FOOD!!!!

Food. Oh, food <3I am so obsessed with cooking lately! I just love looking up random recipes and making Colin try them. Not to mention I basically eat anything so EVERYTHING looks like heaven. (this is why I can't go grocery shopping... I would buy the whole store.)


Anyways, a few days ago Colin and I got invited to our Teen Parent Connection Potluck( YAY FREE FOOD!) ! So ofcourse I told them I would bring an appetizer and a dessert to share....mmm foodgasm.

As many of you know, in the beginning of my pregnancy up until about 18 weeks or so, I was all about the spicy foods. Then till about last week it was all about sugary food.
NOW IT IS BOTH! AWH, YEAH!So, I decided to make Buffalo Chicken Dip and Chocolate Covered Strawberries! Best of both worlds ;)

I will give ya'll the recipes that I made because I promise you they will be the most delicious things you have ever had in your life. :)

1. My BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP!

Prep time: around 5 minutes if you can be speedy quick as me
Cook time: 25 mins all together
Serves: around 12 people

You will need:- 2 (8 oz)  packages of cream cheese softened
- 2 ( 10oz) cans of shredded chunk chicken drained
- 1 cup of ranch dressing
- 3/4 cup of Frank's Red Hot pepper sauce. (Sometimes I will do 1 cup if I am wanting it more spicy)
- 1 1/2 cups of shredded mild cheddar cheese
- Chicken in a Biscuit crackers for dipping
- Celery, cleaned and cut into 4 inch pieces
-Slow cooker
-Skillet

Directions:
1. Heat the chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat until fully heated
 2. Stir in cream cheese (May be easier if you microwave it for about 2 mins) and also stir in your favorite ranch dressing
3. Mix in half of the shredded cheese then move all of it into a slow cooker
4. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, then set the slow cooker on low until it is bubbling.

READY TO EAT! :)




CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES

Prep: 10 mins
Cook time: 1 hour
Serves: Makes about 40 chocolate covered strawberries

What you will need:
16 ounces semisweet chocolate ( I am a chocolate snob with strawberries and I reccomend Chiradelli. Does not burn as easily as other brands and is more smooth.)
40 strawberries
wax paper
2 large cookie sheets
Room in your fridge!

                                      

Directions:1. prepare your cookie sheets by placing wax paper over them so they are completely covered
2. take the chocolate and put it into a microwavable bowl; microwave for 1 min 30 seconds.
3. Stir the chocolate, then microwave for 1 min 30 seconds
4. Strir again, if chocolate is not completely melted, contunue melting it in 15 second intervals with stirring imbetween to avoid burning.
5. Take your strawberries (make sure they are rinsed and dry!) and "dip and twist" them into the chocolate. (If chocolate starts to look bubbly mix it some more. If that does not fix it, microwave it for 15 seconds and stir again to fix.)
6. Place each strawberry once covered on to the wax paper
7.  Place completed strawberries into fridge for one hour. No need to cover them. Dont leave in fridge any longer than that or else they will start to look ugly. :)

Optional things to try: White Chocolate drizzle:
1. Use half a bag (4oz) of white chocolate chips

2. Melt in microwave for about 25 seconds and stir; repeat if not fully melted in 15 second intervals.

3. Use either a fork or a tooth pick, and drizzle the white chocolate on to the semi-hardened coated strawberries.


Toppings to try if you wanna go all out!

- crushed pistachios
- caramel drizzle
- crushed peanuts

Those are my personal favorites!


IN OTHER UPDATES!

Colin's older brother is getting married tomorrow! On the 25th of May!
I am really excited, because this will only be the second wedding I have ever been to! With all of my family living in nebraska, we cant make it out there more than 2 times a year, and sadly we miss weddings :(

SO I am really excited for this day! I am going to make my chocolate covered strawberries ;)


AND TODAY IS COLINS PARENTS ANNIVERSARY.

I would like to call this the "Week of love" just because that would be so adorably cheesy considering all the celebration going on.

I am also excited for tomorrow because I get to meet the rest of Colins family! I think it is going to be kind of funny meeting some of these people all big and pregnant! I promise I dont always look like one of those blimps at the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade!!!!!!

;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

I am POOPED because I had a very busy day today, lots of running around. I get tired so easily. It is pretty embarassing. I used to be a hyper maniac and now all I can think of is a couch or nap time! I missed my nap time today, I think that is why I am so tired already. Hmmm maybe this is the answer to my sleepless nights!


Alright, well I am going to watch BONES (best show ever!) and then go to bed.



In closing, I always like to look up things that have happened in the past on significant days in my life.

So I thought I would do this one for Brandon and Annette. On May 25th, in history: STAR WARS OPENED IN 1977!!!! ;)

(I personally find that your marriage is way cooler)


On this day in 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas' blockbuster Star Wars movies hits American theaters.
The incredible success of Star Wars--it received seven Oscars, and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of close to $800 million worldwide--began with an extensive, coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th Century Fox, months before the movie's release date. "It wasn't like a movie opening," actress Carrie Fisher, who played rebel leader Princess Leia, later told Time magazine. "It was like an earthquake." Beginning with--in Fisher's words--"a new order of geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping bags," the anticipation of a revolutionary movie-watching experience spread like wildfire, causing long lines in front of movie theaters across the country and around the world.
With its groundbreaking special effects, Star Wars leaped off screens and immersed audiences in "a galaxy far, far away." By now everyone knows the story, which followed the baby-faced Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) as he enlisted a team of allies--including hunky Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and the robots C3PO and R2D2--on his mission to rescue the kidnapped Princess Leia from an Evil Empire governed by Darth Vader. The film made all three of its lead actors overnight stars, turning Fisher into an object of adoration for millions of young male fans and launching Ford's now-legendary career as an action-hero heartthrob.
Star Wars was soon a bona-fide pop culture phenomenon. Over the years it has spawned five more feature films, five TV series and an entire industry's worth of comic books, toys, video games and other products. Two big-screen sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983), featured much of the original cast and enjoyed the same success--both critical and commercial--as the first film. In 1999, Lucas stretched back in time for the fourth installment, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, chronologically a prequel to the original movie. Two other prequels, Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) followed.
The latter Star Wars movies featured a new cast--including Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen--and have generally failed to earn the same amount of critical praise as the first three films. They continue to score at the box office, however, with Revenge of the Sith becoming the top-grossing film of 2005 in the United States and the second worldwide.