Sling Things

After a long hiatus from sewing I returned with abandon on Friday sewing three slings over the course of naptime and bedtime. Two are for a family friend's daughter in laws and the other for a friend and former neighbor. I am so stoked about the one for my friend. So freaking cute :) I just wish the picture wasn't so bleached out, because their is nothing dull about this fabric and ribbon combo.

My practice sling is wrinkled to high heaven (that's 100% linen for you) but once its on it looks a whole lot better. Mr. B thought that while G. was taking a picture of Mr. B and I that he would take a picture of himself, hence the "cheese" pose. This sling needs a good home so if you are interested let me know.

Sick Days

Last week Mr. B woke up not feeling very well, so we treated him to his favorite show, binky (normally reserved for bedtime only) and snuggle time in our big fleece blanket.

By the next morning he was good as new.

He still suffers from his toddler tantrums, he just can't seem to figure out why he is not the center of the universe. Poor little guy he was so sad when I took this picture, pretty sure it was because he was told he could not play with something that is unsafe.

This week it was mom's turn to be sick. I spent Saturday morning feeling like I had a head cold, but thankfully it got better as the day went on. Monday was spent in bed or on the couch with a stomach bug. Guess all those super bowl treats were not such a good idea after all. So we set up camp and watched Megamind which Mr. B was pretty thrilled about as you can see. Gotta love the hair.

I am already feeling WAY better!!!! Hopefully this week gets better and better.

Winter Blues and Mr. B

Mr. B and I have felt a little couped up lately, but we feel very blessed that it has been within the walls of our beautiful new home.  Each morning Mr. B starts off the day with a bowl of oatmeal sometimes I feed it to him, other days I let him go to town.

Yesterday Mr. B had to have his 18 month shots, he was not thrilled that the nice nursing he was trying to make friends with reciprocated by poking him in the legs. The poor boy was pretty beat up about it and feel asleep in the car, sadly he did not take another nap and so this picture is what happened at 6:30pm.

Last week we had to run to the mall and Mr. B got to have an ice cream cone from Chick Fillet. He loved it. In case you missed the facebook video. Ever since this video was taken Mr. B says "cheese" when I pull out my phone. 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100306752113279]

We also got to make a carseat cover for G's cousin, I am just in love with the fabric, it is so stinking cute.

Hopefully June comes quickly, because if there is one thing Mr. B and I love its water and sunshine :)

Christmas-ness

This year we stayed in Sandy for Christmas. Sadly all of G's siblings could not be there like originally planned, but we still had a great Christmas. Mr. B found his present from Santa to be loads of fun. He spent an hour making baskets. He was quite the Jimmer in training. (He was totally like this :)

Tuesday we road tripped to Denver. Mr. B did fantastic. He enjoyed his very first happy meal, and actually finished the whole thing. We stayed a week and got to spend lots of time relaxing and hanging out with family and friends. 

Creamy Caramel Flan

My mom loves Flan, I mean LOVES it. She was known to eat only a garden salad at dinner so she could order 2 flan servings for dessert. I tried it from several Mexican places and was not impressed by the texture. It just simply was not that good, sometimes a little chunky or spongy, and as someone very texture sensitive it even worse. I am more of a cheesecake person myself, so I needed a smoother, creamy texture (envision caramel cheesecake that is just a little ore solid than custard or pudding).

The only time I really could say that I really liked flan, was back in college when a friend and I made his mom's recipe. She is Columbian and her recipe involved putting all the ingredients in a blender (genius I tell you, no other recipe for flan is as easy as doing that). We baked it in a water bath, cooled it overnight, it turned out pretty spiffy.

I went to make it on my own a few years later as part of a Mexican dinner for some family. I stumbled upon a recipe on allrecipes.com called Creamy Caramel Flan. I make use the directions from my friends mom, and the recipe from this one. Enjoy, it sounds complicated, but it really isn't, and it is a perfect dessert to make ahead of time. As it needs to cool at least 8 hours before serving. It is also an awesome dessert because the ingredients are easy to keep on hand. Bonus it is gluten free, which dessert wise is very uncommon.

Bold=My directions

Creamy Caramel Flan

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 5 eggs
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a small, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, cook sugar, stirring, until golden. Pour into a 10 inch round baking dish ( I use an 8" by 8" because I find it fits nicely into a 9" by 13" pan which will get use as a waterbath in the baking process), tilting to coat bottom and sides. Set aside. (If the caramel cracks dont worry it will melt again while baking
3. In a blender combine everything but the sugar (which was made into caramel) and pour into the 8" by 8" pan, place that pan into a 9" by 13" 1/3-1/2 filled with water. Place in the oven. 
4. Bake in preheated oven 50 to 60 minutes, until center is just set. Cool one hour on wire rack, then chill in refrigerator 8 hours or overnight. To unmold, run a knife around edges of pan and invert on a rimmed serving platter.

Peanut Butter Fudge

My mother-in-law retired this summer and has relished finally having the time to experiment with various Christmas candy recipes. Our waistlines are showing the affects of her efforts. I myself usually do not care for things like Tofee, Divinity, Almond Bark, Chocolate Fudge etc. However her Peanut Butter Fudge is amazing. I seriously ate almost all of what she gave me the very first night we had it at home. I asked her for the recipe, something I now regret now that half a nine by thirteen is gone. So if you have immense self control, or are actually capable of giving away deliciousness, go ahead and whip up some of these bad boys.

picture from http://www.npplfoundation.org/CH3.html

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

2 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

1 1/3 c. peanut butter

1- 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme

Line a 8" by 8" with foil and then lightly butter the foil.  Set aside.  In a saucepan, bring sugar and milk to a boil on medium heat, stirring constantly.  Boil for 3 minutes and continue to stir.  Remove from heat and add peanut butter and marshmallow creme.  Mix well and quickly pour into the buttered pan.  Chill until set.  

Tips as provided by Sherri Freestone

"I doubled this recipe and it filled one of my LARGE cookie sheets. The recipe says to use an 8x8 pan, but if you make a single batch I think I would put it in a 9x13.  The 8x8 pieces would be super thick.  Use the heaviest saucepan you have and stir it with a wooden spoon (me- C. suggests a silicone spatula instead).  As you stir, try to keep it scraped from the sides so that it doesn't crystalize there. Instead of putting it in the fridge to chill, I set it on the floor of the cold garage. :)   Another trick...  when it is cool, lift the whole thing out of the pan using the foil.  Place it on a cutting board and cut it into small squares with a pizza cutter.  I'm making it sound hard, but it is super easy and simple...."

YUMMMMMMY

Mr. B etc.

Toddlerness is in full swing at our house. Mr. B is into everything, and insists that all attention be 100% dedicated to him. He likes to spend his days ransacking cupboards, dumping drawers, and attempting to steal and break our electronic devices. When these activities get boring he reads some books, dances to any music he hears (and sometimes does not hear) and resisting sleep. For example yesterday he got ahold of powdered eye shadow, and in less than two minutes this was the result.

I spent yesterday preparing some Mexican food for G's mission president and his wife (he served in Mexico City so they stakes of authenticity were pretty high). Not wanting to get too over my head I made from scratch refried beans, mexican rice, carne asada tacos (mexican style steak tacos, and my signature creamy flan. Aside from a placing on the plate mishap that left the flan with an ugly blemish on the top, everything was perfect. The flan tasted so amazing that the guests were speechless. I had not known that his mission president having served in Argentina had grown to love their creamy flan and missed it terribly (mexican flan is not nearly as creamy), so that worked out awesome.

As a part of making the beans, I cooked up a batch of bacon (you cook the beans in their grease). I set the bacon on the kitchen table. Mr. B not content with the tiny piece I had given him, reached from his high chair, pulled the table runner until the entire plate of bacon was on his tray. I walked over and saw this mischievous smile.

If you want to make your own mexican feast you can use these recipes:

Creamy Caramel Flan- allrecipes.com, although make sure to just put all the ingredients in a blender, it is the easier way to make it

allrecipes.com Mexican Rice II

Refried Beans- Homesicktexan. blogspot.com