Hollan-DAZE

Last night for dinner Chuck and I decided to BBQ steak and for our sides we made Au Gratin Potatoes (thank you Miss Betty Crocker) and Artichokes! As a kid I hated Artichokes, but I've been wanting to give them another try! We got them going in a boiling pot of hot water!

And I started to make my very first recipe from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, thank you to my Sister for letting me borrow this book!

I chose to do the Blender method, but without a blender. We figured my hand held mixer would work just as well...I gathered my ingredients: Eggs, Lemon Juice, Butter, and Salt & Pepper.

First you combine the egg (i think i was supposed to just use the yolk), lemon juice, salt & pepper.

Melt your butter in a hot sauce pot.

Then slowly while running the mixer on high, drop the butter in slowly.

Needless to say I screwed it up. I think I added the entire egg and it should have just been the yolk. I will have to investigate that when I get home tonight.

But I was not willing to admit defeat quite yet...while I was waiting for us to get started on dinner I had opened up our Joy of Cooking and searched for their version of how to make hollandaise sauce. I was in luck Ms.Rombauer had an alternative way to make it that I was sure I could handle.

I once again gathered the ingredients:

I whipped the lemon juice and eggs together.

Then melted my butter once again.

Then you pour the lemon egg mixture into the melted pot on the stove and continuously stir until it has thickened. Once thickened I poured into a bowl to keep it from cooking and added salt and pepper and some paprika! I had Chuck do a taste test since I had no idea what it was supposed to taste like.

And voila....we had an amazing dinner. I can't wait to try the "long" way of making hollandaise sauce now! It wasn't bad and I think I may like artichokes...the jury is still somewhat out on that. I love the artichoke heart but getting to it was kind of bland!

Anyone else tried Julia Child's recipe for hollandaise sauce?

It's Here....It's FINALLY HERE!!

For 2 years we have been putting off buying a mantel because it's so expensive. A few weeks ago we came across a cheaper way of handling out situation and yesterday it ARRIVED!!

You can see what we've been dealing with...technically those silver pieces were not always there, we tried another option and I couldn't get it to work with our wall, turns out our wall was the problem and not the installers problem...anywho....it was ugly without anything!

Here's my honey getting ready to install our new mantel shelf!

Look at the beauty! She's the perfect size all the way around! And the white matches our baseboards and trim perfectly...Not that matching white with white is hard!

Ahhhh....all finished! I finally had a shelf above the fireplace to decorate! I was so stoked! I promptly moved the excessive candle holders from the tv stand to the shelf and added a few more simple ones!

Doesn't it just look great! We still need to put the trim right underneath it to hide the cable wire and also along the sides but this just readjusts the focus of the room. We no longer have the focus solely on the TV wall, it's not evenly spread through out our living room!

Here's a shot of our whole living room. Excuse the fan, it only resides in the house during summer season! Doesn't it just look awesome. I wish I had pictures from when we first moved in to now because it's a HUGE improvement. We finally feel like we've turned our house into our HOME!

I couldn't be happier with our living room. It's only 2 steps away from being complete! Our living room and dining room are the main parts of the house, aside from the kitchen which let me tell you someone else will be doing the work on that while we just pay the bill....but being the main parts we wanted them cozy and comfy with our own style thrown in. Since I moved out of my parents house I now feel like I've created the home I've always wanted...

For Now...

Chuck and I decided to take a trip to our local Wal-Mart to blow some hard earned cash on a few new decorations for the house. Some things I'd been putting off buying until we got our new dining room table.

The first thing on the list was a new table cloth to cover the table until I got it all refinished...although we both like it so much that it may stay even after the table is completed.
The next piece was the table cloths...we decided now to remove 2 of them and 2 of the chairs until we need them because it looks a a little cramped now and realistically we don't need all 6 settings on a regular basis...I was also dying to get a centerpiece for the table. And since you can never have too many candles we decided on a simple round "Bowl" with some sand and shells and three multi-height candles! Yes I said "We" Chuck just loved the idea!

And of course over the weekend I got to work in the garage and started refinishing. These chairs will take awhile because of the detail but I made some good headway before my neighbor/friend Andrea stopped by to chat :-)

I am hoping to get back out in the garage a few nights next week to work on this. I won't have time this weekend because...............Mom and I are going to a scrapbook crop on Saturday WOO HOO! I am so excited for this. I actually won a first spot through a facebook drawing so it's a sweet deal for me! I just hope we have as much fun as we do at our other annual crop!

It's D-U-N

Some could say I am a Happy Girl, but I would describe myself as an ECSTATIC Girl these days! Chuck finally had two days off in a row and he spent one of those day putting in the new floors in my scrapbook room! YAY! Do you know what this means??? ALL THE FLOORS IN THE HOUSE ARE NOW UPDATED!! We had to leave carpet in one area but all the rooms are now the way we wanted them! WOO HOO!! And we have enough leftover to put some in the laundry room when I redo that WOO HOO!!

Just look at how nice they look....and this should help with the heat upstairs meaning I should be able to scrapbook more often during the summer! YAY!

My honey did such a great job and I was so excited to come home. To make it even better he also moved all my furniture back in for me! What a great guy!!!

I am super excited to say almost all of our home improvements for 2010 are coming to a close and the house is almost exactly how we want it! Aside from bigger projects that are waiting on funds...we are going to have all the other projects done by end of year! I am so excited to have our home finished after just 2 years of living here...plus that also means I get to start working on my friend Alycia's condo! I just love home improvements!

Cheesy and Beefy

Last Sunday while I was patiently awaiting Chuck's return home from work so we could head out to my parents for a BBQ, I decided to try out a Hungy Girl recipe for lunch! I've been slacking on my cooking through the 200 Under 200 cookbook and have just been slacking on losing weight! It's time to get back on track people!

I quickly flipped to a tagged page and created the Cheesy Beefy Quesadilla!

You will need: Tortilla, Sour Cream, Beef Soy Crumbles (or in my case a Boca burger), Taco Seasoning, Scallions, Laughing Cow Light Swiss, and Cheddar Cheese.

Mix together the "beef crumbles" sour cream, cheddar cheese, scallions, and taco seasoning mix...pop into the microwave for 30 seconds.

Heat up a pan with non stick spray....spread the laughing cow cheese on half the tortilla, then plop it into the pan. Heat for about 30 seconds and then top with the above mixture.

Fold over the other half of the tortilla and press to seal.

Heat until both sides of the tortilla are browned and then remove from heat, cut into 4 pie shaped wedges!

And then eat at your own risk! I am not sure if it's that I can't get into the Boca burger meat or if this entire dish didn't sit well with me, but I threw it out. I took one bite and let it digest for about 5 seconds before I threw the whole thing out. No offense Hungry Girl but this recipe gets an F!! Maybe it'd be different if I followed the recipe exact, so we'll say this is no fault of Hungry Girl, but a cooks error...just be aware I won't ever be trying this one again! Anyone who wants to try this recipe...you know because I've made it sound so wonderful (*sarcasm*) here it is: Cheesy Beefy Quesadilla.

Anyone else hate when you try a new recipe and it fails horribly?

Swirls Gone Good!

Remember back when I tried Hungry Girls Cheesecake Swirled Brownies and well they turned out HORIBBLY!

No fear I've found a new recipe....and no this is not a healthy one, this one is full of SUGAR!

So grab your butter, flour, sugar, eggs, ricotta cheese, and cocoa!

Melt that beautiful butter in a sauce pan!

While that's melting combine your ricotta cheese and one egg.

Once your butter is melted quickly add in sugar and baking cocoa.

Ooohhh look at the ricotta and egg mixture...looking dreamy creamy!

Add two eggs into your other mixture!

And finally the flour!

Stir until smooth and then spread into an 11 x 7 pan (not sure this was the right size but it worked)
And plop the creamy mixture in "Balls" on top of your chocolate mix.

Take the end of a knife and go swirl crazy!

Pop into your oven and 45 minutes later check it out:

Yum...as described by a coworker they actually kind of look like fudge...but no mistaken that they are brownies once you bit into their yummy goodness!

And the hint of cheesecake is not overpowered which allows the chocolate to come through! I love both cheesecake and chocolate so I was ecstatic that these turned out so well...

Any one interested in the recipe just let me know :-) Enjoy!

I Visited the Muffin Man on Drury Lane

Do you know the muffin man?? I "Heart" Sugar knows him well apparently... Introducing a close 2nd in the running (my Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe will always win) I created extremely CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS! They were so EASY!

Sorry for lack of photo of the ingredients not sure how that happened....but you will need: Flour, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Eggs, BUTTER, Chocolate Chips, Cocoa Powder, Sour Cream! Hmm can't think of anything else but I might be missing something... Mix the dry ingredients and the butter! Add the sour cream, and eggs!

Mix in the cocoa and the chocolate chips!

Pour into 12 muffin cups...WARNING: These make HUGE muffins!

Let the lovely smell of Chocolate waft through your home....then remove the AMAZING goodness from your oven!

I'm sorry but did I mention these turned out AMAZING! I was so impressed considering they had sour cream as a key ingredient! The next morning I put them in my super cool cupcake carrier and hauled them off to work! Needless to say they were big hit, but I was so happy that I was able to bring some home because I'd left Chuck only one and one of the first things he said to me when I got home was, and I quote, "Those muffins were amazing" oh yes we like the word amazing :-)

If anyone is interested I will post the actual recipe...just need to copy it out of the cookbook! Enjoy!

Vanilla Stole My Heart

Don't you just love work holidays? I sure do! It gives me an opportunity to sleep in with my honey, watch a movie in bed, enjoy a cup of coffee and then start doing what I do best: BAKING!! Monday was the perfect day for me to make a mess in our kitchen because
A. I didn't have to work
B. Chuck went to work at 1
C. The weather finally cooled down!

I pulled out a cookbook we bought titled: I <3 Sugar...yes it really is a heart! Flipped through a few pages and picked out 3 recipes! The first one I tried was Vanilla Hearts! Super easy and hardly any ingredients needed.

Grab your flour, sugar, butter, and vanilla and get started!

Mix together the dry ingredients first then add butter and vanilla until it forms a nice dough.

Roll it out and start punching out some hearts! Wouldnt these just be perfect for Love day with some red food coloring..oh yes I made a mental note on that one!

Pop them in the oven...

And TADA! They look super yummy right?? Yes they might have been had I not baked them too long. Looks are deceiving on these little babies and I baked them probably 2-5 minutes too long. But I can tell you they taste delicious after dunked in some milk :-)

I can't wait to make them again and enjoy them fresh out of the oven at just the right time. Enjoy!

Kraft + McCormick!

Last week I tried a new recipe! YAY! I made what's called an Easy Layered Taco Bake...A.K.A The simplest thing in the world!

Here's what you need: Kraft Mac N Cheese ( or a knock off brand will do), Taco Seasoning, Water, and Ground Beef!

Cook the Mac N Cheese dinner, and brown the ground beef with water and taco seasoning!

Layer in an 8x8 pan..

Ooooo YUM! I love Kraft Mac N Cheese! Unfortunately my Paps and Sister make the best and I'm never full satsified..but that's a whole 'nother story :-)

Pop it in the oven...And voila....You've got yourself what I'd like to describe as a Cheesy Taco Spiced Hamburger Helper! Super easy and I can gurantee it's kid friendly!

Need something quick and easy make sure to have the ingredients on hand and whip this up! It's a crowd pleaser, and as for sides...Green beans and cornbread would be great additions! Enjoy!

Oh Julia...

I have finally finished reading Julia Child's book "My Life in France"....I prefer the movie version! Don't get me wrong, the book is great. It was also a break from my usual literature selections, but honestly her life bored me until it came to her becoming well known. I wish they had kept writing about her later life but oh well. I recommend you read it if you love the movie Julia & Julia, if you like Julia Child, or if you like reading autobiographies....


My overall grade: B...it didn't leave me with any emotion at the end and it never gave me that anxious can't put the book down feeling.