Family Visit

June has turned into family month. With visitors almost every weekend we have had a great month so far. Two weeks ago the in-laws and the in-law grandparents came to visit us. Gram and Pap had never been to our new house so it was nice to have them see the place. We were able to spend some good quality time together. On Saturday we went to see The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. I had only ever been outside the church and not inside. I had no idea how beautiful it was inside. We went to mass on Saturday afternoon so it was a nice experience to be there with family. I have put a few pics of the church below, but they really don't do it justice.

On Sunday we "christened" our new dining room table at the house. Mike and I just bought new furniture so Sunday was the first day we were able to use it. Donna made her always delicious braciole and gram made her famous apple pie. So it was a great way to end the visit. All in all it was a great visit and nice to spend time with family. I have a few pics of our meal that I will upload later.

The following weekend my mom and Nana came down to do some cooking as well. This weekend Mike's sister and family will be visiting and we will be heading to the boat. I can't wait to swim with my nieces and pull them around in our inner tube. I think it will be a great time and I will be sure to share pictures next week.

Heartbreaking

This is absoutly gut wrenching for me. Those of you who know me, you know that I am a total animal lover....so all this breaks my heart. I can't watch the stories on the news or read any of the articles anymore because I end up crying. The poor animals totally helpless and devastated by this oil. And it seems never ending......everyday there is a "new" date of when this will stop. In the mean time hundreds and thousands of animals are being killed. There is not enough man power to save them. Makes me wonder where are all the benefit concerts, and fund raisers to help save our oceans???? Ugh...I feel so helpless. I wish I could quit my job and go save all the animals. Day 50 and no end in sight.....

Memorial Day

I apologize this post is a bit late but things have been busy around here. As per usual we headed down to the boat for a weekend of sun and relaxation. And the weekend turned out to be just that. The weather was perfect and I had plenty of time to relax. The weather was so great we actually slept out on the water one night. Which is so peaceful and beautiful. I have attached picture from sunset and sunrise. The water was still a bit cold so I only got in super quickly to cool off. As always it was great to be with family and friends for the holiday. No major food update except I am embarrassed to say how much food we had so lets just say none of us went hungry for the weekend. I did make the PB cookies again and they were such a hit they may become a staple for boat weekends.

So the official kickoff to the summer was a success and I will be posting about many more weekends to come.

Happy Summer!!

Louie dead tired after an afternoon of swimming

Me and my Nana

Sunset on the water

Sunrise on the water...it was so calm that mike took advantage and went wake boarding at 7am

our raft up

Second Try- Take 2

So I am sure you remember my "bad" baking experience for mothers day.....anyone? Well I do and can you tell I am a little bitter about it. haha. I am not a huge fan of baking failure. Anyway the pound cake I made that day called for Oreos (which I don't usually buy) so I had all these extra Oreos and I didn't want to eat them all. So what to do with all these delicious cookies? I decided that I wanted to give baking another try. Yes I must admit those PB cookies were AWESOME but I needed another success to get over the pound cake. So I found a recipe for Oreo Cheesecake Bars and thought they sounded perfect. I mean how can you go wrong with Oreos and cheesecake??


mmmmmmmmmmmm OREOsssssssss

So the crust is made out of Oreo's and there are Oreo's in the bars. The recipe called for 23 cookies for the crust but I wouldn't have had enough if I did that to add some to the mixture. So I think I used about 17 which was plenty. Below is a pic of the crust. I really liked that you line the pan with foil to make for a super easy clean up.


Here they are fresh out of the oven....I don't have a picture of the actual cut bars bc they had to chill overnight and then I brought the whole pan into work. No way could I leave these at home!! They turned out to be a hit and they were super easy to make. So if you need something fun, cool, and easy for your summer get together, I highly recommend these bars.


and a cute pic of my little man....he was standing at my feet the whole time hoping that I would drop some goodness for him.

Memorial Nautical Weekend

So it's almost Memorial Day and that means time for bbqs, pool parties, summer food, and boats. I of course love the boat aspect of it. It is the official kick off weekend to the boating season and that means time to get your tan on while drinking ice cold drinks. When people think of boats I feel the first thought goes to nautical clothing. The classic blue and white stripped pattern. Maybe this cute dress.....

or perhaps this cozy hoodie..........................................





Or maybe these boat shoes..........................












What will you all be doing for the long weekend? Will any of you be sporting your nautical gear? As many of you know I will be headed down to the boat for the weekend. I don't really have nautical gear....mostly PSU tees and shorts ( I guess that can count bc it is still blue and white) I am extra excited because my sister will be in town so I will be able to get some QT in with the family. I hope you all have a great weekend I will be posting pics when I get back.


PS. I know it's only Tuesday but I am ready for the wkend.

Second Try

So I wasn't too pleased with my last baking experience so I had to try again....but what to make? I had this recipe for oatmeal peanut butter cookie sandwich cookies and I thought I would give them a shot. It is my old bosses bday today and I know she loves peanut butter so what better way to celebrate a birthday than with PB cookies. The recipe seemed easy enough and I like to have a reason to use my mother kitchen aid mixer. The only thing I had to buy that I don't normally have on had was heavy cream for the filling.

These cookies were super easy to make and whats even better is they only took 8 minutes to bake! I was hoping I wouldn't be up too late baking and filling the cookies. As you can see the batter doesn't make many cookies. Well for sandwiches that is...I only made about 15 sandwich. So next time I will defiantly double the batch.

My handy dandy my cookie scooper helped make the Perfect size cookie balls. I did hand roll them all after I scooped them, hoping they would turn out in uniformed shape. I probably could have made them a bit smaller.

I am not a huge PB fan so I was hoping this would help deter me from eating them all. So I actually did not try one last night. But I must admit I just ate one and it was delish!! I had to make sure they were tasty before I took them to my boss. They were so soft and chewy and tasty I will make sure to have another one after lunch today. I 100% recommend this recipe to everyone. Especially those peanut butter lovers out there.




PS. No judging my picture to the website pic. Hers are too perfect!

Perfect Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day!!!

3 Generations....so good looking aren't we. hehe

I hope you all had a great Mothers Day. I know that I did spending time with Mom and Nana. I prepared a special meal for Saturday night. I tried 2 new recipes and they were both a big hit. I made a sun dried tomato pesto for pasta and also added chicken, spinach, artichokes, and goat cheese. So I guess you would call it Chicken pasta with sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese. The rest of the things were just an added bonus. I also made a cookies and cream pound cake for dessert. Although, I must admit that the pound cake was a little crisp around the edges. But a little ice cream makes everything better. I spent most of the day Saturday cleaning and preparing dinner so I would have everything ready when the fam arrived. That way all I had to do was make the pasta and then throw everything else in that I had already chopped, cooked, or shredded.

It was so great to see Nana. She looks great and is doing really well. Hard to believe she is 92!

Saturday we all visited and had a great dinner. Then on Sunday morning Mike and I took everyone out for breakfast. We went down to the National Harbor.......in hopes that it would be nice and we could walk around....but it was pretty chilly. All in all it was a great weekend. I am so happy that Nana will be here for a month so I will get to visit with her a lot more. Hopefully I will be spoiled and have some of her amazing meals.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

All the supplies for the pound cake

Finished product with chocolate glaze

all the ingredients for the sun dried tomato pesto

sun dried tomato pesto

action shot mixing everything in the pasta

Finished product..mmmmmm!

The men with their Bloody Marys

No caption needed. :)

2 of my favorite people

and it wouldn't be complete without the Lou man