Ice Cream Break

Superior Dairy: the only reason anyone ever goes to Hanford, California.

Today I learned that when they said I should just get the single scoop, they were right.

Breakfast

DAY TWO // a photo of something you ate today

My sisters are turning out to be very adept in the kitchen, at least when sweet things are involved. We've consumed a great deal of breads, muffins, and cupcakes throughout the summer thus far.

This morning it was pumpkin pancakes. Which definitely belong in the fall, but I won't complain. The pancakes earned themselves a thumbs up - 100% better than my last pancake-making attempt - and if you're interested, the recipe is here.

Happy Monday!

That One Time I Actually Cooked the Dinners I Pinned

Actually, it was a few times. We usually don't stray far off the beaten path in terms of what we cook for dinner, so when I got put in charge of the menu for two weeks, I made sure to include some variety, courtesy of my Pinterest boards. Here are the four I remembered to take pictures of...

TILAPIA AND ASPARAGUS.

So maybe this one isn't actually from Pinterest, but isn't it pretty? This was my first time cooking fish, so we made it nice and simple, just adding lemon pepper and Old Bay spice, with a lemon to squeeze on top. The asparagus just has olive oil, lemon pepper, and cheddar/jack cheese. 

SPRING ROLLS.

This was a bit of a fail {as in,70% wouldn't mind never having it again}...but hey, at least it looks pretty!

recipe here 

WHITE PIZZA GRILLED CHEESE.

Holy cannoli, this was amazing. Next time, I'll be putting less cheese, because it got to be a bit much, but still - oh, cheesy goodness, it was delicious. 

recipe here

CHEESY GARLIC BREAD STICKS.
Again with the cheese...and it was just as good. As long as you ignore the calorie intake , you can never have enough.
recipe here

Have any of you had any recent Pinterest cooking successes {or fails. Because fails are always fun.}?
Or, better yet, any to-die-for recipes to share???

Here's to a fabulous weekend!

****Don't forget to enter the FIRMOO GIVEAWAY!****

Summer Is

...pancakes for breakfast. Real pancakes. Not these.

(speaking of which, I still cringe every time I eat a banana thanks to that experience)

...the things you never get too old for. Like blasting the radio, dressing up, and 

having a dance party while you're home alone. Which totally happened.

...sleeping in late. check.

(that sticker on the clock? Ei klokke. That's from back when I was teaching myself 

Norwegian. I don't remember any)

...Psych marathons. I've discovered that I laugh much harder and louder when I'm

watching them by myself. 

...BOOKS. Oh, how I have missed the books! 

Summer means I finally have time to READ. And that's pretty much the best part.

Also, this song:

It's kinda the opposite of what this post is about, but I'm obsessed with it. And Sara Bareilles in general.

Just Trying to Make Your Life Better

I'm pretty sure the best part of my friends having birthdays is making them cookies...and then me getting to eat the extras.

You've seen this recipe, right?

Peanut Butter and Nutella Cookies

from The Sister's Cafe

1 cup butter (2 sticks) room temperature

2/3 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy – I like crunchy)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 2/3 cup flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

heaping 1/3 cup Nutella

Cream butter, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla together until smooth. Combine flour, baking soda and salt and add to butter mixture. Add Nutella in dollops over the top of the dough.  Use a butter knife to swirl the Nutella through the dough.  Do not over mix.  Chill the dough in fridge for 15 minutes before spooning onto cookie sheet to firm the nutella.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Bake until slightly brown at edges.  Let cool a few minutes on cookie sheet before transferring.

Go make a batch. And eat them warm.

You're welcome.

It Really Was Too Good To Be True...

A while ago I pinned these pancakes on Pinterest.

via

3 ingredients, healthy, and delicious - amazing, right?

NO.

It may just be me {which is totally possible. I have a tendency of not quite following directions...but how could I mess this up???}, but these things were nasty. Like "holy-cannoli-let-me-choke-this-down-before-I-gag" nasty.

They may look pretty decent here, but NO. No, no, no. Do not be deceived.

As soon as I finished mixing the batter, I knew it was going to be bad...so I added chocolate chips. Lots and lots of chocolate chips. And they helped a bit. The one on the right in the picture actually ended up tasting all right. I accidentally cooked it veeeery well (like, it was totally black on both sides), but that ended up being a good thing. I took my attention away from the nastiness of the pancake itself.

It was a very filling breakfast - but I've definitely learned that if something sounds too good to be true...it probably is.

However, if you are still crazy enough to try these...things...after reading this post, a few recommendations:

#1) Mash the bananas thoroughly. And once you think you've mashed them thoroughly, mash them some more. And then a couple more times. I'm thinking it might help the texture.

#2) The recipe calls for almond butter...and maybe it actually needed almond butter and you shouldn't substitute that for peanut butter. Maybe.

#3) Have add-ins. I really don't think I would have finished them if I didn't know I'd be getting a nice dose of chocolate with each bite. You could go a healthier route, I suppose, with berries or whatnot...but where's the fun in that?

#4) Burn them black. None of this "golden" trash.

Best of luck. Let me know how it turns out if you go ahead with this. 

I, for one, will never be attempting these again.

Why, Starbucks? Why?

Why must you include coffee in so many of your drinks? I know you're a coffeehouse, but still. And why, why, WHY is there COFFEE {or espresso, or mocha, or whatever - something that contains more caffeine than I ever wanted to consume} in your hot chocolate? 

And in your salted caramel hot chocolate? 

AND in your peppermint hot chocolate? 

You could've at least warned me about that before I discovered that I liked them. And don't even try to tell me that I should have assumed they were safe. Who puts that much caffeine {90 mg, which is nothing compared to straight coffee, but it's still more than I want!} in a generally Niamh-friendly beverage? 

But I know better now! Never again will I trust a drink unless I've thoroughly researched it! 

The plus side of this is that I did go and thoroughly research every other not-obviously-caffeinated drink at Starbucks, and I now have a Mormon-friendly Starbucks Bucket List!

1. White Hot Chocolate

2. White Chocolate Creme Frappuccino

3. Vanilla Bean Creme Frappuccino

4. Cinnamon Dolce Creme Frappuccino

5. Orange Mango Smoothie

6. Strawberry Smoothie

{there were a couple more that I could have included in this list, but they sounded yucky to me. I'm pretty sure one involved coconut...blech}

If Starbucks has still somehow managed to slip caffeine into these drinks undetected, 

someone please let me know before I try them!

Also, someone told me that if you have them add a creme base to pretty much anything, that makes it caffeine-free. True or False?

P.S. I'm grateful for

+ a three-day weekend! Thank gooseness!

+ when Blogger behaves

+ this amazing cold weather! I've been piling on the 

blankets these past few nights...and days :)

H54TLFOMSB

or, High Five for the Last Friday of My Summer Break.

Yeah.

Classes start Wednesday.

I'm trying reeeeally hard to be all positive about it, but it's kinda hard.  This year promises to be the toughest so far, and I'm a wee bit nervous, but I've got this! I am going to be just fine. Absolutely, 100% amazing. 

I am going to be praying more this year than I ever have in my life.

#1) My trip was absolutely amazing! As soon as I get pictures (and possibly sooner if people don't put them up on Facebook fast enough!), you will be hearing more about it than you might ever want to ... but it was just so stinking fabulous!

#2) So I come home from my little beach trip and I see this, and I just party. Seriously - 10 followers is so much more than it sounds like! Especially when you start a blog figuring that you're just writing it for yourself. It's a huge milestone for me. Thank you guys so much - it really does mean a lot!

#3) When kids go crazy decorating cupcakes.....

#4) I registered for classes yesterday. Yippee. I actually am kind of excited, in a way.

#5) I went to the dentist's for the first time in, like, a year. Oops. I've been going to the same office for forever - the dental-assistant-lady who cleaned my teeth yesterday was the same one who did it when I was eight years old! Crazy stuff...


Have a crazy awesome day! Don't forget who you are, and how much you mean to everyone in your life - and how much you mean to your Heavenly Father. I heard this cool quote the other day:

High 5 for Friday... {YUM} Edition!

This time around, it's all about food. There's been so much of it this week, and it's all been so good!

#1) I woke up early the other day to make...chocolate chip pancakes! A girl's got to indulge every once in a while!

#2) Cheap kiwis make me happy - cause then we get tons! How do you eat your kiwis? I eat them with a spoon, like you would eat a cantaloupe. Is that weird?

#3) SALSA! Wimpy not-so-spicy-cause-I-can't-handle-that salsa, but still salsa. 

#4) Fresh pasta salad - the only thing that could have made it better would have been tomatoes. Too bad the tommy-toes in the garden are still puny...they're getting there!

#5) Strawberries....yum. I'll put whatever fruit we have on an English muffin!

It's all so stinkin' GOOD!

P.S. Is this not the cutest ipad case EVER?

via

You could win one! Check out the giveaway at Adventures in Dressmaking!

Culinary Pursuits...and a Hairnet

For the next two weeks, I am enrolled in a Culinary Arts class. So though I will be attempting to dress for M:PT, this is what I'm really going to look like for the majority of the day....plus a highly flattering apron and hair net that I spared you all the joy of seeing. The apron is actually all right - but the hairnet is just awful.  Today was my first day, and I LOVED it! We made a super-yummy fruit salad, and the professor taught us how to properly cut the fruit (yes, apparently there is a wrong way to cut a strawberry...).

There's only one minor downside to this class: the dress code is going to 1) make M:PT extremely difficult this week, and 2)possibly kill me from heat exhaustion. This week's M:PT theme is shine. I have...well...zero shiny clothing items, so I was going to rely on my accessories and sequined ballet flats to save the day. But then the dress code for this class came, and it turns out that there is NO jewelry or scarves allowed, and all shoes must fully cover the foot. That kinda kills my back-up plans....so this week will be interesting for M:PT. Another part of the dress code is that we are required to wear full-length pants and mid-calf length socks, hence the possibility of death by heat exhaustion. It's HOT here!!!

 

Here's to a fabulous week-