Sweet Clip Debut + Brownie Update

I love having a girl! Sweet smiles, warm embraces, pink clothes, and long hair. All such wonderful things. My daughter's hair has been long enough for clips for a while but she's just now getting to an age where she'll tolerate them in her hair longer than 5 seconds. When I saw these little roses, I couldn't resist making them into clips for her.

And now, they're available on Cookie+Curly! Super cheap and a great gift for anyone with a little girl. They're available by pair, or you can get the whole rainbow to make sure she has one for every outfit. Little petite flowers also available.

{Brownie Update}

In case any of you are wondering how the "Deceptively Delicious" {?} brownies were welcomed by my crew, I can now report back that my son took one bite and said, not knowing their name, "Deeeelicious". My daughter asked for seconds, and thirds. I took them to a Valentine's day party and all but one child there liked them. (Stewie, we'll get you to like them yet!)

My husband thinks I can make them better, and I accepted the challenge. Stay tuned for an updated, and possibly better, version of these brownies.  

As a P.S. on this topic, I have found the extra pureed veggies from this recipe as an easy means to augmenting my kids' nutrition without them knowing. Pureed carrots blend nicely into hot cereal. Pureed spinach can be added to multigrain pancakes.

{What's for Dinner?}

Some of you have asked for "a week in the life of the Trapp's dinners" as a means for learning healthy and easy ways to update your own mealtime routine. So, it's in the works. Next week I'll get back to you with what we ate for dinner this week. Tonight was date night so we're off a bit, but that's life.

{lollipops cards}

My friend, Krystina, has a great job. She inspires people almost daily with her blog of creative ways to live life to the fullest. "what i love wednesdays" is just an example.

Check out her super-fun cards!

{NSNC}

I was told that my "NSNC" term made a few people think I was starting up a new government organization. Too many acronyms. Anyone else have a suggestion on what I can call it? "The Nugget"?

I'll have a new one for you tomorrow. Must go rest my tired eyes now...

Brownies... Can they truly be "Deceptively Delicious"?!

Before dessert comes dinner. Tonight's "dinner" is a small one, served up after a 4-night/5-day trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico {sans kiddos!} to celebrate the union of two great friends, Bret and Sharon. {Ah... Vacation and the celebration of love!} It was an amazing weekend with every detail covered by the couple, I just wish my stomach would have let me enjoy it. {BAD tummy - Bad!}

On to "dinner". It's a small plate special - Some new, beautifully sophisticated, earthy fabric I couldn't resist. What to make first - Birds? Butterflies? Blankies? A custom order?

Another small plate... NEW TO THE SHOP: I've started making barrettes and clips for little girls hair! Sweet, simple, colorful. Stay tuned for pictures and some more details in a coming blog.

And now... Dessert!

Ever since I heard about them I wondered, How "delicious" are Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious {Spinach & Carrot} Brownies"? As a Dietitian I get asked about them quite a bit, however it wasn't until tonight that I actually tried them out.

You can find the recipe here. I followed the recipe exactly as I have never made anything like this before. First some pictures and comments. Then, my vote.

I had to puree my own spinach and carrots as I don't have those in pureed form hanging around my house now that my little darlin's are eating solids quite well. The recipe calls for 1/2c each of pureed spinach and pureed carrots. I found that to equal about 3.5 large handfuls of baby spinach and about 2 large carrots.

Maybe it was my Mexican tummy revisiting me for a moment, but the sound and look of these two hitting the bowl wasn't exactly tantalizing for me:

I think I let out a little whimper when I had to mix in the cocoa powder, melted semisweet chocolate {btw, there's 6 oz of chocolate chips in 1 cup}, brown sugar, "butter" {I always bake with Smart Balance"}, and vanilla extract.

This is what it looked like after adding in the egg whites and dry ingredients:

Hmmm... Don't you wish you could have licked the bowl?

Here it is, ready to go in:

And the finished product:

Not so bad... Not so bad.

But what does it taste like? Delicious??

The texture was *slightly* rubbery but the flavor itself was pretty good. I'll be honest - I wouldn't call these "delicious". That said though, I *did* finish my brownie and I think these would be awesome for kids! Their taste buds haven't been brainwashed for years by refined sugar and processed ingredients. DEFINITELY worth trying on the kids. It's late - I'll let you know what mine think of them tomorrow. 

I'm also going to try and make them again with some little tweaks - I'll share if they make a difference.

A random note to ponder: Every single person would enjoy something special done for them today. Don't wait to be asked a favor. Get out there and do something. (And if you can do it anonymously, even better!) What are you going to do?

Showered with "Nutella"

Something you probably don't know is that I spent my sophomore year of college in Florence, Italy. One of the indulgences I learned about while over there {and mind you, this was before I was a Nutritional Science major}, is Nutella. "Perfetto". {Perfect!}

I am all about enjoying any food your heart desires, but moderation is a key element to making that philosophy work. With this blog, keep moderation in mind. I just couldn't help but mention the following ridiculously incredible recipe as I was able to enjoy it at a baby shower this weekend. {Thanks for bringing this along, Amy!} Did I mention moderation?!

First, some pictures from Amanda's shower for baby Magnolia. Holly, the hostess, has impeccable taste and organized a fantastic celebration, with Jen, Natalie and Amy contributing a number of mouth-watering goodies...

Just a Little Som'im Som'im

Peanut Butter "Nutella" Spread on Glass Server

Beautiful Mama

Content Baby Magnolia {Maggie}

Handmade Pink Powder Puffs

Amy divulged that the incredible, dark brown spread on the crisp, lightly salted crackers was a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Definitely an amazing experience. Looks simple to make too - Keep it in mind the next time you're assigned dessert. I *did* mention moderation, didn't I?!

On to the Cookie+Curly aspect of the shower... My gifts to sweet Maggie included a ribbon-lined {new!}, monogrammed {new!}, stroller-sized blanket made of, you guessed it, magnolia fabric. 

Stroller-Sized, Ribbon-Lined Blanket

Another sweet detail is that Amanda's son, Stewart, nicknamed the baby "Blueberry Baby" while she was still pregnant as they didn't know the gender. I love how this fabric also looks to have little blueberries on it! 

"M" for Magnolia

They also provided bedding fabric for two custom birds hanging on what looks like drift wood - their request - but it is actually manzanita.

I was in charge of the favors so at the end of the shower, each person had the opportunity to choose a ring. 

These rings were "commitment rings" in that, if someone took a ring, they were committed to praying for the characteristic of Maggie's hand-written on the card. 

To make the cards:

.Print chosen wording on card stock.

.Cut into small desired size. {I cut before printing so had to hand-write the cards - Oops} .Cut out little blueberries out of polka dot, blue card stock

.Glue-stick bottom of blueberry so that top can be folded back.

.Punch hole and attach to Cookie+Curly ring bag {or whatever gift you choose}

Right now I'm providing 20% off all ring orders of 10 or more and $1 (US) shipping, for those of you who may want to do the same thing with C+C rings. 

You won't hear from me again until next Monday but I'll have lots of fun details to share at that point!

Happy Living~