.

"PAPA! Get the BBQ going." Ceili and Aunt Sherry.

My second cousin, Camryn taking it all in. 

 My niece, Abigail giving her Aunt a scowl.

 There was more. Much, much more. 

 Yummo. 

 My ladybug friend. 

Covered in dirt and loving it. 

 Ceili & Papa.

My wonderful Mama. <3

 My cousin, Emma :)

 Aunt Crystal(Kiki) & Camryn. 

 Emma & I <3

My sister & I being... my sister and I <3

 Aunt Cynthia and I <3 (Worst picture of me ever)

Emma & I again taking some selfies. 

 Kenny, Alanda and Abigail. Lovely picture. 

I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day with this group of people then on a beautiful lake in the sunshine, eating ridiculous amounts of food and getting eaten alive by black flies. The day zoomed by and came to an end as days often do however, as usual I can't wait to do this again. Not everyone's schedule lined up for today so not all of us are here but hopefully next time. 

I have two favorite soups; Turkey and Vegetable soup and Carrot and Dill soup. I've only ever had these soups at one of the restaurants beside my work. I would take both of these soups over deep fried fish & chips and I love, love, love anything deep friend. Fish & chips especially. A little off topic but everywhere that Alex and I go, we always try their fish & chips before anything else. We're foodies. Kidding. 

I found a recipe for carrot and dill soup and I thought I had to try it. It turned out really good but I will say that the amount of dill required in the recipe, I will cut in half next time. (Anyone who knows me and is reading this, your jaw just dropped, didn't it?) (I also love dill anything for those of you who don't know me. Dill pickles especially!)

3 tbsp of olive oil

1 onion

1 2/3 pounds of carrots

1 sweet potato

Salt & pepper

4 sprigs of thyme (leaves removed or 1 tsp. of dried)

1 tbsp of honey

5 1/4 cups of chicken stock

2 tbsp of chopped dill (I reccomend 1 or 1.5)

1 tbsp of Italian parsley

I don't know who ever thought to mix carrot and dill together in a soup but whoever you are, you have my stamp of approval. 

Here's the recipe:

1 cup of coconut

1 cup of chopped walnuts

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup of butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 cups of powdered sugar

3/4 cup of chocolate chips

After going grocery shopping, I came home super excited to get my bake on. I open up the recipe and start reading the instructions only to find out that MORE ingredients are required.... The ingredients that are needed to make the box of chocolate cake which of course I don't have on hand. Here's a list of the additional ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cup of water or milk

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

Luckily, I had oil & milk. Eggs on the other hand, I did not have. As a substitute(Thanks to my wonderful aunt for the solution) I used 1 tsp of baking powder per required egg. I also added a little bit of extra oil so that it would remain moist. Substituting other things for eggs is a first for me, so we'll see how it turns out. 

Almost all of the ingredients

Ceili decided she wanted in on this picture :)

As a side note, I would like to point out that I very rarely use pre made box cakes, cookies, etc... I usually make them by scratch. Today I have a lengthy to-do list so I may have cut a small corner. (Shhhhh)

Instructions:

Start by preheating the oven at 350 degrees & greasing a 9x13 inch pan, then sprinkle the cup of walnuts and the cup of coconut on the bottom of the pan, creating an even layer.



Following instructions on the back of the chocolate cake box, mix required ingredients(eggs, milk or water & oil), once that's done, pour the cake mix over the coconut and walnuts.


I love my cupcake spatula(Courtesy of Mom & Joey Christmas 2012)

In another bowl, mix together softened cream cheese, butter & vanilla with an electric mixer, gradually add in the icing sugar until smooth.



Take a large spoon and scoop out the mixture onto the cake mix making sure there is a once inch margin around the sides of the pan. This prevents it from bubbling over the edge of the pan.



Take a fork or butter knife and weave up and down the mixture in the pan making an s pattern so the chocolate and cream cheese mixture somewhat mix. Be careful not to push the fork or knife all the way to bottom so the coconut and walnuts stay on the bottom and don't get brought to the top. 

Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and place in the over for about 35-40 minutes. The recipe I found said put it in the over for 50 minutes.... I took it out at 35 minutes and it was starting to burn.


Up close it's looking pretty good.



 I feel like I should give it another shot when I have eggs on hand and make it as it supposed to be made. I'm not a huge coconut fan either but I thought this just looked so delicious that it had to be good regardless of the coconut. That being said, I can always replace the coconut with Skor bits or something like that which I will probably do!