Crab Omeletes

I made crab omelets for breakfast. Too bad I couldn't eat one. :( They looked delish! Joe said they were. I used mozzarella cheese. I would have used pepper jack, but I didn't have any. Then I topped it off with hollandaise, my favorite,and a little dried parsley for garnish. They look beautiful, but I wish I would have had some asparagus to go with.

Chocolate Molten Cakes

I love my cookbook Great Food Fast. It has some really great recipes. Joe wanted me to make this one. They were so delicious, but also very rich. I could barely eat one. (They're about the size of a cupcake) Today, I tried to make some mini ones. They cookbook doesn't have cooking time for mini cakes. So, I had to guess. They were a MESS! I'll have to try again and adjust the cooking time...

Chicken with Habanero Cream Sauce

I was really scared to make this, but it was soooo good. I couldn't find jabanero peppers at the store, which is what the recipe called for. So, I used anahiem peppers instead. I think it turned out pretty well. For the rice I used some butter, cilantro, and a dash of salt.

30 Years Old!

Joe turned 30 on Sunday. To Celebrate I made him a special birthday breakfast. Then we went over to my parents for dinner followed by a movie. It was a pretty fun day. Happy Birthday Love!

Halloween Countdown

A couple of days ago, I decided that I needed to make a Countdown to Halloween. I really wanted to get it done that night. So, I just had to make due with what I had at home. Here's a little tutorial.

You'll Need:
1 12x12 sheet of solid cardstock
apx. 2 sheets of 12x12 printed cardstock
2 or more different types of ribbon (not sure how much I used, sorry)
2 bottle caps
hot glue gun
paper trimmer
stickers or number/letter cut-outs
adhesive
hole punch

Directions:
1. Cut the printed cardstock into 2x3 rectangles. You'll need 12 rectangles.

2. Punch 2 holes in the top of the 12x12 cardstock, and 2 holes in the top of each rectangle.

3. Feed a large piece of ribbon in the holes of the large cardstock. Tie knots on each side. Also, feed ribbon in the holes of the rectangles. I tied these in one knot at the top.

4. Glue numbers 0-9 (plus an additional 1 and 2 for 22 days and 11 days) to each rectangle, and decarate your large cardstock with letters and stickers.

5. Place the rectangles where you would like them to lay on the finished calender. Hot glue the bottle caps in the appropriate place to hang the numbers from.

6. Hang on a door, and enjoy!

Vietnamese Steak Sandwhichs

This is one of my favorite recipes from "Great Food Fast" it's a Martha Stewart Cookbook. These sandwhiches always hit the spot.

Baby Dylan

Jessica and Jeremy are having their first boy next month. I made Jess some booties for her baby shower, along with matching card and box. I love the way the orange and blue look together!

Baby Shower!

Danielle's baby shower finally came around. It was lots of fun, and she got tons of cute stuff. My gift is still on the way... To decorate for the shower, I used some of the paper scraps I had left over from the invitations to make a one of those chains we used to make in elementary school! I also made a little flag banner with some other paper by cutting triangles, and stringing them across a piece of yarn.




For dessert I made baby cupcakes from the book "Hello Cupcake" I love the little safety pins! For the favors my sister made cinnamon rolls. I put them in a cellophane bag and tied ribbon around with a strip of paper that said "Thanks for coming for Danielle and her Bun in the oven" I got the Idea from babyshower101.com

Tortilla Chips

Wow! I haven't updated in a long time. These are some yummy tortilla chips I made a while ago. I decided I better use up the tortillas before they went bad. I just cut them into triangles, fried them in oil, and salted them while they were cooling. They were a yummy snack!

Napping On the Deck

Yesterday Joe and I took a nap out on the deck while it was raining. It was so nice. We both love the rain.

Stir Fry Lettuce Wraps

This is a super simple recipe that I made for dinner last night. I just cooked some sliced chicken breast in olive oil. Then cooked some red pepper and onion, added about a cup of "Szechuan Spicy" stir fry sauce along with the cooked chicken and some sesame oil. Then, served with chow mien noodles on some butter lettuce. It's really yummy, but the sauce is very spicy! (I served them in these beautiful bowls we got as a wedding gift)

Stuffed Meatballs

The other night I made spaghetti and meatballs. I decided to stuff them with some cheese. Yummy! Cheese makes everything taste better.

Coconut Cupcakes

I made these with my assistant, who also happens to be my husband, today. They're not bad, but definately not "coconut-y" enough. I think I'll put more coconut milk in next time. They sure do look cute though!

I Love Stuffing

Dinner last night. My first time making stuffing all on my own. Delicious!

Baby Shower Cards Tutorial

I made these for my friend Danielle's baby shower which is in September. They're super easy to make, and look super cute!

You'll need:
-Coordinating Cardstocks (I used Nana's Nursery )
-Cream or White Cardstock
-Adhesive
-Pink Ink (I used A La Mode )
-Paper Cutter
-Baby Feet Stamp (Or other cute stamp)
-Letter Stamps
-Vellum Envelopes (optional)

Step 1 Cut: Cut one piece of cardstock into a 5x5 in square. Cut coordinating cardstock into a 5.5x11 in rectangle. Cut White/Cream cardstock into 2x2 in square.

Step 2: Fold the rectangular piece of cardstock in half. Stamp baby feet or other stamp on 2x2 square and glue to center of 5x5 in square. Then, glue 5x5 in square onto the folded piece of cardstock.

Step 3: Next, stamp either "It's a girl!" or "It's a boy!" on the front of your card. For a finishing touch stamp the baby feet on the front of the envelope!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

So, I wanted to make peanut butter and jelly cupcakes, and this is what I came up with. They look pretty cute, but I don't think you get the full effect of a PB&J sandwich. Next time, I think I'll make a jam filling instead of making a jam frosting.

Key Lime Cupcakes

Before my sister asked me to make the sushi cake, I was already planning on making her some key lime cupcakes for her birthday. I found the recipe in a cookbook I have called "500 Cupcakes" It sounded so yummy I decided to make them as well.

They were the first cupcakes where I made the batter from scratch. The consistency of the batter was more like cookie dough. It tasted really good though. Which probably had a lot to do with the fact that there was a whole cup of butter in there.

One thing I did change about the recipe is the frosting. The recipe called for a meringue. I made a lime cream cheese frosting instead. I think that was a good decision because the cupcakes themselves weren't very sweet, and a meringue wouldn't have added much sweetness at all.

Sushi Cake

My little sister turns 20 on Tuesday! Today she asked me if I'd make her a sushi cake. Great idea! Only, I wish she would have asked me sooner so I could have experimented a little more to make it better. (It's for her birthday dinner tomorrow at my mom's house) Anyway this is how it turned out. Not bad, but could have been MUCH better. I was planning on making a tutorial as soon as she asked me, but I think I'll wait until I perfect the technique to post one.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today was my day off. So, I cleaned and baked. I love having a clean house with the aroma of freshed baked cookies in the air!

Dinner Tonight

I made Chicken Florentine, fried redskin potatoes, and lemon asparagus. Yummm.

Elmo & Cookie Monster Cupcakes

My sister-in-law asked me to make some cupcakes for the son of a friend of hers. She wanted Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes for his first birthday. When she told me, I was nervous and excited. Usually I just copy ideas from two cupcake books I have, but this time I had to come up with the idea on my own. I looked on line a bit at other peoples creations, and mixed their ideas with ideas of my own, and this is what I came up with!

Step 1: Prepare all of the embellishments. Use orange jelly beans for Elmo's nose. Remove the cream from Oreo cookies, and split them in half for the mouths. The hard part is the eyes! Lay out a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet. Then, melt some white chocolate and spread it on the wax paper, with a spoon, in a small circle. (about the size of a quarter) Place the circles in the freezer for a few minutes to harden. After the white chocolate circles are ready, melt some semi sweet chocolate chips. Use a toothpick to spread the chocolate on the flat side of the white chocolate circles in a small circle for the pupils. (Spread the chocolate in the center for Elmo's eyes and off to the side for Cookie Monster to give him that crazy look)

Step 2: Dye your frosting using food coloring. *Note: I only had regular food coloring which is why my Elmo looks more pink than red. I think a more expensive gel food coloring would produce a more red frosting.

Step 3: Put your frosting in a piping bag with a star tip to give the cupcakes a "fuzzy" appearance. Cover half the cupcakes with red, and half with blue.

Step 4: Assemble your cupcakes so they look like Elmo and Cookie and your done!

Bubbles!!!

We got bubbles as wedding favors at Jenny and Zane's wedding, and Joe came up with the brilliant idea to blow them in front of the cats. As I would have expected from how different Luke and Leia's personalities are, they reacted to them quite differently.

Leia absolutely loved them. She was standing on her back paws to pop them. Luke, on the other hand, ran away in fear whenever they would pop on them. Love my babies.

August Birthdays

Yesterday Joe and I went over to my parents house for a celebration for all the family with birthdays in August. It was lots of fun. My mom made chile verde for dinner so we brought a layered bean dip. It turned out pretty good. I should have taken a picture of it...not sure why I didn't.

Alaina made a delicious cake with cream cheese frosting and raspberry filling. I helped her arrange the raspberries on top. It looks beautiful, and tasted even better!

Here are some pics of the family, and Alaina's cake. Happy Birthday Christopher, Jennie, Alaina, and Leslie! Love you all!

My Quilt

So,it has been almost two years since I started working on this quilt, and I'm finally making some progress on it! I just need to set a goal for how many blocks to do a day.

After I finish all of the squares, I need to decide how I want the border for the rest of the front to look. Then comes the hard part... I want to hand quilt smaller squares inside of each block... It's going to take FOREVER!!!

Duck Cupcakes

These are the super cute cupcakes I made for Jenny's last day at work before she leaves me to move to Colorado. :( I followed directions from "What's New Cupcake" I put them in my carrying case to take to work, but the lid was a little too low so it took off some of the frosting on the tops of their heads. Joe said I scalped them... not on purpose though!

A word of advice, don't make these too far in advance! I made them the night before, and when I took them out of the fridge the next morning. The beaks were melting and falling off, and the eyes were dripping down their faces. Something with this much detail definately needs to be made right before they are to be served.