Monte Mullet Livin'

Pre Thanksgiving Layered Turtle Cheesecake

2009-11-18T08:14:00.016-06:00

Thanksgiving really has a different meaning when your married. It means now you have to bring food. This year for some reason I'm really looking forward to the Smith Family Thanksgiving. So I'm really excited to BAKE! This is what I'm planning on bringing: Caroline's pasta salad, frozen sweet corn and a dessert. Now what should I bring for dessert......always a tough choice hmm cheesecake? It's always upseting to work really hard on a REAL cheesecake and only a couple people take a piece and then someone makes a fake one and it's gone in 10 min! So I'm going out on a limb and making this very time consuming Layered Turtle Cheesecake. I did a test run because I've never really mastered the cheesecake and here is the end result. I'm really proud of myself that it looks good! Now mom and dad will be my guinea pigs to see if it taste good. Here are some pictures so you can drool.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

6 T. cold butter

Filling:

4 pkg. cream cheese, softened, 8 oz. each

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup plus 1 t. flour, divided

2 T. heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, melted and cooled

1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping

1/3 cup chopped pecans

Ganache:

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 T. chopped pecans

Optional garnish: pecan halves and additional caramel ice cream topping

Directions:

Place greased 9 inch springform pan on a double thickness of foil (about 18 inches square). Securely wrap foil around pan. In small bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar and pecans; cut in butter until crumbly. Press onto bottom of prepared pan. Place pan on baking sheet. Bake at 325 for 12 to 15 minutes or until set. Cool on wire rack. In large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugars until smooth. Beat in 1/4 cup flour, cream and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Remove 1 cup batter to small bowl; stir in melted chocolate until blended. Spread over crust. Combine caramel topping and remaining flour; stir in pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls over chocolate batter. Top with remaining batter. Place pan in large baking pan. Add 1 inch of hot water to larger pan. Bake at 325 for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until center is just set and top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. For ganache, place chips in small bowl. In small pan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour over chips; whisk until smooth. Cool slightly, stirring occasionally. Spread over cheesecake. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Refrigerate until set. Garnish with pecans halves and additional caramel topping if desired. Serves 12

I'm a super model.......DUH

2009-11-04T11:00:00.000-06:00

This isn't a very good picture becaue it was taken on my phone and Tana wouldn't stop bouncing up and down! But until the parents of this poor little lion cub decide to document her life I thought I would step in for now. Mom and I went shopping on Saturday so we stopped by the Willis joint to see the kiddo's in their halloween costumes before they left. So I rang the door bell and said Trick or Treat (because I was really wanting some GOOD candy which they were holding back for themselves) and Jason commented that I had a very scary costume on.....humm good one. So later I told him if anything I was a super model for halloween. I saw no humor in my comment but some did. There are more pictures out there somewhere so you'll just have to wait.

South Dakota wedding!

2009-10-27T14:40:00.000-05:00

So my cousin Matt got married this weekend in Brandon, South Dakota it was a great wedding and reception. My favorite part of the day was when Iowa State beat Nebraska! I love it when we all get together, there is never a dull moment with the Klaassen fam. I could write so much more about the weekend but the only people that read this blog were there so no use going on and on :).

Wicked Review.......

2009-10-20T16:05:00.001-05:00

Well I don't know how to rate this musical probably a 9 but it's the only one I've ever been to hahaha. Was it well worth my $75 bucks (really it cost me so much more but that's another story)? Lets just say I probably won't be going to another one for a very long time. I have nothing bad to say at all costumes, singers, plot it was all great. I'm just a movie kind of gal. I purchased "The Proposal" also last week and I loved it! If you said hey let's go see Wicked again for free or go to a random movie for free I'd probably pick the movie everytime. Oh and there are some high rollers at the theater! I felt great when someone reminded me I had mud all over the back of my pant leg from getting out of the car when we were headed back to the car after the musical..........ugh! I knew it too but I was letting it dry so it would be easier to wipe off.........well I forgot. Let's just say it was very memorable and I'll always remember the time(s) I went to Wicked.

FINALLY the day is here!

2009-10-14T10:14:00.001-05:00

So have been waiting for this day ever since I heard it was coming to the Des Moines Civic Center which was like May 2007!! So I had a chance to take a class in college where the only thing I had to do to get the credit was to load up on a bus with a bunch of theater nerds and go see Wicked in Chicago......I'm not a musical kind of person so that was a factor and even though it seemed all expenses paid, OH I WAS PAYING for it just in the form of credit dollars. So I've had to wait four years to get the opportunity again. Oh and I'm sorry if i didn't ask you if you wanted to go with me. The people that I asked either A didn't know what it was B turned up there nose as soon as I said the word musical and C the price of the tickets scared them away!

2009-09-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

Get your farm fresh eggs right here at the Latcham Farm for only a $1.00 a Dozen. Give us a call!

IOWA STATE vs IOWA

2009-09-11T14:17:00.004-05:00

For some reason the Iowa vs Iowa State game is never televised on a channel that's on my Dish Network Bronze 100+ pack. Call Chad cheap but that's the way it is.....So I'm going to be cheering with good'ol MOM! We'll be grillin and makin salsa!

FAB 5

2009-09-11T10:41:00.003-05:00

So I went to Ottumwa for the second time ever since I've graduated from college for an Indain Hills vs Ellsworth volleyball game. My best friend Ashley is the new assistant volleyball coach at Ellsworth and wanted a few of us to meet up to watch her coah. It's usually just Ashley (in the middle), Emily (far left) and I that get together still. So it was really exciting to see the FAB 5 back in action. We were pretty much together 24/7 back in the day. Can't wait to see them again!

"Working" at FCSA

2009-09-11T10:14:00.016-05:00

So this is what I call work! Once a year our Newton/Marshalltown team gets together and has a "Fun Team Activity". This year we went to a place called All Play in Des Moines, I would describe it as an arcade. But this was a special arcade it had a rock climbing wall! I was about the only one excited to try it. So that's me going up the "easy" section of the wall. After I made it up and rang my cow bell I just had to let go and believe that I wouldn't fall to my death! I was scared at first but eventually I let go and got a great wedgie!

ya i know i don't blog!

2009-08-31T15:29:00.002-05:00

So it might seem like I don't like to blog. Ok it's not my favorite thing to do and the lack of internet doesn't help either. Oh well it's not like anybody checks my blog, but i do have some important news. My catten Meow Meow has passed. It was sad, but there was nothing we could do for her. Chad wanted to know if I wanted a memorial service for her I said nah that's ok but we might have to rope off her grave site like Ted Kennedy's so we don't dig it up later. Anyways I'll talk to guys in another 6 months??? Just kidding......it might be longer.

Kittens + Cats = Cattens

2008-12-09T12:51:00.005-06:00

So I forgot to mention that my kitty that was missing is BACK! It's been back for a long time now but whatever I'm telling you now. Chad must of told our neightbor about it and went on a service call out there and found it! He brought it home and I was so excited. It took him some getting used to us because he was gone for 2 months but he's as annoying as ever now (the cat!). Chad locks them up in the garage, barn and shed for long periods of times he says they've been in cativity he's dumb like that. Anyways i don't like to put them in the garage because they poo everywhere so i shoo them out. Well it was cold and rainy last night so my car was in the garage and this morning i went to get my boots out because I rode with chad and there those cats were! Chad had put them in the garage because he thought they were cold. He says he hates those cats but really he's in love with them. They make a cat path from our house to the garage like cows do and Chad will tell everybody about it. He even named them Meow meow and Chow Chow! Don't ask me who's who but I bet Chad could. So your probably wondering about the title well their not kittens anymore but there not yet cats so I mumbled the words and got cattens. So I hope your as happy as I am that they're home.

O Chirstmas Tree

2008-12-03T10:58:00.007-06:00

Here is my beautiful christmas tree. So I'm really excited because this Christmas tree is my very own. I picked it out (with the help of my mom) and chose the colors! Chad said he wasn't in to

the whole fancy balls, he likes the hand made ornaments. I told chad these were hand made just not by us! Anyways I wish I could keep it up all year because it's so PRETTY.

Looks easy right??

2008-10-29T07:55:00.005-05:00

So i get really excited about something and i'm totally into for about um 2 weeks and then i'm disinterested. So this blog was one of those exciting things. Now i have moved on to my next exciting project uppercase living. I went to a party a couple weeks ago at Chad's cousin's house and had no clue what the heck i was going to buy or even if i wanted to buy anything. Any who that didn't last long and ended up getting a couple signs. The saying above is one of my favorite sayings. Chad's cousin also had this on her wall same size and everything and looked GREAT so i bought it. So in this house hold there isn't alot of motivation to get things hung up (CHAD)! I figure this is one of those things i could do on my own without chad because it doesn't involve drilling a hole in my wall. So your just supposed to line it up, tape it to the wall, peel the back off, lay it back down and rub it on. WELL it doesn't quite work that way. I spent a hour and a half putting up that SIGN. Oh and chad had to help which made it even less stressful! First my problem was my painters tape wouldn't stick then it probably took me a half hour getting the backing off of it. I knew you were supposed to rub one side of it before you tried to peel the backing off but it didn't say which side (oh and don't say well duh because both sides were sticky). So i just peeled it back very slowly and ripped the letter r. Finally i got the back off. Now chad kept saying it wasn't going to straight soooo i decided to stick it to the wall. i rubbed it with a card thingy i had and thought ooooh now it's just going to peel right off and look wonderful! Wrong it took me another HOUR to peel it off the wall cuz it wouldn't stick. i got my R just right so you can't tell and something else but i'm not telling cuz you'll never notice. I'd do it again just not right away, give me awhile to forget what a pain it was!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

2008-09-23T12:29:00.008-05:00

Today is my dad's birthday. He is a whoopin 56, he has lived it all! It's starting to get harder and harder every year to pick out a birthday present for him. He gets all the clothes he needs from me, a funny card and kids drawings (maybe some stickers) from my sister and my brother's wife does a good job getting a card (good and funny too) there on the day of his birthday with a nice surprise inside. My mom usually gets him the necessities in life like underware. Oh and he buys himself a toy tractor every year saying it was a "birthday present" from John Deere. So he's got it all, what do you get the guy that has it ALL! Well my friends you get him a squeegee! The best birthday gift for a man that has a brand new garage! It's great for slushing up the water after you wash your garage floor so my mom don't fall on her butt. Oh and I got him a shirt for back up. What can I say he might be on the front page of the Spokesman (the news paper for farmers) some day so he's got to be in style! Anyways back to my long day at work. Happy b-day dad and many more.

poor kitty

2008-09-19T07:33:00.005-05:00

So I had two kitties. Well now I only have uno. I have no name for him/her so let's just call it "here kitty kitty". My kitty was missing for a day and I thought he was lost forever just like my other kitty. But Wednesday I came home from work and I do my usual here kitty kitty and didn't hear or see anything. I was ready to give up on it and all of a sudden I hear this squeak! It was my kitty but it wasn't walking normal. It would walk and then its butt would fall over (broken back leg??). So what would a girl that loves her kitty do??? She would call her husband crying and tell him to call the vet before her kitty dies! Yup that's what I did. I swore that by not giving these kitties names I would not be emotionally attached when they got hurt or died. But it's a KITTY so cute that even Chad could not help but feel sorry for it. It is still alive doing much better than when I found it. It's still walking like a drunken sailor but alive. Chad told me last night there was a house on his way to work that had a sign saying free kitties. He said he'll stop and get some for me on his way home today. Now whether he does it or not that's another story. It's the thought that counts.

almost done

2008-09-19T07:33:00.001-05:00

My life has come to this!!

2008-09-17T07:59:00.000-05:00

So I just got a new laptop and thought hey maybe I should start blogging!! I mean I have a camera that I never use, and I can go to the bowling alley to steal internet! So it's perfect for sharing my crazy uneventfull life. Enjoy! I'll post again when I'm not sitting here at work.