Hairstyles Man and Woman

Pork chops are a standby at my house at least once per week. I get a good deal at them at Costco, come home, package those 1 1/2-2" thick boneless chops 2/bag, and freeze. After much complaining from the bf, I started cutting them in half so we would get 4 3/4-1" thick chops. I'm constantly trying new recipes to find what we like. This one fell a little short, but was still worth a post! Once again, I took a recipe and changed it to what I thought would make it better :) The original recipe : Ingredients 3 cups crushed saltine crackers 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese 1 tablespoon Italian-style seasoning 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1 cup butter, melted 6 pork chops Directions Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). In a medium bowl, combine the ...

Growing up my mom wasn't much of a cook. Her version of chicken soup came from a can. Meatloaf at our house included half of a bottle of ketchup. Hamburgers were considered gourmet if we used onion buns. Needless to say, Sloppy Joe's in my childhood were a weekly staple made from a can of Manwhich and hamburger buns. When I came across Johnnie's recipe of homemade sloppy joes , I was skeptical. It seemed easy and flavorful and simple. Of course I changed alot of the recipe to adapt to my kitchen, but it was still delicious! The original recipe: 3 lbs ground beef or ground turkey  1 cup chopped onion 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/4 cup ketchup 1/3 cup worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup packed dark brown suger 3 tbsp yellow mustard (I used Dijon) 3 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar) 1 cup chopped red bell pepper (I used canned fire-roasted red peppers) 2 teaspoons chili powder (I used the full amount) Instructions: Combine beef, onion and garlic in large pan and cook until m...

I've decided to post my goals for the upcoming year, and with 3 days to spare!! These goals aren't just a new year tradition, but a way to improve my quality of life :) Sound good? Blog purposefully - I want to limit my posts to specific subjects. Mostly baking and cooking, it's nice to blog about my life, but not the main reason I started the blog. I want to connect with other bloggers that share the same interests I do. Learn to say "No" - I am a people-pleaser and need to learn to tell people No, instead of burning all of energy making everyone else happy. Going to every party or doing favors for everyone else is nice, but won't help me feel better about myself. Create balance between work & school - Working part-time and school part-time is manageable for me, but over-extending myself at either will make the other suffer. Create one cake a month (and post it!) - 1 cake per month, birthday, wedding, anniversary, anything. Keep my skills up to date a...

Here's the picture from PetSmart, where Mercedes got to see Santa. Cookie on the other hand knew he was an imposter and wouldn't get close to Santa. Sorry it's a little blurry. My phone camera isn't that great.

I'm happy, does that make me a bad person? I don't care :p We rushed and drove all over to see everyone. I'm glad we did, but this girl is tired! There wasn't anything I had to have and nothing that I really told people to get me. They did a great job of guessing what to get me. The Loot: Various bakeware. Muffin pans, bundt pans, cookie sheets, cake dome, covered casserole dish, Ikea deep sized cupcake pan I've never seen before! New Alarm clock!!! (I still don't know how to use the old one, 1.5 years later) Gift Cards :)  $$ Snowflake bracelet (picture soon) Taste of Home Cookbook Kitchenaid hand mixer (with accessories)   via  Custom made Granite Cutting boards (long story) Deep Fryer Clothes Tickets to events over the next 3 months :) I'm sure there was more, but those were the major ones. Did you get what you wanted? I strongly believe that Christmas is for the kids. So here's my cutie niece opening her presents. Obviously, she got beyond spoiled, ...

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It was a busy holiday season; I did too much traveling, but overall had a great visit with family. I got wonderful presents and ate tons of food. Back to work tomorrow (booo!!!), but back to blogging (yay!!!!) :)

via I can't believe it's almost Christmas. With so much going on and preparing, I didn't realize that this is it! I'm glad to have my shopping done. I have a Peppermint Cheesecake to make and that's about it! My schedule for the holidays gets complicated because we have so many people to visit. My parents are divorced, as well as Mr. P's. Of course, each part of the family holds their own "traditional party". I can't wait to have kids and use them as my reason to stay home! Thursday: We will celebrate with my niece, my mom and my grandpa. She will get to open the gifts from us and we'll have dinner and dessert. Of course, Mr. P and I will be late because of his job, but we'll get there and I don't work the next day! Mercedes will go with us, but Cookie will have to stay home. Friday (Christmas Eve):  Mr. P works until 5pm :( I will hang out with the dogs, catch up on the DVR and bake my cheesecake because I wait until the last minute. W...

You each get a giant hug for all your support from my last post. Around the holidays I get down, thinking about the people I wish were here that aren't able to be. I'm lucky to have met some wonderful bloggy friends and I hope you all have a happy holiday season! On the positive side, I baked this weekend! I made the Peppermint Whoopie Pies I've been talking about for over a week now. They were sugar overload so I made Mr. P try them, but he liked them and his dad loved them after I popped them in the fridge overnight. :) I will share the actual recipe tomorrow. I know, way to make you wait.  My weekend was super busy, finishing up last minute details and then having our first family Christmas. It didn't turn out great, but I did get an awesome present out of the gift exchange :) I'll share that tomorrow too! (I forgot to take pictures) I've been feeling pretty tired the past few days and I see a nap in my future :) With all these parties coming up I need my res...

via 1.) I have a migraine this morning that started right behind my eyes. The type you know that no amount of Tylenol will cure :( I know, I need new contacts/glasses and want to schedule that appointment before the end of the year, but that requires time and money and planning. Next.   via 2.) Everyone and their sister is pregnant right now in my life and it's making me sad. As I've shared, I was one of those lucky pregnant girls at one point in my life. God had other plans and took my son away from me at 21 weeks old :( I should have a 4.5 year old son to celebrate Christmas with and I just don't. I spoil my niece, other people's kids and my dogs, but it's not the same. I know that my time will come, but I'm getting impatient and I want to make things happen yesterday. Had a convo with Mr. P about it, he wants to do it the "right" way, which so do I, but make it happen already.   via 3.) I'm still having ovary pain and there is no end in sight. I...

Just so everyone knows, my natural hair color is dirty blonde, so I can make all the blonde jokes I want :P Last night, I was in a productive mood and decided to make my pecan snowballs. It's a simple recipe and they are perfect snack size to throw in a treat bag, tie with a pretty ribbon and use as an office co-worker gift. Perfect, if you know how to bake correctly :( The recipe said to line cookie sheets with parchment paper. (Keep in mind, I go to school for pastry arts) Anyways, after going through every drawer in my kitchen all I have is wax paper. For some reason, I've always gotten the two confused, but I figured they were interchangeable. I mean, they look the exact SAME! Big huge, baking FAIL! I kept smelling crayons while I was making my delicious corned beef Rubens and the wax ended up melting onto the bottom of the cookies and the cookies hardened to the paper :( There were maybe 10 cookies I was able to salvage :( Oh well. I will have to try again after I go shopp...

Thank you all for the support from my post yesterday :) I'm feeling better and more calm today, so hopefully that gives me better energy throughout the day. I'm planning on baking snowballs for my guys at work. I figure 3-4 in a bag, tied with a pretty ribbon will be their "treat" from me this year. I also need to finish wrapping the last of my gifts, clean up the kitchen and prep my dinner for tomorrow. Tonight we are having corned beef ruebens from the crockpot.Tomorrow will be Cheeseburger Meatloaf with Bacon Gravy , how can you go wrong? I'm going to make it in the crockpot and let it sit until tomorrow night :) We never have gravy at our house (seriously, the calories are horrible) so this will be such a treat for Mr. P. I am also needing to make Peppermint Whoopie Pies for the bake sale this weekend. Oh it just turned into a very busy night, but fun! Here's the recipe for our dinner tomorrow. Cheeseburger Meatloaf Ingredients 1 lb lean ground beef 1 cup...

I'm feeling nothing short of overwhelmed. This is why I secretly HATE December. I have zero me time. When I carve out 10 minutes to myself, I start feeling guilty. If I tell anyone I sat down and watched an hour of tv, they tell me what they did in that hour and make me feel like gum on their shoe for trying to keep myself sane. Of all the people in the world, your mother is supposed to support you and tell you that you are doing your very best. Yesterday I shopped, Saturday I shopped, Friday night, I shopped. All I'm missing is gift cards and I am finished with my Christmas presents!  I always knew my mom was different. My mom called me at work (a day she gets to stay home because of the roads) and tell me how selfish I am for shopping all weekend (and helping her by picking up some presents she needs) and not wrapping all her presents. For not baking her Christmas cookies so she can pass them off as her own. For going out of my way to pick up her granddaughter and driving her...