Indulgences

Well, yesterday was a fun-filled cooking extravaganza! Before I get into all of the delicious calories I created, I'll give an herb garden update. Below is our little "greenhouse" of seedlings, and John and I were excited to see that they've sprouted! :) We're such good little gardeners!

DAY SEVEN

Look how tall the wildflowers are! Our basil and thyme are also doing very well!

So back to the food... I woke up Sunday morning to a rainy, cold, grey spring day. John had the day off and so I decided that we'd make up some of the fun recipes I've found on Pinterest. My first baking project revolved around my love for peanut butter!! I found a low-cal recipe for Peanut Butter Banana muffins from scratch. :) John enjoyed the job of mashing up bananas, while I was proceeding to get peanut butter all over myself and every kitchen appliance within reach. The end product was delicious little muffins! But I will warn you that when you eat these suckers, there needs to be a drink near by... the peanut butter can kind of make your mouth stick together. hmmm... recipe might need a little work, but overall good.  You can find the recipe here if you're interested: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/07/low-fat-peanut-butter-banana-muffins.html#more

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

My next cooking ambition was to indulge in a baked Bacon Mac n Cheese casserole. Now I know this sounds super fatty, and I'm sure it is... but it is so good!! I used a recipe I found on Pinterest for the mac n cheese and combined it with the topping idea from another recipe that had bacon in it. Here is the recipe for delicious mac n cheese! Just add in crispy bacon bits to the bread crumb topping and *voila* deliciousness. http://annies-eats.com/2011/03/24/classic-mac-and-cheese/

Gathering the ingredients...

Cooking. Look at all of that cheese sauce! 

Yum! Bacon Mac n Cheese 

Now, by this time in the day I had already been cooking for a very long time... I forgot to mention that I made a double batch of the muffins because I wanted to take some to my internship, so that meant more baking time and clean up. John was a huge help because while I was going crazy reading recipes and measuring everything, he was tackling the large amount of accumulating dirty dishes in the sink. I could not have done it without him!

Ok, and now here's the last but not least, ...Baked S'mores. You heard me right. And yes, whatever you are imagining, it is even better. In fact we just had some leftovers tonight, and I am so glad I experimented with new recipes! Baked S'mores with a glass of milk is wonderful. Trust me you need to try it! :) Here's the recipe: http://www.theaprongal.com/2011/11/baked-smores.html

Graham cracker dough, Hershey's bars, and marshmallow creme... just add one more layer of graham cracker dough.

All melty and delicious.

Yum.

Sorry this turned into a cooking/baking blog for the day, but that was really all the excitement from yesterday!

In other news, John has finally found a new job!!! :) He will be working construction this summer. The only downside is that he will have to stay overnight near the job site Monday through Friday because it's too far from our house. :/ Not the ideal situation, but he'll be happier than continuing his stint at Starbucks. And, because he got a new job, we had to get him his own car... or I guess I should say truck. Look forward to some pictures later in the week. All I will say is that it's a pretty "manly" truck and he is super excited about it! ha ha We're excited about the changes coming our way! Love to you all!