Imagination At Work

It's so funny watching Tyler play with his toys. He's always combining different things and using them for something other than their intended purpose. For example he is constantly building parking garages and bridges out of his square foam puzzle pieces.

Today he was using his tinker toys to build a shed for his mini Thomas trains.

I don't know....Thomas and Percy look kind of high to me, but they don't seem to mind.

Back in the kitchen, I tried a new cornbread recipe to go with the Red Beans and Rice I made for dinner. I searched the web for a coconut cornbread recipe that used coconut flour, but I couldn't find anything. Instead, I used a recipe that that called for whole wheat pastry flour and coconut oil.

It baked up nice and golden, but the smell of coconut oil was really strong. If you don't know, coconut oil doesn't smell sweet like shredded coconut...it smells more like shortening. Not that appealing.

Here is the recipe I used, although next time I'll replace the coconut oil with regular butter or canola oil. That'll make it a whole wheat cornbread instead of a coconut cornbread, but hey!

Golden Coconut Cornbread

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

3 tbsp honey

1 egg

1/2 cup coconut oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Add milk, honey, egg and coconut oil. Beat until fairly smooth, about 1 minute. Grease a 9 inch pie plate or 12 muffin tins and pour batter in. Bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown around edges and 15-20 minutes for muffins.

The Dinosaur Show

I first heard about the Walking With Dinosaurs show while watching a segment of the Today Show. That was a year and half ago...at least! It looked super cool and I couldn't wait to go. The only problem was finding a venue that was close enough and convincing Rick that it would be worth the higher than average ticket price.

So you can imagine that I was out of my mind excited when I heard that the show was coming to Yakima....yeah, Yakima! We bought tickets within minutes of them going on sale online. They were the cheaper tickets, what might otherwise be known as nosebleeds. But in this case, with giant humongous dinosaurs, there weren't really any bad seats. No binoculars needed here.

The show was fantastic! The movement of the dinosaurs, the sounds, the mini history lesson, the action...I loved it all. So tell me, why...why, was Tyler bored to tears? How is that possible? I get that it's not cartoon characters singing and dancing about, but c'mon, you don't see this kind of thing everyday! I couldn't believe it. He acted like we took him to see a boring movie. He couldn't sit still, he was crawling around the floor, rolling his lips, asking if the show was over, that sort of thing.

Everything might have turned out better if Rick and I weren't such big buffoons. Our first mistake...electing to go to a show that ran during Tyler's nap time. Hello! Where were our heads! Even though Tyler doesn't take a nap every day, he is highly susceptible to crankiness in the afternoon hours. Our second mistake...not bringing enough cash to buy refreshments, as the show also coincided with snack time. Our brilliance is unparalleled, I know.

Putting all that aside, I have to repeat the show was awesome! You should definitely go if you get the chance.

The World's Best?

I saw a recipe for The World's Best Bran muffins in the April 2009 issue of Ladies' Home Journal. The picture looked fantastic and how could I resist making a muffin that claims to be the world's best...especially when it's a bran muffin. I tore the recipe out of the magazine and it's been sitting on the kitchen counter for a few weeks now, but I finally got around to making them today.

I usually prefer the texture of bran muffins the day after they're baked, but Tyler and I just couldn't wait that long. The anticipation was too great. So we tried one after about 45 minutes of cooling time. I won't write them off just yet, but I wasn't impressed. They were pretty dry. Maybe I baked them too long, although I took them out of the oven a few minutes before the recommended time. I'll see how they taste tomorrow.

(Update: These muffins taste much better when the batter is refrigerated overnight before baking...it gives the bran some time to absorb the liquid. Following that rule, these muffins are the best I've ever baked and I continue to return to this recipe.)

I also tried a new Rachael Ray recipe this week after reading a review over on the Everything Rachael Ray blog. It's called Moroccan Beef Patties with Couscous.

I thought they tasted great and the meat smelled sooo good while it was cooking up. Who knew? Cinnamon, Paprika, Cumin, and Allspice mixed with ground beef....yum! I didn't have any fresh parsley, so I used the dried stuff and it turned out okay. I also used a box of flavored couscous instead of plain, but really, the recipe is so easy that you don't need to take any shortcuts.

Happy Earth Day

Even though we really didn't do anything special today, we do try to do our part to take care of the environment. We use reusable canvas bags when we go grocery shopping every week. We drink filtered tap water, instead of buying bottled water. We use those new fluorescent bulbs all around the house, although they don't last quite as long as the package would suggest and they're a pain to deal with once they burn out. We also recycle all of our paper and most of our plastic products, which is all our silly recycling company accepts.

Anyway, it gives us a good excuse to wear our groovy Earth Day shirts (made with 100% Organic cotton).

I know, you can't really see them in the picture, but you get the idea.

See that confused look on Tyler's face? He's wondering if the timer on the camera has gone off yet. Psst, you missed it, bud.

After our little photo shoot, we hung out for a while at the park. Just as the forecast promised, the temperature dropped a good 10 degrees from yesterday, but the wind...that was a surprise. It was still t-shirt weather, nonetheless, and that's a good thing. Tyler spent some time on the playground, fed the ducks and geese, and took a few laps around the walking path...all the normal stuff.

Enjoy It While It Lasts

We've had a few days of really warm weather here in Yakima. It's been in the low 80's, really nice. I know it's not going to last for long though, that's why it seemed like such a crime to stay in the house today. We took a drive around town with the windows down, what a nice change.

While we were out and about, we stopped at the library to pick up some new books. I'm really proud of Tyler, he's becoming such a good reader. He's able to read a lot of the books all by himself. He'll ask for help on a word every now and then, but for the most part he's a great reader.

We left with a nice stack of books, but that won't last for long....they'll be devoured in no time!!

Back at the house, Tyler was quick to get his tricycle out of the garage and take it for a spin. Not for too long though. The bad thing about living in a new community is that there is absolutely no shade, whatsoever. All the trees are new and small, so there is just no hiding from the sun. Unfortunately, we all get sunburns fairly easily around here.

Not to worry, we'll do better tomorrow. We'll spend some time at the nice shady park. Besides, we've got to get it in before the weather turns. The temperature is supposed to drop by 20 degrees by the weekend.

The Project Continues

Now that the weather has warmed up to a pleasant temperature, Rick has gotten back to work on the never ending project, which is our backyard. He still needs to dig a trench along the fence that goes across the yard, install the sprinkler pipes and then cover it all back up. The majority of the sprinklers were put in last year, this is just the final stretch. Once that's done, we can finally lay down some sod and finish the landscaping. Sounds easy enough, except for the fact that the yard is once again COVERED in weeds. Ugh! Don't look at me!

I was smart and took care of my garden boxes last fall. I cleared out all the plants, pulled all the weeds, stacked the tomato cages and nicely coiled up the misting hoses. So I'm happy to say that my garden is ready to get started...I just need to head out and pick up some vegetable plants at the nursery.

Another thing to be glad about is that Tyler is now big enough to provide actual help in the yard. He was helping Rick fill in one of the trenches that was left open over the winter.


With two boys hard at work, I'm confident that our yard will actually get finished this year. Tyler was ultra proud of himself and was showing me his strong "garden muscles". Wow! Maybe they'll be done faster than I thought!

Rick also had a chance to hang up Tyler's birdhouse that he made at Lowes' the other week. Of course we don't have any trees in the backyard yet, but it doesn't look too bad hanging from the fence. I'm sure the birds won't mind.


It's a birdhouse, we know, but Tyler and I thought that it could also double as a feeder. Besides, food always attracts more birds anyway. There wasn't much room, but we managed to fit a few tablespoons of food onto the front platform. Now we just need to alert the birds...Come and Get It!

Recipe Roundup

I tried several new recipes this week, all in an attempt to get rid of some of the frozen hash browns I had sitting in the freezer. Using the Taste of Home Recipe Finder, I did a quick ingredient search and came across a few goodies.

First I made Mom's Oven Barbecued Ribs. I know, no hash browns, but don't worry, I saved that for the side dish. You can find the recipe for the ribs here or in the Quick Cooking Annual 2002.


I thought they were great and I loved that the sauce used basic kitchen staples such as ketchup, worcestershire sauce and a few dried spices. It makes a nice simple meal, as long as you have 3 hours to invest in the oven baking process.

To go along side, I made Hash Brown Potato Salad. The recipe is here or in the Quick Cooking Annual 1999.

I so wanted to love this recipe because it's super easy to make, especially when you already have hard boiled eggs on hand. However, it just wasn't quite right. The flavor of the sauce was great, but the texture of the potatoes was off. I don't know if I undercooked the potatoes, or if that's just how frozen hash browns taste in a potato salad. I think I'll give it another try though, because like I said, it just doesn't get any easier.

Finally, I tried Hash Brown Beef Pie...perfect to use up those shredded hash browns. The recipe is here or in the Quick Cooking Annual 1999.

I like this one, it reminds me of Shepherd's Pie but with hash browns on top instead of mashed potatoes. The topping has an egg mixed in, so it comes out of the oven with a nice golden brown crust. My only problem with the recipe is that it supposedly serves 6-8, which is ridiculous. There is no way you're going to feed 6 adults with this recipe, but hey, it worked great for our family of three.

Act Two

I guess I spoke too soon yesterday. In addition to the strong winds, rain and hail, we can now add freezing temperatures and snow into the mix.

That's right folks, snow! It snowed for almost two hours this morning and was actually starting to coat the cars that were parked outside. Strange! I'm feeling sorry for my poor cherry blossoms outside, they're trying so hard. And don't get me started on Tyler's poor marigold plants that he planted last month. Still not a single flower. I'm starting to get jealous of our neighbors that have tulips and daffodils blooming in their yards....I want to see some color in our own yard already!

Well at least I can say that it's a good day to stay indoors and try and get a little scrapbooking done...too bad I don't have my Easter pictures printed yet. I was, however, able to finish a few pages last week after a month long hiatus. It feels great to finally have something new to look at!

So what do you think? I really like how the St. Patrick's Day layout turned out. Of course, you know me, I copied the layout from the April 2009 Creating Keepsakes magazine. I usually don't come up with such great ideas by myself.

Wacky Weather

I've been checking everyday on our (non-fruiting) cherry tree out in the front yard to see if the flowers have started blooming yet. I love seeing the pink cherry blossoms all over town, it's probably one of the prettiest times of the year. The blooms on our tree are there, they just haven't really opened up yet...maybe in another day or two. Oh, I can't wait, that is, as long as the pesky weather we're having today doesn't spoil the blossoms altogether.

See those murky gray clouds off in the distance? They mean business!

We've had bouts of rain, followed by dumping hail with a few quick peeks of the sun in between. The weather just can't make up its mind today.

Are you kidding me? This is our Spring weather? Well, it did snow on April 1st, so I guess it could be worse. I sure hope the cherry orchards make it out alright, between the crazy wind yesterday and the hail storms today. It sure would be sad to see a shortage of cherries this summer.

Tyler and I managed to get outside for a while today during one of the breaks in the rain. He was anxious to try out his giant bubble wand that came in his Easter basket.

For once I was able to sit back and watch Tyler blow bubbles by himself. You wouldn't think so, but it takes forever before kids are able to blow hard enough to actually blow bubbles!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I woke up this morning, looked out the window and saw the neighbor kids out hunting for eggs.....at 8:00 a.m. Huh?! Is it just me, or is that a little early? I'd wait for it to warm up to at least 50 degrees before you'd see me out there! Brrr!

We spent the early hours this morning tearing into our Easter baskets.

The Easter Bunny must have gone shopping at Costco, because I recognize that prepackaged basket with the chick inside...lucky Tyler. The smaller basket had some cashew nuts and hollow chocolate bunnies for Rick and I to share. Mmmmm.

We waited until around 11:00 before heading outside for the egg hunt. Don't ask me where the sun was hiding out today, because it sure wasn't anywhere around here. We had nothing but clouds and wind. Instead of a hunt, we had more of an Easter egg chase.

One, Two, Three.....Twenty Four, Twenty Five. Boy, I hope Tyler plans on sharing some of that loot!

We've been waiting for a nice windy day to get out and fly our new kite and today was perfect in that regard. So we went down the street to the middle school with the kite in hand, ready to see what we could do. We've never had much luck with kites in the past, but it was super windy today, so that gave us a nice advantage. (By "we" and "us", I'm referring to Rick and Tyler....kite flying is not really my thing. It was fun to watch, though.)

Here is Tyler having his turn flying the kite. It's a dragon, and he was trying to fly it off to Dragon Land...you know, like in the Dragon Tales cartoon.

For dinner (don't tell Martha Stewart) I'm heating up some of our leftover ham from Thanksgiving, gasp! Then to go with it I'm making a box of scalloped potatoes, steamed sweet potatoes, and rolls. I really wanted some asparagus too, but after a quick trip to the grocery store this morning, I just had to keep wishing. They only had a few bunches left and all the stalks were super huge...like hot dogs! Gross! I wasn't going to buy those. Anyway, I'd better get down to the kitchen and get to work.

Almost Ready

Last night we took Tyler to a local Gymnastics studio for their "Friday Fun Night". You drop off your kids for a 3 hour period and they get to play on the gym equipment and with all the regular toys such as building blocks. A pizza dinner is provided too, so that makes it easy. The whole idea is that the kids can have fun playing around with other kids and the parents can get a break and do something else.

So Rick and I hotfooted it over to the movie theater and saw Knowing...the one with Nicolas Cage. I just thought it was great to get out and watch a movie for once, but this one was a little too "alien" for my liking. Our 3 hours were up in a flash and we got back to the gym just in time to see Tyler take a ride on a zip line and drop down into a pit of foam blocks. Looks like we missed out on all the fun!

I don't know what they did for those 3 hours, but it wiped Tyler right out! He was falling asleep on the way home and I could barely drag him out of bed this morning! He got up in time, though, to go to Lowe's for the Build and Grow project.

They were making birdhouses today. I thought it was going to be a bird feeder, which I would have enjoyed more, but it was cute nonetheless. And I see the perfect spot on his apron for his new badge!

Then this evening we started getting ready for Easter. It was finally time to dye the eggs! Tyler has been asking me relentlessly all week if it was time to color the eggs yet. He picked out the Cars egg dying kit at the grocery store, so he has been especially excited about the whole process this year.

Rick was trying to show off with his multi-colored striped eggs. Secretly, though, they were pretty cool!

Looking good, huh? But this picture was before Tyler completely covered the eggs with stickers. You'll just have to imagine that part!

One Guess

When I went upstairs this morning to do my workout, I found my stability ball semi-deflated. I thought that was strange since I've had the thing for about 3 years and I almost never have to air it up. Well it only took me a few seconds to figure out what had happened...I'll give you one guess.


The cats! Or Coco Bear, I should say. As innocent as she looks, she does get into her own fair share of mischief. I saw her do it yesterday, now that I think about it. I caught her "playing" with the ball and immediately told her to stop. Little did I know that she had already punctured a hole in it. Oh it kills me, one tiny pin prick and the whole "stability" aspect of the ball is compromised! I hate to throw it away....it's not made out of the most environmentally friendly material. Looks like I'll be headed to Big 5 or Target this weekend to look for another one.

In other events, I've been busy in the kitchen this week trying out a few new recipes. But first I have to mention that I got a digital kitchen scale, that I LOVE!! It can weigh up to 11 lbs and is perfect for weighing flour and such for baking. Not to mention pasta when a recipe calls for 12 oz of spaghetti or something like that. I used it this weekend to portion out the ground hamburger meat I bought at Costco. Now all the meat is neatly frozen in exact 3/4 lb packages. Rick even pulled it out to weigh a letter he was sending out....anything under 1 ounce equals one stamp. I can't even begin to know why I waited so long to buy a scale. Can I say it again...I love it!

Okay, back to the recipes....

This one's been waiting in the wings since St. Patrick's Day. It's the Irish Cream Brownies from Cooking Light. The best part about the recipe is that it uses basic ingredients like cocoa powder and chocolate chips instead of chocolate baking squares. And it made a small dent in the Costco size bottle of Irish Cream hanging out in the fridge, which I can't complain about. They were easy to make, taste yummy and don't require much additional time on the treadmill.

Next I made a recipe that I was salivating over after stopping in at the Pioneer Woman's blog...BBQ Meatballs. The recipe is here.

One word...Yum! Oh, and by the way, I did serve this with a vegetable. They just somehow didn't make it into the picture!

Rejoicing In The Warm Weather

I'm so excited.....I actually left the house this morning without a jacket or a sweater and I wasn't even cold! You know what that means folks....Spring has finally arrived here in good ol' Washington State. It's 66 degrees outside right now and hopefully it will just keep getting warmer. I love it!

Yesterday I took Tyler to Ace Hardware to do the monthly craft, they were making Easter Bunny Jars.

Cute huh? They took a canning jar, filled it with cotton balls and then decorated the outside to look like a bunny face.

Speaking of Easter, I'm so glad that it's in April again this year. I don't know why it happened last year, but it kind of stunk that Easter was in March. It was super cold outside and having an egg hunt on our crispy yellow lawn was a joke! At least it's a little warmer this year and the grass is a little greener.

Tyler has been getting a lot of use out of the Disney digital camera that we got him for his birthday. Or maybe I should say that he has been using up the battery taking tons of pictures of crazy nonsense like random toys and the bananas sitting in the kitchen. Oh well, at least he's having fun with it.

The camera allows you to insert different Disney characters into the picture...so this is me and Pluto.

.... don't forget Rick and Pluto.

The worst part about the camera is the flash...it's blindingly bright! Ugh, two pictures and I'm done! It completely reminded me of those old flash cubes you had to use in the 80's. I tried to take Rick down memory lane, but he claims to have no knowledge of the things.

Me: Remember flash cubes? Remember when you had to pick up a package of flash cubes in the grocery store along with your roll of film? And how there was only a few cubes in a box, not equal to the number of pictures on a roll of film, and you had to be stingy about using the flash?

Rick: Huh?

Me: What! You don't remember!

Rick: Nope, never heard of them.

Me: Remember those old top loading VCRs with the wood grain finish?

Rick: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

Me: What about those old microwaves with the dial that went "Ding" when the food was done?

Rick: (laughs) Yeah, I remember those....that ding was loud!

Me: Flash cubes ?!?

Rick: Nope!

It was too funny, he must not have taken many pictures when he was a kid!