Let the cookies do the talking

I mentioned that our Fall Retreat is this weekend, well I got a little inspiration.

Every Tuesday I like to make cookies (or brownies, bread, muffins, etc.) to send with Chris to our Community Group. It's been hard letting go of being able to attend myself, so this is my way of feeling like I am still contributing something. Anyway, I saw these markers on another website (Bakerella's website) and wanted to try them out:

I bought them at Michael's and also decided to buy a big bin of cookie cutters. I figured since the bin of over 100 was less than $10, it didn't make sense to by just the single cookie cutter shape I wanted for $0.79. I'll use the others another time anyway. Here is the CAR cookie without frosting. I just used the basic sugar cookie cut-out in the Better Homes Cook Book.

I love the simple powdered sugar icing recipe. Notice I also made 1 dinosaur. You can guess who that's for! Yes, Logan always wants to try what I make. He's really into dinosaurs lately, so I'm thinking for his 3rd birthday coming up in November I might need to figure out how to make a very large dinosaur cake...that should be fun!

And....here's how the cookies turned out. A few things to note if you ever try these markers: make the icing very thin & let it set. A lot of the cookies looked messed up because anywhere the icing was thick, the markers would sink and make a blob. Needless to say the cookies taste fine, I mean I couldn't give the ugly ones to the students!

My guess is these would look great on fondant, and if you have amazing penmanship or art skills you could literally make a masterpiece. Although, I still think regular frosting probably looks better. However, here is a way that one of my favorite blogs use them and I think it looks pretty awesome. You can decide yourself:

Here is the picture of Bakerella's Candy Apples, quite expressive!

And here's how she made them: YUM

If you think about it, would you pray for our Fall Retreat this weekend? Some of my favorite memories as a student were at our retreats...there are times I wish I were still at OU! We still have room for people to sign up, so pray that more people will sign up, that all the details will come together, for safe travel, and that students will feel connected to one another, and that students will take a look at their lives and decide to really follow Christ whole-heartedly!

Autumn Food

Although it may not feel like Fall here in Tucson, it's almost October! Some of my favorite memories of Fall include the smell of wood burning in fireplaces, the red, orange, and yellow leaves, and the amazing sound of crunching leaves beneath my feet (one of my favorite things I must admit).

What else do I like? Fall food! Sure, you could eat these foods all year round, but I like to save them for the fall-winter months! I thought I'd share some of my favorite recipes with you!

ROASTED AUTUMN VEGETABLE SOUP:

This is a Weight Watchers recipe, but it is AMAZING (in my opinion). Clock on this LINK to go to their site for the recipe. I like it because each serving is 1 1/2 cups and only 2 points (translating for those of you not familiar with WW: low fat but lots of food & filling!). There is so much flavor. I think this recipe takes a lot of time, but is worth it. I take half of the soup and put it in the freezer for another week.

I like making grilled cheese with the soup, or garlic & tomato grilled cheese: slice a tomato & take the seeds out, when making the grilled cheese put a little cheese on each side of the bread with the tomato in the middle so it isn't soggy. Then sprinkle a little garlic powder on the bread when you flip it. YUM!

PUMPKIN BREAD:

I've realized that I love all things pumpkin (pie, muffins, ice cream), but I think one of my favorites is pumpkin bread. Last year I decided to make it myself since I realized I never had, and I used the recipe out of the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and you can find the recipe on this LINK. I am surprised that on the site it was given 4 out of 5 stars, because I thought it was amazing. This one is defiantly NOT a WW recipe (3 cups of sugar, 4 eggs, 1 Cup oil to name a few of the ingredients).

I think one of the keys to this recipe is making sure to wrap it and store over night before cutting into it. Just to make sure the recipe wasn't trying to fake me out, I tried a small piece right out of the oven and then again in the morning after it sat all night...and it was a lot better after sitting. So, if you want to make it, make sure to give it the time it needs for all the flavors to marry! Also, I might try a new recipe soon so I'll let you know if it's better!

CRANBERRY PORK:

I got this recipe from my mom, if she had a blog then I could put her link here....but she doesn't. For this recipe I use 3 ingredients: pork tenderloin (I'm sure other kinds of pork will work, I just like using something without bones in it), cranberries (I use a can & I like it with whole cranberries in it), dry onion soup mix (one packet). Mix the cranberries & onion soup, then put it on top of the pork (I just put the pork in a small glass pan). I bake it at about 375 for about 30-45 minutes (but I check the pork packaging and follow their instructions for baking), and then use a meat thermometer to make sure it's done. Anyway, it's one of the easiest recipes and has lots of flavor.

The next time I make any of these I will take a picture and show you! Happy Autumn!

Next weekend is our Fall Retreat and we're heading to Prescott, Arizona! I'm excited because it looks like the highs will be in the 70's-80's and lows in the 40's!!!! I can wear sweaters! So at least for a weekend I will experience Fall like I always remember it!

In Need of a Makeover

I was never one to be into fashion. As a matter of fact, I took great pride in the fact that I was a "jeans, t-shirt, tennis shoes" type of girl. I remember the few (and I really mean "few", maybe a handful of times) in high school when I'd wear a skirt and people would comment on it...because I NEVER wore skirts.

I chose to go to college at Ohio University over Miami of Ohio partially because the campus seemed to fit my more relaxed sense of style (meaning I could roll out of bed and if need be, wear my pj’s and a baseball cap to class and I wouldn’t be too out of place). ***Just a note: my friends from OU are fashionable and always look super cute...hence why I always wanted to borrow YOUR clothes.

THEN...I moved to California. Davis was a nice first step for me, because it was a little more down to earth and I didn't feel too out of place (except when I got made fun of for owning a yellow rain coat or wearing hiking boots when I wasn’t hiking).

After we got married we moved to San Luis Obispo. I remember the first time we went to church and I looked around and thought, “I’m never going to fit in here, everyone is so pretty and fashionable.” Honestly all of my friends (and if you are one of my friends from SLO, I'm talking about YOU) were/are always looking so cute and trendy. While in SLO I started caring more about fashion, but didn’t know what to do about it. I don't have the same type of body as most of my friends (case in point: went to a surf shop and tried on the "long" shirts and they didn't exactly look long on me) so what they wore wouldn’t totally work for me. Plus, I worked at Clear Channel Radio and had to wear more semi-professional clothes.

I did find it slightly easier to be a little more fashion forward when I was pregnant, because maternity clothes are "in" (thanks to all the celebs that decided to make maternity so hot & for People magazine rubbing it in my face) right now and it's okay if it's bigger and fits snuggly around the belly (and it's the ONLY time I want to accent my belly).

Where does this leave me right now? IN NEED OF A MAKEOVER!

I’ve come up with a list of some of the REALITIES OF MY LIFE: I work with college students & as I get older, the students we work with remain 18-22 (give or take). I want to look trendy, but I don’t have the time or money to buy a lot of clothes so I need to figure out some classics that can be mixed with some trendy pieces. Since I've had 2 kids, my weight and body is still in "transition" (in other words, I hope to take more of this "baby" and "I'm having a baby so I'll indulge" weight off), so I need things that can fit now and fit as the weight comes off. I want to look cute, but I still have a high value on comfort.

I’ve decided I’m going to keep a “Fashion File” and when I see pictures online or in magazines of outfits I like, I am going to file them away. My big debate is whether or not I go shopping for a few new clothes now or wait until I lose some more weight (maybe this would be motivating?). Either way, I want to have a makeover and so the next time I go shopping I want to be a little more conscious of what I’m buying and looking for.

Don’t you like how I am using this blog as a diary, ha ha! I guess if you find cute outfits or ideas you can pass them on my way! Also, here’s a cute blog I found that shows modest outfits (also a priority, so please don’t send me halter top ideas or dresses that are really supposed to be shirts). http://www.sensiblystyled.com/

THE Banana Bread Recipe

This is my grandmother's Banana bread recipe, and over the years I have tried new additions (chocolate chips, strawberries, no eggs, flaxseed, etc.), but it's good without any additions as well. I thought I'd share it with you, although this time I did add strawberries because they were either going to be thrown away or made into something yummy!

The original recipe is as follows:

1. Separate 2 eggs

2. Mix: 1 Cup sugar, 1/2 Cup Oleo or butter, 1 Tablespoon Milk, Yolks of 2 Eggs, 3 or 4 bananas mashed, 2 Cups Flour, and 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

3. Beat egg whites stiff & fold into first part

4. Put in greased bread pan & bake 350 degrees for about 55-60 minutes

*I use one bread pan, my grandma splits it up into 1 large & 1 small, or 3 small. It depends on how big you want your loaf to be. It is easier to cut if you divide it up because the top part doesn't break off as easily.

To make Banana/Strawberry bread I gathered the above ingredients

(to original recipe I added about 2 cups strawberries & increased all ingredients by 1/2)

Separate the egg yolks & whites. I love the kitchen aid mixer because on high it made the egg whites stiff in about 2 minutes. A regular hand mixer will work just fine, but may take longer. Once the egg whites were stiff I transfered to another bowl so I could mix the ingredients together with the mixer.

Using ripe (brown bananas, and mushy strawberries) fruit is much easier to mash, and usually tastes better too.

Here is the batter all mixed up before I put in the bread pans! Since the recipe is 1 1/2 I did put it in 2 regular bread pans, instead of making one large loaf.

And all finished, ready to eat!

Another favorite alteration is the addition of chocolate chips, or adding cocoa powder into the batter, white chocolate chips, and walnuts. Pretty much the sky is the limit.

To make a healthier bread you can take the eggs out and replace with an extra banana and/or applesauce (I think it is one cup per egg), you can replace some of the butter with ground flaxseed...once again you could probably try a lot of different substitutions.

If you make it and try something new/different, I'd love to hear what you do!

Special thanks to my dear Grandma Marsh for passing on her favorite recipes to me!

Arnold Palmer Cupcakes

An Arnold Palmer is a beverage consisting of half iced tea (either sweetened or unsweetened) and half lemonade named for golfer Arnold Palmer.[1]

The history of the Arnold Palmer per Arnold Palmer and Chris Byrd, founding partner of Arnold Palmer tee. Mr. Palmer had been privately brewing a mixture of lemonade Iced Tea in his home for many years, and in the late 1960's, in a bar in Palm Springs California, Mr. Palmer ordered a mixture of lemonade and Iced Tea and a women seated next to him overheard him and said, "I'll have that Palmer drink." The drink then spread across the golfing world and became known as an, "Arnold Palmer." Innovative Flavors out of Orlando Florida now licenses the drink to beverage companies such as Arizona. (Source: Wikipedia)

This weekend I tried a recipe: Arnold Palmer Cupcakes.

I originally got this idea from the Food Network, specifically Paula Deen. Her stuff always looks amazing, and I wanted to try something with a creative flavor. Click HERE for her recipe. However, after reading the reviews I got nervous and looked up other iced tea cupcake recipes.

This search took me to a blog called Bittersweet, and a recipe the author made up HERE

I looked over both and decided to follow Bittersweet's recipe (although I used regular 2% milk instead of soy milk & I added 2 eggs....not sure why, but it seemed like the right thing to do). They turned out okay, but I think it missed the lemonade flavor & tasted more like lemon iced tea (still moist though, which is always a plus).

If I attempt to make Arnold Palmer cupcakes again I will either try Paula Deen's recipe or consider finding a recipe for lemonade cupcakes & make the iced tea frosting from Bittersweet.

I'd love to hear of fun cupcake flavors that you've tried!This weekend I tried a new recipe, and I am still undecided as to what I really think about it. I mean it did taste like iced tea so I guess I accomplished what I was going for...for the most part!

As I typed this entry, I realized I would really like to figure out how to make Roy Rogers Cupcakes! That's more my type of drink anyway! Hmmm...might have to attempt that soon!

A Roy Rogers is a non-alcoholic mixed drink made with cola (such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or R.C. Cola) and grenadine syrup, garnished with a maraschino cherry. It is considered an acceptable cocktail drink for children (since there is no alcohol). For this reason, it may also be called a kiddie cocktail or simply a homemade Cherry Coke.It was named for the cowboy actor and singer Roy Rogers. (source: Wikipedia)

Trial by Error

So, I've considered creating another blog....one that is public and doesn't really talk about my kids but more about all the projects I am "attempting" (sewing, baking, decorating). The problem is that I don't do the best job updating this blog...so should I do another? Maybe if I did that one, then this one would be more about our family, ministry, and personal random thoughts.

If I do another blog, the name I have thought of is "Trial by Error" because that's what life often feels like. So, what do you think of the name? I want a title that can incorporate whatever I end up talking about. I'm open to suggestions!

What have we been up to? School's back in session so the last few weeks have been a little crazy to say the least. I've transitioned back to the roll of the stay at home mom for the majority of the time, and it's been mostly good. I do miss being on campus and have had to check my heart and apologize (sometimes after I've become jealous or angry at Chris because HE gets to be on campus...can't you hear me whining *cringe*), but I realize I really love being with my kids. If I were on campus all the time and couldn't be with Rachel & Logan I'd be sad, so it goes to show that the grass is always greener on the other side.

I bought a book called "Five Aspects of Woman: a Biblical Theology of Femininity" that I'm excited to read & study. I'll let you know what I think of it. Hopefully it will help give me an eternal perspective as I think about my role as a woman, wife, mom, etc.

Logan (2 years 9 months) & Rachel (6 months) are a lot of fun to be around (for the most part, but I guess that's assumed). Rachel is rolling all over the place, saying dada, baba, smiling, screaming for joy, wanting more and more attention, and laughing (mostly at Logan). Logan is running, jumping, wrestling, pretending, and playing itty bitty sports at the YMCA. Itty Bitty sports is for 3-5 year olds, but they let him play and it's a lot of fun to watch. So far they have learned some soccer skills, and this week they'll have a scrimmage (it will be entertaining to say the least). Logan is a really great big brother most of the time, and I think these two are going to be great friends!

Okay, I'm sure I could write more, but this is a blog not a diary!