Monthly Archives: May 2009

Welcome to my new address on the world wide web!

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Please refresh often and enjoy the rotating blog photo header (there are 8 different ones!), courtesy of my own crazy squirrel web designer.  (He set it all up and taught me how to make them in photoshop!)

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Why do you have a blog/read blogs?

If you don’t leave a comment, your computer will self-destruct in 30 seconds!

30….29……28………….

So…I had to make dessert for home group and didn’t want to buy anything. I had a white cake mix that was part of my teacher appreciation gift from student council. I went to allrecipes.com and did an ingredient search for white cake mix. (I also put in that I didn’t want milk, since ours went bad.) And this recipe popped up. I had all the ingredients and am a big fan of chocolate and peanut butter, so I decided to make it. It was a hit, so here is the recipe. (Which I also posted at our recipe blog.)

I have really been on a peanut butter kick lately. I remember my pappaw would just get a big ole spoon full of peanut butter and walk around eating it. I haven’t done that lately, but I have found peanut butter is really good in ice cream. I think Lydia started me on that with peanut butter ice cream from Braum’s when we visited them in the fall. We have something called Ritter’s Frozen Custard here, which is like Katie’s in Waco. I recently had a “glacier” there, which is basically a “blizzard”. I had them add in peanut butter and cookie dough, and oh my…. it was awesome! But I digress… on to the recipe!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Marble Cake (Source: here on allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
* 2 tablespoons butter, softened
* 2 tablespoons hot water
* 1 cup peanut butter chips and 1 tablespoon shortening ****I did not use these, instead I used one cup of creamy peanut butter and I think it was better. If you use peanut butter instead of chips and shortening, skip direction #3.
* 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 1/4 cups water
* 3 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). With a non-stick cooking spray, coat a 13X9X2 inch baking pan. Dust with flour and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the cocoa, confectioners’ sugar, butter and 2 tablespoons hot water until smooth and set aside.
3. In microwavable bowl, place peanut butter chips and shortening. Microwave on high for 1 minute, or until chips are melted and smooth when stirred.
4. In large bowl, combine cake mix, brown sugar, 1-1/4 cups water, eggs and reserved melted peanut butter mixture; beat on low speed of electric mixer until moistened. Increase speed to medium, beat 2 minutes until smooth. Remove 1-1/2 cups of the batter and add it to the reserved cocoa mixture; blend well.
5. Pour the peanut butter flavored batter into the prepared pan. Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate batter on top. Swirl with a knife or spatula for a marbled effect.
6. Bake at 350 degree F (175 degrees C) for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and frost as desired.

Our friend Jess works for a non-profit called Aid Sudan that ministers to the people of southern Sudan. They have an annual fund-raising gala and we attended this year with some of our friends. It was a really neat night to dress up and eat fancy food at the Omni and hear about what God is doing in southern Sudan.

Click here to read more about the organization!

I got a new hair cut last week. I told her layers, and boy did she go to town with the layers. I meant like 1 centimeter of small layers so it would turn under, and she cut like 3 inches of layers. Here it is. It turns out I like it.

What a refreshing evening its been. I sit here at 7:53 having cooked a yummy and healthy dinner that provided three leftovers, cleaned the kitchen, done work that had to get done tonight, and now I am giving myself the privilage of blogging/playing on the computer. I don’t say this to brag, because usually I do not do this at all with my evenings! Too often I get home and am tired so I take a nap. Then I wake up all groggy only to request Chick fil A or something yummy and fast for dinner. Then I just lounge around on the computer the rest of the evening, ignoring the bag of work I lugged home. Check back tomorrow for the yummy recipes and pictures!

The giveaway….well maybe it wasn’t that alluring of a give away or maybe no one wants to bother with swagbucks, but despite the fact that three of my friends (here, here, and here, oh and my friend that I don’t really know here is doing a week of giveaways!) are doing giveaways, mine didn’t work! So since C was the only one who actually signed up with me on swagbucks and therefore has earned me a grand total of one swagbuck so far, he will be the winner of the prize. Sorry LA, I think it only counts if you are a new member. Okay maybe I will come up with a not so lame giveaway another day. But check out my friend’s, they have some cool stuff. Especially the handmade stuff at LaLePop!

We went to Austin to see family this past weekend. It rained off and on throughout the weekend, but here is a rainbow we saw!

I taught my last actual lesson of the school year today! We reviewed for our final exam which is tomorrow. The rest of the days until June 3 will be spent doing tessellations, playing board games, and possibly finding a summer message in a coordinate grid.

Check out the right sidebar, I added some links I have found recently.

I had a recipe for a “Spinach Pasta Toss” that I got out of my Kraft Food and Family magazine, that I get quarterly for FREE! (I blogged about how to get the magazine here.)  I  served it with chicken and it is great! And healthy!

Here is the recipe, straight from the Kraft Food and Family Recipe Website: (Click HERE for link)

Spinach Pasta Toss

Prep Time:   5 min
Total Time:  25 min
Makes:  6 servings, 1 cup each

Ingredients:

• 1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cups multi-grain penne pasta, uncooked
• 1 cup water
• 1 pkg. (9 oz.) baby spinach leaves (7 cups)
• 1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Italian* Three Cheese Blend

Directions:

1. BRING tomatoes, pasta and water to boil in large saucepan; stir. Cover; simmer on medium-low heat 10 min. or just until pasta is tender.
2. ADD 1/2 of spinach; simmer, covered, 2 min. or until wilted. Stir. Repeat with remaining spinach.
3. SERVE topped with cheese.

Kraft Kitchens Tip: For a spicier dish, add 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes or hot pepper sauce along with the tomatoes.

That’s right… Harvesting Tulips is doing its first giveaway!

Ever heard of Swagbucks?

It is basically a search engine (it uses google to do its searches) that you register with and they give you “swagbucks” for searching through them. You accumulate swagbucks and redeem them for prizes. You can also win swagbucks by doing online shopping through them or sending in your old cell phones.You can even download a search toolbar to go in your browser, like many of you probably have a google toolbar, to make it easier to search through swagbucks and win.

I read a blog called Sit a Spell and she has already won stuff from them! Go here to read all about how she won $100 worth of Target gift cards if you don’t think it could be true. And her friend has won like three $50 Southwest Airlines vouchers AND a $50 Gap gift card with her swagbucks!

Click this banner to go register, and then I will get some points for you signing up too!

Leave a comment with your name and saying that you signed up and you will be entered to win a $5 gift card to Starbucks!

Want a double entry? Write your own blog post linking to my swagbucks with this link:

http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=439760

and leave another comment! Your name will be entered twice. And as I teach my sixth graders, that means a greater mathematical probability of winning!

Happy Swagging!

ps…I have posted a lot this week so don’t forget to read them all!

A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law came down for a fun visit. We went to Galveston one day.It was really fun. We made a sandcastle. Gracie had a little trouble after drinking salt water. But she got over it before we had to get back in the car. And we ate outside at Tortuga, so she could sit by our table and not have to wait in the car. It was a little overcast and breezy so a perfect day because it wasn’t hot at all!

I am diggin’ the Land’s End  swimsuit that I blogged about buying a while back. (I think there are still some on their overstock page if you are still in need of a summer swimsuit!)

I really like the beach. When I was younger, I didn’t care too much for it, but I really like it now. I like the sound, the wind, and walking in the edge of it. I stood in the edge for a long time, just watching the water and sand. I liked seeing when one shell got caught as it washed in, and it made little streams as the water went rushing over it to get back out to the ocean. It felt like that one shell was making a stand against what was going on around it. And it made ripples, like it was actually having an influence on what rushed past it. Kinda like that part in You’ve Got Mail where Kathleen Kelley (Meg Ryan)’s boyfriend talks about her being  a “lone reed” (or lone read if it is meant as a pun) “Kathleen, you are a lone reed. You are a lone reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce.” Or more importantly just thinking about the whole world rushing past you in one direction, but you are standing firm. I can’t put my finger on exactly what Biblical principle that illustrates, but maybe you can help me with that.  Here are some of the pictures I took, none of which capture the beauty of the water and sand as much as when you are actually watching it.