Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Oreo Cookie Fudge

This fudge is SO GOOD!! It's a must try if you like fudge



Ingredients:
3 cups sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine (1 1/2 sticks)

5 oz. can of evaporated milk

12 oz. package milk chocolate chips

7 oz. marshmallow crème

1 tsp. Vanilla

12 Oreo cookies, broken into 6 pieces

8 Oreo cookies, finely crushed


Directions:
1.      Line a 9x9 inch square pan with foil, spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray
2.      Break your 12 Oreo cookies by hand. I broke each cookie into about 6 pieces. Set them aside. Finely chop the other 8 Oreo cookies. A food processor works great. Chop it with the Oreo filling-this will keep it moist.
3.      In a large saucepan bring the sugar, butter and evaporated milk to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 4 minutes or until 234 degrees Fahrenheit on your candy thermometer. Stir it the whole time!
4.      Remove from heat and add vanilla, chocolate chips, crushed Oreo crumbs, and marshmallow crème. Stir until well blended and chocolate chips are melted.
5.      Pour into prepared pan and smooth stop with spatula. sprinkle broken Oreos on top. Use hand or spatula to push Oreos gently into fudge.
6.      Cover and chill for at least one hour until firm. Store in fridge in airtight container for up to 3 days
 

 



2013 In Review....

It's time again to say goody to another year gone. This year seemed to just fly by! 2013 had it's good times and bad times like every year does I'm sure. Let's look back and see some highlights from my year....

I sprained my ankle pretty bad. But it's pretty much back to normal now.

I had a great 29th Birthday Luau.

We broke the World Record for Largest Pub Crawl for CFC.

My Grandpa passed on Sept 4th. :(

We celebrated our 3 year Anniversary.

My mom was diagnosed with COPD.

We went to Cabo, MX again for the 3rd.

I got a new tattoo in memory of my Grandpa.

I upgraded my DLSR camera.

We added a shed to our backyard.

Now it's time to see what 2014 holds for us!!

I haven't set any goals for 2014, not sure if I will or just play to day by day and see what comes of it.....


Friday, December 27, 2013

Photo Shoot: Thanksgiving/Christmas Celebration

A little over a month ago a friends mom asked if I could shoot their Thanksgiving/Christmas family celebration. The celebration was a little over an hour from me so I had to get up early and head out for a day of photo shooting. My friend that I did this for her family I have known her since middle school and she currently lives in Florida, so it was nice getting to spend sometime with her and seeing her be with her family. I had a good time at the celebration and got lots of pictures.









To see more from this shoot, please visit my Facebook Page.


Thursday, December 26, 2013

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

I love my slower cooker in the Fall/Winter time. It makes cooking so much easy and I love coming home to dinner already done! Makes for an easy night. :)


Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 pound smoked sausage, cut into 2-inch slices
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon Cajun
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 3/4 cups long-grain rice
 Parsley, optional

Directions: 
1. Combine chicken, sausage, onion, greep pepper, celery, tomatoes, garlic, chicken broth, spice mix, thyme and oregano in a large (5-quart) slow cooker, Cook on low for 5 hours.
2. Add shrimp and rice: raise heat to high and cook for 30 mintures or until rice is cooked and no longer tender.
3. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, if desired.


 

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!

Shane and I have a busy day today. We will head over to Shane's dad around 10:30-11am and open gifts and have Christmas dinner there. We are having Steak this year, yummy!!
After we are done there around 6:30pm we will head out to my Grandma's for more family fun. This year at my G-ma's we decided not to do a big dinner but just have desserts since everyone goes places during the day and is eating all day. I did make a festive dessert to take which I will post later.

Enjoy the day with your families and be safe if you are traveling!!!






Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Pretty Little Liars #2 & #3: Flawless & Prefect

I will say I have been doing lots of reading while I haven't been blogging. The PPL series I have really been enjoying a lot! So I have been reading as much as I can at work, home, before bed....

I have finished book #2 and I'm currently almost done with #3.

This series is really keeping my attention and as I said before I just love books like that! It doesn't follow the show exactly but I have still enjoyed reading the series and see how it differs from the show. The TV show is one of my favorites so I'm glad I like the books maybe just as much. :)

This series has a lot of books so I should be busy reading these for awhile now....as long as I don't go crazy and just sit around and read all day. Haha!

 Flawless
Prefect

Hopeful by this weekend or so I will be ready for Book #4!!


It's Been Awhile....

It has been awhile since my last post.....I can't say that I haven't had time b/c that's not true, so I guess I just haven't felt like blogging lately or just been lazy about it.

So it's time to get back on track and get back to blogging, so let's see if I can make that happen.

Yeah we have been busy with the holidays and getting stuff done and spending time with our families. Now with the holidays almost coming to an end maybe I can get back into the routine of my normal blogging.
Since I haven't shared for awhile I think I will play catch up and share what you have missed while I was MIA. LOL

I hope everyone has been doing good and had a great Thanksgiving and have a Merry Christmas!!


Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Pretty Little Liars Book 1

I have finally moved onto a new book series! Late last week I finished my last book in The Vampire Diaries, so I started my next series I picked out, PPL (Pretty Little Liars). I currently watch the show and I just love it, so I'm excited to read all the books. I started the first book I believe on Thursday last week and I only have 100 pages left to go. This first book has really kept me interested and I love books like that! I like TVD series but it just didn't grab my attention the way I thought, but I guess some books are like that.

So far this series is good and I'm enjoying it! I'm looking forward to reading this whole series!


Friday, November 15, 2013

Fried Chicken

Shane has been telling for awhile now that I need to make fried chicken. I was very unsure about this and never did, LOL. Last week he asked about it again...So, I hopped on Pinterest to see if I could find a good recipe to make fried chicken. It didn't take me long to run across one that sounded very good and pretty easy to make. I sent it to Shane and told him I would give it a try. Monday night we had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn for dinner. The friend chicken was so easy to make and didn't take very long either. It turned out to be super delicious! I can't wait to make this again! I did add some more seasonings to our batter then what the recipe called for, I love spices in my life! Haha!


Ingredients:
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 cup hot sauce
  • 2 cups self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning (I added this myself not included in original recipe)
  • 1/2 tsp. Jalapeno seasoning (I added this myself not included in original recipe)
  • A pinch of Habanero seasoning (I added this myself not included in original recipe)
  • 2 chicken breast or how many is needed for your family
***After I made this for just 2 of us this batter made WAY to much for just 2 chicken breast. I would say if you are just making for a small group to cut this in half***

Directions:
  1. Heat oil to 350 degrees. I used an electric skillet.
  2. Prepare chicken by rinsing with cold water and patting dry. Set aside on plate.
  3. In medium bowl, beat eggs with water. Add hot sauce and stir together.
  4. In another bowl, combine flour, pepper, salt, Cajun, jalapeno and habanero seasonings. Mix well.
  5. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then coat well with flour mixture.
  6. Fry chicken in oil till brown and crisp, about 13-14 minutes for dark meat (thighs, wings, legs) and 8-10 minutes for white meat (breasts).
  7. Optional - Preheat over to a warm setting of 200 degrees or less. Prepare a baking sheet topped with a cooling rack. Have this handy to transfer the cooked chicken into the over to keep warm if frying in batches.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Oreo Fluff Dip

Sunday we had the family over to plan Thanksgiving. Instead of making a meal I decided just to have some snacks while everyone was over, I wanted to make a yummy dessert too. So, I hopped on Pinterest and started searching through my dessert pins and found this Oreo fluff dip that sounded easy and super yummy! 


Ingredients:
  • 24 Oreos, crushed
  • 2 cups mini marshmallows
  • 8 oz. cool whip
  • 1 box white chocolate instant pudding mix
  • 2 cups milk

Directions:
  1. In large bowl whisk together milk and pudding mix for 2 mintues.
  2. Add cool whip, Oreos and marshmallows
  3. Stir well
  4. Refrigerate until ready to serve
  5. I served mine with Oreos and Grapham crackers



Wednesday, November 13, 2013

New addition to our home....

After my Grandpa passed, we had to clean out his house of everything he owned. Well in that process we acquired some things and one of those happened to be a riding lawn mower. Yes we do have a 2 car garage but with both our cars in there and everything lawn and tool wise there just wasn't room for it. So, we decided instead of just leaving it out back covered we better get a shed to store it in. We also gained a lot of other things that need to be stored in the garage. Shane started his search for the shed he wanted, we thought we found one but after talking to a lady at Home Depot we decided that shed wasn't the best for us, so she recommended a better one. We started looked at Tuff sheds, yes there were a little more expensive but we talked it over and decided in the long haul this is going to be best for us. We got it ordered and a date set up for them to come install it for us. They came out on November 7th and got it all built and ready for us. We came home that night after work and got the riding mower inside it's new home. Over the weekend we got everything else out of the garage and in the shed that we wanted. We also went and got some hooks so we can hang stuff on the walls instead of having everything on the floor.  We both are happy with the shed and it looks good in our backyard. :)

These pictures were also taken with my new camera!



My dog had to check it all out. She thinks it's her new home. Haha!


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Playing around w/ my new Camera!

I posted last week about my new camera that I got! I have been playing around and taking pictures with it to get a feel for it and seeing what this bad boy can do. So far I'm just loving it and the pictures are turning out great.

Here is a picture I took the other night of the moon. I just love this pictures, it's amazing!

This one was taken of my niece Sunday afternoon in our backyard. I just love this picture of her with the leaves behind for Fall. I do believe this one will be doing in our hallway at home!

Saturday morning we went to watch Paige play Volleyball, and I wanted to see what my camera did with action pictures....Here are a few from her volleyball game.





I'm looking forward to playing with my camera much more and see what cool things I can shoot with it!


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

New Camera!!

A little over a year ago I talked about saving for a new camera, well the time has come and I finally upgraded! I didn't get the one I wanted a year ago I got the newer version of it. I got the Sony DSLR A77. I just got it in the mail Monday night so I haven't been able to fully get out and take pictures yet with it, I have just been playing with it around the house. I'm super excited to get it out for a shoot and sport pictures to see what it's all about. So, far with just taking a few pictures around the house I LOVE this camera! The pictures on this are just amazing so I can only image what they will be like during a photo shoot or action pictures. I'm hoping this weekend I can get out and use it some and share some of the pictures with you. I will have to take both my cameras and compare the old one to the new one. Don't get me wrong I love my old camera but it was time for an upgrade, I have had that camera since 2008. It still works great and I will keep it around to use again for sure.





Stay tuned for pictures soon from this camera of a shoot or just some random stuff I take. Haha! :)


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Homemade Canvas Pictures

I found an easy way to make canvas pictures on pinterest awhile back. I thought these would be cute to make and hang some pictures above our bed. I made these back in August and finally we had a little time to get these hung up in the bedroom. I'm very happy with how these turned out and I look forward to making more of these! I was really amazed at how easy these were to make and when you go to buy them online they are so expensive! I got all the stuff I needed from Hobby Lobby expect the pictures I printed those from Shutterfly.

Items needed: 12x12 paint canvas, 12x12 pictures, a saying (or you can do all pictures), Modge Podge
Make sure to get a good layer of modge podge on the canvas before laying down the picture. After I put the picture on I turned the canvas over and put something heavy on top so it would dry good. I let mine set for a couple days but I'm sure at least a day is good if not a few hours or something.
Here they are hung up in the bedroom! Love them!


I'm so glad these are finally up after a couple months of just sitting in the house. But we had other things going on so these had to wait. :)


Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!
I hope you all have a safe and fun time with the kids trick-or-treating!
Shane and I will be passing out candy again this year, so we will get to see all the cute kids dressed up.
We passed out candy last night and with it be the first year in our house we weren't sure how many kids we would get. We bought some candy and made treat bags, but we did run out pretty fast. So, this year we made a bunch more, hopefully we don't run out again. Haha!

Here are the treat bags we made Monday night.