Graduation Day

Unofficially, Jeremy is a Univeristy of Utah MBA graduate. After a whirlwind week of finals (in which I, being a great wife, went out of town for the weekend by myself), a visit from Jeremy's mom,  and a full schedule of graduation festivities, Jeremy is now in Peru for the week finishing up a class project from Spring semester.  We are all pretty excited to *almost* be done with school for a while. (The kids really didn't get how he "graduated" but still has to go to class for another 10 weeks in the summer.)   Two years have gone by incredibly fast and the kids handled dad's difficult schedule pretty well. There were a few long weeks here and there of multiple late night classes and long Saturday study groups, but we made it and are very much looking forward to having him home for dinner again most every night.

And as much as Jeremy really really loves school (totally serious here, he's crazy!) I think he's looking forward to having a little extra free time on his hands as well. 



Our graduation view.



The family.

Cupcakes

So we've been breaking some bad food habits around here lately and that is a whole different post. But one of the hardest things for me (as expected) has been sweets, particularly the act of baking sweets.

So book club rolled around and I deemed it a proper excuse to bake something lovely for my friends. I gleefully bought a tiny little bag of raw sugar and unbleached flour to concoct these sinful little treats. My 5 year old had recently brought home a cupcake book from the library, so we adapted our recipe from there.

A small dollop of frosting and fresh blueberries on top makes cupcakes feel a little more "book club" and not quite so "preschool birthday party". Though these were a hit with both the young and old cupcake connoisseurs in our house.


Vanilla Cupcakes (adapted from Mini Cupcakes, by Leslie Fiet)

Combine wet ingredients:

1/4 c sour cream
1/4 c buttermilk
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c melted coconut oil
1/4 c butter (at room temperature)
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp vanilla

Add dry ingredients:

2 c unbleached flour
3/4 c sugar
1 1/4 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 t salt

Mix it all up and pop into your cupcake liners and bake at 350. I did 20 minutes for cupcakes in 2 oz souffle cups, but my oven is pretty horrible so everything takes longer.


Frosting

8 oz cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 t vanilla
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Combine first three ingredients. Add powdered sugar slowly and allow to incorporate until desired texture and sweetness is reached.

New Year's Day 2013

New Year's Day. A fresh start, a clean slate, a world of opportunity laid out in front of us.

I don't want to make any drastic changes in my life this year. I would like to be a little more organized, more intentional with the way we live, find more time to enjoy, explore, and create.

I want to slow down again, not stress about silly things, and be optimistic and encouraging.

I want to go back to caring about what we eat and why we eat it. Back to treading lightly on the earth with our purchases and the things we use in our home. Back to making a budget and then actually following it.

We've been in Utah for just over two years and there are a lot of great things about our lives here. But there are also a lot of ways in which we have changed that I don't really love. We have different relationships and friends around us, different schedules, different stage of life with the kids. So many excuses for allowing so much unwanted change.

So today, as we enter into 2013, I want to start with that clean slate and be true to the way that we want to live as a family.

Christmas 2012

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Treat

This yummy little treat was our morning snack today. I happened upon the recipe while meal planning this week. It is a box of cake mix (we used a spice cake) mixed with a 15oz can of pumpkin puree.

That's it.

Aside from putting them into the oven (350 for 20 minutes), my 5 year old made them herself. Well, I helped sprinkle the powdered sugar on top too, because left unattended that could have been scary.

If you want better instructions it is all over the land of pinterest in various forms (cookies, cake, cupcakes/muffins, even brownies).

Menu Plan (9.24 -9.30)

The menu plan for last week was not perfect by any means, but it was a good attempt. When kids were smaller and we were always home it was so much easier to plan and prepare every night's meal. Now that it is so much easier to get out of the house on a whim and take advantage of unplanned opportunities to do fun things it is in exchange harder to plan meals.

The menu plan did ensure that I always had ideas at my fingertips on the days I needed something. And the crockpot meals (while not served on their intended days) were helpful for our busiest afternoons! So...we'll keep at it.

Monday : PICNIC @ the Zoo, courtesy of husband's PMBA program. :)

Tuesday: Potato Soup

Wednesday: Moroccan Stew

Thursday: Spaghetti and Marinara Sauce (hopefully several bags of sauce will go in the freezer this day too!)

Friday: Homemade Pizzas

Saturday: Fajitas