Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen

News & Press - Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen

http://www.jbjsoulkitchen.org/about

So tell me, what is better than Jon Bon Jovi, food, and love?

JBJ has a restaurant with no prices. Guests make their selection and pay the minimum suggested donation. That's right, donation. 

If you pay a little more, you are helping to feed someone else. Those who cannot afford to pay for their meal can volunteer to work in exchange for their meal. Whether you can foot the bill or have to work it off, you are all seated family-style. It's about people helping people.

"At Soul Kitchen the main ingredient is Love, with a large helping of you." 

How awesome is that?

Love and compassion. Doing the right thing. I was so moved by this, I had to share.

I love you even more Jon. 

Peace & God Bless.

When Life Gives You...

This morning I set out to make a Coconut Cake. I baked my two layers of white cake, as 

I've done many times before. They had cooled long enough for me to frost them. 

Everything was right with the universe. 

That is until I decided to remove the cake from the first pan. 

Seems as if the cake decided it wasn't ready to leave the pan. Not as a whole piece anyway.

Arrgh!! Messed up cake!!

Ok. Ok. I have another layer. It will just have to be a one layer cake. So, I invert the other layer to remove it and....arrgh #@%&** stupid cake!!! Slow breaths. In, pause, and out, pause. Now what to do?

Aha! Got it! I'll make a trifle, of sorts. Let's call it:

EASY LAYERED DESSERT

So, we already have our cake, mostly crumbled and in pieces. Time to make some pudding! Since I have white cake, I used vanilla instant pudding. The photo shows 1, but I used 2 boxes (5.1 oz size/large boxes) of the vanilla pudding mix. Made the pudding per the directions in a large bowl. 

 









 Then I brought out my 13x9 glass Pyrex dish. Let the layering begin!

Ingredients: Cake, pudding, whipped topping

Crumble the cake. Add it to the dish. This was one of the pans of cake (or one cake layer).

Add half of your pudding on top of the cake layer. Next, add the
remaining cake and layer of pudding.

Add your whipped topping, and you are done!

Yum! Time to dig in! 

 

I'm already thinking about other combinations. Pound cake and chocolate pudding. Strawberry cake, strawberries, and pudding. To make it easier, used a bakery-made cake. 

I imagine that Angel Food cake would work well too.

This made quite a bit! But, with 2 teenage boys in the house, it won't last long. 

As I get older, I'm starting to get that whole adage about not sweating the small stuff, and 

working with the hand I've been dealt. I'm getting there...

 

Love is in the Air

With Valentine's Day soon here, I've been looking at some cute, simple, and quick recipes to make some goodies for the family. I'm thinking of either a cake or cookies. Or both!

I haven't made a heart-shaped cake before. This photo makes it look pretty simple. 

You can't go wrong with Duncan Hines!

@ Baking.about.com

And these darlings are cake-mix cookies: Strawberry cake mix, 2 eggs and 1/3 c of oil. Form into balls and shape into hearts. 350 degrees for approx 10 minutes. Frost when cool. I think these would be cute decorated with little conversation hearts with frosting to match. Just tint vanilla frosting with food color to match the hearts.

@ MaryJanesFarm.org

I'll post some pics later with the results.

Should be a pretty "sweet" Valentine's Day. 

Happy Valentine's Day to you!!

St Johns and Sugar Gliders

My family spent some time outside on a gorgeous Saturday, Groundhog Day 2013. We started out early to go junking - what the boys call it when I drag them out to the garage/yard sales. 

I'm looking for an old desk to re-hab. No luck on finding one today. 

After a yummy Hardee's breakfast, we headed down to Jacksonville to check out a home show expo, the highlight of which was playing with a couple of Sugar Gliders a guy was selling.

 I can imagine the "fun" my cats would have with one of those adorable little creatures! 

Precious! Sugar Glider
Photo from nhsugargliders.com

The temp warmed up quite nicely, so we decided to head over to Metropolitan Park. The park is mainly used for concerts and other events. There's open fields for pinicking, docks for boaters,

 a playground, and a stage. The best part was we had the place to ourselves.

 After enjoying the sun, water and scenery, we headed to Riverside to a couple of our favorite hangouts. 

St. Johns River & Boat docks at Met Park

 Ol' General Beauregard Lee saw his shadow this morning, meaning 6 more weeks of Winter. 

That's just fine with me as long as the Winter Days are as gorgeous as today was! 

I hope your day was fabulous, too.