Amy Scott's Thoughts

Sharing the thoughts that bounce around in my brain!

Coming Back February 1, 2013

Filed under: Cooking Experiments,Home Improvement,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 7:19 pm
A snapshot of my week

A snapshot of my week

I finally feel like I’m coming back to life. My entire week was derailed by a head cold… Yes, the sore throat morphed and I went down hard. There is nothing like going through an entire Kleenex box by oneself. My nose isn’t thankful for this fact, but oh well. What can I do. I spent the week watching stupid movies on Netflix. We keep getting these come back emails from them and a recent one included a free month. I’ll take advantage of a free month. It’s given me something to do other then drink a lot of liquids and blow my nose.

A Herd of Floor Samples!

A Herd of Floor Samples!

Before I went down, Jeremy and I started a very exciting project. Last weekend, we drove around all the local Home Depots and Lowes’ to collect floor samples. We finally made the decision to switch to hard laminate floors in our front living space. I’ve never like having carpet in the dining room and I think that hard floors will be better with owning a doggie who occasionally has accidents and a few family members have allergies. I think this will help with the doggie dander or what not. After collecting a billion samples, we have made a decision and ordered tonight! This means that at some point this month, all the trim and flooring will be pulled up in my front living space. This will be interesting for sure. Jeremy has been great with Do-It-Yourself projects. Between him and the help of handy family members, I’m sure it will be snap. Hopefully!

Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint Cookies

In other news, my hubby requested cookies tonight. He very rarely wants me to make him anything sweet, so how could I refuse? After dinner I set about making Thumbprint Cookies with Jeremy’s homemade strawberry jam! They are very tasty, but I learned the hard way to let the jam cool first before eating them. It was like lava! I’ll chalk that up to a no-brainer-learning-expereince. Even at 27, common sense isn’t always working. Maybe I could blame the remnants of my head cold. Yeah, that sounds good!

I know this is sort of random blog about this and that, but I’ve been soooooo inactive the last few days I just had to write something. It’s hard to believe that I spent the last week of January on the couch and now it’s a whole new month. A very full month I might add! Between family gatherings, starting a new Growth Group, planning the biggest sleepover of the year, redoing the floors in half of our house, the usual social and mentor gatherings, I’m going to be one fast paced chica! Pray for me as I recover from this bug that I would not go down again. Who has the time!?!? Not me! Too much life to live!

 

Adventures with Cake Pops January 3, 2013

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 4:43 pm

I find that baking reminds me that I am human. The kitchen seems to bring out my flaws like no other. I mentioned yesterday that I was going to experiment with cake pops today, but I guess you should have the whole story. It only seems fair. Tuesday night had the brilliant idea to make red velvet mini bundt cakes with cream cheese frosting glaze. I’ve used my mini bundt pan a couple of times with no incident so I didn’t expect what happened. Despite my best efforts, the red velvet cake mix wanted to stick to the pan. Once I was finish with this baking project, I decided that they weren’t fit for serving my girls on Wednesday night.

The reason I decided to make cake pops was I had saved the remains of the red velvet cake. It was in the perfect condition to be turned into a cake pops. Everything started off great today. I added my cream cheese frosting to the cake crumbles and it combined well. The next step is where my problem lies… I used too big of a baking scoop to form my cake balls. It’s so hard to judge in my hand if they were too big, but yes, they were. Probably two sizes too big. In the end I ended up making giant cake pops. This choice was no without its cake pop tragedy.  About 8 of them didn’t make it. They fell a part while dipping. The ones that did survive turned out well. I think that if I did it again, I would know what to do and what not to do. So yes, I will admit that these aren’t perfect… but neither am I! And that’s okay!

Giant Red Velvet Cake Pops

Giant Red Velvet Cake Pops

 

Short Days, Shortbread and Dance Parties! December 22, 2012

Filed under: Cooking Experiments,Family Time — Amy Scott @ 2:07 pm

Oh, vacation days! How they seem to fly by! This week has been a fun one and a very relaxing one as well. That is the perfect combination in my book. Yesterday was the shortest day of the year (light wise). I have many childhood memories of my mom talking about this day. It was her least favorite. She must be solar powered! My hubby was out hunting for part of the day, so for a while it was just Toby dog and myself around the house. I felt the need to explain to Toby that it was the shortest day of the year and the first official day of winter. The news didn’t seem to excite him too much. I decided to move on to bigger news. I told him that it was also supposed to be the day world ended. I wasn’t sure what time the big “ending” was going to happen, so I told him we should make the most of the time we had! I’m happy to say that the world didn’t end, at least not to my knowledge. However, I think it would have been okay it had, I mean I would be with Jesus and that’s pretty okay with me. I’m not sure how I would felt about the Mayan’s getting it right… but they didn’t. So we can all move on!

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Yesterday evening we had Jeremy’s parents over for dinner and some games on the new Xbox. Jeremy had the whole meal planned out and if you haven’t figured out by now, he is the cook in this family. I’m not a stranger to the kitchen though, if Jeremy is the family cook then I am the family baker. I took it upon myself to make dessert. I went immediately to my Food Network Magazine to find a Christmas cookie recipe. I settled on a chocolate chip shortbread cookie. I’ve never made shortbread before, so I was happy to see it turned out all right and tasted great. The only thing I would change was my chocolate drizzle. It wasn’t thin enough in my opinion, so presentation wise, I think I could have done better. Oh well. Taste beats presentation in my mind.

After the meal, we played a bunch of sports games on the Xbox. It was a lot of fun to watch us all being silly as we ran in place and jumped over hurdles or what not. To end the evening we put in Just Dance 4 and had a short dance session. Jeremy’s dad just watched… I don’t blame him – watching us dance was probably the most entertaining part of the evening! Once they left, Jeremy and I kept dancing. Jeremy left after a bit to go clean up and I kept dancing… I’m not sure that was smart – getting out of bed was a little hard this morning! 90 minutes of dancing really does take it toll. It’s been a fun new game. It really is a workout! I guess it means I can keep eating Christmas goodies if I can keep dancing off the calories!

So that is what the life of vacationer has been like. I’m not sure you’ll notice, but today we will have slightly more light than yesterday! Just a few days until Christmas and we’re officially into the winter season. Time keeps flying by, but as along as it’s filled with people I love and fun activities, I guess I don’t mind too much.

 

What I’m Up To These Days December 5, 2012

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Children's Ministry,Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 3:55 pm
One Thousand Gifts Study - Super excited!!!!

One Thousand Gifts Study – Super excited!!!!

Last week I was battling a bad head cold, so I’ve had a little more down time lately. Now that I’m starting to get my spunk back, here are few of the things that have filling up my time.

As always, reading is top on my list! I finished Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner at the end of November. It was a good book, but I don’t think Lauren would like me very much. She’s very ivy league and I can tell by the way she writes, she’s very smart. The book was her journey to Christianity. She was raised Jewish and converted to Orthodox Judaism before meeting Jesus. It was very interested to see how she reconciled her Jewish history with her new relationship with the triune God.  I’m glad I read it, but it took a little more brain power than I had expected. After finishing this book, I decided I wasn’t done with my “fluffy” reading phase, so I started The Hunger Games series again. It takes me no time to get through those books, so now I’m on to the Love Comes Softly series. I know I’ve read all these books before, but there is something comforting about a familiar story. So I think I might make December a month of novels as well. Nothing wrong with that right?

This last week, I had a long waited item arrive in the mail – my One Thousand Gifts DVD study! I’m so excited! I’ve watched 4 out of the 5 sessions and they are so good! Ann Voskamp has a way of bringing me to tears. I can tell this is going to be a great study. I hope to lead a Growth Group (our church’s small group format) in February to go through this material. It’s changed my life so much that I can’t help but want to share it’s goodness with those around me! A good book or study is life giving! I am thankful for the life that it has given me.

It’s now December so at church things turn their focus to the nativity and baby Jesus. I’m excited to do a Christmas lesson tonight and then move into a Gingerbread house decorating contest. It’s going to be great. I bought two pre-built houses so they girls will just have to add their creative decorating skills! I’ve never done this before with my class, so it’s nice to break out of the mold and do something new. I promise to have pictures tomorrow!  As a snack for tonight, I made a gingerbread cake to go with theme. The cake is buried under a thick layer of frosting and green and red sugar crystals! I love getting into the holiday spirit!

With my head cold fading, I’ve been able to be out and about a bit more. This week as been a social week as I’ve had dinner or lunch plans almost everyday of the week! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with some of my favorite mentors who love me and who are a great encouragement to me. My sister came over for lunch today and we just sat around talking. Tonight is dinner with a student and tomorrow will be a dinner with our Bethel seniors groups. All this socialness is starting to tire this little introvert out, so I’m looking forward a low-key Friday spent at home!

So that’s how I’ve been filling my time. Good stuff! I can’t wait to fill you in the gingerbread house contest and the fun weekend ahead with our All Star Kidz choir performance. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

 

‘Tis the season to bake! November 21, 2012

Filed under: Cooking Experiments,Family Time — Amy Scott @ 7:05 pm

My Sources!

The baking urge kicked in hard and strong this week! Must be the fact that Thanksgiving is now right around the corner and baking just seems like the thing to do! The marathon started on Sunday with banana bread. The recipe I use is out of a 1972 United Methodist cookbook that was passed from my grandma to my mom to me. We were given some left over bananas from a church function and they needed to be used before they went bad. I couldn’t eat all them so bread seemed like the most logical choice. One loaf when to a family friend and the other stayed for us!

The next project was Monday night after I got the power back on! I’ve been wanting to make my own pumpkin pie for a while now and I finally did it! I figured I had all the ingredients on hand, so why not? I used my Food Network Magazine for their classic recipe. I’ll be honest, the pie was a bit of a let down. Jeremy says it’s great, but he has a head cold so I don’t trust his taste buds. I accidentally added an extra egg so I’m not sure how it really effected it… Probably made it a little fluffier. I’m not sure about taste. I’ll try again in the future or just leave all my pumpkin pie needs to Costco.

The final project was this morning  as I prepared a dessert to take to Thanksgiving tomorrow. This was probably my favorite dessert from the trio that made last year. They are called Hello Dollies (I’ve also heard them be called Magic Bars). This recipe came out of the 2010 Taste of the Holidays recipe book. I’m already been munching on a few as I cut them and prepared them for tomorrow’s travels.

I hope that tomorrow is a wonderful Thanksgiving day for all you who frequent Amy Scott’s Thoughts. I’ll enjoying not one, but two meals tomorrow. The party starts with Jeremy’s side of the family and ends with mine! Lots of dinner rolls in my future! What a yummy and tasty time of year!

Banana Bread

Pumpkin Pie

Hello Dollies

 

 

 

 

Sugar Cream Pie November 2, 2012

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 3:29 pm
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I love my Food Network Magazine. Looking through it is almost more fun than actually using it make something. My friend, Maggie, also gets FNM and she told me that she always tries to make one thing out of each issue. While, I’m not sure that I’ve been that dedicated, I do try to make at least one thing that catches my eye. Most of the time… okay, all of the time… that means dessert!

For the Thanksgiving issue that means – PIE! They have lots of yummy pie recipes just waiting for me to try. One that grabbed my attention was Sugar Cream Pie. It looked pretty simple and I liked the history behind it. It was a traditional Quaker dessert because it made of staples they had easily accessible – cream, sugar, butter. Good stuff! It’s so popular in Indiana that it’s the state pie. I didn’t know that states had official pies, so I learned something new! I wonder what Washington state’s is? Getting off topic…

I started by using the Krusteaz pie mix we had in the pantry instead of the recipe in the magazine. I’ve made crust from scratch and while it’s doable, we had the mix and I thought it would save time (which it did). The crust was simple enough to assemble and it on was to the filling. Using my Kitchenaid mixer, I whisked heaving whipping cream, sugar, flour and vanilla extract. Once you pour the filling into the crust, you top with bits of butter and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

At first the pie is very full, but once you take it out of the oven it settles and firms up. I was nervous because I’ve never made a custard or cream based pie before. Jeremy and I have each had two pieces – one at room temperature and one chilled. Chilling it really caused it to set up. Both were good.  The flavor is subtle because it really is such a basic pie. Jeremy loves custard pie and has gone to town on it! I’m glad! It was great to try something new. I think that I have enough cream leftover to make a pumpkin pie. Jeremy has made a pumpkin pie before, but I haven’t, so I’m excited to try the recipe in the Food Network Magazine.

Tis the season to eat pie! Hurray!

The Yummy Insides!

Sugar Cream Pie with Stars!

 

Pumpkin Happy! October 17, 2012

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 4:10 pm
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I love pumpkins! My ideal garden is a pumpkin patch! I love to decorate with pumpkins and more than that, I love to eat pumpkin goodies! Not only are the weather and colors of autumn high on my list, but so is the flavor! I love all the spices and the pumpkin goodies! It’s terribly tempting! This fall I’ve munched on pumpkin waffles, pancakes, bread, cookies, bars, marshmallows, ice cream and frozen yogurt. I haven’t had my first slice of pumpkin pie yet or even my Starbucks staple – a pumpkin scone. I am positive that there will be plenty of these in the near the future!

I’ve been on a bit of a quest to sample different pumpkin ice creams and compare and contrast. I’ve had Ben & Jerry’s pumpkin cheesecake ice cream before it was very good. At the end of September, I sampled Dryer’s pumpkin ice cream and I think it honestly beat B&J – shocking I know! Last night, Jeremy and I went to LimeBerry (our somewhat local fro yo place) and I had pumpkin spice fro yo with cheesecake chunks and graham cracker crumbs. The result was marvelous!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!

If the pumpkin yogurt treat wasn’t enough, I decided to bake last night with pumpkin. I might happen to have an obscene amount of pumpkin puree and pumpkin bread mix in my pantry…. just maybe. Based on the inspiration from an email by Taste of Home, I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They turned out well. In my opinion the pumpkin flavor isn’t quite strong enough and I could have added a bit more spice. However, they are very tasty and the oatmeal in the recipe makes them feel hearty while still being light and fluffy. I’m excited to share these with my class tonight at church.

Jeremy and the giant pumpkin!

I guess on blog about pumpkin love wouldn’t be complete without sharing with you what was delivered to the church yesterday afternoon! In preparation for our annual Fall Fest, we have a giant pumpkin just waiting for it’s weight to be guessed by many families on the 31st! This giant pumpkin was graciously donated to the church and we are honored to display it by our front doors. It’s really amazing the amount of effort that goes into growing such a pumpkin. I’m glad something this awesome can be enjoyed by many – myself included!

So yep, I’m pretty pumpkin happy these days! Just as long as my weight and the giant pumpkins weight don’t start to match up, I should be just fine! All things in moderation, right?

 

Another week, another Wednesday October 10, 2012

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 3:29 pm

My class with their favorite stuffed animals!

If there was one day that really defined my week, it would be Wednesday. It seems like my life revolves around Wednesday. Coming in a short second would be Friday – because it’s my day off with my hubby. But back to Wednesday… It’s a big deal for me. I usually spend Wednesday during the day at home – quietly cleaning my house, reading books, skimming Facebook, blogging, and generally resting my introverted spirit. I do this so I can pour myself entirely into Wednesday night.

I get the privilege of teaching at class of 5th/6th grade girls at my church. Normally I have about a dozen girls in the class and I absolutely love this time of ministry. I try not to be a stuffy, boring teacher. I always want my class environment to be one of fun and learning. I want the girls to feel safe to be themselves and find that they can ask questions about God and life. It’s a honor to get to be a part of these lives. I have been blessed to remain friends with my students through the years and now the first class of girls that I taught are seniors in high school. One of them has regularly been helping in my class for the last two years. It’s a joy to have this kind of a relationship with such lovely ladies.

This time of year is by far my favorite. My love for the autumn months flows right into my classroom. I try to do things that highlight the season. We have a fall color-scheme for our bulletin board. I had the girls decorate picture frames that are in the shape of leaves and each girl has a photo around the outside of our board. It’s just so cheerful to see their smiling faces in the fall colored leaves.

Tonight’s snack!

Snack time also draws a lot of creativity from the seasons. Jeremy jokes that I spoil my girls, but I just can’t help it! I love to bake and there is something so friendly about homemade goodies. I hope each treat shows the girls that I was thinking about them through the week and I took time before class to prepare something. It shows that I want to share with them. I think that each homemade snack conveys a message about their importance and value. Kind of like those people who have childhood memories of their grandma always having fresh made goodies when they come over. I want my girls to get that feeling from me.  Today’s snack is chocolate cupcakes in cute purple baking cups with autumn themed sprinkles topped with a pumpkin spice marshmallow. I can’t wait to share these with the girls tonight!

Right now we’re in the midst of a Whoonu tournament! This a great game for getting to know everyone since it focuses on what each girl likes the most. Now it would take forever to play the whole game at one time, so each week I pick three or four girls to be “it” and we learn a lot about her likes and dislikes. I keep track of the point totals each week and once everyone has had a chance to be “it”, I’ll do the math and see who has reigned supreme over the weeks of playing.

We’re in the midst of one my favorite units – it’s all about the Bible! How was it was assembled, who wrote what, what it’s overall purpose and meaning is, what is the difference between the Old and New Testament. These are some of my favorite things to discuss and the girls really are learning this stuff for the first time. It’s the Bible beyond the stories. I want them to see that the Bible really isn’t a bunch of unrelated stories. The Bible is God’s plan for redemption from the very beginning to the very end.

Wednesday is a great day for ministry. In just a few hours I’ll be at a mentoring dinner with a student then I’ll head to church and make photocopies! We’ll start class off with a few rounds of Whoonu and move into our lesson time. We’ll makes cards for Pastor Appreciation Month and do a fun pumpkin place mat craft that involves weaving. It’s going to be a good night! I’m ready and excited!

 

An Autumn Afternoon September 24, 2012

Filed under: Cooking Experiments,One Thousand Gifts Challenge — Amy Scott @ 4:32 pm
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This afternoon has been going pretty well. I’ve been quietly enjoying an autumn afternoon and celebrating in small ways that make me happy. I found myself photographing pumpkins, making a cake that resembles a Pop Tart and trying out a new Scentsy scent from my sister-in-law called Caramel Pear Crisp! If the Applesauce Cake smell wasn’t enough, now I have the smell of yummy pear crisp in the air. My house smells good enough to eat! I love doing these small things that remind me that it’s fall. Changing the Scentsy to fall smells, using autumn colored sugar crystals on the cake, taking pictures of our pumpkin abundance! It is good! So good!

I finished One Thousand Gifts today. Closing the cover felt like saying good-bye to dearly loved friend and companion. This book always brings out a better side of me. It gives me hope and inspiration. This probably is why it was my third time reading it. I may never master it, but I will keep rereading and I will keep counting gifts. I’m halfway there to my next thousand. When added to previous times, I am on my way to 3000 counted gifts in about a year. It’s not about the numbers. It’s about the heart change that comes from each gift, from saying thanks to each small blessing.

Life is so common. It’s in the common things that I see beauty. It’s in the common things that I feel grace and I give thanks. So yes, this autumn afternoon is a time for counting blessings that come as surely as the seasons. Each day new and fresh. My eyes are open. I am looking. Taking it all it. I’m loving this autumn afternoon!

Enjoying an Autumn afternoon!

 

Feels like Christmas! September 21, 2012

Filed under: Cooking Experiments,Family Time,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 10:40 am
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I just wrote a blog last week about how last Friday felt like my birthday! We had strategically waited to get new phones. I was happily learning all the features of my iPhone 4s. We also had a half off coupon for The Melting Pot. The savings were a part of the excitement of getting such nice experiences. I was a little giddy with how great the day went. That was where the blog post came from.

The “Free Day” Latte Maker!

Well, now I get to do it all over again… but now it feels like Christmas in the Scott household. It takes a little explanation, but the end result has been pretty awesome.  So here is the story. A few months ago, when Jeremy was very sick, he stayed home from work and and signed up for a bunch of free stuff. He called it “Free Day”. He mainly got a bunch of free plants, but he also signed up for golf clubs, kitchen stuff… etc. Pretty much anything he could for free. Jeremy has great luck with getting picked for stuff like that. Last Saturday the UPS man dropped off a big box at our house. The return label had been torn off so we had no idea what were opening. Turns out it was a very expensive one-touch latte maker. Jeremy got very excited and pulled it all out. He made himself a drink and told me how awesome it was.  I informed him that we had a Keurig and a Mr. Coffee Maker. We didn’t need a third coffee making device for a house where only one person drinks coffee. Apart from a lack of storage space, it seemed a little excessive. Jeremy did some research and realized that the latte maker was worth a LOT and was returnable to Macy’s. It didn’t take too much twisting to get to him to take it back and take the money instead.

Just like Christmas!

After returning the latte maker, Jeremy went on a shopping spree at Costco. He was able to get all this stuff with the money he got from the latte maker – plus have some left over. He bought a new stick blender (which he is using to today to make his homemade salsa). He picked up a Dyson vacuum which was on sale! I didn’t make him do this! It was his suggestion. We also got some Christmas decorations and a new decorative pillow. It was like Christmas when I got home to discover all the goodies.

One Happy Amy!

For those of you who know me, I’m major OCD when it comes to cleaning. I’m a neat freak. There is no way around it. I love to clean. It makes me happy. Jeremy knows this and saw a Dyson as an investment into my cleaning obsession. Of course, I couldn’t keep it in the box for very long! I needed it out! Once we figured it all out, I vacuumed the whole house – even though I vacuumed the day before. It was amazing all the stuff the Dyson got out of our carpet. It was almost scary! I think my carpet audibly sighed with joy from being so clean. Oh wait…that was me! I’ve always dreamed of owning a Dyson vacuum. I can’t believe I got it for free.

I might have laughed at Jeremy when I came home at the end of “Free Day” but now I have some serious respect for “Free Day”.  I’m blessed to have a hubby that shares his winnings and thinks of me! I would have never asked for something so nice, but he was generous. I’m fairly positive that he is happy with his purchases as well (He was singing while using it)! He loves making salsa and pasta sauce. We did a ton of research last year about stick blenders and food processors, but we couldn’t make a decision. Getting it for free made it real easy to pick one! It’s a happy day in the Scott household! Just like Christmas!