Dress Up: Superhero style

I have a little 3-year-old friend who loves to play dress-up. His favorite thing to do is tie his blankie around his waist as a dress. Now, this is complicated business, you see. It is essential that the "dress" be long enough to cover the ankles, but short enough to show off his mommy's high heels. hehe 

What a sweetie. 

When he is not wearing his pretty dress, this little one enjoys tying his blankie around his neck as a cape and taking flying leaps off the sofa! Who doesn't?! This game was the inspiration for his birthday present...

The beauty of this gift is that it has quick release velcro, which makes me much happier than tying a blanket around his neck!

He loved his present. 

And I loved the smile he had when he opened it. 

Every Superhero needs a cape.

Don't you think?

"Spook-ified" Mini Oreo Cheesecake

Who doesn't love cheesecake? 

I found the cheesecake base for this recipe on Bakerella. She made them look so yummy, I just had to try something similar! Since SP isn't a fan of cherry, clearly the next healthiest option is Oreo cookie crumbs ;-) So that's the way I went...

Ingredients:

8 Oreos, crushed

2 pkg. (8oz.) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla

12 Whole Oreos (For "crust" of cakes and topping)

Pre-heat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. 

Place half an Oreo in each baking cup.

Fill each cup half way with batter and bake for 15-20 minutes. 

While they are baking, pick up these items and enjoy 15-20 minutes of "me" time. 

 See the cute little guy on my mug?? KHo brought this back from Berlin for us, he's the Ampelmann. He is the little guy on the traffic lights in eastern Germany. You can read about him here if you're interested. We have an Ampelfrau too! :-) 


Right now, I'm reading

Have you read this one? I'm really enjoying it so far. I'll let you know my thoughts when I'm done, though. 


*Ding* They're done! 


Remove the yummies from oven and place another half of cookie on top for good measure. 

I had planned to leave them this way, but they just seemed so boring. What did they need?

Chocolate. 

And spider webs...

And candy corn! 

Yes, much better. 

Thanks for reading! :-)

Poke Cake

This weekend we celebrated my beautiful sister's birthday with family, apple picking, and, of course, cake. 

Mom made Sissy her favorite birthday treat: Poke Cake! 

Have you ever had Poke Cake?! 

If not, you should! It's super easy and way yummy!

I should have taken some pics when she cut the cake, but there was too much going on at the time and I forgot. So here's a picture I found on Kraft's website.

Wanna try it? 

Poke Cake 

Ingredients:

Box of cake mix, any flavor. (Mom uses vanilla) 

1 cup boiling water

1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O, any flavor (Sissy's request was cherry)

1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed

How to:

1) Bake cake as instructed on box. Mom uses (an equal amount of) applesauce in place of the oil, it's better for you and makes it moist and delicious! Let it cool.

2) Using a fork, poke into the cake, about half way to the bottom, all over the top. Pattern doesn't really matter, but don't let the jello be too concentrated in one area or you will compromise the structural integrity of the cake. (Though I'm sure it would still taste good!)

3) Add 

boiling water to dry gelatin mix; stir 2 minutes, until it's completely dissolved. Pour jello cake and refrigerate for 3 hours.

4) "Ice" cake using Cool Whip. Serve and enjoy! 

** Be creative with your cake/jello combos...chocolate w/cherry, strawberry w/lime,  vanilla w/banana...endless possibilities! I really want to try it with pudding instead of jello. Maybe spice cake with cheesecake pudding? (Hmmm, maybe a post to come?) 

We all love this cake, Sissy especially. After cake, we played "Just Dance" on the Wii. It was SO much fun! I am pretty much the most uncoordinated person on the planet, and I still had a great time. If you haven't tried this game yet, you need to. 

The next day, we went apple picking. *sigh of contentment* Have I mentioned my love of apple picking? hehe :-) Here are some photos. My camera died just about the moment we got out of the car, so there aren't many. Maybe mom got some good ones...

Yes, lots of woodchuck holes, and what we think may have been a bear dwelling! Cool! 

Gorgeous. I love where we live.  

Sissy and her friend in their apple tree fort. :-)

All in all, a great weekend. Happy Birthday Sissy, love you! 

Thanks for visiting!

Contact Paper Lettering and My Happy Place

It's official. I wish I had a Cricut...or a Silhouette...or a little monkey to cut out all my little letters for me. But sadly, I don't have any of those things. 

{Christmas is coming though...right?}

{Please don't buy me a monkey...} 

In the olden days, like the beginning of this year, I printed out letters, cut them out, traced them on to whatever paper I wanted, and then cut those out. THEN I "mod podged" (Yes, it can be a verb) them onto the desired project. Well, no more! (Actually, yeah, I will probably still do that when I want a patterned letter. Whatever) 


Since that time, I have discovered the beauty of contact paper! I just put a sheet in my printer, so the ink prints on the "wrong side," cut it out, and stick it on! SO EASY! Just remember to reverse your image or you'll be sorry!

Behold:

Oh, the places you'll go! 

This is the wall in our hallway. I needed something that was going to be fairly flat against the wall because it is a narrow space..and this fit perfectly! Plus, it doesn't go with anything else in the entire place, so being in the hallway is kind of nice. 

Basically, I wanted a wall to represent some of our favorite things, places, vacations, etc. But, I didn't want people in them. Just things. So here's what I came up with! And Dr. Seuss, well, he just said it best, so clearly I had to quote him! (How about that "vinyl" work??)

Wanna see some of my photos up close? These were all taken with a simple point and shoot and I'm learning, so don't judge my skills...just look at the beauty of Creation! 

 This was a flower I found as I was leaving the Bahamas where a team from my church was serving for the week. I'll blog about that soon, because it was an amazing experience! 

This is a photo from our first Bed and Breakfast experience on Martha's Vineyard. Hopefully, this will be something we do often in our marriage. It was an awesome trip. 

Ok, ok. I know I said no people, but I just adore this photo. KHo took this one of us and it always reminds me to slow down and try to enjoy moments that may not seem "enjoyable" at the time. I was struggling with a few really tough grad classes when this photo was taken, and in the midst of all that stress and many {many} tears, we share a quiet moment of contentment.

 I took this photo at work one day last Spring...however, it reminds me of fall, which is my absolute favorite time of the year. SO regardless of the season in which it was actually taken, I love this picture.

Ah, and this beauty. This is in Mexico. For our honeymoon, SP and I went on a cruise to several Central American countries and one of the stops was this gorgeous resort. I could have stayed here forever for the rest of the trip. Uhh-mazing.

This photo is also from Martha's Vineyard...but I just like it a lot, so it made it on the wall. :-)

 I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation through my "happy place"

Come back soon! 

:-) 

Oktoberfest: Featuring Spaetzle and Red Cabbage

A few weekends ago, we went out to a German restaurant for Oktoberfest! It was soooo good! I'm not a big fan of the wursts, but the pork chops and chicken were awesome! 

Not to mention my favorites: Spätzle and red cabbage salad. Mmmmm!

Look at those potato pancakes, delish! 

This has become something of a tradition for us, and it always makes me sad when my leftovers are gone...I just loooove spätzle! So what's a girl to do? You guessed it! Learn how to make it! I developed this simple recipe and it came out great! 

Spätzle

(German Dumplings)

Ingredients

• 
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 cup skim milk 
• 1/8 c fat free half and half  
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons light butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 
  
• 
  

1. Combine flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg using a wire wisk. Add milk and eggs. Stir to combine.  

2. Let dough rest for 30 minutes. In the meantime, boil water in a large pot.

3. Using a spatula, press 1/2 cup batter through the holes of a colander into the boiling water.

4. Cook dumplings 5 to 8 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and place in another colander to drain.

5. When all dumplings are cooked, heat 2 Tbsp butter (I used light) in a large pan and saute the onions until then are nearly tender and turning golden. Add dumplings and saute until golden brown and fragrant. Salt to taste and serve warm.

Ok, so one down...red cabbage to go! 

This one I was worried about...it had to be just right! Unfortunately, because I had no idea what they put in their salad, I was clueless as to where to start for mine. Enter: Google. I searched for a bunch of recipes, but none of them seemed like they were going to be what I wanted, so I decided to wing it and see what happened.

 Best.  Decision.  Ever. 

Red Cabbage 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup light butter

2-pound red cabbage, chopped

6 Tbsp sugar

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. 

Wash the cabbage and peel off the outer slices that look yucky and have white gunk on them.  Slice cabbage into thin slices, then chop into smaller pieces. Look how pretty! 

(That knife looks creepy sitting there, sorry!)

Add cabbage and stir until it begins to wilt, about 5-7 minutes.  

 Add sugar and vinegar. Stir and reduce heat to med-low. Cover and simmer 30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender. (Somehow I managed to forget to take a final picture of this! How?! Oh well.) Here's one I found online.

(Photo :Cookfood.net)

Salt to taste and enjoy warm or chilled! 

We had pork chops, spaetzle, red cabbage and my Homemade Applesauce!

Y.U.M.

October is still young, try these awesome German Treats!!