We {heart} Spanish Doughnuts!

After approximately six months of not putting any new foods in his mouth, Nate decided he had to partake in this treat as I was leaving Costco:

That's right, a churro.  One of the greatest things on God's green earth, in my opinion.  I'm so proud of my little boy.  He practically yanked it out of my hand and stuffed it in his mouth and then ate a good 3/4 of my churro (which, if you've seen Costco churros, those things are pretty big).

As a side note, I'm so over the sippy cups he's been using for the last year or so because they eventually leak all over my floors, so we introduced a new sippy cup this morning.  At breakfast it was thrown (hard) against the floor with lots of tears.  BUT after consuming that huge churro, he had no choice but to drink out of it at lunch and now loves it.  Thank you churro!

GOOOOAAALLLL!

Nate's ready -- let the World Cup mania begin!

Go Team USA!!

Photo editing courtesy of piknik.com


Oh, and this too...

 

Joe 5, Julia 0

This recipe is in the dessert section of my Trader Joe's cookbook (go here to learn more about this cookbook and my project).  Honestly, I really think it's a waste to make a dessert using Trader Joe ingredients because the store has so many wonderful pre-made desserts in the freezer and bakery sections.  But this one is easy (there's that buzzword again) and can be done using ingredients from anywhere.

Berry-Zin Sauce

1 bottle of drinkable but not expensive Zinfandel

1 16-oz. bag frozen Berry Medley (or a bag of frozen raspberries OR use a mix of fresh berries since they're in season and it seems ridiculous to use frozen berries in the middle of June)

1 cup of sugar

Several grinds of black pepper

Ice cream or pound cake to eat with your yummy sauce :)

Place all ingredients in a saute pan (not a saucepan - you want more surface area for more efficient reduction) and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer about 30 minutes (it took longer for me), until mixture is reduced to two cups.  Strain through a sieve to remove seeds (the sauce is strained in the picture above but next time I'm going to skip this part because I like having the fruit "bits" in the sauce).  Store the extra sauce in your frig for about a week (if it lasts that long!)

Other notes:  We ate our vanilla ice cream and cinammon graham crackers with the Berry-Zin Sauce while it was still warm the night I made it.  A couple nights later, we had it cold and I think I prefer it that way.  Also, the flavors had meshed together after 48 hours and I liked the taste a lot.  

This is a fun recipe to play around with so now it's your turn :)

50s Friday

In honor of summer and all things pretty, here is an image from an article on summer clothes.  LOVE this dress, especially the neckline.

My Kitchen has a History

Same kitchen.  Four generations.

Top photo:  My Great-Grandma Mary (L) and my Grandma Joy (R)

Bottom photo:  My Mom Denise (L) and me :) (R)

Don't I look like an Amazon woman??  I must be wearing heels.

Lee asked if the photo of my mom and I was taken before we were married (that would be 5 years ago).  I replied, "no, that's last Thanksgiving."  He says "wow, your hair is so long."  Apparently, I've been rockin' the shorter, mommy hairdo for 7 months but it feels like an eternity to my husband. 

Three Cheers for Three Tiers

I love playing around with the 3-tiered cake stand I bought at Ikea last year.  In November, it held small candles and an assortment of nuts for Thanksgiving.  In December, it was colored glass ornaments.  So when I trimmed our giant Bougainvillea  earlier this month, I thought the leaves and blossoms would make a nice centerpiece.  It only last a day before wilting, but it still made me smile.  I'm starting to daydream about what to do for 4th of July....any ideas?

What the Heck?!?

Why in the world would an animal eat my plastic flower pot?  Is this the work of a squirrel or a raccoon?  This worries me -- we were hoping to plant some veggies this weekend and now I'm afraid my vegetable garden may meet the same fate as this poor pot.  This explains why my neighbors are currently building Fort Knox a fence around their backyard.

50s Friday

I love how this frig is so organized....look at the fruit lined up on the inside of the door!  What I should have pictured below is a shot of my frig so you can see that mine is the exact opposite of this, to the point that things fall out when I start rummaging around inside.  Frustrating.  Doesn't help that I'm the only one interested in keeping it tidy.  Men...

Card Table Castle

When Nate I came up with this idea, I referred to it as our playhouse.  Lee later informed me the correct term is "fort."  I find that difficult to believe since the exterior of the fort/playhouse is covered in purple flowers.  Nate doesn't seem to mind.