Oh hai.

Well looky here, I have a blog. One that I promised to write in ohhhh two months ago. And the month before that, and the month before that. And then I never did. Oops. I really suck at this now. Which is sad, because I really enjoyed it before. Of course that doesn't mean that I didn't suck at it before. Hmm. Well either way, I am going to try again. I don't expect anyone to take me seriously, given my track record. But here we go...


This one time at band camp, I told you I was a domestic goddess on Easter. Yeah, that may have been an exaggeration. A true domestic goddess would have at least ironed the tablecloth. But I still loved my table!


PS - in my time away from blogger one would think they might have updated to a better system for inserting pictures. Notsomuch.

PPS - this is my eleventy billionth time attempting to post this in the past week. Will it work? We shall see!

I know it's only October...

But I've got Christmas on the mind already. I've been thinking for a little bit now of what kind of ornament I wanted to get for Jamie's first Christmas. I started searching etsy for the perfect one, preferably with a sock monkey incorporated somehow.

Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nothin.

It was the first time I have ever searched etsy and not had to hold back from spending more than I should.

Then it hit me. Block ornaments. I can make it exactly how I want it to be. And so my newest product offered in my etsy shop was born. Allow me to present to you Jamie's first Christmas ornament:

I am so happy with how it turned out, and so excited to put it on the tree! Now I just have to wait another month and a half before we go cut it down hahaha.

If you are interested in how to make it - I did it the same way I did the regular blocks, then printed out the words and mod podged them on as well. Then I took an eye hook and piece of ribbon and screwed them into the top, securing them with super glue.

And of course if you are interested in purchasing one for your baby, they are listed in my etsy shop.

Now I need to figure out a stocking! Hopefully etsy will be better to me there, because I am no good in that crafting department ;-)

It's the greatest holiday of the year!

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Funfetti Cake Pops and Mint Oreo Truffles.

Easter was a success. Especially dessert. My two big things were making funfetti cake pops and mint oreo truffles. Both are so easy, and I have blogged about them before, but never as pops, so here are the recipes again:

Cake Pops (aka cake balls on a lollipop stick)

What you need:

1 box cake - baked and cooled.
1 can frosting
2 packages bakers chocolate or candy melts (depending on what color you want to coat the balls with)
lollipop sticks

What you do:

Take the baked cake and break it up into a mixing bowl. Add frosting and mix.

I used my stand mixer, of course. Sadly I did not forsee that the funfetti cake/frosting would look so blah when mixed together. Whoops!

Form balls (in this case, I tried to make them egg shaped). Let them chill in the fridge or freezer to make them easier to dip.

Melt chocolate or candy melts (I use the double boiler method - small bowl sitting on even smaller pot with boiling water)

Dip a tiny bit of the end of a lollipop stick into the melted candy, then stick into a ball. Repeat on all balls.

Coat balls in melted candy

Cool in fridge or freezer.

Decorate as desired.


Oreo Truffles

What you need:

1 package of oreos (I prefer double stuff, and I used mint for these ones)
8 oz package of cream cheese (I always use lowfat, they still turn out great)
2 packages bakers chocolate or candy melts (again, depends what you want)

What you do:

Crush oreos

Mix in cream cheese until well blended (a food processor makes the two first steps easiest, but it's not necessary)

Roll into balls, chill to make dipping easier

I decided to make a few more eggs with the oreo truffles.

The rest of the process is the same as the above recipe, without the lollipop stick step. I find coating the balls without a stick is easiest when done with a fork. I let some of the candy drip off then transfer to the wax paper.

Tah-dah! You're done!

I am no Bakerella, that's for sure, but I am semi-proud of how these came out, for my first try at pops. The hardest thing was getting the candy to coat smoothly. If you click on this picture to view it larger you will see that they are far from smooth.

But I hid the flaws as much as I could with the decorations. And despite my self criticism, everyone raved over them - looks and taste :-)

The one where Easter blew up.

A few years back J and I decided to start hosting Easter. It seemed like his parents were going to keep doing their thing and going to his aunts house, then coming by for dessert. Worked for us. So this year I began thinking about dinner, and what we would serve for my parents, and possibly my brother and his girlfriend. We're looking at 4-6 people, and a few more for dessert.

This year Greek Easter is on the same day as regular Easter. [Side note, my dad's side celebrates Orthodox Easter]. I figured we just wouldn't be seeing my aunt and grandmother for Easter this year. Well then I find out that my aunt is too lazy to host Greek Easter like she usually does because she was going to be getting back from vacation a week prior. Apparently a week is not enough time to prepare when you live alone and don't have anyone else to take care of but yourself. ::eyeroll:: But whatevs. So they are coming too. 6-8.

This past Sunday - a week before - I get a phone call from MIL, asking what is going on for Easter. [They are always invited to our house for Easter, but hadn't said they would come so we figured they were eating at Aunt's]. I tell her we are hosting it and having a ham. She says 'well you didn't say anything about it when you were here a couple days ago so we didn't know what the deal was.' I said 'sorry about that, we thought you were eating at Aunt's house so we didn't think to tell you details.' She says 'no we thought J knew we were going to eat with you.'

Naturally when I called J about this, he agreed that he had no idea. But not a big deal! 8-10.

At this point I am texting Brother because he needs to make up his damn mind if he and GF are going to eat with us or not! Get a text back - ya we'll be there.

10 people, holy crap!

And now I get a call from MIL again. Also, just wanted to let you know that wherever we go, BIL, SIL, and her BF will go as well.

Possibly three more. 10-13 people!!!! YIKES! To add onto that, there is a chance another aunt, uncle, and three cousins may be stopping by for dessert.

::faints::

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled. J and I have been looking forward to the day when we can host a big holiday dinner like this. But I wish I had more than a week's notice for the majority of the guests! I had already bought the ham when MIL called, but luckily I got a huge ham so there will be plenty of food.

So now I need some advice on the menu. Here is what I have so far:

Apps
cheese and crackers
veggies and dip
beer bread/pretzels and different dip

Dinner
ham
corn chowder
lamb kabobs (ILs are bringing)
hash brown casserole (mom is bringing)
brown rice pilaf (mom is bringing)
edit - also serving salad!

Desserts
mint oreo truffles
egg cake pops (made with funfetti cake/frosting)
cupcakes with the other half of the cake mix (I have found that the whole cake makes a shit ton of cake balls/pops)
pineapple crisp

I desperately need to figure out what else to serve with dinner. We are definitely missing some veggies there. And is there anything you guys would suggest adding on for apps or desserts? Thanks in advance for anything you suggest!

Also, I promise to blog about all the stuff I am making! (Except the ham, I think that is pretty straightforward :-P).

What, you mean I used to blog about something other than pregnancy?

Oh yeah... food! In my defense, food was not my favorite thing for a while there. But now that it is at the top again, let me share with you my favorite Christmas treats :-)

(sorry for the dark photos, I still need to get photoshop up and running with my newly reformatted computer.)

First up, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars. Well that's what I like to call them anyway. They have no real name, as they are a recipe that has been passed around by friends for a long time. My mom got it from a friend many years ago, and used to make these every year at Christmas. She stopped a while back, but found the recipe this year so I decided it was time to bring them back!

These are really quite simple. What you need:

1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) margarine - softened
3 cups finely crushed graham crackers
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk (I forget the size, but there's only one size at the store anyway)

Mix together first four ingredients and press into 9x13 pan.

In a double boiler (or microwave) melt chocolate and milk. Spread over peanut butter mixture.

Refridgerate 1/2 hour. Cut into squares.

See? So simple. And the taste? To. die. for. J calls them peanut butter cups on steriods.

Then we have the fudge. I have made these every year for about 10 years now. Everyone expects it at Christmas. Last year I only made the chocolate, and my cousins were so sad there was no penuche!

First up, Never Fail Fudge. If you don't recognize the name already - it's off the jar of fluff. It's the easiest fudge ever. Maybe not the traditional way to make it, but I don't even know because I have only ever made it this way!

What you need: (This is with a small jar of fluff, the larger one has appropriate amounts on it if you use that, which I always do. I just happen to have a small jar in the house now.)

2 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 small can (5 oz) evaporated milk

1 jar (7 1/2) marshmallow fluff

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp vanilla

1 12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line a 9x9" pan with wax paper.

Combine first 5 ingredients. Stir over low heat until blended.

Bring to a boil over moderate heat, being careful not to mistake air bubbles for boiling. Then boil slowly, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate and vanilla until chocolate is melted and blended throughout. Pour into pan and cool. I like to let this refridgerate overnight.

Second is Penuche. Some people don't know what penuche is - it's a very sweet fudge that has a maple brown sugar type of taste. It's also a very hard candy to make. This year it came out a bit brittle, but still tasted awesome and melts in your mouth. I think my mistake was using a nonstick pan, so next year I will try with a stainless pan and hopefully it will be a bit softer.

What you need:

2 cups light brown sugar

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/8 tsp salt

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla

Line a 9x9" pan with plastic wrap (I recommend wax paper instead).

Combine sugar, cream, and salt in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Let simmer, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 240* (about 30 minutes, although it only took me 15 this year.)

Remove from heat and put pan on a wire rack. Cut butter into small pieces and scatter on top of hot syrup. Do not stir. Let cool to 110*. This can take over an hour.

Add vanilla. Beat mixture with an electric beater until candy is very thick and loses its sheen, 3 to 5 minutes.

Press mixture into prepared pan and cover with plastic wrap. Refridgerate. When firm, cut into squares.

I highly recommend cutting these into small pieces. It's verrrryyy sweet. But oh so good!

So those are my favorite Christmas treats. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

It's the most random post of the yeeeaaar!

First off, I forgot I was going to post an 8 week belly shot on Wednesday, since my date was changed. So here is the picture I posted for BPF - 8 weeks 2 days, and my bloat shows through my chunky sweater. Be jealous.

Next up, our Christmas tree! I have been meaning to AW it since we got it last weekend. It's a wee bit short, but oh well. J and I grew up with different lights - my parents always had the big colored lights, his parents always had the little white lights.

So last year when it came time to decorate our first full sized tree, we came up with a compromise. I wrap little white lights around the tree about a foot or so inside. Then I put the big colored lights around the outside of the tree. You can't get the full effect in these pictures, but I loved the way it turned out.

And finally, let's talk about my morning sickness. Now I know I have been lucky so far because some people have it way worse. I still haven't thrown up once. But I must be honest, with the constant nausea, I almost wish I would just throw up already, because I'm starting to think it might give me some relief. I never thought I would say that.

That's all, just a quick and random post. I am uninspired today, what can I say. The babe is sucking out all my brain cells.

In the words of Liz Lemon, Blurgh.

There are parts of growing up that are kind of a bummer. Like trying to figure out holidays. I know I should just be grateful that we have enough family that it is hard to fit them all in, but still, it's a pain. This Easter will be the first holiday that we have to sacrifice seeing parts of our family. Again, I know I should be grateful that we haven't had to do that yet, seeing as we have been doing holidays together for 4 years now, but still.

It's no big secret that I don't get along well with J's immediate family. But I absolutely adore his extended family. And we are sacrificing seeing them this year. It was either that, or leave my parents alone since my brother and his girlfriend (we'll call them JK for future reference) will be eating dinner with her parents. I wasn't going to do that.

So we are choosing to host Easter ourselves, with my parents. The ILs will be stopping by for dessert. This means not only do I miss out on hanging out with the part of his family I love, but I will have to spend more one on one time with the parts I do not. Ick.

On a more positive note, I have decided that I am hosting Easter from now on. I'm excited about that! I really enjoy hosting holidays. I think I'm going to make a spiral ham, yummm! Since there are only going to be four of us eating it there will be plenty of leftovers for grilled ham and cheese - another yummm. And I'm thinking about making oreo truffles for dessert. They were such a big hit at Christmas that I don't think I can wait until next Christmas to make them again!

Another good thing - today marks 4 weeks until I leave for Italy! I am BEYOND excited. I'll be going to Florence to visit one of my college girlfriends before she moves home. You read that right, she lives there now. Lucky bitch! But she is moving back and I vowed to visit her before she did, so I will be going for 5 days and I leave in 4 weeks! My old passport was sent back to me today, so I assume that means the new one should be here any day! Squee!!