first days & end of the week recap

we made it through three days of kindergarten, and i was already exhausted...ha!  we were all getting up earlier than the summer norm to make it to school, and if i'm honest, i'll tell you that it was a long week...for all of us.  by thursday, it was carson' first day of preschool.  so, here he is...


i could eat him up.


he was so excited!


and looked so cute with his rocket ship lunch box.


we took a quick family photo, just before we headed out.  we're missing miss emma in more ways than one here...


he had a great day too!  other than telling his teacher that, "i not take a nap at school."  hilarious.  my kids have only ever slept in their cribs, so nap time on a mat on the floor and not at home was. not. happening. for this little dude.  when he got home, we made pumpkin snickerdoodles together.  he loves to bake!  that recipe is a keeper, they were moist & yummy & made the perfect afternoon snack.


by friday, we were beat.  kindergarten is a long day!  it was a week full of adjustments for our whole family.  trust me.  we promised emma that if she made through her first week, we would bring her chick-fil-a on friday, so that's exactly what we did.  it was so nice to see her smiling little face, and we were all excited about the weekend.   movies+popcorn+sleeping in were all in order.

::recipe:: Pumpkin Squares with Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

i told y'all i would be back. well, here i am. we made these on wednesday, and i'll be real surprised if they are still here by tomorrow...

let me crank out this recipe for y'all, so you can whip up a batch in your kitchen. this is what you'll need to gather up: salt, pumpkin, almond flour, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. you can scroll down to the bottom for the complete recipe. i'm not sure how the vanilla snuck into the photo, but you won't need that for the cake portion...just for the frosting :)

this is the almond flour that we use. i buy it here. it's so much cheaper that way. i have no idea why it's not available to purchase now, so sorry!

so, here we go. dump all of the ingredients into your mixing bowl and beat well.

pour the batter into a greased 13X9 pan...

let your best little helper spread it around, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

it will come out just like this...

now, let's whip up the frosting. you'll need cream cheese, maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon. dump all four ingredients into your bowl...

and beat until creamy.

after the cake has cooled, spread the frosting on top. then, i cover it and stick it in the fridge.

if you need proof that they are good...

he was stuffing it in, just as fast as he could. they are SO moist! and SO yummy! you could ask miss emma too.

after having these first at a friend's house, this is what i came up with....

Pumpkin Squares (paleo & gluten free)

2 cups almond flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 cup pumpkin

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Dump all of the ingredients into your mixing bowl and beat well. Pour the batter into a greased 13X9 pan. Spread it around, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 block of cream cheese

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Dump all four ingredients into your bowl and beat until creamy. Once the pumpkin squares have cooled, spread the frosting on top. Refrigerate any leftovers :)

I recapped our mid-October family getaway here and here. Here's to trying to catch up!

cookies in a jar, catastrophe, and casserole

the cat was away this week, so we started the week off with a haircut for the little boy blue. if i'm honest, i'll tell you that i wanted to puke when i saw how much she chopped off. i think i'm okay with it now, but i still don't like to talk about it. i know, i'm weird, but my mantra post-cut was "he is a boy" and "it is still curly." those two phrases got me through the week.

later on in the week, we met some friends at lupe tortilla for dinner. it's a great restaurant with a huge sand pit filled with toys for the little ones. everything was fine until miss e got her foot run over by one of the roller coaster cars. she was screaming. bro was crying. i was trying to pay the check, carry two kids to the car, and maintain sanity. you would have thought her leg was falling off. i had a plan to keep the sand out of my car, trying to nix those potential ant beds, but with two screaming kids, that plan went out the window very quickly.

we made it home in one piece, and as you can see here, miss e is fine. we spent some of our week assembling cookies in a jar for emma's upcoming birthday. this is what is simmering in the background. it's crock pot chicken taco chili. it was delish, super easy, and made a ton. i highly recommend!

i had an eager little helper in the kitchen.

i just love when she wears her apron.

they were a bit messy for sure, but emma had a blast filling and dumping. it was sorta like a sandbox in the kitchen. if you plan to make these, i nixed the m&m's and traded them for more chocolate chips.

later that weekend, i made a new breakfast casserole....

It was delish! And we ate the leftovers all week. Both of my kids gobbled it up too. And, at around 100 calories a square and chocked full of veggies, you just can't beat it. Here's the recipe...

Paleo Breakfast Casserole

12 eggs

1 yellow squash, chopped

1 zucchini, chopped

1/4 onion, chopped

1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

8 strips of bacon (I cooked that on parchment in the oven at 350.)

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. oregano

a little chopped fresh rosemary

salt and pepper

Heat oven to 350. Beat eggs. Add veggies. Add the bacon, crumbled. Add the spices. Pour into a greased 13X9 casserole dish. Bake for about 45 minutes. Cut into 12 squares.

I may skip the bacon next time. It was kinda hard to taste it all mixed in. Maybe I'll just serve it on the side?

You could add other veggies too....enjoy!

::recipe:: Cucumber Mint Popsicles

run out to your garden and pick some of this...mint is so yummy!

and go ahead and grab a sweet helper while you're at it.

muddle a handful of mint leaves with 1/2 cup of sugar.

in a saucepan, add your muddled mint, sugar, and 1/2 cup water. bring to a boil. while you are waiting for the mint simple syrup to boil, grab a cucumber, peel it, and slice it in half, lengthwise, like this...

scoop the seeds out. discard them.

and chop the cucumber up. by now your mint simple syrup is probably boiling. make sure that all of the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat, spoon the mint out, and allow to cool.

throw the cucumber in the food processor and pulse until smooth. it will look something like this...

add the juice of 3-4 key limes to the pureed cucumber.

once the mint simple syrup has cooled, add it to your pureed cucumber too. give it a stir and pour into your popsicle molds. freeze. this recipe makes enough to fill four popsicle molds. we love them so much that i tripled the recipe :)

these two were patiently waiting for their frozen treat...

and when the long awaited suspense was over, it was so worth it!

they are so yummy and refreshing! it's a new favorite at our house. it's free of all food dyes, doesn't stain our clothes, and they won't even realize they are eating their veggies :)

Cucumber Mint Popsicles

a handful of fresh mint

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

one cucumber

3-4 key limes

Muddle the mint with the sugar. In a small saucepan, combine the muddled mint, sugar, and water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Spoon the mint out and allow to cool. Peel the cucumber. Slice it in half, lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Discard the seeds. Throw the cucumber into the food processor. Pulse until smooth. Add the juice of 3-4 key limes to the cucumber puree. And once the mint simple syrup has cooled, add it to the cucumber puree too. Mix well to combine. Pour into molds and freeze. Makes 4 regular sized popsicles.

from there to here ::part 2::

i was on a mission last week to find a made from scratch cupcake recipe. after being super unhappy with those delightful little box cake mixes on aisle 9 and chunking one "made from scratch" batch of cupcakes in the trash...yes all 24, i came up with this: chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. it's a keeper. i used the recipe from here for the cake, and as for the frosting, i don't remember it's source. it's moist and yummy and if you want the recipe without the photos, scroll down to the bottom of the post. preheat your oven to 350, line your cupcake pan with liners, and get a small pan of water boiling on the stove.

mix your dry ingredients together: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup unpacked brown sugar, 1 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt.

then, i dumped it into my kitchen aid and gave it a whirl. i should have just started in my kitchen aid...

add 2 eggs. mix well.

add 1 cup whole milk.

add 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 2 tsp. vanilla. beat for about a minute, scraping the sides if necessary. then, add 1 cup of boiling water.

you'll end up with this...super drippy batter. i used a ladle to pour the batter into my baking cups. bake for 20 minutes.

they'll look like this when they're done. while they are cooling, you can work on the frosting.

for the frosting you'll need 1 stick butter, softened to room temp, 1 block of cream cheese, softened to room temp, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.), and 1 Tblsp. milk. cream the butter and cream cheese. add the cocoa and vanilla. add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, and finish with the milk. if you want thinner frosting, add more milk, one tablespoon at a time.

now, for the fun part...frosting! i'm a nerd and used this video to help out with my frosting techniques. i wanted the "swirl" effect...

i wish i knew more about this stuff...

remember i made these a couple of weeks ago? they were our toppers for our valentine's day cupcakes. miss emma added a heart to each of the cupcakes, and then i loaded miss emma up, and we delivered the cupcakes to a couple of her super special little friends.

our little buddy has reached another milestone...pulling up! here he is on his very first success...just before the big O-N-E.

we wrapped our week up at a valentine's day crafting party.

what a fun idea! there were cookies to decorate...

and eat...

my little pony joined emma on her adventures. have you noticed that they've re-done strawberry shortcake, my little pony, barbie, and all of the others? it appears that in the past 20 years or so that whole licensed clad has gone clubbing. together. seriously. they're all looking a little wild and *****ish (insert appropriate adjective). do you know how much i love all of that licensed junk? not. i abhor the t-shirts covered in dora, don't really enjoy eating on ariel's face, and honestly would prefer my children to play with all things wooden and classic. let me stop now. just take a look at the barbies next time you're in target. i gurantee you that they don't look like these. in short, i prefer the vintage, don't you?

there were bookmarks to color. emma gave hers to her daddy for heart day.

and little valentine dudes to create...

emma even made me a necklace, which i proudly wore to dinner that night. later on, we turned it into a key chain...those bright little rainbow hearts have helped me big time when on my key hunt! it was a fun week....thanks so much to our sweet friends for the super fun party.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup sugar

1 cup unpacked brown sugar

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Preheat your oven to 350, line your cupcake pan with liners, and get a small pan of water boiling on the stove. Dump the dry ingredients into your kitchen aid, sugar through salt. Allow it to mix. Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat for about a minute. Add the boiling water, and beat until blended. Ladle into cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter, room temp.

1 block cream cheese, room temp.

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.)

1+ Tblsp. milk

Cream the butter and cream cheese. Add the cocoa and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, and finish with the milk. If you want thinner frosting, add more milk, one tablespoon at a time.