2018 Year In Review

What a wild ride this year has been. I thought it was a good time to recap on some of the highlights from this year. Take a look below!


Ice-auto-x-racing
This was a wild ride legit!

Service Heroes
I got a promotion this year and also was selected to be a 2017 Service Hero which was an amazing experience thanks to my work.

Cut off all my hair this year!
Yep it is short and I dyed it too. I am really in love with it and happy I gave in and did it.

Summer Camp Music Festival
A true adventure this one was the big music festival we attended in 2018.

Second Bathroom Reno
We did yet another huge house project and I love how it turned out.

We went to Spain!
Here is a link to just one of the numerous posts about our epic trip. It was a trip of a lifetime.

Our Pets!
Luna had surgery this year and we took in a new kitty to our home.

This year had a lot of ups and downs for me but in the end I came out in one piece. I am currently nursing my third cold of the year but I will not allow that to stop be from going into the new year on a bad food at all. Here are some photos from my year in review below.

Until next time~
XoXo
Emily

Happy Holidays 2018!

 
 
 
 
 

Happy Holidays to you and yours!


I hope this holiday season is filled with plenty of things that you need in your life. Whether that is time with family, wine, charity and plenty of gift giving etc. I know it is easy to get caught up in the season and be stressed out so I really hope you find time to relax. To cheer you this season I thought I would share a recap of some of my favorite holiday moments so far.

Stella loves creeping under the tree this season. Pre-gifts.

Luna and the tree up!

Another shot of this cutie with the tree.

This year the cats had "fun" with the nativity scene. Donkey down.

Mom and I Black Friday shopping. The start of the Christmas season for us.

Tis the season for ice skating!

Not helping wrap gifts. Stella.

Proof I can wrap gifts.

 

Color this year at the cookie exchange decorating party.

My mom made us all aprons this year. Love!



All the cookie decorators this year!

We went to garden of lights this year and they had trains!



Can you spy Be's little yellow eye hiding in the tree?
Such a cute kitty we have. 

Holiday meals went over well with site at work. Shelli, Cindy, Aaron and I serving some yummy food!



Volunteering our time as a team this holiday season!

My tree is like AMAZING this year.

This poor donkey in the nativity did not get a break this year.



Luna in her fancy holiday sweater to walk in.

Walks in her fancy sweater!

I really hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Until next time~

XoXo Emily

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