Recipe's....

So there are a few recipe's that many of you have requested lately. Here they are. Happy cooking / baking!!

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ELEPHANT'S TOMATO ORANGE SOUP
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a saucepan, melt butter; add onion and sauté until translucent. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, baking soda and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered about 15 minutes or until slightly thickened.
Puree in a food processor or blender; strain through a sieve or food mill. (I used a hand held immersion blender for this.) Return to saucepan and stir in orange juice. At this point, the soup can be refrigerated until ready to serve. At serving time, add the whipping cream and heat gently, stirring constantly, bringing to a simmer and adjust seasonings if necessary. Extra cream maybe drizzled on top of the soup immediately before serving for decorative effect.
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CHOCOLATE FUDGE LAYER CAKE w/ WHITE CHOCOLATE WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING (adapted from recipe printed in Bon Appetite)

Cake:
4 oz chopped unsweetened chocolate
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 unsalted butter, room temp
2 t vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup whole milk

Frosting:
3 cups chilled whipped cream
2 T unsalted butter
1/2 lb chopped white chocolate
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t almond extract

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare two 9" cake pans. Stir unsweetened chocolate into saucepan over low heat until melted & smooth. Cool slightly. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda & salt into bowl. Beat butter & sugar until well blended. Add lukewarm chocolate & vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in cocoa powder mixture & 3 additions, alternating w/ milk. Divide between pans & bake 35 m. Cool completely.

Bring 1 cup cream & butter to simmer in saucepan until butter melts. Remove from heat & add white chocolate. Stir until smooth, add vanilla. Bring to room temp. Beat remaining 2 cups cream & almond extract in large bowl until peaks form. While beating, slowely add in chocolate. Chill - fold occasionally.

Place on layer of cake on platter. Spead w/ frosting, add second layer. Spread remaining frosting on top & sides. Serve & enjoy!!

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SPICED CRANBERRY CAKE (adapted from recipe printed in Bon Appetite)
*Great for a holiday coffee cake.

2 cups flour
3/4 cup almond flour
2 1/2 t chinese five spice powder
1 t baking powder
1/2 t each baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 cup halved frozen cranberries
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350; prepare 12c bundtpan.

Whisk first 8 ingredients in bowl. Beat butter & sugars until fluffy (3m). Add eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla, then sour cream. Add dry ingredients. Fold in nuts & all cranberries. Pour into bundt pan. Back for 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool completely & turn cake out. Enjoy!

Party Party Party

We had a weekend full of parties & it was oh so fun. First, Saturday was Oscar's 4th. A truck theme. Here are some shots.

Then Sunday we headed over to the Bailly's for Amelia's 2nd. Robot theme. Oscar is still running around saying, "Robot's do not poop or pee."... thanks Jason Bailly! Here are some shots of that party. Plus a shot of the robot stuffed toy that Jen made for all the kids!

Gymnastic Class

We signed the boys up for gymnastic class this winter. Actually Oscar is officially signed up but the teacher / coach is super cool & lets Calvin play along. It is through the local park & rec center. They both had SO much fun.

Oscar's b-day

Yesterday was Oscar's b-day. His big party is saturday but we had a mini celebration on his "real" birthday w/ our gift.

Here are the boys playing w/ Oscar's new garbage truck.

Here is Oscar after his birthday pudding! So cute.

Rainy Day Cuteness

So every tuesday we walk to some neighbors of ours for playdate. Today it was pretty wet & windy. We bought Oscar an umbrella last summer but didn't buy one for Calvin - a mistake in retrospect. SO - I let him borrow my huge pink one. Here is how they looked.

Oh my...

This has been a very hard week. And yes - I realize it is only wednesday.

We are all sick, Darren, Me, Oscar & Calvin. I am almost 6 months pregnant. Darren left for Texas monday at 5:30am. Monday at 5:31am Calvin and Oscar woke up & our alarm system started beeping repeatedly. Monday night Calvin was up most of it & when he was sleeping one of us was coughing. I got maybe 3-4 hours. Remember I'm sick too & pregnant. Tuesday we visited the dr to find out Calvin has a double ear infection. Calvin didn't nap today (a mystery I realize since he is younger than 2 & sick). So at 5pm he falls alseep on the couch - totally out. I finally wake him up for dinner since he has to eat before his night time dose of antibiotics. He screamed for a full 30 mintues. Like he was being given a shot... apparently he thought he was down for the night. Finally I got him to stop crying & then Oscar breaks down. He had been such a big boy the past few days being sick & all and with Calvin such a basket case due to the ear infections. Poor guy. Then the phone rings. I choose to let it go to voice mail. 15 m later it rings again. Same people. Normally I'd love to chat but keep in mind my voice is shot & one or both kids are crying. So I let it go to voice mail again. Finally we are singing bedtime songs - the kids are about to knock off & the phone rings again. Oscar bursts into tears. He is so gone. Same people. Again, I choose to let it go to voice mail. At this point I can feel my thin outer shell cracking & my eyes well up. I'm about to cry & loose it in front of the kids. I managed to pull it together & they are now both sleeping. My sick husband is on a flight home & I'll probably burst into tears when he walks through the door.

Side note: Why is it that some people just call & call & call until someone answers instead of leaving a message (they never left a message) that says, "hey - it's me. Call when you get a chance?" Now probably these people are reading this & know who they are. Sorry if I sound grumpy. I'm sick & pregnant.

Anyway have you ever had one of those days? Now, I am fully aware that there are many who have it worse & I should probably suck it up & deal. I'm sure in a few days I'll be my normal rock of a self - but for tonight..... I needed to vent.

Too cute not to share...

So both boys were firemen for Halloween. For the past two weeks straight they have put on the fire hats & run around the house pretending to be a fire truck. Here is Calvin after he woke up one morning.

Halloween

We had a little trick or treat party this year & it turned out to be super fun. Oscar & Calvin were fire men. Aneka & Kiera were various versions of princess's. Marley was a cat. I was a cat. Darren was a clown. They all headed out early likt 5:30pm & had a blast & then came back to the house for dinner!! Here are some shots..

Here are the kids, Darren & our friend Lisa.

Here are all the kids in costume.

Here they all are hitting the first house next door.

Here are the kids eating macaroni & cheese together!

Here the kids are having "band" practice.

And the token sugar high starts....

Such fun!!

Boys in Fall

We met Darren for lunch downtown yesterday & "leaf suffled". So cute. The boys have started to make silly faces at each other & they were facinated by the drinking fountain in the park blocks.

Playdate with the Edwards girls

We are fortunate to have some neighbors who have kids our age & we love. Unfortunately, they are moving at the end of the year to southern california. Here are some shots of thier girls w/ our boys at today's playdate.

Aneka & Oscar gave us a puppet show.

Kiera & Calvin toddled around each other...

Oscar enjoyed the leaves on the way home.

Home Improvement

This weekend we decided to tackle one of our many home improvement projects. In front of our house we have two HUGE maple trees. Over the last few years the lowest few branches have gotten lower & lower and most recently - since they are loaded with leaves it is not uncommon to brush you head on several leaves while coming up our front steps. SO... we borrowed a chain saw, rented a chipper & went to it. Here are some pics. The boys LOVED it.

Boys boys boys

We just found out that this little baby is a BOY!!

Oh my. Yes three little boys in our household.

We are already trying to figure out where to put the third refridgerator.

What would you do with 24 hours

I have been a stay at home mother for almost 4 years now. We have two active boys & I'm 4 1/2 months pregnant. We are 90% sure we'll be homeschooling the boys for the first few years. And to top it off my husband travels 50% of the time. You can see how rare it is for me to have time alone. I remember reading during my first pregnancy how it is imparative that a mother gets 30 minutes to herself every day. At the time Darren & I thought, "No problem." Then the baby came.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining. I do have occasional breaks from the boys. Granny comes over to play w/ the boys. I have monthly bunko night w/ my girlfriends. I also go to the occasional baby shower, candle party, etc. Grandma & Grandpa take the boys once a month for an overnight. This used to be husband & wife time alone. Then I got pregnant for the third time. And I was really really sick. So they started offering to host the boys during Darren's travel weeks once a month so I could throw up in solitude & moan on the couch as loud as I wanted. This reduced our date nights quite a bit, but was critical to my survival of the first trimester. So now I'm 20 weeks along & feeling better. We haven't shifted back into weekend overnights yet. And today, the boys go to grandma & grandpa's house for an overnight. Darren is out of town & I feel pretty good. I have been given a gift of 24 hours! What would you do?


Garden, clean, shop, cook, lunch w/ friends, see a movie (all at once), sleep, get a massage, make an uninterupted phone call?

I've been stewing about how to best use this time. Since I'm pregnant a good long sleep is a priortity. And since I'm a respectable woman I also made an appointment for a cut & color. Beyond that? The meet up w/ friends thing is hard since they also have kids & no offense but I am not sure I want to send mine off only to hang out w/ any of yours. Sorry if that sounds selfish! I'll clean a bit & decorate for Halloween because I'm type A like that. I might watch one of our netflicks movies that we've had for 3 months. Oh and I'll catch up in Oscar's, Calvin's & my pregnancy journals. I'm so excited.

So... what would YOU do if you had 24 hours!

The importance of sensorship

We have worked over the past 4 years to purge all bad words from our language & house. We've even purged grey area words like instead of "butt" we say "bum". Or "oh my Gosh" is not allowed, instead we say, "oh my goodness". This has been very successful until tonight. Darren was watching the SNL spoof of a Palin / Clinton speech. It is VERY funny by the way & here is a link if you haven't seen it yet.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

Well at somepoint while Darren is watching this, Oscar goes into the office & looks over Darren's shoulder just in time to hear "Clinton" say "boner shrinker". Oscar laughs & says, "boner shrinker? What is that?" Oh my...that was one of those hilarous moments that you are not allowed to laugh at or the kid will think they are being funny & repeat the phrase for a year.

Anyway - I guess it just goes to reinforce the one time a kid sees or hears something they shouldn't will be the one time they are paying attention.

Why can't kids sleep when they are tired?

Let me re-phrase. Why can't babies & small toddlers sleep when they or tired. Or maybe even better. Why can't MY babies & todders sleep when they are tired. Oscar is almost 4 & is an awesome sleeper. Sleeps almost 12 hrs at night & 1-2 at naps. Love that. He wasn't always that way. I don't think until he was about 2 1/2 did he really start sleeping good.



Which brings me to Calvin. The last few days have been TERRIBLE. I remember Oscar when he was just over 2 going through a nightmare phase or a fear of us going away phase. It was like he reverted to infancy all at once. We had to sit w/ him while he fell asleep & at least once a night when he woke up. We gradually worked into "we'll be back to check on you" every 5, 10, 15 m. You get the drift. Well apparently Calvin has hit this now. We spent the weekend w/ family in Seattle & all slept in the same room. That must have made Calvin realize he doesn't want to be alone anymore. Tonight & last night I've had to sit in the rocking chair for an hour while he dozes off - his little head continually popping up to make sure I'm there. Today at naps he refused all together to be in the room (and yes there was MUCH crying). Finally when I was in tears too I let him out of the crib. He proceeded to crash on the couch while I read a magazine for 1 1/2 hrs.

Here is Oscar after coming downstairs from his own 2 hour nap in his own bed looking at Calvin sprawled out.



What is wrong w/ this kid!! I'm wondering if it is time to move him in w/ Oscar now? Any ideas???