Brittany's Birthday Cake

This year for my sisters birthday, I offered to make her birthday cake. Since taking my first cake class, I was inspired to try something new. I used fondant for the first time, and while I was something new, and I was nervous, it turned out great! I made a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, and it was really good. And most of all, Britt liked it! Happy Birthday Sis!

Love that smile!

St. Patrick's Day

Liam was very excited for St. Patty's day this year, probaby because he sort of understood what we were celebrating. He kept telling us we had to wear green because it was Irish day! We had gotten the boys matching shirts, so we took a few pictures of them. Brendan didn't really cooperate and Liam gave his taco tounge and cheesy smile. But, they are cute none-the-less.

Rainbow Cupcakes

Thursday, the boys and I went up to my parents house to make some fun cupcakes with Brittany. We had lots of fun, and realized how much time it takes to make this kind of cupcake with a toddler! :) They turned out really cute and delicious. Only downfall, they are NOT figure friendly!

Liam.

Liam just amazes me these days. He seems to grow so much every day. He is asking more and more questions and his favorite question is "why?" This is getting more and more tedious to answer because he asks why about EVERYTHING! Liam's vocabulary just seems to grow and grow and there are some days that he will say something, and sound like one of the adults. He loves his brother to pieces, and tells us often, "I love him too much" or " I do love him mommy." He is so helpful (most of the time) and gets us diapers, pacifiers, burp clothes, etc. when we ask for help. His eating habits are finally starting to take a turn. While he still will not eat most vegetables, he is getting better about at least trying the different veggies. He talks daily about going to school and taking the bus. He just can't wait to go to school, and loves going to day care to hang out with his buddies. He tells us often how much he loves us, and wants to be involved in everything we do, especially in the kitchen. He loves "working" in Grandpa Corydon's dental lab, and pretends that there are dental labs in our house often. His imagination seems endless. He always seems to make something out of nothing and it works just as good as the real thing. There are many days that we struggle with Liam's strong willed spirit, but are very grateful that he is pleasant most of the time. Liam has been asking a lot about Jesus and it is neat to see how he is taking it all in and understanding what we are teaching him.

We are so proud of you Liam, and are excited to see you grow and learn. God has great plans for your life and we can't wait to see where He takes you!
-Love Mom & Dad :)

A Day at the Park

On Monday, my sister Brittany and I took the boys to the park. Liam ran around and played while Brendan enjoyed a ride in the carrier! Of course, Liam's idea of playing at the park turned into hitting the walls with sticks and playing in the dirt! Typical boy.

This is how Liam takes a shower...

Never a dull moment when Liam takes a shower. He is always so full of imagination and silliness!

Honey Chicken with Snow Pea Rice

In continuation with my goal of trying a new meal during this month, I found a recipe in one of Rachel Ray's cookbooks that reminded us of take-out gone healthy! It was really good, and didn't have all the grease that you would find at a take-out chinese restaurant! If you want the recipe, let me know. It is quite long and was taking too long to type up!

these are all the ingredients, it was quite a lot!

Pizza Pot Pies

This recipe is from Giade De Laurentiis, and it was so good! You really could put any ingredients in that you would like. The recipe here has brocolli and chicken in it, but I'm sure any of your favorite pizza toppings would be delicious!

Pizza Pot Pies

Ingredients

Tomato Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh minced rosemary leaves

2 ounces diced pancetta

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pizza Pot Pies:

3 cups Tomato Sauce

2 cups diced roasted chicken

2 cups broccoli cut into small, bite-sized pieces

1 1/2 cups diced mozzarella cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds pizza dough

1/3 cup olive oil

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan

Directions

Special equipment: 6 (10-ounce) ramekins

For the Tomato Sauce: Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, rosemary, and pancetta. Saute until the pancetta is crisp and golden, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stir to combine, and simmer over very low heat for 15 minutes. Add the salt and pepper. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl combine the Tomato Sauce, chicken, broccoli, mozzarella, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Divide the chicken mixture evenly between the ramekins. Roll out the pizza dough and cut circles with a pairing knife that are 1-inch wider in diameter than the ramekins. Place the circles of dough over the filled ramekins and press down to seal, making sure to pull the dough over the edge of the ramekin. Brush the top of the pizza dough with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cut a small slit in the top of the pizza dough with a pairing knife. Bake until the pizza crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving.

Chocolate Cake in 2 Minutes!

In my new Food Network magazine, there was a section on "10 Minute Desserts." Since I had all the ingredients, I decided to try the Instant Chocolate Cake to see if it really worked, and it did. It was delicious and perfect for a chocolate cake craving without all the fuss of making a chocolate cake!

Directions:

Whisk 1/4 cup flour, 5 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons milk, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and a dash of vanilla extract and salt in a large mug until smooth. Microwave until puffed, about 2 minutes.

*I would suggest whisking the ingredients in a separate bowl, then transferring it to the mug. There was flour left at the bottom of my mug!

A Look At the Boys

Today I was looking at pictures of the boys, and while there are similarities, there are also a lot of differences! It is so neat to see how these two boys can share so many features, yet be individuals as well!

Brendan - almost 3 months!




Liam - almost 4 months!



Chocolate Chip Cupcakes!

Today I decided to use up all the chocolate chips that I had in the pantry and make some cupcakes! I made a chocolate chip cupcake with a chocolate ganache frosting! It was so delicious! On a few of the cupcakes I put a cream cheese filling. It was good, but way too rich!

(with the cream cheese filling)

Since my cake decorating class is over, I feel like I need to keep baking things in order to stay fresh! I have 3 weeks left before I have to go back to work, so I am going to try out a few more recipes before my time becomes very limited! The next project to come is going to be Brittany's birthday cake! I have decided that I want to try using fondant!

11 weeks

11 weeks may not be a huge milestone, but since we finally got a picture of Brendan smiling, I though I'd post it with a little update of what he's doing now! I can say that he is really different than Liam. While they may look a lot alike, their personalities are different. Brendan loves to be held. If he is not being held, he is crying. And, crying has become something that he does often. This is becoming very frustrating since sometimes he seems to cry for no reason at all. Liam hardly ever cried. He loved to just relax and hang out. Brendan is trying to pull himself up into a sitting position. When he is sitting in our arms he is always try to sit forward. While we are driving around in the car, we see this little head trying to sit forward, then he gets mad because he is restrained. Brendan only wants to sleep on his tummy. Liam was never this way, so we are letting him sleep on his tummy, but monitoring him all the time. It has been 4 days and nights since we've started tummy sleeping, and it is going very well! Brendan is also sleeping in his own bed now, which has been great for me at night! He hates tummy time, and hates the swing and bouncy chair! All of which make it very difficult to get anything done. Liam loved his bouncy chair, so this is much different for us. When Brendan is hungry, he expects food NOW! And when that food is not there right away, he turns into Jack Jack from The Incurables! Brendan does, however, have is fun moments. In the midst of all the frustration, there are lots of smiles and laughter and snuggles. He really is a good baby, just different than the first time around. But there are some things that are the same between these boys... They are definitely Mamma's boys!

Chicken, Corn and Black Bean Stoup!

We tried out a new soup recipe last night from Rachel Ray, and it was delicious! She calls it a "stoup" because it is thicker than a soup, but thinner than a stew. It was very flavorful! We put ours in some bread bowls and made some cheesy, garlic toast out of the bowl tops!

Chicken, Corn & Black Bean Stoup

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 lbs. chicken tenders, cut into bit size pieces

Salt & Pepper

1 Tbsp. ground cumin

1 1/2 Tbsp. ground coriander

1 chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

4 ears of fresh corn, kernels cut from the cob (we used frozen)

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped

3 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1 qt. chicken stock

1-15 oz. can black beans, drained

juice of 1 lime

1/4 C. fresh cilantro leaves, chopped, plus some for garnish

hot sauce, such as Tabasco (optional)

Sour cream, for garnish

Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat with the vegetable oil. Add the chicken and season with salt, pepper, cumin, coriander and chipotle chili pepper. Cook the chicken until lightly browned, about 3-4 min. Add the onions, cor and red bell pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 min. Dust the chicken and veggies with the flour, stir, and continue to cook for 2 min. Turn the heat up to high and add the chicken stock. Bring the stew up to a simmer and the add the black beans. Simmer the stew for 15 min. Add the lime juice and cilantro, and stir to combine. Taste and check for seasoning, adjust if needed. Use hot sauce here if you'd like. Serve the stoup garnished with a little sour cream and some chopped cilantro.