Fascination with Food Trucks..

I'm sure you have all seen a food truck within the last year, they have finally hit Wichita hard and they are popping up everywhere. I have a crazy fascination with them... I follow all of the local ones on facebook and am always keeping up with where they will be parked at next (is this weird???), even though I have only gotten to experience two of them, I just love the thought of them. I mean seriously, what a cool idea. I would totally love to own a food truck and drive around the city serving yummy goodness, yep could totally do it. Plus I love supporting local businesses and want to see them succeed. Sooo...my point of this post, if you haven't tried a food truck, it's a must do.



LA Street Taco with Avacado Salsa- OMG - BEST TACOS EVER!!!



Truffle Parmesean Fries..holy cow. Melt in your mouth goodness!



I first started following the bakery of Cake Face, then they got a truck and started serving food, and now I'm really obsessed.




Egg, Sausage, Cheese Bierock- absolutely delish.




Red Velvet Cream Cheese Pancakes...need I say more?!?



Merry CHRISTmas!

It's that time of year, the best time of year. These days the proper thing to say is Happy Holidays, we are actually instructed not to say Merry Christmas. Not me. I will continue to say Merry Christmas, and frankly I don't care if I offend anyone. The Holiday was created BECAUSE OF CHRIST. Jesus' birth on Christmas day, and without that day, none of us would be here. So I will continue right along with my Merry Christmas and I hope you do to!

I've been consumed with my new job the past month but have managed to get all my shopping done, and Christmas decor up, so thought I'd share a few pictures..now only if I had a few extra days off work...ahhhh so jealous of those that get off several days, next year, maybe next year....

So here is some random pointless information..just because I'm in the mood to blab. There is a new class at the YMCA called Fierce, and boy is it fierce! If any of you have tried the insanity DVD's, I'd say it is very comparable to those. So I have been trying to convince patty boy to try a class out with me, actually I've been begging him to. I mean a guy needs to see the pain that girls put themselves through! So me and my friend RaeAnn convinced our men to come with us yesterday, they both agreed as long as the other showed up. So all four of us (stuck right in the front row) did the class together. Let's just say Pat didn't move from the couch last night, and his exact words were, "I will never do that class again." Welp at least I got him to give it a try right?! It is a bit funny though... hehe.

We also had our annual "Christmas get-together" with our friends over the weekend. Well, in annual, I mean the last two years. But we hope to make this a tradition...to get our whole group of friends together a few weeks before Christmas every year. It was a fun night, and of course always good to see everyone! I then had my second Cookie/Candy exchange party of the year, and I made my hit concoction of the brownie covered oreos...yummm so good. I must say, I'm a little cookied out though... I need to figure out what to do with all of these sweets, any takers???

Hope you all have a wonderful week! We have our first Christmas this Saturday and I can't wait, I absolutely LOVE LOVE watching family open gifts! Here's to family, good times, laughter, and a lot to be grateful for!

Peanut Butter Brownie Oreo Cups

As I mentioned in this post last week, I went to a Cookie/Candy Christmas Exchange. I had several friends request the recipe for this yummy dessert so thought I'd share. I had originally found the recipe for the Oreo Brownie Bites but wanted to spice it up a bit and make it my own. I now for the life of me cannot find the website where I found the original recipe, so I will just share mine!

Such an easy dessert to make, and honestly it is simply amazing, my husband told me it is his favorite dessert I've ever made, which says a lot!:) Perfect recipe for a Holiday get-together!

Peanut Butter Brownie Oreo Cups

1 Box Triple Chunk Brownie Mix
1 Pkg. Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Mix
1 Pkg. Christmas Oreos (red center)
1 Pkg. White Chocolate Chips

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 24 mini muffin cup tin. Mix peanut butter cookie mix as instructed on package, take 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and press into each muffin tin. Mix brownie batter as instructed on package. Dip each oreo into brownie batter, completely covering oreo. Then place covered oreo on top of peanut butter mixture. Bake for 17-18 minutes until completely cooked through. Immediately take a knife and go around the edges of each cup to ensure they do not stick. Once cooled remove each cup. Take the bag of white chocolate chips and put into a heat proof bowl and microwave until chips are completely melted. Then drizzle white chocolate across the tops of each brownie cup. Let chocolate dry. Enjoy!
*the oreo gets "cake like" as it cooks = soooo yummy when you bite into it!



Happy Holidays!

Breakfast Ideas

I love breakfast. I cannot start my day without breakfast. I'm seriously amazed when people tell me they don't eat breakfast, seriously how do they get by? It gives me energy, wakes me up, gets my metabolism going, etc. My go-to breakfast is eggs, I usually eat a lot of protein for breakfast so this is always an easy answer. But I will admit, eating eggs day after day gets a little boring. So I try to mix it up every now and then. I recently found this recipe on a blog I follow and thought I'd give it a shot.

Egg Whites and Broccoli Rice Cups

Recipe courtesy of Six Sisters Blog

I altered the recipe just a tad, see below with my version.

2 Cups Brown Minute Rice
1 Cup Water
2 bunches fresh Broccoli cut into small pieces
3/4 Cup shredded low fat mozzarella, separated
1/4 Cup Hidden Valley low fat Ranch
4 Egg Whites
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Prepare rice as directed on package. Place cooked rice in a large bowl and let cool slightly. Add the remaining ingredients, using only 1/2 cup of the cheese, and stir until combined. Transfer mixture to eleven well-greased muffin cups (I used a 12 cup muffin tin and only filled 11 of them). Top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until tops are lightly browned and edges are starting to get crispy.

I figured the calories on these, which are 88 calories per cup, pop two of these in the microwave for a quick and healthy breakfast. I like to spice things up so topped with hot sauce. They were delish!

A little MIA....calls for a little TMI

I knew it had been awhile since I had blogged, but didn't realize how long until today, a little over a month since my last post, sheesh, where has the time gone?! Well..I'll tell you where the time has gone - it's called getting a new job, traveling every weekend, birthdays, Holidays, etc. etc. Finally feeling adjusted to the new gig, and feeling like my life is getting a little bit back to normal. Which means my friends, I have a lot to fill you in on.

I started a new job about a month ago, and it's been a whirlwind since, it's all for the better, but even though change is good, it is also sometimes extremely hard. You just get in this nice comfort zone, and the thought of leaving that and starting over again can just give you a big ole' knot in your stomach. I've been with the same company for the last four years and had made wonderful friends there, but I was ready for the next step in my career path so it was time move on. I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself, pressure to always strive for more...so far the decision has been a good one and time will tell.

Patty boy's 28th Birthday was last Sunday, so after a great Thanksgiving we celebrated his birthday by doing a little shopping, brunch, and taking it easy. We also got the Christmas lights up, tree, and all decor up, LOVE this time of year! Christmas shopping is about 99% done, which makes for a happy girl. I love to have wrapped presents under the tree so I'll get to enjoy it all for a few more weeks. We got a group of our friends together yesterday for some more celebrating and had a great time. I got him an iPad for his b-day and that thing has not left his side, I must say it is pretty cool, it is great for using in the kitchen when cooking..which I did quite a bit of this weekend..which brings me to my next point.

My Aunt Tammy has a Christmas Cookie/Candy Exchange party every year and today was her 6th annual party. I was baking away last night and created the most amazing, scrumptious, dessert ever!



I found a recipe for Brownie Covered Oreos, but put my own little twist on them and put Peanut Butter Cookie Dough on the bottom, it was definitely a good decision- yum!

I'm so very much looking forward to the next month. Tomorrow I'm going to a Women's Seminar - Woven with a few good friends, very much looking forward to this. We have a Christmas Dinner Party planned with friends coming up, looking forward to Christmas lights, more fun times with friends and family, and hoping this beautiful weather will keep up. I've heard several people say they are ready for it to get cold, nope not me, I'd be totally content if it never got any colder than this! Lovin' it!

 Here's to family, friends, and remembering what this time of year is all about!

Remodel: Bathroom

Ready for Round 2 on remodels? 

We have been busy busy with house projects. However, after the whole kitchen ordeal (if you haven't seen this post check out the Projects tab on my home page) the bathroom turned out to be a piece of cake. It was started, attempted, and completed all in one week. Not bad, not bad at all.

Part of the deal while house searching with Pat is that I wanted two bathrooms upstairs, soo glad that we found a house that did just so. As you may know about me, I'm very picky, particular, and clean- Pat not so much. Therefore, sharing bathrooms would just not end well. However, this past week I had to move into his while we started refinishing my bathroom. We set some ground rules and it turned out just fine:) The week flew by and we ended all finishing touches yesterday.

The remainder of the weekend was fun. Friday was spent at an "At Home Wine Party" hosted by our good friends Gary/Amanda. A host comes in and pours samples of multiple kinds of wines in which is paired with different snacks. You then have a chance to order any of the wine that was sampled. Super fun idea! Saturday night Pat and I went to the Carrie Underwood concert, holy amazieness. She is simply incredible, it was an awesome show! I took some clients from work so we were able to have dinner beforehand and then had great seats in the loge box, great night!

BEFORE

Lovely pink/white counter and backsplash along with some nice gold lighting...





DURING



AFTER



Next on the list- basement. Super ready for this project, this will definitely be a lengthy one.



Remodel: Kitchen

Happy Weekend All! I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful weather today! So I've been a little mia from the blog world but have been consumed with various other projects..and I'm pleased to announce that our kitchen is FINALLY completed.

 

Let's talk about this kitchen a bit. As you will see from the before pictures, it was in bad shape, a lot needed done to it, and that was the first big project to be completed after we bought our house last April. Patty boy ensured me it'd be a piece of cake. In his exact words, "Oh yea, we'll have this done by the time you move in after the wedding" (which was in September). Now a year later, the kitchen is finally done. We soon realized after starting, we weren't quite sure what we were getting ourselves in to. We both had decided on concrete counter tops, and of course Pat, being the ambitious/determined guy he is thought he would attempt to do them himself.

 

I can't even begin to explain the amount of time these took with lots of trial and error involved in the process. But they are a success and I couldn't be more proud of my guy! After we put in the new counter tops, we replaced the back splash, put in a new range hood, sink, and lighting. We also painted and put in all new appliances. What did I partake in during this process you may ask? Well I did do most of the painting, and I put in all the new hardware which I was pretty proud of- ha. Boy- that sucked though, I am now even more appreciative of the extremely hard work Pat put into this.

 

So here it is, the newly remodeled kitchen!

 

 

BEFORE

 



This picture actually shows the new appliances, we took the old ones immedidately out, they were terrible!

 

Gosh- isn't that backsplash pitiful? The flowers just had to go.



 

 

AFTER

 



I think the new rangehood may be one of my favorite things, I love the design of it and how much it opens up the kitchen!

I love the new lighting. It was hard to figure out what to put on the ceiling since it is slanted, but I think this turned out great. I'm so bummed I don't have a picture of the before lighting, omg- it was terrible. It was one of those long fluorescent lights, big and boxy, and just plain ugly.

 

Sink is also ten times better now, I love the under mount sink we went with!

Well there you have it! I think the finished product turned out great. We are working on finishing the master bathroom up this weekend so a blog to come on that project as well!

Weekend Wraps

Another weekend has come and gone. Patty boy and I enjoyed a weekend in KC with great friends. Friday night was spent hanging with Nick, Ashley, and their new baby Kaylee. I guess she's not "new" anymore she's 5 months old already! She is seriously the happiest baby ever! She was such a trooper the whole time. Saturday we went out to Legends and spent the afternoon out there, the weather was seriously SO beautiful.

 

Pat and I then got ready for the wedding and headed into downtown KC for my friend Katie's wedding. Katie and I were roomies in Chi-O and she means the world to me. It was so great to be able to see her marry such a wonderful guy and see her so happy. I only wish her and Aaron the best and wish them the best of luck on their new venture in Denver. What a beautiful day for a wedding! KC is seriously absolutely beautiful this time of year. Pat and I were in awe driving through the city and seeing all of the gorgeous colors, fall is such a beautiful time.

 



After the wedding we headed back to Nick and Ashley's where the party continued

(thanks to K-state's awesome win:) we hung out with some of their friends until way to late of course. The next morning we packed up our things and headed to meet Sean, one of Pat's best friends. He also was in town for a wedding as well, so we picked  him up from his parents and headed out for breakfast.

 

The drive home was pretty sucky, as I was absolutely miserable. Allergies are just kicking my butt. I was supposed to start my "allergy shots" a few months ago but have been putting it off. Looks like I'm finally going to kick my butt in gear and start these dang things so I am not miserable the rest of my life.

 

Here's to another week. Looking forward to some fun weekend plans and we will be starting our next house project! Yippee! It's time for my bathroom..stay tuned to see the pics.