Rum and Paula make it a Hit!

Last night our family got together to celebrate Julie's "29th" Birthday.  She requested Chicken and Dumplings which our Mom made.  I told her that I would surprise her with her cake.  For my birthday, she gave me a bottle of Rum Flavoring.  Taking this as a hint, I began looking for Rum Cake Recipes.  I found this Golden Rum Cake recipe at All Recipes.  As normal, I read through some of the comments and made the following changes: I used a cake mix with pudding in the mix, I did not use the walnuts and I used Bacardi's Gold (basically because I couldn't afford the Myer's Dark Rum yesterday)and I poked holes all over the cake before using the glaze.  The cake turned out beautifully.  It is very rich and it is amazing that you can't even tell it started out from a box.

I also brought some "Boursin Cheese" to the party.  No, not THAT Boursin Cheese, but THIS "Boursin Cheese"!  Once again, I'd like to say THANK YOU PAULA DEEN!!! Of course it has butter in it, duh!!!! The changes I made to the recipe were: I used a stick of unsalted butter, softened then whipped up with the mixer.  Then I added the cream cheese and creamed them together, then added the spices.  I have to say, I think this is much better than the store bought.  I so know it is cheaper.  I keep the spices pretty much all the time, I ALWAYS have butter, so all I would have to buy is a block of cream cheese and a box of Ritz.  My kids are now super addicted to this!

 This morning, I wanted to do something a little different for breakfast.  I grabbed the box of pancake mix and began to think.  I decided on Chocolate Pancakes. The taste reminded me of Chocolate Pop Tarts.  Instead of using normal syrup for these special pancakes, I found a recipe for Chocolate Syrup. The kids really enjoyed both the pancakes and syrup.