High Five for Friday

Ever have the kind of week that just tries every last nerve you have? That's been my week. I definitely needed a reminder of some of the better stuff from this week! So I'm linking up Jennie to share some of it. 

1) Last Friday we had dinner with my friend Janis and her husband. Since her husband's retirement, he's become quite the cook! He made us a delicious lasagna with cheesy garlic bread and Olive Garden-esque salad. My contribution, as always, was dessert. I went with Pioneer Woman's mocha brownies. It was so good to see Janis & John and we had a great evening catching up. It was the perfect start to the weekend.

Brownies!

2) At some point over the weekend I broke out this new bubble toy. It puts little bubbles inside big bubbles. Such a fun toy!

What kid doesn't love bubbles? (If you have toy envy,
you can find them at Walmart or Target)

3) I knew it was going to be a trying week, so I started it off with some yummy Cinnamon scones to go with my Monday morning coffee (and Tuesday morning coffee...and Wednesday 3:00 snack). (Recipe HERE; I was out of honey so I subbed REAL maple syrup and it was delightful.)

4) Workbook time! Grant finished up two chapters in his workbook he's been working on and he was so proud of himself. He loves to learn :)

5) FOOD. 

I'm not really a spaghetti lover but this was good.
(recipe based on THIS one)

Yeah...pasta again.
(recipe HERE)

6) It felt wonderful outside last night and was perfect for a little post-dinner pre-bath baseball. Grant told me "I'm gonna whack the mess outta this ball!"

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Friday was my birthday and I woke up to a hilarious card from Grant that he picked out himself. Husband told me he was very excited about the unicorn and after I read it (and was laughing myself silly) he told me "Yeah...watch out for the unicorns". And then after work, I was surprised with some flowers, a new Hurricanes tshirt I wanted, and my annually requested DQ ice cream cake! Happy Birthday to me :)

Best. Card. Ever.

Birthday things!

2) I was feeling crafty and made a bracelet. It's for my sis but who knows if she'll actually wear it. I'm mostly just excited that I tried something and it worked out without me having to throw things or make up swear words.

3) Sunday was a rather productive day for me! I got a crap load of laundry done, stocked my freezer with breakfast sandwiches for the week, and even made some yummy cinnamon glazed scones to enjoy with my cofee on Monday (scone recipe HERE). 

Looking at this makes me sad that they're all gone :(

4) Tuesday I spent the day with Grant for our Grant & Mama Day! We had such a fun day together and it was nice to take a day and just make it all about us since sometimes the weekends feel like a time I need to get things done. It was great to have a day just for fun!

5) Last night I was supposed to cook and I just didn't want to. So we went out and Grant got to pick. He picked Golden Corral...because they have ice cream. It's not at the top of Husband's favorite places but I don't mind it every once in a while. Grant will usually pretty well there and...well, I just love his chocolate covered dessert face :)

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

New Recipe: Chocolate Chip Scones

I actually made this recipe a while ago - two weeks ago maybe? - and I'm just incredibly late posting about it. Grant's been sick and, because of my medications, I pick up whatever he gets in about 3.5 seconds. And now it takes me twice as long to get rid of it. But anyway, I finally have a few moments that I actually feel like typing this up so here's a great Chocolate Chip Scone recipe for you!


Mmmmm...

Chocolate Chip Scones

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick real butter, cut into chunks
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1) Prep a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar. Then cut in the butter using a pastry blender (or a couple knives if you don't have a pastry blender) until the mixture is crumbly. Then add the chocolate chips to the mixture. Beat the egg slightly in a separate bowl, then add the egg to your mixture. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and almond extract and mix until it's all just binding together.

2) Sprinkle flour on your counter top. Place dough on top and knead a few times (5 or 6 times). Pat into a round shape (like a really big thick pancake). Cut into 8 pie shaped pieces. Place on prepared cookie sheet, brush tops lightly with milk and bake at 425 degrees for 13-15 minutes. Cool for a couple minutes on the pan then move them to a wire rack.

Recipe Source: Northern Cottage

I have said before that I do not trust anything cake-like that does not have some kind of frosting. So I added a simple powdered sugar glaze (I added cocoa powder for chocolate flavor) to my scones.



The scones did not go unnoticed by the curious tiny human that
is constantly running through my kitchen.


Notes/Suggestions:

• I have little to no tolerance for the flavor of almond extract so I used a full teaspoon of vanilla in place of the 1/2 vanilla 1/2 almond. Having tasted it this way I will continue to make them without the almond extract.
• Husband LOVED these. I've made other kinds of scones before and after tasting them Husband had declared that scones are so dry that they must have been invented by coffee shops so you keep buying their coffee to keep from choking on the scones. But he tasted these and said they're "way better than all those other kinds you've made". I think he liked all the chocolate chips :)
• Watch your baking time because mine got a little burned on the bottom. However, that didn't stop me from enjoying them for a couple days as my 3:00 snack.
• If you're a scone lover, check out the recipe for Brown Sugar Pecan Scones that I made last year. I really enjoyed those...yum!

Anybody out there try some new recipes lately? Any favorite scone recipes you want to share?

Royally Obsessed (And a New Recipe)

All right, I admit it. I've been anticipating the Royal Wedding for at least a month now. I even downloaded the Royal Wedding App for my phone (it was free, I definitely wouldn't have paid for it). Mostly, I wanted to see what Kate's dress looked like - that's always my favorite part of a wedding - since it was "the secret" of the wedding. And it did not disappoint. I'll admit that it didn't look anything like what I thought it would but I thought it was gorgeous. But let's face it, she could have walked down the aisle in a potato sack and she would have looked gorgeous.

I'm fascinated with the Royal Family. I don't think it's out of any desire to be a princess or anything silly like that. After seeing just how much attention this got, especially over the last month, I can say for certain it is not a life I would want. But, nonetheless, it is really interesting to watch and read about. I recorded roughly 7 hours of Royal Wedding coverage and as of this moment have only been able to watch 2 1/2 hours of it. I'm hoping to be able to watch the rest of it but if we need room in the DVR queue...well, it'll have to go :(

So you can't help but notice how much those people love their Queen. And also how much those people love hats! Husband, being very fashion forward, commented on one rather large headdress saying "What's that bitch doing out in public with that on? If I was sitting next to her I'd say WTF are you wearing?? Get that thing out of my way." And I wonder how badly the TV people wanted to point out that you can't help but feel sorry for Kate's sister, Pippa. Mostly because her name is Pippa but also because no matter what she does - ever - she's never going to do anything at all that compares to this. But seriously, how cute are William & Kate? I can't wait to watch more of what I recorded.

So, in honor of the Royal Wedding, I decided to try a new recipe. Scones! Love scones. These are Brown Sugar-Pecan Scones and the recipe can be found HERE . I haven't had one yet, but I had a bite of Husband's and I thought it was so yummy! I plan to have one in the morning with my coffee...if I can wait that long.



There is a stick of cubed butter that is supposed to be there as well, but
it was in the fridge keeping cold and I forgot it for the picture. Oops.

There it is! Being added to the dry ingredients.

You're supposed to blend it together with a pastry blender. I don't
 have one. So I just use a fork and it seems to work well.

It's supposed to look like "small peas" but I don't think it does. But since
there were no more chunks of butter I called it "blended".

Adding the cream and toasted pecans to the party.

Mix until "just moistened". I always feel like I over-mix.

You pour it out onto a sheet of wax paper and pat into a 7 inch circle.

Cut into 8 wedges and place on a greased baking sheet. Brush tops with remaining
cream (and if you're like me then you'll add a sprinkle of sugar).

Bake until golden brown...YUM!

I do not trust cake or anything cake-like without some sort of frosting. So
I made up a quick cinnamon sugar glaze to go on top.

Yum! I can't wait to eat one.

Notes/Suggestions:

• I used 3/4 cup toasted pecans instead of a 1/2 cup. The 1/2 cup just didn't seem like enough.
• I had to use heavy whipping cream (instead of whipping cream) because it's what the store had. It seems to have worked just fine.
• I'm a big fan of glaze on things like this so I just made a simple powdered sugar glaze and added some cinnamon to it. LOVE cinnamon.
• Great for a brunch or "tea party"

Enjoy! (And sorry for the super long post.)