BLT Chicken

Tonight Abel and I tried a recipe that I got from my sister Sydney which she got from Rachel Ray. It is called BLT chicken. B as in Bacon, L as in Leek, and T as in Tomato. It is a good combination of savory (or as Abel would say "umami") and creamy. As I was cooking the recipe, Abel asked what we were going to eat with it.. I had no idea haha. The recipe didn't say to serve it over rice or pasta or anything of the sort, so we decided we would try it over our favorite type of pasta--angel hair. It was super easy and DELICIOSO! So, everyone should try it!!

BLT Chicken
Ingredients:
-chicken breasts or boneless thighs cut into medallions
-4 pieces of bacon
-3 leeks (diced and washed well)
-3 roma tomatoes
-1 1/2 C chicken stock
-1T flour
-1/2-3/4 C cream (depending on how much you want)
- salt & pepper
-dry white wine (I didn't have this, so I didn't use it and it still tasted great)
Directions:
In one pan, salt and pepper the chicken. Place the seasoned side down first and cook until done.
In a second pan, cook the bacon until crispy. Break up the bacon pieces into the same pan and add the diced leeks. Cook these until soft.
When the leeks are soft, add the flour and mix.
Next, add the chicken stock, tomatoes, and pepper to taste.
Then add the cream.
When the chicken is done, remove the chicken from the pan and pour a dash of wine into the pan to remove the chicken drippings.
Pour the drippings and wine into the sauce mixture.
Wa-la! You're finished!
I would serve it over your favorite pasta :)

Wedding Photos

I've had a few people ask me where all of our wedding photos are because they never really saw any... so, I've decided that I am going to have a handful of them edited and then I will post them on here for everyone to see. It's probably about time I do that seeing as that we got married over 6 months ago.. Oh how time flies.

Shaved Ice-- Gotta love summertime!

Man, Abel and I are hoping that the rain goes away soon and we head back into weather like last weekend. High 70s and all sunshine. We took advantage of the weather last Friday and rode our bikes all around Provo. It was beautiful. On a whim, we decided that we would go get shaved ice at the very best place around.. too bad I can't remember what it's called.. haha. Either way, it's the little shack across the street from Helaman halls (some of the freshman dorms on BYU campus). And it is AWESOME! If you ever wanted a mountain of the softest shavings of snow-like ice, drenched in an assortment of flavors, than this is the place for you. There are about a million flavors that you can get, a snow cap of sweetened condensed milk, and even a scoop of ice cream if you want on the bottom. We asked them about the ice cream and if it was good after we ordered and they threw in a small scoop on the top for free. It was good :)

Guava is my favorite and POG (Passionfruit, orange, and guava) is Abel's. He was so sweet to let me choose the flavors I wanted so we got half guava and half mango. Both great. If you go, I'd highly recommend the guava. That "little" baby in the pictures is a long board (medium) and it was HUGE. Abel and I couldn't even finish it all. Next time, we'll go for sharing a short board (small).

Vinyl Mail Holder

So, a while ago I saw the coolest DIY mail holder/magazine rack made of old records. I thought it was so cool that I had to try it myself. Knowing that my dad has TONS of old records, I gave him a call and he mailed a few up to me. Thanks Pops! 

So today, Abel and I decided to give it a try. It was pretty simple. You basically iron a vinyl record until it is bendable and then you shape it how you want. Our best one was made by ironing a strip close to the middle and then bending it around a book to get the flat bottom. You just have to make sure you work fast because the vinyl cools pretty quick. Here's what we came up with. 

Ignore the ugly mail. Had I been a professional photographer I would have found cool mail and magazines to put in this. But, I'm not so I settled for the actual mail at our house. :) 

Future Plans

So I forgot to update some very exciting news that Abel and I found out a few weeks ago...

No we are NOT having a baby.. Haha..

Abel got into the Marriott School of Management! We are both very excited that he was accepted and starts classes this spring. He hasn't decided on his emphasis yet, but he found out that he doesn't really have to decide until next year so he has sometime to figure out what he really enjoys. We still are planning on getting into and going to dental school in Texas in two years when Abel graduates with his bachelors degree. As for me, I decided to decline getting my masters in Accounting and graduate in December with my Bachelors in Accounting. I am currently trying to clean up my resume and this spring/summer I will be sending it out around the Utah county area in search of a job. Let's hope I can find something!

We are both very excited that we have more definite plans for our future and that things are moving along in a way that we are very happy with.

We also are very excited that our classes/schedules in the fall will match up much better than this semester! Or at least, I'm really excited about that. In fact, we will both be taking the integrated core (which is the core of general business classes). Although we won't have the same teachers, three of the five classes will be the same subject so we can help each other if need be.

We are very happy. Life is good.

Famous Sticky Buns

So Abel asked me the other day if I would make my "famous" sticky buns for General Conference which I was perfectly okay with because I LOVE them. He obviously doesn't know that my "famous" recipe actually came from my sister Sydney and I have no idea where she got it, so no credit actually goes to me.

 I think they worked out pretty dang good this time 'round.

So here they are just as a sticky bun, but if you have a mega sweet tooth like I do, then adding frosting to the top makes this treat only better. 

The recipe is SO easy..

Dough:
3 1/2 C Flour
1 Tbsp Yeast
1 1/4 C Milk
1/4 C Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 Egg

Sugar mixture:
Brown Sugar
White Sugar
Cinnamon
* I don't have an exact recipe for this because everyone likes a different combination. I personally use more brown sugar than white and make mine fairly cinnamony.

Sticky Sauce:

1/2 C Butter

1/2 C Brown Sugar

4 Tbsp Light Corn Syrup

Warm milk to 90-110 degrees and add yeast. Let it grow. When it's done mix all ingredients together and knead for 3-5 minutes. Let dough rise in a warm place until doubled. When this is close to being finished rising, start the sticky sauce. Put all ingredients into a pan and bring to a boil. Once it boils, pour on the bottom of the greased 9x13 pan that you are going to cook your cinnamon rolls in. After the dough is doubled, flour an area on your counter to roll out the dough. Roll out the dough into a nice, large square/rectangle. Spread soft butter onto the dough. Spread the sugar mixture to all edges of the dough. Now it's time to roll! After rolling, I cut the dough in half and in half again until I have 12 rolls. Place the rolls into the sticky sauce. Now it's time to rise the rolls again. Place them again in warm place and let them double in size. When they are risen cook them in the oven for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Enjoy!

Tips: When rising dough I heat my oven to 200 degrees and turn the oven off. I then cover the bowl with the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the oven to help the dough rise.

Chicken Piccatta

So, here's a delicious meal that I think everyone should try. It is from America's Test Kitchen cookbook (which I love). You can look the recipe up on their website or click here. I do two things differently. Number 1- I omit the additional lemon juice. I think that the flavor from the lemon slices is enough. If you want more, I would recommend adding little by little until it's the flavor you want. Number 2- I double the sauce. I do this because Abel and I love to eat it over mashed potatoes, so extra sauce is great on the potatoes. Try it out! You might like it too!