Ten on Ten :: September 2014

Happy Ten on Ten everybody, I hope you have a great day searching for beauty in the ordinary, I can't wait to see what you find!

More about the Ten on Ten project HERE.

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Friday Pieday // Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel

With my older two heading back to school this week I've been brainstorming a few fun new things to do with my younger two during the day. Josie has a huge sweet tooth (just like her mama!) and I thought it would be fun to start a Friday tradition of trying out a new pie recipe with her as a special end of the week treat for our guys. 

I checked out First Prize Pies from the library and handed it to Chris to pick out our first recipe. I was not surprised when he landed on this Peanut Butter Pretzel icebox style pie, Josie and I had so much fun this afternoon making it together.

After dinner tonight Josie presented it to the table and we all oohed and ahhed as we broke into the delicious treat. Salty, chocolaty, peanut butter cream - we all agreed it was really yummy and Levi said it was the best pie he's ever had!

I am already looking forward to next Friday's masterpiece, Josie said she wants to try something with strawberries!! Happy Friday, everyone!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Pie (Trifecta Pie)  from First Prize Pies

Pretzel Crust:

8 ounces salted pretzels
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

3/4 cup heavy cream
4 ounces cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Topping:

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream

Make the crust: Grind the pretzels in a food processor until finely ground, pour in the butter and use your hands to blend until the texture of wet sand. Press into a nine nice pie pan and chill the crust in the fridge or freezer until ready to use.

Make the filling: in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment whip the cream until stiff peaks form Set aside and using the paddle attachment mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and peanut butter until fully incorporated. Add in the whipped cream and mix until blended and then pour the peanut butter cream into the crust and smooth the top with a spatula. Put it into the fridge or freezer for 15 minutes to set up.

Make the topping: Put the cream and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat on medium for 1 minute. Let stand for 1 minute and then blend the chocolate and cream together to make the ganache. Pour over top of the peanut butter layer and spread with a spatula and then sprinkle with pretzel pieces for garnish. Chill in the fridge or freezer until ready to serve.

SEA to Sea // Learn

I'm so excited to share about a new collaborative project I am taking on with my dear friend Stacy Bostrom. We are setting out to focus on a weekly topic side by side me from the beautiful city of Seattle she on the gorgeous shores of San Diego - from SEA to Sea as we have decided to call it : simple themes of gratitude and grace. 

We will be posting a weekly collection of diptychs (inspired by the infamous 3191 project) and our own thoughts on the weeks theme. I so look forward to sharing in this project and finding inspiration in the coming months. This weeks prompt // Learn.

This week my older boys headed back to School which is always a little bittersweet but honestly I think we've all been a bit excited about the structure of school and the schedules of fall and continuing the learning and growing that they do so very fast.

We had our back to school feast the night before the first day - a low key celebration with some family, yummy salmon Papa caught on his summer exertions and some cake and ice cream too to celebrate nana's birthday. Chris read our verse for the school year, we chose John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. It was crazy and wild and the night didn't go perfectly smooth but I love marking the start of the school year in this way and the kids look forward to the tradition so much!

And the thing that we are praying over our home and family for the coming year is that as we teach our kids how to love learning and school that we would also show them what it means to love one another. Through the great successes and struggles of growing up that they would see just how much they are truly loved and feel safe and secure to spread their wings and try with all there might.

(Levi first grade, Simon third grade)

…also on a comical note and for my own record books I have to mention that on the day that I sent my older two back to school (the first year that they are both going full day!) my baby Zeb decided to learn how to climb out of his crib and in turn refuse any sort of nap…I swear they have secret meetings to plan this sort of parental torture :)

Make sure to head over to Stacy's blog and read her beautiful thoughts this week on learning...

Camping with the Courters

When our friends, the Courters invited us to go camping with them both Chris and I although eager were not exactly sure what to expect. Being the first time we have taken our family of six out into the woods, we don't own much camping gear and truthfully I was a little nervous. We ended up borrowing a ton of stuff from family and packing really simple food that didn't require much fancy prep.

We rolled into the campsite after dark on the first night and there was a burn ban on so no campfires allowed. We managed to get the tent set up in the dark and everyone asleep and after that first disappointment of the campfire we then were joined by the rain.

But by morning the sky had cleared some and the rain lifted the burn ban (yes!!!) so for the next three days we were all pretty happy campers exploring the beaches and lighthouses and getting really dirty of course. The kids rode bikes for hours on end, made some new friends and on the final morning we found a baby mouse right by our tent freezing to death. The boys all took turns warming him with leaves and things and the Courters decided to bring him home!

All in all it was a wonderful first experience. Next time I would prefer a bit more of a "glamping trip" if you know what I mean but we had a great time. When we loaded all of our incredibly dirty belongings back into the van on the way home Chris and I looked at each other and said "we did it"…and then we came home and turned it around in less than a day for the big Gough family vacation…it's been a fun few weeks, stay tuned for more!