C25K

So today was the first day of a journey I'm feeling very anxious about.  My brother challenged me to participate in the Down Syndrome of Louisville 5k run the first weekend in October.  I've walked a couple of 5k's and I've always talked about getting in shape to run one.  My dream 5k is the color run, I can't think of a more enjoyable way to run then getting tons of color thrown at you!  

However if you know me you know I'm probably the most out of shape person in the whole world... no really it's true!  I have tried and failed at starting to train for a 5K, so I'm hoping that by blogging about it, I'll have a bit more incentive to stick to my training schedule.  

What is my training schedule you might ask? Well I found a great free app called C25K that is supposedly supposed to help you go from being a couch potato to running a 5k in just 8 weeks, I feel like that is fairly ambitious, but I'm going to give it my best effort.  

Today I started my first training session, it was 30 min long, and basically if you aren't familiar with the C25K programs you start with a 5 min warm up, and then you run for a minute and walk for a minute and a half and rotate that back and forth and end it with a 5 minute cool down.  I am proud to report that I was able to stick with the whole training schedule, I didn't walk when I was supposed to run. This may not sound like much but for me that is HUGE!! I'm already feeling it though, my joints hurt, my calfs are super tight, and tomorrow should be interesting to see if I can do all the running parts!  I feel like this is going to take me a lot longer than 8 weeks to be ready to run a 5k with out walking... however by the 5K in October I will be able to at least run part of it and it will be a big accomplishment for me! 

One thing I have to say about running, it does help you forget all the stress, and how much you hate your job.  Maybe this running thing will help me be happier :).  

Also another big journey I'll be starting is after talking about it for years I'm actually gonna get serious about applying for a masters program. I've settled on trying to get into a MPA program, so I signed up for  a GRE prep course that starts in September, hopefully I didn't just waste my money :).z

Skillet Lasagna

This is another Pinterest recipe, as most of my recipes are either from Pinterest or my favorite food blog All-Things-Delicious.  Now I don’t know about you, but I LOVE lasagna, really I haven’t met a pasta I didn’t like (well I’m not a huge fan of gnocchi, but that’s a different story). Anyways making a whole pan of lasagna is an ambitious task, so to save myself some time I decided to give this skillet lasagna recipe a try… I made a few tweaks to the original recipe (for example the original didn’t call for meat, but I like meat!!).

Skillet Lasagna:

1 ½ TBS. extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion chopped

1 cup of mushrooms (I did not put these in, I don’t like mushrooms)

2 garlic cloves, minced (I didn’t do this either, I hate using garlic cloves, I did use garlic powder though)

2 (14.5 oz) cans of Italian diced tomatoes, drained

¼ cup tomato sauce

3 basil leaves, chopped (I didn’t have any basil leaves so I omitted these as well)

¼ tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. sea salt (or regular salt works)

½ Cups skim ricotta cheese

½ Cups part skim mozzarella cheese

3 TBS Parmesan Cheese

About 6 ounces lasagna noodles, broken into thirds (or smaller) fully cooked

2 TBS parsley (dried or fresh)

1lbs browned ground beef (if you want).

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions and cook until softened, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic and mushrooms and cook until garlic is fragrant, about one minute.  Add in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, salt and pepper.  Cook mixture until it thickens up a bit, around 5 minutes.  Add in browned meat.  Add noodles to skillet and stir into the mixture well.  Add scoops of ricotta cheese over the noodles; add in mozzarella and Parmesan.  Stir in parsley.  Cook about 2 more minutes or until mixture is thick.  Serve immediately with additional basil or parsley.

I didn't get any pictures of this, but I think this was a very yummy meal, I enjoyed it for lunch!

Colorado Burritos

Ok so I have seen several different recipes for this on Pinterest and every time I see a photo I just want to eat one in that moment.  I finally worked up the courage to attempt this recipe and I have no idea why I waited so long! These were amazing! I may have eaten a burrito every day for lunch for a week straight (yeah they were that good!).

Not to mention they are super easy to make, and it is a crock pot freezer meal… I LOVE THESE!!

Colorado Beef Burritos:

2 lbs. stew beef

2 12oz cans of red enchilada sauce

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup beef stock

6 flour tortillas

2 cups of shredded cheese

So if you are planning on freezing this to make at some future moment follow these directions:

Label bag and add the stew beef, 1 can of enchilada sauce, onions, and beef stock.  Freeze until ready to cook.  Thaw slightly and place in slow cooker.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours until beef is tender.  Remove beef and shred (you can do this step in your kitchen aide if you have one, it makes life so much easier!!).  Divide beef between the flour tortillas, place in greased baking dish, top with other can of enchilada sauce and cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.  Serve with salsa, guacamole, shredded lettuce and tomatoes.

I just ate the burritos without any additions… now next time I make them I’d like to try a Mexican rice recipe because I feel like that would be absolutely delicious!! Enjoy and be ready to share with someone, or else you might eat the whole pan because they are that good!!

I'm sorry this pic just doesn't do these burritos justice.  I'm not much of a photographer, but I need to start being better, because these burritos were AMAZING!!!

Taco Soup and Chocolate Chip Cookies

So to start out the recipe-palooza I will start with two recipes that are tried and true recipes in my family, these are not new recipes, they are my go to when I need something quick and easy. I will be giving out my taco soup recipe and my family’s top secret chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I have made both these recipes so many times I have them memorized! Get ready to be hungry!

Taco Soup:

1 lb ground beef

2 cans of corn (drained)

1 can of pinto beans (drained)

1 can of stewed tomatos

1 can of tomato sauce

3 cups of water

1 pkg of taco seasoning.

So what you do is you brown the beef and you can either add the taco seasoning directly to the beef, or just add it to the soup (I don’t have a preference either way is fine). While browning the beef add the water, corn, beans, tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes into a big pot on the stove.  Once the beef is browned add that to the pot and make sure to not forget to add the taco seasoning. Once everything is added together and bring to a rolling boil for about 20min and then let it simmer and it is ready to be served. I like to eat this with tortilla chips (the scoops are my favorite) with sour cream and copious amounts of shredded cheese!  This is so easy and perfect for a cold rainy day!

Now as promised I will be giving you two recipes in this post, and this is if you are in need of a good cookie recipe.  These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten, and I have been told by several different sources I should open a cookie shop just for these cookies!

Grandma Henson’s Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Mix together in a large bowl:

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of shortening (NOT BUTTER FLAVORED)

1 tsp vanilla I sometimes add a little more because I love vanilla

2 eggs (you need to beat these separately before adding to above mixture)

Sift together in a separate bowl:

2 ¼ cups of flour

1tsp salt

1 tsp soda

¼ tsp nutmeg (SECRET INGREDIENT ALERT) I sometimes add a little more because I like the taste

Once the two mixtures are well mixed start adding the dry ingredients to the wet ones, you’ll want to use your electric mixer for this, I have noticed that ever since I’ve gotten a kitchen aide my cookies have gotten so much better! But it’s ok if you don’t have a kitchen aide or bosch.  Continue mixing until all the ingredients are integrated.  Then add a bag (or less how ever many you want) of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, and the trick is you want to take them out when they are not quite done so they finish baking on the sheet. This method takes some getting used to and may take a few trials to get right!

These are delicious fresh from the oven, or frozen, or really any way you want to eat them! Enjoy and thank my great grandma Henson for this recipe!

Resolutions

Well I resolved to be better about blogging, and I have so many posts to write about. I feel like I have been a cooking queen the last few weeks because well I have so many recipes that I’ve made since my last post that need to be put up! Not to mention the millions (ok that may be an exaggeration) of recipes I have tried in the last year that I need to update y’all about. Anyways I will be making several posts in succession because I need to get all these recent recipes up because my coworkers I eat lunch with have been breathing down my neck for these recipes… yeah they are THAT good!

Over the next few posts these are the recipes I’ll be putting up:

My Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Taco Soup

Mini Meatloaf

Skillet Lasagna

Chocolate Chip cookie truffles

Pumpkin Curry

Cheesecake Brownies

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Colorado Burritos.

Now I may not post these in that order, and only one of the recipes on the above list was not a winner (the pumpkin curry was just not my favorite).  So if you are in a recipe slump, check these out because they are serious winners!!

Delicious Chocoflan

Ok so as I mentioned in my previous blog I made a lot of new recipes this weekend.  Well I'm here to introduce you to one of them.  This is the amazingly delicious Chocoflan.  Again this recipe comes from my favorite food blog all-things-delicious.  The way she described it I just had to try it, and it did look simple.  I must admit I do have a soft spot in my heart for flan, I had it frequently while I was living in Argentina, and haven't had it very often since being back.

Surprisingly I had most of the ingredients on hand, So I decided since we had a family dinner planned for Monday and we were going to be having homemade cafe rio salads (which if anyone knows me knows I'm more than slightly addicted to cafe rio), this would be a perfect dessert to make.  I've been trying to watch what I eat so I can't make treats as often as I would like because I just need to be careful... all this being careful has helped me lose 15lbs in the last month (WOOT WOOT!!).  Anyways so any excuse I can get to make a treat I jump at it.  Ready for the recipe? Well you need wait no longer:

Chocoflan:

1/2 C dulce de leche (or more I used a whole 13.4oz can by La Lechera)
1 C sugar
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

1 chocolate cake mix (made as directed on the box)
1/2 C sour cream

Spray bundt pan very well with non-stick spray.  In the bottom of the bundt pan, pour your dulce de leche in a random, sporadic way.  In a bowl, beat the sugar, evaporated milk, cream cheese, 4 eggs, and vanilla.  The recipe on the blog I got this from mentioned you could mix these in a blender to make it more smooth, and sense I saw people using blenders a lot while cooking and baking while living in Argentina I decided to do this step in the blender and I would highly recommend it, made it super smooth!  Once this is mixed set it aside.

In another bowl, make the chocolate cake mix according to the package instructions, adding 1/2 cup of sour cream.  Now for those of you who are turning up your noses at sour cream in your chocolate cake, don't knock it until you've tried it.  You can't taste the sour cream, but this makes the cake so moist you will never go back!

Once everything is mixed and in their separate containers it is time to fill the bundt pan. Pour the cake batter into you bundt pan on top of the dulce de leche.  Using a ladle, gently ladle the flan mixture on top of the chocolate cake mixture.  Spray a piece of foil with non-stick spray and cover your bundt pan with the foil, sprayed side down.  Place the bundt pan in a larger roasting pan.  Fill the pan with water until it comes almost 1/2 way up the sides of the bundt pan.  This is called a water bath.

Now comes the hardest part... waiting!  Bake at 350 degrees for one and a half hours or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

This is also called "The Impossible Cake" because the cake and the flan switch places while baking! It's really cool!

Cool in the pan on a cooling rack until it's cool enough to put in the fridge.  Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.  After it has fully chilled, invert onto a plate or serving platter.

SERIOUSLY AMAZING!!

Man it was 100% worth the couple extra hours in the gym... trust me!!

Rachel even enjoyed it (just not the flan part so much)

You know you want to try it... go ahead!! You won't regret it!!

I'M BACK!!!

Wow I am not a very good blogger! I'm about as good at blogging as I am at keeping a journal! I'm hoping to start blogging with more regularity, but my most recent excuse is inconvenience.  For those who know me know I have been without a laptop for over a year.  My laptop works with one tiny little flaw, the screen is broken.  So I have done the best I can for now and hooked it up to a monitor, key board and mouse, so it is now currently a desktop. As great as it is to have a working computer, I would much rather have a laptop, and while we are on the subject a Mac... but all in good time!  One day (and hopefully soon) I will have said Mac and all will be better, and I will no longer have an excuse not to blog!

So as not to completely overwhelm my all of one (or maybe two) reader(s) of this blog I will not proceed to explain what has gone down in my life in the last two years since I have consistently blogged... each time I post a new recipe, craft or etc I have worked on perhaps I'll share some little tidbit about myself.  As I mentioned in several entries ago (and in reality over a year ago) all I wanted to do was cook.  I LOVE trying out new recipes and I really enjoy cooking for other people (perhaps I just love hearing people praise my work).  Anyways at the time I was living with 5 other girls sharing a tiny kitchen, and I didn't really have any cooking utensils.  Well I have now graduated to living all by myself... and let me tell you it is FABULOUS, but as much as I like it I may be looking for a roommate when my lease runs up, it is just too dang expensive to live on my own, maybe I can bribe someone with my cooking and baking skills :).

Well now that I am living on my own and not sharing my teeny tiny kitchen (seriously it may be the smallest kitchen ever).  And I now have a few nice cooking utensils (AKA my Kitchen Aide that I cannot live with out)! I am ready to start cooking... only problem is I still don't really have the money for these experiments  But luckily I do have to eat, so I chose a few new recipes every time I'm writing out my shopping list so as to be able to try new ideas.  The recipe I'm going to share with you today I luckily already had all the ingredients on hand, and I had an occasion to make them.  I will be sharing with you the amazing CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH BROWNIES.  Yes they are as good (if not better) than the sound, and NO I did not get the recipe from Pinterest (but if I looked on my desserts board I probably do have some variation of this on there).  I got this recipe from my favorite (and only) food blog I consistently follow... I love her food and regularly make her dishes, it may have helped I've met her and tried some of her dishes first hand, from then on I was hooked. Click HERE for where I got this recipe, no really head on over there she has some amazing stuff!

So without further ado here is the fabulous recipe:

For the brownie layer I simply used a box of brownie mix on hand, if you don’t want to be lazy like me, check out the link above for her brownie recipe.  Once the brownies are mixed bake them as directed on the box and once they are finished let them cool and stick them in the fridge.

While the brownies are cooling whip up the cookie dough, (egg-less by the way so they are safe to eat… not like that would stop me anyway)!!

Cookie Dough:

¾ C unsalted butter, room temp

¾ C white granulated sugar

¾ C packed brown sugar

¼ tsp salt

2 Tbsp milk or cream

1 ½ tsp vanilla

1 C flour

½ C mini chocolate chips

Additional mini chocolate chips, if desired to garnish the top.  Once the cookie dough is all made take the brownies out of the fridge and spread the cookie dough on top, nothing fancy just make sure to cover the brownie.  Once that is done cover and leave in the refrigerator for at least one hour or up to 2 days.  Enjoy with a tall glass of cold milk or ice cream!

Let’s let the pictures do the talking now:

I'm lucky I got a picture when I did, these things were devoured!

I was only able to snap a pic of Gabi enjoying her brownie, but she was a very willing and cute subject! And she loved it, you know it's good when you get the approval of a toddler!

This was soooo good, every one at dinner last night raved about how good it was.  I will be making this recipe again, it is definetly going in the recipe box.  Makes me happy, but I personally couldn’t eat a while piece, too rich and I haven’t had sugar like that in a long time! Now to hit the gym hard tomorrow, gotta work off that cookie dough!

Stay tuned I made 4 new recipes this weekend!!

PS don't mind the random white blocks, I don't know what's up with that but I will try to get that worked out for next post!

Worst Week in a LONG time

Well this week has to be one of the worse I have been through for a while.  It started on Sunday when I was driving home from church and one of my tires went flat, and got completely shredded, so I had to buy a new tire, the one bit of luck is that they had a nice used tire, that was cheaper but still more money than I wanted to spend. 
I also had to cancel my Kirtland trip I was looking forward to because I didn't know anyone else going and I couldn't afford driving there by myself, especially because of the set back with my tire.
Worse of all the first news I got when I woke up this morning was that the job I have been waiting to start is not going to work out.  A little background about this job is when I came home from Disney I planned to work as a valet for a few week earn a little money and then pack up my car and move out to Utah to look for a job. A wrench was thrown into my plans when a friend told me about a job here in Kentucky that I applied for and got the job.  So the plan changed and I decided to take this job and stay in Kentucky, I prayed about it and felt good that I should take it and stay.  This job was as an office manager for an office in Shelbyville, for an insurance company they needed someone who could speak Spanish and I was excited about the opportunity, it was a new company and I had a lot of potential to grow with the company.  The job was supposed to start at the beginning of May, and then the opening was pushed back and I wasn't going to start until next week (more specifically on my birthday). 
I had a cushion of money I had made from doing Valet so I have enjoyed being able relax and bum around the past couple of weeks.  Today I woke up to a call from the temp agency that hired me for this job saying that they just found out that everyone working there needed to have a insurance license.  So even though I'm only going to be an office manager and have no interest in working with insurance I need to take a class and test to get my license, the draw back? The class and test cost $265 and it isn't offered until the end of June which means I can't start work until July.  Not only do I not have that kind of money, I can't wait another whole month before starting work, and I don't really want an insurance license.  So I am out of a job, I no longer have the cushion I had working valet to move out to Utah without a job.  So I'm essentially stuck here in Kentucky looking for a job AGAIN! I hate looking for jobs.  I have contacted the Gap so I will probably start working for them again just to have some form of income until I find a job.  The temp agency I have been working with says they will try to find me another job soon, and I have one other idea... but I'm just really upset about these turn of events, and I just hope I can find the reason behind all of this soon!!

Welp that is my rant for now... life kind of sucks!!

LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!!

So today has not been the wonderful and relaxing day I was imagining for my one and only day off this week! I have been increasingly anxious about getting the Disney thing behind me, other than the friends I have made I regard this as the worst decision I have ever made!
Today had promise, I was gonna get a pedicure, eat a $1 jimmy johns sub and watch uk kick the trash out of wku... All three of which pretty much happened!! I got my sub, even took a nap, got my pedicure with 2 of my favorite roommates... We only missed Susanna who Unfortuantly had to work tonight. The uk game is where things got a bit tricky, my other roommate had invited friends over (and one of them is the biggest idiot EVER!!) so I wasn't able to watch the game as planned... One of my roommates Jacquie offered her laptop and I tried watching the game but the connection was terrible so basically all I kept up with the score! Uk of course won easily and I was on cloud nine... I go out to my front room to fix my dinner and my roommates idiot friend thinks its funny to start dissing on uk... Anyone who knows me knows that is one of the worst things to do! I first tried to get him to stop but the idiot he is kept talking over me, finally he went way to far and I flipped out and told him to leave... My flip out made things really awkward in the apartment but seriously he went way too far, even my roommate was trying to get him to stop before he crossed the line, but as stated before he is an idiot (which is probably the understatement of the yer) luckily they left and maybe watching Harry potter on tv will help bring me back up again!!

Hopefully UK's next game I will get to properly watch it without any distractions!! But I'll prob be working :(

Only 28 more days of Disney... An everything that comes with it!!

DESSERTS!!

Ok so since making that blog post about how all I want to do is cook, I have made few things, but being a ditz I didn't take any pictures of it! I have made spaghetti stuffed braided bread, Texas style lasagna, chicken penne pasta, chocolate chip cookies (yes my famous ones!!), Forgotten Kiss Cookies, single serving mug brownie. Yes sounds like a lot, but really the Texas style lasagna I made almost a month ago, but I just froze it and stuck it in the oven this week (but it is one of my favorite meals!). The chicken penne pasta was delicious, and so easy to make that I made 2 dishes at the same time and froze the second one, it was so good and such a hit with my roommates that I think that we will be eating it again next week! The spaghetti stuffed bread wasn't my favorite, my roommate really likes to make bread, so she wanted to use her own bread, anyways I may try to make it again sometime, but it certainly wasn't a favorite. I can always tell when something is good, my roommates eat it all up very quickly. Now before you think oh what horrible roommates that eat all your food, no we share food, we all split the cost, so it is ok that they are eating my food!
My roommates are very sweet, and so therefore never say something doesn't taste good, I think they don't want to hurt my feelings. I will freely admit if I don't like something, I don't think that makes me a bad cook, or anything it's just not every recipe is going to be a golden one, and I am going to make mistakes, and lots of them... I am no professional chef by any means!
So anyways, today I made two desserts, one was really good (in fact I'm still eating it) and the other one was a major royal flop! I will share both recipes with you!

The first one was the Forgotten Kiss Cookies, for the recipe click here I thought they would be so delicious, I mean how can you go wrong with mini m&ms and a Hershey kiss? Well those things were delicious, and the chocolate drizzle on top was oh so good as well, it was the dough I wasn't crazy about! I followed the directions perfectly, and the dough just wasn't good at all. I think if I ever make these again, I will just use my own cookie dough recipe and stick a Hershey kiss in the middle! I found this recipe on pinterest and after making them I disliked it so much I deleted it off my dessert board because I didn't want to be tempted to try and make them again!

Here are a couple pictures of the cookies, don't be deceived, they may look delicious, but they really aren't! In fact one of my roommates even agreed with me they weren't very good, when that happens you KNOW they are bad!!



So since those cookies were such a bust (and I still don' know what to do with them, maybe I should give them to someone I don't like :) ?) Anyways I still wanted something sweet and I have been DYING to try a recipe I found (also on pinterest) and it is for a single serving mug brownie, this way you don't have to make a whole pan of brownies, seriously genius!! Well I'm happy to report this experiment went much nicer than the first, I'm still eating my mug brownie, and as stated in the recipe, I think it would be most delicious with a scoop of ice cream, but alas I didn't have any! Here is the recipe for these delicious brownies!

I took a couple of pictures of these brownies, unfortunately the picture doesn't do them justice, because they are oh so good!!



Seriously if you are in the need of a chocolate fix, this should do just the trick! I added a few semi-sweet chocolate chips to mine! Also mine took longer than 1 minute, it took about 2 min 30 seconds. And I think it probably could have gone a bit longer.

The Weekend!!

Well this has been a very exciting weekend! Ok well maybe it hasn't been, but I am very happy with how it has gone down! Friday I was given some VERY exciting news, that I am finally available for an upgrade with AT&T which means I can finally get the new iPhone 4s, unfortuantly they are all sold out around these parts, so I had to order one, but I should be getting it in the next week! Also Harry Potter 7.2 came out yesterday, but I for some reason ordered it on Amazon, which means I probably won't get it until some time next week, maybe I will get both on the same day... that would be a GREAT day!
Well after work I went to a Disney party with Susanna (she is my coworker and we are going to Disney together). We had fun and met two other girls who want to be our roommates, they seem sweet, so I'm getting even more excited about going, just in case anyone was curious I will be in Disney World in 57 days!! And on that note, I will be graduating in 33 days, but who's counting right?
So after that party I came home and ate dinner only to go to my next party (seriously I never do anything, 2 parties in one night is craziness!!) This party was very low key, it was one of my friend's birthday party, it was fun and when I came home I helped my Roommate Melissa move into her own room, since we had 2 roommates move out this past week we have 2 empty rooms, which means we all have our own rooms now! After moving Melissa into her room she mentioned she was willing to help me organize and clean the kitchen, oh my gosh I was so excited! As mentioned in the last post our kitchen is usually a disaster zone, I seriously cringe every time I walk into my apartment and see how messy it is. I had wanted to make some cookies I found on pinterest, but since the kitchen was so messy I didn't even dare. Well with Melissa's help, I knew we could get the kitchen looking good. well since we have so much more room with just four of us we were able to use some of the empty plastic drawers that no one was using and put them in our kitchen, it took us nearly 3 hours and all 4 of us helped a bit, and finally it was cleaned, I mean every drawer cabinet and surface was organized and cleaned. Words can't describe how happy I am whenever I walk into my apartment and see my kitchen now, it is just so beautiful! Oh and to top it all off my roommate Melissa has some really pretty fall decorations so she brought those out now that we have places to put them and we decorated, I contributed my Christmas lights to spruce things up even more!


Here are a few pics of my apartment, I really wish I had gotten some before pics, and during because I don't think you can truly appreciate how bad it was unless you saw what it was like before!!

Here is a pic of my three roommates, sorry it isn't a very good one of any of them! Melissa is on the far left, Lezlie is the one of the far right, and the other Leslie is the one in the middle that you can't see at all!


Here is my Cabinet all spruced up, you can't really see but there are very pretty fall flowers on top!


Here are two shots of the kitchen next to each other, look how pretty and clean it looks!!

And last but not least we cleared off the table and decorated it, our apartment just looks so beautiful now! I'm so happy!!

All I want to do is COOK!!

So I will admit it, I have become a MAJOR pinterest addict. I love going on there and reading all the funny things, looking at the pretty wedding ideas, and of course drooling over all the delicious looking meals, desserts, and other mouth watering foods!! I am OK being a pinterest addict because I don't just sit and stare at all the pretty things, I actually make quite a few of the stuff I see on there.
I have recently re discovered how much I really enjoy cooking. I have a hard time getting into it because sharing an apartment with 5 other girls the kitchen is always a disaster zone (I stay out of there as much as possible). Then when I'm home I don't really feel like the kitchen is mine, so I don't like to cook there either. I say this all the time, but I seriously can't WAIT until I can have my own place, I will be there soon, very soon! Hopefully by summer time I will be in my own apartment (I will probably have at least one roommate, but that is a lot nicer than 5!!). Lately I have been cooking for my roommates, because two of them had crockpots but had no idea how to use them... I LOVE using a crockpot, and the only one I have is a little bitty one that doesn't hold very much food. So my roommates said I could use their crockpots, so I started cooking for them as well! I have this problem I don't know how to cook for just one person, so I buy the food (we split the money later) and I cook it... I ask them to help with cleaning, cause well I'm not their wife, I won't do EVERYTHING for them. I started out making my normal meal, but with the help of pinterest and family members I have expanded my horizons!! There have been a few busts (in my opinion, my sweet roommates never said it was disgusting!).
Well this last weekend I went to my stake relief society's activity and there were several different workshops, one was a meal planning one. This sister showed us how to make 3 really easy meals (well actually 2 meals and one dessert!). The past few days I have been planning what I want to fix for this week for my roommates, and last night I went shopping. Well it struck me, all I want to do is cook. This morning all I was thinking was how much I want to experiment and make cookies, and cakes, and vegetable soup, and meals, and everything else... but I have no reason to make a lot of that stuff, I could make cookies, but I have no reason to so I would end up eating A LOT of them, which is not something I want to do (well maybe I WANT to, but I shouldn't :).
Then it hit me, I want to start a food blog! I probably won't start it right now, and if I do, it will start off really slow for a while. School is still number one for me right now, but in a little over a month I will be DONE with school, so I will have more time to devote to creating a food blog. Also I have the problem of not having my own kitchen, and well I don't have hardly ANYTHING I would need for my kitchen. This Christmas I'm probably only going to ask for kitchen stuff, right now I'm DYING to have a kitchen aide mixer!! I would also LOVE to have pampered chef pots and pans and skillets, food chopper, wooden spoons, casserole dishes, stones, and oh man I could go on for ages!! I'm wishing I could throw myself a party (similar to a bridal shower, without being a bride) and get all this stuff from people! Unfortunately we don't throw a big party for people graduating from college, we do for high school (which isn't a very hard thing to do). Anyways, maybe one day I will have a kitchen full of all the appliances I need!! But little by little I want to start a food blog, so if I'm living near you, and you want to try my delicious foods... maybe a little bribing will work :).
Anyways this is all just a little rambling, but no one reads this blog anyways :)

Back in the Burg

Well this week as flown by! I can't believe it is already Friday!! I have had a really good first week of classes. I already dropped my Psych class, it was just going to be way too much work and stress, so good thing I don't need that class to graduate!

I have met all my roommates, I still don't know them very well, but they all seem like nice people! We are all older, with the exception of one freshman, and I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest in the apartment! The first few days of the week I felt like a chicken running around with its head cut off. I arrived in Rexburg Sunday night and luckily was able to just unpack my suitcase since I'm living in the same apartment all my stuff was just as I left it! I was also finally able to bring back the cabinet that my brother has been building me, it is beautiful! I only have the cabinet part with me, I still need to finish painting and staining the top shelf part, but I will be one very happy girl when I have both pieces together! Below are some pics of my cabinet!! Paul built the whole thing, and I painted and stained, Paul helped me distress it a bit too! Sorry to all my other siblings, but for right now Paul has one favorite status!!

This one makes it look like I eat a ton of Ramen, I don't actually, but one of my old roommates left me all her food, I actually ate some ramen for the first time in years yesterday!!


Isn't it just beautiful?? I'm so excited about it!! I absolutely LOVE my cabinet!!

Well back to my week, because I know you all are just sitting on the edges of your seats because my life is just soooo exciting ;). Well after getting settled in Sunday night, and seeing some of my old friends I went to bed, Monday morning I didn't have class until 10:15 but I had a ton of errands to run so I had to wake up early and get them all done! Luckily I did, and yet I still had an hour to kill before class! My classes weren't too bad, my Monday Wednesday Friday classes all seem like they are going to be pretty easy. I have 3 classes on those days, and they are back to back, from 10:15 to 1:45, and then I have work from 2-5, by the end of Monday I was EXHAUSTED!!! Straight from work I met up with my cousin Barb to have dinner, then I went straight to FHE where I found out I was indeed NOT released from my calling and am in fact still Relief Society president! The from FHE I came home and went to bed!!

This whole week has been very similar to Monday, I haven't really had any time to just stop and think, I have also already been bombarded by homework, I don't think this semester is going to be unusually hard, but I am going to have A LOT of homework!! I'm excited though, I like all my teachers and classes, and I met all my neighbors last night and I think I'm going to have a great semester!!

Welp I gotta run, I have class in a few minutes!! I hope everyone is having a great day!!

Back in the West

Welp my summer break is quickly winding down to a close! I can't believe how fast time flies by, does it ever slow down?
Well I flew back to Utah on Thursday morning, it was a very eventful day, I woke up at 4am and had to catch my flight leaving at 6:55AM. Luckily I was able to sleep most of the way, but I must say, sleeping on planes is not one of my favorite things to do. I had a sort of long layover in Dallas, and to make matters worse my plane was late getting there, and so of course we were late taking off. Finally I made it to Salt Lake, met up with my cousin Will's fiance, who was sweet enough to come pick me up even though she has never met me. She dropped me off at temple square where I met up with a friend who served in KY, Bryan Leano. We decided to go do a session in the Salt Lake temple, I had never been, and let me say, it was AMAZING!! I can't wait to go back and do a session and not have to worry about rushing to get there and rushing to leave! I would have loved to spend more time in the temple, but since neither one of us had a watch, and I was worried about catching my bus on time we ended up leaving a lot sooner than I would have liked. Luckily I had plenty of time to change and go catch my bus. I made it to Logan with no problems, was picked up at the USU campus by my brother, and then was able to eat my favorite thing in the world... CAFE RIO!!! Salt Lake temple and cafe rio all in the same day, can life get any better?? I submit that it cannot!
Well now I'm just kind of hanging around Logan, I hung out with my best friend Ericca yesterday, and today. I also have been working on the shelf and cabinet my brother has made for me. I'm excited to get back to Rexburg and see all my friends, and meet all my new roommates! I'm also a bit nervous, this is my last semester at BYU-I, then after that, who knows what I'm going to do. I have a pretty good idea of what I'm supposed to do, or rather what I want to do, but from my experience the Lord has a way of changing things around, and I'm already starting to get the feeling like things aren't going to go exactly as I have them planned!!
Well here's to hoping I have a good and successful semester!!

New Testament Class Week 5 two posts in one

Ok so here are my two New Testament posts all in one big long post!! Only one more week of classes left!!

Unit One:

Choice Three: Hebrews 13. Works of Righteousness

Paul concluded his epistle to the Hebrews with some brief teachings and statements of counsel. Read Hebrews 13 and find statements about the following questions:

• How should we treat strangers and those “in bonds”?

We should entertain them, because by doing so we may entertain angels.

We should remember be in bonds, and be compassionate towards them.

• How is marriage looked upon?

It is honorable in all.

• What warnings are given about covetousness?

That we should not be covetous, and be grateful for everything that we have, and realize that God will give us everything that we need.

• What is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”?

Jesus Christ

• How are we sanctified?

Through the blood and suffering of Christ.

• How do we respond to those who rule over us?

We must Obey them and subject ourselves to them.

• Who did Paul ask the people to pray for?

Paul asked them to pray for him and the others of the ministry

Unit Two:

Topic Choices (Choose One)

Choice 1: James 1. “Be Ye Doers of the Word and Not Hearers Only”

1. Read James 1 and respond in writing to the following items:
• What words or phrases encourage you to look for direction from God?
1. That I can ask God and not have to worry about being chastised for asking.
2. When going through trials I will receive blessings for what I have gone through
3. That when I am being tempted it is not from God, so that encourages me to ask for His help.
4. Every good and perfect gift is from God.
• How did James further define the phrase to “ask in faith”?
1. Nothing wavering, that we shouldn’t doubt whether we will get an answer from God, because if we doubt than we will not get an answer.
• How do Matthew 6:24 and 1 Kings 18:21 add to your understanding of James 1:8?
1. If we are double minded than we are serving two masters, which the verses from Matthew and 1 Kings are very plain on we cannot serve two masters because we will hate one and love the other. And when they serve two masters they mean following God and following Satan which you can’t do both at once.
• From James 1:13–15, 19–27, make an outline of how we can better live the gospel of Jesus Christ.
1. That we cannot be tempted of God, and so if we cleave unto the things of the Lord we cannot be tempted. It says that we are tempted when taken away from our lusts, so we need to just stay away from those things and stay close to God.
2. Listen to the teachings of the gospel
3. be slow to anger
4. stay away from all “filthiness”
5. be doers of the word, and not hearers only.
6. be charitable, help the poor and the widowed.
• Give a few modern examples of how you have recently seen individuals exemplify James 1:22.
1. The one example that popped into my head as soon I read this question was of a lady I came into contact with at work a couple of days ago. I work at the Gap, and unfortunately we have a lot of problems with shoplifters. I was helping a lady with her purchases, she was returning a shirt and buying a couple of other things. When I finished ringing everything up her daughter put everything into the bag to help out, and we were really busy so I didn’t think anything of it. They left the store and I continued helping other customers; about 15 minutes after they left the lady came back in and said they had accidently taken the shirt the had returned with them. I was touched by that small act of honesty, because it would have been easy enough for them to just keep the shirt, they had already returned it. She took the time to come back into the store and give us the shirt back. So many people wouldn’t do that.
2. Read the institute student manual commentary for James 1:5–6, “If Any of You Lack Wisdom” (p. 409). Make a list of reasons why Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–1985) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said these verses have “had a greater impact ... upon mankind than any other” scripture.

Because it has helped any investigator of truth to direct his questions to God to find the answers

It was the crowning act of the ministry of James

It led Joseph Smith to ask which church he should join which then in turn opened the heavens once more, which has allowed the priesthood to be established on the Earth so we can all have to opportunity to receive the saving ordinances we must have to live with our Father in Heaven once more.

New Testament Class Week 4 second post

Unit TWO

Choice 4: Titus 1–3. Epistle of Obedience

1. Read Titus 1:1–5 and the Bible Dictionary entry for “Titus” (pp. 785–86). Write a paragraph about who Titus was and what responsibility he had toward the Saints living in Crete.
• It sounds like Titus was Paul’s son. I’m not sure if Paul used that term literally or figuratively. Either way he used that term in the scriptures Titus was a very near and dear person to Paul. Titus traveled with Paul on several of his missions, and was present at a lot of the conferences. His role in Crete was to carry on the work there and establish the priests and the “government” of the church.
2. List the attributes of a bishop found in Titus 1:6–9; 1 Timothy 3:1–7.
• Blameless
• One wife
• Faithful children
• Not accused of riot
• Not unruly
• Not selfwilled
• Steward of God
• Not soon angry
• Not given to wine
• No striker
• Not given to filthy lucre a lover of hospitality
• Lover of good men
• Sober
• Just
• Holy
• Temperate
• Holding fast to the word
• Good behavior
• Apt to teach
• Patient
• Not covetous
• Presides well over his own house
3. Read Titus 1:10–16 and the institute student manual commentary for Titus 1:12, “The Nature and Character of the Cretans” (p. 373). Make a list of the problems Paul identified that existed among the Saints in Crete.
• Many unruly, vain talkers, deceivers
• Lovers of filthy lucre
• Always liars
• False prophets
• Evil beasts
• Slow bellies
• Unbelievers
• Disobedient
• Deny God
• Hypocrites
4. Read Titus 2–3. Then write your answers to the following questions:
• In Titus 2:1, what did Paul encourage Titus to speak of?
1. Speak only sound doctrine
• What impact did Paul say sound doctrine would have upon the aged?
1. it teaches them to be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things.
• How could that also apply to the young?
1. it also teachers them to be sober, chaste, good works, obedient.
• How can the counsel given in Titus 3:2–5 help us be patient with new members of the Church?
1. That we have all made “fools” of ourselves and we have all been learners and brand new to something so we should have love and patience for those who are new and learning.
• What role does the Lord’s grace play in our salvation? Read Titus 3:5–7; 2 Nephi 2:6–8; 10:24; Moroni 6:4; 10:32–33; Doctrine and Covenants 45:3–5.
1. Without the Lord’s grace there is no way we could be saved. He is our advocate during the judgment. He suffered for all of our sins so that if we just live as righteously as we can and repent of our sins with our Lord’s grace we can be clean 100%.
5. Read Titus 3:9 and the institute student manual commentary for Titus 3:9, “Why ‘Avoid Foolish Questions, and Genealogies, and Contentions, and Strivings About the Law’?” (p. 374). Write a definition for what is meant by foolish questions and genealogies. Write a paragraph about how you could stay grounded in “sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1) and “avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law.”
• I figure what is meant by foolish questions and genealogies is when people ask things to be contentious, or to try and start a “bible bash” and we are supposed to avoid those.
• I can stay grounded in sound doctrine by obviously going to church every Sunday, attending FHE on Monday nights, go to institute if it is offered. Also reading my scriptures and praying, studying conference talks. Doing all these things can help me stay grounded in sound doctrine. Ways to avoid foolish questions and contentions would be to just not rise to the challenge. Many times in my life people have tried to trip me up in my beliefs, or have wanted to bible bash. As soon as I start to get a hint of that kind of attitude I simply bare my testimony and try to end the conversation. People who want to argue are not spiritually sensitive enough to understand the spirit.

New Testament Class Week 4

Here is my most recent post for my new testament class. I don't know if anyone is reading my blog here, but if you are, hopefully you are enjoying these little insights I have had! This post is on how we can use the scriptures to solve our day to day problems. ENJOY!

Unit one

Choice 1: Philippians 1–4. Find Solutions in the Scriptures to Life’s Challenges

For each of the following common challenges, write the counsel from Philippians that you would use to resolve it:

• People sometimes argue and complain over petty matters in church meetings or throughout the week (see Philippians 2:1–8, 14–15).

In this set of scriptures it talks about how we should be like minded and remember Christ who died for us. These scriptures made me think about how we need to realize that everyone is different, and so we will all have different opinions. We need to realize this, and think well if it isn’t something vitally important, than we shouldn’t argue over it. I a lot of times try (and the key word here is try), to just think let bygones be bygones, if it isn’t eternally important, I try to just let it go.

• Many youth feel that their parents’ testimony is sufficient for them. Since they have good parents, they rely on them for all their spiritual strength (see Philippians 2:12–15 and institute student manual commentary for Philippians 2:12, “Work out Your Own Salvation with Fear and Trembling” [pp. 361–62]).

These are good scriptures, but what really helped it hit home was the part of the institute manual. We are responsible for our own testimony. This is an action gospel, we can’t just sit idly by and expect to gain exhalation. No, we must live and strive for it constantly by always trying to better our testimony. Not only can we forever lean on the testimony of our parents, but we can’t just have one spiritual experience and think we have a testimony and never work on it again. Having spiritual strength and a testimony is a lifelong process of hard work.

• An investigator is considering joining the Church, but his family will no longer associate with him if he does (see Philippians 3:7–16; 4:13).

These scriptures are very comforting, and help us realize that Christ has suffered it all. He knows what it is like for someone to lose their family, He asks us to follow Him, and He will make it all better. He will strengthen us in our tough times; we just have to have faith in Him.

• How is this writing assignment an example of the principle taught in 2 Nephi 32:3?

In this scripture it is telling us we should feast upon the words of Christ, because they are the words of Christ, and will be a comfort for us. So this activity of seeing how the scriptures can help solve day to day problems is like feasting on them. So many times we want other people to solve our problems for us, or help us figure them out, when really all we have to do is learn to turn to the scriptures for all our problems.