They were cones

My dad has a soft serve frozen yogurt machine. I know, all the envy. My dad is also an extremely generous human being and invites the families in his ward & neighbors over to his house two times a month on Monday nights for free frozen yogurt cones.

Chairs are set out in their driveway and people come and go as they please. Its pretty fantastic. On occasion we get to make the trek to my parents house to partake of the yummy goodness.

Little Leonard was given his first cone a couple months back and I was able to capture the moment he realized that frozen yogurt was an amazing thing. 😊

He's a fan of the froyo! I'd be sad if he wasn't, cause froyo is life y'all. 

This last pic didn't focus on the messy, froyo covered sticky mess in the front, it got a great shot of my niece Maddie, Bro-in-law Jon & my mom. 

Mommy Style Monday: Meal Time

I love me some food.

Its crazy that my kids don't. I'm constantly telling them "I wouldn't make this if it didn't taste good!"

I have multiple picky eaters in my house, so meal time and finding something that everyone likes is slim pickings.

This Mommy Style Monday is all about meal time.  I'm still trying to figure out what everyone will eat when it comes to meals, opinions around here change a lot.

BUT

I have found a few meals that are go too, and also snacks. My kids snack a lot, and the older my kids get the hungrier they get.  I feel like I'm always feeding them.

My go to dinners that nobody feels to share their picky opinions about.

• Taco Salads
• Scrambled Eggs
• Rice with Hamburger or Turkey Meat
• Hot dogs & Hamburgers
• Crock pot meat & potatoes

Pretty basic nothing crazy.  I know there are a few other things, but these are the ones that get rotated quite a bit around here. I do try and make something the kids haven't tried before or they have had in the past and I want them to try again, every once in awhile. Doesn't usually go over too well with some but sometimes you just gotta make something you like and the kids can just deal, even if they give me sass.

The things my kids love more than basic food is snacks.  Oh all the snacking! constantly asking for snacks.

Go to snacks

• Malt o Meal GIANT bags of cereal. Knock off cinnamon toast crunch & fruit loops are the way to go.  On the grocery receipt it literally says MOM CEREAL.  Its a sign you must buy if you're a mom. 
• Cheese sticks.  Yes, sometimes I spurge a little for these, Not often, but they love these and eat them up. So do I
• Animal Crackers. Chocolate & Regular.  
• Those crunchy Nature granola bars that make the biggest mess in the world. messy, but good. 

We're super classy, with food around here. LOL!

The baby just wants his bottles, rice cereal and i'm gonna start him on fruits and veggies as soon a i find a highchair i like.

As you can tell I wasn't able to take a single picture of children eating or food for this post, but I hope the use of a few gifs made this a tiny bit interesting.  Happy Eating. 

Check out what everyone else has to say about meal time in their house 

Kiana // Glitter & Donuts

Madeline // CaseyLand

Bekah //These Are The Days

Britt at My Little Sunshine

Beverly // What a Day 

Chelsea // Tessa Marie

Monica // It's All About

If you'd like to join in the next mommy style Monday go on over to Kiana or Madeline's blog for the details. 

Till next time. 

Easy Homemade Brownie Recipe

I'm continuing my quest in making the recipes I've pinned on my Pinterest.

Up next brownies!

I was wanting something chocolate and we only have cocoa powder in the house and I'm not about to start spooning it into my mouth.  That probably would not go over very well.

So I turned to the glorious Pinterest and found recipe that was simple and I had everything already in my house.

The recipe is found on I Am Baker site.  She had a brilliant idea of making the dry mix as a gift and including the recipe of the rest of the ingredients and such for the person to finish making it.  I may have to do that.  Its just like using a box mix but I think more personable because you spent the extra time on it. 

  

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup melted butter, then cooled
• 2 eggs 
• 1 tsp vanilla

*I doubled the recipe and it was still perfect* 

Directions:

1. Sift together all dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. 
2. Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly. Beat two eggs with the vanilla.  Add to dry ingredients and stir.  Pour in cooled melted butter and incorporate.  Spread batter in a prepared 8-inch square pan and bake for 20-22 minutes at 350 degrees. *since I doubled the recipe I used a 9x13-inch pan and baked it for about 30 minutes, but started checking at 22 minutes.*

It is seriously such an easy recipe.  I am a huge fan of fudge style brownies and this is perfect.  Add a little vanilla ice cream and some chocolate syrup and its a perfect desert for any day or even a special occasion. 

Enjoy and happy baking! 

Simple Soft Pretzel Recipe

Right now I'm going through my Pinterest food board and I'm actually attempting the recipes I've pinned over the years. 

Who even does that right?

Well, I decided I wanted to be that person. 

My younger brother lives in Idaho, going to school there and he had a little pretzel business with a couple other people and when I found that out I was supremely jealous, cause SOFT PRETZELS! 

I have a serious love for them, its unhealthy really.  The obsession become even greater in this last pregnancy. I got the pretzel love bad!

So the other day I decided instead of going to QT kitchen to pick up a pretzel (btw they have good soft pretzels there) for the umpteenth time, I'd attempt making them myself.

I did not expect them to turn out, the recipe I found said I should use a stand mixer but I don't do things that way.  I mix everything by hand so I was leery of the outcome.

If you're like me then I want to let you know that yes, they will turn out and you will be happy you didn't skip out because you don't have a stand mixer.

I got quick Instagram story of my first batch right out of the oven, i wanted to post it but the video is being finicky so here is a crappy screen shot of the video. :) I made a second batch the next day and instead of the usual pretzel shape I made them into pretzel bites.  I've been poppin way too many in my mouth.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Yields: 8 small pretzels

recipe adapted from Sprinkles Some Sugar

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 standard packet)

1 cup warm water

1 tbs unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3 cups all-purpose flour + up to 3/4 cup more if needed

2 cups water

4 tbs baking soda

1 tbs coarse salt, for sprinkling on top

6 tbs salted butter, melted

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees and line a large baking sheet or two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine yeast with warm water and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with hook attachment. Once mixture becomes "frothy" your yeast is ready. 

Stir in salt and melted butter. Add flour 1 cup at a time until a dough forms and is no longer sticky. You may need more or less depending on temperature differences. If you press your finger into the dough and it bounces back, it's ready to knead. Knead dough for 5 more minutes until smooth and pliable. Form dough into a ball and place it back into the bowl to rest for 15 minutes. During this time, prepare baking soda bath.

In a medium sized pot, boil 2 cups of water with 4 tbs of baking soda. Once the baking soda is mostly dissolved, take mixture off heat and allow it to come down to a lukewarm temperature. Pour into a 9x9 baking dish once cooled down.

At this time, 15 minutes of dough resting time should be up. Take dough out of the bowl and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Cut dough into 8 sections (like a pizza). Roll each triangle into a long rope, about 19-20 inches long. Shape dough into pretzel shape and place in baking soda bath for 2 minutes. If the whole pretzel isn't covered by the water, spoon it on top of the areas is doesn't reach. Once the 2 minutes is up, carefully pick pretzel up either by your hand or with the help of a fork and place on prepared baking sheet. You may have to re-shape slightly. Sprinkle the pretzel with coarse salt while still wet (optional). Repeat these steps until all 8 pretzels are prepared and on the baking sheet(s).

Bake pretzels for 8-9 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately from the oven, brush with melted butter.

yay for the weekend

so its wednesday, and i'm talking about last weekend.

 

so friday the lets make a deal thing happened. woot! then that same night was the Annual Crandell dinner/gift exchange. awesome!

 

This years pick was to Pita Jungle. 

I had not been their before.

so i tweeted if anyone had and what i should get and i got a response to try the black bean burger. 

so i did and it was amazing! YUM!!

 

 

it was huge and amazing and i ate the whole thing.

didn't even phase me. i guess i was hungry.

so flipping good.

i could eat another one right now.

i need to stop thinking about it.

 

mmmmmm...black bean burger.

 

 

oops.

 

so after we ate

 we skipped the cheesecake everyone ordered and went next door to the frozen yogurt shop and ate some delicious yogurt!

when i say we, i mean my husband and i.

 

HIS all about the candy

 

HERS all about the fruit.

 

it was so good and so needed even though i was stuffed

there is ALWAYS room for frozen yogurt! ALWAYS!

 

it was a great time with my brothers, sisters, and parents.

we all got some great gifts.

lots of loud talking, lots of laughs

its just so much fun to be with family and have a good time.

especially over great food!!

 

 

 

busy busy weekend.

i actually did quite a few things this past weekend.

me doing something!! i know i'm stepping it up. haha.

friday

i went to lunch with of couple of my friends. Brooke and Deena. We don't get together often but it's always so much fun!

on my way.

 don't worry i was actually excited.

the other pic i took a looked like quasi.

we ate at California Pizza Kitchen. it was DEVINE! y'all know how much i'm loving pizza right now. yeah loved it! i started out with this avocado chip appetizer thing.  it was good, but the corn in it was a bit too sweet but still tasty.

 

i got the Works pizza, oh my heavenly.



 

 

Saturday:

 

i invited my SIL Amy to a little demonstration of this new Graco Car seat. it's actually pretty flipping amazing, but cha-ching a bit of a chunk of change, but in the long run worth the price i think since the kid would use the seat all the way till 2 years old.

 

the best part they were giving one away! guess who won that bad boy!

 

yep my SIL totally got herself a sick new car seat! So flippin excited for her!! YAY AMY!!

 

 



After all that awesome winning.

 

I took Evelyn and her kitty cat to my cousin Sarah's wedding that night.

 

Evelyn was so excited to go to her first wedding and the whole time kept telling me that she wished she could be married. I told her not till she is at least 18. she was sad it is so far away. cutie!

 

anywho the kitty cat. it was her plus one guest. she had so much fun taking pictures of her cat at the wedding. i let her take the pics and have a good time and i have about 15 cat pics on my phone, plus a few videos too.

 

here are a few shots of my cousin's wedding. :) all by evelyn.

 

 

 

my studly younger brother

with his glasses on i told him he looked like Jef with one F!

 

it was a really nice wedding and are so excited for Sarah!

 

oh and a reader asked for a belly pic. i caved ugh. i guess i love y'all that much. hahaha.

check out my glorious big belly. yep i'm a proud momma with that one. me at 21 weeks and i guess a couple of days. i'm not paying close attention. oops. :)

 



not the best pic, but it will do. :)

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

what did you do??

bread bowls.

(sorry for the terrible cell phone pic, hubby had the camera with him in cali)

 



one of my favorite things to make/eat is bread.

all different kinds. i don't have a machine or mixer so i just do it by hand. it is really helpful when i've had a stressful day to knead some dough. love it!!

every 2nd sunday my family rotates houses and we all get together and have dinner, play games, chit chat, you know whatever. it's the ones that are hosting that month to make a dinner and the rest of us bring a side, dessert, drink. this month was our month.

so yesterday by family came over.

it was pretty crazy getting ready for it. chris was out of town and got back late last night, so just me and my girls getting everything ready. i was tired. hahaha.

anywho of course i choose to make homemade creamy potato soup (oh this stuff is devine!!!) and bread bowls.

yes i make my bread bowls. i found this recipe via pinterest (not surprised right??) i'm not a big fan of soft bread bowls, it needs to have structure and these are perfect.

seriously they are NOT hard to make at all, super easy. i made 20 in just a few hours! the only down is just waiting for the dough to rise.

i promise it is so easy.

 





*Makes 6-8 bread bowls

 

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast (use 1 tablespoon instant yeast)
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
7 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal

DIRECTIONS:In a large bowl (or bowl of an electric mixer), dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. (You can omit this step if using instant yeast.)

Add salt, oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition until a soft but not sticky dough is formed (you may not need to use all 7 cups). This bread bowl dough needs to be a bit firmer than a roll/bread dough so that the bread bowls rise up instead of out.

When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes (or let knead in an electric mixer). Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Punch dough down, and divide into 6-8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a round ball. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal (or use silpat liners or parchment paper). If desired, slash the top surface of the bread bowl several times with a sharp knife or razor. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown and baked through.

ellen/jimmykimmel/makeadeal

so got back from a super jam packed weekend.

 

 

thursday

4am- leave for cali

11:30ish- get to hotel and get ready as quickly as possible

(btw they didn't have a room for us so we got dressed/ready in the lobby bathroom)

12:30ish- get to ellen parking lot and wait to go in

 

(last year i was #50 woot! go half! didn't think about later that i got my age. haha. nice)

 

my phone died after this point lame. it seems to be having battery issues, probably from me dropping it all the time. OOPS!

 

ellen show was totally awesome AGAIN!!

we sat in the exact same spot as last year.

yeah we be cool like that.

 

we got the phillip phillips cd and it's pretty good.

i didn't watch american idol so i wasn't really sure who he was.

 

 

4:30ish-get out of ellen, and try to escape from packed parking lot to make it to hollywood to go to the Jimmy Kimmel show

 

5:30ish- finally get to hollywood, park, walk across street, wait in long line at jimmy and were one of the last few people to get in!

we had some great seats too.

it's smaller in person, at least i thought so.

the guests were one of my favorite Jimmy Kimmel guests ever

Terry Bradshaw!

this guy is so flippin hilarious and just cracks me up!

then Dave Matthews was there and then did an outdoor concert.

we didn't stay for the concert we were ready to go and were so tired.

 

9ish- got back to hotel ate some dinner finally!! PIZZA YUM!!

the hit the sack! we were all super tired!

 

 

friday

i wish i knew how to sleep.

children have taught me how not too.

woke up at 6.

after everyone else woke up we started getting ready for the next show, lets make a deal.

 

i ended up coming up with my costume and making it the day before we left and i thought it turned out pretty good.

total: 2 bucks to whip it together. haha. score! love cheap!

 

i ended up deciding to be a unicorn.

 

 

my sister was able to get my hair to look like a horses mane. yeeehaw. hahaha.

 

i forgot to take a picture of my whole outfit. ooops. haha

but if you go to this LINK they put up pictures of the groups/peeps that went and took pics.

i guess if you want you could buy a picture too. haha.

 

any who it was fun and all around a great time.

we sat right behind the piano man cat grey

 (i think that's how you spell it. i can't be certain)

so fingers crossed we'll be in a shot, cause they show him every once in awhile on the show. on occasion, right?

 

the episode is airing sometime in december.

i'll let ya'll know when i know for sure.

 

after the show, changed, then walked the less that 100 feet from our hotel to BJ's! oh how freakin delicious that place is!

 

we were all starving cause he missed lunch from being at the show.

 

so we filled out bellies with yummy food then crashed again once we got back.

 

saturday

was a pretty chill day that i pretty much dedicated to taking pictures of the food i ate.

 

my sisters went on a Hollywood stars home tour

my mom and i walked downtown Burbank and then ate lunch at this amazing pizza place called ZPIZZA!!

 

have i mentioned that i LOVE pizza, and this was the best ever!

 

 

 

so good.
my mom and i ate this entire large pizza
with out even it phasing us. haha.
we didn't get much of breakfast so we were hungry.

 

after deliciousness

my mom had to fly home so she left around 2 and i got to watch CABLE TELEVISION for a good 2 hours with out any interruptions!
 it was great i caught up mostly on the Kardashians.
 how i miss that show dearly. :)

 

later that night after the star tour yayhoos got back we went to Universal City walk and well, walked around, did some shopping oh and ate food.

 

 

 

yummy Johnny Rockets onion rings and fries hit the SPOT! YUM!

then some freakin delicious frozen yogurt to end the night.

 

sunday

drove home.

woot
came home to a clean home!
thank you sweet loving husband.
you are the best. :)

 

it was a super fun weekend

lots of laughing, dancing, and eating

 

this is sufficiently long enough so i think i'll stop now.

 

i hope you enjoyed my recap of events.

i was totally going to do another vlog, but eh, just far to much to cover and i clearly can get chatting and keep going on forever!

 

the factory

i'm finally getting into the swing of things with myself. figuring out what works, what doesn't and i think i've got my system, and i'm just nervous about sabatoging myself right now.  especially if i'm asked to go out where there may be any food.  still not my strong point. it is getting better though. 

one thing i was not able to weasle myself out of was going out to dinner last friday.  my parents for a birthday take that person out to dinner. well this year for my birthday, which was two months ago, we just plain forgot and i was totally okay with that. well they invited me to go with my other two sisters to their birthday dinner so we could go all together.  to none other than the cheesecake factory. kill me now. haha. 

i had to prepare myself. how awful it that.  i was nervous to go. so i looked at the menu online before i left and picked exactly what i was getting so i would not even look at the menu when i got there. of course i forgot that there is bread on the table and appetizers ordered. i resisted, i knew i only have a certain amount of calories to eat and that was it. i was not going over and that was final.  i was good, the food i got was great. i didn't want to eat the whole thing but i had to in order to get my calories in. what a shame :)

everyone ordered their cheesecake. i'm actually really glad my husband doesn't like it. it saved me from sneaking anything he ordered. i was scared to go just because that is alot of delicious temptations to deal with but i'm glad i was able to stay focused and have a great time too.  thank you to my parents for taking us all out. it was a great time!!  the best part was my brother in law came up to me and said how great i looked! yay. so people do notice!

i'm trying really hard not to be a food nazi but it may seem like i could be headed in that direction.  oops. :)

and i totally swiped this picture from my sister in law amy's blog. sorry, i had to at least have one picture with all these words, and they look hot so it make this post better.   

(me, kim, amy)

thanks for sticking with me peeps. i'm even more crazy now. heaven help me.

feasts

my children can be picky eaters but something i am super grateful for is the fact that they love eating of fruits and vegetables.

yes, they are like regular children and love sweets, salty, and unhealthy snacks, and would choose junk food over good food any day.

i mean who doesn't? if you don't, do not tell me, because i still want to like you. :)


i was at a family thing (my husbands side) this past Sunday and they usually have a desert after a spiritual lesson or something like that, but regardless, always delicious deserts present.

it was time to dish up some goodness for the kids. i started with amelia. i asked her if she wanted a brownie of course she said yes, she sat down and just starred at her little brownie, took a small bite and then that was it.  she noticed i was eating some strawberries and blueberries and asked for those instead. a proud moment for me right there! my little healthy eater.

evelyn wanted ice cream so she got some, standard, then asked for me to put some blueberries on it for her. again a proud moment for this momma!

 Children's favorite Fruit & Veggies to have around the house:  celery, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, strawberries, apples, banana's & oranges.

if i let them i'm pretty sure they would just eat those all day everyday.

i am more than happy to accommodate. :)


don't forget about the giveaway!!

New favs

Okay if anyone is in the San Diego area please go to an amazing little joint we went too!

Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop

It was delicious, but the best part was the decor of the place. 

I was humming.....I am I am, the whole time i was there.

Yes seriously please go if you are in the area.

My girls thought it was pretty amazing!!  And they ate their food too, something else amazing!

I've come to realize how many amazing places i found in San Diego that i want to be in my hometown immediately, but i guess its the extra specialness that makes Saint Diego such an amazing place!

cookies

So i wanted to make my kiddos a special treat, but i didn't have any eggs. no car, so i couldn't go to the store to get any.  The thing i have an abundance of is peanut butter, so i thought i would make something with that.

two more behind these and two more on a lower shelf.

so a browsed the Internet and came across this super easy yummy peanut butter cookie recipe.

Behold i give you.....

Peanut Butter Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

• 3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal (i used just regular ol' instant oatmeal)
• 5 tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter

1.  Mix together the first three ingredients. Set aside.
2. Stir together sugar, milk, and butter in Medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring occasionally - full boil for ONE minute.
3. Immediately pour over oatmeal mixture and stir thoroughly but rapidly.
4. Spoon cookie size scoops (a heaping tablespoon) onto waxed paper or plastic wrap and let set until firm.

"cookin" in the fridge. They weren't setting fast enough for evelyn.

I've honestly have never made no bake cookies before.  They were excellent.  I would have added a little bit more oatmeal cause mine turned out a little too sticky and didn't set all that great.

Try them out. They are yummy. 

I do recommend though, if your running around with out a gallbladder like myself don't eat too many, you'll make yourself sick.