A Day in the Life of a Renaissance Wife: Peanut-Butter-Stuffed Brownies

Busy, busy, busy. As I'm typing it's 9:30 pm, and I have been home for all of an hour and a half. This weekend flew by so fast it was almost non-exsistent. It was so much fun though! Friday night, J convinced me to stay up too late watching the second Rocky. I hadn't seen any of them, which I'm told is a sin, so J has begun introducing me to them. I really like them, so convincing me to watch them isn't the chore J thought it would be.

Saturday we took Monkey to a local Discovery Center for kids, and she had a blast. I've been there with her on several occasions, but this was the first time J got to go too. It was so much fun watching the two of them interact. She got to show him all of her favorite activities, and Mommy took plenty of pictures. I must admit, however I was a bit put out by all the "Daddy do it"s I heard that day. What about Mommy, huh? Mommy wants to play too. :-(

After the center, we came home, and I began to make my snacks for Girl's Game Night. I made Peanut Butter Stuffed Brownies which I found on Pinterest (of course). They were sooooooo yummy!

The recipe is so simple! You can either use your favorite brownie mix form a box or your favorite "from scratch" version. If you need a good scratch recipe, here's the one I used when I made those Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough brownies.

Here's what you'll need:

brownie mix
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

However you decide to make them, mix the brownies first, and spoon about 1-2 tsp into your greased mini-muffin pan. Bake on 350 for about 13-15, or until tops are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out slightly wet. Wait for the centers to fall, which they should do upon cooling, or you can press down on the middle with the back side of your teaspoon. Microwave peanut butter for about 45 seconds, stir and scoop into well of each brownies. Top with semi-sweet chocolates and peanut butter chips.

You can also make a larger version using a regular muffin pan and adjusting the cook time by adding a few extra minutes. I used a box brownie mix and ended up with 24 mini brownies, and about 8 regular sized brownies.

I made these Saturday, and today they are gone. That's a record for sweets in my house. J doesn't have a very big sweet tooth, so usually half of what I bake goes to waste. I made the mistake of promising these to the guys I work with, but they were gone before the weekend was over. If I don't whip up another batch soon, I may have a riot on my hands.

Saturday night's game night lasted into the wee hours of the morning. Probably because we didn't start the game of Monopoly until about 11 pm. When Monkey was up at 7:00 the next morning, I almost regretted it. Almost, but not quite.

Sunday we had fun at the kickoff for the annual "Cruisin' the Coast" car show they have here in Gulfport every year. They had a local band playing, and my little Monkey decided she wasn't going to simply watch. She climbed up those stairs and began dancing away on stage. It wasn't long before about four other little girls were up there too. She's a little trendsetter.

J and I are going to have a fun time when this one gets to the concert-going age. That thought alone almost gave my darling husband a stroke.

Today I decided that it'd be best to go grocery shopping after work. Of course, I thought it'd be a good idea to bring J and Monkey along as well. Didn't I say last time that I was never going to do that again?

We got to the Commissary around 4:00, and we didn't get home until around 8:00. Part of it was due to those darn Pullups that leaked, but most of it was due to my darling husband's knack for wanting to be a part of every decision and then not being able to make up his mind! Apparently he was also adding things to my buggy when I wasn't looking. We ended up with a second buggy at one point. Then somehow we spent about $100 more than normal. *sigh* There goes my overtime from last week! Oh well, all I know is I'd better not hear "I'm hungry" for another two weeks!

I did have a point to all this rambling, but I don't remember it now, but since I have your attention allow me to show you a few of the crafts we've been doing. (Found, as usual, on Pinterest.)

This spider is made from two of Monkey's handprints cut out of construction paper, googly eyes, and yarn. She had fun playing with it, but Mommy had to do all the cutting.

The bat is made out of an empty toilet paper tube, painted black, and folded at the top. I cut the wings from black construction paper. Although Monkey loved playing with it, Mommy really did all the work.

The skeletons were probably her favorite. She got to do it all herself, and even Daddy joined in on the fun. Just so there's no confusion, the top one is J's (I know some of y'all were wondering). All they are is construction paper, q-tips and a glue stick. J was too impatient for the glue stick, so he used tape.