I stumbled across this wonderful website today and decided to work with the photo for this week. Lots of fun. I did a lot of different tweaking, but I forgot to write down what I was doing! *blush* Anyway, here's the before and my after
It is Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for much. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with family and friends.
Since there's just the 2 1/2 of us, I'm not cooking a large traditional feast. Instead, on my menu for this afternoon is Marinated Flank Steak, Homemade Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Green Beans, Deviled Eggs, and Pear Crisp with Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. I'll post everything this evening or tomorrow morning (depending on how gorged I am tonight!).
This is based on a recipe I found in Everyday by Rachel Ray a few months ago, but I changed it by adding the sauce - which totally makes the dish! I quite literally licked my plate (and the spoon, and the serving bowl :) ) clean. I'm totally looking forward to leftovers for lunch!
1 lb penne pasta
1 head cauliflower, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces
EVOO
salt & freshly ground pepper
garlic powder and paprika (or other spices to taste)
8 T butter (the real stuff)
2 tsp rubbed sage
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
3/4 cup freshly grated Romano
Preheat oven to 400.
Lay the cauliflower on a baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO and toss to coat. Lay the florets back out all nice and neat so they are touching but not overlapping.
Lightly salt and pepper. Sprinkle on garlic powder and about 2/3 as much paprika as garlic powder. (Take it easy on the garlic powder and paprika, they're just there for emphasis in this dish.)
Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned, but not burned.
Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain.
While the pasta is cooking, in a small heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, until the butter is golden-brown, about 6 minutes. (I don't have a heavy saucepan, so I had to cheat and stir the butter once or twice to keep it from burning around the edges. This, of course, disrupted the cooking process and made me cook it much longer.) Remove from heat and, after a minute, add the heavy cream and sage. Return to heat and simmer over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add the cheeses. (I'm not entirely certain on the amount of cheese. I used two large palmfuls of cheese, which I am estimating is 1 1/2 cup total. The sauce will still be a little runny, not overly cheesy/creamy. I also used more Romano than Parmesan because I prefer it's more subdued flavor. Remember that cooking, unlike baking, is not a precise science. There's always room for personal preference.) Do not stir the cheeses in, but rather let them sit for a bit. Stir it all together after a few minutes and toss with the hot, drained pasta. (I always add my pasta slowly to the sauce - I don't want too much pasta and not enough sauce!) Enjoy!
That's what's on the menu for tonight. After a few weeks of being off the wagon, I'm jumping back on. It's a process. So anyway, check back later tonight for recipes!
Alright, here are the recipes.
Fettuccine Alfredo - Adapted slightly from this recipe by Giada De Laurentiis
18 ounces fresh fettuccine
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups grated Parmesan
1 cup grated Romano
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes. Drain.
Stir 2 cups of the cream and the lemon juice in a heavy large skillet to blend. Add the butter and cook over medium heat just until the butter melts, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Add the pasta and toss. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of cream, and cheeses to the cream sauce in the skillet. Add the salt and pepper. Toss the pasta mixture over low heat until the sauce thickens slightly, about 1 minute.
Roasted Cauliflower
This is very similar to my roasted asparagus recipe.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Rinse cauliflower and remove cut into small pieces.
Lay the cauliflower on a baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO and toss to coat. Lay the florets back out all nice and neat so they are touching but not overlapping.
Lightly salt and pepper. Sprinkle on garlic powder and about 2/3 as much paprika as garlic powder.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp-tender.
Pumpkin Muffins - from The Pioneer Woman
Muffin Ingredients:
1 cup All-purpose Flour
½ cups Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1-½ teaspoon Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
½ teaspoons Nutmeg
½ teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons Butter - Cut Into Pieces
1 cup (heaping) Pumpkin Puree
½ cups Evaporated Milk
1 whole Egg
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla
½ cups Golden Raisins (optional!)
Topping
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Nutmeg
Frosting:
¼ cups Softened Butter
4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
½ pounds Powdered Sugar
½ teaspoons Vanilla
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until it is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.
Pour into a greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin.
Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.
To make the frosting, mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy! Store in the fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.
My note: I love these! I ate all 12 by myself! (*sheepish grin*) I left out the raisins. I meant to make the frosting (because it sounds so yummy!) but I simply devoured them too quickly to bother.And before you ask, no, not together. We invited a friend of Eli's over tonight for dinner. I tried a new recipe and finally perfected another. The menu consisted of Marinated Flank Steak, Roasted Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes, Chocolate Cake, and Tres Leches Cake. It was all very yummy. The steak and potatoes were new recipes to me. The potatoes were very good. Seriously, how can you mess up mashed potatoes? The steak was different. I think I liked it. I would certainly tweek the marinade recipe a bit next time. But we all agreed it tasted pretty good. I had the hardest time finding a grocery store in my area that carries flank steak. I actually had to drive 20 minutes north for it. But considering it was just over $10 and enough steak to feed three adults and a child, I'd say the drive was worth the deal. I homemade everything but the chocolate cake. My view on it is, when Betty Crocker has the perfect Chocolate Devil's Food cake from a box, why bother baking one from scratch? I have constantly fought with my buttercream icing over the years. It is at times too thick, too sugary, too...something. Anyway, tonight it was divine! Eli made the comment that it tasted like ice cream. The difference this time was the amount of sugar I used and the whipping cream I drizzled in at the end on a complete whim. The icing was a bit thin and I didn't want to add more sugar. I knew that adding the cream while the mixer was on such a high speed would make the cream thicken the icing. Anyway, here are the recipes.
Marinated Flank Steak (This was a hodge-podge of recipes I found online for flank steak)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup evoo
1/4 cup honey
2T sesame oil
1 1/2T Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2T ginger, minced
Mix together and add trimmed flank steak, coating well on both sides. Cover and let marinate 4+ hours.
When ready to grill, remove the steak from the fridge and let sit while you heat a grill pan over high heat. You want the pan to be really hot when you lay the steak on it. When the pan is hot enough, place the steak on the pan and leave for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Turn 45 degrees (for grill marks) and let cook another 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Flip and repeat on other side. It should cook 5-8 minutes total for medium rare. Be sure to turn on your exhaust fan (and open a door or window if you have an old fan like I do). Remove from heat, cover loosely with foil and let rest 10 minutes. Slice on an angle (for thicker slices) and against the grain to serve.
While cooking steak, pour marinade through a sieve and bring to boil in a small sauce pan over high heat. Let boil about 10 minutes until it reduces. Serve with steak as a dipping sauce.
(On a personal note, I added a lot more soy sauce and Worcestershire. The sesame oil is a very strong flavor. I think next time I will halve the amount of sesame oil and honey and then adjust for taste.)
Mashed Potatoes
2 lbs potatoes
2 sticks butter
1/4 cup sour cream
Peel and dice potatoes. Put in a pot and cover with enough water to come 1 inch above potatoes. Heat over high heat and boil until fork-tender. You want them nice and soft. Drain and place in mixing bowl. Add 2 sticks butter (I sliced it into pads) and sour cream. Mix well and beat on high speed. I let them do laps while I worked on other things, stirring them occasionally. The longer the potatoes do laps, the fluffier and creamier they are.
Chocolate Buttercream Icing
2 sticks butter, room temp or melted
5-8 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
heavy whipping cream
Add butter, 4 cups sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and milk to a large mixing bowl. Mix together on low speed first to avoid a cloud of powdered sugar, then cream on med-high speed. Add more powdered sugar by half-cupfuls until slightly thinner than desired consistency. (Mine was just thin enough to be a bit runny had I tried to ice with it.) Drizzle in a little heavy whipping cream (sorry, I didn't measure - it was probably about 1-2 Tablespoons) and cream until desired consistency is reached. Add more cream if necessary.
All-in-all a very good dinner. I think Mike will come back. :)
(Sorry for any typos...I'm too tired to proof.)
Update on the Tres Leches cake: I decided not to make the icing. I was just too lazy to pull the mixer back out. And I'm rather glad I didn't. I've been slicing strawberries and laying them on top of the cake, and it's the perfect blend of sweet and tart. I love it! I've eaten half a cake all by myself! (Not that this is a bad thing by any means.) B and I even had cake and strawberries for breakfast yesterday. I figure it has all the same ingredients as french toast, give or take, and is therefore more nutritious than cereal. At least that's what I told myself as I was eating the cake. :)
So, last night I made Chicken Scallopine. No side, though. At least I made dinner. It was a relative success. I find myself wondering if my sauce isn't quite right because I'm substituting chicken broth for white wine. This is the second time I've made it and I find that it's just too runny. I'll have to experiment further to find the right mix of sauce ingredients. But it was well received. Eli liked the chicken. I never imagined he'd go anywhere near the scallopine part of the dish. Brayden tore up some chicken. And he ate the capers. Just the capers. Well, and the mushrooms. Although most of the mushrooms were consumed uncooked as I sliced them. I had to chase him off before he ate them all! I think next time I'll saute the mushrooms in butter before I add the other sauce ingredients. I love the taste that results when mushrooms and butter marry! I think it would add significantly to the dish. My favorite part of cooking this is pounding the chicken flat. You should have seen the look Eli gave me when he came into the kitchen to see what was going on! He thought I had lost my mind as he watched me go at the chicken with a hammer! (I don't have a meat mallet or a rolling pin, so I use the broad side of a hammer and it works great.)
I also prepped Blueberry Baked French Toast last night and cooked it this morning. I loved it, as usual. I've eaten half of it since this morning. Brayden liked it well enough, but I think I'll let him have plain ole cereal tomorrow. He just isn't liking these strange breakfast dishes as much, and as a result, he's getting cranky from low blood sugar and we have a bad morning. Anyway, love the French Toast. It's a bit unusual to make, but yummy! I love that the tartness of the blueberries keeps it from being overly sweet. Add some maple syrup and I'm in heaven. (BTW, I use about 3 times as many blueberries as the recipe calls for, which is 3 small boxes.)
Tonight is Savory Chicken Breasts. And B and I are making Forgotten Cookies for his teachers. You'll certainly want to come back for the cookie recipe! A family favorite for sure! (And I mean the ENTIRE family.)
Here are the recipes for the Chicken Scallopine and the French Toast:
PW’s Chicken Scallopine
1 pound linguine
6 boneless, skinless, trimmed chicken breasts
Flour
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
12 ounces white mushrooms, sliced thin
1 cup dry white wine
Chicken broth (optional)
1 lemon
1/2 cup heavy cream (can use half & half)
1 heaping tablespoon capers
chopped fresh Italian parsley
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Flatten chicken breasts to uniform thickness. Salt and pepper both sides, then dredge in flour.
Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry chicken breasts until golden brown. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Throw mushrooms into the pan and stir. Immediately pour in wine, then squeeze juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon. Stir to deglaze the pan, then cook vigorously for 1 minute, until sauce reduces.
Pour in cream and stir, then add capers and parsley and stir. Turn off heat. Stir and add salt and pepper to taste. Don’t undersalt!
Place pasta and chicken on a platter and top with every last drop of sauce. Generously sprinkle Parmesan Cheese over the top.
Blueberry Baked French Toast
INGREDIENTS
1 Family Size Bag Stacy’s Pita Chips - Simply Naked
7 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
6 oz fresh blueberries (optional)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (use a little more)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
DIRECTIONS
Grease 9 x 13 inch baking pan with butter. Pour in bag of pita chips and arrange evenly.
In a bowl mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.
Pour egg mixture over pita chips. Cover pan tightly with foil and place in refrigerator overnight, or at least six hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove pan from refrigerator. Sprinkle blueberries over the top.
Mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Slice butter and add to bowl, then use pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture.
Sprinkle flour mixture over the blueberries and make sure it’s evenly distributed.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. Chips on top should be crispy and crunchy.
Remove from oven and cut into squares. Drizzle with blueberry or maple syrup and serve warm.
So, I went into the kitchen to start on the Chicken Scallopine for dinner and realized that I didn't have any chicken broth. So, instead, I did Macaroni Grill Creamy Basil Pasta out of a box instead. But I did make a Tres Leches Cake. PW posted the recipe a couple days ago and I was dying to try it. It's a sponge cake soaked with a three-milk mixture. I've never made a cake from scratch, so this was interesting. I wish I had realized before I measured out the flour, baking soda, and salt that it is essentially self-rising flour - because I actually have self-rising flour in my pantry. (BTW, you can turn all-purpose flour into self-rising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt per 1 cup flour. Just in case you're ever baking and find you need to know.) So, as of right now the cake is baked, cooled, and soaked. Brayden loved helping pierce the cake before I soaked it. In fact, he started to get a little overzealous with the stabbing and I had to reign him in lest he destroy the cake. He then proceeded to scoop himself up a big chunk and eat it, whereby he declared it "yummy, tasty"! I haven't made the icing yet. But I did try a bite and it is rather yummy. Almost a little too sweet for me, though. I'm not a big sweet fiend. I think that with the icing (which is essentially whipped heavy cream) and some strawberry slices on top, the sweetness will be more manageable. I'll let you know how it works out. In the mean time, here's the recipe for Tres Leches cake as per PW.
Tres Leches Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 pint heavy cream, for whipping
3 tablespoons sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla.
Pour egg yolk mixture over flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on, pour in 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into other mixture very gently until just combined.
Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a small pitcher.
When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.
Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes.
Whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.
Here's my menu for the rest of the week. We get paid on Thursdays, so my menus will run from Friday to Thursday.
Sunday - Chicken Scallopine with Steamed Broccoli
Monday - Savory Chicken Breasts with Roasted Cauliflower
Tuesday - Chicken Wiki with Steamed Broccoli
Wednesday - Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower
Thursday - Mac Grill Basil Pasta with whatever veggie I find at the store today
Somewhere in there I'm making Baked Blueberry French Toast and a Tres Leches cake.
We had a lazy sort of night tonight. Brayden woke up from his nap hungry and we had a friend over to play, so the only thing I cooked was asparagus. I love roasted asparagus. I made a whole large bundle and ate it all myself tonight! (In my defense, no-one else in the house likes it.)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Rinse asparagus and remove bottoms. Many people will tell you to cut off the bottom just above the tough part...but I always want to ask - where exactly is that?! I tried that once or twice and always ended up with a few bites of the tough, bitter end that I missed. Instead, break the end off by hand. The asparagus will naturally bend and snap off at just the right place. (OMG! The Bend & Snap! Works every time! - Kudos to any who know where that comes from.)
Lay the asparagus in a line on a baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO and toss to coat. Lay them back out all nice and neat so they are touching but not overlapping. Add spices. (To me, spices are more of a generalization. I don't usually measure - and certainly not for asparagus. Besides, it's really influenced by your personal preference.)
Lightly salt and pepper. Add a generous amount of garlic powder. (Don't ward off any vampires, but this is your main spice.) Add about 2/3 as much paprika as garlic powder. Add just a touch of chili powder. Be careful, this stuff is strong. You just want to give it a slight kick.
Bake for 15-20 minutes - a tad longer if they are really thick stalks.
That's it. Totally yummy asparagus!
So, I've decided to start blogging tonight.
For dinner I made Macaroni & Cheese and Roasted Green Beans. I've never cooked fresh green beans, so it was a new experience. I just sort of made it us as I went. The Macaroni & Cheese is based off a recipe The Pioneer Woman posted a few months ago. But she calls for a couple spices I didn't want in my Mac & Cheese. As a Mac & Cheese aficionado (ask my mother what food is responsible for the bulk of my existence growing up), I want to taste noodles and creamy cheese. I don't want strange flavors taking over and making me wonder why it tastes funny. Don't get me wrong, I like me some good spices. but Mac & Cheese shouldn't have a tang IMHO. So anyway, here's how you make homemade Mac & Cheese.
First off, you need a heavy bottom pot (the sauce needs to heat evenly without any hot spots to cause it to burn) and a whisk. (Note to self: I need to buy a small balloon whisk. My large one just ain't cuttin' it.)
Start by boiling water for the pasta and cooking it according to the package directions. While the pasta is cooking, continue with making the sauce. There will be a few minutes lull later where you can drain the pasta.
Before you begin making the sauce, be sure to measure everything out and have it nearby. You don't want to get to the point where you're ready to pour in the milk and then have to measure it out - the roux will burn. (Ask me how I know this.)
On an aside, a roux is a thickening mixture made from flour and fat that is the basis for many sauces and gravies.
So, you need to melt 1/4 cup butter in your pot and whisk in 1/4 cup flour. Cook over medium-low heat for five minutes, whisking constantly. Make sure to whisk every part of the roux evenly or it WILL burn. Just before it is ready, you will notice that the consistency begins to thin and it starts to take on a slightly golden color. (I said slightly. If it starts to turn from golden to brown, it is burning! Ask me how I know this.)
Pour in 2 1/2 cups milk and whisk until smooth. (Don't pour it in slowly or it will burn. Wanna hazard a guess how I know this?) Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.
Grab the bowl that has 1 egg, beaten, in it. Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into the beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the egg. What you are doing is tempering the egg. If we dumped the egg straight into the sauce, the heat would cook the egg on contact. By slowly pouring a little of the sauce into the egg first, we are gradually bringing the temperature of the egg up. Now pour the egg mixture slowly into the sauce, whisking constantly. Stir the sauce until smooth.
Dump in the 1 lb. cheddar cheese you have shredded and sitting nearby and stir to melt completely. Add a bit of salt to taste. PW says not to under-salt, but having ruined a batch by over-salting, I'd rather have mine lacking in that department than not.
Now add in your cooked and drained macaroni. Don't just dump it all in. Add it in batches and stir in between additions. You may or may not need all the macaroni, and it's better to have more cheese than macaroni than not enough.
(For those who are wondering how I know all these faux pas: Yes, I have made this at least a dozen times. I mentioned before that I am a Macaroni & Cheese aficionado. I should probably amend that to say that I am a Mac-&-Cheese-ophile.)
For the green beans, I cooked them much like I do asparagus.
I preheated my oven to 400 degrees. I snapped off each green bean at the tips and spread them out on a baking sheet. I drizzled them with enough EVOO to coat, and tossed them to coat well. I sprinkled a pinch of salt and pepper and two generous pinches of sugar. Yes, sugar. It complimented the natural sweetness of the green beans well. Then I sprinkled them with paprika. I wanted a spice that would add impact without overpowering the sugar. In hindsight, I wish I had used more paprika. I sprinkled them semi-liberally, using appx. 1/2 tsp for two to three servings of green beans. Next time I will fully coat them on one side with the paprika - using 1 - 2 tsp.
Then I stuck them in the oven. I gave them about 25 minutes, but they came out a little more tender than I would have liked. 18-20 minutes would have been just right.
It was a good dinner. Brayden didn't eat the mac & cheese - predictably. He is a mac & cheese snob. He only eats mac & cheese that comes out of a blue box - and then only if it's mixed with peas. I don't ask. But me, I'm quite stuffed from eating too much. It was yummy.
I am in desperate need of cooking at home more. It's killing our budget all the eating out. I always have the best of intentions to cook, but between not having a good daily routine and then forgetting dinner needs to be made until the last minute, I end up ordering out instead of cooking the food that's sitting in my fridge. So, to help keep me accountable, I'm taking a cue from The Pioneer Woman and This Week for Dinner and I'm going to make a weekly menu and share it here. And then I'm going to let you all know how new recipes go - for better or worse! I really enjoy cooking, and I find tons of wonderful recipes. So I'm going to share. I'll get my game plan together for the rest of the week and start posting tomorrow. Feel free to follow along!
For those of you *ahem* who have been asking (repeatedly) to see photos of the house. Here's the grand tour.
So, you walk in the front door and to the left is the den, which I posted pictures of, like, 8 months ago. And in front/to the right is the living room.
You then head through the door near the foot of the stairs and find yourself in the dining room.
You continue through the dining room to the left, and on that big blank wall (which is now covered in Brayden's artwork) is the doorway into the kitchen. (Please excuse the mound of garbage waiting to go out to the road.)
Through the little door adjacent to the one connected to the dining room is the pantry and stairway down to the basement (which I am not going to show you).
Through the door on the other side of the baker's rack is the half bath. I love this little bathroom.
So, leaving the first floor, you climb the stairs. Directly ahead at the top of the stairs is the spare bedroom which is now my knitting room/photography studio. Sorry, no pictures yet. Without turning, to the right is the upstairs bathroom.
Assuming you were still standing at the top of the stairs, kitty corner behind you to the left (if that made any sense) is the door to the master bedroom. (Again, sorry no pictures yet.) And adjacent to it on the left is the door to Brayden's room. (I'll get a photo of his new bed soon.)
And in his closet is this adorable little play room.
I can't believe my baby is three! I refuse to believe it. In fact, it hasn't really sunk in yet. We had a quiet birthday yesterday for him. He doesn't really have any friends yet, so we opted to forgo a party. Instead, yesterday evening we all went to Valley Worlds of Fun. Brayden had a blast. We went down the big Fun Slide (like the one at the fair) together as a family. He played miniature golf with Daddy - which he loved! He was emulating his Daddy. If Daddy was teeing off, Brayden plopped his ball down and teed (sp?) off. If Daddy was putting, he picked his ball up and went over to putt. It was cute. Daddy and Brayden got in the bumper boats and got soaking wet! The boats have a water gun on them and there were some rowdy kids in the water. In fact, one little boy was bullying my baby - he had that water gun two feet from my child and had the gun pointed straight at his head while Brayden squirmed and fussed. I just about jumped the fence and snapped at the child. Eli later told me there wasn't anything he could do about it. Seriously?! I told Eli he was 26 years old and that child was 10. You stand up for your children. Anyway... Brayden was upset that he couldn't climb the rock wall, but he didn't weigh enough. But Brayden and Daddy did go up in the free fall ride. They pick you up and drop you about 8 times. Brayden was a little anxious in the air, but he seemed to enjoy it. Then we went inside to the arcade and indoor play area. Brayden loves playing Skee Ball and he racked up some tickets. We also played Daddy in Air Hockey. Momma kicked Daddy's butt once Brayden stopped playing! Then we all climbed in the blow-up obstacle course. Brayden really wanted to ride the bumper cars, but he was too short. After we left, we came home and had Monkey Cake that Mama worked all day on and opened a few little presents. His big present was his new bed. I was fortunate we had a bed skirt and comforter Eli's Mom had given us a while back. Then last night he got a box of paints, which he was thrilled about, a set of Kid Kinex - Furry Friends, and a set of Play Doh with several neat cutters and presses. Here's photos from the celebration. I know there's a lot, but I wanted you to feel like you were here!
Brayden's Monkey Cake! 
Every time Eli would hit the ball and it didn't get near the hole, Brayden would pick it up for him so he could put it closer to the hole! "Here Daddy, I got your ball!"
Brayden thought he needed to put his ball right next to the hole so he could hit it in. Here he is placing Daddy's ball for him.
And hitting Daddy's ball in.
Yay! I hit the ball in! He would cheer himself each time he sunk the ball.
Daddy trying to show Brayden how to properly hit the ball.
The free fall. Daddy wanted me to go on it with Brayden, but I told him that if he stayed on the ground, I would require him to take pictures. He told me he'd rather go up!
Brayden driving with Snoopy!
"Happy Birthday to you!"
He actually blew all three candles out in one breath all by himself! We had to relight the candles because he wanted to do it again.
*Gasp* Colors! Paints!
Kitty Cat!
Trying to figure out how the box opens.
He was very excited about the play doh!
All in all, it was a nice day. He seemed to have a lot of fun. He was actually in a pretty good mood all day. He finished up his evening with a Skype with his Pa Campbell. Brayden was showing him all his new toys and sat to chat for a bit. I was surprised he sat for the Skype as long as he did. He even told Pa Campbell "I lub you" and "bye bye".
