designs by Kristin Ann

Oh hey blog, how've you been?

2011-12-31T16:54:00.000-08:00

So I've been away for awhile if it hasn't been obvious and this is why...

{baby etta at 3 months}

My little one hit 4 months on christmas and we just love her so darn much!! Isn't she cute?! We love life, even though it's a little too busy to include a blog. I have made a few new years resolutions and one of them is to spend more time in the kitchen and less time at fast food; so you should see a few more recipes up here! More updates will come shortly.. for now, happy new years!!!

Makin Banana Pancakes :)

2011-05-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

I love pancakes, it's a bit of a weakness actually. Generally in the morning though, I have a little more willpower than the rest of the day so I eat somewhat healthy, and if I have time to make breakfast, I try and stay away from gluten (since my poor tummy doesn't do well with it). So, long story short, I found red mill's gluten free mix, tried it, and loved it! So here you go..

Gluten free Banana Pancakes

How I make these wonderful things...
Follow the instructions for the pancakes on the package. Have ready (for one batch, which serves about 4, so 8 large pancakes)

2 bananas sliced in 1/4 inch ish rounds,
brown sugar, and
chopped pecans or walnuts if you are the nut type :) and also,
you can add ground flax meal to the top (not necessary, but we didn't have nuts, and I love flax)

On a skillet, griddle, pan, whatever you use to do pancakes normally, over medium heat, butter your pan and pour on 4 good size pancakes. Let cook for about a minute and then work quickly. Place between 5-7 banana slices on the top of each pancake and push in just slightly. I usually put one in the middle and do a circle around that, just for aesthetics. Sprinkle brown sugar with your fingers or spoon on top of the pancakes. Sprinkle, nuts, and or flax as well. Once you feel the bottom portion of the pancake is done.. flip! You will want to make sure your pan isn't too hot, burnt pancakes are just the worst. The sugar side can burn easily if it's too hot. Cook for a minute or two until you feel the pancake portion is done, not doughy, and that's it! If you can make pancakes, you can make banana pancakes. But if you tend to suck at pancakes, I don't really know what to tell you :) Good luck!
Also, you can use any pancake mix or recipe. I have a from scratch recipe I used to use before the gluten issues came up, and I can't find it, so I couldn't put it in the post.. but I'll find it one of these days.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar, drizzle with syrup, top with butter, go nuts! Add more fruit, whipped cream, however you love your pancakes.

Happy weekend breakfast everyone!

Here's the mix, in case you want to look into it. Red mill is an amazing brand for gluten free and just healthy products in general by the way. Most health food stores carry their line of products (stores like safeway only have a few things). We use red mill's pancake mix, quinoa, quinoa flour, oat flour, flax meal, etc. Locally, I know raley's has a large selection of their products, actually all of them.
Again, happy weekend!
with love,
kristin ann :)

hello old friend

2011-04-06T23:31:00.000-07:00

yes, I'm an awful blogger. what do you want me say? I'm sorry :)

Life has been a little busy. I have just about enough time to throw up an update on facebook here and there and just hope that fam and friends see me there, but... I know not all my fam and friends do the facebook thing. Also, I feel terrible that I don't take pretty pictures of my food to share anymore. I know I've gained most of my followers through my recipes, but I'm making a promise, one day soon, things will change. Morning sickness is no longer a problem. School, still stressful, but I just need to get into my schedule and things will settle down.

News...

It's a girl!! We've known for about a month now, and I'm just now getting around to posting. I put up our adorable little ultrasounds on facebook and thought I would do the same here. Normally I'm not a very personal person on this here blog, at least the day to day.. I like to share the big news and the happy stuff.. but babies are the only things on my mind these days! If it's not babies, it's school, so that my babies can have a mom with an education and hopefully some awesome nursing skills later on in life (also a nurses salary wouldn't hurt). And then when I'm not trying to organize all our baby clothes we're trying to figure out where to live, which is just another stress ball we're trying to climb over. But, all is good :)

Here's a few of the pictures of our sweet little pea.
(from our 16 week ultrasound.. I'm at 21 weeks now!!)

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend !

with love,

kristin ann :)

Happy Valentine's Day =)

2011-02-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

{not my belly but isn't it soooo cute! I found it Valentine's day appropriate}

{there's our little peanut!! we think "he" looks like charlie brown ;)}

Sorry I've been away from the blog everybody!! But I'm back!!
Yes it is true.. I'm expecting! We're so excited for this little bundle of joy you have no idea. The morning/all day sickness is starting to fade, so I just might be stepping into the kitchen again soon to make some things a little more challenging than toast :) Also, now that I don't have this little secret always on my mind, I don't feel like I'm telling a fib when I give updates.

2011 updates for the Martin and Kristin Murray family:

We are both in the middle of winter quarter at Cal State East Bay and having a heck of a time getting all our homework done! If only we didn't like to spend so much time together ;)
We are currently 14 weeks along (woooowhoooo!) and anxiously awaiting this little one that will be arriving somewhere around August 14th.

I am doing a lot better this week, even though I still carry around saltines with me at all times.
Next quarter I will finish up my prereqs for nursing and I will be school free for the first year of our little one's life (I apply in the fall, if I get accepted I will be going the following fall... which is when Martin should just be graduating! We're planners over here in the Murray house)
We will most likely find out the sex of the babe.. not positive yet.
And we are having a fabulous year! We hit 1 year of being married in January and it's been a wonderful wonderful married life. I couldn't ask for more in a husband and from what I hear, he's pretty happy too :)

Thanks for hanging in there with me everybody.. this is gonna be a fun year!

with love,

Kristin Ann :)

{p.s. I am so madly in love with my husband Martin Murray. I could not be happier with where I am in life and where we are in our relationship!}

i am baker

2011-01-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

So I know that I haven't been baking much, it's sad for me too. But, I still have some yummy things to share with you. This is a blog I found through foodgawker I believe, and I just love it! The site is called "i am baker" and it's fabulous. She makes the most amazing sugar cookie designs ever, and of course, amazing cakes as well! Check her out, book mark her, visit on holidays.. all that. Enjoy :)

Too cute, huh?? Well I hope everyone has a wonderful thursday! There's a 3 day weekend coming up!!

with love,
kristin ann

CandyCane Cheesecake

2010-12-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

*the great thing about doing a cheesecake in a 9x13 or on a cookie sheet, is that it not only cooks faster and more even, but you don't have to do it 2 or 3 days ahead of time. My vote now goes to cheesecake bars, instead of your typical cheesecake.

chocolate shortbread cookie crust:

1 c. butter
1 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. powdered cocoa
3/4 c. flour

Cream butter, sugar, and cocoa in a mixer until completely combined, make sure to scrap the bottom of the bowl. Add flour, and mix until combined. In a buttered 9 by 13 pan (or bigger if you have it) press dough evenly on the bottom of the pan.
Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Because you cannot see a golden color, you just want to make sure that it looks as if it is cooked, and not a cough dough texture anymore.

Cheesecake filling:

24 ounces of cream cheese (3 boxes)
¾ c. sugar
3 eggs
1 T. vanilla
¼ t. salt
1 c. sour cream
a few drops of peppermint extract (to taste)
1/2 c. crushed peppermint candies (I like the ones that melt in your mouth, not the hard candycane ones)

Topping:
2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. sugar
crushed peppermint candies, and whole candies

Cream the sugar and cream cheese in a mixer or with beaters. Add one egg at a time, scraping the bottom of the bowl after every egg. When completely combined (it is very important that you have no lumps, so the first few steps are crucial) add vanilla salt and sour cream. Mix until smooth. Add peppermint extract and candies, if you want more flavor, add a few more drops. Pour filling into crust, smooth out top.

Bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes at 330 degrees. It can be tricky to know when the cheesecake is done. The top should lose it's wet luster and have a dull look to it and it should be set. Check at the 1 hour mark first, if it is starting to crack or brown, turn the temp down to 300. Add the 2 cups of sour cream mixed with the sugar to the top of the cheesecake. Be careful to only add small spoonfulls at a time as to not break to the top. Smooth out and bake for another 10 minutes. Make sure you place on a rack for an hour or so before placing in the fridge. You should keep the cheesecake refrigerated for at least 24 hours before serving.

Decorate with the crushed candies, and chocolate sauce.. you know, if you like chocolate :)

I hope the directions make sense. I took most of the instructions from my basic cheesecake, and then made the adjustments for the chocolate crust and candycane filling. Normally I put the candycane crumbs on before serving, but I put it on a few hours earlier, and so it somewhat dissolved, hence the pink/red layer over the top. It turned out kind of pretty.

just a little fun!

2010-12-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

I am almost done with the quarter! I just can't wait to not be bogged down by school work, and have time to cook and do fun things again. In the mean time, I thought I would share something. Glee isn't for everyone, but how can you not love the songs!! Usually I don't cry while watching t.v. or movies, but I teared up in this episode if you can believe. The ones getting married in the seen are parents of kids in the glee club, and they have both lost their spouses (so already emotional for me) and they've fallen in love and are getting married. Anywho, this song has been stuck in my head since last week, I just love it so much! And it's a recent song, which is the amazing thing, I thought for sure it was an newer rendition of an older song. Enjoy!

November :)

2010-11-26T23:49:00.000-08:00

Well the votes are in , and yes, I win the award for the worst blogger of the month award :) I thought for sure once things kind of got rolling with school that I would get in a groove and find time, but didn't. And not really that I didn't find time to get to my computer and read your blogs, but to cook, and then take pictures (which has to be done in the afternoon) and then write up the recipe, and all that. I also thought I would have my "little shop" open the day after thanksgiving as a it's almost christmas suprise, but, it's not quite there. But with the christmas shopping spirit in full force (being the day after thanksgiving and all) I thought I would share my wish list. And here it is...

What's funny about this wishlist, is that I can't really have any of these things. Sad I know. The boots (nicole winchester riding boots) are a style from last year, and even though I technically purchased the only pair available anywhere, they got lost in the mail. Don't feel too bad for me, I found a similar pair and decided to just deal with only getting my second favorite. The jacket (dalilah from abercrombie and fitch) is also an older item of theres and not available anywhere. But I love it so much and tried my hardest to find it. Found it, and then things went awry. We were charged but the order was cancelled, and still not resolved. I'm probably not going to get it. The bag (from Fossil) is gorgeous right? Well I've been wanting a new purse for about a year and a half, ever since I grew out my last fossil bag, and it started having some strap issues, but I just can't seem to find one that I like. And everytime I say to myself, ok, I think I really like that one I was looking at, I find out it is sold out. What do you think of the one above, I think I like that, not sure if it's sold out so I better make up my mind :) And the lovely straight and LONG blonde hair, well that's just a silly wish I threw in because, OBVIOUSLY I can't have that right now :) I'm still working on getting the hair past shoulder length, it's been stuck there for a few years now, and most likely it won't ever be as pretty as the gorgeous miss witherspoon's.

Moral of the story.. My wish list isn't really very important :) I'm not into christmas shopping. I think I tried to go christmas shopping nuts one year, and realized, it's just not that important. I LOVE the holiday season, thanksgiving almost more so than christmas, and I think it's because its a relatively no stress holiday. Yes, I still by gifts for the loved ones, but it's not number one on the list during the season. So I just thought I'd show you a few pretty things, but remind you that the holidays should be about love, and family, and gratitude, and all those warm fuzzy things.

This is my first married holiday season, and we're both so lucky to have so much family close by, and so much love. What I'm looking forward to most is having a break from school, and getting to spend more time with my husband and family.

with love,
kristin ann :)

p.s. I can't wait to have some more time in the kitchen in a few weeks.. get excited :)

Baked Ziti.. and gluten free!

2010-11-07T01:56:00.000-07:00

Since I've really wanted to make a point to cook gluten free I thought I might as well check out some pasta alternatives. I wasn't expecting much because I have not enjoyed most other gluten replacements, up until now. In my cooking I have never liked making substitutes. If you can't eat something, just don't eat it: this has been my philosophy until now at least. And usually it's because the alternatives aren't necessarily good for you, they're just alternatives. I bought some gluten free cookies the other day, and I eat them all the time, but they're just not as good as the original. And when you read the ingredients, it has I think 5 flour substitutes, and if I were baking it's just not worth the hassle.

Back to my dinner. I wanted to at least try another form of pasta, because I love pasta, and it makes for an easy and cheap dinner usually. On a few food sites I check out I have seen quinoapasta, and I thought, I'll try it. So I went to our local health food store (fremont natural foods, I think) and I wasn't impressed. I was hoping to see isles of glorious healthy food, and it is really more of a health supplement store, but they had a few food items. I found a bag of brown rice pasta, and decided to try it out. I love brown rice, it's always been one of my favorites, and so healthy! Anyways.. here's what I made :)

{top and bottom photos are the pre baked shots}

A Gluten-Free Healthy Baked Ziti

package of penne pasta (1 lb/16 ounces)

I used Tinkyada brown rice pasta

1/2 an onion, chopped

1 lb ground turkey

1 T. fennel seed

1 tsp. dry thyme or sage

salt and ground pepper to taste

1 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms

3 cloves of garlic minced

1 jar of marinara (any flavor or brand) they're usually 26 ounces

16 ounce container of low fat ricotta cheese

1 bunch of fresh basil leaves chopped

2 cups grated low fat mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to package instructions; rinse with cold water, drain, and set aside. In a large pan, saute the onion with a little olive oil, add ground turkey. Keep on medium heat, and continue to separate the meat into smaller pieces. Add fennel, and seasonings to taste. Cook until all meat looks seared and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Place the meat on a plate and set aside. In the same pan, over medium heat, add garlic and mushrooms with a drizzle of olive oil. Cook until golden brown, and add the marinara. Over low heat, stir the ricotta cheese into the mixture. Turn off the heat, but make sure that the cheese is completely mixed in, with no chunks. Add the basil to the marinara sauce, as well as the cooked turkey, and mix.

In a large baking dish (or a 9x13 pan) drizzle some olive oil to grease the pan. Add about half of your cooked pasta to the pan. Spoon or pour about half of the sauce over the pasta. Lightly toss the pasta and sauce. Continue to add the pasta and sauce until the pan is just about full. (I usually have a cup or two of pasta left over, which I refrigerate and use as a quick meal in the next few days). Make sure to add all remaining sauce. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to the top of the mix. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until the edges all begin to bubble. Remove foil and top with grated cheese, and bake for another 10 minutes.

And enjoy!

Why I used some of the ingredients..

brown rice pasta - gluten-free, full of fiber and nutrients

ground turkey - much healthier than your Italian sausage, but tastes great

fennel - it gives you a similar taste to the Italian sausage

low fat ricotta - tastes and feels almost identical to the original, and less saturated fat

low fat mozzarella - tastes and feels almost identical to the original, and less saturated fat

Feel free to use your everyday pasta, Italian sausage, and any cheese you would like. I just wanted to give you a healthy alternative to a classic Italian dish!

(Jonna I absolutely love the dishes you gave me!!)

We've been feeling under the weather...

2010-10-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

Martin and I had a not so fun case of the flu this weekend :( Luckily it was only one horrible day. Anyways, this really kept us from a lot of halloweeny things. Which is really just too bad, because I have all these cute cookie cutters that I wanted to use, and last year I bought a bunch of clearance halloween sprinkles, and.. you know, it's ok though. We have another couple of amazing holidays coming up :) But, I did have something that I wanted to try, and didn't get to, but I posted it down below, and I linked my ideas from last year. I'll do better for thanksgiving (one of my favorite holidays of course). And we did make it to the ghost house and carve pumpkins before the sickness hit, which was good, because originally we planned to do that all today.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Lots of love

xoxo

A little Halloween Fun

2010-10-30T23:22:00.000-07:00

This idea has been my favorite new Halloween treat, at least the look of it. I bought everything for it, but didn't get to making it this week :( But if you're still having festivities tomorrow, it's a pretty easy treat!

Isn't it sooo cute! I found it here :)

You’ll need:

graham crackers
marshmallows
chocolate chips
yellow candy melts
candy corn

Directions:

Cut one marshmallow in half and place both pieces on a large graham cracker (2 stuck together).
Put a candy melt on top of the marshmallows.
Heat in the microwave for about 2-5 seconds, just enough to make the marshmallows puff up, but not get too hot.
Take out of microwave and add a chocolate chip on the yellow candy melt and the candy corn beak while the marshmallows and candy are still warm. Everything should stick together nicely.
Let cool and serve! You can make these the night before a party and everything is still very tasty.

Last year I went around and found a whole bunch of halloween treat ideas, mostly cupcakes, and posted them here. There's a great pumpkin cake/cupcake recipe, and lots of easy ideas. Also, here, you can find a treat bag idea from Martha.

I hope you all have a very happy halloween.

with love,

kristin ann :)

Maxie Boy :)

2010-10-30T23:21:00.000-07:00

just around 9 months.. oh how we love him so

precious right? he's like our adorable little bull dog.. just so cute :)

pumpkin time :)

2010-10-29T00:31:00.000-07:00

I don't actually love the holiday Halloween (I know, I'm just no fun). But I love everything that has to do with pumpkins! So the other night I agreed to go to our local Haunted House, only if afterwards, we could go get pumpkins to carve. The Haunted House, not my favorite (as Jen would say), but they had some fun games and delicious carmel apples, AND Martin won that silly little eye patch that he wore throughout the rest of our Halloween activities. I think he's cute :)

Oh, and I hope you notice all the bunny ear action going on. Yes, that's Jennifer, and it pains her to take a picture without giving bunny ears :)

For cute pumpkin ideas, check out this post from last year. I have a bad habit of collecting pictures from all over; but luckily for you, I have all these great ideas in one spot.

This one is my fav..

I hope you're enjoying all the Halloweeny happenings this week.

I may have a few more ideas up tomorrow :)

Lemon glazed angel food cake for my mama

2010-10-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Hootie :)

that's what we call her (hehe)

For the angel food cake, I used a box mix and followed the instructions (and of course made sure to not over cook it).

For the glaze:

Juice from 2 lemons (about 6 T.)

6 T. melted butter

just a few drops of vanilla

1 c. powdered sugar

Mix the lemon juice butter and vanilla. Add powdered sugar, and mix thoroughly. I didn't thicken mine up as much as I should have, so depending on how you want it to look on the cake, and more or less powdered sugar. Pour the glaze along the top of the cake, it should drip down by it self. You can spoon more into areas that didn't get enough.

Garnish with candied lemon peel/zest.

I peel some of the lemon, sliced it thin, and put it in a saute pan with a little bit sugar. Once the sugar began to caramelize I took it off the heat and sprinkled more sugar over the top. I have no idea how you should really do it, maybe check out martha stewart's website :)

just a few fall dessert ideas...

2010-10-08T11:36:00.001-07:00

I love fall, I know I've already told you. Everyday as the weather gets colder, I get happier. A lot of the food blogs and websites I look at are just filling up with fall recipes and ideas; so I thought I would share a few with you. Unfortunately, I'm on a cleansing diet this week. I meant to do one before school and fall began but kind of ran out of time. For me, I think it is very important to just clean out my system once in a while. No, they're not fun, but I usually feel so much better afterwards (I have a lot of random little health quirks). Sooo, as I am not allowed desserts for the next few days, I find ones to drool over. From my two favorite blogs, I found absolutely delicious looking and sounding apple cakes perfect for fall. Give them a try; let me know how they turn out.

Here we have an "Easy Apple Cake" from Bakerella. She's absolutely wonderful if you haven't looked at her blog before. Cake pops were kind of her invention and they're huge now. She was on martha stewart, and people are using cake pops and brownie pops and cheesecake and cake balls and they're just such a great idea. I have yet to try any, but I will soon. This apple cake will be my next endeavor. And it's easy!

From the kitchen of honey and jam; a carmel cake with apple filling. Yum right? This one doesn't look quite as easy. Since there are three parts; the cake, the filling, and the frosting; it make take a little more time, but I still think it's worth trying. I might try this at thanksgiving. Honey and Jam is another one of my favorite blogs. The photography is stunning and her recipes are also just as dreamy.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. Mine will be full of homework and studying, but spent with my love, so still wonderful.

with love,

kristin ann

Lasagna

2010-10-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

6 lasagna noodles (make 7 just to be on the safe side)

1 lb Italian sausage

1/2 lb ground turkey

1 small onion (chopped)

1 jar of tomato sauce

1 T. crushed red pepper

1 bunch of fresh basil (chopped)

1 bunch of spinach leaves (washed and without stems)

1 (16 ounce) container of cottage cheese

1 egg

1 16 ounce package of mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions. In a large pan saute the sausage, turkey and onion. Cook the meat mixture thoroughly; I like to brown the meat quite a bit, but you just need to be sure it is cooked through. Add crushed red pepper and salt and pepper to taste. I like a lot of pepper, and if you like things spicy feel free to add more red pepper. With the heat off, add the tomato sauce (any kind will do, I don't usually like anything with garlic in my lasagna), I love Newman's anything; set aside. When the pasta is done, drain and set aside until ready to assemble. Mix the egg and cottage cheese together thoroughly. Grate both cheeses in the same bowl and mix, set aside.

Now to assemble. This is how I layer my lasagna from the bottom up...

tomato meat sauce (3 layers)

noodles (2 layers)

cottage cheese (2 layers)

mozzarella cheese mixture (3 layers)

basil (2 layers)

spinach (2 layers)

(repeat)

and to eliminate some of the pasta I do not do a final pasta layer,

I end with the tomato meat sauce

(I like to use big spinach leaves and lay them out flat, so it completely separates these layers)

Make sure to note how many layers of each you will need. You don't want to use all your cheese and then not have any for the top!

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes (until all the edges are bubbling). Top with the rest of the cheese, and bake 5 more minutes or until melted. Let cook for 10 before serving.

Happy Cooking!

with love,

kristin ann :)

I love me some eggs :)

2010-09-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's a fact, I love breakfast. And, I love to cook breakfast! It's by far the easiest meal to make, and therefore, the most satisfying. For me its even better than making a quick sandwich, because it's a hot meal, which I also love. So my thought for today is to encourage you to make breakfasts. If you get in the habit of it, and just have breakfast foods around, its a great thing. I know cold cereal is tempting, and trust me, I love cereal (I usually have cereal for dessert or a midnight snack) but you should consider your options in the morning, especially if you're feeding little ones. Eggs are a wonderful thing. They are full of protein, vitamin A (and several others), and although they have cholesterol, studies have shown that the dietary cholesterol in eggs does not effect your blood cholesterol the same that other saturated fats do. If you didn't know already, your brain is made of primarily fats, so foods like eggs, that have dietary cholesterol are considered brain foods. When your brain is developing, so in your very young years (especially before the age of 5) it is important to have certain fats in your diet. When I have been at my absolute healthiest eggs are usually a staple in my diet.

Ok, enough of that...

My breakfast for two (of course)

1 leftover sausage sliced at a diagonal (thank you mary)

4 eggs beaten

2 pieces of bread toasted

a slice of cheese diced (or shredded)

salt and pepper

green onions, chopped

Saute the sausage for just a minute, add the eggs, keep the heat on med/low. Make sure to keep the eggs moving around, I very much dislike overcooked or burnt scrambled eggs. Feel free to salt and pepper at any step. When the eggs are just about done, so they still have a little bit of moisture, add the cheese. Serve on top of toast, or to the side. Garnish with green onions or chives.

breakfast crazy

2010-09-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

The fact of the matter is, I lOVE breakfast. I really do, just outright love everything about breakfast. I love eggs, I love ALL breakfast meats, I love pancakes and waffles in every flavor (even though I should stay away from gluten, they're still worth it to me), I love muffins, and doughnuts (oh how I LOVE doughnuts!), I love orange juice, and grapefruits, and cereal (I had cereal for lunch today), and fruit, and smoothies, and everything else that you could possibly incorporate with breakfast. I used to not like french toast, but I found a restaurant a few years ago that made it so divine (Maglebee's in Utah) that now I know a way that I even like french toast.
Well here was my breakfast today. I actually made just about the same thing yesterday, but better, but no camera, and no Martin. So today, because I didn't have school, and my amazing husband did. I got out of bed a little bit before he did, and I whipped this up. A breakfast burrito. I used to not love the idea of putting all my favorite things in a flour tortillas and having it for breakfast with salsa, but I got over that right quick (again, while living in Utah, thanks to the 24 hour Beto's). All these memories of Utah make me miss my sister. When I lived there for that short year, we ate together ALL the time. It was our favorite thing to do. Anyways, love you Jana.
So, here's how it went down.

first, microwave a medium potato (after washing and piercing) for about 5 minutes, unless you have a leftover baked potato from the night before, which work the best!
Next, cook your meat. I used a few strips of bacon and deli turkey. Cook the bacon first until almost crispy and set aside.
Then, get the eggs ready. For 2 burritos, I would use 4 eggs; crack and scramble in a separate bowl. Feel free to add salt and pepper as you go along, set aside.
In the same pan you cooked the bacon, or sausage, or steak, or whatever, saute the potato (after dicing in 1/2 inch cubes, with skin still on). This only takes a few minutes, if they look dry, add a drizzle of olive oil.
Add the meat (diced turkey, and crumbled bacon) and some hot sauce. I prefer tapatio. Once all is hot and incorporated, set aside.
In the same pan, cook your scrambled eggs. When the eggs are almost done (so still slightly runny) add a handful of cheese (small cubes, slices, shredded, whatever works) and once the cheese starts to melt, add the potato meat mixture.
And you're done!
You can heat up or cook the tortillas ahead of time if you would like.
Serve with cilantro, avocado, hot sauce, tomato slices, whatever you see fit.

My first day of... school :/

2010-09-19T22:16:00.001-07:00

This whole school thing is a very up and down issue for me. I actually love school. I like taking classes in interesting subjects and learning new things, and feeling smart, and knowing that I'm furthering an education that in the long run will be a great thing.. yes, all that stuff I like, but I still have the jitters! I feel like I'm a teenager all over again, except, without braces, acne, frizzy hair, and being boyfriend-less. The start of school years were hard for me for every reason except "school." It's the social intricacies, and the waking up early, and the bad hair days, and now that I'm in college, it's the paper work, and transcripts, and prereqs, and parking tickets, and all of that. Ugh. But I'm doing a good thing, and once I get past the first week, I'll be great I'm sure (I hope). Also, good news, next quarter I will most likely get to go to school with my sweetheart, at Cal State East Bay. Soooo, it will only be one tough quarter. I have a lot of good things to look forward to. Wish me luck!

Oh, and these little numbers are first day of school gems :)

I'm not sure, but I think this was the first day of kindergarten. Awesome, right? I had potential when I was younger, but a tomboy mom and four older brothers kind of killed it, until I hit 16 or so.

There are no words to explain this one. I think this was jana's first day of kindergarten, therefore it was my first day of 3rd grade. Look at those legs!? If only the tan and the leanness could've stuck around for ever. And I'm sure Jana loves this one too. You can't see it, because of the back pack, but the shirt is definitely tucked in and the shorts are riding high :) And of course we both had weird partly wavy, partly curly, partly straight hair. Good times.

{sorry for the poor quality of pictures, they're old, and I was too lazy to scan then}

my breakfast.. a deliciously gourmet breakfast quesadilla

2010-09-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

It's about 1 in the afternoon and I haven't had breakfast yet; this isn't weird for us because we wake up at 11.. yes, isn't our life amazing :) I'm in the kitchen and thinking to myself, eggs sound really good. We have eggs, cheese, lots of tomatoes, and some flour tortillas I recently purchased for a taco night. I then thought, well these tortillas are too small for a burrito, I'll figure something out. Martin was just on his way home from playing tennis so I knew he would be hungry, and I just started whipping things up. I prefer fried eggs, or sunny side up to scrambled, so I made 2 fried eggs, sliced up a golden tomato from the garden, found half of an avocado in the fridge from yesterday, and realized I had cilantro left from taco night as well. Long story short.. this is what I made. And it was delicious, and took just as long as any normal breakfast would take.

breakfast quesadilla:

2 fried eggs

1 medium size tortilla

1 sliced tomato

half an avocado

2 slices of cheddar cheese

sliced ham (or turkey lunchmeat)

cilantro

tapatio

salt and pepper

Have a wonderful weekend everyone :)

oh how I love.. fall!

2010-09-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

{not my picture, I found it here}

I know that it's weird, but I don't LOVE Summer. But you know what I do love? Fall, and Winter! I love the weather, I love the clothes, I love the food, and the holidays, and the cozy nights in, not so much the school but I'm trying to love the idea of it. I went into Michael's yesterday, like I do often enough, especially on night's Martin works, and it just smelled like fall. They have their Halloween and autumn decorations and the smell of cinnamon and everything fall was everywhere and it made me smile.

School is going to make it a little tough to absolutely enjoy everything about the season, but I'll get over it. (Just this minute, I signed up for microbiology, yes, that's what I said, microbiology. What am I thinking right? I don't know. But I do know that I am going to give this nursing idea a major attempt, and this is my first push. So wish me luck.) Martin and I are excited and nervous (I'm more the nervous one) for this fall. There is so much going on and so many new things for us, good and exciting things, along with the hard and not so fun. We will be spending a lot of time a part, first time ever. We will have a lot of responsibility on our plate; with school costing money, it's not like something you just try and quit, at 1,700 a quarter, which I know isn't the worst, but you have to take it seriously. And for me, I am lucky I don't have to pay that much, but the possibility of not getting into nursing school because of a grade I get this quarter, I'm not taking my chances.

Ok, back to how much I LOVE Fall. The food during the fall is just soooo wonderful. I saw on a blog the other day, I don't remember where, but, homemade butternut squash ravioli. That made me want to drive to my favorite restaurant in San Francisco just so I could have some ravioli. And anything pumpkin, in my mind, is just to die for. One of my favorites, pumpkin cheesecake, my pumpkin cheesecake, so take a look. Soup! I almost forgot how much I love cold weather, so that I have an excuse to make large amounts of delicious soup! On my favorites list: lobster bisque, tomato bisque (really anything bisque), any chowder, especially clam, cream of anything, and butternut squash soup, oh and I could go on and on.

I hope you take some time to notice the changing weather and color around you. If you're in the bay area, where there isn't A LOT of color change, there is still enough to appreciate it. And if you're somewhere like Maine, where the color is just amazing, YOU better appreciate it! Start practicing some of your fall recipes now, then they'll be perfected when the weather is right. (I even started practicing Christmas songs on the piano recently :/ don't shoot me, I just love the season.)

with love,

kristin ann :)

my breakfast.. a protein berry smoothie

2010-09-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

This is an attempt to be healthy. I'm trying atleast :) Because my family is full of athletes and very weight conscious people I have developed a few habits that help me to be a little healthier. We eat at home a lot, which trust me, if you're trying to be healthier, is crucial, and we eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. The easiest and quickest meal I have, is a smoothie or shake. I like a milk base (it tastes so much better, and I believe in dairy, it's not for everyone though) to start out my smoothie. So in the blender I put about 3/4 cup of milk. Fruit is something I try to always keep on hand, but unfortunately most fruit doesn't last long. So, I freeze fruit that isn't used quickly, but usually only berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries) because they freeze well. To the milk I add 1 1/2 cups of frozen/fresh berries, and a scoop of a chocolate protein mix. Unfortunately I don't have the brand or any information because I stole a bag from my parents, who bought in bulk (shhh). Most grocery stores now carry protein mixes, or a store like GNC. Blend until completely smooth; you may have to add a little more milk (or water) to the mix.
If you don't like the milk/protein style shake, do the same thing but use a juice base (apple is my favorite) and don't add the protein. I made on like this the other day and it was fabulous. Just like Jamba Juice (our favorite) but it's practically free, and no garbage, so you're helping your pocket and the environment, and yourself because it's so healthy!

In the last few months I have been trying to eat more "raw" foods. A lot of my health issues can be easily cured just by making some adjustments in my diet, and this has been not that easy. But this is an easy way to get a 100 % raw meal (if you do just the bare fruit juice smoothie), and it feels substantial. Anyways, food for thought.

Enjoy your day!

with love,

kristin ann :)

yum.. from smitten kitchen

2010-09-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the honest truth? I haven't done any cooking in about a week; or anything interesting for that matter. I don't love the summer. I know this sounds weird, because everyone loves the sun and the summer and the summer activities, but I don't think I ever have LOVED it. Being hot is one of my least favorite things, and I try all the tricks to keep cool but even during the winter, I'll wear a t-shirt and shorts; I don't know what the deal is, but I'm always hot. I love fall, and winter, and spring; so my good mood in those three seasons makes up for the complaining mood of summer. Well, since it has been rather hot (I'm so spoiled I live in a city with the worlds most mild temperatures) I have kept my activities to a minimal. We (Martin and I) start school in about a week, so that's another reason why we have tried to keep our schedule open. So I have managed to stay out of the kitchen and the yard, but it's time to get back. Kind of sad, but we have to have a normal life now. The honeymoon is over. No more seeing each other for about 95 % of everyday and having most of the week to do as we please. It's time to get serious (with school at least) and unfortunately we're not at the same school this quarter. This fall is going to be a HUGE adjustment for me. Have I not given you the details to our current delightful schedule? Martin works 2 nights a week. On those nights, I bring him dinner on his break, and I get to stay in text contact with him most of the evening. And I could visit him if I wanted (which I used to do). He plays a show every Sunday night, which I go to most weeks (so we're not actually apart). And occasionally he has shows on Saturday somewhere in the Bay Area, and I almost always go with him (so again, we're not apart). I babysit for a living (a minimal living, but again we do not have to part). Up until last week we shared my car, so we run most errands and do just about everything together. Pretty awesome huh? And to think, we're giving that up for an education (wink wink). We've been dying to go to school actually. With budget cuts and registration cuts, we were not able to apply last fall or spring, and opted to not go summer, so we've been having the time of our lives. So wish us luck!

Enough of the personal stuff.. I wanted to tell you about all these yummy thoughts I have, and since I'm not posting about anything else, I've been sharing what I have found. Also, I've organized the blogs I look at into my favorites folder this week, and so I can actually keep up with some of them. This picture, of peach shortbread is from smitten kitchen, which I check out regularly, and I plan on making these.. like this week. Don't they look yummy?! And, my guess is they aren't that difficult to make, so I'm gonna give it a try. Anyways, I hope you have a had a wonderful weekend, and I hope you take a look at a few of the blogs I recommend. I don't cook often enough to have a stacked library of recipes, but, I can lead you in the direction of some people that do.

i've been thinking about...

2010-09-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

this.. or something like it. For the past while I've been trying to eat healthier, and I have been. I think I dropped a few lbs and I've been feeling better. BUT, I just have these cravings for sweets, and not just sweets, but like, buttery, gooey sweets, with a crust, the worst kind! Anyways. I saved this picture of a chocolate pecan (derby pie) pie, which I think I've made a similar one before, and this is kind of what I want right now. Doesn't it look delish :)

Well happy weekend everyone. We've got plans for yard work, a good bike ride, a big family birthday party, and hopefully some down time.

with love

kristin ann :)

p.s. the picture was found here and the recipe as well. i tend to go through blogs and save pictures of pretty things or things that I want to make, and I think that's why this yummy thing was saved in my pictures. it's a sweet little blog much like mine; recipes, fashion, photography, weddings, and on and on. she found my blog, and then I found hers. it's great how blogging works like that.

A Star Wars Cake for Jack :)

2010-09-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

Cakes are usually my gift at family birthdays. Especially when the lego set to decorate that cake costs so darn much! Anyways, I love to create cakes for the nieces and nephews of the fam. I obviously don't make cakes for myself on a regular basis, so it keeps me in practice. Also, when I'm doing a family birthday cake, I get to use my mama's kitchen, which is really the only way I can make a cake. She has a kitchen table that is larger than all of my counter space put together and a plethora of addition kitchen space, and an extra fridge that is usually fully able to store my creation for the day, with out being touched.

Well, here's the cake.. Yellow cake (from a box, and not overcooked) with my chocolate buttercream frosting, chocolate ganache, and chocolate sprinkles!

And of course, the birthday boy, licking the buttercream off the legos. Which by the way, made martin's day, getting to set up that whole lego scene. I felt like I was married to a 12 year old for about an hour and a half :) I think he'll like when he has a little one around so he doesn't have to pretend he doesn't love toys as much as he does :)

sauteed mushrooms

2010-09-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Use as a side to a chinese inspired dish, or serve as an appetizer with crostini. If you use button mushrooms you can serve with toothpicks.

Ingredients:

3 large portobellos
olive oil for cooking
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 small pepper (your choice, minced)
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. oyster sauce

In a large saute pan drizzle in some olive oil and add garlic. After about a minute on medium heat, throw in the mushrooms and minced pepper. It only takes a few minutes too cook mushrooms, you may need to add a little more olive oil, as mushrooms tend to soak it up. Add the soy and oyster sauce and cook for another few minutes. And done.
You can garnish with chives or green onions.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

2010-09-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to spend a little more time in the kitchen, so tonight, that's what I did. I kind of created this recipe a few years ago because I just LOVE lettuce wraps. We make Chinese type dishes at my house all the time, so I figured I could do it, and to be honest, it was pretty easy.

Use it as an appetizer or a meal, serve it with rice. Feel free to substitute any item, it will still turn out, I promise. We do a lot of stir fry dishes at our house, so we have things like oyster sauce, and sesame seed oil on hand, it's not necessary, just adds more character. You can find them at any grocery store.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts (thawed)

2 T. minced garlic (2 large cloves)

1 c. chopped carrots

1 c. chopped zucchini

1 can of sliced water chestnuts, chopped

olive oil for cooking

3 T. soy sauce

drizzle of sesame seed oil

about 2 T. oyster sauce

salt and pepper to taste

sriracha if you like it spicy

1 head of butter lettuce

Slice chicken into 1/4 inch strips and then chop into tiny pieces. In a medium saute pan, on a medium heat, saute garlic and chicken with a bit of olive oil. Cook for about 5 minutes, and add the carrots. Continue to stir on medium heat, after a few minutes and the carrots have gained some color, add the zucchini and water chestnuts. Cook for about 5 more minutes. Now add the soy sauce, sesame seed oil and oyster sauce. Continue to stir over heat for another minute or so. Add salt and pepper to test. Let cool for a few minutes; and spoon into individual lettuce leaves.

Spending some time in the kitchen: Tapas!

2010-09-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

When Martin and I were in Australia our friend, Katie, took us to a Tapas restaurant. Tapas is a form of Spanish cuisine, that focuses on appetizer type or finger food dishes, instead of a main course and sides. So the point is to order a whole bunch of these smaller dishes and you share with your table, so you end up with a lot of different flavors. Well I absolutely loved the idea and all the dishes that we ordered, and ever since, I have been meaning to come up with a few of my own "tapas" recipes. Instead of aiming my cooking in the Spanish directions, I figured I could do any style, but just keep it in smaller portions and easier to eat; so either with toothpicks or your fingers. I know Martin is pretty excited about this (since he just loves all appetizers) and I hope you will be too. If you have any ideas, or suggestions, feel free to send them my way!

with love

Kristin Ann :)

music calms my soul..

2010-08-28T23:14:00.000-07:00

Martin and I were shopping in Santa Cruz, heard a song being played in a store, asked the guy working there who it was, and he told us. Mumford and Sons. They're from London England, so they've got great accents, and they play "folk rock," which is kind of my new thing. Anyways, the song is called the cave. I have their cd in my car, and this one is my fav.

Also, The Swell Season, is one of our favorite bands, and I think you would love them. They won an oscar for a song they wrote and performed in the movie once, and it's amazing. I fell in love with that song and bought the piano sheet music and fall in love with it more and more everytime I play it. We went to their concert a few weeks ago, and they are inspiring. A guy and girl duo with a band. Guy is irish, girl is czech; so both have great accents, and they're wonderful. Here's a song they played at the show.

{I've been wanting to share the Swell Season with you for a while, I hope you enjoy. And of course I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.}

I know.. I've gone cupcake crazy

2010-08-24T21:20:00.001-07:00

But... I have one more to show you! During all the birthday mania this last week or so, I threw this one into the mix, because I know britney wanted chocolate frosting, and I know she loves junior mints :)

Also, I made up a simple chocolate buttercream recipe.

the easy choco buttercream:
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. cocoa powder
2 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
1-3 T. milk

Cream the butter and shortening in a mixer. Add the cocoa powder and mix until the lumps have completely smoothed out. Add the powdered sugar and mix completely. The mix will be dry, but continue to mix to ensure that the powdered sugar and butter mixture are combined (make sure to scrap down the edges). Add the vanilla and 1 Tablespoon of milk. Mix thoroughly. Continue adding milk a Tablespoon at a time until the desired texture is reached.
Keep refrigerated until about an hour before use. If it's too warm it won't hold a form, if it's too firm it makes it more difficult to pipe.
Use sprinkles and candy to decorate!

(I'm sorry if this recipe doesn't turn out perfect. I don't always keep track of what I'm putting in a mixing bowl! Just taste test along the way and you'll be fine.)

Reese's Peanut Butter cupcakes!

2010-08-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

strawberry cream cheese cupcakes

2010-08-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

I have had a busy week! With Jennifer's birthday which I made cupcakes and brownies for, cousins coming into town, a murray/gallagher family birthday party (including Martin's brother, father, aunt, and grandma who all have birthdays this week, if you can believe that) which I made cupcakes for, 2 Martin Murray shows, a giants game, a party for my friend Alissa who won the Singing Bee (a lyrics tv game show on CMT) which I brought cupcakes to.. and geez, I'm sure there was more.

Anyways.. these are the cupcakes I made for 2 of the parties and they were a huge success!! Super easy and super delicious, I hope you enjoy!

Cupcakes:

1 box of white cake mix

3/4 c. my mom's strawberry jam :)

(just kidding you can use any kind, hers is just the best though)

Frosting:

1 box of cream cheese

2 c. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

Sprinkles!

Follow the cake mix instructions for the cupcakes. I like to use the foil baking cups found at any grocery store (it's a double cup, the bottom layer a foil cup, the top layer, a plain white baking cup). It keeps the cupcakes from burning or overcooking on the outsides. If your oven usually burns, turn the heat down to 325, sometimes the box instructions says to do the same. Make sure you don't overcook them! They're only delicious if there moist, so if the box says 20-26, you're most likely going to take them out at 20. Use a toothpick, test the center, it should come out with batter on it, but a few crumbs is fine. Cool before frosting. I like to refrigerate them.

For the frosting, cream the cheese and sugar together in a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, or with beaters. Mix until there are no more powdered sugar lumps; make sure the edges are scraped down. Add the vanilla, and mix till completely combined. If it is too thick you can add a few drops of milk. I use a frosting bag and a decorating tip, but you can frost with just a spoon to make it easier. Surprisingly, decorating with a bag makes things go much quicker. It does take some practice but once you have the hang of it, it's like riding a bike, you just don't forget. For an even more strawberry cupcake you can add a few spoonfuls of strawberry jam to the frosting and pink/red food coloring, like I did with these pinkalicious strawberry cupcakes.

I used two kinds of sprinkles; the colored sugar crystals, and the mini white pearls. Rainbow sprinkles would also go great with this cupcake.

p.s. Mary, thank you for the adorable pink cake stands :)

Dreamy Lemon Bars

2010-08-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe that my family, friends
and I have used and loved for years;
hope you enjoy it!

Lemon Bars

Crust:
1 c. butter
½ c. powdered sugar
2 c. flour

Filling:
3 eggs
2 c. sugar
8 T. lemon juice
Zest from 1 lemon
4 T. flour
1 t. baking powder

Crust:

cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add flour
press into a 9x13 buttered pan
bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until slightly golden, not brown

Filling:

beat eggs, sugar, lemon juice, and zest completely; gradually add in flour and baking powder
pour over crust, bake at 350 for about 20 minutes; the edges should be golden not brown
let the bars sit for about 5 minutes, then sprinkle with powdered sugar, cut once cool

Kristin's Tips

The most important part of this recipe is cooking time, all ovens and pans are different, so it's really hard to tell someone how long to cook something; the best thing I can do is to tell you what to look for. Make sure when you're only cooking the crust that you don't let it get too dark (it will take away from the flavor if it cooks too long) and if its undercooked, they'll be harder to keep intact, and they'll be more gooey than anything. Same thing goes for when you're cooking the bars with the filling; you want a golden color around the edges, nothing too dark, or they'll be too stiff, and if undercooked, too gooey. Hope I've helped!

P.S. Yes you have seen this recipe before. I cheated a little by reposting it, but it's because I now have beautiful pictures and I had it posted to foodgawker. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!!

my early sketches...

2010-08-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

As stated in the last post, I have wished at several points to be some kind of stylist or creator of something fashionable. I think because I have a passion for art it makes it easier, because I like to sketch things up real quick. Well here's proof; proof that yes, I didn't make that up to make myself sound more interesting, and proof that I have had intentions of pursuing that goal. I don't think I have the creative chops to be a designer, but I would love to be able to sew my own clothes; I have always wanted to learn. I know how to sew on a button and fix a seam and even hem, but that's about it, and I don't know how to do those things well, I just make do. Does anyone know a good place to take classes? I have heard Joann’s has classes. But I don't know. I would like to learn. My lovely sister-in-law Heidi, and I bought material and patterns to make ourselves dresses last year, maybe even the year before that, but it just never happened. But Heidi, I promise, it's gonna happen :)

The first picture was a shot of my room, well the floor of my room. I have those sketchbooks all over the place. I buy one, have so much drive to do something with it, and 10 pages in it stops being used and gets put on a shelf, and then the cycle starts all over.

The little cartoon girls are cute, I know :) I was so proud.

About me.. well a little bit

2010-08-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

In order for me to show you some of the things that I have been up to, or thinking about I have to explain a little bit about myself; get a little personal. Now I'm not going to tell you my bra size or anything like that (Mom don't be mad, it was just a joke), so consider yourself privileged, I don't open up often.

Since I was a little girl I have had a number of things I've been interested in, enough to pursue. Unfortunately a lot of them stuck, so I still have all these things that I wish I could accomplish, but you can only do so much. As far as my memory can go back, this is what I have been interested in (from early on to current)..

(keep in mind that with all these goals/dreams in mind I still wanted to find prince charming and have a family of 6 at somepoint... yes my number has since gone down)

-becoming a dancer or a gymnast

I grew too tall for a gymnast, and was to shy to dance

-modelling

I was fortunate to get some good genes, this I know, but I'm not cindy crawford :) I subscribed to vogue magazine when I was 12 I think. I had a little obsession for pretty people.

-being a wedding coordinator

oddly enough this was one of the first things I wanted to do, I just loved weddings

-being a wedding cake designer

the whole wedding seemed like to much of a hassle so I started thinking about individual parts of weddings

-designing wedding dresses

notice the wedding trend..

-designing dresses/clothes

then I went through a bit of a fashion phase. having 4 older brothers left me with a girly/stylish void that needed to be filled around the teen years

-being an artist of some kind

I took an art class in high school and found out I was really good, it just came to me. My dad is a fabulous artist, so I guess that's where it comes from. I also took a photography class that I loved, so all areas of art interested me.

-being an art teacher

I realized I wasn't the best of the best, and that I didn't have a huge passion for creating art, but I loved it enough to teach it. This one stuck for a while, on and off it was the long term plan.

-becoming a pastry chef

I thought about going to cooking school for a short period of time. Even though I absolutely love cooking, I knew I would have plenty of opportunities to cook for a future family and current family, so I might not want it as a profession. I also really wanted to go to a 4 year and take a well rounded bunch of classes.

-going to school for nutrition

I had a lot of random health problems (still do) and so I have always enjoyed learning about health/nutrition; but I didn't really want to be a nutritionist.

-This one is a little harder to explain in a few words. Now I have always loved Martha Stewart, and Better Homes and Gardens, and anything like that. It has been a reoccurring dream of mine to work for or do something like that on my own. I love cooking and home and garden and all of that. It was a goal of mine to at least have a blog/website with recipes posted and I have gotten that far, we'll see if I can keep it up.

-The current plan/dream.. Nursing school

I have been going to college on and off for 7 years now and have finally got on track to finish. This plan has only been in action for a few months now, so on paper, I don't have much accomplished, but as for planning out and preparation I think I'm doing great. Just this past week I went to a seminar at Cal State East Bay for the nursing program and I am just so excited about starting this journey. I have a lot of friends and family friends to thank for turning me onto the idea, and I can't wait to pursue this. School starts in september!

Just because I am in the works to pursue the most recent goal doesn't mean I have dropped all the others. Well some of them have been completely dropped, like being a dancer :)

So sad, but true..

2010-08-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

{picture found at threemeninatub.blogspot.com}

My mom has left for the weekend.. and she took her camera (our shared camera). We finally got home from all our shenanigans of vacations and I have so been in the mood to do some cooking and work on some of my food styling, but I am cameraless. I love that I have a camera to use, by the way. My mom is great to let me borrow it as often as I do. It works in my favor that she really doesn't use it very often, so thank you mom. But since I will be waiting on some recipe posts that I would love to do, I have a few others that have been on my mind. So I apologize if you only come here for the food!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous friday :)

with love,

Kristin Ann

Lasagna!

2010-08-05T01:36:00.000-07:00

This delicious lasagna was given to us by Martin's grandmother. I know, I didn't make it, so I should be allowed to post it, but I just have to. It was delicious lasagna, and gluten free! Lately my issues with gluten have been getting worse and worse, and I crave it more and more. If I stayed at home and cooked for myself it would be that bad, but you just can't get away from it. Well, lasagna is a meal that both my husband and I absolutely love and our creative grandparents made a gluten free option for us. Oddly enough, it wasn't with the intention of being gluten free or for me, they just happened to have a whole bunch of left over zucchini (given to them by us because of our abundance of zucchini) and so it was used as a substitute for the pasta. Great idea! I have no recipe for you, but I will create one soon!

a few days over in monterey...

2010-07-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

s said before for Martin's birthday we went on a small kayaking excursion in Monterey at the Elkhorn Slough, and also over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a wonderful weekend. Here's a few pictures. Of course we brought no real camera, but camera phones can capture the memories as well.

Happy Birthday Husband

2010-07-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

Martin had a birthday this weekend! We have had such a great week and it is only going to get better. We spent a day in Santa Cruz at the beach and downtown with Jen for day one of his birthday celebration. Then we spent a day and a night in Monterey, which was one of the best days I think either of us have ever had. We drove up early in the morning and kayaked the Elkhorn Slough which starts at the mouth of the bay, but you kayak up and around marshlands were seals, otters, jellyfish, birds and lots of wildlife is all around. It was amazing, I'll say that. Then we went to the aquarium, which I haven't done since I was little, and spent the evening in the honeymoon suite at the Colton Inn (an adorable bed and breakfast). Today we leave for the Russian river and will not be back until next Sunday, we can't wait!
For the cake, which I forgot the night of the Santa Cruz day, I had a little surprise party planned for Martin at my parents house just so I could have the opportunity to make him a cake, which was a Reese's peanut butter cake! I haven't done too much with peanut butter so this was an experiment for me. I found a similar cake to the one I made so I visually based the cake on that, and then I looked around for a peanut butter buttercream, and decided to whip up my own. It was delicious! I recommend it!

Peanut Butter Buttercream
(this is for one basic cake mix)

3/4 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. butter (1 cube)
3 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 T. vanilla
1/2 c. cream

Cream the peanut butter and butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat until the powdered sugar is completely combined and there are no lumps. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time while mixing until all milk is in. Mix in vanilla. You can just add milk until the desired texture is reached if you prefer to not use cream, or if you don't have any on hand. But the cream gives it more rich and cohesive consistency. Mix for 1 to 2 minutes. Add sifted powdered sugar to thicken the frosting or add more milk to thin.

Chocolate Ganache

1 bag of semi sweet or milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups of cream

You can mix the two ingredients of a double boiler, until chocolate is completely combined and then for about 2 more minutes over the heat with a whisk, or use a microwave. In a glass bowl add both ingredients. Heat for about 1 minute, and whisk. Heat for another 30 seconds and mix. Keep heating and mixing until chocolate has melted completely. Make sure to whisk thoroughly at every break.
If the ganache is for a filling, which I did use for one layer, you will want to refrigerate it before use. If the ganache is to pour over the top, you will want it at about room temperature.

Green Beans

2010-07-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Our garden is doing amazing! We have been getting more green beans and zucchini than we even know what to do with and it's wonderful. It's like a dream come true for me to have it right in my back yard; we are so lucky to live somewhere that has the space, sun, and weather for a garden. The green beans have been my favorite. They're the easiest plant to keep maintained and they don't get very big (if you do bush beans) and they're delicious! We have really been trying to change our eating habits around here and having fresh produce at hand really helps. So at dinner, no matter what we're having (even if it's burger night) I put together a little vege number. Martin's favorite is anything with grilled onions, which my dad has in high supply over at his garden so I try to grab one every now and then, just the onion of course, they don't come pre grilled :) I love to saute my vegetables. It's easy and fast and it keeps the texture and snap of the green beans. My suggestion of the week; throw a few more vegetables into the eating regimen, your body will thank you for it.

The green bean photo shoot.. oh, and I have yellow green beans too :)

Summer Fun

2010-07-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

I thought I would give a brief run down on what we have been up to this summer; pretty much, just having fun. We are both in school in the fall and we are taking advantage of the great weather and all the family we have near by. One of our favorite pass times of the summer has been S'mores night (which we've had a few of). We bulked the campfire and s'mores night with the campout one of the nights, which was a lot of fun. The point of this, other than the fun, was to try out the brand new tent! Another night we had a campfire and then played hide and go seek in the dark out in the park, and when you're with 3 year olds, that is just a whole lot of fun. Martin, Jen, and I have made a few trips out to the beach and the boardwalk. And the pool is of course a favorite stop this summer.

Week after next we will be going on vacation with Martin's family to the Russian river. Martin's grandparents rent out two lovely and large houses right on the river and all the aunts uncles and cousins make it out for the week; where we kayak, canoe, swim, lounge, eat, lounge, eat some more, golf, miniature golf, rock jump, read, watch movies, and occasionally sing :) It is a week we look forward to all year round, we just love it.

This weekend, for Martin's birthday we will be kayaking in the monterey bay (lets hope the sharks all went south for the summer, yikes).

Just a few photos from this summer's fun..

the campout/S'mores night (one of them)

the new tent :) we love deals at R.E.I.

yes, we believe there were complications with Todd at birth

beautiful Heidi and Liz

Ry and Mels family were unfortunately only involved on the non picture night, but we love them just the same:)

yes Jennifer still cannot keep from doing bunny ears in every 1st shot

my favorite little man to lounge by the pool with

the awesome Boardwalk

some of us love rollercoasters :)

My suggestions to have fun with your family this summer...

Buy a fire pit, they sell them at walmart and target, and I think they are fabulous! It allows you to have a small contained fire in your own backyard. Make S'mores! Have a campout!

Go to your neighborhood pool! Make friends with a family that has a pool!

Go to the beach! If you have a beach. (California is just so wonderful, Santa Cruz is our favorite place).

BBQ more often. Everyone has one, so get outside and make some hot dogs and hamburgers.

Have movie nights! Make popcorn!

Go to the drive ins!

Have picnics, eat outside!

All in all, I just hope you're having such a great summer.

xoxo

Kristin Ann :)

Shortbread tarts

2010-07-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is the recipe...

Crust:

1 c. butter

1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 c. flour

Filling:

1 pkg. cream cheese

1 c. powdered sugar

Lots of fresh berries

For the crust, you are going to cream the butter and sugar, then add the flour. You can use one large tart pan or lots of little ones. I think I had about 10 smaller tart pans, that I greased and then pressed the crust into the bottom and edges, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. I put them all on a cookie sheet and baked at 375 for about 10 -15 minutes. I don't like my crust crunchy or brown so I under cook it just a bit, but you do want a little bit of color to show up before you take them out so they stay together. Let cool before you fill.

For the cream cheese filling, cream the cheese and powdered sugar, and keep at around room temperature. Fill the crusts the appropriate amount, so its about level with the tops of the crusts. I used 3 different sizes of tart pans so the amount varies. Wash, cut and dry you fresh fruit and place on top however you would like. Keep refrigerated before serving.

It was the fourth of July so I went with a flag theme for these ones. They're so delicious, I can't believe I've never attempted to make anything like this before! I hope you enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas with a Cilantro Green Chili Sauce

2010-07-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1 large onion minced (very fine)
2 packages of cream cheese (16 ounces)
1 lb. container of sour cream
3 cups grated cheese
1 can of olives
10 flour tortillas (medium, about 8 inches)
4 cups of chicken cooked and chopped
3 T. milk

Cilantro Green Chili Sauce:
2 cans of green chilies
1 bunch of cilantro
1 lime
½ c. olive oil

The chicken can be chicken breasts of chicken off the bone whichever you prefer. Sometimes I use leftover baked chicken or you can grill, boil, or bake chicken breasts.

In a large sauce pan heat up a little bit of olive oil, or butter, to sauté the minced onion; cook for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Take off heat and add cream cheese. Add sour cream and whisk until there are no more lumps, or close to none. Add salt and pepper to taste and remove about 1/3 of the mixture and set aside (it will be poured on top later). To the large amount of the cream mixture add the olives, chopped, the cut up chicken, and 1 ½ cups of the shredded cheese.

In a 9x13 pan start to assemble the enchiladas. I use a 1 cup measuring cup to spoon the chicken mixture into each tortilla (each tortillas will need about 1 cup of the mixture). Spread it lengthwise on the tortilla and roll up, place fold side down in the pan. If on your last 2 it looks as though you’ll have less or more than 1 cup of the filling for each just try to split it evenly among the two.

Add a few tablespoons of milk to the 1/3 of the cream mixture that you set aside. Pour that mixture over the top of the enchiladas and spread evenly. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes. The edges should all begin to bubble when it is done. When this happens, add the other 1 ½ cups of shredded cheese to the top of the enchiladas and bake another 5 minutes. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

While the enchiladas are baking puree the chilies, cilantro, olive oil, and juice from 1 lime, in a blender or food processor until completely smooth. This will be the sauce to go over the enchiladas, just a small amount. I usually save some cilantro to sprinkle on each serving as well.

P.S. This recipe is only about a quarter mine. My Mom has been making enchiladas similar to these for years. She uses cream of chicken soup usually, and it is a very common recipe, I just switched a few things around :)

my breakfast, arugula and feta omelette

2010-07-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been trying to think of recipes that incorporate the produce I've got growing right in my backyard. This morning I went out and picked a handful of arugula, cherry tomatoes, a pablono pepper, a zucchini the size of my arm (no joke) and a handful of green beans. Well this is what I decided to go with.

ingredients:

4 eggs

3 T. milk

salt and pepper

2 T. butter (or olive oil)

5 large arugula leaves

a handful of cherry tomatoes or diced tomatoes

crumbled feta (however much you would like)

Whisk the eggs, milk, dash of salt and pepper in a bowl till slightly fluffy. Place 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium saute pan on medium heat. Once butter has melted and you have covered the bottom of the pan add the egg mixture. Keep on heat for 3-5 minutes. If the bottom begins to brown too much, turn down heat. When the eggs are close to cooked I like to flip it over (if you can keep it in tact) so that it is cooked all the way through. After a minute take omelet of pan and place on serving place brown side down. Sprinkle feta on half of the omelet. In the same saute pan add the last tablespoon of butter and add tomatoes. Cook for about 2 minutes and add arugula. You can lightly salt and pepper the vegetables. After a minute (you don't want the arugula to completely loose shape) take off heat and add to the half of the omelet with the feta and fold the top half over. A 4 egg omelet is usually shared between martin and I; if you're making it for 1, use a smaller pan and cut back to 3 eggs. Enjoy!

The Bee-Day Cake :)

2010-07-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Lizzie had a honey bee themed birthday party!

The cake was a vanilla cake with apricot filling and my vanilla buttercream frosting with a touch of honey and coloring added to the mix.

For the cake I use a basic white cake mix and add a little bit of vanilla flavoring. Make sure not to over cook the cake!

For the frosting I used my vanilla buttercream frosting, added a few tablespoons of honey, and a little bit of food coloring to give it the pastel yellow that I was looking for.

As little party favors we bottled our homegrown honey. Cute Heidi had some great ideas :) And isn't Lizzie the cutest birthday girl ever!

Little Lizzie turns 3!

2010-07-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

Everyone's favorite 3 year old had a birthday this week, and was lucky enough to get to celebrate with her! I love my family and I love that we're all so close.
The adorable cake is a yellow cake with chocolate ganache frosting, delish. This Friday Liz is having a for reals birthday party that we're all excited for!

2 years ago today...

2010-06-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

2 years ago today the love of my life told me he loved me (for the first time) and I said it back. We have been inseparable ever since. I guess Central Park in New York City is as good a place as any to do something like that :)

To celebrate we're spending a few days in Santa Cruz at a lovely bed and breakfast,

oh how I am in love.

boysenberry pie

2010-06-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

These wonderful berries are out of my family's garden, which I just love.

For an 8-9 inch pie

Pie Crust Recipe:
2 c. flour
½ t. salt
¼ c. sugar
2/3 c. shortening
8-9 T. cold water

For detailed directions of my pie crust.

Boysenberry Filling:
4 c. berries
1 c. sugar
2 T. flour
3 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt

If you don’t have to wash the berries, don’t; they tend to hold a lot of water in them, but if you must, dry them well. In a separate mixing bowl, mix the sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Gently mix in the berries. Add the berry mixture to the empty pie crust, and spread evenly to the edges.
Cover pie with top rolled out crust. Roll the edges in to seal in the berries and design the edges however you prefer. The top should have some kind of an opening to allow air to be released, use any design you prefer for that as well, with a knife, just deep enough to cut the crust.
Bake at 375 for about 50 minutes. The edges of pies have a tendency to burn, so you may need to use a pie crust saver, or just foil will work fine. You can cover almost the entire top and edges with foil, just as long as you cut a hole in the center, to allow air to flow. The pie is done once the filling begins to bubble through the cut made in the crust.

the 300 cupcakes

2010-06-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is 300 cupcakes.

Brady and Raquel, love you :)

Congratulations

Our very first harvest!!!

2010-06-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

This past week I have noticed the green beans growing wonderfully in our garden, and today I decided we had enough for serving! This may not seem very exciting to you, but we have been working so hard to get our garden going. After weeks of just yard work and clean up came the weeks of digging and tilling and buying new dirt, and more digging and ughh, it's been rough. But then came the planning and planting and now the watering, and finally.. something for all of our efforts. Oh how I love gardening.

{My grandma beck used to always have me help her in the garden. I don't talk about my grandma much, because just thinking about her makes me tear up (like now). She was my best friend for a majority of my childhood and I miss her so much. I owe my love of gardening to her (and my dad, but obviously we know where my dad got it, so we both owe it to her).}

With this, I give you.. our dinner.

The next post :)

My kind of dinner...

2010-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

I love to cook, whether it be recipes from a cook book or magazine, ideas from a cooking show or just creating something off the top of my head. People that know this about me often ask what I eat myself at meal time, and usually my response is a far less exciting one than expected. If I'm cooking for a special occasion or a luncheon or dinner my mother has "hired" me for, I obviously go all out; for two reasons. Reason number one; if it's for my mom, she's paying, so I can buy things I wouldn't normally be able to afford for myself. Reason number two; if the meal is for company, I'm out to impress, so I'll spend a considerable amount of time in preparation, which I don't usually do for just me.
Because of the exciting first harvest in the garden, I was set on making dinner at home tonight. (With it being just the two of us, we get asked to dinner at our parents house often, and it's amazing, we rarely have to take care of own meals. Or we have leftovers, and again because it's just the two of us, that usually will do. Or we just go out, which Martin loves to do, because it's just so easy, and we usually share something.) So, I wanted to make dinner, but haven't been to the grocery store in a few weeks, and all I had to start was a small handful of vegetables from the garden. We had to make a trip to target, so I picked up some frozen chicken breasts, which I love to have on hand. And when I was over at my parents, I picked up a potato, extra squash (they had a bunch from their garden), a leftover chocolate chocolate panera cookie, and a little bit of icecream (shhhh, don't tell anyone).
I came home, threw two chicken breasts on the george forman grill, washed the potato, poked some holes in it, and threw that in the microwave (they only take about 5 minutes in the microwave, as opposed to an hour in the oven). In a saute pan I put in a few tablespoons of butter, the green beans, sliced up pattypan squash (weird name I know, I think my dad got it from a friend's garden, they're delicious) and with salt and pepper, sauteed them for about 5 minutes. Added the tomatoes (they only take a minute or two to cook) and served them to our plates. When the potato was cooked through I sliced it open, added salt, pepper and butter, and a few thin slices of cheddar cheese and popped it back in the microwave for a minute. I had little bit of leftover alfredo sauce (from a jar) that I had used a week or so before, and I added that to the pan that had previously had the vegetables (I didn't wash it out of course). Put the chicken breasts in with the sauce (they take around 15 minutes on the forman) and let them warm up to the sauce and then.. dinner was ready. Placed the chicken on the plates, spooned the sauce over them, then added a little bit of fresh basil and shredded parmesan cheese and oh my goodness. Wonderful.

{I know that this doesn't look like much, because of the horrible camera phone picture, and the lack of presentation, but it was amazing, and either way, not the point. The point is how easy it can be to whip up a meal! It really only took me about 20 minutes!}

This meal consisted of pretty much random things that you just might have in your own kitchen. And the point of sharing this mess of a recipe, is so you can see how easy it is to cook without a recipe, and just use what you have in your kitchen. Often times all I eat for dinner is a can of tuna over some mixed greens, or a grilled chicken breast with a side of steamed vegetables; tonight just happened to fall into place a little better than we could've planned. But it can be this easy. Instead of leftover alfredo sauce, I was considering using leftover pesto, which ended up being all gone, or you could make a quick gravy (if you know how to do that, either broth or milk based). Instead of vegetables from your adorable garden you could use frozen, or canned, or whatever you have in the fridge (broccoli is one of my favorites, because it's so healthy and so easy). Potatoes are so easy and so healthy too. I always opt for a potato instead of pasta (healthier and not processed). If you wanna go all out healthy, skip the carb and throw in a salad. If you want to make things a little more gourmet, grill up some salmon. On the forman a salmon steak or fillet would only take about 10 minutes, possibly less.

Weird little squash, but they have such a delicious flavor. I'm not sure if I've ever seen them in the store, but I'm definitely gonna try and find some seeds so I can plant them in my garden.

Happy cooking everyone! Please ask questions or for suggestions if you ever need any help. I'm working on getting my new house together so hopefully soon my kitchen will be more equipped to cook and I'll have new recipes all over the place!

with love,

Kristin Ann :)

My 2 favorite people..

2010-06-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

{This picture was taken at an A's game a few weeks ago. Jen had just mentioned that week how much she wanted to go to an A's game, and we were lucky enough to get last minute free tickets from Martin's boss, and so with out any hesitation we surprised her at school and took her out for the rest of the day and went to the A's game! At first I didn't think she was having much fun because it's hard to follow baseball games and I don't know how much she soaks in, but after singing "take me out to the ballgame" she exclaimed that it was "the best day ever." Martin has a way with making things more fun than they really should be, and he does his best work around Jen. We just love her.}

My husband and sister are my 2 favorite people in the whole wide world. And lucky for me, no one can argue or feel bad because they're not one of the top two, because there is just no argument here. My husband and my sister, the two people who I see most.
I have more confidence and love in my life than I have ever had before thanks to my sweetheart. I'm not the absolute easiest to work with day in and day out, this I know. Often times, I let myself become overly stressed and this can just turn me into a different person. The tone and sass that comes out of me is more than I would wish upon anyone and martin takes it in stride and somehow still has the desire to make me feel better. He never quits, and I adore him for that, among a million other reasons. Even though it doesn't seem fair, I feel as if he makes it his daily and weekly goal to keep me happy, and he does a very very good job. For what reason I deserve this, I have no idea, but I am thankful non the less. My heart swells with the thought of how good my husband is to me. I'm a lucky girl :)
Jennifer is the light in my life. I spend every day with her, literally every day. I pick her up from school and most of the time spend the rest of the day with her, with my husband as well (one more reason why I think he's amazing). Jen is my shopping/errand partner, kitchen helper, snuggle buddy, back scratcher, hair brusher, movie companion, and best friend. Unfortunately because I spend so much time in Jen's life I have filled a Mom-type role, and so that's often times how I am treated. And although it would be great to be loved the way she loves new members of the family (new sister-in-laws, or cousin-in-laws) I still know that she loves me, and in a way different from all the rest. She asks me to sleep over every night, which lately has been sad for me to turn down (since I got married), but it means a lot to me that she still wants me with her. Even though I make her straighten her room, and help do dishes, and brush her hair and teeth more than she would like to, and change her clothes when I don't think she matches, she still loves me. Growing up Jen always slept by me. I sleep like a rock and so her moving and kicking doesn't wake me up, and even when we were in different rooms and all the boys were gone so we all had our own space, Jen would still sleep in my room by me. We call her the heater because she keeps you so warm at night, and during the winter at our house, that is a wonderful thing. I miss sleeping by her, but I love that I see her every day. I love that Martin is now best friends with Jennifer and would do just about anything for her. Hopefully one day she'll get to live with us when we have our own house, and we won't ever have to go too many days with out having her in our life.

{This late night ramble is due to the fact that my husband is at work, and I miss him dearly, Jen fell asleep early while I was over, so I went to my own home earlier than normal, and my poor head is just having major issues tonight; the tmj/neck/face/head problems are on and off, but tonight, very very on, it's horrible, and I can't sleep. My late night ramblings don't have much purpose, except maybe to make more aware the special things in our life. I try very hard not to forget, even after a long frustrating or uneventful day, I try to let my husband and sister know how much I love them}

Fudgies!

2010-06-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

my only no bake cookie recipe... and they are literally Martin's favorite thing in the whole world right now... thanks for the recipe mom :)

1/2 c. butter
1/3 c. milk
3 T. cocoa
2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
3 c. oatmeal

In a medium sauce pan, combine butter, milk, cocoa, and sugar. With a wooden spoon, continue to mix over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. For 5 minutes you will continue to stir will boiling. Take the pan off the heat, add vanilla and mix in, then add oatmeal. Mix till combined. On and ungreased cookie sheet, test one cookie, by using a spoon and dropping a spoonful of the mixture onto the pan. The cookie should keep its form and the chocolate and oatmeal should stay together. If the chocolate oozes down and spreads, you will need to keep the mixture on boil for another minute or so.
I make rather large cookies so I only have about a dozen, if you make them a small spoonful, you should have 2 dozen.

Pretty ideas

2010-06-03T00:18:00.000-07:00

I just had to show you some of these pictures I've collected. I love fruit trees, especially citrus, and have always been excited of the thought that I may actually have my own. At our house we have a lovely yard, after lots of work, and with plenty of room for lots of things, but if you don't have the yard, here are some ideas. Aren't they just so cute!? Well I just had to show you that even with limited space and lack of yard you can still have fruit trees (I picked mine up at orchard supply for about 24 dollars.. I have spent more than 24 dollars on much more frivolous of things).

Our Garden..

2010-05-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

We have been working oh so hard in our yard to get it all cleared out and free of weeds for two main reasons; so that it doesn't scare our company away, and so we could grow a garden!

I wish I had some before pictures because the transformation that has been made is just amazing. Our roommates worked for a few weekends in a row clearing out the major weeds and unwanted bushes and waist high grass; thankfully they took the initiative because that was something I was not looking forward to. Since then the group of us have gone in and really cleared out the yard. We completely got rid of all plant life (i.e. grass, weeds) on one large strip of the yard and that is where we decided to plant our garden. We plotted out how much room we would need and from there went to work.

Because we were gone for the whole month of April (a crucial month in the growing season) we bought a majority of our plants a month or so old, as opposed to starting everything from seed which we have done in previous years. In the back we started with a few varieties of corn, then tomatoes (including a few heirloom varieties and your basic reds), peppers, green beans, zucchini, and yellow squash. Depending on the space needed for the plant, we only planted on every other row. The empty row will be used in the next month or so by the same varieties but ones we have just started to grow from seed. This will lengthen your production months by planting in stages. For example, the 4 tomato plants we have planted are close to 2 months old. Just a few weeks ago I planted a few varieties from seed and those will be ready to plant in a few weeks. The first plants will start producing soon but will stop in September or so. The second set of tomatoes will start producing in about 2 months but will produce until possibly November. Make sense??

With some birthday money I got from my favorite mother-in-law :) I bought those two citrus trees; a dwarf lime and lemon. We plan to plant them in larger pots, and hope that they do well in pot life for another year or so. I've always wanted citrus trees. With wedding gift money and gift cards we've been able to get a lot of other things we've always wanted, like strawberries, which I just planted today, no pictures yet. And that weird cactus looking plant is artichoke! Which I am very excited about. I hope you all decide to plant something :) Go to your local hardware store or even target or walmart and just see what they have. Maybe pick one plant, like tomato and see where it takes you.

I'm inspired..

2010-05-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that with my love of cooking, and blogs, AND Julia Child that I just now watched the movie Julie and Julia!? Well I just can't believe it, because it was amazing, and heartfelt, and wonderful in just so many ways. In my defense I don't watch a lot of tv, so I had not actually seen a preview of the movie and had close to now idea what it was about. Usually, I do not enjoy movies with a lot of "fluff" and I felt like that's what I would be watching, but I was so wrong. It was a real story of how Julia Child came to be THE Julia Child. I thought it was beautiful and awe inspiring.

Lucky for me, Jennifer picked the movie and I didn't feel as if there were any better choices at the good old red box.

Thank you red box, thank you Julie Powell, and thank you Julia Child

Strawberry Pie

2010-05-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

Crust:

1 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1/8 c. sugar
1/3 c. shortening
5-6 T. cold water

Mix flour salt and sugar. Add shortening and with a fork mix in the shortening. With the fork you lift from bottom to top, you don't press down to break up the shortening. It will take a little bit of time, and the pieces of shortening should all be pea size or smaller.
Take a few fork fulls of dough crumbles and set aside. Add the water to the flour mixture. If you're adding sugar to the recipe, you may need the extra tablespoon of water. The dough should come together as a ball in your grip, add a few more drops of water if necessary.
On a floured surface roll out dough with a rolling pin. Just roll it out to the edge of your surface or about 1/4 inch thick. It doesn't matter the shape or look of the dough at this point. Sprinkle the dry dough mixture, that had been set aside, on the top of the dough, to the edges. Roll dough up, like a fruit roll up, and close off the edges so the crumbs don't fall out. Cut into fourths, stack on top of each other, and smash down, so you have one large mass of dough.
Again on a floured surface roll out dough. This time you're going to eventually need a close to perfect circle, so when rolling out, try to keep your shape. After you've rolled dough out an few inches wider than pie pan. Place pan in the middle of dough and cut a circle out, use the extra pieces of dough to fill in places that didn't quite keep shape. Using rolling pin, roll dough over and then onto the top of the pie pan. Lift dough into pan, making sure that it's up against the walls and edges. Using your fingers roll the edges of the crust down and in so that it sits just along the edge of the pan. Once you've circled the whole crust, go back around, using your thumb and index finger to shape the crust. You can make the wave as tight or loose, as big or small as you would like.
For more detailed pictures go here.
Your crust is done!
Poke a few holes in the crust with a fork and bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees. You should fill your crust with pie weights or an alternative (I use foil, by molding it to the inside of the crust), this is to keep the walls of the crust from caving in.

2 containers of large strawberries (4-6 cups)
1 container of strawberry glaze
vanilla ice cream or whip cream

Cut the tops off the berries and mix with the glaze, fill the crust and keep refrigerated until served.

My new fav

2010-05-21T03:01:00.001-07:00

This adorable little sweater!!

The love of my life took me on a little shopping spree for my birthday (I don't normally do a lot of shopping on my own, because I'm trying to cut back on spending) and it was such a treat!!! Normally I'm a bit of a bargain hunter, but we went to my favorite outdoor shopping center in Palo Alto, and he talked me into buying a few items I normally would not. Like this adorable sweater from Banana Republic.

Thanks for a great day sweetheart :)

Tomorrow is my day :)

2010-05-18T19:26:00.001-07:00

My honey and I have been trying to plan out our week and it has just not gone to plan. We originally planned to go camping Monday through Wednesday and then a trip to Utah for a wedding Friday through the following Wednesday, but due to family issues (on both sides) we had to drop both of those plans! Our back up plan didn't work out either, but we came up with a plan! A spa day for me and my honey in the afternoon, then a little shopping, hopefully a new addition to my camera (all thanks to the love of my life), and then dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Papillion, with just a few of my favorites (Martin of course, my parents and Jen).

Martin I love you so much. I never thought I would be looking forward to my 25th birthday, but I am. My last two birthdays have been the best so far, and all thanks to you. Here's to my first birthday as a married woman :)

Berry Wonderful Cheesecake

2010-05-12T20:58:00.001-07:00

Yes I am home from vacation and found myself back in the kitchen, one of my favorite places to be. For mother's day, my nephew Jack and I collaborated on the most important part of the day, dessert. We decided to go with my favorite, cheesecake. And to make it mother's day marvel, I went with a berry swirl topped with even more berry goodness. Cheesecake, although feared by most, is a very easy and simple dessert to make. Prep time for me, ends up being under 30 minutes, which is pretty amazing for such a decadent dessert.

Kristin's Berry Swirl Cheesecake

For a 10 inch spring form pan

Shortbread cookie crust:

1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 c. flour

Cream butter and sugar in a mixer until completely combined, make sure to scrap the bottom of the bowl. Add flour, and mix until combined. In a buttered spring form pan, press dough on edges and about 3/4 up the edges. It should have no more than ¼ inch depth, so you may have extra dough. Make sure the crease of the pan (in between bottom and sides) doesn’t have a build-up of dough. You will want a consistent depth all around.
Take a piece of heavy duty foil (or two sheets of regular) and shinny side down, place your pan on top, and fold the foil up the outside of the pan. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Edges should be golden brown, if you notice the edges are browning before center is cooked through, turn the temperature down.

Cheesecake filling:

24 ounces of cream cheese (3 boxes)
¾ c. sugar
3 eggs
1 T. vanilla
¼ t. salt
1 ½ c. sour cream

1/3 c. - 1/2 c. berry preserves (any flavor or make, I prefer my Mom's homemade boysenberry)

Cream the sugar and cream cheese in a mixer or with beaters. Add one egg at a time, scraping the bottom of the bowl after every egg. When completely combined (it is very important that you have no lumps, so the first few steps are crucial) add vanilla salt and sour cream. Mix until smooth. Pour filling into crust, smooth out top.

You may want to water down the preserves just a bit, it should drizzle off the spoon, not drop. Take the preserves and spoon onto the top of the uncooked cheesecake in a swirl pattern. Using a butter knife, not cutting into the crust swirl around the batter a few times, allowing the preserves to sink down into the batter a bit. Be sure not to over mix, you want the preserves still intact, not mixed in (it loses the effect).

Bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes at 330 degrees. It can be tricky to know when the cheesecake is done. The top should lose it's wet luster and have a dull look to it and it should be set. Check at the 1 hour mark first. Turn the oven off, open the door, and leave the cake in for about 20 more minutes. Mare sure you place on a rack for an hour or so before placing in the fridge. You should keep the cheesecake refrigerated for at least 48 hours before serving. I actually prefer 3 days, if you are thinking that much ahead of time.

Decorate with fresh berries and watered down berry preserves. You can make your own berry drizzle with frozen fruit, sugar and a little bit of water, cook down until the sauce is the desired consistency.

Oh how I love spring!!

2010-05-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Over at the Murray and friends home we have all been working very hard towards our goal of having a clean and functional yard. We have a lot of space but unfortunately a lot of work needs to be done. Weeds, grass, and wild fruitless berry bushes have taken over the yard in the last year or two, but we're taking control. So far we have cleared out enough space for a decent size vegetable garden and brought everything else down to ground level. In the next few days we are going to purchase a truckload of top soil, incorporate that along with mulch from my dad's garden and put into place some order for our garden. We already have plants about 1 1/2 months old, and I just planted seedlings. (I like to plant in 1 1/2 month increments to keep the harvesting even throughout summer and early fall). Our plant list is as follows...

corn (sweet and yellow)
tomatoes (basic red, heirloom, cherry, and golden)
peppers (sweet, anaheim, jalapeno)
yellow squash and zucchini
melons (water melon and cantaloupe)
beans (green, and yellow bush)
lettuce
basil
chives
onions (yellow, white, and green)
pumpkin (jack-o-lantern and sweet sugar pie)
strawberries
Mandarin orange tree

Yes, we are very ambitious this growing season. As a helpful hint, if you have a small garden space, but love to eat vegetables; zucchini, tomatoes and green beans are the best to plant. One zucchini plant last year kept us more than satisfied, and the maintenance is a breeze. Keep in mind that one plant can have up to a 3-4 foot diameter. With green beans, you can have a few bush varieties in the same area, they're a much smaller plant, but if fed well and given lots of sunshine, will also produce very well and with little maintenance. Tomato plants are amazing, you buy one plant or even one seed and you will be amazed how many tomatoes you can get in one growing season.

I hope that you all consider at least one little plant, especially if you have kids. My nieces and nephews love gardening and I think it serves as a great educational tool. Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions, if I can't help I'll ask my dad, he knows everything :)

My biggest gardening influences...

My Grandma Beck (who I've been missing very much lately)
My Dad
Martha Stewart :)

Martha Stewart has gardener, Jodi Capobianco, seen in the two pictures on the left, and she must just love her job. If I could garden and cook for a living, what a relaxing and wonderful life that would be. I commend the two for their work and the educational tools they have available to the public. Isn't their garden just beautiful!??! I love all these pictures. There will be pictures of our garden once we get everything settled.

Yes, we are home!!

2010-05-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

I have taken a few weeks to get this post up, but I wanted to let you know that yes, we are home! We are happy to be back and getting back to regular life, which we love so much. So here's what we've been doing for the last few weeks, and a few pictures to give you an idea of what we got to see and experience.

April 4th - left the wonderful bay area of California and flew into Sydney Australia..stayed at The Menzies, right in the heart of the downtown harbour ..visited the Sydney Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, Sydney Wildlife World, the Sydney Aquarium, several restaurants in the Harbour, and several ferries around the area..took a ferry over to Manly (about 30 minutes from Sydney) where an old friend of Martin's lives (Katie) spent a few days at her place and visiting the amazing beaches in the area
April 11th - flew into Brisbane where my fabulous friend Patty and her man picked us up from the airport and let us stay at their place for a few days..enjoyed some amazing bbq (including Kangaroo) that they prepared for us, and enjoyed the company of their close friends which was ideal, we felt at home again..thanks to Patty, we were able to ride bikes around the city and get a feel for the area, went to a few street markets and took the ferry around their city
April 13th - flew up to Cairns, where we met up with Daniel (Martin's brother) and Jeremy (our roommate and Martin's bandmate), dove the Great Barrier Reef and so lots of amazing things, took a tour through the Australia Rainforest, swam through the Milla Milla waterfall, jumped into a few lakes
April 16th - flew back to sydney, stayed in the Manly area again, because we loved their beaches so much, visited Katie at her restaurant to say bye
April 18th - flew to New Zealand, drove on the opposite side of the rode, found somewhat affordable food for the first time in weeks, and had to wear a jacket for the first time in weeks.. drove all around the South Island of New Zealand, saw the Fox Glacier and the Franz Josep Glacier, the Milford Sound, the Fiordland National Park, Mt. Cook, the Moeraki Boulders, hundreds of waterfalls and lakes, probably millions of sheep, gorgeous country side, New Zealand wine country (so pretty to drive through).. ate at Fleur's Place, an amazing and fresh seafood restaurant
April 25th - flew home to San Francisco, and so ready to be home

To be honest, we didn't feel that far from home. The food, the people, the landscape, even the beaches, all felt like different parts of California. Sydney was almost identical to San Francisco, with a lot of asian culture and food mixed in with port/harbour culture here and there. A few things that were new to us...

beets on hamburgers (and egg and pineapple also)
3 dollar cans of soda, crazy.. and no refills anywhere, fast food and restaurants
not big into ranch or bbq; they use a lot of chili sauce (hot or sweet)
fries are called chips
pancakes are always served with icecream
icecreams shops everywhere
tipping is not as standard as here, also, tax is included in everything already, which is one reason why things seem much more expensive.. minimum wage is around 15 or 16 $.. so servers don't make as much in tips, but they get paid more, have covered health insurance, get vacation time, which no servers get here in the states, get time and a half for working sundays, and you get 4-6 weeks paid vacation a year at almost any job, as opposed to 1 in the states, and that's only if you have a fulltime office type job
driving on the other side of the road
not pronouncing things the way they are spelled (Cairns is Cans, Brisbane is Brisbin, Melbourne is Melbin.. just to name a few)
a few words different here or there, nothing we couldn't figure out
no toilet seat covers anywhere (I hated that)
no dollar menus at fast food (everything was a little pricier than we're used to)
no free wifi anywhere, everywhere charged a lot, anywhere from 5-10 an hour
lots of travelling students all over.. it seems as though in other countries travelling is a huge part of life and education, which I think is wonderful.. a more travelled and experienced person is a more knowledgeable and less ignorant person.. learning about how other's communicate and cooperate and live and think is a great thing, I think.. We met people from all over, working or just travelling, as either part of their actual college education or a start to
universal health care (or just about) most people approve of it and have close to no complaints, definitely not as many as I have with my insurance
recycling and being green is HUGE in Australia and New Zealand.. almost everywhere you go there are separate recycling bins and even food waste bins.. it seems as though most people there are very aware that you need to be more responsible with your waste.. you have to know that everything you throw away goes somewhere, and doesn't just disappear, which probably is why everything was so clean and well kept and nowhere smelled like our Milpitas (which just smells like you're standing in a garbage)

We missed our friends and family so much and want you to know how much we love and appreciate all the time we get to spend with you... we love being home!!

we made it safely to New Zealand!

2010-04-18T05:27:00.000-07:00

So the last week has been amazing and busy. We have made our way up and down the East coast of Australia; we started in Sydney and went around that area staying in a few different places, then up to Brisbane (about a 12 hours drive, we flew though) stayed with my friend from high school, Patty, went all around the Brisbane area (not to surfer's paradise unfortunately). Then from Brisbane we flew up to Cairns (which would be like an 18 hour drive) we stayed there a few days, which is around the area that we dove the Great Barrier Reef and made our way through the rainforest, then bake down to Brisbane, and back down to Sydney, a few more days on the beach in the Manly area, and now in New Zealand. I try to stay low maintenance, but I'm still a girl. It would still be nice to have my own bathroom and not constantly be travelling, just so that I can pull myself together once in a while, but other than that, the trip is amazing. We have somehow managed to plan all the days when sunshine is needed on days with sunshine, and days where it's not needed, there has been rain. According to the weather and just our first first hours here, the New Zealand air is much colder, but I'm very much looking forward to making our way around the country. We rented a car (the four of us, Martin, Myself, Daniel and Jeremy) and are planning on driving around a majority of the South Island (which is where most of the sites are). Driving on the opposite side of the road will be interesting, luckily Martin is the designated driver of the trip, so I don't have much to worry about.

Well, I've been trying for about an hour to upload a few pictures and it's just not gonna happen. They haven't really hopped on the fast and free internet train out here, or anywhere we've been. So uploading pictures to the blog is a little difficult, but I did put lots of pictures on facebook. We love and miss everybody. Congrats again to Ry and Mel!! (they had baby boy #4 yesterday).

Welcome Welcome :)

2010-04-11T02:47:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to welcome all of my recently new visitors!! Foodgawker is a wonderful site, and I'm happy to be able to share some of my recipes with you. For my regular friends and family, I have recently been introduced to the absolutely amazing website foodgawker.

It's a recipe sharing site, and I have had quite a few submissions accepted! The submissions are based on the photography, so if you visit the site you will see lovely food styling and then you can visit the sites where they came from for the recipe. It's just a wonderful thing!

Oh, and Martin and I are loving Australia!! We are in Brisbane right now staying with my friend Patty, and just having a wonderful time. Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Cairns (pronounced Cans, ya, it's weird) where the weather and surroundings are going to be similar to that of the coasts of central america (southern mexico or guatemala) so very hot and humid!! We plan to dive the Great Barrier Reef and all that, so I'll keep you updated! If you have facebook you can check out my pictures there!

lovin the beaches!!

2010-04-09T21:12:00.001-07:00

So we left the Sydney area and have been staying in Manly with Katie Hay (a friend of Martin's from way back when) and we are having a great time! Today was our third day at the beach and we couldn't love it more. The water is warmer than the bay area for sure, and crystal clear and the beaches are clean and gorgeous. Last night we went to an amazing Tapas restaurant, I can't wait to get home and recreate some of the recipes, and then went to ben and jerry's, which is new to the area. A pint of icecream, which we normally buy for about 2 50 or 3$ at safeway cost 12 dollars!! Prices are a little crazy here, it might just be close to Sydney, we'll see if it's all over. But a soda can is 3$, a candy bar is 2$, and you can't get refills anywhere!! Tax is included in almost everything too. So anytime we order something to eat it seems a little more expensive than it really is, because the bill doesn't change with tax, but we can't wait to get up to Brisbane. My friend Patty (from highschool) lives up there and she's picking us up from the airport and we're staying with her for 2 nights and hopefully will get a good feel for the area, then we fly up to Cairns, where we will hopefully dive the Great Barrier Reef!! More details and pictures to come!! We love and miss you!!

We made it safely to Sydney!!

2010-04-06T17:40:00.001-07:00

We don't have a lot of internet access here in Sydney, and it's always a little slow. But we're having a great time! After going to bed yesterday at 4 pm because of the screwy time change 16 hour flight and what not.. we woke up around midnight with nothing to do.. so we watched a little tv, tried to go back to bed.. woke up at 4 am, more tv, went to the gym once open at 5 30, went to the pool, showered, found breakfast and internet! thank you starbucks, and now off to have an awesome day. Who would've thought we could get all that done before noon! (actually 11, which is what time it is now). Sydney is 5 hours earlier than Ca, but the next day.. if that makes sense.. So it's 11 am on wednesday here.. but 4 pm on tuesday (I think) where you are. Pretty weird.

I'll put up a few pictures here and there but probably not too many until I get back, unless you can check facebook, I have a few more up there. We love and miss family and friends :)

Banana Nut Streusel Muffins

2010-04-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

2 c. brown sugar
½ c. shortening
½ c. butter
4 eggs
3 1/2 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
5 mashed bananas

Streusel Topping

½ c. butter (at room temperature, or microwave for about 15 seconds)
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. flour
2 c. pecans or walnuts (chopped)

Cream sugar, butter, and shortening. Add eggs, mix well, and make sure to scrap the bottom of the bowl. Add flour, and baking soda, mix until combined. Then add bananas. Set this mixture aside.

For the streusel topping, cream butter and sugar together (the butter should be very soft). Add flour and combine completely, the mixture should look like a crumble. With your hands mix in the chopped nuts. You want to have some texture to the streusel, so with your hands you can clump it together while mixing. Add just over half the streusel to the muffin mixture and lightly fold in. There should be waves of streusel in the mixture, you do not want to over mix this!!

Scoop the muffin mixture into the liners, going about 2/3 up. This recipe should make about 3 dozen muffins (but on the smaller side). Or you can make 2 dozen, and make a loaf with the remaining, which is what I do. Sprinkle the remaining streusel on top of the muffins generously. You can pat it down slightly to make sure it sticks.

Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes, if your oven tends to burn, bake at 325. When the muffins are done a toothpick will come out clean. Make sure to not overcook them, they’re much more delicious when still moist.

For a loaf, cook at 325 for close to 45 minutes.

Easter Brunch ideas!!!

2010-03-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

Cinnamon Rolls

sugar mixture:

1/2 c. shortening

3/8 c. sugar

1 t. salt

1/2 c. hot water

yeast mixture:

1 T. yeast

1/4 c. warm water

(combine and let sit)

2 eggs

3 3/4 c. flour

1/2 c. cold water

Filling:

1/2 c. sugar

2 T. cinnamon

1 T. nutmeg

1/3 c. butter

1/2 c. chopped pecans

Add hot water to sugar mixture, lightly whisk. Add eggs and yeast to the sugar mixture, lightly whisk. Add flour alternately with cold water mixing until all of flour has been added. The dough will still be a little gooey.

Rollout on a floured surface until it is a large rectangle. Spread the filling over the dough, and roll length wise. The dough will be cut into about 15 pieces (about 1 1/2 inches). Place in a buttered 9x13 pan. Cover and let raise for about 45 minutes (the dough should double in size). Bake at 375 for 17-20 minutes. Let sit for a few minutes before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 ounces of cream cheese (half a box)

2 T. milk

4 T. butter

1 T. vanilla

dash of salt

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese until softened, add milk slowly, and continue to beat until lumps are gone. Add melted butter vanilla and salt, beat until completely combined. Add powdered sugar slowly and mix till combined (don't beat on high).

An oh so delicious breakfast casserole!

2010-03-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

Broccoli and Feta Bake

1 8 ounce container of feta crumbled
1 large head of broccoli, cut into small bites
9 eggs
1 c. of cream (or 1/2 c. milk)
1 t. salt
fresh ground pepper
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Butter a 9x9 pan. Even distribute broccoli. Sprinkle half the feta cheese and half the cheddar cheese over the broccoli. Whisk the eggs, cream, salt and pepper together, and pour over the broccoli. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until it looks as though the eggs have set (a toothpick or knife should come out clean). Sprinkle the rest of the feta and cheddar on top and continue baking until melted, about 5 minutes.

You can make this dish the night before, and it makes brunch the next day very easy. Simply bake the egg dish for about 25 minutes and refrigerate. The next day, right before serving, bake at 350 for 10 more minutes, sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake for another 5, and you're ready to serve.

** You can use any cheese that you like. Not everyone loves feta, although its one of the healthier cheeses, but you can try a white cheddar or gruyere, or a sharp cheddar, something with a lot of flavor at least.

Cheeseburger Night!

2010-03-27T00:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight I made dinner for the fam, and choose cheeseburgers.. why? because while on our cleansing diet, that's about all we could think about! I want to try my best to stay away from fast food, so we're going to start making our favorite meals! Here's my choice burger (I tried something new tonight)

I had lots of fixings, including:

sauteed mushrooms (Sliced button mushrooms sauteed in the same pan I cooked the bacon, after I removed most of the oil. Salt and pepper, and cook for about 5-7 minutes.)

bacon

avocado

feta cheese

tomato

lean hamburber

swiss cheese

red leaf lettuce (one of my favorite)

spicy brown mustard

pickles

salt and pepper
(I don't like onions, everyone else does though)

We also tried the whole grain buns, as opposed to plain white, they were very tasty.

Kettle chips, salt and vinnegar and baked barbeque.. the only potato chips I really like

I also decided to try sweet potato fries, but baked, instead of deep fried. They didn't crisp, but they were still delicious! I'll come out with a good recipe for these soon!

All in all it was an amazing dinner, and pretty quick to fix!

lets be healthy!!

2010-03-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

This week, the love of my life and I embarked on an intense journey; a cleansing diet. I have done a few cleansing diets, the one I think is most effective is the "lemon juice detox." It's a juice made up of lemon juice, organic maple syrup, and cayenne pepper, that is meant to cleanse your digestive tract. You can google the diet and lots of blogs and websites will come up, all with basically the same idea. A book entitled the Master Cleanse was written in the 70's by Stanley Burroughs, a health philosopher, was the first with the idea; since, several, if not hundreds have renamed and redesigned it, but it is basically still the same thing.

The purpose of the Master Cleanse:

•To dissolve and remove toxins and mucous from the body.
•To clean the kidneys and digestive system.
•To cleanse the glands and cells of the body.
•To remove waste and hardened matter in the joints and muscles.
•To relieve pressure and irritation in the nerves, arteries and blood vessels.
•To create a healthy blood stream.
•To return youthfulness to everybody, even the elderly.

After completing a cleansing diet (which I do anywhere from 3-5 days) I feel refreshed, energized, my fatigue and constant feeling of being tired is alleviated, and it's like starting new. Your liver controls your metabolism and it works to detoxify your body, but because we live in a country where unhealthy and unnatural foods are a part of our every day diet, it becomes over worked and unable to do it's job to it's fullest. When I have stayed on the cleanse for 4-5 days (which is really key) I not only lose about 5 pounds from my midsection (stomach size decreases, intestines clear up, and any swelling or inflammation disappears) but I also notice my skin is clearer and has more elasticity, and cellulite diminishes!! That's what really sold me on this diet the first time around. Cellulite is created from toxins that were unable to be processed by your organs and so it settles in the layer of fat just below skin level, which then creates a dimple or pinch, and doesn't allow the fat to lay smooth. Now unfortunately some damage done by cellulite is irreversible, but not all of it. I only stayed on the cleanse for 3 days, and because of that I didn't notice as much of a change as I have in the past, but it is possible.

Because this diet does slow you down for the first few days I'll admit that it doesn't fit in everyone's schedule. Martin and I chose Monday to Wednesday, because he doesn't work and we don't have any huge responsibilities on those days. But, I have good news, there are less dramatic ways of reaching the same results; but it's a lifestyle change, not a quick fix.

A few years ago (well more like 5) I stumbled upon the studies of Dr. Perricone, a dermatologist that studies anti-aging. Actually, my dad first introduced me to him because he used to frequent our public television station with lectures and information about his books; Ageless Face, Ageless Mind, 7 Secrets to Beauty, Health and Longevity, and The Perricone Promise. His concept of dieting and lifestyle are all about removing inflammation (which is what causes cells to be damaged and then regenerated, which increases the aging process, in your skin and internal body). He encourages you to take daily vitamins, eat lots of fish (especially salmon) and lean meats, nuts and legumes, and incorporate fruit and vegetables in every meal. Sounds pretty logical right?? Well, you have to be careful with what fruits and vegetables you eat, they need to be low on the glycemic index and therefore low in starch. A quick way to figure that out is, eat lots of berries, and green veges. Berries have very high amounts of antioxidants (which are very good for you) and green vegetables are usually full of fiber and vitamins (of course there are good vegetables of other colors though).

After my excitement in finding this amazing doctor, I found out he had a book specifically written about acne!! At the time, I was struggling with acne, and had been taken medications for years, that would all eventually stop working, and I was trying to stray from daily medications anyways. I went on amazon, bought the book, followed his 28-day guide, and within a week, I noticed a dramatic improvement. The acne diet, unlike the others he has written about, has a high intake of fats, good fats though. Who would've thought, that eating more fat would improve your skin. For years in my dieting I would try to cut out all fats, well that will never happen again. Not only did my acne go away, and after a few months of following the diet relatively closely, I noticed it was gone for good, not just short term. I can go days without taking care of my face, or eating healthy, and it doesn't make a difference, that never used to be the case. So my acne cleared up, my energy levels were amazing, I had lost some unhealthy weight and couldn't believe all I had to do was change my eating habits; no drugs, no face washes, or creams, it was amazing!!

I've said a lot, I know, but it's because health has always been a passion of mine, and I've been wanting to share this with you for a while, and I finally had my excuse!! This is my first day off of the cleansing diet, and I intend to eat according to Dr. Perricone's diet. It's almost completely gluten free also, so I don't have to worry about altering it to fit my current health needs.

Being healthy should be a lifestyle, not a fad, and I truly believe that. It seems as though everyone wants a quick fix or someone to tell them that you can cheat and still lose weight or still be healthy and that shouldn't be the answer your looking for. If you want to change your health you need to think about what you eat and what you're putting into your body. We weren't created to eat the food that we have available right now, that's the truth. Any doctor, nutritionist or health specialist will tell you, you can eat bad food, and no you won't die, but you're slowly doing damage to yourself, and taking away from how good you can feel.

I wish you all good health, and maybe just start with some small changes. Eat fruit in the morning instead of carbs and dairy. Eat one less sweet a day. Try a salad at lunch or dinner, instead of pasta.

with love,

Kristin :)

oh how I love...

2010-03-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

orchids, and all potted plants actually!! I wanted some pretty and green for my bathroom, so I created this little number. I bought 3 mini potted plants (ferns and some other leafy green) and a mini orchid (from trader joes, they're so awesome there), found the perfect size pot at target, and combined them all. Orchids don't actually grow in soil, so, I kept it in the pot it came with (a double pot, so that you can pull the plant out and put it anywhere). The other three plants were taken out of their pots and put in the large one, and then surrounded with soil (that I bought separately). I left a pretty decent size space for the orchid and nestled the pot in place. Now I can pull the orchid out once it loses it's bloom, because it is in a tiny plastic container but the ceramic pot remains with the rest of the plants, and you can just replace it. Orchids are awesome because they can keep their bloom for several months if you keep them in the right environment. They like indirect sunlight, and lots of moisture in the air. Our bathroom is perfect because there is no fan and after every shower it is quite steamy. The shelving unit was found at ross, isn't it great!!

The baby tears (little green leaves growing around the rest) are from my dad's garden, I thought it would be a nice touch. You could also use rock or bark or pete moss to fill over the dirt to make it a little more in house appropriate.

Lisa's Bridal Shower!!

2010-03-22T01:31:00.000-07:00

Again, congratulations Lisa, you're such a beautiful girl.

hot pink cupcakes anyone??

2010-03-21T23:42:00.000-07:00

For Lisa's bridal shower on Saturday I was asked to make the cupcakes and couldn't have been more excited!! Her colors are hot pink and black and everything glitzy. Soooo, I made cupcakes to match!! Chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting, sugar sprinkles and edible shimmer dust.

Congratulations Lisa and Scott!!!

{p.s. Starting this next month, when I'm back from austrailia, I really will only be doing cakes and things for family functions. Unfortunately at our new place I don't have the fridge or kitchen space for big projects, but if it's a family thing, I have an excuse to use my Mom's kitchen!! But ask me for advice, or ideas, and I'd love to help!! Wittmer family, you are family, so you can still ask :) }

just wanted to wish you all..

2010-03-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

a very happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Martin will be playing tonight at the Mojo Lounge at 9:30!!!

And I will be in the audience cheering :)

holidays holidays :)

2010-03-15T15:15:00.001-07:00

I have a few st. patricks day ideas.. some are mine, some are not, whatever :)

The adorable "green velvet" cupcakes and cake bites are from the wonderful bakerella.com! Go to her site, check out the recipe. I have posted red velvet before, so you could use that recipe and just change the red food coloring to green and add some green sprinkles!

Also there are a few tricks for making a quick and easy red velvet or green velvet :)

You can use a cake mix and just make a few modifications! Here's one example (I've done it, and it works great!!

1 box white cake mix (2-layer size)
1 box (4-serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 ounces red food coloring or GREEN!!

Bake using the regular box directions! My cream cheese recipe can be found if you go to my red velvet link.

These are my favorite sugar cookies!!! I made these cuties up last st. patricks day, check out the recipe if you haven't already!

It's Mickey!!

2010-03-14T20:41:00.001-07:00

I love cupcakes!! These adorable little things were made yesterday for a friend's daughter's birthday! The party was mickey mouse themed and oh so adorable. Tiffany you did a fabulous job, and happy birthday ashlyn!!

The frosting is my vanilla buttercream. The disney guys on top were cut outs given to me by the party hostess, and I glued them to popsicle sticks (bought at michaels) that I had cut about an inch of length off.

p.s. How do you like the photography??? I have been getting a little better with the new camera, but I don't know if I really know enough about it. But don't these pictures just look too wonderful??!!

lets get organized...

2010-03-11T13:41:00.001-08:00

This is my desk. Actually it's my mom's (thanks for sharing mom). As you can see, it needs some work. I have to incorporate my day to day desk use, with my art/crafting space, personal vanity, sewing area, and junk space, I think I can do it :) Martin and I actually just put together an amazing shelving unit that should help out a whole bunch. The finished project will be done soon!!

This is our walk in closet! Isn't it amazing!! I thought for sure my first married apartment or house would be just a tiny little space and that I would have to get rid of so much, but I don't have to!! My awesome dad came over yesterday and put up additional shelving so now we really can use all the space. It's wonderful. Now I just need to get everything organized and pretty; I'll have it done and up here soon!

p.s. I have notice that most closets have a shelf at about eye level, just about the clothes rod, but that's it. Luckily I have a very handyman father who always added the extra shelves for us, but it makes a huge difference. So if you have tried stacking and what not and can't seem to get any use out of all your closet space, try another shelf!

The official newborn photo shoot of Maximus..

2010-03-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

and here we have a few.. unofficial pics from the shoot.. just because they make me smile..

Martin and Lizzie are best friends.. really.. sometimes I'm a little jealous.. but Martin is just so much fun, he deserves to win :)

I'm starting a project..

2010-03-05T17:30:00.001-08:00

I have been in my new house, officially, for about 2 months. (I actually seems funny that I've been married for 2 months, because I feel like I've been married to Martin since day 1. I know for most it feels like the time will just fly by and you can't believe you been married as long as you have, but I'm so the opposite. As if we have just always been meant to be together and there wasn't a whole lot of hoopla to get us there, it's just so wonderful.) But Martin and I have decided to stay where we are for as long as possible, to save money, finish school, and do some of the things we've always wanted to do. At first we thought we might only stay here for up to a year, and then get a place just the 2 of us. But to tell you the truth, we love our living arrangement. Our roommates are awesome, we have a great mesh of cleanliness and personality, and we have so much room! We have the biggest room in the house, which is a bedroom/living room/office/craft room and you would think that would make things cluttered, but it is really pretty perfect. So, after getting a lot of nonsense done for our Australia trip (change name, passport, new license, change social security, and all that) I'm starting to settle in. We're doing a lot of work in the kitchen; cleaning, getting rid of a fridge, adding a kitchen table (which will be so nice) so that I can bring a lot of my kitchen things here. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to work on the front porch (repaint, clean, add some pretty plants), but this week I'm working on.... my mini craft room!!! We have lot of room in a desk area for me to do just about anything. A large shelving unit is on the way, and then I'll do some little things here and there to make it just perfect for me. Here are some of my ideas...

I'll have some amazing before and after pictures of what I'm doing very soon!!

The first room is actually my favorite. Now that I have the space to pull out my sewing machine I plan on starting a few projects. I'm just soooo excited!!!

i'm going on a trip to..

2010-03-04T12:36:00.001-08:00

AUSTRALIA!!

Martin and I are so excited we can barely contain ourselves! Daniel (Martin's brother) just arrived there this week and he'll be there about a month before we show up, so he's scoped out a few of the things we might wanna do and when we get there he'll have some things figured out for us, but we need more ideas!! We're flying into Sydney and planning to stay there a week, then we're probably going up to Brisbane, and maybe all the way up to the Great Barrier Reef, then back down to Sydney for a few days and then we'll fly over to New Zealand. I'm not sure what part of New Zealand we're flying into but we plan on travelling through as much of the country as we can. So let's hear it!!! Who has been there? What have you heard is a must do or a must see??

there's a holiday rapidly approaching...

2010-03-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

Easter!!!! And I soooo have easter fever!!

Just a few darling ideas I found over on Martha.. Get ready, I am full of ideas and I have a full month to show them to you!!

not your grandma's tuna casserole

2010-02-28T20:56:00.000-08:00

jk.. I loved my grandma's tuna casserole, and to be honest I love all casseroles. For whatever reason they have a bad rep, but I'm going to change that. Tuna casserole can be delicious, and so I decided to whip up a healthier and even more delicious version! Here you go.. try it!!

2 c. egg noodles (cook to package directions and drain)

3 cans of white albacore tuna (packed in water Not oil)

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1/2 c. milk

3 T. butter

1 c. chopped or sliced mushrooms

1 c. finely diced onion

1 1/2 c. chopped fresh spinach

2 c. shredded cheese (whatever you like)

salt and pepper to taste

In a pan saute butter, onions, and mushrooms. Once the onions become slightly translucent, add spinach, and saute for another minute or two. Salt and pepper to taste, and set aside. In a mixing bowl add the cream of mushroom soup and milk and whisk. Drain the tuna cans and add tuna to the soup mix. Add 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used cheddar for this part) and add the vegetable mix. Add the drained pasta and mix until ingredients are combined. Pour in a casserole dish of choice. Bake for about 40 minutes at 375. The edges will begin to bubble and will be heated through. Add the last cup of cheese to the top and bake another 5 minutes. Let stand for ab out 5 minutes before serving!!

**The trick to a healthier casserole that sits a little better in your belly is adding vegetables!!! Add the spinach, onions, and mushrooms to the mix, it makes such a difference!

Also, have a few sides of veges! We love broccili! Cut your broccili into bite size pieces, place in a pan with a lid and just a few tablespoons of water, steam on med. heat, it only takes about 5 minutes. Squash we usually bake. It takes a little longer, close to 45 minutes, at 375, u can also microwave it in about 6-8.

Newborn photography

2010-02-26T00:30:00.000-08:00

I love baby Maximus. He is just so precious. Good work Heidi and Todd :)

There will be more pictures to come (I got to do a little photo shoot with the kiddies) but I'm going to let Heidi send out her new baby announcement first!!

2010-02-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

I hosted a baby shower for my darling sister in law (Heidi) about a month ago, and I still haven't posted the pictures of my cake!! It was a wonderful shower, thanks to all of Heidi's friends and amazing family members who came to celebrate the almost here baby max. We love you Heidi!! Congrats on getting Max here safely!

I purchased most of the decorations for the cake at Michaels, they're just so wonderful there. And picked a few twigs of a grape vine.

A belated Valentine's Day dessert for my sweetie

2010-02-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite cakes to make for sure. The chocolate dipped cake :) I used a box of any old chocolate cake mix, prepare it as directed. (For this size cake I used smaller pans then the usual 8 inch, but you can make this cake as an 8 inch for sure). Whenever I plan on layering and frosting a cake, I freeze the cake, still in the cake pans; just to provide a little more stability while frosting and decorating. I used two cake pans, and cut both of those layers in half. So I layered, strawberry filling (my mom's homemade jam), layer of my chocolate buttercream, and then another layer of strawberry filling. After frosting the entire cake with the buttercream, the cake goes in the freezer, just for an hour or so. The melted chocolate over the top, you can find at any grocery store, I'm not sure of the brand, but it's usually by the chocolate chips and it comes in a little bowl almost, and it's meant for dipping fruit. I follow the melting directions and then add a few tablespoons of butter. Pour the melted chocolate over the top of the cake, using a spatula to spread evenly, and the chocolate drips over the edges; gorgeous, I know! This is the hard top chocolate, you can also use my ganache recipe to cover the top (or also as a filling). You can dip the strawberries before hand and have them dry, but you may have to use toothpicks to keep them in place, or just arrange the strawberries on the cake as you dip them in chocolate. I like to use sprinkles of all kinds with my chocolate dipped strawberries, just to be pretty.

Vanilla or Chocolate Buttercream Recipe

Makes about 10 cups
2 1/4 cups sugar
9 large egg whites
2 cups of butter (at room temperature)
2 cups of shortening
3 t. pure vanilla extract
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (optional, for chocolate buttercream)
1 c. cocoa powder

Over a pot of simmering water, in a heatproof bowl, whisk together sugar and egg whites until sugar is dissolved and mixture is very warm to the touch, about 5 minutes. Remove From heat. Beat on medium until completely cooled and stiff peaks have formed, about 10 minutes.

With mixer on medium, add butter a few tablespoons at a time until completely combined, then shortening, same process. Add vanilla, beat on low speed until smooth, about 5 minutes.

If you want the chocolate buttercream, add the semisweet chocolate chips, after being melted completely, and slightly cooled. Add the cocoa powder and mix thoroughly. Frosting is much easier to use once cooled, so refrigerate about an hour or two before use.

p.s. this recipe is mostly a martha stewart recipe, I made a few changes ;)

Chocolate Ganache

1 bag of chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

Either over a double boiler or in a microwave you can melt the two ingredients until you get a smooth consistancy (mix with a whisk).

Bridal Shower Thank You

2010-02-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

Have I said thank you to all my amazing friends and family for such a wonderful bridal shower?? Well, THANK YOU!!!! Thank you so much to Cindy, for hosting the shower and putting it all together. Thank you to Megan for letting us use her beautiful home and for helping with everything (including my group gift). Thank you to all the wonderful ladies who I have known almost all my life who helped (RaeDene Hodson, Jan Skubal, Heidi Little, Robin Kalcic, Terri Topham, Gayle Hollingshaus; just to name a few). Thank you to those who chipped in for the group gift, my kitchen aid mixer!!!! Most of those who helped did, and then plus, Janice Carlile, Margaret Holmes, and Nancy Stewart. Thank you to all of Martin's wonderful family who came (even though they already came and gifted at a previous party thrown for us). I could not be luckier to have joined the family that I did. Thank you to all of Heidi's wonderful family that came (I know we're not technically family, but you are to me! I love you Wittmer family!) Thank you to all my dear friends who came out for the night; Karla, Gabi, Tracy, and Allisa. You girls are wonderful. And especially thank you to one of my bestest friends JILLIAN and her mom Beth, who drove out all the way from Winters, to be a part of my shower. Thank you to all the other ladies of the ward who came to support me and show your love. I am so blessed. I truly love all of you, and I can't tell you enough thanks, not only for the gifts, money and gift cards, but for the friendship and love you show and have shown Martin and I. Thank you!!

What made me think to say thank you, was because of the cakestand I just bought and posted about!! I received sooo many wonderful gifts, yes a few cake stands, and the gift cards were just wonderful. Once I get through some of my things, hopefully I'll be using them and blogging about them soon!

Martha Stewart.. oh how I love her

2010-02-22T20:47:00.000-08:00

Is this not just so beautiful...

I was recently given a small giftcard to macys, and thought I would see what I could find, and I stumbled upon this amazing new collection of martha stewarts. I believe it is called her whitewear line, and I just love it! I actually own quite a few white dishes and serving dishes because I can't get enough of them. Well when I was there, I decided to make this purchase.

Only one of them though, but aren't they just so lovely!!!! Sigh.. I love, love, love cakestands, and to be honest, just about anything pretty that belongs at a table or in a kitchen.

pretty cran-apple pie

2010-02-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the no recipe posts lately. With all the wedding amazingness I've been a little busy!!! I made this gem around christmas time I think. I was a hit. Even if you don't like cranberries, just try it, you'll love it.

Pie Crust

2 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. sugar
2/3 c. shortening
8-9 T. cold water

Mix flour salt and sugar. Add shortening and with a fork mix in the shortening. With the fork you lift from bottom to top, you don't press down to break up the shortening. It will take a little bit of time, and the pieces of shortening should all be pea size or smaller.
Take a few fork fulls of dough crumbles and set aside. Add the water to the flour mixture. If you're adding sugar to the recipe, you may need the extra tablespoon of water. The dough should come together as a ball in your grip, add a few more drops of water if necessary.
On a floured surface roll out dough with a rolling pin. Just roll it out to the edge of your surface or about 1/4 inch thick. It doesn't matter the shape or look of the dough at this point. Sprinkle the dry dough mixture, that had been set aside, on the top of the dough, to the edges. Roll dough up, like a fruit roll up, and close off the edges so the crumbs don't fall out. Cut into fourths, stack on top of each other, and smash down, so you have one large mass of dough. Cut in half and set one half aside.
Again on a floured surface roll out dough. This time you're going to eventually need a close to perfect circle, so when rolling out, try to keep your shape. After you've rolled dough out an few inches wider than pie pan. Place pan in the middle of dough and cut a circle out, use the extra pieces of dough to fill in places that didn't quite keep shape. Using rolling pin, roll dough over and then onto the top of the pie pan. Lift dough into pan, making sure that it's up against the walls and edges. Using your fingers roll the edges of the crust down and in so that it sits just along the edge of the pan. Once you've circled the whole crust, go back around, using your thumb and index finger to shape the crust. You can make the wave as tight or loose, as big or small as you would like.
Your crust is done! Whether or not the crust is cooked now or after filled depends on the pie being made.

{for picture instructions}

Cran-Apple filling

3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 T flour
1 t. nutmeg
dash of ground cloves
6-8 apples (peeled, cored, and cut in 6-8 slices)
1/2 c. cranberries whole (frozen or fresh)

After you're finished with the apples (yes it takes forever sometimes, I know). Mix all the dry ingredients separately. Add about 3/4 of the mixture to the apples. With the bottom crust prepared in the pan, start to assemble the apples. It works best if you place the on the outer ring of the crust and work your way in. Sprinkle a few cranberries on each layer of apples until you've filled and exceeded the top of the crust. Dust the filling with the rest of the sugar/cinnamon mix. Assemble top as a basic pie, or a lattice top.

{for picture instructions for a lattice top}

Bake at 375 for about 50-60 minutes. You may need to use foil to cover the top and edges of your crust (they tend to burn before the filling is cooked through). The pie is done when the apples can be poked with a fork with ease (there shouldn't be much tension).

sad news...

2010-02-20T00:51:00.000-08:00

I need some help; maybe just a few suggestions would be nice. I can’t eat bread anymore. Gluten to be exact. And this is very sad for me. I love bread, especially sourdough, and it just always makes me feel better (temporarily) and it makes me feel full, and happy. My sister Jana, lives on a 100% bread diet and I actually try to stay away from it (evil carbs) when I’m trying to be good, but I’m the one that has the health problem. Maybe I’m taking one for the team. If Jana had to stay away from bread, she may possible starve to death, so I had to be the one :) I love you this much Jana. Anyways, I have a few longstanding health problems, that I’ve really just gotten used to over the years, but some recent trips to the doctor (chiropractic) have made me see that I really should make a drastic change in my diet, so I’m going gluten free. Or I’m at least going to try. To be honest I should consider myself lucky, because I’m not allergic to gluten; those who are have much worse problems when they eat it, so I can have some, I should just try to stay away from the bulk of it. For those of you who don’t know, gluten is pretty much flour (products from wheat). From bread, to pasta, crackers, cereal, bagels, pastries, cakes, pies, cookies, and who knows what else, I should be staying away from. Isn’t it just so sad; I love to bake more than anything but I really should be staying away from my own creations. I guess it couldn’t have come at a better time though; I’m married to the most supportive and compassionate man around and we both want to go on a health kick and this will kind of force us into one.

Since I was a little girl I have had a very nervous and sensitive stomach. So I feel sick to my stomach with lots of things. Eating too much, or too little, or going to long without eating, too much sugar, too much water, not enough water, too much dairy, too little fat, too much fat, a stressful event, not enough sleep, overexertion, under exertion.. you name it, it will make me uneasy. Well a few years ago the pains developing in my tummy took me back and forth to the doctors for months (it became more painful than I could handle) and finally my gallbladder was removed. I had hoped this would cure me completely, but it didn’t, it made it worse. Since then (I believe that was the summer of 2007) I have had the same problems with a few more to the list. My stomach swells up from time to time, sometimes very painful, sometimes just uncomfortable and on a regular basis I just feel not right. I thought my puffy stomach had to do more with my lack of exercise and sedentary lifestyle (and getting a little older, I’m not exactly 18 anymore) but I guess that’s not all of it. My doctor said my stomach is just in a constant state of swelling, due to gluten, and possibly a few other things.

For some time I have known I have a candida (yeast) problem, which is an imbalance of yeast in your system. Everyone has some, it helps with digestion and just keeps everything functioning, but I have it in abundance. This is due to, not exactly sure, but I have read, possibly an overconsumption of antibiotics (which I took for a few years off and on for random things; acne, bladder infections, other skin problems, lots of colds) and it also runs in the family. So with the removal of gluten, I might be able to tame the problem. My doc thinks and hopes that with a strict strict diet, things might get to the point where I can go back to my regular somewhat healthy and carefree diet without any future problems, but I won’t know until I try.

So, this is my declaration that I am going to change my diet to change my current state of health. Everyone has problems, whether health or something else, and I have always been a firm believer of fixing your problems if the solution is out there, and mine just might be. Hopefully in a few months, my tummy will be less grumbly, I won’t have constant nausea (which I sadly have now), and I will finally be able to work out or do anything with a bit more vigor, without nearly throwing up (gross I know).

Wish me luck!!! Any blogs, websites, ideas, favorite foods, recipes that you think might fit into my diet, let me know!!!

With love,
Kristin ann

(kristinannbeck@gmail.com)
I recently changed my email

My Recipe Index

2010-02-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

Recipe Index

appetizers and snacks

brunch and breakfast

cakes

cupcakes

dinners

other desserts

pies

soups

salads

My recipe index

2010-02-16T17:02:00.001-08:00

I have been looking at other cooking blogs and have been provided with a few wonderful ideas! On the left of my blog I will have an clickable icon that will take you to my recipe index, where I will have my recipes sorted by subject and then listed alphabetically. So I will not have my list of labels on the left side anymore (since it makes it much more difficult to sort through). I hope this will be helpful!! I love creating new things and perfecting old things, and then sharing them with all of you. Thanks for reading :)

love, kristin ann

{I will work on it a lot in the next day or so, hopefully I will have it up and running in no time.}

Our Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!! Yesterday was busy for us, so today is our "unofficial valentine's day".

{this picture was taken at the tech museum in san jose, it's a thermal image of the love of my life giving me lots of hugs and kisses as he usually does, I'm just so darn lucky}

Valentine's Dessert ideas!!

2010-02-14T16:09:00.001-08:00

I love pink, and desserts, and cupcakes, and Martha Stewart (most of these ideas are from her), and of course, I love my Martin.

Who and what do you love?!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2010-02-14T15:51:00.000-08:00

So I went through my lot of pictures and pulled out the best of the best for valentine's day!! I know it's a little late, it would've been better if posted a few days ago, but I've had a busy weekend!! Martin and I went to a wedding yesterday, we actually had a few acquaintances get married yesterday (and it was Martin's parents anniversary, so happy anniversary Mary and Patrick).

So from wreaths, to heart mobiles, and personalized fortune cookies, or dinner party idea's.. oh how I love holidays.

Tomorrow we're celebrating valentine's (due to a busy and already ocupied sunday) so I have a little more time to go through ideas.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Valentine's day!!

{Some of the wreath and craft ideas came from http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com }