Frozen Party: Making it happen

I wanted to dedicate a separate post to giving lots of tips on how I put together the details for my bug's 5th birthday party. I know Frozen parties are BIG right now and I hope my tips can help save other busy moms some time trying to figure out all the picky details on their own.

Finding Frozen merchandise is not for the weak of heart

Frozen merchandise is nearly impossible to find. I managed to get my bug the pictured Elsa doll/dress set during a random trip to Target. My best advice is to walk through the toy section of Target (I hate Walmart, but did try them too and never found anything) as often as you can. Doing this I managed to snag this gift set, a snow globe wand that plays "Let it Go", and a small Elsa figurine.

Turn portraits and paintings into party decor!

A simple way to decorate at home is to turn pictures that are already hanging into party decor. I covered a large painting that was over the fireplace with an inexpensive plastic tablecloth and paper snowflakes. The tablecloth can be saved and reused for a future party to reduce waste:-)

Hanging decor creates an impressive "centerpiece" when you don't have much room on your table

If you know your theme ahead of time, you can collect items on sale to save money. These lanterns, pom-poms, and hanging twirls were all purchased from Hobby Lobby on sale. The twirls were "Christmas clearance" at 90% off and the other decor were from the wedding section during a 50% off sale. These were hung using the easy to remove tabs from Command.

This falling snow creates a dramatic effect for a small cost

Using invisible thread I strung white pom poms (but you could easily use cotton balls!) and placed them at different heights to give the illusion of falling snow. The larger snowflakes were purchased from the wedding section at Hobby Lobby during a 50% off sale ($5 for 25 snowflakes). To save money, make paper snowflakes or find clearance items after the holidays.

Turn an easy cheese ball recipe into an impressive Olaf replica

The make ahead cheese ball recipe I created was incredibly simple:

1. Soften two 8oz bars of regular cream cheese and one 8oz bar of reduced fat cream cheese on the counter for a few hours.
2. Mix all of the softened cream cheese in a large bowl with one packet of ranch dip mix and 4oz of shredded sharp white cheddar. I shred my own cheese because I don't like the consistency of pre-shredded cheese because of the anti-caking agents they add.
3. Chill the mixture overnight or for several hours until firm.
4. Create two small balls for feet (I used a Pamper Chef 1 inch cookie scoop), a large and smaller ball for the body, and an oval for his head. I wrapped each piece separately in plastic wrap and then placed them all on a plate and covered again with plastic wrap. Freeze until the morning of your party. 
5. Right before the party, assemble Olaf. I am going to make a second one for bug's kid party and will post a separate tutorial on Olaf's assembly in a few weeks. 

These cute milk bottles play double duty as a dessert table decoration

I love the way fancy milk bottles look for parties, but hate the cost. I also hate how much milk gets wasted when the kids take them because they look cool, but only drink a few ounces of milk. For these reasons, I decided I wasn't going to make them. Then, I stumbled upon these bud vases on sale at Michael's. They only cost me 40 cents apiece and hold 3-4 oz of milk. Perfect! I cropped a photo of Olaf to just include his face, printed on a regular color printer, and then glued these onto paper straws (from the dollar bins at Target). I glued the black pom poms on with hot glue.

Fun way to display treats

I used this same cupcake stand last year (which my mom purchased from a craft store using a coupon) to display "wisps" for our Brave themed party. The treat this year was hot cocoa muddy buddy mix. Recipe can be found here.

Snowball and snowflake cookies complete a perfectly frosty dessert display

The vanilla meringues were purchased from Trader Joe's ($3.99 for a decent size container) and the cookies were homemade. I purchased snowflake cookie cutters on clearance after the holidays and used my mom's sugar cookie recipe. After reading many blogs for advice to prevent the cookies from spreading, I omitted all baking powder/baking soda from the recipe and made sure to chill the cut dough in the freezer for at least twenty minutes before baking.

I made the cookies ahead of time and stored them (un-frosted) in the freezer until the week of the party. Two days before the party I took the cookies out and used this small batch recipe for royal icing to outline and flood the cookies. The next day I made a second batch to pipe on the details. I kept them stored in an air-tight container until the party.

This impressive, but easy to assemble Frozen cake is a show stopper!

The first step in creating this cake is making all of the snowflakes to embellish the cake. I used a coupon to purchase a small package of Wilton white fondant at 40% off. I used the snowflake cookie cutters for the larger flakes and a set of flower fondant punches from Hobby Lobby for the smaller flakes. I left them out on a cooling rack for 24 hours to harden. I embellished the flakes with larger teal pearls, mini white pearls, and the same royal icing I used to decorate the sugar cookies.

Two days day before the party I used two box mixes (I know, I hate them too. I replaced the oil with melted butter for a more homemade flavor) to bake three layers of cake (6, 8, and 10 inch Wilton pans). They need to cool completely before you frost!

The day before the party I made 2 batches of this buttercream that I piped on using a Wilton 2D tip. Once all the frosting was piped I sprinkled the cake with white sanding sugar for sparkle and added my hardened fondant decorations and extra teal pearls.

I will have more details on Frozen party activities coming up in a few weeks after the bug's friend party, so check back then if you are hungry for more!

Frozen Party

My bug is five (FIVE!) years old now. I'll spare you a bunch of cheesy comments about "time flying" and feeling like it was "just yesterday that she was born". The truth is that some days being her mom have been amazing and others have been really, really hard. Even on our worst days, I love her with all of my heart. This year I had a blast planning a Frozen themed birthday party to celebrate what a special little girl she is to me.

Thanks to the internet and Pinterest I've been researching ideas for her party for months. I thought it would be fun this year to share "inspiration" versus "actual" photos of our party details. I'll fill in a few more details and post larger photos in a separate post later this week.

I really wanted to share these photos early, check back later this week for tutorials, recipes, etc! As always, I hope my work inspires someone else out there!

Happy Birthday Mom

My mom's birthday was actually last month. In the month prior to her birthday and the entire month after her birthday I've been trying to think of the perfect gift. In the past I've given her jewelry, photos of the girls, clothing, gift cards - all the usual "mom" gifts. And after living in her house for the past few months I could think of plenty of *stuff* to give her. But for some reason that really just doesn't feel like enough this year.

Why is it so hard? It's not something specific she did. Or something she said. Or really any one thing at all. It's that it just hit me. I'm a 31 year old woman living a parallel life to the one my mother must have lived 25 years ago. Sure, there are some obvious differences. I work out of the home, my mom babysat at home. My dad worked long hours and rarely helped with cooking or cleaning and left the majority of the parenting responsibilities to my mom. My husband neglects much (but not all) of the household work, but is 100% my full time partner in parenting. Money is slightly less of an issue for me than it was for my mom.

But if you throw out the details, the core of our everyday lives is too similar to ignore. Raising two little girls, trying to be a good wife, working hard, and going to bed exhausted. And the heartbreaking fact of it all - what I think has been keeping me up at night -  is that the vast majority of these earliest efforts at motherhood will go unremembered and without thanks.

Now that I am on the other side of the equation, I feel like the number of things I want to thank my mother for could fill volumes. The amount of gratitude I feel seems like it couldn't possibly be expressed through anything you'd find at the mall. So today I am presenting my mother with my genuine thanks for all those things she thought were forgotten.

To My Mom,

Thank you for getting up early, even when you wanted to sleep for two more hours.
Thank you for making me breakfast and talking me down from the edge when there wasn't any more of my favorite cereal left and I had to settle on something else.
Thank you for doing the laundry so I had clean clothes to wear every day. And thank you for biting your tongue when I put ridiculous outfits together.
Thank you for putting my toys away eight times a day as I left a trail of destruction behind me on my quest to have fun.
Thank you for listening with rapt attention to my long winded nursery school stories about nothing that I forgot the point of halfway through.
Thank you for not killing me when I threw a tantrum about nothing and wouldn't stop screaming for twenty minutes.
Thank you for grocery shopping with me and having to explain over and over again why we did need frozen vegetables and did not need frosted animal crackers.
Thank you for finding a way to make holidays magical even when you were tired, stressed, and couldn't really afford all the things you wanted me to have.
Thank you for spending hours decorating beautiful cakes for my birthday parties.
Thank you for making family vacations special. They might not have always been what you wanted, but were what we could afford and you made the best of it.
Thank you for playing silly games with me when you would rather have laid on the couch and gone to sleep.
Thank you for staying up all night when I was sick with painful ear infections.
Thank you for cooking me dinner every night, even when I told you it was gross and refused to eat it.
Thank you for reading me the same books over and over at bedtime even when you hated them.
Thank you for never getting a sound night's sleep because you were constantly on the alert for my nightmares, sleepwalking, and sleep talking.
Thank you for being willing to do it all over again so I could have a sister.

Thank you for all of this and so much more.

Let it Go

I can hardly believe this, but my bug's 5th birthday is just over a week away!! Which means right now is party planning crunch time! Things always become stressful around now because I get overenthusiastic and try to do too much. In addition to keeping up with the normal routine of being a full time pediatrician, raising two monsters beautiful children, preventing the destruction of my parents' house, stressing over the building of our new house, getting back to the gym (at last!), and feeding us all, squeezing in time to plan adorable goodie bags for 20+ kids with a quirky theme is challenging.

Obviously no one is holding a gun to my head to do anything. It's just that planning a party brings together theme-ing, crafting, decorating, food, and baking which are seriously some of my favorite things. I find it very hard to hold back sometimes because I get SO EXCITED when I find a fun idea. The problem with the internet and Pinterest is that I find too many fun ideas and then I get too busy and lose sight of what my goal really is - enjoying my hobbies and creating fun for my girls.

That is the inspiration for my post today - finding balance. I'm not going to throw it all out the window as some cheeky blogs are telling me I should. I think it's rude and judge-y to say what I'm doing is all fluff and doesn't matter just because it doesn't matter to you. Honestly, when you get right down to it, isn't that attitude really just more of the same? Instead of "I'm a better parent than you because I had a cupcake station at my kid's party", it's "I'm a better parent because I didn't have to make a cupcake station." For me, I'm letting go of the bad stuff and keeping the things that mean something to me. I hope I can inspire more overly stressed mamas out there to embrace what they love and let the rest go.

Today, I'm letting go of...

• Cooking myself into a frenzy
• Spending a fortune in time and money replicating every party blog detail just because I saw it when I don't love it
• Having to decorate everything! I'm focusing on my dessert table - because it's my favorite thing!
• Having too much to do the day of the party so I miss things
• Hating myself when I can't do it all - this applies to party planning, parenting, and LIFE

Frozen Day 4 - Tutu photo tutorial!

So when I started my "5 days of Frozen" I intended it to be five consecutive days. Seriously, I have no idea how I thought that was going to happen. Life is just too crazy for a working mama with two kids under the age of five to really expect enough free time FIVE DAYS IN A ROW to accomplish anything more than keeping everyone alive. In my defense, I did create the two pretty sweet Anna and Elsa tutus you're about to read all about. They are actually really easy to make and I finished each one with just a few hours of mindless work after the girls went to bed.

Without further ado, here is my photo tutorial...

Step 1: Measure the waist of your birthday girl/princess/monster child. I was ready to start my little one's tutu when she was napping, so I based her waist measurement on a pair of pants I knew fit her well. Whatever your measurement is, subtract 1-2 inches (1 for a smaller tutu, 2 for a bigger one) before cutting your elastic. You do this because the elastic gets stretched as you tie the tulle. Trust me. If you don't subtract some length, the tutu won't fit!

Step 2: Overlap the ends of your elastic by ~1 inch and sew. You can use a machine or do it by hand like I did. I like to fully secure the elastic ends by sewing a square.

Step 3: Measure and cut your tulle. I used 25 yard rolls of tulle in different colors from Hobby Lobby. The amount you will need depends on how full you want to make your tutu. For my older daughter I used two full rolls and about 1/2 of a roll of glitter tulle added as an accent. I measured by using a rigid mailing envelope to wrap a large amount of tulle around and then cut one end to create many strips with one cut. For the bigger tutu I wrapped the long way around the envelope and the opposite for the smaller one (I was making the smaller one in this tutorial).

Step 4: Start tying the tulle. Fold the tulle in half and create a loop. Place the loop behind the elastic. Pull the loose ends up and through the loop. Pull just until the loop is wrapped around the elastic with the loose ends pointing down. How tight you make the knot (and how close together you squeeze the pieces of tulle) will determine how full your tutu is at the end.

Step 5: Keep tying! Repeat step 4 until the entire elastic band is covered.

Step 6: Once the entire band is covered, you can add more tulle on top of the first row if you want to make it fuller. This was really hard to capture a photo of, but basically you just add another loop between pre-existing loops and don't pull it as tight allowing it to lay on top of your base layer of tulle. I also did this on my Elsa tutu with the glitter tulle that I added at the end.

Step 7: Add on any embellishments you want! I didn't add anything to the little bear's tutu because I didn't want her to be enticed to pull it apart, but I did sew on some snowflake ribbon I purchased after Christmas for my bug's tutu. Other add-on ideas include a big bow, ribbons, or sequins.

FYI: The shirts were made by a local small business RyleighRoo

Frozen Birthday Party Sneak Peek!

As per my usual routine I start hoarding birthday party supplies as soon as we decide on a theme. Although Maddie's birthday falls in the spring, I've had all winter to look for snowflakes and glittery icicle items. I was even able to get some great deals after Christmas and will be able to take advantage of my father-in-law's extensive Christmas lawn decoration collection to set the scene.

Here are the supplies I will be working with over the next month to put together a Frozen celebration worthy of a princess...

Can you guess what I'm doing with all these supplies? Or what items will never actually make it to the party?


Here's a sneak peek at my custom made invitation...

For the first time in forrrrrever (good luck getting it out of your head now...) we're planning a separate adult family party and a kid/school friends party. Double planning, double the fun? We will see!

Love is an open door

The sentiment of this song is actually really sweet and not too sappy, but it's still not what REAL love is all about. I will say in Disney's defense that it might be difficult to make "I love you even when you smell like baby vomit" melodically appealing though. After 15+ years of dating, 7 years of marriage, 2 cats, and 2 children here is what I think love is really all about.

Love is being there. You might not be showered or wearing "real clothes". You might be older or heavier than you were when you first met. You might be suffering from mental, physical, or emotional stress that has altered how you even see yourself. But when you really love someone you are still there. Day in and day out. By their side. Wrinkles, graying hair, ill-fitting pants and all.

Love is laughing together. In your younger days the laughter might have been over a comedy at the movies or while sharing stories of childhood adventures. Now it's often over who changes the most poopy diapers (me, hands down) or the latest ridiculous thing the four year old said ("Your private parts are nice, mommy" on walking in on me getting out of the shower this morning...). The point is, keep smiling, laughing, and finding joy in things together.

Love is growing together. We are all always changing. For most of us the changes are slow, subtle, and happen so indistinctly that we don't realize we've even changed until we look back at where we were and see how far we've come. Truly loving someone means making this journey with them rather than away from them.

Love is messy. It's not a fairy tale that starts at a ball and ends with happily ever after. It's ups and downs. Love can fill you with such happiness that you feel like you are literally about to burst. And sometimes love feels like the smallest flicker of light in the pit of your stomach on the brink of snuffing out completely. Even on those darkest days true love is there, part of you, just waiting for you to take a deep breath and feed the flame.

Love is accepting yourself as someone worth loving. You can have SO MUCH love for your partner, but if you don't value the role you play in the love relationship things will never be as good as they could be. This most crucial point is where I personally have struggled the most (and still struggle at times). Put simply, love yourself so others can too!

So there you have it, Disney. Love is getting old and frumpy, changing poopy diapers, fighting the darkness within, and a whole lot of self-reflection. Good luck turning that into a musical ballad...

In Summer

Usually this is the time of year when it finally starts warming up in Upstate NY and we can look forward to Spring. About now it really doesn't feel like it's ever going to happen. There is still more than a few inches of snow covering the ground and the local weather is calling for a possible 6 inches of snow later this week.

Bug loves the snow, but mommy is SO over it!

In addition to being just plain yucky, all this frigid cold is preventing our builder from making any progress on the construction of our new house. Total bummer all around.

Where we thought we would have at least part of a house at this point...

In an effort to be optimistic (like the hilarious Olaf) I'm jotting down all the things I'm looking forward to when it's finally summer...

• Taking nature walks and hikes
• Our house (hopefully) being built 
• My parents coming home from Florida
• Chasing lightening bugs
• Trips to the lake
• Going outside without six layers of insulated clothing
• Seeing my girls play with their cousins on Cape Cod
• Grilling season
• Sand on my toes
• Farmer's Markets
• Visiting all the local ice cream stands
• Seeing Phish in an outdoor venue
• Iced coffee on a hot afternoon
• Swimming with my girls
• Campfires
• Sitting in the grass
• Sandals
• Local produce
• Picnics at the park
• Gin and Tonic by the pool
• Sunshine!

Keep thinking warm thoughts everyone, we'll get to enjoy all these things "in summer" before we know it!

Five Days of Frozen

My family is officially Frozen obsessed. The movie crept into our lives before it even debuted on the big screen. Merchandise was prominently on display throughout the Disney Parks back in the beginning of November before the movie came out. We didn't stock up on toys (not knowing how in demand they would be in just a few short weeks), but my bug happened to fall in love with the Anna gown when we took her shopping for a princess dress in Downtown Disney.

"Princess pose" in Downtown Disney after buying her new dress

I was a bit skeptical about letting her buy the dress of an unknown princess from an unseen movie, but it fit all the major bug criteria - spin-y skirt, sparkles, and no itchy crinoline/tulle on her skin - so we went ahead and bought it. If only we knew how obsessed she would become, we probably would have splurged and bought her the Elsa dress too.

After her full princess makeover

Which brings me to the day we saw the movie. We I cried, laughed, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. When we walked out of the theater my bug declared that she was having a Frozen themed birthday party. My husband downloaded the soundtrack as soon as we got home and it's been playing non-stop ever since. No joke, we've been living in a house of Frozen worship for over three months now. 

Bug knows all the lyrics to "Let it Go" (amazing song), "Love is an Open Door" (fun song), and "Frozen Heart" (somewhat disturbing song to hear a four year old sing/chant). Baby bear dances and giggles as soon as she hears the opening bars of "Let it Go". I go to bed each night planning Frozen themed party treats and ways to make decorations that look like snow.

If there was a word stronger than OBSESSED, you could use it to describe us.

As it's always on my mind anyway, I've decided to spend the next week making Frozen themed posts. I might even give some sneak peaks into my party planning. 

Check back soon for more!

"I wish I was at the beach, too" Smoothie

One of my least favorite things in the world is to be cold. I hate it. I usually cope with the winter weather of the Northeast well enough through December and January because I find peace, beauty, and romance in the early snowfalls around the holidays. I also appreciate the giddiness that sledding and playing in the snow creates for my children so I tolerate it. February comes and I still try to be a good sport about the freezing cold winds and (what feel like) daily snow squalls. 

By this point in the season, I'm really just done. I'm done with wearing eight layers every time I leave the house. I'm done with closed windows and stuffy air. I'm done with coming up with indoor activities for the kids. I'm ready to get outside, see some sunshine, and warm up already!

Clearly many of my friends and family feel the same way because they are all taking tropical beach vacations to escape the deep freeze. My colleague is soaking up the sun in Hawaii, my parents are cruising around Mexico, and my in-laws are on a plane to Aruba as I type. I could be jealous of them all (OK, I secretly am...), or I can dig deep and find a way to bring some beach-y comfort to the eternal winter wonderland that is Upstate NY. 

So, that's what I did. 

Each morning this week I've been sipping one of these delicious pina colada like smoothies and pretending really hard that I've got sand between my toes, sun shining on my face, and gentle waves creating a musical backdrop for my morning.

Disadvantage to this approach? Reality hits pretty hard the second I walk out the door. Advantage? A few more months to get bathing suit ready. Speaking of bathing suits, did I mention this delicious and filling smoothie adds up to just 4 Weight Watchers points plus?? Not a bad way to start your morning...

The Recipe

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree. No need to add ice or anything extra, it will have a perfect consistency from the frozen pineapple. I have been using a very low power, but completely adequate Hamilton Beach single serve blender that is perfect for on the go.

Enjoy!

Kitchen Tips

Food is one of my favorite things in the world. I spend hours each day thinking about food. I think about breakfast as soon as I wake up. I carefully plan what I'm going to eat at work. I think about what to cook my family for dinner. I read Pinterest and Bon Appetit magazine looking for new recipes. It's an obsession.

Because I love food so much, the idea of wasting food drives me crazy. I hate when a recipe calls for just part of something because it raises the likelihood that the other part will end up in the trash. I can't think of any product this happens to more often than tomato paste! The stuff is great to thicken sauce or chili, but you rarely need more than 1-2 Tbsp. So what happens to the rest?

Do you just admit that you don't need it and throw it away? Do you put it in the fridge and pretend you're going to use it only to find it shoved in the back growing mold three weeks later? If either of these scenes sound familiar, this post is for you!

I can't remember where I originally saw this tip, but it's a great one! After you open a can of tomato paste prevent the rest from going to waste by following these simple steps...

1. Use a tablespoon to measure out level scoops of tomato paste.
2. Place tomato paste on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.
3. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least one hour until solid
4. Remove the tomato paste scoops from the cookie sheet and store in a bag or freezer safe container.

After following these simple steps you'll save yourself from the guilt of throwing away your unused tomato paste AND have pre-measured portions of tomato paste at arm's length the next time you need it. Total win-win situation!

Weight Watchers and Real Food

For the record, I was awake for 10 whole minutes today before a kid woke up. I didn't even move, I just laid there listening to the silence. Somehow, the older one still sensed that I was awake. She shuffled into the room and I pulled back the covers for her without saying anything. Miraculously, she snuggled between daddy and I and WENT BACK TO SLEEP.

I enjoyed the snuggle for a few minutes before slipping out of bed to try for that forbidden peaceful cup of coffee again. Just as I was adding the milk I heard the baby yelling out for a "baba". She's 15 months old so I really need to wean her off of it...but today is not that day. Giving her a bottle bought me ten whole minutes of quiet. Sweet, blissful quiet with nothing to do other than sip my HOT coffee and read Pinterest. When she finished the bottle we just snuggled and were silly together for a half hour while everyone else slept. These are the moments we just don't get enough of. Today is going to be a good day.

Low natural lighting in the kitchen made these shots a little fuzzy, but I love them anyway

I thought I'd take a few minutes this morning to share some advice about following Weight Watchers and sticking to an unprocessed, real food diet. A little over a year ago I joined WW for the first time. As I had an exclusively breastfeeding newborn I was allotted 46 points plus per day. I have to be honest, between the diet and breastfeeding I was dropping weight like crazy even eating oreos and Dunkin Donuts wake-up wraps on a daily basis. I went from post-baby weight to pre-baby weight in about a month and from post-baby weight to my lowest adult weight since I was in college in less than 6 months.

Then, the seasons started to change and the stress of selling a house, building a house, the holidays, and moving set in. I wasn't get fresh food from the Farmer's Market. My Weight Watchers subscription was cancelled. I was not going to the gym. The baby was nursing less. I was eating more processed foods. Nearly every successfully lost pound crept back on.

A year after my initial success I decided to start back up again. As I no longer have gads of points each day I need to focus a lot more on choosing "good" foods. Foods that are high in nutrients, satisfying, and that I "feel good" about eating. Here are my tips on combining a typical lower point (26) Weight Watcher's plan with real food ideas:

1. Real the labels! A trap a lot people following WW fall into is buying everything low fat or fat free because the point calculation is lower. This is a horrible idea. To save yourself a few points you will be filling your body with chemicals, additives, and fillers. You can find *some* reduced fat products that are only made with real ingredients (most dairy products), but you need to be extremely discerning and real your labels.
2. Plan ahead. If you have kids, or a job, or both you need to have your meals planned out or you will find yourself struggling to stay on the plan. Check back later this week for some easy meal plans to get through the week days.
3. Always have fruits and veggies on hand. Making healthy foods available will make you much more likely to eat them. For busy times of the day, having your produce prepped ahead of time is key - cut melon, rinsed grapes, easy to peel clementines, bananas, rinsed salad greens, sliced peppers, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes. For calmer times I find having a fruit I need to "work on" for a snack makes it more satisfying - grapefruit, cherries, kiwi.
4. Care about the food, not the diet. If you spend your time thinking about how safe and whole the foods you are eating are instead of calculating points on all the foods you know you shouldn't have, you will naturally make good choices! If you read the ingredient label on that box of Cheez-its you won't care that you can get away with 1/2 a serving for 3 points. You'll realize there are so many things in there that you don't want in your body it will be easy to chose a tablespoon of fresh ground almond butter and banana slices instead.
5. Splurge for real. Instead of planning myself a mini splurge every day (one cookie, a handful of chocolate chips, etc) which just ended up reintroducing all the "bad stuff" back into my system I plan one real splurge on a high quality item - a good piece of dark chocolate (not Hershey kisses), a handmade baked good (not Dunkin Donuts), a chunk of good full fat cheese (never eat the fat free stuff!), a few slices of good quality bacon (not turkey bacon), etc. 

Happy Sunday and Happy Eating!

Baked Pancake Bites (WW friendly)

Weekends are not the same once you have kids. You don't get to sleep in. You don't get to wake up and gaze lovingly at your partner thinking about how great life is. You don't get to have a peaceful cup of coffee while you catch up on the news. You don't get to take a long, hot shower.

Nope, none of that. The reality of weekends with kids looks like this: You roll over at 6:15 and gaze at the clock amazed that no one has woken you up yet with nightmares, coughing fits, or vomit. You contemplate if you should stay in bed and try to catch a few more precious minutes of sleep or sneak out to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Before the 30 seconds it would take for your groggy brain to make that decision passes you hear..."Mommy? Mommy? Mooooooommy?!" You reluctantly get up and drag her into bed with you. You cling to the unrealistic hope that she might go back to sleep. After ten rounds of, "Is it morning yet?" You admit defeat and concede that it is indeed morning. Still fooling yourself, you think it might be possible to get up with kid number one and have a cup of coffee before kid number two wakes up. Just as the Keurig drips the last drop into your cup you hear it. Kid two is up because kid one is filling her crib with pillows to make a "fort"...

This scenario is pretty much what my house looks like every Saturday morning...sleepy parents trying (unsuccessfully) to match the insane enthusiasm of a preschooler and toddler excited at the prospect of a full two days at home with mommy and daddy. After playing along with whatever crazy scheme the nearly five year old comes up with for about thirty minutes it is inevitable that the following phrase will be uttered, "Mommy, I'm hungry!"

Anyone who routinely cooks for children knows that this is a dangerous time. Eggs might have been awesome yesterday, but today they will carpet the floor. The a
ct of pouring a bowl of Joe-Os might bring cheers whereas an hour long effort on stuffed French toast might be met with groans and wails of, "That's disgusting!" 

Today, I took a chance. My husband and older daughter have been into Nutella recently so I offered to make Nutella pancakes. They accepted the concept. The challenge was on.

Baked Pancake Bites with Nutella

As I usually do when I'm looking to try something new, I did a quick google search. I turned up this recipe for pancake balls and Nutella. I tweaked it and got to work. I had my doubts as the batter was very thin, but I persevered through the rest of the steps. 

As they were baking our kitchen was filled with a lovely sweet, spicy aroma. My daughter was enticed into the kitchen and started circling the oven waiting for them to come out. I held my breath as I popped them out of the pan and placed them on the table. To my surprise and delight everyone in the house loved them! My daughter even finished the leftovers for a snack later in the day and asked for more. I will definitely be making these again soon.

Added bonus, I played with the original recipe to make it healthier and these worked out to a very reasonable 1 point plus per muffin. I ate 5 mini muffins and a heaping serving of fruit salad for a very satisfying breakfast.

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk

1 egg

1 tbsp coconut oil, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose, unbleached flour

2 tbsp baking powder

2 tbsp raw sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp nutella

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 and use cooking spray (or paper liners) to coat wells of a 24 mini muffin tin.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine milk, egg, coconut oil, and vanilla extract until well blended.
3. Whisk together all dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend very well (The batter will be thin!).
5. Pour the batter into the muffin wells (I poured the batter from a large measuring cup to make this step easier). You might have a little excess batter
6. Put the Nutella into a small ziploc baggie and snip the corner. Drizzle a small ribbon of chocolate into each muffin.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes. 
8. Let cool slightly and enjoy!

*May be served with maple syrup for dipping, but totally unnecessary!

**Try these out with different fillings - jam, banana slices, fresh berries, bacon, sausage, etc!

Iced Coffee Cupcakes

No, I haven't given up on Weight Watchers already. It just so happens that January is an incredibly busy month for birthdays among my family, friends, and coworkers. Diet or no diet, cupcakes are kinda my thing when it comes to celebrating someone's birth. Don't worry, I ate light all day yesterday so I could test out the frosting and make sure I had the perfect blend of flavors:-)

The cupcakes I'm blogging today are for someone very special at my practice -  my office manager and good friend. She has really been my lifeline since I joined the group just over two years ago. There have been quite a few bumps along the way for me and she has been on top of them all helping me get in touch with the right people and getting answers in a timely manner. She's also a huge reason my practice has built so quickly - she actively works the phones to recruit patients to the office and then presents a happy, smiling face at the desk that welcomes families and makes them feel at home. Aside from business, I also genuinely really like her personally. She's a great mom to her own "big kids" and is always offering me encouragement through the rough times with my monsters. In short, she's pretty great. And really, making this fabulous lady a few cupcakes doesn't even begin to thank her for all she does. But I hope it's a start.

So without further ado, I present a cupcake many Pinterest articles came together to create...I call them Dunkin' Donut Iced Coffee Cupcakes.

My inspiration was my friend's daily morning brew from DD. I blended elements from a few different recipes and modeled the final "look" after two or three different images I came across when searching for "coffee cupcakes" on Pinterest. I assure you, they really are as good as they look.

If you want to try making your own, I got the cake recipe from here. I followed it exactly as written using her modifications in red. The frosting was my own recipe that you will find below. The "sprinkles" are actually just a dusting of organic raw sugar from Trader Joe's. I tried to mimic the DD look by using pink cupcake wrappers and garnishing with actual straws from the restaurant.

Milk and Coffee Buttercream Frosting

2 1/2 sticks of butter, at room temperature

3 cups of confectioner's sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp whole milk

1 tbsp hot water + 2 tsp instant espresso (dissolve coffee in water)

1. Beat butter on medium speed in the bowl of a stand mixer until very soft and "white" in appearance.
2. Add 2 cups (240g)* confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract, and milk to the mixer and beat for at least two minutes until smooth and thick.
3. Remove 1 1/2 cups frosting from the mixing bowl and set aside.
4. Add 1 cup (120g) confectioner's sugar and the espresso/water mixture to the mixer bowl and beat for at least 2 minutes.
5. Decorate cupcakes by piping large circle of coffee buttercream first, then smaller circle of "milk" buttercream. Sprinkle with sugar and top with straw (if desired).

*I use a small food scale to measure the sugar and get more precision in my recipes.

Pumpkin Smoothie

After making the last recipe I posted (Baked Pumpkin Cranberry Oatmeal) I was left with half a can of organic pumpkin puree. I really didn't feel like baking again - busy week at work and my hands have been so dry that I didn't want to have a lot of dishes to wash - so the container has sat in the fridge all week.

This morning after taking my first group exercise class in probably over a year at the gym I finally had an inspiration for that sad little container of pumpkin. I decided to make myself a replenishing smoothie alongside my nutrient packed breakfast (a kale, salsa, and brown rice omelette with a bowl of clementine segments). To my complete and utter surprise, my used-to-be-a-great-eater-but-now-is-extremely-picky 4 1/2 year old loved it too! After letting her try a sip, I was trying to set up a photo, but she decided I was taking too long and climbed up onto the table to drink some more. I decided this photo was far cuter than the solo smoothie.

Maple Pumpkin Smoothie
makes 1 serving - 3 points plus

1/2 frozen banana
1/3 cup plain, lowfat organic yogurt
1/2 cup organic pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tbsp pure maple syrup

1. Put the frozen banana in the blender and let rest for at least 5 minutes
2. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth
3. Enjoy as a snack or with your breakfast

Baked Pumpkin Cranberry Oatmeal To Go

I spent a large portion of last year really focusing in on nutrition and trying to figure out the best things for my family to be eating. I lost a lot of weight in the first half of the year and was feeling pretty good about all of the fresh, local foods we were eating. Then, we got an offer on our house and my whole world turned upside down.

We only had a month to get our entire house packed and to find a place to live. I was also planning bear's first birthday party which is always extremely time consuming for me. In addition, we were going to Disney World and had to pack and plan for that. Somehow we made it through, but then we came home and we were living in a tiny apartment. We had to make all the arrangements and preparations for Christmas in our limited space. Finally we made our second move into my parent's house between Christmas and the New Year.

After the house sold all of the stress and craziness was just too much. I wanted to stick with everything I had been working towards, but was just so overwhelmed. I started hitting up drive-thrus again, we ordered takeout multiple times per week, and I was constantly making unhealthy food choices for myself at work. And (not surprising) I started to feel horrible. Mentally, I was disappointed in myself. Physically, my body was feeling uncomfortable - stomachaches, acid reflux, gastritis (probably an ulcer too), skin breakouts, and a generalized feeling of heaviness. 

Now that we are moved and settled (for at least the next 5 months anyway) I'm really motivated to get back on the wagon. I've rejoined Weight Watchers. I'm making a plan to get back to the gym at least three days per week. I'm feeling really optimistic and excited to go forward. 

All that said, It's very easy for me to let my mommy obligations get in the way of a healthier, happier lifestyle for myself. I know I need to have a plan or I won't succeed. The first part of this plan for me is not having to think about breakfast. Each week I am going to make something over the weekend that has me set for success each morning. Something easy that doesn't require any fussing over. Which brings me to my first recipe share of the New Year...

Baked Pumpkin Cranberry Oatmeal To Go

Based on the recipe for baked oatmeal found here

Yields: 12 muffins at 4 points plus each

2 eggs

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup melted butter

1 apple, grated

1 1/4 cup 1% milk

3 cups rolled oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup fresh cranberries

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 375 and grease muffin tin with non-stick spray.
2. Mix first 7 ingredients together with a mixer.
3. Add last four ingredients and mix by hand until well blended. The mixture will be very loose and wet still. Allow to rest in the mixing bowl for at least 30 minutes.
4. Divide evenly between muffin wells and bake for 25-30 minutes until set.
5. Can eat hot or freeze* for later use. Store at room temperature for 3 days, in the fridge for 7 days, or in the freezer for one month.

They are delicious at room temp, but I prefer to re-warm them in the oven at 350 for five minutes when I have time.
*If frozen, reheat by setting oven to 350, wrapping muffin in foil and baking for 5 minutes. Turn off oven and leave muffin in for 10 minutes longer.

Welcome 2014

2013 was a good year. There were many moments of stress and frustration, but many, many more moments of laughter, silliness, excitement, and joy. Here is my rundown of our past year...

• Our baby bear grew from a newborn to an infant to a monster toddler
• Our bug developed into an incredible, bright, insightful and stubborn "big kid"
• My sister joined the mommy club and we welcomed my sweet, sweet nephew to the family in September
• I ran my first 5K...and it was a mud run!
• I got to sate my love of party planning with a Brave 4th Birthday Party, a Dalmatian Baby Shower, and an "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" 1st Birthday Party (still to be blogged...)
• We put our house on the market and lived in a strange state of limbo with open houses and showings for almost 6 months
• We moved...and moved...and moved! From our house, to an apartment, to my parent's house in just 3 months
• Neither of my kids like to sleep so I think I might have had a full, uninterrupted night of sleep half a dozen times (not exaggerating) in 2013
• We designed our new house and are anxiously awaiting the official start of construction
• We took a big family trip to Disney World (the HAPPIEST place on earth!) with my parents and in-laws. My brother and his family even got to meet us for a few days of the trip
• My practice secured a new office and went through the process of designing the newer, larger space - I finally will get my own private office and exam rooms that are all mine!
• We got to spend a lot of time with family at home and on the road (Florida, Cape Cod, Saranac Lake, Lake Sacandaga)
• My husband's gauge of a good year...we got to see Phish multiple times
• My husband and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and a few days later the 15th anniversary of our first date 

What I learned most this past year is PATIENCE. Patience in selling our house. Patience in making progress on a new office, new schedule, and new salary. Patience in taking care of two kids with extremely different, but equally important needs. Patience in working through nightmares and fussy toddlers at 2am. Patience in balancing my roles as mommy, wife, sister, daughter, and doctor. Patience in remodeling my self image. The more I struggled to *make* things happen the more frustrated, stressed, and unhappy I found myself. 

I am hoping 2014 will find me learning from my mistakes, letting go of the things I can not change, and fully appreciating all of the awesomeness that already is a part of my life.

101 Dalmatians Baby Shower

I can't believe that my sister's baby shower was FIVE months ago or that it's taken me this long to share her party with you. Honestly, I started thinking about what type of shower I wanted to throw before she was even pregnant. As she's a teacher, my initial inclination was to plan a Dr. Seuss themed party and I even started pinning all sorts of food and decorating ideas.

Then, she found out she was having a boy. I knew a small part of her was secretly hoping she would have a girl because all of her nursery ideas were girly and she seemed really upset about the "boy" options. I started looking around and stumbled across this set.

My sister was extremely attached to a Pongo stuffed animal her whole childhood so I knew she would fall in love with it. Of course, I was totally right. I decided to embrace the dalmatian vibe and carry the theme over into the shower.

At first, I was a bit frustrated because it was much harder to find inspiration for a dalmatian party. There are tons of Dr. Seuss baby showers splattered across the internet, but very few featuring dalmatians. Many of the ideas you'll see below were completely my own after hours of brainstorming. In the end, I was SO GLAD that I made the change. I loved the decorations and food choices that my mom and I came up with and thought the party was a super sweet way to celebrate my sister and my soon-to-arrive nephew.

Be Our Guest
I found the idea for my invitations on Etsy and really wanted to just order them and let someone else do the work. Unfortunately the creator closed her shop and was not taking orders. This resulted in me spending HOURS re-creating the idea in paint and powerpoint programs. Once I was satisfied with my work, I ordered the invites from Vistapint. I was ecstatic with the outcome, they looked great! I used the same fonts and colors to create stickers for the favors.

Front

Back

Sticker for favors

Food
101 Dalmatians takes place in England, so my idea was for the main course of the meal to be like an afternoon tea with small sandwiches, salads, chips in fancy paper cones, and a pitcher of citrus brewed tea. For appetizers I went with multiple "puppy chow" mixes and a "dalmatian" cheese ball with crackers and veggie sticks. Finally, I created a dessert table with a 6 layer dalmatian cake, dipped oreos decorated to match the theme, and sugar cookies shaped like bones that were individually wrapped as favors.

Cookies and Cream Puppy Chow

Red Velvet Puppy Chow

Chex Mix

Snacks served in dog food bowls from the Dollar Tree

Lunch Buffet

Finger sandwiches featuring turkey and bacon, ham and cheese, tuna salad, chicken salad, and vegetarian hummus pitas with mayo, mustard, and pickles on the side 

Chips in paper cones (I LOVE paper cones...)

More chips

Baby greens salad, fruit salad, and pasta salad

Missing from photos was one of the foods I was most "proud of" as it was my own original idea - a white cheese ball (mixture of cream cheese, white cheddar, and ranch dressing mix) with sliced olives pressed into it to look like dalmatian spots!

Homemade 6 layer cake - frosted in butter cream with black fondant spots

Slice of cake

Top: treat bags with red candy balls and kisses with custom stickers reading "Katrina's baby shower"
Middle: Cups of cookies and cream ("dalmatian") ice cream were served with the cake
Bottom: Bone shaped cookie favors

Close-up of the favors

Chocolate dipped oreos

Decor
As you can see, this party was all about the dalmatian doggies. I used dog bowls from the Dollar Tree for food, made centerpieces out of empty cans to look like "Kanine Krunchies" (the dog food advertised in the 101 Dalmatians movie), and put a copy of the 101 dalmatians book on each table. My mom went a little ebay crazy and purchased about 50 little dalmatian happy meal toys that we also used for table decorations and for a game.

Table decor

Another shot of the centerpiece and decorations on each table

We used one copy of the book as a guest book, the others were given as favors to any kids attending the party

I love dessert tables. I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to different set-ups and ideas because I love them so much. For my sister's shower I had the idea to create a banner over my dessert table out of actual baby onesies instead of paper cut outs. I purchased 3-6 and 6-9 month size onesies in colors to match the party and used my Cricut to cut out the letters and circles.

Onesie banner with dalmatian print fabric backdrop and tissue paper border

Dessert Table Setup

Close-up of one of the onesies

My sister really seemed to enjoy the shower and I was so pleased with how all the planning turned out. Happily for us all her pregnancy ended with a planned c-section (due to my sister's pre-existing heart condition that needed monitoring) and I now have a beautiful, perfect nephew to celebrate the upcoming holidays with.

My sister and I
(baby bear was hanging out on my back while I bustled around setting up)