Date Night

I don't cook. I mean I do... just not often. I don't get home until 6:00pm most nights and Ben gets home a few hours earlier. For this reason Ben has taken on the role of family cook! Ben is a great cook! He can look at what is in the kitchen and make some random meal without referring to a recipe. Every time he whips up something it. is. delicious. I on the other hand am not as adventurous. I stick to the same recipes/meals so it really is ideal that Ben cooks. Occasionally Ben gets into a project so I make dinner instead of tearing him away from the project. 

Ben started cooking one night (about a month ago) but got distracted with cleaning his car. I took over and finished the meal and had everything laid out for him. He was surprised to see I took over and was even more surprised when he saw I grabbed a few beers out of the fridge. 

On the menu:

Lake Superior White Fish with Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Red Skinned Potatoes drizzled in EVOO and random spices (pepper, garlic, cumin, etc.)

Beans from our 2011 garden. 

Berry Weiss Beer

I can't forget to mention the beautiful flower we picked up at the Farmer's Market. 

After dinner we got back to our crazy lives but it was nice to just sit and relax for 20 minutes. We've been so busy that if we do get to eat a meal together it is usually a super fast one. 

Making: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Every three weeks Ben and I attend a bible study with a couple people from our church. At every gathering someone makes a dessert. I love this tradition. I get something super tasty every few weeks and I occasionally get to try a new recipe! 


In May I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies. They were very sweet (even for my sweet tooth) so I'm not sure how often I will be making them but I was happy to at least try the recipe!


I got the recipe from Recipe Girl here. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

COOKIE DOUGH (EGG FREE!):
3/4 cup salted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3 Tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup semisweet chips (for topping)

Directions:

1. Prepare the brownies: I just used a box of brownies but Recipe Girl makes her own. 

2. Prepare the cookie dough: In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to combine butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Mix in milk and vanilla. Mix in flour just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Spread cookie dough over the cooled brownies. Refrigerate until the dough is quite firm. It's okay to speed up the process and place it in the freezer too. The firmer the dough, the easier it will be to cut into neat squares. Use a sharp knife to cut the brownies. You may need to wipe the knife off with a paper towel in between cuts since the fudgy brownies and cookie dough will tend to stick to the knife a bit. These brownies are best to serve placed inside cupcake papers and served with a fork.

4. If you'd like to add chocolate drizzle on top, melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Scoop the melted chocolate into a zip baggie and snip off the corner. Squeeze the bag to drizzle the chocolate on top of each brownie. 

Enjoy!

Making: Camo Cupcakes

I wanted to make something fun for my brother's birthday. What says Justin more than CAMO CUPCAKES!! I got the idea from here on Pinterest. 


They were super easy to make and I foresee myself going through the same process in the future with fun color combinations! (Please forgive me for the bad photos towards the end, my brother came early and I was RUSHING to get the cupcakes baked and put away before he noticed!)

Make the cupcake batter and divide it into thirds.

(Note: I only used half of the cake batter, the other half was used to make a separate cake)

Make three camo colors; I made dark green, bright green and brown. 

Add blue and yellow to make green. I added extra green dye to one cup to make a vibrant green. For the brown I mixed a ton of food colorings together. 

Starting with one color add in about a tablespoon into the cupcake liner. Then add the second color. Then the third. The batter separates as you add each color leaving the cupcakes looking like this. 

 Then take a butter knife and swirl around the colors. 

Done! 

I wanted the guests to see the camo so I didn't frost the cupcakes. I dyed vanilla frosting bright green and let the guest frost their own. 

3 Birthdays, 3 Days, 1 Party

My family and Tia's (my brother's fiancee) family came to visit for Easter. While both families were together I thought it would be fun to celebrate my brother's birthday. After talking to my mom about this plan she suggested we also celebrated my dad's birthday (two days after my brother's). When talking to Tia about this she mentioned her dad, Ricky, has a birthday in between my dad and my brother. 

Justin: April 14

Ricky: April 15

Randy: April 16

I wanted to celebrate all three birthdays with one party! I used a primary color scheme and added a personalized cake for each person. I made the decorations, cake, etc. in the 24 hours leading up to the party and for most of if both my dad and brother were around. I had to be super sneaky (and it helped the boys spent hours outside). 

Entering into the dining room. 

Happy Birthday Banner

Balloon Garland and Pinwheels

Our dining room was transformed quickly before the party began.

My mom and I had just over an hour to decorate, frost the cakes, etc.

Gift/Drink/Treat Table

A closer look.

I made this sign and hung it on the wall next to the gift table. 

I saw a similar idea online and came up with the Rocks one on my own. 

This was the cake table (I forgot to take a picture of the cakes!)

Over each cake was a sign for each birthday boy. On the sign was fun facts about the year they were born.

Here is Justin's.

We all ran inside except for the birthday boys who sat outside talking about Justin's new truck. When they came up we all sang to them but I think it took them each some time before they realized the party was for them. 

Ricky checking out his facts and "cake." 

The boys blowing out their candles. 

Justin had camo cupcakes (tutorial to come) and guests frosted their own cupcakes.

My dad, Randy, had a gravestone cake (he turned 50).

Tia's dad, Ricky, had a piece of Mackinac Fudge. 

The boys opening their gifts!

Ricky, Randy, Kelly (my mom), Tim (Tia's brother, Tyler's friend"

Tyler (Tia's brother), Maria (Tia's mom) and Tia

Pinterest Challenge: Winter Edition

My favorite blog, Young House Love, and few of their friends came up with a Pinterest Challenge. The goal is to stop pining and start doing! Check out their blog to see what Sherry and John came up with. 

Life is busy so I didn't have a ton of time to do a big project like I would have wanted but I did come up with one little project and made one of the recipes I have pinned. Today I will share the recipe and tomorrow the project I made. 

So here goes!
A few weeks back I pinned this Crockpot Chicken Taco Recipe from Chocolate Therapy. 

I also pinned the Best Taco Seasoning Recipe Ever from What's That Smell.

The recipe calls for Taco Seasonings so I mixed that up first. 

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 tbsp of taco seasoning for 1lb of meat

(double or triple the recipe so you have it the next time you need it!)

Done!! It is delicious with a bit of a kick to it!

Now unto making the Crockpot Chicken Tacos Over Rice

(for the original recipe click the link at the top of the post)

Three Chicken Breasts

Put enough salsa to cover the chicken then a little extra on top. On this container I used 2/3 of the salsa. I then put on about 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning. 

Should look like this, then let sit on low 6-8 hours or high 3-5 hours.

Should look like this when you are done. Then shred the chicken using two forks. If the chicken is done the chicken will fall apart. 

The first meal we made rice and put the chicken over rice! YUM! So flavorful!

Now what to do with the leftovers? 

We loved the meal so much that we wanted it again for dinner the next night. By lunchtime we were craving the chicken again so I made quesadillas. I used white cheddar cheese, mild cheddar cheese, the chicken leftovers, tortilla shells and some fresh salsa. 

The quesadillas were just as much of a hit as the chicken was over rice! 

We highly recommend this meal!! 

Making: Mini Cheesecakes

Remember this photo?

For Alyssa's bridal shower I made mini-cheesecakes!

       Here is what you need:

• 1 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafers
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Foil mini muffin liners

1. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla until light and fluffy.

2. Place the foil muffin liners on a baking sheet.

3. Place a vanilla wafer inside. *NOTE: Make sure to get the foil muffin liners so they stand up on their own and not in a mini muffin pan*

4. Put in oven at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.

5. Cool

While the cheesecakes are baking make yourself lemonade with sugar, lemon juice and water! :)

After the cheesecakes have cooled at your topping. I put strawberries in the blender to make a sauce to put on top then cut a piece of strawberry to go on top of that. I also melted white chocolate chips and drizzled it over the cheesecakes before placing a few whole chips on the melted chocolate. 

ENJOY!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dessert

I mentioned a while back about adding some Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects on the blog and look forward to sharing some of those with you. I also want to include some of the recipes I am making or have made in the past.


Here is a dessert I made while Justin and Tia were visiting.


Since it was over 100 degrees most of the week I wanted something that was cool and didn't include heat (microwave, stove or oven!). 


I knew the recipe book I got from Grandma Kathy for Christmas would be perfect.


Simple Desserts Made Special with Cool Whip


Chocolate Peanut Butter Desserts


2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup thawed Cool Whip
2 cups cold milk
1 package (4-serving size) Jello-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding and Pie Filling

All the goodies I used for this recipe.

Four Ingredients! Perfect!

Mix 2 tablespoons milk and peanut butter in small bowl. 

Stir in whipped topping. 

Pour 2 cups milk into large bowl. Add pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes.

Spoon pudding and whipped topping mixture alternately.

I used Pampered Chef bowls because they had lids!

Refrigerate one hour or until ready to serve.

Garnish with additional whipped topping. 

Delicious!

It was chocolatey and peanut buttery.. perfect! 

Life Update!

Ben and I have been enjoying all there is to summer. Taking time out to geocache, hike, spend time with friends and experiment with food! Here is a series of photos to give you a behind the scenes glimpse into our first two months of marriage!

Our garden grows MORE and MORE every day. We go out every day to pick peas (above) and green beans. The community garden is also filling our fridge with zucchini, lettuce and the occasional tomato. Our grocery bill is getting smaller and we are enjoying some time together in the garden picking lots of weeds!

Community Adviser training starts August 1st and I'm trying to get ahead of the game by completing all that I can before training. These are the door decs (name tags) that are put on each apartment door for each tenant. I did sea animals. This is half of the ones I made. The other half were finished a few days later. Over 140 total!

We've been trying out new recipes and foods too! Ben made this meal complete with a Portabella mushroom with melted cheese, a tomato sauce filled with basil that we grew, all on top of noodles. Something I would have never tried before but it was yummy!

Ben likes playing around with food for dinner, while I prefer dessert! Here are some peanut butter honey balls I made. A healthy snack that still satisfied my sweet craving!

This weekend we are traveling back to Ben's hometown for our best friend's daughter's first birthday party! We are very excited to be there to celebrate with little Addie. Ben took off half a day of work so we can get there late Friday night. We'll spend the evening with family and then Saturday we are going to the zoo, Addison's birthday party then having a slumber party at her house! We can't wait!!!! Our last "mini" vacation before training begins and Ben leaves for his canoeing class (August 8th).