Well, I found this recipe on the Better Homes and Garden website to create for their blog, Delish Dish. Did you know I’m a contributor there? I sure am! Anyways, I made these because my daughter saw them and just about died.

“Mom, lets make THOSE. Puh-leeeeeeeeeeeeeease?”

Twist my arm.

So, we made them and loved them and think you will too! Head on over to the Delish Dish Blog for all the step by step photos and the recipe! Have a great Monday!

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Post tags: almond, cake, cherry, cupcakes, vanilla

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-Blake went from 8 lb. 2 oz at birth to 7 lb. 11 oz two days later when we went to the dr’s office for his first initial check up. The doctors said it was normal and that his weight would be back up soon.

- At the two week check up, be was up to 8 lb. 14.5 oz. Basically, my milk is pure GOLD. He’ll be chunky in no time. I’m pretty sure he’s almost 10 lbs!

-He’s in size one diapers and enjoying life a little more. Those newborn ones were getting pretty snug! He’s also grown out of a few newborn clothes too. I’m both sad and happy about this. He’s growing so fast!

-Brooke is slowly adapting to her baby brother and is learning to be patient as am I. For the most part, she is really great and shows her love for her brother. My heart melts every time I see them together. I’ve turned into such a sappy mom!
-Getting any work done is very very difficult with 2 children. This means I’ve gotten pretty good at typing with one hand….and doing absolutely everything with my iPhone while I’m nursing the baby.-I took paternity leave for granted for sure. Also, it flew right by. I can’t nap whenever I want to now and it sucks!! I took this picture after a 2 1/2 hour nap in the middle of the day!

-Honestly though, things could be much worse! He’s a good eater and a good night sleeper! Occasionally I’ll be up 4 times with this little rascal, but generally it’s just twice. And, I’ve even gotten a few 5 hours stretches in too! 11pm-4am, baby!! Oh yeah. My daughter wasn’t nearly this good. Hopefully in a few more weeks, we’ll be up to 6 hours.

-And, at first I was paranoid to wake him up to nurse every 3 hours, but now that his double chin is taking over, I’m totally fine with letting him sleep however long he’d like at night.

-I love this boy. And this boy loves his pacifier. At first he wanted nothing to do with it, but by week two, he was all over it. But just the mam kind. He won’t take anything else. Also, I love this photo. It makes me laugh a lot.

-Seeing my husband with a teeny tiny baby makes my heart melt and slightly makes me want to have a million more babies. But then I remember the pain and the nausea and the jelly belly aftermath and change my mind.

-Speaking of jelly bellys, I’ve lost most of my pregnancy weight and have about 6 pounds more to lose before I’m at my pre-pregnancy weight. Not too shabby. Except my official pre pregnancy weight was 10 pounds higher than my normal weight because of all the damn clomid I took. So, I guess if I wanted to be an overachiever, I’d aim for 16 pounds.

-I have no muscle tone anywhere. It’s frightening. I’m starting to adjust my eating habits, but nothing drastic for the time being. Nursing makes me starved most of the day. I’m just trying to increase my fruit and veggie intake.

-Just like with Brooke, Blake has a sensitive stomach and gets a lot of gas and hiccups. I’ve adjusted my diet so I don’t have caffeine, chocolate, carbonated drinks, spicy foods or dairy. I assume the weight will fall right off since I can’t have what I want. Gas drops are my BFF.

Do you have any tips on babies with sensitive tummies? Like how to keep them happy? He’s mostly just cranky in the evenings for an hour or two.

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Post tags: baby

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However, when KitchenAid wanted to work with us on finishing our kitchen, we jumped at the chance–even if it meant planning the kitchen around the baby.

Here are some before photos. As you can see in the first photo, we busted out some walls and built things up a bit to make the kitchen flow how we needed it to.

These were somewhat newer cabinets, but you could tell that they were cheaply made and had a lot of wasted space. I could have lived with this kitchen for a few years because I know it’s not THAT bad, but the cabinets were already starting to show wear and tear.

Also, the kitchen was a huge room with nothing in the center. Again, sort of a waste of space. So we planned our kitchen out and I forged ahead, trying to get cabinets, counters, appliance installers and everything planned around my due date.

Turns out babies don’t wait for anyone, even kitchen remodels, so we had the baby a few days before everything got installed and thankfully my husband was on paternity leave to not only help me but keep us organized and on schedule.

And voila!! Before we knew it, our kitchen was installed

One of my favorite things in my new kitchen in this KitchenAid duel fuel range. It’s so gorgeous!! I almost don’t want to use it because it’s so pretty. Except, I totally use it all the time. My Mom was the first one to use it making me lots of meals for my freezer Thanks, Mom!

I got some amazing shaker style white cabinets from Canyon Creek Cabinet Company. When we were talking about getting all new cabinets from CCCC, they were all about maximizing space–something we wanted to focus on. I’ll talk a lot more about the cabinets in a later post. Basically, I LOVE them.

Over by the window is our HUGE Moen sink and shiny faucet. One of the first things we did once the sink was installed {besides all our dishes} was bathe our little one It’s the perfect size for him, and will probably be that way until he’s 2! It’s seriously so huge.

To the right of the sink is our KitchenAid dishwasher and fridge. This dishwasher is the quietest thing in the world. I thought it was broken at first because I could hardly hear a thing when I turned it on.

Opposite the dishwasher and fridge is this Microwave-Oven from KitchenAid in our…..ISLAND! We’ve waited a long time to get this in and I LOVE all the counter space. I also love that we chose white cabinets for the wall and black ones for the island. We still did the same shaker style, but in a stained black ebony. It turned out so great. And, I love the silver handles on the black cabinets with the granite.

Here’s another view to give you an idea of what everything looks like. We got these bar stools from Ikea.

Oh, AND before I forget–our granite we picked out is from Oregon Tile and Marble. Once we picked out our slab from their show room, we worked with Elite Granite and Marble to get it cut and installed.

I love the finished look of the granite on the white and black cabinets. I originally wanted cararra marble but my husband wanted something that would be a little more practical and last longer. Darn husband…..

Overall though, I love the look that we achieved. Our backsplash was also from Elite Granite and Marble that my husband and Dad installed just the other day! That was the last thing we had to do to finish the kitchen!

Thank you to KitchenAid, Canyon Creek Cabinet Company, Moen, Oregon Tile and Marble and Elite Granite and Marble who helped us make our dream kitchen a reality! We love it!

Stay tuned for the next few posts I’ll be doing! I’ll explain all the details and have more photos of the renovating process.

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Post tags: kitchen renovation

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Thankfully my husband wasn’t THAT interested in me at the time to pay attention to my awful eating habits. #praisethelord

Then I wised up, dropped the weight and promised myself I would never ever buy the premade kind again AND if I did want some rice krispie treats, I’d make them myself. That’s what I promised myself waaay back when and I still do it to this day.

Since mon petit bebe has a sensitive stomach, I can’t really have dairy, chocolate or spicy food without him reacting in a bad way.

Screaming babies and I don’t really…..jive.

Anyways, I really wanted something chocolatey the other day and knew I couldn’t have it. WORST NIGHTMARE EVER.

But then I remembered that I like lemon a whole lot more, so I jumped aboard that train and made these little devils. Light, crispy, sweet and buttery! Just as good or maybe better than the original and ready in just a few minutes. My idea of a yummy treat.

Here’s the printable! Hope you enjoy

{And no I didn’t eat the entire pan, although it was close.}

Lemon & Browned Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Yield: 12 small squares

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
3 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
4 cups rice krispies

Directions:

In a small pot, melt butter over medium low heat. Continue to cook butter, swirling occasionally until golden brown, 7 minutes or so. Stir in marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Stir in lemon extract and cereal. Once rice krispies are coated evenly with marshmallow, pour into a greased 8x8 square dish. Press down with buttered fingers. Cool to room temperature and cut into bars.

www.laurenslatest.com

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Post tags: butter, lemon

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1. You forget what the term ‘well rested’ means.

2. Babies will cry NO MATTER WHAT sometimes. It makes you want to rip your ears off, but whatevs. I hear this is normal.

3. Feeding yourself plus a baby makes you starving 24/7.

4. With my mother in town willing to cook me whatever I’d like is making my weight loss a bit of a challenge.

5. I want my husband to quit his job and be a stay-at-home husband just so he can help me out all the live long day. And by help I mean let me have multiple naps all day.

6. My new baby is a little too curious for his own good. He is becoming more and more alert thus making it harder to be put to sleep therefore making me want to take naps. ALL. THE. TIME.

7. I also have a 2nd child I need to take care of too. Eff.

8. Did I mention I just want to nap all day?

So, yeah. Just a few things I thought I’d share. You’re welcome.

As you can tell, that had nothing to do with this recipe. *Being sleep deprived will do that.

Anyways, these are straight up crazy and delicious.

Also: 3 ingredients. Yes puh-lease. Nutter Butter cookies, nutella and marshmallows. So easy to throw together and so amazing! Please make these today. And then bring me some.

Here’s how you make them:

Start out with some Nutter Butters. You probably saw that coming…

Split all these little dudes in half….

and spread a generous amount of nutella on one of the halves.

Top with some mini marshmallows…

and stick under your broiler for 30 seconds or until things get all melty and golden.

Top with the other half of the cookie and voila! Nutter Butter Nutella S’mores.

One bite and you’ll be in heaven. PROMISE

Here’s the printable! Enjoy!

Nutter Butter Nutella S'mores

The yummiest and easiest treat ever!

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 4 minutes

Cook Time: 1 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

8 Nutter Butter Cookies
1/4 cup Nutella
mini marshmallows

Directions:

Preheat oven to broil. Split cookies in half. Spread bottom half of cookie with nutella and top with mini marshmallows. Broil until marshmallows are golden and melty. Top with other half of cookie and serve immediately.

© Lauren for Lauren's Latest, 2013. | Permalink | 23 comments | Stumble It! Tweet This Share on Facebook Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: marshmallows, nutella, nutter butter, Peanut butter

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Here’s how you can enter:

• Head on over and tell them which vacation package you would most like to win by visiting the “Find Your ESCAPE” photo album on the BOB Facebook page and “liking” the photo that corresponds with the vacation package.
• The vacation package that has received the most votes by May 31, 2013 will be offered as a giveaway to one grand prize winner in the BOB “Find Your ESCAPE” sweepstakes, beginning on June 3, 2013 and ending on June 30, 2013.

AND, because I’m a BOB Mom, I get to give away a $100 Spa Finder gift card to one of you lovely readers just in time for Mothers Day!

Do you love being pampered as much as I do? I’ll just assume yes for now All you have to do to enter to win is follow the directions in the widget below. That’s it! Happy early Mother’s Day

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this post. BOB supplied me with the same $100 Spa Finder as the winner will be receiving. All opinions expressed in this post are my own, as usual.

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Easy dinner!

I’m all about easy dinners these days since I’m exhausted and have 2 kids to take care of now. Who knew babies were so much work?

Hypothetical question….don’t answer that.

It takes a village. This is something I’m learning.

Anyways, here is how I made these….hold onto your hats. These are kind of crazy easy.

So, these all start with store bought fish sticks. These were beer battered halibut pieces from Trader Joes. Really tasty. Throw these into the oven to get crispy and golden.

While the fish is cooking, stir up a little taco sauce. All this is is equal parts mayo to sour cream with a little lime juice and taco seasoning. See? Easy peasy. Stir this together until smooth and set aside.

Your fish should still be cooking, so you can stir up a little salad. All that is in here is a can of black beans, a can of corn, diced tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, more lime juice with a little salt and pepper. YUM.

Also grab some lettuce

and tortillas. Now we can assemble

Here’s how she blows: tortilla, fish, lettuce, salad, avocado, sauce. Shovel that baby into your mouth and proceed to eat 14 more. You know you want to

Super tasty, super EASY and it won’t break the bank. My idea of a great dinner. Here’s the printable–

Have a great day!

The Easiest Fish Tacos

If you love tacos as much as I do, then these will be a big hit at your house, just like they were at mine!

Yield: 4 servings; 8 tacos

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

8 pieces frozen prepared fish sticks {got mine at trader joes}
8 small flour tortillas
lettuce
avocado

for the sauce:
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
juice of 1 lime

for the salad:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can sweet corn, drained
2 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup diced red onion
chopped cilantro, to taste
2 limes, juiced
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

Cook fish sticks according to package directions until golden and crispy.

While fish is cooking, make the sauce: stir all ingredients together until smooth.

For the salad, stir all ingredients together until evenly mixed.

To assemble, place 1 piece of fish onto 1 tortilla and top with salad, sauce, lettuce and avocado. Serve.

© Lauren for Lauren's Latest, 2013. | Permalink | 21 comments | Stumble It! Tweet This Share on Facebook Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: avocado, beans, fish, mexican

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