Food and the New Year

So we have been married for almost a year now, and man time sure does fly. I was thinking back to our wedding day and I cant believe how many details are still so clear. I wish I could relive that day over and over again. It truely was the best day of my life to date.



I have recently taken a step back in my life and looked at how I have performed as a wife and the head woman in our household. Sure I do the cleaning and the laundry and the grocery shopping, but the area that I seem to lack in is cooking. When we first got married I was excited to be able to cook for more that just one person and to be able to use the many recipes that I have collected over the years. I did good for the first few months, and then it died. I got a job that didn't end at 5 at night Monday through Friday and worked crazy hours. Needless to say my husband ended up eating a lot of whatever he could find on nights when I was working or even when I was home and was too tired to put something together. He has been good to prepare some meals, he makes some killer good fried chicken and pork chops. I am thankful that he is ok with not having a meal on the table when he gets home from work, that he is ok with eating sandwiches and leftovers etc. But beginning a new year I decided that this all needed to change, for the better!
I still work nights and odd hours, but only three days a week. My goal is to have leftovers for those nights when we cant eat together and other good things on hand that we can throw together if necessary. I have spent hours upon hours pouring over blogs and recipe books trying to find recipes that will work for our crazy schedules and my picky palate. The other day I made a massive shopping list, scoured the ads and planned a menu for two weeks of new recipes. We went grocery shopping yesterday and made our first new meal last night. It turned out well and my husband told me it was a keeper recipe. Score one for me!!!
I have had a few requests to post those recipes and to start a food blog. It sounds like a good idea, but lets be honest, I dont know if I can handle two blogs at the moment. So for now I will post the recipes here and see how it goes. My goal is to post the recipe and thoughts the next day for those to see. Hopefully I can stick to that goal. And readers, let me know what you think too! I would love to know who is reading my blog.
Thanks!!!

For dinner last night I made a something that I found of the Betty Crocker website called Super-Easy Chicken Manicotti. I didnt take a picture of my finished product so I found a picture of it on their website. It looks soo good!



Super-Easy Chicken Manicotti

1 jar (25.5 oz) Muir Glen organic pasta sauce (any variety)
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 1/2 lb uncooked chicken breast tenders (not breaded)
14 uncooked manicotti shells (8 oz)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz)
Chopped fresh basil leaves, if desired

Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, mix pasta sauce and water. Spread about 1/3 of the pasta sauce mixture in ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish.
Sprinkle garlic salt on chicken. Insert chicken into uncooked manicotti shells, stuffing from each end of shell to fill if necessary. Place shells on pasta sauce in baking dish. Pour remaining pasta sauce evenly over shells, covering completely. Cover with foil.
Bake about 1 hour or until chicken is no longer pink in center and shells are tender. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with basil.
Makes 7 servings

*** So a few side notes, I only made half this recipe since it me and my husband wont eat it all.
I did not use the pasta sauce that they used, I just used a simple Hunt's Spaghetti sauce with Garlic, and it turned out great!
I started out with my chicken frozen and by the time I made the dish it was mostly thawed, but I had a hard time fitting it in those little shells. I ended up cutting the chicken into pieces and putting them in that way, and it still turns out just fine. Make sure to really coat the chicken as well as it will give it more flavoring.
Overall I give this dish a 8 out of 10. It could use some more flavor, but that is something I plan to do next time. A good weekday meal for busy people!

Now onto dessert! My favorite all time thing to make! I can not tell you how many blogs I follow on baking and how much time is spent drooling over the things that are posted and then bookmarked to make one day. The one that I made last night was super easy, and incorporated two of my husband's favorite things, brownies and Oreos. So I decided to give it a try. *** Even if you dont think you can bake, you can totally do this one!**

I found this recipe on a blog called Picky Palate. A perfect site for me, since I am super picky sometimes! The actual link is this: http://picky-palate.com/ You should totally check it out!

Brownie Covered Oreos

1 Brownie mix (or use your own brownie recipe)
1 package Oreos
White chocolate, melted for drizzle, or Wilton White frosting pen works great
White nonpariels Sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare brownie batter according to package directions. Leave in mixing bowl. 3. Dip Oreos in brownie batter then place in bottom of cupcake tins that have been generously sprayed with cooking spray.
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until brownies are cooked through (doesn’t take long).
5. As soon as you remove, take a plastic knife and run along edges, (this is VERY important so you get the cookie out with brownies not stuck to pan
6. Let cool for 5 minutes, remove drizzle with melted white chocolate or the Wilton White icing pen, sprinkle with nonpariels and EAT! Enjoy

Makes entire package of Oreos

*** On the original blog she posted what pan she used and hers look more like little cookies, mine they turned out like flat muffins, but I am not complaining. I just used a regular sized muffin tin. Make sure to WELL grease the pan each time, they do stick. I also was cheap and did not buy the sprinkles of the white chocolate to drizzle. We had some cream cheese frosting that we just spread on top to add some more flavor. I am also too cheap to buy the name brand Oreos, so I made mine with the off brand, Duos, and they worked just as well.

I give this recipe and 10 out of 10. It does take some time as you can only cook 12 at a time, but it is totally worth it. When I make them again I want to try another flavor of Oreos. one with mint or something.

Again I didnt not take a picture of mine, but I think her's look better anyway, so I borrowed a picture from her blog.


Try these and let me know what you think
From our family to yours,


** Image found on Google

Ummm Yummy?!?!?

Made this for dessert tonight..... I think it is looking pretty freakin amazing... Just sayin' :)

The Holidays at the Hill home

So much for posting my thankful things every week. I swear every year November and December pass by so quick it is crazy! I cant believe that Christmas is this week. We have had fun spending time with family and doing the traditional thins that happen around the holidays.
This being our first holiday season as married couple, we have had fun doing things together and starting our own holiday traditions. A tradition that we have in my family is to put the Christmas decorations up the day after Christmas so you can enjoy them for as long as possible. Well since the busiest time of the year happens to be that week for Andrew at work we had to put it up a bit earlier, but I was not complaining at all! We bought a few more decorations this year and went to town. This is a pic of our cute little tree and the lights that we hung in the kitchen.



Andrew LOVES all sports. Thank goodness that we had ESPN so he can watch college football, basketball, and keep track of how his Cowboys and Mavericks are doing in their games. He has hinted for a long time that he would really like to go to Jazz game, even though they are not his favorite team, he would still like to go. So I scoured the web for the best deal and found some great lower bowl tickets to the Jazz/Maverick game. I told him to make sure he had the day off and we were going to have a day of fun. He tried for weeks to get me to tell him what we were doing but I would not budge. The day of the game we slept in, cuddled and watched some TV and then went out to lunch. We spent some time at the gateway and went shopping and then, on to the game! He guessed what it was a few days before but didnt tell me he knew until that night. But hey, at least he was guessing for most of the time. :) Here are some picks from the game. Sadly the Jazz lost, but dont worry, he was not sad as his team won.





We also went to see the lights downtown. It is something that I have done every year since I was a little girl and I have loved going the last three years with Andrew creating our own tradition. My favorite is going to the top of the Joseph Smith building and looking at all of the lights. We tried to get into one of the restaurants up there for dinner, but the wait was 3 hours! Yikes! Andrew promised we could some other time when it was not so dang busy! Again, some more pics of fun times!







Well thats all for now, we are both still working full time, loving being married and trying hard to save for a house. Maybe one day........
Oh and I finally decided I was sick of growing my hair out and chopped it off.... please excuse the scary look, it was late at night, I was tired and in a silly mood.

Chocolate, heaters, and love

So I have been falling a bit behind, working too many hours and not getting enough sleep. This past week I am thankful for a heater to sit next to when it is freezing outside!!! We bought a new couch last week and it is so nice to come home from a long day of taking care of sick kids and sit on a nice comfortable couch with a warm blanket and a cute cuddle buddy.
I am thankful for hot showers, lots of holiday chocolates, and plungers.(Another story for another day.....) As we are nearing thanksgiving I find myself being more thankful for the little things in life. I love it!!

Hard Times

Working at a Children's hospital, I feel like I see it all. We see the little cuts and colds that come in and then we see the super sick kids that are barely hanging on to life. Whenever I help care for one of those super sick kids it always makes me stop and think about how greatful I am for my life and my health. Tonight on my shift we happen to have one of those really sick kiddos come in. This little patient was hit by a car and hanging on for dear life. Watching them roll in the doors with mom and grandma following in tears, it made my heart break. I didnt even know these people and my heart went out to them and I wanted to sit with them and give them hugs and mourn with them. Sadly, this sweet litle child did not end up making it through the night. I happen to pass one of the family members in the ICU and could see the sadness on their face. Oh how I wanted to just sit down and cry!

I am SO thankful for my health, to have the knowledge about how to treat others who are hurt and to make their day better. To be able to work with so many great and caring nurses and doctors who do everything in their power to make out sweet little kiddos better. I love my job, but I really, really dread those days when things like this happen. It makes it hard to come back.

I am thankful to be alive, and to be where I am at in my life.
My challenge to all who read this, take a minute in your life, stop what you are doing, and just take a moment to enjoy what you have in your life and all you have been blessed with. It will make you appreciate life more, I promise!

A New Season

Its already November, where did the summer go?? Halloween has ended and now it is time to celebrate the good holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas!!! I am excited to have someone one to celebrate with this year. Even though we will both have to work alot the next few months I am still excited to do some of the fun stuff that comes with the holidays.

It being the month to give thanks, I am going to make a goal to try and post at least once a week about the things that I am thankful for. This week I am thankful for lots of things.
I am thankful for the wonderful man that I am proud to call my husband, the time that we are able to spend together and the many chances that we have to make our relationship stronger.
I am thankful for the freedoms that I have in this country, for the opportunity to do so many things and not be judged.
I am thankful for fall weather, for changing colors and cooler temps.
I am thankful for being alive!

Until next week, a pic of my cute hubs, he is pretty cute.....

(Picture found online from Bakeralla.com, if you like cupcakes, you should totally check out her site! I am in LOVE with it!)

I totally went and bought this today. It was my favorite as a little girl. I LOVE the music!! Sadly all of the good stuff is on the Blue ray discs but all the same, I can still watch the original movie and sing along! What a great way to spend a Saturday, watching my favorite childhood movie, doing laundry, making choc chip cookies and just relaxing!! Love it!!

I promise to update about our life soon, not that anyone cares what goes on, but I need to have something to show our kids one day! ;) lol