4th of July

Being in Provo, where a majority of the population doesn't do things on Sundays, the 4th of July festivities took place on the 3rd. Jonny and I went downtown to the Freedom Festival and walked around looking at all the little booths. Then we went with Karleigh and her roommate Katrina to watch the fireworks. We just sat outside the BYU stadium and watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks. The field we sat in had the lights on the whole time but the view was better than last year and we could see more of what went on in the stadium. I absolutely love fireworks and the Stadium of Fire has some really cool ones.

On Sunday Jonny, Karleigh, Katrina and I had a barbecue. We had burgers, salad, a jello/pretzel dish, watermelon and cake pops (of course).

It was a gorgeous day which makes it that much better.

On Monday I had work off and Jonny didn't have school so we went and saw Eclipse and went to the pool. We ended the weekend with Summer Sno, shaved ice with vanilla ice cream on the bottom and half and half on top.

All in all it was a great weekend. I love the 4th of July. I am so grateful to be an American and have all the freedoms that come with it. We really do live in an amazing country.

Addicted

I have an addiction to cooking and baking. I am always thinking about what I am going to make next. I look through cookbooks and cooking blogs to find my next "fix." I don't know what it is but I love to do it. The other day I was looking at the cakes on Food Network's Web site and I found one I am dying to make. It is a ice cream cookie cake. It is cookies and cream ice cream sandwiched between two layers of chocolate cake and topped off with ganache. Does that sound amazing or what? I wanted to go home and make it right away. However, I realized that I had no reason to make it and to make it for just me and Jonny seem kind of silly. So my solution to not making that cake? Make this one instead!

I made a chocolate cake mix and then added coconut. I made the cake at about 10:30 pm so I let the cake cool overnight (I like to stick it in the freezer, I think it makes it easier to frost) and then decorated it the next day. I think it turned out kind of pretty. I just used chocolate frosting then topped it off with coconut. After I made it, I realized I still had a cake for just me and Jonny. However, this one didn't seem quite as crazy because it didn't have the layer of ice cream. But it's still an entire cake! So if you are in the Provo area and want cake come see me. haha

I told you I'm addicted. I figure there are worse things to be addicted to. I guess I should be happy I enjoy cooking and baking since it is an important part of having a family. If you have any recipes send them my way! Recipes for anything, not just cake.

Jonny's S'mores

On Saturday Jonny and I were trying to decide what to do and I was talking about s'more cupcakes that I had been wanting to try and then Jonny had a great idea... S'mores brownies! So I suggested that we go ahead and make them. I'm always looking for an excuse to bake/cook. We just made it up as we went and it turned out amazing! (I can say that because Jonny did most of the baking.)

What you'll need:

1. One 13 oz. jar of Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme
2. One 2.3 oz. box of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies brownie mix
3. 2/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
4. Two eggs
5. One 14.4 oz. box of Honey Maid Honey Graham Crackers (3 plastic packages)
6. Six tablespoons of butter
7. 1/3 Cup of Sugar

We started with a graham cracker crust. Crust Ingredients: 1/3 cup of sugar, 6 T melted butter and 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker (about 1 1/2 of the Honey Maid Graham Crackers plastic packages.)

Mix the sugar and ground graham crackers together, then add the melted butter (it's easier to mix the dry ingredients first).

Press the mixture firmly into a 9x13 pan. You can put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan to make removal easier, but it's not necessary.

Bake the crust for 7 mins at 350.

While the crust is baking, prepare brownie batter according to the instructions on the box.

Once the crust is done pour the brownie batter over the graham cracker crust and bake it according to the time and heat instructions on the brownie box.

Now comes the hard part. Let the brownies cool slightly, then spread about 1/2 to 2/3 of the marshmallow creme over the *warm* brownies. You still want the brownies to be slightly warm so the marshmallow creme will soften and spread easier.

Then, crumble more graham crackers (another 1 1/2 plastic packages) until you have cracker pieces that are roughly the size of a penny. Then, evenly spread the cracker pieces over the entire surface until thoroughly covered (may not use all of the crumbled pieces). You may need to press the pieces into the marshmallow creme a little bit, otherwise they may not stick.

Then cut, eat, and enjoy.

Easter Celebration!

The Easter celebration started with decorating eggs on Friday. I think it has been a few years since I decorated eggs, I've missed it.

The finished products.

Our "stop light" eggs.

Then on Sunday we had a big Easter family dinner. We had wanted to do it at a park and have an Easter egg hunt. Sadly, on Easter morning I woke up to snow all over the ground.

Made for a cool picture but not great for a picnic.

So we moved the party to Karleigh's and had David (cousin), Weston (3rd cousin), Kirstin, Lexi, Jonny and me. We still had an Easter egg hunt around the library.

Jonny helping Karleigh run and find eggs since her foot is injured.

Searching around the statue.

Trying to figure out where else to look.

Showing off their spoils.

After the hunt we enjoyed Easter dinner. I made ham and potato salad, Karleigh made fruit and biscuits.

The dinner spread. It was delicious.

Then for dessert David brought delicious brownies, made from scratch, and I made, you guessed it, cake pops.

Easter egg cake pops. Thank you Karleigh, Kirstin and Jonny for helping. Decorating this many would have been exhausting.

This one cracked and looked like frowning face so we made it into one.

He went with our funny faced egg.

It was an excellent Easter. It was so fun getting to spend time with everyone celebrating Easter.

Cabbage and Kielbasa

Last week one of our meals for the week was a favorite of Jonny's family: cabbage and kielbasa. It was delicious. We thought we would share the recipe. You need a box of the multicolored rotini, a large head of cabbage, a pound of polska kielbasa, butter, salt, and pepper. You start by cooking the pasta (just using the box directions.)

While the pasta is cooking cut up the cabbage. It should be "bite sized" pieces. Put this into a skillet with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Cook over medium heat. It needs to be stirred often but keep it covered when not stirring. This keeps the moisture in the cabbage. While the cabbage is cooking cut up the kielbasa. Cut off the ends of the kielbasa. To save time cut the kielbasa in half, length wise, then into half circles. They should be about half a cm thick or less.

Once the cabbage has become tender and has become slightly translucent it is time to mix all the ingredients together.

When all the ingredients are mixed together add more butter (up to 4 tablespoons, but it just depends on how much you like.) At this point you add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt and pepper to taste. DO NOT add the salt before this point. If you add the salt to the cabbage too early it will suck out the moisture. That is it. Serve and enjoy!

St. Patrick's Day!

I don't know why but I love St. Patrick's Day. I just think it is fun- dressing in green, eating corned beef and cabbage. This year I was working until 6 so I wasn't sure how I was going to make the corned beef. I found a recipe to make it in the crock pot. I was a little nervous but it worked out really well. I just realized that I totally forgot to cook the cabbage! I'm not sure that anyone else would be sad about not having cabbage but I am. At least I had potatoes and carrots that were cooked with it. Ashley made rolls that were delicious. It was a very good meal. I am happy it turned out well.

Karleigh and Kirstin in their St. Patty's Day green!

Ashley and I

Jonny cutting the corned beef.

Jonny and I relaxing after a big meal.

Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day! Now I can look forward to corned beef leftovers. Maybe I'll remember to make cabbage to go with leftovers!

My Man's Birthday!

Birthday number three... Jonny! Jonny's birthday was on Friday. I had to work in the morning but had the rest of the day off. I had decided to attempt a 14-layer cake for his birthday cake. I got the recipe from Bakerella (found here.) I was really nervous about it working and tasting good. Luckily I had Karleigh to help me. Thank you to her I wouldn't be able to do it alone. Unfortunately, Jonny had an Econ test and Stats homework to do on his birthday, but at least that kept him occupied while I baked. Basically you make a massive amount of batter (it barely fit in my biggest bowl) and then scoop it into 14 pie tins.

We baked for at a time and it is only 12 mins each so it didn't take too long.

Then you make the chocolate icing. This was the scary part for me I was worried I would scorch it or something. At one point it almost boiled over. And then you start stacking and stacking and stacking, layering icing in between. No they are not pancakes.

Now according to the recipe the picture below is what it looks like done but like Bakerella I didn't like the look so I added frosting.

Jonny took a break from school work and we went out to dinner with Kirstin. Then we came back to my place and Katie came over for presents and cake.

He got clothes from my parents and me, an N64 game from Katie and a game from Kirstin. Kirstin and I had fun wrapping her present to him. We used three different wrapping papers and went around it 3 times with each. Showing off all the paper and his present.

Then time for cake. I couldn't wait for him to cut into it! He gets his wish!

And here it is, 14-layers...

It actually worked! It tasted good too! None of us could even finish a piece though!

On Saturday we went to dinner with a bunch of his cousins. I had texted them all the week before to get them together for a birthday dinner. We went to Rumbi at The Gateway. It was so much fun! I think we were done with dinner after about 30 mins but we we hung out talking for like 3 hours.

I think overall he had a pretty good birthday. One year older and wiser!