This weekend instead of wandering through the farmers market my husband and I (mostly my husband) built a 6′x4′ garden bed from an old fence my neighbor was tossing out. Score –free wood! I’m trying to figure out everything I am going to plant in it.

So far I have planted:
Spinach
Bibb Lettuce
Purple Carrots
Scallions

Need to plant:
Sweet Corn
Beans
Basil
Cilantro
Thyme
Rosemary
Chives
Lavender
Jalapeno Peppers
Tomatoes
possibly Popcorn

I still have room for more fruits/veggies! Check back as I update my gardening adventures this summer. Things are expanding since my small 4′x4′ square foot garden.

What is on your MUST PLANT list? 

It has been so long since I’ve last posted. Who knew that three children and a husband could keep me so busy?! I feel like I am in a constant state of playing “catch up”. The school year (for my daughter) is winding down, so hopefully things wont be so crazy at our house.

That picture is what my day to day looks like. I get Sasha out the door to school, Alex off to work, then it’s just Penelope and Kasper, piles of laundry, and sinks full of dishes. Last month I did some more recipe development, which kept me very (VERY) busy in the kitchen.

This month is a busy one! Last night looking at my calendar I have more days with something planned than not. I hope to squeeze some blog-worthy dinners into those days. I miss posting! I miss reading the few comments I get!

I skipped a post about Sasha’s 6th birthday. I made cupcakes and a Cinderella doll cake.

I also sewed her a Cinderella dress. She loves it!

These three munchkins keep me so busy! This is a teeny tiny glimpse into my crazy hectic life. It’s my life and I LOVE IT!

You can search for Jamie’s Recipes on Facebook and “like” it to see what I’ve been posting over there.

What was packed: carrot, 100% juice Capri sun, applesauce, string cheese, Cheezits, salami sandwich

What was packed: milk, PB&J, banana, string cheese, carrot

What was packed: salami, Ritz crackers, cheddar cheese, grapes, carrot, pickle, cottage cheese

purchased strawberry milk

What was packed: Cool ranch Doritos, string cheese, banana, salami & provolone sandwich, carrot

purchased plain milk

What was packed: 2 hard boiled eggs, popcorn, string cheese, pear & raspberries, carrot

purchased plain milk at school

What was packed: milk, 2 hard boiled eggs, Cheezits, string cheese, carrot, raspberries

What was packed: Monterey jack cheese, ritz crackers, blueberry rice cake chips, fruit snack, pink lady apple

*Sasha bought a chocolate milk

What was packed: Charlie Brown Pie (recipe coming!), salami & provolone sandwich, Ritz crackers, carrot, banana

What was left: nothing

Sasha bought white milk

What was packed: 2 hard boiled eggs, Ritz crackers, salami, provolone, local 1% milk, carrot, banana, fruit snack

What was left: nothing!

What was packed: local 1% milk, green beans (canned by Mimi), Goldfish, blood orange, PB&J

What was left: nothing

What was packed: local 1% milk, PB&J on Wonder bread (yuck!), green grapes, Goldfish, carrot candy (from Great Grandma Bonnie)

What was left: nothing

Since this movie is just out in the theaters I couldn’t find a single Lorax themed birthday thing to save my life. So I had to improvise. While I really don’t have any recipes to share with you, I hope someone will find my ideas or tips helpful if they are planning a Lorax birthday party for their little one.

For the game I roughly sketched out a picture of the Lorax by combining Dr. Seuss’s original Lorax with the movie version (the giant mustache and eyebrows). Using yellow construction paper I cut out one mustache (not pictured) for each party goer. When we got to the movie theater I had Sasha and Penelope stand next to the wall so I could measure how high to hang the poster.

Each girl got a mustache and they wrote their names on it. Everyone lined up and when it was their turn they were blindfolded and spun in a circle six times (that is how old Sasha is going to be  ), and stumbled towards the poster. I wish I had a photo of all the mustaches on the wall. Only two girls made it on the actual poster. Each time one of the girls stumbled forward all the other girls would giggle and giggle. The giggles seemed to get louder and shriller the farther away from the poster they were. I think the game was a success!

The cupcakes were just from a boxed mix (Funfetti -an all time favorite) and frosted with a simple buttercream frosting. Do you spy the Lorax among the “Truffula trees”?

For the Lorax fur I used Wilton decorating tip 233 and for the Truffula trees I used 8B. Both use the large coupler. His eyebrows and mustache used a small coupler and tip No. 6. The eyes were from Wilton’s candy eyeballs. I like using AmeriColor soft gel paste when I need to dye my buttercream.

The colors I used:
Electric Orange
Electric Yellow
Royal Purple
Fuchsia

This week I have to figure out how to do a Cinderella themed birthday cake. It should be fun!

From The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss:
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. 

What was packed: local 1% milk, string cheese, orange, trail mix (almonds, dried cranberries, M&Ms), PB&J

What was left: nothing

What was packed: local 1% milk, crackers, string cheese, PB&J, red grapes

What was left: Nothing!

What was packed: Pear, Ranch salad dressing, Pretzel Crisps everything flavor, salad with carrots & croutons, string cheese, simply fruit fruit roll up

What was left: nothing! This lunch was packed 100% by Sasha. 

*she bought a Chocolate milk 

What was packed: local 1 % milk, 2 hard boiled eggs, Ritz crackers, string cheese, carrot, all natural berry & applesauce

What was left: Nothing!

Eek! Sorry about the crazy iPhone photo!

What was packed: 2 hard boiled eggs, crackers, colby jack cheese, banana, red grapes, white chocolate macadamia nut cookie

What was left: a few grapes

*Sasha bought a strawberry milk *shudder* for some reason the strawberry milk really freaks me out

Well I want to develop the PERFECT chocolate chip cookie, one that my grandchildren will be begging for the recipe. I think I am on my way to this perfect cookie, but I don’t think I’m done tinkering quite yet. Some characteristics the perfect cookie needs to have is first it needs to be BIG, second it needs to be both crispy and chewy.

How I achieve the crispy and chewy parts of the cookie is I first freeze them solid, then bake them straight out of the freezer. This allows the outsides and bottom to get nice and crispy while the center remains slightly soft and chewy. Yum! The bonus of freezing the cookie dough balls is you don’t have to bake entire batch at once. You can take out and bake as many cookies as you need. In fact, if you have a toaster oven you can bake just one or two for dessert without heating up the entire house.

I remembered from my days of working at Hy-Vee how the bakery made their M&M cookies. Instead of mixing the M&Ms into the batter, they pressed the dough balls into the M&Ms, keeping the candies on the outside. This is what I did and it worked wonderfully.

What is your all-time favorite go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe?

CHOCOLATE CHUNK M&M COOKIES

16 tablespoons butter, softened for 30 minutes
3/4 cups brown sugar
1/4 cups white sugar
1 package French vanilla sugar free pudding
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour, sifted
1 bag (12 ounces) chocolate chunks
1 bag (12 ounces) M&M’s

On medium speed cream together butter, sugars, and pudding. Add eggs one at a time, making sure to mix well between each addition. Add vanilla.

Turn mixer down to low and slowly add in soda and flour. Mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks with a wooden spoon.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out dough and roll into a large ball. Slightly flatten dough ball and press into M&M’s. Place dough onto cookie sheet and freeze until frozen solid. At least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place cookie dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet (that DID NOT come straight from the freezer). Bake for 15-18 minutes or until edges turn golden brown.

If you don’t want to wait for cookies to freeze you can bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes straight out of the bowl. 

What was packed: local 1% milk, string cheese, carrot, salami & cheese sandwich, Cheezits, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookie

What was left: Nothing

What was packed: local 1 % milk, Ritz crackers, provolone cheese, carrot, red grapes, M&M cookies (recipe)

What was left: NOTHING!

What was packed: Local 1% milk, red grapes, Cheezits, carrot, PB&J, Dove chocolate

What was left: A few grapes

What was packed: Rice, bean, and corn, pita chips, dried cranberries, string cheese, milk

What was left: NOTHING!

Lunch packed by Sasha  

What was packed: Milk, red seedless grapes, carrot, cheezits, PB&J, Dove chocolate

What was left: half her milk –not enough time (so she says )