#610 - few of my favorites on pinterest

I have a couch like this I got of craigslist a few years ago and it would be so cool to do a couch redo like this.

 I want to redo the back of our medicine cabinet  to look like this.

I have a chair just like this, just need to figure out what color to paint it?  I like white, black, red, navy blue and yellow or basically any of these colors.

Pepe just got 8 pairs of glasses from Zenni Optical for the price of one pair of glasses.  I just need to figure out a cool glasses holder like this.

I think I want something where the glasses are horizontal on the wall, not vertical though.

YUM! crisp coconut and chocolate pie

kit kat cake - my sister totally made this with white kit kats and it looked so cool!

#606 - Food Rules by Michael Pollan

 One more book (#3) read on my goal to read 24 books this year.

Fast read.
Great (obvious) advice!

Here are some of my favorite rules and/or ones I need to work on:

#2 - Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
#13 - Eat only foods that will eventually rot.
#19 - If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.
#39 - Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.
 #41 - Eat more like the French.   Or the Japanese.  Or the Italians.  Or the Greeks.
#46 - Stop eating before you are full.  ie; "leave the table a little bit hungry."
#50 - "The banquet is in the first bite."





Here are the books I have read this year:

#1 - A Fortunate Life
#2 - Outliers
#3 - Food Rules
a few more I need to blog about...some really good ones.

#598 - El Patio - Argentine Resturant in DC

A few years back I was able to work in Argentina for 3 months.  It was amazing!  The food was divine . . . have you ever had Argentinian food? 

Well, if you are in the Washington DC area and are looking for amazing Argentinian food, I would highly recommend El Patio.

I love the Empanadas Tucumanas (to the left) and the ham & cheese empanadas (below) ...yum...yum!

Or just about anything else there...so good and great service!

#596 - Tres Leches mini cupcakes

For Parker's birthday I made 2 types of mini cupcakes (I love mini cupcakes because I don't feel guilty eating more than 1 or 4 . .  more), Tres Leches & Banana Split.  Both were delicious.

I used this recipe but made a few tweaks of my own...here it is:

Tres Leches Mini Cupcakes - makes apx 60-70 mini cupcakes   
   
Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake wells with paper liner.    

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (don't buy buttermilk, just mix 3/4 tablespoon white vinegar (or lemon juice) to almost 3/4 cup regular milk - see here)
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk (I used an entire small can)
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (I used 1/2 a can)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (I used 1/2 a can)
• strawberries (for garnish) or you could use coconut or chocolate

Instructions:    

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy on medium speed. Add egg yolks one at a time, mixing until combined and all the yellow disappears. Add the vanilla, mix to combine. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Alternately add the dry mixture with the buttermilk to the creamed butter beginning and ending with the flour.
2. In a small bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into  cake batter.
3. Fill paper-lined wells 3/4 full. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (if you are making regular sized cupcakes, you'll want to double that time) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to wire rack and set aside.
4. Stir together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and the coconut milk. Use a meat injector needle to inject cupcakes all over with about 1-2 teaspoons of the mixture. (I used an unused child's medicine dispenser syringe and this worked like a charm).  Or poke several holes in the top of cupcakes with a wooden skewer and then pour the milk mixture over each cupcake while they are still warm, filling each hole. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight before frosting.  These were even better 2 days later.
5. Frost (with frosting recipe below or even whipped cream) and top with a small slice of strawberry or other garnishes (like coconut and chocolate).

 Buttercream Frosting with Sweetened Condensed Milk   (next time I would try this with dulce de leche frosting or just use whip cream as a frosting)    

•  1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
•  2 cups powdered sugar
•  1 tablespoon heavy cream or milk
•  dash of salt
•  1 teaspoon vanilla
•  apx 2-4 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk (depending on how thick you want your frosting)

Instructions:    

1. Cream butter and 1 cup sugar
2. Mix in cream, salt and vanilla
3. Mix in 1/2 cup sugar
4. Mix in sweetened condensed milk 
5. Mix in rest of sugar until you reach the consistancy you want 
6. Whip frosting on high until it gets nice and fluffy (almost double in size)

 Some notes to make it easier in making this again:

*If you are not up for making a cake by scratch, just use a cake mix.  (However, beating the egg whites in the recipe above makes for a holey cupcake that can soak up all the "leches").

*You could make these cupcakes 2 days in advance and frost a few hours before eating.

*Don't worry about putting too much of the milk (leche) mixture into the cupcakes...the more moist the better.

*You can make this frosting a day ahead and whip for a couple minutes to bring it back to it's original consistency just before frosting the cupcake.

*Don't buy buttermilk, make it yourself (see above)

*You can use whip cream for the frosting and it would be just as delicious.

*Double the recipe, because you are going to want leftovers.


And I'll be sharing the banana mini cupcakes soon...stay tuned!

#594 - Family Time by Ziggy Marley

I'm not a huge fan of music for kids, but this album, Family Time, from Ziggy Marley is a favorite in our home!  The music is great for both kids and adults.  Love it!  Here's one of our favorite songs.

#592 - currently reading

I love getting an email from our local library saying a book I have put on hold is ready for me to pick up.

Here are some of the ones I am currently reading, which is also helping towards my goal of reading 24 books this year.


Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook - I might buy this one someday, but for now it is just fun to look through.


Martha Stewart's Cooking School - Can't wait to dive into this one.


The Creative Family - Love the writing on this one...it's from SouleMama (I just discovered her blog about 2 weeks ago)

I've also finished about 8 other books that I need to blog about someday soon.

Do you have any good books that I can add to my list?

#591 - you have to try these cookies - banana chocolate chip cookies

I saw this recipe on pinterest for chocolate chip cookies only sweetened by bananas and knew I had to try it.  These are going to be my go to cookie recipe for the kids (and myself), since they are relatively healthy.  They taste like a mini banana bread cookie.

Here's the recipe, with my changes in parenthesis.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed  - about 1 1/2 cups (I used 4 bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm – so it isn’t solid or olive oil (I used olive oil)
2 cups rolled oats (I used old-fashioned oats, I think rolled oats would be better)
2/3 cup almond meal (I just blended almonds in the blender until they were flour-like)
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened (I used sweetened b/c that is what I had)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 – 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped (I used dark chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.
In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and olive oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips. The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don’t worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 – 14 minutes. I baked these as long as possible without burning the bottoms and they were perfect – just shy of 15 minutes seems to be about right in my oven.
Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized cookies.

I highly recommend these! 

#589 - Best Chocolate Chip Cookie in NYC - Levain Bakery

When we were in New York City last week, there were a couple of stops I wanted to make before we left the city.  One of them was Levain Bakery where they are know  to have the best chocolate chip cookies. 

It's a small bakery right below Max Wax - Pepe thought I was going to get a wax :) - (not sure why this is underlined.)

I wanted to buy a bunch of cookies to bring them back home to everyone, but at $4 a cookie...well, you know, the economy is tough right now.

The cookies were amazing!  LOVED them!  They have walnuts in them (which I like in a cookie) and were massive.  Pepe was even impressed.

I wish I would have bought more...oh well.

Have you had these?  Someday, I might try one of the copycat recipes out there.

#584 - Little Red Lighthouse in NYC

We made a quick trip to NYC to visit Pepe's cousin (in and out in less than 24 hours).

 Pepe's cousin lives about 3 blocks from the Little Red Lighthouse, so we decided to check this off our list of places to visit. 

 

It's adorable and was a fun little walk.  And I can't wait to read Oster and Parker the book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.

It really is a little lighthouse...really little.  Can you see it in the picture above in the bottom right corner under the bridge? (you can click on the picture to see it better)

Details: we drove and parked on 181st Street then walked to the end of 181st (going west towards the Hudson).  there is a long set of stairs, or your can take your stroller/bike to the right when facing the Hudson and that will take you to the entrance of the park.  you could also take the subway to the 181st street stop (i think the A (blue) line is the closest).

#580 - Nature Valley Granola Thins

Have you had Granola Thins?  One of my new favorite treats!

#570 - Cafe Rio in Washington DC

I'm so excited because the first Cafe Rio to open on the East Coast (yes, the entire East Coast) is opening just a few miles from me (in Olney, MD)...this is dangerous!  

Do you see the countdown on the picture above?  Only 19 more days!

I'm so excited!  Do you like Cafe Rio?  Have you been there?  What do you order?

I usually get the pork salad or tortilla soup.

#569 - Pinterest - are you pinning?

Have you heard about Pinterest?  I've seen it a few times, but didn't decide to join until I saw this.

It's like having a visual place for all of your bookmarks, google reader tags, and shared items.

Then people start pinning your pins and you start pinning other people pins...it's addicting! 

And, it is so easy...just a click of a button...do I dare say, easier than google reader...yup!

Are you on Pinterest?  If so, I want to follow you. 

If not, and you want to join, let me know and I'll send you an invite.  You can also sign up on their site, but sometimes they put you on a waiting list (I was on the waiting list for over a week).

oh, and if you don't want to join, but want to see my "pins"...here's a link

#565 - Outliers

Remember my new years goal to read 24 books this year?  Well, I'm slowing making progress on this goal.  I highly recommend Outliers (my sister in law, Cathy, told me about it).  It was a quick read/listen (I listened to this on tape in the car.)

Basically, it's the story behind the story of successful people.

Have you ever heard of the 10,000 hour rule?  I hadn't before this book.

#558 - Brian & Taylor are married!

ahh...my youngest brother is married!
If you want to see some of the photos head over to Captured by Mikki's blog.

photo is via Mikki's blog

ps...if you are thinking of getting married in Salt Lake City, I would totally recommend Mikki...she is so sweet and has a great eye!

*post edit - I wrote this entry a while ago, but for some reason it didn't post :)

#550 - Spirit of the Marathon

 

I'm not a runner.

I'm a jogger/walker (sometimes).

LOVED this movie.

I've never wanted to run a marathon before, but after watching this, I may have changed my mind (maybe).

It's on Netflix and Hulu...you should check it out.

Great music too!

#549 - customized coloring pages

Oster loves to print off coloring pages.  We just stumbled onto Twisty Noddle's customizable coloring pages...so much fun! 

#547 - tree bookshelf

Fun!

#501 - Made by Joel

ok...I should really be on post #500, but I'm still writing it, cause #500 is a special one.

In the meantime, I'm loving the blog Made by Joel.  Have you seen it yet?

Such fun projects.  All the pictures above are ones I want to try with Oster....toy pet, nature mobile, owl mobile, drawing people with fabric, toy snake and drawing with buttons (i've got a bunch of buttons for that!)

#498 - homemade playdoh

I saw this play dough recipe and made it for Oster last Friday...
he's been playing with it ever since. 

Here's the recipe:

Homemade Playdough


1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup salt
food coloring

Mix all ingredients, adding food coloring last. Stir over medium heat until smooth. At first it will seem too liquidy, but then it forms into the perfect consistency.  Remove from pan and knead until blended smooth. Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. Will last for a long time.

You can add color to it, but I prefer it without color (easy cleanup).

Seriously, he asks to play with it a few times a day and we even filmed a cooking show making pretend food with it (I like to film stuff, it just takes me a while to edit it together.)

#497 - Sandwich cake

3 random sandwich thoughts: 

1 - Wouldn't this be a cool birthday cake?

2 - I've been making Oster ham and cheese sandwiches lately, which I end up  eating half of...yum!

3 - doesn't this scanwich look delicious?!