Stuff I love, recipes, pics and more.

There have been a few things on my mind lately and I'd like to share them. Be not alarmed that they are in any way serious or make any sense at all.

First and foremost. Why can't I eat all the toffee I want to and not gain an ounce? This is a serious flaw in life and I firmly believe that everyone would me much happier and kind if we were not accountable for the food we ingest. And there's no use trying to convince me otherwise.
So don't try.


I love this toffee with all my heart and every fiber of my being.

(1lb. each of butter and Imperial margarine plus 4C. white sugar. put in sauce pan and cover until boiling and add 1 C. slivered almonds. Cook and stir constantly until 310 (use candy therm.- depending on how moist the air is this will take about 45 minutes or more). Pour into 2 lightly buttered cookie sheets and spread. Let cool slightly and dump a whole bag of milk chips on top to melt. Spread and sprinkle with chopped walnuts (also white chocolate with coconut rocks my world))




MMmmmm....I can feel my thighs expanding just looking at it.


Next thought...I had never really experienced Mexican food until I moved to SoCal. Or cilantro!(!!!) Oh sweet cilantro, how I love thee. Out of all herbs, you are my favorite. And you are never more perfect then when scattered all over delicious, fatty mystery-meat tacos with double soft corn tortillas from my next door neighbor. (p.s....long story but someone convinced me to kill (yes, KILL) my lawn and plant some beautiful winter rye grass. After it's dead you have to kill it then scalp the lawn with the mower, which means setting it all the way to the ground and kicking up a ton of dust. I was in the process when my neighbors were having a party and brought me this as a peace offering to get me to stop getting dust in their food. It was a tad embarrassing and I'm pretty sure they thought I had no idea what I was doing. Oh, and my grass has yet to pop up so both lawns are completely yellow and dead. But I got some sweet tacos out of it. Mmm...)


Okay, moving right along...I can't get myself out of my kitchen lately. I think I'm suffering from withdrawals because I literally did not turn my oven on more than 4 times in the summer. So I've been making sweet dinners (and speaking of sweet, my new favorite food? sweet potatoes. oh so sweet and mushy and full of fiber and lots of other nutrients. OOH! Maybe I should put CILANTRO on them! My head my explode.) Pictured here is Shrimp etouffee from the BH&G cookbook...


This bread is incredible. Nay, FANTASTIC and I haven't had to buy store-bought bread for like a month now. Normally I just make regular whole wheat bread but this day I was feeling a little CRAZY and whipped out some Zucchini Herb Bread with fresh basil and rosemary. Then I dipped in a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was so good I packed up some immediately and took it to my hubby at work.

Here's the recipe for the normal WW bread...(try it, I promise you won't be disappointed. If you are then you made it wrong and therefore cannot leave me a hate comment)
Proof 2T. yeast in 1/2 C. warm water for 10 minutes. (i'm assuming you are using a Kitchenaid or Bosch or something with this...)
Add 1 3/4 C. water, 3/4 T. salt, 1/3 C. honey, 1/4 C. oil, 1 C. gluten flour (sometimes called "high gluten", 1 C. whole wheat flour. Mix. Gradually add 3-4 C. flour until dough mostly doesn't stick to sides and let mix for 10 minutes. Spray a large bowl with PAM, cover with hand towel and put somewhere warm (preheat your oven for like 2 minutes at 170) for like an hour or until doubled. Punch down and divide into 2 1/2 loaves (I do 2 large and 1 mini...btw, this recipe is 1/2ed for small families like mine) Spray loaf pans and let raise for like 15 minutes in the cold oven then turn the oven on and let preheat with them in there and bake for like 20-25 minutes until gold on the top and sides and sounds hollow when thumped. Cut and spread butter all over it and honey and try not to eat the whole loaf.)

Okay I better stop writing about food because it's almost midnight and I am getting hungry and don't want to spur a midnight binge. Let's move on to Thanksgiving......wait. That's all about food. I'll leave that part out...
I ran my first ever 5K race Thanksgiving morning and placed 6/75 in my division. What that means, I have no idea. All I know is that I ran it pretty fast at 25:15 and felt awesome the rest of the day.
My kids had a blast playing at their cousin's house and Nolan perfected his super man.









Needless to say they both played hard all day and here's what finally happened...



When we got back from Thanksgiving I spend 2 full days transforming my house with Christmas decorations. I couldn't wait for the kids to make their gingerbread houses. They loved it and it turned out to be completely stressful for me trying to get them not to eat all the candies. But they turned out super cute.


*note- we did not make the snow globe.


After gingerbread houses we made cookies for my piano students.


Then we decorated the tree that night. This Santa was my favorite ornament all growing up. The one I used to dig through the Christmas boxes for so i could find it first and put it on the tree before my brother could get to it. I inherited it and it now sits at the top of the tree almost as high as the star. This photo was taken in a rare moment of generosity where I let Nolan touch it and it won't happen again. Mine...


There's me!


YESSSS!!! LOOK WHAT I HAVE CREATED....I AM WOMAN.


Because our tree is totally fake I use this to make our house smell yummy. And yummy it is. Makes me want to curl up by the fire...oh wait...we don't have one.


Okay, almost done, I swear.
We went to our church Christmas party last night and i got to be in charge of taking pictures. Here were are testing out the background. *note- I couldn't care less that everyone else looked weird in this picture. My double-chin wasn't showing and I'm in charge, so there you go.


Another test picture. And I had no idea I looked this retarded. (what the heck was I doing? I'm such a geek and I really can't help it) But I liked my sweater, so there you go again.


Carter got to play "Tiny Tim" in the impromptu Christmas Carol play. You should have heard the crowd when they announced he was going to do this. Everyone went "AWWW!!!" (like as in "cute", not "shucks". My child is a ward celebrity.


You have officially reached the end.
Thank you anyone who reads my blog- I know I'm a nerd and I've been a horrible slacker lately but I'm going to do better. I'll give you a hint- the more you comment the more I post. So if you give a crud about reading my posts, comment! I don't care if you secretly stalk my blog unless you are seriously creepy. Then don't.
Until next time...