Gluten Free Brownie Bake-Off Contest

This morning, I ended up making three different pancake recipes for three different dietary needs. It was chaos, but it was interesting to compare the recipes side-by-side.

I'll go into detail in another post, but we've had Jason off dairy for a few weeks (he had "pancakes" consisting of 2 eggs and a non-ripened banana in the blender - surprisingly good!) and as of Friday, I took the boys off gluten/wheat/flour. They've been fine with it! I made four-ingredient Greek Yogurt Pancakes with Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose flour and everyone enjoyed them, even Mike. For me, I made my go-to: Biggest Loser Oatmeal Pancakes. 

This afternoon when I was in the mood to bake and everyone was craving a sweet treat, I suggested that we have a brownie-making contest. I am embarrassed to say that I have SEVEN flourless brownie recipes on my Pinterst board and have been wondering which is best. I've made the Clean Eating Brownies and they were good (souffle-like), but I wanted to compare them to another recipe or two. We couldn't make this recipe because we were out of bananas and this one required pumpkin. But I had plenty of recipes left to choose from.

We started with boys vs. girls making three recipes and added a fourth when the kids asked if they could switch parent partners after the first recipe. 

Brownie #1 (Chef Kaylin and Chef Mommy)

"Zucchini Paleo Brownies" made with almond butter, grated zucchini, honey, egg, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chips.

Brownie #2 (Chef Ryan and Chef Mike)

"Best Gluten Free Brownies Ever" made with almond butter, eggs, agave nectar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and chocolate chips.

Brownie #3 (Chef Ryan and Chef Mommy)

"Sweet Potato Paleo Brownies" made with melted chocolate (chips), cooked sweet potatoes, honey, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and just 1 T each coconut oil and coconut flour. I left out the cocoa powder (we ran out) but adding a little extra coconut flour (unsweetened, shredded coconut in a coffee bean grinder) and some chocolate chips on top.

Brownie #4 (Chef Kaylin and Chef Mike)

"Chickpea Brownies" made with Starbucks Via, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), eggs, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, sugar (we used agave nectar) and canola oil (could use coconut, but we followed the recipe for this ingredient).

We measured, mixed, baked, cleaned, waited, cut, tasted, and voted. At one point, Mike said, "I wonder what we should have for dessert?" Smart alec.

Brownie #2 was the only one that got a "thumbs up" from all of us. Of course, Jason voted all four brownies a "thumbs up" - the only "thumbs down" was from Ryan on Brownie #4. He HATED the coffee flavor. Mike wants me to add a Starbucks Via to Brownie #2. It was a little strong for my taste, but a little might enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

This bake-off was a fun family activity. It was fun for me, obviously, because I love to bake, but Mike and the kids even got really into it. Mike committed to his two recipes without complaining and Ryan didn't check out until Jason woke up from his nap and was ready to wrestle. We need to all work together in the kitchen more often!

Weekend Getaway (...kind of...)

Thanks to Tastefully Simple, I earned one of the fun incentive trips for Mike and I this year. The 2012 destination was Cancun, Mexico. This year? Beautiful, sunny Phoenix, Arizona!!! (ooh...ahhh...)

The consultants who left their backyards full of snow in Minnesota were thrilled with this vacation spot., but I was slightly underwhelmed. At least we didn't have to waste a day on each end traveling! The resort was so close, Mike didn't even take Thursday off of work.

On the first day, my mom and the kids joined me at the resort's water park. It was fun having them around, but I was glad to see them go at the end of the day, knowing that we had a full weekend of grown up time!!!

Since I was one of the TWO locals, many of my TS friends asked me to be their liquor lady. I reminded them that Phoenix is very dry and ended up with 16 cases of water and lots of soda in the back of my vehicle. I had the only low-rider mini-van in all of metro Phoenix. It was so packed full of boxes of beer, bottles of wine and other liquid goodies, that Mike had to take our suitcase to work with him because it wouldn't fit. 

One of the best parts of the trip was getting to hang out with my California friend, Stefanie.  Our husbands have become friends and we all get along like peas and carrots. Our Mikes have been renamed Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper. They look like they're filming The Hanger IV when they walk around together.

We ate a lot this weekend...

I tried being good, but everyone was in "vacation mode" 

By the end of the trip, I was back to craving dessert. This mountain of chocolate was heavenly!

Soft Pretzel Provolone Fondue, anyone? It was so filling we didn't even end up ordering lunch afterward. Best appetizer I've ever had, bar none.

We hit the world-famous Pizzeria Bianco at an odd time so we wouldn't have to wait 2-3 hours for a table. Oprah has been, but Mike and I have not. How wrong is that?

Aunt Chilada's has a great happy hour and was right across from our resort. Too bad Mike didn't catch on that I was no longer eating healthy - he grabbed himself some nachos from the bar and brought me back a carrot and a piece of broccoli. Is that a hint...???

On Saturday, my mom brought the kids back up to enjoy the lazy river and the waterslide.

My brave Jason went down the HUGE twisty slide and begged for more!

Kaylin loved playing with Stefanie's baby girl.

...and Jason found his future wife. He adored her! I think he needs a baby sister...

As much as we enjoyed our couples time, it was fun having a mini vacation with the kids. Many other people brought their families and the kids had a blast getting to see us while we were supposed to be "away".

Back to reality for us. We eased into homeschooling today and my body is SCREAMING at me for the horrendous workout I put it through this morning. Detoxing off sugar and flour has been a challenge today, but we'll all be back to normal before we know it. Long live weekend getaways!!!

The next trip I'm trying to earn is Puerto Vallarta. And to think...we never used to have the money to travel, now Tastefully Simple sends us all over the continent for free! I love my job.

Snow Day, 2012

We haven't been up north to play in the snow in three years, so it was officially time. Last trip, the big kids were 3 and 5 and didn't last long because we didn't dress them properly. (apparently jeans get cold when they're soggy) We borrowed what we could from friends and pieced together the rest ourselves.  This year, Ryan wasn't scared of flying down steep hills face first at warp speeds. Jason would have done the big hills alone, had we not stopped him because he refused to hold on to the handles and kept tumbling off. 

The little hills were fun until Ryan discovered a monster hill. It was steep, huge and packed flat with icy snow. The kids couldn't get enough of it.

Jason has never seen the white stuff in person and, although he enjoyed sledding, he had the most fun pelting us with snowballs. (we went up when he was 2 months old, but it doesn't count when you're asleep in an infant carrier the whole time)

We topped off the afternoon with cocoa, then pizza at Oregano's, before making the long drive home.

Jason passed out (napless) 15 minutes before we reached the house. And it wasn't until we unloaded the car that I realized my phone was missing. I think it slipped off my lap when I let Jason go to the bathroom on the shoulder of the highway in the middle of no where. (*sigh*) We were about 30 minutes outside of town, so we're going to see if we can find it later today. I'm thinking a new iPhone 5 might be in my future if we aren't able to locate the needle in the haystack!

New Children's Building

The new, long awaited children's building at our church is almost complete. The 3-6 year old kids are currently in a giant casino-looking tent that has tons of partitions to separate the groups into "classes" - and each one is bursting at the seems. I'm sure they'll be glad to get a real building with real walls and lots of room to move around.

Before they lay the carpet next week, our pastor invited the congregation to take markers and write on the concrete foundation. Prayers, scripture, whatever we wanted. It was a really neat concept and I happened to have the camera in the diaper bag, so I got some pictures! I thought I was all cool and figured out which side of the building Ryan's new class would be in, but I must have forgotten that he had a birthday because I just realized that we wrote on the foundation in the 3 year old rooms. Oh well...the thought was there!

Ryan wrote his name and Kaylin colored a picture. (and before I get questions, yes, it looks like Ryan is going to be left handed) I wrote out Proverbs 22:6 (Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it) and Mike wrote John 14:6. I mockingly asked if he was sure that was a good verse and he said, "I think it's 'I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.'" Then I had him doubting himself. So I looked it up and read a totally different passage that was something completely random about Jesus saying, "Whatever you are about to do, do it quickly." I know, I'm mean. He sat there for a minute, thinking, then said, "Are you serious?" I'm not usually the practical joker, so I thought I was pretty creative and got a good laugh out of that one.

Phoenix Children's Museum

Today we went with our mom's group to the new Phoenix Children's Museum. It was amazing! It's in an old high school, so it's 3 stories high and has seperated rooms with different themes and activities. There were all of these hands-on, child-sized sensory things for kids to touch, feel, and experience. Within the hour, I was so overstimulated that I stopped with the "Look over here - WOW! Check this out...Hey guys...did you see this cool thing?" and had a seat to just observe. If I was getting myself worked up, I can't imagine how the kids were feeling. I was just so excited with all of the fun stuff there was to see and do - I was like a kid myself! I wish it was in the budget to get an annual pass to this place - maybe next year. It's kind of beyond words, so I'll just narrate some of the pictures I took.

There was a child-sized grocery store with mini-carts, full aisles of food and a stock room in the "back"



Complete with a scale with beans and scoops



And 2 full check out counters (Ryan was checking Kaylin out...it was hilarious)



A kitchen, where Kaylin made "pizza" in a "wood-fired oven" (behind her)



An area with tons of contraptions to drop balls through



A designated area for the under 3 crowd with houses and slides and toys and all sorts of balls and stuff (this is Kaylin standing in the flower bed of one of the houses)



There was an ice cream cart with scoopers and cones

A place with musical things (this picture is hard to see, but there are pedals and levers for the kids to press and it bangs pots and pans, symbols and drums on the wall above.

And while Ryan made a monster mask-turned-hat...



...Kaylin added to the building covered in buttons (she loved putting the paper clips through the holes of the buttons...the things this place came up with for their motor skills was awesome!)...



...and painted a house that changes color every day...



...getting paint everywhere, including in her hair



There was an area with sand and rollers and things to "move" the sand (who needs tools when you have your whole body, Kaylin?)



And an area for kids to "drive" (or be chauffeured, as the case may be)



We spent over an hour in this next section...there was an old car and motorcycle for the kids to climb on (and fill with "gas") and a HUGE contraption to race wooden cars through.



We stayed much longer than most people. I brought us lunch, so after taking two food/rest breaks, the kids continued playing and were so well behaved, I didn't see a need to leave! We finally left just after 1:00 and the place was nearly empty. All of the other moms from our group were long gone. We will definitely be returning - Ryan wants to go tomorrow, but I told him we have to save up enough money to come again. We got over 1/3 off with our group rate, so maybe I'll try to get another group together sometime soon? (Local friends...wanna join us? I'll probably set it up for a Monday or Friday so Ryan won't be in pre-school)