As we call it... "Yummy"

So my friends on Pinterest make me gain weight.  You have them too.  When you are just looking for crafty ideas or healthy meals, the ones who pin stuff like this:

• http://pinterest.com/pin/60657926201899565/ 
• http://pinterest.com/pin/137852438564787106/ 
• http://pinterest.com/pin/32862272251748638/ 
• http://pinterest.com/pin/2814818487966702/

I hate you all.

So of course when I view these pictures, I can't help but think, hmm, is that something I could make?  Do I have all of the ingredients right now at 12 AM to indulge my sweet tooth?  Can I alter the recipe at all to make it yummier/unhealthier/easier?

My latest creation is an alteration of this pin http://pinterest.com/pin/2814818487966702/.  The first time I made it, I left out the egg and added ice cream & chocolate syrup on top.  (Yes, I have made this more than once. More like half a dozen times).  Since then, my oh so willing hubby and I have created the perfect dessert.

Ingredients

Baby cereal, yellow squash, 
and tomatoes not used in this recipe.

1/2 tbsp butter (melted)
1/2 tbsp white sugar
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
some vanilla extract
some salt
1/2 tbsp (or more) peanut butter
1/8 cup white flour
some milk
some chocolate chips

Nice and precise, huh?

The way I create this masterpiece is by melting the butter in a small Corningware ramekin, then mixing in the sugars, vanilla, and salt.  

Then I add my peanut butter.  Depending on how the day went, this amount may increase significantly.  These cookies are MUCH better with the peanut butter - it improves the taste & consistency.  The cookies are OK without it, but heavenly with it!



Next I add the flour and *some* milk and mix it all together.  





Last are the chocolate chips.  I tend to add more chips in hubby's cookie, but again, that amount varies depending on the day.  


Pop that ramekin in the microwave for 30 seconds and add a few more chocolate chips on top!  Yummy.  Just like the name.  

FYI - Each cookie requires at least a cup and a half of milk to drink with it.  Seriously.

Cooking with Greek Yogurt

A couple weeks ago, Mike got a coupon from Meijer for 3 free Yoplait greek yogurts.  I have tried greek yogurt before and was not a fan, but you can't beat free!  Since I definitely knew I didn't like it by itself, I told him to get just plain yogurt and I would try to find some recipes to use it in, as to not be wasteful.  Smart plan!  I saw a recipe on Pinterest in the past for a smothered chicken using mayo, but also saw a similar one using greek yogurt ( http://pinterest.com/pin/142778250656712070/ ).  I decided to give this one a try.  

The recipe was so simple - 4 chicken breasts (I used 2 breast cut into 4 pieces), 5 oz plain greek yogurt (fat free), 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (recipe was for shredded, I used grated because that's what I have), seasoned salt, garlic powder, and black pepper. All you have to do is mix it all together and put it on top of the chicken in a baking dish, then it goes in the oven for about 45 minutes at 375 degrees!  So simple!  This was only 5 WW points plus for 1/4 of the whole dish!  To complete the healthy meal, I paired it with the WW quinoa & spinach recipe and broccoli.  Mike & I LOVED this meal.  The kids were somewhat picky, but they both ate all of the chicken.

After that recipe, we still had 2 containers of the greek yogurt.  Also on pinterest, I looked up "greek yogurt" and saw a cheesecake using a store-bought graham cracker crust and cherry greek yogurt.  Roughly using the recipe I found, in addition to a couple others, I decided to wing it and make my own individual blueberry cheesecakes.  

I mixed together 2 containers (5 oz each) plain fat free greek yogurt, 1 egg, 1/3 cup splenda (could also use sugar, but I still had some free boxes of splenda that I had never used), 2 tbsp cornstarch, 1 tsp (ish) vanilla extract, and 1 cup unsweetened frozen blueberries.  To make the crust I used 10 low-fat cinnamon graham crackers (definitely too many, could have used about 6 instead) with 3 tbsp melted country crock light margarine spread.

I put cupcake liners in my muffin tins, put some of the graham cracker mixture on the bottom (pressed down to make a crust) and then filled each cup with my "cheesecake" mixture.  Since I had way too much graham cracker mixture, I topped each cup to use the rest of it.  Then I baked it for 20 minutes and immediately put in the refrigerator to cool & finish setting up.  Mike and I each had 2 last night, but they were even better this morning once they had cooled overnight.  These were only 2 points plus per cheesecake!!!  (For 2 it was 5 points total).  I think by reducing the graham crackers, it would probably bring it down to 4 points for 2 of these.  These were so tasty & light - definitely will make again!!!  These would also be good with other fruits, or even plain!  What we need to try for next time is no cupcake liners (they stuck quite a bit) and doing just graham cracker on top and then flipping them out. We'll see!  Either way, they are delicious and really do taste like cheesecake, only no cheese!!!

Old Friends

Yesterday, I loaded up the kids after lunch and we traveled to the Columbus Zoo for a playdate.  In the middle of the week.  Yay!!!  We were meeting two of my friends from high school (well, technically from before that even) and their children (each have 1).  The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!  It was a perfect temperature - jeans & sweatshirts (which mine wasn't even needed after pulling two kids in a wagon all afternoon).  The sky was nice & clear!  

We got to the zoo around 1ish, everyone else arrived about 20 minutes later, so we got into the zoo (free thanks to Jenny, yay!) around 1:30.  Dear son had napped briefly in the van on the way, but dear daughter, *sigh* did not.  We actually stayed at the zoo until 4:30 with no major breakdowns and only slight crankiness!  The zoo was not crowded at all, but the animals really weren't that exciting either.  We did get to watch the brown bears eat, so the kids really enjoyed that!  After the zoo we went back to Jenny's apartment for play time and dinner.  The kids played together really well (except for the baby, he was a little too small to play, but he was in a great mood watching the big kids play and having diaper blowouts).  

Overall we had a great day!  We managed to get a picture of all 4 kids together - soooo adorable!!! (3.5 yrs, 10 wks, 1.5 yrs, 2 yrs - 4 under 4!!!!!!)

My Little Helper & Miss Independent

So right now my son is earning jelly beans for doing good deeds during Lent.  He'll get his jelly bean jar at Easter.  We started off a little rough, he lost his first probably 10 jelly beans due to bad behavior and had to earn all of those back.  He actually has quite a few now!  One of his best good deeds is holding the door open for everyone when we get home.  As soon as we get out f the van, he immediately goes up the steps to the garage door to the house, opens it, and holds it open until we all are inside.  It's so sweet and he immediately asks (every time) "Is this a good deed?"  He's also helping to change his sister's diaper or eat her breakfast/lunch (she can certainly do it herself but has her lazy moments).  Overall, it's very cute and he'll be very happy to get all of his jelly beans at Easter!

My daughter is officially Miss Independent.  This morning, while climbing into her chair for breakfast, all she would say was "I do it, I do it!"  She refused any help getting into her chair, eating her breakfast, washing her hands, going downstairs after breakfast, etc, etc, etc.  It's so cute, but makes me dread those teenage years!!!

In other news - the kids and I all have strep throat.  Boo.  We're all on meds and hoping daddy doesn't get it too.  Kids seem to be doing well actually, I definitely got the bad deal and feel the worst!!!!

Birthday Weekend

Wow!  What a fantastic 27th birthday!!!!  Growing up, I always caught grief on my birthday since it is April Fool's Day.  While I always had enjoyable birthdays, it still kinda sucked while in school.  I haven't really celebrated my birthday the past several years - we'd have cake, but never really did anything special.  My sister & her hubby (then either boyfriend or fiance) came to my apartment for my 21st birthday - but they were showing their old age - my sister fell asleep watching a movie.  It wasn't late.

Anyways, hubby & I really didn't do anything special for his birthday (exactly two weeks before mine).  And we really didn't have anything planned for mine - I was going to scrapbook the whole weekend.  Well, plans changed.  Or happened?  We made plans to go to the Boonshoft Museum in Dayton (great Children's museum!!) with some friends we have made (yes, we actually made friends!) from church.  We also invited them over after for some homemade pizza.  On Saturday, the Reds were having their Opening Night game.  I thought that would be soooooooooo much fun to go to.  I decided I would spend my birthday money from my parents and grandma on some good seats for the game.  My parents volunteered to come babysit for the evening so hubby and I could go.  We got dugout box seats, row H.  Which we thought, ok, row H would be row 8.  Turns out dugout box seats don't start at letter A because of the dugout.  We were in the THIRD ROW!  Right  behind the dugout.  Best seats either of us have EVER had.  The game was awesome - the Reds won, we each got a Reds Chiquita Banana blanket, and because it was the first night game there were fireworks after the game!  What an amazing date night - and a great way to celebrate both of our birthdays!!! We also pigged out, which was a nice treat. :)  So yay for an amazing birthday weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Round 2

I had my first Tupperware party this past Saturday.  I've been to two (went to one, hosted one at my house).  That being said - it went really well!!!  I felt a little nervous, but things really went pretty smoothly and everyone seemed to have fun.  And I made money!  Woo-hoo!!!  Hubby wants me to sell Tupperware long enough to at least pay for what I have purchased and thanks to the success of party #1, I'm halfway there!  I have another party scheduled for the end of April, but I'd really like to have another before then.  I just don't know enough people to try to get more scheduled, especially since it's almost April and I'm running out of time...

Life feels busy right now, I'm trying to get a little more organized and really figure out what is going on in the next few months, but I can't seem to focus and organize.  We signed our son up for soccer - games will be Saturdays, we have the parents' meeting on Thursday.  I want to sign up for cake decorating classes starting at the end of April.  Ahh, just thinking about everything coming up makes my head hurt.

I need to go make lists now. :)

First

So we're what, 2.5 weeks into Lent and I still have HOW many to go before Easter???  I gave up Facebook - in hopes that it would result in me spending less time on the computer, more time actually playing with my children.  Instead, I am a lurker on the Cincinnati momslikeme website and have now taken up blogging.  The second one mostly because I realized that facebook records all the fun things my children do or say (or how absolutely terrible I am feeling that day) and without that record, I'm going to forget everything that is happening this Lenten season.  So, here we go!

My son is my sister's mini-me.  Seriously.  The things he says - not just what he says, but the WAY he says it - oh my goodness.  This morning while eating breakfast, I was trying to feed my daughter to get her to finish her cereal (yes, she turns 2 in June but is as lazy as they come and refuses to feed herself at most meals).  So my son starts singing, "If she won't eat it, I'll take a bite."  Flashback 25+ years ago to my sister singing, "If she doesn't want it, I guess I'll take it."  In response to my mother feeding me baby cereal and me not wanting to eat it.  TWINS!  Well, and that leads to the next thing - while my son is my sister's mini-me, my daughter is mine!!  HELLO - this is NOT a good thing!!!!!!!  She hits, she bites, she shrieks, she knows exactly how to push her brother's buttons (and mine too)!  I have been dreading the teenage years ever since the ultrasound showed she was a girl, but that dread has turned into all out fear.  I seriously don't know how I am going to survive the next 16 years.  (Hence my blog title - Mo2 (mom of 2) - Going CRAZY)

So other excitement so far this Lent - our dog pukes every few days.  I despise puke.  I really should not have had kids nor gotten a dog, because I absolutely refuse to clean up vomit.  Luckily, I have not had to clean up Pickle's puke yet, but it's only a matter of time.  Plus, she is able to jump over our brand new fence.  Really?  *sigh*  Why did we want a dog?  However, the kids love her and she doesn't eat trash or chew on furniture or jump on the couch, so I can't complain too much.  Still working on having her eat spiders though, that's why I wanted a dog.

Pickle Juice

We went to a family friend's birthday party this past weekend.  It was a princess theme.  My son just happened to want to wear his cape & crown that day.  Super cute.  Birthday girl got a few princess dresses as a present - she, her cousin, and my daughter dressed up as princesses - and had their picture taken with (his words) their "Prince Charming."  He was in heaven surrounded by his princesses.  That was last Saturday - he's still talking about his Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty.

Last night my husband and I went to a "try Scuba for free" class at the local Y (we are members).  We dropped the kiddos off at the nursery (first time I think they've ever gone in the evening, but they did fine with a snack).  I was SCARED to death.  I'm afraid of water.  Specifically, going under water.  Why in the WORLD did I want to try this?  Oh yeah, because my husband is certified and LOVES it!  He promised me that someday he'll take me to Australia.  IF I become scuba certified first.  Really?  So not nice.  I've been wanting to go to Australia since I decided kangaroos were my favorite animal back when I was like 4 or something.  I was always Katie Kangaroo for crying out loud!!!  Anyways.  I saw the flyer for this free scuba class last week and I told my husband about it, saying, I'm willing to try it.  It would be a very controlled atmosphere in the Y pool and we'd actually get to try out the equipment and get a feel for how scared I actually am.  Plus - you can't beat free!!!  So I tried it.  I couldn't breathe.  Well, I could use the regulator and take breaths, but I was so scared that I was like gasping and my breath was so uneven.  The instructor came over and went under with me and told me to just look at him while I tried to breathe, but I still couldn't steady my breath.  Luckily the instructor was super nice and since hubby is certified, he let us just stay by the edge and do our own thing - giving me plenty of time just to keep trying it out.  I was able to get to the point where I could breathe more normally, but the combination of water in my ears and the force of the bubbles coming out of the regulator and into my face just were very not comfortable.  I told hubby I think we need to just start with the basics and just learn how to swim comfortably and practice going underwater on my own.  Maybe someday I'll be ready for scuba classes, but I think they are still several years off...

Ok, I've written a book.  I'm going to try to keep up with this more, especially from now until Easter.  And maybe even after that I'll still keep up with it.  And maybe sometime I'll add some pictures too, especially for my dear sister, whom I'm assuming will be the only one who will actually read this.  :)