Lots of Fun Stuff in our Garden!!

Just finished potting some of the plants that I started sprouting a month ago. I have an herb pot this year with basil, cilantro and oregano as well as a pumpkin and strawberry plant. Excited to see how these do in their pots! Cementland out front is starting to look like it has some signs of life! Yay!!

A day at the Farm: Tanaka Farms CSA Day

Yesterday we went to CSA day at Tanaka Farms in Irvine. We have been receiving veggies from them for over a year and it was really nice to visit the farm and see where it all comes from! We hada great day and Aleksa got her first facepainting done (and she saw a pig). Tanaka farms has a great CSA program!!

An Amazing Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Aleksa’s first Thanksgiving so I thought I’d share some photos and a video of our day (also wanted to prove to my family that I DID actually cook a Thanksgiving dinner…hehe).

I’m thankful for such a wonderful family!!

 

Free Time!

I have had a really busy month, basically ever since the end of November it was crunch time for finals and then right after that it was the holidays.  I ended up not going to see my family for Christmas day so instead I went up there for the week of New Years.  I had a great time and it was wonderful seeing my family, especially my niece Amelia!

One great thing about having a break from school is having the time to relax and do some fun things that I haven’t had a chance to do for a while.  Today, for the first time in a while, I’m making a fun dinner (enchiladas with green sauce) complete with dessert! (pineapple upside down cake).  I figure I should make the best of the time off now because once the baby comes it won’t be the same.  I figure I’ll still have time to cook, just not so uninterrupted…hehe.

On Monday, we went to the Huntington Library and Gardens and had a great time!  I’ve been twice before but it was still wonderful and relaxing to get out and see the gardens.  It was like escaping for the day.  At one point, we looked around and couldn’t see a single building!  Cameron and I took lots of great pictures that day.

As for knitting, I’ve got lots of projects in my queue.  I’m almost done knitting the first thing for my baby girl: Monster Pants!  I know she won’t be able to wear them for a little while, but I couldn’t resist.  Basically everything I’m currently working on is stuff for baby girl (including some awesome baby uggs) or cousin Amelia.  There’s just something really fun about knitting stuff for babies!  I’m still determined to make myself a hat out of the Glimmer yarn that I bought over Thanksgiving break, however, after two foiled attempts at scalloped lace, I might just try another pattern.  I have two more weeks off of school and I’m definitely going to make the most of it!  I finished reading Babyface by Jeanne McDermott and I hope to get a few more fun books read before the wave of school reading for Clinical Methods and Neurology take over.

Yay for Rain!

It’s finally raining!  My favorite time of the year!  For some reason I get so much done when it’s raining outside.  After hanging out at Bolsa Chica all morning with Cameron for Harbour day I decided to make a pumpkin pie   And hopefully I’ll get some studying done for my phonological disorders exam on  Tuesday!

Also, this morning I finished the hat that I’m surprising my uncle with for Thanksgiving!

These May Seem like Ordinary Oatmeal Cookies…

So I decided a while back that if I was going to make cookies all the time for people and those same people were going to complain about how they eat all the cookies and then feel guilty about it, it wasn’t truly a gift.  I didn’t want to be making everyone feel guilty about eating delicious cookies.  So, with a stroke of sheer genius, I decided to modify a cookie recipe to make it SUPER HEALTHY, but still taste good.  These cookies have been a huge hit so I’m finally putting the recipe online so I don’t have to write it out for people anymore.  As with just about anything I cook / create, there is always a little wiggle room to make it your own.  You can substitute any type of dried fruit, nuts or chocolate and these will still taste amazing!  Here’s the recipe:

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup butter (softened)

1 egg

1/4 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1/2 banana)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cream the butter, applesauce, eggs and sugar together then add the vanilla and banana.  In a separate bowl mix the powdered ingredients, then gradually add them to the creamed mixture.  Once all ingredients are thoroughly blended, add the oats, then the dried fruit, chocolate and nuts.  Once everything is evenly blended, drop about a tablespoon full of batter onto a cookie sheet and bake for approximately 15 minutes.  (The cookies are very dense so I like to make them very small.)  Make sure to remove them from the pan within minutes of taking them out of the oven because they have a tendency to stick.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

This rain in southern California has been ridiculous!  I love it and it’s been especially nice because I haven’t had to drive too many places for the past few days.  There is nothing better than staying in my warm house while it’s raining outside.  I’m pretty excited that school is over only because I’m welcoming the open schedule for the time being. On Friday, I’ll be driving up to Northern California to see the family!

Today, I’m just finishing up some last minute Christmas knitting.  I’m working on a hat for my uncle called We Call Them Pirates.  It’s a pretty cool pattern and hopefully he’ll like it!

Today, I’m going to be making some Christmas cookies and making my favorite chili recipe from The Homesick Texan.  The chili recipe is here.  It’s AMAZING!!