Nix9to5 » Cooking

Easy Gourmet from the Amazing Amanda

Nicci — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:00:46 +0000

One thing that amazes me about my sister is her astonishing ability to whip up delicious and creative meals out of whatever she has on hand. This is serving her well as we are taking on our spending freeze challenge. As I’m surviving the challenge by dumping chicken in the crockpot and trying to make something happen (tonight: BBQ chicken sandwiches), she’s creating beautiful, balanced meals. In the rest of this post, the Amazing Amanda shares with you last night’s inventions: Bacon Teriyaki Tenderloin, Parmesan Baked Florets, and Baked Sweet Potatoes with Praline Cream Sauce.

I’ll let Amanda tell you how she did it:

Tonight, my hubby said our dinner was one of the best ones I’ve ever made. Ever. In nearly 10 years of marriage. I thought it turned out really well, but not quite sure it was the best ever. Regardless, everything we had tonight was worth making again. Most of it was actually things I’ve made before, but I guess the colorful combination just worked well together.

First, I started with some venison tenderloin. This recipe also works very well with a cut of beef or boneless chicken, as well. (And, honestly, this is about the only way I can stand to eat venison…and I actually LIKE it like this!) I smothered it with Italian dressing and allowed it to marinate about 24 hours in the fridge. I drained off the dressing and cut the tenderloin into small chunks (one to two-bite pieces). I then wrapped half of a piece of bacon around each piece of meat and secured it with a toothpick that had been soaked in water (hoping that would deter the pick from catching fire on the grill.) I then drizzled – heavily drizzled, I might add – teriyaki marinade over the bacon-wrapped meat and allowed it to sit about 30 minutes. We grilled them on both sides till the bacon was crispy. And there they are, ready to serve! (Bacon-Teriyaki Tenderloin)

For the veggies, I washed and chopped a head of cauliflower. I put the cauliflower in a bowl, along with 1/2 bag of broccoli florets. I then drizzled in 2 Tbsp olive oil and added 2 Tbsp minced garlic, 1 tsp dried parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. After stirring well, I poured it into a greased 9×13 baking dish. It made a nice even layer on the bottom of the pan. I covered it with foil and baked it in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. I then removed the foil, sprinkled it with about 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (the powdery stuff in a can), and returned it to the oven, uncovered, and broiled it for about 3-5 minutes. (Parmesan Baked Florets)

I also baked sweet potatoes. I scrubbed them, pierced them a few times with a fork, rubbed them down lightly with canola oil, and wrapped them in foil. I baked them at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes. While allowing the potatoes to cool enough to handle, I began making a praline cream sauce. In a small saucepan (I actually used a small metal measuring cup), melt 3 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp light brown sugar. Whisk together continuously until melted and well combined. Once the mixture begins to boil, remove it from the heat and stir in 2 Tbsp half-and-half. Cut open the sweet potatoes, sprinkle with ground cinnamon (and toasted pecans, if desired), and drizzle with praline cream sauce. This makes enough sauce for 3-4 potatoes. (Sweet Potatoes with Praline Cream Sauce)

In addition to that, we had some macaroni and cheese – just cooked macaroni with 1 Tbsp butter, 3-4 Deli Deluxe Cheese Singles, torn, and about 2 Tbsp half and half. (Milk would work, too, but I already had the half-and-half out for the praline sauce.)

From Nicci: And there you have it. A meal to melt your hubby’s tastebuds and to make your sister envious of your creative cooking skills. Bacon-Teriyaki Venison Tenderloin? Gurrrl, my sistah’s fan-say. But she had me at “Praline Cream.”

Nic’s Cheddar Turkey Burger

Nicci — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:50:57 +0000

I like turkey burgers okay, but I’m not wild about them. Generally, if I’m going to have a burger, I want a serious burger. Still, if you’re trying to save calories–or if you stocked up on lean ground turkey at .99/pound–then a turkey burger is probably a good option. However, I try to never think of a turkey burger as a substitute for a sirloin burger. Instead, I want it to be its own creation.

Tonight I made turkey burgers that I thought were actually pretty good. They were make-again-on-purpose good and not just okay-if-you-have-to-use-up-the-turkey-before-it-gets-freezer-burn. Even Bear ate his.

I started out with a recipe, but then realized I was out of this . . . and that . . . and that, too. Because it is a fly-by-the-seat-of-my pants recipe, I thought I’d better write it down. Here’s what resulted from my improvisation.

(not my actual turkey burger)

Nic’s Cheddar Turkey Burger

1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I used reduced fat)
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. dried chives
1 t. dried minced onion
1 t. garlic powder
1 T. spicy brown mustard
dash of salt and pepper

Heat a skillet over high heat. Mix all ingredients together and form into four patties. Spray skillet with nonstick spray and place patties in the skillet. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook about 3-4 minutes on each side or until cooked through. ”Decorate” your burger with traditional burger toppings or whatever your little heart desires.

Because I don’t really want my turkey burgers to try to impersonate regular burgers, I made mine with a slice of cheddar, roasted red pepper, lettuce, tomato, light mayonnaise, and more spicy brown mustard. I think they would probably be good with roasted red pepper, sun-dried tomato and feta for a Mediterranean turkey burger, or with swiss, or with green chiles in the meat mixture and topped with pepperjack, or with. . . well, pretty much whatever you can think of to put on them.

If you try these, let us know of any variations that work for you.

Coffee Mug Coffee Cake

Nicci — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:00:32 +0000

Y’all are going to love me for this one, for reals.

It’s a recipe for coffee cake that you can make in a mug in less than five minutes. The Amazing Amanda found it–duh–on Pinterest, and here is what she said about it: ”Eating me a warm mug o’ cinnamon goodness, and so happy to know this recipe exists!”

You just can’t beat a warm mug o’ cinnamon goodness, and that’s a fact.

Here’s the basic recipe, which Amanda and I have both tweaked depending on what is in the fridge. After the recipe from Prudent Baby, I’ll explain what we’ve done to it, and how our experimentation worked out.

Coffee Mug Coffee Cake

2 T. butter, softened, divided
2 T. sugar
1 egg (this is tweakable)
2 T. sour cream
2-3 drops vanilla
1/4 c. + 2 T. flour, divided
1/8 t. baking powder
1 T. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Place 1 T. butter in a mug and microwave 10-15 seconds to soften (NOT MELT). Add 2 T. sugar and stir until creamy.

Add egg, sour cream, and vanilla and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add flour and baking powder and stir well to complete the batter.

For the topping, in a separate small bowl or ramekin, mix 1 T. butter, 2 T. flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon until crumbly.

Put the topping on the batter in the mug and microwave for about one minute. If that isn’t long enough, cook an additional 10 seconds at a time until done. Prudent Baby says that 1:20 is perfect for hers.

It is wicked hot. You may be tempted to dive right in, but patience, grasshopper. Stir the topping into the batter to swirl all the yumminess together:

And gobble it up.

Mmmmm . . .

Now. Here are some adjustments you can make, based on minor changes Amanda and I have tried:

Berry Crumble Coffee Mug Coffee Cake

Substitute berry flavored yogurt for sour cream and toss in a few blueberries.

Egg-Free (Egg Allergy Friendly) Coffee Mug Coffee Cake

In the Prudent Baby recipe, she says you can use a whole egg, half an egg, or even no egg. She says she prefers half an egg (divides it between two Mug Cakes), but I was out of eggs and so I just did it without. It was pretty fantastic without the egg, so I might just skip the egg every time–we go through eggs crazy fast around here, and I don’t really want to tax the chickens too much. Not that we own chickens. I just mean chickens in general.

Other Easy Substitutions and their results:

Substitute vanilla yogurt for sour cream and vanilla extract. Fabulous. I nearly always have vanilla yogurt on hand, but I rarely have sour cream, so I’m glad to know this works.
Substitute coconut oil for butter. Yum. I had only 1 T. butter in my fridge, so I used butter in the batter (say it three times fast) and coconut oil in the topping (Notice the white blob in the picture of the topping? That’s coconut oil at room temperature). Worked great for me! Coconut oil is healthier than butter, so it’s a good choice. Also, you could probably just take a big dollop of your Brown Sugar Coconut Body Scrub and add some flour and cinnamon for the topping, but that just seems wrong. So. Very. Wrong.
Substitute light tub margarine for butter. Eh. It still tastes good–just not as good–but it has a gluey consistency. I’d say if you were trying to cut fat, this might be worth it, but otherwise, I’d only do it if that was all I had on hand. Which is usually true.

Coffee Mug Coffee Cake seems like absolutely the most perfect snow day food ever. However, after two years of crazy blizzard-filled winters, we have had an unseasonably warm winter this year. I’m not complaining or anything–and I’m also not waiting until it snows to whip up another of these warm mugs o’ cinnamon goodness.

Oh. And by the way? You’re welcome.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken Chili

Nicci — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:00:43 +0000

Yesterday, the Amazing Amanda pinned a recipe on Pinterest that she said was a “keeper.” She also said she served it to a group of 20-25 women at her annual cookie swap and it was gone in a flash. Now, I think the Amazing Amanda is a fantastic cook, so whenever she passes a recipe on to me with that kind of review, I’m eager to try it.

I could not find the link from which the “pin” came, so I apologize for not giving proper attribution. The recipe also didn’t have a name, so I just made one up, and decided to call it Creamy Crock Pot Chicken Chili. If I were following my traditional recipe titling procedure, then I would call it “World’s Easiest Creamy Crock Pot Chicken Chili,” and I think that would pretty well suffice.

We tried this for dinner tonight and it was soooo yummy. Even Bear, who wants to eat nothing but fruit snacks and marshmallows, ate almost all of his.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken Chili

2 frozen chicken breasts
1 can of Ro-tel
1 can of corn
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
8 oz. cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
1 envelope of Ranch dressing mix
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chili powder

Dump everything in the crock pot*. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred chicken, return to pot, and serve.

*If using the ginormous frozen chicken breasts from Zaycon, please be aware that these are extremely hard and heavy when frozen, and if you just dump them in, they might do this to your crock pot:

And then, if you use your crock pot for everything, you might cry. Hypothetically speaking.

On an unrelated note, you can also cook this recipe on the stovetop all day on low.

Hypothetically speaking.

World’s Easiest Baked Butternut Squash

Nicci — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:13:53 +0000

A long time ago, when I was still trying to figure out what finger foods I could feed Bear, I posted a recipe for baked butternut squash. It was yummy, smelled great while cooking, and had a nice, cubed texture that was great for little fingers and little hands just starting to use forks. The only problem with this recipe is how hard it is to cut a butternut squash. Sometimes, it just wasn’t worth the effort.

Enter the world’s easiest way to bake a butternut squash. Inspired by Amanda’s post on how to bake a whole pumpkin, I decided to try the same thing with a squash.

Let me just tell you step-by-step so you can see how easy this is:

Turn on your oven to 400 degrees.
Put a whole butternut squash on a baking sheet.
Put it in the oven and set the timer for an hour.

Done.

It could take up to 90 mins. to cook, depending on the size of your squash, but an hour was perfect for mine. You’ll know it’s done when a knife slides into it effortlessly (like buttah).

This makes cutting, peeling, and scooping out the seeds virtually effortless. The knife just slides right through, you can scoop out the seeds and fibers with a spoon, and you can either peel away the peel with your hands or just use your spoon to scoop out the meat. The squash is soft, but retains enough of its shape that you could cube it if you want, but you could easily mash it or puree it, too. If we ever add a new little cub to the family, I’ll bake squash this way to make homemade baby food.

Today, I used my warm, just baked squash to make “Maple Brown Sugar Mashed Butternut Squash” (I just made up the recipe and its name):

Bake a whole butternut squash at 400 degrees for one hour.
Let the squash cool slightly; halve lengthwise and scoop out seeds and fibers.
Scoop squash out of shell and into a bowl.
Add a dollop of butter, a drizzle of maple syrup, and a sprinkling of brown sugar. I did not measure the amounts. I just did what felt right, so make yours according to your own taste.
Mash with a potato masher (or even a fork–it’s that soft) and serve.

Bear ate all of his with no more bribing and threatening than any other meal. He did say, “That tastes pretty good,” so I’m going to call it a success.

Best part? The only way this could be easier is if the squash put itself in the oven.

It’s the Great Pumpkin

Nicci — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:00:12 +0000

As part of my not-really-a-hippie-but-kind-of-wish-I-was attitude, I think cooking with whole, fresh foods is a good idea, rather than relying on canned. However, I’m way, way too busy or lazy or something to really adapt to that lifestyle. Every once in a while, though, I bite the bullet and realize that sometimes, it’s really no harder to cook with whole foods than to use convenient, frozen, canned, prepackaged stuff. Most of the time, it tastes better, too. For example, I just ran out of chicken broth from my Whole Chicken in a Crock Pot, and rather than buying canned broth to replace it, I bought another chicken, cooked it, and made nearly nine cups of chicken broth, which will be great for all those winter soups I plan on making. This is a virtually effortless cooking method that gets me several meals worth of chicken and broth.

The Amazing Amanda sent me a recipe for baking a whole pumpkin and making pumpkin puree. I didn’t get a chance to try this, because she sent the recipe after Thanksgiving, and I can’t find pumpkins at the store right now. Just canned puree. I’m keeping my eye out, though, because I really want to try this. Most versions of baking a pumpkin that I’ve seen require cutting the pumpkin and scooping the innards before baking. That’s really a lot of effort. Amanda’s version makes it easy to cut the pumpkin. Here are her instructions, copied and pasted from an email and not all edited for putting on a blog:

Wash your pumpkin. Coat it with oil. Not cooking spray. Oil. It DOES make a difference. It will be very slippery and heavy, so do all the greasing on a foil lined baking sheet. Place the whole thing – stem and all, still on the baking sheet – into a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 60-90 minutes. When it is done cooking, your smoke alarm will go off. (Just kidding – that only happens if you assume cooking spray an equivalent of cooking oil.) It’s done when a butter knife slices through the pumpkin like butter. Let it cool, cut it in half, remove all pulp and seeds, cut into chunks, and drain off as much liquid as possible. Put the chunks into a blender or food processor and make a puree!! You may want to strain this using cheesecloth to get rid of excess liquid. (More concentrated and flavorful for cooking that way.) Then use it as you would canned pumpkin - make pumpkin butter (pectin, sugar, spices and simmer..mmm), use for pumpkin bread/muffins/pancakes, or even as homemade baby food!

Easy fasheezy. Now–if you’ve got all that fresh, delicious pumpkin puree (or canned pumpkin), here are a couple of recipes for you: Pumpkin Butter (that Amanda got from Southern Living) and Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup (that I got from Cook Like a Champion via Pinterest). These are both SOOOOOO good, I swear.

Pumpkin Butter

2 1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp powdered pectin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 (16oz) can pumpkin or two cups of pumpkin puree

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool; spoon into jars.

Cover and refrigerate up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 3 months. Yield: 3 cups

This could be a great do it yourself gift, when packaged in a cute jar and given with a loaf of home-baked bread. It is awesome on warm biscuits. My one problem with this is that Hot Husband won’t eat it because it has so much sugar in it, and Bear won’t eat it because it’s brown, I think. That leaves it all for me which is both fantastic (for my tastebuds) and terrible (for my waistline). I’ve seen other pumpkin butter recipes that call for juice instead of sugar, so I might try one of those in the future for a lower-sugar option.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup for Pumpkin Spice Lattes (or anything else you can think of)

1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cinnamon sticks or 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons pumpkin purée

Combine water and sugar in a medium pot over medium heat. Cook until sugar has completely dissolved. Whisk in remaining ingredients. Cook for about 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not allow mixture to come to a boil. Strain syrup through cheesecloth into a large glass measuring cup. Do not skip this step. Here is the spice-sludge that you’ll have:Transfer to bottle of your choice and store in the refrigerator. It makes about two cups:

Though the directions I read said that it is better to use cinnamon sticks, they are just too expensive, I think. I made it with stick cinnamon this time, but since I strained it through cheesecloth anyway, next time I’ll make it with ground cinnamon. I doubt I’ll notice much difference, but we’ll see.

Cook Like a Champion says, “To make a pumpkin spice latte, simply add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of syrup for each shot of espresso. For an iced latte, stir together syrup and espresso before adding desired amount of cold milk. For a hot latte, add frothed milk and stir to combine. Top with whipped cream, if desired.” I just put a tablespoon or so in my morning coffee and added a splash of skim milk. YUM! I think this would also be good in hot chocolate, too. It smells so Christmas-y and delicious. I plan on always having this on hand.

Happy Thanksgiving from Nix9to5! (with pie recipes)

Nicci — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:00:06 +0000

Ahhh, Thanksgiving. It’s truly the kick-off to the whole holiday season. I hope all of my Nix9to5 readers, friends, and family have a wonderful Thanksgiving with loved ones. Since most of my readers are moms who are probably stressed to the max trying to make sure everything is perfect, I want to remind you all to stop and smell the ~~roses~~ pie. Nothing has to be perfect. Enjoy the time with your family–that’s what makes it perfect. Take some time to reflect on the things for which you are truly grateful. Nothing calms and soothes like gratitude.

This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for a job that allows me to stay home with my child and lets me exercise my creativity. I’m grateful that I have family nearby (Beela and Papa, Uncle Awesome and Auntastic, and The Bachelor Uncle) who can be a part of Bear’s life on a daily basis. I’m thankful for you, my Nix9to5 readers, who stick with me even when I disappear, and who challenge and encourage me with your comments, ideas, suggestions, and more. I’m also thankful for my MOM’s Group–a group of ladies I have had the privilege of meeting each week for the last couple of months, and who I’ve grown to look forward to seeing again every Monday morning. Thank you for your prayers and support.

There’s no way I can include all of the people to whom I owe my gratitude and love, but I want to take a special moment to mention The Amazing Amanda. We’ve certainly had our sisterly spats along the years, but I love this woman who is a part of me. She has helped me out time and again, and she’s proven that she loves me unconditionally–as I do her. I love you, baby sister!!

I can’t talk about The Amazing Amanda without thinking of her extraordinary cooking. Since I’m thinking of cooking, and since it is Thanksgiving, I’m going to leave you with a couple of pie recipes. These are not my own creation. They are from an old cookbook* an aunt gave me for Christmas several years ago (Thanks, Aunt Denise!), but the pumpkin pie is my absolute favorite of all pumpkin pies I’ve ever had. The apple pie I made for the first time last year, and it was delicious. I’m in charge of dessert again this year for Thanksgiving Dinner, and I’ll be bringing both of these–along with a Mrs. Smith’s cherry pie. I’ve never had any luck making cherry pie. If you have a good cherry pie recipe or tips on How Not to Ruin a Cherry Pie, I’d love for you to post them here.

One special note about these pies: I do not make my own pie crust. I did it once, and it tasted fine, but was totally ugly and not worth the time or effort in my opinion. Another thing: Both of these recipes call for a 9-inch pie shell. They do not specify deep-dish, but you either need to use a deep dish crust or it will make 1-1/2 pies. I’d rather have one thick pie than a couple of thin ones, but to each her own. Regardless, neither of these recipes will fit in a regular pie crust. Get the deep dish. Trust me.

Without further ado, here are the pies I’m taking for Thanksgiving dinner. Enjoy.

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pastry shell
1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin (2 cups)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place rack in lowest position in oven; preheat oven to 425 degrees. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except pastry shell (duh, but the recipe actually says this); mix well. Pour into pastry shell. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees; bake 35-40 minutes longer or until knife inserted near the edge comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

New England Maple Apple Pie

1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pastry shell
2 pounds all-purpose apples, pared, cored, and thinly sliced (about 6 cups–for me, this was about 5 apples. I used a combination of Granny Smith and some red ones. Braeburn, I think, but I wouldn’t swear to it.)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsifted flour
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup cold butter or margarine
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans because that’s what I had, but walnuts would work, too)

Place rack in lowest position in oven; preheat oven to 400 degrees. In large bowl, combine apples and 2 tablespoons of flour. Combine syrup and melted butter. Pour over apples; mix well. Turn into pastry shell. In medium bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon; cut in cold butter until crumbly. Add nuts; sprinkle over apples. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees; bake 35 minutes longer or until golden brown. Cool slightly. Serve warm.

Note: The Bachelor Uncle thinks this would be better without nuts. I think when he brings the pie, he can make it however he wants.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

*Recipes adapted from New Treasury of Christmas Recipes from Your Favorite Brand Name Companies.

Happy Birthday, Bear! (Godzilla Cake)

Nicci — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:00:23 +0000

Just a few days after Halloween, my tiny baby Bear turned three, which is unbelievable to me. It seems like just yesterday that I brought him home from the hospital and had a near panic attack as Hot Husband turned out of the hospital parking lot and onto the road and all those other cars were driving past at such high speed. I mean, I knew I’d have to be the one to keep him safe, but I had never considered all of the outside forces that I’d have to contend with.

And now he’s three. And I have to contend with forces like gravity and velocity. And pee. Lots and lots of pee.

That teeny tiny helpless baby can count, recognize his letters, spell his name, and know that only Tyrannosaurus has two fingers.

For his birthday, Bear wanted a Godzilla cake, which is fitting, since he shares Godzilla’s birthday. I’m an inexperienced cake decorator, but I figured I’d give it my best shot. Knowing that the mini panda cake for his first birthday took me hours upon hours, I figured I was in for a huge challenge, but I guess I’ve improved some since then. It still took forever, but not as long and it turned out okay.

The first thing I had to decide was whether to try to sculpt a cake or get a molded pan. It wasn’t much of a decision. I bought this dinosaur pan from Wilton:

Bear didn’t even try to tell me it wasn’t Godzilla because of the number of fingers or spinal plates or whatever.

I figured using a molded pan would make decorating the cake much easier as I just followed the instructions and the features on the cake. Unfortunately, step one of decorating the cake is to “frost the entire cake white.”

So much for features.

I then placed the pan liner alongside the cake for a visual and began following the directions, trying to get from White Blob to this:

Here’s my Godzilla cake step-by-step:

Look! He even breathes fire!

“What do you think of your Godzilla cake, Bear?”

“I think pretty good.”

Happy birthday, sweet Bear!

So much to tell you about, so little time.

Nicci — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:11:36 +0000

I just looked and realized that it has been almost a month since I posted. And let’s be honest, I didn’t so much post as upload pictures of the Amazing Amanda’s birthday party for Super D (which was both precious and awesome all rolled into one). Since that time, a lot has been going on that I’ve wanted to share with you, but I haven’t (1) had the time or (2) taken the time to sit down and blog it. Since I last posted, we have had Halloween, two birthdays, and now Thanksgiving is about to roll in. I’ve also accomplished some cute crafts and other DIY projects that I want to share with you, but now I have so much that I can’t decide where to start. I guess the best way is to just start where we left off. In the upcoming posts, you’ll see:

Bear’s Halloween
Bear’s Godzilla Birthday Cake (He’s three!! Not a baby and barely a toddler anymore. He’s–dare I say it?–practically a preschooler!!!)
Nothing about my birthday. I’m the Chief Cake Maker (read: Only) around here, and so there is nothing to show you. Besides, I’m significantly older than three, so it’s far less exciting).
The Wonder That is Zaycon Foods
Easy “Stained Glass” art project for kids
Homemade Laundry Detergent
Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
DIY “Miracle Mask”
Homemade Liquid Hand Soap
Cute and EASY Christmas Crafts
A Giveaway Courtesy of SeenOnTV Express

See. I told you I’ve been busy! I’ll link these items to each post once they are all finally up.

Lots and lots of stuff coming up for you. Hang in there!

“The Hurrier I Go, the Behinder I Get.”

Nicci — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:00:57 +0000

I saw that quote on a poster in one of my elementary or junior high classes when I was growing up. I don’t know which class, and I don’t know why it stuck with me, but it has certainly seemed to relate to my life lately.

A few weeks ago, I had a crazy-busy week with trying to meet work deadlines before the end of the month while simultaneously preparing for Hot Husband’s 80′s theme birthday party by making a Pac Man cake, cleaning furiously, preparing snacks, decorating, and putting together an awesome 80′s costume. Somehow, despite my stress and my unwavering belief that I couldn’t pull it off, everything got done, and got done well.

Here we are just a few weeks later–the house is messy again, I’m behind on work again, I haven’t been working out, my fridge is empty, and I just realized I have fewer than three weeks to come up with a theme for Bear’s third birthday and plan the party. At the end of September, I thought I was really getting it together. Today, I have no idea how I ever got so close to caught up or how I’ll get there again.

Does anyone else feel like you can’t let it go for even a second or it all falls apart? I think constant vigilance must be the key to success.

I think when I was writing about planning the birthday party, I promised some pictures. Well, I certainly don’t want to break a promise, so here are a few 80′s party pics:

Pac Man Cake

Rockin' the 80's Style

80's Movie and Band Poster Fridge Decor

Breakfast Club Movie Poster Re-Enactment

Any excuse to wear a costume . . . Only two weeks until Halloween!!

Tomorrow’s post will be from the Amazing Amanda, who’ll be sharing a tip on how she gets her boys to actually eat dinner without resorting to antics and without taking roughly 38 minutes between bites (if you have a toddler son, I have a feeling Super D’s dinner time feats will be shockingly familiar to you).

Speaking of Super D–Happy birthday, little man!! We love you!!