Team dinner with blondies.

I made dinner for fourteen people last night. Well, really I made enough for  more like twenty, but I was just glad I had enough! We had Eugene’s basketball team over for devotions & dinner. Tossed salad, spaghetti with cheesy marinara sauce, toasted buttery Italian Herb bread …

and…

wait for it…

blondies for dinner. It all turned out very well, too!

The recipe is straight out of The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook and I promise I only altered it ever so slightly {added butterscotch chips instead of white chocolate & didn’t include nuts}. They turned out  great – definitely a recipe worth keeping on the ol’ blog!

 

Blondies

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. You’ll want to remember to melt your butter & let it cool.

Next you want to line a 13- by 9-inch baking pan with 2 pieces of foil {one length-wise and the other width-wise}. Spray the foil-lined pan with vegetable cooking spray.

Then, in a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together.

In another bowl, whisk the {cooled} melted butter and brown sugar together until combined.

Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just combined. Test Kitchen folks warn: Do not overmix!

Next, you want to fold in the semisweet and butterscotch chips {and the nuts if you have ‘em}.

Spoon/tip the the batter into the prepared pan.

Smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Test Kitchen says you bake ‘em until the top is shiny and cracked and feels firm to the touch, for 22 to 25 minutes.

Place the pan on a rack and let cool completely (about an hour).

Cut into 1 1/2- by 2-inch bars.

Another nice fact about this recipe is that it makes 36 bars…plenty for a team of hungry lady basketballers.

On another note, we got a double dose of news yesterday. Let’s start with the bad – we didn’t get the house. Even though we offered higher than the asking price, apparently the other party offered “significantly higher than the asking price.” It’s so disappointing and hits like a load of cement, especially knowing we’re still stuck in the house-hunting process, but we’re trusting Him in this. We prayed all along that it would be His will, so His will is not this house. End of story.

Now on to the good news – Eugene got the job as a high school varsity head baseball coach at the school he graduated from here in our town. This is great news; he loves baseball & coaching baseball is a HUGE talent God’s given him, so to have this opportunity as a young first-year teacher is a complete blessing. He’s pretty pumped…which makes me pretty pumped.  :)

So we continue to ride the roller coaster that is our life. {Keep your hands in at all times!}

Turkey crescent roll-ups & The uncommon.

I’ve made Turkey Crescent Roll-Ups before, but this time I took a few pics to share. It’s such a simple meal that I doubt it requires a recipe, but guess I might as well add a few steps.

Turkey Crescent Roll-Ups

1 can of reduced fat crescent rolls
lunchmeat {I picked turkey, obviously}
cheese {I used shredded cheddar}
Southwest Mustard {optional, I just used this for Eugene’s, nothing for mine….I like ‘em plain.}

Yeah, it’s as simple as you’d imagine. Roll out the crescents, add your cheese…

 

…add your lunchmeat…

 

…add your mustard {or cream cheese & mustard, like I did last time.}

Roll those bad boys up…

Bake ‘em at 375 degrees for however long the rolls’ packaging tells ya to…

 

…plate them once they’re nice and golden brown.

 

Add some caramel apples & ya got a great lunch {or quick dinner, in our case.} Oh, and see those bright pretty flowers? Yup, it’s a “7 years together” gift from my hubs. :)

Eugene & I are hosting a team dinner for his basketball girls today, so I also baked my ultimate favorite bread machine Italian Herb Bread recipe last night. Can’t wait to dip a piece of this beaut. in my spaghetti sauce. Mm!

We also had our first discussion with our small group on Crazy Love last night. I think it’s gonna be a good one. I already posted the introduction video a while back. If you’re interested, here’s a video that connects with the first chapter.

“When you’re so familiar with someone, they can become common to you, like just another person. And my concern is that sometimes we can do that with God – those of us who have been in the church for a long time, praying for a long time, hearing about Him for a long time – that He becomes so familiar to us that He becomes common.”

I pray that God’s unfathomable, all-powerful character, His overwhelming provision, His ultimate grace and deep deep love, and even the tiniest markings of His work – I pray that all of this stays fresh, unique, and amazingly shocking to me. I pray that I never become so self-absorbed to where I overlook, underestimate, or take for granted His fingerprints all over our lives.

{Lord, You are so much bigger than all I see, experience or understand & I thank you for that. Thank you, Lord, for everything.}

{So much} quality time.

I really need to figure out another way to describe my weekends rather than the usual “crazy-busy” descriptor. Friday night, Eugene had 3 of his college friends over & my living room was instantly filled with ESPN, rankings, player statistics, The Office recaps, nachos & cheese, and other manly stuff. He enjoyed the visit with the guys.

Saturday morning, the guys enjoyed the best doughnuts in the entire world…

And then we headed to Eugene’s parents’ place where my sister-in-law played hairdresser for me {reversing the roles} and dyed  my hair slightly darker for the cooler weather. I went from this beachy blonde…

 

To a dark autumnal blonde…

  

I think I like it, but I guess the verdict’s still out. {PS I’m really not a fan of the solo pics of me on the blog. Ugh. But I think it helps to show my sister the color…you better enjoy this close-up, Casey!}

Jordan worked an event with me on Saturday, and then Sunday after church we took the pup with us to the park for a family birthday party for Eugene’s grandma Dottie.

It was a perfect Fall day for a picnic, nice & warm outside, sun shining, and the leaves were falling from the tall trees the entire time.

I also got to snap a few pics of our second cousin, Ava, while she was playing on the playground. I’m doing a family session with her later this week, so this will be just a preview of more to come. :)

 

 

It was a perfect day for the camera.

Oh, and Eugene’s basketball team was off on Fall Break for the second half of this week & this weekend, so that freed up at least 9 extra hours just for us. It – was – amazing. I love quality time with him & it was much needed with our busy schedules lately and the pressure from the stressful decisions we’ve been making.

And because today marks 7 years together with him, here’s a special shout-out to tell him how thankful I am for him. He’s my best friend & he makes me so happy. Our journey together since we were 17 years old has been happy, scary, unexpected, sad, exciting, nerve-wracking, joyful, hilarious, friendship-filled, and absolutely unbelievable. I love him {so much}.

Pink, orange, purple, yellow & best offer form.

God is the best color coordinator. Seriously, He is such the perfect artist. I had to take my camera outside yesterday when I saw the pink cast to the sunset. Gorgeous.

So we got an email informing us that the bank that’s selling the house received more than one offer & is now asking all parties to submit a “best and highest offer” form. Lovely. It’s quite annoying, pretty much the bank trying to play us to get top dollar. For all we know, our offer could have already been the best. {Argh!} Well, we gave ‘em our number just a bit ago & prayed that we’re being wise. Guess we’ll see what happens from here…probably have to wait til next week to get a response though.