Pretty Little Things..

The other day, I went with some lovely friends to a place called 'Baker's Alley' and 'Dongdaemun'.  These places are little slices of heaven.. and places that I will definitely be missing once we head back to the states (good excuse to frequent them in the next 4 months, eh?:)  Baker's Alley has all kinds of fabulous baking and packaging goodies.  I could have spent hours upon hours looking at all the pretty things.  Head on over to my friend, Karen's, blog.. she has some lovely pictures up of it.

I bought a few things.. but now that I know what's there.. my 'big' list is made, and I'm ready for another trip!

Seriously.. how cute are these cupcake liners?  They had so many pretty ones.  I need to stock up!

And pretty little twisty ties to help package up some holiday goodies...

Seriously.  I could easily get myself in trouble at 'Baker's Alley'... ;)

And no blog is complete without a picture of my sweet Clara.. right?  She got a package from Nana & Papa the other day.  It had her favorite video in it.. VeggieTales!  She loves it when I sing VeggieTales songs to her.  ;)

Sweet Potato Casserole & Getting Ready For Christmas!

Hi.  It's been a while.

Things have been BUSY here the past couple of weeks.  And then my husband has a 4 day weekend this weekend for Thanksgiving, so we've been getting some good 'family time' in.. and getting our house all prepped for the Christmas season.  My FAVORITE!  :)  It's Clara's 1st Christmas.. so it's pretty special.. and I'm extra excited.

We went to a friends house for Thanksgiving dinner.. they made turkey, ham, and some sides.. I brought sweet potato casserole, scalloped pineapple, and pumpkin lust cake.  So much good food.. I love food.. seriously.. so much.  ;)

The day after Thanksgiving, my husband rearranged the living room so we could put up the Christmas tree and Christmas decor, danced around our living room in PJs to Christmas music, drank lots of coffee, ventured out to the store to pick up a few things, then came back home to relax and drink some vootbeer (aka, vanilla vodka & root beer).

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

You know, nothing is complete without some smell-good seasonal candles.  I also picked up a big jar of 'Red Apple Wreath' and 'Mistletoe' -- mistletoe smells like a true Christmas tree.  I love it!

We used our special glasses.. they were my Grandma's.  :)

Dancing around the house with daddy.  :)

And now.. one of my favorite holiday dishes.. mmm.. what's everyone elses' favorite Thanksgiving (or Christmas) dish?

Sweet Potato Casserole

Casserole

•  3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Topping

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• mini marshmallows

 Combine sweet potatoes, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk, melted butter, and spices in a large bowl.  Pour into a buttered 1.5 to 2 quart casserole dish.  Mix remaining (brown sugar, flour, melted butter, and chopped pecans) topping ingredients in another bowl.  Sprinkle over top of casserole.  Top with marshmallows.

Bake at 350 F for 30 to 30 minutes, until hot and browned.  If marshmallows start to get too brown too quickly, cover with foil.  Serves 6 to 8.

I Finally Did It..

I finally made an Etsy shop.  It's what I've thinking about doing for almost a year now, and I finally did it.  It's mainly crocheted items.. mostly for babies/photography props/kids.  But I do make other things such as burp cloths, afghans/blankies, and scarves (seriously, nothing better than a chunky crocheted scarf!).  I can also do more than what I have pictured -- since I'm just starting up the shop, I don't have a lot up yet.  If you have an idea of what you want, but don't see it -- PLEASE con

Check out my Etsy shop HERE.

I also have a Facebook page to keep up with new additions, etc... HERE.  Please feel free to 'like' my page so you can keep up!  :)

Thanks to Amy Killian Photography for this photo.

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day to all those who have served and are currently serving our wonderful country.  And to those who gave everything.. the ultimate sacrifice.  Take a moment to thank a Veteran today.

Photo by Karen Davis Photography

Thank you to my husband.. for not only being hard-working and devoted to his work, but for also being a loving and devoted husband and daddy.  Happy Veteran's Day.. I love you!

First Time on the Subway...

..for Clara, that is.  :)  This past weekend we took a little trip to a store called Daiso.  I am majorly obsessed with the cute dishes they have.  And I'm going to buy as much of it as I can before we move in the spring.. ;)  I bought some adorable soup bowls that I've been wanting for a long, long time.. and finally got them.. just in time for 'soup season'..

Daiso isn't far away.. just a couple train stops over in a city called Pyeongtaek.. so I thought why not take her to see how she does.  And she was such a good little girl.  Of course all the older Korean ladies were loving on her... they just adore her light hair and big blue eyes!

She was a happy girl that day.  ;)  I think she had fun!  And she loves her baby carrier.

 

And then we got home.. and Clara napped for 2 hours (we seriously must have worn her out.. she never naps that long).. and so did my husband...

And I had some 'quiet' time.  :)

Chocolate Chip Banana Crumb Muffins {recipe}

Sometimes I really enjoy just going grocery shopping by myself.. sometimes it's my 'me' time.  But most times we all go together (which I also enjoy) -- I do the 'real' grocery shopping and my husband totes around the baby and puts things in the cart while I'm not looking.  :)  My husband decided to put 15 bananas in the cart last week (I may be exaggerating a bit, but it was a lot of bananas).  Well, of course, they didn't all get eaten before they turned black.  I don't like to waste food.. and they were still perfectly good for baking.. but I really didn't want to make banana bread, which seems to be a 'go-to' food for black bananas.  I came across a recipe for Banana Crumb Muffins... my husband gets all the credit for adding the chocolate chips.  ;)

These are so good.  The crumb topping.. the chocolate and banana.. it's dense and moist.  Yep, you should make these the next time you have a black banana sitting on your counter top!

Chocolate Chip Banana Crumb Muffins
recipe from Taste of Home

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

 

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Lightly grease 10 muffin cups (I used 12), or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened.  Gently stir in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.