I don’t have much patience for childish things.

I have zero desire to play legos. I don’t think The Very Hungry Caterpillar is great literature. I definitely don’t understand screaming all things all the time while jumping up and down and spinning and lookwhatIcandooooo!!!!!

Admittedly, this is something I need to work on. While I don’t need to necessarily enjoy these things, I do need to tolerate them for the sake of my kids. One thing I’ve found I do enjoy is Oobleck. I share it with you today because it’s technically made from food and is actually a lot of fun. I thought so at least, my strange kids were a little stand-offish. My daughter won’t eat pizza though, so take that with a grain of salt.

The fun thing about Oobleck is that when you touch it slowly it acts as a liquid but if you hit it fast it acts like a solid. You can grab a fistful and then let it slip through your fingers. I’ve even seen people make a shallow bed of it and walk on water so to speak. My sensitive son wasn’t a huge fan of the experience. As soon as it dripped on his pants he was done. After some coaxing Lola really dug her hands in, but even at that it freaked her out a little bit and she only played for a few minutes. Once they were done I took it inside to clean it up and played with it myself for a while. Maybe my kids and I just have different interests, and that’s ok.

I would be curious to know what other kids are like.

All I really know are my own kids. Half the time I’m thinking, “There must be something wrong with them!” They are unreasonable, unpredictable, and downright annoying at times. Is my child simply in the midst of the terrible twos or is he whining his head off because he has a stomach ache/cavity/diabetes/a tumor? Can you tell I tend to snowball in my concerns?

While I’m trying to figure things out, I’m eating every day foods covered in chocolate. Its cheap therapy. Banana bread should always contain chocolate chips anyways, and coating the whole thing in chocolate is a first rate idea. You can use whatever your favorite chocolate is, but I enjoyed a good-quality dark chocolate here. The coconut oil keeps it smooth and shiny (swapping in vegetable oil would do the same thing).

Summer is fast approaching, making these a bit messy to keep around on the kitchen counter. I kept mine in the refrigerator (you could also do the freezer if you think they’ll be lasting that long) but hit high heaven when I popped them in the microwave for a few seconds prior to eating. Everything softened and melted to a fresh-from-the-oven consistency. This is the perfect way to use up the last nub of bread, but the recipe is easily multiplied if you want to do the whole loaf. If you already own a chocolate fountain, you know I’m looking at you.

Do your kids whine all day? Is it something I’m doing? What are you covering in chocolate?

Welcome to The Monday Menu! I’m in a total brain fog today. I got really sick last week but still managed to make most of the food that was in my meal plan. It has been really interesting in my sickness to see how important healthy food is for my body. I wasn’t able to eat anything for a few days and with nursing a baby it really took a lot out of me. I’ve been a little lightheaded and unable to focus my mind for the last few days because even though I’m not sick anymore my stomach can’t hold as much food as I think I need. Its really encouraging to see how the way I normally eat nourishes my body and helps me do the things I need to do.

My husband and I celebrate 8 years of marriage on Tuesday, but we won’t really be celebrating until the weekend. He has a busy week of band practice since their drummer in town from LA but we’ll be having a “band family” dinner tonight. We’ll probably just be going out to dinner on Saturday to celebrate our anniversary. I don’t plan on making anything too special on Tuesday, but I did buy some shrimp (it was on sale, shhh) for later in the week (its his favorite). Here’s the plan:

Monday – Band Family Taco Dinner
Tuesday – Pesto Chicken Sandwiches with carrots and fruit
Wednesday – Penne with Tomato, Feta, and Basil and packaged salad
Thursday – Shakshuka with french bread
Friday – Shrimp Burritos

What’s on your menu this week?

If you’ve been on Facebook for any amount of time, you know that it can be hard.

You’re talking about the wrong things, you’re posting too many pictures, and why are you sending me so many invitations to Candy Crush??? I recently had a friend I hadn’t seen in a while go through my timeline and “like” a bunch of my pictures, one of which was an ultrasound picture from the baby I had LAST OCTOBER. Totally fine, nothing wrong with that, except that caused it to show up in my friends’ news feeds. It turns out grown up people with college degrees can’t read a date on a picture and Facebook started blowing up with congratulations on my (not) expected baby.

Let me just clear the air and say – I am not pregnant. This recipe isn’t going to help the rumors. Barbecue chicken is my jam when I’m pregnant. When I was pregnant with my second baby we were visiting our sweet friends in California and I’m pretty sure I demanded barbecue chicken every day for a week. I’m sorry/not sorry.

This is a fun way to make nachos acceptable dinner fare and shake up your barbecue chicken fix. Corn tortillas are technically a whole grain and baking them makes them almost indistinguishable from fried chips. I’m obsessed with Sweet Baby Ray’s Original Barbecue Sauce and that’s the kind I used here. This is definitely not a health food. I would love to get into making my own barbecue sauce, but I need it to taste pretty much exactly like Ray’s. Anybody have a good recipe? If not you can use whatever your favorite sauce is on top.

Just to recap – hating on Candy Crush, guilty pleasure barbecue sauce, and NOT pregnant. Not pregnant.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I want to spend my time.

The only conclusion I’ve really come to is that I need more of it. I want to paint every surface in my house (no, REALLY) which requires the sacrifice of evenings and weekends when the kids aren’t around. I want to spend time outside with my kids running in the grass, filling up the kiddie pool, and planting an herb garden. I really can’t figure out how to fit outside time into my busy day. Am I too committed to cooking and cleaning? I really don’t know how to get those things done if I’m spending my twenty non-nursing, non-napping baby minutes outside. I want to go on bike rides with my family but oh. my. gosh. Its so nerve-wracking taking three kids on a long distance bike ride. I get all nervous the whole way out because if someone starts fussing/pooping/SCREAMING we still have to turn around and ride all the way home. Do I just let them cry and keep having fun? These are the obstacles in my life.

We actually biked the three miles to church on Sunday and it went better than I could have expected. On the way home the baby and 3 year old fell asleep in the trailer. I couldn’t bring myself to wake them up to come inside so we ended up standing there watching them sleep for a while, which was pretty adorable. I made these cookies to take to church and I was so glad I went with nuts because by the time we got there I was hungry.

I haven’t had fake syrup in the house for years now and I couldn’t be happier about that situation. When I first made the switch to real maple syrup I almost couldn’t taste it. I didn’t think it was sweet enough because my taste buds were used to the high fructose corn syrup dyed to look like syrup we used to buy. Now that I’m used to it I’m in love. It has a subtle sweet flavor and you can use it more sparingly than the other stuff. While I was originally appalled by the amount of maple syrup in this recipe, it was totally worth it. I was only appalled by the amount because maple syrup is so freaking expensive (I dream of living Aimee’s life).

These cookies could easily be made vegan by swapping in almond milk for the dairy milk and using regular peanuts instead of honey-roasted. Even if you make it as is, the lack of egg makes the dough delightfully edible. The maple makes it slightly sweet and the peanut butter makes it a little salty and the whole thing just keeps calling out to you. I haven’t even mentioned that these cookies are intended for breakfast. Breakfast cookies!!!

Welcome to The Monday Menu! I hope you all had a lovely mother’s day and weekend. I’m still up to my eyeballs in our house painting project, leaving me tired and rather uninterested in cooking. Still, I must carry on. I mean we have to eat, right? I already really miss sharing The Sunday Brunch Buffet with you, so if you still want to keep up with what I’m finding around the web make sure to follow me on Pinterest. I also highly recommend keeping up via Bloglovin. If Facebook or Twitter are your jam, you can befriend me there too! All that being said, here’s my plan for the week:

Monday – Baked Tilapia with asparagus and mashed potatoes
Tuesday – BBQ Chicken Nachos
Wednesday – Hot and Crispy Ravioli with marinara and packaged salad
Thursday – Loaded Baked Potatoes with whole grain dinner rolls
Friday – Shells with Peas and Alfredo

What’s on your menu this week?

There are three holidays that I acknowledge. Let me rephrase that. There are three holidays that I want to be acknowledged on. One is my birthday, obvi. The second is Christmas because what is a world without Christmas? The third is mother’s day.

Bake me brownies, take me out to eat, paint the sky purple – anything to acknowledge that you know what I do is hard work. Of course you know that what I do is hard work, but do you really KNOW? Most days I don’t want to do it. The dishes always reappear. Someone always needs some body part wiped. Sometimes I have a panic attack in the middle of the night because I know they’re still upstairs and in the morning they’re going to come after me. They are the most adorable terrorists in the world and they’re holding me hostage for a pack of raisins.

Yes I feel blessed by my family and my ability to stay home with my kids, but just give me this one day (and my birthday and Christmas). You know all those memes about eating a brownie in the closet so you don’t have to share? This is my life.

I’ve always loved bakery brownies. They’re firm and cold from sitting in the refrigerated case and taste of deep, intense chocolate. I couldn’t believe how much these brownies tasted like this treat from my local food co-op. That particular brownie was devoured in the car, not the closet, as a way of keeping it all to myself. Selfish Mama.

These brownies are best enjoyed chilled, like their real-life bakery cousins. Seriously though, who can wait for brownies to cool before eating one? Enjoy one gooey and delicious right after frosting, then tuck them away in the refrigerator for the next day. The frosting will firm up and the flavors will develop.

Here you can see a brownie freshly frosted. It is still dense but the frosting is soft and melty. Totally edible. Of course you don’t have to frost the brownies at all, but may I ask what’s wrong with you?

Many people use instant coffee or espresso to bump up the chocolate flavor in desserts. If you are one such person, add a pinch of either to the frosting when adding the vanilla. I for one don’t like the taste of coffee (even if you say it can’t be tasted in desserts – I can taste it) and would rather not add the caffeine jolt to an already loaded chocolate brownie.

Don’t forget, you can always follow my blog with Bloglovin!

It was so much fun sharing my favorite things with you a while back. It has been great talking with others about their favorite things as well, and someone mentioned that I should do a favorites list specific to the kitchen. Please know that while the products below contain affiliate links (meaning if you click and buy anything I receive a small percentage of the sale which goes towards the costs involved in running this blog), I have not been compensated by any companies owning these products. I just really love the things I’m sharing with you! Here’s what I’m loving lately:

Avocados. Despite their steep price I keep buying tons of them every week. They’re full of healthy fats and nutrients, plus they’re good in so many situations. I’ll smash them on toast for an easy lunch, mix them with lime juice and a little salt for a quick and easy guacamole, and tuck them inside a grilled cheese for an indulgent treat. My next cookbook crush is definitely Absolutely Avocados by Gaby Dalkin.

The Pampered Chef Garlic Press. I had a different kind of press before this one and it literally snapped in two once while I was trying to crush a clove. Not cool. This one, however, is working like gangbusters. While I’m not usually one for gadgety kitchen items, this one is indispensable. Its easy to clean and saves a ton of time. When I use it to make spinach and white beans I don’t even have to dirty a knife and cutting board and it hits the table in less than ten minutes.

Chobani Greek 0% Yogurt. I’m not kidding when I say Chobani is my favorite brand of Greek yogurt. It kind of surprises me that something so plain and simple can taste differently from different brands. I’ve tried the others and this is the one that I always need to have in my fridge. I just don’t feel right if I haven’t had a bowl of yogurt in my day. I much prefer the plain over the flavors because I like to control what I put in it. I usually add a spot of local honey to remove the “dry” taste, then add seasonal fruit. This blueberry pomegranate combo is an absolute favorite. I will also occasionally crumble in a cashew cookie larabar or chewy peanut butter bites. More often than not I add about a teaspoon of mini chocolate chips, which is a real good news/bad news situation. Its just so goooood. Almost without fail I always top it off with…

Udi’s Gluten Free Granola, Vanilla. I’m not gluten free, nor do I believe its something that you should “just try out.” I got started on this granola when I was taking part in the Foodie Pen Pal Program (also a favorite, I just haven’t had time lately). Someone sent it to me and it was amazing. It has the perfect amount of (almost no) sweetness and crunch, plus it smells amazingly of vanilla. I love it on my yogurt but I think its too loose (there aren’t really any clumps) for snacking or eating with milk.

Munchkin Snack Catchers. I’ve had these for a few years now and they’re the absolute best. I can give my kids all kinds of snacks without them spilling out all over the place. The kids are able to reach their hand inside the cup but if they turn it upside down it can’t spill out. Genius.

My Microplane. I use this exclusively for zesting. I think I tried five different graters before landing on this one. They would either grate too finely or make giant zest strings, neither of which were ideal for me. This one creates the perfect zest and isn’t too hard to clean. I couldn’t live without it.

Pinterest. This isn’t solely a kitchen thing, but I love it for saving recipes around the web and bookmarking them for when I actually want to make them. I don’t ever pin a recipe I don’t actually think I’ll make. That way I know that when I scroll through my boards I will feel inspired and find what I’m looking for easily.

My KitchenAid Food Processor. This appliance does so much for me you’d think I was paying it an hourly wage. I would never consider grating a block of cheese by hand with this thing around. I kneads my pizza dough, shreds my carrots, and has a mini cup for small jobs. It is seriously awesome and I wish I had two just so I wouldn’t have to wash the bowl.

Grocery iQ. This is the app I use for my grocery list on my phone. I’ve tried a few others that didn’t quite fit my needs. This allows me to enter my list and organize it automatically by aisle. Not only that, but I can organize the aisles in the order they actually come in the store I go to. No more scrolling through the list to see if I forgot anything. Everything comes up in the exact order I come across it in real life.

Well, those are the major majors right now. What are your kitchen favorites? Let me know in the comments!

Welcome to The Monday Menu! I feel like I need to start off by acknowledging yesterday’s silence where there is usually The Sunday Brunch Buffet. I’ve decided to take a break from that weekly feature for the foreseeable future, at least through the summer. I’d like to focus my energy on projects around the house and spending time outside with my family. I may still do the occasional post on things I’ve found around the web, but I really need to take the pressure off of having a weekly feature.

Meal planning breaks for no one, so here goes this week. We started a major painting project in our house so its hard to say what kind of priority dinner will make. I found some great inspiration from Martha Stewart’s Meatless, which I got from the library last week. I also have tons of eggs to use up, so its breakfast for dinner! Here’s the plan:

Monday – White Bean and Sage Patties with oven roasted broccoli
Tuesday – Huevos Rancheros Tacos
Wednesday – Butternut Squash Sage Pizza
Thursday – Tostada Bar
Friday – Spaghetti Aglio Olio with spinach and white beans

What’s on your menu this week?

Can we talk about favorites?

I shared my favorite things with you a few weeks back. Certainly nothing has changed there. I’m also working on a favorite things in the kitchen post for you, which I’m pretty excited about. (Spoiler) Avocados are a current favorite. I’ve been eating at least one every day. On top of however many my husband and kids eat during the week I look like a crazy person in the check out line of the grocery store with my 20 pound bag of avocados.

Jessica, Lindsay, and John and Dana are current favorites. I’m talking, like, serious “wish I were you” all out blog crushes.

This dish is an absolute favorite at our house. If the thought of vodka in your pasta puts you off, don’t worry. The alcohol simmers off leaving just the flavor behind. The sauce has a rich, silky, creamy texture that is brightened up by the fresh basil at the end. Freshly grated Parmesan cheese is the obvious and perfect addition.

What are some of your current favorites?