It's a Boy!!!

 

     Last Friday, we got to find out the gender of baby M!! Since we are both really close to our family, and know it takes a village to raise a baby, we decided to have a gender reveal party where we would find out the gender of the baby with our family.  I decided on a "what will our little pumpkin be?" theme.  All the decorations were fall/pumpkin related and the food was an Oktoberfest theme. My sister-in-laws contributed to the good eats with homemade pretzels, potato salad, and a meat, pickles, and cheese tray. I provided the sausages, kraut, and spaetzel. 

Obviously, the main part of the party was finding out the gender of our baby and we decided we would have my sister-in-law, who is a chef, dye the inside of a cake pink or blue based on the gender. It was really important to me that neither of us knew the gender prior to cutting into the cake. So I had the ultrasound tech seal the gender in an envelope that I handed over to a coworker who texted my sister-in-law the gender so she knew what color to dye the cake. Below are the pictures from the party(taken by Nikki, of course). Some of the captions will provide more information about the details of the party or recipes on making the items yourself. Enjoy!

This was outside by the front door so people saw it as they walked in. The sign said " What will our little pumpkin be?"

This was the dessert table

These are brownie bites in the shape of pumpkins.

Recipe for Brownie Bites shaped like pumpkins:

Make brownies using your normal recipe. Once out of the oven let cool for 15 minutes. Once cool, but still slightly warm, cut a square of brownie place a peanut butter cup in the middle and roll the brownie square around the peanut butter cup so that it is in a shape of a ball. Let cool. Once completely cool, melt orange candy coating. Roll brownie bite in melted orange. Slice a tootsie roll in half and use as the stem. The "pumpkins" on top were Reese's free.

The cake and the sign!

The sign by the cake "What will our little pumpkin be?"

The cake my sister-in-law made with the gender hidden inside

Take-home gift  were loaves of flavored dessert breads (chocolate pumpkin, carmel apple, or french vanilla) and the sign in front of the basket said " Thank you LOAVES for joining in our special day".

Old Wives Tales board and then pink or blue pumpkins to wear based what they thought the baby was.

The prize (cookies) for those who guessed the gender correctly. The tag on the cookies said "Good guess! You're one smart cookie".

It's a BOY!!!!

 Francis was very happy (so was his dad)!

I just had a feeling it was going to be a boy! I was really happy too, but couldn't resist celebrating that I was right!

Fall Craft Project

 Last Thursday I was feeling kind of crafty and as a way to thank my friend Nikki for taking time out her schedule to take our pregnancy announcement photos I decided to make her a fall wreath for her door. I also watch my niece on Thursday after school so decided she would also take part in the crafting adventure. So after going to the local craft store ( and being informed by my niece that this store is for girls) and picking up some felt for felt flowers, a strain of fall leaves/acorns, and a large and small wreath for decorating we headed back home.  While I worked on making felt flowers, my niece worked on her wreath. This was a simple craft; even someone her age (age 3)  was able to do it without help. She had a ball doing it. She was pretty proud of the finished product, as well.

  Here is what you need to complete this:

•  Fall foam stickers (we used an assortment of fall leaves and pumpkins)
• 1 small wreath

How to do it:
 Have child pick the stickers they would like on the wreath. Peel, then place where they desire on the wreath and continue pattern (peel and place) until wreath is the way the child likes it.

After she finished I thought "Dang, I just missed a great learning opportunity". As a teacher I am always looking for a "teachable moment".
 So here are a few of the ideas I came up with afterward for younger kids that are educational:

1. Have them sort the leaves and pumpkins by color
2. After sorting count how many of each color they have (which had the most, which had the least, name the colors, can you find something in the house the same color, what letter does the color start with, etc)
3. Sort by type of leaf or pumpkin
4. Again you can count
5. Depending on the age, they could make a pattern before sticking it on the wreath

I am sure there are plenty more, but those are just a few that quickly popped in my head.


Here is another picture of the wreath I made for Nikki (Taken with it hanging at a different angle, I think I like the flowers on top better than this angle.):

If your interested in making it you will need:

•  Felt in an assortment of fall colors
• A hot glue gun and glue sticks
• A garland of fall decor
• A wreath
• Floral wire

 I started by making the fall flowers. The directions for felt flowers and a similar wreath can be found here in a previous post. After making all the flowers, ( I made 12 in an assortment of sizes, colors, and color combos). I glued them on with the hot glue gun.  I am proud to say I didn't even burn myself once this time! After that I laid the garland of leaves on the other side (about half the garland) and tied floral wire around the garland. Then I folded what was left of the garland back up the same side and secured it with floral wire as well.  It was pretty simple and very cheap to make. My kind of craft! 

 Hope you enjoy!

We're Pregnant!!!

We have been holding on to a BIG secret for a while now (5 months, in fact)!!! We're having a little one! After holding on to it for so long we wanted to share our good news with everyone we know through the best way we know how- picture announcements! I swear you would think if you knew us that we're very vain. We have a picture photo shoot for every big thing in our lives (save the dates, wedding, 1 year anniversary, pregnancy announcements). That's not really the case it's just that we have a very talented friend, Nikki, (check out Little Bits by Neoshia) and when we get together our creative juices start following and a small photo opt some times turns into BIG "to do". I am lucky that Nikki loves to take pictures and create props for photos with me. So without further ado here are most of our pregnancy announcement photos:

This is one of Hubby's favorites. This is poses (obviously), but have been battling this for the last 2 months so it's not all that funny. :)

It had rained for the last week before our photo shoot so our nice lakes were a little swampy.

If you need any painted props check out Little Bits, by Neoshia she free hands everything and can paint most requests.

This picture probably would have been better if I had moved arm- oh well, you live, you learn, then get Luvs.

"Falling" back into the habit of posting....

Okay, I know it has been a while since I have posted anything (at least 7 months!!) I admit I am a slacker, and it is just hard for me to get on here at least once a week, or as the past would show once a month, and post things. BUT, I have a lot of exciting things coming up in my life and know that I will want to share all the events with family and friends and this is the best way to do it. So here goes my first attempt at getting back into a habit of posting things in my life and what better way than with the two recipes I made up and tried out tonight. They were amazing! I fixed hubby a couple of his favorite foods ( to show him just how much I love him), which happen to be fall comfort foods and coincidentally it was the first day of fall! What a neat coincidence, right?

First up an earthy fall oven roast:

 Here's what you need:

bottom round oven roast ( I used 1.9 lb)
1 onion, sliced
3 carrots, chopped into pieces
mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped
salt
pepper
Olive Oil
2 tsp of  dried rosemary ( I just shook the seasoning until I thought I had enough. I wanted a nice earthy flavor)
1 tsp of dried oregano (or more/less depending on your liking)
1 tsp of  dried basil ( or more/less depending on your liking)
1 bay leaf
1 14.5 oz can of beef broth
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 packet of onion soup/dip mix

Here's how to do it: 
Preheat oven to 400.
 Put oil in a cast iron pot and turn on heat. Rinse roast and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then place in pot. Sear on both sides so they are brown (about 5 minutes total)

Meanwhile,  slice onions, chop carrots and garlic and get mushrooms ready ( I bought presliced mushrooms). After both sides of the roast have a brown coloring to them remove the roast and place on a paper-towel lined plate. Add a little more oil, if needed, and add onions, carrots, garlic and mushrooms. Let saute for 5 minutes. 

While that is sauteing,  mix the beef broth, onion soup mix, and cream of mushroom soup in a bowl.  After 5 minutes, add the rosemary, basil, oregano and stir it around. Let the seasoning simmer on veggies for a minute or so then place the roast on top of the veggies and pour the beef broth mixture over the roast and add the bay leaf. Add a lid to the cast iron pot and place in the oven for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove the lid and continue to cook in the oven for another thirty minutes. Take out of oven let sit of a bit before cutting the meat and remove the bay leaf. I made mashed potatoes and served it over the mashed potatoes. It was delicious!!

 Now on to something sweet...

Normally, I wouldn't post a recipe for apple pie since you can find one just about anywhere, but half way through making the pie (I had already cut and sliced the apples) I realized I didn't have enough sugar so I had to come up with an alternative recipe. It turned out to be even better! Hubby LOVES apple pie, it is probably his favorite dessert. For me, it is fun to make, but just okay to eat.This pie, though, was seriously delicious I could have eaten several slices.

Here's what you'll need to make it:
 Pie crust ( I prefer store bought-sorry)
6 gala apples
1/4 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp and a bit of nutmeg
1 tbsp. of orange juice ( I didn't have lemon juice)

Here's how to do it:
Preheat oven to 425. Place/press one pie crust in a 9 in. pie pan so that it fills out the pan- leave a little hanging over the edge. Wash, core, and slice apples into thin slices ( l did not peel the apples- I am too lazy for that). Place the apples in the bowl then add both sugars, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and orange juice. Stir until the apple are well coated. Place the second pie crust on top. Fold the edges together and crimp the edges using your fingers or a fork (depends on the look you want). Use a knife and make a few small slits on top of the crust so it can "breathe".  Place in the oven. Set the timer for 15 minutes. Take the pie out and cover the edge with small strips of aluminum foil to avoid burning. Place back in the oven and bake for 25 more minutes. Serve warm with/without ice cream. 


Enjoy!


Sarah

Double time, Make-up time

  I know, I know, it has been a long time since I have made a post. Life has been crazy lately! Since the last post, I have gotten a minor cold and had a bout of strep throat. This was the third bout of strep throat in 4 months and the doctor suggested I consider having my tonsils removed. After searching the internet and reading some stories about tonsillectomies, I have officially scared myself into a healthy lifestyle to avoid getting sick again. On that note, I have a 6 things (mostly healthy, some sweet, some crafty) I need to update onto my blog! To make up for my absence, I will treat you, today, to 2 different recipes- 1 healthy, and 1 sweet!

Healthy Stuffed Peppers

Items you'll need:

 Green Peppers ( I used 3, which fed 3 people and I had left overs)

 Ground Turkey

 1 Onion- finely chopped

 1 garlic clove- finely chopped

 1 carrot- finely chopped

 black pepper

 1/2 tbsp of  basil

 1/2 tbsp of parsley 

 1/2 tbsp of oregano

  Red Pepper Flakes (amount desired based on taste)

  8oz can of Tomato paste

  water

  Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Steps to deliciousness:

Preheat oven to 350. 

Finely chop onion, garlic, and carrot. ( I placed all three in my food chopper at once, so it chopped and mixed them.)  Meanwhile, begin to brown ground turkey. Once veggies are chopped, add them to the turkey that is the pan. After a couple of minutes on the heat, add the black pepper, basil, parsley, oregano and red pepper flakes to the pan. (Feel free to add more seasoning. I just shake the seasoning over the pan, so the measurements are really guesstimates.) Cook until meat is light brown and veggies are soft; then add the the tomato paste and 4 oz of water-stir. Let the all items in the pan simmer together for a couple minutes so that all the flavors blend. 

While the items in the pan simmer clean and cut green peppers in half.

Once the green peppers are cut and sauce has simmered place green peppers in a glass dish. Then spoon the meat mixture into the green peppers and top with mozzarella cheese.

 Place in oven and cook for 15-25 minutes. You will know they are ready because the green peppers begin to look tender and are a darker green. See picture above ingredients for what mine looked like when I took them out of the oven. Enjoy!!

Hubby's favorite cookie of all time

My husband is not a huge fan of chocolate. Typically, when I make cookies I would make chocolate chip for me and sugar for him. That was until recently...  A few weeks ago, I was watching my niece and she came up with the great idea to make " a really big cookie". Now, she LOVES chocolate, so I decided we would make a really big chocolate chip cookie.  I used the recipe on the back of the Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chip bag with a few variations. 

Here's what you will need: 

 2 1/4 cups of unsifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

2 sticks (1 cup) of butter, softened ( I use very soft butter- so soft that when you touch the butter some comes off on your finger)

3/4 cups of sugar

3/4 cups of brown sugar, packed

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips ( in this case Ghirardelli)

1/2 cup mini-marshmallows 

Side note:  The mini-marshmallows happened by accident- when my niece started throwing mini-marshmallows in the bowl. I love chocolate and marshmallow and thought this could turn out to be really good, and it totally was!)

Steps to deliciousness:

Preheat oven to 375. 

Place all ingredients in a bowl. Use a hand mixer to mix the contents of the bowl and blend the butter into the mixture. Then stir by hand to ensure that all dry ingredients are actually mixed together and the batter is moist and sticky. Lightly spray a large cookie sheet with olive oil. Spoon mixture from the bowl onto the cookie sheet and spread to make one giant cookie. Put pan in the oven and cook for 11-14 minutes. Once warm enough to touch without burning myself, I cut into squares and serve.

Donuts and Hot/Cold Chocolate

The weather has been chilly here lately and for some reason when it gets chilly out I am always craving sweets. (Okay, I crave sweets all the time, but more so when the weather is chilly. ) What is a better treat than Nutella hot or cold chocolate and donuts??

Let's start off with the Nutella hot chocolate first, shall we?

This is  pretty simple to make and sooo good. I got the recipe from Pinterest, but who ever came up with this must have taken it down because there is an error code when you click on the picture.  I have made this twice now- once hot and then cold.  It's Florida and you can't expect it to stay chilly for long and who wants to drink hot chocolate when it is hot out?

Here is what you will need for 1 serving:

• Nutella (2 spoon fulls)
•  a little over 1 cup of milk

First:

  Put the milk on the stove and turn the burner up to medium heat.

The first time I made it I put the Nutella and milk in the pot first and then put it on the burner, but the second time I added the Nutella to milk that was starting to get warm and discovered it blended together faster. 

Next: Add the scoops of Nutella. I did 2 spoon fulls for 1 cup of milk. So if you were to make to  2 servings of this you would use 2 cups of milk and 4 spoon fulls of Nutella.

 Then: Stir the Nutella and milk until they are blended and there are no lumpy bits.

When it starts to look frothy, take a whisk and stir through it. This is just to ensure that it is nice and smooth.
* I didn't do this the first time and when I was drinking my hot chocolate a Nutella lump kept floating to the top when I would take a sip. (Very Annoying!)*
At this point you may want to taste a bit. I did this and found it was a little to rich for my liking at added a smidge more milk.

Now:

 If you want to serve this hot, get out your favorite hot chocolate mugs and pour some in to each cup and enjoy!

If you want to serve this cold, take this off the burner and let cool for a bit. Then fill a cup almost to the top with ice and pour the mixture over the ice and enjoy!!

I am thinking this would also be good with whip cream vodka, but I haven't tried it.

On to the donuts!!!

Don't get me wrong, I have always been a fan of donuts, but when it came to a somewhat quick breakfast donuts were not my item of choice. I would usually prefer a bagel, toast, or a Poptart, but for some reason this school year I have been craving donuts!  Sometimes on Fridays, on my way to work, I will go a a little bit out of my way to pick myself up a donut at Publix.   This morning I was craving donuts, but was really not in the mood to get dressed and drive to the store to pick up some. I knew I didn't have any refrigerator biscuits that I could just pop open and fry up. So if I wasn't willing to go to the store and I REALLY wanted donuts they were getting made from scratch! So my desire to stay in my jammies won and I made the donuts from scratch. It really wasn't all that hard,  I had all the ingredients so I saved myself the trip and the money. :)

 Here is what you will need:

• 2 1/4 cup of Bisquick
• 2/3 cup of milk 
• Vegetable oil
•  cinnamon
• sugar
• water

Now here's how it is done:

Put the Bisquick and milk into a bowl and mix until it forms a soft dough. 

Then sprinkle out some Bisquick on a surface and lay your freshly made dough on it and kneed it about 10 times.

Then add some vegetable oil to a pan and put it on medium- medium-high heat. You want enough oil in the pan that about half the donut is submerged in oil.  

 While the oil is warming up, roll the dough out until it is about 1/2 inch thick.

 Next: Using a round cookie cutter or something round (top of  a glass) cut the dough in to circles. I was in the mood for some big donuts and, believe it or not, I don't have a round cookie cutter. I doubt I would have had one as big as I wanted anyway. So, I used a the top of a martini glass to cut out my donuts.

I just cut out as many circles as I could make with the dough I had rolled out. Then, I sat the circles off to the side, balled the dough back up again and rolled it out again until I couldn't make any more circles. The dough I had left over I rolled in to little balls and used as donut holes.

The donuts with the center cut out and  holes on the right!

 To cut out the center of my circles I used a water bottle cap.

 Once all the dough is all shaped and ready to fry I add them to  the pan of vegetable oil.

Once the donut looks like it is golden brown on the side in the oil, flip the donut over to brown the other side. About 1-2 minutes on each side- depending on the temperature of the oil.

While the donuts are frying up, on a plate, mix some cinnamon and sugar together. 

 Once done, place the donut on a plate covered with a paper towel so it will absorb some of the oil. 

Then stick the donut in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Move a round a bit and coat both sides. 

You can also make a sugar syrup-glaze, but be sure to watch it so that it doesn't cook too long and cause the sugar to burn. 

 I usually make the sugar glaze after I am done with the donuts so that I can keep an eye on it. 

Here's the how-to for a sugar glaze:

Put about 1 tbsp of sugar in a pot with 1 cup of water over low heat.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved. I then turn my heat up and let it start to bubble and begins to look syrupy.  Then I take it off the heat.  Using a spoon, I drizzle it over the donuts. I let the donuts rest a bit and soak up the sugar syrup.

Eat, Drink, and be Merry!!