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I love you Chocolate Chip Heart Shaped Cookies filled with Nutella

After Kindergarten there is some time where it is just Piper and I.  On Friday we decided to use that time to bake.  We got a little creative and this is what we came up with.This is how we did it.

We made Chocolate Chip cook dough.  This is our favorite recipe.

4 sticks butter

1-  1/2 cups sugar

2 cups packed brown sugar

Cream those together.

Add 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

Mix that all together.  Add the dry ingredients.

5 cups flour

1- 1/2 teaspoons salt

1- 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Combine all of that and then fold in 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips along with 1 -2 cups mini chocolate chips….just because they are so cute.

Eat some dough, but not too much.

We baked ours in silicone heart shaped muffin tins like this….Bake for 12-15 minutes.  After they are baked the heart shaped cookie seems to always drop in the middle forming the perfect little cup.  We decided there was no better way to fill it than with Nutella.  We use any excuse to use Nutella, really.  So add approximately one teaspoon Nutella to fill the cookie.

If possible serve warm with a glass of milk and enjoy with your loved ones.  Or perhaps, let cool and wrap up with a cute bow and drop off to a friend.

Oh, and because I have read so many blog posts lately about how Mom’s should get in the picture, I will add this.  Piper and I baking.  And yes, it is the best  picture I took.  I guess I need to work on the art of self portraits.  

audra - January 22, 2013 - 8:31 pm

totally going to make these, what a great teachers gift! :-) piper is looking more like you every day….so pretty

Tammy Mitchell Designsq - January 29, 2013 - 8:51 pm

i love that picture. it it perfectly imperfect! :)

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What’s for Dinner?

I have to admit.  Lately, I feel like this….
Last year  we were getting take-out a lot..  One night I asked the kids what they wanted and they said, “please can’t we just make homemade food?”

Hmmmm,  I guess they really do appreciate a good home cooked meal.  Could it be true?

So yes, I have set yet another resolution for the year.

To not only make more homemade meals but to plan it out.

Last week I had an epiphany.  Not only do I need to do this, I need to get the kids involved.

So this is what we did.  Each child is in charge of a day.  (Although my two teen daughters share a night).

On Saturday, I asked the kids what they wanted to make on their given day.  I then went to the store and bought all the needed ingredients.

The night they are in charge they are my helper.  They help me cook set the table and hopefully learn a new skill.  We did it this last week and it went very well.

Loved it.  Loved working alongside my kiddos in the kitchen.We have an old Pottery Barn menu board hung in our hallway.  We have used it for all kinds of different things, but this week we decided to actually use it as a menu board.

 We were short on the letters so we had to get creative.  Here is what we ate.

Sunday:  Parker was in charge.  He made Hawaiian Haystacks.  Chicken cooked in a crock pot so it was ready when we got back from church.  The chicken was cooked in a sauce mixture of Russian dressing, Apricot jam and onion soup mix.  It may sound weird but it is delicious.  We then served shredded chicken a top of rice and kids could choose if they want to add crunchy noodles and corn.  You can also serve with pineapple.

Monday:  Piper in charge.  Of course she wanted to make her favorite.  Pizza!  We used Trader Joes pre-made dough and had fun using different toppings.

Tuesday:  Max chose his favorite….Breakfast Burritos.  Yum!  And I love that he is great at making scrambled eggs.

Wednesday:  Ellie and Claire teamed up.  We had Au Jus Sandwiches.  Prepared a roast in crock-pot.  Slow cooked all day is au jus sauce.  We use au jus packet mixes mixed with water.  Spread melted butter on french rolls and add parmesan cheese and toast under broiler for a few minutes.  Use extra au jus sauce to dip your sandwiches.  Served with Caesar Salad.

Thursday:  Grace was in charge.  I knew we were having a Baby shower at our house that night and would not want to mess up the kitchen before, so Gracie got to pick where we would get take out, although she really wanted to make something.    She chose Panda Express.  That is why it says Panda on the board.  No we are not eating any panda bears.

Friday and Saturday we will either eat out or make easy meals here at home.

It worked great for the first week.  Let’s hope we can continue it on.

Melissa - January 21, 2013 - 3:18 am

I love this, Sandi! What a cute idea, I’m sure my girls would love helping make dinner if they planned it out. Nice job!

Emma Gentry - January 21, 2013 - 6:17 am

I think that is so cool how each kid does a dinner! We should totally do that at our house. It’s cool to see the cousins again.
Love you guys!
-Emma Gentry

Jennifer - January 23, 2013 - 4:54 am

I love this idea! Grace and Max told me all about it last week… I need to remember this for when my kids are a little older!

In the Kitchen » thesandbucket.com - January 30, 2013 - 4:48 pm

[...] our new dinner planning. If you don’t’ know what I am talking about you can read this post.   We are on our third week and still going strong.  Last week Gracie chose to make Chicken [...]

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Guest blogging on Chic

Another of my resolutions…..print more of my images on books.  I am talking about books over on Chic Critique.  If you haven’t heard about them you should check them out.

It is a great source for  photographers.
I have guest blogged in past months there as well.  You can see my posts here and here.

Also, I posted on my photography blog about this sweet girl.I know there are lots of people who are fighting the big battle of cancer out there.  I always love hearing about the victories!

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Journal Writing

I am not one to set New Years Resolutions.  In fact, now that I think about it, I don’t know if I have EVER set any New Years Resolutions!  HA!

Well, perhaps it is time I started.

I realize Journal Writing might be a dull blog post title.  I am not a journal writer.  (Shame on me!)  This little book however, is one I found at Urban.  You can also find them at Amazon.  

I love this little book.  It is easy to do.  One line a day.  That is all I need to do.  I leave it by my bed and each night I write down my favorite thing I did that day.  It has five spots for each day, so that you can actually keep a five year memory journal.  It makes journalling doable for me.

I realize those who write in journals are giving a valuable gift to their posterity.  I cherish the writings my Father left us.  I think I will follow his lead.  I like how he wrote.  Instead of a day by day recount, he would write on topics.  Like essays.  Then he would print them off and keep in a binder.

I think I will keep this “one line a day”  journal for my everyday and for the big stuff write essay type writings and keep in a separate binder.

There, I said it.  My first Resolution.

Mary Celeste - February 5, 2013 - 5:56 pm

What a great way to get started on journal writing. By starting small, you can always graudally increase the amount of journal writing you do each day. Imagination Tree also has some beautiful journals and writing gift sets, at http://www.imaginationtree.com

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I’ve been gone….but now I’m back

Slowly,

Ever so slowly, I am getting back into the swing of things.

I guess I have been in denial that Christmas is actually over and things are suppose to be back in full force.  We had a lovely Christmas.  Our Tradition is to go to Grandma’s house on Christmas Eva for a real Party.  We had a fabulous dinner.We had a class act Nativity.Grandma played Santa this year and we had our fun Cousin gift exchange.  We then went back home to find the elves had left us fun Christmas Jammies.  It was so exciting it caused Parker to dance.  Our stockings were hung from the chimney with care, so we went to sleep.  Christmas Day was wonderful.  It was filled with playing with toys, eating Monkey Bread and just being together…..while wearing pajamas.

Someone got Just Dance 4 so that meant there was a whole lot of dancing going on.And then we were off to visit family in Washington.  It was so cold for us Californians.  But so fun to see cousins we haven’t seen in awhile. Uncle Dale always has the coolest pets for us to play with.  Too bad it was so cold outside or else I would have insisted on a real photo shoot.  2012 was wonderful.  I am sad to see it go.  But I am looking forward to a fabulous 2013.

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