Happy National Peanut Butter Lover's Day!!!

  Happy National Peanut Butter Lover's Day!! In light of this holiday we played with our food...We made a peanut butter farm with animal crackers!

Sienna loved it! I then realized it turned into a lickfest...

It's always fun to play with our food! Next year Daniel will be allowed to have peanut butter and he can participate in the fun!

Did you make any fun peanut butter treats for National Peanut Butter Lover's Day?

Easy Picadillo Recipe

 

I've come to the conclusion that I love...love...LOVE making comfort foods! I could probably eat stews, soups, rice, and pasta every night if my hips would allow it ;-) I've ways been a big fan of Picadillo growing up because it was a meal my grandmother made regularly. I know the kids like rice and thought it would be a great meal for them since the meat is so small in size that Daniel would have no problem chewing it! He is now 100 percent on table foods too! 

  

I could have easily called my grandmother, but I have wanted to try out a new cookbook I recently purchased called Sabor! A Passion for Cuban Cuisine. Let me preface this by telling you that one of my biggest guilty pleasures is the Real Housewives franchise...there’s nothing better than some mindless TV once the kids are in bed. So when Ana from The Real Housewives of Miami tweeted about her cookbook I thought why not...so I bought it and it actually reminds me of a lot of the recipes my grandmother always makes.

I decided to try the Picadillo recipe and it was great! Not only did it have such an authentic flavor, it was sooo quick and easy to make! The only thing I changed was omitting the raisins, potatoes, and capers because I have never been fond of raisins in my Picadillo and I didn’t have potatoes or capers on hand. 

Here's the recipe from Ana’s book and the changes I made:

Ingredients: 

• Olive oil 
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 small to medium chopped onion
• 1 minced green bell pepper
• 1 pound of ground sirloin or any ground beef
• ½ cup of dry white cooking wine (I only used ¼ cup)
• 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
• Salt and pepper
• ¼ cup of raisins (optional)
• ¼ cup of pimento-stuffed olives chopped or whole
• 2 tablespoons of capers (optional)
• 2 medium red potatoes chopped and fried (optional)

First, I drizzled a little olive oil in a medium pot (or large skillet) over medium-high heat. Once it was hot I sautéed the onions, garlic, and peppers until tender. Making sure the oil is still very hot I put the ground beef into the pot breaking it up into small chunks until browned and no longer pink. Then you can drain any liquid in the pot.

Next I added the wine, tomato sauce, salt and pepper then reduced the heat to low. This is where I changed the recipe a smidge and rather than simmering it for 20 minutes, I let it sit on my stove’s lowest setting for about 2 hours. My grandmother once told me that all dishes must cook low and slow in order for the flavors to combine. I served it over a bed of white rice and it was even better the next day!

It’s Picadeasy :)


                        


*This recipe was adapted from Ana Quincoces Rodriguez’s cookbook, Sabor! A Passion for Cuban Cuisine: Picadillo, pg. 144

Valentine's Day Recap!

Well Valentine's Day came and went and we had an action packed day full of arts and crafts, cookies, and multiple photo shoot attempts. I had a ton planned for the special day, but with the kids getting over a week-long stomach bug we were left scrambling, but never bored :)

Danny was at work all day, but the kids woke up to heart shaped French toast and new tableware. It took Daniel a whole twenty seconds to figure out how to use a straw and there's no turning back now...I sometimes forget he will be a year old in two months...sniff...

Sienna worked on her valentines and colored in her new Dora coloring book for most of the morning...(thanks again Target dollar spot)! And after naps I attempted to do my super last minute 'We heart daddy' photo montage...which failed....miserably....

By the time I bribed Sienna into having a piece of chocolate to take a halfway decent picture it was already six o' clock and there was no way I could hit up the local Walgreen's to have them printed. I searched high and low and found two pieces of photo paper and tried to print them at home...which was another epic fail...sigh...so maybe by Father's Day we can have them done!


Daniel has this new thing where he loooves to pull everything out of every cabinet or toy bucket as soon as I put it all away...I tried really hard all day to keep the house tidy so Danny could come home to a clean house, but by seven o' clock and Daniel ripping apart my pantry for the ninth time that day I gave up...

After baths I set the table, lit a candle, opened a bottle of wine and Danny came home with Carrabbas take out!! We exchanged cards, had American Idol on in the background, and enjoyed our dinner with each of us holding a baby on our lap :)

Ohhhh how times have changed, but I wouldn't change our "life with les deux" for the world...


                     

Strawberry Cake Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies

For quite some time now I've been sitting on a box of strawberry cake mix waiting to find the perfect recipe to use it for. I love baking from scratch, but these days anything semi-homemade makes me really happy! I have this new found fascination with using a box of cake mix to create other delectable treats besides the traditional cake or cupcake.

Anywho, I recently stumbled across this fabulous recipe on one of my new favorite blogs called Sally's Baking Addiction. As soon as I saw the recipe I knew it was love at first bite :-) This was the recipe I had been waiting for and what better time than Valentine's Day to try out these scrumptious pink cookies!

I followed her recipe up until the end where I split the batter in half and used mini semisweet chocolate chips in one half and white chocolate chips in the other! You can use whatever kind of morsels you prefer and even add more or less to your liking. These cookies are rather large so I only put 8 on each baking sheet!! The recipe calls for 10 minutes at 350°, but I kept them in for almost 14 minutes because they looked extremely gooey to me after 10 minutes-everyone's oven is different though.

These are some of the easiest and most amazing cookies you will ever put in your mouth!

You can find the original recipe here, but below I've put together my version that I adapted from it:

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Duncan Hines Strawberry Supreme Cake Mix (or any other Strawberry cake mix)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable/canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup white chocolate chips


Instructions:

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and place them aside.

Next you will want to combine the entire box of cake mix with the baking powder in a medium to large bowl and put aside.

In a smaller bowl, combine the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract and whisk them all together.

Mix the cake mix mixture with the wet ingredients until fully incorporated.

Next place half of the batter in a separate bowl (I just eye-balled this) and gently fold the white chocolate chips into one bowl and the semi-sweet chocolate chips into the other bowl.

Roll the batter into balls equivalent to about two teaspoons making them more tall than wide.

Bake them anywhere from 10 to 14 minutes. You can insert a toothpick or fork and see if it comes out clean to test them.

You can let them cool on the pan or move them to a cooling rack after a couple of minutes.

                   
                                      I think they taste best a little warm! Enjoy!

Cuckoo for Cookies

Occasionally you can catch me in the fabulous Land of La La dreaming about owning my own sweet shop filled with everything from chocolate truffles to cookies to chocolate dipped croissants! But when I go back to the real world you will find me in my kitchen covered in confectioner's sugar with my hand mixer, rushing through a batch of something or other while praying the kids can stay sleeping at the same time for just a tid bit longer...sigh... I love to bake...I would rather spend that half hour I have alone baking fabulous Nutella-filled chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting than picking up the toys scattered all over my living room... after all no sooner than i pick them up, are they all across the floor again... Just about a year ago I stumbled across a new hobby that I really really really love! Baking and decorating sugar cookies. I've made them for baby showers, holidays, birthday parties, and everything else in between, but most of these events took place before I had two babies. These cookies are extremely time consuming so making them now is a rare occasion, but you never know...maybe one day once the kids are in school I can focus and make my little hobby a fabulous business. Only time will tell :)

                                           \

                                         

Minnie Mouse Inspired Birthday Party

Last month we celebrated Sienna's 2nd Birthday! I can't believe how fast they grow up...it makes me sad and now I see why people have multiple children, but that's a whole other blog post....

Anywho, we decided to do a Minnie Mouse themed party at the local park because she loves Minnie and we were going to be heading off to Disney World the next day! I didn't go COMPLETELY overboard for my two year old's party, but being a former event planner, maybe I did go a little over the top...Just with the sweets though because what two year (and their parents...meaning me) doesn't like cake, cookies, and cupcakes?

Here is her fabulous cake from the lovely Michelle, she rocks! Her cakes look awesome and she iced it out of 100% buttercream!! That's right no gummy fondant! This is our second time using her and I know I will be requesting her for Daniel's 1st birthday as well!

I LOVE to bake so I made some Minnie inspired cupcakes and cookies as well:

And of course how can you have a party at the park without the piñata...but don't worry this only had a couple of lollipops and the rest was filled with prizes, goldfish crackers, raisins, and animal crackers to fill their goody bags with! I love how the piñatas are pull string nowadays too since I really don't want a bunch of 2 year olds swinging a bat at a dangling object :)

      And here is Daniel-Son wearing his Mickey ear party hat...we had Minnie headbands for the girls too, but Sienna insisted on the Mickey one as you can see above! When you are two, you usually get whatever you want, especially on your birthday :)

*If you are interested in a fabulous cake by Michelle you can find out more info here.

Sunday Morning at the Market

Happy Weekend!  Last weekend the little ones and I were finally able to make it out to the Sunday Morning Market in Tampa. We were joined by one of our favorite ciocias (aunt in polish) Nikki, but we like to refer to her as "Chuchi."  It was a great time with all sorts of vendors. We bought some spices and produce, ate banana-pineapple-veggie pops, pet some baby chicks, listened to the live band and had THE best grilled cheese EVER! Check out some of the photos below!

The delicious pops were from our new favorite stop, Whatever Pops, and the amazing grilled cheese is from Riddle on the Griddle! Yum-O! Loving the foodie scene in Tampa!

Thank You, An Open Letter

There is no way I could start this blog without taking the time to thank all of the people that helped or inspired me in order to get this blog off the ground! It has been in the works for months, and by ‘in the works’ I mean in the back of my head J So let’s get started:

Vee, my best sista-friend since age 4 and proud owner of OneSocial Brunette, without you this blog would not be in existence! Thank you for helping me get bit by the blog bug and teaching me all the ropes to get started! I am so excited for the ventures we have ahead of us in baby-raising and blogging J Love you boo!

Next I would like to thank Whit, my blog designer and proud owner of WhitSpeaks Blog Design.  I can’t thank you enough for listening to what my vision was and transforming it into this beautiful blog! You put up with my crazy/perfectionist-self for almost two weeks and again without your help my blog wouldn't be here today!

And last, but not least, the wonderful ladies on my blogroll: Taza, Joy, Megan, Jen,

A Beautiful Mess Team, and Small FryTeam.  You ladies have truly been such an inspiration to me! Whether it’s to stop by for pure entertainment or a dose of inspiration…I always come back for more!

                                

Gracias Ladies!

                                                            love, christina

Yay!! Welcome To My Blog!!

                                         photo taken by Kimberly Hunter Photography

At some point in our lives we have all thought about having children. Some of us ponder if we are going to have children, when we will have children, how many children we will have, or even what gender they will be. I've definitely thought about it all, but one thing I didn't contemplate, was how far apart my children would be in age.

In the past two years Danny and I have been blessed with two beautiful babies only 16 months apart, Sienna (who just turned two), and Daniel (who is 9 months). Having children is life changing. Never did I imagine I could feel such a strong love for something so small, and twice none the less. I've been fortunate enough to stay home with them and spend hours round the clock at their beck and call. Now I'm not going to lie, these past nine months have been such a whirlwind! They have been some of the most trying times of our lives. But nothing beats seeing the love these babies have for each other as they topple over trying to give each other hugs and kisses (which I know will soon turn into wrestling).

Aside from raising the kiddos we have managed to embark on major home renovations, gone on exciting vacations, and everything you can imagine in between! So stay tuned to the many adventures of our life with les deux :)

                                                                    love, Christina