Ice Cream U Scream We All Scream For Ice Cream

I'm back! Maybe.... Thanks to Victoria who was the first (and only so far) person to comment on my cool, fantastic blog! Just because of her, I will try to update this more often, even if I don't have any food or recipes to talk about. Hooray for blogging!

So it's been really hot this summer, if you haven't noticed, and I absolutely love it! I haven't complained of the heat until today really, because I am cold-natured and hate winter and being cold. So bring on the heat! But today, me and the boy went to meet some friends downtown for some Chicago style pizza, and I wore jeans and I was SO hot and sweaty and exhausted from the heat. Phew it made me so tired! So I am sitting in our nice central air apartment now trying to cool down. I really do love summer though, and try to sit out on my deck as much as I can. I want to soak in the heat while I can! I do not miss this. The scarves, gloves, ear warmers, and coat are not fun.

I need to go swimming this summer still. I really want to go to a water park, but I feel like I'm getting too old for those. But all the public pools in Chicago are probably PACKED with kids and parents trying to cool off, so I bet it'd just be annoying and not relaxing to swim. I remember going canoeing with my family a bunch when I was younger, and I'm starting to miss that, too. Living in the city makes me miss the peace and quiet of rivers and lakes and nature in general. Maybe when I go home for my bday weekend, I'll take a swim in Deam Lake or somewhere. I like the city and all, but I need my outdoors fix, too.

We've been eating out a lot lately, but I try to go buy some groceries every other week so we can spend less money by eating in every once in a while. It may sound weird, but I miss Arby's. I never even used to eat there that much, but I love those roast beef's. MMmmmm. And I miss Chick-fil-A. There are so many food choices here, but yet I still miss those crappy fast food joints. Ahh well if we ever move back, I'm sure I'll miss the food here. I'll never be satisfied!! I do want some ice cream right now......Dairy Queen blizzard? Margies hot fudge sundae? Cookies and Cream Ice Cream from the grocery? So many choices.

Hummingbird Cake

See? I'm already doing a horrible, horrible job of updating this blog. I'll give it another few months I guess and if I can't keep up with it, then I'm just not meant to be a blogger. I LOVE to look at other people's blogs and their pictures of food, and also read about their lives. Maybe I'm creepy? But maybe that's just me being a good friend and listening to their lives. Right? Well whatever it is, I still just like reading other blogs.

So I took a trip home to visit the family, and boy was it needed! There's just something about going home and being relaxed with family and seeing friends that I never see, and also letting mom and grandma cook dinners and pay for movies :) I think the older I get, the more I miss being around them. I couldn't wait to leave for college and get outta that town, but now I'm getting a little homesick I think.

The best part of my trip was seeing my niece Presley. She is the cutest little girl ever (probably because everyone says she looks like me exactly) and I wish I could see more of her!

One thing I love about going home is my mom's cooking. Some people don't like it because it's healthy (ahem my boyfriend) but I really do like it. I just can't seem to cook like her, even though I try. She always made some kind of green veggie with our dinners growing up, and I like that she made us eat it even though we didn't like it. Thanks for keeping us healthy mom! So one time, I remember she made a Hummingbird cake, and it was so moist and tasty! I had to try and made one for myself.

I took this to work and everyone loved it! The icing was a little hard to put on because the cake pans were wavy on the sides, but it still tasted just as good. I also only put it in 2 cake pans, and it took waaaay longer for the middle to get done. So next time definitely do 3 pans.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 cups chopped firm ripe banana
• .
• Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 pounds confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together into mixing bowl several times. Add eggs and salad oil to the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple and 1 cup pecans. Stir in the bananas. Spoon the batter into 3 well-greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes,or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Combine cream cheese and butter; cream until smooth. Add powdered sugar, beating with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.

Frost the tops of all 3 layers, stack and then frost sides. Sprinkle top evenly with the 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans.