Apple-Praline-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

I'm here to tempt you with cake.

This Southern Living cake will get you in the fall spirit! Oh, and it has a cream cheese filling. Need I say more?

Apple-Praline-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

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Ingredients:

CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

APPLE CAKE BATTER:

1 cup finely chopped pecans

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup canola oil

3/4 cup applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups peeled and finely chopped Gala apples (about 1 1/2 lb.)

PRALINE FROSTING:

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

Prepare Filling: Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended and smooth. Add egg, flour, and vanilla; beat just until blended. Set aside.

Prepare Batter: Preheat oven to 350º. Bake pecans in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through. Stir together 3 cups flour and next 7 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in eggs and next 3 ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in apples and pecans.

Spoon two-thirds of apple mixture into a greased and floured 14-cup Bundt pan. Spoon Cream Cheese Filling over apple mixture, leaving a 1-inch border around edges of pan. Swirl filling through apple mixture using a paring knife. Spoon remaining apple mixture over Cream Cheese Filling.

Bake at 350º for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 2 hours).

Prepare Frosting: Bring 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 3 Tbsp. milk to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly; boil 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Gradually whisk in powdered sugar until smooth; stir gently 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture begins to cool and thickens slightly. Pour over cooled cake. Top with more toasted pecans, if desired.

It's pretty awesome. Thank you, Southern Living, for the inspiration!

Birthday Recap

For memories sake, here's a quick recap of my birthday on Monday. It was a pretty good day, very busy at work, but it was made extra special by my friends and family.

First, my dad sent me flowers. He is such a sweet dad! He loves to send flowers to his girls.

I also went to lunch at Majestic with 9 of my favorite ladies from work - it was so fun!

After work, things were even better! Keith had to study on Monday, so my friend Jessica kept me entertained. We went to the Nail Bar for mani pedis and she had sparkling rose wine, strawberry cake and other birthday goodies to surprise me. It was so much fun!

This is Jessica's face when the glass is empty and the movie is over. We quickly fixed that :)

Afterwards, we enjoyed sushi at Sekisui. Good times!

When I got home from my night away, this is what I found on the kitchen table! These are all goodies from his family and a cookie cake he picked up for me. Fun surprise!

It was a wonderful birthday. To all of the lovely folks I heard from, thank you for the b-day wishes!

(Now you know how old I am - cat is out of the bag! I'm young for my year in school, so I feel like I should be more like 28 or 29 mentally. Oh well, age is just a number!)

Rosemary Grilled Steak with Tomato Jam and Truffled Roasted Potatoes

Happy Tuesday!

To all my friends that wished me a happy birthday yesterday, thank you! It was wonderful :) I have a recap coming soon.

Here's a delicious meal that we made recently. It tasted fabulous and was pretty easy. These two dishes go so well together, especially with a side of grilled asparagus and crusty bread. Both recipes are from separate magazines of Cooking Light. At the end of the post, I have a few tips for making these together so that they are ready at the same time.

I'm linking up to Tasty Tuesdays at 33 Shades of Green - click on over for more recipe inspiration!

Rosemary Grilled Steak with Tomato Jam

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Ingredients:

1 teaspoon canola oil

1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots

1 teaspoon minced garlic, divided

3/4 cup finely chopped tomato

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided

1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 (4-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, trimmed (1 inch thick)

Cooking spray

1) Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

2) Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add shallots to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add tomato, 2 tablespoons water, vinegar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 12 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in 1/8 teaspoon pepper; keep warm.

3) Combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon garlic, remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper, rosemary, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl.

4) Place steak on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes. Turn steaks over. Sprinkle evenly with rosemary mixture; grill 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with tomato jam.

Truffled Roasted Potatoes

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Ingredients:

2.5 lbs red new potatoes, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon white truffle oil (I had black truffle oil, so I used extra)
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

Preheat oven to 450°.

Place potatoes on a jelly-roll pan; drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic, salt, and pepper. Toss well to combine. Bake at 450° for 35 minutes or until potatoes are browned and tender. Remove from the oven. Drizzle potatoes with truffle oil, and sprinkle with thyme. Toss gently to combine.

Tips to make together:

Bring steaks to room-temperature while you prep the potatoes

Prepare the topping for the steaks (step 3 in recipe above)

Put potatoes in the oven

Chop ingredients for the tomato jam and have prepared by the stove

Start the tomato jam and put steaks on the grill

The potatoes, jam and steaks should be done all around the same time

Enjoy!!

September Love

Hey, friends! I was absent this past week due to a business trip. When I'm out of town for work, I'm not very good about the blog (or anything else personal for that matter). I am busy, busy, busy all of the hours of the day when away from home and office. But, I'm back to normal now and have updates to share!

This past weekend, we went straight to Little Rock after my flight touched down in Memphis. We went to an engagement party, a "hogapalooza" party at a bar, breakfast with friends, the Razorback game, and celebrated birthdays with family. We like to pack it in! Here are the pics:

LOVE THESE GIRLS! Whitney, Joanna, MC and me

Hogapalooza party host, Kyle Shadid and Keith in matching shirts.

Hugs and love from my Whit. I miss seeing my girl!

Having some fun with the party accessories! Those glasses were impossible to see out of.

MC and Jared get funky.

Miss Mary Catherine is just too far away in Knoxville! So glad to see her this past weekend :)

Oh, by this point in the night I had been wearing my outfit since 6 am, on a plane, in airports, in cars, at parties and just couldn't handle it any more. We went home like early birds!

After much-needed sleep and a nap before tailgating, I was ready to go again! Keith and I decked out in red and white to support the Hogs.

 

Keith was also a good sport and carried around these Razorback cookies. Mom sent these to the tailgate with us in honor of my birthday on Monday the 12th. The treats were a hit!!

Another picture with my long lost love! Gotta love our blonde/brunette contrast. You are so pretty, MC!

Next, we headed over to our favorite tailgate with Ashley and Jaycob. I am a bridesmaid in Ashley's wedding next summer and I just cannot wait! We are having so much fun talking about wedding stuff!

Couples pic! Love them!!

I really got into the spirit when the band marched right past the tailgate to head into the stadium!

An aerial view of the stadium on Saturday shows how awesome Arkansas fans are! In the week leading up to the game, the newspapers and TV news shows encouraged fans to wear either red or white (depending on their section) and the students would wear blue, in honor of 9/11. I was skeptical that this would actually work, but it was so great to see that it did!!

C-130 planes flew over the stadium at the conclusion of the star-spangled banner. It was very moving!

Kick-off time!!

The weather was perfect and the clouds were so pretty.

We love an Arkansas victory! 52-3 over New Mexico State.

Today, we celebrated my birthday one day early with my parents. My mom could not WAIT to give me their gifts!

Dad just loves any excuse to take a picture :)

Mom found this awesome Anthropologie 'Bake by Numbers' pie/tart dish! You would have to be in the art/design business to appreciate this, but I just LOVE it!! It is one of the most unique serving pieces I have seen and will definitely be a conversation starter.

My next gift was pretty fabulous too - Sephora make-up brushes and lip gloss! I'm really excited about these!

My grandparents came over for lunch, because we also had something else to celebrate...

Happy 84th birthday today, Papa Doc! I love sharing and celebrating birthdays with you!!

Once we got home, Keith just couldn't wait for me to open my presents from him. He is not good at keeping secrets and is always so anxious to give gifts - it's cute!

He hooked me up with new Nike work-out shoes, and some very cute work-out clothes to match. He has great taste and got me exactly what I wanted!!

All in all, it was a pretty great weekend. We were lucky to see so many of our friends in one place and catch up. We are even more blessed by the love of our families, and being around them today celebrating birthdays was extra special. We are also remembering 9/11 today. It's hard to believe it has been 10 years. I still find myself speechless when I think about the events of that day.

One more thing that makes 9/11 special is that I went on my first date with Keith 8 years ago today. Click here for the story. That was the best decision I ever made, by far!

I hope everyone had a good weekend, too, and that wherever you are the weather is starting to feel like Fall!  :)

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp with Rice

Here's a wonderfully easy Thai dish that comes together in less than 30 minutes. The flavors are great, and it's a healthy meal, too. You could easily add in veggies if you had extra on hand. Bell pepper, sugar snap peas, and/or carrots would all be good.

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp with Rice

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Ingredients:

1 tsp oil
4 scallions, whites and greens separated, chopped
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 oz light coconut milk
2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt to taste

Jasmine Rice (I used one box of this) 

Start rice according to package directions.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil on medium-high. Add scallion whites and red curry paste and sauté one minute. Add shrimp and garlic, season with salt and cook about 2-3 minutes. 

Add coconut milk, fish sauce and mix well. Simmer about 2-3 minutes, until shrimp is cooked through. Remove from heat, mix in scallion greens and cilantro. Serve over rice and enjoy! 

Source: The Sisters Cafe via Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes

Wine Friday: Pinot Grigio

Friday + Weekend + Labor Day = Happy Times

Are you with me on that, guys!? I love the weekends, especially three day weekends! The best part about Labor Day for us this year is that we have no plans. Not a single one. Which means we can do whatever we want! Cook, shop, manicure, dinner and a movie with friends, catch up with family, read, tv, nap, etc. My kind of weekend! How will we fit all of that self-indulgence into three days?

I do have one official goal for the weekend: buy a rosé wine. I've had rosé at restaurants, but not bought a bottle for myself. This is about to change.

I like to set lofty weekend goals. Obviously.

Welcome to Wine Friday. This week's feature is a delish and chic pinot grigio that comes in the most modern of bottles:

I love it! It's so different and fun. Now, underneath that black cap there is a rubber cork, so the basics still hold true. This wine is crisp and refreshing and great to use when entertaining.

VOGA Italia Pinot Grigio

Year: 2008

Origin: Northern Italy

Average Price: $10-12

Wine Notes:  This is a nice, crisp wine with fruity aromas perfect for a summer day!

Enjoy the weekend, y'all!