Phoenix Day 2

A great to get up, enjoy a beautiful breakfast on the patio, soak in the sun, swim and soak in more sun!

Spring Break 2012 - Phoenix

We flew down to Phoenix during Spring break with the kids! We stayed at an amazing resort with six pools, laid out, took a day trip to Sedona, hiked, laid out more and ate wonderful food! We had a blast spending time with the kids and making wonderful memories together! Phoenix Day 1:

Saving Up

Last year we decided that we wanted to take the kids on a spring break vacation. As I searched and searched for vacations spots this past winter they decided to start saving up for their spending money. We have a large canning jar sitting in our kitchen where we just throw change in it. So they started to put their extra change in it. Mira has learned quickly from her father to pick up any extra change found on the street!
Well this jar got filled up to the rim!
Mira and I brought to the bank coin changer. Man was that bag heavy! The bank teller was no nice and impressed on how they "saved" up their loose change. She printed out the receipt for them to check out exactly how much change the had! Well they just a little over a hundred bucks!
Next post will be on our spring break trip!

Breakfast Cookies

Did somebody say cookies for breakfast?! That's right! I came across this recipe on How Sweet It Is... Can I say this is all I crave for breakfast now!
I'm not sure if your like me but i really don't have time to eat in the morning. I know I know I'm not working and how do you not have time to eat?! I guess its more like I get bored with smoothies, oatmeal, greek yogurt with granola, sprout bread with pb.
Well, I'm not bored with these cookies! I have made them over and over again! They are packed with fiber, power and some sweet chocolate! I am addicted. A cookie or two in the morning with my coffee and I'm a happy girl!
YUMMY!!!!

Breakfast Cookies:

Makes about 12-16 cookies

1 large egg

1/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 medium ripe banana, mashed

1 1/2 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup old-fashioned oats

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons peanut butter, melted

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup dried cherries (or dried fruit of your choice!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, mix flour, oats, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and flaxseed together, then set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg and sugar together until smooth. Add in vanilla, mashed banana, melted and cooled butter and honey and mix until combined and somewhat smooth (it’s okay if banana chunks remain).

Gradually add in dry ingredients, mixing gently with a large spoon until the batter has come together. Stir in melted peanut butter. Lastly, add chocolate chips and cherries, mixing until distributed. Using a 1/4 cup measure, an ice cream scoop, or even a large spoon, drop dollops of batter onto a nonstick baking sheet, placing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until set and lightly golden around the edges. Cookies will not spread much and will probably hold their form, but get a bit puffy and fat.

Skinny Chocolate Cake

Skinny Chocolate cake = delish! I made this for our valentines dessert. Wow! It was sooo yummy! I found the recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes. So if you are craving chocolate but want it low fat, make this!
I served it with low fat ice cream, fresh raspberries and dark chocolate sauce.



1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tbsp canola oil
4 oz unsweetened apple sauce
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 cup HOT coffee
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fat free milk
2 cups cake flour (not self rising)
1 package instant chocolate pudding (not sugar free)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt
spray oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly spray and flour your cake pan.

In a large bowl combine flour, dry chocolate pudding mix, salt, baking powder and baking soda and set aside. (dry ingredients)

In a medium bowl, combine HOT coffee with the cocoa powder until it dissolves. Slowly add milk and vanilla extract. Set aside. (wet ingredients)
In a stand mixer on low speed combine the sugar and oil; mix to combine well.

Add the applesauce until mixed through. Then add eggs and egg whites until incorporated.

Starting with the dry ingredients, slowly add a little of the dry, then a little of the wet ingredients, alternating between wet and dry until all the ingredients are mixed in.
Last step is to add the Greek yogurt and just stir to combine.
Pour into the cake pan and transfer to oven.

Bake for 50 minutes. Let cool, serve with fruit.

From: Gina's Skinny Recipes

Online again

Sorry for the delay in my posts. A few weeks ago our Mac suddenly was just turning off. Brought it to get looked at, got a quote on how much it would cost. Well, you gotta do it right, it's a Mac! Picked it up a week later - it was not what they thought. It only cost us $100 - whohooooo!
Brought it home, volume is not working!!! Really?! Come on!
Brought back in and here I am online again!
It is scary how dependent we are on this computer! From paying bills, checking my email, following all my blogs, online shopping, etc, etc... Too say the least I have been lost for about two weeks!
I hope to get caught up on my blogging this weekend!

Valentines -Part 1

Happy Valentines! I hope you had a fun day celebrating love with the special people in your life. We have a tradition on valentines celebrating with the Young's. Our restaurant of choice is WA Frost. We have mixed it up with Forepaughs and that is where we headed this year. We almost missed our valentines dinner - I ended up with a horrible cold last week. It was so horrible that it really took me down! So we canceled. So sad. The time Saturday rolled around and I had been in indoor bound for 4 days. I needed to get out. Thankfully my sister did not change the reservation and we joined them for dinner. Here are pics of our lovely dinner..

Off to dinner - can you see Tyler in the background


Rachel and Brian


Dinner at Forepaughs