Hawaiian Ham Sandwiches

ALERT ALERT-- Your belly will love you but your waist line will not. Sometimes you just need to make tasty things. I made these for our cookie exchange and they are always a big hit. How can they not be they are baked happiness on a bun. Easy to throw together for a crowd and perfect for a football watching party for example. Try them out!













What you need~
1 pound of sliced ham
6 slices of Havarti cheese
1 package of Hawaiian sweet rolls
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 tablespoon Dejon mustard
1 teaspoon Worchester sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
3/4 cup of butter melted (I may cut this back to 1/2 cup next time)
Olive oil

Sliced right down the middle.

Ready for butter mixture.

Whisk it all together before pouring on buns.

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease (I used olive oil spray) the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Cut your rolls in half the long way to that all the tops and bottoms are still connected but cut. See images for details. Place your rolls in the greased pan. Built the sandwiches with ham and cheese. Top with the other half of the rolls. Melt your butter and add other items listed to whisk well. Then pour this mixture over the rolls. Bake in oven for 20 minutes. Cut up sandwiches and serve warm.

YUM!

I love these little yummy sandwiches. Always such a treat. Try them for a gathering soon you will not be sad.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Instant Pot: Sweet Potato Curry

The most exciting thing about the Instant Pot is the times savings for me. When I make curry it usually takes me like 3 hours on the stove and I need to baby the pot. Making this yesterday I was able to do this in record time. Start to finish an hour and that is because I made a rookie Instant pot mistake I will tell you about in a bit. We loved the flavor and how this turned out. I may never go back to making it the old school way again.












What you need~
1 yellow onion (diced)
1 tablespoon ginger (diced)
2 tablespoons garlic (diced)
Spice mix: I used freshly ground coriander seeds, curry powder and gram masala
28 ounces of crushed tomatoes
1 can of chickpeas
2 cups water
1 sweet potato (diced)
1 cup carrots (diced)
~2 cups sweet peppers (diced)
1 cup spinach (chopped)
1 can of coconut milk
3 cups of cooked chicken (diced)
Dash of hot sauce

Start by putting your instant pot on sauté (normal setting) and sauté the onions in a little olive oil till tender. Turn the pot to the lowest setting and add garlic, ginger and seasonings. Cook down for about 2 minutes till it is paste like. (THIS is were I made a mistake) I did deglaze the pan with a little water as you are supposed to when pressure cooking but I also mixed in my crushed tomatoes this gave me the dreaded burn food alert when I first tried to pressure cook. Make sure to add at least 2 cups of water to the pot it needs to be runny to build pressure. So at this point after deglazing the pan and your 2 cups of water and LAYER the other items I list. DO not mix. If you do make sure water can get below your items. This prevents the pan from burning when coming to pressure.

When releasing the pressure I tend to hide with the cats.

Anyway add your crushed tomatoes, chick peas, sweet potato, carrots, hot sauce and half of the coconut milk. Make sure your lid is on correctly and that the vent is closed. Set the pressure cooker for 9 minutes. Once the cooker is done and you hopefully do not have to restart like I did with the evil burn message release the pressure using the quick release valve. Open the lid away from you. Add the rest of the coconut milk, chicken, spinach and peppers. I actually turned this back on low on the sauté feature for a little bit to finish. Serve it over rice!

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

The Nativity Scene Saga

I have been sharing this story with my team this year and since it warms their hearts for a good laugh. I figured why not share it with you all. Ryan has a really nice nativity scene his mom purchased for him and I decided this year I was going to put it in my big bay window. It looks really nice there and I started to slowly notice that the "fake" grass in it was going missing. Cats... That is right our cats Be and Stella were either eating it or playing with it. So I removed all of the grass. The nativity started to look a little bare but still nice.

A couple of days later...

I found the sheep herder (manger boy) down for the count. At first I thought this was a one off. Like maybe he fell down naturally. So I set him back up and forgot about it.

Then this happened...

I laughed so hard when Ryan text me this because then I really knew the cats were messing around with the nativity set. It was sorta a fun thing to see each day what happened. I am actually glad the pieces are plastic so no real damage is done. Does Be not look super innocent?

Some fun pictures I have captured daily with our nativity drama.

Joseph DOWN!

Donkey took a fall. I also found him on the floor one day but forgot to take a picture!

Joseph down last night. I am starting to think he is a drunk?













I hope after all the crazy things that have been going on in our lives and in the world this quick and silly read brought a little smile to your smile today.

Happy Holidays!

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

 

 

Instant Pot: Spaghetti Squash

OMG. I did it everyone and no one died! Ryan found me a killer deal on an instant pot for Christmas and I finally was brave enough to read the instructions and use it today. I have a rather large fear of pressure cookers. I watch a lot of cooking TV and the idea of the steam burning me or the top flying off are at the top of my fear list. Recently within the last year I see all these people with these Instant Pots and I thought if these non-foodies can use one I can do it. I find myself to be a kitchen gadget queen so I gave in and took the plunge. After reading instructions, prepping the machine and running a water test I did this basic recipe of spaghetti squash to serve with my goulash I made separately. I am sure you are like who the hell cares I can bake the squash just as easy... Well sure you can and it takes an 1 hour to 1.5 hours. This took 5 minutes to come to pressure and another 9 to cook. That is 14 minutes people. I would recommend a smaller squash as I had to cook mine in two batches so like 28 minutes total for two pressure cycles.

What you need~
1 large spaghetti squash
2 cups water

Hello little guy!

Yum!

Place the metal basket in the bottom of the instant pot. Pour in your water. Place the squash that you have cut in half and removed seeds from in the pot. It does not matter how you stick it in the pot. Make sure to shut the pressure valve to seal. Set the cooker to pressure cook and the timer to 9 minutes. When it is done quick release the pressure and remove lid right away facing away from you. Take the squash out with a tongs and then shred like normal with a fork. Be careful it will be piping hot.

I love this appliance so far with the one use and I will have plenty of handy recipes for those that have one of these or may get one for the holiday.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Grandma Emerdine's Pumpkin Pie

Your Grandma will be proud of these pies. This is my Grandma Emerdine's recipe that my mom has still to this day on a little tin in her cabinet. Which is silly but I love it at the same time. In the below pictures you will see my mom's hands holding the tin along with some pie pictures. I love holiday pies my Grandma used to make one in like every flavor. You would walk in the entry way and there would be a line of pies greeting you including apple, banana cream, cherry and of course pumpkin. She made them all herself and we try to keep some of that traditional alive. Maybe not like all of those types but some of them. Serve this with ice cream or cool whip. We love it cold in my family.







Disclaimer: I totally wrote about this topic in 2016 but I love that I did.... Read the older post on this topic HERE!



Follow these old school tin directions!

What you need.

Hello beautiful pies.

I hope you keep up with some of your family traditions each year. I like to have some things traditional but change up some other things to keep things fun. These pies will always have a special part in my heart though.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Thanksgiving 2018

What a whirlwind of a week. I had off most of the week and between cleaning and family time the week flew by.

Thanksgiving: Made the pumpkin pies, the meat/cheese and veggie trays. Saw Ryan and my family all in one day which is always a ton of love and fun. Ryan's brother Marc came home for a visit so we managed to spend a lot of time visiting with him even getting ramen later in the week. My mom made her best batch of cheesey hashbrowns ever per my sister-in-law. 😁

Black Friday: We went shopping for 6am with my great aunt shirley and it was so fun. I know I keep saying fun but we laughed and have the best time shopping together. We went to lunch with my moms family at krolls too. I love seeing everyone. I even got that cute jacket for Luna at menards for $3 a steal! That night we had friends over and played the game of life. I forgot how silly this game is.

The rest of the week was cleaning and relaxing!

Oh and a pet update! Luna got her stitches out today and is allowed to go for walks again. She is healing up really nice. Be the little black adorable kitty loves sleeping on the dining room chairs and begging for cool whip. Stella loves to continue to sleep all the time and be grumpy.

Enjoy some of the pictures from this past week!

Until next time-
XoXo Emily

Yelp Event: Holiday Booze

I mean it was fabulous. How can it not be when it is called Holiday Booze. I really have a soft spot for Ridgeview Liquor and having a Yelp event hosted here was a great idea. GO HERE to read my review and see some fun pictures from the event below.

Review:
5/5
My favorite liquor store by my house mixed with Yelp how can this not be a great event!? It was super fun from the free samples, explanation of the beer/wine we were tasting and the fun booze hunt we did it was a blast. I love that not only was the owner there to answer questions you could tell him and his employees really love their beer/wine. I went away buying some goodies too for home. Scott did outstanding as always with this event!

A special Bourbon they only sell here.

Beer and wine tasting.

Beer!

Beer.

Cheers/wine

Fun!

Beer tasting.

Ready to taste some yummy things.

Such a fun event and a good way to spend a Sunday night.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily