sugar & spice

Head over to my Family and Frills blog at ocfamily.com to see more picture from the Sugar & Spice baby shower I co-hosted!

talk about lovely

My friend Merisa was featured on Apartment Therapy. I am so in love with her sweet little home. 

Talk about lovely!

For the rest of the Home Tour go here!

time away

A few weeks back I took a whole day off. Not from a job, or a volunteer position, but from my family. It sounds bad, I know, but it's not. It's necessary. I got my tan on at the pool, my nails done, I went to the mall, and I ate dinner by myself. It was a nice way to take a deep breath and let some stress go. It was like a mommy staycation day.

As moms we get so wrapped up in our family life that we forget that we need some time away. Not just a girls night out or a baby shower, but real quiet time. Time to reflect, think, and enjoy. I have an amazing husband who always gives me my own time, but it's still hard to take a whole day off. I think as mom's we have to demand it, plan it, and implement it.

I think a full day off for myself every three or four months will be just enough to keep me refreshed from the craziness of life with three little ones!

summer moments

We have had a lot of fighting, tears, and timeouts this summer. Three kids 7 and under has proven difficult for me during this time off, but there has been a lot of good too. Some of my favorite moments of summer have been catching my kids playing quietly by themselves... they become so deep in play that they don't even notice their mommy hovering above them taking pictures. 

easiest dessert ever

I made these peanut butter bars for a friend whose only birthday dessert request was that it involved peanut butter cups. So I figured why not make my own! They are pretty darn close, require no baking, and are addicting (and I don't even like peanut butter cups). Go here for the recipe! You won't be disappointed.

new obsession

My sister sent me this link for homemade chocolate soft serve. It's the kind that is actually healthy for you. After all, it's made of frozen bananas, milk, vanilla extract, cocoa powder..... and that's it. No sugar, no cream, nothing else. You can follow her recipe, but I usually add more milk and it takes a little bit of love to get it creamy (I have made in Cuisinart and the blender). Maybe a total of 5 minutes. So easy and delicious.

I'm serious.... make it today. Immediately. Right now. Or as soon as your bananas are frozen.

Enjoy!

summer

I never imagined that summer time would equal less blogging time- but it does. My hands and feet have been busy with three little ones all day, every day. It's hard to catch up. But I guess it's totally worth it because in a snap of a finger we will be back to routines, being divided in our days, and a more structured life.... so I am learning to enjoy our carefree days together. It's bliss.

another mix and match recipe

Here is another mix and match recipe. My hubby wanted a homemade chocolate peanut butter ice cream pie for his birthday. So I mixed and matched recipes to make it perfect!

(sorry for the super lame picture....we ate it so fast I forgot to take a better one)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie 
original recipes from here and here.

Ingredients
1 box Oreo Cookies
6 tbsp melted butter
2 cups half and half
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 bottle hot microwavable hot fudge
1 pack of Reese Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:

1. Finely crush about 25 Oreos in a food processor. Mix with melted butter and spread in the bottom of a 9" round pan for the crust. Freeze.

2. Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, combine the half and half, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt; whisk. Heat the mixture until it comes to a full boil. Continue to whisk. When the mixture starts to foam remove it from the heat and add the peanut butter, whisking to blend thoroughly. Refrigerate the mixture until it is completely chilled. Finish by following the directions on your ice cream maker.

3. Scoop the ice cream on the frozen crust. Drizzle hot fudge on top. Crush remaining Oreos and cut the Peanut Butter Cups into pieces and sprinkle on top.

Enjoy!

New recipe

Lately I have been mixing recipes together.... it's kind of a new thing for me. After all, I'm not a skilled cook. But I have been really trying to keep everything homemade, and that means substituting for canned or processed foods in one recipe with something from another. So far so good and I have made two different dishes doing this, which means I kind of have my own recipe to share! Now that's a first.

(image from myrecipes.com)

Chili Hash Brown Bake
Original recipes from here and here.
(Substituted can of sloppy joe sauce and can of chili with beans for the real thing)

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp yellow mustard
1 cup ketchup
4 tsp brown sugar
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 (15 oz) can chili beans
1/2  (30 oz) package frozen shredded hash browns (about 4 cups)
2 cups shredded cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.

2. Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, and chili beans; mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Spoon chili mixture into lightly greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish or 10-oz ramekins. Top with frozen hash browns.

4. Bake, covered, at 425 degrees for 30 minutes; uncover and bake 10 more minutes or until browned and crisp. Sprinkle with cheese, and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

Note: Our chili beans were a little hard so next time we will make sure they simmer a little bit, after reading reviews when I added the cheese I mixed the cheese with the hash browns, and next time we are going to try grating our own potatoes instead of using frozen hash browns at all!

Enjoy!

a favorite blog post... mother's must read

This is one of my favorite blog posts... ever. I just love Lil Blue Boo. This post is all sorts of awesome.

http://www.lilblueboo.com/2012/07/why-ill-never-tell-you-how-to-parent.html

Enjoy!