Weekly Darth

Well, here we are. The last Darth of the year. Hopefully you enjoy looking at this joker as much as I do.

 He had some fance Christmas pictures taken while they were here, he's looking good.

 He's just chilling.

Here he is wearing a shirt I gave him for Christmas that really matched his eyes, ooh la la. He looks like he's crying here, but he's actually singing the Star Wars theme song, so that's why.What a great guy.

Miscellaneous Monday

You guys, it's happened. Today is the day that school posted the final grades, and holy cow, I got a 4.0! Yes!! I can't believe how excited I am about this, this semester really kicked my butt, and I was really thinking I wasn't going to do well, but then BOOM! I finished all right! I hope next semester isn't as hard as this semester was, but of course, I'm sure school will just get harder as the years go on. But I'll try my best, and and maybe I'll keep doing well.

I took down all of my Christmas stuff in my house today. Usually I don't take it down this quickly, but I didn't have too much to do today, and I thought, what's the point of having it up any longer? Just to look at it? I've been seeing it for the last month, and I feel pretty good about taking it down. My sister, who's in town right now with Darth, came over and we hung out while I took it down. Baby helped me too. And by that I mean, if I handed him a part of the tree, he would throw it down. And then he took the ornaments I had already boxed up, and put those around the room, what a great helper. But I got it all down in just a few hours, excellent.

You know how you hear about "amazing organizational tip"s all the time? Ok I really have one for you. Have you ever been gifted a gift of Kneaders breads? It comes with three in the box, and then when you're done with the bread, you just have a random box with handles? Let me tell you what this box is good for: holding your tights. Yeah, just roll those suckers into little free-standing rolls,and you can fit between 9 and 12 in a box. This has revolutionized the way I store my tights, guys.

Nacho Soup

It's freezing outside. It's cold inside. Basically, everything is cold and I just want to snuggle in a blanket and watch movies. So for dinner, I made some warming soup, perfect for Sunday because it's crockpot. Let's dive in. 

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (1 oz) package taco seasoning 

1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cheddar cheese soup

1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes and green chilis, undrained (Rotel, basically)

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed.

In a skillet, cook ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until thoroughly cooked; drain. Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place cooked meat mixture in slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, cheddar cheese soup, tomatoes, milk, and shredded cheese. Stir together and cook on low for 3-4 hours. After it was done, I put it in a bowl, added some more cheese, and threw tortillas on top. 

I can't even begin to tell you how delicious this soup is. Legit, it was so good. I just kept eating chip after chip, basically using the soup as a dip and it was SO GOOD. Make it, you won't regret it. 

Happy Christmas!

 Cookie is ready for the holiday in her Christmas dress. Is she mad at this dress? Yes, she didn't move for 4 hours after I put it on. For breakfast, I made donuts! The recipe is stupid easy:
Donuts:
1 ¼ cups moist-style devil’s food cake mix
½ cup canned pure pumpkin
¼ cup egg whites or fat-free liquid egg substitute
¼ tsp. peppermint extract
1/4 cup water
Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a 6-cavity standard donut pan with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, combine all donut ingredients. Add water, and mix until completely smooth and uniform. Evenly distribute batter into the rings of the donut pan, and smooth out the tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted into a donut comes out mostly clean, about 12 minutes. Place a cooling rack over a baking sheet or a sheet of wax paper. 

Let donuts cool completely, about 10 minutes in the pan and 15 minutes on the cooling rack. In a medium bowl, combine glaze ingredients except candy cane, and whisk until smooth and uniform. One at a time, dunk the tops of the donuts into the glaze, coating the top halves. Return to the cooling rack, and sprinkle evenly with crushed candy cane. (yes, again I don't have candy canes in the house, so I went without them) Allow glaze to set, about 10 minutes. (Glaze will run off; that’s why you’ve got the rack over something else)
Glaze:
½ cup powdered sugar (not packed)
1 ½ tbsp. unsweetened vanilla almond milk, light vanilla soymilk, or fat-free dairy milk
2 – 3 drops peppermint extract
Dash salt
1 full-sized candy cane (or 3 minis), crushed

These were SUPER delicious! They were chocolatey and pepperminty and oh so delicious. Have a merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve!

Well, I had a pretty chill Christmas Eve. I went to a delish breakfast at work, and ate way too much, of course. We all snapped a pic, to commemorate.

 I had Christmas Eve celebrations with Husband's family, and then we came home to have our own. As we were chilling, doing Christmasy things, we realized that Cookie smells a little gross. So, we gave her a bath. Was she mad? Absolutely.

But! She smelled better and was softer, and I don't regret the bath at all, though she might.

Peppermint Sugar Cookie Bars

So, I'm making treats aplenty today for Christmas, since I'll have my whole family here. I decided on peppermint as my theme, so I made some peppermint sugar cookie bars. Here's the recipe:

½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons sour cream OR plain greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla

frosting
½ cup butter
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon peppermint extract (OR vanilla extract)
¼ cup finely crushed candy canes

All right, to make them, preheat oven to 375, grease a 9x13 pan. In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugars and mix until combined. Add egg, sour cream, and vanilla and mix well. Gradually mix flour mixture into wet ingredients and continue to mix until the dough comes together and not crumbly. Gently press dough into bottom of prepared pan. But here's what I don't understand - my dough was still really dry. I had to really work on it to make it stick together to be a "dough", and I followed her recipe exactly, so I don't know what's going on there. Bake 18-22 minutes until golden. Allow to cool completely. Since I was pressed for time, I put the bars outside in the snow, and they cooled down super fast.
When the bars have cooled, prepare the frosting. In a medium bowl whip butter for 2-3 minutes  until very fluffy. Add cream cheese and mix well. Gradually mix in powdered sugar until completely combined. Mix in peppermint extract. Spread frosting over cooled bars. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Cut into squares or triangles and serve. Store in airtight container.Here's what I did. Turns out, I didn't have any candy canes in the house, so there was no sprinkling for me. But they turned out super delicious and very pepperminty.

And then I made a batch of peppermint brownies, but I forgot to take a picture! Basically, I just made regular brownies, and then threw in a cup of peppermint chips and frosted them with a delicious vanilla frosting, sprinkled with peppermint chips. Dig it, guys.

A Shopping Adventure

I went shopping today, with my sister, so baby came as well. He didn't care for the drive over,

Look how awkward that weirdo is in his seat.

 Then we had lunch, and he tried to eat my fettuccine Alfredo with me, but the noodles were too long for him to eat, he struggled.

 And of course, he fell asleep mid-trip, so we had to leave. Naturally, as soon as we were walking out, he woke up. But I got what I needed, and everything was all right. Merry Christmas in a couple of days, guys!

Housekeeper

Well guys, my sister is here in town, which means baby Darth is here too, how exciting. They came over today, and as he was investigating what was in the closet, he found the broom. Apparently this little joker likes to sweep.

He didn't really do much, but he tried, good for him.

A Lovely Day for a Wedding

Well, the wedding did take place today, and it was a lovely affair. As we were getting ready this morning, of course we had to snap a pic, because right after I get ready is when I look best, not after a few hours. 

 Here are my sisters-in-law and I, waiting outside the temple for the bride and groom to come out. Tiny baby E-Money wouldn't ever look at the camera.

 And then, after the pictures but before the luncheon, I had to frost their cake. There was no way to get it frosted before the way down, because of how unstable the cake is in traveling. So I frosted this in my hotel room, which was difficult, but not impossible. I think it turned out okay, I have no idea.

After the wedding was over, we changed out of our dresses, and hit the road to come back home. Basically I was in St George for about 14 hours, but that's all right, it was a fun day.

Frosting the Cupcakes

Well, I frosted all 255 cupcakes. It took about 5 hours, and then another to clean it all up (I think I also inhaled about 1 cup of powdered sugar), but I finished it all! I had my sister-in-law helping me frost, and I think we did a dang good job. Here's what they looked like after I got them all frosted:

And then this morning, my soon to be sister-in-law came over, put them into her mom's car, and off they went to St George. Let's all hope they travel well!

Weekly Darth

Ok I should to the follow up to the cupcakes of yesterday, but I like having this on Thursdays, and then tomorrow I'll catch you up to the frostings.

 What is this face? I don't even know, but I love it.

 Is this the flirtiest face you've ever seen a baby do? Maybe.

He still hasn't mastered how to eat yogurt yet.

Cupcakes for a Wedding

My brother in law is getting married this weekend, and he asked me to make the cupcakes for it as well as his wedding cake. I said yes, but the problem is that the wedding is in St George, and we'd have to transport around 200 cupcakes down there. Gah, why did I agree to this? So today, I took the time to make the cupcakes, and then tomorrow, I'll be frosting them. Friday we'll be transporting them down, and basically just praying that it works, and the cupcakes don't die on the way down. I made four different kinds, vanilla, Kit-Kat, Snickers, and Oreo. Luckily they weren't too hard to make. When I had finished baking them all, I ended up with 255 cupcakes, a little more than my 200 goal, but I think it's all right. Here's a view of them:

I kept them in the garage, because it's so chilly outside right now, the garage is basically just a big refrigerator. Hopefully it won't be too many to frost tomorrow!

Miscellaneous Monday

You guys, the excitement is palpable. I'm speaking, of course, of today. Finals, for me, are over. School is over. I had a math final (So early today at 7:00!) and then my political science final this afternoon, and I'm done! I have to technically turn in my other finals online, but they're essays, and I finished writing them yesterday, so I'm good to go. As soon as my website opens them up to turn in, I'm good. I am just so excited. Naturally, I'm on pins and needles right now, waiting for my grades, but I'm hoping it goes well, and I'll keep my fingers crossed until I hear. I hope its soon!

Other than finals, this week is insanely busy. Tomorrow is a free day (so I'll make sure to do all my errands and anything at all I need to accomplish) and then things get busy. I am making around 200 cupcakes for my brother-in-law's wedding for Saturday. The wedding is in St George, so I'll be making them Wednesday and Thursday, to have them transported down on Friday. Will this work? I have no idea. I think it would be easier to have someone down there cater this, but they want this, so we'll see how it works, and if it even does. I'll of course post the cupcakes that I do, and will post the results. Hopefully it ends well!

The snow that's been happening for the past day makes me so happy. I'm excited for the possibility of a white Christmas, but driving in it sucks. I'm hoping the snow sticks around for a few days at least, because my sister is bringing Darth here for Christmas, and he's never seen snow, so I really want him to see it and be able to play in it! Luckily the driving wasn't too bad today, and hopefully will continue to be good drivers. The driving is definitely the worst part of winter, you guys get it.

Brownie Jars

So, I've decided to make brownie-in-a-jar for people for Christmas this year. Here's what they look like:

 And here's what I put inside:
1 cup + 2 tbs flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup Andes Peppermint chips
The cocoa was supposed to go in last, before the chips, but I changed to peppermint chips, to make them peppermint brownies, and I didn't want the peppermint chips to lie in the cocoa, but I don't think it matters, actually. Anyway, after I layered them and then put the fabric on time (a square 6 inches in case you wondered) I attached the recipe. Now, I found these amazing little mason jar chalkboard tags at the local scrapbook sale on clearance, and I was so jazzed, but unfortunately when I went to put it on, I found that the twine they were attached to was WAYYYY too short to go over the lid of the jar. Even when I undid the knots, and tried to attach them that way, the twine was always too short, no matter how you tried it. So I threw away all the twine, and added my own ribbons to them, and did it that way. And the finished product:

I love them, I'm really excited to give them away! I hope people are as happy to get as I am to give.
(also if you'd like the baking instructions: to the jar, add 2 eggs, 1/4 cup water, 2/3 cup water, and 1 tsp vanilla. Pour into a 9 inch pan, and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes)

Oreo Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Saturday night, baking night y'all. I have a million peppermint chip bags right now (more on that later) so I decided on something with peppermint. After scouring my Pinterest boards, I found a good one. Let's dive in.

2 boxes white cake mix 

2 stick butters, melted 

2 egg

1 tsp peppermint extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 cup Peppermint Oreo cookie chunks (I reckon regular Oreos would work, but I had peppermint, so I used those)

2 cup Andes Peppermint chips

1 cup chocolate chips

Combine the cake mix, melted butter, egg, and extracts. Beat until a dough forms. Add the cream cheese and beat in gently until combined. Add the peppermint chips and chocolate chips first. Then gently stir in the cookie pieces by hand being careful not to break up the cookie more. Refrigerate dough for about 45 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using my cookie scoop, I scooped cookie dough of about a tablespoon onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, so if you hand roll be careful, the dough is pretty sticky. Bake sheet at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. No less. Literally, they will not look cooked, but please, trust me, I am trusty. Let them sit on the hot cookie sheet for like, 5-8 minutes more (I'll be honest, I left them there until the next ones came out, I'm lazy) to finish cooking, and then move them to a wire rack. Let them chill on the rack until completely cool. Store in a sealed container. I think this made...like 50-something cookies. You could halve it for less, but I make many cookies, since many teenagers come to my house. 

And that's it! These are super delicious, and I recommend them. 

Foto Friday

The other day as I was coming out of my class, everyone was gathered at the window. When I looked out at what the could be looking at, I got a view of a really nice looking sunset. I waited until I was outside to snag it, but I just wanted to preserve the prettiness here for future generations.

Weekly Darth

 I do feel like he's flirting with me at all times.

Why does he always make such derp faces all the time?

Yogurt is super hard to eat, guys.

Chicken Enchilada Lasagna Roll-Ups

All right, here’s a delicious dinner that’s sure to make everyone happy. Let’s dive in.

16 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3/4 cup chopped green onions (about 1 bunch)
1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce
1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles
4 cups diced shredded chicken

Sauce and Cheese (for baking roll-ups)
1 can (10 oz each) enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

All right, to start off, cook lasagna noodles as directed on package. Drain well. Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, beat cream cheese, shredded Monterey Jack cheese and green onions with electric mixer until blended. Add 1 can enchilada sauce and green chiles on low speed. Stir in chicken.Spread heaping 1/3 cup chicken mixture along center of each cooked lasagna noodle, to within 1 inch of one short end. Roll up firmly toward unfilled end. Place lasagna roll, seam-side down in a 9x13 baking dish (already sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray) The tricky part here is that this recipe makes 16 rolls, but I can only fit 12 in a dish. So either save the rest of the chicken mixture for later, or bake the 4 in a separate pan, or freeze them, I hear these freeze really well. Divide 1 of the remaining cans of enchilada sauce between baking dishes, pouring over and down sides of roll-ups.

Cover tightly with foil; bake 40 to 50 minutes or until hot and bubbly. I baked for 40 minutes, removed the foil, spread it with the cheddar cheese, and then baked for 5 minutes more, to melt those.

These, by the way, are deliciously delicious. Honestly, so good. Recommended!

Foto Friday

Now that it’s officially Christmas, and I got my Christmas decorations up in the house, I figured it was time to put a little something-something outside. When Husband was at the hardware store this week, he picked this up, and we finally got it up. I love it.

You can’t really see it, so here’s a picture of it from the box:

That’s right, ninja gingerbread men. Dig it. Happy Christmas, everyone.

Weekly Darth

What a treat it is to see this joker via pictures. 3 weeks and then we get to be reunited! I’m so jazzed.

Why is this baby so weird? Always with the open mouths. Granted, that’s how his mom takes pictures, but still. He’s looking pretty sleepy and adorable here.

Literally I have no words for this face.

Pumpkin Silk Pie

Basically, I’ve been making this pie over and over for the last few weeks. It’s super easy and delicious, and we’ve had loads of events lately for food, being Thanksgiving, and my ward Christmas party, and all that jazz. So, lets dive in.

First, I cheat. I use store-bought graham cracker crusts. Because, and stick with me here, crusts are hard, and my time is super limited right now, with finals just around the corner. To start with, either have 2 graham cracker pie crusts bought, or go ahead and make those yourself, I’m no one to judge. Ok now that you have those, here are your ingredients:

8 oz package cream cheese, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
8-16 oz Cool Whip
2 cups whipped cream

Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, and no chunks of cream cheese floating around anywhere. Add the powdered sugar, pumpkin, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice, mix until well blended and smooth. Here’s where things get tricky. The place I got this from said to add 16 oz of Cool Whip. That’s a lot of Cool Whip, makes for a lot of pie. Then, I made it just by adding a hair over 8 oz, maybe 9 oz. And it’s the same. The amount it makes is just about the same, it tastes the same, it seems the same, so go with your gut, see how you like it. Spread the mixture into the two pie pans, and then put the pies into the fridge for a few hours, or overnight. You just want things to set is all. Then, when you’re ready to eat it, either pipe your whipped cream onto the pie or spread it, it doesn’t matter. Nobody cares if your pie is fancy. I (on this one pie, the only time I’ve done this) piped mine on using a Wilton 4B tip, so fance.

Even though it took forever, look how nice it looks? Awwww. Anyway, then enjoy the heck out of that pie. Because it’s amazing.

We did it!

Guys, we did it! We made it the full thirty days of blogging without missing a day! I wish I could say that I’m proud, but really, it’s not that hard of a thing to do, it’s not super important either. I’ll most likely be taking a super small blogging break for a couple of weeks – I have the end of the semester, with days of homework, plus my finals, Christmas to get ready for, and my brother-in-law’s wedding to prepare for also. So, I’ll blog when I can, but it won’t be happening all the time, but dry your eyes. We’ll make it to the end of the year together!

Family Photos

A week ago, we did family pictures with Husband’s side of the family. We did them by Utah Lake, and I think they turned out all right. Well, some of them. Some of them are awkward, but that’s all right. I’ll ignore them. For your viewing pleasure, the better pictures:

My sis-in-law and I were in charge of coordinating everybody’s outfits, and I think we did a pretty good job, we all look pretty snazzy. I’m glad they turned out good, it’s always nice to get a fresh batch of pictures every few years!

Ready For the Holidays

All right, now that the wonderful holiday of Thanksgiving is over, I took the day to decorate the house for Christmas. It didn’t take me too long, and I’m pleased with the final result.

I do love doing the tree, but it always gives me such anxiety. Why? I don’t know. I never remember if I put the ribbon garland on before or after the ornaments, and I don’t want there to be too few or too many ornaments, and the whole thing makes me nervous.This is just one of the tiny trees I have around the house. I like having them on the floors where the Christmas tree isn’t, to keep the holiday alive everywhere.

It seems like every year I add a little something to the ledge with the letters. I like it though.

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care…now the holiday season feels like it’s begun!

Foto Friday

Here’s the best picture that could have happened on Thanksgiving. I leave it with no story.

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving! I started the day as I usually, the Earn Your Turkey 4-miler near my house. I finished it pretty good, I thought:

Finished the 4 (well, 3.97 according to my watch) in 33:42, not too bad! My goal was 35 minutes, so I feel all right with it. It was so bleeding cold this morning and so windy, I was surprised I didn’t freeze to death there. But luckily I finished, and came home and sat in front of a space heater for a bit.

Then it was time for the delicious pies that I spent all night baking. Here are two of them, cherry-apple and peach.

These were pretty good, I won’t lie. Hope you had a good thanksgiving too!