Foodie

If you know me even a little bit, then you know how much I love food. I love shopping for it, I love preparing/cooking/baking it, and mostly, I love eating it. I blame my parents for this addiction ;) It's really a wonder that I am not 500 pounds. Good thing I like running too! I read a lot of food blogs, to get ideas, and to look at delicious pictures of food that make me drool. And lately I've been thinking about starting my own. So I figured I'd start small with a food post :) Here is some stuff I've made lately.

Jaime's Birthday Cupcakes
I made these for Jaime's surprise party. I had made this White Chocolate Raspberry Cake before for both mine and Cory's mom's birthdays when they visited and it was absolutely delicious! It starts with a white cake mix, which some people may say is cheating, but I say it's just helping! It just saves me from having to measure the flour and sugar. The recipe adds the eggs and whatever else, but what makes it special is the 6 oz of white chocolate that you melt and add to the batter! (And the 6 more oz in the cream cheese icing!) For the two layer cake that I made before, there is layer of raspberry jam between the layers with the icing. Yum! But I thought cupcakes would be easier for a party, so I pondered how to make these in cupcake form. And here's what I came up with:

I used my melon-baller to scoop out a little of each cupcake, and then filled it with raspberry jam after they were cooled. Then I iced them. I have to toot my own horn here and say that they turned out really good! They were super moist, the jam was a nice surprise, and as an avid icing lover, that extra glob of icing on top of the jam was a real treat!

Black Bean and Zucchini Burrito

This is something I made for my lunches this week. Refried fat free black beans (from a pouch, dehydrated, add boiling water) + sauteed zucchini & onions + whole wheat tortilla + a little cheese = heaven in my mouth. Cory doesn't like beans or zucchini so this was a perfect thing for me to take for lunch. In addition to tasting delicious, it's also healthy!

Potato Shrimp Soup and Grilled Ribs
Two dinners we had this week that were great! I got this soup recipe for my mom and it was delicious and easy enough to prepare on a work night, even after working out. The ribs I had bought cheap at the HEB and Cory grilled them up just right! We even made our own BBQ sauce; mostly because we were out, not because we were that ambitious ;)

So what do you think? Is my baking/cooking up to par enough to start a food blog? One thing's for sure, I need to work on my photography skills, these food pictures suck! Check out some great ones at some of my favorite food blogs, The Pioneer Woman, Smitten Kitchen, and Bakerella.

Off to read up on the macro setting of my camera!

Jaime's Weekend

Jaime turned 30 on Friday and little did she know, but her awesome husband Charlie had planned a surprise party for her! He enlisted help from me and Beth for the food and decor, and after hearing of the Mad Hatter theme that Jaime had talked about, we went all out with a Mad Hatter Tea Party Alice in Wonderland theme. I had a hard time keeping the secret from Jaime all week, which I handled by mostly avoiding her ;) I think she was surprised though, and the party was a blast! Happy Birthday Jaime!!!



On Sunday there was party number 2 at the Marshik's house. Since Jaime didn't know about the surprise party, she had planned an Oscar's party for Sunday! We got dressed up, walked the red carpet, cast our ballots, and watched the show. Good times! See pictures over at the Marshik blog here, including one of me picking food out of my teeth, and several of their cute doggies!

Valentine's Day Treats

I know Valentine's Day was a week ago already, but at least I'm posting ;)

Cory and I usually don't make a big deal of Valentine's day because my birthday is the day before and we usually celebrate that instead. So we usually lay low and make dinner at home and skip the presents. This year we went to dinner at Masa Sushi with the Wilke's which was delicious. I also made Cory these truffles. The circle ones are Oreo Truffles and the square ones are Cheesecake Bites. Aren't they purdy?

February is the best month!

A lot of our friends have birthday's in February, and we've been doing a lot of celebrating. A couple weeks ago, we had a happy hour at Boondoggles for Lisa's birthday. Much fun (and beverage) was had by all!

The following Tuesday was Beth's birthday, and Jaime and I headed over with homemade dinner (by Jaime) and cheesecake (by me), which we ate while we watched the Biggest Loser. No picture of that birthday girl, but I do have one of the cheesecake! Yum yum!

My birthday was this past Friday, the 13th! Heather and I were born on a Friday the 13th so this was extra exciting! Cory and I hosted the annual February Birthday party this year and I did a superstitions theme, to go along with my freaky birthdate. It was lots of fun!!

House Project: New Carpet

We finally got our carpet installed and, for now, our house renovations are complete. Here's a before and after of our carpet in our bedroom, and then a close-up. It's the same throughout the whole house - everywhere that had carpet before has this new carpet, except the front two rooms. We plan to put hardwoods in there, eventually.

Superbowl Sunday! Go Steelers!

Cory and I had some friends over today to watch the Superbowl. Although it wasn't the all-Pennsylvania match-up that I'd hoped for, because the Eagles let us down, I at least rooted for the Steelers for Cory! And it turned out to be a good game.

I recently saw a recipe for homemade soft pretzels and decided I needed to try them (it would have been more fitting to make Philly soft pretzels if the Eagles had been in it, but oh well!). Everyone really liked them, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed with myself! This was the first time I've ever made any 'bread', and my dough hook on my kitchen aid came in very handy! Look at these beauties!

House Project: Family Room Makeover

Cory and I received a lot of very generous monetary gifts for our wedding, and decided to put most of that money towards redoing our family room, one of many house projects we've been wanting to do. So we got a new couch, a new TV stand, a new end table, and new paint! Eventually we'll be hanging the TV on the wall, and our signature mat from our wedding (once we get it framed) will be hung above the fireplace. Here are some before and after pictures. We're quite happy with our new room! Come on over and take a look!