It's ok to take a break.. and eat cookies!

So I just needed to take a bit of a break from the Internet world. I haven't been on my computer much the past week. And honestly I didn't even really feel like it. I am not 100% sure what was going on, but there was a lot emotionally and mentally running through me and I just needed some time to deal with it. I know it is going to take me a while to adjust to married life and slowly but surely we are learning things, whether is be the easy way or the hard way!

Have you ever had anyone say something to you that just made you question your entire personality and self? Then made you wonder if people really like you or maybe you just think they do? Well I heard a comment of this nature and it really messed with me. I pretty much just shut down and tried to process this comment and let myself focus on it so much it was starting to slowly destroy me inside. I was in this weird funk and I just really had no idea what to do with myself. I felt like blogging or facebooking was only going to prove this person's point even further, so I avoided it. I finally decided to tell Megan about it and she is always there with open arms to listen to me and give me advice. And she helped snap me out of my funk. I don't think I have had anyone say something like that to me in such a long time that my guard was down and I let it get to me. Normally I wouldn't listen to such nonsense because I am used to hearing things like that and just ignoring them, but it makes it a lot harder when it comes from someone close to you that you weren't expecting it from. I finally realized that I think the comment was made out of anger and I don't agree with it. I am not going to let this comment get me down anymore, and if people don't like how I am then they don't need to be around me anyways. I have a lot of good friends, and I must be doing something right if they are sticking around!

Moving on to marriage stuff! So, basically when it comes to marriage, you really just need to take it one day at a time. Because every day is different! I can wake up expecting it to be a great day, I am in a great mood, and he is not. No matter how much I try to change this, sometimes it just doesn't work. Learning each other's habits, and what's important to each other takes time. Developing new habits for both of us also takes time. If he leaves a towel on the floor or somewhere one more time! haha He is learning that this bugs me beyond ALL belief. Especially when a wet towel is left on my side of the bed and now it is wet as well! So now every time a wet towel is left out, it ends up on his pillow. I think he is learning.. he will get it at some point!

We go to a date night the first and third Friday's of the month. We meet with other married couples for about an hour, then go out on a date. Some couples have been married a short time, some 5 yrs, some 15, some 20+. So it is nice to hear advice from others who have done this for awhile and tips they have for us! It is also with other Christian couples so we learn a lot of things involving God and how to give our relationship up to Him. A few things we talked about Friday is that love is not an emotion, it is a decision. This may be the most profound relationship advice I have heard this far. When you said I do, you committed to loving this person the rest of your life. And when you are angry with each other you have to remember you decided to love already so you can't let your emotions tell you when you love. So as hard as it may be you still need to say I love you when angry with each other and not let emotions decide for you. This application can also be applied to SO many other things not just relationships! We also learned that when people use the phrase "always" or "never" do you notice it is most used for negative things? Like you never take the trash out or you always leave the towel on the floor. It may seem like they always or never do but chances are they don't do this or do do this 100% of the time. So they really are unfair fighting words. Unless you have substantial proof, like you never clean the oven because they really never have, then it is unfair of you to use these words to express how you are feeling. Do you ever hear always or never used in a positive sentence? Like you always wash the dishes! Or you never complain! Not usually! Think about it.When you have a disagreement, it is best to pray to God for help and to ask him to either change your heart or his heart to get to an answer and work things out. And we have to realize everyone will come with imperfections, they can not be perfect 100% of the time, so you have to let them be imperfect and not expect perfection. And you can't rely on them to make you happy and fill you up. They can to an extent, but you have to let God do the rest. He needs to fill up the rest of your cup that you may feel is empty. He is the one who will make it overflow, not your spouse. I think that was huge for me. You place a lot of happiness on other people in your lives but are you placing it with the most important person in your life? This is something I need to work more on and spend more time with God. Seek ye first and all these things will be added unto you. Seek his love first and your spouses love will follow to help fill you up.

One last thing on this! Our friends do this to let each other know what kind of mood they are in when they come home or see each other after working so that they may know how to treat each other or what they are in for. If she is having a bad day or is really emotional she says I am fragile, so he knows he has to adjust to this so he doesn't do anything to upset her. Or if he comes home and says I had a really bad day at work, give me 30 minutes alone to unwind and clear my mind then we can talk, and she knows not to talk his ear off when he walks in the door and will NOT hear anything she said because he does not want to listen to it. He said at some point in the evening he gives her 15 min of undivided attention and she can tell him whatever she wants. This way she doesn't hold it all in and explode or feel like he isn't paying attention to her. Sometimes we just need to talk, we don't need advice, we just want to vent and be heard. Once we basically word vomit, we are ok! Especially if we are around kids ALL day, we need adult interaction! Then after that we usually can go on about with whatever and feel like we are being loved since we got to talk and have undivided attention. He said 15 min of time can save you hours of arguing or an evening of a wife in a bad mood, and it isn't that hard to do! And as always pray about things on a daily basis and don't be afraid to ask for advice or help.

Church was about picking your friends. It was very interesting. Most of the time we end up picking our friends, who then influence our lives. We let others influence how our life is going to be, when it should be we decide how we want our lives to be, then pick our friends accordingly. We also care more about what we are wearing or take more time picking a car or an outfit then we do picking our friends. We barely put any stock into picking friends when it is hugely important to have the right people surrounding us. Look at your friends, do they influence your life to be a certain way, or did you pick them after choosing how you wanted to live? Do they bring you closer to God or farther away? Are they trustworthy, supportive, caring, loving, peace makers, safe, and followers of God? Do they bring you up not break you down? How do you choose your friends? It is ok to be friendly with people, God tells us to be friendly with everyone. But when it comes to close friends, we should choose more carefully. Be aware that if that person has bad intentions, you will probably get dragged down with them and do the same. Are you choosing how you want to live or letting your friends do it for you? Just some food for thought!

Speaking of food, picture time!! So friday I made French dip in the crock pot. It turned out pretty good! Would have been better with some horseradish but it tasted like something you would have ordered in a restaurant!
recipe: http://bakingbites.com/2008/02/slow-cooker-french-dip-sandwich/

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
approx 3 1/2 lbs beef chuck roast
16-oz. beef broth (1 1/2 cans)
1 10.5-oz. can condensed French onion soup
6-oz red wine
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste
4-6 French rolls
sliced provolone cheese, optional

Trim excess fat off of beef roast and season meat all over with salt and pepper.
Pour beef broth, condensed French onion soup, red wine and garlic powder into slow cooker and place beef roast into liquid.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Slow cookers have different time intervals that you can select, so work with your cooker. Depending on how the settings on your slow cooker work, the time will vary. Since this is cooking in liquid, you don’t have to worry about the meat drying out in the same way you might if you were roasting the meat in the oven. Mine took 7 1/2 hours and was falling apart tender.
Take beef out and rest it, covered with aluminum foil, for about 15 minutes. Slice beef and return to slow cooker on low or very low for 30 minutes.
Lightly toast the bread and evenly distribute cheese between rolls, if using. Divide beef onto rolls and spoon the beef juice* into ramekins or other small bowls and eat everything while it is hot. Serve each sandwich with its own dip.

Seves 4-6.

*Note: If there is excess fat in your au jus, simply pour it from the slow cooker into a large measuring cup and let it stand for about 5 minutes so the fat separates. Skim it off, then pour the juice into serving cups. 

I then made this as a side, lemon garlic roasted asparagus. DELICIOUS!
recipe here: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2011/03/lemon-garlic-roasted-asparagus-321.html

Added some sweet potato fries and this was the end result!

Yum!!

Then I made some red velvet white chocolate chip cookies. Guys, seriously, best cookie I have EVER had. Then again I LOVE red velvet, it's my favorite! But when these cookies are warm, it is beyond amazing. I think these came from God directly, because these are heavenly! http://whipperberry.com/2011/03/recipe-red-velvet-cookie-with-white-chocolate-chunks.html

recipe:

Red Velvet Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks

• 1 box of Red Velvet Cake Mix
• 1 cup of All-Purpose Flour
• 2 sticks of softened butter
• 1 egg
• 2 cups of White Chocolate Chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, add butter and mix until soft and fluffy.  Slowly add cake mix and flour. Once combined, add egg and mix completely.  Add white chocolate chunks, and mix for a minute or so until well combined.  Form dough into one inch balls, and place into the oven for 8-10 minutes. {Yields about 24 small cookies.} 

NOM NOM NOM!

Seriously you must make! And yesterday I found red velvet everything on Pinterest.. this could be bad! I must have them ALL! Last night I made quinoa burgers! They weren't too bad at all. Hubs was a little hesitant at a no meat meal, but he was pleasantly surprised! I also took the cumin out and used chili powder because I had no cumin! But the more flavor the better they taste! 

recipe: 

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

To cook quinoa:

In a medium saucepan bring the 2 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil over high heat.  Add quinoa and reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until all water is absorbed and the seeds are tender.  Allow to cool for a few minutes.

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or other variety, if you prefer)

1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese

1 medium carrot, finely grated (OR 1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed)

3 eggs

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 green onions, including white parts

1 /2 teaspoon Splenda or sugar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Olive oil for frying

.

In a large bowl combine the cooked quinoa, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, carrot, eggs, flour, green onions, Splenda, pepper, cumin, salt, and garlic powder.

Heat a frying pan and a couple teaspoons olive oil over medium-low heat.  Measure 1/4 cup and form into patties about 1/2 inch thick  - mixture will be slightly sticky.  Fry until golden-brown, about 4 minutes on each side.   Makes approx. 10 burgers.

Per burger:  Calories 132; Protein 8 g; Fat 5 g; NET Carbs 12 g; (Fiber 2 g); Sugar 0 g; Sodium 200 mg 

http://eatingwelllivingthin.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/love-my-quinoa-burger/

In conclusion, sometimes you just need a break. And hey it's OK to do this! You do whatever is best for you and don't worry about what other people think or say! We are humans, no one is perfect! It also helps when you have delicious red velvet cookies by your side! I guess this is enough for one post! Bad part of not posting for a week, there's lots to say!! 

I leave you with a cute picture of Dyson!

This is real, this is hard.

Where to begin. I guess I will start with my running for the past two days. I got all excited about my new garms and was ready to take on the world yesterday with running. I probably should have taken it easy since I haven't run in over a month but I felt the need to do a 5k for some reason. I was pretty pleased with myself, I was 4 seconds behind my PR! Hm maybe time off isn't as detrimental as I was assuming it would be. I am glad it wasn't 2 minutes or something, I would have died! I will admit though, it was rough. I was proud of myself for only walking about 3 min of it and running the rest of it. I wanted to die at mile 2 and give up but I pushed myself and kept going! It was my first night run and I didn't mind it except I kept thinking I was going to get ran over at some point so that was a little annoying. Maybe it made me run faster! Still the possibility of getting ran over is as great during the day as it is night so not sure what I was so worried about! I defiantly paid for running that much off the bat today. I was sore and tight in my legs. I still drug myself out to run though. However, my mind was not there. I had A LOT on my mind and I wish I could say running was a stress relief for me but unfortunately it isn't. If anything it gives me more alone time to think about everything I just want to get away from. So after a very slow mile because I was so sore, I was done. I had nothing left in me to give and you know I was ok with it. I walked the second mile and did 2 miles in 29 min. It was pathetic, but I know my heart wasn't there and it happens sometimes. I am proud of myself for getting out there anyways when I knew I didn't want to do it. My goal is 35 miles in 30 days. I am 5 miles down! Woo! I am hoping I surpass those 35 miles by a lot though! I just want a minimum of that! The weather is perfect for running now with this weather and I am actually happy to run outside. Running hills kills me but I am trying to get better at doing them!

I have to work over night tonight so I had the day off and decided to make crock pot meatloaf, still cooking, and see how well that turned out. Adding sour cream mashed potatoes and veggies. I also decided to make chocolate chip pumpkin muffins! This is not a pinterest recipe! A family friend makes these and they are delicious! She makes them in the mini cupcake pan and freezes them and puts 2 in a snack ziplock for her kids lunches and by lunch time it has thawed out. I personally like them out of the freezer and let them thaw about 5 min then when they are warm! Here is the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
1 box spice cake mix
1 small can pumpkin filling
Chocolate chips to your liking

Mix spice mix as instructed, add can of pumpkin and chocolate chips to mix. Cook as directed for cupcakes. I double lined the cupcakes because they are so heavy with the pumpkin that it kind of seeps through a little. Let them cool, freeze extras. Super easy!!

Voilla!

I don't know what this Goose was doing or how he hopped up there but I thought it was funny!

Onto some serious things and more to the title of my blog. This marriage stuff.. they really can't prepare you enough for it. You hear people tell you things and you think oh that's silly, that won't happen with us. Ya, well, maybe I should have listened a lot more. The movies make marriage look like it's this awesome, amazing thing! And don't get me wrong I do think it's special and not to be taken lightly, but if it were easy it would be called a  honeymoon ALL the time. When I said I do, I knew divorce was out of the question and to just erase that out of my mind. No what if's or maybe's or thinking that way. Which is hard to do. The first two weeks were actually pretty great. I think it was just that twilight zone and getting used to everything. It was just weird. It didn't seem real at first. I think after the end of week 2, it has hit me. This is real, this is hard. This is probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It's not like I have done this before to know what to do or to have all the answers. I am so confused and have no idea what to do 90% of the time. Then I get frustrated on top of it and it all combines and all that ends in is tears. 

The past few days have been hard, real hard. I am a crier. That's how I release emotion, and most anyone who knows me knows that's how I have to calm down. I am better at controlling it but most of the time I just need to let it out for a few minutes and I am fine. Or else everything builds inside me and I blow up. Today was especially hard and I am dealing with a few personal issues to begin with and they impact our marriage. So it's hard to work on one without it effecting the other. I haven't found this balance yet and it's pulling me down. Today was a day where I just wanted to go home (back to my parents) and I just didn't know what to do. I want to ask for help but I don't want people to think we are doing bad or we can't handle this. If I went to my parents house my mom will know something is wrong. I don't want to tell her too much because I don't want her to worry and think it's her problem and she needs to help us fix things. It's not her responsibility to help me anymore. Plus we have so many friends that know both of us I don't want anyone to think differently of us. So I feel like I try to handle things alone a lot and it's not working so well. I am trying so very hard to lift things up to God but this is already a knew challenge in itself to me so it ends up being doubly hard now. 

I have so many emotions and feelings all the time. After two weeks you really start to see how different the other person and you really are. I feel like a lot of the times whatever I say isn't right or good enough. Or maybe I am not good enough to begin with. We spend way more time together and I think even if I am alone, I just feel alone. I think we need time with our friends to bring us back to a normal level. I hate fighting about stupid things like cleaning up or shutting doors or leaving lights on, but I hear it's a normal thing for marriage. I knew it was going to be hard but I guess I just didn't know how hard it would be. No one is here to pick up after me, or make me dinner, or know to just be quiet and listen to me and let me vent like my mom knows. Everything is so different and it is going to take some getting used to. We have to figure out how to work with each other and know how to fulfill each other's needs since the way we deal or cope are so completely opposite. Sometimes I just feel like I am not being heard, and I am sure he feels the same and has his own opinions on all this. I am just sharing my side, how I feel, and being real. At this point things are rough and I am not going to lie and say oh ya everything is amazing 100% of the time! Because then everyone knows you are full of crap. It's just how to outlet my vents without saying too much or who to tell. I guess I am half asking for advice, half just venting. I find my blog as a space for me to share my thoughts and feelings, and you can judge all you want but this is me. I am here to be real not to pretend to be the perfect wife, because no one can be. I think people identify more with you when you are being real. 

I guess that's enough for today. I pray God can change my heart or his heart to what it needs to be to work on making things better. I pray he has the right people give me the right words and wisdom I so desperately need right now. I pray he gives me the peace to know I can trust him and the calmness to handle each situation with a clear head and to stay calm. There have been a few occasions before where I have needed His help so desperately and today is one of them. I feel helpless and just don't know what I am supposed to do. I pray he helps our marriage every second of the day and helps us to grow and find the right ways to communicate with each other. 

There's probably a million things I could ask about marriage, instead I ask for some advice from you.

Have you thanked anyone for a smile?

At church yesterday this stuck out to me so so much. We have such a hard time seeing the good in others and thanking people for the little things. We actually had a guest speaker. We had the real Rudy from Notre Dame come. And he was speaking about diligence and that was one of the things he talked about. He asked "have you ever thanked someone for a smile?" And it stopped me dead in my tracks and I thought about it and I don't think I ever have. Words is not my love language and it's very hard for me to show my appreciation by words. (Hard to believe I know). So I find this a great new challenge for me. So now I am trying to see everyone around me even when they have a bad or a good day and try to make it better! Piece a cake right? We also talked about going after your dreams and having diligence to pursue them. And another thing that I really liked was is it your dream to know God? If it is, what are you doing to follow it? And it's so true, we have such diligence to find a mate, or get through college, or do the things we love like reading, blogging, or running. But how much effort are we putting into our spiritual life? Makes ya think doesn't it?

Rudy!

After church I went down to where the teen group is held because the bathrooms down there have no lines! And I heard my name a few times from the teen's who help out at the middle school ministry and it made me smile. Then I heard my name again and someone running full force at me! And it was one of the teen girls and she gave me almost a knock over hug! It was my first one I have received from anyone at the teen group so I was grinning ear to ear and then I almost teared up and I was like no keep it together! It totally made my day! Then I headed back upstairs and saw my co-leader for our small groups and she gave me a big hug and I just thought what is going on?! My heart was so happy and I am so glad to know that I am being accepted into this group! 

Then I went over to Discovery Island which is the infants-5th grade. I am starting next Sunday in the pre-school room. As I was back there I saw my 10th grade English teacher! She remembered me and has a 4 yr old that will be in my class! How cool is that? While I was talking to the ladies who run Discovery Island they said a previous girl who helped had to move away and she just called yesterday and said I hope someone comes this weekend to fill my spot and bam there I was! It is amazing that God puts you right where you need to be in the perfect moment! I am excited to start there and get to know so many more people. The more involved I get the more excited I get to be going there! I am loving our church and it doesn't seem so gigantic anymore because I am seeing more people and feeling more at home there! I also took a scenic route on the way home and here are my few pics I stopped to take. Yes I don't have an awesome camera but here are some shots!

Don't laugh at me! 

After we went to my parents for a bit for lunch then went to Velocity. Basically Sunday I will be at church the whole day! But I am ok with that! And at Velocity we were talking about Purity. Always a fun topic! Our 10th grade girls didn't have much to say which I was kind of surprised, even without much to say it's still an awkward subject!

But I think I may have found a new running buddy! Woo. I would run with Megan but we are on way diff schedules and she runs like a bajillion miles all the time! Christiane is another co-leader and not a very avid runner so I will have someone more on my level to run with! We are trying to start up this week and run once a week together! I am going to try and run tonight. Still have a tiny cough but it's not from my chest anymore! Yay only took 2 weeks to go away!  My garmin came over the weekend so I am excited to play with that and see how it works! It is huge though! My wrists are so small so it's probably even bigger then normal on other people! Oh well I run with my phone so I am used to carrying something with me and this time I don't have to carry it! 

Oh so Antonio spilled his tea ALL over me and it was like a full cup. This was the end result. I do not kid when I say ALL over me.

Ridiculous!

I also ventured off my cappacino world and tried a spiced pumpkin latte. Not too bad, I added some sugar to it and it was better. Just tasted like pumpkin milk to me lol. I am not a huge pumpkin fan but I would get it again!

Ok, enough randomness for the day and I am off to work! Wish me luck on my run this evening, hopefully it doesn't rain so I can be outside! And it is going to suck since I have only ran once in the past month. Yikes. Hopefully I don't die! Thank you everyone for your beautiful smiles!

Q's

1. Have you heard anything lately that really made you think?

2. What is a challenge you can do this week when it comes to thinking of others?

3. Is it easy to show your appreciation with words? Or do you find it tough like me?

Lazy Saturday

Well I don't have anything awesome or meaningful to talk about today. Been mostly a lazy football Saturday! Antonio only had to work till about 12 because the computers at his work were down. So when he got home we went over to my parents house to watch the UofM game! GO BLUE! And man was it brutal. Michigan won 58-0, ouch. I almost fell asleep due to boredom!

It was pretty chilly today as well and my mom was in full on baking/cooking mode! She made us these ham, egg, and cheese quiches that we can put in the freezer and heat up for breakfast. She made homemade tortilla soup-delish, and homemade cabbage rolls. I am not a fan of those but my dad loves them! I prefer not to spend my evening in the bathroom! I have been spending the day watching football with my dad, eating, playing with Dyson and enjoying doing nothing!

Some friends of ours dropped by with some stuff they were getting rid of and asked if we wanted it. We got a mortar and pestol (is that what you call it?) bowl/spoon set. Aromatherapy set, cuisinart chopper, some marble coasters, some bone china rice bowls, playing cards, yoga and pilates books, and a 27 pack of ziploc tupperware containters. Is it sad to say I was most excited for tupperware? I am astounded at the small things I get excited over these days! It was nice to not have to cook or worry about anything and spend some time with my parents as they will be leaving for vacation on Friday for 8 days.

I want to wish my bff Meggers good luck tomorrow on her first half marathon! I know she will do great! Hope one day I will be as good as her in running! Love you!!

Well back to football and lazyness as I eat halloween chocolate chip cookies! Happy Saturday everyone and hope you have a great day tomorrow! The guy who the movie Rudy was based on is coming to our church tomorrow so that will be cool!!

Questions for ya:
1. Do anything fun today or were you lazy too?
2. Get anything random/neat lately?
3. What is something you love about your church?

Chilly Autumn Friday

Brrr! It has been windy and chilly today! High of 54! Yikes. Good thing I was in the kitchen cooking all day to keep me warm! Today was the first day I could sleep in with nothing going on to really have to get up for since the wedding. Guess I was tired because I slept till 1:30. But in my defense I had a sick husband waking me up all night coughing and when he got ready for work this morning! So I had a late start to my day and just decided to cook and clean today!

First thing's first though. On thursday nights we go to a christian college group called Journey. A lot of the group is composed of college students I went to high school with and the guy who runs it was my teacher in high school and also married us. We love going to this small group of about 15-30 students depending on the day. It is nice to have other people our age, including married couples that we can talk about our weeks and have a bible study with. It is very inspirational and I look forward to it every week! Especially when I am around a 1 year old every day and only hear daddy, baby, hi, up up up, and doggy ALL day! I hope her vocabulary expands soon! We were talking yesterday about what we wanted to give that evening and what we wanted to receive. Talk about a hard question! Defiantly not something you normally think about when heading into a bible study. But a bible study is one place where you don't have to give anything and it is ok to receive and to take. This means you are learning something! We also talked about how we need to expand ourselves to see those around us. We are so easy to anger when someone does something rude or annoying around us or to us. But do we stop and say, you know what if they are having a bad day? What if there was something I could do to help instead of being rude back and making their day worse? We are so stuck in our own pace of life and not focused on others. What if when anyone is rude to us we stop and let it go and be nice back or so can I pray for you? What if that's really what they need? It's a way to share our faith without shoving it on someone. You never know how you could be an inspiration to someone else or help turn their day around. Also if you are driving and someone cuts you off instead of having road rage you could say a prayer for them. For example, pray that they slow down and don't get into a wreck. Have you noticed when you let anger get to you how much more stressful your day is and how everything seems to start going bad or even worse then before? If you turn that negative into a positive you would be surprised at the amount of relief and how your mood shifts. I challenge you to try it! We should be focused on others, not ourselves!

And on top of that I was reading other blogs and have realized there are so many other christian bloggers out there and it is truly inspiring to me. I wouldn't think in the blog world this would be the case so I am pleasantly surprised! I love hearing about other people's faith and stories and what God puts on their hearts! In thinking about last night and reading some blogs today I have come to the conclusion that I think I want to start something new for myself. I want to pray for a different blogger a day, especially those I see who are in need of it. They may not know I am doing it but I think it is a good way to put others before myself, especially those I don't know. Because let's face it, who doesn't need a prayer?

Ok ok, enough seriousness! Now on to more fun stuff! I saw this crane when I was leaving work and it looked like a baby one all by itself! So pretty though!

Now to food!!! So like I said I was going to cook these caramel stuffed apple cider cookies. And of course I will pre-warn you mine do not look all amazing like the picture. Which seems to always be the case. They never look as good as the picture! So before I start, here is what they are supposed to look like and here is the recipe.

from http://www.thecookingphotographer.com/

Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

recipe very slightly adapted from The Cooking Photographer

Ingredients

1 cup softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets (I found this in my grocery store near the hot chocolate mixes.)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups all purpose flour

1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (You really need the parchment!)
• In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
• With your mixer (or an energetic spoon) cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well.
• Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.
• Refrigerate for about an hour. (If you're really impatient you don't have to do this, but it makes it so much easier to work with.)
• When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels. 
• Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.)
• Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
• Bake 12-14 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Please don't over-bake! Once the cookies are done, slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they'll pop right off.
• Yield: about 4 dozen, depending on how large you make your cookies (or how many caramels have been snitched out of your bag before you begin.) Store in an airtight container.

OK, now onto my version! 

here we go!

So first challenge was the caramels. They didn't have the ones listed so I had to get Werther's caramels. Which are bigger then the Kraft ones. So I proceeded to chop them in half and put them in the bowl so I would be ready. Lesson I learned, they end up sticking together! Uh oh! So I put them in the freezer thinking they would break off like ice cubes. Well I forgot about them and they were TOO cold! Crap! So I actually ended up putting like a teaspoon of hot water on them and voila they started to break apart! So then I laid them out on the counter individually so they wouldn't stick together. So my advice, do not put them in a bowl! Lay them out on a plate or on the counter where they are not touching.

Batter tastes a bit bitter just an fyi!

Make sure you do refrigerate it for an hour! Even after being out for a bit it would get super sticky and I had to put it back in the fridge to make it get thick again!

Next I am going to show you this amazing bad boy of a cookie cooler. It stacks! So now you don't have to have cooling racks all over the place!

Just beautiful!

Also I had no parchment paper, so luckily I had these bad boys, which are also amazing! NOTHING sticks to them and then there is no clean up from your baking pan! All you clean up is the silicone insert! LOVE!

Genius I say!

ya see it does not look like the awesome cookie in the pic lol

look at that awesomeness!

mm caramel insides!

It tastes like a buttery tart fluffy apple with caramel inside! Delicious! I think I like them better then the cake batter bars!!

Now onto dinner! I made Hot and Sour Chicken in the crockpot. It was deliciousssss!!! I put it over rice pilaf with veggies! Nom nom nom! Super easy too! Here is the recipe.

Hot and Sour Chicken:

1 cup chicken broth

3-4 chicken breasts cut in halves

1 package hot and sour soup mix (I found it in the Asian foods by soy sauce)

1 tablespoon soy sauce (or to your liking)

Place chicken in crock pot. Pour seasoning packet over chicken. Pour chicken broth over chicken. Add soy sauce. Cook 5-6 hours on low or 3-3.5 on low. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes.

I also added some crushed red pepper and chili powder to spice it up since we like things spicy! Married a mexican remember! 

I think it is called Sunbird Hot and Sour Soup mix. I looked on the store's website to see if they had a hot and sour soup mix before I went!

Delicious!

Oh, if you drink tea or hot chocolate, or cider a lot you must get one of these! They heat up in like 60 seconds and are amazing!!

We also saw some people throwing this away and decided to take it and re-do it to match our room! Oh boy, wish us luck! Our newest project! Needs new paint and handles but it will look nice!

Well I guess that's enough for one day! My parent's are headed over to have some cookies and I we are babysitting Dyson till tomorrow night to give them a puppy break! Miss my little guy! Have a wonderful friday night everyone!