Meet my mom. Sweet. Selfless. Caring. Wonderful. This woman is super special!

For mom’s day I picked her up and drove out to Somis for some berry picking at the Underwood Family Farms. This is something that I have never done before (and also happens to be on my 101 in 1001 list!) so I was looking forward to it. I was very pleased with the experience and enjoyed the one on one time with my mom. We spent about an hour picking both raspberries and blueberries for our cobbler.

It was a beautiful day in the high 70s and the sun was shining down on these beauties. While I didn’t so much enjoy the bees around the raspberries, it was a little bit of an adventure for my mom and I as we scoured our way through the long lanes of berries. After about 10 minutes I realized the bees were pretty comfortable with people walking around and started picking without hesitation.

When we got home we made a yummy “cobbler” for dessert after our dinner. I decided to keep it simple and do it dump cake style. I have never done this recipe with fresh fruit before but it turned out wonderfully.

Fresh Berry Dump Cake (Cobbler)

• 1 box Yellow Cake Mix of choice
• 2-3 cups of Berries (enough to cover the whole bottom of a 9×13″ pan)
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2 sticks Butter (cold, sliced)
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar *optional
• Vanilla Ice Cream — Recommended!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray or butter a 9×13″ pan and pour berries (any mixture) over the bottom of the pan until complete covered. Sprinkle the berries and let sit for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the cake mix over the berries and slice your butter into 9 thin slices. Arrange the butter slices to cover the cake mix layer and sprinkle with brown sugar if so desired. Bake in the oven for approximately 50-60 minutes, until the berries are bubbling and the cake mix/brown sugar is golden.

Serve with ice cream and enjoy!

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

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Happy Birthday to my sweet man! Last Tuesday, my handsome turned 27 years old! This means that in just 7 short months I will be turning 28 — yikes! Originally we had discussed 28 as the year we would discuss the possibility of starting a family. Could that time really be here? With so much up in the air (my back pain, Garrett’s change in direction of career, etc), I find myself pondering our future and desiring to grow up a little bit faster.

Awhile back I came across the 101 in 1001 days initiative where people are challenging themselves to stretch themselves and grow within that 1001 days (approx. 2 ¾ years). I feel that now is my time to start a list of my own. I already have over 80 items on my list and feel energized and looking forward to completing these items. If you look at other bloggers’ lists you will find many lists are filled with ‘to dos’ — this was not my goal. My list includes things that will stretch us, grow us, better us, bring us joy and help us accomplish some of the things that we set out to do long ago.

I have dedicated a page to this list and hope that you will follow along as I enjoy completing each task. I will be posting about some of the experiences as I go along as well. If you have a 101 in 1001 list or start one anytime in the future, I would LOVE to check it out! So come on back and share your link in the comments :)

THE MISSION
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
THE CRITERIA
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).
WHY 1001 DAYS?
Many people have created lists in the past – frequently simple goals such as New Year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.
THE START DATE
4/1/12
THE END DATE
12/28/14

Check out my list and progress on the official page — HERE

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Happy Easter!

This year I came across some lovely ways to use eggs for Easter celebration and have to share them with you! I am so excited to hopefully try out a couple of these this year if I have time. At the end of this post I will also share a wonderful article on fun ways to  keep Jesus the main part of Easter!

My favorite — Adorable Easter egg cupcakes! via  Cupcake Project

DIY Speckled Eggs! via Southern Living

Oh, and I can not resist some awesome neon Easter eggs! via Oh Joy!

Leaf-print Easter eggs, too! via Apartment Therapy

Loved the idea of dying eggs using muffin tins — especially if you only want partial dying! via Parent Hacks

And last but not least, I thought I would share a fun link that I found on Pinterest — Ten fun ways to keep Easter about Jesus. Which is obviously the most important one! I pray that you all have a fun and blessed Easter celebration. My favorite part this year has been teaching our Sunday school class about the meaning of Good Friday and Easter. I love hearing them understand that Christ did such a scary and painful thing because He loves us and in the end, He rose again because He is our Deliverer and is victorious! Thankful to be a part of that part of their lives.

Happy Easter!

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Are you ready for some cake?!

I now realize that if you ask myself or my brothers what they want for their birthday it is pretty much always going to involve chocolate and peanut butter! I remember growing up and a large majority of our cakes included this combo… good thing our significant others don’t mind having that combo around because it is here to stay!

I made this cake for my brother’s birthday on Monday. My back has been acting up so I simply used a Chocolate cake mix and made a three layer cake. I broke out the peanut butter and cream cheese to make an amazing frosting which made me think using some chopped up Reeses was not exactly optional — it was the perfect topping to this delicious cake!

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz. Cream Cheese
• 1 1/2 c. Peanut Butter
• 3 c. Powdered Sugar
• 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract *optional

Cream the Cream Cheese and PB together and add in the the Vanilla. Slowly beat in the Powdered Sugar and voila! Enjoy!

Have I ever mentioned that I love my family. My parent’s are two of the most supportive people that I know — they are always there for me and my brothers and support our decisions and goals in life. My brother Joe is just the most smiley and funny guy around; he will light up a room with that smile. My oldest brother, Tim, truly lives his life for the Lord and is a great example in my life. I just thought you should know that I am blessed (… and I know it :)

This last week we didn’t have the need for much of a dinner plan — we went out with family, the hubs worked late a couple of nights and so the nights in between were kept simple (a.k.a. sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches!). Here is this week’s dinner plan, excited to eat a bit healthier this week and try a couple new recipes! Have a great week!

This week’s Dinner Plan:

• Monday: TJ’s Mexican Chicken with Steamed Veggies and Rice
• Tuesday: Valentine’s Day Dinner :)
• Wednesday: Easy Garlic Chicken with Steamed Veggies and French Bread
• Thursday: Dinner with Community
• Friday: Chicken Quesadillas (using leftover chicken) with Salad and Mango
• Saturday: Date Night
• Sunday: Grilled Fish Tacos with Salad & Mango

Snacks:

• Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies from the other week week (G got sick so he couldn’t have sweets)
• Left over treats from the week
• Fruit!

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Last weekend we enjoyed our mini trip to San Fransico/Vacaville. Isn’t it beautiful!

We enjoyed a sunshiney day at Pier 39 all bundled up in our fall attire. Unfortunately the Alcatraz prison tours were all booked up through Sunday so we didn’t make that trip (highly recommend scheduling your tour days ahead of time!); it was disappointing but instead we spent the rest of our day at the Exploratorium which turned out to be a laughter filled time that reminded me of our dating days — it was lovely.

All in all the trip was relaxing, as we stayed with my Aunt & Uncle who are always hospitable and fun! My auntie even taught me how to crochet which has become the new venture in my life! It is so relaxing and I can not wait for my first creation to be complete — perhaps a scarf, but more realistically a coffee cozy ;)

When we returned from our mini trip, it was straight to some full-fledged baking since it was my lovely cousin’s birthday that week. Enjoy an awesome recipe that I tried out in honor of her love of Nutella, below:

Banana Nutella Cupcakes

• 1 Batch: Best Banana Cupcake Recipe from Food.com (5 star recipe)
• 1 Cup Nutella
• 1 Batch: Nutella Frosting from BeingElliot.com (my own measurements below for a more icing texture)

Bake cupcakes as directed — Since the recipe is for cake you will need to adjust your baking instruction. I baked my cupcakes at 350 for 16 minutes and they turned out perfectly! Cool completely and use a knife or apple corer to cut out the center top of the cupcakes (save cut out piece). Scoop some Nutella into each cupcake and top with their matching cut out piece.

Mix the following ingredients to create the icing:

• 1 cup Nutella
• 1/4 cup Butter, softened
• Approx. 1/2 can Condensed Milk (pour in a little at a time until desired textured is reached)
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

First cream the butter and nutella together; mix in the powdered sugar one cup at a time, until crumbly. Now slowly mix in the condensed milk a little at a time until desired texture is reached. This creates more of an icing and would be great for a cake! However I wanted to pipe flowers on top of my cupcakes, so this was perfect.

Ice your cupcakes as desired — to ice flowers like my photo above: I used a petal tip (Wilton #125) and put a small amount (1/2 c.) of the icing in the bag at a time. I slowly piped the icing on while turning my cupcake and creating a somewhat scrunched up look for petals until it spiraled into the the center. I then added three small edible pearls in the center to finish them off.

**Note, my hand was killing me after just three cupcakes so beware! …so worth it…

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