Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever After

I know I'm posting this a day early but I just couldn't wait! June 19,2010 I had the privilege of marrying the greatest man I've ever met (aside from my daddy). We have been through good times and bad times, we have been on top of the world and we have watched our world fall apart, we have experienced pure joy and absolute devastation and we have made it through everything with the help, love, and support of each other.

It feels so strange that we have been married for two years...it's like the past two years have flown by but at the same time I can't believe that all the things we have done has only happened in the past 2 years. I promised myself that I wouldn't subject any of my readers (if there are any out there) to an abundance of sappiness so all I'm going to do is post 10 pictures with brief descriptions from the story of us. (Some of these are pre-wedding)

This was a couple of months in to us dating.

Derks birthday in 2009. We went to the beach with his family. (Who would have thought exactly one year later we would be married?!)

Not to long after we got engaged (I'm showing off my ring). I think this was in April or something crazy...we got 5 inches of snow in a matter of hours in the middle of Mississippi!

June 19, 2010 I got to marry the love of my life!

This was at one of Derk's cousins baby showers. I love this pic of us...Derk hates pictures so there are only a few where he is actually genuinely smiling! (I love him anyways!)

Our one year anniversary pictures!

One year and 8 months into our marriage and we FINALLY got to take a honeymoon (Thanks to my step-mom and my dad...it was more like a family vacation with them and my two step-brothers but Derk and I got our own room and they sent a cake to our room that said "Happy Honeymoon" so by golly I'm calling it our honeymoon!)

We got to go zip-lining in Jamaica

 And we took a cooking class in Mexico!

We have made some awesome memories in the past two years and I absolutely can not wait to see what the future holds for us. I love this man with every ounce of my being and I am proud to call him my husband!

(see I told you it's hard to get him to smile...this was at a joint birthday party/crawfish boil for me and my best friend...who wouldn't smile for that!?)

Halfway Homemade: Frozen Yogurt Drops

Today I decided to try something I saw on Pinterest recently. It is very simple and very delicious! You can pick any flavor you want of yogurt just don't get anything that has chunks of fruit in it!

Here's what you need!

Some yogurt and a ziploc bag and...

a plate covered in tinfoil!

That's it! Yogurt, Ziploc, Tinfoil covered plate!

 (OK so you're gonna need a spoon to scoop yogurt in the Ziploc and scissors to cut a small hole in the bag too)

Just spoon some Yogurt in to the Ziploc...I didn't measure I just spooned some in and I wound up with to much. I would only use about half of what you see in the picture below.

Then I squeezed it all in to that corner and twisted the bag up.

Then cut that little tip off at the end and get to droppin!

 Mine aren't the prettiest in the world but I don't mind! Once you've dropped all you can drop...or you run out of room like I did, ( I wound up squirting the rest of the Yogurt in my mouth if we're being honest!) put your plate in the freezer.

Ignore my rolls and bag of ice...our freezer is home to many delicious things and sometimes it's hard to find room! I waited about 2 hours to go back and check on mine because well, quite frankly, I forgot they were in there. I pulled them out when I remembered and tasted them and BOY ARE THEY YUMMY!

I kept mine on the plate in the freezer until they were all gone...It didn't take very long for them to disappear so I don't really know how long they would keep . Either way, they are a good snack for summer. If you try this out, let me know how it turns out and what flavor you used!

Hope you enjoy reading about the Things I'm Learning From Life!

Halfway Homemade:S'mores Cupcakes

So, a while back I found a recipe for s'mores cupcakes and I thought to myself "Boy, that sounds delicious!" and me being me, didn't get up right away and make them. While I was at the store today I walked past a shelf that had all the s'mores making ingredients and those cupcakes popped in to my mind and I decided I'd give it a whirl. I decided against scouring the internet for the original recipe I had found since I forgot to bookmark it the first time and just dove right in and made it up as I went along. 

Things I used:

 A little box of Devil's Food Cake cupcake mix

1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs

10 marshmallows

3 eggs

4 Tbs butter

1/2 cup water

1/4 vegetable oil

cupcake pan

cupcake liners (12)

 That is EVERYTHING you need!

Start by lining your pan with liners

(I think this pan is older than I am)

Then, cut 6 of your marshmallows in half and cut the remaining 5 in to thirds. It should wind up looking something like this:

I pinched the thirds out to make them flat and a little thinner. Put this in the refrigerator and leave them for now. Next get a bowl and mix up your cupcake mix according to the instructions

 

except add 1 extra egg to make it more moist. I also added about 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs to the mix to add a little more texture to the "cake" part of the "s'mores".

 You can't really see the little flecks of graham cracker crust but they are there. Set this mixture aside and move on to the graham cracker crust. Put 1 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs in a bowl and add 4 Tbs of butter. (I literally used a Tbs for this so I took a picture of what I am considering a Tbs)

Pour the butter in to the graham cracker crumbs and mix them up until they are all a little moist. Spoon 1 Tbs full(again using a regular spoon like the one pictured above) in to each cupcake liner and begin to press them flat against the bottom and slightly up the sides. 

(*You WILL have some crumbs left over! Don't worry I'll get to those in a sec!*)

I had already pressed one row but I wanted to show you what it looked like before they were pressed so you could kind of eyeball the measurement. This is what it looks like all pressed down and pretty!

Take your marshmallows out of the fridge and take each half and roll it a little between your hands as if you were forming a ball(which it kind of will)

Then plop a little mallow ball in to the center of each cupcake.

Back to those crumbs we had left over, it was only about maybe 1/4 a cup

I decided that since I didn't want to waste anything, that I would sprinkle half of it in to the batter and the other half I sprinkled over the mallow balls.

Then spoon in your cake mix and fill up the liners until they are 2/3 full. (*You will have some batter-maybe enough to make 1 regular cupcake- left over from this due to the graham cracker crumbs and marshmallow taking up some space. I discarded the remaining batter though since I don't have another cupcake pan*)

Bake these at 350 degrees for 17 minutes and then take them out. Then insert your mallow "discs" into the center of each cupcake for a cute little garnish. Put the cupcakes back in the oven for another 5 minutes and let the marshmallow discs toast a little and get a little brown on the edges. This is them fresh out of the oven.

I took them out of the pan immediately and put them on a plate to cool

I think they are adorable!

I am sure that there are a ton of variations you could do on this, I thought about one after I finished everything about how it would have been cute to use a little food coloring and make the disc sticking out of the cupcake look like a little flame or something!

Any who, once we tasted them I realized that the marshmallow inside had melted and just left a slight marshmallow taste on the inside (still tasted fairly similar to a s'more though!)...not the gooeyness I was hoping for so it was basically just hollow so if you wanted to skip that step you could and just add a little extra on top or maybe let them cook and remove the center then add a marshmallow and cook the last 5 minutes. 

You can vary it however you would like, I actually kind of like it being hollow in the middle...almost makes me feel like it's not as fattening! Haha!

My husband suggested that we take the disc topper out and pipe in some marshmallow fluff then replace the disc so we get the gooeyness we were going for...I knew I married him for something!

I guess making something you don't really know how to make is always going to be a learning experience and making these cupcakes was just another one of those things I'm learning from life!

(Special thanks to my husband, who probably won't read this, for writing down the measurements I was hollering out at him across the kitchen so I didn't forget)

My new unexplainable addiction

OK...here's the thing, I don't know where it started or what fueled this addiction but at times it consumes me. I have spent countless hours searching for a fix that thus far has been unattainable.

How can I be addicted to something I have never had?
Am I just addicted to searching for it?
Will I stop spending so much time trying to find something I have never had if I get it?
Will getting what I'm trying to find end my addiction or just fuel it more?

Before anyone reading this gets to excited or concerned that I'm about to reveal some deep dark secret about being on drugs and searching for a new high, I'm not. This has nothing to do with anything illegal or any kind of mood or mind altering drugs. So without further ado, I am admitting that I am addicted to finding Japanese snacks...not what you expected right? ME EITHER!! These aren't just regular snacks that have Japanese labels, they are DIY snacks. You literally buy the package that comes with a mixing tray and powders and you add water to make different substances that usually turn in to some kind of gummy snack. This was the first one I saw a video of and it has just escalated from there.

This is called Popin Cookin Happy Kitchen:Hamburger. There are videos on YouTube of how to make it. It looks like a little meal you would get from a fast food place but they are little tiny gummy burgers and fries and it even comes with a little drink. I know what some of you are thinking, "Why don't you just go get gummy burgers from the store, they come already made." Here's the thing, you get to MAKE this and not all of it tastes just like a gummy, some of them taste like what they're supposed to be!

I have scoured the internet trying to find these and in the process have found even more interesting Japanese candy and snacks that, for some reason, I feel like I need to get. The problem: I can't afford to get all the things I want to try and have the authentic Japanese food sent here. It isn't like I didn't know that I probably wouldn't be able to find some of this stuff in the states, but I just figured that SOMEWHERE there would be a website based in the US that would offer wide varieties of international snacks. While I know that these are not "authentic" Japanese food items, I think they are AMAZING.

Maybe it's not just about the snacks, maybe I'm just tired of our mundane snacks and their lack of originality and invention. Maybe I'm sick of not having new options for snacks and not have "adventurous" foods readily available. Sure, we have escargot, caviar, bison jerky, and stuff like that but where is the dried seasoned squid or the seaweed chips with wasabi or Green Tea flavored KitKats or GUMMY SNACKS YOU CAN MAKE YOURSELF! I get that obviously other countries are going to have different snacks, but why can't we have some kind of store, even if it's just online, that offers these treats and such from other countries so we can experience different cultures foods without having to fork out the dough to go there because let's be honest, I can't afford to jet off to Japan at will just to try some new food.

Point being, I'm still trying to find foods that I will be able to try and experience without having to pay more in shipping than for the food itself. If anyone knows of a website, let me know because I REALLY want to experience something new as far as food goes because I am SO SICK of everything being the same. I know there are plenty of odd things out there from other countries that sound gross...but I have, for some reason, decided that I need to experience them.

I figured out the "roll" in Roller Derby :(

So it has been a little bit longer than I had hoped to get back to posting on here. I've been a little preoccupied babying my ankle...thats right...I was at roller derby practice and while not even skating, I rolled my ankle. I think it looked worse than it actually turned out to be though

 Thank heavens I didn't break it and it is only a torn ligament but I'm still in this obnoxious boot that makes me walk with an awkward limp.

And yes those are pink pants, I took that picture on my lunch break at work and I wear scrubs for work...any who, it stinks! I have to take it easy for three weeks (1 down, 2 to go). Hopefully once those three weeks are up I'll be up and at it with derby again and hopefully if I get hurt again, which I hope I don't, maybe I'll actually get hurt doing something on the track instead of just tripping over my own feet while at practice!

On a side note, a fellow derby girl actually did have a nasty fall at a bout a few weekends ago and broke her leg and she is going to be out for I think they said 8 weeks. Her injury is much worse than mine and it makes me not really whine to much because every time I get aggravated with what I'm dealing with I know she has it much worse and I should be thankful I wasn't hurt as badly. So, while prayers for my speedy recovery are appreciated, I would much rather you send some prayers to the girl that was hurt much worse and had to have surgery.

Halfway Homemade: Chicken Fettuccine

So I decided to do some halfway homemade cooking for my hubby since I've been kind of busy with Roller Derby and slightly neglecting him! I decided on trying out something I saw a friend of mine make about a week ago. I had the idea of what she did but wasn't exactly sure of what spices and stuff she was using so I tested a few different things and this was the best I came up with.

Halfway Homemade Chicken Fettuccine

If you have the things above you have everything you need! (Actually you will also need 1 cup of milk, some water, and butter/margarine is optional)
First get your chicken thawing out (2 large chicken breasts is what I would suggest but I used one large, one medium and one small as you can see)

Then when your chicken has thawed put the following in a bowl
1tsp red pepper
1tsp parsley flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

 And mix it all together (Doesn't it look pretty all mixed together!?)

Take your chicken out of the bags and have a hot pan ready (I had my stove on med-high heat)
Sprinkle some of your mixed seasonings on one side and put that side down on the pan. Do this with all pieces of your chicken. Once all your pieces are down sprinkle the remaining seasoning mixture on top of the uncooked side.

When your chicken is ready to be flipped....FLIP IT! I added about 1/4 cup of water after the 2nd raw side seared a little bit to help with moisture and to keep the seasonings from burning. After that side cooks, flip the meat again and add another 1/4 cup of water. Let it simmer until it is almost gone and your chicken should be cooked through. (As you can see I cut my chicken at the thickest parts to make sure it was cooked all the way through)

Let the remaining water simmer while you add water, milk and butter/margarine to a pot. Follow the directions on the back of the pasta mix for this part!(Keep in mind you're using TWO packs of the pasta)

All the water should be out of the pan by now (well most of it) and you can remove the chicken from the heat and set it aside and stick the pot of water, milk, and butter/margarine on the hot eye you just took the chicken off of.( I lowered my stove to medium for this part) Bring that to a boil and add the contents of the pasta bags to the boiling mixture and stir.

While you're waiting on the noodles to soften, cut up that delicious chicken! (BTW, this chicken would be really good by itself!) I just cut it in to strips then it to squares (sort of).

Check your pasta periodically, mine was done about 3/4 of the way through chopping.

*I would have taken a picture of how delicious the chopped up chicken looked but my hubby walked in and I got distracted having him taste it and getting compliments on how proud of me he was for actually making my own "Spice Mix" haha!*

Once the pasta is done and the chicken is chopped, add the chicken to the pasta and stir!

The whole thing (not including thawing the meat) only took about 30-35 minutes! I started us with kind of a medium portion and it filled us up!

Once the chicken was added to the pasta it was kind of spicy, I don't know why though because I didn't add any more seasonings and the chicken wasn't that spicy by itself. So if you just want the chicken this recipe is GREAT and if you like spicy food like me this is GREAT! But, if you like your food not so spicy, I would only use 1/2 tsp of the red pepper flakes and like 1/4 tsp of the pepper.

We each ate one helping of the pasta (as pictured above) and still had a TON left over!

 I mushed it all to once side because I was about to dump it into a container for the fridge...there are probably at least 2-3 more plates of food in that pot though!


So, that is my Halfway Homemade Chicken Fettuccine! If anyone decides to try this let me know how it goes or what you added to it to make it your own!

*All products used in this post were bought by me to be used in my home, I am not claiming any rights to any of these products*

Listen Through My Heart

So while browsing the internet, actually probably just Facebook or Pinterest, I came across a little picture that made me stop and think. This is the picture (I am not sure where it originally came from and I am not taking any form of credit for this picture, if I knew where it came from I would give credit)

The way I read this the first time was that sometimes it is just hard to find the words to say when you are trying to pray because you don't want it to come out the wrong way. As I sat there and kept clicking through things, the words from the picture lingered in my head and it dawned on me. Maybe it just isn't about not knowing the right words., maybe sometimes it's about having a problem so overwhelming that you can't say it in words without having to worry about being over heard.

I, like many others I'm sure, have something that weighs heavy on their hearts daily and all you want is for someone to listen and help you but you just can't find the right way to say it or bring yourself to say it out loud. I would love to be able to just sit down and tell someone everything that is going on but I don't want to be a "downer" and I don't want any pity. That is why it is just easier to let God listen to my heart. So, don't feel bad if you can't sit down and find the words you're looking for, God knows what you are trying to say.

These are just some of the Things I'm Learning From Life.