old with her cast. She also lost a lot of her fur in patches due to stress.

Nittany broke her leg about a month before our wedding. It was a freak accident and we spent the next 6 weeks driving her weekly an hour away to Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center (PVSEC). She had to wear a hot pink cast! She had to be held or in her crate at all times because her cast was bigger than her and she had to keep it as still as possible. I think this is why Nittany is so friendly today. Being held constantly as a puppy and riding in the car made her an excellent car-rider and she loves everyone. Nittany has never met anyone she didn't like!

Luna, 3-18-10

We rescued Luna March 18, 2010. She is an American Eskimo/Pomeranian Mix. She was just a ball of fur the first time we saw her. When I look at pictures of Luna as a puppy, and now how she looks today, I can't believe she's the same dog. She has changed drastically. Luna was a destructive puppy and very, very shy from the day we got her. She still is extremely timid around people she doesn't know. Luna is the most amazing watch dog. She has the meanest bark of any dog I know. She snarls and snaps and drools when someone knocks at our door. She is ready to rip off the leg of any stranger. She is the sweetest dog to Ryan and me, and to our families, but she is exactly the kind of dog you want guarding your house. She is definitely my dog and is always wherever I am. The only other person she would stay with besides us is my mom. And even then she gets incredibly homesick and won't eat while we are away. 

Luna, Winter 2010

Ryan and I got extremely lucky with Nittany and Luna. They both slept through the night from their first night home with us, and they were relatively easy to house train. They know some basic tricks and listen really well. We can go away for up to 12 hours without them going in the house and they never, ever destroy anything. So of course we went and turned our perfect lives upside down by getting a puppy :o)

I was looking on From Heaven to Earth's website Sunday evening and came across a little girl named Sugar. She looked similar to Luna as a puppy, except she was black with some white. Ah, I instantly thought she was perfect! She was listed as an American Eskimo/Border Collie mix. I showed her to Ryan who also thought she was super cute. I called the rescue center and they told me she was about 10 weeks old and had come to the shelter with 3 other sisters, who were all adopted already. I told them I would call back in the morning. Ryan said he would get on the computer and research that breed and consider it. We discovered that people actually purposely breed the American Eskimo and Border Collie together and they are called a Ski-Board. Ryan never mentioned her to me later that night and I didn't bring her up. I figured if he wanted to get her he would start that discussion. We went to bed without mentioning her again. 

Monday morning I woke up and decided to work out first thing. I was about half way through my workout when Ryan texted me. It said, "Tell h2e we will come get her." I ran upstairs and was yelling "What!? Seriously?! What?!" Ryan started laughing and said, "I'm serious. We can get her." 

We packed up the car for the 2 hour 15 minute trip. We knew instantly when we saw Sugar that she would be coming home with us. Right away she came to us and wanted to be held. She was also active and pranced around the private room H2E gives you when you visit their shelter. She was lively and happy. Ryan was beaming. I'm sure I had a giant smile plastered on my face as well. We signed all the paperwork and headed home.

Coala, 4-30-12

We had a really difficult time trying to think of a name for Sugar. We passed a mining museum on the way home and I said we should try to name her something to do with the mining industry (she's mostly black and Ryan works for one of Consol's mines.) We decided to name her Coala (pronounced Cola). It is the perfect name for her.

I was nervous introducing Nittany and Luna to Coala. I let them outside when we got home and Ryan was already out in the yard with Coala. It was if they didn't even know she was there. They were happy to see Ryan and then looked at her and ran off to the field. There's been a few snarls and growls in the kitchen with all three of them, but I think within a few weeks they will be getting along fine. They have no choice but to get used to each other! Coala slept through the night last night and hasn't had an in-house accident yet. Ryan and I are on top of taking her out every hour and really praising her when she goes outside. Being a Ski-Board, she will be an extremely intelligent dog and eager to please. I think she will absolutely love her new home with us. We are so happy to have made the decision to add another puppy to our family.

Coala, 5-1-12