German chocolate... brownies

Yes, you read that right. I made German chocolate brownies tonight. Much like the German chocolate cake (my absolute favorite birthday cake), these rich brownies are coated with a coconut "frosting" making them nice and rich. I didn't step-by-step photograph what I was doing, but they are super easy to make and this was the end result:

Looks tasty doesn't it? Trust me, it is. Now you want the recipe, don't you? Well, I won't make you wait.

German Chocolate Brownies
For brownie:
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 c. cocoa powder
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

For frosting:
2 c. coconut flakes
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 c.) butter
1/4 c. evaporated milk

In a large sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla and blend well. Remove from heat and add cocoa, flour, salt and baking soda. Again, blend well until there are no flour-y lumps. Grease a 9-by-13 inch glass pan well and pour batter into the pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until a toothpick insterted comes out with a few yummy crumbs (they'll be fluffy and perfect, trust me).

While the brownies are baking, mix your frosting ingredients well in a small mixing bowl. Remove brownies from oven and "frost" (it's not going to spread that well, use small spoonfuls and try to smoothe them out best you can) the brownies. Turn oven to "broil" and sit frosted brownies about 4 inches below the coil for about 3 minutes. You don't want to burn the frosting, so keep an eye on it!

Let them cool, cut them and you're done.

NOTE: Coco likes his brownies without the frosting, so I actually frosted half of the brownies and left the other half unfrosted. Not a good idea, because the broiler kind of burned the top of the unfrosted side. If you do this, you'd do better separating the brownie batter into two separate pans. I'll do that next time.

Calories: About a million
Makes: Around 12-16, depending on how big you cut them (as you can see, I got about 12 out of my pan of brownies).

Discovering play

The kids like to play. When we woke up this morning, I was dreading what was coming - I had told them I'd take them to Discovery Place Kids in Huntersville. I was looking forward to going to the museum, touted as "an adventure in play," but I was worried that if we went, they'd get sick from that norovirus going around. I REALLY can't deal with that. Yuck.

After giving them a choice - do you want to play Wii all day or go to DPK - Mom was outvoted and we got going. It's not too far and we had gift certificates from Mawmaw Jackie and Pop we had gotten for Christmas, so all I'd really be out was lunch money.

For $8, kids can play all they want in a variety of different areas at DPK, all following the same theme of "I CAN." Kids can be a doctor, vet, go shopping, work on a farm, play on stage, build, play in water and more. And this day, it was also HAT DAY! Had I known, we'd have probably worn one of the million funky hats we have here (I'm sure Coco would have LOVED wearing his Capt'n Hook hat), but it was OK. The kids got to make their own hats there. Don't tell them the feathers I added look like Pimp caps. I thought they were HILARIOUS and some of the looks I got from other parents made me think they thought they were too.

The kids had a blast in all the different zones of the kid friendly museum, but I think their favorite area had to be the water zone. I base this on the wet shirts we walked out with and the huge grins on their faces. Sure, there were waterproof aprons there, but what's the fun in that?! In the car, the were able to take off their shirts and put on their zipper hoodies, so no one was the wiser.

And when we got home, and they insisted on playing Wii, guess who wore their pimp hats the whole time? It was definitely a fun time - one I would have gladly paid for had we not had the gift certificates. When they run out, I'm sure I won't mind paying. The kids didn't even realize they were learning. That's always fun!

Wordless Wednesday - Oh my GAG!

Yes, this is how I found her the other morning - eating butter from the fridge.

Wild about tutus

Lately, everyone has been all about the tutu. They are sooo cute in those newborn little girl pictures, and quite honestly, the big girls like to wear them too (I know I did at Halloween when I dressed up as a La-La-Loopsy).

I've gotten out of the tutu making business, and I still get requests for tutus. Well, how about this? I'll just give my tutorial away. It's much easier to just follow the tutorial I developed rather than me try to explain how to do different things with the techniques. But, I'm not going to make it SUPER easy for you. You're going to have to do something for me too.

To get a copy of my awesome tutorial, you're going to do three things for me. First, follow my blog. Second, follow me on twitter @JoanieReeder (if you hover over my name and click the link, it'll take you there). Lastly, leave a comment on this blog letting me know you've fulfilled those two requirements, along with your Twitter handle so I can follow you as well, and your email address. If you think your friends would like a copy of my tutorial as well, please PLEASE feel free to share my blog with them. I'll give away as many tutorials as I get followers and likes - I am NOT limiting this giveaway to only a select few. EVERYONE will get a tutorial, as long as you do what I asked. :)

TIP: When you leave your email address, write it as username AT domain DOT com. Don't actually use @ and . because then the spambots will find you!

I'll email tutorials out at the end of the next week (Feb. 10, 2012) so you'll have plenty of time to make cute red and white, or red, or pink, or whatever tutus for Valentine's Day! Don't forget to share it with your friends!

Brick fun

Coco has really been getting into LEGO lately. And when I say LEGO, I will make my friend Katie cringe, because I mean pretty much any brick that will fit onto another brick. Sure, a vast majority of our blocks are LEGO, but there are Mega Blocks and K-reo mixed in too (especially with that K-reo deal last week where I got an Optimus Prime building set FREE, wootwoot!).

At almost 5, his creations are pretty much limited to either really short, easy directions for things (like the LEGO Harry Potter mini set we got him after Christmas for $2.50) or his own creations - which usually are blobs, but I love to hear him describe what everything is and what it's used for.

Even Mabel gets in on the action - her daddy bought her the first of what I am sure will be MANY LEGO Friends sets. The child is only 3, so of course Mommy ended up putting that one together for her to pull apart and ask to be put back together. I guess she'll get it eventually.

LEGO is great for the imagination. Kind of like Play Dough but with corners. We are in no way, shape or form LEGO experts (like this guy), but it's still fun to pretend we are. The greatest thing about LEGO (aside from all the other cool stuff about LEGO) is that they do that free LEGO Club magazine. Coco has a subscription. Every month, he sits with his magazine, thumbing through it for ideas, and even asking if we can submit pictures to the My Own Creations section. Usually, the magazine comes with a comic book - another obsession of the kid. And it's all totally free, something you can't say often about LEGOs.

We got his first LEGOs from Goodwill - I spent all of $2 for about 500 random blocks. Then I got another set of around 300 (mostly Mega Blocks, sorry Katie) at a consignment store for around $3. Our initial investment was all of $5. If you are a fan of LEGO, you know that's CHEAP (practically FREE in LEGO terms)
- but have no fear, we've spent plenty of money since then on various sets. Pretty soon, we'll probably take him up to the LEGO store at the mall and let him pick out some stuff. His birthday is coming up after all.

Coco modeling his LEGO Batman PJs in a self-portrait

Wordless Wednesday - I want one PLEASE?!?!?!

I know this is supposed to be WORDLESS, but honestly, the writer in me screams at such a concept. I found this little shack on Pinterest, and the first thought that popped into my head was, "Wouldn't that be perfect with a computer, couch and fire?" I could clearly see myself cuddled up on the couch, reading a book, or writing my book.

This picture inspires me. How does it inspire you?

So... What do you think?

Along with posting more, I thought I'd try to make my blog a little "prettier." I wonder if I've succeeded.

I asked for the wisdom of some very smart people and searched around on the internet for free blog templates - because no matter how much I love my eight followers, I'm not paying someone to design a blog for me. Sorry guys.

I found this one. Doesn't look like one I've seen a lot, or some generic blogger template so I thought I'd take it for a spin. I don't like how the link for where I got it is up in the left corner, so if anyone has suggestions on removing that, I'm all ears. I did have to tweak the font size on the posts, because it was just as big as the blog description (that quote at the top). CRAZY big.

As easy as this was, I wonder why more people don't have pretty blogs, and sit with their boring blogs? Is there something I'm missing there? I just like a more visually appealing site, I guess.

So, back to the main question. What do you think? See something you like? Something you think needs changed (and you want to tell me how to do it)? Comment and let me know!