Friday Fave: Poor Man's Tiramisu

We have some out-of-town family visiting for a few days. Since Dan and I have been trying to cut back on the amount of sweets we eat, I had to use the excuse of company visiting to make one of Dan's all-time favorite desserts.  I've dubbed it 'Poor Man's Tiramisu' and there's a bit of a backstory behind this dessert.

(It looks so-so, but tastes phenomenal.)

Back in the olden-days when Dan and I were doing the long-distance dating thing, he took me out to dinner at a fancy-schmancy restaurant where we got gourmet tiramisu for dessert. It was amazing and I thought it would be really awesome if I could make some of that delicious dessert for my honey the next time he came to visit me. I found the most decadent recipe I could find and assembled the ingredients. It should come as no shock to any of you to know that tiramisu is pretty dang expensive to put together. Between the marscapone cheese, coffee liqueur, bakery-fresh lady fingers and real whipped cream, I think the entire 9 x 9 pan of dessert ran me about $24. It was delicious, but to make it now (and spend over 1/3 of the week's grocery budget) would be absurd and impractical.

So, I came up with this (much) less-expensive alternative that it still quite tasty and very much keeps the essence of the original dessert:

Poor Man's Tiramisu
Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix (and other ingredients to bake cake according to box directions)
1 box instant chocolate pudding
1 cup milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups brewed coffee
2 pouches instant coffee mix (2 servings)
1 tub Cool Whip
Sprinkling of baker's cocoa powder

Directions:
1. Mix and bake cake according to box directions, substituting 1 cup water for 1 cup brewed coffee.
2. While cake is baking, mix up the pudding using 1 cup milk and 1 cup brewed coffee and mix in the pouches of instant coffee.
3. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven (while it is still hot or very warm), poke a bajillion holes in it, like this:

4. Next, pour the can of sweetened condensed milk onto the cake, filling the holes.
5. Repeat with the chocolate pudding mixture.

6. Cool completely on counter top or in the fridge.
7. Cover with an entire tub of Cool-Whip and sprinkle with baker's cocoa powder.

8. Enjoy! (Please note. It is pretty rich, but really, really good. So go ahead, cut yourself a nice big piece.)

Time for a bit of nostalgia

This time of year is kind of special to me. No, it's no one's birthday or wedding anniversary, but it is the time of year when I think about this:

(click to enlarge)

Yup, the email from then friend/now friend and sister-in-law, Angela. The email introduction that got this whole crazy adventure started.

Thanks Ang. We definitely owe you one. 

Friday Fave: The End of Winter

Our recent 50-degree days have shown us that winter really is on the way out. Yay! Is all I have to say about that.
I won't miss needing to wait on the snow plow before I'm able to drive into town and I'm sure Dan won't miss having to shovel the deep drifts of snow off the roof.


Lana will probably miss being "Mr. Plow" with Daddy, but we'll just have to make sure she gets lots of warm-weather 4-wheeler rides to make up for it. 

 

Yay! I'm so excited that it's finally time to put our boots and snowsuits away and get out the shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops!

(Urgh! Nevermind. I just checked the forecast and MORE SNOW is predicted for this weekend. Kindly disregard everything I just wrote and stay bundled up.)

Lana Explains it All - Artwork

Hi! It's Lana again and I'm here to tell you all about one of my favorite hobbies - ART!
I just love art. Coloring, cutting paper, gluing, all art is really fun for me. Here, let me show you some things I made:

This is a fun picture frame I made for Mommy and Daddy for Valentine's Day. I put all the pretty hearts on all by myself.

Here is a color wheel game I made with my friends at daycare. The colors on the clothespins match the color squares on the wheel, so I can play the game and learn my colors at the same time. (Although really, I am pretty awesome with my colors, but practicing is always a good thing.)

Here is another masterpiece. I call it Large L, done in the medium of fruit loops and dried macaroni.

Mommy calls this one my version of a Jackson Pollock. I'm not sure who that is, but I am sure I really had a great time with paint and marbles and shaking it all together in a box. I hope that Jackson guy had as much fun with his artwork as I do with mine.

Apparently showing off my hand print caterpillar makes me want to act like I'm shy. If you know me at all, you know I'm not really shy at all, but I like to pretend I am sometimes.

And this is a sampling from my 2011 Christmas Collection. I've already got grand ideas for this year. I'm thinking more paint and definitely more glitter. You can't go wrong with more glitter, right?

Friday Fave: TV shows we watch together

We're a single television family - just one in the living room that we all must share. This arrangement has resulted in a few "discussions" about what to watch and when. (Dan likes testosterone-fueled fare like all Jason Statham movies, car and truck shows, football, and hunting shows. I tend to prefer a few guilty-pleasure reality shows (Top Chef, Project Runway), family sitcoms, and everything-ends-well Hallmark movies.) Fortunately, the DVR has proven it is worth it's weight in gold and most of these "discussions" are easily resolved by pressing the record button.

However, despite our differences, we have been able to find a handful of shows we genuinely enjoy watching together. In no particular order:

The Office.

I introduced Dan to this show when we first got married. I think I had to use my new-bride secret powers to get him to stick with it for more than a couple of episodes, but now he laughs as much as I do. We both enjoy the hi-jinks between Jim and Dwight, the ridiculousness of the situations and the quirkiness of the characters. Yes, you're right, it's not the same without Steve Carrell (and I may or may not have shed a tear or two during his last episode), but it kept its heart and oh-so-very-awkward situations.

Community.

While watching the hilarious re-cap show, The Soup, we decided we really like host Joel McHale. So it seemed only natural to follow him to his new sitcom. Community is odd - crazy odd, and the characters are nuts and out there and the storylines are completely outlandish and random. But it's funny. Oh so very funny.

Parenthood.

Are you watching this show? If not, you should be. It has probably the best cast on TV right now, realistic situations and characters. Very well acted and superbly written. Completely believable and every single episode initiates a what-would-we-do-in-this-situation conversation.

Hawaii Five-O.

You've wondered, who actually watches this show? Haven't you? We'll let me answer that question. Dan and I watch this show. Please don't judge us too harshly. Yes, the storylines are completely over the top, and yes, the fake tans are obvious, but dang, Hawaii is gorgeous and therefore nearly every scene of this show is gorgeous. The crime-fighting duo of Dan-o and McGarrett are the ultimate in good-cop, bad-cop and their back-and-forth quick rapport is indeed entertaining.

Friday Night Lights.

Yes, I know, this show has run its course and is now over, but it will forever be in our Hall of Fame for best-ever TV show. The acting, writing, plot development - everything was superb. It was our first show we were both equally excited to watch together. For three years we planned our Wednesday night in-home date nights around this show. It's available now on DVD, so go ahead and rent it so you too can agree that it was the best show on TV during its time.

Finding suitable shows for all three of us (me, Dan and Lana) has proven to be a bit tougher. So far we can all watch nature shows together, but that's about it. Lana likes to watch home-improvement shows with Dan, especially Holmes on Homes and Holmes Inspection. (Look Daddy, dat Mike breakin' things with a hammer!) And Lana and I do pretty well watching Jeopardy together. (You know all the answers Mommy!) But I could definitely use your suggestions.

What shows do you and your Honey like to watch together? What ones do you like to watch with your kiddos?

This looks worse than it really is......

Here's our Lana getting breathing treatment #2 for the day.

Yesterday afternoon Lana woke up from her nap burning hot, crying, completely inconsolable, and breathing short and shallow breaths. By the time I picked her up, she was also shaking. I pleaded with the receptionist at the pediatricians office to make room in an already-full schedule to get Lana seen ASAP. I'm not sure if it was my tears, the good and compassionate heart of the receptionist, or Lana's flaming, red-hot cheeks, raspy breathing and lethargy, but we were immediately sent to an examination room.

An hour later, after the fever medication kicked in and she'd undergone a breathing treatment, our sweet Lana was looking and acting more like herself. She wanted to sing songs and play with her dolly and held still and didn't protest while the doctor continued her exam. We left with a prescription for medication and a nebulizer to perform at-home breathing treatments. She hasn't had a fever at all today and willingly sits still for the 10-minute breathing treatments. The vast improvement between yesterday and today is astounding.

Make these. Today. Actually, now.

Hey.
Hey you.
You like peanut butter, right? And jelly too?

Awesome. Now I'm asking, nay, ordering, you to make these delicious and wonderful Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes.

I really wanted to make some fancy-ish treats for a gathering on Sunday night. I wracked my brain trying to think of something that would be perfect. I needed finger food that was tasty and appealing for kids and adults, sweet, but not too sweet, pretty to look at, and transportable.

Enter Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes.

I perused my old pal, Pinterest for inspiration and tips and found many yummy-sounding recipes. But then I visited with my even older pal, Betty (Crocker), and she hooked me up with a recipe that uses a boxed yellow cake mix. Here's the recipe.

Betty also told me to use a can of vanilla frosting as the base of the whipped peanut butter frosting, but I didn't have any (and it was snowing and blowing really hard and I didn't want to go out) and instead made some from scratch. It was easy-peasy and really, really good. Probably better than using canned. I looked online at a few recipes for peanut butter frosting and put this one together:
1 stick butter (softened)
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
Mix ingredients together using hand mixer for 2 minutes. Add 1-3 tablespoons milk until desired consistency (fluffiness) is achieved. Taste a few teaspoons full to make sure it is indeed quite tasty. Request husband also taste. Pry the entire bowl from his iron-clad grasp and beat him with a spatula until he releases the frosting. (Oh wait, what? That doesn't happen in your house?)

To top the cupcakes I smeared on strawberry jelly, swirled on peanut butter frosting, and finished with a spot of jelly in the center. My cupcake decorating skills leave a lot to be desired, but I think you get the idea. (Oh, and the pictures in the snow idea was Dan's. He thought it might look kind of artsy. I don't know if it's artsy or not, but the white snow sure makes the blue plate of tastiness pop.)

Lana was our official taste tester and she gave them two (sticky) thumbs up!

Friday Fave: Princess Superhero!

Oh is it Superhero Princess?

Either way I love it!

Lana, at age two-and-a-half, has figured out that you can be both tough and beautiful. She knows you can save the day with a smile and still take time to twirl around the dining room. At age thirty-two-and-a-half I still don't have that one down.

My sweet daughter still has a lot to teach me, doesn't she? And this whole time I thought I was supposed to be the one teaching her.

Sick

Of all the things I expected to happen on the drive into town this morning, projectile vomiting from the pig-tailed girl in the back seat was not one of them. But, well, it's what we got and you can't always predict what you get. I quickly pulled off onto a gravel road, calmed a crying and upset Lana, and wiped her face before turning around for home. When a day starts with vomit, it usually doesn't continue in it's normal course.

Lana was stripped of her clothes in the laundry room and promptly put in the bathtub for scrubbing and sanitation. Her clothes and the car seat cover were washed using the "nuclear-radiation-super-hot-no-germs-or-yuck-will-survive" washer setting. After I got her set up with electrolytes, her snuggle blankie and a Disney Channel show, I went to work on the car. Every plush toy and blanket got tossed in the washing machine, all the bits of trash and half-eaten granola bars got tossed and every soft surface got vacuumed. The whole process was oddly satisfying and I don't think the car has been this clean in two years. Maybe during naptime I'll go back out there with a tub of Lysol wipes and make sure nothing has attached itself to the door or window handles.

I really don't like being sick, but dang, I really, really, really don't like it when the little one is sick. I feel so bad for her. The light in her eyes is dim and she lacks her usual spark and energy. I do appreciate the extra snuggles, but certainly not at the expense of her upset tummy. I hope this morning's throw-up session was a one-time event that won't continue or be passed on to me or Dan. (The only time our whole house was struck at once was a puke-filled few days that inspired me to write bad poetry.) I'm hoping the tightness in my stomach is due to a morning of cleaning up messes and not due to an incubating bug that will rear its ugly head soon.

So we will spend this windy day together at home. Lana can color and watch a movie and get better. I'll read her stories, take her temperature and do a few extra loads of laundry. It certainly wasn't how I expected to spend the day, but certainly the best way.

Oh, and I think Lana's starting to bounce back. While she was coloring I asked her if she thought anything would make her feel better. Her answer? "A Cadbury Creme Egg please Mommy." Yeah, I think she's going to be okay.

Friday Fave: Pinterest Finds (Part1)

 

(I'm calling this post Part 1 because I know I'll keep finding awesome stuff on Pinterest that I'll want to share. Who knows how many times I'll refer back to this wonderful site full of awesome ideas and creativity.)

Okay, so hello! Hi! Are you on Pinterest yet?
Yes? Okay, great, so you already know how fabulous and delightful it is and I have nothing more to teach you.

Oh wait? No? Well sit down and let's talk.

Have you ever been on a website or blog and thought, Dang, that's really awesome. I need to remember this recipe/color combination/couch/wall-hanging/photo idea/organization tip/sewing pattern/scrapbook layout/hair tutorial/flower arrangement/dream home idea/book suggestion/etc..../etc.....

Yup, me too. And if you were like me, you probably had 500 web pages bookmarked to check back later, or maybe you printed everything out and you have stacks and stacks of paper with all your ideas and inspiration.

Well, bookmark and stack NO MORE, my friends! Pinterest will save us all!

Think of Pinterest as the biggest, baddest virtual bulletin board that you could ever imagine.It is a bit overwhelming at first, but I promise, you'll get it down pretty quickly and then realize it's relatively simple. When you see something you like, hit the PIN IT button and then the picture is "pinned" on your own virtual bulletin board. You choose what to name your boards and organize them how ever you like. (Mine are labelled something like Recipes, Crafts w/Lana, Hair and Makeup, Home, etc....) You can also follow others and see what they've recently pinned or peruse their virtual bulletin boards for inspiration.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Several websites not have a "pin it" button right on the site. So you don't even have to be on Pinterest to pin their ideas - you can pin directly from the site you're visiting. Easy-peasy.

Here are some of my recent pins:

(Sugar cookies made in the waffle iron. I so need to try out this method.)

(I really like this verse and am contemplating making/buying something similar for a large canvas in our dining room.)

(Little girls' hairstyle ideas. I have a little girl, she has hair, I should try to make it cute every once in a while.)

(Baked french toast. I made this a couple weekends ago for a fun breakfast. It was really, really good. Dan was mad that I didn't make more.)

(And this? Well, it was just funny and I thought others might get a chuckle out of it too. Pinterest has a sense of humor too!)

Now, lest you think Pinterest is just for people who like food or crafts or large scriptures or hairstyles, I assure you, it's not. Yes, even guys are on Pinterest. I've seen how some guys have pinned different car or truck accessories they want to add to their ride. There are also tons of pictures of hunting trophies, tractor wrecks and guns. If you're a more cerebral type of guy or gal, there are also boards of pins from authors, speakers and bloggers of some of their works or recommended items.

Give it a try. I promise, you won't be bored. If you need an invitation, just leave me your email address and I'll send you one.