Cinnamon & Vanilla Marshmallows

I would like to announce that I received the trifecta of wonderful present combinationess. I would also like to announce that I LOVE to make up words.

I received the following :

1. Kitchen Aid Mixer - To make wonderfully calorie ridden food.

2. P90x2 - To work off all the wonderfully made calorie ridden food.

3. Armani Code Perfume - To make me smell wonderful while doing either of the above.





Now the P90x2 will have to wait until after baby Gage/Silas/Soren/Max/Archer arrives...

Yes, picking a name is not getting anywhere so far. The Kitchen Aid Mixer was put right to use though...I knew what I was making before I ever opened the box that had a tag on it that gave away it's contents.

Not that I looked at the tag or amazon.com before Christmas...I have morals people!!






INGREDIENTS
Delightfully borrowed, slight modified from Brownie Point
{FULL Printable Recipe}

4 Gelatin Envelopes
3/4 cup Water
1 tbs Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

3 cups Sugar
3/4 cup Water
1 1/4 cups Corn Syrup
1/2 tsp Salt

Powdered Sugar for dusting
Parchment paper
Non-Stick Cooking Spray





DIRECTIONS

Line a 9x13pan and a loaf pan with parchment paper. Spray the paper with non-stick spray.

Fit a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. In the mixer bowl combine the first ¾ cup of water with vanilla extract. Sprinkle the gelatin over the liquid to soften, add the cinnamon.





Add the sugar, salt, corn syrup, and remaining ¾ cup water to a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil without stirring over a medium-high heat. When this mixture is at a boil,let it go without stirring until it reaches the soft-ball stage (234-240 F)Be sure to watch that it does not boil over, simply reduce heat a little if it reaches near the top.





With the mixer at medium speed, pour all of the hot syrup slowly down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Be careful as you pour. When all of the syrup is added, bring the mixer up to full speed. Let it go for 8-10 minutes.





Pour marshmallow into the parchment-lined pan and smooth the top if necessary (make sure your tool is oiled). Allow the mixture to sit, uncovered at room temperature for 12 hours.





When ready, coat the top of your pan with sifted powdered sugar. Flip the Marshmallows out on to a piece of parchment paper. If you have trouble getting it out, just pull the sides away from the pan - This should help to release the Marshmallows. Cut into squares with a pizza cutter, coat with powdered sugar.

Enjoy in a nice cup of Joe, or bribe your children with them...your choice

Triple Cheese and Beer Quick Bread - Merry Christmas!

How on earth is it Christmas week already? I have to say I am uber ready. I am beyond excited to watch my child's face light up with every present she opens. The gift of giving is so easily felt when you gift to a child...they can't fake happiness, it's true from ear to ear as they flash those pearly whites.





So I would love to list out some things that my family is happy about, it's been a good year for us.


Husbands TOP FIVE LIST

5. Cheez-it Crackers
4. Beer
3. Chargers finally winning
2. Pregnant Bust lines (mine of course - lol)
1. Golf





Indigo's TOP FIVE LIST

5. Cinderella
4. Castles
3. Apple juice
2. Cinderella and Castles
1. Cinderella





Moms TOP FIVE LIST

5. Food
4. Food and my couch
3. Food and my couch and my Indigo
2. Food and my couch and my Indigo and my TV
1. Food and my couch and my Indigo and my TV and My hubby


PS - This triple cheese beer bread is a fabulous gift for friends or family, or a nice addition to a pat of butter and warm fire or soup or cheese or butter or soup...yummmmm





INGREDIENTS (makes 2)
Delightfully borrowed from CookingBread dot com
{Printable Recipe}

6 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon Italian dried herbs
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 cups room temp beer
1/2 cup tomato juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 beaten eggs
2 cup or 6 oz Gruyere cheese
1 cup or 3 oz Parmesan cheese
2 cups or 6 oz white cheddar cheese


DIRECTIONS

Grate all your cheese into separate bowls. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, slat, dried mustard and the Italian herbs. Using a whist mix them all together. Remove a 1/ 2 cup of the white cheddar and 1/2 cup of the Gruyere cheese and a 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and set aside for the topping of the bread. Add the rest of the cheeses to the flour mixture. Use your fingers to mix in the cheese so all the cheese is coated.





In a separate bowl combine the beer, sour cream, tomato juice, eggs and Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula. Do not over mix. Pour the mixture into 2 greased 9x5 loaf pans and press down with a spatula or hands.






Sprinkle the cheese on top that you set aside. Place the loaves into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 50 -55 minutes or till done. Allow to cool in the pans for 15 minutes before removing them from the pans. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy with a pat of butter or slice of cheese...I'm pregnant yo - I realize there is a ton of cheese already in there but....a little more is not going to hurt you.

Merry Christmas, from my family to yours.

Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Pork

A long time ago (3.5 years ago to be exact) I was pregnant with my first child. You currently know her as Indigo. When you're with child you often crave certain things through out your pregnancy. Don't get me wrong you get sporadic cravings, but you might notice a pattern with certain things.





My top 3 things with little sweet Indigo were:

1. Vanilla Milkshakes from Coldstone
2. Peanut Butter on Toasted Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
3. Pancakes with butter and syrup





As you can tell, I might have had the sweet tooth with her, now on to this current baby. I happen to be 3.5 years older and maybe 3.5 inches wider..hehe. I have to list out the things that a "boy" child is making me crave.

1. Burgers smothered in cheese and mushrooms
2. Shredded Pork Sandwiches
3. Burgers & Shredded Pork sandwiches
4. Eggs fried on top of things like Burgers and Shredded Pork Sandwiches
5. Cake

Now you can see why I need to get the P90X part deux for Christmas...hint hint...Husband....Are you listening????





So lets see little girls make me crave sweets and this darn male child has me consuming cows and pigs like it's my job! Not only does he make me eat a cow and pig per week he likes it if I smother it in cheese,eggs, and sauces...dude...and very sorry to the vegetarians out there.

Next things I know this kid will have me playing golf, changing my cars oil, or spitting on the sidewalk.

Now go make this easy peasy pork, probably a welcome change from regular holiday fare.





INGREDIENTS
Delightfully borrowed from a friend
{Printable Recipe}

1 pork roast 3-5 lbs
1 large jar Salsa Verde

Optional :
Cheese
Tomato
Tostada shells
Salsa Verde

*after a few days of tostadas I poured in some BBQ sauce for a BBQ pork Sandwiches*

DIRECTIONS
Pour half your salsa verde into your crock pot. Set your pork roast in the slow cooker and place the other half of the salsa verde on top of it. Set on low for 8 hours (flip once while cooking). Remove from slow cooker and shred. You can add a little of the juice if you like after shredding.

Now assemble to your hearts content...and it goes a little sumthin like this..

Tostada, pork, salsa, cheese, maters, cheese, cheese, eat. WORD





Shared this Recipe with lots of other foodie lovers @

Baked Toffee Peanut Grahams

Man.... I am beat. So far this weekend has just been filled with activity.

 Being the action packed mom and wife that I am I hit the road running this Saturday morning...we're talking coffee brewing, shower taking, peanut butter and jelly eating...which is what I had accomplished all by the early hour of 8am.  (mostly because I was forced to...Indigo likes to wake me up before the sunrises.)





By 8:30 I had my minion dressed in an adorable outfit, fed, piggy tailed, and sippy cup'd.  Needless to say this is all she requires to be happy so we were golden for a Santa Claus visit.  We packed in my car and made the drive over to where most of us spent our teenage years trying to look cool (where you may ask??), the mall!





At the mall there was barely a line for Santa, in fact we were the 4th people to get to him.  Being that I want my girl to have a super good Santa experience I figured Santa would be fresh & jolly.  Unfortunately I think he might have needed some coffee or illegal narcotics because he was a total flub and BORING.  Basically if this poor excuse for a Santa doesn't bring Indigo the human sized castle she asked for...I will hunt him down and stripe his beard with kool-aid.





Top 3 things that have more energy then the Santa we paid 30 dollars to for crappy sub-par pictures :

Number 3 -most snails
Number 2 - my flat-iron
Number 1 - dirt

Have you also noticed the quality of Santa Pics and School Pics are just terrible?  I was telling my hubby that back in the day, those two pictures were the pinnacle of pictures we took...now not so much.





How did we spend the rest of our day.  I can sum it up for you.

1.  Eloise, Little Miss Christmas
2.  The Grinch who stole Christmas
3.  Extreme Couponing  (I needed a break, and Indy needed a nap)
4.  The Little Mermaid
5.  The Ant Bully

Obviously I am not a mother against using the TV as a babysitter.  Feel free to un-follow me...no please don't, It's Christmas time for heaven sakes.





INGREDIENTS
Delightfully borrowed from tasteofhome
{FULL Printable Recipe}

12 Whole Graham Crackers
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed Light Brown Sugar
1/2 cup chopped Butter Toffee Peanuts





DIRECTIONS

Line a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with heavy-duty foil. Break the graham crackers at indentations; place in a single layer in pan.


In a small saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar. Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat; boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; add nuts. Pour over crackers. Try to spread it out evenly.





Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand for 2-3 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Now these little cheap wonders are a fab addition to your Christmas Cookie delight boxes that you plan on handing out to the neighbors. Give them a shot.

Muffins with Apple, Carrot, and Dried Apricots

I'm not sure how it happened, but I was at the grocery store yesterday with a list. No, being there with a list is not the odd part. The odd part is I thought that bringing a list to the grocery store would help me NOT to fill my cart with an extra two tons of things NOT on that list.





Husband if you are reading this it might be time to pick up some overtime since no household can go without a large box of 200 frozen Taquito's, 3 varieties of mega sized cereals, and 4 heads of cauliflower.





I guess at least the cauliflower is a nice and healthy craving, to bad I plan on smothering it with the 2 bottles of buttermilk ranch that fell into my cart. Ooooops.

I would also like to publicly call out the other shopper who felt a need to steal a pregnant woman's cart while she was peeing, yeah buddy good move and lots of karma coming your way.




Other people that need to be called out during my journey to the grocery store? You know I have some.

Indigo, thanks for storing your candy cane in my purse - how nice of you. I will enjoy the random sticky fingers I will have each time I search for my lipstick, credit card, and Tums.

Baby boy in my belly, thanks so much for making me pee 85.9 times per day. Not only do you cause my shopping carts to be stolen but heck, I might start a new blog called "This is what the inside of the women's restroom looks like in every store in the greater San Diego area"...maybe not though.




INGREDIENTS (makes 18)
Delightfully borrowed, slightly altered AllRecipes
{Full Printable Recipe}

2 cups shredded tart apples
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup chopped dried apricots
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil





DIRECTIONS

In a large mixing bowl, combine apples and sugar. Gently fold in cranberries, carrots and nuts. Combine dry ingredients; add to mixing bowl. Mix well to moisten dry ingredients.

Combine eggs and oil; stir into apple mixture. Fill 18 greased muffin tins 2/3 full. The batter is extremely thick! Do not worry, muffins are delightful! Bake at 375 degrees F for 17-23 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before removing from tins.




The Verdict = Yummy in my tummy, now I have to go pee so see you later gator.

Knock your socks off - Corn and Bacon Casserole

A girl should be two things, classy & fabulous!

Things that make a girl "fabulous" at 22 weeks pregnant :

1. Remembering to turn the coffee pot on every night.
2. Shaving her legs everyday.
3. Spending 45 minutes on the Elliptical Machine.
4. Making the above Corn and Bacon Casserole...and not eating it all before it made it to the Thanksgiving Feast! SCORE





Things that make a girl "classy" at 22 weeks pregnant :

1. Eating the Bacon one strip at a time and chewing with her mouth closed.
2. Letting the bacon cool down before putting it into her belly.
3. Sharing the bacon with her 3 year old.
4. Contemplating...sharing with her husband.
5. Saying excuse me after the 6th piece of bacon...and cooking more to make sure the casserole did not suffer.





INGREDIENTS
Delightfully borrowed from The Slow Roasted Italian
{Full Printable Recipe}

6 bacon strips
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
3-1/2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley





DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoon of drippings. Crumble bacon then set aside.

Saute onion in drippings until fairly tender. Add flour, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until bubbly.  Cook and stir 1 minute more.

Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Add the corn, parsley and half of the bacon; mix well. Pour into a medium sized baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining bacon. Bake, uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.

Twix Cheesecake Pie...oh my!

Ding Ding Ding, sound the bells it's Holiday time.
Ding Ding Ding, time to run 5 miles before you keep reading.
Ding Ding Ding, time to run 7.8 miles before you keep reading.
Ding Ding Ding, time to add a treadmill to your Holiday Wish List...yeah that should cover this post.





So - I have told you I'm pregnant and well.. we all know what controls your life while in that state right...Guesses?

Creating a lovely room for the little one? nah
Preparing your existing little human for the new arrival? nah nah
Making sure you have all the proper contraptions to keep the baby entertained? triple nah





NAHHHH, none of those things, let's be honest.  The true things that keep your mind entwined in a pregnancy are...

1.  Food.
2.  Food with extra cheese.
3.  Food with extra cheese and butter.
4.  American Horror Story (LOVE IT)  Had to throw that in here.
5.  Candy leftover from Halloween - specifically chocolate bars.

There, you've been informed of how the pregnant mind works.





So basically I blame this on a co-worker, you can too should you decide to walk on the Twix Side with me...I have long had an affinity to its goodness...and how do you eat your twix?  Eating a twix is like eating an Oreo cookie (also in this recipe), everyone has their own methods.

I like to eat the cookie part off first because I'm a 33 year old lady and that's how I roll.  After the cookie is devoured I eat the caramel...then I go  back for more.  After 5 twix bars I sort of go cry in the corner and count the chins starting to form on my face.

Try it!





INGREDIENTS
Delightfully borrowed from Recipe Girl
{Full Printable Recipe}

CRUST:
20 Oreo cookies (with creme filling)
3 Tablespoons melted butter

FILLING:
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
16 coarsely chopped Twix "Fun Size" Candy Bars (2 cups total)

TOPPING (optional):
10 Oreos crushed
Strips of Parchment Paper





Directions:

Crust: Crush Oreos (either in a plastic bag or in a food processor) and mix with melted butter.






Using your fingers to press into a 9-inch pie dish; place into the freezer for about 30 minutes.






Filling: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. With an electric mixer in a large bowl, beat cream cheese with sugar and eggs until mixture is smooth. Stir in chopped Twix bars. Pour into frozen pie crust.







Bake until set, 35 to 45 minutes (mine was 40); let cool for 20-30 minutes.
Tip - Not sure your pie is set? Give it a jiggle, if there is NO wiggle in the middle your done.






Once your pie is fairly cool you can "stripe it".  Press the parchment stripes slightly into the pie.  Once stripes are placed, press crushed oreos over the exposed part of the pie.  Before you move those parchment stripes you need to tap & blow off the excess.  When done pull up the stripes very slow.

Chill in the fridge for a few hours before eating.







Don't worry about perfection, worry about your hips...actually scratch that, cut yourself some slack and enjoy this super food holiday week.