Macaroons

Jaeden and Brooklyn love to cook and bake.

Brooklyn's latest endeavor yesterday after school: coconut macaroons. Now if we can just work on getting them to look like the beautiful macaroons in Paris bakeries. . . . .
They were a hit with everyone but Jordan. Keith loved them and as a result, they didn't last long!

Overheard this morning: Jaeden telling Brooklyn "Come here and fight like a man." Seems to have gotten her ire up a bit! Wonder why...

Cheesecake Recipe

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

with Gingersnap Crust

(Super yummy & very easy to make!)

Prep Time: 20 min
Total Time: 5 hr 35 min
Makes: 16 servings

What You Need!
25 Ginger Snaps, finely crushed (about 1-1/2 cups)

1/2 cup finely chopped Pecans

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Dash ground cloves

Make It!
HEAT oven to 325°F
MIX crumbs, nuts and butter; press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 13x9-inch pan.
BEAT cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until blended. Remove 1-1/2 cups batter. Stir remaining sugar, pumpkin and spices into remaining batter.
SPOON half the pumpkin batter into crust; top with spoonfuls of half the plain batter. Repeat layers; swirl with knife.
BAKE 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours.

*****************************************

I made this for a potluck a couple of weeks ago and it was a huge hit! It's rich so a small square goes a long way. Perfect dessert for fall. Let me know if you make it - I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Back in Business

We're back after an almost two week break - one week of 'camera gone missing', and the other week with the computer taken down to refinish our office and kitchen floors.

So first off, we now present last weekend's project:

(edited to add: I found the BEFORE BEFORE pics and just had to show you this is what the floors really looked like when we moved in 16 months ago - ugly linoleum and all. We also decided multi-colored walls just weren't our style either as you'll note in the new floor pic. Oh, and only refinishing the original wood floors was last weekend's project - we'd already done the other stuff including removing several layers of linoleum shortly after moving in.)

BEFORE

AFTER

I love the contrast of the darker flooring against the white walls. Don't know if we would've normally chosen the reddish stain, but it ties in with the existing woodwork in the rest of the house. I adore the "new" floor now. Much easier to clean than the dirty (no matter how much I tried cleaning it), unfinished floor.

The process we used: lightly sanded, applied a pre-stain, applied a single coat of stain, and applied 4 coats of water-based polyurethane waiting proper amounts of time in between each coat.

A close-up of the character of the wood floor.
Oh, and don't you like our beautiful peonies? I had to cut some because they're so heavy, they lay right over on the ground and with our recent rains, they were weighed down even more.

We're excited because tonight's the night we get to put the furniture and fridge back into the kitchen/dining room. We wanted to make sure the floor cured properly. It also means no more eating out - yay! To tell the truth, we get sick of eating out. Although it makes for less housework...

We'll post more pictures shortly. Especially a video clip of our little Houdini.

A Day Off

This is what we do on a day off from school.

We drink hot cocoa with BUNNY marshmallows.

Hope you're having just as sweet a week!

Fruit Tarts

Jaeden brought a book home from the library that was filled with easy recipes for kids. We decided to do the jam tarts only we were out of jam! So instead, we spooned in frozen mixed berries and sprinkled with sugar. They turned out good according to kid standards! Mom thinks we need to find a new recipe for the dough though.

The missing tarts prove that we taste tested them! Mmmmm....good.

A fun after-school project while Jordan and Dad are off taking a gun safety course.

We hope you're enjoying your week so far!