I love you because...

I have recently jumped into the world known as Pinterest. It is the most wonderful, and addicting website ever! It is like a virtual cork board of all your favorite ideas, quotes, favorite websites, and recipes. So lately when nap time comes, that is where I'm usually at, perusing the new fad crafts and exciting things. 

I decided I wanted to try and make something that I had "pinned" recently. I thought this was a cute, easy craft that could be enjoyed by all in the family.

This "I love you because" frame is actually pretty popular right now, google it, seriously. But I still couldn't pass it up, so here is what I did.

I got a frame that I liked that would match my other decor... (8x10 is a great size for this!)

Then using some scrap booking paper and my Cricut to cut out the letters, I glued it all together! I chose to make it a little different than the original one I saw.

Then just cut your paper to the frame size, and (yay!) you have a new cute craft to hang up!

My husband might think I'm a little crazy for making and hanging this, but who wouldn't love to have little reminders of why they are loved? I love my new craft and look forward to all the fun lovey reasons my husband and I will share with each other! Happy crafting!

Our Best Bites: Creamy Corn Chowder

Do you remember my favorite Christmas present? Did you run out and purchase it yet? I'm telling ya, its the best cook book ever.

I made Our Best Bite's Creamy Corn Chowder. And let me tell you, as far as soups go, this is probably one of the best I've ever had. I really really enjoyed this easy soup, and it didn't take much time or extra special ingredients to make. I had everything I needed to make it on a whim one night! Here is the recipe:

Creamy Corn Chowder
Recipe by Our Best Bites

2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. water
2 1/2 c. milk (skim or 1% work just fine and lighten it up considerably)
2 regular-sized chicken bouillon cubes, 1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube, or 2 tsp. chicken base
1/2 lb. bacon (optional)
1 small onion, minced
2 red potatoes, diced into small cubes
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn, drained or about 1 1/2 C frozen fresh corn
Salt and pepper to taste
A few dashes of hot sauce (like Tabasco or Cholula)

Fry bacon until crisp. In the meantime, melt butter over low heat in a soup pot. When melted, add flour to make a roux and whisk until it comes together in a little ball. Add water and whisk until completely combined and there are no lumps. Add milk and chicken base or bouillon and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes, onions, and garlic, and simmer (but don’t boil!), stirring very frequently, for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add crumbled bacon and corn and heat through. Add a few drops of hot sauce and then salt to taste. The reason why I don’t have an exact measurement is that while the soup REALLY needs salt, bacon also really differs in its saltiness, so it can be super easy to make this soup waaaaay too salty. Start with about 1/4 tsp., give it a few minutes, and then add more if you need it.

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with extra bacon and/or cheese if you want. Because, you know, if there’s anything a perfectly healthy bowl of soup (it’s only 3 Weight Watchers points!) needs, it’s some extra bacon and cheese!

Serves 6-8.

I highly reccomend you try this soup, especially with the weather that has been going around. Get some crusty bread and dip chunks into it- YUM. I am actually making this soup for my parents that are visiting this weekend! Happy cooking!

My favorite Christmas Gift!

Happy New Year all you JubJub lovers! Did you have a fantastic holiday season? Are you ready for it to be over and to move on? (Me too!)

This year is going to be a great year, full of lots of new and exciting things. That also includes our shop, so keep your eye out for giveaways, free chains with purchase of pendant, coupon codes, all sorts of good stuff. We currently are in full swing of our Buy 3 Get 1 Free promotion. Its a great deal and never too early to think about Mother's Day, Birthdays, or heck, maybe even Christmas for next year! =)

Speaking of Christmas, I wanted to share what my favorite Christmas present was that I received this year. I love cook books. I am a sucker for a good recipe, and an even bigger sucker for good cook books full of good recipes! I follow a blog called Our Best Bites that posts amazing recipes that are SO good! They have all sorts of variety, and they only post things that they like, and think are easy to make. They don't work with too fancy or expensive ingredients because they are regular people/mom's just like me. 

Anyway, my mom (hi mom!) gave me their cook book this year for Christmas!

Doesn't the cover page look good enough to eat?! Imagine what's inside!

I have actually been looking at all the recipes for the last couple days, planning out what I want to cook.

This "Creamy Cilantro-Lime Ranch Dressing" is on the top of my list. I know you are thinking to yourself, "you want to make a Ranch Dressing? Woopie..." Seriously people! You have not loved life completely yet until you have made this dressing to go on top of a killer taco salad. Have you ever heard of Costa Vida or Cafe Rio, or even Bajio? They are all similar places that sport this dressing that make my life, and yours if you tried it, complete. Go HERE for the recipe to try it.

I guess the reason I am so excited about this recipe besides the fact that it is literally on my "favorite foods ever list", is because I have tried to duplicate this recipe without too much success. Mine was alright, but not the real deal.

So thanks mom for my sweet gift! And YOU out there reading this right now, go try this recipe, or find some other yummy recipes on this blog. I promise its worth it! Or pick up the cook book!

Happy cooking! (or eating!)

So I look in my mailbox and I find this odd little box sitting in the back. Not thinking much of it I gathered it up with the rest of my mail and threw it on the kitchen counter. A day or so later (because sorting your mail when it comes out of the mailbox is way too organized for me) I actually look at the odd little box and figure out it is a little box of tissues. It is addressed to me and in very tiny print on the side it said "Sent from Heidi."

Who else but my sister would think... "Hey there are free samples of tissues online! I know, I'll send a box to my sister. She probably needs them." and then I bet she thought something like "She's the biggest snot I know!" ha ha ha. No I bet she really thought "My sister doesn't know how to breathe through her nose, she could definitely use some tissues!"

Thanks heidi. I blow my knows in your general direction, with love.

Pickling Peppers!

 My husband is a lover of peppers. Me, not so much. I can appreciate the flavor they give off, and handle them in small doses, but that's about it.

We planted 5 pepper plants in our garden this year since the hubby loves them so much. Banana Peppers (2), Jalapenos (2), and Serrano (1) peppers. I dig the banana peppers in sandwiches every once in awhile, mostly because I love the vinegar flavor. Otherwise, I am a big wuss.

I enjoy pickling/canning things, if you didn't know already, so I thought peppers would be good too! We can always use some peppers in our food storage. And they last for quite awhile, so it works out!

 First you have to prep all of your peppers by cutting off the tops. Some people cut them in smaller pieces or rings, but I like to leave them whole.

 Then cut up some garlic to either stick in with the peppers, or boil in the pickling solution. (Depending on how strong a garlic flavor you would like.)

Then boil some vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and the garlic. Make sure not to burn it!

 Canning is labor intensive, and gets super hot! So pick a good day! (I chose to do it on a nice humid day so the tempeture in my house got to be above 90 degrees. Smart, eh? Also, it helps if you have AC!)

Sanatizing jars

Make sure to sanitize your jars, and keep them hot when you pack them full of the peppers.

Then when they are all packed full, pour the vinegar pickling solution over the peppers, pop on a lid and secure! (When packing the peppers, make sure you stuff it as full as you can, every single space. The peppers, or whatever you are canning will shrink and constrict itself into a smaller space. Leave about 1/2 inch to an inch space from the top, otherwise your jars will overflow in their water bath and after they settle and cool.)

Then for these peppers, water bath them (boil them) for about 15 minutes to get a good seal with your lid, and to prevent any contamination or future spoilage.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pickled-Hot-Peppers/Detail.aspx

Here is a basic recipe to follow. But you will need to apply more "canning" techinques than are given. I have lots of answers if there are questions!

THIS recipe, is what I use my canned/pickled banana peppers with. I will eat these sandwiches all day long, and with all the peppers I can get. It is super easy, and so so yummy!

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Italian-Beef-Sandwiches-5

Seriously, yummy!

Happy summer, and happy pickling your peppers!

Pasta: With Red Sauce? Are you sure?

Here in my household we eat pasta. No. We eat a lot of pasta. You could probably say with confidence that in some variation, pasta is what we eat the most, at least once a week even!

My husband's all time favorite food happens to be spaghetti, so naturally we end up having this often. Now don't get me wrong, I love a good spaghetti too. But I'm not so much a fan of "red sauce" pastas as I am creams sauces. (Probably for obvious reasons, its cream!) Spaghetti is the only red sauce pasta that I make, and I'm OK with that.

Although, did you see my food storage? I have a million cans of red tomato spaghetti sauce. There has got to be another way to use this sauce without over exasperating the spaghetti dishes. 

So I asked a buddy at work (thanks Joe!) if he had any good recipes. He said some kind of fancy name, because he is Italian, but it basically means Red Sauce, Sausage, and Pasta. So here it is folks!

Red Sauce Sausage Pasta

6 cloves garlic, diced

1 stick butter

1 pound pork sausage (could be any kind you want, I just got some Jimmy Dean.)

1 large jar/can red spaghetti sauce

1 cup Parmesan cheese (powder stuff you shake on pizza)

1 bag, or 8 oz, (2 cups I think) grated mozzarella cheese

1 box hearty pasta, like Penna or Ziti

(These are all just approximations. When I cook I tend to not measure. So I just throw stuff in and adjust, give it a try! Its fun!)

Saute your garlic in the butter (yes the whole stick) in a large skillet. Then add the ground sausage and brown off. Add the spaghetti sauce and let it thicken up a bit. Add the Parmesan cheese and continue to cook and thicken on a lower temperature.

All the while, cook your pasta.

Then when the past is done, toss together the pasta and sauce. Then melt the Mozzarella over the top of it and ENJOY!

I really didn't think I would like it. But it was SO STINK'N GOOD! I always associate sausage with breakfast foods. So to have it in a dinner pasta sounded weird. On top of the fact that, remember, I don't care for red sauce all that much. (Same for on pizza, but that is a while other topic really.) 

This pasta has a richness and depth in its flavor. I highly recommend it, because it is not only yummy, but very easy to make. And you can make it any way you want! Put less butter in, put some mushrooms in, try a different kind of cheese, onions (don't put onions in it, bleh), whatever you want!

 No meal is complete without some good vegetables, garlic bread, and my husband's Darth Vadar cup! Happy eating!

Book Review: Angels & Demons

I love to read, I truly do! This is so weird for me to admit about myself because I hated reading when I was younger. I found it hard to focus and couldn't get past the mental blockage of "I have HOW MANY pages to read?!" I hardly ever read for pleasure, and hardly ever finished reading the required books in school for projects. (Don't tell my mom!) Don't worry, I still got good grades. (Somehow!)

But when I was in college and flew back and forth between Utah to Oregon often, I was so bored on the airplane rides. I decided I would be like one of the other cool passengers with their thick books that they seemed so involved in, I would get a book! ... But which one?

Stephanie, my lovely sister, suggested that I read the Twilight series. She had read them and said it was an entertaining, easy read. That is all I was look for. I still had this mental blockage of innumerable page numbers and words that I wouldn't understand. But she said it was good and easy...

The other reason I hesitated on reading Twilight was because there was this weird, huge craze around it. I wasn't one who read for fun, and even I knew about this weird craze. But, I jumped in and bought the book. And I couldn't put it down. Love it! (I know I know, judge all you want.) But since then, I just can't stop reading! Mysteries, love stories, old literature, folk tales, the classics, mythical junk, fantasy, end of the world, sci-fy, I pretty much love it all. (Well except the mythical junk.) I am now one who reads for pleasure, go me!

Anyway- this past month-ish I have been reading Dan Brown's Angels & Demons. Dan Brown is the guy who wrote The DaVinci Code and created this huge phenomenon with his religious mystery thriller books. A&D was actually written first, but doesn't have any affect or connect with TDC, just the same character, doing the same kind of exciting things.

A&D is a great book about murder, religion, secret ancient underground groups, science, hidden messages, and deception. It is a fully packed book with anxious anticipation, wondering what will happen next, and then throws you for a loop, several times. From start to finish it was captivating and exciting! Here is a small synopsis of the book according to goodreads.com:

When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy -- the Catholic Church. 

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival. 

Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation. 

See- doesn't it sound exciting?! It was. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It had everything I wanted, but was a bit gruesome. That, and there was some sexual adultness to it. There were no details or gross yuck stuff, just alluding to it. With those things taken into consideration, I still would recommend this book! It was a quick, fairly easy read, and I couldn't stop reading until I finished! Go to your local thrift store and find a copy, its where I got mine!

Different Dreams

I don't have a lot going on in my life besides work and being a mommy and a wife. So Steph suggested I find some things I like on the Internet and blog about them. Here is a quick and easy one that I like.

This is my dream to live in a modern upbeat city apartment somewhere.

These are just some examples, not what I would actually want. But they are way cool huh?

Can't you just imagine living this upbeat life in the city? Always having this fun lifestyle of Art shows and events to go to, dinner parties at your own modernly unique apartment, with KILLER food! THAT would be awesome!

This is also my dream...

Did you see this bathroom?! LOOK again!

Did you see this kitchen?! Think how much I could cook!

This would be part of my backyard, my husband's studio cottage. That would be cool!

I think this is more my dream then the cool, hip, trendy city lifestyle. This is more open and family oriented. None the less, I think both would be awesome! A girl can dream right? =)

Spunky Funky Animals - New Designs!!

Okay, thanks for listing to me complain last post. I feel better, and spent the last few naps coming up with new ideas rather than complaining.

I wanted to share my latest idea with you! Heidi tells me we need to have some cute modern pendants in our collection, so I'm slowly trying to get new ideas in where ever I can. THese aren't alll of them, but the first pendant was inspired by heidi - big eyes and all- so I thought it would be perfect to share it!

Here's my Spunky Funky Animal Series!!

The orginals!

en blu!

 crazy whatzit colors!

Ever since my sophmore year of college, I've had a mental block on colors. Clearly I like to design monotone, and then go from there.  So I'm always curious to hear which versions you like the best! (and/or if my designs really aren't as cute as I think. I get in this "my stuff rocks" mode, and it takes a few knocks to make me look at it unbiased... However, unlike most designers, I can take criticism.) Let's hear it!

Green Smoothies!

Ok, I know! Green smoothies? 

I said the same thing. "Eww." I have several friends that swear by them, and I always thought they sounded crazy. Then a friend out here in PA said she tried it and liked it!. So I thought, why not give it a try?

First thing you need to know about green smoothies. They aren't green! At least mine aren't. They have the potential to be green or greenish depending on what fruits you put in it. So my recommendation, put in dark berries! (Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries.)

Here is all the stuff I used:

Spinach

Apple juice

Fresh Strawberries

Banana

Frozen Mixed Berries

Do you want to know the secret of a good smoothie? There is no secret!

They are a piece of cake to make, you just throw a bunch of fruits in, its super healthy with several servings of fruits, and now even better with spinach, WHICH YOU CAN'T TASTE! You can't go wrong!

First toss in a couple of hand fulls of spinach. JUST TRY IT! Its not that scary. Then poor some juice in at the bottom. Maybe a 2 cups worth. (I don't measure anything.) Then dice, chop, and pulverize, that spinach into teeny tiny bits. If there are chunks, then your green smoothie will be gross. Green leafy chunks? EWW.

Next throw in whatever fruit/berries you want! I chopped up some fresh strawberries and ended up using a whole banana.

(Ok, here is my secret to amazing tasting smoothies. BANANAS! It really makes a difference!)

I also threw in some frozen mixed berries!

Then you mix it all up and you get a yummy healthy, NON GREEN smoothie! Do you see any green bits? I don't!

My husband was skeptical, but we both ended up really liking them! It is our new Saturday morning breakfast!

So I know it might be scary, but give it a try, I promise its really good!