Feel Better Chicken and Cheese Crescents

One of my good friends and coworkers had surgery this week.  So us girls at the office decided to each make a dish to take to her and her husband.  I knew right away that I wanted to make my mom's chicken and cheese cresents.  They are my favorite meal and comfort food.  When I had all four of my wisdom teeth taken out my mom brought me a freezer batch of them so I could eat them as soon as I could start chewing.  I bought a disposable pan and the ingredients and got to cooking.  I have even had to pass this recipe out to some of the girls in the office just because they saw and smelled them.

2 Cups Diced Chicken (Cooked)
3/4 Cup grated Cheddar Cheese
I can Cream of Chicken Soup
I can Milnot
2 pkg. Cresent Rolls

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook, debone, and chop ckicken or use canned chicken if your in a hurry.  Mix chicken with 1/2 cup of cheese.  Place mixture on cresent dough and roll up.  Heat soup, milk, and remaining cheese together.  Pour half of sauce in the baking dish,  Place the cresent rolls on top and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes.  Serve with the remaining sauce. 

Here is a picture of the smaller batch I made for my husband and I.  There is no way he was going to let me make these without saving him some.  I went ahead and poured the sauce on ours after they cooled.  For my friend I placed it in a seperate container so the cresents wouldnt get soggy.

As you can see I LOVE cheese! My mom usually uses only 1/2 C of grated cheddar cheese altogether but since this is my post I've got to tell you how I do it!

Here is my disposable dish.  Sure to make any sick person perk up!

Keep on Keepin on

With the Oklahoma City Memorial half marathon only 4 1/2 week away, I figured it was about time for me to run around Lake Hefner.  It has a ten mile track that goes all the way around.  There are always a lot of people out jogging and biking but MAN is it far.  By the last two miles I felt like my only small movements were caused by the wind.. I was hurting.  All I could think was geez-a-loueez how am I supposed to do three more?  Hopefully it will get easier in the next few weeks but I really dont think I can run that far more than once a week.  I may get burnt out before my real race even starts.  Here is a picture of me stretching as soon as we got done.  The sun was setting and I really did feel accomplished.  Also, thinking how hungry I am and how much I could go for a grape gatorade. 

So you all know how my goal this year is to get abs.  Well Yesterday on my run I talked Jeremy into riding his bike along side me so I would have someone to talk to, and this is how our conversation went Me: "I just don't get it, I eat well and I exercise about 5 times a week.  How do I not have any ab definition at all?" Jeremy: "Ki I hate to break it to you but you really don't eat that well."

That one kind of hurt, I mean I know I have a few cheat meals every once in awhile but I guess I didn't take into consideration my snacking habits. So I am going to try a little harder finding healthy meal that we can both enjoy.

Cake decorationg update: With the stress and hassle of moving I have not taken any cake orders because I have been to busy.  I will start up with an order in mid april for vintage style cupcakes and I will be posting pictures.  However, this weekend with Easter coming up.  I have a few fun desserts lined up, I am heading to the grocery store after my first class of cycle pump tongith (cycling class while lifting weights) and I will be posting recipes this week!  



First and Last Tat

I'll start by saying we finally got moved into our new house!!! It is almost twice as big as our "love shack" and we are enjoying the perks of a newer house everyday! It has been very stressful the last couple of weeks. We packed up our whole house, I aced my test, celebrated my birthday, and bought and moved into Our first home TOGETHER all in one week. I emphasize together because Jeremy did purchase a home while we were dating that I moved into after we got married. After we got settled in I finally got to enjoy.. Ehhr kind of enjoyed.. Well later on enjoyed my birthday present. Jeremy set up an appointment for me to have my eyeliner tattooed on. I was so nervous I have never had a tattoo before. Once I got there I found out from the lady who dolled me up, that permanent make up and tattooing are very separate. She had to be checked off by the health department to be certified. So to calm my nerves she put me on the laughy Gas. Then she gave me three shots in each eye to numb it, which I thought was by far the worst part. I squirmed and squeezed those stress balls until I thought the stuffing would come out. After the numbing sets in, the only thing you can really feel is the vibrations of the tool. I was really pleased with the results. She did exactly what I told her, an average size at the top and very thin on the bottom. As we were leaving I felt the numbness starting to wear off. It felt like a bad sunburn for the next hour, nothing a bag of ice couldn't fix. After that I felt great, day two I was pretty swollen but here I am on day three loving it and ready to put on some mascara to add to the effect, only 7 more days!

The top picture is what I took about twenty minutes after I got home from getting it done. The bottom picture is what I took today on day three. The swelling has gone down a lot and I thought the color looked a lot better. She said the color fades 30% during the healing process. It seems really bright once you first do it, so I was glad to see it fade a bit.





This last picture is what Jeremy took while I was getting it done. I didn't realize until later that day that he had posted it onto Facebook saying I was getting a Mike Tyson tattoo. I only found out because I got emails saying what people had commented on the picture I was tagged too. He has no shame:)

Gum Paste Rose

This is my how-to on gumpaste roses.  It was my first time making them outside of my wilton gum paste and fondant class.  I made them for the cake I was doing for my grandparents 50th anniversary cake.  I was going for a classy, elegant cake and I knew that gumpaste flowers would be just the accents I needed.  I started making mine the week before I made the cake.  They are pretty timely (as with all cake decorating) but well worth it!

Start with a small amount of gumpaste and roll them out with two dowel rods.

Next take the smallest flower cutter.  This is the mum base of your flower so cut out as many as flowers you are making. Sorry for the chipped nail polish, forget that my pathetic attempt at an at home manicure would be getting a close up.

Next, you will roll it into a ball. So sorry for my super fuzzy picture.  I never said I wasn't an amateur!

Start by twisting one end of the ball so that it starts to elongate into a tear drop shape.  Next wet the opposite end of the teardrop and stick a sphagheti into the wide end.  I stuck my finished ones into the bottom of a styrofoam cup so it could sit upright and dry.

The height of the rose base should be the same as one of the petals of the large rose cutter.

Here is about how many I did for each cup.  I think I had about 3 cups worth of flowers.

Next, roll out your gumpaste paper thin.  The thinner you get it, the more realistic your flowers will look.  Don't forget to spread shortening out before your roll your gumpaste.  Then,  using your largest blossom cutter, cut out 1 large blossom shape for each flower and 2 medium shapes.  Use your spatula and cut a 1/2 slit between each petal toward the center of the blossom. Sorry for missing this picture:(

Keep decorating your flowers while your hardworking husband spruces up the house with a new coat of paint:)

You can kind of see the slits in this picture.  Anyways, put the blossom on a thin foam.  Hold your ball tool like a pencil and position it halfway on the blossom and half on the foam.  Slide the ball tool around the petal to outline and thin the petal edge.

Move the blossom to your thick foam and cup the center with the ball tool and press down.  Then again wet the center.

Slide your spaghetti with the mum base up the blossom.  Think of the 5 petal blossom as a stick figure, the petals corresponding to the "head," "arms," and "legs."  Brush the "head" petal with gum glue adhesive and wrap around the Rose Base.  Then, brush one "arm" and the opposite "leg" about halfway up with gum glue adhesive and attach to cover the center wrap.  Repeat with the last 2 petals, ventering them over seams of previous 2 petals.

For the second blossom cut out, prepare as you did the first one by cutting slits, ruffling, and glueing the center. Remember that the second one is the medium blossom cutout. On the thick foam, using the ball tool, press 2 "arm" petals to cup.  Turn blossom over and cup the "head" and 2 "legs."   Flip the blossom back over, and cup the center.  Brush the center of the blossom with water and thread it onto the spaghetti.  Brush the 2 "arms" with water and center them over seams of two petals of the first row.  Brush the reamining petals with water and space them evenly around the flower. 

For the thrid row, prepare the next blossom as you did previously.  Move the blossom to the thick foam.  Use the ball tool to cup all petals.  Turn over blossom and cup the center.  Brush the center and petals with water, and thread the spaghetti through the center of the blossom.  Invert the rose and let the petals fall into place naturally.  Gently press petals against the base to attach.  I turned mine upside down and gently set it down that way to dry.

and VIOLA!
To get my petals the gold color I used an airbrush that I recieved as a gift for Christmas.  Doing the petals makes the day of delivery so much easier because your accents are already done and you can just stick them on before you leave.  I added pearl sprinkles for decorations too.  My grandparents loved the cake and the party was a HUGE success!!

Greek Yogurt with vegan chocolate chips

This morning I had vanilla Greek yogurt with one tablespoon of vegan chocolate chips. There is nothing better than starting your day off with chocolate for breakfast! I used to eat the yoplait light yogurt because I liked it better. Now that I add the vegan chocolate chips it really helps me to like the Greek more, which is important because it contains 12g of protein. Just what I need for all the exercise I've been doing, that and a hot bath to relax my muscles.

This weekend I went to an antique store and found the CUTEST end table for my living room. Jeremy and I have had our house on the market for 6 months now. We recently got a new realtor and as soon as he walked in he says "so where's all your stuff? You guys just don't have a lot of stuff. There is really no wow factor here." At first I was a little offended, but I called my mom, aunt, and grandma, and we went to work staging the house.  With their help in letting me borrowing a lot of their "stuff." My house now looks so cozy and warm, I have traded in spending extra money on clothes to house decor. Doesn't that always happy though? You do all these project to sell your house then realize all the potential it had, it makes you wonder why are we just NOW doing this?

Think About it Thursday

New Year New Things

Last night I took a Zumba class for only my second time. The first time I had a friend go with me and we felt like we looked so clumsy and dis coordinated (which we did) but it made it even worse that it looked like everyone else in the class had been coming for a long time and had all their moves down. Needless to say we didn't show our faces or tripping bodies again. So this week I decided I would give it another shot. I had been getting burnt out on just weights and cardio. I went it to it by myself and ended up loving it! The fact that it was the first of the year had not crossed my mind until I got into the class and it was packed with tons of new people like myself. I also found the trick to not be embarrassed-Don't look at yourself in the mirror DUH! I just stayed focused on the instructor and what she was doing and I felt like I was somewhat looking as good at my cha-cha. It was a nice change up to say the least. For my lunch today I brought half of a turkey and provolone sandwich, strawberries, apples, and applesauce. I bought this container at buy for less this last Saturday and thought it looked so handy. Usually I don't like messing with a lot of containers, mainly because I can never find the lids. This is a great container to pack several things into one. Especially if your a weird-o like myself who has a problem with touching food. I blame it on my brother, he started the trend. It was only $3.99 for two containers and a great find I might add for staying on the healthy track and making life easier.