Movin' On

Finally I have gotten everything up to date enough that I can actually write about our life and how much it has changed in the last month.  

The FIRST big and exciting change was GRADUATION!

       

Even though Simon walked in May, he still officially graduated too and I didn't want his day to get over looked just because he wasn't wearing the outfit!  So the left is his graduation picture too.

I don't think it has quite hit us, or at least me, that we are truly DONE with school.  In years past, the christmas vacation has been about this long- from the time we left school until now.  So it hasn't been such a long time since being on campus that it seems real yet.  This last week I have had talked to several of my friends who are in the back to school moving-in process and it is beginning to sink in a little harder now.  Because our days are mainly filled with... whatever we want to fill them with and now serious commitments whatsoever, I am getting a little stir crazy.  I am very much an active person.  I can spend about 2 days tops sitting around and relaxing and then I am ready to jump back into the hustle and bustle of life.  Now, because we are still both jobless and have no money to really get out and do anything, hustle and bustle is about the furthers thing away from the reality of our days.  But maybe it is good for us to take a breather.  I find I put too much on my plate sometimes and forget how important it is to just stop and breath.  That is one of the many things Simon has given me through our differences: the appreciation for not planning anything and just enjoying a day of relaxation.

The SECOND big change, WE MOVED out of our apartment.

Because we were still busy with finals and spending graduation time with my family, packing couldn't be our first priority.  So when it got down to crunch time we were packing like crazy.  Our deadline to move out was tuesday at 1:00 so on sunday night, we started really packing.  My parents were coming Monday morning to help us move some of the bigger furniture pieces into a storage unit.

 Our situation is kind of unusual because even though we are moving out, we aren't really moving in anywhere else.  We are keeping the majority of our things in storage and going to live with Simon's Aunt and Uncle for awhile.  We are playing the waiting game while Simon is in his green card application process.  

Right now the next big awaited step in that process is for his working permit to arrive.  We are hoping and praying that it comes in the next couple of weeks [from post date not from graduation date] so that Simon can seriously begin job hunting.  Until he has that working permit he is not an appealing candidate for any position because hiring him would cost the company a lot of red tape to sponsor him.  Once the working permit arrives hiring him will be just as easy as hiring anyone else so that is the goal right now.

Until then, however, we don't feel like it is a good decision to get tied down in an apartment lease.  Who knows when and where we will end up having to move for a job and having to break a lease would be expensive - a cost we can't really afford right now as well as an unneeded stress.  

So, until then we are staying in Texas with his Aunt and Uncle, Toni and Bill who are so incredibly generous in their willingness to open their home to us... rather indefinitely.  But our goal is to be moved out within a few months.  Keep our situation in your prayers please!!

  

Peppermint Cream Cheese Cupcakes

I made these a few weeks ago for my christmas get together and then Simon asked me to make them again the next weekend for his work christmas party so I've made these twice now and still have not perfected the icing swirl but it did progressively get better! It was the first time I had made striped icing and it really was not as hard as I expected so don't be scared off by the tall, striped icing.  It is easier than you would think!!

Okay so the cupcakes are just a chocolate cupcake recipe although, the one it called for was different than than any other I had made before.

  

Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients:

(makes 24-27 standard sized cupcakes)

 2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (best quality available)

1 cup boiling water


Directions:

-Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.

-In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

-Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.

-Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don't worry, this is right).

-Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (We found that using a ladle worked decently well but some sort of pitcher would probably work even better.  The batter is super thin!)

-Bake cupcakes for approximately 22-24 minutes.

-Cool completely on wire rack before frosting. (About an hour, other wise the icing melts right off and doesn't harden in any sort of cute form)

Okay, now for the icing part.  I know there are several different methods for making striped icing but since this was my first time trying such a thing I religiously followed the directions in the recipe rather than ride a creative wave.  It worked well but another method may be easier for others... Who knows. 

Peppermint Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick, 8 Tablespoons) butter, at room temperature

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature (about 3/4 of a regular block of cream cheese)

4 cups powdered confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract

1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 to 3 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream or milk- (I used milk and it didn't seem to be lacking in any richness-  That works better for me because I never have whipping cream on hand.)  

red food coloring

candy canes ( crushed for topping)

Directions:

-Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.

-Add powdered sugar (a little at a time) and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.

-Add vanilla and peppermint extracts

-Slowly add the milk, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don't add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)

-Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.

-Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)

Red Stripe:

In your piping bag, with a toothpick make two lines opposite each other going from the bottom nozzle to the middle of the bag (there is no point in going all the way up with the food coloring stripes because when you twist the bag to compress the icing it will end up getting wasted).  Then add the icing. Just plop it in there one blob at a time and it turns out fine.  If other parts of the icing gave minor red on them it doesn't effect the stripes.  It is a pretty messy ordeal but it isn't very difficult.  I was only able to do about 1/3 of the icing in the bag at a time.  So you will have to do the striping process before each refill.

 I forgot to take a picture of this step but i found this picture online and this is exactly how it looked. 

After the icing is in the bag twist the bag where the icing ends at the top (like your closing a bread bag) and then let the icing squeeze back into the icing bowl until you see the red stripe (that way you don't waste your plain white icing) 

I've found the easiest way to get the tall cupcake swirl is to put one icing blob in the center of the cupcake and then use that for your  guide.  Make a slow circle around the blob and gradually swirl your way up until you completed the swirl tip.  

Okay the last step is to crush some candy cane and sprinkle it on top.  One thing to note about the peppermint, if you put it on and then leave the cupcakes out for a long time they will melt and bleed into the icing.

Here are the cupcakes without the candy canes

Here are the cupcakes with.  In my second batch i only put the candy canes on the ones where the red stripe wasn't very prominent.  

Christmas Party and Holiday Decorating

Now, I know how behind I am on posting.  It's already January after all, but I am trying to catch up!! Everyone knows the holiday's are crazy, but this year I felt like they were crazier than they have ever been.  Simon (my husband) and I both graduated which was awesome and we were really excited but that, combined with a move and making holiday plans- whew.  I was not looking forward to all of the stress that would come with those events.  I was afraid that once all of the moving excitement began I would end up leaving without getting to say the goodbyes I wanted to.  I decided, Christmas being around the corner and all, I would have a little Christmas party for my girlfriends- whoever could come- and that could be a fun way to spend time together amidst finals and packing to go home for the holidays.  

Our little apartment doesn't hold all that many people so a christmas tree was almost out of the question.  But we found a cute little fir tree at Lowe's for only $12.00 and decided we could squeeze it in somehow. 

For a make-shift tree skirt I used a big strip of burlap I had and draped it around the bottom kind of scrunching it and folding it along the way.  I wrapped some small boxes with packaging paper (dollar store)  and tied them with wire ribbon (dollar store).  This made for some cheap wrapping.  Because we weren't going to be at our apartment for christmas, we didn't wrap any real presents so our tree would have been present-less all season.  That made me sad so this is what I decided to do instead.  

Simon surprised me one day and had put  christmas lights up all around our main apartment room.  I love christmas and the lights made it feel extra christmasy.  

Now, back to the Christmas Party.  Simon got kicked out for the actual party night but he was there to witness the rather hectic and slightly... messy.. baking process.  To make the whole thing less stressful I decided to not do a meal or anything but rather just deserts and snacks.  My friend Katie came over the night before and we baked for hours.   

Our Party Menu Included:

Peppermint Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Sugar Cookies

Chips and Cheese-dip

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Now, the cheese dip and sugar cookies were nothing special, and I already posted about the pumpkin spice latte (crock-pot).  With the party pumpkin spice lattes I've learned to plan for 2 cups per person because it goes fast!! I am going to post about the cupcakes. That will be my next post! We loved them! they were pretty simple to make, a little time consuming with the striped icing, but worth it if you like chocolate and peppermint!

Once everyone got there the night of the party we stuffed our faces with christmas sweets and listened to christmas music all night.  We had some christmas movies to watch but we never even made it to those we all got so carried away in post-graduation plans and catching up.

 These are my favorite christmas CD's this year!

 [Disclaimer, Simon does not support these CD's as favorite choices]

Even though the whole thing took a lot of time to get ready for (mainly the baking), I'm so glad I did it because once the holidays started, I really did get wrapped up in packing and I would not have had any time to see people despite any good intentions I may have had and I know that would have forever been a regret. A couple of girls couldn't come but it still was a great time.  Most of us met freshmen year in the dorm and have stayed friends ever since.  It was wonderful to spend that time together amidst the chaos of finals week.  I think we all needed the break and it will be a great last college memory to hold on to as we all move on with life and go our separate ways. 

Miss you girls!

Christmas Countdown Blocks

Christmas was over a month away when I began making these and here it is, Christmas day, and I am just now posting about them.  I guess the date doesn't really matter, but I did mean to get them up earlier!  Simon made my project possible by making two cubes out of some spare wood he had.  I had initially planned on buying some unpainted wooden blocks but that turned out to be difficult to find at my typically shopped stores so this worked out really perfectly.  Obviously that chance of extra materials and the right tools doesn't fall into place for everyone, so I am confident in saying that a more forceful hunt would result in the right find.  

Materials:

-Two 2inch wooden cubes

-12 squares of paper cut to JUST smaller than the cubes 

(depending on how much of the under color you want to show)

-Paint that is suitable for wood

-Punched out or cut out numbers 0-9 with the 0-2 needed twice

    The 9 will need to be one that works for both the 6 and the 9 depending on which way it is           shown; Otherwise it is not possible to have a "00 days of christmas."

-Modge Podge (I just made my own with water and liquid elmers glue.  It is cheaper and more practical considering the small amount used for this project)

-Foam Brush (for gluing), paintbrush (for painting)

 

 Here are the wooden blocks

 Paper Squares

 I chose a mixture of christmasy prints from a scrapbook store for mine, but solid colors would work too.  The busier the color pattern is, the more difficult it will be to read the number.

  It is important to get paper that coordinates in all combinations.  In almost all of the number combos, each paper will be matched with all the other papers so to use two that completely clash won't turn out well. 

 Simon is AWESOME and surprised me with a stand for my blocks so that really made the whole project complete!

 First, I painted a solid coat of "Real Red" Paint on all sides of the blocks.

I also painted the base ("Grass Green")

Modge Podge: About a 1 TBS water to 1/8 cup glue ratio, mix well.  If the paper is not sticking well to the blocks add more glue.   

 Then using my homemade modge-podge concoction i drenched the paper squares (only intentionally on the side going onto the wood but the whole paper ends up getting wet in the end, it works well that way)

Then I placed them where I wanted on the block and smoothed out the bumps.

 I took advantage of the education resource center at our school to get the number punch outs but if that is not an option, your church resource room may have a die cut machine or you can buy pre-cut numbers at a scrap-booking store.  

I used the same paint from the blocks and base to paint the paper numbers so the colors wouldn't clash.  Then after they had dried I used the same drenching method to attach the numbers.  Make sure on the 6/9 square that the background paper looks good both upside down and right side up.  For instance, my christmas tree background wouldn't have worked for it because it would look silly upside down.  

Also, when gluing the numbers you have to plan out which ones for each block:

Block One: 0,1,2,3,4,5

Block Two: 0,1,2,6,7,8

Here is my final product.  I had to cheat a little and photo shop the written letter in because I some how forgot to take a picture once the letters were dry.  But, this is a pretty close resemblance.  Swirly white letter saying "Days Till Christmas"  I also painted white snowflakes around the edges of the base.  I will put a finished picture up eventually. It is in storage already so I can't yet but i wanted to get the post up regardless (we are moving).

So, this is my newest addition to my christmas decorations but the countdown is over!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Cheddar Biscuits and Roasted Broccoli with Smashed Garlic

For Simon's Birthday I made a birthday dinner at home and I decided to try out a bunch of new recipes.  I  tend to stockpile recipes that I like until an opportunity arises.  I do realize, that making a meal of completely untested recipes (at least by us) could have been a disaster; But I am happy to report: no disaster occurred.  The whole thing was a bit more stressful than meals usually are but that was probably more due to pressure I put on myself rather than the complexity of the recipes.  

   So anyways, I decided not to put all of the recipes on here but, rather, just the two that were both simple and turned out really well!!  

Some background: Seafood- not my favorite.  But I always loved going to Red Lobster for the DELICIOUS cheddar biscuits that they serve all-you-can-eat style! I had heard they were pretty simple to make so I went hunting for a good copycat recipe and here's what I found.  Personally, I think they are  identical!

2 1/2 cups bisquick baking mix 

4 Tbsp cold butter

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

3/4 cups cold whole milk

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Brush on top

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes

1 pinch

Directionss

Preheat oven to 400°F.   

Combine Bisquick and cold butter. Don’t combine too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter about the size of peas.

Add cheddar, milk and 1/4 tsp garlic.

Mix by hand until combined, but don’t over mix

Drop 9 equal portions onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until tops are light brown.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a bowl. Stir in 1/2 tsp garlic powder and parsley flakes.

Use a pastry brush to spread garlic butter over tops of biscuits.

Now, for the Broccoli.  I LOVE vegetables but I don't really enjoy boiling them, so I try and find a variety of ways to make them in the oven while still keeping a lot of flavor.  Another thing that attracted me to this recipe is how few ingredients are needed and how low maintenance the whole thing is!

1 1/2 lbs broccoli florets, cut long with part of stem

6 cloves garlic, smashed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt and fresh pepper

Preheat oven to 450°. In a baking dish combine broccoli, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Roast broccoli about 20 minutes, until broccoli is browned and tender.

We had the biscuits for an appetizer, broccoli, mashed potatoes and balsamic glazed skirt steak for the main course and strawberry cake for desert.  (I may put up the strawberry cake eventually because it was so hard to find a strawberry cake that didn't call for strawberry gelatin and/or a box cake mix).  

DIY Earings

Simon and I found a really neat little place in downtown little rock with a lot of random eclectic beads and things.  I really like to make jewelry so places like that are a lot of fun to look around and get ideas.

It was really different because there were just bowls here and there of one type of bead. It was kind of overwhelming, something different wherever you turned, but if you like that kind of "shopping" or are in to jewelry making i would definitely point you in that direction!   

You can find them on facebook too. Argenta Bead Co

Here is a picture of the countless bead bowls I was talking about.  

So anyways, I found some cute flower beads with rounded backs which makes them perfect for making beads into earrings. 

I feel like these days everyone is into dangly earrings and my ears don't do dangly earrings anymore (one too many pairs of those ridiculous oversized hoops in junior high I would suspect).  So anyways, I stick to studs and I can never find cute ones that I like.  

This is one really easy and inexpensive way that I can have stud earrings that are exactly what I am looking for.  

 Okay, so here's what I used.  Those little empty earring posts are so so cheap.  I think they were 5 cents apiece.  They came with the backs too, somehow those didn't make it into the picture.  

That LOCTITE super glue is wonderful!  The twist top is the best I've ever used.  Most super glue allows for one time use because after that the top is glued shut.  Not this one though!  

This process is pretty self explanatory but just put a dab of glue onto the post and press it tight into the center of the earring for 10-15 seconds and then let it dry untouched for about 10 minutes.

Here is the final product up close.  The backings have stayed on great so far.  They are sturdy and the glue dried clear.

Sandwich Bread in Bread Machine

We've been looking for a bread recipe that would take the place of our store bought sandwich bread.  The our first attempt was with a Honey Oat Wheat Bread.  The bread was good but not at all ideal for sandwiches because it was really crumbly and unstable.  

So I literally googled "sandwich bread in bread machine" and a blog came up by a girl who is on a low budget and wanted a good sandwich bread that didn't fall apart.  Perfect!  So I tried it and it really is the best sandwich bread.  I mean we were looking for something that was similar to the typical kinda squishy, lightly browned sandwich bread from the store, not necessarily the ideal bread for every occasion.  So I thought I would share my discovery.  

Ingredients: 

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 tsp salt

1/3 cup olive oil.  (Not the same with veg. oil)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 cups bread flour

2 Tbsp and 2 tsp sugar

3 tsp yeast

Directions:

In bread machine combine water, salt and oil. 

Add both flours atop liquid ingredients- 

spread it out so it is a barrier between the liquid ingredients and what you will add next  

In one corner of bread machine add sugar

Make a little well or whole in the middle of the flour surface and place yeast in the whole

[[I like making the dough in the machine and then baking the bread in a bread pan in the oven so that is how these directions are aimed.  If you prefer to make the whole thing in the bread machine-which is how the original blog post recipe was done- just set the bread machine to bake and select light ]]

Back to the recipe::

Set bread machine to dough cycle.  

After the cycle is complete (about an 1 hour and 20 minutes) remove dough and put into a lightly greased bread pan and allow to rise for about 1 hour.

Then, bake for 30-40 minutes on 300 degrees.  

From bread maker to bread pan-Don't let the clumpy texture fool you, the rising will fix that.

Risen bread before it goes into the oven.

The bread dumps right out of the pan, no hassle!

Here is a picture of the "perfect sandwich slices" that we are so excited about!!

We are on our second loaf.  Between breakfast toast and sandwiches the two of us went through a loaf in less than a week.  But I'm going to try and keep up with one a week so we probably need to slow down on our bread eating.  The blog post had an update saying she tried it with sunflower oil rather than olive oil and she thought it was even better.  I don't have sunflower oil so I decided to just go with EVOO until I was sure I would be making it regularly.  So, I can't speak for the update yer but that is the baker's tip.