Valentine's Preparations

For Valentine's Day this year the kids and I made cookies to give to the neighbors and Jude's preschool, made cards and put them with candies for Jude's school and Samuel helped Colin sneak out one night to pick me out a card a roses. So sweet! I truly love Valentine's Day with kids - what better way to say you love someone than with sugar cookies? =)

Overnight Oatmeal [Bust]

Do you ever have those moments where you try something knowing there is a 99% possibility it will turn out terribly in the end? This was one of my moments. You see, I follow this lovely blog called "Framed" and she posts real pretty pictures of food she makes, followed by the recipe. Well, she posted a recipe called "Overnight Oatmeal" found here.

I could resist no longer. But in the back of my mind, I remembered that one time that I tried to make overnight granola in my crock pot and it was burnt to a crisp and made my eyes water just to smell it. I persevered this time, though. I not only cooked this: but I went so far as to serve it to my kids. I thought for sure the baby would eat it - my die hard oatmeal eater. She took a spoonful, looked at me like I had given her a lemon and put her spoon down. Enough said. Sorry, Framed, this recipe did NOT work for me (doesn't it look like chili? Blech.).

You know what I think? I think my crock pot burns hot and fast. But what am I to do? Stay up until midnight (and anyone that knows me, knows I'm in bed by nine) just for some oatmeal in the morning? Nope. I have yet to figure out a solution for overnight crock pot cooking. Comment if you have one.

Pumpkin Granola Bars

Picture and recipe found here.

I have a avid love affair for all things pumpkin. All year round. So, when I stumbled upon this blog, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. And my sis-in-law said she made these bars this weekend and they were a crowd pleaser. I will be making them very, very soon.

2 Amazing Recipes

Recipe: From Journey to Crunchville
Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, room temp
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 TBSP (yes tablespoon) vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinammon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3 cups oatmeal (quick cooking or old fashioned, not instant)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

1. The key is to soak the raisins. This makes all the difference in the world. Beat eggs and vanilla together and then add the raisins, stir. Soak for an hour or two. I just walked by a few times and stirred it while I waited.

2. Preheat to 350 F. Cream butter and sugars with mixer. In a seperate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinammon, ginger & nutmeg. Stir the dry ingredients until well blended. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and mix well. Now add in the egg & raisin mixture (I used my hands). Then add oatmeal and chocolate chips/nuts and combine well. Form into balls on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2-5 minutes or until firm enough to transfer to wire rack.

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3-1/2 oz. (3/4 cup) bleached all-purpose flour
1 oz. (1/4 cup) cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
6 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 large egg, separated
1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

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Heat the oven to 200°F and heat the waffle iron. Mix the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Measure the buttermilk, milk, and vegetable oil in a Pyrex measuring cup; mix in the egg yolk and set aside.

In another bowl, beat the egg white almost to soft peaks. Sprinkle in the sugar and continue to beat until the peaks are firm and glossy. Beat in the vanilla.

Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until just mixed. Drop the whipped egg white onto the batter in dollops and fold in with a spatula until just incorporated.

Pour the batter onto the hot waffle iron (mine takes about 2/3 cup) and cook until the waffle is crisp and nutty brown (follow the manufacturer's instructions for timing at first and then adjust to your liking). Set the waffle directly on the oven rack to keep it warm and crisp. Repeat with the remaining batter, holding the waffles in the oven (don't stack them). When all the waffles are cooked, serve immediately.

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I just had to share these amazing recipes that I have tried a few times each over the past week.

Food. And My Meal Plans.

Here are a couple of breakfast dishes that I have tried recently. This is overnight french toast from the Food Network website (specifically Paula Deen). Paula Deen doesn't know how to exclude half and half from her recipes. This included two cups of it!! My brain begins to short-circuit when I start counting the fat grams in two cups of half and half. Here's what my casserole looked like: I thought it was pretty tasty, but the family didn't devour it as I expected. So, there is an entire half casserole sitting in my freezer for when I'm feeling particularly lazy one morning...

And this, my dear friends, is Sunday Oatmeal from Barefoot Contessa's cookbook. I make a batch every week for Juliet - she eats it by the fist fulls and sometimes Colin and I comment about how she will founder if she is left to her own devices. Meaning: she eats a boatload of the food she likes. Here's what it looks like:

A bowl full of mush for sure, but healthy baby food as well.

I just discovered this website called The Joy of Baking and I feel like maybe I have been in a virtual cave, because I bet everyone else has been here already. I've drooled, I've stolen recipes and now I'm off to Winco, Trader Joe's and Costco (well, not all in one day - I do have three children!) to purchase the ingredients for the following meals/treats:

Spaghetti w/arugula, roasted peppers, prosciutto/bread

Potato Bar (broccoli/bacon bits/chives/sour cream/butter)

Tacos (including refried beans, salsa, sour cream, cheese)

Lasagna, spinach salad, bread

Calzones (from my bread maker)

Pasta and peas

Tortilla chip pie (from Kiwi magazine)

Breakfast bars

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Chai tea pancakes

Banana Muffins

Tecate Bread (from bread maker)

Blueberry Muffins

Have I mentioned how much I am loving my Bread Machine Lover's Cookbook? It makes my calzone dough and all my most recent bread doughs. I do a second rising on the counter and bake the breads in the oven for more authentic taste, but it really does all the hands on work for me.

Also, I have discovered that if I let my kids be involved in their meal, they tend to actually eat it. Imagine that. So I let them pick their toppings for calzones, pizzas and tacos.

And now we are set for a week of food!

My Meal Plan

I love having my meals planned for the next week. It takes me forever to write out a week's worth of meals, but here it is:

Slow cooker chicken/rolls (from bread maker cookbook)/salad
Chicken tacos (from previous chicken)/slow cooker refried beans/rice
Tortilla chip pie - from current Kiwi magazine
Black bean and rice burritos
Pizzas - from current Sunset magazine

Also: Spiced applesauce cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting - from Gourmet.com

Cinnamon Rolls

Oh, my. These cinnamon rolls by the Pioneer Woman are to die for. I almost wept over the pan when they came out of the oven. And then I tasted them. They are like maple bars with a cinnamon-y kick. And the recipe makes like 50 of them.
This is how mine turned out: I could lick the screen.

Got Bread?

Oh, my. I could lick the screen right now. I made this bread last night thanks to a fellow Bible Study attender giving me her trusty recipe. It was incredibly easy - all done in my Kitchen Aid mixer and it comes out as a honey wheat bread (with half white flour, just for that wonderful pillowy texture). Email me if you want the recipe, as my computer has apparently not woken up and is not pasting anything from anywhere.

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a whirlwind yesterday! We woke up at 5:45 (everybody - even the kids) to open presents before Colin headed off to work.
Here's Samuel with a light up Spiderman toothbrush.
As Samuel was opening Santa's gifts: "I got ....pajamas. And a toothbrush. Did Santa even get my wish list?"

Here are the boys watching their new movie.

Juliet stood up against the kitchen hutch and admired herself in the mirror. For the baby book: she now says "mama" and always pulls herself up to standing in her crib. So sweet!

Juliet got this ginormous Strawberry Shortcake doll. She really isn't into dolls yet.

Jude looks how I felt at 5:45 in the morning.

We stopped to say "hi" to Grandma Mary and wish her a Merry Christmas. I wish we could have stayed longer, but I had two more stops and super tired/crabby kids.

We stopped in West Linn to hastily open gifts at Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Jan's house - I didn't get pictures, but Samuel adored his scooter and protective gear. He even rode it around the fire station.

Then we were off to be with Colin at work for Christmas dinner. The boys loved "driving" the fire truck and boats.

Here's Jude driving the fire boat.

And the baby being way busy.

And Samuel drove the boat too.

Here's the fam ready to head down the ramp to the boats.

Jude driving the fire engine.

And the boys playing with their new legos.

And of course a picture of the apple pie.

Christmas Traditions

Of course I had to bake Christmas cookies with the kiddos and I have to admit that this year was a bit stressful. Having a busy baby, fussy with snot all over and a 2 1/2 year old that steals sugar whenever he comes near it made for a interesting experience. But, we did get three different baked goods out of the whole thing and I can't really be mad about that!
Here is Samuel searching for our recipes. He's making Peanut Butter Blossoms here.

And then Jude joins in taking swipes of sugar periodically. I won't even tell you how hyper my kids were that night.

Samuel loves baking.

Jude. More sugar.

Here's Samuel's cookie decorating in progress - pretty neat and tidy.

Jude's? Not so neat and tidy. But very tasty.

And the finished product.

I have to mention how much I love Christmas cards. I hang them on my wall and love looking at all the pictures over the month.

And here's what Juliet did during the baking day (when she wasn't scrappin' around the kitchen floor picking up dough or squeezing my leg). She does join in Colin's construction projects sometimes. Please pardon the grainy photo - it was dark and my ISO was set to like eleventyhundred.

Things I'm Loving This Week

I've hidden myself in the office while my children burn off their ultra-caloric dinner of Chunky Potato Soup and biscuits. I realized that I haven't taken many moments to blog in the last week as I decompress from hosting twenty some-odd people for Thanksgiving. Saturday night, I even snuck out to a movie by myself. A few years ago, I would have been horrified to sit in a romantic movie (yep, I said romantic) by myself, without a friend in sight. That's the cool thing about being thirty. You just don't care what others think. Especially when those others are teenagers (yep, it was a teenage romantic movie). I actually loved being out and about alone on a Saturday night.

The other things I'm loving this week? Jude's uncanny ability to be creative. He shoved every toy in sight into my microwave and I was too darned amused with the whole charade to tell him to stop. Do you see his big guilty eyes through the microwave door here?

On a different note:

-Samuel learned to ride his bike with no training wheels a couple of weeks ago. Really? When did he get so old?!

- Juliet did her first sign tonight - she signed "all done" after she was finished eating. She also tries to put her own shoes on. Now to transfer all these little accomplishments into her baby book!

- I am itching to get on the Christmas crafts - cards, sewing gifts, etc. On the other hand, I am also enjoying my craft stuff being completely hidden away for the moment - clutter free rooms really have the Feng shui thing going.

-As I spotted a lawyer walking with large files toward the Clackamas County Courthouse this morning, I had a flash of memories surrounding my dream to go to law school someday. I'm still not sure what box to file those dreams in. But then I realized that I truly am where I should be right now.