My Future - A Thousand Words Thursday

My future just flashed before my eyes. I can hear it now:

"Mom! I'm going to meet Nadine and Grace at the mall, call my Elmo cell phone if you need me!"

For more ATWT visit Jen!

The Alphabet - Monkey Remix

Did you know that not only is Elmo a cute little Sesame Street character, but also a letter of the Alphabet.

Just ask Monkey. Her alphabet goes a little something like...

A B C D F G B C F Elmo P Double X hmhmmhm.

So is that what she hears when I sing the alphabet to her?

Maybe it's not such a bad idea to substitute ELMO for LMNO. Try it it makes the process way faster. I also like how in her version she shortens W to just double. Why not just call it double instead of double u? Why make things harder on ourselves? And throwing in a few humms instead of Y and Z is way easier on the vocal cords. She is a musical genius I tell you.

Yep that's my girl, already trying to put her own creative spin on the ABC's. Is there some sort of Government Office for Regulation of the Alphabet that I can submit these changes to? I think these changes are great, Not that I am biased or anything.

Chai Spice Cookies

These little bite sized cookies are perfect with a cup of your favorite tea. They are not too soft or crunchy and they almost melt in your mouth.These cookies come together very quickly and after you put then in the oven you will thank me as their spiced aroma fills your house.


Chai Spice Cookies
*This recipe makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350°F. Using an electric mixer beat butter together with granulated sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until well blended. In small bowl mix flour, spices and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until combined.

Roll dough into teaspoon size balls and place on baking sheet about an inch apart. I recommend using an actual measuring spoon for this to get perfect bite sized cookies. Bake for 16-20 minutes and cookies are lightly golden. Remove cookies from oven and let sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes then lightly roll warm cookies in powdered sugar and set on wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy and as always let me know what you think!

Other Evolving Mommy recipes you might enjoy:

• Small Batch Peanut Butter Pecan Cookies
• Honey Whole Wheat Bread
  
• Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprints

Tulips Revisited

Walking down the Magnificent Mile on our first full say in Chicago we spotted this lovely spot. A beautiful fountain set in the middle of flower beds packed to the brim lined with perfectly manicured shrubs.
And then to my horror we saw this...

At first I was just stunned. Why on earth would someone rip thousands of tulips along with their bulbs out of the ground while they were in their peak. Watching the landscapers work their way through the flower beds was like watching a massacre. Men stooped over yanking the perfect white tulips from their place, piles of tulips lay battered and broken in their wake.

And then I snapped out of it and something occurred to me. Bulbs.
If I acted quickly I might be able to save at least a few of these beautiful plants. It would take a cunning and daring plan. A plan that only the bravest of women could execute.

So I walked up to one of the gentlemen being paid to rip these perfectly beautiful flowers out of the ground to make room for a new type of flower and asked him if I could have some of the flowers with bulbs still attached. He looked at me like I was crazy, apparently asking landscape professionals for the plants they are demolishing is not normal behavior in Chicago, then bent over picked up a small pile of tulips with bulbs and handed them over to me. Victory was mine! That guy never had a chance. *ahem* Or something like that.
I am now the proud owner of some premium tulip bulbs that will hopefully grow in my yard sometime in the future.

And walking back to the hotel I only got a dozen or so worried looks and one verbal warning that the cops were going to hunt me down and throw me in jail for ripping the cities tulips out of the ground. Little did those people know that some city landmark was paying people to do just that, because obviously it is better to waste perfectly good bulbs and have empty beds than to let the tulip *gasp* wilt before planting new flowers.

About As Spur of the Moment As I Get.

On a whim about a month ago Luke and I decided a vacation was in order. Our window for when we could go was quickly approaching so we decide to make it happen. This decision was possibly one of the quickest, most spur of the moment decisions we have made together, besides planning our weeding in six weeks. Yep, planning a weekend trip to another state a couple of weeks out is about as spur of the moment as we get.

Did I mention that this was going to be a "Luke and Catherine" only trip? No Monkey's allowed! I knew I would miss Monkey like crazy but we were pretty excited to take a break and not have to plan around naps, and bed times and how many diapers we would need to bring with us each day when we left the hotel.

What do deep dish pizza, crazy cab drivers, tulips galore, tall buildings and wind all have in common? They all played a part in our visit to Chicago.

I love big cities. Decent public transportation gets me all excited.

We ate at two of Chicago's famous deep dish pizzeria's. I am sure that there will be people that disagree with my thoughts but FYI: Gino's East = just so so, Uno's = delicious, try the four cheese and pesto.
We drank a lot of local Chicago brewed beer.
We got blown around by the wind. We visited the tallest building in North America which by the way is very very tall and provides some pretty impressive views from the top. We rode on the trains a lot and walked like crazy. We stayed out late and did not sleep enough. We even made a trip to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play in a game that was promptly rained out and rescheduled for July, I am fairly sure we will not be able to make it to that game.
And then there were the tulips. The city of Chicago was covered in tulips. Covered. Have I told you how much I love tulips? Well, they are my favorite. You know how roses have all those thorns and leaves and petals? Yeah, in my humble opinion roses are just trying too hard. They are like those ladies with orangy(I'm thinking that isn't a real word) fake tans, false lashes and gigantic plastic boobs all stuffed into way too trendy clothes. Trying. Too. Hard. Tulips on the other hand are simple and graceful and definitely not trying to hard. I think tulips might be the reason that I like spring so darn much. I have a story to share with you about beautiful tulips and their untimely demise tomorrow but for now here's some loveliness.

Chicago did not disappoint. After consuming more food and drink than two people should in one weekend we very happily set off for home, and this little bundle of sweetness:

Hold the Strawberries - A Thousand Words Thursday

I could have sworn she liked strawberries yesterday. Yet today they have been hand picked out of her meal and banished to the table far from her delicious bowl of oatmeal.

For more ATWT, visit The Mom Jen.

Apricot Cranberry Granola Bars

I mentioned recently that I am not a fan of high fructose corn syrup, and I mentioned that Luke eats a lot (and therefore snacks a lot too). I started to get frustrated lately because I was having such a hard time finding reasonably priced granola bars that were healthy and natural to pack in Luke's lunches so I decided to try making my own.

This recipe is based on Alton Browns Granola Bar recipe and is the third recipe that I have tried and so far we have loved them all, actually this is the first batch that we were able to get pictures of before they were gone. I think these would also be good with other dried fruit such as cherries, blueberries, raisins, or mango. As always feel free to let me know what you think!

Apricot Cranberry Granola Bars

Ingredients
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup flax seed
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 dried coconut (plus some some to sprinkle on top)
1/2 cup puffed rice (optional)

Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, wheat germ and flax seed onto cookie sheet. Place in the oven and toast for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While oat mixture is toasting combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.

Once the oat mixture is done toasting remove it from the oven and the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Pour mixture into the greased pan and press down using hands or a spatula to evenly distribute the mixture in the pan. Make sure that mixture is packed down to ensure that the bars stay together.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove pan from oven and place on wire rack to cool. Cool for about 30 minutes before cutting. Using a serrated knife cut granola into squares of desired serving size making sure to cut all the way through the granola. Leave bars in pan until completely cooled.

Other Evolving Mommy recipes you might enjoy:

• Baked Apple Cranberry Pancakes
• Oat Brownies
• Zucchini Carrot Muffins
  

This weeks reasons I spend too much time on the internet...

I wish I could be more creative. The flowers that Katie from Color Me Katie made and showcased here are awesome not to mention her sweet photographs of them.

I love food and this week Michelle over at There Must Be More To Life Than Dishes and Laundry... decided to make my mouth watering kick into overdrive when she shared this recipe.

And in keeping with the mouth watering strawberry recipes JAM shared this beauty of a desert over at JAM's Own Reality and made me feel like making a trip to the store for some strawberries of my own.

Blue Eyes - A Thousand Words Thursday

Throughout my pregnancy all I wished for, besides a healthy baby, was a healthy blue eyed baby. These beautiful blue eyes melt me.

For more ATWT visit The Mom Jen.

Small Batch Peanut Butter Pecan Cookies

Small Batch Peanut Butter Pecan Cookies

Ingredients
1 mounded tablespoon packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons table sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons egg, beaten
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon peanut butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans


Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium sized bowl mix sugar, brown sugar, butter, egg, vanilla and peanut butter using a hand mixer until well blended. In a small bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix until well blended.

Roll mounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Once all dough is balled and placed on cookie sheet use a flat bottomed glass to flatten the dough balls to about a 1/2 inch think. Edges of cookie will be rough. Using a fork press tines into flattened dough to make a slight crisscross design on each cookie.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove pan from oven and move cookies to wire rack to cool.

As always feel free to let me know what you think!

Other Evolving Mommy recipes you might enjoy:

• Small Batch White Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies
• Small Batch Brownies
• Small Batch Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
  

Struggles

There is something that has been weighing pretty heavily on my mind (and heart) lately and since Evolving Mommy was started as a place for me to grow and change and learn I am hopping that sharing this will help me move forward.

I have been feeling a little bit weak, irresponsible and hypocritical lately. Actually I think these feelings have been there for a while I was just ignoring them.

Life is full of struggles right? Well I feel like I have not been handling one of my points of struggle very well. Actually one point in particular. I am sure that I am not alone in saying that there are people in my life that I struggle with. The trouble is that I have found myself criticizing a person in my life and in the process I have been behaving in some of the same ways that I found so appalling in them.

At first I didn't notice I was acting this way. It is such an easy and slippery slope to begin making judgements about another person and before I knew it I had sunk to their level. Even worse I find myself opening my mouth and saying things that need not be said and then regretting it later.

I am so disappointed by my behavior. Even worse is that I am having trouble truly correcting myself. In this situation I know that I have the power to make things easier on myself by changing the way I think about and react to the person. I truly want to make the necessary changes in my thought process to make things right but I am struggling.

I just don't want to be that person who makes judgments whether they are justified or not about other people. I don't want to be constantly suspicious about ulterior motives. I don't want to speak before I think (this may be the hardest one because I often times find myself talking before I have thought about what I am saying.) And most importantly I don't want to speak badly of other people.

I guess the only way to fix it is to keep working on it.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

For the past year or so I have been baking all of our bread, buns and pitas from scratch at home. I decided to start making our own bread when we realized how many unnecessary ingredients were listed on the bread we were buying. High Fructose Corn Syrup, in bread? Baking our bread has also helped us save money on our grocery bills to. I have learned that you can make a lot of healthy, yummy bread for what few loaves cost at the store.

The Recipe below is one of our favorites. It is hearty enough for sandwiches but is not brick like at all. This bread is also a good base recipe. I often use this recipe as a base and add grains, nuts, oats spices and herbs and it always turns out great.

I know people get intimidated by bread but it really is not hard to make and once you smell the aroma of fresh bread coming from your kitchen you will never want to buy bread again. Go on, don't be timid try it...I am sure you'll love it.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread
*This recipe makes 2 loaves and freezes well when wrapped in a layer of plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

2 packages yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 to 4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1/4 wheat germ

In a large bowl dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water, let sit for about 5 minutes. Add honey, 1/4 cup butter, the salt, 1 3/4 cups warm water and the whole wheat flour. Beat with mixer on low speed for 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Stir in enough all-purpose flour to make the dough easy to handle.

On lightly floured surface (or with stand mixer using dough hook), knead dough about 10 minutes or until smooth and springy. Grease large bowl with shortening, oil or cooking spray. Place dough in bowl, turning to grease on all sides. Cover bowl and let dough rise in warm place about 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size. Dough is ready of indentation remains when touched.

Grease bottoms and sides of two 9 x 5 inch or 8 x 4 inch loaf pans with shortening or cooking spray. Gently push fist into dough to deflate; divide in half. Flatten each half with hands or rolling pin into a 18 x 9 rectangle (approximately).
Fold Crosswise into thirds, overlapping the 2 sides.

Roll dough up tightly, beginning at one of the open ends. Press thumbs to seal after each turn. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Fold ends under loaf.
Place dough seam side down in pan. repeat with other half of dough.Cover dough and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until loaves are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Remove loaves from pan and cool on wire rack.


Other Recipes You might Like:

• Baked Apple Cranberry Pancakes
  
• Pumpkin Bread
• Zucchini Carrot Muffins
  

Just a Few of the Reasons I Spend Too Much Time on the Computer.

A few things I loved reading this week...

McMommy's Coffee Shorts, had me thinking about Monkey's special routines with Luke and how thankful I am that my husband loves to spend time with his daughter.

Kel had me laughing, as usual, with her honesty and hilarity.

Heather made me want to pull out all my music and listen to music that would take me back to good times and bad times, silly times and sad times and all the times in between.

MWOB - Simple Recipe Saturday

I'm am hanging out over at Mom's Without Blogs today, sharing some recipe goodness and relaxing. Head over and see what's for dinner, I bet you might even have all the ingredients on hand.

Click

It's Friday and I am totally living it up, or something.

Monkey is in bed. I have the house to myself.

So what am I doing to really get wild on my Friday night, you know really live it up?

It is approximately 8:45 and I am already curled up in my fantastic Banana Republic flannel and satin pj's warm cup of tea in hand.

Twilight is in the DVD player. I know I am way behind, but I loved the books and usually when I read the book first and love it I hate the movie. I am a little apprehensive. 15 minutes in and so far it is okay...just okay, we'll see how the rest goes.

And to top it all off the laptop is perched on my lap and I am having a little "click tour" through my favorite blogs. I'm just click, click, clicking on certain sidebar things. Hopefully you'll see some of the fruits of my clicking, if you know what I mean. I haven't had much time for my usually comment love lately so hopefully this will make up for it.