Poached eggs... in Marinara!!!!!

Zachy ordered something similar to this at a restaurant & I truly thought it was going to be AWFUL, but guess what... it is now my go to food at the time. I am OBSESSED!
The first time I made it {pictured} we made some homemade marinara which I throw in some canned tomatoes, tomato paste, spices, onions & some peppers!
I then brought it to a boil, cracked the eggs in as if I were poaching them in water & watched them cook to perfection! I also threw in some chunks of mozzarella because everything is better loaded with CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Toasted some break & chowed down!!!!


Now...
The easy way...
already made marinara sauce
eggs
toast

Preheat  the oven to say 415 degrees, crack the eggs in a marinara sauce which should all be in a small glass dish pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes & DONE!!!!!!

DELICIOUS!
I have become OBSESSED!

tasty BBQ chicken & Bacon pizza

I have got a huge crush on the BBQ chicken pizza at California Pizza Kitchen, but they are pretty expensive for a pizza... so, I made my own! MmMMMMmmmmm

Ingredients:
pizza dough (Trader Joe's has pre made & it is SO YUMMY)
BBQ Sauce
Chicken Breasts
Bacon
Onion
Garlic
Mozzarella
Parmesan /Gouda cheese mix (if you want)

Directions:
Cook up those chicken breasts, I popped mine in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper & some other herbs... however you like your chicken!
Cook up that yummy bacon, cut first... it's A LOT EASIER
Roll out your pizza dough, I had my assistant in the kitchen for this one ;)
spoon over BBQ sauce over dough
Throw all those other toppings on top!
I grated the onion & garlic into little pieces & threw some around... do as much as you like! Some people don't like onion & garlic!
Then top with that yummy cheese & drizzle some BBQ sauce on top!
Follow the pizza dough directions & cook pizza as directed, once it is cooked up top with some fresh cilantro & eat up!!!
SO YUMMY!!!

mmmm citrus {& herb} chicken

I have been seeing a lot of these recipes on Pinterest over the last month of so, so I decided to give it a go!
I mixed up a few different recipes using what I liked from each! {you don't always have to follow one specific recipe, be fancy}

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sugar
2 lemons
2 oranges
1 onion, sliced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon basil
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon parsly
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt {your choice of amount}
pepper {your choice of amount}
10-12 chicken pieces, I used drumsticks & thighs {at Trader Joe's they have BONELESS thighs!}

Directions:
Mix together olive oil, garlic, all seasonings, sugar, 1 juiced lemon, 1 juiced orange! I let my chicken marinade in the mix for about an hour in a big zip lock baggie, if you don't have time for that... place chicken in a 13inX9in baking dish & pour mixture over chicken making sure all the chicken parts gets some of that sauce bath!
slice lemon, orange & onion, place around and under chicken then if you want to add some more seasoning over your chicken, go for it! This is when you make your recipe your own.
Bake for an hour or until chicken reaches 160 degrees, uncovered {middle rack, move to top last 10-15 mins for a nice brown color}
THEN!
Enjoyyyyyyyyyy!!!

I made garlic cheesy bread & garlic green beans, it went together perfectly!!!!!!

EASIEST cream cheese & {berry} danish

Yummmm... yum... yum!

Oh my goodness, I am so happy I finally decided to make this because it is SO DELICIOUS, easy & even cheap! 

My taste tester gave it over 20/10 SO that means it is good... then again he's not too picky ;)

Ingredients: 

1 tube crescent rolls

For the filling:
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 cup blackberries {or any berry of your choice}
For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 {or more} tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla & flour.

On an ungreased cookie sheet roll out the crescent rolls and connect them {see photo} it should be able the length of your cookie sheet, smoosh together any open holes. 

Cut diagonal strips up each side of the dough {as pictured} about 1/2 an inch wide.

Once all your strips are cut spread your cream cheese mixture up the center & top with your berries... I mooshed up half of my berries to make it into almost a jelly consistency. 

Fold & braid dough over the mixture & berries, this part could be a little tricky if you are trying to make it look as pretty as can be...

Bake for 20 minutes, let cool... 

Mix icing ingredients, if the icing is too think just add a splash or more cream until it is at your desired consistency & drizzle over that baby!

Then... over indulge & enjoy!

brew, ferment, bottle, enjoy

This weekend Zach & I FINALLY used the brew kit from {Craft a Brew}that I got him in SEPTEMBER, I have no idea why it took us so long to use it!!!!!!
The kit is reasonably priced, filled with everything you need & has super simple step by step directions to follow!!!
It was so fun!!!
I was mistaken when I thought it was going to be ready to drink the day we made it... but I had obviously forgotten the important step of fermenting!!!
But in a couple of weeks it will be ready to bottle & enjoy!!!
{the anticipation is killing me}

comfort foods {hamburger rollup & pan gravy}

Yum, yum, yum! I consider my favorite food to be a catagory rather than a specific food (that's how I get around the "what's your favorite ____ ?" How can you ever pick just one thing, so... I categorize my picks) COMFORT FOOD! that's my favorite type of foods... or doughnuts. ANYWAYS...

Hamburger rollups are so simple, so easy... & SO DELICIOUS! (it's basically biscuits & gravy) My mom learned of this masterpiece in her home economics class in high school!

What you'll need...

Hamburger Rollup:
bisquick (follow the bisquits recipe x2)
milk
roughly 1 pound ground hamburger (or turkey... for all you turkeys)
1 pound sausage (I use the jimmy dean premium pork sausage regular)
flour
seasonings of your choice

Gravy:
grease from cooked sausage & hamburger
flour
milk
seasonings of your choice

How To:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Brown sausage & hamburger together - season if you'd like! I just do plan ol salt & pepper!
• Follow bisquick recpipe on box for bisquits (double it), roll dough out onto a cutting board or just your counter in whatever form you find easiest to roll (I do as close to a rectangle as I can)
• Once your meat is cooked & dough is rolled out, top the meat onto the dough, roll! 
• Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes! (if the top starts to get too brown throw some tin foil over your rollup)

• Homemade gravy time!
• To make a roux for pan gravy all you do is heat the leftover grease until you seem bubble (medium heat - high) sprinkle flour, mix... repeat! 
• Add milk (while stirring - your wrists will get a workout) 
• Repeat this process until you have as much gravy as you'd like!!!
• Add all your yummy seasonings again I just use salt & pepper... maybe some onion & garlic powder!

Pull your hamburger rollup outta the oven, cut that thing open and see all the yummy meat & dough in a pretty marble pattern, drench it in gravy & enjoy! 

Spring cleaning? spring ORGANIZING!!!

There once lived a little girl who grew up with a HOUSE full of hoarders!
Now I love them dearly, but my entire family has an extremely difficult time "getting rid" of things, which I think is great... with a hint of awful!
Because I now have the hoarding gene, which leads me to keeping EVERYTHING as in... ticket stubs, souvenirs, old clothes, just everything & anything, I just have a better way of hiding & organizing these hoarded items!
I am good at the occasional throw away spree when I get the courage to just literally throw it all away, but that does not happen often!
I finally have time this week & next to do an ENTIRE apartment organization take over... focused solely on all of my holiday & crafting "junk" time for it all to find a cute little home!
Today, I started on my pantry... say hello to these super cute jars, only around 10 bucks for all 3! You can find them at Wal Mart & Target! Or Goodwill I am sure, but today I did not have the patience to take a trip there!