Olive Garden at home

I love Olive Garden. I don't love paying a lot or waiting for a table. Why is Olive Garden so busy? Andrew and I had a discussion about it, never mind. So I made Olive Garden copy cat recipes!

First. Pasta E Fagioli (the recipe). I used small shell pasta instead. Really good!! It's a pretty filling soup. It works fine as a main dish.

Next Olive Garden's Salad Dressing (the recipe). Think about it. It's such a cheap salad but Man! It is delicious! So easy to make really. Pour this over chopped romaine, sliced red onions, sliced tomatoes, olives, croutons, pepperoncinis, etc. Boom. The easiest salad everyone loves.

And last but not least....Olive Garden breadsticks (the recipe). I've made a copy cat recipe on this blog before. I must say this recipe is better. I did use about 1/3 c less flour than it called for. I kneaded it for 10-15 mins (more than what the recipe says). And! I let it rise in a bowl until doubled before I rolled it out into the sticks and rise. The result was altogether better than before.


FUN!!! My house wreaks of garlic but hey. It's a small price to pay. Literally....get it? ahahahahaa

Shrimp scampi

I was on pinterest and I saw a number of shrimp pasta recipes that all made me crave shrimp but not the actual dish. So I threw some stuff together.

-1/2 stick of butter
-olive oil
-15 or so shrimp
-lemon juice
-Italian seasoning
-thyme
-salt and pepper
-little dash of garlic powder
-angel hair pasta

It's hard to mess up. You can eyeball it and customize it to your own taste. I heated up the butter, oil, and spices first and then cooked the shrimp. I boiled the pasta separate and added it underdone (since it would cook more with the shrimp). Andrew loves shrimp and I love Andrew! Therefore, this was a good meal :)

Halloween for the Blaylocks

I love Halloween.

Not as much as Christmas! But I do love it.

Bats can be cute when they're not real :)

Andrew and I made Halloween costumes out of our real life personas jk. We were a prince and princess. I found the dress at Saver's for $7.99 (score) and I found a funny shirt for him for $3.99 (double score). I bought the crowns at Zurcher's (a party supply store) for $1.30 each. That gives a whopping total of $14.58. It's hard to imagine people spending hundreds on their costumes lol. 

Oh, and I found this snake. Just kidding. We went to Andrew's brother's work party (that's a mouthful). While we were waiting in line, a guy with a snake walked by. What can you do but throw it around your shoulders? I'm like a Britney Spears snake princess!!  

Red Thai Soup/Curry/I don't know?

I found some red thai paste at my grocery store. It said to add a can of coconut milk to make the curry. Same as the coconut korma, it was good, but not as good as a restaurant.

I added:
-a can of coconut soup
-green pepper
-chicken
-bamboo shoots
-some chopped onion and garlic
-a bag of noodles (pictured below), cooked without the seasoning

Serve with some rice and boom. Dinner. We just finished the leftovers and I'm relieved ahahah

Bananas Foster

I don't know if it's the Honey Boo Boo Child I've been watching recently or what, but I'm on a bit of a southern kick! And I need me some bananas foster!!

Here is the recipe.

Ohhhhh goodness. good golly goodness. gooooood stuff!

Awesome pumpkin bread

I found this recipe: Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread. Wheeeeeeeewwwie! Honey child. This is good :)

I decided to add a streusel topping, I know, I don't know what came over me. But I'm glad it did! It was a nice addition.

This is the recipe for the streusel topping I used:
1/2 c flour
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

I made the pumpkin bread the same, I just topped it with the streusel right before throwing it in the oven. DElishhh

Chicken Korma

If you like curry and you haven't tried Chicken Coconut Korma then YOU DON'T KNOW CURRY!!! Remedy this immediately and go to an Indian restaurant, repent, and get yourself some chicken coconut korma.

I had to make some because, as college students, we can't afford to eat out :(      ...(and it's not as good in my opinion)

But if you would like to try making it, there are several recipes on the internet which involve a lot of spices and ingredients and steps, bleh. So I did the same thing as the butter chicken curry. I bought a jar of the curry and added some coconut milk and some extra spices (chili powder, ginger, coriander, etc).

One day we will be debt-free non-students and we will be able to afford the real deal. Until then! I'll get my fix from jarred curry. :)

Chicken Parmesan

I didn't use a recipe for this. I just threw it together. I'm going to try to give an outline of what I did but be warned, it is far from exact... Just use the proportions you feel is right, you got this!!

-chicken breasts
-flour (seasoned with salt and pepper)
-beaten egg
-seasoned bread crumbs (Italian seasoning or parsley/basil/thyme/etc)
-oil for frying
-spaghetti noodles
-spaghetti sauce
-some mozzarella for the top

Pound out chunks of chicken breast and put in a plastic bag. Add enough flour to coat them and sprinkle in some salt and pepper.

Dip in beaten egg. Dip in seasoned bread crumbs. Fry 'em up in some preheated oil. I fried it because I like the crispiness. It's bad when it gets soggy and falls apart.

I put them on a bed of spaghetti sauce, put a little chunk of mozzarella on top, and baked it at 375 degrees for about 10 mins or so. I was just paranoid they didn't cook all the way when frying.

Serve with noodles and boom. Dinner :) Not totally traditional but it's how I like it!

BBQ meatloaf

Paula Deen you have done it again!

This is Paula Deen's BBQ meatloaf recipe. My mom really likes it and I know I do! Andrew liked it too! It has a homemade bbq sauce which is unique from store bought bbq sauce. I like it a lot. You could use store bought if you didn't want to make it.

And pictured you can see the lovely pink crocheted pan holders from our Aunt Elaine and the awesome Yankee candle from Andrew's brother and sister in law. We love you guys and we love your gifts! We use them allllllll the time :) 

Chicken and Mac

 Wheeeewww talk about bone stickin. This meal took a lot of butter. A lot. haha This meal is not for the faint of heart....

First we have homemade mac and cheese. It's Fannie Farmer's Mac and Cheese recipe. I liked it. I didn't love it. Do you want to hear something sad? I like KFC's fake mac and cheese. I realized that about myself when I was eating this. It was a depressing realization...

Next the chicken. This is a cool chicken recipe: ranch chicken recipe. It's made with corn flakes and ranch dressing mix and baked in the oven.

I HAD to have a salad with this. Moderation is key. Balance is essential. The salad doesn't exactly balance this out ;) but it helps. The true balance comes in having a lighter meal tomorrow night.

I love fast food. Don't even hate haha! This is probably healthier than a KFC meal since it's without the preservatives and the chicken is baked. It definitely tastes more homemade and people like that of course. I'm just saying I'd be okay with having Colonel Sanders cooked my meal instead, just saying! ;) 

Butter Chicken Curry

So! During my London study abroad a couple years ago, I had some butter chicken curry that blew my mind! It was one of those dishes that shoot fireworks in your eyes from all the chemical reactions going on and the dopamine dump is overwhelming! These foods change your life. You will always search for it again and you may not find it. I haven't.... but I still try!

What I did was I bought a jar of butter chicken sauce...

Then I fixed it up the way it was in London.

I heated up some butter and olive oil in a skilled. Then added the following:

-one clove of garlic, chopped

-1/2 c chopped onion

-1-2 c chicken

-one sweet potato

-1/2 c green beans

-1/2 c heavy whipping cream

-a dash of chili powder and ginger

bam.

delicious.

I simmered it for about 20-30 minutes. It turned out really good!! It's as close to the stuff I had in London as I think I will get (on a student budget, mind you haha). I almost wonder if cream is thicker in London. I don't know. I'm wondering how to get it more creamy. The stuff in London was almost cheesy! Maybe next time I'll throw in a block of cream cheese out of pure desperation haha!

Happy Birthday to me :)

Woosh! I'm just pumpin out posts like a crazy face :)

It was my birthday at the end of September!!! I turned 22 and it was the best birthday ever because Andrew made it fun :) We went to Outback steakhouse and ordered a way-to-huge of a meal. We groggily returned home and literally laid out on our floor because we were SO full. I couldn't even look at my cake for a day haha! 

So! My cake! I love this cake. It's no doubt my favorite so I make it for myself every year :)

What you do:

1. buy a Devil's food cake mix or a German Chocolate cake mix and make as directed

2. mix 15 oz of caramel ice cream topping and a can of sweetened condensed milk (oh by the way, it's not low fat haha)

3. While the cake is still warm, poke a ton of holes in it and pour the caramel topping over it

Wooo! Goopy :)

4. Refrigerate it until cool

5. Spread a tub of Cool-Whip on top

6. Crush a heath bar (or any toffee bar) and sprinkle it on top

BOOM

OH goodness :D

(and ya, those are lines from forks that have snuck in during the night)

Crock pot beef and broccoli

I have to admit, I was really scared about this. I was scared it was going to taste gross because I haven't really made something like this before. But.................. IT WAS GOOD!      And Andrew really liked it which is good because he lived in Japan for two years and knows more about Asian food all the way around than I do lol.

Here's the recipe: take out fake out beef and broccoli

By the way, if you have clicked on the links and compared their nice pictures to my poor pictures you'll notice quite a difference Haha! I think this is kind of nice because my pictures may be a little more realistic, I don't know. It's like the difference between an ad for a McDonald's hamburger and the sight you see when you unwrap the paper. Totally different! Ha!

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I don't know what was wrong with me. Our kitchen was full of goodies and I was like....no. I have to have some coffee cake right now...

I'm really starting to like Martha Stewart's food haha. I think she balances good recipes with time strains and having reasonable ingredients. They require a little more effort than "easy" recipes but they're not excessively ridiculous. Here is the recipe: Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I took about 1/3 of the crumbs and folded them into the cake batter. And I liked it ;) 

Chicken pot pie

Some friends were coming over and I asked them what they would like to eat (out of a few options) and happily they choose chicken pot pie!!!!

I really wanted to do four individual ones but I didn't have enough of the right sized ramekins :( But it turned out being a good thing because I made A LOT of the "stuffing" stuff :)

Sorry I didn't get a picture of it before we hacked into it. We just hacked into it pretty quickly haaha

Oh ya! The recipe! I used a couple different recipes and combined them into one. Here's the first website I used: Chicken Pot Pie Recipe    It just had a good basic recipe for the filling.

Then I used Martha Stewart's pate brisee recipe which I have fallen IN LOVE WITH. Every time I make it, I get compliments on how flaky it is. Here's the recipe: Martha Stewart's Pate Brisee

Pizza rollzz

I found these pizza rolls on pinterest. And they were pretty good! And lasted a long time in our fridge lol

Here's the recipe: Pepperoni rolls

The recipe says to cool it first which probably wouldn't have flattened out. BUT! We were on our way to see the Avengers in the dollar theater and we were running late haha!

I didn't want to buy a the frozen loaf of bread dough so I just made a one loaf recipe of white bread and it turned out fine. 

I also highly suggest having some marinara dipping sauce with it. We felt there was something missing without it.

HAPPY FOOTBALL SEASON! :)

Crepes

WOOOHOO! These were stinkin delicious! SOOO good! Honestly, I've made crepes a number of times before and this was the best recipe! They turned out so soft and moist and buttery. My crepes in the past have gotten that crispy edge thing that's not very delicious but these were good :)

That white stuff is the sour cream/cream cheese topping that this guy suggests. I didn't like it. I would have liked it if it were more close to whipped cream and didn't have that weird sour cream taste

Here's the webiste: http://littleyellowbarn.blogspot.com/2012/06/darn-good-crepe.html

Strengthening Marriage!

Ok, I'm in my last semester at BYU and I need to do an internship to graduate. My major is in the School of Family Life: Human Development. My internship is online and deals with strengthening marriage projects. My project is to start a blog. Here it is!

http://strengthenmarriage.blogspot.com/

Check it out! :)

Avada cadaver to my free time

I am taking anatomy at BYU right now. This is my last semester before I graduate and I've been putting this class off every semester I've been here. I've taken all the required classes around it, including classes a year ahead of anatomy, just to avoid it. But now! I must take it. And it's crazy.

We have to work in a cadaver lab to study various things (right now we're studying muscles). The body is a beautiful thing. We are so blessed to have bodies. I love my body and I'm grateful for my health. But dang. Those cadavers STINK! Ughh, it's painful. Formaldehyde and the other embalming fluids make for some of the worst smells on this planet. Today I kept getting juices on my arms and my lab manual. Ew. Some juice flew up and hit me in the forehead (not a good feeling). If people are bothered by cadavers, it's usually because of the sight but I think the smell is way worse. Anyway!! My little rant is over :)

I promise to not post anything about food in this one lol. Unfortunately, the cadaver lab has been a little detrimental to my appetite. I've been perfectly able to cook up a storm but Andrew bears the brunt of having to eat a lot :)

Apple pie=America

Yaaaaaaaaaaay! :)

So I didn't really make all of this. And I didn't even make it for us lol. A friend of ours asked me to make him an apple pie since his mom sent him homemade apple pie filling and he didn't know what to do with it, haha! I took a picture because it looked nice :) Yum

Summer lovin'

Waldorf chicken salad is so delicious, especially in the summer :) 

 This is my recipe:
a couple chicken breasts boiled in chicken broth and cubed
a handful of each of the following (cubed):
     grapes, cut in half
     apples
     celery
     cheddar cheese
     pecans
1 cup of uncooked elbow macaroni, boiled
the sauce: 1/2 c mayo, 1/4 c applesauce, and 1 tsp chicken bouillon 

I love to eat it on wheat bread, hence...... the Rocky Mountain bread!

No, it's not actually called Rocky Mountain bread, but it looked like it, didn't it? lol This is just a normal honey wheat bread. Here is: the recipe. I halved it and made two loaves. And it rocked!!! rocky mountain rock! :)

Ask me out again sometime ;)

Andrew and I had a fun, super cheap date night in. I found some ideas on pinterest for activities for toddlers and I thought, hey! My husband and I may like this! haha The activity involved taping big popsicle sticks to paper plates and using them like paddles to hit a balloon back and forth. Fun, right? Then we made a fort!!!!

We had some chocolate dipped strawberries and Martinelli's sparkling cider while laying on a blanket under the fort. It was really great! I loved it haha

I also made some chocolate marbled cheesecake :)

Delish-a-dish. I love this stuff! Andrew was very impressed by it also :) I kind of put together the recipe by combining my favorite parts of different recipes. If you want my Frankenstein-like recipe just e-mail me or leave a comment like usual.

Hawaiian Sweet Bread

Nom nom nom nom nom.....

Good stuff! The dough was pretty thick though. At the time, I wondered if it was supposed to be. The bread turned out thick too so next time I'm going to add more water. But! There will definitely be a next time!!

Hawaiian sweet bread recipe

Happy Birthday to my man!!

It was Andrew's birthday last weekend :) We had a great day! First we went to a BYU football game in the afternoon. I made a special dinner of Andrew's favorite things I've made on the blog so far. He wanted chicken cordon bleu (posted on "dinner is served") and the chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake (on the post titled C.C.C.C.)

I love birthdays :) You can see Andrew's presents in the back. He asked for some weird stuff like a tarp for camping and ponchos LOL.

Leackfast!!!

Or brunch, whichever. We had breakfast for lunch :)

Ok this is weird, but I like my pancakes a little...burnt :) I made Andrew gold pancakes and dark ones for myself, don't mind if I do....

I love breakfast at all times of the day except in the morning. Big breakfasts are too heavy for breakfast. But for lunch or dinner....mmmmmmm!!!! :D

Cafe Rio at home

If you're not familiar with Cafe Rio, it's a Mexican restaurant that has the greatest pork barbaqoa. I attempted to recreate it for dinner on Sunday. Andrew's sisters came over and we had a lovely night :)

This is the website I got the recipes from: http://barbarabakes.com/2010/05/cafe-rio-sweet-pork-barbacoa-salad/

I made the pork barbaqoa, black beans, lime cilantro rice, and the cilantro tomatillo dressing. I marinated the pork overnight in caffeine free Pepsi and spices overnight and put it in the crock-pot during church! Easy! The rest I made in less than an hour. It made a stinkin ton of food too lol

BYU!!

Sorry, I haven't updated my blog for so long! First of all, I started my last semester at Brigham Young University a couple weeks ago. I graduate with my bachelor's degree in December and I'm eeeeeexcited! We went to the first home football game this season, two weeks ago. Go cougars! To celebrate, I made blue cupcakes and mixed up some blue kool-aid :)

For dinner, I made this Autumn chopped salad. Here is the recipe:http://espressoandcream.com/2010/11/autumn-chopped-salad.html

It has chopped pears, dried cranberries, pecans, creamy poppyseed dressing, and other wonderful things :) Andrew really liked it!! And so did I!!

Philly Cheese-steak Sliders

For dinner, I made philly cheesesteak sliders. I got the recipe from here: the recipe.

She made a sloppy joe version, but a sliders version was in my best interest.

I had some frozen rolls in my freezer, so I used those. I did the filling different too. I used the cheapest steak I could find at the grocery store (we're poor students lol), sliced it thin, and marinaded it with the steak sauce for 30 mins. Then I cooked the steak strips on the stove with sliced onions and green peppers. I did this several hours before dinner so I put the steak/onions/peppers/salt/pepper in the crock-pot with the beef broth and set it on low until dinner.

When dinner time rolled around, I made the cheese sauce and BAM.

Andrew had five. Aahhah I love him :)

Back to school rice krispy treats!

These aren't your aunt's rice krispy treats. These are CAKE BATTER RICE KRISPY DELIGHTS!

Here's the recipe: cake batter rice krispy treats recipe

They are sooooo good! At first I couldn't even taste the difference....but then.....it came up on me slowly and  YA. Cake batter :)

As you can see, I shaped them into Y's (I just sprayed my hands with Pam and used my hands to shape them). Then I put some melted white chocolate into a sandwich bag, snipped the corner off, and piped on the deco. I am back to school at BYU! We have our first football game on Thursday and Andrew and I are really crazy excited!!!!

I got tired making Y's ahah

The recipe says you'll never make regular rice krispy treats again, and I think they're right!

Black Bread

Woohoo!!!! I was really nervous about this one all day long!

I made an Outback Steakhouse/Cheesecake Factory black bread copy cat recipe and it turned out GREAT!

Here is the link for the recipe: Outback black bread recipe

The recipe calls for some weird stuff including vital wheat gluten and caramel coloring. I found vital wheat gluten at a Good Earth Natural Foods for around $2 per pound. Before, I went to Smith's and found a 22 oz bag for 8 bucks! No thank you! I scooped out some at Good Earth Foods and paid 68 cents :)  I also made the caramel coloring. Here are the directions: Caramel coloring recipe.

I sprinkled some oatmeal on the top, as you can see. The bread turned out really well! I did a half recipe and I was worried it wouldn't turn out but it's soft and delicious :) happy happy happy....

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I love chicken tortilla soup :) It warms my soul...

I love the toppings! Cheese, sour cream, cilantro, crushed tortilla chips, slices of avocado..... yuumm

So, my mom is a really good cook. Better than me. But I have two foods that my sister prefers when I make it over my mom (heeehh heheh sorry mom). Those two foods are this chicken tortilla soup and plain old chocolate chip cookies. I don't know why, but my sister says they are better when I make it :D

If you all want the recipe, just leave a comment below. My recipe comes from an old book, not the internet.

Gotta have ma pops!!!!!!!!!!

BROWNIE POPS!!!!

This was from a Brownie Pops kit. It had a brownie mix, which you prepare like any brownies. Then you cut them into small squares and roll into balls. The kit comes with the sticks, candy coating, and sprinkles. And they are good!

The box suggested sticking them into a block of foam. But I didn't have a foam block. I had a cardboard box. So I punched little holes in it and stood the pops upright so they didn't have an ugly flat side.

FUN!

A little yellow dinner

I saw this on pinterest and had to make it! It's Martha Stewart's Chicken with creamy mustard sauce (recipe). It was REALLY good! I wanted to lick my plate after :)

And some nice little corn made it a nice little yellow dinner :)

Chocolate and Zucchini= yummies

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law have been growing zucchinis in their garden. Last time we were over, they gave us a huge zucchini and there's only ONE thing to do with a zucchini...

Chocolate chip zucchini bread!!!! 

I used Paula Deen's recipe (Paula's recipe), which surprisingly did not have a stick of butter in the entire thing! Crazy! This was pretty stinkin tasty ya'll. If you eat like Paula Deen, you start to talk like Paula Deen.

OOOOH my goshhhh........

Orange.

Creme.

Brulee.

Three words that, if combined, make me droooool!! Oh my good heavens, DELICIOUS! Andrew and I received a creme brulee making kit at our last reception (thanks momma Blaylock!). And I was dying to try it out. So I made this orange creme brulee recipe

WOOOOO!!! It was so good :)

So a torch came in the brulee making kit but Andrew and I couldn't get it to work lol. Never fear, we just used the broiler instead. I read a tip online that said to broil creme brulee in an ice water bath to keep the custard cool. That's what I did, but I used a metal pan (glass will explode under the broiler). The ice bath pictured above was taken after broiling so it would stay cool while I took a picture :)

It took some work, not gonna lie. But it was worth it! And I'll DEFINITELY be making this again in the future. And I will be doubling the portions. :)

Crock-potin' beef stew

 I made an easy beef stew. Andrew put the beef in the crock-pot while I was at work (thanks!). When I got home, I just cut up the beef and added the vegetables and what not.

I found a recipe online for homemade stew mix which I was so excited about!!! Here it is:
Beef stew seasoning mix

I threw in some crushed tomatoes, parsnips, green beans, potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.

I also made some corn bread muffins (mmmm). It was good! I was disappointed with the stew mix though. It had a weird aftertaste that I didn't like. From now on, I'm going to just bite the bullet and buy stew mix seasoning :)