Muffins! Muffins! Lots of Muffins!!

  I'm making muffins for something I'm going too,  So I tried this recipe out to see how it turned out before I made them for the event.   -  They're a good base,   but.. They need more flavor.   I'm not going to post the recipe because it needs some changes done to it,    Less of that,  more of this, some of that etc.   Once I get done perfecting it.   I will post it,   For now.   Here are some pictures.    They turned out pretty darn cute though.       These are "moca muffins"

No Recipe: Coffee Cake w\ Moca Frosting!

 

I'll  post the recipes later.

My love

❤     I get to see my love in 16 days!!!      ❤  

❤                                                   ❤

cheesey potato slices

Here, I sliced potatoes thinly in rounds,   put them in a zippy bag with extra virgin olive oil.    got them all covered in that,   Then I sprinkled fresh finally chopped parsley,  kosher salt and black pepper.   made sure each potato was coated with that.    Baked them at 390º   then a few minutes before they where completely heavenly I sprinkled them liberally with monterey jack cheese.    Then put them on one shelf higher.   put the oven on broil.      And waited until the potatoes were completely perfect, the cheese was melted and lightly browning in some areas.    Okay so I dont know why cheddar is considered the best cheese for potatoes! No no.. monterey jack cheese is def the best by far.. no argument there.    Their individual flavors compliment each other perfectly!  and its simply amazing....  

Readin'

So lately the last two or three months.   I've been reading a looot of books.      I read one in particular that I really enjoyed called "tilly" the book was based on the situation of a lady and her husband who had had a abortion and 10 years  later the lady was still dealing with depression and guilt issues affecting her and her family.    Its about how she learned of forgiveness through the Cross and how to apply that to her situation and move past it.   And it gives  a perspective from the child\tilly from heaven  that she aborted.      Coming to her mother in a "Dream" and telling her she had forgiven her but just wished so much that she could be with her and her dad and older siblings.    The book mainly told of Gods great love and forgiveness,  it could be applied to any situation but was pointed towards guilt, and esp guilt with abortion.    It was a amazing  book.    The  other one that I've read that I really loved was "Wounded Spirit"   That book was using the Authors negative schooling experiences from grade school until high school,  that mostly took place due too:   physical deformities and other differences and being  a Christian,    the book showed very much how to deal with being a wounded spirit and finding peace and worth in God.   And it explains how that works,  and how teasing and taunting can hurt someone so deeply and can go on to affect them much much later in life and they're self perspective(s)    And it also showed how to ask forgiveness from God and the wounded for those who have been the wounders and to go on leading a different life.     I loved that one too,   Some other books I've been reading are:  "Piercing the darkness"  -  the second book to "this present darkness"   I also have a smaller  book that  I usually read a page or so a day out of called "for the love of children"  Each page will have a little quote,  often a small story of a child.   And encouragement \ wisdom in relating to children and loving them.   Its pretty good,  one of the other books I've been reading is  "sinner"    Although I haven't gotten very far with that one,  its harder for me to get in to his books,   but I always end up enjoying them after-wards   -   well usually;  there was one I didn't like very well.   I'm also reading another one of his books called "White" part of the black, red, white, green trilogy I really like those ones,  but they are easier for me to put down hence the long time it has taken me to read the series.     I finished one of my favorites "nightmare academy"  a month or so ago,   it was awesome,  it'd take to long to explain.  -   the nutshell though is,   its trying to--did show how a life without morals   i.e nothing  set just whatever,  nothing is for sure or right,   Whatever you want to be right is right.  will never work and unfortunately make you go insane.  :P    And I've also started reading the Cooper kids adventure series.   hehe.     I've finished the first one and most of the second one.    And I've been doing my usual reading of my cooking magazines,   "everyday cooking,  better homes and gardens, food everyday, fine cooking etc"   and my other random magazines I enjoy "good things" etc.      And I usually read one of my cook books through two or three times a week,  Ive been reading "the pioneer woman cooks, and in the sweet kitchen"  and also " The elements of cooking" Which so far is good and seems to be more of a facts of cooking in particular subjects then a 'this is how  you do it book'   so its nice,    And it has somewhat gone into mild detail of a few things where it will explain why  its like that.  Which is ....fun, mostly sometimes its like.. "uhh cool?   Things melt cause it got hot,   never woulda guessed"  But overall I'm enjoying it.   My brother asked me very disturbed how I knew so much about random things.   ( I really dont, he was just being flatterful.. Is that a word? :P )    We were talking about the Mayan sacrificing practices    And my usual stutter\uhh uhh uhh bug self attempted to answer " I don't know " but someone else said " Cause she reads ALLLLL the time"   I thought it was kinda funny,  I didn't realize how much I read until  I got to thinking about it.    The only sad thing is out of however many hours I spend reading a day, week, month, year.. its a smaller percentage of time with the Bible then with a food book or a novel.... :\  Bad on me.

Pillow bread

I  made pillow bread,  Tuesday.  -    but it was very "special" pillow bread because I didn't put the yeast in til the very last minute.   As in right  before I let it rise.   ( This isn't a good idea,   I just forgot to put it in earlier )    One half of the dough I used right away to make my bread.   Let it rise then baked it.  - the other half I put in a ziplock baggy and refrigerated it for 24 hours,  Just to see what it would do and I didn't need all of it that one day.     -   Well the next day.   I guess my  bag wasn't big enough because it was spilling out.   of a not zipped anymore bag.   :p so it rose alot!    Then I let it do its other rising after being shaped and then baked it.   And that one was MUCH MUCH happier and fluffy.   

This is the first one though:  

 

yummy!  

  no, I didn't wait til it cooled completely!! who does?

This is a random little dish I made up today,    I got inspired by "Pico de gallo"  -  A dish I always make to go with burritos and tacos and such,     And another dish I saw in a cook book ( The accidental country girl )  that actually had eggs in it.   Which I obviously left out ( Not much of a fan of eggs )    out of those three different things,   this is what happened: 

 

it was actually really tasty.   :) I fried the tortilla chips in oil before adding them to the veggies.   The flavorings are lemon, salt&pepper, cilantro and red wine vinegar. 

This is a picture that I made from a bite of my eclair cake: 

26 days.

its 26 days to the offical start of my summer.   May 8th.   Which btw is a Saturday if you were wondering.   :) its when my boyfriend gets home. :)


Saturday,   made eclair cake.   :)    I layered a pan with graham crackers,   poured over some yummy vanilla pudding more graham crackers more pudding,   then topped it off with a yummy chocolate frosting.    Let it chill in the frig for 24 hours.    And then took it to discipleship on sunday evening ( Which is my Sunday night meet with my girlfriends to read\discuss the bible and have prayer requests and tell about our weeks, and how we are doing in various things )    It turned out pretty much amazing.. it all got eaten... and ya. :) I loved it.   my only complaint was according to the recipe I followed the chocolate frosting was pretty dang rich.. Although so is vanilla pudding so it kinda needed to be strong to get its distinct chocolate flavor in each bite.   -   And, the more I ate it.   The  more comfortable I got with the richness and found it actually tasted really good that way.   But still so I think you could maybe subtract a tbs or so of cocoa.
1 box Graham crackers.
2 (3 1/4 ounce)  boxes instand french vanilla pudding.
3 1/2 c milk
1 (7 ounce) container whipped cream.   Plus a c or so more.
frosting
1 1/2 c's powdered sugar
1/2 c cocoa
2 tbs butter - softened
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp light corn syrup (  I didn't add this,  because I didn't have any but I'm sure it would be fine with it )

-   For the frosting:  beat together with a stand mixture or whisk.  the sugar and butter add the cocoa then the vanilla extract and syrup.    beat til everything is well combined and smooth.
for the pudding filling:
follow the directions on the pudding boxes for making the pudding only use 3 1/2 cups milk instead of 4.   then add the whipped cream\topping to that.   Butter  the bottom of a 13by 9 by 2 inch pan line with graham crackers,  pour half of the vanilla mixture over.   cover with more graham crackers,  Pour rest of pudding mixture over.  -  Cover with frosting.  Chill in the frig for 24 hours.  dont heat up!

 this isn't a very good picture, you can't really see the layers in it but oh well.


Oooooo!  New picture,  With a little whip cream:

And I also made a delicious healthy snack. :D a trail mix. :) with chocolate covered raisins, cranberries,  ginger slices, banana chips, and nuts. :)

...Summer.. is ...close..

I haven't wrote in a wile.  So, the  last four days I've been *enjoying* a cold.   stuffed up, runny nose, headache lack of sleep all that nasty stuff.    But I'm slowly over the past two days starting to feel better so. :)   One thing that is helping the "feeling better process" along quite well  -  is my overwhelming excitement and anxiousness for summer to start for several reasons.  Unlike most winters.   I'm tii...re *ducks flying tomatoes* ddd of the snow and cold and darkness.   Usually it doesn't bug me and I didn't realize how tired I was of seeing it til it started slowly going away,  And the sun started coming  back.   Its sunny out. :) I actually got excited this year when sun rays started hitting the peeks of the trees - usually im like .. cool, sun.. ya whatever. this year I was like yay!!!!  now its moved on to the ground and is helping along with my prayers the ever so large amount of white fluff to slowly disappear.   In the woods under some of the trees and where the sun is reaching the best there's dry spots already. :)  i can see old dead leaves and twigs and fallen logs  and raspberry plants and rose hip plants.   -  Heh, I want to go sit on it and sun tan.   In town in the parking lots and on some of the roads its pretty much completely dry. :)  -  I have little crystals in my room hanging from the top of my window I think they might actually start reflecting sometime soon, which would make me very happy.  Yesterday I wore a pair of "off road Crocs" and shorts to town with a three fourth'ths sleeved cute flannel with a tank top underneath to Church,    And I didn't freeze and to my boyfriends worry my "cute little toes,  that could possibly get so cold that when I whack them they could shatter off"  are still intact. :)     Not only am I looking forward to the much warmer, brighter weather.   I'm so excited about summer in general:   Summer night storms ( I love those!! ) Rain,  water fights swimming.. Paintballing, :)   Going on walks,   going to McCarthy. :) very excited about that.   making ice cream.  - Which just isn't as fun to make in the winter time I'm excited to see dirt.. I love dirt.   esp, when its warm.. :) heh,   mmm.     And there's something about summer that seems to make it okay to stay out later..  Prolly the light thing.    But its just so much fun to be out really late at night when its just dimming and its slightly breezy and the sky is turning that  beautiful pink and red and oranges it does. with the sun just bearly peeking through.    :) Although The thing that I'm most excited about though is: Lee coming home. <3  I'm actually more excited this year then the very first year that we got together - not to be cheesey or anything.  but its sooooo exciting! We'll gonna do so much together and have so much fun. :)   And its gonna be 100% amazing. :)  36 days til he gets here. :)  ya. :)  Oh yeah,  and I made a chicken veggie soup the other day, and I also make mazto ball soup ( Which is prolly one of my favorite soups ) But anyways.  I don't have pictures of either. - yet,  I might get a picture of the mazto ball soup later.   So,  ya. :) bye