Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!

My husband's Facebook status: "Please be aware....using the abbreviation VD for Valentines Day is probably not a good idea. People will laugh at you."

Hope you all had a great VD!

Jay got me roses and chocolate covered strawberries. It was all wonderful. I got him the yard mowed (well not yet, but it's a long story... well, I guess it's not that long... it's rained a lot).  Allllsooo... I made us this Hint Box!

I got this idea from The Dating Divas. Obviously theirs is cuter, but I'm pretty proud of myself for mixing patterns! I was going to go to Hobby Lobby and buy a paper box like they did, but I remembered I box from Ikea a while ago. Who knew you also had to assemble a cardboard box?! Oh, Ikea.
Here's the idea if you didn't click on the link... you put ideas in the box for things you want... big, medium, small, tangible, etc. I put "Cherry Coke and/or Milky Way, bedroom furniture," etc.

 

We'll see if Jay ever puts anything into the box, but hey, I may get something out of the deal ;)

Sweet Potatoes

After carrots, I have Ethan Butternut Squash, Bananas, and Sweet Potatoes.
Squash - he just kept it in his mouth and didn't swallow.
Bananas - he doesn't like! how can you not like bananas?!
Sweet Potatoes - I think he really likes them! He actually makes eating motions. See below

My To-Do List

If you haven't noticed, I have a "to-do" list on the left side of my blog. I can only mark off one and a half things (make own baby food, and cut down on about 30% of grocery bill). In the past two minutes, I've been thinking about one or two things I can add to my list. Hmm...how about do one fashion post, complete three things on my house project list (it's a long list I won't bore you with right now), and...that's all I got.

Do you have any ideas for me to add to my list? Keep in mind my (lack of) abilities and talents, please :)

Dare I?!

What do you think of these two looks?
Do you think I should try them?

http://www.esprit.nl/nl/women/alle_merken/TOP_PICKS/lentetrends/chinos

http://www.gap.com/browse/category.do?cid=76670&mlink=5646,4497641,main&clink=4497641

Baking is not my talent

I have never been a big fan of baking. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love the end result! Let me tell you why baking is so difficult for me.

For our Super Bowl party, we were supposed to bring a dessert. “Ok, great! I’ll make something new!” I think to myself. So I searched Pinterest and found homemade Snickers… yes, please!!

I look up the recipe and find the easiest one. This one. 

My sister-in-law, Kathryn, was at my house at the time of my decision, so she suggested we make it together. Our plan was to go to the grocery store and make it at her parents’ house (Jay was watching UFC over there).

Kathryn, Ethan, and I head to the nearest Kroger. Chocolate chips – Aisle 8; marshmallow fluff – Aisle 8; caramels – uhhhh, Aisle 5. They didn’t have Brach caramels in a bag like I assumed they would. So I call my baker friend, Susan, and ask her opinion. She said to get Mrs. Richardson’s Caramel - Aisle 10. They don’t have Mrs. Richardson’s Caramel. They just have Mrs. Richardson’s Butterscotch Caramel. Ugh. Let’s go back to Aisle 8 and make sure they don’t have caramel bars there. Nope. Hmm. Well, it looks like I’ll have to put individual caramels in a bag. Back to Aisle 5. I have no idea how caramels equal a pound so Kathryn and I try to weight it compared to the pound of chocolate chips. We check out and it costs twenty-five dollars!! (minus $1 for the gummy bears)

We get back to her parents’ house and start cooking. Me with my left hand because I’m eating a slice of pizza with my right. Emily, Jay’s brother’s girlfriend is there too. So I ask if she would take pictures for the blog.

Step #1 - bottom chocolate layer
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
Thoroughly grease you baking pan. Melt ingredients together in a saucepan or microwave, then pour into the baking dish and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely.

PEANUT BUTTER! I FORGOT PEANUT BUTTER! I didn’t put it on my list because I knew I had it at home. Thankfully between regular peanut butter and reduced fat peanut butter, I was able to get what I hope was enough.

As I continue reading the recipe, Kathryn overtakes this job.

(Suggestion: Don’t cook something new and someone else's house.

Why? I made the grocery list based on what I had at MY house. Also, not knowing where everything can be frustrating. For instance, they didn’t have a ¼ cup measuring cups. If you read the entire recipe, almost every ingredient is ¼!)

Step #2 - nougat layer
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cup salted peanuts chopped, roughly chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved and bring to a boil. Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in fluff, peanut butter and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Turn off heat and fold in peanuts, then pour over bottom chocolate layer. Let cool completely.
What do I do? I put the butter and sugar together in one pot. Emily stops me and tells me to reread the recipe. So as I’m doing this, she starts melting the butter. Then I get all the other ingredients together. UGH! I FORGOT TO CHOP THE PEANUTS! Kathryn does this for me.
Also, why would it call for 1/4 cup of evaporated milk when it comes in a can?! What do you do with a whole can of evaporated milk you’ll probably never use?! Yep, down the drain it went.

Step #3 - caramel layer
1 14-ounce bag of caramels
1/4 cup whipping cream
Combine ingredients in a saucepan over low heat. Let melt, stirring occasionally, until smooth – this took about 10 minutes for me. Pour over nougat layer and let cool completely.
OOPS! FORGOT TO UNWRAP THE CARAMELS. As I am standing there unwrapping the caramels, Kathryn is chopping peanuts and Emily is finishing step 2.
WAIT! I GOT MORE THAN A POUND AT THE STORE, HOW DO I KNOW WHAT 14 OUNCES EQUALS?? Kathryn decides to get out a food scale and we figure we need to have 6 oz on the scale to equal 14 oz.
Again, what do you do with the rest of the whipping cream you spent so much money on?! I just put it in their fridge.

Step #4 - Top chocolate layer
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
Melt ingredients together in a saucepan or microwave, then pour over caramel and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely.
This should be easy because we’ve already done it, right? Where’s the measuring cup we used? Where’s the spatula? Is this a 1 ¼ cup? I can’t tell!
Basically, this turned into a simple and delicious dessert I found on Pinterest to a stressful and expensive delicious that took 3 20something girls to make.
I couldn’t have done it by myself and I owe my in-laws peanut butter, but I sure loved the end result! Next time I feel like bring Snickers as a dessert, I'm using this one.

Making Baby Food

I’ll go ahead and say it, I’m not a good cook. I don’t usually burn anything, I just don’t like flavor and don’t have patience to do step heavy recipes. Therefore, making baby food is right up my alley! Granted, I’ve only made two vegetables.

I researched a lot about baby foods on Wholesome Baby Food site; and I bought a recipe book because I like paper. 

I steamed my carrots (I had to have the process of steaming spelled out to me because I didn’t know how), but I’ve read microwaving actually holds in the nutrients better.

Once soft, I pureed them using a Cuisinart Stick Blender. I got it as a wedding gift, and it works perfectly. Plus it’s easy to use and easy to clean.

I used Babies R Us frozen food trays, but I don’t like them. You think you close them with plenty of room to expand but then once in the freezer the lid pops. Plus, they give you two cups per food when once carrot takes 4+ cups. I will probably switch to regular ice cube trays.

I’ll keep y’all updated!

Carrots

To save money, I am going to make all* of Ethan's baby food. So far, it's not difficult. But I've only made carrots, butternut squash and mashed up bananas. On Monday, Ethan had carrots for the first time. Some people say it's a "first food," some don't. But I hadn't bought the squash yet, so carrots it was!

Here are some pictures and a video:

Before. He was eying the carrots.

After. I think he enjoyed them.

Next: Butternut Squash.

*only if it's easy and doesn't stink

Am I the only one?

This morning around 5:45 when my husband was getting ready for work, I looked around our bedroom at laundry that needed to be washed, laundry that needed to be put away, toys in one corner, dust on the furniture and it got me thinking… when older people talk about having kids and a clean house, was it a different time then when those things were expected? Are they in denial and their house really looked like mine? Or am I just a really bad housekeeper?

I feel like I do a lot. I may not do it all well, but I take care of Ethan and Emmitt and Jay, cook, clean, coupon, grocery shop, attend weekly bible studies, work from home, and more. I found this list and it makes me feel better because I can honestly say I do everything on this list, but how do people do it better? I need more energy. I need to manage my time better (i.e. should be working right now).

I see signs and quotes on Pinterest that say things like “sorry for the mess, kids live here” or whatever (of course I can’t find them now that I’m looking for them) and think “oh good! I’m not the only one!” And then you have to think “hmm… I wonder how bad their house really looks?!” You hope it’s not like Hoarders. And then there are those people who say “I am so sorry for the mess” and you look around and can’t find a single speck of dust. I guess my big question is how do people really, truly live? Think about it, you’ll only know that answer if A. you’re very best friends (Molly) or B. you show up completely unannounced (rude).

However, I did find this gem:

Thanks, Eden! http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/35msdg/

 

 

How do you do it?