Quick Crescent Caramel Rolls

It seems like the only recipes I have been posting lately have all been sweets, but I guess this is a reflection of my current state. I would like to note, though, that I always have a house full of boys who eat most of the sweets for me! This morning, I thought I would make the hubby a breakfast treat and they were easy and so good. If you are planning on having company over the holidays, you should definitely jot down this recipe and make them one morning...trust me, your company will thank you! Since there were only 2 of us eating (well technically 3), I halved the recipe, and this is what I got:
8T margarine, divided
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. water
1/2 c. chopped pecans
2 cans crescent rolls
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

In ungreased 9X13, melt 5T margarine in oven. Stir in brown sugar, water, and pecans. I also added some vanilla here. Separate each can of dough into 4 rectangles and pinch to seal. Spread with 3T of margarine. Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over dough. Starting with the shorter side, roll up each rectangle. Cut each triangle into 4 sliced, making 32 pieces. Place cut side down in pan. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Invert immediately to remove from pan.

In an attempt to lighten this recipe, I did the following and you could not tell one bit. I always buy reduced fat crescent rolls, used Splenda as well as Splenda Brown sugar blend. I wouldn't skimp on the 5T of margarine you melt in the pan, but I think you could easily reduce the 3T you spread on the crescent rolls. Enjoy!

100 Days to Go?!?!

According to the little blog ticker, we only have 100 days to go until my due date. OMG! On one hand, I can't wait to meet little Sutton, but on the other hand I am really enjoying this special time with him all nestled in my belly. I have a feeling that these next 100 days are going to fly by! The holidays will come and go before we know it and then we will be ringing in 2011. We start childbirth and breastfeeding classes in January, and February is Tootie month, then it will be March!

For those of you unfamiliar with Tootie month, let me explain...Sterling's nickname for me has been Tootie for as long as we have been together and this has also expanded to many of our friends calling me this as well. February is the only month of the year where Sterling is not involved in some hobby: football and hunting are over and golf has yet to start. Plus it's my birthday month! So, even though it is the shortest month of the year, it's my month and I get all the attention. I have a feeling by February, this mama is going to enjoy all the pampering she can get!! Speaking of mama...look at how much the belly has grown!How far along? 25 weeks and 5 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 15 pounds as of my appointment this week. I was VERY nervous stepping on the scales this week after all of Thanksgiving's indulgences, but am right on track

Maternity Clothes? Still loving them!

Stretch marks? Still none

Sleep? No trouble at all falling asleep, but still waking up often to go to the bathroom and to change sides. Hopefully I will start snoozing better when we get our new King size mattress in the next few weeks! Yippee!!!

Best moment last week? Getting to visit with all of my family. Presley was so sweet kissing my belly and giving it hugs. She can't wait for "Sudding" to get here!

Movement? Lots. We have a very active boy, although he tends to be a bit stubborn at times. He will be moving up a storm and I will tell someone to feel and he will stop. Poor Sarah wanted to feel him so bad the whole week and he just would not cooperate

Food cravings? Still on the sweets. I am really hoping this goes away after he arrives

Gender? Sweet little boy!

Labor Signs? Still having Braxton Hicks contractions. Almost had myself convinced I was going into early labor today, but I think I was just being paranoid.

Belly button in/out? Becoming less cavernous...starting to get a bit nervous it will pop out

What I miss? Sleeping on my back

What am I looking forward to? Being done with work on Wednesday, finally getting to meet little Jacob and visiting with his parents of course, the holidays, and our first baby shower

Busy as a Bee!

Long time no blog, I know, but in my defense things have been really busy around the Dahl house lately! For starters, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mom, Dad, Sarah, and Presley came from Texas and stayed the week and it was so good to see them. We went wedding dress shopping for Sarah and I think she found THE ONE! We went to my grandparents' house in Bruce and then to Charleston to visit Sterling's grandmother. We ate LOTS of good food and enjoyed everyone's company. In between, we also took a little trip to Tupelo to take Presley to Disney Princesses on Ice, which she loved! I asked Sarah and her to show me their most excited faces before the show and this is what I got... LOVE them! Unfortunately, this was the only picture I managed to take over Thanksgiving.

I have all of our Christmas presents bought and wrapped and am winding down teaching for the semester. I have to give an exam Monday and Wednesday, then I am off for an entire month!! Have I mentioned before how much I love my job?!

We have also gotten some items for the nursery! We went to Woodland and got this crib and this chair for the nursery. The chair we bought is in a cream on cream chenille paisley pattern. It is a glider and is residing in our bedroom for now. I have really enjoyed watching TV and reading in the chair. I can't wait to snuggle and read bedtime stories to our little man once he arrives!

I'd like to say that once I am done with school, I will have lots of time for updating the blog, but I can't make any promises. In the meantime though, if you are a blog reader, please leave me a comment so that I know someone is still out there! Please, don't be shy...

Mug Cake and Frozen Delight

Since the sweet tooth is apparently not going away anytime soon, I have been scouring the Internet for low calorie desserts. I've come across two already that I have made and are too good not to share. Let me introduce you to the Mug Cake, which may quite possibly be the easiest dessert out there to make.

1 box Angel Food Cake mix
I box any other kind of cake mix WITHOUT the pudding in it (I used Devil's Food)
3 T water

Here's what you do: In a gallon ziploc bag, dump both the cake mixes and shake really well. Disregard any of the directions on the box...just dump in the dry mix. When you get ready for your cake, take 1/3c. of the cake mixture and add 3T water and microwave in a mug or bowl for 1 minute to 1 minute 15 seconds. THAT'S IT!! I topped mine with fat free Cool Whip and Ster topped his with vanilla ice cream since he's not watching his weight. I even Sharpeed the directions on the Ziploc bag so he can make a treat whenever he wants. I was a bit skeptical of first, but trust me on this one!

The second recipe is Frozen Delight. I had something similar at Flowerdale Cafe in Tupelo and have been searching for a recipe since then. After some modifying of the recipes, this is what I came up with:

1 8oz. block fat-free cream cheese
1/3 c Splenda
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce, NOT the jellied log kind
1 16 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained well
1 can mandarin oranges, drained well and cut in half
12 oz. lite or fat-free Cool Whip

Beat the cream cheese and splenda together until smooth and fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients. At this point, you could just refrigerate and eat it this way, but it tastes even better frozen. Line 24 muffin cups with liners and fill them with the mixture. Freeze 4-6 hours until firm then pop out and store in a ziploc in the freezer until you are ready for one. They really taste alot like ice cream and are about 65 calories each.

If you have any other low calorie desserts, please feel free to share!

Shutterfly Promotion

I love a good bargain, and free is the best bargain there is! Shutterfly is giving away 50 FREE cards this holiday season. I have had a Shutterfly account for awhile now and I love all the things that you can do with your pictures on their site. They have the cutest photo books, wall calendars, picture stationary with matching address labels, and cards oh my! Here are a few of my favorites:

I like the simplicity of this card but generally would pick something more cutesy and funky

This card is definitely more my taste AND it benefits the American Lung Association. It's like killing two birds with one stone. They also have cards benefiting Livestrong and Heifer International

Last year, I gave my grandparents a wall calendar for Christmas with pictures of the entire family in each of the months and went ahead and put everyone's birthdays, anniversaries, etc. on the calendar. They loved it and it will become a tradition for me to do this for them every year. They have the cutest designs to choose from!

Of course, I didn't show you my actual favorite card design because many of you will be receiving it in the mail and I wanted it to be a surprise! So, if you're a blogger too, then head on over to this website and sign up for your 50 free cards. You can thank me later!

22 Weeks

How far along? 22 weeks and 3 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 9 pounds as of last visit

Maternity Clothes? Pretty much all I wear these days. Some of my regular tops and most of my dresses still fit, but maternity pants are the way to go. I have been wearing regular pants with the Belly Band to work, but probably not for much longer!

Stretch marks? Still none...hoping this lasts

Sleep? Sleeping pretty well, but still waking up several times a night to go to the bathroom and/or switch sides because one side of my body is asleep

Best moment last week? Finding out that we are having a boy who appears healthy and has a strong heartbeat! Also, getting the fabric for the nursery. Can't wait to see it all come together

Movement? All the time! Sometimes it comes in the form of kicks or little jabs, but it seems lately he has been doing flips in my belly. The sonographer said he is still small enough that he can do this, but pretty soon his space will become more limited. I think the time change has gotten to him as well, so no more late night parties in my belly!

Food cravings? One of the things that I have always been able to say about myself is that I don't have a sweet tooth. I always prefer salty over sweet...until now! For the past 2 weeks, I have been craving anything and everything sweet. I've also been on a baking kick which hasn't really helped this. I've been making mostly muffins and bread to eat for breakfast and I make lots of substitutions which make them pretty healthy. Yesterday though, I finally caved into my cake craving and it was worth every calorie. Have any of you ever eaten Hummingbird Cake? Oh.my.goodness! Think carrot cake but take out the carrots and add bananas and pineapple. Slather this with cream cheese icing and talk about heaven! Hopefully, that will quench the craving for awhile.

Gender? BOY! Sutton Sterling Dahl

Labor Signs? I have started to have these cramps in my lower abdomen and back a few times a day. The doctor said not to worry about them unless they happen six times in one hour. Not sure if these are Braxton Hicks or not, but they aren't too fun

Belly button in/out: Still a deep, dark cave

What I miss? Nothing. I love everything about being pregnant!

What I am looking forward to? Finally, I have something new to post here! First, I am looking forward to being done with school for the semester. I've pretty much already checked out mentally, but only have a couple of weeks left. Getting excited about the holidays, seeing my family, and getting the nursery bedding made, and crib and chair bought. Lots of things on my to do list!

This week, I thought I would include a pic of me and the hubs. This was taken last weekend at his parents house. Isn't he the cutest? I envision little Sutton is going to be a mini version of his daddy. I am going to have the cutest boys in my life!

It's a ....

BOY! We found out Wednesday morning that we are having a son. When we went in for the sonogram, we asked the tech not to tell us what the gender was so we could try and figure it out first. Well, as soon as she turned the screen, his little doodler popped right on the screen and I screamed "It's a boy. Look, there it is!" It took Sterling a minute to figure out what I was seeing, but he quickly saw it too. There was no mistaking his manhood. Everything else looked great! We have a healthy baby who weighs 15 ounces now and the heart was beating strong around 142 bpm. We were really able to see alot and were surprised at how much he had grown since our last sonogram. He actually looked like a baby instead of a seahorse! We were able to see all four chambers of the heart, his legs which were crossed for most of the time, his arms which were around his face, his ribs, spinal cord, and just about everything else. It was really awesome!

We spent awhile chatting with the doctor about epidurals, inductions, delivery options, etc which really made everything seem real. I try not to think about having to get him out. For now, I am enjoying every minute of him being in my belly. Speaking of which, he is moving all over the place. We have really enjoyed laying in bed at night feeling him move all over the place. For the past couple of nights, he has had a party in my belly around 11pm. He is definitely a night owl like his daddy.

We have decided his name will be Sutton Sterling Dahl. Now, let the shopping and monogramming begin! Woo Hoo!!