Christmas Goodies

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
and I am loving it!

This is my most favorite time of the year!

So tonight,
to start off the Christmas holiday I have found a few
really fun recipes for you.

Ok, first recipe.
These are just adorable.
I present to you...
Christmas Tree Velvet Cake Pops



Wouldn't these little cake pops be perfect to take to a Christmas party?
A little time and patience are required to make them, but
I can guarantee your dessert will be the highlight of the party.

Serious cuteness.
Click here for the recipe.

Next, an easy recipe
{for those of us without the time or patience to make the Christmas Tree Cake Pops.}

Ever heard of Puppy Chow?
I'm sure you have unless you live under a rock.
Well this recipe is basically the same thing, but
it's called Reindeer Chow during the holidays!
{I love this stuff}



Here are the 4 ingredients you will need.
I know, I like easy recipes too!


{Crispix Cereal, Peanut Butter, Confectioner's Sugar, & Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels}

You need:

5 cups of Crispix Cereal
1 cup of peanut butter
12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 box of confectioner’s sugar

Wanna make them?

-Melt chocolate in microwave 1 minute at a time until melted.
-Add peanut butter to melted chocolate and mix well.
-In a large bowl {with a snap on lid}, add melted chocolate & peanut butter
to top of cereal and mix well.
-Add confectioner’s sugar and cover bowl with lid.
-Shake well to coat thoroughly.

If these two recipes aren't sweet enough for you, I think this will do the trick.

Have fun baking! Goodnight!

Bye Bye Sickness & Chocolate Peanut Butter Krispies

We are back home from our trip to Amarillo. We enjoyed our visit, as always, and we loved seeing all of our family & friends. It's always hard leaving our home away from home, but it was actually a little bit easier coming back to Fort Worth this time.

Poor Noah was so sick while we were in Amarillo. But today was a much better day for him. He was walking all over the house, smiling, and playing, and overall seemed to be back to his normal self. I have never seen him in so much pain before, so we are so thankful he is feeling better, and hope the worst is behind all of us {from the looks of this sweet little face I think it is}.

While we were in Amarillo, my mother-in-law Gay Lynn, made the best dessert in the world: chocolate peanut butter krispies. Ahhh, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Yummmmy! So I thought I would share the recipe with you since this dessert is too good to keep a secret.

What you need:

1 package of peanut butter cookie mix
1 jar of marshmallow cream
1 (12 oz.) package of chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups of cocoa krispies

How to make it:

-Mix the cookie mix according to the directions,
& pat the mix into a 9 x 13" pan.
-Bake until lightly browned {10-13 minutes}.
-Cool completely.
-Spread the marshmallow cream
over the top of the baked cookie.
-Mix chocolate chips & peanut butter and melt in microwave.
-Add cereal to the chocolate chip & peanut butter mix
and then spread on top of marshmallow cream.
-Serve when cooled.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Carmel Apple Cider & 2 Bottomless Pits

I have been lovin' the Fall weather we have had lately. This season is definitely one of my favorites. I can't believe how cold it has been last night and today. Brrr! Great snuggling weather, right? Sadly I don't have a snuggle partner tonight. Josh is working and sweet little Noah is sound asleep. Sniff Sniff.

I'm so tired. For the past thirty minutes, I've been sitting here at the computer fighting the urge to just go ahead and jump in bed, but I'm afraid if I do then I'll be wide awake at 2 am. So I'm resisting, and I'm staying put at the computer. Well at least for another 30 minutes.

Tonight I came across a recipe for caramel apple cider. Ohhh yummo! My favorite! I think one of my favorite things about the chilly fall weather is having a cup of warm apple cider in hand.

Seriously, my mouth is watering. I wish I had all of the ingredients to make some because I sure could use a cup to warm me up. I haven't made this recipe myself, but it sure sounds tasty, so if you want to try it out click here.

I think that is all I have tonight. I know, boo! But I promise I'll be back soon. I've gotta hop in bed now. I'm not only tired, but I'm freeeezzzing cold.

Wait, I lied. I do have a picture for you. And it's pretty darn funny. Let me give you a little back ground information first. Anytime I sit down to eat, I immediately have four eyes staring at me. That's right: Noah and Einstein. I always knew Einstein was a bottomless pit, but I'm starting to think Noah is too. Haha. Anyway, so the other night I sat down with my dinner and as always I had four eyes glued on me. Then all of a sudden Noah looks at Einstein, and does this:

"Einstein, back off! There is not enough for the both of us."

I love this picture. Makes me laugh every time I look at it. They are so funny!

Goodnight.

Bare Buns, Pumpkin Bites, and a Secret Project

Look what I stumbled upon...

Noah and his bare buns! I just couldn't resist. Ha!

Oh, and by the way, I found the cutest pumpkin bite pies. Seriously. No joke. So so cute! Take a look.

I know. How do people come up with this stuff? If you want to make these little pumpkin bites you will have to just click here, because I'm too tired (or too lazy) to tell you how to make them.

I can't wait to show you my little project I've been working on lately. I have had so much fun with it. I can't reveal what *it* is until tomorrow, because well, it's top secret right now.

Goodnight.

Libby & Julia

Have you seen the movie Julie & Julia? Someday I will get around to seeing it. I reeeeaaallly wanna see it. The reason I bring the movie up is because in a way I kinda feel like the girl in the movie. Well, to some extent I do. The young girl, Julie, in the movie makes it her goal to cook her way through Julia Child's cook book. I have recently made it my goal to: 1. cook more and 2. to find and try out new recipes. The main reason I'm expanding my recipe collection and cooking more often is for the benefit of my family, but personally I have actually enjoyed being in the kitchen lately. I'm certainly no Betty Crocker, and the recipes I've cooked lately have been pretty simple, but with a one-year old crawling all over the place I don't have time to spend hours upon hours in the kitchen.

Last week when I was planning my menu for the week, I spotted a new recipe on kraftfoods.com that I wasn't quite sure of, but I thought I would venture out and try it. If you need something quick and very tasty you need to try this:

Cheesy Chicken Tostadas



You'll need:

6 tostada shells
1/2 cup Philadelphia Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread
3/4 lb. cooked chicken, shredded*
6 Kraft Singles
1 avocado, sliced
1-1/2 cups shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread tostada shells evenly with cream cheese spread;

place on baking sheet. Fill evenly with chicken and Singles.
Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until heated through.
Top with the avocados, lettuce, and tomatoes.

** I put the chicken in a slow cooker with chicken broth and let it cook
all day. It is so moist and easy to shred by dinnertime.

That is it!

Josh really liked them (I could tell he wasn't lying), and Noah, well, he didn't exactly eat them, but I think he really enjoyed the chicken and avocados.

Project Big Boy UPDATE: Noah has been doing so well. We had another really good day. For both his nap and bedtime he fell asleep within 15 minutes. It is getting easier by the day. The days of "Ba-ba" are gone. Kinda makes me sad.

If you have any yummy recipes to share send them my way!

Hope you are having a great night!

2:00 am update: Ok, I was about to go to bed, but I just had to add this to the blog before I went to sleep. As I always do before I go to bed, I went in Noah's room to check on him. This is what I found:

Most of the time when I check on him, Noah has his blankets flung every which way, but not tonight. Tonight I went in to find little Noah comfortably tucked in with a blanket. Turns out Josh had been to visit Noah a few minutes before I went in. How precious is that? What a wonderful daddy!

A new recipe and Noah's new...

Doesn't this look divine?
It's a chocolate chip cookie pie. Yummo!

I haven't exactly made it myself, but I'm
gonna try it out pretty soon.
I love to look around on Bakerella.com.
The site has so many amazing dessert creations!
You want the recipe?
Thought you might.

Ok. So you need:
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell*
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped pecans (yuck... won't be in mine!)
Serve with ice cream (optional)

• Preheat oven 325 degrees F.
• Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high until foamy.
• Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter.
• Stir in morsels and nuts and spoon into pie shell.
• Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm.

* If using frozen pie shell, use deep dish style and thaw completely. Bake on baking sheet and increase baking time slightly.

Pretty easy, huh.

-----------------------------------------

Ok guess what Noah got?! A brand new...

...car seat!

We finally decided it was time for a new one. Noah has completely grown out of the one we have been using for the past year--the one we used to bring him home from the hospital. So Josh, Noah, and I made a little trip to Babies-R-Us and began our search for a new car seat. As we walked down the car seat aisle looking at the different ones we came across this one from Graco. We thought it looked really nice, so we decided to let Noah be the judge. Josh placed Noah in the carseat, and as soon as he did Noah got this big smile on his face and started laughing. It was hilarious! He checked everything out, and while doing so, he decided he liked the cup holder quite a bit.

Of course we forgot the 15% off coupon at home, but we wanted to read reviews on it anyway, so it all worked out in the end.

Anyway, Noah loves his new car seat. We haven't actually put it in the car yet, but I'm thinking from the looks of it we might have to buy one for the house and one for the car. Apparently, it's a pretty nice recliner to relax and watch Baby Einstein!

Have a great evening! Thank goodness it's the weekend, right?