Day 10 - Just call me Martha

So I have been a cooking/baking/ice cream making fiend lately.  First there were chewy graham cookies (from My Kitchen Addiction) that I was going to use as a base for my key lime ice cream sandwiches.  The cookies are great but still a bit crunchy for the sandwich.  Next the key lime pie ice cream from The Neelys.  Very, very good.  I did crunch up graham crackers and added them at the end of the ice cream churning process.  Tonight's dinner was chicken in a basil cream sauce from The Girl Who Ate Everything.  I really enjoy her blog and have found many yummy recipes there.  Also on tap for today (but not ready until tomorrow - insert sad face here) is nutella ice cream from Scoop Adventures.  My first time trying anything from this site but because it is also the first time (well, second time) that I have made homemade ice cream, that is ok.  I am getting ready to churn this nutella yumminess out but I think I will need to do it on top of the washer or dryer (wait, that does not sound good) so as to not wake the young'uns.  I will let y'all know tomorrow how this one turns out.  As it is nutella ice cream, I will probably not be able to wait until after work but will have a sneak taste before breakfast.

If my kitchen were a reality game show, tomorrow and Friday nights would be the I-Can't-Believe-She-Is-Even-Going-To-Attempt-Something-Like-That Challenge evenings.  My mother-in-law's birthday is this weekend and she requested the red velvet cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory.  Well, the Cheesecake Factory seems to want people to take a second mortgage out on their homes in order to buy one of these, so I volunteered to make one for her.  (By the way, if she is reading this - THAT is your present!  :-))  I have looked into two recipes and I think I will go with . . . the easiest one.  It will be a several stage process but I have a feeling that it could rank in the top 5 cakes that I have made.

Oh, let's do a top 5!  My cake repertoire is not nearly as vast as my cookie catalog so I could only really come up with 5.  Not true - I did make a red velvet cake once but it turned out wonky.  Not to worry, I am using a different recipe this time.

5.  Generic yellow cake with Hershey's Cocoa Frosting.
4.  Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
3.  Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze
2.  Coca-Cola Cake
1.  White cake with raspberry jam and Nutella cream cheese frosting.

Wish me luck!