my favorite time of year and a contest to celebrate…

The slow transition from summer to fall has inspired me host a contest and giveaway to take advantage of the wonderful weather.  Simply click the picture to head over to my facebook page to enter. Good luck!

click the pic to enter the contest

Fireworks

Ann arbor art fair 2012

Berry hootenanny!

Once in a while we have breakfast for dinner. Tonight is one of those nights! The easiest dish is hootenanny!!! The kids love it and it is super easy to make.

Hootenanny

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Place the stick of butter in a 9×13 baking dish and put it in the oven to melt while you prepare the batter.
Beat the eggs, milk, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and cinnamon until frothy.
Whisk in the flour until well combined.
Pour over the melted butter in the baking dish. Do not stir.
Bake for 25 minutes or until the center is set and the edges are browned.
Serve with maple syrup or powdered sugar.

We also add fresh berries or apples. Whatever is in season. Just add on top of wet batter before placing into oven.

We also made a plain one.

Basement wet bar progress

We have nearly completed our basement wet bar rebuild. I will be providing our plans for this 14ft 2 tiered behemoth of a bar after it is completed. Looking back there are a couple things I would have tweaked but I am happy with the look we have achieved thus far.

road trip

we are finally home after our yearly family vacation to orange beach, alabama. wow. that drive was a doozy!

we decided to leave in the evening and drive straight through, with the exception of gas, food, and potty breaks. having our 13 month old along for the ride made it a bit crazy so i was delerious by the next morning. this vacation was well deserved and very much needed. My hubby just received a major promotion and has been working crazy long hours at the office and we needed this time to reconnect as a family. anyone who has vacationed with children knows that it is not very relaxing for the parental units so we will be taking our couple vacation later this year. i really want to get back to maui or maybe cabo….

as soon as we arrived my sister had a meal prepared for us and took us out on the boat. the boys were delighted to be out of the car and in the water! i was concerned with my youngest taking to the water but as we now know, he is a natural! he loved every minute of boat and beach time!

we stayed at my sister’s place this year. i love that girl! living a thousand miles away is inconvenient but when we get together it’s like we haven’t missed a beat…

Salt and pepper baby squid with chilli lime aioli | Drizzle and Dip

Salt and pepper baby squid with chilli lime aioli | Drizzle and Dip.

via Salt and pepper baby squid with chilli lime aioli | Drizzle and Dip.

bread baking in the middle of the night..

i dont know what it is exactly that motivates me to start tedious tasks in the middle of the night.  tonight i made two more loaves of honey oat bread. i made my very first loaf of homemade bread last night at  midnight and  again tonight. i must say that the thought of baking bread from scratch scared me….. but after much research i decided i would give it a shot. am i glad i did! the bread turned out so delicious and moist. my boys and i devoured the whole loaf of bread within 24 hours so i decided to make 2 more loaves tonight.  i will share the recipe and pics soon. i have a new found love for baking! i would love some bread recipes to try out if anyone is willing to share….  🙂

Arroz caldo