A fun, full weekend!

Veronica and Tiana sharing some love (and popcorn!) with Coda! We had a great weekend sleep-over with Veronica. It was her first time here, but I can say the sound of girlish giggles was a pleasant sound in our house!

Veronica's mom, Sarah, left us this beautiful Pad Thai that we ate for supper on Sunday night! It was delicious but oh so much!! It was enough to feed an army!

After Kent mowed the lawn, which he decided he better do right now since rain is supposed to return and he works late all this week, he finally got around to spraying the new wasp nest that formed this spring! He HATES that job! I had hoped to get a good photo of him in a hat because it is not something you'll likely see any other way! He really needs to start wearing one to cover up his, um..., bald spot!

Of course, right after we put the dinner dishes away, the doorbell rings and the neighbor boy and two of his cousins are over -- with a plate of homemade pico de gallo, steak (or carne asada!), tortillas and some other sausage. Tiana enjoyed a little taco with a very rapt audience! And let me tell you, that is one discriminating snout! Now I have to come up with something to fill the plate with before it goes back! Tonight, though, is bed time and so maybe tomorrow I'll bake a loaf of bread!

Kids, Kids...Another side of the story!

So my sister posted on her blog about her kids so I thought it only fair to tell you about MY kids! Of the biped variety I have but one and of the quadraped I also have one. Now, the biped child is far beyond being excited to see me at the door, but my four-footed furbaby on the other hand...!! Tonight I was swapping laundry and Coda was outside the laundry room door and he just started BARKING at me! He was in the mood for some play. I, on the other hand, was in the mood for a nap although to be more than honest what I really needed was a walk. As I walked away and into the bedroom to fold my laundry he BOUNDED in after me with the intention of letting me know that HE wants to play and I WILL accompany him!! So, I folded the clothes, all the while listening to him talking, talking, DEMANDING a walk in the sunshine. So the problem comes in that he's only good for 1/8 of the distance I walk, so Kent comes along to take the little "man" home when he wears out and I continue on my merry way. So, pouncing like a puppy, Coda leads us (at LONG last!) down the street on a frisky little walk! We reach the end of his abilities (with reserve to make it home!) so he and Kent turn back and I continue on. Well, Coda did NOT like the fact at all that I was going one direction and he the other. I guess the whole way home he would go about 2 feet, turn around and look after me and sit down. Repeat all the way home. Now Sir Coda is SOOO tired that he couldn't even make it out to his treat box and Kent had to bring it back to him! At that point he laid down at the window and waited. Well, I finally got to my destination (Starbucks, of course!) and called for my ride and the family came and got me and then we got groceries. Upon our rival back at home, Kent opened the door and bumped right into Coda! He was laying RIGHT AT THE FRONT DOOR! He NEVER does that, but apparently that was the place to be tonight! His tail was thumping the ground for all he was worth and then when he got up, I thought he would knock me over he was so excited! So, at least my quadraped is super happy to see me when I get home! ☺

I'm so cool!

Is this not the COOLEST thing ever?! I'm definitely TOP DOG around here! I'm so big my BOWL has to be big, too! Man, I LOVE the first bites out of a fresh bag of food! Care to join me? I'm really good at sharing!! Really, I am! I'd probably even step out of the way so that you wouldn't have to fear me growling or biting!

Special Day at Home!

What an awesome day at home! I had originally planned a trip up to the tulip fields, but the weather wasn't so nice so instead I had an awesome day at home! I even had a prince and princess at my table!! We ate grilled cheese on homemade bread, tomato soup and fruit salad. We also had some oh so tasty sugar cookie bar cookies!!

Cookies

This photo comes to you in a circuitous route courtesy of Kent. He sent us on a wild chase with a too cool site - Taste Spotting. From there we hop off to And Now for Something Completely Delicious where we find this delightful recipe. I only made a half batch and so put it in a 9.5" square pan, but it is more than plenty! The cookies are very thick and rich, somewhat soft and oh so delicious! I sprayed my hand with Pam and just used my hands to press the cookie dough into the pan. I followed someone else's advice and used the full 1 Tbs. of vanilla in the frosting, but I don't think I'd do that again as mine was a bit off due to the alcohol content of the extract. I'm thinking that cinnamon would be AWESOME!! Anyway, these are incredible!

Full Recipe:
Sugar Cookie Bars

From The Repressed Pastry Chef

Makes 24 bars

1 c. butter, at room temperature

2 c. sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract (I used ½ almond extract)

5 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 375º. Grease a 13 x 18 inch sheet pan and line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixture, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium high. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Add the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 2 addition, mixing until just combined.

Press the cookie dough into the sheet pan, using a greased spatula or parchment paper to spread it evenly. Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool completely.

Buttercream frosting

½ c. shortening

½ c. butter, at room temperature

4 c. confectioners sugar

1 Tbs. vanilla extract

4-5 Tbs. milk

Pinch of salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and butter until combined and smooth. Add the vanilla and salt and mix until combined. Add the confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Cream together on medium high for about a minute. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until smooth. I only needed 4 tablespoons of milk to get a light spreadable consistency, but you may find you need more.

Spread onto cooled cookies. Slice into bars and serve.

Bread!

Today I'm making bread. I'm using an old recipe of mom's that we used to use for home-made pizza. I've used it for Piroshky and today I've altered it a bit and added whole wheat flour and am making a loaf of bread for lunch today. Ivona and kids will be here and what's better than a grilled cheese sandwich on homemade bread?! The recipe doesn't really have a whole lot of instructions, so I'm going off of memory to see how this turns out. It's a fast yeast bread and I'm thinking that I only need to let it rise once in the pan! I guess we'll see how it turns out!

Here's the original recipe:
3½ c. warm water
1 c. oil
¾ c. sugar
6 Tbs. yeast
Mix together and let rest 15 minutes.
Add:
1 Tbs. salt
3 eggs
10½ c. flour
Bake at 350º until golden brown. I would guess this would make a TON of bread!! So here's the half recipe:

1¾ c. warm water
½ c. oil
¼ + 2 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs. yeast
Mix and let rest 15 minutes.
Add:
1½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
5¼ c. flour
Bake at 350º until golden brown (for loaves of bread, maybe about 30 minutes.)
That may still be a lot, so here's a third of the recipe. This is the size I made today for one loaf of bread.

1 c. + 2 Tbs. + 2 tsp. warm water
1/3 c. oil
¼ c. sugar
2 Tbs. yeast
Mix and let rest 15 minutes.
Add:
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3½ c. flour (I used 2 c. white flour and the rest whole wheat)
I kneaded the dough 5 minutes in my KitchenAid mixer and am letting it rise for *about 30 minutes in the pan before baking at 350º for the 30 minutes or so.

*It only took about 20 minutes!! Or even a little less -- maybe as little as 15!

Photos to follow!


In the oven

Finished!

Spring Break

For the last 6 days, Tiana has been with Nana and her cousins in Oregon. She's had a ton of fun, learned to love the country and had lots of adventure!
This is the reason Tiana says she's can barely walk today! Bareback and all and I have no idea how long she rode!

This is the little guy who needs a bit of bottle feeding. Will have to ask her how that went! If I remember correctly, they get quite a milky mess on their chins! ☺

Thankfully! This is all she's coming home with! No baby horses, no baby sheep, no calves, no puppies, just Papa's old guitar. And it won't even be with her today but when Nana comes to visit later this month! She'll take off for home in about 1 hour for her first ever flight alone! I'm sure she'll be fine no matter how nervous she says she is!