Cookies and Cocoa

     Today I am enjoying my first official day off of school in about 3 months.  I just ended another trimester, so that makes 3 down, and 3 more to go.  Monday I start studying Labor and Delivery and Pediatrics, which are the two subjects I've been looking forward to since the beginning.  I'm not sure which field I want to go into, but I know it's going to be one of those two, and that excites me.  In the mean time, however, I've been catching up on a bit of housework.  Yesterday, Monkey brought home a 100 A on her big sight words test that covered all the words they've been learning since the beginning of the year, so we celebrated by turning some of her Halloween candy into yummy cookies.  So here's a recipe that is a classic:

M&M Cookies
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cups M&Ms, plus extra for topping

Preheat oven to 350.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease the baking sheets.

In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a KitchenAide mixer, blend both sugars, shortening, eggs, and vanilla until mixture is well blended and fluffy.  Add flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix until well incorporated.  Add M&Ms, and gently stir.

Gently roll dough into small balls, and press onto the prepared baking sheets.  Add a few M&Ms to the tops of each pressed dough ball.

Bake at 350 9-11 minutes, or until edges are golden and middles are set.

     Now, what goes better with cookies on a chilly November evening than a nice warm mug of hot cocoa?

World's Best Hot Cocoa
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup boiling water
3 1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup half-and-half

Combine cocoa, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Blend in the boiling water.  Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously.  Once it begins to boil, simmer and stir for 2 minutes.  Don't let it burn.  Stir in milk and hear until hot throughout, but don't bring mixture to another boil.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Distribute evenly among 4 mugs.  Add 1/8 cup half-and-half to each mug.  Top with mini marshmallows if desired.  Enjoy!

A Little Bit of Princess Pampering

     This week I watched my Facebook newsfeed fill up with images of everyone's baby going back to school, and I realized with a sort of sadness that this is the last year I won't be posting "First Day of School" pictures of Monkey.  That's right; next year Monkey will be joining the flocks of tiny people headed off for some learning, and I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it.  So to celebrate my ability to keep her home with me for one more year, we had a Princess Day.  We started the day off with Princess Pancakes, cooked by yours truly of course.

Then Monkey picked out her favorite Princess dress, the one I sewed last year for her Rapunzel costume.  Then I did her makeup, curled her hair, and painted her nails.

Ready to get her hair did

My beautiful little princess.

She requested that I wear a dress too, and she even painted my nails in return.  Next we made princess crowns before settling in for a princess movie.  She picked Brave, which is perfect since it's the only Disney movie with a Mommy/Daughter theme.

She was tired of pictures, so she started making goofy faces at the camera.  This was the best one lol

     It was a really good day.  Then J came home, and he quickly got bored with the role of Prince Charming and grabbed the Nerf gun.  That's when my pretty little princess became my Ninja Nerf gun warrior, and I transformed back into a hard-working peasant.  But it was fun while it lasted.  And what would a Princess Day be without some yummy Princess cookies?

These rich chocolatey cookies will have you feeling like you're getting the royal treatment too.

These were so easy and delicious!

Gooey Rich Chocolate Cookies
Makes about 40 cookies
4 squares Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I chopped up some Baker's Semi-sweet chocolate bars)
1 cup walnuts, if desired

Melt butter and chocolate in microwave in 30 second intervals, for a total of about 2 minutes.  Be careful not to let the chocolate burn.  Stir together once completely melted, then add the sugar, and stir to combine.  Stir in eggs and vanilla.  Add flour, a little at a time.  Add in chocolate chunks and walnuts if desired.  Roll into 1 inch balls, and place on a greased baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes,  or until the edges are crisp and the middle is just set.  (It will look a little undercooked, but that'll ensure they stay nice and chewy.) Cool on a cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Monkey!

     Okay so I'm a slacker.  I was supposed to post this on Monkey's birthday, but then my computer died.  Thankfully my awesome brother-in-law is a computer genius, and he revived my sweet Mac.  He also changed my hard drive icon to a zombie in honor of it's reanimation.  Last Monday was my daughter's 4th birthday, and I am amazed at how quickly the time is flying by.  She will be starting school in a little over a year, and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.  I get teary eyed at the thought of her in a cute little school uniform with her backpack on her back.  I'm probably going to be one of those moms who cries the first day of school.  Scratch that "probably", I cried just this weekend at the sight of her wearing a bit of eyeshadow for the first time.  My husband thinks it's funny to bring up all the ways she'll grow in the coming years, just to see if he can get me to go all weepy again.  Jerk!

     Thankfully, she's not too big for themed parties yet, because I get a kick out of planning them for her.  Last Saturday we celebrated her birthday with a Princess Party, and she had a blast.  Of course I want to share some of the goodies.  First, the invites.  I had my awesome sister take a few shots of Monkey at the local park back home, and then I used Shutterfly to upload them and turn them into cute invitations. I can't figure out how to load the link to the finished project, but here's the picture she took.

Getting ready for the party

     I also had fun thinking of princess-themed snacks this year, and of course Pinterest helped a ton.  First and foremost, there's the cake:

     It may not be professional-looking, but I'm proud of it.  I found a cool tutorial on how to use a coloring sheet to create a chocolate mold of whatever image you want, and I used it to make each of the princesses you see on the top of the cake.  Monkey enjoyed eating the rejects.

Next I made Snow White's Caramel Apples, and although they tasted great they were not photogenic.  They were simple and yummy, though, so here's what you'll need:

1 (14 oz) package caramel
2 TBS milk
Granny Smith apples, sliced in half and cored

Pour caramel and milk into a medium sized bowl, melt in the microwave for 1 minute.  Stir.  Microwave for another minute.  Stir and pour into cored apples.  Let set, then slice and serve.

     Next, representing my favorite princess, I made Belle's Roses:

You'll need:
strawberries
White chocolate
pink food coloring
red icing
kabob or lollipop sticks

Wash strawberries, and skewer them onto the kabob/lollipop sticks.  Melt the white chocolate in the microwave according to package directions, add a few drops of pink food coloring.  Dip strawberries into chocolate, covering up to the white portion, and let set.  Once the chocolate is set, using the red icing, draw outlines of the roses onto the layer of chocolate.  Let set then serve.

   Representing Cinderella, we had Fairy Godmother's Magic Wands:

You'll need:
White chocolate
Pretzel rods
Sprinkles

Melt white chocolate in microwave according to package directions.  Dip pretzels in chocolate.  Decorate with sprinkles and let dry.

   We even had an assortment of sugar cookies shaped into Enchanted Castles, Tiaras, and Cinderella's Glass Slippers.  These were topped with an almond powdered sugar icing dyed the various pastel colors.

For drink, we enjoyed refreshing Princess Punch and my homemade sweet tea:

For the punch you'll need:
2 qrts pink lemonade
2 qrts rasberry sherbet
2 L lemon-lime soda

Add all ingredients to bowl and serve.

For the Sweet Tea:
   Clip 3 large Community tea bags (or 6 small bags) to the side of a gallon-sized pitcher.  Boil water and add to the pitcher until the pitcher is nearly full.  Let it steep for about an hour.  Remove and discard bags.  Add 3 cups of sugar.  Stir and enjoy :-)

Even our chips and dip and various trays had a nod to a certain princess movie.

"Chip"s and Dip

"Tiana's Tempting Trays"

Ariel's "Dinglehoppers"

     All-in-all it was a very good party, and of course Monkey racked up on gifts.

     I'm thinking I'll be going through her toy box and purging next time she's not looking.  Now it's time to go clean out my Birthday Party board on Pinterest until Monkey picks the theme for next year.

*Thank you to my awesome sister for taking the pictures and helping set everything up for the party!*

Birthday Bash!

   This year to celebrate our little Monkey turning 3, we decided to have a family party at our home.  When I asked what type of party she wanted, Monkey kept insisting on a Toy Story theme, so that's what we went with.  From the cake to the decor, it was Toy Story all the way, and I want to share all the fun ins and outs with you.

Let's start with the games, shall we?

First we had a Make-Your-Own Potato Head station.  I used adhesive craft foam (found at Michael's) to cut out various bodies, eyes, mouths, noses, ears and hats.  The kids seemed to enjoy this station the best.

Next up was a Paint-Your-Own Snake-in-the-Boot station.  The idea was to decorate these before using them in a Snake-in-my-Boot Toss, but we never got around to that part of it.  But, I only paid a dollar for these snake at the Dollar Tree, so it's all good.

I think my brother-in-law enjoyed this next game the most.  Each kid was given their own Mini-Marshmellow Blaster (found in the dollar section of Michael's), and was instructed to shoot the various villains from the three films.  Monkey ended up going on a rogue shooting spree after she had enough practice on her targets.

"Say hello to my little friend."

Last, but not least, here's an oldie, but a goodie.  Pin the tail on the donkey, but instead of some nameless donkey, it's that lovable horse, Bullseye.  I found the template and instructions for this game here.

 I knew there would only be four kids at the party, which meant I could squeeze more games in.  These were really good for keeping them all entertained, for the most part.  Plus they were fun for me to put together.

Next up: the food!

In addition to the normal spread of fruit & veggie trays, chips and dip, and hot dogs, I found these online and loved them!  They're supposed to look like Jesse's cowgirl hat, although I've been told that they look more like sombreros (Thanks, J!).

And of course, I had to try my hand at cake-decorating.  This was supposed to look like the bed in Andy's room, and considering that I threw it all together the morning of the party, I think it came pretty close to the mark

...unless you compare it with the elaborate sketch I had made before hand.

  To be fair, if I had used fondant it would have looked more like the sketch, but I don't like the taste of fondant so I try to steer clear of it.   Instead, I used a Buttercream icing with a Nutella Buttercream Filling.  Here is the recipe for the filling, or for the icing just omit the Nutella:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup solid shortening
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 TBS milk
3/4 cup- 1 1/4 cup Nutella (It varies based on how chocolate-y you want it.)

In large bowl mix butter and shortening.  Add vanilla, combine.  Add sugar, one cup at a time.  Add milk, beat until combined.  Add Nutella.

 Now, on to the decorations!  J and I had fun staying up until midnight the night before putting all this up. (So if it's crooked, blame it on lack of sleep.)

We found the banner and streamers at Part City, but almost everything else came from Wal-Mart.  We even got one of those helium tanks to blow up our own balloons.  Oh, and those stickers of Woody and Buzz are re-stickable (is that a word?), so we just removed them and put them up in Monkey's room after the party.

I also made a Buzz Lightyear box and Etch-a-Sketch out of cardboard for the kids to take pictures in.

To infinity, and beyond!

Monkey was hiding.

My lovely little sister modeling the Etch-a-Sketch for me.

My favorite part of the decorations was actually this small detail in the "Happy Birthday" banner:

Doesn't it look like Rex is threatening you with a knife?  "Give me my presents, and nobody get hurt!" Or maybe it was just my midnight brain playing tricks on me.

Anyway, last but not least I wanted to share Monkey's outfit.  I found it on Etsy, at this cute little shop.  The boots, I found at the Disney outlet store.

Opening her Mrs. Potato Head from my dear friend, Tessua :-)

My pretty little cowgirl.

All-in-all it was a great day.  Monkey racked up on presents, so much so that her daddy and I are contemplating turning our guest room into a second bedroom just for her toys, but that feels a little too Dursley-esque.  I think a good time was had for all, and now I just have to come to terms with the fact that my little Monkey is three!!!

And then, I got a dog.

   That's right.  I finally got a dog.  For those of you who know me, know that I technically already have a dog.  Those of you who know me better know that Roux (our adopted German Shepherd mix) is not, in fact, my dog.  She belongs 100% to my husband, who spoils her as if she were of his own flesh and blood.  Although I love Roux, she and I have a bit of an estranged relationship.  To say that she's my dog is like saying that Pluto is a planet.  Most of us believe it is, but science has proven otherwise.  (Just pretend the analogy works and move on.)

   This morning when I woke up, I had no intention of getting a dog.  J had been begging for a new dog since we had to put VooDoo to sleep.  He gave me all of 48 hours to grieve that loss before he began begging for a replacement of sorts.  For those of you who don't see the connection, let me explain.  On our base, housing only allows two pets per household.  So when VooDoo passed, that freed up a slot in our home.  As I've explained to J on many an occasion, just because we have the space doesn't mean we need to fill it.  But, after a few weeks of soul searching, I decided against another cat.  As much as I love them, and as simple as they are to care for, I've decided that I want my own dog.  I've had animals all my life growing up, from hamsters to cats and dogs, even a couple of horses, but I've never had a dog that was completely mine to care for and train.  Until Roux, but as I've mentioned, her loyalties lie elsewhere.  That's what made me begin to secretly peruse the Humane Society website for potential puppies.

    As I was scanning the adoptions section earlier today, J snuck up behind me and caught me drooling over a trio of Australian Shepherd puppies that were adoptable.  Of course, he saw his chance and pounced.  He began going on and on about how Roux needed a playmate so that she's not bored while we're at work and forced to dig holes in our yard for entertainment.  When I shot that down by pointing out that a sidekick would simply mean more and/or bigger holes, he tried another angle.  Then another.  And another.  And another.  I shot them all down valiantly; then he said, "But I'll pay for everything, and you can pick out whatever dog you want.  It will be your dog."  Sold!

     We wrote up a budget and a list of everything we need (because we're responsible about our last minute decisions), and then drove over the the Humane Society.  When we got there we found out that the Australian Shepherd puppies were not up for adoption because they were just diagnosed with worms.  We decided to have a look around anyway.  While Monkey and J looked around I was busy falling in love with a 7-year-old black labrador who looked like a giant, snuggly bear.  Then I read his story.  He was beaten with a chain by his previous owner and was neglected, but he's slowly learning to trust humans again.  I was balling like a big baby in front of his cage.  I asked a worker if I could take him out, so I was allowed to walk him around.  I was so proud of him, that I practically skipped over to J, who was less than thrilled.  The volunteer let us walk him around outside.  As we were talking about his past owner, we found out that he was heartworm positive, and although they provide the funds for most of the treatment, J was looking less and less willing.  We talked it over and decided to go home and wait for the Australian puppies to become available for adoption again.  I was ready to leave, a little heartbroken and guilty that I couldn't take on such a big responsibility like Smokey, but Monkey and J decided to go into the puppy room one more time to say goodbye.  I followed suit.

    As we were walking past the various cages, I noticed one dog that I hadn't before.  He was an adorable Dachshund mix, and he looked like he just wanted someone to cuddle him.  And so I did.  And then we bought him.  :-)

How could I say no to a face like that?

   I'm so excited!  I can't wait to bring him home.  He has to stay until Tuesday so that he can get fixed Monday, but then he'll be all ours mine! :-D


   Feeling a bit happy and peppy after my wonderful adoption day, I decided to head to the kitchen to make some Chocolate Chip Cookies (I use a tweaked version of the one found in the Better Homes and Garden Cook Book), but I found that I wanted something a little more.  So, keeping in line with my new addiction, I created these:

     That is a Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich filled with Nutella :-)  (J suggested I call them, Chocolate Nutella Awesomeness.)   I thought they were pretty great, so here's the recipe:

 3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla OR 3/4 tsp vanilla + 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 - 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 (12 oz) package semisweet chocolate chips (about 2 cups)
1/2 jar (give or take) Nutella

Preheat oven to 375.  In a large mixing bowl, mix butter and shortening with electric mixer on high for about 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Beat until combined.  Beat in eggs and vanilla (or vanilla/almond combo).  Beat in flour.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop by spoonful onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about 2" apart.  Bake 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Allow to cool slightly before spreading a spoonful of Nutella onto flat side of one cookie.  Top with another cookie, and repeat until all the cookies have formed sandwiches.

Enjoy. :-)


Also, I wanted to share the link for the Humane society.  They are really great, and I highly recommend them for anyone who is in the area looking for a new pet to love.  Here it is:  http://hssm.org/


OH!  I almost forgot the best part.  Keeping with our Louisiana/Cajun theme his name is Andouille (like the sausage).  Hehe

I Need Sleep

      I have thoroughly enjoyed the past few days.  I've been able to sit around the house with Monkey, playing games, dressing up, painting, coloring and overall just having fun with my little girl.  Because J's gone off training again, we've had a bunch of much needed Mommy-daughter time.  I have to share a few pictures I took this weekend of my little Monkey dressed up in my wedding dress.  These are a few of my favorites:

And my personal favorite:

   She told me that she was a princess and that the headband in her hair was, in fact, her crown.  She makes me smile :-)  I got this idea from Pinterest (of course).  The original "pinner" suggested displaying these photos at your daughter's wedding.  Let's just say that when I mentioned the idea to my husband, he didn't have the same heartwarming reaction I did.

J:  "She's not getting married!"
Me:  "So you want her to be alone for the rest of her life?  What if she finds someone who makes her happy?"
J:  *sigh* "Okay fine, but no military guys."
Me:  "You know little girls grow up wanting to marry their daddys, right?"
J:   "Crap."

   I considered telling him to get out while he still could, but I decided to let sleeping dogs lie.  Anywho, because we've been so crafty lately I decided it's time I take a minute to showcase what my MOnkey's been up to.  So get ready for some really lame pictures that I will probably pin to my own board and then stalk to see if they get any "re-pins".  (Don't judge me, I become an insomniac when J leaves, so I have time on my hands.)  So here are Monkey's Valentine's Day crafts, better late than never:

Valentine Butterfly

Kitty made from hearts.

Evil bunny made from four big hearts, and one small heart for the tail.

Happy Heart People

Flower made from nine "petal" hearts and two "leaf" hearts.

   I've also seen a ton of these cute paintings made from footprints and/or handprints floating around Pinterest, so here are a couple of ours:

Footprint fireman. Monkey had fun painting the "fire" around him.

Hand and feet tulips.

     So enough about what Monkey's been up to, it's my turn :-D  I recently discovered that I love Nutella, which of course, is a little late in being discovered, but never the less, I've been looking at different recipes I've seen with Nutella involved.  I've yet to make any of them, but I will.  Today I woke up energize, so I decided (in the spirit of Mardi Gras) to make a King Cake filled with Nutella.  Then the moment passed.  I got busy cleaning and playing with Monkey, so when she asked for cookies, I was no longer feeling the whole pulling out the flour and sugar and butter and eggs.  Luckily, my mother-in-law always brings me little things that I can use around the house like paper towels, laundry detergent, or Betty Crocker's sugar cookie mix, so I got a little creative and made these:

     What started out as a kind of Nutella sugar cookie, ended up as more of a Nutella Thumbprint cookie.  Whatever you call it, it was yummy, and easy!  All I did was follow the instructions for the sugar cookie mix, then added enough Nutella to make it that pretty shade of brown, or until it was sweet enough for my sweet tooth.  After scooping the batter out onto a greased baking pan, I made a well in the center with my thumb and added a scoop of Nutella to the middle before baking for about 10 minutes.  Monkey was eating them before they even had time to cool.  I finally had to move her little step stool to the opposite side of the kitchen.

  I'm sorry I've been a bit obnoxious with the pictures tonight.  I know it's a bit off my normal bit where I complain about my clueless, lovable husband and our misadventures together with Monkey, but what can I say?  My muse is out in the wilderness, preparing for battle.   Well, one thing's for certain, if he doesn't come home soon, I may end up doing something insomnia-induced that I may later regret.  Like adopting a new pet, or making a life-size model of Buzz Lightyear out of cardboard for Monkey's upcoming birthday party.  You know, whatever pops into my sleep-deprived mind.  Now I'm heading over to Pinterest to pin away ;-)