Chocolate peanut butter oatmeal bars and things

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter, softened
• 1/3 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 cup chocolate chips, semisweet, bittersweet or milk

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan and set aside.
   
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and oats.
   
• In a large bowl (or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated and brown sugars until light and well-mixed, 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until combined.
   
• Stir in the dry ingredients, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and mix until combined.
   
• Press the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly browned on the edges. Don't overbake or the bars will be dry! Remove the pan to a cooling rack and let the bars cool in the pan before cutting into squares.

From: Mel's Kitchen Cafe Blog

 

I made these last Friday. Two words: easy and delicious. This recipe will become a keeper.

 

I’ve been reading The Shell Seekers. Although one of my favorite author’s, it’s a book I’ve only read twice before (I think). It’s a cozy read, perfect for now when I’m feeling so restless. However I know now why it’s not my favorite book from Rosamunde Pilcher; the main character, Penelope, drives me a bit batty. We are opposites. She’s unorganized, late, cluttered and scatter brained. Quite lovable, an excellent cook, but maddening none the less.

 

It’s been raining incessantly here. I mean really raining, great puddles and flooded ditches and high river warnings. When it’s not raining it’s still grey and cold. I’m ready for sunshine, leaves on the trees and temperatures in the 60’s! And I’m getting impatient.

 

I took one of the cats, Brutus, to a groomers this week. I’ve never been to a groomer in my life and the thought of having a cat groomed seems hilarious. However he has so much hair we are at our wits end! It’s a good thing he is such a sweet and lovable cat or he might have found himself hard pressed and living on the streets long ago. As I typed this he popped up right beside me in the chair to purr and keep me company. I must say he looks much better and the hair shedding has somewhat abated. 

  

Otherwise we are playing the great waiting game. It seems surreal. We could become parents tomorrow or in three weeks. Reality has not yet hit, nor will it until I’m in labor I don’t think. It seems strange even thinking about that, being in labor. I’ve taken to vacuuming and wiping down counters and running loads of laundry every day just in case I go into labor! Heaven forbid the house is all out of order. I’ve made Jared promise to make our bed and load the dishwasher before we leave for the hospital if I’m incapable. He thinks I am insane.

 

I’m really looking more forward to my Mom visiting in a few weeks. That is something I can anticipate and actually wrap my head around. I hope the rain has eased off and it’s warmed up by then. her visit has become synonymous in my mind with Bean having already arrived. Bean, don’t let your mother down! 

 

I am getting more and more curious to know what on earth Bean looks like and if it is in fact a He or a She… I hope they are relaxed like their father and love to sleep at night.

Two book reviews

 Emma is re-read for me. I'd been watching the newest BBC version while quilting and suddenly was in the mood for Austen and had to read Emma. I forgot how much I like this book. It's probably one of the funniest, most modern and easiest of Austen's books. A great Jane Austen starter. I love Emma's character. And I think almost all of my favorite Austen quotes can be found in this book. It was a good comfort read and I highly recommend!

 

 What Alice Forgot is a new book and a new author. I'd seen the title floating around on some blogs and didn't really pay very much attention to it. Then my Mom read it and liked it so of course I got it from the library!

 

Loved it! It's a well written book, but a fast and easy read. The start is a little difficult because along with the main character, you the reader are confused. But it really does draw you in and after a very few chapters you just have to know what on earth is going to happen next and how it all ends! It's complex; like real life things aren't black and white and it's interesting to see and hear things from various perspectives. And man did it make me think a lot about my own life. While there are serious subjects to ponder, it's also quite hilarious in places and as I already said an overall easy read. Nothing too taxing or depressing or deep.

 

Fantastic book!! I'd like to read more from this author.  

 

Bean’s Quilt: Part IV - The End!

Part IV: Quilting and Binding and the Final Results!

With quilting it’s always a good idea to start close to the middle and work your way out. Again, so many choices as to the actual quilting. I loved my sisters and the all over meandering. But with such a structured and linear block I wasn’t sure it would look right. But I didn’t want to only stitch in the ditch either. I compromised and meandered within the 9 patch blocks and did straight line, stitch in the ditch work everywhere else.

I’d recommend starting with the meandering and then doing the straight lines.



For the binding I chose 2 1/2 inch width; more is too much but less isn’t quite enough for me. I was able to get the strips I needed out of the extra backing fabric. You will need 6 strips. Sew them together on the bias, trim the seams to 1/4 inch, press and then press the entire long piece of binding in half length-wise.



Pin on your binding and sew! Then all that is left is the hand finishing. This quilt is a really nice size, but not too big that the hand stitching took me long. I had it done in less than a weekend.



I love how it turned out! I love all the colors, the yellow, the binding, the quilting, the whole traditional, vintage, old fashioned feel of the entire quilt.



Bean, your quilt is all ready! I hope you love it for a long time!!

Baby Journal: Week 37

Pregnancy #1

 

Month #10

 

Week #37 (4-20-14 – 4-26-14) 

 

Weight Gain #0  

 

Bump I’ve got a numb/painful spot on top of my belly. Apparently it’s here to stay until Bean arrives.   

    

Baby Nicknames  Bean

 

Symptoms  Slight swelling continues in my feet and hands. Braxton Hicks (mainly crampy). Reflux, although not so much heartburn.   

 

Cravings  The week started with no appetite and nausea, I was hungry Tuesday and Wednesday, and thus it continues, back and forth. I’m not really craving anything specific though. And I can only eat small amounts at one time!  

 

Emotions  I feel like I’m the most emotional/weepy I’ve been so far. Hoping that doesn’t mean I’m a total disaster postpartum.  

 

Sleep  Overall cruddy.  

 

The big moment of the week  I finished Bean’s quilt on Easter! Took some pictures of the nursery. Had a doctor’s appointment on Thursday: no changes (HB is 140s, 1cm dilated), Dr. estimated Bean is around 6.5 lbs, and all is well.   

 

Weather  Easter Sunday was amazing; 70 and sunny! Since then it’s bounced between 40-60 degrees and we’ve had lots of rain. 

 

Current events  Celebrated Easter. J made it through instructor upgrade academics!

 

Bean’s Quilt: Part III

Part III: Boarders, Backing and Basting

I was so torn about a boarder color for this quilt. Since we don’t know if Bean is a He or a She It had to be neutral. One of our favorite patterns, one the features a cat, only came in purple or blue. Although I used some purple in the quilt I didn’t want to feature it. And the blue felt too boy. J isn’t a fan or yellow or green, although I was all about the yellow after using it in my niece’s quilt. That left red. I wasn’t against red, but the red in the 9 patch was definitely the most prominent and I felt like more red would be overdoing things. So it ended up being one of the yellow prints with a fair amount of white in it. Fairly neutral, very soft and I thought quite vintagey. J was a good sport and said he didn’t mind the yellow that much.

Anyway, enough of my agonizing design choices.

You will need 1 yard of fabric for your outer boarder. You will also need 3 yards of fabric for your backing. I had two pieces of 1 1/2 yards which I pieced together for my back. The final measurements on the quilt were 50x57 so select your batting accordingly.

I made the outer boarder, my yellow fabric, 5” wide. I had to piece the two longer sides, but was able to simply cut and sew the shorter sides. You will need to cut five, 5” wide strips, use 1/4” mean allowance and iron your seams.



As with my niece’s quilt I spray basted all of my layers together.  And then it’s time to quilt, bind and finish!

Bean’s Nursery

It’s not a big fancy nursery. Neutral, minimal, light. But here are some pictures of it.

This little bear has been in a bag amongst various other stuffed animals that I have kept with me for many moons. He came with my engagement ring from the jewelry store back home almost 8 years ago. When I was going through my old toys to see if there was anything I wanted in Bean’s nursery I knew this bear was perfect.

One of my dearest friends had this door hanger custom made for baby S. It’s adorable and hanging on the outside of the nursery door.

Bean’s Quilt: Part II

Part II: Sashing

In a perfect world where all seams line up your 9 patch blocks would all now be exactly the same size and perfectly square at 6.5 inches. Measure yours and get a gist of your average size. You will use this measurement to determine the length of your sashing; aka. the 2.5” wide strip of white (with tiny cute polka dots) fabric you will sew onto each block.

After making my blocks and doing some measuring and calculating (with much help from my mother-in-law!) we decided we needed 1 yard of white fabric, and that was on the lets be safe and get a little extra side! You could probably get away with 2/3 yards here.

As always start by squaring up your white fabric, trimming selvedges and then cut 2.5” x 6.5” strips. You will need 24 total.

Using a 1/4” seam allowance sew a white strip onto the side of a 9 patch block. Then sew another 9 patch block onto the opposite side of your white strip. Sew on another piece of sashing, another block and so forth until you complete a row with five 9 patch blocks.


You will make six of these rows. 



Iron your seams!

And now it’s time to measure again and cut longer pieces of sashing to go between your rows. Again, in a perfect world where everything lines up this measurement would be 38.5 (each time you sew a 1/4” seam you’re losing yardage). Measure through the middle and get your approximate length and then cut your 2.5” wide by 38.5” long (or whatever yours comes out to) strips. You will need 7 total, 5 are technically sashing and 2 will become part of your inner boarder.



To create the remaining inner boarder you will need three 2.5” x 38-ish” strips. I had to piece both of mine and I chose to do it on the bias (a diagonal running seam instead of a straight line). So you will use about 2 1/2 of those three strips. Sew on your “short sides”, then do some measuring, piece your long boarders and sew those on. And you’ve got your inner quilt top plus your inner boarders all done!


Technically the boarders should all go into their own separate post, but since I used the same white fabric I added the inner boarders right into the sashing. If you’d rather break up the steps that is fine. But sometimes you get on a roll…

Bean’s baby quilt

Project  Baby quilt for Bean aka. our first born child

Pattern  An original design based on a traditional 9 Patch

Fabrics Storybook Classics by Windham Fabrics & Itty Pritty Polka Ditty by Holly Holderman

Part I: Building the 9 Patch Blocks  For this quilt I used a jelly roll of the Storybook Classics fabric. As always, pre-cuts make all of your own initial cutting easier and faster. A jelly roll contains 2.5 inch by 42 inch strips of fabric, typically about 40 strips all together. The first things I did was decide which strips I wanted to use and then trimmed the selvedge and cut each strip in half so it measured 2.5” x 21”.     Since I was making this quilt up as I went, I didn’t do all my fabric cutting at the start. I didn’t even have all of my fabric as I wasn’t sure how much I would need for things like sashing, boarders, backing and binding.  Once I had trimmed and cut all my strips I started right in on sewing. I decided I wanted six rows of five blocks, 30 blocks total. Since each block would contain nine small blocks that meant 270 little 2.5” x 2.5” blocks! It sounds daunting, but it’s really quite simple if you follow this trick.  Choose 3 strips of different fabric. Using a 1/4” seam allowance sew the three strips together. I pressed all my seams out because I was using a variety of different colors and not putting them in a set pattern.
After you have three rows sewn and pressed it’s time to cut again. Measure off 2.5” increments and cut. I was able to get 8 rows from each of my 21” long strips of three. That is 1/3 of each 9 patch block.

Yes, that means not every single row in your various blocks will be totally different. If you’re using less colors or going for a specific pattern this would actually be quite helpful! For me, it was still varied enough to make this shortcut completely worth it.



Since I wanted 30 nine patch blocks and I needed three, three block rows to make a nine patch, that meant I needed a total of 90 three block rows. Making sense? I hope so! Once I had my 90 little rows I proceeded to spread them out all over the floor to create as random a patchwork look as I could! 



I then pinned together each block top row to bottom row and layed the blocks in piles that corresponded to their rows. In the end I don’t think this was my final layout! It’s a lot to try and keep straight with just pins and stacks or fabric everywhere. But it was a good start to get the colors and patterns all mixed up.



The next step to creating your 9 patch block is tow sew together, using a 1/4” seam allowance, 3 of your rows of 3.



Last step is ironing your seams and ta-da, a completed 9 patch!



And before you know it you’ve got a stack of 30 blocks ready for the quilt.