Easy Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

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Today I am sharing one of our best family recipes! We always called this "Silly Cake" because it has no eggs and mixes up right in the pan. It is perfect if you have an egg allergy or if you ran out but still want chocolate cake. Also, having no bowl to wash is great if you don't like washing dishes. Are you sold on this cake yet? You should be. It is awesome!

Also, I think the chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting (actually, we say "icing") is pretty much a standard dessert where I live. It might be a PA Dutch/central PA thing. Peanut butter and chocolate are a great combination, so it just makes sense.


But, there is a funny story behind this cake recipe. I mention on my "about page" how I used to be an awful cook. Well, the first time I tried to make this cake, I used tablespoons for everything. Salt, baking soda, etc. When it came out of the oven and looked a little funny I was very insulted because Mom didn't want to put icing on it until we tried it. Poor Dad got the first piece. We asked if it was OK and he shook his head "yes", then his eyes got wide and he violently shook his head "no" as he rushed to spit it out. He said that he had never had a cake grow in his mouth before!

Thankfully, I learned the difference between tablespoons and teaspoons.

Don't let that story scare you. My 4yo and I made this cake last week and I took pics so that I can show you how easy this cake is to make.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a 9 x 13 baking dish. We usually use a metal pan but glass is fine, too.

Next, make two wells in the dry ingredients. Put the vinegar in one and oil in the other.
Then, pour water over everything...
...and mix together really well. (Sneak peek of an apron tutorial that is coming soon!)
It will look like this:
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when you poke it. Top with frosting (and sprinkles if your 4yo insists on them).
Here is the full recipe:
Silly Cake
3 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. vinegar
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 c. water
Combine dry ingredients in baking dish. Make two wells in the dry ingredients for the vinegar and oil. Pour water over everything and mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.

Peanut Butter Frosting
1 stick butter or margarine
4 c. powdered sugar
4 Tbsp. milk
1/2 c. peanut butter
Cream butter and half of the powdered sugar. Stir in 4 Tbsp. of milk and the remaining powdered sugar. Mix well. Add in 1/2 cup of peanut butter and beat until fluffy. (You can add more or less peanut butter as desired.)
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Crock Pot Corn Potato Chowder

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Yeah, I wasn't sure about that combination at first.  What happened was that I was using my divided crock pot to make baked sweet potatoes and I needed another side dish for the other half that would cook all day instead of just a few hours. Well, I found several different recipes for corn chowder and ended up mashing them together to make my own. It was surprisingly good! I figured that I better write it down so that I don't forget what I did and I might as well do that on the blog and share it with the rest of you.

Crock Pot Corn Potato Chowder

1 quarts frozen corn (canned would work, too)
2 cups peeled, diced potatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 small onion, finely chopped
6 slices bacon, browned and crumbled
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste

Place corn, potatoes, broth, onion, and bacon in a 4 quart crock pot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Warm milk in the mircowave and add to crock pot. (Cold milk could risk a sudden temperature change and cause the crock to crack.) Cook for 15-20 minutes and serve. A little extra bacon on top would make it even better!

Now, to learn from my mistake... I didn't have enough room in the crock pot to add the milk, so I had to scoop it out and put it all in a pot on the stove. That works, too.

I also made some barbecue chicken and a loaf of bread in the bread maker. It was a good, hearty meal for a cold night! I love crock pot meals!

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Scarves- Crochet and Sewing

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I made four scarves this year for Christmas. The first was a basic, crocheted infinity scarf for my mom. I forgot to take a picture.

The second was made the same way, but a bit smaller for my 10yo. Well, she thought it was too long, but not long enough to loop around twice, so I offered to rip it out and redo it. I ended up making a smaller cowl with a shell stitch. She likes this much better. It only used a half skein of yarn and the variegated colors somehow lined up on their own to make diagonal stripes.

The other scarves I made were from a flannel remnant I got at Joann's.  I just made two basic infinity scarves- they ended up costing about 80 cents apiece. My daughter loves mustaches and I thought that this was fun fabric! I kept one and she kept one. We're twinsies. :)
They were pretty lightweight, which was good because Christmas was so super warm in PA this year! The kids got to go outside to play without coats! There was no "Staching through the Snow" for us! :)

Mustache Pillow and Sparkly Pink Pillows

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More pillows! That seemed to be the thing this year. I had an idea to make a huge mustache pillow for my daughter. I had some gray dot minky that I hadn't used for what I originally intended- an elephant taggy blanket- so I used it for this project instead. It goes perfectly with the gray walls and trim in their bedroom!

The back is a fun arrow print in coordintating colors that I knew my daughter would like. I figured cotton on the back would make it a little sturdier. I wish I had used a better quality cotton, though, because it ripped when I was stuffing it and I had to fix that. :/

The other pillows I made are for my daughter who LOVES all things pink and sparkly! 90% of her Christmas wish list was sparkly, which she pointed out with an asterisk and side note. :) One pillow is made from a performance lycra fabric- it was surprisingly easy to sew! The other is a pink sparkly satin.

I used a walking foot to sew these and made envelope closures for the back. They really only took a few minutes to make.

Both gifts were very much appreciated. I thought it was nice to make something fun and frivolous instead of something practical. You are only a little girl once!
There is a funny story to go with the pink pillows...
When I got the fabric, I was Christmas shopping with my husband and took him along to Joann's... again. He was a good sport and I left him at the cutting counter with the cutting instructions while I went to go look for something else. Well, he was not too thrilled to be left alone to get sparkly pink fabric cut. I think that makes him a good dad to his many little girls. :) He then helped me search several mall stores for a reindeer Beanie Boo. I don't care what it looked like- that is proof of a real man, right there. :)

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Valentine's Day Home Decor

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Please don't think I am actually early for something.

These are actually pics of my Valentine's Day decor from last year. We did some renovating last year shortly after I took these pictures and I haven't found a new spot to decorate yet.

I love my old barn window frame and I always have it decorated with some of my favorite black and white photographs of each of the kids. They have been hanging around for a few years now and are starting to curl up.  I just used red baker's twine and mini clothespins to hang them.

I made these LOVE blocks with some scrapbook paper and trims mod podged onto 2 x 4 scraps.

I made the tray, too. It is a metal serving tray from Dollar Tree with aqua paint on the edges and chalkboard paint in the center. The paint chips easily, so if you try this, be careful!

Last, the girls and I made this cute wreath for the front door. Red glitter paint was used to freezer paper stencil hearts onto burlap. I cut them into triangles and used jute to hang them across a grapevine wreath I already had. 

I love the pops of color these decorations add to the cold, winter months. The $1 tray was my only expense, too. I need to figure out where I am decorating this year because it has been so dreary and I could definitely use something cheerful around the house! 

Do you decorate for Valentine's Day?

Finish-A-Long Goals Q1

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I have been proudly showing off all of the things I have actually finished lately, but for each one, there is probably 2 things that are unfinished and 10 things in the grand ideas stage. That is how it is for me in this stage of life. One day I will have lots of time to sew, but that day is not today.

However, there are some things that my girls are waiting on, and I want to get them done before they grow up any more than they already have. It would be nice if I could just hit the pause button on that growing stuff while I get some stuff caught up around here, but I can't.

My youngest is almost 2 1/2 and her baby quilt is still not finished. I actually made it larger because I know myself better than that. I want to quilt the top by hand and that will be a great project for winter- snuggling under a warm quilt on cold days!

My 4yo is waiting on a new apron. She has been using her sister's old one, but that one is getting small and is ready to be passed down to the youngest. She wants to match my apron, so I will share pics of both when I get it done.

Last year, my 7yo got a doll bunk bed for Christmas and I let her choose fabric for the sheets and pillowcases. I am also making two sampler block quilts to match and I want to get those finished up, too.

I am linking up with the 2016 Finish-A-Long so that hopefully I will be a bit more motivated to get these things done! I have a lot more unfinished projects, but I am just focusing on these three for now!