Good Eats and Good Times!!

So the hubs and I celebrated 8 years of marriage the other week, June 24th to be exact.  Amazingly it has taken me one whole week to post about it. You'd think I would have TONS of time, this being the summer and not working and all. I have no excuses really. 

We decided to introduce PC to a local "beach." In a couple of weeks we will be spending a whole week at the beach...of course this will be a whole new experience and probably not as relaxing as we are used to.  But....it will be another memory to add to the books, so for that I am definitely excited! PC had her first experience of a "wave." As well as her first taste of sand - blech! I'm hoping that the sand was a negative experience.  

 Sunglass Friends!

" I'm not eating the sand I promise!"

For dinner we decided to eat in, we typically do, usually G makes dinner, but this year we decided to co-make the dinner. I made bruschetta (the appetizer) and dessert (creme brûlée). G made homemade gnocchi with a brown butter sage sauce and grilled asparagus! DELISH!

Brushetta recipe:
2 tomatoes diced up
2 garlic cloves (you can add red onion instead, but I am not a fan)
freshly chopped basil
salt/pepper to taste
1 tbs of EVOO
2 tbs of balsamic vinegar
diced up mozzarella
sliced up and toasted baguette sprinkle with EVOO before toasting

The "snakes" that's what G called them....

 Waiting to be boiled

 Brown Butter flakes sticking to the gnocchi perfectly- I almost licked my bowl clean, but I stayed classy!

 Ohhh and the vino was from our 5 year anniversary trip to Italy- it was amazing(both the trip and the wine...mmmm......)

 See the specks?! Not pepper! Fresh Vanilla bean   

       Topped with white sugar

 Mmm...the sugary crust

Fresh strawberries- shoulda made homemade whipped cream, next time! 

Creme Brûlée for Two!
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean

1) Mix white sugar and egg yolks with whisk until light yellow and creamy
2) bring heavy whipping cream and vanilla bean to a slow boil
3) Add the cream a little at a time stirring continually
4) Pour mixture into two ramekins
5) Place ramekin in a large cake pan, or I used my pyrex casserole dish- pour hot water all around until the water comes up half way
5) Bake @ 325 F degrees for 40-45 minutes until creme brûlée is set, but still trembly in the middle
6) Place in fridge to set 2-3 hours, or overnight
7) Remove from fridge add white sugar to the top spread evenly (I kind of shake the dish around-let sit out for 20 minutes)
8) Broil the creme brulee @ 500 degrees F for 1 1/2- 2 minutes- monitor to avoid burning

Will sleep anywhere!

I may have put my daughter in the basket  of our Uppababy. The basket is so big, I love it! It's great for holding all our stuff and great when we go grocery shopping. So.... I thought it looked perfect for a child, well mine. So I placed her in there. She didn't cry or scream. She sat there touched things played with her lamb, chewed on a bar and then.... 

This happened

Love this little peanut with all my heart. And, of course we didn't wake her. Not sure it was the most comfortable, but also not the worst as testament to her peacefulness. 

A Girl's Best Friend is.......

Well PC found some of mommy's shoes. Let's hope that she ends up with the same size feet as me! I mean double the shoes. Winning right?! Or danger?! You decide. 

Changing Everyday!

When PC was first born you would see small changes but they would happen more gradually than overnight. 

But lately she's been changing a lot. From scooting to crawling to pulling herself up! Today she pulled herself up on the coffee table for the first time. It kinda scared her because it was so high but mama was there to catch her if she fell. 

My coffee table will now stay really clean because the little miss can reach everything!

And.....she's on the move!

Well, PC officially began her four legged adventures a few weeks ago. She originally started with the army crawl, using her arms to move around and kind of dragging her legs behind her. But now! All the things on the floor have had to be picked up....I mean I'm already kind of a clean freak, so now it just requires extra tiding.

We don't really have a storage place for her toys, well I do have some places in mind, but she can't really access them yet. So....I just store all her toys under her exersaucer. I mean they are out of the way and within reach for the little Miss. Win Win right?!

Well, now that she's mobile she can just crawl right over and grab what she wants......or....you can do this.......

But, then this happened............

She can get under there no problem....but that's where the adventure stops.....do you like how my child is crying, but I have to snap a picture....don't wanna miss a sad/happy/excited/frustrated/angry moment EVER! Thank goodness for camera phones!

Tis the season for baking(no, it's not Christmas)

So....I baked about 5 dozen cupcakes the other night. Two types, red velvet with a cream cheese frosting and snickerdoodle with a fluffy vanilla frosting.

I did NOT use a box(not that there is anything wrong with that).  Boxed cakes are great too, really easy to make, less time consuming and usually very moist.  That's the kicker.  I'm not a fan of dry cake!

I also made the icing from scratch- usually if I do end up using a box then I will make the icing from scratch. But....being the overachiever on Monday, I did it all up! Gotta celebrate special co-workers :-)

My Martha Stewart Cupcake Cookbook and I are besties!
Snickerdoodle:

 I've learned that cracking the eggs into a bowl and then adding them one at a time(as directed) is easier than cracking them on the side(makes more dishes, but prevents any eggshells from getting in the mix).

 The Snickerdoodle mixture

Finished product! 

Red Velvet with a cream cheese frosting:  You can't have red velvet cupcakes without the cream cheese frosting. Mmm....

Cream Cheese frosting Recipe:
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese at room temp.
4 cups confectioners sugar sifted
3/4 tsp of vanilla extract
1) Beat Butter and cream cheese together until smooth
2) Add 1/2 cup of sifted confectioners

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Recipe:
3 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 lb (4 cups) of confectioners sugar sifted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1) Using an electric mixture beat the butter until creamy and pale
2) Add confectioners sugar about 1/2 cup at a time
3) Add vanilla- beat until smooth and fluffy

More Homemade Purees

Made some more baby food last night.

I made applesauce and green beans.  The applesauce was a big hit and I look forward to mixing it with other foods. She already loves sweet potato a WHOLE lot!

The large apple on the right was a gift from a student- what's the saying? "An apple a day keeps the teacher away?"

Homemade food is sooo easy, but time consuming. Peel, chop, boil, smoosh, freeze repeat.

 Gotta love the immersion blender!

I tried to puree up carrots the another night but they just weren't as smooth as I had hoped. They seem kind of stringy, as did the beans that I made up last night(ha string beans, so maybe it's in the name). Maybe I need to use my standing blender to puree some foods other than my handheld.  It's just a lot easier to clean the handheld and also to take out. (Mommy laziness).

What I Ate Wednesday- a day late-oops!

I know, I know, it's Thursday. Mommydom got in the way yesterday and I forgot to post. Y'all know how it goes!

SO.....yesterday's WIAW was.....

Breakfast was not so exciting.....as a working mom(even before the mom part) it's pretty much, grab and go! This is one of my new favorite greek yogurts. I love the crunch the almonds give.  Usually our grocery store has them 10 for 10$, which isn't too bad. If you can't do the math....that's $1 a yogurt.  I could probably buy a big thing of greek vanilla yogurt and chop up and toast my own almonds, but I am a working mom so I can only make so much stuff.  PC is more important that I am, so we'll stick to making homemade meals for her, as well as dinners for the hubs and I.

Well....it's not just me eating here: I've been craving penne vodka and the hubs makes a mean dish! SO, for dinner we had penne vodka with fresh grated parmesan cheese and peas(great colors!)

PC had herself a nice healthy meal too(ours wasn't so healthy): cut up strawberries, steamed zucchini and steamed broccoli. PC had her first taste of zucchini and LOVED it!

We should be going strawberry picking this weekend so she'll get her first taste of FRESH sun warmed strawberries- stay tuned for our next adventure!

What yummy things did you eat today?!

A New Healthy Snack

Roasted Chickpeas....mmmmm......

There's a restaurant here that makes fried chickpeas with a lemon pepper. Soooo yummy! Plus, chickpeas are high in protein, of course frying them makes them a little less healthy. They also have iron(which I need), folate, phosphorus and dietary fiber.  We don't own a deep fryer- if we did it would be game over! I'd try and fry everything lol, so it's really good that we don't! But....you can roast chickpeas and they still get crunchy and delicious.

You can coat them with anything, make them sweet, make them savory, make them salty.....We all love to pop something crunchy and these are a lot healthier than potato chips. Full of protein! Bring on the Chickpea!

I'm a big fan of spicy, so of course I made my first batch was a chipotle garlic.

Drain and Rinse

 Spices:

 Before Roasted:

After Roasted: Definitely ~*SpIcY*~

Ingredients:
2  tablespoons olive oil
2 cans Garbanzo Beans, drained, rinsed and patted dry(so the EVOO sticks to it)
1 tsp paprika powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
salt, to taste

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees.
Combine the mixture and stir gently
Spread the chickpeas in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes until brown and crunchy
Make sure you check on them and stir them up gently - you don't want them to burn! (I stir like every 10 minutes)

Next batch is gonna be garlic parmesan!