The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Last weekend Peter and I had the crazy chance to go see a movie!!! WOW!...when you have kids movie going doesn't happen very often. My amazing mom said she could watch him and we were really blessed. It was a lot of fun. I hadn't been surrounded by teenagers in awhile. It was very entertaining. :)

We got to see The Hunger Game: Catching Fire. I loved it. I thought it was significantly better that the first one. I also felt that it stuck to the book as best as it could. It was longer than I thought it would be...but I liked that, gave them more time for more details. There were some random parts that I knew were added to the story line...so much more kissing. Oh well. ;)

In my opinion Jennifer Lawrence is a great actress.  I enjoy her movies and the interesting roles she's able to portray.

Go see The Hunger Games in theater if you can! I thought it was worth the money.

Something else I have to say...
MY BABY SISTER HAD A BABY!

 I fell head over heels in love with him.

 Desmond James Pauls was born November 21st, weighing 7.11. My goodness, he is so tiny and amazing.

I love that I get to be his aunt...and look forward to more nephews and nieces being born! I had the sweet opportunity to help my sister and brother- in- law leave the hospital. I wept in the car afterwards. I was so overcome with thankfulness that God would let me be near my family during this time of our lives. I am so thankful.

Hope you all have a beautiful thanksgiving. Be thankful.

Colossians

Doing my devo this morning this scripture completely blew me away.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making PEACE by the BLOOD OF HIS CROSS. And YOU, who once we ALIENATED and HOSTILE in mind, doing evil deeds, he has NOW RECONCILED in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you HOLY and BLAMELESS and ABOVE REPROACH before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the HOPE OF THE GOSPEL THAT YOU HAVE HEARD, which has been proclaimed in ALL CREATION under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister." Colossians 1:15-23

This seriously blows me away. Doesn't it freak you out that we can stand before God blameless and holy??? Oh my goodness. This only happened because of Jesus making PEACE by the blood he poured out on his cross. His death brought us peace. His death saved us from death...how does that not blow your mind away?!
Mine is blown.
Thank you Jesus.

Lots...

Hello.

Today I felt like making scones. I love scones. The only recipe I've ever used is one that my dear friend Tammy Weaver gave to me when I stopped working with her in the hospitality department at YWAM Montana. She made me an entire book of recipes...she's an amazing cook. The scones are called, Rebecca's Scones. These scones are so easy and very yummy. Perfect if you're having people over for tea/ coffee...or if you just want to devour some. :)

Recipe:

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of cold butter (the cold part is important in any scone or pie crust)
1 egg
1 cup heavy whipping cream (yum)
1 cup of chocolate chips or berries. You can add whatever you want or leave them plain.

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter till coarse - looks like small peas. You can use a fork, pastry cutter, or food processor...or even hands. Add the wet ingredients until moistened. You can either roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter, or just spoon them onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 7-10 mins.

Hope you try these and love them.

A few weekends ago Peter and I got to go watch a movie with my my sister's and their husbands. It was fun. The movie, that I was convinced that I needed to see, was World War Z...I went to my sisters house very afraid. I am not that girl that watches zombie movies or that horrific show Walking Dead...but this movie did look less scary and appeared to have a good/interesting story line.

I spent most of the movie asking Peter when something scary was going to happen...he had already seen it. God blessed me with a husband that allows me to sit next to him with a pillow over my face asking him what's going on...I am thankful. All in all this movie was really good. It was not the gross zombie violence that other movies have going on. I really enjoy Brad Pitt's character and I loved the story line. I did not enjoy the up close encounters with zombies chomping their teeth together. Freaky! Did any of you see this movie? What did you think?

Lastly I leave with you a book that my husband is listening to and that I have been able to listen to a few times. If you need to laugh please read this. It is called, "Dad Is Fat", but Jim Gaffigan. I love him and he makes me laugh. I plan on reading the entire thing. His view on parenting is hilarious.

Thanks guys!

Reading

I have finally finished the O'Malley Series by Dee Henderson. I have one left called Jennifer. Dee Henderson wrote it quite a while after the series was finished. I'm pretty sure it will be good and sad.

Reading these books was great. I enjoyed the message and hope of Jesus that was displayed throughout each book. I loved that they weren't cheesy. It might sound weird but I did enjoy the darker side of these books. I love a good mystery.

I took my time with reading these. I'm usually a speed reader. I had to take a break after book five. It was really sad throughout. I enjoyed it, but needed a break afterwards.

This is me exactly...

I am sure most everybody has read this series already...I was very late into learning about them. But if you haven't, go for it. They are worth your time.

I am still dealing with some intense morning (all day long) sickness. Trying to remember that there is a little human growing in me and that it will be okay. You can pray for me. :) I want to enjoy each moment with the baby (Benjamin) growing outside of me as well. He is so fun.

Hopefully before the new baby comes I'll get to experiment in the kitchen again... :)

It's been awhile...

Many of you who read this are my friends on Facebook. So you found out yesterday that I'm pregnant. We are so excited and feel extremely blessed.

At the same time this pregnancy has come with the dreaded morning sickness. Apparently I was spoiled with my last pregnancy.  As you can imagine, the thought of experimenting with food has not gone over well. My poor husband as eaten a lot of Bagel Bites recently...so sad. Haha. :)

To avoid the subject of food, I will tell you about what we started watching on Netflix. We just discovered Fringe.

I will admit my childhood crush on Joshua Jackson as "Charlie" from Mighty Ducks. I thought he was soooo cute...hehe. I always thought the Mighty Duck series were the best movies.  In my opinion he isn't the most amazing actor ever, but I like him in Fringe. The relationship between his character and his father is very funny and endearing.

The father, Walter Bishop is played by John Noble. He is an incredible actor. The main female character is Olivia Dunham, played by Anna Torv. I had never seen her in anything before. She's good.

The show can be so intense and grotesque, but so good at the same time.  Netflix has all the seasons on their website. Check it out.

Hopefully someday I'll be able to handle food again. Thanks for reading. :)

A Cookie

I looked up on Pinterest "chocolate chip cookies made with honey."  I found this great recipe. I just made them and they look beautiful.

I did not add raisins, but I am sure they would be good as well.  I also used cinnamon instead of pumpkin pie seasoning...that didn't sound too great to me at the time.

These cookies are not completely free of processed sugar because of the chocolate chips. I used semi-sweet.  All of the other ingredients contained no processed product. Yay! I'm trying... :)

Also with this whole not eating a lot of processed sugar I saw a difference in my face. I was struggling with a lot of break outs...can be really irritating for a 27 year old. Stopped eating so much sugar and my face stopped freaking out. Now I had heard this before but chose to ignore it...go me.

 So now I can say, yes it is totally true! I know this because over the weekend I went down crazy road and ate a lot of sugar. Immediately my face broke out. So if you struggle with this I hope you are encouraged.

Note: Honey is a good replacement for sugar, but it is still high in calories. FYI. :)

Have a great evening!

Blogilates!

My sister told me about this awesome blog full of Pilates videos...all for FREE! They are created by an awesome woman named Cassie. 

I have been doing these videos for almost a month. I feel great.  She instructs on proper technique and proper Pilates breathing. 

I don't think I would like, or do this if it wasn't for all of the videos. She does everything with you and instructs you a long the way. 

 I finally did some exploring on her website and found all the beginners videos and an amazing daily calendar to follow. I started Day 1 today. WOO! 

I encourage you to check this blog out. It is so good and really inspiring! 

Blogilates

When you get to the site hover over the Workout Video section to select a video. There are videos for beginners and for advanced. 

I am also on day 15 of the 30 Day Plank Challenge.  It is getting really hard but I really want to push through. 

Hope you check these things out. Have a beautiful day. 

Ps. Going okay with the no processed sugar thing. I'll be honest though...yesterday was a rough day with a visit to the ER. That night after baby was in bed I totally licked clean a spoon full of Nutella. Uh oh.  :) 

Mini Yorkshire Puddings

A long time ago I attempted to make one of my husband's favorite things, Yorkshire pudding...it ended up looking like corn bread and not yummy.

Randomly a few days ago I decided it was time to try again. Turned out amazing! We didn't eat them like most English would...they are usually served with a meat, potato and gravy type dish. I cooked up some amazing chicken sausages from Costco. Have you tried the Aidells pineapple and bacon chicken sausages? They are so yummy. We also had Pioneer Woman's coleslaw.

For the Yorkshire puddings I just researched for a recipe online...yay for internet! I followed the recipe exactly except I used COCONUT OIL instead of drippings or other oils. The coconut oil gave them a yummy flavor. I also don't own a Yorkshire pudding pan, so I used a muffin tin. They were cute. I also think I finally figured out that the English Yorkshire Pudding is our Popover!
 Learning, it's good for the brain.

Here is how mine turned out...pretty!

I will say that they aren't so good the next day. Good thing Peter ate most of them at dinner. I also thinking having them with a beef stew or pot roast would be delish!

Here is the recipe for the Yorkshire Pudding: http://www.food.com/recipe/my-mums-easy-and-traditional-english-yorkshire-pudding-203349

Sugar...

It  has been too long since I blogged and I have a ton of things to blog about. However, tonight I felt like writing about something a friend posted on Pinterest. 

I know I am addicted to sugar...and it stinks. My friend posted about five tips that will help you stop craving sugar. Amen. 

It makes complete since. I really want to try it. Not just try but be able to stop being addicted.  I know it is possible. It makes me sad that a lot of people struggle with this. 

At the same time I think it is okay to indulge sometimes! I love experimenting in the kitchen...and baked goods are so yum. 

I am so proud of those who get over this sugar craving and I hope to do the same. I want to slam it in the ground! BOO YAH! :) 

Writing this on here means I gotta do it...haha. :) 

Here is what I found on Pinterest. Enjoy! 

"The number one reason that people crave sweets is that their insulin is high, and when it starts to fall we want the sugar to spike it  back up again. It’s a vicious cycle, that leads to feeling tired, and fatigued. Here are some really good tips that will get you back on track to being healthy and feeling energetic again.

1. Increase your protein intake. Often times our body feels like it wants sugar when it’s really craving protein. Try starting with an egg, or something that is high in protein.

2. Remove the temptations. If you don’t have them around the house it’s harder to indulge. If it’s at work that you’re having a hard time. Do what you can to remove the temptation BEFORE the craving hits. If you keep a jar of jelly beans on your desk. Get rid of them, but bring something healthy to eat when you are ready for a snack.

3. Eat frequently. Cravings are the worst when we've either skipped a meal, or we've had a drop in our blood sugar. By eating every few hours we avoid that drop in blood sugar. Eating 3 good meals a day with a snack in between will keep you feeling good without getting so hungry that you grab whatever you can find to get your blood sugar up.

4. Avoid artificial sweeteners.  Artificial sweeteners, like Saccharin or Aspartame, make us have more cravings for sweets, and may present a higher risk of cancer.

5. Either Cut sweets cold turkey then indulge in small amounts. Because our insulin is so used to being high, the first 3 days are the hardest. If you can eliminate sweets completely until your body has had a chance to let your insulin come down, you won’t crave them like you did. Then you’ll be able to be satisfied with small amounts." http://homemadebyjaci.com/5-things-that-will-stop-sugar-cravings/

Food Network Magazine

I received my final magazine from the Food Network a few weeks ago. I love this magazine. Peter got it for me as a gift for Christmas. I highly recommend it. I hope I get it again someday. Hint hint for my hubby. :)

In this month's magazine, I found a really interesting article.  From the section, "In the Know."  The article caught my attention because of its headline, "Make your summer produce last." We eat a good amount of veggies in different dishes..and no matter what some go bad before I get the chance to experiment with them. I haven't tried their method yet..because of the lack of veggies in my fridge. However I intend to. :) 

Here is what they suggest: Click on the link... :)

Shock Value

Enjoy! Let me know if you try this! 

Cloud Atlas

Last night the hubster and I watched the film Cloud Atlas.  There are many words I could use to describe this movie, the loudest word in my mind is, "weird." However, "amazingly talented" comes to mind at the same time.  It was often hard to follow. We paused the movie and looked up the different time periods it was focusing on so we could stop being confused. :) 

My absolute favorite thing was the costumes and makeup. There was a group of actors who played many, many, many different characters. It was awesome. At the end of the film they show you each actor and the many characters they played.

I would not recommend watching this with a group of people. There were some points when it was awkward watching it with my husband. Straight to the point of pornographic.  I hate that films have to go there.  There were also some really violent parts...I hid my face most of the time.

Side note...I hadn't realized it was rated R...it was definitely rated R for a reason.

Minus the sexual and violence parts, it was a beautiful film about people's choices affecting other people. I loved the history is went through.

I thought it acting was really good. Tom Hanks was crazy good with all his characters. Halle Barry was beautiful and so talented. My favorite was Jim Sturgess.  Loved him in Across the Universe.

What did you think of this film?

Have a good day.

My birthday cake

I celebrated my 27th birthday yesterday...my golden birthday! My parents jokingly said I made up "golden birthdays", but I knew they existed! For those who don't know what a golden birthday is...it's just when you turn the age of the date you were born. I turned 27 on the 27th.

Anyway...I decided I wanted to make a cake. I have never made a layered cake before. I love The Pioneer Woman, I so tried her Chocolate Strawberry Nutella Cake. 

Unfortunately my camera battery died and I wasn't able to take pictures of the process of making it, but I followed her recipe exactly. The end result was not as pretty, but it tasted super good. I might have discovered a little love for cake.

I would like to get better at making cakes, and making them look beautiful. I also need to work on being patient when it comes to baking.  I had a lot of time yesterday to let the cakes cool, but I was impatient and wanted to see them out of the pans. This resulted in one of the cakes cracking, so I learned my lesson. Luckily the cake was devoured and tasted delicious.

Please try this cake. Recipe is in the link above.

Here's a few pictures.

Place your first cake on a cake plate.

Put 3/4 cup of Nutella and spread evenly. 

Then put half of the whipped cream and half of the strawberries on surface of the cake. Begin the second layer. 

Then you have this...!!!

It was a beautiful birthday. I am blessed with amazing family and friends. 

A yummy meal

I am late in writing this post because I went to visit my parents for a week. I hope you enjoy! 

A few weeks ago I experimented by making my own lasagna recipe, a small salad with a lemon, olive oil dressing, and finished with a plum apple crisp. Yum. 

By the way...I didn't do a lot of accurate measurements for the lasagna...sorry! But I encourage you to try and make it to your liking! I'm still learning that I need to write down how much of an ingredient I added. :)  

Lasagna:
Preheat oven to 375. 

First thing I did was sauteed a bunch of mushrooms, one orange bell pepper,  one onion, and added a couple cloves of garlic at the end. You don't want to add the garlic too early or it will burn. 
I had never added mushrooms before, and it was amazing! Gave the sauce an extra meaty texture. 

Next add the meat. I used about a pound of ground beef. Salt and pepper the meat. 

 While the meat cooked, I made the cheese filling. I used cottage cheese and ricotta, plus one egg. Make sure to season the filling with salt and pepper! This part was a bit hard...I didn't want to taste the mixture because of the raw egg. So next time I'll taste before I add the egg. This layer can be really blah if not seasoned correctly. 

Inside the filling I added fresh herbs. I used parsley, oregano, thyme, and basil. Reserve some of the herbs for the meat sauce. 

Next I decided to add some tomatoes to the sauce. 

Then I added the marinara sauce. Next time I will add the whole jar, and maybe more than that. When the lasagna was done it was really good, but I would have liked it a bit more saucy. It can become really dry in the oven. 

Then I grated up some mozzarella and parm cheese. It took forever...but freshly grated is sometimes better. 

Now comes the assembling! I use the no boil noodles...they are awesome. 

Put some sauce on the bottom of the pan. 

 Begin layering :)...For some reason my noodles never line up pretty in my dish. Oh well... 

I baked the lasagna at 375 degrees for 40 minutes with some foil on. Then take the foil off and cook it for another 10 minutes. Make sure you let the lasagna sit for ten minutes before serving. 

I was proud of this lasagna. I thought it was pretty! My husband ate it everyday for about a week...mainly because I was out of town and he had no one to cook for him. :) 

Lemon Olive Oil Dressing:

So easy, healthy, and yummy! Squeeze one lemon in a bowl, drizzle in olive oil, add salt and pepper. Whisk and enjoy! 

Plum Apple Crisp: 

Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 30 minutes. 

I had a few plums that I needed to use. My mom helped me blanch them...first time I've ever tried that! My mom is awesome. :) 

Poured boiling water over the plums...

Then fetched them out...

Dropped them in cold water...this stops the cooking process. 

Then we peeled the skin off and diced them in cubes. Also peel and dice the apple. 

Butter whatever dish you want to use and add the fruit. 

Then make the topping. This is my favorite part! I got the topping recipe from my friend Tammy Weaver. 

Topping:

3/4 cups brown sugar.

1/2 cup flour.

1/2 cup quick oats.

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon.

3/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.

1/3 cup butter, softened. 

Pour the topping all over the fruit. I also dolloped some butter on top of the topping...there was no reason to do this, except that butter is delish, and maybe would make it brown beautifully.  

It was a yummy crisp...and to make it extra yummy my mom and I decided that it needed a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Amen. 

I hope you try some of these!!! Have a great day. 

Healthy Brownie Cookies

This afternoon I made a recipe from www.elizasedibles.com. It was her "Secretly Healthy Chocolate Brownies."

I had been looking at this recipe often and finally decided today was the day. :) 

The secret healthy ingredient is black beans! I would strongly suggest doing this entire recipe in a food processor. I do not have one, but I used my immersion blender with the food processor attachment. It didn't blend the beans all the way...but I also wonder if I just couldn't stop thinking about the fact that the cookies had beans in them. 

My husband was my guinea pig...he looks scared. 

He liked them. :) 

What I should have done was not tell them that the cookies were made with black beans. So when you try this recipe, let somebody try them without telling them what's in them. You'll get a more scientific answer...this is what my mom told me. :) 

Here is what I did:

Preheat oven to 375. Place a piece of parchment on a large cookie sheet. 

Ingredients:

• 1 can no salt added black beans. Rinse them very well. 
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1.5 Tablespoons of peanut butter...I wish I could have added more.
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil 
• 3 Tablespoons of whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of sugar...okay, she added a note on this part saying you can use less sugar. I only used 1/3 cup...this made the cookie not very sweet. It might have needed a bit more sugar.
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• pinch of cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips... I did not have dark, I used semi-sweet. 

Instructions:

Combine the beans, milk, peanut butter and olive oil in your food processor until smooth. 

This looks interesting..

Then add the rest of the ingredients. Combine until mousse like...this is why you should use a food processor. I used a wooden spoon...my hand got tired and it wasn't very mousse like. 

Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Spoon even drops on the cookie sheet. If you want, add a few extra chocolate chips on top. 

Bake for 10 minutes...I did about 12 minutes. 

Cool on a cookie rack. 

Important note:

These cookies MUST be stored in the refrigerator because of the black beans. I put mine in the freezer. 

I hope that you try this cookie! I liked them. I liked the fudgey brownie texture.

Let me know how they turn out.