Weekly Happenings & a Recipe

Hey Friends! 

Another weekend is upon us. Yay! I hope you have some fun planned. It's supposed to be beautiful weather here and I plan to take advantage of it! ;) For my 5 today I thought I'd just share a bit about my week. I will also finally share that brownie recipe I've been promising. 

ONE

Early in the week my Mom and I strolled around our beautiful local rose garden while Annie finished up soccer practice. There were still several peonies in bloom and many gorgeous roses. Such a lovely place to stroll and chat. The park overlooks beautiful Lake Superior too. 

TWO

A couple days this week were gray and rainy. Perfect for some summer home cooking. So I made slow cooker BBQ ribs, pasta salad, and honey butter glazed cornbread muffins. We also had some corn on the cob and melon to round out a wonderful summer meal. 

THREE

Also this week, our sweet Girl got her braces on! See the before and after smiles. ;) 

FOUR

And today my Girl and I decided to beat the summer heat with a little shopping and lunch at our local A&W. The best root beer around! I had just a plain frosty mug but she went with the float! Mmmmmm

FIVE

And as promised a yummy brownie recipe. These are often called mississippi mud or rocky road brownies. You can find the original recipe on my pinterest board called sweet treats here.  They are very rich and so yummy - especially with the homemade frosting on top! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

For the brownies:

• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup oil (canola or vegetable)
• 1/2 cup butter , softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups mini marshmallows

For the frosting:

• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 - 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13'' pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, pour oil over cocoa powder and mix. Add softened butter and mix until smooth. Add sugar and mix for 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing really well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Add flour and salt and stir to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
3. Remove brownies from the oven and sprinkle the marshmallows evenly on top. Return to the oven for 2-3 minutes or until the marshmallows are puffed. Remove from oven and allow them to cool completely.
4. Once brownies are cool, make the frosting.
5. For the frosting: Add melted butter, cocoa powdered, evaporated milk, vanilla, and 2 cups of powdered sugar to a mixing bowl and beat with electric beaters until smooth. Add more powdered sugar, a cup at a time, mixing well, until you reach your desired frosting consistency. I usually use about 3 1/4 cups powdered sugar.
6. Spread frosting over the cooled brownies and cut into squares. 

I'm sharing this with Tricky of the blog FAST for Five on Friday.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Friends and Happy Monday to you!! 

I hope you had a lovely summery weekend. In between some rainy times we had lovely weather here and got some fun in the sun. My kiddos spent a night at their friends' cabin and Hubby and I even had some quality one on one time. ;) I also ran some errands and got work done on some of my projects when it was rainy weather - yay for progress! Now on to this week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

It started out a bit rainy and foggy, but is looking up as I see bits of sun. It's supposed to hit about 80 today and be 70's most of the week. Chance of rain and storms mid week though.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

english muffin with peanut butter & honey - vanilla iced coffee

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Enjoying some peace and quiet. My daughter is off playing with some friends. Planning out the week ahead in my planner and looking further at my projects in progress.

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

I see sun really starting to shine now! Looking forward to a beautiful day!!

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Pretty tidy. Some areas my kiddos need to pick up. I need to throw in more laundry yet. I have the dining room table taken over with one of my projects! ;) 

ON TODAY'S (& this week's) TO DO LIST:

Annie soccer practices and games. Going to go visit my MIL. Bring dinner to my FIL. Devotional time done for today and some exercise time. Will get in more workout later. Annie gets braces on this week and she's so nervous! Lol She's growing up too fast! A few other appts and errands this week. More work on a big project - will share more soon. 

CURRENTLY READING:

I'm interested to dive into some books by Susan Mallory my friend Carrie has recommended. I'm also intrigued by Louise Penney books after seeing info about her on the show Sunday Morning and may add her to my collection too. 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Grantchester, Food Network Star, British Baking Show, Big Brother, The Profit, America's Got Talent, other cooking shows

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: leftover turkey sliders from the weekend, veggies, chips

TUESDAY: slow cooker BBQ ribs, pasta salad, corn on the cob, fruit salad, honeyed cornbread muffins

WEDNESDAY: breakfast for dinner?

THURSDAY: pasta, caesar salad, garlic bread (didn't make last week)

FRIDAY: any leftovers or maybe out for dinner? 

*treats this week for kiddos: multi layer jello squares and rice krispies bars with homemade chocolate frosting & sprinkles

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Etsy store albums and canvases 

Legacy box stuff  

My Grandpa's heritage album  

My Mom's album & my family album catch up 

(this is my continuing list)

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

nothing new - but will share yummy brownie recipe from last week later this week

TIP OF THE WEEK:

But my Ruby could have told you that. ;) 

FROM THE CAMERA:

fruits of my container garden - so sweet and yummy!

some wild flowers from a Ruby walk and some herbs from my container garden

Ruby sticks out her tongue at you Monday!! ;) 

My handsome Grandpa. He was 6'4" - had naturally curly hair and the best laugh ever! He would have been 100 years old in August. I'm taking old war scrapbooks of his and preserving them into new pages in a new updated scrapbook for a family reunion later this summer. A true labor of love. 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pineapple Meatballs

Hello Friends! 

I hope you've been having a wonderful week! We've had a few storms, but otherwise have been blessed with some warm very summery weather. Of course warm summer weather means less traditional cooking like I do the other times of the year. I depend on my outdoor grill a lot more, as well as my trusty slow cooker. Even though we have a/c I don't like using the oven much if I don't need to these months. So I decided to try this easy recipe that I had pinned on my pinterest board called slow cooker which you can find here.  They were easy but also really tasty with summer flavors perfect for this time of year. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• ½ bag of frozen meatballs
• 1 bottle of BBQ sauce
• 1 20 oz pineapple chunks with juice
• ½ cup brown sugar

Instructions

1. Place your meatballs into the slower cooker. There's no problem with putting frozen, thawed, or uncooked homemade meatballs. It's basically up to you.
2. Pour the BBQ sauce, pineapple chunks in juice, and brown sugar in the slow cooker. If you want to mix the two first before putting them into the slower cooker, that is fine, too.
3. Cook it in the slower cooker on high for 1 hours, then, turn down the slower cooker to low and cook for another 2-3 hours or until the meatballs are fully cooked.

I followed the recipe as stated above but I used a full bag of meatballs and there was still plenty of sauce. If you try it hope you enjoy!