Wonderful wonderful pumpkin

Fall is my most favorite time of year! I love the cooler weather, the changing leaves and ALL things pumpkin. Speaking of pumpkins, here are two of mine from a few years ago. I think this is one of my all.time.FAVORITE. pictures of my middle son. The face is just priceless...oh that grin.

I picked up a new cookbook about a month ago with some holiday recipes in it and have been trying out all sorts of new goodies. I made these fab pumpkin bars for a girls night in and they were a huge hit!!

So do yourself a favor and make these ASAP!!!

Pumpkin Bars
* Adapted from Southern Living Holiday 2011*

Ingredients:

- 1 (18.25 oz) box spice cake mix
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (I left these out)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
- 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup finely chopped white chocolate (I used Lindt white chocolate bar with coconut)
- 1 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1/3 cup uncooked regular oats
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- Powdered sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine first 4 ingredients, mixing well with a fork. Reserve 1 cup crumbs for streusel topping. Press remaining crumbs into 13" x 9" pan.
2. Bake until puffy and set, about 13-15 min. Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 min.
3. Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer 30 seconds or until creamy. Add brown sugar, pumpkin, egg and 1 tsp vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour filling over baked crust.
4. Stir white chocolate, 1 TBSP melted butter, oats and brown sugar into reserved 1 cup streusel. Sprinkle over filling.
5. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until edges begin to brown and center is set. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (if you want to). Cut into bars. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

So go embrace this wonderful season and go and make these...you wont regret it!!! YUMMMY!

I'm going to try and post some more good eats here now that life is somewhat into a routine. Yes, we moved back in June, and school has been in for a few months now, but I'm just starting to feel caught up. Everything in good time. Until then...

This and That

Is the weekend almost over already?? Eeesh, where does the time go? And it's AUGUST - wowza.

So, in-case you aren't crossing off the days until my move on your calendar (although I can't see why you wouldn't be - hehe) we are down to 13 days!! WOAH!! We officially have an address now for when we get to our new location, so that is always a plus, and I've taken care of stopping all our services here minus one more that I have to call about tomorrow.

THANK YOU THANK YOU folks who gave me such awesome moving tips!! I will make sure to have my video camera charged, sharpies ready, and my best "I'm the boss - but a nice one" attitude in check!

This morning we went to church, then home to get some stuff done around the house. The hubby cleaned out the garage, and I've been working on getting together all those things that DON'T go with the packers because I would be heartbroken if they were damaged or lost (mainly my pictures, a few letters, etc.) I also have yet another bag of stuff going for Goodwill - this will be trip number 4 I believe!

Yesterday the hubs and the munchkin went to a bbq at a co-workers house. Big kid and I stayed behind because he woke up all snotty and coughing and we didn't want to share the love. BUT I did take full advantage of the "bring a side or dessert" to unload a bunch of stuff in the pantry! I sent brownies, blondies, a unopened bag of tortilla chips, and some fresh salsa. I got major "points" in the clean-out process for all that!

I tried a new recipe for the brownies - it's one I've had on my "to bake" list for awhile, but always seem to fall back on my favorite Ina recipe. But because I didn't have everything for that one, and I DID have everything for this one, I took a chance. The recipe is from the back of the King Arther bag of AP flour and it's labeled "The Best Fudge Brownie Ever" (click on that for the recipe). I was skeptical because I've had some amazing brownies - so to claim these were the BEST ever...well I just wasn't so sure. Sorry for the bad picture...I was in a hurry and it shows.

My review. They were quite tasty - very moist and fudge-y and the chocolate chips in the batter really do add a little something, but I think I still would chose my Ina recipe over this one. But the hubby said they, and the blondies both went over well.

Today we also had a big moment in "kid world". The big kid learned how to ride his bike without training wheels!! We are very proud. He must have been ready because he picked it up like a pro. Well folks - I need to run. The hubs just informed me he is due for a haircut, so I'm going to go help get the little ones to bed, then do that, then curl up with my book. Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Swiss Swirls

It's the 28th...that means it's the day AFTER it was time to reveal our Daring Bakers challenge of the month (yes I am a day late...sorry folks)! The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

This was such a fun challenge, and perfect for us here in the Midwest with the humidity in the upper 90's and temps over 100!! We were to make a swiss cake roll from scratch, homemade ice cream, and a homemade hot fudge sauce. Having never made any of these on my own (with the exception of making ice cream one time last summer at my parents house) this challenge was exciting.

For my cake, hot fudge and chocolate ice cream I used the recipes that can be found HERE on the Daring Kitchen website. But for my second ice cream I went with plain old sweet cream ice cream - my FAVORITE. I'll include the recipe below, but it's SUPER easy. Just three things!! Here are some pictures I snapped of the cake making process and begining layering stages.

The batter

It ended up taking two full days for the challenge. One day to bake, cool and fill the cakes, along with making the ice creams, and the second day to assemble and make the hot fudge. It's not too hard to pull together, but there is a lot of waiting involved with all the different layers. This did get me into a little bit of a time crunch. The hot fudge layer took much longer than I expected to fully freeze up, so that is why I am posting a day later. I needed another few hours after adding the last layer of chocolate so it could harden back up to slice.

Adding the last layer of chocolate ice cream

all finished and ready to slice - the little one is eying his share
ready to eat
big kid gives a "thumbs up"

This was a big hit with my family, but then again, what's not to love about cake and ice cream!!!

Okay well that's it for this swiss swirliness. I think this would make a really fun birthday cake, and may just try it next year!

For the sweet cream ice cream you can find the recipe HERE. Enjoy - it's DELICIOUS!! Oh, and I used base #2 for my recipe. I was a big fan of the not having to cook it part!!

Some of the leftover ice cream after filling the first layer

I. will. post. today.

That is my mantra for today - I started this post back on Monday - it's now Friday.

Of course my original post was super cute, and I had a few clever nuggets in there, but now it's just too far gone to be very cute...although I may leave some of it here - we shall see.

I made some knock your socks off brownies last night for the hubby to take to work today. I am calling them S'm-oreo's brownies. It's an oreo brownie recipe I have kicked up about 10000 notches. In addition to oreo's, I used chocolate covered graham crackers, and marshmallow fluff - to-die-for. Get ready to drool folks...

I will include the recipe at the end in-case any of you need an insanely good brownie recipe!!

I've been baking a lot for many reasons, A#1 when I need to focus on other things I bake, B#2 it helps me use up some of the butter I need to get rid of, and C#3 its lots of fun to do with my little helpers. Before the brownies we made chocolate chip cookies. I have learned that when it comes to homemade cookie dough, I have no control. I also learned that after giving in and eating said cookie dough - you will walk around for a good while feeling not so hot because sometimes you CAN have too much of a good thing.

Tuesday the lady from the moving company came and surveyed the house to see how much stuff we did indeed have. Just one more step along in this crazy military moving life :). Any of you ladies (or guys too) have any good tips on ways to get your stuff ready for the packers?? A friend of mine gave me the idea to go through your kitchen/bathroom drawers, and put all those little things (pencils, notepads, hair stuff, etc.) into plastic zip-lock bags, that way when they get packed you don't end up with 27 pencils all individually wrapped, along with that stray gum wrapper.

We are now at the 3 week mark! I'm getting really excited about being somewhere new now. Of course it's always tough to say goodbye to those that I'm really close to, but I'm hoping to see some of them again...somewhere down the line! We don't have any other really big news around here...just the move and all that goes with it.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'll be back soon! :) But for now I leave you with this. Warning: if you're watching what you eat, and don't have superhuman willpower don't make these unless you can remove them from your house ASAP.

Sm'oreo Brownies
Adapted from Ina's Oreo Brownies

1 lb butter
1 lb bittersweet chocolate
6 oz unsweetened chocolate
7 large eggs
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp instant coffee
2.5 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup ap flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 pkg oreo cookies
1 pkg chocolate covered graham crackers
1 small jar marshmallow fluff

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Chop cookies and place in bowl with 1/4 c. flour - shake to distribute flour. Spray BIG cake pan with cooking spray.
2. Melt the butter and chocolates in a heavy saucepan until smooth, then let cool slightly
3. Mix together eggs, vanilla, coffee, and sugar
4. Blend in cooled chocolate mixture to egg mixture
5. Mix in remaining 1 c. flour, baking powder and salt. Gently stir in cookies.
6. Pour 1/2 of mixture into pan, then drop fluff by the spoonful onto batter, trying to distribute evenly. Pour the remaining batter on top.
7. Bake for 30 min. Do not over bake. Let cool completely at room temperature, cover, then stick in the fridge overnight to get one amazing brownie!

*this recipe is HUGE it makes 30 big brownies, or 40+ smaller ones. Great for events or a big crowd.

Big Threes!!!!

Hello folks, how's it going??

It is a beautiful morning here, just one of those days that makes you want to get out there and do stuff. Which is good because later we have a picnic for the hubby's work that we are going to. This morning I have dedicated to getting things done. So far I've done my bible study, had breakfast, folded the last of my laundry, and loved on my kiddos. Now they are watching a show before breakfast, so I figured I would use this un-disturbed time to do some bloggin'. :)

How was everyone's Independence Day weekend?? What did you do to celebrate our country's independence?? We had a FABULOUS weekend. My mom and dad came up for one last visit before we move on to celebrate both the 4th and then our little munchkin's THIRD birthday!! I can't believe my "baby" is three. He is doing fabulous, and just such the little man now. It seems that overnight he went from my little guy, to full fledged "big kid" that no longer needs much help from Mama and Daddy. He's 100% potty trained (has been for about a month now) and into everything that big brother does. So here's a big birthday shout out to my little man - Happy Birthday Sweetie...Mama LOVES you bunches!!! Here he is with his Lightning McQueen cake that yours truly made. It's a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and Lightning McQueen of course. The recipe was wonderful and I'll post it at the end.

Three years ago...

My sweet boy

Here are some more pictures from our weekend. For the 4th we went to see fireworks, and the next night we did lots of fun fireworks here at the house. The boys had a blast, and really got into it this weekend.



The hubs and I even got a date night which was awesome. I dragged him to see Eclipse so I could get my vampire fix (I know...me and all the other little teenagers). It was much better than New Moon, but I really can't wait for the last one. That was my favorite of all the books...but waiting is something I will have to do because it's like 500 days until it comes out or something like that...hmmmm.

So, we are at 5 weeks until our moving day! I can't believe it's so close - CRAZINESS!! It's hard to believe that our time here is just about up. I'll be sad to leave, but am also really looking forward to our new adventure. I just wish I knew where we would be AFTER SOAC, but I'm going to have to be patient on that one (yet again just like above) because we still have awhile before we know anything that is "final". However, I'm not so much looking forward to the whole "going out to sea" bit again, but I'm sure I'll get into the swing of it again...sooner or later. :)

In-case you missed it on my FB, check out Matt's claim to fame. Okay maybe not "fame" but he's in a recruiting video for the Navy.



Hehe...

So, I think that is about it for our updates. We are still making the most of our summer. Lots of time at the pool and the parks, and playing with friends. Okay, well here is that recipe I promised. My mom found this recipe and brought it with her, it was the one my grandma used and she always made the BEST stuff so I was excited to try it. She didn't let me down, it was AWESOME! I'm a big fan of carrot cake, but I'm kind of picky about it. I don't like it to have a bunch of extra "stuff" in it, I just want the wonderful carrot-y cake-ness. For our cake I did omit the nuts, because both my hubby and daddy are not a fan of nuts in baked goods, so I left those out, but everything else I kept the same.

Grandma's Carrot Cake

Ingredients and directions

- 1 1/2 cups oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs

Mix the above together. Combine the following separately then add to the above.

- 2 c. sifted flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 3 tsp cinnamon

Stir in the following:

- 3 c. shredded carrots
- 1/2 c. chopped pecans (optional)

Cook @ 350F for 30 min in (3) 8 inch cake pans. Let cool on rack then frost with cream cheese icing. * Note: this recipe makes three very thin layers, if you want two thicker layers you will need to increase the baking time.

Enjoy!!

Okay, well that's it for me folks. I really will try to be better about posting, but I can make no promises! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I know we plan to!!

Daddy's Day Deliciousness

Is deliciousness a word?? It must be because I didn't get the little red squiggly line indicating I spelled something wrong. Good thing because that totally describes the wonderful creation I made to celebrate my sweet hubs and what a wonderful Daddy he is to my boys.

But first, let me back up a bit. A few weeks ago I asked my dear husband what he wanted to have for dessert on father's day, and he said he wanted chocolate chip cookies...to which I responded...Seriously??!!?! I'm offering to make anything and you want cookies?? Well, he did, but I just didn't feel that was enough to show him what a great dad he was. He did get his cookies, but I made them a few weeks ago (you all remember my post about those cookies right??) to satisfy the cookie craving. Then...for fathers day I made chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake - AMAZING.

I don't think I could have made him anything better. It was creamy, the cookie dough was amazing, it didn't even crack...perfection! Again I turned to my trusty A Passion For Baking book that has quickly become my "go to" book for all baked goods. I have yet to make anything out of that book that isn't truly amazing.

Home made cookie dough for the cookie dough parts

The middle layer - cookie dough and mini chocolate chips

Ready to go into the oven

one happy daddy :)

Aside from sitting around eating lots of cheesecake, we had a wonderful Father's Day. We went to church, then brunch at one of our favorite brunch places, then home so we could all just lay around and relax and enjoy time together. Dinner was light, quick and easy then it was off to the movies to see the new Toy Story 3 movie. We had a great time, and the movie was really cute. Both boys really enjoyed it - although I swear my little one just goes for the popcorn.

I am truly blessed that my boys have such an amazing daddy. Because of his job, there is a lot that he has missed, and that will continue to happen. But when he is here, he makes every SECOND with those boys count. One of my most favorite parts of the day is when I'm in the kitchen fixin' supper and my boys (all three of them) are in the next room wresting or playing some sort of "tag - you're it" game. The squeals of laughter just melt my heart. I thank God everyday for my wonderful family.

I hope you are all having a great week so far. We have been enjoying the hot sunny days of summer and spending a lot of time at the pool and playing in the sprinklers (or sprinkles as my little one says). There is just something about running through sprinklers that defines summer.


If I can figure out A. how to get video off my phone to my computer, and B. how to post it on here I'll post some footage of my big kid swimming. He is a full fledged swimmer now - the kid even went off the high dive!! Alright, I really do have to wrap this up! Until next time...later gators.

It's Here!!!

Farmer's Market season that is! I LOVE going to the farmer's market and getting all my goodies for the week. This weekend we got some awesome asparagus, and rhubarb. I also got my herbs for the summer and a few other goodies as well. My "perfect" Saturday morning starts with an early (but not TOO early) morning run, home for a shower and coffee, then me and my boys load up and go to the market and grab a bite while we're out. Ahhhhh.... Of course it doesn't ALWAYS happen like that. There are many times, because that's the way life is, that some or all of those events don't happen...but in my perfect world, they always do. Here are a few pictures from this weekend's outing.

my three guys

Off and running

So, this was my first time to purchase or use rhubarb, and I have to say I am a fan. I got a ton of strawberries on sale so I made a strawberry rhubarb crisp.


It was delicious. The filling was a little runny, probably due to the fact there was no thickening agent in it, just sugar and the fruit, so next time I think I'll try a different recipe, but it was still super wonderful. I didn't follow the recipe for the topping though, I did my own.

ready to be baked

This was the perfect dessert to go with the hubs smoked brisket he made for Saturday night's dinner. And of course you can't have any kind of crisp without the addition of some vanilla ice cream. It would be better if it were homemade vanilla, but I don't have an ice cream maker, and won't let myself buy one because then I would probably make (and therefore eat) ice cream all day long every day! So here it is: my first ever rhubarb endeavor, and a wonderful way to welcome in the farmer's market season!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Adapted from HERE

Ingredients:

5 cups strawberries, washed, dried and sliced
2 cups rhubarb, washed, dried and sliced
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal (old-fashioned, not quick-cooking)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the strawberries, rhubarb, and sugars. Spread the fruit in the bottom of a 9 x 12-inch baking dish.

Combine remaining ingredients in food processor and process until you get nice crumbles. Distribute crumbs evenly over fruit. Bake in preheated oven for 30 min. Let cool slightly then serve up with vanilla ice cream (or flavor of your liking). Enjoy :)

Cupcakes Galore

Hello kids! What have you all been up to?? I have been baking up a storm here recently, although I don't have too many pictures of my creations. No good reason for that, just laziness on my part - but I do have a little treat for you all today.

Last weekend we went to a pig roast, which was a lot of fun. Our neighbors have one every Spring, and this year I think they out-did themselves. The boys played non-stop for HOURS and actually were asking to go home before 9PM because they were so worn out. It was a fun night for all. And you can't beat a party that you can walk home from...it just doesn't get any better than that!

For my food contribution I made two different kinds of cupcakes. Cherry Chocolate and the much raved about "Carbomb" cupcake. Honestly I have to say the cherry variety was my favorite, but everyone else seemed to LOVE the "adult" variety. Although I do have to say that I could have ate the whole batch of Bailey's butter-cream frosting all by myself - no cupcake needed. Of course I probably would have landed myself into some sugar induced coma and then missed out on all the fun, but that stuff is so good it might have been worth it. ;)

For the cherry chocolate I just used a chocolate cupcake, filled it with butter-cream, then frosted the top with a cherry butter-cream icing and topped with a cherry. I also added in some chopped cherries into the cake batter. YUM! I have to say I think they turned out so cute!

Filled and waiting for their toppers

Adorable AND Tasty

The Carbomb cupcake recipe can be found here. I followed the recipe exactly - with the exception that I left out the alcohol in the ganache filling. Overall I was happy with how they turned out, and was glad that everyone seemed to enjoy them.

All "dressed up" and ready to go to the party

So, that was our big event last weekend. This weekend we have NOTHING "planned" and I am actually almost just as excited about that. We're going to the farmer's market tomorrow, so I'm hoping to pick up some goodies to do some baking Sunday. I LOVE the farmer's market and am so glad it's that time of year again. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and I'll be back soon (I hope) with more yummy goodness.

seeing orange?

It's the end of the month, which means it's time for me to post about my Daring Bakers challenge for March - insert blog checking lines here:

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

This dessert consists of all sorts of wonderful elements, all which were made from scratch. A cookie like crust, whipped cream, marmalade and lots of yummy oranges. The most challenging for me was making the orange marmalade from scratch. I have never made any sort of jam or jelly in my life, and really had no idea what to expect. I decided to make mine a blend of oranges and strawberries in hopes that the boys would eat leftovers on sandwiches and such.

Ready to be blanched for the marmalade

Strawberries and oranges about to go for a spin in the food processor

The marmalade turned out very nice, and I have been using the leftovers on toast - yum yum. I think I need a bit more practice though because mine was a bit runny, but still firm enough to work for the dessert.

The assembly of the dessert was also a challenge, not because it was hard, but because I managed to make a complete disaster of my kitchen!! Caramel sauce ALL over my fridge, spilled drinks while cleaning up said caramel sauce, orange juice, cream...it's wasn't pretty. But I managed to get it all put together and to my astonishment, even turned out with a pretty final product. Here is a picture of my kitchen floor with all sorts of food on it that had to be pulled out of the fridge, wiped down, and then put back in after I cleaned the caramel off everything...

The finished product was well worth the mess...or at least it looks like it is. I took it out of the freezer for photographing purposes only, and now it is back in there, wrapped up nice and tight, until Sunday when I will serve it for dessert. I can honestly say I have never had, or made a dessert like this one, so I am curious as to how it will taste, but from what I hear, it's not going to disappoint.

Finally a few pictures of my finished challenge:

Straight out of the freezer on the left and on the right a view of the cross-section after I cut a piece out.

Ta-da: finished and plated with the caramel sauce

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!

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.