Candy Sushi

A little side project in the midst of Christmas crafting.

The girls' Papa was having a sushi birthday party.

We thought candy sushi would be a fitting gift!

Challenge Accepted...Nom, Nom, Nom...

Yes, yes, 

I've been avoiding this blog.

It's just too stinkin' hot.

And then I get grumpy and lazy and just want to sit in front of a fan with a good book.

But, alas, I end up missing the ol' bloggerooni.

So here I am.

It might be short and sweet but Ill feel good for having posted about my latest self challenge.

I alluded to it in my last post.

Sorry for weirding you all out with my cryptic writing.

I blame the heat.

Anyhoo...

I've learned something about myself.

I thrive on challenges.

On making up goals and reaching them.

Being stubborn helps as does that wonderful feeling of accomplishment at the end.

I think it might be a pretty normal quirk so I won't attempt to apologize for my strangeness just now.

Right.

So the challenge?

Cooking.

Super bad timing in the middle of a heat wave but I think I'll give my self a year or something far off like that.

My brother got me the Looneyspoons Collection cookbook for Christmas and to be honest, I hadn't touched it since opening it.

Not because I didn't love the gift but because in the mean time I had a baby and quit making all but the most basic meals.

In fact, I kinda got myself in one those awful cooking ruts.

And I hate that.

I like to cook and try new things.

I needed some inspiration.

At six months postpartum (and still sporting the mommy tummy...) some healthier recipes wouldn't hurt either.

Internet searches and Pinterest are just too overwhelming.

So I dusted off the cookbook and started planning!

Basically, my challenge is to try all the recipes in the book (minus the fishy ones. Bleh!).

Week one was last week and we are off to a good start!

Come and see!

The Better Butter Chicken

The Squash Court

Much Ado About Mushrooms (Vegetarian Fajitas)

And Moroccan and Rollin' Quinoa Salad

I also made Sinnamon Apple Muffins but forgot to get a pic.

Big hit with the kiddies though.

The other stuff they ate albeit a little begrudgingly...

But the littlest didn't seem to mind a bit! 

;)

The Accomplishments of a 30 Year Old {From A Wife's Point of View}

To my Man...

You have rocked the double chin look

(Tehe!),

And passed it on!

You can make a mean pony,

And you're always up for a game of hairdresser.

You are unafraid of meal-making marathons.

Nor are you scared of little pirate attacks!

You are a teacher by trade but more importantly, at heart.

And you are always ready to have a whirling, twirling fun time!

You put up with your wife's taste in music (except when driving, understandably!),

You have the best birthday cake requests...hello, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Devil's Food Cake Cheesecake!

(although I have a sneaking suspicion that you choose such things because you know I like the challenge),

And you love me!

You really, really do!

(P.S. I really, really love you, too!)

So HAPPY 30th, Matt!

I'm so proud of all you've accomplished in a mere 30 years and so glad to be able to say I'm YOUR wife!

(Yes, this post is a day late. Yesterday was a I'm-too-tired-to-even-type-straight kinda day. But aren't you so glad I shared all this belated birthday joy anyways??)

Sweet.

It's been a very sweet weekend.

Literally.

And times a million.

It all began with Spiderman cupcakes for the cutest little nephew a girl could have!

It was a bit of a novelty to make such boyish cupcakes.

Plus I love making cupcakes and decorating with brightly colored buttercream icing.

It pretty much makes my day.

(And I try my very best to not think about how much food coloring it took to obtain that Spiderman red.)

Also, the next time you pipe icing try this little trick.

It's made my life so much easier.

Since I ice so many cupcakes and all...

And then there was this beast.

Pretty much the craziest baking project I've ever been a part of.

Essentially 6 cakes and 3 pies.

Yes, the pies are cooked inside the cakes.

My sister-in-law asked me to participate in the creation of this cherpumple for her fiance's birthday.

(Although this one was a cherpecple since the pumpkin pie was substituted for pecan.)

My layer was the chocolate cake with cherry pie one.

I'm still in awe....

Banana Coconut Oatmeal {Slow Cooker}

My kids love breakfast.

They wake up with the hugest of appetites.

They shovel all their food in and more often than not, ask for more.

It's nice since it kinda balances the other meals out.

You know - the ones with the "I don't like that"s.

The thing is, I get bored with the same ol' thing every morning.

So I try to change it up each day.

Toast, eggs, pancakes, cereal, oatmeal.

We do it all.

But let's face it - with a 3 month old in tow sometimes anything more elaborate than Cheerios doesn't get doled out to my hungry little monsters!

Then I saw this on Pinterest:

Source: theyummylife.com via Gina on Pinterest

Eureka!

An oatmeal that cooks as you sleep and is ready when you wake up!

And the banana coconut flavour intrigued me.

Saturday night I hauled out the necessary ingredients...

Threw them into my slow cooker...

And would you believe it?

Yummy oatmeal waiting for me when I stumbled into the kitchen that morning!

Now, before you get too excited, there was a bit of negative feedback.

1 - my husband was expecting a sweet, dessert-like breakfast. This is not it. In fact, you have to add some brown sugar to the top of it just like any other oatmeal.

2 - The recipe calls for sliced bananas. Piper had issues with the chunks of cooked banana. I wasn't a fan either. Next time, they will be mashed!

3 - The bottom of it burned because, well, around here we sleep for more than 7 hours. (Please don't hate me!) If this isn't a problem for you, the bottom of your pot should be just fine!

Overall, I found it to be quite the early morning treat!

 Next, we are going to give the Apple Cinnamon flavour a try!

For a more dessert-like oatmeal try the irresistible Baked Oatmeal Recipe!

Freezer Fanatic!

With this being pregnancy number 3, you'd think I'd know the ropes by now.

For the most part, I do.

But I sometimes fail to listen to my own advice.

Like:

Be prepared!

At 38 weeks, the nursery is not complete, my hospital bag is half packed, we just started making freezer meals this past weekend and all the cleaning I needed to get done was only accomplished thanks to my lovely mother-in-law stopping in yesterday and finishing it up for me!

But I've always been a procrastinator so its really not that crazy!

And I have a ton of help.

Let's just say my family is amazing!

(Wait til you see the nursery my parents are helping me create!)

So it is all coming together and I've been able to relax and enjoy time with my sweet girls the past few days!

I am so excited though at the brainwave of having a months worth of freezer meals ready to go!

The thought of not having to cook for a whole month after baby arrives is just heavenly!

Matt's parents bought us a freezer for Christmas and I purchased the book Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer!

We made a list of all the meals we wanted to make.

I made a grocery list.

Matt went shopping.

Then we got down to buisness!

Is it just me or does he look WAY too happy about this project!

I must admit, he is an amazing cooking partner!

Mushrooms galore!

Just waiting to be washed and chopped!

I got lots of strange looks from people in the store as I pushed around a cart with just 10 boxes of mushrooms and 18 pounds of ground beef! :)

Chicken waiting to go!

*Please note, my fridge never looks this clean except when I'm in the extreme stages of nesting!!*

And we're off!

Do I look way too huge to be doing this?

Well, I was!

Word of advice:

 Undertake such projects when there is a much smaller baby between you and the counter!!

And 3 hours later, we had 17 meals all ready to go!

Not bad, eh?!

Since then we've also managed to add 5 more to the pile as well as bread and rolls and such as they go on sale!

This Mama is super pleased!!

Yes, that is my belly creeping into the picture of our filling freezer!

Here's a list of what we've made in case you'd like some inspiration!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Chicken a la King

Hawaiian Chicken

Cranberry Chicken

Cheese Quiche

Tex Mex Shepherd's Pie

Spaghetti Sauce

Pizza Dough w/ prepared hamburger topping

I'm sure a google search would render you a million other ideas but I have really found the book practical and helpful!

And really, whether you have a new baby coming or not, I think this is a fantastic and stress free way to prepare for a month of meals!

The Food Is So Delightful (The Weather Outside Is Frightful)

The cold weather arriving leads to warm, yummy food being baked and devoured, right?

Chicken Broccoli Supreme

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Caramel Apple Pie

To Die For Banana Cake w/ Vanilla Bean Frosting

Also, Pinterest is a dangerous, dangerous thing!

What new things are YOU baking these days?

Crazy Week Review

A hectic, crazy week.

That's putting it lightly!

But it's over and I didn't lose it or run out of steam!

It was (mostly) fun.

Now I'm looking forward to a more normal, slower paced week ahead!

Our crazy week went something like this:

Sunday:

Headed out of town with Dad and Piper to hear Robin Mark.

In the process we got stuck on the highway for an hour because of an overturned transport truck.

But it didn't diminsh our spirits at all!

It was an enjoyable concert and a first for Piper!

Monday:

Halloween, of course!

(This included a party, a doctor's appointment for me, visiting a nursing home, squeezing a nap and supper in and trick or treating! Phew!)

Tuesday:

This was our only day of school!

Yep, our week was that intense!

We were able to finish up working on the Halloween workboxes which included...

Pushing golf tees into foam and balancing eyeballs on them,

using strawberry hullers for transferring halloween erasers into pumpkins,

and cutting up halloween paper strips!

This was also the day my hubby joined the Movember club.

It took a few days to adjust to living with a beardless man but his mustache is coming in nicely!

What a guy!

Support the cause by donating on his Mo Space!

(Here he is looking all tough and serious which is very hard to do with a baby face! Hehe!)

Wednesday:

Believe it or not, another trip out of town!

This time to hunt for a maternity winter coat for me.

That's how my Mom wanted to spend her birthday!

Did I ever mention how amazing she is??

I officially have a warm coat that I can zip up! Yay!

(Thanks, Mom!)

Thursday:

Bloodwork and needles and yucky orange drink.

It wasn't fun.

Hubby took care of me, took on the stay-at-home Dad roll and even made spaghetti from scratch!

Friday and Saturday:

Getting ready for Mom and Dad's 50th surprise party!!

I made the cake!

(Amazing chocolate buttercream recipe here!)

I also made a picture board and wrapped up 50 gifts that related to reasons why turning 50 is so awesome!

I actually didn't stress at all about it and enjoyed the creative process!

Matt joined in on the fun by helping to think of, shop for and create many of the gifts!

And for these 2 people it is so worth!

I have the world's best parents!

(Aren't they adorable?)

Happy 50th Birthday, M&D!

Fall Foodies

I was very excited when I came across this chili recipe on Pinterest.

I thought it was the solution to my family's anti chili stance.

Although spicy, it was also sweet!

Perfect for my 2 kiddos who balk at the idea of eating anything with a bit of zing to it!

In the end, Sweet and Saucy Chili was delicious.

And my kids hated it.

It was sweet but also spicy.

Back to the drawing board, I guess!

Personally, I thought it was a fun alternative to the usual pot of chili.

It contained chicken rather than ground beef which I loved!

The sweetness came from a can of jellied cranberries.

Delectable!

Last week, I made these Cranberry Crumb Bars.

I love, love, love anything with cranberries in it and these did not disappoint!

The only thing I'll do differently next time is add some orange zest to the cranberry mixture.

There is orange juice in it but the flavor was not evident.

Give them a try and tell me what you think!

Fun, Fall, Food and Thankfulness

Want to know what these things are?

You should.

They're pretty cool.

And toddlers and preschoolers alike enjoy them!

They're puff ball magnets!

They are super easy to make - simply hot glue a round magnet to the bottom of each puff ball -

And work wonderfully with do-a-dot printables!

(If you don't know what a do-a-dot printable is, look here at a post by Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations who explains what they are and other ideas for using them!)

 

My girlies had so much fun placing a puff ball magnet on each of the circles on their do-a-dot printable!
There was quiet for a good 15 minutes straight!

Following our leaf bingo nature walk, we decided to use an idea I found on Pinterest to make a leaf lantern!
The only thing was the only instructions given were to simply use leaves and Mod Podge.
Well...the Mod Podge didn't work so well!
So we washed it off and found some contact paper to use instead!
Worked like a charm!
And added a nice glow to their after swimming/before bed snack!

Also, this.

I may have a problem.

I can't stop baking.

Can. Not. Stop.

(Pumpkin Creme Pies, yet another Pinterest find!)

Finally, our only truly Thanksgiving craft for the week -

Thankful turkeys!

Tait's is on the right.

She is thankful for:

Piper

Mama and Dada

Eggroll

Food

Home

"Yes, Jesus Loves Me!"

....

She came up with the last 3 all on her own.

Although it did take me a while to figure out what 'ome!' was!

Piper is thankful for:

Mama's baby

My eyes

Mookie and Papa

My crayons

Auntie Mya

Nana and Boppa

.....

I'm assuming Mom and Dad are a given?

Also, she wanted to put 'my bum' as one of her thankfuls.

I told her that was more of a private thankful!

Hahaha!

But just so you know, she's thankful for that too!