Kindled affection

I thought I would update my blog before now. 2011 has hit me like a ton of bricks- not necessarily bad, but hard. I feel like we're still recovering from all our holiday traveling and the death of my grandfather. So happy for him to be done with his earthly suffering and enjoying eternal life in Heaven, but it's still difficult to go through the process of losing someone. Since we got home from our 12 straight days of travel, Bennett & I have both been sick so we've just been spending a lot of days in our comfy pants doing the bare minimum to get by. Right now, we're just taking it easy.

I did get one, rather long, book read over Christmas vacation. I picked it up at the Dayton airport, where I must say there is not a great selection of paperbacks. I did recognize it, however, as being on my reading list and I'm always in the mood for some historical fiction.

I enjoyed The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (author of The Other Boleyn Girl). It was kind of long, but it was a fast-paced read. Started out a little cheesy for my taste (love at first sight) but it moved past that and got better. The main character is Elizabeth Woodville, one of England's lesser-known queens, the wife of Edward IV. She was the first commoner to marry an English sovereign and was a key figure in the Wars of the Roses, the main action in this novel. I love being transported into the past and getting a glimpse of what life was like for people who were a lot like us but living in another time and circumstance. The end of the book sets you up to read The Red Queen, which I definitely will, but I just need a short break from 15th century England first. Oh, and I got 50% of my money back by returning it at the airport on our way home. :) What a bargain. 

In other big news, I finally got a Kindle! It was a Christmas gift from my lovely in-laws, and I am really enjoying it so far. I even got this fun case:

The first thing I downloaded was the book we're reading for our women's bible study at church, then The Message version of the Bible. I can't believe how much faster my Bible reading is going now that I've switched over to the Kindle. It's really going to help me with that item on my 30 in my 30s list. And the first novel I'm reading on it is Deception Point. I never got to that one and I was in the mood for some Dan Brown. Enjoying it so far!

Hope everyone's 2011 is starting out great! I am looking forward to a fun but hopefully low-key year- my only resolution is to stay home a bit more!

Cookies!

I wish I had more time for holiday baking, but at this time of year, with Bennett's birthday, shopping, working, preparing for travel, etc., there just isn't a lot of opportunity for it. Which is probably a blessing in disguise, since I tend to sample way too much of everything I make and these last 5 pounds of "baby weight" just aren't going away. I did do a little baking over the weekend, though- our pastor and his wife had a Christmas open house so I made a tray of cookies to take to that and thought I would share the recipes. The first is a tried-and-true classic that my mom has been making ever since I can remember:

Double Treat Cookies

½ cup soft butter

½ cup crunchy peanut butter

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

½ cup sugar

1 egg

½ tbsp. vanilla

1 ¼ cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tbsp. salt

1 (6 oz.) package chocolate chips

Cream butter and peanut butter together. Add sugars. Add egg and vanilla. 

Combine dry ingredients and add to creamy mixture. 

Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonful and push down with a fork. 

Leave out chocolate chips if you want a delicious peanut butter cookie. 

Bake 8-10 minutes at 350. Makes about 3 ½ dozen. 

The second was a new recipe that I tried. Ben & I both love anything mint chocolate so I couldn't resist trying this one. I will post it but you can also see it here. I was a little skeptical since I have not used many cookie mixes in the past, but they turned out good and were so easy!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 pouch (1 lb., 1.5 oz.) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup soft butter

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. mint extract (I used 1/4- I've ruined things before by adding too much mint)

4-6 drops green food color (I used too much and they wound up looking like St. Patrick's Day cookies instead of Christmas cookies!)

1 egg

1 cup creme de menthe baking chips (I chopped up Andes candies)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

Heat oven to 350. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, mint extract, food color, and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks.

Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

We are leaving for my parents on Thursday and then off to Iowa on Saturday, not back until January 1, so I'm sure this will be my last post of 2010. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Sending you lots of love from the Borich family!

Kitchen transformation

I still remember Ben and I sitting on the floor of our new kitchen in our new house the week we moved in, opening a can of dark gray paint. Ben was set on painting the kitchen gray, and I was good with that as long as we could put up a chair rail and do two different shades. That was five years ago and my tastes have changed quite a bit (much to Ben's dismay). For a long time now, I've been lamenting the coldness of my kitchen and longing for something warmer. I got my wish last month, thanks to a lot of hard work from my sweet, patient husband! The hardware we had installed on the cabinets had already made a big difference, but some paint and wallpaper really transformed things to just how I had envisioned them.

Here is a before picture (pardon the mess):

For above the chair rail, we went with a warm yellow. Bennett really enjoyed helping Daddy paint:

After the paint went on, my dad helped Ben put textured wallpaper below the chair rail. We really wanted to install bead board, but learned that it is next to impossible to do once the chair rail is already up, so we settled on bead board-looking wallpaper and it looks great! Less than $30 for the entire kitchen.

After the wallpaper was up and dry, Ben put one coat of white paint over it. 

The finished product- I couldn't be happier:

My michelle

I was just sitting here thinking about Michelle, my best friend since 3rd grade. I am so proud of her- on Saturday, she completed her first half marathon- the St. Jude Half Marathon in Memphis (where she lives)- and she did it in under two hours! She finished in the top 10% of females in her age group- and it was her first half marathon. Way to go, Michelle!

Running a half-anything is definitely not on my 30 in my 30s list. Maybe halfway around the block...if I'm chasing the ice cream truck. What is on my list is trying 300 new recipes, and Michelle will be a great help with that since she is always making good food. I recently tried a recipe that she gave me for Italian Sausage & Vegetable Soup- it was delicious and very simple and fast to make. I don't think she'll mind if I share it here. Enjoy!

Italian Sausage & Vegetable Soup

• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2-3 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can great Northern beans
• 1 medium zucchini, cubed
• 2 cups frozen chopped spinach 
• salt, pepper, parsley to taste

Directions

1. In a stockpot, brown sausage with garlic and onion. Drain. Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, and season with salt, pepper and parsley. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.
2. Stir in beans and zucchini. Cover and simmer another 15 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.
3. Add spinach. Replace lid allowing the heat from the soup to cook the spinach. Simmer another 10 to 15 minutes.

Sewing project: Comfy pants

We like comfy pants a lot in the Borich household. Every time Bennett & I go out to run an errand or meet a friend for lunch, we always come home and put on our comfy pants right away. I'm not sure when we started calling them that, but Bennett caught on and now she talks about her "comfy pants" all the time. Sometimes when I put jeans on her, she starts to whine a little and says, "But I want comfy pants!" What can I say. She's not even two yet and she already knows a supreme truth about life- it's just more comfortable when you're wearing sweats.

I recently went to visit my cousin (who is like my sister) in Atlanta for a week. She is an expert seamstress so I always want her to help me with something or teach me something when we're together (which is not often enough). This time she helped me make some comfy pants for Bennett. It was my first time using a pattern and I was very intimidated. The left-brained side of sewing is very frustrating for me- using a pattern, measuring, pressing the hem just right, etc. I really have to push myself to get through that part and not give up. It's a challenge for me but it makes me feel so good when I can conquer it. After her tutorial, I was off and running and I've made Bennett four or five pairs of pants. Here are a few of them:

I also made a couple pairs for Bennett's little cousin, Gretta, including a matching pair for both girls for Christmas. Look how cute these two are:

So I've had a lot of fun and I'm much more confident now in my ability to use a pattern and make (simple) clothing items. I already have my next project lined up, so I'll be anxious to share it when I'm finished!