Baked French Toast with Blueberry Sauce

So since my stove/oven is still not working (stupid POS GE…) I’ve had to get creative in my cooking. I was forced to go raid my toy hauler for some camping gear. I can use my toaster oven, microwave, griddle and camper stove top. I found this recipe in Taste of Home magazine that I figured I would try since I could use all of the above appliances (This recipe called for baking the French toast in the oven but I just made regular French toast on my griddle but I would be interested to try the baked kind).

Baked French Toast with Blueberry Sauce

Debbie Johnson-Taste of Home Magazine

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter melted

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

8 slices Texas toast

Blueberry Sauce:

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp. cornstarch

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries

2 Tbsp. thawed orange juice concentrate

Directions:

Pour melted butter on a 15X10X1 baking pan; lift and tilt pan to coat bottom evenly. In a large shallow bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla and nutmeg. Dip both sides of Texas toast into egg mixture; place on prepared pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.

For sauce, in a large saucepan combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and cloves. Stir in the blueberries and orange juice concentrate. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with French toast.

I liked how the sauce turned out (other than I used a little too much cinnamon/cloves-so go easy on those). Jace said it was “a little wild for him”. Which is his polite way of saying he doesn’t like something. He just preferred powder sugar and regular syrup with it. But I liked that it was a change to it.

I sprinkled powder sugar ontop of the blueberries

Start of new project/Weekend Update

So the weekend went by too quickly again but we got a lot done. Thursday night I happened to run over to Marshalls and saw they had all their winter stuff on sale. I brought Jace back with me and we were able to get him some great stuff for cheap; 3 pairs of jeans, a couple of different zip up hoodies, some thermals for work and a few shirts. I even got myself a pair of new leopard print flats J Friday we went to dinner at Chili’s (because I had a free appetizer coupon) gotta love that!  So after dinner we ran a couple of errands and went home for Jace to work on his talk he had to give on Sunday. Saturday morning we got up early and cleaned the house, garage, cars and Jace worked on the RZR. Jace also changed my oil and replaced the burnt out rear light in my car. Love being married to someone who can take care of everything for me! Later Saturday night we went over to watch the UFC fights at my brother in law Jakes. Then we went home and Jace finished up his talk. Sunday morning we had church and Jace did amazing on his talk even though he was very nervous. Neither Jace nor I are big speakers, I’m much better at writing-I like having the time to review and edit what you’re going to say before it comes out of your mouth. Then we went home and relaxed while I started on my project that I’ve been wanting to do (mentioned in this post). I’m not very far along but it’s going well so far. Just cutting all the strips to sew together. It took a little while to figure out all my measurements since I am wanting this to go on my king bed and the directions on the blog are for a queen. Later Sunday evening we went over to my mother in laws for Sunday dinner and just hung out with Jace’s family. Then of course we went home and watched Kourtney and Kim Take New York (I love the Kardashians-I’m not ashamed to admit it!) It was the season finale so I had to watch it. I’m sad the weekend went so quickly but I’m glad we got so much done and I’m excited for everything we have coming up this next weekend.

Me working on my project-I love that this looks like a Wendy's commerical with the TV in the background...

Change=New Purse :)

The other day I looked in my car and my change holder was overflowing with change. I decided to empty it into the change jar we have in our closet. When I put everything in I realized it was pretty full so decided to empty it out and roll into change rolls. I dumped everything out while I watched American Idol and by the end of the show I had $45.50! I was pretty excited becuase I’ve wanted a new purse recently. I LOVE purses and haven’t purchased one in awhile so I’ve been itching for something new.  I went to ALDO since I had seen some cute ones there online and my mother in law had  a cute one from there. I ended up getting this one.  (Mine is a cream and brown color though). It was little more than my change I had collected but I’m very excited about it J I was even more excited that I was able to buy it with money that had just been laying around!

The counted out money... 

My new bag I'm excited about!

Sewing Project

So for Christmas I got a sewing machine. Jace has a few pair of pants that needed some repairs so he forced me to pull everything out and figure out how everything works. They are just work pants (he just wears grungy clothes to work since they get ruined anyways). I had to patch a hole in the back along with a side hem on a leg pant. I was impressed with myself that I didn’t hurt myself and everything turned out decent. Jace was happy too because he now has 2 more pairs of pants to wear to work during the week! Now I need to move onto some more adventurous projects I’m wanting to try this (in deep red for my master bed)but I’m scared to attempt!

The final result (when they are on Jace you can't even tell!)

Weekend/Stupid Oven!

This weekend was pretty good. Friday night Jace and I went to Chipotle for dinner. I forgot how good that place is! Then we went and did some errands, nothing too exciting. Saturday was our typical clean the house, work in the garage and grocery shopping. We were pretty lazy with all the rain and snow. Later Saturday night we went to the Farmington Theater to see Contraband. I really like it a lot and for the first time ordered ice cream. If you have never had ice cream at the theater, it is actually quite a brilliant idea. 

Then Sunday we had church. After church I decided I wanted to make some Zucchini bread (see this earlier post for recipe details). I had frozen some shredded zucchini back in the fall and wanted to see how well it worked now. I mixed everything up but when I went to go put it into my oven I thought had been preheating all along, it said it was locked (it has a feature to lock the touch screen to prevent little kids from starting it). I hadn’t turned on the lock feature and Jace and I tried getting it to unlock. We looked everywhere in the manual, on the forms and everything we tried didn’t work. We tried unplugging for 6+ hours to hopefully reset the oven (didn’t work). We plugged it back in last night to maybe go through a self clean cycle (the forms recommend this-didn’t work). So this morning I woke up frustrated that my oven still is in lock mode (won’t let me do anything!). So if anyone has suggestions, recommendations or any ideas we should try I’m open to them.

Getting back to my zucchini bread though I was able to bake my loaves (1 at a time) in my toaster oven. It worked ok and they weren’t as good as usual but I figured they turned out pretty good considering the stupid oven situation. So while the oven didn’t work, the frozen zucchini from a few months ago did stay good and worked out perfectly. Hopefully tonight Jace can figure out what is wrong with it (he says he thinks it a switch board or something?) I guess we need to call a technician to come take a look at it. Overall though I would say I’m not too impressed with my GE appliances. We have the GE café series and for what we paid for them I excepted more. Here is our oven, if anyone has experience with it let us know!

Wreath

I was browsing Pintrest that other day and found this blog with this wreath and so I went and picked up supplies to make myself one. It was pretty easy just a little time consuming to cut out all the squares.

Here are my supplies:
Burlap (I used cream and brown)
Pins with large heads
Wreath (I used a straw one)

(Cant get it to turn the right way)

I think it turned out how it was supposed to and it looks good on the inside of my front door. The only thing is I wish I had thought of the cream on my white door. I may end up putting it on the outside of my front door eventually.

Finished product

2011 Highlights

So even though were a few weeks into January now I thought it would be good to do a “2011 Highlights” post.  At the end of every year I make a “Photo Book” from here. Its super easy and a great way to put together photos from the previous year. I just go through and find pictures from the year and put them in order (best I can) and at the end do a quick highlight review of trips we took or anything exciting that happened during the year. It’s my version of scrapbooking, but then in a clean easy to store book.

2011 Highlights

January-Dillan receives his mission call to St. Louis, Missouri (Spanish speaking).

February-Jedd has his first set of fights and wins.

March-I turn 21.

April-Easter weekend at the Dunes and Paige turns 15.

May-Races in Louisiana, Jace turns 30 and Dillan leaves for the MTC.

Jace racing

My family dropping Dillan off at MTC. 

June-Janalyn and Russ get married in the Bountiful, UT temple.

Outside the temple (Russ and Janalyn)  

July-Jace and I go to Las Vegas, NV. Stay at the M Resort for a relaxing weekend. Also went to Sun Valley, ID with Jace's family and cousins. Then of course go to the famous Preston, ID rodeo. I’ve never missed it in my entire life!

At the pool at the M Resort in Vegas.

Packard family at Sun Valley, ID 

Jace and I at lunch in Sun Valley.

August-Lewis family reunion in Idaho, first one in years. Jace and I finish putting in our sprinkler system at the house and lay seed. Very big accomplishment!

My dad (3rd from left) with all his siblings. 

Lewis family reunion.

At the Preston, ID rodeo.

September-Dunes trip with Jace brothers and my dad, brother and sister. Go to Tim McGraw concert, have great seats! Go to Rascall Flatts concert for my mom and dad’s birthday.

Tim McGraw concert with Jace. 

Tim McGraw walking right by us! 

Mom and Dad at Rascall Flatts concert. 

Jace and I at Rascall Flatts concert.

Sharon and Kami at Rascall Flatts concert.

October-buy a boat and stay at home to pass candy out for Halloween. Take a long weekend down to Glenwood Springs, CO. Go trail riding in the mountains with Burt and Lewis families.

Colorado trip, Jace and I. 

The guys on one of the rides. 

Old mine, Colorado trails. 

Mom at the end of a ride.

November-Put up backsplash in the kitchen.  Have first Thanksgiving at our house with Grandma and Grandpa Krantz, Aunt Dee and Cousin Kylie and Lewis family.

Letting everything cook for Thanksgiving! 

(Right to left)-Me, Aunt Dee, Kylie, Grandma Krantz and mom. 

Paige and Ridge had their own table. 

Everyone at the table.

December-Lots of family time with everyone. Get to talk to Dillan on Christmas while on his mission. Have 2 year anniversary on December 30th!

Make Ginerbread houses. 

Christmas Eve. 

Christmas lunch with Jace's dad and brothers.



Parmesan Chicken and Garlic Bread

Tonight I was craving Italian so I made Parmesan chicken and garlic bread. Both recipes are pretty easy to make and really yummy.

Parmesan Chicken

Karen Lewis

Ingredients

1 cube butter, melted

3 pieces of bread (put in blender/food processor and chop fine)

Chicken breast

Shredded parmesan cheese

Red sauce (Ragu-can season with Italian seasoning, garlic and onion salt)

Directions

Put bread crumbs in bowl

Add ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

½ tsp. garlic powder

Dip chicken breasts into butter and coat with bread mixture. Lay chicken in pan, bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Add red sauce on top and sprinkle with cheese (last 15-20 minutes).  Serve over noodles and with additional red sauce.

Easy Grilled Garlic Bread

http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/ 

1/2 C butter, softened

1/4 C mayonnaise (I use Best Foods)

1/2 t garlic salt

1 t parsley

Parmesan Cheese (the kind in the green bottle)

1 loaf French bread 

1. In a small bowl combine the butter, mayonnaise, garlic salt and parsley. Stir it all together until well combined. 

2. Heat up your skillet, or griddle over medium high heat.  Cut your bread into slices about 1 and 1/2 inches thick. 

3. Butter BOTH sides of each piece of bread. 4. Lay several slices on the skillet. 

4. Lay several slices on the skillet. 

5. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top of each piece of bread. Carefully tap it in to be sure it sticks to the buttery spread. 

6. When the bottoms of the slices are golden brown, flip them over and let them get browned on the other side. 

7. Serve while still hot off the griddle. 

Weekend update-Car Show

So this weekend was another busy one but also very relaxing. Friday night Jace and I just relaxed all night and rented movies and I made Apple dip to snack on.

Apple Dip

Karen Lewis

Ingredients

14 oz. can Eagle Brand, sweet condensed milk

1 cup butterscotch chips

½ tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp.  white vinegar

Directions

In a small saucepan heat milk with the butterscotch chips until all melted. Remove from heat, add cinnamon and vinegar. Serve with sliced green apples.

Then Saturday morning we went and helped my dad replace his water heater. Afterwards we went to the gym and then cleaned the house and ran around doing errands. Saturday night was another uneventful night and Sunday morning we had church then went to the car show with Jace’s brother Jake and sister-in-law Marci and nephews. It was fun walking around and looking at the different cars there. Then we went to Jace’s mom’s for dinner. She bought a cotton candy machine which was fun to use. We experimented with different flavors and I had way too much cotton candy. We got a lot of running around and done and accomplished but it was nice to just relax at night and hang out with Jace.

Owen hiding from the camera.

Noah's new hilarious smile.

Jace and Noah doing his hilarious smile again.

Jace and I at the car show.

Pepperoni Roll

I recently have a new addiction to Pintrest and the other day I found a recipe that looked pretty quick, easy and yummy. So yesterday morning before I went to work I set out the Rhodes roll loaf of bread as instructed then came home to prepare the Pepperoni roll I had found on this blog. I did a few things differently but overall it was easy and I followed this pretty closely. Since I’m not home during the middle of the day to let the rolls thaw for just a few hours, mine sat out all day and the loaf got really huge!

I also decided that I wanted some sauce on mine so I added a little Ragu sauce and then seasoned that before I layered with pepperoni slices and cheese. I struggled rolling it all up into a beautiful roll so mine was a little deformed looking but it still turned out good. Another side note is that this blog said it takes 15-25 minutes. Maybe I didn’t roll my dough thin enough but 25 minutes cooked the outside perfectly but the inside was still doughy. So I put tin foil on mine to keep it from burning outside and cooked for about another 20 minutes. When it was finally done cooking though it was delicious, pretty easy meal to throw together and serve with just Caesar salad. So thank you Pintrest!

Can't get my photo to rotate but you get the idea of the finished product...

Cookie Bars and Weekend Update

So this past weekend was a good relaxing one. Friday night we went over to my brother and sister-in laws house to have dinner and goodies and just watch movies. I made Cookie Bars and Pina Colada’s. The Cookie Bars are a recipe from my friend Jennifer Cooper.

Cookie Bars

Jen Cooper

Ingredients:

1 cube margarine/butter, melted

1 ½ cup graham cracker, crushed

Layer above in 9X13 pan

Spread rest of ingredients on top of crust:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

Coconut to cover

Sliced almonds to cover (small bag)

Directions:

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes

** I double the recipe because I think it makes the bars a little thicker. I would also recommend letting them sit overnight. I think it helps the condensed milk sit up a little better.

Bad phone pic. and the cookie bars kind of blend into my counter tops...

The Pina Colda recipe I got here here I love this blog for recipes. Then Saturday was a successful day. Jace and I went to the gym, cleaned up the house, I did grocery shopping and then we made a delicious dinner together. We had baked potatoes, grilled chicken and some Raspberry Muffins (I got the Lion House Muffin mix from my visiting teachers for Christmas, it was so yummy.) After dinner we went to see Tower Heist since it was at the dollar theater. Surprisingly it was really good. I thought it was pretty funny and I really enjoyed it.

Jace helping cook...had to take a picture. 

Yummy dinner!

Then Sunday morning we had church and Primary with all 10 of our kids in our class. It’s a little crazy but we like it. Then we went to my parents for dinner. I was suppose to start my Spring 2012 semester for school this morning but after a long discussion with my parents and Jace I’ve decided I need to take a break this semester. I’m VERY burned out of school. I’ve gone 10 straight semesters (no summer breaks for me) averaging 9-10 credits a semester and working full time. I was not looking forward to this semester and since it was going to be a very difficult semester (Accounting, Business Stats and Economics) I knew it wasn’t wise for me mentally or financially to take classes this semester. I’m going to take a break this semester and plan on looking into some other options (Weber?) and start back up for Summer 2012. I’m really looking forward to having a much needed break and rest from school for now. I have really just wanted to get through school and be done with it but I really think a break will do a lot of good and make me more excited/ready for when I start back up.

This morning my dad went in for a follow up surgery to help his heart some more. They went in to put another stint in since he still had an artery that was 70% blocked. I just got off the phone with my mom and they said he is doing well, much better than last time but will want to keep him overnight just to monitor everything. I’m sure he hates it but I’m glad they are making him slow down a bit to take care of everything the right way. I know this will make him feel a lot better than he has been lately and I’m grateful he has had great doctors to work with. A bit of a busy and crazy past few days but everything is working out!

New Year-2012

Well to catch up quickly on the past weekend, it was not only New Years but our 2 year anniversary on December 30^th. Looking at it now it wasn’t too smart to get married 5 days after Christmas but we needed to get married back in 2009 before the end of the year so when we filed taxes together we could file jointly and get the wonderful first time home buyer tax credit (very romantic I know). Even though it makes for smaller anniversary celebrations it is nice to celebrate during holidays and be able to take time off from work and relax. Jace took the entire day off Friday so we relaxed all morning, made breakfast even went to the gym and then went out to Cheesecake Factory (counter productive? Yes) for late lunch early dinner (hoping to miss most of the crowds). It was still pretty crazy busy but not too bad. Then we did a little shopping and saw Sherlock Holmes. It was just ok, not as good as the first one. After that we went home and just relaxed the rest of the night and hung out. It may not sound very exciting but it was a great day to just spend the whole day together.

On our anniversary outside Cheesecake Factory

New Years Eve wasn’t too exciting. We just cleaned the house (I put away all the Christmas decorations and I’m not sure how I accumulated so much more this year. I ended up having to buy 2 more storage tubs to store it all-thank you mom for all your old decorations to add to my collection) That night we went to my parents friends house and had lots of good food, played some Texas Hold’em and watched the ball drop. It was a struggle for us to stay awake much past midnight so we went home shortly after and went to bed. The next morning we had church at our new time, 9am rough getting up early but nice to be home early. We have a new Primary class, age 6. There are 9+ kids in our class. It may be a bit of a handful but we like being in Primary. Then we had Jace’s mom and brothers over to celebrate Janalyn’s birthday that was earlier in the week. Monday I had the day off from work but was sick so just laid around all day. Yesterday was hard going back to work but will be good to get back into the regular schedule. Last night was my sister-in-law’s birthday so we had cake and ice cream at their place. After tonight everything should be going back to normal. I always hate the first of the year when the excitement of the holidays are over and its back to reality. I start school up next Monday and am not looking forward to it. The break has been really nice and I’ve loved being able to spend lots of time with family. No new years goals for me, at least not yet.