Hot Fudge Cake: YUM!

I know it has been ages since I last updated my blog, so I apologize! The end of the semester can be so crazy, but I am finally done. Hallelujah. Anyways, the holidays are in full swing and Christmas is so close. I can't even wait! I especially love this time because of all of the baking :) It will be a miracle if I don't gain ten pounds over the break... ha ha seriously. I will just have to make one of my New Year's resolutions to lose my holiday weight! Oh New Year's Resolutions... does anybody actually stick to them?

Okay, okay, on to the good stuff- HOT FUDGE CAKE(I have also heard it called Hot Water Cake). I found this recipe on the Tasty Kitchen Blog. It came from a lady named Susan Hawkins and she calls it "My Granny's Chocolate Cobbler". Holy cow, Granny is my hero! This is some serious fudgy, chocolatey goodness going on right here. It definitely is best warm, but I like to let it sit for maybe a half an hour... it allows it to set up a little bit and cool down enough to not burn your mouth with the first bite. Now, let me explain this cake to you. The batter that you spread into the pan is thick, like brownie batter. You sprinkle a cocoa/brown sugar mixture over top of the thick batter, pour hot tap water all over it, and then stick it in the oven, without stirring it at all. Strange, eh? Oh but it works. Trust me. You end up with a delicious, chocolate cake later on top, and a straight, pure, magnificent, wonderful, divine fudge river running underneath it. Pure Heaven. Chocolate Lovers Unite! Serve it with a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream and you've got a dessert straight from Heaven.



Hot Fudge Cake
AKA:Granny's Chocolate Cobbler

1 Cup All-purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoons Salt
7 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder, Divided
1 1/4 Cup Sugar, Divided
1/2 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Melted Butter
1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cups Light Brown Sugar, Packed
1 1/2 Cup Hot Tap Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, 3 Tablespoons of the cocoa, and 3/4 cup of the white sugar. Reserve the remaining cocoa and sugar.

Stir in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture into an ungreased 8-inch baking dish.

In a separate small bowl, mix the remaining white sugar (1/2 cup), the brown sugar, and remaining 4 Tablespoons of cocoa. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter.

Pour the hot tap water over all. DO NOT STIR!

Bake for about 40 minutes or until center is set.

Let stand for a few minutes if you can hold yourself back. Serve with ice cream, using the gooey sauce to spoon over all.

Happy Holiday Baking!!

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

(Cookie on the left:pre-frosting, Cookie on right: post-frosting)

Hello everyone! I know that I should probably be posting another pumpkin recipe since tomorrow is the big turkey day, but I really wanted to tell you about these yummy chocolatey cookies! Chocolate is an ingredient that is used year round so it's totally acceptable for me to be posting a chocolate recipe around Thanksgiving, right? Anyways, these simple little cookies are great if you have some marshmallows that you need to use up. They are incredible right out of the oven. Well, I guess you have to let them cool just a smidge before you frost them, but don't wait too long! Yummy, warm, gooey, fudgey, marshmallowy delights! Trust me, these will send you into a sugar coma for sure. I found this recipe in an old Hooper 1st ward cookbook from 2006. MaryJane Arrant is the wonderful woman who gets credit for this recipe. Such a sweet woman. Thank you MaryJane for sharing this tasty recipe!



Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
1 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Shortening
1 Egg
1/2 C. Cocoa
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Soda
1 3/4 C. Flour
1 Tsp. Vanilla
Marshmallows cut in half

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together all ingredients except marshmallows. Drop on cookie sheets and bake for 5 minutes. Place half of marshmallow on top of cookie and bake 5 minutes more. Cool, and then frost with chocolate frosting.

Yummy Chocolate Frosting
(Worldwide Ward Cookbook: Mom's Best Recipes-Kristy Sinks, Vernal, Utah)
3 Tbsp. Butter
3 Tbsp. Cocoa
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
1 Tbsp. Corn Syrup
1 1/2-2 C. Powdered Sugar
2-3 Tbsp. Milk

Combine butter, cocoa, vanilla, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Stir in enough milk to make smooth frosting.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Pumpkin, pumpkin, and more pumpkin!

(I thought this picture of Grandma Marge in her pumpkin costume was appropriate for this title. he he he)

Hello friends! With Thanksgiving only a few days away, I imagine many of you are spending time in the kitchen baking and deciding which recipes you want to make for the big day! Well, as promised, here are a couple of tasty pumpkin recipes for you to try.

The first recipe is for pumpkin waffles. YUM. Last weekend my mom and I decided that we wanted to find a recipe for pumpkin waffles to make for breakfast the next morning, so I began searching the internet to find a recipe that seemed good enough to try. To my surprise, I stumbled across an entire website devoted to a specific pumpkin waffle recipe. (http://pumpkinwaffles.wordpress.com/ultimate-pumpkin-waffle-recipe/) Curious, I thought, what makes this recipe so special? I began reading through the comments that people had posted about this recipe, and every single comment gave nothing less than heavenly remarks about these waffles! One guy said, "While I was making these, I thought I probably won’t do it again because of all the dishes I was going to have to wash after finishing. BUT, after tasting them, I would wash dishes for a whole year to eat them. These are amazing! Best waffles I have ever had and I am a seasoned cook!" After reading that comment, I knew I had to try these waffles!

OH. MY. HECK. These waffles truly are incredible. If you are an avid pumpkin lover like myself, you will go crazy over these waffles! Make them. Right now. I promise you will be hooked for life. Sorry I don't have a picture of them, but if you go to the website above you will see one. I can honestly say that I've fallen in love with a waffle.

Pumpkin Waffles

INGREDIENTS
makes 4 round “Belgian” style pumpkin waffles
Click here for the metric version of the recipe.

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg*
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and warm

*Grated and lightly packed into the spoon, use 1/2 tsp. Grated and loosely scooped, this is about 1 tsp. of nutmeg. If you have to use pre-grated, dried nutmeg, use 1/4 tsp.

DIRECTIONS

1. Lightly oil the waffle iron with vegetable oil, and set it to the desired temperature.

2. Combine brown sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl. Whisk together to break apart the cornstarch. Add the remaining dry ingredients, and whisk to blend.

3. Separate eggs: yolks go in a medium sized bowl and whites get set aside in a smaller bowl.

4. Add pumpkin and milk to the egg yolks. Whisk to blend and set aside.

5. Whip egg whites with a hand mixer on high until stiff peaks form – about 1 1/2 – 2 minutes. Set aside.

6. Pour melted butter into the yolk/milk/pumpkin mixture. As you pour, whisk to combine.

7. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix them together until just combined. A little lumpiness is fine. That will smooth out when the egg whites are added.

8. Slide the whipped egg whites out of the bowl and onto the mixture you just prepared. Gently fold them in until no white bits are obvious.

9. Once the waffle iron is heated, you’re ready to pour the batter! The blog says that it took exactly 2 minutes 30 seconds to cook the waffles in a Presto FlipSide waffle maker.

*Any of your standard waffle toppings would be delicious with these waffles! But get creative and try fun toppings and syrups! Believe it or not, these are yummy plain too :)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies


The next recipe is Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies. This is another delicious pumpkin recipe! I am never patient enough to let any of my baked goods cool before I eat them, but with these, I recommend that you let them cool a bit before eating them. Don't get me wrong, they were still tasty fresh out of the oven, but I liked them much better after they had cooled a little bit. They were super delicious!! I ate way too many of them. They were addicting!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies
(adapted from Perry’s Plate)

Brownie Batter:
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Pumpkin Cheesecake Batter:
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1large egg
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8×8″ baking pan.
2. For the Brownie batter: Beat together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Then beat in eggs one at a time. Whisk flour and cocoa powder in small bowl, and then gradually stir into butter mixture by hand.
3. For the Pumpkin cheesecake mixture: Soften cream cheese in microwave. In another bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in remainder of ingredients until smooth.
4. Spread about 2/3 of brownie batter into prepared pan. Drop dollops of the pumpkin batter over top, distributing evenly. Drop the remaining brownie batter over cheesecake batter. To make the swirls, run a butter knife back and forth through the pan, making figure eights.
5. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Enjoy! Happy Holiday Baking!!

Sarah + 2 Weeks Without Treats=DEATH

Meet my roommate Sarah. She is the one on the left. Sarah is a really hard worker. Sarah graduated from BYU(we have forgiven her) with a Bachelors degree in English, and is now working on her Masters up here at Utah State!

Anyways, a few weeks ago dear Sarah decided that she eats too many treats and was going to go without anything sweet for two weeks. She decided she needed some motivation to do this, so after a lengthy phone call to her mom, the challenge was on, and a new sweater was in order upon completion of this difficult experience. I thought she was crazy!! I mean, I KNOW that I eat way to many treats, but that is something that is a part of me. That is who I am! I truly believe that there is 98% sugar running through the veins in my body and 2% blood. Anyways, on day six of Sarah's challenge we were sitting in the kitchen frosting the cupcakes that I had baked that day. I had definitely eaten my fair share of chocolate frosting, cake batter, and cupcakes, and was feeling really full. I said, "I should go two weeks without treats. I am REALLY bad." My dear roommate Sarah responded with, "Sarah, I love you, but you ARE bad. You have made two different kinds of cupcakes this weekend!"

I thought, SHOOT. She's right. So, I made the decision that I was going to take on the two week challenge as well! I called Josh to tell him my plan, and he laughed for a full minute straight! He said, "that's really funny Sarah." I asked my mom if she would join me and she said, "Sarah are you CRAZY?" Well mom, I totally am, but I am going to prove everyone wrong and do this! We made a deal that if I go two weeks without treats she will buy me the pair of white Keds that I've been wanting. And so the two weeks began!

I'll be honest, I'm a terrible quitter. It's hard to give something up cold turkey! The first week went okay, but the second week was awful. I had dreams of pumpkin fudge, pumpkin pie cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese buttercream frosting, brownies with a dark chocolate ganache, and pumpkin oreo shakes from Charly's. If you can't tell, pumpkin truly is the love of my life right now.

Finally, after 14 long, miserable days, this challenge will end TOMORROW. I am proud to say that I have met the challenge and will receive my white keds this week! But, I will never, ever do that again. I can honestly say, that I have just experienced two weeks of death.

I promise I will post a delicious pumpkin recipe soon!

P.S. Just in case you forgot how cute my nephew is, here's a picture to remind you. I can't wait to spend all next weekend with him!!!



Cute little stinker. The view from the side is too cute!




AND... Remember my beautiful sister Amy?



She has a precious gift from Heaven coming to us in April!! Can't wait! :)

Would anybody care for a breakfast puff?

So I promised a tasty muffin recipe a long time ago, and here it is. These are absolutely delicious! My dear friend Gentrie described them as a snickerdoodle in muffin form, so if you love snickerdoodles you will love these! But, to be honest with you, I'm not a HUGE fan of snickerdoodles and I love these, so any anti-snickerdoodles out there should give these a try. Please? I promise you won't be disappointed! Mama Kite used to bake these for us all the time growing up, and mama Kite doesn't bake anything that isn't to die for, so trust me on this one. We got this recipe years ago from Rachel's friend, Jenny VanDenBerghe.


Breakfast Puffs

1/3 C Shortening
1/2 C Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 C Flour
1 1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/4 Tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 C Milk

6 T. Butter
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 C Sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Cream shortening. Add sugar gradually, then egg. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together and then add to shortening, sugar, egg mixture. Add milk slowly. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Melt 6 T of butter in a bowl. Combine 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar in another bowl. After muffins are finished baking, dip them first in the melted butter and then roll them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Makes 12.

I know it has been ages since my last post, but I promise I am still alive and doing well! I love, love, love my roomies, school, and being an Aggie! I have truly missed Logan.

Introducing... Ashton Michael Bostwick!!

Meet my nephew Ashton! Weighing in at only 5 pounds 12 ounces with a length of 19 inches long, this little monster arrived on August 10, 2010 around 11 o'clock AM. What an exciting day it was! He was pretty happy to be here too, can't ya tell?







I am so happy to FINALLY be an aunt! :) Now if I can only spend enough time with him before I move back up to school! I have about a week left before I begin round 2 at USU! GO AGGIES!!!!!

P.S. Yummy muffin recipe coming SOON!

I'm finally an aunt!

Guess what?! After 9 long months of waiting, the little stinker is finally here! I'm an aunt! Pictures and more info to come, but my darling little nephew is healthy and as cute as can be! I am one happy girl :)

Cookies, and Cool Whip, and Pie, OH MY!

Hello everybody! Boy, do I have a scrumptious recipe for you today! Cookie Dough Pie! Now, I don't make pie very often so take advantage of this pie post! It's not that I don't like pie, because I LOVE pie, it's just that it isn't very fun for me to make. It's probably because I haven't mastered the task of making a pie crust like my mother... seriously, the woman makes a PERFECT crust! I get frustrated trying to roll out the dough and make it fit perfectly in the pie dish, and I can never make my edges look pretty. I get flustered and then give up and call for mother's help. So you see, I generally avoid making pies, with the exception of an occasional pecan pie for my father of which my mother and I tag team it and she makes the crust and I make the filling. :)

But, when I saw THIS pie, I new I HAD to make it! And lucky for me, It doesn't include the traditional pie crust! This pie is perfect for a hot summer day as it is simple to whip up, and doesn't include turning the oven on. The only trouble I ran into was that I ran out of cool whip. Maybe I was putting on more than I was supposed to, but I would recommend buying a bigger container than just an 8 ounce so that you can apply the whip cream generously. (Luckily I had another container in the fridge) Other than that, putting the pie together was smooth, and the result was SO GOOD. It is pretty rich though, so my advice is to start with a small piece first. Trust me, one bite will send you into a sugar coma for sure.

Also, I can't remember where I found this recipe. I have found other recipes online for this pie (Big Red Kitchen, Tasty Kitchen), but they are different recipes because they call for an extra ingredient, milk, that they say to quickly dip your cookies in before layering them in your pie. I think the next time I make this I will do that because I was wishing that my cookies were softer. You decide which you want to do, but it was so tasty how I made it. Enjoy!



Mmmmm look at those layers of cookie/cool whippey goodness!



Cookie Dough Pie

1 pkg. Regular Chips Ahoy Cookies (or Oreos, Nutter Butters, etc.)
1 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip
1-2 cups milk (optional)
Chocolate Syrup for drizzling

Put one layer of cookies (breaking to fit if necessary) in the bottom of a 9 or 10 inch pie pan. Dip cookies into milk quickly before layering, if desired. Spread 1/3 of the cool whip over cookies. Repeat this two more times. Drizzle with chocolate syrup. Freeze for 1-2 hours. Slice and serve.

Ladies and Gentleman... Joshua James Kite!

Allow me to introduce you to my younger brother Josh. Notice that I said "younger" instead of "little". Josh is a 6 foot 1 & 1/2 inch going-to-be senior at Fremont High School. Josh is on Fremont's football team, and is about as dark as you can get without being a different ethnicity! Seriously, somebody at EFY asked if he was Samoan. ha ha ha nobody has ever questioned if I was anything other than caucasion. Anyways, Josh is a hard working, farm boy who loves anything and everything to do with sports! Tall, dark, and handsome is the perfect phrase to describe him! Josh and I always have a lot of fun together. Even if I'm super grumpy, Josh can always end up making me laugh by just giving me his big, cheesy grin, or whipping out some of his silly dancing moves. I would argue that I have the best little, excuse me, YOUNGER, brother ever! Here are some pictures of some of the things we've done together this summer...

Eating pizza while tending my sweet cousin, Emma.




Meet my cute cousin, Emma!



Josh and I went and saw "Despicable Me"! Funniest. Movie. Ever. There were only five other people in the theater besides us though... I was surprised!



After the movie we were positive that we were going to die of thirst, so we had to stop off at McDonalds (thanks to their 24 hour drive thru) and get some water!



Cool shades, eh??!!



One morning Josh and I couldn't decide which cereal to eat, so we mixed them all together! Don't judge, it was actually pretty darn good!



Can you guess which bowl is mine, and which one is Josh's? ha ha



Yum!



The recipe this time is in honor of Josh. You see, Josh is a good sport about eating all of the funky treats I bake, but truthfully he'd rather just eat a good ol' chocolate chip cookie. So, if I can bake something that is basically a chocolate chip cookie in some form, he is THRILLED. So, I baked Chocolate Chip Cookie Topped Brwonies just for him. They were dang good though, so I ended up eating some as well. These brownies are SO simple to make too! All you need is your favorite brownie recipe and your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and you're set! They were so moist and chewy and DELIGHTFUL! So, enjoy a tasty treat, compliments of Josh!




Chocolate Chip Cookie-Topped Brownies

From Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, where they are called “Chipster-Topped Brownies.”

Ingredients

Your favorite brownie recipe
Your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment. (I used cooking spray)

Whip up your favorite brownie recipe, as well as your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Spread the prepared brownie batter into your 9x13 inch pan. Drop the cookie dough by spoonfuls onto the brownie batter, then use a spatula to gently smooth out the cookie dough layer evenly over the batter.

The recipe says to bake it for 50-55 minutes, but I only baked mine for 25-30 minutes and it was done! Bake until the cookie top is deep golden brown and a sharp knife inserted into the pan comes out with only faint streaks of moist chocolate.

Makes 24 bars.

Thanks Josh, for fun times and a tasty treat!

Rach's Baby Shower!

Last Saturday we had a baby shower for my cute sister Rachel! It was so much fun to talk with our relatives we rarely see, and visit with old friends as well. Rachel got some darling things for baby Ashton, and I must say, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!! I think Rach is ready too... she's pretty uncomfortable these days. :( Well, as you can probably guess I was so excited to bake a delicious treat for the shower. I decided to go with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles! Holy cow. These little balls of goodness are heavenly, and they were definitely a hit at the shower! Seriously, we came home with ONE. ha ha here are a few pictures of the shower...







Speaking of cute gifts that Rachel got for Ashton... Let me tell you about the gifts from Josh and I. :) We decided to make shirts for little Ashton! We made onesies, but also T-shirts for when he gets a little older! Great thinking right?

Here are mine-



Here are Josh's- he had to have something to wear to Josh's football games!!



What do ya think?! Pretty cool eh?



Don't worry, I didn't forget to give you the recipe for the yummy chocolate chip cookie dough truffles! Here it is. Enjoy!!






Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles


Yield: 48 truffles
Time: about 40 min hands on time + 2 hours to freeze before dipping
Recipe adapted from Mels Kitchen Cafe

1/2 C butter, softened
3/4 C brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 C flour
1 -14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 t vanilla
1/2 C mini chocolate chips
2 -12 oz bags semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 C milk chocolate chips
1 T shortening, divided

1. Cream your butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Add the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and mix well.
3. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.

4. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on a sprayed cookie sheet. Cover with saran wrap and freeze for 1-2 hours. Trust me, you want them to be firm! It makes the dipping a lot easier.
5. In a microwave safe bowl, melt your semi sweet chocolate in the microwave. Only heat it for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating interval.
Add about 2 t of shortening to the chocolate and stir to incorporate.
6. Dip each frozen cookie dough ball into the chocolate and then place on wax paper. (I used tin foil)
7. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave and add 1 t shortening. Stir it well and then drizzle it over the tops of the truffles.
8. Put the truffles back in the fridge to set for about 15 minutes.
Enjoy!

Refreshing Mini Cheesecakes!

Summer heat got ya down? Are you feeling the need to put on your swimming suit and take a nice, cool dip in the Brigham City pool like Kylee and I did yesterday?



Let's be honest here, it is HOT! Well, I've got the perfect, refreshingly, cool treat that will allow you to sit back and relax on a hot summer day. Ready for it? Okay... Mini Cheesecakes. Yep, you heard right! Mini Cheesecakes my friends, and you wanna know the best part about these tasty little fellas? 80 calories. Yep, you heard right again! 80 calories each! Now the original recipe called for strawberry creme instant pudding mix, but I couldn't find that on the shelves of Walmart so I used Cheesecake flavored instant pudding instead. Make sure you get a 3.4 oz box of it too because I certainly didn't, so I had to mix my Cheesecake flavored instant pudding with a few scoops of regular Vanilla instant pudding in order to have the full amount. I was not disappointed at all though, so get creative if you have to! Also, instead of cutting up fresh strawberries to put on top, I drizzled some Hershey's Carmel over it. YUM. They are SO good as plain Janes though too, so it's whatever you want. Seriously, you've got to give these little babies a try! And for 80 calories... what do you have to lose?






Mini Cheesecakes

What You Need:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, softened
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry Crème Flavor Instant Pudding
1 cup cold fat-free milk
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP LITE Whipped Topping
24 NILLA Wafers
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

Make It
BEAT Neufchatel with mixer until creamy. Blend in dry pudding mix. Gradually beat in milk. Stir in COOL WHIP.
PLACE 1 wafer on bottom of each of 24 (2-inch) paper baking cups; place in muffin pan. Cover with pudding mixture.
FREEZE 1 hour. Top with berries just before serving.

Happy Summer Baking!

Have you met my sister?

Let me introduce you to my sister, Rachel. Rachel is my beautiful older sister and also my best friend. We have so many fun memories together! Barbies, dress up, late night chats, sleepovers, bike rides, lots and lots of giggles, Disney movies, Disney World adventures, helping each other get ready for dances, etc. etc. etc! So, you get the point... this gal is pretty great! Even now that she's married and has a baby on the way, she still makes time to do things with, and check up on, her silly little sister. For example, this weekend we went to see Eclipse with some of the girls in her husband's family! It was so much fun! I'm not obsessed with Twilight by any means, but I do enjoy it! (totally a Jacob fan by the way) Anyways, Rachel has been asking me for weeks to paint her toenails (she has a hard time reaching them these days), so before we went to the movie I gave her a little pedicure!



I love you Rach!

There was an old lady who lived in a shoe...

Everybody has heard that nursery rhyme right? Well it just so happens that the little old lady's shoe house is in Bear Lake! It's located right next to the Three Bears' Cottage (the one that goldilocks broke into), which is where I stayed with my family last week! It was so much fun to reunite with my cousins that I never see, play on the beach, and just relax in "bearadise"! -holla to my BFC :)









Right after we got home from Bear Lake, my family took off for a fun camping trip! It was so fun to spend a weekend in the wilderness with my immediate family. We read, slept, played one too many games of BS (sorry you never won Jord), ate like champions, and simply enjoyed each other's company.

Mike, Rach, and baby Ashton came too! Bless her heart, camping while pregnant would be tough! Lucky for her though, the bathrooms weren't too bad, and minus a few runs to the bathroom in the middle of the night, she quite enjoyed herself!



Thanks to Jordan, Amy, their Camp Chef, and Dutch Ovens, we ate more food than one could imagine! We were all so full ALL the time! Don't worry, we had plenty of room for Smores around the campfire while we played a good game of "Truth or Truth" :)



Thunder came along as well! When he wasn't being so overly protective of us (barking at anything and everything) he had a great time too! We took him down to a little pond and threw sticks into it for him to fetch for us. Josh was so proud!





Let's be honest, since Josh and I are the only non-married and non-boring ones left in the family, we were the ones who kept the party going! just kidding... kinda ;)



Now, I must say, there is something that baffles me. Everybody kept teasing me about my sunglasses. You see there is nothing to laugh about with these high quality, red, square, shade out drugs sunglasses I got a few years ago during red ribbon week... am I right? They are stylish, and come with a great message-agreed? Hmmm... That's what I thought. :)





Now, of course I have a tasty recipe to share that goes along with the spirit of camping! Trust me folks, these are GOOD. They are sort of like an indoor S'more in bar form. All you need are your basic smore ingredients and a few other baking necessities and BAM! You have yourself a S'more Sandwich Bar Cookie! In the middle of making this recipe, I realized that we were out of flour. Rats, and I didn't feel like jumping in the car and driving to Grandma Margie's to borrow some flour so I just replaced what I didn't have with oats! And, hey! It worked out beautifully! I give this recipe a two thumbs up, so try it!



S'mores Sandwich Bar Cookies
(Recipe from Hershey's website)

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/3 cups (8-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Mini Milk Chocolate Bars OR 5 HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bars (1.55 oz. each)
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.

2. Beat butter and sugar until well blended in large bowl. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough in prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes.

3. Sprinkle mini chocolate bars over baked layer or arrange unwrapped chocolate bars over baked layer, breaking as needed to fit. Sprinkle with marshmallows; scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallows, forming top layer. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or just until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. 16 bars.