Things that make you go HMMMMM...

For me there are more than just a few...but today I can't get over a certain one. How come on days where it is beautiful and sunny - come about 2 pm all I want to do is take a nap, but on days that are nasty cloudy and drizzly - not to mention cold - I am filled with the energy and motivation to get everything done?? I don't get it. Today is one of those colder yucky not so fun winter days, and I'm on a roll. Don't know what it is, but I'm getting things done and on the move. But last week when it was sunny and nice looking out all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and nap while the little one was sleeping and the house was quiet. Needless to say not a whole lot got done last week. Anyway...I have been wondering about this today.

I leave for my trip for HAWAII soon!!! Yippeeeee. For those of you who have been or lived there that read this (and I know there is at least one) could you please give me some rec's on good places to go eat for dinner?? We are staying at the Hale Koa. The hubs will have the rental during the day because he has to drive to Pearl for his conference, so I'll just hang out on the beach (oh darn) and read my books, but when he gets back I'm sure we will do some exploring. So, any tips would be appreciated - thanks! :)

Oh, and as promised, I have some pictures for you. I think I mentioned this cheesecake brownies awhile back, and so here they are. If you are interested in the recipe just email me. I sort of combined two and made a bunch of tweaks so I don't have it typed up, but I will if you're interested. These were super yummy - at least that's what was reported to me by the hubby and his co-workers. I was good and stayed away!

the ingredient line-up
whipping up the cheesecake layer
the finished product

M-m-m...just looking at those again is making me hungry. I hope my fat free granola bar will cut the craving...probably not - haha. I have a HUGE list of stuff I want to make. Over the weekend one of my to-do's was to go through all my cooking mags and cut out the things I want to cook and/or bake and glue them into a spiral recipe book I got so that I can start to de-clutter in prep for our move. However, in doing that I found LOTS of yummy things that I had forgotten all about!

Alright - I need to jet. I've still got some things I want to get done while my productivity streak is still in effect. I hope all of you are off to a good start this week! Catch ya later - ciao!

Happy and content...

Hello friends! Well as the title of this blog suggests, I am very happy and content at the moment. We had a wonderful three day weekend of just hanging around, enjoying family time, I had a night out with some of my favorite ladies, and I even got most of my "to-do's" done on my list. Of course there are still a few left, but what fun would getting EVERYTHING done be?? And bonus, I even got to chat with my gal Sam on FB last night which was a very nice treat because we don't often catch each other with the time difference!!

For my night out we went to go see "Up in the Air" - I didn't know much about the movie, just that it had yummy George Clooney (did I spell that right??) in it. But it was kind of a sad flick. Not really what I was expecting. If you go and see it let me know what you think. Afterward we got dinner and coffee and it was a very nice night. And i was still home early enough to tuck my babies in and give goodnight kisses.

The boys also started another round of swimming lessons this week. The big kid is doing great, swimming on his own, so hopefully he will get some more of the actual technique down. And the munchkin really loves to get in the water - I'm hoping if I can get them in a few times a week, he will have it down here soon. I also started a swimming clinic on Friday nights. It's for advanced swimmers to work on our endurance and such, and to help those who are training for triathlons. I am not training for one, and really just doing the class to get back into swimming as a form of exercise, but I like the class and as strange as it sounds it's kind of nice to have a "coach" again.

Sadly, I have no pictures for you today. I'm sorry. I did cook and bake today though and both were wonderful. I'll post pics of the baked goodies tomorrow. Tonight I made my first recipe out of my new cookbook, and it was fabulous! The hubs and kids loved it (which is a sure way to tell that it's a keeper). We had boneless pork chops with a simple country gravy (but a lightened version being that it is "cooking light") with mashed potatoes and carrots. YUMMY! I meant to take pics of the food but got distracted by the pork taking much longer than i had thought. The pork chops we got were MASSIVE so it took a lot longer than what the recipe said because they were probably twice the size the recipe called for, but they were wonderful regardless. I have another one lined up for tomorrow...maybe I'll get a few pics of that one.

Okay kiddos...I'm off to read some of my book and call it a night. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

Wait...it's Thursday??

All day long I have just been so off. This first week back to the "real world" is killing me. Which I realize is pretty sad, but wow. Take three weeks off of a normal schedule and getting back to it can be a rough. I think the boys are feeling it too. Today they are both SUPER tired, but that's good because I'm thinking it will be an early bedtime so I can enjoy my Thursday night TV. :)

Sorry I was gone yesterday, it was a busy day. I decided in the AM to (finally) take the boys and check out the library as well as the story time they do there in the AM. I figured it would be pretty easy to go in, pick up a library card, and be done with it...I figured wrong. I don't know if every where is the same, but here they don't just hand over library cards. First they had to check my address to see if I was within the city limits (otherwise its a 40 dollar a year fee). She found our house in limits but I guess there was an issue because we don't OWN the house - we just rent so I mentioned that I was military to see if that counted for anything - thankfully it did, but we had to start all over in the process. Crazyness. Thankfully they did decide me worthy of a card and we are now on our "trial" period - which means we can only have three books at a time as opposed to the normal 20. I tell you what, this checking out books business is serious stuff *chuckle*. :)

After that was all said and done, the boys and I joined in the story hour that they have there, which was a very good program. I think we will make that part of our weekly routine! The big kid really enjoyed it, and I think once our little one figures out I won't be leaving him there, he will warm up to it as well.

All week I have made a pretty pitiful attempt to be productive, but today it finally kicked in. I'm getting laundry done, changed sheets, even got to the gym this am for a run! I'm thinking of signing up for a 1/2 marathon in May - but am going back and fourth on the decision. I'm giving myself until Monday night to mull it over. I know I can do the miles, it's some other stuff that really isn't even running related holding me back, but I'm praying for clarity and hopefully it will come!

Alright, I should run. I have multiple loads of laundry calling my name to fold as well as other things. No pictures or recipes for today, but maybe tomorrow. We're doing Breakfast for Dinner tonight and I'm trying out a new pancake recipe, so if it turns out I'll make sure to let you know!

Hope you all have a nice evening - later.

Bright and Sunny!!

Let the sun shine!!! The past few days have been fabulous because my very good friend, the sun, has decided to grace us with it's presence once again. We're not one of those "cloudy" kind of states, but with all the crazy weather and storms that we have had, it's been awhile since we have had constant states of sunny-ness. Of course it's still cold, but I'll take what I can get.

In celebration of the yellow sun, I decided to grant a request the hubs made for some lemon bars.

These turned out really yummy - so if you're a fan of lemon bars - give these lemon bars a go.


Also, last night while I was at the book store for my book club meeting I found a cookbook that I can't wait to start trying out. First let me say, this isn't going to be a "Julie/Julia" thing - chances are I am not going to cook EVERYTHING in this book, and I know myself pretty well (we've been together awhile) and I know for certain I won't be posting about everything I make. My reason for wanting to "cook through a cookbook" this year was mostly just to broaden our horizons as far as some of our weeknight meals. Sometimes I get into a rut and we end up eating the same thing every week... So this little "challenge" is really a quest to find some new favorites.

I realized last night while searching that there were some important criteria for my book. First it needed to be practical - both in ingredients and time-wise. I'm not going to spend all day running around looking for hard to find goods, nor am I going to take hours to prepare dinner on a weeknight. I just don't have that kind of time. Second, it needed to have a variety. I love Italian (Mexican, German, Asian, etc.) food as much as the next guy - or gal as is the case, but that's not ALL I want to eat. And third, it had to be somewhat healthy. I'm not a super strict "no sugar" kind of gal (as you can tell from all my baking) but I do try to fix pretty balanced and healthy meals most nights of the week.

So with all that in mind - this what the book I settled on:


It has a lot of really yummy looking stuff. And I really liked the fact that every recipe has a picture...I'm a big fan of the pictures.


I wrote down a few to try next week, so I'll let you know how my subjects...errr - family...enjoys what I make. Hopefully we will come away with some new weeknight favorites.

Alright. I am off to bed. I had a fun night out tonight playing BUNCO with some of my mommy friends, and now I'm tired and ready to call it a night - 6 am comes really early.

I blinked...

...and the weekend flew by. Friday was another snow day (I think I mentioned that in my last post) so it was another slow day around the house. But things cleared up (and started to warm up) by Saturday and we took advantage of it. I met some friends at the gym in the AM for a morning workout, then came home and did some baking (yes again) for dinner at a friends house Saturday night. Pictures and cookie details to follow at the end of the post.

Dinner was great. It was my first time to meet this family (it's a co-worker of my hubs). We wanted to have a little get together because the guy is also being sent out to HI for the same work thing as my hubby and his wife is also going. So we wanted to meet so that when we are there maybe we can hang out a few days while the guys are working. The night went well, and the gal is super nice and I think we will have a good time together soaking up rays on the beach. We are both looking forward to getting sun and sticking our nose in a good book (or 3 or 4). And the kids had a blast as well. Of course they were just super excited to actually be OUT of the house and interacting with someone the same age.

Sunday went by in a blink. We "thought" that the hub's uncle was coming into town on Monday (today) for an interview, but it turns out that there was a bit of a misunderstanding and he got in Sunday morning instead because the interview was THIS morning. So we got home from church and I was fixing lunch then going to start cleaning my house for company (thinking I had all day) when the hubs gets a call and it turns out he was already in the area and on his way!! EEK! So, we quick cleaned and picked up as best we could (thankfully I had already washed sheets and cleaned the guest room/bathroom). He arrived not long after the call and we just spent the rest of the day catching up and enjoying our visitor. Technically he is my hub's uncle, but he's closer to our age and has kids the same age as ours. We all went out to dinner at one of our local places we like to take visitors and had a really nice day.

Which brings me to today. It's been a busy one, and I know the kids will sleep well tonight because it's been our first day in about 3 weeks that we have really been "on schedule". And if they aren't tired I sure am!! I've got book club later, which i am really looking forward to. While I am out I'm going to pick up my cookbook that I will be cooking my way though this year so I'll make sure to post what that is. Okay, well the lasagna is in the oven and I need to wrap up the rest of supper so I'll leave you with some pictures and the link to the cookies and call it a day!

Big kid working the mixer.

We had a lot of Christmas candy left-over so when I came across a recipe for some peppermint cookies I knew I had found a winner. I tried to make a similar recipe over before the holidays, but something went dreadfully wrong and my cookies came out flat...and hollow...and generally strange. Then two days later the same thing happened again with a different recipe. I was beginning to panic, because cookies are somewhat of a specialty for me, and I was worried that my skills had disappeared. But this recipe has restored my confidence.

Ready to go into the oven.

These do require some time in the fridge, so if you're going to make them do it early or even the night before. I added chopped up peppermint bark, which tasted wonderful, but made slicing the cookies hard later on so next time I might do something like mini chocolate chips.

But aside from being a little tricky to slice, they turned out wonderful and were a big hit at dinner with our friends Saturday - especially the kiddos (which is really who they were for). I also made a mocha swirl cheesecake which was FANTASTIC but didn't get any pictures of it in the "after" stage, so I'll have to post that recipe another time.

If you're interested here is the recipe:

Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Cookies
Adapted from allrecipes
Yields: 36 cookies

Ingredients
1 cup shortening (I am betting butter would work just fine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon butter flavoring (I added this because I used shortening)
2 drops pure peppermint extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies (I used 3 candy canes)

Method
1. In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, butter extract and peppermint extract.
2. Combine the dry ingredients; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in crushed candies.
3. Shape into a 15-in. roll; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm. Unwrap and cut into 1/8-in. slices. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees F for 6-8 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.
4. If desired, dip the cooled cookies in melted chocolate and garnish with more crushed candy canes.

Cozy Comforts...

Another day down...another day we did not leave the house. Not that I could have ventured out in our lovely weather (currently 1 with a "feels like" temp of -12) even if I wanted to because the hubs took my car to work today. It seems that Jasper (the Jetta TDI) isn't so much a fan of the negative teens and doesn't really enjoy starting, so to avoid a trip out later to go pick the husband up from work because his car won't start after sitting in a parking lot all day, he took my car and the kids and I are - or were as it is now - once again - house bound.

So - what did I do?? Other than play board games, and the wii, and other randoms...


And no...being inside with my kids all week didn't drive me to start drinking mid-morning. This was the start of my stew that we had for dinner. Guinness Beef Stew. Delish. This is the second time I have made this, and it's a big hit. Even the boys love it.


It has a little prep-work in the begining but after that's all said and done you throw it in the slow cooker and go about your day. Really it doesn't get any better than that.

My big helper above...and yes he's still in his pj's but I did eventually dress my children today, it just hadn't happened yet at this point...

And on a cold night like tonight - our low tonight is -23 by the way (without factoring in any wind-chill) it was nice to have some good comfort food. If you're interested you can find the recipe here.


And speaking of comfort food...that got me thinking of other cozy comforts that I can't make it through the winter without. In no particular order:

- my Uggs (both the slippers and my snow boots)
- turtle neck sweaters
- flannel pj pants
- chap-stick
- our oh-so-convenient flip of a switch fireplace
- working furnace :)
- a good book (or a stack of good books really)

Just to name a few. Okay, well it's time for me to wrap this up. I know I've been pretty "food heavy" since my return to blogging, but we really haven't been anywhere and I don't think you want to see pictures of my laundry (which is the other thing I've been doing a lot of). Next week it's going to be in the 30's so hopefully we will venture out a bit more! Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Snow days and sticky buns...

You guessed it, another snow day.

Nothing starts off a snow day like warm sticky buns (and a good cup of coffee)...well at least in my opinion. Last night I (was incredibly bored) and decided that because we wouldn't be rushing off anywhere in the AM due to the schools cancellation, I would do a nice breakfast. I have had this recipe in my "to make" file for awhile and decided it was time. I always start cinnamon rolls the night before, so that in the AM there is minimal wait time. Behold...the buns - ready to go into the fridge for the night. (I appologize for the horrible lighting in my kitchen, it was dark both at night and in the AM while we were eating so I didn't have any good natural light)

I have to say, I love slow mornings. Sure the boys get a little nutty come about 9 am, and yes, I get a little stir-crazy as well being stuck in my house. But there is just something about those nice lazy mornings that I treasure. It's not often that we are not rushing to get somewhere or do something, so it's nice when for whatever reason, life gets put on "hold" and we just slow down and enjoy our time together - in our PJ's of course. :) And to me, nothing says "lazy morning" like fresh baked cinnamon rolls...it just doesn't get any better.

I wish I could put a smell on the computer for you because the way my kitchen smelled while these were baking was nothing short of mouth-watering wonderfulness. The banana, and the caramel and the cinnamon...mmmmm.

Here is the recipe if you're ever looking for a good sticky bun. The only change I made was to leave out the almonds due to the fact that my boys (all three of them) are not fans of nuts in their baked goods. But even without, these were amazing. I ate a 1/2 of one and then we went to the gym so I could run it off! Needless to say the rest of the batch went straight to work with the hubby (along with the brownies) so that I didn't polish them off before noon! He called around nine and said they were gone with-in an hour of him being at work.

Banana Sticky Buns
(Adapted from: the domestic goddess )

Dough:
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F) + 1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
2 Tbsp unsalted butter -room temp.
2 large eggs
1/4 c. buttermilk powder
3 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 - 4 cups all-purpose or bread flour

Filling:
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Sticky Bottom:
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter + more to butter the pan
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp honey
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup almonds (optional)

Cream cheese Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mash the bananas with the butter to form a very soft, ever-so-slightly liquid paste. Combine the yeast with the warm water and sugar, let sit until foamy, 5 minutes. Add the eggs, buttermilk powder, brown sugar, salt and flour and stir with a wooden spoon until a rough mass forms.

2. Scrape it all together with a bench scraper and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Knead until it is smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary, about 5 minutes. Or use your mixer with the dough hook for about 5 min on low speed. The dough should be soft but not sticky.

3. Form the dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot (on top of the fridge works really well) until it doubles in size – about 1 ½ hours.

4. Make the filling: in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

5. Punch down the risen dough and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll out to a 14- by 9-inch rectangle. Brush the surface of the dough with the melted butter, then sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon-sugar combination and press into the dough lightly. Beginning at the long side, roll jellyroll style. Pinch to seal seam and set aside, covered in a warm spot while you make the sticky bottom.

6. Lightly butter the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch baking pan. In a small saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar and honey to cook, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the cream and keep stirring until smooth and incorporated. Pour the mixture into the pan and Sprinkle with almonds. Cut the buns into 12 pieces, about 1 ½ inches wide and arrange, cut side up in the pan with the sugar-butter-almond mixture. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 30 to 45 minutes (or over night in the fridge) or until doubled in volume.

7. Bake in a preheated, 350 F oven for 25 – 35 minutes, or until caramel is bubbling and tops are slightly browned. Meanwhile, make glaze: in a small bowl, stir together the confectioner’s sugar, cream and vanilla until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens slightly. When the rolls come out of the oven, allow them to cool slightly and then drizzle with the glaze while they are still warm. Pull apart and serve warm.

I think the rest of our day will be a lot like our morning - pretty uneventful. I see lots of board games and book reading ahead and I'll probably tackle a few loads of laundry as well. I'm running out of things to clean with all the time I've had at home I have to say the house is looking pretty good! I hope you all enjoy your Thursday and are keeping warm wherever you are!

A new year is here...

Wow...can you believe it's 2010?? Did you make any resolutions??

My goals for the year are to manage my time at home a little better, maybe blog a little more (I know I know...), make the most of our last 6 months of shore duty, finish my 2007, 2008 and 2009 scrapbook (I'm doing them digitally so it isn't as bad as it sounds), love on my kiddos until they just can't stand it anymore, be the best mom/wife/friend I can be, live a life that let's others know/see Jesus in my heart and life, be more active in church, keep up with my bible study and start a new one when my current one ends in may, cook my way through a cookbook (haven't picked one out yet - up for suggestions), and just remember that every day is a wonderful gift and to make the most of it! Whew - now that I write it all out it sounds like a lot, but a lot of it doesn't take extra "time" just extra thought in my words and actions!

I hope you all had a wonderful new year! We had a quiet one here, and I'm sad to say I didn't even make it up until 10 - much less midnight. Our little one came down with the flu earlier that day (the rest of the family had it right after Christmas) so we were all pretty worn out and turned in early. But none-the-less we had a wonderful weekend with just the four of us enjoying time together!

It's been awhile since I have posted, so I know there is a lot to fill you all in on. We have had TONS of snow, and are getting more as I type. In-fact, today is another snow day, and I'm expecting that the hubs will have a short day of work as well. Not that I'm complaining. Today I am all for hanging out in my PJ's - although I may have to go outside and shovel the driveway here in a bit. On days like this I love to bake - right now I have "snow day cheesecake brownies" in the oven and later the big kid requested that we make some cupcakes...I'm thinking maybe lemon with white "snowy" frosting! I'll post pictures once it's all done! I just hope that the hubs does go in to work tomorrow because I will need to get all these goodies out of the house before I eat them all.

The boys took a big step this past month and became roomies. The little one moved up to a big boy bed and the big kid has the top bunk. The transition couldn't have gone any smoother and they really like the set up. We decided to put them together for right now knowing that in CT they will most likely be sharing a room while we are there - and who knows after that. It just depends on where we are and what space we have. Eventually the bunk system will just be for the big kid and we will get the munchkin his own stuff, but for now, they are happy as can be - and I figure as long as they are happy - this is how it will stay.

Here are a few pictures of their new pad...notice the new bedding too. This is what happens when your husband comes along to get ONE new comforter for the top bunk. You end up with new EVERYTHING (comforters, sheets, pillows) in a Star Wars theme - because if you're going to do Star Wars...there is no "half-way". :)

Also in December we took a trip to KC for the weekend, my parents came for Christmas which was wonderful, the munchkin is now using the potty like a big boy, and the hubs got word that he has to go to Hawaii for work, so we went ahead and got an extra ticket and I am going too - a whole week!! Of course he will be working during the day, so I guess I'll just have to fill up my time on the beach soaking up some sun and maybe reading a good book - too bad for me (haha). We have been wanting to go on a trip just the two of us for awhile now, but the timing just never worked, and although this is a "working" trip for him it will be nice to have our nights free to spend some time together. Yippeee!

I think this is probably enough for my first post back. I really do want to try and be better about posting this year, so hopefully I can make that happen. If nothing else I'll have some yummy pictures soon of my snow day brownies that just came out of the oven, and the cupcakes too!

I hope you all are having a wonderful week!! Ta ta for now...