What I'm Making... For Breakfast!

I like to start the Peanut off each day with a hot breakfast.  I'm not a huge breakfast person and I guess he takes after me, but I have a few delicious breakfast tricks up my sleeve to entice him to eat a little something!  One of his absolute favorite
breakfasts is pancakes.  It may sound like a lot of work for a weekday morning, but the great thing about pancakes is that I can make a batch and he'll eat a couple and then I'll freeze the rest.  Then on another morning I can pop a couple in the microwave for about 30 seconds and they are hot and ready to go!  I do the same thing with muffins too.


I usually keep it simple with plain pancakes topped with butter, but today I made a fun variation:  Nutella Swirl Pancakes!

Nutella Swirl Pancakes
*Makes 10 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup bisquick (I use the gluten free version of course!)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• nutella
• butter

Directions:  Mix the bisquick, milk, egg, oil, and vanilla in a bowl until just blended.  Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat.  For this next step you can use a few different techniques.  One is to use a pastry bag.  Another is to use a ziplock bag and cut off a corner.  The last one is to simply plop on the nutella with a spoon!  I usually do the ziplock bag.  Melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet and drop batter in to the pan using about 1/4 cup for each pancake.  If you have the nutella in a pastry bag or ziplock, simply pipe thin vertical lines down each pancake.  Then use a tooth pick to swirl the nutella in a marbled pattern.  If you prefer the spoon method your nutella will just be dropped on and will be more concentrated in clumps.  Cook pancakes until sides are dry and then flip.  Cook until golden and devour!! 

A few things...

I just have to share a few things new to my life that I absolutely cannot live without right now!  First up, my amazing new ipad... a graduation gift from my sweetie!

The ipad is seriously a mommy's best friend!  I do everything with this little beauty.  Before I got one, I really didn't understand what made it so much better than a laptop.  Well, let me tell you that it truly is!  Just a few of the things I use it for:  making shopping lists and carrying in my purse to the grocery store, playing Elmo videos in the car (yes, this may be its most important use!!!), to-do lists, surfing the web, and looking at recipes while cooking (I have a really cool mount that holds it in the kitchen).  Peanut and I are headed to Steamboat Springs this weekend and I don't know if I would be up to the trip without the ipad.  Hopefully Elmo (and an endless supply of snacks) will keep him happy on the plane.


Next, my sister recently turned me on to a new frozen dessert called Arctic Zero.  Now its not exactly icecream, but the entire pint has only 150 calories!!!  Feel free to judge, but I cannot tell you how many times I have eaten an entire pint of icecream before.  This stuff does not fool you into thinking you are eating Hagen Dazs or Blue Bell, but like I said before "150 calories!!"  It comes in several flavors including pumpkin for fall... can't wait to try that one.

So how about y'all?  Any new fabulous finds out there??

What I'm Making... For Lunch Everyday!

I eat the same thing for lunch pretty much every single day.  The recipe changes slightly here and there based on what I have on hand, but its basically a greek salad.  It's hardly even a recipe really, but I thought I'd share because I used to have such a hard time coming up with something yummy, healthy, and easy to throw together for lunch everyday. 


So each week I buy a cucumber, a bell pepper, hearts of romaine (or other greens if I'm in the mood), grape or cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and a pack of chicken breasts.  Sometimes if I have any on hand, I'll use some pepperoncini or garbanzo beans as well.  I cook all of the chicken breasts after marinating them in italian dressing overnight.  It is so wonderful to have this chicken in the fridge ready to throw on the salad at lunch time or to give Peanut for a quick snack.  I also wash and chop all of the veggies so they are ready to go.  Then at lunch time I combine everything and dress with one tablespoon of Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing mixed with a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar.  I LOVE a lot of dressing on my salad so this is a good way to get that without a lot of extra calories!

What do y'all eat for lunch during the week??

So long Bar and hello Summer!!

The Bar Exam is over!!!!!!!!!  It was really hard and I seriously have no idea if I passed, but I am just so thrilled to be done studying. 

Now that the Bar is over, I'm really excited to share some news with y'all.  Some of you know that I've been struggling with how I would handle working and spending so much time away from the Peanut.  He is just so precious to me and I love how close we are.  I guess I'm just a testament to the fact that you really can't predict how you will feel as a mother until you actually have kids.  That's why we've decided that at least for now, I'll be staying home with the Peanut.  The past few weeks have been terrible.  Even though I know he has been in amazing hands with my mother in law, leaving each day to tears, and coming home to only see him for an hour or maybe two each day has really made me feel that my decision is absolutely the best thing for us. 

Today we kicked off our time together with a trip to the Houston Children's Museum and he absolutely LOVED it!  He just could not get enough of the activities or the other kids.  He was so worn out I feel that this is going to be a good nap day too, haha! 

Anyway, I'm excited to be back to blogging and hope to share a fun little sewing project with y'all sometime this weekend!

What I'm Making... for the Fourth of July

Happy weekend y'all!  I'm so happy to be enjoying my last low key weekend before the Bar Exam, which is less than a month away.  We are going to to two gatherings for the Fourth, one Sunday and one Monday, so I've decided to make a dessert that will be easy to bring to both.  Many of you know that I'm obsessed with everything that Our Best Bites makes, but these little cuties were just too much to resist!

{image via Our Best Bites}

I'm going to put my own little spin on them of course, by making the blueberry and cherry and then making buttermilk pies as well.  And I'll be making all of the components as opposed to using refrigerated pie crust, canned filling, etc.  But, if you need a last minute dessert idea, I think they will turn out adorable and delicious either way!

Then, I'll also be making an appetizer that is so easy it barely needs a recipe.  This easy peasy corn dip is so delicious and seriously addictive. 


Spicy Creamy Corn Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 8 oz container of sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 cans mexican corn
• 4 scallions
• 1 can diced green chiles
• 1 and 1/4 cups shredded mexican style mixed or cheddar cheese
• 3 jalapenos

Directions:  Roughly chop scallions.  Seed and dice the 3 jalapenos.  Then combine and mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours to allow flavors to combine (this last step isn't absolutely necessary but I prefer to).  Serve with tortilla chips... I like the little scoops ones!


I hope y'all all have a wonderful holiday weekend and I'd love to hear what recipes you made.

Sharing the Blog Love

I thought I'd take a minute to share a few new blogs I've been reading that I absolutely love!  Most of these are other moms because I just love to read how other moms are handling all the craziness and see what's coming up for me in the next couple of years.

First up is the fabulous Kelly at Kelly's Korner.  She is an amazingly patient and adorable mom of two precious girls.  She also periodically gets tons of bloggers on board with these SUYL (Show Us Your Life) posts and they are so much fun!

Next is Allyson of Heathcott Party of Six.  She is the mom of four boys under four... three of whom are triplets!  I've never been sure if I could handle four kids, but she makes it look so easy!

Last but not least is Christa of One Cheap Mama.  Christa is a corporate mommy turned stay at home mommy.  I love her blog because she is hilarious and has so many practical ideas on how mom's can save money.  Of course they could apply to other people too!

So, do y'all have any fun new blog finds to share??

Phillip's 12 Month and Family Photoshoot

These pictures were taken a little while ago (obviously since he just turned 14 months old today!!), but I finally got the digital images so I can share them.  The pictures were taken by a friend of mine from junior high.  We reconnected through Facebook recently, where I discovered what an amazingly talented photographer she is.  She lives and works in Dallas, but has family down here so we were able to get together.  If you live in Dallas and you're looking for a photographer, you can check out her blog here.

I had to get all of these because this kid is just too darn cute!!!