Cooking

Lily has become a baker. She specializes in muffins. She made banana muffins today and then hosted a tea party for her sisters. 

They wore river rafting sun hats cause we didn't have any fancy hats. I shall go to Amazon soon to fix that. They were going to have a fresh air picnic but it's too cold outside, so an inside tea party is it. I made cashew ice cream for the event. Corey and I ordered a Brownie Layers at Aubergine on our date night on Friday. It was delightful and didn't make us feel like we did something bad to our bodies. So as we were on our way home after our date, I looked up a recipe on my phone and we stopped by the store for full fat coconut milk for this 3 ingredient cashew ice cream: 1 can coconut milk, 1/2 cup cashew butter, 3 Tbsp maple syrup. We tried it yesterday, it wasn't my fav, but I might have used too much coconut milk, so we'll either try that one again or we'll keep experimenting. Lily's muffins were a hit. 

Katharine was cute in the kitchen today. 

I was actually able to unload and wipe off the counter, cause she took my bait/distraction of these little colorful wire clips that I got at Dollar Tree (on the right side there). We use them for bags of chips, nuts, etc. And K's little bottom tooth is cute! haha. She's like the firefly on Princess and the Frog.

The boys were playing soccer tonight, Owen in full uniform.

Even though it was cold today, the kids have been playing outside more, and I've done a really good job at getting them clean after a day outside. Go me, I'm giving them baths before bed! All cleaned up an in pjs - showing me their lego dragons that Lily found for them. 

I don't think I've shared any recipes on here for quite some time. One current favorite is...

Cocoa Quickies! Abi makes these regularly and has perfected the art. I'll get a photo of her with her cookies later. Here's an online recipe that's pretty close to what we use (if you can survive all the ads on that link!) Our recipe is:

▢½ cup butter
▢2 cups granulated sugar
▢½ cup milk (we use rice milk)
▢¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
▢½ cup peanut butter (we use Adam's crunchy)
▢3 cups rolled oats 

Instructions: 

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. In a large heavy pot, mel the butter. Add sugar and milk. Heat over medium heat until it starts to bubble, then set a timer and boil for 60 seconds (no more!).  
3. Immediately remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder, peanut butter, & oats. 
4. Working quickly, drop about 2 tablespoons of the chocolate peanut butter oats mixture at a time onto the prepared cookie sheet. Use spoon to form them into haystack shape or press gently on the top of each cookie to flatten slightly.  
5. Let the cookies sit at room temperature until cool and firm.  
6. Store in an airtight container.  

Cookies around here never make it to step 6, ha. 

Another thing I've been liking lately is Beet Salad - I make this with 2 or 3 beets cooked in the oven, then mix with Arugula or Costco's spring mix, balsamic vinegar, and feta cheese. Sometimes I'll also throw some beets, purple onions, and clementine wedges in with the Costco Mediterranean salad, it's yummy.