Cake Balls...

Go ahead and laugh at the name... Is it a sign of immaturity when you still laugh when someone says balls? Anyways... These seem to be all the rage on tons of food blogs (and Neimans is selling them in their catalog, so they have to be good right?), so I am jumping on the bandwagon. Devin's birthday is Saturday, so I made him some of these to take to work tomorrow. We have decided that this is just another sign of how desperately we need children. And Devin is such a good sport that he isn't even embarrassed to take them in... and he said people at work were looking forward to getting a treat tomorrow. So, I am not embarrassed for him either (but he did make me just put them on a platter... see picture below).



There are only three ingredients (and they are totally gourmet)...

1 box cake (any flavor... I used yellow cake)

1 can of frosting (any kind... I used cream cheese frosting)

dipping chocolate



All you do is bake the cake as directed (just use a 9x13 pan). I guess this makes it more than 3 ingredients since you will have to add water, oil, and eggs to make the cake... sorry for the misrepresentation.

While it is still warm, just crumble it up (I just used my hands... ewww...)

Add the frosting (I used almost the whole thing)

Form into balls (heehee). You can use a melon baller if you have one. I don't. Maybe I should invest. I just used my hands.

Put them into the freezer for a while.

A few hours later, melt the chocolate. I used the white chocolate stuff for these. Dip the balls into the chocolate and put on wax paper to set. I used lollipop sticks for these because I thought they looked cute. I then dipped them into various toppings (I used sprinkles, heath bar, and m&m's).


I know my directions aren't great, but there are tons and tons of sites with how to make them. Just google it and you will find much better directions than these.



People get very creative with these... There are tons of flavor choices you can mix and match. And you can make them look really cute too. Look at this site. They are all for Halloween, but it shows how creative you can be with them.



And the most important thing of all... Devin likes them! And he is pretty picky as far as what sweets he will eat!

The best granola ever...

Okay, I am by no means a gourmet cook... or anywhere close to it. I just know what I like to eat and can follow a recipe. I really think that people who claim that they can't cook just don't really like to. Anyone can follow a recipe. My latest obsession has been food blogs. I can't get enough of them. They normally have really good food by people who know what they are talking about when it comes to food and they have really nice pictures of their food. This will have none of those things. It will have recipes that I love and make often. I might put a picture or two if I can remember to take it before devouring it. I rarely make anything fancy... Devin doesn't appreciate it as much as the cost of it normally warrants and it is no fun to love it alone.

So, with all of that being said, here is my first recipe. It is truly the best granola recipe ever! Every summer (well almost every summer) we take a rafting trip with Devin's family and whoever else wants to come along (do you want to come next summer? We always have so much fun!). A couple of years ago we went to Steamboat Springs and camped out. Devin's good friend Cory and his wife Elena came with us (with their adorable kids). They are real campers... I mean, they can camp in places without running water and a toilet and be happy. This was not that type of camping trip. This was camping "Call-style." There were toilets, running water, and even beach volleyball. We had a great time.

Okay, so back to the recipe... Elena brought the best granola. I am not a granola fan. I mean, I can eat it, but I don't really go out of my way to get it.... until I tried this recipe. It is so delicious. And since it is called granola, it has to be healthy, right? And it is so easy to make. Trust me... you will love it!

Elena's Granola:

½ c. dark brown sugar (I have used light brown too and can't tell a huge difference)
¾ - 1 c. honey (I always use the full cup because we like things sweet)
¾ c. oil (I normally use olive oil or canola oil, but was recently told that some people think olive oil leaves too strong of a flavor... so use canola oil if you don't want that!)
2 tsp. vanilla
8 c. oatmeal (regular, not instant)
1 c. wheat germ
1 c. coconut (I often use more because I love coconut)
1 c. craisins (I use more because Devin loves craisins)
1 c. anything else you want (I don't normally add anything else, but I do know that people have liked almonds, sunflower seeds, and even those mini m&m's in it)

Preheat oven to 250°. In saucepan, heat sugar, honey, oil, and vanilla on medium heat. Stir constantly and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add everything else. Stir well. Spread onto cookie sheet and cook for 20 minutes (longer if you want it crunchier). Remove and cool for 10-15 minutes and put into tupperware. If you cook it by these directions, it turns out kind of soft, which Devin and I like.

Enjoy!