Memorial Weekend-Pina Coloda and Bean Dip & Heretic Studios

So I’m a little slow and just now getting to post about Memorial weekend. This week at work has been a bit crazy trying to get caught up from the 5 day weekend (I took off Thursday and Friday then had Monday off! It was wonderful!!) But for the weekend we went down to the sand dunes near Little Sahara in Delta. We pulled out the toy hauler and got the RZR and everything loaded up and ready to go Thursday night. It was really windy when we got there and we couldn’t see much so we just parked and slept. Then Friday morning it was still pretty windy and crappy but we set up camp near our group and had some breakfast. Then we went to take the RZR up the hill. It was running really well and super fast and then it made a bad sound. I looked at Jace and he said, “That wasn’t good…” I guess the crank broke which isn’t fixable out there so it was done for the rest of the weekend. Luckily Jace’s little brother had an extra vehicle we could use so we rode that all weekend. But the weather was so windy/rainy off and on that we didn’t even get to ride much. We had planned on staying through till Sunday but when we woke up Saturday morning and the weather was still crappy we decided to just pack up and head home that afternoon.

The beautiful RZR-can you tell who picked the pink :)

Also notice the headlights and the light bar are Jace and Jake's products. Check them out at Heretic Studios Facebook page.

We stopped on our way home for lunch in Tooele at Wingers then got home and cleaned up a little. Then we went up to visit Jace’s friend Rocky in the hospital. He was having some kidney and liver problems and unfortunately passed away this week. Rocky is defiantly someone you can’t forget and will be truly missed. Memorial services are this Friday June 1^st at 5pm at his Grandmother’s house. Small program and open mic for those who want to share their memories. 2695 S 450 E Bountiful, UT 84010 so if you knew Rocky defiantly come by on Friday.

Later Saturday night Jace and I went to see John Carter at the dollar theater since Jace had been wanting to see it for awhile. I wasn’t super impressed with it, it was just ok. I thought the beginning was pretty slow but the end got better. The Sunday we just relaxed and hung out.

Hanging out Sunday

Monday we did some shopping and went out to eat. That night we cleaned out the trailer and all the toys really well. We got the lawn mowed, the house cleaned, all the laundry done and ready for the upcoming week. It was so nice to just relax and hang out with Jace a lot this weekend. Now that it has been warming up this week I’ve been really craving Pina Colada’s at night. I always need a snack to go with them though so the other night I decided to make this bean dip that sounded yummy. Super easy and delicious. I mentioned the Pina Colada’s in this previous post but the recipe is below.

Virgin Piña Colada

Submitted by Erin-The Sisters Café

4 fluid oz. Cream of Coconut
4 fluid oz. pineapple juice (I use unsweetened)
2 cups ice

Put in blender and blend then serve.

(This website has tons of really good recipes).

Touchdown Bean Dip

Karen Lewis

Ingredients

16 oz. refried beans

1 8oz. package cream cheese (softened)

1 pkg. taco seasoning (25 oz.)

2 garlic cloves pressed (I just use minced garlic or garlic salt)

Shredded cheese (enough to cover the entire dish)

Pico (tomatoes, onion, cilantro all diced/chopped)-season with onion powder, garlic salt according to taste).

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bottom of pan spread beans in bottom. In bowl combine cream cheese, taco seasoning and garlic. Spread over beans. The softer the cream cheese, the easier to spread. Top with pico mixture and cheese. Bake 25-30 minutes. Serve with chips. (I prefer Fritos Scoops)         

**I like to double everything (except the taco seasoning, just use 1 pkg.)  

The top right corner doesn't have tomatoes becuase Jace doesn't like them...

Fruit Dip & Mother's Day Weekend

The past few weekends have been crazy. Luckily this weekend slowed down a bit for us. Friday night Jace and I went to Lowes to pick up some yard tools. Then we went to dinner with Jace’s cousin Cody and his wife Christine at Sonny Bryan’s.  It’s a BBQ place that has only ever been in Texas so I was pretty excited when I saw they had opened one by us.

Saturday was spent cleaning the house, working in the yard, grocery shopping and Jace working on the Truck and RZR. That night we went to dinner at Buca Di Beppo downtown with my family, Aunt Paula and Uncle Mark from California, their daughter Nicole and her boyfriend Scott along with my grandparents. It was good to see the family and have yummy food.

Then Sunday we had church first thing in the morning. When we got home we got ready for a brunch with Jace’s mom for Mother’s Day. My sister-in-law Marci made a yummy French Toast casserole and eggs. Jace and I were in charge of bacon and fruit. I made this super easy fruit dip to go with all the fresh cut fruit.

Fruit Dip

Karen Lewis

Ingredients:

8-oz cream cheese

1 jar marshmallow cream

1-2 Tbsp. Frozen Orange juice concentrate

Dash of vanilla (add according to taste)

*can add orange rind

Directions:

Mix all together and serve with fresh fruit.

Seriously easy and delicious! After brunch we went over to my parents house since my younger brother on his mission was calling! He is in St. Louis, Missouri and has been out for almost a year now. He sounds like he is doing amazing and loves it there. It was really great to talk to him and crazy to think that this time next year he will be coming home soon. Time is flying by. We finished the night with cards and yummy food then went home to veg on the couch before the work week starts. Its going to be a busy week and I need to figure something out for Jace’s birthday since it’s this Saturday!

Jace and I before date night Friday. 

Jace's new edger-he was pretty excited about this.

Downtown Saturday with Jace. 

My little brother Ridge and sister Paige before dinner Saturday.

Painted Bathroom and Baked Beans

Well this past weekend was a little crazy busy but a very productive and fun weekend. Friday night my office rented out a theater and did a screening of the Avengers. I offered to help with getting everything together Friday so I helped tote some give away’s to the Jordan District and had Jace help drag crap in and get set up. Thanks again to Lori and Doug for everything, it was a blast. The movie was pretty good-kinda a predictable Marvel comic movie but still entertaining. Definitely funnier than I thought it would be.

Then Saturday was crazy busy. That morning Jace helped me tape up the downstairs bathroom since I had decided I wanted to paint chocolate brown stripes in there. Once he finished help taping everything, he went outside to work on his RZR and replacing the truck brakes. I put a coat of paint on and then while it dried I decided to start cleaning my windows. I got to all the ones on the first floor. Took screens out, and hand wiped all of them down. It’s not professional grade or anything but they look so much better. I also wiped down all the blinds and got a really good deep clean in on the house. Then I was able to mow the lawn before I put my last coat of paint on the bathroom. Then I had time to run to the store and bank before the night was over.

That night we had a neighborhood BBQ. Everyone brought yummy sides and since it was such a crazy day I decided to go with something super fast and easy. These Baked Beans are my mom’s recipe and they are really yummy and easy (the only part that takes any time is cooking the bacon).

Baked Beans

Karen Lewis

Ingredients:

2 large cans Bush’s baked beans (drain half of sauce)

1 onion, chopped

1 lb. bacon cooked and crumbled

¾ cup Bullseye BBQ sauce

¾ cup brown sugar

 8-12 oz. crushed pineapple (from the can)

Directions:

Mix together into crock pot-cook on low for a few hours or bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Put 2 strips of bacon across top.

Then we went to the BBQ and played some fun games. Jace and I actually won the water balloon toss but Jace got soaked by the kids throwing their balloons at him. After the BBQ we ran to the store and then went to see The Hunger Games. While we were in Louisiana I brought the first 2 books with me. I’m not much of a reader but I managed to read the 2 books in 3 days. I loved them and now I’m on the last one. So I was super excited to see how the movie compared. I ended up being pretty surprised how well it followed the book. I would have to say I liked The Hunger Games more than the Avengers but they are both so different it’s hard to compare them. Sunday we had church then came home to pull off the tape on the bathroom. I was nervous the paint would bleed through badly ruining the stripes but they turned out pretty good. We ended up buying the green painters tape (Frog Tape) instead of the blue one since it never seems to work. I don’t think I will ever use blue tape after using the Frog tape. It worked so much better this time. (Also a side note-the lady at Home Depot told us to use Semi-gloss paint so it resists water/hair spray and everything better. Wish I had known that in my master bathroom...)

Before... 

and after 

another after

That night we had Jace’s dad (Dennis) and step-mom (Gayleen) over for dinner. The past week was her birthday so we did a later birthday/early mother’s day dinner for her. After dinner Jace and I laid on the couch and didn’t move the rest of the night. It was a great weekend but I defiantly could have used some more time to relax.

Pool Side Dip

The other day on Pintrest I found a recipe for a “Pool Side Dip”. It looked and sounded delicious so last night I decided to try it out.

Pool Side Dip

Pintrest-not liked to a page so no credit, sorry!

Ingredients:

1 red pepper, diced

2 jalapenos, unseeded

1 can of corn

½ can of diced olives

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning mix

Directions: Mix all together and serve with crackers. (I served with Fritos chips and it was delicious!)

This turned out so good. We had this along with Chicken Quesadillas for a super easy/fast meal. I was worried Jace wouldn’t like it since he doesn’t like much of anything with corn in it and is pretty selective on most veggies but he wouldn’t stop eating it. Just a note of caution though. I rarely use fresh jalapenos, so about a ½ hour after I had mixed up the dip my nose itched and I itched it thinking I would be ok since I had washed my hands multiple times already. It was not ok! My nose started burning and my eyes started watering. I tried running cold water on it to make it stop burning. Jace suggested I use milk so I soaked a paper towel in milk and rubbed that on my nose. That was the only thing that helped but it was pretty miserable so I would recommend using gloves when dealing with the jalapenos. Other than that it was super yummy and easy!

Poppyseed Chicken/Apple & Spiced Pecan Salad

So I was in the lunchroom today at work and had some reheated Poppy Seed Chicken and a friend asked me to send her the recipe. I went and looked on my blog almost positive I had posted it somewhere and realized I’ve never posted this recipe! I can’t believe I haven’t because this is probably one of my favorite recipes! Jace loves this and begs me to make it all the time. So here it is.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Kensley Rowland

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts boiled and shredded (check out this post for a fast way to shred chicken!)

2 cups sour cream

2 Tbsp. poppy seeds

1 stick butter melted

2 cans cream of chicken

Topping:

3 tubes Ritz crackers (crushed)

1 stick of butter melted

Directions:

Boil chicken and shred. Add all ingredients to a bowl with the shredded chicken. Take the Ritz cracker and butter mixture and spread ½ of the mixture onto bottom of casserole dish. Cover with the sour cream/chicken mixture and top with the remaining Ritz crackers. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes covered and another 30 minutes uncovered.

Poppyseed chicken

This is fairly quick and easy but so yummy. I usually end up making extra pans and freeze them since it freezes really well. It also reheats amazingly.

I made this Sunday night this week since I had to take dinner to a family in the ward. I also ended up bringing them a yummy salad and some rolls both of which the recipes I got from my mother in law. Sorry I didn’t really take any pictures!

Apple & Spiced Pecan Salad

Janalyn Olson

Ingredients

6-8 cups assorted greens (anything but Iceburg)

¾ cups crumbled feta cheese

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1 large red-skinned apple, diced

Dressing

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon salt

Dash Tabasco sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

**Whisk together dressing ingredients

Spiced Pecans

3 tablespoons butter

1 ½ tablespoons sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup chopped pecans

Over medium heat, melt butter in a pan and add sugar, spices and salt. Add pecan pieces and stir until well-coated. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until sugar caramelizes and pecans darken slightly in color. Transfer mixture to a paper bag to cool. Shake bag occasionally to break up pieces.

Assemble salad ingredients & top with cooled pecans. To avoid browning apples, can be added directly to dressing or diced just prior to serving. Toss salad with dressing and serve.

The rolls my mother in law kinda made up but they were so yummy!

Cinnamon Sugar Rolls

Janalyn Olson

Ingredients:

Butter

24 Rhodes Rolls

Cinnamon Sugar

Powder Sugar

Vanilla

Milk

Directions:

Unthaw Rhodes rolls and cut into ¼’s. Roll each one into melted butter and then cinnamon sugar mixture. Place in pan that has been coated in butter. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar mixture on top. Let them rise and then cook at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Make icing mixture with ½ the bowl of powder sugar and ½ a stick of softened butter. Add 1 tsp. vanilla and milk to make icing. Ice the rolls while hot and serve!

Haley Bridal Shower

This past Saturday I hosted my good friend Haley’s bridal shower and I believe it was a success. It was quite a bit of work but lots of fun to see everyone. My good friend Whitney was nice enough to help out and brought a sandwich platter from Costco that was yummy and my other friend Stephanie brought a huge veggie tray. Then Bree brought chips and dip and Bridget brought some cupcakes so thank you to everyone who helped contribute and I’m sorry if I forgot anyone.

I took Friday off from work so I would have time to run around and get the house and everything together. Jace was also super sweet and helpful in getting stuff together. He cleaned up the front porch and even weeded the front garden area that was looking pretty rough from the winter. He also stayed up Friday night frosting Strawberry cupcakes with me. I had read on Pintrest somewhere (I can’t find where I pinned it now to give credit to the source so I’m sorry…) that if you put the jar of store bough icing in your mixer and just beat if for a little bit, it will make the icing fluffier and double in size. I decided to try it and it was amazing! I hate using store bought icing because it’s so stiff and dense and impossible to spread but after I mixed it up a bit it was really light and smooth and so easy to work with. Would defiantly recommend trying it out.

The shower was right at noon so we had sandwiches and a bunch of appetizers and desserts. I just used Strawberry out of the box cupcakes (since the theme was red, white and pink). They were pretty good and I was excited about the icing trick! I also made some yummy apple dip and spinach dip along with the most delicious cranberry punch. Its so easy and everyone always likes it. I found the recipe here. Its a great holiday/party drink.

The Spinach dip recipe is one I’ve posted before here. Same with the Apple Toffee Dip. This stuff is delicious!

Then after everyone got some food I passed out questions that Haley’s fiancé Mike had answered earlier for me. It was fun to hear Haley and Mike’s answers. Then Haley opened up A LOT of lingerie and some cooking supplies. Then everyone chatted for a bit and filtered out. It was great seeing everyone and lots of fun to get together. I’m excited for Haley and Mike to get married in just a few weeks!

The party favors

Heart shapped teaspoons 

Setting the table up

People getting food

Waiting to open gifts

Whitney and I! 

Taryn, Bridget, Whitney, Haley, Hela and me (from left to right) 

Parm-Breaded Pork Chops/Pina Colada

Well because I have my oven back I was pretty excited to make a real meal last night. So I found this recipe a few weeks back I’ve been wanting to try out of Taste of Home magazine (yes I’m like an old woman and subscribe to that magazine…) Its Parm-Breaded Pork Chops and it was delicious!

Parm-Breaded Pork Chops

Melanie Hogan-Taste of Home Magazine

Ingredients:

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 egg

2 Tbsp. 2% milk

1 cup crushed butter-flavored crackers (I used Ritz crackers)

3 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

½ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

¼ cup butter, melted

6 boneless pork loin chops (can probably sub for chicken)

Directions:

Place flour in a shallow bowl. In a seperate bowl whisk egg and milk together. In a third bowl combine crackers, cheese, salt and pepper. Place butter in a 13 X 9in baking dish.

Dip pork in flour, egg mixture and finally cracker mixture then place in baking dish. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

To go along with the yummy pork chops I had some asparagus that I sautéed and seasoned in a fry pan along with some red potatoes that I sliced, seasoned and baked in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. It was such a yummy and easy dinner to prepare. So thankful to have my stove back!

Then while everything was cooking I decided I needed to test out the new Ninja blender. There is this amazing Pina Colada recipe I love from this blog. They are so simple and delicious and now with how fast my Ninja is, super quick to make as well. I must admit there was a major difference in how well it blended compared to my previous blender. I’m in love already!

The meal completed! (see the pina colada to the right) 

Not sure about this face Jace is making-but this is him trying out the blender...

Christmas 2011

So this year was pretty crazy busy trying to fit time in to see everyone but it was great being so busy with family. Friday I took the day off work to get the house ready, last minute shopping and wrapping. That night Jace and I went down to my cousin Krista’s house in Provo with my family, cousin Nicole and Dillan’s girlfriend Kami. We had dinner with Krista and her family along with my Aunt Sharon. Then we played the Christmas game that Jace introduced to our family a few years ago when he joined the Lewis/Burt clan. You take tons of different little gifts (this year we had each family bring 3-5 gifts) and wrap them up in newspaper and packaging tape. Then you put it all together in a giant newspaper ball. Then everyone sits around in a circle and when you roll a 7 or an 11 you get the oven mitts and try to open any present inside the ball. What you open you get to keep so you have to be quick before someone else gets the mitts. It’s always entertaining to watch people try to open everything.

Sharon, Kami and Nicole. 

Anna trying to open the gifts.

Then Saturday Jace had to do a little last minute shopping while I worked on getting food ready. I made some bean dip for my mom’s house that day along with Apple dip and Spinach dip for Christmas day.

Touchdown Bean Dip-Karen Lewis

16 oz. refried beans

1 8oz. package cream cheese (softened)

1 pkg. taco seasoning (25 oz.)

2 garlic cloves pressed

½ cup shredded cheese

Pico

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bottom of pan spread beans in bottom. In bowl combine cream cheese, taco seasoning and garlic. Spread over beans. Top with pico mixture and cheese. Bake 25-30 minutes. Serve with chips. (I would double the recipe if you’re going to use a large pan). (Didn't get a picture...)

Apple Toffee Dip-Janalyn Olson

1 8oz. package cream cheese (softened)

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

11 oz. Heath toffee bits.

Mix until fluffy. Serve with apple slices.

Notice my cute new serving dish from Jace

Then I went over to my mom’s for a bit since my Aunt Paula and Uncle Mark from California were there along with my cousin Nicole, Uncle Dave from Vegas and my grandparents from Idaho were all here. We just ate a lot of food and played cards until it was time to go up to Jace’s moms. We were up there for Christmas Eve and had a really yummy dinner and also played the Christmas game with Jace’s family. We also watched the Christmas videos each of the families had made. (Earlier this month, Janalyn gave us all a stocking with props to make a Christmas video with). They turned out hilarious! 

Owen jumping on Jedd. 

Jace did this to Noah while playing the Christmas game. 

The Christmas game 

Jake, Marci, Noah and Owen. 

Jace and I on Christmas Eve.

Then we went home to sleep and the next morning went over to Jake and Marci’s house to watch the boys open their Santa presents. We had breakfast over there and I brought over Coffee cake that my mom makes every year for Christmas.  

Coffee Cake-Karen Lewis

18 Rhodes rolls

¾ cup brown sugar

1/2 -1 tsp. cinnamon

1 pkg. butterscotch pudding (NOT instant)

Cube butter (melted or cut up into chunks)

Spray Bundt pan with PAM. Lay rolls and sprinkle with dry mixtures (including butter). Let rise overnight. Cook at 350 degrees 25-30 minutes (first 15 uncovered, cover the last). Best to cook on cookie sheet to prevent boil over/mess.

We spent the morning with Jake and them and Jace’s mom and Russ came down as well. Jace spoiled me again on Christmas. He picked out this amazing center piece for the kitchen table. He knows I love Z Gallery so he went and picked some stuff up since I’ve wanted something on the table since we got it before Thanksgiving. Love him!

Owen and Noah opening Santa presents. 

Noah didn't know what to do with all the presents. 

Janalyn and Russ-Christmas morning. 

Noah riding Owen's toy.

The center piece

Then we went over to my families place for the night. We got to talk to my brother Dillan who is on his mission in St. Louis, Missouri. It was great to hear from him and hear how well he is doing. He has been gone 7 months already. It’s flying by. We played cards, opened gifts and ate a lot of great food again all day. We also ran over to Jace’s dad’s house for a little bit to see them and exchange gifts. It was great seeing everyone for the holiday and we were defiantly spoiled. Love Christmas and sad it’s already over this year but glad we got to see everyone and it was such a great holiday weekend.

Jace and I Christmas morning at our house. 2nd Christmas in the house together. 

Christmas Day at my parents with everyone.

Food and Finals

So the holidays really makes me want to cook. My mom is such a great cook and always made tons of goodies and homemade meals for us, especially around the holidays. So over the last few days I’ve been cooking up a lot of comfort food.

The other night I made some Spicy Buttermilk Chicken, another recipe from our good family friend Carol Kalar.

Spicy Buttermilk Chicken-Carol Kalar

2 ½-3lb cut up frying chicken (I just used regular chicken breasts)

1 ½ cups buttermilk

¾ cup flour

1 package dry Italian salad dressing

¼ tsp pepper

½ cup butter

Dip chicken in buttermilk and roll in flour seasoned with dressing and pepper. Then it says to melt the butter in frying pan, add chicken and bake covered at 350. I melted butter in the microwave, brushed my baking dish with it then placed the chicken in the pan and just baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes covered the turned chicken over and baked for another 30 minutes uncovering the last 10 minutes. It turned out good that way so I would do it again.

I served it with baked potatoes and cornbread. I got the idea from my mother in law Janalyn when she had made it a few Sundays ago. I love Z Tejas cornbread at the Gateway mall and this tastes very similar to it.

Z Tejas Copy Cornbread-Janalyn Olson

Use 2-3 cups cornbread mix (I used Marie Callenders mix)

1-2 cups yellow cake mix

Handful of corn

Mix and add water, egg, milks, etc. according to directions on cornbread box. (I just made mine until I liked the texture of the mixture). Then pour into pan and bake according to cornbread box or until golden. It turns out so yummy and really moist.

Because I’ve been studying for finals all week (just took one this morning and have only one more to go tonight!) I’ve been craving goodies to snack on while I study away so I decided to make some Fudge this week as well. I love this recipe from my mom.

Fudge-Karen Lewis

3 cups sugar

¾ cup margarine

2/3 cup-6 oz. evaporated milk

2 6-oz. pkg. chocolate chips

1 jar marshmallow cream

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine sugar, butter and milk. Bring to boil. Stir 4 minutes over medium heat. Stir in chocolate chips. Add marshmallow cream and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour into greased 9X13 pan. Its just like the recipe on the back of the marshmallow cream bottle.

Now that I’m so close to finals being done I’m getting excited for the break. I’m excited to get everything all wrapped up for everyone, get the house all together and go to my mom’s to make some cookies and goodies for the upcoming week! After tonight nothing to worry about since 98% of my shopping is done and then no school for awhile! Can’t wait for Aunt Paula and everyone to come visit us soon either. I love the holidays! J