One more time...

Let’s see, how many times can you start a blog…again. I’m terrible, and persistent maybe J

Anyway, I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen and have had some folks ask for some recipes

I decided if I was going to be typing them out and pinning them, they may as well be on my blog. At least something should be on here. Additionally, we recently welcomed a new director at work and she is BIG into journaling. Not a meeting goes by that she doesn’t encourage it. So, maybe this blog can help me in that arena as well. Plus, there’s my one faithful follower. (Hi mom!)

Life has been busy, but pintrest has kept me afloat. Even my husband adores the idea. He’s especially interested since he reaps the benefits of new, delicious food on an almost nightly basis…well, at least weekly. It even made his life easy at Christmas. We do home sharing with our iPhones and iPad so he has the pintrest app on his phone. While most men may be slightly peeved at the idea, he caught on to the fact that everything on my boards was actually things I liked. (He’s above average in smarts, I assure you J) So he clicked on a watch I had pinned, it took him right to the site and he bought it in 2 clicks. Saving him precious time and gift shopping energy. Obviously, I love this as well. So, enough praises of pintrest, on to my stories.



Here's my not sleeping boy!

we added a wonderful baby boy to our family in October and let me assure you he is beyond amazing. If only I could get that little tub-of-goo to sleep more than four hours at night, we would be golden. Oh well, I’m enjoying it, how can you be grumpy when they are so darn cute? And I’m still plugging away at school, becoming a family practice nurse practitioner. This sucks up way to much of my time and I will be so glad to finally be finished with school forever. Maybe before Peyton starts school we will be able to enjoy a few years of school free time in our family. Tim and I have been married for almost 11 years and not one year has passed where one of us (if not both of us) was in school. Needless to say, it’s getting old.

Anyway, on to my run on blogging…I’m going to start with a recipe I got from pintrest and then “tweaked”. That’s what I like to call it anyway. Really it’s my incredible inability to follow a recipe. I NEVER make it just like you’re supposed to. The upside is sometimes it’s amazing; the downside is sometimes it’s terrible and I have nothing to blame it on but myself. But I am learning, good ingredients *Usually* make good food.

 These are Salted Caramel Chocolate Bars. I did not invent this recipe from scratch. Here is the original. I did however tweak it and came up with my husband’s favorite “pintrest food” to date. First thing, I halved the recipe and still filled a 7x11 dish. With something this rich, that’s enough, trust me. Also, I found that the caramel instructions weren’t right, so here is my version:

For the shortbread layer:
1 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
dash of salt
½  cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼  cup sugar

For the caramel layer:
 ½ cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½  cup sugar
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

For the chocolate layer:
4 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
½  tsp. light corn syrup
¼  cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Fleur de sel or sea salt, for sprinkling (sometimes I leave this off, I know it’s “salted caramel” but I like it without)

Directions

·         To make the shortbread layer, preheat the oven to 325° F.  Line a 7 x 11-inch baking pan with parchment paper.  In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir with a fork to blend, and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well blended, about 1-2 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed blend in the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Transfer the dough to the prepared baking pan and press in an even layer over the bottom of the pan.  Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden.  (If the crust puffs up a bit while baking, just gently press it down while it is cooling.)  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.

·         To make the caramel layer, combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted.  Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a low boil, stirring constantly.  Continue boiling and stirring until the mixture turns an amber color and thickens slightly (note, if you cook too low, it will NEVER thicken right and if you cook boil too high, it doesn’t turn the right color. This is the tricky part).  Pour the mixture over the shortbread layer, smooth the top, and allow to cool completely and set.  (I chilled at this stage to ensure that the caramel layer would not melt when the warm chocolate was added.)

·         To make the chocolate glaze, combine the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.  Pour evenly over the caramel layer and use an offset spatula to smooth the top.  Allow to cool for a minute or two and then sprinkle with fleur de sel.  Chill, covered, until ready to slice and serve.

I’m starting…again

A few of my favorite things...

Just thought I had to share..

On my first mother's Day, the hubs had pictures taken of him and my baby, just for me! He knows my addictions well :)

Since then, I have made it become a tradition; "gently" reminding him that no other present will do.

Here are a few from this year:

Photo credits to the amazing Geri from Bellavie Photography

It's been a long time....

It's been so long since I've even seen my blog, I couldn't remember how to log in to make a new "post". Guess I'm not one of the most faithful bloggers in the world. But I still do like to occasionally write some random thoughts, so you'll have to deal with me being sporadic. My baby boy is gone for a few days, his grandparents talked us in to giving him up for a few days. I miss him terribly, but I guess you can see I'm having time to do things I don't usually have time to do.
Lots of things have changed this year. My baby boy is 2 already and boy is he a riot. He keeps us laughing all the time and he has such a sweet heart. The best thing in the world is when he gets tired and says, "I Nuggle with Mommy", then he rubs my face and says, "Mommy beautiful". Of course Daddy taught him that ;)

We are expecting baby boy number 2 in October. Yes, that means I'm in my third trimester. I just wish the sickness would go away. Thankfully, it is MUCH better, but still comes at random times throughout the day. I can't wait to see and squeeze this guy. He's crazy active just like P was. That makes me nervous, but I love active boys.
I'm in school full time with www.frontierschool.edu, studying to be a family nurse practitioner. Needless to say, I'm excited and anxious to be out of school already. I know I have a long way to go but I love looking forward, it keeps me motivated.
I also got a new position at the hospital. Still in the Emergency Department, but now a supervisor. I'm job sharing with another new mom, so we don't have to work 12 hour shifts all the time.
Tim is loving his new job, delivering anesthesia, and boy is he good at it. I'm so blessed to have such a talented husband.
In other news, we're looking forward to vacationing this year at the beach (except for the fact that I'll be 8 months prego and at the beach...in a suite).
I hope this summer is filling your days with fun!

Rainy day

   It is a wonderful, rainy day. Too rainy to worry about the loads of work that need to be done outside. So my response to this is to sit on my favorite chair with my favorite coffee cup and listen to silence while P. takes a nap.

     Sometimes, when it's like this I feel like maybe I should quit my job. Those moments don't last long though.

    Anyway, I am trying to use a few minutes of free time wisely so I am planning out some cute projects.

    Here is one I am DEFINITELY doing...I've already bought a few things for it and had the photos printed...I can't wait.

But I figure I must wait until my husband cuts the wood, he hates it when I think I can use power tools without him.

And I can't wait to make this for our trip to Alaska, I love to have things organized in my luggage :)

Although, I almost forgot to mention that before I make this super cute makeup brush holder I have to hone my sewing skills. And by hone, I mean get some.

Also, somewhere in my head is a need to be organized, almost ALL the time. I'm looking for some type of foldery thing that I can put the mail in as soon as we get it so it doesn't sit in the living room for one full day then in the office until the moment finally comes when I'm ready to do the bills. This system feels so outta control. Any ideas?? Let me know.

Better late than never...right?

For mothers day, my husband said, "Hun, what do you want me to get you?"

Don't you just love questions like that, as if you want to tell them what you think you want.

Last year, for my first mother's day, Tim had pictures taken of him and the baby, bought an awesome fram and gave it to me, all wrapped up and amazing!

So, this year, all I wanted was some more of those amazing pictures. The ones that remind me how wonderful and amazing being a mommy is. The ones that make me so proud to be married to the man of my dreams. It is amazing to look back, even though just one year has passed, and see how much has changed.

Here are some of my favorite shots from this year...you'll see they are similar to my favorites from last year. I'm just reminded again of God's greatness, grace and mercy in our lives!