Audrey: The Big Girl

Yesterday was a first for little Audrey. She fed herself with a big girl fork for the first time! She was getting a little frustrated because the spork was not scooping up the macaroni like she liked. She did such a great job, its now time to let her use the spoon as well, although I am not looking forward to the mess I am looking forward to the milestone!We also have discovered that Max the Cat loves to protect Audrey while she is taking a bath by getting in the tub with her! It is truly adorable!Sunday, we had family over for breakfast and for dinner. I made a roasted pork loin with a Dijon Mustard sauce, mashed potatoes and corn bread! Simple yet again but everybody loved it!Tomorrow is my first day of class back in college, I am nervous but excited. It is also Audrey's first day in daycare, she is with my aunt for this week but starts in proper daycare on Monday! She will be being watched by a very nice very French woman named Helena who used to babysit my friend Sam when she was little!

I am going to Stonehenge!

Not the real one but the life size replica here in Washington State. I have lived here all my life and until today never knew about this amazing museum or memorial! It is located in Golden dale Washington, about a 4 hour drive and features a replica of what Stonehenge would have looked like if it never fell to ruins! Its gorgeous!

This is in Washington State
This is the one in England

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anythin at all

For as long as I can remember, I have been in love with France. Not just France but Paris, France. I am in love with the culture, the food, the art and just the fantasy of all the lights and romantic places you see in photos and movies.

I will go someday, maybe not to live and have my children grow up there, but travel, eat, explore and enjoy everything the city had to offer. But until I go, I fill my room and house with little things that inspire my imagination of what is Paris. Tacky and overdone, maybe, but to only those people who are snobby and think they are better then everybody else. Call me a romantic or unrealistic, even tacky.

I serve my meals on paper plates because it saves me money and they can be recycled, rather then wasting gallons of water washing the china that no one would notice or care was under their food.

I make semi homemade cakes, pies and cookies because I have a 10 month old who likes my attention and who is learning to walk, I don't always have the time make a homemade cake and frosting.

I am fat because I choose to be at this point, having a kid changes your body and it is not always easy to bounce back.

I clean my house everyday but when it comes time to choose, I choose to spend time with my daughter then scrub the kitchen floor.

I keep my mouth shut when I think people are putting me down for what I like, how I cook or if they think I am even good at it, until now.

Most of all, I am a 24 year old full time Mother and college student who is trying to plan a wedding and write a cookbook.

Simple

Today is a photo kind of blog day! Enjoy

Recipe for Sweetened Cajun Chicken

Again some of you have asked for this recipe so here it is. Just a little side note, this is the Cajun spice I use and it goes great with everything, depending on how spicy you like your dishes you can use other Cajun spice.I am thinking about making another blog that has all the recipes and photos that will be in my cookbook and some that won't be! Bonus! Cook and Enjoy!

Sweetened Cajun Chicken

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breast
flour
milk
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup brown sugar
pepper (to taste)
3 tbsp Webers N.Orleans Cajun spice
Olive oil

• Cut chicken into strips and place in a bowl to the side.Once all strips are in bowl, lightly glaze with olive oil and sprinkle a generous amount of Cajun spice and pepper until both sides of strips are seasoned.
• In a saute pan, caramelize the onions in olive oil, adding the chicken once the onions are soft and see through.Cook chicken until golden on both sides and cooked all the way through.
  
• Leaving the onions in the pan, remove chicken and place aside.
• In the same pan with the onions on medium to low heat, sprinkle bottom of pan with flour to soak up the oil and leftover juices from chicken, slowly stirring in milk to make the gravy, adding flour if mixture becomes to liquid for your desire and or milk if it becomes to thick.
• Once gravy is to desired consistency add brown sugar, slowly until the gravy becomes sweetened to you're liking.
  
• If needed or desired you may add more Cajun spice or brown sugar.
• Pour gravy over chicken strips and serve with your choice of side.

Recipe!

Several of you have asked so here is the recipe to the Pumpkin Cupcakes and the Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese filling and frosting! Bake and enjoy!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup Libby's pure pumpkin

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar and pumpkin until well mixed.Stir in vegetable oil,making sure not to let the mixture separate.
• In the middle of the wet mixture, add the flour, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice. Mix all together with a large rubber spatula, not mixing too much, you don't want the cupcakes to come out cakey.
• Line a basic 12 cup muffin pan with paper cups and spray lightly with non stick spray. Fill each cup about 3/4 cup pumpkin mix and bake for 25 minutes
• Let cool for about 5 minutes before moving cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely.
  

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

2 packages of Fat Free Cream Cheese
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste

• In a medium size bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla bean paste.
• Using an electric mixer, mix together ingredients until creamy.
• Depending on how cold your cream cheese is, it might take a few minutes until frosting becomes desired constancy.
• Don't stress!

To Fill cupcakes, I use a round tip piping tip, pushing it into the cupcake and filling the cake until I feel the bag push back up with pressure.

Once filled I then use a large open star tip and pipe a simple stacked swirl.

Weekends are for Cupcakes

I have been wanting to perfect my pumpkin cupcakes and try a new frosting lately. Today was perfect for baking so I headed to the kitchen. The last time I made pumpkin cupcakes they came out really moist and decadent, this time I wanted them to be fluffy and lighter. Instead of using a mixer I used a rubber spatula, making sure I didn't mix it too much, and I am glad to report that IT WORKED!!Don't you just love the cupcake holders? I picked them up at Michaels along with a few other really cute things I will be showing you later in the blog! I love them! The frosting I have been wanting to make is a cream cheese base, thicker then anything I have worked with before. I started with 2 packages of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp of vanilla bean paste! It is delicious and is a perfect pairing for the rich pumpkin flavor.I filled the cupcakes with a little of the frosting and then topped each of them with the remaining cream cheese with my new star tip that I picked up at Michaels!Nathan and our friend Joe loved these cupcakes so much, they have asked me to make a batch to put up for their raffle they have at their Fly Club meetings! Some lucky member will bid on my cupcakes and the winner will go home with a dozen for themselves!

Now on to the cute things I bought at Michaels! For only .50 cents each I bought these notepads that go on the fridge. One is a shopping list with a daily menu list and the other is daily to do list with cute cupcakes and cakes on it! They look cute on our fridge!Saturday we went to a friends baby shower and I dressed Audrey in this cute little spring dress, that sadly she will only be able to wear once.

Girls Night

Last night I hosted a little get together will some of my girl friends! I made enchiladas,mini brownies and some yummy margaritas. We ate and caught up on each others lives since we don't always get the chance to get together.It was such a fun night being able to just laugh with my girl friends and talk about old times. We managed between the 4 of us to finish off the bottle of tequila, all the enchiladas and most of the brownies. I did send Ashley home with 2 enchiladas for her husband, you're welcome Gene!Megan and I were the last ones to call it a night, it was a riot. Thank you girls for coming over, it was too much fun!

Friends

Let me just say that I have the BEST friends a girl could ask for. The past few mornings my best friend Megan has brought me Starbucks in the morning and hung out with me!

This particular morning, she called me at 9am to tell me that she was 20 minutes from my house and that she comes baring gifts aka coffee. Trust me, it was much needed! Today was pretty eventful for us! I made us banana pancakes and sausage for breakfast!O on top of coffee she also gave me these cute little porcelain figurines, one is a candle holder and the other is a little bird that says DREAM on it! She got them at work but since they are not her style she thought I would love them, and I DID!After breakfast, and since the weather today is gorgeous, we went down to ruston way waterfront with Audrey and had a nice walk. We then followed that up with a trip down the 5 mile drive, we love their views of the water!Tonight we are having a girls night with some of our other girlfriends! I am making enchiladas and margaritas!

Popovers and Ginger Spiced Sausage

Today has been long......very long. And not to mention that I only slept for 3 hours last night over an 8 hour period didn't make it any better.

We have been worried about Audrey's sleep patterns, so we took her to the doctor today. Dr.Wells told us that she does not have pediatric insomnia like we thought,but that she does have a bad habit of waking up in the middle of the night wanting a bottle. He gave us some suggestions such as no more night feedings past 8pm and making sure she is in bed as close to 8pm as possible! It will be tough letting her cry through it but in the end it will be worth it.
Tonight for dinner I made smoked sausage with minced ginger and soy sauce and shallot and cheddar popovers.Popovers are like little souffles and next time mine need more seasoning, they were on the bland side but paired well with the flavorful sausage! Recipe is below! Enjoy!

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 shallot, chopped

Coat 12 cups of a popover or standard muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.Fill empty cups with 1/2 inch of water so not to burn pan. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
In bowl, whisk together flour and salt.In second bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Add to flour mixture, stir just until blended.Fold in cheese and shallots.
Fill prepared cups about 3/4 full about 1/3 cup batter in each.Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, til browned and puffed. Keep oven closed until end of baking time or popovers will deflate.
Remove popovers from oven and immediately remove from pan.Pierce side one with a knife to release steam.Serve warm.If needed, reheat at 350 degrees for 5 minutes to crisp outside edges.

Cookbook Update

As you know, I am writing my own cookbook geared towards working busy Moms. It will be filled with fun, quick recipes that even kids can help with! My publisher is Morris Cookbooks and I am hoping to submit my recipes within the next few weeks to 2 months depending on how many I want put in the book. Nathan thinks it would a fun idea to put out a series of small cookbooks with different main ideas like, fish, BBQ, etc. He does fishing conventions and thinks it would sell well there! I have to come up with a front cover idea, any suggestions? This is my first idea, I really like it and I think it looks cute!

Hello Cupcake

I got a job offer from a cute little Cupcake Shop called Hello Cupcake! If the time is right I will be their new morning decorator/froster!

Party Time

I know what you are probably thinking. Here we ago, not another blog about Audrey's birthday. I can't help it, I am excited for my little girl to turn 1. Any excuse to throw a fun party is good enough for me!

Friday was an eventful shopping day for my Mom and I! Our first stop was Party City where I picked up a few more party supplies. My plan is buy the throw away items like napkins, plates, silverware and balloons and the dollar tree since I am stretching my dollar as far as I can these days! Here are my great finds from Friday!Then it was off to Target where I bought Audrey this really adorable monkey pillow! It was only $2.50, what a steal!I also picked up some mint extract I am using for some mint chocolate cupcakes I am making for St.Pattys party we are attending on Wednesday!Last but not least, the birthday invitations came in this past week and I have started addressing them and filling in the information. I also put together a mini menu, directions and contact info insert, not pictured that the guests will receive within the next few weeks! This is what everyone will see minus the insert!

Applebees Inspired

Happy Tuesday

Dinner tonight was simple and fun, my favorite. My favorite dish at Applebees is the quesadilla burger, so tonight I tried to make it at home! It turned out great and was delicious. I added shallots and garlic to the hamburger meat for seasoning.Once the meat was cooked I melted cheese on top and placed one half of a tortilla on top and flipped and repeated on the other side.The fries are also homemade. I cut 2 small red potatoes into small pieces and tossed them with olive oil and salt and baked for 20 minutes at 450 degrees!
Yesterday it snowed and here was my attempt to catch Audrey experiencing her first snow but since it did not last long the picture is not that impressive.Here is a cute photo of her today while we were running errands!Tonight I am making it a late night so I can do more work on my cookbook. Tomorrow I have to do a ton of laundry, start putting together Audrey's 1st birthday invitations and get started on the well wish tree. School starts back up in 3 weeks and I am getting more and more nervous but on a good note I have found my 2 text books for 75% off at half.com!More information on that coming up!

Being Goofy

Saturday was my best friend Megan's birthday. As my present to her we went and see Alice in Wonderland in the morning in 3D! They gave us these ridiculous glasses but since we are goofy, we had fun with them!

Island Getaway

This weekend, Nathan, Audrey and I headed to Anderson Island for a nice weekend getaway with Nathans grandparents! It was an open invitation to cook and bake and of coarse eat with loved ones! Here are photos from this weekend. Sunday we spent all day cooking a beef pot roast with Yukon mashed potatoes, carrots and a delicious decadent apple dumpling!Enjoy! The view is amazing!Sunday breakfast, homemade quiche with farm grown turkey ham!Nathan enjoying his weekend and breakfast!After breakfast Gramma and I went through all the cookbooks looking for what to make!Audrey played in the hallway that opens into the kitchen so she could see us all day!Nathan and his Grandma Gil and Grandma Gloria! Us with GrandpaAudrey and I before dinner after cooking all day!Daddy and Audrey!Finally it was time for dinner! Beef Pot roast with Yukon mashed potatoes, carrots and of coarse sour dough bread!For dessert we decided on this amazingly delicious apple dumplings! I forgot to take photos once it was done but below is the gist of the outcome!Yum!
Of coarse we did more then bake and eat. Between dinner and dessert we played a card game called Aggravation that was pretty fun. I lost, but it was fun! Sunday morning we went outside and walked around the farm and saw chickens and their gorgeous peacock, and at night you could hear coyotes! Nathan went fishing off one of the docks and caught a rainbow trout, but he had to let it go becuase we did not have an ice box. He was proud about his catch.