My newest secret weapon…

July 25, 2011 by ·

… which was brought to me by everyday food storage…

Within 1 hour, this is all that was left…

of this…

and all of it due to a little mathematics…

… subtract this…

Add this…

(yes, that is a jar of beans)

… only in the recipe, they look more like this:

and suddenly you have a whole lot of this…

Here’s the lowdown…

substitute pureed beans in cake, cupcakes, muffins, etc. cup for cup in place of oil, and just like that you have a super moist, super yummy dessert!

Seriously, our kids gobble this up as fast as it comes out of the oven – their biggest stress is waiting for it to cool enough to not burn their mouths!

Try it… You’ll like it…

(just don’t tell your family all of the nitty gritty details!)

Filed Under: Featured Posts, Recipes

“Kids, go get in the car…”

July 22, 2011 by ·

… maybe I should have been a bit more specific…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Hurry Up…

June 6, 2011 by ·

And wait.

And Wait

And Wait.

If there is one thing that I know for sure about me…

I can do.

Ask me to do anything, and I’ll jump at the chance… a bit too much on a few too many occasions (much to the chagrin of my hubby and my sanity… but that’s another story!)

It seems that as times when I am running

and running

and running

God has a way of grabbing me by my hair

and pulling me into the waiting game.

I call it the waiting game, because I am convinced that when He needs a little comic relief, he grabs a few angels over and says, “Hey, wanna see something really funny?  Let’s mess with Jen just a little bit… whatch how crazy we can make her with just a couple of tweaks…”  there is no other way in the world I can explain our blast into parenthood with twins… (that alone provided a whole Heavenly Host of comic relief for a good two years, I’m sure)… but I digress.

The waiting game.

For the past 6 months things have been a wee bit crazy here.  Crazy in both good and bad ways… I have had two books that have been swimming around in my brain for years finally make a launch onto paper and got things really rolling on those.  I got accepted to speak at an upcoming education week… something that has been a dream/goal of mine for years (crazy dream to have, I know!).

And also, making ‘family’ decisions… of whether or not to add to our brood.  (Some days I want another one right now!  Every once in a while, though, I wonder if there is a return policy on the ones we already have…).

So for the past 6 months, I have been going crazy writing, planning, and working like crazy to make everything come together.  (in between cleaning, and cooking, and diaper changing… you get the idea!).

… and finally got my big parts done on the book front – then entered the editing/artisting/graphic designing arena, where I got to hand off my precious manuscript with a kiss and a hug…

and wait.

and wait.

and wait.

And in the mean time, starting down the fertility medication road again… where I get to…

(you guessed it…) wait

and wait

and wait.

And I have learned that I do not like the waiting place.

I do not like it at all!

So as I sit in the final hours, waiting for the final proof from the graphic designer…

Don’t mind me as I pace.

and stress

and wring my hands

and check my email about a bazillion times.

and realize that I am so not a good waiter.

… so, what are you waiting for??

Filed Under: Random

ooey gooey goodness

May 28, 2011 by ·

This is not exactly the first food post you would expect from a dietitian, but like I said in the intro – some recipes will be good for you, and others, well, will be just plain gooey good!!This…
is one of the latter 🙂

and it’s made in this…

Yup… that’s right…

Chocolate
Upon chocolate…
upon chocolate.
Which, when simmered all together for a few hours…
turns into this

The best chocolate molten lava lusciousness that you will ever swath your taste buds in 🙂

Here’s the recipe (from a great friend, Melanie!  Thanks, Mel… I both praise and curse your name every time I indulge in this 😉

1 3/4 cups brown sugar, divided
1 cup flour
6 T cocoa, divided
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup milk
2 T butter, melted
1/2 t vanilla
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate for this… because I am a milk chocolate lover… oh and I just pour the whole bag in!)
1 3/4 cups boiling water
Combine 1 cup brown sugar, flour, 2 T cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add milk, butter and vanilla.  Spread into 3 quart slow cooker coated in cooking spray.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.  In another bowl combine remaining brown sugar and cocoa; stir in boiling water. Pour over batter (DO NOT STIR).  Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2-3 hours. Check with toothpick, serve with ice cream.  Serves 8 (If you can stand to split it that many ways!).
Filed Under: Featured Posts, Recipes Tagged With: ,

It’s Alive!!!

May 28, 2011 by ·

 

When talents were handed out in Heaven, there were several lines that I skipped.

Gardening was one of those.
As far as green thumbs are considered,
Mine is a varying shade of black.
I’m not kidding.
Take, Hostas, for example…
a few years ago, I had a friend dividing her hostas, and offered to share.
Hostas.
Easy.
I mean, seriously, they are the one plant that you can’t kill, right??
Well… I killed it.
Which, now that I look at it, is a type of talent.  When it’s touted as the one plant that is un-killable… then being able to actually kill it is some sort of (sordid) talent, right??
Fast forward 2 years, one slightly productive, and one miserably failed garden attempt,
and we move into a new house…
which is surrounded by…
Hostas.
Yep.
The unkillable plant that I can’t seem to save.
The owner had said she wanted landscaping that was hardy and low-maintanance.
She didn’t count on ‘ole black thumb buying her beautifully surrounded by hostas-house.
We went through season one, and they actually came up… and lived!
(Thanks only to the fact that we also inherited an automatic sprinkler system from them)
Open season two…
And while the rest of the world’s hostas are starting to come alive and bring forth their green pointy starts,
Mine were still, well…
Dead.
To add insult to injury, at a meeting, one of the women was talking about how she was going to need to divide her hostas the next day.
Good grief!  You mean some are so robust that they need to divide this soon?!  She kindly offered to share some of her off-shoots with me to re-start my crop.
Sure, that’s just what I need, more of a plant to which my black thumb is toxic!
The next day, I went out to admit defeat, and pull my dead hostas from the ground.
As I wrapped around and pulled,
To my complete surprise… underneath all of the dull deadness…
I found:
My very own, fresh crop of Hostas!
I’m not a murderer after all!
(and have since learned that ‘everyone knows’ that you are supposed to clear away the dead stuff every fall…like I said… skipped that talent line in heaven!)
I was going to wait for my kids to have them help and learn a little gardening, but I was just so excited pulling off dead to reveal a fresh green start, that I did them all (except for one) right then.
As I did it, I kept thinking about how much like life that is…
Maybe what we think is a worthless and dead part of us
Is just a piece that is patiently waiting for us to clear away the gunk
and reveal a fresh new start.
I love spring!
… so what inside of you is waiting to sprout??
Filed Under: Random Tagged With:
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