Sweets Caroline

The other morning, I made some of my most favorite little breakfast treats ever!  Popovers have always been something that reminds me of my mom's home cooking.  The way it worked in our house growing up was Mom's way or the highway.  As a single mother of two, I am always amazed of how she ever did it.  She is someone that has endless amounts of gusto and never stops.  With that being said, often times we were woken up in the morning by clanging of pots and pans coming from the kitchen and the wafting smells of coffee and whatever goodness was being made. These popovers were always a treat to be had.  The popovers would come out of the oven like magic, with their giant pockets of air just waiting for butter and some lovely fruit preserve (made by my mom), to be spread around and enjoyed. These are not a particularly difficult thing to be made, however they have been a baked item that I have always feared...apparently for no logical reason what-so-eve...

  While I sit here at home trying to keep a two-and-a-half year old occupied, as she resists her nap, I struggle with the 20+ extra pounds hanging around my 37-weeks-of-pregnant-stomach...why not get back on the blog action.  After not sleeping from all of the lovely symptoms and struggles of being so huge and pregnant, I offered up some of my limited morning time this week to continue work at a summer daycare in town (and heck, why not?...we could use the money).   Exhausted after chasing after 35 kids this morning, I come home to a semi-functioning house where my amazing hubby is doing everything he can to keep his tired eyes open and entertain our beautiful daughter. Both of whom are still in their pajamas, and remnants of a rushed breakfast sit on the coffee table, while a movie plays on the TV.  I wonder, how we will ever survive with another child added to our chaos.   The energy that I have left from the morning goes into picking up the house and runnin...

I LOVE Modpodge! Recently I was sitting with my dear friend Laura, and we were discussing some great crafty ideas to keep us busy. Modpodgeing is an absolute addiction! As I sat and decided what my next adventure with this paste would be, I membered an old pair of work shoes that are just too scummy to wear. What better way to spiff them up than to use Modpodge! I pulled out my newly organized fabric collection and started cutting and piecing together this awesomely colorful shell for a pair of dull old Chucks. I finished one and am thrilled with the outcome! Who needs to spend hundreds on shoes?! These shoes rock my world! I will post a picture as soon as I can sit down and get working on the other one! In the meantime check out the Modpodge blog for more crazy ideas! Www.modpodgerocksblog.com

Lets keep it simple! you will need Cooked Rice (1-2 Cups) Frozen/fresh veggies of your choice (1/2-1 Cup) cooking oil (3 Tblsp) sesame oil (1 Tblsp) One large egg Soy Sauce (to taste) So start by heating up the oils in a frying pan or wok. when heated cook the egg in the oils (scramble it up!) put your thawed veggies or fresh veggies in the egg and oil and make sure your veggies are pretty much heated through and cooked to your liking. Then put in your rice and fry it up a little bit in the oils and mix every thing together until everything is piping hot. Then put in the soy sauce and let it soak in to the rice for one min. or so. serve and ENJOY! -Happy Bellies- :)

This is one delicious dish! First start out by boiling your water for your noodles. While you wait for your water to come to a boil, fry up some bacon. Put macaroni in the water as soon as it comes to a rolling boil. cook noodles for 8-10 min. Cut up one medium onion, and two or three cloves of garlic. take cooked bacon out of the pan and set it aside to cool. get rid of some of the bacon grease and add a little bit of olive oil to the grease. Place onions in the pan with the oil and grease and cook them for a min or so, then add the garlic. Let these cook up for a little bit. Now you can add really whatever you want. I added one bag of frozen spinach (thawed) and one can of Diced tomatoes. (you can add fresh tomatoes if you want too...) Salt and pepper, and mix the cooked noodles with the tomato/spinach mixture and then chop up the bacon and add that. Add about a 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese (not the crappy stuff in a green can...real Parmesan) and about a 1/2 cup of whatever kind o...

So These were a fun discovery! 2 Cups of Flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. Salt 2 Sticks of butter (softened) 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup Brown sugar 1/2 cup of Cocoa powder (unsweetened) 2 large eggs 1 tsp. of Vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups of Chocolate Chips Pre Heat the oven to 375 Mix together dry ingredients in a medium bowl. hint: dry ingredients does not include the sugars. Just Flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Then cream the butter with the sugar and brown sugar in a mixer or big bowl. add your eggs one at a time. Next mix in the vanilla Slowly add in your dry ingredients, mixing together well Last add in your chocolate chips. Thats the batter! Get a baking sheet and put small-medium balls of dough making sure to separate them, they will spread out a little bit. bake the cookies at 375 for about 10-12 min. And enjoy with a nice cup of coffee! ~ Happy Bellies ~