...did someone say chocolate...

Aubrey and I have a common love for baking, so when I saw this easy, scrumptious looking recipe from Hungry Girl, I knew we had to try it! The easiest thing I've ever made and so yummy! This is technically a brownie recipe, but I think it's more cakey... I guess it's kind of in between

...Ingredients...
1 box of devils food cake mix
15 oz can of 100% pure pumpkin ... The can I had was 29oz but I, fortunately have a food scale. Don't just throw it all in, make sure it's only 15oz
Foil cupcake liners

And that's about it... I know... Shocking

First, preheat oven to 400

Stir together the pumpkin and cake mix. It will be VERY thick but do not add any of the ingredients called for in the mix. All you use is the mix and the pumpkin. Stir good until it is smooth and uniform

Divide batter into a 12 cup, cupcake tin, each lined with foil baking cupcakes. They will look way too full, but they won't be. Cook for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.

That's it... Super yummy right out of the oven!

Book Sling

Knowing that our small space will soon house another bouncing bundle, I'm slowly taking steps to better use what space we have. As I was looking for ideas I came across this treasure and just had to make one for Aubrey! This super easy book sling requires no sewing (though, it couldn't hurt) and provides a perfect spot for your child's favorite bedtime stories if hung near their bed. If I happen to stumble across some extra time, I'll probably add some appliqués to fancy it up. In the mean time, here are the directions...

Materials
Iron
48x32 inch piece of fabric (though, make whatever length you want)
2 - 48x6 inch lengths of iron-on adhesive
2- double curtain rod brackets
2- 48 inch long dowels with diameters that fit your brackets... Or match whatever length you chose... I actually just purchased a double curtain rod set that had two rods and two brackets, looks really nice and isn't too much more expensive.

So first wash, dry, and iron your fabric. Put the printed side, fold it in half lengthwise and iron in a crease

Unfold the fabric so that the printed side is still down... On the long edges iron on your strips of adhesive as shown in the picture above. Follow the instructions specific to your adhesive, I used heatnbond. Once added to the edges, take off paper, fold the fabrics long edges toward the center crease, and iron together, turning fabric to iron on printed side. When done right, this should allow a channel for dowels to go through. I also went ahead and added a seam to the short edges too, just to make it look more finished, you would just do this part first, then do the long seams... If you're not interested in this extra step you can just cut the short edges with pinking shears, about an inch from each side.

I had my husband do this next part, putting up the brackets to make sure they're level and the perfect distance apart. This will take a level and a tape measure... You know, man tools :)

This was a super easy project that both Aubrey and I love... A great way to utilize the wall space above your child's bed.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Banana Oatmeal Bread

Okay, so as much as I'd like to ignore that I was MIA for months on end, I guess I should start this off with an apology. Excuses are boring, but indulge me.... After months of trying we finally got pregnant with baby number 2! Unlike with Aubrey, I've been sick as a dog this go around. Once that finally subsided, well, we had vacation, the little downs syndrome scare, and here we are, months later! Well, I'm playing a bit of catch up, but please don't expect me to post something everyday. because I won't. It might take me 3 years to actually get 365 different activities, but for now, enjoy.....

...Ingredients...

1 & 1/4 cup of flour, white

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

3 tsp canola oil

1 large egg, beaten

2 large egg whites, beaten

3 ripe bananas

1 cup old fashioned oats

...Instructions...

Preheat the oven to 350 and in a large bowl mix together all dry ingredients. This is a perfect job for your "kitchen aide" (mine is named Aubrey). Once its thoroughly mixed together, add oil and eggs and mix again

In a smaller bowl mash bananas with a potato masher. This was Aubrey's favorite part until taste testing time!

Add mashed bananas and oatmeal to the batter and stir... and that's about it... the hardest part, really, is waiting, and you'll have to wait a while. Let it cook for 45-55 minutes, or until the top is firm to touch. It smells delightful and it was difficult not to cave and just pour a half baked loaf into my tummy. Blame the baby.

Baked Apple Streusel

Another yummy treat we made with the new gadget was this warm baked apple streusel. So simple and so delicious! Aubrey and I almost had as much fun making it as we did eating it!!!

Ingredients

4 apples - Granny Smith

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup of flour

1/2 cup of old fashion oats

2 Tbsp of reduced calorie margarine

Peel, slice, and core apples. I cut them in quarters again, as I did in the previous post. Put them in a medium size baking dish and stir in 1/4 cup of brown sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice.

Have your helper mix the flour, oatmeal, and remaining brown sugar with margarine and crumble it over the top of the apple mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes and pair with frozen yogurt for some extra goodness!

Apple Chips

So I know its been a while, but we're coming back with a boom! I got an apple slicer, peeler, and corer for my birthday and I've been going crazy with it. We've been using it for projects in the kitchen all week! Definitely a new favorite toy for both me and Aubrey :) This is one of the many new things we created this week!

Ingredients

4 Apples - Granny Smith are perfect

6 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Apple Slicer if you have one :)

If you have an apple slicer, its so easy, just help your little kitchen aide with the gadget and viola, apples are sliced, peeled, and cored. If not, use you're pre

ferred method to get thinly sliced apples for the chips.

I cut all the apples in quarters to get smaller chip-like pieces

Spread out pieces on two sprayed cookie sheets and mix cinnamon and sugar together. Sprinkle mixture over the top of apple slices. Bake until crisp and lightly brown, about 45 minutes at 325 degrees. They don't look very appetizing, but trust me, a simple project for a semi-healthy sweet snack :)

February Extravaganza

I know I've been slacking on posting our daily activities during the month of February. In my defense, we've been SO busy with projects that there's been absolutely NO time to post! We did a lot for Valentines day and once that was over it was planning Aubrey's birthday bash! Now that I have time to take a breather, I decided to post pictures of some of the fun things we did in February, though, as I look through these pictures, I notice I'm even lacking in that department. Oh well! It was a fun month none the less :)

We made Valentines for our local friends... These took SEVERAL days because we had to make so many! Aubrey Loved her water bottle painting! They turned out so gorgeous!

We made three different types of truffles... Oreo, Chocolate Mint, and Nutter Butter. One type of truffle a day. These are always fun, and we get a tasty treat afterward!

We had all kinds of valentines, but no way to hold them. One day we worked together in making a little carrier. Aubrey loved using stickers and stamping on letters!

SNOW finally!!! It seemed like forever since we got fresh snow! It was a sight for sore eyes for sure! We woke up early to play in the snow with Daddy before we headed down the hill and he headed to work!

All that snow falling made it tough to get down to visit family and prepare for Aubrey's birthday party. We decided to take a birthday train ride! Aubrey loved it and did sooo good!

Once we got down the hill, it was raining like crazy. My sister had a bright idea to take the kiddos to the Stockton Children's Museum. It was amazing and so much fun to hang out with some of my favorites!

A bad picture of Aubrey, but had to use it! You saw the tutu tutorial, they turned out so cute! If you look close you can see the owl on Aubrey's shirt! It was so fun and so easy to make owl shirts for all the little girlies!

After our pizza party, some of us went to Funderland in Sacramento for some extra fun! Aubrey wanted to ride the fish so bad... but felt less enthused once she was actually ON the fishy!

So much happier squished in the tea cups with Abs, Mama, and Auntie!

Had so much fun spending time with family! I keep hearing "I want my Grayson" and "Where's Melia" Wish it didn't go by so fast... I sense a trip to the El Paso Zoo sometime in our near future!

Easy Tutu's

Aubrey's birthday is right around the corner. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE dressing Aubrey in ridiculous things for her birthday, a tradition I started just last year, but plan to continue until shes old enough to stop me! Our plan is to go down the mountain and hang out with family and I have a lot of nieces. That said, I thought it'd be extra fun if this year I made tutu's for all the girlies. The perk, they're so simple! I didn't even break a sweat making five tutus!

Materials

Rolls of tulle, found in the wedding section of your local craft store

Thin headbands

Large Book... or back of chair...get creative

Ribbon

Ruler or cutting mat

Scissors or craft cutter

First, measure and cut your tulle in 14 inch pieces. You can work it however you'd like, but I liked cutting all the tulle strips first, in two different colors, keeping them separate for now. That way I don't have to keep going back to this step.

Once your strips of tulle are ready grab one strip of color A and then stack one strip of color B on top of it. Next, hold them together and tie them onto your headband, as shown above (yes I'm wearing pajamas, judge me later). Keep doing this until you've tied tulle all the way around the headband. You can push the strips tightly together, or spread them out more, depending on how full you want your tutu... er, I mean, your child's tutu!

Once you've done that, you can spruce up this sassy skirt but adding strips of ribbon. To do this, cut 10 inch pieces of ribbon and distribute them evenly amongst the headband. Just tie them in the same way you tied the tulle. I'd say around 10-12 pieces of ribbon would suffice. I used two different types of ribbon on this one.

And there you are... the tutu is complete and ready to wear.