Chocolate Dutch Baby

Last Monday, I was looking online for some Dutch style recipes. BG and I are part Dutch and I wanted to surprise him with something dutchish. Then I came across this, chocolate dutch baby? Ummm, what is that? This is awkward! haha not really. This is similar to pancakes/cakes. It's very easy to make, very light and sponge-like cake. It makes your house smells like chocolate! And best of all, you can eat it for breakfast! Give it a try today! Surprise your kids or your sweetheart with something different and yummy! Recipe here Chocolate Dutch Baby

Buffalo Chicken Pita Pizza

If you want something quick and tasty. And you love buffalo chicken tenders but you want pizza? This is the stuff!

For one pita bread pizza:

• 3-4 small pieces of cooked chicken (buffalo style). Cut into slices or shredded.
• small handful of diced red onions
• 3-4 slices of sharp cheddar (or can used shredded kind)
• small handful of gorgonzola crumb cheese
• one pita bread

Put the pita on a baking sheet. Add slices of cheese, then the chicken tenders. Then the onions depending on how much you want it. Then the crumb cheese. Bake at 375 degree for 10 minutes. Voila! It is very quick & tasty!

  

-Erica

Showers of Valentine's gifts!

Ok, so I told my husband that I don't want any chocolates or flowers. I would like something different & unique. He went out tonight with my son to the mall. It was nice and quiet in my house. I had some me time by reading a book, practicing on my drawing skills, watching a old movie and texting to my cousin. It was such a nice & relaxing evening. Very much needed. Then...the boys came home. First, Conner showed me his Valentine's gift that daddy got for him. A mickey mouse plush! He looks so adorable carrying the plush around. Then, here comes the showers of gifts that the boys got for me. I was so surprised with what they had picked out. I love it all!

A huge shiny crock pot!

Funny story: This was the first thing that BG had purchased. The lady cashier told him "oh...I hope that this is not your Valentine's gift to someone special.". Of course not, BG had to tell the lady that it kinda is but it's more of a joke. We recently had to buried our former good ol' crock pot because it fell and broke into halves. So ta-da! Here's a new FAMILY-SIZE crock pot! I think he is trying to tell me something. I hope that I'm not going to be the only one using it to make dinner for a big family. :)

$15 Starbucks gift card!

BG knows my obsessions with Starbuck's awesome flavored coffee. On the card, it says "coffee=love" and I think so!
After that, this is when I thought OK that is all. Nice gifts! BUT noooooo....here comes more!




A lovely pair of red TOMs shoes!

Oh Toms!! This is the main reasons why I had asked BG for no flowers & chocolates. I'll like something red to wear on my feet. :) I never had owned a pair of Toms before but have heard it's really comfortable. Plus, for every pair of shoes that are bought, the company will donate another new pair of shoes to the kids in a 3rd world county. It's a pretty awesome way to help support those in needs. Did you know that kids can't go to school without shoes? It's sad to know that they have no money to buy a pair so they lose the chance to have an education. Read more about Toms here.

My new teavana container with fresh herbs for making teas!

This is very unique thing for me. Tea. I'm learning to love it! Making tea reminded me a lot of my old boss that I used to work for at my University. She always made tea and coffee for her students in the afternoon. We feel so elegant! This is my very first try at making my own tea without teabags. I already made a cup of tea and it's wonderful! It has citrus, lavenders and white tea. I added a little bit of hazelnut half n' half & sugar. Whoa! It really makes a differences! That taste reminded me a lot of the infamous Bubble Tea. A popular milk tea in Asia countries. The only thing missing are those little black chewy beans! What is bubble tea?

So that's my Valentine's gifts. BG told me to be ready to go tomorrow at 4:10pm, when he gets home from work tomorrow night. I have no clue what where we're going but it should be fun because I get to be with the one that I love! :) BG and Conner are my favorite Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Valentine's Cookies

Happy Valentine's weekend! We decided to make valentine's cookies. yay! Here's the recipe we used. Soft sugar cookies! It was a mess! I burnt the first batch of the cookies. Typical! So BG helped me out with the rest of the batch. It turn out awesome! I considered him the baker in the family. Making the cookies took us a lot longer than we had thought. We had to firm it up in the fridge. Then Conner took a nap, we start cleaning out the storage and so forth. That's why Conner was wearing different clothes in some of the pictures. At the end it was all worth it because it was our first cookies that we had made together! We end our evening by watching a "Charlie Brown's Valentine" while eating our yummy cookies!

This is what the cookies suppose to look like...

what my 1st batch looked like...

I'm ready to make a MESS!

can I help?

let me taste it. hmm...(He's a weird kid. Eating flour??)

daddy, it needs more sugar!

let's squish it!

cutting heart shaped cookies with mommy

Piping the frosting!

This is Conner's cookie!

Don't these look really good? I didn't have enough room
for the word " Be mine" so I said "Be my". Whatever lol!

Best Buds!

Side by side, our dog will always be our #1 friend. I remember growing up with Popcorn. She was so much fun to play with, sneak treats in and follows my brother and I around. I hope that Conner will have the same fun relationship with Lyla too. :)

Having Fun With Conner

On a cold Friday day like this makes me wanna be a kid again. Carefree, crazy and to have lots of fun! My son and I took the opportunity to fill our days with loads of fun. We played games and play peek-a-boo with the dog (I'm not sure how entertaining my dog was). Then we set up Conner's barn and pretend it's a garage for cars. We read books together. We play fort and hide n' seek. We even finger-painted before lunch. Yes! The more tasty messy the paint is the better! Finally, we settle down for a good lunch of homemade Chinese food which is rice, water chestnut, chicken & lettuce along with spring rolls. Then we had rest time by watching Sesame Street. We learned a lot about the number "6" and the letter "Q". Conner fell asleep shortly after that. I put him down in his crib. Then I went to have "me time". It was such a fun day! I'm thinking up of more ideas to have fun after he wakes up from his nap. :)

Encouragment Jar

Last Christmas, I decided to participate with the secret sisters program with my church ladies. I think this is the first time I ever got involved with a church's secret sister program. Each of us draw a name in secret. It's our person for a year until our next Christmas party. It takes time & dedication give encouragements and notes to whoever I have. For example: send a birthday card, write a encouraging note, remind her I'm praying for her and so forth. I prayed about doing this and I really want to make my sister feel special this year. I was very exciting to surprise my secret sister with something different than a traditional card.

So my first project idea came from pinterest. It's a jar full of origami paper stars. Click here to learn more about making these cute little guiding stars.

When you unwrap a star, it reveals an encouraging note such as "you are extraordinary!" along with a bible verse "I am fearfully & wonderfully made." I made 45 stars. Some of them has bible verses, some famous quotes, a few funny jokes and "You are...". I wanted my sister to pick a star whenever she is having a bad day or if she needed an encouraging note. I wanted her to feel special. This will last almost all year long. Unless she wants to open it all in one week. Maybe that is all she needed. Man! I wish someone will make me one because these are so fun to do and write. Yes, it took some time in making this but it is well worth it. God encouraged me to make something special. I also filled the jar with chocolate candies. You can't go wrong with chocolates! Unless she is allergic to it...then I'm in trouble! haha! Here's my cute little jar! My secret sister's favorite color is blue. I used two scrapbook papers. Only 0.19 cents each at Michael's!