SUNDAY: enchiladas

I’m a creative person by nature. I’m an artistic type in love with creating anything for my own or someone else happiness and enjoyment. Happiness is defined differently by each person and some may think my definition of the word is boring and lonely, but I don’t. I LOVE my life and I enjoy the way I live it. Yeah at times, being in our kitchen by myself for hours on end can be at times a little bit lonely…but I’ve never, ever, not even once, felt lonely out in the middle of a hayfield with just my camera or picking berries in the quiet of hot July day with just the birds to keep me company. What others think of me isn’t important, because “those who do not hear the music think the dancer is mad.”

I was quite the artist in grade school. I drew mainly birds and a bit of anything else that captured my attention (and that I had the confidence to try my hand at drawing).  I was really into pen art, which is such a fun easy medium for me. I created many pictures…for mainly personal enjoyment and some art contest. (which I was strongly encouraged to enter, by none other than my artistic mom) Then it happened. My dad bought the family a digital camera and my life was forever changed. I was completely  intrigued with it. I mean I could capture beautiful pictures in seconds…every beautiful flower, adorable animal and crystal stream was mine in a second to have for years. So in high school I traded the pencil and paper, for the little point and shoot family camera. And the rest of this story is still unfolding.

As an adult I’ve somewhat combined my love of creating photos and writing with my new found love for cooking.

I just enjoy every. single. aspect. of food preparation…

This was the first time I made tortillas (btw: the Chef in Training is my new favorite resource for recipes, whenever I need a new one…at the moment, I start here) Isaac used the left over tortillas for quesadillas…I taught him how to make them, on his own. He still puts WAY too much of everything inside his…making more of an “all American” male version of a quesadilla. Just imagine cheese and chicken squeezing out the sides=) hahaI used this recipe for the enchilada sauce…making this is actually quite a process, I had no idea it was this complicated to make. But it turned out perfect.You can never have too much cheese…’am I right?!?!?My mom took these…and I promise I don’t always wear camouflage=)The lovely finished product!!! and even though it wasn’t perfect (according to my perfectionism) my family finished off both pans in one day=) And I took that as a compliment!

It’s hard for me to describe or explain the feeling I get when I begin creating something in the form of food. I look forward to walking into our wonderful kitchen every weekend. Some of my best days, in any given week. are the days I can make bread at 4:30 in the morning…I’m serious=) I don’t get to cook as often, now that I have a second job…but I still try to make/find time for this one enjoyment I have in life.

I love having flour on my hands. I love the stove top lined with simmering pots. I love cutting up tons of colorful veggies. I love the sound and smell of sizzling meat. I love having sticky sweetener and butter coated measuring cups all over my countertop. I love looking in the light lite oven to see if whatever I’m making is “turning out.” I love the sound of the timer, letting me know my food is DONE. I love the smell when I open the oven. I love washing up all my measuring spoons, bowls and pans. I love watching my siblings and parents faces as they try my latest and greatest.

What else can I say….I LOVE cooking=)

What is something that you love doing?

Happy Friday!!!

 

What’s Going On in February

Can you believe that March is here? Wow this year is flying. So here’s February’s update.

thinking – about my true core values…one’s that are actually mine and ones that I’ve only kept for my parents sake. I want to be my own individual, with my own value, beliefs and convictions. And live my life according to these. The pages of my life are turning quickly before my eyes. One by one, or is it more like the wind causing them to turn really fast by themselves?!?!? So I can’t waste anytime, I just have to hurry and get these are straight=)

watching – American Sniper…the last movie I watched completely through. It’s a good movie and very much worth the time and money I spent to see it. But I didn’t like it…I’m more of a chic flick kind of girl. But I definitely recommend it, for those that like that sort of thing. Also I’m watching snow quietly falling from my window. Gotta’ love it, the first day of March and we have snow…and robins.

eating – ummmm…I haven’t been hungry for much of anything lately so. But I did eat a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast, before I even ate my cereal. Hey don’t judge, it was very good=) Oh and I’ve been learning to eat without braces, it’s a completely different story. Loosing food or worse yet not getting it completely in my mouth, has been embarrassing. I’m not eating in public till I get this figure out,             again.

listening to – “Send it on” I seriously can’t stop singing this song or listening to it=) Also Danny Gokey’s new song More Than I Am…and this video is so cool too=)

reading – I started Seabiscuit and so far it’s good. For a non-reader type person, such as myself, it’s been successfully holding my interest. Also I’ve received several letters back from deployed soldiers I’ve written…reading them is always so interesting=) Sadly I’m stepping down from doing this…I’ve been writing for a year and it’s time for something else.

making  - I just made chocolate chip cookies for my orthodontist for my very last visit on Thursday. Also I made left over turkey shepherd’s pie on Saturday, along with a skillet pumpkin pie. (first one after this fail, but be sure I tasted the filling before baking it this time=) A lot of bread also for these people I live with.

wearing – Right now skinny jean, a sweater and wonderfully warm wool socks. My mom likes to keep our house right at 68 degrees. Drives me crazy, but I just put more clothes on=( but not without a lot of complaining. Lately with the temperature mostly below 15 degrees, it been these kind of clothes a lot.

needing - more hours in a day, I never get enough done. I need more than 12 hours of day light. I could totally go with a 24 hour day and maybe scratch the surface of all I need/want to get done. Have I over planned my year???? I, seriously, have so much happening in the coming 10 short months I’m feeling overwhelmed. TIME is the most precious commodity to me at the moment. But maybe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew…too many pots on the stove at once.

wishing – for spring temperatures so I can start running outside again…the treadmill is oh so boring. I workouted upstairs (everyone was gone) yesterday and actually worked up a sweat…it’s been forever, our basement is so ccccoooooold. Also I want to make maple syrup. It’s that time of year again and I miss doing it terribly. While in Tennessee one of the neighbors, near where we stayed, were boiling the sap down…and remembering that smell, I just wanted to cry.

feeling – very tired lately and not a whole lot of energy. But I’m in the best condition spiritually and emotionally that I have been in years. So now I just need to work on the physical aspect of my life. But maybe I should slow down some, that might actually help a lot .

loving – the wardrobe reduction Christina completed on Friday. Two huge bags of clothes went to Goodwill… our dresser is so much easier to maneuver through. But I can’t tell much of a difference in the closet, but we do have more free hangers…haha!

wanting – to start on writing out all my favorite recipes in these darling little cookbooks I just bought. I want to go sledding today. I want to take an Epson salt bath. (I don’t know why I just want too) I want a kitchenaid mixer. I want more patience with my siblings and other people in my life…they are not the over achiever I am and that’s fine. period.

So what about all of you??? what have you been up to lately? 

What’s Going On in January

 

thinking - I’m been thinking a lot lately on my future. What I really want out of life and how to accomplish these goals. And trying to figure out the necessary steps I will have to reach my dream. 

watching - the moon. It’s memorizing kinda like a running stream…I could stare at it for hours. After I feed in the evenings I’ve been enjoying just standing out under the chilly night sky full of stars and just gazing at that beautiful moon.

eating - a lot of grits! Call me crazy but I crave them just about every morning. Except I’m weird and don’t eat them like normal people do…I put coconut and raisins on mine=) And they are WONderful!!!!!

listening to - this song sung by Mark Schultz. I don’t know why but when I get hooked on a song I listen to it over and over again….and then all of a sudden I’m tired of it and don’t listen to it again.

reading - I’ve been reading Jesus on Trail by David Limbaugh and I love it!!!!!!! Also I just started The Bailey Flanigan Series by Karen Kingsbury. Something not so deep for my “right before I fall asleep” reading. I like them so far.

making  - I’m finally putting together a scrapbook from my cruise to the Bahamas. And I’m realizing again how much I LOVE to  scrapbook and of course I just made my amazing pie.

wearing - my slouchy beanie…a lot…covers any bad hair day and with my first of the year haircut (including straight across bangs) I need something to just slide over it all. BTW having these bangs cut was a VERY bad decision and I can’t wait till they grow out.

needing - tons of Carmex lip blam!!!! This weather and my outdoor jobs make me keep some of this with me at all time. I have a tube in my car, on my night shelf, on my desk at work, in my purse and in the pocket of my coat.

wishing - for snow!!!! Lots of snow…to cover up all the ugliness of winter mud. In my option if it’s going to be cold we might as well have snow=)

feeling - very cold lately. I seriously can’t seem to stay warm. After I work out I’m warm for about a half an hour then I just pile the layers on. My office is always like 76 degrees and I’m still cold. My poor boss is always smoldering=(

loving - my new NIV Bible! First time I’ve read anything other than the KJV and it’s like reading it for the first time!

wanting - time to go a bit faster so I get to see my brother in Tennessee sooner!!!!!! I talked to him on the phone last night and gosh I miss that kid so much.

So what about all of you??? what have you been up to lately? 

 

Inspired by http://www.lovefunandfootball.com/2014/12/whats-going-on.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FromMissBToMrsM+%28From+Miss+B+to+Mrs+M%29

cranberry pie with thick pecan crumble

Mom had this bag of cranberries in the fridge, a few weeks ago that were beginning to spoil. And she mentioned to the wrong person (myself…haha) that she didn’t have time to do anything with them. So that Saturday evening when most of my family was at one of Isaac’s basketball game I decided to give it a go…

…and I actually did it, I made cranberry pie!!!!! (I used this recipe) I made the pie crust! and it turned out wonderful, (in that my dad actually liked it=) I did the entire cold butter and water method…And this time instead of cutting off the extra around the edge I folded it back in over itself just like the recipe encouraged. And the visual effects of following this tip, after it baked, were so rewarding. Of course I substituted some of the ingredients…sugar with honey (the typical Atherton practice) But mostly I it was made according to the recipe used=) And my family loved the slightly tart, yet sweet taste of it.Only Victoria and Christina were home when I made this pie…so having the rest of the kids guess what kind of berry it was was so fun=) Mainly they thought it was cherry and dad was the only one who said after awhile of guessing, “it’s not cranberry, no it can’t be cranberry pie”….haha that was so worth it! So they all agreed it tasted more like cherry pie…I loved the pecan crumble on top. So that’s the part I ate of my piece, gave the rest to Isaac…haha poor guy, he really has a hard time in a house full of girls. My mom – just walked into my room and sitting on my sister’s bed proceeded to watch as I put this post together…she commented again on how good this pie was. While walking out my door, just a moment ago she said, “you should really make that pie again, sometime….soon.”

Happy Monday! I hope your week is wonderful!

the time I made a million muffins….

….not really more like a hundred, haha! but it sure felt like I made a million. I made these as Christmas gifts back in December for all my dad’s business’s customers. I hope next year to do something different, I enjoyed it don’t get me wrong, but it’s a ton of work and around the holidays that’s pretty much the last thing I want to be doing. cooking should always be slow, and not stressed equaling a perfect recipe for enjoyment.

And I never took a picture of the final baskets. Crazy! I didn’t realized this until I was editing these today…it’s a long story so I won’t bother you with the uninteresting details of the many whys=)

I made carrot/pineapple muffins, cranberry/pecan muffins, banana/chocolate chip muffins, and lastly applesauce/walnut muffins. I baked all afternoon and wrote some about it over here. After I made a batch of every single muffin I had my parents and siblings taste them, and then tell me if I need to add more or less of something etc. The problem at my house isn’t finding people to test taste, but to get them to stop once they have had a bite.

Normally when I cook I’ll finish up making one kind of cookie, muffin etc. I then clean everything up and start on the next kind, in this case it would have been muffins. But this wasn’t what happened this time. I made one batch of one kind and then of a different kind and so on. So I had one huge mess! And we don’t have a lot of muffin tin, only enough to fill our oven  twice. It works out okay. I pulled one batch (24 muffins) out of them oven and put the next ones in. Then wait on the “done batch” to cool for 10 min and then I’d take them out of then tins. And refill them in time to repeat the entire process. Sounds easy, but then put “making up the muffin batter” the entire time into the equation. I was a bit stressed at times…haha.

My mom helped put the muffins, after they had cooled completely, in the muffin cups, even my dad was helping at one time=) Speaking of my dad he even went to the store three times for us that night to get some much needed forgotten items/ingredients. He left for his final trip at 11:30, such a trooper. 

And you come to think of it, I didn’t even taste one myself! Shame on me! lol I will next time for sure…

The banana/chocolate chip were by far everyone’s favorite=)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The customers were all thrilled, thankfully! Grace used to make these for these same customers every year, before I took over her job…she was known, at that time, as the “Muffin Girl” so I was trying to fill some pretty large shoes. I hope I did okay=)

Have a fabulous weekend! Mine will be spent studying=)

 

2014 Christmas

This Christmas was the best one I’ve celebrated as an adult so far…in my short life. No snow, fairly warm and still the BEST Christmas=)

We all slept in, we have no little ones to make us wake up early…even though my internal alarm clock doesn’t let me sleep in as late as the typical person, (or the rest of my family) it was still nice to lay in bed till it was at least gray outside. We did our traditional candy bag hunt and the guys all read the Christmas story, after blowing out Jesus’ cake’s candles. (I felt like such a little kid…lol) We also had an ugly sweater contest (Ally won! I guess hers was the ugliest haha). Our gift opening was slow and so fun, without the rush of young children to dampen the adult enjoyable atmosphere. Christina and I passed out gifts this year…it’s actually not as fun as it looked. Next year I’ll leave it to the boys. Then we all changed into our pajamas and everyone helped put the pizza’s together for a late lunch. Mom was tired of the traditional meal and clean up, so pizza it was, along with the use of paper plates at every meal. Cheese cake and apple dumplings for dessert. Yeah, pretty perfect!

The only cloud to this perfect day was the fact that Christina had to work that night and I got a mild case of food poisoning Christmas night. So I had to bid farewell to all that wonderful holiday food I had eaten.

Grace spent the night here Christmas Eve and stayed here till Sunday morning=) So since I had been sick and was pretty weak for a few days, I hung out with her the entire weekend. Lots of good conversations and so many helpful pieces of advice. Sometimes I forget that the best advice always comes from family, they know you the best.

We played board games the rest of the afternoon and finished off the day with a few movies. I was feeling so badly that I didn’t have the energy to take any more pictures…