All the Little Things

My valentines day was sprinkled with kitchen time preparing empanadas with chimichurri sauce and a homemade snickers treat (recipes below). A labor of love, for my one and only prince charming! :) In the evening we cuddled on the couch and watched Mr. Popper's Penguins (we loved it and are going to watch it 1 more time before we send it back to Netflix). I played a new favorite song for Tony -- "All the Little Things" by Ben Cocks. Then snuggled in our high thread count sheets where we talked, listened to some quiet music, and read The Lesson of Gladness by J.R. Miller. He's by far our favorite author!

"Another helper of gladness is a happy home. Many of us would never be able, day after day, to face life with its struggles, its duties, its antagonisms, were it not for the renewal of strength which we get in our home. A true home is a little fragment of heaven let down on earth to inspire us with patience and strength for the way." - Miller

I used this recipe for the empanadas. I did grind my own garbanzo flour, but regular flour will serve just fine. I doubled the dough recipe as there was much more filling to be used. Yay! They turned out great and the leftovers are yummy (I snacked on one earlier today). I would just make one change next time, adding a little salt to the dough recipe. Other than that, they were perfect!! :)

The homemade snickers were a lot of fun to make! I was inspired by two recipes (here and here), but also tweaked it a lot, as I just wanted to make a small one for the two of us that was somewhat healthified, as one of my facebook friends said. :) My process went a little something like this.

Nougat
1/4 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon earth balance (or you could use butter)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tbsp smuckers natural peanut butter

Combine the milk, butter, and sugar into a small saucepan and heat, without stirring, on low until it bubbles. Let it bubble for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla, cornstarch, and peanut butter. Pour this into a small dish with parchment paper in it (I used a 5 inch round bowl). Place this in the freezer.

Caramely Peanuts
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp earth balance (or butter)
1/3 cup roasted salted peanuts
dash of vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, coconut milk, and butter into a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir mixture until sugar dissolves. Boil mixture, swirling pan occasionally (but not stirring) for about 8 minutes. This will become a carmel substance. Remove from heat; stir in peanuts and vanilla. Use a spatula to pour this on top of the nougat layer. Return to freezer.

Chocolate
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp smuckers natural peanut butter

Nestle a small bowl over a pot of simmering water. Pour the chocolate chips and peanut butter in the bowl and stir until melted and well combined. Remove the nougat/caramel from the parchment paper and set on a plate in the freezer. Now in your bowl with parchment paper, pour half of your melted chocolate. Place this in the freezer until solid (about 15 minutes). Then put a thin layer of melted chocolate on top of that (to act as glue), replace the nougat/caramel layers, and pour the rest of the chocolate on top. Return to freezer for about 20-30 minutes and it will be all ready for you to eat! Enjoy!! :)

Baking Bread

Goodbye January - The Draft

It is a beeeautiful sun shiney day - high near 70 degrees!! Already spent some time outside reading and journaling. :) January's draft looked a little something like this:

Selah - I've started reading through the Bible again using Professor Horner's reading plan. I love that it combines 10 different parts of scripture each day and it helps me to see cross references that I may not have otherwise picked up on.

Room by Room - I was able to go through all of our clothes. Some have already been given away and others are in piles just waiting for a day at the flea market.

In the Kitchen - Some of our favorite new recipes this month was lima bean hummus, spinach pesto pizza, awesome veggie burgers, lentil falafels, and peanut butter cookies. You can view lots of yummy recipes on my pinterest board by clicking the picture below. :)

Reading Room - I completed One Thousand Gifts, How to Win Friends & Influence People, No Excuses: The Power of Self-Discipline, and Christian Encounters - Saint Francis. I started a few others and hope to finish them this month.

Gentle Domesticity - I was able to crochet a super soft scarf for my dear friend Belinda, a mini camouflage blanket for Oscar the dog, and 5 crochet covered rocks for the Pay It Forward 2012 facebook challenge. I also practiced my knitting skills more while watching Dark Knight with my Tony.

Hospitality & Relationships - We were able to open our home and prepare meal for family and friends alike. One of our new favorite hospitable meals was a greek fiesta pile up - think olives, spinach, tomatoes, onions, basil, greek dressing, chick peas, all piled into a sun dried tomato tortilla. Mmmm!!