Happy Monday

I just ate five of the aforementioned cookies. UGH - I can't stop eating junk today.

On another note - I am so excited about The Bachelor tonight! I know a lot of people didn't think they'd get into this season because the bachelor, Jason, is a single dad and they didn't "love" him in last season with DeAnna, but I think he has done a really good job so far. I really like all of the girls who are left (Melissa from Dallas has been my favorite from the very beginning, as has Molly), and I think that says something about the editing Jason as well.


I literally look forward to Mondays because of this show! I don't know what I'm going to do once it's over! Here's the girls that are left -- Naomi below

Jillian

Molly

Here's hoping that Obama's press conference tonight doesn't interrupt The Bachelor! (good thing I'm not running the country huh...)

Another quick baking post

I have been in the mood to bake recently so I thought I'd share a little to help you get in the Valentine's spirit!

First up - I made my first 2-layer cake recently. I've obviously made cakes before, but I had never used our round cake pans to make a double layer cake. I had some cake mix lying around, so I mixed it up (and added about 8 oz. of sour cream and a box of instant vanilla pudding - which I do to every cake/cupcake mix I make - I think it makes it extra moist and not too rich - oh and also extra fattening I'm sure). Anyways - I think it turned out pretty well. I attempted to add a heart on the top of it with decorator's icing, but as you can see, that didn't turn out so hot. It may have something to do with the fact that the icing has been sitting in our pantry for about 6 months. Or it just may have been a user error - regardless, here's the finished product.


I also decided to make some cut-out cookies for Valentine's day. Although at the rate that Matt and I are consuming them, I'm not sure we'll have any left for v-day. I used my mom's cut-out cookie recipe and made 2 separate batches of icing. The first is one I found online that is super tasty (that's what I made the pink icing out of) and the second is my mom's cut-out icing recipe which is simply powdered sugar and milk. SUPER healthy :)

I'm not sure why I chose to feature the XOXO's here because they are obviously not very neatly iced - ignore that please :)

I love Valentine's Day - but I know a lot of people think it's just a made up holiday to make people spend more money. I think it's a great excuse to make sure the people in your life know you love them! What do you think?

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Well this is a little late for me to recommend it as a Superbowl appetizer, but I thought I'd share a delicious spinach-artichoke dip recipe I discovered! I haven't done many cooking posts, but with a light at the end of the tunnel on the construction of the house, I thought I'd branch out. If you read all the way to the bottom, you'll see that it's actually pretty healthy! (assuming you don't inhale it in one seating, the way that Matt and I did)

Here is the recipe the way I found it (I made a few tweaks which I marked in red)

Yield

Makes 11 servings (serving size: 1/4 cup) (note: 11 servings could also = 2)

Ingredients

• 2 (6-oz.) packages fresh baby spinach (I actually just used one because that's all I had on hand)
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 (8-oz.) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 (14-oz.) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided (I doubled this - at least - we are big cheese fans. AND, I accidentally used monterey jack instead of mozzarella, so I think next time I would use a combo of the two)
  
• Fresh pita wedges or baked pita chips (we ate this with tortilla chips - but I'm sure it would be good with pita chips as well)
  

Preparation

1. Microwave spinach in a large, microwave-safe bowl at HIGH 3 minutes or until wilted. Drain spinach well, pressing between paper towels. Chop spinach. I loved that this used fresh spinach instead of the frozen kind. I thought it was so much easier and quicker than trying to squeeze all the water out of the frozen stuff -- my hands always freeze!

2. Melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add cream cheese and garlic; cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly, until cream cheese melts. Fold in spinach, artichokes, sour cream, and 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese; stir until cheese melts. At this point I also added some garlic salt (maybe 1/8 tsp) and some ground black pepper to taste - I just eyeballed this, so you could season this to your taste.

3. Transfer mixture to a 1-qt. shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese. (or monterey jack)

4. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve immediately with fresh pita wedges or baked pita chips. (I turned the broil on for the last 30-60 seconds just to give the cheese a nice browning)

Note: Thoroughly wash bagged spinach before using.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 113 (53% from fat)

Fat: 7g (sat 4.7g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.1g)

Protein: 5.5g

Carbohydrate: 8.5g

Fiber: 2.4g

Cholesterol: 24mg

Iron: 1mg

Sodium: 340mg

Calcium: 71mg

Note: Nutritional analysis does not include pita wedges or baked pita chips. (or the fact that I doubled the amount of cheese in this recipe)

ENJOY!

I don't have a clever title

Just a quick post to say happy weekend! My sister and her boyfriend are in town this weekend - he plays lacrosse for Texas State and they are playing at SMU on Saturday - so that should be fun!

Also - I just started reading "Same Kind of Different as Me" - have you read it? I just started, I'm about halfway through, but it's hard to put down! I love it so far - I'll give a more thorough review after I finish it this weekend! If you get a chance though... pick it up! Happy Friday! I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Did you eat enough dirt?

Dirt is good for you.
I just wanted to share this article I found today that I thought was pretty interesting. Especially teaching preschool, I can see the increase of allergies in young children even when compared to when I was growing up. So many parents these days are so concerned about a clean, sanitized environment for their children, and while I certainly wouldn't suggest living in a garbage can, I think a lot of people tend to overkill the cleaning part of things. I've got at least 5 out of 15 kids in my class that have already been to an allergist and have allergies ranging from peanuts to pollen.

I don't have a whole lot to say on this topic - I just thought it was interesting to point out that when we were all sitting in the backyard test-tasting the dirt around us, we were actually doing our immune-systems some good! Maybe I didn't eat enough dirt growing up and that's contributing to how many times I've been sick this year? OR maybe it has to do with having mono 3 times and working in a petri-dish called a preschool class? Who knows...

Why I love living in Texas

ICE DAYS! While I'll admit, it is pretty cold right now (19 deg) and the roads are completely covered in ice this morning, had these conditions occurred in any state north of here (or even in other cities -- I don't recall Tech ever canceling classes because of a little ice on the roads), everyone would go about their days as usual. But not here! The local news keeps going on about the "HUNDREDS of cancellations today!", which I am most certainly not complaining about. Oh, and I should add that we are expected to hit a high of 42 deg here. For those of you that don't know, I was born in Minnesota and lived there until I was 9. Although my skin adapted quickly to the Texas heat and I could not take the cold there for an entire winter if I was paid to, I thought I'd share an email my mom sent me recently.

Cold Weather Behavior

• 60 above zero: Floridians turn on the heat. Minnesotans plant gardens.
• 50 above zero: Californians shiver uncontrollably. People are sunbathing in Duluth.
• 40 above zero: Import cars won't start. Minnesotans drive with the sunroof open.
• 32 above zero: Distilled water freezes. The water in Bemidji gets thicker.
• 20 above zero: New Mexicans don long johns, parkas and wool hats & mittens. Minnesotans throw on a flannel shirt.
• 15 above zero: New York landlords finally turn on the heat. People in Minnesota have one last cookout before it gets cold.
• Zero: People in Miami all die. Minnesotans close the windows.
• 10 below zero: Californians fly away to Mexico . Minnesotans dig their winter coats out of storage.
• 25 below zero: Hollywood disintegrates. Girl Scouts in Minnesota still selling cookies door to door.
• 40 below zero: Washington , D.C. finally runs out of hot air. People in Minnesota let their dogs sleep indoors.
• 100 below zero: Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. Minnesotans get upset because the Mini-Van won't start.
• 460 below zero: ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the Kelvin scale). People in Minnesota can be heard to say, "Cold 'nuff fer ya?"
• 500 below zero: Hell freezes over. Minnesota public schools open 2 hours late.

If 20 deg above zero is all it takes for us to close school - I'll take it! The news keeps showing all the overpasses with cars stuck on them. Some facing the right way, some not so much - while I certainly don't wish an accident on anyone, and am praying for my husband to have a safe drive this morning - I can't help but think there have to be a lot of idiot drivers out there for the news to have THIS many shots of people off the road. I also think that if we are going to live in an area where the roads can be covered with ice, they should have more than a little sand to cover it up. On the other hand though - it does make for some comical videos of the cars moving about 20 mph on the highway, and I can't help but think that everyone north of us would be falling out of their chairs laughing when they heard our newscasters say "watch out out there, we are still WELL, WELL below freezing at 22 deg". REALLY?

Happy ice day!

blonde vs brunette

Every now and then I get the urge to dye my hair dark brown. I've done it a few times. Usually, I like it for awhile, until it starts to lighten to my natural color (which is like a dark dishwater blonde) - and then I end up highlighting it again. I'm starting to get that urge again... what do you think I should do?

So who has more fun?? Vote to the right -->