Cookie Butter Brownies

I thought that my Brownies – not from a box couldn’t be beaten.  I was incorrect.  I saw someone post on FB about cookie butter brownies.  Y’all might not know that I have a long standing love of airplane cookies.  Whoever decided to convert that delicious flavor into something you can eat without teeth has a special place in my heart.  Anyway, the recipe…

Brownie batter (you can use a box if you want, but my recipe is better)  Put in pan like normal.

1/2 c melted cookie butter (Speculoos from Trader Joe’s or Bischoff will do) – pour on top of brownie batter and swirl around with a knife.

Bake as usual.

You’re welcome.

Valentines bags for the Pinterest challenged

Pinterest  has a way with making moms feel inadequate. I am here to release you from your guilt. Here is my photo tutorial for how to make a valentine bag for your kid’s school party without losing several hours of sleep.

Step 1 – Gather your supplies.

Step 2 – Put bag in position

Step 3 – Write name on bag

Step 4 – Move on with your life. No guilt allowed.

There you have it. Two minutes or less. Carry on.

Menu plan – 4/27/14

Since I keep forgetting what we are/have been eating for dinner, here’s the menu for the week.

Sunday lunch-bacon chicken, skillet potatoes

Sunday dinner- spaghetti if it’s raining, grill again if it’s not

Monday – tacos

Tuesday – chicken stir fry

Wednesday – sausage and spinach quiche

Thursday – leftovers

Friday – pizza and salad

Saturday – out

Bye, bye house

One day in December, I decided I’d had enough.  I think it was my 4th or 5th trip to Ascension in a day.  20 times in a week.  10 stoplights each way.  I was going to try and talk Jason into moving.  I figured it wouldn’t go anywhere.

He said OK.

Over Christmas break I painted and “staged.”  We got new carpet installed when we got back from the Fiesta Bowl.  The house sold after the first showing.

I thought finding a new house would be easy.  Not as easy as I thought, but we found one.  And we start moving tomorrow.

It still doesn’t seem quite real.  Jason and I have great memories here.  We built this house.  It’s the only house our kids (and cat) have ever lived in.  I am so sick of the packing mess, however, that I’m not that sad.  Let’s get a move on. 🙂

And then you were 10

 

That’s right.  I have a 10 year old.  He’s been here for a decade.  I remember looking at his sweet forehead the day he was born and apologizing to him for inheriting my cowlick (Exhibit A above).  I have stopped apologizing.  It suits him.  He is a free spirited, go his own kind of way, mellow kid who still lets me give him hugs.  Love you, sweet boy!

Happy 6th birthday, baby girl!

My baby is six.  Six.  That takes two hands to show how old she is.  A third of the way to out of the house.  I’m at a loss for words.  This year she started kindergarten.  Learned to do a cartwheel.  Learned to read. Lost a tooth. Learned to swim by herself.  She probably learned even more things she’s keeping a secret so I can’t tell her not to do them.

Happy birthday, Caroline.  Mama loves you.

Oh yeah, we went to Cali

Last month Jason and I left the kids here in KC with mom and headed to Orange County for a friend’s wedding.  And a little sightseeing.

Dana Point, CA (yes, we’re related to the Dana guy in the statue)

Laguna Beach

I’m pretty sure our retirement home overlooks Laguna beach.  Seriously.  Except that it probably costs $12 million dollars.

It was a good trip.  Until I got some intestinal virus or food poisoning or something about an hour after the reception was over.  I’ve never come so close to using an air sickness bag as I did that day.  Now I laugh about it.  Had I known I was going to be so sick I would have drank more!

Friends don’t let friends eat canned cranberry sauce

It’s not too late.  I hear the grocery store is open until noonish.  The stuff from a can is dreadful – that’s why you only choke it down once a year.  I present my mother-in-law’s recipe for baked cranberries.

 

(Photo taken before baking)

Ingredients:

½ lb fresh cranberries (2 bags)
1 ½ c. sugar
1 ½ c. orange marmalade
Grated lemon rind
Pecans (optional)

Directions:

1. Place cranberries in baking dish.  Cover with sugar and stir.  Sprinkle with water (1-2 T).  Cover with pecans (optional) grated lemon rind, and marmalade.
2. Bake 45 minutes at 350F.  When cranberries pop the juice will thicken.  Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Christmas is coming. Just don’t ask me what my kids want.

Making a list and checking it twice. That’s just part of Christmas, right? Well, I’m just not in the mood. Not this year. (Sorry, grandmas and grandpas.) I have no energy or desire to create 4 or 5 separate lists so that no one has to worry about getting the kids a duplicate gift. I’m not giving away the few good ideas I have.

Here’s the deal. My kids are your typical spoiled Johnson County brats. They have more stuff than they know what to do with. More stuff than I know what to do with, either.

If you want to know what they want, then take them to lunch and talk about it. Call their dad. But the mommy list generator is out of business.

Call me Scrooge.

Hot Bacon Cheddar Dip

I found this recipe online via Google last fall.  I am terrified The Random Memorandum blog will go offline someday and I’ll be left without the recipe for cheesy bacon delciousness, so I have decided to re-blog it.  I’ll never go away…

Here’s what you need:
1 8 oz block softened cream cheese
1 1/2 c. sour cream
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 c. bacon bits – 3/4 lb cooked bacon if you like to cook bacon 🙂
1/2 c. chopped green onions (I use chives from our garden)
Round Sourdough loaf

Here’s how you make it:
1. Put softened cream cheese in mixer bowl.
2. Add sour cream and cheddar. Mix together.
3. Add Worcestershire sauce, green onion, and bacon. Mix again.
4. Scoop out inside of bread to make a bowl.  Put dip inside.
5. Wrap bread in foil and put in oven at 350 for an hour.
6. Serve warm with reserved bread, crackers, or pretzel chips (my favorite).