{PREVIEW} The Humble Beginnings of a Homely (in a good way) Housewife

Howdy, y'all! Here's a preview of my post for Cattails & Cardigans!

If you were to take a poll today and ask how many people would want to be a house wife, you most likely wouldn’t get very many answers. Not many people dream of spending their days at home while their man is out all day working. I guess that’s what makes me an anomaly.

Currently, I’m only a housewife in the interim, while I try and find work.  But in the meantime, I’m living it up cooking and cleaning! And while that doesn’t sounds very fun, to me, it is. I’m weird. I love to do the dishes. I spend my days cleaning one room a day (more on that later), dancing around the house to Pandora radio, and working on my internet presence. I’ve found the only way to get things done online (as well as around the house) is to treat whatever you’re doing like a job.

To read the rest, click the picture! The post goes live on the 25th!

Locked Out? No, Locked IN!

Once upon a time, many moons ago (and by many moons, I mean November), I got locked inside of my mom's house with my boyfriend Bill. Bill had brought me home to change for work (and to take me to work). Everything seemed fine until Bill tried to open the door to leave.

I was in the kitchen, saying goodbye to my mom, and making sure that she would be picking me up at whatever time I was done when I heard Bill call out to me that he couldn't get out. So naturally, I go up to the door and think it's just locked and maybe Bill got confused. Nope.

I tug and tug at the door with no give. I even did that stupid thing people do in the movies by putting their foot up on the door and pulling, no dice. Bill had to climb out our front window (which is pretty high up off the ground) and call out to my neighbor, Jamal, who was on his stoop. Jamal thought Bill was robbing the place! (Who in their right mind would rob a place in the broad daylight, wearing a florescent yellow hoodie, and go out the front window? No one, that's who.)

Once Bill explained himself (and I hollered out the window to my neighbor that, no, this man was not robbing us), Jamal got to work helping us. Bill had to piggyback down on to Jamal's back to get out, and then I had to go the same on Bill's back!

Those two tried everything they could while my poor mother was stuck inside. Unfortunately, I had work, so I didn't get to stick around and see the shenanigans unfold. By the time I got home, all was well again! Bill saved the day by getting us a new doorknob and fixing the door up right. He's such a good egg.

That was a fun day. Work that day was pretty dismal in comparison to what I went through beforehand. Anything like that ever happen to you?

Oh, and by the way, I'm writing a guest post on Cattails & Cardigans next week! To be posted the same day of my doctor's office visit. I'm much like an animal when it comes to those—see the vet and run...

Chicken Pot Pie Surprise

Last night was a bit of a surprise—I didn't have to cook! Our friends Chrissy and Larren made chicken pot pie for dinner and invited us over. I guess that was one way to christen their new table ;) Served over biscuits, it was to die for. I can actually still taste it now, and got very hungry...

Seriously! Just looking at that picture makes my mouth water. Perhaps it's time for lunch....

Hope all is well with you! Just been working on a bit of design around the blog. What do you think of the new stuff?

Bill Bakes for the Blog!

Don't interrupt me when I'm getting my bake on!

To begin, make sure you have the necessary ingredients.

First, you'll need to add ~1.5 - 2cups chocolate chips, 1/4 cup butter (cut into cubes), and one 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk into a large glass bowl. Set this aside.

In a mixing bowl, add your favorite box of cake mix (I used Betty Crockers Chocolate Fudge here, but have also used Funfetti and Yellow cake mix before), 1/3 cup vegetable oil, and 2 eggs.

Put the glass bowl containing the chocolate chips into the microwave on HIGH for 45 seconds.

Remove the bowl, mix with a non-stick rubber policeman or wooden spoon. Re-heat the mix in 45 second intervals in the microwave until this is fully mixed and smooth. Its very easy to burn chocolate, so stick to short intervals and you should be ok. This usually fully melts in approximately three 45 second cycles.

Time to set the oven to 350F, allow it to pre-heat for at least 10 minutes.

While melting the chocolate chips, start to mix the cake portion by hand. This is best done using a large rubber policeman and folding the batter onto itself. This will eventually form a VERY thick batter. I would not suggest using an electric mixer for this as it will likely get stuck.

And voila! This will be the base for the snack. Continue to fold this onto itself until the resulting batter is smooth (no visible dry cake mix left).

Using a 13x9x2" well greased or non-stick glass/metal pan, place 2/3 of the cake mix batter into it and spread evenly across the bottom.

Next, pour the molten chocolate mixture on top of the batter and try to get it to spread evenly across the top.

Using the remaining 1/3 cake mix, make several "balls" or "disks" to place on top of the chocolate. Try to spread these evenly across the top.

This is the final result before baking. I've used several small balls of dough before, but I prefer the "disks" better as they tend to spread better during the bake. Place this into the oven for 20-25 minutes. This is done once the cake portions on top start to lightly brown.

This is the final result. Aptly named "Can't Leave Em' Alone Bars" they combine the texture of brownies with a smooth creamy chocolate center. Similar to substituting the cake mix, you can also use white chocolate or peanut butter chips (or others...) to yield the same result for an endless combination of flavors! Enjoy!!

--Bill

Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatballs

Monday was one busy day! It started off by me prepping meatballs for our spaghetti dinner. Because I didn't have mozzarella balls, I had to modify the recipe a little bit.

First, we start off with mixing everything together. They are as follows. 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, 1 lb. lean ground beef, 1 egg, 1/2 c. finely chopped white onion, 1/2 c. panko bread crumbs, 1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 c. milk, 2 tbsp. minced garlic, 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp. yellow mustard, 1 tsp. hot sauce, 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp. garlic salt, 12 to 14 (1-in.) fresh mozzarella balls. I actually didn't use panko because I rather dislike the taste of it, to be honest.



Mix everything in a big bowl.

On our shopping trip, Bill and I didn't get mozzarella balls, because we already had shredded mozzarella at home. I kind of wish we got the balls, because trying to out the shredded mozzarella into the meat in ball form was actually quite difficult. So what ended up happening was this: I just threw a bunch of cheese into the bowl for what looked right for that amount of meat.

The meatballs are starting to take form! And my handy, dandy helper, Andrew helped me get the dish into the icebox while I had meaty hands. He also took the pictures for this post!

While those were in the icebox, I started to make banana bread. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of it/the process. I made it for Bill's bowling team, and they devoured it! Everyone said it was really moist and delicious.

Nibbler kept us company in the kitchen the entire time, and we got a quick picture in while I was cleaning up!

Unfortunately, Andrew couldn't stay for dinner. Too bad, he missed something really delicious! The finished products.

Bill got to stay for dinner, though ;). One happy customer, I'd say! He said everything was really amazing, and he hopes that I make these again sometime.

So that's everything I have for you this time. Did you like that there were lots of pictures? Let me know in the comments below! Perhaps next time I'll do a dessert? Or maybe I'll have Bill do a dessert, and guest-blog one day! What do you think of that, sound like a good idea?

Fourteen Things I Love About Bill

It's Valentine's Day today and what better way to celebrate than to tell you fourteen of the things I love about Bill!

1. The way he sings country music
2. ...And gangster rap
3. How he explains video games, but not in a condescending way
4. He takes extremely good care of me when I'm sick
5. The way his eyes crinkle and sparkles when he smiles
6. Those dimples he gets when he smiles, too
7. He's handy with fixing stuff (Seriously, one time the door broke at my mom's house and he stayed and fixed it. That's a long story though.)
8. Incredibly intelligent
9. His love for his puppies
10. He's a good baker
11. The silly voices he makes
12. The way we play together and just generally be silly
13. He knows his manners
14. How romantic he is!

So there you have it, fourteen things I love about my man! He's seriously just the cat's meow, and I can't imagine what I did to deserve him, but I'm glad I did it.

Bill, honey, if you're reading this, I love you dearly. I'm so glad to have you in my life, and that we're on this great journey together! I don't know where life is going to take us, but I'm so glad that it's taking me there with you! Happy Valentine's Day, baby, and here's to many more. I love you.

The Lady and the Mister

I love how Bill and I can work together for hours on end and then come into a room together and do two totally different things, but still be together. We're still together, but we're doing our own thing. Just a bit of a wind down after a crazy few hours. I like moments like these, but I also love the cuddles that come afterwards.

This afternoon I baked some breads to help him out for his donut day at work, as well as cut up apples for a Jewish Apple Cake, and then when he came home, he helped me out with dinner a little bit. I home-made Chick-Fil-A (a post on that forthcoming), but it was a little messy and I only had one hand available. So Bill helped out but being my plater and chicken-cutter-opener. Quite the official position, if I do say so myself. Not to spoil the next post, but the chicken was amazing.

After dinner was all said and done, though, things picked up fast. Our kitchen was a hectic mess for sure. I didn't really help too much with the Jewish Apple Cake or the cheesecake Bill made, except to be his "getter of things." (See, I have an official position too! :P) When his hands were messy, I got for him. Funny how that works, sort of a "one hand washes the other" deal.

At least I helped cut up the fruit! But that's because I got what was left over and didn't fit on the fruit tray. Honeydew, pineapples, and strawberries are all amazing with Cool Whip on them, fyi. I just learned this. HEAVEN!

We finally got all the cakes done. We're just relaxing while we wait for the cheesecake to cool enough to put in the icebox. (Poll: Am I really the only one to call a refrigerator an "icebox?" Answer in the comments below.)

I hope everyone likes the baked goods we worked hard on!

Family Food Test

It’s always a little strange cooking in someone else's kitchen. But I did it with grace and ease (and a little help from my hunk and his momma)! I made chicken broccoli pasta for the family, my biggest batch ever!

As I was getting the chicken done, Bill's brother, Dave, came in the kitchen and asked if he could have a piece. He took one bite and was in heaven! Even said "oh goodness she's hired." Admittedly, the chicken was so good; we all could have eaten just that.

Bill had to help me drain the pasta and the broccoli because the pots were so big I couldn’t lift them without fear of dropping them. He’s such a good helper! And his mom helped with the chicken by teaching me a trick to keep them from burning right before they’re done but still need that extra little bit of cooking time: add water. Seems pretty common sense, but I didn’t think about it. It’s kind of like how you cook sausage.

Mom also popped some Texas toast in the oven near the end so we could have that with the meal. Never had bread with it before, but it was a nice added touch!

When everything was all put together, we sat down at the table to eat. Those first few seconds after everyone had their first bites was a little nerve-wracking because I couldn’t tell if they liked it or not.

Spoiler: They DID! Bill’s uncle George ate with us even though he was supposed to be going to dinner at Bill’s other uncle’s house, but even he had seconds! Everyone loved it. I think this will become a weekly/bi-weekly thing do. Next time we go over, I’m making the Parm Chicken Bake I made for you guys. Hopefully it goes better than it did when I made it the first time!

Oh, and a short little aside… Remember that cheesecake that Bill made? Well here’s the finished product. 

Oreo Crusted Cheesecake. So. Good. Best cheesecake I’ve ever eaten.

Tonight I'm making broccoli and cheese soup via a copy cat recipe from Budget Savvy Diva!

Lazy Sundays...on Saturday.

I woke up this morning and it just felt like Sunday for some reason... Regardless, it was nice. Woke up feeling nice and calm, and about the same time as Bill. I wanted to cook him breakfast in bed and wake him with it as a surprise, but unfortunately that didn't happen. What ended up was Bill cooking breakfast... The same thing I was going to cook. Strange how much we're on the same wavelength sometimes.

After breakfast, it was time to bathe the dogs. Surprisingly, they're very well behaved when it comes to bath time. My dogs were not so well behaved when water was involved. Nibbler, the cockapoo, is so funny it come time to dry him off. He gets so frisky after a bath because he doesn't like the towel. Runs around the living room like a charging bull! But we did get him to sit still for this one after-bath shot.

Bill's really good at giving the dogs their baths. Exceptionally gentle and careful—much like he is with me, when I'm sick. He's a really good doggie daddy. Makes me think he'll be really good with kids one day.

After that was all said and done, our lazy day started to pick up. I finally got to go to the library near here. The application process for the card was a bit much (so I technically had two trips to the library today—bibliophile heaven), but we got it done. Came home with seven books, only one of which I've read before.

We had some leftovers for lunch, then went for a short trip to Dairy Queen and the movie theater to see Warm Bodies which came out yesterday. It was pretty good. Without giving too much away, it's an apocalypse story along the lines of Romeo and Juliet. And it took me halfway through the movie almost to realize that. EXCEPT it has a different ending. But I won't spoil that ;) And oh my good golly gosh, I haven't been to a DQ since I was a wee little kid. I remember my mom still had her super awesome van. Rest in peace, van of awesome.

When we came back home, we realize we still need to make our Oreo Cheesecake (which I think we'll be doing shortly after I finish this post), so we went and did our grocery shopping. Came in $10 under budget, woo! Normally we shop on Sundays, but since we were already in the place, thought "Might as well."

Came home again and now we're just chilling. Bill's playing Diablo (Hi Bill if you're reading this, I see you online!) I made pizza for dinner. And by "I made," I mean DiGiornio made. From here on out, it's reading, cake making, and getting to bed. I'm pooped. So is Nibbler!

Tomorrow, I have to finish up laundry, and then I get to relax all day! :D Time to finish the last few season 3 episodes of Boardwalk Empire and to start The Carrie Diaries...as well as possibly True Blood. Oh dear, I'm in for it now.

Do you ever feel like Saturdays are Sundays?

Oh bother...Just realized... I'm going to cook dinner for my boyfriend's family tomorrow.... Wish me luck. It's just chicken broccoli pasta, but I'm still nervous. Well, either way, I'll get my shows in! ;)