girlymama

try this: brownie pudding

After seeing this on Food Network, the girls and I decided we had to try it!!  It is so, so, so, easy. Makes an impressive looking ooey-gooey chocolate dessert and tastes amazing with vanilla ice cream!! You MUST try this one.

Brownie Pudding

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the dish
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup good cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
1 tablespoon framboise liqueur, optional
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a 2-quart (9 by 12 by 2-inch) oval baking dish. Melt the 1/2 pound of butter and set aside to cool.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until very thick and light yellow. Meanwhile, sift the cocoa powder and flour together and set aside.
When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla seeds, framboise, if using, and the cocoa powder and flour mixture. Mix only until combined. With mixer still on low, slowly pour in the cooled butter and mix again just until combined.
Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared dish and place it in a larger baking pan. Add enough of the hottest tap water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the dish and bake for exactly 1 hour. A cake tester inserted 2 inches from the side will come out 3/4 clean. The center will appear very under-baked; this dessert is between a brownie and a pudding. Allow to cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.
Recipe origin: Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

definite improvement

Remember Ellie's first school picture? This ridiculous one?? That is on her school id and everything and makes us laugh hysterically whenever we see it...
       
Look at the new one:
 
Girlfriend learned to smile!!! Yay!!

inspiration - 3.29

Wait for the LORD;
       be strong and take heart
       and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14, emphesis mine

Anyone else struggle with waiting?

helping to remember baby's first year...

Recently the nice folks at Forte Promo sent me a gorgeous Baby's First Year calendar. Look how adorable this is:
 
What they say about it:

• Its a combination baby book and non-dated calendar, truly a keepsake.
• The date pad is blank to fill in dates and months once baby is born. 
• There are monthly features and a page of stickers.
• Your organization/logo is added to the bottom.

What I say about it:
This is super cute!!! I wish I had received something like this when I had my babies! Colin just turned one this week and as I look back over this past year, I remember sooo little. Its all very blurry. (First tooth around... six months. ish. Maybe...) It would have been great to have a calendar just to write things down as he did them.
And if you're a scrapbooking flunkie, like me, this is a non-intimidating way to document and organize all those milestones that fly by that first year. The cute stickers are great too - make it even easier for a busy mom!!
You can get these personalized with your organization or business logo printed below the calendar. What a fantastic item for any organization catering to young moms!! It would certainly stand out from yet another promotional bib or something.

no boundries

This weekend I'm going to a movie premiere.

I KNOW! ME!

I'm so excited!! It looks great and it was filmed right in Philly. Look:

If you're in Philly and want to see it, there is an encore screening on Sunday afternoon. You can buy tickets here.

wordless wednesday: boy likes his cake

 
 

terrible mother

That's what I feel like.

I was working on my spring cleaning and got so distracted that I forgot to take the kids to swimming lessons. I looked at the clock and it said 4:28. Lessons start at 4. Then I had to go tell them we missed swim lessons, which they had been looking forward to all day, and they were in tears about because they LOVE swim lessons.

I didn't bother to put Colin's jeans back on after his nap. Now he has a massive case of rug burn from crawling around on the carpets. He's been crying because his legs hurt.

I've yelled at my kids. Several times.

I forgot that I promised to do something. Now Ellie is upset with me.

I just want to crawl under a rock. Or under the covers and just start over.

one year ago....

   

Words cannot even describe the joy this little boy has brought to our lives.
He is a love. He is a sweetie. He is a gift straight from the Lord. 
   
    

Happy birthday, little man.
We love you to pieces.
And can't wait to see the man you will become.

try this: chocolate chip cookies

I've made so many different chocolate chip cookie recipies. And this - by far - is our favorite!! These make a chewy version that turns crunchy after a few days (Husband's favorite!) My secret ingredient? Dark chocolate chips!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
 

1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet are okay, but dark are the best!!)

Preheat oven to 375. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
Whisk flour and baking soda together, set aside.
Beat butter and sugars on medium speed until well blended and very fluffy. Add egg, salt and vanilla. Stir flour mixture ino butter mixture until well combined and smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop in heaping tablespoonfuls on sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the sheet of a minute or two before removing to a cooling rack.

 
from Joy of Cooking

question of the day

Every morning when Gracie goes to preschool, there is a board outside the classroom. The students have to find their name and put it on the correct board.
The the beginning of the year, the questions are easy: I am a boy/I am a girl, I have a brother/I do not have a brother. Now, the kids get to suggest a question for their classmates to answer. They have been hilarious. Thursday it was "I like Spiderman" or something.
This was Gracie's question:
 
I asked her why on earth she picked that question. (She had been toying with the question, "I like swimming.") But she said she "wanted to be the only one on the blue board."
Think that question would do it?