Ahhhh the classic peanut butter cookie, second only to the chocolate chip. As the recipe says these are rich and crumbly. I made these for J to take to her ladies Bible study group and I hear they were a hit. So good with an ice cold glass of milk, obviously.

I made this real quick last weekend for Z and me and it came out terrific. Again, very simple and just as tasty. This method cooks the broccoli perfectly and the simple sauce (ohh the garlic) gives it a wonderful rich flavor. It’s touted in the recipes “story/background” as a way to get kids to eat broccoli. Little Z is another one of those kids. As I mention below I made it a second time with other vegetables and it was just as good if not a little better. You must keep in the broccoli though no matter what, thats the rule.

Got tickets to see these guys with these guys next month. Stoked!

I have tried making homemade pizza many a time. It usually takes a lot of time or a lot of kneading or special flours (tipo 00) or all of the above. I’ve yet to try this one which I will soon, I’ve heard great things. But I just need something that is quick and simple that I can be munching on within the hour. Fortunately I like thin cracker-like crust so when I ran across this recipe for homemade matzo I instantly thought pizza. The girls usually end up eating (filling up) before I can even finish other pizzas but not this time. J and I really enjoyed it, Z is weird and only likes pizzas of the frozen persuasion.

I made these roasted tomatoes a few days before just to use them before they went bad. 250 degrees for as many hours as it takes, about three. Don’t forget to olive oil, sea salt and pepper them first! They were perfect on those little pizzas. I ended up topping the pizzas with some fresh oregano too but didn’t get a pic of that.

There are a ton of dogs in our neighborhood. They all love to bark which is good because ours like to bark too.

Approved graffiti via the city.

The one house in the neighborhood that is very creative. These huge street like lights hang from their trees. They have a cool tree house and a crazy tin rooftop deck. They make things, you know. They also scared the poop out of J on Halloween and I was cracking up.

Heard this song by the band Wild Belle on NPR. All Songs Considered I think. It was there SXSW discoveries. I instantly like it.

These babies were AWESOME. I’m not sure if I want any other style of pancake as long as I live. So fresh and so clean, lol. Amazing lemon pancakes, everyone loved them! I seriously can’t wait until the weekend to make them again. Do yourself a favor and make these soon.

Cool song by a band called Meadownoise.

We tried a new granola the other day. The girls let me eat it all meaning they weren’t all that impressed. I on the other hand loved it. I brought some to work for the coworkers to try and they all loved it too. I’ve actually had multiple requests to bring in more. I will make this again, I didn’t have anything for the dried fruit element so I think with that in missing piece in place the girls will love it too.

Very good as cereal. I just love ice cold milk over homemade granola.

The loving spoonful.

I was watching Chopped the other day and a girl (who had a horrible attitude and I hope lost) made a gravy that she said her mom or grandma used to make, I can’t remember which but it’s really not important. Anyway, she said it was equal parts butter and flour and enough milk to get your desired thickness. Oh, and salt and lots of pepper. I love simple easy to remember staple recipes and I LOVE a good white gravy so I couldn’t wait to give it a try. It turned out fantastic! J and Z both liked it and I love it when that happens. It’s definitely not vegan but it’s meatless, hearty, and scratches that itch.

If you have any left over biscuits they are great as a snack with some honey.

I wanted to make a salad with our breakfast so I just decided to make our breakfast a salad. I looked for ideas on the interwebs and found one with cinnamon toast croutons, sold.

Cut up some bread and toss with some melted butter, sugar and cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees until crunchy. Make a simple vinaigrette using 1 T. apple cider vinegar, 1 T. real maple syrup and a few T. olive oil and you’re pretty much set. Add some crispy bacon, walnuts and whatever you like and top it off with a soft boiled egg.

This was my first attempt at soft boiled eggs and they were awesome. Bring water to a boil, carefully add eggs and boil for about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and cool or eat right away. I’m addicted.

When we have visitors like Z’s Grandma Mitzi, we like to take them out to Red Rock to show them that Vegas isn’t just a bunch of casinos and clubs. That there are actually awesome things to do outdoors. When your in Red Rock you forget your in Vegas even though it’s literally just a few minutes outside of town.

We invited our good friend Fred to meet up with us and we were super glad we did. He has been on every trail on the map and led us to a trail we had never heard of and would probably never would have without him bringing it to our attention. It was called Pine Creek Canyon and it was AWESOME. We were going to hit the kids discovery trail but Fred said it was flat and boring and that this other trail was his absolute favorite because it had lots of different things to experience. Mountains, river, pine trees, big boulders, you name it.

Walking into the canyon I yelled out something that I forget now but wow, the echo was amazing. Like six repeats/echos. Entering the canyon and looking up Fred saw some rock climbers hanging on the sheer cliff near the top of the mountain. I yelled up “Hello” wondering if the light blue specs on the mountainside were actually people to which they replied with a “Hello” back, so cool.

Juniper trees where everywhere.

This rock has a face.

This balancing boulder was the final destination, the last leg of our journey. We entailed a little bit of actual rock climbing to get to it where it sits on a ledge overlooking the the whole trail from about 100 feet up. The spot is very peaceful and serene but there was no time to hangout long as it was getting colder, darker and we had to hike all the way back right. On that way back I found a rock that looked like an owls head so I stacked it on another rock along the trail giving her a body. I have to say Z did an amazing job making this 3 mile hike with an easy-moderate rating. Here’s how the Red Rock web site describes Pine Creek Canyon. “Pine Creek Canyon offers some of the best of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area–beautiful and diverse plant communities nestled at the bottom of monolithic canyon walls. The ponderosa pine forest at the mouth of the canyon is a remnant from the last Ice Age, but it survives here thanks to the cool air and water flowing down Pine Creek Canyon..”

J and I had truffle macaroni and cheese at a great little spot called Herbs & Rye which makes totally awesome flat bread pizzas. Neither of us knew what to expect, I mean I knew they were expensive mushrooms and supposedly they were great but after the first smell of the mac and cheese we were turned off. So much that we just had it sent back. The odor was so offensive to us that I had to put the dish on the table next to us to just get it away. It was interfering with our delicious pizzas. The staff was very cool about it and took it off our bill no problemo. So I was surprised when I was sniffing around the cheese island at Whole Foods and came across this truffle cheese and I actually kind of sort of liked it. It was super expensive so I just got a small piece and it was great. Super creamy and coated on the outside with edible ash as opposed to a wax or something.

During Christmas my secret Santa at work gave me a bottle of black truffle oil too and we’ve been loving it on popcorn ever since. Truffles are slowly finding there way into our hears I guess.