A Bit of Cooking

Hello Everyone! I've been cooking and baking and so I thought I'd share some of the recipes I've tried recently with all of you. Here are some of my recent favs:

Overnight Ham & Egg Breakfast Cups

These are awesome! I made them for breakfast this morning and they turned out great (just make sure to bake them on a cookie sheet, mine spilled over a bit). They probably would not be as great for the big families out there but if you're feeding just yourself or a couple others they are perfect. I had 2 for my breakfast.

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

Oh my goodness this was so good! If you're making it for a big group you may want to double everything, as this recipe only made enough for 2. I've always had an issue with sauces thickening (I blame it on my lack of patience) but this sauce thickened up great and the flavor was excellent. I made up an Asian Fried Rice packet to go along with it.

Ranch Roasted Potatoes (use homemade Ranch Seasoning Mix)

These have become a go-to side for me. I'm a meat and potatoes kind of girl, and of course a sweets and chocolate, bread and fresh fruits/veggies, well I guess I'm a food girl :) Anyways, I love this recipe because it's quick (you can even prep it before hand, make the seasoning mix and cut up the potatoes) and it can cook while you make the rest of the meal. For the ranch mix I leave out the buttermilk and it tastes great.

Bacon, Brie and Basil Pasta

So I was given a huge wheel of brie cheese, not such a bad problem to have. I came across this recipe and love it, although your house will of course smell like bacon and onions for a week, just a warning ;)

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes (with peanut butter frosting!)

These are super sweet but really good. I love love love the frosting (I added about 1 tsp vanilla). I had a bunch of the mini peanut butter cups so instead of chopping them up and adding them to the batter I just put them in the filled cupcake holders before baking (push them down a bit). Either way would work well.

Happy baking/cooking everyone!

A Lot of Love

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

I hope you feel loved. I hope you tell someone that you love them, your significant other, your sister/brother, your mom/dad, your friend. Oh, and don't forget the man upstairs (and I'm not referring to your creepy upstairs neighbor), He loves you a lot, He kind of died for you. I think it's pretty perfect to start off Lent and have Valentine's Day immediately after. It reminds us of what true love really is. Never forget you are loved.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 14)

So it's February, not exactly sure how that happened, but I'm ok with it. There is snow all over the ground and the sun is out, so I am hoping for a beautiful weekend. Here's a quick update on me.

 

 ~~ 1 ~~

I forgot how much I missed crafting/sewing. I know that may seem odd since Christmas wasn't that long ago, but that's different, there's a deadline there (that I often miss, but it's still there). I've been on a tote bag kick lately, random I know, but they're fun and fairly quick (depending on how you do them). 

  I made this for a friend, no I am not quite that vain.

I also have piles of stuff I need to scrapbook. Maybe I'll do that this weekend.

 

~~ 2 ~~

So I had this lovely cold for about 2 weeks, bad enough to stay home from work, but thankfully I didn't have to deal with the Norovirus (which sounded awful!) and I figure it's winter, everyone is bound to get sick sometime, right? Anyways, I found an awesome comfort food that was perfect when I was home (I'd made it a few days before and had frozen the leftovers so the timing was great).

 

Cheesy Chicken and Rice

 picture from here

When I had it at first I thought it was a bit bland (not really any seasonings in the original recipe), so I add a bunch that first night. When I was sick I was glad I hadn't add the seasonings to all of it. It's good and simple. You should try it.

 

~~ 3 ~~

I've been on a red velvet kick, which is handy with Valentine's day coming up and all :) I made red velvet brownies using a cake mix and they turned out great. This recipe is good (I left out the nuts and chocolate chips and didn't frost them) if you want quick brownies and happen to have a cake mix on hand (or made your own mix). Maybe this weekend I'll make these cuties 

 

 picture from here

 

with this awesome Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting (although the original frosting sounds pretty temping as well). Sounds like a plan to me :)

~~ 4 ~~

I am currently reading The Breath of Dawn by Kristen Heitzmann (thanks Katie for the recommendation :) and it's great, although I think I may need to read parts of it during the day, I get freaked out by mental and supernatural stuff. It's a Christian romance, which means it's got a great lovely story and lots of strong Christian characters and usually a happy ending (that's what I'm banking on. I hate books and movies that don't have happy endings). I was in between books for a while, which kind of drove me crazy, but in that time I picked up Zen and the Art of Needlecraft: Exploring the Links Between Needlecraft, Spirituality, and Creativity by Sandra Detrixhe (my aunt) again and read a few more chapters. I love it because it has so may stories about my parents and other relatives, some I've heard and some that are new to me. It makes me miss family, but I love that there is a print copy of our stories.

~~ 5 ~~

Speaking of family, my younger brother was in "Dancing with the Local Stars" a fundraiser for Cornerstone in Quincy. Rumor has it they put all the dances on YouTu.be but right now here's a link to a sneak peak. Danny's at the 2:38-3:00 section.

 Picture from Table Sixteen Productions

 

~~ 6 ~~

I am so ready for the weekend, not sure what all I'm going to be doing, hopefully some baking, reading and scrapbooking, some time with friends and the boyfriend. I don't really have much planned, which means it will be wonderful :)

~~ 7 ~~

  I haven't really done any winter sporty stuff this winter season. No skiing or snowshoeing, skating or even good snowball fights or snowman/angel building. I need to rectify that in the coming week. After all, what's the point of living in Wisconsin if you're not going to enjoy the snow?

 

I hope you all had a wonderful week, enjoy the weekend! 

For more Quick Takes, head on over to Conversion Diary.