i made you some jam

If you watched me ramble on Monday, then you know, that over the weekend, I went to the farmer's market with my parents.

I did.
And we found a new cafe.
And I had lemonade while my dad had a bloody Mary.
He's mean like that ;)

I came home with my usual, large haul of loveliness...and a nice container of wild raspberries.
They reminded me of the berries we'd pick at Camp Narrin growing up (tear).
Imagine my surprise when they were not as sweet as the berries of my youth.
Adding sugar seems to fix everything, so I decided a small batch of jam was in order.

Using the power of the google, I found this recipe.

So easy. So delicious. Nom nom nom.

Ingredients:
equal parts raspberries and sugar (I used 2 cups of berries and 2 cups of sugar)
squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional, but I highly suggest this)

What you do:
1. Place freshly washed berries in a sauce pot. (as the jam cooks it will double in size, so plan accordingly)
2. Mash the berries while you bring them to a rolling boil over med-highish heat.
3. Boil for 2 min.
4. Add sugar and lemon juice and stir well.
5. While stirring constantly, bring to a rolling boil.
6. Boil for 2 min.
7. DONE! Place in sterilized jam jars and seal (I just stuck mine in the fridge, we'll go through this jam super fast)

jamminess...noms

Joining the fun at Ashley's Ta-Da Tuesday Party!

a pinterest menu

We had a relaxing weekend.
We played.
Moved toys around.
Moved furniture around.
Cleaned.

It was good.
The week ahead looks exciting.
St. Valentine's Day and Grammy and Papa (my parents) are coming to visit!

YAYYYYY!!!!! So Happy!

But I was a bit stuck while planning this week's menu...and Duh! I remembered all of the noms I have saved on Pinterest.

A few new additions to our food repertoire for this week:

Breakfast:

Source: savoringthethyme.com via alannarose on Pinterest

Source: simplyscratch.com via alannarose on Pinterest

Source: plainchicken.com via alannarose on Pinterest

Dinner:

Source: skinnytaste.com via alannarose on Pinterest

Source: recipekitchen.net via alannarose on Pinterest

Source: cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com via alannarose on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via alannarose on Pinterest

Source: tasteofhome.com via alannarose on Pinterest

Source: canyoustayfordinner.com via alannarose on Pinterest

A little Baking:

Source: rfgblog.maryjanesfarm.org via alannarose on Pinterest

Source: recipetips.com via alannarose on Pinterest

Looks like we have a yummy week!

And, if you are like me, and couldn't figure out how everyone makes such cute Pinterest posts...here's the tutorial.

Are you following me on Pinterest?

Any really excellent boards I should be following?

yada, yada, yada...stuff and a sort of recipe

It seems like I have eight million blog posts running around in my head...but I can't get them out of my head and onto the screen.
Blah.
It's getting crowded in my brain.
Life and children take a lot of time...I'm not sure how REAL bloggers do it.
And Hubs has been traveling, so that means I am solely responsible for keeping the Kinder alive.

Mildly stressful, and yet everyday those little boogers do at least one thing to make it all worth it for me.

furby, sort of the best thing ever

Lately the baby has been answering "Me!" to certain questions...
"Who's ready for lunch?"
"Who wants to go for a ride in the stroller?"
Hearing his enthusiastic and adorable answer is the best thing.

Mr. Three had a challenging week, he missed daddy, had a little incident at school and was a total grump yesterday. But when I had a massive stress headache he played nicely and quietly with his brother so I could have a little rest on the couch.
And then he gave me a bunch of kisses and hugs "to get better."
Yep. Totally keeping him.
Also, the only Halloween candy he wants to eat is smarties, tootsie rolls, suckers and starburst. You'll never guess where all of his chocolate bars are... ;)

So by last night I was frazzled, but didn't feel like baking and had already eaten all of the good Halloween candy. I needed some chocolate. Amanda wrote about pumpkin bread with a Nutella cheesecake filling and I was sort of (100%) obsessing about that...

I ended up mixing together a spoonful of cream cheese, a spoonful of Nutella and just a little squeeze of honey. I ate it with Graham crackers and it was perfect.
That's a sort of recipe...not to be confused with a recipe-ish (have you seen this blog? I want Leslie to be my new best internet friend!!)

Tomorrow's Friday!
Yay!!

my new favorite chocolate frosting

Because I am *positive* you need more chocolate in your life, I am joining Amanda's Weekend Bloggy Reading link party at Serenity Now. 

On Sun. I whipped up a batch of chocolate cupcakes. And I was planning on making cream cheese frosting, but I keep whole sticks of butter in the freezer.
Do you do that?
It seems like a great idea, but then whenever I need butter for baking I have to either think about the butter ahead of time (what?!) or wait forever for it to thaw on the counter.
Don't try to microwave your frozen butter.
It never ends well.
Ever.

nom nom nom

So I pulled out the butter and let it thaw while the cupcakes baked.
But that's not enough time...not even close.
So I was becoming more and more impatient, and I totally did eat a naked cupcake and it was just NO GOOD.
And then I looked at the box of cocoa powder.

The clouds parted and angels sang...the simple recipe on the box calls for melted butter.

cuppie cakes

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

*taken directly from the cheap-o box of Hershey's Cocoa*

1/2 c. butter (ok, it says "or margarine" but promise me you will never make this with anything but real butter)

2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa

3 c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. milk

1 t. vanilla extract

*Melt butter. Stir in cocoa.

*Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on med. speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

Makes about 2 c.

blurry baby - he doesn't like to hold still, and I think someone touched the lens

My notes:
I made this in a large sauce pot, and I skipped using the mixer (didn't want to destroy the inside of my pot, and didn't want to dirty another bowl). It came together really easily and has an almost fudge-like consistency (which is pretty awesome). I added the vanilla when I added the last bit of milk (I thought it would be sort of hard to evenly mix in the vanilla otherwise). If you did use an electric mixer the frosting would probably be a bit fluffier, but the fudgieness is so yummm...I'm not sure I'll ever make this with a mixer. I also had more than I needed to frost 24 cupcakes - but I didn't pile on the frosting...it's really rich, you probably wouldn't want to anyway.

he prefers to clean his own face. thankyouverymuch.

Where do you keep your butter?

What's you favorite frosting?

tidbits and a ridiculously easy and delicious salad

* The house is a mess. I can't get control of anything...never buy a house with 4 toilets...no one needs to clean 4 toilets.

* Lately, I've been making a lot of ice cream. Inspired by Wisconsin? I don't know...but I am having fun!

* We went to the county fair on Sat. Tons of fun. Fried Oreos. Sno-cones. Noms.

* Ate at Five Guys for dinner on Sat. Have you been? Good greasy burger, a zillion french fries and peanuts! Plus, the line cooks were singing along with piped-in 80's music; I'm not sure if that's the norm, but we thought it was great.

* The furniture store is stalking me. I guess they really don't like holding our guest bed while we wait for our couches to arrive. I keep telling them if they waive one of the delivery fees, that I would be happy to accept the bed. No dice ;)

* Speaking of the furniture store; received a thank you note (sort of) from the salesman. "Thanks for your recent purchase. Roy" I threw away his business cards.

* Bought a bunch of costume hats for the boys. Bebe keeps running around in the pig hat and snorting. He thinks it's hilarious!

* Low key Sun, complete with splashing pool and wiggly-caterpillar sprinkler. And we finally ate on the deck. I threw together this salad, and I will totally make it again.

Summer Salad

equal parts:

fresh mozzarella, cubed

cucumber, chunked up

grape tomatoes, halved

Newsman's Own Light Cesar dressing and fresh pepper to taste

mix it up and enjoy!

I ate the leftovers for lunch on Mon, just on a bed of lettuce, so delicious!