A Day (250) in the Life of... (Captured by Food) Plus Preschool-at-Home Resources

Friday was a whirlwind of a day!  I only had about 4 hours of sleep the night before, but I didn't yawn once that day--I stayed so stimulated by my surroundings (and my 2 large vats of coffee that morning) which really helped me to not feel tired.  For something new and different, I thought I'd capture some of a semi-typical day here at the Dattolos--through food.

5:15 AM--Momma's heading out the door for Group Ride at the gym, but not before eating a banana and grabbing my water and towel. :)

6:40 AM--Back home, the house is quiet.  Time to make breakfast.  It's important to me to be the first one up in the house so I can have some quiet time and get the day started right with a good breakfast and...

...COFFEE!!!

Potatoes in the pan, I am making a potato, bacon, and egg "hash."  The recipe is at the end of this post.

7:30/8:00ish--family's up and it's time for us to eat!  Starting the day off right!

9:00--A friend of mine dropped off her son for me to watch for a little while.  (Though this doesn't happen everyday, we do get together with our kids once or twice a week--literally, and like to "swap" kids occasionally to give each other a mommy-breather.)  I decided to let the kids make their own batch of apple oatmeal cookies--not sure if that qualifies me as crazy or cool... ha!

Noah with a mouthful of flour--nope, that's not sugar, bud!

Tasting their work--the approval of silence is oh, so strong!  And for the record, we did have an actual lunch after this of hot dogs, veggies, and chips--the pictures just weren't as cute as this! (The recipe for the cookies will also be at the end of this post.)

12:30--Craft project after lunch!!  The only way I could get them to not block their faces with the trees was to wave at the camera... didn't think that one all the way through, I guess!

4:30--I put together a barbeque chicken pizza for Randy and the kids' dinner.  Meanwhile, I headed to Lowell for a fab night out with my UMass sophomore cousin!

Mmm... grilled pizza!

And that would be a typical day at the Dattolo house.  Though I don't get up at 5:00 EVERYday (I have a certain schedule I try to stick to), I still like to be the first one up and I try to prepare a decent breakfast most days.  I like to keep baked goods in the house on a regular basis so we bake often.  And most of you already know about my dinners if you read this blog regularly. ;)  We spend a lot of time in the kitchen around here, and we love it!

Recap of our Week of Pre-School

Abby and I started our "apple" unit this week!  "A" is for apple, of course.  Here are some of the projects we did...

Before we started apples, we finished up reviewing our numbers 1-10.  This culminated in reading the book "Big Fat Hen" and practicing the rhyme she's known since she was 1 and a half--you know, "1, 2, buckle my shoe..."  She is tracing the numbers 1-10 here and then will glue feathers on the paper to represent the big, fat hen!

TA-DA!!!

We practice our cutting, too.  Teaching these skills is requiring a lot of patience on my part.  We pray together each day before starting school--mostly for Mommy's patience! :)  She does a good job, though!

Finally--"A" is for "Apple"!  :)  I've been waiting to start this unit!!!  Good job tracing, Abby!

We made a bright, red apple with red pieces of construction paper--much more fun than simply coloring an apple with crayon!  While we worked we sang our new song "Shiny, shiny, apple red"  (to the tune of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star").  So cute!!!

Trying to be ultra-organized for this preschool stuff!  Abby and I BOTH love my construction paper organizer--Abby loves picking any color she wants from the beautiful array and I love how organized and tidy it makes me feel. :)
And don't forget about those fun apple trees we made on Friday!!!  I try to incorporate baking and cooking into our day because that's instruction for her, too.  I love that I get to teach and be Mommy all in one!

Apple Oatmeal Cookies
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsps cinnamon
1 cup oats
1 cup chopped apples

Cream together the sugars and butter.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  Pour in the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda and stir all ingredients together well.  Fold in the apples and and oats.  Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes.

This upcoming week, Abby and I will finish our unit on apples and transition into "A" is for "animals."  We have another apple pie project to do and I will try to include some downloads of awesome apple worksheets for preschool that we've been doing, also!  Stay tuned!

Recipes from Above:

Potato, Bacon, Egg Hash
4-5 potatoes, peeled and chopped
5-6 slices of bacon, chopped
2-3 scallions, chopped
1 tsp steak seasoning
6-7 eggs, whisked together
1 cup cheddar jack cheese
salt, pepper
vegetable oil

In a large, cast iron skillet, drizzle some vegetable oil and add the chopped potatoes to cook over medium heat.  Preheat the oven to 350*.  Season the potatoes with salt, pepper, and steak seasoning.  When the potatoes have been sizzling for about 7 minutes and the oven is to temperature, put the skillet in the oven and let the potatoes bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until slightly tender. 
Once the potatoes are out of the oven, return them to medium-high stove heat to crisp up the outside of the chunks. Add the bacon to the skillet and let the bacon and potatoes crisp up simultaneously.  Once the bacon is crisp, add the eggs and re-season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the scallions and half of the cheese and move the eggs around to scramble them.  Once the eggs are cooked, pour the rest of the cheese over the top of the skillet and return it to the oven to melt the cheese on top.  Serve hot.

Barbeque Chicken Pizza
I used my recipe for pizza dough for this pizza.  That recipe makes 2 pizzas worth of dough and I had 1 round left in the freezer so it thawed all day.  I also had leftover barbequed chicken breasts in the fridge so of course I was making barbeque chicken pizza.  I ended up buying the pizza sauce since I haven't had time to make my own sauce since the move.  These ingredients combined with fresh mozzarella cheese made for a great pizza!

Entering Autumn with Apple Pecan Cake & Cheddar-Stuffed Chicken with Smashed Potatoes (Days 247 - 249)

Well, autumn is officially here.  It's by far my favorite season.  So much changes in the fall and it always feels like a new start--a time to "get back into routine."  And even more than that, for me, it's the time of year that I most think about my family.  Something about fall always reminds me of my childhood.  It was probably the most exciting time of year.  My birthday is in the fall, and of course, it's the precursor to Christmas.  I have the most fantastic memories of fall: apple-picking every year, "tagging" our real Christmas tree, and trick-or-treating for Halloween (and then when I was "too old", I would go to my aunt and uncle's house and give out candy for them--we would usually order a pizza after they returned from walking the neighborhood and just spending the time with extended family felt so special). My dad made homemade root beer on Halloween night so the smell of yeast often comes to mind when I remember Halloween as a kid (in a good way).  Of course we also had apple crisp--often, and a lot of it, with vanilla ice cream.  But more than those things, I have such strong memories of the smell of McIntosh in the house--all the time.  And the music.  That late 90's Christian "contemporary" music--it was always playing.  My mother always had uplifting music playing softly in the house and her Yankee candles lit in every room.  Our house changed seasonally.  I mean, really changed.  So many decorations would come down that it would look like we were moving.  Then the fall decorations would go up.  Then around Thanksgiving, the fall decorations come down and the house turns into a winter wonderland.  This still occurs, even with just my 2 parents living there, and I love it.  I can always count on my parents' house being seasonally appropriate when we visit--and it's so comforting.  Even through high school, if I ever had a bad day, coming home was the best medicine.  Walking through the door to a toasty-warm house smelling of McIntosh candles, apple crisp, and with Steven Curtis Chapman or Amy Grant or whoever playing in the background gave me such a sense of peace.  That has always been "autumn" to me.  That's why I love it.

My mother and I might not have exactly the same taste in decor.  She's more "country clutter" and I'm a little more "transitional" or contemporary.  But I still strive to achieve the same peace and comfort in my home that I remember from my childhood.  Our house still smells like McIntosh in the fall.  I bake all the time from fall through the winter.  I keep the house organized but not sterile--it still looks lived-in--and I like the lights dim.  It's cozy.  Believe it or not, in the fall, I still occasionally play some of the old songs I remember hearing from the late 90's.  Just for the memories.  The music may not be my preferred style, but the messages are comforting and the sound just brings me back.  Last night as I was inverting the apple cake that Abby and I made together, I had Susan Ashton playing in the background and my McIntosh candle lit and my eyes welled up--it felt like it was 15 years ago.

One of the nicest compliments I've received was one night a couple years ago when a pastor friend of ours came over to talk about Abigail's dedication.  Upon entering our home (this was in the fall) he exclaimed how warm and cozy our place was and how he could just feel the peace of God present in our little home.  Randy told me a friend of his expressed the same sentiment one day when the two of them got together at our house, but I wasn't there to hear it.  When I look at my children, as many mothers do, I want to solve all of their problems, or ensure that they have none.  (I do want them to have wisdom that comes from experiencing tough things, of course, but I don't want them to feel any pain--what mother does?)  But I realize that I can't fix everything for them, and that this will become an even stronger reality as they grow up.  But what I CAN do is ensure that our house stays constant and comforting.  I can make sure that it always welcomes them home.  There will always be pumpkins and mums on our porch during autumn, cozy lighting, soft music (or sometimes loud music--but always music), seasonal decorations, and always something sweet and home-baked to snack on.  We will eat apple crisp and pie and roast chicken on Sundays.  Yankee Candle (and Scentsy) will provide seasonal fragrances, along with the smell of coffee.  And yes, it will always smell like McIntosh in the fall.  I hope this will comfort them--even if I can't.

With that, here are my first 2 fall recipes this year.  Abby and I made apple pecan cake yesterday (Day 248) and tonight was our first night eating supper in the kitchen around our kitchen table and it just so happened to be one of Randy's favorites (do I say that too much?  Take it up with him--he's the one who always says it first).  I've tweaked this meal a little each time I make it but we both agreed that tonight was the best.  I'll share that recipe first.  (It derived from a Rachael Ray recipe but it's pretty distant from that original recipe at this point.)  Enjoy!

Cheddar & Apricot Stuffed Chicken with Smashed Potatoes

Because we like this meal so much, it was hard for me to believe I hadn't posted it before.  With less than 100 days left of this journey, it's almost crazy to think I would have any new recipes to share.  But I do!  I started this blog in January and there are some recipes about which I distinctly remember thinking "I'll save that one for fall."  And now here we are in fall and I'm second-guessing whether I actually had the will-power to save those recipes!  I searched my blog and couldn't find it (though there are at least 30 other chicken recipes you should check out).  So please, stop me if you've read this one... ;)

4 chicken skinless, boneless chicken breasts

8 thick slices of cheddar cheese
4 TB apricot preserves
salt, pepper
5-6 red potatoes, chopped
1 28-oz can San Marzano tomatoes
4 scallions, chopped
6-8 slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
salt, pepper
olive oil

Heat the oven to 425*.  Place the cubed potatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.  Place them in the oven for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, chop your other ingredients.  After 15 minutes, toss the potatoes on the pan and return them to the oven for about another 10-15 minutes.
Heat 2 large skillets on the stove over medium heat with some olive oil in each.  (One should be oven-safe.)  Cut a slit lengthwise down the sides of the chicken breasts so you can "stuff" them.  Place 2 slices of cheddar cheese in each breast and a tablespoon of the preserves.  Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and place each breast in the oven-safe skillet.  In the second skillet, start cooking the chopped bacon. 
When the chicken is ready to turn, flip each breast to the second side.  Transfer the chicken to the oven to finish cooking and take out the potatoes.  By now, the bacon should be browning.  Add the potatoes to the bacon and cook another minute.  Deglaze the pan with the white wine to get up all the flavorful bits.  Add the can of tomatoes and break them up with a spatula--you will probably break up the potatoes, too--that's good, smash everything together nicely!  Add the scallions and season with salt and pepper.  Cook on low until the chicken is ready to come out of the oven.

Serve everything together.
*This meal pairs well with a red OR white wine and is perfect on a chilly night!

Apple Pecan Cake
Abby and I made this cake together after starting our apple unit in preschool.  When I showed her the pan we would bake it in, her response was classic: "But Mommy, there's a hole in that pan!!!"  
This cake is so moist you could love it for days--but you won't because it's so good it'll be gone too fast.  Warning: this is not diet or low-caloric in any way!  That's not how I do sweets.  Go big or go home. ;) Also, do not make it if you're desperate for an apple dessert immediately.  Between the baking time and cooling time and the way it fills your home with a wonderful aroma, you'll be torturing yourself.  Make it when you have a chance to go shopping or something while you wait for it to be ready, it's a slow process, but worth it!

2 cups sugar

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup orange juice
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 TB cinnamon
1 TB vanilla
3 cups peeled and chopped apples
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Sauce:
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 325*.  Combine the sugar, eggs, oil, juice, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla and mix well.  Fold in the apples, coconut, and pecans.  Pour the batter into a grease tube or bunt pan and bake about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Right before the cake is done, start the sauce.  In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Add the sugar, baking soda, and buttermilk and then bring to boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
When the cake comes out of the oven, pour the hot sauce immediately over the hot cake. (You may want to prick some holes in the cake and have a baking sheet under the bunt pan to catch any drips.)  Let stand 1 hour then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Sweet Delights: Lemon-Blueberry Cake & Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cup Cookies (Days 243-245)

There is so much going on over here that it's taking a lot of motivation for me to sit down and get caught up on this blog.  Particularly because I know I have several things to write about.  I have sweet recipes to share, a celebration of my grandmother's 80th birthday to recap, and so many emotions I'm going through about the beginning of fall and the ability I have to stay home and be with my children and experience our wonderful lives together.  Where do I even start???

Let's start with the weekend.  (I will save my latest autumn creation for another post.)  Friday night I had a girls' night with some friends.  I made those blackjack margaritas I wrote about recently.  And for a fun little treat, I made chocolate chip cookies stuffed with mini Reese's peanut butter cups.  It's simple!  Just follow the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips, then spoon some dough into a mini muffin or tartlet pan.  Press a peanut butter cup into the center of each spoonful, then spread some more dough on top.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes at 375*.  These are delicious little bites!

Saturday we celebrated the matriarch of our family: my grandmother and her 80th birthday.  I've mentioned before how close my mother's family is, and so it was nice to have (almost) everyone together for Nana's birthday.  (My brother couldn't make it up from Georgia.)  For the occasion, I tackled my first tiered cake.  Remember the lemon-blueberry cake with lavender frosting I made in August?  Here it is again, as a special 3-tiered cake.  My Nana is a beautiful woman whose love for Jesus and her family is clearly seen.  How wonderful it was to celebrate her on Saturday!

3-Tiered Lemon Blueberry Cake w/ Lavender Buttercream Frosting
2 cups unsalted butter, softened
3 cups granulated sugar
8 large eggs, room temperature
2 TB vanilla
6 cups flour
2 TB baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
zest & juice of 6 lemons
3 cups fresh blueberries + 1-2 TB flour

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Butter & flour 3-4 cake pans and set aside.  (I used two 9-inch rounds for a thick bottom layer, and then one deep 8-inch round, and one deep 6-inch round.)
Cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.  In a separate bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients to the batter.  Mix until everything is combined, being careful not to overmix.  Toss the blueberries with the extra flour so they are covered.  Carefully fold them into the batter with a spatula.
Spoon batter into the prepared pans and bake for about 40-50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Lavender Buttercream Frosting
In a small saucepan, pour somewhere between 1-2 cups of milk (you won't use it all--a rough guess is fine).  Add 4 bags of lavender tea and steep over medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Watch carefully so the milk doesn't burn.  Turn off the heat and let the milk cool completely with the tea bags still soaking.  Remove the tea bags and refrigerate the milk in a sealed container until ready for use.

***When I made frosting, I really never measure.  I grew up watching my dad make a "special icing" to put on graham crackers as a special treat.  I've since learned that he was using the same ingredients for a buttercream frosting, just on a different scale.  So I've never really looked at a recipe or measured things out.  I'm trying to get better for the sake of this blog, but a few measurements did get overlooked here, so please bear with me!

For the 3-tiered cake, you will need about 1 pound of powdered sugar and 1 1/2 pounds of very soft butter (it's not called "buttercream" for nothing!).  Add 1-2 TB vanilla, and slowly add a little bit of the lavender milk at a time.  First add a little, then whip the frosting, and then add some more until you reach the desired thickness.  The frosting will be a beige color because of the "tea milk" so use red and blue food coloring to achieve a nice lavender color.  Gently spread on the cake and decorate as you like.

So-long Summer: Day 246

Yes, I still have the weekend to recap, but that will be for another post.  I have don't have a lot of time to write tonight, but I wanted to share the quick dinner I whipped up as a tribute to the end of summer.  Autumn is my favorite season, but I still get a little sad to see summer go.  This summer felt like it went by much too quickly since we spent half of it moving and working on our new house.  I already can't wait for next summer so we can spend more time relaxing at the beach! 

I brought the kids to the park this morning and met 3 other friends and their kids--we had a great time.  When Randy came home, we took the kids to a local park.  I haven't done the grocery shopping for the week yet so we had to run to Hannaford so I could pick up a few items for dinner.  For "Meatless Monday" I made a summer vegetable pasta with bruschetta. 

Summer Vegetable Pasta

1 zucchini, cubed
1 summer squash, cubed
1 pint grape tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb pasta of your choosing
4 TB butter
2 TB olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup white wine
few basil leaves, roughly chopped
salt, pepper

Start boiling the pasta water in a large stock pot.  When it comes to a boil, season it with salt and drop the pasta.  Meanwhile, in a large skillet, drizzle the olive oil and add 2 TB of butter over medium-high heat.  When the butter melts, add the zucchini and squash.  Let cook for a few minutes until just tender.  Add the tomatoes and the garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Cook 1-2 more minutes.  Pour in the white wine and the lemon juice and bring to a bubble.  Reduce heat to low.  When the pasta is done cooking, add it to the skillet and add the remaining 2 TB of butter.  Toss and garnish with the chopped basil.  Add more salt and pepper if needed.

Recipes & Renovation Recap: Days 234-242

I've gone almost 10 days without touching my blog.  This is bad.  But today has given me a spirit of "doing things I've been meaning to do but putting off for a while" so here I am.  I bet you, my faithful readers, have missed me.  (Hi Mom, Dad, Nana, Morfar, and Randy!)  I've missed you, too.  There's so much to catch up on, so let me just take one more sip of my wine and an M & M out of the container next to me and I can begin. ;)

My last post was of the no-bake cookies I made using the side burner of my husband's grill on Tuesday.

"Mexican" night

Since then, we had a couple more grilled meals, turkey sandwiches, and take-out.  It's funny, I watch HGTV a lot and whenever they feature a couple "living through a renovation" I feel so relieved.  It's nice to know that others experience this and share the same sentiments.  Someone will always be telling the "private" camera that he or she is "sick of processed food & eating out or ordering in."  Yep.  That's about how I feel and have felt for a while now.  I feel like I must be gaining weight because of this renovation--I'm too tired to work-out as often as I'd like (and I have a list 1,000 miles long that I feel the need to chip away at before going to the gym) and I'm eating like crap on most days.  It's awful. 

 Grilled steak fajitas

Hangin' out in the cabinets...

I know there are healthier things to eat even during a kitchen renovation but let me elaborate a little.  Most of our kitchen utensils and even food products are distributed among 3-5 different areas or rooms in the house.  This makes preparing a PB & J challenging.  Never mind a salad.  I buy only the boxed greens now because I don't have the patience to chop the lettuce.  I also have no countertops so I'm preparing food at a kitchen table in our office (which now smells like old coffee because this is also where the coffee maker is at the moment) or I'm preparing food on the coffee table while sitting on the sofa.  I have a backache, by the way, and I think I might know why.  Now, adding to the fact that preparing a healthy meal takes 3-5 times longer than normal, I also have 2 small children who, from the moment they realize that they MIGHT be a little hungry, can't stop whining or complaining or crying.  They also can't have salad at every meal--it's just not substantial enough for their growing bodies, plus, Noah still only has 5 teeth so chewing is a challenge.  Inevitably, I end up just making for myself what I make for them--PB & J, macaroni & cheese, turkey & cheese, or order a pizza.  :/

There are some good things about doing a renovation with little kids... cute pictures!!!

The good news is we got our stove hooked up on Tuesday!  It's great, but certainly doesn't solve many problems.  I still have no counters so food prep is still just as challenging.  I also have no kitchen sink.  The first night back with the stove I made carbonara.  It was delicious and felt great to eat a home-cooked meal again.  However, I immediately regretted it when it came to clean up time.  A bathroom sink isn't designed to handle food particles, so every dish and pan needs to be cleaned of crumbs before it's washed.  Plus, not many of my pans will fit in the bathroom sink to wash; certainly not my large skillet or stock-pot for pasta!  I have now washed dishes in the bathroom sink, tub, and with the hose outside.  Ugh! 

BBQ chicken sandwich with blackjack margarita (recipe follows)

I now feel like I am simply emotionally "vomitting" all over this post.  I don't want to publish something that simply consists of me complaining.  Things are going well, they are!  They are just challenging at the moment.  Rooms are getting painted.  Our storage space in the basement is organized.  I've even been able to put out some of my typical home decor and some fall decorations which helps this feel more like home and less like a construction site.  (Next thing Randy knows, his hammer will be wrapped in an autumn leaf wreath.) ;)  I am also in the process of learning some things through this ordeal.

One thing I'm taking away is to not take things too seriously.  Abby's preschool hasn't been as consistent as I would like this week as I struggle to accomplish more around the house.  As a former teacher myself, it's really tough to plan a week of teaching (even if it's only 30 minute lessons a day) and not see them come to fruition.  But Abby will only be 3 in a couple weeks.  Her playtime is also educational time right now.  I'm doing what I can and trying hard not to get hung up on what I don't do with her.  She has done some great crafts and enjoyed reading some fun books with me!  We are starting our "apple" unit and going apple-picking tomorrow which will be a lot of fun!  I'm excited to get my kitchen back so she and I can bake together again.  This weather always puts me in a baking mood and I'm anxious to get back at it!

After reading "Froggy Goes to School" we made froggy fingerprints on paper... "flop flop flop!"

Another thing I'm learning is patience.  Of course, I've had to be patient with the kitchen project, but in other areas, too.  I'm not much of a shopper.  I don't bargain-hunt because I don't have the patience for it.  When I know what I want to buy, I usually just buy it no matter the price.  I mean, if I think it will be easy to get a coupon or a better deal nearby, I'll do it.  But I won't spend hours, days, or weeks searching for a better price.  When I know what I want, I want it right away.  But Randy and I aren't millionaires.  Our new home isn't all decked out the way I want it to be yet.  I'm just now learning to slow down a bit.  I am trying to make our home as pleasant and "homey" as possible with what we have now and just wait until I CAN find a good price on something I want or wait until we have more money for it.  This is hard for me.  But I'm learning.  I'm learning patience and how to live and deal
with imperfection in my home.

So this weekend I'll be making a cake for my grandmother's 80th birthday.  It will be the lemon-blueberry cake with lavender frosting I made for my girlfriends a little while ago.  I will post the recipe and pictures when it's done.  I sincerely hope that next week I will be back on my game in the kitchen and on the computer. :)  And say a little prayer with me that the countertops & kitchen sink go in this weekend!!!

Blackjack Margaritas
serves 2

3 oz tequila
1 oz triple sec
1 oz Chambord raspberry liqueur (or we use Blackberry Brandy)
8 oz lime juice
ice

Day 233: No-Bake Cookies

I had a meeting today with 2 lovely catering clients for an anniversary party they're throwing in October.  We met at my house while my children took naps and, being the food person that I am, I wanted to serve a little something.  Since I don't have a stove or oven right now, I decided to make no-bake cookies and use the side burner on our grill to boil the ingredients.  The recipe came right from the Food Network and couldn't be easier! (Hey, I made it by bringing all of the ingredients out to the grill--you can totally do this in the comfort of your own kitchen!)

Chocolate Peanut-Butter No-Bake Cookies
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
4 TB cocoa powder
3 cups oats
1 cup peanut-butter
1 TB vanilla

In a saucepan, bring the sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa powder to a boil.

Next, add the oats, peanut-butter, and vanilla.

Drop a teaspoon of the mixture onto a sheet with wax paper.  

Let cool (fridge or freezer is fine) until thick and somewhat hardened.  (The cookies will not be as hard as regular cookies--they will always remain a little sticky.  I like to store them in the refrigerator to help maintain some structure.)

By the way, our bathroom is now complete!  If you missed my facebook update, here are the before and after pictures...

"Before"--ugly linoleum floors, out-dated door and cabinet hardware, and horrible pull-chain light bulbs above the mirror.

"After"--new floor, new paint, new hardware, new light fixture!