Sunday, March 14, 2010

good memories: )

Although I have been CRAZY busy this semester, the days I actually have been able to spend some time with family and friends has been AWESOME! I definitely have made some happy memories over the past month!

We celebrated my birthday a little late this year with a YUMMY dinner at Tres Mexicanos! I did NOT wear the birthday sombrero, but I did open a few gifts: ) Thanks, Mom and Dad!




One of my favorite gifts this year were my heart-shaped baking pans! Aren't they cute!?! I have been baking up a storm...



This is my favorite recipe! They might be my best muffins yet!

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

My Changes
I use the Splenda blend instead of sugar, and I also add some nutmeg and cinnamon. I have made mini muffins instead of regular ones as well as heart-shaped muffins, and I like use mini chocolate chips. They bake about 16 minutes. AND...I don't use my mixer - I just stirred everything by hand to avoid more dishes! YUM!

Mom and Dad joined us for fondue in February! Part of Dad's Christmas present was for him to be our first fondue guest! We received a fondue pot from Mom and Dad at one of our wedding showers, and we finally put it to use! SO MUCH FUN! Fondue is a Wilkinson family tradition, and Nick and I plan to keep it going! We had salad, baked potatoes (and sweet potatoes), ciabatta rolls, and beef. So much fun: ) I need to print the photos and put it in my fondue scrapbook!



Nick and I went to a wine tasting at Pachamama's a few weeks ago. We had been wanting to attend one of the wine tastings for quite some time, but we had not given it a try yet. I was perusing their Web site one afternoon, and I saw that the next wine tasting would feature Santa Barbara wines! We knew we had to go! We dressed up a bit and spent a couple hours at the bar wine tasting and munching on hors d'oeuvres. The wines were delicious! One of our favorites was the Firestone sauv blanc!

We forgot to take our picture while we were out, so we took one at home: )


This weekend I met Malinda's little boy, Ethan, for the first time! He is precious! Erin, Jane, and I went out to Malinda's parents' house, and we ate pizza and watched the KU game - all while passing around Ethan: ) I didn't take a pic with Ethan, but I am sure I will in the next couple of days when I head to OK to spend a few days with Malinda and her little family! I can't wait!

Erin and Ethan


Jane and Ethan


Malinda finally enjoying an adult beverage: )


Saturday morning I woke up early and went for my long run. I showered up, and then I went to KC with Mom and Claire. We had so much fun! We wandered around Archiver's for a LONG time, and we bought so much cute stuff! I have done a pretty good job of keeping my scrapbook updated since the wedding (I am only behind on my journaling!), so I picked up some cute papers and stickers for my January and February pages. On our way home, we stopped at a new cupcake place - Smallcakes Cupcakery. We saw their sign and decided to stop, share a cupcake, and...take some pics: ) SO YUMMY!








I spent the evening with Nick and Callie: ) Nick and I have been catching up on the first few seasons of How I Met Your Mother (Sarah and Steve let us borrow them - thanks!) and really enjoying our time together: )

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Smallcakes is soooo good! They put one close to us in Olathe. It is hard to not go every week and get some. Also, glad you are enjoying HIMYM together. :) love!