Pumpkins & Pretzels

For Family Home Evening this week we decided to finally carve one of our pumpkins. To add to the fun (and general calorie load) we also made some delicious soft-baked pretzels!

Carving the pumpkin with Dad.






And while Aiden and Ian were carving, Devin was keeping himself entertained with a strobe light meant to go inside carved pumpkins (in place of a candle). He's saying "Cheeeeeese!" Guess the flashing reminds him of a camera...


He tortures us, but, he's so stinkin' cute, how can we not love him?

The finished products of the night's work!






Fun and yumminess all around!

A chocolate life!

In honor of my 34th birthday, we made a second pilgrimage to the Café Fleuri's all-you-can-eat chocolate bar this past weekend. We made our initial discovery of this world of bliss two years ago and have dreamed of it since! This time, however, I remembered to bring my camera!

One of several plates of sweet deliciousness!


A sampling of the many tables of sweets (though only about a third of what was there!).


Our server was kind enough to take a picture of us.


We took a short walk after (the meter was running out or we would have walked a little longer to burn off all those calories) and saw a horse-drawn carriage just outside the hotel!


It was a gorgeous fall day in the city so we took a few other shots...




And a quick self-portrait...


Seriously. If you enjoy chocolate and/or sweets at all, you need to come to Boston!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets with FIBER!

I'm sure the title of this post has your salivating already. I mean, what brings to mind delightful tastes and textures like the word fiber?

Somewhat recently I watched the movie Food Inc. and it had a profound impact on my feelings about processed foods and where our meat comes from. After watching the film we immediately stopped supporting Tyson products but it's hard to find chicken nuggets--Aiden's main food group--that aren't linked to horrible food manufacturing processes. So in an effort to reduce our contribution to the inhumane treatment of animals and to increase the health benefits of our family, I've decided to try my hand at homemade chicken nuggets. I didn't work with any particular recipe but basically breaded some chicken pieces and baked them in the oven.

So where does the fiber come into play (I know you're desperate to know!)? I used about 3/4 cups of fiber cereal that I had turned into fine crumbs in my food processor mixed with an equal amount of Italian bread crumbs in the breading. I've used this mixture for breading whole chicken breasts before and it is sincerely delicious! The fiber cereal gives the mixture a rather nutty taste and the Italian bread crumbs add just enough seasoning.

The miracle fiber cereal!

Here are my tasty chicken nuggets coming out of the oven


And on a plate waiting to be eaten (and, yes, the kids ate them!)


I don't think this quite calls for the inclusion of a full recipe but if you want my method, let me know! And say goodbye to high-priced frozen chicken nuggets!

Why I love blogging...

Public posts about your life in all its grandeur seems a tad narcissistic at times but I have to say I really enjoy reading about all the little things happening in the lives of my friends and family. I especially enjoy the posts about FOOD by the people I know who are really good bakers. So, though it may be a tad self-absorbed at times, I continue to share my own life with you!

Recently, I found an intriguing recipe on a friend's blog that involved ricotta cheese. Now, I'd just made a lasagna so I had some ricotta left in the fridge. Tonight I finally ventured into the kitchen intent on baking and tried this delicious recipe.

Ricotta Cheese Sugar Cookies
Makes 3-4 dozen


1 cup butter, softened
2 cup sugar
1 16-oz. container whole-milk ricotta cheese
2 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 cups flour


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.


2. Using a mixer, combine butter and sugar until well blended. Mix in ricotta, eggs, and vanilla. Add baking soda and salt. Then mix in flour.


3. Drop teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (I recommend using parchment paper here)

 4. Bake 12-14 minutes, until cookies are golden on the bottom but still very light on top. Remove from pans and place on cooling racks. Ice any way you'd like!

The fantastic outcome:


They look a little like baked lumps of homemade play dough but I assure you they taste amazing!

Why? How do you eat fine Italian cuisine?

Devin is getting bigger every day and exploring new activities and trying new foods. The other evening I let him have a go at spaghetti and he LoVeD it! I don't think a bit of it went to waste and he sat happily eating in his high chair for a good half hour (a miracle in and of itself)!

Here are the highlights!

The only way true Italians eat spaghetti- stripped down to their socks and diapers!


Truly enjoying one's dinner is an art form that requires the use of one's entire fist!


What can I say?


If eating were an Olympic sport, this kid would take gold!


And we'd be ready with our clip for the media...



The only thing better than eating spaghetti? Washing it all off!

There's real food?

This week Devin decided he wanted to move on from a liquid diet and add some solids. This wasn't my idea, mind you. I'd hoped to delay the mess and extra work of solid foods for a few more months. But on Wednesday morning I was holding Devin and feeding Aiden and myself some oatmeal. Devin was watching every spoonful and started to look a little irritated that he wasn't part of the eating activities. So I thought I'd let him taste the oatmeal feeling certain he'd spit it back at me. Well, he didn't spit it back, he gobbled it up! He proceeded to eat TEN spoonfuls of regular Quaker oatmeal (well, "quick oats").

That afternoon a friend dropped off some baby food her 9-month-old has decided she's not interested in and I thought I'd try to feed Devin some bananas. Once again, I was sure he would just spit them out at me. Nope! He sucked down 2 1/2 ounces of bananas in nothing flat. So we've now added baby rice cereal to the mix and he thinks he's in heaven!

Below are some pictures and a short video documenting about his 8th or 9th experience with baby food (I wasn't armed with a camera the first few times since I was still in denial that this wasn't just a phase). He lunges for the spoon every time it comes near his mouth and ends up hunched over. But he's getting better at staying upright for feeding time.

Do you dream in chocolate?

If so, you want to check out the Café Fleuri's chocolate bar at the Langham Hotel in Boston. We took the opportunity to go this past weekend and really enjoyed ourselves! Ian's parents graciously took Aiden off our hands for a full 24 hours while we went into Boston to enjoy ourselves followed by more eating out that night and sleeping late the following morning. We'd been considering going away someplace for the weekend but since we didn't get our plans in order in time, staying "in" and playing hooky from our life was the best we could do.

Back to the chocolate... Café Fleuri does a chocolate bar every "season" from about September to May. This season's theme was Decades of Decadence since they've been doing this for 25 years. At first I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I mean, how many ways can you eat chocolate? But the chocolate bar did not disappoint! The desert bar is filled with chocolate-related deserts and dishes as opposed to five tables of milk chocolate in different forms. For example, we tried the Boston cream pies, the crème brûlée, opera cakes, chocolate crêpes, and lots of different fruits and treats dipped in chocolate. The variety was great and it was fun to taste some deserts we'd never had without worrying about the portions (everything is cut very small so you can try just about everything there).

I’d planned on bringing my camera but we left the house without it. So I pirated a picture from the web to give you an idea of what the chocolate bar has to offer!

Enjoy salivating!

Party time!

October is a big month of birthdays on my side of the family and it's also a big month for our friends' birthdays as well. So we have been partying quite a bit recently.

Ian's 34th birthday was on the 3rd and we celebrated in a very reserved way by going to TGIFriday's for dinner and then going to bed by 10PM. We're total party animals. But the next morning I did get up and make Ian his favorite desert/breakfast food: Monkey Bread!



For those of you unfamiliar with Monkey Bread, it's a very complicated recipe that takes hours to prepare and bake. Here's the secret recipe:

• 2 cans refrigerator biscuits
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 tbsps cinnamon

Cut the biscuits into fourths, roll in the white sugar and cinnamon, put in a pan and drizzle the melted butter combined with brown sugar over the entire thing and bake until done.

See... Challenging!

We also celebrated the birthdays of our friends Bos, Roe and Logan all in one weekend. I forgot my camera at the joint party for Bos and Roe but made up for it by taking tons of pictures at Logan's party.

Aiden was very good at standing back during the unwrapping of presents at Logan's party on Sunday but couldn't resist "helping" Logan with a toy Aiden already owns.


He also had a great time with the balloons...


And continued to "help" Logan play with his new toys.


Thank goodness Logan seemed overwhelmed and wasn't bothered by all the assistance! We had fun but it was a party-heavy weekend!

"Baby's First" Cake Beater

Ok... So he isn't exactly a "baby" anymore but we're still experiencing plenty of firsts these days. This evening it was his first beater from a tasty cake batter. 

It took Mommy showing him how to do it properly...

But after a short tutorial, he was off on his own!

The spatula also got into the act (notice the cake batter on the nose, there?).

It was just too cute to not post!

If you add chocolate to your breakfast...

Is it still breakfast or just desert from the night before

that came about 14 hours late?

I don't have the answer to that but I will tell you that adding mini chocolate chips to your oatmeal makes it taste like chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Yum!



Happy Friday!

My love affair with a doctor...

For many years I have been a big fan of Dr. Pepper. I'll drink Mr. Pibb where it's offered in place of Dr. Pepper but the doctor is really my first love in the way of soda. However, I have recently been on the hunt for caffeine-free Dr. Pepper which seems to be unusually difficult to find in my home area. I have no qualms about drinking caffeine but there are many times I have wanted a Dr. Pepper closer to bed time and even a single can of the doc's great tonic has the ability to keep me up half the night (I know... I'm a lightweight when it comes to caffeine).

So, if you live anywhere near me and happen to run across this elusive drink, please pick up a palette or two on my behalf and I will reimburse you your expenses. If you happen to be visiting my area in the near future and can smuggle some caffeine-free Dr. Pepper over the state lines, I'd be happy to pay your bail!

Goodbye football... hello leftovers!

We watched the painful loss of the Patriots to the Giants last night with some friends who generously sent us home with leftovers. I have found a new dangerously favorite indulgence (not that I needed any more than what I have). My new favorite party food is jalapeño peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon.

In the great tradition of southern food, anything wrapped in bacon has to be good, right? I also enjoy a little spice and cream cheese can go on almost anything. So while the combination may be slightly daunting, it's a wonderful blend.

I very much enjoyed this treat last night and it made a very tasty lunch today! Thank you S&J for hosting some fun!