Baby Bump & Too Much Baking!

I'm just not doing a very good job with my weekly posts.  Sorry, Blog World!

We've been truckin' along the past few weeks.  This weekend, I'll be 16 weeks!  Pretty amazing!  At 17 weeks, we're hoping to get another peek at Baby Elam in hopes of finding out the sex.  We should REALLY be able to see at that point.  Before then, wanna take a survey?




Here's my 15 week baby bump.  Feels a lot bigger than it looks!

I'm feeling the nesting coming on pretty hard core, and I still have 5 months to go.  I literally want to reorganize my entire house!  Last weekend, Harlan and I cleaned the garage.  As soon as we find out the sex, we'll be converting our guest bedroom into the nursery.  Lots to do!

Baking

In the meantime, I've been baking WAY TOO MUCH!  I most definitely do not need the extra sweets in the house, so if you're a neighbor or coworker, look out!  I'm going to be sending stuff your way!

Here's the problem...

I just got out my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook again.  It is so beautiful.  So many delish recipes!

What I've made:

Milk and White Chocolate Chip Cookies (my own recipe, thanks very much)

I used a basic chocolate chip recipe, but I just added white chocolate chips, too.  I know that doesn't sound earth-shattering, but when I took them to work, they were gone in a flash!  Sorry - forgot to take a picture before they disappeared...

Cherry-Streusel Coffee Cake - Recipe here

Sweet Harlan accidentally turned off my timer while this cake was baking.  I smelled the cake from the other room, wondered why it was smelling so done and the timer wasn't going off, and thankfully saved it before it burned to a crisp.  The result was still okay, but a little on the dry side.  I didn't get a picture, but here's the one I was staring at in the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook:

Raspberry Crumble Bars - Similar recipe here

This is a perfect recipe for a brunch - these bars are almost streusely (I know, 'streusely' is not a word).  However, they're great for any event where you need to make a lot of dessert!  I used raspberry preserves for mine, but you could pretty much use any jam you like.  The crust and topping is made with almonds and butter and sugar, and...oh my, yummy!  Highly recommend!

Again, forgot a picture, so here's a pretty Martha Stewart one:

 Colossal Chocolate Cake

I made this for my sister-in-law's 22nd birthday!  I met this beautiful lady when she was just 12 years old!  She's become quite an amazing woman, so she needed a mega chocolate cake for her birthday!

There are 3 different recipes going on here:

Chocolate Cake
Vanilla Cake
Chocolate Buttercream - Located at the bottom of the Chocolate Cake recipe

I've been inspired by the cakes Sweetapolita makes, so this is my "I didn't go to Pastry School" attempt at art.  I thought it tasted pretty darn good!

One day, I'm going to pull a Julie&Julia and bake my way through that Martha Stewart Baking Handbook!

To my infertility friends:

This past Sunday at church, my pastor spoke on the Comforting Affliction of God.  Please listen when you have a chance.  It was SO GOOD.  It reminded me of all I've learned this past year.  I pray it will help you as well.  Love you, friends.  

Lastly,

This week is Holy Week.  On Sunday, we'll be celebrating Easter, which is such a special time.  If you live in Austin and don't have plans, come to church with us!  We'd love to meet you there, or you can find details here.