When U Smile, I Smile J.Biebs!

Hiyaaaaa! Happy halfway-through-the-week dayyyy! Sorry I haven't posted in a few days.


I blame this character:

Make that a fajillion and one, athankyou.

Yeah I haven't posted because I've been listening to "U Smile" on loop. It's super time consuming being serenaded by The Biebs all day, you know? If you haven't heard it I suggest you RUN to your nearest YouTube and listen. 

Anyhoooo I managed to pull myself away from J.Biebs long enough to have a really fun weekend! Friday night we went to a friends house for dinner. We had amazing cheese fondue, and I am determined to get the recipe and share it with all of you. It looked easy to make, and it was tres delicious! Saturday Joel and I had a cute little date day. We went to breakfast and played mini golf!

The next Tiger? Yikes, I hope not.

For the record, we TIED! And by tied I mean I kinda cheated, but whatever. Semantics. But I did have a hole in one, and it was pretty amazing. Anyway it was just really relaxing to be outside, enjoying each other. Hooray for married dates! Saturday night we hung out with friends and fam. It was pretty chilly so the men made a fire and a bunch of us just sat around and talked. Glorious! And Sunday we had a super top secret meeting with our tech-savvy, and creative friend Nicole. Big things are in store for ATOTS, thanks to her! ;)

Nicole and me. Yay for 'Skins pride at top secret meetings!! (They won because of us, duh.)

I also made these delicious little items...

Umm no I didn't take this picture. Via

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Spice Bars! I found the recipe over at Blissfully Content, and they are to die for. So good, and totally easy. They are guaranteed to get you in the fall spirit. Just pair them with a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and you will be in HOG HEAVEN! (You can thank Mother NixonSleeve for that little saying.)(I know I do. Daily. And twice on the weekends.)

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 package (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Makes- 24 bars

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9x13 pan with tin foil. 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. With an electric mixer combine butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla until combined.

4. Now add the pumpkin puree (The mixture should appear curdled. No worries!)

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.

6. Fold in the chocolate chips. Finally!

Spread the batter in your prepared 9x13 pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes. 

Done and done. Enjoy!!

OK so listen to how weird this is. Last week, on the same day, Lulu and I both received Jury Duty Questionnaires for our county. I don't know if Fairfax County is just randomly sending these out but no one we know has gotten one besides us. HOW WEIRD WOULD IT BE IF WE WERE PUT ON THE SAME CASE?! The thought literally makes me sweat. In a good way. 

We make jury duty look good. Damn good.

Obvi we would have to act like we didn't know each other, which I have a feeling would be really easy hard. BUT we do have different last names now so as long as we ignore each other in the jury box, I bet peeps would be none the wiser.

What if we get a really amazing celeb case?!?! Or like a triple homicide?!?! (See I would like that because I'm weird and morbid and like crime shows...Lulu would probs prefer a high profile case involving Jessica Simpson.) Either way this has AMAZING written all over it. 

That's all I've got for you on this little Wednesday. Tonight we are heading over to the Pediatrician's office for a meeting and newborn class. I'm anxious and excited!

Don't forget to enter our pillow giveaway! Those pillows are thebombdotcom, and they could be yours!!

Keep cool my babies,

Charlie

Lulu Review 9.23.2010 quick and easy

Lulu Review

S'MORES-CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE- CUP CAKES:

Stars: 4 outta 4

These are WONDERFUL little desserts!!!  When I heard this recipe from Charlie, I'm gonna be honest, I was driving my car and committed it to memory. No writing it down or asking for specifics. (no distracted driving here! ha ) When I got home I was playing in by (y)ear. See the complicated ingredient list below.

Step 1: Fill muffin tin with cookie dough. Did fill some all the way, some half. Just testing things out. One quick call to Charlie to confirm I was on the right track...had I imagined the muffin tin part of the conversation? That could happen. Again, I didn't write down directions.

 

Step 2 & 3: Add little mini-marshmallows and  graham crackers. Charlie did tell me 2 marshmallows each, but Mr. Charlie (aka Joel) recommended extra marshmallows. So I went crazy there. And ummm, I was spastic and tried putting whole graham crackers on top.

  

Step 4: Final step. Add chocolate squares. Ha, I put big huge pieces because I thought they'd melt and cover the top but I was wrong! Chocolate always seems to melt all over everything in the car but somehow in the oven at 350 it didn't spread out. Weird.

Action shot: While baking @ 350 for 11 minutes.

Fresh from the oven.

 

Final product: Delicious! A true quick & easy recipe. Hahahaaa even though the center's collapsed under the weight of the toppings...they are still amazing! Now that I think about it, I could have should have crumbled the crackers and chocolate. But oh well. I was picturing an actual s'mores so the layered thing was what I was thinking. I would make them and serve them warm when having COMPANY--because I know they'd be a crowd pleaser. But, I'd also add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Oh snap. That would be the ticket.

So, I guess this little recipe is going viral!  I got in from Charlie and she got it from Emily over at My Heart Shaped Life. And I think she got it from another fabulous blogger out there in our circle of friends!! WOOHOO!! Who will make this recipe next??

xoxo

Lulu

Sprite + Chicken= A Crazy Crockpot Adventure!

So this morning I threw together the ingredients  to make crockpot brownsugar chicken. I'm feeling really good about this for the following reasons...

1. The blog I found the recipe on A Year of Slow Cooking is, in a word, amazing. The blogger, Stephanie, made a resolution to use her crockpot EVERYDAY in the year 2008. I can appreciate anyone who has that kinda cooking fortitude, you know? Evidently Stephanie was on to something, because now she has a best-selling book on Amazon filled with crockpot recipes, and is make loads of money off little crockpot adventures like mine. You go Glen Coco!!

2. Her kids call this dish, "candy chicken". Since I pretty much have the pallet of a 10 year-old boy, I'm definitely tracking with them.  Mac and cheese? Yes. Grilled cheese? Yes. Corndogs? Yes, and please.

3. Here is the list of ingredients:

-- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
-- 1 cup brown sugar
-- 1/4 cup of lemon-lime soda
-- 2/3 cup of vinegar
-- 3 gloves garlic, smashed
-- 2 T soy sauce
-- 1 tsp black pepper

Yes my friends, you read that correctly. LEMON-LIME SODA. SPRITE. SIERRA MIST. POUR. IT. IN. As soon as I read that, I knew I had to make this! I just enjoy the thought of people (namely Joel) being bewildered and bamboozled when I tell them they are eating Sprite covered chicken.

Given the ingredients, this dish will either be sooo delicious or sooo disgusting. I'll let you know in about 8-9 hours. All I know is anything that calls for Sprite, AND is already prepared by the time I get home from work is a FRIEND-O-MINE!


Your friend and Sprite enthusiast,

Charlie




P.S. I love how Blogger spellcheck wants to correct my use of "crockpot" to either "crock pot" or "crackpot". Crackpot is perfectly acceptable to them. Crockpot? OH, HELL NO. Way to show your little druggie hand, Blogger.

Calling all Chefs/Bakers/people who have a lot of recipes!

I need your help! I just realized I have three things coming up in the near future that require me to make something. And see I have no cooking skillz to speak of (and I'm a slow learner).

False advertising.

Tomorrow night we are doing a wine tasting with Joel's family. This is how it works: each couple was assigned a country (we randomly chose out of a hat) and we are to bring a red and white from our designated country. We got Australia/New Zealand so the wine picking part is easy. But we also need to bring an appetizer that sorta matches the country. I can't really think of anything that screams Australia though. (Yes I've already considered getting a bloomin' onion from Outback and calling it a day, so don't even try that.) At this point I'm not as concerned with the app matching the country, so much as it I want it to be delicious!

Our wines are a Shiraz and a Sauvignon Blanc. Apparently smoky meaty items are good with a Shiraz, and seafood/fish is good with Sauvignon Blanc. Any app ideas?! Talk amongst yaselves.

Sunday night and Tuesday night we are having friends over for dinner. (Don't ask me how I got roped into entertaining for people in general, let alone with only ONE night break in between. I am a novice homemaker, OK?! The thought of this makes me want to take a nap.) But I'm looking for something easy, hot, delicious and meaty (something about that sentence sounds sorta fresh. And I like it!). Like a casserole or something. For my laziness factor simplicity's sake, whatever I make Sunday night I'll also make Tuesday night. Heyooooo.

So...ANY IDEAS?!?! Please just post links to recipes if you don't feel like typing them. I greatly need your help. The Waspy Redhead I'm lookin' at you!

T.A.I.F.,

Charlie

p.s. Guess how many thank you notes we did last night? Oh wait. None. Laying on the floor of the baby's room and trying to get our cats to eat our hair seemed significantly more productive.