America!! F*** Yeah!

I realize its a little late, but I wanted to share some pictures from Memorial Day weekend with everyone.  It was a bajillion degrees in the shade (as per usual in Ohio on Memorial Day weekend) and then dropped back to the 60′s the rest of the week.  Typical.

But it was great, because we got to be outside all weekend.  I got a little sunburnt, which is always my first sign of summer.

So anywho, we spent Memorial Day weekend with family….everywhere.  Every year we go to the parade in the Falls with Chris’ family .  This year was extra special because our close family friend, a Marine who just arrived back from Afganistan last month, got to walk in the parade in his dress blues.  I cried.  It was just so strange seeing this kid that I remember being 3 years old, playing war with my brother and here he was now, all grown up and mature.  I was just overcome with emotion.  Which is strange for me, because I’m normally heartless.  Not.  Let’s be real, I cry in Wal*Mart commericials.

So, I’ve compiled some pictures that describe our weekend.  Have fun!

Where To Start??

Oh geez, I have been a neglectful little blogger lately.  I have about 6 (ok, maybe 3) things to write about, so I really don’t know where to start.  Should I got with DIY Workout Shirts??  Orrrr Breakfast Casserole??  Or just the beautifulness of summer so far??

Ok, made a decision: Work out shirts.

My wolfpack has been wanting to make these since they graced (all four) of our pinterest boards.  Well, you know what happens on Wednesdays….we go for a hike, eat, and never do any of the other things we say we are going to do.

Ok, typically we just eat.

Well, finally my favorite married lady (besides myself) and I decided we were going to do it, gosh darnit!!! So, last wednesday, we hit up the Village Thrift (not nearly as good as Goodwill, by the way) and got a bunch of shirts.  We pretty much chose the brightest and funniest shirts we could find.  Then, after getting ice cream *ahem*, we went home and got to work.

The first ones ended up kind of janky, but after we got the hang of it, we flew through them!!  SUPER easy.  So gather up your old tee shirts that multiply like rabbits for some reason and get to work!

Heres what ya do:

1.  Cut the neck and bottom hemline off of chosen shirt.  Also cut sleeves off.  Base it off your preference of strap width and how low under your armpit you want it to go. Mine *might* say “When you’re a player, luck has nothing to do with it”.  Might.

2. Cut neck into scoop shape.  Again, go off of your own preference on how much skin you wanna show

3.  Flip the shirt over and cut into deep racer back shape.  This is where we kind of got hung up, but just look at one of your racer back tanks and snip away.  Then cut a deep V shape straight down the back.

4.  Take the bottom hem that you cut off, snip it so it’s one long strand, and stretch it out a bit.  Tie one end a little bit above the bottom of the V and start wrapping around the two straps tightly.  You should be able to go up and back down.  Tie the ends together.

Ta-da!!!  Thats it! You’re done!!!  They are super comfy and we think they are even a little bit flattering!  I did 5 for $4.50!!  They probably wouldn’t hold up through the wash but, who cares? Simply, cheap, and easy!!

 

And heres a little before and after Instagram goodness

Paula Deen Would Have Been Proud…

So, Mother’s Day was this past Sunday.  See, here’s a picture of my mom and I in 1991 and 2012:

This was the first Mother’s Day without my grandma, and it was pretty rough.  Things have been weird without her, so I try to bring her into everything I do.  And believe you me, she would have been thrilled with the cake I made.  My aunt and I decided to throw a brunch for my mom and my Aunt Eva, because who doesn’t love brunch?!  Ok, so really, I was the sole deciding factor on throwing a brunch.  And I only had one reason.  A cake.

Here is a picture of all my ingredients.  For only one cakes.  Please note the marshmallow cream and SIX STICKS OF BUTTER for the frosting. Whoa, sorry.  More on that later.

So, to back track, when my Better Homes & Gardens magazine came in the mail last month, it had the most beautiful cake I had ever seen on the cover.  It was a pink lemonade cake and it was pretty and pink and lemony, and I knew I wanted to make it before even looking at the recipe.  In retrospect, I wish I had looked at the recipe first…but more on that later.  Mother’s Day was quickly approaching and I told BOTH my mom and mother-in-law that I would bring this stupid cake.

Luckily, they turned out real pretty

So onto, the recipe.  Let me just put it this way: no one should have eaten this cake.  Not even Kate Moss.  This dang thing had 3 sticks of butter just in the cake.  And another SIX STICKS OF BUTTER in the frosting…along with 32 ounces of marshmallow cream!!!  WFT?!  Apparently, this is pretty normal for a cake from scratch (or skreezies, as I like to say) but I was still appalled…and a little grossed out.

The biggest take away I got from mixing up the cakes was this: when the recipe says to alternate adding dry and wet mixture to creamed mixture…do it.  I did one cake the correct way, and one cake the incorrect way and we can all assume what happened.

Since this post is kinda-sorta about mom’s, I’d like to share a cooking tip that my mom…and grandma…and aunt…and other aunt, shared with me.  Maybe you guys already know this but whatev!  Here is it: the key to getting a “correctly measured” cup of flour is to first, spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then second, level off the extra with a knife.

 

You can find the entire recipe here: http://www.bhg.com/recipes/from-better-homes-and-gardens/may-2012-recipes/

But I’m pretty sure that I can say: NAILED IT!!!

Cookin’ for the Weekend!

Hello all!  Been awhile since my last post, I know, I suck.

I got to take Friday off work because I was spending the day/night with three of my favorite children while their parents were in Niagara Falls.  We were going to go to the zoo, but it is still winter hours (lame) and we weren’t going to have enough time.  So, instead we went to the Nature Realm.  LOVE that place!!  But seriously, aren’t they just the cutest??

Chris and I (alright, just me, he got to sleep still) got a small dose of parenthood Saturday morning when the baby got up at 5:45!  It wasn’t too bad though, I felt like yesterday was the longest day ever! Totally great for a weekend day, not so much for a week day.  By the time we got home, the weather had turned for the worse and was cold and bleary (thats a mix of bleak and dreary).  It was the perfect day to cook and do some things for myself.

I had a couple ideas in mind, ala Pinterest.  There was a new recipe I wanted to try, Crock Pot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches, and a couple beauty tips.  I also made a bunch of tried and true favorites, as well.

But first!  The sandwiches!  They.  Were.  Phenomenal.  I really love Chicken Caesar anything, so I shouldn’t be surprised.  It all started one day when my mom made me a chopped caesar salad.  I was 23 and it was the first time I can really say I enjoyed salad.  I realize I’m being dramatic, but c’mon, it’s me.  Anyway, these sandwiches were so dang easy!

First, you have to put some water in your crockpot with your chicken breasts and cook on low for 4 hours.  Mine were part-way frozen, so mine cooked for about 5.5 hours.  Then drain the water out and shred the chicken and return to the pot.

Next, mix in one cup of your favorite caesar dressing (I use parmesan garlic caesar from Aldi’s), 1/2 cup shredded parmesan, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.  Let that cook for another thirty minutes.

 

Spoon onto buns and top with a nice, crisp piece of romaine lettuce…and a little extra parm, if you want!  Ignore those black-ish bananas in the above pick…they are soon to become banana bread.

When I was at the grocery store, earlier in the day, they had corn on the cob on sale.  It’s a little early for corn still, but I love it so much, I just couldn’t wait!  It turned out to be pretty good.  Not the best, but definitely not the worst!  It was a most delicious dinner!

While my chicken was cooking yesterday, I also made a homemade pizza for lunch, heavy on the garlic and a chocolate peanut butter pie to take to my in-laws for dinner tonight.  Can’t share that recipe though, Ellison family secret  THEN, last night/this morning I made a french toast casserole. Good grief, it was a lot o’ cooking!

But I have to say, the highlight of my day today, was painting my nails…..because I made them look like cheetah print!!!!

Hope y’all had a marvelous weekend!  Enjoy your week!!

 

 

 

Incredibleness

Is that even a word? Stupid question, I know its not.  I am a Comm major after all.

But, for real, what I made tonight was incredible!  Yanno how sometimes, you see a picture of something and you’re like “Oh yeah, I could do that” and then you fail miserably?  It’s OK, we’ve all done it sometimes.  That is the reason you aren’t going to see my bride and groom cakepops.  Let’s just say they might as well have been called mummy and groom cakepops.

So, tonight I made….pineapple flowers.  Fancy, right?!?! I saw them on Pinterest (suprised?) and I knew I wanted to make them to adorn the tops of cupcakes.  Here is the picture I found on Pinterest:

Just so happens, that I had a pineapple laying around, so I got to work.  First you have to peel your pineapple and take all the little pit things out.  Next, cut your pineapple, suuuuuper thin and lay onto wax paper.  Place them in an oven heated to 220 and bake away.

Mine weren’t slice as thin as they should have been but they still ended up great.  Bake 30 minutes on one side and then flip.  Keep cooking for 30 minute intervals until the slices are pretty dried out.  You’ll be able to tell.  It took mine about 2 hours.

After they are dried to your liking, take them out of the oven and immediately press them into muffin tins to shape into flowers.

Its best to make these a day in advance because after you put them in the muffin pan, they still have a lot of drying to do.  I let mine sit all day in my car while I was at work and they dried out fantastically.  After I was satisfied with the dryness and was confident that they were going to hold their shape, I placed them onto my cupcakes.  I used Pina Colada cupcakes, so the pineapple was fitting.

Ta da!! My final product!  Despite my  ”artsy” shot, I think they look pretty comparable to the original!!  I hope their a hit!!

 

Toasted Schmoasted

I just love Sunday’s.  Favorite day of the week, by far.  I usually make a point to not make any plans except to just relax with Christopher.

Today, however, has been another story.  Chris woke me up at 6am, complaining of a stiff neck.  Now, this boy never complains.  Ever.  So the fact that he woke me up, freaked me out.  Within 15 minutes, I had him practically dead in the ground.  Over exaggerate much?? Maybe.

While he was sleeping it off, I got an urge for some toasted ravioli.  Not an easy thing to come by, especially if you don’t want them fried and you don’t have a desire to leave your house.  But I did have some frozen ravioli and some breadcrumbs. Bingo.

I figured I should probably thaw my ravioli first and heated my oven to 400 degrees.  Next, I mixed 1/2 cup of seasoned bread crumbs with 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and scrambled an egg.

Then, I dipped each ravioli with the egg and then coated them in the breadcrumbs.  Most importantly, I sprayed each one with Pam before baking.

I baked the whole pan for 15 minutes and honestly, they probably could’ve used a couple more minutes.  Oh well, they were still deeeeeeelicious! Crispy and crunchy and cheesy. Conveniently, Chris just happened to wake up as soon as they were out of the oven.

Make them immediately!!

Stinson the Spider Killer

I told you all that you would be seeing a lot of my kitten!  Well here she is with her video debut!!

A little background on the video:  As I was waiting for Chris to get home from work, I noticed Stinson acting super weird.  She was hunting a spider!  I managed to get it on tape, and her reaction was pretty incredible.  You’ll have to click on the YouTube link below the picture since I can’t embed videos yet.

Share with your friends! I uploaded to Ellen!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWrTOuHBscM&feature=g-upl&context=G290bb61AUAAAAAAAAAA

My Most Favorite Dish Ever Is…

FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE!!!!!  Oh my gosh, I love this so much that I could literally eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for an entire week.  I really don’t know where my mom got this recipe, all I know is that it started showing up on our breakfast table about 7 years ago and, until that point, was the best day of my life.

I don’t even have an exact recipe, mainly because my mom doesn’t like to follow rules and recipes and pretty much does what she wants.  Anytime I ask for a recipe (and this goes for all of the women in my family) I get a “well, I just kind of wing it, I don’t have exact measurements”.  That doesn’t work to well with my brain.  I need a recipe to follow.

A lot of people have different variations for this recipe, like including cream cheese or something crazy like that.  Not mine.  This one is the perfect blend of cinnamon, sugar, and syrup and I’m drooling at the thought of getting to eat it in the morning!!

The best part about this recipe is the amount of effort involved, which is virtually none.  You have to prepare it the night before and then cook it in the morning.  I normally will get up, turn the oven on and go back to bed.  Get up, put the casserole in, and go back to bed.  I pretty much get, like, another hour of sleep in and I have a tasty and delicious breakfast for when I wake up!

Here is all you need.  Ready? Ready for this?? Bread, sugar, cinnamon, eggs, milk.  Boom.  Done.

Alright, I guess you’ll need some more details.

• 1 loaf bread (i use italian bread that is slightly stale.  Not like moldy, just a little hard on the outside)
• 8-10 eggs
• 4-5 cups of milk
• 1/2 c sugar
• 2 heaping tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla.

Spray a 13×9 glass dish and set aside.  Tear bread into chunks,about 1 inch.  No need to be exact here, just tear it up.  Place bread into dish.

Wisk together all remaining ingredients and pour over bread.  Using a spatula or other flat-ish object, smoosh the bread down in an effort to get every piece saturated with the milk mixture.  Dot with butter.  When my mom told me to do that the first time I made this, I was like “Whaaaaa?”  I just pictured butter in, like, a bingo daubber.  Just refer to the picture below for “dotting” butter.

Now, cover that bad boy up with aluminum foil and pop it in the fridge overnight.  When you are ready to cook the casserole in the morning, heat the oven up to 350 degrees.

*I now interrupt this blog post for an important message, while the oven is heating up, take the casserole out of the fridge to allow the dish to come to room temp.  This is super important, as it could cause a huge mess if you don’t do it.  Let me take you back to some 9th grade physical science:  If you put a ice cold glass dish immediately into a 350 degree oven, the glass will change temperatures too quickly and crack.  Into multiple pieces and your mom will get all mad at you because you’ve ruined one of her good dishes, blah blah blah.  That might have happened to me a few years ago*  Alright, go about your business.

Bake the casserole with the foil on for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 25 minutes.  When you bring it out of the oven with will look delicious and cinnamon-y.  Like below!

Top with syrup and enjoy!!!  This will become a favorite of yours!!

 

Weekly Wednesday Women’s Workout….& Food.

Wednesday are probably my favorite day of the week for a few reasons.  First, it means I’m halfway through the work week and that much closer to the weekend.  Second, it is the one day of the week that, without fail, my wolf pack gets together  Well, at least part of my wolf pack…the part that can go for a mile long hike and talk about nothing but surviving in the Hunger Games arena…

On Wednesdays, we like to get together and do some type of physical activity and then we eat…normally lots.  So yesterday, considering it was 65 DEGREES, we decided to go for a hike in Virginia Kendall.  It was great to get outside, breathe the fresh air, and get our blood pumping.

After our hike came the good part.  I had made Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner, and it had been cooking all. day. long.  I had started the night before by chopping and assembling all of the ingredients.

Yes, the picture is missing the chicken, but c’mon, chicken is just kind of ugly and it was throwing off my mojo.  The soup was SO simple! All you do is throw all the ingredients (minus the noodles) in the crock pot and cook it on low for 8 hours.

After it was done, you take out the chicken and shred it up, throw it back in the broth, pour the noodles in and cook for another 20 minutes.  That’s it.  Enjoy the best soup you’ve ever ate!

 

I got the recipe, obviously, from Pinterest, and I pass it on to you, below!

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced

2 stalks of celery, sliced

1 medium onion, diced

1/2 T thyme

2 bay leaves

8 cups reduced sodium broth

3 large chicken breasts

3 cups of egg noodles.

Put all ingredients in the crockpot, minus the noodles, and cook on low for 8 hours.  Remove and shred chicken and return to broth along with noodles.  Cook for an additional 20 minutes.  Yum!!

Lasagna Roll-ups :-)

I love anything that can be “rolled up”.  Pepperoni rolls, pigs in a blanket, those pancakes you got in elementary school that were rolled around sausage, if its in a roll form, I’ll take it.

Fresh off the heels of my Chicken and Spinach Manicotti (no post for that, because I hadn’t had the blog epiphany yet), I decided to use my left over filling and try my hand at lasagna roll-ups.  I had seen them on Pinterest before, but filling manicotti tubes had left a bad taste in my mouth and I wasn’t sure how I felt about pasta that took so much work.  I only had about 15 minutes before Chelsea arrived, and turns out, that was all the time I needed!!

How to Make a Lasagna Roll-up:

First, boil your noodles (I boiled mine an extra two minutes then the “al dente” recommendation.  Does anyone seriously like their pasta al dente??)

While your noodles are boiling, heat your oven to 375 and spread some sauce into the bottom of your pan.  I didn’t have any red sauce so I used low-fat alfredo.

After the noodles are done, you need to drain, rinse and dry them.  It seems silly but, drying the noodles makes them much easier to handle.  I just laid mine on a paper towel, and blotted them with another paper towel.

Working one by one, spread filling  of your choice over the length of the noodle.  I used a mixture of chicken, spinach, ricotta, and cream cheese.  Oh, and about 5 cloves of garlic.  *insert sing song Kristin voice here* Don’t go all the way to the end of the noodle, or you’ll end up with some spillage.  Starting from one end, roll the noodle up tightly.

Place each roll-up, seam down, into the pan and pour remaining sauce over.  Cover with foil.  Now, if you are going to cook your roll-ups at a later time, you can put them in the fridge at this point.  In my case, my favorite RN came over to go shopping with me, so my roll-ups had to wait.

If you are going to cook them right away, pop them in the over with the foil on and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and spread mozzarella cheese over top and bake an additional 5 minutes.

If you can stand it, let them cool for about 5 minutes before digging in.  Seriously, these are delicious and I will be adding them to my Nini’s recipe box…..which you gotta be pretty special to end of there.

I hope you all will try this!  Happy Tuesday! Tomorrow is my favorite day of the week!  I get to see my favorite girls, eat delicious food and get my butt kicked in Strength class.  The menu for tomorrow night is crock-pot chicken noodle soup and fancy-shmancy grilled cheeses!