sunday sweets

was a delicious success.

so much for p90x.

quick chocolate butter icing
{thank you joy of cooking}
makes about 1 1/4 cups

melt in the top of a double broiler or a heatproof bowl:

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 T unsalted butter

remove from heat and stir in:

1/4 cup milk or cream
1 t vanilla

gradually add, beating until spreadable:

2 c powdered sugar

make this

chocolate silk pie:

ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
4 T cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs divided
1 prepared 8 inch pastry shell, baked and cooled

directions
1. cream butter in a mixing bowl for 20 minutes or so.
gradually beat in 1/2 c sugar till well blended. stir in cocoa, vanilla and egg yolks.
2. in a separate bowl, beat egg whites on high till stiff, gradually stirring in 1/4 c sugar.
3. gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture till combined.
then spoon the chocolate filling into the baked and cooled pie shell.
4. refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.
5. eat.

sunday sweets

are back.

delicious and easy recipe from here.

3 weeks old

a few of my favorite things...

wrinkly feet,

baby lashes,

pretty little mouth,

chubby cheeks,

and a sleepy baby

who i can't stop taking pictures of.

cookbook

i'm done with the cookbook!
paul took the box of 14 cookbooks to the post office tonight
and sent them to my grandma.
i really, really wanted to make a blurb book.
since i love those so much.
but, my grandma thought a spiral bound cookbook was best.
and i have to agree..
spiral is so much more functional in the kitchen.
unfortunately, finding a company that prints spiral
in small quantities proved to be highly difficult.
so, i ended up just designing it on my own,
printing it on my own,
and binding it on my own.
ta-da!


{it's looks creamy because it's printed on cream cardstock}

then...after they were bound and boxed today,
i noticed this ENORMOUS typo.
enormous.
and you know how i am about typos.



ya.
holy smokes.
apparently brooccoli is better than broccoli.
something about the extra "o".
and notice how i obviously DO know how to spell it
because it's spelled correctly IN THE RECIPE.
oh, and don't forget the Lsalad.
duh.
i tried to blame it on paul
when he made the index
and had to manually pull each title.
but, it didn't fly.
so, i just blame it on the current crazy state of my life.
i swear i proofread this book at least two dozen times.
with a fine tooth comb.
can you tell it is bothering me?
sigh.
i guess it just gives the book character.
right?

busybusybusy

thanks for all your kind words about our coming baby girl! we are currently making a list of names and are open to suggestions. for those of you who were wondering: my due date is april 20th. the ultrasound showed that she has a healthy heart, lungs and brain and is very, very active..which is lovely news.

in the meantime, i have a lot going on and have been in uber-schedule mode. we head out of town in 10 days for Christmas and New Year's which means my list is painfully long and must be scheduled meticulously.

• Christmas shopping
• gifts wrapped and mailed out
• cards mailed out
• calendar page for family calendar {done!}

• cookbook i am making for the grandkids of all our grandma's recipes {almost done..}
• lunch date and dessert date with friends
• staging work for a property of paul's
• go the temple
• get my hair cut
• gifts made and delivered to home and visiting teaching families

i'm not asking for pity. just a massage. and maybe a pedicure.

and in the midst of all that i have/need/want to do, i am trying {and succeeding thus far} in doing fun stuff with the kids {children's museum with friends, seeing santa, going to the symphony, riding the carousel downtown} and staying a happy and fun mom, rather than stressed out and cranky. that has to count for something.

boudior

i love what we did to the entire house..
but i must say that i love the master bedroom the best.

before:


and after:


not a dramatic transformation,
but i love the headboard that paul and i made.
i personally think every bed should have a headboard
or some kind of bedframe.
instead of just a mattress and boxspring.

so, this is what paul and i made:


out of scrap plywood,
fabric
and some spray painted furniture tacks.
total cost: $15.00



so romantic..

happy easter

queen of sheba

do you remember the pay it forward contest?
and that lydia was one of the winners?

well, last night i finally gave her her well deserved prize.



i only wish i had made two of them..it was deeelicious.

it's called a queen of sheba almond torte. i already gave lydia her joy of cooking back and it's not in mine, otherwise i would share the recipe here.

so..you'll just have to drool over the picture and wish you could have had some last night with the rest of us.

treats

in the past week...

i've made fudge. (delicious)

i've dipped a billion pretzels. (my favorite)

i've baked and frosted a billion sugar cookies. (paul's favorite)

i've made peppermint bark. (actually ava did)

and fudge ecstasies. (a little dry, sorry d)

and buckwheat butter cookies. (not very pretty)

and it's all gone.

mailed away in these:

or given away in these:

and suddenly today i remembered all of the properties paul manages and that he wanted to bring treats to his managers. and i should have been making treats to fill those treat bags. but, i didn't do anything.

instead i spent time with my kids and my friend's kids while she had time to herself.

watched frosty the snowman.

sang Christmas songs.

played legos.

read a lot of children's books.

did 5 loads of laundry.

then took ava to a birthday party.

sat in a lot of traffic.

did a little Christmas shopping.

sat in more traffic.

picked ava up.

ate a fantastic dinner with my dear friends.

visited with another dear friend

and put my kids to bed.

then my awesome husband went into action.

and made these himself:

with extra to spare for more goodie bags for my primary people.

lovely.

thanks, love.

i owe you some divinity.

family calendar

remember last year's? here is this year's.

orange chicken

go and make this.



well, only if you like panda express orange chicken.

i had panda express in mind
(since there is not one close and i was seriously craving)
so i googled ‘orange chicken recipe’ and this was the first hit.
unfortunately for you all, i did not follow the recipe.
i kind of just added and tasted
and added and tasted till it was perfect to me.
and it was pppperfect. yum.

...tori reminded me of what i added to make it yum.
i opened up a can of frozen pulp free minute maid oj
and added 2-3 T to the sauce.
i also read the previous reviews to get tips from other people.
most importantly, though, i put the chicken in at the very end
so it didn't ever get soggy.

frosting

go and make this frosting.
even if you have nothing to put it on, just make it.
you won’t be sorry.

½ cup butter, softened
2 ¼ c powdered sugar
½ c cocoa
¼ t vanilla extract
¼ to ½ c cream

direction:
1. mix ingredients together.

sunday sweets

last night we invited a new family in the ward over for dessert.
they have four kids all under the age of eleven.
so i thought it would be fun to bake them each their own little chocolate cake.
i made an amazing cake out of just devil’s food cake
and chocolate fudge pudding
and then the usual eggs, oil and water.
oh and TWO cups of chocolate chips thrown in.
as if there weren’t enough chocolate already.
and filled my mini bundt pans.
i’m pretty sure i was a lot more excited about them than the kids were.

dinner

i have been craving a tomato sauce for my pasta. i make an okay alfredo sauce for paul, since he despises tomatoes, but i'm kind of sick of it. i need to change things up on a fairly regular basis, being the gemini that i am. so, i had been thinking about what to do...when molly over at orangette read my mind. isn't that nice of her? i read her post about this sauce and kept imagining what "rich, round, and deeply reassuring" tomato sauce would taste like.
so, i wrote out a list for paul.

this was my list:
one can of tomatoes
one yellow onion

yes, that is how simple it is.

he came back with the ingredients and within the hour, we (pardon me, i mean I) had a delicious meal. he ate his pasta plain with shredded parm.



Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter
Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking,
by Marcella Hazan*Hazan

2 cups whole, peeled, canned plum tomatoes, chopped, with their juices
(about one 28-oz. can)
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut in half
Salt, to taste

Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter, and the onion halves in a medium saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow but steady simmer, adjusting the heat as necessary, for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free from the tomato. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon. Taste and salt as needed.Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta.

Yield: Enough sauce for about 1 pound of pasta, or 4 servings

necklace

a few weeks ago i went to emily's house and made this.

dessert

on thursday evening we went to dinner with jimily at agua verde. then they wanted to take us to a yummy italian restaurant that has amazing desserts. it was there that i discovered my new favorite dessert. it's called panna cotta or "cooked cream." and we all know that i love, adore and cherish cream. this was amazing. not too sweet or rich. it was light and absolutely perfect.



but what was the best...when the server came by to take our plates, he asked if we needed anything else and i said, "the recipe for the panna cotta, please" and he actually replied, "sure" and came back with it printed out all nice for me. so, wish me luck. i'm going to be trying to recreate this goodness real soon and i'll let you know how it turns out.

pants on fire

i always thought i was a horrible liar, but i guess i'm pretty good after all.
i've been planning a surprise birthday party for paul's 30th for a very long time.

i mailed out formal invitations inviting friends to
come and mourn the passing of paul into his 30's,
to dress like they're attending a funeral and
bring a eulogy in memory of paul.

i arranged for him to be taken away around 8pm last night.
and then brought back around 9:30.

and he was surprised.

the whole time i was preparing,
i was positive that he somehow had guessed.
but he didn't.

here are some pictures from last night.

i hung up pictures of paul all over the apartment.


and had the food table all black or chocolate brown.


a few people gave eulogies. this was my favorite:

sunday sweets

petit fours: take four, ready or not

also:
vanilla cupcakes with whipped cream/cream cheese frosting
white chocolate dipped strawberries
flower cups filled with lemony whipped cream mousse
3 varieties of petit fours

sunday sweets

petit fours: take three.