Stuffed French Toast

I posted this on the craft blog this morning!!

Ok, so I love IHOP's stuffed french toast. Like, seriously LOVE IT! I decided to try my hand at making my own. I searched high and low for a recipe, and then I lost the recipe. So this is my homemade version of stuffed french toast.

What you'll need:
Eggs
Milk
Bread
Cream cheese frosting
cinnamon
Chocolate chips (optional)

Betty Crocker's cream cheese frosting recipe :

1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 Cups powdered sugar

In large bowl, beat cream cheese, milk and vanilla with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until smooth and spreadable. Refrigerate any remaining frosting.

Source : Betty Crocker Cupcakes

So I made the frosting first, while my griddle was heating up (350-400 works great!!). I found about 1 loaf of bread (we found 2 bags of bread, neither were full or even half!).

I guessed at how many eggs we'd need (ok, I only had 6 in the house!) then I added milk (about 1/2 cup) for the french toast coating. Which was the perfect amount of eggs for the amount of bread I had. The number of eggs will go up if you use more bread.

Spread the cream cheese frosting on 1 slice of bread, put another slice of bread on top, then dunk it in the french toast coating. Then when the "sandwich" was coated completely, I put it on the griddle and sprinkled cinnamon on the side that was up.

Shark has been on a "cream cheese and chocolate chip" kick lately, so I put some chocolate chips in 2 of the sandwiches. He was grateful, and said they were amazing!

hen we flipped them over so the other side would cook. We then put the done toasts on a plate. Be sure to put the sandwiches flat on the plate, the frosting inside is "molten lava hot" and makes the bread slide all over.

Then, grab the milk, and the maple syrup (if you desire more sugar!) and dig in!!

Shark put maple sugar on his, I ate mine without, I was in heaven!!

Love to those who love copycat recipes for food they love! ♥

New Blog

So, I started a craft blog. Collard Greens & Homemade Things! Something for just baking and crafts. That way, this one can be more "family stuff.' In the event we have kids, I'd want this blog to go private. That's not happening YET so don't worry. But here is the link to the new blog : http://www.collardgreenshomemadethings.blogspot.com/ Could I make it any longer? I could have, but some of you might forget it! I'll still post on this one quite a bit, especially stuff with friends and, of course, any news. In fact, the craft blog is probably just going to be a duplicate of this one, but less kissing. :)

I wanted a place to go nuts with the crafting and cooking. I figured I'd get started on a craft blog now, that way I don't have to delete or change lots of stuff down the road. The craft blog is not tied to this one at all. No links, nothing. :) I hope you enjoy both the blogs I've got.

Love to all who like reading and doing. ♥

Free Valentines Day Printables

So, I put on my Facebook status : What is your favorite love song? I'm making Valentine's Day decorations... I got some responses back, and today, since I was up wicked early {Early for me!!} I searched those songs out and made them into printables!! I used Photoshop, although there is an awesome tutorial here : I am Momma Hear my Roar.

**The first 2 printables, Keep Calm and Kiss me AND Keep Calm and Love on, I DID NOT MAKE! I am not taking credit for them! **

I created my printables at 8x10. Just click on the picture, or right click to open a new window/page whichever is easier for you! {And yes, I really like that font!} Enjoy!

Keep Calm and Kiss Me!

Keep Calm and Love on!

My love - By Sia

I don't wanna miss a thing - Aerosmith

The promise - Tracy Chapman

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

I want you to - Weezer

Bubbly - Colbie Callait

1 2 3 4 - Plain White T's

Are you gonna kiss me or not - Thompson Square

And last but not least, is the Subway Art printable I made :

I customized it when I gave it to the girls, this one says BOY & GIRL!

I'm going to check these right away. Let me know if any of the links don't work, this is my, uh, first time...
I checked them all, the links all work!

Love to those who love *free* things!! ♥

famous

So, last night, I was making my Manicotti (which turned out awesome by the way!) and my sister called. "DO YOU HAVE CABLE?!?!" No I don't, but I have Netflix, why? "CUZ SCOTT DANGERFIELD IS ON AMERICAN IDOL RIGHT NOW AND HE IS AWESOME!! Sorry I missed it Scott. But, I YouTube'd it and found it and even linked to in on Facebook.

Yes, that is him! I know him! I dated him actually. He went to my Junior Prom with me.

See!! Ta da!!

So anyways, I had to post about him, because he MADE IT TO HOLLYWOOD!! I think I might just watch American Idol this year.... :)

Love to those who follow their dreams!! Even if you have to steal Steven Tyler's lipstick... ♥

nothing today

So, today I did end up making cupcakes. Shark thought they were pretty dang good. I made Devil's Food cake mix, then once the batter was in the cups, I put a dollop of cream cheese with chocolate chips (and some sugar mixed in) in the middle. While they baked, the cream cheese mix sank to the middle. They were pretty delicious. So delicious in fact, all I did was sit around and eat them.

I watched a whole bunch of movies on our Netflix. And, Shark's folks got me Salt for my birthday. So I watched that. It really does end abruptly, like right in the middle. Now, I'm just waiting for Shark to get home. I kinda don't like days off. All I do is sit around the house. At least last week I got some library cards. This week, it snowed, and I hate snow. No, I hate cold. I went out in the snow, to get stuff for cupcakes, but that is it!

Oh well, all I know is that my head hurts right now. And I think I am going to go lay down before it gets worse.

Love to those who like making cupcakes and to those who like eating cupcakes. ♥

Store credit!

So, I randomly get random texts on my phone. All the time. Last night as we were out to eat, I got this wierd little text from GameStop. The text said, Hey, if we're texting or calling you it's because you might have trade-in credit! So go to gamestop.com/credit! So I did! And I found out I have $13 in-store trade-in credit!! WooHoo!! How have I not known about this?!?! Unlike Shark, who has no clue when or why I would have trade-in credit, I know exactly when I went in and got credit! I don't know the date specifically, but I know everything else. So are you ready?

It was our first Christmas together, 2008, and we had gotten a duplicate game from my family. But if you recall, I had my heart surgery in Feb of 2009 {yeah, it's almost been 2 years!! wow!}so we were all nervous and planning for that, plus Shark and I worked super hard while we were in CO, so we didn't have time to go trade it in. Gamestop wasn't really close to where we lived. So when I had the surgery, my mom and Shark's brother Kurt came out to visit and help me out. On one of our field trips, we went to GameStop. Kurt wanted a new game, and I found it the perfect time to trade in mine. Kurt found a game, but I couldn't find something I really wanted, so that's why I have trade-in credit still. And, maybe, since we can't find our MarioKart Wii game, and Shark's parents's game doesn't work, and I can't keep borrowing Angie's, maybe we'll put that credit towrads MarioKart Wii!! yayayayay!

Tonight is Whitney's 1st birthday! I'm heading to the party after work, Heather asked me to take pictures. So here goes. On to work, my friends. I'll post some pics tonight!

Love to all who have just discovered that I'm a gamer, and to those who knew it all along! ♥

L O V E

So, last night at craft night, we made these way cute LOVE frames. Super easy, and super cute. In fact, I was thinking of all kinds of ways to make them for ever season, until I fell asleep. :)

How cute is that?! Amy bought frames at Dollar Tree, and some tissue paper. We then Mod Podged on the frames and then scrunched up the tissue paper, so it is SUPPOSED to look crinkled and not straight! Then we added all kinds of cute details and embellishments!!

Yup. Way too cute! It just sucks that my bloggers is being a dork, and not letting me upload pictures correctly. What up Blogger?!?! Also, I just organized my photos and when I go to upload, the BROWSE doesn't reflect the changes/moves I made to my pictures!! Get with it!!

Pretty sure I'm in love with these frames. Now, I just need to find space to hang them....

Oh, and since my sister is now addicted to craft blogs, here's another one to try on. It's not really a craft blog, and I only found it 2 days ago, but she (whoever she is) has said something along the lines that she's not going to blog anymore. But seeing how it's a fake blog, I don't know if we can believer her or not. Seriously So Blessed!!

Love to all who come up with awesome ideas! ♥

Yes Yes No

Ok, so today I went to the Weber County Library, I got a library card, helped a little girl find her mom, and an armful of books. I'm so excited!! In fact, I already finished 1 on the books I brought home. Yeah... Addicted, remember?!

I also went to the Davis County Library, and got a library card from them, too. Davis county has lots more eBooks and audio books on their site than Weber does. So that will help Shark out. He loves audio books. I brought home yet another armful of books.

So after 2 yes's today, I had a meeting with an Aflac agent, to discuss supplemental health insurance. {Basically, a premium is paid, and then during a hospital visit, the insurance company pays out a certain amount.} Well, in talking with the agent, we went over the underwriting, and apparently, you are supposed to answer NO to all the questions. Well, for each policy's underwriting, I answered YES to 1 question. "In the past 3 years have you been hospitalized for a consecutive of 5 days for congenital heart defect correction surgery?" Yes I have. How did they know?! They came out and asked me, and not in a general way either! It's like they planned it specifically so I could not get insurance!! Ugh!

Ok, so I know that's not really what happened, but it feels that way! Sometimes things just don't work out. But the supplemental health insurance was just for peace of mind, so I'm not so stressed about finances and money. We just need to make sure we budget everything, and if it's not in the budget, then we can do without it. Right?!

Now, on to craft night. I'll be sure to take pictures and post them when I get home.

Love to all who find being patient stinks and just because something is in the plans, doesn't mean it's what's going on. ♥

And books too

Not only am I addicted to video games and digital things. I love books. Nay, I ♥ books!! I love Barnes & Noble. I love cook books, church books, kid books, self-help books, saving money books. {Although, I really did NOT like Twilight... I went to the movies cuz it was a girls night thing!} But, back to books. If I had the budget {which we all know that I DO NOT!!} I would spend $100 a month on books. And I would probably read them all too! While working in Colorado, I discovered AudioBooks. I fell even more in love! How awesome is it to work at a computer {or drive around like Shark did} and listen to books. We drove across WY listening to Harry Potter. It was amazing! Well, to save my budget, I'm getting a library card. The most awesome thing ever!! Oh sure, I'll take free books any day! {Cuz you know I love *FREE* more than anything, even books, even chocolate cake... Unless it's free chocolate cake...} Lately the books I've been getting have been cheap, but also useful. Like The $7 a Meal Quick and Easy cookbook. Or, 1,000 Easy Household tips. Or, the one I bought today : What to expect before you're expecting. {See that?! BEFORE!! That means : NOT YET!} But I did also buy the 4th book in my Peter and the Star Catchers series... But I have recently been reading Covenant Hearts, it's a good book about marriage and why we get married, not just for us, but for society. And how to tackle the changes and views of the world towards marriage. I'm always finding new recipes and cookbooks. I recently picked up a CrockPot cook book, and 2 Cupcake cook books. Hopefully, we'll be making some cupcakes soon. Shark will tell you he's been dying without cupcakes, and that is completely false.

So yes, I love books. And tomorrow I'm going to get a library card so I can enjoy books for Free!! Plus, that will also help increase our AudioBook collection. Shark loves AudioBooks. But yes, I really do think I'm addicted. But they help. When I'm reading, the stress goes away, and I have to focus on what's going on {or the message being taught} in the book. I can't concentrate on my life and the book at the some time, which is awesome. Everything else I do, I can think of other things while I do them, meaning, my brain never shuts off. Trust me, it's kind of awful. But reading helps me to ignore/forget what's going on. :) So bring on the books!!

Love to those who admit to being addicted to ridiculous things like books, or Wii. ♥

Addicted...

So, I'm only pretty sure I'm addicted to the Netflix on our Wii... Facebook... and Blogger. Yeah. But only pretty sure. I was sitting there, watching the 2nd season of Cake Boss, when I got a text on my phone. {I knew it was a text cuz Optimus Prime told me to "Roll out!"} Well, it wasn't just any text, it was a Facebook notification. Saying a friend from CO {Jess!} posted something on her wall. It was a link to an article. About a non-Mormon lady who reads {well, can't stop reading!} Mormon Mommy blogs. Here is the link to salon.com for the article. And I of course started to read all the blogs she has named in her article. And I now cannot stop reading those blogs. Now I follow each of those blogs, plus my "usual" 20 blogs. Yeah... Too bad I'm not funny or really crafty. I mean I make stuff, but it's not really my idea... I did buy something today at IKEA, that IF my idea works, it'll be pretty awesome... Here's hoping!!

Ok, now if you need a laugh. Watch this. {Just remember to pause the music on the right-hand side!}

Even Shark laughed. Mostly at the Diversity part and the 18, clueless and baby-hungry part.

But my weekends have been pretty awesome. My Pack is 2 games away from the Super Bowl, and the Pats are out. Come on, Rodgers!! Woot woot!

Love to all who just have to go out and buy something, and all those who bleed green and gold! ♥

Making things

So, Shark and I had a big dicussion about debt and money. So we came up with a plan. A plan, that really, we've had all along, just not come out and said it. At least I don't think we have... So, I am going to make a Game Plan board. Where we chart out the debt, how long until it's gone, where the money is going to go, and something big for each of us when we are out of it! Making things happen.

I was sorting thru my craft room. I found a whole bunch of gift cards in a box. I'm pretty sure these gift cards were given as wedding gifts. {Yes, that means we've been packing around gift cards for the last 2 and a half years...} Well, I called the numbers on the back, went to the websites and found the balance of these cards. We were pretty excited when I found $172 in gift cards! I found a Cabela's gift card, a Macaroni Grill. Applebee's, Wal-Mart giftcard and I found a coupon for free paint. So Shark and I planned a date day. We're heading down to Cabela's on Monday the 17th, because Shark doesn't have to go to school and he works at 5 that day. We're going to stop and get my free paint on the way down (I love FREE!! And I love paint!) then we're going to eat at Macaroni Grill. It's going to be a great day. Making plans.

One of Shark's friends is getting married. So I'm making them some wedding gifts. :) I love making gifts, but I love making wedding gifts. I love putting her new last name on something for their new home. I know how excited and how much I loved having my new last name all over my home. In my head, every new wife feels the same. :)

On Friday night, Shark went to the wedding reception for his friend. I didn't go, cuz I had to close at The Post. Well, I was turning off the highway, I was almot home, and while I was talking to Shark, he goes, "Can you do my a huge favor? Go and get a gas can and some gas, I'll start walking." He ran out of gas. Well, there is no short version to the story. The only gas can I could find was a 1 gal. Who needs 1 gallon of gasoline?! Really?!? Well, I went and filled it up, picked him up, and then we went back to the truck. Well, that 1 gallon of gas was just enough to get him to the on ramp. Not off the on ramp, just to it. So I went to get more gas, while he started pushing the truck. I found another 1 gal gas can in the truck and filled both up this time, it was enough to get him to the gas station. Then we went and got some IHOP. Thay have the All-You-Can-Eat pancakes. :)

Oh, and I found a box of walk decor. So i've been hanging that up all over the house. Here are the pictures from that!

Love to all who like being saved and like saving others. ♥

UnLazy!

So, last night I finally moved my tree out of my living room. When I say moved, I mean all I really did was move it downstairs inton an "unused" room. I did NOT take it down, I did NOT remove any of the decorations. I just took it downstairs. And this is where it will stay, probably until next year, unless we need to use that room. And my first thought when I finally got it down there was : Hmm, I guess now my family will be able to see my tree. :) {Cuz they are coming out to Utah in July!!}

Also, here is the set of shelves Shark got me for Christmas. I got him to set it up in my craft room. Oh, and with all my birthday money, I bought containers and bins for my shelves. Now I just need to organize all my stuff.

In my devious plans to decorate my house and keep it clean-ish, I wanted Shark to set up our little "couple's table" for the front window. Then I could rearrange my little cube shelves around, and get my tables organized in my craft room.

And recently, I found some cups at the Trading Post, in the colors ORANGE GREEN AND BLUE! I was so excited when I found these, that I had to buy them right away. These cups have been shuffling around our house for about 3 weeks or so. Well, then I found another set of hooks at the Post, but with 5 hooks instead of 3. So I switched out the 3 hooks from the bathroom downstairs for the 5 hooks, Shark likes hooks. And I took the 3 hooks upstairs, Cuz I wanted my cups on those hooks. My sister-in-law Heather, gave me a sign for our first Christmas, it says our last name and Est. 2008. I hung that sign in my kitchen, and underneath it, I hung my hooks and my cups! I love it! It looks like someone with decorating skill did it!

Oh, and a while back at the Post, they had these frames on sale for $10. Not really sure why I needed one of those frames, but I did, and so I got it. Right now, it is just a blank frame hanging on our wall. I have a few ideas, but I just need to get off the couch and follow thru.

On my Ikea trip a while back that reaffirmed my love-hate relationship with the store, I bought some awesome mirrors, that have been sitting up in my closet for a while, and neither Shark or I really felt a need to put them up. Well, this past weekend, I wanted those mirrors, and our picture up in our room. Shark kindly obliged and put them up! I love them! He's the best husband ever!

Shark went back to school last week, it's been a hard 2 weeks for both of us. Shark's weeks have been hard because he's been walking to school early in the morning for his first class, he stays at school all morning, goes to his 12:30 class then walks him to eat a sandwich and then drive off to get to work at 3, then stays late each night. My weeks have been hard because work has been riduclously slow and that means hours have been cut slightly, but that's not the hard part, the hard part is sitting around the house with Bandit. I've been doing all kinds of laundry and folding and putting away. But it's hard being alone, and it seems like everytime I get in the truck, I spend money, and we can't have that! So basically, my weeks haven't been that hard, just kinda boring. There are plenty of things for me to do, I jsut need to prioritize. :)

Love to those who are lost in their own boredom... ♥

24!! And Netflix

So I turn 24 today. Actually it's at like 11:30 tonight but the whole day is mine anyways! For my birthday dinner, I decided I wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese's. Hey, it worked when I turned 14, why not when I turned 24?! So we went. A whole bunch of 20-somethings! And it was a blast! As a group, we collected over 1000 tickets!! It was really a good time. Here is a picture of my trip to Chuck E Cheese's!

I know before I was having a Love Affair With Blockbuster, but Shark's whole family has converted to Netflix, and we recently hooked our Wii up to the internet, and discovered that we can get instant movies on our Wii with Netflix. Besides, Netflix is $5 cheaper than Blockbuster, and that's with instant downloads AND DVD's in the mail! So we switched. I'm such a traitor... But, it does mean an EVEN cheaper date night. I won't be getting video games in the mail anymore, but with all the Wii games we got for Christmas and birthday, I'd say we've got quite a library! :)

Love to those who look for adventures and good times, rather than just waiting for things to happen to them. ♥

2011!

So in hopes of kicking off this new year to a great start : Shark and I threw a party. We had hot wings, chips and salsa (thanks Ryan & Ashlee!), armadillo eggs (thanks Smitty & Angie!), tons of soda and sundae dessert! It was pretty awesome! We played Things (it was Bandi't present to Shark and I) and did a countdown, complete with TONS of party poppers and noise makers!

Here's a picture of the sundae dessert. (I would have gotten a picture of the armadillo eggs, but by the time I got home today, they were gone!)

Here is the mess after Bandit got to it. He loves party poppers, not only do they make an awesome sound, but they shoot yummy stuff out! He ate 2 of them before we could stop him!

I also made a New Year's photo booth, but Ryan, Ashlee and Carter left before we could get their picture!

I bought fireworks, but it was really really cold outside last night, that we didn't shoot them off. I know it was cold because when Shark got up to brush his teeth this morning, no water came out of the downstairs faucets. Apparently, the downstairs batheroom is where the old laundry room used to be, the vent for the old dryer is still there. Meaning, there is a HOLE in the wall where the vent was. Yup, just a hole. What's in the hole? Oh, just the water pipes. Frozen. So Shark got up to plug up that hole so it doesn't happen again. He also things that is what happened before (you know, when we had to get a new water heater...) I'm just glad we got that problem fixed!

Here's to all our friends and family! We love you! Here's to another year!! ♥