Smile :)

"We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do." - Mother Teresa

50 years...bow chicka

This past weekend, we celebrated my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary out in freezing cold, snow boots required....erie, pa. My brother has a swim meet almost every weekend so we brought the celebration to him so he wouldn't miss out. Here are some pictures...



From left: My Uncle Greg and Aunt Tammy, Dad and Mom, Brother,
Gpa, Camille, Gma and Me!



An Irish Dinner @ Molly Brannigans! - I had a boxty which is basically a potato pancake sandwich. Sooo good.







My Brother and his girlfriend Annie -
aka: my new favorite person.

The weekend was full of 50 years of stories, good food, belly busting laughter and lots of wine. Yay family!



Pittsburgh "Power" Bars

So I recently went to Pittsburgh (and yes, I hate the Steelers) to celebrate a few of my best friend's birthdays! Since I'm trying to save some money, I decided to make a healthy and filling oatmeal bar for the trip. I used this recipe from cdkitchen, but I added dried pomegranates, walnuts and chocolate.

They were easy, inexpensive and healthy-ish.



They powered us through a weekend of birthday shenanigans! Here's a picture of myself with the two birthday girls - who just happen to be some of the best friends in the world :)

Quote of the Week

"When it is darkest, men see the stars" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Brussels Sprouts Burps

So in a very courageous act of grocery shopping, I picked up a pound of brussels sprouts.

I went about preparing...

and sauteing...

and adding feta cheese and a honey mustard butter sauce...

and pairing with an orange and sparkling water...

and taking pretty pictures...

and YUCK. They were disgusting. Now I realize brussels sprouts don't have the finest reputation, but still...YUCK. The worst part was I had to re-live the meal, again and again that day due to the brussels sprouts burps. I'm not saying I've given up on the little green goblins, but it's going to be awhile before I gain that kind of courage again. On the bright side, the sparkling water and orange were awesome.

Drum roll please...

Aheeeem. After months of thinking/designing/sitting in front of my computer for endless hours...the first blog entry has arrived. The reason it took me so long? I am really freaking busy.
However, without further delay: the first recipe.

Num Yummys.

Say what?  All the kudos to my forever roomie, Jackie, who first introduced me to this little treat two years ago. These delicious squares have many names - the saltine cracker dessert, that chocolate and cracker bark, blah, blah, blah. We named them num yummys. Taste and you will understand.

Now there are a variety of different recipes out there, and lets face it - most will probably work because it's hard to mess up sugar, butter, chocolate and crackers, but this is how I go about it -

1 stick of butter

1 cup sugar

1 sleave of saltine crackers

1 12 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used half chocolate/white chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and line crackers in a single layer.

Melt butter and combine with sugar. Bring to a boil.  Pour hot butter and sugar mixture over crackers and coat evenly. Bake for 5-7 minutes (don't let them burn!).

Sprinkle chocolate chips on crackers immediately and spread evenly as it melts. Place in refrigerator (or freezer for those impatient like me) until hardened. Break apart and enjoy.

Bliss, guaranteed.