Grown-up Mac & Cheese

My favorite meal growing up was Kraft Macaroni and Cheese with hot dogs. I really don't know how I stayed skinny. Even now I can't stray away from the boxed Mac and Cheese. I mean why mess with perfection? As I have been working my way through the Pioneer Woman cookbook  I came across her Mac and Cheese and decided to give it a whirl. It is delicious! Here is the recipe for what I am going to call grown up Mac and Cheese
I bought a chicken sausage from Trader Joe's to go with it and wha-la...the grown up version of my favorite childhood dish!

 What was your favorite childhood meal? Do you still eat it?

Kindergarten quote of the week

This was a first in my teaching career so get ready...

In my classroom I have a dramatic play area where at a certain time of day my students can choose to go and play dress up, let loose and just be kids.  I was walking around the room and noticed one of my students was holding up a blanket to block a few other students who were playing behind it.  *NOT GOOD* I peeked behind the blanket and saw one of my students with a baby doll up her shirt, legs spread in birthing position moaning (very dramatically I might add) "Ohhhhhhhh it hurts, it hurts!" OH MY GOSH. What is a teacher to do?
1.) Try hard not to laugh
2.) Rack my brain as to how her reenactment was so accurate
3.) Have a chat with my little friend
4.) Ban the blanket

Oh the joys of teaching.

Dental nightmare

About a month ago my dentist recommended I get a mouth guard because I was doing a little too much grinding...with my teeth. Haha.  I know I clinch when I'm stressed, but when I told that hubby of mine what the dentist told me he said "um yeah I knew that...I have to nudge you in the middle of the night when you are clicking your teeth to make you stop." So I came to the realization that "Oh maybe I should get the $600.00 mouth guard after all." Today I went in to get it and what was supposed to be a 30 minute appointment turned out to be a 2 HOUR appointment. Here's what went wrong.
1. The first mouth guard they molded to my teeth was too loose so they had to re-do it
2. The second mouth guard they molded to my teeth was too tight on my teeth so they had to re-do it
3. The second mouth guard would not I REPEAT would not come off my teeth
4. The dental hygienist had to politely tug on my teeth for 15 minutes while I am slobbering ALL over the place because I can't swallow or close my mouth
5. The dental hygienist has to get the dentist to come in and try his luck at getting the mold off
6. The dentist can NOT help me and informs me he must SAW THE MOLD OFF MY TEETH...I almost passed out
7. The dentist sawed and scraped my mold for 30 minutes while I sat praying that he would not hit my teeth and mess up my pearly whites for good
8. When the mold was finally yanked out of my mouth we all looked like we had major dandruff due to pieces of my mold spraying all over as he was sawing. Pretty sick right?

The good news...after the second failed attempt the dental hygienist decided to pray for us and then the third mouth guard was finally a success. Thank you Jesus! So there's my dental drama of the day.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes

I just absolutely love Nutella! Just ask my husband. I eat at least 2 spoonfuls every day after I get home from work...just because. I eat Nutella with sliced up bananas, with animal crackers and with pretzels. I had Nutella on the brain and I thought "hey I don't just have to dip things in Nutella. I could bake with it!" Now of course my idea is not original and there are 1000's of recipes already out there. So why reinvent the wheel? These Frosted Nutella Cupcakes are so simple and yet so delicious.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes
10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 12.

I got this recipe from here.

I'm drooling.

A lovely date to the Art Museum

Friday me and that hubby of mine had a date day. That's right a date DAY...I had the day off school so Drew took off and we enjoyed a lovely day together. We had breakfast at Panera then headed to the Cincinnati Art Museum, which is amazing and completely free! They had an exhibit centered around the circus. It had old circus posters and artifacts and it was definitely my favorite exhibit. It made me SO EXCITED for the Water for Elephants movie coming out in April. Yay! We did a little outlet shopping then ate at one of our favorite burger joints where they serve burgers with goat cheese. I'm such a fan! It was so nice spending the day with Drew and it made for an extra long weekend of bliss. If you have an Art Museum in your city they are definitely worth a visit.

Happy Toes

Yesterday my friend Bekah and I went to Mitchell's Salon to get pedicures. Being that it is now officially spring and I have to show my toes I figured they needed to be presentable, that and I had a gift card. So now my toes are happy and ready for flip flops! Bring it on Spring!

Rosettes

I am an avid scrapbooker and I found a new tool yesterday that I thought I'd share with you. Whether you are in to scrapbooking or not there are many uses for this tool.  It is a Martha Stewart Score board and I'm in love. The main reason I love it is because I can make rosettes, which I am now wanting to use everywhere. Here are a few ways you can use them:

In a wreath

Decorative flower pot

Escort cards for your wedding or event

Amazing Birthday Invitations

And here is how you make them:

Use the Score Board and score every 1/4 inch (all the black lines) on a 1 inch by 12 inch strip

Fold the paper like a fan then hot glue the ends together (make sure the ends overlap)

Scrunch the paper together to form a rosette

Use a circle punch (close to the width of your strip) and punch out a circle to go on top

Hot glue the circle to the top and you have a rosette!