The Kids

It seems I haven't blogged about my kids in such a long time! We'll start with Miss Alice, she's such a handful these days and I love her for it because she keeps me so busy! She is all over the place, in fact yesterday I had to go searching for her soaking wet. I had put her on the floor with a bunch of toys so I could take a shower and she usually never moves from that spot however yesterday she felt adventurous. I had been in the shower for barely 2 minutes, just long enough to get shampoo in my hair when I realized she was being unusually quiet so I peeked my head out of the shower and she was gone. My first thought was that she may have found the cats litter box because she has been trying really hard to get into the laundry room where we keep it. I had this horrible mental image of my precious childs mouth covered in cat litter and that was all  it took to send me bolting out of the shower. I mean, what would I do if that happened? Take her to the doctors and explain that she may have eaten a cat turd? Not cool. Luckily I found her sitting outside of Haley's bedroom and I took her and put her back in her spot, closing the laundry room door on my way.

She's also growing more and more fond of Ranger although Ranger is very jealous of her and I think maybe even a little scared of her.

I couldn't imagine why she'd be scared. Oh, wait, yes I can.

As for Haley, that girl is a busy bee! She's incredibly social so it seems she's always playing with a friend, this weekend though, she's staying home with us because we miss her. This year she'll be participating in a few programs, an after school program called operation hero, a program at Inspiration Place called little chefs, and maybe a drama program offered by Joshua Tree. We're hoping to continue with girl scouts but our old troop leader moved over the summer and we're still waiting to hear from the new leader.

Semi Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

I woke up craving cinnamon because to me, cinnamon is an autumn flavor (although I'll eat it year round) and the weather this morning was wonderful. Crisp, cool, it gave me proof that despite my doubts, summer was in fact going to end (yay!). I started perusing food blogs and tastykitchen.com for some sort of cinnamon breakfast bread recipe but they were all either too complicated to make at 8am or I was lacking some of the ingredients. Instead I opted to make some semi homemade cinnamon rolls using crescent roll dough. These are not low fat but they are only 135 calories per roll. For an even healthier option use reduced fat crescent rolls.

Ingredients:

Pillsbury big and flaky crescent dough

1 tbs margarine

1/2  cup brown sugar

3 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix butter, sugar, and spices together

Roll out crescents and pinch the seams together to make one solid sheet of dough.

Spread butter mixture onto dough, leaving about 1/2 and inch on all sides.

Roll the dough back up so it looks like it did when it came out of the package.

Slice dough into 10 slices, put on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until browned.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Oh man, these are good. And only 150 calories per serving, which is about 4 truffles. I coated mine in cocoa powder because I wanted it to look prettier however this is a messy and sort of unnecessary step so feel free to leave it out.

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup pretzels
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 tbs cocoa powder (optional)

If you have a food processor that won't destroy things then use that to finely chop your pretzels, if not you can do what I did and chop them up with a knife. Once chopped mix them in with your peanut butter. I used 1/4 cup of pretzels however I think you could definitely use more if you'd like because the peanut butter mixture is a little gooey which makes it difficult to handle.

Place mixture in freezer for 15 minutes.

Remove from freezer and roll them into 12-14 little balls, placing each one on a sheet of wax paper, then put them back in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Melt your chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring each time until smooth. Then roll the truffles in the chocolate, placing them on a fresh sheet of wax paper. Freeze them again for about 5 minutes.

Remove from freezer and roll them in the cocoa powder mixture if desired. Tap them to remove excess powder. That's it, super easy right?

My Jewelry Box

As I mentioned in my previous post I want to get into product photography so I did a little research and found that I need some more equipment including lights and a lightbox but never one patient enough to wait for equipment to arrive in the mail I decided to try my hand at product photography using the equipment I already have which includes my camera, my 50mm lens, my external flash, my old Minolta close up filter that I have to hold in front of my lens because it doesn't fit, and two white sheets of paper taped to the back of a cereal box. I used my jewelry as my product and here are my results:

This is a ring that was given to me by my grandmother. I think I received it as a gift for my 18th birthday and it's been in the family for a while. Someone once told me they thought I found it one of those quarter machines you find in business waiting rooms. That person now has a permanent mark on their forehead in the shape of this ring from when I put them in their place using my fist. Just kidding, I'm a lover not a fighter.

Here is my class ring, notice the camera and film on the side there. On the other side I've got a paint easel, however I am not a good painter at all. I just needed something to fill in that space and I liked art.

Here are some of my James Avery charms. What is James Avery you ask? Just ask any Texan and they'll know, but if you don't have a Texan handy I'll go ahead and fill you in. James Avery is a jewelry store that makes really unique charms and jewelry. A lot of times they're miniature reproductions of larger things, like the camera for example.

Check out the detail on that, it even has a little viewfinder. Oh, but what's that little dangling thing on the side?? It's a film canister because I got this back when film was the norm. On every James Avery piece there is a little candle holder with 3 candles and the initials JA. When my best bud Ann and I were kids we thought it was a menorah and the JA stood for Jewish Academy.

 The thing I love about James Avery charms and jewelry is that everything I own from them has a story. The sun was given to me by my aunt Sharon because I really love severe weather. I know it's a sun and not a tornado but for whatever reason James Avery doesn't make those. Sharon also gave me the bride and groom when Nick and I were engaged.

So there you have it. I think for what I was working with it's not bad, but it's als not great. I don't really know the first thing about how to even market myself for product photography so if it's really something I want to do I think there is a lot to learn.

Goals for the week

I don't know what it is about today but I am in such a fantastic mood! Maybe it's because my amazing husband was able to scrub the nastiness (i.e. caked on dirt and grime from years of wear) off of our kitchen floor that we've been trying to remove since we moved in. Maybe it's because I had a great time last night having dinner with friends. Maybe it's because the weather is cooling off. I don't really know. Because of this fantastic mood I am approaching the weeks goals with a tenacity for success.

Goal one: Delve into the uncharted (for me) world of product photography. I love portraits but I think I need a new challenge.
Goal two: Help Nick get started in school. My husband has an associates degree but wants to go back for his bachelors so we can rake in some big bucks once he either retires or leaves the military. I want to help him get this started because, well, I like big bucks.

Goal Three: Get my hair did. Or at the very least make an appointment. I'm thinking I want something a little crazy and edgy, but not over the top edgy. I'm thinking I want it to be darker brown with wispy fire engine red highlights in my bangs, and then a small cluster of more wispy red highlights on the side of my head. Just a little pop of color.

Well that's that, I hope that I will complete more of my goals this time around. Wish me luck.

Spinach, Bacon, Red Pepper Quiche

Last night we had breakfast for dinner which included this quiche, some stove top red potatoes, and pancakes and syrup. It was gooooood, in fact I'm fighting the urge to go cut a slice of this quiche for a mid morning snack. Anyway, here is the recipe:

For the crust:
1.5 cups whole wheat ritz crackers - crushed
1.5 cups saltine crackers - crushed
3 tbs melted butter

Mix ingredients together and the press onto the bottoms and sides of a pie dish.

For the filling:
1/3 cup shredded part skim mozzarella
6 eggs
1/4 cup milk
5 slices center cut bacon - cooked and crumbled
1/3 cup chopped fresh spinach
1/3 cup roasted red pepper - diced
1/4 cup diced onions
salt and pepper
a dash of garlic powder

Beat eggs then add all ingredients and mix well. Pour into pie crust and bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes or until firm. Slice and eat it plain or topped with your favorite salsa.

Some Like it Hot

Oats, cinnamon graham crackers, peanut butter, chocolate, oh, and one generous teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Yeah, I finally did it, against the pleas from my poor family I made a spicy desert and I loved it. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this dessert was watching my dear husband and daughter slowly realize that these were not ordinary dessert bars (insert evil laugh here). The spice doesn't really hit you until the end so at first they seem like any other extremely delicious dessert. When I served these to Nick he bit in and began chewing, then with a devilish smile on my face I asked how he liked them. They were great he said and for a moment I feared I hadn't made them spicy enough but then his eyes met mine and he said "what did you do?! Oh my God, why?!"  Then I actually did start laughing like a mad woman because I'm a little weird, OK?

I personally thought these were great but I was forced to promise that I would never do it again. So if you like it hot and if you feel like being a little evil these might be perfect. And if you don't like it hot just omit the pepper, but please don't tell me if you do, I'll have to call you a wuss.

Secret Spice Bars
3/4 cups margarine
1.5 cups quick oats
1.5 cups crushed low fat graham crackers
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 heaping tsp cayenne pepper

Melt margarine in a saucepan over medium low, reduce heat to low and add the next 4 ingredients. Cook on low for 5 minutes.

Spread half of mixture into greased 8x8 dish

In a microwave safe bowl melt peanut butter and chocolate together in 30 minute increments. Stir in cayenne pepper. Spread over oat mixture then top with remaining oat mixture. Chill for 3 hours and cut into bars.