Guess what time it is?

CHRISTMAS COOKIE BAKING TIME!

Holiday Cheer

So this is pretty much about nothing at all except for the fact that I wanted to share that I was bummed out that I had to clean the house today (because tomorrow shall be spent baking baking baking) and then I turned on the Music Channel on my TV an tuned ino "Classic Christmas". I feel much better now that I am dancing around my living room to pretty Christmas music while cleaning. Makes for a much nicer experience.

That is all! Merry Happy Everyone!

Impromptu Nachos!

Yesterday Uriah and I picked up some mexican take out at Salsarita's. It's basically like Chipotle or Moes. If you've never had the wonders of somewhat fast mexican food, you should investigate it. You won't be disappointed.

Anyway, Uriah got Rice&Beans as the side to his burrito (that had rice and beans in it.. poor choice, Uriah). Needless to say, we had some rice and beans left over and decided to keep 'em in the fridge with the best intentions of eating them. We always do that but rarely actually eat something like that.

So, today Uriah comes home from work and is looking for a snack. He's going to use the rice and beans as a dip with tortilla chips. Me, being the "Nacho Queen" as Uriah so nicely put it, had the idea of making nachos with the rice and beans, chips, salsa, cheese and sour cream. It was a grand idea. I love it when I can take what was going to be a run-of-the-mill/mundane snack and turn it into something that you would order at a restaurant.

Moral of the story: next time you have leftovers, get creative and you might just make something amazingly delicious!

I only wish that I had some jalapenos or something equally spicy and delicious to put on top.

Festive!

When Uriah and I shot our Christmas Card, we used a few yards of christmas fabric as a background. Well, I couldn't just fold it up and never look at it again so, I decided to make an apron (I know, I know, you're shocked). I decided to try to make a "butcher-style" apron to switch it up a bit sooo I made myself a pattern and got started.

For some reason, this apron gave me a super hard time but I got it together after a while. It's pretty but the proportions seem a little off. It's very long and the pocket is in a bit of an awkward place but, it'll do the trick of keeping me realatively clean while I'm baking all of those cookies for my mom's party. :-)

This picture really sucks. I should totally stop using my iPhone when I have multiple professional cameras at my disposal

This only used up 1/3 of the fabric that we have leftover so, I see a few more tries in my future.

Adobo!

No, no... not "Adobe".

Adobo is a delicious filipino dish! It's more or less meat (and maybe some veggies is you want), a ton of garlic, onion, soy sauce and vinegar. I realize that won't sound too appealing to most but I promise you... it's delicious. I've made it from scratch before and it turned out great but the other night I made it using a seasoning packet by Mama Sita's! 

I love making food from scratch but you can't overlook a good shortcut. Just disolve the packet in 1 cup of water and marinate your meat (for me, it's chicken and potatoes), then cook the meat in hot oil, add in the marinade and cook until it's all done/tender.

Uriah is filipino so this is like his comfort food. Also, it works well on a cold day because it's all warm and hearty (like stew).

I wasn't planning on posting anything on this but it turned out so well that I took a picture of Uriah's plate (this was his "round two" plate). It's not a pretty picture and his plate is all messy but, if you could taste it, you could definately overlook that. ;-)

Snap, Crackle, Pop

I had to go to the DMV today. It wasn't so bad (because I got there at 8am) but then when I got home, I noticed that they had spelled my name wrong on my license so, I had to go back. I had a lot of rage due to this but I swallowed it up when I got back to the DMV (where they then had to do EVERYTHING over again... Ugh). Anyway, after I left the DMV (for the 2nd time), I was in need of something to do to unwind (and a good little sugar rush). I decided to make some Rice Krispy Treats!

I'd never made them before but they seemed easy and all of the ingredients basically cost $2 soooo I went for it.

It was more challenging that I anticpiated. Those mama-jamas are sticky! Anyway, I got the hang of it and they turned out as anticipated.

I cut the treats into shapes with cookie cutters and I used "cookie icing" to decorate them and they kind of look like a small child did it. Oh well, they still taste good.



Decided to not knock myself out with the picture since they are not the most beautiful things ;-)



Pogi Project!

So the other day Uriah and I went to the fabric store to pick up some supplies for our Christmas Card Photo Shoot (which has yet to happen) and I decided to pick up some fleece remnants to make some dog toys for my favorite pup (and his doggy cousins and friends)!

Pretty simple project, all I needed was a template (I chose a bone), fleece and some fluff to stuff the thing with. It turned out pretty well (for a 10 minute project)!

Pogi seems to like it. He hasn't even destroyed it yet!

Gearing up for Christmastime!

My mom gave me the task of making cookies and other yummy treats for her Christmas Eve party that she has every year. Being in charge of the sweets at Christmas is pretty stressful (because let's face it, it's the goodies that are the most important).

So, with the weight of Christmas on my shoulders, I decided to try to get cracking on trying out some festive cookie recipes. While I was searching the web, I came across a recipe by Ocean Spray, of all companies, for Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

They sounded delicious and relatively simple so I gave 'em a whirl. I've actually never made any kind of oatmeal cookie so it was kind of an adventure (I spent a good deal of time in the grocery store searching for the ingredients haha).

They turned out pretty well but I like my cookies to be a little sweeter (Uriah usually comments that most cookies that I make are "too sweet"... as if there is such a thing). I suppose these are more for the adult cookie-lover.

yummmy yummy yum