Snow, 'Sghetti a la Canon and chocolate cake

Today was unusual.  It snowed in SE Texas!  What?!  I know.  It was totally not expected.  Some pictures of the event:

Snow is fun!  Until your feet get cold and your pants are wet.

I left work early in order to run to the store before it got really bad tonight.  I decided upon 'Sghetti a la Canon...my paternal grandmother's recipe with my minor adjustments.  She likes to use mushrooms and I definitely like to use fresh onions and peppers.  The ingredients are as follows: 

'Sghetti a la Canon

1 medium onion 

1 medium green pepper

1 pound lean ground beef

1 jar spaghetti sauce (your favorite flavor)

1 can Italian style tomatoes

[sometimes I add a clove or too of garlic, but I definitely didn't have on hand today]

pasta (you choose your favorite kind, i just used regular noodles)

1.  Brown the meat with the onion and green pepper.  Your kitchen will smell wonderful :)

2.  Drain the grease.  Add the can of tomatoes and spaghetti sauce.

3.  Stir it together.  Let it simmer together while you cook the pasta.

4.  After the pasta is cooked to your likeness, stir it all together.

5.  Serve it in bowls or plates and top with cheese (if you want).

This is basically the only way that I'll ever make spaghetti.  Maybe one day I'll add mushrooms.  Maybe not.  I completely intended upon adding green beans to the meal and a piece of garlic toast, but I didn't get that far.  Maybe because I knew i had my chocolate cake waiting:

Chocolate Cake from Betty Crocker

1 chocolate cake box mix

3 eggs

1 1/3 cup water

1 stick butter, softened

1 container frosting (I chose rainbow chip...you choose your favorite)

The ingredients

A couple of quick notes:

I read on a blog that if you put the butter standing up in the microwave, it's more likely that it won't melt.  Mine fell over and melted anyway.

You have to use 2 white eggs and 1 brown egg.  It says so on the package.  I'm serious.  But not...it just happened that I needed another egg, and my roommate had some fancy organic brown eggs that I borrowed.

1.  Mix the cake mix, the water, the eggs, and butter into a bowl.  

2. Mix it per the directions on the box so it turns out like this:

3. Grease and flour a pan so it comes out easily after baking.  I chose a bundt pan to add a little extra flair to this exciting day of snow.  Pour the batter into the pan and make sure it's evenly distributed.

See that hole in the middle of the pan?  I had some difficulty getting ALL the batter into the pan:

This little glop pile made it's way through that center whole.  Oh, bundt pans.  And don't worry, I just licked up my little mess.

4.  Stick it in an oven at the temperature appropriate for your pan (Betty helps you out here)

5.  When it comes out, let it cool for about 10-15 minutes before attempting to take it out of the pan.  I was cooking spaghetti at this time, so I kind of maybe forgot about my cake.  Take a knife and run it around the rim of the pan to loosen the cake.  Get a roommate to flip it over onto a cooling rack because you are afraid that you are going to mess up the process.

6.  Tell your roommate how great of a job she did!  And then wait for the cake to cool completely.  In the meantime, place the frosting can next to the cooling cake to make sure they become best friends.

7.  After the cake is cooled, ice away!  Or, in my case, go find yet another roommate (the third one in this post) and declare you have forgotten how to ice a cake...and you need her help.

After your roommate helps you, let her lick the leftover icing out of the container as payment.  She will definitely want to help you again in the future.  

If you used a bundt pan, it will end up looking like the biggest doughnut you've ever seen.  Although, I definitely would not recommend eating this entire cake at one sitting.  It might just make you quite ill.  

8.  Slice yourself a piece, and become convinced that this is the best idea you've had all day.  Because after you taste the deliciousness that is this cake, your day will then be complete.

THANKS BETTY!