Hamburger Pizza

Alissa gave me a Hamburger Pizza recipe to test out! I was a little skeptical, but it turned out to be really yummy. Here's how you make it.

Mix: 1 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp pepper, 2/3 cup milk and 2 eggs. I was really weirded out that it was runny, but it's supposed to be that way. Put it in an 8x8 dish and brown 1/2-1 pound of hamburger. I added some more salt and pepper to the hamburger.

Add hamburger to the top of crust mixture and press.

 

Bake for 15 minutes @ 425

Pour tomato sauce over the top and add cheese. Alissa warned me not to put too much sauce on it... well come to find out I didn't put enough! Still good though :)

Bake for 5 more minutes

Taa daa!!

WAY easy and super delish! Thanks Alissa!

Silly Kitty & my new lens

Yesterday I bought a new zoom lens for all my upcoming weddings. I have more civil weddings than temple weddings this year.. which means I need a HUGE lens so I don't have to distract everyone from the ceremony by standing font and center in the isle!
Well.. I decided to test my new toy out on my cat Silly (short for Silhouette. Her tag says Silly Kitty! hehe). Typically when I try to take pictures of her with a normal lens I have to get SUPER close to get a close up. Then she tries to rub her face on my lens. Yeahh... not a good thing. With my new zoom I sat across the room and snapped pictures of her sitting there staring at me. In one of the photos my camera reflected some light on the walls.. so she quickly turned her head to watch it. Cute :)

 

Watching....

 

Waiting...

Whoa what's that?!

Bored.

Pasta Vegetables

Alllright... well it's been about a week since I've cooked anything. So I started back with something easy. Pasta Vegetables.

To make this I used 2 packages of Peas and Carrots
8 oz. bowtie pasta
1 diced red pepper
2 tbsp butter
and a tad more salt than I should have used!!

 

I boiled the pasta and the peas and carrots while heating the red pepper and butter in a skillet. Oh! And I also put the french bread in the oven and here's the outcome!...

 I was a little skeptical at first, but it turned out pretty good. Here's the instructions from the Peas and Carrots package...

 

I just noticed it said 1 tsp of salt. I never read things fully. I doubled the recipe, but dumped a couple spoon fulls of salt because I didn't even notice it already told me how much. It was still yummy though. I'm a salt person anyway.

Too Perfect For Earth

I've been feeling pretty emotional since Saturday...crying about little things like my hair and zits on my face. Monday was Kyle and Sarah's engagement shoot. I feel horrible for how I acted towards them. I wasn't feeling too well that day and snapped at them when they didn't understand how to pose like I told them to. I'm so sorry you two for how I acted. During the shoot I started getting painful cramps. I knew these were different from other small cramps I've had. They were so painful. A few hours after the shoot I started passing blood clots. I instantly cried and called Ian. He tried convincing me it was normal and that the uterus was just stretching. So I immediately calmed down, which was strange of me. Throughout the first 6 weeks of pregnancy everything freaked me out. I was worried the whole time that something wasn't right, but Monday I was so calm. The blood clots kept coming, each time bigger than the last. Tuesday was supposed to be my 8 week appointment. I was looking forward to hearing the heart beat since I was convinced there wasn't a baby inside of me from the very beginning. So I held off on calling the Dr or going to the ER. I thought if I just waited 12 more hours I can talk to my Dr about it during my appointment.
In the middle of the night I woke up due to the most painful cramps I've ever experienced. After each painful cramp I ran to the bathroom and passed a large blood clot. Finally after hours of doing this I couldn't take it any longer and cried to Ian to take me to the ER. We got there around 5 am. My eyes were bloodshot and I looked like a complete disaster. My cramps were so painful and my lower back hurt like nothing else I've ever experienced. They immediately put me on morphine and the pain disappeared. I remember giving Ian and thumbs up sometime throughout the experience because I felt so good. They did multiple tests.. blood work, urine samples, checking my uterus while pulling out giant blood clots, as well as two different ultra sounds. Meanwhile they kept giving me smaller doses of morphine that wore off almost instantly. I was once again in major pain. They tried injecting me with something else that didn't ease the pain and eventually gave me percocet. Nothing worked. During this time they informed me that I had miscarried and they would look through the ultra sound photos to see if there was a reason why it happened. Besides the pain, I felt fine and peaceful with the result. Ian and I talked and I explained to him that I knew something wasn't right from the very beginning. He knew as well by the way I was acting, but we both hoped that my feelings were wrong. Later on the Dr and nurses came in seeing what else they could do about the pain. I demanded more morphine because my back was in such pain. They never did get back to me with any reason that caused the miscarriage except it just wasn't meant to be. By the time they came back with the morphine the other pain killers had finally kicked in and they let us go home.
I went to bed right away and slept on and off from 10 am to 4ish pm. Meanwhile I chatted with my mom on the phone. When she called she expected me to be a total disaster, but I wasn't. I was so calm, explaining that I thought it was the right time when we were planning it out, but it really wasn't. I have booked so many summer weddings (a few in CA) that I just don't think my body would have been able to handle all the traveling and the stressful schedule. I believe that God knows how much we can handle.. and I wouldn't have been able to handle losing an actual baby. So I had to lose it now. My mom cried and told me that I'm so much stronger than she is, but said that only a Mother knows what's going on in her body. And I knew. I wanted to believe everyone that everything was going to be fine, but I knew.
Early this morning I woke up with more painful crams and bleeding. I was hoping the rest of this miscarriage would be pain free for me, but it wont be. They gave me so many drugs yesterday that I believe I was numb from all pain and emotion. Ian stayed home from work yesterday and it was nice to have him around. I've been sobbing since he left this morning, realizing how much I really did want this child that I lost. I thought if I got out of bed and wrote this post it would help me feel better... and it has. Today needs to be a good day. I have a wedding consultation today and need to be in a bubbly happy attitude.
Thank you to everyone who has replied to my Facebook status or sent me emails. Even though I'm not writing much back, I really do appreciate it. This is what I wrote on my Facebook status
"Lost the baby :'( Ian took me to the ER early this morning and were there nearly 5 hours. I always knew something wasn't right but was too excited not to share our news so early in the pregnancy. We're doing fine and know that it just wasn't the right time. Thank you all for your love and support. You mean the world to us!" So far I've had 44 amazing replies plus emails and text messages.  I know I'm not the only one who's experienced this, and many of you have shared with me that you too have lost a baby or two. I'm so glad to know I have so much love and support.

How very softly you tiptoed into my world. Silently only a moment you stayed, but what an imprint your footprints have left on my heart...

BE MINE

Yesterday I was reading Brandie's blog and saw she made some cute Valentine Cake Pops that she's read about on Bakerella! I thought they were so cute (and didn't have a gift idea for Ian yet) and found some other cute ideas on Bakerella's website. Here's what I made....
Cake & Cheese Cake Balls! :)

 I started out baking a cake and cheese cake... at the same time! hah I should have taken a picture of the both of them in the oven together.

After the cake cooled I crumbled it and added cream cheese frosting..

Rolled it into balls....

Went to dinner so they could settle.. then came home and dipped them in white chocolate..

As for the cheese cake... it cooled in the fridge for a few hours then I rolled it into balls as well. Typically you're supposed to dip these in chocolate as well, but I thought that'd be too much chocolate. So I rolled them in gram crackers instead and called it good!

Here's Ian's finished product!..

We invited Ian's friend Drew (who lives in ID) to come and stay with us this weekend. His fiance just recently called off the wedding so we didn't want him to be alone on Valentines Day.. which is ALSO his birthday. So I made him a plate as well... a V-day B-day plate! hah

 My cute Valentine's :)

I hope everyone has a lovely and fantastic Valentine's weekend! I know ours is on going since it's on a Sunday this year! Love you all!!

TIPS AND POINTERS - when it comes to melting chocolate DO NOT melt it on the stove! I turned my head for one second and it all caramelized! haha.. it was SO nasty and turned brown and sicko. Because of this.. I ran low on chocolate and couldn't fully dip the rest of the balls.
HEART CENTERS - those were Oreo Cakesters. I got a heart cookie cutter to shape them and rolled some of the cheese cake balls in the crumbs of the Cakesters. 

Crispy Ranch Chicken

As my brother Kyle and I were looking through cook books a few weeks ago I came across a recipe for Crispy Ranch Chicken. Since we made something else that night, I promised myself I'd cook it sometime soon. Well today was the day! I was mostly excited about this recipe because it calls for "crispy rice cereal". Here's a picture of the recipe. Click on it and it should open up to full resolution. *Sorry it gets a little blurry on the bottom*

 

And here's some step by step photos of how mine turned out!

First: Dip the chicken in egg

Second: Dip eggy chicken in mix shown on recipe.

Third: Lay on a cookie sheet.... not a glass dish like I did....

Fourth: BAKE! It says to bake for 20-25 minutes. I had to cook mine longer. I think it had something to do with the glass dish and that the chicken was squished together. It was practically swimming in chicken juice and I had to drain it out a couple of times while it was baking.

I was skeptical on how it looked...but OH MY GOODNESS... it was YUMMY :)

I really need to learn to add more color to my dinners. Everything is YELLOW! haha! My mom always said that a colorful dinner looks more appetizing. Oh well... a yellow dinner will do!

The incorrect way to make Cinnamon Rolls

As I was lying in bed this morning ... at 10 am... I was reading Brandie's blog and how she made cinnamon rolls this morning. Instantly I decided I wanted to make some. Brandie was even kind enough to leave the ingredients on her blog... so I went ahead and horribly followed her directions!

First, it starts off like so...
2 cups warm water

2 pkg. dry yeast (2T)

2 tsp. salt

2/3 cup oil

2 eggs 

2/3 cup sugar

6 c. flour

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water then mix all ingredients together.  Mix in the flour until a soft dough. Let rise until double then roll out to about 1/2 inch thick.

Mistake #1 - Don't start a task if you don't have the right tools. I DO NOT have a mixer bowl thingy. I ONLY have a hand mixer. So the dough starts climbing up my hand mixer and attacking me! Dough was flying EVERYWHERE. I found some on the stove, the wall, the cupboards AND the floor. But finally it was all blended.. although sticky.

Mistake #2 - I obviously didn't measure the flour right since it was so sticky.

Mistake #3 - My dough didn't want to rise.. maybe it had something to do with the wrong amount of flour. So I gave up on waiting.

Second you...

brush the dough with 1 cube of butter and then sprinkle with 1.5 cups of brown sugar and 3 T cinnamon (mixed together).
 

Mistake #4 - I didn't use 1 cube of butter.. I just scooped some out and melted it. 

Mistake #5 -  I didn't measure the brown sugar. I sprinkled some on and thought.. yeaaah that looks good.  Well obviously not.

Step 3...
Roll beginning at the widest end. Roll tight, slice and inch think and place about 1/2 inch apart on a cookie sheet.

 

Mistake #6 -  I couldn't roll them tight because they were sticking to the counter top!!! I even tried sprinkling flour on the counter and the dough.... didn't help. I probably didn't roll it out flat enough.

Mistake #7 -  Did it really just say place them 1/2 inch apart?? Yeah I didn't notice that until right now.

Step 4...

It makes 18-20 rolls.  Let rise again until double then bake for approx. 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I have a fear of uncooked food. So I baked it 5 mintues longer until they started turning golden.

Mistake #8 -  I clearly made more than 20 because I stopped cutting them an inch thick.

Mistake #9 -  I didn't wait for it to rise again since it didn't quite rise to double in the first place. But they sure did get HUUUUGE in the oven! Well one side was HUGE the other wasn't quite as huge...

While they were baking I noticed I didn't have any frosting... so I made some! I mixed powdered sugar, cream cheese, a little bit of milk and a touch of vanilla until it looked the right consistency and tasted yummy.

Then I put one on a plate and sliced it open with a fork..... NO brown sugar. WTF?? So I took a second one out and cut it open and once again NO brown sugar! I OBVIOUSLY didn't measure and should have used more. Now it tastes like rolls with frosting on top! hahaha

Oh well.. they're still yummy. I will have to try this again sometime........the RIGHT way.

Chicken n' Rice

Tonight I decided to make something I've made quite a few times, but never perfected. I saw the recipe on the back of a Cream Of Chicken label and went for it. Although this time around I've tweaked it a bit. We're out of white rice, but we have several packages of Rice A Roni... sooo I used that! BEST decision I've ever made. It was SO yummy. There was no need to guess how much seasoning I should put in.. or WHAT seasoning I should use. It already came with a seasoning packet!!
I put the rice in my electric frying pan, 2 cups of water, 1 can of Cream Of Chicken and sprinkles some of the seasoning on there. Then I put 4 pieces of chicken in and sprinkled the rest of the seasoning on top.

I set it at 375' and cooked it for about 40 minutes.

Added some carrots and peas... and ta daaaa! All finished :)

Best Chicken n' Rice I'VE ever made. Thank you Rice A Roni!!

Lemon Pepper Chicken

For last nights dinner Ian and I decided to make lemon pepper chicken. I know, nothing too fancy that's full of crazy ingredients! But sometimes simple is better ;) So, Ian put himself in charge of the chicken and marinated it in lemon juice for probably an hour.

I decided on bottled green beans and hash browns for the side dish. We get our green beans from Ian's parent's pantry. They're so yummy :)

His parents have also given us dried potatoes that we use for hash browns. You just put some in a bowl and add twice the amount of water and watch them grow!

Our multitasking skills....

And our beautiful finished product! :D

I would have preferred more lemon pepper and less lemon juice! Ian started cooking the chicken IN the lemon juice. It worried me a tad bit so I had him continue to empty more and more juice out and had him add more and more lemon pepper!
It sure was tangy on the tongue, but it was still tasty.