Birthdays, Adventures, and Peanut Butter Cake

Today is the Hubby's birthday.

Coincidentally, the Munchkin turned 9 months old today. But that's not why we had Peanut Butter Cake.

Mmmmm.

Just saying the name makes me remember how delicious it was...

I make a special dessert each year on the Hubby's birthday. He usually picks either Stawberry Cake or Strawberry pie, but this year I decided to try something new. Since those things usually turn out deeelicious (not bragging, but they are pretty good!), making something new is a risk.

Let me tell you, risks can be pretty stinkin' yummy.

The Hubby's grandmother makes a really good Peanut Butter Cake. In fact, she's a wiz at desserts. So I had to get a recipe that was similar to her's. It took me a while to find a recipe to try. I ALWAYS read the reviews, since anyone can post a recipe these days and talk it up to sound fabulous. I ended up choosing this recipe here:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/peanut-butter-sheet-cake/

(The recipe is also posted at the end of this blog).

Instead of making a large sheet cake I made two 9-inch rounds. I also like a lot of frosting on my cakes, so the recipe only made enough for one of the rounds. I'll save the second one and freeze it, so we can re-live this whole experience again later this year. 

Let me tell you, this cake is not diet-friendly. It calls for three different types of oil (peanut butter, butter, and vegetable oil). Yikes! I'm no chemist (that's my sister!) but it must need them, because the cake itself came out fairly fluffy for having so many oils in it.

This cake is also not for the faint-hearted. Seriously - you might get a heart attack after eating it. But it is worth it!

Make sure to have plenty of milk on hand, as I downed a full glass with my piece.

In addition to the cake, I made shrimp and pasta for dinner. There aren't any seafood restaurants within an hour's drive, but I managed to fix one for the both of us for under $10. Beat that, Red Lobster!

Besides all of the yummy foods, we also went to Babcock State Park so that the Hubby could play around with a newly acquired tripod and take some pictures of the riverbed and grist mill. The Munchkin and I wandered around with the stroller and enjoyed being outdoors. While the Hubby was all camped out in the river taking shots of the waterfalls, we met another photographer. He must have realized that the Hubby and I were together, and he said I must be a "photographer's widow." :-) I laughed and told him that I didn't bring enough things to do while we waited for him to finish taking pictures. But really, I can't complain about the Hubby's new hobby. He sure loves it, and I enjoy having great pictures to document our adventures!

Peanut Butter Cake

Originally from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/peanut-butter-sheet-cake/

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 cups white sugar

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 cup water

¾ cup butter

½ cup peanut butter

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

½ cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:

2/3 cup white sugar

13 cup evaporated milk

1 Tbsp butter

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup mini marshmallows

½ tsp vanilla

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, or one 10x15 inch jelly roll pan.
• In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine the water and ¾ cup butter and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in oil and peanut butter until well blended.
• Add peanut butter mixture to dry ingredients. Combine eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla, and add to bowl. Mix well.
• Pour batter evenly into prepared pan(s). Bake for 18-26 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
• While cake is baking, mix sugar, evaporated milk, and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook for two minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, marshmallows, and vanilla. Stir until mixture is smooth. Spoon over warm cake and spread in an even layer. Allow to fully cool before cutting and serving. 

Freeze It!

I spent a couple hours in the kitchen today. And I didn't even cook anything new for supper.

What was I doing, you ask?

Cleaning, chopping, and prepping produce for the freezer.

A few weeks ago I read a blog about once-a-month shopping and how to make fresh produce last all month long. This chick has some FABULOUS tips and tricks!

I know that I can't be the only one who throws out produce because it has spoiled before I can use it all up. So, to make my dollar stretch further and keep produce usable longer, I decided to freeze a bunch of it.

The freezer bags cost $1.99, and there are 50 of them. It will probably take a few months to go through that many. And I have a bajillion Sharpie markers already. That's a small price to pay to make sure I use all of that beautiful produce before it goes bad!

So I spent the Munchkin's nap time cleaning and chopping stuff up.

Does anyone else think of that quote from Ratatouille every time you use a knife and cutting board? I do. Every single time.

This is what I ended up with:

I have two 1# bags of strawberries, 1 bag of blueberries, 2 bags of chopped green pepper, 3 bags of sliced baby carrots, and 4 bags of chopped onions.

I didn't know if I could chop up potatoes or not, so I didn't... but you can. So I will, before my potatoes get too much older.

Now, since I'm OCD, I made sure to measure how much went into each bag. That way when I'm using them in a recipe, I can easily calculate the calories. Did I mention that the Hubby and I are on a "diet"? Well we are. We're using MyFitnessPal, and the feature I love the most is the Recipe Tool. They have GINORMOUS database of ingredients, and you can put in your exact measurements, select how many servings the recipe makes, and VOILA! Calorie count. It's approximate, but it's a great way to keep track of  what you eat. And the best part? You can save your recipes so the next time you can just look it up.

ANYway, I've spent just a little time today prepping all of this produce. But the next time I need chopped onion for tacos, chili, or whatever, it is DONE. 

Anyone with kids knows that fixing dinner (in a timely fashion) can feel like a three-ring circus act. 

And I've just shaved 5 precious minutes off of that time. 

Woohoo!

So do you have some extra produce laying around, getting ready to become money thrown away? Grab some freezer bags, a Sharpie, a knife and a cutting board, and save it before it is too late! 

And then when you need a cup of green pepper for a recipe and you can just whip it out of the freezer, already chopped and beautiful, you'll have a Super Mom moment. :-) 

Road Trips and Grocery Hauls

We've just made it back from a whirlwind trip to Huntington, WV. By "whirlwind" I mean in just over 24 hours we drove there and back, visited with family (stayed with the Hubby's brother and his wife, and their three amazing kids), heard a great lesson about the Grace of God, slept for a few hours, visited some more, and did a HUGE Aldi grocery trip.

As I've mentioned before, the closest Aldi to us is over an hour away. The savings don't justify the trip there. But if we're already in the area... you can bet that I'm going to take advantage of an Aldi.

By "taking advantage," I mean buying over $175 worth of food!

*Side note* - We have been planning this Aldi trip since we knew we were driving to Huntington, so I've been making the most meticulous list for weeks now. Adding what we need, writing down how many of each thing, etc. And what did I do when we left? Forgot the Mother of All Lists in my meal planning binder. Sigh. But apparently mulling over things for weeks makes you memorize them, because the one and only thing that I forgot off of the list was dish sponges, and those I can get at Dollar Tree.

ANYway, back my point...

Those of you who shop Aldi know it takes a LOT of food to add up to $175.

114 items, to be exact.

But now my freezer, fridge, and pantry are stocked up enough foods to keep us going for probably close to a month (besides buying eggs, milk, and more formula). Woo!

There's still plenty of room in the freezer for Deer Season, though...

Well, I should say that my *counter tops* are stocked with tons of food... I haven't yet taken the time to put it all away in a neat and OCD fashion yet. I don't want to ruin my perfectly organized pantry.

:)

How is the monthly meal planning going for you all?

Last night/this morning I had the hardest time coming up with what to make for Sunday lunch, because nothing on my meal list sounded like something I wanted to make, plus nothing was crock-pot friendly. I'm going to have to find some more easy-peasy recipes for Sundays.

Under the Sink Organization

Alright people, let’s talk about an area of the house that we usually don’t want ANYONE to see.

Under the kitchen sink.

It’s where we keep cleaning products, paper towels, yucky rubber gloves, sink stoppers, and pretty much anything else sink- or cleaning-related. Or not.

For me, it became a ‘catch-all’ place.

Here’s how it looked before…

*Shivers*

It didn’t help that we’ve had problems with mice (we’ve caught 5 within a couple months), and have actually witnessed them sneaking into the kitchen cabinets. The cabinets are ANCIENT, and the doors do not close well.

Nothing worse than going to get some cleaners out of the cabinet and finding yourself face to face with a mouse.

But I digress.

Perusing Pinterest one day made me realize that not everyone lets the cabinet under the kitchen sink get the better of them… (See this beauty?)

I had an OCD moment.

Why couldn’t mine look like that?

This is my cabinet. These are my cleaning products. My tools for doing the things I need to do around the house.

I pulled everything out and started sorting products. (Who needs three bottles of glass cleaner? I hardly ever wash windows!) Down-sized to things I actually use, and moved things that don’t really need to be under there to another home (like Swiffer dusters and such).

I sorted everything into two “piles” – the most frequently used items in one, and the rarely used in another.

Then I cleaned out the cabinet as best I could (ripping out some of the nasty shelf liner) and re-lined the base of the cabinet.

I used some of the same baskets that I’d bought at the Dollar Tree for my pantry, and also re-used my bucket and a small green basket I had before. I hung a tension rod to put things like rubber gloves and spray bottles (although I haven’t hung much on it yet).

And here’s the final result:

It only takes a short time, but the result is amazing! Now I want to clean everything, just so I can use my awesome organized space… 

Meal Planning: Binders Make Everything Better

In the last five years of our blissfully married life I have never sent an actual “budget.” 

There, I said it.

We’ve done pretty well with spending, but we’re guilty of spending more than we need to because we didn’t plan it out. But in November of last year (literally on Thanksgiving Day!) our lives were turned upside down. We were parents, now responsible for the well-being of a tiny (and needy) person. 

Have you seen formula and diaper prices these days? Highway robbery.

We quickly realized that with so much money going to Munckin’s necessities each month, we needed to keep better track of grocery spending. But like I said, I've never set an actual budget.

Now if anyone can be called OCD it is my Mother.

She is one amazing woman. I remember her keeping a pretty tight budget when I was growing up. But as far as groceries go, she seemed to keep us well-fed without a lot of planning. She just… did it. But as in many other areas of my life, I am not my mother (though I strive to be!).

We used to shop at Aldi. I love that place. I never had to check prices. I just bought everything that I knew I could work with to make meals. You really can’t overspend there. An entire cart of groceries for $80? Yes please!

But we’ve moved to a town where there is no Aldi. Just a Walmart Supercenter.

Crud.

So, my old plan doesn’t work anymore. And my major staple, ground turkey, is TWICE the price at Walmart as it was at Aldi ($2.88/lb vs. $1.49). We’re lucky if we leave spending under $100, and it’s usually more than that.

So, I can’t just buy stuff to keep on hand, and hope to use it up eventually. We needed a plan.

Have I mentioned that I am obsessed with Pinterest? That place has a solution for nearly anything. It is my haven.

After reading a few other blogs and talking things over with the Hubby, we decided to try monthly meal planning. Now, I love to cook, but by dinnertime the last thing I want to do pull an idea for dinner out of thin air. I may be Mama, but I’m not a magician.

Up to now I have avoided “meal planning” because the thought of being tied down to a specific list each day/week/month just rubs me the wrong way. What if we're set to make mac-n-cheese, and I feel more like tacos?

So I just make one huge list of meals. At the beginning of each month I sit down and make a list (letting the Hubby make some suggestions) of meals that we will eat throughout the month. Since I don’t cook every night, my list only contains about 20 meals.

Ahhhhh. 30 minutes of brainstorming and now for the rest of the month I don’t have to come up with dinner ideas. Just pick one from the list! I like to pick mine either the night before or in the morning. Then, during the day, I know what I will be fixing and plan the time for it.

And since I’m OCD, I didn’t want to just keep my meal list in the 10-cent notebook that I scribbled it down in. I made myself a fancy binder to keep on track with it.

Inside there are pretty pocket folders to hold things like recipes, grocery lists, and a monthly calendar – I write down what I cooked for dinner each day (or note that we ate leftovers). By the end of this month I’ll have a better idea of how many meals I’ll need to cook, what yields the most leftovers, etc.

This is our first month of meal planning, so I’m still working out the kinks. We’re watching pennies, so I’m making all the meals that I can off of the list without going to the store. This disproves the “there’s nothing to eat!” theory!

But when we actually do run out of food, my pantry and brand new chest freezer are ready for action.

I don’t know about you, but I find things are easier to tackle when everything is organized. A messy pantry does not inspire me to cook gourmet meals.

My pantry used to look like this:

Yuck.

The space is there, but the shelves are super-deep and pretty far apart for small food items. My attempts to add shelf risers just made things a jumbled-up mess.

Plus, the house is a rental and the walls were still dirty and yucky from the previous tenants. Gross.

So, in true OCD fashion I spent two days tackling my pantry. I emptied EVERYTHING out, cleaned it, and painted it.

Then I treated myself to a shopping spree at the Dollar Tree. Does anyone else love that place as much as me? I spent $5 on baskets/bins (all color coordinated, of course). Nothing fancy, but I think it turned out great:

Ahhhhh. So much better! 

My favorite part (besides the awesome wire shelves that the Hubby installed with his power drill for me) is the baskets on the bottom. I nailed them to the wall and they now hold my plastic baggies and chips/snacks.

Since I took the pic I've replaced the yucky old light-bulb-string with a pretty polka-dot ribbon. I'm also going to make labels for the baskets so the Hubby and I know what is in them without having to dig.

So here are my tips for you:

• How you organize your pantry determines your snacking habits. Keeping snacks out of immediate sight helps you cut back on how much you munch between meals.
• Real estate is precious. All boxes that are half empty should be downsized, saving tons of space.
• Keep things you use all the time in easy reach. Keeping the garbage bags accessible means taking out the trash won’t be such a chore.
• You don’t need a hoard of plastic shopping bags. A small stash is plenty.
• Visual appeal is very important. If your pantry looks like a super-mom’s pantry, then you will feel like super-mom. Woo!

That’s it. Just a few simple tricks to stay organized, ultimately making life easier!

Softie Sugar Cookies

You know those softie sugar cookies they sell at the grocery store? The huge ones with thick frosting and tons of sprinkles?

They are heavenly.

And adorable.

I just love how they change the icing color and the sprinkles on them for every holiday imaginable.

So every time I “crave” sugar cookies, what I really want is a soft one smothered in icing. But every time I make them at home, they turn out as nothing more than your average boring plain-old sugar cookie.

NOT what I had in mind.

Store-bought softie cookies are also a splurge. And since we’re trying to save money and only buy what we need, I usually have to deny my cravings and grudgingly put the cookies back on the shelf.

Until Pinterest changed my life.

I’m not exaggerating – ever since I joined Pinterest I’ve been much more domestic. Cooking things from scratch, organizing random nooks and crannies around the house, it’s crazy!

So when I found the recipe for Mennonite Soft White Cookies, I felt like I’d hit the jackpot. I could make my own softie sugar cookies for a fraction of the cost!  

I made the dough last night, and let it chill for over 12 hours.

The Munchkin was down for a nap, and I was ready to roll me some deliciously cutesy cookies. I was Martha Stewart in the kitchen. These were going to be the best cookies ever!  I dug out my ginormous container of cookie cutters that I use maybe once every other year, and made a huge mess looking for the flower one.

I was ready to make magic happen.

Then I tried to get the dough out of the bowl, and realized that when the recipe says…

“You may want to add more flour”

…what they really MEAN is, you’ll need to add 2 more cups of flour so the dough doesn’t stick to your countertop, hands, spoon, and every other surface imaginable.

Yuck.

Anyway, after adding way more flour I finally achieved a cut-out that was good enough to stick in the oven. 11 minutes later these beauties were cooling and smelling delicious.

Of course, by the time all the cookies were done, it was an hour later and Munchkin was up from his nap. Thankfully the episodes of Fraggle Rock are still on Netflix, and he is easily entertained. Woo!

I mixed up the icing, pulled out my pastry bag and sprinkles, and the finished product ended up looking like this –

Now that is what I’m talking about!

They taste as good as they look. Trust me.

Ultimately these turned out really close to the store-bought ones. Next time I’ll be sure to add more flour before I try to roll out the dough and make a complete mess of my kitchen. And also halve the recipe…

…because now we have nearly 4 dozen cookies littering our countertops, and the Hubby is on a diet.

Oops.

Beginnings

Greetings! My recent addiction to Pinterest has made me realize that anyone and everyone can have a blog these days, so why not me? Don’t get too excited, there probably won’t be any earth-shattering posts on here. This is just a place for me to share some of my ideas about organizing, cooking, and DIY projects. I love browsing the web for new ideas to put into practice in my own home.

Now, a little bit about me. (On the off-chance that someone unrelated stumbles upon this blog, which isn’t likely, but who knows!) My name is Laura and the Hubby (5 years and counting!) and I have a bouncing baby boy, henceforth known as Munchkin. I work full-time from home for a publishing company and spend my spare time (Ha!) trying to find ways to keep the household organized, looking great, well-fed, and on a budget. 

I guess some might call me OCD, but I prefer to call it organized.

I’ve always enjoyed organizing things. Even when I was little I was constantly rearranging things in my room, either for fun or to make better use of space. Now that I’m all grown up I have a whole house to play with! Endless spaces to organize. It can be daunting at times. Add taking care of the Munchkin and the Hubby into the mix, and the last thing I want to do is housework. We all need a little motivation to do the “dirty” work. My motivation is having things tidy, organized, and visually appealing.

Now, what works for me won’t work for everyone. The important thing is to find out what works best for you and your family. Hopefully some of my ramblings will get you thinking about ways to make things a little more organized in your own home.