Frozen Cherry Garcia Brownie Squares

Up until this week I always thought I was a twelve year old at heart.  I would eat jelly beans for every meal if I could, and I refuse to talk to strangers on the phone unless dragged, kicking and screaming.  (Seriously.  Do not ask me to call someone I don't know.  Stranger Danger!)

Swim lessons started for my little this week, and after a week or so of people watching at the pool, I am fairly convinced that I am actually a grandmother at heart.

Water Aerobics? Coolest thing ever.  Unfortunately no one in the class is under the age of 70.  (And I mean that seriously because my parents are pretty close to being 60 and nobody in the class looks even close to being their age. There are walkers galore along the edge of the pool.)  I could probably sign up, but that might be all kinds of weird.  For all parties involved.

So instead I pine for the days I can take water aerobics classes every morning without looking like a freak, and hubby can retire so we can walk laps at the mall.  (Another old person activity I, personally, find enticing.)

Also I really like to feed children sweets and tell them to ignore the advice of their parents.

You can call me Grams if you feel so inclined.

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There is a little bit of a story behind these brownies. Typically, when I cut bars, I freeze them first so I get nice clean lines, especially if there are lots of gooey toppings.  So it was quite by accident that I decided these bars should be frozen.

They are supposed to be refrigerated;  And they are alright out of the fridge.

But out of the freezer?  They taste like a brownie with a big scoop of Cherry Garcia ice cream on top.

Could.Not. Stop.Eating. 

For real.  I think I ate the weight of a small child in these brownies.  And I didn't even regret it when I had to wear yoga pants for a week.

(If you're thinking, "These are the only pants that fit right now..."  I love you.) 

Please. Please.  Freeze these.  Make them.  Eat them. Cherish them.  Ben & Jerry would approve. Nobody can judge you for eating the whole pan if you don't tell anybody.  ;)

Have a great weekend!

Coconut Syrup

 A lot of years back, A few years back, when I was in college I went to school in Hawaii for a summer.  You know, taking a serious course-load like Tennis and Principles of Education. (The tests were crossword puzzles.  Yes, there was a word box.  And we got cookies for finishing. Probably the most rigorous semester of my life.) 

Besides for going to the beach everyday, and legitimate Shave Ice, coconut syrup was one of the best things about living there.

Although I haven't found a dead ringer for real Hawaiian coconut syrup, this stuff is pretty darn close. We use it over french toast and pancakes, and I'm sure it would be great on waffles as well.  This is a great way to welcome summer.

Happy Wednesday! Thanks for visiting me today!

S'more Brownies

My mom has been making these brownies for as long as I can remember.  She has always been a S'mores lover.  Also she regularly bought Rice Krispy Treat cereal when I was a kid, so Mom of the Universe award goes to her.

My oldest graduated from preschool this last week.  There were more tears than I imagined there would be...  Turns out I'm not going to be the mom that doesn't cry on the first day of Kindergarten. When I looked at this picture (far Right looking straight at ya), I just saw a big 18 year old kid who had grown up in an instant and was graduating high school.  Is it wrong to never ever want that day to come?

Other things we did this week include Frankenweenifying our cat:

Because normal people do that.


These S'more Brownies are our HELLO to Summer!  We have a lot planned to keep us busy and we can't wait to get started.

Have a happy memorial day weekend friends!

Spiced Brown Sugar Carrot Bread

So, I get that this makes me a total technology fail, but I finally figured out how to get my scheduled posts to go out on time.  I'm hoping this is going to make me a much more consistent blogger, which is a great thing.

In other news, JT has finally managed to bring sexy back.

Just kidding.  That hasn't happened yet. 

Excuse my carbaholic tendencies while I post another bread recipe, will you?

This bread is lightly sweetened and perfectly appropriate for breakfast.  It's not one of those "cake" loafs; it really is more of a sweet bread.  Go heavy on the spices if you like a strong spice flavor.  I like to heap mine.

Lemon Glazed Bread

One thing I hate about living in the tundra is that you can't grow citrus trees outside.  I dream about retiring on a big orchard someday, and diving into pools of freshly picked citrus fruit.

One of these days I'm going to get me a little indoor dwarf lemon tree but until then I still have to go to the store every time I want to make this bread.

This  recipe is really versatile. You can  add blueberries* if you want. I also don't see any reason you couldn't make an orange version of this bread.

The glaze on this bread is SO yummy. It tastes like lemonade and gives this bread a tart bang of flavor.  Don't skip the glaze.

Creamy Coconut Fruit Dip

This week I've had the MOTHER of all colds.  I can't currently speak, smell, or taste, which is great except for when I want to eat, communicate, or check whether or not I actually washed the clothes in the washer.  My kids told me my birthday cake and cupcakes were super good so I mean, who really needs to be able to taste anyways?

I spent most of yesterday reading Matched, which was great, except there are 3 people in line ahead of me for Crossed and like, not to be rude, but I really need to know what happens and if I can read a whole book in one day, you should be able to too.  Unfortunately, other people apparently have lives?

I bought a flat of strawberries at Costco last week so my kids aren't even starving.

That of course brings us to fruit dip.  This stuff is amazing on bananas.  It tastes like cream pie, and I'm hoping it's an appropriate substitute for children to have for lunch.

This girl ain't winning mommy of the year award today.