Homemade Chocolate Lara Bars

 I love Lara bars... or at least the chocolate peanut butter lara bars--- how can you not?   I especially love what Lara bars are made of ...  and while I'd never actually had a plain old chocolate lara bar,  when I saw this one on pinterest, and saw that it would take like five minutes, I knew I had to try it.

And I am obsessed.

I decided to throw some oats into the second half of the mixture to see if it turned out anything like these chocolate oat bars I used to eat when I worked at Good Earth in Provo a million years ago.  I'm sure they're not as good as I remember.... but they're one of those memories on a pedestal.  Anyway, that's what the little balls are.  I thought they'd be an easy little bite-sized treat.  They were good--- but they're better withOUT the oats.  And so easy.  Especially if you have a huge thing of dates in your fridge from Costco that you were already worried you weren't going to get through....

Anyway-- here's the recipe:

• 1 cup walnuts 
• 1 and 1/3 cups pitted dates 
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3-4 T cocoa powder- (I did 4)
• optional: a pinch of salt
• optional: chocolate chips or even a piece of a chocolate bar or baking chocolate (of course I did, I used mini chocolate chips because they were handy and oh so cute.)

Blend all the ingredients, using a food processor, Magic Bullet, etc. (No need to blend the dates first; I just blend everything all at once in my MB. Form into bars. It might help to put dough in a plastic bag and close the bag, then shape into a bar. (Feel free to experiment with different nut combinations. I often sub almonds or cashews for some of the walnuts.)

Just felt like I should share.  I'm hoping maybe just maybe it could replace my most recent cookie dough problem. ... maybe.

It's all about the presentation

I've always struggled with regular family dinners where we all eat at the same time. My kids are starving and begging for dinner at like 5, and Ross is home and ready for dinner by 6-- at best. I can't figure out how to make it happen! It works out sometimes, but it's hit and miss, and I'm not creating that regular conversation-around-the-dinner-table setting that I've always planned. Everyone's remedy is to give them a snack before... but in my mind, that meant I was busy and letting them fill up on crackers (bleh) before dinner. Not the goal.

So I was having this conversation with a friend the other day and she said the rule in her house is just fruits and veggies after 4... 'till dinner. I like it.

But will they? That's the question.

No. That's the answer. ( I think to myself.)

I'll have a revolt.

Can I handle a revolt in the middle of the 4:30 -6:30 night-time rush?

Mmm... I'm thinking not. I'm weak.

But then she recommended the cupcake tin. A fun way to make your own veggie (fruit.. and whatever else is healthy enough to feel ok about before dinner) tray. Put it outside for a picnic and you're pretty much mother of the year.

Beat them to their out-of their-minds hunger craze and they don't even know that what they really wanted was a baggie-o-empty-calories.

A Real Live Layered Cake

My mom can do just about anything in the kitchen. But by the time I was old enough to be learning in the kitchen... she was BUSY--- with 6 kids and a full time job, and realized that we didn't appreciate things like layered cakes... so cakes were out of 9x13's. And our favorite was covered in chocolate chips that firmed up instead of frosting. We kept it simple. So I still remember when Lizzie taught me that a cake pan in her vocabulary, was a round pan, and what I used, was a brownie pan. I got myself a couple of them and have used them a handful of times in the past few years.

But the apple doesn't fall too far, and usually, I'm not sure it's worth the effort, especially since I don't really love cake. I mean with all of the cookie-ish things out there filled with butter and vanilla and maybe sprinkled with salt? mmm mmm.

Ross however, LOVES this coconut cake that our good friend Brooke bakes for a local restaurant. And I couldn't just throw it in a "brownie" pan after he'd seen her lovely layered version so many times. And it WAS his birthday. (whoo whoo!)

So I took a picture.

And gave it a whole post.

Because I'm that proud.

And that makes it a little more worth dirtying two pans and a cake stand.

Green Smoothie

(Meet Mila's morning hair. Poor girl-- I should invest in a 'bump it'.)

Lizzie made some green smoothies for my girls forever ago... and they loved them. I was thrilled about it, as veggies have seemed to find their way out of their diets these days :/...and I was determined to sneak all sorts of leafy greens in their diet back at home. Sadly, I could never seem to replicate it, and my girls wouldn't go for them at home. Now I'm thinking maybe it's because my ten dollar oster blender that we got for our wedding almost 9 years ago just wasn't getting the job done... and chewing the spinach wasn't really going over well.

Well--- a few months ago, we got the blendtech from Costco (Ross was drawn in every time the vitamix or blendtech did a presentation and finally bit the bullet) and I'm (kind of sad to say because they're so expensive) that it makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE in the world to our smoothies! Green smoothies are back and better than ever 'round here. Felt like I should spread the wealth.

Ooh-- and I threw some dates in this one (which is why you see some specks in the glass). It let a few tiny chewy chunks which might sound weird. But I kind of loved. Reminded me of mochi.

My latest lunch obsession

It's kind of like pear and arugula pizza... one of my favorites. But apples instead of pears... and bread instead of crust... and cheddar instead of gorgonzola ...

whatever -- it takes five minutes and it's delicious.

It's that time of year

Spare time has been hard to come by this Christmas season, but baking has been a priority. It's like icecream. There's always room.

I've decided that it's important because...

a: it feeds my children... and homemade wheat bread almost balances out the endless batches of cookies and candy--

b: it serves as gifts... and homemade gifts are the best.

c. the bread makes my house smell like heaven and I like the smell of Heaven.

d: it's thereputic for me, and calms my racing mind, which means it's worth the time... even when I'm waiting 'till midnight for my bread to come out of the oven.

One of the gift-treats we made for a few neighbors this year.... almond roca.

I love almond Roca, or toffee... whatever you like to call it because it feels so special and Christmasy to me... but it's really so easy and so quick. The hardest thing is just that you could really use a candy thermometer for it... and I'd imagine not everyone has one on hand. I do. nana na na na.

My friend, Lizzie taught me how to make this a lots of years ago when we had much fewer children between the two of us and could play all day in the kitchen.

1 lb butter

3 c. sugar

2/3 c. water

3 c. almonds (toasted and chopped up)

3 c. milk chocolate chips (I use the pound plus bar from Trader Joes chopped up... SO much better than chocolate chips... any good quality chocolate will do.)

In pot: add water, add butter and sugar, cook to 320 degrees. It's pretty mellow in the beginning, but stir pretty regularly (I should say that, but I walk away a lot during this part) When it hits the high 200's, it's getting really hot and needs constant stirring until you reach 320.

Have cookie sheet ready with sides greased and 1.5 cups almonds sprinkled on pan.

At 320, immediately pour mixture on pan.

Sprinkle with 3 cups of milk chocolate and let it sit till it melts, (it happens quickly) then spread around.

Sprinkle with remaining 1.5 cups of almonds. Let cool. (I cheat and pop it in the freezer to harden the chocolate when I'm in a hurry.)

Another recent obsession. I can't stop making bread.

I feel like I sound like a robot--- can you tell I'm in a hurry?

Oh and Lizzie gave me this recipe too.... I guess this is a what-would-I-make-if-I-didn't-have-Lizzie? post too.

Lizzie's Whole Wheat Bread

3 1/3 C hot water

1.5 T yeast

1/3 C honey

1/3 C butter

1 T salt

1 C flour

1/2 C wheat gluten

1 C oat flour (or grind up oatmeal in your blender- I don't always have this handy and just substitute white or wheat flour)

7 C whole wheat flour (I use hard white wheat, and I usually only need about 6 total.)*

Mix water, honey yeast. Let proof. Add white flour, oat flour, gluten and half of the whole wheat flour. Mix. Add salt and butter/oil. Mix. Add the rest of the flour until it barely cleans the upper half of the bowl when mixer is running. (this is much more important than getting all 7 cups of wheat flour in. It could take much less.)

Knead for 10 minutes in mixer. Dough should be smooth and elastic, but sticky. Let rest 10-20 minutes. Set oven to 170 degrees. Spray Pam on your hands and shape into 2 loaves. Put in oven and immediately turn OFF oven. Let rise in oven for 22 minutes then turn oven to 350 degrees and cook 28-30 minutes. Immediately turn out onto cooling racks.

*The amount of whole wheat flour you use will just depend on how dry your wheat kernels are and how humid it is where you live.

You're welcome.

My dinner-group meal this week

We do a lot of easy meals with ground turkey. Costco sells this kind and we love it. Not too turkey-y, not too fatty. Not too pricey--- at Costco at least.

Anyway... this is a staple of ours. I have a thing for a small burger. Or should I say multiple small burgers. There's nothing that bothers me more than when you get a HUGE potato bun or something at a BBQ, but their patties have shrunk up so they leave like a half inch ring of meatless bun around the edge. No thanks. Somehow if I make my patties the size I feel like they should be, they always seem to fit much better on a little bun. Even when you think they're too big for the little bun. Even better. My favorite bun is some kind of little kaiser roll, toasted. Even better if they're a dollar in the day-old section like these. Once toasted, good as new.

I've never tried a real recipe for burgers... and I'm sure I always break all the rules. Since really I just shape 'em and sprinkle them with a bunch of whatever. But since this was dinner group, I tried to put more thought into it and while I still have no idea how much of anything I put, here's what I put.

- A bunch of ground turkey thawed and dumped in a bowl

- Many splashes of worcestershire. Holy cow, I just made Ross peek in the fridge to spell that right. That is wild. A whole syllable longer than I thought. Again--- many splashes.

- A bunch of coarse salt.

- A bunch of garlic salt.

- A handful of chopped fresh parsley.

- One egg white (I've found my turkey patties to be pretty fragile and didn't want them too fragile for dinner group. I think it helped.

Stir it all together and form little patties. Grill on grill-pan or BBQ for just a few minutes per side.

I could grab almost every veggie in the produce section and pile it on top if someone chopped it for me. I LOVE toppings. This is what we did this time:

-grilled onions

-raw red onions

-fresh jalapeno

- tomatoes

-lettuce

- turkey bacon

-avocado

-cheddar cheese

P.S. Since Monday, we've stayed up too late and slept in too long (well maybe just me) and certainly formed some new tan lines. Summer's feeling SO good so far.

As a thank you for Sophia's teachers

...we did some homemade bread and almond butter. I was desperate to try and make my own almond butter after seeing it on Sheena's blog AND getting my first real food processor. It felt like magic to me, watching them go from nuts to creamy butter. I LOVE almond butter.

I used Lizzie's yummy whole-wheat bread recipe... For almost as long as I've known her (8 years?) I've searched her kitchen for some of her homemade bread when I'm at her house. I was always way too intimidated to make it myself, especially because the recipe was so huge. But I finally remembered how to divide by two and went for it.

I'd link you to her blog but she shut it down. A sad day. :) Here it is copied in.

I love how she has it down to such a science so there's not much waiting... it feels so much quicker than most bread. And you don't need a bread machine.

Lizzie’s Whole Wheat Bread

6 2/3 C hot water

3 T yeast

2/3 C honey

2/3 C butter (I use olive oil because Tanner and Kate can't eat dairy)

2 T salt

2 C flour

1/2 C wheat gluten

2 C oat flour (or grind up oatmeal in your blender)

14-16 C whole wheat flour (we use half hard red wheat and half hard white wheat)

Mix water, honey yeast. Let proof. Add white flour, oat flour, gluten and half of the whole wheat flour. Mix. Add salt and butter/oil. Mix. Add the rest of the flour until it barely cleans the upper half of the bowl when mixer is running. Knead for 10 minutes in mixer. Dough should be smooth and elastic, but sticky. Let rest 10-20 minutes. Set oven to 170 degrees. Spray Pam on your hands and shape into 4 loaves. Put in oven and immediately turn OFF oven. Let rise in oven for 22 minutes then turn oven to 350 degrees and cook 28-30 minutes. Immediately turn out onto cooling racks.

*The amount of whole wheat flour you use will just depend on how dry your wheat kernels are and how humid it is where you live. For example, here in California I add almost a full 2 cups LESS than my Mom does in Oregon because it is a lot drier here.

*This batch is made in a Bosch. If you have a Kitchen Aid, halve the recipe. If you don't have a mixer, ask my Mom how to do it by hand.

BREAD

I remember when carbs first became evil back in high school. I mean for the first time in MY memory. I know Atkins came out years before, (which to me, sounds like the worst diet in the world, thank you.) But it was back--- my mom read "The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet" and relayed some of it to us and I remember it being SO new and strange to me that bread and cereal and all of these 'fat free' things could be trouble. what? Remember when they were all getting fat off of fat-free yogurt on Seinfeld? Good thing it's just TV. I thought.

Now it's just this known thing. And while I don't have any intention of cutting grains out of my life EVER, and sort of think it should be illegal to... I'm pretty sure they don't HELP with the post-baby goals.

I wish I could go back in time. Before I ever knew that. Because all I want to eat right now is this bread. And not sliced thinly with an egg white and tomato. I want it thick, with butter and jam. A lot of butter. And then I can't decide if I want just butter or butter with jam, so I have one of each. Thanks a bunch Sheena.

Ross got me a wheat grinder for Mother's Day... 2010

So it took me a whole year to use it. But there really was something amazing about grinding my own wheat to make bread. I felt oh so domestic. And I could just taste the extra vitamins in our bread. I think they cancel out the carbs. Or something like that.

Now I'll just need a little practice in rising so it doesn't fall like this every time. Are you embarrassed for me that I photographed it anyway?

Got back in town from a quick over-nighter to Newport last night with the kids. We got a room at the Hyatt on Priceline for super cheap and it just felt so good to get out of town. We kept looking at each other, shaking our heads, wondering why we don't do it more often.

The girls were in heaven... "all of us, as a family, in ONE room! I won't even be scared!" Mila must have said that a million times. Finn didn't sleep great, but I'm not sure if that was the hotel, or the fact that he's rolling over in his crib now and waking himself up. I'm hoping he learns to get cozy on his belly soon.

Of course I'll have to post a few photos soon. Happy Memorial Day!

Brown Rice Salad

We call it Brown Rice Salad? But there's no greens... so it's more like a burrito bowl? Only the pork is BBQ, which makes it... well I don't know, we just like to call it a salad so we feel better. Fine, put greens if you like.

It's some sort of adaption from some "salad" Lizzie had forever ago at some health food store. It's one of those things where you pretty much pile on anything that sounds good. Like a salad. Maybe that's why we call it a salad. A recipe? I'll try:

1 Pork tenderloin

Brown Rice (we use one pouch of TJ's frozen)

2 cups or so of frozen sweet corn

1 onion, chopped

2 cups ketchup

2 cups brown sugar

2 tbs liquid smoke

1 avocado

2 tomatoes

cheese

cilantro

diced fresh jalapenos

Anyway, here's what I do.

-Cook some of that really lean white pork. Tenderloin I think? I get it from Costco... 5-7 hours or so in the crock pot. Adding in the BBQ sauce for the last hour or so after shredding your meat.

- Make the BBQ sauce which is 2 cups ketchup, 2 cups brown sugar, and 2tbs liquid smoke. Stir it up. (I always wonder if it really needs that much sugar, if you experiment, let me know if it's still yummy with less chance of diabetes.)

- Like I said above, when the meat is tender and shreds super easy with a fork, shred it. Then dump sauce in and cook for another hour or more.

or less--- probably doesn't matter much. :)

- Cook brown rice (or snip off the corner of Trader Joes precooked frozen brown rice and microwave it for 3 minutes like I do, or their new blend of brown, red, and barley. Yum.)

-Saute your minced onions in some olive oil until their translucent, and then add in a bunch of frozen sweet corn and saute? steam? I don't know, I stir, put the lid on, take it off.... whatever, 'till it's warm. Salt and pepper a little.

- Top rice with corn, shredded BBQ pork, tomatoes, chunks of cheese (the chunks are important to Ross, he doesn't think grated is the same), avocado, cilantro, jalapeno.... and really, anything else that sounds yummy to you.

And start a dinner group. We also got to eat salmon tacos and Sesame noodles with broccoli and chicken this week. yuuuum.

Oh wow-- Scotty Mcreerie just won American Idol out of the corner of my eye. He's cute, I'm a fan, and really happy for him. But I sort of stopped caring who won after Casey went home. I'm just glad he was there tonight---- best part of the show by far.

Dinner Group

Still loving it. And for whatever reason, still feel the need to convince someone to start one. Is it working Sarah???

Last week for me: Chicken Fajitas. This is one of those meals I've made a million times with no recipe-- but dinner group inspired me to find one. I found a fajita salad recipe that looked yummy... so I just used a portion of the recipe for a marinade for my chicken. I chopped up my chicken ahead of time though, unlike the recipe. I loved it. Next time I want to make the salad with the cilantro lime vinaigrette... since those three words together are heaven for me. Seriously, I think I'm the only person I know who doesn't get the creamy dressing at Cafe Rio.

So each of us got a bag of marinating, raw, sliced chicken, sliced peppers and onions, tortillas, grated cheese, some sour cream in little tupperware (lite, if you care- or if you're sick of hearing me complain about baby weight whilst posting about sour cream and cheese), chopped cilantro, a lime, tomato, and an avocado. I put a little direction on top of the container for how they're to cook up their meat and veggies when they're ready and voila!

Lizzie did a delicious green salad with pasta, chicken, artichoke hearts, grapes and more...

Julie did a healthy turkey meatloaf.

And there's always yummy left overs so I don't have to eat crusts off of every body's peanut butter sandwiches for lunch anymore.

Ok so maybe I have an unhealthy love of food and food-related happiness. Ross has always been shocked how food can make me SOOO happy. But if I'm wanting something and come home and it's all gone (for example), it can seriously, seriously bum me out. This probably hasn't happened since college since my sweet husband refuses to finish off anything for this very reason. I find halves of cupcakes and cookies left behind for me. with love. :)

BUT, I love dinner group.

When something makes you happy you want to share! It's just like the gospel. ;)

Just don't share it like this guy. Anybody see this? I respect sharing and teaching since we do a lot of that in my church, but I'm just not sure what good it does when you can see the contention brewing. Doesn't that defeat the purpose? I think he should have been kind when the security guy asked him to leave. I'm just sayin'.

FOOOOOOOD

Steak Skewers

This is the recipe I'm trying this week for dinner group. They're ready to throw on the grill with that yummy herb sauce. I'm hopeful. I did a few chicken too, and some corn sauteed with shallots and basil as a side.

Ham, cheese, onion, and spinach frittata

We made this frittata for brunch (I only use a word as fancy as brunch because we didn't eat 'till like 10 and I dared to add salad) on Saturday. Or day one of conference. It's just eggs, some cheddar and ham on the girls half, and sauteed onions and spinach added into ours. I cooked it in my pan 'till the bottom set, then stuck it in the oven on broil for like 10 minutes.

Papa's Loaf

And this was breakfast Sunday. This is my most memorable conference weekend breakfast growing up. I wish I'd gotten a better photo of it. It looks a little less appetizing than I'd like. We called it Papa's Loaf, because my "papa" made it. He was from Argentina (step-grandpa technically) and I think it was something traditional for him... either way... I LOVE it... it's pure nostalgia for me... and not an exact recipe.

Sourdough round cut in half with most of the inside bread ripped out.

9 eggs whisked with 1/2 to 1 cup parmesan cheese, some salt and pepper, and some chopped parsley for the pretty. Was I supposed to put garlic mom? Something may have been missing...

Cook it in a pan letting the bottom set, then tipping your pan to let the runny eggs fall to the bottom until the whole thing is cooked in one round loaf.

Line each side of sourdough round with lots of grated cheddar cheese and a layer or two of ham.

Put egg loaf in the middle

Cook in oven at like 400 for 20-30 minutes. Throw some foil over the top if you don't like your bread too crispy.

Slice and serve.

I love food.

Dinner Group

It's long, you'll figure out soon if it's worth your time reading or not. :)

For the past 5 or 6 weeks, I've been part of a dinner group where we exchange meals at the beginning of each week. Less cooking, fewer dishes, more time, more food, DEFINITELY more dinners around the table as a family. I'm LOVING it. So I thought I'd share. Just in case you have a couple of friends who have busy mommy-lives like you and want to join forces.

There are three of us in it, so you have three meals for the week. This usually seems to be more than enough since there's always at least one night that's too crazy for a conventional dinner anyway, and we like to eat out or do something weekendy on the weekends. :) And there's certainly left-overs to squeeze in if you need them.

We started out by all purchasing the exact same Pyrex containers. Julie, who'd done this before, insists on a specific one that's sold at Kohl's? I'm sure it's sold somewhere else, but I made my first trip to Kohl's to get mine, and I do love them. They're the perfect size for our 4-adult portion size, and having matching containers in your fridge stacked atop each other makes you feel SO much more organized than a balancing act of mismatched Tupperware. I have both of course. But I love my clean tower of three. They have blue lids that say Pyrex, Storage Plus, 7212-PC. Just in case, by the end of my rant, you are convinced.

We exchange on Monday nights at 5pm. Alternating houses each month. We text each other the Saturday before with what we plan to cook. Making a point to mix it up between red meat, chicken or pork, and seafood. So no two things are too similar. Only one main-dish-salad, so we can plan to eat it the first night while it's fresh. etc... You choose what you'll cook, destroy your kitchen Monday while cooking a triple batch of whatever it is (which is NOT that much harder than making a single batch), and then sit back, relax and have dinner with a clean kitchen for the rest of the week.

Usually the bulk of the food fits in the Pyrex container and we add on a grocery bag of any sides or toppings in zip locks. A couple of weeks ago I did a Spinach Asian Chicken Salad, for instance. I had the Pyrex full of a zip lock of each: craisins, parmesan, shredded chicken, chopped green onions, chopped parsley, toasted sesame seeds, mandarin oranges, and peanuts. Separately, I had a bag of marinated pasta and a bag of spinach. Whatever night you choose to eat the salad you just open all of your baggies, empty in a big bowl and TOSS. What I've found that's so wonderful too, is that--- if I had made this salad just for my family, I would have thoughtlessly tossed it all and had to dump the left-overs. But this way I've bagged everything separately for myself too, so we've got the fixings for a fresh salad days later! :) Can you tell I'm loving it?

So, Lizzie has been doing this for over a year and tried to convince me to do it when she started and I thought it wasn't for me. I like to control what I eat. Theoretically :) I want to eat healthy, (so I can save room for a silly amount of treats and maintain my fertile figure... fertile meaning i-just-HAD-a-baby-can-you-tell?) I certainly want to eat fresh food, and it sounded to me like I'd be eating a bunch of left-overs or casseroles. blah. How many foods can fit in one dish?

But after noticing the kinds of foods she had left in her fridge from dinner group.... my interest was peaked. So when they had a "member" drop out at the beginning of the year and Lizzie mentioned it again, I thought I'd give it a try. And now I'm so sold.

I did try my best to make one-dish-meals for the first couple of weeks, trying to figure it out. I did the chicken noodle soup in the pictures above, this yummy cooking light enchilada recipe, some tortilla soup.... tonight I did turkey chili. But we've also done lots of things you wouldn't think would fit in a casserole dish. Just to give you an idea: (because if you're still reading, you might actually be in to this sort of thing and not just think I'm crazy for going on and on about it).

A Few things we've eaten so far:

Pork tacos

tilapia and rice

thai shrimp salad

marinated flank steak

healthy breaded chicken (breaded in nuts and herbs... no bread, yum Liz)

Light chicken parmesan (breaded in whole wheat crumbs)

Taco salad

Zucchini pizza

Pear and gorgonzola pizza with arugula

... and other yummy salads

AND MORE! Mooohahahaha

If it's shredded pork, or meat in a soup etc... it's cooked.

If it's marinated or breaded chicken breast or meat, or fish, it's raw and ready to stick in the oven with directions taped atop the Pyrex I've been paid to advertise for. (kidding.) But don't worry, you're not eating reheated chicken breast. barf.

We supplement fruits and veggies if it's a meal that didn't come with plenty, especially for the kids. But this is the other thing I'm LOVING. My kids are EATING WITH US! I have felt like a failure as a mom wondering when that day would come. I've heard plenty of moms say how they only offer their kids what they're eating as a family. And if they don't eat it, they don't eat. I applaud them if it works... but I haven't been able to do it myself. With MY kids, it felt like one of those wins that wouldn't really feel like a win. Hungry nights and cranky kids etc..

But I think half of my problem wasn't WHAT we were eating, but that I was never really ready to serve a real dinner when they were hungry. So I'd pull out the pesto pasta I made at the beginning of the week and reheat it for them--- chop up but another apple. Then Ross and I would eat OUR meal when he got home. I'd heard the stats, I knew it was important for a family to eat TOGETHER. I just hoped we'd get around to it before it really mattered.

SO--- we're certainly still a work in progress. But my point is, I'm just excited about this dinner group because it makes it that much easier for me to have dinner ready to go each night at a consistent time, so we can sit down together around a table and eat it. I think I was always in such a hurry throwing something together before, that I didn't want to waste my time seeing if my kids would eat it--- so I'd give them their kiddie food before.

Don't get me wrong, my kids don't live on corn dogs and chicken nuggets (though my babysitters might disagree). But they had their fair share. And I've been shocked at how well they've done on fish and brown rice, tacos, soups... etc... when it's an all-together experience. I'm thrilled. Call me old fashioned, but it just feels like the way dinner's supposed to be. One of those things that seems like maybe it shouldn't matter, but it makes me feel like I've had some success as a mom.

Sitting around the table tonight, all of us with a bowl of chili and salad in front of us, Sophia thanking Heavenly Father in her blessing for "this WONDERFUL dinner that mommy made for us"... (it's a new line I've heard only since we've been sitting together), still with daylight left afterwards for some wild trampoline play (half of the springs are gone and they love it more than ever because they can jump and slide off over and over again since there's only tension on half of it). Then I clean up the 6 or so dishes from dinner listening to the most dramatic girls in the world yell "this is aMAZING.... BEST TRAMPOLINE EVER!!!" over and over again--- and I'm just feeling so grateful.

So start a dinner group.

I saw her cake a few months ago and filed it away in the archives of my mind to pull it out when I was out of the first trimester FUNK and back in the

baking world.

I hate it when blogger cuts off my titles… who said a title has to be short. Stephanie Meyer, I applaud you for the mouthful you decided on for your new little book. Anyone read it yet? The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. I think that's it. I usually forget and end up closer to The Short, Unfortunate, No Good, Very Bad Second Life of Bree Tanner. Too many kid's books.

Anyway, the book? It's good. Quick and a bit predictable ;) , seeing as we already know her fate. But so fun to get a little bit of a vampire fix for those of us who don't read books over again. It actually made me want to start (reading them over again.) But let's not get carried away.

Anyway, back to the title, and another thing that is GOOOOD. This is Sheena's, from The Little Red House: This makes me think I should put a little almond extract in EVERYTHING from now on.

Chocolate Cake with Almond Buttercream Frosting and Toasted Coconut

yum.

Copied in from Sheena's blog:

1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 c butter

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c (or a couple good globs:) of mayonnaise. yup. get over it.

1 tsp pure almond extract

1 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

*this is my grandmas chocolate cake recipe.....be good to it:)

Mix together: 1 cup boiling water and cocoa. Set aside. (I also threw in a handful of semi sweet chocolate chips because I would have eaten them otherwise.....that part is optional!)

Mix flour, soda, and salt together, set aside.

Cream together in large bowl: butter, sugar. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. mix in mayo.

Add almond extract.

Add the cocoa/hot water mixture and beat for 2 minutes.

Add the dry ingredients, and stir just until mixed.

Pour into greased round pans.

Bake 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Don't forget to cool them on wire racks or they will stick to the pan and fall apart into pieces when you try to take them out, forcing you to glue them back together with a sloppy frosting job. Not that I know that from experience or anything.

Almond Buttercream

10 TBS butter, room temp

5 c powdered sugar

4-6 TBS milk

1 tsp pure almond extract (a little more or less to taste)

Cream together.

Toasted Coconut

Heat oven to 475°. Place 2 cups of sweetened coconut onto parchment lined baking pan. Place in oven and watch closely, turning coconut over as needed. 10-15 minutes.

It's hard for me to EVER make a cake instead of cupcakes, since then there's no way to sample it before your big reveal. I can't even make it home with a whole hot pizza. Another one of my very feminine idiosyncrasies. Ross is used to opening a box with a missing triangle. You can imagine the challenge of frosting a big beautiful cake just to "save it for later".

Psshh--- saving it for later, so over-rated.

It seems Mila is after my heart, she would like whatever you'll agree to, NOW, and two of them please. And if you don't agree to it, there are consequences.

Sophia however, has somehow learned this little strength of her father's. Have you ever heard of that study, where they take a bunch of 4 year olds and give them some m&m's and tell them they can eat them now, or they can wait a little while, and they'll be given MORE m&m's?

Well we've always joked that Ross would TOTALLY wait. And I would most definitely eat all of mine, and probably find a way to swindle some of my neighbor's. Well Sophia is SOOO her father. She begged for nothing more than a big lolli-pop for Christmas. Then she takes a few sucks and hands it back to us to "save it for later". She does the same thing with a tootsie pop from church. She rarely makes it through a whole dum dum. And if she ever gets two of something-- anything, she's LEAPING at the chance to hand one over to Mila. If we bake treats, she asks if she can eat some "healthy food first" and then have one cookie, "but only one--- then maybe one tomorrow?". She likes rules--- she's obedient and definitely has some grip on delayed gratification. She's too good for me. This girl brings me so much joy right now.

I, however, still don't have a grip on delayed gratification. And I'm fairly certain that the end of that study said that the kids who waited, grew up to be more successful overall in life. :)

Good thing I paired up with Ross. I'll be alright. We'll work on you, Mila.

Anyway--- off to have another cupcake. The few rules I MIGHT live by certainly don't apply while I'm pregnant, afterall.

P.S. I finished that last shoot--- check out the photo blog if you want to see one of the most perfect looking little families there ever was.

Sunday baking

There's a constant battle in my mind over baking. I LOVE to bake. And I'm sure I'll never stop or anything, so I guess it's not so much a battle…. just little debate in my head over whether to feel good… or guilty.

There's nothing more homey, or comforting to me than the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies or homemade bread. I still remember one of the most magical things to me as a kid (besides the foil pouches full of juice I got at soccer games (capri suns) ) was that moment where you stir the chocolate chips in to the dough and it just-- looks--- like--- heaven. We always got one big spoonful before the cookies were baked. As we got older, we snuck lots more.

However, while looking through old photos for good ones of my dad, I've been forced to realize that all of the spoonfuls of cookie dough seemed to have left a little bit of residue…. on my cheeks, my arms, my thighs…. a little bit everywhere really. I think I must have fluctuated 20 pounds through high school and I never had a clue. I felt perfectly lovely.

I WISH I could enjoy that sort of oblivion now, but I'm convinced that once you've had a baby and you look back at the pictures of your blown-up pregnant body, you hear the record screech--- and the curtain's been lifted. You know too much. You can never again blissfully munch your way to an extra 15 pounds with the pleasure of not noticing.

Oh no--- your body tells you--- I remember this feeling, and last time it left me looking like a Dr. Suess character. (Ok… I stole that from Mad About You I think? Is that right Sarah?) But isn't she spot on? It's like all of my proportions turned upside down after babes. Which just means that every extra pound I do accrue doesn't find it's way to those curves we can justify as womanly… oh no, mine all join forces to give me extra manly curves, like the ones we so tenderly call, muffin tops, or the belly of a drinker.

But my point is. This does not come CLOSE to stopping me. I love my treats. I love the smell and feel of homemade goodies. And I know that as long as all things are in moderation, life is good. But there are those times when I feel so much admiration for a health NUT. Like a full-on NUT. I don't like the ones that obsess outwardly about it. And talk to you like if you're starving and snacking on your kid's gold-fish you must think that refined sugars and starch are good for you. But the ones who eat so clean and pure, you know they must feel like an Olympic athlete all the time--- I have so much respect--- I think there's something to it.

And this is when I wish I didn't feel a warming of my SOUL through baking. :) The garbage on grocery store shelves, we can live without (when we're not lazy), but the clicking of the gas in the oven and the smell of butter and sugar (since that's all that REALLY matters) browning… I think it's here to stay.

And SO, so is my muffin top.

I'm so glad I've resolved this through this post. Ross, I hope you're ok with my decision.

Another thing we did this weekend...

I've been wanting to try this Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie recipe since I saw it on Sheena's blog a while back--- guess it took the 5k to inspire me to skip my usual choc-chip-cookie recipe that calls for a pound of butter and 6 cups of white flour (I'm not kidding) and try something a little healthier.

And YUM--- they were a hit. Even Ross loved them, and he's usually weirded out a little when a treat tries to be healthy-ish. Wanna make 'em? Here's the recipe I copied from Sheena's blog.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix pb and brown sugar in mixer on medium speed until nice and blended (around 3 minutes)

Add eggs. Mix well.

Mix oats and soda.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Dough will be sticky and ooey gooey (professional baking terms there)

Spoon onto parchment lined baking sheet, and bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes.

I tried them frozen, as I do every cookie--- and this one... I like a lot better soft. Even a day or two old--- still soft and yummy.

Enjoy.

So I know you already saw them...

... but I wanted a cuter photo for my records. And I thought I'd write down the sugar cookie recipe. I don't love the traditional cakey sugar cookie with frosting on top. But a crispy yet chewy, rich, buttery sugar cookie? yum. I got it in my head that that's what I wanted to use for the favor, (since I had this cute light pink sugar to roll them in that TOTALLY didn't show up anyway), did some searches, went with this recipe and LOVED it. If I record it here, I'll never lose it. And there's got to be someone out there who needs more butter in their life.

Chewy, Cracked-Top Sugar cookies

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I added a little more.... I've yet to have too much vanilla in a cookie.)

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes... unless you're doing huge ones like me, then maybe 13 or 14.

The end.

M is for Magnolia

So this is all I got--- there really were other people there besides me and Brooke... but I only took the time to snap a few of the food... ok mostly the food labels... and made sure someone got one of us.

The favor-- did you see it on Martha? I wish I'd taken a picture of them during the day with some pretty light...maybe tomorrow with the left overs. Make a big cookie, stick in a paper CD sleeve, and seal it with a homemade label. Martha has some templates here. But she didn't have one I liked for a baby shower so I made one with her dimensions in photoshop. 1.5 in x 5 in, then printed it on adhesive paper. Just in case you're into that sort of thing.

I don't have photoshop on this beautiful new imac yet, but couldn't bear to resort to the lap top... so blogging with photos is tough right now... I tried out iphoto... great for what it is. Not photoshop though... and these had some SERIOUS white balance issues--- tricky business.

Good Morning- Saturday Style

Our "sweet breakfast" of choice:

Whole Wheat Waffles... or partial whole wheat when we want them to be yummier. I won't lie.

2 large eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour (or one white, one wheat... I always use white wheat)

1 3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

1 tbs sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Berries, syrup, powdered sugar... whatever you fancy... SMOTHER.

My house smells like waffles, turkey bacon, sweaty boy (he played basketball this morning), maple syrup, blueberry compote, and rain. RAIN! I love Saturdays. Even when I still have an unwritten talk looming...