Monday, December 14, 2009

Puppy Chow!

No, not actual dog food, but a more awesome snack that brings me back to elementary school. I first had puppy chow when I was in Campfire. Campfire is an organization similar to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, but better! Our group leader, Jamie, would bring puppy chow to our meetings and let me just say, there were never any left overs! Although I have already over loaded myself when it comes to holiday baking and cooking, I decided that Shelby needed to have some puppy chow. I made a double batch which will be enjoyed this weekend.
The recipe is very easy. It is on the back of some of the Chex cereal boxes but I will post it here in case anyone uses the off brand (like I often do!).
Puppy Chow
Ingredients:
9 c Chex cereal
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c peanut butter (creamy)
1/4 c butter
1 t vanilla
powdered sugar
Directions:
Measure out the cereal into a large bowl and set aside.
In a microwavable glass bowl, combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter.
Microwave for 1 minute on high. Stir and microwave for 30 seconds more.
Stir in vanilla.
Pour mixture over cereal and stir until all cereal is covered.
In a plastic zip top bag pour a generous amount of powdered sugar. Add the cereal to the bag and seal.
Shake until all cereal is coated with powdered sugar.
ENJOY!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Chocolate Chip Cookies


It was a constant joke as Mark and I dated that I was only with him to get his mom's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. They were the best chocolate chip cookies I had ever had! On our wedding day Mark gave me the recipe under the pretense that I had to keep it a secret. I can make the cookies for anyone but I cannot give out the recipe. This is very difficult for me because I love sharing my experiments in the kitchen. I have had to turn down multiple people and I hate it! Here are the much coveted cookies...


I made a ton last night for Christmas...a total of 46 in all. It is going to be a good Holiday!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Christmas Cookies Part 1 of 2

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the mass amount of sweets that I am allowed to consume. There is not a better excuse out there than, "It's the holidays!". My favorite cookies will be coming in Part 2 of 2 but I tired something new and thought I would share.


Normally I am not one to try to new things. I like what I like and there is no need to change what is good. But...as I read through the many yummy recipes on Foodnetwork.com I decided that there was one that I really needed to try. They are Dried Cherry and Almond Cookies. They are delightful! It didn't make many but they are so good! It is a simple recipe that gives these results...


If you would like the recipe shoot me an email! They are a great idea for a cookies exchange because they are different but still delicious!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Trimming the Tree

It's that time of year again!

I truely love Christmas. It is the most amazing holiday for about a million reasons and I just feel it from my head to my toes. This year is a little different though. The past two years Mark and I have enjoyed getting excited about Christmas together but this year is a little different. In the past we enjoyed shopping, decorating and baking together (really Mark just likes to sample the treats that I make!) but this year Medical School is getting in the way of that. It is probably one of the hardest things that I am having to adapt to...doing Christmas by myself. I know that if Mark had the choice that he would be 100% on board with helping me out, but right now studying is more important. So, although we had origionally decided not to decorate this year for budgetary reasons, we changed our minds. We decided that keeping the Christmas spirit alive in our household was more important than saving a few bucks. I spent a few good hours yesterday picking out a tree, a tree skirt, a star and ornaments for what is Mark and I's first tree as a married couple (almost 6 months!). Here is how it came together...



For my first time putting up a tree from start to finish, I honestly have to say that it looks really good. And I love how Bacon is posing for the picture! So, although it has been rough getting into the spirit, Christmas time is officially here. Now, I just have an immense amount of cooking and baking to do and I will be all ready for December 18th which is when Mark's semester is over and we can really begin the celebration of Jesus's birth!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Lasagna

As a general trend, Mark and I have about three Italian meals a week. He is a full 1/2 Italian and I am convinced I was a large Italian lady in another life. Last night was Italian meal number two for the week (the first being Maggiano's curtesy of Mrs. Debbie Bombulie). It turned out amazing and only took me about 40 minutes to prepare from start to getting it in the oven. Although that sounds like a lot of time, for lasagna that is really good! Also, the sauce made enough for the meal and I had half the pot left over to freeze for speggetti sometime next week which is AWESOME. One of my goals, besides cooking great tasting food, is to make sure that I can really stretch my grocery budget. The fact that I took one meal and turned it into two is just great.

If anyone ever wants one of my recipes, please leave a comment with your email and I will email it to you!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Gourmet Awesomeness!

Sunday night dinner. I always try to do something a little more complex on Sundays because I have almost all day to cook (usually). This evening the goal was a pork roast, gourmet potatoes and fried zuccinni. That goal was achieved. The pork as it turns out did not need a full 60 minutes per pound so it came out a little dry. I think this can be prevented in the future once I replace my very broken meat thermometer (turns out, if you catch the chicken on fire that the thermometer is in, it breaks the thermometer). The fried zuccinni was great. I did a spin off of one of Giada De Larentis's recipes and it turned out amazing!! And last but not least, the gourmet potatoes. The recipe that I use I got from my mother-in-law. She has about a million awesome dishes she makes but this is one of my favorites. It is basically a potatoe casserole with a ton of cheese, onions, butter and sour cream (I pretend like there is no sour cream in it, but that is harder to do when I am now the one cooking it). They turned out awesome and I only wish I would have snapped a picture before Mark and I devoured them. So, all in all, Sunday night dinner was a success. The rest of the week should be quite tasty as well...

By the way, if anyone ever wants one of the recipes listed, please just let me know! I am all for sharing and teaching because that is how I am able to make these amazing things myself.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

What is worth sharing?

So, as it is quite obvious that I do not post here often, I have decided to have a different goal in mind for my blog. When I started this, I wanted to use it as a way to keep our family and friends up to date on our lives...well, since Mark has started Med School there just is not a lot going on to tell about. As a result of our rather average life, I have instead decided that I will blog on my kitchen experiments. I have really enjoyed learning to cook and I want to share that with others. So, starting from here forward, I will now write about the different successes and failures that I experience in the kitchen...let the games begin! (If you don't know, that is how they start Iron Chef on the Food Network.)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Home Sweet Home


Mark and I spent the last weekend moving into our new apartment. We are completely in love with it. The picture was taken before we moved any of our stuff in, but I will most more when we get settled in. I am so thankful for all of the people who helped us move, it was a gigantic help.

We get married in a month, yay! We are getting so excited and cannot wait to see all of our friends and family. We are so blessed and cannot wait to start our life together.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Happiness from an Envelope

Mark and I sent out our wedding invitations Monday, just 4 days ago, and already we have received 5 RSVP cards. It is truely amazing how happy I get from seeing those little white cards on the table. They are like little bursts of love from people, saying they will share our special day with us. I am so excited that I should be getting 138 more of these little envelopes of happiness.

In other news, Mark and I's plan to shoot our engagement pictures tomorrow is probably going to be rained out. Surprise, surprise, when does Houston weather ever cooperate? Oh well, I will find some other way to not waste my hair and make up trial, I mean really, if I am getting all dolled up, someone better take my picture.

I will leave today with this old saying, "April showers bring May flowers". Well, I hope they also bring June flowers :-)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

:-)

i am considering the idea of documenting things in my life, and i thought that this would be a good way to do it. we will see how long i keep up with it. :-)