I think a change will do you good.

At what point did my life change? How did I go from being the geeky punk girl to the Mom with four kids that enjoys a nice evening in pinning things for daughterʻs eighth donut party sleepover?  I feel like after the point of thirty itʻs kind of mandatory to have your shit together, or at least to understand your own self a little bit more.

But I donʻt even know.  Iʻm on my first "real" Summer break before school starts again in August, only real in the sense that I took two full-load semesters last year and beginning with the semester coming up I will be taking five classes a semester until I graduate.  While I thought Summer vacation would be some fantasy world full of free Starbucks and yoga on the beach- it feels almost worse then being in school.  I still canʻt catch up with the house, I still get frustrated with my kids, stress and real life are still the same I just donʻt have the excuse of homework anymore.  Ahh, where I made the mistake was believing that not going to school would reduce my anxiety level really it just adds on to my normal anxiety level which can never be lowered.  Ha.  Right.

So yeah, Iʻm working on it.  I thought that since I allegedly do have all this free time I no longer have the excuse not to blog either.  I love blogging, I just havenʻt figured out my "thing" yet.  Sounds about right.  I guess Iʻm willing to keep trying to figure it out.

I have done a lot more cooking and baking since being on break but I've been a bit lazy and weary to continue using social media to post my pictures first and then copy and paste them on to here.  Which is Iʻm sure the most rudimentary way to do that but like I said before, I really suck at anything computer related.  I just need to get back into writing and posting and etc. but for just this time instead Iʻll just give you a link for some awesome Apple Crumb muffins I made for my book club last week.  They were moist and everyone loved them even my fruit-hating son.

Enjoy and Aloha!

Glazed Apple Crumb Muffins

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/06/10/glazed-apple-crumb-muffins/

Vistorus Interruptus.

As much as I hate to admit it I am a creature of habit.  

I like to wake up every morning, enjoy my coffee, check my Facebook and slowly ease into my day.

Get my burst of energy by the time Andy gets home from work to start cleaning & doing school with the kids, etc.  Everyday may not be the same but most start with coffee and end with me snuggling with my love in bed.   

Having my Mom & sister here visiting from California is so awesome but it definitely throws off my Mama schedule and makes me let things go I might not usually be able to.  And while sometimes that is hard for my Type A personality it definitely does make things seem even more organized when I get back to it. So after a week or so of not blogging I actually missed it!  But time is short so I'll do my favorite type of writing, a list.  

My [current] life in numbers.

[20] minutes until I hope to be in bed. 

[19] the age my sister Jordan turned today!

[18] days till my first Hawaii doula client is due.  

[17] the age my sister Sierra turned today!

[16] my stupidest age, so far & hopefully ever.

[15] pounds I have gained this pregnancy.

[14] days until I start school again.

[13] pages of Fifty Shades Freed I've read.  I give up, I'm over it. 

[12] ingredients in the recipe below.

[11] babies latched on at The Big Latch-On West Oahu I hosted on Friday! 

[10] years I have been with the love of my life. 

[9] years until I am a midwife!  I hope. 

[8] weeks left in this pregnancy! Give or take a little.....

[7] months we have been back in Hawaii.

[6] tattoos I have.  For now.

[5] strawberry shortcakes I made for dessert tonight. 

[4] days left until my baby shower!  Yeay! 

[3] kids I have, for just a little bit longer. 

[2] notifications I have on Facebook, last time I checked.

[1] God I love! 

And by popular demand......

Homemade Jumbo Nutter Butters! 

from www.cookiesandcups.com

Cookies: 

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

2 tsp. Vanilla

2 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup extra sugar for rolling

Filling:

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup creamy peanut butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tbs. milk

For cookies:

[1] Cream butter, peanut butter & sugar in a stand mixer.

[2] Add eggs one at a time & then vanilla.

[3] In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda & baking powder.

[4] Slowly add dry mixture to wet in mixer, try not to over mix!

[5] When dough has come together roll into 1-inch balls and then form your balls into logs.  Ha. 

[6] Roll logs in sugar and place on ungreased baking sheet.  Keep them spread apart cause they get big!

[7] With a fork make a criss cross pattern on top of each log, while you're doing this pinch the log in the middle so it makes a peanut shape.  Very good. 

[8] Bake at 375 degrees F for about 10 minutes.

[9] Let cool on a rack while you make your filling!

For filling:

[1] Cream butter & peanut butter.

[2] Slowly add powdered sugar.

[3] Check consistency and add milk if you like, may take a little more or less or none at all. 

[1] Spread filling between two cookies & chow down!

Nutter Butter time! 

The Nutella Chronicles: Nutella Swirled Banana Bread and Nutella filled mini donut muffins.

I am one of those people that grew up on Nutella.  I don't know how and I don't know where but we have always been a home with Nutella.  My Mom is a junk food junkie, not in a bad way [I love you Mom!] so this was just one of those things, her favorite way to eat it is with Walker's Shortbread cookies.  Sigh.

So I didn't go on a magical trip and discover it as an exotic treat, Nutella is a thing of memories & my childhood.  I hope my kids have those same memories. :) 

I bought a big 2 pack at Costco of the stuff a few weeks ago so I've basically been baking anything that has it, cause really why wouldn't you want a surplus of Nutella and baked goods?  

This is also my first lesson learned in blogging.  I found both of the recipes on Pinterest and like almost every recipe I make I tweaked it to fit what I thought would be better or for what I personally had on hand.  When I went to write this blog I hadn't pinned the exact recipes I used so I had to go through pages of recipes to try and find them so I could reference them here. Errr.  Ok blogging world, lesson learned.  I will start writing my recipes down!  There, you happy?

Nutella Swirled Banana Bread

adapted from www.barbarabakes.com

 

1 Cup mashed very ripe banana, about 3 medium bananas

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

2 cups AP flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup Nutella

 

[1] Combine mashed banana, brown sugar, Greek yogurt, butter & eggs in a stand mixer and mix on medium until well blended.

[2] In a separate bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

[3] Note: I made these into mini loaf pans, cause I had disposable ones and didn't want to clean up but you could use one big standard loaf pan here. It makes 4 mini loaves.

Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture.  Mix until it just comes together.

[4] Grease pans, I make my own Pam type spray, and spoon batter into bottom.  About halfway up.

[5] Use about 1/8 cup of Nutella per pan, a little more won't hurt anybody.  Kind of layer the Nutella between two layers of batter and then put a big scoop on top.

[6] Use a butter knife or skewer to swirl the Nutella through the layers, I made the mistake of not swirling enough which gave my bread kind of a crispy Nutella top which I kind of liked.

[7] Bake at 350 degrees F, or 300 degrees if your using a Convection oven, which I am while my oven is out of order.  For about 35-40 minutes.

[8] Let cool on a rack, if you can wait that long!

Nutella filled Mini Donut Muffins

adapted from www.mochithoughts.com

 

   3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg 

1 1/2 cups AP flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. Nutmeg

1/4 cup Veggie Oil

3/4 cup low-fat milk

1 t. Vanilla 

Nutella for filling

 

[1]   In a large bowl whisk together sugar, egg, veggie oil, milk & vanilla.

[2] In another bowl whisk together dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, salt & Nutmeg.

[3] Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.

[4] Grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray and fill each one halfway.

[5] Using a teaspoon add a dollop of Nutella to each muffin.

[6] Cover Nutella with a little more batter each, try not to fill too high, I did and they came out ok but it could be a mess.

[7] Bake at 350 degree F for 12 minutes.

[8] When the muffins have cooled down for a few minutes run a butter knife along each edge.

Pop muffins out while they are still warm and then roll in cinnamon sugar! 

[1/4 cup sugar & 1 t. cinnamon]

Makes about 36 mini muffins.

Have a Nutella-licious day!