What's Up Doc?

Grandma's favorite cake- carrot cake. I decided to whip this little puppy up for the celebration

Happy Birthday Grammy!

We love our Grandma! We had a fun time this weekend taking Grandma out to a nice dinner at Marie Callendar's.


















On a side note-
I ran in my second race this year, it was a lot of fun. I placed 4th in my age group so I missed winning a purple medal by one spot.The 3rd place finisher was only 15 sec. ahead of me (shoot, I knew I shouldn't have eaten that giant cinnamon roll for breakfast.) I didn't go home empty handed though, I won two pair of pink socks and a pack of sports headbands. At least I can run in style.

As Promised & A Bonus

Cheeselicious Potato Soup
they call it best-ever potato soup

6 bacon strips, diced
3 cups cubed peeled potatoes (I used red taters and kept the skins on)
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
1 small carrot, grated
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 Tbls dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp of each celery seed, salt and pepper (add more to taste)
3 Tbls all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
8 ounces processed cheese (Velveeta), cubed
2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)


In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp; drain. Add potatoes, broth, carrot, onion, parsley, celery seed, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Combine flour and milk until smooth; add to soup. Bring to a boil; boil and stir for 2 min. Add cheese; stir until cheese is melted and the soup is heated through. Garnish with green onions if desired.
Yields: 8 servings (2 quarts)


Bonus recipe- Glazed Mint Brownies
Warning: These are very addictive

Brownie base:
2 squares (1 ounce each)
unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
(I usually double the above recipe, but not the filling or glaze)

Filling:
3 Tbls butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 Tbls milk
3/4 tsp peppermint extract (more or less depending on how minty you want the brownies to be)
3 to 4 drops green food coloring

Glaze:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbls butter

In microwave (or on stove top, whichever method you prefer), melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and flour until blended. Stir in the chocolate mixture.

Pour into a greased 9-in square baking pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min. or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack

in a small mixing bowl, beat the filling ingredients until creamy. Spread over brownies. (make sure your brownies are mostly cooled off)

for glaze, in microwave (or on stove), melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Spread over filling. Refrigerate until filling and glaze are set.

You can really get creative with this recipe and use different flavored extracts and food colorings. One of my Favorites is cherry flavored extract with red or pink food coloring with diced up maraschino cherries in the filling (so, so good)

Yields: 12-16 brownies



recipes taken from:
Taste of home holiday
Irish food & fun

Wee Bit Irish

(Mandatory: Please read with an Irish accent, because I know you secretly want to)
Love, Love, Love St. Patrick's Day. The leprechauns, the wear'n of the green, the eat'n of some fine potato soup, the find'n of some gold. Tis sweet I know.



The girls working hard on making rainbow decorations






Found these classy clover doilies- they added just the right touch to the table, not to mention they were the perfect resting place for our mini lemon lime sodas



Super cheeselicious potato soup



She likes it, she really likes it



Anton enjoying his set up






A little after dinner entertainment...the hunt for the leprechauns GOLD


They left us clues


and they tried on all our shoes- those silly leprechauns


They hide their gold in such clever places- in the bathtub



Under the futon



In Kajaani's mouth :)



In huge piles all over the floor



Did I mention it taste good too- who wouldn't like chocolate gold?



This year we even tried to trap the little mischievous green ones. But alas, they proved to be too elusive. They did leave us more gold though.

p.s.- the recipe for the cheeselicious potato soup is coming your way soon. It really is the best potato soup recipe that I have found and I have tried a lot.

A Word to my PEEPS

Not these PEEPS


Those PEEPS


It's official- we have baby chicks! We went last weekend to pick them up. The kids, especially KJ love them. No, they are not for pets (although they could be), we are raising them for their eggs. The girls will take care of them and share the profits on any eggs that they sell. We already have one buyer.



KJ was thrilled when she found out that we were getting chicks



Picking them out and putting them in the box



RJ pitching in to help carry all their feeding supplies



















They have grown so much already in the last week that we had to put chicken wire over their box. The one we call troublemaker jumped out. I for one will be excited when they can go outside in their coop.

Me Need A Cookie

Here are my latest confectionery creations