Happy Birthday Mom! In honor of my moms birthday I thought I would take a moment to thank my mom for all of the things that she did for me while I was growing up. It would be impossible to compile a comprehensive list of everything that mothers do for their kids but I thought I would start with the top 10 things that my mom did for me because I'm sure that she never received a proper "thank you" for any of them. 1. Thank you for your unconditional love and support. 2. I feel like this goes along with number one but, thank you for putting up with me as a teenager. The endless hours that you spent listening to my teenage drama was more therapeutic than I ever realized. Not to mention the daily phone calls from school complaining of a stomach virus. 3. Believing in me even when I didn't believe in myself. Encouraging me to try new things and take risks even when failure seemed almost certain. 4. Being the first, loudest and on some occasions, and my biggest cheerleader. You celebrated every accomplishment, no matter how small or insignificant it seemed to me. 5. The endless hours that you spent driving me to practices and bending over backwards to make sure that I had instruments and music, cleats and ballet shoes, clean uniforms and costumes. I could not even begin to add up the time that you spent in the car driving me to rehearsals, lessons and play dates. 6. Thank you for all of the home cooked meals that I took for granted. For teaching me healthy eating habits from a very early age and for developing in me a great appreciation for food. 7. All the times that you doubled as a therapist, counselor, costume designer, seamstress, chef, maid, finder of anything missing in the house and all around problem solver. (I'm still not convinced that you don't have secret superhero powers.) 8. Forgiving me for all of my mistakes. (We both know that there have been MANY to forgive, too.) 9. For giving me a sibling who for years, I wanted to sell (or at least trade in for a sister) but today I would consider one of my closest friends. 10. For being the kind of person that I actually want to become because let's face it - it's inevitable. Being a mom is often a thankless job. My mom is extraordinary and it didn't even occur to me until I moved out and had children of my own, just how under appreciated she was. She was never one to seek approval or recognition and I'm quite sure that I did not show proper gratitude for most of the things that she did for me as a child.. So on your birthday, Mom, let me just say, THANK YOU. For everything that you did for me as a child and for the things that you continue to do for me today. I love you. I hate that I can't be with my mom to celebrate today but I am going to do the next best thing - send her a virtual cupcake. (Not quite as good as an actual cupcake but - it has no calories!) This one's for you mom - love you. Mint Mojito Cupcakes 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon lime zest 1/4 cup dark rum 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
Scoop into mini cupcake pans and bake 18 minutes. Frost with lime buttercream and decorate with fresh mint. Happy Birthday Mom - I Love You!
Ciao!
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I promised you a big reveal on Ryan's big decision about college - so here it is. Subtle - I know. Ryan will officially be a freshman at Valdosta State in August. He is beyond excited about starting his college career. As for me, not so thrilled that he is going to be 5 hours away from home but glad to see him happy about school. It's not hard to see why he loves Valdosta - palm trees, Spanish moss, warm weather and close to the beach. Who wouldn't want to live there? To celebrate the end of Ryan's high school career and the beginning of his college career, we had a celebratory dinner. (Because that's just how we roll in this house.) Not just an ordinary dinner though - individual garden herb lasagnas with homemade pasta noodles! Oh yea - you heard that right - Homemade pasta noodle lasagna in individual dishes!!! What - what? It took a little extra time to make this lasagna but it was well worth it - it was delicious. Well, Ben and I thought it was delicious. Both kids scraped off the tomatoes and cheese and ate the plain noodles. This recipe was adapted from Taste of Home magazine.
I used a pasta maker to get my dough nice and thin. Place 1 noodle at a time in a pot of boiling water and cook for 2 minutes.
Bake 30 minutes at 350. Sprinkle with fresh basil. Let sit in pans for 10 minutes then carefully remove from pans. This maybe my new favorite lasagna recipe. Not so kid friendly but what do they know? This was crazy good. A little labor intensive, but soo worth it. Ryan is definitely not going to get this from the Valdosta cafeteria next year.
Ciao! Blueberry season is right around the corner and I still have blueberries in my freezer from last year. In preparation for the 2014 blueberry season, I decided it was time to use up my 2013 berries (which are still perfectly fine, by the way.) and get them out of the freezer to make room for this years crop. This is one of my very favorite blueberry muffin recipes. I've been using it for so long that I have absolutely no idea where I got it from originally. It is a tried and true muffin recipe that works with just about any fruit that you want to add. Crumb Topped Blueberry Muffins 4 cups flour Crumb Topping: 1 cups sugar ¼ cup sugar 6 teaspoons baking powder 3 Tablespoons flour ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup butter 2 Tablespoons butter 2 eggs 1 1/3 cups milk 2 teaspoons almond extract 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups blueberries
Bake 20-25 minutes at 375. I love this basic muffin recipe and I've substituted strawberries and apples and raspberries for the blueberries and they turn out perfectly every single time. You just cant beat a good muffin recipe. It never lets me down.
Ciao! As I mentioned yesterday, I am stocking up my refrigerator with delicious dessert toppings. Chocolate sauce and caramel sauce are great on ice cream, drizzled over a cheesecake or in my case, served at a brownie bar. What is brownie bar? (I could hear you asking.) I made about 100 star shaped brownies for Ryan's graduation party for a "brownie bar" complete with a selection of toppings to serve along with these decadent treats. Caramel and chocolate sauce of course as well as mason jars filled with chocolate chips, fresh strawberries, sprinkles and even marshmallows. All the makings of a great brownie creation - don't you think? If you've never made homemade caramel sauce - you need to try it. There is only 1 rule - DON'T WALK AWAY! I can't tell you how many batches of caramel sauce I have burned because I walked away from the stove and let it cook too long. Don't let that discourage you from trying it though - it only takes 2 minutes of boiling to get this caramel sauce to the perfect consistency. (Yes, It really is true that I can't seem to stand at the stove for 2 minutes without getting distracted. Adult ADHD?) Caramel Sauce 1 stick butter 1 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup whipping cream
Some people can tomatoes and beans. Apparently, I can - ice cream toppings instead. I made these huge jars of caramel sauce and chocolate sauce last week, not only for those inevitable summer ice cream cravings, but also to serve alongside some homemade brownies at Ryan's graduation party. These are sooo easy to make that it'll make you wonder why you've ever bought them from the store. They each have just 3 ingredients and take less than 5 minutes to make and they taste WAAAAYYY better than the kind that you can buy at the grocery store. Chocolate Sauce 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 1/4 cup butter 1 can sweetened condensed milk Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and melt on low.
Seriously the best chocolate sauce you will ever eat.
Ciao! |
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