In The Kitchen Episode 2 and Behind the Scenes

To watch the newest episode of "In The Kitchen" please click the link below.
During this episode I make a Bacon and Potato Torte. yum! This dish is one of my families favorites. It is SO flavorful and delicious!

Enjoy :)

In The Kitchen Episode 2

My Helper :)

Valentines Day Idea Inspiration

Can you believe it's almost February??! Craziness Man! 

I do love February though and I have always loved Valentines Day. The colors, the happy decorations, the love... gah! I'm a big fan! It also makes me feel in a more springtime mood. ( I live in Maine and by February I am begging for Spring haha)

I also am slightly obsessed with decorating for Holidays... Well, I don't go all out and we turn into the nutty house on the street but I just love all things planning and being creative. So what's someone like me to do?... why go on Pinterest of course ;)

Here is a little inspiration I found:

I think this bunting is so cute! I could use thick card stock from the craft store ( only around 20-50 cents a piece) some cute ribbon and bam done!

 I want to print this to add to our family photo wall and probably leave up year round.

 My son and I could make an adventure to go outside and find the sticks. Felt is also super cheap.

My little boy LOVES oranges so this one is something I have to do for sure!

 Will defiantly be printing this Pre-K pack :)

 what a creative idea! I would paint them red and white probably though to match better and look less girly but they look just like conversation hearts!

 Cute idea! I usually do like a little mail box but I think I like this better. I also could leave it and use it during the week to leave notes or special treats.

This looks simple enough. And so festive and Valentines Day- ish 

                               Oh.My.Goodness! I have to get my boy to take a photo like this!!

Oven Cooked Bacon

I have before on this blog professed my love for baking eggs instead of boiling them, and today I want to shout from the roof top my love of cooking bacon in the oven instead of frying it. Oh, fried bacon... what a hassle, what a mess! It makes your kitchen smell greasy, makes you feel greasy... blah I would try to get out of it whenever I could.
Now that I cook it up in the oven, I really don't mind it at all. My husband is a bacon junkie so I cook it for him often in a week.
It really is a lot more simple this way.
You just need some heavy duty aluminum foil, a cookie sheet and a baking rack.

First you line the pan with the foil, place the rack on top, add bacon and ta-da your done! Cook until desired crispness is achieved at 350.

The rack helps the grease drip off  and the foil makes for very easy clean up :)
I just roll it up and toss into the trash.

Yay Bacon!

Good For You Water

I know your probably thinking "wait isn't all water good for you? what do you mean "Good for you water?" Well, this water is extra good for you. :) Infused with Cucumber, Lemon and Mint this drink is an- aging fighter, vitamin- C filled, energy giving, skin clearing, wonderfully delicious hydrating drink.

Replacing soda or juice with this Cucumber, Lemon and Mint water will give you over 150 less calories which helps you lose weight quicker, but it also includes vitamin C (which  protect against immune system deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, prenatal health problems, eye disease, and even skin wrinkling), vitamin K (to keep your bones strong), vitamin A (which is key for good vision, a healthy immune system, and cell growth), potassium (which can lower cholesterol and reduce high blood pressure) iron (which mainly includes carrying life-giving oxygen to human blood cells) calcium(encourages bone growth) and more!

It is such a light, refreshing drink. I drank around 4 cups of it yesterday and felt great!

(Plus it reminded me of summer...)

Cucumber, Lemon and Mint Water (aka: Summer in a glass)

1 medium cucumber

1-2 lemons sliced

about 10 mint leaves

2 liters of Water

Mix around in water then let sit for a few hours/ or overnight.

First Episode Of "In The Kitchen"!!

It's finished and uploaded! yay so excited :) Here is the video, hope you like it!

Please remember to "thumbs up" the video and subscribe to the channel, thanks!

Behind the Scenes of "In the Kitchen"

Yesterday the first episode of my new cooking show was filmed!!

 It came out great (shout out to the Hubs for doing an amazing job putting it all together, filming and directing)

I normally work very quickly in the kitchen (I have a 3 year old) so having to plate nicely each of the ingredients, do one step at a time etc was very difficult but so much fun! I made Chocolate Chip cookies. These things are amazing! Seriously!!

Tomorrow I will post the episode as well as the recipe. You will want to make these trust me :D

My Hubs :)

Those lights are SO BRIGHT!

Like father like son haha

A weekend recap

So this weekend was kind of a busy one. Friday night we had a Youth Group fun fellowship Friday at the Church. There was a pretty good turn out of about 12 teens ( some of our group are away on vacation) We ate pizza, Mountain Dew cake, there was lots of soda as well. We played the game mafia (SO much fun!) Watch the vlog video below if you want to see how is played.

On Saturday we got up early and headed an hour away to do our monthly grocery shopping at Sam's Club, the Bakery then back home to our Super Walmart. I was on a mission to stock up on lots of veggies, fruit and whole grains. I actually got some great deals, and was even under budget! score!

Sunday of course is Church day. The Hubs and I teach the teen Sunday School then there is morning service, fellowship lunch each week, followed by another service at 1:00 pm. Then it was back home to cheer on our favorite team... THE PATRIOTS!!! ( they won!! woo!)

We had a great weekend, I hope you all did as well.

My very first green smoothie... it wasn't the best tasting smoothie ever but I want to work on trying different ingredients to make it taste better.

We went out to eat at Finn's an Irish Pub in town. We had never been there before. It was very small but nicely decorated. The burgers were fantastic.

Sunday morning I was in Nursery...my son just happened to be the only kid in there this week so we turned up the message on the tv, played and took silly photos :)

On our way to church :)

One of my healthy meals... salad and a spinach, tomato and chicken sandwich on a 100 calorie bun.
I am trying to eat less as well as focus more on eating veggies and fruit first then see if I am in the mood for something else.

my new bag came in the mail!! I love it! Much bigger than I thought it would be yay!

I love smoothies!

have you watched our daily vlogs?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LARe5TBFqsM

clink on the link above to see what we are up to each day :)

A little late ...but a Christmas recap

Christmas is over I know, and I am a little late with this post, but better late then never right? ;)
This past Christmas was a very different one for us. We normally do a big church play but this year did not. We had started one but the church just did not have the funding for it and it just did not seem like the Lord wanted us to continue with it, so we didn't. I missed it but did enjoy the extra time we had to spend as a family.
Another thing that was different this year then Christmas past was that we went to a Christmas tree farm and picked out our very first real tree! It was so much fun! I was so afraid a real tree wouldn't last very long in our apartment because it gets pretty dry but it did fantastic and lasted well past Christmas day. :D
About a two weeks before Christmas we all got the flu badly and was very sick right up until Christmas Eve pretty much. It was.not.fun! It lasted for so long! We weren't really feeling up to doing much but laying down watching Christmas movies. We had things planned out on the calendar to do around Christmas but never got to them. I was sad about it at first but realized that Christmas isn't about the activities, the gifts, how much food you make or how you decorate. It is about being thankful Jesus was born to die for our sins. It's about being thankful for your love ones, and spending time with them is enough to make it a wonderful Christmas.

Here are some photos from December...

Early December we took our Church Youth Group to a Nursing Home in town we visit each December and sing carols and bring cookies. I enjoy going very much and the residents there are so welcoming and lovely.

I made 4 dozen cookies for that night. 2 dozen sugar cookies, in the shape of trees with green frosting and sprinkles. I also made pumpkin cookies with a maple frosting ( SO GOOD!)

This year for the Church's float in our towns Christmas parade we did a live nativity. It was so much fun! Though it was time consuming, I really enjoyed being crafty and working on the costumes.
As you can see I was having a bit too much fun ha ha This is me with the angels wig on.

This next photo was from Christmas Eve... we still weren't feeling the greatest but much better. We had just gotten home from the Christmas Eve service. We watched How the Grinch stole Christmas while our son played on the drums my Mom got for him.

I had a few pinecones left over from a wreath I put together for Thanksgiving as well as some ribbon so I made some pinecone ornaments. They came out adorable!

This one is from the Christmas parade. Bottom photos are a few of the costumes. The sheeps headpieces I made as well as the finalized angel head wear I made.

One of my Christmas gifts from the Hubs. I LOVE COFFEE! Isn't this mug the coolest?!

Before we all got too sick we spent a lot of nights watching movies or playing games by the light of the tree :)

Saw the idea for this on Pinterest. Isn't it cute?! The heat from the candles made the room smell like coffee... mmmm :)

The little boy and me made Muddy Buddy ( yum!) lots of ornaments for his bedroom tree and watched Christmas cartoons.

Getting our first tree!!

So that's it, this was a look at our family Christmas 2012. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I already can't wait until next year :)

Owls are so cute! An Amazon haul.

Owls have become super popular lately. Maybe not real owls specifically but owls on clothes, owl jewelry, owl home decor... owls are everywhere! ( how many times can I say owl in this post goodness! ha ha) I personally think they are adorable and have seen some super cute decorations for our home I would love to get that are owl. ( If only Target would lower their prices... and I had money ha!)

Before Christmas while ordering the Hubs a gift I came across some of the cutest owl necklaces on Amazon. At only .90-$1.20 I asked the Hubs if I could order them for my stocking. Shipping was free with Amazon prime which made it an even better deal. :)

The first one I bought was this vintage style colorful owl charm necklace.

Isn't it precious. It is pretty big yet dainty looking.  The owl is about 1 1/2 inches long. The quality seems solid and it comes on a nice chain for the money.

It is selling on Amazon right now for only $1.00!! plus free shipping even without Amazon prime.

Great Deal!

Next up is the vintage style owl pendent long bronze necklace.

This necklace is heavy but not in an uncomfortable-to-wear way but in a really-great-quality-for-an- amazing-price way. The chain on this one is the shortest out of the three ordered and falls just at chest level.

This one is selling for $1.36 also with free shipping, no prime required!

Lastly is the Silver color Textured Owl Pendant. 

The chain on this one is much longer then the others and falls at about waist level. It is very sturdy and is almost the same as the one above but with a few more details around the eyes and on the wings.
This one is selling on Amazon for .90 plus $1.99 shipping. Even with shipping costs you cannot find jewelry this cheap and good quality in stores.

So this has been my little Amazon haul, hope you enjoyed it. 

If you would like to purchase any of these necklaces please use the links provided by clinking on the name of the item. By doing so I get a portion of the profits, thank you! :)

"Starbucks" Caramel Macchiato made in your own kitchen!!

That's right! Late afternoon in my very own kitchen I made this beauty ...

I.could.not.believe what I was tasting! This tasted just like the real deal, truly just like it!! This girl is happy!

Here's what I did:

Step 1: First brew a cup of coffee... the stronger the better (tastes more like Starbucks that way. They have VERY strong coffee!) If you have Starbucks coffee to brew at home use that ( tastes more like Starbucks that way ;) haha)

You want to brew enough to fill a tall cup about 2/3 full.

Set aside.












Step 2: Mix 1 cup of milk ( any percent you want.. if you want a "skinny" then skim is best) with 2 heaping tablespoons of caramel syrup.
Heat about a min or so. You want it to steam and be foamy.
Give it a good stirring to make it very foamy.

Step 3: Add milk mixture to coffee slowly. Give it all a good stir to blend.

Step 4: There is no step 4. It really is that easy!

Oh wait step 4 would be drink it and enjoy I suppose :)

Enjoy!!

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