goodbye winter.

  Crazy how the first day of spring was filled with big fat fluffy snowflakes huh?  Snow & ice & bitter cold have been replaced with daffodils & rain & green green grass.  I usually love winter, but have been longing for spring since mid February when our heat went out.  I had figured that we were so close to spring that we would be fine to just wait it out for a while.  Space heaters, socks, and sweatshirts can only get you by so long.  Needless to say that I am thrilled that comfier times are in order.  I can't wait to get the yard in order so we can go shopping for garden supplies!  The strawberries we planted last summer have sprouted bright new vines, and fresh new chives have sprouted too!!  I just love seeing everything spring to life again!  What is springing up in your yard?



....................................................................hello spring.

keeping up with the jones'

I'm tired of feeling like I don't have enough.  I'll never have as much time and money or look like so and so.  So why get bummed out with the way life is right now?  I'm tired of living off of these silly little daydreams of perfectly imperfect scenarios of my near future life.  Whatever it is we strive for is sometimes too much to ask of ourselves, and even if we get that ideal dream, often times it isn't enough.  I recently asked a friend of mine who accomplished a major goal of hers if she felt happy now, and the answer was no.  Money, beauty, possessions oftentimes aren't enough to make us happy.  I have always had this silly little idea in my head like, "when I'm 16 I'll be happy".  Well, that soon turned into 18, then 21, then 25, now I'm looking at 30 as being the magic number.  It would take quite a lot to make me "happy" according to my daydreams, which honestly aren't that extravagant.  All I would really have to do would be..... move into a smaller one level house that I can actually afford, lose 35 pounds, grow my hair out really long, get married, possibly go to college, get a good lawyer to take the ex-husband back to court, move out of misery Missouri and live somewhere else for once in my life, and have enough money on hand to buy new (or old) clothes, entertainment, and house stuff.  That's not asking for too much right?  It might not be asking for too much, but it certainly can't happen instantly.  We've been programmed to crave action and chaos, and instant gratification feels sooo good.  What I often fail to see is that happiness is a choice.  As annoying as that sounds, it's true.  And the most concentrated form of happiness comes not in the whole picture, but in the itty bitty teeny tiny moments that happen all the time.  It's out there happening right now.  How much happiness have I been taking for granted?  I have beautiful healthy little girls, a great boyfriend that adores me, a house in a good neighborhood, parents that are still alive and still love and take care of me when I need it, friends that I can cry with and laugh until I wet myself with, snuggly kitties that purr when they're around me, my choice of pretty much whatever foods I want every time I eat, ample entertainment when I have time off, a job that allows me to move and be creative.........shall I go on?  and on and on and on?  If you are out there reading this post in your jammies, snuggled up on your couch or bed, with your coffee, child, dog at your side......think about the happy moments you've been taking for granted.  Like the one you're having right now.

nice

 

I love finding hidden treasures in unexpected places!  It makes me giddy.  :D

ps3 cookies

Sorry I haven't posted anything lately.  I've been lazy, uncreative, and busy.  This is old news, but most of you don't know about it yet.  For my boyfriends birthday I made him playstation3 cookies!  He loved them.  How cute are they??  I was pretty proud of myself.  They tasted horrible because of the black frosting, so don't ask for the recipe.

weeknight brushetta

Weeknight Bruschetta

french baguette

can of diced tomatoes with onion and garlic flavor

fresh basil

shredded mozzarella cheese

olive oil

 Preheat oven to 350.  Slice baguette.  Pan grill bread slices in olive oil over medium high heat.  This will take a few minutes for each side.    Set bread slices aside.  Chop basil.  Drain tomatoes.  Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Arange slices of bread on cookie sheet.  Place a few tomatoes on each slice.  Sprinkle on basil and cheese.  Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.


This was such a simple recipe to throw together, and it turned out to be a big hit.  Fresh tomatoes would make it better of course, but they aren't in season here yet, and I really don't like chopping tomatoes (too gooey).  We made pasta with a simple butter herb sauce too!  I just boiled mastacholi noodles (adding olive oil and sea salt to the water), then drained the noodles and returned them to pan, added fresh chopped herbs (basil, oregeno, rosemary, and sage) and a half a stick of butter, some shredded parmesan, a little more olive oil......bliss. 

This would also make a great date night meal, or a good appetizer for late night guests.  I would imagine it pairing well with a fresh salad, and some Riverboat Red. 

bright eyed and bushy tailed

Tears started flowing out of my eyes when I took pictures of squirrels yesterday morning.  Not because I was moved, but because the harsh early morning sunlight was too bright for my vampire eyes.  I am so proud of this photo!  I took it with my new toy, a Canon PowerShot SX120 IS.  I love this camera!  Messing around with digital SLRs in the store made me realize they were way out of my league.  Who needs a dslr when you can buy a great point and shoot camera for around $250, complete with 10.0 mega pixels and a 10x  optical zoom?! It even has sepia and black & white modes!   I haven't played around with it much, but it has already helped an amateur like me take some pretty impressive photos. I am very excited about better pictures, spring cleaning, and warmer weather.  What are you excited about?

be yourself

"To be nobody- but yourself-- in a world which is doing it's best, night and day, to make you everybody else- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting."  - E. E. Cummings

go out and play

Round up the nearest little one and take them to the park.  Set them free and follow them around.  Crouch down so you can really see the world through their eyes.  Try out as many pieces of equipment as possible.  Play with them.  Get dirty.  Find some sand, take off your shoes, and sink your feet in deep.  Build castles.  Climb mountains.  Be a troll under the bridge.  Run until it hurts your heart, and just try to wipe that smile off your face!

you make me happy when skies are gray.

sunshine by

Gray gray skies have me yearning for yellow.  Are you ready for spring?

In like a lion...

out like a lamb.  Hopefully.  It's March first, and the first day of making healthier choices for the next 4 months.  Our whole family will be "spring cleaning", not only our home, but our minds, bodies, and attitudes as well.  We're all ready to be a little healthier.

The girls signed up for the walking school bus.  The program was supposed to start back up today, but the weather guidelines are pushing that start up back a little further.  We decided to walk anyway, which was fun and refreshing.  Until they started complaining about frozen hands and legs that wouldn't take them any further.  Then, while the crossing guard was helping us cross the street right before we hit school property, Lilly spilled her smoothie.  On her coat.  On her fleece jacket.  On her jeans.  And on her lunchbox.  yeah.  That was fun.  But it will be fun.  It will.  We'll get there.

I also decided that it was high time that I lost this baby weight for good!  My youngest baby is 6.  And a half.  It's time.  My goal is to lose 20 pounds in 4 months.  I am going to do this not by counting calories and being a slave to fitness, but by cooking my meals and using common sense.  The family will benefit from all the healthy home cooked yumminess too!  I will be walking every morning before work and school.  On my days off I'll do a workout video until the weather gets nice, and then I'll have much more options for exercise.  I will listen to my body when it is full.  When I feel an emotional eating binge coming on strong I will pause, practice deep breathing, and treat myself in a healthy way (like buying myself an unsweet tea instead of a box of hostess cupcakes).  I will treat myself like you would a child when it comes to eating.....small portions, lots of fruits and vegetables, hardly any processed junk, and a homemade cookie once an a while.  I will work harder to keep a clean house, which will minimize couch time.  After the 4 months is up, I'll probably continue to lose a few more pounds, tighten up the muscles, and work towards my dream body.  Well not my real dream body, but my near 30 had 2 kids body.

What I ate today:

•  1 c yoplait strawberry banana smoothie (found in the freezer section)
•  4 colby jack cheese cubes
•  2 two bite everthing bagel with cream cheese leftovers from the girls
•  chicken lunch meat on wheat bread with mustard 
•  apple slices
•  1/2 bag of m&m's (nobody's perfect)
•  a slice of french bread
•  beans & rice
•  1/2 c orange juice
•  1/2 baked peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

 

Roasted Peach Crisp

adapted from Cook Yourself Thin

2 peaches halved and pitted

honey

1 large egg white

2 pinches brown sugar

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

dash of salt

1/4 c smashed up almonds

1/3 c instant oats

Preheat oven to 425.

Place peaches face up in glass baking dish.  Drizzle honey on top.  Put a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the pan.  Cook peaches for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, mix the other ingredients in a bowl, then spread out on a small baking dish.  Place alongside peaches for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

Break up cobbler and place over peaches, and of course top with vanilla ice cream. 

What did you eat today?

Lock Down French Toast

Ok. So I decided to declare Sundays French Toast Day.  My boyfriend LOVES french toast (sometimes more than me), and I love him so......I dug out and dusted off my Bitchin Kitchen cookbook and found this recipe for Lock Down French Toast and it looked simple enough, so I gave it a try.  The verdict- it may just become a once a week staple in our house.

The cookbook calles for a vanilla bean.  Let me just tell you that vanilla beans are expensive, and extremely hard to find.  I ended up paying $5 for 2 beans at Hy-Vee.  Sheesh!  But vanilla beans are really fun to work with (to get the beans out cut your vanilla bean lengthwise.  Scrape seeds out with your knife.  They look like coffee grounds and are really sticky so they clump together. Mix well to distribute in your mixture) , they smell amazing, and add great flavor so it was worth it.  They also add pretty homemade like flecks to the french toast.  My heart sank a little when I threw out the first empty vanilla bean shell ( 5 bucks, are you kidding me?!), so I googled things to do with an empty vanilla bean shell and I came up with this:  Vanilla Sugar.  Who wouldn't appreciate vanilla flavored sugar?!  And it's super easy to make.  Here's what you do.........

Vanilla Sugar

1 vanilla bean

2 cups of sugar

Dry empty vanilla bean shell on windowsill overnight.  Place sugar and vanilla bean in an airtight container.  Seal up and give it a good shake.  Put sugar container in a dark cupboard for 2 weeks, shaking occasionally.  Discard vanilla bean after the 2 weeks are up and voila!  Vanilla Sugar.

promises, promises.

Months before I got my promise ring, I've been daydreaming of getting married.  I can't help it!  I am so in love with the boy, and I am also in love with the idea of getting and being married.  This Valentines Day my sweetie gave me a thoughtful bouquet with roses, lilies, and daisies in it.  But the real present was a big sparkly promise ring!  I'm always scared when people buy me jewelry, because I'm afraid it will be hideous and I'll be forced to wear it all the time.  But Mr. Keelan Cy is really good at picking out jewelry.  I told Daisy that I'm going to wear it on my ring finger and pretend that I'm already married.  She started giggling, but guess what?  It's still on my ring finger.  And to indulge my fantasy further, I've been strolling around the web looking at wedding blogs.  My favorite so far is this awesome circus inspired wedding I saw on OnceWed!

My idea of a perfect wedding would be....

• small, eco-friendlyish, inexpensive
• outdoors
• colorful pendants
• bubbles, confetti, glitter, sparklers
• Chinese lanterns
• lollipops (the big swirly kind)
• balloons
• comic book/circus themed!
• un-traditional dress
• cupcakes
• candlelight
• bbq
• a kissing booth
• a photo booth 
• lots of candy
• cotton candy & popcorn machines
• as many homemade elements as possible
• 100% customized playlist
• lots of cheap beer and wine
• board games and disposable cameras on tables
• picnic blankets
• a projector playing Iron Man!  (our first date)
• a little homemade fireworks display

too much?

homemade peppermint patties

York Peppermint Patties are one of my favorite candies.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I found this recipe for them to make at home!  I'm definitely going to try these soon!!

carrot cake whoopie pies

recipe here.  your welcome.

:)

go bananas!

I've been wanting to make a "healthy" cookie for a while now. So I did a little research on sugar and fat substitutions, and thought about which extra healthy add-ins would work well together. Then I typed in some key ingredients into Google image search (the best way to filter recipes because you can judge them based on looks) and found this recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. It sounded fabulous so I altered it with my own spin, and they are absolutely amazing! The only problem is, they aren't cookies. Nope. They're muffin tops. But they're still amazing. And Healthy.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies Muffin Tops

2 1/4 C flour
1/2 C oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp wheat germ
1/2 C applesauce
3/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 mashed ripe bananas
2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 C walnuts

*preheat oven to 350

Mix applesauce and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer. Add in eggs one at a time. Add in mashed banana. In seperate bowl mix dry ingredients. Add dry mixture to wet mixture in small doses. I know the batter looks runny, but it will be fine. Mix in your chocolate chips and walnuts. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. This step is very important, as they will stick to the pan. :) Drop your muffin tops onto cookie sheet spacing evenly. You don't have to worry about them expanding...they won't. That being said, if you slop them onto the pan they will look sloppy. Bake for 7 minutes. They will look like cookies, but taste like muffiny goodness. I can't tell you how many this recipe yeilds, as we already ate too many to count. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

it's bananas. b-a-n-a-n-a-s.