I'm Thankful For.....

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I thought I'd take the opportunity to express what I'm grateful for this week. I've definitely gone through my ups and downs this year but I couldn't have gotten through them without the people (or things) below . 

I'm thankful for my health. 

I thank God for being able to wake up and experience a new day. His beauty surrounds us and I get to soak that in during my morning commute.

I'm thankful for my husband, Daniel. 

If you meet him for the first time, I guarantee he'll be make you laugh within the first ten minutes. I've fallen in love with him at least a hundred times over.  

My daughter, Lainy. 

She's a carbon copy of her daddy and I'm thankful for that. She's funny, sweet, extremely smart and talented. My life changed the second I laid my eyes on this beauty. 

I'm thankful for my wonderful family. 

Life is so much brighter when I'm surrounded by the people I love the most. 

I'm thankful for my friends. 

I'll be honest and say that keeping true friendships takes a lot work. In my early twenties, the quantity of friends was what it was all about. 

But throughout the years I started to notice that when my life changed (marriage and kids) my friends changed too. I'm grateful for the friends who decided to stick around

Have a wonderful thanksgiving everyone! 

♥,

Anna

DYRDEK?

Do you really do everything kind?

This is my motto at the moment.

Think about it. Do I really do everything kind? Or is it because I'm infatuated with every Rob Drydek show on MTV right now? (I'm leaning towards option #2 on this one.) 

I find it funny that the show, Rob and Big, has been on the air since 2006 and I just now discovered the hilarity of Robert Stanley Dyrdek and Christopher Boykin?  I'm all about Black Lavender and Bobby Light/The Chunky Boys right now.

Unfortunately I'm about six years too late to discuss this show with anybody else. I want to talk to my friends about the mini horse and the younger Drama days but it just doesn't make sense to bring it up now. It shows on MTV2 at 1:00 a.m so we're not talking about prime-time television anymore. 

On another subject, I can't believe Thanksgiving's already next week and I have yet to find the perfect recipe for dessert. 

My side of the family decided to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night because we'll officially be in Disneyland next week! It's a quick trip with a bunch of fun cousins so I'm looking forward to eating, riding rides and crying during the firework spectacular show. I don't know what it is but Tinkerbell flying through the air just tugs on my heart strings every single time.

This year my job is to make one side dish, Candied Yams, and a dessert. 

I asked my husband, a.k.a. The Caramel Lover, if I should make a Tiramisu or a Caramel Pecan Pie and immediately regretted asking. That's like me asking him if we should watch Steel Magnolias or Abraham Lincoln The Vampire Slayer on a Friday night? It's a major duh. 


Caramel Pecan Pie
adapted from allrecipes

1 (9 inch) unbakedpie crust

36 individuallywrapped caramels, unwrapped

¼ cup butter

¼ cup milk

¾ cup white sugar

3 eggs

½ teaspoon vanillaextract

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a saucepan over low heat, slowly combine caramels, butter andmilk. Cook until smooth but stirring frequently.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Combine sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt in a bow and gradually mixin the melted caramel mixture.

Stir in pecans and pour filling into unbaked pie crust.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Allow to cool until filling is firm.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

♥,

Anna

Let's Make Whoopie

It's been over a month since I posted my last blog.

I guess you can say I'm in a social media rut right now because since then, I've deleted my twitter and about one step closer to deleting my instagram. It's not a personal thing towards anyone I know but sometimes I feel like I want to hide in my little bubble and go back to not knowing anything. 

Here's the thing though.

I LOVE social media. I wouldn't have gone through the Giant's season without my beloved tweeps on twitter. (On a side note, HOW 'BOUT THEM FREAKIN' GIANTS! World Series Champs after being on the verge of elimination against the Reds and the Cards? Insane. This picture right here warms my heart.)

Anyway....

Once upon a time I was on a social site called Facebook.

I loved Facebook so much that I would log into work and my daily routine would look something like this:

1) Clock in.
2) Check my email.
3) Go on Facebook and browse my timeline. (I looked up info on my best friend in kindergarten and found out she's a full on porn star now *true story*)
4) Work.

I was pretty much teetering between #'s 3 and 4 for the next the seven hours. It was unhealthy.

But what really got me was that I felt like I knew TOO much about my friends. I'd go to gatherings and talk to them about what's been going on in their lives but I pretty much knew what they had to say already. Apparently reading people's timelines for eight hours gave me the power to read their minds and I refuse to be that powerful. 

The very next day I deleted my Facebook. 

I've been Facebook free going on two years now and I'm totally ok with it. I'm out of the loop and lovin' it.  

So that's kinda where I am with Instagram. Even though it's just pictures, I feel like seeing what people ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner's on the top of my limit on how much I should know about that person. No judgment!

And for the record, I will be going back on twitter when Spring Training starts. Not being on twitter during the baseball season is equivalent to not having access to the outside world. It's completely necessary. 

So a couple of weeks ago I decided to make my first whoopie pie. I took the easy route and used a boxed devil's food cake mix and made my own marshmallow fluff frosting for the filling. 

I'm gonna be honest and say that it tasted just like... cake. 

The good news is that I got to walk around eating this particular cake while watching TV and putting my daughter to sleep. 

A hand-held cake is a plus in my book any day!

Here's the recipe:

Whoopie Pie
adapted from Betty Crocker

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® Devil's Food cake mix

¾ cup water

½ cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 box (4-serving size) chocolate instant pudding and pie filling mix

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper

In a mixing bowl, mix all cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Next beat 1 minute on high speed.

Pour batter into a 1 gallon resealable plastic bag. Next, seal the bag and cut small hole off the bottom corner.

Pipe batter into 36 small circles onto cookie sheets about 1-inch apart to allow for spreading.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes until set being careful to not over bake.

Cool 2 minutes and remove from cookie sheets.

Place on cooling rack. Cool completely before filling.

Once cookies are cooled spread Marshmallow Fluff filling (recipe below) on flat side of one cookie. Top with the second cookie, flat side down to make a sandwich.

Marshmallow Fluff filling

Adapted by marshmallowfluff.com

1/2 cuo butter or margarine
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup Marshmallow Fluff (about 1/2 of a 7 1/2-oz. jar)
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions: 

In a medium bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and remaining ingredients until light and fluffy.

Happy baking!
Anna ♥