James was off this weekend (Yay!!) so we got to finish some stuff around the house and work more on Zara's nursery. He put up her book rack which I am so in love with. 
I can't wait to theme it out during holidays, like put up Christmas books and Halloween ones. She won't be here for Halloween this year so that will have to wait till next year but I'll definitely put up the Christmas ones this year. I used to read all the time when I was younger so I'm very for showing Zara how important it is to have books in our lives :)
James also put up some floating shelves we got from Lowes. 
They are so cute! I wanted them because she was getting too many stuffed animals and there was no more room on her tables for anymore haha! I still have a couple more walls left but I'm thinking of maybe waiting to see her personality to add the rest. See what she likes before finishing it. I'm sure she is going to love what we have already even though she won't remember it. That's why I am taking so many pictures for her. My mother didn't take too many pictures for me when I was a baby, I know it's a lot easier now with so much technology. I plan on documenting all of Zara's life so she will know everything we did for her!
Another project I've been wanting to do forever was use chalkboard spray paint and paint some pumpkins to put a C on for our last name! Well I guess pumpkin isn't the correct texture for this spray cause after they dried I went to write with the chalk and all it did was scratch the paint off. 
Still looks really cute but wasted my chalkboard paint!
I took a couple days off cooking cause we went to dinner Friday night with my Father in Law and yesterday we went downtown to show James this awesome restaurant mom and I had for lunch on Friday.
It was soooooo good! It's called Americas, and was a Latin American themed menu. I knew James would love it even tho he had his doubts. But I'm always right hehe! Since I only have like 2 more weeks till Zara will be here I am trying to get all my restaurant eating out since it will be a long time before we will be going to any fancy places.
This morning I made an amazing recipe I have been saving for Apple Sticky Buns with Apple Cream Cheese Frosting on top!
First I made the dough. And I completely messed it up! I read the directions wrong and added 1 1/4 cup of sugar when I was supposed to add only 1/2 a cup. Hey we all make mistakes. So I had to throw away the whole recipe and start over. Which sucked cause it wasted my packet of yeast, 4 cups of my white lily flour and 2 cups of milk! Plus an hour of waiting for it to proof. Ugh I hate when that happens!
Anyway I started with a sauce pan and added 2 cups Whole Milk
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Canola Oil
Brought it to a slight simmer, not boil.
Then let it come to lukewarm temperature.
When it cooled enough I added
1 package Active Dry Yeast
4 cups Flour
Stirred then covered with a towel, set aside and let proof for an hour.
After an hour I added 1/4 cup flour and 2 teaspoons Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
Stirred that and then set it aside.
For the Caramel I put 1 stick Salted Butter
1-1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Dark Brown Corn Syrup
2 Tablespoons Cream
2 Tablespoons Apple Juice 
all into a sauce pan, brought to a boil and then turned off the heat and let cool. 
Poured half of it into a sprayed 9 inch glass pie pan. Topped with a diced Granny Smith apple.
For the rolls I melted 3/4 cups Butter in a small sauce pan.
Took half of the dough and rolled it out to a rectangle. 
Spread half of the melted butter over the dough.
Then sprinkled half of 3/4 a cup of sugar over the butter.
Then 2 tbs of Ground Cinnamon
Rolled the dough up 
and cut into pieces then set them on top of the caramel and diced Apples.
Then I repeated with the rest of the dough and caramel. 
I let these rise for 20 mins
Put them in the oven at 375° for 25 mins covered with foil. And took off the foil for 15 mins longer.
To plate I inverted a pie stand over the pie dish and flipped it, letting the caramel drip over the rolls. 
For the Apple Cream Cheese I put a stick of softened butter and 4 ounces of softened cream cheese in a bowl.
Mixed with a hand mixer and added a teaspoon of vanilla.
Then added 2 cups of powdered sugar 1 cup at a time so it wouldn't go everywhere. 
Then I added about a tbs of apple juice till it was thinned out enough but not too thin.
Once the Rolls were flipped I plopped some frosting on top and spread them over the whole thing. 
Absolutely amazing!!
For dinner tonight I made a recipe I have had marinating for 5 days now. It's an authentic German recipe called Sauerbraten. Pretty much a German Pot Roast that is so delicious! But has a lot of steps. Worth it all though!
First I took a 5-lb beef eye of round and cut it in half so it would fit in my crock pot. You need a non reactive dish to hold it in while it's marinating.
I salted the meat heavily on all sides.
In a sauce pan I added
2 cups red wine
1½ cups red wine vinegar
1 large onions, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 bouquet garni which was a pouch that I filled with 1 tbsp. pickling spices, 14 whole cloves, 8 whole black peppercorns, 3 bay leaves, 3 sprigs thyme, 2 sprigs parsley, tied the top and added it to the sauce pan.
Brought to a boil then let it cool and poured it over the meat in the crock pot insert. Stuck that in the fridge and rotated the meat each night for 5 nights.
Tonight I took that out of the fridge. Removed the meat to 2 paper plates and dried them off with paper towels.
Strained the marinade into a bowl and took out the bouquet pouch. 
Browned 4 slices of bacon sliced thin in 2 tbs of butter. 
Put the bacon on a plate and set aside.
Then put the meat in the drippings one at a time to brown each side. 
Once browned I put them on a plate and set aside while I sliced up 2 onions really thin.
Put the meat back on top of the onions. 
Added 5 cups of reserved strained marinade.
And put the pouch in the pot.
Then I brought it to a boil, covered, and put in the oven at 325° for 2 1/2 hours.
After it became super tender I took it out of the oven and put the meat on a serving plate.
Strained the broth into a bowl.
Put the Dutch oven on the stove and turned it to medium high heat. Added 2 tbs of butter, 3 tbs of flour, and 2 tbs of sugar.
Whisked till it browned then added the sauce, ½ cup golden raisins, 6 gingersnaps that were crumbled 
and the juice of ½ a lemon.
Brought to a simmer till thickened and sliced the beef onto the plate and topped with gravy, bacon, and green onions.
For the Spaetzel which is another authentic German recipe I mixed together 1 cup all-purpose flour, 
1/4 cup milk, 
2 eggs,
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg 
and 1 pinch freshly ground white pepper all in a bowl. 
Took a colander and poured the dough into it while holding it over boiling water. I used a spatula to press the dough through the holes making small squiggly pasta doughs that boiled for 5 mins till cooked. Then I put them in a skillet with butter and fried them up. 
Put them on the plate and covered with the gravy from the roast.
For the German Potato Salad I took about 10 new potatoes and sliced them in half. Put them in a pan of water and brought to boil for 20 mins till they were cooked thru.
In a large pan I browned up 8 slices of bacon that I sliced into lardons.
Added 1 diced onion to the fat and cooked till softened.
Then added the cooked potatoes, 
1/2 cup chicken stock,1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
Cooked until it dissolved almost completely into the potatoes.
Seasoned with salt.
Then tossed with a handful of chopped green onions.
To plate I sliced up the roast and put it on the plate, spooned the Spaetzel and topped with sliced green onions, and spooned the potato salad on the plate and topped with the bacon and onions.
So delicious!!
Right now my husband is painting my belly, I will post those pics tmrw :)
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