Skinny Chowdah.

I did it. I made a “lite” clam chowder, packed with flavor! Somewhere, my mother is scoffing at the thought of a GOOD lite chowder. Please, let me share it with you! This recipe serves about 4, but it can easily be doubled to make more.

Skinny Clam Chowdah

1 carrot, finely diced
1 potato, peeled and finely diced
2 chicken boullion cubes
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup 1% milk (if you want a richer soup, use whole milk or half & half )
5.3 ounce can of minced clams in juice
Dried rosemary & thyme, pinch of each
S&P, to taste

• In medium saucepan, combine carrots, half of the potato, boullion, & water. Boil until soft.

**I had leftover sauteed squash & zucchini that I dumped in as well. This combination will be blended, so if you have picky eaters, they’ll never know!**
Dump in blender- blend until smooth, & pour back into saucepan.
(You can skip this step if you have non-pickies who eat chunks of anything. But my husband does NOT dig vegetables, so I have to sneak them in whenever possible.)

• In separate sautee pan, melt butter. Stir in flour; it should be paste-like. Let that mixture cook about 1 minute. Whisk in the flour, stir until smooth & thick. Pour flour/milk mixture into vegetable mixture. Add in reserved potatoes, clams, and spices. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft, and soup is thickened to desired consistency.

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(Obviously best served with a big hunk of bread.) 

I hope you try it! And if you try it, I REALLY hope you enjoy.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups (may the drooling commence).

Maybe someday I’ll get my act together and post a healthy recipe. But, today is not that day. The other day I made Homemade Peanut Butter Cups, and it was too delicious/easy to not share. I found the recipe on Pinterest- my new obsession. Here’s the recipe:

Chocolate Coating
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
Pinch salt

While those 3 ingredients are melting in a saucepan, take a regular sized muffin tin (it should hold 12 muffins), and line them with cupcake liners. Once the chocolate mixture is melted, put 2 teaspoons of it in each liner, spreading the bottom and 1/4 up the side with the back of a spoon. Once they’re finished, refrigerate 20 minutes.

Peanut Butter Filling
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons graham cracker crumbs
Pinch salt

Combine all ingredients. Once the bottom part of the chocolate has hardened in the refrigerator, put 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter mixture on it, pressing it carefully down so there are no gaps between the chocolate and peanut butter.

 

Refrigerate this mixture 20 minutes, until the peanut butter has hardened at bit. Once that’s finished, take the remaining chocolate mixture (I had to re-melt mine at this point) and spread 2 teaspoons on the top of the cups, making sure none of the peanut butter is exposed.

Once finished, refrigerate for at least an hour. They need to be completely solid. It’s a painful hour to be sure, because at this point I wanted a TASTE! But it’ll be worth it. After the hour is up, you’re free to take the papers off and devour as many as you see fit.

They really do taste like the real thing. The recipe isn’t hard at all, it just takes some time to make. Definitely worth it if you ask me. 

(almost) Wordless Wednesday.

I haven’t posted on my boy in a while. He’s 19 months old now, and sweeter than ever. Such a little love. I think this photo is evidence of his snuggly nature. It’s enough to melt a momma’s heart!

(I die.)

five.

I got married five years ago. It sure doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but on the other hand it feels like forever. I was 20, and Jason was 26. Kids! I’m basically a different person now, and often tease Jason that he was the one who raised me. I feel like when you marry young, you need to marry someone with a level head so they can help you grow up. Because what do you really know about life at 20 years old? Hope that makes sense. So here’s a “tribute” to my wonderful husband who married me when I was still a kid, and has stuck with me through so many difficult things that many others would have said “I’m out” at many different times.

June 17, 2006.

One.

Two.

Three.

A little something happened between 3 & 4.

(something named William)

Four.

Five. 

As the years go by it is with joy that I grow old with you.

Recipe Time: Mac & Cheese!

Macaroni and Cheese is about as “comfort food” as you can get. It’s one of my hubby’s favorite dishes, so I definitely had to learn how to make it from scratch (which is eleventy billion times better than the box stuff – not that I’m a food snob {side eye}). It doesn’t take too long to make, and all you need are 5 ingredients (plus some add-ins if you feel like adding protein). Here’s the recipe that has never done me wrong:

Mac & Cheese

8 ounces dried elbow macaroni (or any shape pasta you prefer)
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
12 ounces shredded cheese (I use cheddar, but 1/2 cheddar 1/2 pepper jack would be good for an extra zip)

Add ins: bacon, lobster, chicken.

• Cook macaroni according to package. Drain & set aside.
• In a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour, salt & pepper. Add milk all at once, stirring until thick and bubbly. Add melted cheese, stirring until melted.
• Stir in cooked macaroni, and if desired, whatever add-in you like. I’ve done a lot of add-ins with this recipe and I can tell you, bacon is the best. So that’s what I did! Stirred in some cooked, crumbled bacon.
• Bake uncovered in a 2 quart casserole dish for about 25 minutes, or until it’s hot and bubbly.

Once it’s done, it’ll resemble something like this:

To finish the dish, I sprinkled some paprika & cayenne pepper for an extra spicy element. We like spicy ’round these parts.

Speechless Sunday.

Each day my kid gets more spunk. I’m not sure how much more I can handle!

Talking on a French fry “phone.” He holds it up to his ear and says, “Hey!”

Happy Sunday!

Wish List.

My husband is a horrible gift giver. Don’t think I’m a terrible wife by saying this; he is the first to admit it. I love buying gifts, so the only time this is really a problem is when I’m to be the recipient of a gift. Which is basically just Christmas. I try to throw him a bone on my birthday and ask for shopping money for new clothes. Easy enough! Valentine’s Day all I require is chocolate covered Oreos (best. thing. ever.), and for our anniversary we just go to a nice dinner and call it good.

Whenever it’s time for him to get me a gift, the man freaks out. He waits to shop until the last possible second, and then has no idea what to get me so he just grabs something random out of desperation. Example: for Christmas I got a wok. Like, a $50 cooking wok from Target. Which wasn’t a big deal, I returned it for something that was on my LIST (novel concept). Men: never stray from the WISH LIST!

So our anniversary is coming up. On June 17 we’ll be married for 5 years!  Since it’s a “big” number (I feel silly saying 5 years is big. My parents have been married for 30, & my grandparents 56 years). My gift to Jason is a book. Before you fall asleep, I ordered it from Shutterflyand it’s filled with pictures from the past 7 years. From our first date to the present. Beside each picture is a quote. Example:

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” -Emily Bronte

So it’s totally sappy but I think he’ll really dig it. Anyway – to the point of this post. Jason asked me to compile a Wish List of some different things which, if he gets me, I will not return.

The Itty Bitty Hearts Necklace by Lisa Leonard.
There’s just something so wonderful about carrying around the initials of my two favorite people around my neck.

A list notebook. This momma can’t operate without a running list every moment of the day!

Nail polish. Specifically this beauty. I don’t do nail polish on my fingers much, but my toes looove the crazy colors!

And lastly,

I am in LOVE with these creepy little guys.

Obviously, celebrating our anniversary isn’t about materialistic things or getting gifts. I’m so excited to watch the years pass with my favorite guy!

How do you like to celebrate anniversaries?

Recipe Time!

Yeah, yeah. I’m back after 3 month long hiatus. I’ve been wanting to come back for a while, but what’s stopped me is the thought of trying to explain why I took a break. So lets please skip that, and get back to normal!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m super into anything kitchen related. Cooking, baking, dicing, chopping, all things Susie Homemaker. Which works perfectly because I’m a SAHM! This morning I made these killer muffins and have to share the recipe. Originally they were just blueberry muffins, but I had strawberries that needed to be used so in they went.

Blue Strawberry Muffins
(get it? har har)

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen – mine were bought fresh, but I froze them)
1 cup strawberries, chopped
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375*; grease muffin tin.

• Using a mixer, cream butter and 1 cup sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, baking powder, and salt. One combined, alternately add half of the flour, then half of the milk. Repeat until all is mixed in. Gently fold in berries.
• Fill muffin tin 3/4 full with batter. Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle over tops of muffins.
• Bake until risen and the edges are golden, about 25-30 minutes*.

*I used my mini muffin tin, which took about 18-20 minutes to cook. This batch made 24 mini, and 6 regular sized muffins.

They were so delicious, especially topped with the cinnamon/sugar mixture – it kind of made the tops and edges crispy, while the center is warm and fluffy.

           My little minis. So easy to pop into your mouth, it becomes dangerous.  

If it’s impossible for you to eat this entire batch – like it is for me! – I like to throw them in a Ziploc freezer bag and store them in the freezer. It totally makes for easy breakfasts, and once you microwave them for about 20 seconds, they taste fresh.

I really hope you try them! You won’t be disappointed (unless you don’t like blueberries, or strawberries – in which case, my apologies).

Hi, I’m Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Well, not quite – but I feel like her sometimes! I’ve been feeling too attached to my DVR lately. And by “lately,” I mean ever since they invented the DVR. On any given night, or morning, or afternoon – anytime, really – you could find me in front of my TV. I’m not talking “I need to go on MTV’s True Life: I’m Addicted to my TV” or anything, but I just love my little BFF DVR.  If we were home, the TV was on. Even if we weren’t watching anything, it was background noise.

I started getting a little bit guilty about things. Sure, Will enjoys his Yo Gabba Gabba as much as I enjoy my Teen Mom, and Jay his History Channel. But am I really utilizing my time with him? I’m not saying TV is bad for kids, don’t get me wrong. But I want to interact with my boy as much as I can. Teach him things, help him learn, play and use his imagination! The biggest kicker was thinking about when I was a kid. My fondest memory of when I was little was playing outside. I used to dig these huge holes in our back yard and sit in them. Playing house outside with my sisters, everything like that. I want Will to have that!

Yeah, I’ve also been thinking about all the other things that Jason and I could get done without cable. So I suggested to him last week, “What if I cancelled our cable?” He goes, “Yeah, do it. Nothing’s ever on anyway.” I don’t think he expected me to do it. The next day when he got home from work, sitting on the counter was my BFF, the DVR box and it’s cords lying wrapped on top of it. He walked in, saw it sitting lifeless, and looked at me. “What’s this?” – “You said I could cancel the cable.” Stunned silence.

Not to be dramatic or anything – ok, to be a little dramatic, because that’s kind of my way – life changed! It’s been 1 week without my BFF DVR, and while I still miss my shows, I won’t need to go to a support group about it or anything. We’ve got Netflix (which is only $9 a month, instead of cable which was $70!), and the sweetest perk of it all is what happened last night:

My boys hanging out outside together! Jason fixing up our back yard so Will can play in it, and Will spending time with his dad.

This morning while Will had his nap, instead of planting my fat rear in front of the TV to catch up on my shows, I worked on my flower bed. Being all Laura Ingalls Wilder and whatnot. It just feels good to make a positive change, after wishing for one for so long. Next up? I might start canning my own fruits and vegetables! Okay, maybe not. But this season of life is so sweet.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

My house smells like CHRISTMAS. I’m all decorated & for the most part my little homeboy has stayed away from the trees. Yesterday, however, he KNOCKED ONE OF THE TREES OVER. He didn’t get hurt, and was mostly just traumatized. Here’s hoping it won’t happen again!

My friend Lauren is doing a giveaway on her blog! If you’d like to enter, here’s the link. The tops in the giveaway are perfect to wear to a Christmas party or (if you’re more generous than me) they would be a perfect gift.

Happy WEDNESDAY!