pink party

In honor of love day husband and I hosted a Valentine's dinner party with all my freshman roommates and their men. It was so fun to get together and see everybody, {although we missed Shayn, who's too busy having adventures in China } I sure got lucky living with those awesome girls. 

For dinner we made "pink pasta" aka Southwestern Chicken Pasta and everyone brought food to go along with it. I also made red velvet cupcakes with pink cream cheese icing and heart-shaped brownies. But in honor of Sochi, the main dessert was Russian Cream. We had the Olympics going the whole dinner - I just love watching the figure skating! The slope style snowboarding was pretty cool too. I always have a feeling of I don't know, what am I doing with my life whenever I watch all those super talented athletes doing such amazing things. Anyways, here's the four pictures I took the whole night. I was supposed to take a group shot, but of course I forgot. Also, theecipe for Russian Cream - you're welcome :)

Russian Cream

1/2 c water

1/2 c sugar

1 envelope Knox Gelatin

Mix and let sit 5 minutes. Then heat and let boil 1 minute.

Add in 1 c heavy whipping cream

In a large serving bowl mix 1 pint sour cream and 1 tsp vanilla

Add in gelatin mix and stir until smooth.

Chill 3 hours.

Raspberry Topping:

1/2 c sugar

1 bag frozen raspberries

Mix berries and sugar and let sit out for 2 hours. Crush raspberries before serving.

This makes a pretty small recipe, I usually double it. In my opinion, it's better if you let it sit out for like 15 minutes before you serve it too - it's a little creamier when it's not fresh out of the fridge.

pumpkin waffles & buttermilk syrup

Fall is the season for pumpkin recipes so obviously, pumpkin waffles and buttermilk syrup were in order. While I'm not the biggest pumpkin pie fan, I do love a good pumpkin chocolate chip cookie and some warm pumpkin waffles.

For the waffles I used this recipe I found via Pinterest and then topped them with my mom's foolproof buttermilk syrup.

Buttermilk Syrup

3 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup butter

4 tablespoons corn syrup

2 tablespoons baking soda

4 tsp vanilla

Start with a big pot. And I mean big. This stuff boils up a lot.

Put in all ingredients (but vanilla) and bring to a boil over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Stirring throughout, you should notice the syrup should get really foamy and start darkening into a caramel color. After 5 minutes, turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Enjoy!

biscuits & gravy

This is the fiancé's favorite breakfast. And I think I've gotten pretty good at making it now. It's actually a pretty simple and quick recipe that doesn't take long to whip up. There are about a million and one recipes out there but this is a super simple and delicious adaptation we've loved.

And p.s. as usual it's all in iPhone pictures, because I don't own a fancy camera, nor would I have time to haul it around snapping photos. You're pretty much lucky I even remembered to stop and snap a few with my phone...

Begin with 1 lb. sausage. We think it's really best with spicy sausage and we like this one 

(although I think it would be even better with turkey sausage seeing as I'm not really a pork fan). But I'm serious on the spicy sausage, we used plain sausage before and the result was a little bland.

Brown the sausage in a large fry pan according to the instructions on the package.

{ Make sure to stick your biscuits in the oven while you do this because if you wait your gravy will be done and getting super thick while you're sitting around waiting for your biscuits to bake. }

For the gravy I suggest using whole milk because it has a creamier and thicker texture to it. You can also use whipping cream but I like the whole milk better. As far as how much of everything to add I just eyeball it (remember how I told you here that we don't really use measurements when we cook?) - but I did put approximations in the recipe below.

Start the gravy by stirring in some flour. It should start to thicken the meat up. When the flour is dissolved stir in milk and add salt and pepper to taste. Cook your gravy until it's all thick and bubbly. It should look a little something like the pictures below:

Your biscuits should be done about now so get those puppies out of the oven. We like to use the Pillsbury buttermilk kind (but any buttermilk biscuit will do - you can even try your hand at homemade if your feelin' especially fancy). Bake them until just golden.

Cut your biscuits in half and top with the gravy. The more gravy the better according to fiancé. 

Bon appetit!

Biscuits & Gravy

servings: 4 { but if you're eating with a bottomless pit who's favorite breakfast is biscuits and gravy it may be just 2 - one for you and the rest for him ;) }

• 1 lb. hot/spicy sausage 
• 8 biscuits
• Flour - about 1/2 cup
• Whole milk - about 2 cups
• Salt & pepper to taste

pi day

Happy Pi Day!

This is what I've been dreaming about all day...

recipe

It's been such a wonderful, beautiful, sunny day. Actually this whole week has been great, I've been running in my shorts and a t-shirt, no jacket! Yay!  

Also, I've had a goal to run 15 miles total this week... I'm up to 10 now. Only 5 more to go in the next three days. Not to toot my own horn or anything... toot toot. Pretty proud of myself considering how much I don't love running :) To see my fav running app and workout gear check here

snacks

I'm a snacker. My favorite part of coming home after a long day is my after-school snack. I don't buy junk food and candy very much because I know I don't have the willpower to choose healthy food over junk food if it's there. But it's hard to keep snacks from getting boring when they are healthy. So here are a few I've been liking lately:

Apple Sandwiches

This is just a fun way to do apples and peanut butter and sneak in some chocolate. This snack is definitely more calories than the others but it keeps you full for a long time and it's like a dessert. Just slice your apple transversely into discs (the thinner the better) and be sure to cut the core out.

apple: 74 calories - 2 Tbsp natural peanut butter: 210 calories - 1 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips: 70 - grand total: 354

Cheese and Crackers

This is an oldie but goodie. Simply stick cheese slices on top of your crackers. 

4 whole grain crackers: 80 calories - 1 oz. colby& monterey jack cheese: 110 calories - grand total: 190 calories

Yogurt Dots

This is the easiest snack and it's so good. Spoon about a half cup of your favorite yogurt (mine is pictured above) into a sandwich bag and cut the tip off so you can squeeze little dots of yogurt onto a freezer-safe plate. Freeze for about an hour and enjoy!

1/2 cup honey flavored greek yogurt: about 110 calories

A few others I enjoy: raw almonds + craisons , celery + laughing cow cheese wedge , smoothies (I'll do a whole post about smoothies because I've got some good ones!) , whole wheat toast + natural peanut butter

chicken fajitas

Confession: I love to bake and I'll admit, I'm pretty good at it. Cooking, on the other hand (especially with meat) is a struggle. Good thing fiancé is a natural-born chef. One of our favorite dinners is chicken fajitas, and this boy makes the greatest. He doesn't need a recipe, he always whips up his own...

Thinly slice 1 1/2 to 2 bell peppers and the onion.

Sauté the peppers and onion in about 2 Tbls. butter. Salt and pepper to taste. You want the onions to become slightly translucent with the edges lightly browned. The key is to keep the veggies from becoming totally soft and limp - they're better with a little bit of crunch left in them.

While the veggies are on the stove slice two chicken breasts transversely to make four thinner pieces (as shown above), then cut into thin strips. The thinner the better in our book.

At this point your veggies might be done. If so, remove them from the pan and onto a plate for serving. 

{ Set the pan aside, you'll use it again to cook the chicken. }

Put the cut pieces of chicken into a bowl. Now for the fun part - add to the chicken: a couple squirts of lime juice, and a few good shakes of all the other spices. Like I said before, Conner doesn't use recipes when he cooks so we just eyeball it. And really, the spices are all to your own taste; the more you add, the spicier your fajitas will be.

Cook the chicken in the same pan you used for the veggies, around medium-high until it's cooked through. Then turn the heat up (almost to high) and cook until all the juices have soaked in and/or evaporated.

Once your chicken is done you're ready to eat! Enjoy!

Chicken Fajitas ~ Conner Style

servings: two

• Tortillas (we like the uncooked kind you fry yourself)
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 bell peppers (any color)
• 1 large onion or 2 small onions
• Butter
• Salt and pepper
• Lime juice
• Paprika (we like the Hungarian)
• Ancho chile pepper
• Mexican-style chili powder
• Chile powder
• Ground cumin