Catching Up!

Wow - how pathetic am I? Over 4 months and no post. Well I do have an excuse (see item #1). Since it's been so long we'll do a list of things that have been on the forefront lately. Warning, this is kind of long.

1. Had a baby on 2/4/11 at 8:25 PM after 21 hours of labor. Thank you Mr. Anesthesiologist, my epidural made all the difference. I just love this little Maizie baby. She is the cutest thing ever. A favorite thing right now is the HUGE smiles we get in the morning after we get her out of her crib. And no - she is not sleeping through the night yet. :)

2. Post pregnancy body is not the best and my schedule doesn't allow for a lot of working out. So I have been buying some tops that hide the 'tire'. My favorite place, although somewhat pricey, is Lucky Brand at the gateway. Seriously, almost all my shirts come from there. There's also an outlet up in Park City and they have taken plenty of cash from me. I'm also a big ebayer so I watch for tops there too.

3. Favorite place I went and had lunch at recently - Les Madeleines located in downtown Salt Lake City. This is not to be confused with my favorite place in TX called Le Madeleine. I had the turkey avocado sandwich and a kouing aman. DELISH. Will be going back very soon.

4. Ok for those of you that know me, know that I used to be this CRAZY reader. I used to read upwards of 70 books a year. Yeah, now we're lucky if I finish one a month. Reason - see item #1. However, I am trying to be better. I have made my Summer reading wish list. 3 of the books on that list are: The Heretic's Daughter, Russian Winter, and The Wild Rose (this is a series that I got way sucked into). Hoping to read at least 1 1/2 books a month.

5. Since I have the post pregnancy 'tire' I have been trying to make meals out of our cooking light book. Boy have I found some delicious recipes out of there. One of the recipes that both Jared and I have enjoyed is a Shredded Turkey Alfredo Pizza. See, I have a husband who would have alfredo sauce running through his veins instead of blood if he had his druthers. You can find the recipe here. http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/turkey-alfredo-pizza-10000000521632/. Very easy and doable on a weeknight. P.S. if you can't find Fontina cheese you can use Gruyere.

6. Went back to work part time and it's the BEST schedule ever! I work Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I got very lucky that I was able to work this out. Love my 3 day weekends.

7. I have a serious addiction to sour watermelons lately. I discovered they had a 5 lb bag of these at Dick's grocery store. NO . . . I did NOT purchase them.

8. Highlight of my Sunday night is Masterpiece Theatre. When Maizie goes down for her short 40 minute naps on my days off, this is what I am catching up on instead of doing laundry and cleaning my house. Love the Classic lineup they do for Winter/Spring. Still waiting to see what Summer/Fall schedule is.

9. Survivor - yes I am still one of those people that watches this show after being on for 100 years. I can't help but laugh at how ridiculous the cast is most of the time.

10. I LOVE my life. I have so many wonderful people and things that I am so grateful for. I have the best husband who is my best friend and honestly the most kind guy in the world. I have the most amazing friends who help me out and add so much happiness. My family is the best and they have been so great to us and Maizie. So many things that I have to be thankful for.

I love Christmas Treats

One thing I absolutely LOVE about the holidays is the excuse to eat all these delicious treats and do the kind of baking that you only do around the month of December. Typically I'll do what I call my Super Saturday and that's where I pick a handful of treat recipes and I'll just bake all day. However, given the motherly condition that I'm in this year the Super Saturday just isn't going to happen. But last week I got an email from Eagle Brand (Sweetened Condensed Milk) that had some recipes on it and one caught my eye. I made it this last weekend and almost ate half the pan. I took it to my little Beehive class on Sunday and they were more than willing to help me eat it. Recipe is below along with a Thanksgiving Belly Status pic.

1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter
2 (6 oz.) packages white chocolate squares or white baking bars, chopped
3/4 cup chopped peanuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
LINE 8- or 9-inch square pan with wax paper, extending paper over edges of pan.
HEAT sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter in heavy saucepan over medium heat until just bubbly, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in white chocolate until smooth. Immediately stir in peanuts and vanilla.
SPREAD evenly in prepared pan. Cool.
CHILL, covered, 2 hours or until firm. Remove from pan by lifting edges of wax paper. Cut into squares.

Happy Holidays to all my blahg readers and enjoy the treat if you make it.

Soup Season

Fall is my absolute favorite season. I'm not a photographer at all and so I don't have amazing pics of the scenery here in Utah but I do have something else to offer . . . a soup recipe. I found this recipe off of allreceipes.com and consider myself lucky that I did so.

One of my 2 favorite places to eat when I go back home to Texas is a little french bakery called La Madeleine. And everytime I go I prepare myself to over eat because it's so good and I have to get my fill in before heading home to Utah.

This recipe that I found tastes EXACTLY like La Madeleine's. Love it. I eat this with some surdough bread toasted with butter on each slice. I love dipping it into this soup.

Super easy and I hope you try it.

Tomato Basil Soup

2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes

1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth

18 fresh small basil leaves, minced

1 tsp sugar

1 cp whipping cream

1/2 cp butter

First, I like to puree the tomatoes even further to make it super creamy. If you don't like chunks, like I don't, I always use my blender. In a large saucepan, bring to boil the tomatoes and broth. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add minced basil and sugar. Reduce heat to low; stir in cream and butter. Cook until butter is melted.

So yummy!

We're Still Alive

Ok, I have truly fallen off the deep end but there is a very good explanation. I'm going to keep this short. Notice, I said WE are still alive . . .

Meet the newest addition to the Evan's Family. I can't get the stupid pic to rotate but you get the point. I haven't even unleashed my little womb inhabitant upon Facebook yet. Some of you know, and some don't. And some find out when they see me at church when they haven't seen me in months because we don't cross paths.

Needless to say, I was missing for a LONG time because our little BE (baby Evans) was reeking havok on my body and I got quite acquainted with the toilets in my house. Enough said. I was very sick, and sick a lot. Not to the point where I was in the hospital but sick enough to where I was on 2 different pills and I considered myself a dependant on those things.

And lastly - who is little BE? Well this is Jared's and my daughter - Maizie (May-Zee) Laine Evans.

Due Date is 1/28/11. Officially on the downhill slope and hoping she comes into this world during a complete blizzard.

Oh my Marshmallow

I don't know about you but there is something about any treat that requires some form of marshmallow. I'm all over it. This week my sister Cerise emailed me a recipe that is a total winner. If you don't normally make anything I post on this blahg I highly suggest that you make a change and make this. Its to die for good.

Deluxe Chocolate Marshmallow Bars

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups flour

3 Tbs baking cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

10.5 oz package mini marshmallows

1 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter

3 Tbs butter

2 cups rice krispies

Preheat over to 350 and grease a 9x13 baking pan. In a small bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Spread in prepared pan and bake for 15-18 minutes. Sprinkle with marshmallows and bake 2-3 minutes longer. Let cool completely. After cooled, in a saucepan combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and 3 Tbs butter and melt over low heat stirring until blended. Remove from heat and stir in the rice cereal. Spread over cooled bars and then chill.

For your Summer Reading List

Ok I know summer is still a good month and half out but if you need a book on your list here's one. This was the best book I read during the first quarter of 2010. This book is long and takes awhile to get into. But I got sucked into it. If you are a serious reader then you'd enjoy this. Its one of those books that has an ok beginning, a good middle and a super good ending. But you have to be willing to give it the time to get there. Its the story of 2 conjoined twins separated at birth in Ethiopia and their story of growing up. Good Summer fiction. Didn't expect to like it and I loved it.

2 For the Money - 1 For the Show

Ok so it no secret that Muse has been a favorite band of mine for awhile. I about lost it when I found out they were stopping in SLC in April for a concert. I was on Jared's laptop the day after Christmas buying tickets at 8:30 AM. We went to the concert on Monday April 5th and had the BEST time. BEST CONCERT EVER. I don't care who you are - go see these guys if you can. They are amazing musicians and they really shine live. Jared took a few pics with his phone while we were there. The SLC concert had the most random group. I had 2 ten year old boys in front of me and then a rockin' older lady next to me.

But here's the funny thing - I got to see these guys again in Vegas at Mandalay Bay that weekend! Crazy huh? So I just happened to email a favorite friend of mine who lives there and told her to go see them. In the matter of an hour she had 2 tickets and wanted me to come down. So I did. It was a quick trip to Vegas but we were super close to the stage like 5 rows away on the side and it was amazing all over again.

Can't wait to go again.