1-2-3 Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bonbons for Kids

Happy almost Halloween! I thought this would be a good recipe to share today for a few reasons. One, it is super kid-friendly. Kids can help you make them (although I did not have the Fudgelet help this time). Kids will also like eating them. Also, this is a super easy recipe to make. Perfect for a Halloween party to share with others. You could make these more Halloween-like by turning them into some cute creatures or using Halloween colors to dip them in. I’m sure you can be more creative! I will mention that I started getting a bit lazy and messy so some of them look more marbled than they need to…but I also feel like it doesn’t matter.

Topic-Changing Thursdays: Waiting for Chiplet

It’s been awhile since I mentioned the almost-here baby, so I decided to write a little about our wait for him. To start, I have decided to name him Chiplet on the blog. Of course, outside of the blog, we still haven’t finalized a name for him, but I think Chiplet is appropriate. It goes with chocolate (chip) or potato (chip) which are favorites in this house. And, it goes with Fudgelet. Fudgelet and Chiplet. Maybe when they are teenagers I can call them Fudge and Chip, haha.

So, we know he is a boy, we know he is very active inside of me compared to the Fudgelet, and he enjoys spreading out across my entire belly (the Fudgelet used to just curl up on one side or the other). In a month, he should have arrived already, but of course there are no guarantees for that.

This pregnancy has not been easy, but it hasn’t been as difficult as it could be. And of course I feel lucky to be able to have him at all. The Fudgelet is very excited about meeting his brother. He talks to him and about him constantly. We might have to work on his sharing skills (sometimes he does great with it, but other times is kind of a jerk like most toddlers). I’ve been trying to plan for the scenarios I know about, like the rough first few months. With it being the end of the year, we usually save most of K’s vacation time for the holidays, so it works out for us. We can have him use sick time/vacation time to be around for most of the first month or two, along with some grandparents visiting. Then, we can have him around for more time the following year because his work extended paternity leave, which is great! Normally I take care of the Fudgelet in the morning while he gets ready for work, but K will take over most of those duties (especially at the beginning) while I am feeding the baby and getting myself up. We’ve already switched to where K does most of the bedtime routine for the Fudgelet so that won’t need an adjustment, and we have been trying to prepare him for some of the challenges (like training him to be more independent with getting his shoes on/etc.).

I’m more nervous this time than last time, I think, because I worry about taking care of two kids, night wake-ups, exhaustion, dividing attention, feeding everyone, etc. And that’s all outside of the actual labor/delivery part which I’m kind of blocking from my brain right now because there isn’t much I can do for that ahead of time. I’m just hoping it is as short as last time, or shorter, so that the Fudgelet won’t get too worried.

Some preparing I did this time better than last time (#fridgedrama) is making meals. This time I am doing some big trips to the stores ahead of time (stocking up on meat, etc.) and prepping some of the stuff, too, like slicing the beef for stir fries. I have different meals that mostly just require heating (or maybe making something simple like pasta and/or a veggie to go with them). I also set aside some sheet cake in the freezer, as well as some frozen cookie dough. Dessert might seem frivolous, but sometimes it can cheer you up with a long week. Although you can always buy store desserts, they are not always as good, or are tricky to get with a baby (and a toddler).

I have been making sure I have blog posts ready for the start, as well, but there might be a lag or limited posting. When I can, I will update about life and food. You can also always check in on some social media sites in case I post there before I have time to write something official on here.

Recipe Remix: Green Onion Vinaigrette

Clearly I like the idea of a green onion vinaigrette. I made the same vinaigrette from the same blog twice, and did it two slightly different ways. The first way you can find here, and today I am sharing how I made it a slightly different way.

Chicken and Mushroom (mini) pies

Today’s recipe is brought to you by a cookbook I received for my birthday. It was not something I had seen before, and the first recipe I opened to was for cooking kidneys. Hmm. It seemed not quite for me. But then, I flipped through it a bit more and found that almost all of the rest of the recipes were ones I wanted to try. I looked up reviews to see what people said, and someone mentioned these pies as being good. I decided to not only try them, but to double it and make some to take to a friend with a newborn. These were great because I froze the batch for her and was able to bake them fresh on the day she said she would like them. I also made a dessert from this book that I shared with her. She is a big Harry Potter fan, so I knew she would get a kick out of the recipes and the cookbook. But even if you’re not, these are still good pies. I added extra vegetables because that is how we roll. I also had enough extra pie crust and filling that I did a top-only pot pie with a pie dish for the extras. So many meals, and you can do the recipe in stages if you want, like I did.

Making Dashi and Ramen Eggs

Look at me, I am sharing a recipe, and it is something out of my comfort zone! Let me start by saying I had some difficulty with dashi. Initially, I was going to buy dashi, but I couldn’t find one that wasn’t listing MSG as a first or second ingredient. I even went to an Asian store where I can usually find what we need. So, I decided to make it. But then I had a little issue of finding the ingredients for it. I think what I made was ok, at least for us.

Mint Ice Cream with Chocolate Pieces (Mint Chocolate Chip) with Bonus Ice Cream Sandwich Idea

Is it okay for me to share another half-recipe with you? And an ice cream one when it is cool weather season? I hope so, because that is what you are getting today.

Grilled Old Bay Shrimp

I know I might be pushing it with grilling posts in October, but I’m trying to share all of these yummy meals before it is winter. I actually might be done grilling for the simple fact that my gas tank is just about empty and it seems a little late in the season to fill it. I’m also unsure how much grilling I will do when next year rolls around. Will the baby let me grill? Will it make things easier? No idea at this point. Oh well, I will at least save this recipe to make again when I am back to grilling. And hopefully you will want to do the same!