One Year

Brady Jay and I celebrated our one year anniversary this past weekend. What an amazing year.

We headed up near Deer Valley for the weekend.

Look at that view.

This is the actual day.

Oh, and this one. My sisters and a couple of their friends, my mom and I went to "Eclipse" the day it opened. Yes we did. And I liked it.

(Guess I should read the books now)

Food Friday #12

Baked Spaghetti

1/2 package spaghetti noodles

2 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce

1/2 lb ground beef

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Brown ground beef, drain fat. Add spaghetti sauce to beef and warm. Cook spaghetti to desired tenderness, drain. Add sauce/meat mixture to cooked spaghetti. Layer 1/3 of the spaghetti/sauce mixture on the bottom of an oven safe dish. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of mozzarella cheese and about 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese over spaghetti. Repeat layering two more times ending up with cheese as the top layer. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese melted and warmed through.

Welcome Summer. . .

We headed to St. George for a needed break over memorial day weekend. . .

This was so gorgeous. We hiked up to Hidden Pinion in Snow Canyon.

And learned a lot about the plants from the brochure. I want a Banana Yucca.

RB, LB and B&B

Perfect weather. Why does my face look orange?

Look at those golfers! Can you tell a difference in our swings?

This is how many pairs of shoes Cody and Brooke brought, seriously.

Earlier this year we ran a 5K - a big deal for me (I'm not what you would call an avid runner).

I planted a couple things. . .the flowers are doing well, different story for the basil!

Food Friday #11

Strawberry Spinach Salad

1 lb baby spinach, washed

1 lb fresh strawberries, sliced

1 6oz package fresh raspberries

1 cup candied almonds

Raspberry Vinaigrette (I like the Raspberry Lime one)

Food Friday #10

Does this one even count as a recipe because it is so darn easy? I dunno, but we sure love it so here you go.

Shredded BBQ Chicken

12 chicken tenders or 5-6 chicken breasts
1 bottle BBQ sauce (I use Kraft Original (small bottle), but choose what you like)
1/2 cup water

Place chicken in your crock-pot and cover with BBQ sauce and water. Make sure you have enough liquid to cover the chicken - add more water if needed. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you start with frozen chicken you can cook it up to 10 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Add remaining juice to chicken in your serving dish. Brady likes a little Cholulah in it as well to give it a kick. This chicken is great on it's own with sides for a meal or great on rolls or whatever you can think up! Yields lots of leftovers & saves well for a few days. And that's all folks.

Easter

Food Friday #9

No picture this week, I forgot to take one when I made these last week. You need to begin to prepare these the night before you plan on serving them.

Sticky Buns

25 frozen rolls (I use Rhodes rolls - may use fewer rolls depending on the size of your bundt pan)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 small package butterscotch pudding (not instant)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup pecans or walnuts (optional)

Night before: Grease your bundt pan. If using nuts, pour them in bottom of your pan. Layer frozen rolls in pan - there will end up being about two layers. Mix brown sugar and pudding powder mix together. Sprinkle dry mixture over rolls evenly, then pour melted butter over top of that. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, take pan out of refrigerator and let sit for 2 hours at room temperature before cooking. Rolls will rise. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until golden brown on top. (Cooking times vary depending on oven, so keep an eye on them).
Let stand on counter for 5 minutes. Flip them onto a serving plate by placing the plate over the top of the bundt pan and in one motion turning the whole pan & plate over.

Food Friday #8

Shepherd's Pie

Beef:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1/2 white or yellow onion, chopped

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Mashed Potatoes:

3 medium potatoes

3 tbsp butter

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 cup sour cream

milk or cream (amount may vary)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 1/4 cups peas (or combo of your favorite veggies to equal this amount)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put water on to boil, wash potatoes and cut into large chunks (I leave the skins on mine). Once you begin boiling potatoes start preparing the meat. Saute onion in a small amount of extra virgin olive oil. Add meat and cook through. Season with salt and pepper.

Make mashed potatoes once potatoes are tender. Add all ingredients called for above and mix to desired consistency adding milk/cream as needed.

If using frozen veggies, put in a bowl of hot water so they thaw before putting in the pie.

Fill the bottom of a 8x8 or 9x9 pan with beef. Layer veggies on top of beef and then cover evenly with mashed potatoes. Bake covered for 15 minutes and then layer the cheese evenly over top. Bake uncovered for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.