Chocolate & Cinnamon Goodness!

Yesterday at work we were discussing the next Birthday coming up and since I am usually in charge of Birthday Desserts I realized that the next cake that was wanted was a Tres Leches cake! I've never made one so I began searching for a recipe to practice this weekend!

During my search for a recipe I came across a few more recipes I wanted to try this weekend! This particular recipe Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Roll Wreath was one I came across on the AMAZING The Open Pantry! I literally fell in love with this blog and knew I had to make at least one of her recipes this weekend...

I got off work at 4 yesterday, stopped by our Safeway and picked up $65 worth of baking ingredients! Yeah I was pretty SHOCKED! But I wanted to make like 4 or 5 new baked good recipes this weekend and I had to stock up on some ingredients we don't always keep lying around!

After pouring myself a glass of Robert Mondavi's Meritage (which by the way I have now found a new wine I love) and put on some music I got myself knee deep in dough!

I gathered up my necessary ingredients for the first step: Flour, Sugar, Milk, Butter, Yeast, Salt, and Eggs (not pictured).

Take some warm water and some yeast and let the yeast dissolve.

While the Yeast is dissolving put some milk, sugar, and salt in a pot on the stove. Scald these ingredients, which I found out means to let it get to the point where just the outer rim is boiling then remove from the heat. Do not let it get to a full boil!

After the milk and sugar mixture has cooled add in eggs, butter, and yeast mixture. Then add cups of flour until it becomes a soft dough...

Then cover and set aside until it has doubled in size!

Once the dough has doubled in size roll it out into a rectangle shape about 1/3 an inch thick.

The next items you need can vary. Essentially whatever you want to fill it with you can but I chose: Chocolate Chips, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon and some butter for spreading!

Melt your butter slightly then spread over the dough. Then sprinkle with all your ingredients. (Note: Do not be stingy.....I should have added more filling ingredients!)

Roll it up like a log!

Then place on a large cookie sheet or pizza pan. I had neither and I realized I NEED a pizza pan! Wrap it around and connect the ends, so it's like a big circle. Then take a sharp knife and slice about halfway into parts of so you can fan it out.

Pop it in the oven and just wait for your home to fill up with the amazing smell! Whip together some frosting and pour over. My frosting turned out pretty crappy but this didn't even need frosting!

YUM!!! As you can see it needed more filling, but this piece of heaven was AMAZING!

Check out that AMAZING chocolate melted goodness!!

This was AMAZING! Its pretty rich so you don't need a big piece but have a glass of milk or coffee handy! I of course tasted a small piece last night but this morning I woke up, preheated the oven, started a pot of coffee and waited....This was even better in the morning. It's not an every weekend breakfast item but for special occasions this will be my go to recipe. Of course I need to practice it a little more and get the filling ingredient amounts right and of course work on my frosting recipe. But this is a must try.....Make sure to check out The Open Pantry Blog for some yummy recipes!

Cricut Center

Awhile back my Mom handed down her Cricut to me, as she bought the bigger one! Needless to say it took me a little while but I am officially hooked! :-) Along with the Cricut she also spoiled me and bought me a few cartridges! My Seester had also bought me a cartridge for my birthday...without having to spend any of my own money the addiction began!

After having to pull this baby out twice from its storage spot I decided then and there I needed a spot set up where it could sit out 24/7 and since I am so lucky to have my very own scrapbook room it really wasn't a problem.

I whipped out my old countertop and just placed it on top of my rolling cart and voila...within 2 minutes I had my Cricut Center set up and ready to go!!

This has been so amazing! I've used it more than I can count and I L-O-V-E it! I've begun a wish list of Cartridges I want to buy and to be honest I'm even considering buying the bigger one!

I am so happy with my new Cricut Center!!

Sick of Being Single?

Another book down and another disappointment! Last night I finished another book, yes it was a quick read. I read "Jennifer Johnson if Sick of Being Single" by Heather McElhatton and needless to say I was so disappointed in the end!

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I stayed up late last night to finish it because I thought I knew for sure how it would end and I was just dying to get to my happy ending! But boy was I let down. This book really wasn't great in any way. It was okay throughout the entire thing. The only thing that saved it was that its short! If you want a slap in the face of reality than feel free to indulge yourself in this book. If you prefer happy endings or cutesy unrealistic fairy tales stay far far away!!

I think I've been doing too much reading, or maybe it's because the last two books I've read have left me feeling blah at the end. The next book I'll be reading is for our Book Club, it's The Thief Taker by Janet Gleeson and I'm hoping it rocks my socks off because I can't take another crappy book. Tonight I'll take a break and scrapbook and then start reading when I hit the sack. Fingers crossed its better.

And I know I've been too busy reading because my blog consists of nothing but books right now haha. I think this weekend I need to try a new recipe or work on home improvements! What's sad is there isn't any new recipes I've been wanting to try, nothing I've been craving, and I've enjoyed the small break from working on stuff for the house....but I definitely need to change something up since these books are letting me down!

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Wickedly Bad!

Over the weekend I finished reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire....what they say about this book is true..........

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It was an extreme let down. Even though people have told me it's hard to get through and most people I know couldn't even finish it I had some hopes for it. I thought maybe it would be better because I knew it was disliked by people I know. But it was not! It was so boring! Yes....boring!! It dragged on and on and on. After finishing it I was so happy to be done with it. I wasn't happy that I'd read it which I hate when I finish a book. Word to the wise.....skip the book but see the musical! The musical is AMAZING....The book SUCKS!

Sorry Mr. Maguire but I won't be reading any more of your novels....My grade F!

Summer Cleaning!

While Saturday was a near perfect day, I scrapbooked all day and finished up a book I was reading, Sunday I decided to get at least one thing done on my to do list. And that one thing was cleaning out our pantries and cupboards! Yes you saw that right...plural on the pantries. Our condo does not have much cupboard space for us and we are just dying without a real pantry! My big plan was to rearrange our cupboards and use only one of our extra "pantry" spaces. Now these spaces are literally a organizer hung over the back of our downstairs closet and on the shelves in our laundry room! I hate it!!

I first took everything out of our cupboards and our "pantries"....Our dining room table was COVERED in food items!

Then I took out everything from the cupboards in the kitchen....

With no room left on the table all of my baking items were left on our counters!

Then I got to organizing. I first decided how I wanted food arranged....and now check out our beautifully organized cupboards. And I am happy to say most of the food items are actually in the kitchen now WOO HOO!!

This is our breakfast items and lunch items/snack items cupboard! Yes that's a bottle of wine...it may not belong but I was planning on drinking it that night!

This is the boxed food items and our drinks cupboard! A little random but we needed a separate space for our coffee and teas :-)

And of course I couldn't fit everything into our kitchen so I decided ALL baking items were to go in the laundry room :-( I really wish we had a better place and eventually we will (in our next house) but this works for now. It makes sense to put all the baking stuff in one spot and then I am happy to say the rest of the items all are now residing in our kitchen where they belong!

And after...doesn't my kitchen look pretty? I was so happy to get it all cleaned up after making a mess...

And of course now we could see our dining room table again LOL!

I was so ready to relax after reorganizing and cleaning....so what did I do? I sat down and watched Leap Year and cuddled with the puppies...then after the movie I read Wicked for a bit. Overall I had a great weekend.....probably because I didn't leave the house once (Aside from taking the dogs out) and I got to scrapbook, read, and organize...3 of my favorite things :-) I hope everyone else had a GREAT WEEKEND!

Potato Peel Pie

I finished another book yesterday and this one was so cute that I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days. That's right I started it Friday Night and sat down to finish it last night. Granted it's by no means a long book but you get wrapped up in these people's lives. It's funny I was telling Chuck last night I was a little sad that it was over because there will never be anymore knowledge about these people's lives....his response "Well yeah cause they were never real people"...What to do with those non-readers....but yes I was slightly saddened because I really loved every character in this book.

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This book is a collection of letters...which I can tell you I was skeptical about. I tend to prefer books that give you backgrounds and really set the scene early on in the book. With letters you get thrown into these lives and have to give it a fair shot to get to the heart of the story....This book is worth giving a shot. The letters are cute and characters are quirky. It takes place after World War 2 and it tells the trials and triumphets of the island of Guernsey...I can gurantee you will fall in love with these people and you too will be saddened when the letters cease and you must start a new book....

Because I just couldn't take a break last night I started another book :-) Yes another one. I figured I had plenty of time to read one, if not two more books before I should start my next book club book and the book I chose.....Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Now I've heard this book is a "hard" read and so far its so-so. I think what might kill it for me is that last year my family and I went to see the musical Wicked....can this book really be as good as that? I doubt it because I won't be singing this book in my mind haha....Wish me luck to get through it!

*BLUSH*

Remember when you were younger and they gave out awards for school achievements and sports? .......What happened? Just because you grow up you aren't supposed to get awards? I know I know some people grow up and win many awards as an adult...I am not one of those people!

So I was so EXCITED to get another award for my blog! Looks like my rambling thoughts and randomness of topics is liked :-) Thank you to Amanda over at I Am Panda for giving me this award!

BTW I love the color of the award! Green is the best!

Now they are always rules to these awards and I promise to abide by those:

The requirements after winning the award are to list 7 things about myself
& then pass the award on to some new blogs that I've discovered.

First 7 Things About Little Old Me:

1. I am obssessed with school supplies. I love when stores put out back to school items and I usually spend about $50 a year on school supplies when I have no need or reason.

2. I love baking and cooking...you probably couldn't tell by my blog (*insert sarcasm*)

3. Washing dishes by hand is theraputic for me....so is vacumning!

4. If I could afford it I would love to buy fresh flowers every single week and have at least 3 bouqets of them at home and one at the office...I need to find a florist to make my best friend haha!

5. My pets are my kids. Roxy is the perfect little princess (yeah right), Buster is my big protector, and Belle & Jasmine (our kitties) are just house decorations LOL. They just have to look pretty and be soft!

6. I have discovered a love for refinishing furniture. It really does bring me joy. I will be sad when I finish our dining room table because I'll be out of furniture to refinish :-(

7. I would die if I couldn't ever do arts and crafts or scrapbooking ever again. I find myself to be the happiest when I am hanging out in my scrapbook room and working on a layout, sewing, or creating something fun and new!

Now onto the best part of this award, recognizing other awesome blogs! Now I don't have any that I've discovered recently but I do have some AMAZING blogs that I love:

1. Tara over at : We Do Not Remember Days, We Remember Moments Maybe it's because we are about the same age and enjoy the same things but I just love her blog. You get to see her show off all her craftiness but you also see how much she loves her family. And her and her hubby are starting off on a new journey, Parenthood!!

2. This is actually a newly discovered blog and I can't get enough of it. Maggie over at Cookie 365 is so inspiring. I always want to go home and make cookies after I read a new post but what recipe to try? She has amazing and different recipes for cookies that will make you drool.

3. And because I have to give a shout out to an amazing blog about my home "county"...Kristofor and Laura over at We Love Sonoma County do an amzing job of highlighting all the neat things to do in our area. It's a nice reminder for me because we plan on moving out of state in a few years.

There you have it folks! Now go check out all the amazing blogs I follow! All of them deserve an award, otherwise why would I be following them ;-)

Next Please.....

I am sad to say that I've taken a book off my to read list. I tried to get into this one but no go. I guess I couldn't wrap my head around all the "Green" and "Do Gooding" in it. I know that sounds horrible doesn't it? It's not that I'm cold hearted and don't care about the environment. I really do I just don't want to read about it in a novel that is supposed to be fun. Don't we read and see enough about the problems with the environment in the news. Plus as far as "Do Gooding" I just can't get behind that in a novel. I want the characters to be a little more realistic.

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Sorry Gemma Townley but this one is a fail in my book. Maybe next time....

Appliances Made My Day

Last night Chuck and I went to our local Best Buy. We were looking for any new electronics? No we were buying new APPLIANCES! And to be honest it was the highlight of my week so far! I can't tell you how excited I was to get off work and go get our new VACUMN and TOASTER!! Oh yes I was EXCITED!!

We'd finally killed the hand me down vacumn my parents had given us and decided we needed to get a pet specific one. Even though we now have all of our floors done I still wanted something that was designed specifically for picking up pet hair and eliminating pet odor. Now I can sit here and say all I want that our house doesn't smell like pets, truth of the matter I'm sure to an outsider our place probably does. I'm not talking a nasty stench but we do have 4 pets and even though we have amazing plug ins at times our house probably smells of dogs!

Here are our new housemates: A Beautiful Oster 2-Slice Toaster and a Eureka Pet Expert Vacumn! Aren't they lovely?

Now let me fill you in on why we needed a new toaster. We'd been suffering the past few years with an old toaster I had. I bought it in a package which came with the toaster, electric can opener, and coffee maker. Needless to say the toaster was the only survivor member of the trio. And it was a PITA!! (Pain in the ass) You could only toast 2 slices of bread and maybe an hour later toast another 2. And you had to really push the handle down and pray to the toaster gods that it would stay down! Half the time the toast was never really toasted but because it was stubborn you couldn't re-toast it. UGH!! The saddest part is Chuck and I hardly ever remembered to pick one up while we were out and about at Target, Walmart, KMart, etc.

But the day finally came and we picked up this cute little thing last night! Bonus - only $20 WOOHOO!

Of course we had to take it out of the box immediatly. Notice - the vacumn stayed in the box LOL, Guess I'll be trying that out this weekend!

And of course we had to try it out. Even though Chuck was making dinner (the wonderful recipe: Tex Mex Meatball Pie) we just had to try out the new toaster!

Oh did I forget to mention that it has settings. Oh yes real settings, Toast, Bagel and Frozen! I was so excited that it had a bagel setting cause that meant my bagels would fit no problem YAY!

Toasted to perfection! We were in love!

Farewell Old Toaster....You will not be missed!

Anyone else ever get super excited over household appliances??

What To Do With Chicken This Week!

I have discovered an amazingly simple and delicious recipe for chicken! Now I'm not a big lover of chicken so I am constantly trying out new chicken recipes to make it tasty for me! The most recent one is a Bruschetta Chicken Bake! It was so easy to put together and we had all the ingredients! Which is a big plus in my house cause I get so tired of the grocery store!

All you need is a box of chicken stuffing, mozzarella cheese, water, diced tomatoes, basil, a little garlic powder (optional) and of course some chicken!

First you mix together the stuffing, water, and the can of diced tomatoes, do not drain the tomatoes cause you need the juice!

Then spread it evenly in a 13 x 9 pan, place the chicken on top of the stuffing mixture, the top the chicken with basil and garlic powder (if you want) and then cover with some mozzarella cheese!!

Pop it into the oven at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes! And voila!

Doesn't the browned cheese just look so yummy! I was stoked that this looked so good and was anxious to chow down. But you will want to let it cool for about 5-10 minutes. It is extremely hot!


While I was waiting I cooked up some carrots and warmed some rolls! And then enjoyed this delicious meal!

Now I was just cooking for one so I only put one piece of chicken on there and trust me I didn't eat all that food on my plate haha. But I ended up only eating half the piece of chicekn because with the stuffing it's a pretty heavy meal. This will be a great fall/winter meal! Enjoy!!

Get the recipe here.

Imaginary Friends

I am plowing through my reading list lately. Not only did I finish my Book Club book and the Fixer Upper but last night I finished another book. Awhile back (like Months and Months) while I was in KMart I had browsed through the book section, because lets face it they have cheap books! Anywho I came across a book by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet titled Sundays at Tiffany's. After reading the summary I knew I wanted to read it. Since I didn't have time then to read it I passed it along to my Mom as I knew she'd have it read in a day and it sounded like she'd be interested. Well ladies and gentlemen I finally had time and I finished it last night. Yes it was a super quick read and only took me two days :-)

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I have to so I was loving it until the end when it was wrapped up. It sounds horrible but I had prepared myself for a sad ending and was kind of disappointed when it didn't necessarily go my way. Let me first state that this book was a little odd, without giving away too much, you really need to believe in imaginary friends and angels. It was a little far fetched even for my imagination and trust me as a child I had imaginary friends, I truly believed my stuffed animals had feelings, and I created super fun adventures all from the comfort of my bedroom. But even for me I couldn't jump on board with this idea. While you definitely love the main Characters Jane and Michael, it was really hard to love the idea of the book.

I'd give this book a C....I really liked it until things started wrapping up at the end and as weird as it sounds I was kind of disappointed in the "happy ending". It's quick read for anyone daring to go there, just remember you must really believe in things that seem unreal.

Good Ole Southern Charm

OMG I just love love love Mary Kay Andrews...her books are definitely fluff books but how can I not swoon when I read them. I love everything about them, the predicatable-ness (is that even a word?), the southern location, every single character.

She's done it again with this book, The Fixer Upper, an easy fun read, but so adorable! I just loved the main character Dempsey and of course I love love love that throughout the book she's fixing up an old house down in a small town in Georgia!

A must read for anyone who loves fluffy Chick books!

And now I'm reading Sundays At Tiffanys by James Patterson before I start our August Book Club Book. So far it's a little different but not too shabby! Seems like it will be a quick read as well! :)

1st Book Club Book!

I have officially read our first book club book and I am so excited to discuss it next week at our meeting! Have I told you all that I've joined a book club? Well I have. My Sister and Mom decided to start one and I was so happy to join. Right now there are 6 (possibly 7) of us that are in it :-)

Our first book, for the month of July, was The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield! Lucky for me this was also on my 2010 reading list, which I hate to admit but I will not fulfill now with this book club going on. There is no way, but have no fear I am not giving up on those books. My plan to read my book club book and at least one off my reading list each month! Wish me luck as some of our book club books are LONG!

I digress...

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I was so happy with this book. It started a little dry but it was so out of my normal book choices and I was hooked. I spent all day yesterday finishing it...which meant I read over half the book! And I just couldn't put it down. I took one break to chat with my sister via telephone for about an hour, which I decided to make lunch as to not take more time away from my precious novel :-) And it was such a great story. I highly recommend this book and in fact I'd give it 5 stars! My only recommendation is to read it during gray, cold, wintry weather. It's a perfect book for a rainy day and trust me while reading this you will be enticed to make a cup of hot cocoa or some tea!

Run out and buy this one, or at the very least add it to your must reads!

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?