hello again.

sorry i have been missing in action recently. :)

i have been wanting to post, but haven't found the time.

things have been super busy over here. but i have begun to accept this crazy busyness as the new standard.

therefore, i haven't been making amazing yummy dinners, unless you count tomato soup and grilled cheese as gourmet?

nor have i found time to make precious crafts.

nor have i had tons of time to harass my puppy with the camera.

unless you follow me on twitter and saw this picture. yes, that is millie in a t-shirt. it made me laugh. a lot.

but i have lots of time to be intentional about my relationship with the Lord. and that makes me so happy. God has been teaching me so much about Him and His love.

so its okay i have been slacking on the blog...

our life verse

psalm 34:3

"oh, magnify the Lord with me,

and let us exalt His name together"

reading through this psalm a couple days ago.

beautiful.

sour cream enchiladas

after seeing sour cream enchiladas on a couple blogs recently, i knew justin and i would love them.

i copied pioneer woman's technique of frying the tortilla, then dunking it in enchilada sauce. then put a spoonful of the sour cream mixture and rolled it up.

sour cream mixture:
16 oz. container sour cream
3 large chicken breasts [pan-cooked with onions and garlic]
1/4 green pepper
2 tbsp. chopped jalapenos
1 tsp. taco seasoning [or whatever spices you want]
3/4 cup of cheese [i used mexican shredded cheese]
i would have loved to put corn and black beans too...but we were out of both of them.

once rolled and placed in greased 8x8 dish, cover with extra enchilada sauce and additional cheese.

bake in 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. ours were very mild, but the good thing is that you can change it up to suit your taste and they are fantastic leftover also!

date night

we had a fantastic valentine's afternoon.
last night we made our favorite recipe to make together, calzones! my family found this recipe years and years ago and always enjoy making it together.

no need to make your own dough, just get some from the publix deli or your favorite pizzeria (unless you are really good at it, i haven't mastered that yet...)

first start with making the ricotta mixture.
small container of ricotta (currently blanking on the size)
10 oz. frozen spinach, drained (or you could always use fresh!)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
italian seasoning and oregano, however much you like
3 garlic cloves

preheat the oven to 425 before starting with the dough

each publix dough can make three good-sized calzones. since it was a holiday, we made two huge ones :)

then spoon about 1/4 cup of the ricotta mixture and lots of mozzarella cheese plus whatever toppings you want. i put green peppers and onions while justin is boring simple and wanted just pepperoni.

then fold over and pinch the seams so that it looks like this...

then bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. or until you can control yourself because it smells so amazing. the toughest part is judging who's looks best...

justin's?

or mine?

thought you would agree...mine was precious and delish.

oh and justin wanted me to take an artistic picture of his calzone over the roses...why not share it?!?

happy valentines day

"we love because He first loved us" 1 john 4:19

i enjoy valentines day so much more now that we are married...no pressure to pick out a sweet, over-the-top present and card. actually, this is what i got for justin this year. 

please tell me you have seen those gatorade commercials...prime, perform, recovery. the gratitude. welcome to some of our lame inside jokes. we never claimed to be cool.

he got me some beautiful red roses, i guess he likes me :)

we couldn't leave out poor Millie. she loves socks so i let her play with one of mine. it may look brown and nasty, thats because she has been licking and chewing on it for most of the afternoon. 

yes, she is that easy to please.

our staff team takes one day a month and devotes it to our relationship with the Lord. we are so blessed by this and it is such a rejuvenation to our ministry. today, we are spending our day reading the Bible and drinking starbucks. two of my favorites.

tonight we are fixing one of our favorite meals, calzones. yummmm.

what a great day. hope you are enjoying your valentines day as well. spend it with someone you love!

flowers are blooming.

precious justin thought valentines day was last week. 

wanted to update you on the flowers, since i know most of you are dying to know if they bloomed. haha

they are gorgeous.

surprise visitor

let me preface this by saying i am not a cat person. never have been, probably never will be.

...so last night, i heard a cat purring really loud. both justin and i were confused about where it was coming from. after searching around to find this cat, i looked out the window over the sink and saw this...

yes, that is a cat. it jumped up on our window sill...which is pretty high. this made me laugh and i might like cats a little more after this one.

homemade cinnamon bread

this recipe has been taunting me since i printed it out a couple weeks ago.

pioneer woman's homemade cinnamon bread.

it was seriously worth every second of the 4 hours you have to wait for it to rise.
my pictures don't do it justice, it gets dark here before 5:30. not fun.

ingredients:

1 cup milk

6 tbsp. butter

2 1/2 tsp. dry yeast [one small packet]

2 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

3 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp. cinnamon

Melt butter with milk. Heat until warm, but don't boil. Cool a little bit, then sprinkle yeast and gently stir. Sit for 10 minutes.

In bowl of mixer, mix sugar and eggs with paddle attachment until combined. Pour in milk/butter mixture and stir to combine. Add flour and salt and beat on medium until combined. 

Switch to dough hook and beat/knead on medium speed for 10 minutes. If dough is too sticky, add 1/4 cup flour and beat another 5 minutes.

Heat glass bowl [i microwaved for 1.5 minutes] and drizzle in a little bit of veggie oil. Toss dough in oil and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.

[i turned on the oven at 200 degrees for a few minutes, then turned it off. put the dough in the oven to rise...so it is a little bit warm, since it is freezing in our apartment]

Turn dough on counter and roll into rectangle. Smear dough with about 2 tbsp. butter. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle evenly over the dough.

Roll the dough tightly and put in buttered pan. Cover and let rise for another 2 hours.

Finally you get to bake it.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 40 minutes. Check it to make sure the top doesn't get too dark.

Great decision, you need to try this!

super bowl

i really enjoy the super bowl. the commercials, the hype and even the actual game.

my friend christie is a huge steelers fan. so of course the karl house is cheering for the steelers. she let us borrow jerseys...so fun!!

millie was obviously overwhelmed by the camera.

my sweet husband

i love tulips.

justin brought these beautiful tulips home last night. our conversation went just like this.

me: oh thanks, love them.

justin: yeah, they are great. i am hoping they will all bloom on monday.

me: yeah, i hope so too. but why monday???

justin: isn't monday valentines day? 

me:.....no

maybe you needed to be there. i thought it was hilarious. sometimes its the thought that counts.

women's retreat

last weekend we had a women's retreat for girls involved with crusade from alabama, mississippi state and georgia. such a great weekend filled with quality time, learning, relaxing and food...what's not to love :)

this is just the bama girls!!

we were in atlanta for the weekend and two women on staff with campus crusade taught about psalm 23. there are so many analogies about the Lord being our shepherd and us being his sheep and they did a fantastic job reminding us how much we are like sheep. apparently sheep are stupid, stubborn and fearful (among other things)...yep, that sounds like me!

on saturday we had the afternoon free to do whatever we wanted. i went to little five points with these girls to shop. it was such a beautiful day...we enjoyed walking around and eating! and i got some really cute boots. score for me!

audrey, hannah, missy, abigail, marie and katie.

i hope some of my college friends see this little number.

yes, those are strawberries all over it.

and no, i didn't get it.

[my sorority's mascot is a strawberry...little bit obsessed]

here are some more pictures from the weekend

[me and brooke]

[hannah, michelle, bekah caye]

such a great weekend with these girls!

after the retreat ended on sunday, i went to lunch and did a little bit more shopping with my parents. always refreshing and fun to see them!