after school

after school dumping ground, originally uploaded by olives on a monday.

after the rain.

a new babe!

{picture credit: Sue Heidkamp}

Booker Joshua Tantillo

March 28, 2011

{9lbs. 12oz.}

My best friend{and cousin} Nicole, and her husband Marc had her third son this past Monday.

Welcome Booker! Love you so much already!

fun.

Made these little goodies for the sweetest 7 year old girl I know. Aubrey has the sweetest heart, and is SO great with little ones even at her young age. She is going to be an amazing Mother one day :)

It was fun to experiment with doing the rainbow thing but I think I may do a cake next time as it will layer better. {Evan enjoys one without frosting...he's not a big frosting fan}

It was a fun little thing to do to celebrate her birthday with our Community Group last night :)


vanilla cupcake recipe {adapted from Martha Stewart}
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature

{preheat oven @ 350.}

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.

With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, until just blended.

Seperate the batter into six smaller bowls and make these six colors:
blue, purple {9 red, 6 blue}, yellow, green, red, and orange {12 yellow, 4 red}.
{then I even layered them in rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple}

bake for about 22{ish} minutes until they spring back at you when you touch them {do not overbake!}


buttercream frosting {the original recipe I was looking at used 2{TWO!} sticks of butter so I decided to scrap that and just make it up...totally easy peasy}
1 stick {slightly firm but not cold} butter
milk {about 1/4cup}
1/4 teas. vanilla
conf. sugar {about 2.5 cups}

I didn't actually measure anything but the butter. I don't like a lot of butter and one stick was still a lot for me. I added about two cups of conf. sugar and a little vanilla and milk and just added to as I tasted it along the way to get the desired thickness I wanted. Worked like a charm.

st.pats2011

st.pats2011, originally uploaded by olives on a monday.

At school Maxwell's teacher played a little joke on the kids when they came back from lunch on St. Patrick's Day. She had pulled a card {they have 5 cards, and have to pull one when they aren't listening, or are talking too much, etc...} from each of their names and told them a leprechaun had been there and taken them.
Well Maxwell ate it all up and all the talk after school was of leprechauns. What do they like to eat? Why do they love green so much? How are they so fast?
Later that evening and after giving Evan an earful of his Leperchaun knowledge Evan wanted to find one. So off they went in search of 4 leaf clovers {see picture} and to catch a Leprechan, under rocks behind bushes {Max even swore he saw one quickly bound away} and soon Evan is shouting;
"Lep- RE- CHAUN! Where are you? I need to see you!"
"SHHHushh, " Max says." They will just run away if you yell for them. You have to sneak up on them."
It was quite humorous and I SO wish my flip had been chraged so I could have taken a video. Regardless a great memory for this mother on St. Patrick's Day 2011.

{what's for dinner?} Potato & Leek Soup.

My sister in law Jennie recenty started a food/life/baby blog and she has posted some amazing looking recipies {one of which I'm try later this week}.

As for tonight: Potato & Leek Soup {adapted from America's Test Kitchen}Have you ever smelled them? Being pregnant and having an amazing sense of smell... the smell was strong, but they smell really great. {ps, see how mine are wilted at top...not as fresh as I'd like but it was my fault as I had them for about 5 days before I used them...still good though!}

need:
5- 6 lbs. leeks { they call for white/light green parts but I used some of the green too}
1/2 stick butter
2 {minced} garlic cloves
6 cups {low-sodium} chicken broth
1.5 lbs. red potatoes, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 teas. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

Begin by melting butter and garlic in large stock pot {or even better a dutch oven if you have it}.
meanwhile, dice up your leeks. The recipe called for the whites/light green parts of the leeks but I decided to add some of the healthy looking green root in.

{make sure you really clean your leeks well. It is amazing the amount of dirt you will clean out of those suckers}

Dump your leeks into the pot and mix with butter and garlic. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

While those simmer, cut up your potatoes.

Dump in your potatoes and the chick broth.

{And then...my camera died. Woopsie. So the rest are taken with my cell}

Let potatoes simmer for aout 20 minutes {until tender} take out the bay leaf, and smash some of the potatoes against the side of the pot to thicken soup ...or just take the easy way out and use an immersion blender. {LOVE the thing}

salt and pepper to taste and....wallah!

And here is the finished product just before I served it.

It was VERY tasty with some garlic bread { I bought frozen}, of which I recommend ALEXIA brand {it is in our organic section at our grocery store, and Whole Foods sells it}.

It was a great meal for a colder, overcast day!

26 weeks

26weeks, originally uploaded by olives on a monday.

...and feeling like 36 weeks. YIKESA.