Happy 8th Anniversary

Now that we are staring down our 8th anniversary I have realized some things about what our marriage is all about, things that are special to just us. It is easy to think that when you have a perfect wedding the the marriage that follow is going to be a perfect thing. But we didn't have a perfect wedding, of the many things our paster didn't do, saying you may kiss the bride is not high on the list... the good Rev. forgot to say it.

Patrick and my's marriage is a living thing, it changes, grows, and evolves to whatever we are doing in our lives to fit the circumstances. Sometimes it is up, sometimes it is downish, but it is never out. I saw a book once titled "How To Fight For Your Marriage" and I thought that is the best idea for a book. You might love your spouse without questions but that doesn't mean you don't enjoy a night at home alone watching "your shows"

My favorite part of the day is after everything else is done, Patrick and I lay in bed and hold hand while we fall asleep, this is when I know what we have is perfect (for us.) Every couple has it own little things, and this is one of ours. Over the years I would say that we have learned to love each other and care for each other in a way that might not have been possible when we first got married.

To Patrick I say--- Thank you for all the times you listen to me, and thanks you for being my favorite person everyday.

Here are some of my favorite memories of our years together.

Newly Engaged that day

First and last time skating

Merry Christmas from NYC

How Bout Them 'Neers

Happy New Year 2009.. It is really cold

Love that beach hair

Cornhole Team Rockstars

Never walk alone... We practice the buddy 

Love on the Radio

This time of year I always get a little sentimental, while Spring wedding season is just about the "kick off" Patrick and I's anniversary usually is the first of all my friends and family.

In honor of our upcoming special day I wanted to post some off my fav love quote from the radio.

"This is the queen of my double wide trailer. With the polyester curtain and the redwood deck"
--Sammy Kershaw, this is a ode to our years living at camp

"Look into my heart- you will find
There's nothing there to hide
Take me as I am- take my life
I would give it all I would sacrifice
Don't tell me it's not worth fighting for
I can't help it there's nothing I want more
Ya know it's true
Everything I do- I do it for you"
--Bryan Adams, Everything I Do... this is "our song" always makes me happy to hear on the radio

"I can't live without you, I can't live without you baby" -- Tim McGraw

"I wanna know how forever feels"--Kenny Chesney

And my all time favorite... not to mention the last sentence is actually pasted on my wall.
"I'm glad your dad could not exist your momma's charms and you exist. All because two people fell in love"---Brad Paisley

Patrick's Eating Hippie Food

This is a very special post, and I want to go ahead and dedicate this post to my "baby" cousin Keatin. For starters Keatin is no baby, she has a Master's Degree. A couple of years ago she needed a summer job and decided to crash with my husband and I for a couple of months.

She was a real challenge for Patrick, as you would definately consider her not the "meat and potatoes" girl. And Patrick is nothing if not a "meat and potatoes" kinda guy. In fact when Patrick found out that he would be living with a "vegg" all summer he was a little concerned. However she is so fun and full of spirit Patrick had to overlook her slightly hippie ways and learn a few things. So with all this in mind I am proud to tell you, internet world and Keatin that I baked something that Patrick loved that featured TOFU.

Patrick is really trying to eat super healthy, and I have had a blast finding new recipes that are good for both of us and really yummy. As a Food TV addict I watch a lot of recipes that seem really weird to me but this one was one of the oddest to date, Black Bean Lasagna featured on Trisha's Southern Cooking.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large saucepan, combine the tomatoes and their juices, tomato paste, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano, onions and black beans. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the lasagna noodles and cook to al dente according to package directions. Drain the noodles well.
Spread 1 cup of the prepared sauce in a 9- by 13- by 2-inch baking pan. Make three layers each of noodles, sauce and Tofu Ricotta. End with the sauce and make sure the noodles are completely covered or they will dry out during baking. Bake for 45 minutes, uncovered. Allow the dish to stand for 15 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.
Tofu Ricotta:
1/4 cup raw cashews, finely ground
14 ounces extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil, or 1 tablespoon dried basil
Salt and pepper
Add the cashews to a food processor and grind them. Then crumble in the tofu, and add the yeast, olive oil and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use. Keeps well for at least a week. Yield: about 2 1/2 cups.

This is legit one of the best things I have ever eaten... and I know you are going to say it sounds weird with the beans and tofu. So to Keatin, come on over and get some yummy tofu.

Pizza's On

This week in baking is a good one... Buffalo Chicken Pizza.

I gave up fast food for Lent. You may or may not know the kind of soft-spot I have for fast food, I love it all and although I know it is terrible I just love the wonderful cheesiness of it. But since I am not eating it for 40 days I decided to whip something up with some "fast-food" flavors but it is homemade and about 1,000,000 times healthier. This is a spicy one (beware Jessica T... you will hate this) but it is super easy to make.

 I purchased pre-made dough from Walmart, (I love their pre-made dough, worth picking up) and rolled it out on a pizza pan and sprinkled half a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning on the rolled out dough.

Once the dough is ready I spread some buffalo sauce in the middle of the dough and spread it all over what will become the yummy crust.

To add the toppings, I precooked some chicken with buffalo seasoning mix and chopped up the chicken into bite-sized pieces. I spread mozzarella cheese, the precooked chicken, green peppers, and red onions on top, I sprinkled the other half of the ranch seasoning on top of the whole pizza and I popped the whole thing in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

I like to top my pizza with a little bit of ranch dressing and the whole dinner is super yummy.

Last week I forgot to use the NOW BAKE THIS pictures so this week... so here it is coming at ya...

Connie Boss is AMAZING

I have blogged about my time at Camp Overlook a couple of times, but this one is special. I started attending camp as a child so young I have no idea how old I was. But I kept coming back, and when I turned 15 I was finally old enough to work a full summer... I kept coming back I worked at camp every summer until the summer after I graduated college (I turned 22 the next month). During my years there I met so many people that changed my life while working there I can't list them all in one blog, (We will have to save that for another day)

Connie and Patrick with their kids in 2003

But one of my favorites is Connie Boss. There are lots of things that are awesome about Connie, she is a good friend and has been for many years. Connie spent 1 summer at camp and we all had a blast enjoying her company. Patrick got the opportunity to spend a week with her and they had one of their best weeks of the summer. Connie and I spent hours talking and enjoying each other's company.

Connie surprised us all when she said that she was going to be able to FLY to the USA to join us for our wedding in 2005 and she brought me the mot beautiful album that I still look at often.  Patrick and I have friends all over the world but Connie Boss is one of my favorite people on the planet even if she is all the way in Switzerland.

But the real reason for this specific blog post is Patrick and I just received a unbelievable package from Connie for the holidays.. (it really takes a long time to get things around the globe so it showed up late, but who cares, she is amazing)... and I wanted to send a big blog thank you across the globe to Connie.

Connie we love you so much and one day I know we will get over to your neck of the woods to visit (and maybe we can swing through Denmark and Germany on the way to visit some other European loves too)

Break-Out-The-Defib-Cake

I need to first explain that while it appears my blog is turning into a "food blog" I will be addressing that and posting about other "non food related things" quite soon.... on with the post

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

My dear husband, after a bit of barginning has agreed to buy me a pricey ticket to see PAULA DEAN this fall for my birthday and I for one could not be more excited!!!!!

So in honor of Mrs D I whipped up one of her recipes for my hubby that I saw on Food Network this weekend.... PEANUT-BUTTER VOLCANO CAKE

 Step 1 was get everything prepped.... preheated oven to 350 and chop up several cups of peanut butter cups... (are you excited yet?).. then I greased a pan and lined the bottom with roasted peanuts.

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 Next up mixed plain white cake mix with 3 cups milk and blended until it was thick and add the peanut butter cups... pour the whole beautiful concoction over the peanuts.

 In another bowl mix 1 stick of butter with 1 package of cream cheese and half a cup of peanut butter and half a cup of confectioners sugar. and spead dollops of the cream cheese mix around the top of the cake batter.... THIS IS NOT HEALTHY AT ALL!!!!!! Then you pop the whole thing in the oven for 50 minutes

 While it was baking I had to lick the spoon... all this sugar was too tempting... Even little Flower-Power got it on the spoon-licking action.

 The finished product out of the oven... smelled too yummy. While it was cooking I made a glaze out of another WHOLE stick of butter, milk, cocoa powder, and vanilla.
 

 This is an action pic of Pat pouring it on the cake... and this is what the whole completed cake looked like.

This was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten... and you can find the recipe on the Food TV website.... It comes highly recommended.

Make Mine Corn Cakes

Seriously thought I posted this yesterday.... but I didn't... here you go anyway ENJOY!!!

Well, I am not going to lie to you, you faithful readers should be glad you are getting much of anything out of me today. This week has been straight CRAZY! Between work, various house issues, making a quick trip to Pittsburgh and back, Super Bowl shinangians, and running a training at my job this week I barely got a chance to cook anything. But here goes nothing.

Confession first, I kinda cheated but I still baked it and I make my corn muffins alot more interesting then they would have normally been.

Corn-bread muffins.... with spice

• I don't know anything about making corn muffins so I bought a premade mix and followed the directions to mix... I made 8 normal nothing fancy muffins.
• Next batch I got a little fancy and I mixed in some bacon and cheese... topped each muffin with some extra cheese and popped those babies in the oven.
• Batch 3: I got a little spicy and chopped up some jalapeno pepper bits and tossed it into the batter and baked it up.

They were all totally delicous and super yummy with our super bowl chili!!!!!

PS--- We were Team Beyonce and we definately did not lose

Typically my idea of baking is picking something up at the bakery, but I am always down to try something new.... so here is my first shot at a blogger linkup NOW BAKE THIS

I made mini blackberry pies and here's how I did it

1. I bought a mix together pie crust and put it together and rolled it out.
2. I took a cup with the largest rim I could find and cut out circles and placed the bottom of the mini pies on a greased pan.
3. Next I topped them with a spoonful of blackberry pie filling and covered them with another round of pie crust
4. I attempted to press down the edges and hold all the goodness in... I was only mildly successful at this but I managed the take some extra crust and covered all the holes (also I managed to get some yummy blackberry goodness on my fingers)
5. I made a egg wash and covered the outside of each mini pie with the wash, I cut a slit in the top of each and sprinkled sugar and cinimmon on top and popped them all in the oven for 15 minutes at 425 degrees

Minus the cinimmon and sugar which are staples on my house I actually made this with 3 ingrediants!!!!

And they were amazing.... my dear husband who actually doesn't get excited about food said "I don't know what you did to those but they were delicious" So I will take the to the bank. Can't wait to see what I come up with for next week.

Please forgive my odd pictures I am having some technical difficulties over here... oppsie

                       

Blogging for Dummies

Now that I have been blogging for a little while I have found that I need some inspiration to write and today I am feeling really really inspired. So lets talk about something.... Books for Dummies, I have thoughts.

I was at Barnes and Noble quite recently and as I walked through the aisles of what is typically considered a "decent" bookstore I noticed a startling trend. There is a company that has turned some of the most complicated concepts into a task for DUMMIES. After doing a little research let me give you a little example of some "For Dummies" titles that you could pick up if you are so possessed.

There a literally hundreds of these books. As I browsed the different aisles (I was in the market for a book for studying for the GMAT, the entrance exam to business school, and since it took me a while to find the type of book I was looking for I probably spotted no less then 30 books for dummies while I trolled the aisles with my typical vanilla latte.)

Don't get me wrong, I get that the self help book industry is a billion-dollar industry and the only reason so many different types of these books is that they are purchased and used by somebody...but plu-sease some of these are just crazy.

Here are some more examples of books that I think are absolutely crazy.

Pretty sure Neuro-Linguistic Programing is a pretty complicated topic, there is a chance that if you are learning it from this book, I think you probably don't really need to be practicing it.... OK Sex for dummies, no lie dummies have been figuring out how to have sex on their own for centuries without the help of any book, so I have a hard time not deeming this book as irrelevant.

 

 HAHAHAH both of these books make me giggle. I hope the book about surviving the holidays simples says, "open bottle of wine when things get bad"= TADA I just wrote the entire book.
Hermit crabs, really?? I had a hermit crab as a kid and I am pretty sure they are the easiest pet in history to own. I feel like this whole book might a total waste.

 

Beekeeping seems scary and I am pretty sure a book does not give you all the skills necessary to keep bees alive and not kill yourself in the process, this is just a observation. Literally if you saw somebody in half because you read it in a book you are a legitimate dummy.

Welding requires actual flame so I believe this falls into the category of Beekeeping and Magic= not the kind of thing you can learn in a book called "for dummies"... This is a book that I found fitting I typically consider DJing a "for dummies" activity to begin with so this book seems appropriate.

Pretty sure the people who have spent years and hundreds of dollars improving their golf swings wish they had found this earlier.... what a shame.

Welcome to my world... now you know how I feel about some very important topics.