I grew these!

They may just look like your Kroger green beans but these beans are special. These beans are the first we will harvest this year. They are the first thing I have ever grown from a seed and can actually feed to my child. These beans give me hope that I might just learn how to garden. I might just learn how to grow enough to put away for the winter. Ok, baby steps, I might be able to grow enough to put a can or two away (I don't think I will be able to convince Isaac to till up half the back yard yet but, maybe if these beans taste like my grandpa's he might not need as much persuading).

I love these beans :)

Ninja!

While I took my cake decorating class, Isaac's office ate most of my projects. Today is the company's "quadrennial" party at the boss' house and he asked me to make one of my cakes. Isaac said he asked for a Ninja cake. I didn't have a ton of time, Eli's nap time, but I think it will do! What do you think? It is chocolate with chocolate and peanut butter chips with a homemade strawberry jam filling. Buttercream icing :)

Derby day treats!

Can you guess what these are going to be??

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Yes, I know what you are thinking...where did she go? Well, let's just say that the few hours I had to sleep in the past month, I took them! I had no intentions of April being a busy month, in fact, I had a nice little to-do list to help me stay stress-free as Eli's first birthday approached.  Best laid plans my friends.  That just didn't happen! One thing after another and I found that naps weren't long enough and I was ready for bed around the same time as Eli...though I rarely went then.

I have been trying out a TON of new recipes though. I love the Jessica Seinfeld books more and more with each recipe. 

More details will follow, but let your tastebuds be teased with these pictures of "what I ate" this past month:

 Some fun with Easter :)

 Polenta topped with eggplant, mushrooms, onion, marinara and mozzerella

 Black bean burger with provolone, avocado and spinach (Eli LOVED this) and some homemade mac n cheese...both recipes out of Seinfeld's book!

 Tilapia with Mango/Avocado salsa

 Mexican style polenta

Pumpkin pancakes with some Glier's Goetta

Southern Comfort

The bread story will have to wait for another day. Let's just say the hubs wrapped and put two bricks that are supposed to be bread in the freezer for me as I have been out of town since last Friday.

Life is crazy. Life is fleeting. Life passes so quickly. This week has had a lot of ups and downs and I needed some comfort food.

Hello Blue Bell. I have missed you.

Let it rise!

My first attempt at making bread! Fingers crossed it rises and tastes alright....

Nothing is ever simple with me...yes, that is a big mess!

Care Package!

When I was little and we would go to visit my grand parents my Mama (pronounced maw-maw) would bake a lot of things with us. From counting out the marshmallows for the Rice Krispy treats to baking a lemon meringue pie, she always let us bake with her.

I learned a lot about cooking in that kitchen. Some valuable baking lessons and definitely some lessons about my family. Most of my favorite memories and two equally important lessons were developed when we would make snickerdoodles.

Lesson 1: Unlike brown sugar, you do not pack flour. This results in very dense and not so sweet snickerdoodles. (I was so proud of myself for packing it so tightly!)

Lesson 2: If everyone wanted to eat cookies, don't tell my father we were making snickerdoodles. That man's fingers are stickier than the dough and he had some pretty sly tricks to distract you while he stole some dough.

If, like my husband, you have never made snickerdoodles, you need to. In fact they are so wonderful and easy you should stop and make them right now. Everyone will love the smell that is coming from your oven and everyone will buzz around with joy after eating them. If you have kids in your kitchen then this is a recipe for you! It is so fun to roll the dough into balls and then spin them in cinnamon and sugar!

I have never made snickerdoodles outside of my grandmother's kitchen. While I lover her cooking and her recipes, this generation is less enthused to use crisco in every item we make.  In fact, I pretty much avoid if at all possible.  I just have issues with it. 'nuf said. SOOO, I found a recipe on food.com that was all butter instead of crisco...I'm in!


Since I baked these at half time of the Kentucky/Baylor game, pictures are only at the end...I told you they were fast!

Here we go:

Cream a cup of butter with 1 1/2 cups sugar and then add two eggs, one at a time.  Here is the optional part: I added in the zest of 1 lemon (finely zested!) and the hubs and I thought it was fantastic! Do what you will :) 

 

In a separate bowl, combine (aka wisk) 2 3/4 cups flour (don't pack it! I promise, it isn't a tasty experiment!) 2 tspns cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon of baking soda (I actually did about 1 1/4 tspn and they were fantastic!) and 1/4tspn salt.  

 

Gradually add your dry ingredients to your wet.  Let the dough chill for about 10 minutes as you preheat the oven to 350 and get out your pans.  In a small bowl combine 3 TBSP sugar with 3 Tspn cinnamon.  

Get out your dough and roll it into about 1 inch balls. I used my TBSP to scoop them out since I had it handy.  Once you have them rolled, throw them into the cinnamon and sugar mixture and roll them around to coat.  I did half of my cookies on parchment paper and half on an ungreased non-stick cookie sheet. Both came out with no issues, just some minor sticking on the plain pan.  Do whatever you prefer :)

Bake these puppies for 10 minutes exactly and remove them from the pan to a cooling rack as soon as they come out of the oven.  Don't worry, the bottom is sturdy and they will cool light and fluffy....and delicious. 

 

Since my dad wasn't around, this made about 3 dozen cookies.  Enough to share :) 

My grandma used to send me these in a care package when I was in college or deployed, so I decided to return the favor.  Love you Mama...these should be on your doorstep tomorrow!