Happy Easter

I apologize for the grainy cell phone picture...but Brody is cuddling with his little lamb! Happy Easter!

Easter blessings sentiment freebie from Ali Edwards.

Deliciousness

Last night I was craving some chocolate, so I searched for a brownie recipe that didn't need a prepared mix. These were totally yummy, and I had (almost) all the ingredients on hand! Tyson said I'm not allowed to make brownies from a box anymore, which is ok because these are actually super easy (and probably cheaper).

Ingredients
1/2 cup (stick) melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla (I use Penzey's double strength)
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour (I only had bread flour, but it turned out fine)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
chopped pecans (if you want them)
Brownie Frosting (see below)

Stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. Add eggs and beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to first mixture. Stir until well blended. You can stir in nuts or put them on top (like I did). Spread into a sprayed 8x8 pan and even the batter out. Bake at 350 degrees 20-25 minutes (my super fast oven was only 17). While the brownies are baking, prepare the frosting. Let brownies cool and spread the frosting over top. I didn't let them cool enough so the frosting got kind of melty...which was actually delicious because it seeped into the brownies more!

Creamy Brownie Frosting
3 T. softened butter
3 T. cocoa
1 T. light corn syrup or honey
1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. powdered sugar (more or less, depending on the consistency)
1-2 T. milk

Beat butter, cocoa, corn syrup/honey, and vanilla until blended. Add powdered sugar and milk and beat some more. I had to add a little more powdered sugar because the milk went a little crazy. Just let it go in the stand mixer (or hand held) for a minute or two. SO YUMMY.

I might or might not have just had one for breakfast. :o)

via Hershey's Kitchens (the average rating was 3/5 stars, but I'm so glad I made them because these are seriously good.)

Random Photo Wednesday

A little of this, a dash of that

I've never been a Monday person, but I think it's starting to grow on me a little more. As a teacher, the kids are usually pretty subdued and relaxed. I kind of like the slow pace--people for the most part are on the same page. 

Anyways. I took a blog-cation last week because we pretty much ate leftovers all week. I did learn how to transform a corn tortilla into a tostada, which was pretty neat. I just let it dry out for 30 minutes on the counter, and then baked it at 350 degrees for 16ish minutes (flipping halfway through). Our oven is really fast though. I am always decreasing recipe baking times by at least 5-10 minutes.

This week is pretty boring also. I planned based on what we had so that I didn't have to go grocery shopping this week. :o)

monday :: baked potato night
tuesday :: meatloaf with rosemary roasted potatoes [I just realized I do not have the main ingredient and will have to go to the store after all. boo.]
wednesday :: easy mexican chicken & beans
thursday :: tortellini with meat sauce + salad
friday :: out of town for a work event of Tyson's

Well, I have lots of cleaning to get done. My sister-in-law and her husband were in town this weekend and then we watched the Masters all afternoon yesterday, so my to do list has gotten pretty long. Have a great week--be praying for teachers this week; it's an extremely stressful time right now with TAKS and everything going on with the state. But God is bigger! That is my mantra right now.