Life Lately

Things have been happening around here. Blogging just hasn't been one of them. Let's just get right into it.

WICKED finally came, and we went on our long awaited date to that beautiful, fun play. Getting tickets for my birthday in September was so happy, and every time I remembered we were going in November I would get just as happy all over again. It was like the birthday present that never stopped giving. Wicked gives me goosebumps (and some tears) every time. I even went to it by myself once when I was on a business trip, because I just can't not see it if I'm within a reasonable distance. Michael liked it. I don't know if he loved it, but he liked it.

My sister came into town! Kind of a quick last minute trip, and it was so fun having her around. We had a pizza/pajamas/Pitch Perfect party (so many p's) one night when Michael had to stay late in the lab at school. There was even a fleeting moment when she actually held our little cat. If you know this girl, you know that's a big deal. Animals are not her thing... especially cats. I think Kitty kind of senses that, and it doesn't help things. So this was a big moment.

We drove down to Louisville on Saturday to go to the temple and to see Michael's dad. He was nice enough to bring a couple bikes so that the four of us could go for a ride along the river. It was actually a beautiful day, once you were moving enough!

This bridge was especially fun to ride along, and it had music playing over speakers. We did about 15 miles together and had some delicious BBQ for lunch before heading back to Indianapolis. It's so fun being surrounded by different cities and visiting them with family.

I actually put Ali to work while she was here... She just knows how to get things done so I couldn't help it! I get to work with the 8-11 year old girls at my Church, and learn about Christ with them through fun activities and service projects. (It's called Activity Days.) This last week we had our annual "Modesty Fashion Show" and Ali and Michael helped out so much. We decorated, made yummy treats, and had fun watching those girls have a ball. Their parents and the Young Women in our Church came to watch them. We gave each of the girls a little mirror with a note that says "Inside is a Daughter of God." I know that each of those girls truly are daughters of God. I love getting to know them and helping them come to know that fact for themselves. They really are special. (That night they modeled four categories of clothes, and the last one was pajamas... if you're wondering about the PJs in the picture.)

Sunday started out with Michael's favorite thing in the world, blueberry coffee cake. It's honestly the only food I've ever seen him overeat on. But it doesn't even count as overeating because... well, he can afford to eat about a dozen of these coffee cakes if he wanted to. It's definitely good stuff, but to Michael it about tops everything else.

Ali and I played a piano duet in Church that day, and it went surprisingly well considering we laughed the ENTIRE time the first time we practiced it. Sisters are so giggly. And then the rest of our Church meetings were cancelled for the day because we had storm and tornado warnings - so, back to pajamas and coffee cake! We spent the day eating good food and playing the Wii and just laughing. I so love family. The weather was crazy, but no tornadoes touched down in Indianapolis. Quite a few did throughout the state and Midwest, though.

Tomorrow we are headed to South Bend to watch BYU beat Notre Dame. Um, please look at this weather forecast. I bought 6 packs of hand warmers and I don't plan on limiting them to my hands. I read that with the wind chill combined, it will feel like 7 degrees during the last half of the game.... holy moly, wish me and the Cougars good luck.

Go Cougs!

Life Lately

Last Friday we went to a ward family dance. We had so much fun laughing with our friends, dancing around, and being entertained by cute little kids. Michael even danced with me. TWICE. He loves me. There were a few love triangles in the Sunbeam class that were pretty entertaining to watch. 

vine.co/v/bQIUXDLplux

— Maddie Daetwyler (@MaddieMDae) May 4, 2013

Afterwards we went out with some friends to get ice cream at Mrs. Curl. It was such a cute place - all the tables and chairs outside around a little ice cream joint, with hanging lights all around. So summer. I thought hard about what to get before ordering a chocolate malt. I don't know why I always think hard about it. I will always order a chocolate malt if it's on the menu. But at least I kind of sort of give the other options a little consideration. (You can see that Gabby's little baby Mia already knows what she's missing out on. Kristin is so unsuspecting.)

On Saturday morning we went to cheer on our friends in the Indianapolis Mini Marathon. Adriana was in town to run, so we were so excited to see her and cheer on all the runners. There were 38,000 people running those 13.1 miles together that day. The girls that ran said the crowds never spread out - practically the entire race was crowded. I loved the happy energy there that day, and wondered how anyone could ever want to hurt people. I love love Boston.

This is Indiana sky, from my car window. I forget every year how absolutely happy the sun makes me. There is something about driving down a freeway with bright sunshine and good music and just feeling good about where you are. The 55-mile speed limits on Indy's freeways do kind of dampen that moment...but,  C'est la vie.

We need curtains in our kitchen. We have them, but our living room is going to steal them. Musical curtains. I thought I was being so nice by bringing home samples and giving Michael a say in the matter. It's his kitchen too, right? But he was just not as into it as I for some reason envisioned in the aisles of JoAnn's. He's a good sport though. I'd ask for your opinion about which one you like best, but I went back to the store after 10 minutes of sample staring and already purchased my 2.5 yards. So...feel free to leave comments about how the left one is the best. Right? Right.

We had a "buns night" for a Relief Society activity this week. First we had some hair lessons from me and two other girls about different ways to do your hair in a bun. (I never knew there were so many ways...I've stuck with my hair habits since about 2nd grade). Then we learned some exercising tips for our other buns. Then of course we ate cinnamon buns (which was not one of the tips we learned). It was a lot of fun, I love the girls out here in Indiana so much.

And I'll leave you with these beauties. You may remember I'm on a quest for my favorite chocolate chip cookies. It's a process. But so far, an adaptation of these are the #1 contenders. The only reason I'm still out looking is because these might just be a little too cakey sometimes. You know? Try them and let me know...for now, I end up falling back to these after trying one or two rounds of new recipes. 

The [so-far] Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

• 1 C. butter, softened
• 1 C. white sugar
• 1 C. packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 C. flour (no more! they're already almost too cakey)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. hot water
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Lots of chocolate chips :)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cream together butter and sugars, beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. Dissolve baking soda in water, and add all of it to the dough with the salt.
4. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips. 
5. Roll into balls and place 12 on an ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 8 minutes, then leave on the pan for about 2 before moving to a cooling rack.

I'm still holding out for a slightly chewier cookie, but this is hands down the best cookie DOUGH we've tried. We put a major dent in the batch before it even makes it to the oven.

Food, lately

One of the benefits of having almost no go-to recipes before getting married is getting to try lots of new things! At BYU I lived on lemon garlic pasta, spinach, and soups. I don't think I'm supposed to force that anyone else, though... so, we've enjoyed lots of yummy new finds lately. Especially these guys:

They were delicious! Due to some unfortunate scheduling conflicts, I ended up baking these at 1:00 in the morning though...whoops! But they were so yummy, I ate two that night. They were good enough to throw all good judgment out the door. I adapted the recipe from here. They're headed to a church activity tonight, so we'll see if they are actually only delicious when you're sleep-deprived, or if they're the real deal.

I've started this Pinterest board with only recipes that I have personally tried and liked, apart from my Foodie board where I keep future adventures. I write a little note about things to change or do differently next time. It's sort of a food journal so we can start repeating recipes someday. I'll leave you with a few of my favorites from there:

Recipe here

Recipe here and here

Recipe here and here 

Recipe here, loved the pizza crust!

From my BYU Cooking Class, recipe blog here

Recipe adapted from here

And one of our VERY favorites was so good, we ate the entire pan before I remembered to take a picture. And it was supposed to last us for two days...Whoops again! It was THIS lighter version of P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps. Mmm.

What are your favorite places to find recipes online?

The Best of January [in terms of food]

Sometimes we eat frozen burritos and ramen noodles. Right now I get to blame it on working full time and random things that fill the evenings. (Crochet lessons? True story.) But let's be honest, we'll probably always sometimes eat frozen burritos and ramen noodles. I mean, the thought of cooking every day sometimes gives me this special type of anxiety that also manifests itself anytime I enter a grocery store with a shopping list that I know is at least a 60-minuter. [shudder.]

But then there are days we do pretty well around here. I mean, I don't hear any complaints (from the boy who ate frozen burritos and spaghetti for four years straight, but magically made it to our wedding day alive and well). So if you think you might enjoy them as much as we did, here are some recipes you should try!

Bombay House inspired Chicken Tikka Masala

Roast with Stuffed Mushrooms

Gluten-free Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

And my self-titled "I miss Zupa's so incredibly much" Chicken Chop Salad

And on top of that Chicken Tikka Masala recipe up there, I even made some Chickpea Curry (thanks for the recipe, Diana!). Curry is not my thing... Ok, all Indian food is not my thing. But I really don't like when I don't like food, so I have to give it a try once in a while. And you know what? It was delicious. There is hope for me and curry. We just might be happy together someday.

Not tomorrow. But, someday.

Sticks and Sticky Buns

Here are a few of our favorite things we've made at our house lately.

First up: the infamous popsicle table.

We finally made it to the end, people.

That right there is over 700 popsicle sticks, 

coming together to make something they probably never thought they'd be.

And that's a totally fair assumption on their part.

Thanks to Michael and his dad for cutting out the tops and bottoms!
And yes, those are plural, because the plan was to make two tables.
First I just need a little bit more of a popsicle stick sabbatical, please.

Last Sunday I made something far less time consuming, and much more tasty...

Mmm. I want another round after looking at this picture!

I found a Clone of a Cinnabon recipe,

and Sunday just needed some cinnamon rolls.

I actually also found a "healthy version" of the Clone of a Cinnabon recipe.

..........Maybe next time.

And last on my little list is the thing I am most proud of making every day.

And that's making it to work on time.
Bless carpooling and the inevitable punctuality responsibility it puts on me.

Here's a little picture of our downtown commute, pre-time change. 

It felt like we drove to the city in the middle of the night, every morning.

Getting out of bed feels like the hardest part of my day,

so I try to get it over with before I do anything else.

Michael is wonderful.

In my funemployed days, I'd make him a lunch in the mornings and send him on his way.

But now that we both leave at the same time,

I kind of go with the rule that whoever finishes doing their hair first has to make lunch.

Typically (every single day), that's him. He's the best.

We love driving to work and school together,

with another grad student in our ward.

p.s. We just got home from Lincoln. Have you seen it?
It put me in a biography-reading mood.
But first, this and this for Book Club.

Into the Weekend

Lesson learned:

Salsa is not as much fun to make as raspberry jam,

if your food processor is acting smarter than you.

But, when your husband comes home to play the hero,

and teaches you that the outlet is to blame...

and you make amends with your food processor,

apologizing for all your wrongly made accusations....

You get some yummy stuff.

So yummy that when the wonderful 

maintenance man comes to fix the evil outlet,

he walks away with a jar for saving the day.

Thanks Pam, for the delicious recipe!

We're headed to a food truck party tonight! Rain and all.

 Then, we are excited to listen to our church leaders this weekend:

Come join us!

P.S. If any of you out there are sad that England gets new episodes of Downton Abbey now,

and Americans have to wait [very very im]patiently until January...

Just go here.

Kind of a sketchy site, but definitely worth it.

Farewell, Sour Cream

I've had some spare time these past few weeks.

And even though job hunting wasn't always fun,

and there were plenty of "getting settled' errands and projects...

the spare time has been a pretty good time.

Lately, said time seems to always be filled with cooking.

Or baking. Or experimenting.

And then eating. 

Obviously.

I'll spare you the details of each shamelessly Instagrammed recipe here,

but I DO want to share a secret with you.

If you listen, you will soon enjoy deliciousness such as this:

Photo from HERE because we ate ours just so, so incredibly fast. All of it.

Ready?

Sour Cream is dead to me.

It has no place in the world anymore.

And this is why:

I've always been a fan of this stuff - after you eat it, 

Yoplait just starts tasting sweet, sweet, sweet. Almost stomachache sweet.

But, I'm a fan of Vanilla. With honey. I can't surrender ALL sweetness, right?

Then I discovered Plain, and it's like Sour Cream's non-fat, older, better-looking cousin.

Make the switch.

And to get you started, here's a recipe adapted from this blog. I crave it, often:

Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip

Ingredients:

1 jar (6 oz) marinated artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped

1 pkg. (9-11 oz) frozen creamed spinach, thawed

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup PLAIN GREEK YOGURT

1 small garlic clove, pressed or 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Coarsely chop artichokes & put them in a medium bowl. Add spinach, mayonnaise, garlic, Parmesan cheese and sour cream and mix well.

Pour into a shallow baking dish or glass pie pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees.

Serve it with tortilla chips, and see how fast it's gone. All of it.

And to make you happy about it:

1/4 cup Sour Cream: 108 Calories from Fat.

1/4 cup Plain Greek Yogurt: 0 Calories from Fat.

Holla!

We've even put it on these, and in these, and in this. Go try it!