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.

Danger In The Shadows

I just finished reading, "Danger in the Shadows", by Dee Henderson.

This is not a new book, but I kept having different friends mention Dee Henderson's books.  My friend Shaunna brought me three of them and I couldn't put the first one down. This one was the prequel to the "O'Malley Series." I'm excited to find out why it's the prequel.

I had been reading a different book, a book by an author I loved as a little girl, but I was so bored that I couldn't finish it. When I started this one it felt great to be excited about what I was reading.

The first chapter has you on edge wondering what's going to happen. It is an intense story full of people's relationships with God, painful and emotional experiences, mystery, and romance.

While reading it, I thought the book was coming to an end and that all the exciting stuff had happened, but I was wrong! The author did an amazing job at keeping it suspenseful and closes it with a beautiful ending.

So if you choose to read this book, I hope you enjoy it.

Have a beautiful day.

Benjamin Peter Goulding

I am watching my baby boy grow up. Best thing I've ever seen. 

So thankful for each day with this little guy. 

I love that I get to be his mommy. 

Have a great weekend! 

Preview for next time...! 
Next baking experiment!

The Chicken...

A while ago I bought a pack of whole chicken's at Costco...great deal by the way. I put both in the freezer and saved them for a day when I had the courage to cook a whole chicken. These chickens only had some of the insides removed...this little detail made me wait a very long time.

The first chicken I cooked did not turn out so great. I didn't like the flavor and the recipe felt complicated for a beginner.

Finally a few days ago I began the process of defrosting the remaining chicken. Every night I would think about it being in the fridge, waiting for me. Raw whole chickens are not pleasant to look at.

I found an amazing recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. I usually find her recipes intimidating.  However, this Garlic-Roasted Chicken with Root Veggies was so easy and so yummy! The Food Network websites makes printing recipes so easy. I would recommend printing it out before you start cooking. If you're anything like me I looked over it a million times before I got the nerve to begin.

I attacked this chicken by first making the butter recipe, then the veggies, and then did the chicken part last.

Preheat over to 400, with the rack just below the center of the oven. 

Here is the recipe for the butter:

• 6 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature. Being at room temp. is really important.
• 2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary.
• 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme.
• 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice.
• 1/2 tsp salt.
• 1/2 tsp black pepper.
• 3 lg. garlic cloves, minced.

Directions:
Mix all of that really well together.

Next prep the veggies:

• 3 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil.
• 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary.
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme.
• 1 tsp salt.
• 1/2 tsp pepper.
• 6 baby red potatoes, halved.
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise.
• 2 large parsnips, peeled and quartered lengthwise. I did not have any of these. 
• 2 large shallots, peeled and halved. I didn't have this either and used an onion instead. 
• 1 clove of garlic.
• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth.

Directions:

Toss all the veggies with the herbs and olive oil. Place on the bottom of the roasting pan. The chicken is going to sit on top. 

Now comes the part I was seriously afraid of...THE CHICKEN:

• One 6 pound chicken, rinsed and patted dry. If you have the chicken I had you will need to remove all the insides. Wash out the cavity as well.  The first time I did this I actually screamed...I know, very pathetic. This time I did a good job and got all of the insides out without fainting. Woo hoo. 
• Salt and Pepper.
• 5 sprigs of fresh rosemary.
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme.
• 1 lemon, quartered.

Hmmmm doesn't that look pretty? No. 

Directions:

Tuck wings under chicken. Toss some salt and pepper over the chicken, and in the cavity (this is a gross word).  Spoon about 2 Tbs of the butter mixture into the cavity. Then stuff the lemon and the sprigs of herbs up there too. :) Tie the legs together with kitchen twine. 

This next part was fun...not. You have you loosen the skin over the chicken breast. Then shove some of the butter mixture inside the skin. Be gentle, you don't want it to rip. This helps keep the chicken moist. 

Massage the rest of the butter all over the chicken...bet you've always wanted to massage a chicken. :) 

The chicken will cook for 1 1/2 hours. You'll need an instant read thermometer to read 160-165 degrees.  My thermometer read around 168...oh well.

Let the chicken rest for about 20 minutes before serving.

Okay, so my chicken turned out so yummy...the veggies not so much. Not sure what happened to them...some were okay, but most were burnt to a crisp. Maybe I needed more chicken broth. 

Despite the not so great veggies, this turned out great. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. So I hope that you attempt this recipe. Let me know how it turns out for you! 

I plan on using this chicken for a lot of different recipes this week. Including chicken enchiladas! 

Make sure you clean everywhere the raw chicken touched! I attacked my fridge and kitchen with this stuff:

Thank you Jesus for Clorox Wipes!

Have a beautiful night!