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!!!