Wonderful Joy Ahead

A Little Break

2012-01-18T20:19:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to pop in to say that I'm taking a little break for the next couple of weeks. Right now, things are busy with work and at home, leaving me with little time or energy to post. Hope to see you back here in a couple of weeks!

Quick Tip: Easily Make Any Tea Decaf

2012-01-03T09:10:00.002-06:00

Photo courtesy of Le Palais des Thes

A few years ago, I worked for a wholesaler that imported goods to sell to specialty boutiques, high end department stores (like Neiman Marcus), and other fun shops, like Anthropologie. We sold a variety of products, from candles to bath products to tea.

We all went through extensive tea training, learning the ins and outs of how the tea we were selling is grown, harvested, cultivated, packaged, steeped, and slurped. The training completely changed my perspective on tea, making me truly appreciate good, whole leaf, fairly traded teas.

One of the things I learned is that any tea can be decaffeinated quickly and easily at home. It's pretty cold here in Wisconsin these days, and I like drinking something hot in the evening to warm me up. We didn't have any decaf tea on hand, but that wasn't an issue at all.

And there ya go! Just to be sure I was telling you the right thing, I double-checked my memory against other tea sources. Keep in mind that like anything that says "decaf," there's still a small amount of caffeine present.

About 75-90% of caffeine is removed when commercially done; there are two methods used, one of which also strips the tea of its nutritive values. This at-home method removes about 80% of the caffeine. So, yes, there is still caffeine, but a marginal amount. Trust me, I'm still getting (lack of) caffeine headaches when including this in my caffeine-free day.

Update (2/2012): I just received a tea assortment from Teavana, and in their literature it mentions the same technique and info.

Hot Chocolate & Marshmallows

2012-01-02T13:43:00.000-06:00

It's the start of the new year, which means that most people vowed to lose weight, eat healthier, and exercise more. Maybe, if it weren't so cold today, I would have been on board with that. According to our local NBC station, we have a morning forecast of "blustery and cloudy with scattered snow flurries. Temps in the teens," and an afternoon forecast of "colder." Colder?

This year, we gave our neighbors little kits of hot chocolate cubes and homemade marshmallows. The cubes were supposed to be hot chocolate on sticks, but after I tested a few out to determine the proper number of cubes per cup, I realized that I prefer a spoon instead of a stick to stir the heck out of the chocolate into the hot milk. The sticks would just get thrown out. Plus, I don't want to stir my hot chocolate with a marshmallow, melting my mallow into the hot chocolate. I prefer to have a glob of marshmallow on top, and, since everyone shares my preferences (right... right?!), stickless hot chocolate cubes and stars they were. *Delicious, rich, warm, wish-I-didn't-already-eat-all-of-the-scraps* hot chocolate cubes and stars they were.

Both recipes take a little bit of effort, but neither are expensive to make. If you have some friends or neighbors over this winter, these would make sweet little favors to hand out. Or, if you do Valentine's Day gifts for your kids' teachers, these are perfecto. Really, just make up an excuse to make them.

If you decide you want to put them on sticks, I've heard that you should put the marshmallow on the stick first (slide from the bottom) and then put the hot chocolate cubes on underneath. The marshmallow will leave a sticky mess if you slide it down from the top of the sticks.

Here are the links to the two recipes I used and a couple of notes to help clarify how I did things:

Cocoa Blocks - King Arthur Flour

These are a little soft after resting 12 hours, but they'll continue to harden after you cut them. I made these 2 or 3 days before I made the marshmallows, and they were perfectly firm and not sticky.
I found that 50 grams (about 2 cubes for me) were the right amount of chocolate per 8 ounces of milk.
I used half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half 60% Bittersweet chocolate chips with vanilla extract. I was tempted to use mint extract, but I only had spearmint on hand (and that would be gross).
I weighed the chocolate since not all chips are made the same size. I like how they give you the option to view the recipe in weight as well as volume.

Springy, Fluffy Marshmallows - smitten kitchen

I have made these twice and both turned out perfectly. John's supposedly not a marshmallow lover, but he really liked these. Here's how it went last time.
If you are like me and only have one stand mixer bowl, you'll need to whip your egg whites while the sugar is on the stove. Transfer them to another bowl, wipe out your mixer bowl, and then soften your gelatin in the mixer bowl while the sugar is still on the stove (you should have plenty of time to do all of that). If your egg whites separated while resting, try to only add the whipped part into the marshmallows when that time comes (and discard the separated liquid part). Some separation will be normal, but it shouldn't affect your outcome.
I used cookie cutters to cut some of the marshmallows. Others, I cut into cubes with a knife.
If you don't have the same sized pan that she recommends, err on the size of using a larger pan.

I really hope you make these sometime! They're fun to eat and inexpensive as far as gifts go. And the mess? Yeah, it makes a mess, but it's an easy mess to clean up.

New Year's Eve Tradition

2011-12-30T15:45:00.000-06:00

Back in March, before I started using Pinterest, I saved to my Evernote notebook a post from the blog Eighteen25. They created this cute box to store a printout of the kid's interests/favorites/dreams every year (both of the following images are theirs).

This is a great idea to do on birthdays or the start of each new year. I really like the idea of a tracking the current interests of kids and even adults. Though I think the box is cute and a great idea for a many families, a digital file would work better for our family.

I'm constantly trying to purge our belongings so that we actually know where things are and remember that we have things! So, for us, we'll be using the printable below, scanning it back into the computer, and then including it in our photo books that I do through Shutterfly. We have a big collection of Shutterfly books; I like how it keeps all of our memories accessible without the bulk.

Click the image for the full-sized printable JPG

For the adults, I recommend taking a look at the list that Simple Mom's Tsh came up with. The last page of her PDF is formatted so that you can print it out and cut out little cards.

This morning, I noticed that 30 Handmade Days also did a New Year's printable. Go check hers out, too! The image below is hers.

Happy New Year!

LE on Christmas Day (21 Months Old)

2011-12-28T12:11:00.002-06:00

Easy Lemon Curd Pastries with Sugared Cranberries

2011-12-18T16:33:00.004-06:00

If you're in need of an easy yet festive dessert, these are a perfect option for you! The tart, sugared cranberries pair well with the sugary sweet lemon curd and flaky puff pastry. These are fuss-free; you can prepare parts of them days in advance and assemble hours before you need. It's also really nice to be able to make as few or as many as you'd like, and, best of all, they are three bite finger foods.

I feel a little like what's her name... Sandra Lee... coming up with ideas that combine homemade with store bought. There are things that I'm just not ready for, like making homemade puff pastry dough.

Right out of college, I lived on a modest salary in Chicago. For dinners, I survived on meals of Lean Cuisines or steamed frozen brussel sprouts (seriously). It wasn't until I moved to Madison and started cooking for John that I actually took an interest in making things that taste good.

One of my first cooking attempts was making homemade puff pastry for a tomato, basil, prosciutto tart. At the time, I was using a British cookbook (where ingredients were in grams) without a scale. I knew so little about what I was doing, and my weight to volume conversions yielded a dough that was an absolute mess. I don't even think "dough" is the right word for it.

I haven't tried to create my own puff pastry dough since then. I'm perfectly content with saving my sanity and opting for store bought dough, especially if it's Trader Joe's puff pastry. It's a seasonal item (so stock up now!), Trader Joe's puff pastry is made with... wait for it... wheat flour, butter, salt, water. You know, the same things I would have made it with. So now that I've done a free endorsement for Trader Joe's, let's continue on with this easy dessert!

The lemon curd is also store bought when World Market had a buy one get one free deal over the summer. I don't think that lemon curd is that hard to make, but opening a jar of lemon curd that has good ingredients is ok by me, too. I am, after all, trying to make this a quick dessert.

The only thing homemade here is sugaring the cranberries. It's SO easy! You need to think about it at least a day ahead for soaking purposes. You could even do it many days ahead and refrigerate them until you need them. They keep well without getting sticky, and if you have leftovers, they can be served with pumpkin bread pudding (like we're doing for Christmas breakfast), dark chocolate, over cereal or yogurt, or by themselves as a tart snack.

Easy Lemon Curd Pastries with Sugared Cranberries

Ingredients
1 1/2 - 2 cups of fresh cranberries, washed and picked over
2 cups sugar, divided
1 cup water
1 box of puff pastry, thawed (2 sheets)
1 egg plus a splash of water
flour for dusting the counter before rolling the dough
1 jar of lemon curd (I used Sticky Fingers Bakeries; one jar will yield 32-48 pastries, depending on how much you use)

Sugared Cranberries
These need to get started at least a day in advance so plan accordingly!

Make a simple syrup by combining 1 cup of sugar and water in a pot over medium heat. Stir occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved completely. Let it rest for about 10 minutes or until the syrup is warm but not hot.

Place the cranberries in a bowl. Pour the warm syrup over the cranberries, making sure to coat them well. If the syrup is too hot, it will cause the cranberries to burst. Cover and refrigerate 1-3 nights.

Drain the cranberries. In a small bowl, add a few spoonfuls of white sugar. Drop a few (10 or so) cranberries on top of the sugar and shake the bowl back and forth to coat. Don't worry if they have a few spots because you can go back later.

Carefully move the cranberries to a baking sheet to dry in a single layer. Repeat the process until you're out of cranberries, refreshing the sugar in your bowl every couple of batches (so that it doesn't get too gunky). Allow to dry in a single layer for at least 2 hours at room temp.

After 2 hours, if you still have sticky parts or gaps without sugar, repeat the sugar in the bowl technique. Allow to fully dry for another hour or so. After they are dry, you can put them in a bowl and allow them to touch. They will not be sticky and will last for at least a week in the fridge.

Puff Pastry
Preheat your oven to 400 with the rack in the center of the oven.

Prepare your puff pastry by rolling the thawed pastry sheet out to about 1/8 inch on a lightly floured surface (doesn't have to be perfect). Cut out your desired shapes with cookie cutters, keeping in mind that a 3 bite size cutter is a good size to aim for. Alternatively, you could use a sharp knife and cut squares out.

Tips:

Make sure to get your shapes as close together as possible because puff pastry isn't the type of dough that you can glob together and roll out a second time. Your scraps will either need to be made into personal bite sized nibbles or toss them.

The sharper the cookie cutter, the better for maximum puffiness.

If you have more dough than room on the cookie sheet, refrigerate the dough between batches.

Line your dough shapes on a parchment lined (or silpat lined) cookie sheet, leaving at least 1/2 inch between each shape.

Optional (for browning and shine): In a small bowl, lightly beat one egg with a splash of water. Brush lightly over the cut dough.

Place in the oven and bake for about 17 minutes, or until fully puffed and browned. Don't peek by opening the oven; use the oven light instead! The puffing normally happens at the last minute.

Remove from oven and allow to come to room temp, either on the sheet or on a wire rack.

Assembling the Pastries

Use your finger to make a slight indention on the top of each puff pastry shape. Arrange the puff pastry on your serving platter (makes it easier to arrange now rather than trying to move them with the toppings).

Add a small dollop of lemon curd into the indention in each shape (about 1- 1 1/2 tsp) and then top with three sugared cranberries.

Enjoy!!

Elf on the Shelf Idea Roundup

2011-12-17T21:01:00.000-06:00

Like many of you, we have Elf on the Shelf. LE doesn't understand the concept this year, so for now, our unnamed elf sits on the same shelf every day.

Those of you who have been doing this every day this December probably got all of your good ideas done in the first week. And those of you who have done this for multiple years... I'm sure you are done thinking of new hiding spots and mischievous antics!

Well... you're in luck!

I did a little searching around, and here's a big roundup of ideas for you. It's amazing what people think of!

Elf on the Shelf Roundup

If your kids are past the age of elf magic, you could still join in the fun by making elf cookies, like Bridget at Bake at 350.

From Living Locurto, you can download a PDF of 25 ideas. Those little donuts are made with Cheerios.

This Flickr pool has 510 photos uploaded from a variety of people. Loads of ideas! Here are three from the pool.

Full Plate Cooking Antics has 16 ideas listed, most are cooking related (if not all... I didn't go through them all).

Living Locurto gives the script and details on how to pretend that your elf "grew" gingerbread cookies from chocolate chip "seeds."

Lil Blue Boo's ideas are a lot of fun.

My favorite is probably the one of her elf sipping syrup:

I like the idea of putting little elf tracks to help give the kids clues when it's an especially tough hiding spot:

Oh, and she has some rated PG-13 and "almost R-rated" part 1 and part 2.

Another flickr pool has over 520 submissions! Of course, there are duplicate ideas, but at least you can see them in thumbnail form.
From an elf planking (not sure if a toddler will get it. Maybe a hip toddler.)

to classic elf angels

to graffiti on photos

You'll find a big variety there.

Jen McKen photography documented their first few nights with their elf. I laughed when I saw their elf on the toilet. This one of the elf making s'mores is well done, too.

Of course, the Elf on the Shelf Facebook page has a bajillion photos linked up. This is one of the more original ones that I saw of elf rocking baby Jesus:

Ray of Light Photography has loads of great ideas that are really well photographed. My favorite is of their elf painting the noses of the kids while they were asleep. Then, when they woke up, they found the elf with a paintbrush.

Imagineate Photography (A step inside blog) turned her milk green. Gross.

Hot air balloon elf from Paint the Moon.net

Chubby Cheek Photography has shared only a few of her ideas. I like the idea of a marshmallow snowman.

Then, when December has come and gone, if you're really with it, you could put together a decorated box for your elf, like Ellie G from less cake {more frosting}, so that your little elf can rest for the year and then return in style.

Ok, I think that's all I've got for ya! Have you done anything special with your little elfie?

Chocolate Ganache Filled Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

2011-12-15T21:00:00.000-06:00

I made this recipe for the first time when my dad was in town in early August. That's when I fell in love. I made it for a friend's baby shower in August and then again for another baby shower just this week. Hosting baby showers means that I get to pick out pretty little flowers to decorate with. Aren't these surprisingly pretty considering they are from the grocery store?

Ok, back to the real gem of this post: the cupcakes. I can't imagine another chocolate cupcake recipe tasting this chocolatey, dark, and rich. The cake itself is moist but stays together as you bite it; no one wants a cupcake that falls apart in your hand.

The frosting is a vanilla bean frosting that, if I'm completely honest with you, I could take or leave. In fact, next time, I'll probably opt to make the Billy Reece vanilla frosting recipe on Martha Stewart's site instead. The one pictured has a nice texture, but I can taste the butter more than I'd like. On the other hand, many people have asked me for this frosting recipe along with the cupcake recipe. Whatever you decide to do, opting for chocolate frosting would be entirely too rich. You need something to balance what's inside.

Oh, did I not mention the inside yet? There's a little surprise in there.

Yes, that is a dollop of ganache nestled nicely in the middle of that cupcake. No special equipment is needed, either. With the proper technique, it'll land perfectly in the center every time. The recipe will get into the details, but basically, you refrigerate the ganache to harden it up just the right amount. Drop some on top of the batter, and as they bake, it will fall into the center.

Then, when they come out, they look like this.

Let's stop messing around and get to the recipe! I promise, if you're going for sinfully moist and chocolatey cupcakes, this will be your go-to recipe.

Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes
From Cook's Illustrated

Yields 12-15 cupcakes

Ingredients
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (Ghirardelli 60% Cacao)
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (like Hershey's Special Dark)
3/4 cup hot, strong brewed coffee
3/4 cup (4 1/8 oz) bread flour
3/4 cup (5 1/4 oz) sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 T Canola oil (1/4 cup + 2 T)
2 large eggs
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Ganache:
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (Ghirardelli 60% Cacao)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 T powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, whisk until smooth the chocolate, cocoa, and hot coffee together. Refrigerate until it's cool, about 20-30 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the ganache ingredients (chocolate, cream, and powdered sugar). Microwave for 20 seconds. Whisk. If the chocolate still needs to melt, microwave for another 10 seconds. Whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes-- no more and no less! When you take it out, you're looking for a ganache that can be formed into a soft ball with a spoon. It's not fully solid (or it'll sink to the bottom of the cupcake) and it's not still runny, or it will just disperse within the cupcake.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

Retrieve the large bowl of chocolate/cocoa/coffee from the fridge. Add the eggs, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Whisk to incorporate. Add all of the flour mixture, and whisk until smooth. The batter will be slightly runny, similar to brownie batter.

Divide the batter among the cupcake liners, filling 3/4 full. I use the large OXO portion scoop; 1 1/2 scoops per cupcake does the trick.

Next, top each cupcake in the center with a rounded teaspoon of ganache. I use half a scoop with the small OXO portion scoop.

Place on the center rack in the oven, and bake for 15-19 minutes, until the cupcakes are firm to the touch on top. A traditional toothpick test won't work here due to the ganache center. Remove from the oven and let them sit in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream
America's Test Kitchen

Yields 3 cups (enough for about 24 cupcakes)

Ingredients
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
Caviar from 1 vanilla bean (or substitute in 1 T Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste)
2 1/2 cups (10 oz) powdered sugar
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 T heavy cream

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium high speed until it's smooth. Add the caviar. Beat for about 20 seconds more until it's well incorporated. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar. Once the butter has coated the sugar, increase the speed to medium for about 30 seconds. Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract. Once combined (so that it doesn't fly out of the mixer), increase the speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.

If you desire to pipe your icing on, I used a 1M star tip. Start with the tip in the center and pipe a spiral to the outside. Step back and admire what you just created!

Quick Chili (Recipe)

2011-12-13T22:53:00.002-06:00

'Tis the season for lots of sweets and little time, which means that a filling, savory dinner that can be made in 30 minutes is a godsend.

Ok, I know what you're thinking: 'Um, excuse me, Nicole. There's no way that chili can taste good unless it's been cooking all day.' Yeah, I know. We were skeptics, too. But then I got busy and decided I'd give it a shot.

And you know what? It was actually good. We couldn't tell the difference between normal take-forever-chili and quick-30-minutes-chili. You just need to make sure that you do the right things to bring out the flavor super quickly.

Sorry for the crummy photo of it. We were about to dig in, and you're lucky you even got this one.

Quick Chili
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen 30 Minute Meals

Be sure to start your rice and cornbread before starting your chili or else you'll be sitting around waiting for the rice to finish. I usually make my own cornbread from scratch (making this take longer than 30 minutes), but in a hurry, I use a normal Jiffy box with a teaspoon of added sugar.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
2 T Canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 1/2 T chili powder
1 T ancho chili powder (adds a smoky heat; definitely recommend it. If you don't have it, substitute regular chili powder, but this is key, in my opinion)
2 T tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes (I like Muir Glen's Fire Roasted Diced)
2 (16 oz) cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
salt & pepper

Heat oil over medium-high in Dutch oven or stock pot until it's thin and shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened.

Add both chili powders, tomato paste, garlic, and cumin to the onions. Cook, stirring until fragrant, about 30 or so seconds.

Add beef and cook until no longer pink. Use your spoon to break up the pieces as it cooks.

Add tomatoes and beans. Cook for about 15 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Seriously easy. Serve over rice and with cornbread. And, if you're my husband, serve with cheddar on top.

LE December Highlights (so far)

2011-12-08T22:30:00.001-06:00

LE loves putting on these silly antlers. Most of the time, we all have to wear a pair, including her doll, LeLe. Sometimes, she has to put them all on herself.

LE's Granny sent a cute little Christmas sweater onesie. After our little tabletop tree was up and decorated, I took a few quick photos of LE in it. She's so stinking cute.

John and I frequently comment on how much LE has changed over the last year. She hardly resembles herself as a baby, but in these two photos, she looks just like she did in the photo we took at my grandparents' house last Christmas.

While I was pulling that photo from last year, I couldn't help but stop at the photos of my grandparents from that same Christmas day. This was the last time I saw my grandmother, and it was a real blessing that she was able to come out of her bedroom that day.

Healthy Holidays: Baked Brie Pastry (Guest Post)

2011-12-05T12:15:00.001-06:00

I always try to find a balance between eating good food and food that tastes good. Around the house, LE and I tend to have snacks like muffins made with whole wheat flour and almost no added fats or sugar. Yes, that ends up being a fine snack for us, but I most of them wouldn't get served to guests.

That's why I'm excited to share with you this series that the gals at Createlive [kree-ATE-liv] are doing right now. They are taking great recipes for the holidays and remaking them into a healthy (or healthier) version. Take a look at some of these recipes they've posted so far:

So, without further ado, check out this great looking recipe that Createlive sent over! All of the following photos and text are theirs.

[Click here for more Healthy Holiday recipes for a guilt-free holiday season!]

Here come the holidays. This year, I challenge you - yes, you - to be a little more careful in order to be a little more happy and survive the holiday season guilt-free. A delicious holiday feast - complete with appetizers, stuffing, and even dessert - can be had on a "calorie" budget. If you're looking for a trim holiday dinner, check out the "Healthy Holidays" series.

Today: Pastry-wrapped Brie with Cranberry Basil Sauce, Walnuts, and Kahlua Syrup. Does it get better? This dish was devoured in about 15 minutes at my house. Might want to double the recipe... ;-)

Pastry-wrapped Brie with Cranberry Basil Sauce, Walnuts, and Kahlua Syrup

Ingredients:
1 wheel of Brie Cheese
1/2 tablespoon Basil
1 tablespoon Honey
1 cup of whole fresh cranberries
1 cup of water
1/2 cup organic sugar
1 sheet of pastry dough (I used Pepperidge Farms)
1 cup Kahlua
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Walnuts or Pecans

Preheat oven to 350.

Set pastry sheet out to thaw.

In a small or medium saucepan, boil water and add cranberries. You can substitute ½ can of whole cranberry sauce, if desired.

Add basil and honey and stir frequently for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Use a roller to smooth out pastry sheet. Push and roll toward the edges to thin the pastry dough while also making it larger.

Cut brie in half sideways, so that you end up with two thinner, yet still circular, wheels. Place the bottom layer in the middle of the pastry dough.

Cover this layer with cranberries. If they drip down the sides, that’s fine. You’re wrapping it up later, anyways!

Place the second half of cheese on top. Add another layer of cranberry.

Fold up pastry dough. Beginning on one side, pick up a corner and fold up, covering the side of the dough, then use your fingers to crinkle the dough, making flaps that can be overlapped. Continue moving around the dough until you reach where you started. See picture below for a visual.

Place in a circular (if possible) casserole dish that is a bit larger than the pastry dough itself (so that there is a bit of a margin around the food). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and use a knife to poke holes down through the top of the brie. If you’d like, you can also purposely break the pastry dough a bit around the tops, allowing the cheese to melt down a little bit more.

Pour 1 cup of Kahlua over the top of the brie. It will drip down the sides and take residence in the margin around the pastry.

Sprinkle brown sugar and nuts around the brie, dropping them into the Kahlua.

Bake for another 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve with crackers (I used Wheat Thins).

Check out this year's Winter '11 series of Healthy Holiday Recipes! Includes healthy recipes for stuffing, baked brie, cherry pomegranate pie, kahlua and walnut sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce...

[Click here for more Healthy Holiday recipes for a guilt-free holiday season!]

LE Hoot Hoot!

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

Oops! I forgot to add this to Tuesday's post. About halfway through making LE's costume, I realized we were going to be gone for Halloween! I got the opportunity to drive up to Minnesota to see a friend from college while she was there (she's normally in Florida). While LE and I were up there, we also drove the extra hour to see my great aunt and uncle. I made the costume in a way that can be used next year. So, if she has the same costume next year... no comments, ok? ;) I'll pull together a tutorial for those who would want to do their own variation of it.

Texas White Chicken Chili

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

Shortly after college, one of my friends shared with me her recipe for Texas White Chicken Chili. The first time I made it, it turned out great. It had a great depth of flavor. I eagerly made the recipe probably 10 more times, and without explanation, sometimes it turned out flat.

Since college, I've learned quite a few things about cooking. While I love the flavors that go into this soup, I knew that I could improve the techniques used. That way, we could be sure to get a really good soup every time, without fail. Unfortunately, the changes increased the hands-on time that it takes to make it.

So, I'll share with you both methods, letting you choose which you want to do. I've had people ask me for the recipe when I made it both ways. It's a tasty and healthy way to warm up your tummy and house. The tomatillos are tangy, the poblanos are mildly spicy, and there's such a richness of flavor that comes through in this low-fat soup.

If you haven't worked with tomatillos before, you're looking for green, firm fruit (much like the feel of a tomato). The easiest way to de-husk them is to soak them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. The husks will slide right off.

As with all recipes, quality of ingredients greatly affect the outcome of your meal. If possible, use homemade chicken broth. If you don't have that handy, America's Test Kitchen has taste tested chicken broths and found that Swanson's Organic Free-Range Broth is the best. I also use Penzey's concentrated chicken broth jar.

I can't tell if the photo makes the chili look greasy. In case it does, just trust me that it's really not greasy at all.

Texas White Chicken Chili
Adapted from Courtney's recipe and ATK's chicken chili recipe

Ingredients
3 lbs of bone in, skin on chicken (breasts and/or thighs), trimmed of excess fat and skin
1 T vegetable oil
8-10 tomatillos (approx 1 lb), husked, washed, and dried
2 poblanos, stemmed, seeded and cut into large pieces
2 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and minced (add some of the ribs for extra heat, if desired)
2 medium onions, cut into large pieces
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 T ground cumin
1 T ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 can diced green chilies
4 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4-5 cups of chicken broth
4 scallions, white and green parts sliced thin
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice from 2-3 limes (optional)

Garnishes: Diced scallions or purple onion, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, diced avocado, shredded cheddar cheese, lime wedges

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels then season well with salt and pepper. Over medium-high, heat the oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot. When the oil is running and just smoking, add the chicken skin-side down in a single layer into the pot. Do not crowd the chicken and do not move it until the skin is golden brown, about 4-6 minutes. Flip with tongs and lightly brown the second side for about 2 minutes. The chicken does not need to be cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a plate; when cool, remove and discard the skin. Repeat with remaining chicken until all are done.

While the chicken is browning, position an oven rack 6 inches from the broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, and place the tomatillos on the baking sheet in a single layer. Spray lightly with vegetable oil spray. Broil the tomatillos for 5-10 minutes, until they start to blister and soften.

In a food processor, pulse half of the poblanos and half of the onions about 5 times. Scrape down the bowl and then pulse about another 5 times until it starts to look like chunky salsa. Transfer to a medium bowl and repeat with the remaining poblanos and onions. Set aside the empty but unwashed processor bowl.

Remove all but one tablespoon of oil from the dutch oven, and reduce the heat to medium. Add the poblano-onion mixture, minced jalapeños, 1/2 tsp salt, garlic, cumin, coriander, and oregano. Cover and cook until vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat.

Add one cup of the cooked vegetables to the processor bowl. Add one cup of beans and one cup of broth. Process until smooth. Add to the dutch oven of cooked vegetables.

In the unwashed processor bowl, pulse half of the tomatillos until chunky. Add to the dutch oven. Repeat with the remaining tomatillos.

Add to the dutch oven the skinless chicken, juices on the plate from the chicken, can of green chilies, and remaining chicken broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and then reduce to a simmer over medium-low heat until the chicken is cooked through, 20-40 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate; let cool slightly.

Add remaining beans to the soup and simmer for another 10 minutes to thicken.

Shred or cut chicken into bite sized chunks, discarding the bones. Add the chicken back to the dutch oven, along with the scallions, cilantro, and lime juice (if using). Simmer for about 5 minutes to heat the chicken through, and be sure to season with more salt and pepper!

Top with any or all of the garnishes. I highly recommend the avocado.

If you want to make this ahead, wait to add the scallions, cilantro, and lime juice until just before serving.

Courtney's Texas White Chili

Ingredients
One whole chicken
2 T dried oregano
2 T ground cumin
1 T ground coriander
4 cans cannellini beans
1 can diced green chilies
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 green onions, chopped
10 tomatillos, husked, washed, and diced
1 jalapeño, minced
salt and pepper
chicken broth (if needed)

Garnish: diced purple onions, tomatoes, avocados, monterey jack cheese, and sour cream.

In a large stock pot or dutch oven, cover the whole chicken with water. Add the oregano, cumin, and coriander. Cook for 2 hours or until tender.

Remove chicken from the stock. Debone and shred with fingers. Set aside.

Add to the broth, the beans, green chilies, garlic, green onions, tomatillos, jalapeño, chicken, salt, pepper, and extra broth (if needed). Cook for about 30 minutes.

Garnish and serve with french bread. Enjoy!!

Fall in Review

2011-11-29T16:35:00.001-06:00

Since I didn't blog over the last month, I thought I'd go through the last month or so in review.

LE and I had a great fall visiting petting farms around the area. We are blessed to live in an area with so many farms and orchards, and we got to visit one at least once a week. We spent about 5 hours at one farm, and a couple of the cute girls from our playgroup were there for part of the time.

It was unseasonably warm the weekend in October that John's parents came to town.

I started using Instagram on my phone, so some of the next photos are from that (mostly the ones that are square and with effects of some sort).

LE is just starting to get to the age where she enjoys the zoo.

My mom's older sister, Christi (a.k.a. Mimi) sends clothes to LE frequently. LE modeled the new smocked dress when it arrived.

It quickly turned from warm to cold. LE sported her pink puffy boots from my parents.

LE thought she could lick the first snowfall through the glass door.

LE enjoys reading and getting creative with her toys. It's fun to watch her start to get an imagination.

We visited my parents in Texas. Their docile cats gave LE the false impression that our cat would enjoy her petting her now. LE's hair got extra crazy with the Texas coastal humidity. It was hot there!

We were planning on going to Dallas to visit my alma mater, see friends, and visit family. Sadly, my mom's mother passed away and rerouted our trip to Alabama instead. Somehow I managed to stay there the week and didn't take many photos. I did take one key video of my aunt singing a silly song to LE, but I promised her I wouldn't share that! :)

While in Alabama, we drove up to see my high school friend who now lives there. She has two cute kiddos who were sweet to share their toys with LE. The younger one is a month younger than LE and the older one is 3.

Photo taken by Charlotte

And that brings us up to this week! I'll post some recipes soon!

I'm Back!

2011-11-29T16:30:00.001-06:00

Sorry for such a long gap in blog posts. After the first few days of not posting, I decided to take a month off. It was a busy month and actually hard to not post during that time. Then, we traveled some, and I was away from the computer.

I'm back, though, and I'm happy for those of you who continued to check in!

Clock DIY Make-Over

2011-10-11T21:57:00.001-05:00

Last week, I saw a post online where someone repurposed an old clock by taking off the face and painting it. I tried looking around, but I couldn't find that post again. I've been wanting to add a clock to LE's room, but I really didn't want to spend more than $10 bucks on one.

I casually looked around for a little while. It wasn't until I had to go to Walmart to buy spraypaint (the cheapest place I've found it) that I walked by their clock aisle. Their basic Mainstays brand 8.75 inch wall clock comes in a few colors, and it costs under $4. Add a little scrapbook paper for less than $1. Bingo! A new clock that comes in under 5 bucks.

If you have an old clock that needs new life, or if you're like me and need to revamp a new clock, follow along for the step by step. I'll explain how to do this using thick scrapbook paper as the face of the clock, but with small adjustments to the tutorial, you could use fabric or paint instead. I was able to get this very easy DIY done from start to finish during LE's nap.

Take a mental note of how the clock hands are placed before you take your clock apart. Flip your clock over and remove the screws that are keeping the face to the back. Snap out the battery pack, which will remove your clock hands.

Flip the clock back over to the front. Measure the width of the inside. The Mainstays clock face is 7.75in. If the clock face isn't glued in (mine was), remove and discard it.

If you have a Silhouette craft cutter, your job will be super easy (skip to instructions). If not, it will just be mildly more difficult. Print a circle the size of the clock's face (use Microsoft Word or other software that allows you to specify the exact size of shapes) onto the back side of your scrapbook paper. Use scissors to cut out the circle. You should probably buy die cut numbers for the clock unless you are really good with cutting.

For the Silhouette users:

Open Silhouette and draw a circle to fit your clock's face. (7.75in for the Mainstays clock)
Pick a font that you like for the numbers. I used Skia.
Adjust the size of your numbers until you like it. The 12 in my clock was 2.5in, measuring from the top to the bottom of the 1.

Once you get everything to the size that you like, move all of the numbers and extras to the outside of the circle.

If you're using the same paper for everything, send your paper through the Silhouette on a mat. For thick cardstock, use the pink blade at 2 speed and 33 thickness. I didn't find double-cutting necessary.

If you're using different paper for the numbers, just make sure you tell the Silhouette which items to cut (e.g. just the circle or all of the numbers/dots)

Use Mod-Podge, spray glue, or your choice of non-wrinkling adhesive to adhere the paper circle to clock's face. Before adhering, take note of where the 12 is on your original clock. You'll need to be sure that's the top of your new clock's design since that aligns with the hanging mechanism on the back of the clock.
Paint your cut out numbers, if needed. Apply glue dots or your choice of adhesive to the back of the numbers. Adhere the 12, 9, 6, & 3 (not the dots yet); that will allow you to get them straight. If your clock is like the Mainstays one, there are visible screw holes to help guide you.
Poke a small hole in the paper and then push the battery pack through from the front to the back. This will make your paper bend towards the back. Carefully remove the battery pack and reattach it to the clock the correct way.
Attach the hands the same way that they were originally. For the Mainstays clock, the hour hand goes first shiny side up. Then, the minute hand goes matte side up, and then the second hand snaps in on top.
Rotate the hands so that all of them line up at 12. Using the dial on the back of the clock, turn it to 1. Place a dot. Then use the dial to turn it to 2. Place a dot. Continue for the rest of the dots. This ensures that you are placing them in the correct places.
Place the glass and cover back on the clock. Screw everything back in place. Admire your new clock!

I haven't decided where in LE's room to place the clock yet. For now, it will live with the sock monkey.

Chickpea Patties with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce

2011-10-10T20:28:00.004-05:00

After our trip to NYC (oh crud, I still haven't posted about that!), my brain was reeling with vegetarian, easy, and budget-friendly recipes.

When we visited, my vegetarian older brother had just moved from New Orleans to Manhattan to start his graduate film work at NYU. His apartment is tiny, and the most notable thing for me was his lack of a cooking space. His kitchen, if you'd call it that, consists of two portable electric burners, a sink, and a mini fridge. No oven. No microwave. No toaster oven. No freezer. How is he going to survive without having to eat out every meal?

What I liked about this recipe is that you can make the patties and sauce in advance. Then, just heat a teaspoon or so of oil in a pan, throw in however many patties you want to cook, and save the remaining uncooked patties for the next day or two. You could also very easily scale the size of the patties down to serve as appetizers for entertaining.

For those of you who aren't familiar with garam masala, it's a great spice to add to your cabinet. It's a spice blend that smells wonderfully fragrant. If you're not ready to commit to the whole jar, if your grocery store carries bulk spices, you could pick up just what you need for a few cents. Don't leave it out, though! It adds a little something extra that these patties definitely need.

Chickpea Patties with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce

Adapted slightly from the America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook (highly recommended, by the way)

Serves 6 (Note: ATK considers one patty a serving. I managed to get 10 patties, even with measuring them out, and I considered 2 the right portion size for a dinner.)

Ingredients

2 slices high-quality white or whole wheat sandwich bread, torn into pieces

1 large cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded (use a spoon and scrape them out), and shredded

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups 2 percent Greek yogurt

6 scallions, sliced thin

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

2 (15 oz) cans chickpeas, rinsed

2 large eggs

2 tsp good quality extra virgin olive oil

4 tsp cheap-o olive oil

1 1/4 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 shallot, minced

3/4 tsp salt

lime wedges for serving

Preheat oven to 350. Pulse bread in a food processor about 10 times for coarse breadcrumbs. Spread evenly over a baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally until golden brown and dry, from 4-12 minutes (Depends on your bread; Mine took 4 minutes to be really golden). Let cool at room temperature.

Toss the cucumber with 1/2 tsp salt in a strainer. Let it drain for 20 minutes, and then squeeze out as much liquid as you can using your hands or a cheesecloth. In a small bowl, combine the cucumbers, 3/4 cup of the yogurt, 2 tbs of the scallions, and 1 tbs of cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Pulse the chickpeas in a food processor about 8 times until you have a coarse puree with large pieces still remaining. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, 2 tbs of good oil, garam masala, cayenne, and 3/4 tsp salt. Add to the bowl the chickpeas, breadcrumbs, remaining 1/2 cup yogurt, remaining scallions, remaining cilantro, and shallot. Mix gently until just combined.

Form 1 inch thick patties with about 1/2 cup of chickpea mixture each, yielding 6-10 patties.

Heat over medium heat 2 tsp of oil in a 12 inch non-stick skillet. When oil is shimmering, place 3-4 of the patties into the skillet (don't let the edges touch each other). Cook until well-browned on each side, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer cooked patties to a plate and tent with foil. Repeat until all patties are cooked, heating 2 tsp of oil in the pan each time you place new patties.

Serve with the cucumber-yogurt sauce, lime wedges, and a simple side salad.

To make in advance, store the sauce in an airtight container for up to 2 days without a loss in quality. Stir before serving. To store the patties, place them in a single row and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Tuck the plastic wrap around the edges of the patties to seal them in. Additionally, cover the container with a lid, if possible. Patties can be stored without a loss in quality for up to 24 hours, but definitely still good for up to 3 days.

Behind the Scenes: Crisp Photos

2011-10-03T16:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I posted this Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp.

I didn't include my little helper in the photo, though, as soon as she heard the buzzer go off on the oven, she ran to the little spot in front of our glass doors where I take food photos in the afternoon.

I have a little crate propped up on a small table. Before I could get the crisp out of the oven, LE set up her own props with great care.

And then, when she saw me:

Before I could set my camera down to strap her into her highchair as I pulled the hot dish out of the oven, she put the oven mit on, thinking she'd help.

What a cute little helper.

Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp

2011-10-02T19:04:00.000-05:00

As mentioned previously, we have a lot of apples from our trip to a nearby orchard. It's a good thing apples last about 3 weeks in the fridge!

I have been bustin' out apple dishes every couple of days. So far, I've only shared with you the Cranberry Apple Pumpkin Muffins, which I've made twice. I have a couple of others in mind to share with you in the coming days.

Today's recipe was spurred on by my desire for something new in the morning. I hate eating cereal. It gets expensive, not to mention dull for the taste buds. That's what brought me to the Baked Oatmeal and Chai Granola that I shared a few months back. Those are great, but I like the idea of waking up with the flavors of the season.

And a barely sweet apple crisp was born. Granted, I did not come up with the idea (that was Deb at Smitten Kitchen), but I did tweak it a lot to fit my taste preferences. I actually prefer it less sweet and buttery than Deb's, with a few more spices, added ground flax for Omega-3s (optional), whole wheat flour, and a lower cooking temperature. Whew!

Though I didn't this time, I will probably divvy these up among ramekins instead of the large pan to save the step of portioning it into a dish each morning. I also plan on adding about 1 cup chopped frozen cranberries to the apples and leave out the lemon juice. I love the cranberry/apple combo.

Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp
Makes one 8x8 pan, which should yield 6-9 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs tart baking apples, cut into approx. 1/2 inch chunks
1 tbs lemon juice (optional)
1 tbs demerara sugar (evaporated cane juice) or brown sugar
1 tbs of arrowroot powder or cornstarch
3/4 tsp ground apple pie spice (a mix of mostly cinnamon with a little nutmeg and cloves) or all cinnamon
salt
3 tbs coconut oil or butter
2 tbs light honey (like clover honey)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 sliced almonds
1/4 unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Place apples in the bottom of 8x8 pan. Evenly sprinkle over the apples the lemon juice, sugar, arrowroot powder, spice, and a pinch of salt. Toss the apples the best you can; it doesn't have to be perfect.

In a skillet, melt the coconut oil or butter. Stir in the honey and then the rest of the ingredients (flour, oats, almonds, shredded coconut, and cinnamon).

Pour the oat mixture evenly over the apples. Cook uncovered on the middle rack until it gets golden brown on top (about 20-25 minutes). Cover with foil and continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes. It's done when the apples are tender and juices bubbling.

Cool it at room temperature before covering and refrigerating. To reheat, uncover and microwave single portions for about 45 seconds. Or, reheat larger portions in the oven at 225 until heated through.

For breakfast, eat it plain or serve it up with yogurt or a splash of milk or cream. For a healthy dessert, serve it up with a small scoop of frozen yogurt or whipped cream (like the one with the Pumpkin Spice Latte). YUM!

Have you tried dry shampoo?

2011-09-30T18:01:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TRESemmé. All opinions are 100% mine.
Maybe you've noticed that sometimes I like the take the hard way of doing things for the sake of making something from scratch. I've made marshmallows, graham crackers, goldfish crackers, other crackers, and bagels. John sometimes says to me, "Why don't you just buy XYZ from the store?" when we're having guests and making it ends being just one more thing to do.
Well, sometimes I do take shortcuts. For example, I've never made my own deodorant, detergent, or dry shampoo, like I've read many people do. Call me lazy.
Have you heard of this "dry shampoo" thing? I actually haven't tried it, but I'm kind of excited about it. We've all heard that washing your hair every day isn't that great for it, but for fine haired people like me, you know that waiting a day make your hair just sorta hang there. And by the end of day two? It feels drab, tired, and stringy. No thanks!
Coincidentally, one of the blogs that I read, I am Momma, Hear Me Roar, posted today on making her own dry shampoo. Maybe sometime I'll go the homemade route or jump on the all natural body products bandwagon, but if you're new to dry shampoo, don't you want to try out the professional stuff to see how it's really supposed to feel when it's done right?
TRESemmé came out with TRESemmé Fresh Start Dry Shampoo, which seems to be easy to use and the perfect solution for those days that you skip washing.
For best results, follow these easy steps:

Shake vigorously before use and between sprays.
Lift sections and spray lightly directly at the roots.
Spray in short bursts, 8-12 inches from your head.
DON'T spray all over like hairspray.
Leave it in for 1-2 minutes, using your fingertips to distribute the product.
If the bottle clogs, remove the nozzle and rinse it under warm water. Reattach.

There's a full line of products to revive your hair in between washes. They are uniquely formulated to absorb excess oil and remove odor, rejuvenating your hair without having to worry about drying it. With citrus extracts in each formula, your hair is left with a clean, fresh scent.
Here's the whole line:

Strengthening Dry Shampoo: The formula, with B12 vitamins and keratin, helps strengthen hair and leaves it full of healthy body.
Volumizing Dry Shampoo: The formula, with mineral clay and citrus, removes oil while injecting hair with salon-gorgeous volume.
Smoothing Dry Shampoo: The formula, with Vitamin H & Silt Proteins, refreshes your straight style by removing excess oil, impurities and odor to ensure your smooth look lasts.
Moisturizing Waterless Foam Shampoo: The formula, with Witch Hazel, Citrus, and Aloe Vera, refreshes your hair by removing excess oil, impurities and odor while moisturizing hair.

If you are still a little wary of what dry shampoo is, you should check out this video by Julia Allison who shows a video tutorial on how to use it. She's also giving away a $500 gift card to Target to a lucky viewer!

Cranberry Apple Pumpkin Muffins

2011-09-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

After we went to the apple orchard, we came home with a couple of bags of apples. We'll be heading to another orchard tomorrow, which means that we'll have even more apples. Since I had an opened can of pumpkin from the pumpkin spice syrup, I went in search of a recipe with apples and pumpkins. I didn't find anything that fit what I was looking for, but I loved how they turned out (two batches later).

I love the tart bits of cranberry in there, but if you don't have any, you could always just add more apples or chopped nuts.

Cranberry Apple Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 24 regular muffins

Muffin Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs ground flax (optional)

1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin
1/4 cup Canola oil
1/4 cup coconut oil (or substitute more Canola oil, butter, or applesauce)
2 eggs

2 cups diced tart, peeled and cored apple (about 2 small apples)
1 cup roughly chopped fresh or frozen cranberries (approximately 1 3/4 cups when whole)

Topping Ingredients
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbs white sugar
pinch of salt
5 tbs unsalted cold butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare two muffin tins with either nonstick cooking spray or liners.

Combine all topping ingredients except the butter in a small bowl. Using your fingers, incorporate the butter until large clumps form. Refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the muffin.

Sift first 10 ingredients (whole wheat flour through flax) into a large bowl.

In a small bowl, combine the liquid ingredients (pumpkin, both oils, and eggs). Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until there are flour streaks but no flour pockets remain (see image below). Fold in the chopped apples and cranberries.

Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full, approximately 3 tablespoons of batter per cup. If needed, even out the top of each using the back of a spoon or fingers dipped in water. Sprinkle each with a generous amount of the topping, about 2 tsp each (if I were to guess; I didn't measure). There will be some topping leftover.

Bake the two muffin tins side on the middle rack of the oven for 17-20 minutes, rotating halfway through if you think of it to be sure that they are cooking evenly. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. You can eat them when warm from the oven, but bits of the fruit will probably stick to the liners. Allowing them to cool will leave you with perfectly intact muffins.

And, so you know that you haven't forgotten something or done something wrong, this batter is very thick. This is how it looks with flour streaks before combining the fruit:

I probably linked up at these lovely sites as well as here:

LE is 1 1/2 Years Old!

2011-09-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last week marked LE's half birthday. It's amazing to look back to a year ago and see how much she's changed. Babies grow up so quickly!

Last year around this time, LE was still needing to have tummy time.

She sported the curl-hawk-- like a mohawk but just a curly cue. Now, her hair is long enough to kind of pull back into a ponytail. It's straight in the front and really curly in the back.

She was just starting to army crawl. Now, she runs, climbs, jumps, bounces...

She was just starting to eat veggie purees. Now, she'll eat anything except purees.

Our little LE is very spunky and full of life.

Photo compliments of my older brother

LE jumps up and says, "Oof, oof!" when she hears or sees a dog. Similarly, she does her version of "moo," which I can't spell, when she spots a cow. She's a bit more timid when it comes to meowing. Watch carefully to her face when John asks her where the pig is.

Did you see it? She makes a funny face and blinks. We didn't notice her doing this until watching a few different videos of her. We figured out that she thinks "oink, oink" is "blink, blink" (a command she knows). So, she thinks that when she sees a pig, she is supposed to blink. {She also thought "big" was "pig" towards the end; this was the start of her getting congested, and her nose was bothering her.}

She takes care of her stuffed kangaroo and baby doll LeLe by offering them her pacifier and sippy cup. Throughout the day, she sets them on top of a cloth on the ottoman to change their pretend diapers. If she's able, she'll take out a baby wipe and diaper from the bin. Then, after cooking with her pans and wooden spoons on the rug, she lets them sample her soup. Almost always, we ~~have to~~ get to taste.

She's starting to get persistent about some things, like picking out which socks to wear and how many shoes to wear around the house.

She's still happy to nap on her dad, just like she has since the day she was born.

We're excited to see how she'll change in the next year. It's been so fun so far.

Alright, I get it... fall is here!

2011-09-25T16:08:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, I've been in denial about fall. I was not ready to let go of the warm summer days filled with outdoor playing and gardening. Before I knew it, I looked outside our back door to see our tree (yes, the one and only) yelling, "Get with it! It's fall!"

To ring in the season properly, we jumped right in to many of the fall favorites. We made pumpkin spice lattes, apple-pumpkin-cranberry muffins (with apples that we picked from the apple orchard), low-fat pumpkin cream ice sandwiches cut into the shape of pumpkins, caramel for dipping apples, and chili with cornbread.

It certainly feels like fall!

In case you haven't spied a pumpkin spice latte recipe that you want to try, I'll share this with you. It's so simple and the perfect way to put you in a good mood on a crisp morning.

I originally found this recipe on Pinterest. I can't vouch that it truly tastes just like Starbucks' since it's been a year since I had theirs. I can vouch, however, that this tastes delicious. I've had it in my espresso every day since I made it (a week ago).

Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Adapted from Sugar Crafter

Makes enough for at least 7 lattes, as long as you don't like yours sickeningly sweet.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup Ingredients

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 - 2 1/2 tbs pumpkin puree

3 cinnamon sticks (preferred), or 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon, depending on how strong your cinnamon is

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium low for 15 minutes (or so; doesn't have to be exact); don't let it boil. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a jar or other container to store it in. Keep in the fridge for up to one month, shaking or stirring before each use.

Update: A friend tried this recipe with a few issues. Make sure that you don't let your syrup get too hot or else it will start to caramelize and turn into a goopy mess! You are looking for a low simmer, if it simmers at all.

Whipped Cream Ingredients

(approximate)

4 oz heavy cream

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip all ingredients on medium high until soft peaks form (about a minute or less) if you want to spoon it on. To pipe it, whip a little bit longer until firm peaks form. Spoon into a pastry bag or ziplock fitted with a 1M tip at the end. Store extra whipped cream in the fridge, tightly covered.

Latte Ingredients

1/2 - 3/4 cup milk, frothed or hot

2 shots espresso or strongly brewed coffee

1 1/2 tbs pumpkin spice syrup (approx)

whipped cream (optional)

Pour the pumpkin spice syrup into the bottom of a mug. Add the espresso and hot milk. Top with whipped cream, extra syrup, and a sprinkle of cinnamon, if desired.

Recipes for Raspberries

2011-09-17T14:46:00.002-05:00

So... did you run out and pick raspberries? I really wanted to go one last time this week, but I was sick. There's always next year.

Here are the two ways I used up the raspberries that we picked a couple of weeks ago (aside from eating them straight, that is).

Chocolate Pots de Creme with Raspberries

This chocolate is incredibly rich, and each bite needs a raspberry. You would be truly missing out if you chose to eat this without the tart, crisp raspberries to counterbalance the rich chocolate.

It's worth noting that since so much of the flavor comes from the chocolate, you need to buy good quality chocolate (i.e. Don't buy the cheapest chocolate available)!

Yields 8; Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

Custard Ingredients

10 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (Ghirardelli or other kind with 60% cocoa)

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cups half & half

5 large egg yolks

5 tbs sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbs vanilla extract

1/2 tsp instant espresso powder mixed with 1 tbs water

Whipped Cream Ingredients

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tsp sugar

chocolate shavings for sprinkling on top (optional)

and, of course, a large handful of raspberries for each ramekin

For the Custard:

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl, and set a fine-mesh strainer over the bowl.
Affix a candy thermometer to a medium saucepan or get an instant read thermometer ready.
In the saucepan, whisk together the heavy cream, half & half, yolks, sugar, and salt.
Switch over to a wooden spoon and pull up a stool-- you'll be here a while. Cook over medium-low heat until the custard registers 175-180, stirring constantly, making sure to scrape the bottom. If you're me, you will only stir it every minute or so until the custard is starting to thicken, and then I will stir constantly until the end. DO NOT let it creep past 180; err on the side of too thin as it will thicken as it cools.
Moving quickly, pour the custard into the strainer over the chocolate. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes until the chocolate is mostly melted. Whisk gently until all of the chocolate is melted and smooth. Add the vanilla and espresso and gently whisk until incorporated.
Scoop even amounts of the custard into 8 ramekins, then tap each ramekin on the counter bring potential air bubbles to the surface.
Let ramekins come to room temperature. Then, cover each ramekin flush to the custard's surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours and up to 72 hours. Let it sit at room temp for 20-30 minutes before devouring (oops, I didn't do that).

For the Whipped Cream:

Beat the cream, sugar, and vanilla at medium-high speed until soft peaks form.

After letting the chocolate custard sit out at room temp for 20ish minutes, spoon about 2 tablespoons of the whipped cream onto each custard, garnish with chocolate shavings (if desired), and top with copious amounts of raspberries.

Raspberry & Apple Fruit Leather

I used this simple recipe from Chow.com to make homemade fruit leather. I added about a 1/2 cup more berries and apple sauce than the recipe suggests, which gave us enough for two batches. I froze the leftover sauce for a week between batches.

One thing to note is that it only took 4-5 hours for ours, so start checking on it early!

LE really really likes fruit leather, and I like that it's a convenient, less messy on-the-go treat for her. The first batch we planned to bring with us as a snack on the plane to NY, but she and I ate the whole thing in the 5 minutes it took for John to bring the stuff downstairs. Oops.

Not tired at all!

2011-09-14T13:01:00.002-05:00

You're right, LE. You're not tired at all.

(Photo taken on my phone with her in her highchair 10 minutes after an hour of fighting her nap and me catching her straddling her crib railing, climbing her way out.)

Picking Raspberries

2011-09-11T18:48:00.004-05:00

We’re towards the end of raspberry season in Wisconsin! The season only lasts a few weeks and is very sensitive to the weather each year. This year’s season started about two weeks after last year’s.

The first day an organic raspberry farm a few miles outside of town opened its doors to “U-Pick,” our playgroup happily gathered up our toddlers and drove to the farm. It was LE’s and my first time picking raspberries, but it wasn’t going to be the last.

Upon arriving to the farm, we were greeted by Paul, one of the owners, who enthusiastically helped us newbies get set up with a few empty baskets, go through a quick lesson on how to pick raspberries, and teach us the rules of his farm:

You absolutely must eat as many berries as you can while picking. You won’t be weighed upon arriving or leaving the farm.
You must talk to others while you are out there because this is a community activity.

Forgetting to stop to pick up cash on the way, I asked Paul if he would accept a check. He informed me that they accept cash, checks, and IOUs... seriously! Oh, and did I mention that everything is beyond reasonably priced? Huge heirloom tomatoes for about $2/ea, large red bell peppers for $1/ea, shallots for $4/lb. And the raspberries? $2.50 a pint.

Prior to hearing his rules, I was fully prepared to pay for an extra pint of berries due to LE not being able to resist stuffing her face as we went along. As it happened, she did stuff her face, often times stuffing berry upon berry into her mouth, faster than I could pick them. She had no qualms picking her own berries, either.

I gained a whole new appreciation for raspberries after that first day of picking. For one, I should have started earlier in the day. By the time I got there, others had already gone down the rows and picked the most obvious berries. I had to hunt for them by lifting the vines (branches?) and looking for them on the hidden undersides, much like small tomatoes grow, if you’re familiar with that. Unlike tomatoes, though, raspberries don’t continue to ripen after they are picked.

You can start to see in the photo above the white part that is left on the stem after the berry is pulled. Prior to picking the berries myself, I was a little squeamish with the little specks inside the berry. I thought they were the beginnings of mold, dirt, or something gross; however, now I know that even the freshest of berries have these little things in them.

That first day, it took me about a hour or so to pick 2 pints of raspberries. We ate them so quickly that I went back two days later, filling 4 pints of berries in about an hour, even while holding LE (she wasn’t digging being there that time and passed out the minute we got to the car).

If you are looking for something inexpensive to do one day, you should see if there are any “U-Pick ‘ em” farms near you. It’s a great experience, and you can’t beat the price. If you happen to live in the Madison area, you should definitely check out Blue Skies Farm in Brooklyn. Season will likely go through the end of this week, so hurry!

Slow week of posts...

2011-09-08T19:56:00.001-05:00

because our family is in NYC.

View from our hotel window tonight

More to come soon!

LE at 17 Months

2011-09-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

LE is already 17 months and a week old. She's still much the same as she was at 16 months (imagine that!). Here are the new things.

Prefers to sit on her own chair, preferably the one that she got to climb onto by herself.
Slides down slides by herself though she sometimes desires to have someone go with her to hold her hand.

Continues to enjoy putting rocks and items into containers, moving them to different containers, and then putting them back.
Brings us books to read her at any lull in the day.
Loves, loves the song in this Target commercial. Every time she hears it, she stops, looks over to find me, and gives a "is this really happening?!" look just before simultaneously smiling and bouncing.
Gets her bib from her drawer when she's ready to eat.
Says her version of "moo" and "woof woof" when asked what a cow or dog says (sometimes)
Sidesteps or walks backwards when she's near our cat so that she can keep her eye on the cat at all times
Likes "helping"-- unloading the dishwasher, throwing things away, pushing elevator/garage buttons, closing the baby gates, and wiping things down with a napkin.
Holds her hurt body part out to us to kiss. If both of us are around, we both have to kiss it followed by her kissing it.
Speaks in a new form of jibber jabber.
Spins in circles until she is giddy and falls down.
Looks up and waves bye bye when we put her in her crib at night, as if to say, "Ok Mom and Dad, you can leave now."
Gets her diaper changing supplies laid out and ready when she, um, goes.
Is healthy and tracking as she should on growth charts. She's 21.5 lbs and 30.5 in. She has 13 teeth. That #13 was a real pain for all involved. She sleeps 12 hrs a night and is transitioning to one 2 hour afternoon nap a day.

Getting ready for Christmas. Wait, what?

2011-08-31T10:00:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine commented on Facebook that she was shocked to come across Halloween supplies in a store that she went to. Halloween was almost 3 months away at that point.

Sadly, I could trump her and say that I had already spotted Christmas supplies in Michaels Craft Store. In early August. Seriously.

Since then, many craft blogs, including the blog that many of you love-- Tatertots and Jello-- have mentioned working on Halloween projects already. Noooo! I'm still making s'mores for goodness sake. Please keep summer around!

I kept quiet and mostly to myself until now. We received the Pottery Barn Kids catalog in the mail a few days ago, and I could not help but laugh. Maybe you saw it, too.

Moving past the fact that this is a Halloween decoration coming to me in August, in and of itself, this is not funny. In fact, I kind of like it. They are simple, understated, and not too scary. The description reads something like, "Styrofoam balls draped in cotton..." Time out. What? Did you say styrofoam? Do you want to guess how much these styrofoam balls cost? $70. That is funny.

DIY:

Styrofoam balls from craft store (probably even the Dollar Store?); or, to take up less room in storage, use inflatable beach balls. Surely those are on sale right about now.
Muslin ripped at the ends. Or, use old white pillowcases or sheets.
Sharpie the eyes.
Use fishing line to hang.

I've officially been duped into posting about Halloween two months prior to the "big" day. Help.

S'Mores Cupcakes

2011-08-30T09:57:00.003-05:00

Yeah, you don't have to tell me. S'mores have been done. Overdone. If you look even casually at foodgawker or Pinterest, you've seen s'mores cakes, cupcakes, traditional with different candybars, in jars, cake pops, ice cream, cookies, bars, pies, tarts, pudding, pizza, rice krispie treats, popsicles... need I go on? For the love of s'mores, it's time to yell out "enough already!"

But, I like s'mores. Last week, when I was thinking of what to bring to a house warming party, I browsed my arsenal of recipes, and the s'mores cupcakes done by Trophy Cupcakes kept pulling me in. Plus, we were inviting friends over to sit around our firepit on a gloriously perfect evening the night before the party. Patio + firepit + friends = s'mores. Double Plus, I already had all of the supplies on hand.

Ok, enough excuses on why I chose s'mores even though they've been done a million times before by everyone.

Here's the deal. These were good.

About 30 minutes after these cupcakes came out of the oven, I bit into the not-quite-cooled, unfrosted cupcake and thought, 'mmm, these are good." Then about an hour later John got home, saw my half-eaten cupcake and asked if he could try. He bit into it and said decidedly, "Wow, those are good."

Oh, and I tried the cupcakes out on Friday night using the meringue, marshmallowy frosting from the Lemon Meringue cupcakes that I did earlier this summer, and though it was perfect for the lemon, it was not nearly as good on these cupcakes as the one in the Trophy Cupcakes' recipe. It's smooth and full of marshmallow flavor.

S'mores Cupcakes
From Trophy Cupcakes
Makes 2 dozen (for me, it made 31 cupcakes)

Cake Ingredients
2 1/4 cup + 2 tbs sugar
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup + 1 tbs cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 20 crackers)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
9 oz bittersweet chocolate, as finely chopped as you can

Preheat oven to 350, and line 2 standard muffin tins or spray with cooking spray.

Place your sifter over your mixer bowl. Sift into the bowl 2 cups plus 2 tbs sugar (reserving the remaining 1/4 cup for later), flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Using your paddle attachment, mix on low just to combine.

In a separate medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Pour into the flour mixture, and mix on low until incorporated slightly (so that it doesn't blow flour everywhere) and then increase the speed to medium to mix for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and mix on medium for an additional 2 minutes. Pour in your boiling water. Using a spoon (not the mixer) stir to combine. The batter will be very runny.

In another medium bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup of sugar, and melted butter.

Spoon 2 tbs of graham cracker mixture into each muffin cup (there will be some leftover). Using the bottom of a small glass cup, firmly press the graham cracker into the bottom of the muffin cup, creating a crust. It may stick to the glass slightly. If you have major issues with that, try using a small circle of parchment paper in between the glass and crust.

Sprinkle evenly 2 generous tsp of finely chopped chocolate on top of the crust. The chocolate won't spread much, so even it out with your finger or a spoon at this point. And don't skimp! I thought the chocolate layer would taste a bit out of place here and too raw, but instead, I found myself wishing I had added more of it.

Place both tins side by side on the middle rack of the oven, and bake for 5 minutes. The crusts should turn light golden brown.

Remove from oven and carefully pour the batter into the cups, filling 3/4 of the way (see the image above). Sprinkle the remaining chopped chocolate and then graham cracker mixture over the top of the batter.

Bake one tin at a time for 17-20 minutes, or until the tops are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely, at least an hour.

Frosting

Makes enough for about 3 dozen cupcakes; I plan on halving this recipe when I make these again, but if you feel nervous about running out of frosting, I guess you should make the whole batch. You can see below that I had somewhere between 1/3 - 1/2 a batch leftover after generously topping 25 cupcakes.

Ingredients
8 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp vanilla extract

In the electric mixer bowl, add the eggs, sugar, and cream of tartar. Place over a small simmering saucepan of water (like a double boiler) and whisk continuously for 3-5 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is getting hot and foamy.

Transfer bowl to the mixer. With the whisk attachment, gradually increase the speed from low to high, beating until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5-7 minutes. Add the vanilla, and mix briefly to incorporate.

Spoon frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large tip (I used 1M). Pipe a generous spiral on top of each cupcake. With a kitchen torch, carefully brown the frosting as much or as little as you like. Trophy Cupcakes opts for the more gentle approach whereas I prefer to actually taste the toasted marshmallow and brown it more heavily.

Leftover frosting

Cupcakes store in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Frosting does not pipe well a day later, so pipe the frosting the same day that you use it. Cover with plastic wrap flush to the surface if not using immediately and leave at room temperature.

Sneak Peek

2011-08-28T21:19:00.000-05:00

I don't have the energy to write up the details tonight, but as a sneak peek, I whipped up these little beauties this weekend. They were really delicious. Recipe and more to come soon!

Shutterfly (again, I know)

2011-08-26T12:51:00.000-05:00

One last thing... I know I mentioned that Shutterfly likes to give away promo codes for freebies. Here's my current stash:

Trip Up to Door County

2011-08-22T21:37:00.000-05:00

John grew up vacationing in Door County, and every year that we've been married, we've gone up there, too. John's aunt and uncle, Kay and John, rent a cabin a street from the water for 2 months in the summer to get away from the Florida heat. They generously invite us to stay with them, and we gladly accept!

In case you are wondering, Door County is the little peninsula that juts out in between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. It's about 4 hours from Madison to where we stay in Door County (5 hours when having to stop with LE).

(Map image not mine.)

Kay and John's cabin is on the bay side and has a water view. It's steps away to the rocky water's edge, which is the perfect place to watch the sun set over the bay.

Fast forward two evenings later...

There are a few small beaches on the bay side, too. We spent one afternoon at the beach down the road from the cabin. LE wasn't exactly fond of the water, but she did enjoy slowly shoveling sand into her bucket. It took her about 20 minutes to fill it each time.

The lake side doesn't have beautiful sunsets, but the sand and water are beautiful. We stopped by on our way out of town for LE to put her feet in the sand like she did for the first time 11 months ago.

Of course, we stopped by the Yum Yum Tree candy shop and Wilson's Restaurant, just like previous years. They remain completely unchanged. We don't have any photos of it, but another tradition is to stop at The Main Course kitchen shop to buy some kitchen gadgets from John's cousin. Every item we've gotten from there has turned out to be a can't-live-without kitchen item. Seriously.

Back at the cabin, we continued the tradition of feeding the chipmunks, working on puzzles, and enjoying big breakfasts.

This year was the first time we went to The Farm, which is a big farm that allows you to pet and feed their animals.

I'm fairly certain that this is the largest horse I've ever seen.

LE really enjoyed pretending to drive.

At the end of our trip, we took a couple of family photos.

LE was a bit distracted by looking for chipmunks.

Thanks for a great trip, Kay and John!

And just for fun...

Look at how much LE has changed in 11 months!

And, as a side note, last year we came up in September when it was apple picking season. We stopped on the way up to pick apples. This year, instead of apples, we went clothes picking at the outlet mall. We ended up with something like 4 pairs of shoes for LE among other things.

Aren't these the cutest little bitty Merrells you've ever seen?

Photo Books with Shutterfly

2011-08-21T19:38:00.001-05:00

For almost LE's first year of life, I put together photo books every two months or so with Shutterfly. We switched from Blurb books due to the quality and ease of making the books. Blurb's system was way too buggy for Macs when I made the switch (which is rumored to be fixed now).

With Shutterfly, it is easy to make the layouts in InDesign and upload the jpegs into a blank book. They have layout options for those who don't have design programs or who want to use the cute designs that they prepare for you. The issue I had was when I wanted to add photos in a certain way and wasn't able to change it up the way I wanted.

Inside look at one of the books we did using Shutterfly's design

Recently, Shutterfly made their online system completely customizable. You can go on their website, use their designs, and completely manipulate the photo layouts to however you want. It's a great option for those who don't want to start from scratch but have an opinion on how they want it done.

Of course, Shutterfly has products other than photo books. I've used them for their photo prints picked up at Target (same quality as places like Walmart and Snapfish); greeting cards; baptism invites; Christmas cards; and large poster prints for a banquet. Quite honestly, Shutterfly's designs and card quality aren't my favorite; I prefer to use Tiny Prints for that, though, interestingly, Shutterfly did just acquire Tiny Prints this year.

Baptism Invite

Christmas Card 2010

I must say that my favorite part about Shutterfly is their customer relations. They give promo codes galor and have great on-site sales. I've also called customer service multiple times, and I have nothing but good things to say about their customer service.

Speaking of promos... though all of these opinions are my own, Shutterfly has offered me one free photo book in exchange for a blog post.

LE's room tour

2011-08-16T23:36:00.002-05:00

Welcome! Come on in!

Standing at the door, looking in:

The tree is understated but not quite as much as it is in the photo.

Sitting on the floor in the corner by the forward-facing bookshelves:

Standing in the corner with the glider:

That's it! I love how her room is whimsical, but it's also filled with things that have meaning.

The gray lamp is from my grandparents on my dad's side (repainted).
The sock monkey is reminiscent of my mom and grandma.
The SMU frog is a gift from my step-mom during my first days at SMU, where John and I both went to college.
The laugh sign is a gift from my friend Ashley when I was in college (repainted).
The photo with bunting and the necklace around the sock monkey's neck are from our trip to Fiji.
The toy box that the fan is on was built by my dad and my older brother's and mine growing up.
The pillow on the glider was a gift from John's parents at LE's baptism.
The blanket holder was in my room growing up and now holds John's baby blankets, my baby quilt, and the quilts that my step-mom labored over for LE.
The red rain boots are from when John was a baby. (They're LE's current size so they aren't on display.)
The wagon was a pregnancy gift from a company I worked with.

The paper bunting was used last weekend at a baby shower, and I figured it could hang at least temporarily in LE's room. I'm on the fence with whether it's bunting overkill with the small one on the frame and the larger one on the window. I love the paper design from How About Orange.

I installed a craft paper roll under her little table for drawing.

I'll be repainting the glider the same light gray as the stripe and the dollhouse that's hiding in LE's closet will come down for her to play with.

Thanks for stopping by!

Put your handwriting font to use

2011-08-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted a tutorial on how to make your own font using your handwriting? Here's a snippet of a flyer that I did for our local Young Life area that uses my handwriting font:

If you have Illustrator and want the vector images for the notepad pages, click here.

Spice Racks as... spice racks

2011-08-15T09:14:00.000-05:00

Last week, I posted about how we used IKEA's spice racks as inexpensive forward-facing bookshelves in LE's room.

I'd be remiss to leave out that we used the spice racks as... wait for it... spice racks! Once again, 16 months ago I spent waaaay too long searching for the perfect spice rack from places like Home Depot, Menards, Target, Amazon, and more Amazon.

I settled on these spice racks, and, I must say, I'm so glad that I did!

Even where there are jars that are not flush to the railing and door/other bottle, I swung the door open and closed as hard as I could repeatedly without it budging. That was my biggest fear.

What I liked even more about these is that they are on individual rows, so I could completely customize how many we have based on our spices. As you can see, we have a large variety of spice brands-- Penzeys, Market Pantry, McCormicks, Tony's, and a Dijon mustard jar that I keep our Emeril's spice mixture. All types of the bottles fit nicely.

The best part of it all? Using the unused space on the back of the door opened up 2/3 of a pantry shelf.

It's so simple to do! All 4 shelves took about 20 minutes to hang. If you want to replicate it, I found that the appropriate space is 4 1/2 inches measuring from the bottom of the upper shelf to the screw hole for the shelf directly underneath.

Quick Tip: Fewer Dishes!

2011-08-12T08:52:00.000-05:00

It's no secret. If you cook from scratch, you will inevitably have a lot of dirty dishes, including what seems to be every measuring device you own.

To reduce my dishwashing load, I eyeball most measurements unless I'm baking something finicky, like cakes and cookies. Here's how:

Tip 1:

Hold the measuring cup above the bowl and pour next to it, directly into the bowl. The measuring cup serves as a reminder of how much you're aiming to pour in.

Tip 2:

If you're not confident in eyeballing your measurements, take a minute to look at your recipe. A little basic math can help you. Will you need a tablespoon someplace and a 1/4 cup someplace else?

I very frequently use 4 tablespoons instead of dirtying up my 1/4 measuring spoon. Or, fill larger measuring cups halfway for smaller increments. My baked oatmeal recipe is a great example of only needing to dirty a half cup and a teaspoon (I even measure the milk in the dry measuring cup since it doesn't need to be precise here).

Sometimes, I mix up in my head what the equivalents are, so I reference Martha Stewart's Cooks Helpers that I have on my fridge as a quick refresher.

Printing these out on magnetic paper or adhering a couple of magnets on the back of cardstock would make a great present topper for any cooking-related gift!

And what got painted were... (drumroll)

2011-08-07T22:30:00.001-05:00

Bookshelves!

LE and I tagged along with John to Chicago a few weeks back just so I could go to Ikea to buy their $4 wooden spice racks that have popped up around cute kids' rooms across the blogosphere. Like this photo that was posted on Ohdeedoh:

Even before LE was born, I knew I wanted forward-facing bookshelves. Supposedly, they foster more of a desire for reading than traditional bookshelves since kids can actually see the book covers. I can't vouch for the truth in that. What I can say is that I imagine everyone has a space in their home that could make room for a narrow bookshelf (spots behind doors come to mind).

About 1 1/2 years ago, I started keeping my eye out for forward-facing shelves. Garage sale hunts came up empty, and to my dismay, the shelves that I found in stores were way too expensive for me to rationalize.

I bookmarked a few different great ideas for DIY: a fabric sling {tutorial}, rain gutter bookshelves {tutorial}, and build my own {tutorial}. These are all ideas that I'd love to do, but they'd end up just sitting in my bookmark list forever and never get done... just like they did for a full year.

After considering different options, the Ikea spice racks for $4/ea were just the right fit for us. I love that they come in unfinished wood so that we could paint them in the darker gray accent color for LE's room.

Here's how ours turned out:

Everyone knows that there's going to be a difference in quality between Ikea and Pottery Barn. I was willing to live with the little imperfections for the cost (I mean $4 vs $40-60. No brainer.), especially since they're sturdy.

The pieces of wood just don't line up perfectly, but the one who matters-- LE-- will never care.

I have to tell you, these shelves are the easiest shelves to put together and hang. We've done a lot of floating shelves, including ones from Pottery Barn that are supposedly super simple, but none were this simple.

What I did:

For these shelves, it took a quick coat of regular primer and two coats of paint that I got for free from Benjamin Moore. Since the paint was matte, I sprayed a light coat of polyurethane to give it a slight sheen but not make it shiny. It took about 5 minutes per shelf to assemble using the dinky allen wrench that comes with them. Then, it took about a half an hour to install in the wall using drywall anchors when I wasn't hitting a stud.

I love how the shelves turned out and fill that wall space! LE seems to love pulling books off of them, too.

Quick Tip: Wash Fewer Paint Brushes!

2011-08-03T09:34:00.000-05:00

Don't wash your brushes between coats!

I'll share with you soon what we were working on last week, but to give you a hint... it involved multiple coats of paint.

In general, I prefer to brush on paint as opposed to spraying. There are less fumes, even coats, and less of an overall mess. The one downfall is saving the brush from drying out in between coats.

Introducing: ziplock baggies! You could use plastic wrap if you prefer.

Place your paintbrush into the bag, squeeze as much of the air out as possible, and seal the top. This will keep your brush from drying out in between coats. I left my brush in there for 24 hours without consequence.

Happy painting!

Meatless Monday: Spaghetti Puttanesca

2011-08-01T16:03:00.004-05:00

Meatless Monday!

Our family chooses to eat meat from animals that were responsibly and preferably locally raised, which means that we choose to pay more for our groceries. Sometimes it's hard for me to go into our regular grocery store and see normal boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for $0.99/lb and have to walk by. Even if you don't share the same philosophy that we do when it comes to buying meat, maybe environmental factors will pull at your heart strings.

For a family of 4, skipping meat and cheese for one day a week is equivalent to taking your car off of the road for 5 weeks. If everyone in the US skipped meat and cheese for a day, it would be like taking 7.6 million cars off of the road. (Source: Environmental Working Group)

Admittedly, it's hard for me to make a meal that doesn't have meat or cheese, but this one comes super close. This pasta is surprisingly full of flavor, very easy to make, uses ingredients that I already keep on hand, and comes together in less than 30 minutes.

The ingredients are strong on their own, so be sure to serve it with plenty of noodles to balance them out.

Arguably this shouldn't count as "Meatless Monday" since it has anchovies. For those of you squeamish about anchovies, keep in mind that you won't taste anchovy, per se; it will just give it a richer flavor than going without. You could always leave it out given the potency of the other ingredients.

Spaghetti Puttanesca

super slightly adapted from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 tbs regular olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 tsp anchovy paste (or 6 anchovies rinsed and minced)

1 tbs tomato paste (optional)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or part of a minced fresh hot pepper, like a jalapeño)

1 small red bell pepper, minced (optional)

1 (28 oz) can fire-roasted Muir Glen diced tomatoes (or use what you have)

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped

3 tbs minced fresh parsley

2 tbs capers, rinsed

salt & pepper

12 oz whole-wheat pasta (spaghetti, tubes, bowties... whatever)

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and dry pasta; cook until al dente. Reserve some cooking water in a separate dish and drain the pasta. Tip: Place a measuring cup in the sink and pour the pasta in a strainer over the measuring cup.

While waiting for the water to boil, in a 10-12 inch skillet over medium heat, cook the oil, garlic, anchovy paste, tomato paste (if using), bell pepper (if using) and red pepper flakes for 1-2 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown.

Stir in the undrained tomatoes, and bring it all to a simmer. Cook 15-20 minutes until the sauce has thickened, stirring every couple of minutes.

Remove from heat; stir in the olives, parsley, and capers. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the drained pasta to skillet. Toss to combine, adding some of the reserved pasta water to loosen it, if needed. I usually add a tablespoon or so to the container with the leftovers since the pasta tends to dry out some over time.

Optional: top with freshly shaved parmesan and your best extra virgin olive oil.

The sauce can be made 4 days ahead and frozen up to 2 months. Add cooked pasta to the warmed sauce when ready to serve.

16 Months!

2011-07-29T21:16:00.001-05:00

We've had a really fun month that's been full of activities. From the splash pad to play dates to visiting her grandparents in St. Louis to a trip to Chicago, it's been busy! At 16 months, LE

Comes running, grinning, arms flailing, cup in hand at the prospect of dried cranberries.
Says "Uh oh!" (yes! first real word... finally!) whenever she drops something by accident or on purpose. Her second word, if you want to call it that, is "Bahh!" which means "Bam!" (as in the loud noise something makes when it's banged against something else.).
Knows "high five" and where her eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, ears, hand, feet, and bellybutton are.
Loves to play hide and seek, especially with her dad. Throughout the day, she'll go sit behind the curtain, waiting for someone to notice. If we don't immediately notice, she'll send out a quick shriek and then go silent.

Giggles and shrieks as she's being chased or is chasing.
Understands a lot. If I ask her "Where's your sippy cup?" she'll squat down and look under furniture or around the house until she finds it.
Plays with chalk and crayons by writing with them and placing them in and out of buckets.
Runs straight to her trike when we go outside, climbs up onto it, and tries to buckle her seatbelt.
Waves hello and goodbye to everyone, including photos and her reflection.
Climbs in and out of the laundry basket and other baskets.
Rearranges our furniture.
Asks us to read to her by bringing us books.
Loves her babydoll LeLe and elephant chair, Felix.
Kisses, hugs, and cuddles a lot.
Still loves ice and eating with a fork.
Smacks her lips loudly when she wants to eat or drink something.
Picks and eats the grape tomatoes straight from the garden.

Has 11 teeth, still sleeps about 12 hrs/night, takes 2 naps a day unless we're out during the morning nap time.

Splash pad, sprinkler, pool...

2011-07-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

We're blessed to have near us a fun "splash pad" water play zone intended for toddlers to run around and, well, splash. Oh, and it's free.

This is LE's "I think I'm funny" face.

I take LE to the splash pad when we have playgroups that meet up there. This day, we went with John since he had never been, and I thought it'd be fun. The whole park is really nice-- there's a pond, two playgrounds, a couple of covered picnic areas, and little soccer fields.

It always takes LE a while to warm up to the idea of running through freezing cold water. What you don't see in these photos are all of the times that I led her out into the water area. Then, when she's ready, she plays with the dinkiest water source available. Can you even see the water coming out of the turtle's forehead?

After barely touching it or getting sprayed by the water spout that suddenly turned on, she runs back to the sidelines.

At the splash pad, kids her age are all independently trying to figure out the water, and the bigger kids are all running around screaming. There's not a lot of interaction going on with the little ones. The wonder and amusement for 1-2 year olds come from touching the water.

I must say, it's really nice to have access to this splash pad when there's a lot of us wanting to get together or to have a change of pace. Though, if you don't happen to have access to a free toddler-friendly water playground... for kids LE's age, your own sprinkler or little pool can provide just as much fun. I promise.

Photo from when LE was playing with her Granny in St. Louis

Small blow up pool that we have on our patio

You can see the excitement and sense of wonder on her face at the splash pad, with a water hose, and with a little pool. The key is just to get your kids outside and let them explore how water works! You don't need anything fancy to let them learn and have fun.

Quick Tip: Sticky Ingredients

2011-07-25T08:00:00.002-05:00

Measuring Sticky Ingredients

When you have to measure sticky and hard-to-pour ingredients-- like honey, nut butters, and condiments, do one of two things to save yourself the hassle of scraping out the measuring cup.

Spray the cup with nonstick cooking spray, or
Use the measuring cup for your oil measurement beforehand. Then, without rinsing out the cup, measure your sticky ingredient. Many recipes have you add the two ingredients to the same bowl to whisk together, but more often than not, the oil is listed after the sticky one in the recipe, which means you're stuck scraping out the cup.

It's simple and effective. Will life be drastically different if you don't do it? No. But it's just one less hassle. Honestly, I was skeptical about the difference it'd make when I first heard this tip, but now I always think about it when cooking.

Incredibly rich vanilla bean frozen custard

2011-07-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

This venture started out with me wanting to make a good, rich vanilla ice cream with my little Cuisinart ice cream maker. I thought that a caramel topping would be nice. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

What it turned out to be is a vanilla frozen custard so rich and creamy that really only a couple of small scoops are plenty for any ice cream, sugar-loving, dessert nut {like me}. Personally, I felt like it tasted like the ice cream version of the custard part of crème brûlée.

The topping is a deeply darkened caramel (read: sugar one step away from burning). It's not the super sweet light caramel that barely has any flavor. That has its own place in life... but not here. This caramel tastes much like the burnt "brulee" part of the créme brûlée.

This dessert is not for you if you're looking to trim away any inches on your waist. This is the real deal, folks.

Super Rich & Creamy Vanilla Frozen Custard

Adapted from Gourmet

Yields 3/4 quart, but doubling the recipe will likely be too dense for a typical 1 1/2 quart Cuisinart machine to handle

Ingredients

1 good quality vanilla bean (I used Penzeys) or vanilla bean paste

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

Using a sharp paring knife, halve the vanilla bean lengthwise. Gently scrape out all of the caviar; place into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan the caviar, empty vanilla bean, cream, and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Using a mixer, slightly whisk the eggs. While the mixer is on medium low with the whisk attachment, slowly pour spoonfuls of the cream mixture into the eggs until the eggs are tempered (i.e. adjusting to the heat without becoming scrambled eggs), about 4 or so spoonfuls. Then, you can slowly pour in the rest of the cream mixture into the eggs while the mixer is still on.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, and cook stirring constantly over medium-low until the custard reaches 170-175 degrees (do not let it boil). Pour the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.

If you have time, let it come to room temp (or close) and then refrigerate until completely cold, about 3 hours or up 24 hours. Press a layer of plastic wrap or wax paper flush to the top of the custard so that a skin doesn't form.

If you're short on time, place the bowl of custard inside a larger bowl filled with ice. Stir the custard constantly until it is cool, and then place in the fridge with plastic wrap or wax paper flush to the top of the custard so a film doesn't form. Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

Follow your ice cream maker's instructions to finish and store for up to 1 week in an airtight container in the freezer.

The dark salted caramel topping is from Smitten Kitchen and made exactly as Deb perfectly described with the exception that I made a half a batch.

Touring John's Office (2)

2011-07-22T09:36:00.001-05:00

Almost every time we have a visitor, our clan makes a trip to John's office to tour give an office tour. The campus is expanding so quickly that we can never do a whole tour in one day; our interest wanes about an hour into the tour.

When our friends Ashley and Dustin came up for LE's baptism, I posted some photos of our walk around the office with them.

Steve, a family friend from Louisiana, came up for my 10,000 day surprise. It was his first time up to Wisconsin, and I think we have a convert! :) He was impressed by our city's infrastructure, the farms, the weather, the lakes, and the activities. All in one day, we strolled around the capitol building for the Art Fair on the Square; shopped the farmer's market; ate at my favorite lunch locale, Graze; and toured John's office.

1.) View of the cafeteria from standing outside of a conference room; 2.) Walking around the perimeter of the pond with the cafeteria on the left and the aforementioned conference room on the right; 3.) Art in the brush around the perimeter of the pond; 4.) Part of the cafeteria eating area from the upper level, looking out towards the same pond.

Mural in "Grand Central Station," next to the cafeteria where there's the General Store (snacks, toiletries, magazines, drinks) and the NY Sock Exchange (dry cleaning drop-off/pick up).

Some of the NYC themed building. I think that's my favorite one.

Treehouse conference room outside. You have to cross the slatted bridge to enter.

10,000 Day Surprise!

2011-07-17T16:56:00.002-05:00

A week ago tomorrow, I turned 10,000 days. I imagine most people don't know how many days they've been alive, much less when they'll hit a milestone like 10,000 days, but John somehow thought of it a while back.

Knowing that he could never throw a surprise for my actual birthday in February, John planned a surprise party for me. A couple of months in advance, he contacted family and friends across the US, booked a chartered boat for a 2 hour cruise in the middle of a work day, and set out to surprise me by having everyone together for my 10,000th day of life.

Friends who could get off of work or come in town did; we even had one friend come all of the way up from Louisiana, which is an especially big deal since he hadn't been to Wisconsin or flown in 10 years.

The day ended up being the perfect day for a boat ride, and it was a great time!

The whole idea was really sweet, of course. And given that John is historically horrible when it comes to sticking with surprises, he did incredibly well.

If you want to throw a surprise party for someone, see if you can figure out a fun day number to celebrate. Maybe it's number 8,888, 12,345, or 30,000. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be a lot of fun!

To figure out the date, you can go to this website. Type in the birthday of the person, how many days you want to calculate, and then click "Calculate New Date!"

Roasted Veggie Goat Cheese Pesto Sandwich

2011-07-12T22:16:00.001-05:00

One of John's and my favorite easy, delicious, and vegetarian meals is a roasted veggie sandwich with pesto and goat cheese. We were inspired by a similar sandwich that we had at Pastoral in Chicago a few blocks from where I lived when we were dating. It doesn't look like they have that sandwich anymore, but they do have some great sounding sandwiches on there that you should try if you happen to be in the area.

You could easily avoid warming up your house by grilling everything instead of using your oven. These sandwiches make a great "Meatless Monday" option for those of you who do that, and these are great for a weeknight meal.

Start by preheating your oven to 475. Cut up portobello mushrooms, a red bell pepper, and a red onion. In a large bowl, whisk EVOO, balsamic vinegar, minced fresh rosemary or thyme, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Add the vegetables and mix to coat.

Line a baking sheet or two with foil. Spread the vegetables in a single layer. Pop in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes, flipping everything over at about halfway through. Keep in mind the vegetables may look extra dark due to the balsamic vinegar.

In the mean time, take some big crusty bread. Our bread is borderline too skinny. Cut the bread to the length that you want, and remove part of the inside to make room for the filling.

Spread a thick layer of pesto on the top, and, if you're like me, spread about half that amount on the other half, too.

Spread a generous layer of goat cheese on the top layer. If goat cheese isn't your thing, I suppose you could try mozzarella, but you'll be missing out on a big element of flavor.

Layer the roasted vegetables on the bread and then close it up. You may need to use a toothpick to hold the two sides together if it's not cooperating for you.

Place your sandwiches on the unwashed (or washed if you like to do dishes) baking sheet, and place it back in the oven to melt the cheese for about 5 minutes using the residual heat from roasting the vegetables.

Cut your delicious sandwich in half, and eat it with a simple fresh salad. Or, if you're like my husband, you'll opt for chips.

Roasted Vegetable Goat Cheese Pesto Sandwich

Yields 2 dinner sized sandwiches

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 baguette

1/4 - 1/3 cup of fresh pesto (simple recipe below)

2T+ chevre goat cheese

2 portobello mushrooms

1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper

1 red onion

1/4 cup ordinary EVOO (see note in the pesto recipe below)

2 T balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 T minced fresh rosemary or thyme

Preheat oven to 475. Line two baking sheets with foil.

Gently wash the mushrooms and cut out the stem. Cut all vegetables in large pieces (see image above). In a large bowl, mix together oil, vinegar, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Add the vegetables to the oil mixture and coat well. Place veggies in a single layer on the baking sheets, making sure each veggie touches the foil and is not on top of another vegetable. Place the vegetables in the oven. Roast for about 15 minutes, flipping the vegetables over at the 7 minute mark. They are ready to take out when the onions are starting to char on the edges and the peppers get nice blisters on the skin.

While the vegetables are in the oven, cut your bread to the length that you want your sandwich. Slice in half and remove part of the inside to make room for the filling.

Spread 2-3T of pesto on one half of each sandwich. Then spread 1-2T of goat cheese on the other half of each sandwich.

Remove the vegetables from the oven, and layer the vegetables in tidy layers over the bread. Close the sandwich up. Place on the baking sheets and put back in the oven to let the residual heat warm up the cheese for 5 minutes.

Cut your sandwich in half, serve with a simple salad or chips, and enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Basic Pesto

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen's Healthy Family Cookbook

You can use any pesto that you'd like for the sandwiches. This particular recipe works really well since it makes such a thick pesto. For other applications, you could always add more EVOO to loosen it up.

For food that you cook, like roasted vegetables and pan frying, using store brand olive oil is perfectly acceptable; however, with uncooked food, like salad dressings and pesto, I strongly recommend using the best quality extra virgin olive oil that you have since you can really taste the oil. Lucini Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a great option. I've seen it at my local grocery stores, Target, and Whole Foods.

To toast your garlic, place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a dry skillet over medium heat. Turn the garlic every couple of minutes, and toast until the garlic starts to blister on the outside, about 7 minutes.

Strawberries, Granola, and Ahhh Madison!

2011-07-11T20:13:00.002-05:00

Summers in Wisconsin are amazing. I love the not hot weather, the abundant produce, and the active residents. One of my favorite aspects of our city is definitely how diverse the land is. Within one mile from my house, you pass farmland, woodlands, neighborhoods, a school, daycares, a golf course, a research center, and lots of shopping (among other things). You get the perfect mix of land and luxuries.

A couple of weeks ago, John and I stopped at one of the strawberry stands set up within one mile from our house. The organic strawberries were picked that same morning.

Admittedly, I'm not super creative when it comes to fruit. I ended up making a batch of granola to make simple parfaits with a little honey sweetened greek yogurt.

Is it just me, or does all granola look essentially the same? There's no way to tell prior to tasting it whether or not it will taste good. The day of the parfaits, the recipe I used was just ok.

The granola I made a couple of days ago was really good, though. I combined the technique from America's Test Kitchen (recipe not online) and some of the spices from Simple Bite's Chai Spiced Granola recipe.

This is by far my favorite granola that I've had. It's slightly sweet with a hint of coconut. The flavor is complex. The texture is crisp but not hard.

Here's the big list of what you'll need. I imagine you'll have almost everything on hand, and, if not, the ingredients are easy to find.

Chai Granola

Adapted from Simple Bites and America's Test Kitchen

Yields about 2 quarts

Ingredients
3 cups old fashioned oats (not the quick cooking or steel cut)
1/3 cup coconut oil (can substitute canola oil but you're missing out)
1/2 cup slivered, blanched almonds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 T flax seeds - ground or whole golden
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup sunflower seeds, unsalted
1/4 cup honey (don't substitute sugar; you need something sticky)
1/4 cup cane sugar (aka Demerara sugar; can substitute agave or more honey)
2 T water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (fresh if you have it)
1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
optional: 1/2 cup cocoa nibs or dried fruit, like apples or golden raisins (I ended up not using them)

Preheat your oven to 325, and line a large rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a 12 inch skillet over medium heat, lightly toast the almonds and walnuts, stirring every minute or so until you can start to smell them (about 2-3 minutes). Stir in the pumpkin seeds, oats, and oil; continue to toast and stir every minute or so until the oats start to get some color (about 4-6 minutes).

Turn off the heat and add the sesame seeds, flax, salt, and wheat germ.

Temporarily empty the oats onto the spreadsheet or a different container. Add to the skillet the honey, cane sugar, approximately 2 tablespoons of water, cinnamon, salt, cardamom, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and pepper. Heat over medium until the sugar is dissolved. Add the oat mixture back to the skillet, and stir until all is incorporated.

Spread evenly over the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Remove from the oven when the granola is turning golden brown.

Stir in the coconut and dried fruit, if using. Depending on the size of your baking sheet, you'll need to either spread it out or compact it together to form a 1/2 inch thick granola slab. Let it cool completely. Break into pieces and store in an air-tight container for about a week.

Design your own font (tutorial)

2011-07-06T09:00:00.002-05:00

Have you ever wanted to turn your own handwriting into a font? You could use it for electronic journaling, digital scrapbooking, spruce up your own blog, and, well, basically anything that you use a regular handwriting font for. Or, you could doodle instead to create your own doodle font. Get creative!

It's relatively inexpensive, easy, and fun. If you use fontifier.com, it's just $9. Their instructions are very easy to follow, but I wish they gave a few tips. I created my first font about 4 years ago, and just recently, I went back for a second shot at it.

You'll need a printer, a scanner, your favorite pen, a thick-tipped pen (like a Sharpie), lined paper (optional), and a photo editing software (optional).

Here's how you do it.

Print out their template on one letter sized sheet of paper.
Place the template on top of a sheet of lined paper to help you keep your letters straight. If it's too hard to see the lined paper through the template, try placing a sheet of blank paper under the lined paper to help the lines show up.
Pick out your favorite pen. Using your best handwriting, try your hardest to fill each letter's space with letters that are the same size, centered, and using the "pips" as the baseline. My first font turned out small (see the example towards the end of the post). If you are using a photo editing software (even Microsoft Paint would work for this), focus more on the handwriting and less on making it perfectly aligned.
Take a Sharpie or other medium tipped marker and trace your original letters.
Scan the template back to your computer, saving it as a GIF, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF.
If not using a photo editing software, skip to number 8. Open your completed template in your photo editing software. Go through each letter to recenter and trim away flaws.
Save your new file as a GIF, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF.
Upload your completed template to http://www.fontifier.com/submit.html. Name your font and preview before buying. If there's a letter that you don't like, go back to your template and edit it.
Pay by credit card or PayPal, download to your computer, and install the font.
Test your font and share with others, if you desire!

Here are how my fonts turned out.

The first was just my favorite pen (not traced by a Sharpie). I should have printed my letters out bigger and filled the rectangle more. You can see how much space there is between the letters (especially after the capital T) and how small the font turned out compared to a regular font. At this size, the thin weight is good, but when it's enlarged, it's too puny.

The second one is the one that turned out with this tutorial. You can see how the font size greatly improved, and the weight is good for more applications, though it is still wide.

Experiment and have some fun!

Here's where I sometimes link up!

It's amazing what a little time does

2011-07-05T16:16:00.000-05:00

I forgot my laptop at home when we drove to St. Louis this past weekend, so I took a little unexpected break from the blog. Hopefully, I'll have a new post up tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I transfered the photos onto my laptop from our little point and shoot camera, and here's what I found:

LE and John are standing in the same place in our yard. The angle is different, but they are essentially in the same spot. It's amazing what a few months can do!

LE at 15 Months

2011-06-30T07:00:00.004-05:00

I'm a week late getting this out there, but not a whole lot has changed from 14 months.

Now that it's officially summer and the sun is out, we've been trying to play outside a lot. At the end of the summer last year, I used a gift card to buy LE a little inflatable pool for our yard/patio.

She hung out inside the pool for about 10 minutes.

Since then, she's mostly stayed outside of it, playing with the water when it's on or when it's off, reaching over and into the pool to put rocks in and feel the water.

In between fetching rocks and playing with the water, she likes to go pull on the mint plant. Her suit from Mimi is adorable.

She got a new 'do to keep her hair out of her face. The rubber bands are basically the size that are used for braces, but they work pretty well.

Other than that, things are pretty much the same! She loves to talk on the phone (any toy held up to her ear), give kisses, dance and bounce, put things in buckets, hold her little doll LeLe, and have us hold her doll LeLe. She runs just about everywhere and makes friends everywhere we go. If given the chance, she'll run run up to someone, look up at them, smile a big cheesy smile, and wave until they acknowledge her.

When she thinks she's being funny, she crinkles up her nose.

She's also a big ice fiend. She'll unabashedly dive her hand into any cup and fish around for ice.

Still no real words yet from the little one, but she babbles and understands a lot. I can ask her to go find her sippy cup, and she'll run around the house looking for it. If she hears anyone mention shoes, she points at her shoes or sits down to shoe them off.

Oh, and on the teeth front, she has 10 1/4-- eight front teeth, two molars on opposites sides, and another molar peeking through on one side.

She sleep about 12 hours a night and takes two naps a day. Speaking of... it's just about time to get ready for the bedtime routine.

Have a good day!

Carrot-Banana Whole Wheat Muffins (or cupcakes)

2011-06-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

My little girl turned one year old a few months back. Since family and a few friends came from across the US to celebrate her when she got baptized the month before and then we spent 3 weeks in Fiji leading up to her birthday, we really just wanted to keep her birthday very low-key.

We also knew that our little one year old didn't need to have a real cake made with sugar. She didn't know any better, and we figure she'll have the rest of her life to be addicted to sugar like her mother.

I stumbled upon 101 cookbooks's delicious recipe for a "cake" made with no sugar. It's naturally sweetened with dates and bananas. I had never had a date before, but I thought I'd give it a try.

This is the kind of recipe that makes you want to turn up your favorite music, open the windows to let the breeze flow in, and celebrate the ingredients. It feels good.

{Those are carrots on the right, not cheddar cheese, despite what it looks like.}

What we ended up with was something like 18 rustic muffins, and I think John had 2. One year old LE and I ate 16 muffins in 7 days, and I think it was pretty evenly split between the two of us. She loved them. They made the perfect snack and breakfast for pre-molar toddlers who need something more nutritious than Cheddar Bunnies to snack on and less messy than things like yogurt and fruit.

Since posting about LE's birthday, I've been asked for the recipe a few times by friends. Here it is in all of it's glory! Please visit 101 cookbooks's site to see the original or if you think you'd rather make it in a loaf form.

I opted for cupcakes for LE's birthday. They are cupcakes when they were frosted and muffins when they weren't. Of course, I prefer frosting to no frosting, but this last time I didn't make it at all. Frosting or not, they turn out very moist and slightly sweet. They don't self-level while baking, so if you're looking for something a little less rustic, you will want to take the time to smooth them out on top after spooning in the batter.

To save a little prep time, I used my food processor to process the nuts first, then the dates, and then the carrots. I didn't wash the bowl between processing and just did the chopping in order of driest to wettest ingredient.

Banana Carrot Cupcakes (or Muffins)

From 101 Cookbooks; for the loaf version, go to the original recipe

Makes 18 regular muffins, or 12 regular + 12 mini

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2-2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
4 ounces unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup dried chopped dates
3 ripe bananas (1 1/4 cups)
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 3 medium)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (2% or lowfat is ok)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Use paper or silicone cups, spray with cooking spray, or use butter to prep the muffin tin.

Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the walnuts.

In a small bowl, combine the dates and melted butter. Mash with a fork and try to break down the dates as much as possible.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas (I used my hands), add the carrots, and combine. Add the date/butter mixture.

In the small bowl used for the dates/butter (or use a separate bowl if you like to wash dishes), whisk together the eggs and yogurt. Add the mixture to the large bowl with the carrots/bananas/dates/butter, and stir well to combine.

Add the sifted flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until it's just combined. Streaks of flour are good, but make sure you don't have pockets of flour. It's better to undermix a tad than overmix.

Spoon into the prepared muffin tins, filling to almost the top since the muffins won't expand too much. Place in the middle of the oven, and bake for 30-35 minutes. They're ready when the tops are turning golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let it cool on a rack.

These are delicious topped with a basic cream cheese frosting to serve as cupcakes. For a refined sugar-free frosting, see the original recipe. Personally, I don't care for that one. Or, serve warm with or without butter as a muffin for breakfast or a snack.

Organic Mint & Honey Sweet Leaf Green Tea

2011-06-28T06:30:00.006-05:00

Let's get this straight: I did not in any way anticipate writing about this tea, much less writing about it as my first commercial product to rave about. I couldn't help it, though, after what happened Monday.

Rewind a minute to Sunday when we took a trip to Whole Foods to compare their bulk prices to a local co-op's bulk prices. We ended up leaving with Sweet Leaf's Mint & Honey tea, my new favorite drink. I was even ok with paying $1.49 for it since I knew it was so good.

Fast forward to Monday when LE and I headed to Target to price check essentially every consumable product we use. I stumbled upon Sweet Leaf's tea, but at an incredible deal-- and it's not even a sale!

Target has Sweet Leaf Organic Mint & Honey Green Tea's 64 oz size for $2 (3 cents/oz)! Compare that to $1.49 for 16 oz (9 cents/oz) at Whole Foods. {i.e. It's 1/3 of the cost per ounce.}

Before you rush off to Amazon to compare prices, I already did that. Even with their Subscribe & Save program where you save 15% and get free shipping, you have to buy 8 bottles at $3/bottle. If you're looking for the smaller glass bottles; however, Amazon offers them at a good price.

This tea is smooth, sweet, and refreshing. Here's how Sweet Leaf describes this tea:

Infused with flavorful spearmint leaves and a touch of honey, this organic green tea has created a cult-like following. Loaded with antioxidants (90mg EGCG) and 100% Vitamin C.

The ingredients are simple:

filtered water, organic cane sugar, organic green tea, organic honey, organic spearmint extract, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), citric acid, and natural flavors.

So, if mint tea is your thang, I highly recommend this one!

I was not payed for this review or endorsement. Sweet Leaf does not know who I am. I wrote this because I love their product.

Garden Progress (5) & the hole returned!

2011-06-27T14:51:00.001-05:00

Last week, I reported that I planted spinach in the plot again, and there were no signs of digging since. The next day, I discovered the hole returned and tufts of fur were around the area. Nothing was buried there again, which made us think that the animal came back for the big rabbit. I did a little internet research...

and...

we concluded it's a bobcat! Ack!

Image Source

No, I didn't take that photo, thank goodness!

Bobcats apparently bury their prey and then return to it at a later date. Their main sources of prey, especially in Wisconsin, are big snowhares. I imagine it was a little p-o'd that we moved it, but I absolutely don't care. Stay out of my spinach!

Most people probably don't have the threat of a bobcat in their neighborhood. We live almost all of the way at edge of our neighborhood and our house is at the end of a temporary dead end street. On the other side of the dead end sign, there's a big open, overgrown field. Across the little two-lane street from our neighborhood, there's a thickly wooded area and then farmland. Last fall-- I know this will sound crazy-- I saw a mountain lion sitting at the edge of the woods. This spring I saw a big badger and a little fox scurry across to our neighborhood's side of the road. I suppose it's not that strange to think of a bobcat hanging around.

Miraculously, one of the two spinach plants was not destroyed, so I just refilled the hole... again... and hope that the bobcat won't return.

On to our garden progress...

We got to pick our first tomato and lots of peas!

I took a quick peek at our carrots to make sure nothing crazy is going on down there. You never know! Who knew something orange would be there the first time a carrot was grown? Do you think that person thought something was wrong?

We are completely novices when it comes to gardening-- plants and veggies alike-- but with the right resources and the grace of God through weather, anyone can do it! Hopefully, you feel inspired and will want to create your own small garden plot-- it's still not too late to do it this year, especially if you start with plants instead of seeds for most things. Next week, I'll share my resources and garden plan.

Until then... do you grow anything in your yard?

Refreshing Mojitos

2011-06-25T20:21:00.000-05:00

Did you notice all of the mint and lime in that glass? What a marvelous combination! Whoever came up with that is a genius.

I'm a big fan of Mojitos, and given that mint is so prolific, we get to enjoy them frequently throughout the summer. I know that some of my readers don't drink alcohol, so it's worth saying that they are delicious with or without alcohol.

And you know what? They are actually inexpensive, despite what you may pay at a bar. One Mojito will cost less than $2. Going sans-alcohol? One Mojito will cost you less than $1!

So let's get started! There are a few steps, but really, once you make one or two, you'll be a pro.

The key to a good Mojito is taking the time to gently muddle the fresh mint leaves with a couple of lime wedges and the simple sugar so that you extract the flavorful oil from the mint leaves. If you skip this step, you'll end up with a sweet limeade as opposed to a minty limeade. The muddling of the mint makes all of the difference.

Add the rum (if you're using it), and a big handful of ice. Shake everything vigorously for about 10-15 seconds. You want that baby to be cold. I don't real bar equipment, so I just use a mason jar. Prior to owning jars, I used two glasses. Just use what you have.

Add a splash of soda water, gently stir, garnish with the last lime wedge, and enjoy!

Ahhhh!

Mojitos

Makes 1 drink

Ingredients

1 ounce simple syrup (recipe below); or, if you must, use 1 tsp sugar

1 lime

1 large pinch of mint leaves-- don't skimp

2 ounces rum

2 ounces soda water

ice

It's best to start with cold ingredients so that you don't melt all of the ice when it comes time to add it.

Cut the lime into quarters. Squeeze three lime wedges into the glass or jar. Put a generous pinch of mint into the jar (see the first image for an idea of how much), and add your simple syrup (or sugar). Take your muddler (or if you're me, a wooden spoon), and gently crush the mint leaves against the lime wedges. Your goal is to extract the flavorful oils from the mint leaves but not bruising them.

Add the rum, a big handful of ice-- about 5-7 large cubes-- and shake your drink vigorously for 10-15 seconds to get it nicely cold and mixed. Transfer it to a glass or whatever you're planning on drinking out of.

Add up to 2 ounces of soda water, garnish with the last wedge of lime and a sprig of mint. Enjoy!

Simple Syrup

Ingredients

Sugar*

Water

Add equal parts water and granulated sugar to a saucepan, and heat over medium until all of the sugar has dissolved. Store in a closed container in the fridge for up to 2 months. Preferably, cool completely before using in a mojito so that it doesn't melt the ice.

*Simple syrup will be clear unless you use cane sugar like I used. Your drinks won't look quite as crisp and refreshing with the darker syrup than it would with white sugar simple syrup. The flavor of cane sugar simple syrup is much more subtle and naturally sweet than simple sugar made with white sugar. I like both, and I may even prefer the white sugar version better than cane sugar in this application.

Garden Progress (4)

2011-06-23T09:10:00.000-05:00

Wow, our garden is making loads of progress! I can't believe it's already Thursday, and I took these photos on Monday. Oops. I've had a salad from our garden every night this week. There's something very satisfying from eating the food that you grow yourself.

There are about 10 of these guys on their way and one bigger guy (in the background of this photo).

Here's the funny thing... I spent about 20 minutes on Saturday looking up information on growing sugar sweet peas because mine weren't producing. The plant was growing beautifully, but I hadn't seen anything out there the days leading up to then. That evening, we had some friends over-- in fact, they are the ones who lent me the book on how to start this garden-- and we found a couple of peas on their way! By Monday, I had picked a handful off of the vines. LE had her first sample, too.

That was about all she ate... and not even that got swallowed. It's not exactly the best veggie to attempt to eat without back teeth.

These little butterflies are radishes sprouting. I'm not sure why I didn't label the photo, but I think you'll forgive me for that. Right??

The new spinach and lettuce that I planted last week are sprouting, too! Everything is on its way. If you don't have at least an herb garden, I highly recommend you start one. It's not too late for this year, you'll get a lot of satisfaction from it, and you'll save money on fresh herbs.

You Are My Sunshine Freebie

2011-06-22T21:31:00.005-05:00

You've all heard the song, read the phrase, and seen it on a million prints in kids' rooms tours across the blogosphere. You'd think it'd be tired, but there's something about that tune that gets me singing it to LE without realizing it. After many rainy days this spring and a newly gifted Silhouette from my parents (!), I knew that I wanted to create some sort of design for LE to wear.

I bought a couple of plain white long-sleeve shirts on clearance at Target and a pair of yellow striped pants at a garage sale. Then I used Illustrator to create this design:

After I had it all cut out with the Silhouette, I noticed that the cursive "are my" font was way too thin for the material. I had to scrap those words and change it to the same cursive as "when skies...."

It seems as though at some places, I knew that you shouldn't put a color over another color with iron-ons, especially the flocked iron-on material that I bought from Silhouette. In other places, I didn't keep that in mind; I had to use scissors to cut out pieces of the yellow sun.

I wanted to share the design with you to create your own shirts or whatever you want. I went back to Illustrator to fix the errors, and the design now looks like this:

I saved it as a Silhouette file that should be really easy for you to use. All of the gray is grouped and all of the yellow is grouped together. Place the appropriate grouping on the artboard and cut each grouping one at a time. It's already mirrored so that you don't have to worry to remember to do that for cutting.

If you want to resize the image, to get them both the same size, you should place them both in the same area and resize them together.

When it comes time to apply to your shirt, it should be really easy to figure out how to put them together since they fit much like a puzzle.

If you have issues or questions, let me know! I hope you enjoy it! (File links are below)

Click on the link to get directed to YouSendIt or Google to download:

Yousendit (good until July 30)

Google (must sign up for google)

Email me and I'll send it to you-- no spam, pop-ups, ads... can't beat it! :)

Click on the side bar for "Link & Blog <3 to see where I usually link up!

Mint Fudgcicles

2011-06-20T11:29:00.003-05:00

On Sunday at the church nursery, my daughter somehow cut her gum right under her top lip. I recognized her cry before we got to the counter to pick her up, and when we spotted her, blood was starting to pool in her mouth. The cut was in a spot that made sucking a pacifier painful.

No morning nap + busted up mouth + no pacifier = unhappy little girl. Her cut reopened during her afternoon nap, making an even fussier little girl. She wouldn't take ice chips, her sippy cup, or any other distractions that we could think of.

But, she did take a fudgcicle. Typically, we don't give LE sweets. If you give your own pre-toddler sweets, that's your prerogative; I'm not here to tell you not to.

This was an exception to our no-sweets rule, though. She needed something to soothe her mouth-- something cold. She sat outside on our driveway and ate the whole thing without stopping and without smiling. She was on a mission, and the fudgcicle really helped her forget that she was supposed to be unhappy.

John likes fudgcicles a lot, probably because fudgcicles are essentially just frozen pudding. I, on the other hand, fall in the take-it-or-leave-it category. Sure, pudding is ok, but I prefer a much richer, sweeter dessert route, and fudgcicles just don't go there.

I tried out the recipe on Smitten Kitchen's site, and they turned out creamy, smooth, and not at all icy. Even John liked them, and he's kind of picky when it comes to fudgcicles.

If you're restricting your sugar intake, try subbing out the sugar for Truvia. Try reducing the fat by opting for 2% milk (though you risk it becoming a little too icy). Add a different flavor extract.

The second time I made these, I increased the chocolate just a tad and added mint extract to make mint fudgcicles. These were my favorite of the two.

The beauty of these is that they are budget-friendly and simple. You can get a sweet, cold treat using common ingredients that most of you already have in your pantry. I didn't have to go buy anything for these.

You can find popsicle molds everywhere these days. Michaels has them for $1. I used a silicone mold (brand/source unknown) that my mother-in-law gave me when she was clearing out some of her baking goods. You could also use small cups or ice cube trays for mini popsicles, perfect for toddlers. Cut popsicle sticks in half, wait for 30 minutes into the freezing time, and insert the sticks into the middle of each cube.

Fudgcicles
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from On A Stick

Makes 4 standard popsicles

Ingredients
2 1/2 tablespoons (approx 25 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips (choc chips vary so much in size, I weigh mine)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetend cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups whole milk
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extra (or sub out with a different flavor, like I did; mint is delicious!)
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Over very low heat, melt the chocolate chips in a medium saucepan, stirring constantly. Stir in the sugar, cornstarch, and cocoa powder. To prevent lumps, add just a splash of the milk, continuing to stir constantly so that the chocolate mixture combines with the milk. Add the rest of the milk to the pan, and increase the heat to medium. Cook the mixture for 5-10 minutes, until the mixture coats the spoon well and turns to a thin pudding consistency.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the vanilla extract (or other extract) and butter. Stir to combine, and then pour into your molds. Wait until it's fully frozen, at least 3 hours, before enjoying!

Here's where I usually link up!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T19:21:00.001-05:00

Silhouette had a version of the graphic above in their store a couple of weeks ago, and I quickly downloaded it. Instantly, "dad" and the moustache reminded me of this cool guy:

Yes, check it out! I never really knew my dad as a moustache kind of guy, so when my older brother and I first saw this photo years ago, we laughed for a long time.

Thanks for being my soccer coach; encouraging us how to be silly through your songs and dances (funky tut!); forcing me to have tough conversations; and sharing all of your guidance that I cared and didn't care to accept. You are a wonderful dad and grandfather. Love you lots!

And to my husband:

You are an amazing father to LE. It is sweet how you take care of her the way that you do, and it's obvious that she's smitten with her dad. She and I are fortunate to have someone who loves and provides so much.

I'm blessed to have you both in my life.

Love,
Nicole

Arriving at Koro Sun

2011-06-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

As I said before... we made it to Fiji!... and, well, we made it home, too. It's been a little over 12 weeks since John and I looked at each other as we flew over Madison on our return flight. "Can you believe we're almost home?" John asked me. The truth is, Fiji felt like a dream from the moment we checked into our "day hotel" for our 10 hour layover in Nadi, Fiji, where we stayed in our tiny hotel room watching The British Office and CNN coverage of the just happened Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Adjusting to being home was much more difficult than I imagined, and it took at least that long to mentally sort out the trip. Upon our return, I felt completely unmotivated and uninspired. For the sake of telling everyone else about our experience, I suppose I should back up and not start with our conclusion.

So, thanks for being patient with us as we unwind, digest, sort through photos, get back into the swing of things...

Here's our story, little by little.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

We arrived at our destination!: Koro Sun Resort, Savusavu, Fiji

After a two hour cab ride from La Basa to Koro Sun Resort in Savusavu, we were ready to get to our villa and relax. We arrived to a group of the staff at Koro Sun singing a welcome song. Before we could even get out of the car, people were taking our bags. "Oh you must be Nicole and this must be Lauren!" I heard someone say as they handed me a coconut to drink and placed a frangipani necklace around my neck.

We turned the corner to find more of the staff sitting on the bare floor in front of chairs, waiting to rinse our feet in cold water and then massage sugar and coconut oil up our calves and feet. It felt amazing, special, and unexpected. This is exactly how every guest arrives at this resort.

One of the staff guys, Romanu, went with us up to our villa to show us around. The villa was on a hill above the resort, providing the seclusion and privacy of a home with the connection and amenities of a resort. It was the best of both worlds.

The view from every room in the villa was gorgeous. We were giddy with excitement to get to stay there for 20 days. The first few days we experienced a few hiccups that maybe I'll talk about later, but the staff at the resort was always ready to help and very accommodating.

LE was ready for Fiji!

Tuna Salad with Dill

2011-06-15T20:52:00.000-05:00

Tonight's dinner came together in the way it does so rarely. The fridge really needed to get cleaned out, but I didn't particularly care to send everything on its way to the compost bin. I couldn't stomach eating the rest of the cottage cheese as a snack again. Do you ever do that-- get something that you really enjoy for the first couple of times, and then it just sits there until you toss it? Even though John and I both like cottage cheese (LE, not so much), we didn't finish it off.

Back to tonight...

I needed to make dinner, and I was determined to figure out how to use up what was in our fridge. For whatever the reason, tuna salad with dill sounded good. We have dill growing outside and tuna in our pantry. Considering I rarely eat tuna salad and have never included dill before, I consulted my usual food sites to search and then headed to google to see what the top results are. Sure, I could throw together a tuna salad, but I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing some incredibly smart ingredient that pairs perfectly with tuna and dill.

The very first recipe I clicked on had exactly what I was looking for. It's as if the ingredients were taken from the inventory of my fridge.

The fridge had half a lemon, 1/3 cup of cottage cheese, the bottom of the Dijon jar, a big spoonful of capers, a stalk of celery, a little more than a quarter of a purple onion, half a pita, and an accidental purchase of 2 heads of lettuce.

The recipe called for exactly those quantities (except the lettuce; that would be insane). Don't you just love it when the stars align? Ok, I don't really believe in that, but it was certainly serendipitous.

I never had heard of cottage cheese in tuna salad, but I thought I'd give it a try. As it turns out, it's just a healthier substitute for mayo and boiled eggs.

I'm not going to pretend that this is something that it's not. It's not something you'd make for company. This tuna salad is great for eating alone or with your family. If you're looking for something healthy, quick, and simple-- this is for you!

Tuna Salad with Dill
Adapted slightly from Simply Recipes

Ingredients
2 cans of tuna, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
1/3 cup of cottage cheese
2 tablespoons of mayo
1/4 purple onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 tablespoon of capers
Juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon of fresh dill, minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
freshly ground pepper, to taste (I added about 3/4 teaspoon)

Combine all items in a bowl and serve on top of lettuce, in a pita, on toast... I think everyone knows how to eat tuna salad. ;)

Enjoy!

Garden Progress (3)

2011-06-14T21:37:00.001-05:00

Of course, everything is growing! We planted a few new things this week: radishes, spinach, more lettuce. We got to enjoy some of that lettuce, and it's doing great!

Every time I walked out to the box, I was surprised by the growth of the bell peppers. They went from the size of a marble last week to the size of a pingpong ball (ish) this week. Amazing! The lettuce is also huge, and we've even gotten to enjoy some of its harvest. The work is starting to pay off!

In our front yard, our irises and peonies are blooming. In fact, the peonies are on their way out.

LE's Baptism

2011-06-14T16:05:00.000-05:00

The end of winter was busy for us-- especially February when LE was baptized the weekend before we went to Fiji for 3 weeks. I got really behind on everything, and when we returned, it was time to focus on the fundraiser for Young Life.

My parents live in Texas and don't get to come up to Wisconsin much. We were thankful to have a little bit of time with them on Saturday morning on the weekend of LE's baptism.

Poor LE was sick with a cough, sniffles, and a fever the whole weekend, but she hardly fussed except at night. You can see how tired she is in her eyes.

John's parents got to have some one on one time with her that day, too.

Photo by LE's Granny

In the hustle of getting our home ready for someone else to live there and ourselves ready to be away for 3 weeks, we didn't think to stop and get some real photos of LE's baptism... or her in her dress... or her on her day. Thankfully, our parents thought to snap a couple of photos from their seats with a point and shoot.

This is my favorite one that we got from them. It shows LE in the middle of her baptism, with her parents and godparents surrounding her.

Photo by LE's Nanny

Prior to the baptism, I took a quick snapshot of the homemade toffee, store-bought Valentine's Day hearts (this was in mid-February, afterall), her baptism invitation, and the sweet yellow roses.

We thought to capture our friends (her godmother Ashley with her husband, Dustin)

After we returned from Fiji, I took her dress out of her closet to take a few photos of it. I am bummed we didn't get LE in it up close, but it fit really well. Her Nanny did a great job sewing it and picking out the fabric.

Isn't it beautiful and have the perfect subtle pattern in the fabric?

Thanks to everyone who shared in LE's special day with us, including our friends who we didn't get a photo of. We're really blessed.

Wonderful Joy Ahead

A Little Break

Quick Tip: Easily Make Any Tea Decaf

Hot Chocolate & Marshmallows

New Year's Eve Tradition

Top 10 Posts

LE on Christmas Day (21 Months Old)

Easy Lemon Curd Pastries with Sugared Cranberries

Elf on the Shelf Idea Roundup

Chocolate Ganache Filled Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

Quick Chili (Recipe)

LE December Highlights (so far)

Healthy Holidays: Baked Brie Pastry (Guest Post)

LE Hoot Hoot!

Texas White Chicken Chili

Fall in Review

I'm Back!

Clock DIY Make-Over

Chickpea Patties with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce

Behind the Scenes: Crisp Photos

Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp

Have you tried dry shampoo?

Cranberry Apple Pumpkin Muffins

LE is 1 1/2 Years Old!

Alright, I get it... fall is here!

Recipes for Raspberries

Not tired at all!

Picking Raspberries

Slow week of posts...

LE at 17 Months

Getting ready for Christmas. Wait, what?

S'Mores Cupcakes

Sneak Peek

Shutterfly (again, I know)

Trip Up to Door County

Photo Books with Shutterfly

LE's room tour

Put your handwriting font to use

Spice Racks as... spice racks

Quick Tip: Fewer Dishes!

And what got painted were... (drumroll)

Quick Tip: Wash Fewer Paint Brushes!

Meatless Monday: Spaghetti Puttanesca

16 Months!

Splash pad, sprinkler, pool...

Quick Tip: Sticky Ingredients

Incredibly rich vanilla bean frozen custard

Touring John's Office (2)

10,000 Day Surprise!

Roasted Veggie Goat Cheese Pesto Sandwich

Strawberries, Granola, and Ahhh Madison!

Design your own font (tutorial)

It's amazing what a little time does

LE at 15 Months

Carrot-Banana Whole Wheat Muffins (or cupcakes)

Organic Mint & Honey Sweet Leaf Green Tea

Garden Progress (5) & the hole returned!

Refreshing Mojitos

Garden Progress (4)

You Are My Sunshine Freebie

Mint Fudgcicles

Happy Father's Day!

Arriving at Koro Sun

Tuna Salad with Dill

Garden Progress (3)

LE's Baptism