Nothin’ matters but the weekend…

Going here:

With her:

Staying here:

Shopping here:

Can’t wait!

P.S. I went to bed at 9:30 last night. Loved it.

P.P.S. I bought self tanner.

Thai Love.

We went to dinner with Dustin and Kaley last weekend and it was really fun and realllllly good! Dustin’s dad is the king of food so he recommended this place called Sawadee Thai. He asked a Thai guy at Sam’s Club and he told him here! Haha, I love it. The place was really cool and we got there right before a huge rush which was nice. It was really crowded and noisy, but I liked it a lot and the food was delish! Dustin ordered for us and he did great. The prices were also really reasonable for the amount of food we got. We went back to their place after dinner and watched the Olympics, discussed LOST, reminisced on high school days, and ate pizzookie! YUM!

P.S. Have I mentioned that I love food? Luckily Dan does too so it works out. :)

Yummy food!

I really like to cook and bake and obviously EAT. I love having a sweet big kitchen to cook in and I also love not being in school so I have a little more time on my hands! Yay!

Anyway, kevinandamanda.com has a great recipe section with some awesome foods. I recently made this grilled chicken pasta in a tomato cream sauce and it was DELICIOUS! I loved it and I will definitely make it again. You can see how she made it here.

I have always wondered why cooks pound chicken to make it flat, but I realized why when I made this. It’s to make the chicken cook faster on the stove! It cooks much faster when it’s thin, so I would recommend pounding your chicken like Amanda says if you want to save some time :).

I also made some home made granola this weekend and it was amazing! We love it and it’s a great healthy snack. I will definitely be making it in bulk so we can have it to snack on and to eat with yogurt. Here is the recipe I used:

3 ¼ cups Oats (Old Fashioned or Quick—any combination)
1 ¼ cup white wheat flour-freshly ground if possible
¼ cup flax seed (optional)
1 cup or more coarsely chopped almonds and/or pecans
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/3 cup water
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 300. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, flax seed, coconut and nuts. Set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine brown sugar, butter, and water and heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is bubbly. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture together until smooth, and then stir in the salt, vanilla and spices. Pour mixture over the oats mixture and stir well to coat. Let stand for about 10 minutes. Spread mixture on a large baking sheet, separating it into irregular clumps with your fingers, and allowing space between clumps for the hot air to circulate. Slide it into the middle of the oven and bake until the top is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir to break up the mixture into medium sized clumps. Return to the oven and bake again for 15 minutes before stirring again. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the granola is uniform golden brown and completely dry—this usually takes me about 45 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack; store in an air tight container.

Here are a few other recipes I make a lot and absolutely LOVE:

Skillet Baked Ziti (recipe is here):

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas (recipe is here):

Homemade Mac & Cheese (recipe is here):

I love to bake and make treats and I will try any treat (as long as it doesn’t take all day to make!) I just love being in the kitchen and cooking up something yummy to eat. It’s such a great feeling and I never thought I would be the girl to enjoy cooking and baking.

When I studied abroad in the Netherlands, I really started cooking a lot because no one ate out there and there weren’t a lot of options. Plus I didn’t want to spend money! All the other international exchange students that I lived with whipped up these amazing meals every night. So I started finding new recipes and trying new things and by the time I came home, I was a bit of a food snob. I didn’t (and still don’t) like cheap fast food or hamburgers (gasp). I always had fresh bread, fruits and vegetables from the market and I loved it! When I got home and moved back to school, I started cooking a lot more. It was always simple but I was really in the habit of eating an “official” dinner almost every night. I like having a main course and veggie or fruit if I can. So since we’ve been married, I’ve really cooked a lot and I love it. It saves a lot of money (we still love to eat out!), and it’s delish!

I have a lot of recipes I still want to try including:

Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken (can you say fattening?)

Garlic Chicken Farfalle

Do you guys have any great recipes that you love and make a lot? Please share!! Post on your blog and let me know if you do…

Gimp Love

If you don’t know, Gimp is the free version of Photoshop and I love it! I have very little experience ever using Photoshop, but I use Gimp a ton and it’s great. I had some fun whitening teeth and brightening eyes of pictures I have taken.

In this pic, I whitened Hilary’s teeth. Much nicer right?

                     In this picture, I brightened my nephew’s eyes. It’s a subtle difference, but I think it looks cool.                      In this pic of myself, I brightened my eyes and whitened my teeth. Pretty cool!                        If anyone is interested in how I did this, let me know and I will post the links to the tutorials I referred to.

Obsession.

Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to get a bit obsessed with things. I kind of go through phases but I don’t think it’s really a bad thing. I get focused on one or a few things for awhile then eventually I move on and I may or may not keep doing that thing. For example:

-Making beaded watch bands
-Digital scrapbooking
-Cooking
-Crafts
-Home decor

I love all these things and I still do them, but for awhile, I really focus on one of them and become a bit obsessed. Anyway, my latest obsession is………

Food Storage!

Okay so I know that I’m a weirdo, but whatever. I just started thinking about food storage, and of course I go and google the crap out of it and find out everything I possibly can in a small amount of time, then I make tons of lists and plans and before I know it, I’m obsessed.

But really. In all seriousness, I think food storage is a good obsession to have. I think it came into my mind for a reason. Because it’s important.

"The best storehouse is the family storeroom..."Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing" (Doctrine and Covenants 109:8). ~President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008)

So I have found some fabulous sites that are very helpful and I’m just starting slow but I’m really excited about it. The sites I have been referring to a lot are:

http://preparedldsfamily.blogspot.com/

http://providentliving.org

I have always been one to look at all the grocery ads each week and write down prices then price match stuff at Walmart :). So it’s not a big deal to keep an eye out for deals in bulk. I’m also making sure I’m only going to buy food we will eat. That way, I can rotate it through and actually use the food so it doesn’t go bad. I will probably get some things we won’t eat but will last 30 years for long term storage and we can just keep that back in the pantry.

We have an unfinished basement and like a lot of homes, we have a perfect food storage area under the porch. My mom is demonstrating it beautifully here. It’s nice because it is a long hallway and it also turns 90 degrees and is an L-shape. So we’re going to get some shelves and set up shop in here for now.In case anyone else is interested in getting started, here is what I have done so far. Using her amazing Case Lot Sale Price Comparison (here), I made a list of the items we will eat, along with the prices and stores that she listed with the lowest prices. That way, when I do buy something, I can refer to my list to see if what I’m about to buy is actually a good deal or if I should wait for a better price (from her list). Here is a part of my spreadsheet so far. For now I’m just going to focus on getting a good 72 hour kit for Dan and I and then start working on a 3 month supply of food. The church has started focusing on 3 month instead of 1 year because 1 year is really overwhelming for people. I made my own 72 hour checklist based on a few I found online and through the church. Here is a picture of it. If anyone wants a copy of some of the lists and stuff that I have, just let me know and I’ll send it. Also, leave me a comment and let me know your feedback on food storage. What works for you, what doesn’t, how you got started (if you have), and how you stay on top of it. Maybe I’m weird, but I get a strange excitement about buying food in bulk! I’ll probably update a few times on the status of my food storage obsession as it progresses. Stay tuned…

Song of the day (or week or month…)

Dan and I have religiously watched American Idol since David Archuleta was on and we love it. It's our guilty pleasure....don't hate.

Anyway, Didi Benami sang this song and I LOVE it! Kara Dioguardi (one of the judges) wrote Terrified and Didi sang it and it was awesome. So I found Kara singing it with Jason Reeves and I also love it! Check it out!

Kara and Jason:

Didi Benami (American Idol tryouts). She ended up making the top 24! Sweet!

A New Look

I have had long hair for EVER! I cut a lot off my jr. year of high school, but grew it right out again. I have always loved it long but I started to get really sick of it so I decided to chop it off!                  This is my long hair in October or so when we got family pictures.                          So around Christmas I cut off a lot of it but kept it a little long just in case I didn’t want it shorter. I really liked it for a few weeks, but then it just started to bug me a lot. I was ALWAYS pulling it up and it was the length that would always get caught in my collar and stuff.                                    So I finally decided to cut even more off! I chopped the rest of it today and I really like it! I haven’t had my hair this short since I was a little girl so it’s really weird for me. I can’t believe I can’t pull it in a ponytail and it’s so weird to not feel hair on my neck!                                           I really love it and it’s nice to change things up a little bit. It’s definitely different for me, but it’s just hair and if I don’t like it, I can grow it out! But for now I’m excited about my new look!