I’m sure I could have found a not so goofy looking picture, but I don’t really feel like digging around for that. This was interesting since the hubby and I are extremely clumsy. I’m surprised we managed not to spill any of the champagne on either of us. I wish I had the full picture of my cake with the fountain in the middle courtesy of my mamasita! It’s nice to have a mom who decorates cakes for a living.

We had this ceremony for our friends and family on July 10, 2005. We had been legally married since April 29, 2005. Our April wedding wasn’t bad. We got married at City Hall with our pastor being able to participate in most the ceremony. And then we walked onto the beach and had a blessing prayed over us. But our July wedding was just so much more fun with our family and friends there to celebrate with us. Sure it was stressful (which was why I wanted to elope in the first place) but I am glad I have the fondest memories. Arguing with my baby cousin who wanted to get her hair redone because it made her look like a baby which my response to her was that I wanted her to look like a baby since she would be walking with an older guy and she was only 16. Hearing my twin nephews (who were 2 1/2 years old) call out for me during the ENTIRE ceremony. I love them. Breaking it down on the dance floor with my favorite girls. Or having my hubby “dance” to salsa and reggaeton (urban music in Spanish…think Daddy Yankee) which my hubby’s form of dancing to that was hopping around the dance floor. Seeing my in-laws dance (the one time they did) to “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard. Having my brother-in-law (who was 5 at the time) dance much like my hubby does (think hopping) around us any time we were on the dance floor. Seeing some of my aunts dancing and laughing like little girls. And noticing the fact that besides my BFF and her parents dancing none of my hubby’s family would get up to dance. I didn’t worry that left me much more dancing room.

This is me with my matron of honor aka BFF, Shanna. And now through marriage we are cousins (she is first cousins with my hubby)!

This moment looks really sweet, but it isn’t as sweet as you would think. My dad was trying to get me to cry like a little baby. I was trying my hardest not to, so that I wouldn’t ruin my make up.

What are we doing for our 4 anniversary you ask? We forgot today was our anniversary since we’ve been busy like crazy trying to get our house to sell. So I got a crown put in this morning courtesy of the dentist and the hubby is working late since he went in late so he could watch Little Monkey for me. Woo hoo! I’ve been lazy about cooking dinner lately. I guess I can make a good dinner tonight and bake him his favorite cookies, Oatmeal Butterscotch cookies.

Here’s the recipe:

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups quick-cooking or regular rolled oats, uncooked
• 1-3/4 cups (11-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY’S Butterscotch Chips

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips; mix well. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

This was the first recipe I have made from the Deceptively Delicious book. Yummy! Okay, so I couldn’t get Little Monkey to eat them because the streusel topping seemed to scare him, but the hubby and I LOVED them! Next time I’ll make 6 muffins with streusel topping and 6 muffins without streusel topping. These look so yummy…I might as well go snack on one while I type.

Applesauce Muffins

Topping:
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar (I used light brown)
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spead, melted (I used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter)

Batter:
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (I used Mott’s sweetened applesauce)
1/2 cup nonfat (skim) milk (I used organic 2% milk)
1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree (I used carrot puree)
1/2 cup of firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 large egg

1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.
2. To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the margarine.
3. To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl or zipperlock bag and stir or shake to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not overmix – the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkly with the streusel topping.
Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18 to 20 minutes. I baked mine for 18 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto a rack and serve warm or cool.

I can’t wait to make more recipes from this book!

I make homemade gingersnaps whenever I make my pumpkin pie dip. I do this because the first time I made my dip, the recipe suggested buying gingersnaps to go with the dip. I have tasted packaged gingersnaps…they were so hard I thought my teeth were going to come out while eating them. So I thought I would give baking gingersnaps a whirl. They are sooooooo much better than those boxed gingersnaps. Thanks to the Food Network for this recipe! This is always a hit with the little ones.

Gingersnaps

Cook time: 10-12 minutes
Makes about 36-40 cookies

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and grease cookie sheet (I use air-insulated non-stick cookie sheets, so I can skip greasing the cookie sheet.) Cream the butter with the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and egg. Beat until smooth. Sift the flour with baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until well blended. Pinch off a little of the dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Dip each ball into the granulated sugar and arrange sugar side up on prepared baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cracked on top.

Another favorite place to get my recipes is allrecipes.com It allows me to get good recipes and see what members rated the recipes. I can also see what members did to make the recipe taste better.

Downeast Main Pumpkin Bread
Cook time: 50 minutes
Makes about 24 servings

Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
(Suggestions from another member that I applied: splash of vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice)

Directions:
Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 7×3 inch loaf pans. (I made one loaf and a dozen muffins.) In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water, splash of vanilla extract and sugar until well blended. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until blended well. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for about 50 minutes. (My muffins were done in 40 minutes.)