Ramblings and Chocolate Dipped Banana Bread Balls.

Hi guys, thanks for baring with me, I know I haven't been posting anywhere near as much as I should be just lately. I have been so, so tired. I started a new job, which I love but seeing as I haven't worked in so long, it is kicking my butt! I swear I shouldn't be this tired, it's actually quite ridiculous! By the time little man's bedtime rolls around, I have been falling in to bed myself.

The doctor started me on some medication a couple of months ago too, which I am thinking has something to do with it... I might have to get it changed to something else :/ Has anyone had any experiences with Zoloft?

Tonight, I was actually going to write a post that I have been putting off for a really long time. A post about why I am in fact taking Zoloft in the first place and a post about some of the things my family have faced in the last year... Yesterdays events in Boston however, has put that on the back burner for now. I can't stop thinking about all those poor people that have been affected by the heartless bombings, especially those who awoke this morning mourning the loss of a loved one. :( I can't get over how much evil there is in this world, it makes me so sad. I really do wish that things were different. AND on top of all of that! The town that I live in had 4 bomb threats today!! Both of the court houses were evacuated for most of the day as were the middle school and the high school! Luckily, nothing was found, but seriously! What the hell is wrong with people!? I really don't want my Son to grow up thinking that all of this is normal :( Ugh!

So instead of my intended post, I am going to be posting a recipe for Chocolate Covered Banana Bread Balls that might just bring a smile to your face, it certainly did mine when I made them. I'll start with the picture:

Looks good?

I found the original recipe for these on Pinterest. The link led me back to an extremely yummy looking blog called Inquiring Chef, you need to take a dig around over there, some of her stuff made me drool on my keyboard!!

Here is how I made them:

I started off by making the Banana Bread, I have been using this recipe for a really long time and it always comes out so good!!

You will need:

2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
¼ Teaspoon Salt
½ Cup of Butter
½ Cup of White Sugar
½ Cup of Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
3 Very Ripe Bananas!

• Pre heat oven to 350°
• Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
• In another bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars.
• Stir in the eggs and the 'crushed' banana (I usually squish the banana between my fingers)
• Combine both mixtures and stir just until you see no flour left! It is VERY important not to over mix!!
• Bake for 1 hour

When cooked, transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely!


For the Banana Bread Balls, you will need:

• 1 8oz Container of Cream Cheese (I used Mascarpone)
• Around 8 oz of Milk Chocolate Morsels and another 8 oz of Semi Sweet Chocolate Morsels, you could even use white too if you wanted!
• Shredded Coconut and Crushed Walnuts for the toppings (You can use whatever you want though!!

Now you need to grab a sharp knife and cut the  hard crust off the banana bread, you can discard this bit, or spread butter on it, which is what I did... I cannot let banana bread go to waste!

In a large bowl, crumble the insides of the banana bread with your fingers until it is in small pieces. Add the cream cheese and mix really well, until it all comes together.

Using a teaspoon, separate the mixture into roughly 40 or 50 balls. Roll the balls in your hands. The original recipe said that it made 60, but I think I must have made them a lot bigger because I only managed to get 40! Place them on a tray lined with wax paper. I didn't have any wax paper, so just put them straight on the baking tray) They should look like this:

Melt your chocolate in two separate bowls. I used the microwave. Just make sure you check it and stir it every 10 seconds until it's melted completely! And using two forks, roll each ball around in the chocolate until fully coated!

The messy bit!

Sprinkle some shredded Coconut on some of them and Crushed Walnuts on the others and leave them on the counter to set for about 10 minutes or so and then transfer them to the fridge until they harden.

My pictures are so not as good as The Inquiring Chef!

 

And there you have it. Chocolate Covered Banana Bread Balls. So good!!! My next ones will be the Brownie ones!!

Please let me know if you make these and how they turned out!

I hope everyone has a great evening. Hold your loved ones tight ♥

~ Tasha

Sure! I know Bob Smith from London!

I was asked a question by someone just recently, that made me think of a whole bunch of other mildly ridiculous and sometimes hysterical questions I have been asked since I moved State side...

Some of them have been asked by people who live in the US and some have been asked by people at home (I am not going to name any names.) Below are a list of 'serious' questions I have been asked. No jokes here!!

Questions from the USA

1. Ooooh! You're from England? Did you find it difficult learning a new language?

2. So what did you cook back in England? You had to buy everything from farms and make everything from scratch, right? You don't have grocery stores like we do here do you?

3. Oh my god, your accent is so cool! I'd LOVE to go to Australia! Did you ever get to meet Steve Irwin??

4. You're not from around here are you? Do I hear a Pennsylvania accent?

5. Oh, those black bowler hats that all the men wear in England are SO cute!

6. "Excuse me Mam, did I hear you say you were from England??? Do you happen to know someone called Bob Smith? He lives in London!?"

7. Do you know the queen?

8. (Cops in a restaurant) "I have a thing about the English accent, could you please say, in your sexiest English voice, {Mans Name} You are soooo sexy!" Uhm... No.

9. OH cool!!!! You're a Brit!! TOODLE PIP, PIP PIP, CHEERIO CHAPS!

10. Everything stops there at noon for tea and crumpets, right?

11. Your teeth are so nice! You must have had those fixed here, huh? Seeing as everyone in England has bad teeth and all.

Questions from England

1. Can you send me a gun?

2. Do you have cheese over there?

3. What about cows?

4. Do you not find it all very 'Jerry Springer?'

5. Aren't you worried about getting eaten by an alligator?

6. Oooh you're not going to be living anywhere near where that movie Deliverance was filmed are you? You know! De de ling ding ding din ding ding ding..

7. How big exactly is a supersized Big Mac? Can you eat a whole one? I bet they are HUGE!

8. Does your husband talk like the Marlboro Man? You know, "Howdy Pardner" Does he wear chaps?

9. A 20 hour drive from Maryland to Florida? But it's only 2 inches on the map!!

10. I don't understand American Football. ME NEITHER! ;)

11. They eat burgers every day! I bet you are so sick of burgers.

That is actually a relatively short list!! There are many more, I am sure!!

Have you ever been asked a funny question by someone out of town or country? I'd love to hear them if you have!!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Tasha

Have you got the X Factor?

Cole sure does!

I thought this was so cute. He really does go for it! (He is singing to himself in the mirror, lol)

How to clean your red microfiber couch!

We recently bought a red, second hand, microfiber couch... It's in great condition but it was a bit on the dirty side. Over the past couple of months, due to having a 2 year old, is has got much worse!!

I wasn't too sure how to clean it, so I did a bit of research and came across this awesome blog post over at Chris & Robin's Nest. She has a beige/tan colored couch though and after reading the reviews, I noticed that a lot of people were not overly happy with the results on their 'red' couches, so I thought I would just go ahead and give it a try and see what happened!

I am amazed! Just look at the pictures below! It looks so much better!!

BEFORE! See all the dirt in the seams?

AFTER!!

The secret ingredient is rubbing alcohol!!!

You will need:

• An empty spray bottle

• A bottle of regular old rubbing alcohol

• A scrub sponge (preferably white, I used a green one and it was fine but I wouldn't recommend doing this on a white or cream couch without testing it first! You wouldn't want the color to transfer!)

• A soft brush (I used one that I would clean dishes with)

 Fill up the spray bottle with the rubbing alcohol and saturate the area you want to clean. Scrub it with the scrub sponge (Don't be gentle!!) you will notice that it actually starts to look worse. DON'T WORRY! It will look lot's better when it dries!!

Leave it to dry completely

Once dry, using circular motions, rub the soft brush all over

DONE!

Let me know how it works out for you!!

*Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible if this does not work for you! Please, before you do this, test it out in an inconspicuous spot to make sure that it works for your couch!!

Liebster Blog Award!

I have just been given the Liebster Blog Award by Chelsea over at Married Filing Jointly! Thank you so much! This has actually made me really happy! It proves that people are in fact reading what I write and that it is definitely worth all of my hard work! Yay!!

The Liebster Blog Award is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers, who have less than 200 followers (or have been blogging for less than 6 months). It is to show newer bloggers that they are appreciated, and to help spread the word about new blogs. It was created to promote appreciation and recognition among the blog world. Liebster translates to “dearest” (or favorite/best) in German. It is also known as the Love Blog Award.

Here are the guidelines for the award!

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself. 
2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you. 
3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate. 
4. Choose 11 new blogs you love and link them in your post.  
5. Please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you!

My 11 Random Things:

1. I eat weird things. Cheese puff and cream cheese sandwiches? Yum!

2. My second toe is longer than my big toe. I am unsure whether this is weird or not. I've been told that this means I am clever! Or may be able to learn to play the piano with my toes? lol

3. I can turn my eyelids inside out. I'm sure that's not a good thing to be able to do though. I'm not quite sure when I learned I could do this, or why I even tried...

4. I am a little OCD. If I am stressed, I pull my eyebrows out - Never said that in public before... It's quite a problem and I only just learned recently that there is a name for this. Apparently, I am not the only one that does it, I have fellow weirdo's! If I

Just me.

Now that I have a few more readers, I figured now would be a good time to tell a little more about myself! Below are a few random facts. If you want to do the same, please do!  I'd love to know more about you guys too!

- I grew up by the ocean in a little town called Newquay. My goal is to one day live by the ocean again!  I'm determined to find a little town similar to Newquay, in the States.  Any ideas? (My Husband is convinced that it looks like Southern California where he is from.  I'm thinking it might be a ruse to get me to move there though!)

Yes!  This really is in England!

- I'm addicted to coffee. Seriously, it's bad. If I don't have at least 2 cups of REALLY strong coffee with motor oil properties, within half an hour of waking up, that's me done for the day.  Shakes, headache, the whole shebang.

It's true.

- It bugs the crap out of me that I smoke and can't quit. I'm a strong willed person who can do anything that I put my mind to, except quit cigarettes!  I can't afford to smoke, yet I panic at the thought of quitting.  I have smoked for 18 years. (Yes, I'm only 30. Disgusting, huh?) They just need to stop selling them.  Then I'd have to quit.  Or you'd see me being dragged out of an illegal smoking den, kicking and screaming. (because I'm SURE there would be!) Who knows.

This will not be me.

- I have a rare split birthmark that spreads the whole way up my right arm, from my wrist to my shoulder. The funny thing about it is, it wasn't actually there when I was born... It appeared when I was 18 months old... When I was a kid, it looked as though I had cigarette burns up my arm. When I was 13, I was contacted by a specialist in some fancy private hospital in England who wanted me to be his guinea pig. He wanted to test out his shiny new laser machine, he was pretty sure he could get rid of it. After 6 sessions of what felt like someone splashing hot oil all up my arm, they did actually fade a bit. Now that I am older and my skin has stretched, they look a lot more like bruises. My Husband is constantly getting evil looks. I have no idea what the medical terminology is for this, I'll have to ask my Mum... She had to get a doctor to write a note to take to school to prove I wasn't being beaten!!

That's all I can think of for right now! I'm going cross eyed at the moment because I am so tired! I am off to the land of nod. :)

Have a great night and thanks for stopping by!


~ Tasha

Sausage Gravy and Biscuits, Oh My!

One of my absolute favorite things to eat for breakfast since moving to America... Well actually, any time of day really! Is Sausage Gravy and Biscuits. It is SO delicious and I could eat it every day if I wasn't so worried about becoming the size of a house! I hear that it isn't known all over the States either! I can't imagine why!?

For my English followers, Sausage Gravy and Biscuits was originally eaten after the War of Independence, more specifically in the South, when food was in short supply. Plantation workers needed to come up with something that would sustain them throughout the day and wouldn't cost a lot to make. I can't really think of anything similar in England to compare it to! Biscuits are also different, they are a lot like scones but a little fluffier!
 
I have been perfecting this recipe over the past five years now and my Husband says that it's the best he has ever eaten. I have tried to make a less fattening version, but it really isn't the same. I figure, if you are going to eat this meal every once in a while, you may as well have the full fat, plus fat and a stick of butter on top version and be done with it. Ok, the stick of butter on top may be taking it a step too far, but I'm sure you catch my drift! I would NOT like to know the calorie content. Let's keep that one a secret.

This is my recipe, I would be interested to hear how you guys make it!

Serves 4

1 1lb Roll of Original Jimmy Dean Sausage
3 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter
2 Heaped Tbsp of All Purpose Flour
2 Cups of Milk (It's creamier if you use Full Fat)
1 Pinch of Kosher Salt
1 Tsp of Black Pepper (I like it really peppery)
1 Container of Pillsbury Biscuits. Yes, I cheat on these. I haven't quite perfected a recipe for those yet and I am quite fond of the ones in a can! Haha.

Cook biscuits as per instructions

Brown the sausage in a medium sized pan. When cooked through, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the 3 tbsp of butter to the pan and melt (You may not need that much butter, it all depends on how greasy the sausage is that you use. Jimmy Dean isn't all that greasy.)

Add 2 tbsp of all purpose flour, one at a time and whisk until combined. The mixture should resemble a paste.

Cook the paste (roux) over a medium high heat, until it has turned about 2 shades darker. Make sure to be patient on this step or your finished result could taste floury!

Start to add the milk. Add half a cup first and whisk quickly! Gradually add the rest of the milk and whisk out any lumps. Bring to the boil and if the mixture gets too thick, then add a little more milk.

Add the salt, pepper and the cooked sausage to the mixture and stir well. Taste and add more seasoning if needed. Add salt a little at a time, this goes from being under seasoned to over seasoned very quickly! I have done that several times and you can't take the salt out when you put too much in :(

Serve the gravy over hot biscuits and enjoy!!

What are some of your favorite things to eat?

~ Tasha

Fussy Pantitus...

Yes. My Son has a case of Fussy Pantitus. It's starting to drive me insane. He has a very small list of foods that he will eat and I'm not quite sure how he is so healthy.

He will eat:

Mac & Cheese (But only recently)
Fruit (Any fruit)
Goldfish
Yogurt
Cheese
Ham
The occasional Chicken Nugget
Ramen Noodles
Cereal
Toast
Bacon (But not really)
Sausage (But not Hot Dogs)
Chocolate (He is my Son after all)
Ketchup (Like me, he would drink it out of the bottle if he could)

That's pretty much it. If something looks even remotely like a vegetable, he will NOT eat it, he won't even try it! He eyes up 'un vegatized' plates of food very suspiciously as though I have laced them with arsenic, puts the food in his mouth and holds it there for a second to see whether it is acceptable to his delicate and highly trained palate and then either gestures with his hands for my hand so he can spit it out, or nods his head and swallows. I'm thinking I may have a Zagat food critic on my hands in a later life.

I've started giving him a Gummy Vitamin every day and Carnation Instant Breakfast every once in a while and just hope to hell that he is getting what he needs.

Anyone else have a case of the 'fussies' in their house? I am determined to find a way to trick him! That might be my mission next week.

~ Tasha

To IUD or not to IUD...

Bit of a personal topic today... But, this morning I found out that I can no longer have my Depo Provera shot.  I'm upset because I love it, it does not however, love me back.  I am now in a dilemma.  I can't take anything with estrogen in it, because it raises my blood pressure really high.  My doctor put me on progesterone only pills before I left England and they were fine for a few months, but my blood pressure rose again. I stopped taking birth control for quite some time, mainly because I couldn't afford it and then got pregnant with Cole.  They gave me the Depo shot at the hospital after I gave birth and I had 2 doses but then stopped because it was getting pricey. When we moved, I realized that I could go to the Health Department (I had no idea...) so in July I started it back up again, only to go today and find that my blood pressure is ridiculously high again.  So apparently it's hormones in general that do not agree with me. I have also not been feeling all that great for the past 6 months or so, and I put it down to everything that has been happening over the past couple of years. Turns out, that this could also be the Depo.  One of the main side effects is depression.  Again with the ugh'.

I have an appointment on January 24th to see the doctor about a copper IUD (Paragard).  I really need some advice here!  I have been researching it and have seen very good reviews and some very, very bad ones!  I know people are different and things affect people in different ways, I just wanted to hear from a few people who have one or have had one so that I know a little more of what to expect.  I'm a bit nervous!

~ Tasha

Salt Dough Results

The picture really speaks for itself.

Don't think THAT will be hanging on the tree next year...

So, yes.  The salt dough crafting session failed. Miserably. The above is what I made.  Cole smooshed his creation into the floor and all over the couch and my Husband started making things that I will not mention.  I gave up.

On a different note, I promise that my picture quality will get better some day soon...  I need to buy a new camera charger.  I wish I knew where the old one was.  I hate moving!

Homemade Craft Clay (Salt dough)

I was watching Sprout earlier with Cole and something on The Noodles and Doodles (whatever it's called) Bus show jolted my memory of something my Nan used to do!  (I have also seen it on Pinterest several thousand times over the past few months) Anyway, I got out all my ingredients and went to town creating something fun for Cole and I to do tomorrow!

You will need:

4 cups of flour
1 cup salt
2 cups water (may need more)
Food coloring

Add the 4 cups of flour and salt to a large bowl, pour in the water and stir.  When all the water is absorbed, start kneading!  If it's still too crumbly, add a little more water.  You don't want the dough to be too dry, nor do you want it to be wet and sticky...

I separated mine into 5 balls, poured some food coloring on each ball, one at a time and kneaded the dough until it was the desired color adding more food coloring if needed.

I do advise using gloves to do this part though...  I didn't think about that with all my enthusiasm and now look like this and probably will for quite some time:

After scrubbing.

After the balls of dough were the right colors, I put them into individual zip lock bags so that the dough doesn't dry out.

All ready for tomorrow!

I'll be back to post some of Cole's creations!  I'm excited, I love playing with Play-doh!

~Tasha

Parenting update

As I said before, Cole is now 2 and as ornery as ever!  He has been one of the things that has kept me sane over the past year! Well, almost...  His terrible two's 'could' actually be the end of me, haha.  

He is just about to join a pre kindergarten program called Head Start.  At the moment, we have weekly visits at home from a teacher while he is on the waiting list.  He starts in February and will be going to school (I can see it from my living room window) Monday through Friday, 8.30am - 2pm.  It seems like an awfully long time each day!  But they will have breakfast and lunch, play time and nap time.  It will be so good for him to be around other kids though!  I will miss him, it'll be weird not having him here all the time!  I'm sure I'll get used to it quite quick though ;)  He has turned into Stewie from Family guy with the whole 'Mom, Mommy, Mama, Mom, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mama, Mom, Mama, Mama, Mommy, Mom' thing and why is it that boys have to bang things on things?  He seriously does, bang EVERYTHING on EVERYTHING! And, I have given up on cleaning his room too!  He has this couch in his room with all these stuffed animals on (I have no idea where half of them came from, I swear he visits Toys 'r' Us whilst we are sleeping) anyway, literally 5 seconds after arranging them all neatly back on there again, I walk into this:

Excuse the bad quality, I can't find my camera charger anywhere...

I love my little man.  We have fun.

Gomez for Halloween.  I have NO idea what that is on his sleeve....

Telling Santa that he wants beach front property in Florida

~Tasha

Tasha went AWOL...

Hi guys,

I have been AWOL for quite some time now as my life took quite an unexpected turn. Way back in March, I blogged about how we had to move in with my parents for a while whilst we got back on our feet.  My parents lived in the middle of nowhere, and to be honest it probably wasn't the best decision in the world to go there.  I appreciate everything my family did to help us but because we didn't have transportation at that point, finding a job for my husband was pretty near impossible.  Anyway, to cut a really long story short, we bit the bullet and moved to a different town.  We were lucky enough to find out about this amazing non-profit organization called HSP (Human Services Programs) and if it wasn't for them we would STILL be extremely stuck. They offered us somewhere to live for 4 months whilst my husband searched for stable employment.  They put us in touch with local resources that we would never had known existed.  They basically saved our butts.

Thanks to them, and the sheer determination of my husband, he now has a very good job (actually 2 jobs), we have found an AWESOME place to live, we have ALL our stuff back with us in one place and my baby boy (who is now 2!!!) is happy!  I can also go back to work in May which I am so excited about!

This past year has been the most stressful, horrible, HORRIBLE year ever and I never, ever want to go through any of that ever again, nor would I wish it upon anyone else.

2013 is going to be our year.  I can feel it.

So, there you go.  That's where I have been and I am now going to try and get this blogging show back on the road!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that 2013 is kind to each and every one of you!

~Tasha

Missing England

 

Just lately, I am missing England more than usual.  I think it's because I haven't been back there in 4 years and the chance of getting back there within the next 2 are looking very slim :(  I'm trying to get my Mum, Step Dad, Brother and Sister over for Christmas which would be so, so great!  I also think my best friend who I have known since I was 7 is coming over for New Years Eve!  She will be bringing her new Husband and baby Alfie with her who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet!  I'm so excited about that!  It seems soooo far away though!

My ramblings today are going to include some pictures of some of my favorite things from England to give you more of an idea of where I am from.

Below is the town I grew up in, Newquay.  It's on the South West coast of England and has a population of about 22,000 people! (In the summer this goes up to about 100,000)  There are 10 beaches and this is why I miss the beach so much!  When I was growing up, I don't think I took advantage of the beach enough because I saw it every day.  Now I don't, I wish I was there!  I wish I had gone down to the beaches every day!

Newquay Coastline

When you talk about England, you HAVE to include a pub!  This was the place to go in Newquay, whether it be for a quick lunch and a glass of wine with friends, a morning cup of coffee, or a girls night out.  We were here, a lot!

  Next comes food (of course!)  I have a list of things that I am going to eat as soon as I get there.  In fact, if the person who picks me up from the airport could bring all of the below with them, I would be eternally grateful!  I'm thinking they may have to roll me back on the plane though!!

A traditional English breakfast.  Sausage, Bacon, Fried Bread, Fried Egg, Mushrooms, Baked Beans, Tomatoes, Black Pudding. It makes me want to lick the computer screen.

The famous Cornish Pasty.  Shortcrust pastry filled with steak, onions, potatoes and suede, sprinkled with lots of black pepper.  The trick is to eat it before the seagulls steal it from your hands.

PROPER fish and chips!!!  I probably miss this the most!!!  I have tried to recreate it but have failed.  It just doesn't taste the same.  And on a side note, A BIG FAT YUCK to Long John Silvers.

This my friends is quite possibly the best chocolate bar ever known to man, woman, or child.  In fact ANY Cadbury's chocolate makes me salivate.  My Husband will no longer eat American chocolate.  Cadbury's is not the same here...  I don't know why the recipe would be different, but it is :(

That's all I can remember for right now!  If there are any English people reading this who happen to have the perfect fish and chip recipe from back home, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know!  You will seriously make my life complete!

My parenting journey so far

Half way through my pregnancy, I decided that I was going to be an awesome Mum and I was going to have an unbelievably awesome child (which I do by the way).  My Son wasn't going to have a pacifier, timeout was going to be completely unnecessary, he wasn't going to go through his terrible two's (haha), I would be the most patient Mum on the planet and would take everything in my stride, he wasn't going to be bribed with things to be good, he was going to be eating an extremely healthy diet, filled with lot's of different fruits and vegetables and a whole load of other insane naivety.

This is how it REALLY went. Within the first 4 weeks of being born, I was gently coaxing him to take the pacifier (that he didn't actually like all that much) he got used to it, but then at 3 months, decided absolutely not.  I'm grateful, but also quite sad sometimes.

In the past couple of months I have found that timeout has been ABSOLUTELY necessary, even though it has absolutely no effect.  In fact, if he knew what the middle finger was for, he would definitely be using it.  It's all a fun game at 18 months.

I am a lot more patient than I expected, but man, that child tests it often.  Again with the games.  We have a morning ritual at the moment (baring in mind that we are living with my Parents at the moment and it's not AS child friendly as our previous house was) he wakes up and comes into the living room, I watch his eyes spy the ornaments on the shelf, he edges his way over, flat against the wall, looking at me with this big F U grin.  I start saying no, he grabs it and runs down the hallway, like a bat out of hell.  I chase him, as soon as I get within 2 feet, he pitches it across the room and shouts "bye, bye, bye" whilst waving and running in the other direction. He moves his way around the house doing this with the bookshelf the trashcan, the dog bowl and whatever else he can see that he knows he is not supposed to touch. This is the start of the terrible twos that I was so adamant he was not going to have. Is that a grey hair I see?

The healthy diet that I dreamed about has also gone south.  To start with, he liked most vegetables, if he didn't, I could quite easily disguise them and he would be none the wiser.  He will not eat ANYTHING that looks even remotely like a vegetable.  I tried to hide peas in mash potato the other day.  He sucks all the mash potato off and throws the peas across the room.  He has also learned how to say cookie, which is totally my fault.  Remember when I said there was to be no bribery?  Yup.  I bribed him with a cookie to come inside and now that's all he says when he's hungry (Well he points at the cupboard and says "key? key? key? over and over again).  Luckily though, he loves fruit.  He's totally addicted to sausage too.

As much as I complain sometimes about the stuff that was bound to happen!  I would never have it any other way.  You can't stay mad at him for long, he is absolutely hilarious at times.  I guess he also has my genes which I so can't be angry with him about. lol.

Not the best quality picture...

Oreo Love

The other night my Aunt was talking about a recipe that she loves to make when Mint Oreos are in stores.  They sounded so good that we immediately rushed to the store to buy the ingredients!  I can't actually tell you what she calls them (although you might get an idea when you look at the pictures in a minute)  so just for your viewing pleasure and to keep them rated G for everyone, I have boringly renamed them Mint Oreo Truffles.

A ball of minty, delicious, sickly goodness

They truly are delicious.  They are VERY sickly.  I never, ever say this because I have the ability to happily eat the most sickliest things on the planet when other people are sitting there going green around the gills, but I could only eat one of these.  I think if I made them again, I would make them much smaller!!

All you need is:

2 packs of Mint Oreos

2 packs of softened Cream Cheese (The rectangle packs)

1 package of White Chocolate or Vanilla Almond Bark

1 package of Milk or Dark Chocolate Almond Bark

Put the cream cheese in a large bowl and crush all the oreos, we did it by hand but it probably would have been easier using a ziplock bag and a rolling pin!  Mix it all together until it look something like this:

Any clues on what the real name is yet?

In 2 separate pans, over a very low heat, melt the almond bark until smooth.

Roll the oreo mixture into balls (I did them the size of golf balls, you may want to roll them smaller than that!) and using a spoon (because the almond bark is hot!) dip each ball into the almond bark, alternating between white a dark and place them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

Put them in the freezer until the chocolate hardens and you are good to go!

If you have any problems finding almond bark like I did!  Then I suggest you look in either Walmart or Michaels!  They are the only places that I have ever seen this!

Let me know how they turn out!

~ Tasha

Still dreaming of riches

Well, unfortunately I didn't win the lottery.  CAN. YOU. BELIEVE. THIS. CRAP. THOUGH?  The Maryland lottery winner lives 10 freakin' miles away!  We all just about had a heart attack when they announced that the winner was in Baltimore County!  Soooooo close.  I know I shouldn't be jealous, but damn! So, yes.  Today I am still dreaming of riches.  I refuse to give up!  Even after reading all the statistics that really don't put any odds in my favor AT ALL!  (People just trying to rain on my parade I think!)  I'm a glass half full kinda person, so I have to think that one day I will get lucky! Haha.

Anyway.  Today I am going to be redesigning my blog.  I have downloaded a bunch of stuff and am in the middle of playing around with it, so we shall see how it looks later!  If anyone is reading this, do you know of any really good blogger design tutorials?  Or, a good site for graphics that can be used on a blog?

Dreaming of Riches

All day long pretty much everyone in the USA has been deciding what they are going to do with $640 million dollars WHEN their numbers get drawn this evening.  I am one of them.  It's gonna be me!  I can feel it!  I frantically called my Hubby this morning (who is staying with a friend back in the town we just moved from finishing up a job) to tell him to make sure he bought lottery tickets!  Even if it was $5 worth!  (I always dream about winning the lottery, but never actually play...  So I figured this time I probably should!)  My family have bought quite a few too and we have all been seriously planning on what we would do.  It's quite funny really because we ARE convinced!  I have a feeling there are going to be some very upset people tomorrow!  IF you don't hear from me tomorrow though it is because I am on a private jet to St Croix!

Back in the swing of things...

I have stepped away from blogging for a few months for a variety of reasons.  The first was that I seemed to be stuck.  I read too many 'blogging 101's' and tutorials etc and while they were extremely helpful, they made me start to seriously doubt myself!  They all told me that I should pick a 'niche' and stick to it.  I wasn't sure if I could do that!  I mean the main point of my blog is that I am a new Mom living in a new country, but I can't write about JUST that!  I like to cook, I like to save money, I like to enter competitions and searching for freebies. I like to complain every now and then, I like to laugh,  I like to google extremely random stuff, I like crafts and a BUNCH of other things. So,  I have decided to say screw it!  I'm just going to go with it and write about what I want to write about and see where this takes me!  I am going to redesign the blog though, lol.  OCD apparently.

The other reason is a lot has been happening in my life just lately.  We have not being doing all that well financially and we have recently all moved in with my parents until we can get back on our feet.  It's a big change and we are just beginning to settle in and adapt. It's not the ideal situation but I think it's going to work out just fine. Hopefully the new chapter in our lives that this is going to lead to, is going to be a very positive one!

You heard it here first.  I am making a public vow to blog at least 3 times per week from here on out.  Even if I am just blogging for me!  (Unless of course something crazy happens and all my fingers fall off.  THAT would suck.)