I have been telling my co-workers about great coupon deals for a while now and Whitney asked if I could do a training session at her house with some friends. She planned a lovely brunch and made mimosas, quiche, pigs in blankets, brownies and some other yummy treats. She is from Texas and oozes loads of Southern charm and hospitality! Her food presentation was amazing. I brought elephant ears, apple turnovers, chocolate pot de creme and coffee parfait (served in plastic cocktail cups!)

We kicked the morning off with a quick cooking demo. I showed the group how to make monkey bread in less than 10 minutes. Here is Whitney, Sage and I before we popped it into the oven.

While the monkey bread was baking in the oven I gave out coupon cheat-sheets and explained how to maximize coupons. Everybody was super nice, yet I was still nervous. I haven’t done public speaking in a while!

Then everybody got to take a random grab bag gift from a pile I brought. All of the grab bag gifts were items I either got for free, or a few cents each. Gifts ranged from toilet bowl cleaner to Pop Tarts. They certainly weren’t fancy, but they were practical and proved my point for how many groceries you can get for very little money.

Here is the crime scene:

That is 10 lbs of flour on my floor. First I had to shovel it.

Then I vacuumed. Then I mopped. Flour makes a paste when mixed with water, but the floor was already pasty from Coda slobber from licking the floor. He wasn’t exactly caught red-handed, but he was caught white-nosed and eared!

The joke is on Coda though. His water bowl was nearly empty when I got home and the water that was left was cloudy and pasty. I think he learned his lesson.

Coffee Parfait was in my recipe book from pastry class. I didn’t get a chance to make it in class, but it was my favourite treat on ice cream day in class. I just whipped up a batch to take to brunch next weekend. I’ll be teaching a coupon class at a co-worker’s house and making some pastries. Coffee parfait is an easy do-ahead treat since it is served frozen. Here is what’cha need:

• 1/3 C water
• 2/3 C sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 C heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 Tbsp kahlua (+ extra to swig when the mood strikes)
• 1 Tbsp coffee powder
• 6 Heath or Skor bars, chopped

Combine water and sugar in a small sauce pan. Heat to 230 degrees over medium heat. This took about 15 minutes. It will go from being a clear syrup, to a golden, thicker syrup in a matter of a minute. You want it a little bit lighter that what I had:

While the water and sugar are heating up, combine the eggs and egg yolks and whip them until they are thick.

My sister-in-law got me a 2nd Kitchenaid bowl for my mixer for xmas. I have no idea how I only managed with one bowl for all of these years. I grabbed my extra bowl and added the heavy whipping cream and coffee powder.

Whip it into fluffy cloud peaks. Then add the kahlua and vanilla.Pay no attention to the flour on the counter. I was making 2 batches of puff pastry dough at the same time.

By now the sugary syrup should be ready. Pour it into the whipped egg mixture and stir it together. Then fold the fluffy clouds into the egg and syrup mixture.

Chop up 6 Skor or Heath bars. I only used 5 1/2. Go ahead and guess where the other 1/2 of a candy bar went. Yup, my thighs.

Mix the candy bars with everything else. Scoop it into tiny ramekins or you can easily put it all in tupperware and freeze it. Mmmm.

After getting out taxes done 2 weeks ago, the tax lady said “well, that is how much you owe unless you buy a house within the next month for the tax credit!” She was joking… but it wasn’t a half bad idea. Bob applied for a mortgage. I contacted a realtor. Two weeks after the initial light bulb went off, we are homeowners! As long as the inspection goes well. It is a 3-bedroom, 2 bath tri-level home. I never wanted a tri-level because they are closed-off, but this home was actually very open with lots of windows for light.

The greatest thing is we have a fenced in yard for the dogs, and the house backs up to open space. We are also a 10 minute walk to a lake and 400 acre dog park!

Bob and I surprisingly had a jam-packed Easter weekend with family and friends here in Colorado. Cathy, David and 3 of my little cousins flew to Colorado from Vermont because 2 of their kids qualified for the USASA National competition at Copper Mountain. Max is a snowboarder and Calvin is a skiier. I just got word that Calvin placed 4th in slope style! Still waiting to hear how Max did.

Bob and I drove to Copper Mountain on Saturday afternoon and took in the parade of athletes. Here is the Southern Vermont group that my cousins were in.

After the parade Aunt Cathy made us a yummy beef stew dinner and we watched fireworks from their condo before heading home.

On Easter Sunday Bob and I met up with Steph, my former manager at Trout Unlimited. She flew in from Virginia for her goddaughter’s christening and I was happy that she was able to find time to visit with me! She invited Bob and I over for Easter lunch with her friends. Let it be known that the Honey-Baked Ham stores don’t mess around. Their hams are amazing. Her friend made some scrumptious taters and I wish I got the recipe. After lunch we took Steph to Rocky Mountain National park so she could take in the sights.

It was a pretty darn good weekend