Grandma’s Visit & Crock Pot Dessert Cake Recipe

Well hello there! Long time no talk.

Sorry this week has been a little crazy. (Sometimes I feel like I say that every week, maybe I should say crazy month instead. 😉 ) I thought Gabriella had a possible ear infection. Whenever she would nurse, she would tug on her ears. I figured it was just part of the teething process or maybe she was just discovering her ears…OR that it was an ear infection. She had no other symptoms, but I wanted to get her checked out just in case.

I took her to the doctor this morning, and everything went well. She is A-OK! Yay!

…and right back to her old self. 😉

I knew she was probably fine, but it makes this Momma feel better to know that she really is ok.

This past weekend Gabriella had a special visitor.

Grandma!

We flew Craig’s Mom in for a long weekend for her mother’s day present. We knew it would be the perfect present, since I know she loves seeing Gabriella…and living in Maryland they don’t get to see her often, other than through Skype.

We had a really fun time having her here, and Gabriella showed her all of the things that she has been up to lately. Like playing in her new kiddie pool…

Swinging at the park (probably her very favorite thing right now)…

Jumping in her Jumperoo, (<—LOVES that thing…and life saving for Mommy 😉 )

Rooting for the Orioles, (in Craig’s Jim Palmer shirt from when he was a baby)

& of course watching other kids at the pool.

She LOVES watching other children. It’s the cutest thing. She will just stare at them, smile, laugh & coo. I have a feeling we have a little social butterfly on our hands.

On Saturday we watched the Preakness and we all picked our horses. Gabriella even chose one, Mylute, who ended up coming in third! Girl has gambling in her blood. 😀

I also attempted to make a ‘Black Eyed Susan’ drink, which is the drink of the Preakness.

It wasn’t exact, I couldn’t find all of the ingredients, but it was a mixture of orange vodka, clear rum, orange juice & fresh pineapple juice. It was quite flavorful, and you couldn’t taste the alcohol, which is always a sign of a good drink. 😉

I figured we would top the weekend off with a recipe that I found on Pinterest for a crock pot recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Cake.

Below is my version of the recipe, the original recipe is linked above!

Crock Pot Peanut Butter Lava Cake

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Truvia baking blend
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon unsweetened apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate topping:
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup Truvia baking blend
1 cup boiling water

Optional:
Vanilla Ice cream or frozen yogurt
Melted peanut butter

Directions:
1. Use a 4-quart slow cooker coated well with cooking spray.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup Truvia baking blend, baking powder and salt.
3. In the microwave, melt peanut butters for about 30 seconds, and then add to the mix along with milk, apple sauce and vanilla. Stir really well to combine. Spread this mixture into the bottom of your slow cooker.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together cocoa powder, the remaining 1/4 cup Truvia baking blend, and 1 cup boiling water (be careful!) Pour this evenly over the peanut butter batter in your cooker.
5. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours (or high for 2-4 hours), or until the top has set and an inserted toothpick (into the cake–underneath the cake is molten chocolate) comes out clean. Let the cake sit uncovered in an unplugged crockpot for about 20 minutes, then serve warm in dessert bowls, top with ice cream & melted peanut butter, if desired.

I recommend the ice cream & peanut butter…it’s like the cherry on top. 😉

We all had a really good time, I wish our families were not so far away. I would LOVE for us all to get together more often. Gabriella does too.

She would love to have someone else to stare at the grass with her.

NEW workout coming soon!! I just did it & I think you will really like it.

Any other Preakness watchers out there?? Did you pick a horse? How did you do?

I picked Departing…no idea how it did. Not too well I am guessing.

Favorite crock pot recipe? I need some more, crock pot cooking makes life SO MUCH easier! I have a ton on Pinterest, but would love some recommendations for recipes that you have tried & love.

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First Ever WIAW

Yesterday was a VERY big day in the Notarange household. Our little lady turned THREE months old! I cannot believe it. I know I say it all of the time, but seriously, WHERE does time go?!

She is no longer a ‘newborn,’ she is officially a ‘baby.’ Kind of crazy if you ask me!

With each step, I feel like we are learning SO much more about each other. I swear everyday we are learning a new quirk about Gabriella. She’s so funny & has me cracking up all day long. For the past few weeks she has been smiling like crazy (LOVE her smile) & she’s finally laughing!! A baby laugh is the sweetest sound in the whole world. The best part is that she is laughing at US! When she was younger, she would smile when she had gas. But now it’s at US- when we make funny faces, or when Craig dances, or when I sing. HA! A tune is something I cannot hold..and half of the time I forget the words to nursery rhymes, so I end up making them up…and G can’t stop laughing.

One of the posts that I plan on doing very soon are the changes I’ve noticed in her over the past three months- so be on the lookout for that one very soon! 🙂

Anyways, today is a first here at ‘Everyday’s a Hollyday.’ I doing my very first ‘What I ate Wednesday.’

Thanks to Jenn at Peas & Crayons for hosting!

This is a list of everything that I ate yesterday.

Breakfast:

What the heck is that?! It’s what I eat everyday for breakfast (I’m very much a person of routine 😉 ) – It’s a banana cut in half with peanut butter in the middle, sprinkle with cinnamon, drizzled with honey & topped with something crunchy. (today is was Rice Krispies, but other times I will use granola, or another type of cereal)
And of course coffee, iced coffee!

Snack (Morning & Afternoon):

Animal crackers. Multiply that by about 5. Seriously. I can’t stop eating these. I eat them between meals when I need something quick to snack on. They aren’t too bad (calorie wise), and they are portable…which is key! I mean I do have a 3 month old to keep up with 😉

Lunch:

(I feel like a Julie copy cat 😀 I know how much she loves her Tervis tumblers too!)

Smoothie made with:
-2 cups almond milk
-1 scoop vanilla protein powder
-about 1 tbsp peanut butter
-approximately 1 tsp cinnamon (I LOVE cinnamon)
-HUGE handful of spinach
-5 ice cubes

Dinner:

Crockpot Pineapple Chicken with mixed vegetables

Super easy recipe:

Crock pot Pineapple Chicken

Ingredients:

-about 2lbs. chicken tenderloins-1 cup pineapple juice
-1/2 tbsp. minced garlic
-1/3 cup soy sauce (I used low sodium)
-1/3 cup packed brown sugar

Throw everything in the crock pot, give it a nice stir, then cook on low for about 5-6 hours, or until chicken comes apart easily. (I just broke it into chunks)

I served it with rice because it was a little runny, I think next time I make this I may only use 2/3 cup of pineapple juice….or I will add a little cornstarch to thicken it up. But it was nice & flavorful.

I thought it might be good with peanuts sprinkled on- the whole ‘sweet & sour’ thing- but I preferred it without the peanuts.

Dessert:

Edy’s half the fat vanilla bean ice cream. YUM! (& only 100 calories per half cup- can’t beat that) And because I was too lazy to take an actual picture of the bowl of ice cream I had…I just took a picture of the container. I had about a cup of it, sprinkled with cinnamon, LOTS of cinnamon.

And there you have it, a day of eats from me. That was kind of fun…I may have to do it again next week.

Hope you have a great day- half way there!

PS: Anyone else watching the Bachelor? LOVE Sean! Totally was betting Alyssa would end up with him 😉 But my favorite so far is Lesley.