Author Archives: Lynn

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Hi everyone!

It’s What’s Cookin’? Wednesday!

If you love chocolate, then this is definitely the cake for you! The only downside to this cake is the waiting time while it cools… oh, and maybe the calories šŸ˜‰

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook/Bake Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 cups butter (not margarine)
  • 6 eggs
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 boxes Jiffy chocolate fudge frosting mix
  • 2 cups chopped walnuts

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Cream butter with mixer at high speed
  3. Add eggs- one at a time
  4. Gradually add sugar
  5. Continue beating at high speed until batter is light and fluffy
  6. By hand- fold in flour, frosting mix, and walnuts until well blended
  7. Pour batter into a greased Bundt pan or a 10" tube pan
  8. Bake for approximately 60 minutes (depending on your oven)- the top of the cake should be "brownie-like" when done. You canNOT use the "toothpick test" on this one!
  9. COOL in pan for 2 hours
  10. Remove from pan and COOL COMPLETELY before slicing
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This recipe has always been a hit or miss for me, but when it does turn out like it’s supposed to, then it’s WONDERFUL! There is a gooey “tunnel” of fudge surrounded by moist cake that just seems to make my eyeballs roll back into my head with every bite… sooooooooooo chocolatey good!

My family (ok… me, too šŸ˜‰ ) is usually too impatient to wait for it to cool completely, so we end up with a “gooier” than normal “tunnel”, but that’s okay- it NEVER goes to waste (but beware… because it always seems to go to waist!). If you over-bake it, then you’ll have less fudgy “goo” and more cake… so you may have to experiment with it a couple of times to find the perfect baking time for your oven.

Try it and let me know how you like it!

Enjoy!

Lynn

The Countdown Begins!

Hi everyone!

Itā€™s Mommy Monday!!!

I can’t believe itā€™s already here- the day Iā€™ve been dreading for a couple of months nowā€¦ MONDAY! Not just any Mondayā€¦ THE Monday. The LAST Monday before school is out for the summer.

For the next 12 (very long) weeks, I will no longer be able to sit down to enjoy an entire cup of coffee, have a telephone conversation, or work on a project without an interruption every 5 minutes. My house, which normally stays clean and somewhat organized for 6-1/2 glorious hours, will be reduced to 15 minutes at any given time. Quick trips to the store will become 3 hour tasks…minimum! The sounds of the clock ticking, the pets snoring, and the radio playing in the background will be replaced by the summer phrases of ā€œIā€™m bored! What can I do?!?ā€ and ā€œIā€™m hungry! What can I eat?!?ā€ Honestly, I donā€™t know why they even bother to ask those questionsā€¦ because they NEVER like the answers!

Maybe one day, when they’re grown and have kids of their own, they’ll finally understand WHY I always buy myself a huge chocolate cake in August!

Oh wellā€¦ Iā€™m sure weā€™ll all survive another summer vacation. After all, itā€™s only 72 more days until school starts, right?!?

Enjoy!

Lynn

Hi everyone!

It’s Fun Project Friday!

I picked up this rocking chair at a rummage sale about 5 years ago with the intention of re-painting it for my granddaughter. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to digging it out of storage, she had already outgrown it! I told you I was a project junkie šŸ˜‰

Anyway- the rocking chair was in great shape and very sturdy, so there was minimal prep work needed (MY kind of project!). I spent tons of time online researching whimsical style rocking chairs for kids and finally came up with a plan.

This is what it looked like before I started painting it…

Child's rocking chair- before

Rocking chair- before

Child's rocking chair- before

Rocking chair- before

The transformation was amazing… and so cute! Check it out at my other blog and let me know what you think… alittlebitwhimsy.com

Enjoy!
Lynn

Baby Back Ribs

Hi everyone!

Itā€™s Whatā€™s Cookinā€™? Wednesday!

I donā€™t know about anyone else, but Iā€™ve never had any luck when it comes to preparing ribs for dinner. Ā If I bake them, they come out dryā€¦ if I put them in the crock pot, they are just a sloppy mess of greaseā€¦ and if I put them on the grill, theyĀ alwaysĀ burn.

And thenā€¦. I found thisĀ awesome fool-proof recipe. Ā Now my ribs ROCK!

Baby Back Ribs

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook/Bake Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 slabs baby back ribs (Iā€™ve tried using other cuts, but baby back is the absolute BEST!)
  • 1 package onion soup mix
  • BBQ sauce

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 275 degrees.
  2. Line a large baking sheet with foil- shiny side out.
  3. Remove the white membrane from the bony side of each slab.
  4. Rub the dry onion soup mix on both sides of each slab of ribs.
  5. Place ribs meat side down and cover tightly with foil.
  6. Bake for approximately 2-1/2 hours, or until meat begins to pull away from the bone.
  7. Remove ribs from the oven and slice into serving sized portions (3-4 ribs).
  8. Brush each section generously with BBQ sauce.
  9. Return to oven (uncovered) for about 15 minutes.
  10. Remove from oven and turn ribs over to meaty side up. Brush generously with BBQ sauce.
  11. Return to oven (uncovered) for another 15 minutes.

Notes

***Baking times are approximate and may need to be adjusted depending on your oven.

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Thatā€™s it! Ā These ribs are so tender that they literally fall off the bone- just like at your favorite restaurant. They taste sooooooo good, require minimal effort, and thereā€™s virtually NO MESS to clean up!

Please click on the link above to leave a comment and let me know how you liked them!

Enjoy!
Lynn

Welcome to The NonEmpty Nest

Hi everyone, and welcome to The NonEmpty Nest!

My name is Lynn, and I am a non-empty nester…

oh, AND a project junkie!

What that really means is that I’m a mom, a grandma, and a wife who has somehow managed to perfect the art of juggling to achieve some semblance of organization while raising a two generation family.

Ha! Who am I kidding?!?

I’ve simply managed to perfect the art of finding creative hiding places (I’m pretty sure it’s a family trait šŸ˜‰ )! But my addiction to projects? Well, that’s another story entirely… It makes raising a large family look like a piece of cake!

When my husband and I married (many years ago!), we blended his two children with my two children. It was a strange coincidence that the two oldest children were 2-1/2 months apart in age, and the youngest two were only 5 days apart- it was like raising two sets of twins! A year later, we had another child who helped “glue” us all together. After our “baby” graduated high school, we adopted our 5 year old twin grandsons. Needless to say, this put our plans for an empty nest on hold. Raising this generation has definitely been more difficult than the last, but we’re learning… and surviving.

Grandparents raising grandchildren has become an unfortunate epidemic in the past decade. Biologically speaking, nothing really changes. But legally?!? It muddles all of the family dynamics and can be a geneological nightmare! Imagine trying to document your family tree… Your grandparents are now your parents, and your father (or mother) becomes your brother (or sister). Your aunts and uncles? Well, they’re your brothers and sisters. And all those cousins you have (had)… BOOM! instant nieces and nephews. That’s a LOT for an adult to process, let alone a child!

For grandparents already living on fixed income or dealing with health issues, it can be financially and emotionally devastating. We were very fortunate to not be in that category, but there were still quite a few adjustments and sacrifices that had to be made. It certainly hasn’t been an easy task for us to tackle, but when the choices for your grandchildren are either long term foster care or relative placement, it’s an absolute no-brainer- no… matter… what!

Thus, our nonempty nest!

Apparently I’m also one of those people who doesn’t feel “complete” unless I have 10 or more projects going on at the same time (yet another family trait!). I love going to auctions and garage sales to find hidden treasures. I enjoy being able to breathe new life into old things. But, for some reason, I can’t seem to find enough time to get it all done.

It’s not that there isn’t enough going on in my every day life, but I really needed to find an outlet… a break from reality… a jump-start to motivation… so I created this blog.

My Mommy Monday posts will invite you to laugh (or sometimes cry) as I highlight some of the “normal” happenings in a typical day around here. You’ll probably read some of my posts and think there is NO WAY that happened, but I SWEAR- I could NOT make these things up.

Even though cooking is definitely not one of my favorite things to do, I’ll share some of my family-tested/kid-approved favorite recipes in the What’s For Dinner Wednesday posts. I know my (adult) kids will love being able to reference this category instead of trying to track me down and hope that I can remember the recipe… or at least remember where I put it!

The Just For Fun Friday posts will showcase some of the fun projects I’ve completed (or ummm… almost completed šŸ˜‰ ), and hopefully inspire you to do something fun yourself… or maybe even finish one of those projects that you put on the back burner a while ago.

I think there’s a little something for everyone here at The NonEmpty Nest. Please click on the link at the top of this post to leave a comment… I’d really love to hear what you think.

Enjoy!
Lynn