tweet of the week

"Life is about lessons that shape us and failures that shake us into refined dreamers ready to take action." - Matthew Barnett (@matthewbarnett)

saturday spotlight: "real simple" online

I accidentally became a fan of Real Simple magazine. I had ordered a magazine subscription from someone for a fundraiser but they were out of that magazine so I decided, eh, I'll try Real Simple. It didn't take long before I became hooked. I love just about everything about the magazine. I like the not-standard size of it and how clean and sharp the cover always looks. It's full of so many good ideas and tips. It's just an overall win for me :)

So I went to look at the website to see what all it has to offer. You can look at recipes, DIY ideas, and beauty/fashion tips. You can look at the "Daily Finds" and see what great buys they've uncovered. You can read articles from the editors and view the "Tip of the Day." This is one of those sites where you can easily lose track of time as you look at all of the great ideas.

recipe: peanut butter fudge pretzel brownies

This is another recipe that's on my list to make - very, very soon. It's from "How Sweet It Is" and you can click here for the full step-by-step instructions.



Ingredients 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2/3 cups chocolate chips (optional)
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/3 powdered sugar
1 3/4 cups crushed pretzel pieces
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions
"Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8×8 baking dish and set aside.

Combine melted butter and pretzel crumbs in a bowl until moistened. With the back of a spoon, press pretzels into the 8×8 pan making a crust. If pretzels seem loose, drizzle some additional melted butter over top of hit with a quick shot of non-stick spray.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, add in cocoa, flour and salt, mixing until combined – about 2 to 3 minutes. Fold in chocolate chips. Using a spatula sprayed with non-stick spray, evenly spread brownies on top of pretzel crust. Set pan on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until brownies are baked through.

When brownies have about 3 minutes left baking, melt peanut butter (I melted mine in the microwave in 30 second increments then stirring) in a bowl. Once melted, stir in 2/3 cup powdered sugar and mix until no lumps remain. Pour over warm brownies and spread evenly. Refrigerate brownies for 1-2 hours, then cut into bars and serve."

giveaway: "covert pursuit" by terri reed

Congratulations to Margaret for winning Summer Dream by Martha Rogers!

This month I'm giving away a copy of Covert Pursuit by Terri Reed. It's a book I haven't had a chance to read yet so I'm passing it along to someone else! To enter, just leave me a comment along with an email address to contact you. Contest ends Friday, September 30 at midnight.

For extra entries:
- tell me how you heard about this giveaway
- become a follower of my blog

the one

I was thinking about the whole idea of "the one" today. A while back I read Praying For Your Future Husband by Tricia Goyer and Robin Jones Gunn. It's a really great book and leads you through praying for your future spouse in different areas of his life - ultimately bringing him to the place of being ready to meet you. So I was just praying about my future husband today, thanking God for him though we've yet to meet. And then I started thinking about "the one." I believe in there being one person for me - to an extent. The way I look at it is that God has someone for me, who's a perfect complement to my personality. Someone who is strong in areas that I'm not and vice versa. But is there just one person out there, suited to me? That makes me think of the movie Ever After where Henry is asking Leonardo da Vinci this very thing (source: www.imdb.com):

"Henry: Do you really think there is only one perfect mate?
Leonardo da Vinci: As a matter of fact, I do.
Henry: Well then how can you be certain to find them? And if you do find them, are they really the one for you or do you only think they are? And what happens if the person you're supposed to be with never appears, or, or she does, but you're too distracted to notice?
Leonardo da Vinci: You learn to pay attention.
Henry: Then let's say God puts two people on Earth and they are lucky enough to find one another. But one of them gets hit by lightning. Well then what? Is that it? Or, perchance, you meet someone new and marry all over again. Is that the lady you're supposed to be with or was it the first? And if so, when the two of them were walking side by side were they both the one for you and you just happened to meet the first one first or, was the second one supposed to be first? And is everything just chance or are some things meant to be?"

It's an interesting subject but at the end of the day I have to leave it with God. I know He has someone for me and I don't have to understand all of the "how's" - just that He's working it out. Will he be a Prince Charming? Probably not but he'll be just right for me :)

tweet of the week

I had a thought for a new thing to do on my blog. I have some tweets from people I follow on Twitter come to my phone and there are some I save when I need a reminder or a good laugh. My thinking is to share one of these a week - just passing along some encouragement.

This is a tweet from Jenny B. Jones (@jennybjones): "Just hang on...your breakthrough is coming - for those who are courageous enough to wait it out."

saturday spotlight: jenny with "picky palate"

I don't know how I found out about Picky Palate but I'm super glad I did! Jenny has some of the greatest recipes - I've only made her Cookies and Cream Peanut Butter but on Wednesday I shared her White Chocolate S'Mores that I'm so making A.S.A.P.

Here's a little blurb from her blog: "Picky Palate started as just a baby late 2007 and has grown to be more fun than I had imagined. This is a place where I share not only recipes for the kids picky palates but for adults too. I love writing family friendly recipes since this is the phase of life I’m in right now. I know how boring the same dinners can get week after week, so it is my goal to provide new and exciting dishes to bring to your kitchen tables."

She also has a cookbook coming out next year which is super cool and I'm definitely keeping my eye out for that!

Also on her blog you can find a very handy recipe index and a page of giveaways - who doesn't love free stuff?

So stop by her blog and say hi!