#42 Sweet

I know I just posted some pictures about making cupcakes, but I snapped a picture I realized would work for my number 42 word of my 100 word snapshots challenge list.  I chose one that is similar to one that I posted but is still a little different.  I can tell you that it makes me want to have another cupcake...which I can not so I am going to bed right after I hit "publish post."

Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold. ~Judith Olney

Taelin has been asking for weeks to make cupcakes.  My answer has been no for a few different reasons.  First of all, she seems to ask when there is not nearly enough time to make them.  A few of her favorite times to ask have been right before bed and after we get home from work/daycare and I need to start thinking about dinner.  Second of all, I don't keep cake mixes on hand...for obvious reasons.  The last thing I really need is cake (and the accompanying frosting) at my fingertips.  Which leads me into my third reason, which is if we make cupcakes then we will have cupcakes. And I will want to eat them.

Today after our new bed was delivered (yay!) but before lunch, Taelin asked again if we could please make cupcakes.  I wish I could show you a picture of what her face looked like when she asked me.  There was plenty of time to make them (we didn't really have anything we had to do today) but I still didn't have a cake mix or a real need to have cupcakes.  Deciding that I was just going to have to show some self-restraint when it came to having cupcakes, I checked off something from my list and solved my second problem of not having a cake mix.  I made cup cakes from scratch.

I used this recipe for Rainbow Cupcakes and cut it in half so we only had 12 cupcakes.  The recipe calls for 4 different colors of batter, but since we halved the recipe, we just picked two.  There were a few more steps than a cake mix, but really not that difficult to make and I had everything I needed on hand already.  The cupcakes were really moist and I have to say that I liked them more than a cake mix cup cake...there was just more to them.  I used this recipe for the frosting.  It was very vanilla-y which I liked, but Joe wasn't super fond of.  It was a super easy recipe that I hadn't used before but will use again.  For this recipe too, I had all the ingredients I needed on hand.

Taelin is getting quite good at helping me in the kitchen.  She loves pouring out what I measure and is actually getting more everything in the bowl...which is good!  She is getting to recognize the different things we use for baking and loves wearing her aprons that my mom made for her for Christmas this last year.  I wasn't able to snap any pictures while we were measuring and mixing, but did get some of the coloring of the batter and sprinkling the sprinkles.  And of course this post would not be complete with a picture of her actually eating the cupcakes!

Overall, though they were more work, I thought they were worth it.  I ate just one and since Taelin knows how many she has left there isn't going to be any sneaking one as a blog-night snack.  (That's like a midnight snack only one that I would eat while blogging.)  So, by just saying yes and indulging my little girl a little bit, I used two new recipes and checked one more thing off of my list.  A win-win...covered in frosting and sprinkles.

note the adorable ladybug apron that won out over the butterfly apron

waiting...not so patiently  :)

What they looked like after coming out of the oven...

after the cupcakes cooled (which according to her took 6 hours)
she painstakingly decorated each cupcake

finally product....they were really yummy...and pretty  :)

The BEST part...eating your hard labor. 

cognoscente:a person who has expert knowledge in a subject; a connoisseur

I wouldn't really consider myself a cognoscente in much.  I know a lot about some things, a little bit about a lot of things, and nothing about most everything.  But an expert in anything?  No, not really.  And I am alright at with that.  I don't really know if I know anyone that would be considered an expert at something. I do know some people that like to think they are experts at something...but for the most part they are just kind of know-it-all jerks.

I suppose it just comes down to perspective.  Taelin would probably consider me an expert at a lot.  I can cook a hot dog perfectly (not too hot and not too cold), I always can get her stuff animals to stay in her mesh holder, and I know how the puzzle pieces fit into all her puzzles.  I wonder how long that will last?  Probably not long enough.

Photo a Day Week of June 1-7

Week 4 in the bag for photo-a-day.  A few more days and I will have completely my original goal of doing one month.  I will admit that this week had the photo more in the back of my mind than the previous three weeks; much more last minute or just pictures that I was taking anyway to record part of our day.  

I only have one more week of work and then hopefully there will be a little more brainpower that can be dedicated to this project.  There still seems to be a nagging feeling about what I am actually taking a picture of.  I think it is the scrapbooker in me that want to take pictures of people/events instead of "things".  I know that practicing taking pictures of "things" will help me in my other pictures...but I kind of want these pictures to tell a story and I know that while the picture of the candle is kind of cool, it is the picture of the couch with books all over it or the picture of Taelin laying on the mat at her gymnastics program that I love most.  There are memories to go with them.  I know the story behind them and those are the ones that I love.  

Evidence of an afternoon well-spent

Taelin's 1st self-portrait

Schnitzel Chicken Nuggets

This particular recipe came about in a couple of different ways.  First, Taelin seems to be like almost every other child in the United States and LOVES chicken nuggets.  I can't, however, in good conscious buy a bag/box of chicken nuggets, serve it to her for lunch or dinner and call it good.  We have on occasion got her chicken nuggets when we are out but I just can't have them in my house.  I knew they weren't good but then I saw this clip of Jamie Oliver from his show and that pretty much did it for me.  So, I need to make them from scratch because somehow it is easier to get her to eat chicken that way.

Secondly, our meeting focus in Weight Watchers a couple of weeks ago was using different kinds of spices in our cooking.  The whole idea of not eating the same thing over and over again and learning to eat new things helps with weight loss.  I am not hugely adventurous when it comes to using a lot of different things, but I promised myself in the meeting that I would try something new.

Enter...Schnitzel Chicken Nuggets.  Long ago, I used to make what I am sure it some kind of bastardized chicken schnitzel.  Even when I went to search for an exact recipe I couldn't find one that was like I had done...so forgive me it I am calling this something that is way off base!  Anyway, I used to bread chicken and then pan fry it and serve it with a slice of lemon and mashed potatoes.  I honestly can't remember the last time I fried something but the recipe did come to mind when thinking about spices because I use nutmeg in my breading and hadn't in a long time.  Here is the recipe!

Ingredients
9 oz of chicken breast, cut into nugget sized pieces (I just used 9 oz because that is 3 oz a person)
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
salt and pepper (your preference when deciding how much)
1 egg, beaten
lemon wedges

Directions
1. Combine the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
2.  Dredge each piece of chicken through the egg and then bread using the above mixture.  Lay on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
3.  Baked at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes, flipping each nugget over once to help it crisp up.
4. Serve with a slice of lemon that can be squeezed over the top right before they are eaten.

They were really good and I will definitely make them again.  I have to say that while I could tell they weren't fried, they were pretty good just plain baked.  What I really need to do it make a HUGE batch of them once school is out so that I have them for quick reheating this summer.  I could see baking them off and then freezing them individually for an hour on a cookie sheet before putting them into freezer bags.

Hopefully this post doesn't offend anyone that truly understands and loves what chicken schnitzel is.  If I do, please let me know what I did to take a left turn that I should have!

Outside the Ordinary World by Dori Ostermiller

This book was one of the books that I picked up last fall when Borders was closing.  I liked the book quite a bit, but honestly am still a little baffled why.  I have read books before where infidelity was central to the story, but none quite like this.  The book tells the story of one women, Sylvie, during two different times of her life.  When Sylvie is younger, she becomes a secret keeper of her mother's affair.  That story by itself was well written but when we heard Sylvie's story as an adult and how she finds herself in a situation very much like her own mother.

It is an interesting tale of mother and daughter relationships, marriage, tragedy, loss and grief.  I couldn't put the book down because I just needed to know how it was going to end.

I didn't however rate it very highly on Goodreads.  I gave it 3 out of 5 stars; marking it as "liked it".  I suppose I could have given it 4 out of 5 stars just based on the fact that I couldn't put it down, but I just couldn't.

I am lucky that I don't personally have any experience with infidelity in my marriage.  I have people in my life that have experienced the devastation caused by infidelity and am so grateful that I can't even imagine myself in that situation.   I don't know what the national statistics are on infidelity (and I don't think I really want to know to be honest) but I there is no way that it could be as high as it is in this book. There is not an adult character in this book who had not been involved with someone outside their marriage.  I think it was so hard to be to believe that it made it difficult to buy into the story as it went on.

It was very well written; there were many times that I read a sentence and had to stop and reread it because I loved how the sentence was crafted but I don't know how many books I could read with this particular theme.  It is the first novel by this author and I will keep my eye out for anymore that she might write..but might not pick it up if it is about the same topic.

Garden Update 6/3/12

Things are going pretty well for our little garden, we actually have some pea pods that I think might be ready for eating this week!

Just so you don't think that everything is growing!

green beans are growing well

there will soon be a salad on my table  :)