Cheesecake Photos

Mom and I waiting for the contest to begin! ...

The cheesecake, fresh from the spring form :) That sucker was heavy!

After decoration... which consisted of chocolate fondant and raspberries... mm mm mmmmmm.

My baby waiting in the fridge with the blueberry and strawberry sauces I made as topping... YuM!

Anyways! The outcome- 2nd place! ... (and $75 in my pocket!) .. pretty nice. I def. think I would have had first had there been MORE than one judge... AND he wasn't a husband.. lol

But I am perfectly happy with second! :)

I should put up the recipe soon!

Mrs. E

Oh yeah!

And BTW... I won second place for my cheesecake Sunday...
I'll put up pics later! :) x 100
Mrs.
E

TIRED

This is a picture of my father right after he was pinned with his purple heart. He was hit by a road-side bomb last month and walked away from it thanks to God's mercy.
(*Notice the orb by his head? lol... oOoOoOoo spooky )

I'm sooo tired of worrying non-stop about my father...
today I hear that his unit lost NINE people in Iraq.. 9 more lives just written off as "numbers"
I mean,... you have a few dozen people who died at Va Tech...(not that it wasn't a horrible tragedy) the world goes nuts... everyone has their flag at half mass.. etc..
But what about the soldiers (thousand + so far) dying everyday fighting for us??....
Honestly.. I think we should have our flags at half mass until everyone of them comes home.. (but that's just me)...
ANYWAYS... so I am just even more stressed out now knowing that my father is RIGHT back into this crazy war,,, I mean, it's not like he was JUST hit by an IED like 3 weeks ago?!!! lol... Guess that's what a real soldier does... but seriously.. I don't know what I would do if I lost my father.. ESP. since he has already had ONE close call..

Why should he have to risk it one more time?! It just doesn't make sense to me,,,
I just can't deal with the stress this puts on my heart.. He retires almost as soon as he returns.. it would be horrible if he didn't make it back to that..
I guess I have to continue to pray and keep my faith (even though I worry that maybe it is God's will to take my father one day.. )

AHHHH!!! I over think everything and upset myself more!


Ok,, enough of this... I just had to vent so I might feel a bit better!


Mrs. E

Yet Another Weekend...

Team Shocker in the haus::::lol
Here are just a few pics from the weekend... some of my sweetie's car... and some of us..

Over all... it was a great weekend. :)

*Love* - w/o makeup! hehehe

Hmmm..My new blender..

I bought a new blender the other day.. and it came with some recipes.. one is for cantaloupe soup.. sounds refreshing, huh?

Note to self*** Must conquer this dish! :)
-Steena

OoOoOey Gooooey Chimis!! YuM :)

These were absolutely *PERFECT*! I am the biggest chimichanga fan EVER.. and since my hubby doesn't really like Mexican food, I figured it's time for me to master the art! :)
At first it looked like it would be a ton of work, but when I took that first warm, crispy, gooey cheesy bite... I surrendered to the chimi gods.. lol..
I will FOR SURE be making these again.
Below is the recipe and some more pics

Super' Rayful' Chrissy-Changas

These are a LOT easier to make than you think... so DON'T get discouraged! ;0) Have fun with it!

Ingredients: (for about 3 chimis)

• 1/2 (10.5 oz can) of condensed cream of chicken soup
• About 1 or 2 green olives
• 1/2 (4 oz can) of diced green chilies
• 1/2 a jalapeno pepper (more if you like it hot! :)
• Taco seasoning (maybe half a tsp)
• 1/4 pack of cream cheese (about 2 oz?)
• 1/4 lb. cooked chicken (shredded)
• 1/2 a pack of "Mexican blend" cheeses
• Vegetable oil (enough for frying)
• About 3 tortillas
• 1 Cup of sour cream
• 1/2 A lime (to juice)
• Maybe some salsa, cheddar, green onions (for topping) :)

Ok! Now that I have completely scared you off with all of these ingredients lol... It's time to start the chimi making process!

1. First, put the COC soup into a food processor (blender) with the chopped olives, jalapeno, and chilies. Squeeze the half lime into the mixture (more or less depending on your taste). Then start the blender!!!!
2. When the mix is all frappified, pour it into a small saucepan and put it on a low simmer.
3. Now mix the taco season, cream cheese and "Mexi cheeses" in a bowl until well mixed.
4. Dump in the chicken and cover it with the cheese mixture.
5. Grab your 3 or so tortillas and lay them flat on your counter top. Spoon even amounts of your filling onto the center of your tortillas.
6. Fold your tortillas into little chicken filled square packages... or burritos??????????? (whatever you'd like) :::Line them up for the fryer!!:::
7. Next, place a pan, with enough oil to barely cover your chimis, over medium heat..
8. Wait.
9. When the oil is hot enough (you can drop in a piece of tortilla... if it bubbles up, you're ready) carefully place a chimi in the oil... When the outside is golden brown, remove it from the oil and place it on a paper towel- lined plate to drain excess grease.
10. Repeat for the other two chimis ...:)
11. When you're done frying and all your chimis are ready, place them on their serving plate and pour some of your simmering creamy chicken lime sauce over them..
12. Top with more cheese, sour cream, salsa, green onions... and anything else you'd like.
13. Eat and Enjoy!!!!!
    

Hopefully this turns out as great for you as it did for me!

Mrs. E ;0)

Pasta Salad I made for the BBQ Friday:)

This is SO simple and absolutely delicious! You can add to, or take out almost anything and it would still be just as tasty!
Here goes.
Very Simple Steps-

1. Boil water.
2. Add noodles.
3. Drain noodles.
4. Add any kinda of chopped up veggies you'd like- Red onion, cucumber,broccoli,tomato, bell peppers, and maybe even a little jalapeno if you want a "kick"::::PoW:::: lol
5. Add any sort of Italian dressing(maybe get a little crazy and try something other than Italian?)
6. Finally, add some Parmesan cheese.... and....

Voila! Pasta Salad.
Enjoy!
Mrs. E

Catching up!- Friday

So! I haven't posted since Thursday... Man! I am slackin!!

So while I am at work answering the non-stop flow of calls, I'll recap my lovely weekend! :)

Friday was a wonderful day. First off, I didn't have to work. So of course it was a great start.

Then at about eleven I went over to my sweetie's work for a Bbq...

I attempted to make some "quick" chocolate cookies... but in the end they were just gritty little sand bites... with minimal chocolate flavor AND to top it off.. they looked like shiny plastic poopies..

So those were a No-go.

Pasta Salad to the rescue!!!!!! lol.. (I'll post the recipe in the next blog w/pix )

It was a hit! Thank God! Everyone loved it and kept commenting to Mike about his wife's dish.

Wow did I feel good :)

There WAS a chili that one of the guys made.. it was fabulous! I def. must figure out a recipe similar to it.

Onto other things!

After the BBQ, Mike had the rest of the day off :) woohoo! I love getting to spend a WHOLE day with my hubby. So we decided to work on his car... (I ended up busting part of his BRAND NEW front end... ) typical me...being the screw up clutzo.. lol

That about killed the "working on the car" mood so we decided to head downtown for a bit..

Checked out a few lofts (dreamt of moving into them) and then we finished up the evening with taking some photos and hanging out at the lot.

I put up some pics from earlier on Friday before our loft exploration.

Have a *wonderful day*!

Mrs. E

My sweetie>>

The Blue Coconut Icing...

Here it is! The failed attempt at frosting...
The flavor was AMAZING!... But as you can tell.. it looks like puke!..
I will retry this again,, probably tonight... but with less cream,, more sugar,, and butter that is a bit softer(so the icing wont be chunky lol)
We'll see how it goes! :)
Mrs. E

Yum-cakes!

I still have about 3 hours left till I'm off... and right now this is pretty much the only thing keeping me sane... SO prepare for more blogging!

(That and the fact that I finally got lots of pictures of my goodies!!)

Here are some photos of my cupcakes.

The recipe scoop- I used a funfetti cake mix,, added coconut and strawberry extracts... some gummy bears on the bottom,,, and yum!

The icing was a different story.. I tried to make my own (a blue coconut icing.. it was delicious... but the consistency came out all chunky.. so I switched to a can frosting as e-911)

Better luck next time...

Here they are! :)

Mrs. E

Steaks My Hubby Goes Nuts for...

Ok,... I don't have the exact recipe for my marinade.. But,, I CAN give you a rough estimate of what I used :) On The Grill.... :sizzle::::

Hmm,,,

Now I've lost my train of thought.... RIGHT! The Marinade!

A little garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper corns, and some lime juice! (leftover lime from the pies..;)

Let that sit in the fridge for about 5 hours or so,,, and BAM! Delicious tender steak,, as far as measurements... I think it was about half a cup of oil and half a cup of vinegar,, the rest was just to taste!

Maybe next time I'll get some actual measurements..

Until then!

Mrs. E

More Photos!

Yum! More Pie.. :)

Key Lime Pie!

Ok.. so I finally got some pictures up loaded!!!

So I'll be posting up the Recipe I used for key lime pie AND some photos of my results!
Hope you enjoy! :)

Mrs. E
_________________________________________________

Key Lime Pie

(My recipes usually come from websites online... I believe this was allrecipes.com, Oh, and BTW, I added to and subtracted things here to make it my own)

Ingredients-

• 5 Egg yolks, Beaten
• 1(14 oz) Can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 Cup key lime juice*
• 1(9 in.) Graham cracker crust*
• Coconut extract*
• Green and yellow food coloring*
• Whipped cream
  

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F


2. Combine the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lime juice. (* I only found actual "key limes" in Walmart, but I've seen comments in recipes suggesting the use of have lemon juice and have lime juice as a replacement :) So don't freak out!... Mix well.


3. Now is where I added just a BIT of green and yellow food coloring. (*3 parts green:1 part yellow). This is optional.... I added the color because the batter looked a little orange snot-ish from the eggs... sorry, but it DID.


4. Pour the mixture into one 9 inch pie crust... *or do like I did and make about 6 or 7 mini pies! :)


5. Next, bake in your preheated oven for about 10 15 mins.


6. Cooooooooool time....


7. Then! My favorite!- Decorate with any kind of whipped topping! (* I added some coconut extract to some Cool Whip... Yum! Talk about refreshing!)


8. Do I really need to tell you to eat them now!?

The Finished Product!

One of the pies.. Mmmm.. Have a piece!

Rainy Days Suck

The things I do when I'm bored at work.. I really need to get to next week so I can be off by 6 pm instead of these evening shifts..

Oh well.. It'll be over soon! Thank God.

I'll be posting my key lime pie Experience soon!

Mrs. E

I'm Baaaaack.

Ok.. so now I'll tell you all about my teriyaki fiasco last night.

To start: My husband isn't quite a "picky eater" BUT he does eat very limited food groups..
SO trying to cook for him can be a challenge :)

Last night we decided on steak. (He loves meats and cheeses.. I guess that is most men though right?) So we went to food lion and he picked out the meat he wanted.. woohoo a start!
Then he had mentioned something about liking the hibachi steak we get at the local Japanese steak house (My favorite,,, but he only goes cause he loves me! :0) hehehe) At this point I started getting excited!

He wants what?!! Asian food?!! I thought to myself.. "this is fabulous! My favorite,, and it cant be that hard to make, right?" WRONG!!.. I had watched the hibachi guys do it a million times at the restaurant!!!

Back to the story....
We finished up at the grocery store; I grabbed the kikomon teriyaki and we jetted home...

I began cooking my meat (stir fry steak strips) in a pan on the stove while his meat sat in the teriyaki marinade on the counter,,,
then i plugged in the George Foreman... "PLOP!" His steaks went on the grill..

needless to say- My steak striplets ended up covered in a thick sauce and were over seasoned in teriyaki glaze.. lol.. His.. had NO flavor!!..
PANIC MODE- I threw mine in with some veggies to see if i could save them! Luckily it worked..
Then i tried adding more sauce to his... NO luck,,, salt,, pepper.. season salt.. ah,, finally, it seemed a little more normal.. BUT then they started looking really dry,,,
I felt like Lucile Ball.. I poured a little water on the steaks in effort to keep them from too much teriyaki OR becoming hard steak nuggets!
all i have to say.. THANK GOD FOR A1 lol.. Mike seemed to like the steaks,,,

Yet AGAIN, another failed attempt to cook (with love) for my hubby :)

I don't know what it is.. I can bake like crazy.. but when it comes to cooking,, I feel like a complete failure... it's depressing,,
I love Mike SO much and all I want to do is take good care of him and keep him WELL fed (with food he enjoys!)
I hate thinking that he might not REALLY like what I make,,, or that I have to become one of those fast food wives who just "settles" with TV dinners every night..
*sigh*
I guess I have years and years to perfect this.. and maybe some local cooking classes or something will help :) I'll be optimistic every day until I can make Mike the happiest man alive...
alright,, time for a break!
maybe i can get some pictures of my left over teriyaki turds.. hahaha

Mrs. E

Ah... another day. I am truly blessed every day by God..

He shows me in all of the smallest ways... but He lets me know He's here with me.

Anyways! It's Friday! I'm just sitting at my desk.. waiting.. watching the clock for the time to say 6PM... then I can escape from this place! yay!

Mike has to work a 24 hr shift tonight since he is a strong Army hero. .. ok, maybe that's a bit over board, but I think the world of him :) And he IS my hero!

Speaking of which! I haven't really gotten into any of my daily dramas yet have I?! Well I will for sure get into all of that probably in my next post...

Why work sucks.... dad getting hit by an IED.... teriyaki disasters.. !

I also need to get a camera up and running so I can get some new pictures! Mike's car will be finished soon, my living room is almost painted.. and PLUS I have been baking new things left and right and I haven't got ANY pictures to show off my masterpieces!!! lol..

ok..ok.. time to get back to work..

but it's always slow... so I'll write more in about 30 min.

Mrs. E

Ok.. so work is OBVIOUSLY slow

It's still only about 4pm.

That means I still have almost 2 hrs before I'm out of here.

I'm SOOOO bored. All I want to do is go home... put some comfy clothes on... pop in a movie.. and cuddle with my hubby. This week has sucked so bad because of my schedule... I feel like I haven't seen MY Mike for a month!

At least I have my weekend off!!!! YES.. "Niiiiice"(Borat voice) "High five"

Ok So maybe we enjoy that movie a little TOOO much in my house :)

But can you blame me? I love watching Mike giggle to himself over the simple humor... It's so cute. (You will notice that I adore my husband, sorry if all the mushy talk gets nauseating lol)

*sigh*... 1 1/2 hours!!!

This will probably be pretty long, forgive me,, but I AM a blabber @ heart! (I think I get this from my mother.... She's from New Jersey... Imagine a morning when my mother, aunt, and grandma are parked around the table... :an episode of The Nanny, but with FIVE Fran Dreschers: It's madness) Notice how my little side note turned into a paragraph? I warned you!

Onto other things!

My obsession with new hobbies! I swear I pick up a new one every week... I guess it's my love for learning new things.. Can you blame me?.. There are so many neat things out there I wanna try... My newest addition being Blogging.. (which I am SO excited about!)

I've also recently picked up baking.. AND found that I have a talent at it! SO I'll probably post recipes... ideas and pictures of my mad lab experiments! :::mad scientist laugh::::

Alright.. time for a break.. my butt is falling asleep.

-Mrs. E.

*Newly Wed*

So a new chapter of my life began on February 8th of this year....(double O 7)

I recently married the love of my life :0)

and since then have been trying to get the hang of things. So far, SO good! Especially considering the fact that I don't think we really knew each other as much as we thought we did.

I was never into the whole domestic thing... and I never sat around like most 6 year olds wishing to be someone's wife one day... picking out dresses... playing "here comes the bride with barbies....I honestly never thought I'd be married this young.. if at all..

I was all about being independent and doing what I wanted to do...

It's different thinking about someone else for a change. I actually LOVE it though!

I look forward to looking out for him and taking care of him. CRAZINESS HUH?!

It's definitely growing on me though.. I like the idea of belonging to someone... not feeling alone,,, and having your best friend to come home to!

Wow.. to wake up every morning to that handsome face! :0) Worth a million bucks!

But I guess I would have never thought it could get this good.

Well, I'll be married a LOOOOOONG time... so I'm sure I can write more about this later lol..

ciao4 now!

Mrs. E

My First Post!!!!

Yay to new hobbies!
I guess we'll see how long I keep this one up....
Kinda like an online scrapbook to document my daily life!!
(AND something to do at work when it's REALLY slow!) Can't wait to jump in and get started! Welcome to my page!


Here's to Blogging! ::::clink:::

Steena