3.23.2007

Momma's Birthday Dinner

Tonight we celebrated my mom's birthday with our traditional birthday dinner. Usually when one of us has a birthday that falls on a weekday, we celebrate it the following weekend. I got up this morning and made our family's favorite homemade chocolate cake, baked some HUGE potatoes and threw together a salad to go with the steaks (my mom's favorite) that my dad grilled out. Of course, we washed it all down with our southern sweet tea! Our recipe for the cake is:

Chocolate Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
6 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup oil
2 Tbs. vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups cold water


Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease cake pan(s). In large bowl combine first 5 ingredients (dry ingredients), then add the remaining ingredients and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean, and center of cake is springy to the touch. Let cool on rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool for remaining time on the rack. When cool, frost.


Frosting
Mix:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Our place settings:

Me and Momma
Frosting the cake:
Alaina straightening up for the dinner:
A mound of baked potatoes!
Almost time to eat:)
My dad, the grilling king
Momma opening her presents

15 comments:

Karen said...

I had such a great time tonight! You all did a fantastic job getting it all prepared and served.
God has certainly blessed me greatly with my family.
Thank you!
I love ya!

Kelli said...

What a great birthday celebration you all had!! Everyone looks so happy and the food looks yummy...that cake looks amazing!! I love the picture of you and your mom!
Kelli

Jason said...

you make the best cakes ever baby. i love your cooking and can't wait to get home to eat some of your good home cooking. i glad you had fun babe talk to you soon love always and forever you hubby

Gena said...

What a wonderful party you gave your mom! That cakes looks delicious. Also, the table setting was so pretty. I know you had a great time.

Happy weekend.

Gena

Trella said...

Love the pictures especially of you and your mom. Looks like it was a nice party.
Trella

Susan P. said...

What a wonderful family birthday celebration! I just love the picture of you and your Mom together because you can tell how close you are. Mother/daughter relationships are such a wonderful blessing. BTW, The chocolate cake is making me very hungry, I think I better go and get my chocolate fix now;)

Heather K said...

Hi there!
have dropped by a couple of times so now thought it was time to leave a comment. You have a great blog...love the pictures. I'm waiting to see what your furniture is going to be like. It sounds like your taste in colour and style is pretty similar to mine.
I also wanted to say that I'm proud of your men and women who are fighting for freedom and justice! I know a lot of people have only negative to say and the media (at least here in Canada it is)doesn't usually have anything good to say. They don't tell all of the story either.... only the part that works with their agenda....I pray Jason is safe and will come safely home to you and that babies and a wonderful growing family life are yours and Jason's soon!!
Heather

Anonymous said...

Your mom and dad certainly have some lovely daughters. And thoughtful too. Ooo that cake looks good. And is that a table runner she is holding up? ? It is beautiful. I love it.

Christie Belle said...

Momma, God has blessed us with a wonderful mother! I love you too.

Thank you all for your sweet comments on the decorations, food, and cake (it is SO yummy, in fact I just had a bite from what was left:0) And thank you for the comments on the picture with my mom, it's one of my new favorites! Becky, yes, it was a table runner...one with pictures of coffee, my mom's favorite!

Anonymous said...

I thought so! It is so cute. That is right up my ally :)

Jennifer in MS said...

I wish I was there!!

The cake looks so yummy! The place setting was beautiful! And you, Christie, are cute as a button! Seeing you and your mom together, I see that you look very much like her!

I know it is so hard being away from Jason, but I imagine it is nice getting all this family time in! It really seems like y'all are staying busy and I'm sure that helps!

Christie Belle said...

Jennifer, you are so sweet, it would have been fun if you could have been here! Thank you for saying I look like my mom, that's a very nice compliment!! We are trying to stay busy, it makes it go a bit faster...it will be a month on Monday. 6 to go!

Becky, I'll have to ask my grandmother where she got it!

Tracy said...

What a lovely party! The place settings were beautiful, and the cake looked WONDERFUL! Wish I could have had a piece. Glad that a great time was had by all.

Candy said...

How in the world did I miss this post!!!
I LOVED this post and allt he pictures!!!!!
Love Candy

Candy said...

Oh now I remember...we were away for Rockos hockey tournament. I guess I missed this post after. Oh please do more post like this, I just LOVE seeing the pictures :)
Love Candy
I wish I was there!