Sunday, May 27, 2012

Project 52 - Favorites (& A Recipe)

This week's Project 52 theme is Favorites.  I made these cookie bars for a cookout we went to this weekend.  They are one of our "favorite" desserts, so I thought I would share the recipe.  I especially love them because it is so much faster to make a bar cookie then making a several batches of cookies.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

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Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
(recipe source Cook's Illustrated)

2⅛ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1½ sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips (I use semisweet, but you can substitute milk chocolate, white, peanut butter or bittersweet chips)

Directions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position.  Fit foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges.

Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk melted butter and sugars in medium large bowl until combined. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well. Using rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in chips and turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with spatula.

Bake until top is light golden brown, slightly firm to the touch, and edges start pulling away from sides of pan, 27 to 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove bars from pan by lifting foil overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Margaret's Ballet Recital & Griffin's 8th Birthday

Margaret had her ballet recital on Saturday afternoon, and I just wanted to share a few pictures from that.  The girls all danced to songs from other countries.  Margaret's class' country was Uganda.  It was such a sweet program, and we are so thankful for Margaret's precious ballet teachers.

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We also celebrated Griffin's 8th birthday that night with burgers and this cake!

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Monday, May 21, 2012

Project 52 - Mothers

This week's Project 52 theme was Mothers.  I am late posting as I am in the process of packing up to get ready for our move.  I probably won't post much over the next couple of weeks until we are settled.  I had big plans of taking a picture of the kids with me, but that didn't happen.  So on to plan B... I wanted to remember what these 3 made me for Mother's day this year, so I thought I would post pictures of their handmade gifts.

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From Mamie:
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From Griffin:
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From Margaret:
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Sunday, May 20, 2012

Happy 8th Birthday, Griffin!

Here is Griffin's birthday interview. These were a few of his favorite things at age 8...


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Griffin - Age 8
  1. What is your favorite color? green
  2. What is your favorite toy? controller Beyblade
  3. What is your favorite fruit? a peach
  4. What is your favorite tv show? I don’t watch much TV, but my favorite movie is Star Wars.
  5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? a BLT sandwich
  6. What is your favorite outfit? my Albert Pujols Cardinals t-shirt
  7. What is your favorite game? Lego Creationary
  8. What is your favorite snack? popcorn
  9. What is your favorite animal? dog
  10.  What is your favorite song? I’m not that crazy about music
  11.  What is your favorite book? Diary of a Wimpy Kid
  12.  Who is your best friend? Lee Harris
  13.  What is your favorite cereal? Cocoa Puffs
  14.  What is your favorite thing to do outside? play baseball
  15.  What is your favorite drink? Sprite
  16.  What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
  17.  What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my bear, my tiger, and my dog stuffed animals
  18.  What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? About everything! I love breakfast.  I guess muffins or breakfast bread.
  19.  What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? ribs
  20.  What do you want to be when you grow up? an oral surgeon

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

A little getaway to St. Louis

Richie and I took a short little trip at the first of the week to St. Louis.  We got there Sunday night and ate at the Schafly Tap Room.  It is a brewery with some really delicious food.

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After that we waited in line with about half of St. Louis at Ted Drewes for some yummy famous frozen custard.

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The next morning we woke up early and went running around downtown past the arch, Lacleade's landing, the City Museum and the Citygarden.

After that we went to the Missouri Botanical Garden.  It was absolutely wonderful!  They had a children's garden too, and we can't wait to go back with the kids sometime.

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For lunch, we ate at Pi Pizzeria on Delmar Loop.  It was delicious.  Can you tell which half was mine and which half was Richie's?

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After lunch, we had planned on going to the Art museum, but it was closed on Monday.  So we walked through Forest Park a little and ended up going to the History museum.

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We went to see the Cardinals game that evening.  They played the Cubs and unfortunately lost by 1 point.  It was still a lot of fun though!

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It was a whirlwind trip, but its always so good to get away every now and then and actually be able to complete a conversation with each other.  I highly recommend it!

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Monday, May 14, 2012

Griffin's 8th Birthday Party

For Griffin's 8th birthday party, we had a movie themed party at the house. They had a dinner of pizza or hot dogs with soft drinks, and then they "bought" concessions and watched Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie.

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I made these cupcakes from Family Fun.

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The boys lost interest in the movie after about 30 minutes as boys do.  They ended up playing basketball, soccer and football in the yard instead. We had to reschedule his party since he was sick last weekend, so several of his friends couldn't make it. Griffin was disappointed but still said that it was the best party that he's ever had!

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For favors, we gave the boys popcorn boxes (from Target) filled with popcorn, tickets and candy.

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(I got all of the ideas for the party from here!)

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