Interesting things about me

1. I LOVE trying new recipes (desserts are my favorite but anything new is fun). I like making the classic good ones from our mom’s but I love doing things different and using ingredients I’ve never used before. Luckily my husband is a good sport and encourages it. Hopefully someday when I don’t work full time I will be able to do it more often. Usually it happens less than once a week but I LOVE IT! Here is my most recent try that we loved-
Tres Leches or Three Milks (sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whipping cream).

INGREDIENTS
· 5 eggs
· 1 teaspoon baking powder
· 1 cups white sugar
· 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
· 1/2 cup butter
· 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
· 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
· One tub of cool whip
· Strawberries or strawberry sauce
DIRECTIONSPreheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch baking pan.
1. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
2. Cream butter or margarine and 1 cup of sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla extract, beat well.
3. Add the flour mixture to the butter or margarine mixture 2 tablespoons at a time, mix until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Pierce cake several times with a fork.
5. Combine the evaporated milk, and condensed milk together. Pour half into bottom of pan or platter, flip cake over onto sauce and poke again, pour over the top of the cooled cake.
6. Spread whipping cream over the top of cake. Top with sliced fruit or sauce. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes but over night is better!

2. I’ve had stitches probably more than my fair share of times but the stories sound really crazy if I sum them up in a few words. Here it goes- One time it was from jumping out of a semi truck, another time was from sliding/falling down a mountain on my face, another time was from a golf club, another time was from a skateboard to the face, another time was a couple on the inside of my belly button, and last but not least of the crazy ones was from chopping my finger instead of a cob of corn. I will spare you from any pictures of these for the weak stomachs.

3. My favorite food from a very young age has been Sweet and Sour Meatballs over rice from the Lion House cook book. In elementary when everyone else’s favorite is Pizza you kind of get some weird looks about that one but it really is very delicious and easy to make. Let me know if you want the recipe and I can e-mail it to you since I already have a recipe in this post.

4. I really love a good fantasy book. I know this might sound cheesy but I have always secretly wished that I could visit some of the fantasy books that I have read. My favorite mythical creature has always been a unicorn and I actually used to collect them. I get so into Harry Potter and books like that that I honestly start to worry like its real or tell the characters what to do like I’m Hermione or something. We watched Stardust and I was telling Jake about a rule mentioned earlier in the movie like I was the one who wrote the rule or something. He just laughs. Don’t worry I’m not so into it that I actually believe there are unicorns still alive some where on earth. I knew a girl like that in junior high and realized how crazy you can get.

5. Most of you probably know this but I have ALWAYS loved purple. I don’t actually wear it as much as you would think but I’m always drawn to it. My wedding colors were purple and purple (like in Steel Magnolias but hers was pink and pink), it was actually plum and lilac for you girls, but Jake just says purple and purple.

6. I have 9 kids in my family- all from the same parents. I love it. There are of course pros and cons and I used to hate babysitting every weekend but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Each one of my brothers and sister bring something different to the family that we would all miss. I love how we’re growing up and can’t wait until more get married and start having kids too. I have quite the legacy to follow since my mom was one of 10 and my grandma one of 18. I used to say I was going to have a big family too “ no less than 6, no more than 10” but now that I have had to birth one of my own and I’m not just babysitting I realize that might change. But yeah for big families!