this family :)

ahhhh, this family.
when I first met him it was summer camp eleven years ago at dinner before the students arrived.
all the seats had been taken except for the one next to him...him, who I did not know...
him, who had been the captain of asu's baseball team...
and him, who had a fisherman's hat on.  :)
little did I know it was one of my most favorite pre-camp moments...he's a great conversationalist.
made me feel the least like "the only girl" in a group of all guys.
and what was normally a night of me listening to conversation ended up being a super fun night FULL of conversation.
to see him now as part of a pastoral leadership team at our church literally only makes sense.
God's hand is heavy on him and his family and he engages everyone he comes in contact with...
very cool to sit back and watch.
and her?  she has her mother's way about her.
the kind of way that just oozes graciousness with and underlying smidge of dry wit.
kind of what I imagine jackie o. would have been like...
she's amazing with her three kids and to be honest she just fascinates me. :)
and her kids?
they have become favorites...how could they not?!
each with distinct and unique personalities that somehow work perfectly with this family.
the oldest is going to be like his dad and grandpa...articulate, funny and a good mix of all boy and gentleman.
the middle makes me laugh.  hard.  he's fearless.  he's competitive.
he's loves to love his little sister and wrestle with his brother.
I can't WAIT to see how he turns out. :)
and then the littlest one...oh, how she lights up when she smiles and chats away at the world...
she is pure sunshine!

bonus!  the cousins showed up...these girls are TOO stinking cute!  and auntie sarah saved the day providing toys to shake and rattle and make smiles happen all the way to the end of the session!  :)

I couldn't have done this session with out my good friend kiersten...who just happens to co-own liberty market and who just happened to have presents for the boys (their famous cinnamon rolls as big as his head!) for doing such a fabulous job at being happy the whole session!  thank you kiersten! :)

beets. :)

I took a break today.  and I didn't feel guilty...well, okay maybe a smidge...when do I not? :)
but today.  today I got to hang out with two of my good friends and a plot of dirt.
yup.  dirt. :)
today I was a gardener...this may sound silly to those of you who read this who live in any place other than arizona...but it's planting season here.
yup.  planting season.  in the end of october.  craziness, I know. :)
you see, my friends are the proud owners of a community gardening plot in agritopia.
dave is the chef at liberty and I am so excited to see what amazing dishes he creates using vegetables that he's grown from seed to plate!  crazy fresh...he even swears I will like beets...beets?  beets.  we'll see... :)

do. you. know?

do you even know what today was?!
do. you. know? (you have to say it like edna from the incredibles for it to be amusing.) :)

today was the first day of fall!

I wonder if was by accident that for the first day of fall that I was fin-uh-ly able to buy canned pumpkin in the grocery store?  I'm thinking not so much.
and yes, that was me buying six cans because I'm awesome like that and am very grinchlike
towards all things pumpkin.
so...
happy equinox.
happy harvest.
happy festifall. (for you, k.) :)
or happy fall...who cares how you say it, it's offically here.
bring on the pumpkin. :)

p.s.  I am going to be experiencing real (leaves, chilliness and more pumpkins!) fall in Illinois
October 22nd-25th...email me if you'd like to schedule a session...I have a few openings left! 
jendriesbach@kreatid.com 

HAPPY fall! :)

p.p.s.  for all you bakers out there...here's a killer pumpkin scones recipe!  enjoy! :)

kitschy.

three words for you...
chicago. hot. dog.
yes, I know I'm a dork...but this is my SO non-important attempt at being photo journalistic.  I know I could have picked a more "hot" topic like sickness or disease or of some great place that I've traveled to.  all of these topic's are important and I've seen great photography works done on these subjects!

but to be honest?

this IS a great place I have traveled.
once you move west of the mississippi, the fine art of creating the perfect chicago dog
(in this chicago-an native's opinion) is completely lost.
no.  there is no ketchup on this dog.
yes.  you must have poppyseeds on your bun.
no.  you can not have sweet relish on this dog, it must be dill.
and yes.  the finishing touch is celery salt.  it's like icing on the cake.  :)

and this great place that I have traveled to get the most perfect chicago dog?
none other than the almighty portillo's.  originated in IL - and perfected in IL.
(although you can order from anywhere...someday for my birthday!) :)
the atmosphere is old school and somewhat kitschy...but I love it...
it simply adds to the awesomeness and originality of the place.

this is the hot dog stand I grew up going to as a kid with my dad...
and now take my kids to as a (somewhat) grownup.

 

gold stars. :)

oh, blog.  how I have neglected you... :)
can you tell that the summer is over and we are now back to school?!

I shed a tear today.
yup, my kids are 9 and almost 8...I should be used to this back to school thing, right?
nope...at least not for a good solid hour after dropping them off.

let me explain my ridiculousness...
you see, I LOVE routine and schedules...
I love shiny new school supplies, the smell of fresh crayons...the ice white new shoes...wonderful!
but while I love the new-ness of back to school...my heart squeezes just a smidge and wants to stay just one more week in the summer.
why?!
because I genuinely LIKE my kids!
they're funny, they're sweet, they're goofy and they're my friends...I just like hanging with them and the noise (for the most part) that they make filling our house throughout the summer.
so today, after matt and I dropped them off at the first day of their classes...I shed a little tear for them.
were they sad...nope, not even a glistening eye for their mom...I thought at least I have an over the shoulder look from mad...but nope.  nada. :)
sigh.

moving on...:)  fall = organization.
I am determined to do this "mom thing" better.
I am determined to NOT be the mom who forgets homework...
the mom who hasn't brushed her daughter's hair in so long that dread locks are growing...
to pay attention on a regular basis to how long my son's fingernails are...
to get up and actually make them nutritious breakfast's and lunches
and yes, even tuck notes into their lunch boxes!
how will I achieve this most amazing task?
o.r.g.a.n.i.z.a.t.i.o.n.

my good friend faith said to me once:
"failing to plan, is planning to fail."
and every fall I come back to that statement and resolve to do just a smidge better.

so here goes...
who doesn't love a good check mark on their to-do list...or even better yet a gold star?!
me and my gold star loving kids! :)
we now have a "chore chart" in place!
m+m are responsible, every day, to make sure they have:
their backpacks in their special basket,
their lunchboxes emptied and in their special basket,
all the papers put in the school paper box that I go through and see what's important (we might have a lot of recycled paper this year...I cannot understand why schools go through SO much paper!)
teeth/faces/hands washed and groomed each night,
clothes laid out by their dressers
(super good for mad, she takes FOREVER if I let her choose in the a.m.)
playroom cleaned and toys put away,
and jammies on their bodies.
if they do all these things every night before they go to bed...
they get a special something on fun friday!

and yes, I realize that technically this is not ME who is doing the better mommy things...but baby steps people...being a good mommy is sometimes directing traffic - so this is me "helping" my kids. :)
what's that you say?
why yes, I would like that "mommy of the year" award now. ;)

that's it so far for my organizational abilites...but more is to come...and I'm proud to say that we made it through day one with no dread locks and claw fingernails + gold stars for everyone! :)

next up to conquer?  healthy lunches...maybe if I was a super-cool mom I'd make these for their lunches...
again, sigh.
yeah...most likely not gonna happen :)

strawberry awesomeness :)

happy july to you!

a friend of mine on twitter ( @dognbird ) posted a picture of these earlier today and I simply had to try them!
SUPER easy to do and pretty festive, if I do say so myself :)

clamshell of strawberries + white chocolate + blue sprinkles = happy 4th of july!

i ♥ desserts!

this weeks challenge is your favorite dessert!  who doesn't love that?!  plus, the guest judge this week is bakerella...someone I've been following in blog-land for a little while now...she makes the most amazing cake pops!

these "groom strawberries" are Ah-mazing!  plus, they're sitting on top of chocolate cake...does it get any more perfect?!  I submit, that it does not...only maybe if a can of diet coke was sitting right next to these... ;)

check out more DE-licious desserts here:

easter eggs + pumpkin whoopie pies

I love spring.  no, I LOVE spring.  flowers come in bloom.  the orange puff ball trees that smell intoxicating bloom.  trees start to sprout leaves again.  I realize that for 90% of the world, you are not in spring yet.  but I can assure you when it comes, you will be as happy as me to see it arrive again.

besides nature telling me spring has arrived.  the grocery stores have dumped all their valentines goods and have ROWS of easter stuff.  I had no idea of the specific date of easter this year (yes, I know it's in april now) so I bought the annual easter egg coloring kit for me and the kids to do.  which I LOVE doing with them...it's reason 8036 of why I have kids...so that I get to make easter eggs with them. :)  this year maddie and I even jazzed up a few of the brightly colored, blown eggs with glitter.  shamrock's make me smile + now remind me of my neice in colorado.

and in case you were counting, YES that IS 18 blown out eggs.  I now know why my mother never did this more than once in her life.  :)  plus, the yolk and insides when you blow it out is really gross...maddie was horrified and thought I was blowing out baby chicks.

wait til I tell her where cheeseburgers come from. :)

a picture of one of the jazzy eggs :)

but WAIT jen!  your blog title says pumpkin whoopie pies.

why yes, yes it does.  this for those of you who still live in snow, where a part of me will always wish she lived too :)  live it up blog stalkers...your pumpkin days are numbered :)

pumpkin whoopie pie recipe

cookies:

11/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!)
1 T. imitation vanilla extract or 1 tsp. of the real stuff :)
 
Directions


1.For cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. I use a cookie scooper

3.Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
 
filling
1 jar of marshmallow fluff
1-2 cups of powered sugar
1 T. of imitation vanilla extract or 1 tsp. of the real stuff
milk
 
1.  mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.  add milk until the desired consistancy...I like my filling to be a little bit stiff, so I use less milk.
 
YUM! :)

favorite friday!

every friday is fun friday in our house.

what is fun friday, you ask?

something that I made up for my kids once both of them were in school for six and a half hours a day.  the last day of the school week to look forward to as a reward for not grumbling about getting up and going to school everyday.  plus, it's a way that I get to look forward to spending time with them too...I love my kids...yes, yes I do.  typically it involves getting a movie from red box with taco bell or pizza for after football practice.  but sometimes if matt gets involved, he's taken us bowling or we'll all go on a family bike ride to freestone and feed the ducks and watch the sun set.

so, keeping in the spirit of "fun friday", I'll let you in on a few of my friday "favorites" and my "not so muches".  (I can say muches [muh-ch-ez] because it is my blog and I was never so smart in school.)

this friday's favorites!
1. diet coke.  I know I talk too much about it, but it seriously is one of my all-time-most-favorite-til-I-die favorite things and deserves a first place nod this week. plus, as a bonus right now there's a BIG heart on the side of the can that makes me happy when I drink it. :)
2. little big town.  they are one of my favorite bands right now.  super "up" music that helps me edit faster.  and I feel like when I listen to them that I am sincerely from the Boondocks.  (even though, I am not and am not super sure what a boondock is or where it is.)
3. cranberry mandarin candles from walmart.  when you think of candles, walmart is not the first place that comes to mind...but they carry the most beautiful smelling candle that honestly makes me happy.  if a smell can do that, then this one does and is worth getting.  plus, they're a fraction of the price of the yankee candle that smells the same.
4. lotion kleenex.  when you are as sick as often as I am...tissues matter.  a lot.  and these ones are the best.  sorry puffs.
5. the snow boarding event in the olympics.  I am officially on shaun white's bandwagon.  he was LEAP years ahead of the rest of the competition and he made me want to go out and learn how to snowboard at thirty something.  not an easy feat, I assure you. :)  plus, his team had really cool plaid jackets and jeans that they snowboarded in which beat the stink out of the french guys pink spandex that he snowboarded in.  usa won before the event even started in the clothes category. just sayin'.

the "not-so-muches"
1. bad customer service.  I won't say where I went to receive this less than stellar service...but it is a well known place that should definitly know better.  and the even suckier part of this is that is wasn't the first time I've been there to observe this bad customer service.  shame on me, I guess.  the flipside of being bugged by this restaurant is that it inspires me to deliver better customer service because I know what it feels like to not receive it.  nuff said.
2. sickness.  I hate boogers.  well not really, boogers can be kinda fun in a gross kind of a way.  but when they are around non-stop...it kinda blows. ha, I said blows about boogers.  yup, again it's my blog. :)  but I will most definitly be glad when they are gone from my house.  four tissue boxes in three weeks is not a good thing.
3.  anger.  I am learning as I get older that anger is a wasted ugly emotion.  it causes me to not think correctly and to think negatively and then speak ugly.  so I am resolving to not be angry and let things go.  it doesn't happen often, but "i pity the fool" :) who gets in my way when I do.  or maybe I should pity me because of how ugly it makes me look when I do get angry.

that's it...that's my "favorites" and my "not-so-muches" for this week and because I'm a photographer...here is a parting pic of me being happy doing what I love:)  shot by my amazing sister...check her out here.  have a great weekend and an even more amazing fun friday! :)

delicious resolutions :)

this week I cooked.
no.
I mean I cooked!

this is quite a big deal for me.  anyone who knows me knows I love to bake, but cooking just isn't as natural to me.  plus when your family is just as happy with tyson chicken nuggets and tater tots you start to wonder what the point is.  but I am determined to do this at least once a week and introduce my family to REAL food at least once a week.  in my post on musings I wrote about things I'd like to accomplish this year...and number 24 is going to be to cook at least once a week with REAL food.  and this week I did!

for my menu I was inspired by my friend chef david who owns the liberty market and his magnificent dinners he makes.  for valentines weekend he made a special layered potato side that I simply LOVED so I wanted to try and recreate it at home.

my menu:
grilled ribeye steaks with mushrooms
sauteed in butter + merlot wine
with a side of cheesy potatoes gratin
and sweet corn.
for dessert I made molton chocolate lava cakes
w/ strawberries + whipped cream (or for my kids - angel food cake). 

the recipe I'll feature this week is the potatoes gratin...I should layout a disclaimer that I didn't really use a written recipe for this one...I got a lot of advice from cooks illustrated + allrecipes.com as a guideline, but I just added the ingredients that I liked for this recipe and it turned out AH-mazing!

first you start with three large russet potatoes that I got to slice on chef david's mandolin...I'm sure if you had a really sharp knife you could slice them pretty thin and it would have the same effect.  but something about saying you cut the potatoes on a mandolin makes you sound extra snazzy, plus he let me borrow it so I felt like I was channeling some of his amazing cooking abilities ;)

chop up two cloves of garlic super fine...this part made me feel like a chef b/c I've watched carylann at work mince things before and I tried to copy her...and I didn't even lose any fingertips!  bonus! :)  add this to the potatoes...

melt five tablespoons of butter.  now for this part I felt like paula deen - who I love.  partly b/c she just might be a little bit crazy and mostly b/c she makes amazing food and could care less how much fat is in her food...she cares about the way it tastes and I can appreciate that.  and according to her, you can never have too much butter.  and I think she's right. :)  I used unsalted horizon organic butter for this recipe.

add the cooled melted butter to the potatoes and add about one cup of whipping cream and salt and pepper.  mix all of this.  I used my hands because it seemed the easiest to me. 

at this point it was time for a chocolate/diet coke break for me.  my son was the keeper of the chocolate (so I wouldn't eat too many) and he took this job seriously...he enlisted the help of his star wars storm troopers to zap me if I snitched more than four.  however, his storm troopers were not so trigger happy with him, I noticed!

finally grate the pecorino cheese...super good with these potatoes!

so now I have a bowl of milky, buttery, garlicy potatoes.  and a pile of grated cheese.  I layered these in individual cake tins (b/c individual portions of food makes me happy...it just feels fancy) :) that were sprayed with butter spray.

I baked these at 350 degrees for about forty five minutes.  in the meantime I sauteed the mushroom in the butter/merlot wine...

and sliced up the strawberries and dusted them with a splenda packet that has fiber!  yes, fiber!  who knew?!

and an hour later I feasted w/ my family on this!  granted my kids held their noses while I made them eat at least two bites of the potatoes.  and I didn't force them to eat the mushrooms (more for me!) but my family plus uncle josh loved everything else!  success! :)

extra brute. oh yes, EXTRA brute.

this post is simply for me.
no deep thoughts.
no sassy client (unless you count my cocoa which by the wayside is EXTRA brute not just brute EXTRA brute).
and no sweet lighting.

just me and my kitchen. 

tidbit about me...I LOVE to bake.  I always have.  someday I will have a bakery/cafe/music house.  I will.  but I can't really cook well.  which is why one of my goals this year is to cook something somewhat challenging w/ "real" ingredients at least once a week.  but I do love to bake.  it's kinda like counting money to me.  it's therapeutic in the fact that if you add butter, sugar + flour together you'll get a cookie - much like 1+1=2.  plus, when you feel like the creative side of your mind is on overload it's nice to not have to be creative and still create something.  I just re-read that last sentence and don't think I made sense to you smart english type readers...but it does to me. ;)  bonus factor too, with minimal effort, you get something seriously tasty in the end.  and today, as I pack for a weekend w/ high schoolers + friends after a busy day working...I just wanted a cookie.

what kind of cookie you ask?

well, today was a double chocolate mint chip cookie kind of a day.  I don't bake too often anymore b/c of well, life and the fact that it causes my jeans to shrink in the laundry - strange phenomenon.  but I figured if I was going to go to the effort and calories, I might as well make it a good one. :)  my chef friend dave from liberty gave me a bag of cocoa that was a sample from one of our vendors and it was labeled "extra brute" so I figured it had to be extra good - it's not every day that one bakes with EXTRA brute cocoa, you know. :)

so here you go:
step one...cream the butter, sugar + eggs til' fluffy.  I kinda doubted that the cookie would turn out as chewy as I'd like b/c I like brown sugar...but was really happy with the outcome of all granulated sugar.  just a little fyi for you white sugar doubters. :)

after adding the vanilla.  sift the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.  then add slowly to the egg mixture.  now, usually I just use the nestle cocoa powder at this point.  but how could I just do that when I have a ginormous, restaurant size bag of "extra brute" cocoa powder.  nestle cocoa powder must only be just brute...pbsh regular brute...so if you have the EXTRA brute...by all means use it.

after you mixed the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, add the mint chocolate chips.  another tidbit about me.  I have a thing with words.  some are really funny - like pueblo.  say it, it's funny - especially if you say it slow in a tommy boy fashion. :)  and technically these chips are called morsels.  morsels is just simply a gross word.  say it.  say it again s.l.o.w.l.y.  see, it's gross. 

anyways add their awesomeness to your batter.  it's worth it no matter what they're called.

finally, scoop these badboys with your scooper thing onto your pan and bake for eight minutes in a three hundred fifty degree oven.  when we moved to this house we had no appliances so matt bought me a super amazing kitchen aid convection oven that I LOVE because he is amazing and he loves me.  and it's bakes super evenly.  I love it. and I love him. :)

take them out of the oven and let them cool and enjoy!  totally worth the 125 calories per cookie...this picture would be absolutely perfect if there were a perfectly chilled diet coke right next to it...but I'll just leave that to your imagination :)  plus, I wonder if anyone really reads ALL the way to the end, so I'm pretty sure I could say whatever I wanted to right now and it wouldn't really matter!  ;)  that being said I LOVE DIET COKE.  it's amazing.  it really is.

here's the recipe in case you wanted to make awesomeness in your home too :)

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar (promise you won't miss the brown)
2 eggs
1 T. imitation vanilla extract only 1 1/2 tsps. of the real stuff if you have it
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder (go for the EXTRA brute if you have it. ;) )
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 bag of Nestle mint chocolate chips
how to make them:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the mint chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.