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Spring in My Step

It is a beautiful afternoon here in the Mile High City. Wow. We’ve had a mild winter and we’ve hit the 70s twice this month already. I love it. If it weren’t for Christmas and skiing I’m not sure I could stand winter!!

I STILL  need to get our seeds ordered and our seedlings started or we’re going to be stuck buying them from the nursery again without many choices. Luckily, thanks to CO’s open-minded laws on a certain little plant known as MaryJane, grow-shops abound and I can get lots of excellent indoor growing lights at competitive prices. Yay for the potheads. We’re going to tack up some 2x4s on the wall in Matt’s shop and mount grow-lights on a timer underneath each to sun our plants.

I am making up my menu for next week while I wait on things. I usually get around to this on the weekend, but I’m planning on having the family over for dinner tomorrow night (it’s supposed to get chilly here tomorrow and I want to make lamb stew one last time this winter). I am loving Skinny Taste big time and I want to make Chicken Pot Pie Soup and Skinny Tuna Noodle Casserole from there this week. These Shrimp Po’ Boys from Annie’s Eats look awesome as well, but I have to find a new source from shrimp since the ones I’ve been getting from Target and Sunflower haven’t been the best. I’ve got to hit Whole Foods to pick up the lamb anyhow, so maybe I’ll try theirs.

We have a few plans for this weekend, including seeing The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley at our local theatre and attending a very important birthday party for one of our favorite five-year-olds. Aside from that we must get in a long run … and of course the never ending cycle of errands and laundry. Hope it’s a good one for all!

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Why I’m Boring this Week

I keep trying to write you an interesting post, but it’s just not going very well. Every night I want to go to bed by like 8 PM and on Monday night I did. We’ll see how tonight goes.

I’m training very hard right now. I am in week 2 of a 6-week bootcamp which meets 3 days/week (MWF). It’s a bit more strenuous than my normal x-training routine of step class and some conditioning (if I feel like it). But I’m also just a few weeks away from my first half marathon of the season which means I’m training hard for that too. So I’m running 3 days a week in addition and resting a bit on the 7th.  I am also responsible (as part of boot camp) for doing a comprehensive food journal for the duration of the 6 weeks. My normal routine is to do pretty well 5 days a week and then say “the hell with it!” over the weekend but I am trying to break that bad habit and I succeeded last weekend. Hopefully I can continue this trend. Continue reading “Why I’m Boring this Week”

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Weekend Update

We had a really really nice (though typically busy) weekend. It was a pretty good mix of go and chill and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Friday we had a nice “day off.” It always amazes me how fast our Fridays go. A little workout here, some meals, a nap, a single activity and done. We dropped the kids off with my parents in the evening so we could have a nice evening out with Andrew who leaves this week. Matt, Andrew, Kelly and I went to dinner at Ted’s (hello giant burger!) and then did some “Cosmic Bowling.” I love that we can really enjoy bowling since all the venues are now SMOKE FREE. Sorry smokers, but this makes me ecstatic. We played 3 or 4 games. I actually got above 100 on one of them. I also got to dedicate a song to Uncle Buck.

Saturday Tabby had her mini gymnastics meet that ends this session of “gymnastics.” Then my parents kept Ben while we had our Tabby Date. We took her to Target so she could spend some of her b’day money. She purchased a hot pink sequined Hello Kitty purse and Guess Who. Then we went to Into the Fire so she could paint her very own “box” turtle. Its body is brown, its shell is green and it has camo-colored dots EVERYWHERE (inspired, I think by the salt and pepper shakers I painted). There was a small meltdown when she realized she’d have to wait a week for her turtle to be baked but she got over it and enjoyed lunch at her requested spot “SWEET TOMATOES!” After naps, we got to finish out the evening by joining my parents for pizza and playing several games of Guess Who (which I am apparently very bad at … ha!).

Matt and I started out Sunday with our 7.5 mile run and followed it up with the usual montage of laundry, errands, house cleaning, cooking. Since the sun is now going down later, we were able to take the kids to the park after dinner which was nice. Though unfortunately, the wind was blowing hard and making it pretty chilly so we only stayed for about 30 minutes. I will be excited to get home and enjoy the dinner I started yesterday, Pork Ragu … it smells so so good.

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A Bumpy Road (Nerd Stuff, Sorry)

Well it’s been a few weeks since I switched the blog over to WordPress. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how things have gone, but I still have much to work on. WordPress is like all closed systems (Mac, I’m looking at YOU). It is super easy, convenient and perfect to do the things it was intended for, but when you need to do things with it that are a bit unconventional, it is harder to do them than it would be outside the system. Here’s some of what I’m working on: Continue reading “A Bumpy Road (Nerd Stuff, Sorry)”

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Party Time!

Since the kids’ birthdays are relatively close together and they still share many of the same friends, I have decided they will have a joint b’day party. I figure it’s a good way to cut down on the number of events our friends have to attend (they do suck the weekend time).

So I am in the midst of the planning stages. We will have it some time in mid April (in other words AFTER our first half marathon) … hopefully the weather will be nice. I think we’ll hold it either at our local community party space or at the “arbor house” at a park. I’m super excited about the theme Matt came up with, PIRATES and MERMAIDS. I spilled the beans to Lisanne and she sent me a terribly cute treasure map “cake” from Family Fun. I have serious doubts about my abilities to recreate it on my own, but I think I might be able to do the concept and stick some pirates and mermaids on top … right? I was also thinking of making placemats for the kids as party favors … some 11×17″ paper, some laminating sheets and you’re good to go.

I am going to be “grinchy” and request that folks not bring presents for the kids. Honestly, the kids have way more toys than they can play with anyhow and our house can’t hold any more!! Ben is way too little to get this, but I still need to talk it over with Tabby so she understands. She has already received many lovely presents from our close friends and family and that is wonderful, but like I said … more than enough. I hope people won’t be offended.

I found a bunch of really great party stuff from Oriental Trading, including a treasure chest  cooler. I was thinking of doing a craft station where kids could decorate some sun-catcher frames. I thought a “treasure hunt” for chocolate coins in a small kiddie pool all decorated up with sand, etc. might be fun too. And I was also thinking of setting up a photo booth … I quoted one from The Traveling Photo Booth, but they wanted almost $900 for a three hour rental so umm… yea, not going to happen!! Too bad. But I figure with a computer and a little bit of action with a nail gun, some plywood and some black fabric we might be in business. We’ll see.

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Strawberry Milk Cupcakes

I think it’s an established fact that I “read” too many blogs. There are 125 subscriptions in my Google Reader. Yea, I know it’s a bit weird. But read is in quotes, of course, since I don’t actually read them. I skim headlines. I quickly tag what I want to save for later or read something that is momentarily amusing but of no real long-term value. I am also merciless about tossing a blogs that no longer hold my interest. It probably shouldn’t surprise you that I have a tag for recipes. Then usually when I’m making a menu up for the week I like to run back through the recipes I’ve marked and see what looks tasty.

As I was in the midst of this process on Sunday, I saw the Strawberry Milk Cake. I have absolutely NO recollection of marking it, but there it was in all its pink glory and it smacked me in the face with the realization that “Oh sheesh! I need to make a treat for Tabby to take to school for her birthday!!” Because, of course, I’d completely forgotten about that small fact. And had I not realized it in the midst of menu and shopping list making then we would have been reduced to making the Funfetti. For shame.

Seeing as I don’t want Tabby’s teachers to have to deal with cake cutting, etc. we made the cake into cupcakes. Recipe is as follows:

Strawberry Scalded Milk Cake
(adapted from Mrs. Joe Montgomery’s recipe card via The Kitchn)

2 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup scalded strawberry milk
1/4 cup butter

Heat oven to 350. Line about 18 muffin tins with liners. Beat the eggs, vanilla and sugar until fully combined (I used the stand mixer). In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.  In a small sauce pan, heat milk until almost boiling (look for a bit of steam and some bubbles around the edges), add butter and turn off heat then stir until butter is fully melted. Alternate additions of milk and flour to make a nicely consistent batter. Don’t overmix!!

Cupcakes take 20-25 minutes to bake and are better on the slightly less cooked side from our findings.

Whipped Cream Frosting
1 package cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
food coloring as desired

Use your stand mixer again and beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and almond extract until smooth. With the mixer on medium-high speed, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Try not to make a big freaking mess. Keep whipping, adding more speed if you need to until you get the stiff peaks about 2 minutes. Add food coloring if you wish.

This frosting goes on super easy but it is very susceptible to melting so make sure those cupcakes are cool!

I give this recipe HIGH marks. It was really easy to execute and produced excellent results. The frosting in particular is a triumph. I am a huge fan of cream cheese frosting and this was cream cheesy AND light and fluffy and super super tasty. I anticipate making it quite a bit in the future.

 

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Happy Monday to You

We had a nice weekend away … but I was ready to be home. The kids were too. They do not sleep as well away from home and so consequently neither do we. They miss their toys and their routines and their familiar surroundings. We make a big effort to leave the mountains early to avoid traffic and to get back early enough that we can get things all ready for Monday because of course, we’re always busy. Here’s the update:

  • A while ago, my laptop started having issues. Anytime I needed to do something graphically intensive, it would BOMB. Flat to the ground. So it has to be sent back to Sager to be fixed (under warranty happily) … but I am now sans laptop for at least a week.
  • Now my Netbook (tiny backup laptop mostly good for websurfing) is on the fritz. Its power cord is no longer holding a connection. You have to hold your mouth just right and plug the thing in and then it is OK … so basically everyone in our house is forbidden from moving the netbook even a millimeter.
  • And to make things a bit more fun, one of our plastic spoons fell onto the heating element in the dishwasher and melted/burned … killing the dishwasher (well at least the heating element) and smelling up the house and all the plastic stuff IN the dishwasher. It should be fixed today at least. $200 I could easily have spent elsewhere, THANKS. We ate out a bit more than usual last week and dipped into the supply of paper plates.
  • I started a 6wk session of bootcamp today … it is MWF. So far my body isn’t pleased with the long run on Sun/bootcamp on Mon combo. I might have to change that up a bit. I might be inclined to drop the long run all together, but I really don’t want to have to walk 13.1 miles on April 10.
  • St. Patrick’s day is almost upon us! Check out my round up of Fun St. Paddy’s Day activities on FTMB.
  • We have freezing rain here … cheers. But in typical CO fashion, it is projected to be 60 by Wednesday … cheers (for real).
  • Tabby arrived home to find more presents from her Nashville grandparents. She is delighted with her own spending $$ in the form of a Target gift card and a darling magnetic ballerina “paper doll” set.
  • It will be a nice spread-out birthday for her. We’re doing our special Tabby date this weekend where she gets to go paint her own pottery. I am almost as excited as she is.
  • She also gets to take cupcakes to preschool tomorrow for distribution to her friends. She requested to wear her cupcake t’shirt that I made her as well. I am glad she likes it. We will be bringing the cupcake form of this delectable Strawberry Milk Cake I found on the interwebs (more about this tomorrow maybe). When presented with this plan Tabby sweetly said, “It’s OK, Mommy, we can just make the Funfetti.” My family is clearly corrupting her as this was the cake my mom made for her this weekend. I spent a small amount of time trying to explain the ethos behind “from scratch” but I fear my diatribe was more or less lost on four-year-old ears.

Hope you are all off to a good start to your week!

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Happy B’day Baby Girl!!

My most darling Tabby turned 4 years old today. I have hardly any words to describe my feelings about her going from the pink cherubic little baby to this big, sweet, funny, amazingly capable little person.

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We talked at dinner tonight about all the things she couldn’t do when she was Ben’s age (almost two) that she can do now. She is skiing like a champ (spent about 4 hours today doing just that). She knows all her letters and can write her name and read quite a few words. She is getting good at simple addition. She goes potty all on her own. She dresses herself. She helps with little chores around the house. She is an amazing big sister to Ben. She plays computer games. She rides her bike. She “skins the cat” (a gymnastics move). And the list goes on and on. It was neat to see how for the first time this year, she really seems to grasp what having a birthday is all about. She seems to understand that quite a bit of time has gone by since her last one and what that means. It’s pretty cool.

She had a wonderful day (she even said so). She requested baked french toast for her b’day breakfast, complete with bacon and Papa’s custom smoothies to drink. Then we hit the slopes for a few hours of fun in the sun. She got to have hot chocolate at the lodge and then ski down and take the bus home. I was happy it worked out for her to get a nap … she needed it! After her nap we opened presents from Mommy and Daddy so Tabby could see and wear her b’day t’shirt. I’m extremely happy to report she loves it!! We went and had dinner at a restaurant in town. She requested STEAK and received a kiddo sized portion of prime rib and mashed potatoes plus a Shirley Temple – extra cherries. Then it was back to the condo for a grandma-made birthday cake, heavy on the funfetti and some more presents. It was a tired girl who crawled into bed way past her bedtime.

It has been oh-so incredible to watch her grow and change these past four years. She is becoming a little person who I’m incredibly proud of and oh so thankful to have in my life. She’s a gem through and through.

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B’day T’shirt

One of the benefits of having a four year old is that she can’t read (well not really) just yet. This makes subterfuge much easier. Not as easy as it was when she was say … 2 but you get the idea. Thus I can make AND display her birthday t’shirt before her b’day without much risk of being found out.

 

So the t’shirt … it’s applique. I don’t know about that word. It just sounds old fashioned and dowdy to me. Kind of appropriate, actually, since a lot of the applique you see, even on the ‘net is just that: old fashioned and DOWDY. But it doesn’t have to be. The design is the big ol’ lynch-pin. You have to have a cool design. More on that in a minute. First, what you need.

  • cool design
  • scrap fabric in appropriate colors/patterns (cotton, light weight) … all pre-shrunk
  • surface to applique on (should be easy to get to the back – pockets are a bit hard, at least if you want to use your sewing machine) – pre-shrunk as well!
  • iron-on interfacing
  • sewing machine
  • coordinating/contrasting thread as appropriate Continue reading “B’day T’shirt”
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Popovers

I have to say, I really love popovers. They require no leavening agent and rely, rather, on high-heat generated steam for their towering height. They have a nice, slightly custardy flavor and are incredibly easy to make.

I think this was the second time I’ve made popovers. It seems to me there was a go before this, perhaps while we were in Vail, but it’s a bit foggy up there so I can’t say for sure. I was reminded of them near the end of last week and I thought they sounded like a good thing to make with the yummy loaded potato soup we had on Friday. Every time (whether it was once or twice), they came together quickly and easily and turned out perfectly. As an added bonus, I almost always have the ingredients around. Popover connoisseurs insist that these must be baked in popover-specific pans, but I make mine in muffin tins and do not succumb to the dreaded unitasker. I am sure they taste just as good.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 C all-purpose flour (I think it helps if you sift, but it’s not strictly necessary)
  • 1 C milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions
[flickr size=”small” float=”right”]http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesser80/5484034383/[/flickr]Heat oven to 450. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with butter or non-stick spray. Beat eggs gently in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk in remaining ingredients until just smooth. Do not over-mix. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins until they are about 2/3 full or a bit less. Bake for 20 minutes then reduce oven temp to 350 and bake another 10-20 minutes or until popovers puffed up nicely and golden brown on top. Enjoy as you see fit … I suggest butter and strawberry jam.