{Life & Musings}

The Daily Question & a Layout

Every day I ask myself the same question.  "What to make for dinner?" 
I really hate that question.  For once I would like someone else to answer.  

You would think that pasta would be a slam dunk but NO! I have one kid that will not eat it. I struggle to get my kids to eat their veggies.  Please don't tell me your kids would rather eat veggies than candy. My kids love their carbs and it's a struggle to get them to eat protein.

Trying to please 5 peoples' various desires is tiring.  I have to get creative.  I'm always looking for new ideas and recipes. I read magazines and scour the internet.  9 times out of 10, I'll find one recipe in a cooking magazine to try.  The recipe needs to be simple.  Something quick is best.  It has to contain ingredients that they might recognize. 

So Max is out tonight at a dinner meeting or something in the city.  We are having Chili, which the kids love and he doesn't.  It's a recipe that I found in Cooking Light magazine. 

I promised you a layout.  Here it is.  Another digi layout from our anniversary trip. 

Template: Paislee Press
Embellishments: Taylor Made; Paiselee Press & Me.

Enjoy!

Miss Me?

Yes, life has been crazy lately, but I haven't forgotten about scrapping.  I've had a half finished layout on my desktop and it's been staring at me.  I finished it this afternoon.

Template: paislee press
paper: Michelle Coleman Thankful
brush: Michelle Coleman Corner florishes vol II

I can't believe October is just around the corner.  I've really got to get cracking on my layouts for the inlaws/grandparents albums and it's almost time to start thinking about Christmas cards.  Where does the year go???

Enjoy!

A Day of Firsts

Yesterday was a day of firsts for me.

It was my first trip to a real Sonic.  We did a road tirp to the nearest super Walmart and there is a sonic nearby.  Of course at 10:30 in the morning, I didn't know what to order.  I ended up with a hazelnut java chiller.  YUM!  I think it's a good thing that there isn't a sonic in quick driving distance to us.

Then I had another first yesterday, I finished a school days album --complete with pictures and memoribilia!  Ok, technically, I still need to do the title page and put the page protectors on, but I should be able to do that today.  Woo Hoo!

Finally, I was cleaning yesterday, going through magazines to recycle and I saw this:

Needless to say, I now have chocolate cake on the brain and desperately want to make this.  Anyone have a 12" cake pans with 2" sides, they want to let me borrow?

Here is the recipe if anyone else is experienceing chocolate cravings now:
From the June issue of Bon Appetit magazine.
Giant Chocolate Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache and Edible Flowers

Ingredients

cake

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

ganache

• 5 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Edible flowers* (for decoration)

special equipment

• 1 12-inch round cake pan with 2-inch-high sides

• * Available at some supermarkets and at farmers' markets. Use only those flowers that have been grown without pesticides.

Preparation

cake

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 12-inch round cake pan with 2-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper round. Spray parchment paper with nonstick spray. Dust pan with flour, tapping out any excess. Sift 2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Sift cocoa into another medium bowl. Pour 1 cup boiling water over cocoa; whisk to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add butter to egg mixture and beat until blended. Beat in cocoa mixture. Add buttermilk and vanilla; beat to blend. Add dry ingredients and beat on low just to blend. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.
• Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 38 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan on rack. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.

ganache

• Place chopped chocolate, butter, and vanilla in medium bowl. Bring cream and sugar to boil in medium saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Carefully pour hot cream mixture into bowl with chocolate. Let stand 1 minute. Whisk until melted and smooth. Chill ganache until thickened and spreadable, about 1 hour.
• Carefully invert cake onto large cake plate. Gently remove parchment paper. Spread ganache over top and sides of cake and allow ganache to set, about 1 hour. DO AHEAD Cake can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before decorating.
• Decorate cake with edible flowers. Cut into wedges and serve.

Enjoy!
Peace. Out.

What I'm Loving Right Now ....#3

Whew! 
Time flies.  I'm coming off of an 8th grade graduation and end of school festivities and I realize that I haven't updated my blog in a while.  So it's time for another installment of what I'm loving now...

 Last weekend, my mom was here and I received a discount coupon to the coach outlets.  We went down there and I got this: 
 
It's the Coach Hamilton bag in white (with a green bow and lavender inside).  LOVE IT!  I know that I can only use it for a small part of the year but it's GORGEOUS and it feels like BUTTER! 

(If you look closely at this picture....I didn't pay full price for this.  I got an incredible deal--40% off of the outlet price)

I think I have think with the color white right now.  I just planted a white climbing rose in my yard.  This past weekend I had white floral arrangement on my dinning room table.  White just looks so clean, classy, summery.

I've discovered a new drink at Starbucks....It's the iced coffee with milk and hazelnut. 
YUMMY and it's CHEAP!  
Has anyone tried the coffee at McDonald's?  I'm tempted.  The idea of being able to go through the drive thru is interesting.

Father's day is coming up and I recently found these mesh pans that would be a great gift for the BBQ-ing dad. 
 I think Max might be getting one of these baskets.  Shhh! They also show a pork roast cooking in this pan (How cool would that be??)
But maybe Max will be getting a weed whacker instead--that would be more practical.  :-)   Do you have any ideas for Father's day gifts???
What are you loving right now?

Peace. Out.

What I'm Loving Right Now ....#2

It's time for another installment of things that I'm loving right now.

Around my house, everyone knows that I have, what we like to call, trucker hands.  Yes, my hands are frequently cracked and dry.  I've discovered two things that have been helping me.  1) Dawn Hand Renewal dishwashing soap.  and 2) Eucerin PLUS intensive repair hand cream.  My hands are in MUCH better shape, Thank You!

As a Christmas present, I ordered a chef's jacket at Amazon for Uncle Franco.  It came with a free subscription to Bon Appetit for me!  (Got to love it when you get something for nothing!)  The first issue just came and WoW!  We subscribed to this YEARS ago and it was a really stuffy magazine that didn't fit the way we lived at all.  Boy, have times changed.  Both Max and I really enjoyed this magazine and I found a few recipes that I want to try.

I'm trying to be really cost conscious when I grocery shop lately. One thing that I noticed is that my local store, Safeway, has on their receipt this "Total Savings Value" line with a percentage and a dollar amount.  I've taken it on as a personal mission to see how high I can get that percentage.  Today, I got my highest percentage savings to date---39%.  Woo Hoo!  In this quest, I've started clipping coupons, not fanatically, but just here and there and only on stuff we use.  Did you know that your local grocery store may have coupons on their website?  I've also found coupons online at boxtopforeducation.com .  Where have you found grocery store coupons online? 

One final thing.  I can't let this  installment go by without mentioning that I'm totally in love with scarab solitare on facebook.  I think I'm going to give myself carpal tunnel, if I'm not careful.

I guess that's all for right now. Did I hit on anything that you are loving?
Peace. Out.

It's Coming

Spring, is of course!

Today, I was outside picking up the dog poo (ok, why didn't I realized that when I got the dog that this job would by default by me??), I could smell the cherry blossoms on the trees.  The sun was shining and the sky was blue today.  When was the last time I saw blue sky?  It's probably been about 10 days. 

One of the things that also signifies the coming of Spring is Ash Wednesday.  Being the good, little, Catholic girl that I am (tic), I've been thinking about what to give up for Lent.   In the past I've given up Starbucks.  Boy that was hard, but I did it.  Today, I'm giving up Diet Coke.  You may say, "what???"  but after living the soda free lifestyle for almost 7 years, I've fallen off the wagon and my habit is a little out of control right now.  Yesterday when I decided this, I was seriously Jonesing for a diet coke and there was none to be found in the house.  :-(

Have you seen any signs of Spring around you?

Peace. Out.