B4D

I've tried out many fancy recipes since becoming a wife. I've experimented and created all kinds of meals. But, truth be told, my husband's favorite meals are the simplest ones. Apparently a new and excited meal every night was a little too overwhelming. I think I spent so many years being picky and eating nothing but chicken fingers that I'm now addicted to trying new meals. Like every day. But, all of the testing has helped us to discover what food we like best and identify which ingredients are the most cost-friendly.

Lucas doesn't know how to cook much, but he has a couple go to meals that he generously makes when I'm not feeling well. Our favorite? Brinner. Also known as breakfast for dinner or as we like to call it, B4D. There's something about eating breakfast food for dinner that is exciting and very satisfying. French toast, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs. Mmm. I feel so spoiled when he makes B4D. He got fancy with it tonight and used heavy cream and brown sugar in the french toast. How lucky am I?






Mr. Chef in action :]

Canning Time

My wonderful husband came home last week with 4 packs of canning jars in various sizes. I'm going to be a busy little bee in the kitchen this week. Fall is in full effect and I know our basil plants will be browning soon, so I need to turn those bad boys into pesto and can them up to enjoy for the rest of fall and winter. After that, apple sauce and apple butter are on the canning agenda.

Anyone with a birthday coming up should fully expect canned goodies as presents!

Pumpkin Spice Cake

I forgot how much I love bundt cakes. I'm stoked that this recipe only used up half of my can of pumpkin, so I can use the rest on something else. Like pumpkin ginger pancakes. Hurray for fall treats!

Pumpkin Spice Cake
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon butter for pan
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 15 oz pumpkin puree (make sure you get pure pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Spread tablespoon of butter all over pan then coat with a thin layer of flour
3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin-pie spice
4. In a mixing bowl, mix together melted butter, sugar, eggs, and pumpkin puree
5. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture
6. After full combined, pour batter into prepared pan
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes

I had butter cream frosting left over that I had made about a week ago that I added 3 tablespoons of honey to, melted slightly, then poured over the warm cake after I turned it out of the pan. YUM.

Busy Pohickery

It's been a busy busy week. We've had meetings galore and have spent our spare time cleaning and de-cluttering. I'm more of a fall cleaner than a spring cleaner. I want our house all in order for, dare I say it? Christmas. I'm already excited about decorating our home for the first time. But I'm going to try to control my excitement for now and focus on Thanksgiving and the overall feel of autumn.

Today's baking adventure- pumpkin spice cake with honey butter cream. Mmm.. pictures later!

Broccoli Cheddar Mmm..

I was excited to find a little recipe box this past weekend that I lost in the sea of packed boxes prior to our wedding. There is one recipe in particular that I was super excited about finding- Broccoli Cheddar Soup. My friend Mollie made this soup for a few of us girls when we were over her house and it was amazing. It's just like the yummy Broccoli Cheddar Soup they serve at Panera Bread. I'm happy that she decided to share it with me. Lucas and I definitely benefited from her generosity tonight.


This is the original recipe. It's amazing as is, but I think next time we'll make a couple changes based on personal choice (such as using mild instead of sharp cheddar). Mollie served us this soup in bread bowls, just like they do at Panera Bread, which was really neat. You can buy bread bowls from Panera or get really creative and make your own.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups half & half
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 lb fresh broccoli, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, julienned
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 8 oz shredded sharp cheddar

Directions:

1. Saute chopped onion in butter then set aside
2. Cook melted butter and flour together in a pot using a whisk constantly over medium heat for 3-5 minutes
3. Slowly add in half & half, still whisking constantly (a spoon would work as well)
4. Slowly add chicken stock, whisking the whole time
5. Simmer for 20 minutes
6. Add in broccoli, carrots, and onion and cook over low heat until veggies are tender for 20-25 minutes
7. Add salt and pepper to taste
8. The soup should be thickened at this point. Pour batches into food processor and puree.
9. Return to pot over low heat and add cheese. Stir until blended.
10. Stir in nutmeg

If you don't have a food processor, you could just finely chop up the broccoli before adding it to the pot.

Beef Stew

Is there a better day for a hot bowl of beef stew than a cold and rainy one like today? It seriously warms up your entire body. We had to retire beef stew for the summer because it warmed us up a little too much, but now is the perfect time for it to make its return. This is one of those dishes that I didn't really care for when I was younger, but now that I know how to make it myself and can tweak the ingredients to fit my own taste, it's a favorite. It's also one of those meals that my husband often requests, which makes it all the more awesome.

Beef Stew Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2lbs beef stew meat, cubed
• 1 cup flour (hubby likes it thick; use less flour to make it thinner)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cans (14.5 oz) beef broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon chopped basil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 potatoes, cubed
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, sliced

Directions:

1. Place meat in slow cooker and season with salt and pepper
2. Cover meat with flour and stir to coat
3. Add vegetables and spices
4. Pour beef broth and Worcestershire over top of vegetables and meat
5. Stir, cover and cook on low heat for 10-12 hours or high for 5-6 hours

G2 Overload

My husband is apparently very concerned about my hydration and electrolyte intake.

He came home last night with a gazillion bottles of my favorite flavor of Gatorade, which for some reason is hard to find in most stores, as well as some of my other favorite snacks. He's a keeper for sure.

Red Velvet

This is easily my favorite cake. I love the hint of chocolate masked by the red coloring. It's so yummy and classic.

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour (or all purpose flour)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring (if you're using the gel coloring, about 1/2 tsp works)
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Line two 12 cup cupcake pans
3. Sift together dry ingredients in a medium bowl
4. With a hand mixer or electric mixer blend together eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla, vinegar, and food coloring (if you're using gel coloring, mix it in after the dry ingredients are added)
5. Add sifted dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix until thoroughly combined
6. Divide mixture among cupcake tins, filling each cup about 2/3
7. Bake for 20-22 minutes

Date Night

On Friday night my husband and I had a date night. We were excited to watch the Blu Ray release of Beauty and the Beast. Okay, I was excited about watching the movie, he was just excited it was on Blu Ray.

I watched an episode a couple weeks ago of Mad Hungry on the Hallmark Channel featuring a lasagna made with Italian sausage and decided that I had to make it for our next date night dinner. Lucas loves Italian sausage and as of late has been seeking out every chance possible to eat some. I also made homemade sauce which turned out awesome. I like being able to create as many of the ingredients in a recipe as possible. Now if I could just own a cow or a goat, I could make my own cheese too!

In case you can't tell by looking at the picture, I used a LOT of cheese.

If you're already a whiz at making lasagna, you can just make it the way you usually do but use Italian sausage instead of whatever meat you typically use. Lasagna is a really good dish to prepare then freeze for easy cooking on a minute's notice. A lot of cooking shows I've been watching lately talk about having food to throw together easily when those unexpected guests show up. I've yet to experience these unexpected guests showing up on our doorstep. I guess that's what happens when you live out in the sticks.

This recipe was made using a 8x6x2in dish.

Italian Sausage Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 2 Italian Sausages (removed from their casing)
• 1 lb of ricotta cheese
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese (or parmesan)
• 1/2 tablespoon oregano (you really don't need a lot of spices since the sausages are already seasoned)
• 2  1/2 cups tomato sauce
• 1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 6 lasagna noodles
• Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Break up and brown sausages in pan then transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain
3. If lasagna noodles are not precooked, boil as directed by packaging
4. Mix together ricotta and pecorino cheese with eggs and oregano
5. Lightly cover the bottom of your baking dish with a layer of tomato sauce
6. Lay down two lasagna noodles over the tomato sauce
7. Spread half of the cheese mixture on top of the lasagna noodles
8. Lay down two more lasagna noodles over top of the cheese
9. Spread tomato sauce and cooked Italian sausage over lasagna noodles
10. Spread the remaining cheese mixture over the Italian sausages
11. Lay down the final two lasagna noodles
12. Spread remaining tomato sauce over top of noodles
13. Cover top of dish with slices of mozzarella
14. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes
15. Uncover dish and bake for 10 more minutes, or until slightly golden

Fitted Sheets... ugh.

Does anyone else have a really hard time folding fitted sheets? Maybe it's just a Walther family issue, but Lucas and I always struggle to get our clean fitted sheets back into a nice folded state. We don't have a lot of storage space in our teeny barn apartment so efficient storage is crucial. We also like for things to look nice and tidy since all of our storage is out in the open.

Last night I found a tutorial on Martha Stewart's website which I'm totally stoked about and thought I'd share with anyone else fed up with their fitted sheets. It gives step by step how to perfectly fold your fitted sheet back up into a neat little package. This wonderful tutorial can be found here.

Back to Life

Unified Underground is officially over and we are officially tired. It was a long but amazing weekend. Yesterday we spent the day resting, processing, and coming to realizations. We learned so much from all of our incredible friends. I want to make a real effort to stay in touch with them all and tell them often how important they are to us. We're so very blessed.

I feel like I learned new things about myself this weekend. I talked more than I have in years before, and I'm so happy about that. I met a lot of new people. Our break out session went really well. We tried jam-packing it with everything we're passionate about and unfortunately didn't get to go as in depth as we had hoped for. But, we hope to do another session in the next year or two about the differences between men and women (and boy are there a lot) and how we can communicate effectively in spite of these differences. I get jazzed just thinking about it.

Unfortunately, Lucas' camera was broken this weekend (even more unfortunate is that it was partially my fault), so we didn't get any pictures. But we had friends who did, so I'll try stealing some of theirs to post soon!

For anyone interested, we have a blog for the ministry my husband and I work with (Hope for the Rejected) that we have just started updating again. We're planning on posting on it quite frequently. My husband is an awesome writer and has already posted a lot of awesome writings on there from a couple of years ago, when we were just friends:) It's called Hope's Anchor.

Hittin' the Road

Today is the first day of Unified Underground and we're scurrying around trying to get everything together. I don't know how I end up with so much stuff for just a single weekend. This trip is nothing compared to the trek some of our friends are making across the country. We're lucky to only be about an hour away from the conference.

I'm excited to see all of our friends that we only get to see this time of year. They're all such amazing people and such a blessing to us, even when they're on the opposite side of the country.

I have to go now and get a stew goin'. We have lots of mouths to feed this weekend.

Pictures, hopefully, next week!




www.unifiedunderground.com