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.

Adventures in Quilting

One fabric down, nine more to go. ;o) I ordered the print fabric for my quilt last week and spent the last few days just looking at the cuteness. I finally got brave and just dove in: prewashing (interesting experience), drying, ironing, and cutting. I told Tyson that the theme of this quilt is "Rid Hailey of her OCD-ness and Embrace Imperfections," or Embrace Imperfection for short. Seriously. I spent so much time folding and refolding the fabric so that the dots would line up straight, and then realized that it doesn't really matter. It can be a little...non-straight. :o)

I still need to find some cream fabric locally (I'm thinking Hobby Lobby with a coupon), and also fabric for the binding (maybe chocolate? unclear at this point). I am extremely fortunate to have a sewing enthusiast for a mother-in-law, as she was able to let me borrow tools and a sewing machine to work on when I'm at home. I plan to do a bit at the ranch under her supervision though. I keep second guessing myself, and it would be nice to have someone who knows what she's doing to point me in the right direction.

Random tip: When ironing fabric, starch one side and then flip over to iron. Then starch the side you just ironed and flip again to iron the first side. It worked perfectly for me (and I am definitely not very skilled with an iron)! Thank you very much Mother-in-Law!

On an unrelated note, I showed Tyson Angry Birds on my phone and now he is addicted. I am seriously regretting that introduction. I was never really hooked (more of a Doodlejump fiend myself), but he most definitely is.

Menu Planning Sunday

I'm going to be at a career fair tomorrow, so I thought I would go ahead and post today. :)

monday :: baked potato night.
tuesday :: "melt in your mouth" pork chops + basmati rice
wednesday :: garlic herb grilled chicken + steamed broccoli
thursday :: burgers and fries
friday :: out of town

I am loving allrecipes.com to find new recipes. A lot of times I don't even follow the recipe exactly because the advice in the comments section sounds so good. I'm planning to put the pork chops in a slow cooker with some pineapple juice and the sauce...hopefully they're tasty!

I need another Spring Break...

This week (all two days, I know), I've been waking up so tired! Maybe I'm getting addicted to coffee or something. But I've had two great days of subbing, so after I wake up it's been good. And I should be thankful that what I love to do includes a Spring Break. :o)

Meal Planning Tuesday
monday :: baked potato night! my favorite night of the week.
tuesday :: pork quesadillas (we're trying to use up some slow cooker sweet barbacoa pork I made last week...we've had pork tacos, pork pizza, and now quesadillas!)
wednesday :: chicken parmesan bundles, couscous, salad + zucchini
thursday :: chicken and broccoli alfredo
friday :: steak, roasted potatoes + salad

I just realized that we will be having chicken two nights in a row...hmm. Oh well. I want to make my own little recipe book with our favorite recipes, but I feel like we need to find 5 more good recipes first. Speaking of good recipes, I made a delicious chocolate cake last week. It was an apology cake for bailing out on the weekly Top Chef watching a few weeks ago, and I think I was forgiven. Chocolate cake + homemade butter cream frosting = love. So bad, but so, so good.

Alright, well I've got to empty the dishwasher and make some dinner. Happy Tuesday!