Almond Joy Brownie Bites

My mom has been out of town for a few days tending to my younger sister who had knee surgery, leaving my dad a bachelor for the week. We have been over there a couple of times to keep him company :) One of my dad's favorite things to do this summer (along with ours) is to go to the Biltmore Estate on Friday nights. During the summer, the Biltmore has "Fridays after Five" where bands come and play at Antler Hill Village. It attracts a HUGE crowd, where the lawns and tables are filled with people picnicing, sipping on wine and eating ice cream. The last "Fridays after Five" was last night and we thought it would be fun to get my dad out of the house and go to the Biltmore. Summer finally decided to show up (it isn't raining too much after the most rainy July in recorded history) so we thought it would be fun to pack dinner at eat there.

I spent the day preparing Chicken Bistro Pasta Salad, a fruit salad and decided to make a fun dessert for my dad. My dad's favorite candy bar is Almond Joy/Mounds. I came across a recipe on Pinterest (where else?) for Almond Joy Brownie Bites. I pinned it with my dad in mind. Yesterday was the perfect time to make them.

I actually tried to make them on Thursday night, and was trying to plan ahead. I had all my ingredients and started the first step. I had the brownies made and were baking away in the oven for the first part of cooking. While they were cooking, I mixed together the coconut and the sweetened condensed milk. While mixing it I noticed that it was an orangy color, and my baking instincts were telling me that something was not right. I looked at the can of condensed milk and the expiration date said July 2010! Yikes! Since this house we are living in is on the market, we are trying to use up all the food in the pantry and freezer. Well, lesson learned, I should have checked the expiration date BEFORE I started baking. I tossed the coconut mixture in the trash. Since I didn't have any more condensed milk or coconut and it would have ruined the brownies to have them sitting out while I ran to the store again, I decided to just bake the brownies the rest of the way through. My hubs went out to the store the next morning and bought the ingredients once again, and I started all over again.

In the end, they turned out exactly how they should have: safe to eat, decadent to look at and very tasty! We had a fun night at the Biltmore, soaking up the last official weekend of summer on a gorgeous night, listening to Oldies (dad singing along to them, of course!), eating the Brownie bites and enjoying time with family :)

Recipe: Almond Joy Brownie Bites

Homemade Oreos

Now that I am a SAHM, I am finding some time to sneak in some baking and cooking. I have officially taken over dinner duty. [I had neglected it for the past two years with teaching]. And I have rekindled my love of baking. I have really not baked anything since I began teaching. Although I am not rolling in free time, I have managed to learn how to multi-task, both watching an active little boy and getting things done around the house.

I usually put Zach in his bouncer, and most recently his Bumbo, make sure he has an adequate amount of toys to keep him entertained and get to work. Zach is such a good baby. He is very content 99.9% of the time. He enjoys being the kitchen. As long as I am in his view, he loves to watch me bake away. He will go in shifts of playing with his toys, to watching me. Most recently, he has taken an interest in real life objects. So while we are in the kitchen I will give him plastic measuring spoons, plastic cups or anything else I can see that is safe for him to play with. While I am cooking, I like to tell him what I am doing and talk to him, which makes me feel like I am on my own show on the Food Network ;)

I have actually baked a handful of things in the last couple of months, but just never got around to blogging about them. One of my most recent baking attempts was Homemade Oreos. My husband loves Oreos, and when I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I had to pin it. I showed it to Justin and ever since then, he would drop hints about me making them.

They are very easy to make, but kind of time consuming. After making the dough it is suppose to chill in the FRIDGE for an hour. Well, I was so smart and put it in the freezer. Between making dinner and putting the little man to bed, it ended up being in there for a couple of hours. When it was time to roll them out and cut them, the dough was rock hard and I couldn't figure out what went wrong. Genius! The most amount of time was spent on rolling out the dough, cutting the circles and baking the cookies. It is a long process like making sugar cookies, but easy.

Yes, I made these after the babe went to bed, hence the baby monitor in the background. 

Overall the cookies were very good. Did they taste exactly like real Oreos, not really, but they were still good- and way more natural and "healthy." To make them more authentic to the real Oreo cookie, allow the cookies to sit overnight. This allows the frosting in the middle to harden up like the real deal. We ate a cookie right after I piped the frosting and it was squeezing out the sides. They were much better the next day, or hubs even likes them frozen!

Recipe: Homemade Oreos

Four Months!

Zach has been quite the playful boy this month. With him learning how to roll over and doing it all the time (at least on to his belly) he now enjoys playing with toys placed in front of him. He grabs everything and anything that is placed in front of him and puts everything in his mouth. He is quite the active and playful boy and I have a feeling he is going to keep us on our toes once he starts crawling and walking, which I'm okay with ;) His favorite toys are his pink/purple ball filled with holes (no idea why it is pink and purple). He loves to hold it up and stick his tongue through all the holes. He also loves a multicolored soft ball with lots of loops, and his orange, red, black and white bird that we call Willadee the Chickadee. Zach is constantly kicking, flailing his arms and rolling over. He enjoys people and loves playing with everyone. He also loves 'talking' and will say 'Ahgoo' or make other noises frequently, especially if he is talked to. He loves super high pitched voices and then also lower pitched voices. He is a very smart boy and seems to be able to pick up when someone is joking around or doing something funny. Which leads me to- he has the CUTEST little giggle. I love it. We try to get him to laugh and he will do it a couple times and then he is probably thinking, "Okay, you guys killed it. Try something new." We are so in love with our little Zachy and can't wait to see him grow and explore more. We had another action-filled summer month. Here is what we have been up to:

• Went to Greenville! We love Greenville :)

• Said good-bye to Aunt Jessica as she went off to college. I am going to miss her sooo much!

• I can now raise myself up on my arms and raise my head 90 degrees. I guess that tummy time that mom and dad forced me to do was good for some reason. 

 

• Met my Auntie Nichole for the first time!

• I have this new fussy squeal that I do. I mainly do it when I am sick of being on my tummy. 
• I am becoming more and more interested in toys and playing with them.

 

• I have the cutest little giggle. 

• I rolled over from my belly to my back on July 20th. I can officially roll over both ways! Watch out world! 
• Went to Dry Falls and walked behind the waterfall.  

 

• I started doing an 'army crawl.' If I am on a blanket, I will grab onto it and pull myself forward, while pushing off with my feet at the same time. 
• I have also started to turn in the direction of toys. If they are not right in front of me, but off to the side, I can maneuver myself to face them.  
• I prefer to sleep on my tummy. Sometimes my little tush is propped in the air. 

• I also fell asleep like this one time:   

• I love to grab things. My favorite things to grab are my mom's clothes and her long hair. I definitely have a strong grip because sometimes it is a battle for mommy to get her hair out.

 

•  One of my favorite toys is this ball. I love to stick my tongue through all the holes.

• Went to Graveyard Field Falls.

• I bumped my bedtime up to between 7:00 and 7:30, which means I also knocked out a feeding. 
• I now consistently sleep between 10-11 hours! Go me! 
• Hiked Max Patch with my mom, Nana and Aunt Jessica

• Mom and Dad celebrated their 4th wedding Anniversary. I got to play with Nana, Grandpa, Aunt Jessica and Gramma a lot :)

• Went to tea at the Biltmore Inn (again!) 

• I have become a lot more drooly. Mom and dad are wondering if I am maybe going to have a tooth soon. Since they are first time parents, they don't really know ;)

• Hiked to Triple Falls and Hooker Falls. My goodness I saw a lot of waterfalls this month.

•  There is work being done on the balcony outside of my room, so I had to sleep in mom and dad's room a couple of nights in my pack n' play. Can you guess who was super excited that I was back in their room? Yep, daddy! Mommy liked having me there too. However, she learned that I move a lot in my sleep and with a plasticy mattress, it made a lot of noise and woke her up at night. I also like to do this scratching motion to feel things and I do it in my sleep as well, which kept her awake. 

• I have officially found my toes and you can catch me sucking on them. 
• I am quite a strong boy. I actually tore off two rings from my little elephant. 
• I have started to notice the tv. If it is one, it will catch my eye and I will just sit and stare at it. Sometimes mom has to turn off the tv while I am trying to eat because I get too distracted. 

Statistics:
Weight: 16 lbs. 1 oz. [55th percentile]
Height: 26 3/4 inches [94th percentile]
Nicknames: Zachy, Zachy baby, Zachy boy, Pumpkin
Likes: Pink/Purple ball, Willadee the Chickadee, grabbing toys dangling down from playmat, kicking, rolling over, sleeping on my belly, people
Dislikes: carseat
Clothing: 6-12 months/ 9 months. Diapers: Size 2

Milestones:
Raised Head to 90 degrees: 7/17/13 
Raise self up on arms: 7/17/13
Roll over from belly to back: 7/20/13 

4th Month Pictures

 Mr. Personality!

 I roll over all the time now. 

 I can now raise my head up and support myself on my arms.

 I guess I can now smile for mommy when she takes my picture now :)

 Yes! Something I can grab!

 little ham. 

 so much joy!

 A Note from Mom:

Zach, everyday I thank the Lord for you. You are such a blessing and joy in my life. I love going out on new adventures with you and showing you the world. It is fun to see the world through your little eyes and seeing you discover and learn how to do new things everyday. You are becoming quite the playful little boy and I love seeing your smile and hearing your giggle. You continue to be a very happy and content boy. Your daddy and I are so thankful for you and love having you in our lives. We we love you, little boy :)