Erin Go Bragh!

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone. I know it has been a while. I have no excuse except that it's been super busy. We are all decked out in our green today. I have an Irish Stew in the crockpot, made with beef instead of lamb so the boys will actually eat it. I also have some Guinness waiting to be consumed tonight with Dan. YUM! Because what says St Patrick's Day better than Guinness. I'll be back soon with more stories, pictures and posts! I promise!!!

A rainy day baking project...

Harrison has been in VBS all this week and today was supposed to be a family picnic over at Splash Island. Because of all of the rain we've been having, it was cancelled. I quickly decided since it was raining that we would have a baking activity to keep all parties interested while the twins were napping. For some reason, I enjoy baking when it's raining outside. To me, they seem to go hand-in-hand. Harrison LOVES to help me in the kitchen and we always have so much fun together. I decided since I had all the ingredients on hand that I would make pistachio biscotti. We are BIG fans of the pistachio in this house...so I was hoping it would turn out. Well, they did and all 4 of us devoured them during our tea-time. Tea-time, you ask? Are we in Britain? No, but I am trying desperately to teach my boys some table manners and I figured after naps/snack time was the best time to try. We all sit at the table and eat our snack together. Dinnertime can be so chaotic, so this has been fun to try out. Plus, it relaxes me a little before the "wild/crazy" time in our house, which is between 5:00 and 6:00 pm, before daddy gets home. I figure if it's good for the Brits, it's good for us...here are some pictures from our little baking/eating extravaganza.

Summer is flying by...

I feel like we have been so busy these last couple of weeks. Harrison had camp every day last week and loved it. It was a week all about dinosaurs. This week we have some activities planned during the day (free summer movie, open play at My Gym, playgroups, playdates, pool, errands) but primarily getting ready for my cousin's wedding on Saturday night and then leaving right after that for our trip to Las Vegas on Sunday. I.Can't.Wait! I'm so excited just to be able to read a book or magazine on the plane, sleep in, eat dinner without having to cut food up into little pieces, people watch to my heart's content-you get the drift. I LOVE my children deeply, but sometimes everyone needs a little break, even if it's just to appreciate them that much more.

We had a great, low-key weekend. It rained A LOT here (which we so desperately needed), but we did manage to hit the beach on Saturday morning. After this past weekend, it gets really packed with tourists here, so I really wanted to get to the beach before it got too crowded. On Sunday, I had a Charleston Junior Woman's Club Board retreat, which lasted most of the afternoon, but it did get me excited about our upcoming year and the charities we are supporting. It was held at a member's home (which was an incredibly beautiful home downtown Charleston-it was like a museum). All I kept thinking was my kids would destroy this place...she even had a child (granted a 3 year old girl, but still). Anyway, it was a potluck and I made Paula Deen's Better Than Sex Cake....it was pretty good. Here's the recipe....

Is it Really Better than Sex? Cake
Ingredients:
1 18.25-ounce box yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 3.4-ounce box French vanilla pudding, plus ingredients to prepare
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup flaked, sweetened toasted coconut
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare yellow cake mix as directed using a greased 13x9x2-inch pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. While cake is baking, combine the pineapple, 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
Remove cake from oven and using a fork, pierce holes into cake. Pour pineapple mixture over hot cake and set aside.
Prepare pudding according to package directions. Spread pudding over cake and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Whip heavy cream and remaining sugar until stiff. Cover top of cake with whipped cream and sprinkle toasted coconut on top.
Yield: 16 to 20 servings Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 45 minutes Ease of preparation: easy
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

First Friday Happy Hour AND Fluffy Friday

I am so happy it's Friday! I've started a new summer tradition with the boys on Fridays...for lunch we have "Fluffy-Friday" sandwiches-basically peanut butter and fluff sandwiches! I love fluff-especially strawberry fluff. I know, I know-it's not the greatest stuff around, but something about it screams childhood to me. I usually feed my kids healthy meals and snacks, but every now and then, I offer them treats...so they don't crave it all the time. Besides, how bad is a pb and fluff sandwich if it's made with 100% whole wheat bread and natural peanut butter? It actually has less sugar than some jams out there too. And look at these faces, can you tell they liked it?

Tonight, our neighborhood is having it's very first "First Friday" happy hour. Basically, we are getting together on the street around 6:00 pm-everyone brings chairs, their own beverage(s) of choice and an appetizer to share with everyone. The kids play and the adults chat...how fun is that? We are hoping to do this every first Friday of the month. Should be good times for all? A few weeks ago, I posted about my friend K's bacon-wrapped watermelon rinds...I am telling you, these are the bomb. These watermelon rinds wrapped in bacon...they're sweet and salty, how good is that? This is what I'm contributing to tonight's festivities. The watermelon rinds are sold at our local Publix grocery store. Don't knock it until you try it....Here is the recipe:

Jar of Sweet Pickled Watermelon Rines (top shelf in pickle section at Publix)
Package of Bacon (regular or center cut)
Toothpicks

Cut bacon in three pieces (each slice) I cut all of them at once – two slices with the knife and you’re done
On a cutting board, pour out jar and cut into smaller pieces.
Wrap one rine in a piece of the bacon stick a toothpick in it
Put on a baking sheet on Reynolds wrap
Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes
Watch.. you want it just before it burns

As for my beverage of choice...well, I must admit I'm somewhat of a beer-snob. But sometimes you just have to drink the cheap stuff, especially when it's HOT! I was also craving something light. I came across this in the store so I picked some up...sounds very summery and refreshing.
I picked up the orange-grapefruit-flavored one. I've had the pomegranate one before at another gathering and it was surprisingly tasty. I really wanted the lime-cactus one, but they were out. The bottle says it's all naturally-flavored. It's low calorie and low-carb-after all-I'll be running 9 miles in the morning. YIKES! I'll keep you posted. Happy weekend!

Tried and true pasta...

Just wanted to post a quick recipe that is a Magnolia family tried and true dish. It was inspired by a dish at a restaurant in Old Town Alexandria that Dan and I ate at a couple of times when we lived up there. The restaurant is not there anymore, but the dish still lives on in our house. I take Barilla Plus Multigrain penne, toasted pine nuts, raisins, chicken sausage (I use the Al Fresco sundried tomato and basil), steamed broccoli, olive oil, salt and pepper and grated parmesan and toss it all together-and voila'-dinner is on the table. Simple as that!

The Perfect Summer Cocktail...

I love a good cocktail! I've created a new one that just screams summer to me-it's not even that hard to make. I take a peach-flavored Izze (I LOVE these drinks!) and mix it with Grey Goose Vodka (or any other vodka you have, this one is my favorite!) and pour over crushed ice, add a lime wedge and cherry-and voila-the perfect summer cocktail!

We had a great weekend-the beach, the pool, barbque, need I say more? Unfortunately, Brady is under the weather now, so it has been a long day today. It just breaks my heart to see one of my boys sick...he looks pretty pitiful. He was up pretty early this morning too-so that means no run this morning. I was able to squeeze in a 30 minute strength training workout. This week I'll have to do 3 runs back to back (Tues, Wed, Thurs, Friday-strength training and Saturday 8 miles-UGH).

So, here's to a GREAT week, I'll think I'll go make one of those cocktails! YUM!

The chocolate gods made me eat it...

Last night was book club. I've been doing so well with running and exercising, I thought, "Hey, it will be OK to eat something sinful while I'm there, sip on some wine and have some good book/girl talk." I also knew the woman hosting is A. a wonderful cook and B. from Spain (and I knew she would be making some good food). Well, she didn't let anyone down. She had guacamole (my favorite!), she had tortilla (another favorite), she had croquettas, she had artichoke dip, she had NY style cheesecake........and she had this. Feast your eyes on this. It's called "La Bete Noire" which translates to "The Black Beast". It was AMAZING! I am STILL thinking about it. Apparently it was on the cover of Bon Appetit in Sept 2006. I am definitely going to make this. Chocolate and ganache are two things that make me happy in this world so I thought I'd share them.