New Recipes...

Here is a little taste of what has been coming out of the kitchen around here lately.

I had been dying to try this recipe I had for a creamy- vanilla raspberry pavlova for some time and I finally made the effort . It was well worth the effort because it was super yummy! I used a simple recipe that I found in one of the Kraft food magazines. The hardest thing about this recipe is the wait time as the meringue cooks for an hour and a half.

The picture doesn't really do it justice. It is a melt in your mouth dessert perfect for the warm weather. I think it would be good with any type of berry. I'll just have to force myself to make it again so that I can try it with blueberries!

Another new recipe that I recently cooked is actually an appetizer. I had puff pastry on hand and was not in the mood to cook much for dinner one evening so I though and appetizer and salad would be enough to satisfy hubby. The full recipe is here.

The picture version follows...

Take thawed puff pastry and roll out as thin as you can creating a 10 x 14 rectangle. Cut in half. Brush with egg white and water mixture.

Coat one piece with grated Parmesan cheese and dried red pepper.

Layer on thin sliced ham. I used Boar's Head tavern ham because that was what we had handy.

Cover with other half of puff pastry. Roll to seal.

Roll up like a jelly roll.

Slice into 24 pieces. Cook on parchment paper until lightly browned.

Enjoy! The recipe says it makes 12 servings of 2 pieces each serving. Hubby and I ate all of them in one sitting with a salad. (Not sure I should share that fact!). They would make a great appetizer as the recipe says they are served well at room temp so you could prepare ahead. I wouldn't know what they tasted like at that temperature because none of them had a chance to cool that long. :)

I have been wanting to make some oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies so that is on this weekends agenda as well as getting started on painting the guest room! I think I will make the cookies first so I can motivate myself with the cookies to paint the room!

Makes Me Feel Smart...

Can you spot the misspelled word?

Someone needs to use the spell check!

Happenings...

Since the weather is warm I have a hard time making myself sit in front of the computer long enough to do more than check my email, so this post may be a little all over the place.  

I had forgotten that I never posted finished pictures of the little one's new playhouse. Hubby painted it pink and put a metal roof on it. It turned out super cute!

My neighbor bartered with us for hubby to do some work at their house in trade for her sewing the curtains for the two windows and the door.  The material is a shower curtain that I found at target. Which I thought might work out better than regular fabric since it will be exposed to the elements.

All the kids love playing in it, opening the curtains and playing inside is lots of fun! We keep a small stash of toys and books inside for them.

We also up sized our pool this year!  It's a $30 walmart special but I feel like we have already gotten our money's worth out of it as we have played in it just about everyday!

She loves the slide and mommy and daddy like the fact that we can actually fit in the pool too!

We have already spent many days trying to beat the extreme early summer  heat in the pool with a little help from Popsicles too!

Another ongoing project has been working on the little one's new room. Hubby and I decide to move her into a bigger room so that we could contain the toys a little better. This has been a project for the better part of a month now because I couldn't decide on the paint color.  I think I almost paid more for the half dozen sample jars then I spent to paint the whole room itself! We painted three walls a soft green and the remaining wall a creamy white.

I also found this awesome wall decal online. I was a little unsure how it would work out whether it would stay stuck on the wall or not but it was super easy and looks really cool! I am excited that it will peel off and that I can move it around as needed. I never realized how many wall decals that there were out there and I was worried that it might look cheap and tacky but so far I am pleasantly surprised.

We divided the room in half using a bookcase turned on its side. I still am planning on painting the bookcase white but that is a project for another day.

One half of the new room is her play area. The floor tiles that we had used in her previous play area work great and fit together to make a nice big area that fits her kitchen and table and chairs. She has enjoyed having tea parties with everyone who comes over and when no one is available for tea her teddy bear fills in nicely.

The other half of the room is now her designated sleep area.  (Dresser not pictured is on opposite wall)

I was worried that she might not transition well to sleeping in a bigger different room and that she might not go to bed but play with all of the toys but so far so good! She loves to invite people to come see her "new room" and has surprisingly resisted the temptation of toys after bedtime, for now at least. 

The next challenge is to decide what to do with her old room...

As much as I love it, as a guest room purple polka dots may be a little much. For now they will stay as I am still trying to put the house back together from the first redecorating job!

Oh Sh*t!

Nothing like starting your day by getting locked out of the house by your two year old.

Fortunately for me there are several people close by that have keys to our house. Unfortunately for them it happen to be the ass crack of dawn. My first stop was to my next door neighbor's, sadly she could not locate her copy as her toddler had dumped several drawers in her kitchen out and it had gotten misplaced in the shuffle.  My next unsuspecting victim was a good friend who lives close by, I felt horrible having to call  her as it was her day off but there was an unattended two year old in my house!

Luckily she was able to deliver the key in just a few minutes so the little one was not trapped for very long!

Little one was fine when we busted back in the house. For some reason she had

shut every door in the house.

It's a shame she is not better at opening them!

Mountain Getaway!

As a special treat to ourselves we decided to go a little last minute mountain vacay! With the help of my sister (the travel planing guru) we found a great hotel up in Asheville, NC to stay at for a few days.

We took a leisurely drive to get to Asheville stopping in Lake Lure on the way.

Here is hubby and the little one on the walking trail at a park on the lake. There were tons of ducks wandering around which the little one enjoyed.

We also stopped in downtown Chimney Rock to walk on their river walk, we found this cute bear cub along the way.

 The next day we went to Dupont State Forest to do a little hiking and see some waterfalls. The little one was a little unsure about the rushing water behind us.

It's beautiful places like this that remind me why I love to visit the mountains.

The little one was a little unimpressed with the activity of hiking! However, daddy and mommy got a great work out, nothing like lugging 25 lbs up and down the side of a mountain!

We were able to bribe her to walk a good part of the way, chocolate candy and trail mix can do wonders for a little one's energy level!

Doling out another bribe!

Yea! We made it to the top!

After working up an appetite hiking we had a picnic lunch at a nice little pond

Our last night in Asheville we decided that it would be fun to go eat at a fancy place so we checked out the Red Stag Grill that is in the nearby Bohemian Hotel. I'm sure the waitstaff cringed when they saw us arrive with a small child but she did her best and managed to make it through (with the help of 2 lollipops) with no meltdowns! Mommy and daddy were able to enjoy a very yummy dinner, who doesn't love a steak aged 30 days?

   

 Here she is pointing out some of the beautiful flowers they had outside with lollipop still in hand!

It was so nice to get a way for a few days for a little R & R. Next time we won't wait as long to take a vacation.  :)

Mother's Day Surprise!

I am so behind on my blog posting it is not even funny,  I have several posts to be edited, so while we are on our mini vacation I am going to attempt to get caught up. Last weekend, for mother's day, one of my sister's and I shocked my mother by showing up on her doorstep for a surprise visit!  Dad did a great job keeping the secret, which I know was tough because mom has a social calender you would not believe, scheduling something without lots of notice can be tough!

We had dad play photographer for us! He did pretty good!

Saturday night, dad treated us to supper at a very yummy Italian restaurant where we stuffed ourselves until we cold eat no more! My sister and I took the opportunity to clown around with the camera!

An important part of taking a good picture is making sure that you hold the camera at a flattering angle! Don't want to show any double chin, if you know what I mean!

Cheers!

 This was my delicious supper, it was so good! This was only half of it, the rest was in my belly by the time I thought to take the photo! Fresh pepperoni, mozzarella and tomato!

The next morning for mother's day my sister cooked up a fantastic brunch, that included mimosas!

Cheers!

(starting to notice a pattern here? mom + drink )

While waiting for brunch to be ready I got so hungry I almost had to sample the miniature pineapples we had given to mom! 

Good thing sister had waffles at the ready!

She also had delicious real whipped cream! (No cool whip at this meal!)

And to top it all off fresh strawberries!!! Oh yea!

After all the hard work of cooking ...

She needed a big drink and...

a smoke!

(Just kidding, she didn't really smoke that cig, she did perhaps make a dent in that champagne!

Thanks so much to my sister for planning everything, and also to my dad for taking the risk of getting berated for 3 weeks by mom to keep a secret as to what "special" was on her social calender!

Two Years Old!!!!

It's official, the little one is now two! She will happily tell you that too, since two has now become one of her favorite numbers!

To celebrate the big event we had a park party. One of the little one's favorite things is the park.  If we would let her, she would stay on the swings day and night! 

7 of her playmates attended and I think everyone had a good time. The park was the easiest thing that I could think of. I just am not one of those parents who will spend a small  fortune on a toddler's birthday.  We did a picnic lunch and had balloons for party favors.

The little one has a huge passion for balloons! What 2 year old doesn't?

The park has a lot of old school play equipment, which she is finally big enough to get on and off of by herself!

Here is Auntie Karen testing out the motorcycle! I don't ride on them that much since the day I had a little boy tell me he thought I was way to big to ride, and I didn't want to break it, did I?

Two of the little ones on the merry- go - round, wheee!

This is the little one's birthday twin.(He was doing some very serious driving)  It is so fun to see him with my little one since they are literally the exact same age.

Happy Baby!

The twins having fun on the slide!

Climbing high!

It was nice to have all of the grandparents attend, 

that way every little one had a hand to help push the swings!

As part of the picnic lunch I made personalized cut out cookies for all the kids. I didn't feel like fighting the mess of small children with cupcakes. So these were a nice alternative. I don't think the kids minded at all because to a kid sugar is sugar!

There were ducks and dinosaur cookies for the kids goodie bags and then flowers and butterflies for the adults to munch on! Many thanks to my sister for staying up late helping to decorate them!

And because no birthday would be complete without cake I did make a devils food pound cake for the little one's birthday dinner!

She was so pleased that we were all singing to her!

She was fascinated by the lit candle, she did attempt to blow it out...

But then seemed truly bothered and bewildered when it did go out!

The lack of flame from the candle did not deter her from shoveling in some cake.

She licked her plate clean!!!

Now that this birthday has come and gone, I guess I better get to planning next year's!