oat stacks

Hi blog peeps!  I posted twice yesterday, to try and catch up with half of what I did on Sunday.  I still have all of the Hanukkah party photos [from Sunday] for this post + today’s action.  Why am I always so so so bizzy when I’m home!?

Rewind. Sunday night.  Dinner. Our house.

Tons of deli meats from a Jewish Deli + bread + salad + potato pancakes [latkes]

I wasn’t feeling meat so I made a portabella burger + topped it with herbed goat cheese + roasted peppers. Mmm… I may or may not have gotten ragged on for eating ALL veggies…and taking non-stop photos. :) All in good fun though!

Notice the plates.  They are some sort of recycled, eco friendly, plates.  Good job mom :) 

I also had 1/2 of a latke with the best latke topper EVER….applesauce!!!  It looks like a small portion but they were about 5-6” in diameter.  Twas’ deelish.

Aunt Sherie + AJ

Sher + Jenna

I made pArTaY martinis and had NO clue what I was doing…hehehe

Choco Mint Martini:

• Bailey’s Irish Creme [original or mint]
• Vanilla vodka
• Rumplemintz – peppermint schnopps [unless you use bailey’s mint, then you might not need this]
• splash of cream    

1. I grabbed a martini shaker and “shit in” [technical term when not formally measuring…I swear it is…my grandma told me, hehehe] 1:1 on the Bailey’s + Vodka.  Then added about 1/2 as much schnopps.  The splash of cream was added to each drink.

I thought they were o.k. The flavor was good, but it was just too rich + thick for me.  I also dusted the rims with cocoa powder.

Crazy pile o’ gifts. [point n’ shooooot time]

My mom got all the kids safety light sticks.  This thing is actually pretty sweet.  It has a flashlight on one end, a whistle on the other, it lights up red, and you can also have it flash red.  She told me I can use it if I’m stuck in the snow in CO ;) Silly!

I think this was my favorite gift this year.  Thanks mom!!!  She had to go to 5 different Targets to find it.  Oh, it’s a xmas tree ornament…which is hilarious that I got it on Hanukkah.  We always used to joke and say the Christmas tree was actually a Hanukkah bush.  We’re weird!

Come to think of it…my bro got me some pretty sweet gifts as well.  He got me “the spices of india” from World Market, which came in a sweet box aaaaand he got me a sea salt sampler, which you will soon see photographed.  Honestly though, I was more excited to give gifts to everyone than receive.  I’m sure that sounds cheesy but I put a lot of thought into the gifts I give…and love watching people open them! :) 

This year I finally made our wedding photo album and gave copies to my parents, g’rents, and aunt + uncle. They loved it!!!  

How strange is it that all the women [except Jenna] had on almost the same color sweater with big buttons?  I thought it was pretty hilarious.  I walked downstairs in the morning with it on and looked at my mom with almost the same sweater on, just with long sleeves…I’m like, how did this happen??  Then later my grandma and aunt too!?  How weird!

Jenners + me :)

Dessert!  Awesome, delicious cookie!!  This is called “Air Kichel.”  They “ch” is pronounced with a really throaty noise…are you familiar with this?  Like the bread, “Challah.”  It is a super light Jewish cookie that normally isn’t twisted with the fruit inside.  It is normally square with a big pocket of air inside and a crispy thin shell with large chunks of sugar stuck on top.  They are one of my favorite cookies ever!!  This was a new spin on them…twisted with apricot inside.  They were good, but didn’t stay as crisp.  I like the originals more.  mmmmm brownie + peppermint icecream

MONDAY: 

I called AJ + Jenna to see if they wanted me to make them breakfast.  Their answer = YES.  I said I would make them oatmeal with any toppings, oatmeal pancakes, or scrambled eggs + toast.  They chose #3.  I wanted pancakes so I made those as well.

Oatmeal pancakes for 2:  These were pretty good…I would make them again.  They are definitely not a light + fluffy pancake, but nice and dense and definitely fill you up!

• 3/4c. quick oats
• 1/4c. oat bran
• 1/4c. flour
• 1/2T sucanat [or brown sugar]
• 1 egg
• 1c. vanilla almond milk
• 1t cinnamon
• 1t vanilla
• 1/2tsp baking soda
• dash o’ salt

1. Whisk wet ingredients together.  Stir in dry, until just combined.  Let sit ~15min. 
2. Pour + flip as you prefer.  You might find that you need to add more liquid, it depends how thick you want them.  I added an extra 2T once I started cooking them.

AJ loved clementines!

I found this hilarious plate in the cupboard.  My brother made it when he was 5.  LOVE.IT.

Oat.Stacks.

No, I did not eat all of these.  My mom had 1, AJ + Jenna had the 2 babies and 2 medium sized, and I had 2 large [bout 5” diam"].  They were super filling!

Oatmeal banana samich, with a little butta’ + syrup.

OSU mug of coffee!!  I made it way too strong.  I hate that about a new bag of coffee.  I got a little sample pouch of coffee from World Market.  It was something like: caramel, toffee, vanilla?  IT was yummy but I couldn’t drink more than 1/3 of the mug!

I didn’t realize until looking at the photos, that I made a face with the plate + pancakes.  The eyes + eyebrows on the plate and the butter nose and banana smile.  hehehe

I did get some meat in today!!  I actually really like pastrami…mom made me a sandwich to go when we ran errands on rye bread with a litttle swiss.  mmmm + a juicy pear

This tree was in Anthropolgie, the coolest store ever.  I have never actually gone in that store, can you believe it!?  It was soooooooooo hard to walk out empty handed.  I didn’t even look at the clothes, either!  All of the plates, little bowls, measuring sets, tons of CUUUUTE stuff.  A total “me” store.  A great store to find gifts for your girlfriends too!    

So, anywho…this tree was made with paper and plastic bottles.

i.want.this.book.

Monday night dinner was with mom + dad.  It was super simple and so delicious.  This bottle of sauce caught my eye at World Market.  I think I have seen it at WF as well.  It was $5.99 which is more than I normally like to spend on sauce, but it sounded awesome and I am a sucker for good packaging.  [loved the label]

Also made oven roasted brussel sprouts and my mom made the salad.  I put the sauce on yummy whole wheat shells from WF.

I give the sauce a 8.5/10.  It was seriously so so good, however I would have liked a little more squashy flavor.  It actually tasted like roasted red peppers more than squash.  You could still taste the squash though.  It was super creamy, but not full of fat and would taste fabulous on roasted veggies.  The ingredient list only had a few things on it too.  Spending a little more on store bought sauce really makes a difference!

I forgot that one of the errands today was going to Trader Joes with my mom.  I haven’t been in a TJ’s in over 3 months.   Colorado has some great stores, but still nothing exactly like TJ’s.  I didn’t really realize how much I missed it, until I went to one again.  I got as many things as I thought I could fit in my suitcase.  I am most excited for the pumpkin butter and dk. chocolate covered pomegranates. 

Dessert was over at my Uncle’s house.  5 of us split this medium sized caramel apple.  Much better than my caramel apple disaster in October, hehehe. 

This, plus another slice of apple…and who am I kidding…I ate the whole cupcake!

Off for another action packed day tomorrow.  Going to breakfast with Melissa, her son Jake and her mom, along with my mom and Jenna.  Yes this is Melissa from Colorado.  We went to high school together and live about 2min from each other at home in Ohio :)