Stuff to Think About

Not incredibly difficult stuff to think about mind you but mostly fun stuff. I've been meaning to blog for a while about different blogs and things that I'm reading. And while I do enjoy thinking about the deeper things in life, my recent soul searching, reading, and (seeming) constant studying for my FIC class and for my Friday book study with the girls from my Life Group leaves me wishing for times to put my brain in neutral. And since Travis is gone to church to be at the live recording for a worship album and I'm here with sickly little Chloe, I have a few minutes.

I just found the super coolest apron website ever via the Hostess With the Mostess blog. I think I want most of them. The pink and brown polka dots are *super* cute and they have matching kiddie ones. Chloe would be over the moon for that. Of course my crafty friends could probably whip one up pretty easily but even if I do posess the talent for that I seriously doubt that I would do something like that. *But* when it comes to spending that much for an apron I do often think I could make one. The hostess blog also has a recipe for super-easy yet very yummy looking Rolo turtle pretzles- don't be surprised if some of you see these at a get together. It seems like the perfect combo of salty and crunchy and sweet, yum!

And speaking of yummy, you have to check out Bakerella. I'm most interested in her cakesicles and chocolate cupcake lollipops. But you really should check out her whole blog because she really has some interesting ideas. From what I can tell she mostly uses packaged cake mixes so everything is super simple but looks amazing. This at cakejournal.com shows a 40 second tutorial of how to make a fondant rose but I like the look of Bakerella's better.

Hooked on Houses has lots of cute stuff about different houses that she photographs or different house ideas. Cute stuff, strange stuff, stuff-stuff; but it's an entertaining way to put the 'ol thinker in neutral.

One day I'll be able to entertain...sigh.

Good Eats

I'm not actually talking about the show Good Eats- which is one of my favorites- but actual good eats, as in good food. I have a couple of recipes that I tried and highly recommend- and plus they're pretty healthy.

Trav's birthday was this past Saturday and he's been talking about eating better and working out and such. So when I saw Ellie Krieger's show about healthy diner style food I thought I'd give it a try. Well, I ran the idea past Travis who was all for it- until I mentioned that I'd also purchased some chicken wings. I bet you can guess what we had for his birthday dinner.

Last night I was finally able to give the recipes a try and not only were they the super-easiest thing I've made in a while they were also really yummy. So I give you stuffed turkey burgers & sweet potato fries. I don't really like sweet potatoes but I really liked these fries. There's also a sweet potato fry recipe from Giada De Laurentis & it's not supposed to be healthy but the basil salt and garlic mayonnaise sounded very intriguing. You could probably substitute reduced fat or fat free mayo though. I'm going to try it. You could also try a recipe that I haven't yet for oven baked onion rings. Yes, I know that according to Travis, onions are a scourge upon the earth. But I like onion rings and I actually bought the onions to try it out but ran out of time to make them; I was really busy yesterday. So if anybody tries them let me know how they turn out, OK?

And in the interest of posting a treat type thing that is not healthy but tastes amazing I give you no bake cookies. I call them crack because they're so addicting and I don't make them often but they're so simple and so very tasty. I've made them before with quick oats but last time I just used regular oats and I liked them better. It made them more substantial. And the really nice thing is that I usually have everything to make them on hand. Coco powder, milk, butter, peanut butter, sugar, and oats. That's it. Enjoy!

So Christmas Was...

Great. After all my thoughts on what Christmas should be about it was really a nice- if not incredibly emotional- holiday. But God provided and our kids got lots of great stuff. We had a nice dinner with the highlight being crab stuffed mushrooms, which only Travis and I will eat. The recipe for the mushrooms turned out a little bland and while I didn't follow the recipe exactly (I didn't have any white wine and Travis won't eat onions so I substituted fresh garlic and cooked them in mojo.) the substitutions should have been enough to flavor them nicely but wasn't. Some salt and lemon juice made them tasty enough. I think that the recipe is a good starting point though. Maybe a stronger cheese would help. Asiago perhaps? I'll work on it.

Travis was home for 3 whole days although we were so busy it didn't feel like it. The majority of Christmas Eve was spent with us trying to figure out what to get the girls. We always get them practical things with a couple of toys thrown in. But God was really putting it on my heart to get them what they wanted instead of what they needed. So we bought toys. And it was really fun because we never do that. During the year I sometimes I buy a Color Wonder book and markers for them and maybe for their birthday but not during the rest of the year. It's partly out of necessity and partly because they don't need any toys. So it was really a blessing for Travis and I to see how much enjoyment they were getting out of their new toys. And as an added bonus Target had already put a lot of their toys on clearance. I was very surprised but we got a robot dog for Chloe that was half price. And it was officially declared her favorite toy of the day! She also got an easel which is chalk board on one side and white board on the other with clips that you can attach a large piece of paper to for painting. It has survived the initial excitement (unlike the robot dog) and she and Halle play with it every day. We were planning on getting a bigger ticket item for Amanda but in talking to her she declared all of our ideas impractical (seriously) and said she just wanted clothes. And all the clothes I picked out for her were promptly taken back to the store. Just wait ladies, it's coming. I miss the days when my style was Amanda's style.

And for the first time in several years we were at home for Christmas. I have said that I don't want to travel for the holidays, that I want to establish our own traditions for our kids, that it's too stressful, etc. But I'm not completely sure about that now. Because Lakeland holds a lot of Christmas traditions and memories for Travis, Amanda and I. I know some families travel every Christmas and some rarely do and we've been the "every Christmas" family but maybe there's some happy medium there. Or maybe we should just go to FL for Christmas (especially if my parents end up moving back there because we could be with all of our family for Christmas) and that would leave the other times of the year for us to vacation somewhere else. It was nice but I did miss our families.

I have painted quite a bit lately since my present from my parents was an easel. I'll post some pictures later. This is a new computer though and I haven't taken the time to set everything up for picture posting. Two of the paintings are for people and one person hasn't seen hers yet so I can't post that one- which I hate because I'm really liking all three that I've painted lately. Thankfully one is not intended for anybody so I get to keep it! I just have a teensy bit of touch up left so I'm going to try to post that one soon.

OK, I'm done typing now.

Dinner

I got one of many, many Southern Living offers in the mail again a few days ago enticing me to "celebrate 40 years of the South's Best Cooking!" by purchasing a cookbook. I already have several SL cookbooks and rarely make anything from it because of the extensive ingredient list. But they gave me a "freebie" on the advertisement which sounded super simple so I thought I'd give it a try. I actually had everything except the pasta on hand which was awesome. It took a little more time to prepare than what I originally thought since you're basically making a parmesan cheese sauce to accompany the meat sauce but it was totally worth it. I doubled the recipe thinking that there was no way that one pound of hamburger would feed the Buttons but I didn't take into account that it calls for a 13 X 9 baking dish. So I seriously had baked ziti (I used Rotini because the only ziti I found was made with white flour) in 3 casserole dishes. Which turned out to be a good thing since my sickness got worse instead of better and everybody was able to eat a decent meal for several days (3 or 4, I can't remember exactly when I made it). Everbody (including the budget- it's pretty cheap for the amount of food you end up with) loved it and demanded that it be a regular on the menu. So since we're all super-busy this Christmas season I thought I'd share a delicious, hearty, and easy to make recipe. Enjoy!

The Sneaky Chef

I was watching the Today show yesterday morning and they had a segment on a lady that had written a book called The Sneaky Chef. I was totally intrigued and excited at the prospect of being able to make brownies that included spinach and blueberries in the mix. I have a terrible time getting Chloe to eat anything. Even the stuff she says that she likes she fights against eating. Dinner time is getting so frustrating. If we tell her she can't eat anything except her dinner she just won't eat until lunch at school the next day. It-is-so-frustrating. Now, I'm not saying that I'll only make mac-n-cheese and pizza, even if it is healthy. Chloe needs to learn to eat whole foods- but I don't like to eat all of the vegetables I'm supposed to eat either. I know I should eat more sweet potatoes but I don't like them all that much- ditto for carrots. But if I could put them into spaghetti sauce, then I'm getting more vegetables as well. I think that this will definitely be my next purchase.