Kate and Lauren Go West-Days 1 & 2 (Nashville and Tyler)

Starting today I am going to blog about our EPIC road trip out west.  It was an AWESOME trip and I am so excited to share the stories and adventures with you! Background: My biffle Kate was moving out to San Francisco for a new job, so we decided to road trip across the country to move her there!


Day 1

    The weather the day we left Kentucky was horrendous.  Pouring rain, and cold. We started out day 1 in Georgetown, Indiana, (just outside of Louisville), at a birthday party.  Okay, so we weren't actually there for the birthday party part, but we were there to spend time with Kate's siblings before her big move.  Everyone was very nice and welcoming, and it was a fun time.  I met a 94 year old woman who was in the Navy in World War II. That was cool.  They fed us while we were there, a delicious brunch of french toast and sausage.  Kate also had brisket and BBQ pork and said it was wonderful as well.  I tell ya, a LOT of this trip was about food.  Just wait and see! :)

   From Indiana, we headed to Nashville! We started playing the license plate game on the way there, did you know there's an app for that? Fun.  By Bowling Green we had seen 14 different license plates! Neato.

Of course we had to take a picture of the Corvette museum, with more time we would have stopped.

Tennessee! 

Nashville! I really love this city!

When we got to Nashville, we found our dear friend Jori's place with no problem at all. In fact, she lives in the same neighborhood as Big and Rich. (I can't remember if it's Big or Rich's house..) Fun fact: Big or Rich's house is UGLY.    We freshened up and headed out on the town! We went to a block party at Marathon Music Works, which was great fun.  I didn't know any of the bands, but Jori did.  It was nice to sit and enjoy the weather, music, and each other's company! It was so great to see Jori!  

On the way, we went to a FLOAT store. It was a little shop that just sells root beer floats. Omg, they were so good.  Mine was something like butterbeer, and it had a cookie in it.  YUM (Told you this would all be about food).   

We enjoyed our floats in this little courtyard, it was so beautiful!

At the festival we had brick oven pizza from a food truck, and free water. This pizza was YUM and made me think of Ben and I's favorite Indiana pizza place, Tony Sacco's.  

Love these girls, love Nashville.

After the music festival, we went downtown to Broadway.  We got down there at 8:30, with an understanding that we were leaving by 10, because A) We are old. and B) We had a LOT of driving to do.  We went to a dueling piano bar called The Big Bang and it was a lot of fun. They played great songs, and we saw a LOT of bachelorettes.  Brought back so many memories of my own bach in Nashville! When we got back to Jori's (yes, at 10), we had some yummy guacamole.  I don't even really like guacamole, but this one was so good.  Jori made it from scratch.  Mmm. After our snack it was off to bed!!

Downtown selfie

Day 2

  We got up the next morning and had coffee with Jori, then headed out about 8 am.  The weather in Nashville the day we arrived was perfect, but the morning we left was cloudy and rainy.  We drove down to Memphis, and then crossed the Mighty Mississippi! That was neat.  

Arkansas!

The ever-changing landscape...

    We drove all the way across Arkansas, and into Texas, which I have to say was pretty boring.  We listened to a lot of music and jammed.  And by jammed I mean we sang at the top of our lungs.  :) We had to get off the highway about 2 hours before we actually got to Tyler, and that was terrible.  Drivers in East Texas are SLOW.  It was painful, but we finally made it to Melissa's, another high school friend of ours.  (We stayed with people we knew the entire way! Amazing!) Melissa and Chris's place was super cute, and it was of course amazing to see AB! She showed me her room, (which we were staying in), and her American Girl Dolls, and was her always adorable self.

Texas! 

Love this little girl! She's so big now though, she is even president of her class at her new school! 

After playing a fun dictionary-type game that AB insisted we play, the girls went to dinner at a yummy Mexican place.  During dinner, we talked to Annabelle about her new friends, and she asked us lots of funny and interesting questions. I can't get over how grown up she is. My favorite part, (besides spending time with besties), was that this place gives everyone their OWN salsa, and their OWN cream sauce thing, which was SO good.  

Also, see the butter? Apparently squeeze butter is a thing in Tyler, Texas. With Mexican food. Weird. 

After dinner, we took AB home and then went to a brew house type thing.  It was Sunday night, so there weren't many people in there.  It was so nice to spend time and just talk with Melissa and Kate.  These 2 are some of my best friends in the whole world, and I am so sad we are living in 3 completely different corners of the country.  I loved being with them though, it felt like being home. :)

We all had local brews, mmm.

All in all, days 1 & 2 were VERY long, but totally worth it to see our friends.  :) Stay tuned for Days 3 &4! 

Pioneer Woman Wednesday #2 & a ROAD TRIP!

I can't believe that it is already Wednesday again, but here we are! Today's Pioneer Woman Wednesday is all about her Puffed Pastry Pizza.  I have actually made these twice.  The first time was when my parents and Grandma visited for my birthday, and then I made them again at my parent's house over Easter.  The best part of them is that they are super easy.  Also, as you will see, I pretty much don't follow the Pioneer Woman recipe at all, other than the way she cuts the pastry and her cook times.  She puts lots of yummy stuff on the pizzas, but they are things that my husband wouldn't even look at (i.e, caramelized onions & goat cheese), so I just put on whatever whoever is eating them wants.  Actually, as I was writing that last sentence it occurred to me that Ben has never actually even tried these...he wasn't there at my parents the night I made them, and he was taking a nap when we ate them when my parents were visiting me.  Weird.


Okay, so these pizzas are seriously super easy.  All I did was cut the pastry into strips, (it is super important when using pastry that it is THAWED. I pull them out of the freezer hours ahead of time and put them in the fridge. This works beautifully.  The first time I used them I didn't thaw them ahead, so I put them in the microwave.  Did not work as beautifully, although it did still work. But they can't be cut or anything when they are frozen. Trust me.)

After I cut the pastry into strips (like the recipe says), I simply put on whatever toppings our hearts desire. I like just cheese.  Or cheese and garlic.  For others, I've put on pepperoni, ham, bacon, etc.  Whatever you like on pizza works.  In the recipe, Ree says to not put on much cheese, but I've never had a problem with it. I don't measure specific amounts of the toppings, it's just whatever each person likes!  Once the toppings are on, I bake it for the time the recipe says, and then it's done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!

We had the pizzas with salad, and it was a fantastic lunch!! Not too heavy, but kept us full until dinner!

Overall impression of this recipe: E-Z! And very customizable to everyone's likes.  Would probably be awesome for kiddos.  

Challenges: The first time I made these, the pizzas on the Pampered Chef stoneware (above), stuck to the pan.  Also, I am impatient so I think they could have cooked a little longer.  

Things I will change next time: The 2nd time I made these, my oven wasn't hot enough so they took forever, so next time I will be sure to cook them for the right time at the right temperature.  Also, the recipe calls for olive oil on the dough but I think that makes it too wet, so I won't do that again.  (Good chance I used too much but...).  

Do I recommend this recipe? : Chya! 

And now for something completely different....

A ROAD TRIP!

   My biffle Kate got a new job! In San Fransisco! So this weekend her and I are leaving on a cross country road trip to get her moved out there! Ah! Road trips are one of my favorite things in life, and I am SO excited.  The best part is that we are only stopping overnight in places where we know people, so we won't have to stay in a hotel at all.  We will be going to a ton of places I've never been and I am so excited for that.  Oh, and I will be blogging about our adventures! I haven't decided if it will be a real-time blog (like each night when we arrive in our destination for the day), or if I will do it all when I get home.  It mostly depends on internet access.  And how well this website does on my iPad.  But, the point is, I CAN'T WAIT for our trip, and I can't wait to tell all of you all about it! Yippee!

Kate and I at Keeneland this fall.  There will be a ton of selfies just like this to come, I'm sure! :)

Pioneer Woman Wednesday Number 1!

It's Pioneer Woman Wednesday! As promised, each Wednesday I will review/write about my experiences with Pioneer Woman recipes!

For week number 1, I made the Easy Calzones.  I must say, they were pretty easy! And delicious. One of my challenges with all of her recipes is that they usually serve 4 or 6 or 8 people, and I am usually (not always) just cooking for 2, so I get to use my handy dandy (or lack of) math skills to cut the recipes in half.  That's how it was for this recipe. Hers serves 8, and I really only needed 2. The recipe calls for Rhodes Frozen Dinner rolls, (or a loaf),  but it didn't specify how many, so I totally guessed on how many rolls to use.  I went with 6, and I think they ended up being the perfect size.  I had to let the rolls thaw and rise for a few hours. I got a little impatient (shocker) and probably pulled them out too soon. I put them out to thaw at 11:30 and didn't use them until 5:15. They got HUGE!

See that can of cream of potato soup? Funny story.  I CANNOT find my rolling pin. It's just gone. Actually, I'm pretty certain it's in a box in our garage. (Separate from the apartment).  Which we can't get into.  Because we lost the opener. Yeah.  So I had to get creative with how to roll these puppies out. I found this big can in the pantry, and it worked GREAT! I squished 3 rolls together for each calzone.  With lots of flour, I put some wax paper on top of the dough and rolled it out with the can. Easy peasy life hack!  When your rolling pin is MIA, use a can! 

After I rolled the dough out "paper thin" as the recipe says, I thought the calzones looked a little small for the amount of yumminess I wanted to put in them, so I rolled them out some more.   For the filling, I mostly just cut her recipe in half, leaving out egg and replacing the meats.  The egg part freaked me out, (I don't know why..) so for the cheese I used:
7.5 oz. ricotta (approximately, it was about half a 15 oz container)

1/4 C parmesean

3/4 C mozzarella

1/2 tsp. salt

A tiny amount of pepper (husband doesn't like it so much)

1 tbsp. parsley 

Mmm cheese. I don't know why you can't see the parsley in this pic, but it was there!

For the meat, I used pepperoni and ham in Ben's, and leftover pesto chicken, (I LOVE pesto right now), in mine.

Calzones, ready to be folded and baked. Mmm.

After the calzones were filled, I folded them and brushed them with egg, like the recipe says. Then I baked them for approximately 18 minutes. This is longer than the recipe called for, but I didn't think they were done enough or golden enough after 13 minutes so I left them in for a bit longer.  Ben's ended up perfect, mine coulda used another minute or so.  Overall they were really good though! 

Folded, brushed, ready for the oven.  Parchment paper is the best invention ever, btw.

I served the calzones with Bertolli Organic Traditional Tomato and Basil sauce, aka the best red sauce ever.  It is my absolute favorite sauce, but I can't always find it. Luckily, the grocery store I've been going to lately has it. (Harris Teeter, which, fun fact, is the store that bought out the Winn Dixies around here. Good news, Harris Teeter is aweeesoomme, and way nicer than Winn Dixie. But also kinda expensive...)

Overall impression of this recipe: Very delicious and easy 

Challenges: Cutting the recipe in half (math, especially fractions, are NOT my forte.  Probably wouldn't be a problem for a normal person.) Rolling the dough out was also a challenge, and took slightly more effort than I anticipated.  

Things I will change next time: I might use 1 more roll for each calzone next time.  Although, we both ate them all and were full for the rest of the night, so maybe not.  I also will put in more meat and less cheese next time.  I just had a ton of the cheese mixture so I was trying to use it all.  Maybe next time I would quarter the cheese mixture from the recipe. (I will have to call Ben or my Dad to figure that out.  :) JUST KIDDING! I will google it...)  I might also throw in some (super) finely chopped spinach, to up the health factor,  at least in my calzone, I know my dearest doesn't prefer spinach. 

Do I recommend this recipe?: Heck yes! 

Let me know if you try these, I would highly recommend them! Thanks for reading my FIRST Pioneer Woman Wednesday! 

Life Lately

It has been a while since I've written a blog post, but that changes today!  I have had so much to write about, so naturally I was overwhelmed and didn't write at all.  I am working on a set schedule for my blog posts.  My college friend Amy does Frugal Fridays and every time I read it I am inspired to have a day or two for a specific topic.  I have still been cooking all the time, and my latest cooking has been heavily influenced by The Pioneer Woman. So, I've decided to dedicate Wednesdays to reviewing recipes I've made that are hers, or some version of hers.  I've already made about 10 of her recipes, and have a list of a bunch more to try.  I think it will be helpful to keep me on track if I have a schedule of what I am reviewing each Wednesday, so I am working on that now.  Pioneer Woman Wednesday starts this Wednesday, get excited!


 Okay, so on to the actual point of this post.  Life lately.  Life has been...nuts? Crazy? Sad? Frustrating? Wild? I don't even know the word to use to describe the last few weeks. Things were relatively normal in the days after my birthday.  My parents and Grandma Watkins came to visit us the weekend after my birthday.  That was fun! My parents came late Friday night and my Grandma came on Saturday morning.  I made pizza and a salad for lunch.  It was good for my soul to have guests here.  I am not working currently, and the walls of this apartment sometimes feel like they are coming in on me.  We had a wonderful visit with the family though.  We went to a nearby winery, (which happens to be owned by the same guy that owns the race team Ben works for), and it was so beautiful. We went out to dinner, and really just enjoyed being together!

 Childress Vineyards

After my parents and Grandma left, we made plans for my in-laws to come down at the end of the month.  We were, (and still are), really liking Ben's new job.  His hours are relatively normal. We get to spend weekends together.  A lot of our weekends have been spent house hunting, but I think we have narrowed down the area we would like to live in. One weekend in March we did a Home Tour put on by the local Junior League, and that was really fun.  We got to see a lot of Winston-Salem that we didn't even know existed, which is always exciting.  He works on Sunday afternoons/evenings during the Nascar races, but he is just at the shop, and is home in time for dinner. I love that.



2 and a half weeks ago, my Grandma Hart took a turn for the worst.  She started dialysis in August, and has been having some health issues since about Christmas.  But, every time she would end up sick or in the hospital, she has bounced back. She's a stubborn one, not ready to give up I guess! Anyways, on Wednesday the 25th my parents said we should probably think about getting up to Ohio to be with her, because things just weren't looking very well.  Ben was able to get out of work, (another perk of this new job, a very understanding and kind boss), and we got on the road Wednesday afternoon.  It was an intense morning for me, trying to figure out what to do with the dog, and oh yeah, my in-laws were supposed to arrive Saturday! We had no idea when we would be back.  Despite it being Spring Break in our area, I was able to get Kato into the kennel until Saturday, and my in-laws decided to come down here, (even though we probably wouldn't be home), and pick Kato up from the kennel. Thank goodness.



Our trip up north went pretty smoothly. We did have to take an unplanned 2 hour pit stop to pick up my sister from the Akron airport. It was alright though.  We made it to the hospital around midnight and were able to go in and see my Grandma before we headed to my Aunt's for the night.  Seeing Grandma that night made everything very real.  She wasn't really coherent and that was hard to see.



The family spent the next day at the hospital.  It was horrible, and I really think hospital waiting rooms are the worst place on earth.  Everyone is sad and crying, it was just miserable.  I was so grateful though, to be surrounded by my family. We could lean on each other to get through it. I went into Grandma's room a few times, but I just didn't want to remember her like that, so I spent most of the day in the waiting room.  Ben and I went to dinner with my cousins and sister that night, which was really nice.



Friday was more of the same. The family was at the hospital all together.  My cousins and I passed the hours playing Phase 10 (I know Grandma would approve!).  The last time I went in to Grandma's room, she looked and sounded the worst than I had seen yet.  On Friday evening, we left the hospital around 7. My parents stayed there.  They called around 10:30 pm to say that she was gone.  It was a horrible night, but I am so thankful I was with my husband, sister, and other family members.



On Saturday, planning began for a memorial service.  My Grandma had a tradition of smoking Black and Mild's with the grandchildren at each of our graduation parties, so we decided that the best way to honor her would be to have a Black and Mild all together.  We spent that evening playing cards, (again, Grandma loved cards), and laughing a lot. Despite the circumstances, it was nice to be together.  We smoked our Black and Mild's and watched the UK game. (Meh).  During the game, I started feeling SUPER gross. I was so nauseous and just wanted to puke.  Dad said it was probably the tobacco (ew), so I tried chewing some gum.  I ended up throwing up right before bed, and then every hour until 5 am. It. Was. Awful.  My mom and Ben took me to the ER around 6.  It was so bad I could barely walk to the car. When I got to the ER, they immediately gave me fluids, nausea, and pain meds.  I started feeling better pretty quickly after that. I ended up being diagnosed with gastroenteritis...aka food poisoning or a bug.  It was probably a bug, several of my other family members ended up with it as well.  Yuck.



We had to drive back to North Carolina after I was discharged from the hospital, because Ben had to go back to work on Monday.  I had already decided to fly back to Ohio Monday night for the calling hours on Tuesday.  The drive home was miserable.  Luckily, when we got here, the apartment was spotless and everything was taken care of, thanks to my in-laws.  What a relief! I went right to bed.


Monday I felt much better, and by the calling hours on Tuesday I was doing well.  Although, when the whole family went to dinner that night, I only ate mashed potatoes.  It took me until the weekend to feel comfortable eating normally again.

Luckily, since we have been back this week I have been feeling fine.

One last thing. I wasn't sure if I should share this or not, but it was such an emotional and crazy moment, I think the world should hear about it.  We got back from Easter weekend on Monday.  In the mail, there was a birthday card and $20 for me, from my Grandma Hart. She must have sent it in the last few days before she got really bad. I cried so much when I read it.  I am so humbled that she thought of me, and it is a gift I will covet and keep forever.  Just writing about it now is making me tear up. Sniff. I miss Grandma so much, but I know she is up there hanging with Grandpa and her sister, watching over us.  Thank you for the card Grandma, I love you!!

Me, Grandma, her dog Baby, and Sister in 2009

Reflections on 27 years of birthdays!

Today is my 27th birthday.  I can't believe I am that old.  I mean....I don't feel older. I don't feel like high school graduation was almost 10 YEARS AGO and that college graduation was almost 5 YEARS AGO.  I definitely don't feel like I got my learner's permit 11 YEARS AGO.  I distinctly remember that birthday, which got me thinking about other birthdays that I've had, so I decided to go back and remember all the birthdays I can, or at least generations of birthdays. (I don't know if generations is the right word, but ya know, birthdays as a kid, birthdays in my teens, birthdays in my 20's, etc.)


Birthdays as a kid
 I think the first birthday I remember is my 5th, (I think...I need to check with Mom on that), when we had my entire preschool class over in our basement. I honestly don't know if it was my 5th or 4th birthday, and I don't know if I actually remember it or if I've seen the video and heard the stories enough times that it is stuck in my memory.  My mom loves to tell the story about how all the parents of the other kids just dropped their kids off and my parents were left alone with the whole class.  Haha.  I know there was a mermaid piñata at this party, and I THINK this is the party where these twin boys ripped the boobs off. I love that story.  I wonder what happened to those boys.

I remember several gymnastics parties as a kid, (obviously).  We would usually just go to open gym and then come home and do cake and gifts.

I had a LOT of sleepover birthday parties as a kid too.  I remember a lot of nail painting and giggling and not a lot of sleeping.   The good old days. :)


Every single year that I can remember as a kid, probably up through high school, we went out to Mexican for my birthday dinner.  For a long, long time it was Chi-Chi's. Remember that place? I LOVED it. I know this is shocking!

When we moved to Ky, it flooded on my birthday pretty much every year.  The joys of March in Kentucky I guess.  I remember one party where we had to take everyone home because it was flooding, and it was terrifying.  Luckily everyone made it home safely, no worse for the wear. Yikes.


I have  always had ice cream cake for birthdays.  That's just what we did in my family, if it was your birthday, there was gonna be an ice cream cake with your name on it! This tradition has carried on through adulthood, although the quality of a DQ ice cream cake has really gone down hill in the last couple of years.  Wah wah.

I have great memories of my birthday as a kid.  It was always a fun and exciting day, and I feel really lucky that I always had friends and family to spend birthdays with!!

Birthday at Grandma and Papa's...I was probably 8 or so

Math Blaster! Best.Game.Ever.

Obviously I was excited for some cake!

Teenage Birthdays

The birthday that stands out for me the most in my teenage years is my 16th. That's probably true for everyone huh?  I remember getting my permit, I was so nervous taking that test!! Mom let me drive down Cardinal Drive back to school, and I remember not being able to keep the car straight and nearly driving off the side of the road.  Haha.   I also remember my Dad letting me drive home either that afternoon or the next, down the bypass in Georgetown, through a TSUNAMI. Okay, not a tsunami, per se, but it was raining REALLY hard and I was freaking out.  It's all good, I eventually learned to drive with no problem.  :)  My present that year was a trip to the Mall of America with my mom, 4 of my friends, and a family friend.  That was such a fun trip. We shopped until we dropped.  We also made a music video, and I am pretty sure everyone but me has a copy.  Great memories!

I always hated going to school on my birthday, but I remember my cousin bringing me balloons one time, and that was AWESOME and I felt so special all day. I loved going to school with her. :) 

Another teenage birthday that sticks out in my mind is my 18th.  My parents actually let me have an unsupervised party, (I'm sorry to anyone who's parents didn't know this and are finding out now..it was innocent! Teehee).  I felt so cool, I still remember what I wore, I got a shirt especially for this party and wore a jean skirt that I would never have worn otherwise.  We moved all the furniture out of the living room, turned off the lights, (probably had a disco ball), and had a dance party.  It was so much fun. I remember dancing with Ben to "Yeah" by Usher.  Hahaha. There were a bunch of people there, and I remember some people making out going on on our porch. (Not me of course!). Other than that, it was a completely innocent dance party. We did break a picture frame doing the cha cha slide.  It fell off the mantel when we did "6 hops this time!".  I am still smiling now, just thinking of how much fun that party was.  I can't find a picture of this, but I know someone has one and should probably post it for TBT. (Kate, I'm looking at you!)

16 years old!

Mall of America trip!

Birthdays in my 20's  

It's still freaking me out that I've had enough birthdays in my 20's for this to be a category. Obviously 20, 21, and 22 are a total blur, like most of college. I have no memory of my 20th birthday.  Anyone? I remember going to Wick's on my 21st and having a Long Island Iced Tea. Or 4.  I had a test the next day and I got a C despite my horrible hangover. Still proud of that! =P My 22nd birthday was spent at Old Chicago. There were a lot of people there, and I remember feeling very loved.  Plus I LOVE Old Chicago. I wish there was one here!

After college the birthdays became really....calm.  I remember 24, the first birthday we were in Indiana.  Ben worked, and my family came to visit me.  25 was an amazing birthday, because we closed on our new house and moved in the weekend of my birthday! My family and in-laws were in town, and I remember having ice cream cake (of course) in the new place.  It hurts my heart to think of that now, we are REALLY missing our house...but that's a post for another day.  

Last year a few of my girlfriends came to visit, because of course, Ben was out of town.  We had a super fun weekend, other than the snow storm the day everyone had to leave.  That's the difference between Indiana and Kentucky.  On my birthday in Ky=floods. Birthday in Indy=Snow storm.  

My birthday today, the first one in North Carolina, has been great.  The weather, omg, the weather. It is a spectacular day.  The sun is shining so bright, and it is a perfect 74 degrees. This is probably the first birthday I've had in a long time, maybe forever, that I wasn't with someone all day.  Even last year I spent the day nannying so I was with the girls.  I've just been by myself today, and that's fine.  I had my favorite Qdoba for lunch and got the world's greatest pedicure.  My dear husband is on his way now, and we are going out for dinner. He will be home this weekend for more birthday celebrations, and for that I am so grateful!!

I am blessed to have had 27 amazing birthdays, but I can't help but think of how close 30 is. It is SO close.  I remember when my Mom was 30!! Agggh! I am really terrified to be 30, and I'm not sure why. I guess I'll feel like I have to actually be an adult? I don't feel like an adult yet!! 

Thanks for reading y'all, here are some more birthday pics!! 

I think this may have been my 21st..

19th...

21st..

24th!

Lauren's Love List

Since it's Valentine's Day, a day all about LOVE, I decided to write my love list.  I've been thinking about this for a few days, so here are 50 things Lauren loves (some of these things are material things, some are not, and this list is not necessarily in order):

1.) My dear husband
2.) My puppy wuppy Kato
3.) My immediate family-Mommy, Daddy, and Sissy
4.) My extended family-The Watkins' and the Harts
5.) My in-laws
6.) My in-law extended family-The Eders and the Siegels
7.) Mexican Food
8.) Jesus
9.) The beach
10.) Going on vacation to anywhere, but my absolute fav vacations are cruises
11.) Road trips
12.) Disney World
12.) Social media
13. ) The Pioneer Woman (seriously-new life goal: Be the Pioneer Woman, think Ben is up for cattle ranching?)
14.) Snuggles
15.) Scarves
16.) Apple products
17.) Blogging
18.) Cupcakes-making and consuming
19.) Christmas
20.) Spring
21.) The weather in North Carolina
22.) Babies
23.) Gymnastics
24.) Boots (NOT snow boots. Cute boots.)
25.) Cooking
26.) Baking
27.) Kisses from Kato
28.) Spending time with the ones I love
29.) The Louisville Cardinals
30.) Summertime
31.) Swimming pools
32.) Country music
33.) Driving while listening to country music
34.) The movie Titanic
35.) The movie Mean Girls
36.) The movie My Girl
37.) Going to the movies (I'm sensing a theme)
38.) Playing Call of Duty
39.) Pizza
40.) Fruit
41.) Waking up next to my husband
42.) Taylor Swift
43.) Watching IndyCar races
44.) Road tripping to IndyCar races, especially with my Dad
45.) Girl talk with my Mom & Sister
46.) Skinny jeans
47.) Painting my nails
48.) Starbucks (I know I'm such a basic white girl. Not ashamed)
49.) Going out to dinner with people I love
50.) Buffalo wings
51.) Weddings
52.) New friends
53.) Friendly neighbors
54.) Sim City on my iPad
55.) Fruity girly cocktails
56.) Fruity cheerleader beer
57.) Budweiser
58.) Getting dressed up
59.) Lifelong friends




Okay 59 things I love.  That was not a hard list to come up with, and there are so many more things I could add.  I know I have a really blessed life, to be able to easily come up with so many things that I love. #Blessed.   :) :) Happy Valentine's Day! <3

Latest in cooking and baking

I have done a LOT of baking and cooking in the last month.  So I thought I would share some of what I made...I love to cook, and I was talking to my Grandma recently who mentioned that cooking is a hobby.  She is right, cooking is definitely one of my hobbies.  I'm thankful I have this blog, so that I can share my hobby with the world. :) 

Superbowl Sunday

    We had 0 plans for Superbowl Sunday, other than to sit on our couch and watch the game.  I decided to make some yummies for us to enjoy.  One of my favorite recipes right now is chicken "wings".  They are really just homemade chicken nuggets.  I cut up a few chicken breasts into small pieces and marinate them...mine in buffalo sauce and Ben's in barbecue sauce.  I only marinate them for a half hour or so.  Then I roll each piece in Panko and put them all together on a baking sheet.  Pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes, (sometimes longer depending on how big the pieces are). When they come out I usually put a little more buffalo sauce on top of mine and dip them in ranch for eating.  Mmmm.  Ben dips his in more barbecue sauce. Of course we had to have wings while watching football, so I made those.  

      We also had Skyline dip, (I luckily had 1 can of Skyline that moved with us...it is nowhere to be found in the South. Wah wah).  Skyline dip is super easy...soften up some cream cheese and spread it around a glass baking dish. It doesn't even have to be glass.  Then pour on some Skyline chili (that has been heated), and top it with a bag of cheese.  The best way to eat it is with Fritos Scoops.  It is truly delish. I even had Skyline dip for lunch the next day.  #sorrynotsorry

     I made Oreo cupcakes for a Super Bowl dessert.  They were awesome, although I did struggle somewhat.  I have been working on my cupcake making, (watching a LOT of Cupcake Wars, makes me wanna open a bakery!), and for Christmas I got an awesome cupcake recipe book.  I made a huge mess while making these cupcakes.  Flour for the batter went everywhere. So did the powdered sugar for the frosting.  I know you should only put a little bit of these things into the mixer at a time, but I feel like it doesn't matter how much I put in, there is going to be white powder ALL OVER my kitchen.  Luckily, the taste wasn't affected.  I also didn't have cupcake liners, which made the outside of the cupcakes a weird texture.  Oh AND I was supposed to put chopped oreos in the batter and totally forgot.  Not my best cupcakes in terms of technique, but they tasted pretty good! I have a LOT more cupcake recipes to make, so watch out for more blog posts.  :)

 I believe they were titled "Cookies and Cream" cupcakes in the book...delish!  

A whole book about cupcakes!

Dinner

    I have cooked dinner a LOT in the last month.  Almost every night.  We've ordered pizza a couple times and gone out a couple times, but mostly I cook.  I have made a lot of recipes from Pinterest, and even came up with a meal plan for a month.  That's helpful in the motivation to cook, as well as for making a grocery list. I HATE making a grocery list.  But it must be done or I will buy the entire store.  Anyways, some of things I have made this month: Crock-pot roast, roasted sausage and potatoes, pork tenderloin, crock-pot creamy chicken tacos (they were awesome btw and I don't know if I will make beef tacos again. Like ever.), and ham and hash brown casserole, (also awesome), among other things.  

   Last night I made homemade Hot Pockets.  They were great, although again, my technique wasn't so good.  It was my first time using Puff Pastry, and it didn't occur to me to thaw out the dough before I had to use it.  The recipe said to roll it out, but when I went to unfold it out of the box, the pieces snapped, because they were frozen.  Whoops.  It's alright, I made it work by microwaving what I could save, and ended up making 4 large pockets.  I put sliced deli ham and cheddar cheese inside the pockets.  I  put 1 piece of puff pastry on the bottom, layered the ham and cheese, then put another piece of puff pastry on top. Then I pressed the edges together. Next I brushed on some whisked egg, and then popped them in the oven for 20 minutes.  They were fantastic, and it was nice to have something kinda different for dinner.  I even put some slits in the top for decoration..thank you Pinterest for your awesome ideas!

I don't like how the cheese melted out of the pockets but it didn't affect the texture or taste.  Turned out just fine!

Cheesecake Fail

    I think I've mentioned how I fail at cheesecake.  I decided to try again, with a recipe from my cupcake book for cute little individual cheesecakes. They were real cheesecakes...made with ricotta cheese.  The technique wasn't difficult, other than my powdered sugar all over the kitchen problem.  I actually found more powdered sugar under the Keurig just yesterday, and I made these cheesecakes like 2 weeks ago.  Ridiculous.  I really think the only reason I failed at these was because they didn't cook long enough.  When I pulled them out of the oven they were liquid in the middle, and instead of putting them back in I thought maybe they would cool and set up. Nope, they were liquid even after sitting out for a few hours.  It wasn't a total fail though, I had a lot of batter (is the stuff that makes cheesecake considered batter?) leftover, so I made a large cheesecake and cooked it for almost an hour, and it turned out great.  Too bad I couldn't eat it, because it had orange extract in it and I'm allergic to oranges and orange flavored things. Oh well. I did taste it and it tasted good, just like a real cheesecake. If I do this again I will swap out the orange for vanilla, to make it a little sweeter.  The crust was really good...graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and honey, all blended together, chilled, and pressed.  I could have eaten the crust by itself.  

Failed mini cheesecakes

Succesful large cheesecake

I have had a really good month of cooking and baking, and I'm looking forward to more kitchen adventures in the next few weeks.  Valentine's Day is a great excuse to bake, and we will hopefully have some visitors soon, who I'm sure would love to have some meals and goodies made by yours truly.  :) :)

Thanks for reading!