I just love it when it snows.

Sure, it's nice to look out the window and see the world around me all dusted with powdered sugar.

It's nice to have an excuse not to leave the house all day.

It's really nice to sit on the couch all wrapped in blankets reading to my kids all morning long.

But do you know what I like best?

I like it when the kids beg to go play in the snow after lunch.

I love it when I tell them they can after we clean up the house and magically there is no whining about cleaning up.

I love it that our house gets super clean in record time without fits.

You know what else I love?

I love it that Doodle and Beano can get their own snow clothes on all by them selves now.

I only have to bundle up one kid.

I love it when I can watch from my nice warm house with Baby as the kids have a ball in the freshly fallen snow.

I love that they can still play in it like it was the first snow fall of the season.

I think it's so funny that they only last 1/2 hour until they come in frozen, ready for a big mug of hot cocoa.

Technically my kids don't like hot chocolate (I know, weird, huh?), but they do LOVE hot vanilla.

And I love the heart shaped strawberry marshmallows.

How cute are those, I ask you!

How do you make them you ask?

Let me tell you, I slaved away in the kitchen the whole time they were outside just so these could be ready when they came in.

No not really, they are super easy.

Just flatten a marshmallow with a rolling pin and cut it with the smallest heart shaped cookie cutter and there you have it.

Fun and yummy heart shaped marshmallows floating and melting into a big ball of sweet gooeyness right in your very own mug of hot chocolate...

or vanilla.

Don't worry, I only ate one.

OK, two

So what if I ate half the bag!

Goin' Crazy

I think I've gone around the corner to the luney bin.

Guess what I did?

I signed up to run the Ogden 1/2 Marathon.

I am way excited.

I hope I don't die. I also hope I'm not the last one to finish, which I likely will be.

I am so slow, but this will be a fun adventure.

There are a little less than 14 weeks to train, who's with me?

Sign up at this link

and download a training schedule at this link!

Come on guys, lets get running.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola

Photo by 11th Heaven Homemaking Haven

So I found this blog through Talk About Tuesday a while ago and I just can't get enough.

This lady has 9 children.

That alone is sheer inspiration.

Plus she comes up with some really yummy and healthy food to feed those 11 mouths.

I have made many of her recipes and love them because she speaks to my whole grain, health nut side.

So remember a while ago when I said I was craving comfort foods this time of year.

Well, this one tops all.

I have a hard time making this and not wanting to eat the entire pan all myself in one sitting.

On a day that is grey and dark and cold, this brings life and sunshine to my world. My kids love it too.

For us though, it is way too sweet for breakfast.

We eat it for that snack between lunch and dinner, you know the one when your blood sugar drops and you feel like you could eat the whole kitchen and it's still 2 hours until dinner time?

We grab some of this tasty and satisfying peanut butter granola with a glass of milk and it does the trick.

It makes me feel all warm and cozy inside.

Of course, I have to change things a little I can not just leave well enough alone. So here is the recipe, which I have tweaked to suit myself and my family.

Try it today, you'll be glad you did.

Peanut Butter Granola

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup natural peanut butter

5 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 raisins or craisins

1/2 cup toasted oat cereal rings (Cheerio's)

2/3 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup milled flax seed

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine brown sugar, honey, peanut butter, applesauce and vanilla. Mix well. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix to coat all dry ingredients in the yummy peanut butter gooeyness. Taste the dough and try not to eat it all raw. Press in a GREASED cookie sheet (once I forgot to grease the pan and we literally had to chip little bits off at a time, it realllly sticks, in a bad way, and it's no wonder with all that gooey peanut butter happiness in there). Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. You can cut into bars but we just break it into bits and eat it like granola.

P.S. My cookie sheet is huge so I double the recipe and it turns out better, plus we have a harder time eating it all in one sitting and there might be some left for the next day!

Cutest Baby

I need your help. I am thinking of entering Baby Cakes in a beautiful baby contest and I need a photo.

Which one should I submit?

I know, I know, baby contests are so degrading, all they will be judging them on is their good looks.

It's really more of a scholarship program. You see the winner gets a college scholarship of $125,000. Now who could pass that up.

And besides, he just might be the cutest baby on the planet, except maybe Lara's baby, but she would not think of putting her baby through all that non sense, no, not Lara!

So since Sweetness is out of the running Baby Cakes might have a shot.

So what do you think?

Come on ladies, which is it, cuz I really can't decide!

They Say it's Your Birthday

Isn't this a beautiful model?

I love her thick honey colored hair and how she seems to exude confidence.

I love her kind eyes and how her hair swooshes over her perfect brow.

I love her natural look and beautiful smile.

Actually she is no model at all.

She is my good friend, Lara.

You know, the one I talk about all the time from the Lazy Organizer.

Guess what?

Today's her birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Lara

For her Birthday her loving friends are sharing how she has inspired change in our lives.

She truly is an amazing mom.

Here are the top 10 things I do thanks to The Lovely Lara

1. I have weird things like alfalfa and wheat sprouting in my kitchen. Plus thanks to her I plan on sprouting lentils and sunflower seeds (by the way, thanks for lunch!)

2. After leaving her house and seeing her grain storage bins I went to Wal-Mart that very week end and bought my own, just like them. My grains now live happily in them and not the silly plastic bags they came in, all crammed in my cupboard.

3. I must soak all my grain over night before I can eat them.

4. She helped me understand sourdough and gave me the recipe for the yummiest sour dough bagels and muffins ever.

5. Notice how all these revolve around food? I really like to eat.

6. Just today she showed me her spice drawer and now I am plotting to evict a whole drawer full of stuff just to give my spices a new home, just like Lara's.

7. I found out from her it's OK to give my children more responsibility and now Doodle buckles Dubs in the car every time we get in, plus all my kids wash their own hair. I know, sounds silly, but those two things really save me time and frustration.

8. We all have her blog to thank for mine. I clicked on the link to her blog from an email she sent me way back when we first met. I was instantly hooked on her blog and dreamed for a long time of starting my own. Many moons later here I am with one of my very own. Yup, you all have Lara to thank for this wonderful blog that I just know you could not live without.

9. She shows me that it's OK when I'm not perfect because she is not either, and she is brutally honest about it. She can laugh at her mistakes and move forward. I need to be more like that.

10. Often the stories on her blog make me laugh so hard I cry, mostly because she is so real. When I read what she writes I can almost here her talking, she is that true to life.

Happy Birthday Lara, We all hope it's a good one.

And that your children don't bug you all day and that they will make all your meals and clean the whole house and take care of Sweetness so you can sit and read or sew or what ever you want all day long!

We're Havin' a Heat Wave, a Tropical Heat Wave

Lara over at the Lazy Organizer is hosting a Home Tour this week for Talk about Tuesday.

Since it has been a while since I've blogged about my home I thought I would share what our yard looks like these days. If you don't live in a frozen wasteland, count your self lucky.
It is this time of year I really start to get bitter about the coldness.
I ache for spring.
I start craving comfort foods, the really fattening kinds.
I need sunshine on my skin.
You see, I was raised in California where we thought 65 degrees was bone chilling cold.
Oh, what I would give for 65 degrees.
The kids on the other hand LOVE nothing more than to go play in the snow, even for just 15 minutes, then come in for a nice warm mug of hot chocolate.
The other day it was unseasonable warm for our climate. It got up to 38 degrees, a whopping 6 degrees ABOVE freezing.
It had snowed a couple of days before and the snow was nice and soft, almost melty, perfect for making snowmen.
Doodle and Beano bundled up in their gloves and scarves and boots and coats and hats.
I swear they were dressed for winter when they went out.

I few minutes later I looked out the back yard window from my warm and toasty house to see this lovely site. They had built a cute, cute, cute mini snowman, all by them selves. They even put in the walnut eyes and donated their very own hat and scarf.

When I went out to take pictures I found them in the front yard making this gigantic thing, all by themselves.

They were too funny rolling those huge balls with all their might. It was even funnier when they tried to lift the middle ball onto the bottom one.

Finally they begged and pleaded enough and I found some gloves and helped them lift it up.

It took all three of us to lift the sucker, it was huge.

And I'm a wimp.

When it was all said and done we were sweating like it was a

bright sunny California day.

I ended up having fun, even though I totally did not wan to be outside.

They sucked me into the fun once again.

I sure do love my kids, I really think life would be boring without them.

Do you want to know how long our beautiful snowman lasted?

Less than 24 hours.

The very next morning they went out to play again and knocked the whole thing over.

They came in very pleased with them selves for making a

Snow Bench!

Hey Good Lookin, Whatca Got Cookin?

Do you feel like you ever get stuck in a rut when it come to dinner ideas? Do you find yourself preparing the same 5 or 6 meals night after boring night?

Well, have I got a meal solution for you!

This little ditty is tasty, easy and does not call for half the kitchen to prepare.

Just 7 simple ingredients, most of which you probably have in your kitchen as we speak.

So next time you go grocery shopping through a fresh lemon in your cart and you can make this ever so tasty

Chicken Picata

First start with 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts. First, pound them a little so they are not so thick up at the top. Then coat them in flour and brown both sides in a skillet with some olive oil. Do no worry about cooking the meat all the way through, it is not done yet, this is just the first step of it's long journey to tantalizing your taste buds.


Pull the chicken out of the pan and place on a plate to rest.
Next saute 1 medium onion and 1-2 cloves of garlic, depending on how bad you want your breath to smell when you are done.

When the onions are tender add 1 cup of chicken broth.

Put the chicken back in the skillet with the onions and broth and place slices of fresh lemon on them.

After a few minutes turn the chicken and let it cook until all the broth has reduced down and the onions are slippery and yummy looking.

Like this!

Now this is the most important part.

Don't eat the lemons!

But please, please, please do eat the onions. They are so tasty.

The chicken turns out yummy, but the caramelized onions are my absolute favorite. I think next time I need more onions.

Place a chicken breast on your plate and top with as many onions as will fit.

Serve this beauty with some cranberry almond rice and steamed veggies and you have a fabulous healthy meal that is out of your rut.

Unless you like it so much that this becomes your new rut.

Chicken Picata

4 bonless skinless chicken breasts

1/3 Cup flour

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 Medium Onion

1-2 Cloves of Garlic

1 Cup Chicken Broth

1 Fresh lemon, sliced