February is rushing by too quickly!

My blog has been sadly ignored while a million things seem to be rushing ahead...

Birthdays...

Relationships...

Vacations...

Work...

Babysitting...

Spending time with my honey...

All of these have a been taking up most of my time this past couple of months. This month in between getting ready for Valentine's Day and various President's birthdays I managed to get a little time to do some baking for the office.  Cherry Cobbler was what came to mind when I thought about George Washington's birthday!

This is a "semi-home made" easy recipe which you can throw together quickly and you can tweak it a little depending on what kind of pie filling you happen to have in your pantry.

Here's what I did...

In a medium bowl combine the following ingredients:
1 cup Oatmeal
1 cup all purpose Flour
1/2 cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 stick Butter. melted

Mix it together with a fork until it's crumbly

Butter a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.

Open one jar of Cherry Pie Filling and pour it into the buttered baking dish.  Sprinkle the crumbly ingredients on top.

Bake in a 375 F oven for about 35-40 minutes.

Add some ice cream on top for a special treat... Enjoy!  

  

Happy 2nd Birthday to Titus!

 

Beautiful Sunrise

This morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise... it reminded me of what a wonderful Creator we have!

"Let us acknowledge the Lord;

    let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
    he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
    like the spring rains that water the earth.”

Hosea 6:3 (NIV)

Easy Peasy Brownies

The brownies are in the oven and they smell delicious!  I am a big fan of making things from scratch but once in a while it's good to be able to make something that doesn't take much time but is still quite delicious.

One of those things I indulge in once in a while are No Pudge Fudge Brownies.  They are super east to make and give you great results in just 30 minutes.

All you need is a box of the mix and a 6 oz container of plain yogurt ( I used fat free Greek yogurt).  Mix them together.  If it seems really dry at first just hang in there... it takes a bit of stirring to come together into a nice batter.  

But no worries... I just see that as an opportunity to burn a few calories before eating the brownies!

Pour into a pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.   This time I tried something just a little different and put scoops of batter in an individual size brownie pan.

 And last but not least don't forget to lick the bowl clean!!!

    Enjoy!

Spicy Vegetable Lentil Soup. {An easy and delicious soup!}

Happy New Year!  The holidays have come and gone.  Can you believe it!  Hope yours was filled with family, friends, and many blessings!

If you are like me and are now looking for a good, easy, warm, comforting soup I have just the recipe for you.... and it's low in calories (about 94 calories per cup) which always makes me happy after the many delicious and rich foods I've consumed in the last couple of weeks.  (Sorry about the long run-on sentence!)

My mom sent me this recipe a few years ago and I have made a few adjustments to my liking.  It's called

Spicy Vegetable Lentil Soup.  Makes about 10 servings

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 medium Onion, chopped
3 stalks Celery, chopped
3 Carrots, chopped
1 red Bell Pepper, chopped
5 Garlic cloves, sliced
1 quart Chicken Broth (low sodium)
4 cups Water
1 cup dry Lentils
1 can crushed Tomatoes (28 oz)
2 Bay Leaves
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat.  Add onion and cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally.  Stir in celery, carrots, garlic and bell pepper and cook for another 3 minutes.  Add in all remaining ingredients except the salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes or until lentils and vegetables are tender.  Season to taste with salt and pepper if desired.  Remove bay leaves before serving.  Enjoy!

If you are like me and like to have ready to go soup, place in individual containers and freeze.  You'll have yummy soup ready in no time!

Nature's diamond necklace

Sometimes I can get so busy and I don't take a moment to look around and take in some of nature's beauty. We can miss out on seeing some beautiful little reminders of what a wonderful Creator we have!  This morning as I was rushing out to work I almost ran into this little beauty.  I stopped short and just took it all in... it reminded me of a delicate diamond necklace.

Don't forget to take a little time today to look for and see those little unexpected things God sends our way!

Joy to the World!

It's looking more and more like Christmastime around the office!  Every year we look for ideas to decorate our cubicles.  From elaborate to simple we have had all kinds of decorations. My inspiration this year was this gold ornament with the words Joy to the World.

I wanted something simple, classy and meaningful.  So off I went to the various discount stores to search for just the right decorations.

Here is how it turned out!  To finish it off I printed out some of my favorite Christmas hymns and Carols in English and Spanish.

November Blessings...

This past month was filled with lots of little blessings.  It's those little things that God sends us everyday that remind me of His faithfulness and love.

1.  Saturdays with Titus.  Spending time watching airplanes land and take off, waiting for the train to come so we could wave at it and playing at the park were just some of the things we did.

2.  Sweet Margie came to visit and we enjoyed a delicious lunch of Colombian treats

3.  Spending a whole day showing Margie how to roll a pie crust and decorate cookies.

4.  Showing Danielle how to make pomegranate jelly

5.  A wonderful visit for Thanksgiving with the Cosentino's!

 6.  Seeing snowflakes fall for the first time!

7.  Three days of lovely snow flurries that turned the yard into a Christmas postcard!

8.  Catching snowflakes on your tongue...

9.  Safe flight to and from the East coast.

10.  Celebrating 15 years at my office during the Service Awards Luncheon this week!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Gratitude {Grooming a heart of thankfulness}

For each new morning with it's light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

DIY Thanksgiving Tablecloth

Thanksgiving is just two weeks away (can you believe it!) but there is still time to make this great personalized Thanksgiving tablecloth.  It is inexpensive and requires no sewing!  And if you are brave enough you could even get the whole family to help you put it together.

I came across this great idea last Fall on Blue Cricket Design's blog.

What you need:

1. One fabric drop cloth (I bought mine from Lowe's) It already comes hemmed!
2. Several permanent ink markers (different sizes)  I used large and medium Sharpies 
3. A can of scotch guard
4. A "thankful" list

Directions:

Ask your family members to put together a list of things they are thankful for (as long or short as you'd like).  Iron the drop cloth to get all the wrinkles out.  Lay the drop cloth on the floor.  Armed with your "thankful" list and sharpies start writing on the cloth.  Begin writing on the cloth using different sizes of letters, fonts, and styles.  Trust me this is the fun part!  Keep moving around the perimeter of the cloth keeping in mind people will be reading this while seated at your table. After you are all done filling in the cloth with all the words on your list spray it with scotch guard to help with cleaning in case of any spills.

Enjoy making memories!  This will be a unique, one of a kind, personalized family keepsake you can use again and again every year.