ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

There is so much excitement in the air that I can't stand it! Yesterday I had  a beach wave put in my hair, and I am so excited to be able to wash it and fix it for the first time tomorrow. BUT it doesn't end there! Sometime this morning, a very nice package will arrive, and Chris and I will be going to Huntsville to pick up my first car that I will be paying for!!!! I am completely overwhelmed and excited that I haven't been able to sleep :) I was up at 5:30 this morning. OUCH!

I know, I know. It's Saturday, but when you have the excitement of a check AND the first Alabama game of the season who can sleep? I decided since I was already awake why not go ahead and make the crimson dip for the Alabama football party tonight at my brother and sister-in-laws.

This recipe is extremely easy and quick. I'm sure it's going to be a hit tonight!

Ingredients:
1 8oz cream cheese
1 box Red Velvet Cake
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
3-4 tbsp milk

In a stand mixer(or a bowl), cream together the cream cheese and butter. Once they are mixed well, add 2-3 cups of the cake mix, and between each added cup add 1 tbsp milk. Slowly, one cup at a time, add the powdered sugar. Again, between each cup added, add 1 tbsp milk.

*The most helpful tip I can give is that this dip is all about texture and sweetness. If you are happy with less milk and a thicker dip, I would suggest only adding the 3 tbsp. I added the full 3 cups of powdered sugar and 3.5 tbsp of milk. It is a pretty thick dip, but in my personal opinion this one should be thicker.*

I hope you all enjoy :)

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!

Happy Tuesday, my friends

I realized last week that it has been quite a while since I have written. Between 2 to 3 12 hour shifts in a row and being exhausted, I really haven't had a chance to do much other than love on my husband and fur babies, chores, eat, and sleep.

Being busy with work and having late nights there isn't always easy. I feel guilty for losing time with my precious husband even just for a few days, but when days are crazy there is nothing else you can do but take a deep breath and do what you can. I remember 2 weeks ago coming home and telling him how guilty I felt, and we talked about it. Guilt the way I was feeling is not of God. We prayed together and I felt the weight of the world leave my shoulders.

I have always believed that when you are doing God's work and what He created you to do, you will have more attacks on you. For weeks, I have had terrible nightmares. I mean to

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle

I have officially been at Decatur General for a little over a month now, and I absolutely LOVE it! Nothing is better than living your dream and fulfilling the plans that God created you to do. I can have the worst day on the planet, but because one patient tells me that I made a difference all that is erased. Knowing that I can make a difference by caring for others is one of my loves, and I am grateful to live in a country where I can do just that.

Over the past 5 days, I have been quite the baker. I made 2 batches of the Golden Oreo Cake Batter Blondies. One for a get together and another to take to work. Have a mentioned that I LOVE my job? AND my co-workers. I knew this week would be filled with goodies galore, so when I thought about what to make for our lifegroup tonight, what better than something easy and more than likely already had the ingredients for.

I found this recipe from A Whisk and a Prayer. I have made this recipe a couple of times, but I always like to add a little spin on it to make it more "mine."

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

What you will need:
1 cup softened butter
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips or any chips of your choice
optional: nuts, rainbow sprinkles(my FAVORITE garnish for anything sweet)

*I also added 4 pinches of brown sugar*

Mix the butter and vanilla together. Once they are combined, add in the salt, sugar, flour, chips, and any other toppings you chose.

Here is what is looks like all combined in my lovely red mixer. The batter is going to be a little thick. This is normal for the cookie brittle. 

Spray your baking sheet with Pam, and spread the dough completely on the sheet. I find it easier to use my Tupperware rubber spatula to flatten the dough and spread it out easier. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
*Make sure you check the brittle at around 15 minutes*

Wait for it to cool completely, and then remove in pieces from the baking sheet. I hope you enjoy this!

What extra toppings did you add to your cookie brittle?

Chicken and Dumpling Bake

Happy Monday my blog followers!
Let me tell you, once I walked that stage on May 5th I have hit the grown up world running. July 4 was my first day off in about a month, and I loved the sweet taste of freedom. No puns :) So Thursday when I had day #2 off, I was antsy. In my previous blog, I mentioned that a precious co-worker's FIL brought us Mexican for lunch one day. I had to pay her back somehow, but which recipe to choose? Luckily, she made it easy for me.

What better than chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes? I took those to work this past Friday, and all of the nurses and techs were VERY pleased :) Always makes my day to know I make tummies happy.

After I finished the cupcakes, I knew that the hubs and I were low of meals, and we had the ingredients for chicken and dumplings that we hadn't used yet.

Chicken and Dumpling Bake:
2-3 lbs chicken breasts
10 oz bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 cream of mushroom soup
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of 10 biscuits

My chicken breasts were frozen, and my waterless cookware cooked them in about 15 minutes. You can't get any better than that :) After the chicken was thoroughly cooked, I preheated my oven to 425 and cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces.

Spray your casserole dish with Pam or any other nonstick spray. In a large bowl, mix the chicken, soup, salt and pepper, and frozen vegetables. Once they are thoroughly mixed, pour into the casserole dish, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Halfway through the bake time, place the biscuits on a cookie sheet and place in the oven for the remaining 15 minutes or until golden brown. After the 30 minutes are complete, remove the casserole dish from the oven and place the biscuits on top.

I finished this recipe right at the minute that I needed to leave to go in for my last shift at Victoria's Secret, so I did not get a taste and I yet have had the chance. BUT my precious husband brought my repaired rings to the store and told me that the dish was incredible!! I am always thankful to know that I can cook dishes that he loves and asks for again. I didn't come into our relationship cooking. It is something that I picked up and really wanted to learn to do because I feel like its my duty as a wife. Chris is a fabulous cook, and I will always appreciate him stepping out of the kitchen for me to give this a try. I have fallen in love with baking and cooking and I know I have God and him to thank for that.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I have been working at the hospital for 3 weeks now, and I have SO missed baking!! This past Sunday, a co-worker mentioned Mexican for lunch. Her sweet father in law brought it to us, and they wouldn't let me pay them back. What better payback than yummy chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes? Answer:nothing.

I went this morning to get the ingredients.

Cake:
1 box sugar free yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water

I added chocolate chunks to my cake batter. I added around 1 cup. 

Bake the cupcakes on 325 for 19-23 minutes. Mine were perfect at 19 minutes.

While those are baking, you need to make the eggless cookie dough.

Cookie Dough:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup butter
1 TBSP vanilla
4 TBSP milk
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar

Mix thoroughly and then add chocolate chunks. I added 1 bag(11.5 oz) of chocolate chunks.

When the cupcakes have cooled, cut a circle in the top and remove the center. You will need to trim the top that you removed once you have filled the center with you cookie dough.

After your 2 dozen yummy cupcakes are filled, add about 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream to the remaining cookie dough. Use this as your frosting :) I can't even begin to tell you how delicious this is!

Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole

I hope everyone is doing well on this beautiful Wednesday morning. I have to admit that I am still nervous. I took boards yesterday, and I won't find out results until late tonight or early tomorrow. I did do the "trick" to find out if I passed which is to try to re-register to take the exam. If it lets you register, you did not pass. It did not let me register so I am taking that as good news.

Chris and I like to plan meals for around 2 weeks, so when we buy groceries we won't have to constantly come back. One night when we were getting ready to go to bed the idea for this casserole came into my mind. Has anyone been to Big Bob Gibson's BBQ? If not, at least once in your lifetime you need to go. I always get their turkey stuffed baked potato, and it's heaven. Who can complain about a huge baked potato, sour cream, butter, cheese, and delicious turkey?

I love casseroles, and I knew we had just about everything to make this creation already. A huge thank you to Publix for the B1G1 BBQ sauce. We had plenty to go around :)

First I put 2 frozen chicken breasts and enough bbq sauce to cover them in the crock pot on low for about 6 hours. About an hour to hour and a half before you want to plate the casserole, get a pot of boiling water ready to make your mashed potatoes. I used 3 large Russet potatoes.

While your potatoes are boiling, shred the chicken and place it back into the crock pot so it will absorb more of the bbq sauce. It took about half an hour for the potatoes to become soft enough for a fork to go through them. I mashed the potatoes up completely, skin and all. Then, I put butter and sour cream in them to make a mashed potato.

Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray, and you're ready to layer. First place all of the mashed potatoes on the bottom. After you have smoothed them over, evenly spread the shredded bbq chicken, and lastly, sprinkle a cup to a cup and a half of shredded cheddar cheese on top.

Here is the hardest part: cooking the casserole and waiting to eat it. Place the dish in the oven at 365 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the cheese it golden.

Ingredients:
1 pound of frozen chicken breasts
1 cup of shredded cheese
1 small container of reduced fat or fat free sour cream
Butter
3 large Russet potatoes
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce(1 used about half of the bottle)

*With the butter and sour cream, add as much as you are comfortable and happy with. I used the taste rule :)

Skillet Cookie

Happy Monday Everyone!!

Here's how my Monday started. 12:10 AM the thunder wakes me up. Now with that being said, I do not like storms. I'm not terrified, but I could do without the thunder. Our 60 lb love bug, Mason, feels the same way. He sleeps on the back deck, and I felt awful for him last night. SO, I went outside and brought him in for the night. He slept in the bathroom on one of our comforters. Well, let's not forget Tedi. He knew his buddy was coming in, so I had to let him stay in the bathroom too or else....there would be scratching and barking until they were reunited. Goodness :)

4:30. Chris's alarm goes off. I sleep deeper than he does, but I ALWAYS wake up first when that thing goes off. Finally, I convince him to shut the blasted thing off, and by 6AM I am up for the day.

I'm sure you're wondering when the cookie is going to come into the picture :)

Well, I completed some NCLEX questions, worked out with Insanity Insane Abs(so much sweat...ew), and then lunch. YUM!!

So the afternoon keeps ticking on and I'm bored. What's better than whipping something sweet up to enjoy? The answer: nothing.

I perused Pinterest, and found this recipe. I slightly modified it because I didn't have the chips, and I added a little bit of me. Here we go:

Ingredients
3/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg and 1 yolk
2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cups chocolate chips.

Because I didn't have the chips I had to change mine up a little bit. I had a melting chocolate. I just grabbed a cube and chopped it.

Mix the butter and 2 sugars together. Once they are combined and smooth, add in the egg. Stir in. Next, mix in the flour, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.

After all this is mixed together, fold in the chips or if you're like me, the chopped chocolate.

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease your cast iron skillet.

Pour the batter evenly into the skillet.

Another me touch: Pour caramel sauce over the batter and top with sprinkles. The best are rainbow.

Bake it for about 15 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. The inside will look like its not finished baking, but it will look more solid once you set it out to cool.

 Can life get any better right now? Cookies, chocolate, caramel, and rainbow sprinkles!!

You're more than welcome to come join me for a refreshment or pick me up.