West Point Market and the Killer Brownie

Bill received a book for Christmas entitled 500 Things To Eat Before It's Too Late by Jane and Michael Stern. We have been reading about unique restaurants and unforgettable food found throughout the United States. We are on a bit of a mission to try as many as we can. Some, by chance, we have already partaken of but others call our name! Last weekend the Killer Brownie from West Point Market in Akron, Ohio called our name!

Since Anna's gymnastic meet was near Akron we decided to stay in the area and locate the market. I was a little apprehensive about how much I was going to enjoy it. After all, we do have the legendary Jungle Jim's Market nearby and since I go there about once a week I was worried that there would be no thrill to this store. Other than the hopes of retrieving a "killer brownie" of course!! Boy, was I wrong. This store was unique and gourmet and fun!! Their food displays were cute and inviting and delicious! Cheese! Who could resist with Wallace and Gromit telling us to help ourselves!!

The store tastefully mixed areas of food with areas for kitchenware and seasonal displays. Above is Anna looking at Easter decorations and a how to book on making fancy colored eggs. I could have spent hours looking over the kitchenware!!
West Point Market also has a website www.westpointmarket.com. So if you are not in the Akron area any time soon you can still order that "killer brownie" and have it delivered right to your door. It would definitely be worth it. The caramel oozing out of the chocolate was awesome!! We also recommend the double fudge brownie and the cheesecake brownie. Next trip, I try the Blarney Stones (bourbon balls)!!

Trader Joe's and an Easter Tip!!!

I have a confession.....I do love me some Trader Joe's. But before any of you start thinking I am a total health food nut I thought I should add one of my favorite pictures to this post. Below shows that I am a firm believer in balance. A trip to Trader Joe's and then lunch at Johnny Rockets - perfect day! Trader Joe's is a mini field trip. While browsing the aisles you can munch on samples, and guess what, no annoying sample ladies!! And you can always get a cute little cup of coffee - for free!! Even more exciting is that you can put real organic HALF and HALF in your little cup of coffee!! A delight!! But my all time favorite thing to buy at Trader's is a floral bouquet and at Easter they have an awesome assortment.

Trader Joe's flowers are the best! They offer a bunch of unique and different arrangements and the flowers last forever!!

There are so many offered that it is really hard to choose. So, I suggest that you go and get your little cup of coffee first and then browse the floral aisle.

After picking out your flowers you'll want to look around the store. I can suggest the very healthy cage free eggs and the ever so healthy cereal, Joe's Fiber Os. But I highly recommend the dark chocolate blueberries, the peanut butter pretzels, the chocolate chip dunkers, the ginger cat cookies, the pecan pralines and the dark chocolate covered raspberry jellies.

Balance. Balance is the key.

Show Them Some Love - A Little Bit More Love

I thought for the month of February I would write about how to turn everyday opportunities of love into ones that offer a bit MORE love! And before I go on......yes, that is me in the attractive 1970's snow suit. Don't judge. It keeps me warm. Enough said. For my first February "show them some love" post I would like to talk about Hot Chocolate!! Yes, everyone loves hot chocolate on a cold day.....especially after hitting the sledding hills. See Anna's excited face below? She was thinking, "Hot Chocolate is calling my name!!!". Well, that's pretty close to what she was thinking.

On these cold, cold days we could treat our kids and ourselves to a packet of hot chocolate. After all , there is quite a bit of love in serving this when it is not an everyday treat. But here is where I will tell you how to turn this into an opportunity to show "a whole lotta love". I'll let you in on a little secret about me that was inspired by Mrs. Doubtfire..........

"I can hip-hop..... be-bop.....dance till ya drop, and yo yo, make a wicked cup of cocoa."

And you can make a homemade wicked cup of cocoa, too, in 5 minutes!!!! Believe me.. you can and your family will treasure your efforts!!

Before you think I am some Julia Child and came up with the "lotta love wicked hot cocoa" recipe myself, I will stop you. This recipe is from Paula Deen and I will forever love her for it. And now I will share the love with you........

1 can sweetened condensed milk (low fat for us!)

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa ( I use half milk chocolate and half dark chocolate)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon of salt

6 1/2 cups hot water (I get mine from the tea kettle)

In a large saucepan, combine condensed milk, cocoa, vanilla and salt - mix well. Over medium heat slowly stir in water. Heat through, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Store leftovers up to five days in fridge. And believe me the leftovers are even yummier!!!

Let me know how yours turns out!! Remember, a little love goes a long way and a little more love goes even further!!! Enjoy!

Apple Picking Time!!

Well, actually, September is apple picking time!! I'm just a little late in posting! Anna and I went with our home school group to an apple orchard out in Midland, Ohio. Where is Midland, you ask? I can't even tell you. Oh, I drove and we found the place but it seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere!! But, we were very happy we travelled all the way to Midland.

The orchard is called A & M Farm and is one of the only U pick orchards in our area. Not too many in our area since I had to drive an hour!! The people who worked at the farm were great and their little store which sold already picked apples, farm produce and their own cider was very cute. We were able to pick a variety but our all time favorite was Empire. Usually we are fuji, honey crisp or braeburn people but we took a liking to this little beauty!

The farm allowed us to taste the apples before we decided if we wanted that type. Very thoughtful and excellent marketing strategy!! We were able to keep what we liked.

We came home and immediately pulled out our apple recipes - I'll share two with all of you.

Apple Dip

1 can sweetened condensed milk (fat free is fine)

1 cup butterscotch chips

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat milk, butterscotch, and salt on stove until chips are melted. Remove from stove and stir in the next two ingredients. Store in Fridge!

No Peel Apple Cake

4 cups chopped apples with peels

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup applesauce

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons each of cinnamon and baking soda

Mix all ingredients by hand (will be thick batter). Pour into 9 x 13 greased pan and sprinkle with additional sugar and nuts if desired. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Even better on day #2!!

Enjoy!!

Muffin Tin Madness

You all know we love homeschooling around here. But I do admit that some parts of our school day get - well, shall I say boring. Some of you might guess that math or language would be boring. Some of you might guess that science would be boring. And some of you might even guess that just Anna and I being alone together all day might be boring!!! Shame on you. NO - the boring part can be Lunchtime!! Imagine, everyday....at home....with one kid......turkey....grapes....no lunchroom gossip......well, we have a remedy to shake up some of those lunches...........
Muffin Tins!!! I found this idea over at http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/. She uses muffin tins on Mondays to make fun and exciting lunches. Her kids are much younger than Anna but Anna and I thought the concept was cool and decided to try some this summer. Above is our lunch with garden veggies and dip, homegrown blackberries and yogurt, trail mix and some turkey on multigrain sandwich thin. Love those sandwich thins!! Below is my surprise breakfast for Anna.

She woke up to three different cereals, blueberries and melon! She was so excited about this! I think the mini assortments of cereal are cute!! Notice the letters reading breakfast of "champions"!

If any of you have any fun suggestions for future muffin tin meals let us know. Variety is the spice of life!!!