Fun weekend with my little brother...

Hello, all! Hope the New Year has started off great for everyone :) Mick and I have been awesome....we are home for a few months and have gotten to see our families and catch up with friends. Life is good! One of my favorite things to do while I am home is hang out with my little bro-ski who is 7. He is hilarious and never ceases to keep me entertained. My dad and step mom were out of town last weekend so Mick and I kept Mike. He shot Mickey's pellet gun outside, wrestled with Jagger, watched movies, helped cook, and asked about 10 million questions (which is normal, he is possibly the most inquisitive person I have ever met...). Mikey also had a birthday party to attend this weekend. That was quite the experience. I guess I forgot that Mikey and his friends are not three years old anymore, so when they shook each others hands and chest-bumped as a hello I was a bit taken back. How hilarious! 


I left him at the party and told him I would be back to get him at 9, but being the good big sister that I am (ha!), I showed up a few minutes early and was able to get some of his "skating" on video... I couldn't help but laugh at him, but don't worry, he didn't take offense to it. He was a good sport and thought it was funny, too! Watch and enjoy... (Hes the one at the end of the rink with a black shirt on)

Skinny Chicken Nuggets

As I mentioned in my last post, my sister-in-law was here visiting last week. We had a great time cooking/baking/eating. We ate dessert almost every night, therefore we tried to make "healthier" dinners. We made these SCRUMPTIOUS CHICKEN NUGGETS that were super easy and yummy! I found the recipe off PiNteReSt. What they DO NOT tell you, is that these little guys are SPICY! Therefore, maybe try cutting back on the cayenne pepper if you are serving them to little kids. Otherwise, they are amazing and guilt free :)

Delish Apple Pie :)

Yummm!!! Karah (my awesome sister-in-law whom I love dearly) was here visiting us last week. We cooked up a storm! More posts to come about some of our yummy dinners, but life's too short, so I'll post about dessert first ;)

I found this idea on Pinterst <3 and we decided to test in out. It was super super easy and fun, not to mention, DELISH!

Pie crust with softened butter and cinnamon on top

Crust rolled up and cut into approx. 1/2 inch pieces

Cinnamon rolls pressed into the bottom of my pie pan. Didn't turn out quite as pretty as the one on Pinterest, but it sure tasted good :) I put the rest of the cinnamon rolls on the sides to finish the crust.

Pie all ready to go in the oven. Cut up apples and topped with approx. 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/4 cup sugar, mixed with 1 stick of butter and crumbled on top. Apple Crisp was the same recipe but with 1 cup of oatmeal mixed in. They both were YUMMY with nonfat vanilla yogurt (had to be skinny somewhere ;)

Christmas Dinner 2011

I am VERY happy to report that Christmas dinner was a 
S-U-C-C-E-S-S! Yipppeeee!! I had so much fun cooking all of the food we ate. 

Our menu included:

Hamloaf

Wax Bean Casserole

Stuffing

Turkey

Baked Mac and Cheese

Deviled Eggs (thanks to Amber!)

White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake (yummmm!)

Mickey and I invited our friends Amber and Kerry over. Kerry is Mickey's teammate, and Amber has become one of my close friends (we go to the gym together everyday..yay for a workout buddy!)

Amber and Kerry brought deviled eggs and a chocolate lovers cheesecake (since Kerry doesn't like peppermint...). Amber also brought two bottles of wine which were delish :)

And here is everything all on the table and ready to be eaten...it was delicious and made our Christmas feel a little bit more home-like :) Hope everyone had a blessed holiday.

love Christmas time!!

I cannot begin to express how EXCITED I am for Christmas day! Family at home may be wondering why I am excited since I won't be home with them this Christmas (I am very sad about that, and it is not the reason I am excited :P) The reason I AM excited because I am entertaining on Christmas day, and it will be the first true "entertaining" I have ever done!!! Mickey and I have invited our friends Amber and Kerry over for Christmas dinner and I am so excited to get to cook for everyone and try new recipes! I have been on Pinterest finding yummy recipes and ideas...OH THE POSSIBILITIES! 


I have decided to make a candy cane cheesecake by combining two really yummy looking recipes I found. I bought my first springform pan today! I can't believe I am even excited about that, but I am...who am I turning into!!? 


I also ordered my "hamloaf" meat mixture from our local butcher. Hamloaf is a Pennsylvania Dutch dish so the butcher here in Minnesota had never heard of it, but I told him what it was and he is making it for me...I pick it up tomorrow :)


I have a lot of other ideas as to what I am going to make, but once my menu is finalized I will post it here with recipes :) 


Until then...happy baking, eating, shopping, and whatever else you will be enjoying over the next few days <3

The Minnesota Vikings Christmas Party

Last night, Mickey and I attended his team Christmas party at the Mall of America. It was an absolute BLAST! The team rented out the Nickelodeon Amusement Park in the center of the mall and let us ride the rides all night! Crave catered the event and the food was delicious. They had ice cream stands, candy stations, popcorn stations, bars, coffee, and more. Here are some pictures from our fun night!

Mickey and me with our friends Kerry and Amber!

My favorite roller coaster in the park :)

Awesome ropes course that Mickey, Kerry, and I did! Amber was our photographer.

Gender Reveal Cupcakes I made for a friend!

A friend I met here in Minnesota just found out she will be having a little boy! She wanted to tell our bible study group the sex of the baby by having everyone bite into a cupcake filled with blue icing! I volunteered to make these cupcakes for her since she works and is really busy (and I am currently not working and have plenty of time to do fun things like bake!)


I found a few really cute cupcake ideas on Pinterest and decided to put my own spin on what I found. I went to a really cool store in our local mall called "Kitchens," and found a cupcake corer and purple sugar sprinkles. I then went to the grocery store and bought vanilla and chocolate cake batter. I decided to make my own vanilla buttercream frosting and cheated on the blue icing by buying good old blue icing in a can. I also bought reduced-fat vanilla wafers and black icing gel.


To make the cupcakes I followed the instructions on the box.


To make the buttercream I combined:
-1 cup butter at room temperature
-6 cups powdered sugar
-1/2 cup whipping cream
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
-Use a stand mixer and combine all ingredients to the desired consistency. Add more powdered sugar if needed!
**Also make sure you have a frosting bag or you will have to apply the buttercream to the cupcake with a knife, and they never turn out as pretty that way!


After the cupcakes cool, use the corer to remove the center of the cupcake (but only push corer half way in as you don't want the cupcake cored the whole way through!)

(The corer)

When you pull the corer out and push the plunger so the center of the cupcake comes out, save it because you need to put the top back on the cupcake! Fill the hole in the center with blue icing...

Then put the tops back on the cupcakes...

I put my buttercream frosting in a frosting bag with a regular tip on the end and applied my icing in a circular motion. I then sprinkled my purple sugar crystals on top (or any NEUTRAL baby color would work like green or yellow). I then used my black gel icing to put "?" on the vanilla wafers, and placed them on top of the cupcake!

and....WALLAH! you have delicious gender reveal cupcakes!! These are a great way to tell your friends and family the sex of your baby! Make sure everyone bites into their cupcake at the same time so everyone sees the blue icing at the same time! ENJOY!