A week of grillin!

When Bill had his week off from work, he thought it would be cool if he could help out with cooking so I wouldn't have to do it all, which I thought was really nice! So I thought it would be a good idea if he grilled! I don't really grill, and he loves to do it! So here is what we ended up grillin.
Pork tenderlion, which turned out awesome on the grill! He cut a slit in it, put garlic in the slit, then slathered the whole thing with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Steak, which was in honor of Father's day!
Burgers
Brats
Grilled chicken sandwiches (which also turned out really yummy!)
And, Kabobs! We have never done kabobs before, and they turned out good!
We also did corn on the cob a couple times, cause Bill and the girls love it!
Is was a fun week to try this, and a good change up for our menu!
Thanks Bill, for being willing to grill all that week!

The coolness of coupons!

Today I went grocery shopping! And, Target ended up paying me one penny to get some Kraft Mayo! It was on sale for 1.99. I had a target coupon for a dollar off, and a manufactures coupon for a dollar off. That is two dollars off total, cause they take both coupons for the one item, hence them paying me one penny! Pretty good deal if you ask me:)

The Carrot Cake

Here is the first carrot cake that I made from scratch for my niece Lyla's baby shower. It had home made cream cheese frosting, and turned out pretty yummy.

The pizza I made

The other week I tried something I never had tried before! I made a margarita pizza! It was the first time for me to buy fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil! I made the dough, then brushed it with olive oil, then put the tomatoes, basil and mozzarella on top. I think it tasted pretty good. Not exactly the same as I have had at restaurants, but not too bad.

My First attepmt at bread!

Ever since Bill and I have been married, (which will be 7 years this August!!), he has talked about Easter bread! He lived with his grandparents for awhile when he was younger, and every Easter, and only on Easter, his grandma would make this delicious bread for him. I always said, sorry hun! I've never heard of it! Also, I love to bake, but bread is the one thing that I had yet to tackle. My mom tried to teach me once, and I helped make dinner rolls before, but never on my own had a made a loaf of bread. I think it's the whole let it rise thing! What if you don't let it rise enough, or what if you let it rise too much! I have been able to tackle pizza dough, though, and that's pretty much on your way to making bread! Any who! This year, because of facebook, Bill "over read" his sister and Aunt talking about it, so he joined in on the conversation. There is something special about the bread in that you need the seeds from the pits of cherries to make it! And, his Aunt Char had some that she ordered from Greece, and graciously said she would send some to Bill and his sister, along with the family recipe! I was pretty nervous to try this, since it was bread and all! But, I did it! And, it actually turned out!!! And was edible!! And, Bill was right, it is really yummy bread! It was an adventure for sure!! I'm just kind of glad that his family says that you can only make it at Easter time:) Although, it would be kind of nice to make more, cause like I said, it was really tasty!

Also, Bill made a video about this bread making experience:) You can check it out on his blog.

Easter Candy!

So, when it comes to holiday's, and the candy associated with them, Easter is by far my most favorite Holiday candy. There's just something about chocolate in the shape of an egg! And all those pastel colors just scream "eat me, eat me!" My favorite would probably have to be the reece's peanut butter cup eggs....Yum! I like the milk chocolate solid eggs, the mini cadbury eggs, lipstick eggs(malted milk robbin's eggs), and the milk chocolate eggs with the shell. Now, there are some Easter candies that I don't perfer! Like jelly beans are just not my thing. Also, Peeps! I just don't understand them! They are really cute to look at for sure, but sticking one in your mouth is just not good! Especially if they have been sitting out!! I don't understand how that makes them better! All and all though, it's just a yummy time of year!
I hope you all have a very Blessed Easter!!
He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

I finally opened it!

So, remember that huge, 5lb Hershey bar I got back a couple months ago? Well, I finally opened it! I brought bars to my niece's baptism, and I decided to make Hershey oatmeal bars so that I could put this huge candy bar to work!





It is so big!!


We put a dollar next to it just to compare!
So, what will I do with all this chocolate you may ask?! Well, I used a tiny bit for the bars. I tired some, and it was really yummy! Some has been sitting out on the counter. Also, I made up three zip bags full and put them in the freezer! Maybe I will bake more with it. And, we are going camping a couple times this summer, so I see a lot of smores in our future!

A Feat for Me

So, maybe this is an easy thing for people to do, but for me, not so much! I ended up going about 4 1/2 weeks without cooking the same meal twice! Usually I am cheering if I do it for two weeks in a row. Now granted I do not cook 7 days a week, but it usually is at least 6 dinners a week. I'm not sure what prompted me to try this. Maybe it was me feeling like we were just eating the same things over and over, or maybe I needed a challenge. Whatever the cause, it was kind of nice. We had our regular meals, but also tried a couple of new recipes, and we had meals we hadn't had for awhile. I finally stopped though, cause there was something I really wanted to have for dinner again. I think I could have went a little bit longer, which is encouraging. I'm not sure if I will do this again, but hopefully it helped to get us out of a bit of rut. And now when I cook some of our regular dishes, I'm not feeling like we just had them!

A cookie theme I guess!

I had always wanted to make these Christmas cookies, and this year I did it! It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and they turned out, so I was glad!
They are simply called candy cane cookies.

A Very Yummy Cookie!

So, we have been doing the majority of our grocery shopping at Super Target. And every week we go, Hannah will go ask the bakery for a cookie, which her and Lillian split and eat while I shop. A nice treat for them! One week though, I had to run to cub for something. Hannah looked where their samples were, and they were out. Hannah, who is very shy, went all brave and went and asked their bakery for a cookie. I was so glad she did! What came out of it was one of the most yummiest cookies I ever tasted! It was a turtle pecan cookie, so good!!! So good in fact, that a couple of days later Bill and I bought a tray of them, and we rarely buy store made cookies! Thanks for asking for the cookie Hannah!

One of the Best things I've Ever Received!

I just have to say that Aunt Bea Rocks! She goes to Hershey PA every year on business, and says that sometimes she smells chocolate in the air! How cool is that? But a sad thing happened this year. She found out that the Hershey factory is moving to Mexico! How crazy is that! How sad! Anyways....in past years she has brought me back some pretty cool stuff, like the world's largest Hershey's Kiss, and a big Hershey bar with my name written on it. I didn't think you could top those things! Although, I think the thing she brought me this year takes the cake by far! The World's Largest Hershey Bar! Check this thing out!


It's so huge! 5 luscious lbs of pure Hershey's chocolate!


There is 50 servings. If you do the the math.....there is 240 calories per serving. So, if I ate the whole thing by myself that would be a whopping 12,000 calories! I haven't opened it yet. I need to wait a bit, cause when I open it I know there is no going back! But don't worry, I won't eat it all myself! My two little girls wouldn't let me get away with that:)
Thanks Aunt Bea!

A Yummy Tradition

The past few years we have made sure that some time in October we make and eat our own caramel apples. This year was no exception! It seems like there is nothing better than a home made caramel apple. You control the amount of fresh melted caramel that you put on a fresh apple! And lets just say that I put probably more than you should on each apple:) Our jaws get tired from chewing so much! Lillian and I shared one, and that was more than enough for the both of us! Hannah got her own for the first time, but didn't finish. She might of if she had more time! It's one of Bill's favorite treats, and it's a tradition I hope we keep doing!

Yummy and thoughtful!

Last week Bill had to work late a couple of days. One night he went out to eat with his boss and co workers from out of town. At the end of the meal his boss told him to pick out a dessert and bring it home to me! A very nice surprise for me! This was the triple chocolate cake. It was very yummy! The cake was so moist, and the frosting was more like a chocolate mousse. I even shared with my girls, and they both thought it was very yummy too!

My avacado story

One time this past year at small group, I tasted some guacamole for the first time. I didn't think it was that bad, so I asked how the person made it. Then it clicked that guacamole was made from avocado. So I thought to myself, "I should try and make some sometime."

Lo and behold, since I had never bought an avocado before, I had no idea where they would be in the produce section. I went many weeks without every buying one, cause I had never scene them in the store. Then one day I was looking at the garlic, and I saw a guacamole mix, so I was like, "avocado's must be near!" And, lo and behold, they were right by the garlic and tomato's. So I bought one with no idea how I was going to make it, but I did know that I wanted to make it when we had taco's.

So... I looked on line and saw some recipes, and got and idea, but I kind of just threw some stuff in there. It ended up being salt, pepper, garlic, lime juice, and olive oil mixed together and refrigerated for a bit. I wasn't sure how it would taste, or how the rest of the family would like it, but it turned out very yummy! And the most surprising thing is that Bill and Lillian fight over who is going to eat more! I am pleasantly surprised that Bill liked it, but even more pleasantly surprised and a little shocked that Lillian just loved it! And that's my avocado story:)