Snowglobe cupcakes

So our sweet little Caiti-did had her 5th B-day party & I got to make her some cupcakes. She requested chocolate & something with bears and the color purple. I saw a picture of a cool idea at bakearella.com & HAD to try it for her birthday. I ended up doing purple ballarina bear snowglobe cupcakes. The 'globe' part is one of those round coke bottles you see at Wal-mart this time of year with the top cut off and the 'stand' is the cupcake turned upside down with the wrapper cut off the bottom & frosted like the top. Too cute huh? I'll give the specific directions for 'how-to' below. Also, since I ment to do it a few days ago and forgot, I'm going to post a great 'holiday' guacamole recipe I got from Kim and my creamy miso dressing recipe. You should know, getting Ethan to eat salad is a rather painfull experience......until now. I made this dressing a few days ago and the kid ate 3 plates of salad then ate his dinner and then ate another plate of salad. Why I didn't try it on him earlier now escapes me. I'm just glad we ran out of ranch dressing so I had to whip up something else that night. Okay, for the directions and recipes....

Pepparkakor-The Diabetics holiday cookie

So I was looking all over for a great cookie recipe for diabetics that didn't involve Splenda. The answer came when I remembered a conversation I'd had with Linda Barney 2 years ago about a spice cookie that only has 1 gram of sugar per cookie. (For those of you who don't know that's pretty good. The average cookie has anywhere from 10-20 grams of sugar per cookie & even animal crackers usually have about 4 per tiny little cookie.) It took a bit of looking, some research and-alas-a lot of fiddling in the kitchen but I've devised a recipe I really like. It really has a kick-no 1 or 2 tsps of spices here there are a full 2 Tablespoons of 3 different spices. I also added some orange oil which I really liked but Jon said he liked them better without. Also, they have a nice 'snap' to them. I like a spice cookie that is thin and crunchie not soft. I tried the recipe from the official website of Sweden but they didn't keep their pretty shape at all because they shrank every time I baked them even if I rolled them thin enough nearly to see through. Also, they always ended up being soft and chewy. I even checked the relative humidity of Stockholm vs Lake Jackson to see if that was the problem, but no dice. It's practically the same in both places. I've decided that it has to be that I cut the sugar in half. I know, I know you can't dink around in baking the way you do in cooking because it's all scientific and whatnot but I'm me and that won't change. As is on their website each cookie would have over 2 grams of sugar per 1 1/2 inch cookie so cut the sugar on it. I included the link so any of you who want to could give it a try but I don't suggest messing with the sugar ratio. Their recipe is more like a regular dough-it has WAY more flour than mine-and thus is easier to roll out and get onto the cookie sheet without any problems. My recipe took a little practice before I could work well with the dough, but the result was a beautiful cookie with great snap, a lot of flavor and only 1 gram of sugar per cookie. And if I'm going to take the time to make cookies for someone for the holidays then-for me-it's worth the little bit of extra effort. So, for the recipe and a few tips I discovered to make it easier....

Sugar Cookie Bandit

Last week the boys (currently known as Batman-aka Ethan-and Superman-Christopher) and I made nearly 200 sugar cookies to give out to friends and family for Christmas. We had a lot a fun and decorated about half of them that day. Jon was out at a meeting and then church ball that night and, being pregnant, I was worn out and went to bed around 9 PM. I woke up at 10:30 and Jon still wasn't home from basketball yet but since I was up I thought I'd check on the kids. I went into their room and there was my little angel Ethan laying on his stuffed dog on the floor with his head akwardly propped up on their shoe bucket. I went over to put him in his bed and noticed that there was something on his bed. Turns out it was the 3 brand new jars of cookie sprinkles I'd bought the day before all dumped into a pile in the middle of his bed. Joy. Then, as I turn back to the somewhat less angelic looking Ethan I realized why he had gone to sleep with his head propped up on the shoe bucket. He had emptied the shoe bucket of it's rightful contents and dumped the 120 or so cookies we had decorated that day into the bucket and had gone off to dreamland happily munching sugar cookies. (Needless to say, those cookies had to be set aside for little boy consumption and a whole new batch made to give away.) Let's just say the little runt is lucky he was asleep when I discovered his dastardly deeds.

We were all decorating some more of the cookies together Saturday (or maybe we were doing the gingerbread houses??) and someone said something about how Santa gets so fat because he eats so many cookies at Christmas and Ethan says "Yeah, Santa's fat. And you're fat too Dad." "Thanks" says Jon sarcastically. "You're welcome" replies Ethan rather cheerily. Apparently, to a 3-year old, any likness one might have to Santa has got to be a good thing. For the cookie recipe & more pics...

IT SNOWED!!

It really is December! Friday afternoon it snowed here. Nevermind that it was really just a few flakes and nothing actually stuck to the ground. Beggars can't be choosers after all. In celebration of that fact we made tortilla snowflakes & snowball cookies.

The picture at the top is our little paper tube caroling family. It’s one of the activities we’ve done for our advent calendar this year. You can find the directions at http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/christmas-choir-661390/ if you want to do them too.

We’re still van-less here at the Whipple house. Some days we do okay & some days Jonathan getting home is the only thing standing between the boys and certain death (or at least being grounded to their room until they’re 20). A couple of days ago the boys were arguing about some toy or something & I said “Hey, I want two happy, obedient boys” to which Christopher replied with a very puzzled look on his face “But it’s not your birthday.” Jon thought that was hilarious. I guess that will teach me to ask for nice obedient boys for my birthday.

In addition to the cookie recipes, I’ve also posted the recipe for the meatloaf we had the other night. It was pretty good according to Jon & he’s not really a fan of meatloaf. Ethan, as usual, had several servings & proclaimed how much he liked it as well.

For those grandparents and great-grandparents not around I also put up the pictures of the kids ‘sledding’ Texas style on a mound of hay & the boys pictures with Santa. For the pictures and recipes

Roasted Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

So, our van is still in the shop & I'm stranded inside with my sweet little heathens. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it through the next week. Ethan has WAY too much energy to be cooped up inside all day. We haven't gone out though because A) my knee still gives me trouble if I walk too far on it so we can't walk to a park, B) Christopher is just getting over a bug of some sort & I don't want to risk taking him out & going through more nights of vomiting & C) I didn't want to ask anyone for a ride to anywhere because of said bug. Yesterday Ethan got a little toy 'light saber' and handed it to Ryan & very sweetly said "There you go Ry Ry." I was just thinking how nice it was for him to be so sweet to his baby brother when he grabbed a dowel I had left on the counter from doing the cakes & yelled "hiyah!" while smacking Ryan square on top of the head. Poor little Ryan was so startled it took a good 5 seconds before he started wailing. Poor little munchkin.
On to food...
Jon & I stopped at Olive Garden while we were in San Antonio & had this fantastic soup for lunch. The following is my version of it (at least my first version of it). It's a little creamier than the Olive Garden recipe but I can't decide if I liked it better creamy or not. Either way, you could substitute some of the cream/milk for some chicken broth and it would still be good. It has spinach in it which Jon hates, but he and the boys really liked the soup anyway & didn't even pick out the spinach. I got the gnocchi (No-key) recipe off Epicurious.com because it had rave reviews. I think it turned out a bit too dense for me, but I'm going to post it anyway because it's what I have. Part of my problem is that I don't have a ricer which I always thought was for fussy eaters because I like some lumps in my mashed potatoes, but it doesn't really work in gnocchi. You can buy pre-made gnocchi or you could just substitute regular dumplings for the gnocchi. For those of you who don't know, gnocchi are little potato dumplings. For the recipe....

The wedding cake is finished!!

 Firstly let me say there is NO WAY I could have finished these cakes without Jon's help. Kneading the fondant alone was a huge task (we had to remake 3 batches of it too). Sometime during covering the final layer of the Brides cake my knee made a popping sound & then the pain came. I had no choice but to keep walking on it & today I had to borrow Mom Whipples crutches to get around. Then we were rescued by Mom & Dad Whipple when our van engine spontaneously combusted just after the cakes had been loaded. Luckily, the cakes were fine. However several important things in our engine melted before things got under control so I am without a car for an undetermined amount of time. Yay. All that aside, the cakes turned out well & the bride & groom loved them so all's well that ends well. For more pictures...

Cakes & Icing

We're back from San Antonio & the cakes are made. Christopher and Ethan were there as my quality control agents to check things out in between batches. There were 12 cakes in all and a total of 30 recipes used .(Not counting the one I had to make twice because the first time I forgot to put the sugar in. Yeah, it had been a long day. Ethan, in his role as quality control agent actually caught it while licking the bowl, not me.) So today you get the recipes for Red velvet cake (my own recipe), Devils food cake (Susan G. Purdy), Chocolate Italian buttercream icing, Vanilla Italian buttercream icing, Cream cheese icing, Raspberry filling, Marshmallow fondant and a few tips to bake perfectly even cakes and a great tip for spot cleaning carpets (don’t ask). Here you go…

Broccoli Cheese Chowder

I thought while I was waiting for my oatmeal this morning I'd post one of Jon's favorite soups (it's true, he actually LOVES some soups). It's really easy to make & only takes 15 min or so, but it can get a little pricey as it has 1/2lb of swiss in it, but if you get it on sale it's not too bad. It's an easy meal that's good enough for company-especially if you serve it with rolls & a nice salad. I, personally, love the smooth buttery texture & flavor of baby swiss, but I don't recommend using it in this recipe unless you want the cheese to melt all into the broth & become invisible. A good alpine swiss or something similar does great. For the recipe....

Gumpaste blossoms

Kay, so here’s my first blog about the gumpaste flowers. (See, I told you it was coming.) You can thank my friends Carolyn & Jewelle for this getting done. They came over today & made peony centers & helped with rose buds saving me huge amounts of time I'm using to catch up on things I've been putting off like this post. The pictures aren't all great and some of them wouldn't rotate even though they were rotated in Picasa so I don't know, but at least I found my camera. I’ll give directions for a generic fruit blossom this time & follow up with a rose and then an orchid. I’m also giving a link to a really good video on doing orchids because sometimes it’s just easier to “get it” if you can see someone else doing it & this is a pretty good video. There are various things you’ll need for each one, but some of the tools/equipment you’ll need for all of them. I’ll list the shared tools at the beginning with how much they cost me and then list any additional tools needed under each specific flowers’ instructions. So….are you ready?

Bake Therapy

Okay, so you know those people who-when they're really having a cruddy day and nothing is going right-turn straight to chocolate or ice cream or both. I'm not one of those people. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely an emotional eater. Happy, sad, angry. I have an emotion & I find a food. But if I want to relieve stress, I bake. Cooking is for everyday, but baking is therapy to me. Not bread or biscuits kind of baking either. I'm talking cakes, pastries, holiday foods, not-the-kind-of-food-you-eat-every-day-unless-you-want-to-weigh-400lbs kind of baking. Today I made cake. I needed to test a yellow cake recipe for the wedding coming up, so I decided to whip up a 1/2 batch of smitten kitchen's recipe. (Which, by the by, isn't bad. It's not fantasmically stupendous, but it is-after all-just yellow cake & that's not really my thing.) I filled my mini muffin tin & popped it in the oven to bake & looked at the remaining batter about .2 seconds before I decided to play around with it a little. I divided it up & made a batch of pumpkin pie cupcakes w/ fluffy cream cheese icing & pineapple right-side-up cakes with whipped caramel pecan icing. The variations are both pretty good. I like the pineapple upside-down bites better I think, but maybe that's because I'm in the mood for coconut. I think the pumpkin one might be a little bland, but I did eat it right after the pineapple variation which is really sweet, so I'll try it again later. The chocolate icing recipe of smitten kitchen's is pretty good & super easy too. It works with milk/white chocolate too if you want to try that. The boys are down for a nap so I thought, what the heck, why not blog it. So if you want the recipes here they are...

Beef Stew

So, this Friday at the Gathering Place we're having beef stew & rolls for lunch & Emily asked me how to make beef stew & I'm 100% sure I left out important ingredients when telling her because that's how I am since I rarely ever measure & always just kind of cook on the fly. To fix that little mistake I made beef stew tonight & actually paid attention to what I did. Yay me! So here's my beef stew recipe, hearty, simple & delicious (I'm so humble).

Easy, Creamy Chicken Bake

In an effort to use up the last of the rough pastry I made up a chicken thing tonight. It was creamy, cheesy & quite good. We all really liked it & at the end of the meal Jon pronounced that I should blog it so here I am. If you don't have rough pastry on hand you could use store bought croissant rolls and I'm sure that'd be good too but you might need to adjust the cooking time & temp. Short blog tonight because I have a headache again. Love this pregnant thing I gotta tell ya. Real quick though: Ryan got his first two teeth a couple of days ago. Yep, they came it at the same time and it's about time since he's 10 months old. Although he proved to us that one doesn't really need teeth if one is determined enough since he was eating pork ribs (or porkcicles as someone called them) at a chili cook-off we went to at Jon's work a couple of weeks ago. (I'll see if I can get the picture his friend took.) Also, Christopher scored a goal in his soccer game today. He's really gotten so much better since the first game. He's more focused & is starting to get the idea behind soccer. Anyway, for the recipe...

Mille Feuilles

Mille Feuilles (mil foi) is a lovely creation of the French also sometimes called a Napoleon. They may be screwy on a lot of things, but those Frenchies know how to make some delicious food. Since I mentioned it in last nights post, and since you really only need pastry cream, berries & some powdered sugar to make a lovely mille feuilles I thought I'd oblige you this morning. You can make a savory mille feuilles with cheese & spinach or pesto, but I've got pastry cream on the brain, so that's what you're getting. For the recipe....

Chicken Pot Pie w/ Saffron, Fennel & Rough Pastry-mmmmmm

We had the missionaries over tonight so I needed something that could just cook while I cleaned my house so that I could pretend that it always looks neat & tidy. (You're laughing, but if you have kids you do it too my friend.) So I made a rough pastry this morning to use as a crust (I've also just put biscuit topping on it before & that's good too) & did the rest in the afternoon.

Our new Elders nice. I don't really know them yet, but they seem like they'll be hard workers. (They'd better be, because I'm none too inhibited to say something to them if they're slackers.) One of them-Elder Scow (?sp?)-is from Hurricane, near Panguitch. It made me think of the drives I took with Gram & Gramp Stellmon while they were staying with us down there because Gramp like to make up little songs about Hurikin & Laverkin (that's how they pronounce it out there-Hurikin). One drive we took I nearly killed us all not 500 feet from Papa & Grandma's house. It winter there, so we're all bundled up-even Molly (my Grandpas fat little dachshund). I'm driving along & I see that Mollys' front legs have come out of her little sweater so I-brilliantly-let go of the wheel & turn to my right to fix it for her. Just as I get it done Gram shouts "Stop!" from the back seat. I hit the brakes without even looking up which is good because the car stopped about 1 inch from a telephone pole. On one side was a stop-sign and on the other was a guy-wire from the pole. There was about 2-3 inches of clearance on either side of the car. Yep, I'm just that good. I like to blame it on the fact that I was 7 or 8 months pregnant with my first kiddo & not a lot of blood was going to my brain at the time. Who knows. =P But I backed up & off we went to Zion's National Park as though nothing had happened. Gram was either very brave or very desperate to get out that day, I'm not sure which. Anyway, here are the recipes...

Peach Chicken & 15 min Polish dinner Plus...artichokes

We had the Markhams over for dinner the other night & Jon requested that I make peach chicken because I hadn't made it in a while. This is one of those rare made-up dishes that I actually remembered to write the ingredients down at the time I made it. Yay me!

The 15 min Polish dinner came about because I've been busy all day making gum paste flowers (10 roses & 6 blossoms go me) & didn't want to put much effort into dinner.Which is also why there are no pictures tonight. Sorry.  Don't worry though, I am taking pictures of the process and sometime when I have a few spare minutes (ha ha ha) & Jon's not home (because he hates when I'm on the computer for more than 15 minutes without him) then I'll put up the pictures & instructions for the flowers.Anyway, it turns out that this cheap (less than 75 cents per person) & super easy dinner rates MUCH higher on the deliciousness scale than the rather fussy butternut squash ravioli of last week so say the men in my house. That tends to be the way of it doesn't it.

Hey, if anyone has the 'perfect' pumpkin roll recipe post it. I'm searching for my favorite version and have yet to find the right one. I like to taste the spices in the cake part, & I like the cream cheese type fillings, but not too sweet. Thanks for the help.

On another note, my dear sweet little heathens, reminded me that my belly is getting bigger. E-"Mommy, I'm going to eat all my lunch so my tummy can grow big like yours" C-"No Ethan, your tummy can never get THAT big, Silly." Thanks boys for keeping me grounded I need that. =P

Anyway, for the recipes

Popcorn Balls & Butternut Flop

Okay, so I've resigned myself to the fact that I suck at getting in a post everyday & will have to be satisfied that I'm doing this at all. Oh well, moving on.

For Family Home Evening last week we made popcorn balls. It's a recipe I found of Paula Deans on foodnetwork. The woman knows how to make a popcorn ball. Jon says he would prefer them a little crunchier so if that's the case with you just cook the syrup to soft crack I think. (I've never actually tried this though.) We made them orange in honor of Halloween & gave them out to some friends. We're making another batch this week to give out at the trunk-or-treat on Saturday.

I had a brilliant idea to use up some won-ton wrappers in my fridge. Butternut-sage ravioli in a brown butter sauce. I liked it, but Jon & Christopher said it was okay as long as they picked off the craisens & walnuts & Ethan-who also picked off the craisens & walnuts-didn't like it at all. I said I was going to blog it anyway because I wanted to blog flops too & Jon said "It's not a flop. Not like mom's clam linguini." (Sorry Mom Whipple, I don't think you'll ever live that down.) Anyway, I baked the squash before I realized the won-ton wrappers in question were already bad so I ended up making fresh pasta & in corporating a little sage into that as well. It made a load of filling (3 or 4 times too much for the amount of pasta we made) but I'm just going to add some chicken broth to it & make it into a soup for lunch tomorrow because the boys both liked the filling alone. We had a salad beforehand which I ate with Poppyseed & Caramelized Onion dressing & the males all drowned in Ranch.(Long sigh.) It's a bit labor intensive if you're making the pasta fresh, but not so much if you just use won-ton wrappers. Even though it wasn't a hit with the men in my house, I'm going to give the recipe for it anyway because I liked it alright & because maybe one of you could make some improvements on it. For the recipes.....

Feelin' Frenchy

So, Sunday we had crepes for breakfast because I'd been craving them. My husband may be hard to impress culinarily speaking, but my kids always come through for me. I made 40 or so crepes & every single time both boys said "Wow mom, you're so cool!" They're fans of anything you can flip. I get the same reaction from pancakes.=) For lunch we had Croque Madame which is Frenchie for a grilled ham & cheese w/ an egg on top. They loved that. Christopher ate two sandwiches-and they're filling. I saved 8 crepes (minus the two I ate late last night with vanilla ice cream & raspberry sauce) and we're having dinner crepes tonight. I'll admit, it was a fight to save that many, but I was successful. Last night we had a picnic in a local park together. It was great until it started to get a little dark. Ethan, bless his little chicken-butt heart, started crying & Christopher-ever the obliging older brother-started talking about wolves coming out to eat us. Once we were in the van & he had calmed down a little bit I told him that when he's scared he can say a prayer & Heavenly Father will help him to be brave. He asked where Heavenly Father was & when can we go see Him. I told him that Heavenly Father is in Heaven & I don't know when we get to see Him, but the only way we can is if we make good choices & repent when we make bad ones. Christopher then pipes in with "Well, then you don't get to go see him yet, because you yelled at me." From the mouths of babes. I swear, that kid... Anyway, here are the recipes...

Bacon Tomato Cappalini and a Wedding

To start, I mistyped a measurement in the Mac & Cheese. There wasn't enough cheese, but if you made it I'm sure you realized that and fixed it. So....some good news. I'm doing a wedding cake at the end of November. The weekend after Thanksgiving to be precise. I'm actually doing the wedding cake, the grooms cake and an additional 1/2 sheet cake for the family the night before. The bride, a girl named Katie, had a picture of the exact cake she wanted-with a few color changes-so that makes that part really easy. It's really pretty; 3 tiers of red velvet cake with raspberry filling with almond flavored cream cheese icing covered in marshmallow fondant (which isn't as gross as the other kinds) with silver swirled fondant accents and violet and off-white flowers of various sorts. It's going to be loads of fun and I promise to take pictures of the process so you can 'watch' it being made. The grooms' cake is a devils food cake with chocolate icing and a nutella filling. It's to be decorated as a boxing ring for two 'rock-em sock-em's; one dressed as the groom (the loser) and one dressed as the bride (the winner). A little weird, but it will be fun too. Anyway,we had Bacon-Tomato Cappalini for dinner so I'll share that recipe too. I'll post the cake & icing recipes when I do the cakes in November.Recipes.........

White Chili, Cornbread, & Stove-top Mac & Cheese

We had a semi-cool day yesterday, so I jumped at the chance to make White chili since I've been craving it. If you've never had white chili, it's made with chicken instead of beef and uses cannellini beans instead of kidney beans. It's delicious, and approaches perfection when served with warm cornbread. So we're eating dinner last night and Christopher asked us what beans grow. (When he was little he wouldn't eat carrots until I told him they made his eyes grow strong. Now he loves carrots and he asks what nearly everything he eats will grow. If I know, I tell him-ie milk grows bones, meat grows muscle, etc-and if I don't I make it up. Did you know peas grow your nose and broccoli grows your hair?) Anyway, before I could think of anything, Jon pipes in with "They grow your bum. Beans are a magical fruit." It was all I could do to get him to not finish that little ditty. Just what I need. My 4-year old singing about magical farting fruit. Lovely. I'm also including the corn bread recipe for those who don't use Jiffy and my Easy stove-top mac & cheese which we're about to sit down and eat for lunch. It's not any harder than making the Kraft boxed variety, but it's cheaper and healthier. Anyway, here're the recipes....

Apple Harvest Hoedown...

I do some volunteer work with an organization called The Gathering Place. We meet once a month and provide free respite care for those with Alzheimer's, dementia or other conditions needing 24-hour care. Each month we do games, exercises, crafts, music, entertainment, memory exercises and we have a home-cooked meal. I'm supposed to be taking a break from doing things as per my doc. but I convinced my mother-in-law (who I enlisted as a regular volunteer but who turned out to be the BEST resource I have & she now basically does everything=P) that making lunch probably wouldn't kill me so I get to help again this month. (I know you're only taking care of me ma.) I only get to do the main dish, someone else is doing the dessert. However, I really DO love cooking so I played with apples a lot this month. I couldn't find a recipe I liked for a main dish that used apples but would be economical to make. After all, we have to feed 30ish people with a total of $50 for all the food. So I thought a bit and came up with this Chicken, apple & stuffing casserole thing and tested it on my family tonight.(The meeting's on Friday, I'm not cutting it close at all.) It was a hit with them so I'm trying it out on The Gathering Place gang this Friday. It doesn't seem to make a whole lot, but it's really filling. I'm going to serve it with some home-made rolls & I'll give that recipe too. I'm not sure if the casserole recipe is exactly right yet, so if you have any suggestions chime in. I'll also share the recipe for my kids favorite new breakfast concoction; an apple saute that is easy & fantastic on pancakes, waffles, cake, ice cream, whatever. So, here are the recipes....

Got a little lazy this weekend.....

I'm trying to post at least one recipe per day so that-eventually-I'll have all the recipes I love online. This weekend was General Conference weekend and I failed miserably. This is just a catch-up post to get back in the swing of things. I figure it's a good day to do it since I'm stuck on the couch trying not to throw up. Love being pregnant. Yay. The catch-up recipes will be a collection of cream soups since that's what I ate all weekend. I'll do potato soup, cream of poblano soup, broccoli chowder & cauliflower soup. The kids were GREAT during conference on Saturday. They listened to the whole first session quietly and  1/2 of the second before they got restless. Not so much on Sunday, but still not bad for a couple of little heathens. Since Conference though, my 4-year old has been saying "you shall...." whenever he wants us to do something. As in "Daddy, you shall come and look at my bedroom." He's such a little weirdo. I love him. If you want the recipes...

Saved by soup.

TMJ is not fun my friends, not fun. I'm not sure about all the technical stuff, but for me it means that eating a mini muffin nearly causes tears. We will be having soup the next few days. My husband really loves some soups, but he thinks soup should be relegated to the cold weather season and suffers in silence the rest of the year when I make soup. Those of you who don't live in the south are thinking, "Well, October IS cold weather season, so that's good." Let me explain, when you live on the gulf coast "winter", as it is loosely dubbed, consists of 1 1/2 months of weather that makes you think, "Hmm, maybe I'll wear pants instead of shorts today." I MISS SNOW. (griping over now). So tonight I'm making minestrone. It's hearty enough for my hubby and anything I can't eat without actually chewing I can just leave out of my bowl. Cooked carrots are soft right?=) Want the recipe?

Muffins & Measuring cups

With my other pregnancies I never really had cravings (unless you count the fact that I threw up EVERYTHING but vanilla ice cream and skittles for about 8 months with my first child). Not so this time. Cravings ALL the time. Yesterday it was muffins. I'm not really a muffin person, but sometimes you just need a muffin. So I e-mailed my friend Leah and she sent me her Anyfruit Muffins. I'm not really a baker, I'm a cook. This is primarily because I'm too efficient (read lazy) to measure things properly. I'm more of a dump & taste kind of girl which doesn't work quite as well with baking as it does with cooking. In fact when I did wedding cakes for some friends I ended up buying an electronic kitchen scale so I could still dump things in but also have it turn out right every time. I reccomend this to all you lazy bakers out there. Measuring cups are so passe-get a scale!=P Want the muffin recipe?

Pee soup?!

I love my kids. I have 3 fantastic boys and dull is not a word that describes our home. I love that they love food too. My 3-year old loves goat cheese en croute (Frenchie for goat cheese and toast) & both he & my 4-year old love eggs benedict. (But who doesn't, really, since it involves hollandaise sauce?) So it was no surprise when they both shouted "YAY!" when I told them we were having pea soup for dinner. However...a few minutes into dinner my 4-year old looks at me and says-picture a very serious face here-"Mommy, pea soup doesn't come from our penis right?" Reassured that it did not, (after a short lauging fit by me & dad) he went on to eat 3 bowls. Kids. Want the pea soup 'recipe'