Happy Valentine's Day!!

Wouldn't it be darling if he was really looking at me and not the KU game on t.v.? If you didn't know, it almost looks like love!

This is us on try number 5 for a decent picture...almost...there.

Happy love day!

Julie and Julia

We watched Julie and Julia the other night. I can tell you that after the movie, I looked like Meryl Streep does below - absolutely giddy with excitement to learn how to cook!

I can also tell you that Ken and I grabbed our oldest cookbooks (compliments of his grandma) so that we could go through our own cookbook from cover to cover like Julie did. However, those cookbooks didn't exactly motivate. Especially this one:

This one was printed in the early '80s and we couldn't get past the less than appetizing cover. Needless to say, the next day we decided the movie wasn't as inspiring as we had thought and was definitely not something worth watching more than once (but definitely a must-see).

Most Amazing Invention. Ever.

Shasta Anne over at ShastaAnne.com is giving away a Clarisonic Mia! For those of you living under a rock like me, the "Clarisonic Sonic Skin Cleansing Systems use a patented sonic frequency of more than 300 movements per second to gently, yet thoroughly remove 6X more makeup and 2X more dirt and oil than cleansing with your hands alone."

I'm excited! You should be, too! Visit her blog and enter the giveaway for a chance to win:

http://www.shastaanne.com/2011/02/giveaway-clarisonic-skin-care-brush.html

I did!! Three times! If I knew how to tweet, I'd enter again!

Fruit Dip Recipe

I found this fruit dip recipe over here http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/02/07/peanutbutter-yogurt-fruit-dip-recipe-bodyrocker-lori/ and thought I would give it a try!

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used plain Greek Yogurt - mega protein boost)
2 teaspoons natural peanut butter
stevia or agave nectar, to your taste (I used agave nectar)
cinnamon, to your taste

Mix all ingredients, dip in chopped fruit like apples and enjoy!

Hmm....now that I am writing the recipe down, I see that 2 tablespoons of peanut butter actually says 2 teaspoons of peanut butter. No wonder this was so peanut buttery when I tried it. Oops! It will definitely be a lot healthier when I make it next time!

I thought this fruit dip was the perfect mix of protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fat. I have gotten used to eating Greek yogurt, so I must warn that it is an acquired taste (and I never eat it plain - drizzle that agave nectar, please) but it is an excellent source of protein: 23 grams per 1 cup (according to my brand). Plus, agave nectar has a low glycemic index so it won't spike your blood sugar. And...it's a natural sweetener. An added bonus for some?

I can already tell that this snack is going to hold me over for a few hours, yet it doesn't feel heavy. Yay!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Today was Ken's niece's first birthday!

Here's her pretty cake:

And her pretty party outfit:

And her pretty, pretty present from moi (and Ken, but the point here is that I wrapped it beautifully. Can you tell I'm proud? I've outdone myself yet again...kidding. But really.):

She had a really nice party with lots of friends and family and I wish her the absolute best in the coming year! She is getting closer and closer to the age where I get to introduce her to all things shoes, clothes, makeup, and, dare I say again, shoes (you know, those of the high-heeled family)!

Just kidding...But probably.

M.S. Cupcakes

M.S. = Martha Stewart for those of you that wouldn't have gotten past the title otherwise.

This post is a few days overdue so I will keep it short. I made cupcakes on my snow day last week. Let me rephrase that. I made a million-ba-jillion cupcakes on my snow day last week. I filled a mini-cupcake pan with 24 of Martha's buttermilk cupcakes and was left with tons of batter in this big ol' bowl:

So I made 24 regular cupcakes and 72 mini-cupcakes. What I didn't frost, I froze. Here they are in the oven with beautiful little risen tops:

Unfortunately, the tops fell when they came out of the oven and were flat as a pancake (hmm...was under the impression I was making cupcakes, not super-thick pancakes). I'll have to do some troubleshooting to figure out why they fell.

I also made a buttercream frosting that I'm not sure I'm in love with. Or, maybe it was just the combination of the sweet frosting with the buttermilk flavor from the slightly bland cupcakes. When Ken tried one, a pained look came over his face as he said, "They're cooked perfectly! They just taste terrible!" I must agree that the consistency of the cake was to die for. However, you won't find me dying over the taste of these cakes unless the buttermilk gets me first.

Here's a shot of a few of the finished mini-cupcakes:

...So, this morning I got up, grabbed some cupcakes for a pre-breakfast appetizer, and came back to bed to share one with Ken (well, I had three, he had one). Guess what he said????

"Are you going to make more cupcakes this weekend??"

Music to my ears. He actually likes them enough to be excited about my quest to make all of Martha's cupcakes - I mean, about my quest to make more cupcakes!

My response:

"I would be happy to thaw out and frost the other 900 cupcakes in the freezer for you..."

Snow Day!!

Blizzard-like coditions call for hot cocoa and marshmallows...This is what I'm sipping on as I try to get some work done from home today.

Hopefully, I will get to these later this afternoon!

Stay warm and safe out there today!