Christmas Pictures= Puppy torture?

Stay....



Many tries later




The final results!

Project: Reupholster

I haven't ever reupholstered anything. We found these chairs at Deseret Industries, in American Fork, and Buddy and I really liked their retro look. You can find anything on the good old Internet, so I found a tutorial and we did this one Saturday a while ago. We repainted the chairs, and Buddy picked out a fabric (hey, he's more picky than I am!) Not quite sure if they match anything in the house.....but hopefully one day!


Before: Ugly Orange Grossness



After: Fun flowers! (And Rusty decided to try them out)

Yum-eriffic Texas Chili

(not an actual picture, since you use stew meat for it, but close enough)

So I've been slacking in the recipe posting department (well actually the whole posting thing all together). But this was a delicious recipe that the Thorton's made for us last week at a game night, that we think is a keeper recipe. I just linked to Kelsey's blog because she's the one who it originated from. The only modifications I make is we cook the beef in the pan and then add everything to the crockpot and cook it all day long. Serve over rice with tortillas on the side. Super delicious! We also like to sprinkle it with cheese and fresh tomatoes when we serve it. Yum!

Recipe here
http://murraykelseytucker.blogspot.com/2008/09/texas-chilione-of-our-favorites.html

Christmas Decorating

Right before Thanksgiving, we got to help Buddy's dad decorate this cabin:




Here are the trees Buddy and I decorated!

JOY! to the World

My friend Stephanie and I decided to make some Christmas decorations this past Saturday. She saw some wooden blocks at Tai Pan that she liked, and I saw some cute ones that Jenny Cox made so I figured we could make them instead of buy them. I went to Home Depot and got some scrap wood, and then we used some paper from the dollar store and here are the results. I wish I had a picture of Steph's, she had some super cute paper picked out. Steph and I have made a pact to do crafts every Saturday...haha. We'll see how that turns out.

Being Crafty

I have seen these kind of things around for a while now, but they always cost a little more than I'm willing to pay, so the other day, I went to Joanne's and bought some felt for 25 cents a piece. I put these together yesterday. I'm excited to make more and I have tons more felt.

FYI: You can find the template to create these felt flowers at yoonie-at-home.blogspot.com/2008/09/peony-flower-felt-clip-tutorial.html

They are so fast and easy!

Happy Halloween!

Buddy and I were sushi rolls for Halloween! I have a better picture on another camera, but this will have to do for now. We had a fun Halloween. We went to a party Thursday night and even won a prize for most creative. Here is the pumpkin we carved too. It had the biggest stem ever!!!

Here are some of the costumes of the night:"

Eye Candy


X-Men


Pirates


White Trash


Nacho Libre


and Mexican wrestlers

Shoga Sushi= Super Delicious!

Last weekend we treated ourselves to some delicious sushi from the Shoga restaurant in Orem. If you love sushi and you live in Utah county, then you need to try Shoga! Buddy and I are sushi connoisseurs of sorts, and we have tried almost every sushi place around. Besides Takashi's in Salt Lake, this is our favorite. (Although we have yet to try Yapona in American Fork which I hear is also very good). I give Shoga's a 10! And they are so much better than Happy Sumo. Yum. I want some more right now!!!




Being super sad that the sushi is all gone.

Puppy Haircuts!

The puppies got groomed yesterday. We wanted to cut them pretty short, since it costs quite a bit to take them to the groomers, and we like to get our money's worth. They had a pumpkin spice bath yesterday as part of the package (they smell delicious!) but now all their fur is gone. Poor little pups! I think Rusty looks kind of like a chihuaha now. Oops. Oh well. At least it grows back :) (see the side bar for their before pics)

Thriller at the Covey Center

We had a fun date night this week and went to see Thriller! It is so much fun. This is my 3rd year going (and probably Buddy's 10th). It's a fun tradition. If you haven't ever gone, it's really good. They obviously have the Thriller dance sequence (hence the Zombie pics), but there is much, much more. Some of the dances are a little more scary than others, but most are pretty comical and just fun to watch. Our favorite dances are The Mummy, Dem Bones, and River of Blood. But there's really too many to list including Jason Jam and the Frankenstein one. The Mummy has all these people wrapped up like mummies and the first part has some slow Egyptian-like dancing by people in Egyptian costumes. Then the mummies come alive and breakdance. Dem Bones is done with these glow in the dark skeleton costumes (the rest of them is black fabric) so all you see is the skeleton and they tap dance. Very cool. And River of Blood is Irish dancers that end up getting shot during the dance. I'm pretty much the worst explainer ever. So if you've seen it, you probably know what I'm talking about, but if not, sorry go see it and then you'll understand! :)

Super Duper Delicious Slush Recipe

Look at me! I'm on a roll! All these posts. Okay, so this is my most favoritest punch/drink recipe in the whole wide world. It's delightful. Its delicious. It will make you imagine you are sitting on a beach somewhere enjoying the sunshine. Seriously. Try it. It makes a lot, so bring it to your next party so everyone will love you! Really, volunteer to bring the drink. Everyone will think, oh they picked the drink because it's easy and then you'll dazzle them with this! (and it is super easy too!)

Super Duper Delicious Slush


6 cups water
3 cups sugar

In a medium size pot, bring mixture to a boil and stir until all sugar is dissolved. Cool.

Add:

1 can pineapple juice (46 fl oz)
1 can orange juice (46 fl oz)
1 cup lemon juice

Freeze.

To serve:
Leave frozen mixture out to thaw for 1/2 hour. Scoop out slush with ice cream scoop and fill glasses with slush and then pour 7 UP (no Sprite!) over the slush. Serve and enjoy!

This recipe came from the mom of a girl Buddy works with. She used to do wedding catering and this was her most requested recipe. It's really good. Right when I had it, I had to know what was in it. And, true story, she told Buddy it was 1 can of orange juice and I kept asking him if he meant a concentrated can, and he kept telling me no. Well for 2 weeks I kept telling him he needed to get better directions, because I had never heard of canned orange juice that wasn't frozen. We finally went to Macey's to grocery shop, and lo and behold, canned orange juice right next to the canned pineapple juice. Who would have thought? So for all you doubters, canned orange juice exists! Weird huh? Also true story, we attended a wedding one time that had slush just like this and I was so impressed I asked for the recipe. I was told it was a family recipe and they wouldn't share it!!! I was super offended. I hate secret family recipes!!! So you should share this recipe with everyone!!!! It just like their "secret" one :)

I didn't actually make the juice today, but wanted to post the recipe. This is the size cans of orange juice and pineapple that you need. You also need a big bowl to freeze it in!

Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

This is a fairly easy, simple recipe. I make it when I want something warm to come home to, already finished. It's not particularly amazing, but I like to make it because it's pretty mindless and easy and you can add things to it to spice it up (there are lots of different spice combinations you can add for different flavors). Mostly I just love chicken soup- it's so comforting.

Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup



3 chicken drumsticks (you can use chicken breasts, but chicken drumsticks add a really rich chicken flavor to the dish)
1/2 yellow onion diced. Sauté until tender in some oil in a small pan. (I omit this if I have no onion)
2 red potatoes, cut into large chunks (or any kind of potato)
3 stalks celery diced
2 large carrots diced (or equivalent baby carrots cut in half)
3 cans Swanson chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
salt to taste
1/2 package broad egg noodles

Cook the drumsticks in the microwave (or you can boil them, but the microwave is fast; I put them in large bowl with a tiny bit of water and cook for 5-6 minutes until juices run clear) Then pull the chicken of the bones. Mix broth and cream of chicken together in crock pot with whisk. Add all the ingredients to crock pot except the noodles. Cook 2-3 hours on high (till potatoes are tender) or 6-8 hours on low. When the soup is finished, boil the noodles in separate pot. Drain and add to the crockpot. Eat and enjoy! Yum.

Tres Leches Recipe

Recently, I've become addicted to tres leches. I don't know why. It's just so good all of a sudden. Like the sugar cookies, I never liked this dessert before. This is probably the strangest cake recipe I've ever made, but it's good.

Tres Leches Cake (Three Milk Cake)



2 cups pancake mix (like Bisquick etc.)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup coke
1 cup vegetable oil
6 medium eggs (5 if large)

Pour into greased 9X13 pan and bake at 325 for 25-35 minutes, until just golden. Poke holes with a fork into while warm.
Mix together:
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can "media crema Nestle" (in the Spanish food section)

Pour over cake. Served with fruit of your choice, such as sliced strawberries.

I like to refrigerate the cake overnight and then serve. Yum!

Sugar Cookie Recipe (Softest & Best)

I never used to like sugar cookies. I thought they were just okay. Then I had these cookies. Super delicious! Thank you Kristin's grandma! And thank you Kyrsten for making them and bringing them to work. If you are looking for a good recipe for make for Halloween goodies, this is it! It makes a good batch and the secret is really the buttermilk!! Make sure to buy real buttermilk.... don't just substitute lemon juice in milk.

Super Delicious (Soft, Chewy) Sugar Cookies

2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
5 cups flour (+more as needed)

Beat sugar eggs and butter. Add buttermilk and the rest of the ingredients; add flour last. Roll out dough with additional flour and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Frost and enjoy!

Apple Dip Recipe

This apple dip is super delicious! If you love caramel apples, you'll love this creamy dip.I had it last year at a Halloween party and had to get the recipe. And if you haven't tried Honey crisp apples yet, you are missing out! They are seriously the perfect apple; better than any other variety we've tried (gala, jona gold, red delicious, granny smith, etc) They are super crunchy and just the perfect sweet. So even if you don't try this apple dip, try a Honey Crisp apple! Seriously so good!!!!

Apple Dip



1 8 oz package cream cheese softened (I use low fat)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 heaping tablespoons caramel topping

2 tsp vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together. Serve with sliced apples (to keep them from browning, douse them in pineapple juice) Enjoy!

(also I love our apple corer; it a lot better than those ones that slice the apples and core them, because sometimes I just core the apple for my lunch and I can eat it without slicing it)

Even Penny loves Honey Crisp Apples!

We're Back!

Yay! We are back in the blogging world again. Back and as spiffy as ever! Let's see, mostly we didn't blog, because we are so cool, we didn't have time. Okay, okay. Not really. We really don't have cool things to blog about....like children. Because let's face it, children are cool. But my dear friend (ahem, Katie) told me I should blog about yummy food I make, and I figured that was something I could do. But the hardest part is remembering to take pictures of food you're making. So far, I've only succeeded in taking pictures of some desserts. But fear not! These desserts are perfect for Fall!. So I hope you like them. I highly recommend any recipe I post! :) As for what we've really been up to here's the recap. Also, we'll try to blog more twice a year. Really. (Believe it Alicia!)

July: Enjoyed the 4th of July holiday and watched the parade in Provo. It was fun. Took Rusty on the scooter to the parade. Bad idea. Here he is enjoying his 4th of July pirate hat.



August: Went to Germany for 3 glorious weeks to visit my family. Wish we could have stayed longer. Got to travel to beautiful places and even dip our feet in the North Sea. I turned 25 and am officially older than Buddy. Here's a cute picture of us in the cable car in Rudesheim.



September: Buddy started graduate school. He's really enjoying his cohort and classes. He's already like 50 billion times smarter than Jenny, which is quite a bit. I debated about going back to culinary school (seriously) and even got accepted somehow into the UVU culinary program (really, I didn't even apply, just talked to them one day and I got a letter saying I was accepted....which I heard was hard....but apparently not)

October: Officially wore my winter boots for the first time today, which means it's finally cold. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. Buddy and I went and hiked up a little hill at South Fork park in the canyon. It was beautiful. The puppies loved hiking. So far the month has started off great. Excited for Halloween where we are going to be something really, really cool. (almost as cool as this costume: http://www.coolest-homemade-costumes.com/coolest-mona-lisa-and-leonardo-costume.html)