Hell Hath Frozen Over and Pigs Are Flying Out My Arse...

Obviously, something weird is going on. There's some sort of rip in the space time continuum or a full moon or the Pope is no longer Catholic. Side note, every time I would say something obvious growing up my Mom would always say "well is the Pope Catholic?" I can't tell you how many times I heard that growing up. Anyhoo, so basically it's like this. Things around here are ccccrrrraaazzzyyyy!!! I have been...wait for it...wait for it...BAKING. HA! Can you believe it? I've turned on my MIXER today. This never happens.

And I haven't just made one thing. No siree! Here's what has been cookin' in my kitchen today. These are all NEW RECIPES, never before made by me. Obviously, they've been made by other people.

• Homemade Chocolate Cake
• The fluffiest, lightest, best frosting I have ever had in my life.
• Pizza Dough
• Onion Tart
• Roasted Cauliflower and Onion Tart
• Banana/Blackberry muffins
• Roasted Chicken Salad with apricots, celery and water chestnuts.
• Roasted Shrimp Cocktail (This wasn't really baking but it did go in the oven.)

Some things we haven't tried yet like the chicken salad, shrimp cocktail (it's cooling) and the pizza dough. The chocolate cake will be for dessert, but I almost did not have enough frosting to cover the cake because it tasted so amazing it sort of caused the girls and I to be whipped up into a frenzy! (no pun intended) I haven't baked either tart yet, those are in my freezer for a future date. The muffins are going to a friend but we tried them and they are delightful. But the frosting takes the cake. Bah da bing!!!!

Here's where you can get the cake and frosting recipes: http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

Here's where you can get both tart recipes: http://www.smittenkitchen.com/

Here's where you can get the shrimp cocktail recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/ (type in roasted shrimp cocktail and it's from Ina Garten/The Barefoot Contessa)

Here's where you can get the banana and blackberry muffins: http://www.tongue-n-cheeky.com/

You can get my recipe for the chicken salad right here (total prep time 10 mins):

Ingredients

1 rotisserie chicken

1 package dried apricots chopped

1 can water chestnuts diced fine

2 stalks celery

Mayonnaise (to taste)

Dried Colemans Mustard (to taste, I use a teaspoon)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Take all the white meat off the chicken and some dark meat if you like it. Chop it up. Add all the rest of the ingredients. Some people really like a lot of mayonnaise. I do not. I use as little as possible, just enough to hold it all together. I enjoy more black pepper than my husband or kids do. That's why you need to season this slowly and taste it as you go.

This is great on croissants if you are having a party. But it's also good on multi grain bread with lettuce and tomato or crackers or on a big bed of lettuce.