Aggies Do It Better

Okay, yall. For real. I need to get out of the dessert section of this book. (okay, technically this is in the breakfast section, as in like a coffee cake, but even I draw the line at serving this for breakfast. er, um, to my kids, that is....) The concept of "prune cake" is not totally foreign to me, I remember my mom making it when I was younger. And, I happen to like prunes. Yep, I just said it out loud. They're like really big extra sweet raisins. But I think they just aren't something people have laying around their houses. And they get a bad wrap too....like "only old people eat those!" So if you are a fan of dried fruit and have never tried one, you will probably like it! (warm cake patiently waiting for caramel to finish) This cake was un-bel-iev-a-ble. I followed the strict instructions not to overbake it, because it's supposed to be moist. I was expecting it to taste somewhat like gingerbread, because of the spices in it (nutmeg, cinnamon, all...

Let's start with this. I love coffee. Like, for real. I can't have as much of it as I want, because I am pretty sensitive to caffeine. I can't barely even have a coke after 6pm or I'll be up all night. My love affair started in college, with the International Foods ones, or what ever they are called. You know, the ones in the little red and white cans that used to have the commercials with the ladies sitting on the porch screaming about "Jean Luc!!!" After college I graduated to the hard stuff, i.e. Starbucks. There was one several doors down from the vet clinic I worked at, so I would just skip down there and get some almost everyday. And I pretty much always got a "free" upgrade in size, thus a monster was born. (I swear they did it on purpose) Then, when I moved up to the DFW area and started a real job with real expenses, I soon figured out I could no longer afford my Starbucks habit. (boo) So for several years I didn't have it very much anym...

Calling all composters! Does anyone save their food scraps and compost them? This is something I've been wanting to do for a while. We go through enough coffee grinds, fruit and veggie scraps, and egg shells to do this. We already recycle pretty much everything, so pretty much all we throw out are these kinds of things and paper products (used paper towels and plates, etc.) Any bins that I've seen are huge, and expensive. I saw this one on a tv show once, meant to keep under your kitchen sink, it's a little more my speed. I want to start small. I don't even know how much this one is, I think I looked it up one time and I remember it seeming expensive. I don't want anything really high maintenance just yet. If any of you guys do this, is there anything you can recommend? We don't even "garden" alot, I just hate throwing away things I know can have a use for something else. I figure if I don't use it I can always give it away to someone who does. Wha...

I have been working on this little project over the last few weeks. Remembering to get a picture is half the battle! My boys have always loved fruit smoothies (and so do I, who are we kidding. Strawberry banana is the best!). This is something we typically do during the summer months, when fresh fruit, esp berries, and cold drinks are the rule. I can't believe I never thought to add veggies before! I have a book of recipes that uses vegetable purees that I cooked almost exclusively for about a year and a half when #1 was 2, but then got a little burned out on it. The breakfast and dessert-y things are pretty good, but the "dinners" weren't. I have recently started it up again, with the mindset that I will just add it to whatever I'm making, not just using the recipes in the book. I still try to offer the boys veggies alot, and sometimes they will eat them. I know "hiding" veggies for kids can be somewhat controversial, but, sometimes you do what you just...

Happy 1 year blogiversary to me! I thought I'd celebrate by making a "big announcement".... We are expecting our 3rd child! Here is a rare pic of myself...not the best shot, we are in a bit of camera limbo so this is a phone pic. I'm 16 weeks (it's true what they say about showing earlier with each kid...I've been showing for a WHILE now and we have just recently told our family and it's been hard to hide!) My due date is December 1st. We aren't sure if we will find out what it is, we didn't with the first and did with the second. Luckily we still have a few weeks before we have to make that decision! The boys are very excited, esp #1, he asks me every day if I can feel it kicking or not. #2 is only 3 years old, I'm not quite sure if he realizes what's going on. It doesn't seem to really be on his radar. Yet!! I've been feeling a little better finally, my morning sickness never got as bad as it did the other times, but I had some s...

I had 5 peaches left from the 2nd batch of ones I got at our new Whole Foods last week, which were amazing and I'm not even a "peach" person. They were on they're last day of edible-ness and need to be used. I was flipping through my PW book, (again, with the desserts) looking for the cobbler recipe. I really should have it memorized by now. I came across this one for Peach Crisp, which is also very cobbler-y, but in a more traditional sense with the fruit on the bottom and crust on top. I made a quick check and I had all the ingredients. Let's roll! In a bowl you combine all the dry ingredients...flour, brown sugar, regular sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Oh nutmeg. see the brown stuff on the left? That's it. The recipe calls for a dash of nutmeg, which is so strong that's about all you ever use in a recipe anyway. Anyhoo, I'm still not used to the new tops on my spice containers, and unscrewed the top thinking that the "sprinkle" top would b...

So....I seem to be focusing on the dessert section of this book...can't imagine why. I've already made this same cobbler twice, in the quest for finding which of my dishes is best for it. One was too small, one was too big. (read about them here) So, obviously , I had to try again. This time with blackberries. (note: the recipe is "officially" called Blackberry cobbler, but says that you can also use blueberries, raspberries, peaches, and so on.....so I figure I pretty much have to make all of those to complete this recipe.) We finally have a winner folks. I love this because the recipe is so simple, there's only milk, butter, flower, and the berries pretty much. Also...we had a ton of blackberries because we got them from Sam's. Before last week, I'm pretty sure I've never eaten a blackberry in my life. I've only had a fresh raspberry a couple times. They kind of freak me out with the tiny cluster and the little hairs sticking out. I'm wierd ...